their will and power to do kindnesses, the former proceeding
from their goodness, the latter from their prosperity, but
both being blessings. Thus envy is a passion altogether
different from hatred, seeing that what abates the one pains
and exasperates the other.

§ VIII. Let us now look at the intent of each of these
passions. The intent of the person who hates is to do
as much harm as he can, so they define hatred to be a dispo-
sition and intent on the watch for an opportunity to do
harm. But this is altogether foreign to envy.^ For those
who envy their relations and friends would not wish them
to come to ruin, or fall into calamity, but are only annoyed
at their prosperity ; and would hinder, if they could, their
glory and renown, but they would not bring upon them
irremediable misfortunes : they are content to remove, as
in the case of a lofty house, what stands in their light.



HOW ONE CAN PRAISE ONESELF WITHOUT

EXCITING ENVY.

§ I. To speak to other people about one's own impor-
tance or ability, Herculanus, is universally declared to be
tiresome and illiberal, but in fact not many even of those
who censure it avoid its unpleasantness. Thus Euripides,
though he says,

" If words had to be bought by human beings,
No one would wish to trumpet his own praises.
But since one can get words sa?i,s any payment
From lofty ether, everyone delights
In speaking truth or falsehood of himself,
For he can do it with impunity ; "

yet uses much tiresome boasting, intermixing with the
passion and action of his plays irrelevant matter about
himself. Similarly Pindar says, that " to boast unseason-

^ Reading aTrttrnv oXw^. O'l yap (pQovovvrtQ. What can be made of
TToWovQ here ?



316 Plutarch's morals.

ably is to play an accompaniment to madness,"^ yet he
does not cease to talk big about his own merit, which
indeed is well worthy of encomium, who would deny it ?
But those who are crowned in the games leave it to others
to celebrate their victories, to avoid the unpleasantness of
singing their own praises. So we are with justice dis-
gusted at Timotheus" for trumpeting his own glory inele-
gantly and contrary to custom in the inscription for his
victory over Phrynis, " A proud day for you, Timotheus,
was it when the herald cried out, ' The Milesian Timotheus
is victorious over the son of Carbo and his Ionic notes.' "
As Xenophon says, " Praise from others is the pleasantest
thing a man can hear," ^ but to others a man's self-praise is
most nauseous. For first we think those impudent who
praise themselves, since modesty would be becoming even
if they were praised by others ; secondly, we think them
unjust in giving themselves what they ought to receive
from others ; thirdly, if we are silent we seem to be vexed
and to envy them, and if we are afraid of this imputation,
we are obliged to heap praise upon them contrary to our
real opinion, and to bear them out, undertaking a task
more befitting gross flattery than honour.

§ II. And yet, in spite of all this, there are occasions
when a statesman may venture to speak in his own praise,
not to cry up his own glory and merit, but when the time
and matter demand that he should speak the truth about
himself, as he would about another ; especially when it is
mentioned that another has done good and excellent
things,^ there is no need for him to suppress the fact that
he has done as well. For such self-praise bears excellent
fruit, since much more and better praise springs from it as
from seed. For the statesman does not ask for reputation
as a reward or consolation, nor is he merely pleased at its
attending upon his actions, but he values it because credit
and character give him opportunities to do good on a larger
scale. For it is both easy and pleasant to benefit those who

1 Pindar, " Olymp." ix. 57, 58.
^ Mentioned by Paiisanias, iii. 12 ; viii. 50.
"' " Memorabilia," ii. 1.31.

^ Reading as Wyttenbach suggests, juaXtora dt orav XkyTjrai rd a\\y
TTiTrpayfisva sq.



HOW ONE CAN PRAISE ONESELF WITHOUT EXCITING ENVY. 317

believe in us and are friendly to ns, but it is not easy to
act virtuously against suspicion and calumny, and to force
one's benefits on those that reject them. Let us now con-
sider, if there are any other reasons warranting self-praise
in a statesman, what they are, that, while we avoid vain
glory and disgusting other people, we may not omit any
useful kind of self-praise.

