The authenticity of this dia-
logue has been ably attacked by Bockh, with whom
Socher agrees.
logue has been ably attacked by Bockh, with whom
Socher agrees.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
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org/access_use#pd-google
? PT iTO
PLATO.
Sjiiy developed, are so well disciplined and disposed,
'. hat nothing jarring or discordant, nothing uneven or
irregular, is ever perceived in them. And so in the
larger type, a perfect polity is that in which the same
proportion and fitness are observed; in which the dif-
ferent orders of society move in their own sphere, and
do only their appointed work; in which intellect gov-
erns, and strength and passion submit; that is, coun-
cellors advise, soldiers make war, and the labouring
classes employ themselves in their humble, but neces-
sity and productive calling. The division of labour is
? fundamental principle of Plato's legislation, and is
enforced by very severe penalties. He considers it as
in the highest degree absurd, as out of all reason and
proportion, that one man should pretend to be good at
many things. --On the other hand, the most fearfully
depraved condition of society is that which Polybius
calls an ochlocracy; an anarchy of jacobins and sans-
culottes, where every passion breaks loose in wild dis-
order, and no law is obeyed, no right respected, no de-
corum observed; where young men despise their se-
niors, and old men affect the manners of youth, and
children are disobedient to their parents, wives to their
husbands, slaves to their masters. The justice of
which he speaks is not, therefore, the single cardinal
virtue known by that name. It is not commutative
justice, nor retributive justice, nor (except, perhaps,
in a qualified sense) distributive justice. It does not
consist in mere outward conformity or specific acts.
Its scat is in the inmost mind; its influence is the
music of the soul; it makes the whole nature of the
true philosopher a concert of disciplined affections, a
choir of virtues attuned to the most perfect accord
among themselves, and falling in with the mysterious
and everlasting harmonics of heaven and earth. --This
general idea is still farther illustrated by the scheme
of education in Plato's Republic. It is extremely sim-
ple; for young men it consists only of music and gym-
nastics; for adepts of an advanced age, it is the study
of truth, pure truth, the good, the to Sv, the divine
monad, the one eternal, unchangeable. It is in the
third book that he orders the former division of the
scheme. It is necessary to cultivate with equal care
both the parts of which it is composed, and to allow of
no excess or imperfection in either. They who are
addicted exclusively to music become effeminate and
slothful; they, on the other hand, who only discipline
their nature by the exercises of the gymnasium, be-
come rude and savage. This music, as Tiedemann
observes, is mystic and mathematical. Pythagoras
and Plato thought everything musical of divine origin.
--God gave us these great correctives of the soul and
of the body, not for the sake of either separately, but
that all their powers, and functions, and impulses,
should be fully brought out into action; and, above
all. be harmonized into mutual assistance and perfect
unison. Plato's whole method and discipline is di-
rected to this end. He banishes from his ideal terri-
tory the Lydian and Ionic measures as ' softly sweet'
and wanton, while he retains, for certain purposes, the
grave Dorian mood, and the spirit-stirring Phrygian.
So, in like manner, lie expels all the poets except the
didactic, with Homer at their head. The tragic poets
were, in reference to moral education, especially of-
fensive to him. In conformity with the same princi-
ple, be proscribes all manner of deliciousness and ex-
cess, Sicilian feasts, and Corinthian girls, and A'. tic
? ? dainties, as leading to corruption of manners, and to
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? PLATO.
PLATO
? be subjects or critical scepti-ism, since Schlelcrma-1 this of the Laws that called oft' the alteol. on of ihm
. ? hei thought he had discovered in some of them what author from his design of writing the Hermogem,. i
Diogenes Laertius informs us (3, 37), that Plato died
before publishing his Laws, and that Philip of Opus,
one of his disciples, gave to the world the manuscript,
which he found among his master's tablets. Thh
was not characteristic of Plato, and since Ast has re-
acted them all indiscriminately. --15. Knpuv $ nepi
tfouudtolur (iitXia it', '-Twelve books of Laws, or con-
cerning Legislation. " This work has, until lately,
Veen regarded as that production of antiquity which
moat distinguishes itself by the importance of ita sub-
ject, and the richness of the materials connected with
it; aa that in which the philosopher, abandoning the
paths of imagination, enters into those of real life, and
jnfolds a part of bis system, the putting of which into
practice he considered as possible; for it cannot but
be admitted that the Laws are to be viewed as the
production of Plato's old age. Bockh makes the work
to have been written in Plato's seventy-fourth year (ad
M. n , p. 73). Plato here traces the basis of a legis-
lation less idoal, and more conformable to the weak-
ness of human nature, than that which he had given
in his Republic. The scene of the dialogue is laid in
the island of Crete. The author criticises the codes
of Minos and Lycurgus, as having no other object in
view but the formation of warriors. He shows thai
? he object of a legislator ought to be to maintain the
freedom and union of the citizens, and to establish a
wise form of government. Examining the different
forms of government that had existed in Greece or
other countries, he exposes their several defects. In
the course of these remarks, he traces, in hia third
book, a character of Cyrus far different from that
which Xenophon has left. It is commonly supposed
that Plato wished, in so doing, to retaliate on Xeno-
phon, whose Cyropirdia appeared to him to hare been
directed against the first two books of his Republic.
Bockh, however, has written against this opinion.
(De Si mult ale. quam Plato cum Xenophonte excr-
cuisse fcrtur, Bcrol. , 1811. ) After these preliminary
observations, the philosopher enters more directly on
his subject in the fourth book. He treats at first of
the worship of the gods, the basis of every well-regu-
lated slate. The fifth book contains the elements
of social order, the duties of children towards their
parents, of parents towards their children, the duties
of citizens and of strangers. He then considers
the political form of the state that is to be founded.
