---
title: "Table-Talk · Quaestiones convivales"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "Thomas Creech, rev. William W. Goodwin"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 16 of 20
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-table-talk/16/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. Thomas Creech, rev. William W. Goodwin, Table-Talk · Quaestiones convivales, section 16. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-table-talk/16/"
---

# Table-Talk · Quaestiones convivales

*Plutarch, tr. Thomas Creech, rev. William W. Goodwin*

Nine books of dinner conversations: why we hunger more in autumn, which came first, the hen or the egg, and many more.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg112, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Thomas Creech, rev. William W. Goodwin, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg112.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 16. Book VIII · chapters 1–4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-table-talk/16/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-table-talk/16/#p-N

[¶0] 0.1. THOSE, my Sossius Senecio, who throw philosophy out of entertainments do worse than those who take away a light. For the candle being removed, the temperate and sober guests will not become worse than they were before, being more concerned to reverence than to see one another. But if dulness and disregard to good learning wait upon the wine, Minerva’s golden lamp itself could not make the entertainment pleasing and agreeable. For a company to sit silent and only cram themselves is, in good truth, swinish and almost impossible. But he that permits men to talk, yet doth not allow set and profitable discourses, is much more ridiculous than he who thinks that his guests should eat and drink, yet gives them foul wine, unsavory and nastily prepared meat. For no meat nor drink which is not prepared as it ought to be is so hurtful and unpleasant as discourse which is carried round in company insignificantly and out of season. The philosophers, when they would give drunkenness a vile name, call it doting by wine. Now doting is to use vain and trifling discourse; and when such babbling is accompanied by wine, it usually ends in most disagreeable and rude contumely and reproach. It is a good custom therefore of our women, who in their feasts called Agrionia seek after Bacchus as if he were run away, but in a little time give over the search, and cry that he is fled to the Muses and lurks with them; and some time after, when supper is done, put riddles and hard questions to one another. For this mystery teaches us, that midst our entertainments we should use learned and philosophical discourse, and such as hath a Muse in it; and that such discourse being applied to drunkenness, every thing that is brutish and outrageous in it is concealed, being pleasingly restrained by the Muses. This book, being the eighth of my Symposiacs, begins that discourse in which about a year ago, on Plato’s birthday, I was concerned.

> Greek: 0.1. οἱ φιλοσοφίαν, ὦ Σόσσιε Σενεκίων, ἐκ τῶν συμποσίων ἐκβάλλοντες οὐ ταὐτὸ ποιοῦσι τοῖς τὸ φῶς ἀναιροῦσιν, ἀλλὰ χεῖρον, ὅσῳ λύχνου μὲν ἀρθέντος οἱ μέτριοι καὶ σώφρονες οὐδὲν ἔσονται κακίους, τὸ αἰδεῖσθαι τοῦ βλέπειν ἀλλήλους μεῖζον ἔχοντες· ἀμαθίας δὲ δὴ καὶ ἀμουσίας σὺν οἴνῳ παρούσης, οὐδʼ ὁ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς χρυσοῦς λύχνος ἐκεῖνος εὔχαριν ἂν πότον καὶ κόσμιον παράσχοι. σιωπῶντας μὲν γὰρ ἐμπίπλασθαι μετʼ ἀλλήλων κομιδῇ συῶδες καὶ ἴσως ἀδύνατον· ὁ δὲ λόγον μὲν ἀπολιπὼν ἐν συμποσίῳ, τὸ δὲ τεταγμένως χρῆσθαι λόγῳ καὶ ὠφελίμως οὐ προσιέμενος, πολὺ γελοιότερός ἐστι τοῦ πίνειν μὲν οἰομένου δεῖν καὶ τρώγειν τοὺς δειπνοῦντας, ἄκρατον δὲ τὸν οἶνον αὐτοῖς ἐγχέοντος καὶ τοὔψον ἀνήδυντον καὶ ἀκάθαρτον παρατιθέντος. οὔτε γὰρ ποτὸν οὐδὲν οὔτʼ ἐδεστὸν οὕτως ἀηδὲς καὶ βλαβερόν ἐστι μὴ θεραπευθὲν ὃν προσήκει τρόπον, ὡς λόγος ἀκαίρως καὶ ἀνοήτως ἐν συμποσίῳ περιφερόμενος. τὴν γοῦν μέθην οἱ λοιδοροῦντες φιλόσοφοι λήρησιν πάροινον ἀποκαλοῦσι· τὸ δὲ ληρεῖν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀλλʼ ἢ λόγῳ κενῷ χρῆσθαι καὶ φλυαρώδει· λαλιᾶς δʼ ἀτάκτου καὶ φλυαρίας εἰς ἄκρατον ἐμπεσούσης, ὕβρις καὶ παροινία τέλος ἀμουσότατον καὶ ἀχαριστότατον. οὐ φαύλως οὖν καὶ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐν τοῖς Ἀγριωνίοις τὸν Διόνυσον αἱ γυναῖκες ὡς ἀποδεδρακότα ζητοῦσιν εἶτα παύονται καὶ λέγουσιν, ὅτι πρὸς τὰς Μούσας καταπέφευγε καὶ κέκρυπται παρʼ ἐκείναις· μετʼ ὀλίγον δέ, τοῦ δείπνου τέλος ἔχοντος, αἰνίγματα καὶ γρίφους ἀλλήλοις προβάλλουσι· τοῦ μυστηρίου διδάσκοντος, ὅτι λόγῳ τε δεῖ χρῆσθαι παρὰ πότον θεωρίαν τινὰ καὶ μοῦσαν ἔχοντι, καὶ λόγου τοιούτου τῇ μέθῃ παρόντος, ἀποκρύπτεται τὸ ἄγριον καὶ μανικόν, ὑπὸ τῶν Μουσῶν εὐμενῶς κατεχόμενον. ἃ τοίνυν ἐν τοῖς Πλάτωνος γενεθλίοις πέρυσι καὶ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν συνέτυχεν ἡμῖν, πρῶτα τοῦτο περιέχει τὸ βιβλίον. ἔστι δὲ τῶν συμποσιακῶν ὄγδοον.

[¶1] 1.1. ON the sixth day of May we celebrated Socrates’s birthday, and on the seventh Plato’s; and that first prompted us to such discourse as was suitable to the meeting, which Diogenianus the Pergamenian began thus: Ion, said he, was happy in his expression, when he said that Fortune, though much unlike Wisdom, yet did many things very much like her; and that she seemed to have some order and design, not only in placing the nativities of these two philosophers so near together, but in setting first the birthday of the most famous of the two, who was also the teacher of the other. I had a great deal to say to the company concerning some notable things that fell out on the same day, as concerning the time of Euripides’s birth and death; for he was born the same day that the Greeks beat Xerxes by sea at Salamis, and died the same day that Dionysius the elder, the Sicilian tyrant, was born,—Fortune (as Timaeus hath it) at the same time taking out of the world a representer, and bringing into it a real actor, of tragedies. Besides, we remembered that Alexander the king and Diogenes the Cynic died upon the same day. And all agreed that Attalus the king died on his own birthday. And some said, that Pompey the great was killed in Egypt on his birthday, or, as others will have it, a day before. We remember Pindar also, who, being born at the time of the Pythian games, made afterwards a great many excellent hymns in honor of Apollo.

