Plutarch, De Pythiae oraculis, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 29

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[29] ἔδει δʼ ἴσως καὶ ἡμᾶς ἔχειν οὕτως· νῦν 10 δʼ ὥσπερ ἀγωνιῶντες καὶ δεδιότες, μὴ τρισχιλίων¹ ἐτῶν ἀποβάλῃ δόξαν ὁ τόπος καὶ τοῦ χρηστηρίου καθάπερ σοφιστοῦ διατριβῆς ἀποφοιτήσωσιν ἔνιοι καταφρονήσαντες, ἀπολογούμεθα καὶ πλάσσομεν αἰτίας καὶ λόγους ὑπὲρ ὧν οὔτʼ ἴσμεν οὔτʼ εἰδέναι 15 προσῆκον ἡμῖν ἐστι· παραμυθούμενοι τὸν ἐγκαλοῦντα καὶ πείθοντες, οὐ χαίρειν ἐῶντες·

αὐτῷ γάρ² οἱ πρῶτον ἀνιηρώτερον³ ἔσται

408e τοιαύτην ἔχοντι περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ δόξαν· ὥστε ταυτὶ μὲν τὰ προγεγραμμένα τῶν σοφῶν τό γνῶθι σαυτόν 20 καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ἄγαν ἀποδέχεσθε καὶ θαυμάζειν⁴ οὐχ ἣκιστα διὰ τὴν βραχυλογίαν ὡς πυκνὸν καὶ σφυρήλατον νοῦν ἐν ὀλίγῳ περιέχουσαν ὄγκῳ, τοὺς δὲ χρησμοὺς ὅτι συντόμως καὶ ἁπλῶς καὶ διʼ εὐθείας τὰ πλεῖστα φράζουσιν αἰτιᾶσθε. καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μὲν ἀποφθέγματα τῶν σοφῶν ταὐτὸν τοῖς εἰς στενὸν συνθλιβεῖσι πέπονθε ῥεύμασιν οὐ γὰρ ἔχει τοῦ νοῦ δίοψιν οὐδὲ διαύγειαν,⁵ ἀλλʼ ἐὰν σκοπῇς 5 τί γέγραπται καὶ λέλεκται περὶ αὐτῶν τοῖς ὅπως ἕκαστον ἔχει βουλομένοις καταμαθεῖν, οὐ ῥᾳδίως 408f τούτων λόγους ἑτέρους εὑρήσεις μακροτέρους. ἡ δὲ τῆς Πυθίας διάλεκτος, ὥσπερ οἱ μαθηματικοὶ γραμμὴν εὐθεῖαν καλοῦσι τὴν ἐλαχίστην τῶν ταὐτὰ⁶ 10 πέρατʼ ἐχουσῶν, οὕτως οὐ ποιοῦσα καμπὴν οὐδὲ κύκλον οὐδὲ διπλόην οὐδʼ ἀμφιβολίαν ἀλλʼ εὐθεῖα πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὖσα πρὸς δὲ πίστιν ἐπισφαλὴς καὶ ὑπεύθυνος⁷ οὐδένα καθʼ αὑτῆς ἔλεγχον ἄχρι νῦν παραδέδωκεν, ἀναθημάτων δὲ καὶ δώρων ἐμπέπληκε 15 409a βαρβαρικῶν καὶ Ἑλληνικῶν τὸ χρηστήριον, οἰκοδομημάτων δʼ ἐκαλλώπισε⁸ κάλλεσι καὶ κατασκευαῖς Ἀμφικτυονικαῖς. ὁρᾶτε⁹ δήπουθεν αὐτοὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἐπεκτισμένα τῶν πρότερον οὐκ ὄντων, πολλὰ δʼ ἀνειλημμένα τῶν συγκεχυμένων καὶ διεφθαρμένων. 20 ὡς δὲ τοῖς εὐθαλέσι τῶν δένδρων ἕτερα παραβλαστάνει, καὶ τοῖς Δελφοῖς ἡ Πυλαία συνηβᾷ καὶ συναναβόσκεται,¹⁰ διὰ τὰς ἐντεῦθεν εὐπορίας σχῆμα λαμβάνουσα καὶ μορφὴν καὶ κόσμον ἱερῶν καὶ συνεδρίων καὶ ὑδάτων οἷον ἐν χιλίοις ἔτεσι τοῖς πρότερον 25 409b οὐκ ἔλαβεν. οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸ Γαλάξιον τῆς Βοιωτίας κατοικοῦντες ᾔσθοντο τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἀφθονίᾳ καὶ περιουσίᾳ γάλακτος

προβάτων¹¹ γὰρ ἐκ πάντων κελάρυξεν,

ὡς ἀπὸ κρηνᾶν φέρτατον ὕδωρ, 5

θάλεον γάλα· τοὶ δʼ ἐπίμπλων ἐσσύμενοι πίθους·

ἀσκὸς δʼ οὐδέ τις ἀμφορεὺς ἐλίνυʼ ἐν δόμοις,¹²

πέλλαι γὰρ¹³ ξύλινοί¹⁴ τε¹⁵ πίθοι πλᾶσθεν¹⁶ ἅπαντες.

