Remora



It is Plutarch day tomorrow. My Mom used to sing me the song

Plutarch day comes once a year

and on that day be of good cheer



and then we would all gather round and listen to her read the Comparison of Pompey with Agesilaus. Brings a tear to my eye, still. So I thought I'd point you all to this translation of one of his essays. It is in French though.

LIVRE IV



So okay, first in the French, continuing the discussion of the parts of the soul: Pythagore, Platon, � le prendre � la plus g�n�rale division,

tiennent que l'�me a deux parties, c'est � savoir la partie

raisonnable, & la partie irraisonnable: mais � y regarder de plus

pr�s & plus exactement, elle a trois parties, car ils sous-

divisent la partie irraisonnable en la concupiscence & en

l'irrascible. Les Sto�ques disent, qu'elle est compos�e de huit

parties, cinq des sens naturels, le sixi�me, la voix, le septi�me,

la semence, le huiti�me, l'entendement, par lesquelles toutes les

autres sont command�es par ces propres instruments; ni plus ni

moins que le poulpe se sert de ses branches. D�mocrite & Epicure

mettent deux parties en l'�me, la partie raisonna [297] ble log�e

en l'estomac, & l'autre �parse par tout le corps: D�mocrite met,

que toutes choses sont participantes de quelque sorte d'�me,

jusques aux corps morts, d'autant que manifestement ils sont

encore participants de quelque chaleur, & de quelque sentiment, la

plus part en �tant j� (17) �vent�e.



To take the typical opinions of Pythagoras and Plato, the soul has two parts: the reasonable and the unreasonable. But if you scrutinize a bit more closely, you'll see there is a third part, for they subdivide the irrational into concupiscence and irritability. But the Stoics say it has eight parts, the five natural senses, and the sixth being the voice, the seventh seed, and the eighth the understanding, by which all the others are governed, more or less in the same way the octupus uses its tentacles. Democritus and Epicurus have the bicameral soul too, with reason lodged in the stomach, and the irrational part distributed throughout the body. Democritus posits the concept that the soul participates in everything, even dead bodies, insofar as this participation is characterized by warmth and a miniscule quantity of sentiment, mostly in moving air.



That last clause is a killer - I think it means, in exuding heat and stirring up air - which I guess refers to the smell of corruption. And hey, you have to love the Stoics, they were always coming up with the craziest theories just to bug the Platonists.