---
title: "On Exile · De exilio"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "John Patrick, rev. William W. Goodwin"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 2 of 2
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-on-exile/2/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. John Patrick, rev. William W. Goodwin, On Exile · De exilio, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-on-exile/2/"
---

# On Exile · De exilio

*Plutarch, tr. John Patrick, rev. William W. Goodwin*

A consolation for a friend driven from his city: the whole world is our country.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg110, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: John Patrick, rev. William W. Goodwin, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg110.perseus-eng2). 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 11–17

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

[¶0] 11. When Zeno was told that the only ship he had remaining was cast away at sea with all her lading, he replied: Well done Fortune, that hast reduced me to the habit and life of a philosopher. And, indeed, a man that is not puffed up with conceit nor madly in love with a crowd will not, I suppose, have any reason to accuse Fortune for constraining him to live in an island, but will rather commend her for removing so much anxiety and agitation of his mind, for putting a stop to his rambles in foreign countries, to his dangers at sea, and the noise and tumult of the exchange, and for giving him a fixed, vacant, undisturbed life, such a life as he may truly call his own, describing as it were a circle about him, in which is contained the use of all things necessary. For what island is there that has not a horse, a walk, and a bath in it; that has not fishes and hares for such as delight in hunting and angling and such like sports? But the chiefest of all is, that the quiet which others thirst so much after thou commonly mayst have here without seeking. For those that are gamesters at dice, shutting up themselves at home, there are sycophants and busy spies that hunt them out, and prosecute them from their houses of pleasure and gardens in the suburbs, and hale them by violence before the judges or the court. But none sails to an island to give a man any disturbance, no petitioner, no borrower, no urger to suretyship, no one that comes to beg his voice when he stands candidate for an office; only the best friends and familiars, out of good-will and desire to see him, may come over thither; and the rest of his life is safe and inviolable to him, if he has the will and the skill to live at case. But he that cries up the happiness of those that run about in other countries, or spend the most of their life in inns and passage-boats, is no wiser than he is that thinks the planets in a better estate than the fixed stars. And yet every planet rolling about in its proper sphere, as in an island, keeps its order. For the sun never transgresses its limited measures, as Heraclitus says; if it did do so, the Furies, which are the attendants of Justice, would find it out and punish it.

> Greek: 11. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ζήνων, πυθόμενος ἣν ἔτι λοιπὴν εἶχε ναῦν μετὰ τῶν φορτίων καταπεπομένην ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης, εὖγʼ εἶπεν ὦ τύχη, ποιεῖς, εἰς τρίβωνα καὶ βίον φιλόσοφον συνελαύνουσʼ ἡμᾶς. ἀνὴρ δὲ μὴ τετυφωμένος παντάπασι μηδʼ ὀχλομανῶν οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι τὴν τύχην μέμψαιτο συνελαυνόμενος εἰς νῆσον, ἀλλʼ ἐπαινέσειεν ὅτι τὸν πολὺν ἄλυν καὶ ῥέμβον ἑαυτοῦ καὶ πλάνας ἐν ἀποδημίαις καὶ κινδύνους ἐν θαλάσσῃ καὶ θορύβους ἐν ἀγορᾷ περιελοῦσα, μόνιμον καὶ σχολαῖον καὶ ἀπερίσπαστον καὶ ἴδιον βίον ὡς ἀληθῶς δίδωσι, κέντρῳ καὶ διαστήματι περιγράψασα τὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων χρείαν. ποία γὰρ νῆσος οἰκίαν οὐκ ἔχει περίπατον λουτρὸν ἰχθῦς λαγωοὺς ἄγρᾳ καὶ παιδιᾷ χρῆσθαι βουλομένοις; τὸ μέγιστον, ἡσυχίας, ἧς διψῶσιν ἕτεροι, σοὶ πολλάκις τυχεῖν ἔνεστιν ἀλλὰ πεττεύοντας καὶ ἀποκρυπτομένους οἴκοι συκοφάνται καὶ πολυπράγμονες ἐξιχνεύοντες καὶ διώκοντες ἐκ τῶν προαστείων καὶ τῶν κήπων εἰς ἀγορὰν καὶ εἰς αὐλὴν βίᾳ κατάγουσιν· εἰς δὲ νῆσον οὐκ ἐνοχλῶν τις οὐκ αἰτῶν οὐ δανειζόμενος οὐκ ἐγγυήσασθαι παρακαλῶν οὐ συναρχαιρεσιάσαι, διʼ εὔνοιαν δὲ καὶ πόθον οἱ βέλτιστοι τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ οἰκείων πλέουσιν· ὁ δʼ ἄλλος βίος ἄσυλος καὶ ἱερὸς ἀνεῖται τῷ βουλομένῳ καὶ μεμαθηκότι σχολάζειν. ὁ δὲ τοὺς περιτρέχοντας ἔξω καὶ τοῦ βίου τὸ πλεῖστον ἐν πανδοκείοις καὶ πορθμείοις ἀναλίσκοντας εὐδαιμονίζων, ὅμοιός ἐστι τῷ τοὺς πλάνητας οἰομένῳ τῶν ἀπλανῶν ἀστέρων πράττειν ἄμεινον· καίτοι τῶν πλανήτων ἕκαστος ἐν μιᾷ σφαίρᾳ καθάπερ ἐν νήσῳ περιπολῶν διαφυλάττει τὴν τάξιν ἥλιος γὰρ οὐχ ὑπερβήσεται τὰ μέτρα φησὶν ὁ Ἡράκλειτος· εἰ δὲ μή, Ἐρινύες μιν Δίκης ἐπίκουροι ἐξευρήσουσιν.

