Plutarch, De Superstitione, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 12

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[12] Moreover, the atheist has no part in causing superstition, but superstition provides the seed from which atheism springs, and when atheism has taken root, superstition supplies it with a defence, not a true one or a fair one, but one not destitute of some speciousness. For it is not because these people saw in the heavens anything to find fault with, or anything not harmonious or well-ordered in the stars or seasons, or in the revolutions of the moon or in the movements of the sun around the earth, artisans of day and night,¹ or in the feeding and growth of living creatures, or in the sowing and harvesting of crops, as the result of which they decided against the idea of a God in the universe; but the ridiculous actions and emotions of superstition, its words and gestures, magic charms and spells, rushing about and beating of drums, impure purifications and dirty sanctifications, barbarous and outlandish penances and mortifications at the shrines—all these give occasion to some to say that it were better there should be no gods at all than gods who accept with pleasure such forms of worship, and are so overbearing, so petty, and so easily offended.

De Superstitione. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Current edition Perseus

Superstition (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IΙ. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ δεισιδαιμονίας Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 12 focus

171a

καὶ μὴν ὁ ἄθεος δεισιδαιμονίας οὐδαμῆ συναίτιος, 15 ἡ δὲ δεισιδαιμονία τῇ ἀθεότητι καὶ γενέσθαι παρέσχεν ἀρχὴν¹ καὶ γενομένῃ δίδωσιν ἀπολογίαν, οὐκ ἀληθῆ μὲν οὐδὲ καλήν, προφάσεως δέ τινος οὐκ ἄμοιρον οὖσαν. οὐ γὰρ ἐν οὐρανῷ τι μεμπτὸν οὐδʼ ἐν ἄστροις οὐδʼ ἐν ὥραις ἢ περιόδοις σελήνης 20 ἢ κινήσεσιν ἡλίου περὶ γῆν,² ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς δημιουργοῖς, ἢ τροφαῖς ζῴων ἢ καρπῶν γενέσεσι πλημμελὲς καὶ ἄτακτον ἐνιδόντες οὕτως ἀθεότητα τοῦ παντὸς κατέγνωσαν, ἀλλὰ τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας ἔργα καὶ πάθη καταγέλαστα, καὶ ῥήματα καὶ κινήματα 25 171b καὶ γοητεῖαι καὶ μαγεῖαι καὶ περιδρομαὶ καὶ τυμπανισμοὶ καὶ ἀκάθαρτοι μὲν καθαρμοὶ ῥυπαραὶ δʼ ἁγνεῖαι, βάρβαροι δὲ καὶ παράνομοι πρὸς ἱεροῖς κολασμοὶ καὶ προπηλακισμοί, ταῦτα δίδωσιν ἐνίοις λέγειν ὡς μὴ εἶναι θεοὺς ἄμεινον ἢ εἶναι, τοιαῦτα μὲν δεχομένους τοιούτοις δὲ χαίροντας, οὕτω δʼ ὑβριστάς, οὕτω δὲ μικρολόγους καὶ μικρολόγους

Translations (1)

Of Superstition, or Indiscreet Devotion Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Baxter, William translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 12 focus

[12] Moreover, atheism hath no hand at all in causing superstition; but superstition not only gave atheism its first birth, but serves it ever since by giving it its best apology for existing, which, although it be neither a good nor a fair one, is yet the most specious and colorable. For men were not at first made atheists by any fault they found in the heavens or stars, or in the seasons of the year, or in those revolutions or motions of the sun about the earth that make the day and night; nor yet by observing any mistake or disorder either in the breeding of animals or the production of fruits. No, it was the uncouth actions and ridiculous and senseless passions of superstition, her canting words, her foolish gestures, her charms, her magic, her freakish processions, her taborings, her foul expiations, her vile methods of purgation, and her barbarous and inhuman penances, and bemirings at the temples,—it was these, I say, that gave occasion to many to affirm, it would be far happier there were no Gods at all than for them to be pleased and delighted with such fantastic toys, and to thus abuse their votaries, and to be incensed and pacified with trifles.

Notes on the current edition

Superstition

1. Adapted from Plato, Timaeus, p. 40 C. Plutarch quotes the phrase more accurately in Moralia, 937 E, 938 E, and 1006.

Plutarch De Superstitione 12

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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