---
title: "On Being a Busybody · De curiositate"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "William Clark Helmbold"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 2 of 2
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-busybody/2/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. William Clark Helmbold, On Being a Busybody · De curiositate, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-busybody/2/"
---

# On Being a Busybody · De curiositate

*Plutarch, tr. William Clark Helmbold*

Curiosity about other people’s troubles, and how to turn it to better things.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg102, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: William Clark Helmbold, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg102.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 2. Sections 9–16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-busybody/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-busybody/2/#p-N

[¶0] 9. Since a natural consequence of much learning is to have much to say (and for this reason Pythagoras enjoined upon the young a five years’ silence which he called a “Truce to Speech”), a necessary concomitant of inquisitiveness is to speak evil. For what the curious delight to hear they delight to tell, and what they zealously collect from others they joyously reveal to everyone else. Consequently, in addition to its other evils, their disease actually impedes the fulfilment of their desires. For everyone is on his guard to hide things from them and is reluctant to do anything while a busybody is looking, or to say anything while one is listening, but defers consultation and postpones the consideration of business until such an inquisitive person is out of the way. And if, when either some secret matter is under discussion or some important business is being transacted, a busybody comes on the scene, men drop the matter from the discussion and conceal it, as one does a tidbit when a cat runs by. Consequently these persons are often the only ones to whom those matters are not told or shown which everyone else may hear and see. For the same reason the busybody is deprived of everybody’s confidence: we should prefer, on any account, to entrust our letters and papers and seals to slaves and strangers rather than to inquisitive friends and relatives. That noble Bellerophon did not break the seal even on a letter accusing himself which he was carrying, but kept his hands from the king’s letter by reason of that same continence which kept him from the king’s wife. Inquisitiveness, in fact, is indicative of incontinence no less than is adultery, and in addition, it is indicative of terrible folly and fatuity. For to pass by so many women who are public property open to all and then to be drawn toward a woman who is kept under lock and key and is expensive, and often, if it so happens, quite ugly, is the very height of madness and insanity. And it is this same thing which busybodies do: they pass by much that is beautiful to see and to hear, many matters excellent for relaxation and amusement, and spend their time digging into other men’s trifling correspondence, gluing their ears to their neighbours’ walls, whispering with slaves and women of the streets, and often incurring danger, and always infamy.

> Greek: 9. τῇ μὲν οὖν πολυμαθείᾳ τὴν πολυλογίαν ἕπεσθαι συμβαίνει· διὸ καὶ Πυθαγόρας ἔταξε τοῖς νέοις πενταέτιδα σιωπήν, ἐχεμυθίαν προσαγορεύσας. τῇ δὲ περιεργίᾳ τὴν κακολογίαν ἀνάγκη συνακολουθεῖν ἃ γὰρ ἡδέως ἀκούουσιν ἡδέως λαλοῦσι, καὶ ἃ παρʼ ἄλλων σπουδῇ συλλέγουσι πρὸς ἑτέρους μετὰ χαρᾶς ἐκφέρουσιν. ὅθεν αὐτοῖς μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων κακῶν τὸ νόσημα καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐμποδών ἐστι· πάντες γὰρ αὐτοὺς φυλάττονται καὶ ἀποκρύπτονται, καὶ οὔτε πρᾶξαί τι πολυπράγμονος ὁρῶντος οὔτε εἰπεῖν ἀκούοντος ἡδέως ἔχουσιν· ἀλλὰ καὶ βουλὰς ἀνατίθενται καὶ σκέψεις πραγμάτων ὑπερβάλλονται, μέχρι ἂν ἐκποδὼν ὁ τοιοῦτος γένηται· κἂν ἢ λόγου τινὸς ἀπορρήτου παρόντος ἢ πράξεως σπουδαίας περαινομένης ἀνὴρ πολυπράγμων ἐπιφανῇ, καθάπερ ὄψον γαλῆς παραδραμούσης αἴρουσιν ἐκ μέσου καὶ ἀποκρύπτουσιν· ὥστε πολλάκις τὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ῥητὰ καὶ θεατὰ τούτοις μόνοις ἄρρητα καὶ ἀθέατα γίγνεσθαι. διὸ καὶ πίστεως ἁπάσης ἔρημος ὁ πολυπράγμων ἐστίν· οἰκέταις γοῦν καὶ ξένοις πιστεύομεν μᾶλλον ἐπιστολὰς καὶ γράμματα καὶ σφραγῖδας ἢ φίλοις καὶ οἰκείοις πολυπράγμοσιν. ὁ δὲ Βελλεροφόντης ἐκεῖνος οὐδὲ καθʼ ἑαυτοῦ γράμματα κομίζων ἔλυσεν, ἀλλʼ ἀπέσχετο τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τοῦ βασιλέως ὡς τῆς γυναικὸς διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐγκράτειαν. ἀκρασίας γὰρ τὸ πολυπραγμονεῖν ὡς καὶ τὸ μοιχεύειν, καὶ πρὸς τῇ ἀκρασίᾳ δεινῆς ἀνοίας καὶ ἀφροσύνης· τὸ γὰρ τοσαύτας παρελθόντα κοινὰς καὶ δεδημοσιωμένας γυναῖκας; ἐπὶ τὴν κατάκλειστον ὠθεῖσθαι καὶ πολυτελῆ, πολλάκις ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ καὶ ἄμορφον οὖσαν, ὑπερβολὴ μανίας καὶ παραφροσύνης. ταὐτὸ δʼ οἱ πολυπράγμονες ποιοῦσι· πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ θεάματα καὶ ἀκούσματα καὶ σχολὰς καὶ διατριβὰς παρελθόντες, ἐπιστόλια διορύττουσιν ἀλλότρια καὶ παραβάλλουσι γειτόνων τοίχοις τὰ ὦτα καὶ συμψιθυρίζουσιν οἰκέταις καὶ γυναίοις, πολλάκις μὲν οὐδʼ ἀκινδύνως ἀεὶ δʼ ἀδόξως.

