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Read/Book VI/6.13
MED. 6.13Discipline of assent
George Long · 1862EN · Long

When we have meat before us and such eatables we receive the TERMimpression, that this is the dead body of a fish, and this is the dead body of a bird or of a pig; and again, that this Falernian is only a little grape juice, and this purple robe some sheep's wool dyed with the blood of a shell-fish: such then are these impressions, and they reach the things themselves and penetrate them, and so we see what kind of things they are. Just in the same way ought we to act all through life, and where there are things which appear most worthy of our approbation, we ought to EXERCISElay them bare and look at their worthlessness and strip them of all the words by which they are exalted. For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason, and when thou art most sure that thou art employed about things worth thy pains, it is then that it cheats thee most. Consider then what Crates1 says of Xenocrates2 himself.

Original · ancient Greek

Οἷον δὴ τὸ φαντασίαν λαμβάνειν ἐπὶ τῶν ὄψων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐδωδίμων, ὅτι νεκρὸς οὗτος ἰχθύος, οὗτος δὲ νεκρὸς ὄρνιθος ἢ χοίρου· καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι ὁ Φάλερνος χυλάριόν ἐστι σταφυλίου καὶ ἡ περιπόρφυρος τριχία προβατίου αἱματίῳ κόγχης δεδευμένα· καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν συνουσίαν ἐντερίου παράτριψις καὶ μετά τινος σπασμοῦ μυξαρίου ἔκκρισις· οἷαι δὴ αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ φαντασίαι καθικνούμεναι αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ διεξιοῦσαι δι’ αὐτῶν, ὥστε ὁρᾶν οἷά τινά ποτέ ἐστιν· οὕτως δεῖ παρ’ ὅλον τὸν βίον ποιεῖν καὶ ὅπου λίαν ἀξιόπιστα τὰ πράγματα φαντάζεται, ἀπογυμνοῦν αὐτὰ καὶ τὴν εὐτέλειαν αὐτῶν καθορᾶν καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐφ’ ᾗ σεμνύνεται περιαιρεῖν. δεινὸς γὰρ ὁ τῦφος παραλογιστὴς καὶ ὅτε δοκεῖς μάλιστα περὶ τὰ σπουδαῖα καταγίνεσθαι, τότε μάλιστα καταγοητεύῃ. ὅρα γοῦν ὁ Κράτης τί περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ξενοκράτους λέγει.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Commentary

Genre and place in the book. A textbook specimen of the exercise of EXERCISEphysical definition — the "bare" view that strips a thing down to its material. The principal discipline is assent (the handling of the TERMimpression); the sustaining one is desire (removing the false value from objects of craving).

The bare definitions. A run of famous "strippings": meat is a "corpse" (νεκρός) of a fish, a bird, a pig; Falernian is "a little juice of a grape" (χυλάριον σταφυλίου); the purple border is sheep's wool soaked in the blood of a shellfish; coitus is "a rubbing of a gut" and a discharge of mucus with a spasm. The diminutives (χυλάριον, τριχία, μυξάριον) lower the pathos and make the definition soberly, almost squeamishly exact — yet this is not Cynic disgust but precise categorization: the thing is placed in its proper class.

The method (the impression that reaches things). "Such then are these TERMimpressions, and they reach the things themselves and penetrate them, and so we see what kind of things they are." This is the Stoic doctrine of the φαντασία put to therapeutic use: to a thing one applies a "bare" impression, stripped of its social-evaluative drapery. And this must be done "all through life" (παρ' ὅλον τὸν βίον) — not a single gesture but a constant hygiene of judgment. Cf. 03-11 (the method of definition), 8.49 ("abide by the first appearances, and add nothing thyself from within").

Conceit the deceiver (τῦφος). The climax is a warning: "conceit (τῦφος) is a formidable deceiver (παραλογιστής), and just when you are most sure you are busy with serious things (σπουδαῖα), that is when it most bewitches you." The most dangerous self-deception lies not in gross pleasures but in what we revere: fame, rank, "serious affairs" also need unmasking. τῦφος is the Stoic-Cynic word for "puffed-up show," an empty halo.

Crates and Xenocrates. The closing allusion: "consider what Crates says of Xenocrates himself." Crates was probably the Cynic, Crates of Thebes, a master of the deflating jibe; Xenocrates, head of the Academy, a model of austerity and incorruptibility. The point is that even the "most serious" and venerable is open to the Cynic's unmasking optics: τῦφος reaches the virtuously-weighty too. (The specific saying of Crates is not preserved — one cannot be more precise.)

Disciplines and parallels. The principal one is assent (the bare impression); the secondary is desire (removing the seduction from food, wine, luxury, sex). Parallels: 03-11 (the method of definition, its value and composition); 02-02 (the definition of man, the flesh as "blood and bones"); 04-41 (the body as a "corpse," after Epictetus); Med. 8.49; 7.29 ("Wipe out the imagination").

