Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 2 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"Plutarch
Philosophy
Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 2 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"
Plutarch
Classical literature; Essays; Ethics; Philosophy
There is likewise consideration to be had of the different manners
of nations, such as these. The Trojans enter into battle with loud
outcries and great fierceness; but in the army of the Greeks,
Sedate and silent move the numerous bands;
No sound, no whisper, but the chief’s commands;
Those only heard, with awe the rest obey.
For when soldiers are about to engage an enemy, the awe they stand in
of their officers is an argument both of courage and obedience. For
which purpose Plato teacheth us that we ought to inure ourselves to
fear blame and disgrace more than labor and danger. And Cato was wont
to say that he liked men that were apt to blush better than those that
looked pale.
Moreover, there is a particular character to be noted of the men who
undertake for any action. For Dolon thus promiseth:—
I’ll pass through all their host in a disguise
To their flag-ship, where she at anchor lies.
But Diomedes promiseth nothing, but only tells them he shall fear
the less if they send a companion with him; whereby is intimated,
that discreet foresight is Grecian and civil, but rash confidence is
barbarous and evil; and the former is therefore to be imitated, and the
latter to be avoided.
It is a matter too of no unprofitable consideration, how the minds
of the Trojans and of Hector too were affected when he and Ajax were
about to engage in a single combat. For Aeschylus, when, upon one of
the fighters at fisticuffs in the Isthmian games receiving a blow on
the face, there was made a great outcry among the people, said: “What
a thing is practice! See how the lookers-on only cry out, but the man
that received the stroke is silent.” But when the poet tells us, that
the Greeks rejoiced when they saw Ajax in his glistering armor, but
The Trojans’ knees for very fear did quake,
And even Hector’s heart began to ache;[70]
who is there that wonders not at this difference,—when the heart of
him that was to run the risk of the combat only beats inwardly, as if
he were to undertake a mere wrestling or running match, but the very
bodies of the spectators tremble and shake, out of the kindness and
fear which they had for their king?
In the same poet also we may observe the difference betwixt the humor
of a coward and a valiant man. For Thersites
Against Achilles a great malice had,
And wise Ulysses he did hate as bad;
but Ajax is always represented as friendly to Achilles; and
particularly he speaks thus to Hector concerning him:—
Hector! approach my arm, and singly know
What strength thou hast, and what the Grecian foe.
Achilles shuns the fight; yet some there are
Not void of soul, and not unskill’d in war:
wherein he insinuates the high commendation of that valiant man. And in
what follows, he speaks like handsome things of his fellow-soldiers in
general, thus:—
Whole troops of heroes Greece has yet to boast,
And sends thee one, a sample of her host;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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