BOOKS.

PLUTARCH.*

WE feel indebted to the enterprise of an eminent American firm forsupplying us with a revised edition of the translation of Plutaras Morals, translated from the area by Several Hands. Corrected and Revised by William W. Goodwin, RD., Professor of Greek Literature in Hayward University. With an Introduction by B. W. Emerson. IS Tote. Boston, U.S.: Brown, and Co. 1870. Plutarch's minor works, published in London in 1684, freed from the blunders by which it was in some parts disfigured, as appears from the fact that a note by one translator stated the Parthenon to be a " promontory shooting into the Black Sea, where stood a chappel dedicated to some virgin godhead, and famous for some victory thereabouts obtained ;" while another converted a state- ment that a certain water produced bubbles (ro,apoxupc) into a story of a "substance called pompholyx, made by a mixture of brass with air" (preface, i. vi.), without destroying the quaint liveliness, distinctive of many of the translations. The result is a work, not indeed, as the editor confesses, "such as would answer the demands of modern critical scholarship," a task which would appear to be in fact impossible until the original text has been thoroughly revised with the help of the best MSS., but one very readable, provided with references to the numerous quotations made by Plutarch from other Greek writers, where the originals have come down to us, and which will, we hope, serve to make modern readers of English better acquainted with a period of the ancient world peculiarly full of interest at the present time, from the curious analogy borne by it in many re- spects to our own age,-the period when religious faith was striving to rekindle the flame of religion almost extinguished under the influence of criticism and philosophical theory- by pressing philosophy and critical ingenuity into its own service. Of the earlier phases of this period these writings of Plutarch give us a picture drawn in the mirror of one of whom Mr. Emerson well says, in the interesting introduction from his pen prefaced to the present translation, "that he occupies a unique place in literature as an encyclopmclia of Greek and Roman antiquity. Whatever is eminent in fact or fiction, in opinion, in character, in institutions, in science-natural, moral, or metaphysi- cal-or in memorable sayings, drew his attention, and came to his pen with more or less fullness of record. He is, among prose writers, what Chaucer is among English poets,-a repertory for those who want the story without searching for it at first hand, a compendium of all accepted traditions."

To give anything like a full account of the range of subjects comprised in these works of Plutarch would far exceed the limits of space at our command. But some idea of it will be conveyed by the following rough classification of his Essays, under the heads of Educational, Moral, Domestic and Social, Religious, Philoso- phical, Scientific, Literary and Historical, Biographical and Political, a classification which, by the accompanying notice of the volume where each essay is to be found, may perhaps be of some use to those of our readers-and we hope there may be many- who may feel disposed to make a closer acquaintance with Plutarch ; since the essays are scattered through the five volumes, with no attempt at arrangement according to their subject-matter, and there is no accompanying index where they are collected under different heads.

The first class, which we call Educational Treatises, because they directly address themselves to the practical guidance of men, con- tains thirteen treatises concerning the mind, on the following matters :-The training of children (1, 3) ; that virtue may be taught (1, 77) ; how a man may benefit by his enemies (1, 280) ; the folly of seeking many friends (1, 464) ; how a young man should read poetry (2, 42) ; how to know a flatterer from a friend (2, 100); how a man may praise himself without giving offence (2, 306) ; how a man may be sensible of progress in virtue (2, 446) ; that philosophers should converse chiefly with great men (2, 369) ; is the maxim Live concealed ? ' right (3, 3) ; a discourse to an unlearned prince (4, 323); whether an old man should mix in politics (5,63); and against running in debt (5, 411). To which must be added two essays especially concerning the body, on the preservation of health (1, 251); and on eating flesh (5, 3).

