§26διὸ τοὺς εὖ φρονοῦντας ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀποθνῄσκουσιν οὐ χρὴ πέρα τοῦ φυσικοῦ καὶ μετρίου τῆς περὶ τὴν τύχην λύπης εἰς ἄπρακτα καὶ βαρβαρικὰ πένθη παρεκτρέπεσθαι καὶ τοῦθʼ ὅπερ πολλοῖς ἤδη συνέβη περιμένειν, ὥστε πρὶν ἀπώσασθαι τὰ πένθη κακουχουμένους τελευτῆσαι τὸν βίον καὶ ἐν τοῖς πενθίμοις τῆς κακοδαίμονος ταφῆς μεταλαβεῖν, ἅμα τῶν τε ἀνιαρῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἀλογιστίας κακῶν συγκηδευομένων αὐτοῖς, ὥστʼ ἐπιφθέγξασθαι τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν
"
μυρομένοισι δὲ τοῖσι μέλας ἐπὶ ἕσπερος ἦλθε.
Therefore, those of sound mind ought not, on account of those who die, to turn aside beyond what is natural and moderate in their grief over fortune, into fruitless and barbaric mourning, nor to await that which has already happened to many, namely, that before they can cast off their mourning, they end their life in misery and, while still in mourning, share in an ill-fated burial, while both their painful evils and those resulting from folly are buried together with them, so that the Homeric verse is pronounced over them: "And upon them as they wept, dark evening came.
"
διὸ καὶ πολλάκις αὑτοῖς προσδιαλέγεσθαι χρὴ
τί δέ;
"Therefore, we must often converse with ourselves: "What then?
παυσόμεθά ποτε λυπούμενοι ἢ ἀκαταπαύστῳ συμφορᾷ συνεσόμεθα μέχρι παντὸς τοῦ βίου; τὸ γὰρ δὴ ἀτελεύτητον νομίζειν τὸ πένθος ἀνοίας ἐστὶν ἐσχάτης, καίτοι γʼ ὁρῶντας ὡς καὶ οἱ βαρυλυπότατοι καὶ πολυπενθέστατοι πραότατοι γίγνονται πολλάκις ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ ἐν οἷς ἐδυσχέραινον σφόδρα μνήμασιν ἀνοιμώζοντες καὶ στερνοτυπούμενοι λαμπρὰς εὐωχίας συνίστανται μετὰ μουσουργῶν καὶ τῆς ἄλλης διαχύσεως.
Shall we ever cease grieving, or shall we live with ceaseless misfortune throughout our whole life?" For to think that mourning is endless is of the utmost folly, especially since we see that even those who grieve most heavily and mourn most abundantly often become very mild through time, and in those very commemorations where they used to grieve excessively, wailing and beating their breasts, they now arrange splendid banquets with musicians and other amusements.
μεμηνότος οὖν ἐστι τὸ οὕτως ὑπολαμβάνειν παράμονον ἕξειν τὸ πένθος.
It is the mark of a madman, then, to suppose that one's mourning will remain thus permanent.
ἀλλʼ εἰ λογίζοινθʼ ὅτι παύσεταί τινος γενομένου, προσαναλογίσαιντʼ ἂν χρόνου δηλαδή τι ποιήσαντος· τὸ μὲν γὰρ γεγενημένον οὐδὲ θεῷ δυνατόν ἐστι ποιῆσαι ἀγένητον.
But if they reflect that it will cease when something has happened, they might also reflect that it is obviously because time has done something; for what has already happened not even a god is able to make undone.
οὐκοῦν τὸ νῦν παρʼ ἐλπίδα συμβεβηκὸς καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν δόξαν ἔδειξε τὸ εἰωθὸς περὶ πολλοὺς γίγνεσθαι διʼ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων.
Therefore, that which has now occurred contrary to our expectation and contrary to our opinion has shown by the facts themselves what is accustomed to happen to many.
τί οὖν;
What then?
ἆρά γʼ ἡμεῖς τοῦτο διὰ τοῦ λόγου μαθεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα οὐδʼ ἐπιλογίσασθαι, ὅτι
πλείη μὲν γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα
καὶ τὰ
"
τοιάδε θνητοῖσι κακὰ κακῶν
ἀμφί τε κῆρες εἰλεῦνται, κενεὴ δʼ εἴσδυσις οὐδʼ
αἰθέρι; "
Are we not able to learn this through reason, nor to reflect that the earth is full of evils, and full is the sea, and that "such are the evils of evils for mortals, and death-fates wheel around them, nor is there any empty escape even in the ether"?
§27πολλοῖς γὰρ καὶ σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν, ὥς φησι Κράντωρ, οὐ νῦν ἀλλὰ πάλαι κέκλαυσται τἀνθρώπινα, τιμωρίαν ἡγουμένοις εἶναι τὸν βίον καὶ ἀρχὴν τὸ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον συμφορὰν τὴν μεγίστην τοῦτο δέ φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ τὸν Σειληνὸν συλληφθέντα τῷ Μίδᾳ ἀποφήνασθαι.
"For by many and wise men, as Crantor says, human affairs have been wept over not just now but long ago, since they considered life to be a punishment and the very beginning of becoming a human being to be the greatest misfortune. And Aristotle says that Silenus, when captured by Midas, declared this very thing.
