Plutarch: On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon

Luisa Lesage Gárriga. Plutarch: On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon: Introduction, Edition, English Translation, and Commentary to the Critical Edition, Brill’s Plutarch Studies 7 (Leiden: Brill, 2021). 9789004458079.

Reviewed by Chance E. Bonar, Tufts University (chance.bonar@tufts.edu).

Plutarch’s literary repertoire is vast and at times unwieldy, particularly given the multiple hats that he wore throughout his lifetime: biographer, priest, philosopher, Boeotian statesman. In her recent critical edition (as well as subsequent monograph¹), Luisa Lesage Gárriga has carefully elucidated how Plutarch laid out contemporaneous scientific, religious, and philosophical thought in On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon (De facie quae in orbe lunae apparet; Moralia 920B–945D). Gárriga’s new edition, introduction, and commentary will be of value for students and scholars of astronomy, mythology, and philosophy in the Roman Empire, as well as for those involved in producing critical editions of classical texts.

On the Face is structured as a dialogue between multiple figures that represent various philosophical schools, and focuses on the topic of the face on the moon. Throughout this text, the dialogue partners discuss a wide range of topics: the material composition of the moon, the debated definitions of celestial bodies, and a new conceptualization of the mythical inhabitants of the moon. Gárriga describes On the Face as containing three sections. In the first and longest section, the philosophical interlocutors debate whether the moon is composed of light, air, fire, and/or aether, how the moon is illuminated or (at times) obscured, and its place in the cosmos. The shorter second section considers whether the moon is habitable and whether its meteorological conditions would pose a threat to life there. The third and final section offers a mythological tale passed on by the Stranger to one of the interlocutors, Sulla, in which reverence of the moon is defended because of its importance and divine inhabitants: Hades and Persephone. Shifting the rulers of the Underworld to the moon, this mythological adaptation justifies Sulla’s following discussion of the tripartite human being and the affiliation between the human soul and the moon. The soul, in this religio-mythological narration, ascends to the moon after the death of a human for punishment and purification of the soul (ψυχή) from the intellect (νοῦς)—such that the wise soul can dissolve into the moon itself, just as bodies do into the earth, whereas the restless soul descends from the moon to inhabit a new body.

This new edition and translation of On the Face allows students and scholars easier access to an often-overlooked aspect of Plutarch’s wide range of interests: astronomy and the relationship between physics and metaphysics. Plutarch appears as not only a philosopher invested in moral formation, but as a figure who wrestles deeply with ancient questions of physics, chemistry, biology, and their effects on the broader cosmos. Additionally, this edition and translation should be of interest to scholars of ancient religion, given Plutarch’s interest in the cosmological position and function of daemons and souls, as well as the characterization of the moon as an intermediary celestial and ethical point in the heavens.

Gárriga’s rendition On the Face is divided into three main parts: an introduction, critical edition and English translation, and commentary to the critical edition. In the introduction, Gárriga presents the reader with our two extant late medieval Greek manuscripts of De facie (Parisinus gr. 1672 and Parisinus gr. 1675) and previous printed editions, highlighting that our two copies are interrelated and transmit many of the same lacunae. The extant version of On the Face, then, likely represents only one incomplete manuscript tradition of Plutarch’s work. Gárriga also argues that Plutarch’s dialogical scene with eight characters, who represent various philosophical schools, is not wholly fabricated as some previous Plutarchan scholars have believed; rather, she suggests that Plutarch actually held a conversation with some of the named characters regarding the moon and later cleaned up his notes from this conversation to organize as a more formal literary text (p. 21).² The critical edition itself is well organized with a robust critical apparatus and helpful marginal annotation to help the reader keep track of which of the eight characters is speaking. In her commentary to the critical edition, Gárriga provides extensive discussion of lacunae, difficult passages, and newly proposed emendations. Finally, the book concludes with two appendices: one focused on manuscript discrepancies (despite their relationship to one another) and the other on emendations written in the interlinear space by late medieval scribes. 

Gárriga’s new edition and translation of De facie is not only beneficial for its potential to revive interest in an often-overlooked and complex Plutarchan treatise, but also as a model for how to do philological and text-critical analysis. Her commentary provides considerable explanation regarding the limits of proposed emendations, and she makes clear how classicists involved in the production of critical editions might exercise caution when filling lacunae. Additionally, her appendix on late medieval interlinear emendations is notable because of its inclusion of cropped manuscript images: Gárriga’s presentation of the text and its marginalia constantly remind the reader that our access to this Plutarchan treatise is mediated by the fortuitous survival of one fourteenth- and one fifteenth-century manuscript. 

Rather than providing a critical edition that tucks away philological and textual difficulties solely in the apparatus, Gárriga’s commentary on the critical edition does not shy away from exploring the complexity of working with manuscripts and editions that have only come into existence over the last 650 years. Such an approach to On the Face’s manuscripts and our careful treatment of them as evidence of both Plutarch’s ancient philosophy and late medieval interest in Plutarch’s works is in line with the goals of New Philology—a branch of medieval studies that urges scholars to deal more robustly with the physical manuscripts that we have, instead of treating manuscripts as direct windows into the past. 

