Plutarch S Moon

In Plutarch's Moon Luisa Lesage Gárriga offers a new approach on Plutarch's views on cosmos, the afterlife and salvation, and highlights the literary unit of one of his most fascinating treatises.

In Plutarch: On the Face which Appears in the Orb of the Moon, Luisa Lesage Gárriga offers a new critical edition with English translation of one of Plutarch’s most fascinating treatises, and yet one of the least known to the wider public.

In Plutarch’s Moon Luisa Lesage Gárriga offers a new approach on Plutarch’s views on cosmos, the afterlife and salvation, focusing on one of his most fascinating treatises. Dealing with the nature and function of the moon from multiple perspectives, this treatise offers a comprehensive overview of scientific knowledge and religious-philosophical thought from the first centuries CE. Yet, up until now no single scholar has attempted an integral approach to its various and complementary perspectives, generally focusing on a specific aspect, as if they were unrelated. By means of this study, the author shows that De facie is a literary creation that reflects and conveys a coherent worldview, finally providing a solid and overarching understanding of the treatise.

From the INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The opening chapters of the Dialogue being lost, we have no clue to the place where it is supposed to take place, nor to the time - unless one is given by the Eclipse of the Sun mentioned by Lucius in c. 19 - and some points in the actual course of the discussion require a word of explanation. This can be most readily supplied by an enumeration of the speakers, in the order of their appearance, followed by a short analysis of the argument. Where the names are those of real persons living in Plutarch's lifetime, or of those who appear in other dialogues, I assume identity. PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE. 1. Sextius Sylla, the Carthaginian, mentioned in the Life of Romulus (c. 15) as "a man wanting neither learning nor ingenuity," who had supplied Plutarch with a piece of archaeological "information. Elsewhere (De cohib. ira. c. 1) he is addressed as "O most eager Sylla! " In another dialogue he declines to be led into a discussion on all cosmology by answering the question "whether the egg or the bird comes first?" (Quaest conv. ii, 3). He has a story, or myth, to tell about the Moon, which he is impatient to begin. This story, which he had heard from a friend in Carthage, is mainly geographical in interest. The details remind us of those quoted from Pytheas about his journeys to Britain and the Northern Seas. The whole conception of the globe is clearly earlier than that of Ptolemy (see especially as to the Caspian Sea, c. 26). The myth also introduces us to the worship of Cronus as practiced at Carthage, and connects it with the wonders of the Moon, and her place in the heavenly system. In c. 17 Sylla raises a good point, about the half-moon, which was being passed over. 2. Lamprias, a brother, probably an elder brother, of Plutarch, who directs the course of the conversation, and himself expounds the Academic view, referring to Lucius for his recollections of a recent discussion at which both had been present, when the Stoic doctrines on physics had been criticized. In some of the Symposiacs and other dialogues Lamprias takes a similar place; in others both brothers take part. Lamprias probably died early, see p. 15. "Evidently a character, a good trencherman, as became a Boeotian, one who on occasion could dance the Pyrrhic war-dance, who loved well a scoff and a jest .... and who, if he thrust himself somewhat brusquely into discussions which are going forward, was quite able to justify the intrusion." - Archbishop Trench.

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Excerpt from Plutarch on the Face Which Appears on the Orb of the Moon Lastly, I hope that some indulgence may be accorded, if it should be necessary, to the loco who undertakes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.