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FUNDANUS. Accordingly, in addition to all these considerations,Erasmus, followed by Amyot, believed this concluding paragraph to be a Christian appendix added to Plutarch’s work. This is very unlikely. I have been wont to regard as great and divine that saying of Empedocles,Diels, Frag. d. Vorsokratiker 5, i. p. 369, Frag. 144; cf. Herrick: To starve thy sin, not bin, That is to keep thy Lent. Fast from evil, and to applaud also those other vows made in prayer as being neither ungracious nor inappropriate to a philosopher: to abstain from love and wine for a year, honouring God by continence; or again to refrain from lying for a stated time, paying close heed to ourselves that we shall be truthful always whether In jest or earnest. Then with these I compared my own vow, thinking it no less sacred and pleasant in the sight of God: first, to pass a few days without anger, sober and wineless days, as it were, as though I were offering a sacrifice of honey unmixed with wineLike the offerings to the Eumenides, Aeschylus, Eumenides, 107; Sophocles, Oedipus Coloneus, 100, 481; cf. also Wyttenbach’s note on Moralia, 132 e.; then I would do so for a month or two, and so, making trial of myself little by little, in time I made some progress in my forbearance, continently observing and keeping myself courteous in speech, placid, and free from anger, and pure of the taint of evil words and offensive actions and of passion which, at the price of a little unsatisfying pleasure, brings great perturbations of spirit and the most shameful repentance. By such means, I think - and God also gave me help - experience has shown the truth of that judgement: this placid and gentle and humane spirit is not so agreeable and pleasant and free from sorrow to any of those brought in contact with it as it is to those who themselves possess it.
