"The fruits of the earth are indeed annually imparted, but the fruits of philosophy at every part of the year."

Iamblichus, Exhortation to Philosophy Chapter 2 gnômê 14

"Never make the bad man your friend, but flee him ever like a harbor full of rocks."

Theognis, Elegies 113-114

Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld (1861). Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875).

"True goods are never obtained by indolent habits."

The Pythagorean Sentences of Demophilus 17

"Begin by prescribing to yourself some character and demeanor such as you may preserve both alone and in company."

Epictetus, The Handbook 33

"Orphan children do not need guardians as much as stupid men do."

The Similitudes of Demophilus 41

"Accustom yourself to control these:
first of all, the belly, and sleep and lust"

The Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans 9-10

"Those who say that one must begin with logic assert that logic is an instrument (organon), and one must first know the instrument and then how to use it. For this is how it is even in the mechanical arts: someone who apprentices with a carpenter first learns about the tools, such as the drill or auger, and then begins with carpentry itself. So it is with these [proponents of logic]. But let us speak the truth about where one must begin. It would have been necessary for us to begin with ethics, as those who say one must start with ethics argue—for we have nothing more compelling than their arguments. However, since we are not taught morals through habituation, as animals are tamed by blows, it is necessary to begin with logic, though not by neglecting morals entirely. Rather, having in some way adorned [the soul] through exhortations (paraineseis), whether written or unwritten, such as those of Isocrates, so that reason (logos) may find ready what has been firmly established in it. For it must be known that philosophy is divided into the theoretical and the practical: the theoretical is concerned with truth and falsehood in arguments, while the practical is concerned with the good and the bad in actions."

Elias, In Categorias Prooemium 118.20-34

"Never step across the sweet-flowing water of ever-rolling rivers until you have prayed, gazing into the soft flood, and washed your hands in the clear, lovely water. Whoever crosses a river with hands unwashed of wickedness, the gods are angry with him and bring trouble upon him afterwards."

Hesiod, Works and Days 737-741

"The theorems of philosophy are to be enjoyed as much as possible, as if they were ambrosia and nectar; for the pleasure arising from them is genuine, incorruptible, and divine. Magnanimity they are also able to produce, and though they cannot make us eternal beings, yet they enable us to obtain a scientific knowledge of eternal natures."

Iamblichus, Exhortation to Philosophy Chapter 2 gnômê 9

"Train your body, not by the exercises which conduce to strength, but by those which conduce to health. In this you will succeed if you cease your exertions while you still have energy to exert yourself."

Isocrates, To Demonicus 14

"Moreover, this has been clear to me from the first, that while all men think that those compositions, whether in verse or prose, are the most useful which counsel us how to live, yet it is certainly not to them that they listen with greatest pleasure; nay, they feel about these just as they feel about the people who admonish them; for while they praise the latter, they choose for associates those who share in, and not those who would dissuade them from, their faults. As a case in point, one might cite the poetry of Hesiod and Theognis and Phocylides; for these, they say, have proved the best counsellors for human conduct; but in spite of what they say, people prefer to occupy themselves with each other's follies rather than with the admonitions of these teachers. And, again, if one were to make a selection from the leading poets of their maxims, as we call them, into which they have put their best thought, men would show a similar attitude toward them also; for they would lend a readier ear to the cheapest comedy than to the creations of such finished art."

Isocrates, To Nicocles 42-44 [Emphasis mine]

"In his Works and Days, [Hesiod] urges people toward a life of order and simplicity, away from the vulgar and burdensome pursuits of the marketplace. He does not merely aim at the pleasure of his audience but considers this a secondary concern, making moral improvement his primary goal, so that, by ordering their personal lives, they may also become capable of attaining knowledge of the divine. Therefore, it is fitting to begin with this work; for it is entirely impossible for those who lack moral order to understand the cosmos. The purpose of the book is educational, and its meter is applied to this purpose like a kind of seasoning, charming the soul and drawing it toward an affinity with the work."

