diff --git a/data/tlg0007/tlg090/tlg0007.tlg090.perseus-eng3.xml b/data/tlg0007/tlg090/tlg0007.tlg090.perseus-eng3.xml new file mode 100644 index 000000000..7a6794c0c --- /dev/null +++ b/data/tlg0007/tlg090/tlg0007.tlg090.perseus-eng3.xml @@ -0,0 +1,1172 @@ + + + + + + + The <foreign xml:lang="grc">Ε</foreign> at Delphi + Plutarch + Frank Cole Babbitt + Perseus Project, Tufts University + Gregory Crane + + Prepared under the supervision of + Lisa Cerrato + Rashmi Singhal + Bridget Almas + + The National Endowment for the Humanities + + + Trustees of Tufts University + Medford, MA + Perseus Project + 2010-12-13 + + + + + Plutarch + Moralia + + with an English Translation by + Frank Cole Babbitt + + + Cambridge, MA + Harvard University Press + London + William Heinemann Ltd. + 1936 + + 5 + + The + Internet Archive + + + + + + +

optical character recognition

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+ + + + + + + + English + Greek + Latin + German + French + + + + tagged and parsed + EpiDoc and CTS Conversion + + + + +
+ + THE E AT DELPHI (DE E APUD DELPHOS) + +
+ INTRODUCTION +

Plutarch, in this essay on the E at Delphi, tells us that beside the + well-known inscriptions at Delphi there was also a representation of the + letter E, the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet. The Greek name for this + letter was EI, and this diphthong, in addition to being used in Plutarch's + time as the name of E (which denotes the number five), is the Greek word for + if, and also the word for the second person + singular of the verb to be (thou art).

+

In searching for an explanation of the unexplainable it is only natural that + the three meanings of EI (five, + if, + thou art) should be examined to see if any + hypothesis based on any one of them might possibly yield a rational + explanation; and these hypotheses constitute the skeleton about which is + built the body of Plutarch's essay. From it we gain some interesting + delineations of character and an engaging portrayal of the way in which a + philosopher acts, or reacts, when forced unwillingly to face the unknowable.

+

Plutarch puts forward seven possible explanations of the letter:

+

(1) It was dedicated by the Wise Men, as a protest against interlopers, to + show that their number was actually five and not seven (EI = E, five). +

+

(2) EI is the second vowel, the Sun is the second planet, and Apollo is + identified with the sun (EI = E, the vowel).

+

(3) EI means if: people ask the oracle IF they + shall succeed, or IF they shall do this or that (EI=if).

+

(4) EI is used in wishes or prayers to the god, often in the combination + εἴθε or εἰ + γάρ (EI = if or if only).

+

(5) EI, if, is an indispensable word in logic for + the construction of a syllogism (EI = if).

+

(6) Five is a most important number in mathematics, physiology, philosophy, + and music (EI = E, five).

+

(7) EI means thou art and is the address of the + consultant to Apollo, to indicate that the god has eternal being (EI = thou art).This explanation is accepted by Poulsen (Delphi, p. 149), but is open to very serious + objections. +

+

Attempts to explain the letter have been also made in modern times by + Göttling, Berickte der Sacks. + Gesell. der Wiss. I. + (1846-47) pp. 311 if., and by Schultz in Philologus (1866), pp. 214 if. Roscher, in Philologus (1900), pp. 21 if.; + (1901), pp. 81 if.; (1902), pp. 513 if.; Hermes + (1901), pp. 470 ff. (comment also by C. Robert in the same volume, p. 490), + and the Philologische + Wochenschrift (1922), col. 1211, maintains that EI is an + imperative from εἶμι, go, addressed to the person who carne to consult + the oracle, and that it means go on, + continue into the temple. The value of this + explanation is somewhat doubtful, since EI in this word (εἶμι) is a true diphthong, and so is not + generally spelled with simple E except in the Corinthian alphabet. Although + Roscher cites a few examples from inscriptions + in other dialects where the true diphthongal EI seems to be represented by + simple E, his evidence is not convincing.

+

O. Lagercrantz, in Hermes, xxxvi. (1901) pp. + 411 if., interprets the E as meaning ἦ + he said. To this, of course, Roscher objects and + suggests that Lagercrantz might have thought also of ἦ + verily. Thus all the various possibilities of + interpretation have in turn been suggested, and rejected by others.

+

W. N. Bates, in the American Journal of + Archaeology, xxix. (1925) pp. 239-246, tries to show that the E + had its origin in a Minoan character E associated with + (\e (as is shown by the evidence of a Cretan gem in + the Metropolitan Museum of New York) and later transferred to Delphi. Since + the character was not understood, it, like other things at Delphi, came to + be associated with Apollo. This character has been found on the old omphalos + discovered in 1913 at Delphi in the temple of Apollo.It might also be recorded that J. E. + Harrison, in Comptes Rendus du + Congres International d'Archeologie (Athens, 1905), thinks + that the E was originally three betyl stones or + pillars placed on a basis and representing the three Charites! + Moreover, C. Fries, in Rheinisches + Museum für Philologie, lxxix. (1930) 343-344, offers as nodi explicatio the fact that in Sumerian + inscriptions E means house or temple, and so may be connected with + Babylonian ritual (note the Chaldean in chap. iv.)! +

+

Interesting are the two coins reproduced in Imhoof-Blumer and P. Gardner, + A Numismatic Commentary on Pausanias, plate + x. nos. xxii. and xxiii. (text, p. 119), which show the E suspended between + the middle columns of the temple. Learned scholars should note that the + letter represented is E, not EI: therefore such + explanations as are based on the true diphthong are presumably wrong.

