Transcriber’s notes: Italic text is marked _thus_. Spaced gesperrt text is marked ~thus~. The spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and accentuation are as the original, except for apparent typographical errors which have been corrected. [Illustration: _Venus weeping over the body of Adonis._ _From the painting by Emanuel Benner._] PLUTARCH’S ESSAYS AND MISCELLANIES Comprising all his Works Collected under the Title of “Morals” · Translated from the Greek by Several Hands Corrected and Revised by WILLIAM W. GOODWIN, Ph.D., Professor of Greek Literature in Harvard University In Five Volumes · Volume Two [Illustration: HONOS ET VIRTVS] BOSTON · LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY · MCMXI Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, By Little, Brown, and Company, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. Copyright, 1898, 1905, By Little, Brown, and Company. Printers S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A. CONTENTS OF VOLUME SECOND. WITH THE TRANSLATORS’ NAMES. THE BANQUET OF THE SEVEN WISE MEN. By Roger Davis, A.M. Periander prepares the banquet, 4. A question proposed to Bias of Priene, 4. Thales ascertained the height of one of the pyramids, and how, 5. Need of preparation for an entertainment, 6. Conversation by the way, 6, 7. Arrival of the company, 7. Anacharsis the Scythian; Eumetis, 8. The seat assigned to a person a frivolous consideration, 9. A prodigy: a child born of a mare, 10. The explanation, 11. Esop relates the fable of the Lydian mule, 11. The frugality of Periander, 12. Anacharsis is questioned respecting the Scythians, 12. A letter is read from Amasis, king of Egypt, proposing a question, 13. Bias suggests an answer to the question, 14. The seven wise men, in turn, reply to the question how a people should be governed, 15. The discussion continued, 16, 17. Answers to other questions, 17, 18. Riddles and their solutions, 19, 20. How should a state be governed? 20. How to govern a house, 21, 22. Talk about drinking wine, 23. The end is worth more than the means, 24. The end of drinking is to nourish and increase friendship, 24. What measure of outward good should be regarded as sufficient, 26. A spare diet, as recommended by Hesiod, 27. Extremes to be avoided, 28. Enjoy freely what we have, but with moderation, 29. A necessity for eating and drinking, 31. But fatal distempers often ensue, 32. The story of Arion and the dolphins, 33-36. The story of Hesiod and the dolphins, 36, 37. Another story about dolphins, 38. The creatures obey the impulse of God, 39. Μηδὲν ἄγαν, “Do not overdo,” 40, 41. HOW A YOUNG MAN OUGHT TO HEAR POEMS. By Simon Ford, D.D.