Pfl 4388 .06 1844 Coov ? Class .- Μ ^ !* '% Book . -D k PRESENTED BY ^ ®@f® SSt ® =«?» ύ Λ J. (7a^cc Ίβ -eiA PLUTARCHUS DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. PLUTARCH DELAY OF THE DEITY PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED, NOTES, BY H. B. HACKETT, PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITEB LURE IN NEWTON THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION. ANDOVER: PUBLISHED BY ALLEN, MORRILL & WARDWELL. NEW YORK! MARK H. NEWMAN. 1844. Cet• k? \^j} Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by ALLEN, MORRILL AND WARDWELL, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. ί,ϊ 1 4* AND OVER : Allen, Morrill & Wardwell, Printers. ' Οταν γαρ ϊ&νΐ] τα μι) νόμον Ι'χοντα ψνοει τα του νόμου noijj, ούτοι νόμον μη έχοντες έαυτοΐς εισι νόμος } ο'ιτινες ενδείκνυνται, το έργον τον νόμου γραπτόν εν τάΐς καρδίαις αυτών. Rom. 2 : 14, 15. Sive argumentum spectes, nullum majus graviusque est; sive explicandi rationem, adeo subtiliter eleganterque disputavit Plutarchus, ut, summo- rum viroium judicio, proxime ad christianae doctrinae praestantiam acces- serit. — JVijitenbach. PREFACE The exegetical study of the New Testament, as pursued in most of our theological Institutions, presupposes, of course, a competent knowledge of the Greek language ; but, as from the nature of the case, there are no limits to the amount of acquisition in this respect, which the student will not find it useful to possess, no one can doubt the wis- dom or importance of prosecuting the study of the classical Greek authors still further, and of carrying this on, if it be possible, as a sort of parallel course, at the same time with the study of the Greek Testament. The experience of all theological teachers, and of students themselves, so soon at least, as they begin to form an acquaintance with the work of sacred criticism, may be considered as having established this point beyond all need of argument ; and hence it was supposed, that something of the nature of that which has been attempted in this volume, designed more especially for the use of those who are engaged in biblical studies, might not prove useless or unwelcome, at the present time. This destination of the work will suggest at once the reasons for selecting this treatise of Plutarch, and for adopt- ing the plan which has been pursued in the notes, append- ed to it. The title indicates correctly its general object. We can conceive of no question which is likely to have been IV PREFACE. so full of perplexity to the mind of a thoughtful heathen as the one which is here brought up for discussion — the question, namely, how the impunity, and not unfrequently the signal prosperity of the wicked, can be reconciled with the doctrine of a just Providence ; or, in other words, with the belief of a Deity who observes the right and wrong of human actions, and governs the world according to the principles of a righteous moral retribution. A subject like this, as viewed from the position of those destitute entirely of the light of revelation, could not have failed to present much which was mysterious, and to all appearance inca- pable of explanation. We see from the treatise before us, what objections Were urged against the Justice of Provi- dence from this source, and also what replies could be of- fered to them, on grounds of mere reason or natural reli- gion.* The work, in the first instance, was directed more particularly against the followers of Epicurus. As a sect, they denied, it is well known, the moral accountability of men ; they acknowledged nothing as retributive in the suf- ferings or allotments of life ; they referred every thing to an inexorable fate, or mere chance, while in common with other ancient skeptics, they alleged as one of the main ar- guments for then opinion, the self-evident absurdity of any other ; since nothing, as they affirmed, could be more re- proachful to the gods, than to attribute to them any con- cern in the government of a world, which exhibits such a manifest want of correspondence between the experience and the deserts of men. The considerations which Plu- tarch has here urged, for the purpose of obviating or di- minishing the force of such a statement, are such as evince * A summary of the argument will be found prefixed to the notes. PREFACE. V an elevation of views, a depth and soundness of moral feel- ing, to which I know of no parallel in any work of pagan antiquity. I am not aware, indeed, that even christian wri- ters, who have attempted to defend the same truth within the same limits of natural religion, have been able to do anything better than to re-affirm his positions, and perhaps amplify and illustrate somewhat his arguments.* The main object in the notes has been, not so much to criticise the reasoning and views of the writer, as to put the reader in a situation to form Ms own judgment on these and similar points. It was impossible, in order to attain this end, to insert fewer historical notes than have been 'introduced. The rule here followed was to presup- pose, on the part of the reader, all the knowledge of this sort which it was reasonable to expect, and yet avoid mak- ing it necessary for him to resort to books which he might not have within his reach, or which he could not stop to examine without an irksome delay. Yet with this restric- tion, the space allotted to such notes is not inconsiderable : in part because the illustrations from fact and example, which occur in the work, are so very numerous, and in part because these take us so often entirely out of the ordi- nary circle of history. There are frequent references, it will be seen, to pas- sages both hi the Old and New Testaments. The design, in a part of them, has been to draw attention occasionally to those contrasts or accordances of sentiment, which strike one in comparing the Scriptures with the writings of heath- en authors, and which are not surely uninstructive, as show- * On the question whether Plutarch had any knowledge of Christianity, see Appendix at the end of the Notes. 1 VI PREFACE. ing the infinite superiority of the gospel to the purest pagan morality, while at the same time they teach us how entirely consonant to the dictates of sound reason are many of the very doctrines of revelation, which ob- jectors have most violently assailed. The other references of this nature relate mostly to points of language, which involve some analogy more or less remote to the New Tes- tament, and which it seemed so much the more proper to remark, because the Greek of Plutarch belongs to the dia- lect in which the New Testament is written, with the excep- tion of its Hebraistic element. It is not supposed by any means that these will add anything important to the results of previous observation ; but they may not be useless, if they have a tendency to promote in the student a habit of com- parison in these things, and thus help him to the attainment of that self-reliance as an interpreter, which can be the growth only of such a process. It may seem to some, that a character of greater inde- pendence should have been given to the notes, and fewer traces retained of the sources from which information has been drawn* I have preferred the other course, because, one naturally wishes to produce his authority in cases, where the statements which he makes might seem to be questionable, and because in many instances it was the only way, without an undue extension of the notes, of putting the reader in mind of books or single passages which he would find it particularly interesting or instructive to exam- ine. I have used what industry I could in availing myself of the means of illustration which others have furnished, so far as they were known to me and seemed to comport with the objects here in view ; and have only to regret, for PREFACE. Vll the reader's sake, that I have not found my work to a greater extent anticipated by other labourers. Wyttenbach has yielded me in this respect by far the greatest assistance ; but his annotations, though comparatively copious, contain but little of a philological character, and where they treat of the subjects involved in the text, relate for the most part to a different class of topics, from those which it was thought advisable to bring forward in a book like this. The text which has been followed is, in the main, that of Wyttenbach. Some variations from this, most of them pro- posed and recommended by this distinguished critic, ap- pear in the Tauchnitz edition, published at Leipsic, 1829, and that of Didot, at Paris, 1841. These variations, where they facilitate essentially the reading of the text, have been for this reason (in violation of what is laid down as the true rule of criticism in such cases), without hesitation adopted. Newton Theological Institution, ) Dec. 27, 1843; j ΠΛΟΎΤΑΡΧΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΎΠΟ TOT ΘΕΙΟΤ ΒΡΑΔΕΩΣ ΤΙΜΩΡΟΎΜΕΝΩΝ . ΤΑ ΠΡ02ΩΠΑ TOT JIAJ.OTOT ΠΛΟΥΤΑΡΧΟΣ, ΠΑΤΡΟΚΑΕΑΣ, ΤΙΜ&Ν, ΟΛΎΜΠΙΚΟΣ. Ι. Τοιαύτα μεν 6 'Επίκουρος ειπών, ώ Κύνιε, και πριν άποκρίνασΰαι τίνα προς τω περατι της στοάς γενομέ- νων ημών, φχετο άπιών ημείς δε όσον τι Φαυμάσαι τον άν&ρώπον την άτοπίαν, επιστάντες σιωπή, και προς αλλήλους διαβλεψαντες, άνεστρε^ομεν πάλιν ωσπερ ετυγ- χάνομεν περιπατοϋντες. Είτα πρώτος 6 Πατροκλεας • Τι ουν ; είπεν, εάν δοκεΐ την ζητησιν, η τφ λόγο), κα&ά- περ παρόντος και μη παρόντος, άποκρινώμεΰ'α του είπον- τος ; Τπολαβών δε ο Τίμων, Αλλ' ουδ* ει βαλών, είπεν, απηλλάγη, καλώς είχε περιοράν το βέλος εγκείμενον ' ο μεν γαρ Βρασίδας, ως εοικεν, εξελκύσας το δόρυ του σώ- ματος, αντψ τούτω τον βαλόντα πατάτας άνεΐλεν ■ ημών δ αμυνασ&αι μεν ουδέν J^yov^ εστί δηπον τους άτοπον η 'ψευδή λογον εις ημάς άφεντας, αρκεί δ' αυτοΐς, πριν αιϋασ&αι την δόξαν, αν εκβάλλωμεν. Τι ουν, εφην εγώ^ μάλιστα κεκίνηκεν υμάς τών είρημενων ; άϋ'ρόα γαρ ποί- 12 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. λά καΐ κατά ταξιν ουδέν, άλλο δ' άλλαχό&εν άν&ρωπος, ωσπερ όργΐ] τινι καΐ λοιδορία, σπαράττων άμα κατεφόρει της προνοίας. II. ΚαΙ 6 Πατροκλεας, Η περί τάς τιμωρίας, είπε, των πονηρών βραδύτης τον δαιμονίου και μελλησις εμοι δοκεΐ και μάλιστα δεινόν είναι ' και νυν υπό των λόγων τούτων, ωσπερ πρόσφατος γε'γονα τη δόξη και καινός. Εκπαλαι δ' ήγ ανακτούν άκονων Ευριπίδου λέγοντος, Μέλλει, το &είον S* εστί τοιούτον φνσει. Καίτοι προς ού&εν, ηκιστα δε πρέπει προς τους πονηρούς ρά&υμον είναι τον &εόν, ου ρα&ύμονς όντας αυτούς, ονδ' άμβολιεργους του κακώς ποιεΐν, άλΧ όξντάταις όρμαΐς υπό των παΰών φερομένους προς τάς αδικίας. Και μην το agiriia&at τω πα&ενν, ώς Θουκυδίδης φησιν, οτι εγγυ- τάτω κείμενον, ευΰυς άντιφράττει την όδόν τοις επιπλεισ- τον ευροούση ττ( κακία χρωμε'νοις. Ον&εν γάρ ούτω χρέος, ως το της δίκης νπερημερον γινόμενον, άσΰενη μεν τοις ελπίσι ποιεί και ταπεινόν τον άδικουμενον, αυξει δε Φρασυτητι καΐ τόλμη τον μοχ&ηρόν * αϊ δε υπό χείρα τοις τολμωμενοις άπαντώσαι τιμωρίαι, καΐ τών μελλόντων ει- σιν επισχέσεις αδικημάτων, και μάλιστα το παρηγορούν τους πεπον&ότας ενεστιν αύταΐς ■ ώς εμοιγε και το του Βίαντος ενοχλεί πολλάκις άναλαμβάνοντι τον λόγον εφη γάρ, ώς εοικε, προς τίνα πονηρόν, ώς ον δεδιε μη ου δφ δίκην, αλλά μη ουκ αυτός επίδη. Τι γάρ Μεσσηνίοις όφελος τοις προαναιρε&εΐσι της ^Λριστοκράτους τιμωρί- DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 13 ας ; ος προδους την επί Τάφρφ μάχην, και λαθών υπέρ εΊκοσιν ετη και πάντα ταύτα, βασιλενσας Άρκαδων, ύστε- ρον έδωκε δίκην φωραθείς * οι δε ουκέτ ήσαν ' *Η τίνα Όρχομενίων τοις άποβαλουσι παΐδας και φίλους καΐ οικεί- ους υπο Λυκίσκου προδοθε'ντας ηνεγκε παραμυθίαν η χρονοις ύστερον πολλοίς άψαμενη νόσος και κατανεμηθει- σα του σοψατος ; ός άει βάπτων καΐ βρε'χων τω πόδε εις τον ποταμον, ωμοσε και κατηράσατο σαπηναι, προδόντος αυτού και άδικήσαντος. Τάς μεν γαρ Άθήνησι των ενά- γων σωμάτων ρίψεις, και νεκρών εξορισμους, ουδέ παί- δων παισιν επιδεΐν υπήρξε των άποσφαγεντων εκείνων. Οθεν Ευριπίδης άτοπος, εις άποτροπην κακίας τούτοις χρώμενος ' Ούτοι προσελθοΐσ η Aiv.r\ σε, μη τρέσας, Παίσει προς ήπαρ, ονδε των άλλων βροτων Τον αδικον, αλλά σίγα καΐ βραδεί ποδί Στειχοναα, μάρψ^ τοις κακούς, όταν τύχη. Ου γάρ άλλα δήπου, ταϋτα δ' αυτά τους κακούς εικός εστίν εαυτοΤς διακελευομενους και παρεγγυώντας, επιχει- ρεΐν τοις παρανομημασιν , ώς της αδικίας τον μεν καρπον εύθυς ώραϊον και προυπτον άποδιδούσης, την δε τιμωρί- ας όιρε και πολύ της άπολαυσεως καθυστερούσαν. III. Ταύτα του Πατροκλε'ους διελθόντος, ύπολαβών 6 Όλυμπικος, 'Εκείνο δε, εΐπεν, ω Πατροκλεα, πηλίκον αϊ περί ταύτα του θείου διατριβαι και μελλησεις άτοπον εχουσιν, οτι την πίστιν ή βραδυτης αφαιρεί της προνοίας, 14 DE SERA NUM1NIS VINDICTA. και το μη παρ εκαστον αδίκημα τοις πονηροϊς επακολου- θούν κακόν, αλλ' ύστερον, εις ατυχήματος χωράν τιθέμε- νοι, και συμφοράν, ου τιμωρίαν όνομάζοντες, ού&εν ωφε- λούνται, τοις μεν συμβαίνουσιν άχ&όμενοι, τοις δε πε- πραγμένοις μη μεταμελόμενοι. Κα&άπερ γαρ ίππον ή παραχρήμα το πταίσμα και την άμαρτίαν διώκουσα πλη- γή και νύξις επανορ&οΐ καϊ μετάγει προς το δέον, οι δε ύστερον και μετά χρόνον σπαραγμοί και ανακρούσεις και περι\ροφήσεις, έτερου τίνος ένεκα μάλλον δοκοϋσι γίνεσ- &αι ή διδασκαλίας, διό το λυπούν άνευ του παιδεύειν εχουσιν ■ ούτως ή καθ' εκαστον ων πταίει καϊ προσπίπτει ραπιζομενη καϊ άνακρουομένη τω κολάζεσθαι κακία, μό- λις αν γένοιτο σύννους και κατάφοβος προς τον ϋεόν, ώς εφεστώτα τοις άνθρωπίνοις πράγμασι και πάθεσιν ούχ ύπερήμερον δικαιωτήν ' ή δ' άτρέμα και βραδεϊ πόδι, κατ Ευριπίδην, και ώς ετυχεν επιπίπτουσα δίκη τοις πονηροΐς, τω αύτομάτφ μάλλον, ή τφ κατά πρόνοιαν ομοιον έχει το πεπλανημενον καϊ ύπερήμερον και άτακτον. 'Ώστ ούχ ορώ, τίχρήσιμον ενεστι τοις οψε δη τούτοις άλειν λεγομέ- νοις μύλοις τών θεών, και ποιουσι την δίκην άμαυράν, και τον φόβον εξίτηλον της κακίας. IV. 'Ρηθέντων ούν τούτων, καμοϋ προς αυτόν οντος, ο Τίμων, Πότερον, εΐπεν, επιθώ καϊ αυτός ηδη τφ λόγω τον κολοφώνα της απορίας, η προς ταύτα εάσω πρότερον αυτόν διαγωνίσασθαι; Τι γάρ, εφην εγώ, δει το τρίτον έπενεγκεΐν κύμα, και προσκατακλυσαι τον λόγον, ει τα πρώτα μή δυνατός εσται διώσασθαι μηδ' άποφυγεΐν εγ- DE SEHA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 15 κληαατα ; Πρώτον συν, ωσπερ άφ 'Εστίας αρχόμενοι πα- τρώας της προς το ϋ~εΐον ευλάβειας των εν ακαδημία φιλοσόφων, το μεν ώς είδότες τι λέγειν περί τούτων, άφ.οσ- ιωσόμεϋ~α. Πλέον γαρ εστί του περί μουσικών άμού- σους, και πολεμικών άστρατεντονς δια,λεγεσϋ'αΛ, το τα ΰ~εΐα και δαιμόνια πράγματα, διασκοπεΐν, άν&ρώπους ον- τάς, οίον άτεγνους τεχνιτών διάνοιαν από δόξης και υπό- νοιας κατά το εικός μετιόντας. Ου γάρ ιατρού μεν ίδιώ- την όντα, σνμ^αλεΐν λογισμόν, ώς ποότερον ουκ ετεμεν, αλλ' ύστερον, ούδε γβες ελονσεν, άλλα σήμερον, έργον εστί' περί &εου δε, &νητόν όάδιον η ^ε^αιον ειπείν άλλο, πλην οτι τον καιρόν είδώς άριστα της περ) την κακίαν ιατρείας, ώς φάρμακον έκαστοι προσφέρει την κόλασιν, ούτε μεγέθους μετρον κοινόν, ούτε χρόνον ίνα και τον αυτόν επι πάντων εχουσαν. Οτι γάρ ή περί την ιϋυχην ιατρεία, δίκη δε και δικαιοσύνη προσαγορευομενη, πασών εστί τεχνών μεγίστη, προς μνρίοις ετεροις και Πίνδαρος εμαρτυρησεν, άριστοτε'χναν ανακαλούμενος τον άρχοντα και κύριον απάντων ϋ~εόν, ώς δη δίκης όντα δημιουργόν, ij προσήκει, το πότε κα\ πώς κα} μέχρι πόσου κολαστεον εκαστον τών πονηρών ορίζει ν. ΚαΙ ταύτης φησί της τέχνης ο Πλάτων υίόν όντα του Διός γεγονεναι τον Μίνω μαϋ-ητην, ώς ου δυνατόν εν τοις δικαίοις κατορ&ουν, ούδ' αίσ&άνεσΰ~αι του κατορϋ~ουντος, τον μη t M«#o;Tft μηδέ κτησάμενον την επιστημην. Ούδε γάρ ους άνβ-ρωποι νόμ* ους τίθενται, το εύλογον απλώς εχουσι κα\ πάντοτε φαι- νόμενον, άλκ ενια και δοκεΐ κομιδη γελοία τών πρόσταγμα- 16 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. των ' Οίον, iv Αακεδαΐμονι κηρύττουσιν οι άφοροι παρίον* τες εύθυς εις την άρχην, μη τρεφειν μύστακα καΐ πείθεσ- θαι τοις νόμοις, ως μη χαλεποί ώσιν αύτοΐς ■ 'Ρωμαίοι δε, ους αν εις ελευθερίαν άφαιρώνται, κάρφος αυτών λεπτον επιβάλλουσι τοις σώμασιν • Όταν δε διαθηκας γραφωσιν, έτερους μεν άπολείπουσι κληρονόμους, ετεροις δε πωλουσι τάς ουσίας • ο δοκεΐ παράλογον είναι. Πα- ραλογώτατον δε το του Σόλωνος, άτιμον είναι τον εν στά- σει μηδετερα μερίδι προσθεμενον μηδέ συστασιάσαντα. Και όλως πολλάς αν τις εξείποι νόμων άτοπίας, μήτε τον λογον έχων του νομοθέτου, μήτε την αίτίαν συνιεϊς εκάσ- του των γραφομένων. Τι δη θαυμαστόν, ει, των άνθρω- πίνων ούτως ημΐν όντων δυσθεώρητων, ουκ ευπορόν εστί το περί των θεών ειπείν, ορτινι λόγω τους μεν ύστερον, τους δε πρότερον τών άμαρτανόντων κολάζουσιν. V. Ταύτα δ* ουκ άποδράσεως πρόψασίς εστίν, άλλα συγγνώμης αίτησις ' όπως ό λόγος, οίον εις λιμένα καϊ καταφυγην αποβλέπων, εύθαρσεστερον εξαναφερη τφ πι- θανό) προς την άπορίαν. Άλλα σκοπείτε πρώτον, ότι κατά Πλάτωνα πάντων καλών ό θεός εαυτόν εν μεσορ παράδειγμα θεμενος, την άνθρωπίνην άρετην, εξομοίωσιν ούσαν άμωσγεπως προς σΛτόν, ενδίδωσι τοις επεσθαι θεώ δυναμενοις, Και γαρ η πάντων φύσις άτακτος ού- σα ταυτην εσχε την άρχην του μεταβαλεΐν και γενέσθαι κόσμος, όμοιότητι και μεθεξει τινί της περί το θείον ιδέας και άρετης. Και την όψιν αυτός ούτος άνηρ ενάιΰαι φησι την φύσιν εν ημΐν, όπως υπό θεάς τών εν ουρανφ φερο- DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 17 μένων και θαύματος άσπάζεσ&αι και αγαπάν εχτιζομένη rb ευσχημον ή ιρυχή και τεταγμένον, άπεχ&άνηται τοις άναρμόστοις και πλανητοΐς πά&εσιν, και φεύγη το εική και ώς ετυχεν, ώς κακίας και πλημμελείας απάσης γενε- σιν. Ου γαρ εστίν ο π μείζον άνθρωπος άπολανειν &εοΐ> πεφυκεν, ή to μιμησει καΐ διώξει των εν εκείνοι καλών και άγα&ών εις άοετψ κα&ίστασ&αι. /lib και τοις πον- ηροις εν χρόνοο και σχολαίως την δίκην επιτί&ησιν, ουκ αυτός τίνα τον ταχύ κολάζειν αμαρτίαν δεδιως η μετα- νοιαν, αλλ' ημών το περί τάς τιμωρίας θηριώδες και λά- βρον άφαιρών, και διδάσκων μη συν οργ^, μηδ' οτε μά- λιστα φλέγεται και σφαδάζει Πηδών 6 &νμος των φρένων ανωτέρω, κα&άπερ δίιϋαν η πεΐναν άποπιμπλάντας, επιπηδάν τοις λελυπηκόσιν, αλλά μιμούμενους την εκείνον πραότητα και την μελλησιν, εν τάζει και μετ εμμελείας, τον ηκιστα μετ- άνοια προσοισομενον χρόνον έχοντας σύμβονλον, άπτεσ- \)αι της δίκης. ' Τδατι γαρ τεταραγμενορ προσπεσόντα χρήσ&αι δι άκρασίαν, ήττον εστί κακόν, ώς Σωκράτης ελεγεν, η {τολερον οντά και διάπλεων τον λογισμον οργής και μανίας, πρίν ή καταστήναι και γενέσ&αι κα&αρον, ίμφορεΐσ&αι τιμωρίας συγγενούς και ομοφύλου σώματος. Ον γαρ έγγυτάτω το άμύνεσ&αι του πα&εΐν, ώς Θουκυ- δίδης ελεγεν, άλλα μάλλον άπωτάτω κείμενον, απολαμβά- νει το προσήκον. Ως γαρ ο &υμος, κατά τον Μελάν&ιον, Τα δεινά πράττει τάς φςένας μετοιχίσας ' 18 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. ούτω και 6 λογισμός τά δίκαια πράττει και μέτρια, την όργην και τον θυμόν εκποδών δεμένος. 'Όθεν ημερούν- ται και τοις άνθρωπίνοις παραδείγμασιν, άκούοντες, ώς Πλάτων τε την βακτηρίαν άνατεινάμενος τφ παιδί, πολύν εστη χρόνον, ως αυτός εφη, τον θυμόν κολάζων ' καΐ Αρ- χύτας οίκετών τίνα πλημμελειαν εν άγρφ και άταξίαν κα- ταμαθών, είτα εαυτόν συναισθανόμενος εμπαθεστερον έχοντος και τραχύτερον προς αυτούς, ουδέν εποίησεν, άλΧ η τοσούτον, άπιών, Ευτυχείτε, είπεν, οτι οργίζομαι νμΐν. Είπερ ούν ανδρών λόγοι μνημονευόμενοι και πράξεις λεγόμ- εναι το τραχύ και σφοδρόν άπαρύτουσι της οργής, πολύ μάλλον εικός ημάς τον θεόν ορώντας, φ δέος ούδεν, ούδε μετάνοια πράγματος ούδενός, όμως εν τω μελλοντι την τι- μωρίαν κατατιθεμενον, και περιμενοντα τον χρόνον, ευ- λαβείς περί τα τοιαύτα γενέσθαι, και θείον ήγεΐσθαι μόρ- ων αρετής την πραότητα και την μεγαλοπάθειαν, ην ό θεός ενδείκνυται, τφ μεν κολάζειν ολίγους επανορθούσαν, τω δε βραδέως πολλούς ωφελούσαν και νουθετούσαν. VI. δεύτερον τοίνυν τούτο διανοηθώμεν, ώς αι μεν δι- καιώσεις αι παρά ανθρώπων μόνον εχουσι το άντιλυπούν, καΐ εν τφ κακώς τον δεδρακότα παθεΐν Ιστανται, περαι- τέρω δ' ουκ εξικνούνται ; διό τοις άμαρτημασι κυνος δί- κην εφυλακτονσαι κατ ακολούθου σι, και τάς πράξεις εκ ποδός επιδιώκουσι ' τον θεόν δ' εικός, ης αν εφάπτηται τχι δίκχι ιρυχης νοσουσης, τά τε πάθη διοραν, ει πη τι καμπτόμενα προς μετάνοιαν ενδίδωσι, και χρόνον γε προς Ιπανόρθωσιν, οίς ουκ άκρατος ούδ' άτρεπτος η κοοώ πέφ- DE SERA NUMINIS VIND1CTA. 19 νκε, προσιζάνειν. Άτε γάρ είδώς, οσην μοίραν αρετής απ αντον φερόμεναι προς γενεσιν αϊ ιρνχαΐ βαδίζονσι, και το γενναίον ώς ίσχνρόν ανταίς και ονκ εξίτηλον εμπεφ- νκεν, εξαν&εϊ δε παρά φύσιν την κακίαν υπό ομιλίας φαύλης (ρ&ειρόμενον, είτα &εραπευ&1ν ενίοις καλώς, απολαμβάνει την προσηκουσαν εξιν, ου πάσι κατεπάγει την τιμωρίαν ομοίως ■ άλλα το μεν άνηκεστον εύ&ύς εξεΐ- λε τον βίου και άπέκοψεν, ώς ετεροις γε πάντως βλαβε- ρόν, αυτφ τε βλαβερώτατον, άει σννείναι μετά πονηρίας • οίς δε νπ άγνοιας τον καλόν μάλλον, η πραιρεσει τον αισ- χρού, το άμαρτητικον εικός εγγεγονεναι, δίδο^σι μεταβαλ- έσ&αι χρόνον * εάν δ' επιμένω σι, και τούτοις άπ έδωκε την δίκην ον γάρ που δεδιε, μη διαφνγωσιν. Σκοπεί δε, όσαι μεταβολαΐ γεγόνασιν εις ?]&ος ανδρών και βίον ■ $ και τρόπος ώνομάσ&η το μεταβάλλον αντον, και η&ος, ως πλείστον αντον ενδύεται το ε&ος, και κρατεί μάλιστα κα- Φαπτόμενον. Οίμαι μεν ονν και τον Κεκροπα διφνά προσ- αγορενσαι τονς παλαιούς, ονχ ώς ενιοι λεγονσιν, εκ χρησ- τοί βασιλέως άγριον καΐ δρακοντώδη γενόμενον τύραννον, άλλα τουναντίον, εν άρχί] σκολιον οντά και φοβερον, είϋ^ ν στερον άρξαντα πράως και (ριλαν&ρωπως. Ει δε τοντ άδηλον, άλλα Γελωνά γ ίσμεν και Ίε'ρωνα, τονς Σικελιώ- τας, καΐ Πεισίστρατον τον Ίπποκράτονς, ότι πονηρία κτη- σάμενοι τυραννίδας, εχρησαντο προς άρετην ανταίς, και παρανόμως επί το άρχειν ελϋ'όντες, εγενοντο μέτριοι και δημωφελεΐς άρχοντες ' οι μεν εννομίαν τε πολλην και γης επιμελειαν παράσχοντες, αυτούς τε σώφρονας τους πολί- 20 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. τας και φίλεργους, εκ πολυγελων καϊ λάλων κατασκευά- σαντες ' Γελων δε και προσπολεμησας άριβζα καϊ κρα- τησας μάχη Καρχηδονίων, ου πρότερον είρηνην εποιησατο προς αυτούς δεομενους, η κα\ τούτο ταΐς σνν&ηκαις αέρι- λαβείν, ότι παύσονται τα τέκνα τω Κρόνψ καταΰύοντες. Έν δε Μεγάλη πόλει Λυδιάδα,ς ην τύραννος, ειτ εν αύτφ τφ τυραννεΐν μεταβαλλόμενος, και δυσχεράνας την άδικί- αν, άπεδωκε μεν τους νόμους τοις πολίταις, μαχόμενος δε προς τους πολεμίους ύπερ της πατρίδος, επιφανώς επε- σεν. Ει δε τις η τύραννον άπέκτεινε ΜιΧτιάδην εν Χερ- ρονησω πρότερον, η Κίμωνα συνόντα τη αδελφή διωξας ειλεν, η Θεμιστοκλέους, εφ οίς άσελγαίνων εκωμαζε και ύβριζε δι αγοράς, άφείλετο την πολιν, ως ύστερον Αλκι- βιάδου, γραιράμενος, άρ ουκ αν άπολώλεισαν ημϊν οι Μα- ράζωνες ; οι Εύρυμεδοντες ; το καλόν Άρτεμίσιον, c '0&i παίδες Αθηναίων έβάλοντο Φαενναν κρηπίδ* ελευθερίας ; Ον&έν γαρ αϊ μεγάλαι φύσεις μικρόν εκφερουσιν, ονδ" αργεί δι οξύτητα το σφοδρόν εν αύταΐς και δραστηριον, άλΧ εν σάλω διαφερονται, πριν εις το μόνιμον και κα- Φεστηκός ήΰος ελ&εϊν. Ωσπερ ούν ο γεωργίας άπειρος ουκ αν άσπάσαιτο χώραν ίδών λόχμης έμπλεων δασείας καϊ φυτών άγριων, κα\ θηρία πολλά και ρεύματα και πολύν εχουσαν πηλόν, άλλα τφ μεμα&ηκότι διαισ&άνεσ- &αι καϊ κρίνειν, αυτά ταύτα την ισχνν και πάν$ οσα νποδείκνυσι και την μαλακότητα της γης ■ ούτως άτοπα DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 21 πολλά και φαύλα προεξανΰούσιν αι μεγάλαι φύσεις, ων ημείς μεν εύ&νς το τραχύ και νύττον ου φέροντες, άπο- ν,όπτειν οίόμε&α δεΐν και κολούειν ' 6 δε βελτίων κριτής, και από τούτων ίνορών το χρηστον και γενναΐον, περιμέ- νει λόγου και αρετής σννεργόν ?)λικίαν και ώραν, # τον οίκεϊον η φύσις καρπόν άποδίδωσι. VII. Ταντα μεν ονν ταύτη ' τον δ' εν Αίγυπτο? νόμον άρ ουκ είκότως νμΐν άπογράιρασ&αι δοκοϋσιν ένιοι των 'Ελλήνων, ος κελεύει την εγκυον, αν άλφ θανάτου, μέχρι τέκη, ψνλάττειν ; Πάνυ μεν ονν, έφασαν. Είπον ονν εγώ, Ει δε παιδία, μη κύν { τις, άλλα πραξιν η βουλή ν απόρρητον εις φοΐς ηλίου δυνατός η προαγαγεΐν χρόνφ και άναδεΐζαι, κακόν τι μηνύσας λανθάνον, η σωτηρίου γνώμης γενόμενος σύμβουλος, η χρείας ενρετης αναγκαίας, ουκ άμείνων ο περιμείνας της τιμωρίας το χρησιμον του προανελύντος ; εμο\ μεν γαρ, εφψ, δοκεΐ. Και ημΐν, 6 Πατροκλέας είπε ν. 'Ορϋ~ώς εφην. Σκοπεί γαρ, ει Διο- νύσιος εν άρχ\ι της τυραννίδος εδοΓ/ε δίκην, οις ουδείς αν •Ελλήνων ορκει Σικελίαν άνάστατον υπό Καρχηδονίων γενομένην, ώσπερ ούδ' Απολλωνίαν, ούδ* Ανακτόρων ούδε την Λευκαδίων χεόόόνησον φκουν 'Ελληνες, ει Περί- ανδρος εκολασΰη μη μετά πολύν χρόνον. Οΐμαι δε και Κασανδρο? γενέσθαι της δίκης άνα.βολην, όπως αϊ Θηβαι σννοικώνται πάλιν. Των δε τουτι το ιερόν συγκαταλα- βόντων ξένων οι πολλοί Τιμολεόντι συνδιαβάντες εις Σι- κελίαν, οτε Καρχηδονίους ενίκησαν κα} κατέλυσαν τάς τυραννίδας, εξώλοντο κακοί κακώς ύστερον. Ένίοις γάρ 22 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. αμελεί και κολασταΐς ετέρων πονηρών, οίον δημοκοίνοις, άπεχρήσατο το δαιμόνιον, είτ επέτριψε, κα&άπερ, οΐμαι, τους πλείστους τυράννους. Ω,σπερ γαρ ύαίνης χολή, και (ρώκης πυτία, θηρίων ταλλα μιαρών, έχουσί τι προς τάς νόσους χρήσιμον, ούτως ένίοις δηγμού δεομένοις καΙ κολά- σεως, εμβαλών 6 &εος πικρίαν τινά τυράννου δυσμείλικ- τον, και τραχύτητα χαλεπην άρχοντος, ου πρότερον εξεΐλε το λυπούν καΙ ταράττον, η το νοσούν άπαλλάξαι και κα&άραι. Τοιούτο και Φάλαρις ην Ακραγαντίνοις φάρ- μακον, και 'Ρωμαίοις Μάριος. Σικυωνίοις δε κα\ διαρ- ρήδην 6 &εος προεΐπε μαστιγονόμων δεΐσ&αι την πόλιν, οτι Τελητίαν παϊδα στεφανούμενον εν Πυ&ίοις αναιρού- μενοι Κλεωναίων, ως ίδιον πολίτην, διέσπασαν. Αλλά Σικυωνίοις μεν Όρ&αγόρας γενόμενος τύραννος, και μετ εκείνον οι περί Μύρωνα και Κλεισ&ενην, την άκολασιαν έπαυσαν * Κλεωναΐοι δε, της αυτής ου τυχόντες ιατρείας \ εις το μηδέν ηκουσι. ΚαΙ 'Ομηρου δε που λέγοντος αχού- ετε. Τον γενετ εκ πατρός πολν χειρονος νϊος αμείνων Παντοίην άρετην ' καίτοι λαμπρόν ουδέν ούδ* ευπρεπές έργον εκείνος ο του Κοπρέως παρέσχεν. Αλλά το Σίσυφου και το Αύτολύ- κου και το Φλεγύου γένος ην&ησεν εν δόξαις και άρεταις μεγάλων βασιλέων. Γέγονε δε κα\ Περικλής ΑίΥηνησιν εναγούς οικίας ' και Πομπήιος Μάγνος εν Ρώμχι Στρά- βωνος ψ υιός, ου τον νεκρόν ό Ρωμαίων δήμος υπο DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 23 μίσους εξέβαλε και κατεπάτησε. Τι ονν άτοπον, ει, καθ- άπερ γεωργός ονκ εκκόπτει την άκανθαν, αν μη λάβ -q τον άσπάραγον, ονδ' οι Λίβυες το φρύγανον επικαίουσι ηροτερον, η το ληδανον an αντον σνναγαγεΐν, όντως 6 θεός ενδόξου και βασιλικού γένους ρίζαν πονηράν καΐ τρα- χεΐαν ουκ αναιρεί πρότερον, η φϋναι τον προσήκοντα καρ- πον απ αυτής; Μυρίας γαρ Ίφίτον βοϋς και ίππους άπολέσθαι κρεΐττον ην Φωκεϋσι, καϊ πλείονα χρνσόν εκ Δελφών οΐχεσθαι και άργνρον, η μητ 'Οδυσσέα μητ Ασ- κληπιον φϋναι, μήτε τους άλλους εκ κακών και πονηρών άνδρας αγαθούς και μεγαλωφελεΐς γενομένους. VIII. Το δ' εν καιρφ καΐ τρόπω τφ προσηκοντι γενέσ- θαι τάς τιμωρίας, ου βέλτιον είναι τοϋ ταχϋ καϊ παρα- χρήμα νομίζειν ; Οίον εστί το κατά Κάλλιππον, ο) ξιφιδίψ φίλος είναι δοκών άπέκτεινε Αίωνα, τούτο) πάλιν αντον νπο τών φίλων άποθανεΐν ' και το, Μιτίον τοϋ Λργείου κατά στασιν άναιρεϋ εντός, ανδριάντα, χαλκοϋν εν αγορά. θέας ονσης, εμπεσεΐν τφ κτείναντι τον Μίτιον και άνε- λεΐν. Και τα περί τον Βέσσον τον Παίονα και Αρίστω- να, τον Οΐταΐον ξεναγωγόν, οίσθα δηπονθεν, ώ Πατρο- κλέα. Μα Αι , ειπεν, αλλά δέομαι μαθεΐν. Ο μεν Αρίσ- των, εφην, τον Εριφύλης κόσμον ενταϋθα κείμενον κανε- λών τών τυράννων διδόντων, εκόμισε τη γυναικί δώρον ' ο δ νΙος αντοϋ προς την μητέρα διοργισθεϊς εκ τίνος αί- τιας, νφηψε την οίκίαν, καϊ πάντας εν τφ αυτφ κατέκαν- αεν. Ο δε Βέσσος, ως εοικεν, άπέκτονώς τον πατέρα τον εαντοϋ, πολνν χρόνον ελάνθανεν, ύστερον δε προς 24 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. Τξένους επί δεΐπνον ελ&ών, χελιδόνων τινά νεοσσιάν rrj λόγχΐ] νύξας κατέβαλε, και τους νεοσσούς διεφ&ειρε * λε- γόντων δε, οίον εικός, των παρόντων, Ανθρωπε, τι πα- θών έργον όντως άλλόκοτον επραξας ; Ου γαρ, εφ η, μου πάλαι καταμαρτυρούσιν αύται -ψευδώς καΐ καταβοώσιν, ως άπεκτονότος τον πάτερα ; Θανμάσαντες δε οι παρόν- τες τον λόγον εμήνυσαν τφ βασιλεΐ, καΐ τον πράγματος εξέλεγχα εντός, ετισεν ο Βεσσος την δίκψ. IX. Αλλά ταντα μεν, εφην, ημείς λεγομεν, ωσπερ ηξί- ωται, γίγνεσθαι τίνα της τιμωρίας άναβολην νποθεμε- νοι τοις πονηροΐς ' τά λοιπά δε Ησιόδου χρη νομίζειν άκροάσθαι, λέγοντος, ούχ % Πλάτων άκόλουθον είναι τι- μωρίαν αδικίας πύ,θην, άλΧ ηλικιώτιν εκ της αύτης όμό- θεν χώρας και ρίζης σνννποφνομενην ' C JI γαρ κακή, φησ\, βουλή, τω βονλενσαντι κάκιστη' καϊ "Ος S* ά'λλω κακά τεύχει, εω κακόν ηπατι τεύχει. Ή μεν γάρ κανθαρίς εν αυτή λέγεται το βοηθητικόν εκ τίνος αντιπάθειας εχειν συγκεκραμενον ' η δε πονηρία συγγεννώσα το λυπούν εαντί] και κολάζον, ούχ ύστερον, αλλ' εν αντχι τ\[ ύβρει, την δίκην του άδικεΐν δίδωσι. Και τω μεν σώματι των κολαζομενων έκαστος κακούργων εκ- φέρει τον αυτού σταυρόν ' η δε κακία των κολαστηρίων εφ' εαυτην εκαστον εξ αύτης τεκταίνεται, δεινή τις ούσα βίου δημουργός οικτρού καΐ συν αίσχύνΐβ φόβους τε πολ~ DE SERA NUMINIS VIND1CTA. 25 λους και πάθη χαλεπά, και μεταμέλειας και ταραχας άπαυστους έχοντος. ΑϊΧ ουδέν ενιοι διαφερουσι παιδα- ρίων, α τους κακούργους εν τοις θεατροις θεωμενα πολ- λάκις εν χιτώσι διαχρύσοις και χλαμνδίοις άλονργοΐς εσ- τεφανωμε'νονς και πυρριχίζοντας, άγαται και τε&ηπεν ώς μακάριους ■ άχρις ου κεντούμενοι κα,ι μαστιγούμενοι καΐ πυρ άνιεντες εκ της άνθινης εκείνης και πολυτελούς εσθη- τος όφθώσιν. Οι γαρ πολλοί των πονηρών οικίας περιβε- βλημένοι μεγάλας, και άρχας και δυνάμεις περιφανείς, λαν- θάνουσιν οτι κολάζονται, πριν αν οφθώσιν άποσφαγέντες η κατακρημνισθέντες, απερ αν τις ου τιμωρίαν ειποι, πέρας δε τιμωρίας καΐ συντελειαν. "Ωσπερ γαρ 'Ιΐρόδι- κον τον Σηλυμβριανον εις φθίσιν άνηκεστον πάθος εμπε- σοντα, και μίξαντα πρώτον ανθρώπων γυμναστικην ία- τρικχι, ως φησιν 6 Πλάτοιν, μακρόν ποιησαι τον θάνα- τον αυτό) και τοις ομοίως νοσοΰσιν ■ ούτω και τών πονη- ρών όσοι την παραυτίκα πληγην εκφνγεΐν εδοξαν, ου με- τά πλείονα χρόνον, αλλ' εν πλείονι χρόνω τιμωρίαν μα- κροτεραν, ου βραδυτεραν τίνουσιν ■ ουδέ γηράσαντες εκο- λάσθησαν, αλλ' εγηρασαν κολαζόμενοι. Λέγω δε προς ημάς τον πολύν χρόνον * επει τοις γε θεοΐς πάν ανθρωπί- νου βίου διάστημα το μηδέν εστί ' και το νυν, άλλα μη προ ετών τριάκοντα, τοιούτον εστίν, οίον το δείλης άλλα μη πρωί' στρεβλοϋν η κρεμαννυναι τον πονηρόν ' άλλως τε και φρουρούμενον εν τφ βίω, καθάπερ ειρκτη, μηδε- μίαν μετανάστασιν εχούση μηδέ διάφευξιν, ευωχίας δε πολλας δια μέσου καΐ πραγματείας και δόσεις και χάρι- 26 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. τας άμελει και παιδιάς, ωσπερ εν δεσμωτηρίφ κυβευόν- των η πεττευ όντων, υπέρ κεφαλής τον σχοινιού κρεμά- μενου. Χ. Καίτοι τι κωλύει μηδέ τους επι θανάτφ καθειρ- γνυμενους φάναι κολάζεσθαι, μέχρις ου τις αποκόψει τον τράχηλον ; μηδέ τον πεπωκότα το κωνειον, είτα περιϊόν- τα και προςμενοντα βάρος εγγενεσθαι τοις σκελεσιν αυ- τού, πριν η τψ συνάπτουσαν αναισθησία σβεσιν και πη'ξιν καταλαβεϊν ; ει τον εσχατον της τιμωρίας καιρόν ηγούμεθα τιμωρίαν, τα δ' εν μέσω παθήματα και φόβους και προσδοκίας και μεταμέλειας, οίς άδικησας έκαστος ενέχεται των πονηρών, παραλείπομεν ωσπερ ίχθύν κα- ταπεπωκότα το άγκιστρον ου φάσκοντες εαλωκεναι, πρίν υπό των μαγείρων όπτωμενον ιδωμεν η κατατεμνόμενον. ' ! Εχεται γαρ έκαστος άδικησας τη δίκη, και το γλυκύ της αδικίας ωσπερ δέλεαρ ευθύς εζεδήδοκε' το δε συνειδός εγκείμενον έχων και άποτίνων, Θυννος βολάϊος πέλαγος ως διαστφοβέϊ. Ή γαρ ίταμότης εκείνη και το θρασύ της κακίας άχρι των αδικημάτων ίσχυρόν εστί καΐ πρόχειρον, είτα τον πάθους ωσπερ πνεύματος νπολείποντος, ασθενές και ταπεινόν υποπίπτει τοις φόβοις καΐ ταϊς δεισιδαιμονίαις • ώστε προς τα γινόμενα καΐ προς την άληθειαν άποπλάτ- τεσθαι το της Κλυταιμνήστρας ενύπνιον τον Στησίχορον, ούτωσί πως λέγοντα ' DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 27 Τάδε δράκων εδόκησε μολεϊν κάρα βεβροτωμένος άκρον, *Εκ $ άρα τον βασιλείς Πλεισ&ενίδας εφάνη. Και γάρ όψεις ενυπνίων, και φάσματα μεβ-ημερινα και χρησμοί και καταιβασίαι, και ο, τι δόϊαν εσχεν αίτια Φεον περαίνεσ&αι, χειμώνας επάγει και φόβους τοις ούτω δια- κείμενοι?. Οίον φασίν Απολλόδωρόν ποτέ κατά τους ύπνους όραν εκδερόμενον εαυτόν υπό Σκυΰών, είτα κα- θ-εψόμενον, την δε καρδίαν εκ του λέβητος ύποφ&εγγομε- νψ και λίγουσαν, Έγώ σοι τούτων αιτία. ■ και πάλιν, τάς θυγατέρας διαπύρονς και φλεγομενας τοις σώμασι κύκλο? περ) αυτόν περιτρεγ ούσας * Ίππαρχον δε τον Πεισιστρά- του, μικρόν εμπροσ&εν της τελευτης, αίμα προσβαλουσαν άυτφ την Αφροδίτην εκ τίνος φιάλης προς το πρόσωπον. Οι δε Πτολεμαίου του Κεραυνού φίλοι καλού μενον αυ- τόν εωρων επι δίκην ύπο Σέλευκου, γυπών και Ιυκων δι- καζόντων, και κρεα πολλά τοις πολεμίοις διανεμοντα. Παυσανίας δε Κλεονίκην εν Βυζαντίου παρϋ~ενον ελευ&έ- ραν υβρει μεταπεμιράμενος ως εξων διά νυκτός, είτα προσιουσαν εκ τίνος ταραχής και υποψίας άνελών, εώρα πολλάκις εν τοις υπνοις λεγουσαν αυτό}, Βαίνε δίκης άσσον ' μάλα τοι κακόν ανδράσιν νβρις ' ου παυομενου δε του φάσματος, ως εοικε, πλεύσας επι το ιρυχοπομπεΐον εις Ήράκλειαν, ίλασμοΐς τισι και χοαΐς άνεκαλεΐτο την ψυχην της κόρης ' ελεούσα δ 3 εις όψιν, είπεν οτι παύσεται τών κακών όταν εν Αακεδαίμονι γένηται ' γενόμενος δε, ευΰίς ετελεύτησεν. 