On Talkativeness

＂It is a troublesome and difficult task that philosophy has in hand when it undertakes to cure garrulousness. For the remedy, words of reason, requires listeners; but the garrulous listen to nobody, for they are always talking.＂

Plutarch’s essay takes on an unusual philosophical problem: people who talk too much. In part an erudite and highly amusing history of the chatterbox as a social phenomenon, On Talkativeness also finds its way to the heart of much more serious issues--among them the nature of sociability and civic obligation. Careless talk, it turns out, really can cost lives, and quite possibly a great deal more.

Plutarch (46-c. 119) was a Greek philosopher and historian. His book of Parallel Lives is a landmark work in the art of biography.