Hercules at the crossroads, also known as the Choice of Hercules and the Judgement of Hercules, is an ancient Greek parable attributed to Prodicus and known from Xenophon. It concerns the young Heracles (also known to the Romans as Hercules) who is offered a choice between Vice (Kakia) and Virtue (Arete)—a life of pleasure or one of hardship and honour. In the early modern period it became a popular motif in Western art.
The parable stems from the Classical era of ancient Greece and is reported by Xenophon in Memorabilia 2.1.21–34. In Xenophon's text, Socrates tells how the young Heracles, as the hero contemplates his future, is visited by two allegorical figures, female personifications of Vice and Virtue (Ancient Greek: Κακία and Ἀρετή; Kakía and Areté ). They offer him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life, and present their respective arguments. Xenophon credits the invention of the parable to Prodicus. He cites a precursor in Hesiod's Works and Days , which also contrasts the paths of vice and virtue. [2]
The motif then appears in a number of works by ancient Greek and Roman writers. Aristophanes used it in a humorous way in the comedy The Birds , where Heracles has to choose between kingship and a tasty meal, and almost chooses the meal. In book 15 of the epic poem Punica by Silius Italicus, the military commander Scipio Africanus appears in a situation modeled on the choice of Heracles. [2] The literary device of a contest in dialogue appears within many different genres throughout the literature of ancient Greece. It is related to the controversy stories in the Gospel of Matthew. [3]
In the Renaissance the story of Hercules at the crossroads became popular again, and it remained so in Baroque and Neoclassical culture. It became a part of the broader motif of psychomachia : the battle of spirits or soul war. [4] Petrarch used it in De vita solitaria (1346) and established it in the mainstream of Renaissance humanism as a figure of the choice between a contemplative life and an active life. Petrarch had read Cicero's summary of the story in De Officiis . Like Xenophon, Cicero stresses the hero's solitude as he deliberates with himself. Four decades after Petrarch's adaptation, Coluccio Salutati reintroduced the original moral choice between Virtus and Voluptas , using Cicero's Latin words. [2]
Famous examples from the visual arts include Albrecht Dürer's print Hercules at the Crossroads (1498), Paolo Veronese's Allegory of Virtue and Vice (1565), Annibale Carracci's The Choice of Hercules (1596), Gerard de Lairesse's Hercules between Virtue and Vice (1685) and Mariano Salvador Maella's mural in the Royal Palace of Madrid, Hercules between Virtue and Vice (1765–66). [4] The story appears in musical compositions such as Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen by Johann Sebastian Bach and The Choice of Hercules by George Frideric Handel. [4]
Hercules is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
Heracles, born Alcaeus or Alcides, was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon. He was a descendant and half-brother of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι), and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well.
A sophist was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught arete, "virtue" or "excellence", predominantly to young statesmen and nobility.
In Greek mythology, Geras, also written Gēras, was the god of old age. He was depicted as a tiny, shriveled old man. Gēras's opposite was Hebe, the goddess of youth. In Latin, he is referred to as Senectus. He is known primarily from vase depictions that show him with the hero Heracles; the mythic story that inspired these depictions has been lost.
In ancient Roman religion, Virtus was the deity of bravery and military strength, the personification of the Roman virtue of virtus. The Greek equivalent deity was Arete. The deity was often associated with the Roman god Honos and was often honoured together with him, such as in the Temple of Virtus and Honos at the Porta Capena in Rome. It was after the conquest of Syracuse in 205 that the Virtus portion of the temple was added, and in such a way that one had to enter the temple of Virtus before Honos, symbolizing that honor cannot be obtained without military success.
Prodicus of Ceos was a Greek philosopher, and part of the first generation of Sophists. He came to Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known as a speaker and a teacher. Plato treats him with greater respect than the other sophists, and in several of the Platonic dialogues Socrates appears as the friend of Prodicus. One writer claims Socrates used his method of instruction. Prodicus made linguistics and ethics prominent in his curriculum. The content of one of his speeches is still known, and concerns a fable in which Heracles has to make a choice between Virtue and Vice. He also interpreted religion through the framework of naturalism.
