going to add more, when Heracleon twitched his cloak, "but I," writes Plutarch, "being on more familiar terms with him than were the others, said to him, 'My dear Planetiades, cease your efforts to provoke a god who is really amiable and gentle, and who has been, as Pindar says,
"Adjudged exceeding mild to mortal men."
And whether he is the sun, or lord and father of the
sun and of the whole perceptible world, it is not right
to believe that he would deprive the men of to-day of
the help of his utterances, for he is the author and
supporter of our life, and the master of our intelligence.
Nor is it reasonable to suppose that Providence,
which, like a kind and tender mother, has given us all
that we possess, should wish to punish us in one single
point alone—by taking away from us that prophetic
aid which was once given to us. Just as if the wicked
were not as numerous when the oracles were firmly
established in many parts of the earth! Sit down
again, and, in honour of the Pythian games, make a
truce for once with vice, which you are always eager to
chastise, and help us to find out the cause of the failure
of the oracles.' The only result of my remarks was
that Planetiades went out-of-doors in silence.[1] After
a brief silence, Ammonius turned to me and said,
'Come, Lamprias, we must be careful not to deprive
the god of all agency in this matter. For if we
- [Footnote: here. Horace, Epist. i. 16. 59, readily occurs to the memory. (For
the Pindaric fragment, see W. Christ, p. 225.)]
- ↑ 413 D.