Proclus, On Hesiod’s Works and Days 1.1–18

"OFFICIAL", RESEARCH-BASED READING LIST

Based on my research, the following works are recommended by the Platonic tradition for moral education. Moral education is the essential first step in our spiritual journey—it cannot be skipped. It may and should begin in childhood, but it is by no means confined to it. Age is not the point; the point is to achieve harmony within the tripartite soul.

The purpose of this list is not to suggest that only these works may be read, or even that they must be read. They are simply those that have been singled out by the tradition for this purpose. Most readers will be familiar with the "Iamblichean order" for reading the Platonic dialogues. That order is not obligatory. It did not even exist before Iamblichus, so philosophers like Plotinus presumably did not follow it. It is a suggestion, a tradition that many of us accept, but it does not mean the other dialogues don't matter. The same principle applies to this list of educational works, though in this case the order is not so important.

1. The Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans.
2. The Pythagorean sayings generally (e.g., the Pythagorean Sentences quoted by Hierocles).
3. The Handbook (Enchiridion) by Epictetus.
4. Hesiod's Works and Days.
5. The poetry of Theognis.
6. The orations of Isocrates.

"The rational-forming principles of nature for the most part go forth in the spring, but the seeds are scattered upon the earth when the season is autumn. It is for this reason that, when it comes to the seasons, they say that winter belongs to Kronos, since they hide the seeds under the earth just as Kronos hid his own offspring, if you want to put it in a theological manner. Or if you wish to put it in natural terms, it is due to the cold with which winter endows the things that come to be. But in opposition to this, the summer belongs to Ares due to the heat which it supplied to natural things and due to the difference that distinguishes everything, which is what the ‘heat of battle’ represents. They say that the springtime belongs to Zeus in as much as it is generative and reveals the rational-forming principles that had been hidden – something which Zeus too does to his father, leading forth into the realm of the manifest his offspring which he had hidden. The autumn belongs to Aphrodite, for in this season there is the sowing of seed into the earth. But it is the function of Aphrodite to mix the things that are generative and to lead the cause of generation into intercourse. ... Finally, Hermes is common to all of the seasons, since he regulates the one principle (logos) that underlies them all and [regulates] their one arrangement in accordance with that principle."

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Republic 61.20-62.19

"As clouds frequently obscure the Sun, so passions, the reasoning power."

The Similitudes of Demophilus 46

"Foolish is the man who has my mind in keeping yet pays no regard to his own."

Theognis, Elegies 439-440

I had the honor of appearing on The Platonists podcast today with Eric Claussen. Check it out!

https://youtu.be/yeeWH4jR28U?si=BwOyMGJfiBnxYRLg

"But they who give straight judgments both to foreigners and to the men of the land, and do not turn aside from what is just, their city flourishes and the people prosper in it. Peace, the nurse of children, is abroad in their land, and all-seeing Zeus never decrees cruel war against them. Neither famine nor disaster ever haunt men who do true justice; but they lightheartedly tend the fields which are their care. The earth bears them food in abundance, and on the mountains the oak bears acorns upon the top and bees below. Their woolly sheep are laden with fleeces; their women bear children resembling their parents. They flourish continually with good things and do not travel on ships, for the grain-giving earth bears them fruit."

Hesiod, Works and Days 225-237

"How long, then, will you delay to demand of yourself the noblest improvements, and in no instance to transgress the judgments of reason? You have received the philosophical principles with which you ought to be familiar; and you have been familiar with them. What other teacher, then, do you wait for as an excuse to delay your self-reformation? You are no longer a boy but a grown man. If, therefore, you will be negligent and slothful, and always add procrastination to procrastination, proposal after proposal, and setting one day after another after which you will pay attention to yourself, you will insensibly continue to accomplish nothing, and, living and dying, remain of vulgar mind. This instant, then, think yourself worthy of living as a full-grown man and as someone making progress. Let whatever appears to be the best be an inviolable law for you. And if anything painful or pleasant, glorious or disgraceful, be presented to you, remember that now is the contest, now the Olympic Games have come, nor can it be put off, and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost—or won. Thus Socrates became perfect, improving himself in all things, following reason alone. And though you are not yet a Socrates, you ought to live as one who wishes to be a Socrates."

Epictetus, The Handbook 51