Plutarch's Of Brotherly Love
By John Thomson, Prebendary of Hereford.
Edition by William W. Goodwin, Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1878.
Introduction and annotation of text copyright ©2007 David Trumbull,
Agathon Associates. All Rights Reserved.
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Brothers should not be like the scales of a balance,
the one rising upon the other's sinking; but rather like
numbers in arithmetic, the lesser and greater mutually
helping and improving each other. –Chapter 15
Amongst
all the good things I am bound to Fortune for, I have that
of a kind and affectionate brother Timon, which cannot be
unknown to any who have conversed with me, and especially
those of my own family. –Chapter 16.
This may remind brothers to preserve a tender regard to
one another, and not to presume that Nature will overcome
all their slights and disdain. A horse naturally loves a
man, and a dog his master; but, if they are neglected in
what is fitting and necessary for them, they will grow
strange and unmanageable. The body, that is so intimately
united to the soul, if the soul suspend a careful
influence from it, will not be forward to assist it in its
operations; it may rather spoil and cross them. –Chapter 20.
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¶ Plutarch writes of brotherly love, the worthiness of which is
testified to by the mutual love of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.
¶ He addresses the essay to Nigrinus and Quintus, acquaintances of
Plutarch whose identities are not known to us.
¶ He begins by observing that brotherly love has, in his time, fallen into
neglect compared to its prevalence in former times.
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Here Begins Plutarch's Of Brotherly Love.
1. The ancient statues of Castor and Pollux are called
by the Spartans Docana; and they are two pieces of wood
one over against the other joined with two other cross
ends, and the community and undividedness of this consecrated
representation seems to resemble the fraterna1
love of these two Gods. In like manner do I devote this
discourse of Brotherly Love to you, Nigrinus and Quintus,
as a gift in common betwixt you both, who well deserve
it. For as to the things it advises to, you will, while you
already practise them, seem rather to give your testimonies
to them than to be exhorted by them. And the satisfaction
you have from well-doing will give the more firm durance
to your judgment, when you shall find yourselves approved
by wise and judicious spectators. Aristarchus the
father of Theodectes said indeed once, by way of flout
of the Sophists, that formerly there were scarce seven
Sophists to be found, but that in his time there could
hardly be found so many who were not Sophists. But I
see brotherly love is as scarce in our days as brotherly
hatred was in ancient times, the instances of which have
been publicly exposed in tragedies and public shows for
their strangeness. But all in our times, when they have
fortuned to have good brothers, do no less admire them
than the famed Molionidae, that are supposed to have been
born with their bodies joined with each other. And to
enjoy in common their fathers' wealth, friends, and slaves
is looked upon as incredible and prodigious, as if one soul
should make use of the hands, feet, and eyes of two
bodies.
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¶ Plutarch observes that even in one human body we find that the
most necessary parts are brothers and twins.
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2. And Nature hath given us very near examples of the
use of brothers, by contriving most of the necessary parts
of our bodies double, as it were, brothers and twins,
–as hands, feet, eyes, ears, nostrils,
–thereby telling as
that, all these were thus distinguished for mutual benefit
and assistance, and not for variance and discord. And
when she parted the very hands into many and unequal
fingers, she made them thereby the most curious and artificial
of all our members; insomuch that the ancient philosopher
Anaxagoras assigned the hands for the reason of
all human knowledge and discretion /1/. But the contrary to
this seems the truth. For it is not man's having hands
that makes him the wisest animal, but his being naturally
reasonable and capable of art was the reason why such
organs were conferred upon him. And this also is most
manifest, to every one, that the reason why Nature out of
one seed and source formed two, three, and more brethren
was not for difference and opposition, but that their
being apart might render them the more capable of assisting
one another. For those that were treble-bodied and
hundred-handed, if any such there were, while they had
all their members joined to each other, could do nothing
without them or apart, as brothers can who can live together
and travel, undertake public employments and practise
husbandry, by one another's help, if they preserve
but that principle of benevolence and concord that Nature
hath bestowed upon them. But if they do not, they will
not at all differ in my opinion from feet that trip up one
another, and fingers that are unnaturally writhen and distorted
by one another. Yea, rather, as things moist and
dry, cold and hot, partake of one nature in the same body,
and by their consent and agreement engender the best
and most pleasant temperament and harmony,
–without which (they say) there is neither satisfaction nor benefit in
either riches or kingship itself, which renders man equal to
Gods, –but if excess and discord befall them, they miserably
ruinate and confound the animal; so, where there is an
unanimous accordance amongst brothers, the family thrives
and flourishes, and friends and acquaintance, like a well
furnished choir, in all their actions, words, and thoughts
maintain a delightful harmony.
But jarring feuds advance the worst of men,
such as a vile ill-tongued slave at home, an insinuating
parasite abroad, or some other envious person. For as
diseases in bodies nauseating their ordinary diet incline
the appetite to every improper and noxious thing: so
calumny freely entertained against relations, and through
prejudging credulity enhanced into suspicion, occasions an
adopting the pernicious acquaintance of such as are ready
enough to crowd into the room of their betters.
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¶ Plutarch holds that he who cuts off his
brother is as he who intentionally maims himself.
¶ The family, where affection is the natural practice, is
the classroom wherein we learn friendship; as witness, note that we
call a good friend "brother" after that prior and inborn love that
siblings bear each other.
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3. The Arcadian prophet in Herodotus was forced to
supply the loss of one of his feet with an artificial one
made of wood /2/. But he who in a difference throws off his
brother, and out of places of common resort takes a stranger
for his comrade, seems to do no less than wilfully to
mangle off a part of himself, attempting to repair the barbarous
breach by the unnatural application of an extraneous
member. For the ordinary inclinations and desires of men,
being after some sort of society or other, sufficiently admonish
them to set the highest value upon relations, to pay
them all becoming respects, and to have a tender regard
for their persons, nothing being more irksome to nature
than to live in that destitution and solitude that denies
them the happiness of a friend and the privilege of communication.
Well therefore was that of Menander:
'Tis not o' th' store of sprightly wine,
Nor plenty of delicious meats,
Though generous Nature should design
T' oblige us with perpetual treats;
'Tis not on these we for content depend,
So much as on the shadow of a friend.
For a great deal of friendship in the world is really no
better and no more than the mere imitation and resemblance
of that first affection that Nature wrought in parents
towards their children, and in their children towards
one another. And whoever has not a particular esteem
and regard for this kind of friendship, I know no reason
any one has to credit his kindest pretensions. For what
shall we make of that man who in his complaisance, either
in company or in his letters, salutes his friend by the name
of brother, and yet scorns the company of that very brother
whose name was so serviceable to him in his compliment?
For, as it is the part of a madman, to adorn and set out
the effigies of his brother, and in the mean time to abuse,
beat, and maim his person; so, to value and honor the
name in others but to hate and shun the brother himself is
likewise an action of one that is not so well in his wits as he
should be, and that never yet considered that Nature is a
most sacred thing.
