Alfred Russel Wallace and Plutarch

A text only post, and about history, afield from fauna and flora, sort of...and grim, so dear readers, a caution to read on...

I'll put the search strings in bold, these are the beginning of a quote, and the link(s), the ulr(s), which are highlighted too, will be the quote(s) end(s)...

quote, from me

...the ancient bards looked to have written, spoke most likely, long riddling poems filled with puzzles and allusion that challenged one another, and too for instruction of young bards...

http://treeinthedoorvideo.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-siege-of-gaza.html

Somewhere nearby in the posts nearby that one, I'd tried to imagine why the parables of Jesus are so puzzling, or for that matter, just about everything about Jesus!...and came to the thought that we all just like puzzles...oh, wait, with that recollection, I may be able to find what I wrote in the blog search feature!...brb...:)

quote from me

The Bible stories, the parables, and such, are puzzling, and cryptic, because that's how we best learn...by studying puzzles...that, and we just like puzzles!

http://treeinthedoorvideo.blogspot.com/2015/09/odds-and-ends.html

Found it...and imagine my delight when reading Plutarch, I find this:

puzzle Plutarch Letter E

'Now since,' he continued, 'Philosophy embraces inquiry, wonder, and doubt, it seems natural that most of the things relating to the God should have been hidden away in riddles

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/misctracts/plutarchE.html


Now, I left off the previous post with wondering why my searches for 'Plutarch Darwin' didn't bring up any expected discussions of Darwin getting ideas from Plutarch...I can be stubborn!...and did another kind of search, 'Plutarch Erasmus Darwin'...Erasmus was Darwin's father, and too interested in evolution and such, but no, no discussions of Erasmus getting ideas from Plutarch either...so so!...even more stubborn, I thought to search for 'Alfred Russel Wallace Plutarch'...Wallace was like Darwin's twin, he had researched out to the same conclusions in different parts of the world that Darwin had reached at the Galapagos...they had discovered independently of one another the self same things about evolution...

Alfred Russel Wallace Plutarch

2. Spiritualism allows us to believe that the oracles of antiquity were not all impostures; that a whole people, perhaps the most intellectually acute who ever existed, were not all dupes. In discussing the question, "Why the Prophetess Pythia giveth no Answers now from the Oracle in Verse," Plutarch tells us that when kings and states consulted the oracle on weighty matters that might do harm if made public, the replies were couched in enigmatical language; but when private persons asked about their own affairs they got direct answers in the plainest terms, so that some people even complained of their simplicity and directness, as being unworthy of a divine origin. And he adds this positive testimony: "Her answers, though submitted to the severest scrutiny, have [[p. 798]] never proved false or incorrect. On the contrary, the verification of them has filled the temple with gifts from all parts of Greece and foreign countries." And again, "The answer of the Pythoness proceeds to the very truth, without any diversion, circuit, fraud, or ambiguity. It has never yet, in a single instance, been convicted of falsehood." Would such statements be made by such a writer, if these oracles were all the mere guesses of impostors? The fact that they declined and ultimately failed, is wholly in their favour; for why should imposture cease as the world became less enlightened and more superstitious? Neither does the fact that the priests could sometimes be bribed to give out false oracles prove anything, against such statements as that of Plutarch and the belief during many generations, supported by ever-recurring experiences, of the greatest men of antiquity. That belief could only have been formed by demonstrative facts; and modern Spiritualism enables us to understand the nature of those facts.

http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S243.htm

Needless to say, Darwin, and his followers, gave, and give, Wallace and his spiritual enquiries a wide berth!

DavidDavid