Plato, if he is the author of the work, renounces in it
all the chimeras of his youth, the community of prop-
erty, and of women and children. In the sixth book
be treats of magistrates, of the laws of marriage, of
slavery; in the seventh of the education of children;
in the eighth of public festivals and of commerce; in
the ninth of crimes; in the tenth of religion; in the
eleventh of contracts, testaments, <Stc. ; in the twelfth
of various topics, such as military discipline, oaths,
right of property, prescription, &c. --Every page of
the Laws is in contradiction to the Republic. Never-
theless, the Laws existed in the time of Aristotle; and
this philosopher, who cites them by name, expresses
no doubts whatever as to their authenticity. The dif-
ference of style between this work and some other
productions of Plato may be easily explained by the
difference pf age. Ast objects, that Plato himself de-
clares the Republic, Timasus, and Critias to be his
? ? hut works, and that after thia he will write a dialogue,
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? PLATO
. PLATO
If tfl , 1826 "1--20. AiVif, >) nc(. i fiAiac, "Lysis, or
roncerning Friendship. " The authjr here treats, with-
ju*. eomiiig lo any decision, a questi >n which has oc-
cupied much of the attention both of ancient and mod-
ern philosophers, namely, "What produces friend-
ship and love? " (Plato's and Aristotle's ideas on
friendship arc finely given by Bouterwek, in the fourth
volume of the "Neuen Vesta. ") According to Dio-
genes Laerlius (3, 24), Socrates, on hearing this dia-
logue read, exclaimed, "By Hercules! how many
thinga does this young man falsely report of me! "
Hence it appears to have been the work of Plato's
youth. Schleiermaeher regards this dialogue as au-
thentic. Ast and Socher reject it. --21. 'AAK(67<i6i/r
6 ucifcv, r) irtpl ^ieeuc uvBpiirroii, "The first (or
greater) Alcibiades, or concerning the Nature of Man. "
The second member of this title, added by the com-
mentators, does not suit the subject. The dialogue
has reference merely to Alcibiades, who, young and
presumptuous, without knowledge and without experi-
ence, is on the point of presenting himself before the
people to be employed in the government of the state.
Socrates directs him to study first the principles of
law and politics. The end of this piece is to show
the true nature of the attachment which Socrates had
for this young man, an attachment which made him
so desirous of correcting his faults. --As Socrates, in
the course of this dialogue, compares the Deity to
light, certain commentators have discovered in this
expression the germe, as they think, of the system. of
emanation, in which God is light and matter is dark-
ness. --Schleiermaeher considers this production as
supposititious. --22. \Xm6uidnc /)', y mpi irpooevxyc,
"The second Alcibiades, or concerning Prayer. " Soc-
rates shows Alcibiades the emptiness and inconsist-
ency of the prayers which mortals address to the di-
vinity, unable as they are to tell whether the things
for which they pray will turn to their advantage or
cot. Socher declares against this dialogue. --23.
tievt^cvoc, f/ iniTufyioc, "Mcnezenus. or the Funeral
Dration. " This funeral oration, in honour of those
Athenians who had died for their country, is put in
the mouth of Aspasia, and is supposed to have been
an extemporaneous production on her part. The end
of Plato, in composing this satirical piece, was, with-
out doubt, to show that oratory was not a very diffi-
cult art. Bockh very acutely maintains, in his com-
mentary on the Minos, that Plato, in many of his dia-
logues, comes forth in a polemic attitude against the
celebrated Lvsias, and especially in his Mcnexenus.
(Bockh. adMin. , p. 182, seqq ) The events connect-
ed with the history of Athens, which are alluded to in
the course of this dialogue, reach to the peace of An-
talcidas, concluded fourteen years after the death of
Socrates. This anachronism, which may be pardoned
in a satirical production, has nevertheless induced
Schleiermaeher to regard as supposititious the begin-
ning and end of the dialogue. Schlciermacher's opin-
ion, which is also that of Ast, and which was first
started by Schlegel, in Wieland's Attische Museum
(vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 2C2, seqq. ), has found an opponent
in Loers, in his edition of the Menexenus, Colon.
Agripp. , 1824. --24. Adxnc, i? Trepl avipeiac, "Laches,
or concerning Bravery. " The author shows that it is
difficult to say what bravery properly is: his principal
Object, however, is to enforce the necessity of not
confining the education of the young to mere bodily
? ? exercises. --25. 'Ijrjrtar juiCuv, 7 irepi tov koJiov,
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? PLATO.
PLATO.
tl Halicaruassus calls this production a ec'. ogium un i
"It the form of an apology (cd. Rcisle, vol. 5, p. 21)5,
808). Bockh maintains, tha-> Plato wrote the "De-
fence of Socrates" in a spirit of rivalry towards the
one composed by Lysias; and he refers to Plutarci
(X Oral. Vit. --Op. , ed. Reiske, vol. 9, p. 324). Ast,
>n the contrary, remarks that Plutarch appears rather
to have had in his eye the oration of Lysiaa mentioned
in the Phsedrus. 'Bockh, ad Min. , p. 182. --Ast, Pla-
tans Leben, dec, p. 492. -- Compare Beck, Comment.
Societ. Philolog. Lips. , vol. 4, pt. I, p. 28. )--30.
Kpi'ruv, 7 Ttepi itpoKTeoi, "Crito, or concerning the
Duty of a Citizen. " The scene of this dialogue be-
tween Crito and Socrates is in the prison where the
latter is confined, during the interval between his con-
demnation and death. Crito advises him to fly, and
hint* that the keeper of the prison has been bribed by
him, and that all things are ready for his escape. Soc-
rates, on the other hand, maintains that it is not allow-
ed a citizen to withdraw himself from that authority
*hich has power over him, nor to break the tacit com-
pact by which he has bound himself to obey the laws
of his country. Not only Ast, but another writer also,
has attacked the authenticity of this dialogue. {Del-
truck, Sokratcs, Kiln. , 1819,8vo. ) It has found, how-
ever, vigorous supporters in Thiersch, Socher, and Brc-
mi. (Philologische Beytrage ausderSchweiz. , Zurich,
1819, 8vo, p. 143. )--31. Qeaync, fj Ttepi ooipiac, " The-
zges, or concerning Wisdom. " Demodocus having
brought to Socrates his son Theages, desirous of learn-
ing that kind of wisdom by which one is lilted for gov-
erning the state, Socrates declines the proposal, on the
ground that he has not yet heard the voice of his Ge-
nius, without whose approbation nothing that he might
undertake would auccced. The end of the dialogue
is to show that the method of Socrates differs from that
of the sophists, in that the former gives no regular in-
struction to his disciples, but forms them to virtue in
bis society and by his converse. This dialogue con-
tains some very line passages. Schlciermacher re-
gards it as supposititious. --32. 'AvTtpaorai, "The
Rivals," also entitled 'Kpaorai, $ wept <j>i\ooo$iac,
"The Lovers, or concerning Philosophy. " A very
feeble dialogue, the object of which is to show that
Socrates estimated virtue and justice above every-
thing else, and cared very little for purely speculative
researches. --33. '\Ttizapxoe, fi ^iXoxepdijc, " Hippar-
chut, or the Lover of Gain. " This dialogue, which is
very probably mutilated, is deficient in plan. It treats
of the false ideas that men entertain respecting the ac-
quisition and love of gain. The author advances in
the course of it some historical paradoxes. Socher,
who defends several dialogues against the attacks of
Sctileiermacher and Ast, acknowledges, with them,
and also with Wolf (Prolegom. ad Horn. , p. cliv. ), that
this is not one of Plato's productions Valckcnaer
{ad Herod. , 5, f)5) had already expressed the same
opinion. -- 34. Mt'vor, fj Ttepi vouov, " Minos, or con-
cerning Law. " Socrates discourses, in this dialogue,
with a certain Minos on the nature of law, which he
lakes, in its most extended sense, as the rule of all our
actions. We here find the first elements of the doc-
trine of modern philosophers respecting the law of na-
ture and the moral law.
