Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s notes:

Italic text is marked _thus_.

The spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and accentuation are as the original, except for apparent typographical errors which have been corrected.

_Tiberius and Agrippina._

_From the painting by Peter Paul Rubens._]

PLUTARCH’S ESSAYS AND MISCELLANIES

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

BOSTON · LITTLE, BROWN
AND COMPANY · MCMXI

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870,
By LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

Copyright, 1898, 1905,
By LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

Printers
S. J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME THIRD.

WITH THE TRANSLATORS’ NAMES.

WHETHER 'TWERE RIGHTLY SAID, LIVE CONCEALED.

BY CHARLES WHITAKER, ESQUIRE, SOMETIME FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE IN
OXFORD.

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

AN ABSTRACT OF A COMPARISON BETWIXT ARISTOPHANES AND
MENANDER

BY WILLIAM BAXTER, GENT.

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

OF BANISHMENT, OR FLYING ONE’S COUNTRY.

BY JOHN PATRICK, OF THE CHARTERHOUSE.

Afflicted persons need to have their grief lightened, not increased,
15. Banishment may not be an evil of itself, but only as the mind
makes it such, 16. If it be an evil, philosophy may help a man to
bear it, 17. If it be an evil, let us consider how much good remains
to balance it, 18. By nature, we have no country, we are citizens
of the world, 18, 19. In whatever part of the world we are, we may
make ourselves at home, 20. It is folly to suppose that we cannot
enjoy life but where we were born, 20. A man of skill and ability
can thrive anywhere, 21. Custom makes every thing and every place
pleasant, 22. Change of scene may afford relief, 23. Happiness is not
limited to place, 24. The Cyclades are places of exile, yet great men
have lived there, 24. Homer commends islands as places of abode, 25.
An island may be a place of much quiet and enjoyment, 25, 26. Few of
the prudent and wise were buried in their own country, 27. Instances
of the fact, 28. Some of the finest human compositions were written
in exile, 29. Instances of this, 29. It is not ignominious to be
banished, 29, 30. Instances produced, 30, 33. Banishment does not
deprive us of our liberty, 31. We are all strangers and pilgrims on
earth; the soul being of heavenly origin, 34.

OF BROTHERLY LOVE

BY JOHN THOMSON, PREBENDARY OF HEREFORD.

Address to two brothers, 36. Nature, by forming some of our most
useful members in pairs, gives a hint of the need of harmony between
brothers, 37. Nature admonishes us to prefer a brother to a stranger,
38. The author’s experience at Rome, 39. To our parents, next to the
gods, is due the highest veneration, 40. Parents are happy in the
union of brothers, and sad at their disagreement, 41. Love between
brothers indicates love to parents, 42. Disaffection between brothers
indicates great wrong somewhere, 43. Brothers, once alienated, can
scarce become true friends again, 44. Brothers must bear with one
another’s failings; they should not expect perfection, 45. If your
brother has given offence to your father, intercede in his behalf,
47. If the father be dead, let justice preside in the division of his
property, 48, 49. An unequal division produces lasting hatred and
envy among brothers, 50, 51. If one brother excel another in talent
or learning, let him treat the other with condescension and kindness,
52. And let not the other indulge envy, 53. Be not jealous of a
brother’s prosperity, 53. Brothers should assist one another, 54. The
elder brother should lead, but not be exacting and overbearing, 56.
The younger should treat the elder with respect and deference, 56,
57. Avoid disagreements about little things, 57. Yield your wishes
for peace’ sake, 58. Beautiful instance of fraternal concord from the
history of Persia, 59. Another from the history of Syria, 60. When a
brother has wronged a brother, let him confess it, 61. Kindness of
Attalus to his brother Eumenes, 62. If brothers disagree, let each
avoid a correspondence with the other’s enemies, 63. Cherish your
brother’s friends, his wife and children, 64-68.

WHEREFORE THE PYTHIAN PRIESTESS NOW CEASES TO DELIVER
HER ORACLES IN VERSE.

BY JOHN PHILIPS, GENT.

A walk in Delphi, 69. The statues there; the color of the brass
admired, 70. The Corinthian brass, whence its extraordinary lustre
and beauty, 70, 71. The atmosphere of Delphi, its effect on the brass
of the statues, 72. The ancient oracles of Delphi, whence their
rudeness and coarseness, 73. Could verses so devoid of neatness
and elegance proceed from Apollo? 73. The ideas were supplied by
Apollo: the words came from the priestess, 75. The statue of Hiero at
Delphi: prodigy connected with it, 76. Other similar prodigies, 76.
But these were mere accidents, 77. Strange and unlooked-for events
may happen from natural causes, 78. Even though predicted, it was
not from any foreknowledge of the prophet but only from plausible
conjecture, 78. Conjectures are sometimes verified, 79. Yet there may
be real predictions and actual prophetic inspiration, 80. Instances
given, 80. Frogs and water-snakes: what relation have they to Apollo?
80-82; and why are they represented in the Corinthian Hall at Delphi?
80-82. Why does the Corinthian Hall bear that name? 82. The statue
of Phryne the courtesan, 83. It was no worse to place such a statue
in the temple of Apollo than to fill it with spoils taken in war,
84. Yet statues and offerings are sometimes placed there in token of
gratitude, 85. But why does the Pythian priestess no longer deliver
her oracles in verse? 86. In ancient times philosophers sometimes
spoke in verse, while oracles were sometimes delivered in prose, 87,
88. Instances given, 88, 89. Some oracles are now uttered in verse,
90. A singular anecdote, 90. As the soul acts through the body as its
servant and instrument, so the Deity uses the soul, 91. As the moon
reflects the light of the sun, yet in diminished force, so the Pythia
imperfectly yet really conveys the energy of the Deity, 92. The Deity
uses men according to their ability, 93. The Pythian priestess,
having had a slender education, cannot speak the language of culture
and refinement, 93, 94. The times are much altered from what they
once were. History and philosophy do not now take a poetical form,
95, 96. Poetry has lost its ancient credit, 98. This may account for
the disuse of verse in the Delphic utterances, 98. The ambiguity
of the ancient oracles accounted for, 99. In these times of public
tranquillity there is no need of oracles, 100. Yet let us not blame
the oracle, 103.

OF THOSE SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH
PHILOSOPHERS WERE DELIGHTED.

BY JOHN DOWEL, VICAR OF MELTON MOWBRAY IN LEICESTERSHIRE.