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Book II Chapter 9

Chapter 9

That no one is bad willingly.⁹¹⁵

Democritus

From the very same things from which good things come to us, we might also reap bad things; yet we might keep clear of the bad things.⁹¹⁶ For example, deep water is useful for many purposes and, again, harmful, since there is a danger of drowning. A means was therefore found: teaching people to swim.⁹¹⁷

The same author

Bad things grow for human beings out of good things whenever someone does not know how to guide and handle the good things skillfully.⁹¹⁸ It is ⟨therefore⟩ not right to reckon such things among the bad, but among the good. Yet good things can also be used for bad ends, if anyone should wish to.⁹¹⁹

⟨The same author⟩

The person of cheerful mind who turns to just and lawful deeds rejoices both waking and dreaming, is in good condition, and is free from care.⁹²⁰ But for anyone who disregards justice and fails to do what he ought, all such things are joyless; whenever he recollects clearly, he is afraid and reproaches himself.⁹²¹

⟨The same author⟩

The gods give human beings all good things, now as in the past, apart from whatever is bad, harmful, and useless.⁹²² Neither in the past nor now do the gods bestow these things on human beings; people themselves come upon them through blindness of mind and lack of judgment.⁹²³

⟨The same author⟩

Fortune is lavish in gifts but unreliable; nature is self-sufficient.⁹²⁴ Thus, with what is less but secure, nature prevails over the greater amount held out by hope.⁹²⁵

Eusebius

According to what is told, two roads of life, which God revealed to humankind from the beginning, lie before human souls, plain to sight. At first they are separated from one another by an adamantine wall, very thick and rising to a great height.⁹²⁶ One, having received the more honored position, lies on the right of those entering: this leads them to virtue. The other lies on the left and sends them toward vice. They are said to be as follows.⁹²⁷

Eusebius continued

The road of virtue seems at first to offer no easy passage, yet it can be traversed by successful toil; it also has guides who ⟨would⟩ conduct travelers safely.⁹²⁸ After that it is a straight and broad road, as far as the one leading to the citadel of the noble itself. Having ascended to it, you will be among the most beautiful things and ⟨in⟩ contemplation of countless other goods of the greatest blessedness, and also of light, surpassing all other light by an immeasurable beauty and supremely radiant.⁹²⁹

Eusebius continued

Around it, across all the land spread out, are the cities and those who inhabit and work the land. Reason, sent ahead to meet the souls, will tell how matters stand with each of them. Such, then, is this road.⁹³⁰

Eusebius continued

But the road leading to vice offers at its beginning a taste of something pleasant, very little of it, and even this is not genuine but deceptive, meant to lead those approaching astray.⁹³¹ After this, with no guide to be found, it leads straight onto a crooked road with sharp, large stakes driven closely together, and gullies and precipices that hurl those who encounter them headlong down toward the river below. This runs with mud and stones and will engulf and sweep away those cast down into it, so that many are immediately destroyed in this way.⁹³²

Eusebius continued

The rest, by chance rather than their own forethought, are scattered in different directions toward the cities there and throughout the whole extensive country. The messenger already mentioned will report on these too.⁹³³ Such being the roads, the previously mentioned Reason leads the way and stands in the middle—the great god’s herald ⟨and⟩ counselor, ⟨who⟩ makes the following proclamation to the souls about to descend:⁹³⁴

915.Ἑκών means willing or acting voluntarily; πονηρός here is bad or morally base. The heading frames the collection that follows, whose excerpts approach harmful conduct, judgment, and responsibility in different ways. This is Chapter 9 in Wachsmuth, numbered 8 in the Gaisford and Meineke editions named at its opening.

916.The words τῶν δὲ κακῶν ἐκτὸς εἴημεν, yet we might keep clear of the bad things, are uncertain. The apparatus questions εἴημεν, we might be, and reports that other editors supposed a gap after it. Wachsmuth prints neither a gap nor a repair in the main text; the English preserves the tentative wording without adding a condition about knowing how to use things.

917.The example distinguishes a thing’s usefulness from the danger it can also present. Μηχανή is a means or contrivance, and Ionic ὦν means therefore. The printed active διδάσκειν is teaching, retained here; the apparatus records a proposed change to learning. Teaching swimming addresses the danger of deep water while leaving its useful properties intact.

918.The attribution continues Democritus. The Greek retains Ionic forms including πιστῆται, knows, and the extended infinitives ποδηγετέειν and ὀχέειν. Guiding and handling render the images of leading and carrying or driving; εὐπόρως adds facility or resourcefulness. The harm is connected with failure in the use of good things.

