Note 917 — Chapter VI · PLUTARCH’S ESSAYS

The English translation of Plutarch’s Morals “by several hands,” first published in 1684-1694, sixth edition corrected and revised by W. W. Goodwin, 5 vols., 1870-1878, IV, 10, renders a passage in the seventh chapter of De defectu oraculorum, in which complaint is made of the “base and villainous questions” which are now put to the oracle of Apollo, as follows: “some coming to him as a mere paltry astrologer to try his skill and impose upon him with subtle questions.” But the corresponding clause in the Greek text is merely οἱ μὲν ὡς σοφιστοῦ διάπειραν λαμβάνοντες, and there seems to be no reason for taking the word “sophist” in any other than its usual meaning. The passage therefore cannot be interpreted as an attack upon even vulgar astrologers.