Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"Plutarch
Philosophy
Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"
Plutarch
Classical literature; Essays; Ethics; Philosophy
2. These speeches of Aristo no one there would contradict, for it was
well known that he spoke in jest. But I willed him to take a cup, and,
as if it were a harp, to set and tune it to that accord and harmony
which he so highly praised. Then came a boy close unto him, and offered
him strong wine; but he refused it, saying with laughter, that his
music consisted in theory, and not in practice of the instrument. Then
my father added to what had been said, that the ancient poets gave two
nurses to Jupiter, namely, Ite and Adrastea; one to Juno, Euboea; two,
moreover, to Apollo, Alethea and Corythalea; while they gave many more
to Bacchus. For, as it seemed to him, Bacchus was nursed and suckled
by many Nymphs, because he had need of many measures of _water_
(νύμφαι), to make him more tame, gentle, witty, and wise.
_QUESTION X._
WHY FLESH STINKS SOONER WHEN EXPOSED TO THE MOON, THAN TO THE
SUN.
EUTHYDEMUS, SATYRUS.
1. Euthydemus of Sunium gave us at an entertainment a very large boar.
The guests wondering at the bigness of the beast, he said that he
had one a great deal larger, but in the carriage the moon had made
it stink; he could not imagine how this should happen, for it was
probable that the sun, being much hotter than the moon, should make it
stink sooner. But, said Satyrus, this is not so strange as the common
practice of the hunters; for, when they send a boar or a doe to a city
some miles distant, they drive a brazen nail into it to keep it from
stinking.
2. After supper Euthydemus bringing the question into play again,
Moschio the physician said, that putrefaction was a colliquation of
the flesh, and that every thing that putrefied grew moister than
before, and that all heat, if gentle, did stir the humors, though
not force them out but if strong, dry the flesh; and that from these
considerations an answer to the question might be easily deduced.
For the moon gently warming makes the body moist; but the sun by his
violent beams dries rather, and draws all moisture from them. Thus
Archilochus spoke like a naturalist,
I hope hot Sirius’s beams will many drain.
And Homer more plainly concerning Hector, over whose body Apollo spread
a thick cloud,
Lest the hot sun should scorch his naked limbs.[78]
Now the moon’s rays are weaker; for, as Ion says,
They do not ripen well the clustered grapes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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