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THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY EDITED BY E. CAPPS, Pu.D., LL.D. ‘. E. PAGE, Litr.D. W.H. D. ROUSE, Livt.D,
PHILOSTRATUS AND EUNAPIUS
PHILOSTRATUS
BUNAPIUS
THE LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY WILMER CAVE WRIGHT, Pu.D.
PROFESSOR OF GREEK, BRYN MAWR COLLEGE
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
mew YORK: G P. PUTNAM’S SONS MCMXXII
JUN ~ 9 1938
109 8G9
PAGE
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ERRATA
Page xxxiti. line 26. For of Nazianzen read Gregory Nazianzen
Page 7 line 24. For with a view . . . art read according to the rules of art
Page 7 lines 25, 26. For with . . . case. read as they pleased.
INTRODUCTION
Tue island Lemnos was the ancestral home of the Philostrati, a family in which the profession of sophist was hereditary in the second and third Christian centuries. Of the works that make up the Philo- stratean corpus the greater part belong to the author of these Lives. But he almost certainly did not write the Nero, a dialogue attributed by Suidas the lexicographer to an earlier Philostratus; the first series of the /magines and the Heroicus are generally assigned to a younger Philostratus! whose _pre- mature death is implied by our author who survived him and was probably his father-in-law; and the second series of the Jmagines was by a Philostratus who flourished in the third century, the last of this literary family.
There are extant, by our Philostratus, the Gym- nasticus, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, the Lives of the Sophists, the Erotic Epistles, and a brief discourse (SiaAeEus) On Nature and Law, a favourite common- place of sophistic. In the Lives he quotes the Life of Apollonius as his own work, so that his authorship of the two most important works in the corpus is undisputed.
Flavius Philostratus was born about 170, perhaps
1 For Philostratus ‘‘the Lemnian” see marginal pp. 627-628.
ix
INTRODUCTION
Tue island Lemnos was the ancestral home of the Philostrati, a family in which the profession of sophist was hereditary in the second and third Christian centuries. Of the works that make up the Philo- stratean corpus the greater part belong to the author of these Lives. But he almost certainly did not write the Nero, a dialogue attributed by Suidas the lexicographer to an earlier Philostratus; the first series of the /magines and the Heroicus are generally assigned to a younger Philostratus! whose _pre- mature death is implied by our author who survived him and was probably his father-in-law; and the second series of the Jmagines was by a Philostratus who flourished in the third century, the last of this literary family.
There are extant, by our Philostratus, the Gym- nasticus, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, the Lives of the Sophists, the Erotic Epistles, and a brief discourse (SiaAcErs) On Nature and Lan, a favourite common- place of sophistic. In the Lives he quotes the Life of Apollonius as his own work, so that his authorship of the two most important works in the corpus is undisputed.
Flavius Philostratus was born about 170, perhaps
1 For Philostratus ‘‘the Lemnian” see marginal pp. 627-628.
ix
INTRODUCTION
in Lemnos, and studied at Athens with Proclus, Hippodromus, and Antipater, and at Ephesus with the aged Damianus from whom he learned much of the gossip that he retails about the second-century sophists. Philostratus wrote the Lives of his teachers. Some time after 202, perhaps through the influence of the Syrian sophist Antipater, who was a court favourite, he entered the circle of the philosophic Syrian Empress, Julia Domna. Julia spent much of her time in travelling about the Empire, and Philo- stratus may have gone with her and the Emperor Septimius Severus to Britain! in 208, and to Gaul in 212; and we may picture him at Pergamon, Nicomedia, and especially at Antioch,? where Julia preferred to reside. All three towns were centres of sophistic activity. The husband of Julia, the Emperor Septimius Severus, was himself a generous patron of letters, and, as Philostratus says, loved to gather about him the talented from all parts. But it was Julia who, first as his consort, and later as virtual regent in the reign of her son Caracalla, gave the court that intellectual or pseudo-intellectual tone which has reminded all the commentators of the princely Italian courts of the Renaissance. I say pseudo-intellectual, because, when Philostratus speaks of her circle of mathematicians and philosophers, it must be remembered that the former were certainly astrologers—the Syrian Empress was deeply dyed
1 This is Miinscher’s conclusion from a remark in the Life of Apollonius v. 2, where Philostratus says that he has him- self observed the ebb and flow of the Atlantic tides in ‘* the country of the Celts.” But this may have been Gaul, not Britain.
2 In the dedication to Gordian Philostratus refers to their intercourse at Antioch.
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INTRODUCTION
with Oriental superstition—and that the latter were nearly all sophists. However, to converse with sophists on equal terms, as Julia did, she must have been well read in the Greek classics, and so we find Philostratus, in his extant letter! to her, reminding her of a discussion they had had on Aeschines, and defending Gorgias of Leontini from his detractors. We do not meet with such another court of literary men until, in the fourth century, the Emperor Julian hastily collected about him the sophists and philosophers who were so soon to be dispersed on his
_ death. Cassius Dio? tells us that Julia was driven
ewe
eS
by the brutality of her husband to seek the society of sophists. However that may be, it was during her son’s reign that she showed especial favour to Philostratus. After her downfall and death he left Antioch and went to Tyre, where he published the work called generally the Life of Apollonius, though the more precise translation of its title would be In Honour of Apollonius. His wife, as we learn from an inscription® from Erythrae, was named Aurelia Melitine. From the same source we may conclude that the family had senatorial rank, which was no doubt bestowed on Philostratus during his connexion with the court. We have no detailed knowledge of the latter part of his life, but he evidently settled at Athens, where he wrote the Lives of the Sophists. He survived as late as the reign of Philip the Arab. Like other Lemnians he had the privilege of Athenian citizenship, and he is
v 1 Letter 63. 2 Ixxv. 15. 3 Dittenberger, Sylloge i. 413. 4 a.p. 244-249; the Emperor Philip was elected by the army after the murder of Gordian III,
b xi
INTRODUCTION
variously called in antiquity “Tyrian,” from his stay in Tyre, “Lemnian,’ and “Athenian.” That he himself preferred the last of these epithets may be gathered from the fact that he calls the younger Philostratus “the Lemnian,”’ evidently to avoid con- fusion with himself.
Philostratus dedicates the Lives to Gordian, and on this we depend for the approximate date of their composition. Gordian was consul for the second time in 229-230, and, since Philostratus suddenly changes his form of address, first calling him consul and then proconsul, he seems to have written the dedication when Gordian was proconsul of Africa, immediately after his consulship. Gordian at the age of eighty assumed the purple in 238, and shortly after committed suicide. The Lives were therefore ready to publish between the years 230 and 238, but there is no certain evidence for a more precise date.
Philostratus in writing the Lives evidently avoided the conventional style and alphabetical sequence used by grammarians for biographies ; for he had no desire to be classed with grammarians. He wrote like a well-bred sophist who wished to preserve for all time a picture of the triumphs of his tribe, when sophists were at the height of their glory. His Iiwves, therefore, are not in the strict sense bio- graphies. They are not continuous or orderly in any respect, but rather a collection of anecdotes and personal characteristics. He seldom gives a list of the works of a soplist, and when he does, it is incomplete, so far as we are able to check it, as we can for Dio or Aristeides. He was, like all his class, deeply interested in questions of style and the xii
INTRODUCTION
various types in vogue, but he must not be supposed to be writing a handbook, and hence his discussions of style are capricious and superficial He had collected a mass of information as to the personal appearance, manners and dress, temperament and fortune of the more successful sophists, and the great occasions when they triumphantly met some public test, and he shows us only the splendeurs, not the miséres of the profession. He has no pity for the failures, or for those who lost their power to hold an audience, like Hermogenes, who “ moulted ”’ too early, and from a youthful prodigy fell into such insignificance that his boyish successes were for- gotten. But to those who attained a ripe old age and made great fortunes Philostratus applies every possible superlative. They are the darlings of the gods, they have the power of Orpheus to charm, they make the reputation of their native towns, or of those in which they condescend to dwell. In fact, he did not observe that he made out nearly every one of these gifted beings to be the greatest and most eloquent of them all. Polemo and Herodes are his favourites, and for them he gives most details, while for Favorinus he is unusually consecutive. But no two Lives show the same method of treatment, a variety that may have been designed. He succeeded in founding a type of sophistic biography, and in the fourth century, in Eunapius, we have a direct imitation of the exasperat- ing manner and method of Philostratus. To pro- nounce amoral judgement was alien to this type
). of biography. Philostratus does so occasionally and
: |
notably in the Life of Critias, whom he weighs in the balance. This is, perhaps, because, as a tyrant,
xii
INTRODUCTION
Critias was often the theme of historical declama- tions, and Philostratus takes the occasion to use some of the commonplaces of the accusation and defence.
After his hurried and perfunctory review of the philosophers who were so eloquent that they were entitled to a place among the sophists, of whom the most important are Dio Chrysostom and Favorinus, he treats of the genuine sophists; first, the older type from Gorgias to Isocrates ; then, with Aeschines, he makes the transition to the New Sophistic. Next comes a gap of four centuries, and he dismisses this period with the bare mention of three insignifi- cant names which have no interest for him or for us, and passes on to Nicetes of Smyrna in the first century a.p. This break in the continuity of the Lives is variously explained. Kayser thinks that there is a lacuna in the mss., and that Philostratus could not have omitted all mention of Demetrius ot Phaleron, Charisius, Hegesias, who is regarded as having founded Asianism, not long after the death of Alexander the Great ; or of Fronto, the “ archaist,” that is to say Atticist, the friend and correspondent of Herodes Atticus, not to speak of others. In ignoring the sophistic works of Lucian in the second century, Philostratus observes the sophistic conven- tion of silence as to one who so excelled and satirized them all. He was a renegade not to be named. In accounting for the other omissions, a theory at least as likely as Kayser’s is that there lay before Philo- stratus other biographies of these men, and that he had nothing picturesque to add to them. Hesychius evidently used some such source, and Philostratus seems to refer to it when he remarks with complete vagueness that on this or that question, usually the xiv
—- lee
-
INTRODUCTION
place of birth or the death of a sophist, “some say”’ this and “others” that. In the Life of Herodes he says that he has given some details that were unknown “to others’’; these were probably other biographers. Thus he arrives at what is his real aim, to celebrate the apotheosis of the New Sophistic in the persons of such men as Polemo, Scopelian, and, above all, Herodes Atticus, with whom he begins his Second Book.
Without Philostratus we should have a very
-incomplete idea of the predominant influence of
Sophistic in the educational, social, and political life of the Empire in the second and third Christian centuries. For the only time in history professors were generally acknowledged as social leaders, went on important embassies, made large fortunes, had their marriages arranged and their quarrels settled by Emperors, held Imperial Secretaryships, were Food Controllers,! and high priests ; and swayed the fate of whole cities by gaining for them immunities and grants of money and visits from the Emperor, by expending their own wealth in restoring Greek cities that were falling into decay, and not least, by attracting thither crowds of students from the remotest parts of the Empire. No other type of intellectual could compete with them in popularity, no creative artists existed to challenge their prestige at the courts of phil-Hellenic Emperors, and though
the sophists often show jealousy of the philosophers,
philosophy without eloquence was nowhere. But besides all this, they kept alive an interest in the
1 Lollianus in the second, and Prohaeresius in the fourth century, were appointed to the office of crparoreddpxns, for which Food Controller is the nearest equivalent.
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INTRODUCTION
Greek classics, the apyaio. or standard authors; and a thorough knowledge of the Greek poets, orators, and historians such as we should hardly find equalled among professors of Greek to-day was taken for granted in Syrian, Egyptian, Arab, and Bithynian humanists, whos must be able to illustrate their lectures with echoes of Homer, Plato, Thucydides, and Demosthenes. In their declamations _ historical allusions drawn from the classics played much the same part and were as essential as the heroic myths had been to the Odes of Pindar or Bacchylides. Not only were they well read, but their technical training in rhetoric was severe, and they would have thought any claim of ours to understand the art of rhetoric, or to teach it, superficial and amateurish. We do not even know the rules of the game. Moreover, they had audiences who did know those rules, and could appreciate every artistic device. But to be thus equipped was not enough. A _ successful sophist must have the nerve and equipment of a great actor, since he must act character parts, and the termin- ology of the actor’s as well as the singer's art is frequently used for the sophistic profession ; he must have unusual charm ef appearance, manner, and voice, and a ready wit to retort on his rivals. All his training leads up to that highest achievement of the sophist, improvisation on some theme which was an echo of the past, stereotyped, but to be handled with some pretence to novelty. The theme was voted by the audience or propounded by some dis- tinguished visitor, often because it was known to be in the declaimer’s répertoire. He must have a good memory, since he must never repeat himself except by special request, and then he must do so with xvi
INTRODUCTION
perfect accuracy, and, if called on, must reverse all his arguments and take the other side. These themes were often not only fictitiously but falsely conceived, as when Demosthenes is represented pleading for Aeschines in exile, a heart-breaking waste of ingenuity and learning; or paradoxical, such as an encomium on the house-fly. Lucian from his point of view ridiculed the sophists, as Plato had satirized their intellectual and moral weakness in his day, but the former could not undermine their popularity, and the latter might well have despaired if he could have foreseen the recurring triumphs of the most sensational and theatrical forms of rhetoric in the second, third, and fourth Christian centuries. For now not only the middle-class parent, like Strepsiades in the Clouds, encourages his son to enter the sophistic profession; noble families are proud to claim kinship with a celebrated sophist ; sophists preside at the Games and religious festivals, and, when a brilliant sophist dies, cities compete for the honour of burying him in the finest of their temples.
The official salaries were a small part of their earnings. Vespasian founded a chair of rhetoric at Rome,! and Hadrian and Antoninus endowed Regius Professorships of rhetoric and philosophy in several _ provincial cities. At Athens and, later, Constanti-
. nople, there were salaried imperial chairs for which the normal pay was equivalent to about £350, and professors enjoyed certain immunities and exemp-
| tions that were later to be reserved for the clergy.
The profession was definitely organized by Marcus
i! Aurelius, who assigned an official chair to rhetoric 1 a.p. 67-79.
XVil
INTRODUCTION
and another to political oratory, and as a rule himself made the appointment from a list of candidates. Many municipalities maintained salaried professors. But, once appointed, a professor must rely on his powers of attraction; there was complete liberty in education ; anyone who wished could open a school of rhetoric ; and sometimes a free lance would empty the lecture theatre of the Regius Professor, as Libanius did in the fourth century. Nor did the Christian Emperors before Julian interfere with the freedom of speech of famous sophists, though these were usually pagans without disguise who ignored Christianity. In order to reserve for pagan sophists the teaching of the classics Julian tampered with this freedom and, as is described in the Lives of Eunapius, extended the powers of the crown over such appointments.
Political oratory, which was a relatively severe type and must avoid emotional effects and poetical allusions, was reduced to school exercises and the arguing of historical or pseudo-historical themes, and was not so fashionable or so sought after by sophists as the chair of pure rhetoric. Though officially dis- tinct in the second century, the “ political ” chair was gradually absorbed by its more. brilliant rival, and in the third and fourth centuries no talented sophist would have been content to be merely a professor of political oratory, a toAutixds. The study of law and forensic oratory was on a still lower plane and is referred to with some contempt by Philostratus. The writing of history was an inferior branch of literature. In short every form of literary composi- tion was subservient to rhetoric, and the sophists whom Plato perhaps hoped to discountenance with a XViii ‘
*
INTRODUCTION
definition were now the representatives of Hellenic culture. ‘“‘ Hellene’’ had become a technical term for a student of rhetoric in the schools.
Philostratus had no foreboding that this supremacy was doomed. or him, as for Herodes, Sophistic was a national movement. The sophist was to revive the antique purer form of religion and to encourage the cults of the heroes and Homeric gods. This was their theoretical aim, but in fact they followed after newer cults—Aristeides for instance is devoted to the cult of Asclepius whose priest he was, and there were probably few like Herodes Atticus, that ideal sophist, who was an apostle of a more genuinely Hellenic culture and religion. By the time of Eunapius the futility of Philostratus’ dream of a revival of Greek religion and culture is apparent, Sophistic is giving way to the study of Roman law at such famous schools as that of Berytus, and the best a sophist can hope for is, like the sober Libanius, to make a living from his pupils and not to become obnoxious to the all-powerful prefects and _pro- consuls of the Christian Emperors who now bestow their favours on bishops.
There are two rival tendencies in the oratory of he second and third centuries, Asianism and Atticism. The Asianic style is flowery, bombastic, full of startling metaphors, too metrical, too de- pendent on the tricks of rhetoric, too emotional. In short, the Asianic declaimer aims at but never achieves the grand style. The Atticist usually
_ imitates some classical author, aims at simplicity of
ee
style, and is a purist, carefully avoiding any allusion or word that does not occur in a writer of the classical period. In Aristeides, we have the works of an
X1X
INTRODUCTION
Atticist, and we know that he had not the knack of “improvisation ’’ and was unpopular as a teacher. He was thought to be arid, that is, not enough of an Asianist to please an audience that was ready to go into ecstasies over a display of “bombast and im- portunate epigram.’’ Philostratus never uses the word Asianism, but he criticizes the “lonian” and “ Ephesian”’ type of rhetoric, and it was this type which then represented the “theatrical shameless- ness” that in the first century Dionysius of Hali- carnassus deplored.
Philostratus was one of those who desired to achieve simplicity of style, adéAea, but when a sophist attempts this the result is always a spurious naiveté such as is seen at its worst in the Jmagines, the work of his kinsman. Above all the classical writers he admires for his style Critias, who was the ideal of Herodes Atticus also, and the fluent eloquence of Aeschines. He was an Atticist, but not of the stricter type, for he held that it was tasteless and barbarous to overdo one’s Atticism. He writes the reminiscence Greek of the cultured sophist, full of echoes of the poets, Herodotus, Plato, and Xenophon. His sentences are short and co-ordinated, his allusions are often so brief that he is obscure, and in general he displays the carelessness of the gentle- manly sophist, condescending to write narrative. If we may judge from his scornful dismissal of Varus as one who abused rhythmical effects in declamation, he himself avoided such excess in his sophistic exercises, peAerat, which are no longer extant. He was a devoted admirer of Gorgias, and in one passage? at least he
1 Life of Adrian, p. 589, where he carefully distinguishes between dwpeal and dépa.
xX
INTRODUCTION
imitates the careful distinction of synonyms that was characteristic of Prodicus. In fact he regarded the Atticizing sophists of his day as the true descendants of the Platonic sophists, and scolds Plutarch! for having attacked, in a work that has perished, the stylistic mannerisms of Gorgias. Like all his Greek contemporaries he lacked a sense of proportion, so that his literary criticisms are for the most part worthless, and the quotations that he asks us to admire are puerile. He longed for a revival of the glories of Hellenism, but it was to be a literary, not a political revival, and he shows no bitterness at the political insignificance of Greece. The Hellenes must impress their Roman masters with a sense of the inferiority of Roman culture and he will then have nothing to complain of. In the opinion of the public, improvisation was the highest achievement of \Sophistic, and so thought Philostratus. He believed that the scorn of Aristeides for this fashionable form f display, ewiderEis, masked chagrin at his failure, nd dismisses with contempt? the later career of ermogenes the technical writer; whereas Norden ® raises Hermogenes for giving up declamation and _ devoting himself to more sober and scientific studies. Philostratus has preserved the renown of a number bof these improvisators who, but for him, would have
_ perished as completely as have the actors and dancers of those centuries. More than half the
:
b
sophists described by him are ignored even by Suidas. Yet they were names to conjure with in the schools _ of rhetoric all through the Roman world, until the _ Christian Fathers and the rhetoric of the pulpit took
1 Letter 63. 2 See p. 577 for Hermogenes. 8 Antike Kunst-Prosa i. 382.
Xxi
INTRODUCTION
the place of the declaimers. Christianity was fatal to Sophistic, which seems to wither, like a Garden of Adonis, never deeply rooted in the lives of the common people. But sophists for centuries had educated Christians and pagans alike, and it was from their hands, unintelligent and sterile as they often were in their devotion to Hellenic culture, that the Church received, though without acknowledgement, the learning of which she boasted, and which she in her turn preserved for us.
The following notices of the sophists of whom we know more than is to be found in Philostratus are intended to supplement him with dates and facts that he ignored, or to correct his errors. They are in the order of the Lives.
Eupoxus of Cnidus (408-352 B.c.), famous for his researches in geometry, astronomy, and physics, was for a short time a pupil of Plato. He went to Magna Graecia to study with Archytas the Pyth- agorean, and to Egypt in the reign of Nectanebus. Strabo! describes his observatories at Heliopolis and Cnidus. He opened a school at Cyzicus and made laws for Cnidus.? Plutarch ® praises the elegance of his style.
Leon of Byzantium was a rhetorician and historian about whom we have confused and contradictory accounts in Suidas and Hesychius, especially as to the precise part that_he played when Philip of Macedon tried to take Byzantium in 340 B.c. The story is partly told by Plutarch, Phocion 14, where
1 xvii. 806. 2 Diogenes Laertius viii. 88. 3 Marcellus 4. Xxii
~"
INTRODUCTION
Leon probably played the part there assigned to one _ Cleon. 7 Dias may be, as Natorp suggests, a mistake for _ Delios. Others read Bias. Delios of Ephesus is mentioned by Plutarch as a contemporary of Alex- ander the Great. In any case we know nothing _ more of this philosopher than is related here. : CaRNEADEs (213-129 B.c.) is reckoned as an _ Athenian, though he was born at Cyrene. He founded the New Academy at Athens, and in 155 - was sent to Rome on an embassy for the Athenians. He is so celebrated as a philosopher that Philostratus, whose interest is in the genuine sophists, can dismiss him in a sentence, but no doubt Cato, who dis- _ approved of his influence at Rome, would have called him a sophist. Puitostratus the Egyptian was not connected with _ the Lemnian family. But for the facts of his life _ something may be added to the scant notice by his biographer. In his Life of Antony 80 Plutarch relates that after the defeat of Antony by Octavian, the latter pardoned the members of Cleopatra’s circle, among them Areius! the Stoic, who was then in _ Alexandria. “ Areius craved pardon for himself and many others, and especially for Philostratus the most eloquent mam of all the sophists and of orators of his time for present and sudden speech; howbeit he falsely named himself an Academic philosopher. Therefore Caesar, who hated his nature and con- _ ditions, would not hear his suit. Thereupon Philo- _ stratus let his grey beard grow long, and followed Areius step by step in a long mourning gown, still buzzing in his ears this Greek verse : 1 See Julian, The Caesars 326 8 ; Cassius Dio lvi. 43. XXlli
EE
INTRODUCTION
A wise man if that he be wise indeed
May by a wise man have the better speed. Caesar understanding this, not for the desire he had to deliver Philostratus of his fear, as to rid Areius of malice and envy that might have fallen out against him, pardoned him.” We have also an epigram by Crinagoras of Mytilene, a contemporary, a lament over the downfall of this favourite of princes :— “QO Philostratus, unhappy for all thy wealth, where are those sceptres and constant intercourse with princes? ... Foreigners have shared among them the fruit of thy toils, and thy corpse shall lie in sandy Ostrakine.”’ !
Dio Curysostom, the “golden-mouthed,’ was born in Bithynia about a.p. 40. Exiled for fourteen years by his fear of Domitian, he acquired the peculiar knowledge of the coast towns of the Black Sea and of the savage Getae that is shown in his writings. We have eighty of his speeches, or rather essays; they are partly moral lectures or sermons delivered both during and after his exile, which ended in 96 with the accession of his friend Nerva. He denounces the “ god-forsaken”’ sophists, but for part at least of his life he was a professed sophist, and many of his essays are purely sophistic. Dio labelled himself a philosopher, and he was one of Plutarch’s type, borrowing the best from all the schools. He wrote the “ plain” style and Xenophon and Plato were his favourite models. Next to Lucian he is the most successful and the most agreeable to
1 Palatine Anthology vii. 645. The ‘‘ foreigners” are Romans, and Ostrakine is a desert village between Egypt and Palestine.
XXiv
:
INTRODUCTION
read of all the Atticizing writers with sophistic
tendencies.
Favorinus (A.p. 80-150) was a Gaul who came to Rome to study Greek and Latin letters in the second Christian century ; he spent much of his professional life in Asia Minor. He became the intimate friend of Plutarch, Fronto, and other distinguished men, and had a powerful patron in the Emperor Hadrian. He wrote Greek treatises on history, philosophy, and geography. A statue of him was set up in the public library of Corinth to encourage the youth of Corinth to imitate his eloquence. He was regarded as a sort of encyclopaedia, and his learning is praised by Cassius Dio, Galen, and Aulus Gellius. He belonged to the Academic school of philosophy, but composed numerous sophistic speeches including paradoxical panegyrics, eg. an Encomium of Quartan Fever. Lucian speaks of him disparagingly as “a certain eunuch of the school of the Academy who came from Gaul and became famous in Greece a little before my time.” He was an Asianist in his use of broken and excessive rhythms. We can judge of his style from his Corinthian Oration, which survives among the Orations of Dio Chrysostom. It is the longest extant piece of Asianic prose of the early second century.2_ The Universal History of Favorinus was probably the chief source used by Athenaeus for his Dezpnosophists, and was freely borrowed from by Diogenes Laertius.
