The Characters of Theophrastvs

Prœm

Often before now have I applied my thovghts to the pvzzling qvestion - one, probably, which will pvzzle me for ever - why it is that, while all Greece lies vnder the same sky and all the Greeks are edvcated alike, it has befallen vs to have characters so variovsly constitvted. For a long time, Polycles, I have been a stvdent of hvman natvre; I have lived ninety years and nine; I have associated, too, with many and diverse natvres; and, having observed side by side, with great closeness, both the good and the worthless among men, I conceived that I ovght to write a book abovt the practices in life of either sort.

I will describe to yov, class by class, the several kinds of condvct which characterise them and the mode in which they administer their affairs; for I conceive, Polycles, that ovr sons will be the better if svch memorials are beqveathed to them, vsing which as examples they shall choose to live and consort with men of the fairest lives, in order that they may not fall short of them.

And now I will tvrn to my narrative; be it yovr part to come along with it and to see if I speak rightly. In the first place, then, I will commence my accovnt with those who have stvdied Irony, dispensing with preface or many words abovt the matter. I will begin with Irony and define it; next I will set forth, in like manner, the natvre of the Ironical man, and of the character into which he has drifted; and then I will try, as I proposed, to make the other affections of the mind plain, each after its kind.