The essays here rendered into English have not been selected as the very
best pieces in Plutarch’s _Moralia_, but, first, as typical examples of
his writing in that kind, and, second, as covering between them a
tolerably large field of interesting matter. The _Moralia_ offer us
perhaps the best of all extant material for judging the civilization of
the middle classes of society just before and after the year 100 of our
era. From them and from Pliny’s _Letters_ we are able to form a fairly
complete picture of a large part of that sounder social element which
lay between the froth and the dregs.
In the Introduction some remarks are offered concerning Plutarch’s
literary style. Here it will suffice to say that the English version
does not seek to be either more formal or more vivacious, either more
imposing or more humorous, than the original. An attempt has been made
to preserve the tone as faithfully as the substance. In making Plutarch
write as he does in the following pages the translator hopes that _il ne
luy a au moins rien presté qui le desmente ou qui le desdie_. It is fair
to add that no modern version of the _Moralia_ has been consulted for
the purposes of this rendering. In the Introduction, however, one cannot
fail to owe much suggestion to Gréard and Volkmann.
In the spelling of Greek proper names every modern scholar must follow
his own best judgement. It does not follow that, because it is necessary
to say ‘Plato’ and usual to say ‘Parmenio’, it is equally judicious to
say ‘Chilo’. Nor can any safe rule be laid down for a choice between
‘Pisistratus’ and ‘Peisistratus’. Perhaps the most advisable course is
to safeguard, as far as possible, the pronunciation of those who are
unfamiliar with Greek, and the spelling ‘Pheidias’ may do something
towards correcting the common English tendency to pronounce the first
syllable as it is pronounced in ‘fiddle’. Notes upon the proper names
will be found after the text by readers who may require them.
The text generally adopted is that of Bernardakis in the Teubner series,
but recourse has been had throughout to Wyttenbach, and in a number of
places which are commonly acknowledged to be corrupt the translator has
ventured on a modest emendation of his own. These places are marked in
the translation by an asterisk in the margin, and the readings adopted
will be found at the end of the book in an appendix on the Greek text.
Critics would have saved themselves much trouble if they had observed
that, though hiatus is regularly avoided in the genuine writings of
Plutarch, no hiatus is created by a word ending in iota or upsilon,
vowels which carry a semi-vowel glide in themselves.
The orthodox order, Greek and Latin titles, and sectional references of
the pieces here chosen are as follows. The English titles belong to the
present version.
ON BRINGING UP A BOY (περὶ παίδων ἀγωγῆς: _De liberis educandis_),
1-14 C.
ON THE STUDENT AT LECTURES (περὶ τοῦ ἀκούειν: _De recta ratione
audiendi_), 37 C-48 D
ON FAWNER AND FRIEND (πῶς ἄν τις διακρίνειε τὸν κόλακα τοῦ φίλου:
_Quomodo adulator ab amico internoscatur_), 48 E-74 E.
ADVICE TO MARRIED COUPLES (γαμικὰ παραγγέλματα: _Coniugalia
praecepta_), 138 B-146.
DINNER-PARTY OF THE SEVEN SAGES (τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν συμπόσιον: _Septem
sapientum convivium_), 146 B-164 D.
ON GARRULOUSNESS (περί ἀδολεσχίας: _De garrulitate_), 502 B-515.
CONCERNING BUSYBODIES (περὶ πολυπραγμοσύνης: _De curiositate_), 515
B-523 B.
ON MORAL IGNORANCE IN HIGH PLACES (πρὸς ἡγεμόνα ἀπαίδευ τον: _Ad
principem ineruditum_), 779 D-782 F.
ON OLD MEN IN PUBLIC LIFE (εἰ πρεσβυτέρῳ πολιτευτέον: _An seni
respublica gerenda sit_), 783 B-797 F.