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Plutarch · Comparison of Demetrius and Antony §4.1-4.3

Comparison of Marriages and Harms of Wantonness

Passage 4 of 6 · Greek

Summary

The text compares Demetrius and Antony regarding their marriages and the impieties stemming from their wantonness, concluding that while Antony harmed himself through incontinence, Demetrius wronged others.

§4.1ἔτι Δημήτριος μέν, οὐ κεκωλυμένον, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου γεγονὸς ἐν ἔθει τοῖς Μακεδόνων βασιλεῦσιν, ἐγάνει γάνους πλείονας, ὥσπερ Λυσίμαχος καὶ Πτολεμαῖος, ἔσχε δὲ διὰ τιμῆς ὅσας ἔγημεν·
Furthermore, Demetrius contracted several marriages, a practice which was not forbidden but had been customary for the Macedonian kings since Philip and Alexander, just as Lysimachus and Ptolemy did, and he held in honor all the women he married.
Ἀντώνιος δὲ πρῶτον μὲν ὁμοῦ δύο γυναῖκας ἠγάγετο, πρᾶγμα μηδενὶ Ῥωμαίῳ τετολμημένον, ἔπειτα τὴν ἀστὴν καὶ δικαίως γαμηθεῖσαν ἐξήλασε τῇ ξένῃ καὶ μὴ κατὰ νόμους συνούσῃ χαριζόμενος· ὅθεν ἐκ γάμου τῷ μὲν οὐθέν, τῷ δὲ τὰ μέγιστα τῶν κακῶν ἀπήντησεν. §4.2ἀσέβημα μέντοι τοσοῦτον δι’ ἀσέλγειαν οὐθὲν ταῖς Ἀντωνίου πράξεσιν ὅσον ταῖς Δημητρίου πρόσεστιν.
Antony, on the other hand, first of all married two wives at the same time, a deed which had been dared by no Roman, and then drove out his citizen and lawfully wedded wife to gratify the foreign woman who was cohabiting with him contrary to the laws; hence, from marriage, no harm befell the one, but the greatest of evils befell the other. However, no such great impiety through wantonness is attached to the deeds of Antony as to those of Demetrius.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἱστορικοί φασι καὶ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ὅλης εἴργεσθαι τὰς κύνας, διὰ τὸ τὴν μῖξιν ἐμφανῆ μάλιστα τοῦτο ποιεῖσθαι τὸ ζῷον· ὁ δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Παρθενῶνι ταῖς τε πόρναις συνῆν καὶ τῶν ἀστῶν κατεπόρνευσε πολλάς· §4.3καὶ οὗ τις ἂν ἥκιστα τὰς τοιαύτας τρυφὰς καὶ ἀπολαύσεις οἴοιτο μετέχειν κακοῦ, τῆς ὠμότητος, τοῦτο ἔνεστι τῇ Δημητρίου φιληδονίᾳ, περιϊδόντος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀναγκάσαντος, οἰκτρῶς ἀποθανεῖν τὸν κάλλιστον καὶ σωφρονέστατον Ἀθηναίων, φεύγοντα τὸ καθυβρισθῆναι.
For historians say that dogs are excluded from the entire Acropolis because this animal performs its mating in the most public manner; yet he cohabited with courtesans in the Parthenon itself and corrupted many of the citizen women. And where one would least expect such luxuries and enjoyments to share in an evil, namely cruelty, this is present in the pleasure-loving nature of Demetrius, who permitted—or rather, forced—the most beautiful and chaste of the Athenians to die a pitiable death in fleeing from being outraged.
συνελόντι δὲ εἰπεῖν, Ἀντώνιος μὲν ἑαυτὸν διὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν, Δημήτριος δὲ ἄλλους ἠδίκησε.
To speak briefly, Antony wronged himself through his incontinence, while Demetrius wronged others.

Notes

  1. §4.1οὐ κεκωλυμένον, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου γεγονὸς ἐν ἔθει — An accusative absolute construction using neuter singular participles of impersonal expressions (οὐ κεκωλυμένον and γεγονός), forming a concessive or parenthetical clause.
  2. §4.1ἐγάνει γάνους — While standard editions typically read ἐγάμει γάμους ("contracted marriages", with a cognate accusative), the reading here, ἐγάνει γάνους ("enjoyed pleasures"), represents either a textual variant or a deliberate play on words closely resembling the common reading.
  3. §4.3οὗ τις ἂν ἥκιστα... οἴοιτο — The relative adverb οὗ ("where" or "in which respect") introduces a clause featuring a potential optative (ἄν + οἴοιτο, "where one would least expect").
  4. §4.3περιϊδόντος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀναγκάσαντος — These are genitive participles agreeing with the preceding genitive proper noun Δημητρίου, modifying it as "of Demetrius, who permitted—or rather, forced...".
  5. §4.3συνελόντι δὲ εἰπεῖν — An idiomatic parenthetical infinitive phrase with the dative of reference/relation (συνελόντι, literally "to one having brought it together"), meaning "to speak briefly" or "in short".

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Comparison of Demetrius and Antony §4.1-4.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg059.humanitext-grc2:4.1-4.3

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