This article presents a reedition of the final columns of Philodemus’ On the Good King According ... more This article presents a reedition of the final columns of Philodemus’ On the Good King According to Homer (columns 95-98 = cols. 40-43 Dorandi). In the final column, an important programatic phrase of Philodemus’ in which he refers to his activity in the treatise as epanorthosis is evaluated at length, since the received reading from Olivieri’s 1909 edition is unsustainable. A brief introduction situates the treatise, dedicated to Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, as being most likely presented between 58 (after Piso had been assigned to his province) and mid-56.
When it comes to political involvement, some of our most important sources on early Epicureanism ... more When it comes to political involvement, some of our most important sources on early Epicureanism frame the question in terms regularly employed by their Stoic rivals: ‘Will the sage engage in politics?’ Epicurus and Chrysippus apparently both discussed this question in works sharing the title On Modes of Life (Περὶ βίων). Of Epicurus' treatment we have a two-word summary: οὐδὲ πολιτεύσεται (‘and the sage will not participate in politics’). But if the question were really as simple as its traditional wording makes it seem, this answer would appear to create complications for some, especially for converts in oligarchic aristocracies. What was someone like Cassius, the tyrannicide, to do once he came to be a late-life convert to Epicureanism? On the face of it, if Epicureanism has really taken hold, he would lay down his political influence, withdraw from the larger society and live the rest of his life unnoticed with his Epicurean friends. Otherwise, if he clings to his political career and influence, and even risks his life for them, as Cassius did, we would suspect that he is just dabbling in Epicureanism. As for Epicurean philosophers, we might expect the more rigorous ones to help princes and courtiers find ways to descend from their positions of authority and influence, as Epicurus did with his friend Idomeneus, a politician from Lampsacus.
Earlier editions of this crucial Herculaneum text (Mekler, 1886; Bassi, 1914; Kuiper, 1925) inspi... more Earlier editions of this crucial Herculaneum text (Mekler, 1886; Bassi, 1914; Kuiper, 1925) inspired little confi dence. Apart from the better-preserved fi nal columns, few scholars could be sure from personal knowledge whether the text was reliable, and matters were made worse by what looked like, and often were, over-restored passages. Marcello Gigante’s texts of the opening columns (1–9) and fi nal columns (37–9), Ricerche Filodemee (1983) 115–62 and 163–234, with profuse commentary, succeeded somewhat in overcoming the general scepticism, but he died in 2003 with his promised full edition still uncompleted. Now, some two hundred years after its unrolling, we are at last in possession of an unquestionably reliable text for the whole of Philodemus’ On Death Book 4, one of the jewels of the Herculaneum papyri. This is cause for celebration, for in this treatise – and this is now much clearer from Henry’s edition – we fi nd not only the Philodemus who is an important source of Epicurean thought, but the Philodemus whose elegance we know from his epigrams, and we are reminded that Epicureans could soar to great stylistic heights when they wished. Epicurus’ Letter to Menoeceus is a case in point, an extended exercise in balanced rhetoric which contrasts with what seems like an intentional avoidance of elegance on Epicurus’ part elsewhere, and later generations of Epicureans could play it both ways too. One can understand from this treatise why several of the greatest Augustan poets admired Philodemus both as a poet and as a philosophical mentor. A celebrated group of papyri from Herculaneum1 have confi rmed a biographical tradition about Virgil which places him, along with Plotius Tucca and Varius Rufus, lifelong friends who edited the Aeneid after his death, and Quintilius Varus, a literary critic who was also close to Horace, together in Epicurean community under the mentorship of Philodemus and another Epicurean, Siro. Philodemus’ On Death may have a particularly vivid connection to this illustrious circle, if Adrian Hollis is correct.2 Taking up a suggestion from Rostagni, he argued that Philodemus’ treatise and Lucretius 3.830–1094 must both have inspired Varius’ epic poem De morte. Varius’ poem in turn (about this there can be no doubt) was important for Virgil: almost every surviving fragment was imitated by him. Contemptuous allusions in Varius’ De morte directed at Antony as unjust and power-grabbing may have been part of an illustration of the kinds of vicious character produced by the fear of death. What survives from On Death Book 4 does not speak to the issue of vicious behaviours as the outworking of sublimated fear of death, as in Lucretius, but the idea was not exclusively Lucretian, as some have supposed. PHerc. 1251, which goes under the title On Choices and Avoidances and is almost certainly by Philodemus, presents this idea in succinct form (cols 18–19 Indelli / Tsouna-McKirahan), and of course there were at least three other books of On Death. Hollis’ suggestion is entirely credible, and given what we know of Philodemus’ contempt for dis-
This article presents a reedition of the final columns of Philodemus’ On the Good King According ... more This article presents a reedition of the final columns of Philodemus’ On the Good King According to Homer (columns 95-98 = cols. 40-43 Dorandi). In the final column, an important programatic phrase of Philodemus’ in which he refers to his activity in the treatise as epanorthosis is evaluated at length, since the received reading from Olivieri’s 1909 edition is unsustainable. A brief introduction situates the treatise, dedicated to Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, as being most likely presented between 58 (after Piso had been assigned to his province) and mid-56.
