PHILODEMUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT WORLD

SUPPLEMENTS TO

NOVUM TESTAMENTUM
EDITORIAL BOARD

C.K. BARRETT, Durham - P. BORGEN, Trondheim

J.K. ELLIOTT, Leeds - H. J. DE JONGE, Leiden
A. J. MALHERBE, New Haven
M. J. J. MENKEN, Utrecht - J. SMIT SIBINGA, Amsterdam

Executive Editors
M.M. MITCHELL, Chicago & D.P. MOESSNER, Dubuque

VOLUME CXI
 PHILODEMUS AND
THE NEW TESTAMENT
WORLD
EDITED BY

JOHN T. FITZGERALD
DIRK OBBINK
GLENN S. HOLLAND

BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2004
 This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Philodemus and the New Testament world / edited by John T. Fitzgerald, Dirk
Obbink, and Glenn S. Holland.
p. cm. — (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, ISSN 0167-9732 ; v. 111)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 90-04-11460-2 (hb : alk. paper)
1. Philodemus, ca. 110-ca. 40 B.C. 2. Bible. N.T. Epistles—Criticism,
interpretation, etc.
I. Fitzgerald, John T., 1948- II. Obbink, Dirk. III. Holland, Glenn Stanfield,
1952- IV. Series.

B598.P44P48 2003
187—dc22 2003060804

ISSN 0167-9732
ISBN 90 04 11460 2

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 CONTENTS

Preface ........................................................................................ vii

List of Contributors .................................................................... xi

Abbreviations .............................................................................. xiii

Introduction: Philodemus and the Papyri from

Herculaneum .............................................................................. 1

PART ONE
PHILODEMUS’ ETHICAL, THEOLOGICAL,
RHETORICAL, AESTHETIC, AND HISTORICAL WORKS

David Armstrong
All Things to All Men: Philodemus’ Model of Therapy
and the Audience of De Morte .................................................. 15

Diskin Clay
Philodemus on the Plain Speaking of the Other
Philosophers ................................................................................ 55

Dirk Obbink
Craft, Cult, and Canon in the Books from Herculaneum .... 73

David Sider
How to Commit Philosophy Obliquely: Philodemus’ Epigrams
in the Light of his Peri Parrhesias .............................................. 85

L. Michael White
A Measure of Parrhesia: The State of the Manuscript
of PHerc. 1471 .......................................................................... 103
vi contents

PART TWO
PHILODEMUS’ THOUGHT WITHIN
THE CONTEXT OF THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

Elizabeth Asmis
Epicurean Economics ................................................................ 133

David L. Balch
Philodemus, “On Wealth” and “On Household Management:”
Naturally Wealthy Epicureans Against Poor Cynics .............. 177

Robert N. Gaines
Cicero, Philodemus, and the Development of Late Hellenistic
Rhetorical Theory ...................................................................... 197

Pamela Gordon
Remembering the Garden: The Trouble with Women in the
School of Epicurus .................................................................... 221

Glenn S. Holland
Call Me Frank: Lucian’s (Self-)Defense of Frank Speaking
and Philodemus’ Per‹ Parrhs¤aw .............................................. 245

PART THREE
PHILODEMUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT WORLD

Benjamin Fiore
The Pastoral Epistles in the Light of Philodemus’
“On Frank Criticism” ................................................................ 271

J. Paul Sampley
Paul’s Frank Speech with the Galatians and the
Corinthians .................................................................................. 295

Bruce W. Winter
Philodemus and Paul on Rhetorical Delivery (ÍpÒkrisiw) ...... 323

John T. Fitzgerald
Gadara: Philodemus’ Native City ............................................ 343

Index of Ancient Authors and Texts ...................................... 399

Index of Modern Scholars ........................................................ 426

 PREFACE

This volume has its origins in the work of the Hellenistic Moral Philo-
sophy and Early Christianity Section of the Society of Biblical Literature.
The group itself was first established as a consultation of the SBL
at its annual meeting in 1990. It was created to address topics—
that is, philosophical tÒpoi—that were of common concern both to
the moral philosophers of the late Roman republic and early empire
and to the leaders of the early Christian movement. The member-
ship of the group has included both New Testament scholars and
classicists, with the intention of promoting cooperation and conver-
sation between two interconnected, but too often disciplinarily exclu-
sive, fields of inquiry.
Beginning in 1991 with the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical
Literature in Kansas City, Missouri, the group focused its attention
on the tÒpow of friendship as it was addressed by the moral philoso-
phers on the one hand and the authors of the New Testament books
on the other. The group’s continuing discussion has produced two
earlier collections of essays, both edited by John T. Fitzgerald:
Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New
Testament World, SuppNT 82 (Leiden: Brill, 1996), and Greco-Roman
Perspectives on Friendship, SBLRBS 34 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1997). The
former volume featured an essay on “Frank Speech, Flattery, and
Friendship in Philodemus” by Clarence E. Glad, as well as a sec-
tion of four essays examining “Parrhs¤a in the New Testament,”
including essays by David E. Fredrickson (writing on the Pauline
epistles), S. C. Winter (Acts), Alan C. Mitchell, S. J. (Hebrews), and
William Klassen (the Johannine corpus).
The interest among the members of the Hellenistic Moral Philosophy
and Early Christianity Group in the work of Philodemus, and more
particularly their concentration on his treatise Per‹ parrhs¤aw, clearly
arose specifically out of their concern with the tÒpow of friendship
and its attendant virtues. At the same time, the group’s work has
produced specific benefits for all those interested in Philodemus’ work,
most notably the first modern-language translation of Per‹ parrhs¤aw.
Members of the group first undertook translation of Philodemus’
treatise in 1993; the final translation was published in 1998 as
viii preface

Philodemus: On Frank Criticism (David Konstan, Diskin Clay, Clarence

E. Glad, Johan C. Thom, James Ware, trans., SBLTT 43, Graeco-
Roman 13 [Atlanta: Scholars, 1998]). The present volume is some-
thing of a companion to that translation, and the editors hope it
will prove of interest to classicists and biblical scholars alike.
In the Introduction that follows this preface, John T. Fitzgerald
discusses the renaissance of scholarly interest in Epicureanism in gen-
eral and the works of Philodemus in particular, and provides some
of the pertinent bibliography on other authors whose work is found
among the Herculaneum papyri.
The volume’s fourteen essays are divided among three major sec-
tions. The first is devoted to Philodemus’ ethical, theological, rhetor-
ical, aesthetic, and historical works. Here the reader will find David
Armstrong’s essay on Philodemus’ treatise De Morte, Diskin Clay’s
examination of the relationship of Philodemus’ On Frank Criticism to
his histories of the Academic and Stoic philosophers, Dirk Obbink’s
article on the distinctions between Epicurean philosophical commu-
nities and religious cults as revealed in the books from Herculaneum,
and David Sider’s essay on Philodemus’ philosophical epigrams. Also
included here is L. Michael White’s essay on the physical state of
the manuscript of Per‹ parrhs¤aw (PHerc. 1471).
The second section is concerned with Philodemus’ thought and
works within the context of the Greco-Roman world. Elizabeth Asmis
discusses the topic of wealth in the work of Philodemus and among
the Epicureans, while David Balch compares the Epicureans’ attitudes
towards wealth with those of the Cynics. Robert Gaines addresses the
development of rhetorical theory in the works of Cicero and Philo-
demus, while Pamela Gordon investigates the role of women in the
Epicurean community, and Glenn S. Holland exposes Lucian of
Samosata’s appropriation of philosophical parrhs¤a as a license and
rationale for his satirical attacks against the philosophical schools of
his day.
The third section addresses Philodemus and the New Testament
world. Benjamin Fiore traces the recommended use of parrhs¤a in
the Pastoral epistles. J. Paul Sampley deals specifically with Paul’s
use of parrhs¤a in his letters to the churches in Galatia and in
Corinth, and Bruce Winter writes on Philodemus and Paul on rhetor-
ical delivery (ÍpÒkrisiw). Finally, John T. Fitzgerald provides an
overview of Gadara of the Decapolis, that places Philodemus’ native
 preface ix

city—a largely Gentile enclave in Syria—in its historical, cultural,

and religious context.
The editors would like to express their gratitude to the editorial
board and especially to Margaret M. Mitchell and David P. Moessner,
the executive editors of the series Supplements to Novum Testamentum
at E. J. Brill for their assistance and support, and for including this
volume in that series. We wish also to thank them for their patience
and understanding in awaiting this volume, which has taken an
unduly long time to prepare, and we extend the same thanks to all
of the volume’s contributors, who likewise have been patient and
supportive while this volume was in preparation. Finally, the editors
trust that readers from a variety of backgrounds and academic ori-
entations will find this collection useful and illuminating, and that it
will contribute to a better understanding both of Epicurean philos-
ophy in general, and the work of Philodemus in particular

Glenn S. Holland
This page intentionally left blank
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

David Armstrong
Professor of Classics
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas

Elizabeth Asmis
Professor of Classics
The University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

David L. Balch
Professor of New Testament
Brite Divinity School
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, Texas

Diskin Clay
RJR Nabisco Professor of Classical Studies
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina

Benjamin Fiore, S.J.

Professor of New Testament
Canisius College
Buffalo, New York

John T. Fitzgerald
Associate Professor of New Testament
University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida

Robert N. Gaines
Associate Professor of Communication
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland
xii list of contributors

Pamela Gordon
Associate Professor of Classics
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas

Glenn S. Holland
Bishop James Mills Thoburn Professor of Religious Studies
Allegheny College
Meadville, Pennsylvania

Dirk Obbink
Fellow and Tutor in Greek
Christ Church
University of Oxford
Oxford, England

J. Paul Sampley
Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins (ret.)
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts

David Sider
Professor of Classics
New York University
New York, New York

L. Michael White
R. N. Smith Professor of Classics
Director, Institute for the Study of Classics and Christian Origins
The University of Texas
Austin, Texas

Bruce W. Winter
Director, Institute for Early Christianity in the Greco-Roman World
Tyndale House
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
 ABBREVIATIONS

AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
AJP American Journal of Philology
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
Anth. Pal. Palatine Anthology
AV Authorized Version
BAG2 Walter Bauer, ed., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other
Early Christian Literature, trans. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich,
2nd ed., 1958
BAR British Archaeological Reports
BASP Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists
BDF F. Blass, A. Debrunner, and R. W. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New
Testament
BJS Brown Judaic Studies
CA Classical Antiquity
CErc Cronache Ercolanesi
CIL Corpus inscriptionum latinarum (1863–)
ClAnt Classical Antiquity
CP Classical Philology
CQ Classical Quarterly
CR Classical Review
DCH D. J. A. Clines, ed., Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (Sheffield, 1993–)
DDD Dictionary of Deities and Demons, ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and
P. W. van der Horst, 2nd ed., 1999
DNP Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike
EDNT Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament
EPRO Etudes preliminaries aux religions orientales dans l’empire Romain
FGrHist F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker Berlin-Leiden, 1923–
GRBS Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies
HThR Harvard Theological Review
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
IG Inscriptiones graecae
IGRom Inscriptiones graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, ed. R. Cagnat et al. (1906–27)
JAAC The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies
JNTS Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JQR Jewish Quarterly Review
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period
KD KÊriai DÒjai (“Authoritative Opinions”)
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LRB London Review of Books
LSJ H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, Henry Stuart-Jones, eds., A Greek-English Lexicon,
9th ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1940)
xiv abbreviations

LXX Septuagint
MD Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici
NAB New American Bible
NovTSup Supplements to Novum Testamentum
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
NTS New Testament Studies
ÖBS Österreichische biblische Studien
OCD1 Oxford Classical Dictionary, 1st ed., 1949
OCD2 Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1970
OCD3 Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed., 1996
OGIS Orientis graeci inscriptions selectae
OSAPh Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy
PBACAP Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy
PCG Poetae comici Graeci, eds. Rudolf Kassel and Colin Austin (Berlin: W. de
Guyter, 1983–91)
PHerc Herculaneum Papyrus (now in the Biblotheca Nazionale, Naples)
POxy. Oxyrhynchus Papyrus
PP La Parola del passato
QUCC Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica
RA Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale
RAC Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum
RE Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
RhM Rheinisches Museum für Philologie
RGG4 Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 4th ed. (1998–)
RRW George Kennedy, The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1972)
RSR Recherches de science religieuse
SBL Society of Biblical Literature
SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series
SBLTT Society of Biblical Literature Texts and Translations
ScrHier Scripta hierosolymitana
SEG Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum (1923–)
SIG Sylloge inscriptionum graecarum
SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity
SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series
StPB Studia Post Biblica
Supp. JRA Supplements to the Journal of Roman Archaeology
SV Vatican Sayings
SVF Hans Friedrich August von Arnim, ed., Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, vols.
1–4, (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1903–24)
TAPA Transactions of the American Philological Association
TLS Times Literary Supplement (London)
TrGF Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta, eds. Bruno Snell and Richard Kannicht
(Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983–86[?])
TSAJ Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism
U Hermann Usener, ed., Epicurea (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1887)
ZDPV Zeitschrift des deutschen Palästina-Vereins
ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
 INTRODUCTION:
PHILODEMUS AND THE PAPYRI
FROM HERCULANEUM

John T. Fitzgerald

Scholarly assessments of Philodemus in the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries were often sharply negative. Domenico Comparetti
and Giulio De Petra, for example, described him in 1883 as “an
obscure, verbose and unauthoritative Epicurean of the days of Cicero.”1
Sir John Pentland Mahaffy, writing in 1906, contemptuously dismissed
him as “a very tenth-rate pupil” of Epicurus and condemned him as
being “morally as bad as bad could be.”2 A similar verdict about
Philodemus’ works was given in 1908 by Ethel Ross Barker, who said
that they were “quite third-rate in character” and thus “of little or
no value as philosophy or as literature.”3
This generally low appraisal of Philodemus,4 which was often ac-
companied by a hostile attitude toward the Epicurean tenets which
he espoused,5 began to change during the course of the twentieth

1
Domenico Comparetti and Giulio De Petra, La Villa ercolanese dei Pisoni: I suoi
monumenti e la sua biblioteca. Ricerche e notizie (Turin: E. Loescher, 1883; repr. Naples:
Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi, 1972), 79: “un oscuro,
verboso, non autorevole epicureo dei tempi ciceroniani.” This assessment is quoted
with approval by Charles Waldstein and Leonard Shoobridge, Herculaneum: Past,
Present, and Future (London: Macmillan, 1908), 83.
2
John Pentland Mahaffy, The Silver Age of the Greek World (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press; London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906), 161 and 255.
3
Ethel Ross Barker, Buried Herculaneum (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1908),
82 and 118.
4
Not all treatments of Philodemus from this period are as negative as those
given in the text. A much more balanced assessment is provided by Franz Susemihl,
Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit, 2 vols. (Leipzig: Teubner,
1891–92), 2:267–78, who argues that Cicero’s depiction of Philodemus as an edu-
cated man (Pis. 68–70) is richly confirmed by his works (268). The most lavish
praise of this period is bestowed on Philodemus’ poetry, often at the expense of his
prose works. For example, Alfred Körte, Hellenistic Poetry (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1929), 402, praises Philodemus as “the finest of the later epi-
grammatists” yet thinks that his philosophical writings “are of little significance” in
terms “both of style and of content.”
5
See, for example, Mahaffy, The Silver Age of the Greek World, 158, whose low esti-
mate of Philodemus is connected with his contempt for Epicureanism as a “very
demoralising theory.”
2 introduction

century.6 By the century’s end a more positive estimate of Philodemus

had emerged among most scholars.7 This heightened current appre-
ciation is the result of at least four converging factors. First, con-
temporary scholars, building upon the work of their predecessors,
have a generally better understanding of Epicureanism and often are
more sympathetic toward it.8 The school was much more diverse
and innovative than most previous scholars had imagined,9 and this
new perspective on Epicureanism is partly the result of paying greater
attention to Philodemus’ works, which reveal several important inter-
nal debates within the school10 and “contain a wealth of informa-
tion about Epicureanism as practiced among the Greek-speaking
inhabitants of Italy in the first century b.c.e.”11
Second, some of Philodemus’ works are largely transcripts of lectures

6
See, for example, the brief comments by Piero Treves, “Philodemus,” OCD 1
(1949): 681–82 and OCD 2 (1970): 818–19. Although he disparaged Philodemus’ prose
as “dull and colourless,” Treves also referred to the “taste and ingenuity” of Philo-
demus’ epigrams and called his theory of art “particularly remarkable.” Of course,
purely negative statements about Philodemus’ works continued to be made. Raleigh
Trevelyan, for example, in 1976 called Philodemus’ On Music “a ridiculous diatribe.”
See his The Shadow of Vesuvius: Pompeii A.D. 79 (London: Michael Joseph, 1976), 47.
7
For an example of this new appreciation of Philodemus, see esp. Michael Erler,
“Die Schule Epikurs,” Die hellenistische Philosophie, ed. H. Flashar, Grundriss der
Geschichte der Philosophie, Die Philosophie der Antike 4.1 (Basel: Schwabe, 1994),
289–362, esp. 337–43. I gratefully acknowledge here my great indebtedness to
Erler’s work on Philodemus and other members of the Epicurean school. His dis-
cussions and bibliographies are utterly indispensable for research on any member
of the Garden and especially for those whose writings are preserved among the
Herculaneum papyri.
8
On ancient Epicureanism, see esp. the studies produced by members of the
Association Guillaume Budé and published in the Actes du VIII e Congrès (Paris, 5–10 avril
1968) (Paris: Société d’édition “Les Belles Lettres,” 1969), the essays in Jean Bollack
and André Laks, eds., Etudes sur l’Epicurisme antique, Cahiers de philologie 1 (Lille:
Publications de l’Université de Lille III, [1976]), and the studies in Gabriele Gian-
nantoni and Marcello Gigante, eds., Epicureismo greco e romano: Atti del congresso inter-
nazionale, Napoli, 19–26 maggio 1995, Elenchos 25, 3 vols. (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1996).
On Roman Epicureanism, see John Ferguson and Jackson P. Hershbell, “Epicureanism
under the Roman Empire,” ANRW 2.36.4 (1990): 2257–2327, and Catherine J.
Castner, Prosopography of Roman Epicureans from the Second Century B.C. to the Second Century
A.D., Studien zur klassischen Philologie 34 (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1988).
9
On tradition and innovation in Epicureanism, see the studies published in
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 30 (1989): 144–335.
10
The importance of Philodemus’ writings for intramural debates within Epicu-
reanism was recognized by earlier scholars, but this information was seldom exploited
in depictions of the school. See, for example, Friedrich Überweg and Karl Praechter,
Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. 1: Die Philosophie des Altertums, 12th rev.
ed. (Berlin: Mittler, 1926), 444.
11
Pamela Gordon, “Epicureanism,” Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, ed. D. J.
Zeyl (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997), 208–14, esp. 212.
 introduction 3

(sxola¤) given by his teacher Zeno of Sidon,12 who was “probably

the most important Epicurean philosopher after Epicurus” himself.13
Of particular importance is the work On Signs, which Philodemus
compiled from two or three sets of lecture notes.14 A work of logic,
it “is one of the most interesting documents in the history of scientific
method” and “may be regarded as the first systematic defence of
induction.”15
Yet Philodemus’ significance is not due simply to his transmission
of Zeno’s thoughts. A third factor in the rise of a more just assessment
of Philodemus is the growing awareness that in his own writings he
not only “greatly surpassed the average literary standard to which most
Epicureans aspired” but also developed certain original ideas, especially
in the theory of art.16 His epigrams were particularly noteworthy, so
much so that he is now regarded as “one of the finest epigrammatists
of antiquity.”17
Fourth, there is an increasing recognition of Philodemus’ importance
for understanding the intellectual, cultural, social, and theological world
of his day. A man of wide-ranging interests and intellectual curiosity,

12
On Zeno of Sidon, see the texts assembled by Anna Angeli and Maria Colaizzo,
eds., “I frammenti di Zenone Sidonio,” CErc 9 (1979): 47–133. For discussion, see
Gregory Vlastos, “Zeno of Sidon as a Critic of Euclid,” The Classical Tradition: Literary
and Historical Studies in Honor of Harry Caplan, ed. L. Wallach (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 1966), 148–59; Kurt von Fritz, “Zenon von Sidon,” RE 10 A (1972): 122–38;
Adele Tepedino Guerra, “Zenone di Sidone,” SUZHTHSIS: Studi sull’epicureismo greco
e romano offerti a Marcello Gigante, Biblioteca della Parola del Passato 16, 2 vols. (Naples:
G. Macchiaroli, 1983), 2:551–52; and Erler, “Die Schule Epikurs,” 268–72. The
lectures of Zeno are mentioned in the subscripts of PHerc. 1003, 1389, and 1471.
13
Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” ANRW 2.36.4 (1990): 2369–2406,
esp. 2371.
14
This work (preserved in PHerc. 1065) draws on the lecture notes of both Zeno
and Bromius (On Signs 27); it also incorporates an account by Demetrius of Laconia
(On Signs 45), which probably also derives from Zeno’s lectures (so Asmis, “Philodemus’
Epicureanism,” 2381).
15
Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus,” Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, 381–82, esp.
382. On the topic of Epicurean methodology in scientific investigation, see Asmis’
Epicurus’ Scientific Method, Cornell Studies in Classical Philology 42 (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1984).
16
Piero Treves and Dirk Obbink, “Philodemus,” OCD 3 (1996): 1165–66, esp. 1165.
17
Richard Janko, ed. and trans., Philodemus, On Poems, Book 1, Philodemus: The
Aesthetic Works 1.1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), v. Thirty-five of the
epigrams included in the Palatine Anthology are attributed to Philodemus, and POxy.
54.3724 (a late first-century c.e. papyrus roll, edited by Peter Parsons), which is an
incipit list of epigrams chiefly by Philodemus, proves that a collection of Philodemus’
epigrams circulated in Roman Egypt. On the latter, see David Sider, “Looking for
Philodemus in POxy. 54.3724,” ZPE 76 (1989): 229–36, and Alan Cameron, The
Greek Anthology from Meleager to Planudes (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 379–87.
4 introduction

he was “highly regarded in educated Roman circles”18 and influenced

a number of writers, especially poets. Indeed, allusions to and imi-
tations of his poems are found in Catullus,19 Horace,20 Propertius,21
Vergil,22 Ovid,23 and perhaps others,24 and his On Poems is now widely

18
Michael Erler, “Philodemus,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. E. Craig, 10
vols. (London: Routledge, 1998), 7:365–67, esp. 365. For Philodemus’ success in influ-
encing eminent Romans, see also Susemihl, Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur, 2:267–68,
and Treves and Obbink, “Philodemus,” 1165. Among those mentioned by name in the
fragments of Philodemus are Plotius Tucca, Lucius Varius Rufus, Vergil, and Quintilius
Varus Cremonensis. See Alfred Körte, “Augusteer bei Philodem,” Rheinisches Museum
45 (1890): 172–77; Walter Wimmel, “Der Augusteer Lucius Varius Rufus,” ANRW
2.30.3 (1983): 1562–1621, esp. 1567; Castner, Prosopography, 45–46, 62, 73–74; and
Marcello Gigante, Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum, trans. Dirk Obbink,
The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan, 1995), 47. Varius wrote a hexameter poem on death (De morte), appar-
ently written with the Epicurean aim of freeing humans from the fear of death.
Edward Courtney, ed., The Fragmentary Latin Poets (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 271–75,
esp. 275, dates it to 44/43 b.c.e., “exactly the date of Philodemus’ work” De morte.
19
L. Landolfi, “Tracce filodemee di estetica e di epigrammatica simpotica in
Catullo,” CErc 12 (1982): 137–43.
20
Horace’s acquaintance with Philodemus’ poems is beyond dispute; he not only
mentions Philodemus by name (Sat. 1.2.121) but also addresses throughout his poetry
the same group of friends as Philodemus does in his works; see esp. David Armstrong,
“The Addressees of the Ars poetica: Herculaneum, the Pisones, and Epicurean
Protreptic,” Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi de testi classici 31 (1993): 185–230, esp.
197–98. Philodemus’ understanding of frank speech is especially discernible in
Horace’s Satires; see, for example, N. W. De Witt, “Parrhesiastic Poems of Horace,”
CP 30 (1935): 312–19, and Kirk Freudenburg, The Walking Muse: Horace on the Theory
of Satire (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), 88–90. That Philodemus and
Horace were personally acquainted is highly probable; for a succinct statement of
the evidence in support of a direct contact between the two, see Steven Oberhelman
and David Armstrong, “Satire as Poetry and the Impossibility of Metathesis in
Horace’s Satires,” in Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus,
and Horace, ed. Dirk Obbink (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 233–54,
esp. 235–36. Less certain is the hypothesis that Horace was Philodemus’ student;
for a recent denial of this widespread supposition, see Anastasia Tsakiropoulou-
Summers, “Horace, Philodemus and the Epicureans at Herculaneum,” Mnemosyne
51 (1998): 20–29. See also the latter’s “Philodemus’ Peri poiematon and Horace’s Ars
poetica: Adapting Alexandrian Aesthetics to Epicurean and Roman Traditions” (Ph.D.
Diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995).
21
See, for example, Joan Booth, “Moonshine: Intertextual Illumination in Propertius
1.3.31–3 and Philodemus, Anth. Pal. 5.123,” CQ 51 (2001): 537–44.
22
Vergil was a student of the Epicurean philosopher Siro, who resided in Naples
and was a friend of Philodemus. The latter mentions Siro in PHerc. 312 (see also
Cicero, Fin. 2.119), and Vergil is one of the young Roman poets to whom Philodemus
dedicates at least three books of his On Vices and Virtues. See Marcello Gigante and
M. Capasso, “Il ritorno di Virgilio a Ercolano,” Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica 7
(1989): 3–6; Marcello Gigante, “Virgilio e i suoi amici tra Napoli e Ercolano,” Atti
e memorie dell’Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova, n.s. 59 (1991): 87–125; David Sider,
“The Epicurean Philosopher as Hellenistic Poet,” in Philodemus and Poetry 42–57, esp.
43–44; and Janko, Philodemus 6.
23
Treves and Obbink, “Philodemus,” 1165.
24
See, in general, Jane Isabella Marion Tait, Philodemus’ Influence on the Latin Poets
 introduction 5

regarded as “a major source on Hellenistic poetics.”25 In terms of

philosophy, he was not, to be sure, a conspicuously original thinker,
but he was certainly the leading Epicurean philosopher of his day and
was already recognized as such by Asconius in the mid-fifties of the
first century c.e.26 Indeed, it is virtually certain that Cicero, who
knew Philodemus (Fin. 2.119; Pis. 68–72) and had frequently heard
Zeno, Philodemus’ teacher, lecture (Nat. d. 1.59; Tusc. 3.38), made use
of Philodemus’ De pietate (On Piety) in writing Book 1 of his De natura
deorum, especially 1.25–41.27 In writing this work Cicero may also
have drawn on Book 3 of Philodemus’ De dis (On the Gods).28 Similarly,
it has been suggested that Philodemus may have been one of Cicero’s
sources for Book 1 of his De finibus.29 That Seneca was acquainted
with some of Philodemus’ epigrams as well as certain of his philo-
sophical treatises, such as De morte, is also a distinct possibility.30

(Ph.D. Diss., Bryn Mawr College; Ann Arbor: Edwards Brothers, Inc. Lithoprinters,
1941), who thinks that, in addition to the poets mentioned above, both Tibullus
and Martial were also influenced by Philodemus’ poetry.
25
Erler, “Philodemus,” 366. On this topic, see esp. the essays in Philodemus and
Poetry.
26
Asconius (3–88 c.e. or 9 b.c.e.–76 c.e.) wrote his commentaries on Cicero’s
speeches in the years 55–57 c.e. In commenting on Cicero’s In Pisonem 68, Asconius
says that Cicero “means Philodemus, who was the most distinguished (nobilissimus)
Epicurean of that age.” For text and translation of Asconius’ commentaries, see
Simon Squires (ed. and trans.), Asconius Pedianus, Quintus: Commentaries on Five Speeches
of Cicero (Bristol: Bristol Classical Press; Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1990);
for an analysis, see Bruce A. Marshall, A Historical Commentary on Asconius (Columbia:
University of Missouri Press, 1985). It should be noted that Lucretius was Philodemus’
younger contemporary and exerted much greater influence on posterity through his
De rerum natura than did his more prolific fellow Epicurean. But during the first cen-
tury b.c.e. Philodemus appears to have been regarded as the more significant of
the two.
27
For a convenient list of the correspondences between Philodemus’ De pietate
and Cicero’s De natura deorum, see Hermann Diels, Doxographi graeci (Berlin: G. Reimer,
1879), 529–50. For a recent discussion, see Dirk Obbink, “De livre du De natura
deorum de Cicéron et le de pietate de Philodème,” Cicéron et Philodème: Le polémique en
philosophie, ed. C. Auvray-Assayas and D. Delattre, Études de literature ancienne 12
(Paris: Éditions Rue d’Ulm, 2001), 203–25. It should be noted, however, that some
scholars think in terms of a common source used by both Cicero and Philodemus
rather than literary dependence. For this viewpoint, see Joseph B. Mayor, M. Tulli
Ciceronis De Natura Deorum Libri Tres, with Introduction and Commentary, 3 vols. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1880–85), xlii–lii, and Erler, “Die Schule Epikurs,” 328.
28
G. Arrighetti, “Filodemo, De dis III, col. X–XI,” Studi classici e orientali 7 (1958):
83–99; idem, “Filodemo, De dis III, col. XII–XIII,20,” Studi classici e orientali 10
(1961): 112–21; and Paul MacKendrick, The Philosophical Books of Cicero (New York:
St. Martin’s Press, 1989), 182.
29
Rudolf Hirzel, Untersuchungen zu Cicero’s philosophischen Schriften, 3 vols. in 4
(Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1877–83), 2:689–90, and Moses Hadas, Hellenistic Culture: Fusion
and Diffusion (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959), 113.
30
Marcello Gigante, “Seneca, ein Nachfolger Philodems?” in Epikureismus in der
6 introduction

This new evaluation of Philodemus has arisen particularly in the

last thirty years, when there has been a strong resurgence of interest
by classicists and literary critics in his works. Credit for this contem-
porary appreciation must be given, above all, to the late Professor
Marcello Gigante in Naples, Italy, who, together with his students,
took the lead in editing or re-editing many of the papyrus texts that
contain Philodemus’ works.31 These papyri were discovered more
than two centuries ago—in 1752–1754 to be precise—at several loca-
tions within a villa in the city of Herculaneum, which was destroyed
along with Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 c.e.32 Owing
to the papyrus rolls found there, this house is commonly known as
The Villa of the Papyri.33 Its owner, often identified as Lucius Cal-

späten Republik und der Kaiserzeit, ed. M. Erler, Philosophie der Antike 11 (Stuttgart:
Steiner, 2000), 32–41.
31
Gigante served as the secretary of Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei
Papiri Ercolanesi from its creation in 1969 until his death in 2001. See esp. his
Scetticismo e Epicureismo: Per l’avviamento di un discorso storiografico, Elenchos 4 (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1981); Ricerche filodemee, 2d ed., Biblioteca della Parola del Passato 6
(Naples: G. Macchiaroli, 1983); Cinismo e Epicureismo, Memorie dell’Istituto Italiano
per gli Studi Filosofici 23 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1992); ATAKTA: Contributi alla papirolo-
gia ercolanese, Biblioteca della Parola del Passato 17 (Naples: G. Macchiaroli, 1993);
Philodemus in Italy; Altre ricerche filodemee, Biblioteca della Parola del Passato 18 (Naples:
G. Macchiaroli, 1998); and Filodemo nella storia della letteratura greca, Memorie dell’Acca-
demia di archeologia lettere e belle arti in Napoli 11 (Naples: Accademia di arche-
ologia, lettere e belle arti, 1998). For a recognition of Gigante’s importance in the
Philodemean renaissance, see Don Fowler, “Sceptics and Epicureans: A Discussion
of M. Gigante, Scetticismo e Epicureismo,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 2 (1984):
237–67, esp. 238.
32
An indispensable bibliographical guide to scholarship on all aspects of Her-
culaneum is provided by I. C. McIlwaine in her Herculaneum: A Guide to Printed Sources,
2 vols. (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988) and “Herculaneum: A Guide to Printed Sources.
Supplement,” CErc 20 (1990): 87–128.
33
See esp. Maria Rita Wojcik, La Villa dei Papiri ad Ercolano: Contributo alla ricostruzione
dell’ideologia della nobilitas tardorepubblicana, Ministero per i Beni Culturali ed Ambientali;
Soprintendenza archeologica di Pompei, Monographie 1 (Rome: “L’Erma” di
Bretschneider, 1986). For a detailed review of Wojcik’s work, see Richard Neudecker
in Gnomon 61 (1989): 59–64. In addition to the famous papyri, the villa contained
numerous bronze and marble statues and busts. Two important studies of the villa’s
art collection and display are Dimitrios Pandermalis, “Zur Programm der Statuen-
ausstattung in der Villa dei Papiri,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts,
Athenische Abteilung 86 (1971): 173–209, and Gilles Sauron, “Templa Serena. À pro-
pos de la ‘Villa des Papyri’ d’Herculanum: les Champs-Elysées épicuriens. Contribution
à l’étude des comportements aristocratiques romains à la fin de la République,”
Melanges d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’École française de Rome, Antiquité 92 (1980): 277–301.
For a comparison with other Roman galleries, see Thuri Lorenz, Galerien von griechi-
schen Philosophen- und Dichterbildnissen bei den Römern (Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1965). For
Gigante’s attempt to relate the papyri to the decorative program of the villa, see
his Philodemus in Italy, 1–13. For important reservations on the current tendency to
 introduction 7

purnius Piso Caesoninus, cos. 58 (the father-in-law of Julius Caesar),34

had an enormous library consisting of some 1000 books.35 The papyri
contain not only the works of Philodemus but also those of other
Epicurean philosophers, including Epicurus36 and his close friend

interpret the villa’s statues in terms of content and an all-embracing program, see
Richard Neudecker, “The Roman Villa as a Locus of Art Collections,” The Roman
Villa—Villa Urbana, ed. A. Frazer, University Museum Monograph 101, Symposium
Series 9 (Philadelphia: The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1998),
77–91.
34
This attribution appears to have been initially advanced by Domenico Comparetti
in La Villa de’ Pisoni in Ercolano e la sua biblioteca (Naples: F. Giannini, 1879) and
then elaborated by Comparetti and De Petra in La Villa ercolanese dei Pisoni, 1–53,
esp. 1–32. As the frequent reference to the house as the “Villa of the Pisones” sug-
gests, this is now the communis opinio. It is defended by major scholars such as
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 13, but it is by no means uncontested. For example,
Wojcik (La Villa dei Papiri, 276–84) conjecturally identifies the family of the Appii
Claudii Pulchri as the Republican owners of the villa. (On this family, see esp.
T. P. Wiseman, “Pulcher Claudius,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 74 [1970]:
207–21.) There is inscriptional evidence that this family was involved in local patron-
age; Ap. Claudius Pulcher (cos. 38), for example, is credited with building the
Herculaneum theater (CIL 10.1423f.). But there is nothing explicit that links this
family with the Villa of the Papyri. Therefore, while her arguments against the
Pisones as owners have convinced some scholars (such as Neudecker in Gnomon 61
[1989]: 64 and Jean Ch. Balty in L’Antiquité Classique 58 [1989]: 559–61), her own
thesis has found few supporters. It is rejected by Jean-Michel Croisille in Latomus
49 (1990): 912–13 (esp. 913: “une hypothèse mal fondée”) and by Eleanor Winsor
Leach in American Journal of Archaeology 92 (1988): 145–46 (esp. 146); the latter points
out, contra Wojcik, that the presence of the Pisones in Herculaneum is confirmed by
a bust of Piso Pontifex (cos. 15) that derives from the town. For a photograph of the
bust and a discussion of Piso Pontifex, see Sir Ronald Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1986) frontispiece, 329–45. This Piso (the son of Piso Caesoninus)
may well be the one who is responsible for the villa’s decorative display of art. For
this thesis, see Pandermalis, “Programm der Statuenausstattung,” 196–97.
35
For an orientation to the papyri, see Mario Capasso, Manuale di papirologia
ercolanese, Università degli Studi di Lecce, Departimento di Filologia Classica e
Medioevale, Testi e studi 3 (Galatina: Congedo, 1991). The precise number of books
originally recovered from the Villa of the Papyri is unclear; the figures given in
contemporary scholarly literature vary considerably; see, for example, Janko, Philodemus,
4 (“between 800 and 1,100 books”), and Obbink, “Preface,” viii (“over a thousand
papyrus rolls”). Some works are preserved in only one papyrus roll, whereas numer-
ous papyrus rolls are devoted to other works. For an invaluable inventory, which
has more than 1800 entries, see M. Gigante, ed., Catalogo dei Papiri Ercolanesi (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1979), cited hereafter as Catalogo. See also the supplement to the Catalogo
by Mario Capasso, “Primo Supplemento al Catalogo dei Papiri Ercolanesi,” CErc 19
(1989): 193–264, cited henceforth as “Primo Supplemento.”
36
Numerous papyrus fragments of Epicurus’ thirty-seven-volume treatise On Nature
are preserved and perhaps also a fragment from an unidentified work (PHerc. 996;
see Catalogo, 211–12, and “Primo Supplemento,” 232). In addition, the Herculaneum
papyri not only contain references to Epicurus’ letters and other works but also
important quotations from them. Philodemus’ Memoires (PHerc. 1418), for instance,
is an especially valuable source for Epicurus’ letters. On Epicurus and his writings,
8 introduction

Metrodorus of Lampsacus37 as well as other Epicureans from later

periods, including Colotes of Lampsacus,38 Carneiscus,39 Polystratus,40

see esp. Michael Erler, “Epikur,” Die hellenistische Philosophie, 29–202. For fragments of
his works and letters, see the editions of Graziano Arrighetti, ed., Epicuro, Opere, 2d
ed., Biblioteca di cultura filosofica 41 (Turin: G. Einaudi, 1973), and Carlo Diano, ed.,
Epicuri Ethica et Epistulae (Florence: Sansoni, 1974), a reprint of three works published
1946–48. On Epicurus’ letters in the Herculaneum papyri, see now Anna Angeli,
“Frammenti di lettere di Epicuro nei papiri d’Ercolano,” CErc 23 (1993): 11–27.
37
PHerc. 200 contains a fragment of Metrodorus’ On Wealth (see Catalogo, 103,
and “Primo Supplemento,” 217). For a brief synopsis of the life and writings of
Metrodorus (ca. 331–278 b.c.e.), see Erler, “Die Schule Epikurs,” 216–22. For On
Wealth, see frgs. 16–19 in Alfred Körte, Metrodori Epicurei Fragmenta (Leipzig: Teubner,
1890), reprinted in Epicureanism: Two Collections of Fragments and Studies, Greek and
Roman Philosophy 16 (New York: Garland, 1987), 547–48, and Adele Tepedino
Guerra, “Il PHerc. 200: Metrodoro, sulla ricchezza,” Actes du XV e Congrès interna-
tional de papyrologie, ed. Jean Bingen and Georges Nachtergael, 4 vols., Papyrologia
Bruxellensia 16–19 (Brussels: Fondation égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1979),
3:191–97. For the possibility that the Herculaneum papyri contain remnants of
another work by Metrodorus, either his Against the Dialecticians or Against the Sophists
(Diog. Laert. 10.24), see Emidio Spinelli, “Metrodoro contro i dialettici?,” CErc 16
(1986): 29–43, Capasso, Manuale, 193 n. 219, and Adele Tepedino Guerra, “Metrodoro
‘Contro i Dialettici’?,” CErc 22 (1992): 119–22. Some of the anonymous letters
quoted in the papyri may well be those of Metrodorus. David Sedley, for exam-
ple, credits him with being the author of two letters quoted in Philodemus’ Negotia
(PHerc. 1418 col. 20); see his “Epicurus and the Mathematicians of Cyzicus,” CErc
6 (1976): 23–54, esp. 29–30. For a recent contribution, see Adele Tepedino Guerra,
“La scuola di Epicuro: Metrodoro, Polieno, Ermarco,” CErc 30 (2000): 35–44.
38
Fragments of both his Against Plato’s Euthydemus (PHerc. 1032; see Catalogo
236–37, and “Primo Supplemento,” 238) and Against Plato’s Lysis (PHerc. 208; see
Catalogo, 105, and “Primo Supplemento,” 217) are preserved and were edited by
Wilhelm Crönert in Kolotes und Menedemos: Texte und Untersuchungen zur Philosophen- und
Literaturgeschichte, Studien zur Palaeographie und Papyruskunde 6 (Leipzig: E. Avenarius,
1906; repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1965), 162–72. On Colotes (ca. 310–260 b.c.e.)
and these two works, see Erler, “Die Schule Epikurs,” 235–40, and Adele Concolino
Mancini, “Sulle opere polemiche di Colote,” CErc 6 (1976): 61–67. For his impor-
tance in shaping the Epicurean response to Academic skepticism, see Paul A. Vander
Waerdt, “Colotes and the Epicurean Refutation of Skepticism,” Greek, Roman, and
Byzantine Studies 30 (1989): 225–67. See also Plutarch’s Adversus Colotem and the com-
mentary on this work by Rolf Westman, Plutarch gegen Kolotes: Seine Schrift “Adversus
Colotem” als philosophiegeschichtliche Quelle, Acta philosophica Fennica 7 (Helsinki: A. G.
der Finnischen Literaturgesellschaft, 1955); on the latter, see the review by Phillip
De Lacy in American Journal of Philology 77 (1956): 433–38. See now Giovanni Indelli,
“Colote di Lampsaco, il bersaglio polemico di Plutarco, e Polistrato, il terzo capo
del Giardino,” CErc 30 (2000): 45–52.
39
Carneiscus (late 4th–early 3rd century b.c.e.) wrote a work on friendship
(Philistas) that dealt particularly with the death of a friend. In it he not only pre-
sented Philistas as a model Epicurean but also criticized the Peripatetic philosopher
Praxiphanes. Fragments are preserved in PHerc. 1027 (see Catalogo, 235–236, and
“Primo Supplemento,” 238; see also PHerc. 440 and 1115 in Catalogo 149, 271–72,
and “Primo Supplemento,” 225, 244). See Crönert, Kolotes und Menedemos, 69–72,
179; Fritz Wehrli, Die Schule des Aristoteles: Texte und Kommentar, Heft IX: Phainias von
Eresos, Chamaileon, Praxiphanes, 2d ed. (Basel: Schwabe, 1969), 93–96, 107–08; Erler,
 introduction 9

Demetrius of Laconia,41 Lucretius,42 and perhaps even Lucius Manlius

Torquatus (praetor 49 b.c.e.), the spokesman for Epicureanism in

“Die Schule Epikurs,” 241–43; Mario Capasso, “Per una nuova edizione del Filista
di Carneisco (PHerc. 1027),” Atti del XVII Congresso internazionale di papirologia, 3 vols.
(Naples: Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi, 1984), 2:405–17,
and idem, ed. and trans., Carneisco, Il secondo libro del Filista (PHerc. 1027). Edizione,
traduzione e commento, La Scuola di Epicuro 10 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988).
40
Polystratus (flourished mid-third century b.c.e.) was head of the Epicurean
school in Athens following the death of Hermachus (Diog. Laert. 10.25). For an
overview of his life and writings, see Erler, “Die Schule Epikurs,” 247–50. Fragments
of two of his writings are preserved among the Herculaneum papyri. The first is
On Irrational Contempt (PHerc. 336/1150; see Catalogo, 128–30, and “Primo Supplemento,”
221–22), a polemical work which, as its full title indicates, is directed “against those
who irrationally despise popular beliefs.” The standard critical edition is that of
Giovanni Indelli, ed. and trans., Polistrato, Sul disprezzo irrazionale delle opinioni popo-
lari. Edizione, traduzione e commentio, La Scuola di Epicuro 2 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1978).
See also his “Polistrato,” SUZHTHSIS, 2:525–27. For text and an English transla-
tion of 23.26–26.23, see A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers,
2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 1:35–37; 2:29–30. For text
and an English translation of col. 5b 9–7a 8 Wilke, see Phillip De Lacy, “Limit
and Variation in the Epicurean Philosophy,” Phoenix 23 (1969): 104–13, esp. 105.
See also the comments on Polystratus in P. H. De Lacy and E. A. De Lacy, eds.
and trans., Philodemus, On Methods of Inference, rev. ed., La Scuola di Epicuro 1 (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1978), 191–93, and Thomas Cole, Democritus and the Sources of Greek
Anthropology, American Philological Association Monograph Series 25 (Cleveland:
Western Reserve University Press, 1967; repr. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 77–79.
The identity of Polystratus’ opponents is vigorously debated, with some scholars
seeing several schools criticized. Indelli (Polistrato, 55–82), for example, believes that
Cynics, Pyrrhonists, Stoics, and Megarians are criticized on various grounds. Others
think that a specific group is in mind. Robert Philippson, for example, identifies
them as Cynics. See his “Polystratos’ Schrift über die grundlose Verachtung der
Volksmeinung,” Neue Jahrbücher 12 (1909): 487–509, which is reprinted in his Studien
zu Epikur und den Epikureern, ed. C. Joachim Classen, Olms Studien 17 (Hildesheim:
Olms, 1983), 4–26. That the Cynics are the chief opponents is also the view of
Gigante, Cinismo e Epicureismo, 83. David Sedley, on the other hand, thinks that
Academic skeptics are the target of Polystratus’ polemic. See his review of Indelli’s
Polistrato in Classical Review 97 (1983): 335–36. Erler, “Die Schule Epikurs,” 248–49,
believes that Polystratus is attacking skepticism as a philosophical movement, not
engaging in polemics against a single group of opponents.
The second preserved work is Polystratus’ On Philosophy (PHerc. 1520; see Catalogo,
351–52, and “Primo Supplemento,” 257), which Crönert, Kolotes und Menedemos,
35–36 and 178, viewed as a polemical work directed at the Cynics, especially the
followers of Bion of Borysthenes. But Mario Capasso has argued persuavively that
it, like Aristotle’s On Philosophy, was a protreptic work. See his “L’opera polistratea
sulla filosofia,” CErc 6 (1976): 81–84.
41
Demetrius of Laconia (ca. 100 b.c.e.) was the contemporary of Zeno of Sidon,
the teacher of Philodemus. For treatments of his life and writings, see Costantina
Romeo and Enzo Puglia, “Demetrio Lacone,” SUZHTHSIS, 2:529–49, and Erler,
“Die Schule Epikurs,” 256–67. In PHerc. 1012 (col. 44 Puglia) Demetrius refers to
Zeno as “dearest” (f¤ltatow), and the close relationship of Demetrius and Zeno helps
to explain why more of Demetrius’ treatises have been preserved among the
Herculaneum papyri than those of any other Epicurean, save Philodemus. His works
10 introduction

Cicero’s De finibus.43 Other Epicurean writers are also represented in

the Herculaneum papyri, though their identity is unknown.44 There

were edited by Vittorio De Falco, L’epicureo Demetrio Lacone (Naples: A. Cimmaruta,

1923; repr. in Epicureanism: Two Collections of Fragments and Studies, Greek and Roman
Philosophy 16 [New York: Garland, 1987]), but the edition is problematic and is
gradually being replaced; see the reviews by E. Bignone in Rivista indo-greco-italica di
Filologia, Lingua, Antichità 7 (1923): 181–86, and Robert Philippson in Philologische
Wochenschrift 44 (1924): 313–30, 648.
Major works partially preserved include the following: 1) Quaestiones convivales
(PHerc. 1006); see Catalogo, 216–17; “Primo Supplemento,” 234; and De Falco,
Demetrio Lacone, 59–61; 2) On the Puzzles of Polyaenus (PHerc. 1083, 1258, 1429, 1642,
1647, 1822); see Catalogo, 263, 294, 328–29, 372–73, 399; “Primo Supplemento,”
242, 247, 252, 259–60, 263; and De Falco, Demetrio Lacone, 97–107; 3) On Geometry
(PHerc. 1061); see Catalogo, 250–51; “Primo Supplemento,” 240–41; De Falco,
Demetrio Lacone, 96–98; and Anna Angeli and Tiziano Dorandi, “Il pensiero matema-
tico di Demetrio Lacon,” CErc 17 (1987): 89–103 (which also deals with the pre-
ceding work on Polyaenus’ puzzles); 4) On Poems (PHerc. 188 and 1014); see Catalogo,
101, 224–25; “Primo Supplemento,” 217, 235–36; De Falco, Demetrio Lacone, 80–96;
the new edition by Costantina Romeo, ed. and trans., Demetrio Lacone, La poesia
(PHerc. 188 e 1014. Edizione, traduzione e commento, La Scuola di Epicuro 9 (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1988); and Nicola Pace, “La rivoluzione umanistica nella scuola epi-
curea: Demetrio Lacone e Filodemo, teorici di poesia,” CErc 30 (2000): 71–79; 5)
an untitled work preserved in PHerc. 1786; see Catalogo, 394; “Primo Supplemento,”
262; De Falco, Demetrio Lacone, 54–57; and the edition by Enzo Puglia, “Nuove let-
ture nei PHerc. 1012 e 1786 (Demetrii Laconis opera incerta),” CErc 10 (1980):
25–53, esp. 49–52); and 6) another untitled work preserved in PHerc. 124; see
Catalogo, 80; “Primo Supplemento,” 213; and De Falco, Demetrio Lacone, 57–58.
On internal and other grounds, Demetrius is the most likely author of five addi-
tional works: 1) On the Size of the Sun (PHerc. 1013); see Catalogo, 223–24; “Primo
Supplemento,” 235; De Falco, Demetrio Lacone, 61–65; and the new edition of
Costantina Romeo, “Demetrio Lacone sulla grandezza de sole [PHerc. 1013],” CErc
9 (1979): 11–35; 2) On Fickleness (PHerc. 831); see Catalogo, 190–91; “Primo
Supplemento,” 229; Körte, Metrodori Epicurei Fragmenta, 571–91; and esp. Robert
Philippson, “Papyrus Herculanensis 831,” American Journal of Philology 64 (1943):
148–62 = Studien zu Epikur und den Epikureern, 284–98; 3) an untitled work preserved
in PHerc. 1012, which deals with issues of textual criticism (including scribal errors)
in the exegesis of Epicurus’ writings; see Catalogo, 222–23; “Primo Supplemento,”
235; De Falco, Demetrio Lacone, 20–54; the new edition by Enzo Puglia, ed. and
trans., Demetrio Lacone, Aporie testuali ed esegetiche in Epicuro (PHerc. 1012). Edizione,
traduzione e commentio, La Scuola di Epicuro 8 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988), which also
contains Gigante’s collection of testimonia to Demetrius; and Matilde Ferrario, “La
nascita della filologia epicurea: Demetrio Lacone e Filodemo,” CErc 30 (2000):
53–61; 4) an untitled theological work (perhaps On the Gods or On the Form of God )
in support of Epicurus’ understanding of the gods as anthropomorphic, defending
this view against objections to it raised by Bion of Borysthenes and others; pre-
served in PHerc. 1055; see Catalogo, 246–48; “Primo Supplemento,” 240; De Falco,
Demetrio Lacone, 65–80; this work was earlier edited by Enrico Renna, “Nuove let-
ture nel PHerc. 1055 (Libro incerto di Demetrio Lacone),” CErc 12 (1982): 43–49,
and has now been re-edited, with an Italian translation and full commentary, by
Mariacarolina Santoro, [Demetrio Lacone], [La forma del dio] (PHerc. 1055), La Scuola
di Epicuro 17 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 2000); and 5) an untitled rhetorical work pre-
served in PHerc. 128; see Catalogo, 81, and “Primo Supplemento,” 213.
 introduction 11

are also a few non-Epicurean works,45 including two or three trea-

tises by the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus,46 a Latin hexameter poem

42
Knut Kleve, “Lucretius in Herculaneum,” CErc 19 (1989): 5–27.
43
For the possibility that Torquatus is mentioned in the subscript of PHerc. 1475,
see Felice Costabile, “Opere di oratoria politica e giudiziaria nella biblioteca della
Villa dei Papiri: i PHerc. latini 1067 e 1475,” Atti del XVII Congresso internazionale di
papirologia, 3 vols. (Naples: Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi,
1984), 2:591–606. On Torquatus, see Cicero, Brutus 265 and Pliny, Ep. 5.3.5 (here
identified as a writer of poems); see also Catullus 61, where he is apparently the
addressee. For other aspects of his life, see F. Münzer, “Manlius (Torquatus),” RE
14:1 (1928): 1203–7, and the studies mentioned in Castner, Prosopography, 40–42.
44
PHerc. 176 is an example of a work written by an unidentified Epicurean.
See Catalogo, 94–95; “Primo Supplemento,” 215–16; Erler, “Die Schule Epikurs,”
336–37; and the edition by Anna Angeli, “La scuola epicurea di Lampsaco nel
PHerc. 176 (fr. 5 coll. I, IV, VIII–XXIII),” CErc 18 (1988): 27–51.
45
In addition to the presence of non-Epicurean authors in the library, the villa’s
art gallery included numerous statues and busts of non-Epicureans. One is a small
bronze bust inscribed with the name Zeno (Naples Museum Inventory Nr. 5468).
Whereas some earlier scholars (such as Comparetti and De Petra, La Villa ercolanese,
263) understood this to be a portrait of Philodemus’ teacher Zeno, contemporary
scholars believe it is Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. See Gisela M. A.
Richter, The Portraits of the Greeks, 3 vols. (London: Phaidon, 1965), 2:187–88, 251,
and figure 1089, and Pandermalis, “Programm der Statuenausstattung,” 197–98.
46
The first of Chrysippus’ partially preserved two or three works is his Logical
Questions, contained in PHerc. 307. On this papyrus, see Catalogo, 123–24; “Primo
Supplemento,” 220–21; SVF 2, frg. 298a; and the new edition by Livia Marrone,
“Le Questioni logiche di Crisippo (PHerc. 307),” CErc 27 (1997): 83–100. See also
her “La logica degli epicurei e degli stoici: Filodemo e Crisippo,” CErc 30 (2000):
111–18. For the text of col. 1–2 and an English translation, see David Sedley, “The
Negated Conjunction in Stoicism,” Elenchos 5 (1984): 311–16, esp. 314–15; for col.
9.7–12, see Long and Sedley, Hellenistic Philosophers, 1:224, 229; 2:225. For discus-
sion, see Wilhelm Crönert, “Die Logikå ZhtÆmata des Chrysippos und die übrigen
Papyri logischen Inhalts aus der herculanensischen Bibliothek,” Hermes 36 (1901):
548–79; Livia Marrone, “Nuove letture nel PHerc. 307 (Questioni logiche di Crisippo),”
CErc 12 (1982): 13–18; idem, “Il problema dei ‘singolari’ e dei ‘plurali’ nel PHerc.
307,” Atti del XVII Congresso internazionale di papirologia, 3 vols. (Naples: Centro
Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi, 1984), 2:419–27; and Jonathan
Barnes, “PIYANA ZUNHMMENA,” Elenchos 6 (1985): 453–67, esp. 461–62.
The second work is his On Providence, preserved in PHerc. 1038 and 1421 (see
Catalogo, 238, 315; “Primo Supplemento,” 239, 250; Alfred Gercke, “Chrysippea,”
Jahrbücher für classische Philologie, Suppl. 14 [1885]: 689–780, esp. 704–14; SVF 1,
p. vi). A third work, most likely by Chrysippus, is preserved in PHerc. 1020; see
Catalogo, 231; “Primo Supplemento,” 237; H. von Arnim, “Über einen stoischen Papy-
rus der herculanensischen Bibliothek,” Hermes 25 (1890): 473–95; SVF 2, frg. 131;
A. A. Long, “Dialectic and the Stoic Sage,” The Stoics, ed. J. M. Rist, Major Thinkers
Series 1 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978), 101–24,
esp. 108–10 and 123 n. 20–21 (on cols. 1 and 4); and Long and Sedley, Hellenistic
Philosophers, 1:255, 257–59; 2:256–57 (text and translation of parts of cols. 1 and 4).
For the suggestion that Philodemus’ On Piety preserves a reference by Chrysippus
to the moon-god Men, see Eugene N. Lane, “Chrysippus, Philodemus, and the God
Men,” ZPE 117 (1997): 65–66.
12 introduction

on events following the battle at Actium (including Octavian’s cap-

ture of Pelusium in 30 b.c.e., Cleopatra’s lethal experiments on crim-
inals, and the encampment of the Roman army before the walls of
Alexandria),47 a fragment of Book 6 of Ennius’ Annales,48 and some
lines from the comedian Caecilius Statius’ The Money-Lender.49
Students of Second Temple Judaism,50 Hellenistic Judaism,51 and
early Christianity52 increasingly have begun to take a lively interest
in this Philodemean renaissance. The publication of this collection
of essays in a series devoted to the investigation of the New Testament
within its ancient context is a reflection of this growing interest, and
the editors as well as contributors hope that these studies will lead
to a greater awareness of Philodemus and his importance for the
New Testament world.

47
The poem is the Carmen de bello Actiaco (or Aegyptiaco), preserved in PHerc. 817.
Some have attributed it to the epic poet Gaius Rabirius, whereas others have sug-
gested that it may be part of Cornelius Severus’ Res Romanae. Still others, such as
Gigante, “Virgilio,” 87–125, have attributed it to Lucius Varius Rufus. It is also
sometimes dated to the Neronian period, which, if correct, would make it one of
the latest additions to the villa’s library. See Catalogo, 186–89; “Primo Supplemento,”
228–29; Henry Bardon, La Littérature latine inconnue, 2 vols. (Paris: C. Klincksieck,
1952–56), 2:73–74, 136–37; and the edition by Giovanni Garuti, C. Rabirius, Bellum
Actiacum e papyro Herculanensi 817 (Bologna: Zanichelli, 1958). See also Courtney, The
Fragmentary Latin Poets, 334–40, and Gerrit Kloss, “Die dritte Kolumne des Carmen
de bello Actiaco (PHerc. 817),” ZPE 116 (1997): 21–27. A composite text and English
translation is given by Herbert W. Benario, “The ‘Carmen de bello Actiaco’ and
Early Imperial Epic,” ANRW 2.30.3 (1983): 1656–62, esp. 1659–62. A facsimile of
col. 6 of the poem is available in Sir Edward M. Thompson, An Introduction to Greek
and Latin Palaeography (Oxford: Clarendon, 1912), 276.
48
Knut Kleve, “Ennius in Herculaneum,” CErc 20 (1990): 5–16. See also Gigante,
“Ennio tra Ercolano e Pozzuoli,” in Ennio tra Rudiae e Roma, Associazione italiana
di cultura classica; Università degli studi di Lecce (Galatina: Congedo, 1994), 123–38.
49
Knut Kleve, “How To Read an Illegible Papyrus. Towards an Edition of
PHerc. 78, Caecilius Statius, Obolostates sive Faenerator,” CErc 26 (1996): 5–12.
50
See, for example, Shaye J. D. Cohen, “The Beauty of Flora and the Beauty
of Sarai,” Helios 8 (1981): 41–53.
51
See, for example, Martin Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in their Encounter
in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), 1:86,
109. See also Everett Ferguson, “The Art of Praise: Philo and Philodemus on
Music,” in Early Christianity and Classical Culture: Comparative Studies in Honor of Abraham
J. Malherbe, ed. John T. Fitzgerald, Thomas H. Olbricht, and L. Michael White,
NovTSup 110 (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 391–426.
52
See, for example, Abraham J. Malherbe, Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic
Tradition of Pastoral Care (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 84–87, and esp. Clarence E.
Glad, Paul and Philodemus: Adaptability in Epicurean and Early Christian Psychagogy, NovTSup
81 (Leiden: Brill, 1995).
 PART ONE

PHILODEMUS’ ETHICAL, THEOLOGICAL,

RHETORICAL, AESTHETIC, AND
HISTORICAL WORKS
This page intentionally left blank
 ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN: PHILODEMUS’ MODEL OF
THERAPY AND THE AUDIENCE OF DE MORTE

David Armstrong

Abstract

Philodemus’ De Morte is clearly addressed (unlike most of his more tech-

nical treatises) to a mixed audience, containing Epicureans and members
of other philosophical sects and non-philosophers alike. It is epideictic
at least in the sense that it shows what Epicureanism can do to combat
the fear of death, and though it is undeviating and merciless in its
insistence that death is the end, it is undogmatic about other points
that Epicureanism taught just as firmly, and refers to other philosophers
and even figures in ancient history who were not philosophers as heroic
examples of fearlessness on a par with the standard heroes of the school
like Metrodorus and Epicurus. As well, the treatise takes seriously and
sympathetically the more natural fears of humanity confronted with
death—probably at least partly because of the tactics necessary in
addressing a mixed audience—and if studied seriously along with the
more familiar sayings of Epicurus and Lucretius on death would neces-
sitate a radical revision of the criticisms of their approach in modern
secondary literature as unsympathetic and facilely eudaimonistic.

to›w pçsin g°gona tå pãnta, ·na pãntvw tinåw s≈sv. ka‹ toËto poi« diå tÚ
eÈagg°lion, ·na sugkoinvnÚw aÈtoË g°nvmai.
I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be fellow-partaker
thereof (1 Cor. 9:22b–23 [AV]).
In these famous words, which are cited at the opening of Clarence
Glad’s Paul and Philodemus: Adaptability in Epicurean and Early Christian
Psychagogy,1 Paul concludes a splendid rhetorical period in which he
describes the adaptability of his own preaching:

1
Clarence Glad, Paul and Philodemus: Adaptability in Epicurean and Early Christian
Psychagogy, (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 1. I must thank John Fitzgerald for help in ori-
enting me to the vast literature on 1 Cor. 9:19–23: besides what is said in the stan-
dard commentaries, such treatments as David Daube’s comments in The New Testament
and Rabbinic Judaism (London: Athlone, 1956) 336–51, esp. 336–41 on the similar
economies practiced by Hillel and other rabbis toward their converts; Günther
16 david armstrong

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant
unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as
a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as
under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them
that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God,
but under the law to Christ) that I might gain them that are without
law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I
am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some
[1 Cor. 9:19–22 (AV)].
As Glad notes, Paul has been compared to Odysseus in his versa-
tility and resourcefulness—and also accused, like Odysseus, of hypocrisy
for his adaptability.2 But his adaptability to different audiences, Jews
and pagans as well as convinced Christians, and to different moral
capacities, to “the weak” as well as the strong, springs from a more
honorable source: the desire to bring the faith to and share it with
many different people on their own terms, in the conviction that
Christ died for all, by finding the way to influence their souls in
their actual present state. Paul submerges his own convictions in
favor of theirs, to the extent his conscience and commitment allows
him, to exercise what Glad calls “psychagogy.”
Glad believes that Paul in this followed the therapeutic style of
Hellenistic philosophy, especially that of the Epicureans, and more
particularly Philodemus’ prescriptions in the treatise On Frank Criticism,
which is gaining more and more attention in studies of the psy-
chology of therapy in ancient philosophy and religion.3 Here rules

Bornkamm, “The Missionary Stance of Paul in I Corinthians 9 and in Acts,” Studies

in Luke-Acts, ed. Leander E. Keck and J. Louis Martyn (Nashville: Abingdon, 1966)
194–207 (Bornkamm even admits a certain coherence between this passage and
the portrait of Paul in Acts, especially Acts 21:17–26, 204–205); Peter Richardson,
“Pauline Inconsistency: I Corinthians 9:19–23 and Galatians 2:11–14,” NTS 26
(1980) 347–62; W. Willis, “An Apostolic Apologia? The Form and Function of
1 Cor. 9,” JNTS 24 (1985) 33–48; and especially Abraham J. Malherbe, “Determinism
and Free Will in Paul: The Argument of 1 Corinthians 8 and 9,” Paul in Hellenistic
Context, ed. Troels Engberg-Pedersen (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 231–55.
2
Glad, Paul and Philodemus, 1. Glad refers specifically to W. B. Stanford, The
Ulysses Theme: A Study in the Adaptability of a Traditional Hero, 2nd rev. ed. (New York:
Barnes and Noble, 1968) 9 and Malherbe, Paul and the Popular Philosophers (Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1989), 100–101.
3
It is fortunate that we now have Philodemus: On Frank Criticism, trans. David
Konstan, Diskin Clay, Clarence E. Glad, Johan C. Thom, James Ware, SBLTT
(Atlanta: Scholars, 1998). See my review in RSR, 25 (1999) 88; also, my review
article on R. Ancona, Time in the Odes of Horace, R. O. A. M. Lyne, Horace: Behind
the Public Poetry, and Horace 2000: Essays for the Bimillennium, Phoenix (1988) 237–45,
and my review of Susanna Morton Braund and Christopher Gill, eds., The Passions
in Roman Thought and Literature, Bryn Mawr Classical Review (1998) 5.10, in which I
 all things to all men 17

are laid down for the treatment of the psychological and moral prob-
lems of those who have submitted themselves to the Epicurean dis-
cipline, both individually and in groups. These rules are exemplified
in various other ethical discourses of Philodemus—especially On Anger,
which explicitly refers to On Frank Criticism as part of its assumed
background reading, and gives directions for the philosopher’s atti-
tude toward anger which seem to be consistent with that treatise’s
precepts.4 Glad argues throughout his book that Philodemus’ and his
teacher Zeno’s model of suiting therapeutic speech to the problems
of the individual or individuals addressed was an important influence
on Paul’s own parrhesia to his Christian communities and a primary
source of their practices, instilled by him, of “mutual exhortation,
edification and correction.”5 Glad argues that Paul’s parrhs¤a resem-
bles the Philodemean model more than has been previously appre-
ciated, and more, indeed, than the model of psychotherapy and
instruction found in any other ancient philosophical literature.
How true this is I leave to others to decide, as far as concerns Paul’s
authentic writings and his precepts to the communities he addresses
there. There is another aspect of the words in 1 Cor. 9:19–23 that
all readers used to think of, and many readers who are not professional
New Testament scholars probably still do when they read them. This
is the lively and imaginative picture given in many passages of the
book of Acts of Paul’s preaching, not to the communities of the
faithful that he has founded, but to hostile Jews and to unconvinced
pagans and other non-Christian audiences such as the Athenian Stoics
and Epicureans of Acts 17 or the Roman officials and Jewish royalty
of Acts 26. This picture of Paul’s preaching seems intended to exem-
plify just precisely the flexibility and adaptability he displays in
addressing all kinds of audiences. The situation in Pauline studies is

recommend Philodemus’ and Plutarch’s conception of parrhesia as vital to the under-

standing of Horace’s and Seneca’s relationship to their addressees. I hope that much
more will be done in this field, now that a text and English translation of Philodemus’
treatise is at last readily available.
4
One should put vices before one’s pupils’ eyes like a doctor describing the hor-
rors of disease (On Anger col. 4); thus Stoic diatribe is not useless (cols. 1–2). Part
of the imitation-Stoic diatribe in the De Ira is addressed directly to pupils in
Philodemus’ school (col. 18.35–col. 21). One excuse for the apparent irascibility of
a wise man may be his desire to help others with therapeutic discourse of the
aggressive or severe kind (36.24f., where Philodemus expressly refers the reader to
the treatise On Frank Criticism for further definitions), which Philodemus calls tÚ
sklhrÚn t∞w parrhs¤aw e‰dow (On Frank Criticism fg. 7, 9–11).
5
Glad, Paul and Philodemus, 335.
18 david armstrong

easily summarized: “most scholars agree that Acts must be excluded

entirely as a source for the contents of Paul’s preaching,”6 and Glad
duly leaves these famous speeches aside, along with the whole question
of Paul’s adaptability to the unconverted and hostile among his audi-
ences, for which Acts is the only source. It seems a pity, for whatever
the historical truth of Acts, these brilliant and daring speeches, full
of parrhesia and adaptability at once, will always be part of the Western
world’s picture of the Apostle to the Gentiles. And Paul’s method
in Acts is at least commensurate with that of Paul in the letters.
As for Philodemus, we already know at least one important area
of his writings in which he was happy to abandon his usual bitter,
combative and sectarian style in discussing the views of philosophi-
cal opponents and appeal to a general audience. This was in his
works on the history of philosophy, in which his biographical and
doxographical learning is displayed for once without rancor and with-
out sarcasm and in which his point of view is wholly neutral.7 I
would like to argue that we have another example, and a very impor-
tant one in many different ways, of Philodemus’ adaptability to non-
Epicurean audiences: the striking and beautiful fragment of his treatise
On Death, marked in the papyrus as being the end of book IV of
that treatise, and most probably the grand rhetorical conclusion of
the whole as well.
Although it has never yet reached the audience it deserves,8 Philo-

6
Victor Paul Furnish, in Eldon Jay Epp and George W. MacRae, eds., The New
Testament and Its Modem Interpreters (Atlanta: Scholars, 1989), 331. See also the remarks
of Charles Talbert, 311: “Research on the speeches has moved from taking them
as sermons of Peter and Paul, through taking them as examples of the earliest
kerygma, to taking them as Lucan [i.e., Luke’s own] compositions.”
7
See the comments of Tiziano Dorandi, “Filodeino storico del pensiero antico”
(ANRW 2.36.4, 1992), 2407–2423, and Richard McKirahan, “Epicurean Doxography
in Cicero, De Natura Deorum book I,” in Epicureismo Greco e Romano, ed. Gabriele
Giannantoni and Marcello Gigante (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1996) 2:865–878.
8
It is so far available to the public as a whole only in the text and commen-
tary with Dutch translation of Taco Kuiper (Philodemus over den dood, [Amsterdam:
H. J. Paris,1925]), itself not in every large library, and in earlier Greek texts even
less accessible, like Domenico Bassi’s (Herculanensium Voluminum Collectio Tertia, I [Milan:
U. Hoepli, 1914]) and Walter Scott’s (Fragmenta Herculanensia [Oxford: Clarendon,
1885]), of both of which the most that can be said is that the reader in the United
States can find them here and there with effort, and neither of which offers a trans-
lation even into Latin. There are excellent editions, easily available, of the very
fragmentary opening columns (1–9) and the well- preserved last three (37–39), with
translation and commentary in Italian, by Gigante, “L’inizio del quarto libro ‘della
Morte’ di Filodemo” and “La chiusa del quarto libro ‘della Morte’ di Filodemo,”
in Ricerche Filodemee 2 (Naples: G. Macchiaroli, 1983), 115–162, 163–234. The reader
 all things to all men 19

demus’ fragmentary treatise On Death is at any rate often noticed by

the specialists who have studied it as a striking exception to his usual
style, so often complained of as obscure and formless, almost impro-
visational in its long, sprawling sentence-structures. Indeed, even in
On Death Philodemus’ writing avoids just as militantly as elsewhere
the conventional rhetorical shapes given by anthesis, parallelism, and
periodic subordination to the prose of even the lesser writers of clas-
sical Attic Greek. Its only conventionally elegant formal characteristic
here as elsewhere is the avoidance of hiatus. But since this is equally
characteristic of Philodemus’ writing even in the most abstruse and
technical of his compositions, for example the fairly well-preserved
text of the treatise on pure logic On Signs and Inferences, it would be
reasonable to conjecture that this easy trick was simply an automatic
habit with Philodemus whenever he wrote or spoke to an audience
(as with many writers of Greek prose after Demosthenes had made
it fashionable).9 On the other hand, there is a warmth, enthusiasm,
and humanity in On Death, combined with a lively vivid humor in
many passages, a lack of embittered controversy with the views of
other schools, and a surprisingly liberal view of the integrity of ordi-
nary, unphilosophical human fears of death and ordinary human grief,
which sets the treatise apart from almost all the other philosophical
literature on the fear of death and the consolation of grief in antiq-
uity. Most of all, in the concluding pages, Philodemus achieves a
solemn, religious eloquence—unconventional, original, and deeply
emotional, yet consciously literary and (as we shall see) full of self-
referential tricks more like those of Hellenistic poetry than those of
philosophical prose—that has impressed every careful reader so far
as something extraordinary and far superior to his ordinary manner
and style.10 It is as though this peroration were a sudden and extra-

will see that I have tentatively offered a conjecture or two in the texts I quote. I
have given longer excerpts in this paper than I would otherwise have done to make
at least a fairly reliable version of the text more readily available.
9
For a brief but comprehensive survey of what can be said about Philodemus’
style and its characteristics, with a review of previous scholarship, see Dirk Obbink,
Philodemus on Piety, Part 1: Critical Text with Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), 86–88.
10
The appreciations of this passage are confined, as so often in Philodemus’ sec-
ondary literature, to the few who have worked with it in detail, but they are elo-
quent. See for example the appreciative comments of Kuiper, 107ff., Gigante “La
Chiusa,” 162–180, esp. 163–164 with note 1, and 180, and Philippson, RE
“Philodemus” 2476 (he praises esp. col. 38 and also cites an unusually beautiful
sentence in praise of Epicurus from fr. 8 of the On Epicurus as being elevated above
Philodemus’ normal style). Barbara Wallach, in Lucretius and the Diatribe Against the
20 david armstrong

ordinary exception to his usual stock in trade, violent controversy

with opponents, adamant adherence to his own and his master Zeno
of Sidon’s version of Epicureanism, and determined scholastic expo-
sition in defense of all the minutiae of this version against all com-
ers within the school or without. Here Philodemus makes a sudden
and successful excursion into the heights of that epideictic prose that
he considers in his On Rhetoric to be the essence of rhetoric, above
all mere political and forensic ends, and gives us for once an exam-
ple of what he could do in prose, if he tried, to equal the literary
heights he achieved in his poetic epigrams.11
It can, I think, be shown that these unusual rhetorical splendors
result from the effort to attract and impress a mixed audience, con-
taining philosophers of other schools than the Epicurean and also
laypersons—probably, in this age of the Roman Republic, both men
and women12—with the unique power of the school’s psychological
consolations for the fear of death and for grief over the death of
friends and family members. Whether Philodemus actually delivered
this peroration before such an audience is not an important issue,
but it can be shown that the reader is asked to imagine one. It can
also be argued that this is the probable reason why, of all surviving
Epicurean arguments against the fear of death, this treatise is the
most humane and liberal, sympathizing with and allowing for ordi-
nary human pain and fear at the thought of death, what Philodemus
calls its fusikÚn d∞gma or “natural sting.” His apparent understand-

Fear of Death (Leiden: Brill, 1976), 8 et passim, does not seem to differentiate between
the rather commonplace diatribe against anger in the De Ira and the masterpiece
that is the peroration of On Death, calling both “Bionean,” but does underline the
stylistic difference of the two passages from the rest of Philodemus’ work.
11
For these, see the new commentary of David Sider, The Epigrams of Philodemus:
Introduction, Text, and Commentary (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). The
best previous edition (with translation) was in A. S. F. Gow and Denys Lionel Page’s
The Greek Anthology: The Garland of Philip, and some contemporary epigrams (London:
Cambridge University Press, 1968).
12
A mixed audience of men and women is not to be excluded, both because
Roman audiences contained more women than Greek ones and because of the sur-
viving evidence about Philodemus’ work. None of Philodemus’ surviving dedications
are to women, but there is a striking passage on how to teach philosophy to women
in the school without wounding their sensitivities about their inferior educational
opportunities or making them burst into tears in On Frank Criticism, col. 22. I have
given what I think is conclusive evidence that Calpurnia, the wife of Caesar, and
her circle shared her father’s Epicurean convictions in my article, “The Addressees
of the Ars Poetica: Herculaneum, Epicurean Protreptic and the Pisones,” MD 31,
1994, 185–230 (200 n. 29).
 all things to all men 21

ing of ordinary human pain in this treatise goes far beyond anything
in, for example, Lucretius’ diatribe on death13 or for that matter
Philodemus’ own words in other, more sectarian treatises such as
“On Choices and Avoidances,” so well edited and presented recently
by Voula Tsouna and Giovanni Indelli.14 Many passages cannot be
made sense of fully, unless the audience is more like that for Paul’s
speech on the Areopagus—containing Stoics as well as Epicureans,
members of other schools, and also ordinary people eager to hear
“something new”—than scholars have previously imagined. That in
turn motivates Philodemus, while never departing from the strict
Epicurean denial of every possibility of life after death in any form,
to make a significant concession to his audience in the hope of win-
ning their assent. He admits that the very “blessed Nature,” ± makar¤a
fÊsiw, that the Epicureans thought worthy of thanks for making plea-
sure and happiness possible, also motivates at least and makes under-
standable even in the best of us the more noble aspects of our
frustrated desire to live and not die. In many situations, we find, the
Epicurean philosopher will simply allow tears and anguish their full
course, without any hint that his pupil is yielding to “womanish” or
unphilosophical emotions, before he tries to go further—and that
not merely with lay people but with the wise. Of course he will
retain his confidence that the pain his patient feels is curable, brief in
duration, and not a major impediment to the happiness of the wise

13
Philosophers as such are of course committed to taking Lucretius at his word
and examining what he gives as arguments against the fear of death in and for
themselves. It is therefore Lucretius 3.830–1094 that figures almost exclusively in
modern discussions of the Epicureans’ arguments against the fear of death. Of course
the larger imaginative perspective of Charles Segal’s Lucretius on Death and Anxiety
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), has not yet affected these discussions
as it deserves to, because it has so far been treated as mere literary criticism. This
is a book in which the whole poem, its terrifying conclusion as the present text
gives it included, is treated as a consolatio mortis still more large-minded and humane
than anything I argue for in Philodemus, and from that perspective Segal makes
us see the tirade against the fear of death in a much larger and nobler context. I
think the re-entrance of Philodemus’ point of view into the discussion will make
this perspective on Lucretius necessary even in philosophical argument. But per-
haps it will also make it possible to see less discord than Segal sees between Lucretius
as poet and as philosopher.
14
[Philodemus] [On Choices and Avoidances], ed. Giovanni Indelli and Voula Tsouna-
McKirahan, La Scuola di Epicuro,15 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1995). The brackets
express that strictly speaking neither the author nor the name of the treatise is
known, but the conjecture seems well founded to the editors; see the editors’ remarks
at the end of their preface, 66–70. Cf. Gigante, “Filodemo quale autore dell’Etica
Comparetti,” Richerche Filodemee 2, 245–76.
22 david armstrong

Epicurean. But pain it will be nonetheless, and this concession adds

a new and crucial dimension to our understanding of the Epicurean
therapy for the fear of dying.
Our surviving portion of On Death disposes of one or two ancillary
topics, before turning to its principal argument (cols. 12–39). These
are the refutation, or, where Philodemus considers refutation irrelevant
or unsympathetic, the sympathetic consolation of various objections
to specific kinds of deaths: dying young, dying friendless, dying unjustly
at the hands of a tyrant or a tyrannical democracy like Zeno the
Eleatic or Socrates, dying unburied or at sea, and so on. Before we
come to this sections, cols. 1–3 refute the idea that one loses some
possible good by dying: anyone who has achieved true happiness has
had all the happiness that eternity itself has to offer. In cols. 4–10
Philodemus is evidently discussing the possibility that at least some
deaths, if not all, involve no very violent pain, or are even pleasur-
able,15 and also argues that even violent deaths so thin out the faculty
of perception that it is doubtful the dying person continues to perceive
much. What sort of transition was made to the principal argument
in col. 11 is unknown: it is nearly illegible, at least so far as available
texts show. These earlier columns are quite fragmentary, and yet
here and there enough survives to show the striking attractiveness
and unconventionality of Philodemus’ style and presentation:
. . . ]e tal[a]¤pvrow §poi[m≈zei 30
o·v]n §st°rhtai dialelu[m°now tÚ
s«m]a Ípãrxvn. §pixe≈m[eya . . .
. efi]rhm°noiw DiÚw svt∞r[ow diÒti
tØn ≤]donØn ıpÒsow xrÒnow t«i é[n-
yr≈pƒ]16 paraskeuãzein p°fuken ˜t[an 35
tiw aÈ]t∞w katalãbh[i] toÁw ˜rouw tÒ
yÉ ëm]a tÚ sãrkinon eÈyÁw épola-
be›n t]Ú m°geyow t∞w ≤don∞w ˜pe[r
ka‹ ı] êpeirow xrÒnow periepo¤h[sen ||
‡son]
. . . and in his wretchedness laments over what things he has been
deprived of when he exists with his body dissolved. But let us pour

15
A commonplace in the literature of consolation, cf. Cicero, Tusculans 1.82 and
the parallels (starting with Plato, Timaeus 81e) in Max Pohlenz’s note ad loc., De
Ciceronis Tusculansis disputationibus (Göttigen: W. F. Kaestner, 1909).
16
Following Kuiper’s restoration of t«i é[nyr≈pƒ)] in preference to Gigante’s
ë[panti], though the sense remains much the same.
 all things to all men 23

[libations] to Zeus Soter,17 (for the) reasons stated, because any amount
of time is of the nature to provide pleasure to a man,18 when a per-
son understands the limits of it (pleasure), and the fact, also, that
human flesh speedily achieves the exact same intensity of pleasure that
eternity itself has ever encompassed . . .19 (3.30–4.1)
(Col. 8)
[sumbÆ-
seta¤ te katå tÚn lÒ[gon toÊtvn metÉ
ê[k]rvn élghdÒnvn §[pig¤nesyai tåw
teleutãw, éjioÊntv[n é]dÊn[aton e‰nai
tØn énup°rblhton lÊ.esyai su[mfu˝-
an mØ metÉ ÙxlÆsev[w] énuperb[lÆtou. 5
FÆsom°n ge tØn sumpãy<e>ian pr[Úw tÚ
s«ma t∞w cux∞w, efi ka‹ tå pollå n[Òsou
[[met]] <t∞w> ÙxlÆsevw afit¤aw [oÎsh]w μ p[u]k[noÊ-
s]hw ésumm°trvw tå m[°lh t]«n z≈[ivn
μ diÛstanoÊshw, éllÉ oÈ f[am°n] ge éd[Êna- 10
ton luy∞na¤ potÉ aÈtØn [êll]hw tuxo[Ësan
. . . ] •teroi≈sevw ¥tiw ka‹ [§s]t¤ tinow
é]lg[hdÒ]now a[fi]t¤a.20 l[ep]tomer¢w går
s«m]a ka‹ tel°vw eÈk¤n[hton ≤] c[u]xØ ka[‹
di]å toËtÉ §k mikrotãt[v]n s[un]°sthk[e 15

17
Gigante well compares the libations of the two philosophical martyrs Seneca
and Thrasea Pactus at their deaths to Jupiter Liberator, Tacitus Ann. 15.63, 16.35
(the only time this title for Jupiter occurs in Latin).
18
Or t«i ë[panti] (Gigante), “to every man.” As Philodemus most often uses
diÒti after a vowel and to avoid hiatus (cf. Obbink, Philodemus on Piety, 87), line 33
might be better as . . . svt∞r[ow, ˜ti pç-|san ≤]donØn, or some other adjective, e.g.
tele¤an, êfaton (conjectures for which I thank Jeffrey Fish): “because any amount
of time is of the nature to provide every (perfect, indescribable) pleasure to a man.”
Cf. Epicurus, KD 19 (= SV 22), “limited time and infinite time provide equal plea-
sure, if a man measures its limits by reasoning,” and 20, “The flesh believes the
limits of pleasure unlimited and that unlimited time is required to acquire it, but
the understanding, taking into account the end and limits of the flesh, and dis-
solving its fears concerning eternity, prepares the perfect life, and has no longer
need of unlimited time; but neither refuses pleasure nor troubles itself about its
departure from life, as if it died lacking something of the best life.” Philodemus
here attempts not unsuccessfully to imitate these sayings with a new eloquence of
his own.
19
Cf. Epicurus, SV 33, “The voice of the flesh is for not being hungry, not
being thirsty, not being cold, and a man that has these things and can expect to
keep having them could contest even with <Zeus> in happiness.” For further par-
allels cf. Gigante ad loc., “L’Inizio” 131–139.
20
Kuiper ad loc. suggests [êll]hw tuxo[Ësan] •teroi≈sevw <μ> ¥tiw ka[mÒn]ti tinÚw
[∑n] [é]lg[hdÒ]now afitia, “finding some other change than that which was indeed
the cause of pain to the sick man.” This gives something more like what must have
been the sense, though the hiatus before ¥tiw is improbable. I have assumed the
pain was meant to be small in my translation.
24 david armstrong

ka‹ lei]otãtvn ka‹ perife[re]stã[t]vn,

die]s[par]m°nh ka‹ parå toËto pollØn
eÈ]por¤a[n p]ar°[x]ousa[[i]], p«w oÈ[k] §j¤pta-
tai d[iå t«n §to¤m]vn pÒrvn §n tª sa[r-
k‹ p[leÒnvn] μ m[ur¤v]n; [§]k t¤now [dØ] kín 20
e‡p[vm]e[n élghdÒn]o[w] afit¤a[n e‰nai
tØ[n t«n toioÊtvn diã]krisin l¤. [an de-
do¤ka[sin, ∏w tãxistÉ é]poteteles-
m°[nhw énaisyhtÆsomen; . . .] am [ . . .
sun[ . . . . . . . . . . . . ]vn t[ . . . ]n 25
a[ . . . . . . . . . t°]rcevw a-
. . . . . . . . . . . .]aka[ . . .
toÁw ép[ospasmoÁw] sumba[¤n]ei
kata [ . . . . . . ]aiper [ . . . ]rouw d[i]å
. ]nron[ . . . . . k]ín e‚ tiw §peidÆper [§k 30
t«n] toioÊtv[n] sun°sthken [é]ji≈ih d[Ø
tar]attÒntvn katå tØn sÊnkris[in
oÏ]tvw meyÉ ≤don∞w g¤n[esyai tåw
te]leutãw, oÈk ín ép¤yan[on l°goi, ka-
tå toË]to m¢n sumba¤ne[i lÊesyai
tØn] énup°rblhton koinv[n¤an meyÉ ≤do- 35
n∞w] ka[‹ t]°rcevw. ka‹ gå[r . . . . . . . . .
. . gerÒ]ntvn met[bol . . . . . . . . . .
(Col. 9)
me]tå tinaw m°yaw ka‹ k≈[mouw xv-
r‹w] pÒnou [ka]yaper §p‹ t∞w a[ÈjÆsevw
t∞w] épo t«n paid¤vn §p‹ tØ[n ék]mØ[n
ka‹] t∞w èp[ã]shw épo t«n êk[r]vn fy¤-
sevw] §p‹ tÚ g∞raw. g¤nontai d¢ neani- 5
«n] metabola‹ ka‹ diÉ ésumm°trvn
kinh]mãtvn Àsper efiw Ïpnon toË
mhk]vn¤ou. plØn ka‹ tÚ bia¤ou[w g¤]nes-
yai t]oÁw épospasmoÁw t∞w cux∞w épÚ
toË s≈]matow ka‹ diå toËto tØn meg¤s- 10
thn •t]ero¤vsin [§p]akolouye›n. é[ra]i≈[sei
tØn afisyh]tik[Ø]n ß[ji]n. oÈ [gå]r §j énãgkhw
p¤ptein oÈ]d¢ k[atå tØ]n À[ran] ¶tou[w …]w kar-
poÁw épÚ t«]n d°ndrv[n—] élla ( . . . )
8. . . . and it will result according to their argument that all deaths are
accompanied by extreme pain, since they claim it is impossible that
this, the height of all natural unions, can be dissolved without the
height of all anguish. But we shall say of that sympathy of the soul
with the body, that even if for the most part sickness is the cause of
pain, as it either abnormally condenses or swells the limbs of living
things, [10] still we say that it is not impossible that this sympathy
should somehow be dissolved by coming to some different alteration,
 all things to all men 25

which is (indeed) the cause of some (minor) pain. For the soul is a
body that consists of tiny particles, and is exceedingly mobile, and thus
is composed of the smallest and smoothest and roundest atoms. And
it is scattered (throughout the body), and because of this can easily do
so;21 so why does it not just fly out through the pores in the flesh that
are there ready for it, more than ten thousand of them? For what rea-
son, indeed, even if we admit that the separation of such elements is
a cause of pain, do men fear it excessively, since the minute this sep-
aration has been accomplished [we shall be unconscious?]22 . . . [with]
enjoyment . . . (c. 13 lines unintelligible)
. . . these tearings-apart (?) happen to be . . . Indeed, if, since the soul
is made up of such things, a person should even claim that when
things disturb (them) in their union in this manner, our deaths come
with pleasure, he would say nothing unpersuasive, and then on the
one hand it would happen that this height of all unions dissolves with
pleasure and enjoyment, and in fact . . . the departure of the old . . .
9. [or of the dissolute?] after certain drunkennesses and banquets
comes about as painlessly as our growth from children to maturity and
our entire gradual decline from maturity to old age. And sometimes
young men suffer the change (from life to death) through irregular
motions as if (sinking) into a sleep produced by poppy-flower.23 But in
fact even the occurrence of violent separations of soul from body, and
the very great alteration following because of it, will [thin out] the fac-
ulty of perception; for this does not occur from necessity or in its due
season of year, as when fruits fall from the trees, (but) . . . (8.1–9.14)
In this second passage both the eloquence and the informality are
even more on show than in the first. One need only consider the
startling anacoluthon created by the resumptive oÎ famen after fÆsom°n
ge in 8.6–10 (which I have tried to reproduce in my translation) for
the informality, and the last three sentences (8.30–10.14) with their
loose casual connectives and crowded rush of brilliant imagery, for
both the informality and the eloquence at once.24 Thus even through

21
pollØn | eÈ]por¤a[n p]ar°[x]ousa in Greek (Gigante’s reading, after Hayter)
appears to be a pun on the following allusion to the body’s many pÒroi.
22
And therefore, of course, we must logically feel less and less as it advances.
Philodemus does not believe that the moment of death itself is or can be particu-
larly painful.
23
mhk]≈nion is used rather of the poppy-flower than opium: cf. LSJ s.v. To trans-
late it just “opium” here spoils Philodemus’ imagery, which goes back to the famous
image in Homer of Priam’s son Gorgythion sinking “like a poppy flower” under
an ax-blow (Il. 8.306–308). The supplement is Gomperz’ (Hayter’s Ùc]vn¤ou, “tid-
bits of food,” does not convince). See also Gigante, “L’Inizio” 158.
24
Other features of Philodemus’ style are illustrated here too: note the hyperbatic
placement of tar]attÒntvn in 8.32, exemplifying one of the few striking characteristics
26 david armstrong

the damaged state of the text one can see that this is rhetoric, not
just argument, that Philodemus is trying to appeal to the emotions
as well as the reason. We can say that his style exemplifies the kind of
epideictic rhetoric, the belletristic striving for pure beauty in language
that, he argues in On Rhetoric, constitutes the archetype of rhetorical
style.25 And yet it derives its beauty and power precisely from the air
of sincerity and emotional earnestness that comes from the avoidance
of artificial and obvious rhetorical devices such as Isocratean balance,
antithesis and symmetry, relying instead on originality of thought
and on poetic imagery. Or in philosophical terms, we can say that
his style is protreptic, a rhetoric to convince potential initiates, like
the contemporary poetry of Lucretius26—a style the Epicureans only
used with caution, arguing as they usually did that sober and ana-
lytic prose, not elegant rhetoric and still less poetry, was best fitted
to convey truth. Epicurus himself seems not to have used rhetoric
at all, but Philodemus argued that the use of protreptic rhetoric to
put things “before the eyes,” prÚ Ùmmãtvn (On Anger 4.16) and make
them more accessible to the imagination could have medical value
and so was worth borrowing even from the Stoics (On Anger 4.4–24
Indelli); this attitude makes his manner here more explainable.
In the only other example we have of Philodemus’ resorting to
extensive rhetorical heightening to make his points in the course of
an ethical treatise, it seems that he first apologizes at length for the
usefulness of rhetoric and emotional heightening to disgust the pupil
with the effects of anger (De Ira col. 1–8.8). He then gives his presum-
ably delighted and amused pupils an extended parody or imitation of
how the Stoic diatribe style of vivid denunciation and ridicule of the
angry could be used in Epicurean terms to discourage anger (8.20–
31.24).27 The minute he has finished he recurs to his usual cold, ana-

of his style besides the avoidance of conventional balance, his love of hyperbaton.
The casual way in which he frequently uses m°n . . . d° contrasts, avoiding cut-and-
dried antithesis, is well illustrated by the way in which the m°n of 8.32 is appar-
ently answered, if it is answered at all, by plØn ka¤ in 9.8.
25
For this aspect of Philodemus’ rhetorical theory, G. M. A. Grube, The Greek
and Latin Critics (London: Methuen, 1965), 200–206, is still the most easily avail-
able exposition in English.
26
On Lucretius’ use of poetry and poetic style to make Epicureanism appealing
to non-Epicureans, cf. Carl Joachim Classen, “Poetry and Rhetoric in Lucretius,”
Probleme der Lukrezforschung, (Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1983), 331–73 = TAPA 1968
77–118, and the chapter “Lucretius and the Reader” in Diskin Clay, Lucretius and
Epicurus (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993), 256–309.
27
The uniqueness of the rhetorical disquisitions in On Anger and On Death com-
pared to Philodemus’ usual manner is noticed by Wallach, 8.
 all things to all men 27

lytic and sarcastic argumentative style for the rest of the treatise.28
In On Death, so far as we know, the epideictic style prevailed from
beginning to end of the treatise; it certainly pervades all the surviving
columns of book IV. And there is no apology for the use of rhetoric,
either, as in On Anger. The treatise ends, uniquely in our surviving
Philodemean literature (and we have ends of many books, if beginnings
of very few), in a perfect blaze of unapologetic rhetorical magnificence
and poetic artifice. Philodemus’ usual manner is to end undramatically
(as in Poetics V or De Musica IV or De Ira) with a series of tidyings-
up of minor objections and lesser points. Nor does the subject of death
move Philodemus elsewhere to any special eloquence just as a subject.
A fine comparison in a treatise clearly addressed to fellow Epicureans
is the section on death and its impact on the fool compared to the
wise man that concludes [On Choices and Avoidances] (to give that trea-
tise the editors’ title, cf. note 14, above), cols. 17–23. Here, the argu-
ment that most of the confusion, pain and useless greed and ambition
of fools’ lives comes from the fear of death—a topic that inspired
Lucretius to high poetry, e.g. DRN 3.41–93—and that the wise man’s
plans by contrast are always moderate and rational and take death
fully into account, is put in Philodemus’ grayest utilitarian prose from
beginning to end. The concluding sentence reads equally like an
anticlimax in the Greek and the editors’ translation (“And feeling
confidence against illness and death, he endures with strength the
therapies that can remove them,” [On Choices and Avoidances] 23.
9–12).29 By contrast, On Death employs, as we shall see, every sort
of rhetorical and poetic artifice, and especially in the fine perora-
tion at the end, to persuade its audience.
It is only, however, in the longer passage arguing against objections
to dying that occur in particular cases, such as when someone dies
young, that we find evidence of who the intended audience for this
epideictic rhetoric is. The audience of On Anger is certainly Epicurean
and probably members of Philodemus’ own school at Naples, for a
long section in the middle is addressed directly to members of the
school and pictures vividly how the individual’s lessons in school and

28
For the unique and startling character of the diatribe section and its striking
difference in style from the rest of the treatise, cf. Filodemo: de l’Ira: edizione, traduzione
e commento, ed. Giovanni Indelli, La Scuola di Epicuro 5 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988),
24–28.
29
“Alleviate them,” as suggested by Dirk Obbink in his review, OSAPh 15 (1997)
280 n. 69, would of course be more logical.
28 david armstrong

the life of the school as a whole can be disturbed by unrestrained

anger (18.34–21.40). The later, argumentative sections argue fairly
abstrusely for the Epicureans’—or rather the Zenonian Epicureans’,
as Philodemus is arguing also against other Epicureans here—strict
definition of what sort of anger is a virtuous emotion. By contrast,
the impact of the arguments in On Death nowhere depends on accep-
tance of any technical position in Epicureanism, though of course the
speaker himself assumes some of them, especially the absolute mortality
of the human soul. Many passages are deliberately couched so as to
appeal to any person interested in philosophy, and praise the instinct
of ordinary people in certain matters as being pro tanto as right as
any philosopher’s. Other passages praise philosophers who are not
Epicurean or atomist, along with and beside Epicureans and atom-
ists, in a way not usual with Philodemus. Although these features all
have parallels in other ancient treatises on death and the fear of
death, some other references seem to me to show decisively that
Philodemus is addressing an audience which contains members of
other philosophical schools, and also Romans as well as Greeks.
An example of On Death’s unusual liberalism towards the virtues
of ordinary men and philosophers of other schools is found in the
splendid conclusion of Philodemus’ argument that one should not
fear to die unjustly at the hands of a tyrant, whether a monarch or
a tyrannical democracy, such as killed Socrates (cols. 34–35). This,
as we will see below, is one of those cases that give “natural pain”
even to the wise, but a pain that can be endured, in this case because
of one’s conviction of innocence. A good man will not be troubled
by the thought that he alone has suffered injustice, says Philodemus
ironically in conclusion,
ka‹
går mur¤ouw o‰de ka‹ t«n §pifanestã-
tvn fyÒnvi ka‹ diabol∞i peripesÒn-
taw [¶]n te dÆmoiw ka‹ parå dunãstaiw,
ÍpÚ d¢ turãnnvn ka‹ toÁw ér¤stouw
mãlista ka‹ basile›w ÍpÚ basil°vn, 5
pe¤yetai d¢ ka‹ toÁw katagnÒntaw ¶n
te t«.i pant‹ b¤vi tetimvr∞syai prÚw
t∞w §n aÈto›w kak¤aw ka‹ diÉ aÈtÚn me-
tamele¤aiw polla›w ÙdunÆsesyai dusxer°ste- 10
ron ÍpÉ êllvn. §gΔ d¢ yaumãzv t«n
éb¤vton ≤goum°nvn tÚ katagnvs-
 all things to all men 29

y∞nai ka‹ taËtÉ oÈ.x. ÍpÚ spouda¤vn, él-

lÉ ÍpÚ x.eir¤stvn ényr≈pvn, mçllon
d¢ yh[r]¤vn, efi makar¤vw ≤goË[n]tai be-
bivk°. nai ka‹ bi≈.sesyai toÁ[w] pampo-
nÆro[u]w m°n, époluom°nouw d¢ diabo-
l«n ≥. mhdÒlvw diaballom[°]nouw
parå to›w toioÊtoiw., ¶ti dÉ efi mØ. nom¤-
zousin [k]a[‹] t«n fronimvtã[tvn] tÚn 20
b¤on e‰n[ai] tala¤pvron, e‡per ¶s[ti] sum-
forå t[Ú g¤]nesyai peripet∞ to›.[w] toioÊ-
toiw, prolamb[ã]nontaw ‡svw ¶se[s]yai ka‹
per‹ •a[u]t[oÁw], §peidØ tÊxhw efi[s‹]n ¶r-
gon. oÏ.[tv] dɧst‹ pistÚn tÚ gen[n]a¤vw 25
dÊnasyai [f]°. [re]in tå toiaËta to[Á]w ére-
t[h]fÒrouw t«n [é]ndr«.n, Àste ka[‹] t«n
fi.divt«.[n] pãr[es]tin yevr[e›n t]in[a]w oÈ-
k eÈlÒfvw mÒnon Í[p]of°ronta[w], él-
lå ka‹ k[a]tanvtizom°nouw t«.n di-
atiy°ntvn: [¶]a går e[fi] Svkrãthw ka‹ ZÆ-
nvn ı ÉE[l]eãth[w] ka‹ ÉAn[ã]jarxow, Àw tinew
flst[o]roË.[si], ka[‹ t]inew êlloi t«n filoso-
fhsãntvn.
For in fact he knows of ten thousands of the most excellent who fell
by envy and slander, both in democracies and at the courts of princes;
and by tyrants’ hands the best men more than any, and kings by the
hand of kings, and has faith too that those who condemned him are
punished already throughout their own life out of the evil inside them-
selves, and on his account will be anguished with many a pang of
repentance, and probably also will themselves later be hurt yet more
horribly by others. But I am amazed at them, who think it unen-
durable to be condemned, and that not by good men, but by the
worst of them, beasts rather; if they think that those live happily and
will live happily, who are very evil, but acquitted of slanders, or not
slandered at all among such men as these; and then, if they do not
think the life even of the most intelligent of us to be wretched, if in
fact it is a misfortune to become vulnerable to such men.30 But per-
haps they anticipate that this will happen to themselves also, since they
are (?)31 the work of chance. But it is so certain that the standard-
bearers of virtue among men can endure such things nobly, that one

30
Another striking example of the improvisatory structure of Philodemus’ peri-
ods, and of his overuse of double negatives and litotes.
31
Or possibly the scribe wrote efisin by error for §stin, “since this is the work
of chance.”
30 david armstrong

can see even ordinary men not just enduring with neck unbowed, but
displaying the profoundest contempt for those who put them there, let
alone Socrates,32 and Zeno the Eleatic,33 and Anaxarchus as historians
tell us, and others of the philosophers. [34.37–35.30]
So also in col. 29.10–12, Philodemus remarks that most of the philoso-
phers, “not just Epicurus and Metrodorus,” have lived as glorious
lives and died as edifying a death as any warrior on the battlefield;
and at 31.1 he says that Epicurus and Plato were both greater men
than Alexander’s magnificently entombed friend Hephaestion (as part
of the argument that to be buried humbly or not at all is nothing
to be feared). Does this unusual liberalism on his part indicate a
mixed audience of Epicureans and non-Epicureans? I think this is
certain from a significant phrase at col. 32.24–31:
t¤w, ín d[Ø m]etå
taËta diã tin[ow] afit¤aw gum[n]vy∞<i> 25
tå le¤ca[n]ã t[in]ow, ˘ pollãk[i]w [o‡]da-
m[e]n geg[onÒw], o[fik]trÚn ≤gÆsetai tÚn
oÈk ˆnt[a]; t[¤w dÉ o]Èk ên peisye[¤]h [k]a[‹]
toÁw pe[rie]stalm°nouw ka‹ [toÁw é-]
tãfouw [efi]w ë po[t]e nom¤zei s[toix]e›- 30
a pãntaw énaluyÆsesyai;
Who, if indeed at some later time for some reason some dead per-
son’s bones do get exposed, as we know has often happened, will con-
sider this non-existent person pitiable? Who would not be persuaded,
that both those who are properly laid out and those who are not
buried at all will dissolve into whatever he may believe to be the elements into
which all men dissolve? 34

32
It is important to note that Philodemus elsewhere—speaking to Epicureans in
his normal voice—takes the doctrinaire point of view that Socrates’ condemnation
is not an illustration of the power of rhetoric to overcome virtue, because not being
an Epicurean he had not the right virtues anyway (Rhetoric VII, cols. XXIX–XXX
Sudhaus I pp. 265–7). See the comments on this passage by Eduardo Acosta Méndez
and Anna Angeli, Filodemo, Testimomianze su Socrate, La Scuola di Epicuro 13 (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1992), 243–49. Here, therefore, he may well be conciliating his audi-
ence by speaking with more admiration of Socrates than he would have used in
addressing an audience composed only of other Epicureans.
33
Zeno the Eleatic, and Anaxarchus the Democritean, the teacher of Pyrrho,
the founder of Skepticism, died violently at the hands of tyrants; above, in col.
34.1–3, Philodemus gave Socrates as an additional example, and also the Homeric
hero Palamedes, and Alexander’s unjustly executed friend Callisthenes.
34
It reinforces this point, I think, that Philodemus has said, in discussing pain
at the prospect of one’s body corrupting in the grave, that all men skeleto‹ g¤non-
tai, tÚ d¢ p°raw efiw tåw pr≈taw énal[Ê]ontai fÊseiw, “become skeletons, then dissolve
into their primal natures,” 30.3—here too apparently using fÊseiw as a neutral word
for “elements” that will not entail the doctrine of atoms.
 all things to all men 31

If there is any non-negotiable point in Epicureanism, it is what the

elements consist in, namely the atoms. Consequently, it seems to me,
the audience cannot be composed of doctrinaire Epicureans. But the
audience is also not all lay people, since those would have no spe-
cial beliefs about the minima of matter. The audience must include
philosophers of various schools, with various different beliefs about
them, but who all accept that bodies buried or unburied dissolve
into at least some kind of elements. I take this sentence to be con-
clusive proof that Philodemus was addressing this treatise both in its
spoken and its written version to a mixed audience of Epicureans
and believers in other schools, and probably also believers in none.
Many details of Philodemus’ presentation become much clearer if
this is understood. A wise youth like Pythocles, he says in col. 19, has
enjoyed all the happiness there is in life, and though there is no rea-
son not to live longer, he loses nothing by dying. “But the fool will
have no happiness worthy of consideration to forget, not even if he
lasts out the years of Tithonus,35 nor is it more alien to his nature
to depart hence, once he is born, by the swiftest road and right
now, than to leave life more slowly—even if we would not advise
him thus” (19.33–20.1). Surely, the artistic effect here is that Philode-
mus pretends for a moment to forget that the Epicureans counseled
in all circumstances against suicide, even for fools, and then rights
himself by pretending to remember “our” doctrine just in time—a
charming rhetorical effect, which would be lost on an audience of
fellow-believers, and also lost without an audience containing peo-
ple who knew their philosophy well enough to appreciate the joke.
But perhaps what becomes clearer on this supposition is not only
the rhetorical tone of the treatise but the reasons for the style and
manner of the philosophy of death Philodemus gives us here. We
will see that the most complete section we have is a peroration; it
is also a reply, in its way, to objections that people still make to the
Epicurean theory of death and dying—and no doubt, therefore, it
preempts objections people made even then. In particular, we may
note that Philodemus has a reply (or at least an implied reply) to
give to both of the two objections which seem to have pre-empted
most of the voluminous modem debate about Epicurus’ arguments on
death and dying.36

35
The mythological lover of the Dawn, who gave him eternal life, but not eter-
nal youth, so that he lives on forever feeble and senile.
36
For a good overview of this debate, see the chapter on Lucretius’ view of
32 david armstrong

First, much of this literature deals with Epicurus’ and Lucretius’ doc-
trine that the indifference with which we regard time after our death
and the events to come in it should be equal to that which we unde-
niably regard the time before we were born—the “symmetry argu-
ment,” as it is called. Philodemus unfortunately does not confront
the possible objections to this argument head on in our surviving
texts. But in fact his reply to them is implied in much that he says.
One way of stating the symmetry argument which would com-
mand ready assent even from a modern person is the following case.
It is no more a matter of concern to an individual that she should
live to see the Big Crunch or the Big Fadeout, whichever is to end
the universe, than that she missed the Big Bang. Perhaps most peo-

death in Martha Nussbaum’s The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic
Ethics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 192–239, itself based on her
earlier “Mortal Immortals: Lucretius on Death and the Voice of Nature,” Philosophy
and Phenomenal Research 50, 1989, 303–351. Some chief contributions: “The Makropulos
Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality,” in Bernard Williams, Problems of
the Self (London: Cambridge University Press, 1973); F. Miller, “Epicurus on the
Art of Dying,” Southern Journal of Philosophy 14 (1976), 169–77; Thomas Nagel,
“Death” in Mortal Questions (London: Cambridge University Press, 1979); Harry
Silverstein, “The Evil of Death,” The Journal of Philosophy 77 (1980), 401–424; “Harm
and Self-Interest,” in Joel Feinberg, Rights, Justice and the Bounds of Liberty (Princeton,
Princeton University Press, 1980); Ernest Partridge, “Posthumous Interests and
Posthumous Respect,” Ethics 91 (1981), 243–64; O. H. Green, “Fear of Death,”
Philosophy and Phenomenal Research 43 (1982), 99–105; Amélie Rorty, “Fearing Death,”
Philosophy 58 (1983), 175–88; George Pitcher, “The Misfortunes of the Dead,” American
Philosophical Quarterly 21 (1984), 183–88; Anthony L. Brueckner and John Martin
Fischer, “Why is Death Bad?,” Philosophical Studies 50 (1986), 213–27; David Furley,
“Nothing to Us?” in The Norms of Nature: Studies in Hellenistic Ethics, ed. Malcolm
Schofield and Gisela Striker (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 75–91;
Steven Luper-Foy, “Annihilation,” Philosophical Quarterly 37 (1987), 233–52 (an espe-
cially brilliant piece on whose arguments Philodemus’ On Death could have shed
much light); Palle Yourgrau, “The Dead,” Journal of Philosophy 84 (1987), 84–101;
F. M. Kamm, “Why is Death Bad and Worse than Pre-Natal Non-Existence?,”
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 69 (1988), 161–64; Philip Mitsis, “Epicurus on Death
and Duration,” PBACAP 4 (1988), 303–322; Fred Feldman, “On Dying as a Process,”
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 50 (1989), 375–89; Ishtiyaque Haji, “Pre-Vital
and Post-Vital Times,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 72 (1991), 171–80; Brueckner
and Fischer, “Death’s Badness,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 74 (1993), 37–45; Walter
Glannon, “Epicureanism and Death,” The Monist 76 (1993), 222–34. Except for
Stephen Rosenbaum’s brilliant defenses of Epicurus’ positions in detail, “How to
Be Dead and Not Care: a Defense of Epicurus,” American Philosophical Quarterly 23
(1986), 217–25, “The Symmetry Argument: Lucretius Against the Fear of Death,”
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 50 (1989), 353–73, “Epicurus and Annihilation,”
Philosophical Quarterly 39 (1989), 81–90, “Epicurus on Pleasure and the Complete
Life,” The Monist 73 (1990), 21–41, most of these articles would have needed rad-
ical revision had Philodemus’ On Death been part of modern scholarship’s appara-
tus of Epicurean texts.
 all things to all men 33

ple would agree that what is to happen many generations from now
after many human lifetimes have expired matters almost as little.
The fact that I will not see 2300 c.e. is not a great concern to me,
no more than that I did not see the world of 1600 c.e. But the
nearer we get to our own time the less this symmetry seems to apply.
I was born in 1940, and am perfectly content to apprehend the
1930’s (no halcyon era anyway!) from films and books, but decades
that could potentially belong to my life and probably will not I am
indeed somewhat afraid to miss. But here the reason seems fairly
clear: I had no personal interests and connections with the progress
of things in the 1930’s, but I do now, connections with people and
interests that will continue then in my absence. So if I regret that
I won’t live till 2050 or near it, what I regret is the breaking off of
all sorts of stories and interests in which I am personally involved.
It seems as if it were a major argumentative mistake on Lucretius’
part, which modern writers justly reproach, to introduce this so-
called symmetry as a consolation for not being there tomorrow, or the
next decade—even though I think most could agree the more time
I add, a hundred years perhaps, the less pressing the need to survive
must become. The closer I get to my own times and to the length
of a plausible human life, the less impressive the argument from sym-
metry becomes. But this must be because my unconsciousness in
death will be breaking off relationships, plans, involvements, everything
that constitutes my life in society, in a way that my unconsciousness
of everything before birth right up to the moment before did not.
Philodemus seems to have intuited this distinction. The one time,
at any rate, he brings up the annihilating thought of the vast abyss
of time before and after our birth, and of the mortality of the universe
itself, he does so only as a conclusion to one of his topics, as a sort
of reductio ad absurdum when he has already dealt with the meaning
of loss in the present context. In cols. 35–36 he is arguing against
the pain of fearing one will be forgotten—one more of his many (he
concedes) fusikå dÆgmata, natural pains, that death carries, but in
this case probably the reward of evil: “in many cases this is the result
of a friendless life, that is,” he adds bitingly, “one that has had noth-
ing good about it” (35.36–39). If a good man has lost the friends
who should remember him before dying he will “in the large pic-
ture lose nothing he needs, for we need these things not for their
own sake, but that of the approved life which it is their nature to
accompany; and so when that life is completed what anxiety will
34 david armstrong

come to us for that which is nothing to us nor even in our mind?”