The second class, comprising moral essays less directly pedagogic in their character, treats of-tranquillity of mind (1, 136) ; conso- lation under sorrow, of which there are two, one addressed to a friend on the loss of his son (1, 299) ; the other, peculiarly full of tender feeling, addressed to his wife on the loss of their only daughter at the age of two years (5, 385) ; bashfulness (1, 60); envy and hatred (2, 94) ; the love of wealth (2, 393) ; curiosity

(2, 483) ; garrulity (4, 289) ; fortune (2, 485) ; banishment from one's country (3, 15) ; virtue and vice (2, 484) ; moral virtue (3, 461); those whom God is slow to punish, a very remarkable work (4, 140) ; whether vice is sufficient to make men unhappy (4, 199) ; and whether passion or disease is the most evil (4, 504). To which must be added five controversial essays, one against Epicures (2, 157) ; another against Colotes, his favourite disciple

(5, 328); and three against the Stoics (3, 194; 4, 372, 427). The third class includes four beautiful essays on subjects of an

especially domestic nature, namely, conjugal precepts (2, 487) ; brotherly love (3, 35) ; affection for children (4, 189) ; and love generally (4, 254), with which we associate the treatises of a more social character, called the banquet of the Seven Wise Mess (2, 31) ; and the nine books of symposiacs, or after-dinner conver- sations on a great variety of subjects, conveying a high idea of the intellectual power displayed at Plutarch's table or under hie guidance, in those mixed entertainments for mind and body in which the Greeks delighted, and for which they appear to have introduced the taste at Rome, as a zest to the luxurious pleasures of Italian magnificence.

The fourth class of treatises, better known than most of the

others because they have often been quarried for the purposes of modern controversies, includes those on superstition (1, 168) ; why the Pythian priestess no longer gave her oracles in verse (3, 69) ;- why oracles should cease to give answers (4, 3) ; and Isis and Osiris, or the religion of Egypt (4, 64).

The fifth class, which we have called the philosophic, includes treatises on the procreation of the soul (2, 386) ; fate (5, 293) ; the Thrown of Socrates (2, 378); and various Platonic questions (5, 425). It is closely connected with the sixth class of treatises, on matters of natural science, namely, music (I, 102) ; hearing

(1, 441); the opinions of various philosophers about nature (3, 104) ; a variety of natural questions (3, 495) ; whether water or land animals are the most intelligent (5, 157) ; whether brutes

reason (5, 218) ; of the face seen in the moon (5, 231); of the principle of cold (5, 308) ; and whether fire or water is the most useful (5, 331). Between these subjects and the historical, bio- graphical, and political essays, which form the bulk of Plutarch's remaining minor writings, we place the seventh class of literary essays, upon the comparison of Aristophanes and Menander (3, 11) ; Roman and Greek customs (2, 204, 265) ; and the meaning of the word "El (1), inscribed on the entrance of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Lastly come a group of essays belonging to the class of sub- jects with which Plutarch's name is usually associated, on the

following subjects :-The laws and customs of the Lacedgemonians (1, 82); the fortune or virtue of Alexander (1, 475) ; the fortune.

of the Romans (4, 198) ; whether the Athenians were more famous for learning or military exploits (5, 399) ; the virtues of women (1, 340) ; five tragical histories of love (4, 302) ; the lives of the Ten Orators (5, 17) ; the apothegms of kings and great com- manders (1, 185) ; the malice of Herodotus (4, 331) ; political precepts (5, 97) ; and a comparison of monarchy, democracy, and.

oligarchy (5, 395).

Such, exclusive of two treatises placed at the end of the fifth, volume, which, if they came from Plutarch's pen at all, must have been productions of his boyhood, is the, bill of fare of these in-

teresting volumes, a bill of fare which must be admitted to con- tain sufficient intellectual variety. M. L'Eveque well says, in a valuable notice of Plutarch, published in the Revue des Deux 211ondes (vol. lxxi., pp. 728-754), "These essays bring us into communion with the true soul of Plutarch, from which we often receive, as it were, an electric shock, in studying his Political Lives,

without being able to trace it distinctly to its real source," namely, his unshakable conviction of the divinity of goodness, its eternal root in the nature of the universe, and the inexhaustible fruits of well-being and content which it can procure for man." We might fill page after page with proofs of this proposition, by quotations. alikeprofitable and agreeable. We take one, the first that turns up, out of many which we have noted, from the essay on the "Tranquillity of the Mind" (1, 166) :-