When it comes to political involvement, some of our most important sources on early Epicureanism ... more When it comes to political involvement, some of our most important sources on early Epicureanism frame the question in terms regularly employed by their Stoic rivals: ‘Will the sage engage in politics?’ Epicurus and Chrysippus apparently both discussed this question in works sharing the title On Modes of Life (Περὶ βίων). Of Epicurus' treatment we have a two-word summary: οὐδὲ πολιτεύσεται (‘and the sage will not participate in politics’). But if the question were really as simple as its traditional wording makes it seem, this answer would appear to create complications for some, especially for converts in oligarchic aristocracies. What was someone like Cassius, the tyrannicide, to do once he came to be a late-life convert to Epicureanism? On the face of it, if Epicureanism has really taken hold, he would lay down his political influence, withdraw from the larger society and live the rest of his life unnoticed with his Epicurean friends. Otherwise, if he clings to his political career and influence, and even risks his life for them, as Cassius did, we would suspect that he is just dabbling in Epicureanism. As for Epicurean philosophers, we might expect the more rigorous ones to help princes and courtiers find ways to descend from their positions of authority and influence, as Epicurus did with his friend Idomeneus, a politician from Lampsacus.
Earlier editions of this crucial Herculaneum text (Mekler, 1886; Bassi, 1914; Kuiper, 1925) inspi... more Earlier editions of this crucial Herculaneum text (Mekler, 1886; Bassi, 1914; Kuiper, 1925) inspired little confi dence. Apart from the better-preserved fi nal columns, few scholars could be sure from personal knowledge whether the text was reliable, and matters were made worse by what looked like, and often were, over-restored passages. Marcello Gigante’s texts of the opening columns (1–9) and fi nal columns (37–9), Ricerche Filodemee (1983) 115–62 and 163–234, with profuse commentary, succeeded somewhat in overcoming the general scepticism, but he died in 2003 with his promised full edition still uncompleted. Now, some two hundred years after its unrolling, we are at last in possession of an unquestionably reliable text for the whole of Philodemus’ On Death Book 4, one of the jewels of the Herculaneum papyri. This is cause for celebration, for in this treatise – and this is now much clearer from Henry’s edition – we fi nd not only the Philodemus who is an important source of Epicurean thought, but the Philodemus whose elegance we know from his epigrams, and we are reminded that Epicureans could soar to great stylistic heights when they wished. Epicurus’ Letter to Menoeceus is a case in point, an extended exercise in balanced rhetoric which contrasts with what seems like an intentional avoidance of elegance on Epicurus’ part elsewhere, and later generations of Epicureans could play it both ways too. One can understand from this treatise why several of the greatest Augustan poets admired Philodemus both as a poet and as a philosophical mentor. A celebrated group of papyri from Herculaneum1 have confi rmed a biographical tradition about Virgil which places him, along with Plotius Tucca and Varius Rufus, lifelong friends who edited the Aeneid after his death, and Quintilius Varus, a literary critic who was also close to Horace, together in Epicurean community under the mentorship of Philodemus and another Epicurean, Siro. Philodemus’ On Death may have a particularly vivid connection to this illustrious circle, if Adrian Hollis is correct.2 Taking up a suggestion from Rostagni, he argued that Philodemus’ treatise and Lucretius 3.830–1094 must both have inspired Varius’ epic poem De morte. Varius’ poem in turn (about this there can be no doubt) was important for Virgil: almost every surviving fragment was imitated by him. Contemptuous allusions in Varius’ De morte directed at Antony as unjust and power-grabbing may have been part of an illustration of the kinds of vicious character produced by the fear of death. What survives from On Death Book 4 does not speak to the issue of vicious behaviours as the outworking of sublimated fear of death, as in Lucretius, but the idea was not exclusively Lucretian, as some have supposed. PHerc. 1251, which goes under the title On Choices and Avoidances and is almost certainly by Philodemus, presents this idea in succinct form (cols 18–19 Indelli / Tsouna-McKirahan), and of course there were at least three other books of On Death. Hollis’ suggestion is entirely credible, and given what we know of Philodemus’ contempt for dis-
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