The authenticity of this dia-
logue has been ably attacked by Bockh, with whom
Socher agrees. (Bockh, Comment, in Platonis dialog.
? i vutgo inscribitur Min. , cVc, Hahe, 1806, 4to )--
? ? . K? . et"04K. "'V, fj irpoTpexTtKoc, " Clitophon, or the Ex-
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? PLATO
P LA
"v Plato to Sicilv, and to the intrigues of which this
stand was the theatre, in consequence of the tyranny
of the younger Dionysius and the movements of Dion.
The correspondence in question appears to have been
published by some of the followers of Plato with the
view of exculpating their master and themselves from
the charge of fomenting troubles in Syracuse. Cicero
seems to have entertained no doubt of these letters
being genuine, and he cites one of them as "prttclara
eputola Platonit. " (Tutc. Disp . 5, 35. ) The fol-
lowing modern scholars have denied their authenticity:
Mcincrs, CommeiUat. Soc. , Goit. , 1783, p. 51, tcqq. --
Gruddcck,Lileratur-Guchichle. --Ticdemann, Griech-
enlands ertle Philotophcn, p. 476, ttqq. --Alt, Pin-
ion* Leben und Schriften, p. 376, teqq. -- Socher,
Veber Platon* Schriften, Munchtn, 1820. --In de-
fence of their genuineness we may name, Schlotttr,
Plato* Briefe uhertetzt (Schmid und Sncll, Philot.
Journ. , vol. 2, p. 3, Gietten, 1795). --Tennemann,
Lchrcn und Mcinungen der Sokratiker, p. 17, *eqq.
--Id. , System der Plat. Philot. , p. 106, ttqq. --Mor-
gtnsltrn, Entuntrf von Plato* Leben, etc. --Grimm,
Ve Epistolit Platonis, an genuinct vcl tupposilititz
tint, Berol. , 1815. --We have six lives of Plato re-
maining, three others by Speusippus, Porphyry, and
Aristoxenus being lost. The most ancient of these
six lives is that by Apuleius, in the first book of his
work, "De habitudine doctrinarum -( de nativitate
Platoni*. " The other five are written in Greek; of
these, one is by Diogenes Laertius, and is found in
Jie third book of his compilation; another is by Olym-
piodorus, and is given at the head of his commentary on
the first Alcibiades; the third is by Hesychius of Mi-
letus; the fourth and fifth are anonymous. All these
lives are scanty and crowded with fables. Two of the
best modern biographies of the philosopher are those
of Tennemann and Ast. The former of these has
been translated by the Rev. Mr. Edwards, professor
in the Theological Seminary at Andover, and forms
part of a work, entitled " Selection* from German Lit-
erature, by B. B. Edioardt and E. A. Park, Prqfct-
tort Tkeol. Sent. Andmer," 1839. Valuable mate-
rials have been obtained by us, from this, for our bi-
ographical sketch of Plato. The commentaries on
Plato are still numerous, though very many have been
last. A Platonic Lexicon by Timaeus has come down
to us, of which Ruhnken published an excellent edi-
tion in 1754; and to the same modern scholar we
owe the publication of some valuable Platonic scholia
(Lugi. Bat, 1800, Rvo). A new edition of the Lex-
icon of Timaeus, by Koch, appeared from the Leipsic
press in 1828. --Of the MSS. of Plato, two possess
great value on account of their early date. One of
these belongs to the tenth century, and is at present in
the Royal Library at Paris, being known among its
collection of MSS. as No. 1807. The other is the
celebrated one brought over from Groece by Dr.
Clarke, the well-known traveller. It is now in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford. This is the earlier of
the two, having been written in 896 A. D. It contains
the first twenty-four dialogues, with the titles precisely
as they are given in the Basic edition of 1534. In the
margin are written scholia in a very ancient hand.
The MS. is on vellum. In 1812, Professor Guisford
published an account of it, in his " Catalogue, tint
\olitia Manutcriptorum. quiacel. E. D. Clarke com-
parali, in Bibliotkcca Bodleiana adtcrvantur," etc. ,
? ? Oxen. , 1812, its. In 1820, the same scholar publish-
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? PLA
PLAUTUS.
charged with having made use of his exorbitant power
to oppress the people, and to excite the vindictive
passions of his master. By the marriage of his daugh-
ter Plautilla with Caracalia, who had already, for some
years, enjoyed the rank of Augustus, he obtained ad-
mittance into the imperial household; where his pride,
and the influence which he possessed over the emper-
or, rendered him an object of suspicion and dislike.
Being it last accused privately to the emperor of aim-
ing at the succession, he was slain by a soldier, at the
order of Caracalia, in the presence of Severus. Plau-
tilla wan banished by Severus, along with her brother
Plautus, to the island of Lipara, where, seven years
after, she was put to death by order of Caracalia, A. D.
311. (Herodtan, 3, 10. --Dio Cass. , 76, 14, seqq. --
Spar Han. , Vit. Sev. )
Plautus, M. Accius, a celebrated comic poet, the
son of a freedman, and born at Sarsina, a town of l. 'm-
bria, about 525 A. U. C. He was called Plautus from
his splay-feet, a defect common to the Umbrians.