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¶ All philosophers agree that a man owes reverence to his parents;
and how better to please parents than to preserve love and friendship
among their children?
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4. I remember, when I was at Rome, I undertook an
umpirage between two brothers. The one pretended to the
study of philosophy, but (as it appeared by the event) with
as little reason as to the relation of a brother. For, when
I advised him that now was the time for him to show his
philosophy, in the prudent managery and government of
himself, whilst he was to treat with so dear a relation as a
brother, and such a one especially as wanted those advantages
of knowledge and education that he had; Your
counsel, replied my philosopher, may do well with some
illiterate novice or other; but, for my part, I see no such
great matter in that which you so gravely allege, our being
the issue of the same parents. True, I answered, you declare
evidently enough that you make no account of your
affinity. But, by your favor, Mr. Philosopher, all of your
profession that I ever was acquainted with, whatever their
private opinions were, affirm both in their prose and poetry
that, next to the Gods and the laws, her conservators and
guardians, Nature had assigned to parents the highest
honor and veneration. And there is nothing that men can
perform more grateful to the Gods, than freely and constantly
to pay their utmost acknowledgments and thanks
to their parents, and those from whom they received their
nurture and education; as, on the other hand, there is no
greater argument of a profane and impious spirit than a
contemptuous and surly behavior towards them. We are
therefore enjoined to take heed of doing any one wrong.
But he that demeans not himself with that exactness before
his parents that all his actions may afford them a pleasure
and satisfaction, though he give them no other distaste,
is sure to undergo a very hard censure. Now what can
more effectually express the gratitude of children to their
parents, or what actions or dispositions in their children
can be more delightful and rejoicing, than firm love and
amity amongst them?
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¶ For he that hates and
plagues his brother can hardly forbear blaming the father
who begot and the mother who bare him.
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5. And this may be understood by lesser instances. For,
if parents will be displeased when an old servant that has
been favored by them shall be reproached and flouted at
by the children, or if the plants and the fields wherein
they took pleasure be neglected, if the forgetting a dog or
a beloved horse fret their humorsome age (that is very apt
to be jealous of the love and obedience of their children),
if, lastly, when they disaffect and despise those recreations
that are pleasing to the eye and ear, or those juvenile exercises
and games which they themselves formerly delighted
in, –if at any of all these things the parents will be angry
and offended,–how will they endure such discord as inflames
their children with mutual malice and hatred, fills
their mouths with opprobrious and execrating language,
and works them into such an inveteracy that the contrary
and spiteful method of their actions declares a drift and
design of ruining one another? If, I say, those smaller
matters provoke their anger, how will all the rest be resented?
Who call resolve me? But, on the other hand,
where the love of brothers is such that they make up that
distance Nature has placed them at (in respect of their
different bodies) by united affections, insomuch that their
studies and recreations, their earnest and their jest, keep
true time and agree exactly together, such a pleasing consort
amongst their children proves a nursing melody to the
decayed parents to preserve and maintain their quiet and
peace in their old (though tender) age. For never was
any father so intent upon oratory, ambitious of honor, or
craving after riches, as fond of his children. Wherefore
neither is it so great a satisfaction to hear them speak well,
find them grow wealthy, or see them honored with the
power of magistracy, as to be endeared to each other in
mutual affection. Wherefore it is reported of Apollonis
of Cyzicum, mother of King Eumenes and three other sons,
Attalus, Philetaerus, and Athenaeus, that she always accounted
herself happy and gave the Gods thanks, not so
much for wealth or empire, as because she saw her three
sons guarding the eldest, and him reigning securely among
his armed brothers. And on the contrary, Artaxerxes, understanding
that his son Ochus had laid a plot against his
brothers, died with sorrow at the surprise /3/. For the quarrels
of brothers are pernicious, saith Euripides, but most of
all to the parents themselves. For he that hates and
plagues his brother can hardly forbear blaming the father
who begot and the mother who bare him /4/.
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¶ For the sake of their parents brothers love one another and, in
turn, the mutual happiness that brothers share leads
them to love the parents all the more for having blessed them each
with the other.
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6. Wherefore Pisistratus, being about to marry again,
his sons being grown up to a mature age, gave them their
deserved character of praise, together with the reason of
his designs for a second marriage, –that he might be the
happy father of more such children /5/. Now those who are
truly ingenious do not only love one another the more entirely
for the sake of their common parents, but they love
their very parents for the sake of one another; always
owning themselves bound to their parents especially for the
mutual happiness that they enjoy in each other, and looking
upon their brethren as the dearest and the most valuable
treasure they could have received from their parents.
And thus Homer elegantly expresses Telemachus bewailing
the want of a brother:
Stern Jove has in some angry mood
Condemned our race to solitude.
But I like not Hesiod's judgment so well, who is all for a
single son's inheriting. Not so well (I say) from Hesiod, a
pupil of the Muses, who being endeared sisters kept always
together, and therefore from that inseparate union
were called Muses /6/. To parents therefore the love of
brothers is a plain argument of their children's love to
themselves. And to the children of the brothers themselves
it is the best of precedents, and that which affords
the most effectual advice that can be thought of; as again,
they will be forward enough in following the worst of their
parents' humors and inheriting their animosities. But for
one who has led his relations a contentious life, and quarrelled
himself up into wrinkles and gray hairs, –for such
a one to begin a lecture of love to his children is just like
him
Who boldly takes the fees,
To cure in others what's his own disease.
In a word, his own actions weaken and confute all the
arguments of his best counsel. Take Eteocles of Thebes
reflecting upon his brother and flying out after this manner
I'd mount the Heavens, I'd strive to meet the sun
In's setting forth, I'd travel with him down
Beneath the earth, I'd balk no enterprise,
To gain Jove's mighty power and tyrannize.
Suppose, I say, out of this rage, he had presently fallen
into the softer strain of good advice to his children, charging
them thus:
Prize gentle amity that vies
With none for grandeur; concord prize
That joins together friends and states,
And keeps them long confederates.
Equality! –whatever else deceives
Our trust, 'tis this our very selves outlives;
who is there that would not have despised him? Or what
would you have thought of Atreus, after he had treated his
brother at a barbarous supper /7/, to hear him afterwards thus
instructing his children:
Such love as doth become related friends
Alone, when ills betide, its succor lends?
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¶ The natural bond between brothers is very strong, yet
once broken is hardly mended.