> Greek: 1.1. τῇ ἕκτῃ τοῦ Θαργηλιῶνος ἱσταμένου τὴν Σωκράτους ἀγαγόντες γενέθλιον, τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τὴν Πλάτωνος ἢγομεν, καὶ τοῦτο πρῶτον λόγους ἡμῖν παρεῖχε τῇ συντυχίᾳ πρέποντας, ὧν κατῆρξε Διογενιανὸς ὁ Περγαμηνός. ἔφη γὰρ οὐ φαύλως εἰπεῖν Ἴωνα περὶ τῆς τύχης ὅτι πολλὰ τῆς σοφίας διαφέρουσα πλεῖστʼ αὐτῇ ὅμοια ποιεῖ τοῦτο μέντοι μουσικῶς ἔοικεν ἀπαυτοματίσαι τὸ μὴ μόνον οὕτω σύνεγγυς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρότερον τῇ δόξῃ γεγονέναι τὸν πρεσβύτερον καὶ καθηγητήν. ἐμοὶ δὲ πολλὰ λέγειν ἐπῄει τοῖς παροῦσι τῶν εἰς ταὐτὸ καιροῦ συνδραμόντων· οἷον ἦν τὸ περὶ τῆς Εὐριπίδου γενέσεως καὶ τελευτῆς, γενομένου μὲν ἡμέρᾳ καθʼ ἣν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐναυμάχουν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι πρὸς τὸν Μῆδον, ἀποθανόντος δὲ καθʼ ἣν ἐγεννήθη Διονύσιος ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ τυράννων· ἅμα τῆς τύχης, ὡς Τίμαιος ἔφη, τὸν μιμητὴν ἐξαγούσης τῶν τραγικῶν παθῶν καὶ τὸν ἀγωνιστὴν ἐπεισαγούσης ἐμνήσθησαν δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ βασιλέως τελευτῆς καὶ τῆς Διογένους τοῦ Κυνὸς ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ γενομένης. καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἄτταλον·ν ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ γενεθλίοις τὸν βασιλέα τελευτῆσαι συνεφωνεῖτο· Πομπήιον δὲ Μάγνον οἱ μὲν ἐν τοῖς γενεθλίοις ἔφασαν, οἱ δὲ πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας τῶν γενεθλίων ἀποθανεῖν περὶ Αἴγυπτον. ἧκε δὲ καὶ Πίνδαρος ἐπὶ μνήμην ἐν Πυθίοις γενόμενος πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ὕμνων τῷ θεῷ χορηγός.

[¶2] 1.2. To this Florus subjoined: Now we are celebrating Plato’s nativity, why should we not mention Carneades, the most famous of the whole Academy, since both of them were born on Apollo’s feast; Plato, whilst they were celebrating the Thargelia at Athens, Carneades, whilst the Cyrenians kept their Carnea; and both these feasts are upon the same day. Nay, the God himself (he continued) you, his priests and prophets, call Hebdomagenes, as if he were born on the seventh day. And therefore those who make Apollo Plato’s father do not, in my opinion, dishonor the God; since by Socrates’s as by another Chiron’s instructions he is become a physician for the greater diseases of the mind. And together with this, he mentioned that vision and voice which forbade Aristo, Plato’s father, to come near or lie with his wife for ten months.

> Greek: 1.2. ὁ δὲ Φλῶρος οὐδὲ Καρνεάδην ἀπαξιοῦν ἔφη μνήμης· ἐν τοῖς Πλάτωνος γενεθλίοις, ἄνδρα τῆς Ἀκαδημείας εὐκλεέστατον ὀργιαστὴν Ἀπόλλωνος γὰρ ἀμφοτέρους ἑορτῇ γενέσθαι, τὸν μὲν Θαργηλίοις Ἀθήνησι, τὸν δὲ Κάρνεια Κυρηναίων ἀγόντων· ἑβδόμῃ δʼ ἀμφοτέρας ἑορτάζουσι. καὶ τὸν θεόν, ὡς ταύτῃ γενόμενον, ὑμεῖς εἶπεν οἱ προφῆται καὶ ἱερεῖς Ἑβδομαγενῆ καλεῖτε. διὸ τοὺς Ἀπόλλωνι τὴν Πλάτωνος τέκνωσιν ἀνατιθέντας οὐκ ἂν οἶμαί τινα φάναι καταισχύνειν τὸν θεόν, ἐπὶ μείζονα πάθη καὶ νοσήματα τοῦτον ἡμῖν διὰ Σωκράτους ἰατρὸν ὥσπερ ἑτέρου Χείρωνος ἀπειργασμένον. ἅμα δὲ τῆς λεγομένης Ἀρίστωνι τῷ Πλάτωνος πατρὶ γενέσθαι καθʼ ὕπνον ὄψεως καὶ φωνῆς ἀπαγορευούσης μὴ συγγενέσθαι τῇ γυναικὶ μηδʼ ἅψασθαι δέκα μηνῶν ἐμνημόνευσεν.

[¶3] 1.3. To this Tyndares the Spartan subjoined: It is very fit we should apply that to Plato, “He seemed not sprung from mortal man, but God.” But, for my part, I am afraid to beget, as well as to be begotten, is repugnant to the incorruptibility of the Deity. For that implies a change and passion; as Alexander imagined, when he said that he knew himself to be mortal as often as he lay with a woman or slept. For sleep is a relaxation of the body, occasioned by the weakness of our nature; and all generation is a corruptive parting with some of our own substance. But yet I take heart again, when I hear Plato call the eternal and unbegotten Deity the father and maker of the world and all other begotten things; not as if he parted with any seed, but as if by his power he implanted a generative principle in matter, which acts upon, forms, and fashions it. Winds passing through a hen will sometimes impregnate her; and it seems no incredible thing, that the Deity, though not after the fashion of a man, but by some other certain communication, fills a mortal creature with some divine conception. Nor is this my sense; but the Egyptians say Apis was conceived by the influence of the moon, and make no question but that an immortal God may have communication with a mortal woman. But on the contrary, they think that no mortal can beget any thing on a goddess, because they believe the goddesses are made of thin air, and subtle heat and moisture.

> Greek: 1.3. ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Τυνδάρης ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἄξιον μέν ἐστιν ἔφη περὶ Πλάτωνος ᾄδειν καὶ λέγειν τὸ
οὐδὲ ἐῴκει
ἀνδρός γε θνητοῦ πάις ἔμμεναι ἀλλὰ θεοῖο·
τοῦ γὰρ θείου δέδια μὴ δόξῃ τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ μάχεσθαι τὸ γεννῶν οὐχ ἧττον ἢ τὸ γεννώμενον· μεταβολὴ γάρ τις καὶ αὐτὴ καὶ πάθος· ὥς που καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὑπενόησεν, εἰπὼν μάλιστα θνητὸν καὶ φθαρτὸν ἐπιγιγνώσκειν ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῷ συγγίγνεσθαι γυναικὶ καὶ καθεύδειν ὡς τὸν μὲν ὕπνον ἐνδόσει γιγνόμενον ὑπʼ ἀσθενείας, γένεσιν δὲ πᾶσαν οἰκείου τινὸς εἰς ἕτερον ἔκστασιν καὶ φθορὰν οὖσαν. ἀναθαρρῶ δὲ πάλιν αὐτοῦ Πλάτωνος ἀκούων πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τοῦ τε κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων γεννητῶν τὸν ἀγέννητον καὶ ἀίδιον θεὸν ὀνομάζοντος, οὐ διὰ σπέρματος δήπου γενομένων, ἄλλῃ δὲ δυνάμει τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ ὕλῃ γόνιμον ἀρχήν, ὑφʼ ἧς ἔπαθε καὶ μετέβαλεν, ἐντεκόντος
λήθουσι γάρ τοι κἀνέμων διέξοδοι
θήλειαν ὄρνιν, πλὴν ὅταν παρῇ τόκος.
καὶ οὐδὲν οἴομαι δεινόν, εἰ μὴ πλησιάζων ὁ θεὸς ὥσπερ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλʼ ἑτέραις τισὶν ἁφαῖς διʼ ἑτέρων καὶ ψαύσεσι τρέπει καὶ ὑποπίμπλησι θειοτέρας γονῆς τὸ θνητόν. κοὐκ ἐμὸς ὁ μῦθος εἶπεν ἀλλʼ Αἰγύπτιοι τὸν τʼ Ἆπιν οὕτω λοχεύεσθαί φασιν ἐπαφῇ τῆς σελήνης· καὶ ὅλως ἄρρενι θεῷ πρὸς γυναῖκα θνητὴν ἀπολείπουσιν ὁμιλίαν ἀνάπαλιν δʼ οὐκ ἂν οἴονται θνητὸν ἄνδρα θηλείᾳ θεῷ τόκου καὶ κυήσεως ἀρχὴν παρασχεῖν διὰ τὸ τὰς οὐσίας τῶν θεῶν ἐν ἀέρι καὶ πνεύμασι καί τισι θερμότησι καὶ ὑγρότησι τίθεσθαι.