Having turned his attention to the stage, he soon
realized a considerable fortune by the popularity of his
dramas; but, by risking it in trade, or spending it, ac-
cording to others, on the splendid theatrical drosses
which he wore as an actor, and theatrical amusements
being little resorted to on account of the famine then
prevailing at Rome, he was quickly reduced to such
necessity as forced him to labour in a mill for his
daily support. (Aulas Gcllius, N. A. , 3, 3. ) Many
of his plays were written in these unfavourable cir-
cumstances, and, of course, have not obtained all tho
perfection which might otherwise have resulted from
nis increased knowledge of life and his long practice
in the dramatic art. Twenty plays of this writer have
come down to us. But, besides these, a number of
comedies now lost have been attributed to him. Au-
Ins Gellius (A'. A. , 3, 3) mentions that there were
about a hundred and thirty plays which, in his age,
passed under the name of Plautus; and of these nearly
forty titles, with a few scattered fragments, still remain.
I'rom the time of Varro to that of Aulus Gellius, it
seems to have been a subject of considerable discus-
sion what plays were genuine; and it appears that the
best-informed critics had come to the conclusion that
a great proportion of those comedies which vulgarly
passed for the productions of Plautus were spurious.
Such a vast number were probably ascribed to him
from his being the head and founder of a great dramat-
ic school; so that those pieces which he had, perhaps,
merely retouched, came to be wholly attributed to his
pen. "There ia no doubt," says Aulus Gellius, "but
that those plays, which seem not to have been written
by Plautus, but were ascribed to him, were by certain
ancient poets, and afterward retouched and polished
by him. " Even those comedies written in the same
taste with his came to be termed Fabtdaz Plauttna or
Plautiana, in the same way as we still speak of ,-fcso-
pian fable and Homeric verse, "Plautus quidem,"
says Macrobius, "ea re clams fv. it, tit post mortem
? qv* comeedia, qua inccrta ferebantur, Plauttna tamen
esse, de jocomm copia, agnoscercntur. " (Sat. , 2, 1. )
It is thus evident, that a sufficient number of jests
? tamped a dramatic piece as a production of Plautus
in the opinion of the multitude. But Gellius farlher
mentions, that there was a certain writer of comedies
ivhose vame was Plautius, and whose plays, having
? is inscription Plauii, were considered as by Plautus,
? ? ? lien they were, in fact, named not Plautina from
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? PLAUTUS.
PL. K
easing and artless to those Romans who lived in an
ge of excessive refinement and cultivation; but this
apparent merit was rather accidental than the effect
of poetic art. Making, however, some allowance for
this, there can be no doubt that Plautus wonderfully
improved and refined the Latin language Irom the rude
form to which it ha<<" been moulded by Ennius. That
he should have effected such an alteration is not a little
remarkable. Plautus was nearly contemporary with
the Father of Roman song; according to most ac-
counts, he was bom a slave; he was condemned, du-
ring a great part of his life, to the drudgery of the low-
est manual labour; and, as far as we leam, he was
not distinguished by the patronage of the great, nor
admitted into patrician society. Ennius, on the other
hand, if he did not pass his life in affluence, spent it
in the exercise of an honourable profession, and was
the chosen and familiar friend of Cato, Scipio Africa-
nus, Fulvius Nobilior, and Lslius, the most learned
and polished citizens of the Roman republic, whose
unrestrained conversation and intercourse must have
bestowed on him advantages which Plautus never en-
joyed. But perhaps the circumstance of his Greek
original, which contributed so much to his learning
and refinement, and qualified him for such exalted so-
ciety, may have been unfavourable to that native pu-
rity of Latin diction, which the Umbrian slave imbibed
from the unmixed fountains of conversation and na-
ture. --The chief excellence of Plautus is generally
reputed to consist in the wit and comic force of his
dialogue; and, accordingly, the lines in Horace's Art
of Poetry, in which he derides the ancient Romans for
having foolishly admired the "Plautmos sales," have
been the subject of much reprehension among critics.
That tho wit of Plautus often degenerates into buf-
foonery, scurrility, and quibbles, sometimes even into
obscenity; and that, in his constant attempts at mer-
riment, he too often tries to excite laughter by exag-
gerated expressions as well as by extravagant actions,
cannot, indeed, he denied. This was partly owing to
the '. :. . . ncnaity of the Roman theatres and to the masks
sf the actors, which must have rendered caricature
and grotesque inventions essential to the production
of that due effect which, with such scenic apparatus,
could not be created unless by overstepping the mod-
esty of nature. It must always be recollected, that
the plays of Plautus were written solely to be repre-
sented, and not to be read. Even in modern times,
and subsequent to the invention of printing, the great-
est dramatists, Shakspeare, for example, cared little
about the publication of their plays; and in every age
or country in which dramatic poetry has flourished, it
has been intended for public representation, and adapt-
ed to the tastes of a promiscuous audience. In the
days of Plautus, the smiles of the polite critic were
not enough for a Latin comedian, because in those
daye there were few polite critics at Rome; he re-
quired the shouts and laughter of the multitude, who
could be fully gratified only by the broadest grins of
comedy. Accordingly, many of the jests of Plautus
are such as might be expected from a writer anxious
to accommodate himself to the taste of the times, and
naturally catching the spirit of ribaldry which then
prevailed. It being, then, the great object of Plautus
to excite the merriment of the rabble, he, of course,
was little anxious about the strict preservation of the
dramatic unities; and it was a greater object with him
? ? to bring a striking scene into view, than to preserve
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? PLI
PLiNIUS.
B question moved away from its own constellation,
and became the third or middle one in the tail of the
Greater Bear, where it received the name of'AAwmjf,
"the Fox. " (Ideler, Sternnamcn, p. 145. )--From
their rising in the spring, the Pleiades were called by
the Romans Vergilia. (Feslus. -- Isidor. , Orig. ,3,
70. ) This constellation appears to have been one of
the earliest that were observed b) . nc Greeks. It is
mentioned by Homer (II. , 18, 483, seqq. -- 0(2. , 5,
272, seqq. ); and in Hesiod an acquaintance with it is
supposed to be so widely spread, that the daily la-
bours of the farmer can be determined by its rising
and setting. (He:, Op. et IK 383, 615. ) The met-
rical form of the name is UTj/. tjidicc and ttckcitldee,
and hence some have been led into the erroneous opin-
ion, that the name of the constellation was derived
from xt'Acia, a "pigeon" or "dove," in allusion to the
fancied appearance of the cluster. (Schwcnk, Mylhol.
Skixx. ,p. 2. )--The Pleiades are assigned on the ce-
lestial sphere to a position in the rear of Taurus. (Hy-
gin. . Poet. Astron.
? PT iTO
PLATO.
Sjiiy developed, are so well disciplined and disposed,
'. hat nothing jarring or discordant, nothing uneven or
irregular, is ever perceived in them. And so in the
larger type, a perfect polity is that in which the same
proportion and fitness are observed; in which the dif-
ferent orders of society move in their own sphere, and
do only their appointed work; in which intellect gov-
erns, and strength and passion submit; that is, coun-
cellors advise, soldiers make war, and the labouring
classes employ themselves in their humble, but neces-
sity and productive calling. The division of labour is
? fundamental principle of Plato's legislation, and is
enforced by very severe penalties. He considers it as
in the highest degree absurd, as out of all reason and
proportion, that one man should pretend to be good at
many things. --On the other hand, the most fearfully
depraved condition of society is that which Polybius
calls an ochlocracy; an anarchy of jacobins and sans-
culottes, where every passion breaks loose in wild dis-
order, and no law is obeyed, no right respected, no de-
corum observed; where young men despise their se-
niors, and old men affect the manners of youth, and
children are disobedient to their parents, wives to their
husbands, slaves to their masters. The justice of
which he speaks is not, therefore, the single cardinal
virtue known by that name. It is not commutative
justice, nor retributive justice, nor (except, perhaps,
in a qualified sense) distributive justice. It does not
consist in mere outward conformity or specific acts.
Its scat is in the inmost mind; its influence is the
music of the soul; it makes the whole nature of the
true philosopher a concert of disciplined affections, a
choir of virtues attuned to the most perfect accord
among themselves, and falling in with the mysterious
and everlasting harmonics of heaven and earth. --This
general idea is still farther illustrated by the scheme
of education in Plato's Republic. It is extremely sim-
ple; for young men it consists only of music and gym-
nastics; for adepts of an advanced age, it is the study
of truth, pure truth, the good, the to Sv, the divine
monad, the one eternal, unchangeable. It is in the
third book that he orders the former division of the
scheme. It is necessary to cultivate with equal care
both the parts of which it is composed, and to allow of
no excess or imperfection in either. They who are
addicted exclusively to music become effeminate and
slothful; they, on the other hand, who only discipline
their nature by the exercises of the gymnasium, be-
come rude and savage. This music, as Tiedemann
observes, is mystic and mathematical. Pythagoras
and Plato thought everything musical of divine origin.
--God gave us these great correctives of the soul and
of the body, not for the sake of either separately, but
that all their powers, and functions, and impulses,
should be fully brought out into action; and, above
all. be harmonized into mutual assistance and perfect
unison. Plato's whole method and discipline is di-
rected to this end. He banishes from his ideal terri-
tory the Lydian and Ionic measures as ' softly sweet'
and wanton, while he retains, for certain purposes, the
grave Dorian mood, and the spirit-stirring Phrygian.
So, in like manner, lie expels all the poets except the
didactic, with Homer at their head. The tragic poets
were, in reference to moral education, especially of-
fensive to him. In conformity with the same princi-
ple, be proscribes all manner of deliciousness and ex-
cess, Sicilian feasts, and Corinthian girls, and A'. tic
? ? dainties, as leading to corruption of manners, and to
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? PLATO.
PLATO
? be subjects or critical scepti-ism, since Schlelcrma-1 this of the Laws that called oft' the alteol. on of ihm
. ? hei thought he had discovered in some of them what author from his design of writing the Hermogem,. i
Diogenes Laertius informs us (3, 37), that Plato died
before publishing his Laws, and that Philip of Opus,
one of his disciples, gave to the world the manuscript,
which he found among his master's tablets. Thh
was not characteristic of Plato, and since Ast has re-
acted them all indiscriminately. --15. Knpuv $ nepi
tfouudtolur (iitXia it', '-Twelve books of Laws, or con-
cerning Legislation. " This work has, until lately,
Veen regarded as that production of antiquity which
moat distinguishes itself by the importance of ita sub-
ject, and the richness of the materials connected with
it; aa that in which the philosopher, abandoning the
paths of imagination, enters into those of real life, and
jnfolds a part of bis system, the putting of which into
practice he considered as possible; for it cannot but
be admitted that the Laws are to be viewed as the
production of Plato's old age. Bockh makes the work
to have been written in Plato's seventy-fourth year (ad
M. n , p. 73). Plato here traces the basis of a legis-
lation less idoal, and more conformable to the weak-
ness of human nature, than that which he had given
in his Republic. The scene of the dialogue is laid in
the island of Crete. The author criticises the codes
of Minos and Lycurgus, as having no other object in
view but the formation of warriors. He shows thai
? he object of a legislator ought to be to maintain the
freedom and union of the citizens, and to establish a
wise form of government. Examining the different
forms of government that had existed in Greece or
other countries, he exposes their several defects. In
the course of these remarks, he traces, in hia third
book, a character of Cyrus far different from that
which Xenophon has left. It is commonly supposed
that Plato wished, in so doing, to retaliate on Xeno-
phon, whose Cyropirdia appeared to him to hare been
directed against the first two books of his Republic.
Bockh, however, has written against this opinion.
(De Si mult ale. quam Plato cum Xenophonte excr-
cuisse fcrtur, Bcrol. , 1811. ) After these preliminary
observations, the philosopher enters more directly on
his subject in the fourth book. He treats at first of
the worship of the gods, the basis of every well-regu-
lated slate. The fifth book contains the elements
of social order, the duties of children towards their
parents, of parents towards their children, the duties
of citizens and of strangers. He then considers
the political form of the state that is to be founded.
