§5Ὁ μέν γε θεσπέσιος Πυθαγόρας, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν αὐτὸς ἴδιον ἡμῖν καταλιπεῖν τῶν αὐτοῦ ἠξίωσεν, ὅσον Ὀκέλλῳ τῷ Λευκανῷ καὶ Ἀρχύτᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμιληταῖς αὐτοῦ τεκμαίρεσθαι, οὔτε τὸ χαίρειν οὔτε τὸ εὖ πράττειν προὔγραφεν, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑγιαίνειν ἄρχεσθαι ἐκέλευεν. ἅπαντες γοῦν οἱ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀλλήλοις ἐπιστέλλοντες ὁπότε σπουδαῖόν τι γράφοιεν ὑγιαίνειν εὐθὺς ἐν ἀρχῇ παρεκελεύοντο ὡς καὶ αὐτὸ ψυχῇ τε καὶ σώματι ἁρμοδιώτατον καὶ συνόλως ἅπαντα περιειληφὸς τἀνθρώπου ἀγαθά, καὶ τό γε τριπλοῦν αὐτοῖς τρίγωνον τὸ δι’ ἀλλήλων τὸ πεντάγραμμον, ᾧ συμβόλῳ πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοδόξους ἐχρῶντο, ὑγίεια πρὸς αὐτῶν ὠνομάζετο, καὶ ὅλως ἡγοῦντο τῷ μὲν ὑγιαίνειν τὸ εὖ πράττειν καὶ τὸ χαίρειν εἶναι, οὔτε δὲ τῷ εὖ πράττειν οὔτε τῷ χαίρειν πάντως καὶ τὸ ὑγιαίνειν. εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ καὶ τὴν τετρακτύν, τὸν μέγιστον ὅρκον αὐτῶν, ἣ τὸν ἐντελῆ αὐτοῖς ἀριθμὸν ἀποτελεῖ, ἤδη καὶ ὑγιείας ἀρχὴν ἐκάλεσαν.
Indeed, the divine Pythagoras—even if he himself did not deign to leave any writing of his own to us, as far as can be inferred from Ocellus the Lucanian, Archytas, and his other disciples—prescribed neither "rejoice" nor "farewell," but commanded to begin with "be healthy." At any rate, all those of his school, when writing to one another whenever they wrote on serious matters, immediately exhorted "be healthy" at the very beginning, as being most harmonious for both soul and body, and altogether encompassing all human goods. Moreover, their triple interlocking triangle, the pentagram, which they used as a symbol among those of the same sect, was named "Health" by them; and they altogether believed that in "being healthy" there was both "doing well" and "rejoicing," but that in neither "doing well" nor "rejoicing" was there necessarily "being healthy." And some have even called the tetractys, their greatest oath, which completes their perfect number, the very principle of health.
ὧν καὶ Φιλόλαός ἐστι.
Philolaus is indeed among them.
§6Καὶ τί σοι τοὺς παλαιοὺς λέγω, ὅπου καὶ Ἐπίκουρος ἀνὴρ πάνυ χαίρων τῷ χαίρειν καὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν πρὸ ἁπάντων αἱρούμενος ἐν ταῖς σπουδαιοτέραις ἐπιστολαῖς (εἰσὶ δὲ αὗται ὀλίγαι) καὶ ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τοὺς φιλτάτους μάλιστα ὑγιαίνειν εὐθὺς ἐν ἀρχῇ προστάττει;
And why do I speak to you of the ancients, when even Epicurus, a man who exceedingly rejoiced in "rejoicing" and chose pleasure before all things, in his more serious letters (though these are few) and especially in those to his dearest friends, commands "be healthy" immediately at the beginning?
πολὺ δ’ ἂν καὶ ἐν τῇ τραγῳδίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ κωμῳδίᾳ εὕροις τὸ ὑγιαίνειν πρῶτον εὐθὺς λεγόμενον.