[¶1] 12. These things, my friend, and such like we say and sing to those who, by being banished into an island, have no correspondence or commerce with other people,
Hindered by waves of the surrounding deep,
Which many ’gainst their mind close prisoners keep.
But as for thee, who art not assigned to one place only, but forbidden only to live in one, the prohibiting thee one is the giving thee leave to dwell anywhere else besides. If on one hand it is urged thus against you: You are in no office, you are not of the senate, nor preside as moderator at the public games, you may oppose on the other hand thus: We head no factions, we make no expensive treats, nor give long attendance at the governor’s gates; we care not at all who is chosen into our province, though he be choleric or unsufferably vexatious. But just as Archilochus disparaged the island of Thasos because of its asperity and inequality in some places, overlooking its fruitful fields and vineyards, saying thus of it,
Like ridge of ass’s back it stood,
Full of wild plants, for nothing good;
so we, whilst we pore upon one part of banishment which is ignominious, overlook its vacancy from business, and that leisure and freedom it affords us. Men admired the happiness of the Persian kings, that passed their winter in Babylon, their summer in Media, and the pleasant spring-time at Susa. And he that is an exile may, if he pleases, when the mysteries of Ceres are celebrated, go and live at Eleusis; and he may keep the feasts of Bacchus at Argos; at the time of the Pythian games, he may pass over to Delphi, and of the Isthmian, to Corinth, if public spectacles and shows are the things he admires; if not, then he may be idle, or walk, or read, or sleep quietly; and you may add that privilege Diogenes bragged of when he said, “Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases,” having no business, no magistrate, no prefect to interrupt and disturb his customary way of living.

> Greek: 12. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν, ὦ φίλε, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πρὸς ἐκείνους λέγωμεν κἀκείνοις ἐπᾴδωμεν, οἷς εἰς νῆσον ἀπῳκισμένοις ἀνεπίμικτα ποιεῖ τἄλλα; πόντος ἁλὸς, ὃ πολεῖς ἀέκοντας ἐρύκει· σοὶ δʼ οὐχ ἑνὸς δεδομένου μόνον, ἀλλʼ ἀπειρημένου τόπου, πασῶν ἐστιν ἐξουσία πόλεων ἡ μιᾶς κώλυσις. ἀλλὰ μὴν τῷ οὐκ ἄρχομεν οὐδὲ βουλεύομεν οὐδʼ ἀγωνοθετοῦμεν ἀντίθες τὸ οὐ στασιάζομεν οὐδʼ ἀναλίσκομεν οὐδὲ προσηρτήμεθα θύραις ἡγεμόνος· οὐδὲν οὖν μέλει ἡμῖν, ὅστις ὁ κεκληρωμένος τὴν ἐπαρχίαν ἐστίν, εἰ ἀκράχολος εἰ ἐπαχθής. ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς, καθάπερ Ἀρχίλοχος τῆς Θάσου τὰ καρποφόρα καὶ οἰνόπεδα παρορῶν, διὰ τὸ τραχὺ καὶ ἀνώμαλον διέβαλε τὴν νῆσον εἰπών
ἣδε δʼ ὥστʼ ὄνου ῥάχις
ἕστηκεν ὕλης; ἀγρίας ἐπιστεφής,
οὕτω τῆς φυγῆς πρὸς ἓν μέρος τὸ ἄδοξον ἐντεινόμενοι παρορῶμεν τὴν ἀπραγμοσύνην καὶ τὴν σχολὴν καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. καίτοι τούς γε Περσῶν βασιλέας ἐμακάριζον ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τὸν χειμῶνα διάγοντας, ἐν δὲ Μηδίᾳ τὸ θέρος, ἐν δὲ Σούσοις τὸ ἥδιστον τοῦ ἔαρος. ἔξεστι δήπου καὶ τῷ, μεθεστῶτι μυστηρίοις ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι διατρίβειν Διονυσίοις ἐν Ἀθήναις, Ὀλύμπιʼ ἐν Πίσῃ Νέμεʼ ἐν Ἄργει πανηγυρίζειν, Πυθίων ἀγομένων εἰς Δελφοὺς παρελθεῖν, Ἰσθμίων εἰς Κόρινθον, ἄνπερ ᾖ φιλοθέωρος· εἰ δὲ μή, σχολὴ περίπατος ἀνάγνωσις ὕπνος ἀθορύβητος· τὸ τοῦ Διογένους Ἀριστοτέλης ἀριστᾷ, ὅταν δοκῇ Φιλίππῳ, Διογένης, ὅταν Διογένει μήτε πραγματείας μήτʼ ἄρχοντος μήθʼ ἡγεμόνος τὴν συνήθη δίαιταν περισπῶντος.

