Complete Works of Plutarch Part 53

As rav'ning wolves that lambs or kids a.s.sail.

Bravery and constancy he shows by wild boars, panthers, and lions, dividing to each one what belongs to its nature. From boars, the onslaught they have, in fighting, making it irresistible (I. iv. 253):--

Idomeneus of courage stubborn as the forest boar.

From panthers, inexhaustible daring (I. xxi. 577):--

As when a panther by the spear transfixed does not remit her rage.

From lions, hesitation, finally bravery, as (I. xx. 171):--

And with his tail he lashes both his flanks and limbs.

Again the rush of a valiant man he likens to a horse which has had a full meal (I. vi. 506):--

As some proud steed, at well-fill'd manger fed.

And, on the contrary, one slow to move; but in endurance not easily overcome, he shows in this way (I. xi. 558):--

As near a field of corn, a stubborn a.s.s o'powers his boyish guides.

The kingly temper and dignity he expresses in the following (I. ii.

480):--

As 'mid the thronging heifers in a herd Stands, proudly eminent, the lordly bull.

He does not omit similes taken from marine creatures, the perseverance of a polypus and the difficulty of removing it from a rock (O. v.

432):--

As when the cuttlefish is dragged forth from his chamber.

The leaders.h.i.+p and prominence of the dolphin over the rest (I. xxi.

22):--

As fishes flying from a dolphin.

Oftentimes things made by men he compares to others similarly made, as in this (I. xi. 67):--

The rival bands of reapers mow the swathe.

Showing the resistance and bravery of men. But one lamenting ign.o.bly, he blames in a clear comparison (I. xvi. 7):--

Why weeps Patroelus like an infant girl?

He dared to compare human actions to the elements of nature, as in the following pa.s.sage (I. ii. 394):--

From th' applauding ranks of Greece Rose a loud sound, as when the ocean wave, Driv'n by the south wind on some lofty beach, Dashes against a prominent crag expos'd To blasts from every storm that wars around.

In these it is plain he used Hyperbola and Amplification, for he was not satisfied with comparing the clamor to the sound of the wind, but to the waves beating on a craggy sh.o.r.e, where the high sea makes the noise greater. Nor is the tempest an ordinary one, but it comes from the south, which especially stirs up the billows, and it is driven against a projecting crag stretching out into the sea, and surrounded by it, and it has the sea over it constantly, and from every side the winds blow and fall upon it. Such things as these are worked out by him in his descriptions. From a few examples we can become acquainted with many.

Let us see if the other forms of narrative are to be found in our author and how he took cognizance of them and clearly prepared them. We will give a few examples and so facilitate acquaintance with the rest.

There is the theoretic style, which embraces what is called speculative matter, which is a knowledge of the truth conceived in art. By these it is possible to know the nature of reality, both divine and human things, and to discriminate virtues and vices in morals and to learn how to attain truth by logical skill. These things are the province of those who are occupied in philosophy, which is divided into natural, ethical, and dialectical. If we find out Homer supplying the beginnings and the seeds of all these, is he not, beyond all others, worthy of admiration?

Because he shows matters of intelligence by dark sayings and mythical expressions, it ought not to be considered strange. The reason is to be found in poetic art and ancient custom. So those who desired to learn, being led by a certain intellectual pleasure, might the easier seek and find the truth, and that the unlearned might not despise what they are not able to understand. For what is indicated indirectly is stimulating, while what is said clearly is valued more moderately.

Let us begin with the beginning and creation of the whole universe, which Thales the Milesian refers to the substance water, and let us see whether Homer first discovered this when he said (I. xiv. 246):--

Even to the stream of old Ocea.n.u.s Prime origin of all.

After him Xenophanes of Colophon, laying down that the first elements were water and land, seems to have taken this conception from the Homeric poems (I. vii. 99):--

To dust and water turn all ye who here inglorious sit.

For he indicates their dissolution into the original elements of the universe. But the most likely opinion makes four elements,--fire, air, water, earth. These Homer shows he knows, as in many places he makes mention of them.

He knew, too, the order of their arrangement. We shall see that the land is the lowest of them all, for as the world is spherical, the sky, which contains all things, can reasonably be said to have the highest position. The earth being in the midst everywhere is below what surrounds it. This the poet declares chiefly in the lines where he says if Zeus let a chain down from Olympus, he could turn over the land and sea so that everything would be in the air (I. viii. 23):--

But if I choose to make my pow'r be known, The earth itself and ocean I could raise, And binding round Olympus' ridge the cord Leave them suspended so in middle air.

Although the air is around the earth, he says the ether is higher in the following lines (I. xiv. 287):--

And going up on a lofty pine, which then grew on the summit of Ida and through the air reached into the ether.

But higher than the ether is heaven (I. xvii. 424):--

And thus they fought: the iron clangor pierc'd The airless ether and brazen vault of Heaven.

And, besides, in the following (I. i. 497):--

The vapor ascended to the great heaven and to Olympus.

The top part of the air is finer and more distant from the earth and its exhalations. Therefore it is said Olympus is called "wholly s.h.i.+ning."

Where the poet says Hera is the wife of Zeus, although she is his sister, he seems to speak in an allegory, since Hera stands for the air, which is a humid substance. Therefore he says (I. xxi. 6):--

Hera spread before their path clouds of thick darkness.

By Zeus is signified the ether, that is the fiery and heated substance (I. xv. 192):--

Broad Heav'n amid the sky and clouds, to Jove.

They seem brother and sister on account of a certain likeness and relations.h.i.+p, because both are light and mobile; they dwell together and are intimate, because from their intercourse all things are generated.

Therefore they meet in Ida, and the land produces for them plants and flowers.

The same explanation have those words in which Zeus says he will, hang Hera and fasten two weights to her feet, namely, the land and the sea.

He works out especially the principles of the elements in what Poseidon says to him (I. xv. 187):--

We were brethren, all of Rhaea born To Saturn: Jove and I and Pluto third, Who o'er the nether regions holds his sway,

and (I. xv. 189):--