Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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Plutarch and the Greece of His Age than ever before, men still feel themselves the sport of unseen forces and powers that often seem to be malevolent or benevolent for no discoverable reason, and which, it is hard to believe, are not controlled by a supernal will. Plutarch s merits as a historical writer are seriously impaired by his readiness to believe everything that comes to him through tradition or record. Still one ought not to blame him for not being what he does not profess to be. His main purpose is not to attain historical truth, but to discover what will "point a moral, or adorn a tale/ Had he been other than he was he would never have been so assiduously read. Plutarch fully recognized the importance family of the in the social fabric. This is the more to his credit for the reason that the trend of public opinion was against him in this respect. All the evidence we have goes to show that he was a judicious father, a loving husband, a dutiful son, and an affectionate brother. He is thus a zealous defender of the virtues he himself exemplified. A knowledge of his char acter, as shown by his conduct, contributes not a little to the pleasure the modern reader finds in the perusal of his pages. How often, alas! do we discover on closer examination a great gulf between what men write and what they do! How often does a knowledge of the private life of a great writer mar the interest we take in what he writes! Though a man of kind heart and polished manners, judged by the standard of his time, Plutarch was no 124
eformer. Plutarch and the Greece of His Age Indeed, no reform was possible by means of his didactic method. He does not denounce vigourously the corruptions of his time. He is far from employing the drastic speech of his Roman contemporaries. It is probable that in his secluded home he did not know or even suspect the moral degradation of the world around him; it is certain he had not fathomed it. He knows something of the Jewish religion, and might have known more, had he cared to inform himself. He might have heard Paul s preaching; and Christianity had gained a firm foothold in Greece before Plutarch s death. But he was too much of a Greek to take any interest in what had no relation either to Greek religion or tradition. The new faith in virtue of its origin, was foolishness to him. He considered the Hellenic religion good enough for anybody and everybody. It might indeed need purification from some of its grosser elements and exotic excrescences; but more than this was wholly unnecessary. Nothing that Plutarch says exhibits in a more striking light the humaneness of his disposition than his exhortations to the kind treatment of brutes. He believes that the good man is kind to his beast. He regards it a duty to care for the horse and the dog that have served him well, when they become old and useless. He seems to think that animals are not without a measure of reason and that they have to a limited extent, the power to decide between right and wrong. Though possessed of only a modi- 125
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THEQL STACK
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Between Heathenism and Christianity
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" PREFACE. It is admitted by s
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Preface In the following pages I ha
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CONTENTS, ....... PAGE. PBEFAOE ...
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SENECA: HIS CHARACTER AND ENVIRONME
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" " Seneca: His Character
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Seneca: His Character and Environme
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" No Seneca: His Character and
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" Seneca: His Character and En
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" The Seneca: His Character an
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SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SEN
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Selections from the Writings of Sen
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Page 77 and 78: Selections from the Writings of Sen
Page 83 and 84: De Providentia untouched, I shall u
Page 85 and 86: " Why De Providentia gence and
Page 87 and 88: De Providentia may gain real streng
Page 89 and 90: De Providentia enough for the immor
Page 91 and 92: De Providentia down his arms forthw
Page 93 and 94: De Providentia well-known exemplar
Page 95 and 96: De Providentia prove by these thing
Page 97 and 98: De Provldenda to thee when thou wer
Page 99 and 100: <J5 De Providentia ingly the
Page 101 and 102: De Providentia V. Add, now, that it
Page 103 and 104: De Providentia nor am I God s slave
Page 105 and 106: " " Good De Providentia I
Page 107 and 108: " " count what others lon
Page 109 and 110: " For De Providentia found in
Page 111 and 112: De Providentia "The first whic
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Page 115 and 116: " Plutarch and the Greece of H
Page 127: Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
Page 167 and 168: " " The Delay of the Deit
Page 169 and 170: " To The Delay of the Deity wi
Page 171 and 172: The Delay of the Deity vices, He ad
Page 173 and 174: The Delay of the Deity nature, to h
Page 175 and 176: The Delay of the Deity may turn to
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The Delay of the Deity Sikyonians a
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" We The Delay of the Deity ag
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The Delay of the Deity are allowed
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The Delay of the Deity 11. If then
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" " " The Delay of t
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The Delay of the Deity wished might
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" " The Delay of the Deit
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The Delay of the Deity to what is p
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The Delay of the Deity son from his
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" You " Do " "
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The Delay of the Deity conjured up
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Pindar says? 197 The Delay of the D
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The Delay of the Deity to be a vill
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" " The Delay of the Deit
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The Delay of the Deity distances fr
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The Delay of the Deity the souls of
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The Delay of the Deity cation and p
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The Delay of the Deity the white. H
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The Delay of the Deity offer suppli
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The Delay of the Deityfalling into
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" " " The Delay of t
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The Delay of the Deity is intrinsic
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Appendix VOLUME III. De E apud Delp
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Appendix cited by their Latin title
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