This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
But these remarks are not to be regarded as an
accusation against garrulity, but an attempt to cure
it; for we get well by the diagnosis and treatment
of our ailments, but the diagnosis must come first;
since no one can become habituated to shun or to
eradicate from his soul what does not distress him, and
we only grow distressed with our ailments when we
have perceived, by the exercise of reason, the injuries
and shame which result from them. Thus, in the
present instance, we perceive in the case of babblers
that they are hated when they wish to be liked, that
they cause annoyance when they wish to please,1 that
they are laughed at when they think they are admired, that they spend their money without any gain,
that they wrong their friends, help their enemies, and
destroy themselves. Consequently this is the first
step in curing the disease - by the application of
reason to discover the shameful and painful effects
that result from it.
1 Cf. 504 e, supra.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. W. C. Helmbold. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1939. 6.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by optical character recognition and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