(35.39–36.8). It is only after this that he adds that no one will be
remembered, nor should want to be remembered, literally forever:
éllå mØn efi sumforå [tÚ] mØ mnhmone[Ê-]
esyai, toÁw [p]l.e¤stouw ≤[g]ht°on ofiktroÁ[w
gegon°na<i> t«n Íparjã[n]tvn éfÉ o[ dÆ-]
po]t[e] xrÒno[u] m[n]Æmhw ±.j.i≈yh [ti Í-]
pãrxon, ëp[a]ntaw d¢ to[Áw] prÒtero[n], §-
pei]dÆper [oÈd]e‹w oÈd¢[n fls]tÒr[h]sen [Íp¢]r
aÈ]t«n: oÈ.[k] ín fyãno[i]men d¢ k[a‹ p]ãn-
t]aw èp[l«w] toÁw gegon[Òta]w μ. [ka‹] ge-
n]hsom[°]no[uw] §n t«i kÒ[s]mvi, f[yar]°n-
t]ow går [o]Èd[e‹]w mnhmo[n]eÊ[sei, pçw §j≈-]37
lhw [gãr].
But in fact if it’s a misfortune not to be remembered, we must think
most men who have lived since that time when some remembrance
came to be thought worthy of preservation, and all men who lived
before it, to have become wretched, since nobody has told any story
about any of them. Or why should we hesitate to call simply every-
body that’s been born and everybody that will be born in the whole
universe such, since when that falls apart nobody will remember them,
for it will (all?) be out of existence? (36.17–25)
Philodemus’ main concern is in fact with the breaking off of good
things in life, that is, with the loss to the dead person of those things
that he planned to, or might potentially, have done. Even if he or
she does not feel this loss it remains a loss, just as the secret enmity
or contempt of our friends is an evil to us even if we do not know
of it.38 Philodemus’ response is threefold, and only one part of it is
common in other Epicurean literature and figures in modern discussions
of Epicurean attitudes to death. This is the first part, the argument
that (as we have already seen him say) pleasure once fully experienced
is not time-dependent, and is completely fulfilling. Once we have
experienced even for a short time the same pleasure as the gods—
that is, fulfillment of basic needs and freedom from the fear that this
will not continue—we can depart after that, having missed nothing
of a full life for ourselves as individuals. Modern critics are at least aware

37
Kuiper prints this conjecture of his father W. Kuiper, which is spatio longius,
but it would work just as well without pçw.
38
As Nagel first argued in “Death,” n. 36 above, 404, a point much discussed
in the succeeding literature.
 all things to all men 35

of this argument, although it does not figure largely in their discussion.

It is not exclusive to Philodemus, but merely common Epicurean
doctrine, grounded in the master’s own surviving writings.39
The other two, however, are not found in other surviving Epicurean
literature, and have been ignored in modern discussion, presumably
because the text was considered barely available, too difficult without
a translation (or with only the Dutch one available), or too problematic.
It is my contention that they are drawn out of Philodemus by the
desire to convince an audience of skeptics. But it also seems not
improbable they were advanced long before him in lost writings of
the school, because their rhetorical and emotional value is more uni-
versal and less dependent on the particular Epicurean doctrine of
pleasure. These are, that (1) while a desire for more pleasure in length
of life for oneself and simpliciter is either irrelevant (for we have had
it fully already) or brings one down again to the consideration of
trivial and unnecessary pleasures, one must acknowledge that the
prospect of death as an interruption of one’s virtuous and benevolent
plans for friends and for the survival of one’s good name among
them is “naturally painful,” indeed, causes us pain intended by nature
as a motivation to stay alive. This is a pain that should be felt by a
wise person—indeed by wise persons more than others, since their
plans are the best grounded in reason and thus the most compelling
to them. Though it can be consoled by reason, it must and should
be felt. This concession alone is enough to throw a monkey wrench
into most of the modern discussion of Epicurean views of death,
because it is assumed, since no other surviving text says this, that
an Epicurean cannot make such a concession consistently with the
school’s doctrine of happiness; but in fact, as we shall see, he can.
The other argument, which forms the basis of Philodemus’ extra-
ordinary peroration at the end, is again new, though equally con-
sistent with the school’s basic doctrine. It is held in reserve against
the possible objection that the sage in that case, since he is exposed
by nature to real mental pain at the thought of the ruin of his plans
and his reputation by death, is not really happy. This is (2) that
being wise entails the firm and permanent contemplation of death
as part of life, the knowledge that the surprise, as Philodemus argues,
is not that we should die but that given the universality and

39
Again, see Gigante’s excellent note on 3.32–39, “L’Inizio,” 118.
36 david armstrong

omnipresent possibility of death the surprising thing is life. Once we

realize this we are no longer so much afraid of death as we are
both much more thankful for life and for every day of it we are
improbably given, and able to accept death at any and every moment
as a thing already taken into account and expected. Again, it seems
that the parallel for this is not so much to be sought in the literal
arguments about death given by Epicurus and Lucretius, but in what
Philodemus implies in the grandiose rhetoric of his peroration is the
whole tenor and example of Epicurus’ life, and in what Segal has
shown is the whole tenor of Lucretius’ poem—particularly the famous
and paradoxical conclusion of book VI, the portrayal of human life
as exposed at every point to natural disaster and plague. Only by
accepting nature’s memento mori as a permanent background to the
enjoyment of life can true enjoyment be secured.
Philodemus begins his discussion of possible objections to death
with what clearly to him is the most important, objections to dying
young (cols. XII–XX.1), which he discusses at length. He gives argu-
ments which for the most part rely on the first contention, that to
experience true philosophical happiness is to be fulfilled, however
short one’s life thereafter:
§[jÚn d¢
§mpos«i xrÒnvi tÚ m°giston aÈ[t«n]
ka‹ peripoiÆsasyai ka[‹] épolaËsai k[a-
yãper Íp°deij. [a], Ù[r°j]e[ta]i n°ow tiw ı [mØ
ma[in]Òmenow ¶t[i] to[Ê]to<u>40 ka‹ t∞w épe[i]
r¤aw, oÈx ˜[ti] t∞w toË g°rontow pros[poi-
Æsetai zv[∞]w; ¶ti d¢ meirãkion êfy[o-
na peri[poiÆs]etai toÊ[t]vn Àste ge-
ganvm°now ép°rxesyai kên Ñrhy∞n[ai
pl°[o]n bebivk°nai t«n énapolaÊs-
t]vn [˜sa di°]z.vn ¶th. sivp« går ˜-
ti] pollãki pollo›w t[«]n éfrÒnv[n] tÚ
n°]ou[w tel]e[u]t∞sai lus[itel°]steron
fa]¤n[etai ka‹ m]Ø katå tØn ≤lik¤an
e]Èy[hnoËsi] traf∞n[ai o‡]koiw, §n
é]de[¤ai d¢ tro]f∞w é[fyon¤]an m[ . . .
But, it being possible in a certain limited amount of time to acquire
for oneself the greatest of these good things and to enjoy it, as I have

40
Bassi reads §p[‹] to[Ë]to.
 all things to all men 37

shown, will any young man in his senses desire any longer41 even time
without end, not to speak of aiming at the old man’s (length of ) life?
Even as a youth he will acquire such abundance of these (good things)
as to depart glowing with joy, and as one who can be said to have
been (truly) alive, far longer than those who never enjoyed any of the
years they (merely) lived through. For I say nothing of the fact that,
in many instances, dying young would seem more profitable for many
of the foolish, and not in their childhood to have been brought up in
such flourishing households and in no fear about abundance of nour-
ishment. . . . (13, 3–18)

For foolish people, of course, no length of time avails to produce joy

that will fulfill one in life, and indeed we might argue that they would
be better off dying younger and experiencing still less confusion and
evil. This sounds like the usual Epicurean severe line but in fact it
is not, because Philodemus makes an unusual concession even here.
This is that it is reasonable to be frustrated about having begun to
be philosophical about life and not having completed the process
because of an early death. The frustration of virtuous plans to study,
contemplate and be wise is a pain with which the Epicurean can
and should sympathize, though Philodemus has no sympathy with
the objection that death interrupts some plan merely to acquire more
knowledge:
tÚ. d¢. zhte›n p[arå taÊ]thn
tØn afi]t¤an …w [p]le›ston [x]rÒ[n]on z∞n
eÎlo]gon ka¤ ti[na]w n°ouw teleu-
(Col. 14)
t«ntaw diå toËto dustu[x]e›w nom[¤-
zein. tÚ m¢n gãr, ·na suntel°shta¤ t[iw
tåw sung[e]nikåw ka‹ fusikå[w] §piyum¤a[w
ka‹ pçsan épolãbh<i> tØn o[fi]keiotãthn
∂] §nd°[x]etai diagvgÆn, Ùr°gesyai pros-
bi]«. na¤ tina xrÒnon, Àste plhr[v]y∞-
nai] t«n égay«n ka‹ pçsa[n] §kbale›n
tØ]n katå tåw §piyum¤aw ˆ[x]lhsin ±-
rem]¤aw metalambãnonta, noËn ¶xon-
tÒw §]stin ényr≈pou: tÚ dÉ ·na t∞w
fistor]¤aw, pÒsa dÆ pot° tiw [p]ros[bi≈se-
tÉ ¶th] ka[y]ãper §j. Ún tam[i]e›on toË
noË par]a[p]lhs¤vw tÚn ép°r[anton
kÒsm]on s[umperi°xe]in.

41
Or (Bassi) “in addition to this.”
38 david armstrong

But attempting for this cause42 to live as long as possible is reasonable

and also to think of some that die young as unfortunate for this rea-
son. For the wish (to live a while longer) that one may fulfill one’s
innate and natural desires and design an entire way of life as perfect
for oneself as is possible, so as to be filled with good things and cast
out all the trouble given by one’s desires, receiving peace of mind in
its place, is proper for an intelligent human being. But (to want this)
in order that (we may fulfill a desire) for knowledge! How many extra
years would a person need to live, as if it were possible anyway to
hold the whole limitless cosmos in the storehouse (so to speak) of one’s
mind? (13.36–14.14)
Thus we see in a first instance what Philodemus will and will not
admit as a legitimate and natural cause of pain in death. A desire to
satisfy further one’s greed for knowledge, which cannot humanly be
entirely fulfilled—a desire belonging to the class of limitless desires
which Epicurus deprecates like the desire for more sex or more
power—is not to be acknowledged by the wise man. But that one
has to die, and so break off one’s studies before one has attained full
philosophical happiness, is a cause of pain and can reasonably be called
ill-fortune. Philodemus hopes that he knows the consolation here.
[œi]
dÉ], Àsper [§]j[Ún par]am°nont[a prokÒ]c[ai]
k]atå filosof¤a[n] gÉ èrpãzesyai d[ei]-
nÒn], fusik[Ún] m¢n t[Ú n]Êttes[y]a[i t]Ún to[i]- 35
oË]ton: ˜t[i dÉ ê]llo[i]w eÈlog¤an para-
didouw toË [ımo¤v]w katå filosof¤an
p[r]okÒcei[n beb¤vke], yaumã[zeyÉ …w] é-
gayo[›w §ntuxΔn po]lÁ me¤zo[si, didãs-
(Col. 18)
kal[Òw tÉ §klÆ]y[h] mu[r¤]vn, é[p¤y]anon.
d¢ §[pidek]tikØn makar[¤aw] diay°s[e-
vw cu[xØn] mØ toiaÊthn e[Èy°]vw Ípã[r]-
xein À[s]te [to›]w éjiolÒgoiw é[gayo]›w ≤[r]ma-
t¤syai, gen[om°]nhn d¢ dØ [t«n] §.k fi- 5
losof¤aw [lÒg]vn [‡drin] ka‹ p[a]ntel«w
oÈx oÂÒn te [mØ] peridedrãxyai yaumã-
sion égayÒ[n, À]ste gauriãmatow épi°nai
mestÒn. po[lÁ m]¢n oÔn kre›tto[n] ∑n pro-
b.ãnta sof[«w n°]on éj¤.vw t∞w fÊ[s]evw sun- 10
aujhy∞n[ai ka‹] é[p]olaËsai t∞w duna-

42
I.e., to enjoy wisdom, not merely to study for the sake of additional knowledge.
 all things to all men 39

tvtãtv[w §xoÊshw] e. Èethr[¤a]w. éllå

ka‹ tÚ gei[tni«]n [xãritow ê]jion pol-
l∞w, ka‹ tå t[oiaËtÉ43 oÈ] diax[e›]syai d[Êna]-44
tai] t« <i> xrÒnv<i> [éllÉ ée¤ tÉ §pi]polã- 15
zei.
But as for the person to whom being taken away is a fearsome thing,
because he envisions the possibility of progress in philosophy, it is on
the one hand natural for such a one to feel pain.45 But because, on
the other hand, he has lived handing along to others the confidence
to imitate his progress in philosophy, he is to be admired as achiev-
ing much greater good, and is to be called the teacher of myriads.
Nor is it probable, that a soul so capable of a blessed disposition does
not become strong enough immediately to be firmly grounded on all
the goods worthy of valuing, and indeed, having become experienced
in the arguments of philosophy, quite utterly incapable of any but a
complete grasp of so wondrous a joy in life, as to depart greatly exult-
ing. So therefore it is much better for a young man who has made
progress in wisdom to have matured in a way worthy of his nature
and to have enjoyed that happiness which is the most powerful that
there can be. But even a happiness less perfect46 is worth great grat-
itude, and such things cannot be annihilated by time but keep their
value forever . . . (17.32–18.16)

Once more we can see the powerful rhetorical and emotional tone
as well as the avoidance of formal structure (especially in the casu-
ally constructed double negatives: “Nor is it probable, that a soul so
capable of a blessed disposition does not become strong enough . . . ”).
As for the life of fools, he adds, it is miserable whether they die
young or old and might as well never have begun, and would be
better ended as quickly as possible—not, as we saw above, that the
Epicureans would ever advise suicide.
Again, Philodemus says (taking up the triumph one’s inability to
defend oneself after death will give enemies), they give us a natural
pain—the pain he defines as anger, and considers a virtuous emo-
tion if not accompanied by pleasure in revenge, in de Ira—while

43
Bassi prints (and Scott’s engraving clearly shows) tat where Kuiper’s conjec-
ture requires toi (in toiaËtÉ).
44
Diels, spatio longius; so I have shortened the line with oÈ for Kuiper’s oÈk°ti.
45
Again the idea of the natural pain, fusikÚn d∞gma, this time as nÊttesyai, “to
be pricked, stabbed.”
46
Lit., “the neighboring thing,” either as I translate with Kuiper, a less than
perfect happiness, or the “second prize” of being an inspiration to others; the text
as it stands is ambiguous.
40 david armstrong

alive, but in the first place we will not feel it, and in the second no
one who knows a good man is his enemy, and it is only those who
know us whose hatred is worth considering in any larger context
than the here and now.
Next, he discusses the pain of dying childless and without heirs
to perpetuate our memory, which he dismisses as unworthy of a wise
person without difficulty. But, he adds, with startling emphasis, that
does not mean we should be indifferent to the damage our family
and friends may suffer from our loss. Indeed, “leaving behind par-
ents or children or a spouse or others who are close to us, who will
be in straits because of our death or even deprived of life’s neces-
sities, I admit brings with it a truly natural pang and can rouse flows
of tears especially and like nothing else from a man of understand-
ing mind . . .”:
tÚ. to¤nun ka-
tale¤pein gone›w ≥ pa›da[w] ≥ ga[m]e-
tØn ≥ tinaw êllouw t«n §[pi]thde[¤]-
vn, §n sumfo[r]a›w §som°no[uw] diå [t]Øn 5
katastrofØn ≤. m«n ≥ ka‹ t[«]n én[ag-
ka¤vn §lle¤contaw, ¶xei m[¢]n ém°-
lei fusik≈taton dhgmÚn ka[‹ d]a[k]rÊ-
vn pro°seiw §ge¤rei t«i noËn ¶. xont[i
mÒnon ≥ mãlista. (25.2–10)
This time the bite, the dhgmÒw, is not only natural but “most nat-
ural,” fusik≈tatow. It is in fact hard to see what more Philodemus
could have said without abandoning a central position of Epicureanism,
that serious evil does not happen to the wise, only endurable evil.47
The tone of sympathy goes so far that I am not certain whether we
can construe the noËn ßxvn, the man of understanding mind, to be
the philosopher as well as the pupil. He might very well share his
pupil’s tears as well as condoning them, before attempting the con-
solation. A suggested consolation evidently followed,48 but the text
of the rest of col. 25 is too uncertain in my opinion to see quite

47
This is concisely stated by Philodemus in de Ira: he is arguing that the wise
man’s anger, since he necessarily and naturally feels it—it too is natural, fusikÆ—
cannot be a great evil to him. There cannot be a m°ga kakÚn ka‹ to›w sofo›w . . .
ÍpomenhtÒn, a non-trivial evil that even the wise must endure (De Ira 39.31–33).
48
A d°, that is, to answer the m°n in line 7.
 all things to all men 41

what it was; clarity resumes only in the last line as Philodemus

changes the topic to “pain over dying among foreigners.”
Here too it turns out (col. 26) that this thought is naturally painful:
. ˜]-
tan dÉ §p‹ j°.nhw, fus[ikÚn] dh[ . . . -
(Col. 26)
ka‹49 filolÒgoiw ka[‹] mãlistÉ §å[n] gone›w
≥ sug[g]ene›w êllouw §p‹ t∞w patr¤dow
épole[¤]pvsin, éllÉ Àste nÊttein mÒ-
n]on, o[È]x Àste lÊphn ka‹ megålhn
taÊthn §pif°rein [k]ataferom°nouw
§p‹ tåw §n t«i z∞n [pa]rakolouyoÊsaw
§]pi j°nhw [g∞]w d[u]sxr[hs]t¤aw.
Now, when death occurs in a foreign land, it is natural . . . even for
learned men50 to feel a pang, and most of all if they leave parents or
other family members at home, but only a pang, not such as to bring
them in addition as they lie dying something that could truly be called
a great grief, over and above the other difficulties that follow upon
life in a foreign country. (25.37–26.6)
Here Philodemus is on less risky ground: he is certain that the “nat-
ural pang” in this case can be described as trivial and non-threatening
to the wise person’s happiness. He concludes eloquently (col. 27) that
though it is better for the intellectual’s reputation after death to have
died in his city among friends as did the founders of the School,
“yet even this belongs rather to people who debase themselves far
enough to believe in the myths, unless indeed they are to believe
that they will end up too far from the place allotted them in Hades.”
In all these cases it important to see that the phrase “natural
pang” is not thrown away. It is occasionally doubted that the Epicurean
system could ascribe purpose to natural feelings without touching on
the kind of teleology it rejected; but we need not doubt that the
pain of illness, which makes us seek a doctor, the “natural pain” we

49
Kuiper has dh[xy∞-] nai? At the end of col. 25, line 38, and beginning of col.
26, line 1; however, Bassi’s picture of the papyrus (and his text) quite clearly shows
col. 26 beginning with ka‹, not nai.
50
Kuiper’s emendation would be brilliant if 26.1 did not in fact begin with KAI,
so that we must read something like fus[ikÚn] dØ [toËto] ka‹ filolÒgoiw and under-
stand sumforãzein from the previous passage with toËto. But certainly the notion
of the fusikÚn d∞gma is present here also. By the philologoi Philodemus means peo-
ple like himself, intellectuals living among the “barbarians” (as he later ventures to
call his Roman audience; cf. n. 60 below).
42 david armstrong

should feel in anger (as opposed to the unnatural pleasure Aristotle

was too willing to accept in it), which we feel in order to motivate
the removal of wrong or injustice, and the pain caused by the “nat-
ural” aversion to death, which I would assume is there to keep us
alive and must be taken account of even when death can no longer
be avoided, are good things and natural in the sense that they are
not alien to the good life.
Fortunately a text that perfectly explains “natural” as Philodemus
and other Epicureans use it of emotions has been highlighted in
recent discussion. In discussing the “natural anger” of On Anger cols.
39–40, John Procopé usefully cites the definitions of “natural” given
by Philodemus’ older contemporary Demetrius Laco:51
fÊsei går l°getai ı ênyrvpow poristikÚw e‰nai tro] f∞w,
§peidÆper édiastrÒfvw, fÊsei d¢ pÒnvn e‰nai dektikÒw,
§peidØ kathnagkasm°nvw, fÊsei tØn éretØn di≈kein,
§pe‹ sumferÒntvw, fÊsei d¢ tåw pr≈taw t«n Ùnomãtvn
énafvnÆseiw gegon°nai l°gomen, kayÚ [ . . . (col. 67)
. . . for “by nature” man is said to find himself food, since he does so
by unperverted instinct, “by nature” to suffer pain, since it is com-
pulsory; by nature to pursue excellence, since it is to our benefit, and
“by nature” we say the first utterances of names occurred, since . . . (my
translation)
The names were given “by nature” because they had “a direct, one-
to-one correspondence with their objects,”52 as we may infer from
the Letter to Herodotus, 75f. The last three senses, Procopé argues, are
obviously present in Philodemus’ conception of “natural anger,”
fusikØ ÙrgÆ, and he adds the first “may also have had its uses.”53
It seems just as necessary that all four should apply also to what
Philodemus sympathetically and emphatically calls the various fusikå
dÆgmata the wisest feel at the approach of death. Our instinct, com-
pulsion, the true nature of the situation, and most of all our own

51
John Procopé, “Epicureans on Anger,” Philanthropia kai eusebeia: Festschrift für
Albrecht Dihle zum 70 Geburtstag, ed. Glenn W. Most, Hubert Petersmann, Adolf
Martin Ritter (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993), 363–86 (372–73). Procopé
cites Demetrio Lacone: Aporie testuali ed esegetiche in Epicuro, ed. Enzo Puglia, Marcello
Gigante (Naples, Bibliopolis, 1988), 182f., col. 67. This quotation meets the objec-
tion that a “natural” emotion that serves for self-preservation, like anger and the
fear of death, would imply an inappropriate and un-Epicurean teleology in nature
like that of Aristotle or the Stoics.
52
Procopé, 373.
53
Procopé, 373 n. 39.
 all things to all men 43

good—for our projects are good, and the fear of breaking them off
serves as usefully to keep us alive and more as anger that enables
us to repel insult—all conspire to justify “natural” grief.
The topics of pain at dying without winning glory in battle, but
merely passively from disease (cols. 28–9), of pain at one’s body
suffering corruption in death (29–30), of pain at not being buried
with the distinction due to one’s rank or not being buried at all, for
instance because one drowns at sea (30–33), by contrast do not call
forth any sympathy from Philodemus. He treats them with humor
and satire instead. But, as we saw, he sympathizes with the “nat-
ural distress” of those who are pained at the thought of death by
unjust condemnation (33 fin.-35), a passage in which again he shows
his consciousness of a mixed audience, for the proper stance of a
wise man before tyrants or unjust judges was more the preserve of
the Stoics. Philodemus is at pains, as we saw, to evolve a stance
with which the wise man can defy his tormentors, but in thought
only, without resorting to the Stoic but un-Epicurean device of tak-
ing refuge in suicide. Yet once more, we find that there is a fusikÚn
d∞gma (p]ãlin dØ sun[g]nvstÚn ên dÒjeie[n] e‰nai tÚ lupe›syai, 33.36–34.1:
“here again to be in pain is forgivable”) in unjust condemnation,
with which Philodemus expresses fiery sympathy. The wise man will
find his consolation in his utter contempt for his judges, in his own
perfect innocence, and in the thought of many before him who have
borne injustice without fear, both famous philosophers and ordinary
people. But there is no hint of the Stoic doctrine that suicide is
always an option.
Philodemus’ last topic among the fears of death is the fear that
one will be forgotten, another fusikÚn d∞gma (these exact words are
used, 35.36), 35 fin.-36. But here the “natural pang” is suffered only
or mostly by fools, for it comes from a wasted life, that is, one with-
out friends. The man who has had good friends will in the final
analysis be able to die without them round him, for they are nec-
essary for a good life, not a good death.
We see, therefore, that Philodemus has preempted the objection
that he is unsympathetic to the breaking off of the plans and affections
of a good human life by representing them as an evil which the
Epicurean can admit and mitigate with argument. Evils occur in a
good person’s death, but no unendurable evil occurs. However, since
Philodemus has conjured up so many deaths which have to be
endured alone, without the philosopher’s or any other friends’
44 david armstrong

consolation and help, he concludes with a peroration, the finest thing

in the treatise and (many have thought) in his entire surviving work,
on the spirit in which such a lonely death is to be endured. He
might have been expected to dwell on the familiar Epicurean con-
solation, the reflection on past pleasures which cannot be taken away
but will always have happened. This is the theme on which Epicurus
dwelt in his famous last letter, in which he told his friends he bal-
anced his past pleasure in their company against the tortures of
strangury which were killing him and found them endurable because
of that thought.54 In a different key it is used by Horace to describe
to Maecenas how a man endures disaster, and it is interesting that
Horace recommends daily contemplation:
Ille potens sui
laetusque deget, cui licet in diem
dixisse, “Vixi, cras vel atra
nube polum pater occupato
vel sole puro, non tamen irritum
quodcumque retro est efficiet, neque
diffinget, infectumque reddet
quod fugiens semel hora vexit.”
He can spend his life self-possessed and happy, who can say
day by day, “I have lived (today); tomorrow let the Father cover
the pole with dark clouds or pure sunlight, nonetheless he cannot
make vanish that which is past or render undone what the fleeting
moment has once brought me.” (Carm. 3.29.41–48)
Philodemus also has a theme of daily contemplation to recommend.
He begins his peroration with a contrast between the fool and the
wise person, which has been the theme also of everything that pre-
ceded in the discussion of objections to death: the fool’s objections
are always trivial, the wise man’s important but capable of conso-
lation. Thus he sums up everything we have from cols. 12–36:
. . ] pÒlin ka‹ éshmÒnvw ge lupoÊmenow
pr‹n μ dunatÚn e‡h taËtÉ énamax°sa-
syai, ka‹ kayÉ ¶skaton xrÒnon “efi toËtÉ §-
pidΔn genÒmenon, ép°ynh<i>skon, oÈk ín
§pestrefÒmhn t∞w teleut∞w” l°gvn,
kín, efi y°lei tiw, ı metÉ ÙlofurmoË bo«n
“§gΔ m¢n §k t«n z≈tvn a‡romai, ka‹

54
Diogenes Laertius 10.22.
 all things to all men 45

pollãkiw égayå tosaËtÉ v Ö ¶xvn ka‹ du-

nãmenow épolaÊein, ı de›na d¢ ka‹ ı de›-
n]a peri°stai.” ka‹ går bl°petai diÉ œn 10
ı m¢n teÊjetai paramuy¤aw, ı dÉ oÈd¢
prosfvnÆsevw éjivyÆsetai.
. . . and city, and with confused voice55 lamenting that before he
could win these things back56 (he was to die), and saying on
every occasion “If I were dying having seen this accomplished, I
would not be trying to avoid my end;” and then (compare with
him) if you like the person wailing and sobbing that “I am being
taken away from among the living, and that when I have many
times as many goods (sc. as this fellow or that) and can still
enjoy them, and this fellow or that will survive me;” and indeed
one can see the ways in which the one will find his consolation,
and the other be considered not even worthy of talking to. (37.1–12)
Clearly “the one” was a man with plans for “(his friends or family
and) city,” though the beginning of the sentence is lost with the last
few lines of col. 46, and we finish the discussion of objections with
the general comment that all wishes to continue virtuous relation-
ships and plans are worth consoling —and can be consoled. But
Philodemus’ transition is to a much more original line of thought,
at least so far as we know, though of course Epicurus or Metrodorus
may have taken this stance in works now lost. He claims that the
real tower of strength for the wise person is the day-by-day religious
contemplation of death itself, kept up so energetically that it becomes the
foundation of a life in which every waking in the morning is a res-
urrection from the grave:
sunelÒn-
t[i] dÉefipe›n, é[n]eirhm°nvn t«n mãlista
lu]pe›n e[fi]yis[m]°nvn, oÈd¢n kat[[at]]epe¤-
g]ei tåw t«n pantodap«w édhmonoÊn- 15
tvn ka‹ =iptazom°nvn profãseiw
§kperiode[Ê]ein, efi ka[‹ k]atå tÚ p[a]rap›-
p[t]on éjioËntai lÒgo[u]. tÚ to¤nun sun-
a[r]pãzesya[i] yanãtou prosp¤pton-
t[o]w, …w épros[do]kÆtou tinÚw ka‹ p[a]ra- 20
dÒjou suna[n]t«nto[w], ≤[me›]n [m¢]n

55
Gigante defends the text, but there are attractions to Gomperz’ és<x>hmÒnvw,
“gracelessly”—even given that this is said of the person Philodemus sympathizes
with, a relatively wise man in comparison with “the other.”
56
Or “made this loss good,” “undone this damage” (LSJ s.v. énamãxomai).
46 david armstrong

oÈx¤, g¤]neta[i d]¢ per‹ toËw ple¤st[ou]w

égnooËn[t]aw, ˜ti pçw ênyrvpow k[í]n
fis[x]urÒterow ∑[i] t«n Gigãntvn §f[Æm]e-
rÒw [§s]ti prÚw zvØn ka‹ [te]leutÆn, ka‹ 25
êd[hl]Òn §[sti]n oÈ tÚ aÎ[ri]on mÒn[o]n,
éllå ka‹ [tÚ aÈ]t¤ka dÆ: [pã]ntew gå[r] é-
t<e>¤[xis]ton [pÒli]n prÚw yãnaton ofikoË-
men [k]a‹ pãn[ta] g°mei po[i]htik«n a[È-
toË parã te t[Ø]n fusikØn sÊstasi[n, ≤-] 30
m«n oÏtvw é[s]yen«n ˆntvn, ka[‹ t]∞w
cux∞w •toi[mo]tãtouw p[Ò]rouw efiw [§]k-
pnoØn §xoÊs[hw] ka‹ toË [p]eri°xontow
ëma t∞i tÊxhi diakr¤sevw ≤mvn é-
mÊyhta <˜sa poihtikã> genn«ntow ka‹ pollãkiw ëma 35
no[Æ]mati, ka‹ ponhr¤aw ényr≈pvn ka‹
taË[t]a ka‹ pa[rÉ aÍ]toÁw du[s]tÒpasta ka‹
pãmpollÉ ˜s[a] prosepeisferoÊsh[w
ÀstÉ, efi mÆ t¤w §[s]tin [e]Ètel°statow, p[ar-
ãl]ogon ≤ge›syai ka[‹ p]arãdoj[o]n oÈ- 40
(Col. 38) k efi te[l]eutç<i> tiw, éllÉ efi diam°nei prÚw
posÚn xrÒnon, tÚ d¢ ka‹ m°xri gÆrvw
ka‹ teratvd°staton. ¶nioi dÉ oÏtvw
efis‹n tÚn ényr≈pinon b¤on parv<i>khkÒ-
tew, oÈ xuda›oi mÒnon, élla ka‹ t«n fi- 5
losofe›n dØ legom°nvn, Àste ka‹ di-
a<tã>ttontai tosaËta m¢n ¶th diatre¤-
cein ÉAyÆnhsin filomayoËntew, to[s]aË-
ta d¢ tØn ÑEllãda ka‹ t∞w barbãrou
tå dunatå yevroËntew, tosaËta d¢ 10
o‡koi dialegÒmenoi, tå d¢ loipå me-
tå t«n gnvr¤mvn: “êfnv dÉ êfanton
pros°ba makråw éfairoÊmenon §lp¤-
daw tÚ Xre≈n.” Ù d¢ noËn ¶xvn épei-
lhfΔw ˜[ti] dÊnatai pçn peripoi∞sai 15
t]Ú prÚw eÈda¤mona b¤on aÎtarkew, eÈ-
yÁw ≥dh tÚ loipÚ[n] §ntetafiasm°n-
ow peripate› ka[‹] tØn m¤an ≤m°ran
…w afi«na kerda[¤]nei, parairoum°nhw
d¢ oÎte [s]tenãzvn, e[fi] oÏtvw §lle¤pvn 20
ti toË k[r]at¤stou b[¤]ou sunakolouye› pro-
ya[noËs]i ka‹ tØn §k toË xr[Ò]nou prosyÆ-
k]hn éjio[lÒg]vw é[p]olabΔn …w paradÒ-
jv<i> sunke[k]urhkΔw eÈtux¤a[i k]a‹ ka[t]å
t[o]Ëto to[›w] prãgmasin eÈxa[r]iste›.
So to put it briefly, since the things that customarily give the most
pain have been discussed, there is no urgent need for a complete sur-
 all things to all men 47

vey of the excuses of men in every kind of way tormented and thrash-
ing about, though they may occasionally be worthy of notice. But at
any rate, to be caught unprepared when death comes upon us by
chance, as though it were meeting us as a thing unexpected and para-
doxical, does not happen to us57 but does happen to most men, igno-
rant as they are that every human being, were he stronger even than
the Giants, is an ephemeral creature in his life and his death, and it
isn’t just tomorrow that is uncertain but the right-here-and-now. For
we all inhabit “an unwalled city”58 where death is concerned and all
things are full of its causes, both according to our physical makeup,
since we are so weak, and our soul has so many passages by which
to breathe out and leave us, and because the world around us gen-
erates innumerable causes of dissolution that attack us as swift as chance
and frequently as swift as thought,59 and there is the wickedness of
mankind that brings on us in addition both these roads to death and
others impossible for themselves to guess at and innumerable; so that
unless a person is the greatest of fools, he might well think the absurd
and paradoxical thing to be not that one should die, but that he should
stay here some little while, and his lasting it out to old age a wonder
and a miracle. But some have dwelt in human life as such aliens in
it, not just ordinary men but some at any rate called philosophers,
that they draw up plans to spend so many years at Athens in the pur-
suit of learning, so many years seeing Greece and what is accessible
of barbarian lands,60 so many years back at home in philosophical dia-
logue and the rest with their circle of friends—“and suddenly, unno-
ticed,” Necessity “comes forward, cutting off our long hopes.”61 But

57
Epicureans and philosophical people in general.
58
A quotation from Epicurus (or Metrodorus): see Gigante’s excellent note, “La
chiusa” 194–97.
59
ëma noÆmati, the usual Epicurean phrase for instantaneous events like the
“atomic swerve” (Ep. Herod. 61). It is sometimes used just to mean “quickly” or
“instantly” (e.g. Ep. Herod. 83), but I like the more dramatic implication here: death
can be as instantaneous as the atomic swerve, itself in Epicurean dogma an event
taking the smallest conceivable instant of time. Of course only an Epicurean would
appreciate the full meaning.
60
A pleasant joke aimed at his Roman audience; Philodemus is describing his
own life-story, which took him from Athens to the “barbarians” of Italy and left
him resigned to dying among them; see n. 49 above. For this use of the word “bar-
barian” to refer to Roman audiences listening to Greek works of literature, my col-
league Timothy Moore compares this usage in Plautus, e.g. As. 11, Tri. 19, Mi.
211; cf. Gonzalez Lodge, Lexicon Plautinum (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1924–1930,
reprint: Hildeshim, NY: G. Olms, 1971), s.v. barbarus.
61
From some verses from an unknown tragedy, recited by the actor Neoptolemus
before Philip II of Macedon not long before his murder (ap. Diodorus Siculus
16.92.3):
frone›te nËn afiy°row ÍchlÒteron
ka‹ megãlvn ped¤vn éroÊraw,
prone›yÉ ÍperballÒmenoi
48 david armstrong

the man of sense, when he has come to understand that he can attain
that which is self-sufficient to a happy life, from that point on walks
about as one already laid out for burial in his shroud (§ntetafiasm°now)
and enjoys every single day as if it were a whole era, and when that
is taken from him, goes forth (to die) not mourning, that thus, hav-
ing somehow missed something that belongs to the best possible life,
he joins the company of those who have died before. And all sup-
plement to his time, he receives as in reason, he ought, as one who
has lighted upon an unexpected piece of good fortune, and gives thanks
accordingly to—the facts (to›w prãgmasin eÈxariste› ).62 (37.12–38.25)

ye«n dÒmouw, éfrosÊn&

prÒsv biotån tekmairÒmenoi: 5
˘ dÉ émfibãllei taxÊpoun
k°leuyon ßrpvn skot¤an,
êfnv dÉêfantow pros°ba
makrãw éfairoÊmenow §lp¤daw
ynat«n polÊmoxyow ÜAidaw. 10
[4 F. G. Schmidt: dÒmvn dÒmouw MSS, nÒmouw R. Methner]
Think now things higher than highest heaven,
aspire to boundless plains of earth,
think, rising in pride above
the gods’ own houses, in folly
judging your life extended far:
yet He ambushes you, swiftly
walking His shadowy path,
and suddenly, unnoticed, arrives,
cutting off our long hopes,
the Woe of mortals, Hades. (Nauck adesp. 127 = Snell TrGF II.127).
Philodemus as an Epicurean substitutes Necessity (tÚ Xr°vn) for Hades in his quo-
tation. But the text is difficult, and Gigante reconstructs 3–6 as
prone›yÉ ÍperballÒmenoi
dÒmoiw dÒmouw (“trying to excel houses with houses”), éfrosÊn&
prÒsv biotån tekmairÒmenoi: 5
<t>Ú dÉ émfibãllei taxÊpoun <Xr°vn>
(“but swift-footed Necessity ambushes him”)
k°leuyon ßrpon skot¤an
so that both subjects, Necessity and Hades, will be present in the original (“La
Chiusa” 206–211, with a valuable commentary on the fragment and Horatian par-
allels which seem to show that Horace knew the passage well, perhaps through
Philodemus). Perhaps the way in which the article, adjective and noun “surround”
the verb in line 6 in Gigante’s reading in pictorial word arrangement argues for
it, as does the more regular distribution of the two adjectives between Necessity
and the path.
62
For thanksgivings to Nature, if not to the gods, the model for the school was
Epicurus: “Thanks be to blessed Nature, because she has made what is necessary
easy to supply and what is not easy unnecessary.” Fr. 67 Bailey = fr. 22.1 Arr.2
(xãriw tª makar¤& FÊsei ˜ti tå énagka›a §po¤hsen eÈpÒrista, tå d¢ duspÒrista oÈk
énagka›a). I assume that by tå prãgmata here Philodemus means the same thing
as ≤ fÊsiw, i.e., “external reality.”
 all things to all men 49

This is an amazing passage: for Philodemus, the Epicurean man or

woman achieves, because of his or her exact awareness of death, a
daily resurrection from the dead. The religious imagery of death and
resurrection, which was popular in mystery religions to describe the
initiatory experiences of new adherents and which Christians later
used to assert their convictions about the unique eschatological expe-
rience of Jesus of Nazareth, is seized upon by Philodemus to por-
tray what the Epicureans can experience on a daily basis. It is to
go to bed as if wrapped in one’s shroud (§ntetafiasm°now) every
night, and wake up resurrected every day. It is a secular, and yet
equally religious, counterpart to Paul’s “always bearing about in the
body the death (n°krvsin) of Jesus, that also the life of Jesus in our
body might be made manifest” (2 Cor. 4:10–11).63
These long, sure-footed rhetorical periods are unique in Philodemus’
surviving work, and so is the sustained, profound and tranquil emo-
tion they convey. Philodemus now pours one last vial of scorn on
the fool, who ignores the nature of things and his own death, and
is always making futile plans to the last minute, pushing away and
ignoring his intuitions (§pibola¤, 39.7) of the dreadful truth till too
late. But this contrast is merely to heighten his final definition of
wisdom and religious courage in the face of death—and a still greater
rhetorical and poetic triumph:
ofl d¢ frenÆreiw k[ên] d[i]ã ti- 15
now afit¤aw énagka¤aw én[upo]nÒhtoi
g°nvntai toË tãxÉ ≥dh s[u]gkurÆ[s]ein
tØn toË b[¤]ou paragrafÆn, [˜]tan §n ˆm-
mati g°netai, per[i]odeÊsantew érrÆ-
tvw to›w é[g]nooËsin ÙjÊta[t]a ka‹ tÚ
pã]ntvn épole[l]auk°n[ai] ka‹ tÚ 20
t[e]l°an aÈtoÁw §pilambãnein énais-
y[hs]¤an oÏtvw ékataplÆktvw §kpn°-
o[usi]n, …w e[fi] mhd¢ tÚn §lãxiston xrÒ-
n[on] §gle¤pousan ¶sxon tÅn §pibolÆn. 25
FILODHMOU PERI YANATOU
TO DÉ

63
I must thank John Fitzgerald for reminding me of this parallel and pointing
me to his excellent discussion of it in his Cracks in an Earthen Vessel: An Examination
of the Catalogues of Hardships in the Corinthian Correspondence, SBL Dissertation Series 99
(Atlanta: Scholars, 1988).
50 david armstrong

But with persons of stable mind, even if through some unavoidable

cause they were unsuspecting in advance of the fact that already the
paragraph and limit of their life was approaching, when it comes into
actual view, they summing up in one period systematically, and with keen-
est vision (in a way that is a mystery unexplainable to the ignorant),64
their own complete enjoyment of life and the utter unconsciousness
that is to come over them, breathe their last as calmly, as if they had
never put aside their view65 for an instant of time.
PHILODEMUS ON DEATH BOOK FOUR
Here Philodemus gives his audience one last surprise. He has shown
them that he can compose rhetorical periods the equal of any rhetori-
cian’s in support of his grand idea, and rising to its religious dignity
in structure. This time, in finishing off the explanation of his idea
of the right religious attitude to death with a reference to Epicurean
philosophy as itself the true religious mystery and initiation, he brings
in two new elements, one a necessary reference to the technicalities
of Epicurean philosophy (yet one couched in terms easily intelligi-
ble to the whole audience), and the other a brilliant piece of self-
reference characteristic of the higher reaches of Hellenistic poetry,
although not so much of prose.
The technicality is the reference to the fantastikØ §pibolØ t∞w
diano¤aw, which is the Epicurean equivalent of what old-fashioned
Catholics used to call an “act of attention.” If not Epicurus himself,
who used the words in nearly this sense, then certainly his follow-
ers (and among them Philodemus) made this “act of attention or
concentration of the mind upon a notion” exactly parallel in the
sensual world with fixing one’s eyes carefully upon an object and
observing it accurately, a criterion of truth.66 It seems, from a par-

64
Notice the characteristic Epicurean metaphor, so common in Lucretius, of clear
mental presentation throughout this sentence, contrasted with the dim and confused
grasp of the common man of the images that he chooses to focus on in his dis-
honesty and fear; also the imagery of religious initiation. This of course is already
in Epicurus, for whom the philosophy he preaches is an initiation (Epistle to Herodotus
36: a person who knows the philosophy perfectly is “an initiate in its mysteries,” ı
tetelesiourghm°now, 83: a person making progress in it is époteloÊmenow . . . prÚw
galhnismÒn, “being initiated . . . toward calm of mind”).
65
To the concept “death.” One brings things up in mind by an “imaginative
act of attention” (fantastikØ §pibolØ t∞w diano¤aw), according to the Epicureans.
66
Diogenes Laertius 10.31 says that later Epicureans added this to the criteria
of truth, and sure enough Philodemus (On Signs and Inferences fr. 1 De Lacey) lists
it among them. A classic discussion is Cyril Bailey, Epicurus: the Extant Remains
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926), 259–74. It is relevant to our passage that one of
the chief contexts for the use of this criterion is religious, the contemplation of the
 all things to all men 51

allel passage in Philodemus’ De Dis, to have been when directed to spir-

itual truths an important spiritual act, for “the most continual focus-
ing, (sunexestãth §pibolÆ) on goods past present and to come” is
there apparently said to be a support to the wise man’s piety (De
Dis 3, col. 2.23–27). This “most continual focusing” is what Philodemus
describes again here—a focusing on the truth of death that even
when left aside for a time is so effective that when death itself appears
it is as if its contemplation had never been suspended. The fool’s
§pibola¤ or “focusings” on death were only such as all of us have,
momentary and such as he could push away (épvye›n); the wise man
willingly takes the contemplation of death into himself permanently,
and is fortified and made happy. When death comes, it is as if his
clear contemplation had never been suspended at all; for mhd¢ tÚn
§lãxiston xrÒn[on] §gle¤pousan, “never suspended for the least instant
of time” and sunexestãth in De Dis 3, “most continual” mean the
same thing. Those who knew the Epicurean system would have seen
exactly what Philodemus meant. But for those of his audience who
did not know the technical term, the description of continual, unbro-
ken, intense “attention” (for that is what the word means in ordi-
nary Greek also) as opposed to uneasy apprehensions we push away
would have been quite enough.
But to Philodemus’ solemn theme of the contemplation of death,
since he says it leads to lightheartedness and enjoyment of life, it is
fitting that a note of amusement and wit should be added, just to
prove he smiles while he says this. And this is the second original
note struck here: the daring, self-referential Hellenistic literary joke
of the last sentence. My emphasis in the translation makes clear the
puns. If the man sees approaching the paragrafÆ, that is, (a) the
circumscription and close of his own life and (b) the end of the para-
graph and the treatise as well as (c) the paragraphé mark the scribe is

gods as they actually are and must be, and that Lucretius uses the Latin transla-
tion animi iactus to describe the bold adventure of contemplating the infinity of the
universe outside our cosmos: De rerum nat. 2.1044–47, cf. on the same subject Cicero
Nat. D. 1.54 se iniciens animus et intendens (derived from Philodemus). Modern litera-
ture tends to deal with the logic of prolepsis by preference and leave the question
of “focusing” a little to the side. Cf. A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic
Philosophers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 1.88–90, where “focus-
ing” is glossed rather unexcitingly, “that we can test a theory about external objects
merely by closing our eyes and examining them” (90; authors’ italics). Bailey seems
to me to have shown conclusively that a more intense act of intellection and under-
standing than that is intended.
52 david armstrong

about to put at the end of this treatise along with the subscription,
then he can (a) look systematically round his life and (b) sum up his
life in one periodic sentence (as Philodemus is doing)—periodeÊv
also can mean either thing. One imagines Philodemus holding up
his manuscript smiling and pointing, to the blank at the bottom of
the page, the symbol of the blankness of death.67
We can be sure that is what he is doing, because not only do
other authors follow him in this, he does it in his own poetry. My
friend Jeffrey Fish pointed out Seneca Ep. 77.20, where he concludes
the epistle with a similar joke about the clausula or concluding peri-
odic rhythm both of a sentence and a life:
quomodo fabula, sic vita non quam diu, sed quam bene
acta sit, refert; nihil ad rem pertinet, quo loco desinas;
quocumque voles desine; tantum bonam clausulam impone.
As in a play, so in life, not how long but how well acted is the
point; it is nothing to the point in which place/passage you stop;
stop where you like; only give it a good concluding rhythm.
And indeed Seneca does, because clausulam impone gives us the favorite
of all concluding rhythms in formal prose, cretic + iamb. (There is
a similar joke about clausula and death at Ep. 66.48.) Of course
Horace, Philodemus’ admirer, has his own version: the brilliant con-
cluding line of Ep. 1.16:
hoc ait, moriar: mors ultima linea rerum
He means, I think, “I can die”: death is the final limit.
But Philodemus himself, in an epigram probably placed at the end
of a book of love poems (AP 11.41 = 4 Sider), plays the same trick
with the coronis or final mark at the end of a book. “Seven years
are added to my thirty pages (s°lidew) already torn out of my life;
now the white locks cover my head, Xanthippe, the messengers of
adult age. Yet here I am still with singing gossip and revels, and

67
In a similar way William Empson arranged in his Collected Poems (NY: Harcourt
Brace, 1949, 60–61) that his 21–line poem “Ignorance of Death” should be printed
across two facing pages, so that the last stanza,
Otherwise I feel very blank upon this topic,
And think that though important, and proper for anyone to bring up,
It is one that most people should be prepared to be blank upon.
stands above six-sevenths exactly of a blank page.
 all things to all men 53

fire rages still in my unquenchable heart; but Muses, write the coro-
nis itself right away, the coronis, my Ladies, of my folly:”
aÈtØn éllå tãxista kor≈nida grãcate, MoËsai,
taÊthn ≤met°rhw, despÒtidew, man¤hw (7–8).68

Instead of writing in the easy way he usually did to address his audi-
ence of believers, Philodemus accepted the difficulties of casting his
thoughts into protreptic rhetorical form so he could be “all things
to all men” and convince them that Epicureanism offered the best
therapy for the fear of death. By so doing, he actually brought him-
self into a better and more convincing line of argument than even
Lucretius himself discovered in his diatribe on death in book 3. It
is one that would have answered almost all of objections of the mod-
ern writers on “Epicurus and Lucretius on death:” that the school’s
arguments are based too much on the symmetry topos; that they
leave too little room to risk one’s happiness in concern and love for
friends, family and country; that they discourage caring about or
planning for what is to follow after death for one’s loved ones; and
especially that they are unsatisfying in regard to one’s own selfish
desires for permanence on earth. Philodemus spurns the symmetry
argument as poor therapy and only usable in an ancillary role. He
considers that one’s natural involvement with family, friends and
country are meant to keep one alive and that the pain at breaking
them off is natural and right. As for the protest that none of this
satisfies our individual desire merely to keep existing, he offers an
impressive solution, with every emotional decoration of poetry and
rhetoric he can contrive, although modern minds might think it too
religious and contemplative in tone. This is the argument that the
continual meditatio mortis he recommends is the only attitude that can
give to the experience of life itself true, reliable and intense joy.
Nor has Philodemus departed at all from what is suggested by the
(for him) sacred text of Epicurus himself. After all, what does the
train of thought I have described do, except flesh out some suggestions

68
Several of these parallels arc already cited by Gigante ad loc. (“La chiusa” 233)
and by Kaibel in his edition of “Philodemus” epigrams, and Kuiper before him.
Cf. also W. Schmid, “Contritio und ‘ultima linea rerum’ in neuenepikureiscen
Texten,” RhM 100 (1957) 301–327. Sider’s commentary and translation take Xanthippe
“herself ” (aÈtÆn) to be “this coronis,” which may be right but does not affect my
point. See also Obbink, Philodemus: On Piety, pt. 1, 90–94.
54 david armstrong

that are already there in Epicurus’ surviving writings? Epicurus him-

self says that the wise man will feel grief and mental pain at his
own death and his friends’ deaths. All this is in the three words,
luphyÆsesyai tÚn sofÒn (Diogenes Laertius 10.119). He also says that
the wise man “will be more susceptible of emotions [presumably the
natural emotions as we have just defined them] than other men; but
that will be no hindrance at all to his wisdom” (117). In other words,
the truer his vision of life, the more deeply and authentically he will
grieve for whatever damage his friends’ death and his own does to
their sacred koinvn¤a, their communion in friendship, love and pro-
jects, and the more complete his human happiness and wisdom will
be nonetheless.69 And as for the continual religious meditation on
death making life more joyous and worthwhile, that is merely a more
emotional and emphatic way of saying what is already in the Epistle
to Menoeceus (124): sun°yize d¢ §n t“ nom¤zein mhd¢n prÚw ≤mçw e‰nai tÚn
yãnaton . . . ˜yen gn«siw ÙryØ toË mhy¢n e‰nai prÚw ≤mçw tÚn yãnaton:
épolaustÚn poie› tÚ t∞w zv∞w ynhtÒn, “practice yourself in/accustom your-
self to the belief that death is nothing to us . . . for right knowledge
that death is nothing to us makes the very mortality of life an enjoy-
able thing.” It seems that the modern debate about Epicurean views
of death has been so far quite impoverished without Philodemus’
brilliant sermons on these simple texts from Epicurus.

69
One might say that this way of describing the mental pain that is a natural
qualification of the wise man’s happiness is the parallel of the better known con-
tention that he is “happy” even in extreme physical pain: “Even on the rack the
wise man is happy . . . however, when on the rack he will give vent to both cries
and groans.” Mental pain is also “natural” in the sense that it arises from an unper-
verted instinct and by compulsion, and does good, since it gives relief and is per-
fectly in correspondence with the situation.
 PHILODEMUS ON THE PLAIN SPEAKING
OF THE OTHER PHILOSOPHERS1

Diskin Clay

Abstract

Philodemus was the author of a history of philosophy entitled The

Ordering of the Philosophers. Histories of the Academic and Stoic Philosophers
are a part of this larger work. He was also the author of sharply
polemical treatises against other philosophers, among which On the Stoics
stands out for its hostile engagement and partisan sarcasm. Since
Domenico Comparetti’s edition of Philodemus’ history of the Stoic
philosophers, the contrast between his treatment of the Stoics in these
two treatises has been well appreciated. What has not been appreci-
ated is the explanation of this contrast. I argue that Philodemus’ twin
treatises, Academicorum Historia and Stoicorum Historia, lack the polemical
engagement and vigor of a work like On the Stoics because they reflect
his interest in philosophical proselytizing and education so impressively
displayed in his On Frank Criticism (Per‹ parrhs¤aw). This essay probes
into the connections between this work and Philodemus’ histories—
not of Academic and Stoic philosophy—but of the Academic and Stoic
philosophers as educators and practitioners of the art of parrhs¤a.

1
Texts: Philodemus, The Stoics: Tiziano Dorandi, “Filodemo, Gli Stoici (PHerc.
155e 339),” CErc 12 (1982) 91–133; Academicorum Historia: Siegfried Mekler, Academicorum
philosophorum index Herculanensis (Berlin: Widemann, 1902; repr. 1958); Konrad Gaiser,
Philodems Academica: Die Berichte über Platon und die Alte Akademie in zwei herkulanensischen
Papyri (Stuttgart: Bad Connstatt: Fromman-Holzboog, 1988; Tiziano Dorandi, Filodemo,
Storia dei Filosofi: Platone e l’Academia (PHerc. 1021 e 164), La Scuola di Epircuro 12
(Naples: Bibliopolis, 1991); Stoicorum Historia: Domenico Comparetti, “Papiro ercolanese
inedito,” Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 3 (1875): 449–555; Wilhelm Crönert,
Kolotes und Menedemos (Munich: Müller, 1906; repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1965);
Augusto Traversa, Index Stoicorum Herculanensis (Genoa: Instituto di filologia classica,
1952); Tiziano Dorandi, Filodemo, Storia dei Filosofi: La Stoá da Zenone a Panezio (PHerc.
1018), Philosophia antiqua 60 (Leiden: Brill, 1994); On Plain Speaking: (Philodemi Per‹
parrhs¤aw libellus) ed. Alexander Olivieri (Leipzig: Teubner, 1914). I cite Philodemus
on “Gli Stoici,” the Academic, and Stoic philosophers in the editions of Dorandi;
On Plain Speaking in the edition of Olivieri, helped by the joint work of David
Konstan, Diskin Clay, Clarence E. Glad, Johan C. Thom, and James Ware, Philodemus
On Frank Criticism SBLTT 43 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1998)—all translations of Per‹ par-
rhs¤aw are from this version; De Ira: Filodemo, L’ira, ed. Giovanni Indelli, La Scuola
di Epicuro 5 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988).
56 diskin clay

Philodemus’ Ordering of the Philosophers

(≤ t«n filosÒfvn SÊntajiw)

Other than his epigrams, which Cicero mentions admiringly in his

speech against Piso (In Pisonem 68–72), and which bear an attribution
to Philodemus in the Palatine Anthology, the only work for which
Philodemus was known in antiquity and in early modern Europe was
a work of at least ten books entitled ≤ t«n filosÒfvn SÊntajiw.2 Since
the painful and sometimes destructive sectioning and unrolling of the
papyri of the library of the Villa dei Papiri, other works unmentioned
by later authors have become better known than this work, which we
shall entitle The Ordering of the Philosophers.3 Philodemus’ Rhetoric and On
Methods of Inference have been well studied and recently his On Death, On
Poems, and On Music have been the subject of intense interest.4 Interest
in the philosophical part of Philodemus’ On Piety will dramatically
increase now that Dirk Obbink has restored the ordering of the
columns of the two sections into which the original papyrus was
divided and presented the text in an admirable edition, translation,
and commentary.5
Yet an understanding of the organization and scope of The Ordering
of the Philosophers has remained out of reach. Tiziano Dorandi, who
has edited two of the books that must have belonged to it and
Philodemus’ polemical treatise On the Stoics, which he rightly thinks
did not, has clearly set out the history and the problems of recov-
ering the plan of the work as a whole from the evidence of the

2
Diog. Laert. 10.3, who cites book 10 as containing evidence for Epicurus having
inspired (aÈt“ protrecam°nƒ) his three bothers to join his philosophical community.
Cicero’s remarks come in In Pisonem 70–71. Twenty-nine epigrams are collected in
Denys Lionel Page, Epigrammata Graeca (Oxford: Clarendon, 1975), 291–300. Some
were edited by Marcello Gigante in Filodemo: Epigrammi scelti (Naples: Bibliopolis,
1970; 2nd ed. Naples: Bibliopolis 1989). They are now edited as a whole and trans-
lated by David Sider, The Epigrams of Philodemos (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1997).
3
It has long gone under the Italian title “La rassegna [‘muster’ or ‘review’]
dei filosofi di Filodemo.”
4
The recent interest in these is well documented in ANRW 2.36.4 (1990), both
in Tiziano Dorandi, “Filodemo: gli orientamenti della ricerca attuale” (2329–68)
and Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism” (2369–2460). To these one should
add the collection of essays in Philodemus & Poetry: Poetic Theory & Practice in Lucretius,
Philodemus, & Horace, ed. Dirk Obbink (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), and
the important edition of Philodemus’ On Poems V to which many of these essays
are indebted, Cecilia Mangoni, Filodemo: Il quinto libro della Poetica (PHerc. 1425 e
1538), La scuola di Epicuro 14 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1993).
5
Dirk Obbink, Philodemus: On Piety, Part 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 57

Herculaneum papyri. His conclusion: its plan remains an enigma.6

Two observations need to be made both on the SÊntajiw and on
the scholarship devoted to it. As for the work itself, as we know it
best from Philodemus’ twin histories of the Academic and Stoic
philosophers, it is most remarkable for its conspicuous lack of polemic
and partisan zeal. Domenico Comparetti, who edited Philodemus’
history of the Stoic philosophers in 1875, justly observed that it shows
no signs of having been written by an Epicurean.7 Both Theodor
Gomperz and Siegfried Mekler, who edited Philodemus’ history of
the Academic philosophers under the title Academicorum Index Herculanensis,
note the dispassionate and “colorless” character of Philodemus’ treat-
ment of both Academic and—more surprisingly—Stoic philosophers.8
As for the scholarship devoted to The Ordering of the Philosophers, it is
equally remarkable that it has concentrated on associating the papyri
that might have been a part of this ambitious work but has left those
papyri deemed ineligible for consideration in its penumbra. That is,
Philodemus’ history of the Academic and Stoic philosophers has not
been integrated into his fuller production as a philosopher and his-
torian of philosophy and education in philosophy. It is true, as
Marcello Gigante has suggested, that Philodemus’ large aim in these
histories of philosophy was to integrate Epicurean philosophy into
the long history of Greek philosophy and to present it in this con-
text to his own age and to the elite of his adopted country.9 In this,
his project coheres with the nearly contemporaneous projects of
Lucretius and Cicero, who saw themselves as the first Romans to
convey to their fellow Romans in adequate Latin the message of
Epicurean and Greek philosophy. The result of both the disengaged
attitude of the author of these histories and the concentration of

6
In “Filodemo storico del pensiero antico,” ANRW 2.36.4 (1990) 2407–23, giv-
ing a summary of an earlier characterization in Rendiconti dell’Accademia di Archeologia,
Lettere e Belle Arti di Napoli 55 (1980) 31–49. Elizabeth Asmis also gives a catalogue
of the works she takes to belong to the SÊntajiw in “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,”
ANRW 2.36.4 (1990) 2374 n. 20, as does Michael Erler in “Epikur,” Die Philosophie
der Antike, 4.1: Die hellenistische Philosophie, ed. Hellmut Flashar, Grundriss der Geschichte
der Philosophie (Basel: Schwabe, 1994), 297–301.
7
“Papiro ercolanese inedito,” 471.
8
Gomperz in Jenaer Literaturzeitung 2 (1875): 604 (as reported by Dorandi, “Filodemo
storico del pensiero antico,” 2422); Mekler in Academicorum Index, xxxi–xxxii. The
observation is made once again by Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” 2376.
9
Philodemus in Italy, trans. Dirk Obbink (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1987) 40; cf. Dorandi, “Filodemo storico del pensiero antico,” 2422–43.
58 diskin clay

scholars on the other writings of Philodemus only as these might be

seen as part of the SÊntajiw is that the character and purpose of this
history have still to be fully understood.
I do not claim to understand the structure and contents of the
SÊntajiw as a whole. We have significant evidence for Philodemus’
histories of only two schools, which pick up, as is usual for the
Herculanean papyri, only well into the argument. Nor do I claim
to understand fully Philodemus’ motives for composing this history—
not of Greek philosophy—but of Greek philosophers. But a reading
and review10 of Dorandi’s scrupulous new editions of Philodemus’
histories of the Academic and Stoic philosophers suggests that these
works lack the polemical edge found, for example, in his tract On
the Stoics, his treatment of the Politeiai of Zeno of Kition and Diogenes
of Sinope. The histories lack this polemical character precisely because
they were part of an educational project visible in On Frank Criticism
(Per‹ parris¤aw), his biography of Epicurus, his tract On Anger, his
treatise On Flattery,11 and in his Philosophy in Action, a work I have
referred to—with due reverence—as Philodemus’ “Acts of the Epistle.”12
In this case study of philosophy as it manifests itself not in theory
but in action, the epistles in question are the letters of Epicurus.13
The inclusion of letters as evidence for a philosopher’s life and phi-
losophy as his philosophy exhibits itself in action might, as Graziano
Arrighetti has suggested,14 be Philodemus’ contribution to the tradi-
tion initiated in Peripatetic biography. In this biographical mode, the
subjects of biography are pressed into service to provide the bio-
grapher with the evidence for their own lives. In a sense, such bio-
graphy is autobiographical. In this study, I will focus on Philodemus’
treatments of Academic and Stoic philosophers and their relation to

10
Review of Tiziano Dorandi, Filodemo, Storia dei Filosofi: La Stoá da Zenone a Panezio
(PHerc. 1018) in AJP 118 (1996): 146–49.
11
Studied by Tristano Gargiulo, “PHerc. 222: Filodemo sull’adulazione,” CErc
11 (1981): 103–27, Francesca Longo Auricchio, “Sulla concezione filodemea del-
l’adulazione,” CErc 16 (1986): 79–92, and Clarence E. Glad, “Frank Speech, Flattery,
and Friendship in Philodemus,” in Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech, ed. John
T. Fitzgerald, NovTSup 82 (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 23–29.
12
Diskin Clay, “A Lost Epicurean Community,” in Tradition and Innovation in
Epicureanism, ed. Paul A. Vander Waerdt (1989), 324. Usually, it is referred to sim-
ply as the Tractatus. It is edited anew by Luigi Spina, “Il trattato di Filodemo su
Epicuro e altri (PHerc. 1418),” CErc 7 (1977): 43–83.
13
C. Militello, Filodemo: Memorie Epicuree (PHerc 1418e310) (Naples: Bibliopolis,
1997) and Spina, “II trattato di Filodemo su Epicuro.”
14
Graziano Arrighetti, Dieci anni di Papirologia ercolanese (Naples: Società nazionale
di scienze, lettere e arti in Napoli, 1982), 17.
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 59

his treatise On Plain Speaking, or, to give it the title of a recent trans-
lation into English, On Frank Criticism.15
The title Dorandi has given Philodemus’ treatments of the Academic
and Stoic philosophers is Storia dei Filosofi. In want of a subscription
to PHerc. 1021, Philodemus’ history of post-Platonic philosophy has
gone under the uninformative title Mekler chose for it at the beginning
of this century, Academicorum philosophorum index Herculanensis.16 The
problem is that the word sÊntajiw occurs in neither of Philodemus’
companion treatises on the history of the Academic and Stoic philoso-
phers. The word which comes closest to giving us a title for these
histories is suna[gvgÆ at the end of Philodemus’ Academicorum Historia
(Col. XXXVI.19 Dorandi). No title is preserved in the subscription
to PHerc. 1018, which gives us Philodemus’ history of the Stoic
philosophers.
In the Catalogo dei papiri ercolanesi,17 the title of this treatise is given
as [FilodÆmou | Per‹ t«n épÚ ZÆnvnow Stvik«n ka‹ aflr° | sevn èpãntvn
| s]t[¤]x[oi . . . .] | Su[ntãjevw t«n filosÒfvn | b¤blow.] This is approx-
imately the title Augusto Traversa gave the work in his edition, Index
Stoicorum Herculanensis.18 The reader will appreciate how ambitious
Traversa’s supplements are. The near inspiration for his heavily
reconstructed title comes from the title Domenico Comparetti first
gave its companion work (PHerc. 1021) on the Academic philoso-
phers, FilodÆmou SÊntajiw t«n filosÒfvn. Comparetti’s inspiration
was, of course, the notice in Diogenes Laertius, who, as we have
seen, cites the tenth book of Philodemus’ ≤ t«n filosÒfvn sÊntajiw—
a book obviously devoted to the school of Epicurus and his inspi-
ration to the life of philosophy (10.3). The word that deserves the
stress is “philosophers”—not philosophy. Philodemus’ twin histories
follow the pattern of another work usually referred to as Tå Xronikã
(The Chronicles) of Apollodorus of Athens, but also known as ≤ xronikØ
SÊntajiw (The Chronological Ordering).19

15
Already the subject of the first three essays included in Friendship, Flattery, and
Frankness of Speech: Konstan, “Friendship, Frankness and Flattery” (7–19); Glad,
“Frank Speech, Flattery and Friendship in Philodemus” (21–59); and Troels Engberg-
Pedersen, “Plutarch to Prince Philopappus on How to Tell a Flatterer from a
Friend” (61–79); see n. 11.
16
See n. 1.
17
Marcello Gigante, ed., Catalogo dei papiri ercolanesi, Centro internazionale per lo
studio dei papiri ercolanesi (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1979), 229.
18
See n. 1.
19
As it is described by Diodorus Siculus, XIII 103.4 (Fragmente der griechischen
60 diskin clay

One way of illustrating the character of Philodemus’ histories of

the Academic and Stoic philosophers, both in their successions and
in their students, is to observe that in it Philodemus evinces virtually
no interest in the doctrines maintained or rejected by his philosophers.
His is not the kind of work attributed to (the other) Apollodorus of
Athens by Diogenes Laertius. It is not a sunagvgØ t«n dogmãtvn. This
Apollodorus is evidently the “tyrant of the Garden” who assumed
leadership of the Epicurean school in Athens in around 150 b.c.e.20
In his Academicorum Historia, Philodemus mentions the progress made
in geometry in the age of Plato and in the Academy (Col. Y.3–1.7
Dorandi) and in Stoicorum Historia he mentions Ariston of Chios’ doc-
trine on indifference in passing (Col. X.8–10 Dorandi). The strange
lack of interest in “philosophy” in a history of philosophers contrasts
with Philodemus’ vivid and mordant interest in doctrine (dogma) in
the case of a work such as On the Stoics. When he comes to mention
the Epicureans in these histories of Academic and Stoic philosophers,
there is no hint of Philodemus’ allegiance to this school. He speaks
for instance of Metrodorus of Stratonikeia as having once “listened
[to the lectures] of the Epicureans” before turning to the Academy
of Carneades (Academicorum Historia, XXIV.9–12 Dorandi). At the end
of his history of the Stoics, Philodemus says that he knew Panaetius’
pupil Thibron (Col. LXXVI.6–7) and he speaks of another pupil,
Apollonius of Ptolemais, as “our friend” (Stoicorum Historia, Col.
LXXVIII.3 Dorandi).

On the Stoics
What is it that makes the Stoics of Philodemus’ history of the Stoics
exempt from the criticism he mounts against them in On the Stoics?
The contrast becomes evident in the points of contact between
Philodemus’ On the Stoics and, for want of a better title, his Stoicorum
Historia. Philodemus’ Academicorum Historia begins with Plato and
Eucleides of Megara and their pupils and clearly envisages a sequel
in a history of the other schools (Col. XXXI.15–19 Dorandi). But
let us first consider Philodemus’ two very different treatments of the

Historiker 244 fr. 35). Apollodorus of Athens is an important source for Philodemus
in both his histories; Felix Jacoby, Apollodors Chronik: Eine Sammlung der Fragmente,
Philologische Untersuchungen 16 (Berlin, Weidmann, 1902), FGrHist 244, and note
36 below.
20
Diog. Laert. 7.181; the scant details appear in M. Erler, “Epikur,” 280–81.
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 61

Stoics. Here the contrast in treatment can be seen at its starkest.

Zeno is a figure central to both works. In On the Stoics, he is mock-
ingly praised as the “chorus leader” and “founder” of the Stoic school
in order to daub his followers with the stain of the outrageous doc-
trines of his Republic (Polite¤a).21 These followers are called “these
noble men,” these “paradigms of sanctity,” and their doctrines—
derisively—as “noble.”22
Irony gives way to abuse, and Philodemus brings out the Cynic
character of Diogenes’ Politeia by speaking of the Stoics who were
pleased to adopt the life of dogs and commit the outrageous acts
that he discovers in the Politeiai of both Zeno and the Cynic Diogenes
of Sinope—open homosexuality, a community of wives and “children,”
cannibalism, parricide—to name a few of his damning particulars
(Cols. XVIII.1–XXI Dorandi).23 It is abundantly apparent from On
Frank Criticism that Philodemus espouses the constructive parrhs¤a
the philosopher addresses to his pupil. But, as he views them in On
the Stoics, the founders of the Stoic school will say anything and every-
thing. They know no restraint.24 A remark at the conclusion of this
tract reveals that Philodemus’ polemic was provoked by Stoic attacks
on the Epicureans, a hostility already apparent in Philodemus’ ref-
erence to the Epicureans expelled from Phalannai and Messene
because of their doctrine of pleasure (Col. III.6–8 Dorandi): “But
we [Epicureans] have long ago purged our ears and mind and do
not come into contact with this most grievous slander, as we have
shown” (Col. XXII.5–10 Dorandi). Nonetheless, uritur et loquitur.

21
ÑO korufa›ow, a[Èt«n], Col. XIII.24, t∞w égvg∞w | érxhg°thn, Col. XIV.21–22.
He is “filled with disgraceful teachings” (énãmestow afisxr«n dogmãtvn, Col. XIV.23).
22
toÁw genna¤ouw, Col. XV.2; to›w panag°si, Col. XVIII.5; tå kalå t«n [ényr]≈pvn,
Col. XVIII.1.
23
We are reminded of how shocking these doctrines were both in Philodemus’
Roman context and in imperial times by Miriam Griffin and David Krueger. See
their contributions to The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy, ed.
Robert Bracht Branham and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1996): Griffin, “Cynicism and the Romans: Attraction
and Repulsion” (191–92); Krueger, “The Bawdy and Society: The Shamelessness
of Diogenes in Roman Imperial Culture” (222–39).
24
Dorandi’s characterization of Philodemus’ argument and his tactic of pairing
Stoic and Cynic is telling: “Cinici e Stoici vivono alla maniera dei cani, abusano
la parrhesia, indossano un mantello doppio, sequono considerazioni che scadono su
un piano per lo più sessuale” (“Cynics and Stoics live like dogs and abuse their
right to speak freely. They wear a folded cloak, and they pursue topics that descend
to the level of graphic references to sex;” “Gli Stoici” 94).
62 diskin clay

Stoicorum Historia
The contrast with Philodemus’ very different treatment of Stoic
philosophers in his Stoicorum Historia requires an explanation. Here
too, Philodemus speaks of Zeno and his Politeia, in a context where
he describes the unease of some Stoics over the proposals of Zeno’s
political philosophy and his youthful Politeia as being “in some man-
ner stitched together” (Col. IV.4–5 Dorandi). He also repeats the
phrase from On the Stoics—“a finger demonstrates it” (Col. IV.5–7
Dorandi; cf. “On the Stoics,” Col. III.13 Dorandi) to convey the
fact that, despite the embarrassing doctrines it puts forth, it cannot
be attributed to any thinker other than Zeno. Since we have focused
on Zeno and the two very different treatments of his Politeia in
Philodemus’ two treatises on the Stoics, we might continue with Zeno
to observe the contrast between Philodemus’ polemical engagement
in On the Stoics and his strange disengagement from polemic in his
Stoicorum Historia before considering an explanation for the contrast.
In his history of the Stoic philosophers from Zeno to his own con-
temporaries, Philodemus is interested in character and the lives of
the Stoics. Philodemus’ deepest engagement in the thought of his
subjects might come in his remark on Ariston of Chios, “who declared
indifference as the end of life” (Col. X.8–10 Dorandi).25 What attracts
notice about Philodemus’ treatment of the Stoics (and the Academics
as well) is that there is no hint of sectarian hostility to them, although
Philodemus does betray some irritation at the anonymous eulogy of
Zeno treated in Cols. VI and VII. Occasionally, he gives dramatic
scenes from the lives of his Stoics and the actual words of the dia-
logues in which his philosophers engaged. The first and most striking
scene involves Zeno: envoys from Antigonus Gonatas reach Zeno in
Athens. The Macedonian king was considering which position to offer
Zeno and told him through his envoys: “A person as bad as you will
not even be able to scold bath attendants!” To which Zeno replied:
“You say . . .” (Col. VIII Dorandi). We have lost his riposte. It must
have been clever, biting, and philosophical. But the theme of the
Stoics and their relations to dynasts is important to Philodemus, espe-
cially in the cases of zeno’s students, Perseus (Cols. XIII–XVI Dorandi)
and Panaetius (Col. LXVIII Dorandi), as is the theme of the character

25
James Porter addresses this passage in his “The Philosophy of Ariston of Chios,”
Cynics 166–67, and explores the meaning of indifference in Ariston’s thought.
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 63

of the Stoics (and Academics) as teachers. Diogenes Laertius preserves

what at first seems a very different account of Zeno’s relations with
Antigonus and reproduces a letter of extreme politeness in which
Zeno declines the king’s invitation to join him in Pella. In his place,
Zeno sent Perseus and Philonides of Thebes.26 But the next column
in Philodemus’ treatment of Zeno makes it clear that Antigonus was
merely teasing the old philosopher and that he treated Zeno “as his
equal and peer” (Col. VIII.2 Dorandi). Philodemus’ interest, clearly,
is in Zeno’s frankness before a powerful figure like Antigonus.27
This side of Philodemus’ history of the philosophers reminds us
both that one of the meanings of filosof¤a is a way of life (as it is
for Epicurus in his last will and testament, Diog. Laert. 10.17) and
that Philodemus was the author of the fascinating treatise On Frank
Criticism (Per‹ parrhs¤aw). In Stoicorum Historia, Cleanthes provides a
dramatic case-study in tolerance—not of the plain speaking of the
philosopher, but of public abuse. Cleanthes shows us the restraint
Philodemus recommended in a teacher who would employ plain
speaking with discretion as well as firmness in his treatment of two
poets who were his students. One, the comic poet Baton, who has
left us some interesting popular philosophical disquisitions—excerpted
precisely because they were popular philosophy—insulted Cleanthes
in a comedy.28 Arcesilaus resented the insult and wanted to remove
Baton from the Stoa. After a short tonic dialogue with Arcesilaus
on what is most important to human happiness, Cleanthes allowed
Baton to stay (Cols. XXII–XXIII Dorandi), only to have to face the
abuse of another student, the tragic poet, Sositheos, who mocked
Cleanthes’ style of speech in a satyr play (from which we have the
quotation in Col. XXIV.3–9).29
The point is that the philosopher will both employ and endure
plain speaking in—and even abuse from—his students. Rather than
expelling the offenders, Cleanthes allows them to remain in the Stoa,

26
Diog. Laert. 7.6–9. Diogenes reproduces the letters from Apollonius of Tyre’s
tract on Zeno.
27
An account of their relationship is to be found in William Woodthorpe Tarn,
Antigonos Gonatas (Oxford: Clarendon, 1913; repr. Chicago: Argo, 1969) 29–36. In
view of the evidence, Tarn states: “if we seek the bond of union between these two
opposite natures, we shall probably find that it consisted in a kind of savage hon-
esty common to both, a desire for the thing as it really is” (35).
28
PCG, IV.T.4 (p. 28) Kassel-Austin.
29
This attack was known to Diogenes Laertius, 7.173 (SVF 1 603 and TrGF 199
fr. 4, p. 272).
64 diskin clay

gradually to win them over (Col. XXV.1–3 Dorandi). In his trea-

tise on “How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend,” Plutarch
recalls the incident that involved Cleanthes and Baton: “When he
wrote a line insulting Cleanthes in a comedy, Arcesilaus read him
out of the school. But, when Baton won Cleanthes over and repented
of what he had done, Arcesilaus made peace with him” (Moralia
55C). This anecdote from Plutarch puts the anecdote in Philodemus’
Stoicorum Historia squarely in the context of plain speaking. Oddly,
we hear of Cleanthes and his stern frankness in On Frank Criticism—
a treatise devoted almost entirely to the moral education of the
Epicureans. Here Philodemus is discussing the tactic of an audacious
use of frankness and says that those who employ it will not diverge
from the paradigm of two masters: Metrodorus of Lampsacus and
Cleanthes: “. . . so that they [will employ frankness] aggressively in
regard to [laziness and] procrastination. Therefore, they [will be]
rather too strict {in the application of frankness} if they were born
in want of things conducive to [good will] and friendship and toward
the long-term imitation of those who taught {them} . . . [in] the
process of teaching or moments of teaching they will in no way differ
from Cleanthes or Metrodorus, for it is obvious that an attentive
{teacher} will employ a more abundant {frankness}” (Cols. Va and
Vb Olivieri). In sequel, Philodemus stresses how the dosage of med-
icinal plain speaking must be adjusted to the character of the indi-
vidual student (Col. VIa Olivieri).
A large collection of curt responses—usually directed at dull young
men and one directed at Antigonus Gonatas—formed around Cleanthes
after his death.30 As for Metrodorus of Lampsacus, we know from
the immediate sequel that he recognized that his associate and peer,
Polyaenus, “often insinuated himself into conversation and was quite
sociable.”31 Metrodorus is also mentioned later in On Frank Criticism,
as Philodemus quotes his renegade brother Timocrates saying “that
he both loved his brother as no one else did and hated him as no
one else” (Col. XXb.1–5 Olivieri). This remark might derive from
a letter Metrodorus wrote his older brother Metrodorides about their
rift; Metrodorus also wrote a polemical tract against his brother, as
did Timocrates against Metrodorus.32

30
SVF 1 597–619, especially the replies given in 597 (to Antigonus Gonatas),
605 (to Arcesilaus), and 605–617 (his sharp and clever responses to stupid questions).
31
Col. VIa.11–14 (Metrodori Epicurei Fragmenta fr. 45 Koerte).
32
Philodemus, On Anger Col. XII 26–29 Indelli and Metrodori Epicurei Fragmenta
XXI Koerte.
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 65

Academicorum Historia
We can now return to Plato and the Academy, with which Philodemus
began. Once again, the relation between the philosopher and the
man of power is a matter of great interest to Philodemus. In the
case of the Stoics, Philodemus’ attention is trained on Zeno in his
relation to Antigonus, the political career of Perseus, and the involve-
ment of Panaetius in the affairs of both Athens and Rhodes, where
he was given the title “the second founder;” each of these cases illus-
trates the intimate connections between philosophers and dynasts—
or cities.33 Indeed, one of the Stoics attempted to become a dynast.
In the course of his discussion of Perseus, Philodemus mentions the
treatise of Hermippus of Smyrna on just this subject: “On those who
abandoned philosophy for political power.”34
One could well expect that Philodemus would be interested in the
relations between Plato and the court of Syracuse, because it is in
such contacts as these that a philosopher’s autonomy and freedom of
speech are tested and vindicated. In the Academicorum Historia Plato
naturally plays a large role. Philodemus gives a sketch of the literature
on Plato’s early life and of the moment when, after spending time
with the Pythagoreans of Italy, he arrived at the court of Dionysius
I in Syracuse. His description of this first encounter of philosopher
and dynast recalls that earlier and paradigmatic meeting of Solon
and Croesus in Lydia: “Dionysius showed himself to be ill at ease
in response to Plato’s forthrightness (parrhs¤a[n]), because, when
Plato was asked who he thought was more blessed than others, Plato
did not say Dionysius” (Col. X.11–15 Dorandi). The crucial term is
not “blessed” but “forthrightness,” parrhs¤a. In the context of the
confrontation of philosopher and tyrant we cannot translate the term
as “frank criticism.” That Philodemus’ (and his teacher Zeno of
Sidon’s) interest was fixed on this philosophical honesty, which is the
beginning of an openness to philosophy and moral reformation, is
suggested by a fragmentary passage from his On Frank Criticism, where
he seems to return to Plato, the proverb “a second tack,” and the

33
Zeno and Antigonus, the passages reviewed from Cols. VIII and IX; Perseus’
relations with Antigonus and his aÈlikÚw b¤ow are taken up in Cols. XIII–XVII;
Panaetius is called the “second founder” (deÊterow kt¤sthw) of Rhodes, Col. LXXII.5;
cf. Plutarch, “Precepts for Governing a Republic,” Moralia 18.814D.
34
Stoicorum Historia XVI 2 Dorandi. The title of this work seems to have been
Per‹ t«n épÚ filosof¤aw efiw dunaste¤aw metastãntvn; see Dorandi ad loc., Storia dei
Filosofi: Platone e l’Academia 91 n. 350 and Hermippus, fr. 90, Fritz Wehrli, Die Schule
des Aristoteles: Supplementband (Basel: Schwabe, 1974).
66 diskin clay

relation between Plato and Dionysius II, who could not bear the
frank speech of the philosopher who was his inferior—in station and
in power (Cols. XVb–XVIa Olivieri). We will return to this passage
as we come to Philodemus’ On Frank Criticism.
The long section on Polemon reflects a number of the themes
shared by Philodemus’ histories of the Academic and Stoic philoso-
phers and his treatment of plain speaking (in On Frank Criticism),
which is mainly but not entirely devoted to the first generation of
the Epicurean school in Athens, as “those who led the way” (ofl kay-
hghmÒnew, ofl kayhghsãmenoi) provide models for the philosopher in
therapy for his pupils. Polemon’s youthful excesses were notorious
in the biographical tradition on which Philodemus depended.35 He
clearly depended on the Lives of Antigonus of Carystus.36 But his
attention fastens on both the austere and tough character of Polemon
after his conversion and his relation to the philosopher who con-
verted him to philosophy, Xenocrates. After troubles with the law
and a life of public drunkenness and lasciviousness, Polemon decided
to leave Athens to live just outside its walls in the Academy, where
many in the Academy built reed huts to keep him company. “He
seems to have nurtured a youthful admiration for Xenocrates and
this admiration resulted in his constant praise [of the philosopher]
and the fact that he emulated his conduct in everything”—§mime›to
p[ãnto]yen tå per‹ aÈtoË (Col. XIV.41–45 Dorandi). This emulation
is familiar to Philodemus from the example of those Epicureans who
engaged in “the long-term imitation of those who taught {them}”
(On Frank Criticism Va Olivieri). Among the Academics, Philodemus
also records the case of Charmadas’ emulation of Agathocles of Tyre
(Academicorum Historia, XXIII.8 Dorandi).
For there to be an emulation of a teacher on the part of the
pupil, the pupil has to come to admire his teacher. In the case of
Xenocrates and Polemon, this admiration did not come about auto-
matically or through Polemon’s simply listening to Xenocrates’ lec-
tures. Polemon was hunted by Xenocrates. Philodemus’ words are:
“But once he had been hunted down by Xenocrates and introduced
to him, he transformed his life to such an extent that he never

35
Cols. IV.25–XV. The testimonia for Polemon and fragments relative to his
career are collected by Gigante, Polemonis Academici fragmenta (Naples: Accademia di
archeologia, lettere e belle arti, 1977).
36
Gaiser (Philodems Academica 129–31) includes Antigonus of Carystus’ Life of Polemon
in his elaborate reconstruction of Philodemus’ sources and their sources.
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 67

relaxed the expression of his face or changed his posture or altered

the tone of his voice” (yhraye‹w dÉÍpÚ Jenokrãtouw ka‹ susta[ye]‹w
aÈt“, tosoËto metÆl[l]aje katå tÚn b¤on, Àste mhd°pote tØn toË pros≈pou
fantas¤an dia[lË]sai ka‹ sx°sin ålloi«s[ai] m[Æ]te tÒn t[Ò]non t∞w
[fvn∞w] . . ., Historia Academicorum, Col. XIII.10–18 Dorandi). Proof
of this is the attack of the mad dog that terrified his companions and
left Polemon with a wound in the groin but impassive (Col. XIII.20–27
Dorandi). The metaphor of the philosopher’s hunt for the young is
as old as Plato’s Sophist, where the sophist is described as a “paid
hunter of the young” (Sophist 231D).37 At the end of his history of
the Academic philosophers, Philodemus mentions a pupil of Carneades,
Phanostratus of Trachis. He is notable for his expert and refined
investigation of all methods of winning pupils over (eÔ prÚw [p]ç[sa]n
cuxagvg¤an ±k[rib]vm[°now, col. XXXVI 4–5 Dorandi). Philodemus’
On Frank Criticism is Epicurean counterpart of this enterprise.

On Frank Criticism
PHerc. 1471 preserves in fragmentary form the title of Philodemus
On Frank Criticism: FILODHM[OU] TVN KAT EPITOMHN EJEIR
GASMENVN PERI HYVN KAI BIVN TVN ZHNVN[S SXO]LVN. The title is
fuller and better preserved than most, but it presents a problem. It
is clear from the syntax of this work and the accusative + infinitive
constructions dependent on “he [Zeno] said” that Philodemus depends
on the lectures he heard Zeno of Sidon give and which he tran-
scribed. We in turn are dependent on Philodemus for the abbrevi-
ated discussion of characters and ways of life and their bearing on
the question of how the philosopher should approach the student he
believes needs correction and improvement. Like some of the devoted
students he describes in his histories of the Academic and Stoic
philosophers, Philodemus preserved the lectures of his teacher. We
know from his history of the Stoics the very different fates of two
of Carneades’ students who prepared versions of his lectures. One,
Zeno of Alexandria, was exposed to humiliation by the master in
front of his fellow students; the other, Hagnon of Tarsus, won his
favor (Academicorum Historia, XXII.35–XXIII.7).

37
This theme is pursued by Wolfgang Schmid, “Die Netze des Seelenfängers:
Zur Jagdmetaphorik im philosophischen Protreptikos des Demetrios Lakon (Pap.
Herc. 831),” Parola del Passato 10 (1955): 44–47; reprinted in Ausgewälte philologische
Schriften (Berlin: W. de Guyter, 1984), 48–55.
68 diskin clay

Philodemus’ abridgment of Zeno’s lectures creates a dependency

that makes a judgment about the treatise On Frank Criticism a deli-
cate matter: are we hearing only the abbreviated speech of Zeno,
or is the voice of Philodemus also audible?38 The same dilemma
faces us in an evaluation of his works on the Academic and Stoic
philosophers. Clearly in his Academicorum Historia, Philodemus owes a
great deal to Apollodorus of Athens, the “chronographer;” and he
owes something to this “man of letters” (and poet of comic trime-
ters) in his Stoicorum Historia. He is not reticent about his debts.39
Whatever Philodemus owes on credit, his spending habits are
apparent in his two histories of the philosophers and in his On Frank
Criticism. There are obvious differences between these histories and
Philodemus’ presentation of Zeno’s lectures on frank criticism. The
first proceed in chronological sequence, and sometimes provide archon
years, in the manner of Apollodorus of Athens. Zeno’s lectures pur-
sue a variety of topics and are structured on Philodemus’ summary
of Zeno’s responses to at least fourteen questions concerning the
range of reactions to frank criticism. Most of these questions (described
as zhtoÊmena or tÒpoi) concern the sage or philosopher (sofÒw); a few
concern his pupils.40 For his histories, Philodemus relied on a vari-
ety of sources; for On Frank Criticism he relied on Zeno. The histo-
ries concentrate first on Academic and then on Stoic philosophers
in chronological sequence from Plato and Zeno to Philodemus’ own

38
David Sedley has ventured that “it seems not over-bold to suggest that many
of his works should be thought of in some ways comparable in content to Arrian’s
transcripts of Epictetus’ teaching.” See his “Philosophical Allegiance in the Greco-
Roman World,” in Philosophia Togata: Essays on Philosophy and Roman Society, ed. Miriam
Griffin and Jonathan Barnes (Oxford: Clarendon, 1989), 104. My own sense of the
matter is that Philodemus’ interests and philosophical personality are also expressed
by the choices made in the abridgement (katÉ §pitomÆn).
39
Philodemus actually quotes sections from Apollodorus in his history of the
Academic philosophers, XXVI.35–44; XXVII.1–12; XXVII.32–XXVIII.16;
XXVIII.35–XXIX.16; XXIX.39–XXX.11; XXXI.1–12; XXXI.34–XXXII.10;
XXXII.14–16. These passages appear in FGrHist 224 as frs. 47, 52–60. The con-
spectus provided by Dorandi for Philodemus’ dependencies in both works is syn-
optic: Storia dei Filosofi: Platone e l’Academia 83–99; Storia dei Filosofi: La Stoá da Zenone
a Panezio 32–35. In the history of the Stoics, Apollodorus is referred to as “the man
of letters”—ı grammatikÒw (Col. LXIX.4–5 Dorandi). Gaiser provides a more elab-
orate conspectus and stemmata in his discussion of the sources of Philodemus’ his-
tory of the Academics, Philodems Academica (1988): 87–133.
40
Frs. 5.6–8; 53.2–6; 67.9–11; 70.5–7; 74.3–10 (four questions, apparently on
the sons of wealthy fathers); 81.1–4 (explicitly concerning the sofÒw); 88.1–4 (on
students); Col. Ia.1–4; IIIa.3–5 (ofl sofo¤); XIXa.5–8; XXIA.1–5; XXIb.12–15;
XXIIb.10–13; and XIVa.7–9.
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 69

contemporaries; On Frank Criticism concentrates on the first genera-

tion of the Epicureans in Athens and is extremely general in its
description of philosophical education. Thus, only Epicureans of the
first generation of the school are actually named in On Frank Criticism:
Epicurus first and foremost, then his associates Apollonides, Hermar-
chus, Idomeneus, Leonteus, Metrodorus, Polyaenus, Pythocles, and
Timocrates, the renegade brother of Metrodorus. We have noticed
the single case of a Stoic named by Philodemus, Cleanthes (Col.
Vb.2 Olivieri).
But the interests that all three works share in common are also appar-
ent. Like Zeno of Sidon, Philodemus is more concerned in these three
treatises with character, the choice and condition of life, and with
education, rather than doctrine. Philodemus is also interested in the
theme of the philosopher and his ambiguous and dangerous relation
to the powerful. The relation between Plato and the court of Syracuse
is treated in Philodemus’ history of the Academic philosophers. I
would suggest that it is also glanced at in On Frank Criticism.
The topos of the confrontation of tyrant and philosopher is as old
as Herodotus’ account of the meeting between Solon and Croesus
(Histories I.30–33). It is also one of the questions Philodemus addresses
in a specific form at the end of On Frank Criticism: “Why is it that,
when other things are equal, those who are illustrious both in resources
and reputations abide {frank criticism} less well {than others}?” (Col.
XXIIb.10–13 Olivieri). The possible reference to Plato occurs in the
context of the question: “Will philosophers diverge from one another
in their frankness?” (Col. IIIa.3–5 Olivieri). In Col. XVb, Philodemus
seems to be treating the philosophers who have erred in their use
of forthright criticism and are forced to take “another tack.” The
expression “second sailing” is proverbial in Greek, and Plato seems
to recognize it as he describes his second trip to Sicily and his attempt
to influence Dionysius II of Syracuse.41 Olivieri thought that we might
have here a reference to Plato; Philippson thought not.42
Plato’s encounters with Dionysius, father and son, were notorious,
and Plutarch, in his treatise on “How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a
Friend,” twice cites Plato’s diplomatic tact in handling Dionysius II.43

41
Letter 7.337E (≤ . . . deut°ra pore¤a te ka‹ ploËw). Plato evokes the proverb in
Phaedo 99D, Statesman 300C, and Philebus 19C.
42
Olivieri in his note ad loc.; Philippson in his review of Olivieri, Berliner Philologische
Wochenschrift, 27 (May 1916) 688.
43
Moralia 7.52F and 26.67C–E.
70 diskin clay

The text of Philodemus can be read to continue: “when he encoun-

tered {him, i.e., Dionysius II}, he {Plato} missed the mark in the
exercise of plain speaking, but he [set] no value on those very per-
sons who best recognize what concerns them” (Col. XVIa.1–5 Olivieri).
There are others who faced Plato’s difficulties in the court of
Syracuse—to name only the Socratic Aeschines and the lyric poet
Philoxenus.44 The other instance of plain speaking with the great is
an anecdote concerning Alexander the Great and the people who
asked him whether they should address him in a Greek or a bar-
barian fashion (fr. 24.8–12 Olivieri).
The best known passage in Philodemus’ On Frank Criticism does
not concern criticism only; it also reflects the allegiance Epicureans
of his day swore to Epicurus: “. . . we shall admonish others with
great confidence, both now and when those {of us} who have become
offshoots of our teachers have become eminent. And the encom-
passing and most important thing is, we shall obey Epicurus, accord-
ing to whom we have chosen to live” (fr. 45.1–11 Olivieri). Such
obedience makes the cases of apostasy Philodemus considers in the
works we have reviewed all the more relevant to the Epicurean: the
case of Dionysius “the renegade” (ı metay°menow) in his history of
the Stoics and the painful case of Timocrates in his On Frank Criticism.45
But what impresses more is Philodemus’ sense of his own author-
ity: ka‹ nËn diapr°cantew ofl kay[hgh]t«n oÏtvw épÒtomoi genhy°ntew.
Philodemus’ debt to his sources and to those who led the way before
him is great, but the project he undertook in his histories of the
Academic and Stoic philosophers is very much his own. It is also a
part of still other projects that deal with the education of the philoso-
pher by the philosopher. When Philodemus speaks of Epicurus as
the philosopher “according to whom we have chosen to live,” his

44
The difficulties of Aeschines are recognized in Plutarch, Moralia 26.67C–D
(Gabriele Giannantoni, Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae VIA 11 [Naples: Bibliopolis,
1990]). Diodorus Siculus XV.6 is our source for the anecdotes concerning Philoxenus
of Cythera and Dionysius I. Summaries of the traditions concerning Plato’s deal-
ings with the court in Syracuse can be found in Alice Swift Reginos, Platonica: The
Anecdotes concerning the Life and Writings of Plato, Columbia Studies in the Classical
Tradition 3 (Leiden: Brill, 1976), 70–85; Mekler (1902): 6–7 and François Lasserre,
De Léodamas de Thasos à Philippe d’Oponte, Témoinages et fragments (1987): 669–72.
45
Sedley, “Philosophical Allegiance,” well demonstrates the importance of On
Frank Criticism for the question of philosophical allegiance in the Greco-Roman world.
We have noted the reference to Timocrates; Dionysius is mentioned in Stoicorum
Historia (1994) Cols. X.48 and XXIX.5 Dorandi.
 plain speaking of the other philosophers 71

word (≤<i>rÆmeya) suggests the word for a philosophical sect (a·resiw).

His project of treating the role of frank criticism in his presentation
of Zeno’s lectures on frank criticism and its role in the education of
the philosopher explains why Philodemus is so non-sectarian in his
histories of the other philosophers, the Academics and the Stoics.46

46
A version of this essay has appeared as Chapter 6 of Paradosis and Survival:
Three Chapters in the History of Epicurean Philosophy (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1998).
This page intentionally left blank
 CRAFT, CULT, AND CANON IN THE BOOKS
FROM HERCULANEUM

Dirk Obbink

Abstract

Some have argued that the Epicureans might have constituted some-
thing like a Hellenistic cult or religion. Although the Epicureans would
cite authoritative teachers, most notably Epicurus himself, and showed
concern for establishing a canon of Epicurean authorities, Philodemus
in his treatises does not appeal to those authorities in the deferential
way that a member of a cult or religion would appeal to the cult’s
deity or leader. Moreover, the selection of works in the Herculaneum
library gives no indication of any attempt to gather a collection of
authoritative canonical texts, but rather an interest in the pressing
issues of a particular period in the history of Hellenistic philosophy.

Much discussion has been given to the possibility that the Epicureans,
who not only rejected the theology of pagan myths but also were
so unorthodox as to admit women and educate their slaves,1 might
have constituted something like a Hellenistic cult or religion, organ-
ized along the lines of, for example, certain early Christian groups.
In what follows I will argue against this view, in particular its
most coherent, recent formulation by David Sedley.2 Sedley focuses

1
Unorthodox, that is, in organization. But where doctrine was concerned,
Epicureans toed the line, at least in adhering to expressed positions of the founder
of the school. Though Epicurus claimed to have had no teacher, he took up lines
of inquiry laid down by Plato and the pre-Socratics. While the Epicureans rejected
the value of traditional paide¤a, they held knowledge of grammar to be a sine qua
non of doing philosophy. Leontion is one example among many of the women
among the Epicureans. According to Cicero in De natura deorum she became too
outspoken as a result; see Pamela Gordon’s contribution in this volume. In Philodemus’
poetry, women are occasionally represented discussing philosophical themes. Epicurus’
learned slave Mus studied with him, according to Diogenes Laertius. In addition,
Epicurus in the Kyriai Doxai emphatically says that it is never too late to start study-
ing philosophy, which suggests that the Garden operated like a modern academic
extension division in admitting non-traditional students.
2
David Sedley, “Philosophical Allegiance in the Greco-Roman World,” in Miriam
Griffin and Jonathan Barnes, eds. Philosophia Togata: Essays on Philosophy and Roman
Society (Oxford: Clarendon, 1989), 97–119.
74 dirk obbink

on the Epicurean books recovered from a Roman villa on the Bay

of Naples destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 c.e. and exca-
vated in the eighteenth century.3 Seeking an explanation for why the
books from Herculaneum (mostly the writings of the first century
b.c.e. Epicurean philosopher Philodemus) so closely follow the exam-
ple set by the school’s founder, and therefore lack the sort of orig-
inal philosophical argumentation or speculation we would expect
from Aristotle or modern analytic philosophers, Sedley argues that
what gives these works “their cohesion and identity is less a disin-
terested common quest for the truth than a virtually religious com-
mitment to the authority of a founder figure.”4
I argue in response that the Epicureans, while claiming the author-
ity of a famous teacher, made no more of a religious commitment
to that authority than do scholars in modern university settings to
their own teachers and intellectual forebears. An alternative expla-
nation must instead be sought for similarities between the organiza-
tion and procedure of Epicurean groups and that of other Hellenistic
groups. These may instead be due to those groups’ emulation of cer-
tain features of the Hellenistic philosophical schools.
The books from Herculaneum have long been known. Already in
the early nineteenth century it could be complained of them that
they had lain idle since their discovery in the eighteenth, “ignored
by the unlearned, and regretted by the learned.”5 The difficulties of
these texts, due to their carbonized state of preservation, have blocked
their use as evidence for Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The
Greek in which they are written is so esoteric that it would be difficult
to control and translate if they had come down to us in perfect con-
dition. But there are indications that this situation is starting to
change. New recent work on the papyri in Italy, where they are housed
at Naples in the Bibliotheca Nazionale, together with an NEH-funded

3
See “Guide to Editions and Translations,” in Marcello Gigante, Philodemus in
Italy: The Books from Herculaneum, trans. Dirk Obbink, 2nd ed. (Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press, 2002), 115–26; “Classified Bibliography,” in Dirk Obbink, ed.,
Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus, and Horace (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1995) 270–81; Catalogo dei papiri ercolanesi (Naples: Bibliopolis,
1979), with updates in CErc 19 (1989): 193–264, and Indice dei papiri ercolanesi in
“Cronache ercolanesi” 1971–1995, 3rd supplement to CErc (Naples: Macchiaroli, 1995).
4
Sedley 97.
5
William Drummond and Robert Walpole, Herculanensia; or Archeological and
Philological Dissertations, containing a Manuscript Found among the Ruins of Herculaneum
(London: T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1810), ii.
 craft, cult, and canon 75

project to edit and translate the papyri, are rapidly supplying reliable
editions of the fragmentary books, equipped with modern translations.
The new work utilizes electronic microscopes making it possible to
read many previously intractable passages. We now have whole books
of Epicurus’ magnum opus On Nature (of which Epicurus’ Letter to
Herodotus and Lucretius’ De rerum natura are summaries). Several books
with titles like On Epicurus and Records of the School survive to document
the organization and instructional methodology of the Epicureans
during the first three centuries before Christ.6 Numerous ethical
works,7 including On Anger (available with an Italian translation in
the edition of G. Indelli)8 and On Death9 treat the psychology of the
emotions. Another important treatise, On Frank Criticism, treats the
subject of frank speech ( parrhesia), and more broadly issues of inter-
personal relations between the members of the school and between
members and outsiders.10 Philodemus also wrote On Piety11 and On
Gods,12 as did the second-century Epicurean Demetrius Laco.13
The last two topics throw into sharp relief the interest that the
books from Herculaneum hold for students of Hellenistic religion. I
will return to their content after first characterizing the philosophi-
cal discourse, and its connections with cult and religion, to be found
in the books from Herulaneum.

