DOCSLIB.ORG

The Morals, Vol. 3 [1878]

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Plutarch, The Morals, vol. 3 [1878] The Online Library Of Liberty This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Liberty Fund. It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request. The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq. To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project, please contact the Director at [email protected]. LIBERTY FUND, INC. 8335 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 300 Indianapolis, Indiana 46250-1684 Online Library of Liberty: The Morals, vol. 3 Edition Used: Plutarch’s Morals. Translated from the Greek by Several Hands. Corrected and Revised by William W. Goodwin, with an Introduction by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 5 Volumes. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1878). Vol. 3. Author: Plutarch Translator: William W. Goodwin About This Title: Vol. 3 of a massive 5 volume work in which Plutarch muses on all manner of topics ranging from virtue and vice, friendship, flattery, the nature of love, stoic philosophy, fate, to the nature of government. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 2 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1213 Online Library of Liberty: The Morals, vol. 3 About Liberty Fund: Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Copyright Information: The text is in the public domain. Fair Use Statement: This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 3 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1213 Online Library of Liberty: The Morals, vol. 3 Table Of Contents Plutarch’s Morals. Whether ’twere Rightly Said, Live Concealed. An Abstract of a Comparison Betwixt Aristophanes and Menander. Of Banishment, Or Flying One’s Country. Of Brotherly Love. Wherefore the Pythian Priestess Now Ceases to Deliver Her Oracles In Verse. Of Those Sentiments Concerning Nature With Which Philosophers Were Delighted. Book I. Book II. Book III. Book IV. Book V. A Breviate of a Discourse, Showing That the Stoics Speak Greater Improbabilities Than the Poets. Plutarch’s Symposiacs. Book I. Book II. Book III. Book IV. Book V. Book VI. Book VII. Book VIII. Book IX. Of Moral Virtue. Plutarch’s Natural Questions. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 4 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1213 Online Library of Liberty: The Morals, vol. 3 [Back to Table of Contents] PLUTARCH’S MORALS. WHETHER ’TWERE RIGHTLY SAID, LIVE CONCEALED. 1.It is sure, he that said it had no mind to live concealed, for he spoke it out of a design of being taken notice of for his very saying it, as if he saw deeper into things than every vulgar eye, and of purchasing to himself a reputation, how unjustly soever, by inveigling others into obscurity and retirement. But the poet says right: I hate the man who makes pretence to wit, Yet in his own concerns waives using it.* For they tell us of one Philoxenus the son of Eryxis, and Gnatho the Sicilian, who were so over greedy after any dainties set before them, that they would blow their nose in the dish, whereby, turning the stomachs of the other guests, they themselves went away fuller crammed with the rarities. Thus fares it with all those whose appetite is always lusting and insatiate after glory. They bespatter the repute of others, as their rivals in honor, that they themselves may advance smoothly to it and without a rub. They do like watermen, who look astern while they row the boat ahead, still so managing the strokes of the oar that the vessel may make on to its port. So these men who recommend to us such kind of precepts row hard after glory, but with their face another way. To what purpose else need this have been said? — why committed to writing and handed down to posterity? Would he live incognito to his contemporaries, who is so eager to be known to succeeding ages? 2. But besides, doth not the thing itself sound ill, to bid you keep all your lifetime out of the world’s eye, as if you had rifled the sepulchres of the dead, or done such like detestable villany which you should hide for? What! is it grown a crime to live, unless you can keep all others from knowing you do so? For my part, I should pronounce that even an ill-liver ought not to withdraw himself from the converse of others. No; let him be known, let him be reclaimed, let him repent; so that, if you have any stock of virtue, let it not lie unemployed, or if you have been viciously bent, do not by flying the means continue unreclaimed and uncured. Point me out therefore and distinguish me the man to whom you adopt this admonition. If to one devoid of sense, goodness, or wit, it is like one that should caution a person under a fever or raving madness not to let it be known where he is, for fear the physicians should find him, but rather to skulk in some dark corner, where he and his diseases may escape discovery. So you who labor under that pernicious, that scarce curable disease, wickedness, are by parity of reason bid to conceal your vices, your envyings, your superstitions, like some disorderly or feverous pulse, for fear of falling into the hands of them who might prescribe well to you and set you to rights again. Whereas, alas! in the days of remote antiquity, men exhibited the sick to public view, when every charitable passenger who had labored himself under the like malady, or had experienced a remedy on them that did, communicated to the diseased all the receipts he knew; thus, say they, skill in physic was patched up by multiplied experiments, and grew to a mighty art. At the same rate ought all the infirmities of a dissolute life, all PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 5 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1213 Online Library of Liberty: The Morals, vol. 3 the irregular passions of the soul, to be laid open to the view of all, and undergo the touch of every skilful hand, that all who examine into the temper may be able to prescribe accordingly. For instance, doth anger transport you? The advice in that case is, Shun the occasions of it. Doth jealousy torment you? Take this or that course. Art thou love-sick? It hath been my own case and infirmity to be so too; but I saw the folly of it, I repented, I grew wiser. But for those that lie, denying, hiding, mincing, and palliating their vices, it makes them but take the deeper dye, it rivets their faults into them. 3. Again, if on the other hand this advice be calculated for the owners of worth and virtue, if they must be condemned to privacy and live unknown to the world, you do in effect bid Epaminondas lay down his arms, you bid Lycurgus rescind his laws, you bid Thrasybulus spare the tyrants, in a word, you bid Pythagoras forbear his instructions, and Socrates his reasonings and discourses; nay, you lay injunctions chiefly upon yourself, Epicurus, not to maintain that epistolary correspondence with your Asiatic friends, not to entertain your Egyptian visitants, not to be tutor to the youth of Lampsacus, not to present and send about your books to women as well as men, out of an ostentation of some wisdom in yourself more than vulgar, not to leave such particular directions about your funeral. And in fine, to what purpose, Epicurus, did you keep a public table? Why that concourse of friends, that resort of fair young men, at your doors? Why so many thousand lines so elaborately composed and writ upon Metrodorus, Aristobulus, and Chaeredemus, that death itself might not rob us of them; if virtue must be doomed to oblivion, art to idleness and inactivity, philosophy to silence, and all a man’s happiness must be forgotten? 4. But if indeed, in the state of life we are under, you will needs seclude us from all knowledge and acquaintance with the world (as men shut light from their entertainments and drinking-bouts, for which they set the night apart), let it be only such who make it the whole business of life to heap pleasure upon pleasure; let such live recluses all their days.
Recommended publications
  • Teachers' Pay in Ancient Greece

