Socrates: Is this quote real?

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Carolus Raeticus
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Socrates: Is this quote real?

Post by Carolus Raeticus »

Hello,

in a list with Stoic quotes I found the following one attributed to Socrates (if correct perhaps via Plato?):
I love to go and see all the things I am happy without. (Socrates on going to the market)
Is this quote really by Socrates? Somehow, "window shopping" (in antiquity obviously without the windows) seems a rather modern concept to me.

Bye,

Carolus Raeticus
Sperate miseri, cavete felices.

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jeidsath
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Re: Socrates: Is this quote real?

Post by jeidsath »

It's a real tradition (though I agree that seems doubtful that he really said it). Here is Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum 2.25
πολλάκις δ’ ἀφορῶν εἰς τὰ πλήθη τῶν πιπρασκομένων ἔλεγε πρὸς αὑτόν, “πόσων ἐγὼ χρείαν οὐκ ἔχω.” καὶ συνεχὲς ἐκεῖνα ἀνεφθέγγετο τὰ ἰαμβεῖα·
τὰ δ’ ἀργυρώματ’ ἐστὶν ἥ τε πορφύρα εἰς τοὺς τραγῳδοὺς χρήσιμ’, οὐκ εἰς τὸν βίον.
...he would say to himself, "of how many things have I no need."

The iambic lines are part of fragment 105 of Philemon, by way of Stobaeus. If that is actually a good attribution, it would seem unlikely Socrates was quoting them:
δικαιότατον κτῆμ’ ἐστὶν ἀνθρώποις ἀγρός·
ὧν ἡ φύσις δεῖται γὰρ ἐπιμελῶς φέρει,
πυρούς, ἔλαιον, οἶνον, ἰσχάδας, μέλι·
τὰ δ’ ἀργυρώματ’ ἐστὶν ἥ τε πορφύρα
εἰς τοὺς τραγῳδοὺς εὔθετ’, οὐκ εἰς τὸν βίον.
“One might get one’s Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato." "In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. The German scholars have improved Greek so much.”

Joel Eidsath -- jeidsath@gmail.com

Carolus Raeticus
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Re: Socrates: Is this quote real?

Post by Carolus Raeticus »

Salve jeidsath,

thank you for your reply, and sorry for my late answer, but since your answer was all Greek to me (sorry for the pun, I just couldn't resist) I was at a loss at first. But then, using the citation I was able to have a look at a Firmin Didot-edition of Diogenes Laertius and found there a Latin translation:
Diogenes Laertius wrote: Sæpe quum eorum quæ publice vendebantur multitudinem intueretur, secum ista volvebat, Quam multa ego non desidero! Ac semper habebat in ore iambos illos:

Cælata ex argento opera sunt et purpura tragœdis apta, vitæ non idonea.
Feeling that this might be a good opportunity to take a vacation from my current Latin transcription project, I immediately set out to transcribe the section about Socrates (it isn't long, after all). I planned to answer your post once I am finished, but that was a bit optimistic, especially since I want to test a tool for generating (hopefully better looking) e-texts. I will post a link to it (on my homepage, it's too short for Project Gutenberg), as soon as I am finished.

Vale,

Carolus Raeticus
Sperate miseri, cavete felices.

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