[¶2] 13. For this reason, you will find that very few of the most prudent and wise men were buried in their own country, but the most of them, when none forced them to it, weighed anchor and steered their course to live in another port, removing some to Athens, and others from it. Who ever gave a greater encomium of his own country than Euripides in the following verses?
We are all of this country’s native race,
Not brought-in strangers from another place,
As some, like dice hither and thither thrown,
Remove in haste from this to t’other town.
And, if a woman may have leave to boast,
A temperate air breathes here in every coast;
We neither curse summer’s immoderate heat,
Nor yet complain the winter’s cold’s too great.
If aught there be that noble Greece doth yield,
Or Asia rich, by river or by field,
We seek it out and bring it to our doors.
And yet he that wrote all this went himself into Macedonia, and passed the rest of his days in the court of Archelaus. I suppose you have also heard of this short epigram:
Here lieth buried Aeschylus, the son
Of the Athenian Euphorion;
In Sicily his latest breath did yield,
And buried lies by Gela’s fruitful field.
For both he and Simonides before him went into Sicily. And whereas we meet with this title, “This publication of the History of Herodotus of Halicarnassus,” many have changed it into Herodotus of Thurii, for he dwelt at Thurii, and was a member of that colony. And that sacred and divine poet Homer, that adorned the Trojan war,—why was he a controversy to so many cities (every one pleading he was theirs) but because he did not cry up any one of them to the disparagement of the rest? Many also and great are the honors that are paid to Jupiter Hospitalis.

> Greek: 13. διὰ τοῦτο τῶν φρονιμωτάτων καὶ σοφωτάτων ὀλίγους ἂν εὕροις ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν πατρίσι κεκηδευμένους, οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι μηδενὸς ἀναγκάζοντος αὐτοὶ τὸ ἀγκύριον ἀράμενοι μεθωρμίσαντο τοὺς βίους καὶ μετέστησαν οἱ μὲν εἰς Ἀθήνας οἱ δʼ ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν. τίς γὰρ εἴρηκε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδος ἐγκώμιον τοιοῦτον, οἷον Εὐριπίδης;
ᾗ πρῶτα μὲν λεὼς οὐκ ἐπακτὸς ἄλλοθεν,
αὐτόχθονες δʼ ἔφυμεν· αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι πόλεις
πεσσῶν ὁμοίως διαφορηθεῖσαι βολαῖς,
ἄλλαι παρʼ ἄλλων εἰσὶν εἰσαγώγιμοι.
εἰ δὲ πάρεργον χρή τι κομπάσαι, γύναι,
οὐρανὸν ὑπὲρ γῆς ἔχομεν εὖ κεκραμένον
ἵνʼ οὔτʼ ἄγαν πῦρ οὔτε χεῖμα συμπίτνει.
ἃ δʼ Ἑλλὰς Ἀσία τʼ ἐκτρέφει κάλλιστα γῆς,
δέλεαρ ἔχοντες τήνδε συνθηρεύομεν
ἀλλʼ ὁ ταῦτα γράψας εἰς Μακεδονίαν ᾤχετο καὶ παρʼ Ἀρχελάῳ κατεβίωσεν. ἀκήκοας δὲ δήπου καὶ τουτὶ τοὐπιγραμμάτιον
Αἰσχύλον Εὐφορίωνος Ἀθηναῖον τόδε κεύθει
μνῆμα καταφθίμενον πυροφόροιο Γέλας
καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος εἰς Σικελίαν ἀπῆρε καὶ Σιμωνίδης πρότερον. τὸ δʼ Ἡροδότου Ἁλικαρνησέος ἱστορίης ἀπόδεξις ἥδε πολλοὶ μεταγράφουσιν ʽ Ἡροδότου Θουρίοὐ· μετῴκησε γὰρ εἰς Θουρίους καὶ τῆς ἀποικίας ἐκείνης μετέσχε. τὸ δʼ ἱερὸν καὶ δαιμόνιον ἐν μούσαις πνεῦμα, Φρυγίας κοσμήτορα μάχας Ὅμηρον, οὐ τοῦτο πεποίηκε πολλαῖς ἀμφισβητήσιμον πόλεσιν, ὅτι μὴ μιᾶς ἐστιν ἐγκωμιαστής; καὶ ξενίου Διὸς πολλαὶ τιμαὶ καὶ μεγάλαι.

[¶3] 14. If any one object, that these men hunted ambitiously after glory and honor, let him go to the philosophers and the schools and nurseries of wisdom at Athens, those in the Lyceum, the Academy, the Stoa, the Palladium, the Odeum. If he admires and prefers the Peripatetic philosophy before the rest, Aristotle was a native of Stagira, Theophrastus of Ephesus, Straton of Lampsacus, Glycon of Troas, Ariston of Ceus, Critolaus of Phaselis. If thou art for the Stoic philosophy, Zeno was of Citium, Cleanthes of Assus, Chrysippus of Soli, Diogenes of Babylon, Antipater of Tarsus, and Archedemus who was of Athens went over to the Parthians, and left a succession of Stoic philosophers in Babylon. And who, I pray, persecuted and chased these men out of their country? Nobody at all; but they pursued their own quiet, which men cannot easily enjoy at home that are in any reputation or have any power; other things they taught us by what they said, but this by what they (lid. For even now the most approved and excellent persons live abroad out of their own country, not being transported, but departing voluntarily, not being driven thence, but flying from business and from the disquiets and molestations which they are sure to meet with at home. It seems to me that the Muses helped the ancient writers to finish their choicest and most approved compositions, by calling in, as it were, banishment to their assistance. Thucydides the Athenian wrote the Peloponnesian and Athenian War in Thrace, hard by the forest of Scapte; Xenophon wrote his history in Scillus belonging to Elis; Philistus in Epirus, Timaeus of Tauromenum at Athens, Androtion the Athenian in Megara, Bacchylides the poet in Peloponnesus. These and many more, after they had lost their country, did not lose all hope nor were dejected in their minds, but took occasion thereupon to express the vivacity of their spirit and the dexterity of their wit, receiving their banishment at the hands of Fortune as a viaticum that she had sent them; whereby they became renowned everywhere after death, whereas there is no remaining mention of those factious persons that expelled them.

