Three periods involved the care of the self: the Socratic-Platonic period of philosophical reflection; the golden age period of the cultivation of oneself; and later the transition from pagan philosophical ascesis to Christian asceticism.
"One ought to take care of oneself" was an old maxim of Greek culture. From Plutarch, a Spartan was asked one day: You Spartans really are a bit strange. You have a lot of land and your territory is huge. Why don't you cultivate it yourselves? The Spartan says: we have to take care of ourselves and so we do not have to cultivate our lands. Taking care of themselves was the affirmation of a form of existence linked to a privilege: If we have helots, if we do not cultivate our lands ourselves, if we delegate all these material cares to others, it is so that we can take care of ourselves. We have to look after ourselves, and to be able to do that we have entrusted our work to others.
One cannot govern others well, one cannot transform one's privileges into political action on others, into rational action, if one is not concerned about oneself.
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