§ III, That is vain glory then when men seem to praise
themselves that they may call forth the laudation of
others ; and it is especially despised because it seems to
proceed from ambition and an unseasonable opinion of
oneself. For as those who cannot obtain food are forced
to feed on their own flesh against nature, and that is the
end of famine, so those that hunger after praise, if they get
no one else to praise them, disgrace themselves by their
anxiety to feed their own vanity. But when, not merely
content with praising themselves, they vie with the praise
of others, and pit their own deeds and actions against
theirs, with the intent of outshining them, they add
envy and malignity to their vanity. The proverb teaches
us that to put our foot into another's dance is meddlesome
and ridiculous; we ought equally to be on our guard
against intruding our own panegyric into others' praises
out of envy and spite, nor should we allow others either to
praise us then, but we should make way for those that are
being honoured, if they are worthy of honour, and even if
they seem to us undeserving of honour and worthless, we
ought not to strip them of their praise by self -laudation,
but by direct argument and proof that they are not worthy
of all these encomiums. It is plain then that we ought to
avoid all such conduct as this.

§ IV. But self-praise cannot be blamed, if it is an answer
to some charge or calumny, as those words of Pericles,
" And yet you are angry with such a man as me, a man I
take it inferior to no one either in knowledge of what
should be done, or in ability to point out the same, and a
lover of my country to boot, and superior to bribes." ^ For
not only did he avoid all swagger and vainglory and ambi-
tion in talking thus loftily about himself, but he also exhi-

^ Thucydides, ii. 60.



318 Plutarch's morals.

bited the spirit and greatness of his virtue, which could
abase and crush envy because it could not be abased itself.
For people will hardly condemn such men, for they are
elevated and cheered and inspired by noble self -laudation
such as this, if it have a true basis, as all history testifies.
Thus the Thebans, when their generals were charged with
not returning home, and laying down their office of
Bceotarchs when their time had expired, but instead of
that making inroads into Laconia, and helping Messene,
hardly acquitted Pelopidas, who was submissive and sup-
pliant, but for Epaminondas,^ who gloried in what he had
done, and at last said that he was ready to die, if they
would confess that he had ravaged Laconia, and restored
Messene, and made Arcadia one state, against the will of
the Thebans, they would not pass sentence upon him, but
admired his heroism, and with rejoicing and smiles set him
free. So too we must not altogether find fault with
Sthenelus in Homer saying,

" We boast ourselves fai- better than our fathers,"^
when we remember the words of Agamemnon,

" How now ? thou son of brave horse-taming Tydeus,
Why dost thou crouch for fear, and watch far off
The lines of battle ? How unlike thy father ! " ^

For it was not because he was defamed himself, but he
stood up for his friend* that was abused, the occasion
giving him a reasonable excuse for self-commendation.
So too the Romans were far from pleased at Cicero's
frequently passing encomiums upon himself in the affair
of Catiline, yet when Scipio said they ought not to try him
(Scipio), since he had given them the power to try anybody,
they put on garlands, and accompanied him to the Capitol,
and sacrificed with him. For Cicero was not compelled to
praise himself, but only did so for glory, whereas the
danger in which Scipio stood removed envy from him.

§ V. And not only on one's trial and in danger, but also
in misfortune, is tall talk and boasting more suitable than
in prosperity. For in prosperity people seem to clutch as
it were at glory and enjoy it, and so gratify their ambition ;

^ See Pausanias, ix. 14, 15. ^ Homer, "Iliad," iv. 405.

3 Homer, '' Iliad," iv. 370, 371. * Diomede.



HOW ONE CA.N PRMSE ONESELF WITHOUT EXCITING ENVT. 319

bnt in adversity, being far from ambition owing- to circum-
stances, such self-commendation seems to be a bearing up
and fortifying the spirit against fortune, and an avoidance
altogether of that desire for pity and condolence, and that
humility, which we often find in adversity. As then we
esteem those persons vain and without sense who in walking
hold themselves very erect and with a stiff neck, yet in
boxing or fighting we commend such as hold themselves up
and alert, so the man struggling with adversity, who
stands up straight against his fate, " in fighting posture
like some boxer," ^ and instead of being humble and abject
becomes through his boasting lofty and dignified, seems to
be not offensive and impudent, but great and invincible.
This is why, I suppose, Homer has represented Patroclus
modest and without reproach in prosperity, yet at the
moment of death saying grandiloquently,

" Had twenty warriors fought me such as thou,
All had .succumbed to my victorious spear." ^

And Phocion, though in other respects he was gentle, yet
after his sentence exhibited his greatness of soul to many
others, and notably to one of those that were to die with
him, who was weeping and wailing, to whom he said,
" What ! are you not content to die with Phocion ? "

§ Yi. Not less, but still more, lawful is it for a public
man who is wronged to speak on his own behalf to those
who treat him with ingratitude. Thus Achilles generally
conceded glory to the gods, and modestly used such lan-
guage as,

" If ever Zeus
Shall grant to me to sack Troy's well-built town ; " ^

but when insulted and outraged contrary to his deserts, he
utters in his rage boastful words,

"Alighting from my ships twelve towns I sacked,"'*
and,

" For they will never dare to face my helmet

When it gleams near."^

^ Sophocles. '• Trachinise," 442.

