Essays and Miscellanies

Essays and Miscellanies

Plutarch, Greek historian, biographer, and essayist (46-120A.D.)


This ebook presents «Essays and Miscellanies», from Plutarch. A dynamic table of contents enables to jump directly to the chapter selected.


Table of Contents

- About This Book

- Philosophical Essays

- That A Philosopher Ought Chiefly To Converse With Great Men

- Book I. Sentiments Concerning Nature With Which Philosophers Were Delighted

- What Is Nature

- What Is The Difference Between A Principle And An Element

- What Are Principles

- How Was This World Composed In That Order And After That Manner It Is

- Whether The Universe Is One Single Thin

- Whence Did Men Obtain The Knowledge Of The Existence And Essence Of A Deity

- What Is God

- Of Those That Are Called Geniuses And Heroes

- Of Matter

- Of Ideas

- Of Causes

- Of Bodies

- Of Those Things That Are Least In Nature

- Of Figures

- Of Colors

- Of The Division Of Bodies

- How Bodies Are Mixed And Contemperated One With Another

- Of A Vacuum

- Of Place

- Of Space

- Of Time

- Of The Substance And Nature Of Time

- Of Motion

- Of Generation And Corruption

- Of Necessity

- Of The Nature Of Necessity

- Of Destiny Or Fate

- Of The Nature Of Fate

- Of Fortune

- Of Nature

- Book Ii. Sentiments Concerning Nature With Which Philosophers Were Delighted

- Of The World

- Of The Figure Of The World

- Whether The World Be An Animal

- Whether The World Is Eternal And Incorruptible

- Whence Does The World Receive Its Nutriment

- From What Element God Did Begin To Raise The Fabric Of The World

- In What Form And Order The World Was Composed

- What Is The Cause Of The World's Inclination

- Of That Thing Which Is Beyond The World, And Whether It Be A Vacuum Or Not

- What Parts Of The World Are On The Right Hand, And What On The Left

- Of Heaven, What Is Its Nature And Essence

- Into How Many Circles Is The Heaven Distinguished; Or, Of The Division Of Heaven

- What Is The Essence Of The Stars, And How They Are Composed

- Of What Figure The Stars Are

- Of The Order And Place Of The Stars

- Of The Motion And Circulation Of The Stars

- Whence Do The Stars Receive Their Light

- How Stars Prognosticate, And What Is The Cause Of Winter And Summer

- Of The Essence Of The Sun

- Of The Magnitude Of The Sun

- What Is The Figure Or Shape Of The Sun

- Of The Turning And Returning Of The Stars, Or The Summer And Winter Solstice

- Of The Eclipse Of The Sun

- Of The Essence Of The Moon

- Of The Size Of The Moon

- From Whence Is It That The Moon Receives Her Light

- Of The Eclipse Of The Moon

- Of The Phases Of The Moon, Or The Lunar Aspects; Or How It Comes To Pass That The Moon Appears To Us Terrestrial

- How Far The Moon Is Removed From The Sun

- Of The Year, And How Many Circulations Make Up The Great Year Of Every Planet

- Book Iii. Sentiments Concerning Nature With Which Philosophers Were Delighted

- Of The Galaxy, Or The Milky Way

- Of Comets And Shooting Fires, And Those Which Resemble Beams

- Of Violent Eruption Of Fire Out Of The Clouds. Of Lightning. Of Thunder. Of Hurricanes. Of Whirlwinds

- Of Clouds, Rain, Snow, And Hail

- Of The Rainbow

- Of Meteors Which Resemble Rods, Or Of Rods

- Of Winds

- Of Winter And Summer

- Of The Earth, What Is Its Nature And Magnitude

- Of The Figure Of The Earth

- Of The Site And Position Of The Earth

- Of The Inclination Of The Earth

- Of The Motion Of The Earth

- Into How Many Zones Is The Earth Divided

- Of Earthquakes

- Of The Sea, And How It Is Composed, And How It Becomes To The

- Of Tides, Or Of The Ebbing And Flowing Of The Sea

- Of The Aurea, Or A Circle About A Star

- Book Iv. Sentiments Concerning Nature With Which Philosophers Were Delighted

- Of The Overflowing Of The Nile

- Of The Soul

- Whether The Soul Be A Body, And What Is The Nature And Essence Of It

- Of The Parts Of The Soul

- What Is The Principal Part Of The Soul, And In What Part Of The Body It Resides