[¶1] 10. For this reason the most useful means possible for turning the busybody from his vice is for him to remember what he has previously learned. For, as Simonides used to say that when he opened his boxes after some time, he always found the fee-box full, but the thanks-box empty, so if one opens from time to time the deposit-box of inquisitiveness and examines it, full as it is of many useless, futile, and unlovely things, perhaps this procedure would give sufficient offence, so completely disagreeable and silly would it appear. Suppose a man should run over the works of the ancients and pick out the worst passages in them and keep a book compiled from such things as “headless lines” in Homer and solecisms in the tragedians and the unbecoming and licentious language applied to women by which Archilochus makes a sorry spectacle of himself, would he not deserve that curse in the tragedy, “Be damned, compiler of men’s miseries?” And even without this curse, such a man’s treasurehouse of other people’s faults is unbecoming and useless. It is like the city populated by the vilest and most intractable of men which Philip founded and called Roguesborough. Busybodies, however, by gleaning and gathering the blunders and errors and solecisms, not of lines or poems, but of lives, carry about with them a most inelegant and unlovely record-box of evils, their own memory. Therefore just as at Rome there are some who take no account of paintings or statues or even, by Heaven, of the beauty of the boys and women for sale, but haunt the monster-market, examining those who have no calves, or are weasel-armed, or have three eyes, or ostrich-heads, and searching to learn whether there has been born some “Commingled shape and misformed prodigy,” yet if one continually conduct them to such sights, they will soon experience satiety and nausea; so let those who are curious about life’s failures, the blots on the scutcheon, the delinquencies and errors in other people’s homes, remind themselves that their former discoveries have brought them no favour or profit.

> Greek: 10. διὸ καὶ χρήσιμον ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα πρὸς τὴν ἀποτροπὴν τοῖς πολυπράγμοσιν ἡ τῶν προεγνωσμένων ἀνάμνησις. ἂν γάρ, ὥσπερ ὁ Σιμωνίδης ἔλεγε τὰς κιβωτοὺς ἀνοίγων διὰ χρόνου τὴν μὲν τῶν μισθῶν ἀεὶ μεστὴν τὴν δὲ τῶν χαρίτων εὑρίσκειν ἀεὶ κενήν, οὕτως; ἄν τις τῆς πολυπραγμοσύνης τὴν ἀποθήκην ἀνοίγῃ διὰ χρόνου καὶ κατασκέπτηται πολλῶν ἀχρήστων καὶ ματαίων καὶ ἀτερπῶν γέμουσαν, ἴσως ἂν αὐτῷ τὸ πρᾶγμα προσσταίη, φανὲν ἀηδὲς παντάπασι καὶ φλυαρῶδες. φέρε γάρ, εἴ τις ἐπιὼν τὰ συγγράμματα τῶν παλαιῶν ἐκλαμβάνοι τὰ κάκιστα τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ βιβλίον ἔχοι συντεταγμένον, οἷον Ὁμηρικῶν στίχων ἀκεφάλων καὶ τραγικῶν σολοικισμῶν καὶ τῶν ὑπʼ Ἀρχιλόχου πρὸς τὰς γυναῖκας ἀπρεπῶς καὶ ἀκολάστως εἰρημένων, ἑαυτὸν παραδειγματίζοντος· ἆρʼ οὐκ ἔστι τῆς τραγικῆς κατάρας ἄξιος, ὄλοιο θνητῶν ἐκλέγων τὰς συμφοράς;ʼ καὶ ἄνευ δὲ τῆς κατάρας ἀπρεπὴς καὶ ἀνωφελὴς ὁ θησαυρὸς αὐτοῦ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἁμαρτημάτων ὥσπερ ἡ πόλις, ἣν ἐκ τῶν κακίστων καὶ ἀναγωγοτάτων οἰκίσας ὁ Φίλιππος Πονηρόπολιν προσηγόρευσεν. οἱ τοίνυν πολυπράγμονες οὐ στίχων οὐδὲ ποιημάτων, ἀλλὰ βίων ἀστοχήματα καὶ πλημμελήματα καὶ σολοικισμοὺς ἀναλεγόμενοι καὶ συνάγοντες, ἀμουσότατον καὶ ἀτερπέστατον κακῶν γραμματοφυλακεῖον τὴν ἑαυτῶν μνήμην περιφέρουσιν. ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν Ῥώμῃ τινὲς τὰς γραφὰς καὶ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας καὶ νὴ Δία τὰ κάλλη τῶν ὠνίων παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν ἐν μηδενὶ λόγῳ τιθέμενοι, περὶ τὴν τῶν τεράτων ἀγορὰν ἀναστρέφονται, τοὺς ἀκνήμους καὶ τοὺς γαλεάγκωνας καὶ τοὺς τριοφθάλμους καὶ τοὺς στρουθοκεφάλους καταμανθάνοντες καὶ ζητοῦντες εἴ τι γεγένηται σύμμικτον εἶδος κἀποφώλιον τέρας· ἀλλʼ ἐὰν συνεχῶς τις ἐπάγῃ τοῖς τοιούτοις αὐτοὺς θεάμασι, ταχὺ πλησμονὴν καὶ ναυτίαν τὸ πρᾶγμα παρέξει· οὕτως οἱ τὰ περὶ τὸν βίον ἀστοχήματα καὶ γενῶν αἴσχη καὶ διαστροφάς τινας ἐν οἴκοις ἀλλοτρίοις καὶ πλημμελείας πολυπραγμονοῦντες, τῶν πρώτων ἀναμιμνησκέτωσαν ἑαυτοὺς ὅτι χάριν καὶ ὄνησιν οὐδεμίαν ἤνεγκε.