And you could find "be healthy" said first of all in tragedy and in ancient comedy.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ
"
οὖλέ τε καὶ μάλα χαῖρε
"
σαφῶς προτεταγμένον τοῦ χαίρειν τὸ ὑγιαίνειν ἔχει. ὁ δὲ Ἄλεξις,
"
ὦ δέσποθ', ὑγίαιν', ὡς χρόνιος ἐλήλυθας· "
ὁ δὲ Ἀχαιός,
"
ἥκω πεπραγὼς δεινά, σὺ δ’ ὑγίαινέ μοι· "
καὶ ὁ Φιλήμων,
"
αἰτῶ δ’ ὑγίειαν πρῶτον, εἶτ' εὐπραξίαν,
τρίτον δὲ χαίρειν, εἶτ' ὀφείλειν μηδενί. "
ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὸ σκόλιον γράψας, οὗ καὶ Πλάτων μέμνηται, τί καὶ οὗτός φησιν;
For instance, "Be healthy, and fare thee right well" clearly has "be healthy" placed before "rejoice." And Alexis says, "O master, be healthy, for you have returned after a long time;" and Achaeus, "I have returned having fared terribly, but do thou be healthy for me;" and Philemon, "I ask for health first, then for doing well, thirdly for rejoicing, and then to owe nothing to any man." For he who wrote the scolion, of which Plato also makes mention, what does he too say?
Ὑγιαίνειν μὲν ἄριστον, τὸ δεύτερον καλὸν γενέσθαι, τρίτον δὲ πλουτεῖν, τοῦ χαίρειν δὲ τὸ παράπαν οὐκ ἐμνήσθη, ἵνα σοι μὴ τὸ γνωριμώτατον ἐκεῖνο καὶ πᾶσι διὰ στόματος λέγω,
"
ὑγίεια, πρεσβίστα μακάρων, μετὰ σεῦ ναίοιμι τὸ
λειπόμενον
βιοτᾶς. "
ὥστε εἰ πρεσβίστη ἐστὶν ὑγίεια, καὶ τὸ ἔργον αὐτῆς τὸ ὑγιαίνειν προτακτέον τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν.
"To be healthy is best, the second best is to be born beautiful, and the third is to be rich," and of "rejoicing" he made no mention at all, so that I need not cite to you that most famous song which is on everyone's lips: "Health, most venerable of the blessed gods, with you may I dwell for the remainder of my life." So if health is the most venerable, its activity, "being healthy," must also be placed before other goods.
§7Μυρία δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ἔκ τε ποιητῶν καὶ συγγραφέων καὶ φιλοσόφων καταδεῖξαί σοι ἔχων, προτιμώντων τὸ ὑγιαίνειν, τοῦτο μὲν παραιτήσομαι, ὡς μὴ εἰς ἀπειροκαλίαν τινὰ μειρακιώδη ἐκπέσῃ μοι τὸ σύγγραμμα καὶ κινδυνεύωμεν ἄλλῳ ἥλῳ ἐκκρούειν τὸν ἧλον, ὀλίγα δέ σοι τῆς ἀρχαίας ἱστορίας ὁπόσα μέμνημαι οἰκεῖα τῷ παρόντι προσγράψαι καλῶς ἔχειν ὑπέλαβον.
Though I am able to show you ten thousand other examples from poets, historians, and philosophers who prefer "being healthy," I shall excuse myself from this, lest my writing fall into some childish pedantry, and we risk "driving out one nail with another." However, I deemed it well to add a few examples from ancient history, as many as I remember, which are appropriate to the present case.
§8Ὅτε Ἀλέξανδρος τὴν ἐν Ἰσσῷ μάχην ἀγωνιεῖσθαι ἔμελλεν, ὡς Εὐμένης ὁ Καρδιανὸς ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον ἐπιστολῇ λέγει, ἕωθεν εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἡφαιστίων, εἴτ' ἐπιλαθόμενος εἴτε ταραχθεὶς ὥσπερ ἐγὼ εἴτε καὶ θεοῦ τινος τοῦτο καταναγκάσαντος, ταὐτὸν ἐμοὶ ἔφη, Ὑγίαινε, βασιλεῦ, καιρὸς ἤδη παρατάττεσθαι. ταραχθέντων δὲ τῶν παρόντων πρὸς τὸ παράδοξον τῆς προσαγορεύσεως καὶ τοῦ Ἡφαιστίωνος ὀλίγου δεῖν ὑπ' αἰδοῦς ἐκθανόντος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Δέχομαι, εἶπε, τὴν κλῃδόνα.
