Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 4

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[4] Who were the Forgetful Ones ( Amnemones) at Cnidus, and who was the Dismisser¹ ( Aphester)?

They were wont to employ sixty men chosen from the nobles, and appointed for life, as overseers and preliminary advisers in matters of the greatest importance. They were called the Forgetful Ones, one might conjecture, because they could not be held to account for their actions; unless, indeed, it was because they were men who remembered many things.² He who asked them their opinions was the Dismisser.

Quaestiones Graecae. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Greek Questions (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 4 focus

[4] τίνες ἐν Κνίδῳ οἱ ἀμνήμονες καὶ τίς ὁ ἀφεστήρ;

ἑξήκοντα προκρίτοις ἀνδράσιν¹ ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων οἷον ἐπισκόποις ἐχρῶντο διὰ βίου καὶ προβούλοις τῶν μεγίστων· ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ ἀμνήμονες, ὡς ἂν 292b τις εἰκάσειε, διὰ τὸ ἀνυπεύθυνον, εἰ μὴ νὴ Δία πολυμνήμονές τινες ὄντες. ὁ δὲ τὰς γνώμας ἐρωτῶν ἀφεστήρ.

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 4 focus

[4] τίνες ἐν Κνίδῳ οἱ ἀμνήμονες καὶ τίς ὁ ἀφεστήρ; ἑξήκοντα προκρίτοις ἀνδράσιν ¹ ἐκ τῶν 10 ἀρίστων οἷον ἐπισκόποις ἐχρῶντο διὰ βίου καὶ προβούλοις τῶν μεγίστων ἐκαλοῦντο δʼ ἀμνήμονες ὡς ἄν τις εἰκάσειε διὰ τὸ ἀνυπεύθυνον, εἰ μὴ νὴ 292b Δία πολυμνήμονές τινες ὄντες. ὁ δὲ τὰς γνώμας ἐρωτῶν ἀφεστήρ

Translations (1)

Greek Questions Perseus (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.) — 4 focus

[4]

Question 4.

Who are the Ἀμήμονες among the Cnidians, and who is the Ἀφεστήρ?

Solution.

The sixty select men chosen from among the nobles, whom they used as overseers and principal counsellors for life in matters of greatest concern, they called Amnemones (as a man may suppose) because they were not accountable to any for what they did, or verily (in my opinion) rather because they were men carrying much business in their memories. And he that put questions to vote was called Aphester.

Notes on the current edition

The Greek Questions

1. Grote thus connected aphester with the Spartan apostater of Life of Lycurgus, chap. vi. (43 c); but the matter is very doubtful; cf. van Herwerden, Lex. Supp. Graec.

2. On the lucus a non lucendo principle, as Halliday well suggests; or else ἀμ- μνήμονες, as van Herwerden supposes.

Plutarch Quaestiones Graecae 4

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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Question 4.

Solution.

Notes on the current edition

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