6
New edition, translation, and commentary by C. Militello, Memorie Epicuree
(PHerc. 1418 e 310), La Scuola di Epicuro 16 (Naples: Bibliopolois, 1997).
7
PHerc. 1251, for example, is a practical introduction to Epicurean ethics; see
the new edition with commentary and English translation: [Philodemus], [On Choices
and Avoidances] eds. Giovanni Indelli and Voula Tsouna-McKirahan, La Scuola di
Epicuro 15 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1995), with my review article, “The Mooring of
Philosophy,” OSAPh 15 (1997): 259–81.
8
See my review, BASP 28 (1991): 89–90; a new English translation by David
Armstrong is forthcoming.
9
Taco Kuiper, ed., Philodemus Over den Dood (Amsterdam: H. J. Paris, 1925) with
Dutch translation; forthcoming English translation by David Armstrong.
10
New English translation by David Konstan, Diskin Clay, Clarence E. Glad,
Johan C. Thom, James Ware, Philodemus: On Frank Criticism, SBLTT 43 (Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1998).
11
Obbink, ed. Philodemus On Piety, Part 1: Critical Text with Commentary (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1996); new edition of Part 2 forthcoming.
12
New edition of book 1 in progress by Pål Tidemandsen (University of Oslo)
incorporating the unpublished work of Knut Kleve; forthcoming edition of book 3
by Holgar Essler.
13
PHerc. 1055: Vittorio De Falco, L’epicureo Demetrio Lacone (Naples: A. Cimmaruta,
1923), 9f., 18, 58, 65–80, with the corrections of E. Renna, CErc 12 (1982): 43–9.
A new edition by Mariacarolina Santoro is expected shortly.
76 dirk obbink

Apart from intense allegiance to the school’s founders and their

teachings, the books show the Epicureans as existing in highly organ-
ized, specifically structured, yet avowedly egalitarian, communities.14
As might be expected at a time of Hellenistic diaspora, the com-
munities were scattered, separated by vast stretches of land and water,
held together by an epistolary literature exchanged, memorized and
circulated among members of satellite communities visited periodi-
cally by itinerant, ambulatory leaders of the school from an intellectual
center, Athens. The satellite communities contributed (at Epicurus’
own request) annual dues (suntãjeiw) of two hundred drachmas to
belong to this community of like-minded thinkers. In return they would
receive letters from the Master and the other scholarchs (leaders of
the school, whom Philodemus refers to now as ofi êndrew, “The
Masters,” now as kayhg°monew, “teachers”). They could also expect
the occasional visit. An incident in which Epicurus was shipwrecked
en route to Lampsacus15 provided in many a letter opportunity for
reflection on the nature of mortality and death, in anticipation of
the Master’s grateful appearance. The books assume (whether in fact
or as a rhetorical topos) that the Epicureans, like some Jewish and
Christian groups, were charged by their opponents with atheism,
misanthropy, social irresponsibility, sexual immorality, and gross hedo-
nistic pursuit of pleasure. In the Herculaneum library, whole treatises
may be structured as detailed responses to such charges, a convenient
manner of doctrinal exposition, to be sure, but for that reason no
less committed, as far as we can tell, to setting the record straight.
In making his case for religious authority in the books, Sedley not
only points out that the Epicureans advocated a kind of “therapy of
the word,”16 but also draws attention to the strict doctrinal unity

14
The work by Norman De Witt on this subject (especially the article “Organization
and Procedure in Epicurean Groups”) has been deservedly discredited and should
be ignored. See however the excellent treatment by Abraham Malherbe, “Self-
Definition among Epicureans and Cynics,” in Ben F. Meyer and E. P. Sanders,
eds. Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 3, Self-Definition in the Greco-Roman World
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 46–59. For further information in relation to Hellenistic
religious groups see Henry A. Fischel, Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy:
A Study of Epicurea and Rhetorica in Early Midrashic Writings, Studia Post-Biblica 21
(Leiden: Brill, 1973), and H. Reiche’s illuminating article “Myth and Magic in
Cosmological Polemics,” RhM 2 114 (1971): 296–329.
15
See Diskin Clay, Paradosis and Survival: Three Chapters in the History of Epicurean
Philosophy (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998), chapter 3: “Sailing to
Lampsacus.”
16
Gigante, “‘Philosophia medicans’ in Filodemo,” CErc 5 (1975): 53–61. Martha
 craft, cult, and canon 77

observed by their Epicurean authors. The requirement of orthodoxy

was, to varying degrees, imposed by all the Hellenistic philosophical
schools, if less so by the Stoics, as Sedley emphasizes. This was due
in part to the fact that the Epicureans were largely ruled by a set
of canonical texts (which accounts for the preservation among the
books of the Herculaneum library of books of the second century
b.c.e. by Demetrius Laco and of the third by Epicurus and Colotes).
Similarly, Plato’s books were inherited by his successors in the
Academy, whose work for several generations consisted solely in the
guarded study of the founder’s dialogues.
The Aristotelians of the Peripatos seem at first sight exceptional
in this respect, insofar as Theophrastus followed Aristotle closely, but
his successor Strato did not. The latter didn’t even manage to retain
for the school the manuscripts of Aristotle’s own works. The result
is highly instructive, as Sedley points out: from the beginning of
Strato’s headship (267 b.c.e.) the school rapidly declined in importance
and re-emerged only during the course of the second century under the
headship of Critolaus. As Aristotle’s esoteric works became unavailable
the school floundered virtually to the point of extinction. “It was
arguably only the belated establishment of a set of canonical school
texts by Andronicus in the late first century b.c. that Aristotelianism
was able to become once again a major presence on the philosophical
stage. Thus the Peripatos’ fall from prominence under Strato serves
to re-emphasize the indispensable cohesive force exerted by a school’s
commitment to its scriptures. Without them there was no school.”17
The discovery of a philosophical library at Herculaneum seemed
therefore to point to the existence there of just such a school, loyal
to its Athenian roots in the Epicurean Garden. Some of the books
it contained were standard textbook surveys, from an Epicurean point
of view, of philosophical positions of the day. Ethics seemed to be

Nussbaum’s article “Therapeutic Arguments: Epicurus and Aristotle” in Malcolm

Schofield and Gisela Striker, eds. Norms of Nature: Studies in Hellenistic Ethics (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1986), 31–74 may be usefully consulted, though she
mischaracterizes the Epicurean approach to persuasion as appealing primarily to the
irrational. See also her edited collection Poetics of Therapy (special issue of the periodical
Apeiron) and The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1994), with the glowing review by Sedley in TLS; more
to the point is Bernard Williams, “Do Not Disturb,” LRB (20 Oct. 1994), 25–26.
A recent treatment of Hellenistic philosophical therapy is that of S. White in
J. G. F. Powell, ed., Cicero The Philosopher (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
17
Sedley 100.
78 dirk obbink

stressed over physics, with the latter being represented in the books
on theology, since the Epicureans were materialists (they eschewed logic
and dialectic).18 Philodemus’ interest in ethics and character-development
is apparent, for example, from his treatise On Household Management
(Per‹ ofikonom¤aw). It treated the question of whether the philosopher
will own and manage property. The treatise was book 9 of his larger
work On Vices and Virtues. The elegantly displayed subscription reads
FilodÆmou | Per‹ kaki«n ka‹ t«n | éntikeim°nvn éret«n | ka‹ t«n §n oÂw
efisi | ka‹ per‹ ë y’, in the attenuated style of Hellenistic philosophi-
cal book-titles: Philodemus’ [treatise] Concerning Vices and their Corresponding
Virtues and the People in Whom They Occur and the Situations in Which They
are Found, book 9. Philodemus’ answer is that the philosopher will
own property, in order to receive enough income to be happy; it is
clear, however, that one’s dependants will do the actual managing.
Some of Philodemus’ writings are in fact the writing up of the
lecture notes he took at Zeno’s classes in Athens. His book On Frank
Criticism (Per‹ parrhs¤aw), dealing in particular with the topic of
master-pupil relationships, is subtitled as being §k t«n ZÆnvnow sxol«n,
i.e., based on notes “from Zeno’s classes.” Others show clear depen-
dence on Zeno, especially On Signs, which is a report on a debate
over logical inference from observation (or what we might call scientific
method) between Stoics and Epicureans in the late second century
b.c.e. Philodemus transcribes his own notes on Zeno’s lectures, plus
those of his fellow pupil Bromius (who Philodemus tells us had
attended a different set of lectures from his own), together with the
Epicurean Demetrius of Laconia’s very similar account of the same
debate. Philodemus has no personal involvement in the debate, as
Sedley notes: “not only Zeno’s arguments, but also the Stoic ones
to which they are rejoinders, are known to Philodemus from those
classes in Athens.”19 Sedley usefully suggests that some of Philodemus’
works should be thought of as in some ways comparable in content

18
The demotion of physics to a back-seat position in the writings of Philodemus
is an unexplained mystery. Though the library contained a complete copy of Epicurus’
On Nature, it is almost never cited. An exception that proves the rule is Philodemus’
fairly technical discussion of the formation and dissolution of the atoms of the soul
in On Death 4 (only the fourth book survives). The connections with the discussion
of death and the fifty proofs why the soul cannot be immortal in the third book
of Lucretius are too obvious to miss. Not surprisingly, the only Herculaneum trea-
tises to quote from Epicurus’ On Nature are On Death and On Piety.
19
Sedley 104.
 craft, cult, and canon 79

to Arrian’s transcripts of Epictetus’ teaching. Arrian revered Epictetus

and was totally devoted to his teachings, as Philodemus was to
Epicurus’, with his own teacher Zeno serving as intermediary. In
Against the [the rest of the title is lost], Philodemus says that he was
a devoted §rastÆw (a word with erotic connotations) of Zeno while
he lived, and now that he is dead Philodemus is an indefatigable
encomiast (ÍmnhtÆw) of him.
As Sedley notes,20 there is no solid evidence that the works of
Philodemus were themselves, strictly speaking, published. They may
well have been produced purely for private use or teaching purposes.
Diogenes Laertius cites Philodemus’ History of Philosophers (in ten books),
but apart from Philodemus’ racy poems (preserved in the Greek
anthology),21 no other work of Philodemus is attested as having cir-
culated. A native of Gadara in Syria who came to Italy via Athens
in the early first century b.c.e., Philodemus was known principally
for his elegant poetry and his works of philosophical historiography.22
According to Sedley, “It is at least easy to see why an Epicurean
working in Italy might be nervous about developing doctrinal ideas
for himself, in isolation from the current climate of thought in the
Garden at Athens, and why secondary literary activities like philo-
sophical biography should be for him the much less hazardous
option.”23 Sedley is thinking of the ancient Greek tradition that
philosophers might be prosecuted for impiety for their beliefs. But
in fact there is no evidence of this practice post-dating the middle
of the fourth century, and none that Philodemus was ever faced with
such a hazard—intellectual persecution at the hands of the authorities—
as envisaged by Sedley.24 More likely we have a situation in which
Philodemus reproduced the basic tenets of the school for the benefit
of his wealthy but (according to Cicero) philosophically recalcitrant
patron Piso. These works were published, as far as we know, by nei-
ther Piso nor Philodemus. Rather Piso invited his circle of friends

20
Ibid.
21
New edition, translation, and commentary: David Sider, The Epigrams of Philodemus
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). The poems circulated in Egypt in the first
century c.e.: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, vol. LIV (London: Egypt Exploration Society,
1987) no. 3724.
22
See Sider, Epigrams of Philodemus, 227–34 for a partial collection of testimony
(his T8, 231 should be discarded, as having no demonstrable connection with
Philodemus of Gadara).
23
Sedley 105.
24
Obbink, “The Atheism of Epicurus,” GRBS 30 (1989): 187–223.
80 dirk obbink

in to make use of them as they would in his vacation villa on the

sunny Bay of Naples. On certain occasions Philodemus was invited
to give a demonstration of the Epicurean approach to currently fash-
ionable topics, such as how traditional poetry might be read to pro-
vide an acceptable philosophical education,25 and so be useful to the
potential Republican ruler, an aristocratic would-be king.
The Library offers a glimpse of the school’s concern for estab-
lishing a canon of Epicurean authorities:26 (1) by branding of cer-
tain works as heretical; (2) through textual scholarship: Demetrius of
Laconia, at any rate, was prepared to posit scribal error in cases of
discrepancies between the scholarchs’ transmitted words and coher-
ent or valid argument; (3) by correction: Epicurus himself had said
explicitly that some of his own and his colleagues’ work had been
mistaken. Philodemus’ teacher Zeno “looked into the matter” of parts
of certain treatises, attributed to Epicurus’ early associates (Metrodorus
is specifically named), whose authenticity was suspect on stylistic
grounds.27 One potential result would be to exclude the discredited
texts from the canon.
Does this then add up to religious commitment to the authority
of a founder figure? Did the later Epicurean groups constitute cults
and conventicles (“cells,” according to one recent, hostile critic) or a
school of philosophy? Philodemus and other later Epicureans certainly
did venerate Epicurus and offer him (and the other early Scholarchs)
cultic veneration.28 Does this mean they constituted a religion, or at
least functioned as a religious community? Or is this simply a con-
tinuation, within a philosophical corporation organized along family
lines, of the extremely widespread Greek and Athenian practice of
offering cultic veneration to dead members of one’s household?
Philodemus’ treatise On Piety, virtually unexploited for this ques-
tion to date, shows that the Epicureans did engage in philosophical

25
Or the seeds thereof. This allows us to assimilate to the pattern of the Library
Philodemus’ treatise On the Good King according to Homer, for which special exception
must be made by Sedley; he disallows it as “outside Philodemus’ philosophical activ-
ities” (105 n. 24). Edited with Italian translation by Tiziano Dorandi (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1982); English translation by Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’ Poetic Theory
and On the Good King According to Homer,” ClAnt 10 (1991): 1–45; a new edition with
English translation and commentary is forthcoming by Jeffrey Fish.
26
Sedley 106–7.
27
See on On Piety 705–6 (Obbink).
28
Especially Clay, “The Cults of Epicurus,” CErc 16 (1986): 11–28; more broadly,
William Scott Ferguson, “The Cult of Heroes,” HThR.
 craft, cult, and canon 81

disputation of the day, offered rhetorical proofs (p¤steiw) for the gods’
existence, defended their philosophy and the cult of its founder as
a kind of yerape¤a conducive to ethical and psychological well-being.
Philodemus claims that the Epicureans credit “not only all the gods
of the Greeks, but many more besides” (a remarkable thought), to
which he contraposes the Stoics’ reduction of the elements to “one
universal god” and their failure to acknowledge “all the gods that
common report [≤ koinØ fÆmh] has handed down. With these we
[Epicureans] concur.”29 As a result, he says, piety is “virtually the
same thing as justice,” which offers social security and so is culti-
vated by the Epicurean as a craft (t°xnh) of living, susceptible of
general principles, and teachable.30 “No one,” says Philodemus, “has
ever succeeded in producing absolutely certain proofs [Èpode¤jeiw]
for the existence of the gods; nevertheless we believe in them and
worship then, as do all humans, with the exception of certain mad-
men [tinew parãkopoi].”31
The difference between this approach and a “virtually religious
commitment to the authority of a founder figure” is that Philodemus
offers arguments, in refuting his opponents point for point, for why
the Epicureans believe in and worship gods. There is no appeal per
se to the founder’s words or opinions as authoritative, except inso-
far as they provide demonstrative argument for the positions held.
And in general, I argue, it is this feature that distinguishes the
Hellenistic philosophical schools largely from the broader complex
social and theological movements we call Hellenistic religions: in the
latter a founder’s words or actions alone may serve, without proof,
to define membership, allegiance, authority, persuasion, and power.
As Sedley himself notes “only the Pythagorean sect stooped to that.”32
A similar pattern may be observed elsewhere in the composition
of the books of the library, i.e., in Philodemus’ sparring partners,
Epicurean and non-Epicurean alike, the objects of his polemic. In
such cases Philodemus often does not even bother to name names.
But when he does so, we meet not figures of authority invested with
power and charisma, but shadowy, unattested types, philosophers

29
On Piety, PHerc. 1428 col. 10, 8–11, 5 in Albert Henrichs, CErc 4 (1974):
20–21.
30
On Piety 2260–5 (Obbink 260).
31
On Piety 640–57 (Obbink 150).
32
Sedley p. 102.
82 dirk obbink

and grammarians by profession who never quite made the transition

to the codex apart from the odd dictionary entry or mention in
somebody else’s book. Lack of authority here is sometimes frustrat-
ing. It is sufficiently annoying that Philodemus often does not dig-
nify his opponents by mention of their names. But when he obliges
it seems like downright impertinence for it to turn out to be Pausi-
machos or Herakleodoros or Andromenides (some of the kritiko¤
attacked in On Poems), just nobody really, had his name not been
accidentally dropped in Hesychius’ entry on ÉEnod¤a.33 About such
figures we cannot even claim to be tolerably well informed by Philo-
demus. As kritiko¤ go, Crates and Aristo are well enough known.
But Demetrius of Byzantium, Karneiskos, Philista, Tisamagora(s) are
ciphers to us. Dionysius of Cyrene, a Stoic, recently surfaced repeat-
edly in new fragments from Philodemus’ On Gods. He was otherwise
mentioned only by Tertullian (Adv. nat. 2.2) and Isidorus (Etym. 8.6,18),
and, of course, by Philodemus. He was probably known to Varro,34
and seems to have been Philodemus’ principal opponent in On Gods.
In On Piety35 Philodemus tosses off the name Philippos as a standard
example of a notorious atheist. He sounds like someone we should
know, but we don’t, apart from his mention here.36
Of course there is no lack of philosophical luminaries among the
papyri. Epicurus figures in a big way: there was apparently a complete
Per¤ fÊsevw in the Villa’s library, some books in multiple copies in

33
Pausimachos is a complete cipher to us outside of Philodemus’ On Poems; see
Richard Janko’s edition and translation of On Poems 1–2, (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2001); edition and translation of On Poems 1–2 (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2001); Janko, “Philodemus Resartus: Progress in Reconstructing the Philosophical
Papyri from Herculaneum,” PBACAP 1991 vol. 7 (1993): 271–308, 299–302 (on
Pausimachus); Constantina Romeo, Demetrio Lacone: Sulla Poesia, La Scuola di Epicuro
(Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988), 57–65 (on Demetrios of Byzantium and Pausimachos).
Herakleodoros is known only from Philodemus’ references in On Poems 5; see Cecilia
Mangoni, Filodemo, Il quinto libro della poetica, La Scuola di Epicuro 14 (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1993), 275–77, with Italian translation. Andromenides makes a brief
appearance in the Hesychius entry ÉHnod¤a: ÖArtemiw: ka‹ kunhgetikã, …w ÉAndromen¤dhw,
which at least shows he had an interest in glossing poetic epithets of the gods; see
Romeo 45–50; Mangoni, 277–79.
34
Cf. Isid. Etym. 8.6, 21. On Dionysios of Cyrene see Hermann Diels, Philodemus
über die Götter, Erstes Buch, Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften 1916, Philosophisch-historische Klasse Nr. 7 (Text und Erläuterung),
55–57. On the new fragments of De dis, Knut Kleve, “The Unknown Parts of
Philodemus, On the Gods, Book I,” in L’Epicureismo Greco e Romano, Atti del Congresso
Internazionale, vol. 2 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1996), 671–81.
35
PHerc. 1428 col. 12, 8–12 in Albert Henrichs, CErc 4 (1974): 22.
36
Unless he is Philip of Opus, who makes an appearance in Philodemus’ Index
Academicorum (see the chapter of Clay in this volume). But he doesn’t seem to fit
the description of someone who explicitly denied the existence of the gods.
 craft, cult, and canon 83

old manuscripts dating back at least to the second century b.c.e.,

though little evidence in the rest of the papyri that they were much
read.37 In spite of Lucretius’ encomium of Epicurus as a god in the
proem of De rerum natura 5, the words of the founder were no sacred
scripture. The works of Epicurus and the early founders of the school,
Hermarchus, Metrodorus, and Polyaenus are of course cited frequently,
as are non-Epicurean philosophers, if not exactly the ones we would
expect. Plato is occasionally mentioned, and there were at Herculaneum
copies of books by the early Epicurean scholarchs (Colotes and
Polyaenus) attacking dialogues of Plato and Aristotle by name. There
is even a copy of a treatise on logic by the Stoic philosopher
Chrysippus, and there may have been more non-Epicurean books.
Even the extant papyri are full of holes, into which interstices fall
the names of philosophers and their books, as well as their arguments.
We might have expected prosopographical potpourri from the
works of an author who, like Philodemus, was preserved at random
and was not subject to the same criteria of selection for transmission
as our canonical authors and texts.38 But if we ask who is most often
discussed in the philosophical library from Herculaneum, it may
occasion some surprise that the most frequently discussed figure by
far in the Herculaneum papyri (after Epicurus himself ) is not Plato or
Aristotle, nor any of Epicurus’ pupils, nor Crates, nor any of the
founders of Stoicism. It is Diogenes of Babylon, the second century
Stoic champion of Chrysippus, who himself came to Rome in 155
b.c.e.39
It is tempting to ascribe some of Diogenes’ prominence in the
books from Herculaneum to the pivotal position he occupied in the
transmission of Greek philosophical and literary culture to Republican
Rome. This is at least suggested by the common interest in him
exhibited him by Cicero and the resident alien Philodemus. Diogenes
himself had visited Rome within recent historical memory, an event
alluded to more than once by Cicero.40

37
See above, n. 18.
38
See BASP 28 (1991): 89–90.
39
This can be gauged from a mere glance at the exhaustive philosophical pros-
pography, compiled by Tiziano Dorandi, of the Herculaneum library which appears
in Corpus di papiri filosofici, vol. 1 (Firenze: Olshiki, 1989), 38 on Diogenes, for whom
over a hundred entries are recorded, thus exceeding the number of mentions of
Epicurus’ favorite pupils, including Hermarchos and Metrodoros, and exceeded only
by those for Epicurus himself.
40
See Obbink and P. A. Vander Waerdt, “Diogenes of Babylon: The Stoic Sage
in the City of Fools,” GRBS 32 (1991): 355–96, esp. 389–96.
84 dirk obbink

The books from Herculaneum may turn out to be as interesting

for the intellectual world they document as for the principal author
they preserve. Philodemus’ works in this respect provide a valuable
control. While he moved in the same circles as canonical authors,
wrote on the same subjects, read the same books, and tapped into
the same system of patronage, his works were ultimately preserved
at random. They did not depend for transmission upon the process
of selection and canonization of later antiquity or the tastes of the
Renaissance Humanists. The prominence of Diogenes of Babylon in
Philodemus’ writings suggests the former’s pivotal importance at a
time when the Stoa was about to undergo radical changes. This was
a time that coincided with the transmission of much of Greek phi-
losophy to Roman culture, including the model for a philosophical
school sensitive to the persuasiveness of the word, but distinct from
the affairs of cult.
 HOW TO COMMIT PHILOSOPHY OBLIQUELY:
PHILODEMUS’ EPIGRAMS IN THE LIGHT OF
HIS PERI PARRHESIAS

David Sider

Abstract

Philodemus occasionally fashioned a persona for himself in his epi-

grams that differs from that of the serious voice he uses in his prose
treatises, in that his poetic self often falls short of the aims set by his
prosaic self. This essay looks closely at two of these epigrams in order
to show both how they accord with Philodemus’ Per‹ parrhs¤aw, and
how the particular technique of speaking frankly therein derives from
poetic and Platonic models.

If, as seems to be the case, Philodemus believed that poetry was not
the medium for rational argument, which could properly be con-
veyed only via prose,1 there would be sufficient reason to exclude
his epigrams from any account of his philosophy. And even if the
epigrams are found to be (in some way) consistent with Philodemus’
Epicurean views, they could still, as indeed they very largely have
been, be ignored in a straightforward philosophical analysis. But if,
as I hope to show, the epigrams are not merely consistent with but
are intended to illustrate doctrines found in his prose, they become
more philosophically interesting in themselves.
As may be seen in greater detail in my edition of his epigrams,2
Philodemus is not in these short poems primarily concerned with

1
See further below, and cf. Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’s Poetic Theory and
On the Good King According to Homer,” CA 10 (1991): 1–45; Asmis, “Epicurean Poetics,”
in Philodemus and Poetry, Dirk Obbink, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995),
15–34; David Sider, “The Epicurean Philosopher as Hellenistic Poet,” Philodemus
and Poetry 42–57. The title of my essay owes something to P. Mitsis, “Committing
Philosophy on the Reader: Didactic Coercion and Reader Autonomy in De Rerum
Natura,” MD 31 (1993): 111–28.
2
Sider, The Epigrams of Philodemos: Introduction, Text, and Commentary (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1997); cf. 34, 36f., 40, 187f.
86 david sider

providing us with autobiographical information (although there may

be some), nor does he care to portray an authorial persona that is
consistent with his “historical” self, at least not uniformly, although
he may choose to do so when it suits his poetic purposes. Indeed,
what we find is that in several of the epigrams he presents a nar-
rator who falls short of the Epicurean goals for ethical behavior and
thought which in his prose he lays out presumably for himself as
well as for his reader.
Since these epigrams were in the first instance almost certainly
recited by Philodemus during dinner parties to a group of like-minded
Greek and Roman friends in the vicinity of Naples,3 it was then and
remains now easy to attach the name “Philodemus” to the first-
person narrator, provided we (his audience then and now) recognize
that “Philodemus” does not necessarily equal Philodemus.4
In this essay I shall present the case for reading two of Philodemus’
epigrams as illustrations of views presented in his Per‹ Parrhs¤aw,
which in turn should be seen as themselves summing up some ear-
lier examples of frank criticism as seen both in poetry and Plato.
The two poems are Anth. Pal. 9.570 and 9.512 (3 and 29 in my new
numeration):5
3
—JanyΔ khrÒplaste murÒxroe mousoprÒsvpe,
eÎlale, dipterÊgvn kalÚn êgalma PÒyvn,
c∞lÒn moi xers‹ drosina›w mÊron: §n monokl¤nƒ
de› me liyodmÆtƒ de› pote petrid¤ƒ
eÏdein éyanãtvw ploulÁ.n xrÒnon. üde pãlin moi, 5
Janyãrion, na‹ na‹ tÚ glukÁ toËto m°low.
—oÈk é¤eiw, vÖnyrvfÉ ı tokoglÊfow; §n monokl¤nƒ
de› se bioËn afie¤, dÊsmore, petrid¤ƒ.
Anth. Pal. 9.570 [14 Gow-Page]
<Man:> Xantho—formed of wax, with skin smelling of perfume, with
the face of a Muse, of splendid voice, a beautiful image of the
double-winged Pothoi—
pluck for me with your delicate hands a fragrant song: “In a solitary
rocky bed made of stone I must surely someday

3
Cf. Alan Cameron, Callimachus and his Critics (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1995), ch. 3, “The Symposium.”
4
The scholarly literature on such fictional personae is large; in addition to those
authors cited below, cf. also The Poet’s I in Archaic Greek Lyric, ed. S. R. Slings
(Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1990).
5
Since the text is fairly secure, the critical apparatus may be safely omitted here.
 philodemus’ epigrams 87

sleep a deathlessly long time.” Yes, yes, Xantharion, sing again for me
this sweet song.
<Xantho:> Don’t you understand, man, you accountant you? You
must live forever, you wretch, in a solitary rocky bed!
29
—≥dh ka‹ =Òdon §st‹ ka‹ ékmãzvn §r°binyow
ka‹ kaulo‹ krãmbhw, S≈sule, prvtotÒmou
ka‹ ma¤nh salageËsa ka‹ értipagØ.w èl¤turow
ka‹ yridãkvn oÎlvn éfrofu∞ p°tala:
≤me›w dÉ oÎtÉ ékt∞w §piba¤nomen oÎtÉ §n épÒcei 5
ginÒmeyÉ …w afie¤, S≈sule, tÚ prÒteron:
—ka‹ mØ.n ÉAntig°nhw ka‹ Bãkxiow §xy¢w ¶paizon,
nËn d’ aÈtoÁw yãcai sÆmeron §kf°romen.
Anth. Pal. 9.512 [20 Gow-Page]
<Philodemus:> Already the rose and chickpea and first-cut cabbage-
stalks are at their peak, Sosylus,
and there are sautéed sprats and fresh cheese curds and tender curly
lettuce leaves.
But we neither go on the shore nor are we on the promontory, Sosylus,
as we always used to.
<Sosylus:> Indeed, Antigenes and Bakkhios were playing yesterday,
but today we carry them out for burial.
As printed here, each poem is in dialogue form.6 Gow and Page,
however, following the lead of Kaibel, stripped the first of its final
distich, believing it to be a Byzantine addition.7 And the second poem
appears as a dialogue for the first time in my edition, all earlier
editors content to follow the (not entirely dependable) manuscripts
in printing the entire epigram as if spoken by one voice.8
It is important to note that these two poems are part of a larger
group of epigrams in which the author puts himself forward as the

It is available in Sider, Epigrams of Philodemos, 3–4, 164. Hereafter, all epigrams of

Philodemus will be identified first by my numbers.
6
Epigram 20 (Anth. Pal. 5.46) is a dialogue between a streetwalker and her cus-
tomer; on this form in general, cf. Wilhelm Rasche, De Anthologiae Graecae epigram-
matis quae colloquii formam habent (Munich: Aschendorff, 1910).
7
Georg Kaibel, “Sententiarum liber primus,” Hermes 15 (1880): 459f.; Andrew
Sydenham Farrar Gow and Denys Lionel Page, The Greek Anthology: The Garland of
Philip (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 2:384. The authenticity of
the last distich is well defended by Wolfgang Schmid, “Philodem als Dichter und
als Philosoph: Über eine Athetese Kaibels in AP 9.570,” Acta Conventus XI Eirene,
21–25 Oct. 1968 (Warsaw: Ossolinuem, 1971), 201–207 = Schmid, Ausgewählte
Philologische Schriften (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1984), 267–74.
8
The ka‹ mÆn of line 7 is best understood as “inceptive-responsive,” when “a
person who has been invited to speak expresses by the particles his acceptance of the
invitation;” John Dewar Denniston, The Greek Particles (Oxford: Clarendon, 1934), 355.
88 david sider

persona of the narrator. Most of them are linked by the name

Xanthippe, which may be abbreviated to Xantho, Xanthion, or
Xantharion.9 In Epigram 5 (Anth. Pal. 5.112) the narrator would like
to turn from manic love to a life governed more by mature and
rational thought. Ep. 6 (Anth. Pal. 11.34) contrasts two symposia as
metaphors for wild living and marriage, respectively. Ep. 4 (Anth. Pal.
11.41), in obvious parallel with 5 and 6, also looks to a new way
of living. As I argue in my edition (34–38), these poems can be seen
as part of a cycle in which the narrator marries Xanthippe and plans
to live a life of reason, in contrast with his previous style of living.
Since there is some evidence that, among his friends at least,
Philodemus could be called by the nickname Socrates,10 Xanthippe,
Socrates’ wife, becomes an obvious namesake for a woman (real or
fictitious) who is to play the role of wife to this philosopher.
Turning first to Epigram 3, we note that the narrator asks Xantho to
console him as he grieves at the thought of his own death. Since this
is an Epicurean subject we know well from Lucretius’ discussion and
from Philodemus’ own De Morte,11 it is easy to see that the speaker
of lines 1–6, whom I regard as a persona of Philodemus, here fails
to maintain the required sang-froid in the face of his mortality. Even
were we to agree with Kaibel and Gow-Page in secluding the last
two lines we would still have a poem in which Philodemus’ audience
(originally a live audience of friends) would be treated to the amus-
ing sight of someone, dispassionate in his prose on the subject of

9
In Ep. 3 (Anth. Pal. 9.570), Philodemus addresses the same woman once as
Xantho (v. 1) and again as Xantharion (v. 6; see the commentary in my edition
ad. loc.). It cannot be proven that the two other names mentioned refer to the
same woman, but this is a reasonable assumption in light of the fact that the use
of such nicknames was a commonplace in Hellenistic epigram and in Latin love
elegy, which was greatly influenced by the former.
10
Catullus 47 begins with an address to Porcius and Socration, whom he identifies
as two associates of Piso. I follow (with further argument) G. Friedrich, Catulli
Veronensis Liber (Leipzig: Teubner, 1908), 228, in identifying Socration as Philodemus
and Piso as L. Piso Caesonius, who seems to have acted as Philodemus’ patron
and who is the best candidate for owner of the Villa dei Papiri, where all of
Philodemus’ (et aliorum) prose was found. Sider, “The Love Poetry of Philodemus,”
AJP 103 (1982): 208–213. Nicknames were common in Philodemus’ circle. Vergil,
for example, was called Parthenias (= virgo; cf. Donatus, Vita Verg. 11) and Philodemus’
fellow Epicurean Siron was called Silenus (Schol. ad Verg. Ecl. 6.10, 13).
11
On the former see Barbara Price Wallach, Lucretius and the Diatribe against the
Fear of Death: De Rerum Natura III 830–1094 (Leiden: Brill, 1976); Charles Segal,
Lucretius on Death and Anxiety (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990). On the
latter see Marcello Gigante, Ricerche filodemee, 2nd ed. (Naples: G. Macchiaroli, 1983),
115–234, and the essay by David Armstrong in this volume.
 philodemus’ epigrams 89

death, now almost quaking at the thought that he too must die. At
the end of its sixth line, however, the poem lacks closure, closure
provided by the last two lines, Xantho’s response, as she sharply
repeats his words to remind him that death is indeed an eternal
sleep which, since he will never wake from it, need not concern him.
This is closely paralleled by the dramatic situation of Epigram 29,
where once again it is easy to imagine the first voice belonging to
Philodemus,12 who begins by alluding to the foods of the season, but
whatever good feeling this may have evoked before is tempered by
the remark that “we do not go as usual down to the shore.” Why
this is so is explained in the last distich, probably delivered by Sosylus,
not only reminding Philodemus (and hereby telling us) that they must
take part in the funeral for two friends who died (perhaps together
in a boating accident), but also hinting that Philodemus’ maudlin
tone is inappropriate. Their deaths have to be accepted, just as we
must accept the thought of ourselves someday dying. Compare
Epicurus SV 66, sumpay«men to›w f¤loiw oÈ yrhnoËntew éllå front¤zon-
tew (“let us sympathize with our [dead] friends not by lamenting but
by meditation”), Rat. Sent. 40, plhrestãthn ofikeiÒthta épolabÒntew
oÈk »dÊranto …w prÚ. w ¶leon tØ. n toË teleutÆsantow prokatastrofÆn
(“having derived the greatest closeness, they [i.e., those with an
Epicurean cast of mind] do not grieve over someone who has died
before them as though it were something pitiable”). Note that Lucretius
too sets up a dialogue on the subject of the right attitude towards
death, but that unlike Philodemus he is to be seen not at all in the
man in fear of death (3.904–11). Lucretius’ righteous persona is that
of the narrator of didactic epic best illustrated by Hesiod but also
seen in Empedocles.13
Epigrams 3 and 29 thus appear to be remarkably similar in form
and content: In each Philodemus allows himself to drift from Epicurean

12
In general I take the position that unless there are clear signs to the contrary
(such as those epigrams written by men in the persona of a woman), all first-person
narratives in epigrams and elegy are to be understood as a persona of the author,
who is free to embellish or belittle himself. That the persona of this poem is
Philodemus is argued by Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, trans. Dirk Obbink (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1995), 55–59, who further (but to my mind not con-
vincingly) sets the poem at the belvedere belonging to the villa in Herculaneum
where the texts of Philodemus’ prose treatises were found. For my arguments against
Gigante’s interpretation of this poem, see my commentary ad Ep. 29.5.
13
Cp. Mitsis, who shows how much of Lucretius’ critical tone is deflected from
the reader to the foolish Memmius; cf. esp. 122f.
90 david sider

orthodoxy on the subject of death, and in each he is called back,

none too politely, to his senses by someone who must be accounted
a friend in both the ordinary sense and in the special sense accorded
the word f¤low by the Garden. That both poems are concerned with
death we may consider an accident; the similarity of form seems far
more interesting, illustrating as it does the way in which one Epicurean
can speak frankly with another in the way Philodemus describes in
his Per‹ Parrhs¤aw.14
Parrsh¤a, that is pan + =∞siw, originally was a typically Athenian
characteristic (praiseworthy or blameworthy, depending on one’s point
of view), meaning not necessarily that one did in fact say everything
but that the citizen was able to “say everything;” cf. Aristoph. Thesm.
540–541: efi går oÎshw | parrhs¤aw kéjÚn l°gein . . . (“for if there is
parrhesia and it is possible to speak . . .”). Here is Socrates on the
onset of the democratic polity: oÈkoËn pr«ton m¢n dØ §leÊyeroi, ka‹
§leuyer¤aw ≤ pÒliw mestØ ka‹ parrhs¤aw g¤gnetai, ka‹ §jous¤a §n aÈtª
poie›n ˜ti tiw boÊletai (“First, then, the men become free, and the
city comes to be full of freedom and frank speech, and it is possi-
ble to do whatever one wants in it,” Rep. 557b).15 It is important to
note, however, that although this Athenian frankness had a clear
political component, it was from the very first a quality the Athenians
admitted and admired in their daily lives.16
But since implicit in the Athenian political ideal of parrhs¤a is
the notion that the citizen is free to stand up in the assembly and
freely state his views on how the state should best proceed, the word
came to have this same idea of improvement now directed towards
a single auditor (although one would not learn this from reading
LSJ s.v. parrhs¤a, which fails to cite texts where this word is regarded

14
Alexander Olivieri, ed., Philodemi: De libertate dicendi (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1914),
on which see Clarence E. Glad, Paul and Philodemus: Adaptability in Epicurean and Early
Christian Psychagogy, NovTSup. 81 (Leiden: Brill, 1995); Glad, “Frank Speech, Flattery,
and Friendship in Philodemus,” in John T. Fitzgerald, ed., Friendship, Flattery, and
Frankness of Speech, NovTSup 82 (Leiden: Brill, 1996); Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 38–39.
It has now been translated by David Konstan, Diskin Clay, Glad, Johan C. Thom,
and James Ware, Philodemus: On Frank Criticism, SBLTT 43 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1998).
15
For a brief overview of the political aspect of this word, cf. Kurt Raalflaub,
“Des freien Bügers Recht der freien Rede: Ein Beitrag zur Begriffs- und Sozialgeschichte
der athenischen Demokratie,” in Werner Eck et al., eds. Studien zur antiken Sozialgeschichte:
Festschrift Friedrich Vittinghoff (Cologne: Böhlau, 1980); David E. Fredrickson, “Parrhs¤a
in the Pauline Epistles,” in Fitzgerald 165–68. The locus classicus for the hostile view
of Athenian free speech is provided by Ps.-Xenophon, Ath. passim.
16
Cf. Eur. Ba. 668, Plato, Symp. 222c, Phdr. 240d.
 philodemus’ epigrams 91

as a component of ethical virtue). Thus, as the ameliorative sense

shifts from the public to the private sphere, it becomes appropriate
to discuss the circumstances that call for its use. When, that is, and
towards whom is it appropriate to use parrhs¤a as a means of cor-
recting an individual’s faults?
For parrhs¤a, it seems, requires great care in its use. Much as a
physician (a favorite metaphor of Philodemus in this context)17 must
be careful not to cause harm when he applies his healing instru-
ments, so too the one who would apply “biting” words must be care-
ful lest he be thought merely insulting: t∞w pikrç. w pa[rrhs¤aw]
ımoiÒthta prÚw tØn [loi]dor¤an §xoÊshw, …w loidoroÊmenoi ka‹ dusno¤aw
(“keen frankness is similar to insult, so as for one to think that they
insult even with ill will;” fr. 60.4–7).18
One must, therefore, take into account the status of the individ-
ual before the application of stinging but healing words. Women,
famous men, the rich, and the old, for example, are particularly sen-
sitive to criticism: women because they think that they deserve pity
and pardon more than ridicule and contempt (col. XXIb–XXIIb),
illustrious men because they believe envy to be behind all criticism
(col. XXIIb–XXIVa), and the old simply because they would like to
believe that with age comes intelligence (col. XXIV).
The situation is obviously more favorable for parrhs¤a between
teacher and student, although here too one must exercise care since
some students are “imperfect,” that is, not yet in command of the
Epicurean doctrines that would prepare their disposition to receive
frank criticism. See, for example, fr. 10.3–7 éllã pote ka‹ è[pl]«w
poÆsetai tØn par[rh]s¤an, parakinduneut°[on e]‰nai nom¤zvn, <§ån>
êllvw mØ Íp[a]koÊvsi[n (“but on occasion he [i.e., the teacher] will
employ frankness because he thinks it worth the risk, [whenever]
they [i.e., students] otherwise pay no attention”). But some students
cannot endure receiving such criticism from their teachers, however
much it is motivated by good intentions (fr. 31). Giving in to one’s
disposition to speak frankly can spell ruin (é.[p]≈.lonto, strong lan-
guage) if one addresses the wrong people (fr. 72). One should not

17
At one point he compares parrhs¤a to an enema (Philod. Per‹ par. fr. 64.5–7
Oliveri); cf. Glad, Paul and Philodemus, 133–37.
18
All translations of Greek in this essay are my own, but in the case of Per‹
Parrhs¤aw I wish to acknowledge guidance by a penultimate version of the trans-
lation prepared by Konstan, Glad, et al.
92 david sider

therefore employ frankness in every case, but only when necessary

(col. IIb), and of course when appropriate.
The best circumstances for employing frank criticism would seem to
be when the one who chastises and the one chastised are of equal or
nearly equal status, each having been trained in the teachings of Epi-
curus, who offers the finest example in this as in all ethical behavior:
ka‹ tÚ sun°xon ka‹ kuri≈t[a]ton, ÉEpikoÊrƒ, kayÉ ˘n z∞n ΩrÆmeya,
peiyarxÆsomen (“What is basic and of utmost importance is that we
shall follow Epicurus, according to whom we have chosen to live,”
fr. 45.7–10). Epicurus and Metrodorus both spoke frankly to their
friends, that is, their fellows in the Garden (fr. 15). There is thus no
shame if an Epicurean requires an occasional rebuke, for none of
us is perfect; nor will he take offense even if the language is harsh,
for he knows that it is for his own good. Since, furthermore, friend-
ship is reciprocal, neither will he withhold criticism from a fellow
student of Epicureanism: éllÉ énagka¤vw tÒ te layraioprage›n
é
. [f]il≈taton dÆpouyen ı d¢ mØ. ` prosa[n]af°rvn fanerÒw §stin
perist°llvn ka‹ taËta t«n f¤lvn tÚ[n §]jox≈tat[on:] ka‹ p[l]e›.on
o[È]d¢n ¶stai krÊptontow (“But to act in secret is surely most unfriendly.
The person who does not bring the matter up will clearly be con-
cealing these things from the most excellent of his friends; nor will
the one concealing gain anything from it,” fr. 41).
Although the statements quoted above are isolated from an already
disjointed text, enough is clear to justify our using them to illumi-
nate Epigrams 3 and 29. Both Xantho and Sosylus fit the profile for
Epicurean friends in that they feel free to use language that to an
outsider might well appear harsh, but which is necessary in order
to restore Philodemus to a proper Epicurean state of mind. This
third person, however, diã[b]olÒn te går o[È]x ≤gÆset[a]i tÚn
§piyumoËnta tÚn f¤lon tuxe›n diory≈sevw, ˜tan mØ toioËtow ¬ tiw,
éllå filÒfilon (“. . . will not think that the person desiring his friend
to obtain correction is insulting him, when he is not such a person,
but rather that he is his friend’s friend;” fr. 50.3–8).19 These two

19
“Friend to one’s friend” is clearly preferable in this Epicurean context than
LSJ’s (s.v. filÒfilow) “loving one’s friend.” Philodemus uses the word again in fr.
85, interestingly of the teacher’s disposition towards his students. Cf. Epigram 7 (Anth.
Pal. 5.4.5), where Philodemus refers to Xantho as his filerãstri’ êkoitiw, which I
argue in my commentary (Epigrams of Philodemos, 88–89) is to be understood as both
“lover to a friend” and “friend to a lover,” where again “friend” is to be under-
stood in its Epicurean sense.
 philodemus’ epigrams 93

poems, then, illustrate Epicurean parrhs¤a in action; in particular

that kind practiced between two friends.20
It is important to keep in mind, furthermore, that the person on
the receiving end of the criticism is the author himself. By this device,
Philodemus avoids writing poetry that would substitute itself for philo-
sophical discourse, a project which Philodemus thinks is doomed to
failure in his Per‹ Poihmãtvn, book 5, where the essence of poetry
is defined almost exclusively in formalist aesthetic, not ethical, terms.21
A particular poem may contain true statements or valid thought
(diãnoia) which may contribute to its overall success, but it is how
these are expressed rather than their truth value that is important.
However much one may appreciate Nicander’s didactic Alexipharmaka,
a person bitten by a snake will doubtless choose a more prosaic
source of information to cure himself. Similarly, ethical advice is best
sought in prose treatises on the subject. An important corollary of
this is that a poem may be judged good even if its facts (or its moral-
ity, theology, etc.) are wrong. Note in particular Philodemus’ Per‹
Poihmãtvn, Book 5, col. 5.6–18 Mangoni, where Philodemus argues
that a poet is free to write without any intention of benefiting his
audience, and that someone (we do not know who) is wrong to bur-
den the poet with having exact knowledge. Put even more strongly,
even bad men can produce good literature: ˆn[t]ew ponhro¤, t[e]xn›tai
[d¢] ˜mvw oÈ kvlÊontai d[iafor]≈tatoi p[ã]n[t]vn Íp[ãrx]ein (“they
may be wicked, but they are not hindered from being the most
skilled technicians;” Rhet. 2.226 Sudhaus, col. 21.12–5).
This is not to say that poems must be bereft of all ideas, such as
seems to have been argued by Crates of Mallos, for whom euphony
was paramount.22 Philodemus seems to have argued for some mid-
dle ground where the excellence of a poem is a product of its poetic

20
For the use of parrhs¤a in Latin poetry, see Norman W. DeWitt, “Parresiastic
Poems of Horace,” CP 30 (1935): 312–19; Agnes Kirsopp Michels, “Parrhs¤a and
the Satire of Horace,” CP 39 (1944): 173–77. On the relationship between Philodemus
and Horace, see Jane Isabella Marion Tait, Philodemus’ Influence on the Latin Poets
(Ph.D. diss. Bryn Mawr, 1941), 64–76; Q. Cataudella, “Filodemo nella Satira I 2
di Orazio,” PP 5 (1950): 18–31; Marcello Gigante, Orazio. Una misura per l’amore:
Lettura della satira seconda del primo libro (Venice: Edizioni Osanna Venosa, 1993).
21
See the essays by Asmis (“Epicurean Politics,” 15–34), Sider (“The Epicurean
Philosopher as Hellenistic Poet,” 42–57), and Michael Wigodsky (“The Alleged
Impossibility of Philosophical Poetry,” 58–68) in Philodemus and Poetry.
22
For Philodemus’ criticism of Crates, see Asmis, “Crates on Poetic Criticism,”
Phoenix 46 (1991): 138–69.
94 david sider

values and the ideas expressed, which need not be true, and if true
need not (indeeed cannot) be pitched at the highest level; see
Philodemus’ Per‹ Poihmãtvn, Book 5, col. 26.5–8, where it is said
that the thought contained in a poem should occupy some middle
ground between the wise man and the ordinary person.
How, then, do Philodemus’ poems fit into this scheme? In a broad
sense they do so simply by providing their audience with a pleasurable
experience, most likely during the symposium part of the evening,
when friends amuse each other with discourse and other pleasing
activities. Some of Philodemus’ poems, moreover, including the two
under review here, by alluding to philosophical ideas of Epicurus
and others, were specifically designed for Philodemus’ audience of
Greeks and Romans, all of whom, whether Epicurean or not, were
well-versed in Greek philosophical texts, and hence especially pleased
to recognize oblique allusions to the arguments of Epicurus, Plato,
and Aristotle.
In the case of Epigrams 3 and 29, the pleasure derives in part from
a Schadenfreude as someone else is chided for a philosophical failing.
But this pleasure is tempered by the fact that the apostate is also
the author/narrator as well as their friend, who, since he is in con-
trol of the words of the poem, is therefore also determining their
reaction. The philosophical “message,” such as might be found in a
prose treatise or didactic poem, is thus deflected from the putative
audience back to the speaker. One is free, perhaps one is expected, to
take the point to heart, but there is no direct moral suasion—only
the example of a situation in which the speaker of the poem might
be expected to take the point to heart.
Here then is an oblique method of imparting ethical guidance:
Criticize someone else by criticizing yourself.23 It would be surpris-
ing if Philodemus were the first to think of this; and in fact he could

23
This does not exhaust the possibilities. One can also criticize another by pre-
tending to criticize a third person, as in Sophocles’ Aias, first when Menelaos, argu-
ing with Teucer, invents someone else to criticize (≥dh pot’ e‰don êndr’ §g≈, 1142),
whom he then likens to Teucer (oÏtv d¢ ka‹ s°, 1147); and next when Teucer, in
obvious imitation of Menelaos, also claims to have seen a fool (§gΔ d¢ g’ êndr’ ˆpvpa
mvr¤aw pl°vn, 1150): “And then someone seeing him, someone like me and equally
angry, said something like the following: . . .” (1152–53). In a passage in Sophocles’
Antigone (688–700) cited by Arist. Rhet. in illustration of this very point, Haemon
reports the general discontent of the citizens with Creon’s actions rather than crit-
icize his father directly, but he may do this because their discontent carries greater
weight than his own; see also below, n. 37.
 philodemus’ epigrams 95

draw from models in both poetry and philosophical prose, as appro-

priate for a philosophical poet. Perhaps the most straightforward
example is in Solon’s Salamis, when, in a successful attempt to stir
his fellow Athenians to fight on behalf of this island, he describes
the shame he would feel should Athens lose the island:
e‡hn dØ tÒtÉ §gΔ Folegãndriow μ SikinÆthw
ént¤ gÉ ÉAyhna¤ou patr¤d’ émeicãmenow:
a‰ca gar ín fãtiw ¥de metÉ ényr≈poisi g°noito:
“ÉAttikÚw otow énØr, t«n Salaminafet°vn.”
(“Would I were then a citizen of Pholegandros or Sicinos [two obscure
towns], having given up my Athenian citizenship. For [otherwise]
this might soon be said of me: ‘This man is Attic, one of those who
lost Salamis;’” fr. 2 West.) In other words, “I would be a fool” read-
ily translates into “You would be foolish.” According to Diogenes
Laertius, our source for this fragment, it was these very lines of the
poem that most moved the Athenians to action.24
A more complex but equally transparent attempt to guide another
by one’s own mistaken action can be found in Phoenix’ speech to
Achilles in Iliad 9. By unnecessarily (as it seems) mentioning his youth,
Phoenix gives himself the opportunity to recount an episode with
obvious relevance to Achilles (9.448–493, in abbreviated and anno-
tated paraphrase):
Hated by my father [cp. Agamemnon; in the Iliad ’s concern with rank-
ing, fathers, rulers, and elders are roughly equivalent] because of a
woman [cp. Chryseis and Briseis], I intended to cut him down but
was checked by a god [cp. Athena’s restraining of Achilles, 1.188–221].
Isolated and supplicated [cp. Achilles], I ran away but lost my station
in life [which you, Achilles, should avoid].
A more elaborate parallel follows, in which the story of Meleager is
presented in such a way as to serve even more powerfully as a neg-
ative exemple, but many of the elements in this latter story were
prefigured in Phoenix’ autobiographical account, in which he was
willing to cast himself in an unfavorable light in order to nudge

24
Diog. Laert. 1.47. Cp. Solon 33 W, where Solon gives voice to the mockery
of the crowd for his failing to avail himself of the riches available to one in his
position of power: oÈk ¶fu SÒlvn bayÊfrvn oÈd¢ boulÆeiw énÆr . . . ≥yelon gãr ken
kratÆsaw . . . éskÚw Ïsteron dedãryai képitetr¤fyai g°now (“Solon was not born a
deep thinker or man of good counsel . . . I wish I had his power and could be king
for a day. I’d let myself be flayed alive and give up my family.”)
96 david sider

Achilles in the right direction.25 Note how beautifully Phoenix’ speech

illustrates Per‹ Parrhs¤aw fr. 9.6–9: §pe‹ ka‹ metãjei potÉ §fÉ •autÚn
ı sofÒw yÉ èmãrthmÉ êneton §n t[ª] neÒthti ge[g]on°.[n]ai, “since the wise
man will on occasion transfer an intemperate misdeed onto himself,
(saying) that it occurred when he was young.”
One could also point to passages in Pindar where he chides him-
self in such a way that his primary audience, the commissioner of
the ode, could be expected to see the relevance to his own situation.
In Pyth. 3.61 sq. mØ f¤la cuxã, b¤on éyãnaton | speËde (“Don’t, my
soul, strive for immortal life”), for example, the soul addressed is clearly,
at least in the first instance, his own.26 The message, however, not to
be eager for immortal life, has far greater relevance for the ailing
Hieron to whom the poem is addressed. Here it is Pindar chiding his
own soul, that is, himself, rather than another person, but the result
remains that of one person accepting a rebuke (which he has himself
composed) obliquely directed at another. Pindar, in Protean fashion,
creates shifting personae for himself that, fleetingly and allusively,
assimilate themselves to that of the laundandus. In his use of the words
sof¤a and sofÒw, for example, he often refers both to the poetic craft
as practiced by himself and to the more general wisdom found in
wise rulers such as Hieron.27 The result is that any statement that seems
to offer advice to the poet has potential application to the laudandus.
These poetic examples are clearly relevant to Philodemus, but per-
haps the closest parallel to his portrayal of himself as one in need
of frank criticism is offered by Sappho 1:

25
It should be clear from the above that I do not agree with John Bryan
Hainsworth’s comment that Phoenix’ autobiography is (only) “to establish Phoenix’
credentials” (119), or that it is “rather inconsequential” (121); The Iliad: A Commentary.
Vol. III: Books 9–12 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). For an inter-
pretation of this section of Phoenix’ speech along the lines outlined above, see Ruth
Scodel, “The Autobiography of Phoenix,” AJP 103 (1982): 128–36, who notes that
“by leaving the argument veiled entirely in narrative, Phoenix succeeds in present-
ing his message far more tactfully than even the celebrated Odysseus” (136).
26
So Gildersleeve ad loc., Slater s.v. f¤low 1 b; cp. also Ol. 1.4 efi d’ êeyla garÊen
¶ldeai, f¤lon ∑tor (“If you desire to sing of athletic games, my heart”).
27
See N. 7.17–20; for the best treatment of the intentional ambiguity between
poet and patron, see Thomas K. Hubbard, “The Subject/Object Relation in Pindar,”
QUCC 22 (1986): 52–72. See further David C. Young, Three Odes of Pindar: A Literary
Study of Pythian 11, Pythian 3, and Olympian 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1968), 44 n. 1, 58ff.;
J. M. Bremer, “Pindar’s Paradoxical §g≈ and a Recent Controversy about the
Performance of his Epinicia,” in Slings 41–58, esp. 47.
 philodemus’ epigrams 97

poikilÒyronÉ éyanãtÉ ÉAfrÒdita,

pa› D¤ow dolÒploke, l¤ssoma¤ se,
mÆ mÉ êsaisi mhdÉ Ùn¤aisi dãmna, pÒtnia, yËmon,
éllã tu¤d’ ¶lyÉ, a‡ pota két°rvta
tåw ¶maw aÎdaw é¤oisa pÆloi
¶kluew, pãtrow d¢ dÒmon l¤poisa xrÊsion ∑lyew
êrmÉ ÈpasdeÊjaisa: kãloi d° s’ îgon
Ökeew stroËyoi per‹ gçw mela¤naw
v
pÊkna d¤nnentew pt°rÉ épÉ »rãnv a‡yerow diå m°ssv:
a‰ca dÉ §j¤konto: sÁ dÉ Œ mãkaira,
meidia¤saisÉ éyanãtƒ pros≈pƒ
Ö tti dhÔte kãlhmmi
≥reÉ ˆtti moi dhÔte p°ponya kv
kvÖ tti moi mãlista y°lv g°nesyai
mainÒl& yÊmƒ: “t¤na dhÔte pe¤yv
. . . sãghn~ §w sån filÒtata; t¤w sÉ, Œ CãpfÉ, éd¤khsi;
ka‹ går afi feÊgei, tax°vw di≈jei,
afi d¢ d«ra mØ d°ketÉ, éllå d≈sei,
a‡ d¢ mØ f¤lei, tax°vw filÆsei kvÈk §y°loisa.”
¶lye moi ka‹ nËn, xal°pan d¢ lËson
§k mer¤mnan, ˆssa d° moi t°lessai
yËmow fim°rrei, t°leson, sÁ dÉ aÎta sÊmmaxow ¶sso.
“Dapple-flowered, immortal Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, weaver of
wiles, I beseech you, mistress, not to overcome me and my spirit with
worry and woe; but come here if ever before you hearkened to my
voice from afar and yoked your father’s chariot and came here. And
swift sparrows would guide you with wings aflutter from heaven through
midair all round the dark earth. They came quickly. And you, my
blessed one, with a smile on your immortal face, asked what again
had I suffered and why was I again calling and what again was my
and my heart’s greatest wish. ‘Whom am I again to persuade . . . to
your love? Who wrongs you, Sappho? If in fact she flees, very soon
she will be in pursuit; if she now does not receive your gifts, she will
be offering gifts; and if she does not love, she will very soon be lov-
ing, however unwilling.’ Come to me also now, release me from harsh
cares, and accomplish all that my heart wishes to accomplish; and you
yourself become my ally.”
Here we have precisely those points noticed above in Philodemus’
two epigrams: the poet presents a persona for him/herself asking for
comfort (Sappho in the form of a hymn, Philodemus in colloquy
with friends) but actually more in need of instruction, which the poet
him/herself provides in the form of a mocking second voice. Sappho’s
98 david sider

lyric form allows for greater sophistication than is found in Philodemus’

epigram. Note in particular how Sappho shifts from the indirect to
the direct form of Aphrodite’s questions.28 It may also be relevant
that Philodemus was convinced that both Sappho and epigram could
convey the values of po¤hsiw.29 As Page notes, “Aphrodite smiles for
a most obvious reason: because she is amused . . . And we must not
forget that the smile and speech of Aphrodite are given to her by
Sappho: it is Sappho who is speaking, and the smile must be Sappho’s
too, laughing at herself even in the hour of her suffering.”30
While there is reason to believe that Sappho 1 is among Philodemus’
poetic models, he would also have been aware of Socrates’ frequent
use of this same device to deliver tactfully what could otherwise be
regarded as harsh criticism.31 Note, for example, how Socrates, when
dealing with the rather dense Hippias, reaches a point beyond which
politeness will not succeed, especially as Hippias, a lover of long pre-
pared speeches, is disinclined to pursue the discussion in Socrates’
preferred fashion. Socrates now “remembers” a discussion he had
on this same matter (per¤ ge §pithdeumãtvn kal«n, “about fine prac-
tices,” Hippias Major 286a) with some other, unnamed person who
“threw me into aporia in a very insulting fashion” (Íbristik«w, 286c).
It is largely with this other person(a) that Socrates conducts the
Socratic dialogue that follows.32
Similarly, when Agathon, only slightly more intelligent than Hippias,
begins to flag and, admitting that he can no longer follow the argu-
ment, says that he will accept Socrates’ (incomplete) account of love,
Socrates is forced to invent a conversation with Diotima, who (like

28
For the mockery inherent in the goddess’ dhÔte, see Denys Lionel Page, Sappho
and Alcaeus: An Introduction to the Study of Ancient Lesbian Poetry (Oxford: Clarendon,
1955), 14; Sarah Tolle Mace, “Amour, Encore! The Development of dhÔte in Archaic
Lyric,” GRBS 34 (1993): 335–64.
29
Phil. Per‹ Poihmãtvn Book 5, col. 38.7–10 Mangoni, on which see Gigante,
“Filodemo e l’epigramma,” CErc 22 (1992): 5–8; my edition, 28–31.
30
Page 15–16. See further on this point, John J. Winkler, “Double Consciousness
in Sappho’s Lyrics,” in his Constraints of Desire: The Anthropology of Sex and Gender in
Ancient Greece (New York: Routledge, 1990), 162–87, esp. 166–76.
31
Although I shall ignore the fact that the Socrates of the dialogues is himself
but a refraction of the persona of Plato, what is said here about the former could
also be applied to the latter. That is, the occasional harshness of tone is not felt
by the reader to be directed in his or her direction.
32
That this splitting of Socrates into two is somehow relevant to the idea adum-
brated in the dialogue that tÚ kalÒn is a harmony of disparate elements need not
be pursued here; cf. Sider, “Plato’s Early Aesthetics: The Hippias Major,” JAAC 25
(1977): 465–70.
 philodemus’ epigrams 99

the hostile stranger in Hippias Major) will take over the discussion
(Symposium 201cd). For me, the surest sign that their conversation
never took place (that is, the astute reader is expected to infer that
within the dramatic frame it is fictitious) is that, supposedly, Socrates
had been arguing then exactly as Agathon is now, that Eros was a
great god and the god of beautiful things, and that Diotima refuted
Socrates with exactly the same argument Socrates has just been using
on Agathon.33 It seems unlikely that Socrates ever repeated dialogues
in this way, for if they could be duplicated they could just as well
be written down, whereas, as Phaedrus (also a dialogue about love)
makes clear, what is “written” down in the soul is living, and hence
unique—and writing is not at all a conveyance of true philosophy.
In Crito, Socrates assimilates himself to Crito (“if while we are
preparing to run away,” 50a) so that he can have the personification
of the laws of Athens criticize Socrates himself (efip° moi, Œ S≈kratew,
t¤ §n n“ ¶xeiw poie›n; 50c; this vocative is repeated several times
throughout the speech) when of course their objections are to the
position occupied only by Crito. Socrates invites Crito to help him
answer (t¤ §roËmen, Œ Kr¤tvn; 50b, c), but against such an assault
by an angry parent, Crito can not begin to argue (54d).
The last example from Plato is the speech of the personified Logos
which chides both Socrates and Protagoras for having switched sides
in the argument over whether virtue can be taught (Àsper ênyrvpow
. . . efi f≈nhn lãboi, “as though human . . . if it could speak,” Prot.
361a). It might seem that here at least Socrates does deserve some
of the blame dished out by the Logos, were it not altogether likely
that Socrates has maneuvered the argument to just this point in
order to show, first, that the matter is far from settled, and, second
and more important, that if this is the case the young Hippocrates
should clearly not be putting himself into the care of Protagoras.
That this impasse is entirely to Socrates’ liking is shown by the fact
that he chooses this moment to leave on the grounds of an appoint-
ment (362a), although immediately afterwards—as we read in the

33
201e, sxedÚn gãr ti ka‹ §gΔ prÚw aÈtØn ßtera toiaËta ¶legon oÂaper nËn prÚw
§m¢ ÉAgãyvn, …w e‡h ı ÖErvw m°gaw yeÚw, e‡h d¢ t«n kal«n: ≥legxe dÆ me toÊtoiw to›w
lÒgoiw oÂsper §gΔ. toËton, …w oÎte kalÚw e‡h katå tÚn §mÚn lÒgon oÎte égayÒw. Whether
Diotima herself is, as I believe, also a fiction does not matter here; for a review of
the scholarship on this issue, cf. David M. Halperin, “Why is Diotima a Woman?”
in his One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love (New York:
Routledge, 1990), 119–24.
100 david sider

opening of the dialogue—he sits down with a friend who asks him
to narrate an account of his meeting with Protagoras, “if there is
nothing to prevent you” (310a). This strongly suggests that this is a
chance meeting, that is, that Socrates’ excuse to Protagoras of a
meeting was fabricated to end the discussion where it did.34 The crit-
icism of the Logos, therefore, is directed primarily to Protagoras,
secondarily to Hippocrates, and not at all to Socrates.
For this oblique means of criticizing another there seems to be
no name and only general recognition. David Young suggests that
when Pindar addresses himself in a way calculated to include the
addressee of the poem as well, this technique “might be called the
‘first-person indefinite,’”35 but this label does not seem adequate even
for Pindar’s usage, let alone the more general topos we have been
discussing here. Aristotle notices that one may have another voice
speak one’s own displeasure with a person’s behavior in order to
avoid blame: “Since, when one speaks of one’s own ethical charac-
ter one is open to envy, charges of long-windedness, or contradic-
tion, and when speaking of another’s to charges of abuse or rudeness,
it is necessary to make another person speak [i.e., in one’s place].”36
As his examples from Isocrates and Archilochus show, however,
Aristotle is thinking of situations like that of Sophocles’ Aias,37 where
the person criticized remains the same, rather than what we have
found in Philodemus and others, the substituting of oneself for the
person criticized. Ps.-Demetrius, De Elocutione, 287–94, a work depen-
dent on Aristotle’s Rhetoric III, also discusses covert and ambiguous
ways of censuring people, but none is of the precise sort Philodemus
uses, and the closest Eloc. comes to a label is (tÚ §sxhmatism°non §n
lÒgƒ), a rather vague expression which is regularly translated as
“covert allusion.”38

34
I owe this observation to Elinor West.
35
Young 58.
36
efiw tÚ ∑yow, §peidØ.` ¶nia per‹ •autoË l°gein μ §p¤fyonon μ makrolog¤an μ éntilog¤an
¶xei, ka‹ per‹ êllou μ loidor¤an μ égroik¤an, ßteron xrØ l°gonta poie›n, Rhet. 3.1418b24.
37
See note 23 above.
38
Note in particular c. 292, where we are instructed how to be circumspect
when trying to get powerful people to change their ways: “We shall not speak
directly, but either blame others who have acted the same way . . . or praise oth-
ers who have acted the opposite way.” Cp. Philostratus VS 2.1, Quintilian 9.2.66f.
See also Wilmer Cave Wright, trans., Philostratus and Eunapius, LCL (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1989), 570n. I owe the references to Demetrius and those
in this note to John T. Fitzgerald.
 philodemus’ epigrams 101

However unrecognized or nameless as a topos, the technique of

Philodemus’ Epigrams 3 and 29 would seem to be a successful blend-
ing of poetic and philosophic models designed in equal measure to
amuse—because the author invites us to join him in making fun of
himself—and to illustrate the particular form of parrhs¤a that
Epicureans—such as Philodemus himself and the audience for his
poems—are expected to exercise with each other should one of them
go astray.
This page intentionally left blank
 A MEASURE OF PARRHESIA: THE STATE OF THE
MANUSCRIPT OF PHERC. 1471

L. Michael White

Abstract

A description of the physical state of the manuscript of Philodemus’

On Frank Criticism (Per‹ parrhs¤aw) not only illustrates the problem of
restoring the text, but also provides insight into the character and social
context of a private library in antiquity. An analysis of the scrolls gives
valuable information regarding the process of transcribing, preserving,
and reading manuscripts in a philosophical school.

The state of the manuscript of Philodemus’ work On Frank Criticism

(Per‹ parrhs¤aw) is of interest to New Testament scholars for several
reasons. The principal one, naturally, is the restoration of the text
itself, allowing production of a critical edition and providing a base
for translation and literary analysis.1 But the peculiar nature of the
papyri from Herculaneum gives us other insights as well. It is one
of the few cases where we can actually see physical evidence for the
character of a private library in antiquity. The historical circum-
stances of the destruction of the Villa of the Papyri, as it is usually
called, and the preservation of its scorched contents yield a terminus
ante quem and archaeological context for dating and study. Also, analy-
sis of the scrolls gives valuable information regarding the social con-
text of ancient literature and the people who produced and read it.
In the case of Per‹ parrhs¤aw we are able to see evidence of text
authorship and transmission through several stages as well as evidence
for manuscript production and use within the context of a philoso-
phical school.

1
It was this concern that gave rise to the present discussion when the Hellenistic
Moral Philosophy and Early Christianity Group decided to undertake a translation
of the work. Those efforts have now been published as Philodemus, On Frank Criticism,
trans. David Konstan, Diskin, Clay, Clarence E. Glad, Johan C. Thom, James
Ware, SBLTT 43 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1998). I must express gratitude to several
scholars, specialists on the Herculaneum papyri, who were generous in sharing their
knowledge with me: Richard Janko, Dirk Obbink, and David Armstrong.
104 l. michael white

The Text and Its School Context

The title and authorship of the work Per‹ parrhs¤aw (also known by
the Latin title De libertate dicendi ) is confirmed from the subscriptio of the
papyrus, which describes it as a work “of Philodemus, being an accu-
rate rendering in epitome from the classes of Zeno On Character
and Life, which is On Frank Criticism.”2 Philodemus was born
c. 110 b.c.e. in Gadara of the Decapolis and studied with Zeno of
Sidon while the latter was head of the Epicurean school at Athens.
Zeno was born c. 150 b.c.e., and Cicero reports having heard lec-
tures of Zeno, “a testy old man” (acriculus . . . senex), while with Atticus
in Athens, probably c. 79–78 b.c.e.3 It appears that Zeno died within
that decade, but Philodemus continued to be a “singer of praises”
(ÍmnhtÆw) for Zeno after his death.4 Several other of Philodemus’
works found at Herculaneum are based on the lectures of Zeno.5
Thus, the class lectures that formed the basis for Per‹ parrhs¤aw
date to his earlier Athenian period but were likely epitomized in the
period after Zeno’s death. Whether they were first committed to
writing in Greece or Italy is not known. A number of Philodemus’
larger works show stages of authorial reworking. Marcello Gigante
dates the Per‹ parrhs¤aw between 75–50 b.c.e., when Philodemus
was beginning to work out more speculative and creative applications

2
The subscriptio appears after Column 24 (according to the present numbering
of the text in critical editions): FILODHMO[U] || TVN KAT EPITOMHN EJEIR ||
GA%MENVN PERI HYVN KAI BI || VN EK TVN ZHNONO[% | vac. | O E%TI PERI
PARR[H]%IA%. On the rendering of the term parrhs¤a with “frank criticism” or
“frank speech” instead of “freedom of speech” (vel sim.) see Clarence E. Glad, “Frank
Speech, Flattery, and Friendship in Philodemus,” in Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness
of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World, ed. John T. Fitzgerald,
NovTSup 82 (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 30–31.
3
Tusculan Disputations 3.38; De finibus 1.16.
4
PHerc. 1005, col. 14.8–9 (Angeli). See Anna Angeli, Agli amici di scuola (PHerc. 1005),
La Scuola di Epicurus 7 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988); Angeli reconstructs the damaged
title of this work as “To the Friends of the School”, dating from c. 50 b.c.e. For a com-
plete listing of the texts see Marcello Gigante, Catalogo dei Papiri Ercolanesi (Naples: Biblio-
polis, 1979), 45–52.
5
At least two other works also carry the phrase “from the classes of Zeno” in
the title, PHerc. 1003 and 1389. See Gigante, Philodemus in Italy: The Books from
Herculaneum, trans. Dirk Obbink (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995)
25; Glad, “Frank Speech, Flattery, and Friendship,” 30. The treatises On Piety (De
pietate) and On Signs (De signis) also seem to be based on the lectures of Zeno. See
Obbink, Philodemus, On Piety, Part 1: Critical Text with Commentary (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1996), 18.
 a measure of PARRHESIA 105

of the Epicurean school tradition based on his studies with Zeno.6

Philodemus might have come to Italy as early as 70 or as late as
55 b.c.e., under the patronage of L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus,
the father-in-law of Julius Caesar.7 According to Cicero, Piso’s bit-
ter rival, Philodemus had become acquainted with Piso while the
latter was a young man (adulescentem), perhaps while traveling in
Greece about the same time as Cicero.8 This led to Piso’s relation-
ship as his student, friend, and, eventually, patron. Piso, a noted
philhellene, later served as proconsul of Macedonia in 57–55 b.c.e.
and reportedly9 returned with sculptures and other Greek treasures
for his houses, presumably including the villa at Herculaneum. Piso’s
relationship with Philodemus has also been confirmed within the
Herculaneum library by the closing dedication of Philodemus’ work
On the Good King according to Homer.10
On one of his visits to Greece, it would seem, Piso convinced
Philodemus to move to Italy and take up teaching the doctrines of
Epicurus there. Philodemus thus became part of a thriving Italian
school of Epicureanism, centered in Rome and Campania. Lucretius,
also a Campanian, died in 55 b.c.e., and Philodemus’ work on poetry
shares some themes.11 A copy of Lucretius’ De rerum natura has recently

6
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 24.
7
See the discussion of the dates by Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,”
ANRW 2.36.4 (1990): 2371 who argues for the earlier date in contrast to Robert
Philippson, “Philodemos (5),” RE 19.2 (1938): 2444–45, who argued for the later
date based on Piso’s term as imperator of Macedonia in 57–55 b.c.e. Gigante, Philodemus
in Italy, 64 and Tiziano Dorandi, “Filodemo: gli orientamenti della recerca attuale,”
ANRW 2.36.4 (1990): 2330–32 follow the later dating. A number of the references
above come from Asmis.
8
In Pisonem 68.
9
Cicero, Pro Sestio 94, cf. 19; De provinciis consularibus 6–7; In Pisonem 85. See also
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 49 and Herbert Bloch, “L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus
in Samothrace and Herculaneum,” AJA 44 (1940), 485–93.
10
PHerc. 1507: [efi d° tinaw paralelo¤||pame]n t«n éf[orm«n], Œ] Pei||sv[n],
ìw ¶sti parÉ ÖOmÆrou [l]a || be›n efiw §panÒryvsin d[u] || na(s)te[i«n] , ka‹ t[«n]
pa[ra||de[igmã]tvn [ . . . (“If, O Piso, I have treated some of the starting points that
one can take from Homer for the correct reform of monarchies . . .”; trans. Obbink in
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 64. For this restoration of the text see Dorandi, Filodemo, Il
buon re secondo Omero, La Scuola di Epicuro 3 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1982), 42, 109, 208.
11
A personal connection between Lucretius and Philodemus, while not unlikely
given their circles of influence, is not demonstrable from the texts; so Gigante,
Philodemus in Italy, 36. See David Armstrong, “The Impossibility of Metathesis:
Philodemus and Lucretius on Form and Content in Poetry,” in Philodemus and Poetry:
Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus, and Horace (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1995), 210–32. See also nn. 17 and 19 below.
106 l. michael white

been confirmed to be among the scrolls at the villa in Herculaneum.12

In addition to Philodemus’ groups at Rome and Herculaneum, there
was also a conventicle at Naples under the tutelage of another
Epicurean teacher, Siro.13 Siro and Philodemus were friends; they
socialized together in Campania and even shared students.14 Beginning
about 48 b.c.e. when he was 21, Virgil apparently spent some six
years in this company.15 Philodemus’ treatise On Calumny (PHerc.
Paris 2, Per‹ diabol∞w/De calumnia), which comes from this period,16
was dedicated to Virgil, Varius, Plotius Tucca, and Quintilius Varus.17
This Varius may well be L. Varius Rufus, poet and friend of both
Virgil and Horace,18 who, like Philodemus, authored a work On
Death.19 Philodemus’ interactions with these same individuals may also
be inferred from other references in his works.20 Also named among
this group was Horace, whose Epicurean influences and relationship
with Philodemus are noteworthy.21 Another member of this younger

12
PHerc. 1829 contains fragments of De rerum natura 5.1301 and 1509. It was
unrolled in 1988; see Knut Kleve, “Lucretius in Herculaneum,” CErc 19 (1989):
5–27 and Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 2, 6 and fig. 6.
13
See John Ferguson, “Epicureanism under the Roman Empire,” ANRW 2.36.4
(1990): 2265; Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” 2372–74.
14
For Philodemus referring to Siro, see PHerc. 312, fr. 1, col. 4.
15
This assumes that the Catalepton is correctly attributed to Virgil, as is stated by
Suetonius in Vita Vergili 18. In Cat. 5.2 the author refers to himself as docta dicta
Sironis. In Cat. 8 the poem refers to Siro’s villa as the author’s abode. Ancient com-
mentators on Virgil also state that he studied with Siro; thus, Donatus, Vita Verg.
79 and Servius, In Ecl. Verg. (on 6.13). See Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,”
2373 n. 17.
16
See n. 45 below.
17
So Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 44, 47 and fig. 15. Gigante (44–45) also argues
that Philodemus’ De morte was composed after the death of Lucretius (perhaps along
with other notables of the time) and should be read in the context of book 3 of
the De rerum natura. See also Gigante, Ricerche Filodemee, 2nd ed. (Naples: Gaetano
Macchiaroli, 1983), 147 and the forthcoming text and translation of the De morte by
David Armstrong. A preliminary version of portions of this translation appear in
Armstrong’s article in this volume.
18
Virgil, Eclogues 9.35f.; Horace, Satires 1.10.43f.; Odes 1.6.
19
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 44; Ferguson, “Epicureanism under the Roman
Empire,” 2265–68. See also W. Wimmel, “Der Augusteer Lucius Varius Rufus,”
ANRW 2.30.3 (1983): 1567–68.
20
See PHerc. 1082 (Per‹ kolake¤aw/De garulitate) col. 11.1–7 and in PHerc. 253
(Per‹ kaki«n/De vitiis) fr. 12.4–5; so Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” 2373, n. 18.
21
See Ferguson, “Epicureanism under the Roman Empire,” 2268–69. In par-
ticular, connections have been suggested between Horace’s poetics and those of
Philodemus, as well as Horace’s adoption of parrhs¤a as a stylistic mode in his
satirical works. See Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 26–7, 75–6, 86–7 and Steven
Oberhelman and David Armstrong, “Satire as Poetry and the Impossibility of
Metathesis in Horace’s Satires,” in Philodemus and Poetry, 233–54. See also David
Armstrong, “The Addressees of the Ars Poetica of Horace: Herculaneum, Epicurean
 a measure of PARRHESIA 107

circle was Caius Maecenas, Horace’s intimate friend and literary

patron.22 An equestrian, he was a trusted aide and adviser to Augustus;
together with Horace and Virgil they formed an Epicurean literary
and social inner circle to the emperor, despite philosophical differences.23
Maecenas reportedly left his estates to Augustus and in the will stip-
ulated, “Remember Horatius Flaccus as you remember me.”24
As Gigante has shown, the intimate character of the teacher’s rela-
tionship to his circle of students/friends can also be glimpsed from
one of the many epigrams of Philodemus preserved from his salon
in Rome. In one he invites “(my) dearest friend, Piso” (f¤ltate Pe¤svn)
to join his circle of “truest companions” (•tãrouw . . . panalhy°aw) for
a banquet.25 Philodemus concludes his poetic invitation, “If, in any
case, you should also turn kindly eyes on us, Piso, we shall celebrate

Protreptic and the Pisones,” in Mega Nepioi: The Adressees of Ancient Didactic Poetry, ed.
A. Schiesaro (special issue of Materiali e Discussioni 31 [1994]), 185–230.
22
Horace dedicated the books of his Odes and Epodes to him (1.1.1 and 1.1 respec-
tively); cf. Epistles 1.1. Ode 1.20 is an invitation from Horace to Maecenas to come
for drinks; compare the dinner invitation of Philodemus below, nn. 25–6. Ode 2.17
was addressed to Maecenas on the subject of death, and there Horace referred to
him as “the great beauty and crown of my existence” (lines 3–4: mearum | grande decus
columenque rerum) and “one half of my own soul” (lines 5–6: te meae . . . partem ani-
mae . . . [ego] altera). The sentiment throughout was Maecenas’ despair that Horace
might die before him, to which Horace replied that their destiny was one and he
would not live on without him. Maecenas died 59 days before Horace in 8 b.c.e., and
the two were buried nearby one another on the Esquiline; see Suetonius, Vita Horati.
23
See Ferguson, “Epicureanism under the Roman Empire,” 2263–4. Virgil ded-
icated his Georgics to Maecenas (Georgics 1.1; cf. Suetonius, Vita Vergili 20). Suetonius
also reports that Virgil had a house on the Esquiline “near the Gardens of Maecenas”
(iuxta hortos Maecenatianos), even though he usually lived in Campania or Sicily (Vita
Verg. 13). For Maecenas’ dealings with Augustus, see Velleius Paterculus, Hist. 2.88
and Cassius Dio, Hist. 55.7.
24
Suetonius, Vita Horati: “Horati Flacci ut mei esto memor.” Suetonius also reports
that Maecenas diplayed his affection for Horace in an epigram that runs: “If more
than my own innards, Horace, / I love thee not, then should you your soul-mate
/witness emaciated in the extreme” (Ni te visceribus meis, Horati, | Plus tam diligo, tu
tuum sodalem | Nimio videas strigiosiorem). (In line 3 I have restored the original read-
ing of the ms. (nimio or ninio) over against proposed editorial emendations.) The
word plays are hard to carry over into English. For sodalis (literally, “intimate, boon-
companion,” l. 2), therefore, I have used a modern colloquialism to capture the
“visceral” character of the imagery, remembering that the soul is also one of the
internal organs. For a similar theme in poems of love and friendship compare
Catullus, Carm. 14: Ni te plus oculis meis amarem . . . (cf. Carm. 82).
25
Some 30 epigrams of Philodemus are extant in the Palatine Anthology. See now
also the edition of David Sider, The Epigrams of Philodemos: Introduction, Text, and
Commentary (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). The dinner invitation is
Anth. Pal 11.44 = Epigram 27 Sider; quotations above are from lines 1 and 5. (NB:
The reference is mistakenly cited as 9.44 in Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 79. Alas,
Philodemus, a case of metathesis in the transcription of Roman numerals.) For a
similar dinner invitation in poetic form compare Catullus, Carm. 13.
108 l. michael white

the twentieth not simply but richly” (∂n d° pote str°chw ka‹ §w ≤m°aw
ˆmmata, Pe¤svn, | êjomen §k lit∞w efikãda piot°rhn).26 The occasion for
this dinner fellowship was one of the regular commemorations of the
death of Epicurus, held on the twentieth of each month and cele-
brated annually on his birth date, the twentieth of Gamelion.27 At
least some of these banquets were probably held at the villa in
Herculaneum.28 The common meal29 of this society of friends was
also the school of the master, Epicurus. As we learn from Philodemus’
treatise, frank speech was to be cultivated among the interactions of
the group both as an expression of friendship and for the better-
ment of self and others; it was a well-known topic among these
Epicurean conventicles.30

Production and Deposition of the Scroll

In addition to these social and psychogogical functions, another impor-

tant aspect of Philodemus’ school at Herculaneum was the transcrib-
ing and copying of the books in the library. Apparently Philodemus

26
Anth. Pal. 11.44, lines 7–8; cf. Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 80. It sounds as
though Philodemus is also asking Piso to act in his capacity as patron in blessing
the dinner not only with his presence but also with more sumptuous fare. It is also
possible that Horace used this epigram as a model for a similar poetic invitation
addressed to his patron and friend, Maecenas (Odes 1.20); cf. n. 22 above and
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 87–9.
27
Approximately February 6. Cicero, De finibus 2.101 shows knowledge of the
practice based on the will of Epicurus, which gives a slight variation on the report
of Diogenes Laertius, De clar. phil. vit 10.18; however, the Chronology of Apollodorus,
apud Diogenes Laertius 10.14 says that he was born on the seventh (or the seven-
teenth) of Gamelion, 341 b.c.e. See Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 80–81; cf. Asmis,
“Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” 2372. For other connections to the family of Piso see
also Armstrong, “The Addressees of the Ars Poetica,” 185–230; see 200–201 and n.
29 specifically on the twentieth as a special commemorative date among these
Roman Epicureans.
28
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 53–9 argues that Philodemus’ epigram in Anth. Pal.
9.512 (= Epigram 29 Sider) was set at the villa, at the overlook on the west end of
the garden, called in the poem the “belvedere” (êpociw). Notably, the epigram opens
with a reflection on garden vegetables of past springs; it is not only a reminiscence
on the pleasures of seasons and dinners past, but also a reflection on the passing
away of some friends from the circle.
29
Another epigram of Philodemus (Anth. Pal.11.35 = Epigram 28 Sider) celebrates
the contributions made by several friends, including Philodemus himself, to an
upcoming dinner. See Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 59–60.
30
See Gigante, “Filodemo sulla Libertà di Parola,” 75–6; cf. Philodemus in Italy,
26–7; Glad, “Frank Speech, Flattery, and Friendship,” 30–41.
 a measure of PARRHESIA 109

brought with him from Athens a library of works by various philoso-

phers, chief among them those of Epicurus himself.31 Also in the library
were the works of later Epicureans such as Demetrius of Laconia,
the second century b.c.e. commentator on Epicurus.32 Works of earlier
Latin writers, such as the poets Ennius and Caecilius Statius, were
also found in the library.33 These earlier texts were then studied for
accuracy and copied; they thereby became the core of the library
at Herculaneum. Philodemus’ own works, including both epitomes
of Zeno and further elaborations of his own, made up a large por-
tion of the library. The treatise Per‹ parrhs¤aw was cited intertex-
tually in the works Per‹ Ùrg∞w (PHerc. 182, De ira) and Per‹ kolake¤aw
(PHerc. 1082, De garulitate or De adulatione).34 The work Per‹ shmei≈sevn
(PHerc. 1065, De signis) comes at the end of this process; it also
relied on the lectures of Zeno, but seems to have been produced (or
revised) ca. 40 b.c.e., not long before Philodemus’ death.35
This order of composition is also supported in part by the pale-
ography of the manuscripts. All of the present texts are scribal copies
rather than Philodemus’ autographs. In some cases both earlier drafts
and final versions of the same work are found at Herculaneum.36

31
See Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 18. A total of 25 scrolls from Herculaneum may
contain books (or parts of books) of Epicurus’ Per‹ fÊsevw. PHerc. 154 and 1042 both
carry the subscriptio: ÉEpikoÊrou || Per‹ fÊsevw || iaÉ (Epicurus’ On Nature, book 11).
32
For example, the subscriptio of PHerc. 1786 is restored as [Dhmht]r¤ou Lãkv[now ||
Per‹ ti]nv[n ÉEpi]k[oÊrou | doj«]n ˜ §sti . . . (“Demetrius of Laconia On Certain
Doctrines of Epicurus, which is . . .”). See Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 19–20. For the
listing of works by other authors see Gigante, Catalogo dei Papiri Ercolanesi, 53–5.
33
In 1990 PHerc. 21 was identified as containing book 6 of Ennius’ Annales. See
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 6 and fig. 5; Knut Kleve, “Ennius in Herculaneum,”
CErc 20 (1990): 5–16. These works were not necessarily part of Philodemus’ own
library, but likely were used in studies on poetry. Both were known for their Greek
influences.
34
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 25. So see De Ira col. 36.24–5 (Indelli): per‹ par-
rhs¤aw lÒgow; PHerc. 1082, col. 1.1–7: per‹ parrhs¤aw pragmate¤a. See also De
rhetorica 2.1 (Sudhaus): tÚ tãgma t∞w parrhs¤aw, and Per‹ eÈsebe¤aw (De pietate) col.
75, lines 2175–6 (Obbink): t∞w parrhs¤aw filosÒfƒ prepoÊshw. See also Glad,
“Frank Speech, Flattery, and Friendship,” 30.
35
The dating is based on the reference in col. 2.15–18 (“the pygmies that Antony
just now brought from Syria”); see Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” 2372 fol-
lowing H. M. Last, “The Date of Philodemus’ De Signis,” CQ 16 (1922): 177–80. But
see also below at n. 52, since this may apply only to the text of PHerc. 1065.
36
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 17. For example, in Philodemus’ History of the Academy
(part of his SÊntajiw t«n filosÒfvn) PHerc. 1021 is the draft and PHerc. 164 the
final version. In the case of the volumes of De rhetorica, PHerc. 1674 and 1506 are
drafts, while PHerc. 1672 and 1426 respectively are the final versions. See also below
nn. 39–40.
110 l. michael white

Yet, despite being scribal copies, the scrolls were direct products of
Philodemus’ authorial activities, and the transcriptions were made
under his own supervision. Often a large complete work or a group
of related works was assigned to a single scribe for copying, and the
same scribe made corrections.37 Generally scribes were paid a fixed
amount per one hundred lines copied, and the total lines were cal-
culated for each work. Paleographically Guglielmo Cavallo identified
a total of sixteen distinctive groups of scribal hands among the
Herculaneum papyri; from these he postulated a total of thirty-four
different scribes who may be identified on the basis of stylistic and
morphological features of the handwriting.38
Unfortunately, the names of these scribes are not usually recorded,
with one possible exception. About 50 b.c.e. the same scribe who
transcribed PHerc. 182, containing Per‹ Ùrg∞w (De ira), also tran-
scribed a preliminary draft (ÍpomnhmatikÒn) of two scrolls of De rheto-
rica (PHerc. 1506 and 1674).39 Later, after it was emended and
corrected, four other scribes working closely together and with sim-
ilar handwriting were assigned the task of producing the final version
(ÍpÒmnhma) of De rhetorica, comprising twenty-two scrolls in all. Seven
scrolls of this later version were copied by a scribe whose name is
possibly preserved as Poseid≈naktow toË B¤tvnow (“Poseidonactus, son
of Biton”).40 Cavallo dates this copy on paleographic grounds between
50–25 b.c.e.41

37
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 25, 29; the four books of De Musica are by a single
scribe. By contrast, the De rhetorica seems to have been composed over a long period
of time and reflects a number of scribal hands. Recently Dirk Obbink has shown
that a single scribe produced the text of De Pietate (343 columns in two scrolls) and
also made the emmendations and corrections (Philodemus, De Pietate, 61–72, 76).
38
Guglielmo Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi a Ercolano, Supplements to Cronache ercolanesi
13 (Naples: Gaetano Macchiaroli, 1983), 28–46.
39
Cavallo’s Scribe IX (from group F); so Libri scritture scribi, 33, 45, 51. The term
ÍpomnhmatikÒn (meaning “notes” or “draft”) is used in the subscriptio of PHerc. 1506
(Cavallo, 65).
40
This possibility is based on the occurrence of this name at the lower margin
below the subscriptio of one of the scrolls (PHerc. 1426). The same scribe, Cavallo’s
Scribe XXII (Libri scritture scribi, 25–6), who belongs to hand-group N (Cavallo,
39–40), also produced PHerc. 240, 421, 467, 1095, 1101, and 1633, all of which
are from the De rhetorica. Cavallo’s Scribes XX, XXI, and XXIII also belong to
this hand-group, and all four worked on parts of De rhetorica. Among the four the
handwriting is very similar with only small but consistent variations in a few let-
ters. See Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi, 39–40, 63–4. The term ÍpÒmnhma (meaning
“treatise”) is used in the subscriptio of PHerc. 1427, which comes from Scribe XX
working on the final edition.
41
Libri scritture scribi, 63.
 a measure of PARRHESIA 111

Using the paleographic analysis of Cavallo, Gigante dates the com-

position of Per‹ parrhs¤aw to between 75–50 b.c.e., but perhaps
toward the end of this period (see Table 1).42 It appears that the
same scribe who produced Per‹ parrhs¤aw (contained in one scroll,
PHerc. 1471) also produced PHerc. 1003, another work of Philodemus
based on the lectures of Zeno (“book 3”), and two texts of Demetrius
of Laconia (PHerc. 831 and 1006).43 The subscriptio to PHerc. 1471
indicates that this treatise was part of a larger multi-volume work,
“On Character and Life” (Per‹ ±y«n ka‹ b¤vn).44 The work “On
Character and Life” might have contained the volume On Calumny
(Per‹ diabol∞w, PHerc. Paris 2), dating after 48 b.c.e., that was
addressed to Virgil and other students.45 Not long after the scroll of
Per‹ parrhs¤aw was transcribed, another copyist (Scribe XXIV) ca.
50 b.c.e. produced two scrolls on moral topoi: PHerc. 57, containing
Philodemus’ work Per‹ man¤aw (De insania) and PHerc. 97, contain-
ing part of the work Per‹ ploÊtou (“On Wealth”).46 About this same
time Scribe IX was at work on PHerc. 182, containing Per‹ Ùrg∞w

42
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 25, based on Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi, 54. This
is Cavallo’s hand-group M (PHerc. 1471, 1003, 1538, 831, 1006). It should be noted,
however, that Cavallo does not assign a distinctive scribal identity to any of the
scrolls in this group. Cavallo also notes that there are some chronological difficulties
in the comparanda to this hand type, since it betrays something of an Egyptian-
Greek morphology. The scroll may, therefore, be later. Nonetheless, Gigante, fol-
lowing Cavallo, assumes that the date of the production of the scrolls was in effect
identical with the date of the composition by Philodemus. Whether this assumption
is justified is yet to be confirmed or disconfirmed on internal evidence of the scrolls,
but there are logical objections; cf. Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” 2373 n. 15.
43
In the subscriptio of PHerc. 1003 the attribution to Zeno is secure, but the actual
title of the work is uncertain; it reads: FilodÆmou || Per[‹ t]«n Z[Æ]nvn[ow sxol«n] |
gÉ. The other text which carries a similar attribution to the lectures of Zeno, PHerc.
1389, belongs to Cavallo’s hand-group I and dates to “the first half of the century”
(Libri scritture scribi, 35, 52). Morphologically this hand is similar to that of several
of the other ethical treatises that come from this period, including the De Morte
(PHerc. 1050) and De signis (1065), which appear to have been copied ca. 40 b.c.e.
44
Compare also the title of PHerc. 168: [FILODHMOU || . . . PERI BI]V[N KAI]
|| HY[VN H PERI TOU MH(?) KATA T]A T[UX]ON[TA] ZH[N]|UP[O]MNHMAT[VN]|
AÄ. Cavallo does not discuss the hand of this ms. Wilhelm Crönert in Kolotes und
Menodemos (Munich: Müller, 1906; repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1965), 127 n. 534
proposes to find a further reference to the work “On Character and Life” in PHerc.
1082 (Per‹ kolake¤aw/De garulitate); cf. Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 26. The latter
work clearly does refer to Per‹ parrhs¤aw (see n. 34 above).
45
See n. 17 above. The conjecture of Gigante (Philodemus in Italy, fig. 15) is sup-
ported by the fact that slanderous speech shows up in conjunction with Philodemus’
discussion of frank speech; see Per‹ parrhs¤aw fr. 17.7, 50.3, 51.7–8.
46
Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi, 40, 45, 54. This is Cavallo’s hand-group O, within
which the two scrolls 57 and 97 are quite distinctive.
112 l. michael white

(De ira).47 This work on anger (Per‹ Ùrg∞w) appears to be part of

larger, multi-volume work “On the Passions,” including perhaps Per‹
man¤aw (PHerc. 57, De insania).48 Based on these ethical works, Philo-
demus also undertook an even more extensive multi-volume project,
which went under the main title “On Vices and their Corresponding
Virtues” (Per‹ kaki«n ka‹ t«n éntikeim°nvn éretËvn) containing ten to
fourteen distinct works49 (see Table 1). Ten of these scrolls were pro-
duced by a single copyist (Group P, Scribe XXV) with some affinities
to that of Scribe XXIV, who produced PHerc. 57 and 97 that likely
belong to this same larger collection “On Vices and their Corres-
ponding Virtues.”50 These scrolls were probably produced between
50 and ca. 40 b.c.e.51
During the last decade of his life it seems that Philodemus con-
tinued to revise his previous works while also producing new ones.
His corpus of ethical works, then, basically falls into three main
groups, with Per‹ parrhs¤aw probably being one of, if not the ear-
liest (see Table 1).52 Based on Cavallo’s dating of the scribal hands,

47
See above n. 39.
48
PHerc. 182: [FILOD]H[MOU | PERI HYVN O E%TI PE]RI ORGH%. The subscrip-
tio clearly gives us the title On Anger, but the rest was restored by C. Wilke, Philodemi
de ira liber (Leipzig: Teubner, 1913). Gigante (Philodemus in Italy, 25) follows Wilke
in assuming that it was part of the same larger work “On Character and Life” which
also contained Per‹ parrhs¤aw. In his more recent edition, however, G. Indelli
thinks that it was part of another larger work entitled On Passions (Per‹ pãyvn); see
G. Indelli, Filodemo: L’ira, La scuola di Epicuro 5 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988), 35–6
and the translator’s note in Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 25. The suggestion that the
De insania was also part of the same larger work On the Passions is supported by
Cavallo’s dating of the two hands, see nn. 39 and 46 above.
49
See Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, 38–39. These include On Household Management
(De oeconomia, PHerc. 1424), which contains the main title and designates the scroll
as book 9 (yÄ), as well as On Flattery (Per‹ kolake¤aw/De gratulite ; PHerc. 222, plus
223, 1082, 1089, 1457, 1675), On Death, book 4 (Per‹ yanãtou dÄ/De morte; PHerc.
1050, plus 189, 807?), On Vices (Per‹ kaki«n/De vitiis; Pherc. 253, 1457), On Arrogance,
which is On Vices, book 10 (Per‹ kaki«n iÄ/De vitiis; PHerc. 1008), and On Greed (Per‹
filargur¤aw/PHerc. 465 and 1613).
50
These include PHerc. 1017, 1025, 1678, and 1414 (see Table 1); Cavallo, Libri
scritture scribi, 41.
51
Cavallo (55) simply says that the hand is late in the first century b.c.e. (ca.
50–25); however, since one of the scrolls (PHerc. 671) from Scribe XXV is part of
the work De signis, it would appear that the whole collection must come from ca.
40 or after (see n. 35 above), unless it could be determined that PHerc. 671 is an
earlier version of the same work which was emended and recopied later by the
scribe of PHerc. 1065, which Cavallo similarly dates to ca. 50–25, but without
identifying a discrete scribe from other works in hand-group I. In this event, the
production of the seventeen scrolls from Scribe XXV would date to between 50–40.
52
This is Gigante’s view of the dating; however, the title of PHerc. 168: Per‹
 a measure of PARRHESIA 113

it would appear that the period from ca. 50 b.c.e. to the death of
Philodemus (after ca. 40 b.c.e.) was a flurry of copying activity in
the library at Herculaneum. How long it continued is not clear; how-
ever, it does appear that the library was kept intact for over a cen-
tury thereafter, until the villa was buried in the eruptions of 79 c.e.53

Discovery and Restoration of the Scroll

The single known manuscript of Per‹ parrhs¤aw (PHerc. 1471) was

recovered with the cache of nearly 1800 papyrus scrolls and frag-
ments found at the Villa from 1752–54. It was first unrolled and
given its numerical designation among the Herculaneum papyri by
Francisco Casanova in 1808, when the Officina was under the direction
of Carlo Maria Rosini. The process of unrolling used was that of
Father Piaggio’s machine, rather than the earlier procedure of scorziatura;
the latter involved cutting away the outer layers in sections and then
pulling the sheets apart. As a result, the integrity of those portions
of the scroll that remain is much greater.54 The condition of PHerc.
1471 is reported as “not crumbled, legible, and in good condition.”55
These remains were then conserved in glass frames (Latin tabulae,
Italian cornici), and the physical state of the papyrus (with the legible
portions of text) reproduced by drawings.56 These hand copies or
apographs (Italian disegni ) then became the basis for the first printed
versions of the text.57 The editio princeps of the PHerc. 1471, containing

b¤vn ka‹ ±y«n, μ Per‹ toË mØ (or mãthn?) katå tå tuxÒnta z∞n Ípomnhmãtvn aÄ (On
Not Living According to Chance, book 1) may suggest another early volume in the larger
work On Character and Life.
53
For the disposition of the scrolls after the eruption and the implications for
their prior storage see Gigante, Philodemus in Italy, fig. 1; Mario Capasso, Manuale
di papirologia ercolanese, Studi e Testi 3 (Lecce: Congedo Editore, 1991), 65–84; and
Francesca Longo Auricchio and M. Capasso, “I rotoli della villa ercolanesi: dislo-
cazione e ritrovamento,” CErc 17 (1987): 47.
54
For the history of the discoveries see Capasso, Manuale di papirologia ercolanese,
87–116. Capasso (100–102) calls this “the golden age of the Piaggio method.” For
the problems of reconstruction posed by the earlier scorziatura method, see the dis-
cussion by Dirk Obbink, Philodemus: On Piety, 37–53 and Richard Janko, “A First
Join between PHerc. 411+1583 (Philodemus, On Music IV): Diogenes of Babylon
on Natural Affinity and Music,” CErc 22 (1992): 123–29.
55
Gigante, Catalogo, 335.
56
For examples of the process, see Mario Capasso, Storia fotografica dell’ Officina
dei Papiri Ercolanesi (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1983) passim; for examples of disegni drawn
before photography was regularly employed, see 136–41.
57
As numerous scrolls were unrolled in this period, some disegni were drawn in
114 l. michael white

the ninety-four Fragments and the twenty-four Columns from the

Neapolitan apographs, was published in two parts in Voluminum
Herculanensium V (1835 and 1843).58 Alexander Olivieri produced the
critical Teubner edition in 1914 from reexamination of the actual
papyrus.59 He took Fragments 1–88 (cornici 1–13), as stored in the
Naples collection of the Bibliothecae Herculanensis, along with the
24 Columns (cornici 17–21) to produce his main text. He also included
an appendix comprised of fourteen previously unedited fragments,
designated A–N (from cornici 14–16).60 Olivieri’s readings have to date
formed the standard critical edition of the text, but have been sup-
plemented by the work of Robert Philippson and Marcello Gigante.
Philippson61 provided a critical review of Olivieri using the original
disegni copies of the text and further supplemented and corrected
many of Olivieri’s readings. More recently Gigante62 has provided
many new readings and/or confirmations from the text, which can
now be studied with enhanced light techniques, microscopy, and
photography. The new edition of the work in the Society of Biblical
Literature’s Texts and Translations (SBLTT) series is based essen-
tially on Olivieri’s text, but it incorporates many of the corrections,
emendations, and supplements of Philippson, Gigante, and some
other scholars. It also contains the six Neapolitan apographs (N. 77,
79, 84, 87, 91, and 93) omitted by Olivieri.63

Oxford (designated O) at the Bodleian Library, and the rest in Naples (designated
N). All the disegni of PHerc. 1471 were drawn in Naples. For the technical data on
PHerc. 1471 see Gigante, Catalogo, 335–38.
58
Vol. V.1 (1835) 1–48; vol. V.2 (1843): 1–168. See Gigante, Catalogo, 336; and
his “Filodemo sulla Libertà di parola,” in Richerche Filodemee, 57.
59
Philodemi PERI PARRHSIAS Libellus, ed. Alexander Olivieri (Leipzig: Teubner,
1914).
60
These seem to be dissociated fragments from the section comprising Fragments
1–88 (Cornici 1–13).
61
Robert Philippson, “Review of Philodemi Per‹ parrhs¤aw Libellus. Ed. Alexander
Olivieri. Leipzig 1914, Teubner. X, 83S. 8. 2 M. 40,” Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift
22 (27 May 1916), 677–88.
62
Gigante’s readings were published in stages as “Filodemo sulla Libertà di
Parola,” in Actes du VIII e Congrès Association G. Budé (Paris, 1969), 196–217; CErc 2
(1972): 59–65; CErc 4 (1974): 37–42; and CErc 5 (1975): 53–61. These were collected
together into his article in Richerche Filodemee, 55–113.
63
Philodemus, On Frank Criticism, vii–viii.
 a measure of PARRHESIA 115

Reconstructing the Shape of the Scroll

On the basis of the extensive conservation and editing work it is

possible to draw some conclusions about the shape of the original
text. As with most of the Herculaneum papyri, the text is better pre-
served toward the end rather than the beginning, since the scrolls
were typically rolled from right to left, that is with the end of the
scroll placed on the umbilicus first. Thus, the title or subscriptio, which
comes after the last section of text (Column XXIV), is well preserved.64
Due to the scorching of the scrolls in the pyroclastic flow that inun-
dated the villa, the outer layers tend to be burned away, and only
the center portions are preserved. Hence, in the case of PHerc. 1471,
the 24 Columns represent the center (Italian midollo or “marrow”)
of the scroll, while the 88 (or 94) Fragments represent the remaining
outer layers (Italian scorzi ) that were not burned away. In turn, these
Fragments actually represent some segment from the middle of the
text, since the outermost layers of the original scroll, which con-
tained the beginning of the text, were burned away. In attempting
to reconstruct the text, then, the principal questions are: How was
the text formatted on the scroll? What proportion of the original
text is represented by the preserved sections? How do they fit together?
The basic layout of PHerc. 1471 can best be ascertained from the
twenty-four Columns in comparison with other known works from
the library. The Herculaneum scrolls typically were produced on
rolls of papyrus measuring from 6–9 meters in length, but a few
exceeded 10–12 meters. The normal height was ca. 19–20 cen-
timeters, while some range up to 22 cm or more.65 The text was
copied in columns measuring ca. 15–18 cm in height and ca. 5–6
cm in width, with ca. 1 cm between columns. Each column con-
tained 30–40 lines of text, with each line containing 17–25 letters.66
The two longest single scrolls that can be confirmed contained 204
columns with 33 lines of 16–20 letters per column (PHerc. 1426, De

64
For the text see n. 2 above. The subscriptio appears in the upper half of the
scroll after a blank space nearly two columns wide, or approximately in what would
be the position of “Column XXVIIa,” relative to the present text numbering in
critical editions. For a photograph of Col. 22–24 and the subscriptio, see Capasso,
Manuale di papirologia, fig. L11.
65
See Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi a Ercolano, 14–16; Capasso, Manuale di papirolo-
gia, 204–205
66
Olivieri, Philodemus, iv.
116 l. michael white

rhetorica, book 3) and 245+ columns with 36 lines of 16–20 letters

per column (PHerc. 1425, De poemata, book 5) of text respectively.67
These two scrolls were produced by two scribes (XIX and XXII,
respectively) both from Cavallo’s group N.
The columns of PHerc. 1471 are barely 5 cm wide with ca.
1 cm (or slightly less) between columns, both slightly narrower than
usual; top and bottom margins were also closer than usual to the
edge of the papyrus, an attempt perhaps to squeeze the text onto a
single scroll. Yet the morphology of this scribal hand (Group M) is
large and at times elaborate, especially at the beginning of a line.
Each line typically contains ca. 17–23 letters, but the most common
for this text seems to be 18–20 letters (i.e., one-half of a hexameter-
length line or a little more). The columns seem to be ca. 30–33
lines long. Cavallo estimates the overall size of the scroll of PHerc.
1471 as ca. 11.50 meters in length, ca. 21 cm in height, and con-
taining ca. 200–205 columns.68 At this scale, it was one of the larger
scrolls, and Philodemus’ treatise Per‹ parrhs¤aw, one of the longest
single-volume works in the entire collection.69
The actual portions of the text as preserved can be analyzed
according to these general patterns. Columns I–XXIV show consistent
damage at the top and bottom of the scroll, but more at the top (see
Table 2). Also, the midollo of the scroll was broken in half, causing
a lacuna of two to three lines (or 1–1.5 cm) in the middle of each
column.70 The largest preserved section of the text in height appears
in Col. I–III (height 18.5 cm, not counting the broken portion in
the middle and the edges are not extant). In some sections, notably

67
See Obbink, Philodemus: De Pietate, 70; Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi, 16, plus plates
XLIII and XXXIX respectively.
68
Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi, 16; cf. Capasso, Manuale dei papirologia, 205. Olivieri
(Philodemus, iv) estimated the total number of (half-)lines at 6767, which (at 33 lines
per column) equals approx. 205 total columns. We shall reevaluate these calcula-
tions below.
69
For the sake of comparison, the scroll of De Ira (PHerc. 182, ed. Indelli) con-
tains ca. 2500 total lines in 124 columns of 40 lines each (or a total of 4960 half-
lines, and coheres with the scribal notation in the subscriptio, which gives 2385 total
lines). De Morte (PHerc. 1050) carries a scribal notation of 4436 total lines in its
subscriptio. The scroll shows columns containing 39 lines with ca. 22–25 letters per
line (see Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi, Pl. XXVIII = PHerc. 1050 cornice 10, measur-
ing 23.4 × 18.5 cm). From the same scribal group (I) comes PHerc. 1065, which
was formatted with 38 lines per column and 22–24 lettes per line (see Cavallo, Pl.
XXIX = cornice 10, measuring 29 × 21.1 cm). De Pietate, as recently restored by
Obbink (Philodemus: De Pietate, 70) comprised a total of 343 columns on two scrolls.
70
For this reason, Olivieri’s text is divided into sections, viz. Col. Ia and Ib, etc.
 a measure of PARRHESIA 117

in Col. II–III,71 it would appear that some of the bottom margin of

the papyrus is preserved, while in Col. XXIV, no more than one
or two lines are lost at the top.72 With 27 lines extant (not count-
ing the lacuna in the middle), Col. XVII (a+b) is the closest to a
fully preserved column in the text. Thus, given the possibility of a
missing 1–2 lines at the top and 2–3 lines in the middle of the text,
it would appear that PHerc. 1471 was formatted with either 30 or
33 lines per column and averaging 18–20 letters per line.73
Because of joins in the sections of papyrus within each cornice, the
order of Col. I–XXIV is, for the most part, secure; each one rep-
resents a single, nearly complete column of the original text (see
Table 2).74 Also, on the basis of stichometric notations made by the
scribe in the left intercolumnar margin of the text (see Table 3),75
it is possible to calculate the scribe’s method of recording the num-
ber of lines copied. Since the last four of these occur in Col.
I–XXIV, they appear to give a solid reading of the overall length
of the text. The final notation (K ) occurs at Col. XXIVb, line 9 and
represents a second time through the alphabet. Prior to that H, Y,
I occur in order and at regular intervals of about six columns.76 At
30 or 33 lines per column, this would represent a count of 180 or
200 lines of the text per letter of the alphabet, where each line of
text is being counted by the scribe as one-half st¤xow (i.e., one half
of a hexameter-length line; see Table 4).77 On the basis of this system

71
Each of these contain 14 lines in the lower (or b) portion of the column. Cf.
Col. XXIIIb, which contains 15 lines, even though a clear bottom margin is not
visible. For a photograph of Cornice 17 (Col. I–II) see Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi,
pl. xxxvi.
72
Col. XXIVa contains 14 lines with what may be a top margin.
73
Olivieri (Philodemus, iv) assumes 33 lines per column in his calculations.
74
Note that due to the unrolling process, it was possible to keep the Columns
in their proper order as they were taken off the scroll. These were then sectioned
and the top and bottom half of each section situated in its own cornice. See Table
2 for the location, order, and size of remaining sections.
75
These are recorded in Olivieri’s critical edition, in their original positions and
discussed on p. vi. The SBLTT text and translation of Konstan, et al., however,
does not include these marginal notations.
76
See Table 3. On the basis of study of the photographs (see n. 71 above) I
have provisionally restored a Z in Col. IIa, line 2 (what would be line 1 of Olivieri’s
text, but there are other readable letters on the papyrus). This interval is consis-
tent with the later ones in Olivieri.
77
See Cavallo, Libri Scritture scribi, 14–16. This should be roughly 36 letters (16
syllables). So at exactly 18 letters per line, 200 lines equals 100 stichoi. At 20 let-
ters per line, 180 lines equals 100 stichoi. But these numbers also yield some vari-
ables for counting the number of columns needed. Olivieri’s calculations are based
on 200 lines and 33 lines per column. See Table 4.
118 l. michael white

of reckoning the scribe’s work, Olivieri calculated that the text of

Per‹ parrhs¤aw contained a total of 6767 half-lines (3383 lines), which
would yield a total of 205 columns at 33 half-lines per column.78
Working backward from the stichometric notation of Col. VIIb, line
6 (H ), and assuming each letter represents about 6 columns, then it
yields 187 columns (i.e., letters A–V plus A–H) up to that point and
a total of 204 columns plus a few lines by the end of Col. XXIV
(see Table 4). Following Olivieri’s calculations, then, Cols. I–XXIV
represent roughly the last 11.75% of the original scroll, while the
Fragments would represent the extant remains of the first 180 columns
of the original scroll.

Ordering the Fragments

The more difficult portion of the text to evaluate is that contained

in the Fragments, and the other unedited material, from cornici 1–16.
In form, at least, each of the ninety-four Fragments (plus the four-
teen items labeled A–N from Olivieri’s Appendix) represents a por-
tion of one column. In reading the text, it is clear that there is often
little continuity between the Fragments. Ranging from six to four-
teen lines each, they represent less than half (from 18–42%) of a
column of thirty-three lines. Nor is it always clear how each of these
108 fragmentary columns should go together.
On the one hand, within each cornice the sections of text are laid
out in linear strips, along the top and bottom half of the tray. In
many cases, each of these strips has enough joins to suggest that we
have a horizontal, linear section through a continuous sequence of
columns. So, for example, in Cornice 4,79 the section in the upper

78
Olivieri, Philodemus, vii. Philippson, “Review of Olivieri,” 680 notes the prob-
lems with Olivieri’s counting; cf. note the cautionary comment of Obbink, Philodemus:
De Pietate, 70 n. 4.
79
I have had a limited view of the actual papyrus remains of PHerc. 1471 in
Naples. This analysis is based on careful study of published photographs. The photo
of this cornice is published in Gigante, Catalogo dei Papiri Ercolanesi, pl. 6 (between
320–21). In the caption it is recorded as Cornice 7, frr. 8–15. Careful study of the
photograph confirms that these are, indeed, the same as Olivieri’s Frags. 8–15,
which he places in Cor. 4. But there is another discrepancy in the recording, since
the measurements of the preserved papyrus materials as reported by Olivieri and
Gigante respectively, do not match. Coincidentally, the measurements of Gigante’s
Cor. 7 are correct for these two sections of papyrus, and match closely with those
reported by Olivieri for Cor. 4 (as noted in Table 2). Moreover, Gigante’s meas-
urements differ significantly from Olivieri’s for each of the cornici from 1–16 in a
 a measure of PARRHESIA 119

part of the tray (measuring 39.5 cm according to Olivieri) shows a

clear run of seven consecutive columns each containing 9–11 lines
of text (ca. 7.5 cm in height). These are published as only six
Fragments (8–13) in Olivieri’s text, and there is no mention of the
relative linear sequence. Unfortunately, Olivieri makes no mention
that there is another portion of a column preserved, with joins on
both sides, between his Frag. 12 and 13. Also, in the lower part of
the same tray, the section of papyrus (measuring 30.7 × 7 cm accord-
ing to Olivieri) preserves five more consecutive columns, which include
Olivieri’s Frag. 14 and 15, and one from his Appendix (labeled sim-
ply as post Frag. 15).80 But unreported by Olivieri is the presence of
two more column fragments with left and right margins intact that
join this lower section of Cor. 4; one is before Frag. 14 and the other
is after Frag. 15 but before Olivieri’s “post-Frag. 15” scrap. Then
there is yet another detached fragment at the end of this section
that represents another portion of a column, presumably from the
same section of the papyrus.81 Olivieri also locates two more different,
dissociated fragments (I and J in his Appendix) with this same por-
tion of the text.82
Thus, in this section of the text, the eight Fragments (8–15) pre-
sented by Olivieri actually reflect two discrete horizontal sections
across continuous columns of the papyrus running seven and five (or
six?) columns respectively (all in Cor. 4 [7]), with possibly two more
proximate columns (from Olivieri’s Appendix). Given the way that
these sections of papyrus were numbered when they were originally
unrolled and drawn, it appears that they should be understood as a
continuous linear section through 12–15 consecutive columns of the
original scroll.83 A good comparative measure for further study may

pattern that is consistent with that for Olivieri’s Cor. 4 = Gigante’s Cor. 7, at least
for Cor. 1–13. It seems possible that Olivieri has given the numbers of the cornici
in a different order than Gigante. If so, it may have implications for the ordering
of material in the text, even though the basic sequence of Fragments 1–88 (94N)
is likely to remain the same. These difficulties can only be noted in the present
study and must await further analysis of the actual papyrus for clarification.
80
Olivieri, Philodemus, 67.
81
This fragment has only a right margin preserved; therefore, it might be either
part of Olivieri’s “post-Frag. 15” scrap (which it follows in the cornice), or a part of
a separate column.
82
Olivieri, Philodemus, 66–7. These are not the same as the ones noted above
from the photograph of Cor. 4 [7]. Here note Philippson’s criticism of Olivieri,
Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift, 679.
83
It is also possible that Casanova and the original disegnatori meant for the two
120 l. michael white

be gained from the foregoing analysis: a continuous linear strip of

papyrus from PHerc. 1471 measuring ca. 40 cm in length should
normally contain seven consecutive columns of text and their inter-
columnar margins. Hence, as with Cor. 4 [7], a number of the sec-
tions of papyrus contained in Cornici 1–13 actually preserve more
columns of text than reported by Olivieri or the Neapolitan disgeni
(see Table 2, column 3 and note e).
On the other hand, other materials in cornici 1–13 do not seem
to fit together in this fashion. While sections of text within a cornice
may come from one area of the scroll, the relations of the materi-
als from different cornici are not so clear. For example, Frag. 20, line
6 (Olivieri’s Cor. 5) contains the stichometric notation ϒ while the
small scrap that occurs in Olivieri’s Cor. 4 post-Frag. 15 contains the
notation I. If these readings are correct,84 the interval between these
notations should be some 66 columns (instead of the five in Olivieri).
The physical character of these materials is a key to the problem
(see Table 2).
The total amount of papyrus material preserved, as reported by
both Olivieri and Gigante (see Table 2), is far more than the 88–104
edited fragments. Laid end-to-end (in the manner suggested above
for the two strips in Cor. 4) the preserved sections (as reported by
Olivieri) in Cornici 1–16 measure 10.529 meters (or enough to con-
tain 175.5 columns of text). When combined with the material in
Cornici 17–21 (Cols. I–XXIV), this yields a total length of 12.045
meters (or enough for 200.75 columns of text).85
Close examination of the materials reveals that there are many
sections that contain legible written remains but were either too small
or too corrupt to be edited. Yet they often contain enough legible

strips in each cornice to be understood as a section of a top and bottom portion of

the scroll that were approximately from the same area of the text. In this case Cor.
4 [7] would represent a continuous run across only seven columns. For further
thoughts on these possibilities see below at n. 89.
84
I have studied the photograph of Cor. 4 [7] (containing the notation post-Frag.
15), and it appears to be an I, although it might be a T. (For the photograph, see
n. 79 above. See also the comment of Philippson, Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift,
680 n. 3.) If it were the latter, it would be the appropriately preceding section of
text before that found in Cor. 5. But such readings can only be confirmed on the
basis of microscopic analysis of the actual papyri. It will require careful analysis of
the order of fragments as stored in the cornici; cf. n. 79 above and Table 2.
85
Olivieri (Philodemus, vi) reported the total of all the sections laid end-to-end as
11.85 m, but the actual total of the measurements he published is 12.045 m (see
Table 2).
 a measure of PARRHESIA 121

text to discern the configuration of the column. For example, in Cor.

1 (containing only Frag. 1–2 in Olivieri’s edition), the total extent
of linear papyrus material preserved is 61 cm (Olivieri), enough for
10 columns. Similarly, in Cor. 2 (containing only Frag. 3), the total
amount of preserved linear papyrus material is another 72 cm (Olivieri),
or another 12 columns. The largely unedited material in Cor. 14–16
(presented only as the 14 items A–N in Olivieri’s Appendix) preserves
a total of 207.8 cm of linear papyrus in six sections of material,
enough for over 34.5 columns of text. What this means, is that over-
all, a substantial proportion of the total scroll was actually preserved,
even though Olivieri estimated that the total amount of extant read-
able text was only one-sixth of the complete work.86
There are, then, basically two ways that the Fragments and
Appendix sections may be understood to fit together. The first is
that they represent a substantial portion of the entire scroll running
in some consecutive order. Since the tops of these fragments tend
to show more damage than the bottoms, they could then be expected
to represent a section near the bottom half of the scroll, compara-
ble in height to the bottom section of Columns I–XXIV. Intriguing
as this might be, several factors make it unlikely.87 Chief among them
is that there is far too much papyrus material preserved. With a
total length of ca. 11.80–12.045 m of papyrus material extant (or
enough for over 200 columns) we would possess parts of all but the
first three columns of the text. Few of the Herculaneum scrolls
suffered so little damage to the outer layers. Also, between Frag. 20,
line 6 and Col. VIIb, line 6 the stichometric notations (from F–H,
see Table 3) would necessitate 66 intervening columns; however, the
number of column fragments and columns preserved between these
two points is over 81.88 Moreover, Olivieri’s Frag. 88 (= 94 in the
Neapolitan disegni ) clearly does not join directly to Col. I, so there
is even more material that needs to be factored into the equation.

