Selected Essays of Plutarch
PREFACE
This volume covers about one-eighth part of the miscellaneousworks of Plutarch known as the Moralia, much thesame quantity as is contained in Professor Tucker’s volume ofthis series which appeared in 1913. All the pieces now offeredare in the form of dialogue, except the short treatise OnSuperstition, which seemed to justify its inclusion by a certainaffinity of thought.
The text followed is that of Wyttenbach, issued by theClarendon Press in 1795-1800, or rather a text compoundedof the Greek text there printed, his own critical notes andrevision of the old Latin version, his commentary, where oneexists, and his posthumous Index of Greek words used byPlutarch (1830). A few corrections by C. F. Hermann,Emperius, Madvig, and other scholars, have been introduced,for many of which I am indebted, in the first place, as I haveacknowledged more particularly, to M. G. N. Bernardakis,the accomplished editor of the Moralia in the Teubner series(1888-96). A very few fresh corrections, mostly on obviouspoints, have been admitted.
The notes at the foot of the page are intended to show alldeviations from Wyttenbach’s text, so constituted, or to givereferences to the authors of passages quoted by Plutarch;there may be a few exceptions, where an illustrative referenceor an obvious explanation is given. For the plays and fragmentsof the Tragic Poets reference is made to Dindorf’sPoetae Scenici; for Pindar and other lyric poets, to Bergk’sPoetae Lyrici Graeci (ed. 1900); for the fragments of Heraclitus,to Bywater’s Heracliti Ephesii reliquiae (Oxford, 1877);ivthose of other early philosophers will be found in their placesin Diels’ Vorsokratiker (1903) or other collections.
To four of the dialogues I have with some reluctanceprefixed a short running analysis. It is always a pity to anticipatewhat the author puts clearly before us;[1] but there ishere a real practical difficulty, even for a careful reader, inbeing sure who is the speaker for the time being; and as heis often introduced by the pronouns ‘I’ or ‘he’, no typographicaldevice quite serves. The other dialogues seem toexplain themselves sufficiently. There is no attempt to supplya commentary; but it is hoped that the full index of propernames (which are very numerous)