> Greek: 14. εἰ δὲ φήσει τις ὅτι δόξαν οὗτοι καὶ τιμὰς ἐθήρευον, ἐπὶ τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐλθὲ καὶ τὰς· σοφὰς Ἀθήνησι σχολὰς καὶ διατριβάς· ἀναπέμπασαι τὰς ἐν Λυκείῳ τὰς ἐν Ἀκαδημείᾳ, τὴν Στοὰν τὸ Παλλάδιον τὸ Ὠδεῖον. εἰ τὴν Περιπατητικὴν ἀσπάζῃ μάλιστα καὶ τεθαύμακας, Ἀριστοτέλης ἦν ἐκ Σταγείρων, Θεόφραστος ἐξ Ἐρέσου, Στράτων ἐκ Λαμψάκου, Γλύκων ἐκ Τρωάδος, Ἀρίστων ἐκ Κέω, Κριτόλαος Φασηλίτης· εἰ τὴν Στωικήν, Ζήνων Κιτιεύς, Κλεάνθης Ἄσσιος, Χρύσιππος Σολεύς, Διογένης Βαβυλώνιος, Ἀντίπατρος Ταρσεύς· ὁ δʼ Ἀθηναῖος Ἀρχέδημος εἰς τὴν Πάρθων μεταστὰς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι Στωικὴν διαδοχὴν ἀπέλιπε. τίς οὖν τούτους ἐδίωξεν; οὐδείς· ἀλλʼ αὐτοὶ διώκοντες ἡσυχίαν, ἧς οὐ πάνυ μέτεστιν οἴκοι τοῖς ἡντιναοῦν δόξαν ἢ δύναμιν ἔχουσι, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα λόγοις τοῦτο δʼ ἔργοις ἡμᾶς διδάσκουσι. καὶ γὰρ νῦν οἱ δοκιμώτατοι καὶ κράτιστοι ζῶσιν ἐπὶ ξένης, οὐ μετασταθέντες ἀλλὰ μεταστάντες, οὐδὲ φυγαδευθέντες ἀλλὰ φυγόντες αὐτοὶ πράγματα καὶ περισπασμοὺς καὶ ἀσχολίας, ἃς αἱ πατρίδες φέρουσι. καὶ γὰρ τοῖς παλαιοῖς; ὡς ἔοικεν αἱ Μοῦσαι τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν συνταγμάτων καὶ δοκιμώτατα φυγὴν λαβοῦσαι συνεργὸν ἐπετέλεσαν. Θουκυδίδης Ἀθηναῖος συνέγραψε τὸν πόλεμον τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων ἐν Θρᾴκῃ περὶ τὴν Σκαπτὴν ὕλην· Ξενοφῶν ἐν Σκιλλοῦντι τῆς Ἠλείας, Φίλιστος ἐν Ἠπείρῳ, Τίμαιος ὁ Ταυρομενίτης ἐν Ἀθήναις, Ἀνδροτίων Ἀθηναῖος ἐν Μεγάροις, Βακχυλίδης ὁ ποιητὴς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ, πάντες οὗτοι καὶ πλείονες ἄλλοι τῶν πατρίδων ἐκπεσόντες οὐκ ἀπέγνωσαν οὐδʼ ἔρριψαν ἑαυτούς, ἀλλʼ ἐχρήσαντο ταῖς εὐφυΐαις ἐφόδιον παρὰ τῆς τύχης τὴν φυγὴν λαβόντες, διʼ ἣν πανταχοῦ καὶ τεθνηκότες μνημονεύονται· τῶν δʼ ἐκβαλόντων καὶ καταστασιασάντων οὐδὲ εἷς λόγος οὐδενὸς ἀπολέλειπται.

[¶4] 15. He therefore is ridiculous that looks upon it as an ignominious thing to be banished. For what is it that thou sayest? Was Diogenes ignominious, when Alexander, who saw him sitting and sunning himself, came and asked him whether he wanted any thing, and he answered him, that he lacked nothing but that he would go a little aside and not stand in his light? The king, admiring the presence of his mind, turned to his followers and said: If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes. Was Camillus inglorious because he was expelled Rome, considering he has got the reputation of being its second founder? Neither did Themistocles by his banishment lose any of the renown he had gained in Greece, but added to it that which he had acquired among the barbarians; neither is there any so without all sense of honor, or of such an abject mind, that had not rather be Themistocles the banished, than Leobates that indicted him; or be Cicero that had the same fate, than Clodius that expelled him Rome; or be Timotheus that abandoned his country, than Aristophon that was his accuser.