28 DE SERA NUMItfIS VINDICTA. XL Ωστ ει μηΰέν εστί τη *ψνχ% μετά την τελευτην, άλλα και χάριτος πέρας άπάσης και τιμωρίας 6 {τάνατος, μάλλον αν τις εΐποι τοις ταχύ κολαζομένοις των πονηρών και άπο&νησκουσι, μαλακώς και ρα&ύμως χρησ'&αι το δαιμόνων. Και γαρ ει μηδέν άλλο φαίη τις σ'ν εν τω βίω καΐ τφ χρόνοι των πονηρών παρέχειν κακόν, άλ)1 εξελεγχομένης της αδικίας, πράγματος άκαρπου καΐ αχά- ριστου, και χρηστόν ούδεν ουδ' άξιον σπουδής αναφερόν- τος εκ πολλών και μεγάλων αγώνων, η αίσϋ'ησις αυτών ανατρέπει την ψυχην. Οίον ίστοροϋσι δηπου Αυσίμαχον νπό δίιΟης έκβιασ&έντα, και παραδόντα τοις Γέταις το σώμα. και την δύναμιν, ως επιεν υποχείριος γενόμενος, ειπείν, Φευ της εμης κακίας, ος δι ηδονην ούτω βραχεΐαν, έστέρημαι βασιλείας τηλικαύτης. Καίτοι γε προς φυσι- κην πά&ους ανάγκην άντιβηναι, παγχάλεπόν εστίν. Οταν δ' άνθρωπος η χρημάτων ένεκεν πλεονεξίας, η φ&όνψ πολιτικής δόξης και δυνάμεως, η δι ηδονην τίνα συνου- σίας άνομον έργον έργασάμενος και δεινόν, είτα του πά- γους άφιεϊς το διψώδες καΐ μανικόν, εν χρόνφ καϋορα τα αισχρά καΐ φοβερά της αδικίας πά&η παραμένοντα, χρησιμον δε μηδέν μηδ' άναγκαΐον μηδ' όνησιφόρον, άρ ουκ εικός έμπίπτειν αύτω πολλάκις λογισμόν, ως υπό κενής δόξης η δι ηδονην άνελεύ&ερον και άχάριστον, άνατρε'-ψας τα κάλλιστα και μέγιστα τών εν άν&ρώποις δικαίων, έμπέπληκεν αισχύνης και ταραχής τον βίον ; "Ωσπερ γαρ ο Σιμωνίδης έλεγε παίζων, την του αργυρίου κιβωτόν ευρίσκειν αεί πλήρη, την δε τών χαρίτων κενην, DE SERA NUMINIS YINDICTA. 29 όντως οι πονηροί την κακία? εν εαντοις διορώίντες, δι ηδονής μεν εύϋνς κενην χάριν εχονόης, ελπίδος βρημον ευρίσκουσι, φόβων δ δ κια λυπών και μνήμης άτερήονς και προς το μέλλον υποψίας, απιστίας δε προς το παρόν αει y εμούσαν 'Ώσπερ τι\ς Ίνονς h τοΐς {τεάτροις λεγούσης άκουομεν, εφ οϊς έδρασε μεταμελομένης, Φίλια γυναίκες, ττώς αν ε| αρχής δόμους *Α&αμαντος οίν.ησαιμι, των πεπραγμένων Αράσν,σα μηδέν ; ταύτα έκαστου των πονηρών εικός τψ ψνχην άναπολεϊν εν αυτν η και διαλογίζομαι, πώς αν ίκβάσα της μνήμης τών αδικημάτων, κια το σννειδος δξ εαυτής εκβαλοΰσα, κια κα&αρά γενομένη, βίον άλλοι εξ άρχης βιώσβιεν. Ου γάρ εστί &αρραλε'ον, ούδ' άτυφον, ούδε μονιμον κια βέ- βαιον iv οίς προαιρείται το πον) ( ρον ■ ει μη νη Αία σοφούς τινας είναι φησομεν τους άδικου ντας' αλλ' όπου φιλο- πλούτια και φιληδονία περί μάχιμος και φ&όνος άκρατος ενοικίζεται μετά δυσμένειας η κακοηθείας, ενταυϋ~α κια δεισιδαιμονίαν σκοπών αν ενρτβς ύποκα&ημενψ, κια μα- λακίαν προς πόνον, κια δειλίαν προς ΰάνατον, κια μετάπ- τωσιν όϊεΐαν ορμών, κια χαννότητα προς δοξαν υπό αλαζονείας ■ κια τους χρέγοντας φοβούνται, κια τους επαινουντας δεδίασι, ως αδικούμενους τϊ ά άπατη, κια μά- λιστα τοΐς κακοΐς πολεμούντας, οτι τους δοκού ντ ας άγα- μους επαινουσι προ&νμως. Το γάρ σκληΰόν εν κακία, κα&άπερ εν φαύλοι, σιδηρφ, σα&ρόν εστί, και το άντίτυ- 30 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. πον εν&ραυατον. Ο&εν εν χρόνο) πολλω μάλλον ώς εχοναιν αυτούς καταμαν&άνοντες, αχΰονται και δνσκο- λαίνουαι, και προβάλλονται τον εαυτών βίον. Ου γαρ δηπου παρακατα&ηκην μεν άποδους, και γνώριμον εγγυη- σάμενος, καΐ πατρίδι μετά δόξης και φιλοτιμίας επιδους και συνειαενεγκών ο φαύλος, ευ&ύς εστίν εν μεταμέλεια, καϊ τοις πεπραγμένοις άνιάται, δια το πάντη ευμετάπτω- τον αυτού και πλανώμενον της γνώμης ; καϊ κροτούμενοί τίνες εν τοις Φεάτροις, εύ&υς στένουαιν, ύπονοατούαης της φιλοδοξίας εις την φιλαργυρίαν ; οι δε κατα&ύοντες ανθρώπους επι τυραννία ι και αυνωμοαίαις, ώς Απολλό- δωρος, καϊ χρήματα φίλων άποατεροϋντες, ώς Γλαύκος 6 Έπικύδους, ου μετενόον ουδ* εμίαουν εαυτούς, ουδ* ψιώντο τοις γεγενημίνοις. 'Εγώ μεν γάρ, ει &έμις εστίν ειπείν, ούτε τίνος &εών οϋτ ανθρώπων δειαΦαι κολαστού νομίζω τους άνοαιουργονντας, αλλά τον βίον αυτών εξαρ- κεΐν υπό της κακίας διεφ&αρμε'νον όλον και αυντετα- ραγμενον. XIX. Αλλά ακοπεΐτε τον λόγον, εφην, μη του καιρού ποόρωτερω πρόεισι. Και 6 Τίμων, Τυχόν, εφη, προς το μέλλον και το λειπόμενον αύτφ μήκος ' ηδη γάρ ώσπερ εφεδρον άνίατημι την τελευταίαν άπορίαν, επει ταΐς πρώ- ταις διηγώνιαται μετρίως. Α γάρ Ευριπίδης εγκαλεί και παρρησιάζεται προς τους ΰεους, τά τών τεκόντων σφάλ- ματα εις τους εγγονούς τρέποντας, αίτιάσ&αι νόμιζε και τους σιωπώντας ημών. Είτε γάρ οι δράσαντες αυτοί δίκην εδοσαν, ού&εν ετι δει κολάζειν τους μη αδίκησαν- DE SERA NUMINIS YINDICTA. 31 τας, οπού δ)ς επί τοΐς αύτοΐς ονδε τους δράσαντας δί- καιον είτε ρα&νμία καταπροέμενοι την τιμωριαν εν τοΐς πονηροΐς, όψε πάρα τών αναίτιων είσπράττουσιν, ουκ εν τω αδίκως το βραδέως άναλαμβάνουσιν. Οίον ενταν&α δηπου&εν λέγεται ελΰ~εΙν Λ\σωπον, έχοντα, παρά Κροίσου χρνσίον, όπως τε Φυσηται τφ -&εώ μεγα- λοπρεπώς, καΐ Δελφών έκαστοι διανείμω μνάς τεσσάρας ■ οργής δε τίνος, ως εοικε, και διαφοράς άντφ γενομένης προς τους αυτόϋ*ι, τψ μεν ΰνσίαν εποιησσπο, τα δε χρή- ματα άνεπεμ'Φεν εις Σάρδεις, οις ουκ αξίων όντων ώφε- λη&ηναι των ανθρώπων ' οι δε σνν&έντες αίτίαν επ αυ- τόν ιεροσυλίας άπέκτειναν, ώσαντες άπο της πέτρας εκεί- νης ην 'Τάμπειαν καλοϋσιν. Εκ δε τούτου λέγεται μηνΐ- σαι το &εΐον άυτοΐς, άψορίαν τε γης επαγαγεΐν, και νό- σων άτοπων ίδέαν πάσαν ως τε περιϊόντας εν ταΐς Ελ- ληνικαΐς πανηγύρεσι κηρύσσειν και καλεΐν άει τον βονλο- μενον υπέρ Αίσωπου δίκην λαβείν παρ αυτών. Τρίτΐ] δε γενεά Σάμιος "Ιδμων άφίκετο, γένει μεν ονδεν Αίσω- πο? προσήκων, απόγονος δε τών πριαμένων αυτόν εν Σά- μω γεγονώς' καΐ τούτορ τινάς δίκας δόντες οι Δελφοί τών κακών απηλλάγησαν. 3?ξ εκείνον δέ φασι και τψ τιμωριαν τών ιερόσυλων επί την Κανπλίυ.ν άπο της 'Ταμπείας μετατε&ηναι. ΚαΙ τον Λλέξανδρον ουδέ οι πάνυ φιλοϋντες, ων εσμεν και ημείς, έπαινουσι, το Βραγ- χιδών άστυ συγχέαντα, και δισ.φ&είραντα πάσαν ηλικίαν, δια την γενομένην του περί Μίλητον ιερού προδοσιαν υπό τών προπάππων αυτών. Αγα&οκλης δε ο Σνρακου- 32 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. σίων τύραννος, και συν γελωτι χλενάζων Κερκυραίους ερωτώντας, δια τι πορ&οίη την νήσον αυτών 'Οτι νη Αία, είπεν, οι πατε'ρες υμών υπεδεξαντο τον 'Οδυσσέα.. Και τών Ιϋ'ακησίων ομοίως εγκαλούντων, ότι πρόβατα λαμβάνουσιν αυτών οι στρατιώται * Ό δε υμέτερος, εφη, βασιλεύς ελϋών προς ημάς, και τον ποιμένα προσεξετυ- (ρλωσεν. Άρ ονν ουκ άτοπώτερος τούτων 6 Απόλλων, ει Φενεάτας άπόλλυσι τους νυν, εμ^ραξας το βάρα&ρον και καζακλύσας την χώραν άπασαν αυτών, οτι προ χιλί- ων ετών, ως φασιν, 6 Ηρακλής άνασπάσας τον τρίποδα τον μαντικον εις Φενεόν α,πηνε γκε ; Συβαρίταις δε <$ρά- ζων άπόλυσιν τών κακών όταν τρισιν όλέ&ροις ίλάσωνται το μηνιμα της Αενκαδίας 'Ηρας ; Και μην ου πολύς χρό- νος, αφ 3 ου ΑοκροΙ πέμποντες εις Τροίαν πεπαυνται τας παρ&ένονς, ΑΪ και αναμπεχονοι γνμνοΊς ποσίν, η'ΰτε δοίλαι, °Ηόϊαι σαίρεσκον Ά&ηναίης περί βωμον, Νόσφι κρηδέμνοιο, καΙ εϊ βαρύ γήρας Ικανοί, δια την Αίαντος άκολασίαν. Που δη ταύτα το εϋλογον ισχει καΐ δίκαιον ; Ονδε γαρ Θράκας επαινοϋμεν οτι στί- ζονσιν άχρι νυν, τιμωρουντες τφ Όρφεΐ τάς αυτών γυ- ναίκας • ονδε τους περί Ήριδανον βαρβάρους, μελανοφ ο- ρούν τ ας επί πεν&ει του Φαέθοντος, ώσπερ λεγουσιν. Έτι δ' αν, οίμαι, γελοιότερον ην, ει τών τότ ανθρώπων οτε διεφ&άρη, Φαε&ων παραμελησάντων, οι πέντε γενε- αϊς η δέκα του πά&ονς ύστερον γεγονότες, ηρξαντο την DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 33 εσ&ητα μεταβάλλε ι ν επ άυτφ καΐ πεν&εϊν. Καίτοι τού- το άβελτηρίαν μεν ε/ει, μόνον, ουδέν δε δεινόν ονδ' άνη- κεστον ' αϊ δε των &εών όργαϊ τίνι λόγφ παραχρήμα δυόμεναι, κα&άπερ ενιοι των ποταμών, είτα ύστερον επ άλλους αναφερόμενοι, προς εσχάτας συμφοράς άποτε- λευτώσιν ; XIII. Ώς δε πρώτον επέσχε, δείσας εγώ μη πάλιν ε| νπαρχης επαγάγη πλείονας καΐ μείζονας άτοπίας, εν&νς ηρόμην αυτόν ■ Είεν, εφφτ, ζάντα γαρ πάντα άληϋτνα ηγχι; Κάκεΐνος, Ει δε μη πάντα, είπεν, αλλ' ενια, την αυτήν άπορίαν εχειν ου νομίζεις τον λόγον ; "Ισως, εφην εγώ, και τοις σφόδρα πυρεττουσιν εάν τε εν ίμάτιον, εάν τε πολλά περιβεβλημένοι τυγχάνωσιν, ταύτό καύμα και παραπλησιον, όμως δε δει εις παραμυ&ίαν άφελεΐν το πλη&ος' ει δε μη βούλει, τούτο μεν εασον καίτοι τα πλείστα μύ&οις εοικε και πλάσμασιν ■ άναμνησ&ητι δε τών ε'ναγχος, τών &εοίενίων, και της καλής εκείνης με- ρίδος, ην ιαμαρουντες, τους Πινδάρου κηρυττουσι λαμ- βάνειν απογόνους, ως σοι το πράγμα, σεμνόν εφάνη και ηδυ. Τις δ' ουκ αν, είπεν, ησύείη τη χάριτι της τιμής, ούτως Έλλψικώς και αφελώς αρχαΐζουσας \; ει μη μέλαι- ναν καρδίαν κεχάλκευται ψνχρα φλογί, κατ αυτόν τον Πινδαρον. Έώ τοίνυν, εψην, ομοιον εν Σπάρτη κήρυγμα τούτοι, το Μετά Αεσβιον ώδον, επί τιμή κα\ μνήμη Τέρ- πανδρου του παλαιού κηρυττόμενον ■ 6 γαρ αυτός εστί λόγος. ΛϊΧ ύμεΐς γε δηπου πλέον εχειν έτερων εν τε Βοιωτοΐς Όφελτιάδαι γένος όντες άξιοντε, και παρά 34 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. Φωκενσι, δια Ααιφαντον ' εμοι δε καϊ παρητε και συνε- λαμβάνεσ&ε πρώτον, ore Αυκόρμαιοις καϊ Σατιλαίοις την πάτριον Ηρακλείδων μετιουσι τιμήν και στεφανηφορίαν συνανασώζων, έλεγον οτι δει μάλιστα τοις αφ' Ηρα- κλέους γεγονόσι τ ας τιμάς ύπάρχειν βέβαιους κα\ τάς χαριτας, ων τους Ελληνας ευεργετησας ουκ. ετυχεν αυτός άξιας χάριτος ου δ' αμοιβής. Κάλου γ ε, είπεν, ημάς αγώνος και φιλοσοφία πρέποντος μάλα άνέμνησας. "Λφες ούν, είπον, ω τάν, το σφοδρόν τούτο της κατηγορίας, και μη φέρε πικρώς, ει κολάζονται τίνες εκ κακών γε- γονότες η πονηρών, η μη χαίρε μηδ' επαινεί τιμώμενης ευγενείας. Αεί γαρ, ει την χάριν εν τφ γένει της άρετης άνασώζομεν, ευλόγως μηδέ την κόλασιν οΐεσ&αι δεϊν άπαυδαν και προαπολείπειν επι τοις άδικίαις, άλλα αυνεκτρέχειν εκείνη το κατ αξίαν αντιστρόφως άποδι- δούση. Ο δε τους άπο Κίμωνος ηδέως ορών Λϋηνψι τιμωμένους, τών δε Ααχάρους η Αρίστωνος εκγόνων ελαυνομένων, άχ&όμενος καϊ c^o^axrco^, υγρός εστί λίαν κα\ ράθυμος, μάλλον δε φιλαίτιος όλως καϊ δύσκολος προς το &εϊον ■ εγκαλών μεν, αν ανδρός άδικου και πονη- ρού παίδες εκ παίδων εύτυχεΐν δοκώσιν, εγκαλών δε πάλιν, αν τα γένη κολουηται κα\ άφανίζηται τών φαύ- λων αίτιώμενος δε τον &εόν, ομοίως μεν αν χρηστού πατρός τέκνα πράττη κακώς, ομοίως δε αν πονηρού. XIV. Και ταύτα μεν, έφην, ωσπερ άντιφράγματά σοι κείσ&ω προς τους άγαν πικρούς και κατηγορικούς εκείνους. Λναλαβόντες δ' αυ&ις ωσπερ άρχην κλωστή- DE SERA NUMIXIS YINDICTA. 35 οος, εν σκοτεινοί xcu πολλούς ελιγμούς xcu πλάνας εχοντι τω πεοι του &εου λόγφ, χα&οδηγώμεν αυτούς μετ ευλά- βεια* άτρεμα προς το βίκος '/.αϊ πι&ανόν ώς τόγε σάφες y.al την άλήβ-ειαν, ουδ' εν οίς αύτοι πράττομεν, ασφαλώς ειπείν εχομεν οίον, δια τι των υπό φ&ίσεως η ύδεοου δια~ηϋ~αοεντων τους παΐδας εις ύδωρ τω πόδε βρέχοντας κα&ίζεσ&αι χελενομεν, εως αν 6 νεκρός κατακαη ■ δοχεϊ γαρ ούτω το νόσημα μη με&ίατασΰ'αι, μηδέ προσπελάζει*? αύτοΐς ' η πάλιν, δι ην αίτίαν, αίγός τον ηρυγγίζψ 1α- βονσης εις το στόμα, όλον εφιστάται το αίπόλιον, άχρις αν εξελη προσελϋ'ών ο αίπόλος. Λλλαι τε δυνάμεις άφας εχουσαι χαι διαδόσεις απίστους όϊύτησι xcu μηκεσι δι έτερων εις έτερα, πεοαίνουσιν. Αλλ ημείς τα κατά τους χρόνους διαλείμματα {τανμάζομεν, ου τά κατά τους τόπους. Καίτοι -βαυμασιώτερον, ει πάϋ~ους εν Αιθιοπία λαβόντος άοχην, άνεπλησϋ-ησαν αϊ Α&ηναι, xcu Περι- κλής άπεβ-ανε, κα} Θουκυδίδης ενόσησεν, η ει Δελφών xal Συβα.ριτών γενομένων πονηρών, η δίκη φερομένη περιηλχτεν εις τους παΐδας. "Εχουσι γαρ τινας αϊ δυνά- μεις αναφοράς από των εσχάτων επ\ τά, πρώτα, καΐ συνάψεις• cov η αίτια καν νφ ημών άγνοηται, σιωπή περαίνει το οίκεΐον. XV. Ου μην αλλά γε τά δημόσια τώ>ν πόλεων μηνί* ματα τον του δικαίου λόγον έχει πρόχειροι•. *Εν γάρ τι πραγμ.α και συνεχές η πάλις, ωσπερ ζώον ουκ εζιστά,μενον αυτής ταίς καβ-' ηλικίαν μεταβολαΐς, ονδ' έτερον εξ έτε- ρου τω χρονφ γινόμενον, άλλα συμπα-βες άει και οίκεΐον 36 DE SERA NUMINIS V1NDICTA. αντώ, και πάσαν ων πράττει κατά το κοινόν η επραξεν αίτίαν και χάριν άναδεχόμενον, μέχρις άν ή ποιούσα καϊ συνδέουσα ταΐς επιπλοκαΐς κοινωνία, την ενότητα διαφυ- λάττε . Το δε πολλάς πόλεις διαιροϋντα τω χρόνοι ποι- εΐν, μάλλον δ' άπειρους, όμοιόν εστί τφ πολλούς τον ενα ποιεΐν άν&ρωπον, οτι νυν πρεσβύτερος εστί, πρότερον δε νεώτερος, ανωτέρω δε μειράκιον ην. Μάλλον δε όλως ταντά γε τοις Έπιχαρμείοις εοικεν, εξ ων ο αύξόμενος άνεφν τοις σοφισταΐς λόγος ■ ο γάρ ί.αβών πάλαι το χρέος, νυν ουκ οφείλει γεγονώς έτερος ' ό δε κληθείς επι δεΐπνον εχθές, άκλητος ηκει τημερον ' άλλος γάρ εστί. Καίτοι μείζονάς γε παραλλαγάς αι ηλικίαι περί εκαστον ημών ποιουσιν, η κοιν\{ περί τάς πόλεις. Γνοίη γάρ άν τις ίδών τάς Αθήνας ετει τριακοστό) * και τά νυν ηθη, και κινήματα, παιδιαί τε και σπουδαι και χάριτες και όργαι του δήμου πάνυ γε τοις παλαιοΐς εοίκασί' Ανθρώ- που δε μόλις άν τις οικείος η φίλος εντυχών διά χρόνου μορφην γνωρίσειε ν ' Αι δε των ηθών μεταβολαϊ παντι λόγω και πόνφ και πάθει και νόμω ραδίως τρεπόμεναι, καΐ προς τον άει συνόντα την άτοπίαν και την καινότητα θαυμαστην εχουσιν. Αλλ' άνθρωπος τε λέγεται μέχρι τέλους είς άπό γενέσεως' πόλιν τε την αυτήν ωσαύτως διαμένουσαν, ενεχεσθαι τοις όνείδεσι των προγόνων άξι- ουμεν, ω δικαίω μέτεστιν αυτή δόξης τε της εκείνων και δυνάμεως : η λησομεν είς τον 'Ηρακλείτειον άπαντα πράγματα ποταμόν εμβαλόντες, είς ον ον φησι δ)ς εμβη- DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 37 ναι, τ φ πάντα κινεΐν καϊ ετεροιόΰν την φνσιν μεταβ άλ- λον σαν. XVI. Ει δ' εστί τι πόλις εν πράγμα και συνεχές, εστί δηπον και γένος εξηρτημενον αρχής μιας, και δνναμίν τίνα και κοινωνίαν διαπεφνκνΐαν άναφερούσης • καϊ το γεννη&εν ονχ ως τι δημιούργημα πεποιημενον άπηλλακται τον γεννησαντος ' εξ αντον γαρ, ονχ νπ αύτον γεγονεν, ώστ έχει τι καϊ φέρεται των εκείνον μέρος εν εαντφ, και κολαζόμενον προσηκόντως και τιμώμενον. Ει δε μη δόξαιμι παίζειν εγώ, φαίην αν ανδριάντα Κασάνδρον καταχαλκενόμενον νπ Α&ηναίων πάσχειν άδικώτερα, καϊ το Διοννσίον σώμα μετά την τελεντήν εξοριζόμενον νπο Σνρακονσίοον, η τονς εκγόνονς αντών δίκην τίνον- τας. Τφ μεν γαρ άνδριάντι της Κασάνδρον φύσεως ον&εν εστί, και τον νεκρον η Διοννσίον ψνχή προλελοιπε. Ννσαίοι δε και Απολλοκράτει και Αντίπατρος καϊ Φι- λίππορ καϊ τοις άλλοις ομοίως παισι των πονηρών το κνριώτατον εμπεφνκε και πάρεστι μέρος, ονχ ησνχαΐον ονδ" άργον, άλλα ζώσιν αντφ καϊ τρέφονται, καϊ διοι- κούνται και φρονονσι * και ον&εν δεινον ονδ' άτοπον αν εκείνων οντες εχωσι τα εκείνων. Κα{ϊόλον δε, ειπον, ώσπερ εν ίατρικ\] το χρησιμον καϊ δίκαιον εστί, καϊ γε- λοίος 6 φάσκων άδικον είναι, τών ισχίων πονονντων καί- ειν τον αντίχειρα ' καϊ τον ήπατος νπονλον γεγονότος, αμνσσειν το επιγαστριον, και τών βοών, αν εις τάς χη- λας μαλακιώσι, προσαλείφειν τα άκρα τών κεράτων * όντως ο περί τάς κολάσεις άλλο τι δίκαιον η το Φερα- 38 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. πευειν τήν κακίαν ηγούμενος, καϊ άγανακτών εαν τις δι έτερων εφ' έτερους αναφέρε τήν ίατρείαν, ώσπερ οι την φλε'βα διαιροϋντες, ίνα την όφθαλμίαν κονφίσωσιν, ου- δέν εοικε περαιτέρω της αίσθήσεως εφοράν ■ ονδε μνη- μονεύει οτι και διδάσκαλος παίδων ενός καθικόμενος, έτερους ενουθετησε, και στρατηγός εκ δεκάδος άνελών ΐνα πάντας άνεστρεψε. Καϊ όντως ου μέρει δια μέρους έτερου μόνον, αλλά καϊ ψυχή διά ψυχής γίνονται τίνες διαθέσεις και κακώσεις καϊ επανορθώσεις, μάλλον η σώ- ματι δια σώματος. Έκεϊ μεν γάρ, ως εοικε, το αυτό δει πάθος εγγίνεσθαι καϊ την αυτήν μεταβολήν ■ ενταύθα δ' ή ψυχή ταΐς φαντασίαις αγομένη, κατά το θαρρεΐν και δεδιεναι χείρον ή βελτιον διαγίγνεσθαι πεφυκεν. XVII. "Ετι δε μου άγοντος, ύπολαβών 6 Όλυμπικος, Έοικας, εφη, τω λόγφ μεγάλψ υπόθεσιν νποτίθεσθαι, τήν επιμονήν τής ψυχής. Και υμών γ ε, είπον εγώ, διδόν- των, μάλλον δε δεδωκότων οις γάρ του θεού το κατ άξίαν νεμοντος, ήμϊν 6 λόγος εξαρχής δεϋρο προελήλυθε. Κάκεϊνος, Είτα δε, εφη, νομίζεις επεσθαι τω τους θεούς επιβλεπειν και νεμειν έκαστα των καθ' ημάς, το τάς ψυχάς υπάρχειν ή πάμπαν άφθαρτους, ή χρόνον τινά μετά τήν τελευτήν επιμένουσας ; Ουκ, ώ ' γαθε, είπον, αλλά μικρός ούτω και κενόσπουδος 6 θεός εστίν, ώστε μηδέν ημών εχόντων θείον εν αυτοΐς, μηδέ προσόμοιον άμωσγεπως εκείνα), και διαρκές και βέβαιον, αλλά φύλ- λοις, ως °0 μηρός εφη, παραπλησίως απ ο μαρ αίνο μεν ων παντάπασι, κα\ φθινόντων εν όλίγφ, ποιεϊσθαι λόγον DE SERA NuMINIS VIND1CTA. 39 τοσούτον, ωσπερ at τους Λδώνιδος κήπους επ όστράκοις τισι τι&ηνούμεναι και {τεραπεύουσαι γυναίκες, εφήμερους ψυχάς εν σαρκι τρυφερά και βίου ρίζαν ίσχυράν ου δεχό- μενη βλαστανούσας, είτα άποσβεννυμενας sv&vg υπό της τυχούσης προφάσεως. Ει δε βούλει, τους άλλους &εους εάσας, σκοπεί τουτονι τον ενταυ&οϊ τον ημέτερον, ει σοι δοκεΐ, τάς ψυχάς των τελευτώντων άπολλυμενας επιστα- μένος εν -Stvg, ωσπερ όμίχλας η καπνούς, αποπνέουσας των σωμάτων ' ίλασμούς τε πολλούς προσφερειν των κα- τοιχομίνων, κα\ γέρα μεγάλα και τιμάς άπαιτεΐν τοις τε&νηκόσιν, εξαπατώ ν και φενακίζων τους πιστεύοντας. 'Εγώ μεν γάρ ουκ αν ποοείμην της ψυχής την διαμονην, ει μη τις, ωσπερ ο Ηρακλής, υφελων τον τρίποδα της Πυ- θίας, άναιρηση και διαφΰείρΐ] το χρηστηριον. Αχρι δε του πολλά τοιαύτα, προ&εσπίζεσχναι και κα& ημάς, οία καΐ Κοράκι τφ A^aiiqj χρησ&ηναι λεγουσιν, ονχ όσιόν εστί της ψυχής κατ αγνών αι θάνατον. Κα\ 6 Πατροκλεας, Τι δ" ην, εφ η, το χρησ&εν, η τις 6 Κόραξ ούτος; ως εμοι και το πράγμα και το όνομα ξένον. Ουδαμώς, εΊπον, αλλ' αίτιος εγώ, πσ,ρωνύμω χρησάμενος άντι του ονόματος. 'Ο γάρ άποκτείνας εν τ\ { μάχν { τον Άργιλο- χον εκαλεΐτο Καλώνδης, ω£ εοικεν * ην δ' αύτφ Κόραξ επωνύμων. Έκβληΰ-εις δε το πρώτον υπό της Πυθίας, ώς ιερόν άνδρα τών Μουσών άν^ρηκώς, είτα χρησάμενος λιταΐς τισι καί προτροπαΐς μετά δικαιολογίας, εκελεύσχτη πορευ$ε)ς επί την του Τεττιγος οΐκησιν, ιλάσασ&αι την του Αρχιλόχου ψυχην ■ τούτο & ην 6 Ταίναρος ■ εκεί γάρ 40 DE SERA NUM1NIS V1NDICTA. φασιν έλΰοντα μετά στόλου Τέττιγα τον Κρήτα, πόλιν κτίσαι, y.ca κατοιχήσαι παρά το ψυχοπομπεΐον. ^Ομοίως δε και Σπαρτιάταις χρησθεν ιλάσασθαι την Πανσανίον ψνχην, εξ 'Ιταλίας μεταπεμψθέντες οι ψυχαγωγοί, και •θνσαντες, άπεσπάσαντο τον Ιερόν το είδωλον. XVIII. Εις ονν εστίν, ε φ ην, λόγος 6 τον &εον την προνοιαν αμα και την διαμονήν της ανθρωπινής ψυχής βέβαιων • και θάτερον ονκ εστίν άπολιπεϊν, άναιρονντα ΰάτερον. Ονση δε τή ψνχή μετά την τελεντήν μάλλον εικός εστί και τιμάς άποδίδοσθαι και τιμωρίας, αγωνί- ζεται γάρ ωσπερ αθλητής κατά τον βίον όταν δε δια- γωνίσηται, τότε τυγχάνει των προσηκόντων. Λλλά ας μεν εκεί καθ' εαυτήν ονσα κομίζεται των προβεβιωμένων χάριτας ή τινας κολάσεις, ουθέν είσι προς ημάς τονς ζώντας, αλλ' άπιστοννται καΐ λανθάνονσιν αι δε διά των παίδων ίου σαι και διά γ ενόν ς, εμφανείς τοις δεϋρο γενόμεναι, πολλούς άποτρέπονσι και σνστελλονσι των πο- νηρών. Οτι δ' ονκ εστ)ν αίσχίων ονδε λνπονσα μάλλον έτερα κόλασις, ή τονς εζ εαυτών κακά πάσχοντας δι αντονς όραν, και ότι ψνχήν ανδρός άσεβους και παρα- νόμον μετά θάνατον εφορώσαν ονκ ανδριάντας ονδε τι- μάς τινας αν σα ρεπό μεν ας, αλλά παΐδας ή φίλονς ή γέ- νος οίκεΐον αντής άτυχήμασι χρωμένονς μεγάλοις δι αυ- τήν, καΐ δίκην τίνοντας, ουδείς αν άγαπήσειεν αύθις επι ταΐς τον Διός τιμαϊς, άδικον γενέσθαι και άκόλαστον. "Εχω μέν τίνα και λόγον ειπείν, έναγχος άκηκοώς, όκνώ δε, μή φανή μνθος ύμΐν * μόνφ ούν χρώμαι τφ είκότι. DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 41 Μηδαμώς, είπεν 6 Όλνμπιχός, άλλα δίελ&ε κάκεΐνον. Τα δ' αυτά και των άλλων δεομενων, Έάσατε, εΐπον, άποδονναί με τφ λόγοι το εικός ' ύστερον δε τον μν&ον, εάν δόξχι, κινήσω μεν, ει γε δη μϋ&ος εστίν. XIX. Ό γάρ Βίων τον χϊεον κολαζοντα τους παΐδας των πονηοών, γελοιοτερον είναί φησιν ιατρού, δια νόσον πάππου και πατρός, εκγονον η παΐδα φαρμακενοντος. ''Εστί δε πη μεν ανόμοια, τα πράγματα, πη δ' εοικότα κα\ όμοια. Λ'όσον μεν γαρ άλλος άλλον ου παύει &ερα- πευόμενος, ουδέ βελτιον τις εσχε των ό^αλμιώντων, η πυρεττόντων, ιδων άλλον υπαλεκρόμενον η καταπλαττό- μενον ' at δε τιμωρίαι των πονηρών δια τούτο δείκνυν- ται πάσιν, Ότι δίκης κατά λόγον περαινομενης έργον εστίν έτερους δι έτερων κολαζομενων επισχεΐν. Ήι δε προσεοικε τω ζητουμε'νορ το παραβαλλόμενον νπο του Βίωνος ελαϋ~εν αυτόν * ηδη γάρ ανδρός εις νόσημα μοχ- ϋ'ηρόν ου μην άνίατον εμπεσοντος, είτ ακρασία και μα- λακία προεμενου τφ πά&ει το σώμα και διαφ&αρε'ντος, νίόν ου δοκονντα νοσεΐν, άλλα μόνον επιτηδείους έχοντα προς την αύτην νόσον ιατρός η οικείος η αλείπτης κα- ταμα&ών, η δεσπότης χρηστός, εμβαλών εις δίαιταν αυ- στηράν, και άθελων oxpa και πεμματα και πότους και γύναια, φαρμακείαις δε χρησάμενος ενδελεχε'σι, και δια- πονησας το σώμα γυμνασίοις, εσκεδασε καΐ απέπεμψε, μεγάλου πά&ους σπέρμα μικρόν ουκ εάσας εις με'γεΰος προελϋ-εΐν. Ή γάρ ούχ ούτω παρακελευόμε&α, προσ- εχειν άϊΐουντες εαυτοΐς καΐ παραφυλάττεσ&αι, και μη 42 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. παραμελεΐν, όσοι γεγονασιν εκ πάτερων η μητέρων νοση- ματικών, αλλ ευϋνς εξω&εΐν την εγκεκραμένην άρχην ενκίνητον ούσαν και άκροσφαλη προκαταλαμβάν οντάς ; Πάνυ μεν ούν, εφασαν. Ου τοίνυν άτοπον, είπον, άλΧ άναγκαϊον, ούδε γελοΐον, αλλ' ώφελιμον πράγμα ποιοϋ- μεν, επιληπτικών παισι και μελαγχολικών και ποδαγρι- κών γυμνάσια και δίαιτας καί φάρμακα προσάγοντες, ον νοσουσιν, αλλ' ένεκα του μη νοσησαι. Το γαρ εκ πο- νηρού σώματος γινόμενον σώμα τιμωρίας μεν ουδεμιάς, ιατρείας δε και φυλακής άξιον εστίν * ην ει τις, οτι τάς ηδονάς αφαιρεί, και δηγμόν επάγει καί πόνον, τιμωρίαν υπό δειλίας καί μαλακίας αποκαλεί, χαίρειν εατέον. Λρ ουν σώμα μεν εκγονον φαύλου σώματος άξιον εστί Φεραπευειν και φυλάττειν, κακίας δε ομοιότητα συγγενι- κής εν νε'ω βλαστάνουσαν η&ει και άναφυομενην εάν δει, καί περιμενειν και μέλλειν, άχρις αν εκχυ&εΐσα τοις πά$ε- σιν εμφανής γενηται — κακόφρονά τ άμφάνχι πραπίδων καρπον, — ως φησι Πίνδαρος ; XX. "Η κατά τοϋτ μεν 6 &εος ουδέν του 'Ησιόδου σοφώτερος ; ΰιακελευοέμνου και παρεγγυώντος, Μηδ* άπο δνστηνοιο τάφου άπονοστησαντα Σπεομαινειν γενεην, άλΐ αθανάτων απο δαιτος, ώς ον κακίαν μόνον ουδ' άρετην, άλλα και λύπην και χαράν και πάν& οσα άναδεχομενης της γενέσεως, Ιλα- ρούς και ηδείς και διακεχυμένους άγειν προς την τεκνω- σιν. Έκεϊνο δ' ονκ εστί κα& Ήσίοδον, ούδ' ανθρωπινής DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 43 έργον σοφίας, άλλα Φεού, το διοράν και διαισΦανεσϋ^αί τ ας όμοιοπα&είας και τ ας διαφοράς, πρ\ν εις μεγάλα τοις πάΰεσιν εμπεσούσας αδικήματα, γενέσθαι καταφα- νείς. Άρν,των μεν γαρ ετι νήπια, και λύκων τέκνα και πι&ηκων, ενϋνς εμφαίνει το συγγενές η&ος, ύπό μηδενός νπαμπεχόμενον μ) { δε καταπλαττόμενον ' η δ' άν&ρώπον φύσις, εις εϋ-η και δόγματα καΐ νόμους εαυτην εμβαλού- σα, κρύπτει τά φαύλα, και τά καλά μιμείται πολλάκις, ώστ η παντάπασιν εξαλεΐψαι κα\ διαφυγεΐν εγγενή κηλί- δα της κακίας, η διαλα&ειν πολύν χρόνον, οίον ελυτρόν τι εαυτ\] την πανουργίαν περιβαλούσαν, διαλα&εΐν δε ημάς, τους ωσπερ υπό πληγής η δήγματος εκάστου των αδικημάτων μόλις αίσϋ'ανομένονς της κακίας, μάλλον δε όλως τότε γίγνεσθαι νομίζοντας άδικους, οτε άδικούσιν, ακόλαστους, οτε υβρίζουσιν, και άνανδρους, οτε φεύγου- σιν ωσπερ ει τις οΐοιτο τοις σκορπιό ις εμφύεσ&αι το κέντρον οτε τύπτονσιν, κα,ι ταΐς Ιχίδναις τον ιόν, οτε δάκνουσιν ' εύη&ως οίόμενος. Ου γάρ άμα γίγνεται και φαίνεται των πονηρών έκαστος ' άλΧ έχει μεν εξ άρχης την κακίαν, χρηται δε, καιρού και δυνάμεως επιλαβόμε- νος, τφ κλεπτειν ο κλέπτης, και το) παρανομεΐν ο τυ- ραννικός. ΑλΧ 6 &εός ου τ άγνοεϊ δηπου την εκάστου διά&εσιν και φύσιν, άτε δη ψυχής μάλλον η σώματος αίσ- &άνεσ&αι πεφυκώς, ούτ αναμένει την βίαν εν χερσι γενομένην, και την άναίδειαν εν φωνή, και την άκολα- σίαν εν αίδοίοις κολάζειν. Ου γάρ αμύνεται τον άδικη- σαντα κακώς πα&ών, ούδ* οργίζεται τφ άρπάσαντι βι- 44 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. ασϋ-ε}ς, ονδε μισεϊ τον μοιγόν υβρισθείς, αλλ' ιατρείας ένεκα τον μοιχικον και πλεονεκτικόν κα) άδικητικόν κο- λάζει πολλάκις, ωσπερ επιληψίαν, την κακίαν, πριν η κα- ταλαβεΐν, άναιρών. XXI. Ημεΐς δ' άρτίως μεν ήγανακτουμεν, ώς όψε και βραδέως των πονηρών δίκιων διδόντων νυν δε, οτι και πριν άδικεΐν ενίονς την ε'ξιν αυτών κολονει και την διά- &εσιν, εγκαλονμεν, άγνοονντες οτι τον γενομένου πολ- λάκις το μέλλον, και το λανθάνον τον προδήλου, χεϊρόν εστί και φοβερώτερον ον δυνάμενοι δε σνλλογίζεσ&αι τ ας αιτίας, δι ας εν ίου ς μεν καΐ άδικησαντας ε αν βέλ- τιόν εστίν, ενίους δε και διανοουμένους προκαταλαμβά- νειν • ωσπερ αμελεί και φάρμακα ενίοις μεν ονχ αρμόζει νοσονσιν, ενίοις δε λυσιτελεΐ και μη νοσονσιν, επισφαλέσ- τεροι εκείνων έχονσιν. Ο&εν ονδε πάντα τα τών τεκόν- των σφάλ^τα εις τονς εκγόνονς οι ΦεοΙ τρέπουσιν άλΧ εάν μεν εκ φαύλου γένηται χρηστός, ωσπερ ευεκτικος εκ νοσώδους, άφεΐται της του γένους ποινής, οίον εκποίητος της κακίας γενόμενος. Νέω δ' εις ομοιότητα μοχ&ηρον γένους αναφερόμενος προσήκει δηπου&εν, ώς χρέα κλη- ρονομιάς, διαδέχεσ&αι της πονηρίας την κόλασιν. Ου γαρ Αντίγονος γε δια Αημψριον, ουδέ τών πάλαι ηρώων Φνλεύς δι Λυγέαν, ουδέ Νέστωρ δια Νηλέα. δίκας έδωκαν ' εκ κακών μεν γαρ, άγα&οι δ' ήσαν * αλλ' όσων ή φύσις έστερίε και προσηκατο το συγγενές, τούτων η δίκη διώκονσα την ομοιότητα της κακίας διείηλ&εν. Ώς γαρ άκροχορδόνες καϊ μελάσματα καΐ φακοί πατέρων εν DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 45 παισιν άφανισ&έντες, ανέκυψαν ύστερον iv υΐωνοΐς καΐ ϋ-υγατριδοϊς ' και γυνή τις ΈλληνΙς τεκοϋσα βρέφος μέ- λαν, είτα κρινομένη μοιχείας, εξανευρεν αύτην Αιΰίοπος ονσαν γενεάν τετάρτην • των δε Πύ&ωνος του Λισίβεως παίδων, ος εναγχος τέΰνηκε, λεγομένου τοις Σπαρτοΐς προσηκειν, εξανψεγκε λόγχης τύπον εν το) σώματι, δια χρόνων τοσούτων άνασχούσης και ανάδυσης, ώσπερ εκ βυ&ου, της προς το γένος όμοιότητος. Ούτω πολλάκις η&η καϊ πά&η ψυχής αϊ πρώται κρύπτουσι γενέσεις και καταδύουσιν * ύστερον δέ ποτέ καϊ δι ετέρων εξήν&ησε και άπέδωκε το οίκεΐον εις κακίαν καϊ άρετην η φύσις. XXII. ΈπεΙ δε ταύτα ειπών εσιώπησα, διαμειδιάσας 6 Όλυμπικος, Ουκ επαινοϋμέν σε, είπεν, όπως μη δοξω- μεν άφιέναι τον μν&ον, ως τον λόγου προς άπόδειξιν ικανώς έχοντος ' αλλά τότε δώσομεν την άπόφασιν, όταν κάκεΐνον άκούσωμεν. Οντως ονν εφην, ότι Θεσπέσιος ο Σολευς άνηρ εκείνου τον γενόμενο ν με& ημών ενταυ- &α Πρωτογενούς οικείος καϊ φίλος, Ιν πολλ{] βιώσας ακολασία τον πρώτον χρόνον, εΐτα ταχύ την ονσίαν άπολέσας, ηδη χρόνον τινά καϊ διά την ανάγκην εγένετο πονηρός, καϊ τον πλοντον εκ μετανοίας διώκων, ταυτό τοις άκολάστοις έπασχε πά&ος, οΊ τάς γυναίκας έχοντες μεν ον φυλάττουσι, προέμενοι δε πειρώσιν αυ&ις αδίκως ετέροις σννονσας διαφΰείρειν. Ονδενός ουν άπεχόμενος αισχρού φέροντος εις άπόλαυσιν η κέρδος, ούσίαν μεν ον πολλην, δόξαν δε πονηρίας Ιν ολίγοι πλείστην συνηγα,γε. Μάλιστα δ" αυτόν διέβαλεν άνενεχ&εΐσά τις εξ Αμφιλό- 46 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. χου μαντεία. Πέμ-ψας γαρ, ως εοικεν, ήρώτα τον &εόν, ει βελτιον βιώσεται τον επίλοιπον βίον ■ ο δ' άνεΐλεν, ότι πράξει βελτιον, όταν άποθάνψ ΚαΙ δη τρόπον τινά τούτο μετ ον πολνν χρόνον ανζφ συνέπεσε. Κατενεχ- θεις γαρ εξ νψονς τίνος εις τράχηλον, ον γενομένου τραύματος, άλλα πληγής μόνον, εξέ&ανε, και τριταίος ηδη περί τάς ταφάς αντάς άνήνεγκε. Ταχύ δε ρωσ&εϊς και παρ 3 αντφ γενόμενος, άπιστόν τίνα του βίου την μεταβολήν εποίησεν. Οντε γάρ δικαιότερον περί τά συμ- βόλαια γινωσκουσιν έτερον Κίλικες εν τοις τότε χρόνοις γινόμενον, ούτε προς το θείον όσιωτερον, ούτε λνπηρότε- ρον εχ&ροΐς, η βεβαιότερον ψίλο§ς * ώστε κα\ πο&εΐν τους εντνγχάνοντας αντον την αίτίαν άκονσαι της διαφοράς, ουκ άπό τον τυχόντος οίομενονς γεγονεναι διακόσμησιν εις ήθος τοσαύτην, όπερ ψ άληθες, ως αυτός διηγεϊτο, τφ τε Πρωτογενει καΙ τοις ομοίως επιεικεσι των φίλων. Έπει γάρ εξέπεσε το φρονούν τον σώματος, οίον αν τι? εκ πλοίον κνβερνήτης εις βνθόν άποοριφεις πάθοι το πρώτον, όντως νπο της μεταβολής εσχεν ' είτα μικρόν εξαρθείς, εδοξεν άναπνεΐν όλος, καΙ περιοραν πανταχό- θεν, ώσπερ ενός όμματος άνοιχθείσης της ψυχής. 'Εώρα δε των προτέρων ονθεν, αλλ' η τά άστρα παμμεγεθη και απέχοντα πλήθος αλλήλων άπλετον, ανγήν τ ε τη χροιά θανμαστήν άφιεντα καΙ τόνον έχον σαν ■ ώστε την ψνχην εποχουμενην, λείως οίον ωσπερ εν γαλήνη τφ φωτι ραδίως πάντη καΙ ταχύ διαφερεσθαι. XXIII. Τά δε πλείστα, των θεαμάτων παραλιπών % DE SERA. NUMINIS VINDICTA. 47 εφη, τάς ψυχάς τών τελευτώντων κάτωθεν ανιούσας πομφόλυγα φλογοειδη ποιεΐν επισταμένου του αέρος, είτα ρηγνυμενης άτρέμα, της πομφολυγος εκβαίνειν τύπον έχουσας ανθρωποειδή, τον δ* ογκον ευ σταλείς * κινούμε- νας δ' ούχ ομοίως, άλλα τάς μεν εκπηδαν ελαφρότητι θαυμαστή, καΐ διάττειν επ ευθείας άνω, τάς δε, ώσπερ οι άτρακτοι, περιστρεφομένας άμα κύκλο?, και τότε μεν κάτω, τότε δ' άνω ρέπουσας, μικτήν τίνα φέρεσθαι και τεταραγμε'νην κίνησιν, και πολλφ πάνυ χρόνο) και μόλις άποκαθισταμενην. Τάς μεν ούν πολλάς ήγνόει, τίνες είσί, δύο δε η τρεις ίδών γνωρίμους επειράτο προσμίξαι και προσειπεΐν. Αι δ' ούτε ηκουον, οντ ήσαν παρ εαν- τοις, άλΧ εκφρονες κα\ διεπτοημέναι, πάσαν o\piv άπο- ψευγουσαι και ιί>αϋσιν, εόρέμβοντο πρώτον αύται καθ εαυτας, είτα πολλαΐς ομοίως διακειμεναις ενζυγχάνου- σαι και περιπλεκομέναι, φοράς τ ε πάσας προς ου δ εν άκρίτως εφέροντο, καΐ φωνάς ΐεσαν άσημους, οίον αλα- λαγμούς, θρήνου και φόβου μεμιγμίνας. Άλλαι δ" άνω- θεν εν άκρω του περιέχοντος, όφθηναί τε φαιδραι, και προς άλλήλας υπ* εύμενείας θαμά πελάζουσαι, τάς δε θορυβώδεις εκείνος εκτρεπόμεναι, διεσημαινον, ως εοικεν, συστολή μεν εις εαυτάς το δυσχεραϊνον, εκπετάζει δε και διαχύσει το χαΐρον και προσιεμενον. 'Ενταύθα μίαν, εφη, συγγενούς τίνος ίδεΐν, ού μεντοι σαφώς, άπο&ανεΐν γαρ ετι παιδός οντος, άλλ' εκείνην προσανάγουσαν εγγύς, ειπείν, Χαίρε, Θεσπέσιε. Θαυμάσαντος δ' αυτού, και φησαντος, ώς ού Θεσπέσιος, άλΧ Αριδαϊός εστί, Πρότε- 48 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. ρόν γ ε, φ uvai, το δ' άπό του δ ε, Θεσπέσιος ■ ούδε γάρ τοι τε&νηκας, άλλα μοίρα τινι θεών ηχείς δενρο τφ φρο- νουντι ' την δ' άλλην \ϋυ/ην, ώσπερ αγκύρων, εν τω σώ- ματι καταλελοιπας * σύμβολον δε σοι και νυν και αύθις έστω, το τάς ιρνχάς των τεθνηκότων μήτε σκιάν ποιεϊν, μήτε σκαρδαμύττειν. XXIV. Ταύτ άκουσας 6 Θεσπέσιος, ηδη τε μάλλον εαυτόν τ φ λογίζεσ&αι συνήγαγε, καΐ διαβλεχρας, είδεν εαυτφ μεν τίνα σνναιωρουμενην άμυδράν τίνα καΐ σκιώδη γραμμην, εκείνους δε περιλαμπομένους κύκλοι και διαφα- νείς εντός, ου μην ομοίως απαντάς • άλλα τους μεν, ωσ- περ η καθαρωτάτη πανσέληνος, εν χρώμα λεΐον και συ- νεχές και όμαλώς ιεντας ' έτερων δε φολίδας τινάς δια- τρεχούσας η μώλωπας αραιούς * άλλους δε κομιδη ποικί- λους και άτοπους την όψιν, ωσπερ οι έχεις, μελάσμασι κατεστιγμενους ■ άλλους δε τινας, αμβλείας άμυχάς έχον- τας. "Ελεγεν ου ν έκαστα φράζων 6 του Θεσπέσιου συγ- γενής (ου δεν γαρ ούτω κωλύει τάς ιρυχάς ονόματι αν- θρώπων προσαγορεύειν) ως Αδράστεια, μεν Ανάγκης και Διός θυγάτηρ, επι πάσι τιμωρός άνωτατω τετακται τοις άδικημασί' καϊ των πονηρών ούτε μέγας ουδείς ούτε μικρός γεγονεν, ώστ η λαθών διαφευγειν η βιασα- μενος. Αλλη δε άλλη τιμωρία τριών ούσών φύλακι και χειρουργφ προσήκει. Τους μεν γάρ εύθυς εν σώματι και διά σωμάτων κολαζομενους μεταχειρίζεται Ποινή ταχεία, πράω τινι τρόποι και παραλείποντι πολλά τών καθαρμού δεομενων * ών δε μείζον εστίν έργον η περί την κακίαν ία- DE SERA NUMINIS Y1NDICTA. 49 τρεία, τούτους Αίκ,η μετά την τελευτην 6 δαίμων παραδί- δωσΐ' Τους δε πάμπαν ανίατους άπωσαμενης της Δίκης, η τρίτη και άγριωτάτη των Λδραστείας υπουργών Έριν- ■νύς, μετα&εουσα πλακωμένους και περιφευγοντας άλλον άλλως, οίκτρώς τε καϊ χαλεπώς απαντάς ηφά,νισε και κατέδυσεν εις το άρρητον και άόρατον. Των δ' άλλων, εφη, δικαιώσεων η μεν υπό της Ποινής εν τω βίψ, ταΐς βαρβαρικαϊς εοικεν. Ως γαρ εν Πέρσαις των κολαζομέ- νων τα, ιμάτια, κα,ι τιάρας άποτίλλουσι και μαστιγουσιν, οι δε παύσασΰ'αι δακρύοντες άντιβολουσιν • ούτως αϊ δια χρημάτων και δια σωμάτων κολάσεις αφην ουκ εχουσι δριμεΐαν, ούδ' αυτής επιλαμβάνονται της κακίσ,ς, άλλα προς δό'ξαν αϊ πολλά} καϊ προς αίσϋ~ησιν αυτών εισιν. *0ς δ" αν εκεΐ&εν ακόλαστος ενταυϋ~α« καϊ άκάίϊαοτος Ιζίκηται, τούτον η Δίκη διαλαβούσα τη \1<υχη καταφανή γνμνόν, εις ουδέν έχοντα καταδυναι καϊ άποκρυϋ'ασϋ-αι και περιστεΐλαι την μοχίϊηοίαν, αλλά παντοιχυυεν και υπό πάντων και πάντα καϋορώμενον, έδειξε πρώτον άγαϋΌΐς γονεύσιν, άν περ ωσι, προγόνοις αυτού πρόσπτυ- στον οντά. και άν άξιον εάν δε φαύλοι, κολασμένους επι- δών εκείνους καϊ όφ&8ΐς, δικαιούται πολύν χρόνον εξαι- ρούμενος έκαστον τώ>ν πα&ών αλγηδόσι και πόνοις, οϊ τοσουτφ μεγέΰει καϊ σφοδρότητι τους διά σαρκός υπερ- βάλλουσιν, όσφ το ΰπαρ άν είη του όνείρατος ενα.