Alongside the wise maxims said to have been inscribed on the pronaos of the temple of Apollo at Delphi (“Know thyself,” “Nothing in excess,” “Give an oath and face perdition”) was the mysterious letter “E.” Plutarch, who, in the early second century AD, was a priest of Apollo at the temple, recorded an entire discussion about the meaning of this letter, about which none of his friends could agree. But he relates the fact that the original letter “E” had been made in wood and attached to the temple, that the Athenians had replaced this wooden letter with one in bronze, and that Livia, in turn,
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