    Teachers' Pay in Ancient Greece

    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Papers from the University Studies series (The University of Nebraska) University Studies of the University of Nebraska 5-1942 Teachers' Pay In Ancient Greece Clarence A. Forbes Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/univstudiespapers Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Studies of the University of Nebraska at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Papers from the University Studies series (The University of Nebraska) by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Teachers' Pay In Ancient Greece * * * * * CLARENCE A. FORBES UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA STUDIES Ma y 1942 STUDIES IN THE HUMANITIES NO.2 Note to Cataloger UNDER a new plan the volume number as well as the copy number of the University of Nebraska Studies was discontinued and only the numbering of the subseries carried on, distinguished by the month and the year of pu blica tion. Thus the present paper continues the subseries "Studies in the Humanities" begun with "University of Nebraska Studies, Volume 41, Number 2, August 1941." The other subseries of the University of Nebraska Studies, "Studies in Science and Technology," and "Studies in Social Science," are continued according to the above plan. Publications in all three subseries will be supplied to recipients of the "University Studies" series. Corre­ spondence and orders should be addressed to the Uni­ versity Editor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. University of Nebraska Studies May 1942 TEACHERS' PAY IN ANCIENT GREECE * * * CLARENCE A.
  • Interpretation: a Journal of Political Philosophy

