APPENDIXNOTES ON THE GREEK TEXT
4 D ἐνίοτε γὰρ εἰδότες αἰσθομένοις μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς τοῦτο λεγόντων. Read ... εἰδότες, (ἢ) αἰσθόμενοι ἢ καὶ ἄλλων αὐτοῖς τοῦτο λεγόντων.
5 C ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι τῶν ἀναξίων τὰ τίμια οὐδὲν διαφέρει. The sense requires ἀξίων ‘cheap’.
6 C πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τί ἄν τοὺς παῖδας ... καλὸν γάρ τοι κτλ. The cause of the lacuna is obvious if we read τί ἄν τοὺς παῖδας (καλὸν διδάσκοιεν;) καλὸν γάρ τοι κτλ.
7 B ἕως ἔτι μέμνημαι τῆς παιδείας. Rather ... (ταύτης) τῆς παιδείας.
7 F τὸ μὲν γὰρ εὐγενῶς εὐτυχεῖν ἀνδρός, τὸ δ᾽ ἀνεπιφθόνως εὐηνίου ἀνθρώπου. Read τὸ μὲν γὰρ εὐγενῶς ἀτυχεῖν ἀνδρός, τὸ δ᾽ ἀνεπιφθόνως εὐθηνεῖν ἀνθρώπου.
8 B καὶ ἀπὸ πηγῆς τὴν ἐπιστήμην τηρεῖν συμβέβηκεν. Read ἀπὸ πείνης ...
8 D ἰσχνὸς δὲ στρατιώτης πολεμικῶν ἀγώνων ἐθὰς ἀθλητῶν καὶ πολεμίων φάλαγγας διωθεῖ. Read ... ἀθλητῶν καταπιμέλων ...
8 F καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ τῷ λόγῳ παρεφορτισάμην, ἵν᾽ ἐφεξῆς καὶ τἄλλα ... συνάψω. Read ... νῦν δ᾽ ἐφεξῆς.
11 A ἵνα δὲ γέλωτα παράσχῃ τοῖς ἄλλοις, αὐτὸς πολὺν χρόνον ἔκλαυσεν. We require the antithesis γέλωτα (βραχὺν) παράσχῃ.
12 E ὅτι δεῖ τὸν βίον ἐπιτηδεύειν καὶ μὴ δεῖν δεσμῷ προσάπτειν. Read ... καὶ μηδενὶ δεσμῷ ...
13 B ὡς ἐκ λυρικῆς τέχνης. The sense requires νευροσπαστικῆς, to which νευρικῆς may be equivalent.
14 C τὸ μὲν οὖν πάσας τὰς προειρημένας ... συμπεριλαβεῖν εὐχῆς ἴσως ἢ παραινέσεως ἔργον ἐστί. The word most easily lost would be (εὐημερίας). Also (μἂλλον) is to be supplied.
44 B ἐν τῷ καταφρονεῖν τιθέμενοι καὶ τὸ σεμνὸν ὑπεροψίᾳ διὼκοντες. Read ἐν τῷ καταφρονεῖν (τὸ φρονεῖν) τιθέμενοι ...
46 B ᾠδήν τινα πεποιημένην ἐφ᾽ ἁρμονίας. Read ἐφ᾽ ἁρμονίας (νέας) or the like.
74 A τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ θεραπευτικὴ παρρησία ζητεῖ τρόπον, ἡ δὲ πρακτικὴ τὸν ἐναντίον. The sense requires ἡ δὲ ταρακτικὴ ...
152 A εἰ μὴ μόνος εἴη φρόνιμος. Probably εἰ ἐμμόνως εἴη ...
152 D σὺ δὲ δεινὸς εἶ κοράκων ἐπαΐειν καὶ κολοιῶν, τῆς δὲ σοῦ φωνῆς οὐκ ἀκριβῶς ἐξακούεις. For τῆς δὲ σοῦ (δεσου) read τῆς (δεδουσ i.e.) δ᾽ Αἰδοῦς ...