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7. It is therefore very needful to throw off those ill dispositions,
as being very grievous and troublesome to their
parents, and more destructive to children in respect of the
ill example. Besides, it occasions many strange censures
and much obloquy amongst men. For they will not be apt
to imagine that so near and intimate relations as brothers;
that have eaten of the same bread and all along participated
of the same common maintenance, and who have conversed
so familiarly together, should break out into contention,
except they were conscious to themselves of a great deal
of naughtiness. For it must be some great matter that
violates the bonds of natural affection; whence it is that
such breaches are so hardly healed up again. For, as
those things which are joined together by art, being parted,
may by the same art be compacted again, but if there be a
fracture in a natural body, there is much difficulty in setting
and uniting the broken parts; so, if friendships that
through a long tract of time have been firmly and closely
contracted come once to be violated, no endeavors will
bring them together any more. And brothers, when they
have once broke natural affection, are hardly made true
friends again; or, if there be some kind of peace made
betwixt them, it is like to prove but superficial only, and
such as carries a filthy festering scar along with it. Now
all enmity between man and man which is attended with
these perturbations of quarrelsomeness, passion, envy,
recording of an injury, must needs be troublesome and
vexatious; but that which is harbored against a brother,
with whom they communicate in sacrifices and other religious
rites of their parents, with whom they have the same
common charnel-house and the same or a near habitation,
is much more to be lamented, –especially if we reflect
upon the horrid madness of some brothers, in being so
prejudiced against their own flesh and blood, that his face
and person once so welcome and familiar, his voice all
along from his childhood as well beloved as known, should
on a sudden become so very detestable. How loudly does
this reproach their ill-nature and savage dispositions, that,
whilst they behold other brethren lovingly conversing in
the same house and dieting together at the same table,
managing the same estate and attended by the same servants,
they alone divide friends, choose contrary acquaintance,
resolving to abandon every thing that their brother
may approve of? Now it is obvious to any to understand,
that new friends and companions may be compassed and
new kindred may come in when the old, like decayed
weapons and worn-out utensils, are lost and gone. But
there is no more regaining of a lost brother, than of a hand
that is cut off or an eye that is beaten out. The Persian
woman therefore spake truth, when she preferred the saving
her brother's life before her very children's, alleging
that she was in a possibility of having more children if
she should be deprived of those she had, but, her parents
being dead, she could hope for no more brothers after
him /8/.
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¶ Brothers should bear each other's faults.
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8. You will ask me then, What shall a man do with an
untoward brother? I answer, every kind and degree of
friendship is subject to abuse from the persons, and in that
respect has its taint, according to that of Sophocles:
Who into human things makes scrutinies,
He may on most his censures exercise.
For, if you examine the love of relations, the love of associates,
or the more sensual passion of fond lovers, you will
find none of them all clear, pure, and free from all faults.
Wherefore the Spartan, when he married a little wife, said
that of evils he had to choose the least. But brothers
would do well to bear with one another's familiar failings,
rather than to adventure upon the trial of strangers. For
as the former is blameless because it is necessary, so the
other is blameworthy because it is voluntary. For it is not
to be expected that a sociable guest or a mild crony should
be bound by the same
Chains of respect, forged by no human hand,
as one who was nourished from the same breast and carries
the same blood in his veins. And therefore it would become
a virtuous mind to make a favorable construction of
his brother's miscarriages, aid to bespeak him with this
candor:
I cannot leave you thus under a cloud
Of infelicities,
whether debauched with vice or eclipsed with ignorance.
for fear my inadvertency to some failing that naturally
descends upon you from one of our parents should make
me too severe against you. For, as Theophrastus said, as
to strangers, judgment must rule affection rather than affection
prescribe to judgment; but where nature denies judgment
this prerogative, and will not wait for the bushel of
salt (as the proverb has it) to be eaten, but has already
infused and begun in us the principle of love, there we
should not be too rigid and exact in the examining of
faults. Now what would you think of men when they can
easily dispense with and smile at the sociable vices of their
acquaintance, and in the mean time be so implacably incensed
with the irregularities of a brother? Or when fierce
dogs, horses, wolves, cats, apes, lions, are so much their
favorites that they feed and delight in them, and yet cannot
stomach only their brother's passion, ignorance, or ambition?
Or of others who have made away their houses
and lands to harlots, and quarrelled with their brothers
only about the floor or corner of the house? Nay, further,
such a prejudice have they to them, that they justify the
hating them from the rule of hating every ill thing, maliciously
accounting them as such; and they go up and down
cursing and reproaching their brothers for their vices, while
they are never offended or discontented therewith in others,
but are willing enough daily to frequent and haunt their
company.
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¶ Rather than be rivals for their parents'
affection and bounty, brothers should each commend the other to their parents.
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9. And this may serve for the beginning of my discourse.
I shall enter upon my instructions not as others do, with
the distribution of the parents' goods, but with advice rather
to avoid envious strifes and emulation whilst the parents
are living. Agesilaus was punished with a mulct by the
Lacedaemonian council for sending every one of the ancient
men an ox as a reward of his fortitude; the reason they
gave for their distaste was, that by this means he won too
much upon the people, and made the commonalty become
wholly serviceable to his own private interest /9/. Now I
would persuade the son to show all possible honor and
reverence to his parents, but not with that greedy design
of engrossing all their love to himself, –of which too many
have been guilty, working their brethren out of favor, on
purpose to make way for their own interest, –a fault which
they are apt to palliate with specious, but unjust pretences.
For they deprive and cheat their brethren out of the greatest
and most valuable good they are capable of receiving
from their parents, viz., their kindness and affection, whilst
they slyly and disingenuously steal in upon them in their
business, and surprise them in their errors, demeaning
themselves with all imaginable observance to their parents,
and especially with the greatest care and preciseness in
those things wherein they see their brethren have been
faulty or suspected to be so. But a kind brother, and one
that truly deserves the name, will make his brother's condition
his own, freely take upon himself a share of his
sufferings, particularly in the anger of his parents, and be
ready to do any thing that may conduce to the restoring him
into favor; but if he has neglected some opportunity or
something which ought to have been done by him, to excuse
it upon his nature, as being more ready and seriously
disposed for other things. That of Agamemnon therefore
was well spoken in the behalf of his brother:
Nor sloth, nor silly humor makes him stay;
I am the only cause. All his delay
Waits my attempts:
and he says that this charge was delivered him by his
brother. Fathers willingly allow of the changing of names
and have an inclination to believe their children when they
make the best interpretation of their brother's failings,
–as when they call carelessness simple honesty, or stupidity
goodness, or, if he be quarrelsome, term him a
smart-spirited youth and one that will not endure to be
trampled on. By this means it comes to pass, that he who
makes his brother's peace and ingratiates him with his
offended father at the same time fairly advances his own
interest, and grows deservedly the more in favor.
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¶ A Brother should gently reprove an erring brother.
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10. But when the storm is once over, it is necessary to
be serious with him, to reprehend him sharply for his
crime, discovering to him with all freedom wherein he
has been wanting in his duty. For as such guilty brothers
are not to be allowed in their faults, neither are they to be
insulted with raillery. For to do the latter were to rejoice
and find advantage in their failings, and to do the former
were to take part in them. Therefore ought they so to
manage their severities that they may show a solicitude
and concernedness for their brethren and much discomposure
and trouble at their follies. Now he is the fittest
person to school his brother smartly who has been a ready
and earnest advocate in his behalf. But suppose the
brother wrongfully charged, it is fitting he should be obsequious
to his parents in all other things whatsoever, and
to bear with their angry humors; but a defence made before
them for a brother that suffers by slander and false
accusation is unreprovable and very good. In all such
there is no need to fear that check in Sophocles,
Curst son! who with thy father durst contend;
for there is allowed a liberty of vindicating a traduced
brother. And where the parents are convinced of their
injury, in cases of this kind defeat is more pleasant to
them than victory.
