TJic Rhctorica of PJiilodemus. 341 



. . . they guided states aright, and the philosopher could I. 3^2, col. 

 not rule these. 



. Philosophers are unable to help cities, nor have they I> 383, col. 

 ever framed any laws with all their virtue. 



Power of persuasion is not helpful but destroys the persuader P. 385. 

 himself with his city. 



Fragmenta Incerta. 



The fragmenta incerta do not contribute much of Philodemus' thought 

 that is new. I have deemed it worth while, however, to include a trans- 

 lation of the most important of them, as they contribute interesting bits 

 of information, and have been the occasion for some of the most brilliant 

 conjectures that Philodemus has brought forth. 



(Nothing.) II, 168, fr. I. 



According to the philosophers this ought to be known, but fr. II. 

 because of our ignorance, as they are always dinning in our ears, 

 it is impossible and inconsistent with life for everything to be 

 predestinate. . , . For the philosophers like to have their 

 joke and imagine a community of cities and friends and goods 

 and wives and children. 



For one would not say with Anaxagoras that everything exists II, 169, fr. 

 in everything, nor with the Chian Metrodorus^ acknowledge that 

 he knew nothing, nor even that he knew nothing, nor with 

 Parmenides and Melissus that the universe is one, and because 

 perceptions are false. . . . 



. . . exhorting to what is noble and of advantas:e . 



TT -f 



dissuading from what is shameful and harmful. IVa^''^' '"' 



Philosophers have been found flattering their states. ^j 



(Nothing.) fr! V. ' 



For all these reasons, if they chance to be distinguished for ^^- ^^■ 

 any cause, one would not trust their statements; if through vil 

 mistaken reasoning or under compulsion of a lover, they intrust 

 such matters to children, certainly Persaeus and Eudemus and 

 Lycon and the like. ... 



Mn 1. 5, Wilamowitz, Hermes XXXIV (1899) p. 636, restores MTjrpas a 

 shortened form of Metrodorus, comparing Antiphanes p. 129, Meineke. 

 A Metrodorus of Chios is mentioned in Diogenes Laertius IX, 10, 58, 

 is kXeye fM-qd avrb tout etdevai 6tl ovdiv oJSe. 