When Alexander was about to fight the battle of Issus, as Eumenes of Cardia says in his letter to Antipater, Hephaestion entered his tent in the morning, and either having forgotten, or being confused as I was, or even some god compelling this, said the same thing to him as I did: "Be healthy, King; it is already time to draw up the line of battle." When those present were thrown into confusion by the unexpected nature of the salutation, and Hephaestion almost died of embarrassment, Alexander said: "I accept the omen.
τὸ γὰρ σώους ἐπανήξειν ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης ἤδη μοι ὑπέσχηται. §9Ἀντίοχος δὲ ὁ σωτὴρ ὅτε τοῖς Γαλάταις συνάπτειν ἔμελλεν, ἔδοξεν ὄναρ ἐπιστάντα οἱ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον κελεύειν σύνθημα πρὸ τῆς μάχης παραδοῦναι τῇ στρατιᾷ τὸ ὑγιαίνειν, καὶ ὑπὸ τούτῳ τῷ συνθήματι τὴν θαυμαστὴν ἐκείνην νίκην ἐνίκησεν.
For that we shall return safe from the battle has already been promised to me by this." And Antiochus the Savior, when he was about to engage with the Galatians, dreamed that Alexander stood over him and commanded him to give "be healthy" to the army as the watchword before the battle; and under this watchword, he won that wonderful victory.
§10Καὶ Πτολεμαῖος δὲ ὁ Λάγου Σελεύκῳ ἐπιστέλλων σαφῶς ἀνέστρεψε τὴν τάξιν ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ὑγιαίνειν αὐτὸν προσειπών, ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐρρῶσθαι ὑπογράψας τὸ χαίρειν, ὡς Διονυσόδωρος ὁ τὰς ἐπιστολὰς αὐτοῦ συναγαγών φησιν.
And Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, when writing to Seleucus, clearly reversed the order, saluting him with "be healthy" at the beginning of the letter, and at the end writing "rejoice" instead of the usual "be strong," as Dionysodorus, who collected his letters, says.
§11Ἄξιον δὲ καὶ Πύρρου τοῦ Ἠπειρώτου μνησθῆναι, ἀνδρὸς μετὰ Ἀλέξανδρον τὰ δεύτερα ἐν στρατηγίαις ἐνεγκαμένου καὶ μυρίας τροπὰς τῆς τύχης ἐνεγκόντος.
It is also worthy to make mention of Pyrrhus of Epirus, a man who held the second place in generalship after Alexander and bore ten thousand turns of fortune.
οὗτος τοίνυν ἀεὶ θεοῖς εὐχόμενος καὶ θύων καὶ ἀνατιθεὶς οὐδεπώποτε ἢ νίκην ἢ βασιλείας ἀξίωμα μεῖζον ἢ εὔκλειαν ἢ πλούτου ὑπερβολὴν ᾔτησε παρ' αὐτῶν, ἀλλ’ ἓν τοῦτο ηὔχετο, ὑγιαίνειν, ὡς ἔστ' ἂν τοῦτ' ἔχῃ, ῥᾳδίως αὐτῷ τῶν ἄλλων προσγενησομένων.
This man, therefore, whenever he prayed, sacrificed, and made offerings to the gods, never asked of them either victory or a greater dignity of kingship, or fame, or an excess of wealth, but prayed for this one thing: "to be healthy," as, as long as he had this, the other things would easily be added to him.
καὶ ἄριστα οἶμαι ἐφρόνει, λογιζόμενος ὅτι οὐδὲν ὄφελος τῶν ἁπάντων ἀγαθῶν, ἔστ' ἂν τοῦ ὑγιαίνειν μόνον ἀπῇ.
And I believe he thought most wisely, calculating that there is no use in all goods as long as only "being healthy" is absent.