Ὀψὲ θεῶν ἀλέουσι μύλοι, ἀλέουσι δὲ λεπτά.
“The mills of the gods grind late, but they grind fine.”
[7:2] Αὐτὸν, evidently meaning Plutarch.
[7:3] I doubt whether there is reference here to every third wave as having a fuller flow. Timon, though inclined at the outset to the other side, is represented as so affected by the arguments of Patrocleas and Olympicus that he is prepared to make a third speech against the Divine Providence, yet is willing to yield place to his brother; and the speech which Plutarch supersedes is the third wave.
[8:1] In some poem not now extant.
[9:1] We have evidence from other sources that the Spartans were accustomed to shave the upper lip, and in Sparta custom and law were identical.
[9:2] Slaves might be manumitted in Rome by having their names inscribed on the roll of taxable citizens with permission of their masters, in which case they must have been possessed of some peculium,—property of their own earning or given them by their masters. They might also be made free by will. But the oldest mode of manumission is that here referred to. The slave was brought before the magistrate, whose lictor laid a rod or wand on his head, after which ceremony the master pronounced him free.
[9:3] In this, which was one of several modes in which wills were made in Rome, the testator made a fictitious sale of his property to a friend, who received his instructions as to the disposal of it. The person thus made the purchaser filled very much the place that with us is held by the executor of a will.
[10:1] Solon’s theory was, that neutrality in a disturbed condition of the state indicated either indifference to the public well-being or the most sordid selfishness; while sedition might be sometimes justifiable, and at the worst was not inconsistent with honesty of purpose.
[10:2] The “harbor or refuge” is man’s inevitable ignorance of Divine things, which is often a sufficient answer for doubts or objections which man cannot solve or refute.