Ch. 8
Against those who hastily rush into the use of the philosophic dress.
NEVER praise nor blame a man because of the things
which are common (to all, or to most),742 and do not
ascribe to him any skill or want of skill; and thus you
will be free from rashness and from malevolence. This
man bathes very quickly. Does he then do wrong? Certainly not. But what does he do? He bathes very
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quickly. Are all things then done well? By no means:
but the acts which proceed from right opinions are done
well; and those which proceed from bad opinions are done
ill. But do you, until you know the opinion from which
a man does each thing, neither praise nor blame the act.
But the opinion is not easily discovered from the external
things (acts). This man is a carpenter. Why? Because
he uses an axe. What then is this to the matter? This
man is a musician because he sings. And what does that
signify? This man is a philosopher. Because he wears a
cloak and long hair. And what does a juggler wear?
For this reason if a man sees any philosopher acting
indecently, immediately he says, See what the philosopher
is doing; but he ought because of the man's indecent
behaviour rather to say that he is not a philosopher. For
if this is the preconceived notion (πρόληψις) of a philosopher
and what he professes, to wear a cloak and long hair,
men would say well; but if what he professes is this
rather, to keep himself free from faults, why do we not
rather, because he does not make good his professions,
take from him the name of philosopher? For so we do in
the case of all other arts. When a man sees another
handling an axe badly, he does not say, what is the use
of the carpenter's art? See how badly carpenters do
their work; but he says just the contrary, This man is
not a carpenter, for he uses an axe badly. In the same
way if a man hears another singing badly, he does not
say, See how musicians sing; but rather, This man is not
a musician. But it is in the matter of philosophy only
that people do this. When they see a man acting contrary to the profession of a philosopher, they do not take
away his title, but they assume him to be a philosopher,
and from his acts deriving the fact that he is behaving
indecently they conclude that there is no use in philosophy.
What then is the reason of this? Because we attach
value to the notion (πρόληψιν) of a carpenter, and to that
of a musician, and to the notion of other artisans in like
manner, but not to that of a philosopher, and we judge
from externals only that it is a thing confused and ill
defined. And what other kind of art has a name from the
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dress and the hair; and has not both theorems and a
material and an end? What then is the material (matter)
of the philosopher? Is it a cloak? No, but reason. What
is his end? is it to wear a cloak? No, but to possess the
reason in a right state. Of what kind are his theorems?
Are they those about the way in which the beard becomes
great or the hair long? No, but rather what Zeno says,
to know the elements of reason, what kind of a thing each
of them is, and how they are fitted to one another, and
what things are consequent upon them. Will you not
then see first if he does what he professes when he acts
in an unbecoming manner, and then blame his study
(pursuit)? But now when you yourself are acting in a
sober way, you say in consequence of what he seems to
you to be doing wrong, Look at the philosopher, as if it
were proper to call by the name of philosopher one who
does these things; and further, This is the conduct of a
philosopher. But you do not say, Look at the carpenter,
when you know that a carpenter is an adulterer or you
see him to be a glutton; nor do you say, See the musician.
Thus to a certain degree even you perceive (understand)
the profession of a philosopher, but you fall away from the
notion, and you are confused through want of care.
But even the philosophers themselves as they are
called pursue the thing (philosophy) by beginning with
things which are common to them and others: as soon as
they have assumed a cloak and grown a beard, they say,
I am a philosopher.743 But no man will say, I am a
musician, if he has bought a plectrum (fiddlestick) and
a lute: nor will he say, I am a smith, if he has put on
a cap and apron. But the dress is fitted to the art; and
they take their name from the art, and not from the
dress. For this reason Euphrates744 used to say well, A
long time I strove to be a philosopher without people
knowing it; and this, he said, was useful to me: for first
I knew that when I did any thing well, I did not do it
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for the sake of the spectators, but for the sake of myself:
I ate well for the sake of myself; I had my countenance
well composed and my walk: all for myself and for God.
Then, as I struggled alone, so I alone also was in danger:
in no respect through me, if I did anything base or unbecoming, was philosophy endangered; nor did I injure the
many by doing any thing wrong as a philosopher. For
this reason those who did not know my purpose used to
wonder how it was that while I conversed and lived
altogether with all philosophers, I was not a philosopher
myself. And what was the harm for me to be known to
be a philosopher by my acts and not by outward marks?745
See how I eat, how I drink, how I sleep, how I bear and
forbear, how I co-operate, how I employ desire, how I
employ aversion (turning from things), how I maintain
the relations (to things) those which are natural or those
which are acquired, how free from confusion, how free
from hindrance. Judge of me from this, if you can. But
if you are so deaf and blind that you cannot conceive even
Hephaestus746 to be a good smith, unless you see the cap on
his head, what is the harm in not being recognized by so
foolish a judge?