[¶2] 11. The greatest factor, however, in ridding ourselves of this affliction is the habit of beginning early to train and teach ourselves to acquire this self-control. It is, in fact, by habituation that the disease has come to increase, advancing, as it does, little by little. How this habit is acquired, we shall learn when we discuss the proper training. So first let us begin with the most trifling and unimportant matters. What difficulty is there about refraining from reading the inscriptions on tombs as we journey along the roads? Or what is there arduous in just glancing at the writing on walls when we take our walks? We have only to remind ourselves that nothing useful or pleasant has been written there: merely so-and-so “commemorates” so-and-so “wishing him well,” and someone else is the “best of friends,” and much twaddle of this sort. It may seem that no harm will come from reading these, but harm you it does by imperceptibly instilling the practice of searching out matters which do not concern you. And as hunters do not allow young hounds to turn aside and follow every scent, but pull them up and check them with the leash, keeping their sense of smell pure and untainted for their proper task in order that it may keep more keenly to the trail, “With nostrils tracking down the paths of beasts;” so one should be careful to do away with or divert to useful ends the sallies and wanderings of the busybody, directed as they are to everything that one may see and hear. For as eagles and lions draw in their claws when they walk so that they may not wear off the sharpness of the tips, so, if we consider that curiosity for learning has also a sharp and keen edge, let us not waste or blunt it upon matters of no value.

> Greek: 11. μέγιστον μέντοι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πάθους ἀποτροπὴν ὁ ἐθισμός, ἐὰν πόρρωθεν ἀρξάμενοι γυμνάζωμεν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ διδάσκωμεν ἐπὶ ταύτην τὴν ἐγκράτειαν· καὶ γὰρ ἡ αὔξησις ἔθει γέγονε, τοῦ νοσήματος κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς τὸ πρόσω χωροῦντος· ὃν δὲ τρόπον, εἰσόμεθα περὶ τῆς ἀσκήσεως ὁμοῦ διαλεγόμενοι. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τῶν βραχυτάτων καὶ φαυλοτάτων ἀρξώμεθα. τί γὰρ χαλεπόν ἐστιν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς τὰς ἐπὶ τῶν τάφων ἐπιγραφὰς μὴ ἀναγιγνώσκειν, ἢ τί δυσχερὲς ἐν τοῖς περιπάτοις τὰ κατὰ τῶν τοίχων γράμματα τῇ ὄψει παρατρέχειν, ὑποβάλλοντας αὑτοῖς ὅτι χρήσιμον οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἐπιτερπὲς ἐν τούτοις γέγραπται· ἀλλʼ ἐμνήσθη ὁ δεῖνα τοῦ δεῖνος ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ καὶ φίλων ἄριστος ὅδε τις, καὶ πολλὰ τοιαύτης γέμοντα φλυαρίας· ἃ δοκεῖ μὲν οὐ βλάπτειν ἀναγιγνωσκόμενα, βλάπτει δὲ λεληθότως τῷ μελέτην παρεμποιεῖν τοῦ ζητεῖν τὰ μὴ προσήκοντα; καὶ καθάπερ οἱ κυνηγοὶ τοὺς σκύλακας οὐκ ἐῶσιν ἐκτρέπεσθαι καὶ διώκειν πᾶσαν ὀδμήν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ῥυτῆρσιν ἕλκουσι καὶ ἀνακρούουσι, καθαρὸν αὐτῶν φυλάττοντες καὶ ἄκρατον τὸ αἰσθητήριον ἐπὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον, ἵνʼ εὐτονώτερον ἐμφύηται τοῖς ἴχνεσι πέλματα θηρείων μελέων μυκτῆρσιν ἐρευνῶν· οὕτω δεῖ τὰς ἐπὶ πᾶν θέαμα καὶ πᾶν ἄκουσμα τοῦ πολυπράγμονος ἐκδρομὰς καὶ περιπλανήσεις ἀφαιρεῖν καὶ ἀντισπᾶν ἐπὶ τὰ χρήσιμα φυλάττοντας. ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ ἀετοὶ καὶ οἱ λέοντες ἐν τῷ περιπατεῖν συστρέφουσιν εἴσω τοὺς ὄνυχας, ἵνα μὴ τὴν ἀκμὴν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ὀξύτητα κατατρίβωσιν, οὕτω τὸ πολύπραγμον τοῦ φιλομαθοῦς ἀκμήν τινα καὶ στόμωμα νομίζοντες ἔχειν καταναλίσκωμεν ἐν τοῖς ἀχρήστοις μηδʼ ἀπαμβλύνωμεν.