ογέστε- ρον. Ούλαι δε καϊ μώλωπες επ) τών παϋών εκάστου τοις μεν μάλλον εμμενουσι, τοΐς δε ησσον. Όρα δε, είπε, τα ποίκιλα ταντα και παντοδαπά χρώματα τών \pv~ 50 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. χών το μεν ορφνιον και ρνπαρόν, άνελευθερίας άλοι- φην και πλεονεξίας * το δε αιματωπόν και διάπυρον, ώμότητος και πικρίας ' οπον δε το γλαύκινόν εστίν, εν- τεύθεν άκρασία τις περί ηδονάς εκτέτριπται μόλις ■ κα- κόνοια δ' ενοϋσα μετά φθόνου τονχι το ιώδες και ύπου- λον, ώσπερ αϊ σηπίαι το μελαν, άφίησιν. Έκεϊ γαρ η τε κακία της "ψυχής τρεπομενης νπο των παθών και τρε- πούσης το σώμα τάς χρόας άναδίδωσιν, ενταύθα δε κα- θαρμού και κολάσεως πέρας εστί τούτων εκλεανθεντων παντάπασι, ώστε την ψνχην αύγοειδη και σύγχρουν γίνεσ- θαι. Μέχρι δε ον ταύτα ενεστι, γίνονται τίνες υπότρο- ποι τών παθών, σφυγμούς εχουσαι καΐ πηδησιν, ενίαις μεν άμυδράν και ταχύ κατασβεννυμενην, ενίαις δε νεα- νικώς εντείνουσαν * ων αϊ μεν πάλιν και πάλιν κολασθ εί- σαι την προσηκουσαν εξιν κα\ διάθεσιν άναλαμβάνουσι. Τάς δ' αύθις εις σώματα ζώων εξψεγκεν βιαιότης άμα- Φιας και φιληδονίας είδος ■ η μεν γάρ ασθένεια λόγου και δι άργίαν του θεωρεΐν, ερρειρε τω πρακτικφ προς γενεσιν ' η δ' οργάνου του ακολάστου δεομενη, ποθεϊ τάς επιθυμίας συόράψαι ταΐς άπολαύσεσι, και συνεπαίρεσθαι διά σώματος. 'Ενταύθα γάρ ουδέν η σκιά τις άτελης και όναρ ηδονής πλήρωσιν ουκ εχούσης πάρεστι. XXV. Ταύτα δ' ειπών, ήγεν αυτόν ταχύ μεν, άπλετον δε τίνα τόπον, ώς εφαίνετο, διε'ξιόντα ραδίως και άπλα- νώς, οίον υπό πτερών τών του φωτός αυγών άναφερόμε- νον μέχρις ου προς τι χάσμα μέγα και κάτω διηκον άφικόμενος, νπο της εχούσης άπελείφθη δυνάμεως, και DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. 51 τάς άλλας ιρνχάς εώρα τούτο πάσχουσας εκεϊ. Σνστελ- λόμεναι γαρ ωσπερ αι ορνι&ες, και καζαφερομεναι, κύ- κλοι το χάσμα περιψσαν άντικρνς δε πέραν ουκ ίτόλ- μων. "Εισω μεν όφ&ήναι, τοις βακχικοΐς αντροις ομοίως νλη και χλωρότητι και χλόαις άνϋ'ίων απάσαις διαπεποι- κιλμενον ' εζεπνει δε μαλακην και πραεΐαν ανραν, όσμάς άναφερονσαν ηδονής τε θαυμάσιας, και κράσιν, οίον ο οίνος τοις με&νσκομενοις, εμποιονσαν. Ενωχούμεναι γαρ ai ipvyai ταΐς ενωδίαις, διεχεοντό τ ε και προς άλλήλας εφιλοφρονονντο ' και τον τόπον εν κύκλοι κατείχε βακ- χεία καΐ γελως, και πάσα μονσα παιζόντων κα\ τερπομε- νων. "Ελεγε δε ταύτη τον Αιόννσον εις &εους άνελ&εΐν, κα\ την Σεμελην άνάγειν ύστερον * καλεΐσϋ'αι δε Λή&ης τον τόπον. "Ο&εν ονδε διατρίβειν βουλόμενον εϊα τον Θεσπεσιον, αλλ' άφεΐλε βία, διδάσκων αμα και λέγων, ως εκτηκεται και άννγραίνεται το (foovovv υπό της ηδο- νής, το δ' άλογον και σωματοειδες άρδόμενον και σαρκού- μενον, εμποιεΐ τον σώματος μνήμην, εκ δε της μνήμης ίμερον και πό&ον ελκοντα προς γενεσιν, ην όντως ώνο- μάσ&αι νεϋσιν επ\ γήν ονσαν, νγρότητι βαρννομενης της ιρνχής. "Αλλψ ονν τοσαντην διελ&ών όδόν, εδοξεν άφο- ραν κρατήρα μεγα,ν, εις δε τούτον εμβάλλοντα ρεύματα, το μεν άφρον θαλάσσης η χιόνος λενκότερον, το δε όποι- ον Ίρις εξαν&εΐ το άλονργόν, άλλα δ' άλλαις βαφαΐς κεχρωσμένα, πρόσω&εν ίδιον εχονσαις φέγγος. Ως δε πλησίον ήλ&εν, ο κρατήρ εκείνος, άφανισ&εντος μάλλον τον περιέχοντος, των τε χρωμάτων άμανρουμενων, το 52 DE SERA NUMIN1S V1NDICTA. άν&ηρότερον άπελειπε πλην της λευκότητος. Έώρα δε τρεις δαίμονας ομού καθήμενους εν σχηματι τρίγωνου, προς αλλήλους τα ρεύματα μετροις τισίν άνακεραννύντας . "Ελεγεν ούν 6 τον Θεσπέσιου ψυχοπομπός, άχρι τούτον τον Όρφε'α προσελϋεΐν, ότε την ιρυχην της γυναικός μετψι, και μη καλώς διαμνημονεύσαντα λόγον εις αν- θρώπους κίβδηλον εξενεγκεΐν, ως κοινόν ειη μαντεΐον εν Αελφοΐς Αίπόλλωνος και ννκτός' ουδενος γαρ Απόλλωνι νύκτα κοινωνεΐν. Αλλά τούτο μεν, εφη, νυκτός εστί και σελήνης μαντεΐον κοινον, ούδαμοϋ της γης περαΐνον μαν- τεΐον, ονδ' έχον εδραν μίαν, αλλά πάντη πλανητόν επί τους ανθρώπους ενυπνίοις και είδώλοις. Έκ τούτον γάρ οι ονειροι μηνυμένοι, ως οράς, τω άπατηλφ καϊ ποικίλω το απλούν και αληθές παραλαμβάνοντες, διασπείρουσι ' το δ' Απόλλωνος ου κάτοιδας, είπεν, ουδέ κατιδεΐν εση δυνατός ' ανωτέρω γάρ ουκ επιδίδωσιν ονδε χαλά το της ψυχής επίγειον, αλλά κατατείνει τω σώματι προσηρτημέ- νον. Άμα δ' επειράτο προσάγων επιδεικνύειν αντω το φως εκ τον τρίποδος, ώς έλεγε, διά των κόλπων της Θέμιδος άπερειδόμενον εις τον Παρνασόν ■ και προ&υ- μούμενος ίδεΐν, ουκ εΐδεν υπό λαμπρότητος, άλΧ ηκουε παριών φωνην ό'ξεΐαν γυναικός, εν μετρώ φράζονσαν άλλα τ 8 τίνα, καϊ χρόνον, ώς εοικε, της εκείνου τελευτης. "Ελεγε δε ο Δαίμων, την φωνην είναι Σιβύλλης ' αδειν γάρ αυτήν περί των μελλόντων εν τω προσώπω της σελή- νης περιψερομενην. Βουλόμενος ούν άκροάσ&αι πλείονα, ty ρύμ}] της σελήνης εις τουναντίον, ώσπερ εν ταϊς δίναις, DE SERA NUMINIS VIND1CTA. 53 εξεώσθη, και βραχέα κατηκονσεν * ων ην και το περί το Βεσβιον ορός και την Αικαιαρχείας υπό πυρός φθοράν γενησομένην * και τι κομμάτιον περί τον τότε ηγεμονος, ως Έσθλός εών, νόσω . . . τυραννίδα λείψει. Μετά δε ταύτα, προς την θεαν των κολαζομενων ετρεποντο ' και τα μεν πρώτα, δυσχερείς κα\ οικτράς ειχον όψεις μόνον. Έπει δε και φίλοις και οικείοις και συνηθεσιν ο Θεσπέσιος ουκ αν προσδοκησα,ς κολαζομε'- νοις ενετύγχανε, οί και δεινά παθήματα και τιμωρίας άσχημονας και άλγεινας υπομένοντες, ωκτίζοντο προς εκείνον και άνεκλαίοντο. XXVI. Τέλος δε τον πάτερα τον εαυτόν κατεΐδεν εκ τίνος βαράθρου στιγμάτων και ούλων μεστόν άναδυό- μενον, όρεγοντα τάς χείρας αύτω, και σιωπαν ουκ εώμε- νον, άλΧ ομολογεΐν άναγκαζόμενον ύπο των εφεστώτων ταΐς τιμωρίαις, οτι περί γένους τινάς μιαρος γενόμενος χρυσίον έχοντας, φαρμάκοις διαφθείρας, καΙ εκεί διαλα- θών απαντάς, εντανθ" εξελεγχθείς, τά μεν ηδη πεπον- θε, τά. δ' άγεται πεισόμενος. Ικετενειν μεν ουν η παραι- τεΐσθαι περί του πατρός ονκ ετόλμα, δι εκπληξιν και δέος ' ύποστρεψαι δε και φυγείν βουλόμενος, ονκ ετι τον πραον εκείνον εώρα και οικεΐον ξεναγόν, α,λΧ ύφ έτερων τινών φοβερών την οιΰιν εις το πρόσθεν ωθούμενος, ως ανάγκην ούσαν οντω διεξελθεΐν, εθεάτο τών μεν γνωρί- μως πονηρών γενομένων ή κολασθεντων αυτόθι την σκιάν 54 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. ουκ ετ είναι χαλε7ΐώς, ούδ' ομοίως τριβομενην ατελή περί το άλογον και πα&ητικόν, επίπονον ova αν ' όσοι δε πρόσ- χημα καΐ δόζαν αρετής περιβαλλόμενοι διεβίωσαν κακία λανΰανούση, τούτους επιπόνοος κα\ όδννηρώς ήνάγκαζον έτεροι περιεστώτες εκτρε'πεσ&αι τα εντός εξω της ψυχής, ιλυσπωμενους παρά φυσιν και άνακαμπτομενους, ώσ- περ αι ϋ'αλάττιαι σκολόπενδραι καταπιουσαι το άγκισ- τρον, εκτρεπουσιν εαυτάς. Ένίους δ' άναδεροντες αυτών καΐ άναπτύσσοντες, άπεδείκννσαν ύπουλους και ποικί- λους, εν τω λογιστικό) καΐ κυρίω την μοχ&ηρίαν έχοντας. Άλλας δ' εφ η ψνχάς ίδεΐν, ωσπερ τ ας εχίδνας περιπε- πλεγμενας σύνδνο καΐ σύντρεις και πλείονας, άλλήλας εσΰιούσας υπό μνησικακίας καΐ κακο&υμίας ων επα&ον εν τφ ζ\\ν ή έδρασαν. Είναι δε και λίμνας παραλλήλας, την μεν χρυσού περιζεοντος, την δε μολίβδου, ψυχροτά- την, άλλην δε τραχεΐαν σίδηρου ' και τινας εφεστάναι δαίμονας, ωσπερ οι χαλκεΐς, όργάνοις αναλαμβάνοντας και, καΰιένζας εν μέρει τάς χρυχάς των δι άπληστίαν και πλεονεξίαν πονηρών. Έν μεν γάρ τω χρυσφ διαπύρους και διαφανείς υπό του φλεγεσ&αι γενομενας, ενεβαλλον εις την του μολίβδου βάπτοντες ' εκπαγείσας δ' αύτό&ι και γενομενας σκληράς, ωσπερ αϊ χάλαζαι, πάλιν εις την του σιδήρου με&ίστασαν ' ενταϋ&α δε μελαιναί τε δεινώς εγενοντο, και περικλώμεναι δια σκληρότητα, και συντρι- βόμεναι, τα είδη μετεβαλον ' εΊϋ^ ούτω πάλιν εις τον χρυ- σον εκομίζοντο, δεινάς, ως ελεγεν, εν ταΐς μεταβολαϊς άλγηδόνας υπομένουσαι. Πάντων δε πάσχειν ελεγεν DE SERA NUMIXIS VINDICTA. 55 οικτρότατα τας ηδη δοκουσας άφεΐσ&αι της δίκης, είτ αύττις συλλαμβανομενας. Αύται δ" ήσαν, ων εις τινας εκγόνους η παϊδας η ποινή περιηλ^εν. Οπότε γαρ τις εκείνων άψίκοιτο και περιτνχοι, προσεπιπτεν οργή και κατεβόα, και τα σημεία των παΰ~ών εδείκνυεν, όνειδίζου- σα καϊ διοικούσα φεύγει? κα) άποκρύπτεσβ-αι βουλομε- νην, ου δυναμενην δε. Ταχύ γαρ μετεϋ~εον οι κολασται προς την δίκην, και εξ άβχψ ήπειγον όλοφνρομ,ε'νας, τω προγινώσκειν την τιμωοίαν. Ένίας δε και πολλας αμα των εκγόνων έλεγε συνηοτήσϋ'αι, κα) κα&άπερ μελίττας ή νυκτ έριδας άτεχνώς έχομενας καϊ τετριγυΐας υπό μνήμης και οργής ων επα&ον δι αντάς. "Εσχατα δε όρώντος αυτοί) τας επι δευτεοαν γενεσιν τρεπομενας ψνχας, εις τε ζώα παντοδαπά καμπτομενας βία και μετασχι,ματιζομε- νας νπο των tavta δημιουργούντων όργάνοις τισι και πληγαΐς, των μεν ολα τα μεοη συνελαυιόντοη•, τα δ' άποστ ρεπόντων , ενια δ' εκλεαινόντίον και ά^ανιζόντων πανταπασιν, οποις εφαρμόσειεν ετεοοις ήϋ~εσι και βίοις. Έν ταύταις φανήναι την λ'εοοηνς ιίυχήν τα τ άλλα. κα- κώς εχονσαν ήδη, κα} διαπεπαομενην ηλοις διαπύροις. ΤΙροκεχειρισ μένων δε και ταντην τοΐν δημιουργών Πινδα- ρικής εχίδνης είδος, εν φ κνηΦεϊσα κα) διαφαγουσα τήν μητέρα, βιωσεσ&αι, ([<ώς ε^ασκεν εξαίφνης διαλάμ-ψαι μέγα, και φοινήν εκ του <$οπος γενέσθαι, προστάττουσαν εις άλλο γένος ήμεροίτερον μεταβαλεΐν, ορδικόν τι μηχανη- σαμενους περί ελη κα) λίμνας ζώον ών μεν γαρ ήδίκησε, δεδωκε δίκας ' όφείλεσ&αι δε τι κα) χρηστόν αύτω πάρα 56 DE SERA NUMINIS VINDICTA. Ό'εών, οτι των υπηκόων το βελτιστον και θεοφιλέστατο ν γένος ήλενΌ'έρωαΕ την 'Ελλάδα. Μέχρι μεν ουν είναι τούτων ΰεατης ■ ως δ' άναστρεφειν εμελλεν, εν παντΨγε- νέσ&αι κακω δια φόβον. Γυναίκα γάρ τίνα λαβομενην αυτόν, ΰαυμαστην το είδος και μέγεθος, Α εύρο δη, είπεν, ούτος, όπως έκαστα μάλλον μνημόνευσες • και τι ραβδί- ον, ωσπερ οι ζωγράφοι, διάπυρον προσάγειν, ετεραν δε κωλνειν * αυτόν δε ωσπερ υπο σύριγγος εξαίφνης σπασ- θεντα πνεύματι νεανικώ σφόδρα καϊ βιαίορ, τω σώματι προσπεσεΐν, και άναβλεχϋαι σχεδόν επ αυτού του μνή- ματος. NOTES, NOTES, The works, to which reference is made in the following notes, may not all be in the hands of the reader ; but they are cited, without regard to this, for the purpose of enabling him to see by what authority the statements made are supported. The abbreviations which are sometimes employed, either coincide with those in common use, or are so far of a nature to suggest themselves, that a formal explanation of them is presumed to be unnecessary. STRUCTURE AND ARGUMENT OF THE WORK. The subject which Plutarch has here discussed, is presented in the form of a dialogue between the author and a company of persons, accidentally together, all of them his relatives or intimate friends. The scene is laid at Delphi in Phocis, the seat of the celebrated ora- cle of Apollo, to which locality repeated allusions are made in the progress of the conversation. Plutarch himself sustains the principal part, and may be consider- ed as defending not only his own personal opinions, but those of the New Platonic school in general,* the sect * It is interesting to recollect, that it was in this form of Pla- tonism, sometimes called Platonic Eclecticism (Gieseler, 1, pp. 71 — 2), that Christianity found its point of nearest approxi- mation, and that out of this school, as a sort of intermediate pa» 60 ARGUMENT. in philosophy with which he held in most of his religious views, against the Epicureans, the sceptics and liber- tines of the age. The other speakers in the dialogue are Patrocleas, Timon and Olympicus. The first of these was a son-in-law of Plutarch and is mentioned elsewhere in his writings ; see Sympos. 7. Quaest. 2. 700, E., where he denominates him Παζροχλέα τον γαμ~ βρόν. Timon is probably the same person who acts the part of colloquist in Sympos. 1. Quaest. 2. 615, E., and in the treatise de Frat. Amor., is expressly mentioned as a brother of Plutarch, from whom he had received proofs of an uncommon fraternal affection. Of Olympicus there exists so far as I am aware no further notice, un- less he be the same person who is introduced as one of the interlocutors, Sympos. 3. Quaes. 6. 654, B., whence we learn merely that he was still a young man. Cunius, to whom the treatise is addressed, was some friend of the author who is otherwise unknown. Reiske conjec- tures, however, with the assent of Wyttenbach, that there may have been an error in writing a single letter of the name, and that it should read Kvvze or Quintus. In that case he would be the same individual, to whom with his brother Nigrinus, Plutarch dedicated his treatise de Frat. Amor. The Epicurus who is described as leaving so abruptly at the opening of the scene, and whose re- sition between the grosser heathenism and the gospel revelation, went many of the earlier, more distinguished christian Fathers and Apologists. See with reference to this relation of Platon- ism to Christianity Tzschirner, Fall des Heidenthums, 579 sq. ; Acliermann, Das Christliche im Plato u. der platonischen Phi- losophic. The latter refers also to jYcander, Kirchengeschichte, 1. S. 31. 38. 258, and particularly 3. 861 sq. ARGUMENT. 61 marks gave rise to the dialogue which ensues, was pro- bably a fictitious person, who bears this name as indica- ting the sect in philosophy, whose views he had sup- ported. Regarded as a dialogue merely, the work would not be considered perhaps as altogether happily executed. The conversation does not pass with sufficient frequency from one speaker to another ; it rests too much with a single individual, and thus fails in that lively alternation of the parts, which is a source of so much interest in the dialogue. We are to read it as a discussion rather than as a colloquy, as a calm, studied exposition of the high- est views on one of the most difficult questions of natu- ral theology, to which the mind of man seems capable of attaining without the light of revelation. The following is a very general, but imperfect outline of some of the leading topics and sentiments which the treatise contains. In presenting this, I have not deemed it necessary to follow rigidly in every case the exact or- der of the thoughts, but have drawn them together, with some freedom occasionally in the collocation, so as to exhibit the argument and moral scope of the dialogue, rather than its rhetorical form. Epicurus goes away abruptly at the beginning of the dialogue, that is, of the part of it here reported, leaving the company in silent astonishment, at the passion and absurdity, with which he had inveighed against the jus- tice of the Deity in the government of the world. Ti- mon first breaks this silence, and suggests, whether, al- 62 ARGUMENT* though what they had heard was so weak in itself, they ought not to take occasion from it to discuss freely together the topics which had been introduced, and thus preserve themselves from any injurious effect, which even vague representation and mere invective might have upon them, if left unanswered. To this they all agree ; and Patrocleas who had been apparently more perplexed than the others, by the discourse of Epicurus, then pro- ceeds to re-state some of the principal ideas which had been advanced, together with some objections of his own to the doctrine of a retributive Providence, as generally entertained. He asserts, that the long delayed punish- ment of the guilty argues an unbecoming indifference on the part of the Deity to the deserts of crime ; that it fails to restrain the commission of it, as a more speedy retri- bution would do ; that it is often entirely useless as a reparation to those who have suffered from injustice, since they are generally dead long before their wrongs are vindicated ; and finally, that it emboldens the wicked in their course by leading them to think, that because they are spared for a time, they may therefore trample on the laws of God with permanent impunity. Some of these points the speaker confirms by historical illustra- tions. Olympicus here interposes, and adds to these objec- tions still others. He urges especially, that such delay in the punishment of the wicked must have a tendency to destroy the belief of men in the reality of a divine Providence itself; and further, that where the act and its consequences follow each other at such a distance, no useful disciplinary purpose can possibly be accomplished, as regards the reformation of the offender himself. Pun- ARGUMENT. 63 ishraent which is delayed a long time after the commis- sion of the crime for which it is inflicted, instead of be- ing referred to its proper source, is more likely to be regarded as a calamity or accident, and thus, though it may serve to annoy and distress the guilty person, must fail entirely to lead him to profitable reflections on his conduct and the cause of his suffering. The task of replying to these and similar objections Plutarch assumes mainly to himself. He begins by re- marking on the caution and self-distrust, with which it becomes them to pursue the inquiries in which they are engaged. They should recollect the necessary imper- fections of human knowledge, and not insist upon what was unreasonable, in demanding a full explanation of every possible difficulty which might be raised on such a subject. Even human governments frequently adopt measures, which must appear to those unacquainted with the grounds of them, as unreasonable, and indeed some- times, as absolutely ridiculous and absurd. This remark he illustrates, by exemplifications of it, both from Greek and Roman legislation. Much more then should we be prepared to meet with mysteries in the divine govern- ment, which has so many different interests to protect and harmonize, and which is planned and carried on by a wisdom too deep for our finite comprehension. Persons ignorant of the science of music, without the power of perceiving at all the harmony of sounds, may talk at random, if they choose, about notes and symphonies; or those who have never seen a battle, or handled a weapon in their lives, may discourse of military tactics, — but far be it from mortals like us to suppose that we may scru- tinize the plans of the Deity and pronounce them wise 64 ARGUMENT. or unwise, just or unjust, according to the narrow scale of our own limited knowledge and understanding. But this I say, the speaker adds, not as an excuse for declin- ing the argument, or as any discouragement to a proper freedom of inquiry in such matters, but as intending merely to show with what spirit we should discuss them, and how far we may promise ourselves success in clear- ing up the difficulties of the subject. He enters, therefore, in the next place, on a direct vindication of Providence against the charge of remiss- ness, in treating or seeming to treat the good and the bad so much alike in the present life. This alleged equality in the experience and allotments of men is in part admitted, and in part denied. To some extent it undoubtedly exists ; and here we can conceive of vari- ous important moral ends, which such a course is suited to accomplish, that render it surely not unworthy of the supreme Disposer to proceed in this manner. First. He would set us, by such forbearance towards the wicked, an example of the manner, in which we ourselves should conduct towards those w r ho injure us and provoke our anger. A resemblance to the divine nature is the highest human virtue ; and hence to incite us to this, to unfold to us a clearer conception of what we should strive to be, the Deity has been pleased to make himself know T n to mankind in his works and ope- rations, in the realms both of nature and of providence. Thus he has given us the eye, as Plato says, to enable us to contemplate the heavenly bodies, to admire the method and precision of their motions, that we may learn to cultivate what is decent and orderly in ourselves, and avoid whatever is disorderly or irregular in our con- ARGUMENT. 65 duct or our passions. A similar lesson he would teach us, by his patience towards the wicked. He bears with them, not from a fear lest he should err by an immediate punishment of them, but to reprove men for the fury and violence with which they are disposed to revenge their injuries on each other, and to lead them to imitate his own gentleness and forbearance, in dealing with those who have the least possible claim upon his indulgence. Second. The wicked who are not incorrigible have, in consequence of such delay, an opportunity to repent, and are spared, therefore, not from indifference to their conduct, but a desire for their reformation. The sum- mary justice, on the contrary, to which the passions of men incite them, excludes necessarily all regard for this object, and degenerates too often into the mere gratifica- tion of personal malice and revenge. The wisdom of the divine policy, in this case, is abundantly justified by the results. Examples are cited to show, that of those most renowned in history, who have obtained the great- est fame for their political services and personal virtues, many are individuals in whom there was a change of character from worse to better. But if now Miltiades, asks Plutarch, had been arrested at once in the midst of his tyranny, or Themistocles in his debaucheries, or Cimon in his incest, where would have been the victories of Marathon, Dianium and Eurymedon, in which the Greeks vindicated so nobly their liberties and acquired such imperishable renown ? Third. The wicked are sometimes permitted to live and prosper, because Providence would use them as in- struments of its justice in the punishment of others. It is on this account especially, that tyrants are allowed 66 ARGUMENT. so often to succeed in their designs. As physicians use the gall of hyaenas and other noxious animals as a cure for certain disorders, so the Deity employs often the rage of tyrannical rulers as a means for reforming states and communities, which have fallen into luxury and corruption. Such a medicine was Phalaristo the Agri- gentines, and Marius to the Romans; and the oracle announced to the Sicyonians, that there was nothing which could save them from ruin, but the wholesome discipline of being scourged by a race of tyrants. Fourth. The punishment of crime is sometimes de- ferred for a season, that it may be inflicted at length in a manner, which makes the hand of Providence so much the more conspicuous in it. In illustration of this, Plutarch adduces the case of Callippus, who was himself killed with the very same dagger, which he had used in taking the life of Dion, to whom he was indebted for many favors, and for whom he professed the utmost friendship. As still more remarkable, he relates the story of a certain Bessus, who had murdered his father, and for years had escaped detection. But at length being present on a certain occasion with some friends at a feast, he suddenly lifted his spear and struck down a nest of young swallows, which he immediately killed. On being asked what reason he could possibly have for so barbarous an act, he replied, ' Do you not hear, how they falsely accuse me and cry out that I murdered my father? 5 The suspicion, which this answer excited, was fully confirmed upon investigation ; and the unnat- ural son was ordered to execution. Thus has the di- vine justice often seemed to slumber for a time ; but ARGUMENT. 67 in reality it was only to furnish, in the end, so much the more striking proof of its eternal vigilance. But the objection, on the other hand, it is next ar- gued, cannot be conceded in its full extent. There are certain limits beyond which even this present impunity of the wicked is in fact apparent, rather then real. Guilt has its immediate retributions ; it sets the sinner at va- riance with himself, arms his conscience against him, and renders him the prey of anxieties and fears, which can find no admission to the bosoms of the innocent. Indeed to such an extent is this true, that were death the extinction of our being, were there not another state of existence to rectify the inequalities of this, we might reverse the objection and say, that if there be any in- justice in the case, it would consist, not in sparing the life of the transgressor, but rather in cutting him off at once, and thus enabling him to escape the torments which are connected with guilt even in this w^orld. We are to regard this experience of the wicked, it is true, rather as an earnest of their punishment than as the consummation of it ; but to say, that those who suffer these anxieties and perturbations of mind are not already pun- ished, would be as absurd as to say, that a fish which has swallowed the hook, is not caught till we see it cut in pieces by the cook and broiling on the fire. Besides, it is to be recollected that what we call delay, with reference to our conceptions of time, is not such to the Deity. The distinctions of time have no place with him ; and to put the malefactor to the rack or hang him now, instead of having done it thirty years ago, is the same thing in his sight, as if this was to take place in the evening and not in the morning. In all the interval too, till the period of 68 ARGUMENT. full retribution arrives, he has the wicked safe in his cus- tody, and incurs no risk of their escape by any possibility from his justice. Timon then leads the conversation to another kin- dred subject, viz., the rectitude of Providence in pun- ishing the children for the sins of their parents. To this he objects as unjust in a two-fold view. If the parents themselves have already suffered their deserts, there surely can be no good reason why justice should be exacted twice for the same offence, and if they have not suffered them, there can be still less reason why the innocent should be made to atone for this defi- ciency. Nor will it be pretended, that such punish- ment possesses any remedial virtue as regards those who, in this case, are the guilty persons. It was a say- ing of Β ion, that to punish the children on account of the parents, with a view to any such result, was as if a physician should give physic to a son or grand-son, in order to cure the distemper of a father or grand-father. Plutarch here acts again the part of respondent ; and from what he urges in defence of Providence on this point, we collect the following argument. The conduct of the ancestor may affect his posterity, either more remotely or immediately. The first case is, when men exist together in communities, and, from the very nature of the organization, must depend, at any given period, for much of the good or evil in their lot upon what has been done by those who have preceded them. Again, a state, he says, has a sort of separate existence and personal identity of its own. It remains one and the same through successive generations, as really as a man remains the same individual through the dif- ARGUMENT. 69 ferent periods of his life ; and hence it is but reasona- ble, that the social crime of one age should be left to work out its legitimate social results in another, since the Deity, in the operation of such a law, is dealing still with the same agent, is merely holding the offender re- sponsible for his own acts. The other case is, where the fault of the parent seems to be visited directly on his offspring. Here the difficulty is reduced in a measure, if we distinguish between those evils which are simply preventive in their design, and those which are strictly penal. Much of the suffering which wicked parents entail upon their descendants, is of the former character. It is inflicted not so much as a punishment for the sins which the fathers have committed, as for the purpose of preventing the commission of them by the children themselves. These latter inherit often the evil qual- ities of their progenitors; and unless restrained from it, would inevitably follow them in the same path of open crime. Hence the Deity interposes frequently with a discipline adapted to this purpose, and thus, instead of allowing the seeds of vice which lurk within them to germinate, to become confirmed and to ripen into actu- al guilt, anticipates their development and extinguishes them at the beginning. In the second place, an im- portant end of public utility is secured by this arrange- ment. Nothing touches the hearts of men sooner, than the sight of their own offspring, subjected to calamities which they themselves have brought upon them ; and therefore Providence has appointed the spectacle of such suffering, in order to infuse into the mind there- by a stronger fear of transgression, and to multiply the inducements to right action. Finally, if the children 70 ARGUMENT. themselves are virtuous, they are not harmed for what their ancestors have done.* They have then no pen- alty to bear for the sins of others. They are subject to no abatement of the reward due to them for a single one of their virtues. It is only when they tread them- selves in the steps of a criminal race, that the guilt of such an ancestry is added to their own. It is not supposed, however, by any means, that these or any similar considerations are sufficient to divest the subject of all its difficulties. But those which re- main find their explanation in the fact, that the present state of existence is merely probationary, and that an- other is to succeed it, to which we must look for a perfect retribution. The soul, says Plutarch, so long as it continues in this life maintains, like a wrestler, a perpetual combat ; but when the trial is ended, goes ta receive according to her deserts. To clothe now this truth with the greatest practical power, he avails him- self in conclusion of a singular story respecting a man named Thespesius, who was said to have returned to life after being for several days apparently dead, and to have communicated to his friends an account of what befel him in the interval. On beino; freed, as it seemed to him, from the body, he was committed to a guide who conducted him from place to place, and explained to him the objects which he saw. Only a few of these can here be designated. That which he first noticed * This limitation, it will be perceived, makes the guilt, in Plutarch's theory, co-extensive with the suffering. Comp. Rom. 5: 12. It is the same exception which is expressly admitted Ezek. 18: 3 sq., and which is implied Ex. 20: 5, arid elsewhere. ARGUMENT. 71 was the conduct of the different souls, as they entered into the other world from this. Some of them, and these were the good, mounted up at once, in an easy, gentle manner, into the higher regions of space, where they appeared with a serene aspect, and testified by abundant tokens the happiness which they enjoyed. The wicked^ on the contrary, were immediately seized with a tumultuous motion, which hurried them hither and thither, and deprived them for a time of all power of self- control. They were then taken and punished, as their deserts severally required. Here he found that there were three different degrees or processes of retribution, each of which was distinct from the others and commit- ted to as many separate ministers or agents. The first of these was termed Punishment, and executes her of- fice mainly in the present life, and is the author of the pains and penalties which are the more immediate effects of guilt. The second was Justice, whose inflic- tions are immensely more severe, and are experienced by the soul after death. But the most terrible of these ministers was Erinnys or Fury, to whom it beloi^s to punish those who remain still incorrigible, after all the other customary methods of correction have been employed in vain. It is her task to consummate what the others have begun. Accordingly she is represented as scourging her victims from place to place, inflicting upon them innumerable tortures, allowing them, whither- soever they flee, no refuge or respite from her inappeasa- ble rage, and finally plunging them headlong into an abyss, whose horrors no language can describe. The souls of men being there stripped of every dis- guise, expose to view their true color and complexion, 72 ARGUMENT. as derived from the passions which they have been ac- customed to entertain and cherish. Observe, said the guide to Thespesius, the different hues which they ex- hibit. In that dark, sordid appearance, you see the taint of avarice and fraud. That sanguinary, flame- like dye betokens cruelty and vindictiveness. Those livid spots denote, that the souls disfigured by them were the slaves of sensuality and lust. The stain which appears in others, resembling so much the black fluid which the cuttle-fish discharges, is the sign of maligni- ty and envy. From the situation in which he saw many who had been known to him here, Thespesius was led to reflect on the false manner, in which men are liable to judge of each other. Some who had been accounted very wick- ed in this world were found, from circumstances of pal- liation that were there brought to light for the first time, to be far less deserving of punishment, than others who had passed for very virtuous men, and been honor- ed with the highest human praise. But nothing of this kind filled him with greater surprise and horror than to see his own father, emerging from a deep abyss, all covered with the scars and gashes of the scourging which he had received and compelled to bear witness to its justice by confessing, that he had secretly poisoned several persons, his own guests, for the sake of obtain- ing their gold. And he observed in general, that none were doomed to suffer more severely, than those who had played the hypocrite in this life, having assumed the mask of virtue, merely in order to practice the vices to w 7 hich they were addicted, with so much the greater suc- cesSj in secret. That their punishment might exhibit a ARGUMENT. 