Plutarch, Quaestiones Convivales, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 9.14.6

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[6] πάνυ μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἀμμώνιος ἔφη τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀκούσιον αἰτίαν καὶ ἀπροαίρετον ἡ δʼ ἐν θεοῖς ἀνάγκη δύστλητος οὔκ ἐστʼ οἶμαι δʼ οὐδὲ¹ δυσπειθὴς 20 οὐδὲ βιαία, πλὴν τοῖς κακοῖς, ὥς ἐστι νόμος² ἐν πόλει τοῖς βελτίστοις τὸ βέλτιστον αὐτῆς³, ἀπαράτρεπτον καὶ ἀπαράβατον οὐ τῷ μὲν⁴ ἀδυνάτῳ τῷ δʼ ἀβουλήτῳ τῆς μεταβολῆς⁵. αἵ γε μὲν δὴ⁶ Ὁμήρου⁷ Σειρῆνες οὐ κατὰ λόγον ἡμᾶς; τῷ μύθῳ φοβοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος ὀρθῶς ᾐνίττετο⁸ τὴν τῆς μουσικῆς αὐτῶν δύναμιν οὐκ ἀπάνθρωπον οὐδʼ ὀλέθριον 745e οὖσαν ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἐντεῦθεν ἀπιούσαις ἐκεῖ ψυχαῖς, 5 ὡς ἔοικε, καὶ πλανωμέναις μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἔρωτα πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια καὶ θεῖα λήθην δὲ τῶν θνητῶν ἐμποιοῦσαν κατέχειν καὶ κατᾴδειν⁹ θελγομένας· αἱ δʼ ὑπὸ χαρᾶς ἕπονται καὶ συμπεριπολοῦσιν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀμυδρά τις οἷον ἠχὼ τῆς μουσικῆς 10 ἐκείνης ἐξικνουμένη διὰ λόγων ἐκκαλεῖται καὶ ἀναμιμνήσκει τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν τότε· τὰ δʼ ὦτα τῶν¹⁰ μὲν πλείστων¹¹ περιαλήλιπται καὶ καταπέπλασται σαρκίνοις 745f ἐμφράγμασι καὶ πάθεσιν¹², οὐ κηρίνοις¹³· ἣ¹⁴ δὲ διʼ¹⁵ εὐφυΐαν αἰσθάνεται καὶ μνημονεύει, καὶ τῶν¹⁶ 15 ἐμμανεστάτων ἐρώτων οὐδὲν ἀποδεῖ τὸ πάθος αὐτῆς, γλιχομένης καὶ ποθούσης λῦσαί τε¹⁷ μὴ δυναμένης ἑαυτὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος. οὐ μὴν ἔγωγε παντάπασι συμφέρομαι τούτοις· ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ Πλάτων ὡς ἀτράκτους καὶ ἠλακάτας τοὺς ἄξονας, σφονδύλους 20 δὲ τοὺς ἀστέρας, ἐξηλλαγμένως ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὰς Μούσας Σειρῆνας ὀνομάζειν¹⁸ εἰρούσας¹⁹ τὰ θεῖα καὶ λεγούσας ἐν Ἅιδου, καθάπερ Σοφοκλέους Ὀδυσσεὺς φησι Σειρῆνας εἰσαφικέσθαι Φόρκου κόρας, θροοῦντε²⁰ τοὺς Ἅιδου νόμους²¹ 746a Μοῦσαι δʼ εἰσὶν²² ὀκτὼ καὶ²³ συμπεριπολοῦσι ταῖς ὀκτὼ σφαίραις, μία δὲ τὸν περὶ γῆν εἴληχε τόπον. αἱ μὲν οὖν ὀκτὼ περιόδοις ἐφεστῶσαι τὴν τῶν πλανωμένων 5 ἄστρων πρὸς τὰ ἀπλανῆ καὶ πρὸς ἄλληλα συνέχουσι καὶ διασῴζουσιν ἁρμονίαν²⁴· μία δὲ τὸν μεταξὺ γῆς καὶ σελήνης τόπον ἐπισκοποῦσα καὶ περιπολοῦσα, τοῖς θνητοῖς, ὅσον αἰσθάνεσθαι καὶ δέχεσθαι πέφυκε, χαρίτων καὶ ῥυθμοῦ καὶ ἁρμονίας ἐνδίδωσι, 10 διὰ λόγου καὶ ᾠδῆς πειθὼ πολιτικῆς καὶ κοινωνητικῆς συνεργὸν ἐπάγουσα παραμυθουμένην καὶ κηλοῦσαν ἡμῶν τὸ ταραχῶδες καὶ τὸ πλανώμενον ὥσπερ 746b ἐξ ἀνοδίας ἀνακαλουμένην ἐπιεικῶς καὶ καθιστᾶσαν²⁵.