[¶3] 12. In the second place, then, let us accustom ourselves not to look inside when we pass another’s door, nor with our curious gaze to clutch, as it were by main force, at what is happening within, but let us ever keep ready for use the saying of Xenocrates, that it makes no difference whether it is the feet or the eyes that we set within another’s house; for what the eyes behold is neither just nor honourable, and not even pleasant. “Unsightly, stranger, are the things within,” since the greater part of what we see inside is of this sort-kitchen utensils lying about and servant-girls sitting in idleness, and nothing important or pleasurable. And this practice of throwing sidelong and furtive glances, distorting the soul as it does, is shameful, and the habit it implants is depraved. For instance, when Diogenes saw the Olympic victor Dioxippus making his triumphal entry in his chariot and unable to tear his eyes away from a beautiful woman who was among the spectators of the procession, but continually turning around and throwing side-glances in her direction, “Do you see,” said the Cynic, “how a slip of a girl gets a strangle-hold on our athlete?” And you may observe how every kind of spectacle alike gets a strangle-hold on busybodies and twists their necks round when they once acquire a habit and practice of scattering their glances in all directions. But, as I think, the faculty of vision should not be spinning about outside of us, like an ill-trained servant girl, but when it is sent on an errand by the soul it should quickly reach its destination and deliver its message, then return again in good order within the governance of the reason and heed its command. But as it is, the words of Sophocles come true:
Then the Aenianian’s hard-mouthed yearlings break
From his control and bolt;
that is, the senses which have not received what we called above right instruction and training run away, dragging the intellect with them, and often plunge it into deep disaster. Consequently, though that story about Democritus is false, that he deliberately destroyed his sight by fixing his eyes on a red-hot mirror and allowing its heat to be reflected on his sight, in order that his eyes might not repeatedly summon his intellect outside and disturb it, but might allow his mind to remain inside at home and occupy itself with pure thinking, blocking up as it were windows which open on the street; yet nothing is more true than this, that those who make most use of the intellect make fewest calls upon the senses. We observe, for instance, that men have built their sanctuaries of the Muses far from cities and that they have called night “kindly” from a belief that its quiet and absence of distraction is greatly conducive to the investigation and solution of the problems in hand.

