Septem sapientium convivium

Periander at this burst out laughing, and said, We are fittingly punished, Aesop, for becoming involved in other subjects before introducing all of those from Amasis, to which we gave precedence. I beg, Neiloxenus, that you will look at the rest of

the letter and take advantage of the fact that the men are all here together.

Well, in truth, said Neiloxenus, the demand of the Ethiopian can hardly be called anything but a depressing cryptic dispatch, [*](Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 708, Archilochus, No. 89. The reference is to a well-known form of cipher message in use among the Spartans. A narrow leather thong was wrapped around a cylinder, and on the surface thus formed the message was written. When the thong was received it was applied to a duplicate cylinder kept by the recipient, and so the message was read.) to borrow a phrase from Archilochus, but your friend Amasis is more civilized and cultivated in proposing such questions; for he bade the king name the oldest thing, the most beautiful, the greatest, the wisest, the most common, and besides these, as I can attest, to name also the most helpful thing and the most harmful, and the strongest and the easiest.

Did the Ethiopian king give an answer and a solution for each of these questions?

Yes, in his way, said Neiloxenus, but you must judge for yourselves when you hear his answers. For my king holds it to be a very important matter not to be caught impugning the answers falsely; and likewise, if the respondent is making any slip in these, he would not have this pass unquestioned. I will read the answers of the Ethiopian as he gave them:

(a)What is the oldest thing? Time.

(b)What is the greatest? The universe.

(c)What is the wisest? Truth.

(d)What is the most beautiful? Light.

(e)What is most common? Death.

(f)What is most helpful? God.

(g)What is most harmful? An evil spirit.

(h) What is strongest? Fortune.

(i) What is easiest? Pleasure.

After this second reading, there was silence for a time, and then Thales asked Neiloxenus if Amasis had approved the answers. When Neiloxenus replied that Amasis had accepted some, but was much dissatisfied with others, Thales said, As a matter of fact there is not a thing in them that cannot be impugned, but they all contain gross errors and evidences of ignorance. For instance, in the very first one, how can time be the oldest thing if a part of it is past, a part present, and a part future? [*](Plutarch, Moralia, 1081 C-1082 D, argues at some length about the Stoic conception of time.) For the time which is to come would clearly be younger than events and persons that now are. And to hold that truth is wisdom seems to me no different from declaring that light is the eye. If he thought the light beautiful, as it really is, how did he come to overlook the sun itself? Among the others the answer about gods and evil spirits evinces boldness and daring, but the one about Fortune contains much bad logic; for Fortune would not be so fickle about abiding with one if it were the mightiest and strongest thing in existence. Nor is death, in fact, the most common thing; for it does not affect the living.[*](Probably an adaptation of one of Epicurus’s leading principles ο θάνατος οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, death is nothing to us, who are alive. Cf. Diogenes Laertius, x. 129, and Plutarch, Moralia, 37 A.) But, to avoid giving the impression of merely passing judgement upon the statements of others, let us compare answers of our own with his. And I offer myself as the first, if Neiloxenus so desires, to be questioned on each topic; and taking the questions

in the order given,[*](Either Thales or a copyist has transposed (c) and (d).)a I will repeat them, together with my answers[*](Most of these sentiments are attributed to Thales in works of other authors, as wel as in other places in the Moralia. It may suffice here to refer, for example, to Diogenes Laertius, i. 35. The two numbered (f) and (g) are rather suggestive of the Stoic school of philosophy.):

(a)What is the oldest thing?God, said Thales,for God is something that has no beginning.

(b)What is greatest?Space; for while the universe contains within it all else, this contains the universe.

(c)What is most beautiful?The Universe; for everything that is ordered as it should be is a part of it.

(d)What is wisest?Time; for it has discovered some things already, and shall discover all the rest.

(e)What is most common?Hope; for those who have nothing else have that ever with them.

(f)What is most helpful?Virtue; for it makes everything else helpful by putting it to a good use.

(g)What is most harmful?Vice; for it harms the greatest number of things by its presence.

(h)What is strongest?Necessity; for that alone is insuperable.

(i)What is easiest?To follow Nature’s course; because people often weary of pleasures.