In Mist Apparelled: Religious Themes in Plutarch's Moralia and Lives 9004052410, 9789004052413

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IN MIST APPARELLED RELIGIOUS IN PLUTARCH'S

THEMES

MORALIA AND LIVES

MNEMOSYNE BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATAVA

COLLEGERUNT W. DEN BOER

•

W.

J.

VERDENIUS

BIBLIOTHECAE W.

J.

FASCICULOS

VERDENIUS,

SUPPLEMENTUM

•

R. E. H. WESTENDORF EDENDOS

CURA VIT

53, ZEIST

HOMERUSLAAN

QUADRAGESIMUM

FREDERICK

E. BRENK,

BOERMA

OCTAVUM

S.J.

IN MIST APPARELLED RELIGIOUS THEMES IN PLUTARCH'S MORALIA AND LIVES

LUGDUNI BATAVORUl\1 E.

J. BRILL l\ICl\ILXXVII

IN MIST APPARELLED RELIGIOUS THEMES IN PLUTAI-rrstitione Plutarch makes particular fun of the superstitio11s-wl10 in their co11tcmptihle belief in the power of dreamsrise i11 the morning only to rush to the nearest seer, charlatan, or magician, in the l1ope of averting those evils they saw foretold in their fantasies during the nigl1t. In line with tlie rhetorical style of tl1c essay some interesting paradoxes arc applied. Those who suffer from bodily disease or wl10 arc i111priso11c "\ "\ \ "'I I Cl/\1\Cl 7tC(LoC(pLC( XC(L\ YUVC(LC(

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(2) The last instance of the word's use in the essay is even more strongly suggestive of an evil spirit and cannot be dismissed as cavalierly as the previous phrases. Intending to end the essay with the most horrible example of superstition, Plutarch enters into a treatment of one of the most terrible abominations, the sacrifice of innocent children in order to propitiate barbarous divinities who supposedly are placated by such things. In an extremely biting piece of satire he exclaims that it would be "better for the savages (Gauls and Scythians) to be atheists than to believe in the existence of gods who take delight in human sacrifice, and better for the Carthaginians to have taken Critias and Diagoras (famous atheists of antiquity) for their lawgivers and to acknowledge no dainion or god ((J.~--re: --rLvix OelLµ6vwvµ~--re:--rLvix 6e:wv voµ(~e:Lv)than to sacrifice to Cronos" (i.e. the Phoenician Baal). 6 In melodramatic 7tOV'f)pov

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6 Babbitt in the Loeb, Mor. II, p. 493, wrongly gives the Phoenician equivalent as El, though correctly giving the Hebrew for it as Moloch or Baal. The name of the god was Baal Hammon (Lord of the Incense), a derivative of the god El of the Ras Shamra tablets. Later his position was somewhat usurped by the female goddess Tanit in whose "sanctuary" the archaeologists have discovered thousands of urns containing the burned hones of children, thus confirming the horror of ancient writers. Diodoros

54

EARLY DAIMONES AND HUMAN SACRIFICE

style he describes the slaughter of the innocents: parents bring up their own children before the altar, while those with none buy them from the poor in order "to cut their throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds, while drums beat and flutes play to drown out the screams; and the mother of the poor child stands by as the throat is cut with not a tear to wet her cheek." Then he exclaims in feigned astonishment "If Typhons of Giants were ruling the world after expelling the gods with what sort of sacrifice would they be pleased or what other rites would they require?" Added to this are examples of barbarian sacrifice, among them the human sacrifice made by Xerxes' wife to the god Hades, and the remark of Xenophanes to some Egyptians who were carrying out a ritual lament for their gods, that if these were gods the Egyptians should not weep for them as though they were men, and that if they were men, it was ridiculous to sacrifice to them as to the gods (r7rd). There are a number of grounds for suspecting that this last phrase in De superstitione is aimed against the belief in evil dainiones and does make a distinction between them and the gods. First of all, there is a peculiar inversion in the expression so that we do not read down the hierarchy as normal (8sot x.1Xt81X[µovzi;),but the reverse (81X[µovzi;x.1Xt8so[). Next, in the daimonological passages of the later writings one of the first things which comes to mind is human sacrifice. Thus, in Cleombrotos' speech about the daimones, in De defectu oraeitlorum, he says fasting, beating of breasts, and scurrilous language at the shrines is not meant for any god but as apotropaic rites for the daimones, and continues by linking them to human sacrifice in a manner similar to that of De superstitione: it is not credible that in ancient times the gods demanded human sacrifice, nor would the kings and generals of old have endured giving over their children and submitting them to slaughter (Plutarch stresses the idea of cutting their throats, as in De superSiculos, 20. 14, records the sacrifice of 500 aristocratic children to Cronos (sic) in 310 B.C. See B. H. \Varmington, Carthage (London: 1960, Pelican rpt. 1964), pp. 155-60. Cronos is frequently associated with daimones or described as a daimon himself in Plutarch's writings: so De dej. 419f, 421d; De Is. 356a, 36of, 363e, 364a; and De Jae. 942a and 944d-e. Only in the last is the god of Carthage meant. However in De ser. 552 a-band Reg. et Imper. 175a the sacrifice of Carthaginian children to Cronos is mentioned. The idea that sacrifice is offered to dainzones appears also in Qu. Roni. 284c where it is described as offered to cxnox6-rotc;;-:-tcri~:xlµocrt xoct~evouc;;.

