Plutarch, De Pythiae oraculis, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 27

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[27] Then, besides, there is nothing in poetry more serviceable to language than that the ideas communicated, by being botind up and interwoven with verse, are better remembered and kept firmly in mind. Men in those days had to have a memory for many things. For many things were communicated to them, such as signs for recognizing places, the times for activities,¹ the shrines of gods across the sea, secret burial-places of heroes, hard to find for men setting forth on a distant voyage from Greece. You all, of course, know about Teucer and Cretines and Gnesiochus and Phalanthus and many other leaders of expeditions² who had to discover by means of evidential proofs the suitable place of settlement granted to each. Some of these made a mistake, as did Battus.³ For he thought that he had been forced to land without gaining possession of the place to which he had been sent. Then he came a second time in sore distress. And the god made answer to him⁴:

If without going you know far better than I, who have gone there,

Africa, mother of flocks, then I greatly admire your wisdom,

and with these words sent him forth again.

Lysander also failed to recognize the hill Orchalides (the other name of which is Alopecus) and the river Hoplites⁵ and

Also the serpent, the Earth-born, behind him stealthily creeping,

and was vanquished in battle, and fell in that very place by the hand of Neoehorus, a man of Haliartus, who carried a shield which had as its emblem a snake. Numerous other instances of this sort among the people of olden time, difficult to retain and remember, it is not necessary to rehearse to you who know them.

De Pythiae oraculis. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Oracle at Delphi no Longer Given in Verse (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. V. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ μὴ χρᾶν ἔμμετρα νῦν τὴν Πυθίαν Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 27 focus

[27] ἔτι τοίνυν οὐδὲν ἀπὸ ποιητικῆς λόγῳ χρησιμώτερον ὑπάρχει τοῦ δεθέντα μέτροις τὰ φραζόμενα καὶ συμπλακέντα μᾶλλον μνημονεύεσθαι καὶ 15 κρατεῖσθαι. τοῖς μὲν οὖν τότε πολλὴν ἔδει¹ μνήμην παρεῖναι πολλὰ γὰρ ἐφράζετο καὶ τόπων σημεῖα καὶ πράξεων καιροὶ καὶ θεῶν ἱερὰ διαποντίων καὶ ἡρώων ἀπόρρητοι θῆκαι καὶ² δυσεξεύρετοι μακρὰν³ 408a ἀπαίρουσι τῆς Ἑλλάδος. ἴστε γὰρ τὸν⁴ χῖον καὶ 20 Κρήτινον καὶ ⁵ Νήσιχον καὶ Φάλανθον,⁶ ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς ἡγεμόνας στόλων ὅσοις ἔδει τεκμηρίοις ἀνευρεῖν τὴν διδομένην ἑκάστῳ καὶ προσήκουσαν ἵδρυσιν· ὧν ἔνιοι καὶ διημάρτανον, ὥσπερ Βάττος.⁷ ἔδοξε⁸ γὰρ ἐκπεσεῖν οὐ καταλαβὼν ἐφʼ ὃν ἐπέμφθη τόπον· εἶθʼ 25 ἧκε δεύτερον ποτνιώμενος. ὑπειπὼν οὖν ὁ θεὸς

αἰ τὺ ἐμεῦ Λιβύαν⁹ μαλοτρόφον οἶσθας ἄρειον,¹⁰

μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐλθόντος, ἄγαν ἄγαμαι σοφίην σευ·

οὕτω πάλιν αὐτὸν ἐξέπεμψε. Λύσανδρος δὲ καὶ παντάπασιν ἀγνοήσας τὸν Ὀρχαλίδην¹¹ λόφον καὶ Ἀλώπεκον¹² 5 προσαγορευόμενον καὶ τὸν Ὁπλίτην ποταμὸν

γῆς τε δράκονθʼ¹³ υἱὸν δόλιον κατόπισθεν ἰόντα,

408b μάχῃ κρατηθεὶς ἔπεσεν ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις ὑπὸ Νεοχώρου Ἁλιαρτίου¹⁴ ἀνδρὸς ἀσπίδα φοροῦντος ἐπίσημον ὄφιν ἔχουσαν. ἄλλα δὲ τοιαῦτα πολλὰ δυσκάθεκτα 10 καὶ δυσμνημόνευτα τῶν παλαιῶν διεξιέναι πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰδότας οὐκ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι.

Translations (1)

Wherefore the Pythian Priestess now Ceases to Deliver her Oracles in Verse Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. III. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 27 focus

[27] And this may be farther said, that poetry brings no other advantage to the answer than this, that the sentence being comprised and confined within a certain number of words and syllables bounded by poetic measure is more easily carried away and retained in memory. Therefore it behooved those that formerly lived to have extraordinary memories, to retain the marks of places, the times of such and such transactions, the ceremonies of deities beyond the sea, the hidden monuments of heroes, hard to be found in countries far from Greece. For in those expeditions of Phalanthus and several other admirals of great navies, how many signs were they forced to observe, how many conjectures to make, ere they could find the seat of rest allotted by the oracle! In the observance of which there were some nevertheless that failed, as Battus among others. For he said that he failed because he had not landed in the right place to which he was sent; and therefore returning back he complained to the oracle. But Apollo answered:

As well as I thou knowest, who ne’er hast been

In Libya covered o’er with sheep and kine;

If this is true, thy wisdom I admire:

and so sent him back again. Lysander also, ignorant of the hillock Archelides, also called Alopecus, and the river Hoplites, nor apprehensive of what was meant by

The earth-born dragon, treacherous foe behind,

being overthrown in battle, was there slain by Neochorus the Haliartian, who bare for his device a dragon painted upon his shield. But it is needless to recite any more of these ancient examples of oracles, difficult to be retained in memory, especially to you that are so well read.

Notes on the current edition

The Oracle at Delphie no Longer Given in Verse

1. As in Hesiod’s Works and Days.

2. Cf. Geographi Graeci Minores, i. p. 236, Scymnus, no. 949; scholium on Apollonius Rhodius, ii. 351.

3. Battus was sent by an oracle to found a colony in Africa, but settled in an island (Plataea) off the coast. Since the colony did not prosper, he came again to consult the oracle: cf. Herodotus, iv. 155-157; Pindar, Pythian Odes, v.; Aristotle, frag. 611. 16 (ed. Rose).

4. The same lines are found in Herodotus, iv. 157.

5. Life of Lysander, chap. xxix. (450 b-c).

Plutarch De Pythiae oraculis 27

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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