[¶4] 2.1. SILENCE following this discourse, Diogenianus began and said: Since our discourse is about the Gods, shall we, especially on his own birthday, admit Plato to the conference, and enquire upon what account he says (supposing it to be his sentence) that God always plays the geometer? I said that this sentence was not plainly set down in any of his books; yet there are good arguments that it is his, and it is very much like his expression. Tyndares presently subjoining said: Perhaps, Diogenianus, you imagine that this sentence intimates some curious and difficult speculation, and not that which he hath so often mentioned, when he praiseth geometry as a science that takes off men from sensible objects, and makes them apply themselves to the intelligible and eternal Nature, the contemplation of which is the end of philosophy, as a view of the mysteries of initiation into holy rites. For the nail of pain and pleasure, that fastens the soul to the body, seems to do us the greatest mischief, by making sensible things more powerful over us than intelligible, and by forcing the understanding to determine rather according to passion than reason. For the understanding, being accustomed by the vehemency of pain or pleasure to be intent on the mutable and uncertain body, as if it really and truly were, grows blind as to that which really is, and loses that instrument and light of the soul, which is worth a thousand bodies, and by which alone the Deity can be discovered. Now in all sciences, as in plain and smooth mirrors, some marks and images of the truth of intelligible objects appear, but in geometry chiefly; which, according to Philo, is the chief and principal of all, and doth bring back and turn the understanding, as it were, purged and gently loosened from sense. And therefore Plato himself dislikes Eudoxus, Archytas, and Menaechmus for endeavoring to bring down the doubling the cube to mechanical operations; for by this means all that was good in geometry would be lost and corrupted, it falling back again to sensible things, and not rising upward and considering immaterial and immortal images, in which God being versed is always God.

> Greek: 2.1. ἐκ δὲ τούτου γενομένης σιωπῆς, πάλιν ὁ Διογενιανὸς ἀρξάμενος βούλεσθʼ εἶπεν, ἐπεὶ λόγοι περὶ θεῶν γεγόνασιν, ἐν τοῖς Πλάτωνος γενεθλίοις αὐτὸν Πλάτωνα κοινωνὸν παραλάβωμεν, ἐπισκεψάμενοι τίνα λαβὼν γνώμην ἀπεφήνατʼ ἀεὶ γεωμετρεῖν τὸν θεόν; εἴ γε δὴ θετέον εἶναι τὴν ἀπόφανσιν ταύτην Πλάτωνος. ἐμοῦ δὲ ταῦτʼ εἰπόντος ὡς γέγραπται μὲν ἐν οὐδενὶ σαφῶς τῶν ἐκείνου βιβλίων, ἔχει δὲ πίστιν ἱκανὴν καὶ τοῦ Πλατωνικοῦ χαρακτῆρὸς ἐστιν· εὐθὺς ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Τυνδάρης οἴει γάρ εἶπεν, ὦ Διογενιανέ, τῶν περιττῶν τι καὶ δυσθεωρήτων αἰνίττεσθαι τὸν λόγον, οὐχ ὅπερ αὐτὸς εἴρηκε καὶ γέγραφε πολλάκις, ὑμνῶν γεωμετρίαν, ὡς ἀποσπῶσαν ἡμᾶς προσισχομένους τῇ αἰσθήσει καὶ ἀποστρέφουσαν ἐπὶ τὴν νοητὴν καὶ ἀίδιον φύσιν, ἧς θέα τέλος ἐστὶ φιλοσοφίας οἷον ἐποπτεία τελετῆς; ὁ γὰρ ἡδονῆς καὶ ἀλγηδόνος ἧλος, ὃς πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τὴν ψυχὴν προσηλοῖ, μέγιστον κακὸν ἔχειν ἔοικε, τὸ τὰ αἰσθητὰ ποιεῖν ἐναργέστερα τῶν νοητῶν, καὶ καταβιάζεσθαι πάθει μᾶλλον ἢ λόγῳ κρίνειν τὴν διάνοιαν· ἐθιζομένη γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ σφόδρα πονεῖν καὶ ἥδεσθαι τῷ περὶ τὰ σώματα πλανητῷ καὶ μεταβλητῷ προσέχειν ὡς ὄντι τοῦ ἀληθῶς ὄντος τυφλοῦται, καὶ τὸ μυρίων ἀντάξιον ὀμμάτων ὄργανον ψυχῆς καὶ φέγγος ἀπόλλυσιν, ᾧ μόνῳ θεατὸν ἐστι τὸ θεῖον. πᾶσι μὲν οὖν τοῖς καλουμένοις μαθήμασιν, ὥσπερ ἀστραβέσι καὶ λείοις κατόπτροις, ἐμφαίνεται τῆς τῶν νοητῶν ἀληθείας ἴχνη καὶ εἴδωλα· μάλιστα δὲ γεωμετρία κατὰ τὸν Φίλωνα ἀρχὴ καὶ μητρόπολις οὖσα τῶν ἄλλων ἐπανάγει καὶ στρέφει τὴν διάνοιαν, οἷον ἐκκαθαιρομένην καὶ ἀπολυομένην ἀτρέμα τῆς,· αἰσθήσεως. διὸ καὶ Πλάτων αὐτὸς ἐμέμψατο τοὺς περὶ Εὔδοξον καὶ Ἀρχύταν καὶ Μέναιχμον εἰς ὀργανικὰς καὶ μηχανικὰς κατασκευὰς τὸν τοῦ στερεοῦ διπλασιασμὸν ἀπάγειν ἐπιχειροῦντας, ὥσπερ πειρωμένους διʼ ἀλόγου δύο μέσας ἀνάλογον, ᾗ παρείκοι, λαβεῖν· ἀπόλλυσθαι γὰρ οὕτω καὶ διαφθείρεσθαι τὸ γεωμετρίας ἀγαθὸν αὖθις ἐπὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ παλινδρομούσης καὶ μὴ φερομένης ἄνω μηδʼ ἀντιλαμβανομένης τῶν ἀιδίων καὶ ἀσωμάτων εἰκόνων, πρὸς αἷσπερ ὢν ὁ θεὸς ἀεὶ θεός ἐστι.

[¶5] 2.2. After Tyndares, Florus, a companion of his, who always jocosely pretended to be his admirer, said thus: Sir, we are obliged to you for making your discourse not proper to yourself, but common to us all; for you have made it possible to refute it by demonstrating that geometry is not necessary to the Gods, but to us. Now the Deity doth not stand in need of science, as an instrument to withdraw his intellect from things engendered and to turn it to the real things; for these are all in him, with him, and about him. But pray consider whether Plato, though you do not apprehend it, doth not intimate something that is proper and peculiar to you, mixing Lycurgus with Socrates, as much as Dicaearchus thought he did Pythagoras. For Lycurgus, I suppose you know, banished out of Sparta all arithmetical proportion, as being democratical and favoring the crowd; -but introduced the geometrical, as agreeable to an oligarchy and kingly government that rules by law; for the former gives an equal share to every one according to number, but the other gives according to the proportion of the deserts. It doth not huddle all things together, but in it there is a fair discretion of good and bad, every one having what is fit for him, not by lot or weight, but according as he is virtuous or vicious. The same proportion, my dear Tyndares, God introduceth, which is called δίκη and νέμεσις, and which teacheth us to account that which is just equal, and not that which is equal just. For that equality which many affect, being often the greatest injustice, God, as much as possible, takes away; and useth that proportion which respects every man’s deserts, geometrically defining it according to law and reason.