73 sort of conformity to their character, they were com» mitted to the hands of tormentors, by whom they were compelled to turn themselves inside out, and to twist themselves with the greatest agony of effort into every possible variety of unnatural shape and posture. Per- sons who had harbored feelings of hatred toward each other, were there seen fastened together, gnawing and devouring each other with remorseless fury. Those who had been avaricious were subjected to a similar penai process. They are seized by demons, armed with hooks for the purpose, and thrown by them, first into a lake of boiling gold, where they are scalded and burnt, next into another of lead exceedingly cold, where they are as sud- denly congealed and frozen, and finally into a third of iron, Avhere they are blackened, and mutilated by being dragged against its jagged sides and surface. Not less dreadful is the retribution which awaits guilty parents and ancestors. Their descendants, who had suffered on their account, no sooner saw them than they gathered around them, and assailed them with the most hideous outcries and imprecations. If any of them attempted to escape, their children still followed them with the same upbraiding voice ; and frequently, when they sup- posed their sufferings to be almost at an end, their tormentors laid hold of them again, and dragged them back to the ministers of justice for new punishment. The last spectacle which Thespesius saw, was that where the souls of those about to enter by transmigra- tion on a new existence, were undergoing the changes necessary to fit them for the shapes they were to assume. Here, among others, he saw the soul of the tyrant Nero, whom the artificer at work upon him was on the point 6 74 ARGUMENT. of making into a viper, as best corresponding to the disposition which he had last manifested in his human form ; but in consideration of his merit in restoring to the Greeks their freedom, it was concluded to mitigate his doom, and transform him (in allusion, it is supposed, to his well known musical propensities) into one of those animals which sing about lakes and marshes. Thespesius, before this occurrence, had been a most unprincipled, profligate man ; but the disclosures, thus made to him, respecting the tendencies of the life he was pursuing had such an effect upon his mind, that he immediately reformed, and became henceforth a pattern of every virtue. In this result, we may discover Plu- tarch's opinion in regard to the moral use, to which the mythus should be applied. He would hold up to men this doctrine of a coming retribution as a motive to liv- ing virtuously here on earth, since whatever impunity the wicked may enjoy for the present, they are hasten- ing to a scene, where the awards of their conduct will be meted out to them with strict justice. EXPLANATION OF THE TEXT, Ι ι. Τοιαντα φ, etc. Some have inferred from the abrupt manner, in which the subject is commenced, that the beoinning of the treatise has been lost. It would seem unnecessary, however, to suppose this, or with Wyttenbach, that it is the continuation or second part of a discourse against the Epicureans, which has not been preserved. The form of the piece as a dialogue, the greater dramatic vivacity thus imparted to it, ac- count sufficiently for such an introduction. 2. Systo ameov. Such a connexion of the verb and participle is not uncommon; but its precise import re- quires, perhaps, further investigation. According to some, it is equivalent merely to the participle alone in the tense of the verb. See Matth. § 559. e Soph p. 253. Others find in it an augmentation of the idea, viz., that of earnestness, abruptness, haste. So Hooge- veen and Zeune; see Viger, p. 449; so also Kuhner, ^ 664 * The phrase as here used would favor this latter view.-Ae hastened away, which is evidently required by the connexion. 3. ri tm is described in too limited a way, when * In all cases where reference is made to Kuhner it is to his Ausfahrliche Grammatik der Griechischen Sprache, 1834-5. 76 NOTES. represented as introducing always an objection. This it often does; but here manifestly it serves merely to awaken attention to the question which follows. What then, i. e. shall we do in this case? What is the con- clusion? Do you think it best to waive the inquiry, or should we answer, etc, 4. και μη παρόντος adds so little to the sense, if in- deed it be not wholly superfluous, that Wyttenbach would reject it from the text, and with less hesitation, because he finds here a diversity in the reading. The appearance of tautology is rendered, however, some- what less palpable, if we regard the clause as strictly parenthetic, and translate και, although, a signification which it often has in such a situation. See Passow sub και 1. This adversative sense of the conjunction, although, but, in the N. Testament (restricted by Winer almost entirely to plain historical discourse, § 57. 2. b) has often been regarded as merely Hebraistic (Ward's Lex. 1. p. 775), but it is now admitted to be by no means unknown to the classics.* 5. Ji)X ovd' d βαλών, etc. The reasoning here is not very formally stated, but will be perceived to be of the nature of the conclusion a minor e ad majus. It is of infinitely greater importance that we should guard against attacks on our virtue and principles, than against those which are aimed merely against our persons. If, therefore, no one would be indifferent in a case which threatened his life merely, if he would at once draw * This has been fully shown by Tholuck in his Beitrage zur Spracherklarung des neuen Testaments, pp. 35 — 9. Winer's limitation he denies with an appeal to John 3: 6. 4: 20. 5: 40. 1 John 2: 1. 4: 3, etc. NOTES. 77 forth the weapon which an enemy had plunged into his body, how much more should he see to it, that he does not suffer the pernicious sentiments which the advo- cates of a false philosophy would infuse into his mind, to lodge there, and to spread their baneful influence over his soul. The αλλά is represented as strengthen- ing, in such cases, the ουδέ, immo ne quidem, not even indeed. The expression occurs in the same way Luke 23 : 15. Acts 19 : 2. 1 Cor. 3 : 2. 6. ο μεν γάο Βρασίδας, etc. Brasidas was a distin- guished Spartan general, who fought against the Athe- nians in Thrace during the Peloponnesian Avar. A pas- sage in another of Plutarch's treatises, (Apophth. La- con. 219, C), states more fully the circumstance to which allusion is here made. In a certain battle, Bra- sidas " having been pierced through the shield, and drawing out the spear from the wound, slew the ene- my, with the same weapon ; and, when asked how he had been wounded, said, i My shield betrayed me. 5 " ω^ εοιχεν is a phrase which Plutarch often uses, and may generally be rendered, ut perhibent, ut fertur, as they say, as is related. See Viger, p. 247. 7. ημών ό° άμννασ&αι εχβάλλωμεν. The probable rendering of those words is, but it is not necessary for us certainly to have revenge on those who have directed an absurd or false discourse against us, but it is suffi- cient for them, if 'we expel the sentiment before it has fastened itself upon us. To understand ονδίν έργον with the Latin translator in the sense of nullo negotio it is not difficult for us, is to disregard the distinction laid down as usually existing between ουδέν έργον with the genitive and with the dative, αντοΐς is referred by 78 NOTES. some to εκβάλλωμεν as a sort of pleonastic dative, which is unnecessary, and certainly not favoured by the posi- tion. By changing the breathing so as to read αντοΐς it is sufficient for ourselves, Wyttenbach would secure an easier grammatical dependence for the pronoun, but it may be justified as it stands as dativus incommodi* δηπον gives the sentence a tone of greater certainty and decision. Kuhner, § 692. b. It is found in the N. Testament only in Heb. 2 : 16, and with the same force as here. The figurative coloring of the sentence, as it appears particularly in άφέντας — άιρασ&αι — εκβάλλω- μεν, is derived manifestly from the illustration which precedes. The sense is, the conduct of Brasidas shows how men feel when their lives are in danger, and teaches, a fortiori, how they should act when their moral princi- ples are assailed. His example, however, so far as it relates to the manner in which he treated his enemy, we are not of course to imitate. We should feel that we have a sufficient revenge upon those who would im- pair our confidence in the truth, if we can defeat their object by promptly exposing their arguments and coun- teracting the impression which they might otherwise produce on our minds. 8. ά&ρόα πολλά, mult a simul. The Greeks, Plato especially, often combine these words in this sense. II. 1. και vvv καινός, and now under the influ- ence of these remarks, I have become , as it were, a fresh proselyte to the opinion, and new in the entertainment of it. There are two views in relation to the meaning of τη δοξη, in this passage. One is, that it refers to the opinion of those who vindicated the delay of Providence in the punishment of the wicked^ and that Patrocleas 5 notes. 7y although before inclined to the views of the Epicureans on the subject, had been led to renounce them from the very absurdity of the arguments, which he had just heard offered in their support. The other is, that it refers to the opinion of the Epicureans and that Patrocleas means to say, that he had been so much impressed by what had been urged in their behalf, that he is constrained to declare himself a convert to their doctrine. The latter of these interpretations is to be preferred perhaps, since instead of imposing, like the other, a new sense on 71] δόξη, it assigns to it the same meaning which it mani- festly has just before, in the clause πο)ν aipcca&cu τψ δόξαν : and further, because it seems to agree better with the tone with which Patrocleas utters what follows, which is expressed too earnestly for a person who is merely recapitulating the difficulties and objections of others. — xcuvog, new, just brought to the opinion avow- ed, in distinction from having long entertained it — nunc primum a me cognoscebatur. Wyttenb. nooacfuro* is a X. Testament word, Heb. 10 : 20, where it occurs in a secondary sense similar to that which it has here. For an example of its first etymological meaning, see II. 24, 757. 2. ay.ovcoi' Evnirridov λέγοντα?, viz. in his tragedy of Orestes, v. 420. The line cited contains Orestes' an- swer to the inquiry of Menelaus, whether Apollo will not assist him in his misfortunes. For the construction of the accusative in ραϋνμονς orrag, see Butt. p. 406. n. 4. 3. το άμννασ&αι οις Θουκυδίδης. The refer- ence is to Thucydides 3, 38. The sentiment occurs in the speech of Cleon in support of his decree to put. to 80 NOTES. death the adult citizens of Mitylene and to enslave the women and children for having attempted to throw off the Athenian yoke. — και μάλιστα just above, ort iyyv- τάζω here, and Ιπιπλβϊσζον in the next clause, illustrate some of the different ways in which the Greeks strength- ened the superlative of adjectives and adverbial expres- sions. Ki'ihner, § 590. 4. ώς ψοιγε και, etc., the remain of Bias also of- fends me, i. e. as well as the sentiment of Euripides be- fore noticed. 5. Λρισζοκράζονς .... την ίπι Τάφροι μάχψ. Aris- tocrates was a king of Arcadia,* who at first assisted the Messenians in the war against Sparta, but was after- wards bribed, and betrayed his allies into the hands of the Lacedaemonians. He was dethroned and stoned to death by his own subjects. — Ιπι Τάφρφ has been substituted here by the later editors for km Κν&ρφ, al- though the latter is the acknowledged reading in all the older editions and MSS. The change was supposed to be necessary, in order to free the passage from an im- portant historical difficulty. Pausanias, who has related the facts alluded to, more minutely than any other an- cient writer (Paus. 4, 17. 22), represents the battle which the Messenians lost through the treachery and desertion of Aristocrates, as fought at a place which he denominates μεγάλη Τάφρος. The correction harmo- nizes perfectly the two accounts ; but further than this, is wholly unsupported and arbitrary. It is not impro- bable that Plutarch wrote in the first instance Κάπρος, * So Plutarch here and other testimonies; but Thirlwall says, he was more probably king of Orchomenus, (v. 1. p. 362.) NOTES. 81 and that this, by an oversight which might very easily arise from the similarity of the words, was subsequently changed to Κύπρος. Pausanias states, that the Messeni- ans a short time before their defeat at Taphros, had ob- tained a signal victory over the Lacedaemonians at a place called Κάπρου σήμα, or the Boar's Pillar, and hence it would seem, that Plutarch either followed in his account some different authority from Pausanias, or as Reiske conjectures, may have confounded these two battles with each other. 6. Όρχομενιων νπο Αν/Λβ'λον. Of this Lycis- cus and his treachery we have no further information. Orchomenus was the name of several ancient cities : of one in Thessaly (Hoff. p. 337*); of another in Arcadia (p. 1139), and still another in Boeotia (p. 565). It is impossible, from the obscurity of the allusion, to say which of them is here meant. 7. τας μίν γαρ Λϋ-ψτ^ι, etc. It is disputed, whether this should be understood as a new illustration, or as a continuation of the case of Lyciscus. If the former, the γαρ must be taken as co-ordinate with that in the sen- tence τι γαρ Μεασηνίοις, etc., and the passage would most naturally refer to the act of the Athenians in disin- terring the bones of Megacles and his followers and cast- ing them out of the country as a pollution, on account of the unlawful means w T hich they had used for suppress- ing the conspiracy of Cylon and his adherents. See fur- * The reference is to Hoffmann's Griechenland und die Grie- chen im Alterthum, etc. Leipzig, l£41. In what relates to the topography and history of places, so far as those mentioned here are embraced within the limits of his work, I have de- pended chiefly on his authority. 82 NOTES. ther in note VII. 11. infra. The circumstances are re- lated by Herodotus, 5, 71, and more fully by Thucydides, 1, 1*26. The punishment inflicted in this case was not de- layed so long, it is true, as Plutarch has here represen- ted ; but as he is not always exact in his allusions of this nature, the discrepancy would not seem to be a sufficient reason for rejecting the above explanation. Wyttenbach, however, on the ground of the anachronism, mainly, proposes to connect the passage with what immediately precedes, and suggests that Lyciscus may have fled to Athens with some of his accomplices after the perpetra- tion of their crime, and that the Athenians, on discover- ing their guilt many years after their death, dug up their bones and threw them out beyond their borders as those of persons whose memory was accursed. — ετΐίδεΐν, to look upon, to live to see. This w r ord is employed uniformly, though not always, as some have said, when the events spoken of are serious or calamitous in their nature. See II. 10, 61. Plat. Gorg. 473, C, Woolsey's ed. p. 42. It is, therefore, a more appropriate word here than the simple ίδεΐν, which is the reading in some editions, and has besides important MSS. authority in its favor. 8. Οντοί προσελϋ-ονσ , etc. The tragedy of Euripides which contained these lines has been lost. The same fragment is preserved also in Stobaeus (Eel. phys. et eth. p.9), but with verbal differences. — μη τρεσΐβς=μη τρεσον, in sense. In dehortatory commands and prohibitions ex- pressed by μη, the Greeks employed almost universally the subjunctive, in place of the imperative of the aorist. Matth. § 511. 3. So in the N. T. Matt. 1 : 20. 6 : 7. Mark 10 : 19. Col. 2 : 21, etc. Comp. Winer, § 60. 1. With the imperative of the present, on the contrary, μή NOTES. 83 may be conjoined ; but generally with a modification of the idea. See on the difference Kiihner, § 469. 5. 9. ώς της αδικίας, etc. When in Greek the writer or speaker would assign a reason, which exists in the mind of another as the ground of some act or opinion imputed to him, the construction for this purpose is usually as here, ώς, because, or ώσπερ, as if, with the genitive or ac- cusative absolute. In a full expression of the thought we should supply after ώς, they suppose, they say, or some- thing similar. See Butt. § 145. n. 5. The sense is, that men encourage themselves with the hope of impuni- ty in their wickedness, because the punishment of it is frequently so long delayed, and the time of its infliction so uncertain. In other words, as the sacred Preacher has expressed it, Eccl. 8 : 11, " because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." See to the same effect Ps. 10 : 13. III. 1. 'Εκείνο. This use of the pronoun, as intro- ductory to the following sentence, and in apposition with it, is not common. The neuters ταντα and tovto are more frequently employed in this way. Kiihner, § 631. 2. 2. σπαραγμού .... περιποιήσεις, άνακρόνειν ΐππορ dicitur eques qui equum freno retrahit, ut notat Pollux 1. 211. Σπαραγμός est crebra et vehemens freni retracta- tio. Περιιρόφησις est sibilus, qui alias ποππνσμός vo- catur. AVyttenb. Instead of this sense of σπαραγμός, it may be better to understand with others beatings, la- cerations, as with a whip, scourge or club. The word is thus more clearly distinguished from άνακρονσις, and a reference also secured to a mode of correction in the case, which one would not expect to find omitted, 84 NOTES. 3. μόλις αν γένοιτο. If μόλις may be rendered here at length, eventually, the meaning is plain. But if we adhere to its usual signification, we must suppose the idea in the mind of the writer to have been something like this : hardly, with difficulty would the vicious man be reformed, were his sins followed by an immediate retri- bution, and therefore much less, if a long interval be — ■ ? suffered to pass between his crime and its punishment. Or perhaps a union of the two senses, viz tandem, at length with difficulty, should be admitted here. Comp. Stallb. on Plat. Protag. 348, C. 4. ως ετνχεν. This phrase, and in like manner οτϊως ετνχεν, are often used adverbially as signifying fortuito, temere, accidentally, at random. Viger, p. 303. 5. μάλλον, η τφ κατά, etc. ομοιον is to be translated after μάλλον, which qualifies it and converts it into a comparative. This comparative is followed by η κατά (η προς would be the same), instead of the genitive, be- cause the objects compared are the qualities of the substantives, and not directly the substantives them- selves. See Kiihner, § 751. i. Butt. p. 489. In Latin quam pro would be used in such a case, η τφ κατά noovoiav is to be rendered, than would be expected of Pro- vidence. See the examples which Matth. has collected in illustration of this idiom, § 449, c. 6. τοις oxps . . . . μυλοις των &εών. Sextus Empiricus has preserved to us a line from an ancient unknown poet, which contains the sentiment, to which Olympicus ob- jects. "Οψε &εων αλέονσι μίλοι, αλέονσι δε λεπτά. The millstones of the gods grind late, but fine. It is not ■ NOTES. probable, however, that this was the origin of the prover- bial saying on the subject, but rather that the poet him- self has merely repeated a remark, which was already in common use. been a common mode of speaking to signify, to assail w r ith the last difficulties, to press an opponent with those arguments which have the greatest weight, and which are to overwhelm him with their overpowering force. Plato has expressed himself in a similar manner, Rep. 5. 472, A. Euthyd. 293, A. The origin of the figure is not certain. Some say it is derived from the situation of vessels in a storm, which are covered with one wave after another, till they are at length overwhelmed and sunk. In this case, the expression, third wave, would be used indefinitely, i. e. a wave repeated any number of times. Another explanation is suggested by Passow on the word τρικυμία, which he defines : " a threefold and hence very great wave ; or more correctly, the third wave, which on some coasts is said to be regularly greater and more dangerous than the two preceding^ which in other regions is affirmed of the tenth, the fine- tus decumanus of the Romans." 2. Πρώτον .... άφοσιωσόμε&α. In the first place, therefore, beginning as from ancestral Vesta, (as the say- ing is,) the reverence of the Academic philosophers to- wards the Deity, let us avoid the impiety of discoursing on such subjects with a confident tone. The phrase, αφ ^Εστίας άοχεσ&αι, signifies, to commence at the foundation, to begin at the proper beginning. This sense it derived, it is commonly said, from its being customary for the Greeks to regard the first oblations as sacred alwavs to 86 NOTES. Vesta; and hence they began, or were bound to begin their religious rites on all occasions with the worship of this goddess. Comp. Stallb. on Plat. Cratyl. 401, B. This was to commence at the fountain-head, to go back to the source, from which all should proceed. If we read, as some prefer in this expression, άφ ίβτίας .... παζρφας, ancestral hearth or home, the general idea is the same, with a change merely of the allusion. The epithet πατρφας has both a historical and an argu- mentative force — the former as implying that Plutarch and his friends claimed to be in their philosophy in the line of regular descent from the ancient Platonic sect, and the latter as suggesting that they were therefore bound in consistency to manifest the same spirit. The trait in the philosophy of the Academics, to which Plu- tarch refers, L e. their restriction of reason to its proper sphere in matters of religion, is abundantly illustrated in the writings of Plato. In Cratyl. 400, D., he says, in the person of Socrates, if we were wise, we should con- sider it the most becoming course for us to confess, that we know nothing concerning the gods, either their essen- tial nature, or the names by which they call themselves. Ibid. 407, D. 425, C. Theaet. 112, C. The ordinary definition of άφοσιουΰ&οα, by aversari,repudiare, is much too feeble. It signifies, to reject a thing as impious, to shrink from it with religious horror. This idea presents itself naturally also from the etymology. What the speaker would say, therefore, to expand the thought, is : Let us take our departure here from the true point, and that is, to confess at the outset how ignorant we are, and how incompetent to sit in judgment on the designs of Providence. Instead of such presumption, let us imi- NOTES. 87 iate rather the caution of our predecessors, the philoso* phers of the Academy, who have set us here so proper an example of the modesty with which such inquiries should be undertaken. Let us shrink from it as not merely unbecoming, but actually irreverent and impious, to set up our own reason as a test of the divine wisdom and rectitude. The parallels to this sentiment in Scrip- ture are very numerous. Comp. Deut. 29 : 29. Job 9 : 10. 11 : 7. Ps. 92 : 6. 145 : 3. Isa. 40 : 13, 14. 55 : 8, 9. Rom. 11 : 33, 34. 1 Cor. 3 : 18. 3. ή περί την ιί'νχην ιατρεία. Stallbaum in his note on Gorgias 478, D., intimates, that Plutarch has here imitated Plato in that passage. The same idea is found there and in several other places, but nowhere so fully perhaps as in Sophist. 229 sq. 4. άριατοτέχναν ανακαλούμενος. This expression of Pindar seems to have been a favorite one with Plutarch, who quotes it frequently in his writings, but from some work of the poet, which has not reached us. ο. ταύτης φησι .... ο Πλάτοιν. In this manner, with some freedom of construction, Plato interprets Odyss. 19, 174 sq. in Minoe 319, D. and Legg. 1. 624, Α.* In allusion to the same comment, Plutarch re- marks in another of his works : " We read that Homer denominates Minos the companion of Jupiter, that is, as Plato says, his pupil and disciple." — νίον οντά, being des- titute of the article, becomes a parenthesis and signifies, * For these and some of the other references to Plato, I am indebted to Wytienback. His method of notation, however, which is founded on the Fol. ed. of Ficinus, Lugd. 1590, 1 have generally exchanged for the different one followed by Bek~ her and Stallbaum. 88 NOTES. although he was a son. — Μίνώ is the accusative of the Attics, for which the other Greeks wrote, generally, Μί- νων or Μίνωα. — απλώς, obviously, at first sight. — κομι- δη, lit. with care, anxiety, hence much, very. 6. μη tQScpeiv μύστακα. This singular law, forbidding young men to wear mustaches, Plutarch mentions also in his life of Cleomenes (c. 9), and assigns there as the object of it, that it was to teach the young, that they must obey the magistrates in the most trifling things J to σ σ 7. 'Ρωμαίοι. . . . σωμα,σιν. This refers to the manu« mission per vinclictam as practised by the Romans, on the liberation of a slave, y.aocfog was the rod or staff, with which the Praetor touched the body, the head usu- ally, of the slave who was to be freed. See Horat. Serm. 2, 7. 76 — 7. The student will recognize this as the word which occurs in so different a sense Matt. 7: 3, 4, 5, and Luke 6 : 41, 42 bis. " And why beholdest thou the mote (κάρφρς) that is in thy brother's eye," etc. The significations are legitimately related, however ; for the w r ord denotes properly a dry twig, chip, straw, etc., and may be used of objects of this nature, whether larger or smaller. 8. δια&ηκας .... ουσίας. This refers to the tcstamen- tum per aes ct libram, as it was technically called. It was essential to the validity of a will made in this way, that the testator, in the presence of witnesses, should first make an imaginary sale of his property, to some person, who was termed in Roman law familiae emptor. This formality is supposed to have been intended to show that the testator had acted deliberately and intelli- gently in the disposal of his estate, and thus served as his attestation of all that was contained in the will. NOTES. 89 D. άημον αυστασιάσαντα. This term άτιμος is employed here, not in its ordinary, but in a legal and technical sense. It was applied to a person who had for- feited wholly, or in part, the rights and privileges of a citizen, and become, as it were, outlawed. The condi- tion of a person who had incurred this loss, or the act of subjecting him to it, was called ατιμία. Infamis and infamia were employed in a similar way by the Romans. επίτιμος, on the contrary, denoted one in full possession of the rights and immunities of citizenship. The ex- tent of the ατιμία, or amount of civil deprivation which it involved, depended on the nature of the offence, for which it was inflicted. See Hermann's Polit. Antiq. of Greece, § 124. Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Antiq. pp. 512 — 16. In his life of Solon (c. 20), Plutarch speaks of the same law which is mentioned here, and in that connex- ion resolves the probable ground of it, on the part of the legislator, into a desire to promote among the Athenians as active an interest as possible in the affairs of the state. Neutrality, in a time of civil commotion, would proceed, most probably, according to the view of Solon, from an indifference to the public welfare, or a selfishness in being unwilling to take sides in the conflict, from which more danger was to be apprehend- ed to the commonwealth, than from the occasional ex- cesses of party, or the evils of sedition itself. Y. 1. ενϋ-αρσέστεοορ .... άπορίαν. Plutarchi haec est mens — ut probabilitate freta atque suffulta nostra ora- tio, animosus se contra diflicuitates quaestionis erigere possit. Wyttenb. 2. κατά Πλάτωνα. The sentiment here ascribed to Plato, is not found, in so many words, in any passage 7 90 NOTES. of his writings, but is consonant with what he has taught in various places. This mode of quotation is not un- common in Plutarch, nor is it unnatural in any writer. It should not have excited so much surprise, that the writers of the N. Testament have occasionally alluded, in like manner, to predictions as existing in the O. Testament, which are not found there verbally, but in sense only. Of this class, as I understand it, is the prophecy referred to Matt. 2 : 23. 3. και γαρ η πάντων φύσις, etc. This is to be under- stood, no doubt, in accordance with the celebrated pas- sage in Plat. Tim. 30, A. ; the sense of which is, that the Deity, wishing, as far as possible, that all things should be good, but nothing bad, produced the present order of nature, from a state of previous confusion. The visible elements, which before were not fixed, but floating tumultuously hither and thither, he arrested and combined in the manner in which they now appear. Few pas- sages were so often cited by ancient writers as this. Stallbaum (v. 7. p. 120) says upon it : Respexerunt ad hunc locum, Plutarch. Symp. 1. p. 615, F. Defect. Orac. p. 430, E. De Sera Num. Vind. p. 13. Philo, t. 2. p. 367 et 397 ; eundem recitavit integrum Themistius, p. 8. ed. Dind. Plotin. Enn. 4. 8. 1, et p. 372, D., p. 397, D. Pythagoras had taught the same doctrine before Plato. Plutarch refers to it here, apparently, to show that there is nothing extravagant in speaking of human virtue as kindred to that of the Deity. It would be in fact the mere exemplification of a general law; since all things which exist in nature, having their origin in that idea or archetype of the Deity, according to which he MOTES. 91 exerts his creative energy, partake necessarily of his similitude, and reflect his image.* 4. κόσμος, which at the time Plutarch wrote, had be- come almost synonymous with // οικουμένη, reverts here. manifestly, to its earlier philosophical sense, i. e. the world as the product of a skilful designer, as full of beauty and order in its construction and arrangements. Bentley (Opusc. Philol. p. 347, 445, as cited by Passow) has shown that Pythagoras was the first who employed the term in this sense. It was entirely unknown in this signification to Homer, and the nearest approach to it in any of the older Greek writers, appears in their oc- casional use of it, to denote the starry firmament, on account of its beauty and splendor. The expression of Xenophon, Mem. 1. 1, 11. ο καλούμενος υπό των σοφισ- τών κόσμος, shows, that even in his time, this sense of the word was still a usage of the learned, rather than of common life. After this, it appears to have become gradually the popular signification, so as even to have dropped aside the peculiar idea, from which the new ap- plication arose. 5. αυτός ούτος άνηρ, he, the very same man, i. e. who has just been mentioned. Wyttenbach from a feeling of strangeness in relation to the Greek of this expression, * These points, which the passage involves, relative to the cosmogony and ideology of Plato, it would be impossible to de- velop further in a note. Those who would pursue the inquiry, can see, out of Plato, the Timasus in particular, (a) Ritter's Hist, of Anc. Philos. v. 2. c, 4 ; (b) Tennemanns Gesch. d. Philos. B. 2. S.394; (c) Rixner's Gesch. d. Philos. B. 1. § 105; (d) Krugs HW. d. philosoph. Wissen. B. 3. S. 225 ff. ; (e) Upham's Philos. c. 1. § 29; (f) Knapps TheoL v. 1. p. 331 ; (g) Henry s Epit. of the Hist, of Philos. v. 1. p. 138. 92 NOTES. has questioned its correctness, and proposed to substitute av 6 αυτός άνήρ. The legitimacy of the phrase, how- ever, is now admitted. See Kuhner, § 630, as com- pared with 3. e ; also Passow, p. 367. — We have here also an instance, in which Plutarch has given the sense of Plato in several places, but not the language of any particular passage. 6. Πηδών 6 Φυμος, etc. The later editors recognise this as a Greek senarius, and accordingly distinguish it from the text, as a quotation. It is attributed to Eurip- ides, but on grounds which are very uncertain. — Melan- thius, author of the line which is next cited, was one of the later tragic writers at Athens. But little remains from him, and this is chiefly valuable, as showing the rapid decline of his art, after the time of Euripides. 