+

The title of the essay is included in the catalogue of Lamprias, where it + appears as No. 117. It is not infrequently quoted or referred to by later + writers. It has been separately edited by Bernardakis in the volume of + essays in honour of Ernst Curtius, Leipzig, 1894. Of interest is also The Delphic Maxims in Literature, by Eliza Gregory + Wilkins, Chicago, 1929.

+
+ +
+

(The persons who take part in the conversation are: Ammonius, Lamprias, + Plutarch, Theon, Eustrophus, Nicander, and others whose names are not + given.)

+
+
+

Not long ago, my dear Sarapion,A poet living at Athens in Plutarch's day; see Moralia, 396 d ff. and 628 + a. I carne upon some lines, not badly done, which Dicaearchus + thinks EuripidesNauck, + Trag. Graec. Frag., + Euripides, no. 969. addressed to Archelaüs: + I will not give poor gifts to one so rich, + Lest you should take me for a fool, or I + Should seem by giving to invite a gift. + For he does no favour who gives small gifts from scanty means to + wealthy men; and since it is not credible that his giving is for nothing, he + acquires in addition a reputation for disingenuousness and servility. + Observe also how, as far as independence and honour are concerned, material + gifts fall far below those bestowed by literary discourse and wisdom; and + these gifts it is both honourable to give and, at the same time, to ask a + return of like gifts from the recipients. I, at any rate, as I send to you, + and by means of you for our friends there, some of our Pythian discourses, + an offering of our first-fruits, as it were, confess that I am expecting + other discourses, both more numerous and of better quality, from you and + your friends, inasmuch as you have not only all the advantages of a great + city,At this time Athens had been for several centuries a + university city. but you have also more abundant leisure amid + many books and all manner of discussions.

+

It seems that our beloved Apollo finds a remedy and a solution for the + problems connected with our life by the oracular responses which he gives to + those who consult him; but the problems connected with our power to reason + it seems that he himself launches and propounds to him who is by nature + inclined to the love of knowledge, thus creating in the soul a craving + Cf.Moralia, 673 b. that leads onward to the truth, as + is clear in many other ways, but particularly in the dedication of the + E. + Cf. 426 e, infra. For the likelihood is that it was not by + chance nor, as it were, by lot that this was the only letter that carne to + occupy first place with the god and attained the rank of a sacred offering + and something worth seeing; but it is likely that those who, in the + beginning, sought after knowledge of the god either discovered some peculiar + and unusual potency in it or else used it as a token with reference to some + other of the matters of the highest concern, and thus adopted it.

+

On many other occasions when the subject had been brought up in the school I + had quietly turned aside from it and passed it over, but recently I was + unexpectedly discovered by my sons in an animated discussion with some + strangers, whom, since they purposed to leave Delphi immediately, it was not + seemly to try to divert from the subject, nor was it seemly for me to ask to + be excused from the discussion, for they were altogether eager to hear + something about it. I found them seats, therefore, near the temple, and I + began to seek some answer myself and to put questions to them; influenced + as I was by the place and the conversation itself, I remembered what, when Nero was here some years ago, I had + heard Ammonius and others discussing, when the same question obtruded itself + in a similar way.

+
+
+

That the god is no less a philosopher than a prophet Ammonius seemed to all + to postulate and prove correctly, with reference to this or to that one of + his several titles + Cf. 393 b, infra; Cornutus, chap. xxxii.; von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, i. + 543 (p. 123); and Apollo in the Index + thereto.; that he is the Pythian + (Inquirer) for those that are beginning to + learn and inquire; the Delian (Clear) and the Phanaean (Disclosing) for those to whom some part of the truth is + becoming clear and is being disclosed; the IsmenianPlutarch's attempt to connect + Ismenian with ἰδ-- (οἶδα) can hardly be right. (Knowing) for those who have knowledge; and the Leschenorian (Conversationalist) when people have active enjoyment of + conversation and philosophic intercourse with one another. Since, he wrent on to say, inquiry is the beginning of philosophy, and wonder and uncertainty the + beginning of inquiry, + Cf. Plato, Theaetetus, 155 d. it seems only natural that + the greater part of what concerns the god should be concealed in + riddles, and should call for some account of the wherefore and an + explanation of its cause. For example, in the case of the undying fire, + that pine is the only wood burned here, while laurel is used for + offering incense; that two Fates have statues here, + Cf. Pausanias, x. 24. 4. + whereas three is everywhere the customary number; that no woman + Cf. Euripides, Ion, 222. is allowed to approach + the prophetic shrine; the matter of the tripod; and the other + questions of this nature, when they are suggested to persons who are not + altogether without mind and reason, act as a Iure and an invitation to + investigate, to read, and to talk about them. + Note also these inscriptions + Cf.Moralia, 164 b, 408 e, 511 a. here, + Know thyself and Avoid extremes, how many philosophic inquiries have + they set on foot, and what a horde of discourses has sprung up from + each, as from a seed! And no less productive of discourse than any one + of them, as I think, is the present subject of inquiry. +

+
+
+

When Ammonius had said this, Lamprias, my brother, said, As a matter of fact, the account that we have heard + is simple and quite brief. For they say that those wise men who by some + are called the ‘Sophists’ were actually five in number: Chilon, Thales, + Solon, Bias, and Pittacus. But when Cleobulus, the despot of the + Lindians, and later Periander of Corinth, who had no part or portion in + virtue or wisdom, but forcibly acquired their repute through power and + friends and favours, invaded this name of the Wise Men, and sent out and + circulated throughout Greece certain sentiments and sayings very similar + to those famous utterances of the Wise Men, these, naturally, did not + like this at all, but were loath to expose the imposture or to arouse + open hatred over a question of repute, or to carry through a contest + against such powerful men; they met here by themselves and, after + conferring together, dedicated that one of the letters which is fifth in + alphabetical order and which stands for the number five, thus testifying + for themselves before the god that they were five, and renouncing and + rejecting the seventh and the sixth as having no connexion with + themselves. That this account is not beside the mark anyone may realize + who has heard those connected with the shrine + naming the golden E the E of Livia, Caesar's wife, and the bronze E the + E of the Athenians, while the first and oldest one, made of wood, they + still call to this day the E of the Wise Men, as though it were an + offering, not of one man, but of all the Wise Men in common. +