Aristippus of Cyrene was a hedonistic Greek philosopher and the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy. He was a pupil of Socrates, but adopted a different philosophical outlook, teaching that the goal of life was to seek pleasure by adapting circumstances to oneself and by maintaining proper control over both adversity and prosperity. His view that pleasure is the only good came to be called ethical hedonism. Due to the ideological and philosophical differences between Socrates and himself, Aristippus faced backlash by Socrates and many of his fellow-pupils. Out of his hedonistic beliefs, Aristippus' most famous phrase was, "I possess, I am not possessed." Despite having two sons, Aristippus identified his daughter Arete as the "intellectual heiress" of his work, resulting in the systematization of his work and the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, by Arete, and her son Aristippus the Younger, Aristippus' grandson, during the later years of his life and after his death.
Arete is a concept in ancient Greek thought that refers to "excellence" of any kind—especially a person or thing's "full realization of potential or inherent function." The term may also refer to excellence in "moral virtue."
Memorabilia is a collection of Socratic dialogues by Xenophon, a student of Socrates. The lengthiest and most famous of Xenophon's Socratic writings, the Memorabilia is essentially an apologia (defense) of Socrates, differing from both Xenophon's Apology of Socrates to the Jury and Plato's Apology mainly in that the Apologies present Socrates as defending himself before the jury, whereas the former presents Xenophon's own defense of Socrates, offering edifying examples of Socrates' conversations and activities along with occasional commentary from Xenophon. Memorabilia was particularly influential in Cynic and later Stoic philosophy.
Humanitas is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below.
Simmias of Thebes was an ancient Greek philosopher, disciple of Socrates, and a friend of Cebes. In his Memorabilia, Xenophon includes him in the inner circle of Socrates' followers. He appears in Plato's Phaedo as a main discussion partner of Socrates alongside Cebes, as well as Crito, Phaedrus, and EpistleXIII.
Kakia is the Greek goddess of vice and moral badness. She was depicted as a vain, plump, and heavily made-up woman dressed in revealing clothes, and was presented as the opposite of Arete, goddess of excellence and virtue.
Virtus was a specific virtue in ancient Rome that carried connotations of valor, masculinity, excellence, courage, character, and worth, perceived as masculine strengths. It was thus a frequently stated virtue of Roman emperors, and was personified as the deity Virtus.
The Choice of Hercules is an oratorio in one act by George Frideric Handel. Handel produced the score between 28 June and 5 July 1750. The first performance was given on 1 March 1751 at the Covent Garden Theatre, London with Cecilia Young as Virtue, Isabella Young as Hercules, and Thomas Lowe as attendant. The libretto is derived from the poem (1743) of Robert Lowth but revised, probably, by Thomas Morell.
This page is a list of topics in ancient philosophy.
Virtù is a concept theorized by Niccolò Machiavelli, centered on the martial spirit and ability of a population or leader, but also encompassing a broader collection of traits necessary for maintenance of the state and "the achievement of great things." In a secondary development, the same word came to mean an object of art.
The word magnificence comes from the Latin “magnum facere”, which means to do something great. The Latin word draws on the Greek “megaloprépeia”. This noun conveys the meaning of doing something great which is fitting or seemly to the circumstance. Magnificence is a philosophical, aesthetic, and socio-economic notion deeply rooted in Western culture since classical antiquity.
Allegory of Virtue and Vice, also known as The Choice Between Virtue and Vice or The Choice of Hercules is a painting by Paolo Veronese, created c. 1565 in Venice, Italy. It is now located in the Frick Collection, in New York. It is a large-scale allegorical painting depicting Hercules' struggle between virtue and vice, personified here by the figures of the two women physically pulling him in different directions.
Otium is a Latin abstract term which has a variety of meanings, including leisure time for "self-realization activities" such as eating, playing, relaxing, contemplation, and academic endeavors. It sometimes relates to a time in a person's retirement after previous service to the public or private sector, as opposed to "active public life". Otium can be a temporary or sporadic time of leisure. It can have intellectual, virtuous, or immoral implications.
Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed it in Leipzig on a text by Picander and first performed it on 5 September 1733. It is also known as Die Wahl des Herkules and Hercules am Scheidewege.
The full text of Xenophon's Memorabilia at Wikisource (Greek text only)