Note 644 — THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. A SERIES OF MYTHOLOGICAL FABLES.616 (continued 2)
Reading edition
An allusion which, in Plato’s writings, is applied to the rapid succession of generations, through which the continuity of human life is maintained from age to age; and which are perpetually transferring from hand to hand the concerns and duties of this fleeting scene. Γεννῶντες τε καὶ ἐκτρέφοντες παῖδας, κάθαπερ λαμπάδα τὸν βίον παραδιδόντες ἄλλοις ἐξ ἄλλων—Plato, Leg. b. vi. Lucretius also has the same metaphor:—
“Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.”