+
+
+

Ammonius smiled quietly, suspecting privately that Lamprias had been + indulging in a mere opinion of his own and was fabricating history and + tradition regarding a matter in which he could not be held to account. + Someone else among those present said that all this was similar to the + nonsense which the Chaldean visitor had uttered a short time before: that + there are seven vowels in the alphabet and seven stars that have an + independent and unconstrained motion; that E is the second in order of the + vowels from the beginning, and the sun the second planet after the moon, and + that practically all the Greeks identify Apollo with the Sun. + Cf.Moralia, 1130 a or 381 f, supra, or 393 c, infra. + But all this, said he, has + its source in slate and prateAn expression as obscure in the Greek as in the + English. It means, apparently, idle talk. + Cf. S. A. Naber, Mnemosyne, xxviii. (1900) p. 134. + and in nothing else. +

+

Apparently Lamprias had unwittingly stirred up the persons connected with + the temple against his remarks. For what he had said no one of the Delphians + knew anything about; but they were used to bring forward the commonly + accepted opinion which the guides give, holding it to be right that neither + the appearance nor the sound of the letter has any cryptic meaning, but only + its name.

+
+
+

+ For it is, as the Delphians assume, - and on this + occasion Nicander, the priest, spoke for them and said, the figure and form of the consultation of the god, + and it holds the first place in every question + of those who consult the oracle and inquire if they shall be victorious, + if they shall marry, if it is to their advantage to sail the sea, if to + take to farming, if to go abroad. + Cf. the long list of questions + thus introduced in Hunt and Edgar, Select + Papyri (in the L.C.L.), i. pp. 436-438 (nos. + 193-195). But the god in his wisdom bade a long farewell to + the logicians who think that nothing real comes out of the particle if + combined with what the consultant thinks proper to undertake, for the + god conceives of all the inquiries subjoined to this as real things and + welcomes them as such. And since to inquire from him as from a prophet + is our individual prerogative, but to pray to him as to a god is common + to all, they think that the particle contains an optative force no less + than an interrogative. If only I could, is the regular expression of a + wish, and ArchilochusBergk, Poet. Lyr. + Graec. ii. p. 402, Archilochus, no. 71; or Edmonds, + Elegy and Iambus (L.C.L.), ii. p. + 134. says, If to me it might be + granted Neobulê's hand to touch. And in using if only they + assert that the second word is added unnecessarily, like Sophron'sKaibel, Comic. Graec. Frag. p. 160, + Sophron, no. 36. surely: Surely in + want of children as well. This is found also in Homer + Il. xvii. 29. + Since I surely shall break your might + but, as they assert, the optative force is adequately indicated by the + if. +

+
+
+

When Nicander had expounded all this, my friend Theon, whom I presume you + know, asked Ammonius if Logical Reason had any + rights in free speech, after being spoken of in such a very insulting + manner. And when Ammonius urged him to speak and come to her assistance, he + said, That the god is a most logical reasoner the great majority of his + oracles show clearly; for surely it is the function of the same person both + to solve and to invent ambiguities. Moreover, as Plato said, when an oracle + was given that they should double the size of the altar at Delos + Cf.Moralia, 579 b-d; and on the doubling of the cube, T. L. + Heath, A Manual of Greek Mathematics + (Oxford, 1931), pp. 154-170. (a task requiring the highest skill + in geometry), it was not this that the god was enjoining, but he was urging + the Greeks to study geometry. And so, in the same way, when the god gives + out ambiguous oracles, he is promoting and organizing logical reasoning as + indispensable for those who are to apprehend his meaning aright. Certainly + in logic this copulative conjunction has the greatest force, inasmuch as it + clearly gives us our most logical form, the syllogism. Must not the + character of the hypothetical syllogism be of this sort: granted that even + wild animals have apperception of the existence of things, yet to man alone + has Nature given the power to observe and judge the consequences? That it + is day and that it is light assuredly wolves and dogs and birds perceive + by their senses; but if it is day, then it is light, no creature other + than man apprehends, + Cf. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. 216 (p. 70) + and 239 (p. 78). for he alone has a concept of antecedent and + consequent, of apparent implication and connexion of these things one with + another, and their relations and differences, from which our demonstrations + derive their most authoritative inception. Since, then, philosophy is + concerned with truth, and the illumination of truth + is demonstration, and the inception of demonstration is the hypothetical + syllogism, then with good reason the potent element that effects the + connexion and produces this was consecrated by wise men to the god who is, + above all, a lover of the truth.

+

The god, moreover, is a prophet, and the prophetic art concerns the future + that is to result from things present and past. For there is nothing of + which either the origin is without cause or the foreknowledge thereof + without reason; but since all present events follow in close conjunction + with past events, and all future events follow in close conjunction with + present events, in accordance with a regular procedure which brings them to + fulfilment from beginning to end, he who understands, in consonance with + Nature, how to fathom the connexions and interrelations of the causes one + with another knows and can declare What now is, and + in future shall be, and has been of aforetime.Homer, Il. i. 70. + Very excellently did Homer place first in order the present, then + the future and the past, for the syllogism based on hypothesis has its + source in what is; for example, if this is, then that has preceded, and + again, if this is, then that shall be. The technical and rational element + here, as has been stated, is the knowledge of consequences; but the senses + provide the argument with its premise. Therefore, even if it be a poor thing + to say, I shall not be turned aside from saying it, that this is the tripod + of truth, namely, argument, which lays down the consequent relation of the + conclusion to the antecedent, and then, premising the existent condition, + induces the completion of the demonstration. Therefore, if the Pythian god + plainly finds pleasure in music and the songs + of swans and the sound of lyres, what wonder is it that, because of his + fondness for logical reasoning, he should welcome and love that portion of + discourse of which he observes philosophers making the most particular and + the most constant use?