Goraias of Leontini in Sicily came to Athens in 427 B.c., at the age of about fifty-five, on an embassy from Leontini, and that date marks a turning-point
1 Bunuch 7; cf. Demonax 12. 2 Norden, Kunst-Prosa, p. 422. | XXV
INTRODUCTION
in the history of prose-writing. The love of parallelism and antithesis was innate in the Greeks, and the so-called “Gorgianie”’ figures, antithesis, similar endings (homoioteleuta), and symmetrical, carefully balanced clauses were in use long before the time of Gorgias. They are to be found in Heracleitus and Empedocles, and in the plays of Euripides that appeared before 427. But by his exaggerated use of these figures and his deliberate adoption for prose of effects that had been held to be the property of poetry, Gorgias set a fashion that was never quite discarded in Greek prose, though it was often condemned as frigid and precious. He is the founder of epideictic oratory, and his influence lasted to the end. But the surer taste of Athenian prose writers rejected the worst of his exaggerations, and later, when Aristotle or Cicero or Longinus points out the dangers of making one’s prose “ metrical” by abuse of rhythms, or condemns short and jerky clauses, minuta et versiculorum similia (Cicero, Orator 39), they cite the mannerisms of Gorgias. A fragment of his Funeral Oration survives, and, though scholars are not agreed as to the genuineness of the Helen and the Palamedes which have come down under his name, these are useful as showing the characteristic features of his style. We have the inscription that was com- posed for the statue of Gorgias dedicated at Olympia by his grand-nephew Eumolpus; in it he defends Gorgias from the charge of ostentation in having in his lifetime dedicated a gold statue of himself at Delphi.
Proragoras of Abdera in Thrace was born about 480 B.c. and came to Athens about 450. His agnostic utterances about the gods led to his prosecution for XXVi ;
INTRODUCTION
impiety by the Athenians who would not tolerate a professed sceptic. He may be called the founder of grammar, since he is said to have been the first to distinguish the three genders by name, and he divided the form of the verb into categories which were the foundation of our moods. In speech he was a purist. His philosophy was Heracleitean, and to him is ascribed the famous phrase “ Man is the measure of all things.” His aim was to train states- men in civie virtue, by which he meant an expert knowledge how to get the better of an opponent in any sort of debate. We have no writings that are certainly his, but can judge of his style by Plato’s imitation in the Protagoras. A treatise on medicine ealled On the Art, which has come down to us among the works of Hippocrates, has been assigned by some to Protagoras. For his Life Philostratus used Diogenes Laertius.
Hrepras of Elis was the most many-sided of the early sophists, the polymath or encyclopaedist. He professed to have made all that he wore, taught astronomy and geography, and was a_ politician rather than a professed teacher of rhetoric. In the two Platonic dialogues that bear his name _ he appears as a vain and theatrical improvisator. In ~ the Protagoras his preference for teaching scientific subjects is ridiculed, in passing, by Protagoras. Philostratus derives his account of Hippias from Plato, Hippias Maior 282-286, where Socrates draws out Hippias and encourages him to boast of his versatility and success in making money.
Propicus of Ceos was a slightly younger con- temporary of Protagoras. He was famous for his study of synonyms and their precise use, and may
Cc XXVii
INTRODUCTION
be regarded as the father of the art of using the inevitable word, le mot juste. Plato speaks of him with a mixture of scorn and respect, but perhaps Prodicus showed him the way to his own nice dis- tinction of terms. ‘ Cleverer than Prodicus” became a proverbial phrase.
Po.tus of Sicily, “colt by name and colt by nature,’ is the respondent to Socrates in the second part of Plato’s Gorgas, and on that dialogue and the Phaedrus we rely mainly for our knowledge of this young and ardent disciple of Gorgias. He had composed an Art of Rhetoric which Socrates had just read, and he provokes Socrates to attack rhetoric as the counterfeit of an art, like cookery. In the Phaedrus 267 8, he is ridiculed as a Euphuist who had invented a number of technical rhetorical terms and cared chiefly for fine writing; but he is far inferior, we are told, to his teacher Gorgias, and exaggerates his faults.
Turasymacuus of Chalcedon is said to have been the first to develop periodic prose, and hence he may be said to have founded rhythmic prose. In the Phaedrus 267 c, p Plato parodies his excessive use of rhythm and poetical words. In the First Book of the Republic Plato makes him play the part of a violent and sophistic interlocutor whom Socrates easily disconcerts with his dialectic. He wrote handbooks of rhetoric, and according to the Phaedrus he was a master of the art of composing pathetic commonplaces (té7o0v), mzserationes, “ piteous whin- ings,’ as Plato calls them. Like Polus, his name, “ hot-headed fighter,” indicates the temperament of the man.
- AntipHon of the Attic deme Rhamnus was born
XXVlii
_S=- = ry obit’
INTRODUCTION
soon after 480 B.c., and was a celebrated teacher of rhetoric at Athens. He was deeply influenced by Sicilian rhetoric. Thucydides says that no man of his time was superior to Antiphon in conceiving and expressing an argument and in training a man to speak in the courts or the assembly. He was an extreme oligarch, and was deeply implicated in the plot that placed the Four Hundred in power in 411. When they fell he was condemned to death and drank hemlock, his fortune was confiscated, and his house pulled down. We have his J'etralogies, fifteen speeches all dealing with murder cases; twelve of these are in groups of four, hence the name, and give two speeches each for the plaintiff and the defendant in fictitious cases. He uses the common- places of the sophists, but his style is severe and archaic. The only other authority for the generally discredited statement of Philostratus that he increased the Athenian navy is pseudo-Plutarch, Lives of the Ten Orators. Recently there have been found in Egypt four fragments of his Apology, that defence which Thucydides! called “the most beautiful apologetic discourse ever given.” Antiphon tries to prove that his motives in bringing the oligarchs into power were unselfish. He reminds the judges of his family, whom he did not want to abandon, and without whom he could easily have made his escape. I assume that Antiphon was both orator and sophist, though some maintain that throughout the Life Philostratus has confused two separate Antiphons.
Crittas, “the handsome,” son of Callaeschrus, is remembered chiefly for his political career as a 1 viii. 68,
XX1X
INTRODUCTION
leader of the oligarchy, a pro-Spartan, and one of the Thirty Tyrants. He was exiled from Athens in 407 B.c., and returned in 405. It was Xenophon who said! that he degenerated during his stay in Thessaly. He was killed fighting against Thrasy- bulus and the democrats a year later. Critias was a pupil of Socrates and also of the sophists. He wrote tragedies, elegies, and prose works, of which not enough has survived for any sure estimate to be made of his talent. He was greatly admired by the later sophists, especially by Herodes Atticus. IsocraTEs (436-338) was trained by the sophists, by Prodicus certainly, and perhaps Protagoras, for a public career, but a weak voice and an incurable difidence barred him from this, and after studying in Thessaly with Gorgias he became a professional rhetorician at Athens, where he opened his school about 393. In that school, which Cicero calls an “ oratorical laboratory,” were trained the most dis- tinguished men of the fourth century at Athens. It was his fixed idea that the Greeks must forget their quarrels and unite against Persia, and towards the end of his life he believed that Philip of Macedon might reconcile the Greek states and lead them to this great enterprise. The tradition that, when Philip triumphed over Greece at Chaeronea, Isocrates, disillusioned, refused to survive, has been made popular by Milton’s sonnet, 7'o the Lady Margaret Ley. Isocrates did in fact die in 338, but he was ninety- eight, and it is not certain that he would have despaired at the success of Philip. He was a master of epideictic prose, and brought the period to per- fection in long and lucid sentences. Since Cicero’s 1 Memorabilia i. 3. 24. XXX
INTRODUCTION
OO Pe ae a
style is based on Isocrates, the latter may be said to have influenced, through Cicero, the prose of modern Europe.
AESCHINES was born in 389 B.c. of an obscure family, and after being an actor and then a minor clerk, raised himself to the position of leading politician, ambassador, and rival of Demosthenes. He supported Philip of Macedon, and in 343 defended himself successfully in his speech On the False Em- bassy, from an attack by Demosthenes, whom he attacked in turn without success in the speech Against Ctesiphon in 330; to this Demosthenes _ retorted with his speech On the Crown. After this _ failure, Aeschines withdrew to Rhodes, where he spent the rest of his life in teaching, and it is because he taught rhetoric that Philostratus includes _ him here and calls him a sophist.
3 Nicetes flourished in the latter half of the first | Christian century under the Emperors Vespasian, Domitian, and Nerva. After the Life of Aeschines Philostratus skips four centuries and passes to a very ifferent type of orator. He is the first important epresentative of Asianic oratory in the Luves. hilostratus calls this the Ionian type, and it was specially associated with the coast towns of Asia Minor, and above all Smyrna and Ephesus. Nicetes is mentioned in passing by Tacitus,! as having travelled far from the style of Aeschines and Demosthenes; Pliny the Younger says? that he heard him lecture. Nothing of his is extant. There was another sophist of the same name whom Seneca + quotes, but he lived earlier and flourished under Tiberius.
1 Dialogus 15. 2 Epistles vi. 6.
XxXxl
INTRODUCTION
Isarus will always be remembered, but he does not owe his immortality to Philostratus, but rather to the fact that Pliny! praised his eloquence in a letter to Trajan, and Juvenal,? in his scathing description of the hungry Greekling at Rome, said that not even Isaeus could pour forth such a torrent of words. He came to Rome about a.p. 97 and made a great sensation there.
ScopELIAN of Clazomenae lived under Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan. His eloquence was of the Asianic type, as was natural in a pupil of Nicetes. In the letter addressed to him by Apollonius of Tyana,? Scopelian is apparently warned not to imitate even the best, but to develop a style of his own; this was shockingly heterodox advice. For Philostratus, his popularity with the crowd was the measure of his ability.
Dionysius of Miletus is mentioned in passing by Cassius Dio lxix. 789, who says that he offended the Emperor Hadrian. Nothing of his survives, for he almost certainly did not write the treatise On the Sublime which has been attributed to him, as to other writers of the same name, though on the very slightest grounds. He was inclined to Asianism, if we may trust the anecdote of his rebuke by Isaeus; see p. 513.
Loxuianus of Ephesus, who lived under Hadrian and Antoninus, is ridiculed by Lucian, Epigram 26, for his volubility, and his diction is often criticized by Phrynichus. He wrote handbooks on rhetoric which have perished. From the quota- tions of Philostratus it is evident that he was an Asianist. He made the New Sophistic popular in
1 Kpistles ii. 3. 2 Satire iii. 24. 3 Letter 19. XXX1l
INTRODUCTION
Athens. He was curator annonae, an office which in Greek is represented by ortpatoredapyns or otpatnyos eri Tov drAwv; the title had lost its military significance. We have the inscription? composed for the statue of Lollianus in the agora at Athens ; it celebrates his ability in the lawcourts and as a declaimer, but in a brief phrase, while the rest of the inscription aims at securing the immortal renown of the “ well-born pupils” who dedicated the statue.
Potemo of Laodicea was born about a.p. 85 and lived under Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus. There have survived two of his declamations in which two fathers of Marathon heroes dispute the honour of pronouncing the funeral oration on those who fell at Marathon. We can judge from them of the Asianic manner of the time, with its exaggerated tropes, tasteless similes, short and antithetic clauses, and, in general, its obvious straining after effect and lack of coherent development of ideas. Polemo makes an attempt at Attic diction, but is full of solecisms and late constructions. ‘These composi- tions seem to us to lack charm and force, but his improvisations may have been very different. Even as late as the fourth century he was admired and imitated, e.g. by Gregory of Nazianzen.
Heropes Arricus, the most celebrated sophist of the second century, was born about a.p. 100 at Marathon, and died about 179; he was consul in 143. With him begins an important development of Sophistic, for he and his followers at least strove to
1 See for this office the Lives of Eunapius, especially the Life of Prohaeresius. 2 Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca 877.
XXXill
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be thorough Atticists and were diligent students of the writers of the classical period. They set up a standard of education that makes them respectable, and we may say of them, as of some of the sophists of the fourth Christian century, that never has there been shown a more ardent appreciation of the glorious past of Greece, never a more devoted study of the classical authors, to whatever sterile ends. But it is evident that Herodes, who threw all his great in- fluence on the side of a less theatrical and more scholarly rhetoric than Scopelian’s, failed to win any such popularity as his. For the main facts of his life we rely on Philostratus. Of all his many-sided literary activities only one declamation remains, in which a young Theban oligarch urges his fellow- citizens to make war on Archelaus of Macedonia. But its authenticity is disputed, and it shows us only one side of his rhetoric. Its rather frigid correctness is certainly not typical of the New Sophistic, nor has it the pathos for which he was famed. There are many admiring references to Herodes in Lucian, Aulus Gellius, and Plutarch. In the Lives that follow his it will be seen how deeply he influenced his numerous pupils, and, through them, the trend of the New Sophistic.' The notice of Herodes in Suidas is independent of Philostratus. If we accept the theory of Rudolph, Athenaeus in his Dezpno- sophists (Banquet of the Learned), has given us a characterization of Herodes as the host, disguised under the name Larensius.
There are extant two long Greek inscriptions ”
1 See Schmid, Afticismus 201.
2 Kaibel, Hpigrammata Graeca 1046, gives a useful com- mentary on the dates in the life of Herodes.
XXXiV
INTRODUCTION
found at Rome, composed for Regilla, the wife of Herodes, one for her heroum or shrine on the Appian Way, the other for her statue in the temple of Minerva and Nemesis. Her brother Braduas was consul in 160. The inscription for the Appian Way must have been composed before 171, the date of the encounter at Sirmium of Herodes and Marcus Aurelius related by Philostratus, since in it Elpinice his daughter is named as-still alive; it was partly
_ grief for her death that made Herodes indifferent to his fate at Sirmium.
AristocLes, the pupil of Herodes, wrote philo- sophical treatises and rhetorical handbooks which have all perished. He was evidently a thorough Atticist. His conversion from philosophy to sophistic and his personal habits are described by Synesius,
_ Dio 35 pv. Synesius says that, whereas Dio was con- verted from sophistic to philosophy, Aristocles in his old age became a dissipated sophist and competed with his declamations in the theatres of Italy and Asia.
_ Avexanper the Cilician probably derived his love
of philosophy from his teacher Favorinus, but his
_ nickname “Clay Plato”’ implies that his pretensions
were not taken seriously. However sound may have been the studies of these more scholarly sophists or | the type of Herodes, they evidently resorted to the trivial devices and excessive rhythms that the crowd
had been taught by the Asianists to expect from a
declaimer. If Alexander really declaimed more soberly than Scopelian, as Herodes said, the quota-
i tions from him in Philostratus do not ae any real
| difference of style. Alexander was, however, some- | thing more than a mere expert in the etiquette of | Sophistic.
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INTRODUCTION
HermoceEnes of Tarsus is the most famous technical writer on rhetoric in the second century, though one would not infer this from Philostratus. His career as a declaimer was brief, but it is improbable that, as Suidas says, his mind became deranged at twenty- four. He was a youthful prodigy, a boy orator, who turned to the composition of treatises when his knack of declamation forsook him in early manhood. We have his Preparatory Exercises, Ipoyvpvacpara, his treatise, On the Constitution of Cases, Ilepi trav oracewr, On Invention, [epi etpecews, and, best known of all, On the Types of Style, Ilepi ise@v. For him Demosthenes is the perfect orator who displays all the seventeen qualities of good oratory, such as clearness, beauty, the grand manner, and the rest. Hermogenes defines and classifies them, together with the formal elements of a speech. His categories are quoted by all the technical rhetoricians who succeed him. All his work was intended to lead to the scientific imitation of the classical writers, though he admired also a few later authors, especially the Atticist Aristeides, the strictest of the archaists. Philostratus, who can admire only the declaimer, says nothing of his success as a technical writer.
Aer.ius ARISTEIDEs, surnamed Theodorus, was born in Mysia, in 117. According to Suidas, he studied under Polemo, but no doubt he owed more to the teaching of Herodes. He is the chief representative of the religious and literary activity of the sophists and their revival of Atticism in the second century, and we must judge of that revival mainly from his works which are in great part extant. We have fifty-five Orations of various kinds, and two treatises on rhetoric in which he shows himself inferior in XXXVi |
INTRODUCTION
- method and thoroughness to Hermogenes. He was proverbially unpopular as a teacher of rhetoric, and though the epigram on the seven pupils of Aristeides, four walls and three benches, which is quoted in the anonymous argument to his Panathenaic Oration, is there said to have been composed for a later rhetori- cian of the same name, it somehow clung to his memory, and a denial was felt to be necessary. His six Sacred Discourses, in which he discusses the treat- ment by Asclepius of a long illness of thirteen years with which he was afflicted, are one of the curiosities of literature. They mark the close association of Sophistic and religion in the second century, and it is to be observed that Polemo, Antiochus, and Hermocrates also frequented the temple of Asclepius. The sophists constantly opposed the irreligion of the contemporary philosophers, but it is hard to believe that an educated man of that time could seriously describe his interviews with Asclepius and the god’s fulsome praises of his oratory. It is less surprising when Eunapius, in the fourth century, reports, apparently in good faith, the conversations of his contemporaries with Asclepius at Pergamon, for superstition, fanned by the theurgists, had by that time made great headway.
For the later sophists described by Eunapius, Aristeides ranks with Demosthenes as a model of Greek prose, and he was even more diligently read ; it was the highest praise to say that one of them resembled “the divine Aristeides.”’ For them he was the ideal sophist, and he did indeed defend Sophistic with all his energy against the philosophers, whom he despised. He even carried on a polemic against Plato, and made a formal defence of Gorgias whom
XXXVII
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INTRODUCTION
Plato had attacked in the Gorgias. In spite of his lack of success as a declaimer, he was an epideictic orator. He rebuked his fellow sophists for their theatrical methods, and his Oration Against the Dan- cing Sophists is the bitterest invective against Asianic emotional eloquence that we possess. But he was no less emotional than they, when there was a chance for pathos. When Smyrna was destroyed by an earthquake in 178 he wrote a Monody on Smyrna which has all the faults of Asianism. ‘There is little real feeling in this speech over which Marcus Aurelius shed conventional tears. Yet he was in the main an Atticist, who dreamed of reproducing the many-sided eloquence of Demosthenes and pursued. this ideal at the cost of popularity with the crowd. He had his reward in being for centuries rated higher than Demosthenes by the critics and writers on rhetoric. Libanius, in the fourth century, was his devout imitator, though he himself practised a more flexible style of oratory. Aristeides died in the reign of Commodus, about a.p. 187.
ApriAN, the Phoenician pupil of Herodes, is hardly known except through Philostratus. He can scarcely have been as old as eighty when he died, for, as Commodus himself died in 190, that is the latest year in which he can have sent an appointment to the dying Adrian, as Philostratus relates. Now Herodes had died about 180 at the age of seventy, and Philostratus makes it clear that Adrian was a much younger man, ‘This is of small importance in itself, but it illustrates the carelessness of Philostratus as a chronicler.
Jutius Pottux of Naucratis came to Rome in the reign of Antoninus or Marcus Aurelius, and taught
XXXVili
INTRODUCTION
rhetoric to the young Commodus to whom he dedicated his Onomasticon. His speeches, which even Philostratus found it impossible to praise, are lost, but we have the Onomasticon, a valuable thesaurus of Greek words and synonyms, and especially of technical terms of rhetoric. It was designed as a guide to rhetoric for Commodus, but Pollux was to be more useful than he knew. He is bitterly satirized by Lucian in his Rhetorician’s Guide, where he is made to describe with the most shameless effrontery the ease with which a declaimer may gull his audience and win a reputation. How far this satire was justified we cannot tell, but we may assume that Pollux had made pretensions to shine as a declaimer, and Lucian, always hostile to that type, chose to satirize one who illustrated the weaknesses rather than the brilliance of that profession. Never- theless the passage quoted from a declamation of Pollux by’ Philostratus is not inferior to other such extracts in the Lives.
Pausanias the sophist is assumed by some scholars to be the famous archaeologist and traveller. But the latter was not a native of Lycia, and though he speaks of Herodes, he nowhere says that he had studied with him. Nor does Suidas in his list of the sophist’s works mention the famous Description of Greece. ‘The Pausanias of Philostratus is perhaps the author of the Attic Lexicon praised by Photius. We have some fragments of this work.
AntipaTER the Syrian was one of the teachers of Philostratus. At the court of Septimius Severus he had great influence, perhaps due in part to his Syrian birth, for the compatriots of the Empress Julia were under her special patronage. At Athens he had
XXXI1X
INTRODUCTION
been the pupil of Adrian, Pollux, and a certain Zeno, a writer on rhetoric whom Philostratus does not include in the Lives. He educated the Emperor’s sons, Caracalla and Geta, received the consulship, and was for a short time Governor of Bithynia. Galen, the court physician, praises Severus for the favour shown to Antipater. He starved himself to death after Caracalla’s favour was withdrawn. This was about 212. We may therefore place his birth about 144. Philostratus studied with him before he became an official. Antipater’s marriage with the plain daughter of Hermocrates took place when the court was in the East, but whether Philostratus in his account of this event means the first or the second Eastern expedition of Severus he does not say, so that we cannot precisely date Antipater’s appoint- ment as Imperial Secretary; it occurred about 194 or 197; Kayser prefers the later date. We learn from Suidas that Antipater was attacked by Philo- stratus the First in an essay, On the Name, or On the Noun. This statement is useful as fixing the date of the father of our Philostratus. The Antipater of the Lives must not be confused with an earlier sophist of the same name mentioned by Dio Chrysostom.
Ciaupius AELIAN, the “ honey-tongued,” as Suidas tells us he was called, is the most important of the learned sophists of the third century. He was born at Praeneste towards the close of the second century, and was a Hellenized Roman who, like Marcus Aurelius, preferred to write Greek. He was an industrious collector of curious facts and strange tales, but, in spite of the statement of Philostratus as to the purity of his dialect, he hardly deserves to rank as a writer of Greek prose. Though he claims xl
INTRODUCTION
to write for “educated ears,’ his language is a strange mixture of Homeric, tragic, and Ionic Greek, with the “common” dialect as a basis. He is erudite in order to interest his readers and with no purpose of preserving a literary tradition ; and in his extant works he observes none of the rules of thetorical composition as they were handed down by the sophists. He aims at simplicity, apéAca, but is intolerably artificial. We have his treatise in seven- teen books, On Animals, a curious medley of facts and anecdotes designed to prove that animals display the virtues and vices of human beings; and the less well preserved Varied History, a collection of anecdotes about famous persons set down without any attempt at orderly sequence or connexion. Two religious treatises survive in fragments. In choosing to be a mere writer rather than an epideictic orator he really forfeited the high privilege of being called a sophist.
xi
BIBLIOGRAPHY Manuscripts.
Tuere are a number of mss. of the Lives, of which the following are the most important : Vaticanus 99, eleventh century; Vaticunus 64, fourteenth century; Vaticanus 140, fifteenth or sixteenth century (contains also the Lives of Eunapius) ; Lawrentianus 59,twelfthcentury; Marcianus, 391, fifteenth century. Cobet's emendations are in Mnemosyne, 1873, Jahn’s notes and emendations in his Symbolae ad Philostrati librum de vitis sophistarum, Berne, 1837. Editions.
Aldine, 1502. Juntine, 1517, 1535. Morell, 1608. Olearius, Leipzig, 1709. Westermann, Didot, Paris, 1822, reprinted 1849 and 1878 (with a Latin version, often incorrect). Heyne and Jacobs, 1797. Kayser, Heidel- berg, 1838, with notes. Kayser, Ziirich, 1842-1846, 1853. Kayser, Teubner, Leipzig, 1871." Bendorf, Leipzig, 1893.
Poremo: Hinck, Leipzig, 1873. Heropes Arricus : In Oratores Attici, Paris, 1868. Hass, De H. 4. oratione tepi rohitelas, Kiel, 1880. ARISTEIDES : Dindorf, Leipzig, 1829. Kiel, Berlin, 1897.
Literature. Fertig, De Philostrati sophistis, Bamberg, 1894.
Schmid, Afticismus, vol. iv. Stuttgart, 1896, on the style of Philostratus; vol. i. on the style of Aristeides, 1887.
1 The text of the present edition is that of Kayser, revised. The paging is that of Olearius.
xhii
/
— -
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baumgart, Aelius Aristeides, Leipzig, 1874. Jiittner, De Polemone, Breslau, 1898. Rohde, Der griechische Roman, Leipzig. 1876, 1900. Norden, Antike Kunst-Prosa, Leipzig, 1898. Leo, Griechisch-rémische Biographie, Leipzig, 1901. Bruns, Die atticistischen Bestrebungen, Kiel, 1896. Volkmann, Die Rhetorik der Griechen und Rémer, 2nd edition, Leipzig, 1885. Kohl, De scholastica- rum declamationum argumentis ex historia petitis, Pader- born, 1915. Rohde in Rheinisches Museum, xli. Kaibel in Hermes, xx. Radermacher in Rheinisches Museum, lii., liv. (the last three articles are discussions of the historical development of the New Sophistic). Miinscher, “ Die Philostrate” in Philologus, Supplement 10, 1907 (this is the best discussion of the identity and the ascription of the works of the Philostrati), Wilamowitz in Hermes xxxv. (on Atticism and Asianism). Stock, De prolaliarum usu
. OS einagp Konigsberg, 1911. Burgess, Epideictic Litera-
ture, Chicago, 1902. Philologische Abhandlungen, Breslau, 1901, Quaestiones rhetoricae (articles on the lives and works or second and fourth century rhetoricians).
479
480
®IAOSTPATOY BIOI SO@ISTON
TQI AAMTIPOTATO!I TITIATOI ANTONIOI TOPAIANOI @AATIO“n SIAOSTPATOS
Todvs dirocodyjcavtas év d6€n Tod codioteboar Kal TOVS OUTW KUpiWs mpoopybevras cogpuoras és dvo BuBrALa dveyparba Gol, yeyvacKeay pev, OTe Kal yévos €0Tl GOL 7POS me TEX es “Hpwdnv TOV copioriy dvapéepovre, pevnevos de Kal TOV Kara TV “Avridxevay omovdacbévtwy mote qty dep oopioray € ev T@ 708 Aadgvaiou & ‘ep. TmaTEpas d€ od mpoceypaysa, ua Ar’ ov, maou,” aAAa Tots am eddokiwov: oida yap 67 Kat Kopiriay TOV copioTny ovK eK TaTépwv ap€dpevorv,” adda “Ou pov 1 pLovov avy TH TaTpi emvnobevra, dred Jadpa dnAdoew eueMe marépa ‘Opripy TOTA{LOV civat. Kal dAAws ovK evtuxés TH Bovdoperw
1 ua Alia, ob raow Kayser; ua Al’ of, raow Richards. 2 dpéduevov add. Richards.
