Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 46

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[46]

Question 46.

What is the reason that the Trallians call the pulse ὄροβος by the name καθαρτής (i.e. purifying), and use it especially in expiations and purifications.

Solution.

Was it because the Leleges and Minyae, in former times driving out the Trallians, possessed themselves of the city and that country, and afterwards the Trallians returned and conquered them; and as many of the Leleges as were not slain or fled, but by reason of indigency and weakness were left there, they made no account of whether they lived or died, and therefore enacted a law that any Trallian that slew one of the Minyae or Leleges should be guiltless, provided only that he paid a measure of this pulse to the relatives of the slain person?

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

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Greek 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 Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 46 focus

[46] διὰ τί Τραλλιανοὶ καθαρτῆρα καλοῦσι τὸν 302b ὄροβον καὶ χρῶνται μάλιστα πρὸς τὰς ἀφοσιώσεις καὶ τοὺς καθαρμούς;

ἦ ὅτι Λέλεγες καὶ Μινύαι τὸ παλαιὸν ἐξελάσαντες αὐτοὺς τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν κατέσχον,¹ ὕστερον δʼ οἱ Τραλλιανοὶ κατελθόντες καὶ κρατήσαντες, ὅσοι τῶν Λελέγων οὐ διεφθάρησαν οὐδʼ ἔφυγον ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀμηχανίαν βίου καὶ ἀσθένειαν ὑπελείφθησαν αὐτόθι, τούτων οὐδένα λόγον ἔχοντες οὔτε ζώντων οὔτε ἀπολλυμένων νόμον ἔθεντο τὸν κτείναντα Μινύην ἢ Λελέγην² Τραλλιανῶν καθαρὸν εἶναι, μέδιμνον ὀρόβων ἀπομετρήσαντα τοῖς οἰκείοις τοῦ φονευθέντος;

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 46 focus

[46] διὰ τί Τραλλιανοὶ καθαρτῆρα καλοῦσι τὸν 25 302b ὄροβον καὶ χρῶνται μάλιστα πρὸς τὰς ἀφοσιώσεις καὶ τοὺς καθαρμούς; ἦ ὅτι Λέλεγες καὶ Μινύαι τὸ παλαιὸν ἐξελάσαντες αὐτοὺς τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν κατεῖχον, ὕστερον δʼ οἱ Τραλλιανοὶ κατελθόντες καὶ κρατήσαντες, ὅσοι τῶν Λελέγων οὐ διεφθάρησαν οὐδʼ ἔφυγον ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀμηχανίαν βίου καὶ ἀσθένειαν ὑπελείφθησαν αὐτόθι, τούτων οὐδένα λόγον ἔχοντες 5 οὔτε ζώντων οὔτʼ ἀπολλυμένων, νόμον ἔθεντο τὸν κτείναντα Μινύην ἢ Λελέγην ¹ Τραλλιανῶν καθαρὸν εἶναι, μέδιμνον ὀρόβων ἀπομετρήσαντα τοῖς οἰκείοις τοῦ φονευθέντος;

Translations (1)

The Greek Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 46 focus

[46] Why is it that the people of Tralles call vetch purifier and make particular use of it for expiations and purifications?

Is it because the Leleges and Minyae in days of old drove them out and took possession of their city and their land, and because later the Trallians returned and prevailed, and as many of the Leleges as had not been slain nor had fled away, but had been left behind there because of their destitution and weakness - of these they took no account either of their life or of their death, and they established a law that any Trallian who killed a Miriyan or a Lelegian should be free from pollution when he had measured out a bushel of vetch to the relatives of the murdered man?

Plutarch Quaestiones Graecae 46

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 46.

Solution.

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