Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §146.1

Pericles' Amulet and the Effect of Illness on Character

Passage 151 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Theophrastus discusses the relationship between character and physical conditions in his Ethics, recording an anecdote where the ailing Pericles showed a friend an amulet hung by women to illustrate his weakened state.

§146.1Fr. 146 Ὁ Θ. ἐν τοῖς ἠθικοῖς διαπορήσας, εἰ πρὸς τὰς τύχας τρέπεται τὰ ἤθη καὶ κινούμενα τοῖς παθέσι τῶν σωμάτων ἐξίσταται τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἱστόρηκεν ὅτι νοσῶν ὁ Περικλῆς ἐπισκοπουμένῳ τινὶ τῶν φίλων δείξειε περίαπτον ὑπὸ τῶν γυναικῶν τῷ τραχήλῳ περιηρτημένον, ὡς σφόδρα κακῶς ἔχων ὁπότε καὶ ταύτην ὑπομένοι τὴν ἀβελτηρίαν.
Fr. 146 Theophrastus, having raised the question in his Ethics whether characters change according to fortunes and, being moved by the affections of the body, deviate from virtue, has recorded that Pericles, when he was ill, showed to one of his friends who was visiting him an amulet hung around his neck by the women, as one who was in an extremely bad state since he even submitted to this folly.

Notes

  1. 146.1εἰ πρὸς τὰς τύχας... ἐξίσταται τῆς ἀρετῆς — The conjunction εἰ introduces an indirect question. With the neuter plural subject τὰ ἤθη, the verbs τρέπεται and ἐξίσταται are in the third-person singular, while the participle κινούμενα is in the neuter plural nominative.
  2. 146.1δείξειε — The main verb within the ὅτι-clause, in the oblique optative (optativus obliquus) of indirect speech after the historical perfect ἱστόρηκεν.
  3. 146.1ὡς σφόδρα κακῶς ἔχων — The conjunction ὡς with the nominative participle ἔχων (agreeing with Περικλῆς) expresses the subjective reason or intention of Pericles himself ("as one who was...", "showing that...").
  4. 146.1ὁπότε καὶ ταύτην ὑπομένοι — The causal conjunction ὁπότε ("since", "seeing that"). Due to the indirect speech (oblique optative), the optative ὑπομένοι is used instead of an indicative past (or present).

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §146.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:146.1

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