> Greek: 12. δεύτερον τοίνυν ἐθιζώμεθα θύραν παριόντες ἀλλοτρίαν μὴ βλέπειν εἴσω μηδὲ τῶν ἐντὸς ἐπιδράττεσθαι τῇ ὄψει καθάπερ χειρὶ τῇ περιεργίᾳ, ἀλλὰ τὸ τοῦ Ξενοκράτους ἔχωμεν πρόχειρον, ὃς ἔφη μηδὲν διαφέρειν τοὺς πόδας ἢ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς εἰς ἀλλοτρίαν οἰκίαν τιθέναι· οὔτε γὰρ δίκαιον οὔτε καλόν, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἡδὺ τὸ θέαμα. δύσμορφα μέντοι τἄνδον εἰσιδεῖν, ξένε· τὰ γὰρ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις, σκευάρια κείμενα καὶ θεραπαινίδια καθεζόμενα καὶ σπουδαῖον οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἐπιτερπές. ἡ δὲ συνδιαστρέφουσα τὴν ψυχὴν παράβλεψις αὕτη καὶ παρατόξευσις αἰσχρὰ καὶ τὸ ἔθος μοχθηρόν· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Διογένης θεασάμενος εἰσελαύνοντα τὸν ὀλυμπιονίκην Διώξιππον ἐφʼ ἅρματος, καὶ γυναικὸς εὐμόρφου θεωμένης τὴν πομπὴν ἀποσπάσαι τὰς ὄψεις μὴ δυνάμενον ἀλλʼ ὑποβλέποντα καὶ παρεπιστρεφόμενον, ὁρᾶτʼ εἶπε τὸν ἀθλητὴν ὑπὸ παιδισκαρίου τραχηλιζόμενον τοὺς δὲ πολυπράγμονας ἴδοις ἂν ὑπὸ παντὸς ὁμοίως θεάματος τραχηλιζομένους καὶ περιαγομένους, ὅταν ἔθος καὶ μελέτη γένηται τῆς ὄψεως αὐτοῖς πανταχοῦ διαφορουμένης δεῖ δʼ, ὡς οἶμαι, μὴ καθάπερ θεράπαιναν ἀνάγωγον ἔξω ῥέμβεσθαι τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλʼ ἀποπεμπομένην ὑπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπὶ· τὰ πράγματα συντυγχάνειν αὐτοῖς ταχὺ καὶ διαγγέλλειν· εἶτα πάλιν κοσμίως ἐντὸς εἶναι τοῦ λογισμοῦ καὶ προσέχειν αὐτῷ. νῦν δὲ συμβαίνει τὸ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους
ἔπειτα δʼ Αἰνιᾶνος ἀνδρὸς ἄστομοι
πῶλοι φοροῦσιν
αἱ μὴ τυχοῦσαι παιδαγωγίας ὥσπερ ἐλέγομεν ὀρθῆς μηδʼ ἀσκήσεως αἰσθήσεις προεκτρέχουσαι καὶ συνεφελκόμεναι πολλάκις εἰς ἃ μὴ δεῖ καταβάλλουσι τὴν διάνοιαν. ὅθεν ἐκεῖνο μὲν ψεῦδός ἐστι, τὸ Δημόκριτον ἑκουσίως σβέσαι τὰς ὄψεις ἀπερεισάμενον εἰς ἔσοπτρον πυρωθέν, καὶ τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ἀνάκλασιν δεξάμενον, ὅπως μὴ παρέχωσι θόρυβον τὴν διάνοιαν ἔξω καλοῦσαι πολλάκις, ἀλλʼ ἐῶσιν ἔνδον οἰκουρεῖν καὶ διατρίβειν πρὸς τοῖς νοητοῖς, ὥσπερ παρόδιοι θυρίδες ἐμφραγεῖσαι· τοῦτο μέντοι παντὸς μᾶλλον ἀληθές ἐστιν, ὅτι τὴν αἴσθησιν ὀλίγα κινοῦσιν οἱ πλεῖστα τῇ διανοίᾳ χρώμενοι. καὶ γὰρ τὰ μουσεῖα πορρωτάτω τῶν πόλεων ἱδρύσαντο, καὶ τὴν νύκτα προσεῖπον εὐφρόνην μέγα πρὸς εὕρεσιν τῶν ζητουμένων καὶ σκέψιν ἡγούμενοι τὴν ἡσυχίαν καὶ τὸ ἀπερίσπαστον.

[¶4] 13. Yet truly, neither is this a difficult nor arduous task: when men are reviling and abusing each other in the market-place, not to approach them, or when a crowd is running to see something or other, to remain seated, or, if you are without self-control, to get up and go away. For you will reap no advantage from mixing yourself with busy bodies, whereas you will obtain great benefit from forcibly turning aside your curiosity and curtailing it and training it to obey reason. And after this it is well to make our training more intensive and pass by a theatre where a successful performance is in progress; and, when our friends urge us to see a certain dancer or comedian, to thrust them aside; and, when shouts are heard on the racecourse or in the circus, not to turn round. For as Socrates used to advise the avoidance of such foods as tempt us to eat when we are not hungry and such drinks as tempt us to imbibe when we are not thirsty, so we also should avoid and guard against such sights and sounds as master and attract us without fulfilling any need of ours. Thus Cyrus was unwilling to see Pantheia; and when Araspes declared that the woman’s beauty was worth seeing, Cyrus said, “Then this is all the more reason for keeping away from her. For if, persuaded by you, I should go to her, perhaps she herself might tempt me, when I couldn’t spare the time, to go to see her again and sit by her, to the neglect of many important matters.” So too Alexander would not go to see Darius’s wife who was said to be very beautiful, but although he visited her mother, an elderly woman, he could not bring himself to see the young and beautiful daughter. Yet we peep into women’s litters and hang about their windows, and think we are doing nothing wrong in thus making our curiosity prone to slip and slide into all kinds of vice.

