(12) c. 26, 941 A. This interesting passage should be read by the side
of _De Defectu Oraculorum_, c. 18, p. 19 F (p. 135 above), which has a
close verbal resemblance, and is perhaps extracted from it (Adler).
Briareus may have been named in the full text here, as the son of
Cronus. In Hesiod, _Theogon._ 147, he is the son of Uranus, and so
Eustathius on Hom. _Il._ 1, 403, but a little later on Eustathius
mentions Cronus as his father on the authority of Arrian. παρακάτω
κεῖσθαι of the MSS. is difficult. Adler would read Βριάρεων δὲ τὸν υἱὸν
ὡς ἔχοντα φρουρὰν τῶν τε νήσων ἐκείνων καὶ τῆς θαλάττης, ἣν Κρόνιον
πέλαγος ὀνομάζουσιν, παρακατῳκίσθαι. Dr. Purser points out that the
Straits of Gibraltar were first called the Pillars of Cronus, afterwards
the Pillars of Briareus, and lastly the Pillars of Hercules (_Schol. ad
Dionys. Perieg._ 64 in Müller’s _Fragm. Hist. Gr._ 3, 640).
I have followed the reading of Emperius πέραν κατῳκίσθαι, but without
much confidence. Cronus could not well, as Dr. Purser points out, have
been _in_ one of the islands, and also _beyond_ it.
(13) c. 26, 942 C. I venture to suggest that the text may have run
something as follows:
Πλεῖστον γὰρ ἐν Καρχηδόνι χρόνον διέτριψεν ἅτε δὴ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν μέταλλα
ἔχων, ὃς καί τινας, ὅθ᾽ ἡ προτέρα πόλις ἀπώλλυτο, κτλ.
The long sojourn of the stranger in Carthage would be explained if he
owned mines there.
In the sequel φαινομένων may perhaps stand for Φοινικικῶν and χρῆναι for
χρηστήρια εἶναι.
408 F (p. 110, l. 19). πρὸς δὲ πίστιν ἐπισφαλὴς καὶ ὑπεύθυνος. If
ἐπισφαλής stands, it should rather mean ‘liable to take good faith (like
an infection)‘, a very common use of the adjective and its adverb in
Plutarch. See e. g. 661 B, 631 C. This seems rather a forced oxymoron
here. Wyttenbach doubted, and Madvig proposed ἀνεπισφαλής, a word said
to be found in Themistius.
On the passage see J. H. W. Strijd in _Class. Rev._, xxviii, p. 219.
Supplemental Notes 1918
418 A (p. 132, above). ... πυθυμένου (Φιλίππου) τίσιν ἀντιμαρτυρεῖν
θεοῖς οἴεται τοὺς ἀνταγωνιζομένους, Τούτοις, ἔφη, τοῖς περὶ τὸ
χρηστήριον, οἷς ἄρτι τοὺς ἔξω Πυλῶν πάντας Ἕλληνας ἡ πόλις κατοργιάζουσα
μέχρι Τεμπῶν ἐλήλακεν.
I have followed Amyot, whose version is perhaps more intelligible than
the Latin, but involves the change of θεοῖς to θείοις (Turnebus) and the
transposition of Tempe and Thermopylae. If θεοῖς can be retained, the
reference will be to Dionysus and Apollo, the two gods connected with
the sanctuary (pp. 67, 138, &c.) and the purgation of the latter at
Tempe, commemorated by periodical rites. θείοις appears to correspond
more closely to ἱεροῖς above.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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