is it proper or
not, O Crito, to be malific?
not, O Crito, to be malific?
Tacitus
The sibyl, likewise, whose verses are used by some of
you, is far more worthy to be regarded by you as the daughter of God.
_But now you have fraudulently and rashly inserted in her verses many
things of a blasphemous nature_**; and Christ, who in his life was most
reprehensible, and in his death most miserable, you reverence as a God.
How much more appropriately might you have bestowed this honour on Jonas
when he was under the gourd, or on Daniel who was saved in the den
of lions, or on others of whom more prodigious things than these are
narrated!
"This is one of the precepts of the Christians: 'Do not revenge yourself
on him who injures you; and if any person strikes you on one cheek,
turn the other to him also. ' And this precept indeed is of very great
antiquity, but is recorded in a more rustic
* Christ when on the cross exclaimed, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? " But Socrates in his Apology to his
Judges, as recorded by Plato, most magnanimously said,
"Anytus and Melitus may indeed put me to death, but they
cannot injure me. "
** The collection of the Sibylline Oracles which are now
extant, are acknowledged by all intelligent men among the
learned to be for the most part forgeries. --See the account
of them by Fabricius in vol. i. of his Bibliootheca Græca,
{36}
manner by Christ. For Socrates is made by Plata in the Crito to speak
as follows: 'It is by no means therefore proper to do an injury. By no
means. Hence neither is it proper for him who is injured to revenge the
injury, as the multitude think it is; since it is by no means fit to do
an injury. It does not appear that it is. But what!
is it proper or
not, O Crito, to be malific? It certainly is not proper, Socrates. Is it
therefore just or unjust for a man to be malific to him by whom he has
been hurt? for in the opinion of the vulgar it is just. It is by
no means just. For to be hurtful to men does not at all differ from
injuring them. You speak the truth. Neither, therefore, is it proper to
revenge an injury, nor to be hurtful to any man, whatever evil we may
suffer from him. ' These things are asserted by Plato, who also adds:
'Consider, therefore, well, whether you agree, and are of the same
opinion with me in this; and we will begin with admitting, that it is
never right either to do an injury, or revenge an injury on him who has
acted badly towards us. Do you assent to this principle? For formerly it
appeared, and now still appears, to me to be true. ' Such, therefore,
was the opinion of Plato, and which also was the doctrine of divine men
prior to him. Concerning these, however, and other particulars which the
Christians have corrupted, enough has been said. For he who
{37}
desires to search further into them, may easily be satisfied.
"But why is it requisite to enumerate how many things have been
foretold with a divinely inspired voice, partly by prophetesses and
prophets, and partly by other men and women under the influence of
inspiration? What wonderful things they have heard from the adyta
themselves!
you, is far more worthy to be regarded by you as the daughter of God.
_But now you have fraudulently and rashly inserted in her verses many
things of a blasphemous nature_**; and Christ, who in his life was most
reprehensible, and in his death most miserable, you reverence as a God.
How much more appropriately might you have bestowed this honour on Jonas
when he was under the gourd, or on Daniel who was saved in the den
of lions, or on others of whom more prodigious things than these are
narrated!
"This is one of the precepts of the Christians: 'Do not revenge yourself
on him who injures you; and if any person strikes you on one cheek,
turn the other to him also. ' And this precept indeed is of very great
antiquity, but is recorded in a more rustic
* Christ when on the cross exclaimed, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? " But Socrates in his Apology to his
Judges, as recorded by Plato, most magnanimously said,
"Anytus and Melitus may indeed put me to death, but they
cannot injure me. "
** The collection of the Sibylline Oracles which are now
extant, are acknowledged by all intelligent men among the
learned to be for the most part forgeries. --See the account
of them by Fabricius in vol. i. of his Bibliootheca Græca,
{36}
manner by Christ. For Socrates is made by Plata in the Crito to speak
as follows: 'It is by no means therefore proper to do an injury. By no
means. Hence neither is it proper for him who is injured to revenge the
injury, as the multitude think it is; since it is by no means fit to do
an injury. It does not appear that it is. But what!
is it proper or
not, O Crito, to be malific? It certainly is not proper, Socrates. Is it
therefore just or unjust for a man to be malific to him by whom he has
been hurt? for in the opinion of the vulgar it is just. It is by
no means just. For to be hurtful to men does not at all differ from
injuring them. You speak the truth. Neither, therefore, is it proper to
revenge an injury, nor to be hurtful to any man, whatever evil we may
suffer from him. ' These things are asserted by Plato, who also adds:
'Consider, therefore, well, whether you agree, and are of the same
opinion with me in this; and we will begin with admitting, that it is
never right either to do an injury, or revenge an injury on him who has
acted badly towards us. Do you assent to this principle? For formerly it
appeared, and now still appears, to me to be true. ' Such, therefore,
was the opinion of Plato, and which also was the doctrine of divine men
prior to him. Concerning these, however, and other particulars which the
Christians have corrupted, enough has been said. For he who
{37}
desires to search further into them, may easily be satisfied.
"But why is it requisite to enumerate how many things have been
foretold with a divinely inspired voice, partly by prophetesses and
prophets, and partly by other men and women under the influence of
inspiration? What wonderful things they have heard from the adyta
themselves!