- Of The Motion Of The Soul

- Of The Soul's Immortality

- Of The Senses, And Of Those Things Which Are Objects Of The Senses

- Whether What Appears To Our Senses And Imaginations Be True Or Not

- How Many Senses Are There

- How The Actions Of The Senses, The Conceptions Of Our Minds, And The Habit Of Our Reason Are Formed

- What Is The Difference Between Imagination [greek Omitted], The Imaginable [greek Omitted], Fancy [greek Omitted], And Phantom [greek Omitted]

- Of Our Sight, And By What Means We See

- Of Those Images Which Are Presented To Our Eyes In Mirrors

- Whether Darkness Can Be Visible To Us

- Of Hearing

- Of Smelling

- Of Taste

- Of The Voice

- Whether The Voice Is Incorporeal. What Is It That The Gives Echo

- By What Means The Soul Is Sensible, And What Is The Principal And Commanding Part Of It

- Of Respiration Or Breathing

- Of The Passions Of The Body, And Whether The Soul Hath A Sympathetical Condolency With It

- Book V. Sentiments Concerning Nature With Which Philosophers Were Delighted

- Of Divination

- Whence Dreams Do Arise

- Of The Nature Of Generative Seed

- Whether The Sperm Be A Body

- Whether Women Do Give A Spermatic Emission As Men Do

- How It Is That Conceptions Are Made

- After What Manner Males And Females Are Generated

- By What Means It Is That Monstrous Births Are Effected

- How It Comes To Pass That A Woman's Too Frequent Conversation With A Man Hinders Conception

- Whence It Is That One Birth Gives Two Or Three Children

- Whence It Is That Children Represent Their Parents And Progenitors

- How It Comes To Pass That Children Have A Greater Similitude With Strangers Than With Their Parents

- Whence Ariseth Barrenness In Women, And Impotency In Men

- How It Arises That Mules Are Barren

- Whether The Infant In The Mother's Womb Be An Animal

- How Embryos Are Nourished, Or How The Infant In The Belly Receives Its Aliment

- What Part Of The Body Is First Formed In The Womb

- Whence Is It That Infants Born In The Seventh Month Are Born Alive.

- Of The Generation Of Animals, How Animals Are Begotten, And Whether They Are Obnoxious To Corruption

- How Many Species Of Animals There Are, And Whether All Animals Have The Endowments Of Sense And Reason

- What Time Is Required To Shape The Parts Of Animals In The Womb

- Of What Elements Each Of The Members Of Us Men Is Composed

- What Are The Causes Of Sleep And Death

- When And From Whence The Perfection Of A Man Commences

- Whether Sleep Or Death Appertains To The Soul Or Body

- How Plants Increase

- Of Nutrition And Growth

- Whence It Is That In Animals There Are Appetites And Pleasures

- What Is The Cause Of A Fever, Or Whether It Is An Affection Of The Body Annexed To A Primary Passion

- Of Health, Sickness, And Old Age

- Abstract Of A Discourse Showing That The Stoics Speak Greater Improbabilities Than The Poets

- Symposiacs

- Book I. Symposiacs

- Book Ii. Symposiacs

- Book Iii. Symposiacs

- Book Iv. Symposiacs

- Book V. Symposiacs

- Book Vi. Symposiacs

- Book Vii. Symposiacs

- Book Viii. Symposiacs

- Book Ix. Symposiacs

- Common Conceptions Against The Stoics

- Contradictions Of The Stoics

- The Eating Of Flesh

- Concerning Fate

- Against Colotes, The Disciple And Favorite Of Epicurus

- Platonic Questions

- Literary Essays

- The Banquet Of The Seven Wise Men

- How A Young Man Ought To Hear Poems

- Abstract Of A Comparison Between Aristophane And Menander

- The Malice Of Herodotus