86
Olivieri, Philodemus, vii. On this point see Philippson’s criticism, Berliner Philologische
Wochenschrift, 680.
87
Compare Olivieri, Philodemus, iv.
88
Following the Neapolitan disegni, (but excluding the material in Cor. 14–16) this
would still total 81 columns, if tallied this way. Five of Olivieri’s Appendix items
(K–N) also come from this area of the text, in his view; therefore, the number goes
to 86. Also, it is Olivieri’s contention that other material from Cor. 14–16 was orig-
inally distributed across the text, i.e., that it should be interspersed in relationship
with material in Cornici 1–13.
122 l. michael white

Consequently, this suggests a second, more likely arrangement,

namely that some of the Fragments represent top portions of origi-
nal columns in the scroll, while others represent bottoms.89 Like the
section in Col. I–XXIV, then, it may be assumed that this portion
of the scroll was at some point broken in half and the two halves
unrolled separately. In the case of the 24 Columns, the original
disegnatori were able to ascertain the corresponding order of tops and
bottoms by working backward from the end of the scroll and match-
ing up the sections of tops and bottoms. But in the earlier sections
of the text, lacunae made it impossible to match up tops and bot-
toms, even though individual sections of papyrus preserved contin-
uous horizontal column order over limited stretches. If such is the
case, then there are two possibilities for the relationships of various
sections of Fragments:
(1) If the two linear sections preserved in each cornice were arranged
by the original disegnatori so that a portion from the top half of the
scroll was placed with a portion from the bottom half from approx-
imately the same area of the text, then the order of Fragments 1–88
(94) must be broken up into units of material by cornice location and
studied for these approximate relationships. The challenge here is
determining which of the two sections in each cornice should be the
top and locating a vertical join from which to establish relative posi-
tions for the remaining columns fragments above and below.90

89
See Philippson, Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift, 679: “Wie seine Wiedergabe
von Fragmenten sind auch seine Mitteilungen über die Fragmente mangelhaft. Auf
S. III der Praefatio gibt er [Olivieri] nur an, welche seiner Fragmente auf den ein-
selnen Tafeln enthalten sind, nicht wie viel diese außerdem enhalten, bezw. ob seine
Fragmente unmittelbar aufeinanderfolgen, oder ob solche und wie viele zwischen
ihnen auf den Tafeln noch vorhanden sind. Auch im Texte bringt er keinerlei
Angabe darüber. Der Appendix enthält einige von den Neaplern übergangene
Fragmente, nach Tafeln gerdnet und mit den Ziffern, die sie dort tragen, aber mit
wenigen Ausnahmen ohne Angabe, wie sie sich in die Fragmente der Neapler und
seiner Ausgabe einordnen. So trägt das erste Fragment des Appendix die Bezeichnung
Tab. I fr. 2; wie verhält sich dieses zu seinem Fragment 2, das auch auf Tab. I
steht? Ebenso macht er keine Angabe, ob die Fragmente oberen oder unteren
Seitenrand enthalten; man muß die Neapler Ausgabe aufschlagen, um sich darüber
zu belehren. Und doch sind alle diese Tatsachen für das Verständnis der Bruchstücke
sehr wichtig. Denn nach der erhaltenen Stichometrie scheinen die Fragmente auf
den Tafeln ziemlich in der ursprünglichen Reihenfolge angebracht zu sein. Man
muß also diese kennen, um ihren Gedankenzusammenhang zu erkennen. Außerdem
gehört der Papyrus zu denen, die wagerecht durchschnitten sind; man könnte also
nach dem etwa erhaltenen Rande bestimmen, ob die Fragmente zu dem unteren
oder oberen Teile einer Kolumne, ob zwei vielleicht zu derselben gehören.”
90
Taking Cor. 4 [7] for example, based on the discussion above (n. 79), Olivieri’s
Frag. 8–13 (and one unedited column) would then represent a top half, while his
 a measure of PARRHESIA 123

(2) If the two linear sections preserved in each cornice appear to

be consecutive columns from adjacent sections of the text, then it is
likely that some entire cornici would be all tops, while others are all
bottoms. If this is the case, then future analysis will need to con-
sider whether and which cornici might be considered running hori-
zontal sections of scroll tops and which others are bottoms. Then,
can the two be matched together at any points?
Even if we conceive of the material in this way, a substantial pro-
portion of the scroll has been preserved.91 As it is, it appears that
Olivieri’s arrangement of the eighty-eight fragments will not allow
for them to be ordered relative to one another, or to the twenty-
four columns (see Table 4). Only further analysis of the papyri and
the text will shed new light on these questions.

Conclusion

There is still much to be learned about this important work of

Philodemus. Since it was one of the earliest works in his ethical cor-
pus, it seems to have served as a foundation for later writings. It
also served as a guide for day-to-day activities and interactions among
members of the Epicurean community.
It is possible that the lost sections at the beginning of the text
contained the philosophical and ethical preamble to these more prac-
tical guidelines. It might have been based on commentary and ques-
tions drawn from Epicurus’ own letters or other writings, as allusions

Frag. 14–15 plus the “post-Frag. 15” scrap (and two or three unedited column frag-
ments) would represent a bottom. If aligned in this way, it might be possible to
propose a join by “sliding” the two sections laterally to establish a vertical order-
ing. In this instance, the order might be read as Frag. 9 + 14 followed by 10 +
15 then 11 (a top), or 10 + 14 followed by 11 + 15, then 12 (a top). If the tops
and bottoms were inverted, then the likely ordering would be something like Frag.
8 (a bottom) followed by 14 + 9, then 15 + 10, or Frag. 9 (a bottom) followed by
14 + 10 then 15 + 11.
91
For example, if we were to take a clear point of disjuncture in the existing text,
as between Frag. 43 and 44, where there is also a break between cornici, one can get
a sense of the scale of the remaining text. Thus, if Cor. 1 & 2 represent the outer,
most damaged sections of the text, and Cor. 3–7 (Frag. 4–43 plus unedited sections
= 319.9 cm) represents all tops of columns while Cor. 8–13 (Frag. 44–88/94N, =
357.9 cm) represents all bottoms, we would still have well over 50 columns of text
preserved. When combined with Columns i‒xxiv plus the Olivieri’s Appendix items
and the unedited material in Cor. 1, 2, and 14–16, there is still perhaps as much
as 55–70% of the total scroll preserved. This crude estimate is not meant to be a
proposed reconstruction; it is meant to give a sense of scale only. Any future recon-
structions of the text must await results of direct analysis of the papyri in Naples.
124 l. michael white

within the treatise presuppose.92 On the other hand, it might have

begun with the traditional Athenian topos on tyranny, and the role
of frank speech as an antidote.93 This possibility is given circumstantial
support by the fact that Philodemus also wrote a treatise On the Good
King according to Homer,94 and the use of the term parrhs¤a has now
been confirmed within this text.95 But these conjectures must await
further analysis of the scroll for definitive answers. What is clear is
the complex and multi-layered process of authorship, production,
and transmission of these materials: from the traditions and writings
of Epicurus, to the lectures and commentary of Zeno of Sidon, to
the epitomizing and elaboration of Philodemus, to the transcription
of an unnamed scribe, to the use and storage at the Villa, and finally
to the modern efforts to restore both the scroll and the text.

92
See Frag. 9, 15, 20.
93
It should be noted that Clarence Glad (“Frank Speech, Flattery, and Friendship
in Philodemus,” 31–2) argues that by the Hellenistic period parrhs¤a had largely
lost this meaning and only referred to interpersonal relationships. I am not fully
convinced. I wonder whether inklings of the older usage from the Athenian polit-
ical realm are not still to be heard even though the context has changed. For Greeks
now forced to deal with Romans of power and wealth, there are still some points
of contact, such as we see later during the second sophistic in Dio Chrysostom’s
treatises on kingship and tyranny. Plutarch also notes that Ptolemy, Antony, and
Nero succumbed to the deleterious effects of flattery (Quomodo adulator 56E–F). Indeed,
during the second sophistic it became a typical rhetorical trope to eschew any
appearance of flattery in panegyrics toward Rome and its emperors. So see the
opening sections of Aelius Aristides, Roman Oration. I suspect this is a subject that
needs further investigation. For a contemporaneous comments on tyranny from the
Republican period compare Cicero, De officiis 3.36 (which says that tyranny and
greed for power come from delusion) and 3.84 (which quotes from Accius the maxim
that tyrants have few true friends, in contrasting tyranny with a free state).
94
PHerc. 1507 (see n. 10 above); it was produced by Scribe XXVIII (Group Q )
who also produced a copy of De Poemata; cf. Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi, 43. It should
also be noted that Plutarch’s How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend (Mor. 48E–74E) was
addressed to his friend and protegé “King” Philopappos and opens with a refer-
ence to Plato, Laws 731D–E, a passage dealing with “great men.” Since it also
mentions issues like calumny and vice, it reflects some of the standard topoi that
might also have been considered by Zeno of Sidon, and so also by Philodemus.
95
This has been reported to me by Jeffrey Fish, who is now producing a new
critical edition of the text. The relevant passage (from Col. 23, lines 17–18) reads:
ka‹ parrhs¤aw êpeiron fi||shgÒrou (“had no experience of frank speech with equals”).
The reference is to the young Telemachus before he has journeyed abroad and
seems to refer to the rights of frank speech among members of the assembly. I
wish to thank Dr. Fish for sharing this information with me.
 a measure of PARRHESIA 125

Table 1: Philodemus’ Ethical Works

1. Treatises on Character and Life (Per‹ ±y«n ka‹ b¤vn)

a. those attested with Per‹ ±y«n ka‹ b¤vn in the title
PHerc.° TITLE Hand Scribe Date♦

1471 P. h. ka‹ b., ˜ §sti Per‹ parrhs¤aw M ? 75–50

(On Frank Criticism)
168 P. b. ka‹ h., μ Per‹ toË mØ ? ? 75–50?
(or mãthn?) katå tå tuxÒnta z∞n
Ípomnhmãtvn aÄ
(On Not Living according to Chance,
book 1)

b. probably part of the same work

Paris 2 Per‹ diabol∞w (On Calumny) ? ? post 481

c. others related works on ethics

1050 Per‹ yanãtou dÄ (On Death, book 4) I ? post 402
189 Per‹ yanãtou ? ? XXXIII 50–25?
807 Per‹ yanãtou ? L XVIII ? ca. 50±
873 Per‹ ımil¤aw (On conversation) L XVIII ca. 50±
163 Per‹ ploÊtou aÄ (On wealth, book 1) I ? post 40
97 Per‹ ploÊtou (On wealth) O XXIV ca. 50±
312 Per‹ gãmou (On marriage) ? ? ? ?

1251 Per‹ aflr°sevn ka‹ fug«n (On Choices N ? 50–25

and Avoidances)? [also known as
The Comparetti Ethics]
346 [A Protreptic Treatise: Tractatus ? ? ?
(on Epicurean Ethics)]

° All reference numbers and titles for Herculaneum papyri are taken from Marcello
Gigante, Catalogo dei Papiri Ercolanesi (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1979); cf. Mario Capasso,
Manuale di papirologia ercolanese, Studi e Testi 3 (Lecce: Congedo Editore, 1991).
♦
The columns for Hands, Scribes, and Dates are based on Guglielmo Cavallo,
Libri scritture scribi a Ercolano, Supplements to Cronache ercolanesi 13 (Naples: Gaetano
Macchiaroli, 1983), 28–46, for all cases where Cavallo offers analysis or unless other-
wise noted. The Date refers to the production of the scroll itself. All dates are b.c.e.
126 l. michael white

2. Treatises on the Passions (Per¤ pãyvn); texts possibly from this larger work
PHerc. TITLE Hand Scribe Date

182 Per‹ Ùrg∞w (On Anger) F IX ca. 50±

57 Per‹ man¤aw (On Insanity) O XXIV ca. 50±
353 Per‹ man¤aw ? ? ?
1384 Per‹ ¶rvtow (On Sexual Passion) ? ? ? ?

3. Treatises on Vices and their Corresponding Virtues

(Per‹ kaki«n ka‹ t«n éntikeim°nvn éret«n)
PHerc. TITLE Hand Scribe Date

1424 Per‹ ofikonom¤aw (On Household P, a XXV 50–253

Management)
[Full title: Per‹ kai«n ka‹ t«n
éntikeim¢nvn éret«n ka‹ t«n §n
oÂw efisi ka‹ per‹ ì yÄ . . . (On Vices
and their corresponding Virtues and the
People and Situations in which they occur,
book 9: . . .)
1675 Per‹ kai«n ka‹ t«n éntikeim¢nvn P, a XXV 50–25
éret«n ka‹ t«n §n oÂw efisi ka‹
per‹ ì (On Vices and their corresponding
Virtues and the People and Situations in
which they occur)
222 Per‹ kai«n ka‹ t«n §n oÂw efisi P, a XXV 50–25
ka‹ per‹ ì zÄ ˜ §sti per‹
kolake¤aw (On Vices and the People
and Situations in which they occur, book 7:
On Flattery)
1082 Per‹ kolake¤aw (On Flattery) P, a XXV 50–25
1089 Per‹ kolake¤aw (On Flattery) ? P, a XXV 50–25
1457 Per‹ kaki«n (On Vices) P, a XXV 50–25
253 Per‹ kaki«n (On Vices) P, a XXV 50–25
1008 Per‹ kaki«n iÄ (On Vices, book 10: P, a XXV 50–25
On arrogance?)
465 Per‹ filargur¤aw (On Greed ) ? P, a XXV 50–25
1613 Per‹ filargur¤aw (On Greed ) ? P, a XXV 50–25

1017 Per‹ Ïbrevw (On Pride) P, c4 ¤ 50–25

1025 Per‹ filodoj¤aw (On Love of Fame) P, c ¤ 50–25
1678 Per‹ §pixairekakiãw (On Spitefulness) P, c ¤ 50–25
1414 Per‹ xãritow (On Gratitude) P, c ¤ 50–25
 a measure of PARRHESIA 127
1
Based on the fact that Virgil joined the school of Siro in 48, and this work
names him along with others in the dedication. See John Ferguson, “Epicureanism
under the Roman Empire,” ANRW 2.36.4 (1990): 2265.
2
Cavallo (52) dates this hand between 50–25, but one of the other scrolls in
this group (PHerc. 1065, De signis) may be dated to after 40 b.c.e. based on inter-
nal references to historical events; see Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicrueanism,”
ANRW 2.36.4 (1990): 2372 following H. M. Last, “The Date of Philodemus’ De Signis,”
Classical Quarterly 16 (1922): 177–80.
3
Cavallo (55) dates this hand to between 50–25, but the range may likely be
narrowed on other grounds to between ca. 48 to ca. 40±, based on the other lit-
erary activities of the library in this period (cf. Cavallo, 63).
4
The following four scrolls were all produced by closely related, if not the same,
scribal hand, which is in turn part of the hand-group (P) from which Scribe XXV
came. For this reason, it would appear that these last four scrolls go with the larger
work On Vices and their Corresponding Virtues, even though some of the topics would
go equally well with the collection of treatises On the Passions.
 128 l. michael white

Table 2: PHerc. 1471—Order and Disposition of Extant Material

Cornice Text Contained Columns Papyrus Measurements (by section, in cm)
# (Olivieri) Reported Material Olivieria Giganteb
(Olivieri) [+ Neapolitan | (number of top/bottom top/bottom
disegni ] (possible) sections) of tray of tray

1 Frag. 1, 2 2|(6) 1 (2) / 36 × 6.5 / 1

24.4 × 10 2 11.4 × 6.2/
|(4) 1 (2)dd 25 × 7 3
17.3 × 6.2 4 18.8 × 9
2 Frag. 3 1|(6) 1/ 36 × 7.5 / 1
37 × 8.5 /
| (6) 1 36 × 7 2
34.5 × 7.6
3 Frag. 4–7 4|(6) 1/ 36.5 × 7 / 23.6 × 8.4 /
|(5) 1 31 × 8 29.2 × 7
4c Frag. 8–12, [+1 6|(7) 1/ 39.5 × 7.5 / 36.5 × 7 /
uned*], 13/ 2|(5) 1 30.7 × 7d 35 × 6.2
[+1*],14,15,
[+1*],[+1
(=O’s Append.)],
[+1*]
5 Frag. 16–24 9|(5) 1 / 31 × 6.5 / 35 × 6.2 /
|(4) 1 23.5 × 7 24 × 6.7
6 Frag. 25–33 9|(5.5) 1 / 32.5 × 6.5 / 36.6 × 6.5 /
|(6) 1 36 × 7 31 × 7.1
7 Frag. 34–43 10|(4.75) 1 / 27 × 7 / 39 × 7 /
|(5) 1 28.6 × 7 30 × 6.3
8 Frag. 44–52 9|(5) 1 / 28.5 × 7 / 30 × 6 /
|(5) 1 29 × 7 23 × 6.8
9 Frag. 53–65 13|(5.75) 1 / 34 × 7 / 32.2 × 6.6 /
|(7) 1 39.5 × 7 35.4 × 6.7
10 Frag. 66–74 9|(5.75) 1 / 34.5 × 7.5 / 26.8 × 6.5 /
|(3) 1 18 × 7 28.5 × 6.5
11 Frag. 75, 5|(7) 1 / 39.5 × 11 / 28.5 × 7 /
76,[77N], |(6.5) 1 38.5 × 10 28.5 × 6.8
77,[79N]
12 Frag. 78, 78, 6|(7) 1 / 41 × 11 / 34.3 × 7 /
80,81,[84N], |(6) 1 37 × 10.5 39.5 × 7
82
13 Frag. 83, 9|(5.75) 1 / 34.5 × 10.5 / 34.1 × 6.8 /
[87N],84,85, | (5)e 1 30 × 10 17.1 × 6.8
86,[91N],
87,[93N],88,
14 Appendix ?|(4) 1 / 23.5 × 10 / 38.5 × 10 /
(frs. A-N) + |(5) 1 29 × 7.5 39 × 9.5
unedited frs.
15 Appendix + ?|(7) 1 / 40 × 10.5 / 30 × 9.8 /
unedited frs. |(6.75) 1 38.5 × 10 37.5 × 9
16 Appendix + ?|(6) 1 / 37.3 × 10 / 33.7 × 9.5 /
unedited frs. |(6) 1 35 × 8 29.1 × 9.2
17 Col. i–iii 3|(3) 1 / 17.5 × 18.5 17.7 × 9 /
1 16.5 × 7.1
18 Col. iv‒ix 6|(5.5) 2 / 33 × 17 1
17 × 7.9 2 17.7 × 8.4 /
1 3
33.7 × 9.5
19 Col. x‒xv 6|(5.5) 1 / 32.3 × 17 33.6 × 8 /
1 32 × 7.6
20 Col. xvi‒xxi 6|(5.5) 1 / 32.8 × 17.7 33.5 × 8.3 /
1 32.5 × 7.5
21 Col. xxii–xxiv + +
3 |(3 ) 1 / 33 × 17 31.5 × 8.4 /
+ subscriptio 1 28.5 × 7.2

Totals 118|(168)f 45 1204.50 cm 1180 cm

 a measure of PARRHESIA 129

Table 3: PHerc. 1471—Stichometric Notations in the Papyrus

Location Position in Text Marginal Numerical Olivieri’s Intervals
(Cornice # per Olivieri) Notation order prior cols. prior columns
(per Olivieri) [all are in left margin] (act.)| lines (conjectured)
(extant)
2 extra fr. 8, line 1 _
(= Appendix) H 7 ? A–H = 42 ?
4g extra fr. after Frag. 15,
line 2 (= Appendix) Ì 9 ? Y–I = 12 ?
_
5 Frag. 20, line 6 U 20 ? K–U = 66 ?
17 Col. iia, line 2 ?
[provisional reading
by LMW]h Z
_ ? [30] [F–Z = 60]
18 Col. viib, line 6 H_ 31 [6 | 109] F–H = 66 ?
19 Col. xiiib, line 7 Y 32 6 | 134
20 Col. xixb, line 9 Ì 33 6 | 150
21 Col. xxivb, line 9 K– 34 5 | 121
21 [Col. xxivb, remainder] + 4 lines
Total 203 cols. + 4 lines & subscr.

Table 4: PHerc. 1471—The Stichometry of the Text: Variable Calculations

1 2 3 4 5 6
Lines/Col.| No. of Cols. per Total no. of Total no. of No. of Cols. Total at
Lines/100 stichoi stichometric Half-Linesi Columnsj of Fragmentsk Col. XXIVl
letter (Lines)

30 | 180 6.0 6094 203.13 179 203

(3047)
33 | 180 5.45 6109 185.12 161.95 185.95
(= 5 cols. + 15 lines) (3054.5)
30 | 200 6.66 6754 225.13 199.45 223.45
(= 6 cols. + 20 lines) (3377)
33 | 200 6.06 6769 205.12 180.86 204.86
(= 6 cols. + 2 lines) (3383.5)

a
Philodemi PERI PARRHSIAS Libellus, ed. by Alexander Olivieri (Leipzig: Teubner,
1914), iii–iv.
b
Marcello Gigante, Catalogo dei Papiri Ercolanesi (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1979), 355.
dd
See note d below.
c
See above n. 79. I have analyzed the published photograph of this cornice from
Gigante, Catalogo dei Papiri, Pl. 6 (between 320–21). The contents noted in column
2 are based on these observations; * designates unedited fragmentary columns not
reported by Olivieri or the Neapolitan disegni. In like manner, column 3 summa-
rizes for each cornice the number of fragments (or columns) reported by Olivieri
[plus extra Neapolitan disegni ] compared with the number of columns possible cal-
culated on the basis of the amount of papyrus material preserved (per Olivieri’s
measurements, see col. 5). NB: Whereas Olivieri designates it as Cornice 4, Gigante
labels it Cornice 7 (see the following note).
130 l. michael white
d
The measurements given by Gigante for Cornice 7 also match those reported
by Olivieri for Cornice 4. Nor is this a random discrepency. It must be noted that
the measurements for the papyrus sections from Cornici 3–13 in Olivieri’s number
match very closely with those for Cornici 6–16 respectively in Gigante’s numbering.
Some of these are rather distinctive measurements, as marked by the lines above;
so note Olivieri Cor. 5 → Gigante Cor. 8 and Olivieri Cor. 10 → Gigante Cor. 13.
Close comparison of these measurements further suggests that Olivieri’s Cor. 1–2
match Gigante’s Cor. 5–6, while Olivieri’s Cor. 14, 15, 16 actually resemble the
measurements in Gigante’s Cor. 3, 1, 2 respectively. All of this seems to suggest
that Olivieri has, without any explanation, reordered the Cornici numbers, at least
by moving the complex and largely unedited material in his Cor. 14–16. While this
analysis maintains the basic numerical order of the materials in Fragments 1–88
(94), it does call into some question the way that Olivieri made his determinations.
It also leaves some uncertainty concerning the relationship between Frag. 88 (=
94N) and Col. i.
e
The subtotal for Cor. 1–13 equals: 94 | (144). Cor. 5, 7, 9, and 10 (plus 4, as
corrected) and Cor. 17–21 show the proper number of columns for the amount of
papyrus material preserved. The remainder (Cor. 1–3, 6, 8, 11–13, plus 14–16)
report less columns than should be possible for the amount of material preserved.
f
Totals in column 3 do not include the material in Cornici 14–16, which repre-
sents an additional 14 reported column fragments (Olivieri’s Appendix) but 34.75
possible columns.
g
See note c above.
h
This is a tentative suggestion based on study of the published photograph of
Cornice 17 (Col. i‒iii) as found in Guglielmo Cavallo, Libri scritture scribi a Ercolano,
Supplements to Cronache ercolanesi 13 (Naples: Gaetano Macchiaroli, 1983) Plate
XXVI.
i
The calculation is the number of stichometric letters times the number of lines
per 100 stichoi (= 1 stichometric letter), but with the qualification that the last let-
ter (K) contains only 5 columns of text (see Table 3, s.v. Cornice 21). Thus, the
equation is (33 [A-V+A-I] x D)+ (5 × Θ [K] + 4) = total number of half-lines in
the text, where (based on the information in column 1 of the table) Δ = number
of lines of text per 100 stichoi (180 or 200) and Θ = 5 × number of lines per col-
umn (5 × 30 or 33, i.e., 150 or 165).
j
Number of lines (col. 3) divided by number of columns per stichometric letter
(column 2).
k
Based on the stichometric notation in Col. vii, line 6 (H = 31 stichometric let-
ters) and subtracting 7 to yield the number of columns before Col. i. Cf. Table 3,
s.v. Corniche 18.
l
Total of Fragments (column 5) + 24 Columns.
 PART TWO

PHILODEMUS’ THOUGHT WITHIN THE CONTEXT

OF THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD
This page intentionally left blank
 EPICUREAN ECONOMICS

Elizabeth Asmis

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of Philodemus’ views on wealth in the

context of Epicurean economic theory in general. The discussion is in
three parts. The first part offers a survey of the relationship of Epicureans
to the rest of society. It is argued that, instead of forming separate
social and economic enclaves, the Epicureans were closely integrated
in their daily lives with the rest of society. The second part examines
the basic doctrines of Epicurean economics. Beginning with the concept
of “natural wealth,” the discussion moves from the evidence about
Epicurus to Philodemus’ On Wealth and On Household Economics. The ques-
tion is now raised: to what extent does Philodemus reshape the economic
views of Epicurus and Metrodorus? The third part of the paper attempts
to assess Philodemus’ own contribution in On Household Economics.
Philodemus, it is argued, revises Epicurean economics to suit the cir-
cumstances of Roman aristocrats. Elaborating the view that it is prefer-
able to have much rather than just a little, Philodemus offers a new
evaluation of lives: best is the life of the philosopher that is shared
with others; second best is that of the comfortably-off landowner, who
shares his resources with his friends. While admiring the frugal life of
Epicurus and his associates, Philodemus also envisions a more com-
fortable life, in which philosophers such as himself share their insights
with Roman landowners.

Epicurus begins his Letter to Menoeceus (122), a summary of his ethics,

by urging both young and old to do philosophy (filosofe›n). It is
never too early or too late, he points out, to secure mental health—
in short, to be happy. Suppose a person agrees: how does a person
go about earning a living while doing philosophy? This paper will
examine how a person combines the need to earn a living with the
choice to be an Epicurean. It will do so in three parts. The first
section will set out a context by surveying the relationship of Epicureans
to the rest of society. Next is a discussion of the philosophical prin-
ciples that govern a person’s economic life. Third, we turn to ways
of earning and managing an income. The paper will focus increasingly
on Philodemus’ On Household Economics (per‹ ofikonom¤aw).
134 elizabeth asmis

Epicureanism and Society

Epicureanism differs in important respects in its relationship to soci-

ety from other ancient philosophical movements. In the first place,
it is anti-elitist. Epicurus addressed his message to all individuals,
regardless of age, sex, education, economic circumstances, or social
station. He viewed traditional education as an outright hindrance.
In a letter, Epicurus congratulated a new student, Apelles, for com-
ing to philosophy “pure of all education.”1 Similarly, he advised the
young Pythocles to “flee all education.”2 The only true education,
Epicurus held, is Epicurean philosophy. Epicurus designed his teach-
ing in such a way that not just the affluent, but the most lowly work-
ing person, including even the slave, would have enough time to do
philosophy. Young and old, male and female, educated and unedu-
cated, poor and rich, all were invited to become Epicureans.3
At the same time, Epicureanism is not addressed to the masses.
Epicurus was as contemptuous of the crowd as any other ancient
philosopher.4 He took great care to distinguish his teaching from
demagoguery. The wise man, he said, will found a school, but not
in such a way as to “draw a crowd,” nor will he give public addresses.5
Epicurus aimed to convert individuals. He sought to do so by engag-
ing the intellectual assent of each person. Philosophical doctrines
must be firmly rooted in each individual’s own understanding in
order to have the appropriate effect, and this comes about through
reasoning, not through momentary enthusiasm. Even though Epicurus

1
U 117.
2
U 163, cf. 164. The only concession Epicurus made to traditional education is
that there is a benefit in knowing the rudiments of grammar—that is, in knowing
how to read and write. A wise person, he said, must know letters (Sextus Empiricus,
Against the Grammarians 49).
3
The only known restrictions occur in this text (Diogenes Laertius 10.117 = U
226): “[Epicurus held] that one cannot become wise on the basis of every condition
of the body, nor in every race” (oÈd¢ mØn §k pãshw s≈matow ßjevw sofÚn gen°syai
ín oÈdÉ §n pant‹ ¶ynei). Presumably, Epicurus held that severe physical handicaps,
such as serious deficiencies in sense perception and debilitating illness, will prevent
a person from becoming wise. Interestingly, the statement contains no mention of
intellectual prerequisites as such. The reference to “race” is intriguing. Allegedly,
Epicurus also said that only Greeks can philosophize (U 226). A related claim is
that not every race of human beings was able to form social compacts so as to
develop a system of justice (KD 32).
4
U 187; SV 29, 45, 81.
5
Diogenes Laertius 10.120: sxolØn kataskeuãsein, éllÉ oÈx ÀstÉ Ùxlagvg∞sai;
and oÈ panhgurie›n.
 epicurean economics 135

used memorization as a fundamental teaching method for both novices

and advanced students, he insisted that memorization must be accom-
panied by a personal evaluation of the evidence.
While opposing traditional values, Epicureanism does not remove
the individual from the rest of society. It keeps a person integrated
in the daily routine of ordinary life while shifting his or her aims
away from those of the rest of society. Epicureans form a close com-
munity with one another; but they also adapt themselves to the insti-
tutions of the larger community. There is ample margin for happiness
within social constraints. A striking example is the participation of
Epicureans in public religious events. Epicureans may join religious
festivities so long as they keep pure of wrong beliefs. Epicurus him-
self is said to have taken part “in all the traditional festivals and
sacrifices,” and to have used the common oaths.6 He proclaimed
that the wise man enjoys the sights and sounds of Dionysiac rites as
much as anyone.7 Epicurus sought to elevate people from all ranks
of society to the heights of happiness by having them accept social
institutions while rejecting conventional beliefs.
The Epicureans in general, and especially Epicurus and his imme-
diate friends, cultivated close personal relationships with one another.
However, the picture that has been painted of Epicureans as living
in alternative communities, separate from the rest of society, needs to
be corrected. About 307/6 or 305/4 b.c.e., Epicurus purchased a
house in a district called Melite, which became the headquarters of
Epicureanism in antiquity. Cicero reports that, even though the house
was “small” (angusta), it held large companies of close friends.8 Epicurus
also acquired grounds outside the city called the “Garden,” which gave
its name to his philosophical school.9 The house and Garden were
passed on from one head of school to another. Epicurus’ closest philo-
sophical associates in Athens included his three brothers; a slave called
Mys (“Mouse”); the other three main founders of the school, Metro-
dorus, Polyainos, and Hermarchus; Leontion, a woman who lived with
Metrodorus and wrote an Epicurean philosophical treatise; and

6
Philodemus On Piety 1, 790–840 (Obbink); partly at U 169.
7
U 20.
8
Cicero On Ends 1.65.
9
R. E. Wycherley argues, against the prevailing opinion, that the garden was
close to the house within the city (“The Garden of Epicurus,” Phoenix 13 (1959):
73–77). This proposal is intended in part to explain the fact that the philosophical
activities in the Garden and house were closely connected.
136 elizabeth asmis

students such as Nicanor, Pythocles, and Colotes.10 In his will, Epicurus

describes Hermarchus and Nicanor as being among those who “grew
old in philosophy” with him.11 Epicurus was especially close to
Metrodorus, who died seven years before him. Metrodorus is called
“almost another Epicurus” by Cicero.12 Epicurus paid him the honor
of calling him a wise man.13 The joint monthly celebration in honor
of both Epicurus and Metrodorus, for which Epicurus made provi-
sion in his will, attests to the special intimacy between the two men.14
Friends are said to have come from everywhere to “live with him
[Epicurus] in the Garden.”15 It has been conjectured rather fanci-
fully that Epicurus’ followers took up residence in “hutments” in the
garden (as Farrington puts it).16 There is no evidence, however, that
the garden grounds contained residential quarters. Nor is there any
reason to suppose that Epicurus and his friends needed to share the
same residential quarters in order to share a philosophical life. In
his will, Epicurus stipulated that Hermarchus and “those who phi-
losophize with him” should have the Garden, on the one hand, “to
spend time in (§ndiatr¤bein) philosophically” and the house in Melite,
on the other hand, “to live in” (§noike›n). The Garden was to be as
“secure” as possible. Epicurus singled out two persons to share the
house with Hermarchus: the son of Metrodorus, and the son of
Polyainos, whose care was entrusted to Hermarchus.17
10
At 10.10, Diogenes Laertius mentions that Mys was the “most distinguished”
of the slaves who did philosophy with Epicurus. In addition to Leontion, other he-
tairai who are said to have associated with Epicurus and Metrodorus are Mammarion,
Hedeia, Erotion, and Nicidion (Diogenes Laertius 10.7); see the article by Pamela
Gordon in this volume.
11
Diogenes Laertius 10.20–21.
12
Cicero On Ends 2.92. The two men, it is said, never parted during their acquain-
tance, except for a six months’ trip by Metrodorus (Diogenes Laertius 10.22).
13
Cicero On Ends 2.7 (U 146). Cicero mentions that Metrodorus did not want
to refuse the honor, but that he did not himself claim to be a wise person. Cicero
also asserts that Epicurus considered himself alone a wise person.
14
See below, n. 26.
15
Diogenes Laertius 10.10.
16
Benjamin Farrington, The Faith of Epicurus (London: Weidenfield & Nicholson,
1967), 12. Norman De Witt (cf. “Epicurean Contubernium, TAPA 67 [1936]: 55–63,
“Organization and Procedure in Epicurean Groups,” CP 31 [1936]: 205–211, Epicurus
and his Philosophy, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1954, 95–96) is pri-
marily responsible for the prevailing view that the Epicureans went to school in
residential communities. He is followed by Martha C. Nussbaum (The Therapy of
Desire [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994], 117–19).
17
Diogenes Laertius 10.17–19, including (17): §n ⁄ ín trÒpƒ ésfal°staton ¬.
Epicurus also provides for the daughter of Metrodorus, with the injunction that she
should be obedient to Hermarchus. He does not specify whether she will also live
in the house.
 epicurean economics 137

These arrangements indicate that the Garden was used as a place

for meetings, whereas the house was the residence of the head of the
school and a few close associates. There is nothing unusual about the
provision for the security of the Garden. Apart from financial security,
we would expect the maintenance of the Garden to include physical
means of protection, such as a wall and a gate-keeper. There is no
support whatsoever for the suggestion that students would give up
their worldly possessions in order to live in the Garden.18 We are
told that, contrary to Pythagoras, Epicurus did not think it right for
people to hold their property in common.19 The “small” house in
Melite could accommodate only a small number of permanent occu-
pants and their guests. This would not preclude large numbers of
guests coming to stay with Epicurus successively for varying periods
of time. Before Metrodorus’ death, we may suppose that the house
regularly accommodated Epicurus, Metrodorus and Leontion with
their two children, a few slaves, and a steady stream of guests.
Seneca stresses the importance of communal life in Epicureanism
when he says, “what made Metrodorus, Hermarchus, and Polyainos
great is not Epicurus’ school, but their life together (contubernium).”20
Plutarch likewise draws attention to the communal meals and gatherings
of Epicurus and his friends.21 Epicurus is said to have spent “an
entire mina” (one hundred drachmas) a day on food.22 It has been
estimated that this amount could feed from one to two hundred peo-
ple.23 The figure is suspect, however, since it comes from a vehement

18
Nussbaum (Therapy of Desire, 118) conjectures that a student would give up her
property and probably her children, so as to be supported from a central fund
while residing in the Garden. This seems to me contrary to what we know about
Epicurus’ attitude towards property and towards children.
19
Diogenes Laertius 10.11. The reason given by Epicurus is that this would be
a sign of mistrust, and so incompatible with friendship.
20
Epistle 6.6: Metrodorum et Hermarchum et Polyaenum magnos viros non schola
Epicuri sed contubernium fecit. De Witt points out that in the period of the Roman
Republic the term contubernium “was restricted to denote the cohabitation of slaves
and the use of common quarters by soldiers in service” and that later it came to
signify common life in general (“Epicurean Contubernium,” 59). On the close per-
sonal relations of Epicurus and his friends, see esp. Diskin Clay (“Individual and
Community in the first Generation of the Epicurean School,” in SUZHTHSIS: Studi
sull’ Epicureismo greco e romano offerti a Marcello Gigante (Naples: G. Macchiaroli, 1983),
255–79, esp. 266–78) and Francesca Longo Auricchio, “La Scuola di Epicuro,”
CErc 8 (1978): 21–37.
21
Live unknown 1129a.
22
Diogenes Laertius 10.7.
23
Horst Steckel, “Epikuros,” in Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft,
suppl. vol. 11 (Stuttgart: Alfred Druckenmüller, 1968), 585.
138 elizabeth asmis

attack on Epicurus by Timocrates, brother of Metrodorus and a one-

time follower who ended up bitterly recanting his Epicureanism.24 If
the sum is right, then Epicurus did attract a surprisingly large num-
ber of people to his garden, though not nearly as many as the two
thousand people that Theophrastus is alleged to have attracted to
his lectures.25 Even though the number who visited Epicurus’ Garden
may have reached two hundred in a day, there is no evidence that
this group formed a self-sufficient economic enclave.
In his will, Epicurus allocated part of his revenues toward funeral
rites for his parents and brothers, an annual day of celebration on
his birthday, a gathering in honor of himself and Metrodorus on the
twentieth day of each month, and two annual days of celebration
for his brothers and for Polyainos respectively.26 Among those who
were invited to these events were well-disposed non-Epicureans. We
have a text in which Epicurus is cited as inviting “all in the house”
as well as “outsiders who have good will toward him and his friends.”
Epicurus adds that this is not demagoguery.27
These celebrations constitute a kind of “religious calendar,” as Clay
has shown.28 Despite the veneration of Epicurus by his followers,29
however, there are fundamental differences between Epicureanism
and religious cults. Unlike religious groups, such as the, Ùrge«new
(sacrificial associates, to whom Epicurean communities have been
compared), the Epicureans did not have a secret doctrine.30 Some

24
After recanting his Epicureanism, Timocrates attacked Epicurus vehemently in
his book EÈfrantã (Merriment). Timocrates (or perhaps Diogenes Laertius) supports
the figure of one mina by saying that Epicurus himself mentioned it in two letters.
In view of Timocrates’ hostility and the serious distortions in his other accusations,
the figure is suspect, at least as a daily sum.
25
See Diogenes Laertius 5.37. Steckel makes this comparison, (“Epikuros,” 585).
26
Diogenes Laertius 10.18. Clay has gathered the testimonies for these events in
“The Cults of Epicurus,” CErc 16 (1986): 11–28.
27
PHerc. 1232 fr. 8 col. 1, quoted and discussed by Clay, “Cults of Epicurus” 13–18.
Clay argues that the event is a celebration in honor of Epicureans who have died.
28
Clay, “Individual and Community,” 274–79, and “Cults of Epicurus,” 25.
29
The incident of Colotes embracing the knees of Epicurus is often cited in this
connection (U 141). On a lighter note, Cicero (On Ends 5.3) speaks of the portraits
of Epicurus in drinking cups and on rings. On portraits of Epicurus see also Pliny,
Natural History 35.5.
30
ÉOrge«new met regularly to sacrifice to a hero or god (William Scott Ferguson,
“The Attic Orgeônes,” Harvard Theological Review 37 [1944]: 61–140). The Epicureans
have also been compared to members of a type of religious community called thia-
sos (so Clay, “Individual and Community,” 275–79). Like the Epicureans, members
of these groups function as ordinary members of society while forming clubs that
meet regularly and impose dues. A crucial difference, however, between the religious
 epicurean economics 139

ancient critics charged that Epicurus escaped prosecution for impi-

ety only because his philosophy went unnoticed.31 This inconspicu-
ousness was intentional, but it is not the same as an attempt at
secrecy. It is the meaning of Epicurus’ well-known saying: lãye
bi≈saw, “do not attract notice to your life.”32 Epicurus neither con-
cealed his doctrines nor broadcast his views to the public at large.
Non-Epicurean friends were freely invited to Epicurean events. Epi-
curus’ policy was to accept social conventions while preserving philo-
sophical integrity.
The money for Epicurean communal events came from gifts and
fees. Philodemus quotes Epicurus as soliciting an annual contribution
of the relatively small sum of one hundred and twenty drachmas. The
same text mentions another yearly assessment sent to Epicurus on
behalf of a man and his father.33 Contributions of food were also
sent to Epicurus. In one letter, Epicurus asked for a “little pot of
cheese, so that when I wish I can have a luxury.”34 Like the contri-
butions, the expenditures were modest. In general, Epicurus and his
friends lived frugal lives. They are said to have drunk mostly water
and just a little wine. Epicurus himself wrote that he was content
with water and plain bread.35 About the middle of the first century

groups and the Epicureans is that the former are bound by an obligation for secrecy.
As Walter Burkert points out, “The main obligation was not propagating a faith,
but withholding the central revelation” (Ancient Mystery Cults [Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1987], 45–46). See further Michael Erler’s criticisms, Die Hellenistische
Philosophie, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie: Die Philosophie der Antike, eds. Michael
Erler and Hellmut Flashar, 4.1 (Basel: Schwabe, 1994), 206–207.
31
Philodemus On Piety part 1, lines 1402–12 (Obbink).
32
See U 551.
33
Philodemus PHerc. 1418 (“Treatise On Epicurus and Others”) col. 30 (Luigi
Spina, “Il trattato di Filodemo su Epicuro e altri (PHerc. 1418),” CErc 7 (1977):
62). See also the new edition by C. Militello, Memorie Epicuree (PHerc. 1418 e 310),
La Scuola di Epicuro (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1997). There is also mention of a third
contribution having to do with income derived from hiring out slaves. It is highly
unlikely that Philodemus’ On Frank Criticism fr. 55 says anything at all about con-
tributions; the general sense requires an application of a remedy, not a contribu-
tion of money. This fragment is cited by De Witt as showing that Epicurus accepted
contributions even though he did not exact fees (“Epicurean Contubernium,” 57,
n. 10); the latter claim is contradicted by PHerc. 1418, col. 30.
34
Diogenes Laertius 10.11 (U 182); also U 183.
35
Diogenes Laertius 10.11. At U 181, Epicurus writes that he “exults” in plain
water and bread, while “spitting on” the pleasures of luxury—not because of them-
selves, but because of the troubles that follow. Seneca (Epistle 18.9) shows that
Epicurus did not practice stark frugality continually, but on a regular basis on set
days. He says that Epicurus set aside certain days on which he satisfied his hunger
“stintingly” (maligne) in order to see if this would detract from his having full pleasure.
140 elizabeth asmis

b.c.e., Philodemus invited his prominent friend Piso to dinner on the

twentieth in a poem that provides a unique insight into this Epicurean
event. Philodemus playfully observes that the meal will be modest
unless Piso enriches it.36
From the time of Epicurus, then, people came to learn, talk, and
eat together in the Garden in the pursuit of philosophy. This is not
a welfare society, even though, as friends, Epicureans were expected
to help one another.37 Those who could afford it were expected to
make contributions. With the exception of the occupants of the house,
the Epicureans lived and worked in the larger community. They
blended in with the rest of society: they dressed in the same way,
performed similar jobs, and dwelt alongside others.38 The life that
they shared with other Epicureans was especially important; it was,
in a sense, the only real life. Yet there was also a life, however atten-
uated, outside the Garden, and Epicurus gave instructions on how
to cope with it.
Epicurus kept in touch by letter with other groups of Epicureans
that sprang up around the Aegean. He himself founded schools in
Mytilene and Lampsacus before he set up his school in Athens, and
he continued to have especially close relations with his friends in
Lampsacus.39 There is no evidence that any of these schools were
residential, although it would not be surprising if some Epicureans
lived together, in emulation of Epicurus’ own house in Athens.
For the period after Epicurus, we have very little evidence about
Epicurean communities until the end of the second century b.c.e.
Philodemus provides information about dissident schools at Rhodes
and Cos about the end of the second century and beginning of the

36
Palatine Anthology 11.44 = no. 27 in David Sider, The Epigrams of Philodemus
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). On the meals held on the twentieth of
each month, see also Cicero On Ends 2.101.
37
In the text sometimes cited in support of a welfare policy, PHerc. 1418 col. 12
(Spina), Epicurus simply advises Timocrates to help certain people not only because
they are close to him but also because of their character. This text appears to deal
with Timocrates’ personal relationships. It does not show that more affluent Epicureans
were regularly expected to contribute to the livelihood of the more needy.
38
Anthony Long throws doubt on the traditional picture of Epicureans living in
alternative communities, even though he accepts it for the purpose of his argument.
Long undertakes to show (rightly, I think) that the Epicureans did have a concern
for people in the wider community (“Pleasure and Social Utility—The Virtues of
Being Epicurean,” Aspects de la Philosophie hellénistique, 283–316, esp. 286–87, 293).
39
Diogenes Laertius 10.15.
 epicurean economics 141

first century b.c.e.40 He also provides a general account of the rela-

tionship between teachers and students in his treatise On Frank Criticism
(Per‹ parrhs¤aw). Whereas the four founders of Epicureanism (Epicurus,
Metrodorus, Hermarchus, and Polyainos) were regularly called “lead-
ers” (kayhghmÒnew), as well as “the men” (ofl êndrew), other teachers
were called “guides” (kayhghta¤, kayhgoÊmenoi).41 The students were
called “those who receive preparation” (ofl kataskeuazÒmenoi).42 There
is no evidence that schools were organized with different ranks of
teachers.43 We hear of an Epicurean school founded by Siro at
Naples, which included Vergil among its students.44 Possibly this was
a residential school; and there may have been others. But the evi-
dence suggests that residential communities (such as Epicurus’ “small”
house in Athens) contained just a tiny fraction of Epicureans.
Teachers of Epicureanism appeared in Italy in the second century
b.c.e. Among them, the first Epicurean reported to have had an impor-
tant influence is Amafinius, whose simple-minded writings, Cicero
alleges, moved the multitude. After him, according to Cicero, many
other Epicureans “took all of Italy by storm” by their many writings.45
Cicero says nothing about any of the converts attending school. As he
puts it, the Epicureans gathered ignorant villagers to their cause.46 Not-
withstanding Cicero’s verdict, many politically prominent Romans were
swayed by Epicureanism in the late Republic. Cassius, one of the
murderers of Caesar, was an Epicurean; so were many members of

40
Francesca Longo Auricchio and Adele Tepedino Guerra, “Aspetti e Problemi
della Dissidenza Epicurea,” CErc 11 (1981): 29–38; and David Sedley, “Philosophical
Allegiance in the Greco-Roman World,” Philosophia Togata: Essays on Philosophy and
Roman Society, eds. Jonathan Barnes and Miriam Griffin (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1989), 112–17.
41
On Frank Criticism, fr. 8.6–7, 42.10, etc; see Longo Auricchio, “La Scuola di
Epicuro,” 22–23.
42
On Frank Criticism, frs. 2.3, 25.6–7; etc.
43
De Witt’s reconstruction (“Organization and Procedure,” also Epicurus, 94) of
an Epicurean campus community, with different grades of professors, has been
shown to be without foundation by Marcello Gigante, “Filodemo sulla libertà di
parola,” Ricerche Filodemee (Naples: Gaetano Macchiaroli, 1969), 55–113; 110–13.
44
See Erler, “Die Hellenistische Philosophie,” 370–71.
45
Tusculan Disputations 4.6–7: Italiam totam occupaverunt. Cicero speculates that
the writings of Amafinius caught on because they were very easy to understand, or
because of the appeal of pleasure, or because there was nothing better. See also
Academica 1.5 and Tusculan Disputations 2.6–8.
46
On Ends 2.12.
142 elizabeth asmis

the Caesarian party.47 In his writings, Cicero shows us a number of

Roman aristocrats who were converted to Epicureanism, including
Torquatus, spokesman for Epicurean ethics in book 1 of On Ends,
and Velleius, spokesman in book 1 of On the Nature of the Gods. Some,
if not all, of these Romans had the benefit of private instruction.
Philodemus, who studied with Zeno, head of the Epicurean school
in Athens, moved to Rome where he became a close friend of the
aristocrat L. Piso Caesoninus. Lucretius dedicated his poem to another
member of the aristocracy, Gaius Memmius. The Roman Epicureans
clearly looked to Epicureanism for guidance on how to fashion the
careers that they were traditionally expected to follow.
As Epicureanism spread throughout the Hellenized East and to
the Roman world, the Epicurean community as a whole was no
longer as tightly knit as in the first generation. The relationship of
Epicureans to the rest of society, however, remained basically the
same. From the very beginning, Epicureans from all ranks of life
worked alongside others in the community. Epicurus’ ethics was
designed to provide guidelines on how to sustain a philosophical life
amid the rest of society. While drawing fixed boundaries on how to
achieve happiness, Epicurus offered considerable flexibility to his fol-
lowers on how to adapt to their social and economic circumstances.
In a light-hearted saying, Epicurus sums up his advice as: “One
should laugh, philosophize, budget (ofikonome›n), arrange all other per-
sonal affairs, and never stop uttering the correct philosophy.”48 More
precise instructions appear throughout his ethical writings as well as
in two works (not extant), On Wealth (per‹ ploÊtou) and On Lives (per‹
b¤vn), which dealt specifically with the question of how to manage
an income. Metrodorus also wrote a book titled On Wealth. This
book too is not extant. Fortunately, however, we have papyri remains
of two works by Philodemus, On Wealth and the so-called On Economics.
In both of these works, Philodemus draws on Metrodorus. While all
of these works offer guidance on how to arrange one’s economic

47
See Arnaldo Momigliano, “Review of Benjamin Farrington’s Science and Politics
in the Ancient World,” Journal of Roman Studies 31 (1941): 149–57; 151–57; and David
Sedley, “The Ethics of Brutus and Cassius,” Journal of Roman Studies 87 (1997): 41–53;
41, 46–47.
48
SV 41: gelçn ëma de›n ka‹ filosofe›n ka‹ ofikonome›n ka‹ to›w loipo›w ofikei≈masi
xr∞syai ka‹ mhdamª lÆgein tåw §k t∞w Ùry∞w filosof¤aw fvnåw éf¤entaw. De Witt
(“Epicurean Contubernium,” 59) suggests that this advice applied to “lay members”
who needed to organize their own households. This distinction between lay mem-
bers and residents of a school is untenable.
 epicurean economics 143

life, they are intent on distinguishing this advice from technical advice.
The Epicureans did not consider any profession worthwhile except
that of the philosopher. Life is worthwhile only insofar as it is shaped
in accordance with philosophical principles. The economic advice of
the Epicureans aims to show how to make and spend money philo-
sophically, not just how to make money.

Putting a Limit to Wealth

This section will examine the Epicurean notion of the proper range
of wealth. We shall first gather the evidence concerning Epicurus’
own teaching, then turn to Metrodorus and Philodemus.

(a) Epicurus on Natural Wealth

The basic concept of Epicurean economics is that of “natural wealth.”49
Epicureans shared with other ancient philosophers the principle that
the right way to live is to live naturally. Epicurus gave his own inter-
pretation to this principle: to live naturally is to live pleasantly. We
have a natural instinct, which is present from birth in all living
beings, to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Pleasure serves as a mea-
suring-stick (kan≈n) for everything we do. The aim of human life,
therefore, is to live pleasantly. The achievement of this natural aim
makes us happy.50
In order to attain this goal, we must make a number of distinctions.
There are two kinds of pleasure: the absence of pain, which is called
“katastematic” and consists in the painless functioning of body and
soul; and pleasant stimuli, or “kinetic” pleasures. The height of plea-
sure is the absence of pain. Kinetic pleasures bring variation, but
do not increase the amount of pleasure.51 Consequently, while a

49
This is called ı fusikÚw ploËtow, ı ploËtow ı katå fÊsin, etc. Aristotle previ-
ously associated natural wealth with the household and set limits to it (Politics 1.9,
esp. 1257b19–58a18).
50
See esp. Letter to Menoeceus 128–29.
51
See esp. KD 3 and 18, and U 408–28. I agree, for the most part, with John
M. Rist (Epicurus: An Introduction [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972],
100–122) and Phillip Mitsis (Epicurus’ Ethical Theory [Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1988], 11–51); see also the alternative views of Jean Bollack, ed. (La pensée du plaisir.
Epicure: textes moraux, commentaires [Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1975], 149–56, 184–87)
and J. C. B. Gosling and C. C. W. Taylor (The Greeks on Pleasure [Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1982], 365–96).
144 elizabeth asmis

person should try to maximize pleasure by removing pain, he or she

must not seek out kinetic pleasures over and above the absence of
pain unless no pain is associated with this pursuit.52 A person must
always calculate the amount of pain attending a prospective pleasure
in order to make sure that no more pain will ensue than pleasure.53
This hedonistic calculus demands a distinction between present and
future. In addition, we must distinguish between bodily and mental
pleasures. Even though we aim for both bodily and mental well-
being and even though all mental pleasure is ultimately dependent
on the body, mental pleasure contributes much more to happiness
than bodily pleasure, for the mind has control over the body.54 Even
if a person is tortured on the rack, he or she can be perfectly happy
by focusing the mind’s attention on a past or future pleasure.55
Having pleasure requires some material resources. A person may
have little or much, but there are limits to both how little and how
much one should have. These limits are based on a distinction among
three kinds of desires: natural and necessary; natural and unnecessary;
and unnatural and unnecessary.56 The last are “empty,” for they are
due to the empty opinion that there will be pleasure when it is rea-
sonable to expect that there will be no more pleasure than pain.
Necessary desires are of three types: necessary for happiness, necessary
for bodily absence of pain, and necessary for life. Desires that are
both unnecessary and natural are optional: a person will satisfy these
desires, but only if they do not require an intense effort. If the effort
is intense, the desired pleasure is not attained and the desire belongs
to the third kind.57 Epicurus illustrated the first kind by the desire for
water and plain bread. Water and bread “yield the highest pleasure

52
One of the problems of Epicurean ethics is what motivation there is for a per-
son to enjoy a kinetic pleasure when she has already attained the maximum of
pleasure through the removal of pain. (Cicero raises this problem in On Ends 2.29.)
The answer appears to be that all pleasures are desirable, even if they only vary
the feeling of pleasure; hence they are to be chosen unless they are outweighed by
pain. In itself, the desire for pleasure is infinite; but it has a limit imposed on it
by the calculation of the mind, which balances pleasure against pain (see KD 18
and 20).
53
Letter to Menoeceus 129–30.
54
U 429–39.
55
Diogenes Laertius 10.118 (U 601).
56
Letter to Menoeceus 130 and U 456.
57
KD 30. The claim that an intrinsically natural desire may, under some circum-
stances, be unnatural is in agreement with the claim that pleasure, which is naturally
good, is bad if it leads to more pain than pleasure (Letter to Menoeceus 129–30).
 epicurean economics 145

when they are taken by someone who needs them.”58 The second
kind may be illustrated by the desire for some wine and cheese, and
the third by the desire for unlimited wine and delicacies.59 Whereas
the first two kinds of desire have a limit, the third has no limit.
Unnatural desires can never be satisfied; a person always wants more.
The distinction among the three kinds of desires applies to wealth,
just as to any other object that we seek for the sake of pleasure. In
the following maxim, Epicurus distinguishes “natural wealth” from
the imaginary wealth that is the object of empty opinions:
Natural wealth is both limited and easy to obtain. But the wealth [that
is the object] of empty opinions goes on to infinity.60
“Empty opinions” about wealth make us seek ever more wealth. Just
like all desires, the desire for wealth has a natural limit that sets it
off from the empty craving for infinitely more. In addition to being
limited, natural wealth is easy to obtain. For, as Epicurus maintains,
“everything natural is easy to obtain, whereas everything empty is
difficult to obtain.”61
The claim that natural wealth is easy to obtain raises problems.
Are we to understand that it easy to obtain sufficient wealth to sat-
isfy not only the necessary desires, but also unnecessary natural
desires? Epicurus blocks this interpretation in another saying:
Thanks be to blessed nature, because it has made what is necessary
easy to obtain, and what is difficult to obtain unnecessary.62
In the light of this text, we must suppose that although natural wealth
corresponds to the entire range of natural desires, the wealth that is
easy to obtain is only the bare minimum of natural wealth. This is
the wealth required to satisfy the necessary desires. The two attrib-
utes, being easy to obtain and being limited, apply to opposite ends

58
Letter to Menoeceus 131.
59
A scholion on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (U 456) uses the examples: food and
clothing for necessary desires; sex for natural and unnecessary desires; and a certain
kind of food, clothing, or sex for unnecessary desires. The scholiast on KD 29 gives
the examples: drink (when thirsty) for necessary desires; sumptuous food for natural
and unnecessary desires; crowns and the dedication of statues for unnatural desires.
60
KD 15: ı t∞w fÊsevw ploËtow ka‹ Àristai ka‹ eÈpÒristÒw §stin. ı d¢ t«n ken«n
doj«n efiw êpeiron §kp¤ptei.
61
Letter to Menoeceus 130: tÚ m¢n fusikÚn pçn eÈpÒristÒn §sti, tÚ d¢ kenÚn duspÒriston.
62
U 469: xãriw tª makar¤& fÊsei, ˜ti tå énagka›a §po¤hsen eÈpÒrista, tå d¢
duspÒrista oÈk énagka›a. At KD 21, Epicurus asserts that “it is easy to obtain that
which removes pain due to want and that which makes one’s whole life complete.”
146 elizabeth asmis

of the range of natural wealth: there is both a threshold that is easy

to attain and an upper limit beyond which we must not strive. This
interpretation of “easy to obtain” is confirmed by numerous testi-
monies, including Cicero’s report that natural wealth is easy to obtain
because “nature is satisfied with just a little.”63
How easy is it, however, to have enough resources to satisfy the
necessary desires? The necessary desires include the desire for happiness,
as well as the desire for absence of bodily pain and the desire for
life itself. These three types of desire are ranked in descending order
of difficulty of attainment. Even though we need just a little to be
happy, provided we have a philosophical attitude, we may question
how easy it is for a slave toiling in the mines, to take an extreme
case, to obtain the bare minimum required to eliminate bodily pain
and achieve happiness? We may perhaps make sense of Epicurus’
confident claim by taking it as a broad generalization: by and large,
natural wealth is easy to come by, for we require very little to satisfy
all the necessary desires. This is true for slaves, among others. At the
same time, the amount of natural wealth available to a slave will
normally be much smaller than that possessed by the owner of a
slave. It follows that the same type of desire is natural for the owner,
but unnatural for the slave.
Epicurus and his followers were intent on using terms in their
ordinary sense. However, this does not prevent a word from being
assigned a new, philosophical meaning. In the ordinary sense, the
person who has just enough to satisfy the necessary desires is poor.
By philosophical reasoning, on the other hand, this person is naturally
wealthy. Epicurus proposes this semantic shift in the following maxim:
When measured by the goal of nature, poverty is great wealth; un-
bounded wealth is great poverty.64
It was a philosophical commonplace that the person who lives in the
right way is rich, even if poor.65 Epicurus interprets this principle in

63
On Ends 2.91; see also U 470. Cicero also associates natural wealth with the
necessary desires at Tusculan Disputations 5.93 (U 456). At U 471 natural wealth is
said to be made up in full (sumpeplÆrvtai) by bread, water, and any type of shel-
ter. The verb signifies that this is all the wealth we need in order to have a full
complement of pleasure.
64
SV 25: ≤ pen¤a metroum°nh t“ t∞w fÊsevw t°lei m°gaw §st‹ ploËtow. ploËtow d¢
mØ ırizÒmenow megãlh §sti pen¤a.
65
It may be traced back to Xenophon’s Oeconomicus 2.1–4, where Socrates claims
that he is sufficiently rich, whereas Critoboulos is poor, even though he possesses
 epicurean economics 147

his own way by identifying the “goal of nature” with the absence
of bodily and mental pain. So long as poverty is sufficient to remove
bodily pain and it is joined by the proper mental attitude, it is an
abundance of riches; for it suffices to make a person happy. By con-
trast, the failure to draw boundaries to one’s wealth is a great des-
titution, for it removes happiness. The paradox was a much publicized
principle of Epicurean ethics, repeated in many variations.66 Epicurus
gives it particular application in a letter to his friend Idomeneus: “If
you wish to make Pythocles wealthy, don’t add possessions, but take
away desire.”67
No matter how little he has, the person who is content with just
a little has enough not only for himself, but also for others:
Even when reduced to necessity, a wise person knows better how to
give than to take; for so great is the treasure of self-sufficiency that he
has found.68
Self-sufficiency is never selfish; it distributes its riches to others. Most
important, it makes a person free: “the greatest reward of self-
sufficiency is freedom.”69 Great wealth, on the other hand, is incom-
patible with freedom:
A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to
do without fawning upon the crowd or the powerful, but it possesses all
things in continuous lavishness. If by chance it obtains many possessions,
it would easily distribute them so as to obtain the good will of associates.70
Whereas it is easy to have enough and be free, it is not easy to
acquire a large amount of wealth without incurring political obligations
to either the crowd or the powerful and so forfeiting one’s freedom.
A free person always has enough to be lavish with. This applies to

a hundred times more. Philodemus gives an Epicurean interpretation to this text

by asking whether five minas is enough for Socrates’ “necessary and natural require-
ments” (On Household Economics col. 5.4–14).
66
See, for example, U 202, 471, 477. At SV 81, Epicurus points out that the
greatest wealth does not remove anxiety, any more than does fame or any other
object of indiscriminate desire.
67
U 135.
68
SV 44: ı sofÚw efiw tå énagka›a sugkataye‹w mçllon §p¤statai metadidÒnai μ
metalambãnein. thlikoËton aÈtarke¤aw ere yhsaurÒn.
69
SV 77.
70
SV 67: §leÊyerow b¤ow oÈ dÊnatai ktÆsasyai xrÆmata pollå diå tÚ tÚ prçgma
<mØ> =ñdion e‰nai xvr‹w yhte¤aw ¯xlvn μ dunast«n, éllå <sÁn> sunexe› dacile¤& pãnta
k°kthtai. ín d° pou ka‹ tÊx˙ xrhmãtvn poll«n, ka‹ taËta =&d¤vw ín efiw tØn toË
plhs¤on eÎnoian diametrÆsai.
148 elizabeth asmis

a slave as well as a legally free person. If great wealth happens to

come one’s way, it is easy to mete it out to those who will be disposed
to return the favor. This is not a crassly calculating move. Rather,
ordinary social bonds are replaced by bonds among friends who,
however poor they may be, have enough to share with one another.
“One must release oneself,” Epicurus said, from the “prison of ordi-
nary affairs and politics.”71
Even though Epicurus stressed that one needs only enough to sat-
isfy the necessary desires, he also held that one should not live at the
very edge of necessity. In his work On Lives, Epicurus said that the
wise person “will not be a Cynic . . . or beg.”72 The Cynic lives from
moment to moment. By contrast, the wise person “will take fore-
thought for possessions and the future.”73 Instead of seeking only a
bare minimum, the wise person will try to secure a margin of safety.
Along with having an economic safety net, a person should prac-
tice a simple life for the most part. In the Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus
lists the advantages of a simple life style:
Being used to a simple, inexpensive way of life provides full health,
makes a person unhesitating in the face of life’s necessities, makes us
stronger when we approach occasional luxuries, and makes us fearless
of fortune.74
Epicurus does not recommend the simple life as the only way to live:
we are to become accustomed to it so that we may both contemplate
a life of necessity without apprehension and enjoy occasional luxuries
without being mastered by them. Epicurus himself lived frugally on
the whole while enjoying occasional luxuries.
Self-sufficiency does not require that one must always live simply.
Rather, one should always be prepared to have just a little:
We think self-sufficiency a great good, not in order that we may in
every case use just a little, but so that if we do not have much, we
may use just a little in the genuine persuasion that those who least
need extravagance enjoy it with the greatest pleasure . . .75

71
SV 58: §klut°on •autoÁw §k toË per‹ tå §gkÊklia ka‹ politikå desmvthr¤ou.
72
Diogenes Laertius 10.119: oÈd¢ kunie›n . . . oÈd¢ ptvxeÊsein.
73
Diogenes Laertius 10.120: . . . ka‹ ktÆsevw pronoÆsesyai ka‹ toË m°llontow.
74
Letter to Menoeceus 131: tÚ suney¤zein oÔn §n ta›w èpla›w ka‹ oÈ polutel°si dia¤taiw
ka‹ Ígie¤aw §st‹ sumplhrvtikÚn ka‹ prÚw tåw énagka¤aw toË b¤ou xrÆseiw êoknon poie›
tÚn ênyrvpon ka‹ to›w polutel°sin §k dialeimmãtvn proserxom°nouw kre›tton ≤mçw
diat¤yhsi ka‹ prÚw tØn tÊxhn éfÒbouw paraskeuãzei.
75
Letter to Menoeceus 130: ka‹ tØn aÈtãrkeian d¢ égayÚn m°ga nom¤zomen, oÈx ·na
 epicurean economics 149

The attitude of being content with just a little affords the greatest
enjoyment of luxuries when they are available. Epicurus implies that
a person will accept kinetic pleasures when they are easy to obtain,
thus varying his pleasure even though not increasing it. The quoted
text is designed to set the Epicurean way of life apart from that of
the Cynics. The Cynics practiced the self-sufficiency of always liv-
ing as simply as possible. A diet of bread and water was not optional
for them, but a requirement. Epicurus agrees with the Cynics that
self-sufficiency is a great good, but he claims that this does not require
restricting the desires in every case to those that are necessary.76
In sum, Epicurus demarcated a permissible range of income by
setting it off both from extreme poverty and from great wealth. This
range is natural, for it corresponds to our natural desires. It extends
from the poverty of having just a little to a comfortable way of life
that is mostly quite simple but includes occasional luxuries. A lot of
money is not a good thing to cultivate; if a lot of money comes
one’s way, it is best to give it to others. Epicurus does not draw
precise distinctions within the permissible range. What matters, after
all, is the precision of the philosophical boundaries. On the whole,
he demarcates a middle range of income against the harshness of
destitution and the luxury of great wealth.

(b) Metrodorus and Philodemus on Poverty and Wealth

Philodemus’ On Wealth (per‹ ploÊtou) and On Household Economics pro-
vide further evidence about Epicurus’ concept of natural wealth. In
his treatise On Household Economics, Philodemus mentions that he fol-
lowed the “leaders” in expounding the philosophical “measure of
wealth” in his On Wealth.77 We have only remains of the latter part of
book 1 of Philodemus’ On Wealth. In these very fragmentary columns,

pãntvw to›w Ùl¤goiw xr«meya, éllÉ ˜pvw §ån mØ ¶xvmen tå pollã, to›w Ùl¤goiw xr≈meya,
pepeism°noi gnhs¤vw ˜ti ¥dista polutele¤aw épolaÊousin ofl ¥kista taÊthw
deÒmenoi . . .
76
For a comparison of Cynic and Epicurean self-sufficiency, see Gigante, Cinismo
e Epicureismo, Memorie dell’Instituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici 23 (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1992) 48–53. On Cynic self-sufficiency, see further Audrey N. M. Rich,
“The Cynic Conception of AUTARKEIA,” Mnemosyne 9 (1956): 23–29.
77
On Household Economics, col. 12.19–22. Philodemus’ On Wealth is therefore ear-
lier, as Tepedino Guerra points out (“Il primo libro ‘Sulla Ricchezza’ di Filodemo,”
CErc 8 [1978]: 52–95; 53), contra Tiziano Dorandi (“Filodemo: gli orientamenti
della ricerca attuale,” Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 2.36.4, ed. W. Haase
[Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1990], 2359).
150 elizabeth asmis

Metrodorus is cited five times.78 He is, therefore, a major source. The

title of Philodemus’ On Household Economics is a modern conjecture,
plausibly based on Philodemus’ own reference to his book as being
per‹ ofikonom¤aw.79 The papyrus has the title: Book Theta (9) of “On
vices and the opposing virtues, and the persons in whom they are,
and the situations in which they are found.”80 On Household Economics
is much better preserved than On Wealth. The extant portion consists
of approximately the last thirty columns. Philodemus cites Metrodorus
as the author of arguments showing that Cynic poverty is to be rejected
in favor of a more affluent way of life. The section devoted to these
arguments is substantial, consisting of approximately ten columns
(12.5–22.16). They form the central section of what remains of On
Household Economics. This part of the paper will examine the frag-
ments of On Wealth and this central section of On Household Economics.
One of the questions raised by these texts is to what extent
Philodemus may have departed from Metrodorus or Epicurus, despite
his assurances that he is following them. We may expect that Epicurus
and Metrodorus were more or less of one mind concerning the lim-
its of poverty and wealth. Philodemus, on the other hand, belongs
to a very different society; he is at home among aristocrats in Rome
in the first century b.c.e. As an Epicurean, Philodemus is obligated
to follow the leaders, and he does so with enthusiasm. This does not
mean, however, that he does not exercise considerable freedom in
interpreting Epicurus’ doctrines. Philodemus’ teacher, Zeno, as well

78
On Wealth, cols. 24.35, 37.11–15, 41.5 and 12–13, and 47.34. The text (PHerc.
163) has been edited by Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro.”
79
On Household Economics col. 27.20. The title has commonly been translated as
“On Household Management.” Voula Tsouna McKirahan (“Epicurean Attitudes
to Management and Finance” in Epicureismo greco e romano, ed. G. Giannantoni and
M. Gigante [Naples: Bibliopolis, 1996], 2:701–714) translates as “On Property
Management,” which corresponds to Philodemus’ definition of his topic at col.
12.8–10. My translation “On Household Economics” attempts to reflect Philodemus’
focus on personal property throughout his treatise. Tsouna McKirahan proposes
that Philodemus differed from Metrodorus by making a systematic use of the con-
cept of a skill (t°xnh) and by directing attention away from the concept of the right
measure and use of wealth to the topic of administration.
80
Per‹ ofikonom¤aw (PHerc. 1424) was edited by Christian Jensen, Philodemi Per‹
ofikonom¤aw qui dicitur libellus (Leipzig: Tuebner, 1906). A new edition by Tsouna
McKirahan and G. Indelli is in progress. The treatise has received a very useful
commentary by Renato Laurenti, Filodemo e il pensiero economico degli Epicurei, Testi e
Documenti per lo Studio dell’Antichità 39 (Milan: Istituto Editorale Cispalpino-la
Goliardica, 1973), which is reviewed by Matilde Ferrario, “Una nuova edizione dell’
opera filodemea sull’ economia,” CErc 6 (1976): 92–95.
 epicurean economics 151

as Philodemus, were remarkably innovative in their exegesis of

Epicurus. Philodemus was intent on adapting Epicurean teachings to
Roman conditions.81 He mentions the Romans once in passing in
On Household Economics.82 We need to ask, therefore, to what extent
he had them in mind in the rest of his discussion.
Let us turn, first, to On Wealth. An issue that pervades the frag-
ments is whether poverty and wealth are good, bad, or indifferent.
Philodemus states that neither poverty nor wealth is “once and for
all” good or bad or indifferent. Rather, they are good, bad, or
indifferent for some people, but not for others.83 In On Household
Economics, Philodemus points out that wealth does not appear to be
harmful in itself but “because of the wickedness of those who use
it.”84 Whether poverty or wealth is good, bad, or indifferent, there-
fore, depends on how people use it. Thus, either poverty or wealth
is good for a person who uses it to secure pleasure; either is bad
for someone who derives pain from it; and either is indifferent for
someone who derives neither pleasure nor pain.
At the same time, extreme deprivation is unconditionally bad. Some
followers of Epicurus, Philodemus tells us in On Wealth, call “poverty”
bad, on the grounds that Epicurus himself often said so. What they
mean by “poverty,” Philodemus explains, is “having nothing” (énÊpar-
jiw), not “having a little” (Ùl¤gvn Ïparjiw).85 The former is a state of
mendicancy. Having a little can be good, whereas being a beggar
is simply bad.86 This is clearly a reference to the Cynic way of life.
Along with Epicurus and his other followers, Philodemus rejects the

81
For example, in The Good King according to Homer; see Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’s
Poetic Theory and On the Good King According to Homer,” Classical Antiquity 10 (1991):
1–45.
82
On Household Economics col. 25.38.
83
On Wealth, col. 51.2–10. Similarly, Diogenes Laertius (10.120) reports that
“health is good for some, indifferent for others.” This report is somewhat surpris-
ing in view of Epicurus’ claim that happiness consists in bodily health and mental
tranquillity (Letter to Menoeceus 128). However, if we understand that health is indeed
indifferent to someone like Epicurus who can disregard bodily suffering, then we
can reconcile these claims. Health is a constituent of the good, but it is not absolutely
necessary. Unlike health, wealth and poverty are not themselves constituents of the
good (or bad), but only insofar as they are used to produce pleasure (or pain).
84
On Household Economics col. 14.8–9; and see below, n. 106.
85
On Wealth, cols. 42.31–43.7, 45.15–38, 46.31–34, and 48.18–24.
86
At On Wealth cols. 47.9–11, someone is said “in his second book” to “con-
sider the poverty of the leader good.” It is possible that this is a comment by
Metrodorus on the poverty of Epicurus.
152 elizabeth asmis

economic deprivation of the Cynic. At the same time, Philodemus

offers a clarification of the term “poverty.” Whereas some Epicureans,
and possibly Epicurus himself at times, stretched the term to refer
to the condition of “having nothing,” Philodemus uses it consistently
to signify “having a little.”
In support of the claim that wealth and poverty are not good or
bad absolutely, Philodemus adduces the argument that whereas there
is a big difference between good and bad, there is “not much difference
[diaforã]” between wealth and poverty.87 Wealth has a “small supe-
riority” ([mi]krån . . . ÍperoxÆn) over poverty.88 This small superior-
ity, however, makes no difference to happiness. In the same column
in which he presents the argument that there is “not much difference,”
Philodemus cites Metrodorus as follows:
All accusations made against poverty as falling short of wealth are truly
falsehoods, as Metrodorus said.89
Even though wealth has a “small superiority,” this must not be taken
to mean that poverty “falls short” in any way with respect to happiness.
The term “superiority” is morally neutral. The small advantage makes
no difference to happiness, for a person “derives equal pleasures
from poverty as from wealth.”90 This claim is in agreement with the
Epicurean doctrine that unnecessary natural pleasures bring no increase
in pleasure. Although there is a small difference between poverty
and wealth in the production of pleasure, this difference is, strictly
speaking, something indifferent. As Philodemus observes, “the change
from wealth to poverty is indifferent.”91 As a result, a person will
not fear the trouble that attends a change from wealth to poverty.92
This sense of security is especially important since wealth is “easily
destroyed.”93 Philodemus concludes the book by offering advice to

87
On Wealth, col. 41.35–37. A related argument is (col. 41.32–34): “When many
bad things are put together, they do not make a good, but poverty makes wealth.”
This argument rests on the premise that many small possessions make up wealth.
Seneca (Epistle 87, 38 = SVF Antipater 3.54) mentions that this claim is a sophism
that was bandied about by all the dialecticians and refuted by the Stoic Antipater.
88
On Wealth, col. 51.27–30.
89
On Wealth, col. 41.9–14: pãnyÉ [˜]sa kathg[o]re›tai pen¤aw …w §lleipoÊshw
ploÊtou, ta›w élhye¤aiw, …w ı MhtrÒdvrow ¶fh, kataceÊsmatÉ §st¤.
90
On Wealth, col. 56.4–8.
91
On Wealth, col. 53.3–5.
92
On Wealth, col. 36.12–14.
93
On Wealth, col. 54.7–10; cf. col. 55.10.
 epicurean economics 153

both the poor and the rich. If we are rich, he says, “we will not on
that account despise those who are not, nor will we give up our soul
because of a desire for wealth.”94
The threefold distinction of good, bad, and indifferent is a promi-
nent feature of Stoic ethics. The Stoics held that only virtue (or what
partakes of it) is good, only vice (or what partakes of it) is bad, and
that everything else is indifferent. In short, only what is morally good
is good, only what is morally bad is bad. However, there is a difference
among so-called “indifferents” (édiãfora): some are preferred, some
are dispreferred, and some are neither. Preferred indifferents have
“much value” (although they are immeasurably inferior to the only
truly valuable thing, the good); they include wealth, health, a good
reputation, and so on. Dispreferred things have “much disvalue;” they
include poverty, illness, a bad reputation, and so on.95 Under ordi-
nary circumstances, a person will select what is preferred and decline
what is dispreferred; under special circumstances, he may select what
is dispreferred and decline what is preferred.96 Chrysippus went so
far as to say it is madness to consider wealth, health, and so on, as
“nothing” and not to “hold on” to them.97 To select preferred things
is a duty (kay∞kon); but it is a so-called intermediate duty, not a
perfect duty. Perfect duty consists in selecting things virtuously.98 One
reason for selecting preferred things, such as wealth, is that they pro-
vide larger scope for the exercise of virtue than their opposites.99
It is possible that Metrodorus himself used the Stoic distinction
between good, bad, and indifferent to present Epicurus’ position. But
it is much more likely that Philodemus did so in a later period, after
Stoic terminology came to be used widely by the Epicureans in their
debates with Stoics and others. This trend is exemplified especially

94
On Wealth, col. 58.4–9. His advice to the poor is not preserved.
95
SVF 1.190, 192, etc.
96
Despite their preference for wealth, the Stoics had much respect for Cynicism.
One of the Stoics, Apollodorus, called Cynicism a “short path to virtue” (Diogenes
Laertius 7.121). The Stoics reportedly held that the wise person “will be a Cynic”
(Diogenes Laertius 7.121), but another source explains this as meaning that if the
wise man is already a Cynic he will remain one, but he will not start out to become
one (SVF 3.638). As Cicero indicates (On Ends 2.68, SVF 3.645), these testimonies
may be reconciled with the general Stoic position on wealth by taking the Cynic
way of life as an exception that falls under the rubric of katå per¤stasin, “in spe-
cial circumstances.”
97
Plutarch Stoic Refutations 1047e (= SVF 3.138).
98
SVF 3.494–96.
99
Seneca, On the Happy Life 21–22.
154 elizabeth asmis

by Philodemus’ teacher Zeno. Philodemus, it is plausible, interpreted

Metrodorus’ claim that poverty does not “fall short” of wealth by
saying that the change of the one to the other is “indifferent.”
Philodemus agrees with the Stoics that poverty and wealth are strictly
indifferent. Because he takes “poverty” to mean “having a little,” his
exegesis is responsible for the claim that wealth has only a “small
superiority.” At first sight, this assessment seems to be in conflict
with the Stoic view that wealth has great selective value and poverty
great selective disvalue. However, the Stoics held in effect that the
difference is tiny, since it is morally irrelevant. That wealth has a
“small superiority” corresponds roughly to the joint Stoic claim that
wealth is indifferent and that it has great selective value.
Nonetheless, there is a significant difference between the Epicurean
and Stoic views. The Stoics proposed wealth, along with health, and
so on, as aims to be attained even for the wise person. It is the duty
of everyone, under normal circumstances, to choose wealth, health,
and so on. What really matters is whether this aim is pursued vir-
tuously; still, a person should make an effort to obtain preferred
things. In the second century b.c.e., the Stoic Antipater stressed this
effort by saying that it is the goal to “do everything in one’s power,
continuously and without divergence, to obtain the primary things
according to nature.”100 By contrast with the Stoics, the Epicurean
is relaxed about being wealthy; he cares just a little.
When Philodemus, therefore, points out that wealth has just a
“small superiority,” he is concerned to emphasize that wealth is worth
just a little effort. One should not think of it, as the Stoics did, as
being greatly preferable. It helps just a little toward attaining hap-
piness, even though it is not necessary for happiness and makes no
difference to how happy one is.
Philodemus considers further the permissible range of income in
his On Household Economics. The treatise is in two parts: (I) a refuta-
tion, directed against Xenophon’s Oeconomicus (cols. 1–7.37), then the
Peripatetic Oeconomica, which Philodemus ascribes to Theophrastus
(cols. 7.37–12.2); and (II) an exposition of Epicurean doctrine. The
second part is divided into two clearly demarcated sections. The first
section (IIA) begins with a definition of “household economics”
(ofikonom¤a) and is a treatment of the limits of poverty and wealth

100
SVF Antipater 3.57.
 epicurean economics 155

(cols. 12.5–22.16). In the second section (IIB), Philodemus proposes

to add details about the sources and management of income (col.
22.17 to end). It has traditionally been agreed that in the first sec-
tion (IIA) Philodemus follows Metrodorus closely, whereas in the sec-
ond section (IIB) he speaks in his own voice.101 In the following
examination, an attempt will be made to determine whether there
is any difference in position between Metrodorus and Philodemus.
We will first examine section IIA on the limits of poverty and wealth.
After defining his topic as the philosophical “use and preservation
of possessions” (col. 12.5–25), Philodemus immediately invokes the
authority of Metrodorus. He will cite, he says, the sort of arguments
offered by Metrodorus in his book On Wealth
in response to those who will say perhaps that the Cynics have chosen
by far the lightest and easiest way of life by stripping away everything
of theirs as much as possible that does not make life inexpensive, so
that it is lived peacefully and most calmly, with the least concern and
trouble.102
Metrodorus agreed with the Cynics that the best life is one that is
most tranquil and trouble-free. However, he argued,
this goal does not appear to come about if we flee everything whose
presence occasionally brings us trouble and contention. For many things
engender some pain by their presence, but disturb more by their
absence.103
Analogously, it causes some trouble to be healthy; but we suffer ter-
ribly if we lack good health. Likewise, a trustworthy friend may cause

101
Siegfried Sudhaus (“Eine erhaltene Abhandung des Metrodor,” Hermes 41
(1906): 45–58, esp. 56) argued that these columns (12.45–21.35) are an extract from
Metrodorus’ lost work On Wealth, and that subsequently Philodemus “speaks in his
own name” (as indicated by o‰mai in col. 24.35). Sudhaus supports his view with a
stylistic analysis (see below, n. 122) along with other arguments. Renato Laurenti
151–53) proposes that Philodemus is following Metrodorus not only in this section,
but also in the subsequent section on the sources of income (cols. 22.17–23.36).
After this, Laurenti holds, Philodemus finishes the book “con le sue forze” (169).
102
On Economics col. 12.29–38: . . . p[rÚw t]oÁw §roËntaw ‡svw ˜[ti pol]Á koufotãthn
ka‹ =ã[i]s[th]n ofl Kuniko‹ diagvgØn [¥irhn]tai pçn aÍt«n perie[irhkÒ]tew efiw tÚ dunatÒn,
˘ m[Æ gÉeÈ]tel∞ par°xei b¤on efirh[na¤vw t]e ka‹ mãlistÉ éyorÊb[v]w [ka‹ metå t∞]w
§lax¤sth[w] fro[nt¤dow k]a‹ pragmate[¤]aw [dia]nu[Ò]menon.
103
Col. 13.3–11: oÈ mØn oÏtv ge fa¤netai toËto g¤nesyai tÚ t°low, ên pãnta fÊgvmen
œn Íparx[Òn]tvn kín prãgmatã pote sx≈hmen kín égvniãsaimen. pollå går t«n prag-
mãtvn §npoe› m°n tinaw lÊpaw Ípãrxonta, ple¤v dÉÙxle› mØ parÒnta.
156 elizabeth asmis

pain at times, but not having one brings more trouble.104 In the
same way, we must “accept” wealth if it is less of a burden in the
long run when it is present—a person must always consider one’s
whole life, not just the moment. One should not use as a “measur-
ing stick” (kan≈n) whether wealth brings toil; for even one’s daily
needs require toil. What matters is whether wealth makes a contri-
bution “for the most part” to the best kind of life.105 Wealth “does
not appear to bring on profitless troubles by itself, but because of
the wickedness of those who use it.”106
The argument proceeds tentatively and cautiously. After indicat-
ing that wealth need not be bothersome, Philodemus indicates that
wealth, so long as it does not go beyond the bounds set by nature,
may indeed be much preferable to poverty:
The care and preservation [of wealth] that suits someone who takes
care of it properly does not afford greater trouble than the provision
of daily needs, and even if it affords more trouble, this is not more
than the difficulties from which it releases us, unless someone shows
that natural wealth does not provide a much greater balance of rewards
over toil than [does] the life of little means, which he will be very far
from showing.107
The sentence is very carefully worded. Through double negatives, the
suggestion is made that wealth, so long as it is naturally limited, may
bring a much greater balance of rewards over toil than a life of hav-
ing just a little. The negative wrapping of the suggestion helps to
blunt the contrast between natural wealth and the poverty of having
just a little. Nonetheless, the contrast is a surprise. Epicurus stressed
that natural wealth includes the condition of having just a little. The
argument here is carefully presented in such a way that it does not
contradict this basic doctrine. The point is that wealth, so long as
it is naturally limited, may be much preferable to the condition of
having just a little. Thus the opposition is, strictly, between wealth
and poverty, not between natural wealth as such and poverty.

104
Col. 13.11–19.
105
Cols. 13.34–14.5.
106
Col. 14.5–9: oÈ fa¤netai dÉ ı ploËtow §pif°rein élusitele›w dusxere¤aw parÉ
aÍton éllå parå tØ[n] t«n xrvm°nvn kak¤an.
107
Col. 14.9–23: ≤ går §pim°leia ka‹ tÆrhsiw, ˜sh pr°pei t«i katå trÒpon aÈtoË
proest«ti, par°xei m°n tinÉ §n¤otÉ ˆxlhsin, oÈ mØn ple¤v ge toË katå tÚn §fÆmeron
[po]rismÒn, ín d¢ ka‹ ple¤v, t«n êl[l]vn œn épallãttei dusxer«n [o]È ple¤onÉ, ín
m[Ø] de¤j˙ tiw, …w oÈk épod¤[dv]sin ı fusikÚw ploËtow [po]ll«[i] me¤zouw tåw §pikarp¤aw
μ toÁw pÒnouw t∞w épÉ [Ù]l¤gvn zv∞w, ˘ polloË deÆse[i par]istãne[in].
 epicurean economics 157

Nonetheless, wealth is picked out from the range of natural wealth

as possibly much preferable to poverty, and this opposition is not
found in the fragments of Epicurus.
Philodemus immediately hedges this possibility by setting out condi-
tions for the possession of wealth. A person must not become distressed
when it is lost or pursue it with relentless effort. One must not pile
up money or seek to get as much as possible.108 A person who is
“relaxed” about these matters will satisfy his daily needs more eas-
ily than the person who has nothing to spare.109 The wise person
will not take great pains to preserve wealth; for he can be content
with just a little, even though he prefers a more affluent way of life:
A temperate man is not distressed by, and is confident for the future
in, a lowly and poor way of life, knowing that what is natural is man-
aged also by this, but he inclines in his wishes rather toward a more
affluent (éfyonvt°ran) way.110
Again, the words are chosen very carefully: the person who is content
with little “inclines in his wishes” toward a “more affluent” existence.
The Epicurean will not strain to acquire wealth, but he has an incli-
nation toward affluence as making a slight contribution to happi-
ness. Being “temperate,” he knows that poverty suffices for happiness.
In addition to being relaxed about wealth, a wise person will share
it with others. The confidence that comes from knowing that poverty
is sufficient makes a person “share everything.”111 A person who has
a “moderate and common life” and a “sound and true account
[lÒgow]” will not be bad at finding what is sufficient.112 Philodemus
here sums up in effect two main principles of Epicurean economics:
setting a limit to wealth by the use of reason, and sharing it with
friends. The latter principle becomes increasingly prominent in the
remainder of the treatise. What reason teaches is:
One should accept more, if it comes about without harm and easily,
but one should not suffer because of this.113

108
Col. 14.23–46.
109
Col. 15.21–26 (including éneim°now at line 24).
110
Cols. 15.45–16.6: oÎte g[ã]r ésxalçi s≈frvn énØr ka‹ prÚw tÚ m°ll[on
eÈ]y[a]rrØw t∞i tapein∞i ka‹ penixrçi dia¤thi, tÚ fusikÚn efidvw ka‹ ÍpÚ taÊthw
dioikoÊmenon, =°pei d¢ t∞i boulÆsei mçllon §p‹ tØn éfyonvt°ran.
111
Col. 18.2–7; cf. col. 18.34–35.
112
Col. 16.8–10, including: b¤ow m°triÒw te ka‹ koinÚw ka‹ lÒgow ÍgiØw ka‹ élhyinÒw.
113
Cols. 16.44–17.2: tÚ [d¢ p]le›on, í[n é]bl[a]b«w ka‹ [eÈ]pÒrvw g¤nhtai, dekt°[on,
tÚ] d¢ kakopay[e]›n katÉ a]ÈtÚ toËto mÆ.
158 elizabeth asmis

As he continues the argument, Philodemus restates this hypothetical

state of affairs in the form of an exhortation:
Let us not say that if we remove the burden from the possession of
wealth, we will also remove wealth. For it is possible to leave this with-
out adding the other . . . The preservation of wealth can come about
also without futile toil.114
Philodemus ends by encouraging others to accept wealth whenever
it comes without undue pain.
In conformity with Epicurus’ teachings, Philodemus is careful to
set off the right way not only from the extreme poverty of the Cynics,
but also from the pursuit of great wealth. “Great toil” is involved
in trying to get as much wealth as possible, as quickly as possible.
This is the way of the professional manager or money-maker. Using
tentative language again, Philodemus suggests that the wise person
“must perhaps not be said to be an expert and businessman who
makes much money quickly.”115 He concludes that ordinary know-
how is sufficient. For “it appears” that, just as in other activities, so
everyone has sufficient economic skill to attend to his needs. As
everyone knows enough to prepare food without being a professional
cook, so “it appears to be like this” about keeping one’s belongings.
Many people, including the good man, “seem altogether not bad”
about finding what they need.116 People who are intent on making
money think that poverty is troublesome, even though “nature shows,
if one pays attention to her, that it is easily satisfied with using just
a little.”117 This is, once again, canonical Epicurean doctrine.
Philodemus closes the entire section of argument (IIA) with a lengthy
table of contents, preceded by a reference to Metrodorus as having
refuted Aristotle’s claim that the good person is also a good money-
maker.118 The table of contents is as follows: (1) how much one should
take care of; (2) what and what sort of thing economics is understood
to be; (3) how, and how not, the wise man is a good manager, and

114
Col. 18.7–20: mØ dØ l°gvmen …w, efi periairÆsomen tÚ bãrow aÈtoË katå tØn
kt∞sin, éfeloÊmeya ka‹ tÚ ploute›n. ¶sti går mØ prosÒntow §ke¤nou toËto katale¤pein
. . . ≤ d¢ svthr¤a dÊn[at]ai g¤nesyai ka‹ xvr‹w t«n [m]ata¤vn pÒnvn.
115
Col. 17.2–6.
116
Col. 17.14–40.
117
Col. 19.4–19, including (18–19): ka‹ to›w Ùl¤oiw eÈkÒl[v]w xrÆseyÉ.
118
Cols. 21.28–22.6. Philodemus treats the topics roughly in this order: (2) at
col. 12.5–25, (1) at cols. 12.25–17.2, (3) and (4) together at cols. 17.2–18.2, and (5)
at cols. 18.2–21.35.
 epicurean economics 159

likewise a good money-maker; (4) what type of management is an

expertise (t°xnh) and what type is not, and that ordinary know-how
is advantageous whereas expert management is not; and (5) how one
must be disposed in attitude (p«w diake¤menon) in taking care of one’s
possessions. The elaborate table of contents suggests that Philodemus
was following a larger, more detailed exposition, divided into pre-
cisely demarcated sections. Just before turning to his own follow-up
discussion (IIB), Philodemus mentions that “he,” that is, Metrodorus,
showed extensively that “occasional troubles, worries, and bother are
much more profitable for the best way of life than the opposite
course.”119 The “opposite course” is Cynicism. From the beginning
to the end of his arguments, it appears, Philodemus has been draw-
ing on Metrodorus’ extensive refutation of Cynic poverty.
Even though Philodemus’ exposition is based solidly on Epicurus’
own teachings, there is something new in his presentation. The whole
thrust of his discussion is to show that it is preferable to be wealthy
rather than poor. After arguing against the Cynics, Philodemus takes
the discussion in the direction of showing that it is better to have
more rather than less. Instead of arguing simply against the extreme
poverty of the Cynics, Philodemus argues for limited wealth. In this
progression, he appears to skip a step. Instead of reminding the
reader that it makes no difference to happiness whether one has a
little or a lot, he focuses on the advantages of having a lot, then
goes back to saying that, after all, it is sufficient to have just a little.
Philodemus emphasizes that the rich person must not grab; he
accepts. This contention is reminiscent of Epicurus’ own claim that
a person will accept occasional luxuries. But there is a difference.
Philodemus has a person accept wealth on a continuous basis, on
the ground that it tends to be less trouble than being poor. Epicurus
is more comfortable with giving away wealth than keeping it. In a
variation on Epicurus’ recommendation, Philodemus has the rich
man share with others while keeping his wealth. This is not to say
that there is a change of doctrine. Everything Philodemus says is
compatible with Epicurus’ own teachings. But there is a change of
emphasis. Whereas Philodemus offers a defense of wealth, Epicurus’
economic advice appears, on the whole, a consolation for poverty.
Since we do not have Metrodorus’ books, we cannot check whether
this emphasis is already in Metrodorus. Speaking generally, it

119
See note 150.
160 elizabeth asmis

is unlikely that Metrodorus differed as much from Epicurus as

Philodemus’ presentation suggests.120 Philodemus’ language may pro-
vide a clue. A striking feature of the entire section of argument is
the frequent occurrence of the terms “perhaps” and “appears.”121
The use of these qualifying expressions is in contrast with Philodemus’
highly assertive style later in the treatise and elsewhere in his writ-
ings. One might suppose, therefore, that Philodemus has taken these
terms from Metrodorus.122 As a faithful defender of Epicurus’ doc-
trines, Metrodorus could be expected to hedge any apparent change
of emphasis by the use of qualifying expressions. On the other hand,
it seems equally possible that Philodemus used tentative expressions
to hedge his own interpretation of Metrodorus’ arguments. On the
whole, it is reasonable to suppose that if Metrodorus already empha-
sized the advantages of wealth more than Epicurus did, Philodemus
reinforced this shift in his own selective presentation of Metrodorus’
arguments. Again, there need not be any incompatibility of doctrine.
Philodemus’ statement that the temperate man “inclines” toward
affluence is compatible with everything that he reports about Metro-
dorus in On Wealth, and it may indeed be a direct quotation from

120
F. Castaldi (“Il concetto della ricchezza in Epicuro,” Rendiconti, Accademia dei
Lincei, classe di scienze morali, storiche, e filologiche, 6, 4 [1928] 287–308: 305) mentions
briefly that Metrodorus’ notion of poverty is “confused” and that Metrodorus departs
from Epicurus in supposing that poverty is something bad. According to Castaldi,
Philodemus returns to Epicurus’ position. As Laurenti points out (Filodemo e il pensiero
economico, 139), the text cited by Castaldi (col. 19 of On Household Economics) fails to
support his view of Metrodorus. On the other hand, Castaldi is right to notice a
difference in Philodemus’ discussion. Following d’Amelio (1926, whose book I have not
been able to check), Reimar Mueller (Die epikureische Gesellschaftstheorie, Schriften zur
Geschichte und Kultur der Antike 5, [Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 1972] 25–28) takes
Philodemus to present the position of Metrodorus, whose position he takes to be the
same as that of Epicurus. Mueller puts Philodemus’ arguments in the context of fourth
and third-century economics, in which there was a polarization of income, attended
by rapid changes. The poor became poorer, Mueller points out, whereas those in
the middle range could amass much wealth, but just as quickly lose it again.
121
“Perhaps” (‡svw, which may also be translated as “presumably”) occurs at
cols. 12.29 (as cited), 17.5 (as cited), 18.40, and 19.44. “Appears” (fa¤netai) occurs
at cols. 13.3 (as cited), 14.5 (as cited), 17.15 (as cited), and 17.29–30 (as cited). In
addition to fa¤netai, ¶oike (“seems,” “is likely”), or the plural form, is used at cols.
10.43–44, 17.38 (as cited), and 21.13. Outside this section, “perhaps” occurs at col.
2.17, “appear(s)” at cols. 11.18–19 and 22.28 (cited below), and “seem” at col.
22.36–37 (cited below).
122
Sudhaus does not include these expressions in his analysis of Metrodorus’ style
(“Abhandlung,” 45–46). Among the linguistic features that he attributes to Metrodorus
are: the use of hiatus at cols. 12.46, 14.38, 17.31, 20.13, 20.33, and 22.41 (con-
trasting with Philodemus’ avoidance of hiatus); and the vulgar form ˆliow at cols.
13.34, 18.5, and 19.19.
 epicurean economics 161

Metrodorus. The expression is also compatible with Epicurus’ own

inclination to enjoy occasional luxuries. Whether or not Philodemus took
this expression from Metrodorus, nothing prevents him from using
it to shape a position of his own.
In order to assess Philodemus’ own contribution more precisely, we
need to put the section that we have just examined in the context
of his entire work On Household Economics. The work as a whole moves
from a refutation of previous treatments of economics to the estab-
lishment of an Epicurean position by means of a refutation of Cynic
poverty. The section on the limits of poverty and wealth (IIA) is
embedded in the larger project of delineating an Epicurean eco-
nomics as a counterpart to traditional economics. In this project, the
discussion of the sources and management of income (IIB) is of cru-
cial importance. We have a report on what Epicurus himself said
about how a wise person earns money. We shall examine this infor-
mation first, then return to Philodemus’ more elaborate treatment
in On Household Economics. We will then be in a position to draw
some conclusions about the evolution of Epicurean economic thought.

