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Gryllus. And I, in that case, to instruct you.
Let us begin with the virtues, which, we note, inspire
you with pride ; for you rate yourselves as far superior
to animals1 in justice and wisdom and courage and
all the rest of them. But answer me this, wisest of
men! Once I heard you telling Circe about the land
of the Cyclopes,2 that though it is not ploughed at
all nor does anyone sow there, yet it is naturally so
fertile and fecund that it produces spontaneously
[p. 501]
every kind of crops. Do you, then, rate this land
higher than rugged, goat-pasturing Ithaca,3 which
barely yields the tiller a meagre, churlish, trifling
crop after great efforts and much toil? And see
that you don't lose your temper and give me a
patriotic answer that isn't what you really believe.
Odysseus. I have no need to lie ; for though I love
and cherish my native soil more, the other wins my
approval and admiration.
Gryllus. Then this, we shall say, is the situation :
the wisest of men thinks fit to commend and approve
one thing while he loves and prefers another. Now
I assume that your answer applies to the spiritual
field also, for the situation is the same as with the
land4: that spiritual soil is better which produces a
harvest of virtue as a spontaneous crop without toil.
Odysseus. Yes, this too you may assume.
Gryllus. At this moment, then, you are conceding
the point that the soul of beasts has a greater natural
capacity and perfection for the generation of virtue ;
for without command or instruction, ‘unsown and
unploughed,’ as it were, it naturally brings forth and
develops such virtue as is proper in each case.
Odysseus. And what sort of virtue, Gryllus, is ever
found in beasts ?
1 Cf. 962 a supra; on the virtues of animals see Aristotle, Historia Animal. i. 1 (488 f. 12 ff.); Plato, Laches, 196 e; al.
2 Homer, Odyssey, ix. 108 ff.
3 Odyssey, xiii. 242 ff.; cf. iv. 606.
4 The principle ubi bene, ibi patria: Pacuvius, frag. 380 (Warmington, Remains of Old Latin, ii. p. 303); Aristophanes, Plutus, 1151; Cicero, Tusc. Disp. v. 37, 108; Appian, B.C. ii. 8. 50.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Harold Cherniss and William C. Helmbold. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1957. 12.
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