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¶ The division of the parental estate is a great trial
of brothers' love.
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11. But when the father is dead, it is fitting brothers
should chose the nearer in affection; immediately in their
sadness and sorrow communicating their mutual love, and,
in the next place, rejecting the suspicious stories and suggestions
of servants, discountenancing their sly methods
and subtle applications, and amongst other stories, adverting
to the fable of Jupiter's sons, Castor and Pollux,
whose love to one another was such that Pollux, when
one was whispering to him somewhat against his brother,
killed him with a, blow of his fist. And when they
come to dividing their parents' goods, let them take
heed that they come not with prejudice and contentious
giving defiance and shouting the warcry,
as so many do. But let them observe with caution
that day above all others, as it may be to them the beginning
either of mortal enmity or of friendship and concord.
And then, either amongst themselves or, if need be, in
the presence of some common and indifferent friend, let
them deal fairly and openly, allowing Justice (as Plato
says) to draw the lot, giving and receiving what may consist
with love and friendship. Thus they will appear to
be sharers only in the care and disposal of these things,
whilst the propriety and enjoyment is free and common to
them all. But they that take an advantage in the controversy,
and seize from one another nurses and children
who have been fostered and brought up with them, prevailing
by their eagerness, may perhaps go away with the
gain of a single slave, but they have forfeited in the stead
of it the best legacy their parents could have left them,
the love and confidence of their brothers. I have known
some brothers, without the instigation of lucre, and merely
out of a savage disposition, fly upon the goods of their
deceased parents with as much ravine and fierceness as
they would upon the spoil of an enemy. Such were the
actions of Charicles and Antiochus the Opuntians, who
divided a silver cup and a garment in two pieces, as
though by some tragical imprecation they had been set on
To share the patrimony with a sword.
Others I have known proclaiming the success of their
subtle methods of fierce and eager and sometimes sly and
fallacious reasonings, by which means they have compassed
larger proportion from their deluded brethren. Whereas
their just actions and their kind and humble carriage had
less reproached their pride, but raised the esteem of their
persons. Wherefore that action of Athenodorus is very
memorable, and indeed generally remembered by our countrymen.
His elder brother Xeno in the time of his guardianship
had wasted a great part of his substance, and at
last was condemned for a rape, and all that was left was
confiscated. Athenodorus was then but a youth; but
when his share of the estate was given to him, he had
that regard to his brother, that he brought all his own proportion
and freely exposed it to a new division with him.
And though in the dividing it he suffered great abuse from
him, he resented it not so much as to repent of what he
had done, but endured with most remarkable meekness
and unconcerned ease his brother's outrage, that was
become notorious throughout all Greece.
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¶ It were good to preserve equality between brothers, but inequality
being inevitable, it is good for the better endowed to share.
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12. Solon discoursing about the commonwealth approved
of equality, as being that which would occasion no
tumult or faction. But this opinion appeared too popular;
for by this arithmetical method he would have set up
democracy in the room of a far happier government, consisting
with a more suitable (viz., a geometrical) proportion.
But he that advises brethren in the dividing of an estate
should give them Plato's counsel to the citizens /10/, that they
would lay aside self-interest, or, if they cannot be persuaded
to that, to be satisfied with an equal division. And
this is the way to lay a good and lasting foundation of love
and peace betwixt them. Besides that, he may have the
advantage of naming eminent instances. Such was that of
Pittacus, who, being asked of the Lydian king whether he
had any estate, replied that he had twice as much as he
wanted, his brother being dead. But since that not only
in the affluence or want of riches he that has a less share
is liable to hostility with him that has more, but generally,
as Plato says /11/, in all inequality there is inquietude and disturbance,
and in the contrary a during confidence; so a
disparity among brethren tends dangerously to discord.
But for them to be equal in all respects, I grant, is impossible.
For what through the difference that nature made
immediately betwixt them at the first, and what through
the following contingencies of their lives, it comes to pass
that they contract an envy and hatred against one another,
and such abominable humors as render them the plagues
not only of their private families but even of commonwealths.
And this indeed is a disease which it were well
to prevent, or to cure when it is engendered. I would
persuade that brother therefore that excels his fellows in
any accomplishments, in those very things to communicate
and impart to them the utmost he can, that they may shine
in his honor, and flourish with his interest. For instance,
if he be a good orator, to endeavor to make that faculty
theirs, accounting it never the less for being imparted. And
care ought to be taken that all this kindness be not followed
with a fastidious pride, but rather with such a
becoming condescension and familiarity as may secure
his worth from envy, and by his own equanimity and
sweet disposition, as far as is possible, make up the
inequality of their fortunes. Lucullus refused the honor
of magistracy on purpose to give way to his younger
brother, contentedly waiting for the expiration of his year /12/.
Pollux chose rather to be half a deity with his brother
than a deity by himself, and therefore to debase himself
into a share of mortality, that he might raise his brother as
much above it. You then are a happy man, one would
think, that can oblige your brother at a cheaper rate, illustrate
him with the honor of your virtues, –and make him
great like yourself, without any damage or derogation.
Thus Plato made his brothers famous by mentioning them
in the choicest of his books, –Glauco and Adimantus in
that concerning the Commonwealth, and Antipho his
youngest brother in his Parmenides.
|
¶ If a brother excel in something he does well to laud his brother
for those things wherein that one excels.
|
13. Besides, as there is difference in the natures and
fortunes of brothers, so neither is it possible that the one
should excel the other in every particular thing. The
elements exist out of one common matter, yet they are
qualified with quite contrary faculties. No one ever saw
two brothers by the same father and mother so strangely
distinguished that, whereas the one was a Stoic and withal
a wise man, –a comely, pleasant, liberal, eminent,
wealthy, eloquent, studious, courteous man, –the other
was quite contrary to all these. But, however, the vilest,
the most despicable things have some proportion of good,
or natural disposition to it.
Thus amongst hated thorns and prickly briers
The fragrant violet retires.
Now therefore, he who has the eminency in other things,
if he yet do not hinder nor stifle the credit of what is
laudable in his brother, like an ambitious antagonist that
grasps at all the applause, but if he rather yield to him,
and declare that in many things he excels him, by this
means takes away all occasion of envy, which being like
fire without fuel, must needs die without it. Or rather he
prevents the very beginnings of envy, and suffers it not so
much as to kindle betwixt, them. But he who, where he
knows himself far superior to his brother, calls for his
help and advice, whether it be in the business of a rhetorician,
a magistrate, or a friend, –in a word, he that neglects
or leaves him out in no honorable employment or
concern, but joins him with himself in all his noble and
worthy actions, employs him when present, waits for him
when absent, and makes the world take notice that he is
as fit for business as himself, but of a more modest and
yielding disposition, –all this while has done himself no
wrong, and has bravely advanced his brother.
|
¶ One should envy no one, least of all one's own brother.
|
14. And this is the advice one would offer to the excelling
brother. The other should consider that, as his
brother excels him in wealth, learning, esteem, he must
expect to come behind not him only but millions more,
Who live o' th' offsprings of the spacious earth.