7. εμφορεϊσ&αι .... σώματος. The first genitive here is to be construed with the verb before it (which has this power of government after the analogy of ίβ&ίειν, Rost, p. 531), and the second with τιμωρίας. The forbearance which Socrates meant to inculcate by this saying, was intended, no doubt, to be of universal obligation ; and is limited, as to the terms employed, to kindred and relatives, because, from the associations of life, they are most liable to suffer from the violence of the irascible and passionate. 8. ευλαβείς. The genuine Greek sense of this word may be observed from the use of it here. In the N. Testament, on the contrary, we meet with it always as signifying, fearful towards God, devout, pious, a mean- ing transferred to it from the Hebrew TDh , and of which no example has yet been produced from the clas- sics. See Luke 2 : 25. Acts 2:5. 8:2. NOTES. 93 9. τω ulr χολάζειν, etc. It seems necessary to quali- fy κολάζει? by zcc/v, or some similar word, as the antithe- sis οι βραδέως, in the next clause, since the question man- ifestly is not in regard to the infliction or omission of punishment, but whether it should be immediate, instead of being delayed for a time. VI. 1. τον &801> . . . προσιζάνειν. It is reasonable to con- clude that the Deity, in the case of a diseased soul which lie would visit with punishment, perceives clearly its pas- sions, whether still flexible they incline at all to repen- tance, and that he allots time at least for reformation to those, whose vice has not become unrestrained and in- corrigible. So it would seem necessary to read the pas- sage, if we accept the text which the MSS. offer. Crit- ics suspect, however, that something may have fallen out, which would have changed the dependence of the infini- tive in the latter part of the sentence. Both the active force and the meaning which I have assigned to προύΐ- ζάνκιν are to be justified, from necessity rather than usage. The simple uareir has an accusative object II. 23, '258 ; but it is not common. 2. (jgij μοΐραν, etc. The view of Plutarch here re- specting the origin of the human soul, was adopted by him, probably, from the philosophy of Plato. The soul, as taught by him, is in its first derivation a part of the divine nature, is entirely distinct from the body, and not only survives its dissolution, but existed in another state before its connexion with the body in the present life. The union of the soul with matter he regarded as an im- perfection, and as a punishment for sin, committed be- fore man is begotten or born into the world. This idea of pre-existence passed over from Plato to the later Jew- 94 NOTES. ish Avriters, ex. gr., Philo. (de Somn. 1. p. 592. ed. Mang.). The reader will find also a very singular trace of it in one of the O. Testament apocryphal books, viz., The Wisdom of Solomon, 8: 19, 20. Several of the ear- ly christian Fathers, also, as Justyn Martyr, Origen and others, entertained this dogma of Platonism, though mod- ified in some respects as their views of christian doctrine seemed to require. That part of the Platonic theory, which relates to a previous contamination of the soul by sin, is not distinctly affirmed, it will be seen, in this pas- sage of Plutarch.* 3 εξαν\>εϊ. . . φ&ειρόμενον. The author here, as often elsewhere in his writings, recognises fully the corruption of human nature, but in thus deriving its origin from an external source, has forgotten apparently his own explana- tion of the matter in another place. In a passage of his treatise, de recte Aud. c. 2, he observes in substance as follows. " The passions of men which impel them to self-indulgence, and which are the sources of innumera- ble sufferings and disorders, spring up as indigenous pro- ducts in the soul. They are not introduced from without, or insinuated by the corrupt discourse of others. They are * It should be mentioned indeed, that all the authorities do not concur in ascribing it to Plato himself. Munschtr (Dogmen- geschichte B. 1. § 86. 9) represents it as an addition to the pre- existent theory of this philosopher, which originated with Origen. There seems to be an obscurity in his statements on this point, which leave it essentially a question of interpretation whether he entertained it or not. The passages, in which he is supposed to declare himself most explicitly on the subject, are Timasus 41, A. — 42, E. and 90, E. — 92, A. See in addition to the above, Hahris LB. des christlichen Glaubens, S. 339, with the refer- ences there given, and Knapp's Theol. v. 1. p. 415. NOTES. 95 such as to require every mode of counteraction, which the wisest instruction or the most careful discipline can apply ; and the man, whose nature is not subdued by these means, is likely to become wilder than an untamed beast."* 4. αννέΐναι μετά πονηρίας. This may be compared with such phrases as συνεΐναι νόσω — -λιμφ — όνείρψ, which are not uncommon, and nearly equivalent to vo- σειν, λιμώττειν, όνειρώττειν, to be sick, to hunger, to dream. The expression here, after this analogy, would signify the same as συνεΐναι κακόν, unless it be conceiv- ed, that something is gained in point of force by using the abstract term, in such a case, instead of the concrete. 5. ει δε ... . άλλα .... γε. After a hypothetical clause, άλλα, has the sense of yet, nevertheless, Viger, p. 471 So in the N. Testament : 1 Cor. 9:2. 2 Cor. 11 : 6. 13 : 4. γε emphasises the truth of the proposition in respect to the examples which follow : at least, certainly, γε often accompanies άλλα in this manner, and is properly sepa- rated from it as here by one or more intervening words. They are found in the N. Testament, in only two pas- sages, Luke 24 : 21. 1 Cor. 9 : 2, and in both of these, contrary to what is laid down as the correct Greek usage, are placed together. Yet see against the univer- sality of the rule, Ast's Lex. Plat. 1. p. 101. 6. Γέλωνα .... Ιέρωνα .... Πεισίστρατον. Gelon was king of Syracuse, B. C. 485. The foul means, πονηρία κτησάμενος, by which he gained power, were, in the first * The reader who would see other passages of the same im- port in the ancient writers, will find them cited in Hahn, LB. des christlichen Glaubens, SS. 359 — 60. Tkoluck, Lehre von der Sctnde, SS. 42—3. ed. 1S39, and Knapp's Theol. v. 2. pp. 16—7. 96 NOTES. place, usurpation, since he had no claim to the throne either by birth or election, and in the second place, perfi- dy, since he had been left guardian to the rightful heirs, and was bound to deliver to them the government on their becoming of age. He proved, however, to be a most able, energetic ruler, and advanced the dominion, and military fame of the Syracusans to their highest point. Comp. Thirlwall, v. 2. pp. 271 — 3. — Hiero was a bro- ther of the preceding, and at his death was appointed by him regent, during the minority of his infant son. He reigned for a number of years in this capacity ; but as he died before the young prince was old enough to suc- ceed lawfully to his father's authority, Hiero had certain- ly an honourable title to his power, and must be acquitted of the censure which Plutarch's common description of these kings implies in reference to this point. In other respects, he exemplifies fully the argument. The first years of his reign were marked with a cruelty and op- pression which had well nigh cost him his crown and life • but, as most say, he afterwards reformed, and sig- nalized himself as much by his beneficence and clemen- cy. He is best known, however, for his love of letters, and his patronage of scholars and poets. In this way some of the brightest literary names of Greece, as those of Pindar, Aeschylus, Bacchylides, Simonides and oth- ers have become associated with that of Hiero. — The arts, by which Pisistratus gained authority, were chiefly those of the demagogue. By intrigue, bribery, and play- ing off the passions of the poorer citizens against the rich, he succeeded in overthrowing the government of Solon, and rendering himself supreme, B. C. 560. His administration, however, was a prosperous one to Athens, NOTES. 97 What Plutarch intimates respecting the influence of these rulers in reclaiming their countrymen from idle- ness and vagrancy, is to be understood no doubt partic- ularly of him. He compelled many of the inhabitants, who were without occupation and useless in the city, to go into the country and devote themselves to husbandry, which was the beginning of the noble olive-yards and corn-fields, for which Attica became so celebrated. 7. μάχη Καρχηδονίων, etc. " The most beautiful treaty of peace ever spoken of in history, I believe, to be that which Gelon made with the Carthaginians. He required of them that they should abolish the custom of sacrificing their own children. How admirable ! Af- ter having• defeated three hundred thousand Carthacnni- ans, he exacted of them a condition, useful only to them- selves ; or rather he stipulated for the human race." Mon- tesquieu, Spirit of Laws, B. 10. c. 5. This battle took place at Himera in Sicily, which had been besieged by Hamilcar, the general of the Carthaginians. The condition, which Plutarch mentions as having been im- posed on the vanquished, points to a feature in their re- ligion, which seems to have distinguished them in de- gree, from all other ancient nations. The Semitic tribes in general were greatly addicted to the practice of hu- man sacrifices; but the Phoenician branch of them, to which the Carthaginians belonged, appear to have been preeminent in this sort of barbarity. At Carthage, they had a brazen statue of Saturn, which they heated by a furnace over which it stood, and then placed the chil- dren whom they would sacrifice upon its arms, from which they rolled expiring and in agonies into the flames below. It was considered so great a merit to partici- 98 NOTES. pate in this worship, that those who had no children of their own to offer, would buy them of the poor for this purpose. The humane regulation of which Plutarch speaks, opposed, if any, no more than a temporary check to the bloody superstition. At a subsequent period, when Agathocles, another king of Syracuse, appeared before the walls of Carthage with his army, the inhabi- tants offered a sacrifice of two hundred boys from their noblest families, and after his defeat, chose out all the fairest of the prisoners and slew them as a thank-offer- ring to the gods. At length in the reign of Tiberius, the public sacrifice of children ceased, in consequence of a decree prohibiting it, but in secret the practice is said to have continued still longer. For traces of this custom in the O. Testament, in regard to the Canaanites, see 2 Kings 3 : 27, in regard to the Babylonians, 2 Kings 17: 13, and in regard to the Hebrews themselves, after they had fallen into idolatry, 2 Chron. 28: 3. Is. 57: 5. Jer. 7 : 31. 19 : 4. Ezek. 16 : 20, etc.* 8. εν δ& Μεγάλη ττόλεί, etc. This Lydiadas was the last king who reigned at Megalopolis. He resigned his sov- ereignty and became a party to the Achsean league. * The substance of this note has been drawn from Lasaulx's Siihnopfer der Griechen und Romer und ihr Verhaltniss zu dem Einem auf Golgotha. 1841. His concluding remark may also be added. " The first interdiction of human sacrifices was decreed by the Roman Senate, B. C. 97, and was repeated by Augustus and Tiberius. Pliny, 30. 1, 12. Suetonius v. Claudii 25. But it was not till after the great propitiatory sacrifice of Christ upon Golgotha, in the time of Hadrian that human sacri- fices ceased generally, as Forphry de Abst. 2, 56, and after him Eusebius de Laud. Const. 16, 7, and Praep. Ev. 4, 17, testify." NOTES. 99 Plutarch attributes to him a generous motive in taking this step, but Polybius (2. 44) supposes him to have acted merely as a prudent man who foresaw that it was necessary. He proved faithful, however, to the confed- eration, and died in defence of it in the war against Cleomenes, king of Sparta. 9. Μιλτιάδψ Iv χεόρονησίο, etc. The Chersonesus meant is the Thracian. Some epithet would have been added to designate any other. (Hoff. p. 1532.) Miltia- des, having been sent thither to govern the country, em- ployed the most arbitrary and violent means to establish his authority. His conduct was that of a despot, in the fullest sense of the expression. He afterwards com- manded at the battle of Marathon. — πρότεροι', earlier i. e. at any time previous to this battle, after his violence and tyranny in the Chersonesus. 10. Κίμωνα βννόντα, etc. The Athenian laws, it is commonly said, permitted marriage between a brother and half sister, though such a connexion was reproba- ted by public sentiment, (Pauly's Real-Encyc. p. 364. Becker's Charikles, 2. 448). Elpinice, the αδελφή in this passage, was thus related to Cimon; but it is man- ifestly implied, that the matter might have been taken up and made a ground of legal prosecution. Euryme- don mentioned, in the verse of Pindar which follows, was the scene of a signal victory which Cimon obtained over the Persians. 11. Θεμιστοκλέους . ... δι αγοράς. Themistocles commanded in the sea-fight at Artemesium. We need not understand what is said of him, as a single act, but rather, as the tense of the verb intimates, as a habit of profligacy to which he was addicted before he became a 100 NOTES. better man. — ίκωμαζε defines the mode of practising this as having consisted in sallying out at night with a troop of rioters, drunk and merry, going about the streets with music and songs, insulting and beating those who chanced to fall in their way. κώμος, the root of this verb contains an allusion to such scenes, and occurs Rom. 13 : 13. Gal. 5 : 21. 1 Pet. 4 : 3. 12. ως voteqov Λλκιβίάδον, etc. The offence, for which he was impeached, was partly moral, partly polit- ical. He was accused of having profaned the sacred mysteries, and of being concerned in the mutilation of the statues of Mercury during the Peloponnesian war ; and also of designing to subvert the democracy of Athens and to render himself absolute. He escaped trial by flight, but was condemned in his absence, and his property confiscated. (Thucyd. 6, 53. 60. Plut. Alcib. 20.) VII. 1. Ταντα ταντ\], sc. οδω, so much on this point, — αλφ θάνατον, in case such a person should be adjudged to death. See on the verb, Butt. p. 266. It takes its object in the genitive from the judicial sense which belongs to it here. It appears from Aelian (Var. Hist. 5. 18), that the Athenians certainly, if not others, adopted this Egyptian law. 2. Πάνυ μεν ovv, yes assuredly, by cdl means, an an- swer of assent. It is common in the language of collo- quy, and hence frequent in the dialogues of Plato. The reply is complete without any such addition, as you speak the truth, it is evident, etc ; and Rost, p. 765, with reason excludes it from his list of proper Greek ellipses. Some others, on the contrary, have classed it among them. — XQOvco, at length, in the course of time. 3. ώσττερ ονδ' Λπολλοινίαν, etc. These places were NOTES. 101 colonies of Corinth (Pirn. Nat. Hist. 3. 26), where Periander was king, but it is not known what particular agency he had in planting them. The first of them was in Epirus (Hoff. p. 232), and the two last in Acar- nania (Hoff. pp. 448, 455). It was at a later period than that of Periander, that Leucadia was separated from the main land and became an island. There is an ob- scurity also in regard to the punishment which is said to have overtaken him. Reiske suggests, that Plutarch may intend the troubles which the tyrant suffered from his son Lycophron, whom he had alienated by putting to death his mother. He appears at all events to have died a natural death, at an advanced age. (Herod. 3. 49 sq.) 4. Κααάνδρφ αννοΓ/.ωνται. Thebes had been entirely destroyed by Alexander the Great, except its walls and the house in which Pindar was said to have been born. Cassander, a king of Macedonia, rebuilt it, as here stated, jointly, however, with the Athenians and some other states. He was a tyrant who scrupled at no crime to gratify his lust of power. Comp. Thirl- wall, v. 8. p. 319. His punishment appears not to have been sudden, or to have consisted in any single calami- ty. He escaped a violent end : but the latter part of his reign was embittered by domestic troubles and wars ; and, at his death, he left his kingdom in so weakened a state, that it was soon wrested from his heirs and pass- ed into other hands. 5. των δε τουτ), etc. Plutarch alludes to the Phocian or Sacred war of the Greeks, as it was called. The leaders in it, on the part of the Phocians, were Philo- 102 NOTES. melus and Onomarchus, who seized the temple at Del- phi and robbed it of its treasures, which they employed for raising and supporting an army of foreign soldiers. (Diod. 16. 56.) This Avar was brought to an end by Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander. Most of these soldiers enlisted then under Tirnoleon, and accom- panied him to Sicily to aid the Syracusans in resisting the Carthaginians, and freeing themselves from the ty- ranny of Dionysius the younger. — We see from this passage, that the scene of the dialogue is laid at Delphi. 6. Ιξοολοντο κακοί κακώς. This expression, it will be observed, is almost identical with that in Matt. 21 : 41, κακούς κακώς anoltcu. The Greeks were fond of combining these words in other ways, also, so as to produce a paronomasia, as,' for instance, κακά κακών, κακών κάκιστος, κακός κακίαν, etc. The Romans said in like manner, malos male perchre. On the use of this figure in the N. Testament, see Winer, § 62. 7. Ινίοις .... τυράννους. The suppressed object of ξτϊεΐριψε. would be in the accusative, and from the in- fluence of proximity, seems to have attracted τυράννους into the same case. According to the usual law of ap- position, κα&άπερ would have been followed by the dative. This irregularity would not exist, if we could change ίνίοις into ενιους, as it stands in the Tauch. edi- tion ; but this can hardly be anything else than a typo- graphical error, since it assigns a false government to άπεχρησετο, and renders the construction of κολασταΐς altogether anomalous. The nominative after καΰάπερ, when a different case precedes, could be more easily paralleled by examples. NOTES. 103 8. ώς ίδιον πολιτών, on pretence that he was a citizen of their own. Of the person named we have no farther account. — The city of the Cleonians, cd Κλέωνα} πόλις, stood on the way from Argos to Corinth. It boasted a high antiquity, but in other respects was insignificant. Homer mentions it in his catalogue of the ships, (II. 2, 483 — 785) as one of the cities subject to the sway of Agamemnon. Plutarch means, probably, that, it escaped the evils of misrule and tyranny as compared with some other places ; for it is not true that it escaped them al- together. In saying, that it had already come to nothing, he spoke with almost literal truth, since the site of it even then was scarcely any longer to be traced.* 9. Σΐ' /.voorioig μεν Όρΰαγόοας, etc. The Sicyonians, besides the particular act of cruelty imputed to them here, were proverbial for their vice and effeminacy in general. The menace of Apollo, however, is suspected to have been drawn forth by an artifice of Orthagoras himself, for the purpose of securing a more willing sub- mission to his tyranny. The power, for which he thus sought to pave the way, continued in his family for more than a hundred years ; the longest period, says Aristo- tle, of a Greek tyranny. — Myron and Cleisthenes were * Leake (Travels in the Morea, v. 3. p. 325) describes its pre- sent condition thus : " Leaving the river and plain on our left, we cross some uncultivated fields, the roots of Mount Fuka, and at 11 13 halt for a few minutes at the site of Choncp. The on- ly remains are some Hellenic foundations around a small height, upon which are the supporting walls of several terraces. A hamlet of four or five houses on the slope towards the plain, is still called Klenes (Kltvaig), not far from which is a larger village, named Kurtesi." 104 NOTES. also kings of Sicyon and descendants of Orthagoras.* — περί, used as it is here with the accusative of a proper name, denotes, commonly, the person spoken of, together with his associates or followers. It became, at length, particularly in the later writers (Bernhardy,t p. 263), a mere periphrasis for the individual alone, without any reference to his connexion with others. Passow suppo- ses, however, that while it is a single individual who is meant, it is the individual as associated, in the mind of the writer, with his personal qualities or attributes. See further, Butt. p. 439. The more restricted sense would be pertinent here, or we may understand Myron and Cleisthenes, together with those whom they employed as the instruments of their tyranny, or possibly those of their line who followed them on the throne. 10. Όμηρου δε που λέγοντος, etc. saying somewhere, in some passage or other of his writings. We have pre- cisely the same indefinite mode of reference Heb. 2 : 6, διεμαρτύρεζο δε ττον, and also, 4 : 4, ειφμε γαρ που. The allusion is to U. 15, 638. The writer quotes it as a happy expression of his sentiment, but goes on to de- ny that it was illustrated in the instance, of which Ho- mer used the language. Copreus, the father, having slain Iphitus, was obliged to flee to Mycena and obtain * In placing Orthagoras at the head of the line, Plutarch seems to disagree with Herodotus (6. 126) who omits his name and mentions Andreas as the remotest ancestor of Cl( isthenes. Midler (Dor. 1. 8. 2. η. χ) supposes they were the same person, and supports his conjecture by an appeal to the fragment in Mai, (11. p. 12). So Thirhcall in his note, v. 1. p. 424. t Wissenschaftliche Syntax der griechischen Sprache. Von G. Bernhardy. NOTES. 105 absolution at the hands of Eurystheus. See Crusius on II. ut supra.* Periphetes, the name of his son whom Homer lauds as so much superior to him, was slain by Hector as stated, D. 15, 639. The poet justifies the en- comium, however, by no record of his exploits. 10. άλλα το Σισύψον, etc. What is implied in re- spect to the infamy of those who are mentioned as the ancestors, may be assumed as known without illustration. To see who are meant as the offspring, it is necessary to go forward to the last sentence of the paragraph. Ulys- ses was descended both from Sisyphus and Autolycus, being the son of the former, though his reputed father was Laertes, and grandson of the latter, through his mother Anticlea (Odyss. 11, 85). It was Autolycus who stole the oxen of Iphitus, or, more correctly, of his father Eurytus who sent his son in pursuit of them ; and hence by the allusion to this fact, we have the theft and infamy of the progenitor, precisely as the argument re- quires, placed in opposition to the renown and services of the descendant. It would explain nothing, so far as I can perceive, but add rather to the diffiiculty to read there Ήρακλεα or Ήρακλην, instead of ^Οδυσσέα, and the change to this effect proposed by Wyttenbach, w r ould seem to be without sufficient reason. Aesculapius is mentioned probably, because he was a grand-son of Phlegyas, who, in revenge for an affront from Apollo, set fire to his temple at Delphi. Π. Γεγονε .... οικίας. The term εναγής was appli- ed to a person w T ho had committed some heinous crime * Homeri llias. Mit erklarenden Anmerkungen von G. Chr. Crusius. 1840—2. 106 NOTES. which required special religious rites for its expiation, and which even then fixed often a perpetual stigma on his descendants. So it was in this case. Pericles be- longed, on the maternal side, to the family of Megacles or the Alcmseonidae, as they were sometimes called. Cylon had attempted to obtain the sovereignty of Athens, B. C. 612. He was defeated in this design, and his adherents, though he himself escaped, took refuge at the altars of the gods. Megacles, in whose archon- ship this occurred, promised to spare their lives, if they would leave their asylum, and prevailed on them to trust his word. He both abused, however, their confidence and violated the sanctity of the place. He no sooner had them in his power, than he broke his oath and put them to death within the precincts of the temple itself. The act was deemed so atrocious, that Epimenides (probably the ίδιος αιτών προφήτης, Titus 1: 12), who appears to have been not only a poet, but the great κα- &αρτής of his age, was sent for from Crete to perform the necessary rites of purification. Megacles and his family were banished for a time from the city, and though afterwards suffered to return, could never wipe off en- tirely the stain of so memorable a crime. See further in note II. 7. — γεγονε when it denotes origin or descent, may be followed by εκ, or directly, as in this case, by the genitive. 12. Στράβωνος ην νιος, etc. It was chiefly the insa- tiate avarice of Strabo which rendered him so odious. He was killed by lightning, which the Romans regarded as a punishment for his vices. His body was seized by the populace, dragged by iron hooks through the city, NOTES. 107 and finally thrown into the Tiber. See Plut. vit. Pomp, c. 1. VIII. 1. νομίζειν is changed in some editions to νο- μίζετε. The infinitive, however, should probably be re- tained, and may be considered as an instance of brachy- ology = χηή or δει νομίζειν, or, as including in itself the idea of the impersonal verb. The similar cases in Pla- to, Stallbaum, following Heindorf, explains in the latter way : in talibus locis non δ ει ν omissum esse, sed verba ηγεΐαϋ-αι, λογίζεσ-Θ-αι, νομίζειν, al. significare cequum s. opus judicare. See note on Protag. 346, B. 2. το κατά Κάλλιππον, etc. In his life of Dion, Plu- tarch relates this incident more at length. Callippus or Callicrates as the name is sometimes written, was liv- ing at the court of Dion, as his guest, at the time that he murdered him. He had been charged, previously to this, with entertaining such a design, but protested his inno- cence by an oath, which he regarded so little as to choose the festival of the Deity by whom he had sworn, as the occasion for carrying his purpose into effect. He was soon deposed from the power, which it had been his object to secure by this act, and after wandering from place to place, was killed in a quarrel with the very same dagger, as it is said, which he had used against Dion. " Thus," as the narrator adds, " he suf- fered the punishment which his crimes deserved." This disposition in Plutarch to mark the retributions of guilt in human history has been justly pointed out as one of his most distinguishing and valuable traits as a biog- rapher.* * See to this effect Hoffmann. D':e Alterthumswissenschaf r l S. 695. 108 NOTES. 3. Μιη'ον τον Αργείον, etc. Another similar instance occurred, when Mitius of Argos having been slain in a tumult, a brazen statue in the market, during a public spectacle, fell upon his murderer and killed him. Aris- totle also in his Poetics (c. 9) mentions the same incident, but terms the person whose death was thus avenged Mitys, instead of Mitius. 4. Ό μεν Άριστων, etc. The ornament here meant was the famous golden necklace, with which Polynices, the son of Oedipus, induced Eriphyle to betray her hus- band Amphiaraus, who had secreted himself to avoid go- ing to the Theban war, in which he knew he was des- tined to perish. — ενταν&α κείμενον, deposited here, i. e. in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Alcmaeon, the son of Amphiaraus, on hearing of the death of his father, slew Eriphyle, and consecrated the fatal ornament as a gift to Apollo at Delphi. Here it remained till the time of the sacred war, when it shared the fate of the other treasures of the temple as stated in a preceding note. (VII. 5.) Ariston, who received the necklace, was the leader of a band of the foreign soldiers (ξεναγωγόν), hired with the fruits of this sacrilege. — των τνράννων, are the leaders probably of the Phocians in the sacred war, viz. Onomarchus, Philomelus, Phayllus and others. 5. χελιδόνων .... διέφθειρε. Hierundinem laedere, ut hodieque a multis, sic antiquitus nefas habebatur. Wyttenb. Bessus, of whom Plutarch relates this very striking occurrence, is unknown to us, except from this passage. 6. τι πα&ων επραξας, what, fellow, has pos- sessed you to do so monstrous a thing ? Both τίπα&ών, and the similar phrase ti μα&ών, express always disap- NOTES. 109 probation on the part of the person, from whom the question proceeds, and are often rendered, though loose- ly, ichy, for what reason, etc. But with this general resemblance, the phrases admit of a more exact distinc- tion. In demanding the explanation of an act by τί πα~ Sow, the cause is supposed to be some external circum- stances or sudden phrensy of mind ; but in employing τί μαΰων that it was occasioned by false views, or some oversight of the understanding. Matth. § §&. Kuhner, § 833. 2. k. Butt. p. 442. — γαρ pre-supposes an indignant denial of the insinuation which the question conveyed. — άλλόκοτον some etymologists derive from άλλος and κότος, i. e. τρόπος, η&ος, οργή, and define as signifying to be of another disposition or nature, than that which belongs or should belong to a person or thing. IX. 1. τ αντ α μεν ημείς, etc. The license of transpo- sition seems to be carried here to an unusual length. Our order of thought would have demanded a position of νπο&εμένοι nearer to that of λεγομεν, with whose sub- ject it agrees. Translate, these things we say, taking it for granted as if it were already proved, or self-evi- dent that, etc. 2. ονχ fi Πλάτων, etc. Not as Plato that punishment is a suffering w hi eh follows injustice, but contemporaneous with it, produced from the same common source and root. This use of y, in what way, as, is not uncommon, es- pecially in the Attic writers. It was formerly admitted also, in the Homeric phrase ij &ψις εστίν (LI. 2, 73.9, 33), but it is now contended that the true reading in both places requires ?j &ψις. See Thiersch's Gr. p. 667. — όμό&εν is best taken perhaps as expressing by appo- sition, the same sense as the following genitives. Wyt- 110 NOTES. tenbach would disregard the grammatical form, and con- sider it as equivalent, to όμον, at the same time. In either case it is strictly superfluous, since the idea is al- ready expressed by other words in the sentence. The remark of Plato, to which exception is taken, is found de Legg. 5. 374, F. The line from Hesiod is v. 264 of the Works and Days. The other is considered by some as a free citation of v. 263 of the same work, but by others is attributed to Democritus of Chios, or Callima- chus. The sentiment in both is the same, and corres- ponds to Prov. 5: 22. 26: 27, and Ps. 7: 16. 3. κανϋ-αρϊς, the plaster-beetle, or Spanish fly (sytta vesicatoria, Fab. or meloe vesicatoria, Lin.), whose pow- erful vesicating properties, it is well known, will both kill and cure. The ancient physicians made the same use of the cantharis in medicine, which is made of it at present. Comp. Plut. Aud. Poet. 22, A. 4. ί-'χαστος σταυρόν. Reference is here made to the case of malefactors who were condemned to die by crucifixion. A part of their punishment consisted in being required to carry their own cross to the place of execution. This passage of Plutarch is a locus classi- cus, in proof of the existence of such a custom (Lips. de Cruce, 2. 5), and confirms what the Evangelists as- sume as true relative to this point in their history of the crucifixion of the Saviour. See Matt. 27 : 32. Mark 15 : 21. Luke 23 : 26. John 19 : 17. 5. άχρις .... όφΰώσιν. Reiske finds in this passage an allusion to the early christian martyrs, who were sometimes put to death in a manner similar to what is described here, in the persecutions under the Roman emperors. We should not be authorized, however, to NOTES. Ill infer this merely from the mode of execution, since this does not seem to have been peculiar to the Christians, but common to them with others who were held to be atrocious offenders. The earliest explicit allusions of this nature which occur in classical authors, are those of Tacitus, Annal. 15. 44 and of Suetonius in Nerone, c. 16. It is generally supposed, that Juvenal also refers to the sufferings of the Christians, Serm. 1. 