Acquiring and Managing an Income

(a) Epicurus on the Wise Person

Epicurus reportedly said that the wise person “will make money if
he lacks resources, but only from his wisdom.”123 Accordingly, the
wise person will make money only if he lacks it and only on the
basis of his wisdom. Epicurus did not specify how the wise person
will use his wisdom to make money, but his list of activities that are
permitted to the wise person suggests a number of possibilities. Since
the wise person will found a school,124 we expect that, in case of
need, he will impose a fee for his teaching. Also, since the wise per-
son “will serve a king upon occasion,” he will presumably sometimes
derive an income from a king.125 We may assume, too, that the wise

123
Diogenes Laertius 10.120: xrhmatie›sya¤ te éllÉ épÚ mÒnhw sof¤aw éporÆsanta.
124
Diogenes Laertius 10.120.
125
Diogenes Laertius 10.120: ka‹ mÒnarxon §n kair“ yerapeÊsein. Philonides, an
Epicurean who lived in Antioch in the first half of the second century b.c.e., did
just that. He is said to have converted Demetrius I Soter (160–152 b.c.e.) to
Epicureanism (Michael Erler, “Epikur,” Die Hellenistische Philosophie, ed. Hellmut
Flashar, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie: Die Philosophie der Antike, Bd.
4 [Basel: Schwabe, 1994] 252).
162 elizabeth asmis

person may draw on the resources of his friends, for “friendship

[comes about] because of need.”126 In all these cases, the wise per-
son shares his wisdom with those who remunerate him.
Epicurus himself derived an income from his teaching. The bequests
he made in his will show that he was not poor. The qualification
“when lacking resources” (éporÆsanta) may, therefore, be understood
in a fairly broad sense to accommodate a modest level of affluence.127
The wise person needs sufficient resources to run a school. If he
lives very frugally, as Epicurus did, this income may be quite sub-
stantial even if modest. On the other hand, the condition “when
lacking resources” indicates a clear difference from the Stoic posi-
tion. Whereas the Stoic wise person normally aims to be wealthy,
Epicurus has the wise person make money only exceptionally, when
he is in need.
Importantly, the Epicurean wise person does not retreat into soli-
tary contemplation. He or she will perform the social duty of teach-
ing others by founding a school. This activity may be viewed as
taking the place of engaging in politics. As Seneca reports, Epicurus
held that the wise person will not do politics “unless something inter-
venes.” Seneca opposes this position to the Stoic doctrine that a per-
son should pursue politics except under special circumstances.128 In
general, the Epicurean will not engage in politics. There are exceptions,
however, as we have just seen. Occasionally, the wise person may serve
a king, although this service is probably best regarded as a kind of
education rather than as a form of political activity.129 It should be
emphasized that, in Epicureanism, political inactivity goes along with
being a law-abiding citizen. As part of his duties as a citizen, the
wise person will, for example, act as a member of a jury.130

126
Diogenes Laertius 10.120: ka‹ tØn fil¤an [g¤nesyai] diå tåw xre¤aw.
127
As D. P. Fowler has argued (“Lucretius and Politics,” Philosophia Togata, eds.
Jonathan Barnes and Miriam Griffin [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989] 120–50:
130–31), there are no grounds for changing the manuscript reading to eÈporÆsanta,
as proposed by Gigante in Diogene Laerzio, Vite dei Filosofi, 2nd ed. (Bari: Laterza,
1976), 439, 574 n. 94, and “Atakta V,” CErc 14 (1984): 125–33, 125.
128
Seneca On Leisure 3.2 (= U 9); the phrase “nisi si quid intervenerit” corre-
sponds to katå per¤stasin (“under special circumstances”).
129
Diogenes Laertius 10.119 reports that the wise person will “not engage in pol-
itics or be a tyrant” (oÈd¢ politeÊsesyai . . . oÈd¢ turanneÊsein). The prohibition
against tyranny is in itself a kind of qualification: the wise person may engage occa-
sionally in a benign form of politics, though never in autocratic rabble-rousing.
130
Diogenes Laertius 10.120 (dikãsesyai).
 epicurean economics 163

The three Epicurean ways of earning money suggested above invite

comparison with the three “leading” (prohgoÊmenoi) ways of life pro-
posed by the Stoics: (a) royal (basilikÒn), (b) political (politikÒn),
and (c) having knowledge (§pisthmonikÒn). Correspondingly, the Stoics
proposed, a person will make money by: (a) ruling as king or deriv-
ing an income from a king; (b) participating in politics; or (c) exact-
ing fees for teaching.131 These sources of income are summed up as
making money “from politics and from prominent friends.” As for
all duties, there are exceptions. A person will live with a king who
shows a good nature and a love of learning; and he will not par-
ticipate in politics if he is not going to help the country but fore-
sees serious dangers coming from the state.132
In a variation on the three sources of income, Chrysippus specified
that a wise person may earn money from a king, from friendship,
and from imparting his wisdom through instruction (sofiste¤a).133
Presumably, friendship overlaps with politics as a source of income.
With respect to the first way of life, Chrysippus noted that if a wise
person cannot be king himself, he will live with a king and go on
expeditions with him.134 As a source of income, the life of knowledge
coincides with the life of instruction. Following the lead of Protagoras,
Chrysippus worked out a precise policy about how a wise person should
exact a fee: he advised him either to take the money in advance or
to contract to have the student pay after a period of time.135
The main difference between the Stoics and Epicureans is that
whereas the Stoics recommended politics and teaching equally as
ways of earning an income, the Epicureans advised against politics
as a source of income. Even if a person counsels a king, he does so
as a philosophical teacher, not as a political ally. The Epicureans
recognized just one best way, which may be practiced in a variety

131
Arius Didymus in Stobaeus Eclogae 2 (= SVF 3.686). According to Diogenes
Laertius (7.130), the Stoics distinguished among three kinds of life: theoretical, prac-
tical, and rational (lÒgikon), of which the last is to be chosen since “a rational crea-
ture” is intended for contemplation and action. It appears that the rational life
combines the first two. In addition, it appears that the royal, political, and knowl-
edgeable lives are all subdivisions of the rational life.
132
Arius Didymus in Stobaeus Eclogae 2 (= SVF 3.690).
133
Plutarch Stoic Refutations 1043e (= SVF 3.693).
134
Ibid. 1043b–c (= SVF 3.691).
135
Ibid. 1043e–44a, 1047f. Protagoras devised the policy of having the student
either pay the amount asked for or deposit in a temple what he thought the instruc-
tion was worth (Plato Protagoras 328b–c).
164 elizabeth asmis

of settings: imparting wisdom through teaching. At the same time,

there is something that the Stoics and Epicureans have in common:
the imposition of fees for teaching. Plato prohibited the taking of fees
as a sophistic practice. Both the Stoics and the Epicureans regard it
as entirely honorable. Some of the Stoics, including Chrysippus, made
clear their opposition to Plato by using the term “sophistry” (sofiste¤a,
also sofisteÊein) to designate instruction by a wise person, as the
sophists originally conceived of their teaching. Other Stoics contin-
ued to use the term in a derogatory sense.136 The Epicureans gen-
erally used the term “sophist” in a pejorative sense, but they too
thought it proper to receive an income for instruction.137

(b) Philodemus’ New Economics

In On Household Economics, Philodemus is concerned not only with
the occupation of being a wise person, but with the entire range of
occupations suitable for persons who live philosophically. All of these
people are “philosophers” in a broad sense. In the strict sense, as
Philodemus points out, a philosopher does not engage in business
dealings at all.138 In a broad sense, a philosopher is anyone who
does philosophy, even if he has just a little time for philosophical
study. In On Household Economics, Philodemus shows how to combine
earning a living with doing philosophy. It is in this sense that Epicurus
invites anyone at all, both young and old, to do philosophy.
Let us first go back to Philodemus’ definition of his topic in On
Household Economics. After criticizing Xenophon’s Oeconomicus and the
Peripatetic Oeconomica, Philodemus introduces the Epicurean position

136
SVF 3. 686.
137
Some Epicureans, who claimed to be genuine Epicureans, branded others as
sophists (Diogenes Laertius 10.26). There has been much debate on who these
“sophists” were; see esp. Longo Auricchio and Tepedino Guerra, “Aspetti e Problemi
della Dissidenza Epicurea,” CErc 11 (1981): 25–40. The following people, described
by Philodemus (To friends of the school, col. 2.8–17; Anna Angeli, ed., Filodemo, Agli
amici de scuola (PHerc. 1005), La Scuola di Epicuro, 7 [Naples: Bibliopolis, 1988]),
fit the description: “Some of those called Epicureans say and write many things
gathered [from Epicurean writings], as well as many things that are peculiar to
them and in disagreement with our enterprise, some of which have been torn away
superficially and quickly from it” (. . . t«n xrhmatizÒntvn tinåw ÉEpikoure¤vn pollå
m¢n sumforhtå ka‹ l°gein ka‹ grãfein, pollå dÉaÈt«n ‡dia to›w katå tØn pragmate¤an
ésÊmfvna, tinå dɧke›yen §sparagm°na floivd«w ka‹ tax°vw . . . ). Among Roman
Epicureans, Amafinius and his successors, as described by Cicero, also appear to
be candidates (see n. 45 above).
138
On Household Economics, col. 11.16–17.
 epicurean economics 165

by first distinguishing the Epicurean notion of economics from that

of others:
We will speak not about how one can live nobly in a house, but how
one must be set up concerning the acquisition and preservation of pos-
sessions, which is the proper sense of oikonomia and oikonomikos.139
The definition of oikonomia is one of the topics that Philodemus in-
cludes in his table of contents for the middle section (IIA). We may
attribute it, therefore, to Metrodorus. In Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, the
good oikonomos was defined by Socrates’ interlocutor as someone who
“inhabits well (eÔ ofike›n) his own house (ofik¤an).”140 Typically, Socrates
understands “well” in a moral sense. In his criticism of Xenophon,
Philodemus responds to this definition by saying that “well” can
mean one of two things: very beneficially and happily, or making a
lot of money.141
In denying now that his topic is “how to live nobly in a house”
(§n o‡kvi kal«[w] . . . bioËn), Philodemus implies that he will not deal
simply with ethics. As he goes on to say, he will deal specifically
with the income that is appropriate for a philosopher. There is a
“measure of wealth” for the philosopher. His precise topic, there-
fore, will be the acquisition and preservation of possessions within
philosophically set limits.142 Instead of writing a purely ethical treatise
or a technical tract on how to make a lot of money, Philodemus will
deal with the practical problem of how a person living a philoso-
phical life will manage an income.
The choice of topic puts Philodemus, along with Metrodorus, in
a long tradition of philosophical investigation. While Socrates focused
exclusively on the morality of household management, others, including

139
On Household Economics, col. 12.5–12: dialejÒmeya t[o]¤nun oÈx …w §n o‡kvi
kal«[w] ¶stin bioËn, éllÉ …w ·stasyai de› per‹ xrhmãtvn ktÆse≈w te ka‹ fulak∞w,
per‹ [ì] tØn ofikonom¤an ka‹ tÚn ofikonomikÚn fid¤vw noe›syai sumb°bhken.
140
At Oeconomicus 1, 2, Critoboulos offers the definition eÔ ofike›n tÚn •autoË o‰kon,
which is emended by Socrates to include other households. Philodemus cites the
emended definition at col. 1.6–8 as: [e]Ô ofike›n tÚ[n] ‡dion o‰kon ka‹ tÚ poie›n tÚn
éllÒtrion eÔ ofike›syai.
141
On Household Economics, col. 1.4–21. At col. 20.16–32 Philodemus assigns the
same two possibilities of meaning to the expression “good money-maker” (xrhmatistÆw).
He objects here that, instead of showing how a wise person handles money in an
advantageous way, other philosophers force the meaning of the expression by sim-
ply foisting the title of good money-maker on the good person (cols. 20.45–21.12).
Philodemus singles out Aristotle as guilty of this practice (col. 21.28); the same
charge might be made against the Stoics.
142
On Household Economics, col. 12.15–25.
166 elizabeth asmis

Xenophon, Aristotle, and pseudo-Theophrastus, sought to give eco-

nomic advice that was consistent with philosophical principles. Even
though Philodemus argues that Xenophon and pseudo-Theophrastus
failed in this purpose, his treatise shares their general aim.
There is, however, an important difference. Traditionally, the
household was viewed as the basic unit from which society is built
up. Aristotle developed this view in detail: the household, composed
of father, mother, children and slaves, forms the smallest governing
unit and is governed in turn by the city, which is composed of house-
holds. By contrast, the Epicureans did not privilege the household
as the foundation of social or moral life. They rejected the family,
just as they did political life. Epicurus held that the wise person will
not marry or have children except in special circumstances.143 This
is directly opposed to the Stoic view, which continues the Aristotelian
tradition, that a person will marry and have children except under
special circumstances.144
In his criticisms of Xenophon and pseudo-Theophrastus, Philodemus
has already indicated a shift from taking the household as the basic
social and economic unit to treating the individual as an autonomous
member of society. Whereas pseudo-Theophrastus endorses Hesiod’s
advice to “acquire a house and a wife first,” Philodemus objects that
life can be happy without a wife.145 He also questions whether, as
Hesiod and pseudo-Theophrastus supposed, it is necessary in every

143
U 526. Epictetus points out that the Epicurean wise person will not raise chil-
dren or participate in politics (Discourses 1.23) and that in a hypothetical Epicurean
city there will be no marriage, no rearing of children, and no political participa-
tion (3.7.19). At Diogenes Laertius 10.119, the manuscripts state that the wise per-
son “will marry and have children, as Epicurus says in his Problems and in the books
On Nature, but that under special circumstances he will marry at some time in his
life” (ka‹ mØn ka‹ gamÆsein ka‹ teknopoiÆsein tÚn sofÒn . . . katå per¤stasin d° pote
b¤ou gamÆsein). The other testimonies, together with the expression katå per¤stasin
and adversative d°, seem to me to demand the addition of a negative in the first
clause. Jean Bollack (La pensée du plaisir. Epicure: textes moraux, commentaires, ed. Jean
Bollack [Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1975] 40) suggests that the text can stand as it
is in the sense that the wise person “pourra se marier.” The Epicurean position
does not, of course, mean that a person who becomes an Epicurean will abandon
spouse or children, nor will he or she necessarily remain unmarried. Rather, if a
person has a choice, he or she will not marry or have children. Epicurus himself
was unmarried and childless. His close friend Metrodorus was not married, but
lived with a woman, Leontion, and had children.
144
Diogenes Laertius 7.121, and SVF 3.494, 616, and 686.
145
On Household Economics col. 9.1–3.
 epicurean economics 167

case that the wife should be a virgin.146 He proposes that the stew-
ard and laborer need not be slaves; both can be free persons.147
Philodemus rejects at length pseudo-Theophrastus’ discussion of the
relationship of the household to the city on the grounds that this
topic is irrelevant, obvious, or wrong.148
Even though he provides only a few indicators, Philodemus thus
offers the option of a domestic arrangement without wife or chil-
dren, with domestic help that may consist of free persons. Although
Philodemus does not explicitly endorse this option, he undermines
conventional assumptions. Consequently, when Philodemus comes to
announce that he will not treat “how to live nobly in a house,” but
will discuss how to manage possessions, there is a hint that he will
ignore the traditional household as an economic unit and focus
instead on the individual as shaping his own life. There is no explicit
rejection of the traditional household or family, but rather an assump-
tion that they are incidental to one’s goal as an individual.149
It is fitting, therefore, that Philodemus should begin his exposition
of Epicurean economics with a refutation of the Cynic life. The
Epicurean, too, is on his own. He does not, however, reject wealth.
Although his economic activity is not embedded in a family or city
structure, he makes use of the existing social and economic struc-
ture in order to secure a livelihood. As we have seen, Philodemus
follows Metrodorus in arguing that the Epicurean will make some
effort to obtain some wealth. Philodemus draws this middle section
of his treatise to a close by offering a detailed table of contents, as
cited earlier. Then, starting a new paragraph, Philodemus makes the
following transition to a new discussion:
It is possible to take up some things both about the sources from which
(pÒyen) and about how (p«w) one should procure and preserve [pos-
sessions]. His extended discussion was principally concerned with show-
ing that occasional troubles, worries, and bother are much more

146
On Household Economics col. 9.7–9.
147
On Household Economics col. 9.16–20.
148
On Household Economics cols. 7.45–8.18
149
Similarly, Carlo Natali (“Oikonomia in Hellenistic Political Thought,” Justice
and Generosity, ed. Malcolm Schofield and Andre Laks, [Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1995] 95–128: 110) points out that, in contrast with Aristotle,
“Philodemus eliminates the section on social, affectionate and hierarchical relation-
ships within the household, and restricts the ‘economic’ discussion to the single point
of wealth.”
168 elizabeth asmis

profitable for the best way of life than the opposite course. But let us
say, following [his lead], that to think that the best procurement and
use is by the spear belongs to people who court fame in accordance
with neither wisdom.150
As Sudhaus and Laurenti have argued, the pronoun “his” (aÈt«i)
refers to Metrodorus, the source of the preceding arguments.151 It is
opposed to “we,” Philodemus himself. Metrodorus offered an extended
refutation of the Cynic way of life (the “opposite course”), which
Philodemus has just reviewed. Philodemus now proposes to add some
material on the sources of income and how to manage it. His pre-
vious table of contents did not include sources of income, but it did
include “how” one must be mentally disposed in managing an income.
In “taking up” some things, Philodemus promises to focus on two
issues that were not treated at length by Metrodorus. He says that
he will “follow.” We expect that he will follow Metrodorus, but,
interestingly, he does not say so explicitly.152 The grammatical impre-
cision, together with the emphatic “we,” suggests that Philodemus is
now intent on pursuing a course of his own. For this very reason,
he needs to mention that he is still following the authority of others.
There is no reason to suppose that he will no longer use the text of
Metrodorus that he has been following all along. But Philodemus now
stresses that he will speak in his own voice. If he is still using a text
of Metrodorus, he will not simply report it; he will build on it a
position of his own.
In his new discussion of the sources of income (cols. 22.17–23.36),
Philodemus first rejects occupations praised by others, then advances
rhetorically from second and third best to the best way of life. He
plunges immediately into his topic by dismissing one candidate: mak-
ing money from warfare. Philodemus’ examples are all taken from
Greek history: Gellias the Sicilian, Scopas the Thessalian, and the

150
Col. 22.6–26: ¶stin dÉ énel°syai ti[nå] ka‹ prÚw tÚ pÒyen ka‹ p«w por¤zesyai
de› ka‹ fulãttein. ≤ sun°xousa m°ntoi gÉénãtasiw aÈt«i g°gonen prÚw tÚ makr«i mçl-
lon lusitele›n tåw pot¢ ginom°naw ÙxlÆseiw ka‹ front¤daw ka‹ pragmate¤aw t∞w §nant¤aw
aflr°[s]evw efiw diagvgØn tØn ér¤sthn. ≤me[›w] d¢ [l]°gvmen ékoloyoËntew [tÚ] m¢n
o[‡es]yai porismÚn ê[risto]n e‰nai tÚn dor¤kthton ka[‹ x]r∞sin . . . dojokÒpvn ényr≈pvn
e‰nai katå sof¤an oÈdet°ran.
151
See note 101 above.
152
As Sudhaus (47) notes, this omission is “strange.” Sudhaus suggests the emen-
dation ékolouyoÊntv[w]. However, the grammar is not so strange as to require
emendation; and the proposed change goes against the evidence of the transcrip-
tions which show E or % after ékolouyoÊnt.
 epicurean economics 169

Athenians Cimon and Nicias. He adds a short essay on the difference

between the political or practical life and the theoretical life. The
latter consists in having the leisure to investigate the truth. In a last
use of the tentative “appear” and “seem,” Philodemus notes that those
who praise the military life “appear” to assign success only to the prac-
tical life and “seem” to detach noble deeds from the theoretical life.153
This is a traditional contrast, previously developed in detail by Aris-
totle.154 The tentative wording, the Greek examples, and the allusive
homage to Cynicism as a kind of “wisdom” (alongside Epicureanism)
all point to the presence of Metrodorus in Philodemus’ discussion.
Still staying within a Greek context, Philodemus next rejects four
occupations in quick succession. It is “ridiculous,” he says, to earn
an income from horsemanship, it is “not fortunate” to do mining
by using slaves, and it is “mad” to make money “from both, work-
ing oneself.”155 Still proceeding at top speed, Philodemus ends his
list of rejected occupations with the life of the working farmer, then
makes a quick reversal:
It is burdensome to make money by farming oneself, so as to do the
work oneself, but [having] others [do the work], while possessing the
land, is appropriate to a good person.156
In Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, Socrates put forward the life of the farmer
as the best life, regardless of whether he works the land himself or
supervises others.157 This portrait is balanced by a description of the
life of a gentleman farmer later in the Oeconomicus.158 The gentleman
farmer supervises others and has time to go to town in the morn-
ings. Philodemus dismisses the life of the working farmer summar-
ily as “burdensome.” His clipped style suggests not only that he is
impatient to get on with his choice of lives, but also that he has a

153
On Household Economics cols. 22.28–41.
154
Aristotle’s argument at Politics 7.3 (1325b14–23) is especially pertinent. Here
Aristotle proposes that the theoretical life is much more a life of action than the
so-called practical life. It seems to me quite possible that Metrodorus (whom
Philodemus mentions at col. 21.34–35 as refuting Aristotle) had this text of Aristotle
before him.
155
On Household Economics col. 23.1–7.
156
On Household Economics col. 23.7–11: tala¤pvron d¢ ka‹ tÚ gevrgo[Ën]tÉ aÈtÚn
oÏtvw Àste aÈtourge›n. tÚ dÉêllvn ¶xonta g∞n katå spouda›on.
157
Oeconomicus 5.1–17 and 6.8–11. Similarly, the Peripatetic Oeconomica (1,
1343a25–26) states that farming is “prior by nature.”
158
Ischomachus describes his daily routine as a gentleman farmer at Oeconomicus
11.14–18.
170 elizabeth asmis

text before him. The vigorous use of the terms “ridiculous” and
“mad” is a tell-tale mark of Philodemus’ own style.159 The curtness
of the language signals a clash between Philodemus’ source and his
response to it. He is now imposing his own preferences on his text.
As soon as Philodemus has mentioned the life of the gentleman
farmer, he becomes expansive again. This type of life
least has intrigues against men, from which much unpleasantness comes
about. It [provides] a delightful way of life, a leisurely retreat with
friends, and an income that is most seemly among [temperate] people.160
Philodemus adds briefly:
Nor is it unseemly to make money from a tenement and the experi-
ence or expertise of slaves, so long as this is in no way indecent.161
But these two lives—that of the gentleman farmer and the entre-
preneur—are only second and third best respectively:
It is first and finest to receive a share of gratitude (eÈxãristo[n]), along
with full respect, in return for philosophical discourses shared with
receptive men, as happened to Epicurus. These discourses are, for the
rest, true, free from strife, and, in general, without disturbance, whereas
[earning money] by sophistic and contentious discourses is no better
than [earning it] by the discourses of demagogues and informers.162
The best way to earn an income is that of the philosopher, impart-
ing words of truth to men who are grateful for them and respect
their author. Just as Epicurus demanded, these words must not be
rabble-rousing. Using the word “sophistic” in a pejorative sense,
Philodemus points out that, unlike contentious sophistic speeches,
philosophical discourses are free from discord. They differ in this

159
See, for example, the use of gelo›ow at cols. 26.20 and 34.28–29 of On Poems
5, and manikÒw at col. 35.17 of On Poems 5.
160
On Household Economics col. 23.11–18 (following immediately upon the text cited
in n. 156): ¥kista går §piplokåw ¶xei prÚw ényr≈pouw, §j œn éhd¤ai polla‹
parakolouyoËsi, ka‹ diagvgØn §piterp∞ ka‹ metå f¤lvn énax≈rhsin eÎsxolon ka‹
parå to›w [s≈frosi]n eÈsxhmonestãthn prÒsodon.
161
On Household Economics col. 23.18–22 (following immediately upon the preced-
ing text): o[Èk ê]sx[h]mon [dÉo]Èd¢ épÚ sunoik¤a[w te] ka‹ doÊlvn §mpeir¤aw μ ka‹
t°xnaw §xÒntvn mhdam[«w] éprepe›w.
162
On Household Economics col. 23.23–36: pr«ton d¢ ka‹ kãlliston épÚ lÒgvn
filo[sÒ]fvn éndrãsin dektiko›w metadidom°n[vn] éntimetalambãnein eÈxãristo[n ëm]a
metå sebasmoË pant[Òw] , …w §g°netÉ ÉEpiko[Ê]rvi, lo[ipÚ]n d¢ élhyin«n ka‹
éfilo[n]e[¤]kvn ka‹ [s]u[l]lÆbdh[n] efipe›n [ét]arãxvn, …w tÒ ge diå sof[isti]k«n ka‹
égvnisti[k]«n o[Èd°n] §sti b°ltion toË diå dh[mok]opik«n ka‹ sukofantik[«n].
 epicurean economics 171

respect also from political speeches that rouse the mob or plant legal
accusations against individuals.163
Philodemus cites Epicurus as an example, but he is surely also
thinking about himself. The term “philosophical” includes not only
the discourses of a wise person, such as Epicurus, but also of his
philosophical followers, such as Philodemus. Philodemus previously
defined a “philosopher” in the strict sense as someone who does not
engage in business activities at all. The best life belongs to this kind
of philosopher. The second and third best lives belong to persons
who conduct their business activities philosophically.
There is a long tradition in Greek literature of ranking lives. In this
tradition, Philodemus’ ranking is remarkable in a number of ways.
It is hardly surprising that Philodemus puts the philosopher in first
place. But this is the first time, as far as I know, in which the occu-
pation of philosopher is put explicitly in first place as a source of
income.164 Philodemus is discreet about the philosopher’s income. He
only hints at his remuneration in the words “gratitude” and “respect.”
The philosopher does not peddle his discourses, as Plato accused the
sophists of doing, or use them to gain personal power, like the dem-
agogue or informer. Just as he shares his thoughts with others, so
others share their gratitude with him.
Further, Philodemus does not simply put lives in ranked order. In
his evaluation, the first two kinds of life, the life of the philosopher
and the life of the gentleman farmer, combine into a social union.
Philodemus envisages the philosopher in the company of friends who
honor and respect him. Guided by the philosopher, the gentleman
farmer provides a refuge for people who have the leisure to share the
pleasure of doing philosophy with each other. If one cannot be a
philosopher, it is best to be a landowner and host or, if not that,
an entrepreneur, having the leisure to gather with others in the coun-
try. Epicurus had said that the wise man “will love the country”
(filagrÆsein).165 Philodemus offers a vivid image of how he will enjoy

163
The three types of speeches that Philodemus rejects are perversions of the
three Aristotelian types of rhetoric: panegyric (which came to be associated with
sophistic speech-making), deliberative, and forensic. Philodemus takes a more posi-
tive view of sophistic rhetoric as a skill (t°xnh) in his Rhetoric bks. 1 and 2 (see esp.
bk. 1, col. 7).
164
Philodemus’ ranking may be seen as an Epicurean version of Xenophanes’
contention that his wisdom is worth more to the city than that of anyone else
(Diels-Kranz 21 B 2).
165
Diogenes Laertius 10.120.
172 elizabeth asmis

the country. The landowner offers his estate as a retreat, far removed
from the turmoil of politics, where the philosopher may impart truth-
ful discourses to a company of friends. The two best ways of life
form a new social unit that takes the place of the household as well
as the city.
While Philodemus’ rural retreat epitomizes Epicurean values, it
also accommodates traditional values. After criticizing Xenophon’s
and pseudo-Theophrastus’ gentleman farmer, Philodemus brings him
back in second place. In Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, Socrates contrasted
the life of the farmer with that of the manual laborer (the so-called
“banausic” person) as “depriving a person least from the leisure of
taking care of friends and cities.”166 Subsequently, Aristotle put the
working farmer and the banausic laborer in the same category: work-
ing farmers, too, lack the leisure to participate in political affairs, so
that it is best for their job to be done by slaves.167 Philodemus shares
the aristocratic leanings of Aristotle and pseudo-Theophrastus.
Philodemus’ reason for having others do the work, however, is cru-
cially opposed to the traditional view: the leisure of the gentleman
farmer is not only devoted to philosophy, but also free from poli-
tics. Like Aristotle, Philodemus values the contemplative life of the
philosopher most highly. In general, then, Philodemus’ ranking does
not appear so very different from that of his predecessors. But he
has changed it radically by stripping away politics along with excess
luxury. Instead of having the landowner use his leisure to partici-
pate in politics, he has him use it to serve as host for a company
of friends doing philosophy together.
This way of life is made possible by “others” working the land. Philo-
demus accepts a social order in which some people work so that
others may enjoy leisure. He mentions the use of slaves explicitly in
his third way of life, that of the landlord or industrialist. The use
of slaves is not contrary to Epicurus’ own practice; he, too, owned
slaves. As Philodemus will go on to show, the owner will be kind
to his slaves. Presumably, he will give them some leisure to do philo-
sophy. Nonetheless, Philodemus’ endorsement of leisurely gentility,
together with his brief dismissal of the working life of the farmer, is
hardly egalitarian. While accepting traditional economic and social
hierarchies, Epicurus opened up hope to the downtrodden. Philodemus

166
Oeconomicus 6.9: ¥kista ésxol¤an par°xein f¤lvn te ka‹ pÒlevn sunepimele›syai.
167
Politics 7, 10 (1330a25–26); cf. 7, 9 (1329a25–26).
 epicurean economics 173

does not take away that hope, but shows that privilege has a great
advantage. Even though, as he will point out at the very end of his
book, wealth has just a “small superiority” over poverty, his rank-
ing gives a strong preference to wealth by opposing its comforts to
the hardship of being poor.
There are clear signs in Philodemus’ text that his evaluation of lives
is indebted to Metrodorus. But there are also signs that Philodemus
is reshaping the material that he has before him. The gaps, elliptical
summaries, and forceful expressions suggest that Philodemus is express-
ing his own views. Moreover, Philodemus places special emphasis on
three lives: the rejected life of the military man, and the first and
second place lives of the philosopher and the landowner. This empha-
sis, together with the rhetorical build-up to the best way of life,
appears to be Philodemus’ own contribution. Metrodorus presumably
adjudicated among different professions. At the same time, we may
credit Philodemus with selecting details and ordering them on a scale
that highlights certain occupations and is marked by strong contrasts.
While everything that Philodemus says in his ranking fits Metrodorus’
Greece, his emphasis is directly relevant to Roman society of the
first century b.c.e. One thinks of Piso, Philodemus’ rich friend, enjoy-
ing his villa in the country and hosting his Epicurean friends. On a
more modest scale, there is Horace, enjoying his farm with the help
of slaves. One also thinks of Atticus, who ran a book trade by
employing slaves. For aristocrats such as Piso, Philodemus’ ranking
carries a special message. In the first place, Philodemus invites the
Roman upper classes to open their estates to philosophy. The set-
tings of Cicero’s dialogues illustrate this practice. In addition, it is
interesting to note that what Philodemus explicitly rejects about the
political life is military activity. All political participation is likely to
disturb, but using political office to enrich oneself through war is
especially bad. It was the custom among Roman aristocrats to do
just that. Philodemus appears to be extending a message to Roman
aristocrats and others who have broken into their circle: don’t pur-
sue the military life, and avoid political intrigue as much as possible
by transforming your estates into philosophical havens for friends.
After ranking the sources of income, Philodemus turns to his sec-
ond follow-up topic, “how” to manage one’s income (cols. 23.36–27.20).
He already dealt with this issue in the middle section (IIA), which
is closely indebted to Metrodorus. The additional treatment provides
a good test of Philodemus’ own contribution to the topic of economics.
174 elizabeth asmis

While it is difficult to disentangle Metrodorus’ ranking of lives from

that of Philodemus, Philodemus’ new comments on the manner of
managing an income are marked by clear differences in both style
and content from the earlier treatment. These differences, which
include the use of the first person pronoun, show that Philodemus
is now on his own.168 The new discussion is blatantly aristocratic in
its orientation. After ranking the well-to-do landowner and busi-
nessman in second and third place, Philodemus gives them detailed
advice on how to administer their wealth.
Philodemus begins his new treatment with an introduction to
Epicurean ethics. True to the title of his book, he offers an essay on
vices and their corresponding virtues. Forbidden are excessive desires
and fears, injustice (édik¤a), not having friends (éfil¤a), not being
humane (éfilanyrvp¤a), and harshness (énhmerÒthw). On his previous
treatment of “how” a person must be disposed, Philodemus required
philanthropy and sharing, and he mentioned friends.169 Metrodorus
led the way, but Philodemus now goes much further. He first lays
out a complete foundation of Epicurean ethics, as he prohibits immod-
erate desires and the fear of death, of the gods, and of pain. Applying
Epicurus’ general precepts to the aristocrat in particular, he points
out that “nothing is accustomed to drain and overturn the most dis-
tinguished and wealthiest [houses]” as much as luxuries, womaniz-
ing, and the like, along with the aforementioned fears.170 Philodemus
argues that honesty is the best policy, and that having friends and
being generous to them is a good investment.171 The prohibition
against being inhumane and harsh implies having power over oth-
ers.172 Although Philodemus’ advice is relevant to anyone at all,
including the circle of Epicurus and Metrodorus in Athens, it is espe-
cially appropriate as a code of ethics for the Roman aristocrat.
After his discussion of the five vices and their opposites, Philodemus
follows up with “more specialized” advice, as he puts it.173 This advice
is aimed directly at the affluent. Philodemus now depicts in some

168
The first person occurs at cols. 24.35 and 25.32, then repeatedly in the con-
clusion.
169
On Household Economics col. 18.6–7 and 34–35, and col. 15.6
170
On Household Economics cols. 23.42–24.11.
171
On Household Economics col. 24.11–29.
172
Epicurus is praised by Diogenes Laertius (10.10) for his mildness (≤merÒthw)
to his slaves.
173
On Household Economics col. 24.41: …w dÉ fidi≈teron efipe›n.
 epicurean economics 175

detail the economic bonds that unite the rich and their friends.
Quoting the Epicurean leader Hermarchus, Philodemus again stresses
how advantageous it is to have friends.174 He encourages people to
spend freely in order to get a good return, and mentions that some
Romans apportion their income among expenditures, equipment,
replenishment, and the “treasury.”175 Transposing a traditional value
of Athenian society to Roman society, Philodemus invokes “gentle-
manliness,” kalokégay¤a, as a standard of conduct.176 A person should
not be afraid upon occasion, he says, to take away time even from
philosophy in order to attend to business matters.177 The ownership
of slaves again comes up as a matter of concern. On this point,
Philodemus simply refers the reader to his previous comments.178 He
returns repeatedly to the topic of friends. One should consult regu-
larly with friends on all economic matters.179 In times of plenty, a
person should indulge the harmless desires of oneself and one’s friends;
in times of austerity, one should be harder on oneself than one’s
friends.180 A person should make the same financial provisions for
friends as for children.181
Completing a circle, Philodemus ends by saying that if there is
good advice to be had from Xenophon and Theophrastus, one should
not omit to use it. The aristocratic way of life that Philodemus dis-
missed at the beginning of his book subsequently insinuated itself
increasingly into his discussion of Epicurean economics. It now makes
an overt come-back, pruned to be sure, but welcomed in its chas-
tened state. Philodemus has constructed a careful progression of argu-
ment: he first argued cautiously and with much circumspection,
following Metrodorus, that it is better to have more than less, then
made this argument concrete by distributing occupations along a
scale that favors the rich. Philodemus expresses his own preferences
in this scale. After offering a general code of ethics slanted toward
the rich, he ends by showing the wealthy how to manage their
resources in the company of their friends. The whole offers a counter-

174
On Household Economics cols. 24.41–25.4.
175
On Household Economics cols. 25.4–26.1.
176
On Household Economics col. 25.44.
177
On Household Economics col. 26.9–18.
178
On Household Economics col. 26.28–34. The earlier discussion is at cols. 9.26–10.28.
179
On Household Economics col. 26.18–28.
180
On Household Economics col. 26.1–9.
181
On Household Economics col. 27.5–9.
176 elizabeth asmis

part to traditional aristocratic society: the Epicurean “gentleman” is

relaxed about making money and uses it to enjoy philosophical leisure
with friends.
Appropriately, Philodemus feels impelled to conclude by offering
a word of excuse for writing on economics: he is merely following
the example of Metrodorus, he says, who gave quite specific instruc-
tions.182 Philodemus contrasts his treatment with the more detailed
treatment of “more satrap-like” philosophers.183 He has in mind
Xenophon and pseudo-Theophrastus, whom he attacked earlier. The
person who would accuse him of “saying altogether little on a subject
that will help rather much (m[e]izÒnvw »felÆsontow)” seems to him
“more persuasive.” However, his shorter treatment is fitting, Philodemus
says, because wealth has only a “small superiority” over poverty.184
That is why he offers only quite general instructions. For further
guidance, he points to other works on ethics. Philodemus realizes
that he has been lavishing attention on a wealthy life-style. There is
nothing wrong with that, he indicates, for there is a benefit in being
moderately wealthy. As a counterpoise, he reminds the reader that
it really matters very little whether one is wealthy or not.
Philodemus’ economics fits squarely into Epicurean ethics. At the
same time, he offers a new vision of an Epicurean society that is
suitable for Roman aristocrats. While he reiterates the orthodox
Epicurean doctrine that wealth makes no difference to happiness and
is just a little preferable to poverty, he comes close in effect to meet-
ing the Stoics in their preference for wealth. The Stoic endorsement
of wealth and political leadership had long proved attractive to
Roman aristocrats. Proposing Epicureanism as a better option,
Philodemus shows the Romans that they can continue to stay wealthy
as Epicureans, so long as they do so in moderation. Philodemus
inserts this new aristocratic ideal into an Epicurean framework. He
does not thereby change the framework. The poor, too, can attain
Epicurean happiness; but in his On Household Economics, Philodemus
focuses on the Roman rich. He offers Roman aristocrats an alternative
to their traditional political ambitions, as he invites them to use their
wealth for their personal well-being and that of their friends.185

182
On Household Economics col. 27.20–29.
183
On Household Economics col. 27.30–35.
184
On Household Economics, col. 27.35–46 (including m[ik]rån . . . ÍperoxØn at col.
27.43–45).
185
I am very grateful to the editors for their astute comments and suggestions,
which helped me to rethink some difficulties and remove some obscurities.
 PHILODEMUS, “ON WEALTH” AND “ON HOUSEHOLD
MANAGEMENT:” NATURALLY WEALTHY EPICUREANS
AGAINST POOR CYNICS*

David L. Balch

Abstract

This article is a study and partial translation of two of Philodemus’

tractates, “On Wealth” and “On Household Management.” In both
works, the Epicurean author mounts a polemic against the Cynics, and
some of these arguments can be traced back two and a half centuries
to Metrodorus, a founder of the Epicurean school. Philodemus argues
for a mean of wealth, so that the extremes of both luxury and Cynic
poverty (ptvxe¤a) are vices. He argues for “natural wealth” and him-
self lived in the villa of his wealthy patron, while Cynics had nothing
and were homeless.
Given the analogous tension within the early Jesus movement between
settled householders and wandering mendicants, I argue that the cen-
turies-old debate between Epicureans and Cynics sheds light on Jesus
blessing the “poor” (ofl ptvxo¤; Luke 6:20b). It has been argued that
this beatitude describes la condition humaine as one of poverty, whether
or not one is poor economically. But the words he employed mean
that Jesus blessed Cynic mendicancy and lived that homeless life style,
and that the first beatitude has an irreducible economic element.

“Blessed are the mendicants” (makãrioi ofl ptvxo¤; Luke 6:20b).

“. . . mendicancy . . . the deprivation not of many, but of all things”
(ptvxe¤a[n ] . . . t[Ø]n st°r[hsin oÈ] poll«n, éllå pãn[tvn];
Philodemus, On Wealth, col. XLV, line 15).1

* I offer this essay to my daughter, Christina Irene Balch. When we were dis-
cussing whether she had sufficient funds for her study at the University of California,
she said, “If I do not have enough money to eat one day, I fast; it’s good for my
body.” I presented this paper at the Studiorum Novum Testamentum Societas meet-
ing in Strasbourg in August, 1996.
1
Adele Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro ‘Sulla Ricchezza’ di Filodemo,” CErc
8 (1978) 52–95, 70. Tepedino Guerra’s edition includes an introduction (52–57), a
table comparing previous editions (58–60), text-critical explanation (60), fragmen-
tary Greek text of columns II–LIX (61–74), Italian translation (75–77), commen-
tary (78–91), Greek index (92–95), and an index of names (95). Cp. Elizabeth Asmis,
“Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” ANRW II.36.4 (1990) 2369–2406, at 2385–90, esp.
178 david l. balch

“You who know, and whose vast knowing

is born of poverty, abundance of poverty—
make it so the poor are no longer
despised and thrown away.
Look at them standing about—
like wildflowers, which have nowhere else to grow.” (Rilke)2
This article is a study and partial translation of two of Philodemus’
tractates, On Wealth and On Household Management. Both were papyrus
scrolls in the Greek library of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum.
Nowhere else in the Greco-Roman world may we examine the archi-
tecture of a house/villa, interpret the meaning of a sculptural pro-
gram of ninety pieces, and study a library of 1787 volumes,3 one of
which discusses how to manage a household and rejects alternative—
luxurious as well as Cynic—ways of life. In both works Philodemus
mounts a polemic against the Cynics,4 and the polemic sheds light
on the meaning of Jesus’ first beatitude.

2387 on the Cynics. She observes (2387, n. 46) that Philodemus, “On Wealth” is
preserved in PHerc. 163, PHerc. 200, and possibly PHerc. 97; Tepedino Guerra’s
edition is of PHerc. 163. See Michael Erler, “Epikur,” in Die Hellenistische Philosophie,
ed. Hellmut Flashar (Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie: Die Philosophie der
Antike, Bd. 4; Basel: Schwabe, 1994) 29–490, esp. 289–362 on Philodemus.
2
“The Book of Poverty and Death,” Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, trans.
Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy (New York: Riverhead, 1996) 3:19, 143, an edited
translation of “Das Stundenbuch,” in Rainer Maria Rilke, Ausgewählte Werke, (Leipzig:
Im Insel, 1938) 1.9–104. He wrote this final third of the Book of Hours in Paris,
where he had gone in 1902 to write on Rodin, discovering also the horrors of
urban poverty. His prose description of this poverty is “Die Aufzeichnungen des
Malte Laurids Brigge,” Ausgewählte Werke 2.7–212; for this second reference I thank
Hubert Cancik.
3
Joseph Jay Deiss, Herculaneum: Italy’s Buried Treasure, rev. ed. (Malibu: J. Paul
Getty Museum, 1989) 68. Eight hundred of the scrolls remain unread (71). Virtually
all are in Greek, with a very few in Latin, so there may be a Latin library as yet
undiscovered. Marcello Gigante, Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum, trans.
Dirk Obbink (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1995) 47: “Perhaps we can
securely confirm the suspicion of Pandermalis, who recognizes ‘in the selection and
groupings of the sculptures . . . the direct influence of the doctrine of Philodemus,
the philosopher of the house. . . .’” Compare F. Gregory Warden and David Gilman
Romano, “The Course of Glory: Greek Art in a Roman Context at the Villa of
the Papyri at Herculaneum,” Art History 17/2 ( June 1994) 228–54. Warden and
Romano’s interpretation of the sculptural program, however, does not correspond
to Philodemus’ philosophical thoughts on household management as interpreted by
Elizabeth Asmis in this volume.
4
Marcello Gigante, Cinismo e Epicureismo (Memorie dell’Istituto Italiano per gli
Studi Filosofici 23 [Naples: Bibliopolis, 1992]), esp. 32–33, 42–43, 99–113, reviewed
by Michael Erler in Gnomon 68/4 (1996) 292–94, who says Gigante has set the
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 179

Philodemus, Per‹ ploÊtou (On Wealth)

Philodemus, in On Household Management XII.21, refers to his own

work On Wealth, which is therefore earlier.5 Philodemus produced his
first works in the period 75–50 b.c.e., but wrote On Vices and Virtues
after 50; “the central position to the whole work is occupied by book
9, ‘On Household Management,’ well preserved in PHerc. 1424 . . .”6
The wealth defined, debated, and defended in the earlier (more frag-
mentary) work is the basis for the later one, so I will survey it, trans-
lating crucial phrases and sentences.7 The fragmentary remains of
the work make the translation disjointed and discontinuous.

direction of future research. Cp. Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro” 55 (with n. 25),
78, 79, 86, 89. At col. XXXII, lines 4–5 Crillo conjectures “[Zh]nvn” (cf. Tepedino
Guerra, 53, n. 7; also 78–79). The extant fragments of Philodemus’ “On Wealth”
name the Cynics (col. L, line 7). His On Household Management XII. 25ff. names and
mounts a polemic against the Cynics.
5
Christianus Jensen, Philodemi Per‹ ofikonom¤aw qui dicitur libellus (Leipzig: Teubner,
1906) 38. Cf. the text and translation by Johann Adam Hartung, Philodems Abhandlungen
über die Haushaltung und über den Hochmut und Theophrasts Haushaltung und Characterbilder
(Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1857). However, Renato Laurenti, Filodemo e il pensiero eco-
nomico degli epicurei (Testi e Documenti per lo Studio dell’Antichita 39 [Milan: Istituto
Editoriale Cispalpino-la Goliardica, 1973]) 14 criticizes Hartung for ignoring the
acute textual emendations of Leonhard von Spengel in the Gelehrte Anzeigen 7
(Königliche bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften [Munich: 1838]), Nos. 255–56:
1001–07, 1009–16, 1022–23; and 9 (1839) Nos. 193–95: 505–36. See the review
of Laurenti by Matilde Ferrario, “Una nuova edizione dell’opera Filodemea sull’
Economia,” CErc 6 (1976) 92–95.
6
Gigante, Philodemus 21, 39. On Cicero’s translation about 85 b.c.e. of Xenophon’s
work of the same title into Latin, see Sarah B. Pomeroy, Xenophon Oeconomicus: A
Social and Historical Commentary with a New English Translation (Oxford: Clarendon,
1994, 1995) 70. On Philodemus’ influence on others see Laurenti, Filodemo, 20 n. 22.
7
Important recent studies of poverty and wealth, however, do not include a ref-
erence to Philodemus’ treatise On Wealth: Hans Dieter Betz, The Sermon on the Mount
(Hermeneia [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995]) 110–19 with bibliography; his Der Apostle
Paulus und die sokratische Tradition BHT 45 (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck],
1972) 109–13; and Martin Hengel, Property and Riches in the Early Church: Aspects of
a Social History of Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), a translation of
Eigentum und Reichtum in der frühen Kirche (Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag, 1973). I know of
no New Testament scholar who refers to Philodemus’ treatise on wealth, even
though some scholars survey Greek discussions and although Philodemus calls ptvxe¤a
evil (XLII.26–35; XLIII.1–8), the condition of persons whom Jesus pronounced
“blessed.” This failure to consider what Philodemus says has consequences for inter-
pretation, as we shall see. Clarence E. Glad, Paul and Philodemus: Adaptability in
Epicurean and Early Christian Psychagogy, NovTSup 81 (Leiden: Brill, 1995), clarifies
many Philodemian texts but has no occasion to refer to this one.
180 david l. balch

A. Philodemus, “On Wealth:” A Translation of Selected Sentences8

Philodemus refers to persons who are:
“procuring the preservation [of wealth] also with anxious pain, and
who are so struggling in regard to the loss of property that without
property . . .” (poioÊmenoi tØ[n fu]lakØn ka‹ sÁn mer¤mnaiw §[p]vdÊnoiw.
ka‹ per‹ t∞w épobol∞w oÏtvw égvni«ntew …w énup[arj¤aw . . .] . . .; XXVII,
frag. 2, lines 9–10)
“. . . when they consider [wealth], they are superior to the indigent
and poor and needy . . .” (˜[t]an d[iano«n9]tai peri[g]¤nont[ai] t«[n] katå
[tØ]n [¶]ndeian ka[‹] pe[n¤]an ka‹ d°[hsi]n:; XXXIV.4–9)
“. . . for worry about an (economic) fall is not worthy of fear . . .” (oÈ
[gå]r êjion fÒbou tÚ katå metåptvsin §nÒxlhma:;10 XXXVI.10–14)
“It is said that the healing of all bodily pains11 . . . a good thing . . .
someone could say. And he said confidently, as Polyainos12 said, ‘reason
heals what it has wounded.’ And it does this, as Epicurus said, ‘when-
ever the wise person yields, falling into poverty, [this] one alone is not
defeated . . .’ ” l°ge]syai pa[s«n] t«[nde yerap]e¤an élghdÒnvn, . . . égayÚn
[. . . ê]n tiw e‡peie: ka‹ yar[r]oÊntvw e ‰[p]e
. dØ ka¤, kayãper ¶fhse PolÊainow,
“˜per ¶trvse yerapeÊei [ı lÒ]gow” ka‹ to[Ë]to poe› k[ay]ãper e‰pen ÉEp¤kourow,
[˜ta]n par∞i pot¢ pesΔ[n
. . . . ı so]fÚw efiw pen¤[an, mÒnon oÈ tr°petai . . . )’;
XL.6–16)
“. . . Everything which is charged against poverty on the grounds that
it is inferior to wealth is, in truth, as Metrodorus said, a false accu-
sation . . .” (ka‹ pãnyÉ [˜]sa kathg[o]re›tai pen¤aw …w §lleipoÊshw ploÊtou,
ta›w élhye¤aiw, …w ı MhtrÒdvrow ¶fh, kataceÊsmatÉ §st¤, . . .; XLI.10–15)
“. . . many evils together do not make a good, but [many states of ]
poverty [together make] wealth. There is a great difference between
good and evil, but not between wealth and poverty, and wealth is a

8
I thank Professors Ronald F. Hock and Abraham J. Malherbe for substantive
assistance with this translation of On Wealth, especially Hock for his full translation.
I also thank Prof. Voula Tsouna for further suggestions. I remain responsible for
the final wording. On Philodemus’ difficult Greek, see the comments of Erler,
“Epikur” 335–36.
9
Cirillo’s emendation (apud Tepedino Guerra’s edition) is d[iatrib«n]tai (“con-
sume”); the sentence might then be ironic.
10
LSJ 1116 cites the final four words as Epicurus, frag. 154 Usener. LSJ s.v.
metap¤ptv; generally, “change for the worse,” §j eÈporÆw efiw pen‹hn, Democr. 101.
See Philodemus, “On Wealth” LIII.2–5.
11
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 78; in Philodemus lup°v refers to suffering
of soul, éleg°v to suffering of body.
12
The same Polyainos whom Seneca (Ep. 18.9 = frag. 158 Usener) says wrote
to Epicurus (Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 54 n. 14 and 81 n. 6).
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 181

good discussed by philosophers . . .” (kakå [pol]lå sun{i}y°mena oÈ poe›

égayÒn, pen[¤a] d¢ ploËton: égayoË ka‹ kakoË megãlh diaforã, ploÁtou d¢
ka‹ pen¤aw oÈ megãlh, ka‹ égayÚn ı ploËtow zhte›tai parå to›w filosÒfoiw;
XLI.32–39)13
“. . . labor . . .” (pÒnon;14 XLII.14)
“. . . therefore, since mendicancy is called poverty, whenever the school
of Epicurus says that poverty is an evil, they mean this (i.e. mendi-
cancy) . . .; they subscribe to the common and Epicurean use of lan-
guage . . .” (diÒti ka‹ t∞w ptvxe¤aw pen¤aw [kal]oum°nhw, ˜tan ofl per‹ t[Ún]
ÉEp¤[kouro]n kakÚn l°[g]vsi tØn pen¤an, taÊthn l°gousin . . . efis‹ ka‹ t∞w
koin∞w ka‹ t∞w ÉEpikoÊrou sunhye¤aw . . . ; XLII.26–35)
“. . . They assert that mendicancy alone . . . is said to be an evil . . .
Of the subjects [forms of povery] expounded by us, every mendicancy
is an evil . . ., called an evil as by the founders . . .” (. . . ptv]xe¤an
mÒn[hn . . . l]°gesyai kakÚn . . . épofa¤nontai: ka[kÚn d¢ p]tvxe¤a tiw [pç]sa
[t«n] ÍfÉ ≤m«n §kkeim§nvn . . . kakÚn ka‹ l°getai …w t«n kayhgemÒ[nvn]15. . .;
XLIII.1–8)
“. . . he means that mendicancy . . . is the privation not of many, but
of all things . . . This is why some Epicureans are said to use such cal-
culations on behalf of (the notion) that poverty is evil. Epicurus in
many other (books) says that poverty is an evil, but in different (writ-
ings) that have been collected this is not [his] opinion . . .” (ptvxe¤a[n . . .
dia]noe› t[Ø]n st°r[hsin oÈ] poll«n, éllå pãn[tvn . . .] diå [taËt]a [t«n]
Epikoure¤vn l°gonta[¤ ti]new Íp[¢r t]oË kakÚn e .‰na[i t] Øn
. pe[n]¤an [§]pilo-
gis[mo›]w xr∞syai toioÊtoiw: ı ÉEp¤kourow ¶n te êlloiw po[ll]o›w fhsi tØn
pen¤an kakÚn e‰nai, ka‹ §n ta[›]sdÉ •t°raiw sunaxye¤sa[iw] mØ f°res[yai]: . . .;
XLV.15–40)

13
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 88; cf. Seneca, Ep. 87.38–39 (“Some argu-
ments in favor of the simple life”): “. . . there is only one knot left for you to untan-
gle . . . ‘Good does not result from evil. But riches result from numerous cases of
poverty; therefore, riches are not a good.’ This syllogism is not recognized by our
school, but the Peripatetics both concoct it and give its solution. Posidonius, how-
ever, remarks that this fallacy, which has been bandied about among all the schools
of dialectic, is refuted by Antipater as follows: “The word poverty is used to denote,
not the possession of something, but the non-possession, or, as the ancients have
put it, deprivation (for the Greeks use the phrase by deprivation, meaning nega-
tively). Poverty states, not what a man has, but what he has not . . .” (trans. Richard
M. Gummere in LCL).
14
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 86; pÒnow is a Cynic term; cp. Laurenti
113–14 citing Diog. Laert. 6.71.
15
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 86; Cirillo’s text is Ùs¤vn kayhgemÒnvn,
which D’Amelio translates “santi maestri.” Asmis, following F. Longo Auricchio,
“La scuola di Epicuro,” CErc 8 (1978) 22–23, claims that kayhghmÒnew was used of
founders, kayhgoÊmenoi of other teachers/guides.
182 david l. balch

“. . . all say that poverty is an evil, although they see what they are
saying is an evil (?), but no one dares to say that the possession of
few things is evil . . .” (tØn [pen]¤an l°gousin pã[nt]ew kakÚn e‰nai, bl°pon-
tew ˜ l°gousi kakÚn Ípãrxein, tØn d¢ t«n Ùl¤gvn Ïpar[jin] oÈde‹w [dØ to]lmÆshi
kakÚn efipe›n, . . .; XLVI.26–34)
“. . . for since the Master considers poverty to be a good . . .” (. . . tØn
går pe[n¤]an toË kayhgemÒnow égayÚn e‰nai nom¤zont[ow] . . . ; XLVII.9–11)
“. . . although calling it poverty they were not prevented from saying
that it has evil,16 but Metrodorus was therefore able to console those
who are grieving at this, in fact, not those who are only grieving at
evil, but also those as if they were grieving at evil . . .” ([. . . tØn pen¤]an
Ùnomãzontew oÈk §kvlÊonto l°gein kakÚn ¶ xe[in],
. é[l]lÉ oÔn [p]aramuye›syai
toÁw §p‹ taÊthi lupoum°nou[w]§dÊnato MhtrÒdvrow, oÈ. dØ{i} toÁw §p‹ kak«i
mÒ[n]on lupoum°nouw, éllã te ka‹ toÁw …w §p‹ ka[k]«i [lupoum°nouw . . .;
XLVII.26–35)
“. . . not saying that they define poverty in relation to having few
things, but as their nonexistence, producing . . .” (. . . mhd[¢ f]Æs[an]tew
˜ti katå t∞w t«n Ùl¤gvn Ípãrjevw t[iy]°asi[n t]Øn pen¤[an], éllÉ …w katå
t∞w énupar[j¤aw] paristãmenoi . . . ; XLVIII.18–24)
“. . . to dispute concerning language and names . . ., both place the
possession of few things as characteristic of poverty, which is a good . . .”
([. . . p]er‹ fvn∞w [ka‹ Ù]no[m]ãt[v]n [é]mf[i]sb[ht]e›n . . . [émf]Òteroi tiy°asi[n]
tÚ [t∞i] pen¤ai prose›na[i] t[Øn Ùl]¤gvn [Ïp]arjin, ˜ §stin égay[Ún . . .] . . .;
XLIX.5–12)
“[poverty] . . . according to theory and according to ordinary language
is an evil . . .” (. . . kakÒ[n d¢] katå tÚ y[e≈]rhma l°geta‹ ka‹ katå tØn
[sunÆyeian . . .]; XLIX.35–39)
“. . . just as the Cynics . . .” (. . . k[a]yãpe[r] ofl Kuniko¤ . . .; L.5)
“. . . to set poverty wholly in opposition to wealth, and truly some-
times to call wealth good and great . . .” ( ka[‹ t]Ú pãntvw ka[tÉ]
§nantiÒ[t]hta t«i ploÊ[t]vi t[Ø]n pen¤an t¤yesyai, ka‹ tÚ m Øn
. [§n¤]ote égayÚn
l°gesyai tÚn ploËton ka‹ m[°]ga . . .; L.30–38)
“. . . one could rightly say that poverty is absolutely a good or an evil.
But if it is not a good for everyone, it is an evil to some and indifferent
to others. But I say that it is neither absolutely a good nor an evil
nor something indifferent; nor, by analogy, is wealth. Others have
different opinions . . .” (. . . tØn pen¤an . . . égayÚn [kayãpaj ≥ ka]kÚn Ùry«w
[ên tiw ¶lege]: e fi. dÉ oÈ pçs¤n §stin égay[Òn], éllÉ §n¤oiw ka‹ kakÒn, tisin

16
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 88; some scholars suppose that those who
call poverty evil are Platonists and Peripatetics. However, Philodemus’ treatise makes
it clear that some Epicureans did the same.
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 183

dÉ éd[iã]foron. oÈ kayãpaj égay[Ún μ] kakÚn ≥ édiãyoron, …w oÈd¢ tÚn

ploË[ton]: t«n m°ntoi ge éllodÒjvn . . .; LI.2–11)
“. . . the acquisition of wealth which can readily gratify the needs of
the body . . .” (tÚ [. . . plo]Êtou kt[∞]sin [. . .] dunam°n[h]n §j •to¤mou tåw
toË s≈matow §pith[deÊs]eiw sumplhroËn . . .; LII.27–31)
“. . . [They say] that the fall from wealth into poverty is something
indifferent . . .” ([édiã]foro[n m¢]n e‰nai tØn §k ploÊtou metãptvsin efiw
pen¤an . . .; LIII.2–5)

LIV and LV are difficult columns:

“. . . so that there is almost no bodily suffering. Even if wealth cures,
it is not permitted to say that it [wealth] is a great thing. Insofar as
it is also easily destroyed and perfectly subject to being taken away,
wealth does not permit . . .” (ÀsyÉ ˜son oÈk ¶stin êlghma kín [y]erapeÊh<i>]
ploËtow, oÈk ¶[j]estin aÈtÚ17 m°ga l°gein: §pe‹ ka‹ kayÉ ˜son [eÎ]fyartÒw
§s[ti] ka‹ [tel]°vw eÈafa¤retow ı [pl]oËtow oÈk [§]pitr°pei . . .; LIV.4–10)
“The fact that the sources of wealth are easily destroyed hinders in
perfect or even worthy pleasure. For it is not possible, in view of such
considerations, to make (pleasure) excessive. Therefore, not great . . .”
( . . . prÚw d¢ tele¤an ≤donØn μ ka‹ éjiÒlogon §mpod¤zei tÚ tå pohtikå18
eÎfyarta e‰nai: [s]fodrån går o[È dÊn]atai parask[euãzein toi]aËtÉ
§nnooÊ[me]na: [di]Òper oÈd¢ megãla . . .; LV.4–14).
“But reason in this situation and henceforth brings the same pleasures
from poverty as those from wealth, so that it [poverty] becomes a
matter of indifference . . .” ([. . . ı m¢n] lÒ[gow katå] toËto ka[‹] katå t Ú.
loipÚ[n §]k t∞w pen¤aw tåw ‡s[aw] ≤donãw kom¤zetai tåw §k ploÊtou …stÉ efiw
édiayor¤an kay¤<s>tasyai . . .; LVI.2–9)
“If we are poor, nor even if we are rich shall we think with pride of
such non-things for this reason, nor shall we betray our souls by desire
for wealth . . .” (§ån Œmen p°nhtew, oÈdÉ ín plout«men ÍperfronÆsomen
xãrin toÊtou [t«]n mØ toioÊtvn, oÈdÉ §k[d]oyhsÒmeya tØn cuxØn ÍpÚ t∞w
[§]piyum¤aw t∞w p[r]Úw ploËton . . .; LVIII.3–9)
“We shall admire the discoveries of treasures and the arrangements of
livelihoods, but we shall admire the philosophy that prepares for such
things” (eÍr°seiw te yhsaur«n ka‹ diatã[j]eiw b¤vn él[lå mØn ka]‹ filosof¤an
[ya]umasÒmeya tØn toioÊtoiw kataskeuãzousan; LVIII.26–30). “Philodemus,
‘On Wealth,’ Book a” (FilodÆmou Per‹ ploÊtou a’; LIX)

17
Ronald F. Hock proposes the emendation aÈtÒn, which I accept. This requires
emending m°ga to m°gan.
18
Ronald Hock proposes poihtikã, which I accept.
184 david l. balch

B. Observations Concerning Philodemus, “On Wealth”

Philodemus’ principal thesis is ploÊtou m°tron, moderation/mean of
wealth,19 neither managing wealth with anxiety nor fearing its loss.
Wealth can satisfy the natural necessities of the body, but through
lÒgow, philosophical reason, the wise person is not defeated by changes
in life. The wise Epicurean liberates the soul from passions, con-
soles, and encourages.20 Excessive riches bring preoccupation and
anxiety; but mendicancy, the privation of everything, is an evil accord-
ing to both Philodemus and the founder of the school (XLIII.4–8,
a polemic against the Cynics).21 The Master himself said that the
wise person will “not turn Cynic (so the second book ‘On Life’ tells
us); nor will he be a mendicant . . . He will have regard to his prop-
erty and to the future” (oud¢ kunie›n . . .; oÈd¢ ptvxeÊsein . . . ka‹ ktÆsevw
pronoÆsesyai ka‹ toË m°llontow; Diog. Laert 10.119–120, trans. Hicks
[LCL]). Epicurus called Cynics the “enemies of Greece” (Diog. Laert.
10.8).
Philodemus’ work reflects a debate over the definition and value
of wealth, poverty, and mendicancy that was occurring among
Epicureans (cf. XLIX.5–12; XLV.15–40).22 But all Epicureans mounted
polemics against the Cynics (cf. L.5 and “On Household Management,”
below), who rejected wealth and living in houses that exhibit riches.
Philodemus’ work reflects various positions within the Garden. Poverty
is sometimes called an evil (XLII.26–35; XLIII.1–8; XLVI.26–34;
XLVII.26–35), while Metrodorus writes that poverty is not inferior
to wealth (XLI.10–15). But elsewhere, neither poverty nor wealth is
said to be a good, an evil, or indifferent; pride is the problem

19
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 53. Laurenti, Filodemo 9 observes that the
Aristotelian criterion of mesÒthw is omnipresent in Epicurean ethics. Marcello Gigante,
Ricerche Filodemee (Naples: Gaetano Macchiaroli, 1969; 2nd ed., 1983) 274 cites
Philodemus, “On Household Management” XII.17ff. on m°tron.
20
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 54, n. 21 on boÆyhma and paramÊyion at
XLVI.4–5.
21
On the topos per‹ pleonej¤aw see Abraham Malherbe, “The Christianization
of a Topos (Luke 12:13–34),” NovT 38:2 (1996) 123–35. Erler, “Epikur,” 321 in
view of Philodemus, Per‹ filargur¤aw, suggests that avarice is the vice opposed to
the virtue of “household management.” But compare Philodemus’ title: “on vices
and the opposing virtues” (n. 27). In the treatise good household management is a
mean (XII.18–19; see n. 19). The vice at one extreme is indeed greed (XV.20), but
the opposite extreme is the vice of Cynic mendicancy (On Wealth XLII.26–35, but
see On Household Management XV.21–26).
22
See also Aristotle, Politics 5.1303b.15.
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 185

(LI.2–11; LVIII.3–9). Yet again, wealth is good and great (L.30–38),

but it is also said not to be a good (LIV.4–10). There is anxiety
about the loss of property (XXVII, frag. 2.9–10), yet the loss of
property is indifferent (LIII.2–5).
In contrast, the Cynics taught simple living, eating necessary food,
and wearing only a mantle. “Wealth and fame and high birth they
despise . . . Diogenes . . . used to say that it was the privilege of the
gods to need nothing and of god-like men to want but little”
(ploÊtou . . . katafronoËsin . . . Ùl¤gvn xrπzein; Diog. Laert. VI.104,
trans. Hicks in LCL). A fragment of Crates reads: “Crates said he
has not considered himself honored in wealth, but in poverty” (Krãthw
oÈ t“ ploÊtƒ e‰pen •autÚn hÈdojhk°nai megãla, éllå tª pen¤&; frag.
38).23 Most relevant for the present paper, Antisthenes said to Socrates,
“I conceive that people’s wealth and poverty are to be found not in
their real estate [house] but in their hearts (oÈk §n t“ o‡kƒ tÚn ploËton
ka‹ tØn pen¤an ¶xein éllÉ §n ta›w cuxa›w; Xenophon, Symposium IV.34,
trans. Todd [LCL]).24
Epicureans and the Cynic Diogenes seem to agree on one definition
of poverty (pen¤a) as a state of having “few things” (Diogenes in
Diog. Laert. VI.104, quoted above, and Philodemus, “On Wealth”
XLVI.26–34),25 and that it is a good. They disagree on the value
of mendicancy and, very practically, on whether to live in wealthy
households—households like the Villa dei Papiri where Philodemus’
treatise defending wealth was found, a house so striking that J. Paul
Getty spent $17 million recreating it in California.26 They may agree

23
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 55, n. 25 citing Friedrich Wilhelm August
Mullach, Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum (Paris: Didot, 1881; reprint Aalen: Scientia,
1968) 2.338.
24
Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 55, n. 25. Antisthenes continues critiquing
those who bend their backs to any toil (pãnta pÒnon) to increase their holdings. He
is able to share his spiritual wealth with his friends (Xenophon, Sym. 4.43). See
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Möllendorff, “Der kynische prediger Teles,” Antigonos von
Karystos, Philologische Untersuchungen 4 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1881) 292–319 and
Teles (The Cynic Teacher), ed. and trans. Edward N. O’Neil, SBLTT 11, Graeco-
Roman Religion 3 (Missoula: Scholars, 1977), diatribes 4A and 4B, “A Comparison
of Poverty and Wealth.” See also nn. 32–33.
25
See Diog. Laert. 10.130: Epicurus refers to “being contented with little if we
have not much” (trans. Hicks in LCL).
26
See The J. Paul Getty Museum Guide to the Villa and its Gardens, ed. Andrea P. A.
Belloli (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1988, 1989). See Mario Pagano, Herculaneum:
A Reasoned Archaeological Itinerary (Naples: T & M srl, 2000).
186 david l. balch

about the definition of wealth, but disagree about its value: Philodemus
affirms that moderate wealth is good, although it is precarious, eas-
ily lost, and may be the occasion for worried pain. Cynics absolutely
deny its value. Philodemus writes a logical sequel to On Wealth in a
later treatise concerning how to preserve, manage, and increase house-
hold wealth.

Philodemus, Per‹ ofikonom¤aw (On Household Management),27 including

anti-Cynic arguments originally made by Metrodorus c. 300 B.C.E.

Siegfried Sudhaus argued that cols. XII.45–XXI.35 of Philodemus’

work on household management have their source in the thought
of Epicurus’ friend28 Metrodorus, and so dates this section c. 300
b.c.e., the time of the founding of the school.29 Voula Tsouna-
McKirahan argues rather that Philodemus directly refers to Metrodorus’
earlier work only three times (XII. 17–XIII.29; XXVII.23–29; and
XX.45–XXI.35).30 She observes that Sudhaus’ linguistic arguments
are weak, since there is no term that could not have been used by
Philodemus, but many that are distinctly Philodemean. Moreover,
the Cynic way of life was debated in both Metrodorus’ and Philodemus’
times.
Perhaps the difference between the two positions should be formulated
as follows: Metrodorus says that wealth is a good thing because its
presence entails less pain than its absence. Philodemus says that the

27
The title is a modern reconstruction on the basis of the content, which
Philodemus describes as being per‹ ofikonom¤aw. The subscript of the papyrus shows
the title only as book nine of “On Vices and the Opposing Virtues, and the Persons
in Whom They Occur and the Situations in Which They are Found” (Asmis 2385,
n. 44); cf. Erler, “Epikur” (n. 1) 318–21. This manner of opposing vices and virtues
was attributed earlier to Aristotle (cf. Laurenti, Filodemo, 18, n. 18).
28
See Diog. Laert. 10.19.
29
Siegfried Sudhaus, “Eine Erhaltene Abhandlung des Metrodor,” Hermes 41
(1906) 45–58, and “Per‹ ploÊtou,” Hermes 42 (1907) 645–47, cited in agreement
by Tepedino Guerra, “Il primo libro,” 55, n. 27 and Laurenti 108–09: “un fram-
mento genuino di Metrodoro” and a “testimonianze sul cinismo.” Cf. Metrodorus,
Per‹ ofikonom¤aw and Per‹ ploÊtou in Alfred Körte, “Metrodori Epicurei fragmenta,”
Jahrbuch für classische Philologie, Suppl. 17 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890) 527–58; 545–46,
547–48.
30
Voula Tsouna-McKirahan, “Epicurean Attitudes to Management and Finance,”
in Epicureismo Greco e Romano: Atti del Congresso Internazionale, Napoli, 19–26 Maggio 1993
(Naples: Biblopolis, 1996), 2:701–714, esp. 702 n. 6.
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 187

presence of wealth is preferable to its absence only if one administers

it properly [with the appropriate mental disposition and not as an
art].31
Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412/403–c. 324/321 b.c.e.) was a Cynic who
lived earlier than Metrodorus (c. 331–278 b.c.e.); they expressed con-
trasting opinions on life style. Diogenes said:
All the curses of tragedy, he used to say, had lighted upon him.
At all events he was
A homeless (êoikow)32 exile, to his country dead.
A wanderer who begs his daily bread (ptvxÒw, planÆthw, b¤on ¶xvn
toÈfÉ ≤m°ran (Diog. Laert. 6.38 [LCL]).33
One of his counter-cultural sayings is recorded in this way: “Someone
took him into a magnificent house and warned him not to spit,
whereupon having cleared his throat he spat into the man’s face,
being unable, he said, to find a baser place” (Diog. Laert. 6.32).
Martin cites a tradition of the barbarian Scythians: Herodotus says
they have no established cities, but carry their houses on wagons

31
Tsouna-McKirahan, “Epicurean Attitudes,” 707 n. 16. My additional expla-
nation in brackets is based on her subsequent arguments.
32
Cf. Diog. Laert. 6.23 and Teles IVA (43H, line 161; ed. O’Neil 44–45), but
Teles writes of pen¤a, never of ptvxÒw. On the other hand, Diogenes managed the
household of Xeniades (Diog. Laert. 6.74). See the debates in pseudo-Socrates,
Epistles 12–13 and Ronald Hock, “Simon the Shoemaker as an Ideal Cynic,” GRBS
17 (1976) 41–53, esp. 48–52.
33
Laurenti 10–11, 108–10, 113–15, who gives the references to Xenophon,
Plutarch, and Diogenes Laertius that I cite in below and nn. 32 and 37. Also cited
by R. Bracht Branham and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, eds., “Introduction,” The
Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1996) 24; R. Bracht Branham, “Defacing the Currency:
Diogenes’ Rhetoric and the Invention of Cynicism,” in Branham and Goulet-Cazé
81–102, 91; Margarethe Billerbeck, “The Ideal Cynic from Epictetus to Julian,” in
Branham and Goulet-Cazé 205–221, 214 (she adds that Maximus of Tyre, Or. 36,
later describes the Cynics as houseless [êoikow] and homeless [én°stiow]); and
Richard P. Martin, “The Scythian Accent,” in Branham and Goulet-Cazé 147, who
cites I. Lana, “Tracce di dottrine cosmopolitische in grecia prima del cinismo,”
RFIC 29 (1951) 193–216, 317–38. Martin 147 cites Plutarch, Banquet of the Seven
Sages 155a: Anacharsis prides himself on being homeless. See also Diog. Laert. 6.71
on Diogenes and pÒnow, and the comments of Goulet-Cazé, L’ascese cynique: Un com-
mentaire de Diogene Laërce VI 70–71 (Paris: Libr. Philosophique J. Vrin, 1986). Cf.
Xenophon, Mem. 1.5.6 for Socrates’ attitude toward money and slavery. Socrates
says he has not even an obol and is proud of his poverty (Xenophon, Symp. 3.8–9;
cp. Diog. Laert. 6.21). Anthony A. Long, “The Socratic Tradition: Diogenes, Crates,
and Hellenistic Ethics” in Branham and Goulet-Cazé 28–46, 32 cites a similar tra-
dition of Antisthenes (Xenophon, Sym. 4.34–44).
188 david l. balch

and thus cannot be cornered or even contacted unless they wish

(Herodotus 4.46.3).34
Diogenes also wrote a work concerning wealth (Per‹ ploÊtou) and
one entitled A Mendicant (PtvxÒn;35 Diog. Laert. 6.80) expressing such
sentiments. The work on wealth has the same title as the very different
contemporary work by Metrodorus, as well as the one written two
and a half centuries later by Philodemus.
Philodemus begins his work on household management by criti-
cizing others, then discusses the Epicurean view, first presenting
Metrodorus’ position, then working out his own over against the
Cynics. Jensen reconstructs only twenty-eight of an estimated origi-
nal ninety-eight columns. Laurenti outlines36 the work as follows:
I. Others’ works on household management
A. Criticism of Xenophon, Oeconomicus (Socrates)37
B. Criticism of ps.-Theophrastus (ps.-Aristotle, Oeconomica I)
II. Various problems concerning household management
A. The philosopher and wealth
B. Sources of wealth for the wise person
In the first section,38 Philodemus accuses Socrates of forcing the
meaning of words because he takes “good household manager” to
mean “to manage well one’s own house and to cause another’s house
to be well managed, in that one understands ‘good’ to mean what
in a great and blessed way is beneficial” (tÚ [e]Ô ofike›n t!Ú[n] ‡dion
o‰kon ka‹ tÚ poie›n tÚn éllÒtrion eÔ ofike!›syai Élambanom°nou toË e[Ô]
toË megalvst‹ sumf°rontow ka‹ makar¤vw; col. I.5–10; cp. Xenonphon,
Oec. I.2–4). The alternative is “to acquire many things and to main-
tain newly-acquired and pre-existing property, and accordingly to
manage well one’s own house and to cause another’s house to be
well managed” (tÚ por¤zein pollå xrÆmata ka‹ fulãttein p«w diamene›
tå porisy°nta ka‹ pro#pãr$xonta ka‹ katå toËto tÚ eÔ [o]fike›n tÚn ‡dion

34
Martin, “The Scythian Accent,” 139.
35
This is the predicate accusative of an unexpressed verb; see Herbert Weir
Smyth, Greek Grammer (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920) 362, #1615.
36
Laurenti 16; also Asmis 2385.
37
Plutarch, Reply to Colotes 1118C and Anna Angeli, “La critica Filodema all’e-
conomico di Senofonte,” CErc 20 (1990) 39–51.
38
Karin Lehmeier, who is working on a dissertation with Dieter Lührmann,
wrote a seminar paper (Nov. 1997) critiquing the interpretation of col. I that I had
given in Strassbourg (Aug. 1996). I appreciate her critique and incorporate it into
this paragraph, including her references to Xenophon.
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 189

o‰kon ka‹ p[oi]e›n ofike›syai tÚn éllÒtrion; I.11–17). Philodemus takes

the second alternative to represent the common meaning of “house-
hold manager,” one who works to increase property (aÎjein tÚn o‰kon;
Xenopon, Oec. I.4). He criticizes Xenophon for going beyond the
common use of the term when he includes “what in a great and
blessed way is beneficial.” Household management concerns acquiring
economic resources, not what benefits human domestic relationships.
Philodemus also criticizes both Xenophon and ps.-Theophrastus
for the opinion that a wife is necessary for a happy life, an asser-
tion Philodemus denies (II.8–12; IX.1–3). And both earlier philoso-
phers, he says, include more on the subject of wealth than a philosopher
needs.
In the second major section of the tractate, Philodemus takes up
Epicurean ideas. The following section translates selected Metrodoran/
Philodemian sentences from the beginning of this second section.
Philodemus’ work On Household Management is complex. For this arti-
cle I choose to translate a short section at the beginning of the sec-
ond major section of the tractate that refers to the earlier work On
Wealth. This section contains the material which Sudhaus has argued
has its source two centuries earlier in Metrodorus. The section also
exhibits aspects of the Epicurean debate with the Cynics.

A. Translation of Philodemus, Concerning Household Management

XII.2–XVI.12; XXI.28–35; XXVII.42–47, XXVIII.3–5 39
Now that the views concerning these people [Xenophon (Socrates)
and ps.-Theophrastus] have been sufficiently indicated, one must
sketch our doctrines in a concise fashion (col. XII.2–5). Accordingly,
we will discuss, not how to live nobly in a household, but how one
must take a stand regarding the acquisition and preservation of prop-
erty, with which [the terms] “household management” and “house-
hold manager,” it is agreed, are strictly concerned, although we do
not continue to dispute in any way with those who choose to assign
other [concerns] to these terms; and [how one must take a stand]
regarding acquisition [of property] that is needed by the philoso-
pher, not just by anybody (XII.5–17).

39
I thank Stanley K. Stowers for early assistance. Then Ronald F. Hock trans-
lated all of cols. XII–XVI. I modified his translation, and Elizabeth Asmis suggested
other changes. Their assistance, especially Hock’s detailed translation, has been indis-
pensable. I remain responsible for the final wording.
190 david l. balch

A philosopher has a [moderate] measure of wealth (ploÊtou m°[tr]on),

a view which we have handed on in accord with our teachers in
the book On Wealth, so that we might explain the management
of the acquisition and preservation of this measure [of wealth].
(XII.17–25). Well then, in Metrodorus’ book On Wealth this sort of
thing is found on the topic in the argument against those who say
fairly that Cynic philosophers have chosen a way of life that is much
too frivolous and easy. [Cynics] as far as possible remove everything
from themselves which does not provide a simple life that ends peace-
fully and especially without confusion and with the least anxiety and
trouble—precisely what the one who merely gathers for himself daily
(k]ayÉ h[m°ran) has (XII.25–41). For this also applies to a philoso-
pher, but more than this is already entirely empty (kenÒn; XII.41–43).
Therefore he [Metrodorus] has written that it is acceptable to say
that this life is the best, with which the greatest tranquility and peace
as well as the least annoying worry are associated (XII.44–XIII.3).
This does not seem, however, to be the goal, if we should flee
everything in relation to whose possession we might at some time
have troubles or might be distressed (XIII.3–8). For many of these
matters produce some distress (lÊpaw) when they are possessed, but
many more distresses when they are not present (XIII.8–11). Therefore
bodily health involves some care and laborious toil (pÒnon), terrible
distress [in body] nevertheless rather, whenever [health is] absent
(XIII.11–15). Similarly the true friend also produces distress (l[Ê]p[aw])
to some degree when present, but causes more distress when absent
(XIII.15–19). In this manner, the earnest person is able to distin-
guish clearly many things into what is advantageous and disadvan-
tageous and to choose some rather than others. [The earnest person]
does this not courteously, not because he is able to live “nobly”
[kal«w (against Socrates; see XII.6–7)] and be in need of many
things which, by not possessing, he will live miserably and lacking
some he will be distressed (XIII.19–29).
Accordingly one must not flee everything by whose possession it
is possible at some time to have troubles, worries and anxieties of
such and such a kind, as I have said above (XIII.29–35; cp. XIII.3–8).
One must accept some things, among which also is wealth, since
one has less misery when it is present, rather for the whole of life
but not (only) for some crisis (kairÒ[n]; XIII.35–39). It is not safe to
use the same rule with regard to toil (kanÒni t«i [p]Ònouw). Indeed,
there are toils (pÒnoi) for the one who provides for himself daily (kayÉ
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 191

≤m°ran), and even the one with plenty will have some troubles
([Ù]xlÆsei[w) at some time (XIII.39–44). Similarly, even for the one who
has acquired a moderate amount, it is not just (d¤ka[ion) to reject it
on account of such a [possible] change of fortune (XIII.44–XIV.2).
But one must consider this for the most part as contributing to
the best way of life (XIV.2–5). Wealth does not seem to produce
unprofitable annoyances by itself, but (only) through the evil (kak¤an)
of those who use it (XIV.5–9). For the care and preservation [of
wealth], as is fitting for one who is customarily in charge, sometimes
produces trouble (ˆxlhsin), but not more than occurs with earning
a living day by day (XIV.9–15). And even if it [wealth] [produces]
more [trouble], it is not more than the others which set free from
difficulties (XIV.15–17). If someone cannot show that natural wealth
(ı fusikÚw ploËtow) does not yield much greater revenues than the
toils (pÒnouw) which derive from a life of little . . . (XIV.17–23).40
For I consider that wealth is rightly managed in this way: not to
be grieved (lu[pe]›syai) by what is lost nor on account of intem-
perate zeal in matters of profit and loss to be involved with “slave
treadmills” by oneself (XIV.23–30). For toil (p[Òn]ow) in acquisition
involves both dragging oneself by force and being anxious over losses
since they will immediately lead to present and expected pain
(XIV.30–37). But if someone can remove such difficulties ([d]usx-
here¤aw) from himself and neither attempt to accumulate and to gain
as much property as possible by toil nor even that authority which
wealth provides, nor prepare to preserve money with difficulty
(d[u]s xhe
. r. «w
. ) or to accumulate easily, the mode of life and readi-
ness for acquisition would be precisely similar to sharing [with oth-
ers] through it [wealth] (XIV.37–XV.3). For administering these
things in this way follows on the fact that the wise person has acquired
and is acquiring friends (XV.3–6). Besides, if 41 these things are not
disposed in this manner, since, if these things are wasted, although
others will not be found, much ease occurs regarding household
management; otherwise,42 for those requiring speech more than the
many agonies in war (XV.6–14).

40
The apodosis is not clear.
41
Supplying ên as Jensen proposes in the apparatus.
42
Again, from this point through XV.21 the translation follows Jensen’s appa-
ratus, but even then, the conclusion of the sentence is incomprehensible.
192 david l. balch

But if they cannot somehow fall into this manner of life since they
are unable to have a single friend . . . (XV.14–21). For it is possi-
ble to say that such a person has easier daily acquisition, since he
is relaxed in this way about the things said by one who has no
money (XV.21–26). For we see that the property preserved by such
men is not less than the property of intense people, but if not,43 it
is not thus quickly destroyed and not insecure property (XV.26–31).
Therefore a wise man will at no time be bound by wealth in such
a way that he, for the sake of preserving it, endures great toils
(pÒ[n]ouw) that are equivalent to nothing44 (XV.31–37). For this must
cause use [of a property] to be without pain and the delight through
this use to be unalloyed, a delight which does not add to the acqui-
sition of wealth an oppressive anxiety for wise men; how will it be
possible to be preserved, even when the most perilous times (k[air]o¤)
prevail (XV.37–45)? For a person who is prudent and confident
about the future is not distressed by a humble and penurious mode
of life (tapein∞i ka‹ penixrçi dia¤thi), since he knows that the physi-
cal [body] is provided for by this [mode of life];45 and he inclines
willingly to the more abundant [mode of life]. Nor is what is sufficient
for him to be found to be evil (k[a]kÚw), the one for whom life is
moderate (m°triÒw) and ordinary, and speech is healthy and true,
even if he does not readily welcome any chance [life that happens
to come along] (XV.44–XVI.12).

B. Observations Concerning Philodemus, On Household Management

The texts Vesuvius preserved for us in the Villa dei Papyri in
Herculaneum are fragmentary, and several have been published in
Italian journals. There has been an amazing renaissance of classical
studies in Italy in the last decade or two, much of it related to excit-
ing archaeological discoveries, including ongoing work in Pompeii

43
This post-classical combination of particles (efi d¢ mÆ) is rare, and can be added
to the examples listed by Margaret E. Thrall, Greek Particles in the New Testament:
Linguistic and Exegetical Studies (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962 ) 9–10.
44
This translation leaves out pl∞yow.
45
Karin Lehmeier, “Gemeinschaft nach dem OIKOS-Modell: Philodem und Paulus
im Vergleich,” in Text und Geschichte: Facetten theologischen Arbeitens aus dem Freundes-
und Schulerkreis. Dieter Lührmann zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. S. Maser and E. Schlarb
(Marburg: N. G. Elwert, 1999) 107–21, 119 compares Paul at Phil. 4:12.
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 193

and Herculaneum.46 In one bookstore in Rome, I recently counted

fourteen series of Greek and Latin texts, most with introductions,
translations, notes, and bibliography.47 Philodemus’ “On Wealth” is
an example of an exciting text that northern European and American
scholars have ignored.
At the very least, Philodemus’ two treatises On Wealth and On
Household Management show that there was significant conflict both
among Epicureans and between Epicureans and Cynics with respect
to both the definition of the terms ptvxÒw (mendicant), pen¤a (indi-
gent), and ploÊtow (wealth), and over their evaluation as good (égayÒw)
or evil (kakÒw).
The shift from wandering ascetics in the Jesus movement to early
Christian households48 in Jerusalem and Corinth was more than soci-
ological. This change of social location also crossed boundaries that
had been philosophically debated and defined, polemically attacked,
and apologetically defended by Epicureans and Cynics for three
centuries.
Reading these two tractates means further that Jesus’ blessing of
mendicants belongs within a centuries-old mutual polemic between
Epicureans and Cynics, an opposition as old as Epicurus/Metrodorus
and Diogenes of Sinope.49 Hans Dieter Betz observes that the Matthean

46
On the social and religious function of houses in these cities, see Carolyn Osiek
and David L. Balch, Families in the New Testament World: Households and House Churches
(Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1997) chap. 1.
47
The most important of these are the critical editions in the series Lorenzo
Valle (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori); the most extensive series is I Classici della BUR
(Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli [Milan: Rizzoli]), most of them published or revised
within the last decade.
48
See Gerd Theissen, Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress,
1977) chaps. 2–3; Malherbe, Social Aspects of Early Christianity, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia:
Fortress, 1983); Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the
Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983) chap. 1; and Luise Schottroff,
Lydia’s Impatient Sisters: A Feminist Social History of Early Christianity (Louisville KY:
Westminister/John Knox, 1995), esp. chap. 1.
49
For a survey of the current discussion see F. Gerald Downing, Cynics and
Christian Origins (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1992). For a critique of Downing, Burton
L. Mack, and Eric Leif Vaage, see Hans Dieter Betz, “Jesus and the Cynics: Survey
and Analysis of a Hypothesis,” Journal of Religion 74:4 (1994) 453–75. In various
ways those three writers appeal to a “Hellenistic Galilee” which somehow removed
Jesus from Judaism, an idea that has a hideous history in Germany earlier in our
century. The Pharisees in Jerusalem and Philo in Alexandria were also hellenized,
but not therefore less Jewish. For the German Christian appeal to a hellenistic
Galilee, see Susannah Heschel, “Theologen für Hitler: Walter Grundmann und das
194 david l. balch

(5:3) “blessed are the poor in (the) spirit,” “presupposes reflection and
debate about what Jesus may have meant when he called the poor
blessed.”50 This is a debate that is then, I observe, a later parallel
to the internal Epicurean debate about what Epicurus meant when
he sometimes said that poverty (pen¤a) is evil, but other times expressed
a different opinion, that poverty is good (Philodemus, On Wealth
XLV.15–40 and XLVII.9–11). In contrast to modern assumptions,
“no one [of these thinkers] dares to say that the possession of few
things is an evil” (XLVI.30–34). But against the Cynics, Epicureans
defined ptvxÒw (mendicancy) and homelessness as evil. Both Epicurus’
sayings and Luke’s version of the Beatitudes (Luke 6:20–26) juxta-
pose the rich and the poor as good and evil, blessed and cursed,
unlike the Beatitudes as they appear in Matthew (Matt. 5:3–11).
Betz observes, “Indeed, praising the condition of poverty as such
would hardly be conceivable in antiquity, unless it were done as an
act of folly or cynicism.”51 Antisthenes and Xenophon’s Socrates,
however, did praise their mendicant life style,52 and this is precisely
the heated debate between Epicureans and Cynics (with a capital C)
in the two tractates discussed above. With regard to this ancient dis-
pute, Jesus blesses Cynic mendicancy and lives that life style (cf.
Matt. 8:20//Luke 9:58), with or without knowing that the alterna-
tives had philosophical labels and arguments. Betz mistakenly con-
cludes that “while one must take material deprivation seriously, such
conditions as such cannot be the reason for the blessing,” assuming
rather that the Sermon on the Mount “has in mind a topos . . .
which addresses the general human condition.”53 Both Epicurus and

‘Institut zur Erforschung und Beseitigung des jüdischen Einflusses auf das deutsche
kirchliche Leben,’” in Christlicher Antijudaismus und Antisemitismus: Theologische und kirch-
liche Programme Deutscher Christen, ed. Leonore Siegele-Wenschkewitz (Frankfurt: Haag,
1994) 125–70, 154–55; more briefly, S. Heschel, “Nazifying Christian Theology:
Walter Grundmann and the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish
Influence on German Christian Life,” Church History 63:4 (1994) 587–605. For one
rejection of the thesis of a Cynic Jesus see James Robinson, “The History-of-Religions
Taxonomy of Q: The Cynic Hypothesis,” Gnosisforschung und Religionsgeschichte: Festschrift
für Kurt Rudolph zum 65. Geburtstag, eds. Holger Preissler and Hubert Seiwert (Marburg:
Diagonal, 1994) 247–65.
50
Betz, Sermon on the Mount, 113, n. 7.
51
Ibid. 114.
52
See nn. 23, 33–35 above, including Xenophon, Mem. 1.5–6, cited by Betz,
Sermon on the Mount 117, n. 184.
53
Betz, Sermon on the Mount, 114.
 “on wealth” and “on household management” 195

Metrodorus on the one hand and Diogenes on the other understood

the human condition. For example, Diogenes wrote works on death
and on love (Diog. Laert. 6.80), as did Epicurus (Diog. Laert. 10.27).
Nevertheless, Epicurus, Metrodorus, and Philodemus repudiated men-
dicancy, and the last lived in the villa of his wealthy patron. Socrates
and Diogenes repudiated wealth and Diogenes was homeless. Diogenes’
wealthy follower Crates sold his lands and gave away the proceeds
to his fellow citizens (cp. Mark 10:29//Matt. 19:29//Luke 18:29).54
He and his wife Hipparchia lived and slept together in public places.55
Neither Epicurus, Metrodorus, nor Diogenes in their debates, nor
Jesus in the first beatitude describes “la condition humaine as one of
poverty, desertion, and misery.”56 The “humility” which is parallel
to poverty is also a social/economic condition, not primarily an
“intellectual insight.”57 Diogenes’ pupil Monimus does value Socrates’
saying “know thyself,” but as a “dusty mendicant” (Diog. Laert.
6.83). Socrates takes “pride” in not having a penny (Xenophon, Sym.
3.8), but Philodemus writes about “living well,” preferably with wealth
(On Household Management I.5–8; XVI.5–6).
Betz focuses on ptvxÒw as a metaphor, which would mean that
those living inside the wealthy Piso’s estate were just as “poor” as
homeless Cynics living without an obol, an interpretation which makes
the mutual polemics between Epicureans and Cynics, their repudi-
ation of each others’ economic life styles, irrelevant. Betz’s interpre-
tation makes wealth harmless, not an issue, which is not a neutral

54
Long, “The Socratic Tradition,” in Branham and Goulet-Cazé 42, citing
Gabriele Giannantoni, Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae, Elenchos 18 (Naples: Biblopolis,
1990) 2:524–28, 540, who cites Diog. Laert. 6.87–88; Origen, Comm. in Matth. 15.15;
Plutarch, Can Vice Cause Unhappiness? (499D); Teles IVA: A Comparison of Poverty and
Wealth (38, 40, 44 O’Neil).
55
Branham and Goulet-Cazé 10; Long, “The Socratic Tradition” in Branham
and Goulet-Cazé 42–45. Giannantoni 2:531, 533 cites Musonius, Or. 14: Is Marriage
a Handicap for the Pursuit of Philosophy?, Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism
1.14.153: Diog. Laert. 6.93.
56
Betz, Sermon on the Mount 114–15.
57
Pace Betz, Sermon on the Mount 115–16; cp. the use of the adjective tapeinÒw
(“humble”) by Philodemus, On Household Management XVI.2 to refer to economic poverty.
I discuss urban conflict between rich and poor, proud and humble social groups
narrated by the historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus in “Rich and Poor, Proud and
Humble in Luke-Acts,” The Social World of the First Christians: Essays in Honor of Wayne
A. Meeks, eds. L. Michael White and O. Larry Yarbrough (Minneapolis: Fortress,
1995) 214–33 and in “Political Friendship in the Historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus,
Roman Antiquities,” in Greco-Roman Perspective on Friendship, ed. John T. Fitzgerald
(Atlanta: Scholars, 1997) 123–44.
196 david l. balch

thesis in a modern world society where capitalism has won, where

there is conflict between first and two-thirds world countries. On the
contrary, for Jesus those who are financially wealthy are in mortal
danger (Luke 16:19–31; v. 20 on the mendicant Lazarus). The offense
of Jesus’ (and Luke’s) challenge cannot be made palatable in Western,
profit-oriented societies.58
As a theologian I observe that I and most of Jesus’ contemporary
North American and European middle-class followers agree with
Philodemus: it is better to live in a house where health and friend-
ships are more easily maintained, far better than trying to find food
daily whether we are young or old. The difficulty with these obvi-
ous assumptions is that Jesus has blessed not us, but those who have
no house, nothing at all (Matt. 5:3, par. Luke 6:20; Matt. 11:5 par.
Luke 7:22; Luke 14:13; Luke 16:20; Mark 10:21 par. Matt. 19:21
par. Luke 18:22). There is no quick solution to the contradiction,
but at a minimum, must not those who are professed followers of
the mendicant Jesus at least be in conversation with those who have
nothing, whether they live in the first or in the two-thirds world?59

58
See Ernst Käsemann, “Was ich als deutscher Theologe in fünfig Jahren ver-
lernte [What I Unlearned in Fifty Years as a German Theologian]” in Kirchlichte
Konflikte (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982) 1.233–44, at 243: “I unlearned
spiritualizing the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. They promise God’s king-
dom, whose earthly inbreaking exhibits signs and wonders, healing and freedom
from demonic possession. They reclaim God’s earth not only from our egotism, our
lethargic hearts and hypocrisy, but also from the tyranny of the enslaving powers.
Every one of us is called into service and given corresponding gifts. Insofar, I am
no longer satisfied with the Augsburg Confession (Article 7); the visible church is
known by the preaching of the gospel and the evangelical administration of the
sacraments, but also by the presence of the poor, with whose blessing Jesus’ list of
deeds ends (Matthew 11:6)” (my translation). Gadara, the city where Philodemus
was born and educated, is mentioned in the gospels; the whole town begged Jesus
to leave after he exorcised two demoniacs (Matt. 8:28–34).
59
For discussion of the relationship between the wealth of the first world and
the poverty of the two-thirds world, see the classic by Frantz Fanon, The Wretched
of the Earth, with an introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre (New York: Grove, 1963).
 CICERO, PHILODEMUS, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
LATE HELLENISTIC RHETORICAL THEORY

Robert N. Gaines

Abstract

Philodemus’ On Rhetoric reflects theoretical tendencies that arose signi-

ficantly after the beginning of the first century b.c.e. Particularly, along
with Cicero in his De oratore and Orator, Philodemus addresses the artis-
tic status of rhetoric with a complicated conception of art (t°xnh). In
the process, he emphasizes presentational parts of rhetoric over sub-
stantive parts, divides his rhetorical genera into two sets, using the aim
of practical persuasion as a criterion, and makes rhetoric dependent
upon other disciplines for its successful practice. Consistent with these
findings, there can be no doubt that Philodemus was an active parti-
cipant in the developments that shaped late Hellenistic rhetorical theory.

For a long time the standard view has been that the Epicureans in
general and Philodemus in particular contributed nothing of significance
to the development of rhetorical theory.1 And there are certain inher-
ent obstacles to any attempt to combat this view. For one thing, we
have little, if any, evidence that our chief source for Epicurean rhetori-
cal thought, Philodemus’ On Rhetoric,2 exerted any influence on theories

1
For ancient reflections of the view, see Dion. Hal. Comp. 24 and Quint. Inst.
2.17.15, 12.2.24; the contemporary view is represented in John L. Stocks, New
Chapters in the History of Greek Literature (Oxford: Clarendon, 1921), 22–23, and “Two
Books on Philodemus,” CR 38 (1924): 32, Wilhelm Kroll, “Rhetorik,” RE, Suppl.
7, 1083–84, George Kennedy, The Art of Persuasion in Greece (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1963), 301, and Elizabeth Rawson, Intellectual Life in the Late Roman
Republic (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), 143, 45–46.
2
The most recent attempt to reconstruct the text of Phld. Rhet. is by Tiziano
Dorandi, “Per una ricomposizione dello scritto di Filodemo sulla Retorica,” ZPE
82 (1990): 59–87. The best available texts for books of the work are currently as
follows: Bks. 1–2, Francesca Longo Auricchio, ed., FilodÆmou Per‹ =htorik∞w, Libros
primum et secundum, Ricerche sui Papiri Ercolanesi 3 (Naples: Giannini editore, 1977);
book 3, Siegfried Sudhaus, Philodemi Volumina Rhetorica, 2 vols. and suppl. (Leipzig:
B. G. Teubner, 1892–96): 2:196–239, and Jürgen Hammerstaedt, “Der Schlußteil
von Philodems drittem Buch über Rhetorik,” CErc 22 (1992): 9–117 [= Sudhaus
2:139–72]; book 4, Sudhaus 1:147–225; book 5 (?), Sudhaus 1:270–89 and 2:1–64
[= 1:289–325]; book 6 (?), Sudhaus 1:325–85 and Maria Giustina Cappelluzzo,
198 robert n. gaines

subsequent to its composition in the mid-first century b.c.e.3 Moreover,

those indications we do have about the intellectual connections of
On Rhetoric seem to suggest that the work constituted a kind of
anachronism, engaging in controversies from previous centuries and
attacking opponents whose time of life had long since passed.4 Given
these obstacles, we should hardly wonder that our libraries are not
crowded with tributes to the significance of Philodemus’ On Rhetoric.
Nonetheless, I think it may be insisted that sources and influences are
not the only measures of significance for a theoretical work. Accordingly,
in this essay I would like to pursue a brief investigation along different
lines. In particular, given the conception and treatment of rhetoric
that is evident in Philodemus’ work on this subject, I shall attempt
to show that, whatever else may be true of him, Philodemus was an
active participant in the developments that shaped late Hellenistic
rhetorical theory. My argument in this connection will be developed
in three parts. Within the first I shall very generally sketch the status
of rhetorical theory at the turn of the first century b.c.e. Within the
second I shall outline the sorts of advancements that appear to rep-
resent development in rhetorical theory around the mid-first century
b.c.e. Finally, within the third part of my argument, I shall illustrate
how Philodemus’ On Rhetoric exemplifies the sorts of theoretical inno-
vations that were current in his day.

“Per una nuova edizione di un libro della Retorica Filodemea (PHerc. 1004),” CErc
6 (1976): 69–76; book 7 (?), Matilde Ferrario, “Frammenti del V libro della ‘Retorica’
di Filodemo (PHerc. 1669),” CErc 10 (1980): 55–124 [= Sudhaus 1:225–28], Sudhaus
1:228–70, Matilde Ferrario, “Verso una nuova edizione del quinto libro della
‘Retorica’ di Filodemo,” CErc 4 (1974): 93–96, “Per una nuova edizione del quinto
libro della ‘Retorica’ di Filodemo,” Proceedings of the XVIII International Congress of
Papyrology: Athens, 25–31 May 1986, ed. Vasileios G. Mandelaras, 2 vols. (Athens:
Greek Papyrological Society, 1988), 1:167–84, and Sudhaus 2:131–67; cf. Dirk
Obbink, “The Books from Herculaneum: A Guide to Editions and Translations,”
in Gigante, Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum, trans. Dirk Obbink (Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995), 116–17.
3
See Appendix.
4
See for example, Stocks, New Chapters 23, and “Two Books” 32, Rawson,
Intellectual Life 144–46. Marcello Gigante places Philodemus’ backward-looking ten-
dencies in a favorable light by interpreting On Rhetoric as “opera di storiografia let-
teraria” (Filodemo in Italia, Bibliotechina del saggiatore, 49 [Florence: Felice Le
Monnier, 1990] 45; cf. 38, 39 = Philodemus in Italy 36; cf. 30, 31).
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 199

Rhetoric at the Turn of the First Century B.C.E.

At the turn of the first century b.c.e., rhetorical theory was charac-
terized by widespread agreement concerning the nature of rhetoric,
its constituent parts, the kinds of rhetorical discourse, and the rela-
tion of rhetoric to other disciplines.5 This much is clear from con-
certed attempts to portray the status of rhetoric at the time, for
example, in Cicero’s De oratore and Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria.6 But
such agreement is equally clear from the extant rhetorics that rep-
resent early first-century thinking —and I mean here not just the
school rhetorics contained in Cicero’s De inventione and the Rhetorica
ad Herennium, but also the Academic rhetoric preserved by Cicero in
his De partitione oratoria.7
Within each of these treatises, rhetoric, in its nature, is conceived
as an art. And we may take it from all the treatises that the artistic
status of rhetoric was understood as a settled matter. For none of
the treatises actually argues that rhetoric is an art, rather each assumes

5
Cf. George Kennedy, The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1972), 114–26 (hereafter RRW ).
6
De or. 1.145 (rhetoric as art), 1.142 (five parts), 1.141 (three kinds of rhetorical
discourse), 1.42–44, 46, 85–86, 145 (little relation of rhetoric to other disciplines);
Inst. 2.17.2 (rhetoric as art), 3.3.1 (five parts), 3.3.14–4.1, 4.12–16 (three kinds of
rhetorical discourse), 1.pr.11–17 (little relation of rhetoric to other disciplines).
7
On the preceptive nature of De inventione and Rhetorica ad Herennium, see, e.g.,
Kennedy, RRW 103–48. The date of De inventione very likely falls between 91 and
88 b.c.e. Kennedy, RRW, 107–10; cf. Harry M. Hubbell, ed. and trans. De Inventione,
De optimo genere oratorum, Topica, by Cicero (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1949), xii. But dates between 85 and 80 have also been suggested; cf. Guy Achard,
ed. and trans., Cicéron De l’invention (Paris: Société D’Édition «Les Belles Lettres»,
1994), 6–10, Anton Daniel Leeman, Orationis Ratio: The Stylistic Theories and Practice
of the Roman Orators, Historians and Philosophers, 2 vols. (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert,
1963), 1:92 and Wilhelm Kroll, “M. Tullius Cicero (Rhetorische Schriften),” RE,
Neue Bearbeitung (1939): 1093. Rhetorica ad Herennium seems to be a work of the
early to middle 80’s; cf. Gualtiero Calboli, ed. and comm., Cornifici Rhetorica ad C.
Herennium, 2nd ed. (Bologna: Pàtron, 1993), 12–17, Kennedy, RRW 113, Leeman,
Ratio 1:25. Dates into the 70’s and even the 50’s have been entertained, cf. M. I.
Henderson, “The Process ‘de repetundis,’ ” JRS 41 (1951): 73 n. 18 (terminus ante
quem 75), A. E. Douglas, “Clausulae in the Rhetorica ad Herennium as Evidence of its
Date,” CQ n.s. 10 (1960): 65–78 (c. 50). The composition of De partitione oratoria
probably falls during the years 54–52; cf. Brady B. Gilleland, “The Date of Cicero’s
Partitiones Oratoriae,” CP 56 (1961): 29–32; followed by Kennedy, RRW 229, and
Leeman, Ratio 1:92. On the Academic basis and general nature of De partitione ora-
toria, see Anton D. Leeman, Harm Pinkster, and Jakob Wisse, M. Tullius Cicero, De
oratore libri III: Kommentar, vol. 4 (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 1996),
99; cf. Wilhelm Kroll, “Rhetorik,” 1088–89, “Cicero,” 1102–03.
200 robert n. gaines

without question that rhetoric holds this status. In fact, De inventione

unambiguously applies the term “ars” to the theory of speaking no
less than twenty-six times.8 Likewise, “ars” is used in quite the same
way thirty-seven times in Rhetorica ad Herennium and three times in
De partitione.9 Accordingly, our evidence is that turn-of-the-century
rhetoricians felt a confident consensus that rhetoric was an art.
In conceiving the parts of rhetoric, our treatises also generally
agree. De inventione and Rhetorica ad Herennium are nearly identical;
both divide rhetoric into invention, arrangement, style, memory, and
delivery, and both offer their main advice about speech parts and
issues of dispute under the rubric of invention.10 De partitione orga-
nizes its conceptual elements somewhat otherwise—dividing rhetoric
into the power of the orator, the speech, and the question (includ-
ing issues of dispute).11 But its differences from the others are largely
cosmetic, since it treats the power of the orator in regard to inven-
tion, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery and shows that the
principles in other segments of the treatise relate closely to these
powers.12 Yet, however it is that we estimate their differences, the

8
Inv. rhet. 1.5 (2), 1.7 (6), 1.8 (4), 1.9 (5), 1.16, 1.50; 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 (2), 2.11.
9
Rhet. Her. 1.1 (2), 1.3 (2), 1.16; 2.1, 2.7; 3.1, 3.16 (3), 3.17; 4.1 (2), 4.3 (3),
4.4, 4.6 (5), 4.7 (3), 4.8 (4), 4.10 (5), 4.69 (2); Part. or. 48, 137, 139.
10
On the structure of this treatise, see Karl Barwick, “Die Gliederung der
rhetorischen t°xnh und die horazische Epistula ad Pisones,” Hermes 57 (1922) 2–7,
Kroll, “Rhetorik,” 1098, Friedrich Solmsen, “The Aristotelian Tradition in Ancient
Rhetoric,” AJP 62 (1941): 48–49, Dieter Matthes, “Hermagoras von Temnos 1904–55,”
Lustrum 3 (1958): 109, 115–17, Robert N. Gaines, “On the Rhetorical Significance
of P. Hamb. 131,” Rhetorica 7 (1989): 336–37.
11
Part. or. 3. Augustus S. Wilkins, ed., Brutus, Orator, De optimo genere oratorum, Partitiones
oratoriae, Topica, vol. 2 of M. Tulli Ciceronis Rhetorica (Oxford: Clarendon, 1903): C. Quot
in partis tribuenda est omnis doctrina dicendi? P. Tris. C. Cedo quas? P. Primuum
in ipsam vim oratoris, deinde in orationem, tum in quaestionem. (“C. Jun.: Into
how many parts ought the theory of rhetoric as a whole be divided? C. Sen.: Three.
C. Jun.: Pray tell me what they are. C. Sen.: First, the speaker’s personal resources,
second the speech, and third the question.” Harris Rackham, trans., De oratore, book
III, De fato, Paradoxa Stoicorum, De partitione oratoria, LCL (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1942). The divisions are treated within Part. or. as follows: the power of the
orator, 3, 5–26; the speech, 4, 27–60; the question, 4, 61–138 (unlimited issues of
dispute, 61–68; limited issues of dispute or kinds of causes [= genera], 68–138).
Regarding this unusual treatise structure, see Barwick, “Gliederung,” 2, Kroll,
“Rhetorik,” 1098, Solmsen, “Tradition,” 50, and Gaines, “Significance,” 336.
12
Although Cicero initially identifies the resources of the speaker as things and
words, he quickly turns to speaker functions as the means of analysis to be used
in actually explicating the power of the speaker (Part. or. 3 [initial analysis of speaker
functions], 5–8 [invention], 9–15 [arrangement], 16–24 [style], 25 [delivery], 26
[memory]). On the relations of speaker functions to materials handled under the
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 201

three treatises stand in complete agreement on what aspects of rhetoric

are most deserving of extended attention. For one thing, De inven-
tione and Rhetorica ad Herennium state that invention is the most impor-
tant part of rhetoric (Inv. rhet. 1.9; Rhet. Her. 2.1). Moreover, in all
three treatises, discussion related to the finding of speech materials
significantly overshadows treatment of other constituents of the art.
As is well known, De inventione, which was originally designed to han-
dle the whole of rhetoric, leaves off with the completion of invention
alone.13 So too, Rhetorica ad Herennium devotes 48 percent of its space
to invention (1.3–3.15 = 89 sections), 37 percent to style (4.1–69 =
69 sections), and 13 percent to the rest (3.16–40 = 25 sections).
Finally, De partitione devotes 59 percent of its space to finding speech
materials (5–8, 61–138 = 82 sections) allocating 29 percent to orga-
nizing speech materials (9–15, 27–60 = 41 sections) and only 8 per-
cent to all other elements of rhetoric combined (16–26 = 11 sections).
As for the kinds of rhetorical discourse, our three treatises exhibit
a similar level of agreement. De inventione and Rhetorica ad Herennium
are again essentially identical; both recognize exactly three types of
rhetorical discourse, namely, those on demonstrative, deliberative,
and judicial matters, all of which relate to particular persons and
circumstances (Inv. rhet. 1.7, Rhet. Her. 1.2). Of course, this sort of
analysis was inherited from Aristotle and represents a self-conscious
movement away from the scheme of Hermagoras, who, in the pre-
vious century, had allocated to rhetoric the treatment of matters both
limited and not limited to particular persons and circumstances (Inv.
rhet. 1.8). Particularly in this connection, De partitione differs slightly
from the other two treatises. For De partitione contemplates the rhetor-
ical treatment of unlimited matters, and these of theoretical and prac-
tical forms (62–67); still, alongside this treatment of unlimited matters,
its conceptualization of limited matters leads to a three-fold account
of discursive types: laudatory (which is identical to demonstrative,
69–82), deliberative (83–97), and judicial (98–138). Despite their
differences, then, the three treatises may be said to be in unison
insofar as all identify, and offer theoretical principles for, exactly
three kinds of discourse on limited matters.

speech and the question, see, e.g., Part. or. 9 (arrangement related to limited and
unlimited questions), 9–15 (arrangement related to kinds of causes and speech parts),
68 (unlimited issues of dispute related to invention and arrangement).
13
Cf. Kroll, “Cicero,” 1091–92, Achard, De l’invention 5.
202 robert n. gaines

Now, on the relation of rhetoric to the other disciplines, it seems

fair to say that with some variation, all our treatises conceive of
rhetoric as largely independent. Rhetorica ad Herennium makes this inde-
pendence fairly explicit. Here the study of rhetoric is twice distin-
guished from philosophy (1.1, 4.69) and the author makes clear that
the only things a speaker needs for rhetorical mastery are principles
of the art, imitation, and practice (1.1, 1.3, 4.69). Matters are slightly
more complicated in De inventione. In this work Cicero declares that
practice of oratory apart from moral study is folly, yet he makes
clear that the admonition is necessary since one can acquire elo-
quence without such study (1.1). Similarly, he insists that rhetoric is
an essential part of political science, yet he indicates that posses-
sion of rhetoric does not include mastery of the whole of political
science (1.6). Again, he observes that the principles of argument
exploited by speakers comprise a part of philosophical logic, but he
is quick to note that the whole of philosophical logic is quite unsuit-
able for speakers (1.33, 77, 86).14 Accordingly, the overall impres-
sion we get is that while there is a moral requirement for the speaker
as citizen and while rhetoric shares certain principles with political
and logical science, nevertheless, mastery of the rhetorical art per se
requires knowledge of the rules of rhetoric and little else. The case
of De partitione is somewhat special, in that the work is apparently
the self-conscious product of a philosophical school. Consistent with
our expectations in a work of this sort, we find the admonition that
the divisions of oratory may not be discovered, understood, or used
apart from the instruction of the Academy (139). The reason for
this, as Cicero explains, is that the principles of rhetorical argu-
mentation are shared with dialectic in a broad “art of subtle dis-
cussion and copious speaking;” not only that, but a speaker would
be hard pressed to speak with facility about what is good, bad, right,
wrong, useful, useless, moral or immoral without possession of the
moral arts (139). Still, even here a marked degree of independence
is to be recognized. For apart from logic and morals, no other arts
are required of the speaker. And it seems significant that as a kind
of conclusion to the matter, Cicero observes in setting out all the
divisions of oratory, that he has only pointed out the arts apart from

14
Cf. Kennedy, RRW 135–38; but in my view Kennedy overestimates the force
of philosophy in Cicero’s early rhetorical theory.
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 203

rhetoric, suggesting their mastery is something beyond and quite sep-

arable from what is required of the speaker (140).
To conclude, then, rhetorical theory around the turn of the first
century was marked by general agreements: first, that rhetoric was
an art, plain and simple; second, that rhetoric was usefully conceived
as containing five parts or powers, among which invention was the
most important; third, that rhetoric properly recognized and provided
principles for exactly three kinds of speaking on limited matters; and
fourth, that mastery of the rhetorical art was independent—or nearly
independent—of all the other arts.

Developments in First Century Rhetoric

In regard to these conclusions, I would now like to examine certain

of the developments in rhetorical theory which may be noted begin-
ning around the mid-first century b.c.e., particularly those which
arise in the mature works of Cicero, namely De oratore and Orator.15
I believe that these works are particularly useful in this connection,
not only because Cicero’s later rhetorics were subsequently recognized
as innovative,16 but because Cicero himself characterized the works as
advancements over his own and other theories.17 Certainly, no one in
the first century b.c.e. was better qualified to make such a judgment.
Accordingly, in what follows I shall briefly address myself respec-
tively to Cicero’s considered views of the artistic status of rhetoric,
the parts of rhetoric and their importance, the number and significance
of rhetorical genera, and finally the disciplinary relations of rhetoric.
On the problem of whether rhetoric is an art, Cicero’s most delib-
erate view is presented in De oratore.18 Within this work, he treats the
problem twice, once in the voice of Crassus (1.99–110) and once in

15
From Att. 4.13.2 it is clear that De or. was certainly concluded by mid-November
of 55; see Leeman and Pinkster, M. Tullii Cicero, De oratore libri III: Kommentar, vol.
1 (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 1981), 17–21. Or. may be dated with
some certainty in the latter part of 46; cf. Otto Jahn and Wilhelm Kroll, ed. and
comm., M. Tullii Ciceronis Orator (Berlin: Weidmann, 1913), 1; Robert Philippson,
“M. Tullius Cicero (Philosophische Schriften),” RE, Neue Bearbeitung, 1123, 1126.
16
Cf. Quint. Inst. 1.6.18, 3.1.20, 3.6.60 and Tac. Dial. 30–32.
17
For example, in De or., Cicero comments on the superiority of his treatment
over Inv. rhet. (1.5), Greek rhetorical treatises (1.23), and other writers de ratione dicendi
(2.11); likewise, in Orat., he stresses his originality in handling prose rhythm (174).
18
At Orat. 113, 122, 145, 147, and 162, Cicero assumes the artistic status of
rhetoric and its elements; cf. Brut. 25–26, 69, 151, 291.
204 robert n. gaines

the voice of Antonius (2.29–33). The upshot of these treatments is

that while rhetoric is not an art, if art requires exact knowledge,
nonetheless it may be considered an art, if judged by popular opin-
ion or the pragmatic standard, since these require only possession
of methods useful for practice (1.107–109, 2.32–33). Cicero’s handling
of the art problem is easy to underestimate, I think, because it exploits
elements that were already known in his day.19 What such an estimation
ignores is the complication generated in Cicero’s solution. He is not
simply saying that rhetoric is an art, provided you apply the proper
definition; rather, when confronted with the question, “Is rhetoric
an art?,” he answers, “No and yes, for there are two levels of arts.”
This complication helps not only to explain the nature of rhetoric,
but also to elaborate the dispute which had surrounded rhetoric since
at least the time of Plato.20
In connection with the parts of rhetoric, Cicero’s position evolved
gradually; in fact, definite stages in his departure from the “standard
view” may be noted in De oratore and Orator. In De oratore, books 2
and 3, one of Cicero’s admitted objectives was to present a texnolog¤a
concerning the art of speaking.21 In the pursuit of this objective, he
gives treatment to all five of the usual parts of rhetoric. Invention,
combined with arrangement, comes in for the lengthiest treatment
with 251 sections (2.99–349), style takes second place with 194 sec-
tions (3.19–212), while delivery and memory occupy a total of only
33 sections (2.350–67, 3.213–227). All of this seems fairly typical.
But there are indications that Cicero does not entirely adopt the

19
Cf. Leeman and Pinkster, De or. Komm. 1:190–94.
20
I have argued elsewhere that one of Cicero’s aims in De oratore is to join in
the dispute with philosophy over the artistic status, scope, and utility of rhetoric
(“Cicero’s Response to the Philosophers in De Oratore, book 1,” Rhetoric and Pedagogy:
Its History, Philosophy, and Practice: Essays in Honor of James J. Murphy, ed. Winifred
Bryan Horner and Michael Leff [Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1995],
43–56). On the nature and development of the dispute up to the time of Cicero,
see Siegfried Sudhaus and Ludwig Radermacher, “Critolaus und die Rhetorik,”
Phld. Rh., Suppl. (1895) V–XLII; Hans von Arnim, Leben und Werke des Dio von Prusa.
Mit einer Einleitung: Sophistik, Rhetorik, Philosophie in ihrem Kampf um die Jugendbildung
(Berlin: Weidmann, 1898), 87–114; Harry M. Hubbell, The Rhetorica of Philodemus,
Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 23 (1920): 364–82; Ferrario,
“Frammenti del PHerc. 1669,” 59–64; Jonathan Barnes, “Is Rhetoric an Art?”
D[iscourse] A[analysis] R[esearch] G[roup] Newsletter 2 (1986): 2–22; Brian Vickers, In
Defence of Rhetoric (Oxford: Clarendon, 1988), 83–178.
21
Att. 4.16.3; on this point, see Leeman, “The Structure of Cicero’s De oratore
I,” Cicerioniana: Hommages à Kazimierz Kumaniecki, eds. Alain Michel and Raoul Verdière
(Leiden: Brill, 1975), 140; Ratio 1:118.
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 205

standard view. First, it may be noted that the discussant entrusted

with invention, Antonius, takes a cavalier view of the traditional
mechanics of this part of the art, namely the analysis of disputable
issues (or status) and the investigation of topics. Actually, he says, if
one understands the case, the issue in dispute comes readily to mind
(2.104). Likewise, the topics of argument, while certainly important,
need not detain him long in presentation, since once they have been
simply indicated, it is not art that is required for their application,
but simply a moderate talent in the speaker (2.175). Second, Antonius
nearly dismisses the importance of the subjects he treats—invention,
arrangement, and memory, insofar as these compare with the subjects
which fall to Crassus, style and delivery—“for if you wish for me to
speak truly,” he says, “I leave everything to you [Crassus]” (2.351).
Finally, it seems quite significant that throughout De oratore, Crassus,
Cicero’s representative for the doctrine of style, frequently repeats
the argument that while the speaker shares the material of discourse
with the other arts, it is an eloquent expression that constitutes the
peculiar property of the speaker (1.49, 50, 51, 54, 57; 3.143).
By the time of his composition of Orator, Cicero’s break with the
standard view was complete. Here he characterizes the parts of
rhetoric as invention, arrangement, style, and delivery (54). But the
omission of memory is hardly his most significant innovation. For
when he provides accounts of invention and arrangement, he makes
it quite obvious that he no longer holds these in their former esteem.
Invention and arrangement are to be treated briefly, he says, because
they are notable not so much for the highest praise as for their being
unavoidable (44). And despite their absolute importance, when com-
pared with expression, they offer less scope for art and effort (51).
Accordingly, in this work Cicero dispenses with invention and arrange-
ment in 8 sections (43–50); and afterwards, he devotes six sections
to delivery (55–60) and 180 to style (51–54, 61–236). Admittedly,
the proportions of treatment in Orator are to some extent distorted
by the task which Cicero sets for himself in the work, namely to
describe the style of the ideal orator (2–3, 54). Still, as Cicero’s
explicit comments make indisputable, the order of importance ascribed
to the parts of rhetoric is significantly different from that which we
find in treatises less than half a century older.
The kinds of rhetorical speaking are treated by Cicero a little
differently in De oratore and Orator, but the main features of the two
accounts are quite comparable. Within De oratore he approaches the
206 robert n. gaines

subject of rhetorical genera through an inquiry regarding the scope

of rhetoric. Here he initially observes that the province of the ora-
tor includes both general and particular matters (2.41–42). In the
latter category we would expect him to offer the usual three-fold
analysis of kinds; but, in fact, he does not. Rather, he insists that
the theory of speaking only recognizes two kinds of discourse: forensic
and deliberative (2.43). There is a third, laudatory, kind, he says, but
it is less essential and besides there is no need for special principles
for this kind, since panegyric is only one among many varieties of
discourse that are expected of orators, but for which the principles
that guide forensic and deliberative speaking will easily suffice (2.44–47).
In what follows, Cicero extends this reasoning quite explicitly to giv-
ing evidence (2.48), composing official dispatches (2.49), rebuking
(2.50), encouraging (2.50, 64), comforting (2.50, 64), teaching (2.64),
admonishing (2.64), writing history (2.51–64), and even treating gen-
eral matters (2.65). The upshot is that while Cicero recognizes a
large number of forms of discourse that are rhetorical, he limits the
art and principles of rhetoric to the forensic and deliberative types
only. And lest we misunderstand, he is quick to explain (2.69–70):
[T]o prevent any surprise at my omitting to lay down any regulations
on so many highly important subjects, I make this declaration: . . . I
hold that in this oratory, . . . he who has acquired such power as to
be able to sway at his pleasure the minds of hearers invested with
authority to determine some issue concerning the State, or questions
of fact, or the parties he may be attacking or defending, will on any
other oratorical topic whatever be no more at a loss for words than
famous Polyclitus, when modeling his “Hercules,” was at a loss how
to model the wild beast’s skin or the water-serpent, even though he
had never been taught to fashion these subjects in isolation.22
In Orator Cicero comes to account for the kinds of rhetorical discourse
as part of his consideration of what constitutes the best type of elo-
quence. Here again he omits theoretical treatment of all but foren-
sic and deliberative speaking, giving the name epideictic to the whole
class of speeches excluded—a class comprising at least eulogies,
descriptions, histories, and certain forms of exhortation (37, 69, 207).
His rationale in this connection is very telling. Epideictic speeches
are ruled out, he says, because they are remote from contention in

22
Edward William Sutton and Harris Rackham, trans., De oratore, books I and
II, LCL (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1942).
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 207

the forum (37); likewise, forensic and deliberative speeches are ruled
in, because they pertain to the speaker who can speak in the forum
on legal and civic matters so as to teach, please, and move (69, 207).
Now, I submit that this rationale resonates in a significant way with
Cicero’s explanation of the relation between kinds of speaking selected
and not selected for treatment in De oratore. For both accounts feature
the fact that forensic and deliberative speeches attempt to sway audi-
ences in legal and political contention. Accordingly, out of De oratore
and Orator, I believe we may understand Cicero’s mature position to
be that, although there are a large number of forms of rhetorical
speaking, forensic and deliberative speaking are distinguished for artis-
tic treatment inasmuch as they aim at persuasion in public venues.23
Cicero’s conception of the relation of rhetoric to other disciplines
is one of the major themes in both De oratore and Orator. In De ora-
tore, his position is announced early on and prosecuted throughout
the work: “In my view,” he says, “no one will be able to be a
speaker consummate in every excellence, unless he will have gained
knowledge of all important matters and arts” (1.20). On behalf of
this position, Cicero argues that just claiming the mantle of speaker
requires that the claimant be prepared to speak on any subject with
knowledge and grace (1.59, 64). Likewise, he insists that apart from
knowledge of the subject matter, human nature, and the liberal arts,
the speaker will find intellectual respectability, effectiveness, and
expressive sophistication completely inaccessible (1.48–50, 53, 60, 72).
No wonder, then, that the speaker must grasp every ars et magna res.
In Orator, Cicero’s requirements of the speaker are little changed,
though because of the nature of the work, he does not so much
argue as simply stipulate that the ideal speaker must possess training
in the great arts (4), dialectic (113), and all the topics of philosophy,

23
The fact that Cicero multiplied the kinds of rhetorical discourse in De or. did
not escape the notice of Quintilian, who chides him for excess (Inst. 3.4.2; Ludwig
Radermacher, ed., and Vinzenz Buchheit, corr., M. Fabi Quintiliani Institutionis ora-
toriae libri XII, 2 vols. [Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1965–71]): verum et tum leviter est
temptatum, cum apud Graecos quosdam tum apud Ciceronem in libris de Oratore,
et nunc maximo temporum nostrorum auctore prope inpulsum, ut non modo plura
haec genera, sed paene innumerabilia videantur. (“Still a feeble attempt has been
made by certain Greeks and by Cicero in his de Oratore, to prove that there are
not merely more than three, but that the number of kinds is almost past calcula-
tion: and this view has almost been thrust down our throats by the greatest author-
ity of our own times;” Harold Edgeworth Butler, trans., The Institutio Oratoria of
Quintilian, 4 vols., LCL [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920]).
208 robert n. gaines

natural science, civil law, and history (118–20). Across the two works,
Cicero makes plain that success in practical speaking requires not
only rhetorical mastery, but equally, knowledge of a wide range of
instrumental and substantive matters.
To the extent that the foregoing is acceptable, I believe that we
are now in a position to identify at least a few of the developments
characteristic of rhetorical theory in the latter part of the first cen-
tury b.c.e. Particularly within the mature works of Cicero we may
note four significant innovations. First, in a departure from simply
assuming that rhetoric is an art, we may observe a deliberate con-
sideration of the “art problem,” which preserves the artistic status
of rhetoric through a bifurcation of the conception of art. Second,
as opposed to a theoretical focus on invention as the chief element
of rhetoric, we see a shift of emphasis to presentational aspects of
rhetoric, particularly style. Third, in contrast to a simple division of
speaking into three kinds, we see a multiplication of discourse types,
this marked by distinction of such types according to their level of
concern with practical persuasion. Fourth, as compared with a con-
ception of rhetoric as largely independent of other disciplines, we
find an insistence that rhetoric is inherently dependent upon the con-
tribution of many subjects and arts.

