Complete Works of Plutarch Part 72

In like manner [Greek omitted] signifies either to MOVE, as in Euripides when he saith,

[Greek omitted]--

or TO SIT, as in Sophocles when he writes thus,

[Greek omitted] (Sophocles, "Oedipus Tyra.n.u.s," 2.)

It is elegant also when they fit to the present matter, as grammarians teach, the use of words which have another signification. As here:--

[Greek omitted]

For here [Greek omitted] signifies TO PRAISE (instead of [Greek omitted]), and TO PRAISE is used for TO REFUSE. So in conversation it is common with us to say, [Greek omitted], IT IS WELL (i.e., NO, I THANK YOU), and to bid anything FAREWELL [Greek omitted]; by which forms of speech we refuse a thing which we do not want, or receive it not, but still with a civil compliment. So also some say that Proserpina is called [Greek omitted] in the notion of [Greek omitted], TO BE DEPRECATED, because death is by all men shunned.

And the like distinction of words we ought to observe also in things more weighty and serious. To begin with the G.o.ds, we should teach our youth that poets, when they use the names of G.o.ds, sometimes mean properly the Divine Beings so called, but otherwhiles understand by those names certain powers of which the G.o.ds are the donors and authors, they having first led us into the use of them by their own practice. As when Archilochus prays,

King Vulcan, hear thy suppliant, and grant That what thou'rt wont to give and I to want,

it is plain that he means the G.o.d himself whom he invokes. But when elsewhere he bewails the drowning of his sister's husband, who had not obtained lawful burial, and says,

Had Vulcan his fair limbs to ashes turned, I for his loss had with less pa.s.sion mourned,

he gives the name of Vulcan to the fire and not to the Deity. Again, Euripides, when he says,

No; by the glorious stars I swear, And b.l.o.o.d.y Mars and Jupiter, (Euripides, "Phoenissae," 1006.)

means the G.o.ds themselves who bare those names. But when Sophocles saith,

Blind Mars doth mortal men's affairs confound, As the swine's snout doth quite deface the ground,

we are to understand the word Mars to denote not the G.o.d so called, but war. And by the same word we are to understand also weapons made of hardened bra.s.s, in those verses of Homer,

These, are the gallant men whose n.o.ble blood Keen Mars did shed near swift Scamander's flood.

("Iliad," vii. 329.)

Wherefore, in conformity to the instances given, we must conceive and bear in mind that by the names of Jupiter also sometimes they mean the G.o.d himself, sometimes Fortune, and oftentimes also Fate. For when they say,--

Great Jupiter, who from the lofty hill Of Ida govern'st all the world at will; ("Iliad," iii. 276.)

That wrath which hurled to Pluto's gloomy realm The souls of mighty chiefs:--

Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove; (Ibid. i. 3 and 5.)

For who (but who himself too fondly loves) Dares lay his wisdom in the scale with Jove's?--

they understand Jupiter himself. But when they ascribe the event of all things done to Jupiter as the cause, saying of him,--

Many brave souls to h.e.l.l Achilles sent, And Jove's design accomplished in th' event,--

they mean by Jove no more but Fate. For the poet doth not conceive that G.o.d contrives mischief against mankind, but he soundly declares the mere necessity of the things themselves, to wit, that prosperity and victory are destined by Fate to cities and armies and commanders who govern themselves with sobriety, but if they give way to pa.s.sions and commit errors, thereby dividing and crumbling themselves into factions, as those of whom the poet speaks did, they do unhandsome actions, and thereby create great disturbances, such as are attended with sad consequences.

For to all unadvised acts, in fine, The Fates unhappy issues do a.s.sign.

(From Euripides.)

But when Hesiod brings in Prometheus thus counselling his brother Epimetheus,

Brother, if Jove to thee a present make, Take heed that from his hands thou nothing take, (Hesiod, "Works and Days," 86.)

he useth the name of Jove to express Fortune; for he calls the good things which come by her (such as riches, and marriages, and empires, and indeed all external things the enjoyment whereof is profitable to only them who know how to use them well) the gifts of Jove. And therefore he adviseth Epimetheus (an ill man, and a fool withal) to stand in fear of and to guard himself from prosperity, as that which would be hurtful and destructive to him.

Again, where he saith,

Reproach thou not a man for being poor; His poverty's G.o.d's gift, as is thy store, (Hesiod "Works and Days," 717.)

he calls that which befalls men by Fortune G.o.d's gift, and intimates that it is an unworthy thing to reproach any man for that poverty which he falls into by Fortune, whereas poverty is then only a matter of disgrace and reproach when it is attendant on sloth and idleness, or wantonness and prodigality. For, before the name of Fortune was used, they knew there was a powerful cause, which moved irregularly and unlimitedly and with such a force that no human reason could avoid it; and this cause they called by the names of G.o.ds. So we are wont to call divers things and qualities and discourses, and even men themselves, divine. And thus may we rectify many such sayings concerning Jupiter as would otherwise seem very absurd. As these, for instance:--

Before Jove's door two fatal hogsheads, filled With human fortunes, good and bad luck yield.--

Of violated oaths Jove took no care, But spitefully both parties crushed by war:--

To Greeks and Trojans both this was the rise Of Mischief, suitable to Jove's device.

("Iliad," xxiv. 527; vii. 69; "Odyssey," viii. 81.)

These pa.s.sages we are to interpret as spoken concerning Fortune or Fate, of the casuality of both which no account can be given by us, nor do their effects fall under our power. But where anything is said of Jupiter that is suitable, rational, and probable, there we are to conceive that the names of that G.o.d is used properly. As in these instances:--

Through others' ranks he conquering did range, But shunned with Ajax any blows t' exchange;

But Jove's displeasure on him he had brought, Had he with one so much his better fought.

("Iliad," xi. 540.)

For though great matters are Jove's special care, Small things t' inferior daemons trusted are.

And other words there are which the poets remove and translate from their proper sense by accommodation to various things, which deserve also our serious notice. Such a one, for instance, is [Greek omitted], VIRTUE. For because virtue does not only render men prudent, just, and good, both in their words and deeds, but also oftentimes purchaseth to them honor and power, therefore they call likewise these by that name. So we are wont to call both the olive-tree and the fruit [Greek omitted], and the oak-tree and its acorn [Greek omitted] communicating the name of the one to the other. Therefore, when our young man reads in the poets such pa.s.sages as these,--

This law th' immortal G.o.ds to us have set, That none arrive at virtue but by sweat; (Hesiod, "Works and Days," 289.)

The adverse troops then did the Grecians stout By their mere virtue profligate and rout; ("Iliad," xi. 90.)

If now the Fates determined have our death, To virtue we'll consign our parting breath;--

let him presently conceive that these things are spoken of that most excellent and divine habit in us which we understand to be no other than right reason, or the highest attainment of the reasonable nature, and most agreeable to the const.i.tution thereof. And again, when he reads this,

Of virtue Jupiter to one gives more, And lessens, when he lifts, another's store;

and this,

Virtue and honor upon wealth attend; (Ibid. xx. 242; Hesiod "Works and Days," 313.)

let him not sit down in an astonishing admiration of rich men, as if they were enabled by their wealth to purchase virtue, nor let him imagine that it is in the power of Fortune to increase or lessen his own wisdom; but let him conceive that the poet by virtue meant either glory or power or prosperity or something of like import. For poets use the same ambiguity also in the word [Greek omitted], EVIL, which sometimes in them properly signifies a wicked and malicious disposition of mind, as in that of Hesiod,