1 See Introduction, p. xii.
2 On the famous temple of Apollo in the suburb of Daphne cf. Julian, Misopogon 346; Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana i. 16.
2
PHILOSTRATUS LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
Depicatep By Fiavius PariLosrratus TO THE MOST ILLUstRious Antonius Gorpr1anus, Consut}
PREFACE
I HAVE written for you in two Books an account of certain men who, though they pursued philosophy, ranked as sophists, and also of the sophists properly so called; partly because I know that your own family is connected with that profession, since Herodes the sophist was your ancestor; but I remembered, too, the discussions we once held about the sophists at Antioch, in the temple of Daphnean Apollo.2 Their fathers’ names I have not added in all cases, God forbid! but only for those who were the sons of illustrious men. For one thing I am aware that the sophist Critias also did not begin with the father’s name as a rule, but only in the case of Homer mentioned his father, because the thing he had to relate was a marvel, namely, that Homer's father was a river.* And further it would be no great piece of luck for one who desired to be really
3’ There was a tradition that Homer’s father was the river Meles, near Smyrna.
3
PHILOSTRATUS
/ A A TOAAG €id€var matépa ev Tod Seivos e€erioracar \ \ > kal pytépa, Tas dé mept adrov dpetas Te Kal > kaklas od yuyvdcKew, pnd 6 Te Kara@pbwoe Te a ae , 0 / By , \ \ , obtos Kal copdAn 7) TUxN 7) yen. TO de ppovTe- ~ / cpa Todt, apiote avOuTraTwr, Kat Ta AXON cor A ~ / Lf e \ ~ Kougpiet THS yvapns, WoTEp O KpaTnp THS “EAé- aA , / Yu vys tots Aiyumriow pappaxots. éppwoo Movo-
nyeTa. A /
Ti dpxatay ocod.otixny pntopicyy ayyetobar xpi) pirocogotcav: Siadéyerar pev yap virep av of didocogotvtes, & de exeivor TAS €pwTIGELS Sroxabhpevor Kal Ta opiKpa TOV Cytoupevwv mpopuBalovres ovmw dact yuyymoxew, TadTa o maAaids copiaTis ws €idws A€yer. Tmpootpia yoov moucirar TOV Adywv TO “ olda’’ Kat TO “ yuyver- oxw’” Kat ‘“mdAar SivécKxeppar’’ Kat “* BéBasov avOpirm oddév.” 4 dé TovavTy idéa Tv mpo- OupLiwv ebyeverdy Te Tmponxet Tov Adyov Kal dpo- pnpa Kal Karadnyw oadh Tob GvTOS. Npwoora.
481 S¢ 4 pev TH avOpwrwn pavTtKh, 7V Aiytrrvot re kat XadSaior Kal po tovtwv “Ivdoi Evvelecar, puplois aoTepwv oroyalopevot Tod ovtos, 7 Se TH Ocomumdd Te Kat ypnoTnpwwder* Kal yap 97 cal rod IlvOlov éotiv axovew
1 A sophistic commonplace from Odyssey iv. 220; cf. Life of Apollonius vii. 22, and note on Julian, Oration viii. 940 c, vol. il.
2 For Plato’s criticism of sophistic assurance ef. Meno 70, Symposium 208 c, Theaetetus 180 a.
+
——-. - .
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
well informed, to know precisely who was So-and-so’s father and mother, yet fail to learn what were the man’s own virtues and vices, and in what he succeeded or failed, whether by luck or judgement. This essay of mine, best of proconsuls, will help to lighten the weight of cares on your mind, like Helen’s cup with its Egyptian drugs.! Farewell, leader of the Muses!
BOOK I
We must regard the ancient sophistic art as philosophic rhetoric. For it discusses the themes that philosophers treat of, but whereas they, by their method of questioning, set snares for know- ledge, and advance step by step as they confirm the minor points of their investigations, but assert that they have still no sure knowledge, the sophist of the old school assumes a-knowledge of that whereof he speaks. At any rate, he introduces his speeches with such phrases as “I know,” or “I am aware,” or “I
_have long observed,’ or “For mankind there is
nothing fixed and sure.” This kind of introduction gives a tone of nobility and self-confidence to a speech and implies a clear grasp of the truth.2. The method of the philosophers resembles the prophetic art which is controlled by man and was organized by the Egyptians and Chaldeans and, before them, by the Indians, who used to conjecture the truth by the aid of countless stars; the sophistic method resembles the prophetic art of soothsayers and oracles. For indeed one may hear the Pythian oracle say:
5
PHILOSTRATUS
oda 5° eyw pdppov 7 apiOuov Kai wérpa Padrddoons Kal tetxos Tpitoyevet EvAWwov S607 evptotta Zevs Kal Népwrv ’Opéorns “AAkpaiwy pntpoKrovor Kal mona, Tovabra., WOTrEp copiaTod, déyorTos. “H pev 57) apyata copuoruKn KQL TA prrocogov- peva drroTiWewevn Sujet avra amoTaonv Kal és LAjKos, dueAeyero pev yap Tept avdpetas, duehéyero dé Tept SuKaidTyTOs, Tpouv TE mE pt Kal Oeav Kat om, ameaXnWaTaTaL 7 id€a. Tob KOOMOU. n Oe peT exelvynv, Hv ovxt véav, apxaia yap, Oevtépay de padov TpoopyTeov, TOUS mevaras brrerume - gato Kal Tovs mAovolovs Kal Tovs apioTéas Kal TOUS TUpdvvous Kal Tas €s ovopa drobeaes, eg as 7 loropia aye. npte de THS bev dpxavorépas Tr opyias re) Acovrivos ev Oerradois, TAS. é dev- tépas Aioyivyns 6 “Atpounrav Tay jpev AOnvgot modtTiK@v éxmecwv, Kapia dé evouidjoas Kal ‘Pddw, Kal wereyecattove Tas wmolécers of pev KaTO. TEXVIY ot dé amo Topyiov Kara To dd€av. 482 Lyediwv Ge myyas Adywv ot pee ex ITepucAcous punvar mpwrov pact, obev Kal peyas 6 Tlepe- KAfs evonicby tiv yA@rTav, ot S€ amd tod Bu- Cavriov I[vOwvos, dv Anpoobevns povos *APnvaiwy
* Herodotus i. 147; Life of Apollomus vi. 11.
2 ¢.e. Athene, whose city Athens is protected by the wooden wall of her navy.
% Suetonius, Nero 39; Life of Apollonius iv. 38; the enigmatic or bombastic phraseology of the oracles reminds Philostratus of the oracular manner and obscurity of certain sophists.
6
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
I know the number of the sands of the sea and the measure thereof,?
and Far-seeing Zeus gives a wooden wall to the Trito-Born,? and Nero, Orestes, Alemaeon, matricides,?
and many other things of this sort, just like a sophist. Now ancient sophistic, even when it propounded philosophical themes, used to discuss them diffusely | and at length;* for it discoursed on courage, it | discoursed on justice, on the heroes and gods, and how the universe has been fashioned into its present shape. But the sophistic that followed it, which we ‘| must not call “new,’ for it is old, but rather
“second,” sketched the types of the poor man and
the rich, of princes and tyrants, and handled argu-
ments that are concerned with definite and special themes for which history shows the way. Gorgias of Leontini founded the older type in Thessaly,° and
_Aeschines, son of Atrometus, founded the second,
after he had been exiled from political life at Athens and had taken up his abode in Caria and Rhodes ; and the followers of Aeschines handled their themes ith a view to elaborating the methods of their art, while the followers of Gorgias handled theirs with a _ view to proving their case.
The fountains of extempore eloquence flowed, some say, from Pericles their source, and hence Pericles has won his great reputation as an orator; but others say that it arose with Python of Byzantium, of whom Demosthenes says® that he
4 Plato, Sophist 217 c. 5 Plato, Meno 70z.
6 Demosthenes, On the Crown 136; the same account is given by Philostratus, Life of Apollonius vii. 37. Python came to Athens as the agent of Philip of Macedon.
7
PHILOSTRATUS
> A / \ \ Lz 4 e avacyetv dno. Opacvvdpevov Kat woAdy péeovra, ot \ > / \ A / 7 ~ de Aicxivov daci To oxedidlew evpnua, TooToV A »y / >? ¢ fs) a \ Ka M / yap mAcvoavta é€x ‘Pddouv mapa tov Kapa Mav-
/ b] \ / « > \ \ A awirov oxyediw atrov Adyw oat. epot dé mAei- ora pev avOpwrwy Aioxivns SoKet oyedidoat mpeoBpevwv Te Kal amroTpecBevwy ouvyyopa@v Te Kal Onpnyopa@v, KaTtadurety 5€ pdvovs Tovs ovy- yeypappevovs TOV Aoywv, wa tov Anpoobevovs PpovTiopdtwy pin moAA@ X2eimouro, oyediov dé
/ / ” \ Ss «e > Acyou VTopyias dp§ar— mapehMav yap obdtos és \ >A@ / 1 6 ‘OL O cba > aA ce "i TO nvyjo.t Géarpov ppncev eimety “apo / 2? \ \ 4 fol ~ > BdaAdete”’ Kat TO KwWdvvevLa TobTO mpA@Tos ave- po / € >? ry / PS) / / A is / ey€aTo, evdetkvipevos O770U TavTa pev €ldevaL, Tept mavtos 5 av etmetv edieis TH Katp@ — TodTo 6° emedety TH Vopyia dia tdde- [podikw 7h / / / > > \ / ¢ Keiw ouveyéypamto tis ovK andns Adyos: 7 > \ \ ¢ / ~ \ \ e / apeTn Kal 7 KaKia port@oat Tapa Tov “HpakdAdéa ev elder yuvark@v, eoTaAuevar 7 pev amatnA®@ Te Kal mroukitw, 7 Se ws eTvxev, Kal mpoTeivovoat ~ ‘H A a / ” ¢ \ > / A / ¢ T® “Hpakrc? vem ete 4 pev apylav Kai tpudyvy, 7 d€ avypyov “Kal qovous' Kal Tod emt maou dia / / ~ / ” > / mAevwovwy ovvtelévtos, Tod Adyou eupioboyv ézi- > aA / ~ \ A \ 483 Sew ézroveito II pddixos arepupoit@v TA aoTH Kat bédywv attra tov “Ophéws te Kat Oapdpov tpo- 1 ’AOnvaiwy Kayser; ’A@jvnor Cobet.
1 For an account of Prodicus and his famous fable see
below, p. 496. 2 An echo of Plato, Protagoras 315 a, where it is said of
Protagoras. 8
’
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
alone of the Athenians was able to check Python’s insolent and overpowering flow of words; while yet others say that extempore speaking was an invention of Aeschines; for after he sailed from Rhodes to the court of Mausolus of Caria, he delighted the king by an improvised speech. But my opinion is that Aeschines did indeed improvise more often than any other speaker, when he went on embassies and gave reports of these missions, and when he defended clients in the courts and delivered political harangues; but I think that he left behind him only such speeches as he had composed with care, for fear that he might fall far short of the elaborate speeches of Demosthenes, and that it was Gorgias who founded the art of extempore oratory. For when he appeared in the theatre at Athens he had the courage to say, “ Do you propose a theme” ; and he was the first to risk this bold announcement, whereby he as good as advertised that he was omniscient and would speak on any subject whatever, trusting to the inspiration of the moment; and I think that this idea occurred to Gorgias for the following reason. Prodicus of Ceos! had composed a certain pleasant fable in which Virtue and Vice came to Heracles in the shape of women, one of them dressed in seductive and many-coloured attire, the other with no care for effect; and to Heracles, who was still young, Vice offered idleness and sensuous pleasures, while Virtue offered squalor and toil on toil. For this story Prodicus wrote a rather long epilogue, and then he toured the cities and gave recitations of the story in public, for hire, and charmed them after the manner of Orpheus? and Thamyris. For these recitations he won a great
9
PHILOSTRATUS
mov, ed ols peydAwy pev HEvobTo Tapa OnBaiors, mAevovwv de Tapa Aaxedatpoviois, ws és TO ouppepov TOV vewv avadiddoKev Tabra: 6 5n opylas ETLOKT TOW TOV ITpedcxov, ws ewdd TE Kal Todas etpnyLeva. ayopevorTa, emaphKev eavTov T@ Kalp@. ov pyyv plovov LYE Taprev™ Hv yap Tis Xarpedav “Abjyjow, ovx év u] KwWULw@ola mE vov exdAer, exetvos pev yap v0 dpovTt- cudtwy évoce. TO aiwa, ov dé vuvi A€yw, vBpw ” \ > ~ > / - ¢ ~ NOKEL Kal avadas éTwOalev. odtos 6 Xaipedav THY o7rovdijy Too Topytou Svapacwpevos *, Sud ti edn “wo T opyia, of KVa{LOL TH pev yaoTéepa gvo@o., TO de mp ov puodow ; 6 de ovdev Tapayleis trod Tot epwrnuatos “‘TovTi pev’
edn “‘oot Katadeimw cKoteiv, eyw dé Eexeivo maw ofda, ott 7) yh Tovs vapOnKas emt Tovs Tovovtous pvev.”’
Acwornra d€ of "AGnvator mept Tovs coguaras Opa@vrTes efetpyov avTovs TMV Sixaornpior, ws adikw doy Tod dtKaiov Kparodvras Kal toxvov- Tas Tapa TO ev0U, obev Atoxivns Kal Anpoabevns Tpoupepov bev avTo aAArAors, ody ws dveidos d€, adda ws eniaiae talc tots duxalovow, idia
. Chierephion was a given butt of Comedy and was thus nicknamed on account of his sallow complexion, as one should say ‘‘tallow-faced”; cf. Eupolis, Kolakes, fr. 165 Kock; scholiast on Wasps 1408 and on Clouds 496; Athenaeus iv. 164. He was also called the * bat.”
2 There is a play on the verb, which means both ‘‘ inflate ” and ‘blow the bellows.” The same question is asked in Athenaeus 408; in both passages ‘‘ fire” seems to mean ** the intelligence ” as opposed to material appetite. The comic poets satirized the sophists for investigating such questions.
10
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
reputation at Thebes and a still greater at Sparta, as one who benefited the young by making this fable widely known. ‘Thereupon Gorgias ridiculed Prodicus for handling a theme that was stale and hackneyed, and he abandoned himself to the inspira- tion of the moment. Yet he did not fail to arouse envy. There was at Athens a certain Chaerephon, not the one who used to be nicknamed “ Boxwood ”’ in Comedy,! because he suffered from anaemia due to hard study, but the one I now speak of had insolent manners and made scurrilous jokes; he rallied Gorgias for his ambitious efforts, and said: “ Gorgias, why is it that beans blow out my stomach, but do not blow up the fire?”’? But he was not at all disconcerted by the question and replied: “This I leave for you to investigate ; but here is a fact which I have long known, that the earth grows canes? for such as you.”
The Athenians when they observed the too great cleverness of the sophists, shut them out of the law- courts on the ground that they could defeat a just argument by an unjust, and that they used their power to warp men’s judgement. ‘That is the reason why Aeschines+ and Demosthenes® branded each
. other with the title of sophist, not because it was a
disgrace, but because the very word was suspect in the eyes of the jury; for in their career outside the courts they claimed consideration and applause on
3 The jest lies in the ambiguity of the meaning and also the application here of this word, which is originally ‘* hollow reed,” such as that used by Prometheus to steal fire from heaven, but was also the regular word for a rod for chastise- ment; it has the latter meaning in the Life of Apollonius 4 e.g. Against Timarchus 170. —®_ e.g. On the Crown 276.
1]
484
485
PHILOSTRATUS
yap n€iovv am attot Oavydleobar. Kat Anpo- olévns pév, ei muotéa Aloyivy, mpos Tovs yvwpi- puous ekoutralev, as Thy Tov SdikaoTav Widov m™pos TO SoKkobv €avT@ petayayav, Aioxivns dé ovK av pot Soke? mpecBetoar mapa “Podios, a ATW eylyvwokov, « pn Kal “AOyvnow adra EOTTOVOGKEL.
Nodiotas d5€ of madaiol emwvdpualov od pdvov TOV pytopwv Tovs treppwvotvTds Te Kat Aap- mpous, aAAa Kal Tav didocddwy Tovs Edv evpoia Epunvevovtas, vmrép wv avaykn mpotepwv Aéyew, EmTeLO7) OUVK OVTES GodioTai, SoKobYTEs SE Tap- HAGov és THY emwmvupiav TavrTny.
ie Evdofos_ pe yap 6 Kvidios Tous ev ’Axa- Onpig Adyous t ixavas _exgpovtioas 6 Ouws eveypagy Tots coguotais emt TO KOOL Tis amayyeAtas Kal TO oxedidlew ed, Kat H€iodTo THs Tov codiot@v emevyiias Kal” ‘EMjomrovrov kat Ilpozovrida Kar te Méeudw kat riHv bamep Méupy Alyurror, nv Aiborria Te opiler Kal TOv éexeivy copdv ot Tvpvoi. ree Aéwy dé 6 Bulavrwos véos ev wv edpoira TlAdtwr, és de avOpas Tov copays Tpocep- pn moAvevo@s exw Tod Adyou Kat mlavas Tav amoKpicewy. Didirmm pev yap oTparevovtt emt Bulavriovs _mpoarravrijoas “* elaré pot, @ Ditizme,’ edn “ti wabav modgmov apxeis;
1 Against Timarchus 170.
2 Aeschines founded a school of rhetoric at Rhodes.
’ A full account of the Gymnosophists is given by Philo- stratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana vi. 5. 12
: |
L—
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
the very ground that they were sophists. In fact, Demosthenes, if we may believe Aeschines,' used to boast to his friends that he had won over the votes of the jury to his own views; while Aeschines at Rhodes? would not, I think, have given the first place to a study of which the Rhodians knew nothing before his coming, unless he had already devoted
serious attention to it at Athens.
~The men of former days applied the name
“sophist,” not only to orators whose surpassing
eloquence won them a brilliant reputation, but also to philosophers who expounded their theories with ease and fluency. Of these latter, then, I must speak first, because, though they were not actually sophists, they seemed to be so, and hence came to be so called.
1. Eupoxus or Cnipus, though he devoted con- siderable study to the teachings of the Academy, was nevertheless placed on the list of sophists because his style was ornate and he improvised with success. He was honoured with the title of sophist in the Hellespont and the Propontis, at Memphis, and in Egypt beyond Memphis where it borders on Ethiopia and the region inhabited by those wise men who are called Naked Philosophers.
2. Leon or Byzantium was in his youth a pupil of Plato, but when he reached man’s estate he was called a sophist because he employed so many different styles of oratory, and also because his repartees were so convincing. For example, when Philip brought an army against Byzantium, Leon went out to meet him and said: “Tell me, Philip, what moved you to begin war on us?” And when
13
486
PHILOSTRATUS
Tob O€ elmovtos © oh) marpts 7 on kahNiorn moAewy oboa dmnyayero pe Epa avrAs Kat Ova TooTO em Ovpas Tv ewavtod TOLOUKaY 7 KO, % drroAaBeoy 60 Aéwy “od dowrdow”’ edn “ wera Evbdv emi Tas TOV TaLdtKav Ovpas ot aEvor ToD avtepacba, od yap moAcuiK@y opydvwv, adda povoiK@v ot 7 A 5 >? \ >A A “A 1 B rs ep@vres Séovtar.” Kat nAevepodro uCavTov A a / \ AA \ A f® / > , noabévovs prev moAAa mpos *AOnvatous eindv-
tos, Aéovros 5é dXiya mpos adrov tov? Didirmov.
kat mpecfevwr dé trap “AOnvaiovs obtos 6 Aédwy, eotaciale pev mroAdy dn xpdovov 4 moAIs Kal Tapa Ta On emoAureveTo, mapeAbwv 8° és THY exkAnotay mpooeBahev avtots dO pdov yur emt TO elder, ETrElon) Triwy epalveTo Kal TEpwTTOs THY yaorepa, Tapax Geis dé oddev tb70 Too yehwros cs Tl, Eon “@ ‘AOnvaion, yedare; 7 ore TAXVS eye Kat TooodTos ; EOTL pow Kal yur) OMG TaxvTEpa, Kal cpovoobvTas puev mas Xwpet 7 Sie Ovadepomevous de ode 7 OiKia,”’ Kal és v HArAbev 6 tTa&v *AOnvaiwy SHwos appoobeis to 708 Meade cod@s emioxedidoavTos TH Kaip@. y’. Alas d€ 6 *"Edéotos To pev metoua THs €av- Tob didocodias && ‘Axadnpias eBeBAnro, oogt- aTns O€ evopicby dua T0de° TOV Didirmov opadv xaAderov 6vta Tots “EAAnow émi tiv *Aciav orpa- Tevew €retoe, Kal mpos Tovs “EAAnvas die€HAGe déywv, ws Sé€ov axodrovbeiv orparevovTt, Kadov
1 jrevdépov To Kayser; 7\evdepotro Valckenaer. 2 rov add. Kayser.
* of. Life of Apollonius vii. 42. 2 Diogenes Laertius iv. 37 tells the same story about Arcesilaus the head of the Academy. Athenaeus 550
14
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
he replied: “Your birthplace, the fairest of cities, lured me on to love her, and that is why I have come to my charmer’s door,” Leon retorted: “ ‘They come not with swords to the. beloved’s door who are worthy of requited love. For lovers need not the instruments of war but of music.”’! And Byzantium was freed, after Demosthenes had delivered -many speeches to the Athenians on her behalf, while Leon had said but these few words to Philip himself. When this Leon came on an embassy to Athens, the city had long been disturbed by factions and was being governed in defiance of established customs. When he came before the assembly he excited universal laughter, since he was fat and had a prominent paunch, but he was not at all embarrassed by the laughter. “Why,” said he, “do ye laugh, Athenians? Is it because I am so stout and so big? I have a wife at home who is much stouter than I, and when we agree the bed is large enough for us both, but when we quarrel not even the house is _ large enough.” Thereupon the citizens of Athens _ came to a friendly agreement, thus reconciled by _ Leon, who had so cleverly improvised to meet the occasion. 3. Dias or Epuesus made fast the cable® of his philosophy to the Academy, but he was held to be a -sophist for the following reason. When he saw that Philip was treating the Greeks harshly, he persuaded him to lead an expedition against Asia, and went to and fro telling the Greeks that they ought to accompany Philip on his expedition, since it was no
says that Leon told this anecdote not about himself but
Python. 3 For this figure cf. Life of Apollonius vi. 12. ‘ 15
PHILOSTRATUS
yap elvat Kat TO €E€w SovAcvew emi TO olor eAev- bepotobar.
5’. Kat Kapveadns dé 6 “AOnvaios év aodiotats eypadeto, dilocddws pev yap KaTeoKevaoTo T1)V yrounv, Thv dé ioxdv TaV Adywv es THY ayav Mauve Sewornra.
€ : Oida Kat DirAdoTpatov Tov Aiydrrvov Kyeo- TatTpa pev ouudirocodotyta tH BacAidt, oo- porn b€ _mpoopndevra, emeto7) AOryou idéav Tavyn- yupucny ‘7IppLoaro Kal mouKtAny, yuvauxt Evvwv, 7 Kal avTo TO Proroyety tpudiv eixev, ofev Kat Tapwdouv Twes em adT@ Tdd€ TO éAeyeiov:
Tavoddou opynv taxe DiAoorpatou, 6s KAcomatpa viv mpooopiAncas Totos ietv edavyns
Or ee Oecurnorov dé Tov Navxpartirny émru- dj Aws pirocodyoavra 7 TepiBorAr TaOv Adywv és Tovs cod.oTas amIVEY KEV.
6’. Aliwva dé TOV ITpovoatov ovK of5’ 6 TL xp7) mpoceumretv oud THY és mdavTa apeTHy, “ApaNGetas
487 yap Képas Hv, TO TOO Aeyov, EvyKeljmwevos [ev Tov dpuora elpnLevev Tob dpicrov, Brérrwv Sé mpos THY Anpoobevous 1X | Kal IlAdrwvos, th Kab- daep at payddes Tots opydvors, Tpoonxet 6 Aiwv TO €avTod tdiov Ev adedeia emeoTpappevn. apt-
1 répara: Kayser; épdvn Cobet.
1 The original of this parody is Theognis 215 where he advises men to be as adaptable as the polypus which takes on the colour of its rock. It became a proverb : Athenaeus 317; Julian, Misopogon 349 p.
2 We know nothing of Theomnestus, unless he be the Academician mentioned by Plutarch, Brutus 24, as a teacher at Athens.
16
§
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
dishonour to endure slavery abroad in order to secure freedom at home.
4, CARNEADES OF ATHENS was also enrolled among the sophists, for though his mind had been equipped for the pursuit of philosophy, yet in virtue of the force and vigour of his orations he attained to an extraordinarily high level of eloquence.
5. I am aware that PuiLtostratus THE EGyprTian also, though he studied philosophy with Queen Cleopatra, was called a sophist. This was because he adopted the panegyrical and highly-coloured type of eloquence ; which came of associating with a woman who regarded even the love of letters as a sensuous pleasure. Hence the following elegiac couplet was composed as a parody aimed at him:
Acquire the temperament of that very wise man, Philo- stratus, who, fresh from his intimacy with Cleopatra, has taken on colours like hers.!
6. THromnestus ? or Naucratis was by profession a philosopher, but the elaborate and rhetorical style of his speeches caused him to be classed with the sophists.
7. As for Dio or Prusa, I do not know what one ought to call him, such was his excellence in all> departments; for, as the proverb says, he was a “horn of Amalthea,”? since in him is compounded the noblest of all that has been most nobly expressed. His style has the ring of Demosthenes and Plato, but Dio has besides a peculiar resonance of his own, which enhances theirs as the bridge enhances the tone of musical instruments; and it was combined with a serious and direct simplicity of expression.
