Plutarch’s Essays And Miscellanies

Comprising all his Works Collected under the Title of “Morals” · Translated from the Greek by Several Hands Corrected and Revised by WILLIAM W. GOODWIN, Ph.D., Professor of Greek Literature in Harvard University In Five Volumes · Volume Three

BOSTON · LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY · MCMXI

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, By Little, Brown, and Company, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

Copyright, 1898, 1905, By Little, Brown, and Company.

Printers S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME THIRD. WITH THE TRANSLATORS’ NAMES.

He who said this had no mind to live concealed, 3. Such men strive hard to be known, 3. Even a bad man ought not to withdraw from the notice of others, 4. It is a loss to the world, if virtuous men live concealed, 5. If brave and good men become known, they are examples to others, 6. Virtue by use grows bright; but human abilities, unemployed, go to decay, 7. Our life and all our faculties were given to be used, and to make us known, 8. Only a vicious, useless life should be forgotten, 10.

Aristophanes suits low and vulgar persons; Menander the men of culture; the style of Aristophanes lacks fitness and propriety; it is harsh, coarse, and obscene; Menander charms us by his elegance and refinement, 11.

Afflicted persons need to have their grief lightened, not increased, 15. Banishment may not be an evil of itself, but only as the mind makes it such, 16. If it be an evil, philosophy may help a man to bear it, 17. If it be an evil, let us consider how much good remains to balance it, 18. By nature, we have no country, we are citizens of the world, 18, 19. In whatever part of the world we are, we may make ourselves at home, 20. It is folly to suppose that we cannot enjoy life but where we were born, 20. A man of skill and ability can thrive anywhere, 21. Custom makes every thing and every place pleasant, 22. Change of scene may afford relief, 23. Happiness is not limited to place, 24. The Cyclades are places of exile, yet great men have lived there, 24. Homer commends islands as places of abode, 25. An island may be a place of much quiet and enjoyment, 25, 26. Few of the prudent and wise were buried in their own country, 27. Instances of the fact, 28. Some of the finest human compositions were written in exile,

29. Instances of this, 29. It is not ignominious to be banished, 29, 30. Instances[iv] produced, 30, 33. Banishment does not deprive us of our liberty, 31. We are all strangers and pilgrims on earth; the soul being of heavenly origin, 34.

Address to two brothers, 36. Nature, by forming some of our most useful members in pairs, gives a hint of the need of harmony between brothers, 37. Nature admonishes us to prefer a brother to a stranger, 38. The author’s experience at Rome, 39. To our parents, next to the gods, is due the highest veneration, 40. Parents are happy in the union of brothers, and sad at their disagreement, 41. Love between brothers indicates love to parents, 42. Disaffection between brothers indicates great wrong somewhere, 43. Brothers, once alienated, can scarce become true friends again, 44. Brothers must bear with one another’s failings; they should not expect perfection, 45. If your brother has given offence to your father, intercede in his behalf, 47. If the father be dead, let justice preside in the division of his property, 48, 49. An unequal division produces lasting hatred and envy among brothers, 50, 51. If one brother excel another in talent or learning, let him treat the other with condescension and kindness, 52. And

let not the other indulge envy, 53. Be not jealous of a brother’s prosperity, 53. Brothers should assist one another, 54. The elder brother should lead, but not be exacting and overbearing, 56. The younger should treat the elder with respect and deference, 56, 57. Avoid disagreements about little things, 57. Yield your wishes for peace’ sake, 58. Beautiful instance of fraternal concord from the history of Persia, 59. Another from the history of Syria, 60. When a brother has wronged a brother, let him confess it, 61. Kindness of Attalus to his brother Eumenes, 62. If brothers disagree, let each avoid a correspondence with the other’s enemies, 63. Cherish your brother’s friends, his wife and children, 64-68.