> Greek: 13. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδʼ ἐκεῖνο χαλεπὸν καὶ δύσκολον, ἀνθρώπων λοιδορουμένων ἐν ἀγορᾷ καὶ κακῶς λεγόντων ἀλλήλους μὴ προσελθεῖν· ἢ συνδρομῆς ἐπὶ τι πλειόνων γενομένης μεῖναι καθήμενον· ἐὰν δʼ ἀκρατῶς ἔχῃς, ἀπελθεῖν ἀναστάντα χρηστοῦ μὲν γὰρ οὐδενὸς τοῖς πολυπραγμονοῦσιν ἀναμίξας σεαυτὸν ἀπολαύσεις, μεγάλα δʼ ὠφεληθήσῃ τὸ πολύπραγμον ἀποστρέψας βίᾳ καὶ κολούσας ὑπακούειν τῷ λογισμῷ συνεθιζόμενον. ἐκ δὲ τούτου μᾶλλον ἐπιτείνοντα τὴν ἄσκησιν ὀρθῶς ἔχει καὶ θέατρον ἀκροάματος εὐημεροῦντος παρελθεῖν, καὶ φίλους ἐπʼ ὀρχηστοῦ τινος ἢ κωμῳδοῦ θέαν παραλαμβάνοντας διώσασθαι, καὶ βοῆς ἐν σταδίῳ γενομένης ἢ ἱπποδρόμῳ μὴ ἐπιστραφῆναι. καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ Σωκράτης παρῄνει φυλάττεσθαι τῶν βρωμάτων ὅσα μὴ πεινῶντας ἐσθίειν ἀναπείθει, καὶ τῶν πωμάτων ὅσα πίνειν μὴ διψῶντας· οὕτω χρὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς τῶν θεαμάτων καὶ ἀκουσμάτων φυλάττεσθαι καὶ φεύγειν ὅσα κρατεῖ καὶ προσάγεται τοὺς μηδὲν δεομένους. ὁ δὲ Κῦρος οὐκ ἐβούλετο τὴν Πάνθειαν ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Ἀράσπου λέγοντος ὡς ἄξιον θέας εἴη τὸ τῆς γυναικὸς εἶδος, οὐκοῦν ἔφη διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον αὐτῆς ἀφεκτέον· εἰ γὰρ ὑπὸ σοῦ πεισθεὶς ἀφικοίμην πρὸς αὐτήν, ἴσως ἄν με πάλιν ἀναπείσειεν αὐτὴ καὶ μὴ σχολάζοντα φοιτᾶν θεᾶσθαι τε καὶ παρακαθῆσθαι προέμενον πολλὰ τῶν σπουδῆς ἀξίων ὁμοίως οὐδʼ Ἀλέξανδρος εἰς ὄψιν ἦλθε τῆς Δαρείου γυναικὸς ἐκπρεπεστάτης εἶναι λεγομένης· ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα φοιτῶν αὐτῆς πρεσβῦτιν οὖσαν, οὐχ ὑπέμεινε τὴν νέαν καὶ καλὴν ἰδεῖν. ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῖς φορείοις τῶν γυναικῶν ὑποβάλλοντες τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ τῶν θυρίδων ἐκκρεμαννύντες, οὐδὲν ἁμαρτάνειν δοκοῦμεν οὕτως ὀλισθηρὰν καὶ ῥευστὴν εἰς ἅπαντα τὴν πολυπραγμοσύνην ποιοῦντες.

[¶5] 14. Since, therefore, for the attainment of justice you may sometimes forgo an honest gain that you may accustom yourself to keep clear of dishonest profit, so likewise, for the attainment of continence, you may sometimes keep aloof from your own wife in order that you may never be stirred by another’s. Then apply this habit to inquisitiveness and endeavour sometimes not to hear or see some of the things that concern you, and when someone wishes to tell you something that has happened in your house, put him off and refuse to hear words that are supposed to have been spoken about you. It was, in fact, curiosity which involved Oedipus in the greatest calamities. Believing that he was no Corinthian, but a foreigner, and seeking to discover his identity, he encountered Laïus; and when he had killed Laïus and had taken, in addition to the throne, his own mother to wife, though seeming to all to be blessed by fortune, he began again to try to discover his identity. And although his wife attempted to prevent him, all the more vigorously did he cross-examine the old man who knew the truth, bringing every form of compulsion to bear. And at last, when circumstances were already bringing him to suspect the truth and the old man cried out, “Alas! I stand on the dread brink of speech,” Oedipus was none the less so inflamed and maddened by his affliction that he replied, “And I of hearing, and yet hear I must;” so bitter-sweet, so uncontrollable is the itching of curiosity, like the itching of a sore which gets bloody whenever we scratch it. But the man who has got rid of this disease and is gentle by nature will say, if he is ignorant of something unpleasant,
Forgetfulness of evil, sovereign queen,
How wise you are!