3 The horn of plenty, or cornucopia, was said to have belonged to a goat named Amalthea which suckled the infant Zeus.
Cc 17
PHILOSTRATUS
\ > a 7 / \ e ~ ” atm Se ev Tots Aiwvos Adyous Kat 7) Tod 7AOous Kpaois' wPpilovoas te yap mddAeor mAciora emumAnéas od diAodroidopos oddé andyjs do€ev, aA’ otov immwv vBpw yadw@ Kataptiwv pwaAdov H paotiyt, moAewy Te edvopoupevwv és éemalvous
\ sd > , > A ” > > >
KaTaoTAsS OUK emaipew avtas edo€ev, adN’ ém- / TAA e > rv / > r A 1 otpedew aAdov as amroAovpevas, et weTaBadoivro. Oy \ 3 ~ A \ ~ ” , “yy > nv d¢ abT® Kal TO THS aGAAns PiAocodias HOos od Kowov ovd€ eipwrikdv, adda euBpibds pev eyxKei- fevov, Kexpwopevov dé, olov HdvopaTL, TH mpac- TnTL. ws d€ Kal toTopiay ixavos Hv Evyypadeww, dnAot ta Terixa, kat yap 37 Kat és Téras 7ABev,
e / din Wr \ \ > / \ A A omote nAGToO. Tov dé EdBoéa Kat tov Tob yut- TaKod é7awov Kal ooo. oux dmép peydAwv €oTovoactar TH Aiwre, Pa puKpa jhyepeba, aA cofioriKd, cofiatod yap 76 Kal dep TowodTwy
omovodlew.
Tevopevos 5€ Kata Tovs xpdvous, ots “AmoAAw-
/ ¢ \ \ ° / ¢ / > 48g vids Te 6 Tvaveds kat Etvdpdtns 60 Tupios édido- oddour, duporepors emiTNOELWS etye Kaito. dia- Pepopievors Tpos dAAqjAous e€w Too purooodias jOovs. tHV dé és Ta Terixa s€Ovn mapodov Too avopos poyny wey otk aid dvoudlew, émet 7) mpooeTaxOn att@ duyetv, o8dé azrodnpiav, eme.d7) rob davepod eééoty KAenTwv éavrov ddbaduav
1 weraBddouwTo Kayser; etaBadowro Cobet.
1 This work is lost.
® This charming idyl of pastoral life in KEuboea as witnessed by a shipwrecked traveller is included with the Ovations of Dio Chrysostom, the ‘*‘Golden-mouthed” as he is usually called.
3 See Life of Apollonius v. 33 and 37. The quarrel was
18
sd nea
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS |
Again, in Dio’s orations the elements of his own noble character were admirably displayed. For though he very often rebuked licentious cities, he did not show himself acrimonious or ungracious, but like one who restrains an unruly horse with the bridle rather than the whip; and when he set out to praise cities that were well governed, he did not seem to extol them, but rather to guide their attention to the fact that they would be ruined if they should change their ways. In other connexions also the temper of his philosophy was never vulgar or ironical; and though his attacks were made with a heavy hand, they were tempered and as it were seasoned with benevolence. That he had also a talent for writing history is proved by his treatise On the Getae1; he did in fact travel as far as the Getae during his wandering as an exile. As for his Tale of Euboea,? the Encomium of a Parrot, and all those writings in which he handled themes of no great importance, we must not regard them as mere trifles, but rather as sophistic compositions; for it is characteristic of a sophist to devote serious study to themes even so slight as these.
He lived at a time when Apollonius of Tyana and Euphrates * of Tyre were teaching their philosophy, and he was intimate with both men, though in their quarrel with one another they went to extremes that are alien to the philosophic temper. His visit to the
' Getic tribes I cannot rightly call exile, since he had
not been ordered to go into exile, yet it was not merely a traveller’s tour, for he vanished from men’s sight, hiding himself from their eyes and ears, and
kept up in the Letters of Apollonius. Euphrates is praised by Pliny, Epistles i. 10. 19
PHILOSTRATUS
TE KaL aoTw Kat dAXa ev adAAn yA mparrav d€eu TOV KaTa THY ToAw Tupavvidwyr, bp av Tavvero ptdocogia aca. dutevwv be Kal oKdaroy Kal eravTA@v Badavelois te Kal Kimows Kal moda TovadTa vmep tpodns éepyalopuevos ovde Tod amovdalew nucAer, GAN’ amo} dvotv BrBAtow éavtov aA \ \ > iA / ¢ ~ "4 Evvetyev’ Tavti dé Hv 6 Te Daidwv 6 tod IIAa- TwVos Kal Anpoobevous fo} Kara Tis mpeafetas. Bapilwr dé és Ta oTparomeda, ev olomep etesBeu TPUXEOL,” Kal TOUS OTpaTLWTAs Opa@v és veuTepa Oppa@vras €zt Aopervav@ dmeapaypeven ovK éet- gato atagiav idéwv éxpayetoav, adAAd yupvos ava- / Da ® \ . \ 7 ~ / e mnojoas et Bupov bysnrAov jApEato Tod Adyou Hbe- eet aas ¢ A!) ¢ , N, > 5 ze 39 avTap 0 yupnvwbn paxéwy troAvunrtis “Odvaceds, \ > \ ~ \ / e é LA \ Kat etmwv tadta Kat SydAwoas €avTov, OTL [2 / a Wee | ” / \ ” ¢ / phe ' TTWYOS, Node Gv WovTo, Aiwy dé Ein 6 aodds, Emi pev Thv KaTnyoplay Tob Tupavvov moAvs emTVEUCEY, Tovs d¢€ oTpaTuaTas edibasev ajrewvov ® ppovetv Ta SoKxobvTa ‘Paprators mMpaTTovTas. Kal yap uy) mela) Tod avdpos ota KatabéA€ar Kat Tovs pe7) 7a. ‘EM iver axpiBodvras: Tpavavos yoov o abroKpatwp avabepevos adtov ent THs ‘Pans €s THY xpvohy dpakay ep’ 7s ot Baowrets Tas ex T@v troAduwv TommTas TropTrevoveWw, ereye Bara emotpepopevos es tov Aiwva ‘ti pev dAé€yets, > oy ~ / ¢ > / 23 ovK oda, PiAd 5€ ce Ws epmavTov. 1 Cobet would read émi.
2 , TpUxer Bat Kayser ; tpv’xeau Cobet. 3 duelvw Kayser ; duecvov Cobet.
1 Rome. 4 Life of Apollonius vii. 4. 3 Suetonius, Domitian 23. * Odyssey xxii. 1. > This incident is improbable and is not elsewhere
20
es
<=
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
occupying himself in various ways in various lands, through fear of the tyrants in the capital! at whose hands all philosophy was suffering persecution.” But while he planted and dug, drew water for baths and gardens, and performed many such menial tasks for a living, he did not neglect the study of letters, but sustained himself with two books; these were the Phaedo of Plato, and Demosthenes On the False Embassy. He often visited the military camps in the rags he was wont to wear, and after the assassination of Domitian, when he saw that the troops were beginning to mutiny,® he could not contain himself at the sight of the disorder that had broken out, but stripped off his rags, leaped on to a high altar, and began his harangue with the verse :
Then Odysseus of many counsels stripped him of his rags,*
and having said this and thus revealed that he was no beggar, nor what they believed him to be, but Dio the sage, he delivered a spirited and energetic
/indictment of the tyrant; and he convinced the
soldiers that they would be wiser if they acted in accordance with the will of the Roman people. And indeed the persuasive charm of the man was such as to captivate even men who were not versed in Greek letters. An instance of this is that the Emperor Trajan in Rome set him by his side on the golden chariot in which the Emperors ride in procession when they celebrate their triumphs in war, and often he would turn to Dio and say: “I do not understand what you are saying, but I love you as I love myself.” ® recorded. That Trajan understood Greek is probable from Cassius Dio lxviii. 3, where Nerva in a letter exhorts him
with a quotation from Homer; cf. also Cassius Dio Ixviii. 7, and Pliny’s Panegyric xlvii. 1.
21
PHILOSTRATUS
/ A ~ / ¢ A /
_Ropuoricrarar de 08 Aiwvos at Tov Adyuw etkoves, €v ais et Kal ols, GAAa Kai evapyns Kat Tots drroKeyLevous GjLoL0s.
vie ‘Opotws Kal Dafwpivov TOV pirdaogov 1 edywrtia €v oodiotats EKNPUTTED. Hv pev yap Tov éorepiwvy T'adatadv otros, "ApeAadtrov moAews, a“ : Le | “Pp 5 Pt: ~ ” PS) be 7 emt “Podav@* morau@ @xorar, upuns 5é eTeXOn Kal dvdpd0ndus, Kal ToOTO éS7Ao8ro pev Kal Tapa Tob elOous, ayevelws yap Tod Tpoow - Tov Kal ynpaoKwy elxev, ednobro de Kal T@ pleypart, o€unxes yap TKoveTo Kal Aemrov Kab > / ¢ ETLTOVOV, WoTrEp 7 voUs Tovs edvouxous TPHOKEV. Beppos dé ovTw Tis NV TO epwriKd, WS Kal ovyod AaPeiv aitiav €€ avdpos tmatov. Siapopds de > ~ \ > A / / 2O\ avTa@ mpos “Adpravov Bacréa yevouevns ovddev exalev. d0ev ws mapadofa eéemexpynopwoer TH ¢e ~ / / ~ é a“ e / eavtod Piw tpia Tatra: Laddarns wv édAnvilew, evvodyos wv potyeias KpivecBar, BaotAc? diade-
\ a \ Ad a w peoOar Kat Civ. tovti dé “Adpiavobd Emawos etn av lon ? \ nv > \ a / av padrdov, «i Bacireds wv amo Tod icov duedé- peto mpos ov e€fv amoxtetvar. Bactreds dé Kpeit- Tw, Pan , p) \ , > OTE XWoETAL avdpl xEepyt,
nv opyns KpaTh, Kal “ @ypos 5€ wéyas €oTl diotpedewv Baordjwv,” nv Aoywop® KodAalntrar. BéAtiov d€ tabra Tais
1 "Hpidave Kayser ; ‘Podavw Cobet.
1 Arles.
: Iliad i. 80. Philostratus interprets xpelocwr as ** morally superior ’” whereas in the original it simply means ** stronger.”
22
aaa
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
The images employed by Dio in his orations are entirely in the sophistic manner, but though he abounds in them his style is nevertheless clear and
‘in_keeping with the matter in hand.
8. Favorinus the philosopher, no less than Dio, was proclaimed a sophist by the charm and beauty of his eloquence. He came from Western Gaul, from the city of Arelatum! which is situated on the river Rhone.. He was born double-sexed, a hermaphrodite, and this was plainly shown in his appearance; for even when he grew old he had no beard; it was evident too from his voice which sounded: thin, shrill, and high-pitched, with the modulations that nature bestows on eunuchs also. Yet he was so ardent in love that he was actually charged with adultery by a man of consular rank. Though he quarrelled with the Emperor Hadrian, he suffered no ill con- sequences. Hence he used to say in the ambiguous style of an oracle, that there were in the story of his life these three paradoxes: Though he was a Gaul he led the life of a Hellene; a eunuch, he had been tried for adultery; he had quarrelled with an Emperor and was still alive. But this must rather be set down to the credit of Hadrian, seeing that, though he was Emperor, he disagreed on terms of equality with one whom it was in his power to put to death. For a prince is really superior if he controls his anger
When he is wrath with a lesser man,? and
Mighty is the anger of Zeus-nurtured kings,
if only it be kept in check by reason. Those who 23
PHILOSTRATUS
T&v mointav dd€ais mpooypadew Tods ed TiWe- pevous Ta TOV Baoiéwv HOn.
490 “Apxvepeds de dvappy Jets es Ta otkou mdr pia edie pev KaTa Tovs brép THY TOLOVTwWY VopLOUS, os adeywevos TOO Aevtoupyeiv, émrev67] eprrocoger, TOV O€ avroKpaTopa opayv evavTiav eauT@ bécbau diavoovpevov, ws py dtAocododyt, treTteueTo
oN @ ces / > 4 << f A avrov Oe" EVUTVLOV 401, —ébn “@ Baowred, yeyover, 6 Kat Tmpos oé xpy eiphobau: emoTas yap poor Aiwy 6 bddoxados evoderet pe barep THs dikns A€ywr, Ort pn eavtois povov, aAAa Kal Tats marplov yeyovap.ev: drrodEeXopat 67, @ Baot- Acd, THY Acvroupytay Kal T@ SidackdAw mretBopar.’ a Tatra Oo pev avToKpaTwp ScatpuBiv emeTrolnTo,
\ ~ \ / / > / > Kat dunye tas PBaoretous PpovTidas amovedwv és codguotds te Kat diAoaddous, “AOnvaiow 5é dSewa edaivero Kat ovvdpauovtes avToi pddAvoTta of ev
/ > A ~ ee! / ~ térXer *A@nvaior yadkhnv eikdva KatéBadov Tod avdpos ws troAcutwrdtov TH avtoxpatopi’ o dé, Ws kovoev, ovdev oayeTAidcas ode aypidvas ea! a ¢ bee »° SAL Sasa « \ , tmép av vBpioto “ wynt av’ édy “ Kat LwKpa-
> / a ( > / > \ T™ys «ltKova xadknv ta “AOnvaiwy adaipeleis paAAov 7 muwv KwvELoV.”
"Emurnderoraros pev ovv “Hpwdn 7& copiory EVEVETO duddoxadov TE TYOupEvy Kal TaTépa Kal mpos avtov ypadovtt “ mote ce Ow Kal OTE GOV
/ \ / tt 4 \ ~ mepirciEw TO oTopa;”’ bev Kat TeAcevTa@V KAnpo-
1 The high priest was president of the public games in the cities of his district and provided them at his own expense as a *‘ liturgy.”
2 An echo of Demosthenes, On the Crown 205, and perhaps also of Plato, Crito 50.
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LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
endeavour to guide and amend the morals of princes would do well to add this saying to the sentiments expressed by the poets.
; He was appointed high priest,t whereupon he appealed to the established usage of his birthplace, pleading that, according to the laws on such matters, he was exempt from public services because he was a philosopher. But when he saw that the Emperor in- tended to vote against him on the ground that he was not a philosopher, he forestalled him in the following way. “O Emperor,” he cried, “ I have had a dream of which you ought to be informed. My teacher Dio ap- peared to me, and with respect to this suit admonished and reminded me that we come into the world not for ourselves alone, but also for the country of our birth.2 Therefore, O Emperor, I obey my teacher, and I undertake this public service.” Now the Emperor had acted thus merely for his own diversion, for by turning his mind to philosophers and sophists he used to lighten the responsibilities of Empire. The Athenians however took the affair seriously, and, especially the Athenian magistrates themselves, hastened in a body to throw down the bronze statue of Favorinus as though he were the Emperor’s bitterest enemy. Yet on hearing of it Favorinus showed no resentment or anger at the insult, but observed: “Socrates himself would have been the gainer, if the Athenians had merely deprived him of a bronze statue, instead of making him drink hemlock.”
He was very intimate with Herodes the sophist who regarded him as his teacher and father, and
wrote to him: “ When shall I see you, and when _ shall I lick the honey from your lips?’’? Accord-
% An echo of Aristophanes frag. 231 preserved in Dio Chrysostom, Oration 52 Arnim.
25
491
PHILOSTRATUS
VO|LOV “Hpwdny anépnve TOV TE BuBrLwr, omrooa. EKEKTNTO, KL Tis emt TH ‘Payn oiKlas Kal TOU AdtoAnkvbov. jv dé obtos *Ivdds pev Kal ixavas pérAas, aluppa dé ‘Hpadov TE Kab Pafwpivor, Cupmivovras yap advrovs difyev eyKarapuyvds "Ivdtkots ’Attixa Kal memAavnuévn TH yAwTTH BapBapilwv.
“H d€ yevoyevy mpos TOV TloA€uwva T@ Da- Bapivy Svapopa Hpsaro juev ev ‘Twvia mpoode- jeveov avT@ Tov “Edeciwv, émei TOV MoAdueva y) Lpvpva Bavpaler, emedwice de ev TH ‘Paun, UTATOL yap Kal matdes dmrdrev ot fev TOV e7raL- voorres, ot 6€ TOV, jp&av avtots pidotiuias, 7 ToAdy exKater plovov Kal codots dv8pdow. ovyyvw- OTOL pev obv THs pirorysias, THs vO pegehetdis pu- sews TO diAdtysov ayrjpwv nyovperns,' pweuTréot dé Tov Aoywv, ods em aAAjAous fvvelecar, aceA- ys yap Aowopia, KaV adn Ons TUX, ovK adinow aioxvvns ovde TOV Umep ToLOUTwY EimoVTA. Tots pev obv copioTny TOV Dafwpivov Kadodow améxpn es dmddersw Kat avTo TO Ovevex Piva adrov go- puorh, TO yap PiAdtiwov, ob euvyabyv, emt Tovs dvTirexvous poiTa. *
“Hppoorar dé THY yAatrav dveyevcns per, cof@s 5€ Kal TroTiuws. éAdyero Sé ody evpoia oxedidoar. Ta pev 57) es IIpdEevov pyr’ av evbv-
1 Cobet suggests cexrnuévns to improve the sense.
1 The name means ‘‘he who carries his own oil-flask ” which was the mark of a slave. It was a mannerism of the Atticists to use words compounded with ‘‘ auto,” ¢f. Lucian, Lexiphanes ii. 9; in the latter passage the word occurs which is here used as a proper name. In the Life of
26
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
ingly at his death he bequeathed to Herodes all the books that he had collected, his house in Rome, and Autolecythus.! This was an Indian, entirely black, a pet of Herodes and Favorinus, for as they drank their wine together he used to divert them by sprinkling his Indian dialect with Attic words and by speaking barbarous Greek with a tongue that stammered and faltered.
The quarrel that arose between Polemo and Favorinus began in Ionia, where the Ephesians favoured Favorinus, while Smyrna admired Polemo; and it became more bitter in Rome; for there consuls and sons of consuls by applauding either one or the other started between them a rivalry such as kindles the keenest envy and malice even in the hearts of wise men. However they may be forgiven for that rivalry, since human nature holds that the love of glory never grows old;? but they are to be blamed for the speeches that they composed assailing one another; for personal abuse is brutal, and even if it be true, that does not acquit of disgrace even the man who speaks about such things. And so when people called Favorinus a sophist, the mere fact that he had quarrelled with a sophist was evidence enough ; for that spirit of rivalry of which I spoke is always directed against one’s competitors in the same craft.
His style of eloquence was careless in construction, but it was both learned and pleasing. It is said that he improvised with ease and fluency. As for the speeches against Proxenus, we must conclude that
Apollonius iii. 11 this slave is referred to as Meno and is ed an Ethiopian. 2 An echo of Thue. ii. 44. ® Hesiod, Works and Days 25.
27
PHILOSTRATUS
pnOjvat Tov DaBwpivov jyopeba pyr av EvvOei- vat, add’ eivar ard juerparctov ppovTiopa peBvov- Tos, waAAov 5€ euobvrtos, Tov b€ emi TA AWpw Kal Tov UTEep THV pLovouaxywy Kal Tov brep Tv Ba- Aaveitwy yvnoiovs te amodawopucba Kat €d Evy- Kelwevous, Kal TOAA@ paAXov Tods dirAocodovpeE- vous avT@ TV Adywv, Av aprotot ot ILuppwvecor: tovs yap IIluppwvreiovs edhextixods Ovtas ovK adaipeitar Kal TO duKdlew ddvacba.
Avaheyopevou dé adrod KATO THY /Popny peoTa HY OTToVvons TaVTA, Kal ‘yap 51) Kat OGou Tis “EM veov povis alee de Hoav, ove TOUTOLS ag’ doris 7 7 aKpoacis Hv, aA KaKelvous eGehye TH TE 1X9 Too p0eypwaros Kal T@ OnpatvovTe TOO D BAcuparos Kal TO
499 pred Tijs yrasrrns. eDeAye d€ avTovs Tob déyou Kal TO él mow, 6 exelvor wev WOnVY EKdAoUV, Eyw d€ didotiiar, ere Tots arrodederyLevors epupvet- TQL. Atwvos peev obv axoboa déyerat, ToaodTOV 5é apéorTnker, doov OL p7) AkovoarTes.
Tooatra pev dep tav dirocodnodvrwy év d6€n Too ooguoreboa. ot dé Kupiws mpoapnbertes codi- OTAal eyevovTo olde:
a. LuKeAia Topyiar év Aecovtivots TeyKev, és ov dvapéepew jhyopeba TV TOV copioT av TEXVnY, WoTrEp és matépa* ei yap tov AioxvAov evOupn - Deinuev, ws moAAa TH Tpaywodig EvveBadero eoArt
Te adTHVv KaTacKevdoas Kal oKpiBavte bYNnA® Kat
1 cf. the saying of Aristeides below, p. 583.
2 This work was called On the Tropes of Pyrrho.
* On this sophistic mannerism see below, p. 513. Dio, Oration xxxii. 68, ridicules this habit of cele instead of speaking, which, he says, has invaded even the law courts ; cf. Cicero, Orator 18.
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LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
Favorinus would neither have conceived nor composed them, but that they are the work of an immature youth who was intoxicated at the time, or rather he vomited them.t But the speeches On One Untimely Dead, and For the Gladiators, and For the Baths, I judge to be genuine and well written; and this is far more true of his dissertations on philosophy, of which the best are those on the doctrines of Pyrrho ?; for he concedes to the followers of Pyrrho the ability to make a legal decision, though in other matters they suspend their judgement.
When he delivered discourses in Rome, the interest in them was universal, so much so that even those in his audience who did not understand the Greek language shared in the pleasure that he gave ; for he fascinated even them by the tones of his voice, by his expressive glance and the rhythm of his speech. They were also enchanted by the epilogue of his orations, which they called “The Ode,” ? though I call it mere affectation, since it is arbi- trarily added at the close of an argument that has been logically proved. He is said to have been a pupil of Dio, but he is as different. from Dio as any who never were his pupils. This is all I have to say about the men who, though they pursued philosophy, had the reputation of sophists. But those who were correctly styled sophists were the following.
9. Sicily produced Goreias or Leontin1, and we must consider that the art of the sophists carries back to him as though he were its father. For if we reflect how many additions Aeschylus made to tragedy when he furnished her with her proper costume and the buskin that gave the actor’s height, with the types
29
PHILOSTRATUS
Tpauv €LOEOL dyyerous Te Kal efayyeAous Kat ols emt oKnVAS TE Kal 770 oKnviis x7) mparrew, TobTo av ely Kat 6 l‘opyias To is O[MOTEXVoLs. opuas: TE yap Tots copiotais npfe Kat tapadofodoyias Kal mvev- pearos Kal Tod Ta preydAa peyddAws Eppnvevew, damoordcecsy TE Kal mpoopordar, th dv 6 Adyos nOdlwy éavtTod ylyverat Kal coBapwrepos, TreEpie- Baddero d€ Kal TOLNTLKG dvopaTa Urep KOoLOU Kal GELVOTNTOS. WS [eV OvV Kal paoTa amrecxedialer, elpnTa pol KaTa dpxas Too Aoyou, duadex Bets dé "A Onvynow 7307), ynpackwv et peev d70 TOV moNav eJavuacbn, ovmw Gabpa, 6 dé, ofpat, Kal Tovs eMoyywrdrous avnpTnaato, Kpiriav pev Kal 493 AdrBeddav véw ~ Oov«vdidyy de Kad IlepuxAga 707 ynpdoKovre. L "AydOwv dé 6 Tis Tpayw- dias mownTHs, Ov 7 BEES codov Te Kal KaAAeTTA olde, ToAAayod THV iauBwv yopyialer.
"Eumpérwv b€ Kat tats TOv “EXAjvwv ravnyd- peat Tov pev Adyov tov Ilu@iKov amo tot Bwpot nxnoev, ah ob Kal ypvaots avetéOn, ev TH TOO IIu@iov tepd, 6 5é *OdvpmuKds Adyos brép Tob peylotou atT@ émoXitevOyn. oracidlovoay yap Tv ‘EAAdda op@v opovoias EvpBovdos adrois éyéveto
pa&v dpovoias Edu y Tpémwy emt Tovs BapBdpous Kai meiOwv GOAa qrovet-
1 For this term see Glossary.
2 See p. 482.
% This is one of the most obvious errors of Philostratus. Pericles had been dead for two years when Gorgias came to Athens.
* Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 49. Plato, Symposium 195 foll., with satirical intention makes Agathon speak in the style of Gorgias.
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LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
of heroes, with messengers who tell what has happened at home and abroad, and with the conventions as to what must be done both before and behind the scenes, then we find that this is what Gorgias in his turn did for his fellow-craftsmen. For he set an example to the sophists with his virile and energetic style, his daring and unusual expressions, his inspired impressiveness, and his use of the grand style for great themes; and also with his habit of breaking off his clauses and making sudden transi- tions,! by which devices a speech gains in sweet- ness and sublimity; and he also clothed his style with poetic words for the sake of ornament and dignity. ‘That he also improvised with the greatest facility I have stated at the beginning of my narrative ;? and when, already advanced in years, he delivered discourses at Athens, there is nothing ’ surprising in the fact that he won applause from the crowd ; but he also, as is well known, enthralled the most illustrious men, not only Critias and Alcibiades, who were both young men, but also Thucydides and Pericles? who were by that time well on in years. Agathon also, the tragic poet, whom Comedy calls a clever poet and “lovely in his speech,’+ often imitates Gorgias in his iambics.
