The MSS. give τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ καλῶς φέρειν χρή. There has certainly been an interpolation, equivalent to uu-. (1) Some reject the words φέρειν χρή. Then τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ καλῶς must be taken with φλέγεσθον: “"As to the fortune sent by heaven for your good, be not too passionate in grief"” (pass.): or, if with Herm. the verb is made midd., “"do not inflame the trouble sent for your good"” (cp. the act. in Ai. 196 “ἄταν οὐρανίαν φλέγων”). So, if the MS. μηδ᾽ ἄγαν is kept, μηδ᾽ =“"do not on your part"” (Herm., “"etiam non debet vos tam vehementer urere"”). But μηδὲν ἄγαν or μηδ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἄγαν (see cr. n.) gives in this case a clearer sense. (2) Wecklein, with whom I agree, rejects καλῶς and χρή, keeping φέρειν. Then τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ φέρειν=“"bear the fate from heaven,"” the inf. standing for imperat., a use fitting in such a precept (O. T. 1529). The origin of the interpolated words is thus clear: χρή explained the use of the inf., while καλῶς was meant to fix the sense of φέρειν, lest τὸ φέρον should obscure it. τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ,=the fortune from the god. τὸ φέρον in this sense admits of two explanations. (1) “"That which brings"” good or evil. This view seems confirmed by the analogy of fors, fortuna (ferre): Ter. Ph. 1. 2. 88 “quod fors feret, feremus”: Cic. Att. 7. 14 “ut fors tulerit”, etc. (2) “"That which carries"” or “"leads"” us forward, in a course which we cannot control (cp. “ἡ ὁδὸς φέρει ἐκεῖσε”, and like phrases). This view might seem to be supported by the epigram of Palladas (c. 400 A.D.) in Anthol. P. 10. 73 “ᾗ τὸ φέρον σε φέρει, φέρε καὶ φέρου: εἰ δ᾽ ἀγανακτεῖς,
καὶ σαυτὸν λυπεῖς, καὶ τὸ φέρον σε φέρει
”: “"as Fortune bears thee on, bear, and be borne; but if thou chafest, thou vexest thine own soul, and (none the less) she bears thee on."” There, however, “σε φέρει” is said for the sake of a play on the word, and hardly warrants an inference as to the way in which τὸ φέρον was usually understood.—The conjecture τὸ παρὸν (cp. 1540) would be plausible only if there were reasons for thinking that τὸ φέρον in this sense was a phrase of postclassical date.
