Plutarch, Quaestiones Convivales, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 1.8.1

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[1] 20 ταῦτα δʼ ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ προκείμενον εὑρησιλογούντων¹, 625d ἐδόκει τὸ τῆς ὄψεως ς ἀντιπίπτειν. οἱ γὰρ πρεσβύτεροι πόρρω τὰ γράμματα τῶν ὀμμάτων ἀπάγοντες ἀναγιγνώσκουσιν, ἐγγύθεν δʼ οὐ δύνανται· καὶ τοῦτο παραδηλῶν ὁ Αἰσχύλος² φησὶν

οὐδὲ ἀπὸ ³ αὐτόν· οὐ γὰρ ἐγγύθεν 5 ⁴

ἐνδηλότερον δὲ⁵ Σοφοκλῆς⁶ ταὐτὸ⁷ περὶ τῶν γερόντων·

βαρεῖα⁸ μὲν γὰρ ἐν λόγοισι προσβολὴ

μόλις διʼ ὠτὸς ἔρχεται τρυπωμένου⁹, 10 625e

πόρρω δὲ λεύσσων, ἐγγύθεν δὲ πᾶς τυφλός.

εἴπερ οὖν πρὸς τὴν ἐπίτασιν καὶ σφοδρότητα μᾶλλον ὑπακούει τὰ¹⁰ τῶν γερόντων αἰσθητήρια, πῶς ἐν τῷ ἀναγιγνώσκειν τὸν ἐγγύθεν ἀντιφωτισμὸν οὐ φέρουσιν, ἀλλὰ παράγοντες¹¹ ἀπωτέρω τὸ βιβλίον ιο 15 ἐκλύουσι τὴν λαμπρότητα τῷ ἀέρι καθάπερ οἶνον ὕδατι κατακεραννυμένην;

Quaestiones Convivales. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1892.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Συμποσιακῶν προβλημάτων βιβλία (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. IV. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1892.)

Translations (1)

Symposiacs Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. III. Goodwin, William W., editor; Creech, Thomas, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 1.8.1 focus

[1] To my discourse in the former problem some objection may be drawn from the sense of seeing in old men; for, if they hold a book at a distance, they will read pretty well, nearer they cannot see a letter. This Aeschylus means by these verses:

Behold from far; for near thou canst not see;

A good old scribe thou mayst much sooner be.

And Sophocles more plainly:

Old men are slow in talk, they hardly hear;

Far off they see; but all are blind when near.

And therefore, if old men’s organs are more obedient to strong and intense qualities, why, when they read, do they not take the reflection near at hand, but, holding the book a good way off, mix and weaken it by the intervening air, as wine by water?

Notes on the current edition

Συμποσιακῶν προβλημάτων βιβλία

1. ita scripsi: εὐρεσιλογούντων

2. Αἰσχύλος] Nauck. p. 107 quem miror cur lacunas sibi notas non enotaverit

3. lac. 6 Vd 8 E

4. lac. 6 Vd 15 E. Fort. supplendum οὐ δέλτον εἶδον αὐτός· οὐ γὰρ ἐγγύθεν ι ἦν μοι· γέρων δὲ γραμματεὺς ἔγνω σ’ ἃ φῄς

5. δὲ] δ’ ὁ?

6. em. R: ἐνδηλότερον Σοφοκλῆς] cf. Nauck. p. 312

7. ταὐτὸ *: τὸ αὐτὸ

8. em. Herwerdenus: βραδεῖα

9. τρυπωμένου] corruptum

10. τὰ M

11. malim ἀλλ’ ἀπάγοντες

Plutarch Quaestiones Convivales 1.8.1

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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