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Transcript
χαίρετε. φιλέλληνες ὄντες, δηλονότι, φιλεῖτε τὰ ἑλληνικὰ καὶ τὴν ἑλληνικὴν γλῶτταν· διὰ γὲ τοῦτο τήμερον διαλεξόμεθα περὶ τοῦ τί φιλεῖς. ὀψόμεθα δὲ ὅτι οἱ παλαιοὶ Ἕλληνες μαίνονται ὀλίγον περὶ τοῦτο. διὰ τί; σκεψώμεθα.
Hi! Being “friends of the Greeks” you love, of course, the Greek literature and language. We will, therefore, talk today about (the topic) “What do you love?” We will see, however, that the Ancient Greeks are a bit crazy with this. Why? Let’s see!
βρεττανιστὶ λέγομεν I love, οἱ δὲ παλαιοὶ Ἕλληνες ἔχουσι τέτταρα ῥήματα περὶ τούτου·
In English we say “I love” but the ancient Greeks have four verbs for this:
φιλῶ, ἐρῶ, στέργω, ἀγαπῶ
ἀρξώμεθα δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥᾴστου αὐτῶν, τοῦ φιλεῖν. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον φιλοῦμεν, δηλονότι, τοὺς φίλους· τὸ γὰρ ὄνομα φίλος παράγεται ἀπὸ τοῦ φιλεῖν. οἱ δὲ φιλόσοφοι λέγουσιν ὅτι οὐ μόνον μεταξὺ ἀνθρώπων ὑπάρχει φιλία, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ. οὕτως, παραδείγματος ἕνεκα, λέγει ὁ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς· πάντα συμβαίνει φιλότητι καὶ διαιρεῖται νείκει.
But let’s start with the easiest of them: to love. First of all we love, of course, our friends since the noun “philos” (“friend”) is derived from “philein” (“to love”). The philosophers, however, say that friendship/love exists not only between humans but also in the whole universe. This, for example, says Empedocles: Everything comes together in friendship/love and gets seperated in quarrel.
ἀπὸ τοῦ φιλεῖν παράγεται καὶ πολλὰ ὀνόματα.παραδείγματος ἕνεκα·
There are also many nouns derived from “philein”. For example:
ὁ φιλόσοφος φιλεῖ τὴν σοφίαν, ὁ φιλόλογος τοὺς λόγουςκαὶ ὁ φιλομαθὴς φιλεῖ τὸ μαθεῖν.
The philosopher loves wisdom, the philologist loves texts/words and the one eager for knowledge (“philomathes”) loves to learn.
ἄλλο δὲ ῥῆμά ἐστι τὸ ἐρᾶνὃ παράγεται ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἔρωτος· ὁ δὲ Ἔρως μέγιστός ἐστι θεός ὃς κρατεῖ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν ζῴων. οἱ δὲ ἐρῶντες μανικῶς πως διάκεινται· ποθοῦσι γὰρ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ συγγενέσθαι τῷ ἐρωμένῳ. ἴσως καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ ἐρᾶν συντάσσεται τῇ γενικῇπτώσει, ὥσπερ ἄρχειν, κρατεῖν, βασιλεύειν. ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἐρᾷ τινος βούλεται ἔχειν τὸν ἐρώμενον ὅλον.
Another verb is “eran”, which is derived from (the god) Eros. Eros is a very mighty god who rules both over humans and animals. The lovers, however, are quite maniacal: They desire nothing else but to get together with their beloved. Maybe that’s also why “eran” takes the genitive like “to rule”, “to be master”, “to be king”. For the person who loves somebody wants to possess the beloved, completely.
τί δὲ λέγουσιν οἱ φιλόσοφοι περὶ τοῦ ἐρᾶν καὶ τοῦ Ἔρωτος; ὁ Πλάτων μάλα ἐπαινεῖ τὸν Ἔρωτα· λέγει γὰρ ὅτι οὗτος ὁ θεὸς ἄγει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πρὸς τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὸ ἀθάνατον·
But what do the philsophers say about “eran” (“to love”) and Eros? Plato praises this god quite a bit for he says that this god leads the humans towards beauty and immortality:
οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐγκύμονες κατὰ τὰ σώματα ὄντες πρὸς τὰς γυναῖκας μᾶλλον τρέπονται καὶ ταύτῃ ἐρωτικοί εἰσιν, διὰ παιδογονίας ἀθανασίαν καὶ μνήμην καὶ εὐδαιμονίαν, ὡς οἴονται, αὑτοῖς εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον πάντα ποριζόμενοι· οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ψυχήν—εἰσὶ γὰρ οὖν οἳ ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς κυοῦσιν ἔτι μᾶλλον ἢ ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν, ἃ ψυχῇ προσήκει καὶ κυῆσαι καὶ τεκεῖν· τί οὖν προσήκει; φρόνησίν τε καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἀρετήν—ὧν δή εἰσι καὶ οἱ ποιηταὶ πάντες γεννήτορες καὶ τῶν δημιουργῶν ὅσοι λέγονται εὑρετικοὶ εἶναι.