> Greek: 15. διὸ καὶ γελοῖός ἐστιν ὁ νομίζων ἀδοξίαν τῇ φυγῇ προσεῖναι. τί λέγεις; ἄδοξός; ἐστι Διογένης ὃν ἰδὼν Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν ἡλίῳ καθήμενον ἐπιστὰς ἠρώτησεν, εἴ τινος δεῖται· τοῦ δὲ μηδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ σμικρὸν ἀποσκοτίσαι κελεύσαντος, ἐκπλαγεὶς τὸ φρόνημα πρὸς τοὺς φίλους εἶπεν εἰ μὴ Ἀλέξανδρος ἤμην, Διογένης; ἂν ἤμην; ἠδόξει δὲ Κάμιλλος ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης ἐλαυνόμενος, ἧς δεύτερος κτίστης νῦν ἀναγορεύεται; καὶ μὴν Θεμιστοκλῆς οὐ τὴν ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησι δόξαν φυγὼν ἀπέβαλεν ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς βαρβάροις προσέλαβε· καὶ οὐδείς ἐστιν οὕτως ἀφιλότιμος οὐδʼ ἀγεννής, ὃς μᾶλλον ἂν ἐβούλετο Λεωβάτης ὁ γραψάμενος ἢ Θεμιστοκλῆς ὁ φυγαδευθεὶς εἶναι, καὶ Κλώδιος ὁ ἐκβαλὼν ἢ Κικέρων ὁ ἐκβληθείς, καὶ Ἀριστοφῶν ὁ κατηγορήσας ἢ Τιμόθεος ὁ μεταστὰς ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος.

[¶5] 16. But because the words of Euripides move many, who seems to frame a heavy charge against banishment and to urge it home, let us see what he says more particularly in his questions and answers about it.
JOCASTA. But is’t so sad one’s country to forego,
And live in exile? Pray, son, let me know.
POL. Some ills when told are great, when tried are less;
But this is saddest felt, though sad t’ express.
JOC. What is’t, I pray, afflicts the banished most?
POL. That liberty to speak one’s mind is lost.
JOC. He is indeed a slave that dares not utter
His thoughts, nor ’gainst his cruel masters mutter.
POL. But all their insolencies must o’erpass,
And bear their follies tamely like an ass.
These assertions of his are neither good nor true. For first, not to speak what one thinks is not a piece of slavery; but it is the part of a prudent man to hold one’s peace and be silent when time and the circumstances of affairs require it; as he himself says better elsewhere, that a wise man knows
Both when it’s best no tongue to find,
And when it’s safe to speak his mind.
Again, as for the rudeness and insolency of such as have power in their hands, they that stay in their country are no less forced to bear and endure it than those that are driven out of it; nay, commonly the former stand more in fear of false informations and the violence of unjust rulers in cities than the latter. But his greatest mistake and absurdity is his taking away all freedom of speech from exiles. It is wonderful indeed if Theodorus had no freedom of this kind, who,—when King Lysimachus said to him: Thou being such a criminal, the country cast thee forth, did it not?—replied: Yes, not being able to bear me; just as Semele cast out Bacchus, when she could bear him no longer. And when the king showed him Telesphorus in an iron cage, with his eyes digged out of their holes, his nose and ears and tongue cut off, and said: So I deal with those that injure me, he was not abashed. What! did not Diogenes retain his wonted freedom of speaking, who coming into King Philip’s camp, when he was going to give the Grecians battle, was brought before him for a spy; and confessed that he was so, but that he came to take a view of his unsatiable greediness of empire and of his madness and folly who was going in the short time of a fight to throw a die for his crown and life? And what say you to Hannibal the Carthaginian? Did not he use a convenient freedom towards Antiochus (he at that time an exile, and the other a king), when upon an advantageous occasion he advised him to give his enemies battle? He, when he had sacrificed, told him the entrails forbade it. Hannibal sharply rebuked him thus: You are for doing what the flesh of a beast, not what the reason of a wise man, adviseth. Neither does banishment deprive geometricians or mathematicians of the liberty of discoursing freely concerning matters they know and have skill in; and why should any worthy or good man be denied it? But meanness of thought obstructs and hinders the voice, strangles the power of speech, and makes a man a mute. But let us see what follows from Euripides:
JOC. Upon good hopes exiles can thrive, they say.
POL. Hopes have fine looks, but kill one with delay.
This is also an accusation of men’s folly rather than of banishment; for it is not the well instructed and those that know how to use what they have aright, but such as depend upon what is to come and desire what they have not, that are carried and tossed up and down by hopes, as in a floating vessel, though they have scarce ever stirred beyond the gates of their own city. But to go on:
JOC. Did not your father’s friends aid your distress?
POL. Take care to thrive; for if you once are poor,
Those you call friends will know you then no more.
JOC. Did not your high birth stand you in some stead?
POL. It’s sad to want, for honor buys no bread.
These also are ungrateful speeches of Polynices, who accuses banishment as casting disparagement upon noble birth and leaving a man without friends, who yet because of his high birth was thought worthy, though an exile, to have a king’s daughter given him in marriage, and also by the powerful assistance of his friends gathered such an army as to make war against his own country, as he confesses himself a little after:
Many a famous Grecian peer
And captain from Mycenae here
’In readiness t’ assist me tarry;
Sad service ’tis, but necessary.
Neither are the words of his lamenting mother any wiser:
No nuptial torch at all I lighted have
To thee, as doth a wedding-feast beseem;
No marriage-song was sung; nor thee to lave
Was water brought from fair Ismenus’ stream.
She ought to have been well pleased and rejoiced when she heard that her son dwelt in such kingly palaces; but, whilst she laments that the nuptial torch was not lighted, and the want of waters from Ismenus’s river for him to have bathed in (as if people at Argos were destitute both of fire and water at their weddings), she makes those evils, which her own conceit and folly produced, to be the effects of banishment.