158 D δεινὸν μὲν οὖν ... καὶ τὸ γεωργίας αὐτῇ. The sense requires αὐτῆς.
159 D ὥσπερ ἐν μυλῶνι τῷ σώματι τὴν ψυχὴν ἐγκεκαλυμμένην. Read ἐγκεκλῃμένην.
160 F ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον οἷ προσέμελλε. Read προσέκελλε.
163 D ... ἀπαντῆσαι μόνον ... θαλάττῃ ἕπεσθαι κτλ. The sense would be given by ... ἀπαντῆσαι μόνον (θαρρῆσαι, τὸ δ᾽ ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, καὶ ἐκ τῆς) θαλάττης ἕπεσθαι κτλ.
504 B ὅτι πρεσβύτης ἐστὶν ἐν Ἀθήναις παρὰ πότον σιωπᾶν δυνάμενος. Rather ... πρεσβύτης (εἷς) ...
504 C ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως εἰπὼν καὶ ἀναφωνήσας ἐκεῖνο περὶ αὑτοῦ τὸ ... Probably ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως (τὸ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως) εἰπὼν κτλ.
513 A Φιλίππου γράψαντος εἰ δέχονται τῇ πόλει αὐτόν, εἰς χάρτην ΟΥ μέγα γράψαντες ἀπέστειλαν. There would be more point in ... εἰς χάρτην (τὴν αὐτὴν) ... Moreover, what they wrote was simply Ο.
514 F τὸ γὰρ μάτην καὶ διακενῆς οὐχ ἧττον ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἢ τοῖς ἔργοις ἔστιν. Read ... οὐχ ἧττον (εὐλαβητέον) ἐν ...
515 D ὅσσον ὕδωρ κατ᾽ Ἀλίζονος ἢ δρυὸς ἀμφὶ πέτηλα. Perhaps ὅσσον ὕδωρ καταχεῖ νότος ἦ ...
Footnotes
Footnotes
Footnotes
1.The reproof might ostensibly be general, but its particular application was readily felt. Musonius, we are told by Epictetus, made all his hearers feel ‘as if some one had been talking to him about them’.
1.The reproof might ostensibly be general, but its particular application was readily felt. Musonius, we are told by Epictetus, made all his hearers feel ‘as if some one had been talking to him about them’.
2.SeeConcerning Busybodies, 522 E.
2.SeeConcerning Busybodies, 522 E.
3.Over and above his resemblances to Macaulay as a writer of essays and biographical history, there is a distinct similarity between their conversational tastes. We can imagine a Plutarch fully at home with Macaulay at one of those astonishing early Victorian breakfast-parties where a man might be asked if he ‘knew his Popes’, and where he might be endured while he recited them. Plutarch’sTable-Talk, like hisDinner-Party of the Seven Sages, reveals for contemporary Greek society the same deliberate cult of intellectual conversation sharpened by challenge and debate. In such conversation he must himself have played a conspicuous part. Nevertheless, it may fairly be gathered that the Greek or Graeco-Roman interlocutors in the reign of Trajan were the more ingenuously athirst for reciprocal enlightenment, however dubiously we may regard the value of the information or misinformation actually gained. Nor is it easy to believe that Plutarch would have thought it etiquette to indulge in the protracted monologues to which the more modern society submitted with such grace as it best could.
3.Over and above his resemblances to Macaulay as a writer of essays and biographical history, there is a distinct similarity between their conversational tastes. We can imagine a Plutarch fully at home with Macaulay at one of those astonishing early Victorian breakfast-parties where a man might be asked if he ‘knew his Popes’, and where he might be endured while he recited them. Plutarch’sTable-Talk, like hisDinner-Party of the Seven Sages, reveals for contemporary Greek society the same deliberate cult of intellectual conversation sharpened by challenge and debate. In such conversation he must himself have played a conspicuous part. Nevertheless, it may fairly be gathered that the Greek or Graeco-Roman interlocutors in the reign of Trajan were the more ingenuously athirst for reciprocal enlightenment, however dubiously we may regard the value of the information or misinformation actually gained. Nor is it easy to believe that Plutarch would have thought it etiquette to indulge in the protracted monologues to which the more modern society submitted with such grace as it best could.
