Below is the conclusion to Plutarch’s On Listening. The text and translation are from the Loeb edition – Moralia v.1 pg.259 – but I think the translation rather dilutes the point.
Finally, if there be need of any other instruction in regard to listening to a lecture, it is that it is necessary to keep in mind what has here been said, and to cultivate independent thinking along with our learning, so that we may acquire a habit of mind that is not sophistic or bent on acquiring mere information, but one that is deeply ingrained and philosophic, as we may do if we believe that right listening is the beginning of right living.
Εἰ δεῖ τινος οὖν πρὸς ἀκρόασιν ἑτέρου παραγγέλματος, δεῖ καὶ τοῦ νῦν εἰρημένου μνημονεύοντας ἀσκεῖν ἅμα τῇ μαθήσει τὴν εὕρεσιν, ἵνα μὴ σοφιστικὴν ἕξιν μηδ᾿ ἱστορικὴν ἀλλ᾿ ἐνδιάθετον καὶ φιλόσοφον λαμβάνωμεν, ἀρχὴν τοῦ καλῶς βιῶναι τὸ καλῶς ἀκοῦσαι νομίζοντες.
The bolded phrase could get 20+ pages of comparanda and discussion without coming any closer to a satisfying rendering. My sense would be “so that we may acquire a mental disposition oriented not toward hair-splitting or pedantism but focused on our inner selves and in love with true wisdom.” The directive, as I read it, is to avoid the distractions of externally-oriented mental activity – wasting energy on the squabbling style of sophists and the small-minded detail focus of data inquiry – and instead turn inward for more Platonic self-cultivation.
But – because it’s never good to be too sure – here are the relevant LSJ entries (borrowed from Perseus) to offer confounding alternatives.
σοφισ-τικός , ή, όν,
A.of or for a sophist, “βίος” Pl.Phdr.248e; τὸ ς. γένος the class of sophists, Id.Sph.224c; ἡ –κή (sc. τέχνη) sophistry, ib.224d, al.
II. belonging to history, historical, “
πραγματεῖαι”
D.H.1.1;
τύπος (opp.
λογικός)
Id.Dem.24; “
ἀναγραφή”
Id.1.4; “
γράμματα”
Plu.Them.13: Subst.,
historian,
Arist. Po.1451b1, Aristeas
31,
Phld.Rh.1.200S.,
D.H.4.6,
D.S.1.6, etc.; “
–ώτατος βασιλέων”
Plu.Sert.9. Adv. “
–κῶς, ἱ. καὶδιδασκαλικῶς”
Str. 1.1.10;
ἱ. καὶ ἐξηγητικῶς, opp.
ἀποδεικτικῶς,
Phld.Mus.p.12 K.; but
ἐξηγητικώτερον ἢ –ώτερον, of Aristotle’s method in
HA,
Antig.Mir.60.
ἐνδιά-θετος , ον,
A.residing in the mind (
ἐν τῇ διαθέσει, opp.
ἐν τῇ προφορᾷ,
Porph.Abst.3.3),
ἐ. λόγος conception, thought, opp.
προφορικὸς λ. (expression),
Stoic.2.43, etc.; of the
immanent reason of the world,
Ph.1.598;
ἕξις ib.
36,
Plu.2.48d;
ὁ ἐ. ἄνθρωποςthe
inner man,
Corp.Herm.13.7 (s. v. l.).
2. innate, “
περιαυτολογία”
Plu.2.44a: hence,
unaffected, spontaneous,
Hermog.Id.2.7;
τὸ ἐ. ib.
1.11, al.
A.lover of wisdom; Pythagoras called himself
φιλόσοφος, not
σοφός, Cic
Tusc.5.3.9,
D.L.Prooem.12; “
τὸν φ. σοφίαςφήσομεν ἐπιθυμητὴν εἶναι πάσης”
Pl.R.475b, cf.
Isoc.15.271; “
ὁ ὡς ἀληθῶς φ.”
Pl.Phd.64e sq.;
φ. φύσει, τὴν φύσιν, Id.R.376c;
φ. τῇ ψυχῇ, opp.
φιλόπονος τῷσώματι, Isoc.1.40: used of all
men of education and learning, joined with
φιλομαθής and
φιλόλογος, Pl.R.376c,
582e; opp.
σοφιστής, X.Cyn.13.6,
9; later,
academician, of the members of the Museum at Alexandria,
OGI712 (ii A. D.), etc.
2. philosopher, i. e.
one who speculates on truth and reality, οἱ ἀληθινοὶ φ., defined as
οἱ τῆςἀληθείας φιλοθεάμονες, Pl.R.475e;
ὁφιλόσοφος, of Aristotle,
Plu.2.115b;
ὁ σκηνικὸςφ., of Euripides,
Ath.13.561a; as the butt of Com.,
Philem.71.1,
Bato 5.11,
Anaxipp.4,
Phoenicid.4.16.
2. of arguments, sciences, etc.,
scientific, philosophic, “
λόγοι”
Pl.Phdr.257b;
λόγοι –ώτεροι, of
instructive speeches,
Isoc.12.271; “
–ώτερον ποίησις ἱστορίας”
Arist.Po.1451b5;
τὸ φ., opp.
τὸ θυμοειδές, as an element of the soul,
Pl.R.411e, but =
φιλοσοφία,
Plu.2.355b.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Extracts 