> Greek: 16. ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ πολλοὺς τὰ τοῦ Εὐριπίδου κινεῖ δυνατῶς τῆς φυγῆς κατηγορεῖν δοκοῦντος, ἴδωμεν ἃ λέγει καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐρωτῶν καὶ ἀποκρινόμενος·
ταῦτα πρώτως οὐκ ὀρθῶς οὐδʼ ἀληθῶς ἀξιοῦται. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οὐ δούλου τὸ μὴ λέγειν ἅ τις φρονεῖ, ἀλλὰ νοῦν ἔχοντος ἀνδρὸς ἐν καιροῖς καὶ πράγμασιν ἐχεμυθίας; καὶ σιωπῆς δεομένοις, ὥσπερ αὐτὸς ἀλλαχόθι βέλτιον εἴρηκε σιγᾶν θʼ ὅπου δεῖ καὶ λέγειν ἵνʼ ἀσφαλές. ἔπειτα τὴν τῶν κρατούντων ἀμαθίαν οὐχ ἧττον οἴκοι μένοντας ἢ φεύγοντας ἀνάγκη φέρειν· ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον πολλάκις οἱ μένοντες τῶν ἀπαλλαγέντων τοὺς ἰσχύοντας ἐν πόλεσιν ἀδίκως τῷ συκοφαντεῖν ἢ βιάζεσθαι δεδίασι, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον καὶ ἀτοπώτατον, εἰ παρρησίαν τῶν φυγάδων ἀφαιρεῖται· θαυμαστὸν γάρ, εἰ Θεόδωρος ἀπαρρησίαστος ἦν, ὅς, Λυσιμάχου τοῦ βασιλέως εἰπόντος πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ πατρίς σε τοιοῦτον ὄντʼ ἐξέβαλε, ναί εἶπε μὴ δυναμένη φέρειν ὥσπερ ἡ Σεμέλη τὸν Διόνυσον. ἐπιδείξαντος δʼ αὐτῷ Τελεσφόρον ἐν γαλεάγρᾳ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξορωρυγμένον καὶ περικεκομμένον τὴν ῥῖνα καὶ τὰ ὦτα καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν ἐκτετμημένον, καὶ εἰπόντος οὕτως ἐγὼ διατίθημι τοὺς κακῶς με ποιοῦντας· τί δὲ Θεοδώρῳ μέλει, ἔφη, πότερον ὑπὲρ γῆς ἢ ὑπὸ γῆς σήπεται; τί δέ; Διογένης οὐκ εἶχε παρρησίαν, ὃς εἰς τὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου στρατόπεδον παρελθών, ὁπηνίκα μαχούμενος ἐχώρει τοῖς Ἕλλησι, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναχθεὶς ὡς; κατάσκοπος, ναί, κατάσκοπος ἔφη τῆς ἀπληστίας ἀφῖχθαι αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀφροσύνης, ἥκοντος ἐν βραχεῖ καιρῷ διακυβεῦσαι περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἅμα καὶ τοῦ σώματος; τί δέ; Ἀννίβας ὁ Καρχηδόνιος οὐκ ἐχρῆτο παρρησίᾳ πρὸς Ἀντίοχον βασιλέα ὄντα φυγὰς ὤν, ὁπηνίκα καιροῦ διδόντος ἐκέλευεν αὐτὸν ἐπιχειρεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις τοῦ δὲ θυσαμένου καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα κωλύειν φάσκοντος, ἐπετίμησεν εἰπών σὺ τί κρέας λέγει σκοπεῖς, οὐ τί νοῦν ἔχων ἄνθρωπος; ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ γεωμετρῶν φυγὴ παρρησίαν οὐδὲ γραμμικῶν ἀφαιρεῖται, περὶ ὧν ἴσασι καὶ μεμαθήκασι διαλεγομένων πόθεν γε δὴ καλῶν κἀγαθῶν ἀνθρώπων; ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀγεννὲς πανταχοῦ τὴν φωνὴν ἐμφράττει, τὴν γλῶσσαν ἀποστρέφει, ἄγχει, σιωπᾶν ποιεῖ. τὰ δʼ ἑξῆς τοῦ Εὐριπίδου ποῖὰ τινʼ ἐστίν;
καὶ τοῦτο τῆς ἀβελτερίας ἔγκλημα μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς φυγῆς ἐστιν. οὐ γὰρ οἱ μαθόντες οὐδʼ ἐπιστάμενοι χρῆσθαι τοῖς παροῦσιν, ἀλλʼ οἱ ἀεὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐκκρεμάμενοι καὶ γλιχόμενοι τῶν ἀπόντων ὡς ἐπὶ σχεδίας διαφέρονται τῆς ἐλπίδος, κἂν μηδέποτε τοῦ τείχους ἐκτὸς προέλθωσι.
ταῦτʼ ἢδη καὶ ἀχάριστα τοῦ Πολυνείκους, ἀτιμίαν μὲν εὐγενείας ἀφιλίαν δὲ τῆς φυγῆς κατηγοροῦντος, ὃς διὰ τὴν εὐγένειαν ἠξιώθη μὲν φυγὰς ὢν γάμων βασιλικῶν, φίλων δὲ συμμαχίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει τοσαύτῃ πεφραγμένος ἐστράτευσεν, ὡς αὐτὸς μετὰ μικρὸν ὁμολογεῖ
πολλοὶ δὲ Δαναῶν καὶ Μυκηναίων ἄκροι
πάρεισι, λυπρὰν χάριν ἀναγκαίαν δʼ ἐμοὶ
διδόντες.
ὅμοια δὲ καὶ τὰ τῆς μητρὸς ὀλοφυρομένης·
ἐγὼ δέ σοι οὔτε πῦρ ἀνῆψα
γόνιμον ἐν γάμοις,
ἀνυμέναια δʼ Ἰσμηνὸς ἐκηδεύθη
λουτροφόρου χλιδᾶς·.
ταύτην ἔδει χαίρειν καὶ ἀγαπᾶν πυνθανομένην ναίοντα βασίλεια τηλικαῦτα τὸν υἱόν· ἡ δὲ θρηνοῦσα τὴν οὐκ ἀναφθεῖσαν λαμπάδα καὶ τὸν οὐ παρασχόντα λουτρὸν Ἰσμηνόν, ὡς ἐν Ἄργει μήθʼ ὕδωρ τῶν γαμούντων μήτε πῦρ ἐχόντων, τὰ τοῦ τύφου κακὰ καὶ τῆς ἀβελτερίας τῇ φυγῇ περιτίθησιν.