ἡμῖν δὲ λαμπρότερα καὶ κρείττονα καὶ σαφέστερα σημεῖα τούτων ἀναδίδωσιν, ὥσπερ ἐξ αὐχμοῦ τῆς 10 πρόσθεν ἐρημίας καὶ πενίας εὐπορίαν καὶ λαμπρότητα καὶ τιμὴν πεποιηκώς. καίτοι φιλῶ μὲν ἐμαυτὸν 409c ἐφʼ οἷς ἐγενόμην εἰς τὰ πράγματα ταῦτα πρόθυμος καὶ χρήσιμος μετὰ Πολυκράτους καὶ Πετραίου, φιλῶ δὲ τὸν καθηγεμόνα ταύτης τῆς πολιτείας γενόμενον 15 ἡμῖν καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τούτων ἐκφροντίζοντα καὶ παρασκευάζοντα ¹⁷ ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως ὅτι¹⁸ τηλικαύτην καὶ τοσαύτην μεταβολὴν ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ γενέσθαι διʼ ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπιμελείας, μὴ θεοῦ παρόντος ἐνταῦθα καὶ συνεπιθειάζοντος τὸ χρηστήριον. 20

De Pythiae oraculis. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1891.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

The Oracle at Delphi no Longer Given in Verse Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. V. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 29 focus

[29] We also, perhaps, ought to have this frame of mind. But as it is, we act as if we were anxious and fearful lest the place here lose the repute of its three thousand years, and some few persons should cease to come here, contemning the oracle as if it were the lecturing of some popular speaker; and we offer a plea in defence and invent reasons and arguments for matters which we do not understand, and which it is not fitting that we should understand. We try to appease and win over the man who complains, instead of bidding him take his leave for all time,

Since for himself first of all it will prove to be more distressing,¹

if the opinion which he holds about the god is such that he can accept and admire the maxims² of the Wise Men inscribed here, Know thyself and Avoid extremes, because of their conciseness especially, since this very conciseness contains in small compass a compact and firmly=forged sentiment, and yet he can impeach the oracles because they give nearly all their communications in brief, simple, and straightforward language. Now such sayings as these of the Wise Men are in the same case with streams forced into a narrow channel, for they do not keep the transparency or translucence of the sentiment, but if you will investigate what has been written and said about them by men desirous of learning fully the why and wherefore of each, you will not easily find more extensive writings on any other subject. And as for the language of the prophetic priestess, just as the mathematicians call the shortest of lines between two points a straight line, so her language makes no bend nor curve nor doubling nor equivocation, but is straight in relation to the truth; yet, in relation to men’s confidence in it, it is insecure and subject to scrutiny, but as yet it has afforded no proof of its being wrong. On the contrary, it has filled the oracular shrine with votive offerings and gifts from barbarians and Greeks, and has adorned it with beautiful buildings and embellishments provided by the Amphictyonic Council. You yourselves, of course, see many additions in the form of buildings not here before and many restored that were dilapidated and in ruins. As beside flourishing trees others spring up, so also does Pylaea³ grow in vigour along with Delphi and derives its sustenance from the same source; because of the affluence here it is acquiring a pattern and form and an adornment of shrines and meeting-places and supplies of water such as it has not acquired in the last thousand years.

They that lived in the neighbourhood of Galaxium in Boeotia became aware of the manifest presence of the god by reason of the copious and overabundant flow of milk⁴:

From all the flocks and all the kine

Like purest water from the springs

Milk in abundance welling down

Made music in the milking-pails.

And all the folk in eager haste

Filled every household vessel full;

Wineskin and jar were put to use,

Each wooden pail and earthen tun.

But for us the god grants clearer, stronger, and plainer evidence than this by bringing about after a drought, so to speak, of earlier desolation and poverty, affluence, splendour, and honour. It is true that I feel kindly toward myself in so far as my zeal or services may have furthered these matters with the co-operation of Polycrates and Petraeus⁵; and I feel kindly toward the man who has been the leader in our administration and has planned and carried out practically all that has been done.⁶ But it is not possible that a change of such sort and of such magnitude could ever have been brought about in a short time through human diligence if a god were not present here to lend divine inspiration to his oracle.