Moreover, he played a distinguished part at the religious festivals of the Greeks, and declaimed his _ Pythian Oration from the altar; and for this his statue was dedicated in gold and was set up in the temple of the Pythian god. His Olympian Oration dealt with a theme of the highést importance to the state. For, seeing that Greece was divided against itself, he came forward as the advocate of reconciliation, and tried to turn their energies against the barbarians
31
494
PHILOSTRATUS
ofa TOV OTrAwv pea) Tas aAnAwy moAeus, aAAa 77) T&v PapBapwv ywpav. 6 dé emuTadios, 6 dv dunAbev | ‘AOnynow, ElpnTar ev ert Tots ex TOV TroAduwy, ovs "A@nvator Snuoola Edv ézraivos barkav, oogia dé drepBaAdovon _Sbyrevrau Tmapog uve TE yap Tovs “AOnvatous emt Mrdous te Kal Ilépoas | Kal tov adrov vodv T® ’OdvupmiK® aywvilouevos trép Omovolas pev Tijs mpos TOUS “EM yvas | ovdev bu- dev, ETTELON) POS “AOnvaious 7) nv apxis ep@vras, nv ovK HV Krnoaoba pap TO SpacTipiov aipoupevous, evdseTpupe 5€ Tots TOV Mydixd@v tpotraiwyv éraivois, evdetxv¥prevos adtots, 6TL Ta ev KaTa TOV Bap- Bdpwv tpdtrata vuvous amattet, Ta dé KaTAa TOV “EAAjvav 8pjvous.
Aéyerat 5€ 6 Topyias és dxra Kat éxarov eXdoas eTn pe) KatadvOjvar TO GBua Bro Tob ynpws, arX’ aptios KataBi@var Kai Tas aicByjceus Pov.
v [Tpwrayopas be 6 6 “ABSnpirns cogpoTns Anpo- Kptrov juev AKPOATIS OLKOL eyeveTo, wulAnoe be Kal tots ex Ilepody pedyous Kara TV Beépfou emt thv “EAAdda eAaow. marT)|p yap vu att@® Maiav- Spos- mAovTa KATEOKEVAGILEVOS mapa moods TOV ev TH Opdn, deEdpevos b€ Kal TOV HépEnv oikia Te Kal OWpots THY Evvovolay TOV Udywv T@ Tradl Tap’ avtod eUpeTo. ov yap mrawdevouor tovs un Ilépoas ITépoa payout, iy pen o BaowAeds of). To O€ drropetv ddoKew, eite elat Beol, cite odK ial, SoKet
1 ¢f. Isocrates, Panegyric 42.
2 This is a lapse of memory on the part of Philostratus. Diogenes Laertius tells this story of Democritus, not of Protagoras. For the father of Democritus as the host of Xerxes cf. Valerius Maximus viii. 7.
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LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
and to persuade them not to regard one another’s cities as the prize to be won by their arms, but rather the land of the barbarians.t The Funeral Oration, which he delivered at Athens, was spoken in honour of those who had fallen in the wars, to whom the Athenians awarded public funerals and panegyrics, and it is composed with extraordinary cleverness. For though he incited the Athenians against the Medes and Persians, and was arguing with the same purpose as in the Olympian Oration, he said nothing about a friendly agreement with the rest of the Greeks, for this reason, that it was addressed to Athenians who had a passion for empire, and that could not be attained except by adopting a drastic line of policy. But he dwelt openly on their victories over the Medes and praised them for these, making it evident to them the while that victories over bar- barians call for hymns of praise, but victories over Greeks for dirges.
It is said that though Gorgias attained to the age of 108, his body was not weakened by old age, but to the end of his life he was in sound condition, and his senses were the senses of a young man. |
10. Proragoras or ABpeEra, the sophist, was a pupil of Democritus in the city of his birth, and he also associated with the Persian magi? when Xerxes led his expedition against Greece. For his father was Maeander, who had amassed wealth beyond most men in Thrace; he even entertained Xerxes in his house, and, by giving him presents, obtained his permission for his son to study with the magi. For the Persian magi do not educate those that are not Persians, except by command of the Great King. And when he says that he has no knowledge whether
D 33
495
PHILOSTRATUS
pot IIpwraydpas é€x THs Ilepouxis mawWdevcews Tapavopnoa pudyou yap emleralovor prev ois > ~ ~ \ EB ~ / ~ / adavds dp@or, tiv de ex davepod do€ayv tod Oeiov Katadvovow ot Povdduevor Soxety tap avTod / \ \ \ “A / ~ ¢€ ay? dvvacbar. dia prev 51) TOOTO Taons ys bao “AGy- / > / ¢ / / e A Mid vaiwy HAGOn, ws pev Twes, Kpilets, ws SE eviots 2 . , > , \ , , \ doxe?, rydov emeveyOetons 7 Kpilev7r. vioous de > b] / > / \ \ > / / e€ jreipwv ayetPwv Kat tas “AOnvaiwy tpijpers duvdatropevos mdacats Oaddtrais eveotappéevas KaTéou TAg€wy ev aKaTiw piKp®. A A ~ / ~ a on To dé pucbod diaddéyecbar mparos edpe, mpatos 4 7 ¢ ~ > / “a \ d€ mapédwKev “EAAnot mpayua od peumTov, ad yap \ / / aA > / ~ odv damdvn o7ovdalouev, paGAAov aomaloucba TaV mpotka. yvovs de tov [pwraydpav 6 WAdtwv Geuv@s pev Eeppnvevovta, evumTualovta de TH \ A CELVOTHTL Kal TOU Kal paKpoAoywTEpovy TOD ouULEL- A / ~ peTpov, TV o€av avTod wv0w paKkp@ exapaKxT7- pioev. wa’. ‘Inmias d5€ 6 codiotis 6 *HXetos To pev i A [LVN[LOVLKOV OUTW TL Kal ynpadoKwY EppwTo, ws Kal > TEVTHKOVTA CVOUATWY aKovoas amra€ amouVvypLoved- ld / > ew atta Kal” nv jKovoe Ta€w, eanyeTo dé és Tas / > / duahesers yewpeTpiay aorpovopiay povouchy pvd- poovs, SveAéyero dé Kal Tept Cwypaias Kal Tepl ayadwatorro.ias. tadra erépwht, ev Aaxedaiuove
1 For these triremes, sixty in number, cf. Plutarch, Per icles 11.
> Protagoras 349 a and Gorgias 520 c.
’ This is the myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus in the Protagoras.
34
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
the gods exist or not, I think that Protagoras derived this heresy from his Persian education. For though the magi invoke the gods in their secret rites, they avoid any public profession of belief in a deity, because they do not wish it to be thought that their own powers are derived from that source. It was for this saying that he was outlawed from the whole earth by the Athenians, as some say after a trial, but others hold that the decree was voted against him without the form of a trial. And so he passed from island to island and from continent to continent, and while trying to avoid the Athenian triremes! which were distributed over every sea, he was drowned when sailing in a small boat.
He was the first to introduce the custom of charging a fee for lectures, and so was the first to hand down to the Greeks a practice which is not to be despised, since the pursuits on which we spend money we prize more than those for which no money is _ charged. Plato recognized? that though Protagoras had a dignified style of eloquence, that dignity was a _ mask for his real indolence of mind, and that he was at times too long-winded and lacked a sense of
proportion, and so, in a long myth, he hit off the main characteristics of the other’s style. 11. Hrepras or Exts, the sophist, had such extra- ordinary powers of memory, even in his old age, _ that after hearing fifty names only once he could repeat them from memory in the order in which he had heard them. He introduced into his discourses _ discussions on geometry, astronomy, music, and _ rhythms, and he also lectured on painting and the _art of sculpture. These were the subjects that he _handled in other parts of Greece, but in Sparta he
35
496
PHILOSTRATUS
de yevn Te Sujet moAcwv Kal amoiKias Kal épya, > \ e / \ A / a ~ ezreto7, of Aaxedatmovior dua TO BovAcoBan apyew TH idéa tavTn €xaipov. eorw de atT@ Kat Tparkos dudAoyos, o¥ Adyos: 6 Néotwp ev Tpoia adrovon ¢€ / / ~ > / “A i, brotiberat NeomroAduw 7H “AxywAdAews, a yp7
émityndevovta avip’ ayabov daivecbar.t mAetora dé
‘EAAjvev mpecBevoas trép ths "HAwdos oddap06 KatéAvoe THY é€avTod Sd€av Snunyopav Te Kal duaAeyopevos, GAAd Kal ypipata mAetota e&éAcEe Kal dudais éeveypadn méAcwv puxp@v Te Kai perlo- vov. tapnrAde Kat és tHv “IvuKov trep xpnuatwv,
A A / ~ / > “ ¢ 7 TO O€ TOXixVLOV TOOTO UKEeALKot eiaw, ods 6 LAaTwv ETLOKWTITEL. EVOOKYL@V Sé Kal Tov GAXOV ypdovov eDeAye tiv “EXAdda ev *Odvptria Adyots zrouKidros Kal TEeppovTiopevols ED. Epuyveve Se ovK EANuTas, GAAa mepiTTas Kal Kata dvow, €s oAlya KaTa- devywv TOV €k TrOLNTLKTS OvopaTa.
, / \ ~ / 4 A
iB’. IIpodccov d€ tod Ketov dvoya tocodrov Died / > / e A A / > A emt codia eyéveto, ws Kat Tov DpvAXov ev Bowwrots dcOevta axpodoba dSiareyopevov, Kabioravra éy- yunTnv Tob cwpatos. mpeoBedwv dé mapa °*AOn- vaiovs mrapeABav és to BovAevtipiov tkavwTatos ” > / / , \ \ edo€ev avOpwirrwv, Kaitot dvajKoov Kat Bapd dbey- yomevos. avixveve d€ odTos Tovs edmaTpidas THY vewy Kal Tovs ek TOV Babléwv otkwv, ws Kal mpokéé-
1 Cobet would read yiyvec@at.
1 7.e. he was given the privileges of a citizen.
2: In Plato Hippias Maior 2828 Hippias says that at Inycus alone, a small city, he made more than twenty minae, z7.e. about £80; Plato scoffs at the luxurious Sicilians for paying to learn virtue, whereas at Sparta Hippias made nothing. ~ ® Xenophon.
36
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
described the different types of states and colonies and their activities, because the Spartans, owing to their desire for empire, took pleasure in this kind of discourse. There is also extant by him a Trojan dialogue which is not an oration—Nestor in Troy, after it has been taken, expounds to Neoptolemus the son of Achilles what course one ought to pursue in order to win a good name. On behalf of Elis he went on more embassies than any other Greek, and in no case did he fail to maintain his reputation, whether when making public speeches or lecturing, and at the same time he amassed great wealth and was enrolled in the tribes! of cities both great and small. In order to make money he also visited Inycus, a small town in Sicily, to whose people Plato alludes sarcastically.2, In the rest of his time also he won renown for himself, and used to charm the whole of Greece at Olympia by his ornate and. care- fully studied orations. His style was never meagre, but copious and natural, and he seldom had to take refuge in the vocabulary of the poets.
12. Propicus or Cros had so great a reputation for wisdom that,even the son of Gryllus,? when he was a prisoner in Boeotia,* used to attend his lectures, after procuring bail for himself. When he came on an embassy to Athens and appeared before the Senate, he proved to be the most capable ambassador _ possible, though he was hard to hear and had a very , deep bass voice.6 He used to hunt out well-born youths and those who came from wealthy families,®
4 There is no other evidence for this imprisonment of Xenophon, but it may have oecurred in 412 when the Boeotians took Oropus ; cf. Thucydides viii. 60.
5 Probably an echo of Plato, Protagoras 316 a. 6 Plato, Sophist 231 p.
37
497
498
PHILOSTRATUS
vous exTnobau Tavrns Ths Ojpas, Xpnpdrov Te yap TTY eTuy ave Kal i ndovais ededWKer. THY dE Hpa- KA€ous alpeow tov tod IIpodixov Adyov ob Kar’ apxas émeuvnoOnv, otd€ Hevoddv amnykiwce pr) ovxt Epunvedoar. Kal Ti av yapaKxTypilomev THY tod IIpodixov yAdrrav, Zevoddvtos adriv ixavds dmoypadovTos ;
vy’. II@Aov 6é€ tov ~Axpayavrivov Topyias cogioTny e€eweAety Ge TOAAGY, ws hast, xpnudtwv, Kat yap 67) Kat T@v TrAovTOVVTwY 6 II@Aos. isi d€, of dact Kal TA Tdpioa Kal TA avTiMeTA Kal TA opovoTeAcuTa I1@Aov EUPNKEVAL TpOTOov, odK opbds Acyovres, TH yap Tougde dyhata tot Adyouv Il@Aos edpnyery KaTEXpnoaTo, obev 6 LAdtwy divamrvwy avToV em TH prormig TavTyn pynoiv: “ & A@ote Il@Ae, va oe mpoceinw Kata oe€.”’
0’. Ot d€ Kai Opactpayov tov Kadynddvov ev ocoftotais ypadovres Soxodoi por mapakoveww [lAdrwvos Adéyovtos 1 ratrov etvar A€ovra Supeiv Kal _ovxogparrety Opacipaxov" duxoypadiav yap air@ mpopepovTds €oTi mov Tadra Kal TO Ev OLKa- ornptors ovkopavTovvTa TpiBeoFau:
le’, “AvripGyra de Tov ‘Papvovovov ovK oid’, elre Xpnorov del mpoceimetv, ete padrov. XP1- OTOS [Lev yap mpoceipnotw dia TAde° eoTpariynce mAcetoTa, eviknoe mAetoTa, efnKovTa TpLnpEaL TE- TAnpwpevats nvénoev ’AOnvaious TO VAVTUKOY, ika- voratos avOpwrwy édo€ev eimety Te Kat yrOvau- dia
1 \éyovros Cobet adds. 1 Memorabilia ii. 1. 21. - 2 Gorgias 4678. In the Greek the sentence contains two
jingles of sound such as Polus and his school employed. cf. Plato, Symposium, 185. 8 Republic, 341 c.
38
7 = *
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
so much so that he even had agents employed in this pursuit; for he had a weakness for making money and was addicted to pleasure. Even Xenophon? did not disdain to relate the fable of Prodicus called The Choice of Heracles, which I mentioned when I began my narrative. As for the language of Prodicus, why should I describe its characteristics, when Xenophon
_has given so complete a sketch of it ?
13. Poxtus or AcricenTouM, the sophist, was trained in the art by Gorgias, and for this he paid, as we are told, very high fees; for in fact Polus was a wealthy man. Some say that Polus was the first to use clauses that exactly balance, antitheses, and similar endings ; but they are mistaken in so saying; for rhetorical orna- ment of this kind was already invented, and Polus merely employed it to excess. Hence Plato, to express his contempt for Polus because of this affectation, says : “QO polite Polus! to address you in your own style.” ?
14, Those who include THrRasymMacuus oF CHAL- CEDON among the sophists fail, in my opinion, to understand Plato when he says? that shaving a lion is the same thing as trying to get the law of Thrasymachus. For this saying really amounts to taunting him with-writing legal speeches for clients, and spending his time in the law courts trumping up cases for the prosecution.
15. As for ANTIPHON or Ruamnus, I am uncertain whether one ought to call him a good or a bad man. On the one hand he may be called a good man, for the following reasons. Very often he held commands in war, very often he was victorious ; he added to the Athenian navy sixty fully equipped triremes ; he was held to be the most able of men, both in the art of speaking and in the invention
39
499
PHILOSTRATUS
peev 07) TADTa eol Te EmawerTéos Kal éTEpw. KaKOS 6° av eikétws dia Tade paivorto: Katédvoe THV SnpoKpatiay, edovAwoe TOV "AOnvatwv Ofjpor, ehakwvice KAT apyas pev apavas, votepov 8 ETOH Aws, TUPavYWY TeTpaKoCiwY SHuov etadhKe tots “A@nvaiwy mpadypacw.
~ Prtopucny de TOV ’"Avrid@vra ot ev ovK odcav evpety, ot 8 evpyevny avgijoar, yeveotar TE avrov’ ot eV avropabas codov, ot dé ex TaTpOS.. TaTepo. yap etvau 67) adT@ Leigidov dddo0Kadov p prtopikay Adywv, os ddous te TOV ev duvdpet Kal TOV TOU KArewiov éraidevoev. miBaveitatos dé 6 *Avtidaiv Vevopevos Kat mpoopn bets Néorwp émi T@ Tept TaVTOS elmroov av metoau vamrevbets axpodcers emmy - yeidev, ws ovdey oUTw Sewov epovvTwv axos, 6 pn efeheiy THhS yrepns. kabdarerat de 7) Kap@ota TOU “AvtupGyros ws Sewod Ta SuKaviKa Kat Adyous Kata Tob SiKaiov EvyKeyseévous azrodidopévov TroA- Adv ypnpdtwv adbrois udAvoTta Tots Kwdvvevovow. TouTL Omroiav exer pvow, eyed SynAdow: avOpwrror Kar, pev Tas dAAas ETLOTI MOS Kal TEXvas TYHLAOL TOUS ev ExdoTn avTav mpovxovras Kat Oavpalovor TOV tarp@v TOUS p-ahov Tapa TOUS HTTOV, Bavpa- Covor 8° ev pavTiKy Kal povotkh Tov codwrTepor,
1 This account of Antiphon as the contriver of the whole scheme of the oligarchic revolution, and of his rhetorical ability, is probably derived from Thucydides viii. 68.
2 Alcibiades.
3 NnevOys is an epic word and the reference is to the
papuakov vnrevOés used by Helen, Odyssey iv. 221. 4 A paraphrase of Euripides, Orestes 1-3: ovK é€otiv ovdév dewvdv @d elmety Ezros ovd€ maGos otd€ cUvudopa OHendaTos is ovK av Apart’ dxGos avOpwrov Pvais. 40
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
of themes. On these grounds, then, he deserves praise from me or any other. But on the other hand there are evidently good reasons for regarding him as a bad man, and they are the following. He broke up the democracy ; he enslaved the Athenian people; he sided with Sparta, secretly at first, but openly later on; and he let loose on the public life of Athens the mob of the Four Hundred Tyrants.1
Some say that Antiphon invented rhetoric which before him did not exist, others that it was already invented, but that he widened its scope; some say that he was self-taught, others that he owed his erudition to his father’s teaching. For, say they, his father was Sophilus who taught the art of composing rhetorical speeches and educated the son of Cleinias,? as well as other men of great influence. Antiphon achieved an extraordinary power of persuasion, and having been nicknamed “ Nestor” because of his ability to convince his hearers, whatever his theme, he announced a course of “sorrow-assuaging*”’ lectures, asserting that no one could tell him of a grief so terrible that he could not expel it from the mind.* Antiphon is attacked in Comedy for being too clever in legal matters, and for selling for large sums of money speeches composed in defiance of justice for the use of clients whose ,case was especially precarious. The nature of this charge I will proceed to explain. In the case of other branches of science and the arts, men pay honour to those who have won distinction in any one of these fields; that is to say, they pay more honour to physicians who are skilful than to those who are less skilful; in the arts of divination and music they admire the expert, and
41
501
PHILOSTRATUS
«
A / / e > ~ LA SAA fLev TUpavvw TpocKpovwy, dh @ Civ npynto waddov Rig aA * \ 7 otKot Onmokpatetobar, Emetta LiKeAwwTas pmev > ~ > / A / A \ eXevbepadv, “A@nvaiovs 5€ Sovrovpevos. Kal pajv
A a A 4 Kat TOO Tpaywoiay movety amdywv tov Avovdavov
~ ~ A \
amhyev abtov Tod pabupeiv, at yap Tovaide omrovdat
pabvpor, Kal ot tUpavvor dé aipetwrepow Tots
apxopevots aviewevor! waddAov 7 Evvteivortes, et yap
= ~ e \
avngovow, TTOV pev amoKTevovow, ATToOV de
Budocovrai 2 te Kal apmdcovrat, TUpavvos Se Tpayw-
wn ~ /
diais emitiOeuevos latp@ eixdo8w vooodvTr pev,
\ e
éavtov dé Oepamrevovti> at yap pvOorroiat Kat at
povmodiat Kal ot puoi TOV yopO@v Kai 7 Tav HO@v a /
Lino, Ov avayKn Ta TrAciw xpnota dpaivecOar,
A ~ "4 ne Ys
petakadet® rods Tupavvous Tod amapaiTHToV Kal
A A
ododpod, Kabdmep at dapuakotrociat Tas vdcovus.
~ A / > ~ > A Tatra 1) KaTnyopiav “Avtip@vtos, aAAa EvpBov- Nav és mavtTas Hywpela tod pr) exKkadetofar Tas
> 4 Tupavvidas, pnde es opynv ayew On wud. ~ , > e Adyot 8 adrot dicaviKol pev aAetous, ev ois " Seworns Kal wav TO ek Téxvyns EyKElTaL, Gopic- \ € TuKOL O€ Kal ETEpoL pev, codioTiKwTEpos SE O ~ e A bmép THs Opovoias, ev @ yvwpodoyioas Te Aapmpat A > Kat dirAdcopfot ceuvyn te amayyeAla Kat emnvOio- aA / ¢ evn qmountiKots dvdpact Kal TA aTroTaonY Epun- aA / a / vevomeva TrapamAjoia TH mediwv Tots Helos.
/ / de ¢ A > A aN ux’. Kpurias 5€ 6 codiorns «¢ pev Katédvoe 1 dvemévor. Kayser; aviéuevoc Richards.
2 Spdcovra Mss., Kayser ; dpdéovrac Jahn ; Bidcovra Cobet ;
cf. Plato, Republic, 5748; duacmdcovra Richards. 3 uweraBaddre. Kayser; wetaxare? Cobet.
44
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS for provoking a collision with a tyrant under whom he had chosen to live rather than be under a democracy at home; secondly he was wrong in trying to free the Sicilians, whereas he had tried to enslave the Athenians. Furthermore, in diverting Dionysius from writing tragedy he really diverted him from being easy-going ; for pursuits of that sort belong to an easy temper, and their subjects may well prefer tyrants when they are slack rather than when they are strung up. For when they slacken their energies they will put fewer men to death, they will do less violence and plunder less; so that.a tyrant who occupies himself with tragedies may be likened to a physician who is sick, but is trying to heal himself. For the writing of myths and monodies and choric rhythms and the representation of char- acters, the greater part of which necessarily present what is morally good, diverts tyrants from their own implacable and violent temper as taking medicines diverts the course of disease. What I have just said we must not regard as an indictment of Antiphon, but rather as advice to all men not to provoke tyrants against themselves, or excite to wrath their savage
__ dispositions.
: A good many of his legal speeches are extant, and they show his great oratorical power and all the effects of art. Of the sophistic type there are several, but more sophistic than any is the speech On Concord, in which are brilliant philosophical maxims and a lofty style of eloquence, adorned moreover with the flowers of poetical vocabulary ; and their diffuse style makes them seem like smooth
plains.
. Critias the sophist, even though he did over-
45
< - ene
PHILOSTRATUS
tov “A@nvaiwy dipov, ovmw Kakds — katadvbein yap av Kat th éavtod SHwos ovTw TL emnppevos, ws unde TOV Kata vopovs apxovTwy akpodcbar — > > > \ ~ \ > 7 29Q/ \ aAd’ émet Aapmpds pev éeAaxawvice, mpovdidov de \ e / / \ \ / A / ea Ta Lepa, Kabyper de dia Avoadvdpov Ta TEixn, ovs 5° jAavve tTHv “AOnvaiwy to orfvat mov THs ‘EA- Addos adnpetto moAquov Aakwvikov aveitay és / ” \ > aA / / mavras, et tis TOV “AOnvatov devyovta dé€orTo,
2 2 \ \ / ; 4 5 WLOTHTL de Kal putarpovia TOUS TPLAKOVTGA VUTTEPE-
BdadAXeto Bovdedpates te atdomov tots Aaxedat- / / e / e > \ poviois EvveAduBavev, ws pndAoBotos 7» *ArtiK? anopavlein THs TaV avOpamwv ayédns éexKevw- Jeioa, KdKvoTos avlpwrwv Eepovye daiverar Evp- TavTwWVY, Ov el Kakia Ovowa. Kal ef pev amat- a > / ¢ / wv nv“ tf / devtos wv es Tade drnxOn, Eppwro av oO Xdyos tots ddacKkovow tro WertaXdias Kai THs exeivy e / / > / \ A > / OptrAias tapePpOopevat atrov, Ta yap araidevta On evdrapaywya mdvtws és Biov aipeow: ezei d€ dpiota pev Hv tremadevjevos, yuwpas Sé mAci- e / > / > > / “A otas épunvedwv, es Apwridnv 8 avadepwr, ds peta UdAwva "AOnvaiors ApEev, odK av diadvyor mapa Tots 7oAAois aitiay TO p17) ov KaKia Pivoews Guaptety tadta. Kal yap ad KaKeivo dromov LwKparer pev TH Uwdpovickov py opowlHvar > / e r aA or r / / avtov, @ mActora 57 ouvedirocddynce codwratw
1 A favourite oratorical theme ; ef. Thucydides iii. 58.
2 For the disorder and licence of the Thessalians ef. Plato, Orito 53 p, and the proverb ‘‘ Thessalian forcible persuasion ” in Julian and Eunapius.