But if he envies all that are so happy, or is the only one
in the world that repines at his own brother's felicity, his
malicious temper speaks him one of the most wretched
creatures in the world. Wherefore, as Metellus's opinion
was, that the Romans were bound to thank the Gods that
Scipio, being such a brave man, was not born in another
city; so he who aspires after great things, if he miss of
his designs for himself, can do no less than entitle his
brother to his best wishes. But some are so unlucky in
estimating of virtuous and worthy actions that, whereas
they are overjoyed to see their friends grow in esteem, and
are not a little proud of entertaining persons of honor or
great opulency, their brother's worth and eminency is in
the mean time looked upon with a jealous eye, as though
it threatened to cloud and eclipse the splendor of their
condition. How do they exalt themselves at the memory
of some prosperous exploits of their father, or the wise
conduct of their great-grandfather, by all which they are
nothing advantaged? But again, how are they daunted
and dispirited to see a brother preferred to inheritances,
dignities, or honorable marriage? But we should not
envy any one; but if this cannot be, we ought at least to
turn our malice and rancor out of the family against worse
objects, in imitation of those who ease the city of sedition
by turning the same upon their enemies without. We may
say, as Diomedes said to Glaucus:
Trojans I have and friends; you, what I hate, –
Grecians to envy and to emulate
|
¶ Let brothers strive for eminence in different realms rather
than complete directly against one another in the same field of endeavor.
|
15. Brothers should not be like the scales of a balance,
the one rising upon the other's sinking; but rather like
numbers in arithmetic, the lesser and greater mutually
helping and improving each other. For that finger which
is not active in writing or touching musical instruments is
not inferior to those that can do both; but they all move and
act, one as well as another, and are assistant to each other,
which makes the inequality among them seem designed
by Nature, when the greatest cannot be without the help
of the least that is placed in opposition to it. Thus Craterus
and Perilaus, brothers to kings Antigonus and Cassander,
betook themselves, the one to managing of military,
the other of his domestic affairs. On the other hand,
the men like Antiochus, Seleucus, Grypus, and Cyzicenus,
disdaining any meaner things than purple and diadems,
brought a great deal of trouble and mischief upon one
another, and made Greece itself miserable with their quarrels.
But in regard that men of ambitious inclinations
will be apt to envy those who have got the start of them
in honor, I judge it most convenient for brothers to take
different methods in pursuit of it, rather than to vex and
emulate one another in the same way. Those beasts fight
and war one with another who feed in one pasture, and
wrestlers are antagonists when they strive in the same
game. But those that pretend to different games are the
greatest friends, and ready to take one another's parts with
the utmost of their skill and power. So the two sons of
Tyndarus, Castor and Pollux, carried the day, –Pollux at
cuffs, and Castor at racing. Thus Homer brings in Teucer
as expert in the bow, whom his brother Ajax, who was
best in close fight,
Protected over with a glittering shield.
And amongst those who are concerned in the Commonwealth
a general of an army does not much envy the
leaders of the people, nor among those that profess rhetoric
do the lawyers envy the sophisters, nor amongst the physicians
do those who prescribe rules for diet envy the chirurgeon;
but they mutually aid and assert the credit of one
another. But for brothers to study to be eminent in the
same art and faculty is all the same, amongst ill men, as
if rival lovers, courting one and the same mistress, should
both strive to gain the greatest interest in her affections.
Those indeed that travel different ways can probably do
one another but little good; but those who carry on quite
different designs, and take several methods in their conversations,
avoid envy, and many times do one another a
kindness. As Demosthenes and Chares, and again Aeschines
and Eubulus, Hyperides and Leosthenes, the one
treating the people with their discourses and writings, the
others assisting them by action and conduct. Therefore,
where the disposition of brothers is such that they cannot
agree in prosecuting the same methods of becoming great,
it is convenient that one of them should so command himself
as to assume the most different inclinations and designs
from his brother; that, if they both aim at honor, they
may serve their ambition by different means, and that they
may cheerfully congratulate each other on the success of
their designs, and so enjoy at once their honor and them
selves.
|
¶ In the case of brothers of differing ages, the elder, rather than
lording it over the younger, should set himself as an example unto the
younger; and the younger, rather that chaff under the elder's superiority,
should learn of his brother and strive to be like him.
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16. But, besides this, they must beware of the suggestions
of kindred, servants, or even wives, that may work
much in a vain-glorious mind. Your brother, say they, is
the great man of action, whom the people honor and admire;
but nobody comes near or regards you. Now a man that
well understood himself would answer, I have indeed a
brother that is a plausible man in the world, and the greatest
part of his honor I have a right to. For Socrates said
that he would rather have Darius for his friend than a
Daric. But to a prudent and ingenious brother, it would
be as great a satisfaction to see his brother an excellent
orator, a person of great wealth or authority, as if he had
been any or all these himself. And thus especially may
that trouble and discontent, that arises from the great odds
that are betwixt brethren, be mitigated. But there are
other differences that happen amongst ill-constructed brothers
in respect of their age. For, whilst the elder justly
claim the privilege of pre-eminence and authority over the
younger, they become troublesome and uneasy to them;
and the younger, growing pert and refractory, begin to
slight and contenm the elder. Hence it is that the younger,
looking upon themselves as hated and curbed, decline and
stomach their admonitions. The elder again, being fond
of superiority, are jealous of their brothers' advancement,
as though it tended to lessen them. Therefore, as we judge
of a kindness that it ought to be valued more by the party
obliged than by him who bestows it, so, if the elder would
be persuaded to set less by his seniority and the younger
to esteem it more, there would be no supercilious slighting
and contemptuous carriage betwixt them. But, seeing
it is fitting the elder should take care of them, lead, and instruct
them, and the younger respect, observe, and follow
them; it is likewise convenient that the elder's care should
carry more of familiarity in it, and that he should act more
by persuasion than command, being readier to express much
satisfaction and to applaud his brother when he does well
than to reprove and chastise him for his faults. Now the
younger's imitation should be free from such a thing as
angry striving. For unprejudiced endeavors in following
another speak the esteem of a friend and admirer, the
other the envy of an antagonist. Whence it is that those
who, out of love to virtue, desire to be like their brother
are beloved; but those again who, out of a stomaching ambition,
contend to be equal with them meet with answerable
usage. But above all other respects due from the
younger to the elder, that of observance is most commendable,
and occasions the return of a strong affection and
equal regard. Such was the obsequious behavior of
Cato
to his elder brother Caepio all along from their childhood,
that, when they came to be men, he had so much overcome
him with his humble and excellent disposition, and his
meek silence and attentive obedience had begot in him
such a reverence towards him, that Caepio neither spake
nor did any thing material without him. It is recorded
that, when Caepio had sealed some writing of depositions,
and his brother coming in was against it, he called for the
writing and took off his seal, without so much as asking
Cato why he did suspect the testimony /13/. The reverence
that Epicurus's brothers showed him was likewise remarkable,
and well merited by his good will and affectionate
care for them. They were so especially influenced by him
in the way of his philosophy, that they began betimes to
entertain a high opinion of his accomplishments, and to
declare that there was never a wiser man heard of than
Epicurus. If they erred, yet we may here observe the
obliging behavior of Epicurus, and the return of their passionate
respects to him. And amongst later philosophers,
Apollonius the Peripatetic convinced him who said honor
was incommunicable, by raising his younger brother Sotion
to a higher degree of eminence than himself. Amongst
all the good things I am bound to Fortune for, I have that
of a kind and affectionate brother Timon, which cannot be
unknown to any who have conversed with me, and especially
those of my own family.
|
¶ Among brothers of near the same age care must be taken that,
once having fallen out over some trivial matter, they begin to
differ in great things.