    Interpretation: a Journal of Political Philosophy

    Interpretation A JOURNAL J_OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Winter 1998 Volume 26 Number 2 149 Jules Gleicher Moses Politikos 183 Tucker Landy The Limitations of Political Philosophy: An Interpretation of Plato's Charmides 201 Jason A. Tipton Love of Gain, Philosophy and Tyranny: A Commentary on Plato's Hipparchus 217 Larry Peterman Changing Titles: Some Suggestions about the "Prince" Use of in Machiavelli and Others 239 Catherine H. Zuckert Leadership Natural and Conventional in Melville's "Benito Cereno" 257 Jon Fennell Harry Neumann and the Political Piety of Rorty's Postmodernism Book Reviews 275 George Anastaplo Aristotle's "Physics": A Guided Study, by Joe Sachs 285 Michael P. Zuckert Shakespeare and the Good Life, by David Lowenthal 295 Joan Stambaugh Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil, by Rudiger Safranski 299 Patrick Coby Hypocrisy and Integrity: Machiavelli, Rousseau and the Ethics of Politics, by Ruth Grant 305 Susan Orr Leo Strauss and the American Right, by Shadia Drury 309 Will Morrisey Public Morality and Liberal Society: Essays on Decency, Law, and Pornography, by Harry M. Clor Interpretation Editor-in-Chief Hilail Gildin, Dept. of Philosophy, Queens College Executive Editor Leonard Grey General Editors Seth G. Benardete Charles E. Butterworth Hilail Gildin Robert Horwitz (d. 1987) Howard B. White (d. 1974) Consulting Editors Christopher Bruell Joseph Cropsey Ernest L. Fortin John Hallowell (d. 1992) Harry V. Jaffa David Lowenthal Muhsin Mahdi Harvey C. Mansfield Arnaldo Momigliano (d. 1987) Michael Oakeshott (d. 1990) Ellis Sandoz Leo Strauss (d. 1973) Kenneth W. Thompson International Editors Terence E. Marshall Heinrich Meier Editors Wayne Ambler Maurice Auerbach Fred Baumann Amy Bonnette Patrick Coby Elizabeth C de Baca Eastman Thomas S.
  • Marvelling at a Youth's Good Looks

    Marvelling at a Youth's Good Looks

    Marvelling at a youth’s good looks The gaze and Classical pederastic culture in ancient Greece MA thesis in Ancient History By: Nicky Schreuder (s1342460) Supervisor: Dr. K. Beerden Date: 26/07/2019 Cover: Drinking cup (kylix) with youth running, attributed to the Triptolemos Painter (c. 500 BC). Museum of Fine Arts Boston, inv. 13.81. 1 Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................3 Historiography and inquiry .............................................................................................4 Methodology and sources ...............................................................................................7 Chapter 1. Gaze theory ...................................................................................................... 10 1.1 The psychoanalytical approach ............................................................................... 10 1.2 The feminist take .................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Criticisms and reactions.......................................................................................... 14 1.4 Relativity and application to ancient Greece ........................................................... 15 Chapter 2. Catching the eye of Sokrates. Plato, Xenophon and the pederastic gaze ............ 19 2.1 Ancient theories of sight ......................................................................................... 20 2.2 Plato
  • Citations in Classics and Ancient History

    Citations in Classics and Ancient History

    Citations in Classics and Ancient History The most common style in use in the field of Classical Studies is the author-date style, also known as Chicago 2, but MLA is also quite common and perfectly acceptable. Quick guides for each of MLA and Chicago 2 are readily available as PDF downloads. The Chicago Manual of Style Online offers a guide on their web-page: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html The Modern Language Association (MLA) does not, but many educational institutions post an MLA guide for free access. While a specific citation style should be followed carefully, none take into account the specific practices of Classical Studies. They are all (Chicago, MLA and others) perfectly suitable for citing most resources, but should not be followed for citing ancient Greek and Latin primary source material, including primary sources in translation. Citing Primary Sources: Every ancient text has its own unique system for locating content by numbers. For example, Homer's Iliad is divided into 24 Books (what we might now call chapters) and the lines of each Book are numbered from line 1. Herodotus' Histories is divided into nine Books and each of these Books is divided into Chapters and each chapter into line numbers. The purpose of such a system is that the Iliad, or any primary source, can be cited in any language and from any publication and always refer to the same passage. That is why we do not cite Herodotus page 66. Page 66 in what publication, in what edition? Very early in your textbook, Apodexis Historia, a passage from Herodotus is reproduced.
  • Dares Phrygius' De Excidio Trojae Historia: Philological Commentary and Translation

    Dares Phrygius' De Excidio Trojae Historia: Philological Commentary and Translation