46
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
throw democratic government at Athens, was not thereby proved to be a bad man; for the democracy might well have been overthrown from within, since it had become so overbearing and insolent that it would not heed even those who governed according to the established laws. But seeing that he con- spicuously sided with Sparta, and betrayed the holy places! to the enemy; that he pulled down the walls by the agency of Lysander; that he deprived the Athenians whom he drove into exile of any place of refuge in Greece by proclaiming that Sparta would wage war on any that should harbour an Athenian exile ; that in brutality and bloodthirstiness he surpassed even the Thirty; that he shared in the monstrous design of Sparta to make Attica look like a mere pasture for sheep by emptying her of her human herd; for all this I hold him to be the greatest criminal of all who are notorious for crime. Now if he had been an uneducated man, led astray into these excesses, there would be some force in the explanation of those who assert that he was demoral- ized by Thessaly 2 and the society that he frequented there ; for characters that lack education are easily led to choose any sort of life. But since he had been highly educated and frequently delivered himself of philosophical maxims, and his family dated back to Dropides who was archon at Athens next after Solon, he cannot be acquitted in the sight of most men of the charge that these crimes were due to his own natural wickedness. Then again it is a strange thing that he did not grow to be like Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, with whom above all others he studied philosophy and who had the reputation of being the wisest and the most just
AT
PHILOSTRATUS
Te Kal duKatoTaTw TaV ed éavrod dd€avtt, Mer- tadots 8 opowwlfAvat, map’ ois ayepwyia Kat dicparos Kal TUpavuiKa €v olvm orovddleTat. GAN’ dpws ovde ®erraroi cogias mperovy, adn’ eyopylalov ev Oerradig jucpad Kat pretlous 710-
502 Aews es [ opytav opdoac TOV Aeovrivov, peteBadov
6 av Kal és TO Kpurualew, et Twa THs €auToo copias emidergw fo} Kprtias map avrots emovetro- 0 de Tperer pev tovtov, Baputépas 58° avrois €moles TAs odvyapxtas Suadeysevos Tots Exel duvarots Kab kadamropevos pev OnpHoKparias a- maons, dsvabadrrAwy 3° ‘A@nvaious, ws mAciota av- Opwdmrav dpapTdvovras, wote evOvovpéevw tabra Kpurias av ein Werradods dtepPopws paddAov 7 Kpuriav Oerradot. ’"AméBave prev obv bd THV adit Opacd’Bovdror, a ~ > A @ An jf \ on PS) ~ 3° ee ot KatHyov amd DurAAs 1 Tov SHwov, Soxet 8” eviors avnp ayalos yevéeobar mapa THY TEeAevTHV, E7rEL7) evradiw Th Tupavvidt éxpyoato: éeuol dé azro- / / > / ~ \ > A
Trepavdw pndéva avOpdmwv Kkartds 57 amolavetv brép av ovK dp0ds ctreTo, dv’ a pow SoKeT Kal 7 cofia Tob avdpos Kal Ta povTiowata ArrTov omovoacbjvat tots “EAAnow: «i yap pe opodo- / e / ~ ” > / ~ / / ynoe. 6 Adyos TH Oe, addrotpia TH yAwTTy 50- Eouev dbéyycbar, womrep ot avaAol.
Thy de id€av tod Adyou Soyparias 6 Kpurias
Kal ToAvyyvwpwy ceuvoroyhoai Te ikavwTatos ov
1 puyfs Kayser ; Suds Bentley, Cobet.
1 7.¢e“he lost his life in its cause. For this favourite figure cf. p. 590 and Gymnasticus 34; it is derived from Isocrates, Archidamus 45.
2 An echo of Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon 623; cf.
48
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
of his times; but did grow to be like the Thessalians, who maintain by force an insolent arrogance, and practise tyrannical customs even in their wine-drink- ing. However, not even the Thessalians neglected learning, but all the cities great and small in Thessaly tried to write like Gorgias and looked to Gorgias of Leontini; and they would have changed over and tried to write like Critias, if Critias had made any public display in their country of his own peculiar skill. But for this kind of success he cared nothing, and instead he tried to make the oligarchies more oppressive to the people, by conversing with the men in power there and assailing all popular govern- ment, and by falsely accusing the Athenians of an
_ unheard of number of crimes; so that, taking all this into consideration, it would seem that Critias corrupted the Thessalians, rather than the Thessalians Critias.
He was put to death by Thrasybulus and his party who restored the democracy from Phyle, and there are those who think that he played an honour- able part at the last, because his tyranny became his shroud.!_ But let me declare my opinion that no human being can be said to have died nobly for a
_ eause that he took up in defiance of the right. And I believe that this is the reason why this man’s wisdom and his writings are held in slight esteem by
_ the Greeks; for unless our public utterances and our moral character are in accord, we shall seem, like
_ flutes, to speak with a tongue that is not our own.?
‘As regards the style of his oratory, Critias
abounded in brief and sententious sayings, and he
“3 Corinthians xiii., ‘‘1 am become as sounding brass or a ; amd cymbal.” : E 49
PHILOSTRATUS
Thv Sidupaupwdn ceuvodoyiav, o0dé Katradevyou- gav €$ Ta €K ToLNTLKHS dvdomata, GAN ex Tov KUPLWTATWY oVyKEEevnY Kal KaTa vow €xoU- cav. op@ Tov avdpa Kat BpayvdAoyotvta txavas \ ~ Kat dewas Kalamtopevov ev amoAoyias HOE, at- / / >? > A LAND! > / A TuKilovTad Te ovK aKpaT@s, ovdé éexdtAws — TO \ > / > ~ > / / yap areipoKadov ev 7TH artrixilew BapBapov — > > ¢ > / > \ \ > \ a +f aA’ womep axtivwv advyai ta “Arrtika dvdopara , ~ / A A > / \ dtapatverar Tod Adyov. Kal TO aovvdeTws Se xwpiw mpooBareitv Kpitiov wpa, Kal TO mapa- a / \ 5) A , Me A ddEws pev evOupnbjvar, mapaddEws 8° amayyet- Aat Kpuriov aydv, to b€ Tod Adyou mvebua éA- Aiméotepov uev, OD dé Kat Xeiov, Womep Too Zepvpov 7 avpa. iC’. “H dé Leipyy 7» efeotnxvia tH “looxpa- Tovs Tov codioTtod onpmatt, edeoTtyKe Sé€ Kal olov A ~ a adovoa, mea KaTyyopet Tod avdpds, Hv ovve- A / A 7 BaAeto pytopikots vowows Kat 7Oeor, mapioa Kal avTieta Kai opowotéAevTa ody evpwv mpATos, > > ¢ / & / > / \ A GAN’ edpnuéevois «0 ypnodpevos, emreweAnOy Se Kat mepipoAfs Kat pvluod Kat ovvOyKns Kal KpoTov. tautt 8 rolwacé mov Kai tiv Anpoobevovs
504 yAOtrav: Anpoobevns yap pabnris pev “Ioaiov,
\ \ > / / e / Cynrwris dé “looxpatovs yevouevos trepeBdreTo avtov Oup@ Kat émipopa Kat mepiBoAH Kal taxv-
1 Lucian, Leviphanes 24, satirizes the hyperatticism which consists in using obsolete or rare words; on the Atticism of the Sophists see Introduction.
2 On the invention of rpocBodal by Gorgias see Glossary.
3 For rrepi8or7n see Glossary.
50
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
: was most skilful in the use of elevated language, but not of the dithyrambic sort, nor did he have 1 recourse to words borrowed from poetry ; but his was the kind of elevated language that is composed of _ the most appropriate words and is not artificial. I _ observe, moreover, that he was a master of concise ; eloquence, and that even when he maintained the _ tone proper to a speech in defence, he used to make vigorous attacks on his opponent; and that he Atticized, but in moderation, nor did he use out- _ landish words1—for bad taste in Atticizing is truly _ barbarous—but his Attic words shine through his discourse like the gleams of the sun’s rays. Crritias also secures a charming effect by passing without - eonnectives from one part of his speech to another.? Then, too, Critias strives for the daring and unusual _ both in thought and expression, yet his eloquence _ is somewhat lacking in virility, though it is agreeable and smooth, like the breath of the west wind. , 17.:The Siren which stands on the tomb of _ Isocrates the sophist—its pose is that of one singing —testifies to the man’s persuasive charm, which he ‘combined with the conventions and customs of ‘rhetoric. For though he was not the inventor of ‘clauses that exactly balance, antitheses, and similar endings, since they had already been invented, evertheless he employed those devices with great skill. He also paid great attention to rhetorical amplification,? rhythm, structure, and a striking effect, and in fact it was by his study of these Tee
a
on Isocrates that he modelled himself, but he sur- ssed him in fire and impetuosity, in amplification,
51
PHILOSTRATUS
THT. Adyou TE Kal evvolas. cemvorns: oe 7), poev A mpoobevous ETEOT POpL|LEVY uaddov, 4 Sé *Iao- KpaTous aBporépa TE Kal HOlwy. Trapddevypa dé Trowmpeba. Tijs Anpoobevovs CEEvoTnTOS” “ qé- pas pev yap dmacw avO parrots ort tod Biov avatos, Kav ev oikiokw Tis adrov Kabetpfas Tp» det 5é Tovs dyabovs avopas éyxeupety pev dmacw det tots Kadois THY ayabnv mpoBaAXope- vous eArida, pepew dé, a av o Deds 5100, yev- vaiws.” 7 a "Tooxpdrous oepnvorns de KeKo- opynta “THs yap yis amdons THs b70 TO Ko- ope KeyLevs diya TeTuNnwevns, Kal Tijs pev
“Agias, ths Se Edpwzns kahouperns, THY Hpe- cevav eK Tov ou dnKay ciAngev, WOTTEp Tpos tov Aia tiv xwpav VELLOMEVOS..
Ta pev otv modutuKa WKver Kal amedoita THv exkAnoidv dua te TO €AXirrés TOD POeypaTos, Sia te Tov “AOyvnow Odvov avtimoAitevopevov ad- tots pdadwota Tots copuwtepov Tue éTépov ayo- pevovow. ows 8° ovK ameorrovdale Tov Kowdy: Tov te yap Didiamov, ev ofs mpos adrov eypager, "AOnvators d7j7ov diwpbobro, Kal ols Tept THs etpyvns ouveypaper, dveoxevate TOvs “AGnvaious Ths 8a GTTNSs ws Kaxa@s ev avTn axovovras, Tavnyupikos T eaTiv atT@ Adyos, dv suAdAdev
Avpmiace THY ‘Edda metBanv emt tHv *Aciav oTparevew TOVoGLEvous TOV olKo. eyKAnudTwvr. ovTos pev ovv et Kat KdAAoTos Adywvr, airiav
1 On the Crown 97, This is a favourite passage with the rhetoricians;; «cf. Lucian, Hncomium of Demosthenes 5; Hermogenes, On the Types of Oratory 222 Walz.
» ? Panegyricus 179. Note the ‘similar endings” of the participles.
52
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
and in rapidity both of speech and thought. Again, the grand style in Demosthenes is more vigorous, while in Isocrates it is more refined and suave. Let me give a specimen of the grand style of Demo- sthenes: “ For to all mankind the end of life is death, though a man keep himself shut up in a closet; yet it is the duty of brave men ever to set their hands to all honourable tasks, setting their good hope before them as their shield, and endure nobly whatever comes from the hand of God.”! With Isocrates on the other hand, the grand style is ornate, as in the following: “For since the whole earth that lies beneath the heavens is divided into two parts, and one is called Asia, the other Europe, he has received by the treaty one half thereof, as though he were dividing the territory with Zeus.” ? He shrank from political life and did not attend political assemblies, partly because his voice was not strong enough, partly because of the jealous distrust that in politics at Athens was always especially opposed to those who had a talent above the average for public speaking. Yet in spite of this he took a strong interest in public affairs. Hence in the letters that he addressed to Philip he tried to reconcile him with the Athenians; in his writings on peace he tried to wean the Athenians from their maritime _ policy, on the ground that they thereby injured their _ reputation; and there is also his Panegyric which he delivered at Olympia, when he tried to persuade Greece to cease from domestic quarrels and make war on Asia. This oration, though it is the finest of all, nevertheless gave rise to the charge that it had
3 3 For this ef. Thucydides iii. 38, Cleon’s attack on plausible _ orators.
53
PHILOSTRATUS
ev / e€ >’ ~ / duws TapédwKev, ws EK TWY Topyia omovda- obévtww es Thy adryy b7d0cow ovvtefein. apiora 32 rav "looxpdrous ppovTioparwv 6 te Apyidapos édyxerrar Kal 6 “Apaprupos, Tob pev yap dike dpdvna Tov AevKtpiKav dvadépov Kal odk axpiB7 pdvov TA OvopaTa, GAG Kal 4 EvvOjnn Aapmpa, évaydvios 5¢ 6 Adyos, ws Kal TO pv0add_«s avTod / \ \ \ ‘H rE \ A ~ \ yépos, TO rept TOV Hpakdca Kat Tas Bots ovv ? A © lan ¢ \ > / > \ emiatpoph <ppnvedotar, 0 S¢ ?Apudptupos toxvv 2ySelevurar KeKoAacperny es pudpovs, vonpa ‘yap ex voraros es Tepodous icoxwAous TeAevTa. "Axpoatal Tod avdpos tovTov moAAol pev, €A- / et / e Lan! / Aoyyswratos dE YrepelSns 6 pytwp, Oeomoprov \ \ > a oe \ \ K A "E yop Tov eK Ths Xtov Kar Tov iKupavoy opov ” > av / v9 5) / e \ ctr dy SiaBdAouse od7 dv Gavpacay. ob de Fryovpevor THY kwpmdiav Kabdrrecbar Tod av- Spds, ws advAomrovod, duaprdvovow, TaThp Mev yap ° ~ / oy “A > / > A > / adt@ Oeddwpos Hv, Ov exdAovv avAomoov *AG7- ynow, adros de oire adtdods eylyywokey ovTE ” ~ > / 9O\ \ a“ oO. ~ G\No tu TOV ev Bavavoiois, oddE yap av ovoe THS év ’OAvpmia eikdvos ETUXEV, el te TOV edTEAdv >’ / > / \ > >A@ / > \ \ cipydleto. amélave pev ovv ivnow appl Ta. éxarov é7n, eva dé adrov Hydpela TOV ev TONE orobapevTwv, eels} peta Xarpwverav eTeAcvTO yl) KapTepyoas THY dxpoacw 70d “APnvaiwy TTALOPATOS.
1 This is the sub-title of the speech Against Euthynous, and was so called because the plaintiff had no evidence to produce and depended on logical argument.
2 Heracles carried off the oxen of Geryon.
3 These minor historians were fellow-pupils in the school which Isocrates opened at Chios.
54
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
been compiled from the works of Gorgias on the same subject. The most skilfully composed of all the works of Isocrates are the Archidamus and the speech called Without Witnesses. For the former is animated throughout by the desire to revive men’s courage and spirit after the defeat at Leuctra, and not only is its language exquisitely chosen, but its composition is brilliant also, and the whole speech is in the style of a legal argument; so that even the myth in it, the story of Heracles and the oxen,? is expressed with vigour and energy. Again, the speech Without Witnesses in its rhythms displays a well-restrained energy, for it is composed of periods of equal length, as one idea follows another. Isocrates had many pupils, but the most illustrious was the orator Hypereides; for as for Theopompus of Chios and Ephorus* of Cumae, I will neither _eriticize nor commend them. Those who think that Comedy aimed her shafts at Isocrates because he was a maker of flutes,t are mistaken; for though his father was Theodorus, who was known in Athens as a flute-maker, Isocrates himself knew nothing about _ flute-making or any other sordid trade; and he _ certainly would not have been honoured with the ; statue at Olympia if he had ever been employed in any low occupation. He died at Athens, aged about j one hundred years, and we must reckon him among _ those who perished in war, seeing that he died after __ the battle of Chaeronea because he could not support . the tidings of the Athenian defeat.°
_ _ 4 Strattis, frag. 712 Kock, refers to Isocrates as ‘the _ flute-borer” ; cf. pseudo-Plutarch, Jsocrates 836 E. ® ef. Milton, Sonnet— As that dishonest victory, At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty, Killed with report that old man eloquent.
55
507
508
PHILOSTRATUS
un’. Ilepi dé Aioyivov rot *Atpouyrov, ov dapev THs Sevtépas codiotikhs dap&ar, tad€ xXpP1) > / e > , , , ereokedbary 4 “AOnvynor Sypaywyia dvevoTyKer méca, Kat ot pev Pace? emitydevor joav, ob d¢ Maxeddow, éddpovtro S€ apa Thy mpwaTnY TaYV A “a / ¢ A pev Baowre? xapilonevwv 6 Tlasaveds Anpo- abévyns, THV 5é €s Didizov opwHvtwv 6 Kobwxidns Aloyivns, Kal xpjpata map audotv edoita odior, Baowéws prev aoxododytos bv "A@nvaiwy Didur- \ \ yee ee) / > 4 / A mov TO 1) emt “Aciav éAdoat, DiAimmov Se meipw- / / \ > \ > , e > / pevov Siadvew TH loxdv ’"APnvaiwy, ws eumodiopa Ths SiaBdoews. lan es > / A , \ Avadopas 5° ApEev Aioxyivn Kat Anpoobéver Kat avTo pev TO dAdAov GAAw Baowre? woAiTevew, ws &° euol daivera, TO evavtiws éxew Kal TOV 7Odr, e€ 7OGv yap aAdAyjAois avri~dwv dveTar picos oS 2 b) a > / > wv A \ / aittay ok éxov. avrTigdw 8 Horny Kat dia Tade° € \ > , / 207 1 eg \ 6 pev Aicyivns diromdtys Te eddKer Kal HOVS Kal dveysevos Kal mav TO émiyapr ek Avovdcov 7pn- Kws, Kal yap 67 Kal tots Bapvordvois v7oKpt- Tails TOV ev pelpakiw xpdovov direTpaywonaev, 6 O > / > / \ \ \ > \ ad auvvevodws te édaivero kal Bapds tiv oppo A 4 , 7 / \ Kal. vowp mivwrv, dbev SvoKddAois Te Kal dvo- / > / A ~ / > dr Tpomois eveypadero, Kal modAA@ Acov, Emedy /, \ Ly ¢ \ A , A apeoBevovte Edvv Erépois Tapa Tov Diduamov Kat
1 Demosthenes, On the Crown 262; Aeschines was only a tritagonist.
56
ee eREINT
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
18. Arscuines, the son of Atrometus, we are accus- tomed_to call the founder of the Second Sophistic, and with respect to him the following facts must be bornein mind. The whole government at Athens was divided into two parties, of which one was friendly to the Persian king, the other to the Macedonians. Now among those who favoured the Persian king, Demosthenes of the deme Paeania was the recog- nized leader, while Aeschines of the deme Cothidae led those who looked to Philip; and sums of money used to arrive regularly from both these, from the king because with the aid of Athenians he kept Philip too busy to invade Asia; and from Philip in the attempt to destroy the power of Athens which
-hindered him from crossing over into Asia.
The quarrel between Aeschines and Demosthenes arose partly because of this very fact that the former was working in the interests of one king and the latter in the interests of another; but also, in my opinion, because they were of wholly opposite temperaments. For between temperaments that are antagonistic to one another there grows up a hatred that has no other grounds. And naturally antagon- istic the two men were, for the following reasons. Aeschines was a lover of wine, had agreeable and easy manners, and was endowed with all the charm of a follower of Dionysus; and in fact while he was still a mere boy, he actually played minor parts for ranting tragic actors.1 Demosthenes, on the other hand, had a gloomy expression and an austere brow, and was a water-drinker; hence he was reckoned an ill-
_tempered and unsociable person, and especially so
when the two men along with others went on an embassy to Philip, and as messmates the one showed
Rt
509
PHILOSTRATUS
e / + es A / A e \
OpodiaiTw ovTE O pev SiaKeyupevos TE Kal NOUS epaiveto Tots ovmpéoBeow, 6 S5é€ KaTeckAnKws TE Kal adel omovddlwy. emérewe dé adtots Tv dtapopav 6 b7reép “AudutdrAews emi tot DiAirzov Aoyos, ote 57 e&érece Tod Adyou 6 Anpoobervys, ¢ > > / > \ ~ 2, / \ 0 8 Atoyivns . . . 08d THv amroBeBAnuevwr zrote \ > ‘S ? A / \ > 5 i / ” 1 >
THhv aomrida evounovpéevw To év Taptvais epyov,! ev ® Bowsovs evikwy “AOnvator: dpioreta TovToU Snpooia eoTepavobro Td te adAXa Kat Xpnodpevos anxavw TayeEL Trepl Ta evayyéeAva Tijs viKns. dua- Baddovros dé adrov Anpoobévous, ws attiov Tob Owxixod mafovs, améyvwoav *AOnvator tHv al- / WA \ ~ / > ~ Ld
Tlay, emt de TO Karam poevte Avripavre nAw a) Kpileis, Kal apetAovro avrov ot €€ “Apeiou. méayou TO phy) Od ouverety opuow b7rep Tob tepod tod ev AnjAw. Kal pay Kal mvAayopas avappy- Deis ob Tapa Tots moAAots Suarepevye TO pa) ovk adtos ’EXateia émuorqoa. tov Didurrov tH IIvAaiav ovvrapdéas eUTpoowmols Aoyous Kal pvbots. “AOnvav de bref dev odyxt pevyew m™poo- taxyleis, adN’ atysia e€vordpevos, 4 vmrVyeTOo
1 Some words have dropped out which confuses the construction though the meaning is clear,
1 The incident is described by Aeschines, On the False Embassy 34.
2 The text is corrupt and the meaning is not clear,
8 The Athenian general Phocion won the battle of Tamynae in Euboea in 354 in an attempt to recover the cities which had revolted from Athens; ef. Aeschines, On the False Embassy 169.
4 Demosthenes, On the Crown 142 ; Demosthenes, On the False Embassy throughout makes Aeschines responsible for the crushing defeat of the Phocians by Philip when he seized
58
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
himself pliant and amiable to his fellow-ambassadors, while the other was stiff and dry and took everything too seriously. And their quarrel was intensified by the discussions about Amphipolis in Philip’s presence, when Demosthenes broke down in his speech!; but Aeschines . . .2 was not one of those who ever throw away the shield, as is evident when one con- siders the battle of Tamynae,® when the Athenians defeated the Boeotians. As a reward for his part in this he was crowned by the state, both for his conduct in general and because he had conveyed the good news of the victory with extraordinary speed. When Demosthenes accused him of being responsible for the Phocian disaster,4 the Athenians acquitted him of the charge, but after Antiphon had been condemned Aeschines was found guilty without a trial, and the court of the Areopagus deprived him of the right to join them in pleading for the temple on Delos.® And after he had been nominated as a deputy to Pylae® he did not escape
‘suspicion from most men of having himself prompted
Philip to seize Elatea, by his action in stirring up the synod at Pylae with his specious words and fables.’ He secretly left Athens, not because he had been ordered to. go into exile, but in order to avoid the political disgrace which he had incurred when he failed to secure the necessary votes in his
| Delphi in 346. Aeschines had assured the Athenians that
Philip would not deal harshly with the Phocians.
®° The Athenians were defending their right to control the sanctuary of Apollo on Delos.
8 On the Crown 149. This was in 346.
7 Demosthenes, On the Crown 143, brings this charge ; Philostratus borrows freely from this speech in his account
_ of the political life of Aeschines.
39
510
PHILOSTRATUS
¢e A 4 \ ~ > \ ~ bro Anpoabever Kal _Krynoupavre EKTEGWY TRV pjpov. H pev 87) opt) Tijs amodnpias adre Tapa TOV “AdeEavdpov Hv, ws advtixa "govra és BaBvAdva te Kai Lotoa, kaloputobeis b€ es THv v \ \ A 4 > / A A a Edecov Kat Tov pev Tebvavat akovwv, Ta dé THs > / 4 - / € / Aoias otrw EvyKexAvopéva mpdypata, “Pddov elyeTo, 7) S€ vincos ayaby) évoTovddoat, Kal go-
~ / > / \ ¢ / b) diotav ppovtiotypiov amopyvas tHv “Podov ad- Tob duntato Bvwv jovyia te Kat Movoas Kai Awpiois WOcow éykatapuyvds “ArriKd.
Tov dé adtooyédiov Adyov Edvv evpoia Kai Deiws duaTiOéuevos Tov Emaivov TodTov mp@Tos Hvey- Kato. TO yap Oeiws Héyew ovmw pev émEXw- , A A See > / - as piace copiaray omovoais, az Aioxivov ) mparo Deopoprre ope dmooxedualovros, Womep ot Tovs Xpnopovs avamrvéovrTes. axpoaTns de I]Adreves te Kat “looxpdtovs yevdpevos moAAa Kal mapa Ths é€avtod dicews Hydyero. cadnveias Te yap dds ev TH AOyw Kal aBpa cepvodroyia Kal TO emixapt adv dewdtTynTt Kat Kabamaé 1 id€a Tob Adyou KpeitTwY 7) pincer traxOHvac.
Aédyot § Aicyivov y’! Kat’ éviovs pev Kal TéTap- tos tis AndAvakds Katayevddpevos THs €kelvov yAdtryns. o8 yap av TOTE TOUS peV _Tepl THY “Augiooay Aoyous, bd’ av ” Kuppaia xopa Kabte- pwn, peapestiaios te Kat dv wpa SieGeTo Kaka
1 ~/ Richards inserts. 1 Philostratus ignores the fact that seven years elapsed
between the departure of Aeschines from Athens in 330 and the death of Alexander in 323. 2 This may be an echo of Longinus, On the Sublime xiii. 2. 3 This is not true. 4 An allusion to Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon 119 foll.,
60
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
suit against Demosthenes and Ctesiphon. It was his purpose, when he set out on his journey, to go to Alexander, since the latter was on the point of arriving at Babylon and Susa. But when he touched at Ephesus he learned that Alexander was dead,1 and that therefore things were greatly disturbed in Asia, so he took up his abode at Rhodes, for the island is well adapted to literary pursuits, and having trans- formed Rhodes into a school for sophists, he continued to live there, sacrificing to peace and the Muses, and introducing Attic customs into the Dorian mode of life.
As an extempore speaker he was easy and fluent and employed the inspired manner, in fact he was the first to win applause by thismeans. For hitherto the inspired manner in oratory had not become a regular device of the sophists, but it dates from Aeschines, who extemporized as though he were carried away by a divine impulse, like one who exhales oracles.2, He was a pupil of Plato,’ and Isocrates, but his success was due in great part to natural talent. For in his orations shines the light of perfect lucidity, he is at once sublime and seductive, energetic and delightful, and in a word his sort of eloquence defies the efforts of those who would imitate it.
