Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

9403

Plato, Laws, 642d

ἀληθῶς καὶ οὔτι πλαστῶς εἰσιν ἀγαθοί. θαρρῶν δὴ ἐμοῦ γε ἕνεκα λέγοις ἂν τοσαῦτα ὁπόσα σοι φίλον. ΚΛ. καὶ μήν, ὦ ξένε, καὶ τὸν παρʼ ἐμοῦ λόγον ἀκούσας τε καὶ ἀποδεξάμενος, θαρρῶν ὁπόσα βούλει λέγε. τῇδε γὰρ ἴσως ἀκήκοας ὡς Ἐπιμενίδης γέγονεν ἀνὴρ θεῖος, ὃς ἦν ἡμῖν οἰκεῖος, ἐλθὼν δὲ πρὸ τῶν Περσικῶν δέκα ἔτεσιν πρότερον παρʼ ὑμᾶς κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μαντείαν, θυσίας τε ἐθύσατό not by outward compulsion but by inner disposition. Thus, so far as I am concerned, you may speak without fear and say all you please. Clin. My story, too, Stranger, when you hear it, will show you that you may boldly say all you wish. You have probably heard how that inspired man Epimenides, who was a family connection of ours, was born in Crete ; and how ten years before the Persian War, in obedience to the oracle of the god, he went to Athens and offered certain sacrifices which the god had ordained; and how, moreover, when the Athenians were alarmed at the Persians’ expeditionary force