2 Homer, " Iliad," xvi. 847, 848. Plutarch only quotes the first line.
I have added the second for the English reader, as necessary for the
sense.

3 Homer, "' Iliad," i. 128, 129. * " Iliad," ix. 328.
5 "Iliad;' xvi. 70, 71.



320 Plutarch's morals.

For frank outspokenness, when it is part of one's defence,
admits of boasting. It was in this spirit no doubt that
Themistocles, who neither in word nor deed had given any
offence, when he saw the Athenians were tired of him and
treating him with neglect, did not abstain from saying,
" My good sirs, why do you tire of receiving benefits so
frequently at the same hands ? " and^ "When the storm is
on you fly to me for shelter as to a tree, but when fine
weather comes again, then you pass by and strip me of my
leaves."

§ Tii. They then that are wronged generally mention
what they have done well to those who are ungrateful.
And the person who is blamed for what he has done well is
altogether to be pardoned, and not censured, if he passes
encomiums on his own actions : for he is in the position of
one not scolding but making his defence. This it was
that made Demosthenes' freedom of speech splendid, and
prevented people being wearied out by the praise which in
all his speech On the Crovm he lavished on himself, pluming
himself on those embassies and decrees in connection with
the war with which fault had been found.

§ Yiii. Not very unlike this is the grace of antithesis,
when a person shows that the opposite of what he is
charged with is base and low. Thus Lycurgus when he was
charged at Athens with having bribed an informer to
silence, replied, " What kind of a citizen do you think me,
who, having had so long time the fingering of your public
money, am detected in giving rather than taking unjustly ?"
And Cicero, when Metellus told him that he had destroyed
more as a witness than he had got acquitted as an advo-
cate, answered, " Who denies that my honesty is greater
than my eloquence ? " Compare such sayings of Demos-
thenes as, " Who would not have been justified in killing
me, had I tried in word only to impair the ancient glory of
our city ? " ^ And, " What think you these wretches would
have said, if the states had departed, when I was curiously
discussing these points ? " '^ And indeed the whole of that
speech On the Croivn most ingeniously introduces his own

' So Wyttenbach. » Demosthenes, " De Corona," p. 260.

2 " De Corona," p. 307.



HOW ONE CAN PRAISE ONESELF WITHOUT EXCITING EN^T. 321

praises in his antitheses, and answers to the charges brought
against him.

§ IX. However it is worth while to notice in his speech
that he most artistically inserts praise of his audience in
the remarks abont himself, and so makes his speech less
egotistical and less likely to raise envy. Thus he shows
how the Athenians behaved to the Euboeans and to the
Thebans, and what benefits they conferred on the people of
Byzantium and on the Chersonese, claiming for himself
only a subordinate part in the matter. Thus he cunningly
insinuates into the audience with his own praises what they
will gladly hear, for they rejoice at the enumeration of
their successes, ' and their joy is succeeded by admiration
and esteem for the person to whom the success was due.
So also Epaminondas, when Meneclidas once jeered at him
as thinking more of himself than Agamemnon ever did,
replied, "It is your fault then, men of Thebes, by whose
help alone I put down the power of the Lacedaemonians in
one day."

§ X. But since most people very much dislike and object to
a man's praising himself, Ijut if he praises some one else are
on the contrary often glad and readily bear him out, some are
in the habit of praising in season those that have the same
pursuits business and characters as themselves, and so con-
ciliate and move the audience in their own favour ; for the
audience know at the moment such a one is speaking
that, though he is speaking about another, j-et his own
similar virtue is worthy of their praise." For as one who
throws in another's teeth things of which he is guilty him-
self must know that he upbraids himself most, so the good
in paying honour to the good remind those who know their
character of themselves, so that their hearers cry out at
once, "Are not you such a one yourself?" Thus Alex-
ander honouring Hercules, and Androcottus again honour-
ing Alexander, got themselves honoured on the same
grounds. Dionysius on the contrary pulling Gelon to
pieces, and calling him the Gelos^ of Sicily, was not aware
that through his envy he was weakening the importance
and dignity of his own authority.

