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Vie D'Aristide: Collection des auteurs grecs expliques par une traduction francaise
Excerpt from Biographie des Aristeides
Wenn es nicht die letzte Aufgabe der altklassi schen Schullekture ist, den Charakter der studie renden Jugend zu veredeln, dann gebührt sicherlich auch den Biographien des Plutarchos in ihr ein Platz. Gerade dieses Werk fand, weil es nicht nur den Verstand, sondern auch das Herz erquickt, in alter wie in neuer Zeit warme Verehrer. Es sei nur auf E. Nordens Ausspruch ('die antike Kunstprosa', S. 392) „ich Wüßte keinen Schriftsteller der Kaiserzeit zu nennen, der kraft seines weichen, emp findsamen Naturells, kraft der idealen Grundstimmung seiner Seele, die selbst die usyalogpgoo'üvn besaß und an anderen bewunderte, kraft seiner Überzeugung, daß schöne Worte allein ohne entsprechendes Handeln wertlos und nichtig seien, so sehr in den Geist der großen alten Zeit, in der er mit seinen Gedanken lebte und webte, eingedrungen wäre wie Plutarch.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Wenn es nicht die letzte Aufgabe der altklassi schen Schullekture ist, den Charakter der studie renden Jugend zu veredeln, dann gebührt sicherlich auch den Biographien des Plutarchos in ihr ein Platz. Gerade dieses Werk fand, weil es nicht nur den Verstand, sondern auch das Herz erquickt, in alter wie in neuer Zeit warme Verehrer. Es sei nur auf E. Nordens Ausspruch ('die antike Kunstprosa', S. 392) „ich Wüßte keinen Schriftsteller der Kaiserzeit zu nennen, der kraft seines weichen, emp findsamen Naturells, kraft der idealen Grundstimmung seiner Seele, die selbst die usyalogpgoo'üvn besaß und an anderen bewunderte, kraft seiner Überzeugung, daß schöne Worte allein ohne entsprechendes Handeln wertlos und nichtig seien, so sehr in den Geist der großen alten Zeit, in der er mit seinen Gedanken lebte und webte, eingedrungen wäre wie Plutarch.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
150 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2013
About the author
Plutarch
4,387 books1,023 followersPlutarch (later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus; AD 46–AD 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 25, 2018
Aristides the Just was said to be incorruptible.
For a prominent man to be ostracised (then) was ineluctable.
So Themistocles put A’s name up when the time for ostracism came,
And some supported A’s banishment as they were tired of hearing his name.
Aristides himself put the sherd in the pot for one of these;
For it wasn’t his own ego, only Justice he sought to please.
For a prominent man to be ostracised (then) was ineluctable.
So Themistocles put A’s name up when the time for ostracism came,
And some supported A’s banishment as they were tired of hearing his name.
Aristides himself put the sherd in the pot for one of these;
For it wasn’t his own ego, only Justice he sought to please.
May 24, 2018
The Stupidity of Honesty
24 May 2018
Honestly, I wonder why anybody even bothered to translate Plutarch after John Dryden literally blew the world away with his absolutely poetic rendition. Honestly, people have and not only that, Penguin actually published the alternate translation, despite the fact that Dryden’s version was available for the world to see. I picked it up because the Penguin versions were, well, rubbish, and once I started reading this absolutely beautiful version I have never looked back, and never touched a Penguin Plutarch since.
Actually, as I was reading this it made me think that everybody should have a classical eduction. It is a shame that gone are the days when everybody had to learn Latin or Greek, and were familiar with the famous writers of yesteryear. Ask one of the post-millenials these days who Plutarch was and they will look at you with a look of utter confusion. Then again, half of them think Justin Beiber’s latest song is pretty cool (but have no idea who Freddy Mercury was). I have heard that in the United States (and correct me if I’m wrong) that at university it is a requirement to take some Liberal Arts subjects. This is a brilliant concept and something that is sadly missed in Australian universities. Okay, a friend of mine who was studying Computer Science did take some history subjects, but half of the reason he did that was he was intending on going to Bible College down the track.
Anyway, Aristides. He was a Greek, and to be precise an Athenian, and if there is one thing you can say about him is that he was stupidly honest. You know, the type of people that are so honest that their honestly actually gets them into a lot of trouble. Plutarch gives us an anecdote of when there was an ostracism vote, an illiterate peasant came up to him and asked him to write Aristides on the chit, namely because he was sick of hearing about this guy named Aristides the Just. Now, most modern politicians would probably put the name of their opponent down on the chit, but not Aristides. No, he was honest and wrote down his own name. Well, you can guess what happened – he was kicked out of the city.