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

15 results
1. Aristophanes, Wasps, 1019 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) 1019. μιμησάμενος τὴν Εὐρυκλέους μαντείαν καὶ διάνοιαν
2. Plato, Euthyphro, 4c, 4b (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) 4b. Euthyphro. Very far, indeed, Socrates, by Zeus. Socrates. Is the one who was killed by your father a relative? But of course he was; for you would not bring a charge of murder against him on a stranger’s account. Euthyphro. It is ridiculous, Socrates, that you think it matters whether the man who was killed was a stranger or a relative, and do not see that the only thing to consider is whether the action of the slayer was justified or not, and that if it was justified one ought to let him alone, and if not, one ought to proceed against him, even if he share one’s hearth
3. Plato, Laws, 642e, 677d, 806b, 806c, 806d, 865d, 914a, 642c (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
4. Plato, Meno, 81a5-6, 81b, 81a (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) 81a. Men. Now does it seem to you to be a good argument, Socrates? Soc. It does not. Men. Can you explain how not? Soc. I can; for I have heard from wise men and women who told of things divine that— Men. What was it they said ? Soc. Something true, as I thought, and admirable. Men. What was it? And who were the speakers? Soc. They were certain priests and priestesses who have studied so as to be able to give a reasoned account of their ministry; and Pindar also
5. Plato, Protagoras, 343a (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) 343a. to utter such remarks is to be ascribed to his perfect education. Such men were Thales of Miletus, Pittacus of Mytilene, Bias of Priene, Solon of our city, Cleobulus of Lindus, Myson of Chen, and, last of the traditional seven, Chilon of Sparta . All these were enthusiasts, lovers and disciples of the Spartan culture; and you can recognize that character in their wisdom by the short, memorable sayings that fell from each of them they assembled together
6. Plato, Symposium, 201d3-5, 206b, 201d-212c (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
7. Plato, Theaetetus, 176b (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
8. Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 1.1 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
9. Demosthenes, Orations, 51 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
10. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 15.54.2 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 15.54.2.  Certain local oracle-mongers likewise came up to Epameinondas, saying that the Lacedaemonians were destined to meet with a great disaster by the tomb of the daughters of Leuctrus and Scedasus for the following reasons.
11. New Testament, Titus, 1.12 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) 1.12. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.
12. Plutarch, On The Obsolescence of Oracles, 414e (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 414e. Their presence and power wise men are ever telling us we must look for in Nature and in Matter, where it is manifested, the originating influence being reserved for the Deity, as is right. Certainly it is foolish and childish in the extreme to imagine that the god himself after the manner of ventriloquists (who used to be called 'Eurycleis,' but now 'Pythones') enters into the bodies of his prophets and prompts their utterances, employing their mouths and voices as instruments. For if he allows himself to become entangled in men's needs, he is prodigal with his majesty and he does not observe the dignity and greatness of his preeminence.""You are right," said Cleombrotus; "but since it is hard to apprehend
13. Plutarch, Solon, 12.1-12.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 12.1. Now the Cylonian pollution had for a long time agitated the city, ever since Megacles the archon had persuaded Cylon and his fellow conspirators, who had taken sanctuary in the temple of Athena, to come down and stand their trial. About 636 B.C. Cf. Hdt. 5.71 ; Thuc. 1.126 . They fastened a braided thread to the image of the goddess and kept hold of it, but when they reached the shrine of the Erinyes on their way down, the thread broke of its own accord, upon which Megacles and his fellow-archons rushed to seize them, on the plea that the goddess refused them the rights of suppliants. Those who were outside of sacred precincts were stoned to death, and those who took refuge at the altars were slaughtered there; only those were spared who made supplication to the wives of the archons. 12.2. Therefore the archons were called polluted men and were held in execration. The survivors of the followers of Cylon also recovered strength, and were forever at variance with the descendants of Megacles. At this particular time the quarrel was at its height and the people divided between the two factions. Solon, therefore, being now in high repute, interposed between them, along with the noblest of the Athenians, and by his entreaties and injunctions persuaded the men who were held to be polluted to submit to a trial, and to abide by the decision of three hundred jurors selected from the nobility. 12.3. Myron of Phlya conducted the prosecution, and the family of Megacles was found guilty. Those who were alive were banished, and the bodies of the dead were dug up and cast forth beyond the borders of the country. During these disturbances the Megarians also attacked the Athenians, who lost Nisaea, and were driven out of Salamis once more. The city was also visited with superstitious fears and strange appearances, and the seers declared that their sacrifices indicated pollutions and defilements which demanded expiation. 12.4. Under these circumstances they summoned to their aid from Crete Epimenides of Phaestus, who is reckoned as the seventh Wise Man by some of those who refuse Periander a place in the list. See note on Plut. Sol. 3.5, and cf. Aristot. Const. Ath. 1 . He was reputed to be a man beloved of the gods, and endowed with a mystical and heaven-sent wisdom in religious matters. Therefore the men of his time said that he was the son of a nymph named Balte, and called him a new Cures. The Curetes were Cretan priests of Idaean Zeus, who took their name from the demi-gods to whose care Rhea was said to have committed the infant Zeus. On coming to Athens he made Solon his friend, assisted him in many ways, and paved the way for his legislation.
14. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 1.25, 1.109-1.112, 1.114-1.115 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 1.25. (It was Pythagoras who developed to their furthest extent the discoveries attributed by Callimachus in his Iambics to Euphorbus the Phrygian, I mean scalene triangles and whatever else has to do with theoretical geometry.)Thales is also credited with having given excellent advice on political matters. For instance, when Croesus sent to Miletus offering terms of alliance, he frustrated the plan; and this proved the salvation of the city when Cyrus obtained the victory. Heraclides makes Thales himself say that he had always lived in solitude as a private individual and kept aloof from State affairs. Some authorities say that he married and had a son Cybisthus; 1.109. 10. EPIMEDESEpimenides, according to Theopompus and many other writers, was the son of Phaestius; some, however, make him the son of Dosiadas, others of Agesarchus. He was a native of Cnossos in Crete, though from wearing his hair long he did not look like a Cretan. One day he was sent into the country by his father to look for a stray sheep, and at noon he turned aside out of the way, and went to sleep in a cave, where he slept for fifty-seven years. After this he got up and went in search of the sheep, thinking he had been asleep only a short time. And when he could not find it, he came to the farm, and found everything changed and another owner in possession. Then he went back to the town in utter perplexity; and there, on entering his own house, he fell in with people who wanted to know who he was. At length he found his younger brother, now an old man, and learnt the truth from him. 1.110. So he became famous throughout Greece, and was believed to be a special favourite of heaven.Hence, when the Athenians were attacked by pestilence, and the Pythian priestess bade them purify the city, they sent a ship commanded by Nicias, son of Niceratus, to Crete to ask the help of Epimenides. And he came in the 46th Olympiad, purified their city, and stopped the pestilence in the following way. He took sheep, some black and others white, and brought them to the Areopagus; and there he let them go whither they pleased, instructing those who followed them to mark the spot where each sheep lay down and offer a sacrifice to the local divinity. And thus, it is said, the plague was stayed. Hence even to this day altars may be found in different parts of Attica with no name inscribed upon them, which are memorials of this atonement. According to some writers he declared the plague to have been caused by the pollution which Cylon brought on the city and showed them how to remove it. In consequence two young men, Cratinus and Ctesibius, were put to death and the city was delivered from the scourge. 1.111. The Athenians voted him a talent in money and a ship to convey him back to Crete. The money he declined, but he concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance between Cnossos and Athens.So he returned home and soon afterwards died. According to Phlegon in his work On Longevity he lived one hundred and fifty-seven years; according to the Cretans two hundred and ninety-nine years. Xenophanes of Colophon gives his age as 154, according to hearsay.He wrote a poem On the Birth of the Curetes and Corybantes and a Theogony, 5000 lines in all; another on the building of the Argo and Jason's voyage to Colchis in 6500 lines. 