Plutarch on the Delay of the Divine JusticePlutarch
Philosophy
Plutarch on the Delay of the Divine Justice
Plutarch
Punishment -- Early works to 1800
[15:2] This treaty could have had only a temporary effect; for at a
subsequent period we read of two hundred children being burned at
the shrine of Cronus in Carthage, as a propitiatory sacrifice when a
successor of Gelon appeared in arms before the city. In the Hebrew
Scriptures we learn that this particular form of human sacrifice was
largely practised by the Canaanites,—the stock of which the Phoenicians
who settled Carthage were an offshoot.
[15:3] Lydiades rose from an obscure condition to a despotic
sovereignty over Megalopolis, and probably with little scruple as to
the means of elevation; but, becoming convinced that it was for the
interest of the city to join the Achaean league as a free state, he
abdicated the crown, and was chosen commander of the forces of the
republic thus constituted. He died in battle.
[16:1] We are reminded here of the stanza in Byron’s song:—
“The tyrant of the Chersonese
Was freedom’s best and bravest friend;
That tyrant was Miltiades.
O that the present hour might send
Another despot of the kind!
Such chains as his were sure to bind.”
[16:2] Elpinice, whose first husband was Cimon, was his father’s
daughter; but they had different mothers. In the earlier ages, for
obvious reasons, kindred was reckoned only on the mother’s side, and
the intermarriage of the children of the same father and different
mothers was legal, and not unusual. We find traces of the lawfulness
of such marriages in Hebrew history as late as the time of David.
Cimon’s marriage was probably lawful; but public sentiment had then
advanced so far as to render such a union discreditable, if not
absolutely infamous. It is worthy of remark here that the Greek names
for _brother_ and _sister_, ἀδελφός and ἀδελφή, in their derivation and
original use denote a relation on the mother’s side alone.
[16:3] The stories that have come down to us of the riotous living,
recklessness, and debauchery of Themistocles as a young man almost
transcend belief. It is related of him that he was once drawn in a
carriage through the thronged market-place by four shameless women
harnessed like horses.
[17:1] Ἀρτεμίσιον, Artemisium. The first naval battle between the
Grecian forces and Xerxes was fought off Artemisium. Themistocles
commanded the Athenian portion of the fleet, and the splendid victory
was ascribed, in great part, to his skill and prowess.
[17:2] From Pindar,—commemorative of this battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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