¶ Plutarch observes that when among
brothers upon the ending of a difference all discord ceases
betwixt them, it is an argument that the cause lay in the
matter of difference only, but, if the discord survive the
decision of the controversy, it is plain that the pretended
matter served only for a false scar, drawn over on purpose
to hide the cause of an incurable wound.
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17. There are yet other disturbances that brothers near
the same age ought to be warned of; they are but small
indeed at present, but they are frequent and leave a lasting
grudge, such as makes them ready upon all occasions
to fret and exasperate one another, and conclude at last in
implacable hatred and malice. For, having once begun to
fall out in their sports, and to differ about little things, like
the feeding and fighting of cocks and other fowl, the exercises
of children, the hunting of dogs, the racing of horses,
it comes to pass that they have no government of themselves
in greater matters, nor the power to restrain a proud
and contentious humor. So the great men among the
Grecians in our time, disagreeing first about players
and musicians, afterward about the bath in Aedepsus,
and again about rooms of entertainment, from contending
and opposing one another about places, and from
cutting and turning water-courses, they were grown so
fierce and mad against one another, that they were dispossessed
of all their goods by a tyrant, reduced to extreme
poverty, and put to very hard shifts. In a word, so
miserably were they altered from themselves, that there
was nothing of the same but their inveterate hatred remaining
in them. Wherefore there is no small care to be
taken by brothers in subduing their passions and preventing
quarrels about small matters, yielding rather for
peace's sake, and taking greater pleasure in indulging than
crossing and conquering one another's humors. For the
ancients accounted the Cadmean victory to be no other
than that, between the brothers at Thebes, esteeming that
the worst and basest of victories. But you will say, Are
there not some things wherein men of mild and quiet dispositions
may have occasion to dissent from others? There
are, doubtless; but then they must take care that the main
difference be betwixt the things themselves, and that their
passions be not too much concerned. But they must
rather have a regard to justice, and as soon as they have
referred the controversy to arbitrament, immediately discharge
their thoughts of it, for fear too much ruminating
leave a deep impression of it in the mind, and render it
hard to be forgotten. The Pythagoreans were imitable
for this, that, though no nearer related than by mere common
discipline and education, if at any time in a passion
they broke out into opprobrious language, before the sun
set they gave one another their hands, and with them a discharge
from all injuries, and so with a mutual salutation
concluded friends /14/. For as a fever attending an inflamed
sore threatens no great danger to the body, but, if the
sore being healed the fever stays, it appears then to be a
distemper and to have some deeper cause; so, when among
brothers upon the ending of a difference all discord ceases
betwixt them, it is an argument that the cause lay in the
matter of difference only, but, if the discord survive the
decision of the controversy, it is plain that the pretended
matter served only for a false scar, drawn over on purpose
to hide the cause of an incurable wound.
|
¶ Brothers may learn from Xerxes and Ariamenes who, contending
for the throne of Persia, each agreed to submit the plan to arbitration and
accepting the result, lived in concord thereafter.
|
18. It is worth the while at present to hear an account
of a dispute between two foreign brothers, not concerning
a little patch of land, nor a few servants or cattle, but no
less than the kingdom of Persia. When Darius was dead,
some were for Ariamenes's succeeding to the crown as being
eldest son; others were for Xerxes, who was born to
Darius of Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, in the time of his
reign over Persia. Ariamenes therefore came from Media
in no hostile posture, but very peaceably, to hear the matter
determined. Xerxes being there used the majesty and
power of a king. But when his brother was come, he laid
down his crown and other royal ornaments, went and meeting
greeted him. And sending him presents, he gave a
charge to his servants to deliver them with these words:
With these presents your brother Xerxes expresses the
honor he has for you; and, if by the judgment and suffrage
of the Persians I be declared king, I place you next
to myself. Ariamenes replied: I accept your gifts, but
presume the kingdom of Persia to be my right. Yet for
all my younger brethren I shall have an honor, but for
Xerxes in the first place. The day of determining who
should reign being come, the Persians made Artabanus
brother to Darius judge. Xerxes excepting against him,
confiding most in the multitude, his mother Atossa reproved
him, saying: Why, son, are you so shy of Artabanus,
your uncle, and one of the best men amongst the Persians?
And why should you dread the trial, where the worst you
can fear is to be next the throne, and to be called the king
of Persia's brother? Xerxes at length submitting, after
some debate Artabanus adjudged the kingdom to Xerxes.
Ariamenes presently started up, and went and showed obeisance
to his brother, and taking him by the hand, placed
him in the throne. And from that time, being placed himself
by Xerxes next in the kingdom, he continued the same
affection to him, insomuch that, for his brother's honor engaging
himself in the naval fight at
Salamis, he was killed
there /15/. And this may serve for a clear and unquestionable
instance of true kindness and greatness of mind.
|
¶ More historical examples of brotherly love.
|
Antiochus's restless ambition after a crown was as
much to be condemned; but still we may admire this in
him, that it did not totally extinguish natural affection and
destroy the love of a brother. He went to war with his
brother Seleucus for the kingdom, himself being the
younger brother, and having the assistance of his mother.
