Plutarch, De Facie Quae in orbe Lunae Apparet, Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator), 22

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[22] Here Apollonides broke in. Then by the moon herself, he said, do you people think it possible that any clefts and chasms cast shadows which from the moon reach our sight here; or do you not reckon the consequence, and shall I tell you what it is? Please listen then, though it is not anything unknown to you. The diameter of the moon measures twelve digits in apparent size at her mean distance¹; and each of the black and shadowy spots appears greater than half a digit and consequently would be greater than one twenty-fourth of her diameter. Well then, if we should suppose that the circumference of the moon is only thirty thousand stades and her diameter ten thousand each of the shadowy spots on her would in accordance with the assumption measure not less than five hundred stades.² Consider now in the first place whether it is possible for the moon to have depths and corrugations so great as to cast such a large shadow; in the second place why, if they are of such great magnitude, we do not see them. Then I said to him with a smile: Congratulations for having discovered such a demonstration. Apollonides. It would enable you to prove that both you and I are taller than the famous sons of Aloeus,³ not at every time of day to be sure but early in the morning particularly and in late afternoon, if, when the sun makes our shadows enormous. you intend to supply sensation with this lovely reasoning that, if the shadow cast is large, what casts the shadow is immense. I am well aware that neither of us has been in Lemnos; we have both, however, often heard this line that is on everyone’s lips:

Athos will veil the Lemnian heifer’s flank.⁴

The point of this apparently is that the shadow of the mountain, extending not less than seven hundred stades over the sea,⁵ falls upon a little bronze heifer; [but it is not necessary, I presume,] that what casts the shadow be [seven hundred stades] high, for the reason that shadows are made many times the size of the objects that cast them by the remoteness of the light from the objects.⁶ Come then, observe that, when the moon is at the full and because of the shadows depth exhibits most articulately the appearance of the face, the sun is at his maximum distance from her. The reason is that the remoteness of the light alone and not the magnitude of the irregularities on the surface of the moon has made the shadow large. Besides, even in the case of mountains the dazzling beams of the sun prevent their crags from being discerned in broad daylight, although their depths and hollows and shadowy parts are visible from afar. So it is not at all strange that in the case of the moon too it is not possible to discern accurately the reflection and illumination, whereas the juxtapositions of the shadowy and brilliant parts by reason of the contrast do not escape our sight.

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.) — 22 focus

[22] 935d ὑπολαβὼν δʼ ὁ Ἀπολλωνίδης εἶτʼ, ὦ πρὸς 10 αὐτῆς ἔφη τῆς Σελήνης, δυνατὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ ὑμῖν ῥηγμάτων τινῶν ἢ φαράγγων εἶναι σκιὰς κἀκεῖθεν ἀφικνεῖσθαι δεῦρο πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν, ἢ τὸ συμβαῖνον οὐ λογίζεσθε κἀγὼ τουτὶ εἴπω; ἀκούοιτε δὲ καίπερ οὐκ ἀγνοοῦντες. ἡ μὲν διάμετρος τῆς σελήνης δυοκαίδεκα δακτύλους ἔχει τὸ φαινόμενον ἐν τοῖς μέσοις 15 ἀποστήμασι μέγεθος. τῶν δὲ μελάνων καὶ σκιερῶν ἕκαστον ἡμιδακτυλίου φαίνεται μεῖζον, ὥστε 935e τῆς διαμέτρου μεῖζον ἢ εἰκοστοτέταρτον εἶναι. καὶ μήν, εἰ μόνων ὑποθοίμεθα τὴν περίμετρον τῆς σελήνης τρισμυρίων σταδίων μυρίων δὲ τὴν διάμετρον, 20 κατὰ τὸ ὑποκείμενον οὐκ ἔλαττον ἂν εἴη πεντακοσίων σταδίων ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν σκιερῶν ἕκαστον. ὅρα δὴ πρῶτον, ἂν δυνατὸν τῇ σελήνῃ τηλικαῦτα βάθη καὶ τηλικαύτας εἶναι τραχύτητας, ὥστε σκιὰν ποιεῖν τοσαύτην ἔπειτα πῶς οὖσαι τηλικαῦται τὸ μέγεθος 25 ὑφʼ ἡμῶν οὐχ ὁρῶνται κἀγὼ μειδιάσας πρὸς αὐτὸν εὖγʼ ἔφην ὅτι τοιαύτην ἐξεύρηκας ἀπόδειξιν, ὦ Ἀπολλωνίδη, διʼ ἧς κἀμὲ καὶ σαυτὸν ἀποδείξεις τῶν 935f Ἀλωαδῶν ἐκείνων εἶναι μείζονας οὐκ ἐν ἅπαντι μέντοι χρόνῳ τῆς ἡμέρας ἀλλὰ πρωῒ μάλιστα καὶ δείλης, εἰ οἴει, τὰς σκιὰς ἡμῶν τοῦ ἡλίου ποιοῦντος 5 ἠλιβάτους, τὸν καλὸν τοῦτʼ αἰσθήσει παρέχειν συλλογισμόν, ὡς, εἰ μέγα τὸ σκιαζόμενον, ὑπερμέγεθες τὸ σκιάζον. ἐν Λήμνῳ μὲν οὐδέτερος ἡμῶν εὖ οἶδʼ ὅτι γέγονε, τουτὶ μέντοι τὸ τεθρυλημένον ἰαμβεῖον ἀμφότεροι πολλάκις ἀκηκόαμεν 10