A walk in Delphi, 69. The statues there; the color of the brass admired, 70. The Corinthian brass, whence its extraordinary lustre and beauty, 70, 71. The atmosphere of Delphi, its effect on the brass of the statues, 72. The ancient oracles of Delphi, whence their rudeness and coarseness, 73. Could verses so devoid of neatness and elegance proceed from Apollo? 73. The ideas were supplied by Apollo: the words came from the priestess, 75. The statue of Hiero at Delphi: prodigy connected with it, 76. Other similar prodigies, 76. But these were mere accidents, 77. Strange and unlooked-for events may happen from natural causes, 78. Even though predicted, it was not from any foreknowledge of the prophet but only from plausible conjecture, 78. Conjectures are sometimes verified, 79. Yet there may be real predictions and actual prophetic inspiration, 80. Instances given, 80. Frogs and water-snakes: what relation have they to Apollo? 80-82; and why are they represented in the Corinthian Hall at Delphi? 80-82. Why does the Corinthian Hall bear thatv

name? 82. The statue of Phryne the courtesan, 83. It was no worse to place such a statue in the temple of Apollo than to fill it with spoils taken in war, 84. Yet statues and offerings are sometimes placed there in token of gratitude, 85. But why does the Pythian priestess no longer deliver her oracles in verse? 86. In ancient times philosophers sometimes spoke in verse, while oracles were sometimes delivered in prose, 87, 88. Instances given, 88, 89. Some oracles are now uttered in verse, 90. A singular anecdote, 90. As the soul acts through the body as its servant and instrument, so the Deity uses the soul, 91. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, yet in diminished force, so the Pythia imperfectly yet really conveys the energy of the Deity, 92. The Deity uses men according to their ability, 93. The Pythian priestess, having had a slender education, cannot speak the language of culture and refinement, 93, 94. The times are much altered from what they once were. History and philosophy do not now take a

poetical form, 95, 96. Poetry has lost its ancient credit, 98. This may account for the disuse of verse in the Delphic utterances, 98. The ambiguity of the ancient oracles accounted for, 99. In these times of public tranquillity there is no need of oracles, 100. Yet let us not blame the oracle, 103.

Book I. A threefold division of Philosophy, 104. Natural Philosophy: what is Nature? 105. Difference between a principle and an element? 106. What are principles? 106. Opinions of Thales, Anaximander, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Epicurus, Empedocles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and others, concerning the origin of things, 107-113. How was the world brought into its present order and condition? 113. Whether the universe is one? 114. Whence the knowledge of a Deity? 115. Different orders and classes of Deities, 117. What is God? is he perfect? is he eternal? does he interfere with human affairs? Opinions of Pythagoras, of Socrates, Aristotle, Epicurus, 118-122. Of geniuses and heroes, 122. Of matter: different opinions, 123. Of ideas, 123. Of causes, 123. Of bodies, 124. Of least things in nature, 125. Of figures, 125. Of colors, 125. Of the division of bodies, 126. Of the mixture of the elements, 126. Of a vacuum, 126. Of place, 127. Of space, 127. Of time, 127. Of the essence and nature of time, 128. Of motion, 128. Of generation and corruption, 128. Of necessity,

129. Of the nature of necessity, 129. Of destiny or fate, 130. Of the nature of fate, 130. Of fortune, 131. Of nature, 131.

Book II. Of the world, κοσμόϛ, 132. Of the figure of the world, 133. Whether the world be an animal, 133. Whether the world be eternal and incorruptible, 133. Whence does the world receive nutriment? 134. From what element did God begin to raise the fabric of the world? 134. In what form and order was the world composed? 135. What is the cause of the world’s inclination? 136. Of that thing which is beyond the world, and whether it be a vacuum or not, 136. What parts of the world are on the right hand and what parts are on the left? 137. Of heaven, its nature and essence, 137. Into how many circles is the heaven distinguished? the division of heaven, 137. What are the stars made of? 138. Of what figure are the stars? 139. Of the order and place of the stars, 139. Of the motion and circulation of the stars, 140. Whence do the stars receive their light? 140. What are the stars called Dioscuri, orvi Castor and Pollux? 141. How stars prognosticate: what is the cause of winter and summer? 141. Of the essence of the sun, 141, 142. Of the magnitude

of the sun, 142. Of the figure or shape of the sun, 143. Of the turning and returning of the sun, or the summer and winter solstice, 143. Of the eclipses of the sun, 144. Of the essence of the moon, 145. Of the moon’s magnitude and figure, 145. Whence does the moon receive her light? 145. Of eclipses of the moon, 146. Of the phases or aspects of the moon, 147. Of the distance of the moon from the sun, 147. Of the year and the length of the year in the different planets; of the great year, 147.