146—8, but the terms there are too indefinite to admit of such a construction with certainty. 6. Ίΐοόδίκον ο Πλάτων νοαοναιν. Pla- to says this in Repub. 3. 400, A. Herodicus was at first a professional παιδοτρίβης or teacher of gymnastics. These, before his time, had been practised almost solely as an accomplishment, but were applied by him to pur- poses of health, and were henceforth engrafted on the healing art as a branch of the profession. Wyttenbach, in his note on this passage, has confounded him with an- other person of the same name, who was a brother of Gorgias the sophist. See Stallb. on Gorg. 448, B., and also Woolsey, ibid. The place from which he is here named, Selymbria or Selybria (Hoff. p. 1537), was a city of Thrace on the Prcpontis. — μιξαντα ία- τοίχη sc. τεχνχι, dativus cGinmunioiiis et societatis. Kuh- ner, § 573. a. 7. όσοι, %ψ τταραντίκα, etc. The peculiar felicity both of conception and manner displayed here, has been just- ly admired. Et egregie hgec excogitata et graviter om- nino pronuntiata sunt. Wyttenb. 8. λέγω δε προς ημάς, etc. See analysis of the argu- ment, p. 67. The passage, it will at once occur, presents a most striking parallel to the declaration in 2 Peter 3; 112 NOTES. 8, 9. " The Lord is not slack concerning his promises (his word, his purposes) as some men count slackness : for one day with him is as a thousand years and a thou- sand years as one day." 9. άλλως τε καΐ, pp., cum alias oh causas, turn, etc., but may be rendered = μάλιστα, especially, i. e. the punishment of the wicked may with so much the more reason be deferred for a time, especially since in the interval they are constantly guarded as prisoners, who have no means of escape from the power of the Deity. See on the phrase Matth. § 597. Butt. p. 436. X. 1. προσδοκίας. This word means more frequent- ly in the classics hope, expectation in a good sense ; and this is the only meaning of it which some of the lexicons recognise; but not correctly, since here manifestly it signifies fear, apprehension, precisely as in Luke 21: 26. 2. εχεται .... καϊ .... εξεδηδοκη. The sense here turns on the force of ενΰνς. The writer would say, that the transgressor has no sooner tasted the pleasure than he begins to feel the pains of guilt, or to speak after the analogy of the figure, he is caught as soon as the alluring bait of vice has tempted him to be guilty of it. εν&νς connects itself back to άδικησας, and sig- nifies, at the same time, i. e. that the unjust deed was committed. See Passow sub voc. 3. b. Comp. also Kuh- ner, § 665. 5. The adverb and participle in this sense, are more apt to stand in the same clause: but could be separated here perhaps, because they qualify both verbs. 3. ΰνννος . . . διαστροβει. Plutarch has quoted this line also, in his life of Lucullus, but as here without ac- crediting; it to its source. The author is unknown, NOTES. 113 The comparison reminds us of the somewhat similar il- lustration of the same thought in Is. 57: 20. 4. ίταμότης εκείνη, that audacity , viz., which is a well known characteristic of the wicked. This use of εκεί- νος to denote persons or things of general notoriety, is similar to that of Hie in Latin, but less frequent. Kiih- ner, § 629. 8. Not wholly dissimilar to this is the use of the pronoun in the N. Testament phrase, ή ήμερα εκείνη, Matt. 7 : 22. 24 : 36. Luke 10 : 12, etc, 5. Τάδε δράκων, etc. Stesichorus is said to have written a tragedy, entitled Orestes, from which these lines are supposed to have been taken. (Athan. L. 12. p. 513, A). — βασιλεύς ΪΙΙείύ&ενίδας is Orestes, the grandson, or as others say, the nephew of Plisthenes. It is he who appears to Clytemnestra in the dream or vision, because as the natural avenger of his father it be- longed to him to punish her for having murdered Aga- memnon. 6. οίον cfae)v Αττολλόδοιρόν, etc. When ancient writers would cite the two worst examples of inhumanity which were known to them, they gave the names of this Apollodorus and Phalaris. (Senec. de Ira, 2. 5; de Beneflc. 7. 19.) He lived B. C. 279, and reigned at Cassandria or Potidaea as it was called at first, on the confines of Macedonia and Thrace. (Hoff. p. 117. 131.) The images of guilt which haunted his imagination, show, that he must have been an unnatural father as well as a cruel tyrant. The Scythians were proverbial for their barbarity, and as the kingdom of Apollodorus lay in their vicinity, it was not a singular suggestion of his fears, that he might one day fall into their hands 114 NOTES. and suffer from them the plagues which his heart told him that he deserved. 7. ίττπαρχον δε τον Πεισιστράτου, etc. Herodotus (5. 56), has related another dream which Hipparchus is said to have had just before his assassination, and which conveyed to him an obscure intimation of his danger. The crime, which occasioned him these forebodings, is indicated by the source from which he sees himself threatened with punishment. He was put to death by Harmodius and Aristogiton, B. C. 513, 8. Οι δε Πτολεμαίου, etc. The Ptolemy here men- tioned was a son of the first Egyptian king of this name. He is summoned to justice by Seleucus, because he had murdered him, and thus succeeded to his power as king of Macedonia. We are to interpret the dream probably as showing forth not only the certainty of his punish- ment, but the particular manner, in which he should come to his end. He had reigned but a short time, when his kingdom was invaded by the Gauls, who took him prisoner and tore him in pieces alive. — This was in the third century B. C. It was to the descendants of these Gauls in part, that the Epistle to the Galatians was addressed. They crossed subsequently into Asia Minor, and there established themselves in the portion of it which was afterwards called from them, and the Gre- cian inhabitants with whom they intermixed, Gaiiograe- cia or by contraction Gallatia. 9. βαίνε δίκης άσσον, go, meet thy merited doom, άσσον is often joined in this sense with ίεναι, ίκεσ&αι, and other similar verbs. It takes more frequently in such a case the dative, but sometimes the genitive, as here. So II. 14, 277, Kiihner, § 522. ddd. NOTES. 115 10. ψνχοπομπεΐον, was a place for the practice of necromancy, i. e. where the souls of the dead, as was supposed, could he called up from the lower world and consulted as a species of oracle. The Greeks as early as the time of Homer (Odyss. 11, 24) practised this mode of divination, but not, as it would appear, Avith great frequency, or on common occasions.* It presup- poses manifestly a belief in the continued existence of the soul after death, and constitutes an important testi- mony to the recognition of this doctrine, wherever the custom prevails. The O. Testament abounds in traces of it among the Hebrews, in the earliest, as well as the later periods of their history. See Lev. 19 : 31. Deut. IS : 11. 1 Sam. 25: 7 sq. Is. 8: 19. 29: 4, etc. These pas- sages alone furnish a refutation of VT arburton. — The city here mentioned as the seat of the oracle was most probably in Bithynia on the Euxine. XL 1. κάΙ γαρ ει μηδέν, etc. It would be possible perhaps to make out a distinction in meaning between (v τω βίφ and τω χρόνψ, but it is simpler to regard it as a hendiadvs = iv τω του 3ίον χρονφ, analogous somewhat to our lift-time, το δαιμόνων is to be supplied as the sub- ject of παρεχειν, unless we read with some υπάρχει*, in which case κακόν would be the subject, πράγματος, is in apposition with αδικίας, the latter as subject, and the former as predicate of the proposition. The infinitive * Oracles for this purpose were oriental in their origin and character rather, than Grecian. " They seem,'* says Thirlwall (v. 1. p. 205), "not to have been congenial with the feelings of the Greeks, and to have been seldom resorted to, except by those who had been acaded by remorse into an unwonted superstition." ] 16 NOTES. of the verb of existence is implied after the participle. The remark of Matth. § 533. 1. in regard to verbs which signify to perceive, announce, appear, is to be extended to others also of kindred meaning. — η αΐσ- &ησις αυτών, the perceiving or consciousness I say of this. " αυτός is sometimes used, like the Latin ipse, of that which is the subject of discourse and supplies the place of αυτός ούτος" Kiihner, § 630. 3. e. As the pronoun refers to a single idea, it was at the option of the writer to use the singular or plural. 2. ιστοροϋσι δηπου Λνσίμαχον, etc. Plutarch relates the same anecdote of this well known general of Alexan- der in his Apophth. 183, E., and again in his treatise de San. tuend. 126, E. The European Getae dwelt on the confines of Thrace which was one of the countries that fell to Lysimachus in the partition of Alexander's empire. — ίμης is used for ψου and has the influence on the following relative, which that would have had in its place. Soph. p. 179. 3. Σιμωνίδης .... κενήν. Simonides is said to have been the first who wrote poetry for a reward. As he demanded a high price for his encomiums, he found it much easier to obtain the money than the thanks of those who were ambitious of a place in his verse. Hence he was accustomed to say that he kept two chests — that for silver he found always full, but that for benefits or presents of gratitude, empty. — δι ηδονής, etc. The proposition denotes apparently a condition, under which the wicked make the experience in ques- tion, i. e. in enjoying a pleasure which proves immedi- ately so worthless, they find, etc. ερημον is feminine and belongs to κακίαν. It is one of several adjectives which NOTES. 117 have usually three, but in Attic writers often only two endings. 4. εφ' οίς έδρασε, etc. The compound construction in εφ' οίς throws the participle into the following clause; but in the agreement the law of sense prevails still over that of position. Valckenaer (Diatrib. in Euripides Fragm. c. 17. p. 173), supposes these lines to be drawn from some lost tragedy of Euripides. The crime which Ino laments was, that she had instigated her husband, Athanas, to treat his children by a former marriage with so much cruelty, and even to attempt their death. — πώς αν, joined thus to the optative, expresses not so much a question as a definite wish or prayer, and where the Latin language would employ ο si, or utinam. Matth. § 513. 1. So again in the sentence which follows. — εξ άοχης, anew, as at first. — ταντα =z όντως, and introdu- ces the second member of the comparison, as correlative with ωσπερ. It is less common in this sense than ταντχ[. 5. ου γάρ εσζι, etc. The order of the words, as con- formed more nearly to that of the thought, would be, as Wyttenbach suggests, ov γαρ β-αόραλεοψ εστί το ποντ Γ ρόν, etc. The expression, εν olg προαιρείται, has arisen from a contraction of the fuller and more common con- struction εν τούτοις α προαιρείται. It is a phrase simi- lar to that mentioned in the last note. 6. ει μη .... τους ddr /.οννζας. The words of Cice- ro, Offic. 1. 19. furnish a comment on this remark : Sci- entia, quae est remota a justitia, calliditas potius, quam sapientia est appellanda. In these terms, he has given the sense of Plato in Menex. 246, E. It was held by many of the ancients as a sort of axiom in ethics, that good qualities preserve their character as such only when 118 NOTES. directed to good ends. Thus a bad man may exhibit subtilty or cunning in the practice of vice, but not wis- dom properly so called. He may discover pertinacity, presumption, arrogance, but not true fortitude, courage or magnanimity. 7. τους χρίοντας προΟνμως, they fear those who censure them, and dread those who praise them, as persons injured by deception and as especially hostile to the wicked, because they praise readily those who seem to he good. The proof, it will be observed, which con- firms the observation in τους επαινονντας δεδίααιν, is itself confirmed by the clause οτι .... προϋνμως. The praise of virtue, to develop the idea in another form, implies, where it is sincere, an abhorrence of vice; and hence there are none whom the wicked have so much reason to dread, as the very persons on whom they have imposed by their hypocrisy, and who, in applauding them for imaginary excellence, give proof of the detestation with which they would regard them, could they but see their characters in a true light. — The distinction which is said to exist between δεδίεναι and φοβεΐσϋαι, when discriminated, is, that the former denotes a permanent feeling of insecurity, but the latter rather a sudden fear, or the terror which is awakened by the presence itself of danger. See Ammonius sub v. /I tog. See also Stallb. on Plat. Protag. 358, D. But this difference, says the latter, is often neglected, Legg. 746, E. Ibid. 7, 819, A. Xenoph. Mem. 3, 5. 6. 8. επί τυραννία .... Απολλόδωρος. From the sense of επί as denoting ' condition/ results that of ' aim or object/ as being the inducement from which a person acts, For the attainment of sovereignties and conspiracies, i. e. NOTES. 119 by a consiructio pregnans, as regards the latter, for the stronger confederation of them. The allusion is to the means which Apollodorus took, in order to bind his accomplices more strongly to his cause. He invited them to a feast ; and after they had eaten, showed to them the remains of the bodies of several persons whom he had slain and served up to them in their food. 9. ώς Γλαύκος, etc. The narrative in Herodotus 6, 56, explains fully this allusion. Glaucus was by birth a Spartan and esteemed the most just man of his age. A rich Milesian, having heard of his fame, and wishing to provide some securer place for his property than Ionia at that time afforded, entrusted to him a large sum of money, on condition that it should be restored when de- manded. After a time the sons of the Milesian came, and as the lawful heirs, requested the surrender of the property. But Glaucus now affected an entire igno- rance of the transaction, and sent them away without granting their claim. On their departure he hastened to Delphi, and inquired of the oracle, whether he might persist in his denial and retain the money. He was an- swered, if he chose to falsify his word, he might enjoy the fruits of his perfidy for a time, but that as a punishment for his wickedness in conceiving such a thought, he and all his family should be utterly destroyed. The answer so terrified him, that he sent for the Milesians, and gave them back the property, but was ere long cut off with all his race, in fulfilment of what the oracle had foretold. Juvenal, Serm. 13, 199, recites this story to confirm the moral, that crime meditated involves often the guilt of crime committed •. Has patitur poenas peccandi sola voluntas. 120 NOTES. 10. εγώ μεν. The particle here suggests an opposi- tion, though not carried out in form, between the speak- er and others, viz. / for my part think thus, although others may judge differently. In such a case, when the mind supplies readily the adversative thought, the anti- thetic clause with δε may be omitted. Comp. Matth. § 622. b. This is exemplified in the N. Testament, Acts 19 : 4. Rom. 7 : 12. 10 : 1. Col. 2 : 23. Comp. Winer, § 64. 2. e. XII. 1. ωσπερ εφεδρον. This term is used, with a playful allusion to the contests of wrestlers or pugilists, in which, when one was vanquished, another came for- ward and took his place. The individual, sitting by in expectation of being thus called into the lists, was term- ed 6 έφεδρος. With reference to this, Timon says, that as the first difficulties have all been overcome, he will now propose his final objection, and thus bring on, as it were, his last recruit. — μετρίως, not indifferently, but well, excellently, an expression of unqualified praise, i. q. κοσμίως. See Stallb. on Plat. Phaedo, 108, C. 2. α γαρ Ευριπίδης, etc. It appears from Stobaeus (Serm. 78. p. 454), that a remark like this was contained in the Alcmseon of Euripides, a tragedy of his which has been lost. The doctrine, against which Timon cites the poet, has formed, it is well known, a part of the re- ligious creed of mankind in almost every age and nation. The Grecian drama, especially, abounds in the recogni- tion of it. "In the Oedipus Tyrannus," says a recent writer,* " the Oedipus Coloneus and Antigone of Soph- * Prof. Lcicis on The Divine attributes as exhibited in the Grecian Poetry, in Bib. Rep. v. X. No. 19. NOTES. IS! ocles, in the Phoenissae of Euripides, and in the Septeni of Aeschylus, we have constantly this single moral pre- sented, — that an act of wilful disobedience to the Divine command, involves, not only the first guilty individual, but also his offspring to the third generation, together with his kindred and country, in a train of the most calamitous consequences, — that sin ever begets sin, and that nothing can stay the plague or make atonement, but the direct interposition of Heaven. The story of the house of Atreus strongly presents the same great truth, as it is powerfully exemplified in the sublime Trilogy of Aeschylus, consisting of the Agamemnon, the Chcepho- rae and the Eumenides. It is, however, worthy of note in these cases, as in the parallel Scripture histories, that the descendants are not merely unfortunate, but criminal." For the opinion of the ancients on this subject, Wytten- bach refers to Valckenaer ad Phoeniss. v. 941. Hippol. v. 826, and also Ez. Spanhem. ad Callimach. p. 265. Among the places in Scripture which assert this doc- trine, are Ex. 20: 5. Gen. 9: 25. 1 Sam. 3 : 12— 13. 1 Kings 15 : 29— 30. 21:29. Rom. 5 :] 2—19. Matt. 23 : 35. 1 Cor. 15 : 21—22.* 3. εν τω αδίκως, etc. We may suppose an ellipsis and insert ποιεϊν or κολάζειν between the article and adverb, or consider it as one of the instances, in which the article converts the adverb into a noun. See Butt. § 125. 7. 4. oi δε σνν&εψ&ες αίτίαν, etc. The real offence of * The Biblical view of this subject will be found very fully stated and vindicated against objections in Jamieson on Sacred History, v. 2. c. 5. 9 122 NOTES. Aesop was, that he satirized and ridiculed the Delphian priests. They took up the affront, however, which was intended for themselves, in the name of Apollo, and put him to death on the charge of blasphemy, or as others say, on that of having stolen one of the golden vessels of the temple. They made use of both pretexts, probably, as a cloak for their malice. — Hyampeia was one of the summits of Parnassus, which lay distinctly in view from Delphi, where the dialogue is feigned to have been held ; and hence the speaker could say, with a look or gesture in that direction, άπο της πέτρας εκείνης. On one side of this height was a precipice, over which persons were thrown who had been guilty of sacrilege or any similar impiety. Out of respect to the memory of Aesop, the Delphians subsequently transferred this punishment to Nauplia, mentioned just below, which was another of the summits of Parnassus. 5. Σάμιος "Ιδμων, etc. Instead of Idmon, Herodotus (11. 134) writes Iadmon. The descendant, it seems, bore the same name as his ancestor. Aesop is said to have been born a slave, to have been sold repeatedly from one master to another, till he came at length into the possession of Idmon the Samian, who gave him his freedom. 6. το Βραγχιδών άστυ, etc. The Branchidae were the hereditary priests of the temple and oracle of Apollo at Didyme, not far from Miletus in Ionia. As they had betrayed its treasures to Xerxes, they requested him on his return from Greece, to give them a residence in some remote region of Asia, where they might be se- cure from the wrath of the Greeks, which they had now so much reason to apprehend. He accordingly removed NOTES. 123 them to Bactriana. It was here that Alexander found their descendants on his expedition into the East, and inflicted on them the summary vengeance, to which Plu- tarch refers. 7. Κερκυραίους, a later Greek appellation for the Ρ ha) aces of Homer, who entertained Ulysses with great hospitality when shipwrecked on their coast, and who finally conveyed him in a vessel of their own to Ithaca. See Odyss. 6, 78 — 225, and 13, 1 — 95. — καϊ τον ποιμένα, viz. Polyphemus. The allusion is to the well known story, Odyss. 9, 371 sq. και, even or also, i. e. besides destroying our flocks, προς, in the verb, refers to the same thing, and the other term being retained, is super- fluous. 8. si Φενεάτας, etc, Pheneus was a city in Arcadia. The chasm spoken of was one in its vicinity, into which the waters from the surrounding mountains flowed, and from which they were conveyed again by means of sub- terranean outlets. Any obstruction in these was liable to occasion an immediate inundation. Pausanias states that this had taken place once in very early times, and that the waters rose so high, that the city, although upon a hill, had been entirely swept away. It was afterwards rebuilt ; but it would seem from what is intimated here, that the inhabitants had recently experienced again a similar disaster, or at least were now threatened with a recurrence of it.* Their superstition led them to at- " Leake visited these localities and found still remaining, on the " conical peak" where the ancient Pheneus stood, " some pieces of the walls with square and round towers." Travels in the Morea, v. 3. p. 146. This valuable writer, by the way, in citing this passage of Plutarch, as if it affirmed a recent inunda- tion of the city in opposition to the tradition of one more an- 124 NOTES. tribute it to the anger of Apollo, Comp. Hoff. p. 1144. The tripod which Hercules is said to have taken away, was that belonging to the temple at Delphi. 9. Σνβαρίταις .... "Houg. The cause of the anger of Juno is supposed to have been a profanation of her temple. A slave had taken refuge in it from his mas- ter, but was pursued, and scourged by him while cling- ing to the altar, in disregard of the right to protection, which the sanctity of the place conferred upon him. The Sybarites, we may suppose, were culpably indifferent to the act, or perhaps in some way extended a direct sanc- tion to it, and thus the guilt of it became common. Their city was twice destroyed, once by the Crotoneans B. C. 508, and again half a century later, by the same people, as is expressly related by Died. Sic. 12, 9. 10. Plutarch must have added to these some other overthrow, of which history has given us no record. The cessation of evils, which the oracle meant, was probably the peace and solitude which destruction would bring with it. But the entire passage is very obscure, and all which critics have advanced upon it has been merely in the way of an attempt at explanation. 10. δια τψ .... άζολασίαν. This crime of Ajax is unknown to Homer, and rests on some later tradition. It is disputed to whom the lines here should be attribu- ted, whether Callimachus, Euphorion, or some one else. — y.cu ει, not although, but even if. Hoc tenendum; y.ai ει semper habere gradationem, ut sit adeo si; ει και autem ea gradatione carere atque simpliciter esse etsi, quanquam. Stallb. on Apolg. Soc. 32. It has been ques- cient, has fallen, if I understand him, into a misapprehension of its meaning. NOTES. 1*25 tioned, whether this difference is observed Mark 14 : 29. — πον δη, where I pray ? δη when connected, as it often is, with interrogative?, and with the imperative and op- tative expressions of the verb, augments the earnestness of the inquiry, command or entreaty. See Acts 13: % 1 Cor. 6 : 20. Luke 2 : 15. 11. οτι στίζονσιν, etc, If this was a punishment at first, it became in the end a mark of beauty or honor. (Herod. 5. 6.) The women of some other countries in northern Europe and in Asia, as ancient writers testify, imprinted figures on their bodies, or, as the south-sea- islanders term it, tattooed themselves, in a similar manner. XIII. 1. Eur. See on the grammatical form, Butt, p. 233. It is often a mere particle of transition, but more frequently intimates that the speaker would change the topic of discourse, either because he has said all that he wishes to offer himself, or because he has heard enough upon it from another. 2. ζών εναγχος, etc. These festivals, ueo'Stna as they were termed, were observed in various places and in honor of different deities. The one here mentioned was that of Apollo, which, it seems, had just been celebra- ted with great pomp at Delphi. — εκείνης occurs as m note X. 4. — Of what the μερίς or conferred portion consisted, whether of land or a part of the customary sacrifice, or something else, is not known. 3. ει μη .... φλογι, unless he has a Machined heart which has been forged with cold flames. The expres- sion is contained in a fragment of the poet, which Atha- nseus has preserved, 13. 601, D. The oxymoron in vjv/.qu φλογί is bold, but in die spirit of Pindar. We have the same figure not unfrequently in the X. Testa- 126 NOTES. ment, but there the paradox lies generally in the thought rather than the words. " He that findeth his life shall lose it," Matt. 10 : 39 ; " Let the dead bury their dead," Luke 9 : 60; "I know thy poverty, but thou art rich," Rev. 2 : 9, are examples of it. See further in John 6 : 51. 9 : 39. 2 Cor. 6 : 10, and 8 : 2. — el μη has an ironi- cal force, nisi forte. The exception challenged in such a case is always, in the view of the proposer, an impos- sible one. See Kuhner, § 823. 6. 4. Έώ λόγος. I pass therefore the proclama- tion similar to this at Sparta, namely, next after the Lesbian song . . . for the 'principle is the same, i. e. as in the other case, in which you admitted the propriety of the custom. Terpander went to Sparta, at the request of the inhabitants, at a time when dissensions prevailed among them, which he was enabled to compose by his skill as a singer or rhapsodist. Hence the Lacedaemo- nians took from him their idea of perfection in such ef- forts, and were accustomed to say of a poet when they would award to him their highest praise, he is second to Terpander. 5. ά)Χ νμεΐς /Ιαίψαντον. Timon, as allied to the Opheltiadae, could display a high ancestry. Ophel- tes, the founder of the race, was the son of Peneleus, who is mentioned in Homer (II. 2, 459), as one of the leaders of the Boeotians in the Trojan war. Dai'phan- tus was a distinguished leader of the Phocians, who con- quered the Thessalians in a memorable battle at Hyam- polis, and was slain infighting against the Lacedaemoni- ans at Manitea. Plutarch himself, as he states, Virtut. Mul. 244, B., wrote a life of him, but it has not descend- ed to our times. — άξιοντε, you deem it just. — Ανν,οομσΛ- NOTES. 127 oig και Σατιλαίοις. All that is known of these families or tribes, is intimated here. As the reputed descend- ants of Hercules, they claimed certain immunities and honors, to which their right, it seems, had been con- tested. 6. εκ κακών η πονηρών. The abstract terms, also, which correspond to these adjectives, are found togeth- er, Rom. 1 : 29. They have an obvious general sense in common ; but the specific difference is uncertain. Most perhaps, as Ammonias, Heysichius and others, adopt the distinction which the etymology suggests, 6 πονη- ρός, according to this view, has an active sense, 6 πόν- ους παρ ε'χων (as in Latin dolus from dolere), and de- scribes the wicked man in action ; while 6 κακός is a more passive term, and describes him with reference to his moral state or character. So Tholuck in his Kom- ment. zum. Rom. Br. 1842. p. 104. Fritzsche, on the contrary (Comment, ad Epist. ad Rom. p. 84), reverses this distribution and assigns the more active sense to κα- κός, and the more passive to πονηρός. 7. Ααχάοονς η Λοίστωνος. Lachares, by the aid of Cassander, king of Macedonia, had raised himself to supreme power at Athens, which he exercised with the greatest rigor, but was soon deposed and banished by Demetrius, son of Antigonus. The history of Ariston, or Aristion, or Aristio, as the name is variously written, w r as very similar. He was in the pay of Mithridates, king of Pontus, and succeeded with his help in obtain- ing possession of the government, but rendered himself detestable by his insolence and cruelty. The capture of Athens by Sylla, the Roman general, put an end to his tyranny. 128 NOTES. 8. μάλλον δε, or rather, vcl potius,imo quidem. Comp. Stallb. on Plat. Crito, 63, D. — φιλαίτιος — δύσκολος, fault -Jin cling and captious. XIV. 1. ώς τό'/ε naqlg, etc. These' accusatives we translate in English most naturally after ειπείν, as depend- ing on εχομεν in the sense, have it in our power or are able ; but in a strict view of the construction, they are to be referred no doubt to the latter verb in its ordinary signification. It is the same idiom which occurs in a conciser form in Luke 7 : 40. 12 : 4. Acts 4 : 14. Comp. Rob. Lex. p. 348. Habeo dicer e the Latins employed in a similar manner. See Ramshorn, Lat, Gr. § 168. 2. 2. αίγος τον ηονγγίτψ, etc. Pliny also (8. 76) attri- butes this property to a certain plant, but does not men- tion the name of it. The term under which Plutarch designates it here is an uncommon form, for which other writers generally employ ήρνγγιον, as he himself does elsewhere. He tells the same story in Sympos. 7. 700, D. and in Philos. c. Prin. 776, F. ; and by introduc- ing it in the latter instance by a ως λεγονσι, seems to beg of his readers to accept it as an illustration, even if they should doubt its truth. The plant is supposed by some to be the eryngium campestre, by others, the scolysmus maculatus of Linnaeus. 3. ει πάγους, etc. Plutarch means the plague which desolated Athens soon after the beginning of the Pelo- ponnesian war, and which Thucydides has rendered so memorable, by his description of it in the second book of his history. It was the general belief of antiquity, that this pestilence appeared first in Aethiopia and spread thence through Egypt and western Asia to Greece. Comp. Lucret. 6. v. 1139. — ει imparts a color of doubt NOTES. 129 to the sentence which is merely rhetorical and not found- ed at all in the nature of the thought. It stands in fact for on or cog, and was a refinement, particularly common in Attic discourse, to avoid the harshness which belongs to unqualified, positive assertion. Kuhner, ξ 722.7. Butt. p. 423. There are several instances of this usage in the N.Testament; Matt. IS : 28. Mark 15: 44. Luke 12 : 49. 1 John 3 : 13— άνε^λψ^ψαν sc, roeco. 4. δίκη 'φερόμενη, etc., justice passed over with full effect to their descendants. On this use of φερόμενος with verbs of motion, see Kiihner, § 668. 1 ; Butt. p. 443. In some instances it is reckoned as superfluous, but generally has in some way an intensive effect, the pre- cise nature of which is to be determined by the connex- ion, φέρων, in an intransitive sense, is used in the same way. XV. 1. Gv μην alia, however, nevertheless. See Butt, p. 433. The expression, as also the analogous one ov γαρ άλλα, is elliptical and admits, according to Hartung* (Th. 2. S. 47—8), of an analysis like the following : The negative ov supposes that the verb which pre- cedes is repeated in connexion with it, or that some such phrase as τοντ ίγένετο, τοντ εστίν, is mentally supplied. μην gives emphasis of course to this denial, while alia excepts from it the particular instance which is subjoin- ed. Thus the verb to be transferred here is ayro^zai, and the expression in full would then be, the cause is not unknown by us, i. e. universally, but the public punish- ment of states, etc. The same view, it may be added, * Hartung, Lehre von den Partikeln der Griechischen Sprache, zwei Theile. 130 NOTES. is to be taken of ov μέντοι άλλα. This ellipsis is said to occur more frequently in Plutarch than in any other writer. — γε, here at least. 2. αυτής, by a constructio ad sensam, agrees in gender with τζόλις as the leading noun in the sentence, but is governed by εξιστάμενον, as if it referred to ζώον. — μέ- χρις αν, so long as. — μάλλον δε has the sense, attributed to the phrase in note XIII. 8. 3. τοις Έπιχαρμείοις, etc. It is implied that the ανζόμενος λόγος, or crescens ratiocinimn, was some well known form of sophistry ; but I find nothing, says Reiske, in what Diogen. Laert. 8. 