Plato, if he is the author of the work, renounces in it
all the chimeras of his youth, the community of prop-
erty, and of women and children. In the sixth book
be treats of magistrates, of the laws of marriage, of
slavery; in the seventh of the education of children;
in the eighth of public festivals and of commerce; in
the ninth of crimes; in the tenth of religion; in the
eleventh of contracts, testaments, <Stc. ; in the twelfth
of various topics, such as military discipline, oaths,
right of property, prescription, &c. --Every page of
the Laws is in contradiction to the Republic. Never-
theless, the Laws existed in the time of Aristotle; and
this philosopher, who cites them by name, expresses
no doubts whatever as to their authenticity. The dif-
ference of style between this work and some other
productions of Plato may be easily explained by the
difference pf age. Ast objects, that Plato himself de-
clares the Republic, Timasus, and Critias to be his
? ? hut works, and that after thia he will write a dialogue,
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? PLATO
. PLATO
If tfl , 1826 "1--20. AiVif, >) nc(. i fiAiac, "Lysis, or
roncerning Friendship. " The authjr here treats, with-
ju*. eomiiig lo any decision, a questi >n which has oc-
cupied much of the attention both of ancient and mod-
ern philosophers, namely, "What produces friend-
ship and love? " (Plato's and Aristotle's ideas on
friendship arc finely given by Bouterwek, in the fourth
volume of the "Neuen Vesta. ") According to Dio-
genes Laerlius (3, 24), Socrates, on hearing this dia-
logue read, exclaimed, "By Hercules! how many
thinga does this young man falsely report of me! "
Hence it appears to have been the work of Plato's
youth. Schleiermaeher regards this dialogue as au-
thentic. Ast and Socher reject it. --21. 'AAK(67<i6i/r
6 ucifcv, r) irtpl ^ieeuc uvBpiirroii, "The first (or
greater) Alcibiades, or concerning the Nature of Man. "
The second member of this title, added by the com-
mentators, does not suit the subject. The dialogue
has reference merely to Alcibiades, who, young and
presumptuous, without knowledge and without experi-
ence, is on the point of presenting himself before the
people to be employed in the government of the state.
Socrates directs him to study first the principles of
law and politics. The end of this piece is to show
the true nature of the attachment which Socrates had
for this young man, an attachment which made him
so desirous of correcting his faults. --As Socrates, in
the course of this dialogue, compares the Deity to
light, certain commentators have discovered in this
expression the germe, as they think, of the system. of
emanation, in which God is light and matter is dark-
ness. --Schleiermaeher considers this production as
supposititious. --22. \Xm6uidnc /)', y mpi irpooevxyc,
"The second Alcibiades, or concerning Prayer. " Soc-
rates shows Alcibiades the emptiness and inconsist-
ency of the prayers which mortals address to the di-
vinity, unable as they are to tell whether the things
for which they pray will turn to their advantage or
cot. Socher declares against this dialogue. --23.
tievt^cvoc, f/ iniTufyioc, "Mcnezenus. or the Funeral
Dration. " This funeral oration, in honour of those
Athenians who had died for their country, is put in
the mouth of Aspasia, and is supposed to have been
an extemporaneous production on her part. The end
of Plato, in composing this satirical piece, was, with-
out doubt, to show that oratory was not a very diffi-
cult art. Bockh very acutely maintains, in his com-
mentary on the Minos, that Plato, in many of his dia-
logues, comes forth in a polemic attitude against the
celebrated Lvsias, and especially in his Mcnexenus.
(Bockh. adMin. , p. 182, seqq ) The events connect-
ed with the history of Athens, which are alluded to in
the course of this dialogue, reach to the peace of An-
talcidas, concluded fourteen years after the death of
Socrates. This anachronism, which may be pardoned
in a satirical production, has nevertheless induced
Schleiermaeher to regard as supposititious the begin-
ning and end of the dialogue. Schlciermacher's opin-
ion, which is also that of Ast, and which was first
started by Schlegel, in Wieland's Attische Museum
(vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 2C2, seqq. ), has found an opponent
in Loers, in his edition of the Menexenus, Colon.
Agripp. , 1824. --24. Adxnc, i? Trepl avipeiac, "Laches,
or concerning Bravery. " The author shows that it is
difficult to say what bravery properly is: his principal
Object, however, is to enforce the necessity of not
confining the education of the young to mere bodily
? ? exercises. --25. 'Ijrjrtar juiCuv, 7 irepi tov koJiov,
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? PLATO.
PLATO.
tl Halicaruassus calls this production a ec'. ogium un i
"It the form of an apology (cd. Rcisle, vol. 5, p. 21)5,
808). Bockh maintains, tha-> Plato wrote the "De-
fence of Socrates" in a spirit of rivalry towards the
one composed by Lysias; and he refers to Plutarci
(X Oral. Vit. --Op. , ed. Reiske, vol. 9, p. 324). Ast,
>n the contrary, remarks that Plutarch appears rather
to have had in his eye the oration of Lysiaa mentioned
in the Phsedrus. 'Bockh, ad Min. , p. 182. --Ast, Pla-
tans Leben, dec, p. 492. -- Compare Beck, Comment.
Societ. Philolog. Lips. , vol. 4, pt. I, p. 28. )--30.
Kpi'ruv, 7 Ttepi itpoKTeoi, "Crito, or concerning the
Duty of a Citizen. " The scene of this dialogue be-
tween Crito and Socrates is in the prison where the
latter is confined, during the interval between his con-
demnation and death. Crito advises him to fly, and
hint* that the keeper of the prison has been bribed by
him, and that all things are ready for his escape. Soc-
rates, on the other hand, maintains that it is not allow-
ed a citizen to withdraw himself from that authority
*hich has power over him, nor to break the tacit com-
pact by which he has bound himself to obey the laws
of his country. Not only Ast, but another writer also,
has attacked the authenticity of this dialogue. {Del-
truck, Sokratcs, Kiln. , 1819,8vo. ) It has found, how-
ever, vigorous supporters in Thiersch, Socher, and Brc-
mi. (Philologische Beytrage ausderSchweiz. , Zurich,
1819, 8vo, p. 143. )--31. Qeaync, fj Ttepi ooipiac, " The-
zges, or concerning Wisdom. " Demodocus having
brought to Socrates his son Theages, desirous of learn-
ing that kind of wisdom by which one is lilted for gov-
erning the state, Socrates declines the proposal, on the
ground that he has not yet heard the voice of his Ge-
nius, without whose approbation nothing that he might
undertake would auccced. The end of the dialogue
is to show that the method of Socrates differs from that
of the sophists, in that the former gives no regular in-
struction to his disciples, but forms them to virtue in
bis society and by his converse. This dialogue con-
tains some very line passages. Schlciermacher re-
gards it as supposititious. --32. 'AvTtpaorai, "The
Rivals," also entitled 'Kpaorai, $ wept <j>i\ooo$iac,
"The Lovers, or concerning Philosophy. " A very
feeble dialogue, the object of which is to show that
Socrates estimated virtue and justice above every-
thing else, and cared very little for purely speculative
researches. --33. '\Ttizapxoe, fi ^iXoxepdijc, " Hippar-
chut, or the Lover of Gain. " This dialogue, which is
very probably mutilated, is deficient in plan. It treats
of the false ideas that men entertain respecting the ac-
quisition and love of gain. The author advances in
the course of it some historical paradoxes. Socher,
who defends several dialogues against the attacks of
Sctileiermacher and Ast, acknowledges, with them,
and also with Wolf (Prolegom. ad Horn. , p. cliv. ), that
this is not one of Plato's productions Valckcnaer
{ad Herod. , 5, f)5) had already expressed the same
opinion. -- 34. Mt'vor, fj Ttepi vouov, " Minos, or con-
cerning Law. " Socrates discourses, in this dialogue,
with a certain Minos on the nature of law, which he
lakes, in its most extended sense, as the rule of all our
actions. We here find the first elements of the doc-
trine of modern philosophers respecting the law of na-
ture and the moral law.
