The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire Part 14

[20] _Symp._ ix, 15.

[21] _Symp._ viii, 3, I.

[22] _Pericles_ 13.

[23] Dio Chr. _Rhodiaca, Or._ 31, 117.

[24] Cf. the _Nigrinus_.

[25] Gellius, N.A. ii, 21, 1, _vos opici_, says Gellius to his friends--Philistines.

[26] _Symp._ v, 5, 1.

[27] _Polit. praec._ 20, 816 D.

[28] _de curiositate_, 15.

[29] _Demosthenes_, 2.

[30] See Volkmann, i, 35, 36; _Rom. Qu._ 103; _Lucullus_, 37, end.

[31] _Demosthenes_, 2.

[32] _de sera_, 15, 559 A.

[33] _de Stoic. rep._ 2, 1033 B, C.

[34] _Pol. Praec._ 15, 811 C.

[35] _Symp._ ii, 10, 1; vi, 8, 1.

[36] Reference to Polemo's hand-book to them, _Symp._ v, 2, 675 B.

[37] _de E._ 384 F.

[38] _Demosthenes_, 2; and 1.

[39] _Timoleon_, pref.

[40] _Alexander_, 1.

[41] _de tranqu. animi_, i, 464 F, _ouk akroaseos heneka theromenes kalligraphian_--a profession often made, but in Plutarch's case true enough as a rule.

[42] See, _e.g._, variety of possible explanations of the E at Delphi, in tract upon it.

[43] Stapfer, _Shakespeare and Cla.s.sical Antiquity_ (tr.), p. 299. "It may be safely said he followed Plutarch far more closely than he did even the old English chroniclers."

[44] _Cons. ad Ux._ 2-3, 608 C, D.

[45] _Cons. ad Ux._ 11, 612 A, B. Cf. _non suaviter_, 26, 1104 C, on the loss of a child or a parent.

[46] _de coh. ira._ 11, 459 C; cf. _Progress in Virtue_, 80 B, 81 C, on _epieikeia_ and _praotes_ as signs of moral progress.

[47] Cf. Sen. _Ep._ 47; Clem. Alex. _Paed._ iii, 92.

[48] A curious parallel to this in Tert. _de Patientia_, 15, where Tertullian draws the portrait of Patience--perhaps from life, as Dean Robinson suggests--after Perpetua the martyr.

[49] Gellius, _N.A._ i, 26.

[50] _Solon_, 32.

[51] Artemidorus, _Oneirocritica_, iv, 72. On this author see chapter vii.

[52] See _non suaviter_, 17, 1098 D, on the unspeakably rich joy of such a life of friendly relations with G.o.ds and men.

[53] _Progress in Virtue_, 4, 77 C, Love of Philosophy compared to a lover's pa.s.sion, to "hunger and thirst."

[54] Plato, _Apology_, 38 A, _ho de anexetastos bios ou biotos anthropo_.

[55] _Pensees_, Art. xxiv, 5.

[56] _Adv. Coloten_ (foe Epicurean), 31, 1125 D, E. For this argument from consensus, see Seneca, _Ep._ 117, 6, _Multum dare solemus praesumptioni omnium hominum et apud nos veritatis argumentum est aliquid omnibus videri: tanquam deos esse inter alia hoc colligimus, quod omnibus insita de dis opinio est, nee ulla gens usquam est adeo extra leges moresque projecta ut non aliquos deos credat_. This consensus rests (with the Stoics) on the common preconceptions of the mind, which are natural. For ridicule of the doctrine of consensus, see Lucian, Zeus Tragaedus, 42.

[57] _Amatorius_, 18, 763 C. Cf. view of Celsus _ap._ Orig. _c. Cels._ vii, 41.

[58] _Consol. ad Apoll._ 34, 120 B.

[59] _Quomodo Poetas_, 1, 15 E, F, poetry a preliminary study to philosophy, _prophilosopheteon tois poiemasin_.

[60] _de Pyth. orac._ 29, 408 F. Cf. the pagan's speech in Minucius Felix, 7, 6, _pleni et mixti deo vates futura praecerpunt ... etiam per guietem deos videmus_....

[61] So Volkmann, _Plutarch_, ii, 290 n. Cf. a pa.s.sage of Celsus, Orig. _c. Cels._ viii, 45.

[62] _de def. or._ 14, 417 C, _emphaseis_ and _diaphaseis_.

[63] Tertullian sums up the pagan line of argument and adds a telling criticism in his book _adversus Nationes_, ii, 1: _adversus haec igitur n.o.bis negotium est, adversus inst.i.tutiones maiorum, auctoritates receptorum, leges dominantium, argumentationes prudentium, adversus vetustatem consuetudinem necessitatem, adversus exempla prodigia miracula, quae omnia adulterinam istam divinitatem corroboraverint....

Maior in huiusmodi penes vos auctoritas litterarum quam rerum est_.

[64] _de Iside_, 67, 377 F-378 A

[65] Oakesmith, _Religion of Plutarch_, p. 88--a book which I have found of great use.

[66] _de E._ 18-20. Cf. Clem. Alex. _Protr._ 84. The true To-day of G.o.d is eternity. Also Tert. _ad Natt._ ii, 6, on the axiom of no change in G.o.d.

[67] _de E._ 21.

[68] Cf. Plato, _Timaeus_, 55 D.