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished
Read·Book VI
Discipline of assent

George Long · 1862· EN · Long

When we have meat before us and such eatables we receive the TERMimpression, that this is the dead body of a fish, and this is the dead body of a bird or of a pig; and again, that this Falernian is only a little grape juice, and this purple robe some sheep's wool dyed with the blood of a shell-fish: such then are these impressions, and they reach the things themselves and penetrate them, and so we see what kind of things they are. Just in the same way ought we to act all through life, and where there are things which appear most worthy of our approbation, we ought to EXERCISElay them bare and look at their worthlessness and strip them of all the words by which they are exalted. For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason, and when thou art most sure that thou art employed about things worth thy pains, it is then that it cheats thee most. Consider then what Crates1 says of Xenocrates2 himself.

Original · ancient Greek

Οἷον δὴ τὸ φαντασίαν λαμβάνειν ἐπὶ τῶν ὄψων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐδωδίμων, ὅτι νεκρὸς οὗτος ἰχθύος, οὗτος δὲ νεκρὸς ὄρνιθος ἢ χοίρου· καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι ὁ Φάλερνος χυλάριόν ἐστι σταφυλίου καὶ ἡ περιπόρφυρος τριχία προβατίου αἱματίῳ κόγχης δεδευμένα· καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν συνουσίαν ἐντερίου παράτριψις καὶ μετά τινος σπασμοῦ μυξαρίου ἔκκρισις· οἷαι δὴ αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ φαντασίαι καθικνούμεναι αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ διεξιοῦσαι δι’ αὐτῶν, ὥστε ὁρᾶν οἷά τινά ποτέ ἐστιν· οὕτως δεῖ παρ’ ὅλον τὸν βίον ποιεῖν καὶ ὅπου λίαν ἀξιόπιστα τὰ πράγματα φαντάζεται, ἀπογυμνοῦν αὐτὰ καὶ τὴν εὐτέλειαν αὐτῶν καθορᾶν καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐφ’ ᾗ σεμνύνεται περιαιρεῖν. δεινὸς γὰρ ὁ τῦφος παραλογιστὴς καὶ ὅτε δοκεῖς μάλιστα περὶ τὰ σπουδαῖα καταγίνεσθαι, τότε μάλιστα καταγοητεύῃ. ὅρα γοῦν ὁ Κράτης τί περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ξενοκράτους λέγει.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Marginalia2
Related4
TERMφαντασίαimpression, presentationDOGMAThe dichotomy of control — what is up to us and what is notDOGMAFame is empty — neither praise nor posthumous remembrance is a goodEXERCISEPhysical definition — the stripped-down view of things
Commentary

Genre and place in the book. A textbook specimen of the exercise of EXERCISEphysical definition — the "bare" view that strips a thing down to its material. The principal discipline is assent (the handling of the TERMimpression); the sustaining one is desire (removing the false value from objects of craving).

The bare definitions. A run of famous "strippings": meat is a "corpse" (νεκρός) of a fish, a bird, a pig; Falernian is "a little juice of a grape" (χυλάριον σταφυλίου); the purple border is sheep's wool soaked in the blood of a shellfish; coitus is "a rubbing of a gut" and a discharge of mucus with a spasm. The diminutives (χυλάριον, τριχία, μυξάριον) lower the pathos and make the definition soberly, almost squeamishly exact — yet this is not Cynic disgust but precise categorization: the thing is placed in its proper class.

The method (the impression that reaches things). "Such then are these TERMimpressions, and they reach the things themselves and penetrate them, and so we see what kind of things they are." This is the Stoic doctrine of the φαντασία put to therapeutic use: to a thing one applies a "bare" impression, stripped of its social-evaluative drapery. And this must be done "all through life" (παρ' ὅλον τὸν βίον) — not a single gesture but a constant hygiene of judgment. Cf. 03-11 (the method of definition), 8.49 ("abide by the first appearances, and add nothing thyself from within").

Conceit the deceiver (τῦφος). The climax is a warning: "conceit (τῦφος) is a formidable deceiver (παραλογιστής), and just when you are most sure you are busy with serious things (σπουδαῖα), that is when it most bewitches you." The most dangerous self-deception lies not in gross pleasures but in what we revere: fame, rank, "serious affairs" also need unmasking. τῦφος is the Stoic-Cynic word for "puffed-up show," an empty halo.

Crates and Xenocrates. The closing allusion: "consider what Crates says of Xenocrates himself." Crates was probably the Cynic, Crates of Thebes, a master of the deflating jibe; Xenocrates, head of the Academy, a model of austerity and incorruptibility. The point is that even the "most serious" and venerable is open to the Cynic's unmasking optics: τῦφος reaches the virtuously-weighty too. (The specific saying of Crates is not preserved — one cannot be more precise.)

Disciplines and parallels. The principal one is assent (the bare impression); the secondary is desire (removing the seduction from food, wine, luxury, sex). Parallels: 03-11 (the method of definition, its value and composition); 02-02 (the definition of man, the flesh as "blood and bones"); 04-41 (the body as a "corpse," after Epictetus); Med. 8.49; 7.29 ("Wipe out the imagination").

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished