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CLASSICAL ESSAY |
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by Democritus of Abdera
In truth we know nothing about anything, but every man shares the generally prevailing opinion. In fact we do not know anything infallibly, but only that which changes according to the condition of our body and of the [influences] that reach and impinge upon it. There are two forms of knowledge, one genuine, one obscure. To the obscure belong all of the following: sight, hearing, smell, taste, feeling. The other form is the genuine, and is quite distinct from this. (And then distinguishing the genuine from the obscure, he continues:) Whenever the obscure [way of knowing] has reached the minimum sensible of hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and when the investigation must be carried farther into that which is still finer, then arises the genuine way of knowing, which has a finer organ of thought. By convention sweet is sweet, by convention bitter is bitter, by convention hot is hot, by convention cold is cold, by convention color is color. But in reality there are atoms and the void. That is, the objects of sense are supposed to be real and it is customary to regard them as such, but in truth they are not. Only the atoms and the void are real. Of practical wisdom these are the three fruits: to deliberate well, to speak to the point, to do what is right. If one choose the goods of the soul, he chooses the diviner [portion]; if the goods of the body, the merely mortal. 'Tis not in strength of body nor in gold that men find happiness, but in uprightness and in fullness of understanding. Not from fear but from sense of duty refrain from your sins. He who does wrong is more unhappy than he who suffers wrong. Many who have not learned wisdom live wisely, and many who do the basest deeds can make most learned speeches. Fools learn wisdom through misfortune. One should emulate works and deeds of virtue, not arguments about it. Strength of body is nobility in beasts of burden, strength of character is nobility in men. The hopes of the right-minded may be realized, those of fools are impossible. Neither art nor wisdom may be attained without learning. It is better to correct your own faults than those of another. Those who have a well-ordered character lead also a well-ordered life. Good means not [merely] not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong. There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom. Fame and wealth without wisdom are unsafe possessions. You can tell the man who rings true from the man who rings false, not by his deeds alone, but also by his desires. False men and shams talk big and do nothing. My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me. The enmity of one's kindred is far more bitter than the enmity of strangers. The friendship of one wise man is better than the friendship of a host of fools. No one deserves to live who has not at least one good- man-and-true for a friend. Seek after the good, and with much toil shall ye find it; the evil turns up of itself without your seeking it. In the weightiest matters we must go to school to the animals, and learn spinning and weaving from the spider, building from the swallow, singing from the birds, -- from the swan and the nightingale, imitating their art. An evil and foolish and intemperate and irreligious life should not be called a bad life, but rather, dying long drawn out. Fortune is lavish with her favors, but not to be depended on. Nature on the other hand is self-sufficing and therefore with her feebler but trustworthy [resources] she wins the greater [meed] of hope. The right-minded man, ever inclined to righteous and lawful deeds, is joyous day and night, and strong, and free from care. But if a man take no heed of the right, and leave undone the things he ought to do, then will the recollection of no one of all his transgressions bring him any joy, but only anxiety and self-reproaching. Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly. A sensible man takes pleasure in what he has instead of pining for what he has not. The pleasures that give most joy are the ones that most rarely come. Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains. Men achieve tranquility through moderation in pleasure and through the symmetry of life. Want and superfluity are apt to upset them and to cause great perturbations in the soul. The souls that are rent by violent conflicts are neither stable nor tranquil. One should therefore set his mind upon the things that are within his power, and be content with his opportunities, nor let his memory dwell very long on the envied and admired of men, nor idly sit and dream of them. Rather, he should contemplate the lives of those who suffer hardship, and vividly bring to mind their sufferings, so that your own present situation may appear to you important and to be envied, and so that it may no longer be your portion to suffer torture in your soul by your longing for more. For he who admires those who have, and whom other men deem blest of fortune, and who spends all his time idly dreaming of them, will be forced to be always contriving some new device because of his [insatiable] desire, until he ends by doing some desperate deed forbidden by the laws. And therefore one ought not to desire other men's blessings, and one ought not to envy those who have more, but rather, comparing his life with that of those who fare worse, and laying to heart their sufferings, deem himself blest of fortune in that he lives and fares so much better than they. Holding fast to this saying you will pass your life in greater tranquillity and will avert not a few of the plagues of life -- envy and jealousy and bitterness of mind. |
Democritus:
The Great
Philosophers,
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