Diary of John Adams, volume 1
1756-01-17
A clowdy, dull, Day. Some snow about noon, and rain towards night. σπίζημαι, τα καθαρματα Ψυχησ. 1 Plato.
This passage remains a puzzle after examination by several authorities on Greek. It is not an accurate quotation from Plato, and nothing in the context gives a clue to what JA intended by the first word, which makes neither sense nor grammar as it stands. If we may read the first word as the noun ἐπιστῆ μαι , then the passage may be translated: “Sciences (or studies), the things that cleanse the soul.”