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Quiller-Couch","","Text from a curated edition presents the origins and purpose of Theophrastus’ Characters, linking its form of short sketches of everyday “types of mankind” to Aristotle’s illustrative moral method. It emphasizes that Theophrastus seeks amusement rather than proof, offering vivid portraits built from a few telling strokes. The introduction then traces later transmission, including Casaubon’s Latin translation and its appeal in seventeenth-century English letters.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/introduction-selected-by-at-quiller-couch/440010/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/introduction-selected-by-at-quiller-couch/440010.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"WPS_1786070896","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What are “Characters” in this introduction referring to?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"They are short descriptive sketches of recurring everyday human “types,” such as the Boor, Flatterer, Backbiter, Coward, and Chatterbox. The text presents them as compact portraits drawn in a few decisive strokes.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the introduction distinguish Aristotle’s method from Theophrastus’ approach?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Aristotle illustrates principles through examples that point back to an overarching doctrine, while Theophrastus has “no philosophical axe to grind” and aims primarily to amuse by portraying recognizable character.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why did Casaubon’s translation become influential in England?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The introduction argues that it matched the national temper during a period of impending civil struggle, when people wanted to judge their neighbors and assess whom to trust. It also claims the work was well suited to help shape English prose style.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},440010,1790812346,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":16},549768072016,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","SEVENTEENTH CENTURY‘CHARACTERS'  \nSp  \nSELECTED BY  \nA.T.QUILLER-COUCH  \n丁.Bender  \nOXFORDAT'THE CLARENDON PRESS  \n# INTRODUCTION\n\nIx Athens,towards the close of the third century B.C.,—that is to say,about the time of Alexander the Greator soon after his death—one Theophrastus wrote a littlebook of Characters;short descriptive sketches of certaineveryday types of mankind,such as the Boor,theFlatterer,the Backbiter,the Coward,the Chatterbox.Theophrastus had been,like Alexander himself,a pupilof Aristotle's;and very likely he took the hint of thisform of writing from his great master,who delighted toillustrate a discourse or lecture(especially if it treatedof Morals)with concrete examples of this or that ab-stract quality under discussion.Thus,for an instance,in the Nicomachean Ethics he explores the quality ofMagnanimity for us by presenting it in the person ofthe Magnanimous Man:—  \nNow the Magnanimous Man has it in his nature to conferbenefits,but to feel shame in accepting any;for the one attitudebecomes a superior,the other an inferior...to bear himselfhaughtily to men of rank or fortune,but affably to those ofmiddling station.He will choose possessions beautiful inthemselves,but yielding no profit,before such as carry mer-cenary gain;for this better suits his independence.Gravegestures,a deep tone of voice,deliberate speech—these alsowould seem to become the Magnanimous Man.  \nBut whereas Aristotle’s method was meant to illus-trate the principles of his discourse,and by consequenceeach illustration is referred,as he goes on,to the prin-eiple it subserves,Theophrastus has(if we may so putit)no philosophical axe to grind.He has nothing toprove;he seeks only to amuse us.For him to'ration-alize'his Flatterer,his Coward,or his Chatterbox wouldbe mere supererogation,since,the true raison,detre ofeach consists and ends in being a portrait,drawn for usin a few telling strokes.Here,for example,is hisChatterbox or Garrulous Man:—  \nGarrulity is the discoursing of much and ill-considered talk.  \nThe Garrulous Man is one who will sit down beside a personwhom he does not know,and first pronounce a panegyrie onhis own wife;then relate his dream of last night;then gothrough in detail what he has had for dinner.Then,warmingto the work,he will remark that the men of the present dayare greatly inferior to th9 aneients;and how cheap wheat has  \nINTRODUCTION  \nbecome in the market;and what a number of foreigners arein town;and that,if Zeus would send rain,the crops would bebetter...  \nTradition has it²that he amused his later years withthese urbane trifles.Doubtless they amused also hisfriends among whom they were circulated.They werepreserved—some thirty of them—and have had the luckto float down to us over waves which have engulphedhundreds ofliterary craft more solidly built,with cargoesfar more precious.  \nIn 1592 the famous scholar Casaubon published aLatin translation of the Characters,which at once be-came a favourite mark for imitators and so continuedto the elose of the seventeenth century.Nor is it diffi-cult to understand why.Britain was preparing for agreat civil struggle,and in the shadow of its approachmen asked themselves as a question of capital impor-tance'What kind of man is my neighbour?Tell methat,and I shall know on which side he will declarehimself.'The conflict was joined;it was protracted;it swayed this way and that;ittook newandunforeseenshapes,and men changed camps again and again.Butstilf the incessant question was,What kind of man ismy neighbour?Let me know him,friend or foe,andhow far I can trust him.'Clarendon,the historian ofthose mutable times,lets pass no conspicuous actor inthe struggle without weighing his.character andsummarizing it.For such particular judgements thewriting ofCharacters'afforded,as it were,a usefulelementary exereise.  \nBut the luck of Casaubon's translation did not endhere.It found the state of English letters no lesspropitious than the national temper.Donne,with hismasculine mind,was beg","cbCaib6WI3IShoi4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaib6WI3IShoi4","pdf",2788304,52,"English","# Introduction\n## Origins of Theophrastus’ Characters\n## Theophrastus’ method: amusement through portraiture\n## Casaubon’s Latin translation and seventeenth-century reception\n## English prose and the Characters as a model","[{\"question\":\"What are “Characters” in this introduction referring to?\",\"answer\":\"They are short descriptive sketches of recurring everyday human “types,” such as the Boor, Flatterer, Backbiter, Coward, and Chatterbox. The text presents them as compact portraits drawn in a few decisive strokes.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the introduction distinguish Aristotle’s method from Theophrastus’ approach?\",\"answer\":\"Aristotle illustrates principles through examples that point back to an overarching doctrine, while Theophrastus has “no philosophical axe to grind” and aims primarily to amuse by portraying recognizable character.\"},{\"question\":\"Why did Casaubon’s translation become influential in England?\",\"answer\":\"The introduction argues that it matched the national temper during a period of impending civil struggle, when people wanted to judge their neighbors and assess whom to trust. It also claims the work was well suited to help shape English prose style.\"}]","INTRODUCTION - Selected by A.T. Quiller-Couch | PDF",1790690783]