    Faculteit Letteren & Wijsbegeerte Dares Phrygius' De Excidio Trojae Historia: Philological Commentary and Translation Jonathan Cornil Scriptie voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van Master in de Taal- en letterkunde (Latijn – Engels) 2011-2012 Promotor: Prof. Dr. W. Verbaal ii Table of Contents Table of Contents iii Foreword v Introduction vii Chapter I. De Excidio Trojae Historia: Philological and Historical Comments 1 A. Dares and His Historia: Shrouded in Mystery 2 1. Who Was ‘Dares the Phrygian’? 2 2. The Role of Cornelius Nepos 6 3. Time of Origin and Literary Environment 9 4. Analysing the Formal Characteristics 11 B. Dares as an Example of ‘Rewriting’ 15 1. Homeric Criticism and the Trojan Legacy in the Middle Ages 15 2. Dares’ Problematic Connection with Dictys Cretensis 20 3. Comments on the ‘Lost Greek Original’ 27 4. Conclusion 31 Chapter II. Translations 33 A. Translating Dares: Frustra Laborat, Qui Omnibus Placere Studet 34 1. Investigating DETH’s Style 34 2. My Own Translations: a Brief Comparison 39 3. A Concise Analysis of R.M. Frazer’s Translation 42 B. Translation I 50 C. Translation II 73 D. Notes 94 Bibliography 95 Appendix: the Latin DETH 99 iii iv Foreword About two years ago, I happened to be researching Cornelius Nepos’ biography of Miltiades as part of an assignment for a class devoted to the study of translating Greek and Latin texts. After heaping together everything I could find about him in the library, I came to the conclusion that I still needed more information. So I decided to embrace my identity as a loyal member of the ‘Internet generation’ and began my virtual journey through the World Wide Web in search of articles on Nepos.
  • The Waterway of Hellespont and Bosporus: the Origin of the Names and Early Greek Haplology

    The Waterway of Hellespont and Bosporus: the Origin of the Names and Early Greek Haplology

    The Waterway of Hellespont and Bosporus: the Origin of the Names and Early Greek Haplology Dedicated to Henry and Renee Kahane* DEMETRIUS J. GEORGACAS ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. A few abbreviations are listed: AJA = American Journal of Archaeology. AJP = American Journal of Philology (The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md.). BB = Bezzenbergers Beitriige zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen. BNF = Beitriige zur Namenforschung (Heidelberg). OGL = Oorpus Glossariorum Latinorum, ed. G. Goetz. 7 vols. Lipsiae, 1888-1903. Chantraine, Dict. etym. = P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque. Histoire des mots. 2 vols: A-K. Paris, 1968, 1970. Eberts RLV = M. Ebert (ed.), Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte. 16 vols. Berlin, 1924-32. EBr = Encyclopaedia Britannica. 30 vols. Chicago, 1970. EEBE = 'E:rccr'YJel~ t:ET:ateeta~ Bv~avnvwv E:rcovowv (Athens). EEC/JE = 'E:rcuJT'YJfhOVtUn ' E:rccrrJel~ C/JtAOaocptufj~ EXOAfj~ EIsl = The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden and London) 1 (1960)-. Frisk, GEJV = H. Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch. 2 vols. Heidelberg, 1954 to 1970. GEL = Liddell-Scott-Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford, 1925-40. A Supplement, 1968. GaM = Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Miiller. GLM = Geographi Latini Minores, ed. A. Riese. GR = Geographical Review (New York). GZ = Geographische Zeitschrift (Berlin). IF = Indogermanische Forschungen (Berlin). 10 = Inscriptiones Graecae (Berlin). LB = Linguistique Balkanique (Sofia). * A summary of this paper was read at the meeting of the Linguistic Circle of Manitoba and North Dakota on 24 October 1970. My thanks go to Prof. Edmund Berry of the Univ. of Manitoba for reading a draft of the present study and for stylistic and other suggestions, and to the Editor of Names, Dr.
  • Socrates and Democratic Athens: the Story of the Trial in Its Historical and Legal Contexts

    Socrates and Democratic Athens: the Story of the Trial in Its Historical and Legal Contexts

    Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics Socrates and democratic Athens: The story of the trial in its historical and legal contexts. Version 1.0 July 2006 Josiah Ober Princeton University Abstract: Socrates was both a loyal citizen (by his own lights) and a critic of the democratic community’s way of doing things. This led to a crisis in 339 B.C. In order to understand Socrates’ and the Athenian community’s actions (as reported by Plato and Xenophon) it is necessary to understand the historical and legal contexts, the democratic state’s commitment to the notion that citizens are resonsible for the effects of their actions, and Socrates’ reasons for preferring to live in Athens rather than in states that might (by his lights) have had substantively better legal systems. Written for the Cambridge Companion to Socrates. © Josiah Ober. [email protected] Socrates and democratic Athens: The story of the trial in its historical and legal contexts. (for Cambridge Companion to Socrates) Josiah Ober, Princeton University Draft of August 2004 In 399 B.C. the Athenian citizen Socrates, son of Sophroniscus of the deme (township) Alopece, was tried by an Athenian court on the charge of impiety (asebeia). He was found guilty by a narrow majority of the empanelled judges and executed in the public prison a few days later. The trial and execution constitute the best documented events in Socrates’ life and a defining moment in the relationship between Greek philosophy and Athenian democracy. Ever since, philosophers and historians have sought to
  • Vitruvius on Architecture