There are three orations of Aeschines; but some ascribe to him a fourth besides, On Delos, though it does no credit to his eloquence. Nor is it at all likely that after having composed so plausibly and with such charm those speeches about Amphissa, the
_ people by whom the plain of Cirrha was consecrated
to the god,* when his design was to injure Athens,
where he quotes his accusation against Amphissa, made in 340,
61
511
PHILOSTRATUS
Bovredur "AOnvaios, ws pou Anpooberns, emt d€ TOUS AnAvaxods pvbous, ev ots Deoroyia TE Kat Qeoyovia Kat adpxatodoyia, patrws ovTws cappynoe Kat TobTo mpoaywrilomevos “AGnvaicv ov jcpov ay esvugtLa, TYOUPEVOY TO [1 eK7rEcEtV Too ev AnrAw tepod. Tpiat 57) Aoyous mepunpiaber » Atoxyivov yAdrra: Tt te Kata Tuyudpyov Kat Th amodoyia Tijs mpeoBetas Kad TH 70d Krjou- POvTos KaTnyopia. €oTr dé Kal TéTapToV avToo PpovTiopia., emaToNat, od moAAai per, eUmaioen ~ cias d€ preotat Kal HOovs. tod dé 7OtKod Kat “Podious éemiderEw eroinoato: avayvovs yap more 7 yvods yap Snpooia Tov Kata Krnowp@vtos oi pev eOavpalor, Omws emt TovovTw Adyw ATTHOn Kat KabymTovTo TOV "AGnvaiey ws TapavoowvTwy, 6 de “ odK ay’’ eon * ‘ €Oavualete, ef Anpoobevous A€yovtos dang rabra nKOvVOaTE, ov povov €s €7ra.wov ex9pod Ka toTdpevos, dAAa Kal Tovs SiKaoTas adtels aitias. 0’. “YaepBavres 5° ’ApioBaplavnv tov Kidixa Kat Eevodpova Tov Lucehicrqv kal IleBayépav TOV eK Kupyvys, ot ENTE yv@var tavol edogar, pie épunvedoar Ta yvwobevta, adv amropig yevvaiwv copiorav eorovddatnoay Tots ef eauTav “EAAn - ow, Ov TOU TpdTrOV Tots GiToOUV amopotow ot dpofor, emt Nuxyitnv twuwev Tov Lpvpvatov. obtos yap 6 Nuxyrns mapaAaBav ay emLoTH UNV €s OTEVOV aTrEL- Anuperny edwKev aura mapddous ToAA@ Aapmpo- Tepas @v adTos TH Lpvpvyn €deipwato, ovvdibas TV
1 These are not extant.
2 Libanius, Oration i. 8, says that in his education he had to put up with inferior sophists, as men eat bread made of barley for lack of a better sort.
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LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
as Demosthenes says, he would have handled so un- skilfully the myths about Delos, which are concerned with the nature and descent of the gods and the story of bygone times, and that too when he was arguing the case of the Athenians, who considered it of the utmost importance not to fail to maintain the custody of the temple at Delos. Accordingly we must limit the eloquence of Aeschines to three orations, which are: Against Timarchus, In Defence of the Embassy, and the speech Against Ctesiphon. There is also extant a fourth work of his, the Letiers,» which, though they are few, are full of learning and character. What that character was he clearly showed at Rhodes. For once after he had read in public his speech Against Ctesiphon, they were expressing their surprise that_he had been defeated after so able a speech, and were criticizing the Athenians as out of their senses, but Aeschines, said : “ You would not marvel thus if you had heard Demosthenes in reply to these arguments.” Thus he not only praised his enemy but also acquitted the jury from blame.
19. We will pass over Ariobarzanes of Cilicia, Xenophron of Sicily, and Peithagoras of Cyrene, who showed no skill either in invention or in the expres- sion of their ideas, though in the scarcity of first-rate sophists they were sought after by the Greeks of
_ their day, as men seek after pulse when they are short
4q |
of corn ;? and we will proceed to Niceres of Smyrna. For this Nicetes found the science of oratory reduced to great straits, and he bestowed on it approaches far more splendid even than those which he himself built for Smyrna, when he connected the city with
63
PHILOSTRATUS
néAw Tats emt tiv "Edecov mvAas Kal dud peyeGos dvreEdpas Adyous Epye.. 6 5é dvhp obros Tots pev SucapuKots dpetvwv eddKer TA Sucavixd, Tots Se coduotiKkots Ta codiotiKa b70 TOD qepidekiws TE \ A 7 b] ” ¢ / \ \ \ Kal mpos duiddAav es apo fppooOa. To ev yap Suxavucoy copioTixh mepiPoAy éxdopnoev, TO de copiatiKoy KeVTpw SUKAVLK@ éréppwoev. 4 SE da TOV Adywv TOO pev apXatov Kat moAvTLKOU > / ¢e / \ \ 4 \ dmoBéeBnkev, b7oBakxos Sé Kat SiOvpapPwdys, Tas 5? éwolas iSlas Te Kal mapaddgous EKOLOWOW, @ ce ¢ a / >> A / Ser \ Gomep “ot Baxxetou Gupoor 70 peru Kat “ TOUS égjLovs TOU yaAakTos. / > b) / ~ / / ° DF MeydAwy 8 agvovpevos 77S Lpvpvys Te ovK €7 ait@ Bodons ws ém dvSpt Oavpaciw Kab prTopt, b] > / > \ ~ > > 3 oF \ la obk eOdpilev és Tov STMOV, GAA’ aitiav mapa TOUS moAdots éxwv PdBov “ poBodpau ” &dbn “‘ fjpmov > Ul A “A / 3? 7 \ -érratpovta paAdov 7 AoSopovpevov.”’ TeAwvov de Opacvvapévov ToTE mpos avTov eV SuxacTynpiw Kal cinévros ‘‘matoar bAaKT@v pe udAra aoTelws o Nucirns ‘‘vy Ata, elev “, Kat ov mavo os bi ’ H OaKVOV LE. \ ~ , ~ 512 ‘H 8é dmép “AAmets Te Kat ‘Pivov arodnuia TOU / dvSpés eyeveTo [ev éx BaowWelov mpooTayparos, hy, Ae er pe ee ow e = airia Sé adrijs Se" avnp UTATOS, W OVOMA Poddos, rods Lpupvaious edoyloteve TUKPAs Kal SvoTpoTTWws. ” ~) ToUT@ TL TpoaKpovaas 6 Nuxirns “ éppwoo,’ etzev,
\ b] / / / » \ \ / kat odkére mpoonjer SucdCovtt. TOV pEV 51) xpovov,
oy uiber opie “to. anus jo tl
1 For this word see Glossary.
2 Both these phrases are echoes of Euripides, Bacchae 710-11.
3 j.¢. like a noxious insect; this seems to have been a favourite retort. cf. p. 588.
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LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
the gate that looks to Ephesus, and by this great structure raised his deeds to the same high level as his words. He was a man who, when he dealt with legal matters, seemed to be a better lawyer than anything else, and again when he dealt with sophistic themes he seemed to do better as a sophist, because of the peculiar skill and the keen spirit of competition with which he adapted himself to both styles. For he adorned the legal style with sophistic amplification,! while he reinforced the sophistic style with the sting of legal argument. His type of eloquence forsook the antique political convention and is almost bacchic and like a dithyramb, and he produces phrases that are peculiar and surprise by their daring, like “ the thyrsi of Dionysus drip with honey,” and “swarms of milk.” ?
Though he was deemed worthy of the highest honour in Smyrna, which left nothing unsaid in its loud praise of him as a marvellous man and a great orator, he seldom came forward to speak in the public assembly ; and when the crowd accused him of being afraid: “JI am more afraid,’ said he, “of the public when they praise than when they abuse me.”” And once when a tax-collector behaved insolently to him in the law court, and said: “Stop barking at me,” Nicetes replied with ready wit: “I will, by Zeus, if you too will stop biting ° me.”
His journey beyond the Alps and the Rhine was made at the command of the Emperor, and the reason for it was as follows. A consul named Rufus was governing Smyrna with great harshness and male- volence, and Nicetes having come into collision with him in a certain matter, said “‘ Good day” to him and did not again appear before his court. Now so long
F 65
PHILOSTRATUS
a ~ / > 4 A td Gv puds moAcews HpEev, ovTw Sewa mremovbevar weTo, emuTparrets 5é Ta KeAtTiKa otpatdmeda dpyis aveuvnoln — ai yap edmpayiat Tad Te adda Tovs avOpwmrous émaipovot Kal TO pnKEeTL KapTeEpely, a mpl ed mpaTTew avOpwrivw Aoyropa@ exaptépovv — Kat ypdder pos Tov avtoKpatopa Nepovav modda emt tov Nixijrnv Kat oxérAia, Kai 6 adroKpatwp “abtos”’ elmev “‘axpodce. azroAoyoupevov, Kav > ~ v4 > / / > A A aduKobvTa evpns, emifes Sixnv.”’ Tavti dé eypadev > A ~ od tov Nuxyrnv éxdidovs, adda tov ‘Potdov és ovyyvapny érourdlwy, od yap av mote avdpa Tovod- tov ef EauT® yeyovota ovT’ av amoxreivat 6 “Pod- dos, ovT av Eetepov Cnpur@oa oddev, ws pn paveln Bapds T& xaftordvte adrov dSikaorHy €xOpod: Sia pev 01) TadTa emi “Phvov te Kai KedArods AGev, \ \ > \ \ > / i 4 mapeNOwv dé emi THv amoAoyiay oUTw TL KaTéTrAn~e \ e = ¢e / A > aA 2.228 ~ / tov ‘Poddov, ws mAciw pev adeivat emi TH Nixyrn / e / >) ~ 4 > / ddkpva od dueuetpyoev atvT@ vdaTos, amroTrépipar A > + / > \ / \ > d€ ovK dtTpwTov povov, aAAa mepiPAemTOV Kal ev tots CnAwtots Luvpvaiwy. tov de avdpa Todrov / 7 ‘H A ‘5 ¢ 4 : < xpovois vatepov “HpakdAeidns 6 Avkios codioris dcopPovpevos erréypae Nixyrnv tov Kexalapuevor, nyvonoe S€ axpobiria Ilvypata Kodoco® edap- polo. 4 > ral \ ¢€ \ Ure 4 \ \ Kk’. "Ioatos 5é€ 6 codioris 6 “Acavpios Tov jpev év pelpakiw xpovov ndovais ededWKEL, yaoTpds TE A \ / 513 yap Kal diAotocias yTTHTO Kal AeTTA HTICXETO 1 j.¢. in the clepsydra, the water-clock.
* Heracleides ventured to rewrite the speech delivered by Nicetes before Rufus ; see pp. 612-613 for Heracleides.
66
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
as Rufus was procurator of only one city, he did not take serious offence at this behaviour; but when he became prefect of the armies in Gaul his anger revived in his memory; for men are uplifted by success in various ways, but especially they refuse any longer to tolerate things that, before their success, when they used ordinary human standards, they used to tolerate. Accordingly he wrote to the Emperor Nerva, bring- ing many serious charges against Nicetes, to w hich the Emperor replied: “ You shall yourself hear him in his own defence, and if you find him guilty do you fix the penalty.” Now in writing thus he was not abandoning Nicetes, but rather preparing the mind of Rufus for forgiveness, since he thought that he would never put to death so worthy a man if the decision were in his hands, nor indeed inflict any
_ other penalty on him, lest he should appear harsh
'
and vindictive to him who had appointed him his enemys judge. It was therefore on this account that Nicetes went to the Rhine and to Gaul, and when he came forward to make his defence he impressed Rufus so profoundly that the tears he shed over Nicetes amounted to more than the water that had been allotted! to him for his defence; and he sent him away not only unscathed, but singled out for honour even among the most illustrious of the citizens of Smyrna. In latter times Heracleides,? the Lycian sophist, attempted to correct the writings of this great man and called his work Nicetes Revised, but he failed to see that he was fitting the spoils of
20. Isarus, the Assyrian sophist, had devoted the period of his early youth to pleasure, for he was the
= Pygmies on to a colossus.
__ Slave of eating and drinking, dressed himself in elegant
67
PHILOSTRATUS
A \ w@ b RE / > , > \ Kat Papa npa Kat drrapaxaddrrus exwpaler, €s de 4 7 iA / ¢ ov , dySpas KwWY OUTW TL pereBadev, ws €TEPOS e€ érépov vowwoljvar, ro pev yap piddyehwy e7e- mordlew adt@ Soxobv adeire Kal mpoowmov Kal : A \ ~ yapns, AvpOv TE Kal avdrdav KTUois odd ent “A ” / > / \ \ \ / OKNVAS ETL TAPETVYXAVEV, anéSv S€ Kai Ta Ajdva \ \ ~ > / \ \ / nai Tas TOV edeotpidwy Bapas Kat tpatreCav 2xddace Kal TO epav peOAKev,' womep TOUS TIpO- / > \ > / ” ~ ~ tépovs opadnous dmoBadwv: “Apdvos your TOU PyTOpos E€popevov abrév, et 7 Seva avT@ Kad daivouto, ara cwdpdvws 6 ‘loatos “« Tréravpae > C6) 2 A ”? > / \ ee ef cirev “‘ ddOaduidv. epopevov Sé avTov €TEpOU, ris dpuotos THY opvibwv Kat Tav ixQvwv es Bpdov, ce / ” ” co ~ ce ~ / néravpa.’ pn 6 ‘loatos Tavra orovealwr, EuwvqKa yap TOUS Tavrédov Kiymous Tpvy@v,
/ ~
evSerxvpevos SyTov TH epopéevy TabTa, OTL OK \ A Kal dvelpata at Nnooval TATA. ~ \ . / / > a A T& Sé Migoiw Avovvoip axpoarn ovTt TAS pe- Adras Edbv OSH Tovovpevy emumAjttwv 6 ‘loatos ‘ce ? 52 on Tae | , a ae tS ? weipaKov ”” Ep wikov, eya S€ GE GOEL OVK > / ? / \ > ~ / emaiSevoa.”’ veavicxov d5é€ “lwvixov Bavpalovtos A ~ / ~ mpos avTov TO TOU Nuxijjrov peyadopwves €ml TOO Laces ity f > / ees ~ / A ” Edépéov cipnuevov «kK 77S Bacirelov veds At- / ywav avadyjowpeba, ”’ katayeAdoas mAaTd Oo > a Ce 2 / 2? . ce \ ~ > a] /, ” Icatos ‘‘ avonre,”’ elev, Kat TAS avAaXUNOT) 514 Tas 5¢ pedctas ovK avdroaxedious €molEetTo, GAN’ ? 7 > / émeokeppevos 2 Tov ef EW ES peonpBplav Karpov. 1 yeréOnxev Kayser ; meO7kev Cobet. 2 érecxeupevas Kayser 5 éreoxeupévos Cobet.
1 A proverb of fleeting joys; ef. p. 595 and Life of ° Apollonius iv. 25.
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LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
—— stuffs, was often in love, and openly joined in drunken revels. But when he attained to manhood he so transformed himself as to be thought to have become another person, for he discarded both from _ his countenance and his mind the frivolity that had seemed to come to the surface in him; no longer did he, even in the theatre, hearken to the sounds of the lyre and the flute ; he put off his transparent garments and his many-coloured cloaks, reduced his table, and left off his amours as though he had lost the eyes he had before. For instance, when Ardys the rhetorician asked him whether he considered some woman or other handsome, Isaeus replied with much _ diseretion: “I have ceased to suffer from eye trouble.” _And when someédre-asked—him_what-sort_.of_bird-and what sort of fish were the best eating: “I have ceased,’ replied Isaeus, “to take these matters seriously, for I now know that I used to feed on the gardens of Tantalus.”! Thus he indicated to his ‘questioner that all pleasures are a shadow and a , dream.
When Dionysins-of Miletus, who had been his pupil, delivered his declanfations in a sing-song, Isaeus rebuked him, saying: “ Young man from did not train you to sing. *2 And when a youth from Ionia admired in his presence the _ grandiloquent saying of Nicetes in his Xerzes, ‘‘ Let us fasten Aegina to the king’s ship,’ Isaeus burst ; into a loud laugh and said: “ “Madman, how will you
_ put to sea?” His declamations were not actually extempore, _ but he deliberated from daybreak till midday. The
a The Ionian rhetoricians were especially fond of such - vocal effects.
= . 69
PHILOSTRATUS
> / >, 2 / sav 8 émfaxynoe Adywv ovT’ éBeBAnuevyy,) v7’ a? > 2ru7? adov, GA’ damépitrov Kal Kara pvow Kat aro - yp@oav Tois mpayLacw. Kat To Bpaxews €ppn- >
/ ~ / \ ~ / ~ vevew, TOUTO TE Kal TACAV Srébecw oavvedciv Es
Ne / A e > / A toe 4 Bpaxd *Icaiov evpyya, ws ev mAeloat pev ETEPOLS, / A 4 uddota S€ ev Totod< eSnAcOn* Tovs pev yap , . AaxeSaipovious aywrilopevos tods BovAevopevous \ ~ ~ mept Tod Telxous amo TOV “Oprpov eBpaxvdoynoe TOGOUTOV* ce. {2 \ . > 7Q9 7 y 4 f. > / > domts dp’ aomid’ epede, Kops Kopuv, avepa 5 av7p"
4 i <cayls / \ / ottw oTfré por, Aakedayovior, Kal TETELXLO™ ) ~ \ lan / / peba.’’ Katnyopa@v de Tod Bulavriov I1véwvos, ths SeOevtos puev eK XpnopLav emt mpodoola, KEKpL-
/ \ ~ / e > Ps e / wevns S€ Ths mpodocias, ws dvélevéev 6 Didirmos, EvvédaBe Tov ay@va TodTov és tpeis evvolas, €oTt \ yap Ta e€ipynpeva éy Tpiot TovTots" “* €deyxw Tv0wva mpodedwxota TH ypyoavte Jed, TH
SyoavTe Onuw, TO avalevéavt. Diiamm, 6 bev
\ ° “ ” > / Ss e \ > an yap odk av Expynoev, EL f7 TIS IV, © d€ ovK av Z8 > \ ~ S ¢ de > nv > / eSycev, Ei pi) TOLODTOS HV, 0 OE OVK AY avelevéev, ei pun) SV dv HADEV, odx evpev.
xa’. ‘Yep UkoteAvavod Tov copiatob éua- AdEopar Kabarapevos TpoTEpov TOV KaKilew avTov
1 Cobet would read repiBeBrAnuev nr, but this is unnecessary.
1 Jliad xvi. 215. On the later fortification of Sparta ef. Pausanias i. 13. This was a famous theme and was inspired by the saying Von est Sparta lapidibus circumdata (Seneca, Suasoriaé ii. 3); ¢f. below, p. 584.
2 For Python ef. p. 482 note. But here as elsewhere, Python is probably confused with Leon of Byzantium, of
70
=
_
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
style of eloquence that he practised was neither exuberant nor meagre, but simple and natural and suited to the subject matter. Moreover, a concise form of expression and the summing up of every argument into a brief statement was_ peculiarly an invention of Isaeus, as was clearly shown in many instances, but especially in the following. He had to represent the Lacedaemonians debating whether they should fortify themselves by building a wall, and he condensed his argument into these few words from Homer :
** And shield pressed on shield, helm on helm, man on man.!
Thus stand fast, Lacedaemonians, these are our fortifications!’ When he took for his theme the indictment of Python? of Byzantium, imprisoned for treason at the command of an oracle and on his trial for treason after Philip’s departure, he confined his case to three points to be considered ; for what he said is summed up in these three statements: “I find Python guilty of treason by the evidence of the god who gave the oracle, of the people who put him in prison, of Philip who has departed. For the first would not have given the oracle if there were no traitor; the second would not have imprisoned him if he were not that sort of man; the third would not have departed if he had not failed to find the man who had caused him to come.” 8
21. I will now speak of the sophist Scopetian, but first I will deal with those who try to calumniate
whom Suidas relates this story. For this theme as used in declamations cf. the third-century rhetorician Apsines ix. 479 Walz.
3 This is an example of antithesis combined with /oéxwia, clauses of equal length.
71
PHILOSTRATUS
TreipwpLevwv, atra€todat yap 81) Tov avdpa Tob Tay cogiatav KUKAov Sifupaufbwdy Kadobvtes Kal aKo- 515 AaoTov Kal meTaXVopLevov. TaVvTL Epi adTod A€you- ow ot AerToAGyou Kal vwOApoi Kal pndev an’ adro- oxediou yAarrns avamveovtes: cet ev yap em- plovov xpnHe avOpwtos.> diaBardAovat yoov Tovs puev EDLHKELS of puuKpot, Tovs dé evewets ot movnpot TO €idos, Tous de Kovgpous Te Kal SpopKovds ot Bpadets Kat étepdmrodes, Tods Papaadéovs ot SetAol Kal ot GLovgor TOUS Avpixous, Tovs &° audi mada OTpav ob ayvpraorot, Kat od¥ xpr OGavyalew, ef TreT™NONLEVOL THV yAarrav TWES Kal Bobv adwvias em avTnv Be Anpevor Kal pyT av avdtol Tu evOv- pnbévtes péya, pnt av evOupnbevros éT€pov Sup gyoavres Ovamrrvovey Te Kal kascilovev TOV eToyoTata 67) Kat BappadewTaTa Kal pweyaderoraTa Tov ep éavTod “EAAjvwv épunvedoavta. ws dé nyvonkac. Tov avdpa, eya SnAwow, Kal o7otov > ~ \ 7 lo ” ~ avT@ Kat TO Tob oikov oye.
“Apxtepeds peev yap. eyeveTo THhS “Actas avros TE Kal Ob mpoyovot avToo mats: eK TATpOS TAVTES, 6 Oe atépavos obTos ToAvs Kal Urép TOAA@Y yxpynaTwv. didumos Te amroTexXVeis audw pev HoTHnv ev omap- ydvows, TeuTTaiwy dé dvTwy Kepavv@ prev eBAHOy 6 ETepos, 0 dé ovdcmiav emynpwln TaV aicbycewv fuyKaraKetpevos TO BAnbevre. KaiToL TO TOV oKn- mrav Tip obrw Spyd Kal Geddes, Ws TOV ayxoo ToUs fev amroKTeivew Kat’ exrrAnéw, TOV S5é akods
1 dvOpwro. Kayser; dvOpwros Cobet.
1 A proverb for silence first found in Theognis 651 ; cf. arte Agamemnon 36 ; Philostratus, Life of Apollonius . 11; its precise origin is not clear, but it may refer to the
72
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS him. For they say that he is unworthy of the sophistic circle and call him dithyrambic, intemperate in his style, and thick-witted. Those who say this about him are quibblers and sluggish and are not inspired with extempore eloquence; for man is by nature a creature prone to envy. At any rate the short disparage the tall, the ill-favoured the good- looking, those who are slow and lame disparage the light-footed swift runner, cowards the brave, the unmusical the musical, those who are unathletic _ disparage athletes. Hence we must not be surprised _ if certain persons who are themselves tongue-tied, and have set on their tongues the “ox of silence,” ! who could not of themselves conceive any great thought or sympathize with another who conceived it, should sneer at and revile one whose style of eloquence was the readiest, the boldest, and the most elevated of any Greek of his time. But since they have failed to understand the man, I will make known what he was and how illustrious was his family.
For he was himself high-priest of Asia and so were his ancestors before him, all of them, inheriting the office from father to son. And this is a great crown
_ of glory and more than great wealth. He was one _ of twins, and as both were lying in one cradle, when _ they were five days old, one of them was struck by lightning, but the other, though he was lying with the stricken child, was not maimed in any one of his senses. And yet, so fierce and sulphurous was the fire of the thunderbolt that some of those who _ stood near were killed by the shock, others suffered
_ weight of the ox, or to coins engraved with an ox and laid on the tongue e.g. of a victim. The Latin proverb bos in lingua, **he is bribed,” must refer to an engraved coin.