4.e.g. in hisDe repugnantiis Stoicorumand hisNon posse suaviter vivi secundum Epicurum. Yet, as Mahaffy says, ‘it would be hard to say whether the number of Stoic dogmas which he rejects exceeds that which he quotes with approval’ (The Greek World under Roman Sway, pp. 300 sqq.).
4.e.g. in hisDe repugnantiis Stoicorumand hisNon posse suaviter vivi secundum Epicurum. Yet, as Mahaffy says, ‘it would be hard to say whether the number of Stoic dogmas which he rejects exceeds that which he quotes with approval’ (The Greek World under Roman Sway, pp. 300 sqq.).
5.Volkmann names in particular Clement of Alexandria and Basil.
5.Volkmann names in particular Clement of Alexandria and Basil.
6.This does not mean that he had no friends among the rhetorical teachers (the contrary is shown by his reference to ‘our Niger’ inpraec. san., § 16), but only that he distrusted the type. He refused to approve of a fluent and polished style as an end in itself. Pliny describes how the amazingly voluble Isaeus would offer his audience a choice of subject and allow it to dictate the side which he should take. He would then rise and demonstrate his extemporizing powers with much show of rhetorical ornament.
6.This does not mean that he had no friends among the rhetorical teachers (the contrary is shown by his reference to ‘our Niger’ inpraec. san., § 16), but only that he distrusted the type. He refused to approve of a fluent and polished style as an end in itself. Pliny describes how the amazingly voluble Isaeus would offer his audience a choice of subject and allow it to dictate the side which he should take. He would then rise and demonstrate his extemporizing powers with much show of rhetorical ornament.
7.Volkmann says of theLives, ‘Das Werthvolle an ihnen sind nicht die historischen Details, die er giebt, sondern die eingestreuten Reflexionen, die ethischen Betrachtungen, das Eingehen auf individuelle Stimmungen und Leidenschaften der grossen Männer.’
7.Volkmann says of theLives, ‘Das Werthvolle an ihnen sind nicht die historischen Details, die er giebt, sondern die eingestreuten Reflexionen, die ethischen Betrachtungen, das Eingehen auf individuelle Stimmungen und Leidenschaften der grossen Männer.’
8.Aulicis tantum scripsit, non doctis, says Scaliger.
8.Aulicis tantum scripsit, non doctis, says Scaliger.
9.Volkmann guesses that it isein Produkt der späteren Sophistik. If so, we may congratulate the Sophist on his perfect reproduction of Plutarch’s style and of his non-sophistic tone.
9.Volkmann guesses that it isein Produkt der späteren Sophistik. If so, we may congratulate the Sophist on his perfect reproduction of Plutarch’s style and of his non-sophistic tone.
10.Bacon’s EssayOf Followers and Friendsowes almost nothing to Plutarch beyond the title. We do, however, find him borrowing the words ‘for there is no such Flatterer as a Man’s selfe’.
10.Bacon’s EssayOf Followers and Friendsowes almost nothing to Plutarch beyond the title. We do, however, find him borrowing the words ‘for there is no such Flatterer as a Man’s selfe’.
11.As Volkmann happily puts it, he writes ‘with comfortable breadth’.
11.As Volkmann happily puts it, he writes ‘with comfortable breadth’.
12.The sentences would doubtless have been easier still if Plutarch had not felt bound to follow the fashion of the time and elaborately avoid hiatus.
12.The sentences would doubtless have been easier still if Plutarch had not felt bound to follow the fashion of the time and elaborately avoid hiatus.
13.Perhaps this is why Plutarch, as seen through Amyot, appeared to Montaigne ‘close and thorny,’ while his sense was nevertheless ‘closely-jointed and pithily-continued’.