' After Wyttenbach. 2 .^f^er Wyttenbach.

* That is, laughing-stock. A play on the word Gelon.



322 Plutarch's morals.

§ XI. These things then a pablic man must generally
know and observe. But those that are compelled to praise
themselves do so less offensively if they do not ascribe all
the honour to themselves, but, being aware that their glory
will be tiresome to others, set it down partly to foi-tune,
partly to the deity. So Achilles said well,

" Since the gods granted us to kill this hero/' ^

Well also did Timoleon, who erected a temple at Syracuse
to the goddess of Fortune after his success, and dedicated
his house to the Good Genius. Excellently again did
Pytho of ^nos, (when he came to Athens after killing
Cotys, and when the demagogues vied with one another in
praising him to the people, and he observed that some were
jealous and displeased,) in coming forward and saying,
" Men of Athens, this is the doing of one of the gods, I
only put my hands to the work." Sulla also forestalled
envy by ever praising fortune, and eventually he pro-
claimed himself as under the protection of Aphrodite.^ For
men would rather ascribe their defeat to fortune than the
enemy's valour, for in the former case they consider it an ac-
cident, whereas in the latter case they would have to blame
themselves and set it down to their own shortcomings. So
they say the legislation of Zaleucus pleased the Locrians not
least, because he said that Athene visited him from time to
time, and suggested to him and taught him his laws, and
that none of those he promulgated were his own idea and
plan.

§ XII. Perhaps this kind of remedy by talking people
over must be contrived for those who are altogether
crabbed or envious ; but for people of moderation it is not
amiss to qualify excessive praise. Thus if anyone should
praise you as learned, or rich, or influential, it would be
well to bid him not talk about you in that strain, but say
that you were good and harmless and useful. For the person
that acts so does not introduce his own praise but transfers
it, nor does he seem to rejoice in people passing encomiums
upon him, but rather to be vexed at their praising him
inappropriately and on wrong grounds, and he seems to

^ Homer, " Iliad," xxii. 379. He speaks of Hector.
2 Others take it ' * as fortune's favourite."



HOW 03^ CAS PBAISB OanSBLF WSBOVT KXCITDTG KSTT. 323

kide bad tnite by better odbb^ not wiafamg to be {R^iaed,
bat showing how he ou^t to be praised. Such, seems
the intent of sash. wcKda as the f cdlowing, ^ I have not
fortified the city with stones or bricks, but if jaa wish to
see how I haTe fortified it, joa will find arms and horses
and alhes.'*^ Still m<nre in point are the last words of
Pericles, far as he was dying, and his friends reiy nata-
rally were weeding ai^ wailing;, and reminded him of his
iiiilit a r y services and his power, and the to>phies and vic-
tories and towns he had won iar Athens, ainl was karing
as a lega^, he raised himself np a little and blamed them
as praising him for things common to many, and some of
them the results of fortune rather than merit, while they
had passed orer the best and greatest of his deeds and one
pecnliariy his own, that he had never been the cause of
any Athenian's wearing mooming'. This gives the oratcv
an ezam|^ if he be a good man, when praised for his
eloquence, to transfer the praise to his Hfe and character,
and the general who is admired for his skill and good
fortune in war to speak with confidence about his gentle-
ness and uprightness. And again, if any tctj extravagant
praise is ottered, sndh as many people use in flattery whidi
provokes envy, one can r^y,

''I warn no god: why do ^cNi ftca ae
TotfaenMrtali?->

If you really know me, praise my integrity, or my sobriety,
or my kindheartedness, or my philanthropy. For even envy
is not rehictuit to give moderate -pnaae to one that depre-
cates excessive praise, and true pan^fyric is not lost by
people refusing to accept idle and false praise. So those
kings who would not be called gods or tiie sons of goda,
but only fond of their brothers or mother, or benefactors,'
or dear to the gods, did not excite tiie enry of tiiose ihak
honoured them by those tities, tiiat were noUe bnt still
such as men might daim. Again, people dislike Aoee w riter s
^or qieakers ndto entitle tiaanacl fe s wise, bat they w^

!

* WoHb of DfeMitkeMa, " De ConiM,* fL 3t5.

them.