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.) — 29 focus

[29] And well it were, that we ourselves should be so affected. But on the contrary, being in a quandary and jealousy lest the oracle should lose the reputation it has had for these three thousand years, and lest people should forsake it and forbear going to it, we frame excuses to ourselves, and feign causes and reasons of things which we do not know, and which it is not convenient for us to know; out of a fond design to persuade the persons thus oddly dissatisfied, whom it became us rather to let alone. For certainly the mistake must redound to ourselves,¹ when we shall have such an opinion of our Deity as to approve and esteem those ancient and pithy proverbs of wise men, written at the entrance into the temple, Know thyself, Nothing to excess, as containing in few words a full and close compacted sentence, and yet find fault with the modern oracle for delivering answers concise and plain. Whereas those apophthegms are like waters crowded and pent up in a narrow room or running between contracted banks, where we can no movie discern the bottom of the water than we can the depth and meaning of the sentence. And yet, if we consider what has been written and said concerning those sentences by such as have dived into their signification with an intent to clear their abstruseness, we shall hardly find disputes more prolix than those are. But the language of the Pythian priestess is such as the mathematicians define a right line to be, that is to say, the shortest that may be drawn betwixt two points. So likewise doth she avoid all winding and circles, all double meanings and abstruse ambiguities, and proceed directly to the truth. And though she has been obnoxious to strict examination, yet is she not to be misconstrued without danger, nor could ever any person to this very day convict her of falsehood; but on the other side, she has filled the temple with presents, gifts, and offerings, not only of the Greeks but barbarians, and adorned the seat of the oracle with the magnificent structures and fabrics of the Amphictyons. And we find many additions of new buildings, many reparations of the old ones that were fallen down or decayed by time. And as we see from trees overgrown with shade and verdant boughs other lesser shoots sprout up; thus has the Delphian concourse afforded growth and grandeur to the assembly of the Amphictyons, which is fed and maintained by the abundance and affluence arising from thence, and has the form and show of magnificent temples, stately meetings, and sacred waters; which, but for the ceremonies of the altar, would not have been brought to perfection in a thousand years. And to what other cause can we attribute the fertility of the Galaxian Plains in Boeotia but to their vicinity to this oracle, and to their being blessed with the neighboring influences of the Deity, where from the well-nourished udders of the bleating ewes milk flows in copious streams, like water from so many fountain-heads?

Their pails run o’er, and larger vessels still

With rich abundance all their dairies fill.

To us appear yet more clear and remarkable signs of the Deity’s liberality, while we behold the glory of far-famed store and plenty overflowing former penury and barrenness. And I cannot but think much the better of myself for having in some measure contributed to these things with Polycrates and Petraeus. Nor can I less admire the first author and promoter of this good order and management. And yet it is not to be thought that such and so great change should come to pass in so small a time by human industry, without the favor of the Deity assisting and blessing his oracle.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ τοῦ μὴ χρᾶν ἔμμετρα νῦν τὴν Πυθίαν

1. τρισχιλίων Basileensis: τρισχισμὸν

2. γάρ] μέν Homerus

3. ἀνιηρώτερον Homerus β 190: ἀνιηρότερον

4. ἀποδέχεσθε καὶ θαυμάζετε R: ἀποδέχεσθαι καὶ θαυμάζειν

5. διαύγειαν supplevit Turnebus lacunam codd. (11 litt. in E)

6. ταὐτὰ *: τὰ αὐτὰ

7. ἀνεπισφαλὴς καὶ ἀνυπεύθυνος Madvigius. Sed cf. p. 484 c

8. δ’ ἐκαλλώπισε *: δέ

9. ὁρᾶτε] malim ὁρᾶτε δὲ (vel γὰρ)

10. συναναβιώσκεται?

11. προβάτων bescio quis: προπάντων. Cf. Bergk. 3 p, 719

12. κρηνᾶν - - - δόμοις Bergkius: κρηνάων - θήλεον - ἐνεπίμπλων - οὔτε τις ἐλίννυε δόμοις

13. γὰρ Bergkius: δὲ

14. ξύλινοι] λίθινοι idem

15. τε idem

16. πλῆσθεν BE

17. lacuna (20 fere litt. in E)

18. ἄλλως ὅτι] corrupta. ἀληθῶς εἰπεῖν?

Plutarch De Pythiae oraculis 29

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers