Plutarch, Theseus, Bernadotte Perrin (Translator), 1

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[1] Just as geographers, O Socius Senecio,¹ crowd on to the outer edges of their maps the parts of the earth which elude their knowledge, with explanatory notes that What lies beyond is sandy desert without water and full of wild beasts, or blind marsh, or Scythian cold, or frozen sea, so in the writing of my Parallel Lives, now that I have traversed those periods of time which are accessible to probable reasoning and which afford basis for a history dealing with facts, I might well say of the earlier periods What lies beyond is full of marvels and unreality, a land of poets and fabulists, of doubt and obscurity.

[2] But after publishing my account of Lycurgus the lawgiver and Numa the king, I thought I might not unreasonably go back still farther to Romulus, now that my history had brought me near his times. And as I asked myself,

With such a warrior (as Aeschylus says) who will dare to fight?

Whom shall I set against him? Who is competent?

³ it seemed to me that I must make the founder of lovely and famous Athens the counterpart and parallel to the father of invincible and glorious Rome.

[3] May I therefore succeed in purifying Fable, making her submit to reason and take on the semblance of History. But where she obstinately disdains to make herself credible, and refuses to admit any element of probability, I shall pray for kindly readers, and such as receive with indulgence the tales of antiquity.

Theseus. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1914.

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Current edition Perseus

Theseus (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. I. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1914.)

Editions (1)

Θησεύς Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. I. Perrin, Bernadotte, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1914.) — 1 focus

[1] ὥσπερ ἐν ταῖς γεωγραφίαις, ὦ Σόσσιε Σενεκίων, οἱ ἱστορικοὶ τὰ διαφεύγοντα τὴν γνῶσιν αὐτῶν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις μέρεσι τῶν πινάκων πιεζοῦντες, αἰτίας¹ παραγράφουσιν ὅτι τὰ δʼ ἐπέκεινα θῖνες ἄνυδροι καὶ θηριώδεις ἢ πηλὸς ἀϊδνὴς ἢ σκυθικὸν κρύος ἢ πέλαγος πεπηγός, οὕτως ἐμοὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν βίων τῶν παραλλήλων γραφήν, τὸν ἐφικτὸν εἰκότι λόγῳ καὶ βάσιμον ἱστορίᾳ πραγμάτων ἐχομένῃ χρόνον διελθόντι, περὶ τῶν ἀνωτέρω καλῶς εἶχεν εἰπεῖν· τὰ δʼ ἐπέκεινα τερατώδη καὶ τραγικὰ ποιηταὶ καὶ μυθογράφοι νέμονται, καὶ οὐκέτʼ ἔχει πίστιν οὐδὲ σαφήνειαν.

[2] ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν περὶ Λυκούργου τοῦ νομοθέτου καὶ Νομᾶ τοῦ βασιλέως λόγον ἐκδόντες, ἐδοκοῦμεν οὐκ ἂν ἀλόγως τῷ Ῥωμύλῳ προσαναβῆναι, πλησίον τῶν χρόνων αὐτοῦ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ γεγονότες, σκοποῦντι δέ μοι

τοιῷδε² φωτί (κατʼ Αἰσχύλον) τίς ξυμβήσεται;

Aesch. Seven 435

τίνʼ ἀντιτάξω τῷδε; τίς φερέγγυος;³

Aesch. Seven 395 f. ἐφαίνετο τὸν τῶν καλῶν καὶ ἀοιδίμων οἰκιστὴν Ἀθηνῶν ἀντιστῆσαι καὶ παραβαλεῖν τῷ πατρὶ τῆς ἀνικήτου καὶ μεγαλοδόξου Ῥώμης,

[3] εἴη μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν ἐκκαθαιρόμενον λόγῳ τὸ μυθῶδες ὑπακοῦσαι καὶ λαβεῖν ἱστορίας ὄψιν, ὅπου δʼ ἂν αὐθαδῶς τοῦ πιθανοῦ περιφρονῇ καὶ μὴ δέχηται τὴν πρὸς τὸ εἰκὸς μῖξιν, εὐγνωμόνων ἀκροατῶν δεησόμεθα καὶ πρᾴως τὴν ἀρχαιολογίαν προσδεχομένων.

Notes on the current edition

Theseus

1. One of the many friends whom Plutarch made during his residence at Rome. He was four times consul between the years 98 and 107 A.D. Plutarch addresses him also at the opening of the Demosthenes and the Dion, thus dedicating to him these books.

2. The actual text in Aeschylus :

τοιῷδε φωτὶ πέμπε—τίς ξυστήσεται;

3. The actual text in Aechylus :

τίνʼ ἀντιτάξεις τῷδε; τίς Προίτου πυλῶν | κλῄθρων λυθέντων προστατεῖν φερέγγυος·

Plutarch Theseus 1

Bernadotte Perrin (Translator)

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