In the durance of which war Seleucus joins battle with
the Galatians and is defeated; being not heard of for a
time, he is supposed to be slain and his whole army to
be slaughtered by the enemy. Antiochus, understanding
it, put off his purple, went into mourning, caused his
palace to be shut up, and retired to lament the death of
his brother. But, within a short time after, hearing that
his brother was safe and raising new forces, he went and
offered sacrifices for joy, and commanded his subjects to
do the like and to crown themselves with garlands. But
the Athenians, though they made a ridiculous story about
a falling out amongst the Deities, compensated for the absurdity
pretty well in striking out the second day of their
month Boedromion, because upon that day Neptune and
Minerva were at variance. And why should not we cancel
out of our memories, as an unhappy day and no more to be
spoken of, that wherein we have differed with any of our
family or relations? But rather, far be it from us that the
feuds of that day should bury the memory of all that
happier time wherein we mere educated and conversed
together. For, except nature has bestowed those virtues
of meekness and patience upon us in vain and to no purpose,
we have certainly the greatest reason to exercise them
towards our intimate friends and kindred. Now the acknowledgments
of the offender and the begging pardon
for the crime express a kind and amicable nature no less
than the remitting of it. Wherefore it is not for us to
slight the anger of those whom we have incensed through
our folly, neither should they be so implacable as to refuse
an humble submission; but rather, where we have done
the wrong, we should endeavor to prevent a distaste by the
earliest and humblest acknowledgments and impetrations
of pardon, and where we have received any, to be as ready
and free in the forgiving of it. Enclides, Socrates's auditor
was famous in the schools for his mild return to his
raving brother, whom he heard bellow out threats against
him after this manner: Let me perish, if I be not revenged
on you. He answered: And let me perish, if I do not prevail
with you to desist from this passion, and to let us be as
good friends as ever we mere. This Euclides spake; but
what king Eumenes did was an act of meekness seldom to
be paralleled, and never yet outdone. For Perseus king
of Macedon, being his great enemy, had engaged some
persons to attempt the killing him. In order to which
barbarous act they lay in wait for him at Delphi, and,
when they perceived him going from the sea toward
the Oracle, came behind him and set upon him with
great stones, wounding him in the head and neck, till
reeling with his hurt he fell down and was supposed
dead. The rumor of this action dispersed every way, and
some friends and servants of his coming to Pergamus,
who were the amazed spectators of the supposed murder,
brought the news. Whereupon Attalus, Eumenes's
eldest brother, a well-tempered man and one that had
showed the greatest affection and respect to his brother,
was proclaimed king, and not only assumed the crown, but
married his deceased brother's queen, Stratonica. But intelligence
coming a while after that Eumenes was alive
and coming home, he presently laid aside the crown, and
putting on his usual habiliments, went with the rest of the
guard to meet and attend him. Eumenes received him
with the most affectionate embrace, and saluted the queen
with honorable respect and much endearment. And not
long after, at his death, he was so free from passion or
jealousy against his brother, that he bequeathed to him
both his crown and his queen. The return of Attalus to
his brother's kindness was ingenuous and very remarkable.
For after his brother's death he took no care to advance
his own children, though he had many, but provided especially
for the education of Eumenes's son, and when he
came to age, placed the crown upon his head, and saluted
him with the title of king. But Cambyses. being disturbed
only with a dream that his brother was like to reign over
Asia, without any enquiry after farther evidence or ground
for his jealousy, caused him to be put to death /16/. Whereupon
the succession went out of Cyrus's family into the
line of Darius, a prince who understood how to share the
management of his affairs and even his regal authority not
merely with his brothers, but also with his friends.
|
¶ If any difference happen between brothers, it is
good, during that estrangement that each avoid conversation
with the enemies of the other.
|
19. Again, this rule is to be observed, that, whenever
any difference happens betwixt brothers, during the time
of strangeness especially they hold a correspondence with
one another's friends, but by all means avoid their enemies.
The Cretans are herein very observable; who, being accustomed
to frequent skirmishes and fights, nevertheless, as
soon as they were attacked by a foreign enemy, were
reconciled and went together. And that was it which
they commonly called Syncretism. For there are some
like waters running among loose and chinky grounds,
all familiarity and friendship; enemies to both
parties, but especially bent upon the ruining of him whose
weakness exposes him most to danger. For every sincere
substantial friend joins in affection with one that
approves himself such to him. And you shall observe, on
the other hand, that the most inveterate and pernicious
enemy contributes the poison of his ill-nature to heighten
the passion of an angry brother. Therefore as the cat, in
Aesop, out of pretended kindness asked the sick hen how
she did, and she answered, The better if you were further
off; after the same manner one would answer an incendiary
that throws in words to breed discord, and to that
end pries into things that are not to be spoken of, saying:
I have no controversy with my brother nor he with me, if
neither of us shall hearken to such sycophants as you are.
I cannot understand why –seeing it is commonly held
convenient for those who have tender eyes and a weak
sight to shun those objects that are apt to make a strong
reflection –the rule should not hold good in morals, and
why those whom we would imagine sick of the trouble of
fraternal quarrels and contentions should rather seem to
take pleasure in them, and even seek the company of those
who will only excite them the more and make all worse.
How much more prudential a course would they take in
avoiding the enemies of their offended brethren, and rather
conversing with their relations and friends or even with
their wives, and discovering their grievances to them
frankly and with plainness of speech! But some are of
that scrupulous opinion, that brothers walking together
must not suffer a stone to lie in the way betwixt them, and
are very much concerned if a dog happen to run betwixt
them; and many such things, being looked upon as ominous,
discompose and terrify them. Whereas none of
them all any way tends to the breaking of friendship or
the causing of dissension; but they are not in the least
aware that men of snarling dispositions, base detractors,
and instigators of mischief, whom they improvidently admit
into their society, are the things that do them the
greatest hurt.
|
¶ Brothers should have friends in common, but prefer the brother
over the friend.
|
20. Therefore (this discourse suggesting one thing after
another) Theophrastus said it well: If there ought to be all
things common amongst friends, why should not the best
of those things, their friends themselves, be communicated?
And this is advice that cannot be too soon tendered to
brethren, for their separate acquaintance and conversation
conduce to the estranging them from one another. For
those who affect divers friends will be apt to delight in
them so much as to emulate them, and will therefore be
easily drawn and persuaded by them; for friendships have
their distinctive marks and manners, and there is no
greater argument of a different genius and disposition
than the choice of different friends. Wherefore neither
the common table nor the common recreations nor any
other sort of intimacy comprehends so much of amity betwixt
brothers, as to be united in their interest and to
have the same common friends and enemies; for ordinary
friendship suffers neither calumnies nor clashings, but if
there be any anger or discontent, honest and impartial
friends make an end of it. For as tin unites and solders
up broken brass, being put to the ends and attempered to
the nature of the broken pieces; so it is the part of a
friend betwixt two brothers, to suit and accommodate
himself to the humors of both, that he may confirm and
secure their friendship. But those of different and uncomplying
tempers are like improper notes in music, that serve
only to spoil the consort, and offend the ear with a harsh
noise. It is a question therefore whether Hesiod was in
the right or not when he said:
Let not thy friend become thy brother's peer.