Rhetoric in Philodemus

I now turn to the final part of my argument, namely an attempt to

prove my contention that Philodemus’ account of rhetoric exemplifies
the sorts of theoretical developments that were current in his day.
In this connection, my procedure will simply be to address each of
the developments just identified.
First, then, what is Philodemus’ position on the artistic status of
rhetoric? Given that Philodemus says more about the art problem
than anyone ever, it would probably be foolish of me to go on about
the deliberateness of his consideration of the issue, particularly since
Philodemus’ treatise is a philosophical investigation and the art prob-
lem was one of the central concerns in the Epicurean philosophy of
rhetoric24 However, it is hardly beside the point to inquire whether

24
This much seems clear from the frequency with which the disciplinary
qualifications of rhetoric are entertained in the surviving rhetorical fragments of the
founding Masters of the School (ofl kayhgemÒnew), namely, Epicurus (frs. 20.1, 20.3,
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 209

Philodemus offers a complicated conception of art and thereby finds

it possible to make more subtle arguments about rhetoric. As regards
the complexity of Philodemus’ conception of art, it has for a long
time been understood that he recognized art as having two types:
exact art and conjectural art.25 One basis for this understanding is
Philodemus’ definition of art at Rh. 2, P. Herc. 1674 col. 38.2–15:
noe›|tai to¤nun ka‹ l°getai | [t]°xnh parå to›[w]ÜEllh|5si[n ß]jiw μ
diãy[e]si[w] épÚ | par[a]thrÆ[s]ev[w tin]«n|koin«n|ka‹
[s]toi[xeiv] [[n]] |d«n, ì diå pleiÒn[v]n di|Ækei t«n §p‹ m°[r]o[uw],
ka|10 talambãnousã [t]i ka‹ | [s]unteloËsa toioËton, | oÂon ımo¤vw
t«n mØ | mayÒntvn ¶[nioi], •sth|kotvw ka‹ be[ba¤]vw [≥ |15 t]e
stoxasti[k«w].26

20.6, 21.4), Graziano Arrighetti, ed., Epicuro. Opere, nuova ed. (Turin: Giulio Einaudi,
1973); Metrodorus (frs. 1, 2, 10, 11), Francesca Longo Auricchio, “Testimonianze
dalla ‘Retorica’ di Filodemo sulla concezione dell’oratoria nei primi maestri Epicurei,”
CErc. 15 (1985): 31–61; cf. frs. 20–22, 25, A. Körte, Metrodori Epicurei fragmenta, JCPH,
Suppl. 17 (1890): 521–97 (Körte does not include fr. 11 Longo Auricchio); Hermarchus
(frs. 35, 36), Longo Auricchio, ed., Ermarco. Frammenti, La scuola di Epicuro: Collezione
di testi ercolanesi diretta da Marcello Gigante 6, Frammenti dei Katheghemones 1
(Naples, Bibliopolis, 1988); and Polyaenus (fr. 43), Adele Tepedino Guerra, ed.,
Polieno. Frammenti, La scuola di Epicuro: Collezione di testi ercolanesi diretta da
Marcello Gigante 11, Frammenti dei Katheghemones 2 (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1991).
On the identity and authority of ofl kayhgemÒnew, see Longo Auricchio, “La scuola
di Epicuro,” CErc. 8 (1978): 21–31.
25
Cf. Hubbell, Rhetorica 258; G. M. A. Grube, The Greek and Roman Critics (London:
Methuen, 1965), 202; Margherita Isnardi Parente, Techne. Momenti del pensiero greco da
Platone ad Epicuro (Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1966), 389–90; Marcello Gigante, “Philo-
dème: Sur la liberté de parole,” Actes du VIII e Congrès, Association Guillaume Budé. Paris
5–10 avril 1968 (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1969), 203–05; Barnes, “Is Rhetoric an
Art?” 7; cf. Doreen C. Innes, “Philodemus,” The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, ed.
George A. Kennedy, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 1: 218.
26
I here follow the Longo Auricchio text (123) except that I restore [≥ | t]e at
lines 14–15 instead of [oÈ|d]¢, which Longo Auricchio adopts following Sudhaus
1:70 (I first suggested this reading in my communication “Philodemus on the Artistic
Status of Rhetoric,” International Society for the History of Rhetoric, Göttingen,
1989). The inspiration for this restoration derives from Barnes, “Is Rhetoric an
Art?” 21–22 n. 55, where Barnes argues that μ ka¤ captures the sense required at
lines 14–15. Citing a number of passages where “Philodemus seems straightfor-
wardly to endorse the existence of stochastic t°xnai” (Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols.
2.15–24, 5.34–6.19 [Longo Auricchio 47, 53–55]; PHerc. 1079 fr. 18.10–18 [Sudhaus
2:120]; cf. Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 30.19, 39.8, 21 [Longo Auricchio 107, 125]),
Barnes concludes the argument as follows: “I have suggested μ ka¤ for oÈd°. This
disagrees with the reported epsilon, and it may be an emendation rather than a
reading. But it is an emendation hard to resist: I cannot believe that Philodemus,
alone among ancient philosophers and against his own defense of rhetoric, would
have denied the existence of conjectural t°xnai (and have done so in his very
definition of t°xnh). And there is a clinching argument: at 2, xxx 12–19 = <I 59>
Philodemus plainly foreshadows the definition he will later offer. The text there
210 robert n. gaines

Now, art is considered and called by the Greeks a skill or disposition

from observation of certain general and elementary principles which
extend over the majority of cases to particulars, and an art compre-
hends something and accomplishes the sort of thing, such as few of
those not knowing the art accomplish likewise, doing so firmly and
surely or conjecturally.27
In relation to this definition, Philodemus later goes on to explain that
conjectural arts are distinctive, because their methods are “not for
achieving the end of the art in every case, but rather for achieving
it in the majority of cases or at least more often than persons untrained
in the art.”28 Having established art as a bifurcated notion, Philodemus
exploits the notion in two ways. First, as an orthodox Epicurean,
Philodemus felt the need to demonstrate that all non-Epicurean think-
ing on every subject was flawed.29 Accordingly, in On Rhetoric 1 and 2,
he opposes a large number of arguments concerning the art problem,
refuting them essentially one by one. Some arguments claimed that
rhetoric was an art. To these Philodemus was wont to apply the
stringent criteria for exact art, criteria he knew practical rhetoric—
which aimed at persuasion—could never meet.30 Other arguments

reads as follows: yevre›tai går §m meyÒdvi toËto ka¤ tini paradÒsei koin«n tinvn
diateinÒntvn §p‹ tå katå m°row, ê[n]tÉ oÔn ∑i t«n pag¤vn [§pi]sthm«n ênte t«n st[o]xas-
tik«n. The last clause runs parallel to the last clause of the definition: oÈd° is there-
fore impossible in the definition” (20–21). The restoration proposed is designed to
incorporate Barnes’ insight while preserving the papyrological evidence (i.e., the
epsilon legible in the papyrus before stoxasti[k«w]). These objectives are achieved
equally well, and perhaps with greater felicity, by [≥ | g]e, which was recently suggested
to me by Richard Janko.
27
My translation supplies t°xnh at line 9 and tØn t°xnhn at line 13 on analogy
with Philodemus’ language at Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 20.16–19 (Longo Auricchio
85; see note 30 below). Cf. David Blank, Sextus Empiricus. Against the Grammarians
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1998) xxxii, and “Philodemus on the Technicity of Rhetoric,”
Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus, and Horace, ed.
Dirk Obbink (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 179; Barnes, “Is Rhetoric
an Art?” 6.
28
Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 38.30–39.24 (Longo Auricchio 123–25).
29
This is something of an overstatement; still, polemic against opposing schools
is a feature characteristic of Philodemus’ technical writings and Epicurean philoso-
phy in general; cf. Gigante, Filodemo 21 (= Philodemus in Italy 17); Phillip Howard
De Lacy and Estelle Allen De Lacy, eds., trans., and comm., Philodemus: On Methods
of Inference, rev. ed. with the collaboration of Marcello Gigante, Francesca Longo
Auricchio, and Adele Tepedino Guerra, La Scuola di Epricuro, 1 (Naples: Bibliopolis,
1978) 153–54; Philippson, “Philodemos,” 2454).
30
Cf. Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 20.16–21.1 (Longo Auricchio 85–87); here
Philodemus’ refutative comment, ı mØ mayΔ[n] t[Ø]n t°|[xnhn] édunate› t[å t∞]w |
t°xnh[w] ¶rga suntele›n (“the one who does not know the art is incapable of accom-
plishing the results [or functions] of the art”), must certainly exploit criteria for exact
art or science, since he is elsewhere committed to the fact that laymen achieve the
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 211

claimed that rhetoric was not an art. To these Philodemus was ready
to apply the criteria for conjectural art, realizing that practical rhetoric
could be defended as artistic in this sense, since trained speakers
achieved their aim more often than those who were not trained.31
Second, Philodemus also exploits the distinction to express his philo-
sophical commitments. Prior to Philodemus’ composition of On Rhetoric,
his teacher, Zeno, had been attacked in the Epicurean school for
saying that one kind of rhetoric—namely sophistic rhetoric—was
artistic.32 The attacker had insisted that the leaders of the school did
not recognize any sort of rhetoric as meeting their criteria for art.33
Wishing to defend the view held by Zeno and himself, Philodemus
realized that the defense would have either to refute the attacker’s
interpretation of the leaders’ view or, otherwise, show that sophistic
rhetoric met the standards set down for art by the leaders of the
school. Philodemus undertook both strategies, but it is the latter that
is of interest to us here.34 For he constructively defends the artistic

result of conjectural arts (Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 2.15–18; cf. Rh. 1, PHerc. 1427
fr. 2.13–23 [Longo Auricchio 47, 5]). The same criterion seems to be at stake Rh.
3, PHerc. 1426 7a.2–7 (= PHerc. 1506 53.14–18; Hammerstaedt 32–33), where
the ability to read and write is denied to those who have not studied grammar (an
exact art, see below, notes 35 and 36).
31
Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 5.31–6.19 (Longo Auricchio 53–55): pçw texn¤t[hw
§]pa[g] |g°lletai tÚ t°l[ow] po[ih] |sein, ı d¢ =Ætvr [oÈk] §pa[g] |g°lletai pe¤sei[n. oÈ]
pçw |35 texn¤[t]hw §ån ¶x. [hi] fr°||naw, [§pa]ng°lletai tÚ | t°l[ow] diå pantÚw p[oi] |Æsein.
oÎte går fiatrÚ[w oÎ] |te kubernÆthw oÎ.[te to] |5jÒthw oÎte èpl«w ˜soi | tåw §pistÆmaw
oÈ pag¤|ouw ¶[x]ou[s]i[n él]lå stoxa|stikãw. ÀstÉ μ ka‹ taÊtaw oÈ =ht°on e‰nai t°xn[aw
|10 μ ka‹ tØn =htorikÆn. §|pagg°leta¤ te ka‹ ı | =Ætvr tÚ t°low poiÆsein. | §st‹ d’ aÈtoË tÚ
t°low | ˘ f`°rei t«n pr`ag`[mãtvn] |15 ≤ fÊsiw, oÎte diå pantÚw | ke¤[me]non` oÈd°, m`å D¤a,
ka|tå tÚ [ple›st]on. éllå po| lÁ. mç[llo] n t«n mØ =htÒ|rvn [tÚ] ¶r g ` [ on p]oie› .
(“[Opponent:] ‘Every artist professes to achieve the end <of the art>, but the speaker
does not profess to persuade.’ [Philodemus:] Not every artist, if he has good sense,
professes to achieve his end always. For neither the doctor, nor the pilot, nor the
archer, nor generally as many as possess sciences that are not exact, but conjec-
tural, <profess to achieve the end always>. So either it is necessary to say these
are not arts, or that rhetoric <is an art>. And the speaker does profess to per-
suade. But his end, which the nature of the circumstances produces, is posited nei-
ther always nor, by Zeus, for the most part. Rather <the speaker> achieves the
result (or function) <of the art> more often than non-speakers.”); cp. Rh. 6 (?),
PHerc. 1004, col. 46.8–11 (Cappelluzzo 73). An obvious implication of this line of
reasoning is that Philodemus considered practical rhetoric, i.e., the sort(s) of rhetoric
which aimed at persuasion, to be artistic in the conjectural sense.
32
For the general basis of the dispute, see Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 52.11–53.14
(Longo Auricchio 151–153); that the status of sophistic rhetoric was the central issue
of controversy is clear from Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 57.17–58.2 (Longo Auricchio
161–63).
33
Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 54.10–56.9 (Longo Auricchio 155–59).
34
Philodemus attempts to refute his Epicurean opponent’s interpretation by offering
212 robert n. gaines

status of sophistic rhetoric by arguing that it shares its form with

elementary grammar and sculpture,35 exact arts that must surely have
met the standards for art set down by the leaders of the school.36
Much more could be said here, but I believe it is already clear that
Philodemus found a complication of the concept of art a useful tool
in meeting his theoretical objectives in On Rhetoric. By recognizing
arts at two levels, he was prepared to defend the artistic status of
sophistic rhetoric at one level and practical rhetoric at the other; he
was likewise prepared to overturn the arguments of those who claimed
unreservedly that rhetoric was an art. In all this, I propose, Philodemus
demonstrates knowledge and control of one of the major develop-
ments of rhetorical theory in the mid-first century b.c.e.

several passages that he believes support the contention that the Masters of the
school accepted sophistic rhetoric as an art. These passages are presented at Rh. 2,
PHerc. 1674 cols. 43.26–52.10 (Longo Auricchio 133–51); Philodemus explains their
relation to his dispute with the Epicurean opponent at Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674, col.
57.13–58.2 (Longo Auricchio 161–63). A very useful account of Philodemus’ posi-
tion in the dispute has been offered by David Sedley, “Philosophical Allegiance in
the Greco-Roman World,” Philosophia Togata: Essays in Philosophy and Roman Society,
ed. Miriam Griffin and Jonathan Barnes (Oxford: Clarendon, 1989), 97–119.
35
Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 42.33–43.17 (Longo Auricchio 131–133): feÊ|gon[t]ew
går ëpasan oÈ pra|35gma[ti]kØn émfisbÆth|sin [m]etalhcÒmeya tåw | Ùno[m]as¤[a]w,
ka‹ taÊtaw || ìw nËn famen e‰[n]ai t°|xnaw, tÚ toioËtÉ ¶xein | e‰dow §roËmen ….[w] ≤ |
grammatikØ ka‹ ¢plÜ [as] |5tikÆ, taÊtaw d’, ëw oÈ [t°] |xnaw, tåw [§s]terhm°[naw] | toË
toioÊto, parathr[h] |tikÚn d’ [¶]xein e‰dow, o‰[on | ér]t¤vw §j. hriymhsã| 10me[y]a,
paraplÆsion [ka‹] | fy[o]nÆsomen aÈta›w. [e‡] |dh <d¢> toiaËta ka‹ tåw =[h] |torikåw
§narmÒtto[n] |tew, tØn [m]¢n sofistik[Øn] |15 t°xnh[n é]pofainÒm[e] |ya, [t]Øn d¢ politikØn
[oÈ] | t°xnhn. (“Avoiding all possible non-substantive dispute, we will interpret the
expressions, and those which we now say are arts, we will say have the sort of
form such as elementary grammar and sculpture have, and those which we say are
not arts, which are deprived of this sort of form, and have the observational form,
such as we have just reckoned, we will not grant a similar status to them. If indeed
we apply these sorts of considerations to the rhetorical disciplines, then we declare
that while sophistic rhetoric is an art, political science is not an art.”) I have trans-
lated grammatikÆ in 43.4 with “elementary grammar” consistent with Blank’s obser-
vation that the reference must certainly be to grammatistikÆ, since in the preceding
argument, the text has gra[mm]atis|tik∞i at 38.32–33 and grammatistÆw at 41.12
(“Technicity,” 179). Philodemus may be using grammatikÆ in the same sense at Rh.
3, PHerc. 1426 7a.2–7 (= PHerc. 1506 53.14–18; Hammerstaedt 32–33), since he
associates the term with instruction in writing and reading, a standard function of
grammatistikÆ (Sext. Emp. Math. 1.49). Philodemus’ identification of the form of
sophistic rhetoric with elementary grammar and sculpture suggests that he consid-
ered sophistic rhetoric to be an exact art.
36
Philodemus commits himself to the status of elementary grammar and sculp-
ture as exact arts at Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 38.30–39.6 (Longo Auricchio 123–25).
That elementary grammar (grammatistikÆ) was considered an art by Epicurus is
suggested at Sext. Emp. Math. 1.49–53.
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 213

I now turn to Philodemus’ estimation of the parts of rhetoric. And

here we face a little difficulty. The philosophical objectives that moti-
vate On Rhetoric are largely polemical; accordingly, within the work,
Philodemus is not at pains to offer a constructive theory for the parts
of rhetoric. Still, it may be observed that near the end of book four,
Philodemus indicates that one objective for the book has been to
examine “all things, which some say are parts and precepts of
rhetoric.”37 Now if we look into the materials which Philodemus
employs in carrying out this examination, what we find is that they
are apparently organized in five segments. The first four are devoted
to expression (frãsiw), delivery (ÍpÒkrisiw), the management of sub-
jects through the parts of speeches (sxedÚn pçn sk°mma diå toÊtvn . . .
dioike›tai), and invention (eÏresiw).38 The last segment treats “prob-
lems that are judicial, deliberative, and concerned with praise and
blame (t«n problhmãtvn tå m°n §stin dikanikã, tå d¢ sumbouleutikã,
[tå] d¢ per‹ toÁw §pa¤nouw ka‹ cÒgouw).39 For the present I would like
to focus on the first four segments; these appear to discuss parts of
rhetoric.40 And given Philodemus’ stated objective in discussing them,
I conclude that they comprise a self-conscious handling of such parts
as at least some had said belonged to rhetoric. Of course, if this
much is true, then it seems quite legitimate to infer that Philodemus’
discussion of these subjects represents, though it may not exhaust,
his thinking on each of the parts discussed. For my purposes here,
I believe this is all that is needed to gauge Philodemus’ estimation
of the parts of rhetoric. Consider that Philodemus treats the parts
entirely out of their usual order, beginning with expression and deliv-
ery and postponing invention to end. Consider as well that in book
four as we have it, Philodemus devotes fifty-four columns to expression,

37
Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 col. 42a.4–8: époteyevrhm°nvn|5 toigaroËn, Œ GãÛe
Pãn`sÄa, pãn|tvn, ì m°rh fas¤ tinew ka‹ didãgmata t∞w =htorik∞w | Ípãrxein, . . . (I
here follow the text of this passage as recently corrected by Tiziano Dorandi, “Gaio
bambino,” ZPE 111 [1996] 41; cp. Sudhaus 1:222).
38
Expression, Rh. 4, PHerc. 1423 cols. 1.1–20.28, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 1.1–24.25,
1a.1–11a.12; delivery, Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 11a.12–20a.12; management
of subjects through the parts of speeches, Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 20a.12–22a.16;
invention, Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 22a.16–30a.19 (Sudhaus 1: 147–93, 193–201,
201–04, 204–12).
39
Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 30a.19–42a.4 (Sudhaus 1:212–22).
40
Sudhaus, Phld. Rh. 1: XXXVII–XXXIX; Wilhelm Schneidewin, Studia Philodemea
(Göttingen: Officina Academica Dieterichiana, 1905) 6; cp. Walter Scott, Fragmenta
Herculanensia. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oxford Copies of the Herculanean Rolls (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1885), 85; Hubbell, Rhetorica 294.
214 robert n. gaines

ten to delivery, three to management or arrangement, and nine to

invention. Whatever the contents of these discussions, my under-
standing from this order and scope of treatments is that Philodemus
considered expression and delivery to be subjects more worthy of
extended handling than invention and arrangement. But this pattern
of emphasis, as I have argued, is much more typical of rhetorical
theory around the mid-first century b.c.e. than earlier on. Accordingly,
I would argue that Philodemus is once again demonstrating a com-
mitment to theoretical interests that were quite current at the com-
position of On Rhetoric.
In the matter of Philodemus’ conception of the kinds of rhetorical
speaking we have considerable information, particularly in books 1–4.41
The standard view of this information is that Philodemus recognized
exactly three rhetorical genera, sofistikÆ or epideictic rhetoric,
=htorikÆ or political and legal rhetoric, and politikÆ or political sci-
ence.42 I will not be following this view for two reasons. First,
Philodemus sharply distinguishes rhetoric from political science through-
out On Rhetoric book 3; in fact, he explicitly denies both that rhetoric
is identical to political science and that rhetoric includes political sci-
ence.43 Second, Philodemus fairly frequently treats sophistic rhetoric,

41
See Dorandi, “Filodemo sulla Retorica,” 68–71, as well as Knut Kleve and
Francesca Longo Auricchio, “Honey from the Garden of Epicurus,” Papiri letterari
Greci e Latini, Papyrologica Lupiensia 1, ed. Mario Capasso (Galatina: Cogendo,
1992), 211–26.
42
For this view, see Hubbell, “Isocrates and the Epicureans,” CP 11 (1916):
408–409, Rhetorica 254–55, 267, n. 6; Jane Isabella Marie Tait, Philodemus’ Influence
on the Latin Poets, Diss. Bryn Mawr, 1941 (Ann Arbor: Edwards Bros., 1941) 91.
43
On the question whether rhetoric is the same as political science, cf., PHerc.
1506 col. 47.6–10 (= PHerc. 1426 col. A.6–10; Hammerstaedt 22) where Philodemus
remarks: õoÕ[Ïtv]w` o¢ÎÜ|[te t]õØ.Õn =htorikØ.[n l°go]|meõn kÕa‹ polit[ik]õØ.n Í.pãrÕ|xein oÈd’
˜lvw épõotele›nÕ |10 polit¢iÜkoÊw. (“. . . so we say that neither is rhetoric also political
science nor does rhetoric generally produce statesmen.”) Whether rhetoric includes
political science is discussed at PHerc. 1426 cols. 10a.25–11a.14 (= PHerc. 1506
col. 55.21–37; Hammerstaedt 38–41): ˜tan d¢ | gelo¤ouw e‰.nai f«si | toÁ! éfairoum°. nouw
õtÕØn po|leitikØ.n dÊnam¢inÜ tõ∞wÕ |te`¢lÜe¤aw` =htorik∞w §. m|30perieilhmm°nhn §n | t∞ÅiÄ`
prolÆcei kayã. per | toÁw t∞w fiatr¢iÜk¢` ∞Üw tØn e‡|dhsin tvÇn Í.¢giÜ õeiÕ[n]v
Çn || ka‹ noshr«n,
≤don∞w | efisin ÅénÄãmestoi. p«w går | ± mØ sugxvroum°nh pe|ripoie›n tØn poleiti|5kØn
§mperieilh[f]°nai | katå tØn prÒlhc`[i]n do|yÆsetai tØn polei[t]ikÆn . . .; (“When they
say those are absurd who exclude the political faculty from the complete rhetoric,
on the ground that the political faculty is included in the preconception of rhetoric,
just as those of the medical art have knowledge of the healthy and unhealthy, they
are amusing. For how will that [i.e., rhetoric] which is not conceded to possess
political science be granted to include political science by preconception . . .?”)
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 215

political rhetoric, and legal rhetoric as a kind of theoretical unit;44

and he also makes clear that these were envisioned as distinct and
roughly comparable categories by members of his School whom he
considers authoritative.45 Accordingly, in what follows, I shall take it
that Philodemus recognized at least sophistic, political, and legal
rhetoric as types of speaking.46 Now, regarding this set, my claim is
that Philodemus recognized a theoretical distinction among its mem-
bers based on the fact that political and legal rhetoric attempted to
persuade audiences in practical contention, whereas sophistic rhetoric
did not. My argument for this claim involves two sorts of evidence.
One sort is direct. Philodemus argues that the end or object of

44
See Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 22.5–12, 21–29; col. 37.22–27 (= Longo Auricchio
89–91, 121); Rh. 3, PHerc. 1506 col. 35.12–24 (Sudhaus 2:234–35); Rh. 4, PHerc.
1007/1673 col. 41a.6–22 (Sudhaus 1:222).
45
See Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 21.17–23; cols. 21.30–22.2; cols. 23.30–24.9 (Longo
Auricchio 87–89, 93–95), PHerc. 1672 col. 21.10–17 (Longo Auricchio 215); Rh. 3,
PHerc. 1426 cols. 3a.7–5a.6 (= PHerc. 1506 cols. 50.22–52.8; Hammerstaedt 26–31).
In PHerc. 1672 col. 21.13–15, I interpret the phrase t∞w ßmprãkt[ou] | ka‹ poleitik∞w
=htori|15k∞w as synonymous with “legal and political rhetoric.” This is consistent
with Philodemus’ reference in what immediately follows to t [a] Êthn ¢tØÜ [n toË] ¢dÜh¢mÜh|
g ¢oÜre›n ka‹ [d¤k]aw l°gein || §mpeir¤an (“the experience with speaking in the assembly
and pleading court cases”) (PHerc. 1672 cols. 21.37–22.1; Longo Auricchio 215–17);
cf. Rh. 1, PHerc. 1427 col. 5.30–33: tØn | poleitikØn ka‹ tØn | ¶mprakton =htori|kÆn,
where Longo Auricchio (17) translates “la retorica politica e quella forense.”
46
It has been suggested by Sudhaus, Phld. Rh., 2:358 (Index, s.v. sofistikÆ),
Hubbell, Rhetorica 281, and argued by Tait, Influence 91, and G. M. A. Grube, Critics
201, that the sort of coequality I propose here is ruled out by Philodemus’ com-
ment that “sophistic rhetoric . . . is not a part of rhetoric” in book 2 (PHerc. 1674
col. 58.4–8 [= Sudhaus 1:98; Suppl. 47–48). However, I do not believe the comment
actually supports this conclusion. The text of the passage at stake reads as follows
(Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 58.4–16; Longo Auricchio 163): . . . õka‹Õ [di]õÒti t°xÕ[nhn]
|5 tØn sofisõtikØnÕ kalo[u]|m°nhn õ=htorikØnÕ [l°go]|men oÈ̀.õx‹ t∞w =htoriÕk∞õwÕ | mõ°Õroõw.
oÈ går §stin t∞wÕ | =htorik∞õw m°row tÚ paÕ|10nhguõrikÚn kaÕ[‹] õtÚÕ polõeiÕ|tikÚn ka‹ õtÚ
dikanÕikÒõnÕ, | ˜n trÒpon õaÈtÚw o‡etÕai | katå tØn õëpasan graÕ|fÆõnÕ, À. sõpÕeõrÕ [oÈ]õd¢
toËÕ [ku] |15õnÚwÕ m°õrow tÚ. yalãttionÕ | õz«ion ka‹ tÚ xersa›onÕ . . . (“. . . and we say that
sophistic rhetoric is an art and although it is called ‘rhetoric,’ it is not a part of
‘rhetoric.’ For, it is not the case that the panegyric, political, and dicanic forms of
rhetoric are parts of ‘rhetoric,’ as he supposes in his entire work, just as it is not
the case that the sea-animal [i.e. dogfish] and the land-animal [i.e. canine] are parts
of ‘dog’ . . .”). Philodemus here responds to an opponent who wished to apply
Epicurus’ observations on “rhetoric” to “sophistic rhetoric,” since the opponent
thought that sophistic rhetoric must be a part of rhetoric (this position is reported
at Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 53.15–25; Longo Auricchio 153). Philodemus’ point
seems to be that forms of rhetoric are no more parts of the name applied to them,
=htorikÆ, than sharks and dogs are parts of their name, kÊvn. Accordingly, Philodemus’
argument is more linguistic than theoretical and does nothing to discredit the pos-
sibility that sophistic, political, and legal rhetoric are types of rhetorical speaking.
216 robert n. gaines

rhetoric, in some conventional sense, is persuasion by means of a

speech.47 And he frequently associates a persuasive aim with speaking
in political and legal venues.48 Yet, he never attributes persuasion to
sophistic rhetoric as an object and he actually dismisses the idea that
sophistic rhetoric might be effective for political and legal speaking.49
Now for the indirect evidence. We know Philodemus argues that
the leaders of his school conceived of sophistic rhetoric as an art.50
But we also know that these same leaders insisted that there could
be no art of persuading multitudes.51 Accordingly, unless he wished
to attribute a contradiction to the leaders of the School, Philodemus
had to recognize something other than persuasion as the aim of
sophistic rhetoric.52 For these reasons, I believe that Philodemus’ con-
ception of rhetorical genera exhibits another feature characteristic to
mid-first century b.c.e. rhetoric on types of speaking, namely an
important distinction between types based on whether or not they
aimed at persuading audiences.
This brings me to my final consideration, Philodemus’ conception
of the relation of rhetoric to other disciplines. Within On Rhetoric this
is a fairly complicated subject; therefore, I hope I will be forgiven
if I limit my remarks to the several ways in which Philodemus under-
stands that speakers are dependent upon other arts for success in

47
Rh. 1, PHerc. 1427 col. 3.30–33; Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 1.31–34 (Longo
Auricchio 13, 45).
48
Cf. Rh. 2, PHerc. 408 frs. 7.1–3, 11.2–18 (Sudhaus 2:83, 85–86); Rh. 5 (?),
PHerc. 1015/832 cols. 21.4–22, 24.0–16 (Sudhaus 2:15, 18–19); Rh. 6 (?), PHerc.
1004 cols. 15.3–20, 76.4–13 (Sudhaus 1:332–33, 363–65); Rh. 7 (?), PHerc. 220 fr.
6.3–16 (Sudhaus 2:136); cf. Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 col. 11.17–34 (Longo Auricchio 65).
49
Cf. Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674, cols. 10.24–11.31 (after Epicurus), 17.8–13 (Longo
Auricchio 63–65, 77); Rh. 3, PHerc. 1506 cols. 46.23–32, 48.13–17; PHerc. 1426
cols. 3a.7–5a.4 (after Epicurus) (= PHerc. 1506, cols. 50.22–52.6; Hammerstaedt
22, 23, 26–31); Rh. 7 (?), PHerc. 220, fr. 5.28–34 (Sudhaus 2:135).
50
See Rh. 1, PHerc. 1427 col. 7.9–29; Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 43.26–52.10; cf.
col. 57.13–58.2 (Longo Auricchio 21, 133–51, 161–62).
51
See, e.g., Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 54.32–55.11; PHerc. 1672 col. 9.11–14
(Longo Auricchio 135–37, 167).
52
The object of sophistic rhetoric is nowhere specified in On Rhetoric; rather
Philodemus merely describes sophistic rhetoric as an art concerned with making
displays and composing speeches, both written and extemporaneous Rh. 2, PHerc.
1672 col. 22.28–36 (Longo Auricchio 219); cf. PHerc. 1674 cols. 23.34–24.9,
37.22–25 (Longo Auricchio 93–95, 121). The notion that the epideictic speaker does
not aim at persuasion about the subject matter of the speech is perhaps suggested
at Arist. Rh. 1.3.2 (1358b2–5, Rudolf Kassel, Aristotelis Ars rhetorica [Berlin: Walter
De Gruyter, 1976]), where Aristotle describes the audience member for an epide-
ictic speech as a yevrÒw (spectator), but characterizes the audience member for a
deliberative speech as a kritÆw (judge) of the future and that for a legal speech as
a kritÆw of the past.
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 217

their speaking. Let me begin with the relation of arts to Philodemus’

conception of rhetorical genera. The available evidence suggests that
for Philodemus, types of rhetorical speaking are associated with char-
acteristic activities. We know, for example, that he associates sophis-
tic rhetoric with “making displays,” political rhetoric with “speaking
in the assembly,” and legal rhetoric with “pleading causes.”53 In this
connection, we also know that Philodemus conceived the ability to
carry out these characteristic activities with success as deriving, not
from rhetoric, but from an associated discipline.54 In the case of
political and legal rhetoric, he is explicit: the associated discipline is
politics.55 In the case of sophistic rhetoric he is less clear, but the
associated discipline is almost certainly philosophy, for Philodemus
aligns the activity of “making displays” with praise and blame,56 and
these, he says, can be carried out properly only by those who know
the causes of every good and harm and the nature of true virtue
and vice.57 Such persons would appear to be those who are trained
in philosophy, and this identification is clenched, I think, by Philodemus’
disclosure that he has undertaken a philosophical work related to
these matters, a work entitled On Praise (Per‹ §pa¤nou).58 Accordingly,
for Philodemus, it is clear that even to engage in speechmaking
immediately involves speakers with other disciplines. However there
are other relations as well. Philodemus argues, for instance, that
extra-rhetorical assistance is required for the discovery and judgment
of arguments in rhetorical invention.59 He likewise insists that the
principles of speech arrangement and delivery differ by discipline.60

53
Rh. 2, PHerc. 1674 cols. 21.7–27, 23.33–24.9, 28.22–27, PHerc. 1672 cols.
21.10–22.7, 22.29–36 (Longo Auricchio 87, 93–95, 103, 215, 217–19), Rh. 3, PHerc.
1426 col. 6a.14–31 (= PHerc. 1506 col. 52.37–53.12; Hammerstaedt 30–33).
54
Philodemus seems to locate the competence for “speaking in the assembly”
and “pleading causes” outside the realm of rhetoric at Rh. 3, PHerc. 1426 col.
7a.8–23 (= PHerc. 1506 col. 53.18–31; Hammerstaedt 32–35). He likewise ques-
tions the competence of those trained in rhetoric—particularly sophists—to “make
displays” throughout the latter part of Rh. 4 (PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 32a.21–39a.3;
Sudhaus 1:214–19).
55
Rh. 2, PHerc. 1672 cols. 21.36–22.19 (Longo Auricchio 215–17).
56
Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 col. 36a.6–15 (Sudhaus 1: 217); cf. PHerc. 1007/1673
col. 32a.6–26 (Sudhaus 1:213–14), where Philodemus associates praise and blame
with the sophistic type of speech (tÚ sofistikÚn g°now).
57
Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 33a.19–24, 36a.15–37a.4, 37a.4–19 (Sudhaus 1:
214–15, 217–18); cf. Elizabeth Asmis, “Philodemus’ Epicureanism,” ANRW II 36,
4:2402.
58
Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 38a.15–39a.1 (Sudhaus 1:219).
59
Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 24a.26–26a.7; see Robert N. Gaines, “Philodemus
on the Three Activities of Rhetorical Invention,” Rhetorica 3 (1985) 156–59.
60
Rh. 4, PHerc. 1007/1673 cols. 19a.16–26; 21a.10–22a.13 (Sudhaus 1:201,
218 robert n. gaines

In fact, within On Rhetoric, Philodemus’ conception of rhetoric is shot

through with dependence upon disciplines other than rhetoric. And
this I would argue, represents one more way that his work is con-
nected with mid-first century b.c.e. rhetorical thought.

Conclusion

To the extent that the foregoing is acceptable, then I think I have

shown that Philodemus’ On Rhetoric reflects theoretical tendencies that
arose significantly after the turn of the first century b.c.e. Particularly,
along with Cicero in his mature works, Philodemus addresses the art
problem with a complicated conception of art, emphasizes presen-
tational parts of rhetoric over their substantive counterparts, divides
his rhetorical genera into two sets, using the aim of practical per-
suasion as criterion, and makes rhetoric dependent upon other dis-
ciplines for its successful practice. Clearly, Philodemus was no idle
bystander as rhetorical theory developed around him; rather, he was
an active participant in the developments that shaped late Hellenistic
rhetorical theory. Accordingly, my conclusion is that, however we
may choose to theorize about the changes that were characteristic
to rhetoric in the latter half of the first century b.c.e., Philodemus’
On Rhetoric constitutes an intellectual event that is relevant to their
explanation.61 For this reason alone, I would argue, the work achieves
inherent significance as an object of historical inquiry.62

202–04); see Gaines, “Activities,” 162. Among the parts of rhetoric treated in some
way by Philodemus, only expression seems independent of contributions from extra-
rhetorical disciplines; this may be a consequence of Philodemus’ view that there
existed a single form of expression that was beautiful by nature (Rh. 4, PHerc. 1423
col. 7.6–14; Sudhaus 1:151): ÖE[pei] |t’ efi m¢n mhd¢ eÂw ∑n f[u]|sik«w kal[Ú]w lÒgow,
‡|svw ín ∑[n] énagka›on |10 égapç[n tÚ]n katå y°|ma: nËn d’ Ípãrxontow, | êylion tÚ
pari°n|taw aÈtÚn [§]p’ §ke›|non katant[ç]n. (“Next, if there were not one naturally
beautiful expression, perhaps it would be necessary to be content with the arbi-
trarily determined beautiful expression; but since there is one, it is pitiful that those
disregarding it have recourse to that arbitrarily determined one.”)
61
That is, because Philodemus’ On Rhetoric reflects the unique developments in
late Hellenistic rhetoric, it necessarily becomes a source of evidence about those
developments. On the importance of systematic study of sources in rational history,
cf. Lionel Gossman, Towards a Rational Historiography, Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, 79:3 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1989),
61–68, and Arthur Marwick, “ ‘A Fetishism of Documents’? The Salience of Source-
based History,” Developments in Modern Historiography, ed. Henry Kozicki (New York:
St. Martin’s, 1993), 107–38.
62
The research reported in this essay was supported by a grant to the Philodemus
 late hellenistic rhetorical theory 219

Appendix: The Date and Influence of Philodemus’ On Rhetoric

The date of On Rhetoric is a thorny problem and several arguments have

arisen to address it. Robert Philippson dated Rh. in the 70’s b.c.e.,
believing that Philodemus’ reference to Zeno of Sidon (i.e., Rh. 2,
PHerc. 1674 cols. 52.11–53.11 [= Sudhaus Suppl. 44–45]) indicated
Zeno was alive when the work was composed (Horaz’ Verhältnis zur
Philosophie [Madgeburg: n.p., 1911] 8–9; cf. Hubbell, Rhetorica 259).
Philippson (“Zu Philodem und Horaz,” PhW 49 [1929] 894, and
“Philodemos,” RE 19:2 [1938] 2445) supplemented this argument
with the proposal of C. Calpurnius Piso Frugi as the apparent dedi-
catee of Rh. 4 at PHerc. 1007/1673 col. 42a.5 (i.e., GãÛe pa›; Sudhaus
1:223), a proposal which also recommended a date in the 70’s (cf.
Walter Allen, Jr., and Phillip H. De Lacy, “The Patrons of Philo-
demus,” CP 34 [1939] 64–65, who proposed Gaius Memmius as
dedicatee with similar consequences). Working from paleographical
evidence, Guglielmo Cavallo suggested that Rh. was composed over
a number of years, with the first three books completed during an
initial period of activity, perhaps 75–50, and the last four datable
sometime between 50 and 25 (Libri scritture scribi a Ercolano, CErc 13,
suppl. 1 [1983] 63–64).
Recent scholarship has called all these arguments into question.
Jakob Wisse has demonstrated that the references to Zeno in Rh. need
not be read in the “real” present tense and so furnish no evidence
for Zeno being alive at the time of the work’s composition (“The
presence of Zeno: The date of Philodemus’ On Rhetoric and the Use
of the ‘Citative’ and ‘Reproducing’ Present in Latin and Greek,” On
Latin: Linguistic and Literary Studies in Honour of Harm Pinkster, eds. Rodie
Risselada, Jan R. De Jong, and A. Machtelt Bolkestein [Amsterdam:
J. C. Gieben, 1996] 173–202, esp. 196–99). Likewise, Tiziano Dorandi
has shown that the dedication of Rh. 4 actually reads, Œ GãÛe PãnÅsÄa,
making the dedicatee Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus, a figure
whose notoriety is associated with the 50’s and early 40’s (“Gaio
bambino,” 41–42). Finally, P. J. Parsons has argued that Cavallo’s
dating of Herculanean papyri, including those in Rh., should be used

Translation Project from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by an
award from the Graduate School General Research Board of the University of
Maryland at College Park. An early version of the essay was presented at the
Conference on the Text of Philodemus’ Rhetoric, University of Texas at Austin,
21 April 1995.
220 robert n. gaines

with caution, not least because he proceeds using periods shorter

than the productive life of a single scribe (Rev. of Libri scritture scribi
a Ercolano, CR 39 [1989] 358–60). Still, Dorandi’s reading of the
dedication of Rh. 4 would seem to place a terminus ante quem in 43
for this segment of the work. And given the consistency of Dorandi’s
discovery with Cavallo’s paleographical arguments, I have chosen to
follow Cavallo’s dating for Rh., at least as a rough guide.
Determining the influence of Rh. also poses difficulties. A number
of studies have cited affinities of Rh. with approximately contempo-
rary literature, including Cicero’s theoretical and historical works
concerning oratory (but outside the technical corpus, Gigante, Philodemus
in Italy, 32–35), Cicero’s De oratore (Leeman, Pinkster, and Wisse, De
or. Komm., 4:148–49); Cicero’s Orator (Augusto Rostagni, “Risonanze
dell’estetica di Filodemo in Cicerone,” A&R, n.s. 3 [1922] 28–44);
Cicero’s epistolary corpus (Daniel Delattre, “Philodème dans la
«Correspondance» de Cicéron,” BAGB [1984] 27–39), Dionysius of
Halicarnassus’ Isocrates (P. Costil, “L’esthétique littéraire de Denys
d’Halicarnasse” [Thèse Paris, 1949] 369; Germaine Aujac, ed. Denys
d’Halicarnasse, Opuscules rhétoriques, 5 vols. [Paris: Société D’Édition
«Les Belles Lettres», 1978–1992] 1:193–95; and Dorandi, “Varietà
Ercolanesi,” CErc. 21 [1991] 106), and Sextus Empiricus’ Against the
Professors 2 (Longo Auricchio, “Epicureismo e Scetticismo sulla retor-
ica,” Atti del XVII Congresso Internazionale di Papirologia [Napoli, 19 –26
maggio 1983] 3 vols. [Naples: Centro internazionale per lo studo dei
papiri Ercolanesi, 1984] 2:453–72). But the fact remains, as Sedley
has observed, “no doctrinal treatise by Philodemus is ever cited in
any ancient source” (“Philosophical Allegiance,” 104).
 REMEMBERING THE GARDEN: THE TROUBLE WITH
WOMEN IN THE SCHOOL OF EPICURUS1

Pamela Gordon

Abstract

Readers of Philodemus are well aware of the difficulties posed by the

fragmentary state of the charred papyri. The premise of this paper is
that similar but often unacknowledged obstacles confront us when we
read almost any text about Epicureanism, even if the text happens to
be relatively well preserved. The problem is that most of our sources—
in addition to being late, fragmentary, and highly partisan—are already
engaged in the process of reconstructing the first generation of the
Garden. Hostile writers are eager to document what they portray as
the immoral sensualism of Epicurus. Friendly sources take an apolo-
getic stance against such polemics but may sometimes incorporate hos-
tile material unwittingly. To illustrate the problem, this essay focuses
upon the issue of Epicurean women. Ancient and modern authorities
seem to agree that the Garden included many female members, but
a second look reveals that the sources are not as reliable as has been
assumed. In fact, most of what the ancient texts say about Epicurean
women is bound up—sometimes inextricably—with the twenty-three-
hundred-year-old tradition of anti-Epicurean polemic and apologetic
response. To generations of Greeks and Romans, the presence of
women and slaves in the Garden was emblematic—for good or for
ill—of the nature of Epicureanism.

Athenian philosophical schools did not in general welcome women

and slaves, but a wide range of authorities, ancient and modern,
assures us that Epicureanism was different. When followers of Epicurus
gathered in the Garden in the late fourth century b.c.e., Epicurus

1
I presented earlier versions of this work to audiences at Bryn Mawr College,
Oberlin College, and the University of Oklahoma, and at the annual meetings of
the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (April 1994) and the Society
of Biblical Literature (November 1994). Translations are my own except where indi-
cated. This work was supported by the Graduate Research Fund of the University
of Kansas, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the American Council of
Learned Societies.
222 pamela gordon

and the other free men were apparently joined by a male slave
named Mys and a sizable group of women, slave and free. Although
philosophizing women and slaves are not unheard of in the histo-
ries of the other Greek and Roman schools, the Garden stands out
both because so many women are associated with its founding gen-
eration, and because these women serve as a focal point for the con-
siderable animosity directed against the school for the next several
centuries.2 This essay examines the way hostility against the Epicureans
is couched in heavily gendered terms and suggests that this discourse
both is and is not “literally about gender itself.”3 My conviction is
that outsiders were indeed offended by the presence of women and
slaves in the Garden, but even more important, that the outside
world seized upon this issue largely because it suspected that there
was something fundamentally womanish—and therefore unmanly—
about the Garden itself.

A Garden of Hetairai

Perhaps the most salient feature of the ancient sources that list the
names of Epicurean women is that they identify the women as per-
sons of less than respectable status. The Greek texts that name the
women of the first generation of the Garden (including Leontion,
Themista, Boidion, Erotion, Hedeia, Mammarion, and Nikidion) label
most of these women as hetairai (literally, “female companions”). The
term hetaira is difficult to translate across historical and cultural bound-
aries, but is generally regarded as a euphemism for a type of pros-
titute and in implication may be roughly equivalent to “geisha” or
“courtesan.” In Cicero’s Latin, Leontion appears as an outright mere-
tricula, or “little prostitute” (Nat. D. 1. 93). The assertion that Leontion
and her associates were hetairai has survived for over two millennia
and appears even in modern studies that attempt to assign these
women a serious place in Epicurean history.

2
On attitudes toward women philosophers in other schools see Michèle Le Dœff,
The Philosophical Imaginary (London: Athlone, 1989), 102; Richard Hawley, “The
Problem of Women Philosophers in Ancient Greece,” Women in Ancient Societies: An
Illusion of the Night, ed. Leonie Archer, Susan Frishler, and Maria Wyke (New York:
Routledge, 1994), 70–87.
3
Louis Montrose, “The Work of Gender in the Discourse of Discovery,” Repre-
sentations 33 (1991): 1, who cites Joan Wallach Scott, Gender and the Politics of History
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 45.
 remembering the garden 223

Lacking early Epicurean texts that discuss the philosophical bases

for the education of women or slaves, sympathetic modern readers
have linked the presence of women in the Garden to the broader
Epicurean world view. To many of us, it seems reasonable that
Epicureanism—a system that understands both nature and culture as
developments in the atoms and void—might question the rightness
of social conventions. Jane Snyder, for example, identifies Epicurean-
ism as an ancient philosophical system that “advocated the emancipa-
tion of women,” and asserts:
The members of the Garden included not only full Athenian citizens
like Epicurus himself but also several women and slaves, who, within
the context of Athenian society at large, enjoyed few legal rights or
privileges. Within the enclosure of the Garden, however, all members
of the group—male and female, free and slave—were entitled to the
benefits and responsibilities of the Epicurean school.4
Snyder acknowledges that no surviving texts explain the unprece-
dented openness she describes, but she argues that it harmonizes
with the Epicurean rejection of teleology. Since Epicurean social the-
ory rejected the notion that the status quo was part of a divinely-
created natural order, it makes sense that the Epicureans would reject
traditional Greek attitudes toward all social hierarchies, including
gender roles and slavery. As Snyder puts it, Epicurus’ belief that the
world was not divinely created would lead him to assert that “man
was not created to serve anyone, nor woman to serve man.”5 Snyder
also points out that the Epicurean teaching that personal happiness
depends upon étaraj¤a (tranquillity, or lack of turmoil) has ramifica-
tions for the lives of women and slaves:
[A]n individual’s marital status, family connections, political influence,
or amount of wealth were all considered of little or no value to—or
in some cases actually detrimental to—one’s true happiness. This focus
on individual rather than families or political groups, meant that both
sexes were left free to develop their intellectual understanding of the
universe through the study of atomic theory, instead of following gen-
der-defined roles designed for economy in attaining material success.6

4
Jane Snyder, The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome
(Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989), 101–102.
5
Snyder 102.
6
Snyder 102–3.
224 pamela gordon

Snyder does not deny that the Epicurean women were courtesans;
in fact she asserts that “their position as hetairai seems to be confirmed
by the typically suggestive meanings of their names: Hedeia (‘Sweety’),
Mammarion (‘Tits’), Boidion (‘Ox-eyes,’ or something to that effect),
Demetria (‘Ceres’), and Erotion (‘Lovey’).”7 Thus Snyder’s idyllic por-
trayal of life in the Garden tentatively accepts the ancient claim that
Leontion and Hedeia were hetairai but rejects the ancient assump-
tion that a hetaira cannot study philosophy.8
Although I find much of Snyder’s approach both attractive and
defensible, I believe that a closer look at our sources reveals that
the textual foundations for this agreeable description of the Garden
are unstable and prone to sudden shifts. Most of what the ancient
texts say about Epicurean women and slaves is tightly intertwined
with the twenty-three-hundred-year-old tradition of anti-Epicurean
polemic and apologetic response. There is a potential here for the
recovery of an ancient tradition of women philosophers, but that his-
tory can be unfolded only as part of a broader inquiry into the
ancient and modern notoriety of the Garden.

Why There Were Women in the Garden, According to the Hostile Sources

In antiquity, outsiders who heard tales of women in the Garden

ignored the social theory behind the Epicureans’ radical conduct and
fixed instead upon the notion that the women were present simply
to offer erotic pleasure to the men. Centuries after the Garden was
founded, Plutarch (c. 46–c. 120 c.e.), for example, finds it self-evident
that Leontion, Boidion, Hedeia, and Nikidion must have been “young
and attractive” (eÈprepe›w ka‹ n°aw, Non Posse 1097d–e); and he sel-
dom mentions Epicurean women without also alluding to wine, per-
fumes, or banquets. This hackneyed association between women and
other “Epicurean” sources of bodily pleasures appears throughout
Plutarch’s Moralia (see also 1089c, 1099b, and 1129b) as well as in
the rhetorical and philosophical works of Cicero (106–43 b.c.e.).9

7
Snyder 105.
8
See also André Jean Festugière, Epicurus and his Gods, trans. C. W. Chilton
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1955), 30.
9
Plutarch knew better, of course; elsewhere he records ridicule of Epicurus’ pro-
posal that sex ought not to be mixed with food or drink (Quaest. conv. 3.6).
 remembering the garden 225

Cicero linked all Epicurean dinner parties with sexual debauchery

whether the host was a refined personage who supplied the finest
game, fish, and wine (Cic. Fin. 2.23), or a cheapskate who offered
nothing but large quantities of bad wine and rancid meat (Pis. 67).
This collocation of women, food, and wine is likely to have appeared
also in a non-extant tract sardonically titled Delights (Tå EÈfrantã)
by Timocrates, the brother of Metrodorus and a contemporary of
Epicurus.10 According to Diogenes Laertius, this Timocrates was a
renegade Epicurean who wrote Delights as an exposé of the Epicureans’
alleged intemperance and what he called “those nighttime philoso-
phies” of the Garden (tåw nukterinåw §ke¤naw filosof¤aw, Diog. Laert.
10.6). Also traceable back to Timocrates is the tradition of calling
most of the Epicurean women hetairai (see Diog. Laert. 10.7).
Given the context (a culture that viewed philosophy as a mascu-
line pursuit), there is a certain logic to the assumption that the fem-
inine component of the Garden was there for the benefit of male
pleasure. When Epicureans themselves respond to such charges, they
seem to acknowledge the rationale of associating sex with food: “For
it is not endless drinking, and parties, and the enjoyment of boys,
women, and fish, and the other things supplied by a rich table, that
produce a pleasant life, but sober reasoning . . .” (Epicurus, Ep. Men.
132). Similarly, the second-century c.e. Epicurean philosopher Diogenes
of Oenoanda includes rich food and “the pleasures of exotic sexual
activity” (éfrodeis¤vn §glelegm°nvn ≤dona¤, Smith Fr. 29) in his list
of coveted possessions that are erroneously considered necessary for
happiness.11 Although Epicurus disapproved of illicit sex and con-
sidered erotic pleasure to be problematic, it is not entirely absurd
for uninformed outsiders to assume that the Epicureans were wildly
promiscuous.12 Epicurean tenets such as “No pleasure is in itself evil”
(KD 8) had often led detractors to view Epicurus as a dissolute sen-
sualist. Detractors of course suppressed the second half of the say-
ing, which warns: “but things producing certain pleasures involve

10
For the importance of Timocrates, see David Sedley, “Epicurus and his
Professional Rivals,” Etudes sur l’épicurisme antique, eds. Jean Bollack and André Laks
(Lille: Publications de l’Université de Lille III, 1976), 119–59.
11
Pamela Gordon, Epicurus in Lycia: The Second-Century World of Diogenes of Oenoanda
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), 88.
12
For Epicurean disapproval of illicit sex (phrased as advice to men) see Diog.
Laert. 10.118.
226 pamela gordon

troubles many times greater than their pleasures.” The less informed
may not have known that Epicurus praised a diet of bread and
water, that he regarded sexual activity as natural but “unnecessary,”
and that he warned his students that sex could in fact be harmful.13
Thus the most obvious complaint against Epicurean women emerges
as a misrepresentation of Epicurean hedonism. The point is to cen-
sure and ridicule the Epicureans’ alleged devotion to the pleasures
of the flesh: the women represent a sort of food for the proverbial
Epicurean glutton. A closer look at the prevailing polemic against
the Garden, however, reveals a much deeper hostility toward Epicu-
reanism. This deeper animosity has less to do with sex, but much
to do with gender.

“Live Unknown:” A Slogan for Cinaedi

Plutarch’s polemic does not stop at the claim that flocks of Epicurean
women were brought to the Garden simply to feed the appetites of
Epicurean voluptuaries. (The pun “flocks” is of course Plutarch’s
own: he describes Leontion, Boidion, and two other women as
“grazing” in the Garden, §n°monto per‹ tÚn k∞pon, Non Posse 1097d.)
In Plutarch’s imagination, the women of the Garden, far from being
“co-philosophers,” cannot even be dismissed as mere instruments of
physical pleasure.14 Rather, the women are both emblem and proof
of the fact that Epicureanism is a disreputable and dangerous cult
that has no right to be ranked as a philosophy.
According to Plutarch, the Epicureans have given up all worthy
pursuits—including intellectual endeavors—for the mindless pursuit
of sensual pleasures. Instead of reading Aristotle or Homer or stay-
ing up late with the historical love stories that educated men esteem,

13
On Epicurean attitudes toward sex, see Tad Brennan, “Epicurus on Sex,
Marriage, and Children,” CP 91 (1996): 346–352. Brennan offers an important cor-
rective to Jeffrey S. Purinton, “Epicurus on the Telos,” Phronesis 38 (1993): 281–320.
On the reliability (or not) of Cicero see: M. Stokes, “Cicero on Epicurean Pleasures,”
Cicero the Philosopher, ed. J. G. F. Powell (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995),
145–170. On Philodemus’ attitudes toward sex and marriage see David Sider, The
Epigrams of Philodemos: Introduction, Text, and Commentary (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1997), 34–36 (with further bibliographical references). On the temperate
lifestyle of the Garden see Diog. Laert. 10.11.
14
In Diogenes Laertius, Epicurus is praised for the fact that his slaves were his
co-philosophers (sunefilosÒfoun aÈt“, 10.10).
 remembering the garden 227

the ignorant Epicurean climbs into bed with a beautiful woman (Non
Posse 1093c). As a poor substitute for Archimedes’ famous triumphant
cry of eÏrhka (“Eureka!” or “I have found it!”), Plutarch implies,
the Epicurean can only yell: b°brvka or pef¤lhka (“I have ‘eaten!’”
or “I have ‘kissed!’ ” Non Posse 1094c). The joke is of course a dis-
tortion of Epicurean hedonism, which valued spiritual or cerebral
pleasures over the physical, once essential bodily needs (food and
shelter) had been met.15
The picture of the Epicurean who abandons the reading of liter-
ature and the pursuit of knowledge (two fundamentally masculine
prerogatives in Greek and Roman culture) brings into focus the
deeper significance of Plutarch’s parody. These lampoons of the
Epicureans’ supposed disdain for erudition progress from criticizing
Epicurus’ alleged sexual intemperance to impugning his virility.16
Plutarch’s original readers would see no great conceptual leap here,
for Greek culture commonly describes devotion to pleasure as a fem-
inine vice.17 Love of the body or excessive attention to its demands
is thus construed as effeminacy.18 This explains why the philosopher
Epictetus calls Epicurus a cinaedologos, “a preacher of effeminacy,” or
“a pervert-professor” (Diog. Laert. 10.7).19 If one takes cinaedus exclu-
sively as a term for a “passive homosexual,” Epictetus’ name-calling
seems random and inapposite. Although Epicurus was ridiculed for
his attachment to “pretty Pythocles” (a male student, Diog. Laert.
10.5), polemicizers generally give him female lovers. Recent studies,

15
See Diog. Laert. (10.137), who contrasts pleasures of the body (sãrj and s«ma)
with the greater pleasures of the mind or spirit (cuxÆ). This report is consistent
with Epicurus’ Ep. Men. 132. For discussion see J. C. B. Gosling and C. C. W.
Taylor, The Greeks on Pleasure (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 349–354; and
Anthony A. Long, “Pleasure and Social Utility: The Virtues of Being Epicurean,”
Aspects de la philosophie hellénistique, eds. I. G. Kidd, Hellmut Flashar, Olof Gigon
(Geneva: Fondation Hardt, 1986).
16
On Epicurean education and attitudes toward literature see Asmis, “Epicurean
Economics,” in this volume and Asmis, “Epicurean Poetics,” Philodemus and Poetry,
ed. Dirk Obbink (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 15–34.
17
Catherine Edwards cites many Roman texts that also construe pleasure as fem-
inine; The Politics of Immorality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), esp.
63–97 and 174 n. 1.
18
As Page duBois puts it: “Women are hopelessly tied up with the body in
ancient Greek culture” (Sappho is Burning [Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1995], 95).
19
For a more technical meaning of the term kinaidolÒgow, see “cinaedic poetry,”
OCD 3.
228 pamela gordon

however, have drawn attention to the wide connotations of the word

cinaedus, which overlap only fractionally with the implications of pejo-
rative words for homosexuals in English. In calling Epicurus a cinaedo-
logus, Epictetus meant to match his barb to his target: the cinaedus is
a she-man who is above all licentious, and his interest in pleasure
is doubly suspect because he desires to teach pleasure to others.20
According to Plutarch, a man with any shame would hide such
a reprehensible lack of virility. This is the theme of De Latenter Vivendo
(“Is ‘Live Unknown’ a Wise Precept?”), a treatise in Plutarch’s Moralia
that travesties the Epicurean adage lãye bi≈saw, “Live Unknown.”
This maxim urges withdrawal from public life and the renunciation
of the competitive values of the culture at large.21 Those friendly to
Epicureanism would understand it as a call to renounce ostentation
and the desire for fame, wealth, and power. For Plutarch, however,
the appeal “Live unknown” warns the Epicurean to hide what is
shameful, “as he would his grave-robbing” (De lat. viv. 1128c).
In the De Latenter Vivendo Plutarch presents two poles: the public
glory of intellectual, political, and military achievement on one side;
and the shady, woman-filled disrepute of the Garden on the other.
Throughout the treatise, Plutarch associates the “rites” of Epicureanism
(tå t°lh, 1129b) with women, darkness, nighttime, and oblivion, and
contrasts this characterization of the Garden with the noble, light-
filled, virtuous world of the men he views as the true philosophers
and best generals and statesmen of Greece and Rome. Here Plutarch
is exploiting traditional Hellenic distinctions between public and pri-
vate realms, which in Athenian culture are divided along gender
lines. As David Cohen puts it:
They thought of public space in terms of places where men gathered:
the agora, the Assembly, the courts, the baths, athletic grounds, and
so on . . . Private space in this narrow sense is largely female space,
enclosed, hidden, guarded, dark. Public space, on the other hand, is

20
Maud Gleason describes the Greek view thus: “A man who aims to please—
any one, male or female—in his erotic encounters is ipso facto effeminate” (Making
Men [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995], 65, with bibliography). Although
the Epicurean telos is the attainment—and not the giving—of pleasure, outsiders
tended to merge these ideas and to portray Epicurus as a (pleasure-giving) flatterer
(Diog. Laert. 10.4–5).
21
Cf. Epicurus KD 7; SV 58, Diog. Laert. 10.119, Lucr. 5.1117–1132. See also
Arthur W. H. Adkins, From the Many to the One (London: Constable, 1970), 257 and
Long, “Pleasure and Social Utility,” 287–89.
 remembering the garden 229

associated with men and with the public activities through which men
pursue reputation and honor.22
The paradigm is prescriptive as well as descriptive: “The politics of
reputation required a man to lead a public life.” 23
Although Plutarch identified primarily with the Greek elite, he was
a great admirer of Roman “virtue” and Roman military might.24
(Many Romans themselves identified “fighting and morality” as Rome’s
two great possessions.)25 The following quotation from Seneca (first
century c.e.) illustrates how Plutarch’s characterization of the Garden
engages Roman notions of the virility of moral probity as well as
Hellenic notions of gendered realms. The context of this passage is
Seneca’s critique of the supposedly effeminate Garden, which he con-
trasts with the virility of the Stoa:
Virtue is something lofty, exalted and regal, unconquered, untiring.
Pleasure is something low, slavish, weak, decrepit, whose place and
home are the brothels and taverns. Virtue you will find in the tem-
ple, in the forum, in the senate house, defending the city walls, dusty
and sunburnt, hands callused. Pleasure you will find most often seek-
ing out darkness, lurking around the baths and sweating rooms and
places that fear the magistrates; soft, languid, reeking of wine and per-
fume, pallid or else painted and made up like a corpse. (Sen. De vita
beata 7.3)
Plutarch also associates the pursuit of pleasure with death, for he
develops the male/female contrast yet further: the masculine pole
offers not just sunlight and fame but life itself. For the best of men
the masculine world even offers immortality, not just in the form of
lasting fame, but through attainment of an afterlife among the blessed.
In contrast, the womanish Garden is aligned with mold, decay, and
death. This death is not the simple cessation of life taught by Epicurean
philosophy, but consignment to the deepest and most forgotten realm
of the abyss (De lat. viv. 1129f–1130e).

22
David Cohen, Law, Sexuality, and Society: The Enforcement of Morals In Classical
Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 73. Roman discourse usu-
ally allotted the baths to the feminine realm (see quotation from Seneca, below).
23
Cohen 74.
24
Jacques Boulogne, Plutarque: un aristocrate grec sous l’occupation romaine (Lille: Presses
Universitaires de Lille, 1994); Simon Swain, Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism,
and Power in the Greek World A.D. 50 –250 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996),
135–186.
25
Edwards 1.
230 pamela gordon

Plutarch protests that Epicurus’ supposed advice to hide in the

shadows of the Garden would make weak, ill, or evil people even
worse, for when people conceal their disorders they embed their
vices yet deeper. Then he continues:
On the other hand, if it is to good men that you tender this advice
to go unnoticed and unknown, then you are telling Epaminondas not
to be general, Lycurgus not to frame laws, Thrasybulus to slay no
tyrants, Pythagoras not to teach, Socrates not to converse, and your-
self to begin with, Epicurus, not to write to your friends in Asia, not
to enlist recruits from Egypt, not to cultivate the youth of Lampsacus,
not to circulate books to every man and every woman in which you
advertise your wisdom, and not to leave instructions for your funeral
(1128f–1129a).26
Ostensibly Plutarch is simply summing up the masculine achieve-
ments that the teachings of the Garden would ban while pointing
out the inherent contradiction: the famous philosopher urges his fol-
lowers to shun fame.
The reappearance of Epicurean women (and foreigners, who are
so often feminized in Greek ideology) in this passage is especially
significant, however. Plutarch’s derisive allusion to Epicurus’ habit of
sending books “to every man and woman” (pçsi ka¤ pãsaiw, De Lat.
Viv. 1129; cf. Non Posse 1094d) comes close to an acknowledgment
that the Epicurean women were actually students or philosophers
themselves. The point of this and most other gender-inclusive refer-
ences to Epicurus’ circle, however, is to dismiss Epicurus as a fraud,
a non-philosopher, a cinaedologos. The ridicule of Leontion by Cotta,
the Academic interlocutor in Cicero’s Natura Deorum, has a similar
tone. Leontion is denounced for being so forward as to write a trea-
tise against Theophrastus. Although Cotta acknowledges the excel-
lence of Leontion’s prose, he calls her meretricula, “little prostitute”
and condemns her audacity: “She writes in fine Attic Greek style,
but really! What dissolution the Garden allowed!”27 Cicero employs
similar strategies when he ridicules Epicurus for contaminating his
philosophical prose with references to a mere woman named Themista,
an aberration he associates with the failure of the Epicureans to pay

26
Benedict Einarson and Phillip H. De Lacy, trans., Plutarch’s Moralia, vol. 7,
LCL (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927), 327–29.
27
Nat. D. 1.93; trans. Snyder 103.
 remembering the garden 231

homage to Solon, Themistocles, and the other great Greek states-

men (Fin. 2.21.68).
Plutarch would agree with Cicero’s claim that it is impossible to
remember any man who lived for pleasure: such men simply sink
into oblivion (Cic. Fin. 2.63; 2.67). Plutarch’s characterization of plea-
sure differs, however, from that of Seneca and Cicero in a way that
may be due to a difference between Hellenic and Roman views.
Although Cicero and Seneca describe pleasure as exclusively femi-
nine, Plutarch does not abolish pleasure entirely from the male
realm.28 Instead, he claims certain higher pleasures as the exclusive
property of manly success. This is one of the main assertions of
Plutarch’s Non Posse (“That Epicurus Actually Makes a Pleasant Life
Impossible”). In this treatise he describes, for example, the pleasure
felt by the Theban general Epaminondas when his parents had the
opportunity to gaze upon the trophy set up for his victory at Leuctra.
Plutarch contrasts the pride of the general’s mother to the chagrin
of Epicurus’ mother, who had to look at Epicurus and Polyaenus
“making babies in the little garden with [Hedeia] the hetaira from
Cyzicus” (Non Posse 1098).29
Elsewhere Plutarch presents disdain for Epicureans as a sign of
Roman strength. In the Pyrrhus, for example, when Fabricius hears
for the first time about the womanish teachings of the Garden (which
was founded just a few decades before the supposed time of this
story), he exclaims: “May Pyrrhus and the Samnites cherish these
notions as long as they are at war with us!” (Pyrrh. 20.7)

Revisionist Readings of the Hostile Sources

In the 1950’s Norman De Witt, a scholar who was very friendly to

Epicureanism, published a description of the Garden in which the
male slaves of the Garden provided the labor force for Epicurean
book production, the young courtesans offered pleasant companion-
ship, the female slaves waited on the courtesans, and the entire

28
On the Roman sources see Edwards 200 and footnote 17, above. Since most
of our sources on Epicureanism date to the era of the late Roman Republic and
Empire, it is difficult to sort Roman from Hellenic attitudes, even if the text is in
Greek.
29
Plutarch derisively uses the diminutive khp¤dion (kepidion) for k∞pow (kepos), thus
dubbing the Garden “the Gardenette.”
232 pamela gordon

community was kept in order by a strict hierarchy headed by Epicurus

the patriarch.30 More recently, Bernard Frischer has presented the
novel thesis that the Garden recruited its members by setting up
statues of a fatherly-looking bearded Epicurus in strategic locations
throughout the Greek cities. According to Frischer’s scenario, slaves
and prostitutes—people who were especially in need of a good father
figure to protect them—flocked to the Garden to sit at Epicurus’
feet.31 Several other modern studies have, however, caught glimpses
of various degrees of Epicurean egalitarianism in the pages of (for
example) Cicero, Diogenes Laertius, and Plutarch. I began this essay
by describing the work of Jane Snyder; at this point I shall turn
briefly to an early article by David Sedley and then to the work of
Martha Nussbaum (to which I shall return more than once).
Sedley’s re-reading of the ancient testimonia to a non-extant trea-
tise by Epicurus called On Occupations lends support to the interpre-
tations proposed by both Snyder and Frischer, while adding another
slant.32 Our polemical sources are not concerned with the distinc-
tions between prostitutes, courtesans, and wanton women; to Plutarch
and Cicero the words hetaira and meretricula seem to have all those
connotations. Setting aside any judgment on their morality, we may
wonder whether there were women who joined the Epicureans in
order to flee a life in which they had to offer their bodies (and artis-
tic talents; Greek hetairai were often expected to dance or play the
flute) in return for economic subsistence. Sedley’s reading of the frag-
ments of On Occupations supplies evidence for the possibility that the
Garden offered these women refuge. The extant references to this
treatise show that it discussed the originally low status of certain emi-
nent philosophers. Protagoras, for example, is said to have worked
as a common laborer until his ingenious device for carrying logs
attracted the notice of Democritus, and Aristotle supposedly worked
in the drug-trade. The standard interpretation of these references is

30
In De Witt’s scenario, the work of male and female slaves is under the super-
vision of Mys and Phaedrium, respectively; Epicurus and his Philosophy (St. Paul:
University of Minnesota Press, 1954), 95–96.
31
Bernard Frischer The Sculpted Word: Epicureanism and Philosophical Recruitment in
Ancient Greece (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1982).
Frischer’s understanding of this Epicurean hierarchy seems to be based upon De
Witt’s reading of Philodemus’ On Frank Criticism; “Organization and Procedure in
Epicurean Groups,” CP 31 (1936): 205–211.
32
Sedley 119–59.
 remembering the garden 233

that On Occupations was a polemic against Epicurus’ predecessors.

Sedley, however, suggests that the purpose of these stories was not
to condemn Protagoras or Aristotle, but to inspire others. Sedley
offers the following modern parallel: “A New York art school used
to advertise its course with a poster which read, ‘At the age of thirty-
five Gaugin worked in a bank’. The point was not, of course, to
mock Gaugin as a bank-clerk.”33 Sedley also suggests that later sto-
ries about the advancement of Mys (from slave to philosopher) and
Leontion (from courtesan to philosopher) have affinities with On
Occupations, which may have been addressed to Leontion and Mys
or others like them.
So perhaps Leontion and the others actually were courtesans before
they turned to the life of philosophy. Ancient gossip, however, usu-
ally presented Leontion simply as a philosopher’s consort, or denied
that Leontion ever changed. In Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae (late sec-
ond century c.e.), a character at the table claims that Leontion never
gave up her wanton ways:
Did not Epicurus have as his lover Leontion, who was notorious for
being a hetaira? She did not stop being a hetaira when she became a
philosopher, but had sex with all the Epicureans in the Garden, even
in front of Epicurus, causing him great distress. (13.588b).
In Alciphron’s fictional “Letters of Courtesans” (second or third cen-
tury c.e.), Leontion complains that she is expected to play Xanthippe
to Epicurus, while this pseudo-Socrates also keeps Pythocles as his
Alcibiades (Alciphron 2.2.3). It is difficult to say whether the tradi-
tion of painting portraits of Leontion “in meditation” (Plin. HN
35.144; cf. 35.99) represents an alternate tradition (one that regarded
her as a bona fide philosopher) or whether the point was to portray
a beautiful hetaira who could also philosophize.
Martha Nussbaum’s Therapy of Desire also considers the possibility
that the hostile sources may contain some evidence for a radical
stand on the education of hetairai among the Epicureans. This recent
presentation of Hellenistic ethics traces the footsteps of an imaginary
female pupil as she seeks wisdom and healing in the various Greek
and Roman philosophical schools. Nussbaum’s choice for the role of
this pupil is not Leontion, but Nikidion, a “perhaps historical and

33
Sedley 126.
234 pamela gordon

probably fictitious”34 woman of the Garden mentioned by Diogenes

Laertius (10.7) and Plutarch (Non Posse 1097d–e). Nussbaum takes
the name Nikidion (“little victory”) as a hetaira name, but points out
that hetairai “would be more likely than other women to be literate,
and to have the freedom to move around at their own discretion.”35
When Nikidion studies with Aristotle (in Nussbaum’s fictional account),
she must disguise herself as a man even to gain admission, but among
the Epicureans she is welcome as herself. Although Nussbaum does
not see Epicurus “as a complete social radical,” she asserts that “[t]he
radical step Epicurus took in opening his school to the real Nikidions
of the world both influenced and was influenced by his conception
of what philosophy should be.”36 In Nussbaum’s analysis, however,
the result of the Garden’s apparently progressive attitude toward
women seems ultimately to be a step backward, for Epicurus’ con-
ception of what philosophy “should be” also required the passivity
and intellectual submission of the pupil.

But an Epicurean hetaira named “Pleasant?”

While Sedley and Snyder rehabilitate Leontion the meretricula and

Hedeia the hetaira, others question the historicity of all or most of
the Epicurean hetairai. Despite her interest in Nikidion as a poten-
tial pupil of the Garden, Martha Nussbaum, for example, looks
askance at names like “Tit” (Mammarion) and “Sweety-Pie” (Hedeia),
and writes: “The authenticity of all the names is highly question-
able, clearly; and we see that the beginnings of female philosophizing
went hand in hand with the beginnings of sexist ‘humour’ about the
character of the women concerned.”37 To my ear, the name Hedeia
(literally, “Sweet,” or “Pleasant”) seems especially suspect because it
sounds like a punning burlesque on Epicurean hedonism. Sifting fact
from polemic is not simple, however, and there is always the danger

34
Nussbaum, The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1994), 45.
35
Nussbaum 53.
36
Nussbaum 117, and 117 n. 32.
37
Martha Nussbaum, “Therapeutic Arguments: Epicurus and Aristotle,” The Norms
of Nature: Studies in Hellenistic Ethics, ed. Malcolm Schofield and Gisela Striker
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 38 n. 10. See also Hawley (“The
Problem of Women Philosophers”), and Nussbaum, Therapy of Desire.
 remembering the garden 235

that the names sound suspicious only if we harbor erroneous notions

of respectable names for fourth-century Greek women.
This much is certain, however: epigraphical evidence proves that
the most dubious-sounding Epicurean women’s names are in fact
genuine Greek names. Until recently, there also seemed to be significant
evidence to suggest that those names belonged in fact to women
from the Garden. The apparent confirmation comes from two epi-
graphical sources: names that match those of four of the Epicurean
hetairai appear in third- or fourth-century b.c.e. inscriptions from
Attic healing sanctuaries. One inscription in particular has led Catherine
Castner to suggest that three Epicurean women (Nikidion, Hedeia,
and Boidion) made a pilgrimage from the Garden to the temple of
Amphiaraos at Oropos, and that Hedeia also made an offering (this
time in the company of Mammarion) at the temple of Asclepius in
Athens.38
Castner’s study does not focus upon an analysis of the epigraph-
ical sources that might lead to such a conclusion, but concentrates
instead upon the theological issue: since Epicurus denied that the
gods are interested in human affairs, would he have allowed the
women to visit the temples? Citing sources such as Philodemus’ On
Piety (93), Castner acknowledges that Epicureanism allowed for tra-
ditional worship, but concludes that the quid pro quo of the healing
cults was antithetical to Epicurean teachings. For Castner, the spe-
cial allowances made for errant female students in Philodemus’ On
Frank Criticism (to which I shall return below) supplies the solution:
“Once the women had made the dedications, they would have found
indulgence and forgiveness on the return to the Kepos.”39
Recent work on the temple archives, however, demonstrates that
the appearance of the women’s names (among dozens of others) on
the same stone means very little: the temple inventories were taken
so sporadically that the records demonstrate only that offerings made
by women with “Epicurean” names were present in the temples dur-
ing two particular inventories. As Sara Aleshire makes clear in her
discussion of the inscription from the Asclepieum on the slopes of
the Acropolis, “the putative proximity of the dedications does not

38
Catherine Castner, “Epicurean Hetairai As Dedicants to Healing Divinities?”
GRBS 60 (1982): 51–57.
39
Castner 56.
236 pamela gordon

exist: not only are [the names] separated by a break of unknown

dimension (at least 23 lines in height) thus destroying their supposed
close arrangement in the temple, but even the proximity of dedica-
tions as listed in this §jetasmÒw indicates nothing about the chrono-
logical sequence when those dedications were made.”40 Years or even
decades may have intervened between the women’s offerings, and
the inscriptions themselves are not securely dated to the first gener-
ation of the Garden. (Aleshire dates the inventory from the Asklepieum
shortly before 274/3 b.c.e., around 25 years later than Castner’s
date of 301/0.) It is important to note also that the name Hedeia,
which seems at first to provide a link between the two inscriptions,
is in fact a very common name: a recent lexicon lists twenty-two
occurrences of the name Hedeia for Attica alone.41 Thus the inscrip-
tional evidence establishes only that the names themselves are real
names, not that they belonged to women who visited the temple
together, nor that the women had come from the Garden.
It may be significant that the two Epicurean women’s names with
the best authority (both appearing in the writings of Epicurus) are
also the least sexually suggestive: Themista and Leontion. Although
it was not uncommon to give animal names to prostitutes, and
although the related name Leaina (“Lioness”) may evoke a sexual
position, Leontion’s name (“Little Lioness”) is not necessarily erotic.42
Cicero’s allusion (via Cotta in Nat. D. 1.93) to Leontion’s philo-
sophical writings makes clear that she must have been at the very
least a disciple of the Garden (and not simply a “companion”).43

40
Sara Aleshire, The Athenian Asklepieion: The People, Their Dedications, and the Inventories
(Amsterdam: J. C. Gieben, 1989), 67. Having seen this inscription (for which I owe
thanks to Harry Kritzas, curator of the National Epigraphical Museum at Athens),
I can confirm that the printed editions make the text appear more compact and
less damaged than it actually is. Although Aleshire’s published work treats mainly
the Asclepieum, her judgment is also relevant for the temple of Amphiaraos.
41
M. J. Osborne and S. G. Bryne, eds., A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names Vol. II:
Attica (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987). Two of these 22 citations are those dis-
cussed by Aleshire and Castner; a third is Diogenes Laertius 10.7.
42
For a recent discussion of the “lioness” position and hetairai named Leaina, see
Andrew Stewart, “Reflections,” Sexuality in Ancient Art, ed. Natalie Kampen (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996), 136–154; and Andrew Stewart, Art, Desire, and
the Body in Ancient Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 159–162.
43
Christian Jensen once suggested that a text from Herculaneum listed Leontion
as a director of the Garden, but his reading has not found support. Christian Jensen,
“Ein neuer Brief Epikurs,” Abhandlungen der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen,
Philologisch-Historische Klasse, III 5 (1933): 1–94.
 remembering the garden 237

Themista (“Righteous”), who is not labeled as a hetaira in the ancient

texts, seems—as Cicero’s testimony tells us (Fin. 2.21.68)—to have
figured in some of Epicurus’ philosophical writings. Cicero’s refer-
ence to his enemy Piso’s being “wiser than Themista” is apparently
another contemptuous allusion to Themista’s reputed philosophical
expertise (Pis. 63), and she appears as a genuine Epicurean philoso-
pher in Clement of Alexandria (Strom. 4.19) and Lactantius (Div. Inst.
3.25.15). Perhaps Leontion and Themista were the only women of
the early Garden, and there were no hetairai involved until Timocrates
invented them in his exposé. If we discount Timocrates’ report on
the Epicurean lifestyle, however, and excise the erotic-sounding names
from our lists of first-generation Epicureans, we are left with very
few women. This may be the safest path for the historian, but later
Epicureans were not so inhospitable. They seem instead to have wel-
comed Hedeia and Mammarion as their own.

Hedeia et aliae in Later Epicurean Circles

Whether there really were women in the Garden with names like
“Erotion” and “Hedeia,” or whether the names were invented by
anti-Epicurean pamphleteers, the stories endured. To generations of
outsiders, Epicurus’ relations with these women, together with the
stories of Epicurus’ over-indulgence in food and wine, epitomized
his immoral doctrine of pleasure. Epicurus was not only rumored to
have associated with hetairai; he also supposedly kept up a salacious
correspondence with them. In Alciphron’s “Letters of Courtesans,”
Leontion is made to complain to the famous hetaira Lamia about a
lecherous Epicurus who will not stop sending her “interminable” let-
ters (Alciphron 2.2.1–3 = Epicurus fr. 142 US).44 The foes of Epicurus
could easily imagine such letters, or they could fabricate them. In
fact, Diogenes Laertius tells us of a collection of dirty letters “from
Epicurus” that Diogenes claims were actually composed by Diotimus
the Stoic (Diog. Laert. 10.3). An Epicurean letter that appears in the
second-century c.e. inscription of Diogenes of Oenoanda responds

44
Part of the joke here seems to be that Lamia’s correspondent is Leontion (Little
Lioness) rather than Leaina (Lioness). Leaina and Lamia were famous hetairai who
associated with the tyrant Demetrius Poliorketes; the sources seem to treat these
women as a familiar pair (Athenaeus 13.577).
238 pamela gordon

to such defamation by replacing the popular view of Epicurus with

a more favorable portrayal. I regard this text, which is known as
the Letter to Mother, as a fictional portrayal of the founding sage of
the Garden.45 Rejecting the dominant tradition, The Letter to Mother
documents another Epicurus: a man who wrote helpful letters to his
mother, teaching her how to seek Epicurean étaraj¤a (tranquillity).
The letter not only demonstrates that Epicurus cared for his mother
(perhaps the ultimate character reference), but, by depicting him
engaged in philosophical discussion with her, it suggests that his inter-
est in welcoming women to the Garden was completely honorable.
In Plutarch’s imagination Epicurus was a source of shame to his
mother, but the text from Oenoanda demonstrates instead that
Epicurus brought her joy and wisdom.
While rumors spread among outsiders, the Epicureans seem not
to have refuted the stories about hetairai, but instead responded
obliquely: they either affirmed that women can indeed engage in
philosophy (as in the Letter to Mother), or criticized the dominant cul-
ture’s attitudes toward erotic love (as in book 4 of Lucretius). While
outsiders viewed Hedeia and the other women as proof of Epicurean
depravity, later Epicureans added them to their lists of forebears.
Thus Hedeia, Nikidion, Mammarion, and Demetria appear in a text
of Philodemus (PHerc. 1005).46 Most of the known names are also
recorded (without any denial that the women belonged to Epicurus’
circle) by Diogenes Laertius, who was certainly a great supporter of
Epicureanism if he was not an official member of a particular
Epicurean group.47 Considering Diogenes’ regard for Epicureanism,
it is noteworthy that he records that Leontion became the concu-
bine (pallakÆ, Diog. Laert. 10.23) of Metrodorus, although she
appears in a fragment of Seneca as his wife (uxor; Haase, fr. 45).
Philodemus acknowledges that there were complaints about erotic
encounters in the Garden when he writes that a certain man “griped
repeatedly that Leontion and a certain hetaira are mentioned in the
Epicurean Pragmateia (§n t∞i pragmate¤ai) and that Nikidion was the
lover of Idomeneus, Mammarion of Leonteus, Demetria of Hermar-

45
See Gordon 66–93.
46
Anna Angeli, Agli amici di scuola (PHerc. 1005). La scuola di Epicuro 7 (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1988), 191.
47
Gordon 51; Jaap Mansfeld, Studies in the Historiography of Greek Philosophy 348
(Assen: Van Gorcum, 1990).
 remembering the garden 239

chus, and about what kind of ‘paedagogue’ Polyaenus was to Pytho-

cles . . .” (PHerc. 1005, fr. 117.2).48 Some scholars have supposed
that the man to whom Philodemus here refers must be an outsider
(perhaps a Stoic), or a defector like our Timocrates. Recent work on
this text, however, shows that the complainer is in fact an Epicurean
who does not have his facts straight.49 He knows a few Epicurean
texts but his knowledge is superficial, and he is profoundly confused
about the lives of the first Epicureans. Anna Angeli suggests that
Philodemus implies that this grumbling Epicurean had learned some
of his Epicurean history from spurious sources, perhaps even from
fake letters such as those by Diotimus the Stoic.50 Although the text
breaks off just after the apparent allegation of an erotic relationship
between Pythocles and Polyaenus (quoted above), it seems that
Philodemus is criticizing the wayward Epicurean for believing bad
things about the first generation of the Garden, not for believing in
Epicurean hetairai who did not exist.
A few other texts of Philodemus suggest that he was indeed unper-
turbed by the notion that a woman could have a voice in philo-
sophical discourse. Perhaps the most tantalizing (but inconclusive)
evidence comes from Philodemus’ epigrams in the Greek Anthology,
a corpus that is seldom read as an integral part of Philodemus’
Epicurean writings.51 These epigrams present fleeting images of a
woman named Xanthippe who is not only conversant with Epicurean
thought, but more knowledgeable than her male companion (Epigram
3).52 Even more interesting is David Sider’s observation that Xanthippe,
the lover and wife of “Philodemus” in some of the poems is also
portrayed as his “Epicurean friend” (e.g. in Epigram 7).53 Even the
combination—lover, spouse, and friend—is startling: the idea that a

48
The Pragmateia may be a document on Epicurean history or Epicurean disci-
pline; Anna Angeli translates: “negli scritti dottrinari dottrinari,” Angeli 191.
49
Angeli 26, 271–277.
50
Angeli 272.
51
For a sustained assessment of the Epicurean stance of Philodemus’ poems, see
Sider’s edition of the Epigrams, which makes frequent reference also to the work of
Gigante. For the possibility that Philodemus’ love poetry affirms that women can
be Epicurean philosophers see Sider, “The Love Poetry of Philodemus,” American
Journal of Philology 108 (1987): 311–323, esp. 319.
52
Sider, Epigrams 68. See also Sider’s essay in this volume.
53
Sider, Epigrams, 36. In Sider’s reading, the woman’s name suggests that the
“Philodemus” of the poems is playing Socrates to her Xanthippe.
240 pamela gordon

man might desire his own wife appears only rarely in Greek, the
notorious exception being the story of Candaules (Hdt. 1.8.1). But
given the importance of friendship among Epicureans, the apparent
inclusion of a woman “as a ‘friend’ in the special sense used within
the Garden”54 is even more significant. And yet the evidence from
the poems is too slight to allow a full treatment of Philodemus’ atti-
tudes toward female Epicureans.
Another scrap of evidence comes to us from the papyrus text of
Philodemus’ On Frank Criticism, an incomplete and sometimes per-
plexing work that—according to the current consensus—offers “a
fairly good picture of later Epicurean psychagogy and communal
pedagogy.”55 The main topic of this text is the candid criticism of
moral error among Epicurean friends, and the papyrus indicates that
Philodemus is recording the wisdom of the Epicurean scholarch Zeno,
whose lectures Philodemus heard in Athens. Thus it is notable that
the discussions of various modes of speech for different sorts of stu-
dents (or Epicurean friends) include references to the teacher’s need
to make adjustments not only for the student’s age and status, but
also for the student’s gender: “just as a lad differs from a woman
and old men will differ from [<women>] and youngsters alike”
(VIa).56 Later the text also cautions that women have difficulty accept-
ing criticism because “they assume rather that they are being reviled
and they are all the more crushed by the disgrace” (XXIIa) and
tend to burst into tears (XXIIb). While this is not strong evidence
for the existence of leading Epicurean women philosophers, Philodemus
certainly implies here that an Epicurean community would include
serious female practitioners or students. A decided lack of sympathy
for the Epicurean woman is apparent, however, in his comments
that woman are suspicious of their teachers, and that they are “too
impulsive and too vain and too fond of their [reputation]” (XXIIa).
Other papyrus texts of Philodemus also provide further indication
that Philodemus or his teachers may have been uneasy with the pres-
ence of women in the early Garden. Philodemus frequently appeals
to Epicurean authority, but for him the canonical texts are clearly

54
Sider, Epigrams 89.
55
David Konstan, Diskin Clay, Clarence E. Glad, Johan C. Thom, and James
Ware, eds., Philodemus: On Frank Criticism, SBLTT (Altanta, Georgia: Scholars Press,
1998), 2.
56
Translation from Konstan et al. 101.
 remembering the garden 241

not just those of Epicurus himself, but of a group he calls ofl êndrew

(“the men”): Epicurus, Metrodorus, Hermarchus, and Polyaenus.57
These three companions to Epicurus are of course well known from
the texts of Diogenes Laertius and others, but it was only with the
discovery of the papyri of Philodemus that a tradition of four Founding
Fathers was revealed.58 My suspicion is that this is a case of an
“invention of tradition” and that first-century Epicureans call the
founders “the men” (rather than, say, “the four”) advisedly. The evi-
dence is too slight to pin down the date or author of such an inven-
tion, but my own candidate is Philodemus’ teacher Zeno. According
to Cicero (who also heard Zeno lecture), Zeno habitually ridiculed
the Stoic Chrysippos by calling him Chrysippa (in the feminine; Nat. D.
1.93). This suggests some name-calling exchanges between Stoics and
Epicureans in which Zeno responded in kind to the pervasive anti-
Epicurean rhetoric. Outsiders could call the Garden womanish, but
this new tradition of Founding Fathers asserts its manliness.
Perhaps the impulse that gave the Garden “the men” also made
it hostile toward female disciples. The Garden survived for several
hundred years, but most of the women whose names appear in our
sources belong to the first generation only. It is hard to say whether
this is due only to the backward-looking glance of both Epicureans
and outsiders, or whether there simply were no women in the Garden
through much of its history. During the second century c.e. when
Epicureanism enjoyed a widespread revival, some women attached
themselves to the school—including Plotina (wife of the emperor
Trajan) and at least one woman in Rhodes (see Diogenes of Oenoanda,
who mentions the friendly ministrations of this woman in a badly
damaged fragment, Smith fr. 122). I imagine that these women saw
themselves as the successors of Leontion and Themista, as well as
of Mammarion, Hedeia, and Erotion.

57
Sedley, “Philosophical Allegiance in the Greco-Roman World,” Philosophia Togata:
Essays on Philosophy and Roman Society, ed. Miriam Griffin and Jonathan Barnes (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1989), 105–6; and Francesca Longo Auricchio, “La suola
di Epicuro,” CErc 8 (1978): 21–37.
58
Seneca may be alluding to this tradition when he writes that the three became
magnos viros through their association with Epicurus (Sen. Ep. 6.6). Plutarch also
makes sardonic use of “the men” as a title throughout the Non Posse (1087A, 1087B,
1088D, 1096E, and passim).
242 pamela gordon

A Suggestion in Lieu of a Conclusion

While some modern scholarship continues (in the Timocratean tra-

dition) to treat the Epicureans as unreflective pleasure-seekers, sev-
eral studies have come to the Garden’s defense. In this essay I have
given serious consideration to Jane Snyder’s confident description of
gender equality in the Garden. In stark opposition is the work of
Norman De Witt, who argued that Epicurean circles maintained a
strict hierarchy with Epicurus as patriarch. An uneasy middle ground
is now occupied by Martha Nussbaum, who holds that women and
slaves did indeed study in the Garden, but who questions the intel-
lectual value of Epicureanism itself. To illustrate her view Nussbaum
quotes an ancient Greek joke in which the sage Arcesilaus is asked
why students from various schools can move to the Garden, but no
Epicureans ever go over to the other schools. Arcesilaus replies:
“Because men can become eunuchs, but eunuchs never become men”
(Diog. Laert. 4.43).59 To Nussbaum, this quip offers an apt assess-
ment of the analytical inadequacies of Epicurean training, but I
would shift the focus back to the sexual slur. Surely the eunuch joke
refers not just to the alleged intellectual inferiority of the Garden,
but also to the gender issues raised in this essay.
Male Epicureans were notorious not only for withdrawing to the
Garden in the company of women, but also for their subversion of
conventional notions of what it means to be a Greek (or a Roman)
and a man. To return to the metaphorical use of women as a sign
for the Epicurean character and to complaints about Epicureans not
making good generals or politicians: can we not concede that Plutarch
is sometimes right? Instead of siding with Plutarch, Cicero, and
others who ridicule the Epicureans for not being real men, current
readers can take the polemics as evidence that Epicureanism deserves
to be taken seriously as a critique of Greek and Roman society. The
final suggestion I would offer to students of Epicureanism is to test
this paradigm shift whenever any joke or anecdote about the Epicureans
is encountered: the Garden was notorious not because it promoted
licentious behavior (as its enemies claimed), but because it was crit-
ical of the dominant culture. Although it will always be difficult to

59
Nussbaum, “Therapeutic Arguments,” 73–4; also Nussbaum, The Therapy of
Desire, 139.
 remembering the garden 243

rewrite the history of Epicureanism, our inquiries will be most fruit-

ful if we grant that it is no coincidence that the Garden, which is
arguably the least respected and most maligned of the Greek and
Roman philosophical schools, is also the one that is most often cited
as the school that harbored women and slaves.
This page intentionally left blank
 CALL ME FRANK: LUCIAN’S (SELF-)DEFENSE OF FRANK
SPEAKING AND PHILODEMUS’ Per‹ Parrhs¤aw

Glenn S. Holland

Abstract

The satirist Lucian of Samosata provides valuable insights into the

popular estimation of the philosophical schools, their teachings, and
their adherents in the second century c.e. In his dialogue, The Dead
Come to Life, or the Fisherman, Lucian’s alter ego, Parrhsiãdhw (Frank
Talk), is accused by the shades of the great philosophers of slander-
ing them in his satires. Frank Talk wins acquittal by claiming that his
satiric attacks are in fact an exercise of the philosophical virtue of
frank criticism, exercised against the charlatans who claim to follow
the great philosophers, but who by their hypocrisy bring the founders
of their philosophical schools into disrepute. Although much of what
Lucian says in the character of Frank Talk is consistent with the exer-
cise of parrhs¤a as Philodemus describes it, Lucian in fact extends the
mandate for frank criticism beyond brotherly correction within the
philosophical community to cover satiric attacks carried out in public
for educated but non-philosophical audiences in search of amusement.

New Testament scholars have long recognized the satiric works of

Lucian of Samosata as a helpful resource for illuminating certain
aspects of the New Testament,1 and they are beginning to recognize
the writings of the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus of Gadara as
a similar resource.2 Lucian mentions Christians in passing a few times

1
The most significant study in this regard is that of Hans Dieter Betz, Lukian
von Samosata und das Neue Testament: religionsgeschichtliche und paränetische Parallelen, Beitrag
zum Corpus Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1961). The
passages in Lucian most often cited as a source of information about Christianity
appear in The Passing of Peregrinus, describing that philosopher’s brief fling with
Christianity (De Morte Peregrini [Per‹ t∞w Peregr›nou teleutÆw] 11–16). As early as
the turn of the last century, one scholar was able to write, “The attitude of Lucian
towards Christianity has been the subject of more discussion than that of any other
heathen writer;” W. Lucas Collins, Lucian (Philadelphia: Lippincott, n.d.) 168; see
his chapter “Lucian and Christianity,” 167–80.
2
A major example in this case is Clarence E. Glad’s Paul and Philodemus: Adaptability
246 glenn s. holland

while Philodemus obviously does not, but both authors provide insights
into the Hellenistic culture of their times, and especially into dom-
inant attitudes and systems of value among the intellectual elites.3
But it might also prove instructive, to New Testament scholars as
well as to classicists, to compare what these two authors have to say
on a specific subject they both discuss at length: the philosophical
virtue of parrhs¤a, frank criticism.4
There are two primary reasons for asking whether the views of a
Syrian satirist of the second century c.e. are relevant to a modern
understanding of Philodemus’ first century b.c.e. treatise On Frank Criti-
cism (Per‹ parrhs¤a). The first is, as one scholar has put it, “. . . [Lucian]
had the misfortune of living in the second century a.d., which has
too often been regarded as bearing much the same relation to clas-
sical and archaic culture as postnatal depression does to birth.”5 The
second is, Lucian was a satirist, someone whose primary purpose was
not to present an accurate picture of his contemporaries and his cul-
ture but to produce humor through ridicule.6 One might reasonably
wonder whether Lucian can be trusted to provide an accurate account
of what was considered in his time a primarily philosophical and
political virtue.

in Epicurean and Early Christian Psychagogy (Leiden: Brill, 1995); see also the intro-
duction to this volume by John T. Fitzgerald.
3
Among the major works on Lucian are: Francis G. Allinson, Lucian: Satirist and
Artist (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1926), Graham Anderson, Studies in Lucian’s Comic
Fiction (Leiden: Brill, 1976), idem, Lucian: Theme and Variation in the Second Sophistic
(Leiden: Brill, 1976), Barry Baldwin, Studies in Lucian (Toronto: Hakkert, 1973),
Robert Bracht Branham, Unruly Eloquence: Lucian and the Comedy of Traditions (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1989), Jennifer Hall, Lucian’s Satire, Monographs in Classical
Studies (New York: Arno, 1981), Christopher Prestige Jones, Culture and Society in
Lucian (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986). Studies that concentrate on
Lucian’s influence on subsequent ages include David Marsh, Lucian and the Latins:
Humor and Humanism in the Early Renaissance (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1998), Christiane Lauvergnat-Gagnière, Lucien de Samosate et le Lucianisme en
France au XVI e Siècle: Athéisme et Polémique (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1988), Christopher
Robinson, Lucian and His Influence in Europe (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1979).
4
According to the context, in this essay parrhs¤a will be translated variously as
“frank criticism” (specifically in reference to Philodemus’ treatise, Per‹ parrhs¤a),
“frank speaking,” or, particularly in regard to Lucian’s assumed character Parrhsiãdhw
in The Dead Come to Life, “frank talk.”
5
Branham, Unruly Eloquence 12.
6
For the definition and intention of satire, cf. the short study by Arthur Pollard,
Satire, The Critical Idiom (London: Methuen, 1970), who focuses primarily on
Augustan satirists such as Swift, Dryden, and Pope. For a more comprehensive
 call me frank 247

But Lucian’s value for our purposes lies precisely in his role as a
satirist. Lucian made his living, as he himself tells us, as an orator
who traveled from place to place giving public performances of his
satiric dialogues.7 We are justified in making the following assump-
tions, as have most of those who have written about Lucian:
Those for whom he wrote and performed were not the unlettered pub-
lic but the “cultured,” “those who pursue letters.” It is to be expected
that when he talks of contemporary culture and society he does so
from the vantage point of a practiced observer: not an otherworldly
“artist,” still less a “journalist,” but a man in touch with his time.8
But what guarantee can we have that the work of a satirist such as
Lucian accurately reflects the philosophical ideas of either the clas-
sical past or his own era? It is generally conceded that Aristophanes,
for example, in his satire of Socrates in The Clouds, draws more upon
the figure of the Sophist than upon the character of Socrates him-
self.9 Lucian makes philosophers a frequent target of his satire, most
notably in Vitarum Auctio (Philosophies for Sale [B¤vn Prçsiw]) and its

account, with some specific attention to Lucian, see Gilbert Highet, The Anatomy of
Satire (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962), esp. 3–44; Ronald Paulson, The
Fictions of Satire (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1967), esp. 31–42; Dustin Griffin, Satire:
A Crticial Reintroduction (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994), esp. 6–34.
7
Cf. Zeuxis or Antiochus (ZeËjiw μ ÉAnt¤oxow) 1, where Lucian describes the after-
math of one of his lectures; Piscator (The Dead Come to Life [ÉAnabioËntew ≥ élieÊw])
25, where the shade of Diogenes describes Lucian’s professional activities in his
indictment of Frank Talk; and Bis accusatis (The Double Indictment [D‹w kathgoroÊmenow])
25–35, where the subject is Lucian’s innovative combination of oratory and comic
dialogue. For an outline of Lucian’s career as a satiric orator, see Jones 9–15 and
Hall 16–44.
8
Jones 23.
9
Ar. Nu. 218–509, 627–790; Socrates himself makes this complaint in Apol.
19c1–5, and scholars generally support it, at least to the extent that they feel it is
necessary to explain the discrepancy between Aristophanes’ portrayal and that of
Plato and Xenophon. W. K. C. Guthrie reviews a number of such explanations in
his Socrates (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971) 39–55, but argues that
there are points of contact between Socrates in the Clouds and in Plato’s dialogues,
50–52; Kenneth J. Dover suggests that Aristophanes was ridiculing a type, “the
intellectual,” a pretentious blowhard who holds forth on a variety of highfalutin
topics; see the introduction to Aristophanes: Clouds, ed. and trans. Kenneth J. Dover
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1968) xxxii–lvii, and a revised version, “Socrates in the Clouds,”
in The Philosophy of Socrates: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Gregory Vlastos (Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1971) 50–77. The stock character of “the
intellectual” Aristophanes parodied in Clouds has comedic descendants in “the doc-
tor” of Commedia dell’Arte and “the professor” in twentieth-century comedy, includ-
ing characters created by Sid Caesar and Groucho Marx.
248 glenn s. holland

“sequel,” Piscator (The Dead Come to Life, or the Fisherman [ÉAnabioËntew

≥ élieÊw]). Even his apparently sincere description of his own search
for true philosophy, placed in the mouth of his alter ego Parrhsiãdhw
in The Dead Come to Life 11–12, is not entirely what it seems. It is,
rather, “Lucian’s parody of a standard pattern of narrative used to
describe philosophical searches, for example by the Christian Justin,
and again it may be in part a literary device of which the aim is
to palliate his attacks on modern philosophers.”10
But in spite of these satirical attacks, Lucian repeatedly presents
himself as a friend of philosophy. As C. P. Jones notes, “. . . As
would be expected of a cultured man of letters in the second cen-
tury, [Lucian’s] acquaintance with philosophy and philosophers was
not merely superficial. In his own words, he was ‘bred up to cul-
ture and moderately conversant with philosophy.’”11 If Lucian some-
times mocks certain groups, particularly the Stoics, he declares
solidarity with others and in his writings often uses philosophers as
the spokesmen for his own (satiric) point of view. He seems most
sympathetic to the Epicureans, perhaps because they, like Lucian,
viewed religious claims with a healthy skepticism, and were often
vociferous opponents of religious charlatans.12 He also favors the
milder sort of Cynics, like Demonax, and makes the Cynic Menippus
of Gadara his spokesman in such works as Dialogues of the Dead.
But even if Lucian were demonstrably opposed to philosophy and
philosophers per se, the evidence his work provides about the mean-
ing and use of a popular philosophical concept such as parrhs¤a
could not be dismissed out of hand. The comic effect of Lucian’s
satire depended on his audience’s familiarity with the contemporary
manifestations of an inherited conglomerate of Hellenistic culture as
well as Lucian’s ability to evoke that culture and draw attention to
its contradictions in his own day. As Arthur Pollard notes,

10
Jones 25; he cites Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho 2. For a careful discus-
sion of the scholarly debate over Lucian’s relationship to philosophy and the extent
to which he himself might be styled a philosopher, see Hall 151–93.
11
Jones 26; the words are said of Lycinus by Crato in De saltatione (On the Dance
[Per‹ Ùrxhs°vw]) 2.
12
Jones treats the agreements between Lucian and the Epicureans in some detail,
Culture and Society, 26–28. He writes, “. . . Lucian brings conventional charges against
the Epicureans, their gluttony and hedonism, their apparent hypocrisy in observ-
ing conventional religion. But these jabs are very gentle compared to his treatment
of other schools” (27).
 call me frank 249

Satire is always acutely conscious of the difference between what things

are and what they ought to be . . . For [the satirist] to be successful
his society should at least pay lip-service to the ideals he upholds . . .
He is then able to exploit more fully the differences between appear-
ance and reality and especially to expose hypocrisy.13
This was the situation Lucian addressed. He was
a seriocomic sophist who engages his audience in a playful reappraisal
of the contemporary value of its celebrated cultural past, a reappraisal
made necessary by the simple historical fact that the significance of
ancient Hellenic traditions and institutions for an audience of the sec-
ond century a.d. could no longer be that of the classical and archaic
periods in which the cultural matrix took on its original shape. Indeed,
this ongoing process of selective imitation and reinterpretation is the
surest sign that authentic continuity with the past was still possible.14
Christopher Robinson argues that Lucian’s audiences were made up
of an intellectual elite:
A Lucianic satire relies on the previous existence of myths, romance,
tragedy, comedy, the novella, all of which it absorbs into its own pat-
tern. It belongs to an esoteric tradition, in that only the cognoscenti—
those who can identify the ingredients and thus appreciate the
assimilation—will fully appreciate the art.15
Since Lucian addressed an educated, intelligent audience, he may
reasonably be expected to reveal a reliable indication of how the
concept of frank criticism, so thoroughly expounded in terms of
Epicurean philosophy by Philodemus some two centuries before, was
understood by the educated elite of the second century c.e.
In fact, Lucian depended not only on his audience’s familiarity
with the teachings of the philosophical schools of his time but also
on its knowledge of the characteristics of their professed adherents.
This dependence is particularly clear in Philosophies for Sale and The
Dead Come to Life, or the Fisherman.16 It is in the latter satire that Lucian

13
Pollard 3.
14
Branham 7.
15
Robinson 44. He qualifies the term “cognoscenti” by comparing Lucian’s audi-
ence to the modern audience of Ken Russell’s film, “The Boy Friend,” whose mem-
bers must have a broad range of reference if they are to fully appreciate Russell’s
comic intentions (ibid.). This term must also be understood in the light of Robinson’s
earlier assertion that Lucian’s career took him only to what were “hardly the most
fashionable parts of the empire” (ibid., 3).
16
There have been few specialized studies of Piscator; it has generally been con-
250 glenn s. holland

himself appears under the guise of the character Parrhsiãdhw (for

our purposes, “Frank Talk”). His appropriation of parrhs¤a as this
character’s defining characteristic assumes both that parrhs¤a is a
widely-admired virtue and that his audience will accept Lucian’s (self-)
characterization as a valid one. Not surprisingly, it is in this dia-
logue that we find Lucian’s most thorough treatment of this philo-
sophical virtue and so also the best source of useful information
regarding the prevailing ideas about parrhs¤a among the educated
elite in Lucian’s day.17
The essential plot of The Dead Come to Life is the trial of Lucian’s
alter ego Frank Talk on the charge of slandering the great philoso-
phers of the past, and his eventual acquittal. Frank Talk is the tar-
get of a violent attack by the shades of the great philosophers, who
are temporarily on leave from Hades for the very purpose of hunt-
ing him down. They accuse Frank Talk of slandering their reputa-
tions and their teachings in his satires and plan to do him bodily
harm. Frank Talk protests that he is really his accusers’ greatest
friend and defender, and asks for the opportunity to prove as much
in a fair trial. Since the philosophers are wary of Frank Talk’s abil-
ities as a forensic orator, he suggests that Philosophy herself serve
as judge, and that the shades of the philosophers serve as both pros-
ecutors and jury.
Frank Talk and the philosophers intercept Philosophy and her
entourage during her daily stroll to the Stoa. Philosophy and sev-
eral of her attendants agree to participate in the trial, with Diogenes
taking the role of prosecutor on the philosophers’ behalf.18 His case
is that Frank Talk, having tired of the courtroom, has made his

sidered within the larger context of Lucian relationship to philosophy and philoso-
phers;” cf. Alice S. Alexiou, “Philosophers in Lucian” (Ph.D. diss., Fordham University,
1990).
17
The concept of parrhs¤a also provides the pretext for the extended invective
of Pseudologista (The Would-Be Critic) 1; cf. Branham, Unruly Eloquence, 29–32.
18
Diogenes is most likely assigned this role because he was viewed as a para-
digm of philosophical parrhs¤a, frank speaking, as well as §leuyer¤a, free action;
see Branham, “Defacing the Currency: Diogenes’ Rhetoric and the Invention of
Cynicism” in The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy, ed. Branham
and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, Hellenistic Culture and Society 23 (Berkeley and
Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996) 81–104, esp. 96–104. As we will
see is the case with Lucian, Diogenes exercised parrhs¤a not for the benefit of the
one he addressed, but for the instruction and amusement of an audience, Branham
100–103.
 call me frank 251

living by ridiculing philosophers as cheats and frauds. But worse, he

has maligned Philosophy herself, inciting laughter among the crowds,
who like to jeer at what is most noble and worthy. Frank Talk is
worse than Aristophanes, who at least could claim the protection of
the license granted by the Dionysia.19 Frank Talk claims to be serv-
ing Philosophy, but Diogenes charges he has in fact seduced Dialogue
and even enlisted Menippus, who is notably not among his accusers,
in his cause. Frank Talk’s most recent outrage, Diogenes continues,
is the satire Philosophies for Sale, which presents Diogenes himself being
sold for the measly sum of two obols. Frank Talk must be punished,
Diogenes argues, so that others will heed the warning and respect
both Philosophy and her faithful devotees, the philosophers.
Frank Talk’s self-defense will be examined in some detail below,
but it is based on the power of satire to expose and ridicule those
who falsely present themselves as philosophers and who, by so doing,
bring into disrepute the very doctrines they claim to uphold. Truth
herself attests to the veracity of Frank Talk’s self-defense. Plato and
Diogenes, on behalf of the dead philosophers, withdraw the charges
and declare Frank Talk to be their friend. He is acquitted, and
Philosophy admits him as a member of her household.
In the second part of the dialogue, Frank Talk encourages the
shades of the philosophers to prosecute the frauds whose failings and
hypocrisies have discredited them. He gathers the fraudulent philoso-
phers for arraignment by loudly proclaiming an offer of gifts. Hordes
of philosophers gather from all directions, but when they learn Frank
Talk’s true intention, they scatter, leaving behind only those few true
philosophers who have nothing to fear from a trial. Frank Talk then
“fishes” for philosophers belonging to the different schools, each of
whom is denounced by his school’s founder.
Finally, Philosophy empowers Frank Talk to distinguish the frauds
from the sincere by testing them with the help of Investigation
(ı ÖElegxow), ordering him to brand the frauds and crown the sin-
cere with olive branches.20 That settled, Philosophy and her entourage

19
The Dionysia was an Athenian festival in honor of Dionysius Eleuthereus that
included performances of both tragedies and comedies.
20
The verb (§l°gxv) appears in Phild. De lib. dic. XVIb.7–8, in reference to
exposing those who only feign their love for parrhs¤a: “But when the rebuke comes,
they have their pretense exposed . . .”; as in Pisc., there is the idea of searching out
and exposing those who are not faithful to the philosophical ideals they confess.
252 glenn s. holland

return to their stroll, the dead philosophers return to Hades, and

Frank Talk and Investigation begin their work, knowing that, wher-
ever they go, they will need “plenty of brands and very few wreaths.”21
The key to understanding the idea of parrhs¤a that underlies
Lucian’s theory of satire comes in Frank Talk’s self-defense (Pisc.
29–37).22 He begins by noting that Diogenes could have included
among the list of Frank Talk’s “offenses” many other, more serious
criticisms he has leveled against his targets. But he also asks his
accusers to consider who his real targets were. Frank Talk then
begins a somewhat stereotyped account of his career as a follower
of Philosophy. Originally, he says, he was a law-court orator but,
having become disgusted with the many vices that seem to accom-
pany forensic rhetoric, he left the law and turned to the ideals
espoused by Philosophy (Pisc. 29). He came to admire deeply not
only those ideals but also those who had espoused them, the same
great philosophers of the past who are now his accusers. These are
the “founding fathers of the good life,” who have “the finest and
most useful counsel to offer—provided someone had the power and
tenacity to adhere to it!” (Pisc. 30).
But, Frank Talk continues, he quickly became aware of the many
philosophical charlatans who are mere caricatures of the great philoso-
phers of the past. Although they present the appearance well enough,
their lives contradict everything they profess to believe. All of this
hypocrisy and pretense fueled Frank Talk’s indignation, which he
compares to the indignation one might feel if an effeminate actor
were to play the part of one of the great heroes of the past, and so
make a woman of him.
But since the great philosophers are dead, most people think that
these philosophical frauds are true philosophers. Frank Talk has seen
how people lay the blame for the vices of these charlatans on
Philosophy herself, or on the founders of the schools to which they
claim to belong. Frank Talk argues that he took the only course of
action he could: in order to defend the great philosophers of the
past, he had to expose the philosophic charlatans of his own day

21
English quotations from Lucian’s work are taken from Selected Satires of Lucian,
ed. and trans. Lionel Casson (Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1962) 334–61.
22
Numbers in parentheses refer to sections of The Dead Come to Life in the LCL
edition of Lucian’s works, ed. and trans Austin Morris Harmon (New York: Putnam,
1921) 3:1–81.
 call me frank 253

for the frauds they are, lest anyone confuse them with the genuine
article.
What makes this task all the more difficult, however, is that the
frauds know all their masters’ works and say all the right things. But
their behavior is almost exactly the opposite of the doctrines they
teach—and teach for a good price. These charlatans are the ones
who hold Philosophy up to ridicule. People notice the contradiction
between what the false philosophers say and what they do, and they
hold Philosophy to scorn “for producing such scum” (efi toiaËtai
kayãrmata ektr°fei (Pisc. 34); cp. 1 Cor. 4:13, perikayãrmata).
The grossest offense of the charlatans is their obsession with money,
in spite of their teaching that “Wealth should be shared” and “Money
is a matter of ‘indifference’ ” (Pisc. 35). They value money above
everything else and are quick to borrow but reluctant to lend to
those in need, despite their praise of friendship (fil¤a).23 The truth
is, they practice friendship and virtue until money is at stake, and
then their true nature becomes apparent. “They act like a pack of
hounds who have had a bone tossed in their midst—making a simul-
taneous leap, they snap away at each other and howl at the one
who’s quick enough to grab it” (Pisc. 36).
Frank Talk considers it his duty to expose and ridicule such frauds,
but he would never speak against the philosophers of the past who
are his accusers, or against their sincere followers—for such true
devotees do exist. Indeed, what charge could he bring against the
true philosophers? Do his accusers wish to claim that they have any-
thing in common with the wretches he attacks?
This is Frank Talk’s defense. His basic argument is that he has,
in the name of Philosophy and on behalf of the great philosophers
of the past, attacked the frauds and charlatans of his day who falsely
call themselves philosophers and in so doing bring that noble pro-
fession into disrepute. The frank talk (parrhsiãdhw) that character-
izes his work and gives him his name is simply a matter of calling
a spade a spade. He cannot allow fraud to go unexposed, and feels
it is his duty to bring the true nature of those who pose as philoso-
phers to the attention of the public.

