Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §78.1

The Blindness and Unenviable Nature of Wealth

Passage 80 of 196 · Greek

Summary

The text argues that wealth is blind and unenviable, illustrating this by the fact that the wealthiest individuals, Callias and Ismenias, used the same modest things as Socrates and Epaminondas.

§78.1Fr. 78 Οὐδὲν πλέον ἔχουσιν οἱ πλούσιοι τῶν μέτρια κεο κτημένων, ἀλλὰ τυφλὸς ὁ πλοῦτός ἐστιν, ὥς φησι Θ., καὶ ἄζηλος ἀληθῶς, εἰ Καλλίας πλουσιώτατος Ἀθηναίων καὶ Ἰσμηνίας εὐπορώτατος Θηβαίων ἐχρῶντο τούτοις οἷς Σωκράτης καὶ Ἐπαμινώνδας.
Fr. 78 The rich possess nothing more than those who have moderate means, but wealth is blind, as Theophrastus says, and truly unenviable, if Callias, the richest of the Athenians, and Ismenias, the wealthiest of the Thebans, used the same things that Socrates and Epaminondas did.

Notes

  1. §78.1τῶν μέτρια κεο κτημένων — The phrase κεο κτημένων, likely a corrupt reading for κεκτημένων (perfect participle of κτάομαι), functions as a substantivized participle in the genitive case, serving as a genitive of comparison after the comparative πλέον.
  2. §78.1τούτοις οἷς — The relative pronoun οἷς is attracted to the dative case of its antecedent τούτοις (which is the dative object of ἐχρῶντο). Within the relative clause, the verb (such as ἐχρῶντο or ἐχρῆτο) is omitted.

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §78.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:78.1

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