Plutarch, De Facie Quae in orbe Lunae Apparet, Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator), 2

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[2] Well, to begin with, you see that it is absurd to call the figure seen in the moon an affection of vision in its feebleness giving way to brilliance, a condition which we call [bedazzlement]. Anyone who asserts this¹ does not observe that this phenomenon should rather have occurred in relation to the sun, since the sun lights upon us keen and violent (as Empedocles² too somewhere not infelicitously renders the difference of the two:

The sun keen-shafted and the gentle moon,

referring in this way to her allurement and cheerfulness and harmlessness), and moreover does [not] explain why dull and weak eyes discern no distinction of shape in the moon but her orb for them has an even and full light, whereas those of keen and robust vision make out more precisely and distinctly the pattern of facial features and more clearly perceive the variations. In fact the contrary, I think, should have been the case if the image resulted from an affection of the eye when it is overpowered: the weaker the subject affected, [the clearer] should be the appearance of the image. The unevenness also entirely refutes the hypothesis, for the shadow that one sees is not continuous and confused but is not badly depicted by the words of Agesianax³: She gleams with fire encircled, but within Bluer than lapis show a maiden’s eye And dainty brow, a visage manifest. In truth, the dark patches submerge beneath the bright ones which they encompass and confine them, being confined and curtailed by them in turn; and they are thoroughly intertwined with each other [so as to] make the [delineation] of the figure resemble a painting. [This], Aristotle, seemed⁴ to be a point not without cogency against your Clearchus⁵ also. For the man is yours, since he was an associate of the ancient Aristotle, although he did pervert many doctrines of the School.⁶

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.) — 2 focus

[2] ὁρᾷς γὰρ εὐθὺς, ὡς ἄτοπος ὁ λέγων τὸ φαινόμενον εἶδος ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ πάθος εἶναι τῆς ὄψεως, 5 ὑπεικούσης τῇ λαμπρότητι διʼ ἀσθένειαν, ὃ καλοῦμεν· οὐ συνορῶν ὅτι πρὸς τὸν ἣλιον ἔδει τοῦτο γίγνεσθαι μᾶλλον, ὀξὺν ἀπαντῶντα καὶ πλήκτην ὥς που καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὴν ἑκατέρων ἀποδίδωσιν οὐκ ἀηδῶς διαφορὰν 10

ἣλιος ὀξυβελὴς ἠδʼ ἱλάειρα σελήνη;

τὸ ἐπαγωγὸν αὐτῆς καὶ ἱλαρὸν καὶ ἄλυπον οὕτω προσαγορεύσας· ἔπειτα λόγον ἀποδιδούς, καθʼ ὃν αἱ 920d ἀμυδραὶ καὶ ἀσθενεῖς ὄψεις οὐδεμίαν διαφορὰν ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ μορφῆς ἐνορῶσιν,, ἀλλὰ λεῖος αὐταῖς; 15 ἀντιλάμπει καὶ περίπλεως αὐτῆς ὁ κύκλος, οἱ δʼ ὀξὺ καὶ σφοδρὸν ὁρῶντες ἐξακριβοῦσι μᾶλλον καὶ διαστέλλουσιν ἐκτυπούμενα τὰ εἴδη τοῦ προσώπου, καὶ τῆς διαφορᾶς ἅπτονται σαφέστερον ἔδει γάρ, οἶμαι, τοὐναντίον, εἴπερ ἡττωμένου πάθος ὄμματος 20 ἐποίει τὴν φαντασίαν· ὅπου τὸ πάσχον ἀσθενέστερον, σαφέστερον εἶναι τὸ φαινόμενον. ἡ δʼ ἀνωμαλία καὶ παντάπασιν ἐλέγχει τὸν λόγον· οὐ γὰρ ἔστι συνεχοῦς σκιᾶς καὶ συγκεχυμένης ὄψις, ἀλλʼ οὐ φαύλως ὑπογράφων ὁ Ἀγησιάναξ εἴρηκε 920e

