Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
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"<br />
When<br />
Plutarch <strong>and</strong> the Greece <strong>of</strong> His Age<br />
Plutarch, whoso fame as<br />
biographer has, I think,<br />
unduly eclipsed his reputation as a moralist, may be<br />
justly regarded as the leader <strong>of</strong> this movement, <strong>and</strong><br />
his moral writings may be pr<strong>of</strong>itably compared with<br />
1 hose <strong>of</strong> Seneca, the most ample exponent <strong>of</strong> the sterner<br />
school. Seneca is not unfreqiicntly self-conscious,<br />
theatrical, <strong>and</strong> over strained. His precepts have<br />
something <strong>of</strong> the affected ring <strong>of</strong> a popular preacher.<br />
The imperfect fusion <strong>of</strong> his short sentences gives his<br />
style a disjointed <strong>and</strong>. so to speak, granulated charac<br />
ter, which the emperor Caligula happily expressed<br />
when he compared it to s<strong>and</strong> without cement; yet he<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten rises to a majesty <strong>of</strong> eloquence, a gr<strong>and</strong>eur<br />
both <strong>of</strong> thought <strong>and</strong> expression, that few moralists<br />
have ever rivaled.<br />
Plutarch, though far less sublime,<br />
is more sustained, equable <strong>and</strong> uniformly pleasing.<br />
The Montaigne <strong>of</strong> antiquity, his genius coruscates<br />
playfully <strong>and</strong> gracefully around his subject; he de<br />
lights in illustrations which are <strong>of</strong>ten singularly<br />
vivid <strong>and</strong> original, but which by their excessive mul<br />
tiplication appear sometimes rather the texture than<br />
the ornament <strong>of</strong> his discourse. A gentle, tender spirit,<br />
<strong>and</strong> a judgment equally free from paradox, exagger<br />
ation, <strong>and</strong> excessive subtilty, are characteristics <strong>of</strong> all<br />
he wrote. Plutarch excels most in collecting mo<br />
tives <strong>of</strong> consolation; Seneca in forming characters that<br />
need no consolation. There is something <strong>of</strong> the wo<br />
man in Plutarch; Seneca is all man.* The writings<br />
"<br />
* Plutarch, after the death <strong>of</strong> his daughter; was writ<br />
ing a letter <strong>of</strong> consolation to his wife, we find him turning away<br />
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