23
For one example of Lucian’s ironic presentation of the virtue of fil¤a, see
Richard I. Pervo, “With Lucian: Who Needs Friends?: Friendship in the Toxaris,”
Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship, ed. John T. Fitzgerald (Atlanta: Scholars, 1997)
163–80.
254 glenn s. holland

The argument Frank Talk offers draws upon both political and
philosophical traditions regarding the use of and justification for par-
rhs¤a, and depends upon those traditions for its logical force. But
the argument also expands upon the traditional mandate for frank
speaking to provide a defense of satire as another form of socially
beneficial parrhs¤a.
Parrhs¤a is first of all a political virtue, one exercised by free
men for the public good.24 Within the Athenian assembly, each cit-
izen had the right to speak his mind frankly about whatever prob-
lems the city faced and how best to address them. As David Fredrickson
notes, this proposition provided a pretext for orators to retain their
audiences’ sympathy and attention even in the act of calling their
actions to account: “When orators admonished their audiences for
some civil ill, they relied upon the city’s reputation for loving frank
speech and asked for toleration of their plain speaking in light of its
beneficent aim.”25
Indeed, the exercise of parrhs¤a was so closely bound up with
the rights and obligations of citizenship that it marks the boundary
between a free man and a slave.26 If one were not allowed to exer-
cise parrhs¤a for some reason, one’s practical status would be no
better than that of a slave, and slaves were denied citizenship. A
slave had no right to speak frankly, even for the benefit of his bet-
ters. What is more important, however, is that those who were the
objects of parrhs¤a, those who submitted to and benefited from
frank talk, were also free men. One did not speak frankly to slaves,
because slaves were not equipped to appreciate or respond to its
benefits.
Given this context, it is notable that Lucian portrays Plato com-
plaining that Frank Talk has treated his victims like slaves, having
put them up for auction in Philosophies for Sale. Plato objects that the
dead philosophers are in fact wise men and, more important, free

24
See the relevant remarks in the essays in this volume by David Sider, Ben
Fiore, and J. Paul Sampley.
25
David E. Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech in the Argument of 2 Cor 2:14–7:16”
(Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1990) 69. I am throughout indebted to Fred-
rickson’s thorough treatment of parrhs¤a as a political and philosophical concept.
See also his essay, “Parrhs¤a in the Pauline Epistles,” in Friendship, Flattery, and
Frankness of Speech, ed. John T. Fitzgerald, NovTSup 82 (Leiden: Brill, 1996) 163–83.
26
Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech,” 68–70.
 call me frank 255

men (§leuy°rouw; Pisc. 4). He chastises Frank Talk: “So, on top of

everything, we’re supposed to thank you for your slanders, eh? You
really think you’re dealing with slaves, don’t you? All the insults and
sodden rant in your dialogues you’re going to put under the head-
ing of doing us a service, eh?” (Pisc. 5).
In fact, Frank Talk’s very use of parrhs¤a indicates he regards
the philosophers as free men who can benefit from his frankness.
Truly free men, Lucian implies, would regard Frank Talk’s words
as a service. At the same time, Plato’s insistence on the dead philoso-
phers’ status as free men betrays an ironic misreading of their situ-
ation. In point of fact, they’re dead, and as a result they are “bound”
by Hades as their master. Indeed, they have had to ask Hades for a
furlough from the underworld in order to attack Frank Talk (Pisc. 14).
Lucian himself makes the connection between political liberty and
frank speaking explicit in this dialogue by placing personifications of
these two virtues among the followers of Philosophy. When Philo-
sophy agrees to act as judge and asks Truth to accompany her,
Truth enlists the aid of her two handmaids Freedom and Frankness
(ÖEleuyer¤a ka‹ Parrhs¤a), saying, “We have to see if we can save
this poor man who loves us so dearly” (Pisc. 17).
Moreover, there was already a link between parrhs¤a and the
comic license exercised by the satirist. In his accusation, Diogenes
charges that Frank Talk’s ridicule of the philosophers is worse than
Aristophanes’ and Eupolis’ mockery of Socrates, especially since Frank
Talk ridicules philosophers without the sanction of the Dionysia (Pisc.
25–26). Although even Diogenes seems to admit there is some right
of parrhs¤a in satire, he apparently would insist it be restricted to
a particular divinely-sanctioned time and place. Even then what the
comic poets claim to be parrhs¤a may in reality amount to no more
than regrettable buffoonery (Pisc. 25).27
In this dialogue, Lucian appears to be attempting to expand the
license already granted the comic poets in order to validate his own
satires as a means of exposing all sorts of social ills, including the
follies of the fraudulent philosophers. Lucian bases his argument for
such license not only on the political right to speak frankly, but also
on the parrhs¤a granted philosophers themselves.

27
Fredrickson comments on parrhs¤a and comic license and cites considerable
evidence for the moral philosophers’ rejection of any real value in comic parrhs¤a,
“Paul’s Bold Speech” 70, n. 18.
256 glenn s. holland

Parrhs¤a was the distinguishing mark of the philosopher as one

who enjoys moral freedom. This freedom is similar to the freedom
of the citizen, except that it derives not from one’s social or politi-
cal standing, but from one’s moral standing. The philosopher is his
own master and, more important, master over himself. The philoso-
pher exercises and exhibits self-control (svfrosÊnh) in his pursuit of
wisdom. He is the only truly free man, irrespective of exile, slavery,
or other conditions imposed by human beings. His self-control grants
him moral freedom, which in turn allows him to speak frankly regard-
less of circumstances.
Fredrickson has demonstrated this connection between moral free-
dom and parrhs¤a.28 He notes, “The philosopher’s parrhs¤a resides
not in his political status but in his freedom from fear, and the abil-
ity to make all things depend upon himself. Moral freedom has
replaced political freedom as the basis of parrhs¤a.”29 Indeed, to
some extent it is speaking frankly that demonstrates the philosopher’s
moral freedom; Musonius Rufus makes this point by citing Diogenes’
example as well as his own:
But tell me, my friend, when Diogenes was in exile at Athens, or when
he was sold by pirates and came to Corinth, did anyone, Athenian or
Corinthian, ever exhibit greater freedom of speech [parrhs¤an] than
he? And again, were any of his contemporaries freer than Diogenes? . . .
Are you not aware that I am an exile? Well, then, have I been deprived
of freedom of speech [§st°rhmai parrhs¤aw]? Have I been bereft of
the privilege of saying what I think?30
In his Per‹ parrhs¤aw, Philodemus assumes both the right and the
responsibility of the (Epicurean) philosopher to exercise frank criti-
cism within the philosophical community. His whole purpose in writ-
ing the treatise is to assist the members of the Epicurean community
to provide frank criticism to one another in as effective a manner
as possible. In fact, the well-being of the community is presumed to
depend on the rigorous practice of mutual parrhs¤a. The political
virtue once exercised in the public forum has become a personal

28
Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech,” 73–82.
29
Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech,” 77–78.
30
Mus. Ruf. 9; the translation is that of Cora Elizabeth Lutz, Musonius Rufus: the
Roman Socrates, Yale Classical Studies 10 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1947)
74–75, cited by Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech,” 78–79; 79, n. 38.
 call me frank 257

virtue to be practiced primarily within the confines of the Epicurean

community.31
In this context, Lucian’s adoption of the character of Parrhsiãdhw,
Frank Talk, as his representative constitutes a claim to be a free
man in the philosophical sense. But because of the idea, fostered by
Philodemus and the other Epicureans, that frank criticism is a philo-
sophical responsibility as well as a right, in Lucian’s hands parrhs¤a
also becomes the basis for a right to what we might call “creative
license,” the freedom to say what is necessary to fulfill one’s satiric
intentions in a comic dialogue.
Satiric intention may easily be understood to be consistent both
with Frank Talk’s claims to be an admirer of Philosophy and with
the tradition of philosophical parrhs¤a. The freedom to exercise
frank criticism is not merely a means of demonstrating the moral
superiority of the philosopher, although this was sometimes the case
among the Cynics, as Fredrickson demonstrates.32 Its primary inten-
tion was the moral improvement of those whom the philosopher
addressed. Some philosophers, moreover, claimed to have taken on
the job of exercising parrhs¤a at the behest of the gods; for them,
frank criticism became a function of the philosopher’s divinely-des-
ignated office. Both Epictetus and Dio Chrysostom, for example,
repeatedly emphasize the divine nature of their calling.33 This tra-
dition goes back at least to Socrates, who in his defense presented
before the Athenian assembly based his philosophical mission on the
Delphic oracle’s enigmatic reply to Chairephon (Apol. 20e9–23c1).34
In much the same way, in The Dead Come to Life Frank Talk repeat-
edly asserts that his own use of parrhs¤a (i.e., in satire) arises from
his high regard for Philosophy, personified in this dialogue as a

31
Cf. the frequent invocations of Epicurus in On Frank Criticism as an example,
De lib. dic. 6.5, 15.9, 49.6, 49.10, 55.5, 73.3–4, T14.end.5, and as an authority, De
lib. dic. 20.9, 45.8.
32
Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech,” 83–93.
33
Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech,” 94–105 cites cf. Epict. Diss. 3.22.3–4, 3.21.17
(96), 3.22.95–96 (99–100) and Dio Chrys. Or. 32.12 (104). Epictetus said that the
divine call was what distinguished the true philosopher from the charlatan and in
fact sanctioned his use of parrhs¤a (Diss. 3.22.19, 93); see Abraham J. Malherbe,
Paul and the Popular Philosophers (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989) 46–47.
34
In the case of Socrates, the divine call was not only the origin of his philo-
sophical mission of §l°gxow, but also of his philosophical irony; see Glenn Holland,
Divine Irony (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University Press, 2000), ch. 4.
258 glenn s. holland

goddess. Therefore the exercise of frank criticism takes on the con-

notations of a sacred duty to the goddess.35 Moreover, Frank Talk com-
pares his satiric assaults against the philosophical charlatans to the
flogging an actor might receive for portraying a god in an unworthy
way. The gods would not condemn such an action in defense of
their honor, according to Frank Talk. Indeed, “I rather imagine the
gods would get satisfaction out of the punishment” (33). In both
cases, parrhs¤a becomes more than a philosophical responsibility; it
is a sacred service to the gods.
Moreover, at the end of the dialogue, parrhs¤a becomes a tool
for the fulfillment of a divine commission which is personified as
Investigation (tÚn ÖElegxon). Frank Talk is to employ parrs¤a at the
behest of the goddess Philosophy to winnow the philosophers of his
day and thereby determine which deserve an olive wreath and which
deserve a brand (46, 52).
Within the context of philosophical communities, the exercise of
parrhs¤a is most often tied to the mutual obligations of friendship
as a means of promoting the moral improvement of one’s com-
rades.36 Philodemus makes the point that the one who employs frank
criticism in the right way at the right time is a true friend to his
friend (De lib. dic. 50.8), and friendship is the basis of Epicurean par-
rhs¤a in Philodemus’ treatise On Frank Criticism.37 It should come as
no surprise that Lucian also plays upon the theme of philosophical
friendship in The Dead Come to Life.
At the outset of the dialogue, Frank Talk protests that the philoso-
phers are completely mistaken in their attacks against him:
Gentlemen! Understand one thing—if you kill me, the man who has
suffered so much on your behalf, you’ll be killing the one person in
the whole world who deserves your cheers, your kinsman who thinks
and feels as you do, and—if it’s not vulgar to bring it up—the agent
of your best interests. Watch out that you don’t behave like the philoso-
phers of today and treat a benefactor with a display of ingratitude . . .
[Pisc. 5]

35
Plutarch implies a similar connection when he begins his “How to Tell a
Flatter from a Friend” by citing the Delphic oracle’s command to “know thyself ”
(gn«yi sautÒn; Quomodo quis suos 49B, cp. 65F).
36
Fredrickson, “Paul’s Bold Speech,” 131–37.
37
Cf. De lib. dic. 15.8–9, 50.5, col. XIIIa.10 (f¤low); 28.5 (fil¤a); col. XIXb.6
(filikÒw).
 call me frank 259

In this speech, Frank Talk mentions several of the characteristics of

a true friend—suffering on the friend’s behalf, looking out for his
best interests, providing benefits—to persuade his accusers that he is
their friend (Pisc. 30–33, 37). Ultimately, his self-defense is success-
ful, and Plato says on behalf of the philosophers, “Dismiss the com-
plaint and declare him our friend and benefactor” (f¤lon ≤m›n ka‹
eÈerg°thn).38 Even Diogenes, who has led the prosecution as its
spokesman, says, “He’s a hero; he’s my friend” (f¤lon poioËmai aÈtÚn
genna›on ˆnta; Pisc. 38). This assessment of Frank Talk is shared by
Philosophy herself, who, after his acquittal, admits him to her house-
hold. This honor confirms not only Frank Talk’s status as a “philoso-
pher,” or at least a friend of Philosophy, but also his right to exercise
parrhs¤a, specifically among the members of the philosophical
community.
To further emphasize the philosophical basis of Frank Talk’s exer-
cise of parrhs¤a, his self-defense is presented as an obvious and
sometimes explicit parallel to Socrates’ self-defense as it is presented
in Plato’s Apology. Like Socrates, Frank Talk claims that, despite the
charges against him, he is in fact his accusers’ greatest benefactor
(eÈerg°thw; Pisc. 5, cp. Apol. 36b5–d5). The philosophers are initially
reluctant to bring Frank Talk to trial because they fear that his
rhetorical skill, honed by years of experience as a forensic orator,
will sway a judge and jury through rhetorical tricks (Pisc. 9).39 In the
Apology, Socrates imputes a similar fear of his own rhetorical skill to
his accusers. He assures them he will not employ rhetoric, but he
does lay claim to what he calls the chief virtue of the “true orator:”
speaking the truth (Apol. 17a1–18a6). Not coincidentally, Frank Talk’s
own apology measures up to this test when Truth herself (ÉAlhye¤a)
testifies to the veracity of his self-defense (Pisc. 38).40 Although Socrates’

38
We find the idea of rendering a good work to the wise by employing par-
rhs¤a also in Philodemus: De lib. dic. 4.4–5 ([ofi dÉeÈerget[Æ]santew ép[Ú s]ebasmoË
tÚ[n] sofÚn eÈgen[e¤aw); 82.3–4 (ı so]fÚw oÈk §p‹ pãntvn k[îi]tÉ eÈ[erg]etÆsein p°poiyen).
39
In The Dead Come to Life, it is Socrates who argues reluctantly that the philoso-
phers must allow Frank Talk a fair trial, if only for the sake of their reputations:
“What will we be able to say about my accusers Anytus and Meletus or the men
who sat on my jury if this fellow here dies without getting his share of courtroom
time?” (Pisc. 10). Socrates apparently doesn’t mind if Frank Talk dies after receiv-
ing his share of courtroom time; it appears that, as far as Socrates is concerned, a
guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion.
40
Cp. Phild. De lib. dic. Col. XVb; in order to know the truth, it is necessary
to examine oneself, but also to hear frank criticism from others.
260 glenn s. holland

protégé Plato at first rejects Frank Talk’s claims of benevolence

towards the philosophers in scorn (Pisc. 5), he later confirms the just-
ness of the claim in the words cited above (Pisc. 38). This seal of
approval from Socrates’ primary disciple only adds luster to Frank
Talk’s “Socratic” self-defense.
Frank Talk does not aspire to full Socratic status, however. Rather,
his reward from Philosophy after his acquittal is the job of testing
contemporary philosophers to determine which are worthy imitators
of Socrates’s example. It is Truth who urges that Frank Talk, assisted
by Investigation, be given the job. Here again there seems to be a
clear parallel between Frank Talk and Socrates, who carried out his
“divine commission” through elenchic dialogue (Apol. 20e9–23c1).41
Truth adds a further stipulation to Frank Talk’s task: “Whoever he
finds is genuine he’s to give a wreath of ivy and free meals for life
at City Hall [the Prytaneum]” (Pisc. 46). This was the reward for
Olympic champions who enhanced the city’s standing among the
other Greek states. But it was also what Socrates suggested as an
appropriate sentence after his conviction, on the grounds that he
had been a greater benefactor for Athens than any athlete had ever
been (Apol. 36b3–37a1). Lucian appears to support the notion that
a city’s greatest claim to honor is the true philosophers among its
citizens.
But the commission Frank Talk receives from Truth marks a shift
in his role. He is ordered to use parrhs¤a, not as a method of pro-
moting the welfare of others, but as a means of testing sincerity.
Frank Talk shifts roles from a “Socratic” accused philosopher to a
“Lucianic” accuser of philosophers. In so doing he in fact takes up
the task, not of Socrates, but of those who brought him to trial, the
task of distinguishing the true philosopher from the false. Frank Talk
does so, however, with the permission and mandate not of the

41
For the discussion of the relationship of Socrates’ elenchic method to the ora-
cle given to Chaerephon see Thomas G. West, Plato’s Apology of Socrates: An Interpretation,
with a New Translation (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1979) 104–126; Thomas C.
Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, Socrates on Trial (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1989) 87–108; Michael C. Stokes, “Socrates’ Mission,” in Socratic Questions:
New essays on the Philosophy of Socrates and Its Significance, eds. Barry S. Gower and
Michael C. Stokes (New York: Routledge, 1992) 26–81; Thomas C. Brickhouse and
Nicholas D. Smith, Plato’s Socrates (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) 30–45;
and Holland, Divine Irony, ch. 4.
 call me frank 261

Athenian assembly, but of Philosophy herself, with Truth standing

by to attest to the veracity of his charges.
Frank Talk’s commission as a philosophical fraud-detector is in
keeping with the satiric attack on philosophers that runs throughout
the dialogue. The great philosophers of the past are portrayed as
members of an angry, blood-thirsty mob who at first wish simply to
annihilate Frank Talk. It is only gradually and grudgingly that they
are brought around to granting him a trial, and so to live up to
their own teachings about justice and temperance. As an author
Lucian also ridicules individual philosophers in various small ways.
Diogenes, whose Cynic school disdained worldly possessions, is obses-
sively concerned with the low price (two obols) he was portrayed
fetching at auction in Philosophies for Sale. Chrysippus praises Plato’s
eloquence in terms so glowing that he makes Plato out to be more
of a grandiloquent Sophist than a “plain-speaking” Socratic philosopher:
A marvelously noble mind, a beautiful and wonderfully pure diction,
charm that’s so persuasive, understanding, precision, arguments that
carry such conviction at the crucial moment—all these you have in
abundance . . . Add a sprinkling of Socratic irony, give him those tricky,
rapid-fire questions, and, if you think it’s a good idea, stick in some-
where that line of yours about “Great Zeus who drives his winged
chariot across the heavens” . . . [Pisc. 22].42
Even Socrates’ opening exhortations to his fellow philosophers reflect
the peculiarities of their respective schools. Epicurus and the hedo-
nist Aristippus of Cyrene both have trouble keeping up with the oth-
ers, presumably from over-indulgence and lack of exercise (Pisc. 1).43
Aristotle, the first Peripatetic (i.e., “walking” philosopher), is encour-
aged by Socrates to hurry up: “Faster, Aristotle, faster!” (Pisc. 2).
Although these are minor jests, they are part of Lucian’s larger
project of satirizing the great philosophers even while his alter
ego, Frank Talk, claims only to revere them and to work to benefit
them.

42
Chrysippus’ elaborate praise of Plato is of course ironic in view of his own
career; although educated in part at the Academy, he converted to Stoicism and
became its staunch defender against the Platonists.
43
If this is indeed intended as a sly dig at the two philosophers, it reflects a
popular, rather than an accurate, view of Aristippus and Epicurus. The real irony,
of course, is that Epicurus, the quintessential materialist who taught that death is
merely non-existence, is present among these shades at all.
262 glenn s. holland

Nor is such satire restricted only to the reputations of the “found-

ing fathers.” Frank Talk subtly denigrates the value of the philoso-
phers’ teaching, both on the grounds that they are difficult to follow
(Pisc. 30), and that the philosophical frauds know all their masters’
teachings perfectly (Pisc. 34). In a culture where knowledge of the
Good was supposed inevitably to produce virtuous behavior,44 this
was a particularly telling criticism. Even at the most basic level, the
implicit question is, if the great philosophers’ teachings fail to pro-
duce virtuous behavior among their most vociferous followers, what
good are those teachings after all?
In contrast to the philosophical theorists, Frank Talk presents him-
self as someone who makes philosophy practical—that is, likely to
produce virtuous behavior—by selecting among the teachings of var-
ious philosophical schools and presenting them in a way that com-
mends them to the public:
Where have I gotten the very words I write if not from you [philoso-
phers]? I draw them the way a bee does honey and display them to
men; they applaud—but they know where and how I plucked each
flower and whose it was originally. Ostensibly it’s me they envy for
the bouquets I’ve garnered, but actually it’s you and your garden;45
the blooms you have produced are of such beautiful and varied tints—
if people only know how to pluck them and mix and arrange them
so that one wouldn’t clash with another! [Pisc. 6]
In other words, it only through the labors of someone like Frank
Talk, a rhetorician and a Sophist, that the difficulties of contending
philosophical schools can be clarified and their best teaching can be
presented in a way that commends itself to the general public.
Frank Talk essentially presents himself as a Sophist in service to
Philosophy who defends her by exposing fraudulent philosophers.
His weapon is philosophical parrhs¤a, and by wielding this weapon
effectively he becomes Lady Philosophy’s most effective champion.
The heroic service he performs on her behalf justifies in part the

44
This is virtually the unanimous opinion of classical and Hellenistic philosophy.
On this point see Albrecht Dihle, The Theory of Will in Classical Antiquity, Sather
Classical Lecture 48 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1982),
21–66.
45
I am assuming that there is no veiled reference here—a perilous thing when
dealing with a satirist—to the Garden of Epicurus.
 call me frank 263

extension of Frank Talk’s mandate for exercising parrhs¤a in other

contexts than the comradely correction of a fellow philosopher. His
mandate extends beyond what Philodemus among others had always
envisioned as the proper scope of a philosopher’s use of frank crit-
icism, to include also what we might call “satiric parrhs¤a.”
What is the nature of this mandate for satiric parrhs¤a? In the
character of Frank Talk, Lucian provides a defense of himself and
his satires that is entirely in keeping with the political idea of par-
rhs¤a that had been current in the Greek world since the classical
era and with the philosophical virtue extolled by Philodemus. But
Lucian’s extension of the argument is that frank speaking in satire
performs much the same function among the educated classes who
made up his audiences as it did in the city council or the philo-
sophical community. It could be argued that the educated classes
formed something of a governing assembly of the cosmopolitan intel-
lectual community, or something like a fellowship of those who are
philosophers in the broad sense of those who approve what is good
and true. Parrhs¤a has a place in either sort of gathering, and
Lucian claims to provide it in plenty for the common good. When
satiric parrhs¤a reveals philosophical charlatans for what they are,
the argument goes, it restores the good reputation of the great philoso-
phers of the past and those few of their contemporary followers who
are worthy of public esteem.
But in the course of laying claim to the traditional mandate for
parrhs¤a on behalf of his satiric dialogues, Lucian also widens and
redirects the mandate. Most notably, it is no longer necessary that
parrhs¤a be directed to those it is theoretically intended to benefit.
Lucian did not read his satires before gatherings of philosophers, but
in front of educated audiences seeking entertainment. His frank crit-
icism is not intended to correct privately an erring fellow philoso-
pher, but rather to ridicule publicly those who fail to live up to the
standards of the great philosophers they claim to follow. This sort
of parrhs¤a is not intended to foster the moral growth of the frauds
whom he publicly and repeatedly denigrates and dismisses as rogues
and cheats. He wants to expose these charlatans, not reform them.
Nor is this kind of frank criticism intended to foster the moral
growth of the audience, except perhaps in fueling their indignation
against the philosophical frauds. Satire is instead intended to ridi-
cule and thereby solicit laughter, although it does depend on the
264 glenn s. holland

satirist and the audience sharing a common set of moral and cultural
values.46 Despite Frank Talk’s protestations that he is a champion
and defender of the great philosophers of the past, if his satire pro-
vides any benefit for them at all, it is an indirect result of his pri-
mary purpose and to that extent beside the point. His profession is
not philosophical apologist but satirist.
But parrhs¤a also serves an important function for the satirist: it
allows him to probe and expose the evils that afflict society, and so
to render them innocuous through laughter. By calling a spade a
spade, the satirist prevents his audience from mistaking it for a spoon,
a sword, or a topographical sculpturing device.
Frank Talk characterizes himself primarily as “fraud-hater, cheat-
hater, lie-hater, humbug-hater,” summing up with “I hate the whole
damned breed” (Pisc. 20). Although he is also “truth-lover, beauty-
lover, simplicity-lover” he adds, “I’m afraid I’ve already forgotten
the one because I use it so little and have become an expert in the
other” (Pisc. 20). The goddess Philosophy assures him they are “two
sides of the same coin, as the saying goes” (ibid.). But it remains
true that any positive effects of Lucian’s satire are secondary to its
primary intention, which is to ridicule what is fraudulent and vain-
glorious, and, in the effort, to inspire laughter.
In this respect, Lucian and his alter ego Frank Talk are the lit-
erary descendants of the authors of Old Comedy. Diogenes gets it
half right: Frank Talk is indeed like authors such as Aristophanes,
who mocked Socrates and other philosophers not for the moral
improvement of the philosophers, but for the amusement of the
crowd (Pisc. 25–26). But this is not the whole truth of the matter.
Lucian was also concerned with exposing the absurdities of philo-
sophical speculation and the glaring contradictions between what the
contemporary philosophers taught and the way most of them behaved.
He was interested not only in whatever laughter might be squeezed
out of philosophers as comic figures, but also in presenting the many
faces of fraud and hypocrisy. This is why Lucian’s work continues

46
Scholars generally agree that the satirist and the audience must share a com-
mon set of values if satire is to be successful. Cf. Robert C. Elliott, The Power of
Satire: Magic, Ritual, Art (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960) 266; Paulson
9–20; Pollard 3–5; cp. Highet 18–21. For a full treatment of classical and con-
temporary theories of satire, see Griffin, esp. 6–34.
 call me frank 265

to amuse and instruct his audiences some eighteen centuries after it

was first written.47
What can Lucian’s second century c.e. (self-)defense of the use of
parrhs¤a in satire tells us about the exercise of frank criticism as it
is discussed by Philodemus in the first century b.c.e. or practiced by
a New Testament author such as Paul in the mid-first century c.e.?
In regard to Philodemus, the fact that Lucian is able to assume his
audience’s knowledge and approval of the various attributes and
virtues of parrhs¤a, and to evoke them in terms that echo those
used by the Epicurean philosopher, demonstrate the general accept-
ance of the ideas worked out and explained in his Per‹ parrhs¤aw.
As a result, we are justified in assuming his theories would find gen-
eral acceptance among the educated elite of his own time and the
centuries that followed.
More specifically, both Lucian and Philodemus place a very high
value on parrhs¤a as a central tool of their respective professions,
different as those professions may be. Both also recognize that the
exercise of parrhs¤a is likely to cause offense and therefore must be
defended, primarily by invocation of its social benefits. But those
benefits accrue to different groups. In the case of Philodemus, the
beneficiaries are his fellow members of the Epicurean community;
in the case of Lucian, the beneficiaries are the educated members
of his audiences, who are amused and entertained by his attacks on
the philosophical charlatans.
Moreover, Philodemus employs a similar form of satirical par-
rhs¤a when he attacks other philosophical schools, as in his On the
Stoics.48 These attacks are intended to benefit his fellow Epicureans
by enhancing and supporting their common identity through the
exposure of the failings and hypocrisies of the opposing schools. This
common identity is also reinforced by Philodemus’ frequent invoca-
tion of Epicurus; in the absence of any idea of a divine call, such
as Frank Talk claimed to have received from Philosophy (Pisc. 46),

47
The durability of satire, which allows it to find an appreciative audience long
after its original targets are long gone and forgotten, is ample demonstration that
satire’s primary function is not moral instruction for those satirized, but the amuse-
ment of the audience. The idea that satire is primarily a moral endeavor intended
to censure vice and praise virtue, is a product of “the moral obsession of literary
criticism in later antiquity” and originally applied to Old Comedy (G. L. Hendrickson,
“Satura Tota Nostra Est,” CP 22 (1927): 46–60, 49, cited by Griffin 10).
48
See the essay by Clay in this volume.
266 glenn s. holland

what binds the community together is their veneration of the Master

and their conformity to his teachings: “and the encompassing and most
important thing is, we shall obey Epicurus, according to whom we
have chosen to live” (De lib. dic. 45.7–10). Although Lucian appears to
have a high opinion of Epicurus and his followers as opponents of
religious fraud and pious nonsense, he also makes use of the com-
mon stereotype of Epicureans as hedonists.49
At the same time, we also find a broadening of the mandate for
the one who exercises parrhs¤a, a mandate that by the time of
Lucian has come to include vilification and abuse of hypocrites and
wrong-doers for the benefit of a third party. This fact should at least
make those who read Paul’s letters more aware of the possibility that
his attacks on his opponents may include satiric exaggeration, invec-
tive, and irony. This possibility seems most likely in the case of the
Paul’s apology in 2 Cor. 10–13,50 but should at least be entertained
whenever Paul refers to his opponents; at the very least, his remarks
about them should never be taken simply at face value.
In essence, Frank Talk’s self-defense of his satirical exercise of par-
rhs¤a in The Dead Come to Life provides a philosophical justification
for the business of mocking professional hypocrites. His apology is
also an argument for the public usefulness of satire, based on the
idea that satire makes it harder for frauds to prey upon the public.
If the reputations of the great philosophers of the past and those of
their sincere followers in the present are enhanced as a result, all
the better. Even Philosophy herself acknowledges that such mockery
is more likely to help true philosophers than to hurt them: “. . . You
see, I know that jokes never do any harm. On the contrary, they’ll
make a thing of beauty gleam more brightly and stand out all the
more, like gold hammered clean at the mint” (Pisc. 14).
This is ultimately Lucian’s strongest argument. His satires delighted
and enlightened his audiences, and little harm was done to the man
of common sense who heard him or the sincere philosopher whose
hypocritical brethren Lucian satirized. The man of common sense

49
See above, nn. 10, 40.
50
For an exposition of these chapters with an emphasis on their ironic content,
see Holland, “Speaking Like a Fool: Irony in 2 Corinthians 10–13” in Rhetoric and
the New Testament: Essays from the 1992 Heidelberg Conference, ed. Stanley E. Porter and
Thomas H. Olbricht, JSNTSup 90 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993)
250–64, and an expanded treatment in Holland, Divine Irony, ch. 5.
 call me frank 267

would enjoy his attacks and applaud them. The philosopher, because
he was a wise man, would suffer fools gladly.51 So a true philoso-
pher could also reasonably be expected to suffer gladly the beneficial
foolishness of Lucian’s frank talk.

51
John T. Fitzgerald has documented this philosophical principle in Cracks in an
Earthen Vessel: An Examination of the Catalogues of Hardships in the Corinthian Correspondence,
SBL Dissertation Series 99 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988), 59–65, 103–107.
This page intentionally left blank
 PART THREE

PHILODEMUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT WORLD

This page intentionally left blank
 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES IN THE LIGHT OF
PHILODEMUS’ “ON FRANK CRITICISM”

Benjamin Fiore, S.J.

Abstract

The Pastoral Epistles show a number of points of contact with Epicurean

philosophical thought, both in agreement and disagreement. This is
true to the extent that the Pastorals may plausibly be said to be in
conversation with Epicurean thought. This general connection suggests
a context for the striking parallels between Philodemus and the Pastorals
on the proper use of frank speech. Although the Pastorals disagree
with Philodemus’ theory in significant ways, the two share the popu-
lar philosophical aim of moral improvement and also agree on the
best measures to be taken to achieve their aim.

The excavation of Herculaneum’s “Villa of the Papyri” in the eight-

eenth century led to the discovery of a library of Epicurean works,
mostly by Philodemus.1 The library’s papyri rolls were badly charred
and very fragile and included a roll of Philodemus’ instructions Per‹
Parrhs¤aw, On Frank Criticism.2 In the work there is no systematic
elaboration of the subject since Philodemus’ work seems to be com-
prised of lecture notes of his teacher Zeno of Sidon’s treatment of
parrhs¤a. Philodemus studied under Zeno at Athens and appears to
have organized his material by first quoting a topic or question and
then going on to give his teacher’s elaboration of it.3 In general,
Philodemus describes the use of parrhs¤a, its aim and its pitfalls.
Overall he sees it as a useful tool in the effort to promote moral

1
Jane I. Tait, Philodemus’ Influence on the Latin Poets (diss. Bryn Mawr, 1941), 4,
notes that of the approximately 200 volumes contained in the library, Philodemus
wrote over half and that three-fourths of the recovered papyri are his.
2
Philodemus: On Frank Criticism, trans. David Konstan, Diskin Clay, Clarence E.
Glad, Johan C. Thom, and James Ware, SBLTT 43 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998).
3
Clarence E. Glad, “Frank Speech, Flattery and Friendship in Philodemus,” in
Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World,
ed. John T. Fitzgerald NovTSup 82 (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 30.
272 benjamin fiore, s.j.

progress among friends. Frank speech is, in this sense, used by the
wise person in correcting the deficiencies of disciples/friends. Philodemus
and other Epicureans advocate mutual psychagogy through admis-
sion and correction of error as an aspect of friendship.4
Parrhs¤a was an esteemed concept and practice in classical antiq-
uity. For Isocrates it meant to speak concisely and without reserva-
tion but with utmost frankness and without raising ire.5 In its public
and political dimension it was the privilege of free citizens (male)
and the focus was therefore on the spoken word.6 This contrasts with
the understanding of parrhs¤a as a personal characteristic. In this
case it refers to confidence or boldness, a usage commonly thought
to be used by Paul in 2 Cor. 3:12.7
Philosophers such as Musonius Rufus saw parrhs¤a’s basis to be
not political status (citizenship) but inner autonomy and freedom,
particularly freedom from fears, for which civic freedom is a metaphor.8
Thus the Cynics relished using bold, even disconcerting words as an
expression of their moral freedom from convention.9 Epictetus speaks
not just of the boldness arising from inner freedom but of frank
speech as a tactic in a divinely appointed task.10 While many Cynics
saw it as a means to improve public morals and the common good,11
Lucian’s Demonax uses it to improve other individuals and to fos-
ter friendship. Filanyrvp¤a among the milder Cynics called for their
benefiting others (»f°leia) even with the application of painful, frank
criticism.12 This last attitude and practice parallels those of the

4
Glad 30–31 and David Fredrickson, “Parresia in the Pauline Epistles,” in
Fitzgerald, ed., Friendship 168–69. See also Fredrickson 164–65, where he explains
that xr∞syai parrhs¤a is “nearly synonymous” with nouyete›n, §pitimçn, §l°gxein,
and other words of moral reproof. Epicurus’ Principal Doctrines 27 sees friendship as
the greatest happiness that wisdom might provide. Philodemus, De lib. dic. fr. 25
refers to the mutual benevolence which inspires the use of frank speech.
5
Fredrickson 168.
6
Fredrickson 165 and nn. 16–17 and Giuseppe Scarpat, “PARRHSIA”: Storia del
termine e delle sue traduzioni in Latino (Brescia: Paideia, 1964), 33. Scarpat goes on to
note, 34–38, that metics, foreigners and slaves were excluded from exercising this
privilege, as were citizens who lost civic rights through condemnation to tim¤a.
7
But Fredrickson effectively argues against this translation in his essay, 170–82.
8
Fredrickson 166 and nn. 21–25.
9
Fredrickson 166 and n. 26.
10
Fredrickson 166–67 and n. 27, Epictetus Diss. 3.22.2, 8, 52.
11
Fredrickson 167 and n. 34.
12
Fredrickson 168–69 and also Scarpat 64, where he describes the aims of Cynic
parrhs¤a to be moral freedom from passions, from the desire to possess and dom-
inate, and from fear of the tyrant death.
 the pastoral epistles 273

Epicurean Philodemus. It also reflects a common opinion about the

use of frank speech among moralists of various philosophical stripes
such as Isocrates and Plutarch.13
Paul’s undisputed letters reveal his acquaintance with and use of
parrhs¤a in its public and popular philosophical meaning. In
Philippians he refers to public speech in the proclamation of the
gospel and contrasts it with shame (Phil. 1:20), a common juxtapo-
sition.14 In 2 Corinthians 10:9–10 he draws a contrast between his
epistles with their bold expressions and his meek presence.15 Nonetheless,
in 2 Cor. 2:17–4:6, Paul vindicates his openness and unashamed
confidence in a context of friendship. In 1 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul
claims to have used it (§parrhsiasãmeya §n t“ ye“ ≤m«n lal∞sai prÚw
Ímçw) not as the harsh Cynics do, but gently (1 Thess. 2:7).16 Rather
he stresses the hortatory and comforting (nurse-like) aspects of his
frankness, and he stresses the friendship and mutuality that provide
the context for his parrhs¤a (1 Thess 2:9–12).17 In Philemon 8–9
Paul finds his frankness grounded in Christ, as Dio and Epictetus
see divine approval for theirs.18 Paul’s exercise of parrhs¤a is carried
out in love, which turns his frankness away from the commanding
(§pitãssein) of the harsh Cynics to the encouraging (parakale›n)
of the milder Cynics.19 He avoids causing shame and maintains the
context of friendship.20 One might conclude from these texts a
certain understanding of parrhs¤a as a reality in the polite¤a of the
church. It appears to be a right in the society of the church com-
munity, as parrhs¤a was in secular society. It was exercised by

13
Fredrickson 168. Scarpat 59 sees in Isocrates’ Ad Nicoclem 1.2–3 the belief that
parrhs¤a, the ability openly to reprove one’s friends, is an indispensable quality
for true friendship. See also Troels Engberg-Pedersen, “Plutarch to Prince Philopappus,”
in Fitzgerald, Friendship 76.
14
Fredrickson 172.
15
Fredrickson 171–82.
16
For the gentle approach of the milder Cynics, see esp. Abraham J. Malherbe,
Paul and the Popular Philosophers (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), 35–48. Paul claims also
not to have wanted to cause distress at 2 Cor. 2:4.
17
Fredrickson 171, and Malherbe 58–60.
18
Fredrickson 170, Dio Chrysostom, Orations 13.9, 32.12.
19
Benjamin Fiore, S.J., The Function of Personal Example in the Socratic and Pastoral
Epistles, Analecta Biblica 105 (Rome: Biblical Institute, 1986), 117–118, and Malherbe
130–131.
20
Fredrickson 171.
274 benjamin fiore, s.j.

persons and groups who were not in shameful positions, e.g. women
and slaves, for shame inhibits parrhs¤a.21
Among the uses in the deutero-Pauline letters parrhs¤a is men-
tioned only at 1 Tim. 3:13. It is this last-mentioned use and its con-
text in the Pastoral Epistles overall that will be the focus of the
remainder of this study. Although the word appears just once, the
hortatory concerns and recommendations in the Pastorals coincide
with many of those voiced in Philodemus’ description of the pur-
pose and use of frank speech.
The parenetic features of the Pastoral Epistles that echo those
described by Philodemus will be analyzed below. In addition to these,
there are other aspects of the Pastorals that suggest an awareness of
the world of Epicurean philosophy. In some respects the Pastorals
seem to agree with the Epicureans, while in others they disagree with
and reject Epicurean ideas. 1 Tim. 1:3 locates the addressee at Ephesus;
2 Timothy suggests the same with its reference to “everyone in Asia”
and the presumed acquaintance of the addressee with Phygelus and
Hermogenes at 2 Tim. 1:15, and with Onesiphorus’ connection to
Ephesus at 2 Tim. 1:18. There is also the salutatory greeting to him
at 2 Tim. 4:19 as well as a greeting to Aquila and Priscilla, who
are known to have been at Ephesus from Acts 18:19, 26 and 1 Cor.
16:19. Asia had long been Epicurean territory from Epicurus’ own
school at Colophon and with nearby Epicurean centers at Mytilene
and Lampsacus.22 The movement became a dominant philosophical
force in both the Greek and Roman worlds through and even long
after the New Testament period.23 Epicurean concerns entered the
consciousness of both the literary elite, e.g. Virgil and Cicero, and
the populace at large. Ephesus would be a likely meeting point for
Christianity and Epicureanism.24
Among the ideas shared by the Epicureans and the Pastoral Epistles,
1 Tim. 3:3 and Tit. 1:7 mention that a “bishop” should not be plÆkthw
(“pugnacious,” “a bully,” or “given to blows”).25 The Epicureans were

21
Jerome Neyrey, Paul in Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters (Louisville,
KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1990), 67.
22
Norman W. De Witt, St. Paul and Epicurus (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota,
1954), 62.
23
The durability and wide popularity of Epicureanism is attested by the third-
century c.e. Diogenes Laertius 10.9–10, OCD1 285.
24
De Witt 88–89.
25
“A bully,” BAG; “given to blows,” De Witt 17.
 the pastoral epistles 275

opposed to the long-standing tradition of corporal punishment for

slaves and this idea might well have been incorporated into the
Pastorals’ understanding of proper household management (1 Tim.
3:4). Instead, the “bishop” should be §pieikÆw (“considerate,” “for-
bearing,” “gentle”), an Epicurean ideal.26
Concern for wisdom and the path to it runs throughout both the
Pastoral Epistles and Epicurean writings. The Pastorals urge officials
(1 Tim. 3:8, 11), older men (Tit. 2:2), and Christians generally
(1 Tim. 2:2) to be “honorable” (semnÒw) and worthy of respect (Tit.
2:7), echoing Epicurus’ urging of reverence for the wise.27 The Epi-
curean virtuous wise persons, assuming free will to make moral
choices, expose vices and contrasting virtues to their charges and
admonish them to choose virtue. This is unlike the Aristotelian view
of virtue as a mean between two extremes.28 Philodemus himself
wrote On Vices and the Corresponding Virtues. The Pastorals likewise fol-
low the pattern of presenting vices and contrasting virtues in their
moral admonition (1 Tim. 6:3–12; 2 Tim. 3:1–17; 4:3–5; Tit. 1:7–9;
2:3–5, 9–10, 11–12). Finally, both decry the deceptive allurement of
riches and urge contentment with little.29 In fact, the Pastorals refer
to the ideal of aÈtãrkeia when it discusses riches, religion and real
gain (1 Tim. 6:6). In addition to aÈtãrkeia, the Pastorals express
another Epicurean virtue at 1 Tim. 6:18, where Timothy is urged
to instruct the rich to be koinvnikoÊw. The motive advanced for pur-
suing the path of sharing at 1 Tim. 6:19, while pointing to eternal
life with God, is also expressed in an Epicurean-like way when it
speaks of gathering a “treasure as a foundation for the future” and
of “getting a hold on what is really life.”

26
“Considerate,” De Witt; “gentle,” BAG. Compare Philodemus’ characterization
of pasrrhs¤a as §pieikÒw at fr. 26, IV; cp. XVI.
27
De Witt 30, 51.
28
De Witt 82, 173.
29
1 Tim. 6:7–10 and De Witt 19; see also 172 where he quotes Epicurus who
said, “Every man takes leave of life just as he was at the moment of birth” (SV
60) and compare 1 Tim. 6:7. See also De Witt 179 where he refers to Epicurus’
image of a trap for the apparent good of an injurious desire and compare the use
of the same image at 1 Tim. 6:9 for the temptation and ultimate injury of riches.
In SV 44 Epicurus speaks of the wise man being accustomed to the bare necessi-
ties and of his discovery of the “treasure house of self-sufficiency” as translated by
Eugene O’Connor, The Essential Epicurus (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1993), 81. SV 81
notes that possession of great riches does not relieve the soul’s disturbance or lead
to lasting joy. And the same deficiency holds true for honor, admiration of others,
and any other unlimited desire.
276 benjamin fiore, s.j.

Despite these and other areas of agreement mentioned below, the

two systems of belief and thought stood irreconcilably opposed on
other grounds. Traces of this opposition might be detected in the
Pastoral Epistles. Pleasure (≤donÆ) was the Epicurean goal30 and the
task was to learn to discriminate correctly and with sober reasoning
and prudence (frÒnhsiw)31 among desires in order to select those that
are natural and necessary and reject the injurious ones.32 The Pastorals
also seem to accept the difference among desires (§piyum¤ai) and
warn against those that are foolish, harmful and lead to ruin and
destruction (1 Tim. 6:9). Nonetheless, the only use of the word “plea-
sure” (≤donÆ) in the Pauline literature is found at Tit. 3:3, where it
appears among a list of vices.33 Similarly, 2 Tim. 3:4 lists “loving
pleasure” (filÆdonoi) among the unbridled, vice-filled attitudes of the
sinners in the final days.
The disparaging reference to pleasure in 2 Tim. 3:4 includes a
contrast to “loving God” (filÒyeoi) as the alternative virtue. This
calls attention to another point of difference and conflict between
the writer of the Pastoral Epistles and the Epicureans. While the
Epicureans did not disbelieve in the gods’ existence, they relieved
the gods of active concern for human affairs.34 To support their hope
of pleasure in life they eliminated fear of divine punishment and,
ultimately, of death and its threat of final divine retribution for sin.
To accomplish this they posited the gods in a realm of unruffled
calm, indifferent to human wickedness, concerned with their own
virtues, receptive to those like themselves.35

30
De Witt 179 and Principal Doctrines 5, 29, 31.
31
Letter to Menoeceus 132, where Epicurus adds that prudence is the virtue from
which all others derive. A.-J. Festugière, L’Ideal religieux des Grecs et l’evangile (Paris:
Gabalda, 1981), 62 finds prudence to be the way to taraj¤a of the soul and a
happy life, Letter to Menoeceus 62.12–15 and 64.21–25. KD 5 and 21 both speak of
the need for wisdom to know the limits of life and thereby how to achieve happi-
ness.
32
De Witt 179 and KD 5, 29, 31.
33
De Witt 19. The other four New Testament uses of the word: Luke 8:14,
James 4:1, 3; 2 Peter 2:13, are all negative. Malherbe 82–84 details the use of the
beast image principally in Cynic and Stoic writings to characterize shameless plea-
sures, often associated with the Epicureans, and the virtuous struggle to purify one’s
life of them. Interesting for the purposes of this study is the connection of the image
with Ephesus and Paul’s struggles there (1 Cor. 15:32).
34
KD 65 declares, “It is useless to ask the gods for what one is capable of obtain-
ing for oneself ” (O’Connor 83).
35
Philodemus De dis. bk. 3 col. 1.15–20 Diels says, “The gods are friends of the
 the pastoral epistles 277

In the Epicurean world of atomic materialism, the gods do not

watch over humans nor do they give them special dominion any
different from that of insects. Human civilization and supremacy over
other beings is the fruit of humanity’s own labor, pain and cumu-
lative experience.36 To place pleasure at the beginning and end of
a happy life would effectively displace the Jewish-Christian God as
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, of creation, as well as
its sustaining power.37 Epicurean theology stands in direct contrast
to basic Christian ideas as developed in the Pastoral Epistles. For
the Epicureans, the atom was the basic and indestructible building
block of all reality, both of matter and of spirit. The gods were sim-
ply composed of extremely refined atoms.38 The atom was unseen
in itself.39
The Pastoral Epistles, on the other hand, see the one God as
incorruptible, unseen and the only being who has immortality
(1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16). It also comes as no surprise to find the Pastoral
Epistles stress the active interest and intervention of God in human
affairs, as well as God’s providential direction of creation to its com-
pletion. Thus God commands apostolic and ministerial activity
(1 Tim. 1:1, 11, 12–16; 2:7; 4:6; 2 Tim. 1:1, 6, 11; Tit. 1:1, 7) and
God and Jesus Christ are the sources of their designees’ strength
(1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 1:7, 12–14; 2:1; 3:11; 4:17; Tit. 2:11–14, 3:4–7).
God created the world (1 Tim. 2:13; 4:3; 6:13) and revealed the

wise and the wise are friends of the gods” (cf. De Witt 160). Festugière 63–64 finds
that the Epicurean gods have no concern for the world, because it is beneath them,
but live in unruffled étaraj¤a, referring to the Letter to Herodotus 29.3 and KD
1.71.3.
36
De Witt 180.
37
De Witt 182. The Epicureans, dispensing with belief in the afterlife, lived
totally within the perspective of the present as noted by Malherbe 84, referring to
Usener, fragments 336–341, 396–397. O’Connor 76–77 quotes the Epistle to Herodotus
76–77, where Epicurus rejects the idea of an immortal being who ordained and
arranged the motions of heavenly bodies and other astronomical phenomena. The
epistle (38–39, 73–74) also speaks of the eternity of the universe within which mul-
tiple worlds are created and destroyed spontaneously. Margherita Isnardi Parente,
ed., Opere di Epicuro (Turin: Unione Tipografico, 1974), 332–33 cites Epiphanius,
Adversus haereses 1.7–8 (589 Diels), where he explains the Epicurean teaching that
the world is a spontaneous generation from atoms, into which it will eventually
experience a fiery dissolution.
38
Ettore Bignone, tr., Epicuro: 0pere, frammenti, testimonianze sulla sua vita (Rome:
“L’Erma” di Bretschneider, 1964), 237–238 and Festugière 63.
39
De Witt p. 158.
278 benjamin fiore, s.j.

plan for the world (ofikonom¤a) which includes its consummation

(1 Tim. 1:4; 2:4; 4:1; 6:3, 14–16; 2 Tim. 1:9; 2:7; 3:16; 4:1; Tit.
1:2–3). God works with humans through the mediator Jesus Christ
(1 Tim. 2:5–6; 3:16; 6:13; 2 Tim. 1:10) and is susceptible to humans’
prayers (1 Tim. 2:1–3, 8; 4:5; 5:5; 2 Tim 1:16–18; 2:19). The oppo-
nents in the Pastorals are summarily dismissed as godless (1 Tim.
1:9) and irreligious (2 Tim. 3:5), charges commonly laid at the
Epicureans’ door.40 The interest of the God of the Pastoral Epistles
in human affairs leads to God being pleased or displeased by human
activity (1 Tim. 2:3; 5:4, 21; 2 Tim. 2:12–13, 15; 4:14) and to God’s
bestowal of rewards/salvation and punishments (1 Tim. 1:1, 15; 2:6,
15; 4:10; 5:12; 6:18–19; 2 Tim. 1:18; 2:10, 25–26; 3:15; 4:1, 8).
Hope, too, is a topic of divergent views between the Epicureans
and the Pastoral Epistles. The Epicureans restricted hope to the
happy expectation of pleasures to come. When applied to the fun-
damental concern over health, Epicurus said, “The stable condition
of sound health in the flesh and the confident hope of this means
the height of pleasure and the best assurance of it for those who
are able to figure the problem out.” Such hope for sound health is
crucial for a system in which human death means no more than
physical and spiritual dissolution into constituent atoms.41 In the
Pastorals hope rests in Jesus Christ and God (1 Tim. 1:1; 4:10; 5:5;
6:17) and looks to the promise of everlasting life (1 Tim. 4:8; 6:12;
2 Tim. 1:10; 2:10–12; 4:18; Tit. 1:2; 3:7). In fact, self-indulgent
pleasure-seeking actually leads to “death,” even for those still alive
(1 Tim. 5:6, 11).
Other Epicurean echoes in the Pastoral Epistles remain to be indi-
cated. While Epicurus was a “savior” to his followers,42 that title is
reserved for God and Jesus Christ in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim.
1:1; 2:3; 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:10; Tit. 1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6). Epicureans

40
Plutarch Suav. Viv. Epic 1086C–1107C (trans. Einarson and DeLacey LCL) and
see Benjamin Fiore, S.J., “Passion in Paul and Plutarch: I Corinthians 5–6 and the
Polemic Against Epicureans” in David Balch, Everett Fergusen, and Wayne A.
Meeks, eds., Greeks, Romans, and Christians (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 141–43.
41
De Witt 131–36 and see SV 47 and 48, Letter to Menoeceus 124–26 and KD 2.
42
De Witt 5, 29, 67, 83 and Dieter Nestle, Eleutheria. I Teil: Studien zum Wesen
der Freiheit bei den Griechen und im Neuen Testament (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul
Siebeck], 1967), 119. Lucretius De rerum natura 3.9–13 refers to Epicurus as “our
father, the revealer of truth, the giver of fatherly precepts . . . maxims of immortal
life” (Rackham trans. LCL).
 the pastoral epistles 279

cultivated gratitude for past benefits and pleasures,43 while the Pastorals
direct gratitude to God (1 Tim. 1:12; 2:1; 4:3, 4; 2 Tim. 1:3). The
Epicureans passed on their formulation of Epicurus’ Authorized Doctrines44
while at the same time they ridiculed vain beliefs of other move-
ments.45 The Pastorals express concern for the integrity of doctrinal
tradition (1 Tim. 4:6, 9, 6:3, 20; 2 Tim. 1:12, 14; 2:15; Tit. 1:9;
2:8) and take a dim view of scurrilous, pointless debate, ruinous
teachings, and ridicule (1 Tim. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:14–18; 3:2; Tit. 3:9).
The quiet and tranquil life in the preserve of the Epicurean gods
becomes accessible to the community of the Pastorals through prayer
(1 Tim. 2:2) and not just by withdrawal from public life to the
Epicurean “garden.”46 With their hope tied to the continual experi-
ence of pleasure, the Epicureans were particularly interested in health
and the ministrations of doctors. Innovative remedies advanced by
Epicureans included the use of wine for certain ailments, which
1 Tim. 5:23 applies to Timothy’s digestive problems.47
While this survey of Epicurean themes reflected in the Pastoral
Epistles might include some matters that are better explained in light
of other contexts, the overall claim of a dialogue in the Pastorals
with Epicurean thought, among other Hellenistic philosophical sys-
tems, seems to be plausible. This general connection suggests a con-
text for the striking parallels between Philodemus and the Pastorals
on the application of frank speech for moral improvement.
The only explicit use of the word parrhs¤a in the Pastoral Epistles
appears in the list of qualifications for “deacons” at 1 Tim. 3:13.
There the expected rewards for the good service of qualified dea-
cons include kalÚn baymÒn (“good standing”/“rank”)48 and pollØ

43
De Witt 132–133 and SV 52 and 69.
44
De Witt 17–18. O’Connor refers to these as “Principal Doctrines.” SV 41
declares, “We must never cease proclaiming the sayings born of true philosophy.”
45
De Witt 51, 108, 178, 180. They especially decried dialecticians as corrupters
of youth.
46
The requirement of a good reputation among outsiders for candidates for
“bishop” in 1 Tim. 3:7 implies that the Christians, unlike the Epicureans, continue
an active life among the citizenry at large. The Epicurean withdrawal from every-
day affairs and politics is urged by SV 58 and is expressed in the shorthand com-
mand of Epicurus, lãye bi«saw fr. 86; cp. KD 14 (O’Connor 11). Letter to Menoeceus
135 declares that the sober enjoyment of pleasure under the guidance of prudent
wisdom leads to a life “without disturbance, as a god among men” (O’Connor 68).
47
De Witt 135.
48
“Good standing,” NRSV; “rank,” BAG 130, EDNT 189–90.
280 benjamin fiore, s.j.

parrhs¤a (“confidence” in relation to God, or “abundant confidence/

full redemptive trust in faith in Jesus Christ”).49 The EDNT reflects
the caution of contemporary New Testament lexicographers who
take into account the usage of words in the Greco-Roman context.
While it still retains the theological emphasis of the earlier BAG, the
EDNT tries to balance this with a secular sense. The merger of the
two, however, remains rough and unexplained.
The parrhs¤a of deacons is different from that of the bishops and
elders because the latter have the teaching function (1 Tim. 3:2,
5:17), while the deacons do not. Deacons do, however, speak in their
ministerial service and are cautioned not to be d¤logoi (= “double-
tongued” [RSV], “deceitful” [NAB], “insincere” [BAG]). That qual-
ity would contrast with their parrhs¤a (1 Tim. 3:13) as flattery versus
frank speech. The wives of deacons or the women deacons are sim-
ilarly cautioned not to misuse speech (mØ diabãlouw, 1 Tim. 3:11).
Nevertheless, good reputation supports the rank and standing of all
(1 Tim. 3:2, 7, 13). For the deacons, men (and women?) (1 Tim.
3:11), this external reputation is balanced by an internal clear con-
science about the adherence to the faith (1 Tim. 3:9). The external
reputation finds a complement in parrhs¤a or frank speech. One
area where this frankness comes into play is in the informal instruc-
tion involved in taking care of one’s children and household (1 Tim.
3:12). With the conjunction gãr the author makes the link between
the deacons’ qualities and practice in 3:8–12 and their result in 3:13.
In this connection “Paul” recalls the instruction in scripture that
Timothy received from infancy (2 Tim. 3:15; cp. 1:15) and entrusts
younger women to older women for training in virtue (Tit. 2:3–5).
These stand in contrast to the vice-laden false teachers who are
unqualified in matters of faith (édÒkimoi per‹ tØn p¤stin, 2 Tim. 3:8),
and with those self-interested teachers whose teachings upset entire
households (Tit. 1:11). It is also important to keep in mind the close
relationship between works and religious conviction in the Pastoral
Epistles. The openly observable demeanor and actions verify or con-
tradict religious claims of women (1 Tim. 2:9–10), official functions

49
“Confidence” in relation to God, BAG 630–31; “abundant confidence/full
redemptive trust in faith in Jesus Christ” inasmuch as it refers to “one’s confident
relationship to God (in prayer) and to candor in relation to other persons,” EDNT
3:47.
 the pastoral epistles 281

of bishops (1 Tim. 3:7), Timothy’s teaching (1 Tim. 4:15–16), wid-

ows’ claims (1 Tim. 5:7–8, 14), the doctrine adhered to by slaves
(1 Tim. 6:1), and the rich who hope for salvation (1 Tim. 6:18–19).
Similarly, Titus 1:9 expresses a direct connection between the blame-
less virtue of the bishop and his ability (·na dunatÚw ¬) to exhort
(parakale›n) and criticize (§l°gxein). This relationship between virtue
and its public manifestation is found in Philodemus’ exposition of
frank speech (fr. 16, peiye›n d¢ ka‹ diå tÚn [¶r]gon). There is some rea-
son, therefore, to associate the parrhs¤a referred to at 1 Tim. 3:13
with the frank speech in the work of moral development which
Philodemus outlines and which the Pastoral Epistles urge on their
addressees.
While the word parrhs¤a is used only once in the Pastoral Epistles,
the directives given and the ministerial activities urged upon Timothy
and Titus in the Pastoral Epistles relate to the philosophical exer-
cise of frank speech, like that outlined by Philodemus. By the same
token, the actions of the opponents and the community fit the profile
of a misguided reaction to and application of parrhs¤a. Thus, while
the explanation by Philodemus elaborates the nuances of the use of
frank speech, the Pastoral Epistles provide examples of the aim and
practice of the virtuous tactic50 as it is elaborated by Philodemus.
The paraenetic character of the Pastorals is thereby set in higher
relief against the background of the directives on the proper use of
frank speech.
Despite the focus on “sound teaching” in the Pastorals51 and their
inclusion of credal summaries,52 the Pastoral Epistles are heavily con-
cerned with paraenesis,53 as demonstrated in their stress on behavior

50
Marcello Gigante, Ricerche Filodemee, 2nd ed. (Naples: Macchiaroli, 1982), 62–65
argues that rather than a virtue opposed to the vice “flattery,” frank speech in
Philodemus is an ∑yow, a way of comporting oneself. It is a technique to aid in the
acquisition of wisdom and happiness. He goes on to explain how, to Philodemus,
parrhs¤a is a t°xnh stoxastikÆ, a “conjectural art,” by which philosophers, through
variable and provisional arguments, nudge their charges in the direction of the
acquisition of what is useful in the philosophers’ view. See also fr. 10 and 68 and
Gigante 72–74.
51
1 Tim. 1:10; 4:6, 11, 13, 16; 5:17; 6:1–3; 2 Tim. 2:2; 3:10, 16; 4:2–3; Tit.
1:9; 2:1, 7, 10, 15.
52
1 Tim. 1:15; 2:5–6; 6:16; 2 Tim. 1:9–10; 2:11–13; Tit. 3:4–7.
53
Fiore, Use of Personal Example p. 216 and parakale›n, 1 Tim. 1:3; 2:1; 2 Tim.
4:1; Tit. 2:6; parag°llein, 1 Tim. 6:13; énamimnÆskein, 2 Tim. 1:6.
282 benjamin fiore, s.j.

(1 Tim. 3:5) and good works,54 on virtuous qualities as qualifications

for ministry,55 and on examples to be imitated.56 Thus the false teach-
ing of opponents, apostates, and misguided teachers and their fol-
lowers and the true teaching of Paul, which Timothy has long followed
(1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 3:10–11), all have to do with action as well as
theory. Since truth is a concern in the letters, they often gauge the
truth of the teaching by the kind of vice or virtue it fosters (1 Tim.
1:9–11, 13; 4:1–3, 7–8; 6:3–10; 2 Tim. 1:13; 3:2–7, 10; Tit. 1:13–16;
2:7–8, 11–12). This concern rises to the top in the Epicurean dis-
course of Philodemus (fr. 40), who calls for the pupil to show his
teacher his errors (diamar[t¤]aw) forthrightly so that the teacher might
be a guide of right speech and action ([ı]dhgÚn ÙryoË ka‹ l[Ò]gou
ka[‹] <¶rgou>) and a savior (svt∞r[a]) through the treatment of
admonishment (yerape[Ê]ein . . . [nouyet°sin]).57
The context of the letters, too, is one of friendship. The house-
hold image for the community in its greatest extension would include
friends.58 The letters express the teacher and father relationship with
which friendship is associated.59 Their affectionate forms of address
(égaphtÚw t°know, 2 Tim. 1:2; gnhs¤ow t°know, 1 Tim. 1:2, Tit. 1:4),
friendly salutary closings (2 Tim. 4:19–21; Tit. 3:15), friendly refer-
ences to visiting back and forth,60 to supplying goods and offering
support,61 to égãph62 and file›n (Tit. 3:15 and contrast f¤lautow,
2 Tim. 3:2), and the dismay at the abandonment and bad treatment
by former associates (2 Tim. 1:15; 4:14–16) establish the philophro-
netic tone of the letters. Their concern is for the growth and improve-
ment of the addressees (prokopÆ, 1 Tim. 4:15), the pursuit, acquisition

54
1 Tim. 2:10; 3:1; 5:10, 25; 6:18; 2 Tim. 2:21; 3:17; Tit. 1:16; 2:7, 14; 3:1,
8, 14.
55
1 Tim. 3:1–13; 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:21; 3:10–11; Tit. 1:6–9.
56
1 Tim. 1:16; 4:12; 2 Tim. 1:18; Tit. 2:7.
57
On Frank Criticism 54–55. SV 54 equates true philosophy with true health. See
Scarpat 67, who finds a similar emphasis in the Cynic Diogenes.
58
1 Tim. 3:5, 15; 5:1–2; 2 Tim. 2:20–21.
59
1 Tim. 1:2, 18; 2 Tim. 1:2; 2:1; Tit. 1:4; and see Fiore, The Use of Personal
Example 32–34.
60
1 Tim. 3:14; 2 Tim. 1:4; 4:9, 20; Tit. 3:15; Fitzgerald, ed. Friendship 74, 140,
236.
61
1 Tim. 3:14; 2 Tim. 1:16; 4:9–13; Tit. 3:12–14; Fitzgerald, ed. Friendship 66–68,
234–35.
62
1 Tim. 1:5; 2:15; 4:12; 6:11; 2 Tim. 1:7, 13; 2:22; 3:10; Tit. 2:2; Fitzgerald,
ed. Friendship 199, 234.
 the pastoral epistles 283

and expression of virtue,63 the avoidance of vice,64 and sorrow at the

backsliding of others.65 This sets the Pastoral Epistles in the context
of the philosophical paraenetic effort that makes use of parrhs¤a as
a tool.
Before going any further, however, it is important to state a basic
difference between the background of the activity of parrhs¤a in the
Pastorals and that in Philodemus. Philodemus’ Epicurean philosophy
has no room for the active intervention of gods in human affairs
and so his parrhs¤a is grounded in the philosophy itself. It aims at
the betterment of individuals in the circle of friends by their own
efforts. The Pastorals find the ground, as Paul does, in God, and
they aim at the exercise of virtue within the church community,
comprised of people brought into a circle of relationship which
appeals to faith in support of its ethical convictions.66 Nonetheless,
the Epicureans and Christians deal with each other and pursue the
tasks associated with the life of virtue within the same cultural con-
text and with all of its tools.
The aim of parrhs¤a for Philodemus is improvement in virtue,67
as it is in 1 Tim. 4:15 (prokopÆ). Philodemus (fr. 1 and passim) notes
that virtue is often clouded by sin (mÆte sunaisyãnesyai tåw èmart¤aw),
but parrhs¤a calls attention to sin in an effort to eradicate it. The
diversion of people from the path of progress by sin is decried in
the Pastorals in the case of the younger widows (¶xousai kr¤ma,
1 Tim. 5:11–12), of certain people (afl èmart¤ai . . . proãgousai efiw
kr¤sin, 1 Tim. 5:24), of women easily led captive by teachers in their
homes (gunaikãria sesvreum°na èmart¤aiw, 2 Tim. 3:6), and of the

63
1 Tim. 2:8–15; 4:7–8; 6:11–12, 17–18; 2 Tim. 2:22; Fitzgerald, ed. Friendship
87–89.
64
1 Tim. 1:8–11; 6:3–10; 2 Tim. 2:23; 3:1–5; Tit. 3:9–11; Glad 30–33.
65
1 Tim. 1:19–20; 5:15; 6:9–10; 2 Tim. 2:17–18, 25–26.
66
Roland Schwarz, Bürgeliches Christentum im Neuen Testament: eine Studie zu Ethik,
Amt und Recht in den Pastoralbriefen, ÖBS 4 (Klosterneuburg: Östereichisches katholi-
sches Bibelwerk, 1983), 173–76.
67
Fr. 1, ı sunf°rei diagin≈skein (“discern what is advantageous”) and fr. 86, to›w
é[pa]yoË[si yer]apeÊe[s]yai po[ik¤]lvw [bo]hyoËntew [diaÉ] fiat[r«]n (“[subt]ly help-
ing [through] doctors even those who are indifferent to being treated”). Glad 10,
25 notes the importance of psychagogy to Philodemus and his circle of Epicurean
friends. Gigante, 74–75, calls attention to fr. 18 where Philodemus considers frank
speech to be a type of assistance and the only appropriate nutriment (trof[∞w fidi]a
ka‹ bohye¤aw, “[suitable] food and assistance”). See also fr. 67 and 43 where sym-
pathy for the wayward youths spurs the offer of aid.
284 benjamin fiore, s.j.

apostates and wayward in the “latter days” (èmartvlo›w, 1 Tim. 1:9;

cp. 2 Tim. 3:1–5; Tit. 1:10). While Jesus saved sinners (èmartvloÊw,
1 Tim. 1:15), the Pastorals spell out the details of the life of virtue
and the path to it. Timothy and Titus are the agents of this salvific
progress.
Philodemus is careful to discriminate among the recipients of crit-
icism in the form of frank speech.68 Thus, those giving instruction
will not give in to anger over or give up on recalcitrant students (fr.
2–3).69 The admonitor will have to deal with some whose progress
is minimal and who are open to blame, while he will have “order-
liness” with others (fr. 33). Philodemus notes (fr. 31) that some of
the young become irritated when rebuked, especially when they are
used to gentler treatment, that women (col. XXII) bear rebuke poorly,
as contrary to what is due their weaker nature, and that older men
need special attention (col. XXIV) because they think their age makes
them wiser, because they are sensitive to any exploitation of their
weakness, and because they too expect the honor enjoyed by some
of their contemporaries.
In like manner the Pastorals recommend paraenetic approaches
appropriate to the individuals being admonished. Thus Timothy is
urged to treat younger men “like brothers” (1 Tim. 5:1; cp. Tit. 2:6)
and to be careful in dealing with women, both older and younger
(1 Tim. 5:2, 11, 14). Titus is even told to have older women instruct
the younger ones (Titus 2:3–5). Furthermore, Titus is to encourage
the sobriety, self-control, and dignity of older men (Tit. 2:2), while
Timothy, urging them like “fathers,” is not to rebuke (§piplÆjhw)
them (1 Tim. 5:1) nor accept unsubstantiated accusations against
elders (1 Tim. 5:19). In a similar vein, Timothy is cautioned to be
gentle with all and tolerant.70 The Pastorals also aim their correc-
tive advice at the young Timothy and Titus themselves.71 Thus, the

68
Glad 33–35 describes Philodemus’ distinction between two types of students:
the “weak” and the “stubborn,” each requiring tactics tailored to their tempera-
ments. He goes on to find a variety of categories under the blanket term “young,”
whom the wise care for, as well as other persons of various classes and professions.
69
Konstan et al., “Introduction,” On Frank Criticism 14.
70
1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22–25; cp. Tit. 3:2 and note the words pra#pay¤a,
efirÆnh, ≥piow, éney¤kakow, pra@thw, §pieike›w.
71
1 Tim. 3:15, ·na efidªw p«w de› . . . énastr°fesyai; 2 Tim 2:15, seautÚn dÒkimon
parast∞sai; 2:22, tåw d¢ nevterikåw §piyum¤aw feËge; 4:5, n∞fe §n pçsin; Tit. 2:7,
seautÚn parexÒmenow tÊpon kal«n ¶rgvn.
 the pastoral epistles 285

people who are instructed in the techniques of frank speech are

themselves the objects of it.72
Of course, frank speech is not always kindly received and the
recalcitrant, with a low level of knowledge of themselves and of what
is truly beneficial (toË sumf°rontow), resist it (col. XX) and even insult,
ridicule (blasfhme›n ka‹ luma¤nesyai) and mistreat the wise person
(fr. 18). Similarly, the Pastorals encourage their addressees to resist
contempt (1 Tim. 4:12, mhde¤w sou t∞w neÒthtow katafrone¤tv; Tit.
2:15, mhde¤w sou perifrone¤tv) but to offer no occasion for accusa-
tion from quarters of opposition (Tit. 2:8, mhd¢n . . . per‹ ≤m«n faËlon).
Those who resist are incapable of reasonable argument (fr. 1,
eÈ[l]og¤aiw), tend to be quarrelsome (fr. 19, polemoËnta), and even
abandon philosophy in their persistent waywardness (fr. 59, filos[o]f¤aw
épostÆsetai).73 They are focused on “passions that puff one up” (to›w
§kxauno[Ë]si pãyesin) and this preoccupation blocks the effect of the
philosophical wise one’s admonitions (fr. 65–66). In the Pastoral
Epistles the wayward opponents have deviated from the truth and
want to teach the law but know nothing about it (1 Tim. 1:6–7,
§jetrãphsan efiw mataiolog¤an . . . mØ nooËntew; 2 Tim. 3:8–9, katef-
yarm°noi tÚn noËn). Timothy and Titus are warned away from the
opponents’ ignorant babbling (1 Tim. 6:20, tåw bebÆlouw kenofvn¤aw
ka‹ éntiy°seiw t∞w ceudvnÊmou gn≈sevw). They are argumentative
(2 Tim. 2:23, genn«sin mãxaw; Tit. 3:9, ¶reiw ka‹ mãxaw nomikãw) and
are full of vain curiosity (2 Tim. 2:23 and Tit. 3:9, mvråw . . . zhtÆseiw;
see 2 Tim. 4:3–4). It is quite often their misguided passions that
have led them astray. Such was the case with the self-indulgent wid-
ows who were carried away from their Christian resolve by their
sensuality (1 Tim. 5:11–12, katastrhniãsvsin toË XristoË); the rich
who were led on by foolish desires (1 Tim. 6:9, §piyum¤aw pollåw
énoÆtouw ka‹ blaberãw); women at home with passionate leanings
(2 Tim. 3:6, égÒmena §piyum¤aiw poik¤laiw), the unbridled people (Tit.

72
Glad 30 describes “the participatory nature of late Epicurean psychagogy” in
fr. 45.1–6, where Philodemus declares that teachers continue to admonish their
pupils, even after the latter have acquired prominent positions in the community.
73
Philip Mitsis, Epicurus’ Ethical Theory: The Pleasures of Invulnerability (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1988), 73 describes the importance of lÒgismow in Epicurean
thought. “The more our beliefs begin to coincide with true doctrine and knowl-
edge, the more stable and less changeable they become.” Moreover, he notes (75)
that Epicurus sees that the virtues of courage and temperance spring ultimately
from frÒnhsiw and the calculation of one’s own good (Ad Menoec 132).
286 benjamin fiore, s.j.

1:10, frenapãtai; 2 Tim. 3:2, filãrguroi . . . blãsfhmoi . . . ékrate›w . . .

filÆdonoi) who are deceived deceivers (2 Tim. 3:13, plan«ntew ka‹
plan≈menoi); so-called teachers in pursuit of sordid gain (Tit. 1:11,
afisxroË k°rdouw xãrin); and community members themselves in the
past (Tit. 3:3, plan≈menoi, douleÊontew §piyum¤aiw ka‹ ≤dona›w poik¤laiw).
Consequently, Timothy and Titus are expected to select only can-
didates for office who are temperate, self-controlled,74 gentle, not
contentious, aggressive or greedy.75 The same quality of temperate-
ness is expected of the women and the widows in particular.76 In
general the older men (nhfalÒuw . . . semnoÊw . . . s≈fronaw), women
(s≈fronaw), younger men (svfrone›n) are to exhibit self-control (Tit.
2:1–6), following the promptings of the grace of God which taught
temperance as opposed to following worldly desires (Tit. 2:11–12,
érnhsãmenoi . . . tåw kosmikåw §piyum¤aw svfrÒnvw . . . zÆsvmen).77 Timothy
and Titus are to turn from youthful desires (2 Tim. 2:22, nevterikãw
§piyum¤aw feËge), avoid debates and quarrels (2 Tim. 2:23, tãw d¢
mvråw ka‹ épaideÊtouw zhtÆseiw; Tit. 3:9, mvråw d¢ zhtÆseiw ka‹ genea-
log¤aw ka‹ ¶reiw ka‹ mãxaw nomikåw peri˝staso) and be self-possessed
(2 Tim. 4:5, n∞fe §n pçsin).
Philodemus finds an effective technique in parrhs¤a in the admon-
itors’ own admission that they too had been guilty of the faults in
their own youth (fr. 9, potÉ §fÉ •autÚn ı sofÒw yÉ èmarthmÉ êneton §n
t[∞i] neÒthti ge[g]on°[n]ai, “Since the wise man will also transfer to
himself an intemperate error, {saying} that it occurred in his youth . . .”),
but have since reformed and have made progress in dealing with
their own imperfections (fr. 46, p«w går mise›n tÚn èmartãnonta mØ
épogn≈[s]ima m°llei, gin≈skv[n] aÍton oÈk ˆnta t°le[i]on, “For how is

74
Mitsis 81 focuses on étaraj¤a as the Epicurean conception of the good. He
explains that “for the Epicurean . . . to guarantee that we achieve étaraj¤a and
épon¤a, we must be capable of restricting our desires to those that are necessary
and easily satisfied.” This presumes the ability “to control and limit our desires
rationally” (91). He finds that Philodemus’ On Anger emphasizes the essential note
that our beliefs play on our pãyh (139–40). In Philodemus the passions are “so
sanitized and restructured by beliefs that little remains in them that is not amenable
to rational correction and control.”
75
1 Tim. 3:2–7, nhfãlion . . . §pieik∞ . . . éfilãrguron; Tit. 1:6–9, mØ §n kath-
gor¤ai ésvt¤aw . . . mØ Ùrg¤lon . . . mØ afisxrokerd∞ . . . §gkrat∞; 1 Tim. 3:8–13,
semnoÊw . . . mØ afisxrokerde›w.
76
1 Tim. 3:11, semvãw . . . nhfal¤ouw; 1 Tim. 5:5–7, ≤ d¢ spatal«sa z«sa
t°yhken.
77
See also Tit. 3:1–2, §pieike›w, pçsan §ndeiknum°nouw pra@thta.
 the pastoral epistles 287

he going to hate the one who errs, though not desperately, when
he knows that he himself is not perfect . . .?”). In view of this they
present models worthy of imitation in their own successful imitation
of the life of their chosen model Epicurus (fr. 43–46). This is impor-
tant given the penchant of pupils to imitate their teachers, whether
good or bad. Furthermore, such admission of former guilt demon-
strates that former transgression is no cause for discredit (fr. 35), but
rather shows how self-criticism helps the one corrected (fr. 51).
In this connection Glad finds that in the community of friends
the position of admonitor does not come to a person in view of
authority or attributed status.78 Rather it is the result of “acquired
status” or the individual’s “function and ability to heal and admon-
ish others.” And so, while Timothy and Titus are placed in their
positions by Paul (Tit. 1:5) and through a ceremony of official des-
ignation by the community,79 they are still expected to incorporate
their teaching into the practice of their own lives (1 Tim. 4:15, ≤
prokopØ fanerå ¬ pçsin). They are expected to follow Paul’s exam-
ple as a key element in this process (2 Tim. 3:10–11). They are also
to acknowledge and surpass their own faults (see below) and become
models of the exhortation for which they are designating other teach-
ers (2 Tim. 2:2, Tit. 1:5).
In the Pastoral Epistles, just as the false teachers are leading oth-
ers into their ways (2 Tim. 3:7, 4:3–4), so Timothy and Titus are
urged to be examples fit for imitation (1 Tim. 4:12, 2 Tim. 4:5, Tit.
2:7). Paul himself unabashedly describes his own rescue from igno-
rance and sin through God’s mercy and patience (1 Tim 1:13–16).80
Thus, he can call attention to his own good example (2 Tim. 3:
10–11). He generalizes the lesson at Tit. 2:14 ( ·na lutr≈shtai ≤mçw)
and 3:3 (∑men går pote ka‹ ≤me›w énÒhtoi) by using the first person
plural pronoun to include the audience among those who were
cleansed for good works and freed from slavery to delusion, pleasures

78
Glad 59. In this connection the Pastoral Epistles expect church officials to have
demonstrated the qualities expected of office holders (1 Tim. 3:4–5, 10, 12; cp. Tit.
2:4). The Pastorals designate the office of bishop at 1 Tim. 3:1 as an ¶rgon; cp.
Philodemus, col. XIXb where he calls the friendly office of admonition an ¶rgon.
79
1 Tim. 1:3, 18; 4:15; 2 Tim. 1:6, 13–14; 2:2; see 1 Tim. 6:20.
80
Neyrey 222 emphasizes that “honor, shame and reputation were primary val-
ues of an individual” in first-century Mediterranean society. These, however, “could
be lost when challenged.” The Pastoral Epistles are acutely attuned to honor regained
(by Paul) and acquired (by the addressees and their communities).
288 benjamin fiore, s.j.

and hatefulness. The behavior expected of community members serves

a similar purpose of embodying the lesson in a lived example
(1 Tim. 6:1; Tit. 2:5, 8, 10). The same can be said of the recom-
mendations to community officials and ministers (1 Tim. 3:13, 5:14).
Philodemus (fr. 16, pe¤yein d¢ ka‹ diå t«n [¶rg]vn) sees the force of
deeds as supportive of frank criticism in the effort to improve others.
The Pastorals, too, emphasize this positive proof that deeds offer (see
above) for claims of yeos°beia (1 Tim. 2:10), as the content of wit-
ness (1 Tim. 5:10), as an effect of spiritual cleansing (2 Tim. 2:21,
Tit. 2:14), as the acts of a competent man of God (2 Tim. 3:17),
and as a confirmation of one’s confession of God (Tit. 1:16).
Philodemus commends open and above-board admonition wherein
errors are openly divulged (fr. 40–42), because no secret can per-
manently escape detection (fr. 41, p[l]e›on o[È]d¢n ¶stai krÊptontow
oÈ går ßn ¶layen).81 1 Tim. 5:20–25 makes the same observation when
it recommends public reprimand (toÁw èmartãnontaw §n≈pion pãntvn
¶legxe) and notes that ultimately one’s sins will become known (tå
êllvw ¶xonta krub∞nai oÈ dÊnantai). This openness contrasts with the
sneaky infiltration by false teachers who make captives of silly, pas-
sionate women but whose foolishness will be plain to all (2 Tim
3:6–9, ≤ går ênoia aÈt«n ¶kdhlow ¶stai pçsin).82
Philodemus offers advice on the variety of ways in which frank
criticism can be applied and the appropriate occasions for it: severe
and intense in dealing with the strong and more needy (fr. 7, t«i
sklhr«i . . . t∞w parrhs¤aw), more artful in most instances (fr. 10,
diafi[l]otexn[Æ]sei), not abusively, haughtily, angrily (fr. 37–38, [m]hd¢
sob[ar«]w ka‹ [di]atetam°nvw . . . [mhdÉ Íbristikå] ka‹ katabl[htikã tina
mh]d¢ diasurtikå), sparingly with friends (fr. 84, Í[pero]knoum[°nh]n . . .
éne[leuy°]rvw), in a variety of modes from cultivated to direct (col.
I–IV).
The Pastoral Epistles foresee a similar diversity in the application
of frank speech. The public reproof described at 1 Tim. 5:20 has

81
This echoes KD 35, “If someone does a secret act in secret violation of com-
pacts men make . . . right up to the day of death, it remains unclear whether he
will escape detection,” and SV 7.
82
The Cynics likewise linked frank speech with open and public life. Because
mystery religions were not public, the Cynics rejected them, according to Scarpat
64–65 who cites Lucian’s Demonax 11. Demonax 12 goes on to characterize frank
speech as typical of manliness rather than soft effeminacy.
 the pastoral epistles 289

been noted above. The preceding verse sets out the cautionary require-
ment of accepting an accusation only with the substantiation of wit-
nesses. The Pastorals, like Philodemus, rule out haughtiness and
abusiveness.83
The contexts of instruction, however, appear to be different.
Whereas Philodemus describes the efforts of the wise individual in
the community of friends, an informal position which results from
progress made and recognized, the Pastoral Epistles address an evan-
gelist with an official ministry in the church (2 Tim. 4:5). While
Philodemus looks to one-on-one exhortation, occasionally with some
communal criticism, among the friends in the community (fr. 40 and
42), the Pastoral Epistles presume a more structured, communal sit-
uation. They describe public reproof of officials before witnesses
(1 Tim. 5:19–20),84 regulation of widows’ activities (1 Tim. 5:7) and
slaves’ conduct (1 Tim. 6:1–2), and instructions given by the addressees
to the assembled brothers (1 Tim. 4:6), or to the Cretans (Tit. 1: 13).
Nonetheless, they also recommend some individualized exhorta-
tion, differentiated according to its object. For example, an older
man and other community members are to receive kind and famil-
iar treatment (1 Tim 5:1–2); opponents (2 Tim. 2:24) and a heretic
are to be given timely ultimatums (Tit. 3:10). The rich may also be
expected to be admonished singly (1 Tim. 6:17) and similarly inde-
terminate is the object of the reminder not to dispute at 2 Tim.
2:14. The letters themselves, on the other hand, exemplify the one-
on-one mode of exhortation, since they are presented as Paul’s indi-
vidualized advice to Timothy and Titus.
Philodemus cautions that the wise should apply frank speech at
the opportune moment85 (fr. 25, oÈdÉ efiw kairÚn §nxron¤zein, “nor . . .
to dawdle up to the critical moment,” and fr. 32, §p‹ tÆn e‡ pote
g°noito, [n]ouy°thsin, “to proceed {gradually} to admonishment, if it
should ever occur”). The opportune time is the occasion for moral
progress, which the wise may determine from astute observation of
their disciples. In the Pastoral Epistles the opportune moment is not

83
1 Tim. 3:3, 5:1–2; 2 Tim. 2:24–25; Tit. 1:7.
84
Philodemus affirms that the wise use frank speech with each other to change
them for the better, Glad 42, 48 and cols. IIIa 3–5, VIIIb 6–13, IXa 1–8.
85
Marcello Gigante, “Philodème: Sur la liberté de parole,” in Actes du Vllle Congrès
Association Guillaume Budé (Paris, 5–10 Avril 1980) (Paris: Société d’édition “Les Belles
Lettres,” 1969), 206 also refers to fr. 22.
290 benjamin fiore, s.j.

one selected by Paul or by other teachers but by God as part of

the plan of history. It is the time when God’s word is revealed (Titus
1:3), the time when Christ ransomed humanity (1 Tim. 2:6), the
time of Christ’s parousia (1 Tim. 6:14–15). It denotes the final times
when apostasy and heresy break out (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1, 4:3).
The word kairÒw is mostly plural but at 2 Tim. 4:3 it is singular,
as it is in Philodemus. The meaning, however, in the Pastorals is
consistent, except at 2 Tim. 4:6 where it refers to the time of Paul’s
death. Despite this basic difference in determining the opportune
time, the reaction to it in both Philodemus and the Pastorals is the
same. Both see it as a moment of high moral seriousness and oppor-
tunity. Both speak of the coming of the opportune time as an occa-
sion for moral reformation and progress.
Philodemus uses medical imagery that presents frank speech as a
cure for the ills of the soul, to be applied by the wise much as a
doctor applies remedies for physical ailments (fr. 69). Some (fr. 86)
even resist being healed and have need of the diverse curative mea-
sures of the wise. In fact, (fr. 39) the work of the wise is a sine qua
non for acquiring spiritual soundness, just as the doctor’s art is indis-
pensable for physical well-being. The therapy involved the use of
frank speech (fr. 40) to lead the young to recognize their errors and
defects and see in the teacher their unique savior and guide to a
cure.86 The Pastoral Epistles also use the image of illness and cura-
tive measures87 when they refer to the community’s opponents and
their gangrenous teaching (2 Tim. 2:17). The dissidents and apos-
tates are also criticized for resistance to healthy/sound teaching,88
for being pathologically argumentative (1 Tim. 6:4), seared/scarred

86
Gigante, Ricerche Filodemee 75–78. See also fr. 8, 20, 23, 44, 64, 75, 79, col.
XVII, XXI, tab XII M. Fredrickson 2 and nn. 15–16 calls attention to the paral-
lel between the application of parrhs¤a “to treat moral failures” and the use of
medical instruments to treat disease in Philodemus (fr. 64–65), Dio Chrysostom,
Or. 77/78.45, Plutarch, Quomodo adulator ab amico internoscatur 73A–B and 71D.
87
Both use the words ÍgiÆw, Ígia¤nein fr. 13, 1 Tim. 1:10; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3;
Titus 1:9, 13; 2:12. See Abraham J. Malherbe, “Medical Imagery in the Pastoral
Epistles” in Texts and Testaments: Essays on the Bible and the Early Christian Fathers, ed.
W.E. March (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1980), 19–35. The Pastoral
Epistles, like the Stoics and Cynics and even the Middle Platonist Plutarch, who
also used the image, see one cause of moral illness to be passions and indulgence
in pleasures.
88
1 Tim. 1:10; 6:3; 2 Tim. 4:3; cp. Tit. 1:9 and 2:2.
 the pastoral epistles 291

in conscience (1 Tim. 4:2), wracked with pain (1 Tim. 6:10), and

with itching ears (2 Tim. 4:3).89
As a consequence of success at directing disciples to moral progress
and spiritual healing, the wise one is called “savior” (fr. 40, svt∞r[a])
and the successful effort salvation (fr. 4, svthr[¤aw; cp. fr. 36).90 As
noted above, the Pastorals restrict the title “savior” to God and Jesus
Christ.91 Paul and his church ministers, however, are instrumental
in the acquisition of salvation (2 Tim. 2:10, 3:15). At 2 Tim. 3:15
Paul reminds Timothy that scripture is capable of giving “wisdom
for salvation” and goes on (2 Tim. 3:16–17) to detail the ways it is
used for that end. These include §legmÒn, §panÒryvsin, paide¤an tØn
§n dikaiosÊnh, so that the individual may be “competent” and “equipped
for every good work” (NAB). These are hortatory means and ends
comparable to those adopted by Philodemus.
In addition to the word parrhs¤a, Philodemus also uses a range
of paraenetic vocabulary to nuance the admonitory work of correc-
tion and many of his words find an echo in the Pastoral Epistles.
The language describes the parenetic effort, sometimes critical but
always intended to foster moral development: §legmÒn, §l°gxein,
§jel°gkein;92 ÍpÒmnhsiw, ÍpomimnÆskein;93 parãklhsiw, parakale›n;94
nouyes¤a, nouyeths¤a, nouyete¤a, nouyet°siw, nouyeteÊv, nouyete›n;95
§pit¤mhsiw, §pit¤mhw, §pitimçn;96 §piplÆjiw, §piplÆssein, §piplÆttv;97

89
Contrast the reference to real illness at 2 Tim. 4:20. See Malherbe “Medical
Imagery” for parallels to the medical imagery in Philo, Dio Chrysostom and Plutarch.
90
For other passages where Philodemus uses s–zv and its cognates in a similar
way see fr. 34.5, 36.1–2, 40.8, 43.13, 77 (= 78N).3–4, 78.6–7, col. VIb 10–11,
T2.D2.
91
1 Tim. 1:1, 2:3, 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:10; Tit. 1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6.
92
Fr. 42, col. XVIb, col. XXIIIa, tab III G; 1 Tim. 5:20; 2 Tim. 4:2; Titus 1:9,
13; 2:15.
93
Fr. 38; 68; 93N; col. VIIIb; XIa; 2 Tim. 1:5, 2:14; Tit. 3:1. Malherbe, “Medical
Imagery” 135 quotes Plutarch, Progress in Virtue 80BC where he distinguishes belli-
cosity from frankness. The former rises from a spirit of contention, rancor, arro-
gance, and quarreling and looks to win in conflict over debatable questions, as do
the false teachers in the Pastoral Epistles. Plutarch, as do the Pastoral Epistles, rec-
ommends the use of reasonableness and mildness.
94
Fr. 38, col. XVIb, XVIIa (2x); 1 Tim. 1:3; 2:1; 4:13; 5:1; 6:2; 2 Tim. 4:2;
Tit. 1:9; 2:6, 15.
95
Fr. 13, 20, 23, 26, 32, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 45, 61, 66, 73, 77, 84, 91N, XVIIa,
XVIIIb, XIXb, XXIb, XXIIa, tab V; Tit. 3:10.
96
Fr. 6, 30, 31, 38, 62, 75, 82, 84, 93N, col. IXb, XVb, XXIa, XXIIIa, XXIVb,
tab IV I; 2 Tim. 4:2.
97
Col. XVIa, XIXb; 1 Tim. 5:1.
292 benjamin fiore, s.j.

paide¤a, paideÊein;98 lale›n.99 The two also agree in their description

of the problem to be remedied: diãbolow, diabolÆ, diabãllein;100
èmart¤a, èmãrthma, èmartvlÒw, èmartãnein;101 blãsfhmow, blasfem¤a,
blasfhme›n.102
Both aim for comparable results: prokopÆ,103 §p¤gnvsiw, §pigin≈skein.104
It goes without saying that each has its own unique vocabulary to
describe the effort of exhortation by means of frank speech. The
agreement noted here is nonetheless remarkable and reflects a com-
mon hortatory context.
Philodemus, ever the realistic idealist, recommends persistence even
in the face of the not unexpected rejection of frank criticism (fr. 5–6,
col. X, XII–XXI). The Pastorals also urge their addressees to keep
at their task (1 Tim. 4:11–16) despite rejection and without losing
patience (2 Tim. 4:2).
The rejection of frank criticism points to another, even broader
similarity in the perspectives of Philodemus and the Pastoral Epistles.
In the section of Philodemus that deals with “Whether wise men too
will diverge from one another in respect to frankness” (col. IIIa), he
describes the positive reaction of the wise to criticism (cols. VIIIa–Xb).
This contrasts with the situation of the apostate and false teachers
in the Pastoral Epistles. There some teachers are hypocritical, “with
seared consciences” (1 Tim. 4:2). They “make a pretense of religion”
and “oppose the truth” (2 Tim. 3:5–9) with “absurdities of so-called
knowledge” (1 Tim. 6:20). In general, however, just as Philodemus
believes the effort of frank speech will ultimately lead to a cure (col.
VIII–XIV), so the Pastorals do not abandon hope for the wayward
but advance the paradigm of the conversion of the once arrogant
and blaspheming Paul (1 Tim. 1:13–16) as well as of the transfor-
mation of the ignorant, libidinous, deceived community (Tit. 3:3).

98
Fr. 26; 1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 3:16; Tit. 2:12.
99
Fr. 47, 48; col. XIVa, XVIIIa; Tit. 3:2.
100
Fr. 17, 35, 50, 51; 1 Tim. 3:11; 2 Tim. 3:3; Tit. 2:3.
101
Fr. 1, 6, 9, 46, 49, 55, 62, 63, 64, 76, 77, 79N, 79, 83, IIIb, VIb, IXb, XIa,
XIIa. Xva, XVb, XVIIa, XVIIIb, XIXb, XXIa, XXIIIb, XXIVb; tab 2, 12M;
1 Tim. 5:20, 22, 24; 2 Tim. 3:6; Tit. 3:11.
102
Fr. 13, 18; 1 Tim. 1:13, 20; 6:1, 4; 2 Tim. 3:2; Titus 2:5; 3:2.
103
Fr. 10, 33; 1 Tim. 4:15.
104
Of mutual perfection, col. IXa; of the truth, 1 Tim. 2:4, 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:25,
3:7; Tit. 1:1. See also fr. 88; col. XXa.
 the pastoral epistles 293

When read against the background of Philodemus, the Pastorals

appear to be filled with concern for the proper application of frank
criticism leading to the improvement of the Christian community in
much the same way that the Epicurean philosopher was for his
Epicurean followers. The Pastorals also seem to be in conversation
with and to a significant degree condemnatory of the ∑yow of Epicurean
philosophy. Despite their theoretical disagreements, however, the
Pastoral Epistles and Philodemus share the popular philosophical aim
of moral improvement and also agree on the best measures to be
taken to achieve their aim.
This page intentionally left blank
 PAUL’S FRANK SPEECH WITH THE GALATIANS AND
THE CORINTHIANS

J. Paul Sampley

Abstract

This study examines four instances of Paul’s frank speech—one in his

letter to the Galatians and the other three reflected in the fragments
that make up 2 Corinthians—and finds (1) that Paul uses frank speech
according to the conventions embraced by Philodemus and Plutarch,
(2) that Paul adjusts or varies the harshness of frank speech according
to his appraisal of the circumstances he addresses, and (3) that Paul’s
frankness ranges from the gentlest “sting” in 2 Cor. 6:13, 7:2, to mixed
frank speech in Galatians, to harsh frankness in 2 Cor. 10–13.

Philodemus situated frank speech (parrhs¤a)1 in the social context

of friendship. The person who speaks frankly is “performing the office
of a friend” (filikÚn ¶rgon; De lib. dic. [On Frank Criticism] col. XIXb).2
Plutarch shared this perspective; for him, frank speech is a “fine
art . . . it is the greatest and most potent medicine in friendship”
(Plut., Quomodo quis suos [How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend ] 74D).3
Friends keep “close watch” on one another “not only when they go

1
Translating parrhs¤a presents a challenge. In Philodemus and in Plutarch par-
rhs¤a is always “frank” but it is not always “criticism.” As translations “frank speech”
and “frankness” honor the necessary frankness that is always present in parrhs¤a
and the use of “frank speech” or “frankness” leaves open the question, to be decided
in each context, just how much and how negative the explicit or implicit criticism
is. So in this study we will generally use “frank speech” and “frankness” to trans-
late parrhs¤a and will reserve “frank criticism” for the places where the parrhs¤a
in question is harsh and more explicitly and exclusively connected with blame.
2
All quotations of Philodemus are from the translation of David Konstan, Diskin
Clay, Clarence E. Glad, Johan C. Thom, and James Ware, Philodemus: On Frank
Criticism, SBLTT 43 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1998). On parrhs¤a as a “duty” of friend-
ship, see Konstan, “Friendship, Frankness and Flattery,” Friendship, Flattery, and
Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World, ed. John T. Fitzgerald
(Leiden: Brill, 1996) 10; as a “sign of goodwill,” see Glad, “Frank Speech, Flattery,
and Friendship in Philodemus,” Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness, 31–32.
3
All translations of Plutarch, Quomodo quis suos, are from F. C. Babbitt (LCL).
296 j. paul sampley

wrong but also when they are right” (Plut., Quomodo quis suos 73D).
True friends will understand frank speech as a sign of “good will”
(tØn eÎnoian; Phild., De lib. dic. cols. Xb, XIb, XVIIb); true friends
will also seek to “foster the growth of what is sound and to preserve
it” (Plut., Quomodo quis suos 61D). Analogies abound to the physician-
patient relationship: “the true frankness such as a friend displays
applies itself to errors that are being committed; the pain which it
causes is salutary and benignant, and, like honey, it causes the sore
places to smart and cleanses them too . . .” (Plut., Quomodo quis suos
59D). Though it is pleasant to have a friend “commend and extol
us,” it is more difficult to find and probably more important to have
“a friend to take us to task, to be frank with us, and indeed to
blame us when our conduct is bad. For there are but few among
many who have the courage to show frankness rather than favor to
their friends” (Plut., Quomodo quis suos 66A). Self-correction and the
emendation of one’s ways are facilitated by parrhs¤a properly deliv-
ered by a friend. Parrhs¤a is a vital instrument in an individual’s
ability to stay on the right track and to keep perspective not only
on one’s self, but also on surrounding matters and on events.4
Frank speech does not settle for the status quo; it seeks another
level of performance. In some cases it reaches for increased maturity
or, if the person in question has ventured onto a dubious path, it calls
for a change in direction. And the person who employs frankness
values those aspirations and goals highly enough to risk that the
recipient may reject not only the frank speech but the speaker as
well. That willingness to risk one’s own standing with another for
the good of the other is why frank speech can only be understood
in the context of genuine friendship.5
As life’s problems come in all degrees of difficulty, from the most
minor to the seemingly earth-shattering, so parrhs¤a varies in degree

4
See Konstan, “Friendship” 7–19, for the history of the relationship of the title’s
concepts in antiquity from Aristotle forward (cf. his Friendship in the Classical World
[Cambridge: University Press, 1997] 103–105, where he notes a “change from the
political to the moral sense . . .” 104). “Friends were imagined as constituting a net-
work of mutual assistance . . .” (Konstan, “Friendship” 10). Cf. also Troels Engberg-
Pedersen, “Plutarch to Prince Philopappus on How to Tell a Flatterer From a
Friend,” Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness 75–76. See Konstan’s description of the “new”
understanding of friendship that was operative in Roman times, “Friendship” 7–10.
5
The connection of parrhs¤a with friendship dates at least from Aristotle; see
Alfons Fürst, Streit unter Freunden: Ideal and Realität in der Freundschaftslehre der Antike
(Stuttgart: Tuebner, 1996), 133–34.
 paul’s frank speech 297

from gentle to harsh.6 At one extreme lies harsh parrhs¤a (using a

form of sklhrÒw as the descriptor, Phild. De lib. dic. frg. 7; or using
a form of pikrÒw, frg. 60; Plutarch makes the same point with syodrÚn,
“severe,” Quomodo quis suos 69E) whose focus is on blame alone. It
is the nearest neighbor to insult (loidor¤a; Phild. De lib. dic. frg. 60),
something that is no longer parrhs¤a.7 At the other extreme lies
“mixed” (miktÆ; Phild. De lib. dic. frg. 58),8 “that is, compounded of
reproof, generous praise and exhortation.”9 Its neighbor is flattery,
which cannot pretend to be parrhs¤a.
Human relations and interchanges range on a continuum from
insult to flattery. True parrhs¤a functions in varying degrees along
but within that continuum, not reaching insult and falling short of
flattery, and ranging from harsh/severe/simple criticism on the one
extreme to what Philodemus calls “the gentlest of stings” (De lib. dic.
col. VIIIb) and what he calls “mixed” parrhs¤a (katå miktÚn trÒpon,
because it interlaces frank speech and praise) on the other (frg. 58).
Simple, harsh frank speech is straightforward and direct, having no
praise intermixed, but consisting simply of blame. Mixed parrhs¤a is
a combination of frankness and praise. Between the extremes of con-
temptuousness and pure praise, parrhs¤a takes a supposedly infinite
variety of configurations ranging from blame through less praise to
more praise. Accordingly, if one wanted to assess just how harsh is
the parrhs¤a in a given document, one could look for the amount
of praise that accompanies the frank speech. The more praise one
finds alongside the call for a change of conduct or for the avoidance
of a contemplated course of action, the further to the right on the
imaginary continuum one would place the document and its parrhs¤a.
When does one use harsher criticism? When does one employ only
the slightest corrective? Philodemus is especially helpful as he addresses
the problem of how to nurture his most obstinate young students whom

6
Here I follow the interpretation of Norman W. De Witt, “Organization and
Procedure in Epicurean Groups,” CP 31 (1936) 205–11, and Glad, Paul and Philodemus:
Adaptability in Epicurean and Early Christian Psychagogy (Leiden: Brill, 1995) 143–46. See
also Glad, “Frank Speech” 35 n. 74. Though their interests are focused on Epicureans,
a similar picture emerges in Plutarch, as we shall see.
7
Peter Marshall, Enmity in Corinth: Social Conventions in Paul’s Relations with the
Corinthians (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1987) 79 n. 59: the “line between
ridicule and reproach was a thin one indeed . . .”
8
So also Plutarch: “. . . among the most useful helps is a light admixture of
praise . . .” Quomodo quis suos 72C.
9
De Witt, “Organization,” 209.
298 j. paul sampley

he likens to horses/stallions (De lib. dic. frg. 71; cf. frg. 83 and Philo,
De agricultura 34). The harshest criticism is employed with such peo-
ple, as an ultimate measure, as an effort of last resort when all else
has failed. The gentlest of correctives is applied between friends who
have the highest regard for one another (Phild. De lib. dic. col. VIII).
One of the challenges facing the dispenser of frank speech is to
make certain that the frankness is proportional to the crisis.
In what circumstances, then, should a friend be severe, and when
should he be emphatic in using frank speech? It is when occasions
demand of him that he check the headlong course of pleasure or of
anger or of arrogance, or that he abate avarice or curb inconsiderate
heedlessness. (Plut. Quomodo quis suos 69E–F)
Philodemus intimates that the best of circumstances for the mildest
parrhs¤a is between two sages. His irenic picture imagines two per-
sons who are already attuned to high standards for themselves and
who enjoy one another’s company and mutual respect: “. . . they will
be reminded pleasurably by one another in the ways we have made
clear, as also by themselves, and they will sting each other with the
gentlest of stings and will acknowledge gratitude [for the benefit]”
(Phild. De lib. dic. col. VIIIb).
We now turn to an examination of four selected instances of par-
rhs¤a in Paul’s correspondence.10 Though I shall not make a detailed
survey of Paul’s use of the term parrhs¤a,11 I shall note Paul’s use
of frank speech in Galatians and in three places in the letter frag-
ments that compose 2 Corinthians.