For one of an even behavior, that freely communicates
himself between both, may by his interest in both contract
a firm and happy tie and engagement of love between
brothers. But Hesiod, it seems, spoke of those he suspected,
–the greatest part and the worst sort of friends,
–men of envious and selfish designs. He is wise who
avoids such friends; and if in the mean time he divide his
kindness equally between a true friend and a brother, let
him do it with this reserve always, that the brother have
the preference in magistracy and the management of public
affairs, that he have the greater respect shown him in,
invitations and in contracting acquaintance with great
persons, and in any thing that looks honorable and great
in the eyes of the people, that the pre-eminence be given
to Nature; for in these instances to prefer a friend does
him not so much credit as that base and unworthy action
of lessening and slighting a brother does the vilifying
brother disgrace. But several have given their opinions
in this thing. That of Menander is very well,
No one who loves will bear to be contemned.
|
¶ Brothers are naturally kindly affected toward one another, but
that bond, if not nurtured, can be broken.
|
This may remind brothers to preserve a tender regard to
one another, and not to presume that Nature will overcome
all their slights and disdain. A horse naturally loves a
man, and a dog his master; but, if they are neglected in
what is fitting and necessary for them, they will grow
strange and unmanageable. The body, that is so intimately
united to the soul, if the soul suspend a careful
influence from it, will not be forward to assist it in its
operations; it may rather spoil and cross them.
|
¶ One should honor one's brother's wife and be kindly affected
toward his children, interceding on their behalf with the father.
|
21. Now as the kind regards of brother to brother are
highly commendable, so may they be expressed to the
greater advantage, when he confines them not wholly to
his person, but pays them, as occasion serves, rather by
reflection to his kindred and such as retain to him; when
he maintains a kind and complaisant humor amidst all
contingencies, when he obliges the servile part of the
family with a courteous and affable carriage, when he is
grateful to the physician and good friends for the safe
recovery of his brother, and is ready to go upon any expedition
or service for him. Again, it is highly commendable
in him to have the highest esteem and honor for his
brother's wife, reputing and honoring her as the most
sacred of all his brother's sacred treasures, and thus to do
honor to him; condoling with her when she is neglected,
and appeasing her when she is angered; if she have a
little offended, to intercede and sue for her peace; if there
have been any private difference between himself and his
brother, to make his complaint before her in order to a reconcilement.
But especially let him be much troubled at his
brother's single state; or, if he be married, at his want of
children. If not married, let him follow him with arguments
and persuasions, to teaze him with rebukes and
reproaches, and to do every thing that may incline him to
enter into a conjugal state. When he has children, let
him express his affection and respects to both parents
with the greater ardency. Let him love the children
equally with his own, but be more favorable and indulgent
to them, that, if it chance that they commit some of
their youthful faults, they may not run away and hide
themselves among naughty acquaintances through fear of
their parents' anger, but may have in their uncle a recourse
and refuge, where they will be admonished lovingly and
will find an intercessor to make their excuse and get their
pardon. So Plato reclaimed his nephew Speusippus, that
was far gone in idleness and debauchery; the young man,
impatient of his parents' reprehensions, ran away from
them, who were more impatient of his extravagancies.
His uncle expressed nothing of disturbance at all this,
but continued calm and free from passion; whereupon
Speusippus was seized with an extraordinary shame, and
from that time became an admirer of both his uncle and
his philosophy. Many of Plato's friends blamed him that
he had not instructed the youth; he made answer, that he
instructed him by his life and conversation, from which he
might learn, if he pleased, the difference betwixt ill and
virtuous actions. The father of Aleuas the Thessalian,
looking upon his son as of a fierce and injurious nature,
kept him under with a great deal of severity, but his uncle
received him with as great kindness. When therefore the
Thessalians sent some lots to the oracle at Delphi, to
enquire by them who should be their king, his uncle stole
in one lot privately in the name of Aleuas; the priestess
answered from the oracle, that Aleuas should be king.
His father being surprised averred that there was never
a lot thrown in for Aleuas that he knew of; at last all
concluded that some mistake was committed in putting
down the names, whereupon they sent again to enquire
of the oracle. The priestess, confirming her first words,
answered:
I mean the youth with reddish hair,
Whom dame Archedice did bear.
Thus Aleuas was by the oracle, through his uncle's kind
policy, declared king; by which means he surmounted all
his ancestors, and advanced his family into a splendid condition.
For it is prudence in a brother, when he beholds
with joy the brave and worthy actions of his nephews growing
great and honorable by their own deserts, to prompt
and encourage them on by congratulation and applause.
For to praise his own son may be absurd and offensive, but
to commend the good actions of a brother's son, is an excellent
thing, and one which proceeds from no self-interest,
nor any other principle but a true veneration for virtue.
Now the very name of uncle intimates that mutual
beneficence and friendship that ought to be between him
and his nephews /17/. Besides this, we have a precedent from
those that are of a sublimer make and nature than ourselves.
Hercules, who was the father of sixty-eight sons,
had a brother's son that was as dear to him as any of his
own; and even to this time Hercules and his nephew Iolaus
have in many places one common altar betwixt them, and
share in the same adorations. He is called literally Hercules's
assistant. And when his brother Iphicles was slain
in a battle at
Lacedaemon, in his exceeding grief he left
the whole of Peloponnesus. Also Leucothea, her sister
being dead, took her infant, nursed him up, and consecrated
him with herself among the deities; from whence the Roman
matrons, upon the festivals of Leucothea (whom they call
also Matuta) have a custom of nursing their sisters' children
instead of their own, during the time of the festival /18/
Here Ends Plutarch's Of Brotherly Love.
NOTES
/1/
The theory, ascribed to Anaxagoras, that the hand is what sets reasoning
man apart from the beasts will not seem so naive if you will but
consider the importance that our science ascribes, in evolutionary theory, to
the opposable thumb.
/2/
Hegesistratos, held in prison by the Spartans, being fast bound by his foot,
and in expectation of torture and death, freed himself by
amputating part of his foot. See
Herodotus, History, IX, 37.
/3/
See Plutarch, Life of Artaxerxes, 30.
/4/
To Plutarch's insistence that hatred of a brother is incompatible with
love of parents, we may add and with love of our first and great parent
the pattern of fatherhood, and say with the epistler
"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath
not seen? (1 John 4:20).
/5/
See Plutarch's reuse of this anecdote in Life of Marcus Cato, 24.
/6/
Plutarch derives Muses (MOUSAI) from two
Greek words (OMOU OUSAI) meaning "the same" and "to be."
This construction in the noun form (OMOOUSION)
was used in the original Greek text of the Nicene Creed of A.D. 325 (and retained
in the revision of A.D. 381) and familiar in the Latin as consubstantiálem or the English
of one being.
/7/
Atreus, discovering that his wife had been unfaithful, having taken his brother
Thyestes as lover, revenged himself by murdering and cooking the sons of Thyestes, which
he then fed him unawares. Afterward, disclosing the true nature of the meal,
he taunted Thyestes with their hands and feet. The tragic fall of the house of Atreus, in
retribution for his inhumanity, became the stuff of several Greek legends.
/8/
See Herodotus, History, 119.
/9/
See Plutarch, Life of Agesilaus, 5.
/10/
See Republic, V.
/11/
See Republic, VIII.
/12/
See Plutarch, Life of Lucullus, 1.
/13/
See Plutarch, Life of Cato the Younger, 3.
/14/
Compare Eph. 4:26.
/15/
See Plutarch, Life of Themistocles, 14.
/16/
See Herodotus, History, III, 30.
/17/
The Greek word QEIOS meaning both uncle and
divine.
/18/
See Plutarch, Life of Camillus, 5.
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