πᾶσα μὲν ἣδε πέριξ πυρὶ λάμπεται ἐν δʼ ἄρα μέσσῃ

γλαυκότερον κυάνοιο φαείνεται ἠύτε κούρης

ὄμμα καὶ ὑγρὰ μέτωπα· τὰ δὲ ῥέθει ἄντα ἔοικεν·

ὄντως γὰρ ὑποδύεται περιιόντα τοῖς λαμπροῖς τὰ 5 σκιερὰ, καὶ πιέζει πάλιν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ ἀποκοπτόμενα, καὶ ὅλως πέπλεκται διʼ ἀλλήλων· ὥστε γραφικὴν 920f τὴν διατύπωσιν εἶναι τοῦ σχήματος· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ πρὸς Κλέαρχον, ὦ Ἀριστότελες, οὐκ ἀπιθάνως ἐδόκει λέγεσθαι τὸν ὑμέτερον ὑμέτερος γὰρ 10 ἁνήρ, Ἀριστοτέλους τοῦ παλαιοῦ γεγονὼς συνήθης, εἰ καὶ πολλὰ τοῦ Περιπάτου παρέτρεψεν.

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.) — 2 focus

[2] For you see at the very first blush, how impertinent his opinion is who said, that the form appearing in the moon is an accident of our sight, by its weakness giving way to her brightness, which we call the dazzling of our eyes; for he perceives not that this should rather befall our looking against the sun, whose lustre is more resplendent, and whose rays are more quick and piercing; as Empedocles also in a certain passage of his has not unpleasantly noted the difference of these two planets, saying,

The sharp-rayed sun, and gently shining moon.

For thus does he call her alluring, favorable, and harmless light. No less absurd appears the reason he afterwards gives why dull and weak eyes discern no difference of form in the moon, her orb appearing to them plain and smooth, whereas those whose sight is more acute and penetrating better descry the lineaments and more perfectly observe the impressions of a face, and more evidently distinguish its different parts. For it should, in my opinion, be quite contrary, if this were a fancy caused by the weakness of the vanquished sight; so that where the patient’s eye is weaker, the appearance would be more express and evident. Moreover, the inequality every way confutes this reason; for this face is not seen in a continuance and confused shadow, but the poet Agesianax not unelegantly describes it, saying,

With shining fire it circled does appear,

And in the midst is seen the visage clear

Of a young maid, whose eyes more gray than blue,

Her brow and cheeks a blushing red do show.

For indeed dark and shady things, encompassed with others that are bright and shining, sink underneath and reciprocally rise again, being repelled by them; and in a word, they are so interlaced one within another, that they represent the figure of a face painted to the life; and there seems to have been great probability in that which was spoken against your Clearchus, my dear Aristotle. For he appears not inconveniently to be called yours, for he was intimately acquainted with the ancient Aristotle, although he perverted many of the Peripatetic doctrines.

Notes on the current edition

Concerning the Face which Appears in the Orb Of the Moon

1. If Plutarch has a definite person in mind, I have not been able to identify him. Adler ( Diss. Phil. Vind. x, p. 127) thinks that ὁ λέγων refers to a physicist whose name Plutarch himself probably did not know, and Raingeard that it refers to esprits cultivÈs in general.

2. Frag. 40 (i, p. 329. 11 [Diels-Kranz]).

3. Schmid (Christ-Schmid-Stählin, Gesch. der griech. Litteratur⁶ , ii. 1, p. 164, n. 5) assumes that the verses here quoted are from the astronomical poem of Hegesianax; so also Susemihl ( Gesch. der griech. Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit, ii, p. 33, n. 19), Schaefer ( R.E. i. 795), and Stähelin ( R.E. vii. 2603. 59 ff.). Powell ( Collectanea Alexandria, p. 8) prints the verses as fragment 1 of the Phaenomena of Hegesianax but observes that Cod. A Catalogi Interpretum Arati gives Ἀγησιάναξ.

4. i.e. in the earlier discussion which Lamprias is now relating for Sulla’s benefit.

5. Clearchus of Soli, pupil of Aristotle; Wehrli, Die Schule des Aristoteles, Heft III: Klearchos, frag. 97 ( cf. A.J.P. lxx [1949], pp. 417-418).

6. For ὁ Περίπατος, the Promenade, used to designate the school of Aristotle, cf. Musica, 1131 F, and the Peripatetics in Adv. Coloten, 1115 A - B, and Sulla, xxvi (468 B).

Plutarch De Facie Quae in orbe Lunae Apparet 2

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

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