Book III. Of the galaxy, or milky way, 148. Of comets and shooting fires, 149. Of lightning, thunder, hurricanes, and whirlwinds, 150. Of clouds rain, snow, and hail, 151. Of the rainbow, 152. Of meteors which resemble rods, 153. Of winds, 154. Of winter and summer, 154. Of the earth, its nature and magnitude, 154. Of the figure of the earth, 155. Of the site and position of the earth, 155. Of the inclination of the earth, 155. Of the motion of the earth, 156. Of the zones of the earth, 156. Of earthquakes and their cause, 157. Of the sea, of what it is composed, and why it has a bitter taste, 158. Of the ebbing and flowing of the sea, 159. Of the halo, or circle round a star, 160.

Book IV. Of the overflowing of the Nile, 160. Of the soul, 161. Whether the soul be a body, and what is its nature and essence, 162. Of the parts of the soul, 162. What is the principal part of the soul, and in what part of the body does it reside? 163. Of the motion of the soul, 163. Of the soul’s immortality, 164. Of the senses, and their objects, 164. Whether what appears to our senses and imaginations be realities, 165. How many senses are there? 165. How the conceptions of the mind are received from the senses, 166. What is the difference between imagination (φαντασία), imaginable (φανταστόν), fancy (φανταστικόν), and phantom (φάντασμα)? 167. Of our sight, and by what means we see, 168. Of the images presented to the eye in mirrors, 169. Can darkness be visible to us? 169. Of hearing, 170. Of smelling, 170. Of taste, 170. Of the voice, 171. Whether the voice is incorporeal? what is it that gives the echo? 172. By what means the soul is sensible, 173. Of respiration or breathing, 173. Of the

passions of the body, and whether the soul sympathizes? 175.

Book V. Of divination, 176. Whence do dreams arise? 176. Of the nature of generative seed, 177. Whether the sperm be a body, 177. Whether women give a spermatic emission, 177. How conception is effected, 178. After what manner males and females are generated, 178. Of the causes of monstrous conceptions, 179. How it comes to pass that a woman’s too frequent conversation with a man hinders conception, 179. Whence it is that one birth may give two or three children, 180. Whence arises the similitude of children to their parents? 180. How it sometimes happens that children resemble strangers and not their parents, 181. Whence arises barrenness in women, and impotency in men? 181. Why mules are barren, 182. Whether an unborn infant is an animal, 183. How the unborn child is nourished, 183. What part of the body is first formed in the womb? 184. Whence is it that infants born in the seventh month are born alive? 184. Of the generation of animals, 186. How many species of animals there are, and whether all animals have sense and

reason, 187. What time is required to shape the parts of animals in the womb? 188. Of what elements is each of our members composed? 188. What causes sleep and death? 188. When is the perfection of a man dated? 189. Does the soul sleep or die with the body? 189. How plants grow, and whether they are animals, 190. Of nourishment and growth, 191. Whence is it that animals havevii appetites and pleasures? 191. What is the cause of a fever? 192 Of health, sickness, and old age? 192.

Their philosophy leads to greater delusions than the fictions of the poets; it is more inconsistent with real life and with possible events, 194-196.

Book I. Question 1. At a feast is it allowable to talk learnedly and philosophize? 198. Long and tedious discourses would be out of place: but there must be conversation: let it be on useful subjects, 198-200. There are topics fit to be discussed at table, 200. Easy and pleasant discourse fits the occasion, 201. Disputation and pedantry are out of place, 202. 2. Whether the entertainer should seat the guests, or let every man take his own place, 203. The order and respect due to age, station, and relationship, may be observed without offence to any, the best man should have the best place, 204-206. Custom and decency should guide, 206-208. 3. Upon what account is the place at the table, called Consular, esteemed honorable? 210-212. Three reasons assigned, 211. 4. What qualifications should the steward of a feast possess? 212-216. He must be able to bear wine, have good nature, and suit his ministrations to the wants and tastes of all, 213-215. He must keep the company in good humor, and exclude every thing unpleasant, 216. 5. Why is it said that Love makes a man a poet? 217, 218.

Poetry is the language of strong passion, 218. 6. Whether Alexander was a great drinker, 219-221. 7. Why old men love pure wine, 221. 8. Why old men read best at a distance, 222-224. 9. Why fresh water washes clothes better than salt, 224-226. 10. Why, at Athens, was it the privilege of the tribe Aeantis, that their chorus should never be determined to be the last? 226-228.

