Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 70

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[70]

Question 70.

Why do they call those Furciferi which are convict of thefts or any other of those slavish crimes?

Solution. Was it this (which was an argument of the severity of the ancients), that whenever any convicted his servant of any villany, he enjoined him to carry the forked piece of timber that is under the cart (the tongue of the cart), and to go with it through the next villages and neighborhood, to be seen of all, that they might distrust him and be aware of him for the future? This piece of wood we call a prop, the Romans call it furca, a fork; hence he that carries it about is called furcifer, a fork-bearer.

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).) — 70 focus

[70] διὰ τί τοὺς κατεγνωσμένους ¹ ἐπὶ κλοπαῖς ἢ δουλικοῖς τισιν ἄλλοις ἁμαρτήμασι φουρκιφέρους² καλοῦσιν;

ἢ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς τῶν παλαιῶν ἐπιμελείας τεκμήριόν ἐστιν; ὁ γὰρ οἰκότριβος ἰδίου καταγνούς τινα μοχθηρίαν ἐκέλευε διπλοῦν ξύλον, ὃ ταῖς ἁμάξαις ὑφιστᾶσιν, ἀράμενον διὰ τῆς συνοικίας ἢ τῆς γειτνιάσεως διεξελθεῖν ὑπὸ πάντων ὁρώμενον, 280f ὅπως ἀπιστοῖεν αὐτῷ καὶ φυλάττοιντο πρὸς τὸ λοιπὸν τὸ δὲ ξύλον ἡμεῖς μὲν στήριγμα, ³ Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ φοῦρκαν ὀνομάζουσι· διὸ καὶ φουρκίφερ ὁ τοῦτο περιενεγκὼν καλεῖται.

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 70 focus

[70] διὰ τί τοὺς ἀπεγνωσμένους ¹ ἐπὶ κλοπαῖς ἢ δουλικοῖς τισιν ἄλλοις ἁμαρτήμασι φουρκίφερας καλοῦσιν; ἦ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς τῶν παλαιῶν ἐπιμελείας τεκμήριόν ἐστιν; ὁ γὰρ οἰκότριβος ἰδίου καταγνοὺς τινα μοχθηρίαν ἐκέλευε διπλοῦν ξύλον, ὃ ταῖς ἁμάξαις ὑφιστᾶσιν, ἀράμενον διὰ τῆς συνοικίας ἢ τῆς γειτνιάσεως διεξελθεῖν ὑπὸ πάντων ὁρώμενον, ὅπως 280f ἀπιστοῖεν αὐτῷ καὶ φυλάττοιντο πρὸς τὸ λοιπόν· 5 τὸ δὲ ξύλον ἡμεῖς μὲν στήριγγα, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ φοῦρκαν ὀνομάζουσι· διὸ καὶ φουρκίφερ ὁ τοῦτο περιενεγκὼν καλεῖται.

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).) — 70 focus

[70] Why do they call such persons as stand convicted of theft or of any other servile offences furciferi?¹

Is this also evidence of the carefulness of the men of old? For anyone who had found guilty of some knavery a slave reared in his own household used to command him to take up the forked stick, which they put under their carts, and to proceed through the community or the neighbourhood, observed of all observers, that they might distrust him and be on their guard against him in the future. This stick we call a prop, and the Romans furca ( fork): wherefore also he who has borne it about is called furcifer ( fork-bearer).

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 70

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 70.

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