13.Perhaps this is why Plutarch, as seen through Amyot, appeared to Montaigne ‘close and thorny,’ while his sense was nevertheless ‘closely-jointed and pithily-continued’.
14.Stobaeus (sixth century) had access to much of Plutarch that is now lost.
14.Stobaeus (sixth century) had access to much of Plutarch that is now lost.
15.See an observation of Professor Summers,Seneca Select Letters, Introduction, p. lxxiv.
15.See an observation of Professor Summers,Seneca Select Letters, Introduction, p. lxxiv.
16.Plutarch ‘is the theme of more than 230 allusions or direct references on the part of Jeremy Taylor’ (Sandys,A History of Classical Scholarship, i. 300).
16.Plutarch ‘is the theme of more than 230 allusions or direct references on the part of Jeremy Taylor’ (Sandys,A History of Classical Scholarship, i. 300).
17.He was familiar reading of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and appears in theGesta Romanorum. Later theAdagiaof Erasmus draw freely upon him.
17.He was familiar reading of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and appears in theGesta Romanorum. Later theAdagiaof Erasmus draw freely upon him.
18.‘Il a en quelque sorte créé Plutarque,’ says Demogeot.
18.‘Il a en quelque sorte créé Plutarque,’ says Demogeot.
19.Euphuesappeared in 1579. Jusserand (The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, p. 127) remarks that Euphues ‘addresses moral epistles to his fellow men to guide them through life’, but he appears to be unaware that Lyly borrowed this object, as well as so large a quantity of his matter, from Plutarch.
19.Euphuesappeared in 1579. Jusserand (The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, p. 127) remarks that Euphues ‘addresses moral epistles to his fellow men to guide them through life’, but he appears to be unaware that Lyly borrowed this object, as well as so large a quantity of his matter, from Plutarch.
20.We meet, for example, with the story of Zeno, ‘the olde man in Athens that amiddest the pottes could hold his peace.’
20.We meet, for example, with the story of Zeno, ‘the olde man in Athens that amiddest the pottes could hold his peace.’
21.History of Greek Classical Literature, ii. 427.
21.History of Greek Classical Literature, ii. 427.
22.The Literature of Ancient Greece, p. 396.
22.The Literature of Ancient Greece, p. 396.
23.Quoted by Sandys (A History of Classical Scholarship, i. 300).
23.Quoted by Sandys (A History of Classical Scholarship, i. 300).
24.The home of Bias.
24.The home of Bias.
25.According to another account he waited till the shadow was equal in length to the stick. The pyramid was then also equal in height to the length of its shadow.
25.According to another account he waited till the shadow was equal in length to the stick. The pyramid was then also equal in height to the length of its shadow.
26.The divinities of spring-water.
26.The divinities of spring-water.
27.The titleLusiosorLuaioswas popularly interpreted Deliverer (from care or difficulty).
27.The titleLusiosorLuaioswas popularly interpreted Deliverer (from care or difficulty).
28.See note onAmasis.
28.See note onAmasis.
29.i.e. anointing himself, not in connexion with bathing, but with exercise in the wrestling-schools.
29.i.e. anointing himself, not in connexion with bathing, but with exercise in the wrestling-schools.
30.The precise remark is uncertain, the text here being corrupt.
30.The precise remark is uncertain, the text here being corrupt.
31.Equivalent to a command to ‘go weep’.
31.Equivalent to a command to ‘go weep’.
32.In antiquity these vessels were of bronze.
32.In antiquity these vessels were of bronze.
33.Which was bequeathed ‘to the wisest’. It was given to Thales, who passed it on to another, and the process was repeated till it came back to Thales, whereupon he dedicated it to Apollo.
33.Which was bequeathed ‘to the wisest’. It was given to Thales, who passed it on to another, and the process was repeated till it came back to Thales, whereupon he dedicated it to Apollo.
34.The text here is corrupt.
34.The text here is corrupt.
35.i.e. Epicurean.
35.i.e. Epicurean.
36.Member of a religious council which met at Delphi and represented the chief states of all Greece.
36.Member of a religious council which met at Delphi and represented the chief states of all Greece.
37.Made of polished bronze.
37.Made of polished bronze.
38.Which contained ‘every charm: love, desire, and sweet converse’ (Homer,Il.xiv. 214).
38.Which contained ‘every charm: love, desire, and sweet converse’ (Homer,Il.xiv. 214).
39.The use of oil to soften the hair was practically universal.
39.The use of oil to soften the hair was practically universal.
40.A common punishment for a slave was to put him to hard labour in turning the mill, in place of a horse or ass.
40.A common punishment for a slave was to put him to hard labour in turning the mill, in place of a horse or ass.
41.A frequent pretence of ancient witches.
41.A frequent pretence of ancient witches.
42.These were farmed.
42.These were farmed.
43.The Homeric σιγαλόεντα (‘glossy’) is brought, either in error or by a deliberate pun, into relation with σιγή (‘silence’).
43.The Homeric σιγαλόεντα (‘glossy’) is brought, either in error or by a deliberate pun, into relation with σιγή (‘silence’).
44.Thepaedagogus, an attendant slave, who accompanied the boy and watched over his conduct.
44.Thepaedagogus, an attendant slave, who accompanied the boy and watched over his conduct.
45.In hisPhaedrus.
45.In hisPhaedrus.
46.i. e. in the mixolydian mode, which was of a sad and dirgelike character.
46.i. e. in the mixolydian mode, which was of a sad and dirgelike character.
47.The rest of the essay is missing.
47.The rest of the essay is missing.
48.i.e. a rough and mountainous island.
48.i.e. a rough and mountainous island.
49.A ‘satyric’ drama was a half-comic interlude or sequel to tragedies.
49.A ‘satyric’ drama was a half-comic interlude or sequel to tragedies.
50.In the Stoic sense ofadiaphoria.
50.In the Stoic sense ofadiaphoria.
51.Since diagrams were often drawn with sticks in the dust.
51.Since diagrams were often drawn with sticks in the dust.
52.The Greek jest does not admit of translation. The same word may mean both ‘theft’ and a ‘stealthy act’.
52.The Greek jest does not admit of translation. The same word may mean both ‘theft’ and a ‘stealthy act’.
53.The point lies in an ambiguity which is possible only in the Greek. The words may equally mean: ‘You issued no invitation when sacrificing your friends,’ and ‘when sacrificing, you did not invite your friends’.
53.The point lies in an ambiguity which is possible only in the Greek. The words may equally mean: ‘You issued no invitation when sacrificing your friends,’ and ‘when sacrificing, you did not invite your friends’.
54.Or what French would call thegouverneur.
54.Or what French would call thegouverneur.
55.This article is in all probability not the work of Plutarch. See the Introduction.
55.This article is in all probability not the work of Plutarch. See the Introduction.
56.The play upon words (ēthikas, ‘moral’ andĕthikas, ‘of habit’) is not adequately translatable.
56.The play upon words (ēthikas, ‘moral’ andĕthikas, ‘of habit’) is not adequately translatable.
57.The Greek text is here corrupt; the translation represents the probable sense.
57.The Greek text is here corrupt; the translation represents the probable sense.
58.The Greek text is again faulty. The sense here given is approximate.
58.The Greek text is again faulty. The sense here given is approximate.
59.These maxims were probably in the first instance merely hygienic, or even popular superstitions, but subsequently they received recondite interpretations.
59.These maxims were probably in the first instance merely hygienic, or even popular superstitions, but subsequently they received recondite interpretations.
60.The Greek verse is doggerel, and no attempt is made to better it in the English.
60.The Greek verse is doggerel, and no attempt is made to better it in the English.
Transcriber’s Notes:Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.Typographical errors were silently corrected.Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book.Footnotes have been collected at the end of the text, and are linked for ease of reference.