βέλτιον δʼ αὐτὰς τὰς τοῦ φιλοσόφου λέξεις παραθέσθαι.
It is better to set down the very words of the philosopher.
φησὶ δὴ ἐν τῷ Εὐδήμῳ ἐπιγραφομένῳ ἢ Περὶ ψυχῆς ταυτί. διόπερ, ὦ κράτιστε πάντων καὶ μακαριστότατε, πρὸς τῷ μακαρίους καὶ εὐδαίμονας εἶναι τοὺς τετελευτηκότας νομίζειν καὶ τὸ ψεύσασθαί τι κατʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ βλασφημεῖν οὐχ ὅσιον ὡς κατὰ βελτιόνων ἡγούμεθα καὶ κρειττόνων ἤδη γεγονότων.
He says, then, in the work entitled Eudemus, or On the Soul, the following: "Therefore, O most excellent and most blessed of all, in addition to considering the deceased to be blessed and happy, we also regard it as impious to speak any falsehood against them or to blaspheme them, on the grounds that they have already become better and superior beings.
καὶ ταῦθʼ οὕτως ἀρχαῖα καὶ παλαιὰ παρʼ ἡμῖν, ὥστε τὸ παράπαν οὐδεὶς οἶδεν οὔτε τοῦ χρόνου τὴν ἀρχὴν οὔτε τὸν θέντα πρῶτον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄπειρον αἰῶνα διατελεῖ νενομισμένα.
And these practices are so ancient and long-established among us that absolutely no one knows either the beginning of the time or who first established them, but they continue to be observed as customary through endless time.
πρὸς δὲ δὴ τούτοις διὰ στόματος ὂν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὁρᾷς καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν ἐτῶν περιφέρεται θρυλούμενον. τί τοῦτʼ; ἔφη.
And besides these things, you see that it is on the lips of men and has been passed around as a common saying for many years." "What is this?" he said.
κἀκεῖνος ὑπολαβών
ὡς ἄρα μὴ γενέσθαι μέν
ἔφη
ἄριστον πάντων, τὸ δὲ τεθνάναι τοῦ ζῆν ἐστι κρεῖττον. καὶ πολλοῖς· οὕτω παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου μεμαρτύρηται.
And the other, replying, "That, indeed, not to be born," he said, "is the best of all things, and to be dead is better than to live." And to many it has been testified thus by the divine power.
τοῦτο μὲν ἐκείνῳ τῷ Μίδᾳ λέγουσι δήπου μετὰ τὴν θήραν ὡς ἔλαβε τὸν Σειληνὸν διερωτῶντι καὶ πυνθανομένῳ τί ποτʼ ἐστὶ τὸ βέλτιστον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τί τὸ πάντων αἱρετώτατον, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οὐδὲν ἐθέλειν εἰπεῖν ἀλλὰ σιωπᾶν ἀρρήκτως· ἐπειδὴ δέ ποτε μόγις πᾶσαν μηχανὴν μηχανώμενος προσηγάγετο φθέγξασθαί τι πρὸς αὐτόν, οὕτως ἀναγκαζόμενον εἰπεῖν
δαίμονος ἐπιπόνου καὶ τύχης χαλεπῆς ἐφήμερον σπέρμα, τί με βιάζεσθε λέγειν ἅ ὑμῖν ἄρειον μὴ γνῶναι;
This, they say, was declared to that Midas after the hunt when, having captured Silenus, he questioned him and inquired what is the best thing for human beings and what is the most desirable of all things; at first, indeed, he was unwilling to say anything, but kept an unbroken silence; but when, with difficulty, by using every possible means, Midas finally induced him to utter something to him, being thus compelled, he spoke as follows: "O seed of a wearisome deity and of a hard fortune, short-lived, why do you force me to speak what it is better for you not to know?
μετʼ ἀγνοίας γὰρ τῶν οἰκείων κακῶν ἀλυπότατος ὁ βίος.
For a life spent in ignorance of one's own evils is the least painful.
ἀνθρώποις δὲ πάμπαν οὐκ ἔστι γενέσθαι τὸ πάντων ἄριστον οὐδὲ μετασχεῖν τῆς τοῦ βελτίστου φύσεως (ἄριστον ἄρα πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι)· τὸ μέντοι μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ πρῶτον τῶν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀνυστῶν, δεύτερον δέ, τὸ γενομένους ἀποθανεῖν ὡς τάχιστα. δῆλον οὖν ὡς οὔσης κρείττονος τῆς ἐν τῷ τεθνάναι διαγωγῆς ἢ τῆς ἐν τῷ ζῆν, οὕτως ἀπεφήνατο
μυρία δʼ ἐπὶ μυρίοις ἄν τις ἔχοι τοιαῦτα παρατίθεσθαι πρὸς ταὐτὸ κεφάλαιον· ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον μακρηγορεῖν.
But for humans it is utterly impossible to obtain that which is best of all, or to share in the nature of the best (since for all men and women, the best thing is not to be born); yet, that which is next to this, and the first of the things achievable for a human being, though second in order, is, having been born, to die as quickly as possible." It is clear, then, that considering the state of being dead to be better than that of being alive, he declared it thus. One could have ten thousand upon ten thousand such examples to cite to the same point; but there is no need to speak at length.