Chapter V.—On Laughter.

People who are imitators of ludicrous sensations, or rather of such as deserve derision, are to be driven from our polity.383    Luke xx. 34.    Or, society.

For since all forms of speech flow from mind and manners, ludicrous expressions could not be uttered, did they not proceed from ludicrous practices. For the saying, “It is not a good tree which produces corrupt fruit, nor a corrupt tree which produces good fruit,”384    Matt. vii. 18; Luke vi. 43. is to be applied in this case. For speech is the fruit of the mind. If, then, wags are to be ejected from our society, we ourselves must by no manner of means be allowed to stir up laughter. For it were absurd to be found imitators of things of which we are prohibited to be listeners; and still more absurd for a man to set about making himself a laughing-stock, that is, the butt of insult and derision. For if we could not endure to make a ridiculous figure, such as we see some do in processions, how could we with any propriety bear to have the inner man made a ridiculous figure of, and that to one’s face? Wherefore we ought never of our own accord to assume a ludicrous character. And how, then, can we devote ourselves to being and appearing ridiculous in our conversation, thereby travestying speech, which is the most precious of all human endowments? It is therefore disgraceful to set one’s self to do this; since the conversation of wags of this description is not fit for our ears, inasmuch as by the very expressions used it familiarizes us with shameful actions.385    [Our author is a terrible satirist; but it is instructive to see Christianity thus prescribing the minor morals, and banishing pagan brutality with holy scorn.]

Pleasantry is allowable, not waggery. Besides, even laughter must be kept in check; for when given vent to in the right manner it indicates orderliness, but when it issues differently it shows a want of restraint.

For, in a word, whatever things are natural to men we must not eradicate from them, but rather impose on them limits and suitable times. For man is not to laugh on all occasions because he is a laughing animal, any more than the horse neighs on all occasions because he is a neighing animal. But as rational beings, we are to regulate ourselves suitably, harmoniously relaxing the austerity and over-tension of our serious pursuits, not inharmoniously breaking them up altogether.

For the seemly relaxation of the countenance in a harmonious manner—as of a musical instrument—is called a smile. So also is laughter on the face of well-regulated men termed. But the discordant relaxation of countenance in the case of women is called a giggle, and is meretricious laughter; in the case of men, a guffaw, and is savage and insulting laughter. “A fool raises his voice in laughter,”386    Ecclus. xxi. 20. says the Scripture; but a clever man smiles almost imperceptibly. The clever man in this case he calls wise, inasmuch as he is differently affected from the fool. But, on the other hand, one needs not be gloomy, only grave. For I certainly prefer a man to smile who has a stern countenance than the reverse; for so his laughter will be less apt to become the object of ridicule.

Smiling even requires to be made the subject of discipline. If it is at what is disgraceful, we ought to blush rather than smile, lest we seem to take pleasure in it by sympathy; if at what is painful, it is fitting to look sad rather than to seem pleased. For to do the former is a sign of rational human thought; the other infers suspicion of cruelty.

We are not to laugh perpetually, for that is going beyond bounds; nor in the presence of elderly persons, or others worthy of respect, unless they indulge in pleasantry for our amusement. Nor are we to laugh before all and sundry, nor in every place, nor to every one, nor about everything. For to children and women especially laughter is the cause of slipping into scandal. And even to appear stern serves to keep those about us at their distance. For gravity can ward off the approaches of licentiousness by a mere look. All senseless people, to speak in a word, wine

changing effeminate manners to softness. We must consider, too, how consequently freedom of speech leads impropriety on to filthy speaking.

Especially, therefore, in liquor crafty men’s characters are wont to be seen through, stripped as they are of their mask through the caitiff licence of intoxication, through which reason, weighed down in the soul itself by drunkenness, is lulled to sleep, and unruly passions are roused, which overmaster the feebleness of the mind.

