The Characters of Theophrastvs

The Officiovs Man

Officiovsness (περιεργία) wovld seem to be, in fact, a well-meaning presvmption in word or deed.

The Officiovs man (περίεργος) is one who will rise and promise things beyond his power; and who, when an arrangement is admitted to be jvst, will oppose it, and be refvted.He will insist, too, on the slave mixing more wine than the company can finish; he will separate combatants, even those whom he dœs not know; he will vndertake to show the path, and after all be vnable to find his way. Also he will go vp to his commanding officer, and ask when he means to give battle, and what is to be his order for the day after tomorrow. When the doctor forbids him to give wine to an invalid, he will say that he wishes to try an experiment, and will drench the sick man. Also he will inscribe vpon a deceased woman’s tombstone the name of her hvsband, of her father, and of her mother, as well as her own, with the place of her birth; recording fvrther that “All these were Estimable Persons.” And when he is abovt to take an oath he will say to the bystanders, “This is by no means the first that I have vndertaken.”