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[383a]
in waking or in dreams.” “I myself
think so,” he said, “when I hear you say it.”
“You concur then,” I said, “this as our second
norm or canon for speech and poetry about the gods,—that they are
neither wizards in shape-shifting nor do they mislead us by falsehoods in
words or deed?” “I concur.” “Then,
though there are many other things that we praise in Homer, this we will not
applaud, the sending of the dream by Zeus1 to Agamemnon, nor shall we
approve of Aeschylus when his Thetis2 avers that
[383b]
Apollo singing at her wedding,
“‘foretold the happy fortunes of
her issue’”Hom. Il.
2.1—“
Their days prolonged, from pain and sickness free,
And rounding out the tale of heaven's blessings,
Raised the proud paean, making glad my heart.
And I believed that Phoebus' mouth divine,
Filled with the breath of prophecy, could not lie.
But he himself, the singer, himself who sat
At meat with us, himself who promised all,
Is now himself the slayer of my son.
”Aesch. Frag. 350 [383c] When anyone says that sort of thing about the gods, we shall be wroth with him, we will refuse him a chorus, neither will we allow teachers to use him for the education of the young if our guardians are to be god-fearing men and god-like in so far as that is possible for humanity.” “By all means,” he said, “I accept these norms and would use them as canons and laws.”
And rounding out the tale of heaven's blessings,
Raised the proud paean, making glad my heart.
And I believed that Phoebus' mouth divine,
Filled with the breath of prophecy, could not lie.
But he himself, the singer, himself who sat
At meat with us, himself who promised all,
Is now himself the slayer of my son.
”Aesch. Frag. 350 [383c] When anyone says that sort of thing about the gods, we shall be wroth with him, we will refuse him a chorus, neither will we allow teachers to use him for the education of the young if our guardians are to be god-fearing men and god-like in so far as that is possible for humanity.” “By all means,” he said, “I accept these norms and would use them as canons and laws.”
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