Περὶ γέλωτος. Μιμηλοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους γελοίων, μᾶλλον δὲ καταγελάστων παθῶν τῆς ἡμετέρας ἐξελαστέον πολιτείας. Πάντων γὰρ τῶν λόγων ἀπὸ διανοίας καὶ ἤθους ῥεόντων οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστι γελοίους τινὰς προέσθαι λόγους, μὴ οὐχὶ ἀπὸ γελοίου ἤθους φερομένους. Τὸ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι δένδρον καλὸν ποιοῦν καρπὸν σαπρὸν οὐδὲ μὴν δένδρον σαπρὸν ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλόν κἀνταῦθ' ἂν ἁρμόσαι· καρπὸς διανοίας ὁ λόγος ἐστίν. Εἰ τοίνυν τοὺς γελωτοποιοὺς ἐξοικιστέον τῆς ἡμεδαπῆς πολιτείας, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν γελωτοποιεῖν. Ἄτοπον γάρ, ὧν ἀκροατὰς γενέσθαι κεκώλυται, τούτων εὑρίσκεσθαι μιμητάς· πολλῷ δὲ ἔτι ἀτοπώτερον γελοῖον αὐτὸν σπουδάζειν γενέσθαι, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐφύβριστον καὶ κατα γέλαστον. Εἰ γὰρ γελοίως σχηματισθῆναι, καθάπερ ἐν ταῖς πομπαῖς ὁρῶνταί τινες, οὐκ ἂν ὑπομείναιμεν, πῶς ἂν εἰκότως τὸν ἐντὸς ἄνθρω πον ἐπὶ τὸ γελοιότερον σχηματιζόμενον ἀνασχοίμεθα; Καὶ εἰ τὸ πρόσωπον οὐκ ἂν ἑκόντες ἐπὶ τὸ γελοιότερον μεταστρέψαιμέν ἄν ποτε, καὶ πῶς ἂν κατὰ τοὺς λόγους ἐπιτηδεύσαιμεν εἶναί τε καὶ φαίνεσθαι γελοῖοι, τὸ τιμιώτερον πάντων τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις κτημάτων καταμωκώμενοι, τὸν λόγον; Χλεύη μὲν οὖν ἐπιτηδεύειν ταῦτα, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ὁ τῶν γελοίων λόγος τοῖος ἀκροάσεως ἄξιος, διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὰ αἰσχρὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐθίζων, χαριεντιστέον τε, οὐ γελωτοποιητέον. Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν γέλωτα ἐπιστομιστέον. Καὶ γὰρ αὖ καὶ αὐτὸς ὃν μὲν δεῖ τρόπον ἐξαγόμενος ἐμφαίνει κοσμιότητα, μὴ ταύτῃ δὲ χωρῶν ἀκολασίαν ἐνδείκνυται. Ἁπλῶς γὰρ ὁπόσα φυσικὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστίν, ταῦτα οὐκ ἀναιρεῖν ἐξ αὐτῶν δεῖ, μᾶλλον δὲ μέτρον αὐτοῖς καὶ καιρὸν ἐπιτιθέναι πρέποντα. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ γελαστικὸν ζῷον ὁ ἄνθρωπος, γελαστέον τὰ πάντα, ἐπειδὴ οὐδὲ ὁ ἵππος χρεμετιστικὸς ὢν χρεμετίζει τὰ πάντα· ὡς δὲ ζῷα λογικὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἁρμοστέον εὐκράτως, τὸ αὐστηρὸν τῆς σπουδῆς ἡμῶν καὶ τὸ ὑπέρ τονον χαλῶντας ἐμμελῶς, οὐκ ἐκλύοντας ἐκμελῶς. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ καθ' ἁρμονίαν τοῦ προσώπου, καθάπερ ὀργάνου, κόσμιος ἄνεσις μειδίαμα κέκληται–διάχυσις οὕτως ἀνακλᾶται κατὰ πρόσωπον–, σωφρονούντων ὁ γέλως· ἡ δὲ ἐκμελὴς τοῦ προσώπου ἔκλυσις, εἰ μὲν ἐπὶ γυναικῶν γίνοιτο, κιχλισμὸς προσαγορεύεται, γέλως δέ ἐστι πορνικός, εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ ἀνδρῶν, καγχασμός, γέλως ἐστὶν οὗτος μνηστηριώδης κἀξυβρίζων· Μωρὸς δὲ ἐν γέλωτι ἀνυψοῖ φωνὴν αὐτοῦ, φησὶν ἡ γραφή, ἀνὴρ δὲ πανοῦργος μόγις ἡσυχῇ μειδιάσει. Φρόνιμον λέγει τὸν πανοῦργον νῦν, τὸν ἐναντίως τῷ μωρῷ διακείμενον. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἔμπαλιν εἶναι δεῖ σκυθρωπόν, ἀλλὰ σύννουν· ἀποδέχομαι γὰρ εὖ μάλα ἐκεῖνον προσώποις μειδιῶντα ὃς ἐφαίνετο μειδιόων βλοσυροῖσι προσώπασι τὸν τοῖς βλοσυροῖς· ἧττον γὰρ ἂν καταγέλαστος ὁ γέλως αὐτῷ εἴη. Χρὴ δὲ καὶ τὸ μειδίαμα παιδαγωγεῖσθαι, καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐπ' αἰσχροῖς εἴη, ἐρυθριῶντας μᾶλλον ἢ μειδιῶντας φαίνεσθαι, μὴ συνήδεσθαι διὰ συμπάθειαν δοκῶμεν, εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ λυπηροῖς, κατηφεστέρους ἁρμόζει βλέπεσθαι ἢ ἐφήδεσθαι δοκεῖν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνου λογισμοῦ τεκμήριον, τὸ δὲ ὠμότητος ὑπόληψιν ἐνδείκνυται. Οὔτε γὰρ ἀεὶ γελαστέον–ἄμετρον γάρ–οὔτε πρεσβυτέρων ἤ τινων ἑτέρων ἐντροπῆς ἀξίων παρόντων, εἰ μὴ ἄρα τι αὐτοὶ εἰς τὸ διαχέαι ἡμᾶς χαριεντίσαιντο, οὔτε μὴν πρὸς τοὺς τυχόντας γελαστέον οὐδ' ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ οὐδὲ μὴν πᾶσιν οὐδὲ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν. Μάλιστα γὰρ μειρακίοις καὶ γυναιξὶν ὄλισθος εἰς διαβολὰς ὁ γέλως ἐστίν. Τὸ δὲ καὶ φαίνεσθαι καταπληκτικὸν πόρρωθεν τῶν πειρώντων ἐστὶ φυγαδευτικόν· δυνατὴ γὰρ ἀποκρούσασθαι τῆς ἀσελγείας τὰς προσβολὰς καὶ ἐκ μόνης τῆς προσόψεως ἡ σεμνότης· πάντας δέ, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, τοὺς ἀνοήτους ὁ οἶνος καί θ' ἁπαλὸν γελάσαι καὶ ὀρχήσασθαι ἀνώγει, εἰς μαλακίαν ἐκτρέπων τὸ ἀνδρόγυνον ἦθος. Καὶ σκοπεῖν δεῖ πῶς ἐντεῦθεν ἡ παρρησία τὴν ἀκοσμίαν εἰς αἰσχρολογίαν αὔξει· καί τι ἔπος προέηκεν, ὅπερ τ' ἄρρητον ἄμεινον. Μάλιστα γοῦν ἐν οἴνῳ καθορᾶσθαι τὰ ἤθη τῶν ὑπούλων συμβέβηκεν τῆς ὑποκρίσεως ἀπογυμνούμενα διὰ τὴν ἀνελεύθερον παρρησίαν τῆς παροινίας, δι' ἣν κατακοιμίζεται μὲν ὁ λόγος ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ψυχῇ καρηβαρήσας τῇ μέθῃ, τὰ δὲ ἐκτράπελα ἐπεγείρεται πάθη καταδυναστεύοντα τῆς ἀσθενείας τοῦ λογισμοῦ.