+

+ Heracles, before he had released Prometheus or had + conversed with the sophists that were associated with Cheiron and Atlas, + when he was young and a thorough Boeotian,The Greek equivalent of Philistine. + would do away with logical reasoning;. he ridiculed the if the + first, then the second, and resolved to carry off the tripod by + force + Cf.Moralia, 413 a, 557 c, 560 d; Pausanias, + x. 13. 4; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, ii. 6. 2 (with Frazer's note in L.C.L. + edition); Roscher, Lexikon der + gr. und röm. Mythologie, i. p. 2213; Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen + Altertums, i. p. 463 ff. The attempt of Heracles to + carry off the tripod is represented on the treasury of the Siphnians + in the Museum at Delphi. and fight it out with the god over + his art; since, at any rate, as he advanced in years, he also appears to + have become most skilled in prophecy and in logic. +

+
+
+

When Theon ceased, Eustrophus the Athenian, I think it was, said to us in + answer, Do you see how zealously Theon defends logic, + all but arraying himself in the lion's skin? Under such conditions, we + who repose in the Theory of Numbers all affairs together, natures and + principles of things divine and human alike, and make this theory far + above all else our guide and authority in all that is beautiful and + valuable, should not be likely to hold our peace, but to offer to the + god the first-fruits of our beloved mathematics, believing, as we do, + that, taken by itself, E is not unlike the other letters either in power + or in form or as a spoken word, but that it has come to be held in + honour as the symbol of a great and sovereign number, the + pempad, from which the wise + gave the name pempazein to counting which is done by + fives. + That is, by counting on + the fingers: Cf. 374 a, supra, and 429 d, infra. +

+

These words Eustrophus addressed to us not in jest, but for the reason that + at this time I was devoting myself to mathematics with the greatest + enthusiasm, although I was destined soon to pay all honour to the maxim + Avoid extremes, when I had once become a member of the Academy. + Cf. 431 a, infra. +

+
+
+

I said, therefore, that Eustrophus solved the difficulty most excellently + with his number. For since, I continued, every + number may be classified as even or odd, and unity, by virtue of its + potentiality, is common to both, for the reason that its addition makes the + odd number even and the even number odd, + Cf. 429 a, infra. and since twTo makes the first of the even + numbers and three the first of the odd, and five is produced by the union of + these numbers, very naturally five has come to be honoured as being the + first number created out of the first numbers; and it has received the name + of ‘marriage’ + Cf.Moralia, 263 f, 1012 e, 1018 c, and Clement of Alexandria, + Stromateis, v. chap. + xiv. 93. 4 (p. 702 Potter). because of the resemblance of the + even number to the female and of the odd number to the male. + Cf.Moralia, 288 c-e. For in the division of numbers + into two equal factors, the even number separates completely and leaves a + certain receptive opening and, as it were, a space within itself; but in the + odd, when it undergoes this process, there is always left over from the + division a generative middle part. Wherefore it is more generative than the + other, and in combination it is always dominant and is never dominated. + Cf. Plutarch, Life and Poetry of Homer, 145 (Bernardakis, vol. vii. p. + 416). For in no combination of these two numbers (even and odd) + is there produced from the two an even number, but + in all combinations an odd. Moreover, each when applied to itself and made + composite with itself shows the difference. For no even number united with + even gives an odd number, nor does it ever show any departure from its own + distinctive nature, being impotent through its weakness to produce the other + number, and having no power of accomplishment; but odd numbers combined with + odd produce a numerous progeny of even numbers because of their omnipresent + generative function. It would not be timely at this moment to enumerate the + other potent properties and divergences of numbers; let it suffice to say + that the Pythagoreans called Five a ‘Marriage’ on the ground that it was + produced by the association of the first male number and the first female + number.

+

There is also a sense in which it has been called ‘Nature,’ since by being + multiplied into itself it ends in itself again. For even as Nature receives + wheat in the form of seed and puts it to its use, and creates in the interim + many shapes and forms through which she carries out the process of growth to + its end, but, to crown all, displays wheat again, and thus presents as her + result the beginning at the end of the whole, so in like manner, while the + other numbers when raised to a power end in different numbers as the result + of the increase, only the numbers five and six, when multiplied by + themselves, repeat themselves and preserve their identity. Thus six times + six is thirty-six, and five times five is twenty-five; and furthermore, the + number six does this but once, and the single instance is when it is squared + ; but with five this result is obtained in raising it to any power, and it + has a unique characteristic, when added to itself, + of producing either itself or ten alternatelyThat is, a number ending in 5 or 0. + Cf. 429 d, infra. as the addition progresses, and of doing + this to infinity, since this number takes its pattern from the primal + principle which orders the whole. For as that principle by changes creates a + complete universe out of itself, and then in turn out of the universe + creates itself again, as HeracleitusDiels, Frag. der + Vorsokratiker, i. p. 95, Heracleitus, no. b 90. says, + and exchanges fire for all and all for fire, as gold for goods and goods + for gold, so, in like manner, the conjunction of five with itself is + determined by Nature's law to produce nothing incomplete or foreign, but it + has strictly limited changes; it produces either itself or ten, that is to + say, either its own characteristic or the perfect whole.