> Greek: 2.2. μετὰ δὲ τὸν Τυνδάρην ὁ Φλῶρος, ἑταῖρος ὢν αὐτοῦ καὶ προσποιούμενος ἀεὶ μετὰ παιδιᾶς ἐραστὴς εἶναι καὶ φάσκων, ὤνησας ἔφη τὸν λόγον οὐ σεαυτοῦ ποιησάμενος ἀλλὰ κοινόν ἐλέγξαι γὰρ ἔδωκας αὐτὸν ἀποδεικνύοντι μὴ θεοῖς οὖσαν ἀλλʼ ἡμῖν ἀναγκαίαν τὴν γεωμετρίαν οὐ γάρ τί που καὶ θεὸς δεῖται μαθήματος οἷον ὀργάνου στρέφοντος ἀπὸ τῶν γενητῶν καὶ περιάγοντος ἐπὶ τὰ ὄντα τὴν διάνοιαν ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐκεῖνα καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ καὶ περὶ αὐτόν. ἀλλʼ ὅρα μή τι σοι προσῆκον ὁ Πλάτων καὶ οἰκεῖον αἰνιττόμενος λέληθεν, ἅτε δὴ τῷ Σωκράτει τὸν Λυκοῦργον ἀναμιγνὺς οὐχ ἧττον ἢ τὸν Πυθαγόραν, ὡς ᾤετο Δικαίαρχος. ὁ γὰρ Λυκοῦργος οἶσθα δήπουθεν ὅτι τὴν ἀριθμητικὴν ἀναλογίαν, ὡς δημοκρατικὴν καὶ ὀχλικὴν οὖσαν, ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος· ἐπεισήγαγε δὲ τὴν γεωμετρικήν, ὀλιγαρχίᾳ σώφρονι καὶ βασιλείᾳ νομίμῃ πρέπουσαν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀριθμῷ τὸ ἴσον ἡ δὲ λόγῳ τὸ κατʼ. ἀξίαν ἀπονέμει· καὶ οὐ πάνθʼ ὁμοῦ μίγνυσιν, ἀλλʼ ἔστι χρηστῶν καὶ πονηρῶν εὔσημος ἐν αὐτῇ διάκρισις, οὐ ζυγοῖς οὐδὲ κλήροις ἀρετῆς; δὲ καὶ κακίας διαφορᾷ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἀεὶ διαλαγχανόντων. ταύτην ὁ θεὸς ἐπάγει τὴν ἀναλογίαν τοῖς πράγμασι, δίκην καὶ νέμεσιν, ὦ φίλε Τυνδάρη, προσαγορευομένην καὶ διδάσκουσαν ἡμᾶς τὸ δίκαιον ἴσον, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸ ἴσον δεῖν ποιεῖσθαι δίκαιον ἣν γὰρ οἱ πολλοὶ διώκουσιν ἰσότητα, πασῶν ἀδικιῶν οὖσαν μεγίστην, ὁ θεὸς ἐξαιρῶν, ὡς ἀνυστόν ἐστι, τὸ κατʼ ἀξίαν διαφυλάττει, γεωμετρικῶς τῷ κατὰ λόγον καὶ κατὰ νόμον ὁριζόμενος.

[¶6] 2.3. This exposition we applauded; and Tyndares, saying he envied him, desired Autobulus to engage Florus and confute his discourse. That he refused to do, but produced another opinion of his own. Geometry, said he, considers nothing else but the accidents and properties of the extremities or limits of bodies; neither did God make the world any other way than by terminating matter, which was infinite before. Not that matter was really infinite as to either magnitude or multitude; but the ancients used to call that infinite which by reason of its confusion and disorder is undetermined and unconfined. Now the terms of every thing that is formed or figured are the form and figure of that thing, without which the thing would be formless and unfigured. Now numbers and proportions being applied to matter, it is circumscribed and as it were bound up by lines, and through lines by surfaces and profundities; and so were settled the first species and differences of bodies, as foundations from which to raise the four elements, fire, air, water, and earth. For it was impossible that, out of an unsteady and confused matter, the equality of the sides, the likeness of the angles, and the exact proportion of octahedrons, icosahedrons, pyramids, and cubes should be deduced, unless by some power that terminated and shaped every particle of matter. Therefore, terms being fixed to that which was undetermined or infinite before, the whole became and still continues agreeable in all parts, and excellently terminated and mixed; the matter indeed always affecting an indeterminate state, and flying all geometrical confinement, but proportion terminating and circumscribing it, and dividing it into several differences and forms, out of which all things that arise are generated and subsist.

> Greek: 2.3. ταῦθʼ ἡμεῖς ἐπῃνοῦμεν. ὁ δὲ Τυνδάρης φθονεῖν ἔφασκε καὶ παρεκάλει τὸν Αὐτόβουλον ἅψασθαι Φλώρου καὶ κολάσαι τὸν λόγον. ὁ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ἀπεῖπεν, ἰδίαν δέ τινα δόξαν ἀντιπαρήγαγεν. ἔφη γὰρ οὔτε τὴν, γεωμετρίαν ἄλλου τινὸς ἢ τῶν περὶ τὰ πέρατα συμπτωμάτων καὶ παθῶν εἶναι θεωρητικήν, οὔτε τὸν θεὸν ἑτέρῳ τινὶ τρόπῳ κοσμοποιεῖν ἢ περατοῦντα τὴν ὕλην ἄπειρον οὖσαν, οὐ μεγέθει καὶ πλήθει, διὰ δʼ ἀταξίαν καὶ πλημμέλειαν αὐτῆς τὸ ἀόριστον καὶ ἀπεράτωτον ἄπειρον εἰωθότων καλεῖν τῶν παλαιῶν. καὶ γὰρ ἡ μορφὴ καὶ τὸ σχῆμα πέρας ἐστὶ τοῦ μεμορφωμένου καὶ ἐσχηματισμένου παντός, ὧν στερήσει καθʼ αὑτὴν ἄμορφος ἦν καὶ ἀσχημάτιστος· ἀριθμῶν δὲ καὶ λόγων ἐγγενομένων, οἷον δεθεῖσα καὶ περιληφθεῖσα γραμμαῖς, ἐκ δὲ τῶν γραμμῶν ἐπιπέδοις καὶ βάθεσιν, εἴδη τὰ πρῶτα καὶ διαφορὰς σωμάτων ὥσπερ θεμελίων παρέσχε πρὸς γένεσιν ἀέρος καὶ γῆς ὕδατὸς τε καὶ πυρός. ὀκταέδρων γὰρ καὶ εἰκοσαέδρων, ἔτι δὲ πυραμίδων καὶ κύβων ἰσότητας ἐν πλευραῖς καὶ ὁμοιότητας ἐν γωνίαις καὶ ἁρμονίας ἀνασχεῖν ἐξ ὕλης ἀτάκτου καὶ πλανητῆς ἄνευ τοῦ περιορίζοντος καὶ διαρθροῦντος ἕκαστα γεωμετρικῶς ἄπορον ἦν καὶ ἀδύνατον. ὅθεν, ἀπείρῳ πέρατος ἐγγενομένου, τὸ πᾶν ἡρμοσμένον καὶ κεκραμένον ἄριστα καὶ πεπερασμένον γέγονέ τε καὶ γίγνεται, τῆς μὲν ὕλης ἀεὶ βιαζομένης εἰς τὸ ἀόριστον ἀναδῦναι καὶ φευγούσης τὸ γεωμετρεῖσθαι, τοῦ δὲ λόγου καταλαμβάνοντος αὐτὴν καὶ περιγράφοντος καὶ διανέμοντος εἰς ἰδέας καὶ διαφοράς, ἐξ ὧν τὰ φυόμενα πάντα τὴν γένεσιν ἔσχε καὶ σύστασιν.

[¶7] 2.4. When he had said this, he desired me to contribute something to the discourse; and I applauded their conceits as their own devices, and very probable. But lest you despise yourselves (I continued) and altogether look for some external explication, attend to an exposition upon this sentence, which your masters very much approve. Amongst the most geometrical theorems, or rather problems, this is one: Two figures being given, to construct a third, which shall be equal to one and similar to the other. And it is reported that Pythagoras, upon the discovery of this problem, offered a sacrifice to the Gods; for this is a much more exquisite theorem than that which lays down, that the square of the hypothenuse in a right-angled triangle is equal to the squares of the two sides. Right, said Diogenianus, but what is this to the present question? You will easily understand, I replied, if you call to mind how Timaeus divides that which gave the world its beginning into three parts. One of which is justly called God, the other matter, and the third form. That which is called matter is the most confused subject, the form the most beautiful pattern, and God the best of causes. Now this cause, as far as possible, would leave nothing infinite and indeterminate, but adorn Nature with number, measure, and proportion, making one thing of all the subjects together, equal to the matter, and similar to the form. Therefore proposing to himself this problem, he made and still makes a third, and always preserves it equal to the matter, and like the form; and that is the world. And this world, being in continual changes and alterations because of the natural necessity of body, is helped and preserved by the father and maker of all things, who by proportion terminates the substance according to the pattern. Wherefore in its measure and circuit this universal world is more beautiful than that which is merely similar to it....

