Plutarch, Amatorius, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 1

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[1]

ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ.

748e Ἑν Ἑλικῶνι φῆς, ὦ Λύτόβουλε, 748f τοὺς περὶ Ἑρωτος λόγους γενέσθαι, οὓς εἴτε γραψάμενος εἴτε καταμνημονεύσας τῷ πολλάκις ἐπανερέσθαι 5 τὸν πατέρα νυνὶ μέλλεις ἡμῖν δεηθεῖσιν ἀπαγγέλλειν.

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

ἐν Ἑλικῶνι παρὰ ταῖς Μούσαις, ὦ Φλαουιανέ, τὰ Ἐρωτικὰ Θεσπιέων ἀγόντων· ἄγουσι γὰρ ἀγῶνα πενταετηρικόν¹, ὥσπερ καὶ ταῖς 10 Μούσαις, καὶ τῷ Ἔρωτι φιλοτίμως πάνυ καὶ λαμπρῶς.

ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ.

οἶσθʼ οὖν ὃ σοῦ² μέλλομεν δεῖσθαι πάντες οἱ πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόασιν ἥκοντες;

749a

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

οὔκ· ἀλλʼ εἴσομαι λεγόντων. 15

ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ.

ἄφελε τοῦ λόγου τὸ νῦν ἔχον ἐποποιῶν τε λειμῶνας καὶ σκιὰς καὶ ἅμα κιττοῦ τε καὶ σμιλάκων διαδρομὰς καὶ ὅσʼ ἄλλα³ τοιούτων τόπων ἐπιλαβόμενοι γλίχονται τὸν Πλάτωνος⁴ Ἰλισσὸν καὶ τὸν ἄγνον ἐκεῖνον καὶ τὴν ἠρέμα προσάντη πόαν 20 πεφυκυῖαν προθυμότερον ἢ κάλλιον ἐπιγράφεσθαι,

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

τί δὲ δεῖται τοιούτων, ὦ ἄριστε Φλαουιανέ, προοιμίων ἡ διήγησις; εὐθὺς ἡ πρόφασις, ἐξ ἧς ὡρμήθησαν οἱ λόγοι, χορὸν αἰτεῖ τῷ πάθει καὶ σκηνῆς δεῖται, τὰ τʼ ἄλλα δράματος οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει· μόνον εὐχώμεθα τῇ μητρὶ τῶν Μουσῶν 749b ἵλεων⁵ παρεῖναι καὶ συνανασῴζειν τὸν μῦθον.

Amatorius. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1892.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (1)

Of Love. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. IV. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 1 focus

[1]

FLAVIANUS.

Was it not in Helicon, dear Autobulus, that those discourses were held concerning Love, which — whether thou hast already set them down in writing, or still carriest them in thy memory, as having often desired them from thy father — we are now in expectation that thou wilt recite to us, at our importunate request?

AUTOBULUS.

I was in Helicon, dear Flavianus, among the Muses, at what time the Thespians performed the Erotic solemnities. For they celebrate every four years certain games and festivals very magnificent and splendid in honor of Cupid, as well as of the Muses.

FLAV.

Know’st thou then what it is we all desire at thy hands, as many as are gathered here together to be thy auditors?

AUTOB.

No; but I shall know, when I am once by you informed.

FLAV.

Curtail, we beseech ye, your discourse at present, forbearing the descriptions of meadows and shades, together with the crawling ivy, and whatever else poets are so studious to add to their descriptions, imitating with more curiosity than grace Plato’s Ilissus,¹ with the chaste tree and the gentle rising hillock covered with green grass.

AUTOB.

What needed my relation, dearest Flavianus, such a proem as this? The occasion that gave birth to these discourses of itself (as it were) asks for a chorus, and it requires a theatre; otherwise there is nothing wanting of a complete drama. Therefore let us only beseech Memory, the mother of the Muses, to be propitious and assist us in the discovery of the fable.

Notes on the current edition

Ἐρωτικός

1. πεντετηρικόν?

2. ὃ σοῦ X: ὅσου

3. ἄλλα] fort. ἄλλα οἱ aut ἄλλα τινὲς

4. Πλάτωνος] Phaedr. p. 230d

5. ἵλεων *: ἵλεω

Plutarch Amatorius 1

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ.

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ.

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ.

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

Current edition Perseus

FLAVIANUS.

AUTOBULUS.

FLAV.

AUTOB.

FLAV.

AUTOB.

Notes on the current edition

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