Maximus of Tyre on the World as but a Game for Children

But by this, someone would say, the righteous man is abused and falsely accused and prosecuted, and his possessions and money are taken away and he is thrown into prison, and he is banished and dishonored and dies. What then, if also children establishing laws for each other, establishing a law court of themselves, would bring a man for judgment according to their laws, and then, if he appeared to do wrong, would vote him to be dishonored in the community of children, and would confiscate his child's possessions, his knucklebones and and toys? What is the man likely to do with regard to a court of such a sort {but laugh at them with their} votes themselves and adverse judgments themselves? And thus also Socrates was laughing at the Athenians, as at little children, voting and ordering a mortal man to die. And any other good and righteous man will laugh unmixed laughter, seeing the unrighteous rushing zealously upon him, thinking to do something, but doing nothing. But also when they are dishonoring him, he will cry the cry of Achilles, ‘but I understand myself to have been honored by the dispensation of Zeus’. And when they are taking away his money and possessions, he will let them go as toys and knucklebones being taken away, and he will die as by fever and stone, not at all being vexed towards those killing him.
(Maximus of Tyre, Dissertation 12, translated from Ancient Greek by ESF)

Translator's Note: To a true contemplative ascetic or Platonist or renunciant/philosopher (in the original, ancient sense of the word) all the business and affairs of the world appear as at best a children's game, and the principle advanced in the above is of more general applicability. For example, those who spend much time reading the newspaper and the like, may consider that it is just as if a bunch of children got together and decided, with crayons and construction paper, to report daily what happened in their playing--who played what games and won or lost and got upset or gloated, who fell and skinned their knee and cried and how it happened and could it have been prevented, who lost their toys, who got new toys and which ones, what new toys and cartoons will soon be available, and etc. Would any adult with pressing adult business spend more time concerned with such things than is absolutely necessary? The only pressing affair and concern of an adult soul is striving to get free from the cycle of birth and death, from repeated individuated existence in space-time with its concomitant suffering, and attain re-union with the Good or the One. Most regrettably, especially in this complex modern techno-world, the renunciant is in the meanwhile still entwined with and dependent on the world and the childish souls in it for his psycho-physical survival, but will try as best as possible not to get caught up in it and not to share the attitudes and concerns and thought patterns of the child souls in it while doing what is necessary to get by in it.

Ⓒ 2014 Eric S. Fallick platonicascetic (at) (Gee) mail (period) com