78, relates of Epichar- mus, which shows that he either invented or employed any such mode of argumentation. It refers more proba- bly to the manner in which others reaso'ned from some of his doctrines, as an exercise of ingenuity, probably, rather than in earnest. He taught that all things are subject to perpetual change, and remain at no two dif- ferent moments precisely as they were. (Plat, in The- aet. 152, E.) From this the wranglers took occasion to raise perplexing questions in regard to the identity of persons and things. The famous dispute about the ship in which Theseus went to Crete, affords an example of this species of reasoning. See Plut. vit. Thes. c. 23. The noted argument also for proving that a bushel of grain does not make a heap or twenty bushels, or these increased ever so much, fell under the same head. From this instance, which was much used, the figure was some- times called in logic the acervus. See an allusion to it in Herat. 1. Epist. 2, 47. Persius (Serm. 6, 76) terms Chrysippus the inventor of the acervus, and may mean either the mode of argument, so called, in general, or this NOTES. 131 particular illustration of it. The terra Sorites was also sometimes applied to it ; but this designates more proper- ly, both in its ancient and modern acceptation, an abbre- viated form of the syllogism, but not necessarily sophisti- cal. See this explained by Whately in his Logic, p. 95. 4. οφείλει signifies also tropically, in classical Greek, to be bound, obligated, in a moral sense ; but the mean- ing which it has Luke 11 : 4, to owe a person reparation. to be delinquent or in fault, is Aramaean, and unknown to the classics. The derivatives, οφειλέτης and οφείλημα, have the same meaning transferred to them Matt. 6 : 12, and Luke 11 : 4. Comp. Stuart, § 3. 7. a. 5. ΐχΗ τριαζοστφ, after thirty years. See Matth. § 406. a . — By κινήματα, we may understand commotions, popular tumults. — dm χρόνον, after an interval 6. εις τον Ηρακλείτειοι* .... ποταιών. The river of Heraclitus was a sort of proverb which arose from his saving, that as no one could descend twice into the same stream, so it is impossible to find any object in the uni- verse unchanged in any two successive moments. See Plat. Cratyl. 402, A. With the same allusion, Plato de- nominates those who held this opinion oi ρέοντες, as in Theaet. 181, A. XVI. 1. ανδριάντα Κασάνδρον, etc. It is not known that any other ancient writer speaks of this insult to the memory of Cassander ; but it has nothing of course im- probable in it, and is most likely to have taken place at the time, when Athens was wrested from his power, and transferred to that of Demetrius Poliorcetes. He had conquered the city and governed it for a time by regents, whom he appointed.— The Dionysius intended is the elder of those who bore this name. The Syracusans 132 NOTES. revolutionized the government, some time after his death, and as an expression of the abhorrence with which they remembered his tyranny, dug up his body and insulted it with every mark of ignominy. 2. Λ νσαίω .... Λπολλοχράτει, etc. Of these men the two first were the sons of Dionysius, and known only for their vices. The two last were the sons of Cassan- der, of whom Philip the elder was cut off by disease soon after the death of his father, and Antipater murdered by his younger brother Alexander, or, as others say, by Ly- simachus. 3. άλλο τι δίκαιον, etc. The remedy is to be justified, if it cure the disease. Whether it does this or not, is the only relevant question, it is maintained, which the casuist may ask. — περαιτέρω της αίσ&ήσεως, beyond what is evident to the senses. — ix δεχάδος άνελών, i. e. deci- mating, making an example of every tenth man, as a terror to his accomplices. This mode of punishment was very common among the Romans, especially in their armies in cases of mutiny, or any breach of military dis- cipline. XVir. 1. Ovx .... αλλά, etc. No, in answer to the preceding question, i. e. it does not follow, but ironical- ly said. The phrase has this import precisely in Plat. Alcib. 1, 120. B., but the coincidence is accidental, since this turn to the thought did not lay in the expression it- self, but the tone which accompanied it. — The argument is, that the Deity would never have lavished so much care and attention upon men, were their existence lim- ited only to the present life. It is the same considera- tion in effect which Addison urges in proof of the same point in No. 101 of the Spectator. " Would an infinite- NOTES. 133 ly wise Being make such glorious creatures for so mean a purpose ? Can he delight in the production of such abortive intelligences, such short-lived reasonable be- intfs ? Would he give us talents which are not to be ex- erted, capacities that are never to be gratified Ί How can we find that wisdom which shines through all his works, in the formation of man, without looking on this world as only a nursery of the next, and believing that the several generations of rational creatures which rise up and disappear in such quick succession, are only to receive their first rudiments of existence here, and after- wards to be transplanted into a more friendly climate, where they may spread and flourish to all eternity ?" 2. ως "Ομηρος εφψ In II. 6, 146—9. Plutarch reads the passage manifestly as it meets the eye, and accom- modates it to his purpose. The poet affirms nothing there in regard to the nature of the soul. He is speak- ing merely of human life and the rapid manner in which the different generations of men pass away, one after an- other. The distinction however between the soul and the body, which he is not led to notice in this passage, he asserts fully elsewhere, as also the kindred truths of the soul's future existence and a state of rewards and punishments, hereafter. The moral views of Homer, in general, are among the best which can be found in any of the ancient heathen writers.* 3. ωαπεο τους Λδώηδος κήπους. This expression the Greeks often employed to designate anything as perisha- * No one has drawn these out and presented them with great- er fulness and accuracy, than Aaegelshach in his Romerische Theologie, 1840. A summary view of the same topics is giv- en by Thirhcall, v. 1. c. 6. 134 NOTES. ble and short-lived. Wustemann ad Theocrit. Id. 15, 113 gives the explanation of its origin which is general- ly received. Intellige testas, in quas lactucam, foenicu- lum, hordeum et triticum conserebant, quae quum celer- rime germinarent, brevi etiam marcescebant, quod in causa est, cur Jwrti Adonidis nominentur omnes res fu- gaces breviterque durantes. This view is somewhat modified as given in Pauly's Real-Encycl. S. 67 — 68. See further who wishes, Stallb. on Phaedr. 276. B. 4. ωαπερ 6 Ηρακλής, etc. Comp. note XIV. 8 ad fin, ο. ο γαρ άποκτεινας, etc. Archilochus was one of the earliest lyric writers of Greece, who flourished about B. C. 680. Aelian is cited by Suidas, as relating this history in essentially the same way ; while, according to another tradition which appears in some of the an- cient writers, it was a certain Archias w 7 ho slew the poet. The Corax here mentioned, whoever he was, is not to be confounded with a man of the same name, who is said to have been one of the teachers of Pythagoras. 6. πορεν&εϊς .... οί'κησιν. The oracle is expressed thus indirectly, for the sake of the ambiguity which lies in the double sense of TsrtuE, as a common noun or proper name. 7. άπεβπάααντο . ... το ειδωλον. This last term signifies often shade, spirit of the departed, and in all probability, should be so taken here. Xylander trans- lates the words simulacrum templo avellerunt, and Wyt- tenbach follows him in this ; but it is by no means cer- tain, as some have inferred, that they understood the passage differently, since the Latin simulacrum has very often the sense of umbra. The temple was that of NOTES. 135 Athena Alea at Tegea, in which Pausanias, who was under sentence of condemnation, had been obliged to seek shelter from his enemies, and where he was reduced by them to a miserable death. XVIII. 1. Φάτερον ουκ, etc., it is not possible for a person to retain one of these truths, if he renounces the other. — άτίοδίδοσϋ'αι, is a vox media, which adapts its sense both to τιμάς and τιμωρίας, i. e. to enjoy and suffer. Our word receive, unites the two senses in the same connexion. 2. Αγωνίζεται"* . . . ά&λητης. The idea of life as a trial or probation is presented under the same figure, 2 Tim. 2 : 5, and under a very similar one, Heb. 12 : 2, and 1 Cor. 9 : 24 — 26. — τοις δευρο, those here, we should say, but pp. those hither, because we are supposed to pass in thought from μίν έκεΐ in the preceding clause, i. e. from the other world to this. On the use of δευρο in the apparent sense οϊ Ινταυϋα, see Passow, p. 485. 3. οτι δ' ουκ laur, etc. It is not uncommon for writ- ers to pass thus from the construction of ότι with the indicative, to that of the accusative with the infinitive, or, as here, the participle used for the infinitive. Matth. § 539. 1. But the infinitive preceded by ότι, as in the second of these clauses, is much less frequent, though not unknown to the best writers, as is shown by Stall b. on Plat. Phaed. 63, C. Bernhardy remarks (Syntax, S. 369), that while the usage prevails in the later Greek much more than in the earlier, Plutarch employs it but seldom. 4. ατνγ/,μαβι χρωμίνονς = άτνχουντας. Substantives are often joined thus with χρησΰ~οα, and express peri- phrastically the sense of the verb or participle, from 136 NOTES. which they are derived. The common explanation of the dative in this case, as that of the instrument, seems not altogether natural, but the usage points rather to some remoter and more general signification οίχρησϋαι, than that which is usually assigned to it. Comp. Bern- hardy's Syntax, S. 95. — Wyttenbach supposes, after Reiske, that some words have been lost between τίνον- τ ας and ουδείς, and the latter would insert χρη σφρόδρα λνπεΐσ&αι, ενθυμηθείς ταύτα, or something similar. The correction brings out the thought with more precision, and is necessary, if we are to assume that a writer em- ploys always the greatest conceivable accuracy of ex- pression. It is not said that the MSS. give it any sup- port. — άγα7ϊήσειεν, would be willing. 5. Έχω μεν τίνα, etc. Comp. in regard to the accu- sative, note XIV. 1. — λόγϋν .... μύθος. We are here to set aside entirely the distinctions, which modern wri- ters have drawn between these words. The former de- notes simply a true account or history, the latter, one which is fabricated. Plato frequently opposes these terms to each other in this sense, as in Phaed. 61, B. Protag. 324, D. Gorg. 523, A. Wyttenbach calls atten- tion to the peculiar use of ν.ινήσωμεν in this instance. Our language has a similar idiom, as when we speak of starting a subject or a conversation. — ει γε δη, if per- chance now, meant as slightly deprecatory of the judg- ment which is anticipated. XIX. 1. πη μεν . . . . πη δ\ in some respects . ... in other respects. This particle in this sense, says Passow, is incorrectly written π ή, as the circumflex" belongs to it exclusively as an interrogative. See Herm. ad Vig. p. 794. NOTES. 137 2. τ Ηι δε, sc. οδω, etc. But in what respect the com- parison employed by Bion is pertinent to the subject of inquiry, escaped him. — imtEtSsiceg .... νόσοι, having a predisposition to the same disease, i. e. as his parent. 3. άλείτττης. This word passed both among the Greeks and the Romans, from a narrower to a wider sense. It was applied among the former at first, to those who waited on the athletoe and anointed them, before and after they engaged in the contests of the palaestra. The knowledge which they acquired in this way of the body and its functions, enabled them to give advice in regard to the health in general, and they were often consulted accordingly for this purpose. The άλείτττης among the Romans, was properly the slave who anointed his mas- ter at the bath, but who, as in the other case, could per- form also some of the duties of the physician. 4. Η γαρ, is an interrogative phrase which presup- poses always an affirmative answer. Rost, p. 669. Is it not true ? 5. ivsxcc .... ροσήσαι, for the purpose of not being sick, tvexa is used both of things which are past, ob, propter, and of those which are future, causa. 6. χαίοειν iaxiov. This phrase admits either τινά or τι before the infinitive. It is immaterial to the sense which is here supplied. TI r e are not to consider him, i. e. the person who shows such weakness of character, or, his opinion as worth regarding. See Passow sub χαίρειν, S. 6. Matth. § 416. 2. Stallb. on Plat. Phaed. 63, E. 7. 3 Aq ovv. The interrogative has here the force of a direct negative assertion, ana at the beginning of a sentence, in classical Greek, denotes always a question, 10 ι 138 NOTES. but iii the N. Testament occurs repeatedly in this situa- tion as illative. See Luke 11:48. Rom. 5 : 18. 7:3. 10 : 17. 2 Cor. 7 : 12. Gal. 4 : 31. Comp. Winer, § 57. 4. In the latter case, the particle is written properly una. in the first, άρα ; but some editors neglect the distinc- tion. 8. κακόφρονα .... καρπον. The true reading here is uncertain, τ άμφάνΐ] has been admitted by the later editors of Plutarch, instead of τον άμφανη, which Wyt- tenbach retains indeed in his text, but says, magis arri- det Ruhnkenii emend atio, κακόφρονα τ άμφάνΐ] .... καρπον, qua άμφάνΓ ( pro contracto άνφάνϊ(, proferat, edat, accipit. XX. 1. ονδεν τον 'Ησιόδου, etc. Works and Days, vv. 73, 74. The writer quotes apparently from memory, and has exchanged δνσφημοιο of the poet, for δνστηνοιο. — εκείνο .... κα\Ϋ Ήσίοδον. Reddendum est, η on est opus quod praeceptis Hcsiodeis perficiatur, ut recte no- tavit Cel. Reiskius. Notissima est dicendi forma, quam illustravit J. D. Lennepius ad Phalarim, pp. 67. 94. Wyt- tenb. 2. διαλα&εΐν δε ημάς, their characters are concealed, I say, from us. δε serves often merely to repeat a thought for the sake of greater prominence, or of con- trast with some other thought. This is most common after a parenthesis, or in sentences where the main idea has been pursued into various particulars. See Rost, p. 732. 3. c. a. This is the force of the particle Rom. 3: 22. The emphasis on ημάς is derived from its opposi- tion to ο {ϊεος which occurs further on. — On the sense of μάλλον δε, see again note XIII. 8. 3. χρηται δε, etc. The sense is the same as if κλέη- NOTES. 139 τειν were changed to the verbal form of χρηζαι. Comp. note XVIII. 4. The periphrasis is supposed in such cases to assert more directly the universality or habit of the act (Kuhner, § 585. 2.), but this is also one of the uses of the Indicative present, γοηται, it will be recol- lected, is one of the verbs which deviate in their contrac- tion from the general rule. Butt. p. 308. XXI. 1. και άδιζ^σαντβς, even though they have al- ready committed crime. — διανοουμένους, sc. άδίκεϊν. 2. οΐον ί'/.ποίίμος, etc. The moral relation here is illustrated by a legal one. Ιν.ποίψος was a term applied to a person who had been adopted from one family into another. He escaped thus certain liabilities which were connected with his proper parentage, while he acquired a title to all the rights and privileges of the new relation- ship. So an individual who is born of wicked ances- tors, and is consequently the natural heir of their guilt, is exempted from the punishment of it, if he himself is virtuous. He is now reckoned as belonging to another stock, and treated, so to speak, as the adopted child of virtue. 3. Λντίγονός γε, etc. The particle here, had it stood before the proper name, would have denoted, that the entire proposition which follows is true as opposed to some different sentiment ; but being after it, that it is true of this individual, whatever may be thought as re- gards others. — This Demetrius is the same who is men- tioned in note XVI. 1. We have a life of him by Plu- tarch himself, in which he is described as the most cor- rupt man of his age, and put against Marc Antony as his parallel among the Romans. His son Antigonus, on the contrary, Plutarch ranked among the best examples of 140 NOTES. ancient virtue, as appears more fully from his vit. Demet. 40. Pyrrh. 34, and passages in his Apophth. He was not indeed without his reverses in life, but was certainly more successful than his father in his military enterprises and other measures. He was called also Gonatas,* in distinction from his grandfather, the first Antigonus, who was king of Macedonia. 4. τών πάλαι ηρώων, etc. The crime of Augeas was his perfidy in breaking his contract with Hercules. His son, who was chosen umpire between the parties, de- cided against his father, and was banished for his justice. Hercules upon this, they say, made war upon Augeas, defeated him and put him to death, while he rewarded Phyleus, by bringing him back from his exile and trans- ferring to him the kingdom of his father. — πάλαι ηρώων has taken the place here of πονηρών, which affords no tolerable sense. Reiske was the first to suggest the change, and Wyttenbach says it must either be admitted or πονηρών struck from the text. 5. ονδε Νέβτωρ, etc. Plutarch alludes probably to the war, in which Neleus and all his sons, except Nes- tor, were destroyed by Hercules. The provocation to this act, which the later writers assigned, was the refu- sal of Neleus to absolve Hercules from the guilt of mur- * It has been usual to derive this epithet from Gonni, the name of a place in Thessaly, where, it is said, Gonatas was born and brought up. Niebuhr, however, rejects this origin of the name, on the ground mainly that this city did not come into the hands of his father, till the son had already attained the age of manhood. He supposes it to be from a Macedonian word, sig- nifying an iron-plate for protecting the knee, because Antigonus made use probably of this unusual piece of armour. See Pauly's Pveal-Encycl. S. 530. NOTES. 141 der. The Homeric account (II. 11 3 689 sq.) differs from this in several particulars. 6. 'βς γαρ ά'/ροχοοδοιες, etc. The syntactical ar- rangement here is singularly loose and broken. The apodosis of the sentence follows in ovzco πολλάκις, to- wards the end of the paragraph, and has been borne away from its natural position by the rush of new ideas which suggested themselves to the writer, after he had commenced the comparison. The construction in Rom. 5 : 1*2 — 18, according to the view which is generally ta- ken of it, is strikingly similar to this. Comp. Prof. Stu- art's Coin, ad loc. 7. xcu γυνή τις, etc. χαί, and for example. See Ast'i Plat. Lex. '2, p. 153. — υάνψ .... ούσαν = αυτήν είναι. ίξανενρεν is one of the verbs which take their comple- ment usually in the participle, where other verbs would be followed by an infinitive. Matth. § 549. 8. τον Χισι3ίοις παίδων, etc. Nisibis was a Syrian city in the northeastern part of Mesopotamia. (ΚοίΓ. p. 184*2). It had an important trade, and many Greeks among others had been attracted thither. Some have attempted to identify this place with the Accad of Scrip- ture, Gen. 10 : 10, and others with less reason, with Zo- bah. *2 Sam. ]0 : 6,$, and elsewhere. — ζου = τινός. — τοΐς Σπαρτοί, lit. the sown. It was a name given to those who were said to have sprung from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus, and who were the founders of Thebes. Hence in the poets Σπαρτός occurs often for Θηβαίος. XXII. 1. Οντοις ουν Εψην, etc. Nothing of its kind can be more remarkable than the narrative which fol- lows from here, and constitutes the remainder of the 142 NOTES. treatise. We may consider it as invented directly by Plutarch himself, or as repeated with more or less varia- tion from some previously existing account, either oral or recorded ; but it still remains, in either case, one of the most striking testimonies of heathen antiquity to the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. In its ge- neral outline, the story is very similar to one which Plato relates in Repub. 10. 614, and the practical truth intended to be taught is the same ; but in the details, they are essentially independent of each other, and fur- nish their own separate contribution to our knowledge of what the ancients thought on subjects of this nature. 2. Θεσπέσιος 6 Σολενς, etc. Thespesius had this ap- pellation from his birth-place, Soli, in Cilicia. — Nothing is known of Protogenes beyond the intimation here, that he was a Cilician, and resided for a time at Delphi. 3. εκ μετανοίας, from repentance, so far as regards the part of his conduct in question here. Having squander- ed his property and brought upon himself the evils of poverty, he resolved now to reform, and practise the economy and other arts necessary for the acquisition of wealth. — έπασχε πά&ος, etc., he exhibited the same con- duct. The phrase is abbreviated often by the omission of the noun. Host, p. 450. 4. εξ J /μφιλόχον μαντεία, etc. The seat of this ora- cle was Mallus, in Cilicia. It took its name from Am- philochus, a Grecian, who, after the Trojan w r ar, wan- dered, it is said, into this region and founded a temple and oracle, of which he was regarded after his death as the god. In his treatise de Oracl. Defect. 424, D., Plu- tarch represents the other oracles as almost universally silent, and this as among the very few which continued NOTES. 143 to enjoy any degree of credit. The progress which Christianity had already made at that time, was one of the causes, doubtless, which occasioned this decline of their authority. Milton, in his hymn en the nativity of Christ, sets himself back of the historical fact, and an- nounces it as among the consequences of the Saviour's advent, as follows : The oracles are du: No voice or hideous hum Rons through the arched roof in words deceiving•. Ho, from his shrine Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance, or breathed spell, Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. 5. ει βελτιορ .... 3ior. though it may refer to moral conduct, can also be understood of worldly success : and it seems necessary to suppose, that Thespesius proposed the question with this view of its meaning. The ambi- guity in this instance may have been accidental : but that which appears in the reply of the oracle, was mani- festly studied, that the answer might seem pertinent to the inquiry, while it is left to the future to develop what was really intended. 6. έξε'&ανε, is chosen here probably with design. It does not denote necessarily an actual death, but may signify to die apparently, to lie in a state of insensibility. See an instructive passage in regard to this sense of the word in Plato de Legg. 12. 959, D, where ixze&vipts'vcu and ονζώς ίχτε&νηχέναι are opposed to each other. 7. τζερι τάς ταφας, etc., he revived on the very eve of buried. Burial, as practised by the Greeks, consisting of various ceremonies, the noun which denoted the act 144 NOTES. could be used in the singular or plural, though the inter- ment was that of but a single individual. 8. ούτε γαρ δικαιότεοον, etc. We have here the high- est description of moral excellence, which the mind of the heathen enabled him to draw. Its utter deficiency, as compared with the christian standard, is too obvious to need remark. How forcibly, also, are we struck with the same contrast, in observing the manner in which Plutarch applies the epithet good, in the preceding parts of this treatise ! What reprobation would Christianity pronounce even upon the fairest of the examples which he lauds with so much encomium ! Surely now, nothing could be more significant, as a mark of distinction be- tween the christian religion and every other, than the different views which they inculcate in regard to what is right and wrong in human conduct.* True, the sol- itary maxim of some pagan moralist may reveal now and then a glimpse of something better ; but the forgiveness * Ackermann in his Das christliche im Plato, etc p. 59, re- marks very justly, "That in no book in the world is so much said of sin and its consequences, as in the Bible, and in general no where so little, as in heathen authors." And again in a note on the above, he says : " That the christian doctrine re- specting sin was in the main foreign to classical antiquity and new, is abundantly manifest from the violent and sarcastic mode of warfare, which its writers waged against the ' vile sinner' 's religion,' as they contemptuously termed the gospel. See, for example, Orig. c. Cels. 3. p. 486 sq. ed. Delar." Plato he would make an exception to this remark ; but unless he means this in a comparative sense, we must set it down as an effect of that partiality for his subject, which he carries so far in many other instances also, as to impair greatly the general value of his work. He does not profess to be satisfied himself with any NOTES. 145 of injuries, it may safely be said, was hardly recognised as a duty, and still less insisted on as essential to the praise of virtue. * The nearest approach to this, per- haps, which the eulogists of classical antiquity have cited, is the remark of Isocrates in Nicoc. : *A πάσχον- reg νφ έτερων όογίζεσ&ε, ravra τοις άλλοις μη ποιείτε. Gibbon (Hist. c. 54. π. 36)f affects to put this on a level with the christian law of reciprocity in Matt. 7 : 12, and speaks of it as the same rule promulgated four hundred years before the publication of the gospel. But, it will be observed, even this precept is purely negative in its character, and forbids no more than a spirit of retalia- tion. Further, Christianity, it is to be remembered, prescribes the duty of forgiving and loving our enemies among its first requisitions, and, more than all, furnishes in the spirit and life of its Author a living exemplifica- of the attempts which have been made to explain away the well known passage in Repub. 5. 468. * Chryses, (11. 1,37 — 42) the priest of Apollo, could come be- fore his god, and after recounting his good deeds, challenge an answer to his wrathful prayer : Τισειαν Javaol έμά Sdy.Qva ootoi βέλεοοιν. It does not seem that there was anything revolting in this to the Grecian mind. It was not the unguarded, hasty utter- ance, for which heathenism turned upon its votaries with the rebuke, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. What a contrast to this have we in the attitude of the apostle of Chris- tianity, as he says to those who had wronged him, " 1 will glad- ly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less i be loved" (2 Cor. 12: 15), and again in the precept of the author of Christianity, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despite fully use you and persecute you," (Matt. 5: 44). I" Milmans ed. v. 4. p. 36. 146 NOTES. tion of it, infinitely more impressive than any didactic inculcation of it merely from the lips of a teacher, however earnest or reiterated. 9. τόνον r /ονσαν, Xylander gives by efficacitate prae- ditum. It means, probably, that the rays of light were shot forth from the stars with great force, and possessed, like a sort of atmosphere, the power of supporting the souls of the departed, and of enabling them to transport themselves freely from one place to another. XXIII. Ι. χΰυχάς .... φλογοειδή. Cicero, as cited by Wyttenbach, says (Tusc. 1. 17) : Reliquae duae par- tes (animae), una ignea, altera animalis — hae sursum rectis lineis in coelestem locum subvolent, sive ipsae na- turasuperioraappetentes, sive quod a gravioribus leviora natura repellantur. Quae cum constent, perspicuum debet esse, aminos cum ex corpore excesserint, sive iili sint animales, id est spirabiles, sive ignei, sublime ferri. Thus, in the representation here, the soul on leaving the body, immediately rises and assumes at first the appear- ance of a globular flame; this gently and gradually dis- solves, and a spiritual form then emerges from it, which, as appears from the sequel, has such a resemblance to the personal manifestation in this life, that individuals can at once identify and recognise each other. 2. yjvov μίνας δ' ονχ, etc. This dissimilarity in the motions of the different souls is intended no doubt to be significant of their moral state and character. Those who disengage themselves most readily from the body, and mount upward so instinctively, are the good who have subdued their passions, and from an affinity of nature, seek at once the higher regions, which are most remote from matter and its contaminations. The con- NOTES. 147 fused motion of the others, on the contrary, who are whirled with such fury hither and thither, indicates the moral disorder of their sculs. They are the wicked, who have allowed their passions to control them, who are destitute of ah power of calm and considerate action. Similar views are expressed by Plato in Tim. 44, A. ; de Legg. 2. 672, B. : Tim. 43, A. See Hitter's Hist, of Philos. v. 2. p. 373, and elsewhere. 3. αντίά y.cdV iavrag\ alone by themselves. This dis- tributive sense of the preposition is common ; but the strengthened form of the phrase by αυτός is rather a usage of the later Greek. Bernhardy's Syntax, p. 240. 4. Θρήνου μεμχγμ&Μες. The verb of this par- ticiple takes uniformly in the active voice the accusative with the dative. Comp-. note IX. 6. It is not limited, however, to the latter case in the passive: but maybe followed by the genitive of the source or material, out of which anything is mixed. 5. διέσημαινον ποοσιήιενοΓ, displeasure they manifested by contraction or crowding together among themselves, but joy and approbation by expansion and separation from each other. The scene is one which Thespesius sees at a distance, and hence the meaning of it is conveyed to him by means of outward signs. The representation for this purpose conforms to what the ancients supposed to be the effect of different emo- tions en the mind. As they were accustomed to speak of the heart as dilated by joy, and, on the other hand, as contracted by sorrow or grief, so here the inward im- pulse appears in the outward movement ; these souls press together or stand apart, expand or contract their ranks, as it were, in unison with the different passions 148 NOTES. which agitate by turn their minds. Wyttenbach, in his note on this place, has referred to various passages in ancient writers, which show how common it was to speak in this manner. That from Porphyry, Pythag. vit. c. 35 is one of the most striking : ov γαρ νφ ηδονής διεχεΐτο πλέον, ονδε ντζ ανίας συνεστε'λλετο. The ex- amples in Plato alone are frequent and will be found noticed by Stallbaum on Cratyl. 419. C. and Sympos. 206. D. — The repeated use of the neuter participle here, instead of the corresponding abstract noun, deserves to be remarked. Of this more vivid mode of expression, none of the Greek prose writers, says Bernhardy (Syn- tax p. 327), availed themselves so often as Plutarch and Thucydides. 6. το δ' άπο τονδε, henceforth. Comp. Matth. § 283. Butt. p. 346. 5. Thespesius receives a new name, it is supposed, to indicate, that he is now to change his char- acter and to be in future a new man, 7. ονδε γαρ sustains often the same relation to a sup- pressed negative idea which xal γάρ sustains to an affir- mative one. See Hartung Th. 1. S. 211. You were mis- taken, Thespesius is told, in regard to your name; nor are you correct in another apprehension ; for you are not dead, etc. So also, Acts 4 : 34. Rom. 8 : 7. 8. τφ φρονοννΐΐ .... ψνχην. Wyttenbach suspects that originally άλογον mav have stood in the text, instead of άλλη v. The distinction which Plutarch probably had in view, w T ould have been more clearly expressed in that case, it is true, but it may be considered as involved also in the terms which we find before us. το φρονούν we may un- derstand as denoting what the Greeks, the Platonists es- pecially, expressed more frequently by 6 νους or το λογισ- NOTES. 149 tr/.or ; that is, man's intelligent nature or the faculties which he possesses in common with the Deity and which distinguish him from irrational creatures. Hence Plato sometimes terms these alio το &έϊον or το w&avarov της φνχής. His other soul, the άλλη ψνχη as it is here call- ed, would embrace the remaining powers and passions of man. those which depend upon his present physical or- ganization and which constitute in distinction from the other, what Plato denominates his mortal soul, το &fq- τον της ψυχής. (Tim. 65, A), or at other times το άλο- γοι', or άλόγιαζον μέρος της ψυχής (Repuh. 4. 