> Greek: 2.4. ἐπὶ τούτοις ῥηθεῖσιν ἠξίουν κἀμὲ συμβαλέσθαι τι πρὸς τὸν λόγον αὐτοῖς. ἐγὼ δὲ τὰς μὲν εἰρημένας δόξας ὡς ἰθαγενεῖς καὶ ἰδίας αὐτῶν ἐκείνων ἐπῄνεσα καὶ τὸ εἰκὸς ἔφην ἔχειν ἱκανῶς· ὅπως δʼ εἶπον ἑαυτῶν μὴ καταφρονῆτε μηδʼ ἔξω βλέπητε παντάπασιν, ἀκούσατε τὸν μάλιστα παρὰ τοῖς καθηγηταῖς ἡμῶν εὐδοκιμοῦντα περὶ τούτου λόγον. ἔστι γὰρ ἐν τοῖς γεωμετρικωτάτοις θεωρήμασι, μᾶλλον δὲ προβλήμασι, τὸ δυεῖν εἰδῶν δοθέντων ἄλλο τοίἰον τρίτον παραβάλλειν τῷ μὲν ἴσον τῷ δʼ ὅμοιον· ἐφʼ ᾧ καί φασιν ἐξευρεθέντι θῦσαι τὸν Πυθαγόραν. πολὺ γὰρ ἀμέλει γλαφυρώτερον τοῦτο καὶ μουσικώτερον ἐκείνου τοῦ θεωρήματος, ὃ τὴν ὑποτείνουσαν ἀπέδειξε ταῖς περὶ τὴν ὀρθὴν ἴσον δυναμένην.εὖ λέγεις εἶπεν ὁ Διογενιανὸς ἀλλὰ τί τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν λόγον;εἴσεσθε ῥᾳδίως εἶπον ἀναμνήσαντες αὑτοὺς τῆς ἐν Τιμαίῳ διαιρέσεως, διεῖλε τριχῇ τὰ πρῶτα, ὑφʼ ὧν τὴν γένεσιν ὁ κόσμος ἔσχεν, ὧν τὸ μὲν θεὸν τῷ δικαιοτάτῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων τὸ δʼ ὕλην τὸ δʼ ἰδέαν καλοῦμεν. ἡ μὲν οὖν ὕλη τῶν ὑποκειμένων ἀτακτότατόν ἐστιν, ἡ δʼ ἰδέα τῶν παραδειγμάτων κάλλιστον, ὁ δὲ θεὸς τῶν αἰτίων ἄριστον. ἐβούλετʼ οὖν μηθέν, ὡς ἀνυστὸν ἦν, ὑπολιπεῖν ὁριστὸν ἀόριστον, ἀλλὰ κοσμῆσαι λόγῳ καὶ ἀριθμῷ τὴν φύσιν· ἕν τι ποιῶν ἐκ πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ὑποκειμένων, οἷον ἡ ἰδέα καὶ ὅσον ἡ ὕλη γενόμενον. διὸ τοῦτο πρόβλημα δοὺς αὑτῷ, δυεῖν ὄντων, τρίτον ἐποίησε καὶ ποιεῖ καὶ φυλάττει διὰ παντὸς τὸ ἴσον τῇ ὕλῃ καὶ ὅμοιον τῇ ἰδέᾳ τὸν κόσμον· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὢν διὰ τὴν σύμφυτον ἀνάγκην τοῦ σώματος ἐν γενέσει καὶ μετατροπῇ καὶ πάθεσι παντοδαποῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ δημιουργοῦ βοηθεῖται τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς τὸ παράδειγμα τὴν οὐσίαν ὁρίζοντος· καὶ κάλλιον τοῦ συμμέτρου τὸ περίμετρον τῶν ὄντων.

[¶8] 3.1. WHEN we supped with Ammonius at Athens, who was then the third time captain of the city-bands, there was a great noise about the house, some without doors calling, Captain! Captain! After he had sent his officers to quiet the tumult, and had dispersed the crowd, we began to enquire what was the reason that those that are within doors hear those that are without, but those that are without cannot hear those that are within as well. And Ammonius said, that Aristotle had given a reason for that already; for the sound of those within, being carried without into a large tract of air, grows weaker presently and is lost; but that which comes in from without is not subject to the like casualty, but is kept close, and is therefore more easy to be heard. But that seemed a more difficult question, Why sounds seem greater in the night than in the day, and yet altogether as clear. For my own part (continued he) I think Providence hath very wisely contrived that our hearing should be quickest when our sight can do us very little or no service; for the air of the “blind and solitary Night,” as Empedocles calls it, being dark, supplies in the ears that defect of sense which it makes in the eyes. But since of natural effects we should endeavor to find the causes, and to discover what are the material and mechanical principles of things is the proper task of a natural philosopher, who shall first assist us with a rational account hereof?

> Greek: 3.1. θόρυβός τις, ἑστιωμένων ἡμῶν Ἀθήνησι παρʼ Ἀμμωνίῳ, τὴν οἰκίαν περιήχησεν, ἔξωθεν ἐπιβοωμένων τὸν στρατηγόν· ἐστρατήγει δὲ τὸ τρίτον ὁ Ἀμμώνιος. ἐπεὶ δὲ πέμψας τῶν περὶ αὑτόν τινας ἔπαυσε τὴν ταραχήν, καὶ παρέπεμψαν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἐζητοῦμεν ἡμεῖς, διὰ τί τῶν ἔξωθεν βοώντων συνεξακούουσιν οἱ ἐντός, οἱ δʼ ἔξω τῶν ἐντὸς οὐχ ὁμοίως. καὶ ὁ Ἀμμώνιος ἔφη τοῦτο μὲν ὑπʼ Ἀριστοτέλους λελύσθαι· τὴν γὰρ φωνὴν τῶν ἔνδον ἔξω φερομένην εἰς ἀέρα πολὺν καὶ ἀναπεπταμένον εὐθὺς ἐξαμαυροῦσθαι καὶ διασπείρεσθαι, τὴν δʼ ἔξωθεν εἴσω κατιοῦσαν οὐδὲν τοιοῦτο πάσχειν ἀλλὰ συνέχεσθαι καὶ διαμένειν εὔσημον· ἐκεῖνο δὲ μᾶλλον λόγου δεῖσθαι, τὸ νυκτὸς ἠχωδεστέρας εἶναι τὰς φωνὰς καὶ πρὸς τῷ μεγέθει τὴν τρανότητα καθαρῶς συνδιαφυλάττειν. ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν εἶπεν οὐ φαύλως ἡ πρόνοια δοκεῖ μεμηχανῆσθαι τῇ ἀκοῇ σαφήνειαν, ὅτε τῆς ὄψεως οὐδὲν ἢ κομιδῇ τι μικρὸν ἔργον ἐστί. σκοτεινὸς γὰρ ὢν ὁ ἀὴρ κατʼ Ἐμπεδοκλέα νυκτὸς ἐρημαίης ἀλαώπιδος, ὅσον τῶν ὀμμάτων ἀφαιρεῖται τοῦ προαισθάνεσθαι, διὰ τῶν ὤτων ἀποδίδωσιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ δεῖ καὶ τὰ διʼ ἀνάγκης φύσει περαινόμενα τῶν αἰτίων ἀνευρίσκειν, καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ φυσικοῦ ἴδιόν ἐστιν, ἡ περὶ τὰς ὑλικὰς καὶ ὀργανικὰς ἀρχὰς πραγματεία· τίς ἂν ἔφη πρῶτος ὑμῶν εὐπορήσειε λόγου τὸ πιθανὸν ἔχοντος;

[¶9] 3.2. Boethus began, and said: When I was a novice in letters, I then made use of geometrical postulates, and assumed as undoubted truths some undemonstrated suppositions; and now I shall make use of some propositions which Epicurus hath demonstrated already. Bodies move in a vacuum, and there are a great many spaces interspersed among the atoms of the air. Now when the air being rarefied is more extended, so as to fill the empty space, there are but few vacuities scattered and interspersed among the particles of matter; but when the atoms of air are condensed and laid close together, they leave a vast empty space, convenient and sufficient for other bodies to pass through. Now the coldness of the night makes such a constipation. Heat opens and separates the parts of condensed bodies. Therefore bodies that boil, grow soft, or melt, require a greater space than before; but on the contrary, the parts of the body that are condensed or freeze are contracted closer to one another, and leave those vessels and places from which they retired partly empty. Now the voice, meeting and striking against a great many bodies in its way, is either altogether lost or scattered, and very much and very frequently hindered in its passage; but when it hath a plain and smooth way through an empty space, and comes to the ear uninterrupted, the passage is so sudden, that it preserves its articulate distinctness, as well as the words it carries. You may observe that empty vessels, when knocked, answer presently, send out a noise to a great distance, and oftentimes the sound whirled round in the hollow breaks out with a considerable force; whilst a vessel that is filled either with a liquid or a solid body will not answer to a stroke, because the sound hath no room or passage to come through. And among solid bodies themselves, gold and stone, because they want pores, can hardly be made to sound; and when a noise is made by a stroke upon them, it is very flat, and presently lost. But brass is sounding, it being a porous, rare, and light metal, not consisting of parts closely compacted, but being mixed with a yielding and uncompacted substance, which gives free passage to other motions, and kindly receiving the sound sends it forward; till some touching the instrument do, as it were, seize on it in the way, and stop the hollow; for then, by reason of the hindering force, it stops and goes no farther. And this, in my opinion, is the reason why the night is more sonorous, and the day less; since in the day, the heat rarefying the air makes the empty spaces between the particles to be very little. But, pray, let none argue against the suppositions I first assumed.