The authenticity of this dia-
logue has been ably attacked by Bockh, with whom
Socher agrees. (Bockh, Comment, in Platonis dialog.
? i vutgo inscribitur Min. , cVc, Hahe, 1806, 4to )--
? ? . K? . et"04K. "'V, fj irpoTpexTtKoc, " Clitophon, or the Ex-
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? PLATO
P LA
"v Plato to Sicilv, and to the intrigues of which this
stand was the theatre, in consequence of the tyranny
of the younger Dionysius and the movements of Dion.
The correspondence in question appears to have been
published by some of the followers of Plato with the
view of exculpating their master and themselves from
the charge of fomenting troubles in Syracuse. Cicero
seems to have entertained no doubt of these letters
being genuine, and he cites one of them as "prttclara
eputola Platonit. " (Tutc. Disp . 5, 35. ) The fol-
lowing modern scholars have denied their authenticity:
Mcincrs, CommeiUat. Soc. , Goit. , 1783, p. 51, tcqq. --
Gruddcck,Lileratur-Guchichle. --Ticdemann, Griech-
enlands ertle Philotophcn, p. 476, ttqq. --Alt, Pin-
ion* Leben und Schriften, p. 376, teqq. -- Socher,
Veber Platon* Schriften, Munchtn, 1820. --In de-
fence of their genuineness we may name, Schlotttr,
Plato* Briefe uhertetzt (Schmid und Sncll, Philot.
Journ. , vol. 2, p. 3, Gietten, 1795). --Tennemann,
Lchrcn und Mcinungen der Sokratiker, p. 17, *eqq.
--Id. , System der Plat. Philot. , p. 106, ttqq. --Mor-
gtnsltrn, Entuntrf von Plato* Leben, etc. --Grimm,
Ve Epistolit Platonis, an genuinct vcl tupposilititz
tint, Berol. , 1815. --We have six lives of Plato re-
maining, three others by Speusippus, Porphyry, and
Aristoxenus being lost. The most ancient of these
six lives is that by Apuleius, in the first book of his
work, "De habitudine doctrinarum -( de nativitate
Platoni*. " The other five are written in Greek; of
these, one is by Diogenes Laertius, and is found in
Jie third book of his compilation; another is by Olym-
piodorus, and is given at the head of his commentary on
the first Alcibiades; the third is by Hesychius of Mi-
letus; the fourth and fifth are anonymous. All these
lives are scanty and crowded with fables. Two of the
best modern biographies of the philosopher are those
of Tennemann and Ast. The former of these has
been translated by the Rev. Mr. Edwards, professor
in the Theological Seminary at Andover, and forms
part of a work, entitled " Selection* from German Lit-
erature, by B. B. Edioardt and E. A. Park, Prqfct-
tort Tkeol. Sent. Andmer," 1839. Valuable mate-
rials have been obtained by us, from this, for our bi-
ographical sketch of Plato. The commentaries on
Plato are still numerous, though very many have been
last. A Platonic Lexicon by Timaeus has come down
to us, of which Ruhnken published an excellent edi-
tion in 1754; and to the same modern scholar we
owe the publication of some valuable Platonic scholia
(Lugi. Bat, 1800, Rvo). A new edition of the Lex-
icon of Timaeus, by Koch, appeared from the Leipsic
press in 1828. --Of the MSS. of Plato, two possess
great value on account of their early date. One of
these belongs to the tenth century, and is at present in
the Royal Library at Paris, being known among its
collection of MSS. as No. 1807. The other is the
celebrated one brought over from Groece by Dr.
Clarke, the well-known traveller. It is now in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford. This is the earlier of
the two, having been written in 896 A. D. It contains
the first twenty-four dialogues, with the titles precisely
as they are given in the Basic edition of 1534. In the
margin are written scholia in a very ancient hand.
The MS. is on vellum. In 1812, Professor Guisford
published an account of it, in his " Catalogue, tint
\olitia Manutcriptorum. quiacel. E. D. Clarke com-
parali, in Bibliotkcca Bodleiana adtcrvantur," etc. ,
? ? Oxen. , 1812, its. In 1820, the same scholar publish-
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? PLA
PLAUTUS.
charged with having made use of his exorbitant power
to oppress the people, and to excite the vindictive
passions of his master. By the marriage of his daugh-
ter Plautilla with Caracalia, who had already, for some
years, enjoyed the rank of Augustus, he obtained ad-
mittance into the imperial household; where his pride,
and the influence which he possessed over the emper-
or, rendered him an object of suspicion and dislike.
Being it last accused privately to the emperor of aim-
ing at the succession, he was slain by a soldier, at the
order of Caracalia, in the presence of Severus. Plau-
tilla wan banished by Severus, along with her brother
Plautus, to the island of Lipara, where, seven years
after, she was put to death by order of Caracalia, A. D.
311. (Herodtan, 3, 10. --Dio Cass. , 76, 14, seqq. --
Spar Han. , Vit. Sev. )
Plautus, M. Accius, a celebrated comic poet, the
son of a freedman, and born at Sarsina, a town of l. 'm-
bria, about 525 A. U. C. He was called Plautus from
his splay-feet, a defect common to the Umbrians.
