1. SEXTIUS SYLLA, the Carthaginian, mentioned in the _Life of Romulus_
(c. 15) as ‘a man wanting neither learning nor ingenuity’, who had
supplied Plutarch with a piece of archaeological information. Elsewhere
(_De cohib. ira_, c. 1) he is addressed as ‘O most eager Sylla!’ In
another Dialogue he declines to be led into a discussion on all
cosmology by answering the question ‘whether the egg or the bird comes
first?’ (_Sympos._ 2, 3).
He has a story, or myth, to tell about the moon, which he is impatient
to begin. This story, which he had heard from a friend in Carthage, is
mainly geographical in interest. The details remind us of those quoted
from Pytheas about his journeys to Britain and the Northern Seas. The
whole conception of the globe is clearly earlier than that of Ptolemy
(see especially as to the Caspian Sea, c. 26). The myth also introduces
us to the worship of Cronus as practised at Carthage, and connects it
with the wonders of the moon, and her place in the heavenly system.
In c. 17 SYLLA raises a good point, about the half-moon, which was being
passed over.
2. LAMPRIAS, a brother, probably an elder brother, of Plutarch directs
the course of the conversation, and himself expounds the Academic view,
referring to Lucius for his recollections of a recent discussion at
which both had been present, when the Stoic doctrines on physics had
been criticized.
In some of the Symposiacs and other dialogues Lamprias takes a similar
place; in others both brothers take part. Lamprias probably died early.
‘Evidently a character, a good trencherman, as became a Boeotian, one
who on occasion could dance the Pyrrhic war dance, who loved well a
scoff and a jest ... and who, if he thrust himself somewhat brusquely
into discussions which are going forward, was quite able to justify the
intrusion.’—Archbishop Trench.
3. APOLLONIDES, astronomer and geometrician; perhaps the latter would be
the more correct designation. In another Dialogue (_Sympos._ 3, 4) a
‘tactician’ of the name appears.
As Apollonius, the great mathematician (living about 200 B.C.) was also
a geometrician who contributed to astronomical theory, not himself an
astronomer, it seems likely that the name Apollonides has been coined by
Plutarch for ‘one of the clan of Apollonius’, i. e. a young professor of
geometry. Apollondes is treated rather brusquely by Lamprias, certainly
with less respect than Menelaus. He seems to have cast in his lot with
the Stoics in their physical opinions.
4. ARISTOTLE, a Peripatetic. Perhaps the name was given to him to mark
the School to which he belonged. In the Dialogue _On the Delays in
Divine Punishment_ an ‘Epicurus’ is a representative Epicurean.
5. PHARNACES, a Stoic, who sturdily supports his physical creed against
all comers.
6. LUCIUS, an Etruscan pupil of Moderatus the Pythagorean, spoken of in
one place (_Sympos._ 8, 7 and 8) as ‘Lucius our comrade’. He is
elsewhere reticent as to the inner Pythagorean teaching, but is
courteous and ready to discuss ‘what is probable and reasonable’.
Kepler is inclined to complain of his professorial tone and
longwindedness in the present Dialogue. This is hardly fair, as he is
for the most part reporting a set discourse heard elsewhere, and that by
request. Lamprias has to give him time to remember the points (c. 7). In
c. 5 he asks that justice may be done to the Stoics. He associates
himself with the Academics on physical matters.
7. THEON (see Preface, p. xii), represents literature (as he does in
other Dialogues, notably in that on the _E at Delphi_). He is a welcome
foil to the more severe disputants. In c. 24 he interrupts by moving the
previous question—‘Why a moon at all?’ and is congratulated on the
cheerful turn which he has given to the discussion. Theon may sometimes
recall to readers of Jules Verne’s pleasant _Voyage autour de la lune_
the sallies of Michel Ardan the poet.
8. MENELAUS, a distinguished astronomer who lived and observed at
Alexandria. Observations of his, which include some taken in the first
year of Trajan, A.D. 98, are recorded by Ptolemy (_Magna Syntaxis_, 7,
3, p. 170) and other writers.