Ἄθως καλύψει πλευρὰ Λημνίας βοός·

ἐπιβάλλει γὰρ ἡ σκιὰ τοῦ ὄρους, ὡς ἔοικε, χαλκῷ 936a τινι βοιδίῳ, μῆκος ἀποτείνουσα διὰ τῆς θαλάττης οὐκ ἔλαττον ἑπτακοσίων σταδίων, τὸ κατασκιάζον ὕψος εἶναι διὰ τὴν αἰτίαν ὅτι πολλαπλασίους αἱ 15 τοῦ φωτὸς ἀποστάσεις τῶν σωμάτων τὰς σκιὰς ποιοῦσι. δεῦρο δὴ θεῶ καὶ τῆς σελήνης, ὅτε πάμμηνός ἐστι καὶ μάλιστα τὴν ἰδέαν ἔναρθρον τοῦ προσώπου βαθύτητι τῆς σκιᾶς ἀποδίδωσι, τὸ μέγιστον ἀπέχοντα διάστημα τὸν ἥλιον ἡ γὰρ ἀπόστασις τοῦ 20 φωτὸς αὕτη τὴν σκιὰν μεγάλην, οὐ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ὑπὲρ τὴν σελήνην ἀνωμαλιῶν, πεποίηκε. καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ τῶν ὀρῶν τὰς ὑπεροχὰς ἐῶσι μεθʼ ἡμέραν αἱ 936b περιαυγαὶ τοῦ ἡλίου καθορᾶσθαι, τὰ μέντοι βαθέα καὶ κοῖλα φαίνεται καὶ σκιώδη πόρρωθεν. οὐδὲν οὖν ἄτοπον, εἰ· καὶ τῆς σελήνης τὴν ἀντίληψιν καὶ τὸν ἐπιφωτισμὸν οὐκ ἔστι καθορᾶν ἀκριβῶς, αἱ δὲ 5 τῶν σκιερῶν παραθέσεις παρὰ τὰ λαμπρὰ τῇ διαφορᾷ τὴν ὄψιν οὐ λανθάνουσιν.

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.) — 22 focus

[22] Here Apollonides, taking up the discourse, said: Tell me then, I beseech you, good sir, even by the moon herself, do you think it possible that there should be there shadows of caves and chinks, and that the sight of them should come even to our eyes? Or do you not regard what will come of it? And must I tell you what it is? But hearken to me, although you are not ignorant of it. The diameter of the moon, according to that bigness which appears to us when she is in her mean and ordinary distances, is twelve digits, and every one of these black and shady spots is above half a digit, that is above the four and twentieth part of the diameter. Now if we suppose the circumference of the moon to be only thirty thousand stadia; and the diameter according to that supposition to be ten thousand, every one of these shadowy marks within her will not be less than five hundred stadia. Consider then, first, whether there can possibly be in the moon such great gaps and such inequalities as may make such a shadow? And then how is it possible that, being so great, they are not seen by us?