+
+
+

If, then, anyone ask, What has this to do with Apollo?, we shall say that + it concerns not only him, but also Dionysus, whose share in Delphi is no + less than that of Apollo. + Cf. 365 a, supra, and Lucan, v. 73-74; and for the proverb Cf.Moralia, 280 d and the note. Now we hear the + theologians affirming and reciting, sometimes in verse and sometimes in + prose, that the god is deathless and eternal in his nature, + Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, v. 14 (p. 711 + Potter). but, owing forsooth to some predestined design and + reason, he undergoes transformations of his person, and at one time + enkindles his nature into fire and makes it altogether like all else, and at + another time he undergoes all sorts of changes in his form, his emotions and + his powers, even as the universe does to-day; but + he is called by the best known of his names. + Cf. Stobaeus, Eclogae Phys. et Ethic. i. 21. 5 (i. p. 184. + 11 ed. Wachsmuth). The more enlightened, however, concealing from + the masses the transformation into fire, call him Apollo because of his + solitary state, + Cf. 354 b, 381 f, supra, and 393 b, infra. and Phoebus because of his purity and + stainlessness. + Cf. 393 c, infra. And as for his turning into winds and + water, earth and stars, and into the generations of plants and animals, and + his adoption of such guises, they speak in a deceptive way of what he + undergoes in his transformation as a tearing apart, as it were, and a + dismemberment. They give him the names of Dionysus, Zagreus, Nyctelius, and + Isodaetes; they construct destructions and disappearances, followed by + returns to life and regenerations — riddles and fabulous tales quite in + keeping with the aforesaid transformations. To this god they also sing the + dithyrambic strains laden with emotion and with a transformation that + includes a certain wandering and dispersion. Aeschylus,Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Aeschylus, no. 355. + in fact, says + Fitting it is that the dithyramb + With its fitful notes should attend + Dionysus in revel rout. + But to Apollo they sing the paean, music regulated and chaste.

+

Apollo the artists represent in paintings and sculpture as ever ageless and + young, but Dionysus they depict in many guises and forms; and they + attribute to Apollo in general a uniformity, orderliness, and unadulterated + seriousness, but to Dionysus a certain variability + combined with playfulness, wantonness, seriousness, and frenzy. They call + upon him + Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 730, Adespota, no. + 131; quoted by Plutarch in Moralia, 607 c and 671 c also.: + Euoe Bacchus who incites + Womankind, Dionysus who delights + 'Mid his honours fraught with frenzy, + not inappositely apprehending the peculiar character of each + transformation.

+

But since the time of the cycles in these transformations + is not equal, but that of the one which they call ‘Satiety,’ + Cf. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. 616 (p. 186); + Philo, De Spec. Leg. i. + 208. is longer, and that of ‘Dearth’ shorter, they observe the + ratio, and use the paean at their sacrifices for a large part of the year; + but at the beginning of winter they awake the dithyramb and, laying to rest + the paean, they use the dithyramb instead of it in their invocations of the + god; for they believe that, as three is to one, so is the relation of the + creation to the conflagration.

+
+
+

But these remarks have been extended somewhat beyond what the occasion + requires. However, it is clear that men make Five an attribute of the god, + which at one time of itself creates itself, like fire, and at another time + out of itself creates ten, like the universe. And in music, which is + especially pleasing to him, do we imagine that this number plays no part? + For the main application of harmony, so far as it can be put into words, is + concerned with chords. That these are five, and no more, reason convinces + anyone who wishes, by perception alone without + employing reason, to pursue these matters on the strings and stops + Cf. Plato, Republic, 530 d - 531 c.; for they all have their + origin in numerical ratios. The ratio of the fourth is four to three, + Cf.Moralia, 1018 e. that of the fifth is three to two, + and that of the octave two to one; that of the octave plus the fifth is + three to one, + Cf. 429 e, infra. and that of the double octave four to one. + The extra chord which the writers on harmony introduce, naming it the octave + and the fourth extra metrum, does not deserve + acceptance, since we should be favouring the unreasoning element in our + sense of hearing contrary to reason, which is as much as to say, contrary to + law. Now if I may omit any discussion of the five stops of the + tetrachord, + Cf. 430 a, infra, and Moralia, 1021 e and 1029 a. and the first five + ‘tones’ or ‘tropes’ or ‘harmonies,’ whatever be their right name, from the + changes in which, through a greater or a less tension, the remaining lower + and higher notes are derived, I must ask whether, although the intervals are + numerous, or rather of infinite number, yet the elements of melody are not + five only, + Cf. 430 a, infra. quarter tone, half tone, tone, a tone plus + a half tone, and double tone; and there is, in the range of notes, no + additional space, either smaller or greater within the limits set by the + high and the low, which can yield melody.

+
+
+

+ There are many other examples of this sort of + thing, said I, which I shall pass over. I shall merely adduce + Plato,Plato, Timaeus, 31 a. who, in speaking about a + single world, says that if there are others besides ours, and ours is not + the only one, then there are five altogether and no more. + Cf.Moralia, 421 f, 422 f, 430 b, and 887 b. + Nevertheless, even if this world of ours is the only one ever created, as + Aristotle + De Caelo, i. 8-9 (276 a + 18). also thinks, even ours, he says, is in a way put together + through the union of five worlds, of which one is + of earth, another of water, a third of fire, a fourth of air; and the + fifth, the heavens, others call light, and others aether, and others call + this very thing a fifth substance (Quintessence), which alone of the bodies + has by nature a circular motion that is not the result of any compelling + powrer or any other incidental cause. Wherefore also Plato, apparently + noting the five most beautiful and complete forms among those found in + Nature, pyramid, cube, octahedron, icosahedron, and dodecahedron, + appropriately assigned each to each.