> Greek: 3.2. ἡσυχίας δὲ γενομένης, Βόηθος ἔφη νέος μὲν ὢν ἔτι καὶ σοφιστεύων ἀπὸ γεωμετρίας αἰτήμασι χρῆσθαι καὶ λαμβάνειν ἀναποδείκτους ὑποθέσεις, νυνὶ δὲ χρήσεσθαί τισι τῶν προαποδεδειγμένων ὑπʼ Ἐπικούρου. φέρεται τὰ ὄντα ἐν τῷ μὴ ὄντι·; πολὺ γὰρ κενὸν ἐνδιέσπαρται καὶ μέμικται ταῖς τοῦ ἀέρος ἀτόμοις· ὅταν μὲν οὖν διακεχυμένος καὶ πλάτος ἔχων καὶ περιδρομὴν ὑπὸ μανότητος, μικρὰ καὶ λεπτὰ τὰ μεταξὺ τῶν μορίων κενὰ λείπεται καὶ πολλὴν αἱ ἄτομοι κατεσπαρμέναι χώραν ἐπέχουσιν· ὅταν δὲ συσταλῇ καὶ πίλησις εἰς ὀλίγον αὐτῶν γένηται καὶ συμπέσωσιν ἀποβιασθεῖσαι πρὸς ἀλλήλας, πολλὴν εὐρυχωρίαν ἔξω καὶ διαστάσεις μεγάλας ποιοῦσι· τοῦτο δὲ γίγνεται νυκτὸς ὑπὸ ψυχρότητος· ἡ γὰρ θερμότης χαλᾷ καὶ διίστησι καὶ λύει τὰς πυκνώσεις· διὸ πλείονα τόπον τὰ ζέοντα καὶ μαλασσόμενα καὶ τηκόμενα τῶν σωμάτων ἐπιλαμβάνει· καὶ τοὐναντίον αὖ πάλιν τὰ πηγνύμενα καὶ ψυχόμενα συγχωρεῖ πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ συνάγεται καὶ ἀπολείπει κενότητας ἐν τοῖς περιέχουσιν ἀγγείοις καὶ τόπους, ἐξ ὧν ὑποκεχώρηκεν. ἡ δὲ φωνὴ προσφερομένη καὶ προστυγχάνουσα σώμασι πολλοῖς καὶ ἀθρόοις ἢ τυφλοῦται παντάπασιν, ἢ διασπάσματα λαμβάνει μεγάλα καὶ πολλὰς ἀντικρούσεις καὶ διατριβάς· ἐν δὲ κενῷ καὶ σωμάτων ἐρήμῳ διαστήματι λεῖον δρόμον ἔχουσα καὶ συνεχῆ καὶ ἄπταιστον ἐξικνεῖται πρὸς τὴν ἀκοήν, ὑπὸ τάχους ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ διασῴζουσα τὴν σαφήνειαν. ὁρᾷς γὰρ ὅτι καὶ τῶν ἀγγείων τὰ κενὰ πληττόμενα, μᾶλλον ὑπακούει ταῖς πληγαῖς καὶ τὸν ἦχον ἀποτείνει μακράν, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ κύκλῳ περιφερόμενον διαδίδωσι πολύ· τὸ δʼ ἐμπλησθὲν ἢ στερεοῦ σώματος ἤ τινος ὑγροῦ παντάπασι γίγνεται κωφὸν καὶ ἄναυδον, ὁδὸν οὐκ ἐχούσης οὐδὲ χώραν ᾗ δίεισι τῆς φωνῆς. αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν σωμάτων χρυσὸς μὲν καὶ λίθος ὑπὸ πληρότητος ἰσχνόφωνα καὶ δυσηχῆ καὶ ταχὺ κατασβέννυσι τοὺς φθόγγους ἐν αὑτοῖς εὔφωνος δὲ καὶ λάλος ὁ χαλκός, ᾗ πολύκενος καὶ ὄγκον ἐλαφρὸς καὶ λεπτός, οὐ πολλοῖς συντεθλιμμένος ἐπαλλήλοις σώμασιν, ἀλλʼ ἄφθονον ἔχων τὸ τῆς ἐπιεικοῦς καὶ ἀναφοῦς μεμιγμένον οὐσίας, ἣ ταῖς τʼ ἄλλαις κινήσεσιν εὐπορίαν δίδωσι τήν τε φωνὴν εὐμενῶς ὑπολαμβάνουσα παραπέμπει; μέχρι ἂν ἁψάμενός τις ὥσπερ ἐν ὁδῷ καταλάβῃ καὶ τυφλώσῃ τὸ κενόν· ἐνταῦθα δʼ ἔστη καὶ ἀπεπαύσατο τοῦ πρόσω χωρεῖν διὰ τὴν ἀντίφραξιν. ταῦτʼ ἔφη δοκεῖ μοι τὴν νύκτα ποιεῖν ἠχώδη, τὴν δʼ ἡμέραν ἧττον θερμότητι καὶ διαχύσει τοῦ ἀέρος μικρὰ τὰ διαστήματα τῶν ἀτόμων ποιοῦσαν μόνον ἔφη μηδεὶς ἐνιστάσθω πρὸς τὰς πρώτας ὑποθέσεις.

[¶10] 3.3. And I (Ammonius bidding me oppose him) said: Sir, your suppositions which require a vacuum to be granted I shall admit; but you err in supposing that a vacuum is conducive either to the preservation or conveyance of sound. For that which cannot be touched, acted upon, or struck is peculiarly favorable to silence. But sound is a stroke of a sounding body; and a sounding body is that which is homogeneous and uniform, easy to be moved, light, smooth, and, by reason of its tenseness and continuity, obedient to the stroke; and such is the air. Water, earth, and fire, are of themselves soundless; but each of them makes a noise when air falls upon or gets into it. And brass hath in it no vacuum; but being mixed with a smooth and gentle air it answers to a stroke, and is sounding. If the eye may be judge, iron must be reckoned to have a great many vacuities, and to be porous like a honey-comb, yet it is the dullest, and sounds worse than any other metal. Therefore there is no need to trouble the night to contract and condense its air, that in other parts we may leave vacuities and wide spaces; as if the air would hinder and corrupt the substance of the sounds, whose very substance, form, and power itself is. Besides, if your reason held, misty and extreme cold nights would be more sonorous than those which are temperate and clear, because then the atoms in our atmosphere are constipated, and the spaces which they left remain empty; and, what is more obvious, a cold day should be more sonorous than a warm summer’s night; neither of which is true. Therefore, laying aside that explication, I produce Anaxagoras, who teacheth that the sun makes a tremulous motion in the air, as is evident from those little motes which are seen tossed up and down and flying in the sunbeams. These (says he), being in the day-time whisked about by the heat, and making a humming noise, lessen or drown other sounds; but at night their motion, and consequently their noise, ceaseth.

