Delphic maxims

The first maxim, "Know thyself", has been called "by far the most significant of the three maxims, both in ancient and modern times".[11] In its earliest appearances in ancient literature, it was interpreted to mean that one should understand one's limitations and know one's place in the social scale.[12] The first application of the phrase to self-knowledge in the modern sense occurs in Plato's Phaedrus, in which Socrates says that he has no leisure to investigate the truth behind common mythological beliefs while he has not yet discovered the truth about his own nature.[13][14]

In ancient Greece, the maxim "Nothing too much" was only rarely understood to mean that one should place limits on one's physical appetites, being far more commonly invoked as a reminder to avoid excessive emotion, particularly excessive grief.[15] It was also quoted by ancient authors as a warning against pride,[15] and considering its placement at the entrance to the temple, it may have been intended to convey that "man is not to exalt himself even in his piety"; in other words, that one should not make lavish sacrifices to the gods, but should humbly give what one can spare.[16][17]

The maxim has been said to have received its "ultimate expression" in Aristotle's theory of ethics, according to which every classical virtue occupies a middle place between the two extremes of excess and deficiency.[18] It is uncertain, however, whether the maxim was a direct influence on Aristotle, as it is not explicitly referenced in his Nicomachean Ethics (although it does occur twice in another of his works, the Rhetoric).[19] Several other phrases of similar import were current among Greek writers, such as "The half is more than the whole" and "Due measure is best", both of which are found in Hesiod's Works and Days (c. 700 BC).[20]

Interest in the "Nothing too much" dropped off during the medieval era, but it was frequently cited in the literature of the 16th and 17th centuries (often in its Latin form, Ne quid nimis).[21] From this time onwards, the rule of moderation enjoined by the maxim has been more frequently applied to physical pleasures than to emotional states.[22] In John Milton's Paradise Lost, for example, the archangel Michael advises Adam to "observe the rule of not too much ... in what thou eat'st and drink'st, seeking from thence due nourishment, not gluttonous delight".[23][22]

Some authors, such as 16th-century humanist Sperone Speroni, have criticized the maxim for its apparent endorsement of mediocrity.[24] Such criticism may be traced back as far as Pindar (5th century BC), who claimed that the philosophers of his day were excessive in their praise of the Delphic saying.[25] Similarly, 20th‑century essayist Paul Elmer More has argued that a too-rigorous adherence to the principle of moderation may have been the downfall of ancient Greek civilization.[26]

The third maxim, "Give a pledge and trouble is at hand", has been variously interpreted. The Greek word έγγύα, here translated "pledge", can mean either (a) surety given for a loan; (b) a binding oath given during a marriage ceremony; or (c) a strong affirmation of any kind.[27] Accordingly, the maxim may be a warning against any one of these things.

The correct interpretation of the maxim was being debated as early as the 1st century BC, when Diodorus Siculus discussed the question in his Bibliotheca historica.[28] In Plutarch's Septem sapientium convivium, the ambiguity of the phrase is said to have "kept many from marrying, and many from trusting, and some even from speaking".[29] Diogenes Laërtius (3rd century AD) also makes reference to the maxim in his account of the life of Pyrrho, the founder of Pyrrhonism.[30] Exploring the origins of the Pyrrhonean doctrine of philosophical skepticism, Diogenes claims that the Delphic maxims are skeptical in nature, and interprets the third maxim to mean: "Trouble attends him who affirms anything in strong terms and confidently".[31]

Analysing the various appearances of the maxim in Greek literature, Eliza Wilkins finds the opinion of the ancient authors on the meaning of έγγύα split between the two rival interpretations of "commit yourself emphatically" and "become surety". Among Latin authors, however, the maxim is universally interpreted in the latter sense, as advice against giving surety.[32]

Stone block with a portion of the Delphic Maxims. Ai-Khanoum, Afghanistan, 2nd century BCE

In the ruins of the Hellenistic city of Ai-Khanoum (former Greco-Bactrian kingdom, and modern Afghanistan), on a Herõon (funerary monument) identified in Greek as the tomb of Kineas (also described as the oikistes (founder) of the Greek settlement) and dated to 300-250 BCE, an inscription has been found describing part of the Delphic maxims (maxims 143 to 147):[37]

The precepts were placed by a Greek named Clearchos, who may or may not have been Clearchus of Soli the disciple of Aristotle,[38] who, according to the same inscription, had copied them from Delphi: