Labour

Use in the book

Socrates asks whether the lover of exercise desires anything beyond what will make his body well. The cultured lover accepts the end and then treats many labors as its means. When challenged, he asks how anyone could become well from few. This answer reveals an unexamined opposition: if little is insufficient, much must be best.

The athlete supplies a third possibility, measured exertion. Socrates then explicitly asks for agreement that neither many nor few labors, but moderate ones, put bodies in good condition. The conclusion is not that “less exercise is better,” and it would be misleading to summarize the scene as a victory for laziness over work. The required measure depends on the end and, as the next question establishes, on relevant expertise.

The cultured lover’s concession matters because he has accepted the analogy and expressly repeated its equation. He cannot easily preserve the claim that sheer quantity constitutes philosophy while admitting that quantity does not constitute the corresponding good pursuit in bodily training. The analogy remains contestable: bodily dosage and intellectual learning need not operate identically. The dialogue records the agreement that they do for purposes of this test; the reader can examine the transfer rather than assume it is self-proving.

Later, the lover praises the generalist for not laboring at one thing to the point of precision. That reprise changes the educational issue from total quantity to distribution of effort. The first lesson about measure has been adopted, but its appropriate use has not yet been settled.

Places to read

1. 133eτὴν πολυπονίαν φιλογυμναστίαν ἡγῇ εἶναι; — Socrates asks whether much labor is identical with love of exercise.
2. 134bμήτε πολλοὺς μήτε ὀλίγους πόνους — Both many and few labors are excluded as sufficient descriptions of what benefits.
3. 134cτὰ μέτρια γυμνάσια — The concession concerns moderate exercises.

Translation in this edition

The Key Words pairs “much labor” with “much learning” and preserves “labors” for ponoi. The English thus keeps the formal resemblance that makes Socrates’ analogy visible. It translates gymnasia as “exercises” at 134c and “in exercises” at 133e, avoiding an unnecessary shift from activity to architecture. These are argumentative examples, not prescriptions for a modern exercise program.

Use in the book

Acquisitive labour expands without conclusion when every gain merely authorizes another demand. The stories of conquerors in I.22 expose activity that postpones rest indefinitely. I.23 sharpens the irony: those who struggle for invented satisfactions pass by gifts already available without price.

Traherne nevertheless does not advocate a wholly effortless life. The unknown felicity toward which desire presses is worthy of labour; indeed other projects derive their worth from serving it. The proper contrast is between labour that obscures the end and labour that discovers and cultivates it. Reading, examining, and learning to esteem what is near can be demanding even when the treasures themselves are freely bestowed.

Places to read

1. I.22Endless acquisition yields further toil rather than the promised rest.
2. I.23Misguided labour leaves freely available satisfactions behind.
3. III.56Felicity alone supplies the final end worthy of sustained labour.

In this edition

Free gifts and necessary effort are not alternatives in the argument. The gift is unpurchased; the appreciative life may require diligent formation.