So Socrates was not known to be a philosopher by most
persons; and they used to come to him and ask to be introduced to philosophers. Was he vexed then as we are,
and did he say, And do you not think that I am a philo-
sopher? No, but he would take them and introduce them,
being satisfied with one thing, with being a philosopher;
and being pleased also with not being thought to be a
philosopher, he was not annoyed: for he thought of his
own occupation. What is the work of an honourable and
good man? To have many pupils? By no means. They
will look to this matter who are earnest about it. But
was it his business to examine carefully difficult theorems?
Others will look after these matters also, In what then
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was he,747 and who was he and whom did he wish to be? He
was in that (employed in that) wherein there was hurt
(damage) and advantage. If any man can damage me, he
says, I am doing nothing: if I am waiting for another man
to do me good, I am nothing. If I wish for any thing, and
it does not happen, I am unfortunate. To such a contest
he invited every man, and I do not think that he would
have declined the contest with any one.748 What do you
suppose? was it by proclaiming and saying, I am such a
man? Far from it, but by being such a man. For
further, this is the character of a fool and a boaster to
say, I am free from passions and disturbance: do not
be ignorant, my friends, that while you are uneasy and
disturbed about things of no value, I alone am free from
all perturbation. So is it not enough for you to feel no
pain, unless you make this proclamation: Come together
all who are suffering gout, pains in the head, fever, ye
who are lame, blind, and observe that I am sound (free)
from every ailmentThis is empty and disagreeable to
hear, unless like Aesculapius you are able to show immediately by what kind of treatment they also shall be
immediately free from disease, and unless you show your
own health as an example.
For such is the Cynic who is honoured with the sceptre
and the diadem by Zeus, and says, That you may see,
O men, that you seek happiness and tranquillity not where
it is, but where it is not, behold I am sent to you by God
as an example,749 I who have neither property nor house,
nor wife nor children, not even a bed, nor coat nor household utensil; and see how healthy 1 am: try me, and if
you see that I am free from perturbations, hear the remedies and how I have been cured (treated). This is both
philanthropic and noble. But see whose work it is, the
work of Zeus, or of him whom he may judge worthy of
this service, that he may never exhibit any thing to the
many, by which he shall make of no effect his own tes-
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timony,whereby he gives testimony to virtue, and bears
evidence against external things:
His beauteous face pales not, nor from his cheeks
He wipes a tear.Odyssey, xi. 528
And not this only, but he neither desires nor seeks any
thing, nor man nor place nor amusement, as children seek
the vintage or holidays; always fortified by modesty as
others are fortified by walls and doors and doorkeepers.
But now (these men) being only moved to philosophy,
as those who have a bad stomach are moved to some kinds
of food which they soon loathe, straightway (rush) towards the sceptre and to the royal power. They let the
hair grow, they assume the cloak, they show the shoulder
bare, they quarrel with those whom they meet; and if
they see a man in a thick winter coat,750 they quarrel with
him. Man, first exercise yourself in winter weather: see
your movements (inclinations) that they are not those of
a man with a bad stomach or those of a longing woman.
First strive that it be not known what you are: be a
philosopher to yourself (or, philosophize to yourself) a
short time. Fruit grows thus: the seed must be buried
for some time, hid, grow slowly in order that it may come
to perfection. But if it produces the ear before the
jointed stem, it is imperfect, a produce of the garden of
Adonis.751 Such a poor plant are you also: you have
blossomed too soon; the cold weather will scorch you up.
See what the husbandmen say about seeds when there is
warm weather too early. They are afraid lest the seeds
should be too luxuriant, and then a single frost should lay
hold of them and show that they are too forward. Do you
also consider, my man: you have shot out too soon, you
have hurried towards a little fame before the proper
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season: you think that you are something, a fool among
fools: you will be caught by the frost, and rather you
have been frost-bitten in the root below, but your upper
parts still blossom a little, and for this reason you think
that you are still alive and flourishing. Allow us to
ripen in the natural way: why do you bare (expose) us?
why do you force us? we are not yet able to bear the air.
Let the root grow, then acquire the first joint, then the
second, and then the third: in this way then the fruit
will naturally force itself out,752 even if I do not choose.
For who that is pregnant and filled with such great
principles does not also perceive his own powers and
move towards the corresponding acts? A bull is not
ignorant of his own nature and his powers, when a wild
beast shows itself, nor does he wait for one to urge him
on; nor a dog when he sees a wild animal. But if I have
the powers of a good man, shall I wait for you to prepare
me for my own (proper) acts? At present I have them
not, believe me. Why then do you wish me to be
withered up before the time, as you have been withered
up?
