[58:1] _Sparti_, from σπείρω, _the sown men_, i. e. the armed men that sprang from the teeth of the dragon sown by Cadmus, from whom the oldest families in Thebes—a large part of the Boeotian aristocracy—were said to have descended. Something like this mythical birthmark had probably made its appearance on the body of a member of one of these ancient families. Nisibis was a Syrian city with an extensive commerce, with many Greek, and probably some Boeotian immigrants. [58:2] It may be that, in cases where the inheritance of a morbid physical constitution, or of proclivity to moral evil, seems to lapse in the first generation and to reappear in the second, the children of the diseased or depraved father have the physical or moral traits of their father, but are made and kept vigilant and faithful in self-care and self-discipline by the memory of their father’s infirmities or sins; while their children have the inheritance without the warning. [59:1] If Plutarch made this story, as he probably did, it was undoubtedly suggested by the story, unlike in its details, yet with not dissimilar purpose, which Plato tells of Er, the Pamphilian, in the tenth book of _The Republic_. [59:2] Soli was a considerable city in Cilicia. [59:3] Μεθ’ ἡμᾶς, _after us_, is the reading in all the manuscripts and older editions; μεθ’ ἡμῶν, _with us_, is a conjectural emendation which the sense seems to require. [60:1] Amphilochus was one of the heroes of the Trojan war. He was the son of a seer, and was believed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy. The oracle bearing his name at Mallos in Cilicia was said to have been founded by him, and it had a wider and more enduring reputation for veracity than any other ancient oracle. [60:2] Εἰ βέλτιον βιώσεται. The question related to his property,—to his means of comfortable living. I therefore use in translating it the familiar colloquialism, _better off_. The answer has a moral significance. Βέλτιον is an ambiguous word,—applicable equally to condition and to character. [60:3] “Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy,” was sound ethical doctrine, equally with Gentile and with Jew, until men saw in the divine humanity of Jesus Christ the qualities of character which had been most despised, transfigured and glorified. [62:1] Thespesius means _divine_. [63:1] Plutarch (Greek Questions, 39) writes: “The Pythagoreans say that the souls of the dead neither give a shadow nor wink.” [63:2] Ἀνάγκη. This mythical parentage may account for the name of Adrasteia, which is probably derived from διδράσκειν, _to escape_, with the α privative, and thus means _unescapable_. [64:1] _Punishment._ [64:2] _Justice._ [64:3] One of the Erinnyes, or Furies. There are different myths as to their number, though there were commonly said to be three. Their name is probably derived from ἐρινύειν, _to be in a rage_. They were in Grecian fable the type of implacable anger and unrelenting vengeance.