1.112. He also compiled prose works On Sacrifices and the Cretan Constitution, also On Minos and Rhadamanthus, running to about 4000 lines. At Athens again he founded the sanctuary of the Solemn Gods (Semnai Theai), as Lobon of Argos tells us in his work On Poets. He is stated to have been the first who purified houses and fields, and the first who founded sanctuaries. Some are found to maintain that he did not go to sleep but withdrew himself for a while, engaged in gathering simples.There is extant a letter of his to Solon the lawgiver, containing a scheme of government which Minos drew up for the Cretans. But Demetrius of Magnesia, in his work on poets and writers of the same name, endeavours to discredit the letter on the ground that it is late and not written in the Cretan dialect but in Attic, and New Attic too. However, I have found another letter by him which runs as follows:Epimenides to Solon 1.114. This is the tenor of the letter. But Demetrius reports a story that he received from the Nymphs food of a special sort and kept it in a cow's hoof; that he took small doses of this food, which was entirely absorbed into his system, and he was never seen to eat. Timaeus mentions him in his second book. Some writers say that the Cretans sacrifice to him as a god; for they say that he had superhuman foresight. For instance, when he saw Munichia, at Athens, he said the Athenians did not know how many evils that place would bring upon them; for, if they did, they would destroy it even if they had to do so with their teeth. And this he said so long before the event. It is also stated that he was the first to call himself Aeacus; that he foretold to the Lacedaemonians their defeat by the Arcadians; and that he claimed that his soul had passed through many incarnations. 1.115. Theopompus relates in his Mirabilia that, as he was building a shrine to the Nymphs, a voice came from heaven: Epimenides, not to the Nymphs but to Zeus, and that he foretold to the Cretans the defeat of the Lacedaemonians by the Arcadians, as already stated; and in very truth they were crushed at Orchomenus.And he became old in as many days as he had slept years; for this too is stated by Theopompus. Myronianus in his Parallels declares that the Cretans called him one of the Curetes. The Lacedaemonians guard his body in their own keeping in obedience to a certain oracle; this is stated by Sosibius the Laconian.There have been two other men named Epimenides, namely, the genealogist and another who wrote in Doric Greek about Rhodes.
15. Plotinus, Enneads, (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
abaris	Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (2008) 119, 120
agurtês /-ai	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
alcmeonids	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
apollo ptoios, sortition	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
aristophanes, peace	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
aristophanes	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
aristotle, athenaiôn politeia	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
aristotle	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
assimilation to god / to the divine	Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
astrology	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
athenian stranger	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
athenians, consultations of oracle at delphi	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
attica	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
bacis	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
bias	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
chance, in delphic divination	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
chrêsmologos	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
cleinias	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
cultic ritual practice, curse tablets	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
cultural memory, oracles and divination	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
death and the afterlife, curse tablets	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
delphi, consultation by athenians	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
delphi, oracle	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
delphi, pythian apollo	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
delphi, sanctuary of apollo	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
dillery, john	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
diogenes laertius	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305; Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
divination, and authority	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
dodona	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
epaminondas (military general)	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
epimenides	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181; Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
johnston, sarah iles	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
katz, j.	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
kleisthenes	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
lawgiving	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
laws, spartan	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
legislation	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
lots, oracular language and	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
lots, pythias use of	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
mania, poet as	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
mania	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
megillus	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
melampus, melampids	Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (2008) 120
oracle	Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
oracles, delphi	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
oracles, divination	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
oracles, drawing of lots	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
oracles, independent diviners (pythones)	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
oracles, natural vs. technical methods	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
oracles, pythia	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
oracles, pythian apollo	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
oracles, seers/diviners (manteis)	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
oracles	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
paideia	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
parker, r.	Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (2008) 120
paul	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
peloponnesian war	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
periander	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
pittacus	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
plato	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
plutarch	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
politics	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
priestess	Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
priests (hiereis)/priestesses (hiereiai)/priesthood	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
proetus and his daughters	Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (2008) 120
prophetess	Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
purification	Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
purifications	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
pythagoras	Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (2008) 119, 120
pythia, athenians, consultations of	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
pythia, kleromancy	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
pythia, oracular language	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
pythia	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122; Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
religious authority, experts (exegetes)	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
religious authority, seers/diviners (manteis)	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
seers	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
shaman	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
solon	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
sortition (kleromancy), at delphi	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
sortition (kleromancy), by pythia'	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
sparta/spartans, kings	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
sparta/spartans	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305
svenbro	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
test/testing	Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws (2017) 199
thales	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
theopompus	Johnston and Struck, Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination (2005) 181
thessaly/thessalians, consultation at delphi	Eidinow and Driediger-Murphy, Esther Eidinow, Ancient Divination and Experience (2019) 122
theurgy	Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
tradition	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
virtue	Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
volk, k.	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 480
water	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
wisdom	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84; Schultz and Wilberding, Women and the Female in Neoplatonism (2022) 24
wonder-workers	Lloyd, The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (1989) 84
xenophon	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 305