Plutarch, De Amore Prolis, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 3

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[3] ἀλλʼ οὔτʼ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος οὔτʼ ἄξιος¹ ἀκούειν. 25 ἡ γὰρ φύσις ὥσπερ ἐν φυτοῖς ἀγρίοις, οἷον οἰνάνθαις ἐρινεοῖς κοτίνοις, ἀρχὰς ἀπέπτους καὶ ἀτελεῖς ἡμέρων καρπῶν ἐνέφυσεν·² οὕτω τοῖς μὲν ἀλόγοις 495c τὸ πρὸς τὰ ἔκγονα³ φιλόστοργον ἀτελὲς καὶ οὐ διαρκὲς πρὸς δικαιοσύνην οὐδὲ τῆς χρείας προσωτέρω προερχόμενον ἔδωκεν ἄνθρωπον δέ, λογικὸν καὶ 5 πολιτικὸν ζῷον, ἐπὶ δίκην καὶ νόμον εἰσάγουσα καὶ θεῶν τιμὰς καὶ πόλεων ἱδρύσεις καὶ φιλοφροσύνην, γενναῖα καὶ καλὰ καὶ φερέκαρπα τούτων σπέρματα παρέσχε τὴν πρὸς τὰ ἔκγονα⁴ χάριν καὶ ἀγάπησιν, ἀκολουθοῦσα ταῖς πρώταις ἀρχαῖς· αὗται δʼ ἦσαν 10 ἐν ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων κατασκευαῖς. πανταχοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἡ φύσις ἀκριβὴς καὶ φιλότεχνος⁵ καὶ ἀνελλιπὴς 495d καὶ ἀπερίτμητος⁶ οὐδέν ὡς ἔφησεν Ἐρασίστρατος ἔχουσα ῥωπικόν· τὰ δὲ περὶ τὴν γένεσιν ἀξίως οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν οὐδʼ εὐπρεπὲς ἴσως λίαν ἀκριβῶς τῶν 15 ἀπορρήτων ἐφάπτεσθαι τοῖς ὀνόμασι καὶ τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ἀλλʼ ἀποκειμένων καὶ κεκρυμμένων⁷ ἐπινοεῖν τὴν πρὸς τὸ γεννᾶν καὶ λοχεύεσθαι τῶν μορίων ἐκείνων εὐφυΐαν. ἀρκεῖ δʼ ἡ τοῦ γάλακτος ἐργασία καὶ οἰκονομία τὴν πρόνοιαν αὐτῆς ἐμφῆναι καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν. 20 τοῦ γὰρ αἵματος ὅσον περίττωμα τῆς χρείας ἐν ταῖς γυναιξὶ διʼ ἀμβλύτητα καὶ μικρότητα τοῦ 495e πνεύματος ἐπιπολάζον ἐμπλανᾶται καὶ βαρύνει, τὸν μὲν ἄλλον χρόνον εἴθισται καὶ μεμελέτηκεν ἐμμήνοις⁸ ἡμερῶν περιόδοις ὀχετοὺς καὶ πόρους αὐτῷ τῆς 25 φύσεως ἀναστομούσης ἀποχεόμενον τὸ μὲν ἄλλο σῶμα κουφίζειν καὶ καθαίρειν, τὴν δʼ ὑστέραν οἷον ἀρότῳ⁹ καὶ σπόρῳ γῆν ἐν φυτοῖς¹⁰ ὀργῶσαν ἐν καιρῷ παρέχειν. ὅταν δὲ τὴν γονὴν ἀναλάβῃ προσπεσοῦσαν¹¹ ἡ ὑστέρα καὶ περιστείλῃ ῥιζώσεως γενομένης· ὁ γὰρ ὀμφαλὸς; πρῶτον ἐν μήτρῃσιν ὥς φησι Δημόκριτος¹² 5 ἀγκυρηβόλιον σάλου καὶ πλάνης ἐμφύεται, πεῖσμα καὶ κλῆμα τῷ γεννωμένῳ καρπῷ καὶ μέλλοντι· 495f τοὺς μὲν,¹³ ἐμμήνους καὶ καθαρσίους ἔκλεισεν ὀχετοὺς ἡ φύσις, τοῦ δʼ αἵματος ἀντιλαμβανομένη φερομένου τροφῇ χρῆται καὶ κατάρδει τὸ βρέφος 10 ἤδη συνιστάμενον καὶ διαπλαττόμενον, ἄχρι οὗ τοὺς προσήκοντας ἀριθμοὺς τῇ ἐντὸς; αὐξήσει κυηθὲν¹⁴ ἑτέρας ἀνατροφῆς καὶ χώρας δέηται. τότʼ οὖν τὸ αἷμα παντὸς ἐμμελέστερον φυτουργοῦ καὶ ὀχετηγοῦ πρὸς ἑτέραν ἀφʼ ἑτέρας ἐκτρέπουσα καὶ μεταλαμβάνουσα 15 χρείαν, ἔχει παρεσκευασμένας οἷον ἐγγείους ἤ τινας¹⁵ 496a κρήνας νάματος ἐπιρρέοντος, οὐκ ἀργῶς οὐδʼ ἀπαθῶς ὑποδεχομένας ἀλλὰ καὶ πνεύματος ἠπίῳ θερμότητι καὶ μαλακῇ θηλύτητι ἐκπέψαι καὶ λεᾶναι καὶ μεταβαλεῖν δυναμένας· τοιαύτην γὰρ ὁ μαστὸς ἔχει 20 ἐντὸς¹⁶ διάθεσιν καὶ κρᾶσιν. ἐκροαὶ δὲ τοῦ γάλακτος οὐκ εἰσὶν οὐδὲ κρουνοὶ μεθιέντες ἀθρόως, εἰς δὲ σάρκα πιδακώδη καὶ πόροις ἀτρέμα λεπτοῖς διηθοῦσαν ἀπολήγων, εὐμενὲς τῷ τοῦ νηπίου στόματι καὶ προσφιλὲς; ψαῦσαι καὶ περιλαβεῖν ἐνδίδωσι ταμιεῖον.¹⁷ ἀλλὰ τούτων γε τῶν τοσούτων ἐπὶ τήν γένεσιν ἐργαλείων καὶ τοιούτων οἰκονομιῶν καὶ φιλοτιμίας καὶ προνοίας οὐδὲν ἦν ὄφελος, εἰ μὴ τὸ φιλόστοργον ἡ φύσις καὶ κηδεμονικὸν ἐνειργάσατο ταῖς τεκούσαις. 5

