ed
the ingenuity of the sailors by a very strong proof. For some said
that they took up their water by night because then it was clear and
undisturbed; but at day-time, when a great many fetched water together,
and many boats were sailing and many beasts swimming upon the Nile,
it grew thick and muddy, and in that condition it was more subject to
corruption. For mixed bodies are more easily corrupted than simple and
unmixed; for from mixture proceeds disagreement of the parts, from that
disagreement a change, and corruption is nothing else but a certain
change; and therefore painters call the mixing of their colors [Greek
omitted], corrupting; and Homer expresseth dyeing by [Greek omitted]
(TO STAIN OR CONTAMINATE). Commonly we call anything that is simple and
unmixed incorruptible and immortal. Now earth being mixed with water
soonest corrupts its proper qualities, and makes it unfit for drinking;
and therefore standing water stinks soonest, being continually filled
with particles of earth, whilst running waters preserve themselves by
either leaving behind or throwing off the earth that falls into them.
And Hesiod justly commends

The water of a pure and constant spring.

For that water is wholesome which is not corrupted, and that is not
corrupted which is pure and unmixed. And this opinion is very much
confirmed from the difference of earths; for those springs that run
through a mountainous, rocky ground are stronger than those which are
cut through plains or marshes, because they do not take off much earth.
Now the Nile running through a soft country, like the blood mingled
with the flesh, is filled with sweet juices that are strong and very
nourishing; yet it is thick and muddy, and becomes more so if disturbed.
For motion mixeth the earthly particles with the liquid, which, because
they are heavier, fall to the bottom as soon as the water is still and
undisturbed. Therefore the sailors take up the water they are to use at
night, by that means likewise preventing the sun, which always exhales
and consumes the subtler and lighter particles of the liquid.

QUESTION VI. CONCERNING THOSE WHO COME LATE TO AN ENTERTAINMENT; AND
FROM WHENCE THESE WORDS, [Greek omitted] AND, [Greek omitted] ARE
DERIVED.

PLUTARCH'S SONS, THEON'S SONS, THEON, PLUTARCH, SOCLARUS.

My younger sons staying too long at the plays, and coming in too late
to supper, Theon's sons waggishly and jocosely called them supper
hinderers, n