    Vitruvius on Architecture

    107390 THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D. EDITED BY fT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D. LL.D. H. D. LITT.D. j-E. CAPPS, PH.D., fW. KOUSE, L. A. POST, M.A. E. H. WARMINGTON, M.A.. F.E.HIST.SOC. VITRUVIUS ON ARCHITECTURE I uzaJt yiTKUVIUS ON ARCHITECTURE EDITED FROM THE HARLEIAN MANUSCRIPT 2767 AI TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY FRANK GRANGER, D.Lrr., AJLLB.A. PROFESSOR IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NOTTINGHAM IN TWO VOLUMES I CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD MCMLV First printed 1931 Reprinted 1944,1955 To JESSB LORD TRBXT Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS PAQK PREFACE vii INTRODUCTION : VITRUVIUS AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE WEST ...... ix HISTORY OF THE MSS. OF VITRUVIUS . X\'i THE EARLIEST EDITIONS OF VITRUVIUS . XXi THE SCHOLIA OF THE MSS. XXV - THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MSS. XXVli THE LANGUAGE OF VITRUVIUS . XXViii BIBLIOGRAPHY: THE MSS. XXXli EDITIONS ...... xxxiii TRANSLATIONS XXXiii THE CHIEF CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF VITRUVIUS ..... xxxiv BOOKS OF GENERAL REFERENCE . XXXVi TEXT AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION: BOOK I. ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES . 1 BOOK II. EVOLUTION OF BUILDING : USE OF MATERIALS . 71 BOOK III. IONIC TEMPLES . 151 BOOK IV. DORIC AND CORINTHIAN TEMPLES 199 BOOK V. PUBLIC BUILDINGS I THEATRES (AND MUSIC), BATHS, HARBOURS . 249 INDEX OF ARCHITECTURAL TERMS 319 CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS: THE CAPITOL DOUGGA . (Frontispiece) PLATE A. WINDS AND DIRECTION OF STREETS (at end) PLATE B. PLANS OF TEMPLES . PLATE C. IONIC ORDER . PLATE 0. CORINTHIAN ORDER (see Frontispiece) PLATE E. DORIC ORDER . (at end] PLATE F. MUSICAL SCALES . , . , PLATE O. THEATRE .
  • The Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317–307

    The Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317–307

    Th e Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317–307 BCE Mnemosyne Supplements History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity Edited by Susan E. Alcock, Brown University Th omas Harrison, Liverpool Willem M. Jongman, Groningen H.S. Versnel, Leiden VOLUME 318 Th e Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317–307 BCE A Philosopher in Politics By Lara O’Sullivan LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 On the cover: Detail of the Parthenon. Photo: Author. Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data O’Sullivan, Lara. Th e rule of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317-307 B.C. : a philosopher in politics / by Lara O’Sullivan. p. cm. — (Mnemosyne supplements. History and archaeology of classical antiquity, ISSN 0169-8958 ; v. 318) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17888-5 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Demetrius, of Phaleron, b. ca. 350 B.C. 2. Demetrius, of Phaleron, b. ca. 350 B.C.—Political and social views. 3. Governors—Greece—Athens—Biography. 4. Statesmen—Greece—Athens— Biography. 5. Orators—Greece—Athens—Biography. 6. Philosophers, Ancient— Biography. 7. Athens (Greece)—Politics and government. 8. Philosophy, Ancient. 9. Athens (Greece)—Relations—Macedonia. 10. Macedonia—Relations—Greece— Athens. I. Title. II. Series. DF235.48.D455O87 2009 938’.508092—dc22 [B] 2009033560 ISSN 0169-8958 ISBN 978 90 04 17888 5 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
  • Sacred Mushrooms of the Goddess and the Secrets of Eleusis

