The opinion of so conscientious a scholar on Plutarch’s “appropriations” is worth quoting:—“tenendum est ... Plutarchum non eum fuisse qui more compilatorum libros aliorum ad verbum exscriberet sed id egisse ut ea quæ legisset atque collegisset referret, sed ita ut modo sua intermisceret, modo nonnulla omitteret vel mutaret.” [147] _De Iside et Osiride_, 353 E. [148] _De Ε apud Delphos_, 393 D. Cf. _De Defectu_, 433 E. Ammonius is here evidently referring to a remark made (386 B) by “one of those present” to the effect that “practically all the Greeks identify Apollo with the Sun.” The words of Ammonius quoted in the text are strikingly similar in spirit to the famous verses in the “In Memoriam:”— “O thou that after toil and storm May’st seem to have reached a purer air, Whose faith has centre everywhere, Nor cares to fix itself to form, “Leave thou thy sister when she prays, Her early Heaven, her happy views; Nor thou with shadowed hint confuse A life that leads melodious days. “Her faith through form is pure as thine, Her hands are quicker unto good: Oh, sacred be the flesh and blood To which she links a truth divine!” [149] _Consolatio ad Apollonium_, 102 A.—“He was a very sage and virtuous youth, conspicuous for the reverence which he paid to the gods, to his parents, and to his friends.” This is nearly the old Hellenic ideal as expressed, _e.g._, in the lines from the “Antiope” of Euripides, preserved by Stobæus, “On Virtue”— “There be three virtues for thy practice, child: Honour the gods, revere thy loving parents, Respect the laws of Greece.” [150] _Amatorius_, 756 B. [151] _Amatorius_, 762 A. [152] _De Defectu Orac._, 435 E. [153] _Consolatio ad Uxorem_, 612. Cf. _De Defectu Orac._, 437 A. [154] Supplying, as Bernardakis does after Wyttenbach, καὶ οὐκ ἀγνοῶ ὁτι ταῦτα πολλὰς ἔχει ἀπορίας. [155] _De Pythiæ Orac._, 409 C. Cf. _De Rep. Ger._, 792 F. [156] Plutarch puts these words into the mouth of Theon, a literary man, and a most intimate friend of his own. But Theon is here a mere modest disguise of Plutarch, just as “Lamprias” is in the _De Defectu Oraculorum_. The argument is, in any case, not affected—the statement is clearly Plutarch’s own. (See the note on that dialogue in a subsequent chapter.) [157] _De Pythiæ Orac._, 409 B. [158] The antiquarian regret of Propertius for the old simple worships of Rome—“Nulli cura fuit externos quærere divos Cum tremeret patrio pendula turba sacro” (_Eleg._, v. 1)—touched a chord which very few Romans would have responded to in Plutarch’s time. [159] _De Exilio_, 602 E. This recognition of the sacred character of the Emperor does not preclude criticisms of individual rulers, _e.g._, Nero: _De Sera Num. Vindicta_, 567 F; and Vespasian: _Amatorius_, 771 C. [160] _De Pythiæ Orac._, 408 B. [161] Cf. the fate of Chæroneia under Antony, as told by Plutarch’s grandfather (see _Life of Antony_, 948 A, B).