ὅσσα²⁶ δὲ μὴ πεφίληκε

²⁷

Ζεύς, ἀτύζονται βοὰν²⁸ 15

Πιερίδων ἀίοντα²⁹

κατὰ Πίνδαρον.

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

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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.) — 9.14.6 focus

[6] No doubt, said Ammonius, as it is in us a violent and involuntary cause; but in the Gods Necessity is not intolerable, uncontrollable, or violent, unless it be to the wicked: as the law in a commonwealth to the best men is its best good, not to be violated or transgressed, not because they have no power, but because they have no will, to change it. And Homer’s Sirens give us no just reason to be afraid; for he in that fable rightly intimates the power of their music not to be hurtful to man, but delightfully charming, and detaining the souls which pass from hence thither and wander after death; working in them a love for divine and heavenly things, and a forgetfulness of every thing on earth; and they extremely pleased follow and attend them. And from thence some imperfect sound, and as it were echo of that music, coming to us by the means of reason and good precepts, rouseth our souls, and restores the notice of those things to our minds, the greatest part of which lie encumbered with and entangled in disturbances of the flesh and distracting passions. But the generous soul hears and remembers, and her affection for those pleasures riseth up to the most ardent passion, whilst she eagerly desires but is not able to free herself from the body.

It is true, I do not approve what he says; but Plato seems to me, as he hath strangely and unaccountably called the axes spindles and distaffs, and the stars whirls, so to have named the Muses Sirens, as delivering divine things to the ghosts below, as Ulysses in Sophocles says of the Sirens,

I next to Phorcus’s daughters came,

Who fix the sullen laws below.

Eight of the Muses take care of the spheres, and one of all about the earth. The eight who govern the motions of the spheres maintain the harmony of the planets with the fixed stars and one another. But that one who looks after the place betwixt the earth and moon and takes care of mortal things, by means of speech and song introduceth persuasion, assisting our natural consent to community and agreement, and giveth men as much harmony, grace, and order as is possible for them to receive; introducing this persuasion to smooth and quiet our disturbances, and as it were to recall our wandering desires out of the wrong way, and to set us in the right path. But, as Pindar says,

Whom Jove abhors, he starts to hear

The Muses sounding in his ear.

Notes on the current edition

Συμποσιακῶν προβλημάτων βιβλία

1. ἔστ’ οἶμαι δ’ οὐδὲ ἔσομαι δὲ cf. p. 620f

2. νόμος] μόνος mei; scr. vid. ὁ νόμος

3. αὐτῆς καὶ W

4. μὲν] del. W.

5. μεταβουλῆς mei

6. αἵ γε μὲν δὴ] ἄγομεν δὲ mei

7. Ὁμήρου] μ 39 sq.

8. ᾐνίττετο] ἠνιᾶτο mei

9. em. Leonicus: ἐμποιοῦσα κατέχει καὶ κατᾴδει

10. τὰ δ’ ὧτα τῶν W

11. μὲν πλείστων idem: μὲν πλεῖστον

12. καὶ πάθεσιν] τοῖς πάθεσιν Grafius

13. κηρίνοις W: κηρινοῖς

14. ἣ Basileensis: οἱ aut ἡ

15. διʼ] om. mei

16. καὶ τῶν] malim τῶν ut apodosis incipiat

17. τε] δὲ M

18. Basileensis: ὀνομάζεις aut ὀνομάζει

19. εἰρούσας *: ἐρεούσας cf. p. 1029 b: αὖται (sc. Sirenes) δ’ ἀνιέμεναι τὰ θεῖα εἴρουσι

20. θροοῦντε Lobeckius: αἰθροῦντος

21. Nauck. p. 313

22. εἰσὶν] ἔπεισιν Grafius coll. Plat. Rep. p. 617b

23. καὶ] αἲ Doehnerus

24. ἁρμονίαι mei

25. M: καθιστᾶσα cf. p. 1029c

26. ὅσσα idem: ὅσα

27. Pind. Pyth. 1, 25

28. βοᾶν mei

29. ἀϊδοντα mei

Plutarch Quaestiones Convivales 9.14.6

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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