    Sacred Mushrooms of the Goddess and the Secrets of Eleusis

    In memory of Blaise Daniel Staples, my companion and soul mate. He is dearly missed. PREFACE by Huston Smith WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO PUBLISH Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals, there were those who advised me not to do so, saying that it would destroy my reputation. Time has proved them wrong. As the religious significance of these substances comes to be increasingly accepted—the glaring exception being the Food and Drug Administration—the sales of that book (favorably reviewed from the beginning) continue to rise. As does my conviction of the importance of the issue, and I will say why. The great achievement of the linguist Noam Chomsky, who was my colleague during the fifteen years I taught at MIT, was to discover the universal grammar that every spoken language–– English, Chinese, French, whatever––must conform to, for it seems to be imprinted into the human brain. I, for my part, have worked out the universal grammar of religion to which authentic religions conform. Reduced to a single sentence, that grammar concludes that Reality is Perfect, and that human beings should do their best to conform their lives to that perfection. Reality’s perfection seems to be contradicted by perception of the world, but this is not surprising, for Reality is Infinite and our minds are not. Out minds must expand if they are to receive even glimpses of the Infinite Perfection. Thus the question is: how can they do this? Perfect Reality has provided a way. Through the entheogens, to be sure, but here we come to a point that has been under-noticed in the discussion of this important subject.
  • Athenian Political Art from the Fifth and Fourth

    Athenian Political Art from the Fifth and Fourth

    is is a version of an electronic document, part of the series, Dēmos: Clas- sical Athenian Democracy, a publicationpublication ofof e Stoa: a consortium for electronic publication in the humanities [www.stoa.org]. e electronic version of this article off ers contextual information intended to make the study of Athenian democracy more accessible to a wide audience. Please visit the site at http:// www.stoa.org/projects/demos/home. Athenian Political Art from the Fi h and Fourth Centuries BCE: images of historical individuals S Most portraits of individuals from Classi- cal Greece are best known through copies of the Greek originals, created in late Hel- lenistic and Roman times, when it became popular to decorate domestic spaces with Greek art works and copies thereof. In- tellectuals in these periods particularly enjoyed surrounding themselves with images of their favorite Greek statesmen and writers. Whereas the original Greek portraits, which generally occupied civic spaces, and were o en commissioned at public expense, depicted bodies as well as heads, copies more o en took the form of busts or herms (rectangular sha s surmounted with the shoulder Amy C. Smith, “Athenian Political Art from the Fi h and Fourth Centuries : images of historical individuals,” in C. Blackwell, ed., Dēmos: Classical Athenian Democracy (A.(A. MahoneyMahoney andand R.R. Scaife,Scaife, edd.,edd., e Stoa: a consortium for electronic publication in the humanities [www.stoa.org], . © , A.C. Smith. and head of the depicted individual). In some cases these copies were inscribed with the names of the individuals represented, which has been immeasurably helpful in determining which portraits depict which persons.
  • From Homer to Socrates

    From Homer to Socrates

    History Reading #1 – From Homer to Socrates Homeric Hymns XXV. TO THE MUSES AND APOLLO (7 lines) (ll. 1‐5) I will begin with the Muses and Apollo and Zeus. For it is through the Muses and Apollo that there are singers upon the earth and players upon the lyre; but kings are from Zeus. Happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet flows speech from his lips. (ll. 6‐7) Hail, children of Zeus! Give honour to my song! And now I will remember you and another song also. XXVI. TO DIONYSUS (13 lines) (ll. 1‐9) I begin to sing of ivy‐crowned Dionysus, the loud‐ crying god, splendid son of Zeus and glorious Semele. The rich‐ haired Nymphs received him in their bosoms from the lord his father and fostered and nurtured him carefully in the dells of Nysa, where by the will of his father he grew up in a sweet‐ smelling cave, being reckoned among the immortals. But when the goddesses had brought him up, a god oft hymned, then began he to wander continually through the woody coombes, thickly wreathed with ivy and laurel. And the Nymphs followed in his train with him for their leader; and the boundless forest was filled with their outcry. (ll. 10‐13) And so hail to you, Dionysus, god of abundant clusters! Grant that we may come again rejoicing to this season, and from that season onwards for many a year. XXVII. TO ARTEMIS (22 lines) (ll. 1‐20) I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on the hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery, own sister to Apollo with the golden sword.