> Greek: 3.3. κἀγώ, τοῦ Ἀμμωνίου κελεύοντος εἰπεῖν τι πρὸς αὐτὸν αἱ μὲν πρῶταί σου τῶν ὑποθέσεων ἔφην ὦ φίλε Βόηθε, καίπερ πολὺ τὸ κενὸν ἔχουσαι μενέτωσαν· τῇ δὲ φωνῇ τὸ κενὸν οὐκ ὀρθῶς πρὸς σωτηρίαν καὶ κίνησιν ὑποτίθεσθε. σιωπῆς γὰρ οἰκεῖον καὶ ἡσυχίας τὸ ἀναφὲς καὶ ἀπαθὲς καὶ ἄπληκτον, ἡ δὲ φωνὴ πληγὴ σώματος διηχοῦς, διηχὲς δὲ τὸ συμπαθὲς αὑτῷ καὶ συμφυὲς εὐκίνητον δὲ καὶ κοῦφον καὶ ὁμαλὸν καὶ ὑπήκοον τοῦ διʼ εὐτονίαν καὶ συνέχειαν, οἷός ἐστι παρʼ ἡμῖν ὁ ἀήρ. καὶ γὰρ ὕδωρ καὶ γῆ καὶ πῦρ ἄφωνα καθʼ ἑαυτά, φθέγγεται δὲ πνεύματος ἐμπεσόντος ἅπαντα καὶ ψόφους καὶ πατάγους ἀναδίδωσι· χαλκῷ δὲ κενοῦ μὲν οὐδὲν μέτεστιν, ὁμαλῷ δὲ πνεύματι καὶ λείῳ κεκραμένος εὔπληκτός ἐστι καὶ ἠχώδης. εἰ δὲ δεῖ τῇ ὄψει τεκμαίρεσθαι, φαίνεται μᾶλλον ὁ σίδηρος ἔχων τι σαθρὸν καὶ πολύκενον καὶ τενθρηνῶδες· ἔστι δὲ κακόφωνος σφόδρα καὶ τῶν μεταλλικῶν κωφότατος. οὐδὲν οὖν ἔδει τῇ νυκτὶ παρέχειν πράγματα συσπῶντας αὐτῆς τὸν ἀέρα καὶ συντείνοντας, ἑτέρωθι δʼ αὖ χώρας καὶ κενότητας ἀπολείποντας, ὥσπερ ἐμποδὼν ὄντα τῇ φωνῇ τὸν ἀέρα καὶ φθείροντα τὴν οὐσίαν, ἧς αὐτὸς οὐσία καὶ σῶμα καὶ δύναμὶς ἐστιν. ἄνευ δὲ τούτων ἔδει δή που τὰς ἀνωμάλους νύκτας, οἷον ὁμιχλώδεις καὶ δυσχειμέρους, ἠχωδεστέρας εἶναι τῶν αἰθρίων καὶ κεκραμένων ὁμαλῶς, διὰ τὸ δεῦρο μὲν συνωθεῖν τὰς ἀτόμους ἐκεῖ δʼ ὅθεν μεθίστανται χώραν ἔρημον ἀπολείπειν σωμάτων καὶ τὸ δὴ προχειρότατον, ἡμέραν ψυχρὰν ἠχωδεστέραν εἶναι νυκτὸς ἀλεεινῆς ῆς καὶ θερινῆς· ὧν οὐδέτερον ἀληθές ἐστι. διὸ τὸν λόγον τοῦτον ἀπολελοιπὼς ἐπιβάλλω τὸν Ἀναξαγόραν, ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου λέγοντα κινεῖσθαι τὸν ἀέρα κίνησιν τρομώδη καὶ παλμοὺς ἔχουσαν, ὡς δῆλόν ἐστι τοῖς διὰ τοῦ φωτὸς ἀεὶ διᾴττουσι ψήγμασι μικροῖς καὶ θραύμασιν, ἃ δή τινες τίλας καλοῦσιν ταῦτʼ οὖν φησιν ὁ ἀνὴρ πρὸς τὴν θερμότητα σίζοντα καὶ ψοφοῦντα διʼ ἡμέρας δυσηκόους τῷ ψόφῳ τὰς φωνὰς ποιεῖν, νυκτὸς δὲ φαίνεσθαι τὸν σάλον αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἦχον.

[¶11] 3.4. When I had thus said, Ammonius began: Perhaps it will look like a ridiculous attempt in us, to endeavor to confute Democritus and correct Anaxagoras. Yet we must not allow that humming noise to Anaxagoras’s little motes, for it is neither probable nor necessary. But their tremulous and whirling motion in the sunbeams is oftentimes sufficient to disturb and break a sound. For the air (as hath been already said), being itself the body and substance of sound, if it be quiet and undisturbed, gives a straight, easy, and continuous way to the particles or the motions which make the sound. Thus sounds are best heard in calm still weather; and the contrary is seen in tempestuous weather, as Simonides hath it:—
No tearing tempests rattled through the skies,
Which hinder sweet discourse from mortal ears. For often the disturbed air hinders the articulateness of a discourse from coming to the ears, though it may convey something of the loudness and length of it. Now the night, simply considered in itself, hath nothing that may disturb the air; though the day hath,—namely the sun, according to the opinion of Anaxagoras.

> Greek: 3.4. ἐμοῦ δὲ ταῦτʼ εἰπόντος, Ἀμμώνιος; ἔφη γελοῖοι μὲν ἴσως φανούμεθα, καὶ Δημόκριτον ἐλέγχειν οἰόμενοι καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν ἐπανορθοῦσθαι θέλοντες· οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἀφαιρετέον γε τῶν Ἀναξαγόρου σωμάτων τὸν σιγμόν· οὔτε γὰρ πιθανὸς οὔτʼ ἀναγκαῖος, ἀλλʼ ὁ τρόμος ἀρκεῖ τῶν σωμάτων καὶ ἡ κίνησις ἐν τῷ φωτὶ κλονουμένων τὰς φωνὰς; διασπᾶν καὶ διαρρίπτειν πολλάκις. ὁ γὰρ ἀήρ, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, σῶμα τῆς,φωνῆς· καὶ οὐσίαν ἐμπαρέχων ἑαυτόν, ἐὰν μὲν σταθερός, εὐθύπορα καὶ λεῖα καὶ συνεχῆ τὰ τῶν ψόφων μόρια καὶ κινήματα πόρρωθεν διαδίδωσι· νηνεμία γὰρ ἠχῶδες καὶ γαλήνη, καὶ τοὐναντίον, ὡς Σιμωνίδης φησίν,
οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐννοσίφυλλος ἀήτα τότʼ ὦρτʼ ἀνέμων,
ἅ τις κατεκώλυε κιδναμένα μελιαδέα γᾶρυν
ἀραρεῖν ἀκοαῖσι βροτῶν.
πολλάκις μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς φωνῆς ὁ τοῦ ἀέρος σάλος ἔναρθρον ἐᾷ πρὸς τὴν αἴσθησιν ἐξικνεῖσθαι καὶ διαμεμορφωμένον, ἀεὶ μέντοι τι τοῦ πλήθους φέρει καὶ τοῦ μεγέθους. ἡ μὲν οὖν νὺξ αὐτὴ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν οὐδὲν ἔχει κινητικὸν ἀέρος· ἡ δʼ ἡμέρα μέγα, τὸν ἣλιον, ὥσπερ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἀναξαγόρας εἴρηκεν.

[¶12] 3.5. To this Thrasyllus, Ammonius’s son, subjoining said: What is the matter, for God’s sake, that we endeavor to solve this difficulty by the unintelligible fancied motion of the air, and never consider the tossing and divulsion thereof, which are sensible and evident? For Jupiter, the great ruler above, doth not covertly and silently move the little particles of air; but as soon as he appears, he stirs up and moves every thing.
He sends forth lucky signs,
And stirs up nations to their proper work,
and they obey; and (as Democritus saith) with new thoughts for each new day, as if newly born again, they fall to their worldly concerns with noisy and effectual contrivances. And upon this account, Ibycus appositely calls the dawning κλυτόν (from κλύειν, to hear), because then men first begin to hear and speak. Now at night, all things being at rest, the air being quiet and undisturbed must therefore probably transmit the voice better, and convey it whole and unbroken to our ears.