Finally, Gárriga’s On the Face ought to appeal to a wide range of readers in the fields of classics, religious studies, philosophy, and history of science. The largest portion of De facie is dedicated to philosophical debate regarding the moon between Platonists, Stoics, Pythagoreans, Peripatetics, and those with general astrological knowledge. Educators might place this edition of De facie and Gárriga’s subsequent work on the treatise alongside Cicero’s De natura deorum in coursework to explore how ancient Mediterranean writers crafted philosophical dialogues and pitted philosophical schools against one another regarding particular religio-scientific topics. Additionally, the final portion of De facie offers a retelling of the Demeter-Persephone myth offered to Sulla by the Stranger, which explores the first and second deaths experienced by the composite human (body-soul-intellect) as it ascends to the moon. Given renewed interest recently in early Christian studies regarding Paul’s interest in the celestial sphere and its role in salvation,³ Plutarch’s De facie may be of particular interest to religionists for future analyses of soteriology and the lunar afterlife in Roman imperial philosophical thought. As news that Earth itself has a temporary second moon has made headlines during the writing of this review,⁴ fascination with the classification of moons, as well as interpretations about their place and functions in the cosmos, will continue to flourish.

Table of Contents

Introduction (1–31)
Edition and English Translation (32–111)
Commentary to the Critical Edition (112–208)
Appendix 1: Discrepancies between the Manuscripts (209–12)
Appendix 2: Emendations by the Manuscripts (213–18)

Notes

1. Luisa Lesage Gárriga, Plutarch’s Moon: A New Approach to De facie quae in orbe lunae apparet, Brill’s Plutarch Studies 12 (Leiden: Brill, 2023).

2. See also Gárriga, Plutarch’s Moon, 5–6, where she suggests it is possible that Plutarch and his interlocutors were in Rome together in 98 CE, leading to the composition of De facie at the turn of the second century.

3.  Robyn Faith Walsh, “Argumentam ad lunam: Discourse and Competition on the Moon” (lecture, Thomas L. King Lecture in Religious Studies, Washburn University, Topeka, KS, 2 March 2023).

4. Robert Lea, “Earth Has Caught a ‘Second Moon,’ Scientists Say,” Space.com, 29 September 2024, https://www.space.com/earth-will-capture-second-moon-sept-2024.

Discussion

1. Having spent so much time reading, writing about, and emending our text of De facie, what surprised you about Plutarch’s treatise that you would like your readers to notice?

After reading the treatise again and again, I was struck by how complex the structure is. When people write about De facie, they tend to focus on either the “scientific” or the “mythological” aspect, almost not acknowledging the other aspects included in it. But when delving into the contents in detail, I realized that the same ideas, concerns, and theories emerge throughout the treatise, albeit in different forms. This for us is surprising, because in our mindset science could never be mixed with mythology, and therefore we tend to approach ancient texts also separating these “categories.” I hope to have highlighted that it is not in fact the case in Plutarch’s De facie in my second book, published by Brill in 2023.

2. What have been some of the difficulties of producing a critical edition of De facie, and what advice do you have for other early career classicists involved in producing critical editions?

One of the biggest difficulties in creating a critical edition of De facie was the fact that we have only two manuscripts with which to work: this is a blessing in a sense, because you don’t have to collate a lot of manuscripts, but is also a complication, because they are very similar to each other and therefore are of no help when the text is corrupted or has a lacuna, for instance. Also the content sometimes proved to be challenging, as was the case with certain physical theories, like the reflection in concave surfaces, which fell out of my expertise and for which I turned for help to the physics department of my university. My recommendation to young scholars working on textual criticism is patience and trying to work step by step: each passage deserves a fair amount of time, attention, and energy, and each passage will have its own particular challenges (codicological, contentwise, etc.), so do not despair, just bite one issue at a time.

3. Is there any scholarship or any adjacent fields of study that you hope will make use of De facie, now that your new edition and monograph on the text are available?

De facie touches upon so many different topics that I hope this book will be helpful to several disciplines, from the history of religions to ancient astronomy. Furthermore, this is not one of the most well-known books of Plutarch, so I hope the book will contribute to round up our perception and understanding of this prolific author; beyond topics like vice and virtue or an interest in biographies of great men from the past, he was also very aware of the latest astronomical theories of his time.

4. Why do you think the moon functioned as such an appealing topic to Plutarch (and more broadly to ancient philosophers)?

Plutarch is particularly interested in the intermediate element that links two opposites, because this element is capable of bringing balance and equilibrium in life; it symbolizes that golden moderation he always praises. This element may be the soul, which is the human component between the mortal body and the divine intellect, or the daemons, which are beings linking mortal humans and immortal gods. The moon represents this intermediate element in a cosmological framework, as it is located between the earth and the sun, namely between terrestrial affairs and the heavenly sphere. In addition, the moon is ever present in our daily life, always visible, and it has been associated with numerous mythological narratives since the dawn of time, which facilitates its symbolic use to both discuss physical and metaphysical ideas.

Response

Thank you for your reflections on the complexity of De Facie itself and on putting together this edition, translation, and commentary. As a scholar of ancient Mediterranean religions, I appreciate the continued reminder to fellow scholars and students that the division of “religion” from “science” is in large part a post-Enlightenment venture—and one that does not limit Plutarch’s own scientific and philosophical analysis. Your call to pay attention to Plutarch’s deep investment in the role of intermediates (whether moon, soul, or daemon) highlights how Plutarch makes sense of the microcosm of the human and the macrocosm of the universe in light of what he perceives to be channels of communication, connection, and balance. I hope that other scholars of ancient religion will read Plutarch anew in light of other philosophical interest in the relationship between anthropology and cosmology throughout the Roman Mediterranean.