+
+
+

+ There are some who associate the senses also, since + they are of the same number, with those primal elements, observing that + touch functions against something resistant, and is earthly, and that + taste, through moisture in the things tasted, absorbs their qualities. + Air, when it is struck, becomes voice or sound in the hearing of it. Of + the two remaining senses, odour, which the sense of smell has received + as its portion, since it is an exhalation and is engendered by heat, + bears a resemblance to fire; and in sight, which flashes to its goal + owing to its kinship with aether and light, there occurs a combination + and coalescence of the two, which behaves as they do. The living being + possesses no other sense, nor has the world any other nature single and + uncombined; but a marvellous distribution and apportionment each to + each has, as it seems, been made of the five to the five. +

+
+
+

Therewith I checked myself and, after waiting a moment, said, What ails us, + Eustrophus, that we all but passed over Homer + Il. xv. 187. as if he were not the + first to divide the world into five parts? For he + duly assigned the three in the middle to the three gods, and the two + extremes, the heaven and the earth, of which the one is the boundary of + things below and the other of things above, he left to all in common, + undistributed.

+

But the discussion must be carried further back, as EuripidesNauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, + no. 970; repeated in 431 a, infra. remarks. For those who exalt Four teach us a + lesson that is not without value, that by reason of this number all solids + have come into being. For since every such solid body exists through the + acquisition of depth by length and breadth, and for length must be + presupposed a single point assigned to unity, and length without breadth, + which is called a line, is also duality, and the movement of the line + breadthwise generates a plane in the third instance, and when depth is + added, through the four factors the increase progresses to a solid — it is + clear to everyone that four, when it has carried Nature forward to the point + of completing a solid body and producing a volume that may be felt and that + is resistant, has then left Nature lacking in the most important thing of + all. For the inanimate thing is, to put it simply, orphaned, incomplete, and + good for nothing, unless there be an animating soul to make use of it. The + impulse or dispensation that creates the soul therein, a transformation + brought about through five factors in all, gives to Nature its due + completeness, and is as much more potent than four as the living being + differs in worth from the inanimate thing.

+

Moreover, the symmetry and power of five, rather than that of any other + number, has prevailed and has not permitted the animate to progress to + unlimited classes of beings, but has produced five forms of all living things. For there are, as we know, + gods, demigods, and heroes, and after these the fourth class, man + Cf. 415 b, infra.; and fifth and last the class of + unreasoning animals.

+

If you should, moreover, make divisions of the soul itself to accord with + Nature, the first and least clear part of it is the nutritive, second the + perceptive, then the appetitive, and, next after this, the spirited; but + when it had reached the power to reason, and had completed its nature, it + came to rest there at the fifth element as at the highest point. + Cf. 429 e, infra. +

+
+
+

Of this number, which has so many and such great powers, the origin also is + fair and lovely; not that which we have expounded, that it is composed of + two and three, but that which the beginning combined with the first square + produces. For the beginning of all number is one, and the first square is + four + Cf. 429 e, infra.; and from these, as though from perfected + form and matter, comes five. And if certain authorities are right, who, as + we know, posit one as the first square, since it is a power of itself and + its product is itself, then five, the offspring of the first two squares, + does not lack a surpassing nobility of lineage.

+
+
+

+ But, said I, the most + important matter I fear may embarrass our Plato when it is stated, just + as he said that Anaxagoras was embarrassed by the name of the Moon, + since he tried to claim as his own some very ancient opinion in regard + to its illumination. Has not Plato said this in the Cratylus? + Plato, Cratylus, 409 a. +

+

+ Certainly, said Eustrophus, but what similarity there is I do not see. + +

+

Well, you know, of course, that in the Sophist + Plato, Sophist, 256 c. he demonstrates that + the supreme first principles are five: Being, Identity, Divergence, and + fourth and fifth besides these, Motion and Rest. + Cf. 428 c, infra. But in the Philebus + Plato, Philebus, 23 c. he employs another + method of division and affirms that the Infinite is one and the Definite a + second, and from the combination of these all generation arises. The cause + which makes them combine he posits as a fourth class; the fifth he has left + for us to surmise, by which the things combined attain once more + dissociation and disengagement. I infer that these are intended to be + figurative expressions corresponding to those just mentioned, generation + corresponding to being, the infinite to motion, the definite to rest, the + combining principle to identity, and the dissociating principle to + divergence. But if these last are not the same as the others, even so, + considered either in that way or in this, his division into five different + classes would still hold good.

+

Evidently someone anticipated Plato in comprehending this before he did, + and for that reason dedicated to the god an E as a demonstration and symbol + of the number of all the elements.

+

Furthermore, observing that the Good displays itself under five + categories, + Cf. ibid. 66 a-c. of which the + first is moderation, the second due proportion, the third the mind, the + fourth the sciences and arts and the true opinions that have to do with the + soul, and the fifth any pleasure that is pure and unalloyed with pain, at + this point he leaves off, thus suggesting the + Orphic verseOrphic + Fragments, no. 14. + Bring to an end the current of song in the sixth + generation. +

+
+
+

+ Following upon all this that has been said to you, + I continued, I shall sing one short verse + Ibid. no. 334; quoted again by + Plutarch in Moralia, 636 + d. for Nicander and his friends, ‘men of sagacity.’ On the + sixth day of the new month, namely, when the prophetic priestess is + conducted down to the Prytaneum, the first of your three sortitions is + for five, she casting three and you casting two, each with reference to + the other.The Greek + text is at this point somewhat uncertain. Is not this + actually so? +

+

+ Yes, said Nicander, but the + reason must not be told to others. +

+

+ Then, said I, smiling, until + such time as we become holy men, and God grants us to know the truth, + this also shall be added to what may be said on behalf of the Five. +

+

Thus, as I remember, the tale of arithmetical and of mathematical laudations + of E came to an end.