> Greek: 3.5. ὑπολαβὼν δὲ Θράσυλλος ὁ Ἀμμωνίου υἱὸς εἶτʼ ἔφη τί παθόντες, ὦ πρὸς Διός, εἶπας τῶι θεωρητὰ κινήματα τοῦ ἀέρος οἰόμεθα δεῖν αἰτᾶσθαι, τὸν δʼ ἐμφανῆ σάλον καὶ σπαραγμὸν αὐτοῦ παρορῶμεν; ὁ γὰρ δὴ μέγας ἡγεμὼν ἐν οὐρανῷ Ζεὺς οὗτος οὐ λανθάνων οὐδʼ ἀτρέμα διακινῶν τὰ σμικρότατα τοῦ ἀέρος ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς ἐκφανεὶς ἀνίστησι καὶ κινεῖ πάντα πράγματα δεξιὰ σημαίνων, λαοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ ἔργον ἐγείρων οἱ δʼ ἕπονται, καθάπερ ἐκ παλιγγενεσίας νέα ἐφʼ ἡμέρῃ φρονέοντες ὥς φησι Δημόκριτος, οὔτʼ ἀφώνοις οὒτʼ ἀπράκτοις ἐνεργείαις· καὶ τὸν ὄρθρον ὁ Ἴβυκος οὐ κακῶς κλυτὸν προσεῖπεν, ἐν ᾧ κλύειν καὶ ἤδη φθέγγεσθαι συμβέβηκε· τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς ἀκύμων τὰ πολλὰ καὶ ἄκλυτος ὢν ὁ ἀήρ, ἀναπαυομένων ἁπάντων, εἰκότως τὴν φωνὴν ἄθραυστον ἀναπέμπει καὶ ἀκέραιον πρὸς ἡμᾶς.

[¶13] 3.6. Aristodemus the Cyprian, being then in company, said: But consider, sir, whether battles or the marches of great armies by night do not confute your reason; for the noise they make seems as loud as otherwise, though then the air is broken and very much disturbed. But the reason is partly in ourselves; for our voice at night is usually vehement, we either commanding others to do something or asking short questions with heat and concern. For that, at the same time when Nature requires rest, we should stir to do or speak any thing, there must be some great and urgent necessity for it; and thence our voices become more vehement and loud.

> Greek: 3.6. παρὼν οὖν Ἀριστόδημος ὁ Κύπριος ἀλλʼ ὅρα εἶπεν ὦ Θράσυλλε, μὴ τοῦτο μὲν αἱ νυκτομαχίαι καὶ νυκτοπορίαι τῶν μεγάλων στρατοπέδων ἐλέγχουσιν, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἠχωδεστέρας ποιοῦσαι τὰς φωνάς, καίπερ ἐν ταραχῇ καὶ σάλῳ τοῦ ἀέρος ὄντος. ἔχει δέ τι καὶ τὸ παρʼ ἡμᾶς αἴτιον· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὧν φθεγγόμεθα νύκτωρ τὰ πολλὰ θορυβώδη καὶ μετὰ πάθους ἐπείγοντος ἐγκελευόμεθά τισιν ἢ διαπυνθανόμενοι συντόνους ποιούμεθα τὰς γεγωνήσεις. τὸ γάρ, ἐν ᾧ μάλιστα καιρῷ πεφύκαμεν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, ἐξανιστὰν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πράξεις καὶ λόγους οὐ μικρὸν οὐδʼ ἀτρεμαῖόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ μέγα καὶ μεγάλης τινὸς ἀνάγκῃ χρείας ἐπιταχυνόμενον, ὥστε καὶ τὰς φωνὰς φέρεσθαι σφοδροτέρας.

[¶14] 4.1. THE Isthmian games being celebrated, when Sospis was the second time director of the solemnity, we avoided other entertainments,—he treating a great many strangers, and often all his fellow-citizens,—but once, when he entertained his nearest and most learned friends at his own house, I was one of the company. After the first course, one coming to Herodes the rhetorician brought a palm and a wreathed crown, which one of his acquaintance, who had won the prize for an encomiastic exercise, sent him. This Herodes received very kindly, and sent it back again, but added that he could not tell the reason why, since each of the games gave a particular garland, yet all of them bestowed the palm. For those do not satisfy me (said he) who say that the equality of the leaves is the reason, which growing out one against another seem to resemble some striving for the prize, and that victory is called νίκη from μὴ εἴκειν, not to yield. For a great many other trees, which almost by measure and weight divide the nourishment to their leaves growing opposite to one another, show a decent order and wonderful equality. They seem to speak more probably who say the ancients were pleased with the beauty and figure of the tree. Thus Homer compares Nausicaa to a palm-branch. For you all know very well, that some threw roses at the victors, and some pomegranates and apples, to honor and reward them. But now the palm hath nothing evidently more taking than many other things, since here in Greece it bears no fruit that is good to eat, it not ripening and growing mature enough. But if, as in Syria and Egypt, it bore a fruit that is the most pleasant to the eyes of any thing in the world, and the sweetest to the taste, then I must confess nothing could compare with it, And the Persian monarch (as the story goes), being extremely taken with Nicolaus the Peripatetic philosopher, who was a very sweet-humored man, tall and slender, and of a ruddy complexion, called the greatest and fairest dates Nicolai.

> Greek: 4.1. Ἰσθμίων ἀγομένων ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν Σώσπιδος ἀγωνοθεσιῶν τὰς μὲν ἄλλας ἑστιάσεις διεφύγομεν, ἑστιῶντος αὐτοῦ πολλοὺς μὲν ἅμα ξένους, πάντας δὲ πολλάκις τοὺς πολίτας· ἅπαξ δὲ τοὺς μάλιστα φίλους καὶ φιλολόγους οἴκοι δεχομένου, καὶ αὐτοὶ παρῆμεν. ἀπηρμένων δὲ τῶν πρώτων τραπεζῶν, ἧκέ τις Ἡρώδῃ τῷ ῥήτορι παρὰ γνωρίμου νενικηκότος ἐγκωμίῳ φοίνικα καὶ στέφανόν τινα τῶν πλεκτῶν κομίζων. ὁ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν δεξιωσάμενος ἀπέπεμψε πάλιν, ἔφη δʼ ἀπορεῖν, τί δήποτε τῶν ἀγώνων στέφανον ἄλλος ἄλλον ἔχει, τὸν δὲ φοίνικα κοινῇ πάντες. οὐ γὰρ ἐμὲ γοῦν ἔφη πείθουσιν οἱ τὴν ἰσότητα τῶν φύλλων, οἷον ἀντανισταμένων ἀεὶ καὶ συνεκτρεχόντων, ἀγῶνι καὶ ἁμίλλῃ παραπλήσιόν τι ποιεῖν φάσκοντες, αὐτήν τε τὴν νίκην παρὰ τὸ μὴ εἶκον ὠνομάσθαι· καὶ γὰρ ἄλλα πάμπολλα μονονοὺ μέτροις τισὶ καὶ σταθμοῖς ἀκριβῶς τὴν τροφὴν διανέμοντα τοῖς ἀντιζύγοις πετάλοις ἰσότητα θαυμαστὴν καὶ τάξιν ἀποδίδωσιν ἔτι δʼ ἀπιθανώτεροι τούτων εἰσὶν οἱ τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὴν εὐφυΐαν ἀγαπῆσαι τοὺς παλαιούς, ὡς Ὅμηρον ἔρνεϊ φοίνικος ἀπεικάσαντα τὴν ὥραν τῆς Φαιακίδος, ὑπονοοῦντες. οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοεῖτε δήπουθεν, ὅτι καὶ ῥόδοις καὶ λυχνίσιν, ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ μήλοις καὶ ῥοιαῖς ἔβαλλον ὡς καλοῖς· γεραίροντες ἀεὶ τοὺς νικηφόρους. ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν οὕτως ἐπιφανῶς ἐκπρεπέστερον ἔχει τῶν ἄλλων ὁ φοῖνιξ, ἅτε μηδὲ καρπὸν. ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι φέρων ἐδώδιμον ἀλλʼ ἀτελῆ καὶ ἄπεπτον. εἰ γάρ, ὥσπερ ἐν Συρίᾳ καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, παρεῖχε τὴν βάλανον, ὄψει τε θεαμάτων καὶ γλυκύτητι τραγημάτων πάντων ἥδιστον, οὐκ ἂν ἦν ἕτερον αὐτῷ παραβαλεῖν. ὁ γοῦν βασιλεύς, ὥς φασιν, ἀγαπήσας διαφερόντως τὸν Περιπατητικὸν φιλόσοφον Νικόλαον, γλυκὺν ὄντα τῷ ἤθει ῥαδινὸν δὲ τῷ μήκει τοῦ σώματος διάπλεων δὲ τὸ πρόσωπον ἐπιφοινίσσοντος ἐρυθήματος, τὰς μεγίστας καὶ καλλίστας τῶν φοινικοβαλάνων Νικολάους ὠνόμαζε, καὶ μέχρι νῦν οὕτως ὀνομάζονται.