Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 36

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[36]

Question 36.

Why do they call one gate at Rome the Window, just by which is the bed-chamber of Fortune, so called?

Solution. Was it because Servius, who became the most successful king, was believed to have conversed with Fortune, who came in to him at a window? Or may this be but a fable; and was it that Tarquinius Priscus the king dying, his wife Tanaquil, being a discreet and royal woman, putting her head out at a window, propounded Servius to the citizens, and persuaded them to proclaim him king; and that this place had the name of it?

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 36 focus

[36] διὰ τί πύλην μίαν θυρίδα καλοῦσι, τὴν γὰρ ʼ φενέστραν ¹ ʼ τοῦτο σημαίνει, ² καὶ παρʼ αὐτὴν ὁ καλούμενος Τύχης θάλαμός ἐστι;

πότερον ὅτι Σέρβιος ὁ βασιλεὺς εὐτυχέστατος γενόμενος δόξαν ἔσχε τῇ Τύχῃ συνεῖναι φοιτώσῃ 273c διὰ θυρίδος πρὸς αὐτόν;

ἢ τοῦτο μὲν μῦθός ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ δὲ Ταρκυνίου Πρίσκου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀποθανόντος ἡ γυνὴ Τανακυλλὶς ἔμφρων οὖσα καὶ βασιλικὴ διὰ θυρίδος προκύψασα τοῖς πολίταις ἐνέτυχε καὶ συνέπεισεν ἀποδεῖξαι βασιλέα τὸν Σέρβιον, ἔσχε ταύτην ὁ τόπος τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν;

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 36 focus

[36] διὰ τί πύλην μίαν θυρίδα καλοῦσι τὴν γὰρ φαινέστραν τοῦτο σημαίνειν, καὶ παρʼ αὐτὴν ὁ καλούμενος Τύχης θάλαμός ἐστι; πότερον ὅτι Σέρβιος ὁ βασιλεὺς εὐτυχέστατος γενόμενος δόξαν ἔσχε τῇ Τύχῃ συνεῖναι φοιτώσῃ διὰ θυρίδος πρὸς 273c αὐτόν ἢ τοῦτο μὲν μῦθός ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ δὲ Ταρκυνίου Πρίσκου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀποθανόντος ἡ γυνὴ Τανακυλλὶς ἔμφρων οὖσα καὶ βασιλικὴ διὰ θυρίδος προκύψασα τοῖς πολίταις ἐνέτυχε καὶ συνέπεισεν 5 ἀποδεῖξαι βασιλέα τὸν Σέρβιον, ἔσχε ταύτην ὁ τόπος τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν;

Translations (1)

The Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 36 focus

[36] Why do they call one of the gates the Window, for this is what fenestra means: and why is the so-called Chamber of Fortune beside it?¹

Is it because King Servius, the luckiest of mortals, was reputed to have converse with Fortune, who visited him through a window?

Or is this but a fable, and is the true reason that when King Tarquinius Priscus died, his wife Tanaquil, a sensible and a queenly woman, put her head out of a window and, addressing the citizens, persuaded them to appoint Servius king, and thus the place came to have this name?²

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 36

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 36.

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