> Greek: 14. ἔστι τοίνυν καὶ πρὸς δικαιοσύνην ἄσκησις, ὑπερβῆναί ποτε λῆμμα δίκαιον, ἵνα πόρρω τῶν ἀδίκων ἐθίσῃς σεαυτὸν εἶναι· καὶ πρὸς σωφροσύνην ὁμοίως, ἀποσχέσθαι ποτὲ γυναικὸς ἰδίας, ἵνα μηδέποτε κινηθῇς ὑπʼ ἀλλοτρίας. τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἔθος ἐπάγων τῇ πολυπραγμοσύνῃ πειρῶ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἔνια παρακοῦσαί ποτε καὶ παριδεῖν καί, βουλομένου τινὸς ἀγγεῖλαί τι τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας, ὑπερβαλέσθαι, καὶ λόγους περὶ σοῦ λελέχθαι δοκοῦντας ἀπώσασθαι. καὶ γὰρ τὸν Οἰδίποδα τοῖς μεγίστοις κακοῖς ἡ περιεργία περιέβαλε· ζητῶν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ὡς οὐκ ὄντα Κορίνθιον ἀλλὰ ξένον, ἀπήντησε τῷ Λαΐῳ, καὶ τοῦτον ἀνελὼν καὶ τὴν μητέρα λαβὼν ἐπὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ γυναῖκα καὶ δοκῶν εἶναι μακάριος πάλιν ἑαυτὸν ἐζήτει. καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς οὐκ ἐώσης, ἔτι μᾶλλον ἤλεγχε τὸν συνειδότα γέροντα, πᾶσαν προσφέρων ἀνάγκην. τέλος δὲ τοῦ πράγματος ἢδη περιφέροντος αὐτὸν τῇ ὑπονοίᾳ καὶ τοῦ γέροντος ἀναβοήσαντος οἴμοι πρὸς αὐτῷ γʼ εἰμὶ τῷ δεινῷ λέγειν, ὅμως ἐξημμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους καὶ σφαδᾴζων ἀποκρίνεται κἄγωγʼ ἀκούειν· ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἀκουστέον. οὕτω τίς ἐστι γλυκύπικρος καὶ ἀκατάσχετος ὁ τῆς πολυπραγμοσύνης γαργαλισμός, ὥσπερ ἕλκος αἱμάσσων ἑαυτόν, ὅταν ἀμύσσηται. ὁ δʼ ἀπηλλαγμένος τῆς νόσου ταύτης καὶ φύσει πρᾶος, ἀγνοήσας τι τῶν δυσχερῶν εἴποι ἄν ὦ πότνια λήθη τῶν κακῶν, ὡς εἶ σοφή.

[¶6] 15. We must, therefore, also habituate ourselves to things like these: when a letter is brought to us, not to open it quickly or in a hurry, as most people do, who go so far as to bite through the fastenings with their teeth if their hands are too slow; when a messenger arrives from somewhere or other, not to rush up, or even to rise to our feet; when a friend says, “I have something new to tell you,” to say, “I should prefer that you had something useful or profitable.” When I was once lecturing in Rome, that famous Rusticus, whom Domitian later killed through envy at his repute, was among my hearers, and a soldier came through the audience and delivered to him a letter from the emperor. There was a silence and I, too, made a pause, that he might read his letter; but he refused and did not break the seal until I had finished my lecture and the audience had dispersed. Because of this incident everyone admired the dignity of the man. But when one nourishes his curiosity upon permissible material until he renders it vigorous and violent, he is no longer able to master it easily, since it is borne, by force of habit, toward forbidden things. And such persons pry into their friends’ correspondence, thrust themselves into secret meetings, become spectators of sacred rites which it is an impiety for them to see, tread consecrated ground, investigate the deeds and words of kings.

> Greek: 15. διὸ καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα συνεθιστέον αὑτούς, ἐπιστολὴν κομισθεῖσαν μὴ ταχὺ μηδὲ κατεσπευσμένως λῦσαι, καθάπερ οἱ πολλοὶ ποιοῦσιν, ἂν αἱ χεῖρες βραδύνωσι, τοῖς ὀδοῦσι τοὺς δεσμοὺς διαβιβρώσκοντες· ἀγγέλου ποθὲν ἥκοντος, μὴ προσδραμεῖν μηδʼ ἐξαναστῆναι· φίλου τινὸς εἰπόντος ἔχω σοί τι καινὸν εἰπεῖν πρᾶγμα μᾶλλον, εἴ τι χρήσιμον ἔχεις ὠφέλιμον. ἐμοῦ ποτʼ ἐν Ῥώμῃ διαλεγομένου, Ῥούστικος ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ὕστερον ἀπέκτεινε Δομετιανὸς τῇ δόξῃ φθονήσας, ἠκροᾶτο, καὶ διὰ μέσου στρατιώτης παρελθὼν ἐπιστολὴν αὐτῷ Καίσαρος ἐπέδωκε· γενομένης δὲ σιωπῆς κἀμοῦ διαλιπόντος, ὅπως ἀναγνῷ τὴν ἐπιστολήν, οὐκ ἠθέλησεν οὐδʼ ἔλυσε πρότερον ἢ διεξελθεῖν ἐμὲ τὸν λόγον καὶ διαλυθῆναι τὸ ἀκροατήριον ἐφʼ ᾧ πάντες ἐθαύμασαν τὸ βάρος τἀνδρός. ὅταν δέ τις οἷς ἔξεστι τρέφων τὸ πολύπραγμον, ἰσχυρὸν ἀπεργάσηται καὶ βίαιον, οὐκέτι ῥᾳδίως, πρὸς ἃ κεκώλυται φερομένου διὰ συνήθειαν, κρατεῖν δυνατός ἐστιν· ἀλλʼ ἐπιστόλια παραλύουσιν οὗτοι φίλων, συνεδρίοις ἀπορρήτοις ἑαυτοὺς παρεμβάλλουσιν, ἱερῶν, ἃ μὴ θέμις ὁρᾶν, γίγνονται θεαταί, τόπους ἀβάτους πατοῦσι, πράγματα καὶ λόγους βασιλικοὺς ἀνερευνῶσι.