919.Supplied ⟨ὦν⟩, therefore, remains visible in both languages. The conclusion distinguishes classifying something as good from using it for an evil purpose. The final words retain the possibility of a user wishing to make that harmful use; the chapter heading does not remove this qualification from the excerpt.

920.The supplied heading continues the attribution to Democritus. Εὔθυμος describes a cheerful or settled state of mind; its related noun is εὐθυμία. This excerpt connects that condition with just and lawful conduct. It does not use εὐδαιμονία, happiness, or establish that the two terms are interchangeable.

921.Ἔρρωται is in good condition or vigorous, and νηκηδής is free from care; these characterize the just agent’s state in the fragment. In the final clause, the object of recollection is left unstated. The English preserves the remembering and self-reproach without adding a particular offense.

922.The attribution to the same author is supplied. The opening retains τἀγαθὰ πάντα, all good things, before the exception for evils. The apparatus records a proposed deletion of τἀγαθά, but the English does not simplify the printed sentence into all things.

923.Ἐμπελάζουσι expresses approaching or coming into contact with these evils, here come upon them. The stated cause is νόου τυφλότης, blindness of mind, and ἀγνωμοσύνη, lack of judgment. The contrast assigns the harmful encounter to human intellectual failure rather than to a harmful divine gift.

924.The attribution is supplied. Αὐτάρκης is self-sufficient, in contrast with Fortune’s unreliable generosity. The apparatus proposes adding and stable after self-sufficient, but that addition is not printed here; the assurance is expressed by βεβαίῳ, secure, in the following clause.

925.The printed μέζον is an Ionic form of the comparative μεῖζον, greater. The opposition is between the smaller but secure and the greater that is hoped for. Held out by hope conveys the compressed τῆς ἐλπίδος, of hope, without inserting a proposed grammatical repair.

926.The attribution names Eusebius without identifying a work. The opening presents a reported account, κατὰ τὰ φατιζόμενα. Rejected [κατὰ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐξ ἀρχῆς φήναντος] remains in the Greek but is omitted from the English; the apparatus treats it as a repeated or explanatory addition. The roads are separated at first, τὰ πρῶτα, a qualification retained here.

927.Ἀδαμάντινος describes the wall as made of adamant, an image of extreme hardness; αἱμασιή is a wall or enclosure. The right-hand road receives the more honored position and leads to ἀρετή, virtue; the left-hand road leads to κακίη, vice. The repeated language of what is said frames the ensuing description as an account within the excerpt.

928.The printed εὐτυχέϊ πόνῳ is successful or fortunate toil; the apparatus records proposals to replace the adjective, but the English retains it. The supplied potential particle ⟨ἄν⟩ is represented by ⟨would⟩. Compare Hesiod, Works and Days 287–292, where the road to virtue is initially difficult and becomes easier after the ascent. This is a comparison of the image, not a claim that the present excerpt quotes Hesiod.

929.The phrase μέχρι τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν is compressed: as far as the road leading to the citadel. Αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν is the noble or beautiful itself, here the noble itself. Supplied ⟨ἐν⟩ remains ⟨in⟩, and rejected [καί], and, is omitted from English while remaining in Greek. The final genitive describes light as surpassing all other light in beauty.

930.Λόγος, Reason, is personified within the account. Sent ahead to meet the souls, ἐπὶ συμβολῇ τῶν ψυχέων, he will later address them as a divine messenger, herald, and counselor. The cities and their inhabitants belong to the surrounding landscape; their detailed treatment is deferred to this figure. The next clause turns to the road of vice.

931.The beginning of the road to vice is contrasted with the road to virtue in the preceding units. Its limited pleasure is called οὐ γνήσιον, not genuine, and ἀπατηλόν, deceptive; παραγωγή expresses the misleading of those who approach.

932.The transition ὥστε δέ is awkward, and the apparatus considers repairs or a gap; the English follows the surviving sequence without inserting lost material. The hazards extend the allegorical landscape. Συμψήσοντος describes the river’s engulfing or sweeping away those thrown into it; παρασυρέοντος adds its carrying them along.

933.The surviving travelers are dispersed by τύχη, chance, rather than their own προμηθείη, forethought. The narrative again postpones details about the places and their inhabitants to the messenger’s report; it does not name the cities here.

934.Λόγος is personified as Reason, the messenger already introduced in this continuous excerpt. The Greek places that name after its titles, herald and counselor; English moves it earlier to clarify the subject. Supplied ⟨καί⟩ and ⟨ὃς⟩ are retained as ⟨and⟩ and ⟨who⟩. The direct speech begins in the next unit and continues through II.9.6.8.