Plutarch, De E apud Delphos, ed. William W. Goodwin, 16

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[16] After what I have spoken to you, I said, Yet one short word to those about Nicander,

I’ll sing to men of skill.

For on the sixth day of the new moon, when you introduce the Pythia into the Prytaneum, the first of the three lots tends with you towards five, casting neither three, nor two, one to another.¹ For is not this so?

It is so, said Nicander; but the cause is not to be told to others.

Well then, said I smiling, till such time as the God admits us, being consecrated, to know the truth, this also shall be added to those things that have been spoken concerning the quinary. This end, as I remember, had the discourse of the arithmetical and mathematical encomiums of E.

De E apud Delphos. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Of the word ΕΙ engraven over the gate of Apollo's temple at Delphi (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. 4. Goodwin, William W., editor; Kippax, R, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ Ε τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol 3. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 16 focus

[16] ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔφην εἰρημένοις πρὸς ὑμᾶς 5 ἓν βραχύ τοῖς περὶ Νίκανδρον ἀείσω ξυνετοῖσι τῇ γὰρ ἕκτῃ τοῦ νέου μηνὸς ὅταν κατάγῃ εἷς¹ τὴν Πυθίαν εἰς τὸ² πρυτανεῖον, ὁ πρῶτος ὑμῖν γίγνεται τῶν τριῶν κλήρων εἰς, τὰ πέντε, πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐκείνης τὰ τρία τοῦ δὲ τὰ δύο βάλλοντες.³ ἦ γὰρ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει; 10 391e καὶ ὁ Νίκανδρος οὕτως εἶπεν ἡ δʼ αἰτία πρὸς ἑτέρους ἄρρητός ἐστι. οὐκοῦν ἔφην ἐγὼ μειδιάσας ἄχρι οὗ τἀληθὲς; ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς ἱεροῖς γενομένοις γνῶναι παράσχῃ, προσκείσεται καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς πεμπάδος λεγομένοις. τοιοῦτο μὲν καὶ ὁ τῶν 15 ἀριθμητικῶν καὶ ὁ τῶν μαθηματικῶν ἐγκωμίων τοῦ Ε λόγος, ὡς ἐγὼ μέμνημαι, πέρας ἔσχεν.

Translations (1)

The Ε at Delphi Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. 5. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 16 focus

[16] Following upon all this that has been said to you, I continued, I shall sing one short verse¹ for Nicander and his friends, men of sagacity. On the sixth day of the new month, namely, when the prophetic priestess is conducted down to the Prytaneum, the first of your three sortitions is for five, she casting three and you casting two, each with reference to the other.² Is not this actually so?

Yes, said Nicander, but the reason must not be told to others.

Then, said I, smiling, until such time as we become holy men, and God grants us to know the truth, this also shall be added to what may be said on behalf of the Five.

Thus, as I remember, the tale of arithmetical and of mathematical laudations of E came to an end.

Notes on the current edition

Of the word

1. I leave this corrupt passage as I find it in the old translation. The Greek cannot be tortured into any sense. (G.)

Plutarch De E apud Delphos 16

ed. William W. Goodwin

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