πάντων ὅσσα τε γαῖαν ἔπι πνείει¹⁸ τε καὶ ἕρπει·

¹⁹

τοῦτʼ οὐ ψεύδεται ὁ²⁰ λέγων ἐπὶ νηπίου καὶ²¹ ἀρτιγενοῦς. οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν οὕτως; ἀτελὲς οὐδʼ ἄπορον οὐδὲ γυμνὸν οὐδʼ ἄμορφον οὐδὲ μιαρόν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος 10 ἐν γοναῖς ὁρώμενος· ᾧ μόνῳ σχεδὸν οὐδὲ καθαρὰν ἔδωκεν εἰς φῶς ὁδὸν ἡ φύσις, ἀλλʼ αἵματι πεφυρμένος καὶ λύθρου περίπλεως καὶ φονευομένῳ μᾶλλον ἢ γεννωμένῳ ἐοικὼς οὐδενός ἐστιν ἅψασθαι καὶ ἀνελέσθαι 496c καὶ ἀσπάσασθαι καὶ περιλαβεῖν²² ἢ τοῦ φύσει 15 φιλοῦντος. διὸ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ζῴων ὑπὸ τὴν γαστέρα τὰ οὔθατα χαλᾷ τοὺς μαστοὺς,²³ ταῖς δὲ γυναιξὶν ἄνω γεγόνασιν²⁴ περὶ τὸ στέρνον ἐν ἐφικτῷ τοῦ φιλῆσαι καὶ περιπτύξαι καὶ κατασπάσασθαι τὸ νήπιον, ὡς τοῦ τεκεῖν καὶ θρέψαι τέλος οὐ χρείαν 20 ἀλλὰ φιλίαν ἔχοντος.