Those who are pregnant in their bodies turn their attention more towards women, and their love is directed in this way, securing immortality, a memory of themselves, and happiness, as they think, for themselves for all time to come through having children; whereas others are pregnant in their souls—for in fact, there are (people) who are pregnant in their souls much more than in their bodies, with things that it is fitting for the soul to conceive and to bring to birth. What then are these things that are fitting? Wisdom and the rest of virtue; of which all the poets are, of course, procreators, along with all those craftsmen who are said to be inventive. (Symposion 208e-209a)
περὶ τοῦ Ἔρωτος ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον εἰρήσθω· νῦν δὲ εἴπωμεν περὶ τοῦ στέργειν.
Let this be enough concerning Eros. Let’s now talk about “stergein”.
τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα λέγεται μᾶλλον περὶ παιδίων καὶ γονέων· οἱ γὰρ γονεῖς στέργουσι τοὺς παῖδας καὶ οἱ παῖδες, ὅτε γε μικροί εἰσιν, στέργουσιν τοὺς γονέας. ἡ δὲ στοργὴ ὑπάρχει καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ζῴοις ὡς διηγεῖται ὁ Αἰλιανὸς περὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων·
This word is rather used for children and parents. The parents love (“stergousi”) their children and the children, at least while they are small, love (“stergousi”) their parents. Parental love (“storge”) exists also among animals, as Aelian narrates about the elephants:
τὰ βρέφη δὲ τὰ νεαρὰ οὐκ ἄν ποτε αἱ τεκοῦσαι προδοῖεν, ἀλλὰ πιστῶς παραμένουσι, καίτοι τῶν θηρώντων ἐγκειμένων, καὶ πρότερόν γε τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπολίποιεν ἂν ἢ τὰ τέκνα.
The females would never desert the young they have borne, but they remain loyally at their side even though hunters press hard upon them, and they would sooner relinquish their life than their children. (On Animals VII)
τὸ δὲ ἔσχατον περὶ οὗ λέγομέν ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη· τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα μάλιστά ἐστιν ἰουδαιοχριστιανικόν. λέγεται γὰρ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ὃς ἀγαπᾷ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἳ ἀγαπῶσιν τὸν θεόν· ὁ δὲ Παῦλος ὅλον ὕμνον ἔγραψε τῆς ἀγάπης·
The last (word) about which we talk is “agape”. This word is mostly Judeo-Christian. It is used referring to God who loves the humans and referring to the humans who love God. Paul wrote a whole hymn of love.
Ἡ ἀγάπη μακροθυμεῖ, χρηστεύεται, ἡ ἀγάπη οὐ ζηλοῖ, ἡ ἀγάπη οὐ περπερεύεται, οὐ φυσιοῦται, οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ, οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς, οὐ παροξύνεται, οὐ λογίζεται τὸ κακόν, οὐ χαίρει τῇ ἀδικίᾳ, συγχαίρει δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ· πάντα στέγει, πάντα ἐλπίζει, πάντα ὑπομένει. … Νυνὶ δὲ μένει πίστις, ἐλπίς, ἀγάπη, τὰ τρία ταῦτα· μείζων δὲ τούτων ἡ ἀγάπη.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things … And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
ὦ Ἄργε, τί φιλεῖς σύ;
Argos, what do you love?
ὁ οὖν Ἄργος φιλεῖ τὸν δίσκον. τί δὲ φιλεῖτε ὑμεῖς; τίνος ἐρᾶτε; τίνα στέργετε καὶ ἀγαπᾶτε; λέγετε ἡμῖν, εἰ βούλεσθε, ἐν τοῖς κάτω ὑπομνήμασι. καὶ…. ἔρρωσθε.
So Argos loves his frisbee. But what do you love? Whom do you love? Tell us, if you like, in the comments below. And… bye!