«Symposion» and «Philanthropia» in Plutarch - Bad Request ...

Jeroen Lauwersluxury 10 , and unacceptable behaviour 11 . The only place where he considers thesymposium as a possibly virtuous institution is the aforementioned passagewhere he talks about the Persian custom. In any other case, he implicitly adviseshis students against attending convivial activities, which entail a real threat forthe virtuous man. This latter aspect appears clearly in this simile between thesymposium and the stimuli of the senses:Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν συμποσίῳ μεστῷ κνίσης πολλῆς, καὶ οἴνου χεομένου, καὶαὐλῶν ἤξου, καὶ συρίγγων, καὶ ψαλμάτων, καὶ θυμιαμάτων, †ανδρὸς ἂν εἴηκαρτεροῦ συναγείραντος καὶ συστείλαντος καὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἀποστρέφοντος,νηφάλιον καὶ κόσμιον† 12 · οὕτως ἀμέλει καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν αἰσθήσεων πολυφωνίᾳχαλεπὸν εὑρεῖν νήφοντα νοῦν, καὶ δυνάμενον προσβλέπειν τοῖς αὑτοῦθεάμασιν. (Max., Or. 11. 7g)Therefore, just as at a symposium, as rich savours fill the air, and the wine ispoured, and flutes and pipes and lyres play, and incense burns, it would take astrong-willed man to stay sober and disciplined – a man capable of taking agrip on himself and chastening himself and diverting his own proper objects.(Transl. M.B. Trapp)In this passage, the virtuous man receives no moral instruction to deal witha symposium. He must simply be armed against its vices by his own mentalstrength, and it is his own responsibility to stay sober in the face of all thesemalicious seductions. As the potential optative clause suggests, the appearanceof a virtuous man at a drinking-party is just a fictitious illustrative supposition.This utterance implicitly advises the students who truly want to become wiseand virtuous to stay away from, rather than to indulge in, such gatheringsas the symposia. Maximus’ own position on the symposiastic environment isfurther illustrated by the following passage:Καί τις ἤδη ἰατρὸς εὐμήχανος ἀνεκέρασεν βραχεῖαν ἡδονὴν τῷ ἀλγεινῷ τῆςἰάσεως· ποριστὴς δὲ ἡδονῆς, καὶ παντοίας ἡδονῆς, οὔτε ὁ Ἀσκληπιός, οὔτε οἱἈσκληπιάδαι, ἀλλ’ ὀψοποιῶν τὸ ἔργον. (...) Ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ὀψοποιοὺς τούτουςτοῖς συμποσίοις ἐῶμεν, καὶ γαστρὸς καὶ ἀκοῆς ὑπηρέτας πονηρούς· ἡμῖν δὲ δεῖλόγου ὀρθοῦ καὶ διανεστηκότος. (Max., Or., 25. 5h-6a)Many a resourceful doctor has before now tempered the bitterness of his curewith a small admixture of something sweeter; but neither Asclepius nor theAsclepiadae are indiscriminate purveyors of pleasure – that is the work ofcaterers. (...) Let us leave these contenders to their symposia, like the miserableservants of belly and ear that they are. What we need is a style of utterance thatstands straight and tall. (Transl. M.B. Trapp)10Max., Or. 30, 3, e on king †Aeetes†.11Ibid., 39, 4, a on Alcibiades.12This passage is indeed a locus desperatus, but the general content seems clear.388