Plutarch, Aquane an ignis sit utilior, Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator), 1

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[1]

Water is best, but gold is a flaming fire,

says Pindar.¹ He, therefore, bluntly assigns the second place to fire; and Hesiod² agrees with him in the words

And first of all came Chaos into being;

for most people believe that this is his name for water because it flows ( chysis).³ Yet the balance of witnesses on both sides seems to be equal. There are, in fact, some⁴ who state that fire is the first principle of the universe and, like a seed, creates everything out of itself and receives all things into itself when the conflagration occurs.⁵ Ignoring the authors, let us examine the arguments on both sides and see where they will lead us.

Aquane an ignis sit utilior. Plutarch. Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1957.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Whether fire or water is most useful (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. XII. Cherniss, Harold, and Helmbold, William C., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1957 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ πότερον ὕδωρ ἢ πῦρ χρησιμώτερον Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. VI. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1895.) — 1 focus

[1] 955d

Ἀριστον μὲν ὔδωρ ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς αἰθόμενον

πῦρ

955e 5 φησιν ὁ Πίνδαρος· ὥσθʼ οὗτος μὲν δευτέραν ἄντικρυς τῷ πυρὶ χώραν ἔδωκε· συμφωνεῖ δὲ καὶ Ἡσίοδος εἰπών

ἤτοι μὲν πρώτιστα χάος γένετο·

10 τοῖς πλείστοις γὰρ ὠνομακέναι δοκεῖ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον παρὰ τὴν χύσιν. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν τῶν μαρτύρων ἑκατέροις ἴσον· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ πῦρ εἰσιν οἱ τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχὴν ἀποφαινόμενοι, καὶ οἷον σπέρμα τοῦτʼ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ τε πάντα ποιεῖν καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸ 15 955f ἐκλαμβάνειν κατὰ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν. ἀφέμενοι δὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν, σκεψώμεθα τοὺς εἰς ἑκάτερον λόγους πῇ μᾶλλον ἄγουσιν ἡμᾶς.

Translations (1)

Whether water or fire be most useful. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; Fetherston, F., translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1874.) — 1 focus

[1] Water is the best of things, but gold is like burning fire, says Pindar.¹ Therefore he positively assigns the second place to fire; with whom Hesiod agrees, where he says,

First of all Chaos being had.

For most believe that by the word chaos he meant water, from χύσις, signifying diffusion. But the balance of argument as to this point seems to be equal. For there are some who will have it that fire is the principle of all things, and that like sperm it begets all things out of itself, and resolves all things again by conflagration. Therefore, not to mention the persons, let us consider the arguments on both sides, which are to us the most convincing.

Notes on the current edition

Whether fire or water is most useful

1. Olympians, i. 1.

2. Theogony, 116.

3. Etymologizing (as in Mor. 948 e-f supra) chaos from chysis, diffusion of liquid.

4. The Stoics; cf., e.g., von Arnim, S.V.F. i, p. 27 (Zeno, frag. 98); cf. Mor. 1053 a-b; 1067 a; 1077 b.

5. On the Universal Conflagration of the Stoics see von Arnim, op. cit. ii, pp. 183 ff.; on that of Heraclitus, Cherniss, Aristotle’s Criticism of the Presocratics, p. 29, n. 108.

Plutarch Aquane an ignis sit utilior 1

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

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