De Amore Prolis. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1891.

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Current edition Perseus

Περὶ τῆς εἰς τὰ ἔκγονα φιλοστοργίας (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙI. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.)

Translations (2)

On Affection for Offspring Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).) — 3 focus

[3] But such a statement is neither true nor worth the hearing. For just as in uncultivated plants, such as wild vines and figs and olives, Nature has implanted the principles, though crude and imperfect, of cultivated fruits, so on irrational animals she has bestowed a love of offspring, though imperfect and insufficient as regards the sense of justice and one which does not advance beyond utility; but in the case of man, a rational and social animal, Nature, by introducing him to a conception of justice and law and to the worship of the gods and to the founding of cities and to human kindness, has furnished noble and beautiful and fruitful seeds of all these in the joy we have in our children and our love of them, emotions which accompany their first beginnings; and these qualities are found in the very constitution of their bodies. For although Nature is everywhere exact and workmanlike with no deficiency or superfluity, and has, as Erasistratus¹ said, no trumpery about her; yet when it comes to the processes of procreation, it is impossible to describe them in a fitting manner, and perhaps it would not be decent to fix our attention too precisely upon the names and designations of these forbidden topics, but it is proper that we should apprehend the admirable adaptation of those hidden and concealed parts to the functions of procreation and bringing to birth. However, the production² and administering of milk is sufficient proof of Nature’s foresight and care. For in women the amount of blood exceeds the use for it because of the sluggishness and paucity of their breath and, coming to the surface, wanders at large and burdens them; at other times it is Nature’s custom and care to discharge the blood at monthly periods by opening canals and channels for it, to lighten and cleanse the rest of the body and in season to render the womb fertile ground for ploughing, as it were, and sowing. But when the womb receives the seed as it encounters it and enfolds it and it has taken root³ there ( for the umbilical cord grows at first in the womb, as Democritus⁴ says, as an anchorage against the swell and drift, a cable and vine for the fruit now conceived that is to be), Nature shuts the monthly canals of purification and, taking the drifting blood, uses it for nourishment and irrigates⁵ the embryo, ⁶ which already is beginning to be formed and shaped, until, having been carried the number of months proper to its growth within the womb, it needs other nourishment and abiding-place. At that time, then, Nature, more carefully than any gardener or irrigator, turns and changes the blood from one use to another and has in readiness subterranean springs, as it were, of a fresh-flowing stream; and the springs receive the blood in no perfunctory or unemotional manner, but are even able, by the gentle heat and soft womanliness of respiration, to digest, mollify, and change it; for such a disposition and temper does the breast have within it. Yet there are no outflowing streams of milk nor spouts which discharge it all at once,⁷ but the breast terminates in flesh that is full of springs and can filter the milk gently through minute passage-ways; and it thus gives a store of food that is comfortable for the infant’s mouth and pleasant for it to touch and to grasp.

But there would be no benefit in these many kinds of equipment for procreation, or in such ways and means, such zeal and forethought, if Nature had not implanted in mothers affection and care for their offspring.

There is nothing more wretched than a man,⁸

Of all that breathes and creeps upon the earth -

the poet tells no falsehood if it is about a new-born babe that he speaks.⁹ For there is nothing so imperfect, so helpless, so naked, so shapeless, so foul, as man observed at birth, to whom alone, one might almost say, Nature has given not even a clean passage to the light¹⁰; but, defiled with blood and covered with filth and resembling more one just slain than one just born, he is an object for none to touch or lift up or kiss or embrace except for someone who loves with a natural affection. Therefore, while the other animals have their dugs hanging loose beneath the belly, in women they grow above on the breast where mothers can kiss and embrace and fondle the infant, the inference being that the end and aim of bearing and rearing a child is not utility, but affection.