439, D). These latter the Platonists subdivided again into (]) το ϋνμι,κον or &νμοειδές, man's innocent appetencies or im- pulses, the pur a naturalia very nearly of some modern theologians, and (2) το επι&νμηπκόν οτ χρηματιστικό?, those passions which to the brutes and make brutes of men, so far as they yield to them.* Several other terms also occur in the sequel, which are best ex- plained with reference to these distinctions in Plato's psycl In a mere | ' V V\ often signified merely the principle of animal life, anima which ceased with the breath as opposed to νόος, animus, the understanding or soul usually so called. — τφ φρονϋνΉ is the li miring dative i : to the action of the verb. 9. το ζας ψυκάς, etc. The article as used here for the purpose of calling attention to the clause or preposi- tion which follows, namely, to icli. is frequent in the X. Testament, especially in Luke, 9: 46. 22: 2, etc, and in the writings of Paul, Rom. 8 : 26. Gal. 5 : 14. 1 Thess. * See on this subject Rtinhold, LB. Gescli. d. Phil. § 67. Rimer, B. 1. L. 215. Tcnnemann, Β 2. S. 430 sq. 150 NOTES. 4:1, etc. Comp. Winer § 30. 4. — Let it he a sign to you both now and hereafter, i. e. a means of distinguishing between the living, and such as are actually dead, that the souls of the latter neither east a shadow, nor wink with their eyes. This criterion, as Plutarch himself states in Quaest. Graec. 300, C, is quoted from the Pythagorians. The first of these properties, that of no shadow accompanying the spirits of the departed, results from what was supposed to be the nature of the soul, ilnima enim, sive simplex est, ut plerisque placuit, sive, ut Democritus et Stoici volunt, igneae materiae, umbram facere η on potest, το γαρ φως ov ποιεΐ σκιάν, ut ait Plu- tarch, de Facie Lun. 932. D. Wyttenb. What the Pytha- gorians meant by the other characteristic, it is more difficult to say. Possibly it was some mere superstition which the vulgar belief had connected with the souls of men after death. Or it may denote, it has been conjec- tured, the faculty of clearer perception, the power of steadier, calmer contemplation, which may be supposed to be an attribute of the soul when freed from the disturb- ing influences of the body. XXIV. 1. ωσπερ .... τζάναέλινας, sc. ωρα. The de- scription here rests upon the idea that the sins which men commit stain and disfigure the soul, and when violent and excessive that they tear and lacerate it, so as to cover it, as it were, with wounds and bruises. These, as soon as the veil which the body had spread over them, is rent, are laid bare, and every person appears then as he really is. The writer has no doubt followed here Plato in Gorgias, 524 — 5, Ε and A. The passage which Prof. Woolsey cites there from Tacitus (Annal. 6. 6) be- longs also here : Neque frustra praestantissimus sapien- NOTES. 151 tiae firmare solitus est, si recladantur tyrannorum men- tes, posse adspici laniatus et ictus; quando, ut corpora verberibus, ita saevitia, libidine, mails consultis animus dilaceretur. 2 των τΐονηοών, etc. The correlative adverb either of the first or second clause of such a comparison is of- ten omitted. We have here an ellipsis of όντως after ονδε)ς. — άλλη δε, etc. one punishment belongs to one at- tendant and minister, there being three of them, and an- other to another, άλλ\] ψυλακι = ψοΧάκών. The com- mon gender of the latter admits of a direct agreement between the words. — Adrastea, according to another genealogy, was the daughter of Jupiter and Night. The origin of the name is doubtful. Some consider it mere- ly an epithet of Nemesis, and suppose it derived from Adrastus on account of an altar, which he is said to have built to this goddess. The later Greek writers resolve it into a priv. and δραν or διδράσκέιν, to fee, as im- porting the certainty of the vengeance which Adras- tea inflicted on the guilty. 3. άρρητον και άόραζον, i. e. Tartarus ; where, it is implied, the class of offenders, of whom Plutarch speaks, were to remain forever. In this he has merely repeated the view and almost the language of Plato in Phaedo 113, E. : οι δ' αν δόλωσαν ανιάτως εχειν .... τούτους δε η προσήκουσα μοΐρα ρίπτει εις τον Τάρταρον, 6ϋ~εν ονποτε ίκβαίνονσιν. Hence the punishment, which in the case of curable sins, has a reformatory design and efficiency, is here penal and ultimate. Compare with this the description of Tartarus, Aeneid, 6, 573 sq. Saxum ingens volvunt alii, radiisque rotarum District! pendent ; sedet, aeternnmque sedebit 152 NOTES. lnfelix Theseus ; Phlegyasque misserimus omnis Admonet, et magna testatur voce per umbras, Discite justitiam moniti et non temnere Divos. 4. δικαιώσεων, punishments. In Rom 4 : 25. 5 : 18, this word has just the opposite sense, acquittal, justifica- tion. This contrariety of meaning it derives from the verb, δικαιόω, which signifies, to declare just, and also, to judge, punish. 5. iv Περσαις, etc. It was Artaxerxes Longimanus, as Plutarch states in Apophth. 173, D. who instituted this punishment. Before his time, it had been custom- ary for the Persian kings to inflict personal chastisement on the criminal, and to pull out the hair of his head. He chose, while he abolished a barbarous custom, to rely upon the honor rather than the fears of his subjects. 6. at πολλαΐ, /or the most part. — αίσϋησιν αυτών i. q. των ανθρώπων. The antecedent is loosely implied per- haps in iv τω βίω of the preceding sentence. Wytten- bach would change the pronoun to άλλων. — πάντα, in every respeet. The correction of Reiske, κατά πάντα, is unnecessary. See Kuhner, § 557. 4, 7. rovg διά σαρκός, pains of the body, Comp. διά χρη- μάτων — διά σωμάτων which have just occurred. The expression of itself might signify, in the flesh, while liv- ing, like διά τον σώματος, 2 Cor. 2: 4. — νπαρ . . . όνεί- ρατος, reality .... dream, instead of the latter term, the Greeks employed usually οναρ or ονειρος. The use of it in the dative singular was still less common. Pas- sow sub v. represents it as confined, in all the cases of the singular, to the later Alexandrine poets. This in- stance shows, that the statement should be somewhat ex- tended. NOTES. 153 8. η μεν sc. U'V /ή. γενεαιν may be taken passively, being born, entrance into life ; and thus the distinction indicated by μεν and δε, becomes more apparent. Two reasons are given why some of those, who have once been in the body, return to it again. One of them is, an excessive predominance of the practical or active powers over the contemplative, and the other, a love of pleasure, which makes the body indispensable to the soul as an instrument of fulfilling its desires. The re- turn to life, in these cases, seems to be represented, in some sense, as the result of choice, or more correctly, as made necessary only through the soul's voluntary con- tinuance in a moral state which renders a pure spiritual mode of existence incongruous and irksome to it. There were also other grounds, on which this procedure was supposed to take place. It is described more commonly as a punishment for previous sins, or as a penalty which the soul must pay off, whether inclined to the re-union or not, by the degradation and misery of being imprison- ed in some brute form. To this Plutarch alludes after- wards. XXV. οφχτηναι stands for the indicative, or depends upon έλεγε understood, which is often omitted in the oratio obliqua. The ordinary construction returns in εξεπνει. The explanation of this scene is given by the guide himself, at the close of the description, in the words διδάσκων άμα, etc. 2. "Ελεγε δε ταύτη sc. οδω, by this way, through this chasm. Bacchus, as son of Semele, and therefore mor- tal, in order to become a god, must ascend from hades, or, in other words, be exempted from the power which death has over men. What Banier says (Erlauterung 11 154 NOTES. der Gotterlehre, etc., B. 6, S. 524) will best explain the remainder of the allusion. " When Diodorus Sicu- lus and Plutarch say, that Bacchus descended into the lower world, in order to fetch his mother thence, they intended to speak, it may be supposed, of an evocation or conjuration of the shade of Semele, or rather of her apotheosis ; that is, he brought her, so to speak, from the lower world, and transferred her to heaven, where under the name of Thyone she took her place among the god- desses. Pausanias says, that Bacchus descended to ha- des through the Alcyonian lake in the region of Lerna, and that a certain Polymnus showed him the way, be- cause Bacchus possibly was assisted by him in the cere- mony of the conjuration or apotheosis." See Horat. Od. 2. 19. 3, εχτηκεται και άννγραίνεται, etc. What the anal- ogy was which led to this transfer of the properties of water to the soul, it is not difficult to perceive. Water as a heavy body gravitates freely to the earth ; and as sinful passions create a similar tendency in the soul, as they draw it down to the earth, to low, grovelling ob- jects, the epithets, wet, humid, flowing, heavy, were very naturally applied to the soul under the influence of cor- rupt inclinations. Pythagoras, Heraclitus and Plato (Phsed. 81, C.) had used the same circle of expressions before. The conception, however, is supposed, not with- out reason, to be oriental in its origin, rather than Gre- cian. The same idea is found, it is said, in the Hindu philosophy at the present day. See Henry's Hist, of Phi- losophy, p. 38. 4. ην όντως ώνομάσ&αί, etc. This refers to the pre- tended derivation of γενεσις, from im γψ νενσις. It was NOTES. 155 an instance of fanciful etymology such as was common, particularly among some of the later Greek philosophers who were very fond of employing such conceits in illus- tration and support of their doctrines. 5. ονδενος .... κοινωνεΐν. By this denial Plutarch claims tacitly a character of greater truth and certainty for the Delphian oracle, than he was willing to allow to other sources of divination. This jealousy for the fame of Apollo discovers itself also in other parts of the narra- tive. It will be recollected, that towards the close of his life he became himself a priest of Apollo, and re- sided for a time at Delphi, partly in this character and partly in that of a sort of commissioner, under the ap- pointment probably of the emperor Hadrian, for repairing and ornamenting the buildings of the temple. — The construction of κοινωνεΐν exemplifies the common Greek usage; but this verb in Rom. 15: 27, instead of the da- tive of the person is followed by the accusative, and in Gal. 6 : 6, instead of the genitive of the thing, by the da- tive with a preposition. There are still other devia- tions. Comp. Winer, § 30. 5. The classical usage has also its fluctuations. 6. όνειροι μηνυμένοι, etc. Dreams in general were regarded by the ancients as prophetic — γαρ τ οναρ εκ Διός εσην — (II. 1, 63) ; and at some of the oracles, as that of Amphiaraus at Oropus, they were the only me- dium through which communications were made. — κόλ- πων της Θέμιδος. The agency of Themis was not to be overlooked in this account of the oracle. Accord- ing to the tradition, she had presided over it before Apollo himself, and had been his teacher in arts which it was necessary he should understand. 156 NOTES. 7. ίν τφ προσωπω .... περιφερομε'νην. Some of the ancients supposed, that what we call the face of the moon was that of the Sibyl, looking forth upon the earth and singing, as she revolved around it, the fate and for- tunes of its inhabitants. See Plut. de Pyth. orac. 398, C. She was originally, as Clemens Alexandrinus states the Greek belief, (Strom. L. I. p. 223. ed. Hein.) upon the €arth, but after death had her abode in the moon and continued to utter thence her predictions. 8. περί το Βε'ββιον ορός, etc. Plutarch alludes to the eruption of Vesuvius, A. D. 79, which overwhelmed several cities and devasted a great part of Campania. This event was said to have been foretold in the an- cient Sibylline books long before its occurrence : and in his treatise de Pyth. Orac. 398, C, Plutarch assumes this as a fact so well known, that he urges it as an un- answerable argument against those who ridiculed the idea of a knowledge of futurity. — /Ιικαίάρχειά was one of the cities destroyed at this time, and is the same place mentioned in Acts 28 : 13, under its later Roman name Ποτίολοι, now Puzzuolo, where Paul disembarked on his arrival in Italy on his way to Rome. 9. περ) τον ηγεμόνος. Vespasian is supposed to be meant, who died a natural death, while nearly all his predecessors perished by violence. To the justness of the praise bestowed on him, Tacitus also bears witness, Hist. 1. 50; solusque omnium ante se Principum, in melius mutatus est. See also Suet. vit. Vesp. 10. 10. προς την &wv, etc. Malorum poenas jam supra narraverat, sed ex persona ductoris, qui eas Thespesio exponit. Nunc ipse eas spectat. Wyttenb. XXVI. 1. ώς ανάγκην, etc. Thespesius would gladly NOTES. 157 have shunned the objects which now meet his view, but is thrust forward into the midst of them in spite of himself, οντω seems to repeat the idea of ώ&ονμενος, since there was a necessity thus, under these circum- stances of compulsion, to pass on. — γνωρίμως πονηρών, openly wicked, known to be such by the world, as con- trasted with the secretly wicked who are next mentioned. 2. ούδ' ομοίως, not in the same degree i. e. as they themselves had been punished in the present life, or more probably, as those were punished after death, who had passed through the world with a false reputation for virtue. 3. το άλογον y,ai παΰητιζον. Comp. note XXIII. 8. παΰητικον corresponds perhaps to the Platonic ίπι&νμψ τιν.όν as there explained, except that in addition to the source or seat of corrupt passions in the abstract, which the term strictly denotes, it would here include naturally the accessory idea of the debasement and pollution which the soul has contracted from the indulgence of such pas- sions. 4. ai ΰαλάττιαι σκολόπενδοαι, etc, The same pro- perty is attributed also by the ancient naturalists to the vulpes marina. The statement has no doubt some truth for its foundation. Dr. Peyssonnel (Phil. Trans. Vol. LI. art. 6) describes " a marine scolopendra of very small bulk and square figure, whose body and head were form- ed of eighty rings, and which had a power occasionally of throwing out its intestines. The four sides of this animal were armed with prickles, and every ring had four bundles of them, which are sometimes spread out like fans ; those under the body served the insect as feet. These scolopendrae, being placed upon the fingers, thrust 158 NOTES. a great number of their prickles into the skin, and caus- ed a sharp pain, resembling the effect of fire, of some continuance." 5. Είναι δε και λίμνας, etc. The terrific passage in Plat. Repub. 10. Cap. XIV, should be compared with the narrative here. I subjoin a part of it as given in the words of Prof. Woolsey in his Introduction to Gorgias, p. 48. The speaker is a certain Er, a Pamphylian, who is relating an experience similar to that of Thespesius in Plutarch. " Among the frightful spectacles that we saw/' he says, " this was one : When we were near the mouth of the chasm, and were expecting to go upwards, after enduring all the other things appointed, on a sud- den we saw this Ardiaeus* and others, nearly all of them tyrants ; although some enormous transgressors among private persons were there also. When they thought they should now go upwards, (out of the chasm) the mouth would not let them pass, but uttered a bellowing sound, whenever any such incurably wicked person, or any one who had not paid a sufficient penalty, endeavor- ed to ascend. Thereupon wild men, said he, all fiery to look upon, who stood by, when they heard the bellow, picked out and carried off a part of the transgressors ; but Ardiaeus and others they bound hand and foot, and threw them down, and beat them hard, and dragged them along on one side of the road, scraping them upon thorns, while to the by-si anders they told the reasons why these sinners suffered these things, and that they were drawn * This Ardiceus was a sort of Cain, who, as was said, had killed his father and brother, and perpetrated other foul crimes. He lived in the earliest times, and was a tyrant in some city of Pamphylia. notes. 159 along to be plunged into Tartarus. There, said he, of all the fears, man}' and various, which fell upon us, this was the greatest, — lest, when each one was going up- wards, the mouth should utter that bellow, and most glad- ly did each one hear no sound as he ascended." 6. ηνας ίφεστάναι δαίμονας. There were, as the Greeks held, both good and evil demons. Whether Plu- tarch would have us regard those, who are here set to tor- ment the wicked, as of the former class, and as acting therefore merely as the executioners of justice, or as of the latter class, and hence as gratifying the malice of their hearts, at the same time that they exact a deserved penal- ty, does not certainly appear. It is remarkable, that Plutarch speaks, in another place, of an ancient, well known tradition, which represented it as one of the em- ployments of evil demons, to tempt men and render the path of virtue difficult to them. Stillingfleet (Orig. Sac. p. 515) cites it from the life of Dion as running thus : That there are certain wicked and malignant demons which envy good men, and withstand their enterprises, by raising fears and troubles to them, that so they might hinder them in their pursuit of virtue, lest if they con- tinue steadfast and immoveable in good, they should be at last partakers of greater felicity than they themselves enjoy. 7. νυχτερίδας άτεχνώς sc. αλλήλων, crowding thick upon each other, άτβχνώς, according to the etymology, without art, but in this sense written άτεχνως. The thought here and the language in part are borrowed probably from Odyss, 25, 5 — 10. 8. 'Έσχατα St οοώντος, etc. This idea of a metem- psychosis, or transmigration of the soul through different 160 NOTES. bodies, was familiar to the Greeks as early at least as the time of Pythagoras, and acquired subsequently new au- thority from the prominence which Plato gave it in his religious system (PhaBdr. 248, E. Repub. 10. 614, A). It is astonishing to what extent this doctrine has obtain- ed the credence of mankind. It was held, in some form or other, by most of the nations of antiquity; and con- stitutes, as is well known, a fundamental article of belief in the Boodism and Brahmism of the East, at the pres- ent day.* The notion has both its theoretic and practi- cal side. Contemplated in the former aspect, we may discover in it, no doubt, the traces of much important truth. It affirms, certainly, the soul's immortality, ex- presses the natural sense of man in regard to the evil of sin, and the feeling of the heart respecting the need of purification as a means of union with Gcd. Fr. Schle- gel in his History of Philosophy (v. 1. p. 202 sq. as translated by Robertson) has given us a picture of the system in these respects, which, to say the least, con- ceals none of its merits. " In this doctrine," he says " there was a noble element of truth — the feeling that man, since he has gone astray and wandered so far from his God, must need exert many efforts, and undergo a long and painful pilgrimage, before he can rejoin the Source of all perfection ; the firm conviction and posi- tive certainty that nothing defective, impure or defiled with earthly stains, can enter the pure region of perfect spirits, or be eternally united to God ; and that thus, be- fore it can attain to this blissful end, the immortal soul * See Bauer, Symbolik 2, 2. S. 3C6 f. S. 412 f. Stukr, Religions- systeme B. 1. S. 101 f. NOTES. 161 must pass through long trials and many purifications." But to what does all this amount in fact ! What is there in practice which corresponds at all with such elevated sentiments ! We look for it in vain. The degree of er- ror, on the contrary, with which the doctrine associates whatever of truth there is mixed with it, especially the pantheistic element, which lies so often at the bottom of it, leaves man still under the dominion of his pas- sions, and presents to us examples of as great depravity, individual and social, as can be found under any other system of false belief. Look, for instance, at the condi- tion of the Eastern Indian nations, at the present mo- ment. The mixture of pride and debasement, of profes- sed sanctity but actual lust and crue ty, which a; pear in their religion, are some of the legitimate fruits of such speculations, and show, notwithstanding the favor which they sometimes find even in christian lands, what is the direction of those sentiments which would destroy the distinction between God and his creatures. 9. Πινδαρικής ίχίδνης. It is most natural to under- stand this of some celebrated comparison of Pindar re- specting the viper, though not found in any production of his which remains. Another supposition is, that the term denotes some particular species of this reptile. The proposal to incarcerate Nero in such a form, has refe- rence, no doubt, to his conduct towards his mother Agrip- pina. 10. ελη και λίμνας. Nota vero discrimen inter λίμνη et ekog, quorum hoc, stagnum terra undique inclusum, et exitu aquarum carens ; λίμνη, in quam aut fluvius in- currit, aut ducta fossa cum eo conjungitur, atque ite- rum exit. Wesseling. ad Herod. l a 191. — Whether under 162 NOTES. ζώον we should understand the frog or swan, is disputed. Nero, while living, had affected a talent for music, and sometimes gave the Roman people a taste of his skill, by appearing with his harp on the stage. He is said to have carried his ridiculous vanity so far, as to have caused a coin to be struck with the inscription Nero Apollo. See Spanh. Jul. Caes. 53. 11. ήλεν&εραοσέ την 'Ελλάδα. Nero had abolished the taxes and tribute which the Greeks had been accustomed to pay to the Romans, and, to enhance the value of the favor, had made proclamation of it himself at the Isth- mian games. The measure had no permanent effect, however, upon the political state of Greece ; but the former relations between the Greeks and their Roman masters were soon re-established by Vespasian. 12. ούτος, you there ! like the Latin heus, and the He- brew "^irtf "^ r3. See Ruth 4 : 1. — οι ζωγράφοι denotes those who painted in encaustic, as it was termed, or burnt in their colors with a heated rod or stylus. It is said to have been one of the later improvements in paint- ing, so far at least as regards its general adoption, and was valued for the greater durability which it gave to work executed in this manner. See Hoff. Alterthums- wiss. SS. 1041—2. Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Antiq. p. 685. — Supply ηροβάγοναιν after ζωγράφοι. The case em- ployed in a comparison after ώσπερ, ως, ώστε, may be either that of the noun which precedes, or the nomina- tive with an implied repetition of the verb. APPENDIX Had Plutarch any knowledge of Christianity 1 This question has been answered with so much una- nimity in the negative, and on grounds so decisive, that it is surprising some few should still have affirmed the contrary. Plutarch was born, it is supposed, A. D. 40, at Cheeronea in Baeotia, resided at different places, as Athens, Rome, Delphi, Alexandria in Egypt as some say, and died, about eighty years of age, A. D. Γ20. He flourished, therefore, during the latter part of the first, and the beginning of the second centuries. At some of these places, it is well known, there were at this time Christians, and hence it was possible certainly, that Plutarch should have met with them and become acquainted with their doctrines and sacred books. The mere fact of this possibility, however, can weigh nothing against the universal silence of his writings in regard to the subject of Christianity. Much, indeed, which he wrote has been lost ; but much still remains ; and in this we meet with so many natural, and, it may be said, unavoidable occasions for speaking of the Christians in an explicit manner, had he been aware of their existence and principles, that we can account for it only from his ignorance of them, that in all his numerous works he has left us not the slightest trace of any certain allusion to them. The only passage, in which it is pretended, that any discovery of this sort can be made, is one in the 164 APPENDIX. Symposion,* where he mentions a class of philosophers, who, on account of the efficacy which they attributed to hope as the supporter of life, received the name οΐ'Ελπισ- τικοί. The allusion, were it admitted, would show only, that some rumor of the spreading sect may have reached him ; but the question is, whether he probably possessed any definite knowledge of christian views, and added from these to his own. Such a reference, however, in this passage, is more than doubtful. Since it contains nothing, as Tzschirner in his examination of it (Opusc. Acad. p. 285 sq.) argues, which would lead us to suppose, that it is a hope of heaven, such as the Christians cher- ished, which is there intended, and since the Christians, who lived in the time of Plutarch, neither called them- selves philosophers nor were so called by others, it is quite impossible to believe that this term, Elpistics, points to them.t Nor is there any reason to think, that Plu- tarch had any acquaintance with the Jewish Scriptures. He shows, indeed, in several passages a knowledge of the Jews, of some of their peculiar rites and opinions, but at the same time so much gross ignorance of their belief, religion and history, that he could hardly have ever seen, and much less have studied their sacred writ- ings. He repeats, for instance, the blunder of some of the other ancient writers, who, mistaking the Jewish abhorrence of the swine, for veneration, assert, that the Jews worshipped this animal as their god. The question why a man like Plutarch, who lived at a time when the Christians were becoming so numerous, * Lib. 4. Quaest. 4. c. 3. p. 503. ed. Wyttenb. t Brvncker also, in his Hist. Crit. Fhilos. T. 3 p. 911 sq. as cited by Tzschirner, denies the correctness of such a reference. APPENDIX. 165 should have remained so estranged from them, is a dif- ferent one, and resolves itself into the more general in- quiry, why the classical Greek and Roman writers of this period, almost without exception, discover so little knowledge in their works of the great moral revolution, which was taking place around them. For an answer to this deeply interesting question, I would refer to Tzschirner's discussion, already cited, Graced et Romani script ores cur rerum Christianarum raro meminerint, (Opusc. Acad. p. 283 sq.), and to a translation of the same by the writer, in the Bib. Repository, January, 1638. See also an admirable discussion of the same topic, especially so far as respects the principles of tes- timony which should be applied to the case, but with less fulness of historical detail, in Chalmer's Lvidences of Christianity, Chap. 5. INDEX OF GREEK -WORDS AND PHRASES WHICH ARE ILLUSTRATED IN THE NOTES WITH REFERENCE TO SOME PECULIARITY OF MEANING, FORM OR CONSTRUCTION. Αγαπάω, 136. Αδράστεια, etymol. 151. Άδώνιδος κήποι, provb. 133. α&ρόα πολλά, 78. αλείπτης, 137. αλλά, 95. άλΐ οι' δε, 77. άλλόκοτον, etymol. 109. άλλως τε και, 112. άλω, with genitive, 100. ανακρονσις, 83. αξιουτε, 126. άποδίδοσ&αι, vox media, 135. απλώς, 88. άρα, class, and Ν. Τ. use, 137. αρχεσΒαι αφ ''Εστίας, provb. άσσον, 114. [85. ατεχνώς and άτεχνως, 159. άτιμος, 89. αντος, i. q. αντος οντος, 116. αυτός intensive, 147. αυτός αντος, self-same, 91. αίζομενος λίγος, 130. άφοσιον&αι, 86. Γέ, position, 195 — restrictive, 139. γένεσις, 154. Λαιμών, 159. δε, 138. δέδιεναι and φοβεϊσ&αι. 118, δείρο, 135. δη, optative, 125. δικαίωσις, 152. El, i. q. on, 129. ει' γ ε δη, 136. ί^ ρί, ironical, 127. είεν, 125. εκείνο, i. q, τοιτο, 83. εκείνος, ille, 113. εκποίητος, 139. &ος, 161. εμφοοεϊσ&αι, 92. εναγής, 105. ϊνικα, causa, 137. ε|ε#α>^ 143. έπιδεϊν, 82. έοήμον, fern. 116. εν&νς, with particip. 112. ευλαβείς, classic, and Ν. Τ. use, 92. έφεδρος, 120. 16 INDEX OF GREEK WORDS AND PHRASES. Ζωγράφοι, 16*2. 7 Jfc, as, 109. ή γάυ, interrog. 137. ηγε7σ&αι, with χρη implied, 107. i] ΰέμις, 109. rj κατά after compar. 84. η προς, 84. Κα&άπερ, 102. καί } although, 76. — for exam- ple, 171. και η and ει και, 124. και μάλιστα, 80. κακοί κακώς, 102. *ttxoc and πονηρός, 127. Xtt'oqpoc, 88. κινησωμεν, 136. κοινωνείν, 155. κομιδη, 88. κόσμος, 91. *i/ju« τρίτον, provb. 85. κώμα ζω, 100. Νομίζειν, 107. Λίμνη, 161. Αο/ο£ and μί&ος, 136. Μάλλον δε, or rather, 128. /^V, solitarium, 120. μέχρις αν, so long as, 130. MiVw, 88. μίξαντα, 111. μόλ /c, w:r tandem, 84. Όμ6&&, 109. ονείρατος, 152. 07TO'C UV/fV, 84. on before an infinitive, 135. ότι iy /νιάτω, 80. ot /«ρ κλΑ«, 129. ο ί (5 ε ;'ύρ, 148. ! οι δεν έργον, 77. ου μην αλλά, 129. ot; μέιτοι αλλά, 129. ; ούτος, heus, 162. ΟΙΤϋίί, 151. υφείλημα, sense in Ν. Τ. 131. ι οφείλω, 131. Πα&ητικόν, 157. ι πά&ος έπασχε, 142. παιδοτρίπης, 111. πάντα, in every respect, 152. 7r«Vu μ€ΐ> olj>, 100. 7Γ? ρ/, with ace. of proper name, 104. περιψόφησις, 83. πί/ and π»/', 136. ποταμός 'ΐΐρακλείτειος, provb. 131. που λέγοντος, 104. προσδοκία, 112. ττυόσφ«το£, 79. * Ρέοντες, a class of philoso- phers, 131. Σπαραγμός, 83. .T.TlX^TuC, 141. σννεϊναι μετά πονηρ'ας 95. σιΤΗ*'οα ?οσο>, 95. — λιμω, 95. Ταύτα, i. q. οί!τω£, 117. ταφαί, 143. τ/ μα ft ω ν, 108. rt ού', 75. τ/ πα&ών, 108. τό «τιο τοΓ<5ε, 148. τρέσης, 82. τρικυμία, 85. INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES. 169 Φεροιν and φερόμενος, not Ψνχη, 149, pleonastic, 129. Χαιρειν iaiiov, 137. χρη implied in infinitive, 107. χρ-ησΰαί, 135, 138. χρόνοι, tandem, 100. ψυχοττομπεϊον, 115. c fLg εοικεν, 77. — ετνχε, 84. ωσπερ, 83, 162. ωστδ, 162. οίχετο άπίων, 75. INDEX OF PASSAGES WHICH ARE CITED IX THE NOTES FROM THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. Genesis 9:25 10:10 Exodus 20:5 . Leviticus 19:31 Deuteronomy 15: 11 . . 29:29 . 4:1 Ruth 1 Samuel 3:12,13 25:7 . 121 141 70 115 115 87 162 121 115 2 Samuel 10:6—8 15:29,30 21:29 . 1 Kings 2 Chronicles 28:3 9:10 . 11:7 . 7:16 . 10:13 . 92:6 . 145:3 . 5:22 Job Psalms Proverbs 141 121 121 98 87 87 110 83 87 87 110 12 170 INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES. 26:27 110 Mark 10:19 82 Ecclesiastes 14:29 . 125 8:11 Isaiah 83 15:21 . . . 110 15:44 ... 129 8:19 115 Luke 29:4 115 2:25 . . 92 40:13,14 87 6:41,42 88 55:8,9 87 7:40 . 128 57:5 98 9:46 149 57:20 113 9:60 126 10:12 113 Jeremiah 11:4 131 7:31 . 98 11:48 138 19:4 Ezekiel 98 12:4 12:49 21:26 128 129 112 16:20 . 98 22:2 148 18:3 • 70 23:15 23:26 24:21 77 110 95 Matthew 1:20 82 John 2:23 . 90 3:6 76 4:5 88 4:20 76 5:44 145 5:40 76 6:7 82 6:51 126 6:12 . 131 9:39 126 7:3 88 19:17 110 7:12 145 7:22 113 Acts 10:39 . 126 2:5 . . . 92 18:28 129 4:14 128 21:41 102 4:34 148 23:35 121 8:2 , 92 24:36 113 13:2 125 27:32 110 19:2 77 INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES. 171 19:4 , , 120 5:14 . , 149 28:13 . 156 5:21 6:6 • 100 155 Romans 1:29 . 127 Colossians 3 : 22 . 138 2 : 21 1 • • 82 4:25 . 152 2:23 . . 120 5:12 . 70 5:12—18 141 1 Thessalonians 5:12—19 121 4:1 . • • 150 5:18 . 152 ,138 7:3 138 2 Timothy 7:12 . 120 2:5 . 135 8:7 148 8 : 26 . 149 Titus 10:1 . 120 1:12 . . 106 10:17 . 138 11 : 33, 34 87 Hebi^vs 13:13 . 100 2:6 , . # 104 15:27 . 155 2:16 . , 78 4:4 » • • 104 1 Corinthians 10 : 20 . . 79 3:2 . . 7? 12 : 2 , . , 135 3:18 . 87 6:20 . 125 1 Peter 9:2 95 4:3 » • • 100 9 : 24—6 135 15:21,22 121 2 Peter 3:8,9 . , 112 2 Corinthians. 2:4 . . 152 1 John 6:10 . 126 2:1 . . 76 8:2 126 3:13 ► • . 129 7:12 . 138 4:3 1 • • 76 12:15 . 145 Revelation Gala 4:31 . tians 138 2:9 . 126 CORRECTIONS. It was impossible, at the distance of the writer from the press, to secure a perfect revision of all the sheets. The following changes which affect, for the most part, a single letter, should be made. Page 13, line 14, read vvfy, p• 19, Ί-ΊΟ,προαιρέσει. p. 72, I. 30, practise, p. 98, I. 31, Porphyry, p. 104, 1. 24, Mycenae. p. 117, 1. 10, Mharnas. p. 119, 1. 1, pracgnans. p. 127, 1. 10, Amwonius, also, Hesychius. p. 134, 1. 10, XII. Ν. B. The Greek in the Notes, when cited from the text, re- tains the same accentuation, without regard to the new position which the final words acquire. It is possible that the uniformi- ty in this respect has not been always observed.