[¶7] 16. And yet surely in the case of despots, who have to know everything, it is the tribe of socalled “Ears” and “Jackals” that makes them most detested. It was Darius Nothus, who had no confidence in himself and regarded everyone with fear and suspicion, who first instituted “Listeners”; and “Jackals” were distributed by the Dionysii among the people of Syracuse. Consequently when the revolution came, these were the first persons whom the Syracusans arrested and crushed to death. And in fact the tribe of informers is from the same clan and family as busy bodies. But while informers search to see whether anyone has planned or committed a misdemeanour, busy bodies investigate and make public even the involuntary mischances of their neighbours. And it is said that the person called aliterios first acquired his name from being a busybody. For it appears that when there was a severe famine at Athens and those who possessed wheat would not contribute it to the common stock, but ground it in their houses secretly by night, some persons went about listening for the noise of the. mills, and so acquired the name aliterioi. It was in the same way, they say, that the sycophant won his name. Since the export of figs was prohibited, men who revealed and gave information against those who did export them were called sycophants. So it is well worth the while of busybodies to consider this fact also, that they may be ashamed of the resemblance and relationship of their own practice to that of persons who are very cordially hated and loathed.

> Greek: 16. καίτοι γε τοὺς τυράννους, οἷς ἀνάγκη πάντα γιγνώσκειν, ἐπαχθεστάτους ποιεῖ τὸ τῶν λεγομένων ὤτων καὶ προσαγωγέων γένος. ὠτακουστὰς μὲν οὖν πρῶτος ἔσχεν ὁ νέος Δαρεῖος ἀπιστῶν ἑαυτῷ καὶ πάντας ὑφορώμενος καὶ δεδοικώς· τοὺς δὲ προσαγωγίδας οἱ Διονύσιοι τοῖς Συρακοσίοις κατέμιξαν· ὅθεν ἐν τῇ μεταβολῇ τῶν πραγμάτων τούτους πρώτους οἱ Συρακόσιοι συλλαμβάνοντες ἀπετυμπάνιζον. καὶ γὰρ τὸ τῶν συκοφαντῶν γένος ἐκ τῆς τῶν πολυπραγμόνων φρατρίας καὶ ἑστίας ἐστίν. ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν συκοφάνται ζητοῦσιν, εἴ τις ἢ βεβούλευται κακὸν ἢ πεποίηκεν· οἱ δὲ πολυπράγμονες καὶ τὰς ἀβουλήτους ἀτυχίας τῶν πέλας ἐλέγχοντες εἰς μέσον ἐκφέρουσι. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀλιτήριον ἐκ φιλοπραγμοσύνης κατονομασθῆναι τὸ πρῶτον· λιμοῦ γὰρ ὡς ἔοικεν Ἀθηναίοις ἰσχυροῦ γενομένου, καὶ τῶν ἐχόντων πυρὸν εἰς μέσον οὐ φερόντων ἀλλὰ κρύφα καὶ νύκτωρ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ἀλούντων, περιιόντες ἐτήρουν τῶν μύλων τὸν ψόφον εἶτʼ ἀλιτήριοι προσηγορεύθησαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῷ συκοφάντῃ τοὔνομα γεγενῆσθαι· κεκωλυμένου γὰρ ἐκφέρειν τὰ σῦκα, μηνύοντες καὶ φαίνοντες τοὺς ἐξάγοντας ἐκλήθησαν συκοφάνται. καὶ τοῦτʼ οὖν οὐκ ἄχρηστόν ἐστιν ἐννοεῖν τοὺς πολυπράγμονας, ὅπως αἰσχύνωνται τὴν πρὸς τοὺς μισουμένους μάλιστα καὶ δυσχεραινομένους ὁμοιότητα καὶ συγγένειαν τοῦ ἐπιτηδεύματος.