The Greeks in Bactria and India c12.148

c12.148

I must conclude by referring to the Banquet of the Seven Sages, as in that work Plutarch, at a later day, summed up this business of kings' Questions. He starts from a list of *aporiai* supposedly sent by the king of Egypt to the king of Ethiopia to guess, to which Thales casually supplies the right answers; and Plutarch, through his mouthpieces, says that Greeks were once fond of these things (153 E), but now they are no better than children's riddles (154 A), though they may do for kings (153 F) (see p. 427 n. 3). But when, on two occasions, the Seven are prevailed upon to give *their* opinions on a question, these are concerned, the first time with kingship (152 A, B) and the second time with another form of polity (154 D-F). So far as Plutarch goes, there is nothing which disagrees with what I have written.