Sunday, January 07, 2024
Compulsion
Euripides, Orestes 488 (tr. M.L. West, with his note):
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Everything based on compulsion is held slavish among the intelligent.
πᾶν τοὐξ ἀνάγκης δοῦλόν ἐστ᾽ ἐν τοῖς σοφοῖς.
as hinted by "among the intelligent", this echoes contemporary sophists' arguments. Cf. Democr. DK 68 B 181 (conviction a better guarantor of morality than law /compulsion; cf. Critias TrGF 43 F 11, 19.5 ff.); Pl. Gorg. 483b ff. (law an artificial curb on nature); Rep. 338e ff., Xen. Mem. 1.2.40-6 (law = compulsion by the stronger).