+
+
+

Ammonius, inasmuch as he plainly held that in mathematics was contained not + the least important part of philosophy, was pleased with these remarks, and + said, It is not worth while to argue too precisely over these matters with + the young, except to say that every one of the numbers will provide not a + little for them that wish to sing its praises. What need to speak of the + others? Why, the sacred Seven of Apollo will + consume the whole day before the narration of all its powers is finished. + Then again, we shall be branding the wise men as warring with common + custom, as well as with the long years of time, + Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. i. p. 522, Simonides, no. + 193, and Edmonds in Lyra + Graeca, ii. p. 340, in L.C.L.; Plutarch refers to this also + in 359 f, supra, and in his Life of Theseus, chap. x. (p. 4 f). if + they are to oust Seven from its place of honour and make Five sacred to the + god, on the ground that it is in some way more closely related to him. I am + therefore of the opinion that the significance of the letter is neither a + numeral nor a place in a series nor a conjunction nor any of the subordinate + parts of speech. No, it is an address and salutation to the god, complete in + itself, which, by being spoken, brings him who utters it to thoughts of the + god's power. For the god addresses each one of us as we approach him here + with the words Know Thyself, + Cf. Plato, Charmides, 164 d-e. as a form of welcome, which + certainly is in no wise of less import than Hail; and we in turn reply to + him Thou art, as rendering unto him a form of address which is truthful, + free from deception, and the only one befitting him only, the assertion of + Being.

+
+
+

The fact is that we really have no part nor parcel in Being, + Cf. Philo, De Iosepho, 125 (chap. xxii.). but + everything of a mortal nature is at some stage between coming into existence + and passing away, + Cf. Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. 15, Anaximander, + no. 9; Plato, Phaedo, 95 e; von Arnim, + Stoicorum Veterum + Fragmenta, ii. 594 (p. 183). and presents only a dim + and uncertain semblance and appearance of itself; and if you apply the whole + force of your mind in your desire to apprehend it, it is like unto the + violent grasping of water, which, by squeezing and compression, loses the + handful enclosed, as it spurts through the fingers + Cf.Moralia, 1082 a.; even so + Reason, pursuing the exceedingly clear appearance of every one of those + things that are susceptible to modification and change, is baffled by the + one aspect of its coming into being, and by the other of its passing away; + and thus it is unable to apprehend a single thing that is abiding or really + existent.

+

It is impossible to step twice in the same river are the words of + Heracleitus, + Cf. Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 96, + Heracleitus, no. 91. Plutarch refers to this dictum also in Moralia, 559 c. nor is + it possible to lay hold twice of any mortal substance in a permanent state; + by the suddenness and swiftness of the change in it there comes dispersion + and, at another time, a gathering together; or, rather, not at another time + nor later, but at the same instant it both settles into its place and + forsakes its place; it is coming and going.

+

Wherefore that which is born of it never attains unto being because of the + unceasing and unstaying process of generation, which, ever bringing change, + produces from the seed an embryo, then a babe, then a child, and in due + course a boy, a young man, a mature man, an elderly man, an old man, causing + the first generations and ages to pass away by those which succeed them. But + we have a ridiculous fear of one death, we who have already died so many + deaths, and still are dying! For not only is it true, as Heracleitus + Cf. Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 93, + Heracleitus, no. 76. used to say, that the death of heat is birth + for steam, and the death of steam is birth for water, but the case is even + more clearly to be seen in our own selves: the man in his prime passes away + when the old man comes into existence, the young man passes away into the + man in his prime, the child into the young man, + and the babe into the child. Dead is the man of yesterday, for he is passed + into the man of to-day; and the man of to-day is dying as he passes into + the man of to-morrow. Nobody remains one person, nor is one person; but we + become many persons, even as matter is drawn about some one semblance and + common mould + Cf. Plato, Timaeus, 50 c. with imperceptible movement. Else how + is it that, if we remain the same persons, we take delight in some things + now, whereas earlier we took delight in different things; that we love or + hate opposite things, and so too with our admirations and our disapprovals, + and that we use other words and feel other emotions and have no longer the + same personal appearance, the same external form, or the same purposes in + mind? For without change it is not reasonable that a person should have + different experiences and emotions; and if he changes, he is not the same + person; and if he is not the same person, he has no permanent being, but + changes his very nature as one personality in him succeeds to another. Our + senses, through ignorance of reality, falsely tell us that what appears to + be is.

+
+
+

What, then, really is Being? It is that which is eternal, without beginning + and without end, to which no length of time brings change. For time is + something that is in motion, appearing in connexion with moving matter, ever + flowing, retaining nothing, a receptacle, as it were, of birth and decay, + whose familiar afterwards and before, shall be and has been, when + they are uttered, are of themselves a confession of Not Being. For to speak + of that which has not yet occurred in terms of Being, or to say of what has + already ceased to be, that it is, is silly and absurd. And as for that on + which we most rely to support our conception of + time, as we utter the words, it is here, it is at hand, and now — all + this again reason, entering in, demolishes utterly. For now is crowded out + into the future and the past, when we would look upon it as a culmination; + for of necessity it suffers division. And if Nature, when it is measured, is + subject to the same processes as is the agent that measures it, then there + is nothing in Nature that has permanence or even existence, but all things + are in the process of creation or destruction according to their relative + distribution with respect to time. Wherefore it is irreverent in the case of + that which is to say even that it was or shall be; for these are certain + deviations, transitions, and alterations, belonging to that which by its + nature has no permanence in Being.