" Neither rich furniture, nor abundance of gold, nor a descent from an illustrious family, nor greatness of authority, nor eloquence and all the charms of speaking, can secure so great a serenity of life, as a mind. free from guilt, untainted not only from actions, but from purposes that are wicked. By this means the soul will be not only unpolluted, but undisturbed ; the fountain will run clear and unsullied, and the streams that flow from it will be just and honest deeds, ecstacies of satisfaction,. a brisk energy of spirit which makes a man an enthusiast in his joys, and tenacious memory sweeter than hope, which (as Pirdar smith).

with a virgin warmth nourisheth old age.' For as censers, even after they are empty, do for a long time retain their fragrance, as Carneades ezpreeseth it, so the good actions of a wise man perfume his mind and. leave a rich scent behind them ; so that joy is, as it were, watered with these essences, and owes its flourishing to them. This makes him pity those who not only bewail, but accuse human life, as if it were- only a region of calamities and a place of banishment appointed for souls.'

Yet the age in which Plutarch lived, and the circumstances by which he was immediately surrounded, seem to be anything but favourable to the bursting forth of this well-spring of living water..

Born A.D. 48, his youth was contemporary with the reign of Nero, and his middle-age with that of Dotnitian. Such was his attachment to his native land, that it led him to abandon all the attractions of the great capital, with its numerous libraries and varied intel- lectual society, after he had established himself successfully there as a teacher of philosophy, filling, as M.. L'Eveqne describes in the article cited above, in the houses of the wealthy senators or knights of Rome the offices distributed in modern times between the professor, the preacher, and the confessor ; and throwing up all the prospects of wealth and fame thus opened to him, to spend his days in what appears to have been a frugal though hospitable simplicity of life, at his native town of Charonma. But what had Greece then to offer him, beyond her physical attractions, but memories of vanished greatness ; the glaw of departed brightness, the recollections of statesmen and orators and poets who had left no equal successors ; the monumental memorials of ages when "first freedom and then glory" had crowned her, to be followed by a time when freedom had expired beneath the tread of the Imperial fostateps, and glory had taken flight, to make her home in the Capitol ? Yet to Plutarch the past renown of Greece was not a theme of melancholy broodings, but a perpetual stimulus to honourable action. He realises completely the conviction that not the magnitude of the act, but the nobleness of the motive, consti- tutes its true merit. He praises

"Epaminondas, who being by the Thebans, through envy, in con- tempt, appointed tetrarch, did not refuse it, but said that the office did not show the man, bat the man the office, and brought the tetrarch- ate into great and honourable repute, which was before but a certain charge of the carrying the dung out of the narrow streets and lanes of the city, and turning of watercourses. Nor," he adds, ‘` do I doubt but that I myself will afford matter of laughter to many who come into this our city, being frequently seen in public employed about such matters. But that comes to my assistance which is related of Antisthenes, for when one wondered to see him carrying a piece of stook-fish through the market, ''Tis for myself,' said he. But I, on the contrary, say to those who upbraid me for being present at and overseeing the measur- ing of tiles, or the bringing in and unloading of dry stones, 'It is for my country that I perform this service.' For though he who in his own person manages and does such things for himself may be judged mean- spirited and methodical, yet if he does them for the public and for his country, he is not to be deemed sordid, but, on the contrary, his diligence and readiness, extending even to these small matters, are to be esteemed and highly valued." (Political Precepts, s. 15, v. 125.)