Well, things weren’t all that bad because, well, the Persians invaded. As such, the Athenians thought it would be a really good idea to invite all of those whom they had kicked out to come back to the city. Well, they did, and sure enough they managed to beat the Persians. Actually, a bulk of this book is dedicated to the battle of Platea, which my Classics lecturer basically described as being rather dull and boring. Well, I’m not entirely sure the Greeks thought it as such, but then again the Persians had lost a bulk of their army, had had their fleet destroyed, and all of their oracles had basically told them that they were screwed. As such, when it appears that the gods are against you then, well, that isn’t going to do all that well for morale.
So, after the battle, the Greeks being, well, Greeks, suddenly started to fight among themselves as to who would claim glory for winning the battle. In fact, Plutarch suggests that this disagreement almost descended into outright hostility. In a way, I’m actually not surprised, such is the nature of humanity. One of the reasons people believe that the meek will inherit the Earth is because the proud will basically kill themselves off simply by fighting amongst themselves for the kudos that they probably don’t deserve anyway.
This seems as if there wasn’t all that much to say about Aristides. Well, to be honest, there wasn’t, namely because he seemed to have been outshone by a lot of other Greeks. This is what I think Plutarch was getting at with this biography. Despite towering figures like Themistocles and such hogging the lime light, Plutarch wanted to bring our attention to a lesser known individual, and individual who actually didn’t have a problem with hogging the glory. This is the essence of his lives – he wants us to see what make people great, and sometimes, letting others take the credit for your achievements is much more honourable and fighting for fame.
24 May 2018
Honestly, I wonder why anybody even bothered to translate Plutarch after John Dryden literally blew the world away with his absolutely poetic rendition. Honestly, people have and not only that, Penguin actually published the alternate translation, despite the fact that Dryden’s version was available for the world to see. I picked it up because the Penguin versions were, well, rubbish, and once I started reading this absolutely beautiful version I have never looked back, and never touched a Penguin Plutarch since.
Actually, as I was reading this it made me think that everybody should have a classical eduction. It is a shame that gone are the days when everybody had to learn Latin or Greek, and were familiar with the famous writers of yesteryear. Ask one of the post-millenials these days who Plutarch was and they will look at you with a look of utter confusion. Then again, half of them think Justin Beiber’s latest song is pretty cool (but have no idea who Freddy Mercury was). I have heard that in the United States (and correct me if I’m wrong) that at university it is a requirement to take some Liberal Arts subjects. This is a brilliant concept and something that is sadly missed in Australian universities. Okay, a friend of mine who was studying Computer Science did take some history subjects, but half of the reason he did that was he was intending on going to Bible College down the track.
Anyway, Aristides. He was a Greek, and to be precise an Athenian, and if there is one thing you can say about him is that he was stupidly honest. You know, the type of people that are so honest that their honestly actually gets them into a lot of trouble. Plutarch gives us an anecdote of when there was an ostracism vote, an illiterate peasant came up to him and asked him to write Aristides on the chit, namely because he was sick of hearing about this guy named Aristides the Just. Now, most modern politicians would probably put the name of their opponent down on the chit, but not Aristides. No, he was honest and wrote down his own name. Well, you can guess what happened – he was kicked out of the city.
Well, things weren’t all that bad because, well, the Persians invaded. As such, the Athenians thought it would be a really good idea to invite all of those whom they had kicked out to come back to the city. Well, they did, and sure enough they managed to beat the Persians. Actually, a bulk of this book is dedicated to the battle of Platea, which my Classics lecturer basically described as being rather dull and boring. Well, I’m not entirely sure the Greeks thought it as such, but then again the Persians had lost a bulk of their army, had had their fleet destroyed, and all of their oracles had basically told them that they were screwed. As such, when it appears that the gods are against you then, well, that isn’t going to do all that well for morale.
So, after the battle, the Greeks being, well, Greeks, suddenly started to fight among themselves as to who would claim glory for winning the battle. In fact, Plutarch suggests that this disagreement almost descended into outright hostility. In a way, I’m actually not surprised, such is the nature of humanity. One of the reasons people believe that the meek will inherit the Earth is because the proud will basically kill themselves off simply by fighting amongst themselves for the kudos that they probably don’t deserve anyway.
This seems as if there wasn’t all that much to say about Aristides. Well, to be honest, there wasn’t, namely because he seemed to have been outshone by a lot of other Greeks. This is what I think Plutarch was getting at with this biography. Despite towering figures like Themistocles and such hogging the lime light, Plutarch wanted to bring our attention to a lesser known individual, and individual who actually didn’t have a problem with hogging the glory. This is the essence of his lives – he wants us to see what make people great, and sometimes, letting others take the credit for your achievements is much more honourable and fighting for fame.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews