This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
Question 40. Wherefore was it unlawful for a priest
of Jupiter to be anointed abroad in the air?
Solution. Was it not because it was neither honest nor
decent to strip the sons naked whilst the father looked on,
nor the son-in-law whilst the father-in-law looked on?
Neither in ancient times did they wash together. Verily
Jupiter is the father, and that which is abroad in the open
air may be especially said to be as it were in the sight of
Jupiter. Or is it thus? As it is a profane thing for him
[p. 227]
to strip himself naked in the temple or holy place, so did
they reverence the open air and firmament, as being full
of Gods and Daemons? Wherefore we do many necessary
things within doors, hiding and covering ourselves in our
houses from the sight of the Gods. Or is it that some
things are enjoined to the priest only, other things to all
by a law delivered by the priest? With us (in Boeotia)
to wear a crown, to wear long hair, to carry iron arms,
and not to enter the Phocian borders are peculiar, proper
pieces of the magistrate's service; but not to taste autumnal fruits before the autumnal equinox, and not to
cut a vine before the spring equinox, are things required
of all by the magistrate. For each of these has its season. After the same manner (as it appears) among the
Romans it is peculiar to the priest neither to make use of
a horse, nor to be absent from home in a journey more
than three nights, nor to put off his cap, on which account
he is called Flamen.1 Many other things are enjoined to
all sorts of men by the priest; of which one is not to be
anointed abroad in the open air. For the Romans have
a great prejudice against dry unction; and they are of
opinion that nothing hath been so great a cause to the
Grecians of slavery and effeminacy as their fencing and
wrestling schools, insinuating so much debauchery and
idleness into the citizens, yea, vicious sloth and buggery;
yea, that they destroyed the very bodies of youths with
sleeping, perambulations, dancing, and delicious feeding,
whereby they insensibly fell from the use of arms, and
instead of being good soldiers and horsemen, loved to be
called nimble, good wrestlers, and pretty men. It is
hard for them to avoid these mischiefs who are unclothed
in the open air; but they that are anointed within doors
[p. 228]
and cure themselves at home do commit none of these
vices.
1 See Varro, Ling. Lat. V. 84: Quod in Latio capite velato erant semper, ac caput cinctum habebant filo, flamines dicti. Festus, s. v. Flamen Dialis: Flamen, quasi filamen. (G.)
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 2.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.