Again, Plutarch lived in an age when the inspiring hope of

attaining, on all matters most seriously affecting human well- being, to certainty of knowledge, which had shone, like the fiery

pillar of Jewish tradition, as a guiding light before the mental vision of Socrates and his illustrious successors, had long since given place to the antagonism of schools of philosophy, which seemed to agree only in their abuse of each other ; and gave to the principle of Scepticism, the suspense of any judgment on all the points in dispute, the appearance of profound wisdom. Yet in Plutarch we find the old conviction, that man is intended to attain and can attain a well-founded assurance of truth on all matters essential to his welfare, constituting the back-bone, so to speak, of his mind, and animating all his efforts. "Such opinions and conceits as these,—

" 'Poor virtue! thou vrast but a name, and mere jest, And I, ahead fool, did practise thee in earnest;' and for thee have quitted injustice, the way to wealth, and excess, the parent of all true pleasure,—these," he alp, in his essay on Superstition, "are the thoughts that call at once for our pity and

indignation" (1, 169). And in his discourse to an unlearned prince (4, 326), he tells him that :—

" God can but be incensed against those that presume to imitate Him in producing thunder, lightnings, and sunbeams, but if any strive to emulate his goodness and mercy, being well pleased with their endeavours, He will assist them, and will endue them with his order, justice, truth, and gentleness, than which nothing can be more sacred and pare,—not fire, not light, not the source of the sun, not the rising and setting of the stars, not even eternity and immortality itself. For God is not only happy by reason of the duration of his being, but because of the excellency of his virtue ; this is properly divine and trans- cendent, and that is also good that is governed by it."

And yet this firm faith in the reality of moral truth did not arise from ignorance of the differences of opinion prevalent in the philosophical schools, nor from any blind or fanatical adher- ence on the part of Plutarch to the " words " of some particular master. On the contrary, if we are to class his philosophy among the systems of the schools, it would have to be placed among the Eclectics rather than anywhere else. His most remarkable charac- teristic as a thinker is his encycloprelism, as the enumeration of his minor works given above shows. To his intellectual palate

no food, except the morally repulsive, seems to come amiss. His writings are a source supplying a rich store of notices as to the

opinions of those ancient writers whose ideas the loss of their own works has forced the learned ingenuity of modern times to recon- struct for itself out of the notices of them preserved in the writ- ings of others. Plutarch, like the "busy bee" of Dr. Watte's hymns, is for ever "roving from flower to flower" among the intellectual products of the rich literature of Greece, and, like his prototype in nature, it is still to gather honey. From all the contingencies of human life, from all the facts known to him, in history or biography, from the sentiments of poets, philosophers, statesmen, and war- riors, from his speculations on the origin of things and the course of the universe, from all the mysteries of existence as they lay before his own experience or were reflected in the thoughts of other men, he perpetually gathers some lemon of truthfulness, or purity, or tenderness, or nobleness ; some encouragement to wise or generous conduct, some argument against whatever is unjust, dishonourable, harsh, mean, selfish ; some reason for trust or hope, or content, or active goodness.

Mr. Emerson quotes a saying of La Harpe, that "Plutarch is the genius the most eminently moral that ever existed." It is an excellent descriptive abridgment of that which makes the great charm-of his morality,—that it is not a system of con- clusions reasoned out from any assumed basis, which leaves us in fear lest if any rift manifests itself in the foundation, the whole building should fall ; but the spontaneous overfiowings of a mind which seems to draw its utterances from the depths of humanity,— the expression of an inherent healthiness of spirit, which commu- nicates its own genial vigour to those with whom it comes into contact. We may question the accuracy of Plutarch's supposed facts in the past, or deem his anticipations of the future puerile.

We may think his logic defective, and his appreciation of systems of thought opposed to his own imperfect We may consider his judgment of some practices of his age and country toelenient.

We may refuse to submit ourselves to, his authority, but the man who can resist the " infection " of his health is not to be envied. There is nothing unsound about Plutarch. He seems to bring with him an atmosphere of calm, trustful joyousness, the native air of virtue.