- Homer, • Oipmey^ x»L 187.
ritks of the'Ptokwn, FhiliddpfaB



324 Plutarch's morals.

come those who content themselves with saying that they
are lovers of philosophy, and have made some progress, or
use some such moderate language about themselves as that,
which does not excite envy. But rhetorical sophists, who
expect to hear " Divine, wonderful, grand," at their decla-
mations, are not even welcomed with " Pretty fair, so so."

§ XIII. Moreover, as people anxious not to injure those
who have weak eyes, draw a shade over too much light,
so some people make their praise of themselves less glaring
and absolute, by pointing out some of their small defects,
or miscarriages, or errors, and so remove all risk of making
people offended or envious. Thus Epeus, who boasts very
much of his skill in boxing, and says very confidently,

" I can your bod}' crush, and break your bones," ^
yet says,

" Is't not enough that I'm in fight deficient ? " ^

But Epeus is perhaps a ridiculous instance, excusing his
bragging as an athlete by his confession of timidity and
want of manliness. But agreeable and graceful is that
man who mentions his own forgetfulness, or ignorance, or
ambition, or eager desire for knowledge and conversation.
Thus Odysseus of the Sirens,

" My heart to listen to them did incline,

I bade my comi'ades by a nod to unloose me."*

And again of the Cyclops,

" I did not hearken (it had been far better),
I wished to see the Cyclops, and to taste
His hospitality."*

And generally speaking the admixture with praise of such
faults as are not altogether base and ignoble stops envy.
Thus many have blunted the point of envy by admitting
and introducing, when they have been praised, their past
poverty and straits, aye, and their low origin. So Aga-
thocles pledging his young men in golden cups beautifully
chased, ordered some earthenware pots to be brought in, and
said, " See the fruits of perseverance, labour, and bravery !
Once I produced pots like these, but now golden cups."

1 Homer, " Iliad," xxiii. 673. ^ ibj^j 570.

3 Homer, " Odyssey," xii. 192-194. * Ibid. ix. 228, 229.



HOW ONE CAN PRAISE ONESELF WITHOUT EXCITING ENVY. 325

For Agatliocles it seems was so low-born and poor that he
was brought up in a potter's shop, though afterwards he
was king of almost all Sicilj.

§ XIV. These are external remedies against self-praise.
There are other internal ones as it were, such as Cato
applied, when he said " he was envied, because he had
to neglect his own affairs, and lie awake every night for
the interests of his country." Compare also the following
lines,

" How should I boast ? who could with ease have been
Enrolled among the many in the army,
And had a fortune equal to the wisest; " '

and,

" I shrink from squandering past labours' grace,
Nor do 1 now reject all present toil." '

For as it is with house and farm, so also is it with glory
and reputation, people for the most part envy those who
have got them easily or for nothing, not those who have
bought them at the cost of much toil and danger.

§ XV. Since then we can praise ourselves not only with-
out causing pain or envy but even usefully and advan-
tageously, let us consider, that we may not seem to have
only that end in view but some other also, if we might
praise ourselves to excite in our hearers emulation and
ambition. For Nestor, by reciting his battles and acts of
prowess, stirred up Patroclus and nine others to single
combat with Hector. For the exhortation that adds deed
to word and example and proper emulation is animating
and moving and stimulating, and with its impulse and
resolution inspires hope that the things we aim at are
attainable and not impossible. That is why in the choruses
at Lacedaemon the old men sing,

" We once were young and vigorous and strong,"
and then the boys,

" We shall be stronger far than now we are,"
and then the youths,

" We now are strong, look at us if you like."
^ Fragments from the " Philoctetes " of Euripides.



326 Plutarch's morals.

In this wise and statesmanlike manner did the legislator
exhibit to the young men the nearest and dearest examples
of what they should do in the persons of those who had
done so.

§ XVI. Moreover it is not amiss sometimes, to awe and
repress and take down and tame the impudent and bold, to
boast and talk a little big about oneself. A.s Nestor did, to
mention him again,

' ' For I have mixed ere now with better men
Than both of you, and ne'er did they despise me." '

So also Aristotle told Alexander that not only had they
that were rulers over many subjects a right to think highly
of themselves, but also those that had right views about
the gods. Useful too against our enemies and foes is the
following line,

" Ill-starred are they whose sons encounter me." ^

Compare also the remark of Agesilaus about the king of
the Persians, who was called great, " How is he greater
than me, if he is not also more upright ? " And that also
of Epaminondas to the Lacedaemonians who were inveigh-
ing against the Thebans, " Anyhow we have made yott
talk at greater length than usual." But these kind of