Book II. Question 1. What are the most agreeable questions and most pleasant raillery at an entertainment? 229-240. Questions are agreeable when they give a man opportunity to display his knowledge, to relate his own exploits, or to describe his own prosperity, 230-232. Raillery is pleasant when it refers to faults of which we are known to be innocent; when it implies gratitude for a favor bestowed; and when it proceeds from evident good humor, 233-240. 2. Why in autumn are men’s stomachs better than in other seasons of the year, 240, 241. 3. Which was first, the bird or the egg? 242-246. The perfect must come before the imperfect, 244. 4. Is wrestling the oldest exercise? 246, 247. 5. Why, in reckoning up different kinds of exercises, does Homer put them in this order,—Cuffing, Wrestling, Racing? 248, 249. 6. Why cannot Fir-trees, Pine-trees, and the like be grafted upon? 250, 251. 7. About the fish called Remora or Echeneis, 252. Why the horses called λυκοσπάδες are very mettlesome, 253. 9. Why the flesh of sheep

bitten by wolves is sweeter than that of others, and the wool more apt to breed lice, 254. 10. Whether the ancients who provided for every one his mess did better than we who set many to the same dish, 255-258.viii

Book III. Wine reveals men’s secret thoughts, 259. Question 1. Whether it is becoming to wear chaplets of flowers at table, 260-265. Flowers were designed for our pleasure, 262. They have a good medicinal effect, 264. 2. Whether Ivy is of a hot or cold nature, 265-267. 3. Why women are hardly, old men easily, intoxicated, 268-270. 4. Whether the temper of women is colder or hotter than that of men, 270-272. 5. Whether wine is potentially cold, 272-274. 6. Which is the fittest time for a man to know his wife? 274-279. In the evening, not in the daytime, 276-278. 7. Why new wine does not intoxicate, 279, 280. 8. Why persons thoroughly drunk appear better than those only half-drunk, 281. 9. What means the saying, Drink either five or three, but not four? 282, 283. 10. Why flesh stinks sooner when exposed to the moon than to the sun, 284-287.

Book IV. A feast should be used for the cultivation of friendship, 288. Question 1. Whether different sorts of food or one single dish, fed upon at once, be more easily digested, 289-295. 2. Why mushrooms are thought to be produced by thunder, and why it is believed that men asleep are never thunderstruck, 295-300. 3. Why men usually invite many guests to a wedding supper, 300, 301. 4. Whether sea or land affords better food, 302-306. 5. Whether the Jews abstain from swine’s flesh because they worship that creature, or because they have an antipathy against it, 307-310. 6. What God is worshiped by the Jews? Bacchus, 310-312.

Book V. The soul has pleasures peculiar to itself and distinct from the body, 313. Question 1. Why do we take pleasure in a representation of human suffering, while we are shocked at the reality? 314-316. 2. That the prize for poets at the games was ancient, 316-318. 3. Why was the Pine counted sacred to Neptune and Bacchus, and why at first was the conqueror in the Isthmian Games crowned with a garland of Pine, afterwards with Parsley, and now again with Pine? 318-321. 4. Meaning of that expression in Homer, ζωρότερον δὲ κέραιε, “mix the wine stronger,” 321, 322. 5. Concerning those that invite many to a supper, 323-326. 6. Why does a room which at the beginning of a supper seems too narrow for the guests appear wide enough afterwards? 326. 7. Concerning those that are said to bewitch, 327-332. 8. Why does Homer call the apple-tree ἀγλαόκαρπον, and Empedocles call the apples ὑπέρφλοια? 333, 334. 9. Why does the fig-tree, having itself a sharp and bitter taste, bear sweet fruit? 335. 10. What are those

that are said to be περὶ ἄλα καὶ κύμινον, and why does Homer call salt divine? 336, 337.

Book VI. The memory of a useful discourse gives pleasure long afterwards, 338, 339. Question 1. Why are those that are fasting more inclined to drink than to eat? 339, 340. 2. Whether hunger and thirst are caused by want of nourishment or by a change in the pores or passages of the body, 341-344. 3. Why is hunger allayed by drinking, but thirst increased by eating? 345, 346. 4. Why is a bucket of water drawn out of a well, and left to stand all night in the air that is in the well, colder next morning than the rest of the water? 347, 348. 5. Why do pebble-stones and leaden bullets, thrown into the water, make it more cold? 348, 349. 6. What is the reason that snow is preserved by covering it with chaff and cloths? 350, 351. 7. Ought wine to be strained? 351-354. 8. What is the cause of Bulimy, or the greedy disease? 355-358. 9. Why does Homer appropriate to each particular liquid a special epithet, and use none when speaking of oil? 359, 360. 10. Why is the flesh of sacrificed animals, after being awhile upon a fig-tree, more tender than before? 361, 362.ix