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‘τίς ὁ παρὰ Δελφοῖς ὁσιωτὴρ καὶ διὰ τί βύσιον ἕνα τῶν μηνῶν καλοῦσιν;’
[p. 182]
‘
ὁσιωτῆρα’
μὲν καλοῦσι τὸ θυόμενον ἱερεῖον,
ὅταν ‘ὅσιος’
ἀποδειχθῇ. πέντε δ᾽ εἰσὶν ὅσιοι διὰ βίου, καὶ τὰ πολλὰ μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν δρῶσιν οὗτοι καὶ συνιερουργοῦσιν, ἅτε1 γεγονέναι δοκοῦντες ἀπὸ Δευκαλίωνος.
ὁ δὲ ‘βύσιος’
μήν, ὡς μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ νομίζουσι, φύσιός ἐστιν ἔαρος γὰρ ἄρχει καὶ τὰ πολλὰ φύεται τηνικαῦτα καὶ διαβλαστάνει. τὸ δ᾽ ἀληθὲς οὐκ ἔχει οὕτως: οὐ γὰρ ἀντὶ τοῦ τῷ β χρῶνται Δελφοί, καθάπερ Μακεδόνες ‘Βίλιππον2’
καὶ
‘βαλακρὸν’
καὶ ‘Βερονίκην’
λέγοντες, ἀλλ᾽ ἀντὶ τοῦ π: καὶ γὰρ τὸ πατεῖν ‘βατεῖν’
καὶ τὸ
πικρὸν ‘βικρὸν’
ἐπιεικῶς καλοῦσιν. ἔστιν οὖν πύσιος ὁ ‘βύσιος,’
ἐν ᾧ πυστιῶνται καὶ πυνθάνονται τοῦ θεοῦ: τοῦτο3 γὰρ ἒννομον4 καὶ πάτριον.
ἐν τῷ μηνὶ γὰρ τούτῳ χρηστήριον ἐγίγνετο καὶ ἑβδόμην ταύτην νομίζουσι τοῦ θεοῦ γενέθλιον,
καὶ πολύφθοον5 ὀνομάζουσιν οὐ διὰ τὸ πέττεσθαι φθόις, ἀλλὰ πολυπευθῆ καὶ πολυμάντευτον οὖσαν.
ὁτὲ γὰρ ἀνείθησαν αἱ κατὰ μῆνα μαντεῖαι τοῖς δεομένοις, πρότερον δ᾽
ἅπαξ ἐθεμίστευεν ἡ Πυθία τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν, ὡς
Καλλισθένης καὶ Ἀναξανδρίδης ἱστορήκασι.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 4.
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