EARLY

DAIMONES

AND HUMAN SACRIFICE

55

stitione) unless they felt that they were propitiating evil daimones (which Plutarch describes as acting "either as avengers or out of lust or some other base passion," (417d). A similar link between human sacrifice and daimones is evident from a passage in the Life of Pelopidas (zr). In a dream before the battle of Leuctra, the Theban general Pelopidas sees the daughters of Scedasos-native girls who had been raped by some Spartan strangers and after their death buried in a prominent tomb at Leuctra-who appear with their father to demand that the sacrifice of a maiden with auburn hair be made to them in reparation for the outrage committed against them by the Spartans, if the Thebans wish to be victorious. In the morning when Pelopidas relates the dream to his friends, a debate ensues: some of the speakers, among whom are the seers, demand that the sacrificewhich Plutarch calls "dire and unlawful"-be carried out; and they claim that such sacrifice in the past has had propitious results, among these, the sacrifice of Agamemnon of his daughter before setting out for Troy, and the sacrifice by Themistocles of some prisoners to Dionysos Omestes (the Devourer) before the battle of Salamis; and they further allege that Agesilaus' failure to sacrifice his daughter before setting out for Asia from Aulis was responsible for his expedition ending ingloriously and incomplete. 7 7 Plutarch's attitude toward Agesilaus' sacrifice is somewhat ambigious in Ages. (6), but his intentions can probably be deduced from the Pelopidas passage; the impression of divine wrath for ignoring the dream commanding the hero to sacrifice his daughter probably is due to the source of Agesilaus. He leaves "full of ill-boding on account of the omen and convinced his expedition will come to naught," after the sacrifices are stolen by the Boiotians. However, in chapters 14, 15, 19, 20, and the syncrisis Plutarch dispells this impression with descriptions of Agesilaus' triumphs. If there is a divine sanction, it is over the neglect of the Delphic oracle about the lame king. Cf. the syncrisis, eh. 3, Lys. 22, and Ale. 23. The interruption of the sacrifice but not the dream is related in Xenophon, Hell. 3.3.3, and Pausanias 3.9.1; Diodoros omits both. In Popl. 6 the ancient Brutus is condemned as brutish and godless for putting his sons to death; in Cic. 10 Catiline is accused of offering human sacrifice and eating flesh (cf. Cass. Dio, 37.30.3); in Themistocles Plutarch omits the story of the human sacrifice before Salamis; in Theseus he omits a story, found in Apollodoros 3.15.8, that in obedience to an ancient oracle the Athenians sacrificed the daughters of Hyacinth on the grave of Geraistos the Cyclops. On the subject in general see the interesting treatment by \V. Burkert, Homo Necans (Berlin: 1972), pp. 70-85, who sees sexual overtones here, in which the sacrifice seems to have a close relationship to ritual: "Zerstiickelung der geschandeten Frau als Aufgebot zum Krieg." He notes that the places where it takes place seem to be famous ritual shrines. Among the

EARLY DAIMONES AND HUMAN SACRIFICE

The others in this debate argue that such a "barbarous and unlawful sacrifice" could be pleasing to none of the superior beings, since Typhons and Giants do not rule the world-but the father of men and gods-and that it is ridiculous to believe there are daimones who believe in human sacrifice, but if there are such, "they should be regarded as powerless since such strange and difficult desires could only originate in and remain in a being through weakness and perversity of soul." 8 The fact that moral weakness is weakness of soul (psyche) in a being which is nothing but soul is a highly sophisticated piece of daimonological reasoning, and would seem to depend upon the daimonology worked out in De defectu oraculoritm. As such it seems to be a legitimate improvement upon the De sitperstitione passage, but there is no reason to believe that in both essays Plutarch should not have envisaged the same sort of daimon. The verbal parallels are so striking that they should be noted here: De superstitione r7rd-e ',;:-1 ~ ' 'nve:i; e:~ oe: T urpwve:i; ~ rly,xv-re:i; ~pxov ~µw-, A ,. ' TOU