[334] 166 B.
[335] 166 B.
[336] 168 F.
[337] Bello primo, Aristodemum Messeniorum regem per superstitionem animum ac spes omnes despondisse, seque ipsum interfecisse, narrat etiam Pausanias, iv. 3.—Wyttenbach.
[338] 169 C. Iliad, vii. 193, 194.
[339] 170 A. Trench quotes Seneca Epist., 123—“Quid enim interest utrum deos neges, an infames?”
[340] 170 F.
[341] To the numerous citations made by Gréard (p. 209), we may add an expression of opinion by Dr. Tholuck, given with special reference to Plutarch’s views on Superstition:—“Wir haben in Alterthum einen hohen Geist, Plutarch, welcher dem, was das Alterthum Aberglaube nannte, viele Betrachtungen gewidmet hat, dem Gegenstande zwar nicht auf den Grund gekommen, aber in der Betrachtuug desselben doch so tiefe religiöse Wahrheiten ausgesprochen, dass wir nicht umhin können, ihn hier ausführlicher dem Leser vorzuführen” (Ueber Aberglauben und Unglauben).
[342] Wyttenbach bases this possibility on the 150th entry in the Lamprian catalogue, “On Superstition, against Epicurus.” (Entry No. 155 in the catalogue as given in Bernardakis, vol. vii. pp. 473-7.) But the discussion on this point in the Non posse suaviter forms so important a part of that tract that the title “On Superstition, against Epicurus” would be no inapt title for the whole treatise.
[343] The view taken in the text as to the character of this strenuous and noble sermon on Superstition is, of course, quite at variance with the opinion of Prof. Mahaffy, who regards it as “one of those sophistical exercises practised by every one in that age—I mean, the defence of a paradox with subtlety and ingenuity, taking little account of sober truth in comparison with dialectical plausibility.”—Greeks under Roman Sway, p. 318.