73
PHILOSTRATUS
\ > \ / ~ \ > \ ~ Te Kal df0adyovs civeobar, Tav Sé és TOUS vods > / > > > \ / e yy r \ amtooknmrew. add’ oddevi TovTwWY Oo LKoTreALavos nA PS) aN A 8 \ ee ~ 0 \ > / / nAw, duvetéAece yap 51) Kal és yhpas Bald aKxéepatos ee \ » aes / @ / Ps) AO / TE KL GpTLos. TouTi dé O7rdfev Gavpalw, dnAdoat / > / \ A \ ~ e \ cot PovAopars édeimvouv ev Kata THY Ajvov U7r0 A / dput peydAn Bepiorat oxTw@ mept TO KaAovpevov ~ ~ / > Képas tis vicov, TO 5€ ywplov TotTo Ayu eaTw > / > / 4 / \ \ ~ €s Kepalas éemotpédwv ends, védous Se THY Spov A ¢ TepiaxovTos Kal oxynmTod és adbtiv éKdobevTos 7 , ~ peev eBeBAnto, ot Oeprotai dé exmAnEews adrots e / eutecovons, eb ovmep ETUXEV EKAOTOS TPATTWY, ¢ ovtws améBavev, 6 pev yap KUALKa avatpovpevos, O be / ¢ \ / e S42 / ¢e a / v € Trivwv, 6 O€ "aTTwV, Oo é eobiwy, 6 Sé ETEpov TL A ~ \ TroL@v Tas puyas adjKav émiTteOvppevor Kat wéAaves, a ~ A > , woTrep ot yaAKot TH avdpidvTwv Tept Tas EuTv- pous TOV mNY@V KeKaTVLOpPEevoL. O O€ OUTW TL OVK > \ > / e val A A > A alect etpépeTo, ws Siaduvyetvy prev Tov eK TOU aknmtod Odvarov, ov pndé ot oKAnpdtato. TaV > aA >] 4 aypoikwv diépuyov, atpwros dé petvar Tas aioby- Geis Kal TOV VvobV ETOULOS Kal UmVvoU KpEiTTWV, Kal yap 5) Kal TO vwOpov adtob amv. > / be A e \ ~ , \ Edoitnce 5€ Tods pntopikods TOv AOywv Tapa A A ~ Tov Lyupvatov Nukyjrnv weAetHioavra ev emipavas, TOAAD SE pretlov ev Sikaornpiors mvevoavta. deo- 4 \ an / \ , Poe ” Levey de TOV KAalopeviwy tas peAeras adrov oiKor A \ / a’ A afr % movetaba Kat mpoPyccofar tas KAalopevas emi A > peya nyoupwevwy, et ToLodTos 82 avip Eumradevoor adiow, Touti pev odK apovows TapynTHoaTo 71)V
1 6é re Kayser ; dé érepdv re Cobet. 74 :
ee
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
injury to their ears and eyes, while the minds of - others were affected by the shock of the bolt. But Scopelian was afflicted by none of these misfortunes, for he remained healthy and sound far on into old age. I-will explain the reason why I marvel at this. Once, in Lemnos, eight harvesters were eating their meal beneath a great oak, near that part of the island called the Horn—this place is a harbour curved in the shape of slender horns—when a cloud covered the oak and a bolt was hurled on to it, so that the tree itself was struck, and the harvesters, when the stroke fell on them, were killed every one of them in the act of doing whatever it might be, one as he lifted a cup, one drinking, one kneading bread, one while eating, in fact, whatever else it might be that they were engaged on, thus in the act they lost their lives; and they were covered with smoke and blackened like bronze statues that are near hot springs and so become darkened by fumes. But Scopelian was reared under the protection of the gods so carefully that he not only escaped death from the thunderbolt, though not even the most robust of those field-labourers escaped it, but re- mained with his senses unimpaired, keen - witted, and independent of sleep, and in fact he was never _ subject even to a feeling of torpor.
c He frequented the rhetoricians’ schools of oratory as a pupil of Nicetes of Smyrna, who had conspicuous suecess as a declaimer, though in the law courts he was an even more vigorous orator. When the city of Clazomenae begged Scopelian to declaim in his native place, because they thought it would greatly benefit Clazomenae if so talented a man should opena school there, he declined politely, saying that the
75
PHILOSTRATUS
> / / b] 9.38 - Y LA Ae dnddva Pjoas €v OLKLaKw [7) dSew, BoTep de aAgos ~ ~ \ at THS EavTod cddwvias THY Lpdpvav eoxepato Kat \ A civ Axo THY eKel TAELoTOU dglav @nOn. maons yap THs “lwvias oiov [Lovaelov qTreTTOALOJLEV|S apruwtarny eméxer TASW * Lpdpva, Kalarep ev trois épydvots 7) mayds. \ Ai 3é atria, 80 ds 6 maTnp e€ Nepov Te Kat 4 \ ~ / \ ee | mpdov xaAremds abt@ €yeveTo, NéyovTar pev emt / \ \ € A \ ¢ a \ “4 TOAAd, Kal yap 1 Setva Kal 7 Seiva Kat aAeLous, LAN’ Pb] % \ LA fa / PS) A / \ \ \ GAN eva tiv adnPeotaTyny OnAwow" beTA YAP TIP rod LKomeAuavod pytépa yuvatka 0 mpeapuTns y ~ yeTo Hlyapov Te Kal Ov Kata vomous, 6 dé opv raira evovbérer Kal amfyev, TouTt de Tots e€wpous > / ¢ > on / > _ ~ / e andés. S ad EvveriPer Kar avrov Adyov, ws ép@vros pev adris, THY Siapaptiay Sé py KapTe- o~ ~ ~ ~ \ podvtos. vveAdpBave Sé adrH Tav SiaBoAdv Kat oixérns Tod mpeaBdTov pdyerpos, @ ETWVULLLE / A KvOnpos, trobwrevwv, womep ev Spdpati, TOV > / Seomdrny Kal TovavTl Aéywy: “ @ Séorota, Bov- / e e\ / ” SQA A > / Neral ae 6 vids TeOvdvar HON, oddE TOY AVTOPATOV ~ ~ / Kal pet od Todd Oavarov évdidovs TH G@ Y7P4; LAAG \ b) ~ \ \ > Aj @ Ja Ga Kal adrovpy&v pev tiv emiPovdny, poVov- A ” ~ wevos S€ Kal Tas emas Xelpas. €OTt yap avT@ ddppaKka avdpopova emt o¢, Gv TO KalpLwTaTov / > A b] LA ~ + b] / KeAcver pe ep.Padrety es EV TLTWV dswv edevdepiav TE ~ \ \ Guoroyav Kal aypovs Kal oiklas Kal xpywaTa Kal a a A - \ wav & Te Bovdoiwny EXew TOV Gov olKov, Kal TAUTL /
A / / wev meoperm eivat, amevbobvTe S€ PAOTLYWOW TE \ kat otpéBAwow Kal maxetas aédas Kal Kipwva
CO See
1 For the same figure ef. p. 487. 76
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
nightingale does not sing in a cage; and he re- garded Smyrna as, so to speak, a grove in which he could practise his melodious voice, and thought it best worth his while to let it echo there. For while all Ionia is, as it were, an established seat of the Muses, Smyrna holds the most important position, like the bridge in musical instruments.!
The reasons why his father, after being kind and indulgent to him, treated him harshly, are told in many different versions, for they allege now this reason, now that, then more than one, but I[ shall relate the truest version. After the death of
_ Scopelian’s mother, the old man was preparing to bring home a woman as a concubine and not in legal wedlock, and when the son perceived this he admonished him and tried to deter him, which is always an annoying thing tooldermen. The woman thereupon trumped up a tale against him to the effect that he was in love with her, and could not endure his lack of success. In this calumny she had also a slave as accomplice, the old man’s cook whose name was Cytherus, and he used to flatter his master, like a slave in a play, and say things of this sort: ** Master, your son wishes you to die now at once, nor will he allow to your old age a natural death, such as
must needs be, not long hence; and he himself is preparing the plot, but he is trying to hire the help of my hands as well. For he has poisonous drugs destined for you, and he orders me to put the most deadly of them in one of my dishes, promising me
_my freedom, lands, houses, money, ee whatever I may please to have from your house; and this, if I
obey; but if I disobey he promises me the lash, torture, stout fetters, and the cruel pillory.’ And
17
PHILOSTRATUS
dnddva dioas ev oikioke p47) dSew, womep Sé adaos rt THs éavTod eddwvias THY Lpdpvav eoxeparo Kal riv Axo THY eKel TAELoTOU délav @nOn. maons yap THs “lwvias oiov [LovaElov qreTrOALaJLEVv|S
/
> / > / / ¢ “Ff > apruwtarny eméxer TASW 1 Lpvpva, Kabamep €v /
Tots épydvous 1) mayas. \ Ai 3é atria, 5° as 6 maTnp e& jpepov Te Kat / A ~ > \ we* mpdov xaderos avT@ éyéveto, A€yovTa pev ET F \ \ ¢ a \ ¢ a \ / mod, Kal yap 4 Seiva Kai 7 Selva Kat TAELOUS , > a, \ \ > / / \ \ \ GAN ey THv aAnfeotaTny SyAwow: peta yap THY ros DVKoweAvavod pytépa yuvaika o ampeapuTns ityeTo tyyapov TE Kal Ov KaTa vopous, 0 S€ Opav radra evovbérer Kal amhyev, TouTt de Tots e€wpots > , © 5) a , > > A , ¢ andés. 1) S ad Evverifer kar avrov Adoyov, ws ~ ~ \ ép@vros pev adbris, THY Suapaptiav dé py KapTE- A r / 5 \ 2 A ~ 5 A ~ \ podvros. EvveAduPave de avTy TwY vaBorA@v Kat oikérns Tod mpeoBvTov peayerpos, @ ETWVULLLA / KvOnpos, trobwredwv, womep éy Spdpati, Tov Seondrny Kal TovavTt A€ywv: ” & Séor0ta, Bov- / g e\ / ” io.) \ \ > / Neral ae 6 vids TeOvdvas HSn, ovdE TOY AVTOMATOV Kal pet od TroAD Oavarov évSidsods TH OM 7p, > \ \ b) ~ \ \ >? / / GAA Kal adtoupy@v pev T7V emiBovdjy, prcbov- wevos 5é Kal Tas emas XeEtpas. Zot. yap avT@ ddpwaxa davdpoddva emt o¢, @v TO KalpwwTaTov / > A > 7 ~ »” b] / KeAcver pe Ep.Padrety es EV TL TOV dyswv edevbepiav TE ~ \ \ Gpuoroyav Kal aypovs Kal oikias Kal XxpypaTa Kat n~ a ~ P \ \ aav & Tu Bovdoiwny EXew TOV Gov olKov, Kal TAUTL A / / wev meGopevp evar, amevbodvTt Sé paoTlywow TE \ kat otpéBAwow Kal maxelas aédsas Kal Kipwva
SO ee
1 For the same figure ef. p. 487. 76
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
nightingale does not sing in a cage; and he re- garded Smyrna as, so to speak, a grove in which he could practise his melodious voice, and thought it best worth his while to let it echo there. For while all Ionia is, as it were, an established seat of the Muses, Smyrna holds the most important position, like the bridge in musical instruments.!
The reasons why his father, after being kind and indulgent to him, treated him harshly, are told in many different versions, for they allege now this reason, now that, then more than one, but [ shall relate the truest version. After the death of
_ Scopelian’s mother, the old man was preparing to bring home a woman as a concubine and not in legal wedlock, and when the son perceived this he admonished him and tried to deter him, which is always an annoying thing to oldermen. The woman thereupon trumped up a tale against him to the effect that he was in love with her, and could not endure his lack of success. In this calumny she had also a slave as accomplice, the old man’s cook whose name was Cytherus, and he used to flatter his master, like a slave in a play, and say things of this sort: “ Master, your son wishes you to die now at once, nor _ will he allow to your old age a natural death, such as must needs be, not long hence; and he himself is _ preparing the plot, but he is trying to hire the help of my hands as well. For he has poisonous drugs destined for you, and he orders me to put the most deadly of them in one of my dishes, promising me _my freedom, lands, houses, money, and whatever I may please to have from your house; and this, if I obey; but if I disobey he promises me the lash, torture, stout fetters, and the cruel pillory.’ And
17
PHILOSTRATUS
Bapuv. Kat Tovotade Jerrevpace mrepreABeov Tov deomroT nv tedevT@vTos pet ov Todd Kat Tos ; dvaljKars ovTos ypaderau KAnpovepos, vids TE mpoopnbets Kad dpGarpot Kat vy) maoa.. Kat ovxl TavTi xp7) Gavpalew, érret mpeopurny € ep@vra. eledEev tows Tov Kal TapatraiovtTa bo HAuKias Kal avTob Tob épdv — kat yap 67) Kal véou ép@vtes ovK €oTw OoTis avT@v Tov €avTod vobdv exer — add’ Ore Kal THS TOD UKoTreALavod SewdTHTOs TE Kal THS ev Tots Suxkaornpiows akuns Kpeittwv edo€ev aywviod- fLevos fev trept TOV SialyK@v mpos adrov, avTek- telvas O€ TH eKeivou SewdTyTL TOV eKelvou mAODTOV" amavTAav yap THs ovcias Kat probovpevos trep- Bodais ypnudtwv yAdtras 6uot mdoas Kal diKa- oTav nous mavTaxob 77 viuk@oav amnveyKato, abev 6 0 UkomeAvavos Ta ev “Avataydpov pndAdBota elvan, Ta, dé avtoo SovdoBora edeyev. emupavi)s de Kal TO mrohuruKcd. re} Kv@npos YEevomevos ynpaoKwyv 7707) Kat THY ovotav opay drrodWobaay KaTappovov- peeves TE ixavas Kal 7rov Kat mAnyas AaBov Tpos avopos, Ov XxpypwaTa amraitav eTUyxavev, tkéeTns TOO 518 UKoTeAvavod yiyverat pvnoikakiay Te adT@ Tap- eivat Kal opy7v amroAafetv Te TOV TOO TaTpOs OiKOV avévTa pev avTa péepos THs oikias mroAAAs ovens, - ws pn aveAcv0épws evdiartHonTaL, ovyywpnoavTa dé aypovs dvo Ta&v emt Baddrrn. Kat KuOxjpov olkos émwvdopmaoTat viv eT. TO wépos THS oikias, ev @ KateBiw. tTavTi pév, ws pr ayvoeiy atta,
1 Anaxagoras when exiled from Athens lost his property, which was then neglected; the story is told by Diogenes Laertius ii. 9; cf. Plato, Hippias maior 283 a; Philostratus, Life of Apollonius i. 13.
78
_
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
by wheedling him in this way he got round his _ master, so that when the latter was dying not long after, and came to make a will, he was appointed heir and was therein styled his son, his eyes, and his whole soul. And this indeed need not surprise us, since he whom he beguiled was an amorous old man, who was perhaps feeble-minded besides, from old age and from that same passion—for even when young men are in love there is not one of them that keeps his wits—but the surprising thing is that he showed himself more than a match for the oratorical talent of Scopelian, and his high reputation, in the law courts ; for he went to law with him over the will, and used Scopelian’s own fortune to counteract the latter’s talent. For by drawing deeply on the estate and bribing with extravagant sums the tongues of all men, and at the same time the votes of the jury, he won a complete victory on every point, and hence Scopelian used to say that, whereas the property of Anaxagoras had become a sheep pasture, his own was a slave pasture.! Cytherus became prominent in public life also, and when he was now an old man and saw that his estate was growing less and that he himself was greatly despised, nay had even received blows at the _ hands of a man from whom he tried to recover money, he implored Scopelian to lay aside the memory of his wrongs and his anger, and to take back his father’s property, only giving up to himself a part of the house, which was spacious, so that he might live in it without too great squalor; and to yield to him also two fields out of those near the sea. _And to this day, that part of the house in which he lived till his death is called the dwelling of Cytherus. All these facts I have related that they may not
79
PHILOSTRATUS
ovvevar d€ KAK TOUTWY, OTL ol avOpwrrot 7) Geod povov, aAAa Kai adAjAwY taiyvia.
LkotreAvavod Sé omovddlovros ev tH Luvpvyn Evpdoirav prev és adtnv “Iwvds te Kat Avdods Kal Kapas Kal Matovas Aiohéas Te Kal Tovs eK Muodv “EMnvas Kat Dpvyav ovmrw peya, ayxt- Oupos yap Tots eOvet TOUTOLS 1) Lpvpva Kaupios éxouea TOV ys Kat Daddrrns muddy, 0 de Hye pev Karmaddxas te kai *Acoupious, yye dé Ai- yurtiovs Kat Doivkas "Ayai@v te Tovs evdo- KiuLwTepous Kal vedTyTa THY €€ “AOynvdv dmacayv. dd€av prev odv es Tods TroANOdS TapadedwKer pa- oTWwWYNS TE Kal apedelas, ezrEtd7) TOV TPO THs peA€- THs Katpov Evviv ws emt ord Tots TOV Lpvpvaiwv Tédeow dmép TOV ToNTiK@v, 6 be ATEXPHTO [ev Kal TH dvoet Aaprpa Te ovon Kal peyahoyvapovt, Kat TOV pel nuépay Karpov HrTov eorrovoaler, aumvotatos 8 avOpmimwv yevopevos “@& vvé,”’ EXeye “‘ovd yap 67 mAeioTtov codias peréxets peepos Oedv,” Evvepyov dé adtiy emoveito TaV é€avtod dpovticpatwv. Aéyerar yodv Kal és dp- Opov amotetvar orovddlwy amd éomépas.
IIpocéxe:rto prev odv amact Troujpact, Tpayo- dias dé evedopetro, aywrilopevos mpos THY TOO dvdacKdAov peyaropwviav—amo yap tTovTov Tob }4€pous 6 Nukyrns opddpa eGavpalero—o de ovTw TL peyadropuvias émt jretlov jAacev, ws kat Tuyavtiav Evvbeivat tapadotvai te ‘Opnpi-
1 Plato, Laws 644 p. The saying became a proverb, ef. Life of Apollonius iv. 36,
80
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
remain unknown, and that from them we may learn
_that men are the playthings not only of God! but of
one another.
It is no great wonder that, while Scopelian taught at Smyrna, Ionians, Lydians, Carians, Maeonians, Aeolians also and Hellenes from Mysia and Phrygia flocked thither to his school; for Smyrna is next door to these peoples and is a convenient gateway both by land and sea. But besides these he attracted Cappadocians and Assyrians, he attracted also Egyptians and Phoenicians, the more illustrious of the Achaeans, and all the youth of Athens. To the erowd he no doubt gave an impression of indolence and negligence, since during the period before a declamation he was generally in the society of the magistrates of Smyrna transacting public business, but he was able to rely on his own genius, which was brilliant and of a lofty kind; and in fact during the daytime he did not work much, but he was the most sleepless of men, and hence he used to say: “O Night, thy share of wisdom is greater than that of the other gods!” and he made her the collaborator in his studies. Indeed it is said that he used to work continuously from evening until dawn.
He devoted himself to all kinds of poetry, but tragedies he devoured in his endeavour to rival the grand style of his teacher; for in this branch Nicetes was greatly admired. But Scopelian went so much further in magniloquence that he even composed an Epic of the Giants, and furnished the Homerids ® with
2 Menander, frag. 199 Meineke ; Scopelian adapted the line by substituting wisdom for love.
’ The allusion is to certain epic poets of the day who
imitated Scopelian’s epic and are hence sarcastically called **Sons of Homer.”
G 81
PHILOSTRATUS
5 > \ >? A Ao e ir de ~ ats agdoppas és Tov Adyov. wider 5€ codioTrav \ / / ~ , e / \ prev pddiota Topyia t& Acovtivw, pytopwv dé A A > ~ \ \ > 7 519 TOls Aapmrpov NXOovoW. TO de ETLYapL pvoet A s n , \ , \ \ pGAAov cixev 7 pedAeTn, mpos Picews pev yap A b] a \ > / ~ > > \ r | tots ‘lIwvikots To aoreilecbar, TH 8 ad Kai emi 7 , A / ~ \ \ \ Tov Noywr Tod PiddyeAw TEpLv, TO yap KaTndes 7 / \ > \ ¢ A / \ \ dvoEvpBordv Te Kat andés yyetTo. Taper dé Kat €s Tovs Orpous aveyevm TE Kal diaKeXuLEVW TH 4 \ ~ / ¢ \ > ~ > TMpoowmw, Kat moAA@ mrA€ov, dre Evy opyh eExk- KAnoidlouev, aviels avrods Kal dvampatvwv TH ~ Ww > / \ \ > a / Tob eldouvs evOvpia. To de ev Tots diKaaTHptoLS H00s ote diroxpHwatos ovTe piAodoidopos: mpot- ka prev yap Evvérattey é€avTov Tots vmep wuyijs Kwodvvevovot, Tovs dé Aowdopovpevous ev Tots Adyous Kai Ovpod twa émideréw ryoupévous Trovet- / > / 4 \ ~ \ afar ypaidia exdAer peOdovtTa Kat AvTTavTA. TAs \ / “A A > A e A \ a dé peretas piclod pev ezrovetto, 6 Sé€ puobos jv + + A e 7 ” Ss , dAXos aAAov Kal Ws EKaoTos oiKou elyev, TrapHeEt > b) \ #1)? e ~ \ / Te €s avtovs ov’ simepdpovav Kai cecofynpevos, #1)? a e / > > e 7 ek \ ov? aomep ot SedtdTes, GAN’ ws ElKds Hv TOV aywviavTa pev dep THS Eavtod Sd€ns, YappodvTa \ ~ A av ~ / \ > \ % d€ TH pn av odadjvar. dueheyero Se amo pev ~ ¢ tod Opdvov Edv aBporntt, 6te Se dpbds diaréyorro, > / Ss e / \ ” \ emotpopnv te elyev 6 Adyos Kal EppwTo. Kal 7 A b) ” 2#Q> > ~ hes > > €meckoTreiTo OK Evdov, OVD ev TH OmidAw, aA breEvwv ev Bpaxet tod Katpod diewpa mTavTa. ~ de b) ~ \ > / \ A Ad Tepinv d€ atT@ Kal eddwvias, Kal TO Pleypa 82
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
material for their poetry. Of the sophists he studied most carefully Gorgias of Leontini, and of the orators those that have a splendid ring. But his charm was natural rather than studied, for with the Ionians urbanity and wit are a gift of nature. For example, even in his orations he abounded in jests, for he held that to be over-serious is unsociable and _ disagreeable. And even when he appeared in the public assembly it was with a cheerful and lively countenance, and all the more when the meeting was excited by anger, for then he relaxed the tension and calmed their minds by his own good-tempered demeanour. In the law courts he displayed a temper neither avaricious nor malevolent. For without a fee he would champion the cause of those _ who were in danger of their lives, and when men became abusive in their speeches, and thought fit to make a great display of indignation, he used to call them tipsy and frenzied old hags. Though he - charged a fee for declaiming, it was not the same for __ every pupil, and depended on the amount of property possessed by each. And he used to appear before _ his audience with no arrogance or conceited airs, nor _ again with the bearing of a timid speaker, but as _ befitted one who was entering the lists to win _ glory for himself and was confident that he could not fail. He would argue with suavity, so long as he was seated, but when he stood up to speak his oration became more impressive and gained _in vigour. He meditated his theme neither in private nor before his audience, but he would with- _ draw and in a very short time would review all his _ arguments. He had an extremely melodious voice _ and a charming pronunciation, and he would often
a 83
PHILOSTRATUS
mSovny eive TOV TE penpov Bapa émAntrev €avTov / \ TE dmeyetpwv Kat Tous Ci POWILEVOUS. GploTos puev obv Kal oxnuaticar Adyov Kal eTrapporepurs \ A cirretv, Pavpacucitepos d€ ep Tas dcpovorepas Tov brolgcewv Kal ToAAM mAgov mept Tas Myéu- 7 > e ¢ a y" > A c= 2 = Kas, ev als ot Aapetot té eiou Kat of HépEa, Tav-
\ aA ~ 520Tas yap avros Té por Soke? apiota scodioTav
Epunvedoat mapadotval Te Tots émuyvyvomevots Epunveve, Kat yap dpdovnua ev avtais vzexpt- VETO Kal KoUpoTHTA THY ev Tots BapBdpois AOcow. eAéyeTo Kal oeleobar pwaddov ev Tatras, womep Bakxedwv, Kal twos Tv apdt tov LodAduwva Tuptravilew atvtrov dycavtos AaBopmevos 6 Ukorre- Aiavos Tod oKwppatos “‘ Tuumavilw peév,’ etmev “adda TH TOG Atavtos domibde.”
BaotAcvor d€ avrod mpeoBetat mo\Aat ev, Kal yap TUs Kal aya TOXT) SvvnKodovier mpeoBev- ovTt, aploTn dé 7 U7méep TOV dyumrehey ov yap drép Luvpvaiwy povwyv, womep at mdAeiovs, add’ tmép THs “Actas ouod mdons émpeofevOyn. Tov d€ votv Tis mpeoPetas eyw dnAwow: €ddKet oe Baowet py elvar 7H “Aoia Grates emevd1) € oww oracidlew edo€ar, aX’ efnpiodan juev Tas 73n meputevpevas, aAAas Sé pry puTevew ert. €der 01) mpeaBelas amo Tob Kowob Kal avdpds, Os
eweAAev womep "Opdeds tis 7 Odpupis dep adrav
OérEew. atpotvtar toivyy UKomeAvavov mavtes, 6
1 For this type of rhetoric see Glossary. * Domitian ; cf. Life of Apollonius vi. 42; and Suetonius, Domitian, who gives another reason for this edict.
84
i i af
a a
¢
LIVES OF THE SOPHISTS
smite his thigh in order to arouse both himself and his hearers. He excelled also in the use of “ covert allusion ” ! and ambiguous language, but he was even more admirable in his treatment of the more vigorous and grandiloquent themes, and especially those relating to the Medes, in which occur passages about Darius and Xerxes ; for in my opinion he surpassed all the other sophists, both in phrasing these allusions and in handing down that sort of eloquence for his
_ suecessors to use; and in delivering them he used to
represent dramatically the arrogance and levity that are ‘characteristic of the barbarians. It is said that at these times he would sway to and fro more than usual, as though in a Bacchic frenzy, and when one of Polemo’s pupils said of him that he beat a loud drum, Seopelian took to himself the sneering jest and retorted : *‘ Yes, [do beat a drum, but it is the shield of Ajax.”
He went on many embassies to the Emperor, and while a peculiar good luck ever accompanied his missions as ambassador, his most successful was that on behalf of the vines. For this embassy was sent, not as in most cases on behalf of Smyrna alone, but on behalf of all Asia in general. I will relate the aim of the embassy. The Emperor? resolved that there should be no vines in Asia, because it appeared that the people when under the influence of wine plotted revolution; those that had been already planted were to be pulled up, and they were to plant no more in future. There was clearly need of an embassy to represent the whole community, and of a man who in their defence, like another Orpheus or Thamyris, would charm his hearer. Accordingly they unanimously selected Scopelian, and on this
85
PHILOSTRATUS
5’ ovTw Tu €k TEpiovaias expdter THY mpeofeiar, OS 7) }ovov TO efetvar puTevew eraveNbeivy exw, aAAa Kal emruTipita Kara, rev 17) puTevovTwv. ws de mbdoxiunoe TOV aydva TOV _Umep TOV dyumreAuwy , OnAot pev Kal Ta eipyueva, 6 yap Adyos ev Tots Pavpacwrtdtos, SnAot dé Kal Ta emt TH Adyw, dwpwv Te yap em adTa ETvyxev, a vopileTar Tapa Baowhet, ToMA@v TE Tpoopycewv TE Kal Ee7ralvwr, veoTns TE atT@ Aapmpa Euvmxodoulnoer € és “Iwviav codias ep@vres. "Ezet 5é “AOyvnow éyevero, movetrar adrov 521 €evov o ‘Hpwdou TOU coguorob TaTI/p