+
+
+

But God is (if there be need to say so), and He exists for no fixed time, + but for the everlasting ages which are immovable, timeless, and undeviating, + in which there is no earlier nor later, no future nor past, no older nor + younger; but He, being One, has with only one Now completely filled For + ever; and only when Being is after His pattern is it in reality Being, not + having been nor about to be, nor has it had a beginning nor is it destined + to come to an end. Under these conditions, therefore, we ought, as we pay + Him reverence, to greet Him and to address Him with the words, Thou art; + or even, I vow, as did some of the men of old, Thou art One. +

+

In fact the Deity is not Many, like each of us who is compounded of + hundreds of different factors which arise in the course of our experience, a + heterogenous collection combined in a haphazard way. But Being must have + Unity, even as Unity must have Being. Now divergence from Unity, because of + its differing from Being, deviates into the creation of that which has no + Being. Wherefore the first of the god's names is excellently adapted to him, + and so are the second and third as well. He is Apollo, that is to say, + denying the Many + Cf. 354 b, 381 f, and 388 f, supra. and abjuring multiplicity; + he is Ieius, as being One and One aloneIeius is doubtless derived from ἰή, a cry used in invoking Apollo, but Plutarch would + derive it from ἴα, ἴης, an epic word + meaning one. + ; and Phoebus, + Cf. 388 f and 421 c, infra. as is well known, is a name + that the men of old used to give to everything pure and undefiled; even as + the Thessalians, to this day, I believe, when their priests, on the + prohibited days, are spending their time alone by themselves outside the + temples, say that the priests are keeping Phoebus.

+

Unity is simple and pure. For it is by the admixture of one thing with + another that contamination arises, even as HomerHomer, Il. iv. 141. somewhere says that some ivory which is + being dyed red is being contaminated, and dyers speak of colours that are + mixed as being spoiled + Cf. 436 b, infra, and Moralia 270 f.; and they call the mixing + spoiling. + Cf.Moralia, 725 c. Therefore it is characteristic of + the imperishable and pure to be one and uncombined.

+
+
+

Those who hold that Apollo and the sun are the same, + Ibid. 1130 a, and 386 b, supra. it is right and proper that + Ave welcome and love for their goodness of heart in placing their concept of + the god in that thing which they honour most of all the things that they + know and yearn for. But, as though they were now + having a sleepy vision of the god amid the loveliest of dreams, let us wake + them and urge them to proceed to loftier heights and to contemplate the + waking vision of him, and what he truly is, but to pay honour also to this + imagery of him in the sun and to revere the creative power associated with + it, in so far as it is possible by what is perceived through the senses to + gain an image of what is conceived in the mind, and by that which is ever in + motion an image of that which moves not, an image that in some way or other + transmits some gleams reflecting and mirroring his kindliness and + blessedness. And as for his vagaries and transformations when he sends forth + fire that sweeps his own self along with it, as they say, + Cf. 389 c, supra. and again when he forces it down here and + directs it upon the earth and sea and winds and living creatures, and, + besides, the terrible things done both to living creatures and to growing + vegetation — to such tales it is irreverent even to listen; else will the + god be more futile than the Poet's fancied child + Cf. Homer, Il. xv. 362. playing a game amid the sand that is + heaped together and then scattered again by him, if the god indulges in this + game with the universe constantly, fashioning the world that does not exist, + and destroying it again when it has been created. For, on the contrary, so + far as he is in some way present in the world, by this his presence does he + bind together its substance and prevail over its corporeal weakness, which + tends toward dissolution. And it seems to me right to address to the god the + words Thou art, which are most opposed to this account, and testify + against it, believing that never does any vagary or transformation take + place near him, but that such acts and experiences are related to some other god, or rather to some demigod, whose office + is concerned with Nature in dissolution and generation; and this is clear + at once from the names which are, as it were, correspondingly antithetic. + For the one is spoken of as Apollo (not many), the other as + Pluto (abounding); the one Delian (clear), the + other Aïdoneus (unseen); the one Phoebus + (bright), the other Scotios (dark) + Cf. the note on 385 b, supra.; with the one are associated + the Muses and Memory, with the other Oblivion and Silence; the one is + Theorian (observing) and Phanaean (disclosing), + and the other Lord of the darkling Night and idling + Sleep + Cf.Moralia, 1130 a; Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. + 719, Adespota, no. 92; or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (in L.C.L.), iii. p. + 452.; and he is also Of all + the gods most hateful to mortals.Homer, Il. ix. + 159. + Whereas concerning the other PindarPindar, Frag. 149 (ed. Christ), + quoted also in 413 c, infra, and in + Moralia, 1102 e. + has said not unpleasingly And towards mortal men he + hath been judged the most gentle. It was fitting therefore for + Euripides + Suppliants, 975. to say, + Drink-offerings for the dead who are gone + And the strains that the god of the golden hair, + Apollo, will never accept as his own. + And even before him Stesichorus,Bergk, Poet. Lyr. + Graec. iii. p. 224, Stesichorus, no. 50; or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (in L.C.L.), ii. p. + 58. + + + The harp and sport and song + Most doth Apollo love; + Sorrows and groans are Hades' share. + And it is evident that SophoclesNauck, Trag. Graec. + Frag., Sophocles, no. 765. assigns each of the + instruments to each god in these words: No harp, + no lyre is welcome for laments. +

+

As a matter of fact it was only after a long lapse of time and only + recently that the flute ventured to utter a sound over things of delight, + but during all the early time it used to be fetched in for times of + mourning, and it had the task of rendering service on these occasions, not a + very honourable or cheerful one. Later it carne to be generally associated + with everything. Especially did those who confounded the attributes of the + gods with the attributes of demigods get themselves into confusion.

+

+ But this much may be said: it appears that as a sort + of antithesis to Thou art stands the admonition Know thyself, and + then again it seems, in a manner, to be in accord therewith, for the one + is an utterance addressed in awe and reverence to the god as existent + through all eternity, the other is a reminder to mortal man of his own + nature and the weaknesses that beset him. + +

+
+
+ + +