At this I, smiling upon him, said: You have done me a pleasure, dear Apollonides, in having found out such a demonstration by which you will prove that you and I shall be bigger than those giant sons of Aloeus,¹—not indeed every hour of the day, but principally morning and evening,—if indeed you think that, when the sun makes our shadows so long, he suggests to our minds this goodly argument; if that which is shadowed is great, that which shadows must of necessity be yet excessively greater. I know well that neither you nor I have ever been in Lemnos; yet we have often heard that Iambic verse, so frequent in every one’s mouth:

Mount Athos’ shade shall hide the Lemnian cow.

For the shadow of that mountain falls, as it seems, on the image of a brazen heifer which is in Lemnos, extending itself in length over the sea not less than seven hundred stadia. The mountain which makes the shadow causes it, because the distance of the light renders the shadow of bodies manifoldly greater than the bodies themselves. Consider then here, that when the moon is in the full, and shows us the form of a visage most expressly, by reason of the profundity of the shadow, it is then that she is most remote from the sun; for it is the distance of the light that makes the shadow bigger, and not the greatness of the inequalities which are on the superficies of the moon. And you moreover see, that the brightness of the sun’s beams suffers not the tops of the mountains to be discerned in open day; but on the contrary, the deep hollow and shadowy parts appear from afar. It is not therefore any way absurd or strange, if we cannot so exactly see how the illumination of the moon and her reception of the sunbeams take place, while yet the conjunction of things that are obscure and dark to such as are clear and shining is by reason of this diversity apparent to our sight.

Notes on the current edition

Concerning the Face which Appears in the Orb Of the Moon

1. cf. Cleomedes, ii. 3. 95 (p. 172. 25-27 [Ziegler]); on this measurement of 12 digits cf. Heath, Aristarchus of Samos, p. 23, n. 1.

2. Apodonides exaggerates for the sake of his point, for 500 stades is 1/20 not 1/24 of 10,000: but he has guarded himself by saying that each of the spots is more than half a digit and so more than 1/24 of the diameter. On the other hand, he intends his estimate of the moon’s size to err, if at all, on the side of conservatism: cf. only thirty thousand stades. Such small figures, even as minima, are remarkable, however. Cleomedes (ii. 1. 80-81 [pp. 146. 25-148. 3, Ziegler]) gives 40,000 stades as the lunar diameter, basing this upon the assumption that the earth is twice as large as the moon and has a circumference of 250,000 stades according to the measurement of Eratosthenes and a diameter therefore of more than 80,000 stades. Plutarch adopted the same figure for the terrestrial diameter (see 925 D supra) but supposed this and the terrestrial circumference to be three times those of the moon (see 923 B supra and note d there), figures which should have given him more than 26,000 stades as the lunar diameter. According to Hultsch, however, Posidonius must have calculated the lunar diameter to be 12,000 stades ( cf. Abhand. K. Gesell. Wissensch. zu Göttingen, Phil.-Hist. Kl., N.F. i, No. 5, p. 38), which by the usual approximation would have given 36,000 stades for the lunar circumference; and Apollonides minimal estimate may have been based upon these figures. For the common rough approximation 3-1 as the relation of circumference to diameter cf. Archimedes, Arenarius, ii. 3 ( Opera Omnia, ii, p. 234. 28-29 [Heiberg]).

3. Otus and Ephialtes: cf. Exilio, 602 d ; Iliad, v. 385-387 ; Odyssey, xi. 305-320 ; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, i. 7. 4. 2-4 .

4. The verse, which comes from an unidentified tragedy of Sophocles, is elsewhere quoted with καλύπτει or σκιάζει and with πλευρά or νῶτα ( cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag.² , p. 299, frag. 708). For the shadow of Athos cast upon Lemnos cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv. 12 (23). 73 ; Apollonius Rhodius, i. 601-604; Proclus, In Timaeum, 56 B (i, p. 181. 12 ff. [Diehl]).

5. Proclus ( loc. cit.) says that this is the distance of Lemnos from Athos, Plutarch rather that it is the length of the shadow cast by the mountain. According to Eustathius ( Ad Iliadem, 980. 45 ff.), Athos is 300 stades distant from Lemnos, according to Pliny ( loc. cit.) 87 Roman miles (unless this is a scribal error for XXXXVII). The actual distance is said to be about 50 miles; and Athos, which is 6350 feet high, could cast a shadow for almost 100 miles over open sea.

6. In this Plutarch is guilty either of an error or of an intentional sophism; cf. Class. Phil. xlvi (1951), p. 145.

Plutarch De Facie Quae in orbe Lunae Apparet 22

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

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