It is this healthy tone of Plutarch's mind, this spontaneous affirmation of goodness, as the true characteristic of humanity, which appears to us to give to his writings an especial value at the present day, when, partly from a one-sided exercise of the faculty of analysis, partly from our habit of connecting moral truths with certain historical incidents, which must necessarily depend for their evidence on external testimony, the solid reality of the moral and religious principles in human nature, is in danger of being overlooked. From the constructive action of our imagina- tions, all natural qualities primarily present themselves to us as real objects, which have their being within themselves. Conjugal love, the love of children and parents, the love of kinsmen, the love of our country, the love of man as man, the love of truth, the sentiment of reverence, come originally before our reflective analysis more or less clothed with the concrete graces of ideal beauty, which lends them a substantive existence and power of attraction quite independent of any calculations of individual advantage. Now we believe that this primitive natural form of virtue is its true form ; that we are guided in thus embodying our moral nature into an objective existence over against ourselves by an instinct as responsive to the reality of things as is that instinct which leads us, by an analogous process, to project our sensations out of ourselves, and embody them into that external universe of assumed causes of sensation, co-existent in space and successive in time, which is at once the kingdom of common-sense and scientific research, the problem of metaphysics, and the engulphing abyss of 3ntology. But then comes in that terrible solvent faculty of

reflective analysis of which Dr. Newman has so keen a dread, and presto beneath its magic wand, the fair world of reality dis- appears. The solid universe melts into a mass of fugitive.impres- sions incomprehensibly grouped under the forms of space and time by laws where causality means only succession. And the realities of moral will and religious trust vanish in a mist of transitory advantages, attached by some incomprehensible tie to that complex succession of sensations and emotions which: we call our bodies and minds, and which make up our inconceivable but very exacting "I."

And alongside of this evaporating process there is going on another, which threatens the edifice of religious and moral trust with destruction, because those to whose care its main- tenance has been specially committed have allowed the ivy of ancient tradition to thrust its shoots freely through the crevices of the walls, and now, instead of carefully removing them, insist upon the ivy being regarded as an integral part of the walls, by those who, in their indignation at such a pretension, rudely tear the ivy away, at the risk of bringing down the walls with it. Have we not had Bishops of the Church of England re- cently identifying the faith in a Divine teaching of mankind through the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, with the

assertion that the author of Leviticus must have been unerringly taught whether or not "the hare chews the cud" ? And do we not see writer after writer measuring his expositary ingenuity against the simple meaning of the first chapter of Genesis, on the assumption that, if God did not infallibly teach the author of that venerable legend what happened .tl before the hills were brought fortb, or ever the earth and the world were made," our faith in the teaching of Christ, that the Law and the Prophets are summed up in love to God and Man, can have no solid foundation ? •

Now, against the double danger affecting religion and morality at the present day, from this tendency of philosophical speculation on the one hand, and this exaggerated importance attached to historical details on the other, the tone of Plutarch's writings, with their sound, reasonable, healthy moral sense, resting on convictions absolutely free from any of those Biblical stories which we have of late learned more or less to question, seems to us an excellent remedy. We believe that those for whom the trust in the reality of the Divine, and its manifestation within the human, is clouded over by historic doubts or analytical subtleties might do them- selves a great benefit by studying this ancient "physician of the soul," as M. L'Eveque calls him, not as a doctor to be blindly followed, but as a phenomenon to be reasonably explained,—one of whom they may ask,—what does the appearance of such a man in such an age indicate ? From what source can this serene trust, this cheerful, reasonable goodness, this hopeful contentment with existence, this hearty striving after perfection, come, if not from the depths of that eternal power of whom all the shows of the phenomenal are the perpetual revelation ?

Much, very much more, is to be said about Plutarch in relation to the schools of philosophy which preceded and followed him, and the light thrown by his works on the state of opinion and manners in his own age and country, but our space forbids us from,tonching upon these topics here. We confine ourselves, there- fore, to the matter which . has the most practical bearing on our own needs ; and shall be well satisfied if what we have said should induce any who suffer under the mental ills above noticed to seek in the pages of this genial moral philosopher a remedy for their complaint.