Of Natural Affection Towards One's Offspring Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. IV. Goodwin, William W., editor; Brown, R., translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 3 focus

[3] This assertion, as to pure Nature, can never be true, nor ought it to be believed. For, as in wild plants, such as wild vines, figs, and olives, Nature has implanted the principles of cultivated fruit, though crude and imperfect; so she has endowed beasts with a love of their young, though imperfect and not attaining to justice, nor proceeding further than utility. But in man, whom she produced a rational and political being, inclining him to justice, law, religion, building of cities, and friendship, she hath placed the seed of those things that are generous, fair, and fruitful,—that is, the love of their children,—following the first principles which entered into the very constitution of their bodies. For terms and expressions are wanting to declare with what industry Nature—who is skilful, unerring, and not to be surpassed, and (as Erasistratus says) has nothing idle or frivolous—has contrived all things pertaining to the procreation of mankind; and modesty will not permit it. The making and economy of milk sufficiently speak her providence and care. In women what abundance of blood more than serves for necessary uses, which, through languidness and want of spirit, wanders about and disturbs the body; being at other times by Nature in monthly periods discharged by proper canals and passages, for the relief and purgation of the body, and to render the womb like a field fit for the plough and seed, and desirous of it at seasons. But when the womb has caught the seed, and it has taken root (for the navel as Democritus says, grows first, like an anchor to keep the foetus from fluctuating, or as a stay or footstalk to the child), then Nature stops the passages proper for monthly purgations, and keeps the superfluous blood after that for nourishment and to moisten the birth, which now begins to be formed and fashioned, and at the end of a set number of days increases so in the womb, that it must seek another place and other sort of food. Then Nature, more diligent than any husbandman, deriving the blood to other uses, has as it were some subterranean fountains, which receive the affluent liquors; and they receive them not negligently nor without affection, but with a gentle heat and womanish softness they concoct, mollify, and alter them; for in this manner are the breasts internally affected and tempered. And milk is not poured out of them by pipes in a full stream; but the breasts, terminating in flesh that is pervious by small and insensible passages, do afford store of sweet and pleasant sucking to the infant’s mouth. But for all this, such and so many instruments for procreation, such preparation, so great industry and providence, were all to no purpose, unless Nature had inbred in the mothers a love and care of their offspring.

Than man more wretched naught takes breath,

Not th’ vilest thing that creeps on earth;

which infallibly holds good of infants new-born. For nothing can be beheld so imperfect, helpless, naked, shapeless, and nasty, as man is just at his birth; to whom alone almost Nature has denied a cleanly passage into the world; and as he is smeared with blood, and daubed with filth, more like to one killed than to one new-born, he could never be touched, taken in arms, kissed, or hugged by any one to whom Nature had not given an inbred affection for him. Therefore other animals have their dugs below their belly, which grow on woman above her breast, that she may the more conveniently kiss, embrace, and cherish her infant; because the end of bringing forth and rearing is not necessity but love.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ τῆς εἰς τὰ ἔκγονα φιλοστοργίας

1. ἄξιος R: ἄξιον

2. ἐνέφυσεν R: εἶναι φύσιν

3. ἔκγονα *: ἔγγονα

4. ἔκγονα *: ἔγγοα

5. φιλότεχνος X: φιλότεκνος

6. ἀπερίτμητος] ἀνεπιτίμητος?

7. ἀλλ’ ἀποκειμένων καὶ κεκρυμμένων] καὶ Stegmannus

8. ἐμμήνοις] add. κηʼ Doehnerus

9. ἀρότῳ R: ἀρότρῳ

10. ἐν φυτοῖς] i. e. ἐπὶ τῶν φυτῶν. frustra tentatur

11. προσπεσοῦσαν W: προσπεσοῦσα

12. Δημόκριτος] Mullach. 1 p. 359

13. τοὺς μὲν Basileensis: καὶ τοὺς μὲν

14. κυηθὲν X: κινηθὲν

15. ἤ τινας] τινὰς R qui recte nunc mihi emendasse vid. cf. Symb. meas

16. ἐντὸς ἔχει Benselerus

17. ταμιεῖον *: ταμεῖον

18. ἔπι πνείει Homerus: ἐπιπνείει

19. Hom. P 446

20. ὁ R

21. καὶ] del. Doehnerus

22. περιλαβεῖν] περιβαλεῖν?

23. χαλᾷ τοὺς μαστοὺς] χαλᾷ Herwerdenus. de vocum distinctione cf. Reiskius

24. γεγόνασιν] del. idem

Plutarch De Amore Prolis 3

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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