[¶6] 17. But is it not then an ignominious thing to be an exile? Yes, it is among fools, with whom it is a reproach to be poor, to be bald, or of low stature, and (with as much reason) to be a stranger or a pilgrim. But they that do not fall into these mistakes admire good men, though they happen to be poor or strangers or in exile. Do not we see the temple of Theseus venerated by all men, as well as the Parthenon and Eleusinium? And yet Theseus was banished from Athens, by whose means it is at this time inhabited; and lost his abode in that city, which he did not hold as a tenant, but himself built. And what remarkable thing is there remaining in Eleusis, if we are ashamed of Eumolpus, who coming thither from Thrace initiated the Greeks, and still does so, in the mysteries of religion? And whose son was Codrus, that reigned at Athens, but of that Melanthus who was banished from Messene? Will you not commend that speech of Antisthenes, who, when one said to him, Phrygia is thy mother, replied, She was also the mother of the Gods? And if any one reproach thee with thy banishment, why canst not thou answer, that the father of the great conqueror Hercules was an exile? And so was Cadmus the grandfather of Bacchus, who, being sent abroad in search for Europa, did return no more:
Sprung from Phoenicia, to Thebes he came;
Thebes to his grandson Bacchus lays a claim,
Who there inspires with rage the female rout,
That worship him by running mad about.
As for those things which Aeschylus obscurely insinuates in that expression of his, “And of Apollo, chaste God, banished heaven,” I’ll favor my tongue, as Herodotus phrases it, and say nothing. Empedocles, when he prefaces to his philosophy thus,—
This old decree of fate unchanged stands,—
Whoso with horrid crimes defiles his hands,
To long-lived Daemons this commission’s given
To chase him many ages out of heaven.
Into this sad condition I am hurled,
Banished from God to wander through the world,—
does not here only point at himself; but in what he says of himself he shows the condition of us all, that we are pilgrims and strangers and exiles here in this world. For know, says he, O men, that it is not blood nor a spirit tempered with it that gave being and beginning to the soul, but it is your terrestrial and mortal body that is made up of these. And by the soft name of pilgrimage, he insinuates the origin of the soul, that comes hither from another place. And the truth is, she flies and wanders up and down, being driven by the divine decrees and laws; and afterwards, as in an island surrounded with a great sea, as Plato speaks, she is tied and linked to the body, just like an oyster to its shell, and because she is not able to remember nor relate,
From what a vast and high degree
Of honor and felicity
she has removed,—not from Sardis to Athens, not from Corinth to Lemnos or Scyros, but having changed heaven and the moon for earth and an earthly life,—if she is forced to make little removes here from place to place, the soul hereupon is ill at ease and troubled at her new and strange state, and hangs her head like a decaying plant. And indeed some one country is found to be more agreeable to a plant than another, in which it thrives and flourishes better; but no place can deprive a man of his happiness, unless he pleases, no more than of his virtue and prudence. For Anaxagoras wrote his book of the Squaring of a Circle in prison; and Socrates, just when he was going to drink the poison that killed him, discoursed of philosophy, and exhorted his friends to the study of it; who then admired him as a happy man. But Phaëton and Tantalus, though they mounted up to heaven, yet, the poets tell us, through their folly fell into the extremest calamities.

> Greek: 17. ἀλλʼ ἐπονείδιστον ὁ φυγάς ἐστι; παρά γε τοῖς ἄφροσιν, οἳ καὶ τὸν πτωχὸν λοιδόρημα ποιοῦνται καὶ τὸν φαλακρὸν καὶ τὸν μικρόν, καὶ νὴ Δία τὸν ξένον καὶ τὸν μέτοικον. ἀλλὰ μὴν οἱ μὴ τούτοις ὑποφερόμενοι θαυμάζουσι τοὺς ἀγαθούς, κἂν πένητες ὦσι κἂν ξένοι κἂν φυγάδες. ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁρῶμεν, ὥσπερ τὸν Παρθενῶνα καὶ τὸ Ἐλευσίνιον, οὕτω καὶ τὸ Θησεῖον ἅπαντας προσκυνοῦντας; καὶ μὴν ἔφυγε Θησεὺς ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν, διʼ ὃν ἥκουσι νῦν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἄνθρωποι, καὶ πόλιν ἀπέβαλεν ἣν οὐκ ἔσχεν ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε. τῇ δʼ Ἐλευσῖνι τί λείπεται καλόν, ἂν αἰσχυνώμεθα τὸν Εὔμολπον, ὃς ἐκ Θρᾴκης μεταστὰς ἐμύησε καὶ μυεῖ τοὺς Ἕλληνας; Κόδρος δὲ τίνος ὢν ἐβασίλευσεν; οὐ Μελάνθου φυγάδος ἐκ Μεσσήνης; τὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀντισθένους οὐκ ἐπαινεῖς πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα ὅτι Φρυγία σού ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ; καὶ γὰρ ἡ τῶν θεῶν τί οὖν οὐ καὶ σὺ λοιδορούμενος φυγὰς ἀποκρίνῃ καὶ γὰρ ὁ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους τοῦ καλλινίκου πατὴρ φυγὰς ἦν, καὶ ὁ τοῦ Διονύσου πάππος, ὡς ἐξεπέμφθη τὴν Εὐρώπην ἀνευρεῖν, οὐδʼ αὐτὸς ἐπανῆλθε Φοίνιξ πεφυκώς, ἐκ· δʼ ὁρίζεται γένος,ʼ εἰς τὰς Θήβας παραγενόμενος, εὔιον ὀρσιγύναικα Διόνυσον μαινομέναις ἀνθέοντα τιμαῖς; καὶ περὶ μὲν ὧν Αἰσχύλος ᾐνίξατο καὶ ὑπεδήλωσεν εἰπών ἁγνόν τʼ Ἀπόλλω φυγάδʼ ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ θεόν εὔστομά μοι κείσθω καθʼ Ἡρόδοτον· ὁ δʼ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς φιλοσοφίας προαναφωνήσας
ἔστιν ἀνάγκης χρῆμα, θεῶν ψήφισμα παλαιόν,
εὖτὲ τις ἀμπλακίῃσι φόνῳ φίλα γυῖα μιήνῃ,
δαίμονες οἵ τε μακραίωνος λελόγχασι βίοιο·
τρίς μιν μυρίας ὥρας ἀπὸ μακάρων ἀλάλησθαι.
τὴν καὶ ἐγὼ νῦν εἶμι φυγὰς θεόθεν καὶ ἀλήτης·
οὐχ ἑαυτόν, ἀλλʼ ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ πάντας ἀποδείκνυσι μετανάστας ἐνταῦθα καὶ ξένους καὶ φυγάδας ἡμᾶς ὄντας. οὐ γὰρ αἷμα, φησίν, ἡμῖν οὐδὲ πνεῦμα συγκραθέν, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, ψυχῆς οὐσίαν καὶ ἀρχὴν παρέσχεν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τούτων τὸ σῶμα συμπέπλασται γηγενὲς καὶ θνητόν· τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ἀλλαχόθεν ἡκούσης δεῦρο, τὴν γένεσιν ἀποδημίαν ὑποκορίζεται τῷ πραοτάτῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων· τὸ δʼ ἀληθέστατον, φεύγει καὶ πλανᾶται θείοις ἐλαυνομένη δόγμασι καὶ νόμοις· εἶθʼ, ὥσπερ ἐν νήσῳ σάλον ἐχούσῃ πολύν, καθάπερ φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων, ὀστρέου τρόπον ἐνδεδεμένη τῷ σώματι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀναφέρειν μηδὲ μνημονεύειν ἐξ οἵης τιμῆς τε καὶ ὅσσου μήκεος ὄλβου μεθέστηκεν, οὐ Σάρδεων Ἀθήνας οὐδὲ Κορίνθου Λῆμνον ἢ Σκῦρον ἀλλʼ οὐρανοῦ καὶ σελήνης γῆν ἀμειψαμένη καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ γῆς βίον, ἐὰν μικρὸν ἐνταῦθα τόπον ἐκ τόπου παραλλάξῃ, δυσανασχετεῖ καὶ ξενοπαθεῖ, καθάπερ φυτὸν ἀγεννὲς ἀπομαραινομένη. καίτοι φυτῷ μὲν ἔστι τις χώρα μᾶλλον ἑτέρας ἑτέρα πρόσφορος, ἐν ᾗ τρέφεται καὶ βλαστάνει βέλτιον· ἀνθρώπου δʼ οὐδεὶς ἀφαιρεῖται τόπος εὐδαιμονίαν, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ ἀρετὴν οὐδὲ φρόνησιν, ἀλλʼ Ἀναξαγόρας μὲν ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὸν τοῦ κύκλου τετραγωνισμὸν ἔγραφε, Σωκράτης δὲ φάρμακον πίνων ἐφιλοσόφει καὶ παρεκάλει φιλοσοφεῖν τοὺς συνήθεις, εὐδαιμονιζόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτῶν· τὸν δὲ Φαέθοντα καὶ τὸν Τάνταλον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβάντας οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσι ταῖς μεγίσταις συμφοραῖς περιπεσεῖν διὰ τὴν ἀφροσύνην.