1 i.e. the moon at the half, gibbous, and crescent phases presents such a great difficulty for the Stoics themselves that it is strange for them to adduce these phenomena as refutation of the theory that the moon shines by reflected light. Wyttenbach's conjecture, ἐκπίπτουσαν for ἐμπίπτουσαν, approved by Purser and apparently adopted by Prickard in his translation of 1918, betrays a misapprehension of the meaning of the text.
2 For ἀπέλειπεν cf. 931 C infra. The dative with the verb is unobjectionable, cf. e.g. [Reg. et Imp. Apophthegm.] 178 D, 195 F.
3 For κατὰ πέρας cf. De Communibus Notitiis, 1080 E ( = S. V. F. ii, frag, 487): ψαύειν κατὰ πέρας τὰ σώματα . . . λέγουσι and S. V. F. ii, frag. 433 cited in note d on 930 F infra. The ‘emendations’ of Emperius and Papabasileios are consequently ill-advised.
4 Cf. De Communibus Notitiis, 1078 D - E ( = S. V. F. ii, frag. 480) and S. V. F. ii, frags. 473, 477, 479.
5 Cf. S. V. F. ii, frag. 433 (Galen, In Hippocr. Epidem. vi Comment. iv, vol. xvii, B, p. 161 [Kühn], especially: τοῖς ἄνω πέρασιν αὐτοῦ (scil. τοῦ ἀέρος) προσπιπτούσης τῆς ἡλιακῆς αὐγῆς ὅλος ἀλλοιοῦταί τε καὶ μεταβάλλεται συνεχὴς ὢν ἑαυτῷ). Cf. also note a on 922 E supra.
6 Cf. Cleomedes, ii. 4. 101 (p. 182. 20 ff. [Ziegler]) for the doctrine of Posidonius, which Plutarch here turns against him and the Stoics generally: τρίτη ἐστὶν αἵρεσις ἡ λέγουσα κιρνᾶσθαι αὐτῆς (scil. τῆς σελήνης) τὸ φῶς ἔκ τε τοῦ οἰκείου καὶ τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ φωτὸς καὶ τοιοῦτον γίνεσθαι οὐκ ἀπαθοῦς μενούσης αὐτῆς . . . ἀλλ᾽ ἀλλοιουμένης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ φωτὸς καὶ κατὰ τοιαύτην τὴν κρᾶσιν ἴδιον ἰσχούσης τὸ φῶς. . . . Cf. ibid. 104 (p. 188. 4-7).
7 Cf. Cleomedes, ii. 5. 109-111 (pp. 196. 28-200. 23 [Ziegler]).
8 Here ἐμβριθές is used as the opposite of λεπτομερές (cf. Liddell and Scott, s.v. ἐμβρίθεια ii) as πυκνόν is of ἀραιόν.
9 Cf. Cleomedes, ii. 4. 101-102 (p. 184. 9-18 [Ziegler]). Cleomedes, assuming that the moon is μανόν, uses this as an argument against reflection; Plutarch, having established the necessity of reflection, uses the argument to support the contention that the moon is earthy.
10 Cf. Cleomedes, ii. 5. 108 (p. 194. 20 ff. [Ziegler]).
11 Cleomedes, ii. 5. 109 (p. 198. 6-9 [Ziegler]).
12 I have tried to preserve the contorted form in which Plutarch expresses the point that the moon, since it is affected by sunlight as the earth is and not as air is, must have the consistency of earth and not of air.