Plutarch and Anaxagoras

In Plutarch's Lysander, Nioias, and especially his Tericles, a fair amount is found on the life and teachings of Anaxagoras. There is also biographical and doxographical material in the Moralia, including two fragments, B18 and B21b, cited only by Plutarch.''"' In contrast with Aristotle or Simplicius, Plu tarch is not a major source for Anaxagoras. Yet what he pre serves has value not only for understanding more fully the tradition about Anaxagoras, but also for understanding Plu tarch's own philosophical beliefs and working methods. These will be explored in this study which will examine the ways in which Plutarch's own Platonic convictions helped to select and to shape the Anaxagorean material preserved by him. At tention will also be given to Plutarch's sources, and to his overall interpretation of Anaxagoras' thought. In short, it is hoped that a comprehensive account of Plutarch on Anaxago ras will emerge. Now a notable example of Plutarch's use of biographical material on Anaxagoras to express his own convictions is found in Periales (ch. 6) where Plutarch recounts the story of a one-horned ram brought to Pericles from his country place. The oddity is first explained by Lampon, the seer (U&VTIS) , who regards it as a sign (ariueCov) that the mastery of Athens would finally pass to Pericles, and not to Thucydides, son of Melesias. Anaxagoras, however, performed an autopsy on the ram's head, and explained 2) the phenomenon scientifically. The story is told after Plutarch's un favorable contrast between superstition (6e lauSaiviOVia) and natural philosophy (cpuainis X6yoq) , in which superstition's ignorance of causes (aCxCcu) is criticized. After the story's narration, however, Plutarch claims that both the cpuouk6q (Anaxagoras) and u&VTlS (Lampon) may have been right: the former correctly discerned the cause (aixia) and the