Having turned his attention to the stage, he soon
realized a considerable fortune by the popularity of his
dramas; but, by risking it in trade, or spending it, ac-
cording to others, on the splendid theatrical drosses
which he wore as an actor, and theatrical amusements
being little resorted to on account of the famine then
prevailing at Rome, he was quickly reduced to such
necessity as forced him to labour in a mill for his
daily support. (Aulas Gcllius, N. A. , 3, 3. ) Many
of his plays were written in these unfavourable cir-
cumstances, and, of course, have not obtained all tho
perfection which might otherwise have resulted from
nis increased knowledge of life and his long practice
in the dramatic art. Twenty plays of this writer have
come down to us. But, besides these, a number of
comedies now lost have been attributed to him. Au-
Ins Gellius (A'. A. , 3, 3) mentions that there were
about a hundred and thirty plays which, in his age,
passed under the name of Plautus; and of these nearly
forty titles, with a few scattered fragments, still remain.
I'rom the time of Varro to that of Aulus Gellius, it
seems to have been a subject of considerable discus-
sion what plays were genuine; and it appears that the
best-informed critics had come to the conclusion that
a great proportion of those comedies which vulgarly
passed for the productions of Plautus were spurious.
Such a vast number were probably ascribed to him
from his being the head and founder of a great dramat-
ic school; so that those pieces which he had, perhaps,
merely retouched, came to be wholly attributed to his
pen. "There ia no doubt," says Aulus Gellius, "but
that those plays, which seem not to have been written
by Plautus, but were ascribed to him, were by certain
ancient poets, and afterward retouched and polished
by him. " Even those comedies written in the same
taste with his came to be termed Fabtdaz Plauttna or
Plautiana, in the same way as we still speak of ,-fcso-
pian fable and Homeric verse, "Plautus quidem,"
says Macrobius, "ea re clams fv. it, tit post mortem
? qv* comeedia, qua inccrta ferebantur, Plauttna tamen
esse, de jocomm copia, agnoscercntur. " (Sat. , 2, 1. )
It is thus evident, that a sufficient number of jests
? tamped a dramatic piece as a production of Plautus
in the opinion of the multitude. But Gellius farlher
mentions, that there was a certain writer of comedies
ivhose vame was Plautius, and whose plays, having
? is inscription Plauii, were considered as by Plautus,
? ? ? lien they were, in fact, named not Plautina from
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? PLAUTUS.
PL. K
easing and artless to those Romans who lived in an
ge of excessive refinement and cultivation; but this
apparent merit was rather accidental than the effect
of poetic art. Making, however, some allowance for
this, there can be no doubt that Plautus wonderfully
improved and refined the Latin language Irom the rude
form to which it ha<<" been moulded by Ennius. That
he should have effected such an alteration is not a little
remarkable. Plautus was nearly contemporary with
the Father of Roman song; according to most ac-
counts, he was bom a slave; he was condemned, du-
ring a great part of his life, to the drudgery of the low-
est manual labour; and, as far as we leam, he was
not distinguished by the patronage of the great, nor
admitted into patrician society. Ennius, on the other
hand, if he did not pass his life in affluence, spent it
in the exercise of an honourable profession, and was
the chosen and familiar friend of Cato, Scipio Africa-
nus, Fulvius Nobilior, and Lslius, the most learned
and polished citizens of the Roman republic, whose
unrestrained conversation and intercourse must have
bestowed on him advantages which Plautus never en-
joyed. But perhaps the circumstance of his Greek
original, which contributed so much to his learning
and refinement, and qualified him for such exalted so-
ciety, may have been unfavourable to that native pu-
rity of Latin diction, which the Umbrian slave imbibed
from the unmixed fountains of conversation and na-
ture. --The chief excellence of Plautus is generally
reputed to consist in the wit and comic force of his
dialogue; and, accordingly, the lines in Horace's Art
of Poetry, in which he derides the ancient Romans for
having foolishly admired the "Plautmos sales," have
been the subject of much reprehension among critics.
That tho wit of Plautus often degenerates into buf-
foonery, scurrility, and quibbles, sometimes even into
obscenity; and that, in his constant attempts at mer-
riment, he too often tries to excite laughter by exag-
gerated expressions as well as by extravagant actions,
cannot, indeed, he denied. This was partly owing to
the '. :. . . ncnaity of the Roman theatres and to the masks
sf the actors, which must have rendered caricature
and grotesque inventions essential to the production
of that due effect which, with such scenic apparatus,
could not be created unless by overstepping the mod-
esty of nature. It must always be recollected, that
the plays of Plautus were written solely to be repre-
sented, and not to be read. Even in modern times,
and subsequent to the invention of printing, the great-
est dramatists, Shakspeare, for example, cared little
about the publication of their plays; and in every age
or country in which dramatic poetry has flourished, it
has been intended for public representation, and adapt-
ed to the tastes of a promiscuous audience. In the
days of Plautus, the smiles of the polite critic were
not enough for a Latin comedian, because in those
daye there were few polite critics at Rome; he re-
quired the shouts and laughter of the multitude, who
could be fully gratified only by the broadest grins of
comedy. Accordingly, many of the jests of Plautus
are such as might be expected from a writer anxious
to accommodate himself to the taste of the times, and
naturally catching the spirit of ribaldry which then
prevailed. It being, then, the great object of Plautus
to excite the merriment of the rabble, he, of course,
was little anxious about the strict preservation of the
dramatic unities; and it was a greater object with him
? ? to bring a striking scene into view, than to preserve
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? PLI
PLiNIUS.
B question moved away from its own constellation,
and became the third or middle one in the tail of the
Greater Bear, where it received the name of'AAwmjf,
"the Fox. " (Ideler, Sternnamcn, p. 145. )--From
their rising in the spring, the Pleiades were called by
the Romans Vergilia. (Feslus. -- Isidor. , Orig. ,3,
70. ) This constellation appears to have been one of
the earliest that were observed b) . nc Greeks. It is
mentioned by Homer (II. , 18, 483, seqq. -- 0(2. , 5,
272, seqq. ); and in Hesiod an acquaintance with it is
supposed to be so widely spread, that the daily la-
bours of the farmer can be determined by its rising
and setting. (He:, Op. et IK 383, 615. ) The met-
rical form of the name is UTj/. tjidicc and ttckcitldee,
and hence some have been led into the erroneous opin-
ion, that the name of the constellation was derived
from xt'Acia, a "pigeon" or "dove," in allusion to the
fancied appearance of the cluster. (Schwcnk, Mylhol.
Skixx. ,p. 2. )--The Pleiades are assigned on the ce-
lestial sphere to a position in the rear of Taurus. (Hy-
gin. . Poet. Astron.
