Plutarch, De Facie Quae in orbe Lunae Apparet, Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator), 1

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[1] These were Sullas words.¹ For it concerns my story and that is its source; but I think that I should first like to learn whether there is any need to put back for a fresh start² to those opinions concerning the face of the moon which are current and on the lips of everyone. What else would you expect us to have done, I said,³ since it was the difficulty in these opinions that drove us from our course upon those others? As people with chronic diseases when they have despaired of ordinary remedies and customary regimens turn to expiations and amulets and dreams, just so in obscure and perplexing speculations, when the ordinary and reputable and customary accounts are not persuasive, it is necessary to try those that are more out of the way and not scorn them but literally to chant over ourselves⁴ the charms of the ancients and use every means to bring the truth to test.

De Facie Quae in orbe Lunae Apparet. Plutarch. Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1957.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Concerning the Face which Appears in the Orb Of the Moon (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. XII. Cherniss, Harold and William Clark Helmbold translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1957 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ ἐμφαινομένου προσώπου τῷ κύκλῳ τῆς σελήνης Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.) — 1 focus

[1] 5 920b Ὁ μὲν οὖν Σύλλοις ταῦτʼ εἶπε τῷ γʼ ἐμῷ μύθῳ προσήκει κἀκεῖθέν ἐστι· ἀλλʼ εἰ δή τι πρὸς τὰς ἀνὰ χεῖρα ταύτας καὶ διὰ στόματος πᾶσι δόξας 10 περὶ τοῦ προσώπου τῆς σελήνης προανεκρούσασθε, πρῶτον ἡδέως ἄν μοι δοκῶ πυθέσθαι. τί δʼ οὐκ· ἐμέλλομεν εἶπον ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν τούτοις ἀπορίας ἐπʼ ἐκείνους ἀπωσθέντες; ὡς γὰρ οἱ ἐν νοσήμασι χρονίοις πρὸς τὰ κοινὰ βοηθήματα καὶ τὰς συνήθεις 15 διαίτας ἀπειπόντες ἐπὶ καθαρμοὺς καὶ περίαπτα καὶ ὀνείρους τρέπονται, οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον ἐν δυσθεωρήτοις καὶ ἀπόροις σκέψεσιν, ὅταν οἱ κοινοὶ καὶ 920c ἔνδοξοι καὶ συνήθεις λόγοι μὴ πείθωσι, πειρᾶσθαι τῶν ἀτοπωτέρων καὶ μὴ καταφρονεῖν ἀλλʼ ἐπᾴδειν ἀτεχνῶς ἑαυτοῖς τὰ τῶν παλαιῶν καὶ διὰ πάντων τἀληθὲς ἐξελέγχειν.

Translations (1)

Of the Face Appearing Within the Orb Of the Moon Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; G., A., translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 1 focus

[1] These things then, said Sylla, agree with my story, and are taken thence. But I should first willingly ask, what need there is of making such a preamble against these opinions, which are at hand and in every man’s mouth, concerning the face that is seen within the orb of the moon. Why should we not, said I, being, by the difficulty there is in these discourses, forced upon those? For, as they who have long lain lingering under chronical diseases, after they have been worn out and tired with experimenting all ordinary remedies and the usual rules of living and diet, have at last recourse to lustrations and purifications, to charms and amulets fastened about the neck, and to the interpretation of dreams; so in such obscure and abstruse questions and speculations, when the common, apparent, and ordinary reasons are not satisfactory, there is a necessity of trying such as are more extravagant, and of not contemning but enchanting ourselves (as one may say) with the discourses of the ancients, and endeavoring always to find out the truth.

Notes on the current edition

Concerning the Face which Appears in the Orb Of the Moon

1. Concerning the mutilated beginning of the dialogue see Introduction § 1.

2. For the metaphor cf. An Seni Respublica Gerenda Sit, 787 E, and Plato, Philebus, 13 D; the meaning is guaranteed by ἀρωσθέντες ( driven from our course) infra. Of. the nautical metaphor with which Sulla interrupts Lamprias at 940 F s.v. ( τὸν μῦθον ἐξοκείλας).

3. The speaker and narrator of the dialogue is Lamprias, the brother of Plutarch; cf. 937 D, 940 F, 945 D, s.v..

4. cf. Plato, Phaedo, 77 E and 114 D, Republic, 608 A.

Plutarch De Facie Quae in orbe Lunae Apparet 1

Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator)

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