Dike y otras deidades justicieras en la obra de Plutarco

Abstract

This paper deals with Plutarch’s use of the Greek deities of justice. While Dikaiosyne, Themis, Nomos and Eunomia are hardly mentioned, other deities more strongly rooted in the mythological tradition appear in several passages not only in citations or comments of ancient poets, but are also incorporated into Plutarch’s discourse: Erinis, Poine, Nemesis, and Dike. They are conceived as dynameis of divine origin, which can be perceived as personified daimones. They appear more often in the Lives, but also in some passages from the Moralia which make concessions to traditional mythical language (e. g., the final myth of the dialogue De sera numinis vindicta). These deities of punishment are portrayed by Plutarch as working between the realms of mechanical cosmic compensation and moral retribution of evil deeds, thus contributing to his attempts to find in human history the traces of divine justice.