Plutarch's essay diagnosing talkativeness as a curable disease of the soul, with anecdotes on the dangers of not being able to keep a secret.
De Garrulitate ("On Talkativeness") is one of the moral essays that make up Plutarch's Moralia. It treats compulsive talking as a disease that philosophy struggles to cure, precisely because the remedy - reasoned speech - requires listeners, and chatterers never listen. Plutarch opens by describing the chatterer's self-inflicted deafness and social isolation: people flee at his approach the way sailors flee an oncoming storm, and even Aristotle is shown fending off a man who kept saying "Isn't this amazing, Aristotle?"
The essay moves through connected themes: talkativeness compared to drunkenness (both dissolve self-restraint, though wine at least has an excuse); the impossibility of retrieving a word once spoken, unlike a stone or an arrow; and a long sequence of historical anecdotes about secrets betrayed - Sulla's midnight capture of Athens because old men gossiped at a barbershop, Nero's plot undone by a whispered warning, Fulvius losing Augustus's confidence and his wife killing herself over it, King Seleucus beheading the farmer who recognized and greeted him in exile. Against these, Plutarch sets exemplars of self-control: Odysseus's iron composure, the tongueless bronze lioness commemorating Leaena's silence under torture, Zeno biting off his own tongue rather than betray a secret, and the famously terse replies of Spartans ("If," "No") to royal threats.
The back half is practical therapy rather than diagnosis: habituation exercises for the reformed chatterer - let others answer first, distinguish necessary from superfluous answers, resist favorite topics, write privately instead of talking. Plutarch closes with Simonides' maxim that he often regretted speaking but never regretted silence. The essay matters as a specimen of Greco-Roman popular ethics: philosophy applied to an ordinary vice through proverb, anecdote, and Homeric example rather than systematic argument, aimed at the same kind of practical self-mastery Plutarch pursues throughout the Moralia.
“Philosophy takes on a difficult and stubborn cure when it treats talkativeness. For its remedy, reasoned speech, requires listeners, and the chatterers listen to no one, since they are always talking.”
— De Garrulitate · read this chapter →
“so it is not possible to seize and recapture a word once it has been released from the mouth. It flies off, circling swiftly on its wings, scattering from one person to the next.”
— De Garrulitate · read this chapter →
“came up close to him and whispered, "Pray, fellow, only that this day may pass; tomorrow you will thank me."”
— De Garrulitate · read this chapter →
“the Athenians, having made a bronze lioness without a tongue, dedicated it at the gates of the Acropolis, showing by the spirited nature of the animal her unconquerable courage, and by its tonguelessness her capacity for silence and mystery”
— De Garrulitate · read this chapter →
“he often regretted having spoken, but never regretted having kept silent”
— De Garrulitate · read this chapter →
It is a moral essay from Plutarch's Moralia arguing that compulsive talkativeness is a curable disease of the soul. Plutarch shows how chatterers isolate themselves, betray secrets, and destroy their own credibility, then offers historical examples and practical exercises for overcoming the habit.
He recounts Sulla capturing Athens because old men gossiped at a barbershop about an unguarded wall, a plot against Nero foiled by a whispered warning that got repeated, King Seleucus beheading a farmer who recognized him in exile, and Fulvius losing Augustus's trust after leaking a family secret, which led to his wife's suicide.
He praises figures like Odysseus, who kept his eyes and tongue under total command even watching his wife weep, and Zeno the philosopher, who bit off his own tongue rather than reveal secrets under torture. He also cites the Athenians' tongueless bronze lioness honoring the courtesan Leaena's silence under interrogation.
He recommends letting others answer questions first, pausing before responding, distinguishing necessary answers from superfluous ones, avoiding one's favorite pet topics, and writing privately as an outlet instead of talking at people.
Yes. He argues that talkativeness resembles drunkenness because both dissolve self-restraint, quoting the proverb that what is in the heart of the sober man is on the tongue of the drunken man, though he notes drunkenness at least has an excuse that chronic chattering lacks.
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