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‘διὰ τί τὸν τῆς Ὅρτας ναὸν ἀνεῳγμένον εἶχον οἱ παλαιοὶ διὰ παντός;’
πότερον, ὡς Ἀντίστιος Λαβεὼν ἱστόρηκε, τοῦ
[p. 78] παρορμᾶν ‘ὁρτάρι’ λεγομένου, τὴν οἷον ἐγκελευομένην πρὸς τὰ καλὰ καὶ παρορμῶσαν θεὸν Ὅρταν λεγομένην ᾤοντο δεῖν ὡς ἐνεργὸν ἀεὶ μηδέποτε μέλλειν μηδ᾽ ἀποκεκλεῖσθαι μηδ᾽
ἐλινύειν;
ἢ μᾶλλον ὡς νῦν ὀνομάζουσιν αὐτὴν Ὥραν
μηκυνομένης τῆς προτέρας συλλαβῆς, ἐπιστρεφῆ
τινα καὶ πολυωρητικὴν θεόν, ἣν διαφυλακτικὴν καὶ φροντιστικὴν οὖσαν οὐδέποτε ῥᾴθυμον οὐδ᾽
ὀλίγωρον εἶναι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἐνόμιζον;
ἤ, καθάπερ ἄλλα πολλά, καὶ τοῦτο τῶν
Ἑλληνικῶν ὀνομάτων ἐστὶ καὶ δηλοῖ θεὸν ἐπισκοποῦσαν καὶ ἐφορῶσαν; ὅθεν ὡς ἀκοιμήτου καὶ ἀύπνου διὰ παντὸς ἀνεῳγμένον ἦν τὸ ἱερὸν αὐτῆς.
εἰ μέντοι τὴν ὥραν ὀρθῶς ὁ Λαβεὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ
παρορμᾶν ὠνομάσθαι δέδειχε, σκόπει μὴ τὸν
‘ὡράτωρα προτρεπτικόν’ τινα καὶ παρορμητικὸν ὄντα σύμβουλον ἢ δημαγωγὸν οὕτως ὠνομάσθαι φατέον, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρᾶς καὶ εὐχῆς ὡς ἔνιοι λέγουσι.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 4.
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