Frank Speech in Galatians

Paul thinks that some believers in Galatia are courting disaster. His
letter suggests that they are near what he considers a precipice and
that they are deliberating moving away from Paul’s gospel and toward
the cliff. They have not yet done what Paul would construe as wrong,

10
David E. Fredrickson, “PARRHSIA in the Pauline Epistles,” Friendship, Flattery,
and Frankness 163–83, is interested in the occurrence of the term parrhs¤a and
treats instances of frank speech not examined in this essay (e.g., Phlm. and 1 Thess.),
but he considers only those places where the term parrhs¤a occurs, whereas my
study will examine four examples of frank speech, whether the term parrhs¤a is
found or not.
11
Fredrickson, “PARRHSIA” 163–84, does that.
 paul’s frank speech 299

so Paul warns them vigorously. Plutarch differentiates two uses of

frank speech. One “reclaim[s] a wrongdoer.” The other “stir[s] a
man to action” (Quomodo quis suos 74A). In the former, one lightly
chides: “ ‘You acted unbecomingly’ rather than ‘You did wrong’ . . .”
(73F). In the latter “we should . . . ascribe their action to some unnat-
ural or unbecoming motives” (74A). Because the Galatians have
not yet done “wrong” Paul pursues the course of questioning their
motives, as Plutarch suggests. How could they possibly “turn back
again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you
want to be once more?” (Gal. 4:8–11). He expresses astonishment
over them where they might have been expecting to hear a thanks-
giving (Gal. 1:6ff .). Twice he dubs them foolish or unthinking (énÒhtoi;
Gal. 3:1, 3).
Effective frank speech requires a solid, respectable ∑yow, charac-
ter, on the part of the speaker.12 The stronger the frank speech, the
stronger the necessary ∑yow. In a letter the frank speaker is perforce
absent and ∑yow refurbishment will regularly be present in the let-
ter. Frank speech draws upon the reservoir of good will built up by
a consistent life whose values govern the behavior of the one who
employs frankness. So it is in Galatians. By noting his past com-
portment and his on-going concern, Paul commends himself to the
Galatians and puts himself in a position to employ frankness with
them. His role as their community founder via his preaching is the
foundation on which his frankness ultimately stands.
The first two chapters of Galatians are a refinement of Paul’s ∑yow
and an offering of himself as a model.13 There, details of Paul’s past
are selectively chosen and told in such a way as not only to encour-
age the Galatians’ identification with Paul and his gospel but also
to recognize his consistency and dependability. Paul can sympathize

12
Philodemus’ treatise on parrhs¤a is part of his multi-volume work “Character
and Lives” (per‹ ±y«n ka‹ b¤vn), signifying an interrelationship between frank speech
and ∑yow, character, one’s fundamental identity. In antiquity, ∑yow is a compre-
hensive term describing an individual’s total bearing or character or core identity;
his or her distinguishing hallmarks; those specific qualities that betoken who a per-
son really is, particularly those moral qualities that are strongly developed and strik-
ingly displayed with an identifiable consistency. One’s ∑yow is constantly being
formulated and refined, positively or negatively. All of one’s actions and statements
contribute to one’s ∑yow. See Mario M. DiCicco, Paul’s Use of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
in 2 Corinthians 10–13 (Lewiston, NY: Mellen Biblical, 1995), 36–77.
13
Cf. George Lyons, Pauline Autobiography: Toward a New Understanding, SBLDS 73
(Atlanta: Scholars, 1985), 123–164.
300 j. paul sampley

with those among the Galatians who have been subjected to the
influence of others and are tempted to capitulate, but his own story,
from his self-identification in 1:1 to his depiction of the Jerusalem
conference (2:1–10), shows that he stood fast against such an influence
and affirmed that God was the one in control of his life.
Like the Galatians, Paul also had experienced a radical change. They
were “slaves to elemental spirits” and alienated from God (4:8–9);
Paul used to oppose the gospel and persecute its advocates (1:13–14).
Paul was called to be an apostle (1:1, 15); the Galatians were called
(1:6). Coincidentally, the Galatians are now being pressured to change
regarding the very same issue that Paul had to confront at the
Jerusalem conference, namely circumcision. There some persons of
eminent status, James, Cephas and John, pressed Paul on the very
same issue. There Paul stood his ground; in the Galatians’ circum-
stances, Paul thinks they should stand theirs. Further, all those great
leaders agreed with Paul that circumcision was not necessary (2:9).
Paul’s leadership, constancy, and therefore his dependability, are
reaffirmed and enhanced by his recounting the Jerusalem conference
story to his readers. The encoded message, made explicit later in
the letter, is that the Galatians who are tempted to undertake cir-
cumcision are out of step.
The next account in the letter, the Antioch story (2:11–21), refines
and enhances his consistency of belief and comportment. The story
is perfect for Paul’s rhetorical purposes because it shows him, clear-
headed about the heart of the gospel, resolutely standing firm against
one even so prominent as Cephas,14 in the presence of “those from
James,” and even with Barnabas’ hypocrisy.15 Others may lose their
way regarding the gospel, but not Paul, not even for a moment.
Philodemus and Plutarch would have recognized immediately that
in Paul we have someone eminently qualified as a true friend, tried
and true through all the tests that life can provide. Paul shows he
merits the Galatians’ trust in “the truth of the gospel” and in the

14
Lyons, Pauline Autobiography, 164–68, 170–76, 225–26, and Sampley, “Reasoning
From the Horizons of Paul’s Thought World: A Comparison of Galatians and Philip-
pians,” Theology and Ethics in Paul and His Interpreters: Essays in Honor of Victor Paul Furnish,
ed. Eugene H. Lovering, Jerry L. Sumney (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996) 114–31.
15
Paul heightens his consistency, a necessary base for frankness, by small notes
in the larger account: he does not “build up again those things which I tore down”
(Gal. 2:18) and he does not nullify (éy°tv; Gal. 2:21) God’s grace because justification
never came nor will ever come through circumcision.
 paul’s frank speech 301

comportment appropriate to it. His opening chapters position him

as one eminently qualified to carry out the “work of friendship:”
namely, to warn them of the dangers of their contemplated action.
The Galatians’ readiness to change again is set over against Paul’s
steadfastness and dependability. Paul and the Galatians already share
a foundational change that brought them all into the faith; another
radical shift is unthinkable and retrograde in Paul’s view. Their first
was a formative turning, a conversion; the second promises to be
destructive. Accordingly, Paul structures much of the remainder of
Galatians on a contrast between their good start and their present
temptation. Praise is lavished on the former; warning is plastered
onto the latter.
Paul does praise the Galatians. They began as they should have,
namely with the Spirit (Gal. 3:3). With one of his beloved athletic
metaphors, Paul declares, “You were running well,” signifying that
they not only got “out of the blocks” efficiently, but were moving
along before they hit the hindrance introduced by the outsiders (Gal.
5:7). Praiseworthy also was their overwhelming response to him when
he first preached the gospel to them (Gal. 4:14–15; to be examined
more fully below). Paul’s laudatory portraits of the Galatians’ good
start and enthusiasm should surely function rhetorically to have them
yearn to be like their better selves (Plut. Quomodo quis suos 72D).
Paul’s concluding blessing—“peace and mercy upon them”—on those
who “follow in the footsteps of this rule” (5:16) is designed to encour-
age conformity to him.
Paul’s warnings and expressions of shame are preponderant in
Galatians. The believers in Galatia are described as “deserting” God
(Gal. 1:6). Though they started well with the Spirit, they threaten
to “end up with the flesh” (Gal. 3:3), to have it come to nothing
(Gal. 3:4). Now free, they are tempted to revert to slavery (Gal. 4:9).
They venture to lose their “blessedness” (ı makarismÚw Ím«n; Gal.
4:15). As if those cautions were not strong enough, Paul warns them
with the same teaching he had given them earlier: those who do
works of the flesh shall not inherit God’s kingdom (Gal. 5:19–21).
Warning against self-deception, Paul declares that God will repay
people according to what they sow (Gal. 5:15, 26). And the proof
of the pudding: Paul is not pleased with the way some Galatians are
relating to others among them (Gal. 6:1–5).
At the letter’s heart and at the epicenter of Paul’s friendship and
frankness with the Galatians lies a rich and crucial passage (Gal.
302 j. paul sampley

4:12–20) that can fully be appreciated only in the context of frank

speech. The passage signals friendship from start to finish. First, Paul
addresses them as édelfo‹, “brothers,” a term indicating familiarity
and used with great frequency (11 times) in this letter to reflect the
resocialization of believers into a new family with God as Father
(1:3). He implores (d°omai) them (Gal. 4:12) to manifest the mutu-
ality of friendship that is so proper to genuine friendship: brothers
and sisters in Christ, like true friends, find their unity in becoming
like one another. Paul’s “become as I am” must carry the auditors’
minds back to his exemplary performance depicted in the opening
chapters and to the intervening passages where Paul has carefully
told the common story of the origins of faith in such a way as to
include himself in it with them. As he puts it in Gal. 4:12, he has
“become as” them: “Before faith came we were confined under the
law, mutually restrained [sugkleiÒmenoi] until faith should be dis-
closed . . .” (Gal. 3:23; italics added). Then, when describing how the
heir must reach majority before receiving the estate, he includes him-
self once again with his auditors: “Just so with us, when we were
children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the cosmos . . . in
order that we might receive sonship” (Gal. 4:3–5; italics added).
Paul’s exculpatory declaration that the Galatians have done him
no wrong (Gal. 4:12) clarifies that his frank speech is not in reprisal
for something they have done to him, because that would not be
an appropriate context for frankness (Plut. Quomodo quis suos 66F–
67A). This is part of Paul’s effort to make sure that the Galatians
understand that his frank speech on either side of Gal. 4:12–20 is
not self-servingly motivated—a charge he will readily lodge against
the outsiders (Gal. 4:17; 6:12–13).16 There sÊgkrisiw, comparison,
serves Paul’s purposes well and strengthens his ground for the frank
speech of this letter.17
Gal. 4:12–20 is Paul’s recounting of the foundational story for the
Galatian churches. It is a story at once of God’s grace and of the

16
Cf. the rhetorical traditions concerning how one discredits opponents by impugn-
ing their motives, particularly by declaring that such persons serve their own self-
interest: Sampley, “Paul, His Opponents in 2 Corinthians 10–13, and the Rhetorical
Handbooks,” The Social World of Formative Christianity and Judaism: Essays in Tribute to
Howard Clark Kee, ed. Jacob Neusner, Peder Borgen, Ernest S. Frerichs, Richard
Horsley (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988) 162–77.
17
Christopher Forbes, “Comparison, Self-Praise and Irony: Paul’s Boasting and
the Conventions of Hellenistic Rhetoric,” NTS 32 (1986) 2–8. Cf. also Marshall,
Enmity 53–55, 348–53.
 paul’s frank speech 303

inauguration of a strong friendship. Though Paul had not expected

to preach among them, illness stopped him and he shared the gospel
with them. Their response showed that they overcame whatever trial
his illness was to them—an early sign of friendship on their side—
and that their friendship flourished so that quickly they were ready
to give of themselves for the well-being of their new friend, Paul
(Gal. 4:14–15). He reminds them that they would have plucked out
their eyes and given them to him—surely a metaphorical and rhetor-
ically exuberant way of describing such a deep friendship that noth-
ing matters more than the well-being of one’s friend. What has
changed, he asks in effect, since that foundational time of such great,
good enthusiasm? Not himself. Not the gospel. Paul recounts the
Galatians’ early exuberance, which he calls “blessedness,” an over-
flowing of God’s love through them back to Paul. Paul asks them
in effect why they need to do anything different, like seek circum-
cision, to add to the blessedness that was so rich and overflowing
from early on.
Precisely in this context of recounted rich and genuine friendship
Paul now lodges the question that bears directly on how the Galatians,
receiving this letter, will respond to his frank speech. Paul employs
that frank speech in various ways to call them to task for their waver-
ing in face of the temptation to follow outsiders in seeking circum-
cision. Will they judge that his frank speech is not genuine, that it
is not founded in a heartfelt and strong friendship? Will they view
Paul as no friend at all, in fact as an enemy (§xyrÒw), because he
has been dealing truly and candidly with them (Gal. 4:16)?18 In the
verse following this question Paul pictures, by contrast with himself,
the outsiders in terms similar to those Plutarch uses to describe
flatterers who praise others for the benefits they can receive from
them (Gal. 4:17).
Paul then goes ahead to move the discourse to a level above and
beyond friendship, namely maternity. Mother Paul directly and
affectionately addresses the Galatians: “My little children [t°kna mou],
again I am in labor until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). Just
as their attachment to him made the Galatians ready to show extrav-
agant signs of friendship to Paul, so now Paul escalates the senti-
ments to yet another level, namely the travail of childbirth where

18
Cf. Marshall, Enmity, 35–51, for a good understanding of enmity at that time.
304 j. paul sampley

one suffers greatly over the delivery of the beloved children. Friendship
and family overlap in Paul as they do in the culture of his time.19
The passage concludes with Paul’s double-sided wish that he could
be with them now and that he could change his tone or voice (fvnÆ)
because he is perplexed with them (Gal. 4:20). Paul is passionately
involved with them and with their well-being, as any genuine friend
and good mother rightly would be. Plutarch would have thought Paul
perfectly in line here to show passionate feeling about the Galatians’
predicament: “. . . if it concern matters of greater moment, let feeling
also be evident” (Quomodo quis suos 68C). Paul’s frankness here passes
the test of “weight and firmness” (Quomodo quis suos 59C). It also
qualifies as mixing a little praise in with it (Quomodo quis suos 72C).
Paul has no alternative but to engage the Galatians with frank
speech, and if they turn against him, as Gal. 4:16 ponders, he must
proceed, even though the consequences of frank speech are well-
known in his time: “. . . it is the duty of a friend to accept the odium
that comes from giving admonition when matters of importance and
of great concern are at stake” (Plut. Quomodo quis suos 73A); “the
man who by chiding and blaming implants the sting of repentance
is taken to be an enemy and an accuser . . .” (56A). As a friend,
much less as an apostle/mother, Paul cannot allow the Galatians to
go further down that road without challenge (Quomodo quis suos 64C).
What classification of frankness has Paul used in Galatians? Surely
it is not simple frank criticism because some praise is scattered across
the letter. The scattered praise within the frank speech shows that
Paul believes that the Galatians are capable of being set right; they
have not gone too far so that they could not turn back. The harsh-
est frank speech, namely that with no praise included, was reserved
for those who are more nearly beyond hope (Phild. De lib. dic. frg.
71). Our assessment of Galatians as mixed frank speech also fits
Plutarch’s conviction that frankness is best when the recipients are
not down and out (Quomodo quis suos 69A–B). Paul’s approach in the
letter to the Galatians is mixed frank speech. From that fact we have
further insight into Paul’s estimate of them: he has good reason to
expect his rhetoric to bring them around.
Paul’s mixed frank speech in the letter calls for the Galatians to
reevaluate themselves. His frankness engages those who are tempted

19
See John T. Fitzgerald, “Friendship in the Greek World Prior to Aristotle,”
in Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship 16–22.
 paul’s frank speech 305

to follow the outsiders’ suggestions that circumcision must be added

to the faith and to the reception of the Spirit that is undeniably theirs.
Paul’s frank speech, with its ∑yow enhancement, is designed first to
refresh the auditors’ attachment to himself as the one who brought
the gospel and in so doing became their Mother/Father/Apostle
whose understanding of the gospel should be theirs. Second, his frank
speech is intended to make sure that the Galatians understand the
fullness of what the Spirit has already begun in their lives and will
continue not only to provide but to enrich if they stay the course.
Paul’s frank speech calls for the Galatians to turn back from the
precipice that lies directly ahead of them in the form of the out-
sider’s understanding of circumcision and the law.

Frank Speech in the “Painful Letter” and in 2 Corinthians 1–7

The “painful letter” is the one written after what we call 1 Corinthians
(mentioned in 2 Cor. 2:3–4, 9 and 7:8–12), after a “painful visit”
where things went poorly between Paul and the Corinthians, and
after a projected visit which Paul failed to make. It is often dubbed
the “painful letter” because of the way in which Paul describes his
disposition in writing: “For I wrote you out of great affliction and
distress of heart, with many tears, not in order to grieve you but in
order that you may know the overflowing love which I have toward
you” (2 Cor. 2:4). Paul shares with Philodemus the supposition that
lup°v describes a possible effect of parrhs¤a (see 2 Cor. 2:4, 7:8, 9,
and De lib. dic. frg. 61.1, 82.7).
We can know very little of the content of this letter, as it is lost.20
Our access to the letter is limited to Paul’s own reflections about it
in 2 Cor. 1–7 and about the response it elicited from the Corinthians.
What we can study is, first, Paul’s own statements about his dispo-
sition and purpose when he wrote it and, second, Paul’s under-
standing of the Corinthians’ response.
Paul expresses four reasons for writing the painful letter: 1) he wrote
in an effort to clear matters for a subsequent pain-free visit (2 Cor.
2:3); 2) he wrote to show his overflowing love for them (2 Cor. 2:4);

20
See Victor Paul Furnish, II Corinthians, AB 32A (Garden City, NY: Doubleday,
1984) 37 for his argument that 2 Cor. 10–13 is not part of the painful letter, and
35–48 for his accounting of the sequence of the letter fragments of 2 Corinthians
to which I subscribe.
306 j. paul sampley

3) he wrote “in order to know your tried-and-trueness,21 that is, if

in everything you were obedient” (2 Cor. 2:9; see again in 2 Cor.
7:15); and 4) he wrote so that “your zeal for us might be revealed
to you before God” (2 Cor. 7:12). Three times he assures them that
his primary purpose was not to grieve or pain them (2 Cor. 2:4,
7:8–9). In the letter’s exigency is some person who did wrong (2 Cor.
2:6–11; 7:12), who seems to have caused pain to Paul, and, Paul
widens the impact, to the other Corinthians as well (2 Cor. 2:5).
Paul has no need to describe what the wrong was; he and all the
Corinthians know both it and the individual responsible for it. Probably
in response to Paul’s painful letter, the Corinthians have practiced
the most forceful of frank speech with this wrong-doer and (we may
assume publicly) rebuked him (the term is §pitim¤a, which though
found nowhere else in Paul is used widely by Philodemus and Plutarch
to describe a rebuke, a reproving, a censuring; 2 Cor. 2:6).22 Paul
later describes the Corinthians’ collective action against this person
as §kd¤khsiw, a working out of justice (7:12),23 though as 2 Cor. 2:7
and 7:10b suggest, Paul shares Plutarch’s concern that a public rebuke
can, because of its shame, harm an individual beyond restoration
(Quomodo quis suos 70E–71A; cf. Philodemus, De lib. dic. frg. 71).
By his accounting, Paul is pleased with the results that the painful
letter effected. Frank speech aims at a change of behavior or direc-
tion and it has worked in the painful letter. Titus confirmed it for
Paul: the Corinthians responded with mourning, (2 Cor. 7:7), zeal
(twice, 2 Cor. 7:7, 11), longing (twice, 2 Cor. 7:7, 11), and earnest-
ness (2 Cor. 7:11)—all of which signal to Paul a restoration of rela-
tionship. And their other responses—eagerness to clear themselves,
indignation, alarm, and a working out of justice—indicate to him
that they have acquitted themselves with regard to the one who did
the wrong (2 Cor. 7:11). As a result, Paul declares them ègnoÊw,

21
For Paul’s understanding of dokimÒw and its related family, see Sampley, Walking
Between the Times: Paul’s Moral Reasoning (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991) 65–66.
22
BAG 2 302, 303. The term does not occur elsewhere in Paul (though §pitimãv
does occur in 2 Tim. 4:2) or in Philodemus, but two cognates do: §pitimãv, frg.
6.8, 31.3, 38.7–8, 62.1, 93N.7; col. IXb.9, XVb.12–13, XVIa.9, XIXa.11–12,
XXIa.7, XXIIIa.3, XXIVb.4–5; §pit¤mhsiw, frg. 30.11, 75.2, 82.1, 84.7; col. XXIa.3,
XXIVa.1–2, T4.I.23.
23
In his assessment of the Corinthian response, did Paul place too much empha-
sis on the righting of the wrong done by person whose identity we do not know,
thinking that change signaled that all was restored and well and perhaps overlook-
ing pockets of resentment that went on unabated?
 paul’s frank speech 307

guiltless, across the board (2 Cor. 7:11). Their own zeal (spoudÆ) for
Paul has been revealed to them and he finds comfort in it (2 Cor.
7:11, 12). Paul’s earlier boast to Titus about the Corinthians had
proved true—and he cannot resist nurturing his ∑yow just a bit on
this point as well: “just as we spoke all things to you in truth”
(2 Cor. 7:14).
Paul’s recommendation concerning the wrong-doer is significant
for understanding the limits of frank speech as Paul sees it. The pain
of one person in the community belongs to all (2 Cor. 2:5; cf.
1 Cor. 12:26, Rom. 12:15), just as does the joy (2 Cor. 2:3). Paul is
concerned not to lose one for whom Christ has died (Rom. 14:15;
1 Cor. 8:11), so frank speech, though it may certainly be employed,
must ultimately be curbed by love.24 Paul has not given up on the
wrong-doer and hopes for the same kind of grief-to-repentance-to-
salvation from the wrong-doer that he takes to be under way with
the Corinthians (2 Cor. 7:9–10).25 Paul distinguishes between a godly
grief (katå yeÒn; 2 Cor. 7:9) and a worldly grief (toË kÒsmou; 2 Cor.
7:10). The former works through to repentance and finally into sal-
vation; the latter works itself out into death. Paul calls a halt to the
Corinthians’ scornful rebuke of the wrong-doer: “Sufficient is the
scorn [§pitim¤a] of such a one by the majority” (2 Cor. 2:6). They
should now rather “forgive and comfort him” so he will not be
crushed by overflowing grief (2 Cor. 2:7). Accordingly, Paul appeals
(parkãlv) that they confirm or decide in favor of (kur«sai) love to
him (2 Cor. 2:8).26
Paul does not simply rejoice that the frank speech of the painful
letter has accomplished its desired goal; he also uses the Corinthians’
reported wholesome response as an occasion for another instance of
frank speech. But this time it takes the form of a gentle “sting” of
encouragement: he calls for the Corinthians to “open their hearts”
to him (2 Cor. 7:2a), an echo of his own declaration earlier that

24
Cf. Glad’s interpretation that Philodemus also finds it difficult to give up on
anyone, no matter how recalcitrant or arrogant, “Frank Speech” 42.
25
Cf. the same sort of hope held out for the man sleeping with his father’s wife
(1 Cor. 5:5).
26
In his willingness to forgive anyone whom they forgive, he manifests the
clemency that he thinks Christ has modeled (2 Cor 10:1) and, ready to practice
what he preaches, insists that forgiveness and reconciliation are basic to the gospel
of which he is proud to be ambassador (2 Cor 5:20). The same sequence
(§pitimãv/parakal°v) appears in 2 Tim. 4:2. Note also Philodemus’ concern that
frankness not be used in anger (De lib. dic. frg. 38).
308 j. paul sampley

“our heart is wide open” (2 Cor. 6:11 NRSV) to them. Immediately

he insists on his uprightness and fairness (2 Cor. 7:2b–d), topics which
have been asserted in a variety of ways in the preceding chapters
where he has been busily nurturing his ∑yow (cf. 2 Cor. 2:17, 4:2).
The amount of ∑yow enhancement in the letter fragment 2 Cor.
1–7 is extraordinary; it is found on every page of 2 Cor. 1–7. The
opening chapter focuses on Paul’s sufferings and afflictions, most
recently in Asia (2 Cor. 1:8); his bid for their prayers (2 Cor. 1:11)
is an open request for identification with Paul. His behavior in the
world is mentioned in 2 Cor. 1:12 and will be elaborated by a whole
series of assertions and depictions—many of them benefiting from
sÊgkrisiw, comparison, with others—to follow. Paul is not a huck-
ster of God’s word, but a person of sincerity (2 Cor. 2:17; revisited
in 4:2ff .); he does not need letters of recommendation (2 Cor. 3:1–3);
his is a diakon¤a of the Spirit, of glory, not one of death (2 Cor.
3:7–4:1); though afflicted and beset by great challenges, even death
(2 Cor. 4:16–5:5), he endures (2 Cor. 4:7–12; and again in 2 Cor.
6:3–10); he values proper boasting based on a person’s heart and
not on their public image (2 Cor. 5:12). And his special calling as
an ambassador for Christ leads him to devote himself to reconcili-
ation, as he is in fact seeking to practice, both in the painful letter
and in 2 Cor. 1–7, in regard to the Corinthians who have wavered
from his leadership.
The new issue he addresses gently with frank speech in 2 Cor.
1–7 itself is that the Corinthians do not reciprocate as fully as he
would wish. His “mouth is open to you,” that is, he has “spoken
freely and openly” to them.27 He has shown himself ready to do the
“office of a friend” (Phild. De lib. dic. col. XIXb) with them, both
in the painful letter and now here in 2 Cor. 1–7. His current assess-
ment of them is not so favorable in one regard: “You are not
restricted in us, but you are restricted in your affections” (2 Cor.
6:12). Paul addresses them as children who need his leadership and
calls, in this newest use of frank speech, for them to be reciprocal
(éntimisy¤aw) by opening wide their own hearts (plantunãyhte; note
the emphatic Íme›w, 2 Cor. 6:13).
A few verses later, he refines that appeal, and with it his frank
speech, by returning to the topic and urging them to open their

27
BAG2 71; cf. Ezek. 16:63, 29:21.
 paul’s frank speech 309

hearts to him (2 Cor. 7:2). He next discloses how they stand—and

have stood (“I said before”)—in his heart,28 namely “to live together
and to die together” (2 Cor. 7:3). The signs of friendship! To make
common cause, to identify so fully with them that their fate is his.
Paul’s consistency of dedication and friendship is here emphatically
reaffirmed precisely in the context where he asks for an alteration
of their hearts to be more inclusive of him. With his next three state-
ments (2 Cor. 7:4a–c), 1) Paul openly acknowledges, as only friends
can do, what he has been doing and how he has been relating to
them throughout this letter fragment, “Great is my frank speech
toward you” (pollÆ moi parrhs¤a prÚw Ímçw; 7:4a);29 2) in 7:4b he
telegraphs the note on which the section will end (2 Cor. 7:16),
namely his considerable confidence in them; and 3) in 7:4c he declares
that he is overflowing in comfort, the reason for which will be detailed
in 7:5–15.
Just what varieties of frank speech have we encountered in the
painful letter and in 2 Cor. 1–7? We are at a loss to specify the
frank speech of the painful letter. We simply have too little evidence
and we cannot truly tell how much if any praise there was in it. As
to the variety of frank speech found in 2 Cor. 1–7 there can be no
mistake that it is what Philodemus and Plutarch would have called
“mixed” because there is a fair amount of praise salted into the text.
That is just as one would expect because Paul’s earlier frank speech,
however severe it may have been, had turned the Corinthians onto
a better course, one that pleased Paul greatly. But Paul is not com-
pletely satisfied with their response to his earlier frank speech, and
appeals here, in yet another instance of frankness, for them to open
their hearts and to express their affection more fully. Indeed, much
of Paul’s ∑yow nurturing in 2 Cor. 1–7 is designed to help bring
the Corinthians closer to him, to reconcile them to him even more
completely.

28
Philodemus acknowledges that many fine things come from friendship, but
“there is nothing so grand as having one to whom one will say what is in one’s
heart . . .” (Phild. De lib. dic. frg. 28).
29
The phrase parrhs‹a xr∞syai “refers to a manner of speaking”—and that
generally in the context of moral counsel (Fredrickson, “PARRHSIA” 164–65). “Paul’s
candor is a sign of his friendship (7.3) with the Corinthians” (Fitzgerald, “2 Corinthians:
Introduction and Notes,” The HarperCollins Study Bible [New York: HarperCollins,
1993] 2173).
310 j. paul sampley

In 2 Cor. 1–7 Paul praises the Corinthians with strong declara-

tions: “Our hope for you is unshaken . . .” (1:7); “. . . being persuaded
about all of you that my joy is shared by all of you” (2:3); “You
yourselves are our letter [of recommendation] . . .” (3:2–3); all of the
descriptions, derived from Titus’ report, of how moved and rededi-
cated the Corinthians were to Paul after they received the painful
letter (7:7, 11); and the concluding note, “I have confidence in you
in all things” (7:16).30
Paul’s frank speech worked for him in the painful letter. In the
very letter where he celebrates the results of his earlier frank speech,
Paul employs frank speech yet another time. If 2 Cor. 10–13, to
which we now turn, is any indication, his frank speech in 2 Cor.
1–7 was not so efficacious and we will have occasion to reflect on
that again later in this study.
The following observations are in order:
1) The painful letter was undoubtedly harsher in its use of parrhs¤a
than 2 Cor. 1–7. The relief he expresses in the letter is not only a
good indicator of the anxiety he had about the possible negative
response but also probably an indicator of its harshness.
2) For Paul and Philodemus (and Plutarch), parrhs¤a elicits an emo-
tional response. Philodemus seems mostly concerned with anger as a
response (cf. De lib. dic. frg. 58, 71, 87; col. Xa). Anger may have been
Paul’s concern in the Corinthians’ response to the painful letter and
surely may be a factor in 2 Cor. 10–13. In his comments about the
Corinthian use of frankness with the one who did wrong, however,
Paul’s main concern regarding a response seems to be not anger but
grief (2 Cor. 2:4; 7:8, 9).
3) The Corinthians’ use of parrhs¤a with the wrong-doer demonstrates
that parrhs¤a is a communal activity, not an exclusively apostolic one.
Moreover their exercise of parrhs¤a toward the man was apparently
not mixed with any praise and Paul was worried that its effect would
be destructive. His exhortation to reaffirm love (2 Cor. 2:8) is his
attempt to make their speech “mixed.”

Frank Speech in 2 Corinthians 10–13

2 Cor. 10–13 is notorious for the troubled relations it depicts between

Paul and the Corinthians.31 Paul sees a great distance between where

30
For these and other statements of Pauline self-confidence, see S. N. Olson,
“Epistolary Uses of Expressions of Self-Confidence,” JBL 103 (1984) 585–97.
31
I follow Furnish’s reasoning about the sequence of this letter fragment; see II
Corinthians 38–41.
 paul’s frank speech 311

the Corinthians are and where he thinks they should be. Somewhat
reminiscent of his appeal in the earlier letter fragment (2 Cor. 6:11–12,
7:2), that they should open their hearts to him and not be so restricted
in their affections, is the newly-expressed but continuing hope that
his “sphere of action or influence”32 (kan≈n) among them will flourish
(2 Cor. 10:15). He openly expresses his fears that he may come and
find them not as he wishes (2 Cor. 12:20). Making the same point
eschatologically and theologically, he fears that when he next visits
Corinth God may humble him because his followers, the Corinthians,
will not have lived the lives in the gospel that they should have.
This would manifest his failure as the one responsible for present-
ing them to Christ as a pure bride (2 Cor. 11:2). He depicts him-
self as the one who cares enough about the Corinthians’ well-being
that he would be shamed before God by his and their failure. He
prays for their “being made complete”33 (katãrtisiw; 2 Cor. 13:9).
The letter-fragment closes with a powerful sententious appeal for
change (2 Cor. 13:11).
The entire letter fragment (2 Cor. 10–13) is laced with frank
speech in which Paul calls for the Corinthians to realign themselves
with him and his gospel and challenges them to recognize how far
off the mark they are. In fact this letter fragment, unlike every other
example of frank speech in the Pauline corpus, has not one instance
of Paul’s praising the Corinthians.34 This is frank speech without any
admixture of praise: it is what Philodemus and Plutarch called “pure,”
“simple,” “harsh,” or “severe” frank speech.
What does that tell us about the relationship between Paul and
the Corinthians at the time of this writing? Why has Paul resorted
to pure, simple frank speech in 2 Cor. 10–13? “In what circum-
stances, then, should a friend be severe, and when should he be
emphatic in using frank speech? It is when occasions demand of him
that he check the headlong course of pleasure or of anger or of

32
BAG 2 403.
33
BAG 2 418.
34
I readily grant that this is a letter fragment, so there may have been praise
in parts of the letter unavailable to us, but nowhere else in the Pauline corre-
spondence do we have four chapters without some praise. Certainly, when evalu-
ated in terms of letter style, 2 Cor. 10–13, though a combination of frankness and
appeal, is “an excellent example of a mixed letter type” (Fitzgerald, “Paul, the
Ancient Epistolary Theorists, and 2 Corinthians 10–13: The Purpose and Literary
Genre of a Pauline Letter,” in Greeks, Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham
J. Malherbe, ed. David L. Balch, Everett Ferguson, Wayne A. Meeks [Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1990], 200).
312 j. paul sampley

arrogance, or that he abate avarice or curb inconsiderate heedless-

ness” (Plut. Quomodo quis suos 69E–F). 2 Cor. 10–13 is such frank
criticism, pure and simple. This is the parrhs¤a best reserved for
those “somewhat more in need of treatment . . . the strong who will
scarcely change [even] if they are shouted at . . .” (Phild. De lib. dic.
frg. 7).35 Paul’s employment of pure frank speech indicates that he
finds himself without any other available resources in his effort to
turn the Corinthians from what he sees as a disastrous direction.
Paul’s frank speech climaxes in 2 Cor. 13 in two ways. First, Paul
lays down the guideline for their confrontation when he next arrives:
the Deuteronomic canon of two or three witnesses will be enforced
regarding any claim (2 Cor. 13:1; Deut. 19:15), and the Corinthians
should realize that in their relations to Paul they are dealing with
God’s power (2 Cor. 13:3–4; 10:3, 8; 12:9, 12; 13:10). Second, he
calls for them to test themselves (peirãzete) and reinforces it with
the parallel insistence that they examine themselves (dokimãzete;
13:5–9). We will return to this last point below.
We expect ∑yow enhancement correlative to the degree of frank-
ness. 2 Cor. 10–13 does not disappoint. We may describe his ∑yow
augmentation around three foci: the first is Paul’s foundational work
in bringing them the gospel, the second Paul’s consistency from that
first day forward, and the third new information about Paul. First, God
had apportioned the Corinthians to Paul (2 Cor. 10:13). Paul was
the one who extended himself “all the way” to them (Íperekte¤nomen;
2 Cor. 10:14). He formally presented the Corinthians as a (suppos-
edly) pure bride to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). He preached the gospel
without a fee (2 Cor. 11:7), did not burden anyone (2 Cor. 11:9), and
performed the signs of a true apostle while with them (2 Cor. 12:12).
Second, consistency and dependability are the hallmarks of true
friendship and a requirement of a strong ∑yow sufficient to support
frank speech. Paul makes a persistent and strong case for himself in
this regard. One statement captures this point: “And what I do, so
shall I [continue to] do” (2 Cor. 11:12). Like a genuine friend, he
never took advantage of them (2 Cor. 11:20, 12:14); neither did
Titus as Paul’s representative (2 Cor. 12:17). If he warns them now
he has warned them before (2 Cor. 13:2). He has always spoken the
truth to them; indeed he can do nothing else (2 Cor. 12:6; 13:8).

35
For a description of the varied approaches designed for different types of stu-
dents, see Glad, Paul and Philodemus, 137–52.
 paul’s frank speech 313

He has always preached the same Jesus, the same Spirit, and the
same gospel (2 Cor. 11:4). While given the authority to build up or
tear down (an inclusio, 2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10), he has always worked for
their edification, but the implicit threat of his divinely-given power
to destroy is not subtly brandished. He pictures himself as having
always worked for their well-being as a true friend should.36 Indications
of his love for them punctuate the fragment: “God knows” Paul loves
them (2 Cor. 11:11); Paul calls them his “beloved” (2 Cor. 12:19);
and he wonders how it can be that he loves them more while they
love him less (2 Cor. 12:15). In this particular, Paul is completely
aligned with Philodemus who says that “when he is . . . very vehemently
indicating his own annoyance, he will not, as he speaks, forget ‘dear-
est’ and ‘sweetest’ and similar things . . .” (De lib. dic. frg. 14).
Third, a new detail, probably hitherto unknown also to the
Corinthians, is added to his ∑yow in this letter fragment.37 Though
the Corinthians already know him to be a person given to visions
and revelations (1 Cor. 2:10, 14:6; 2 Cor. 13:7), they now hear of
his extraordinary heavenly ascent and vision (2 Cor. 12:2–10), told
in the rhetorically modest third person. In paradise, he heard “unspeak-
able words” (2 Cor. 13:4), but has never (before) boasted of this or
used it as a boost to his authority; the Corinthians probably hear
about it now because Paul’s opponents must have made similar (but
probably not as spectacular!) claims. Paul has eschewed making claims
on the basis of that ecstatic experience “so that no one may think
better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me . . .” (2 Cor.
12:6 NRSV).
Though we have seen frank speech across Paul’s correspondence,
this is the first instance of simple or pure frank speech, that is, with-
out any praise intermingled. Unlike the doctors who are so often
depicted as comparable to frank speakers, Paul has left his patients
with no balm (Plut. Quomodo quis suos 74D).
We must note another feature present in this letter fragment. Paul
now entertains the notion that this ultimate form of frank speech

36
This strong picture is elaborated even more by the many texts of Paul’s
sÊgkrisiw with the outsiders whom he sometimes dubs “superlative apostles”.
37
Paul employs the irony of the self-portraits in 11:1–12:20 to elaborate his ∑yow.
See Glenn Holland, “Speaking Like a Fool: Irony in 2 Corinthians 10–13” in Rhetoric
and the New Testament: Essays from the 1992 Heidelberg Conference, ed. Stanley E. Porter
and Thomas H. Olbricht, JSNTS 90 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993)
252–64.
314 j. paul sampley

may fail, surely always a possibility: he reports his prayer to God

that the Corinthians may not do wrong, that they may do right,
“even though we may seem to have failed ” (13:7 NIV; italics added). Matters
with the Corinthians have come to a worrisome head. Paul seems
to expect that his next visit will be a showdown. The explicit call
for self-examination and self-testing, implicit or relatively more hid-
den in all frank speech but unmistakable in this example of pure
frankness, is designed to provide a basis for their next meeting.38 But
we may rightly wonder just what sort of basis it provided because
Plutarch cautions against ending an interview—and one may sup-
pose the same would apply to a letter—on a “painful and irritat-
ing . . . final topic of conversation” (Quomodo quis suos 74E) as Paul
seems to have done in 2 Cor. 13.39
Could Paul’s earlier efforts at frank speech (in the painful letter
and in 2 Cor. 1–7) have contributed to the breakdown in relations
that we see in 2 Cor. 10–13? Quite likely, though clearly there are
other factors that have been detailed in previous studies.40 People
who think themselves wise (and we know some Corinthians do; cf.
1 Cor. 1:18–2:10) are annoyed by frankness, Philodemus tells us (De
lib. dic. col. XXIVa). Philodemus also recognized that “those who
are illustrious both in resources and reputations abide [frank criti-
cism] less well [than others]” (col. XXIIb). Likewise, those who feel
“they are . . . in [a position of ] honor” may be “annoyed” by frank
speech (col. XVIIb). So the peculiar socio-economic makeup of the
Corinthian congregation,41 and what we may suppose is an even
wider Corinthian aspiration to be considered wise apart from socio-
economic background, may have contributed to more resistance to
Paul’s frank speech among its Corinthian recipients.42

38
Frankness helps keep perspective as to what is important and what is indifferent;
see Quomodo quis suos 59F.
39
Not only Paul, but also the later redactor who compiled 2 Corinthians from
fragments.
40
See Furnish, II Corinthians 44–54.
41
Cf. 1 Cor. 1:26 and Gerd Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays
on Corinth, ed. and trans. J. H. Schütz, (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982) 69–119.
42
John Fitzgerald has called to my attention M. Gigante’s argument that par-
rhs¤a is for Philodemus a t°knh stoxastikÆ, a “stochastic” or “conjectural” art
(Ricerche Filodemee, 2nd ed. [Naples: Macchiaroli, 1982], 62–67). In doing this, Gigante
is drawing on a distinction that Philodemus sometimes makes between “exact art”
(with fixed principles) and “conjectural art” that is based on observation of what
usually happens. Paul’s uses of parrhs¤a demonstrate that the results of parrhs¤a
necessarily vary from one situation to another, depending not only on the skill of
the speaker to adapt his frankness to the person or group but also on the nature
or character of the person or group.
 paul’s frank speech 315

We are now in a position to assess how Paul’s repeated use of

frank speech with the Corinthians may have affected Paul’s relationship
to them in the passages that we have analyzed here. Four factors
about Paul’s use of frank speech with the Corinthians probably con-
tributed to the deterioration of his relationship with them. First,
Plutarch recognizes that persistent use of frank speech, if not smoothed
over, builds further and enduring problems in a relationship, and
perhaps Paul has now become recipient of some negative fallout
along these lines: “But the man who has been hard hit and scored
by frankness, if he be left rough and tumid and uneven, will, owing
to the effect of anger, not readily respond to an appeal the next
time . . .” (Quomodo quis suos 74E). Paul may simply have gone to the
well too often.
Second, and related, are the twinned facts that frank speech depends
on sound ∑yow and that Paul’s ∑yow had suffered some serious blows
during the time covered by the examples of his frank speech to the
Corinthians examined in this essay. I will note just a couple of the
most devastating: Paul’s projected but unrealized visit and the result-
ing charge of vacillation and lack of dependability (2 Cor. 1:15–2:1)
and Paul’s shame-producing refusal to accept the patronage of some
at Corinth (2 Cor. 11:7–10).43
Third, Paul may well have received an unrealistic evaluation of
the Corinthian response from Titus. Frank speech always risks build-
ing residual anger (Phild. De lib. dic. frg. 70). Even though Paul
rejoices over the Corinthians’ self-correction in response to his painful
letter, it is reasonable to wonder whether there was not residual irri-
tation, if not anger, among some of the Corinthians. Many factors
may have contributed to Paul glossing over what he took as an end
to Corinthian disaffection. Titus may have had an overly optimistic
assessment of the Corinthian turn-around, or at least he may have
communicated such to Paul. In his own eagerness to regain com-
mon ground with the Corinthians, Paul may have single-handedly
inflated what could have been an accurate assessment of a lesser
reconciliation from Titus, painting a rhetorically idealized picture in
the hope that the Corinthians would make the positive portrait their
own reality.
In any case, those persons who were still tender over the frank speech
of the previous letter probably experienced increased resentment over

43
Marshall, Enmity.
316 j. paul sampley

Paul’s immediate, follow-up frank speech in 2 Cor. 6:11–13 and

7:2–4 (Phild. De lib. dic. frg. 71). By his repeated resorts to frank
speech with the Corinthians, Paul may have contributed to a reser-
voir of resentment that not only provided fuel for opponents to use
against him but which also makes it seem that Paul had used up
too much of what Plutarch calls one’s “supply of frankness” (Quomodo
quis suos 73B). 2 Cor. 10–13, by its resort to pure frank speech,
shows us Paul at a near impasse with the Corinthians. Too much
resentment and an over-tapping of Paul’s supply of frankness prob-
ably diminished the persuasive leverage Paul needed to accomplish
what he would consider a righting of the Corinthian situation. If
that was the case, Paul’s earlier successes with frank speech sowed
the seed of rancor toward any further frank speech.44
Fourth, and critically, in 2 Cor. 7:2–4, the second Corinthian
example of frank speech examined in this essay, Paul used frank
speech inappropriately to call for increased affection, which is of
course an emotion and not the appeal to reason for which frank
speech is suited. Frank speech employs “the thinking and reasoning
powers,” not the emotions (Quomodo quis suos 61E), and moves the
hearer to a reevaluation of past or contemplated actions or behavior.45
We must be careful to distinguish an emotional response to frank
speech, that is, the emotions that frank speech may indirectly elicit,
such as anger or godly grief (2 Cor. 7:11; indignation, alarm, long-

44
Though we cannot know the outcome of the show-down visit Paul projects in
2 Cor. 10–13, we can cite several indicators that suggest he likely had success in
reclaiming the Corinthians in that encounter: (1) the letter fragment 2 Cor. 10–13
was preserved; (2) the Achaians (and therefore quite possibly the Corinthians) took
part in the collection for the saints in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26); (3) he wrote Romans,
a subsequent letter, from Corinth where Gaius, one of Paul’s first converts there
(see 1 Cor. 1:14), is host to Paul “and to the whole church” (Rom. 16:23); (4) he
sends the Romans greetings from Erastus, Corinth’s treasurer (Rom. 16:23); and
(5) Clement, the early second century bishop of Rome, identifies the Corinthian
church with Paul (1 Clem. 47:3).
45
Flattery plays to emotion, frank speech to “the thinking and reasoning powers”
(Quomodo quis suos 61E). Frank speech calls for moral reasoning; it asks the recipient
to engage in reflection, in deliberation, in the weighing of whether to continue in the
present direction or to change. Frank speech provides the context for self-evaluation
and suggests self-correction. Parrhs¤a does not force change. It does call for change,
but the recipient must weigh the matter and decide what response is appropriate.
When emotions such as anger assert themselves, deliberation is shunted aside or
aborted. Although frank speech can prompt an emotional response, such as anger
or grief, it does not, at its best, appeal for an emotional response (such as the
affection Paul desires), but rather for the employment of reason in moral deliberation.
 paul’s frank speech 317

ing, zeal), from the response for which one directly appeals in one’s
frank speech. The emotions are always involved; Paul, Philodemus
and Plutarch all recognized that. The goal of frank speech, how-
ever, is not the emotional response that may well be provoked but
the change of comportment, of direction. Emotion, or affection as
in Paul’s case with the Corinthians, is not the proper object or goal
of frankness; it may well accompany the desired result, but is not
to be confused with the desired result itself. Similarly, frankness does
not appeal for the show of emotion but for some deliberation and
a resulting change of course or alteration of behavior, comportment,
or, as in Paul’s case again, allegiance.
Apart from all the other problems that contributed to the decline
in Paul’s relations with the Corinthians, and surely not intending to
diminish their importance, we must now assert that two additional
factors, namely Paul’s repeated resort to frank speech with the
Corinthians and his use of frank speech to enjoin greater affection,
aggravated other problems Paul had with the Corinthians and led
to the breakdown of relations that we see so clearly represented in
2 Cor. 10–13.

Conclusions

Paul knows and employs parrhs¤a, frank speech, within the con-
ventions of his time, as a powerful tool of social transaction. Further,
just as one would suspect from Philodemus and Plutarch, Paul varies
the strength of the frank speech according to his appraisal of the
circumstances he addresses.
If we consider these Pauline instances of frank speech with regard
to 1) how much praise they intermingle with the call for an emenda-
tion of conduct or of contemplated action and 2) how harsh and
fundamental is the “sting” they carry, we can make relative distinctions
among the instances. Clearly the harshest frankness is found in the
letter fragment 2 Cor. 10–13 where not a note of praise is heard.
2 Cor. 10–13 is unmitigated frank criticism. The gentlest sting of
frank speech in this study is found in the letter fragment 2 Cor. 1–7.
There Paul, happy that the frank speech of the previous letter has
brought the Corinthians around in their relation to him, but unsatisfied
because their response is not as full or whole-hearted as it could be,
uses frank speech to ask for an increase of Corinthian affection for
318 j. paul sampley

himself.46 In between those two instances is the frank speech of

Galatians, where the strong frank speech is mixed with some praise.
Without a clear understanding of frank speech, one might have
reckoned the harshness of Galatians as equal to that of 2 Cor. 10–13,
but now we see that the two, though related, are quite distinguish-
ably different. Though 2 Cor. 10–13 sits very directly in the blame
column and lacks praise, Galatians praises the recipients even while
it has a very fundamental problem with what they, or more accu-
rately some of them,47 are tempted to do. Further, in 2 Cor. 10–13
we found a hint of fear that his frank speech efforts to correct the
Corinthians might end in failure—Paul finds them about as incor-
rigible as Philodemus does his recalcitrant students—but in Galatians
we find no such hint. In fact in Galatians Paul writes with such
authority and power that he must assume that his leverage is ade-
quate to bring them around.48 So, to use the categories we derived
from Philodemus and Plutarch, 2 Cor. 10–13 is simple, pure, harsh
frank speech, what we can properly term frank criticism, while
Galatians is an example of mixed frank speech.
The painful letter is much more difficult to rank with precision
relative to the others because we do not have direct access to it. We
do know that it contained rebuke because Paul celebrates the fact
that his calling them to task had been effective, but we have no way
of telling whether it was of a mixed or simple form of frank speech,
since we do not know whether the letter also contained praise. By
inference back from 2 Cor. 10–13, where things seem to be viewed
by Paul as worse than ever, we could suppose that there might have

46
Plutarch notes that a good time for “admonition [nouyes¤aw] arises when peo-
ple, having been reviled by others for their errors, have become submissive and
downcast” (Quomodo quis suso 70D)—though in the Corinthian instance it has been
Paul who has used the earlier frank speech.
47
The correctio raises yet another possible distinction between 2 Cor. 10–13 and
Galatians. May we not suppose that an ingredient in the harshness gradient between
these two letters is that a higher percentage of the Corinthians than of the Galatians
are tempted to stray from Paul and his understanding of the gospel?
48
Though we could seek to advance this argument on several fronts, let this one
suffice: in the middle parts of the letter nÒmow is so problematic that Paul even insu-
lates God from the direct giving of it by mentioning angels in the chain of medi-
ation (Gal. 3:19), but later in the letter he dares to use nÒmow in a positive way
(Gal. 6:2), as if he supposes that his letter, by this late point, will have brought the
wayward Galatians securely enough back into camp that he can employ the term
in a way that serves his own sense of the gospel.
 paul’s frank speech 319

been some praise in the “painful letter” so that it would have to be

considered mixed frank speech, but we cannot be certain.
Recognition of frank speech’s indissoluble connection with the ∑yow
of the speaker should occasion further reconsideration of previous
scholarly treatment of Paul’s self-references that occur alongside frank
speech.49 The idea of ∑yow as a limited, exhaustible currency (Quomodo
quis suso 73B) should illuminate how better to read Paul’s efforts to
enhance his standing with his readers when he feels obligated to
speak with frankness to them. The simpler and harsher the frank
speech, the more likely it is that attention will be given to nurtur-
ing the speaker’s ∑yow.
This study of frank speech as employed by Paul sheds additional
light on Paul’s understanding of community and on his sense that indi-
viduals within the community of faith have responsibilities toward one
another.50 Friendship is fundamental to community among believers
despite the properly noted paucity of friendship terminology per se.51
The study of Paul’s appropriation of friendship terms and topoi is
further complicated by the way, as we have seen in this study, Paul
does not keep a clear distinction between categories of friendship
and familial concepts. Friendship assumptions fade into family categories
quite readily for Paul.
The commonplace assumptions of Paul’s time that friends care for
one another and sometimes show that concern for one another by
frank speech are transposed into Paul’s deliberations about the proper
functioning of community: he thinks believers are responsible for one
another as brothers and sisters for whom Christ died.52 It is a theme
found across Paul’s letters: “If one member suffers, all suffer together
with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (1 Cor.
12:26 NRSV; cf. Rom. 12:15). And he practices what he preaches:
“Who is led astray and I am not indignant?” (2 Cor. 11:29). Regarding
the man who is sleeping with his father’s wife, Paul’s distress is not
directed toward the man himself but toward the community, whose
members, we may suppose, failed in their responsibilities to express

49
I intend this suggestion to support, but now in the specific context of frank
speech, the general reassessment that Lyon’s Pauline Autobiography invites.
50
The best study on this topic to date is Glad’s Paul and Philodemus; see esp.
185–332.
51
E. A. Judge, “Paul as a Radical Critic of Society,” Interchange 16 (1974) 191–203.
52
Glad, Paul and Philodemus 190–235.
320 j. paul sampley

the sort of proper care that friends, and so even more brothers and
sisters in Christ, owe one another (1 Cor. 5:2a–b). One can suppose
that if some one or more of the Corinthian believers had used ear-
lier, more gentle frank speech with the man who was sleeping with
his stepmother, the matter never would have gotten to the point
where he needed to be removed from the fellowship.53
In regard to the same issue, this study suggests that Rom. 15:14,
one of Paul’s expressions of great confidence in the recipients of the
letter in Rome, represents Paul’s understanding of the obligation all
believers have toward one another when it goes on to stress their
capability to éllÆlouw nouyete›n, to “admonish, warn, instruct” one
another.54 The problem of interpreting that verb (the NIV, RSV,
NRSV all choose “instruct,” while in Philodemus and Plutarch the
term most frequently shades over into “admonish” or “warn”) is one
of understanding the extent of the believers’ obligations to one another
and responsibility for one another. “Instruct” is surely right to express
one part of believers’ responsibilities to each other, but so is “warn”
and in some cases “admonish.” The gentlest of frank speech’s stings
could almost be counted as instruction; harsher stings, though still
using nouyete›n, can denote warning or admonishment and can even
border on censure. Paul seems to expect a range of responses between
and among believers, a range that he himself expresses in his epis-
tolary responses to his readers: his own reactions extend from praise,
commendation and encouragement on the one extreme—indirect
speech, appeal, chiding, reproach fill in the middle ground—to remov-
ing an offender from the fellowship on the other.55 Believers are
expected to experience that same range of relationships between and
among themselves. Frank speech encompasses part of that spectrum,
beginning with some cases of appeal, all chiding, moving to reproach
and, in extreme cases, to exclusion from fellowship.
Frank speech functions as part of the larger Pauline concern for
keeping perspective, for self-testing, self-examination, and for distin-
guishing what is important from what does not matter. Frank speech,
by its engagement with another believer or group of them, stimu-

53
Removing someone from fellowship is surely frank speech carried to the extreme.
54
BAG 2 544.
55
Plutarch has a similar scale which ranges as follows: commend (§painoËntow),
extol (kateulogoËntow), take to task (§l°gxontow), be frank (parrhsiazom°nou), and
blame (c°gontow; Qumodo quis suos 66A).
 paul’s frank speech 321

lates self-reflection. It appeals to reason. We do not intend by this

observation to suggest any alienation between the heart or spirit and
the mind in Paul’s anthropology; in fact, as 1 Cor. 14:13–19 shows
so powerfully, Paul models and expects an integrated and holistic
spiritual life for himself and his followers. But integral to that holis-
tic life and often underestimated in studies about Paul is the oblig-
ation of individuals to test where they are and how they stand with
regard to God’s unfolding story.56 So frank speech is a helpful tool
in the moral reasoning of believers and, when properly used, serves
to enhance the health of the entire body of believers.
Finally, this study has also given occasion to see the risks and the
potential for a downside to frank speech as Paul has employed it.
The greatest and most obvious risk is the termination of the friend-
ship, as Paul recognizes in writing the Galatians, as to speak frankly
may generate enmity (Gal 4:16). Short of that, however, frank speech
can lead to misunderstanding, to questions about the genuineness of
the friendship, to perplexity about the motives of the one who speaks
frankly, to residual anger that festers and draws to it other distresses
and other persons who have their own difficulties with the frank
speaker. As we have observed, Paul repeatedly used frank criticism
with the Corinthians to achieve an end for which its use was ill-
suited, namely to enhance affection, and in so doing contributed sub-
stantially to the breakdown of his relationship with them.

56
See my Walking Between the Times 63–69, for a discussion of self-examination
and self-testing as a part of the believers’ spiritual discipline. The Lord’s Supper is
the foundational place of such self-examination (1 Cor. 11:28–32), but Paul’s calls
for self-assessment appear across the corpus (Gal. 6:4; 2 Cor. 13:5–10; cf. 1 Cor.
9:24–27).
This page intentionally left blank
 PHILODEMUS AND PAUL ON
RHETORICAL DELIVERY (ÍpÒkrisiw)

Bruce W. Winter

Abstract

From their particular ideological perspectives Philodemus and Paul pro-

vide critiques of a contemporary preoccupation of orators with “rhetor-
ical delivery” (ÍpÒkrisiw) that had consumed the public orators and
audiences of their day. Philodemus had witnessed its “formal” intro-
duction into the syllabus on rhetoric only to see it become its most
important element. Paul, standing as he did in the early days of the
Second Sophistic, saw the penchant for it in public declamations obscur-
ing content for performance and hence denounced its use for Christian
proclamation and teaching as 1 and 2 Corinthians demonstrates. His
rhetorically able opponents denigrated him for his lack of this essen-
tial component in his public presentations. For both Epicureanism and
Christianity rhetorical delivery would not effect the personal transfor-
mation which they sought in the life of their hearers although there
was the predisposition of some for it.

Introduction

Philodemus’ extensive work, On Rhetoric, is a much neglected but impor-

tant treatise for New Testament scholars.1 In it, he provides significant

1
Part of the difficulty hindering its widespread use has been the lack of a sat-
isfactory English text and translation. Harry M. Hubbell, “The Rhetorica of
Philodemus,” Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 23 (1920): 243–382
tends in places to engage in substantial paraphrasing and at times leaves out major
sections of the text rather than translating them. This is certainly the case in the
section on delivery. For an Italian translation which to date covers Books 1–2 see
Francesca Longo Auricchio, FilodÆmou Per‹ =htorik∞w, Ricerche sui papire ercolanesi
(Naples: Giannini, 1977), vol. 3. For details of more recent work on the text of On
Rhetoric see Dirk Obbink, “Philodemus on Poetics, Music and Rhetoric: A Classified
Bibliography,” Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus
and Horace, ed. Dirk Obbink (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 276–78. The
neglect of Philodemus’ work on rhetoric is epitomized by the fact that a little over
a page was devoted to Philodemus by George A. Kennedy in The Art of Persuasion
in Greece (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963), 300–301. R. Dean Anderson Jr.
324 bruce w. winter

information and an extended critique of a contemporary development

in rhetoric that flourished also in Paul’s day. In an era of New Testa-
ment scholarship where the discussion of rhetoric has far outstripped
the more measured approach of the end of the nineteenth century,2
Philodemus’ work provides important correctives to some of the
uncritical discussion of the use of rhetoric in the New Testament
corpus—simply citing ancient handbooks for that purpose is insufficient.3
Paul, like Philodemus, not only used rhetoric, but also provided a
critique of a contemporary trend that each saw as deleterious to
Christianity and Epicureanism respectively. As this study will show,
the preoccupation with “rhetorical delivery” (ÍpÒkrisiw) in the eras
of both men had, in some circles, overwhelmed the significant aspects
of rhetoric. Philodemus’ comments help us to understand the rea-
son for Paul’s reaction to his Corinthian opponents’ counterattack
when they ridiculed him because of his deficiencies in rhetorical
delivery. Christian teachers who opposed Paul highlighted his defi-
ciencies, apparently in retaliation for his stinging critique of this rhetor-
ical convention, and they did so with the most damning criticism
that could be made of any public speaker.
Evidence from Philodemus also provides a cautionary note for
ancient historians interested in the Second Sophistic. His corpus
shows that Philostratus’ statement in the third century, that this move-
ment suddenly began with Nicetes who declaimed in the Principate
of Nero, cannot be taken at face value.4 The sophistic movement
was well on the march in the time of Philo of Alexandria at the
beginning of the first century c.e.5 He observed that the sophists
were “winning the admiration of city after city, and . . . drawing well-
nigh the whole world to honor them” (Agr. 143). Characteristics that
epitomized the Second Sophistic were present not only in Philo’s day,
but were also thriving in the time of Philodemus. A compelling ques-

in Ancient Rhetorical Theory and Paul, Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology
18, rev. ed. (Leuven: Peeters, 1998), 50–52 is also somewhat dismissive of the impor-
tance of Philodemus’ work.
2
See for example Johannes Weiss, “Beiträge zur Paulinischen Rhetorik” in
Theologischen Studien B. Weiss (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1897), 165–247.
3
For an important critique of the direct application of rhetorical theory to the
Pauline letters see most recently Anderson, Ancient Rhetorical Theory and Paul.
4
Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 511.
5
For a detailed discussion of Philo see my Philo and Paul among the Sophists:
Alexandrian and Corinthian Responses to a Julio-Claudian Movement, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 2002), ch. 3–5.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 325

tion for those writing on this important phenomenon in the early

empire is, “What was the difference between the activities of the
sophists discussed by Philodemus and those who occupied the center
stage in the unfolding of the Second Sophistic in the first century?”
The “origins” of this great movement are not as clear as Philostratus
would have us believe when he speculates on them in his third cen-
tury c.e. work, The Lives of the Sophists.
Because delivery had long been given pride of place by the sophists
and their audiences, we can also understand why the inhabitants of
Roman Corinth, including Christians, would have been so enam-
oured of rhetorical delivery. Early Christianity arose at the time when
the Second Sophistic was flowering,6 if not in full bloom.7 Philodemus’
work on rhetoric can be put to good use, because in the next two
centuries after his death in 44 b.c.e., some of the issues he addresses
were still alive in the ongoing conflict between the philosophers and
the sophists,8 and, as this study will show, between early Christian
teachers who were either in favor of or opposed to the use of rhetor-
ical delivery.
This study is intended (1) to focus on one important aspect of
rhetoric which is discussed in Philodemus’ portion of Book IV On
Rhetoric, namely the preoccupation in his day with delivery and its
deleterious effects on the audience; (2) to discuss the implications of
the denigration of Paul’s performance in this area by his opponents
in Corinth; and (3) to examine the reasons for Paul’s renunciation
of this rhetorical device because of the major hindrance it put in
the way of Christian proclamation and ministry.

6
Contra Stephen M. Pogoloff, Logos and Sophia: The Rhetorical Situation of 1 Corinthians,
SBLDS 134 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1992), 65, who wrongly works on the assumption
that “the Second Sophistic postdates Paul’s Corinth by a century.”
7
Glen Warren Bowersock, Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon,
1969) 9, rightly sees the origins going back into the first century b.c.e. I have sug-
gested in Philo and Paul among the Sophists 23–4, 43–4, 243 that there were certain
social and pecuniary factors in the first century c.e. that may have stimulated the
growth of what was an existing movement. There was (1) conflict between Julio-
Claudian and Flavian emperors and philosphers which resulted in their replace-
ment by the virtuoso orators in public life and education, (2) the financial incentive
provided by the lifting of the embargo on charging fees for professional services by
forensic orators, and (3) Vespasian’s exemption of teachers from taxes and the per-
formances of liturgies.
8
The problems had not abated two hundred years later; see Pamela Gordon, “A
Philosopher among the Sophists,” Epicurus in Lysia: The Second Century World of Diogenes
of Oenoanda (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), ch. 1, esp. 36–42.
326 bruce w. winter

Philodemus on Rhetorical Delivery

In the second section of Book IV of On Rhetoric, Philodemus devotes

a relatively short but extremely important section to “delivery.” He
was not the first to have done so. Aristotle commented on this subject
when he discussed style and opined that delivery “is of the greatest
importance but has not yet been treated by any one.” The reason
he gave for this comment was that discussion of delivery had only
recently appeared in relation to tragedy and rhapsody because, up
to this point, poets had acted their own tragedies. “It is clear, there-
fore, that there is something of the sort in rhetoric as well as in poetry.”
Aristotle restricted delivery to the voice and mentions three aspects,
namely volume, harmony and rhythm. Those who made proper use
of these carried off the prizes in dramatic contests or, as actors, dom-
inated performances. Aristotle added, “It is the same in political con-
tests [i.e., the law courts and the public assembly] owing to the
corruptness of our forms of government.” He reiterated that there
was no treatise on the subject and made the telling comments that
“rightly considered it is thought vulgar. But since the whole business
of rhetoric is to influence opinion, we must pay attention to it, not as
being right but necessary . . . nevertheless as we have just said, it is of
great importance owing to the corruption of the hearer . . . Now, when
delivery comes into fashion, it will have the same effect as acting.”9
Although in a work entitled Pathos Thrasymachus “attempted to
say a few words” on the subject, it was Aristotle’s associate and suc-
cessor, Theophrastus, who was apparently the first to discuss the
theory of oratorical delivery. He considered not only the use of the
voice and its modulation but also added comments on facial expres-
sions and gestures.10
Philodemus, in his discussion of rhetorical delivery, rehearses a
short history of the attitudes taken by ancient orators which reveals
the great importance they attached to it. He first lists Isocrates who
actually refrained from public appearances because he recognized
that he was deficient in rhetorical delivery. Hieronymus is reported
by him to have said of his orations that are “easy to read, but hard

9
Aristotle, “Art” of Rhetoric 1403b–1404a.
10
Aristotle, “Art” of Rhetoric 1404a. See Friedrich Solmsen, “The Aristotelian
Tradition in Ancient Rhetoric,” Rhetorika: Schriften zur aristotelischen und hellenistischen
Rhetorik, ed. P. Steinmetz (Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1968), 322–3.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 327

to deliver in public; there is no fire in them; everything is monoto-

nously smooth. He sounds like a boy speaking through a heroic mask”
(Rhet. 4 col. XVII.23). Isocrates’ long sentences mitigated against ease
of delivery (Rhet. 4 col. XVI.9–13). Isocrates himself was to complain
that his discourses were read aloud by others “in the worst possible
manner,” yet he admits how much more persuasive the discourse is
when it is spoken, for when read it is “robbed of the prestige of the
speaker, the tones of his voice, the variations which are made in the
delivery.”11 On his own admission, delivery was a crucial ingredient
in any oral presentation of his work. Isocrates was himself caught
up in his day in a vigorous debate between writing and extempo-
rary orators, in which he was a noted representative of the former.12
While he objected to the premise of his opponents that they could
make the least gifted person into a public orator, his own deficiencies
in delivery would have forced him in any case to side with those
who argued in favor of the overall importance of written orations.
Demosthenes placed great store on delivery, according to Philodemus.
“Yea by Zeus, but (NØ D¤ éllå) Demosthenes used to say delivery
was the first thing in oratory, and the second, and the third” (Rhet.
4 col. XV.3–6). In this he agreed with Athenaeus who said that of
the parts of rhetoric “the most important is delivery” (Rhet. 4 col.
XI.12–16). Philodemus is highly critical of Demosthenes even though
he was seen as a first-rate orator13—“Notwithstanding [this reputa-
tion] he foolishly said that this element [delivery] which is of assis-
tance to every work and presentation of treatises is of more importance
in rhetoric than in other prose writings” (XV.13–19).14 That even

11
Isocrates, Panathenaicus 17, Philip 25–6.
12
On Alcidamas who opposed Isocrates see Ludwig Radermacher, “Alcidamas,”
Artium scriptores: Reste der voraristotelischen Rhetorik (Vienna: Rudolfe M. Rohrer, 1951),
no. 15, E.T. by La Rue van Hook, “Alcidamas versus Isocrates: The Spoken ver-
sus the Written Word,” CW 12 (1918): 91–4. Isocrates’ response is found in Against
the Sophists (391 b.c.e.) 9–10, 13 which was written as he commenced a career as
a teacher of rhetoric, having spent 403–392 b.c.e. as a speech writer (logogrãfow)
for Athenian law courts. See also his later work, The Antidosis, which shows how
firmly entrenched the view was that extemporary oratory was superior.
13
Hubbell appears to have missed the point, apart from omitting lines 7–13 from
his paraphrase, that ¶legen in line 14 refers back to line 4 where the subject of
that verb is Demosthenes, and the former sentence is resumptive ÜOmvw m°ntoi.
Hubbell later rightly picks up that the criticisms of Aeschines were directed against
Demosthenes even through the latter is not mentioned by name in lines 20–24.
14
˜ti tÚ pçsin sunergoËn ka‹ meyoderÒmenon §n to›w fld¤ow ÍfÉ •kãstvn polÁ me›zon
§n tª =htorikª drò, mçllon ≥ ta‹w élla›w pezolog¤aiw.
328 bruce w. winter

Demosthenes had surprisingly succumbed to the folly of those who

believe that delivery was everything in oratory, surprised Philodemus.
Though Demosthenes was regarded as a great orator, he was crit-
icized by his bitter opponent, Aeschines, because of the timbre of
his voice which Aeschines said was shrill as well as loud. Demetrius
of Phalerum also criticized him because he was too “artful and over-
subtle in his delivery, not straightforward and did not use a good
style” (Rhet. 4 col. XVI.9–13).15 It is clear that the most devastating
criticism one could make of any public orator was that he was
deficient in rhetorical delivery.
Philodemus concluded, “Moreover most of the [ancient] sophists,
judged by their writings, delivered in a wretched fashion” (éyl¤v
Ípokekr¤syai). The reason given for this was that “their long sen-
tences were bad for delivery, just as it was proposed by Demetrius
concerning those of Isocrates” (Rhet. 4 col. XVI.9–13).16 How should
we take his comment, “Sophists of the present day have somewhat
improved in delivery,” when he subsequently noted that “The for-
mal instruction in delivery is a product of recent foolishness” (Rhet.
4 col. XVIII.18)? This suggests that only recently had delivery come
into its own as a recognized subject in the curriculum for the teaching
of rhetoric, and that the formal teaching of techniques in rhetorical
delivery was seen as a mistaken move. Philodemus is certainly seek-
ing to diminish the stature of ancient and contemporary orators by
drawing attention to their deficiencies in the very thing which had
come to epitomize much of their activity and in which they clearly
took so much pride, namely the professionalism of their delivery. At
the same time Philodemus criticizes recent developments which they
considered an improvement but which he brands as “foolish.”
Does Philodemus, himself a philosopher, believe that there is a
delivery appropriate to his profession? He commences his discussion
of the topic by agreeing that delivery is important, for by it a per-
son “exhibits a statesmanlike presence,” “catches an audience’s atten-
tion,” and more than that, “makes the audience take notice of and

15
Hubbell’s paraphrase reads “too theatrical and not simple and noble in his
delivery.”
16
Hubbell surprisingly translates “Their long periods are hard to pronounce, teste
Demetrio,” and leaves out any reference to Isocrates in Rhet. 4 col. XVI.5–22. The
relevant text reads ponhrÚn går efiw ÍpÒkrisin afl makra‹ per¤odoi, kayãper ka‹ parå
Dhmhtr¤ƒ ke›tai per‹ t«n ÉIsokrãtouw.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 329

recollect” what has been said, “even sways [the audience] emotion-
ally,” and more than that “actually achieves these things” (Rhet. 4
col. XI.16–25).17 “But if it is fitting for rhetoric to teach this [deliv-
ery] rather than dialectic or grammar, one would desire to learn it”
(Rhet. 4 col. XI.25–XII.4), he comments ironically.18 Later he states
emphatically that there is no place for the teaching of delivery (Rhet.
4 col. XVII.18), for dialectic and grammar are sufficient. His rea-
son for saying this is that dialectic aimed at teaching a person how
to argue and grammar enabled one to read (Rhet. 4 col. XII.5–8).
This is what was needed.
Reference is made at the very beginning of his discussion to a form
of delivery that Philodemus believed would be appropriate to the
sphere of philosophy. It is spelled out in terms of the apposite effects
which “philosophical delivery” would have upon an audience (Rhet.
4 col. XI.16–25). Later, he elaborates further when he states, “There
is a need of natural good proportions similar to the melody and
loftiness and tone and spirit of the voice, and the dignity and pro-
portion and boldness of the face and the hands and the rest of the
body” (Rhet. 4 col. XIV.19–25).19 Here we deduce that he not only
restricted “philosophical” delivery simply to the way in which the
voice is used. He also contended that it concerned the whole bear-
ing, or presence, of the person who stood before the audience, as
well as the effects his delivery technique had upon them. One is
struck by the fact that, in certain aspects, Philodemus’ response to
rhetorical delivery coalesces with that of Isocrates.20
If the assistance of rhetoricians has not been sought by actors for
whom delivery is a crucial element in their profession, then as a
philosopher, Philodemus believes that his discipline should be allowed
to lay down a “delivery appropriate to our own sphere.” He is highly
critical of the rhetoricians for daring to suggest that they alone have

17
Lines 23–24 have been reconstructed as êllvn [oÈx ım]o¤vw taËta dr≈ntvn,
but the negative rendering of the sentence makes little sense.
18
The text is rendered thus, rather than Hubbell’s translation, “But if it is more
the task of rhetoric to teach this than it is the task of dialectic or grammar one
would desire to learn it.” See n. 21 concerning irony in Philodemus.
19
kai fusik∞w eÈklhr¤aw de›tai, kayãper eÈm°leia fvn∞w ka‹ mel°yh ka‹ tÒnoi ka‹
pneËma, ka‹ pros≈pou ka‹ xeir«n ka‹ loipoË s≈matow éj¤vmã te ka‹ =uymo¤, ka‹ tÒlma.
20
See Isocrates, Antidosis, 197–98 on natural ability over against the sophist’s edu-
cation which was guaranteed to be able to improve any person’s ability to speak well.
330 bruce w. winter

formulated an art of delivery, for “poets and prose writers have a

theory of delivery even though they have never committed it to writ-
ing” (Rhet. 4 col. XIII.21–XIV.7). In a comment full of irony he
states emphatically, “Yes, by Zeus, if they [the sophists] claim that
delivery in drama comes under the aegis of rhetoric, then we con-
gratulate them for [their] intelligence” (Rhet. 4 col. XII.8–14).21 As
a result of the sophists’ teaching on delivery, Philodemus accuses
them of changing the use of voice and the body not for the better
but for the worse (Rhet. 4 col. XIV.8–12). He points to the “natural”
use of delivery by laymen as well as barbarians (Rhet. 4 col. XIV.13–17).
Philodemus reveals that “what the writers on the art of rhetoric
(ofl texnogrãfoi)22 have done is to make plain what had been kept
secret by the politicians by the subordination of truth (tÚ katÉ élÆyeian
m¢n Ípãrxon), which presented them as statesmen and public bene-
factors (semno‹ ka‹ kalo‹ kégayo¤),23 and worse, to mislead the audience”
(Rhet. 4 col. XIX.3–10). The latter comment is, in my opinion, at the
heart of his concerns, namely the deleterious effects their delivery had
on the audience, whether it be the jury in the law court or citizens
in the public assembly. Contrast this with the criterion by which he
has already judged “appropriate” delivery, i.e., the beneficial effects
it has upon the audience who absorb what they were meant to learn.
The effect upon the hearers is clearly one, if not his major objec-
tion, to his naming “political” rhetoric, which included courtroom
speeches and those delivered in the assembly, as an art (t°xnh).24
This conclusion has puzzled scholars. The issue has been approached
by citing Philodemus’ definition of what constitutes a t°xnh:

21
David Sedley, “Philosophical Allegiance in the Greco-Roman World,” Philosophia
Togata: Essays on Philosophy and Roman Society, ed. Miriam Griffin and Jonathan Barnes
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1989), 115, comments that the use of irony in Philodemus has
not been acknowledged in discussions of his work.
22
The translation of the term as “the technocrats” while a literal rendering is
not apposite in this context, for it was used of the writers on the art of rhetoric;
cf. Aristotle, “Art” of Rhetoric 1354a.
23
On the use of kalÚw ka‹ égayÒw or kalÚw kégayÒw for a civic benefactor who
operated in the public place see e.g. OGIS 215, SIG 307 and Arnold Wycombe
Gomme, “The Interpretation of KALOI KAGAyOI in Thucydides 4.40.2,” CQ (1953):
653 and G. E. M. De Ste. Croix, “Additional Notes on KALOS KAGATHOS,” Origins
of the Peloponnesian War (London: Duckworth, 1972), Appendix xxix.
24
See Dirk Obbink’s translator’s note on sophistic and political rhetoric in Marcello
Gigante, Philodemus in Italy: The Books of Herculaneum The Body, In Theory: Histories
of Cultural Materialism (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995), 31–2.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 331

a faculty or disposition arising from observation of certain common

and fundamental things which extend through most particular instances,
a faculty which grasps and produces an effect such as only a few who
have not learned the art can accomplish, and doing this firmly and
surely, rather than conjecturally.25
David Blank has commented, “On the basis of this definition, Philo-
demus comes to the remarkable conclusion that sophistic rhetoric
(‘speech or writing concerned purely with description or praise,
and . . . encomiastic or epideictic rhetoric’) of all things, is a techne,
while rhetoric proper (i.e., forensic) and political rhetoric are not.”26
Blank proceeds next with an examination of “exact” arts such as
“grammatistic,” music, painting, and sculpture and then states, “It
is clear, however, that the orator’s ability to achieve the goal of per-
suasion with some regularity by applying rules is what makes sophis-
tic rhetoric an art for Philodemus . . . it is a transmissible method of
using this language to write clear treatises.”27 However, Blank has
ignored Philodemus’ comments on delivery; I am suggesting here
that they make “the remarkable conclusion” less so, if still not explic-
able. The widespread use of rhetorical delivery and its unhelpful
effect upon the audience in the crucial arena of governing the city
may have provided one, if not the major reason, for the exclusion
of “political” rhetoric from Philodemus’ definition of an “art.”
The reason for suggesting this is that we have here once again
the age-old clash between the philosophers and the sophists. Whether
it was over the issue of charging fees or the use of sophisticated
forms of rhetorical showmanship such as was taught under the head-
ing of delivery, the former were forced to mount a long defense,
while the latter continued to win the day in the field of education
(paide¤a) and public life (polite¤a). As Dio Chrysostom was to remind
an audience, philosophers in his day had quit the field in their advice

25
Rhet. 2 col. XXXVIII = p. 123 Longo.
26
For a full discussion of the significance of Philodemus’ view of the term “art”
as applied to rhetoric see David Blank, “Philodemus on the Technicity of Rhetoric,”
Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus, and Horace, ed.
Dirk Obbink (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 179. See also Obbink in the
translator’s note in Gigante, Philodemus in Italy 32, for the suggestion that Philodemus
excluded political rhetoric as an “art” because “it cannot be systematically mas-
tered or taught (it is a ‘knack’ or matter of personal skill), because it does not
achieve results with reliable regularity. Therefore it does not qualify for treatment
by the philosopher and sage.”
27
Blank, “Philodemus on the Technicity of Rhetoric,” 186–87.
332 bruce w. winter

to the d∞mow and that role had been usurped by the orators and
sophists (Or. 32.8). Furthermore in an age of declamation with its
megastar orators, parents had voted with their feet and were only
too anxious to enroll their sons in the sophists’ schools. “The People”
not only paid to hear public declamations but employed the sophists
in the assemblies and on embassies.28 Alas for the philosophers, they
no longer held center stage in the public’s estimation.
It is important to be reminded at this point that Philodemus was
not dismissive of rhetoric per se. One has only to read the extant
portion of Section I of Book IV which discusses rhetorical “expres-
sion” to be aware of the importance he attached to the various cat-
egories discussed under this heading, namely “correctness,” “clarity,”
“forcefulness,” “brevity,” “appropriateness” and “elaboration.” A
speech must not flout the rules of rhetorical composition.29
For Philodemus the crux of the issue was that rhetorical delivery
(ÈpÒkrisiw) was now being developed by the teachers of oratory into
an “art” form, as if it were appropriate for the orator’s podium or
court room rather than the actor’s stage. It had become the master
and not the servant of rhetoric. Because it was not taught in any
other sphere, Philodemus states categorically in his conclusion, “This
system is not needed by any other artist, certainly not by philoso-
phers. The fact is, each profession has its own peculiar delivery”
(Rhet. 4 col. XIX.11–16).
In the second century c.e. the Epicurean writer, Diogenes of
Oenoanda, wrote to Hermarchus, who as a young man had stud-
ied rhetoric. He pointed out the dichotomy facing rhetorically-edu-
cated young men who contemplated the royal route of philosophy.
[At present you reject our philosophy; but later perhaps you will wish,
when your hostility has been banished] to open the congenial entrance
to our community, and you will veer away from the speeches of the
rhetoricians in order to listen to some of our doctrines. And from then
on it is our firm hope that you will come as quickly as you can to
knock at the doors of philosophy.30

28
For a discussion see my Philo and Paul among the Sophists, ch. 1 and 2.
29
On this subject see Robert N. Gaines, “Qualities of Rhetorical Expression in
Philodemus,” TAPA 112 (1982): 71–81 with some modification of his position in
I. Rutheford, “EMFASIS in Ancient Literary Criticism and Tractatus Coislinianus c. 7,”
Maia 40 (1988): 128–29.
30
See Martin Ferguson Smith, Diogenes of Oenoanda: The Epicurean Inscription (Naples:
Bibliopolis, 1992), frg. 127 and his suggestion to whom the comment was made by
Diogenes, 415.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 333

Diogenes and Philodemus knew only too well that the rhetorical
delivery of orators was inappropriate for the purpose of the trans-
formation of the followers of Epicureanism. What would its rela-
tionship with nascent Christianity be?

Paul’s opponents on rhetorical delivery

In the year 44 b.c.e., probably a few years before Philodemus died,

Julius Caesar undertook the important step of authorizing the refound-
ing of the dismantled city of Corinth as a Roman colony. A cen-
tury later a Christian community was established there as a result
of Paul’s evangelistic activities and drew converts from all walks of
life.31 Not only did the Christian message impact both Jews and
Greeks, citizens and non-citizens, in what, by the Principate of
Claudius, had become the most prestigious and certainly most pros-
perous Roman colony in Macedonia and Achaea,32 but so too, after
Paul’s departure, secular mores began to reshape the thinking of some
in the church concerning the presentation of the Christian message.
It is easy to forget that early Christianity’s uniqueness rested in the
fact that it was not a cultic religion with sacrifices either in Corinth
or Jerusalem, as was the case in Jerusalem with Judaism. This new
“religion” was one in which proclamation and teaching played a
highly central role. It should not therefore surprise us that conflict
developed over the use of rhetoric in Christian preaching, apolo-
getics and teaching. Those who engaged in such activities needed to
revolve the “form” of delivery or presentation appropriate to the
Christian message. (This issue will be discussed below.)
The love of public oratory in Corinth is well attested by Favorinus,
a late first century c.e. sophist, who states that even “the women
and children” in that city gathered to hear him declaim (Or. 37.33).
Just as Favorinus was to fall foul of the rhetorically fickle Corinthians
after his second visit to them, so too did Paul after his unsuccessful
return visit. In the case of both men, the attack against them came
from within. Favorinus incurred the displeasure of the city fathers

31
D. W. J. Gill, “In Search of the Social Elite in the Corinthian Church,” Tyndale
Bulletin 44.2 (1993): 323–37.
32
On the enormous prosperity of the colony from the Principate of Claudius see
C. H. Williams II, “Roman Corinth as a Commercial Center,” in Timothy E.
Gregory (ed.), The Corinthia in the Roman Period, Supp. JRA 8 (Ann Arbor: Journal
of Roman Archaeology, 1993), 31–46, esp. 45–6.
334 bruce w. winter

who overthrew his statue that had occupied a prominent place outside
the city library (Or. 37.20). Paul experienced the derisory comments
of Christian teachers who had come to Corinth after he left.
The best strategy for Paul’s opponents to adopt in order to deni-
grate him in the eyes of the Corinthian Christian community was
to attack his deficiencies as a public speaker. After all, he had been
followed by the rhetorically-trained Apollos whose return had been
requested by the Christian community but turned down (1 Cor.
16:12, cf. Acts 18:24–8).33 The most damaging thing that could be
said of Paul in the rhetorically-fastidious Roman colony of Corinth
was that he was sadly deficient in his delivery. This is precisely the
“charge” they brought against him: “For, people are saying,34 on the
one hand the letters are weighty and strong, but on the other, the
bodily presence is weak and the speech is of no account” (˜ti afl
§pistola‹ m°n, fhs¤n, bare›ai ka› fisxura¤, ≤ d¢ parous¤a toË s≈matow
ésyenØw ka‹ ı logÚw §jouyenhm°now; 2 Cor. 10:10).
In regard to the two important components which made up ÍpÒkrisiw,
Paul is declared to be found wanting. To mention the matter of
Paul’s “bodily presence” reminds the reader of the discussion which
occurred early in the second century c.e. between a Corinthian stu-
dent of rhetoric and the philosopher, Epictetus, on the issue of “per-
sonal adornment.” The extent to which rhetorical delivery had become
intertwined with personal appearance is demonstrated in the extremes
to which this student of the sophists in Corinth had gone. Apart
from wearing elaborate clothing, he had removed bodily hair by
means of pitch plasters in order to appear god-like before an audience.35
Quintilian observed that “a good delivery is undoubtedly impos-
sible for one who cannot remember what he has written, or lacks
the quick faculty of speech required by sudden emergencies, or is
hampered by incurable impediments of speech . . . physical uncouth-
ness may be such that no art can remedy it, while a weak voice is
incompatible with first-rate excellence in delivery” (Instit. 9.3, 12–13).
Lucian in his Lover of Lies, 34 provides an interesting insight into the
comment that Paul’s bodily presence was weak (ésyenÆw). Lucian

33
See Philo and Paul among the Sophists 174–75.
34
See Ralph P. Martin, 2 Corinthians (Waco: Word Books, 1986), 311 for the view
that fhs¤n is an indefinite verb and should not be taken to mean that a particular
person is saying these things; cp. BDF #130.3 where it is seen as a diatribe convention.
35
See Epictetus “On Personal Adornment,” IV.1. For a discussion see my “Epic-
tetus and a Corinthian Student of the Sophists,” Philo and Paul among the Sophists,
ch. 6.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 335

describes Pancrates as “wonderfully learned,” familiar with all sof¤a

ka‹ paide¤a. His friend, Arignotus, is surprised because he identifies
him as speaking “imperfect Greek,” as “flat-nosed with protruding
lips and thinnish legs.”36 By the canons of delivery his appearance
would be judged inadequate for public oratory. Arignotus clearly
associates ÍpÒkrisiw with rhetorical connotations.37
What do we know of Paul’s bodily presence? A subsequent
generation preserved a tradition which supported the statement of
Paul’s detractors that he was “a man of little stature, baldheaded,
crooked . . . with eye-brows meeting and a long nose.”38 He was hardly
the god-like figure the public orator was meant to cut according to
Philostratus.39 Paul’s opponents had clearly hit on a deficiency that,
in spite of his letters being “weighty and strong,” struck what was
the Achilles’ heel in public oratory. In terms of the division between
the writing and speaking orators, Paul clearly falls into the category
of the former, the reason being that was he was like Isocrates and
not Alchimadas, for he did not possess bodily presence.40 In the
words of Philodemus he lacked “the dignity and proportion and bold-
ness of the face and the hands and the rest of the body” (Rhet. 4
col. XIV.23–25). A much later observer was to note in the Scholia
of Aristides: ı =Ætvr mçllon ır≈menow pe¤yei, ≥per diå grammãtvn.41

36
Hans Dieter Betz in his Der Apostel Paulus und die sokratische Tradition: eine exegeti-
sche Untersuchung zu seiner “Apologie” 2 Korinther 10–13 (Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck],
1972), 45, 53–4, and “Rhetoric and Theology,” in L’Apôtre Paul: Personnalité, style et
conception du ministère, ed. Albert Vanhoye (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1986),
41, believes that this is a reference to the Cynic concept of sx∞ma. Lucian does
not use the term sx∞ma. Betz’ choice of sx∞ma as the issue being discussed in 2
Cor. 10:10 falls short because sx∞ma has to do with personal appearance only. For
a helpful discussion of the meaning of sx∞ma see Dio Chrysostom, Per‹ toË sxÆmatow,
Or. 72. It is not a synonym for ÍpÒkrisiw.
37
Victor Paul Furnish in II Corinthians, AB 32A (Garden City, NY: Doubleday,
1984), 468, has suggested that Epictetus III.22.86–89 resembles 10.10b, that Epictetus
argues that if a Cynic hopes to carry the day with his teaching, then he must be
able to say “Look, both I and my body are witnesses of this.” However, Epictetus
discusses a Cynic who is “consumptive . . . pale and thin.” He alone commends his
message who extols the virtues of the plain and simple life style; this requires a
person whose body is a martur¤a of the truth of Cynic philosophy. While it would
be possible to describe the physical appearance of this debilitated Cynic as ésyenÆw,
this is not what the term means in the sophistic movement as Lucian, Lover of Lies,
34 shows.
38
“The Acts of Paul and Thecla,” Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, 1.237.
39
On the audience’s verbal approval of the dress and “perfect elegance” of the
sophist Alexander of Seleucia, see Philostratus, The Lives of the Sophists 570–72.
40
See n. 12.
41
Wilhem Dindorf, Aristides, 191.3 (Leipzig: Weidmann, 1829), 3.606.
336 bruce w. winter

To what were his detractors referring when they commented on

Paul’s lÒgow? It does not means “talk,” otherwise it would be in the
plural and without the article. According to Liddell, Scott and Jones,
lÒgow is used of a speech delivered in court, an assembly, etc.42 They
cite Aristotle, The “Art” of Rhetoric 1358a38, where the speech is
divided into three parts, having referred in what immediately pre-
cedes to the hearers of “the speeches.”43 It could also be used of a
spoken, in contrast to a written, word (Plato, Phdr. 276a). In 2 Cor.
10:10, the first reference is to the judgment formed on how Paul’s
letters were perceived, and the last statement refers to his spoken
word. What did the detractors intend when they used the pejora-
tive term §jouyenhm°now with reference to ı lÒgow of Paul? The verb
means “to set at naught,” i.e. “to despise” or “to hold contemptible”
and in this context it suggests that in presentation Paul’s speech fails
miserably to measure up to what was expected of a public speaker.
This contrasts with the comments on his letters which are declared
to be “weighty and strong.” Paul belonged to the writing orators
and not the extemporary ones: his detractors could say that he had
no choice, given his bodily presence and his lÒgow that militated
against the requirements of rhetorical delivery of speeches.
In 2 Cor. 11:6 further information emerges about Paul when he
states, “And even if I am indeed a layman (fid¤vthw) in speech, still
(éllã) I am not in knowledge, but (éllã) in every way we have
been manifested to you in all things.” It would seem that it was
alleged that he is a “layman”—a term which could be used as an
antonym for a sophist, but also of a person who had been trained
in rhetoric but had not proceeded to become a practicing orator.44
If this understanding of Paul as a “layman” is correct, then it is
right to assume that in 2 Cor. 10:10 Paul was being disparaged on
the grounds that he could never really have practiced as a public
orator. He lacked the requisite attributes for what was judged to be
essential for rhetorical delivery. Even if this were so, why would
Paul’s opponents have mounted such an attack on him?

42
lÒgow, LSJ 4:1058.
43
Cf. 1358b where there is a reference to “rhetorical speeches” and 1420a where
he suggests that “the most appropriate style is that which has no connecting par-
ticles, in order that it may be a peroration [§p¤logow] but not an oration [éllå mÆ
lÒgow ¬].”
44
See for example Isocrates, Antidosis, 201, 204 and Philo, Agr. 143, 159–60.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 337

Paul’s renunciation of rhetorical delivery

Just as Philodemus argued that Epicurean philosophy had a deliv-

ery that was suited to its discipline, so too Paul in 1 Corinthians
defends his “delivery,” which he saw was apposite for the Christian
message. Paul’s apologia for his modus operandi on his initial ministry
in Corinth is spelled out succinctly in 1 Cor. 2:1–5. He argues that
he consciously rejected the conventions surrounding the entry and
delivery of the public orators on their initial visit to a city. He, like
Philodemus, deliberately avoided rhetorical delivery in order to benefit
their respective audiences, because Paul judged that, if he were to
present his message according to its canons, it would not have the
right effect of evoking belief in Christ.
An orator observed certain well-established procedures when he
came to a city in order to secure his reputation in the polite¤a and
to make money by demanding exorbitant fees from students attend-
ing a school he would establish. Invitations were issued to attend a
public lecture, preferably in a location where the acoustics enhanced
the voice of the orator; a preliminary speech (prolaliã or laliã)
about himself and an encomium on the city were presented. The for-
mer was a sophisticated piece of boasting or self-commendation and
the latter aimed to curry favor with the hearers by praising their
city. These preliminaries were delivered seated in front of the audience
and would be followed by an invitation to the audience to nominate
any topic on which they wanted the orator to declaim. Once this
was determined, an option to delay presentation for twenty-four hours
could be taken up, or else the orator stood up to declaim immediately.
The audience’s reception determined the future of the orator in that
particular city. If he passed the test, fame and wealth would follow;
if rejected, he would have to try his fortunes in another place.45

45
See Dio Chrysostom Or. 47.22 and Aristides, Or. 51.29-34 and the discussion
in Donald Andrew Russell, Greek Declamations (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1983), 76. It would seem that A. Duane Litfin, St. Paul’s Theology of Proclamation:
An Investigation of 1 Corinthians 1–4 and Greco-Roman Rhetoric, SNTSMS 79 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1994), 204–9, Anderson, Ancient Rhetorical Theory and
Paul 239–48, and Michael A. Bullmore, St. Paul’s Theology of Rhetorical Style: An
Examination of 1 Corinthians 2.1–5 in the Light of Graeco-Roman Rhetorical Culture (San
Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1995), each of whom makes the pas-
sage central to his thesis, all fail to take account of the reference to “the entry”
conventions to which Paul refers not only in 1 Cor. 2:1–5, but also in 1 Thess.
2:1–12; see my “The Entries and Ethics of Orators and Paul (1 Thessalonians
2:1–12),” Tyndale Bulletin 44.1 (May, 1993): 55–74.
338 bruce w. winter

How does Paul explain his entry? 1 Cor. 2:1–5 is preceded imme-
diately by an important citation from Jeremiah 9:22–3, where the
prophet proscribes the wise man from boasting in his wisdom, as
well as the rich and the powerful leaders gaining their confidence
from the status arising from the abundance of their resources or
their success in politics. Rather they were to “boast” in the Lord
with whom they enjoyed a covenantal relationship, knowing that he
delighted in covenantal mercies and justice. So Paul’s discussion of
his original coming to Corinth in 1 Cor. 2:1–5 is meant to demon-
strate what boasting in the Lord in negative terms meant and what
the “wise” man boasting in his wisdom referred to in his day. Hence
Barrett translates kég≈ in v. 1 as, “It was in line with this princi-
ple.”46 Paul undertakes his explanation by showing how he did not
come to them using the personal reference (kég≈) in verses 1 and
3, following this with an explanation as to why he acted as he did,
using a ·na purpose construction in verse 5.
He clearly wished to give emphasis not just to his actual coming
to Corinth, but to the manner of his coming to the Corinthians.
“And I myself, in coming to you, brothers, did not come in accor-
dance with the superiority of speech or wisdom proclaiming the mys-
tery of God” (kégΔ §lyΔn prÚw Ímçw, édelfo¤, ∑lyon oÈ kayÉ ÍperoxØn
lÒgou μ sof¤aw katagg°llvn Ím›n tÚ mustÆrion toË yeoË; 1 Cor. 2:1).
He then spells out how his “coming” did not conform to the con-
ventions.47 It was not in accordance with superior speech and clev-
erness48 that he came proclaiming the doctrine of the mystery of
God. In fact, the topic had already been determined, and unlike the
orators who boasted that they could declaim on anything nominated
to them from the floor as a test of their prowess, Paul himself had
previously fixed the one topic upon which he was determined to
speak in Corinth, i.e. Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).
How did he go on to describe his delivery? In verses 3–4 he discusses
his “presence” in terms of “weakness, fear and much trembling”
which is the antithesis of the studied, confident presence of the ora-
tors.49 Concerning his speech and his message he declares that it was

46
Charles Kingsley Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (London: A&C Black,
1973), 62.
47
katã, “in accordance with;” BAG 2 407, II.5.b.b.
48
When used in the context of rhetoric lÒgow and sof¤a can be translated thus.
See Dio Chrysostom, Or. 47.1.
49
See Philo, Det. 35 where the strength of the sophists is contrasted with the
weakness of their opponents “at that sort of thing.”
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 339

not delivered in the persuasiveness of rhetoric but in clear demon-

stration of the Spirit and power.50 Paul’s “demonstration” (épÒdei-
jiw) was not that which had been recommended by Aristotle as one
of the three means of persuasion (Rhet. 1356A)—the other two involved
ethos and pathos, the former connected with acting the part and the
latter with manipulating the emotions of the audience—but it was
a demonstration of the “Spirit” and a demonstration of “power”
(1 Cor. 2:4).51
In v. 5 Paul explains that his whole purpose of renouncing these
conventions was designed to ensure that the Corinthians’ “proof ”
(p¤stiw) or “faith” (perhaps a play on the Aristotelian traditional
p¤steiw or “proofs” in the art of persuasion) might not rest in the
wisdom of men but in the power of God (2:5).
What Paul does in 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 is important because, in
the judgment of E. A. Judge, he “plunders the Egyptians,” using
rhetorical terms but filling them with very different meanings. He
further notes that Paul “was not willing to concede terms to his
opponents. He stigmatizes what is invalid.”52 Paul describes his own
ministry in terms that are chosen deliberately to show his rejection
of rhetorical delivery53 and reveals that the confidence of his con-
verts would have been misplaced had he not operated thus in Corinth.
Here Paul joins sides with Philodemus whose concerns for the audi-
ence were such that his delivery was determined by their need.
Philodemus was seeking to have his audience anchor their confidence
in Epicurean philosophy, while Paul ardently believed that their
confidence in the gospel must be where the power of God could be
made known (cf. Rom. 1:16).
This was not the first reference in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians
in which he made reference to the reason for speaking as he did.
Earlier in the letter he indicates that he would not proclaim the
gospel in the “wisdom of rhetoric” (sof¤a lÒgou), for if he did so
the cross of Christ would be emptied of its power for the audience

50
On p¤stiw as “proof,” see Acts 17:31.
51
On the use of ethos and pathos see Jakob Wisse, Ethos and Pathos: From Aristotle
to Cicero (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1989).
52
E. A. Judge, “The Reaction against Classical Education in the New Testament,”
Journal of Christian Education, Paper 77 ( July, 1983): 11, and “Paul’s Boasting in
Relation to Contemporary Professional Practice,” Australian Biblical Review 16 (1968):
40, on plundering the Egyptians.
53
L. Harman, “Some remarks on 1 Cor. 2:1–5,” Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 39 (1974):
120, speaks of Paul becoming “anti-rhetor.”
340 bruce w. winter

who heard it (1 Cor. 1:17).54 There was a form of delivery for this
message that Paul judged inappropriate, in the same way Philodemus
judged rhetorical delivery to be so for Epicurean philosophy.
With such an attack by Paul on rhetoric and, in particular, rhetor-
ical delivery and its inadequacy for conveying the message of the
crucified God in 1 Cor. 1–2, it is explicable that his trenchant crit-
icisms of rhetorical delivery would draw strong fire. “The wise among
you in this age,” whom Paul cautions not to be deceived by “the
wisdom of this world” (1 Cor. 3:18–19), would have felt attacked.
His Christian opponents in 2 Cor. 10–13, who have every reason
to contest his critique of rhetorical delivery, would not have accused
Paul of a deficiency in this area if they themselves did not have
prowess in it. They threw Paul on the defensive (2 Cor. 10–12), no
doubt deriving great satisfaction from pointing out to the Corinthian
congregation that Paul’s rejection of rhetorical delivery did not really
stem from his theological “objections.” They would have been
acquainted with them for they now served as teachers in the church
in Corinth. His attack was, in fact, a theological rationalization for
his own personal inadequacies in the area of rhetorical delivery. As
has been noted, they conceded his ability in rhetoric as a letter
writer, but could very happily contrast it with his performances,
which they judged by the canons of delivery. Like many before him
he simply did not possess the requisite attributes and therefore could
not be the sort of teacher and preacher required in order to pre-
sent the gospel by commanding the attention of the rhetorically fas-
tidious Corinthians.

Conclusions

Although separated by over a century in time, Philodemus and Paul

confronted a common difficulty, namely the primacy of rhetorical
delivery (ÍpÒkrisiw) used by megastar orators of their day and the
part, if any, it might play in their respective movements. Philodemus
clearly did have a theory of a delivery that he considered appro-
priate for the Epicurean philosopher, i.e., “the presence” of the
speaker and modulation of the voice. He recognized that these did

54
For a discussion of the connection between 1 Cor. 1:17 and 2:4–5 see Litfin
190–92.
 philodemus and paul on ÍpÒkrisiw 341

make a difference in philosophical presentation.55 However, his dec-

laration that political rhetoric was not an “art” indicates the strength
of his feelings based on the deleterious effect that rhetorical deliv-
ery had on the solemn task of informing and persuading the citi-
zens where the “salvation” of their city lay.56
Paul argued that from the very beginning of his ministry in Corinth
that he had renounced the techniques of rhetorical delivery (ÍpÒkrisiw)
and his “rhetorical presence” for persuading the Corinthians to con-
vert to Christianity. He believed that rhetorically-delivered presen-
tations before rhetorically-sophisticated hearers would only draw
attention to the rhetorical prowess of the messenger. It would deflect
attention away from the content of the scandalous message of the
crucified God in which their “salvation” lay.
In that Paul’s primary concern was the distraction of the audi-
ence from the content and life-changing importance of the message
because of the use of rhetorically polished deliveries, he shared sim-
ilar concerns with Philodemus. He would also have agreed with
Philodemus that each discipline has its own “art” (t°xnh) and “learn-
ing procedure” (mãyhsiw) and that those who practice it should alone
invent the appropriate lÒgoi and not be ruled by fashionable trends
in rhetoric. Rhetoric had certainly exceeded its boundaries and
nowhere had this been demonstrated more clearly than with rhetor-
ical delivery (Rhet. 4 col. XXV.1–14; 1 Cor. 2:1–5).
Both men stood at moments in the history of the development of
rhetoric where change was in the air. As a recent innovation
Philodemus saw rhetorical delivery become a core or central part of
the curriculum in Greek paide¤a. Paul witnessed the flowering of the
Second Sophistic with its central emphasis on extemporary oratory
and declamations which emphasized the prowess of virtuoso orators
in rhetorical delivery. They both recognized the problem it created.
Philodemus introduced an accommodation that would not distract
his hearers. Paul defended his rejection of “rhetorical delivery”
(ÍpÒkrisiw) in Corinth where both its inhabitants and members of
the Christian community were so enamoured with it that even some
fifty years later Favorinus was to record how the charm of his elo-
quence won the approval of its citizens along with their “women
and children” (Or. 37.33).

55
See above, 326–30.
56
The term svthr¤a meant “health,” “safety,” or even “welfare” when used in
the semantic field of polite¤a.
342 bruce w. winter

Rightly used, On Rhetoric can provide important correctives to some

of the more recent studies of the application of rhetoric to the New
Testament.57 It has always to be borne in mind that much water
had passed under the bridge in the study of rhetoric by ancient
authors after Aristotle’s The “Art” of Rhetoric. In this New Testament
field of study Philodemus’ work provides an essential set of older
snapshots, and the letters of Paul another. A comparative study of
their shots of rhetorical delivery (ÍpÒkrisiw) has shown how mutu-
ally helpful they can be in illuminating aspects of their concerns and
convictions and those of their contemporaries.

57
For more measured treatments on Paul generally see Anderson, Ancient Rhetorical
Theory and Paul and Philip H. Kern, Rhetoric and Galatians: Assessing an Approach to
Paul’s Epistle, SNTSMS 101 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
 GADARA: PHILODEMUS’ NATIVE CITY

John T. Fitzgerald

Abstract

Philodemus was a native of Gadara, a famous Hellenistic city in south-

ern Syria. This essay, which draws heavily on the results of recent
excavations of the city, traces the history of Gadara from the Ptolemaic
period until the Roman period, when it reached its apex as as a cul-
tural center.

According to the geographer Strabo (16.2.29), Philodemus the

Epicurean was born in the city of Gadara, as were also Meleager,
Menippus, and Theodorus. Because the other three individuals whom
Strabo associates with Gadara are well-attested natives of the Syrian
city, there is every reason to accept Strabo’s testimony that Philodemus
also hailed from Gadara.1 The same assessment cannot be made
about the site where Strabo locates the city. Whereas Gadara was
located to the east of the Jordan River, Strabo apparently confuses
it with Gazara (= Gezer, M.R. 142140),2 which lay in the foothills
of the Judean range.3 Strabo was not alone in confusing Gadara

1
For a discussion, see Tiziano Dorandi, “La patria di Filodemo,” Philologus 131
(1987): 254–56.
2
For a convenient listing of grid reference numbers used to identify biblical and
other sites, see the Student Map Manual: Historical Geography of the Bible Lands ( Jerusalem:
Pictorial Archive [Near Eastern History] Est., 1979).
3
So Emil Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175
B.C.–A.D. 135), rev. ed., ed. G. Vermes and F. Millar, 3 vols. in 4 (Edinburgh: Clark,
1973–87), 1:191 n. 8, and 2:50. On the limitations of Strabo as a geographer, espe-
cially in regard to the ancient Near East, see Lee A. Maxwell, “Gadara of the
Decalopis” (Th.D. Diss., Concordia Seminary, 1990), 39–40. Ancient Gezer or
Gazara (Gazaris) is today a 33–acre mound (Tell Jezer = Tell el-Jazari) located
some 5 miles south-southeast of modern Ramleh. A powerful city during the Middle
Bronze Age (esp. 1800–1500 b.c.e.), it remained a crucial site during the days of
ancient Israel. By the end of the second century b.c.e., however, it had ceased to
be an important city and by the Herodian period the site was virtually deserted.
For a brief history of Gezer/Gazara in light of modern excavations, see William
G. Dever, “Gezer,” ABD 2 (1992): 998–1003. See also the extremely valuable
344 john t. fitzgerald

with another city, for ancient writers often confused the Syrian city
with other cities and towns that had similar or identical names. This
confusion occurs in Jewish, Christian, and pagan material, as do
other kinds of errors regarding the city and its natives.4 Sometimes
these errors appear to have originated with the authors of these texts,
whereas in other cases scribal confusion is the likely explanation.
In Josephus, J.W. 1.170 and Ant. 14.91, for example, Gadara is
almost certainly a mistake for Gazara,5 Gadora,6 or Adora.7 Similarly,
the reference in J.W. 4.413–419 and 428 to a Gadara that is “the
capital of Perea” cannot be to Gadara of the Decapolis, which did
not lie in Perea, but must be to the site elsewhere called Gedor,
Gedora, and Gadora (= Tell Jedur, M.R. 220160).8 Similarly, it is
inconceivable that the Roman general Vespasian would destroy
Gadara in Syria, which was pro-Roman. Josephus likely referred
to Gabara, a city in Galilee, though all manuscripts of J.W. 3.132
read Gadara. Even where Josephus’ references to the Decapolis city
of Gadara appear to be correct, the manuscripts occasionally offer
variants, as at Ant. 13.396, where Adara and Gazara are textual vari-
ants to Gadara.9
The same kind of textual confusion exists in the three New
Testament accounts of Jesus’ exorcising one or two demoniacs and
sending the demons into a nearby herd of swine, who immediately

gazetteer compiled by Yoram Tsafrir, Leah Di Segni, and Judith Green, Tabula
Imperii Romani: Iudaea • Palaestina: Eretz Israel in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine
Periods ( Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994), 131.
4
For a chronological error involving two natives of Gadara, see Diogenes Laertius
6.99, where Menippus and Meleager are wrongly made contemporaries.
5
See the notes to these passages by H. St. J. Thackeray and Ralph Marcus in
the LCL edition of Josephus. Unless otherwise noted, translations of Josephus are
the LCL.
6
Maxwell, “Gadara of the Decapolis,” 65–66.
7
Schürer, The History of the Jewish People, 1:268 n. 5.
8
See the note on this passage by Thackeray in the LCL; Schürer, The History
of the Jewish People, 1:498; 2:134; Diane I. Treacy-Cole, “Perea,” ABD 5 (1992):
224–25. As Birgit Mershen and Ernst Axel Knauf, “From ]adar to Umm Qais,”
ZDPV 104 (1988): 128–45, esp. 130, point out, all “the vowels of Gãdara/*Gadar
[in the Decapolis] are short,” in contrast to “Gãdara-Gãdvra/*Gadàr-Gadòr,” the
ancient name of el-Salt in Perea.
9
For another possible example of confusion in the manuscript tradition, see Ant.
13.375, where Gadara is perhaps either the name of an otherwise unknown village
in southern Gaulanitis or an error for Garada. For a brief discussion of the prob-
lem, see Maxwell, “Gadara of the Decapolis,” 55–56. See also J.W. 1.166 (cf. Ant.
14.88), where Gadara is one of several textual variants.
 gadara 345

rush down a steep bank into the water (the Sea of Galilee = Lake
Tiberias) and drown (Matt 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39).
The setting for this story is clearly Gentile rather than Jewish, as
the references to the pigs and the swineherds indicate, and the exor-
cism is depicted as occurring near the lake, in the countryside attached
to the town rather than in the city proper. Manuscripts of the
Synoptic Gospels give the names of three different towns as the one
in whose territory this exorcism occurred: Gadara, Gerasa (modern
Jerash, M.R. 234187),10 and Gergesa (= Chorsia = modern Kursi,
M.R. 210248).11 Of these,12 Gergesa, which is located closest to the
Sea of Galilee and is not far from a steep cliff, best fits the details
of the narrative; yet it is the poorest attested reading and appears
to have arisen as a conjectural solution to the geographical difficulties
raised by both Gerasa and Gadara.13 Mark (5:1), followed by Luke
(8:26, 37), most likely places the exorcism in the country of the
Gerasenes. Inasmuch as Gerasa is more than 30 miles southeast of
the Sea of Galilee, it is extremely unlikely that this reference is accu-
rate. In changing the reference to the country of the Gadarenes,
Matthew (8:28) is probably making a connection between Gadara
and the Semitic deity Gad, who is rendered as da¤mvn by the

10
See esp. Carl H. Kraeling, ed., Gerasa: City of the Decapolis (New Haven: American
Schools of Oriental Research, 1938); Shimon Applebaum and Arthur Segal, “Gerasa,”
in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, ed. E. Stern,
4 vols. ( Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society & Carta; New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1993), 2:470–79; Fawzi Zayadine, ed., Jerash Archaeological Project, 2 vols.
(vol. 1: Amman: Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 1986; vol. 2: Paris: Librairie
Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1989); and Jacques Seigne, “Gerasa-Jerasch—Stadt der
1000 Säulen,” in Gadara—Gerasa und die Dekapolis, ed. Adolf Hoffmann and Susanne
Kerner, Sonderbände der antiken Welt (Mainz: Zabern, 2002), 6–22.
11
The M.R. number for the ancient Christian basilica is 211248. See esp. Vassilios
Tzaferis, “Kursi,” in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land,
3:893–96. See also Tsafrir, Di Segni, and Green, Tabula Imperii Romani, 104.
12
For the chief textual witnesses in support of these three readings and a brief
discussion, see Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament,
2d ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), 18–19.
13
Origen championed Gergesa and may well have been the first to propose it;
see esp. Tjitze Baarda, “Gadarenes, Gerasenes, Gergesenes and the ‘Diatessaron’
Traditions,” in Neotestamentica et Semitica: Studies in Honour of Matthew Black, ed. E. E.
Ellis and M. Wilcox (Edinburgh: Clark, 1969), 181–97. In view of the textual evi-
dence, a compelling case for Gergesa as the original site for the story can only be
made by assuming that the name of the city was already confused with Gerasa (or
Gadara) during the period of oral transmission, and that the reading “Gergesa” is
a later scribal emendation designed to correct the received textual tradition.
346 john t. fitzgerald

Septuagint in Isa 65:11.14 Matthew thus provides a more appropri-

ate symbolic setting for Jesus’ encounter with two da¤monew (Matt
8:31), so that the exorcism of the Gadarene demoniacs takes place
in the haunt of the daimon Gad and demonstrates Jesus’ power over
him. Simultaneously, Matthew also makes it comparatively easier,
following the exorcism, for “the whole town” to make the five- to
six-mile journey from Gadara to meet Jesus by the lake (8:34).15
Despite the uncertainty of particular references to Gadara, much
can be said about Philodemus’ native city, though the early history
of the city is difficult to reconstruct. This difficulty is created by the
paltry number of early literary references to the city and the scant
archaeological evidence thus far uncovered for the earliest period.
The task of describing Hellenistic and early Roman Gadara and of
narrating its history during these periods is particularly daunting. As
one of the city’s excavators has noted,
Nearly all buildings visible above the surface are from the late Roman
and Byzantine times; earlier buildings were reused for a very long
period, to the extent that only the foundation walls still exist, making
it rather difficult to explore the earlier (Hellenistic and Early Roman)
history of the city in any detail.16
Furthermore, a late Ottoman village was built over Gadara’s ancient
acropolis, covering the nucleus of the old Hellenistic city and ren-

14
The Gadarenes themselves appear to have made the connection, for they hon-
ored Tyche, Gad’s Greek counterpart, as the city-goddess. On this point, see below.
On Isa 65:11 and its context, see now Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 56–66: A New
Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB 19B (New York: Doubleday, 2003),
273–79.
15
There is another possibility. Matthew obviously thinks of “the country of the
Gadarenes” as extending all the way to Lake Tiberias, and this appears to have
been the case. Josephus, who shares Matthew’s conviction, claims that Gadara had
villages (k≈maw) that “lay on the frontiers of Tiberias” (Life 42) and that Gadara’s
territory bordered on Galilee ( J.W. 3.37). Therefore, Matthew could conceivably
be thinking of one of these small villages that lay in the territory of Gadara rather
than Gadara proper, in spite of the fact that he refers to the place as a polis.
Flexibility in using the term polis would certainly not be unique to Matthew; the
author of 1 Maccabees, for example, uses polis of both a village (2:15) and a fortified
settlement (5:26–27; cf. Polybius 5.70.7). Whatever the merit of this suggestion, it
does not answer the chief objection to “the country of the Gadarenes” as the orig-
inal site of the story, viz., that whereas Matthew (8:32) refers to a steep bank, the
terrain on the southeast shore of Lake Tiberias is quite flat.
16
Susanne Kerner, “The German Protestant Institute for Archaeology and Other
German Projects in Jordan,” in The Near East in Antiquity, ed. Susanne Kerner, 4
vols. (Amman: At Kutba, 1990–94), 4:49–63, esp. 54.
 gadara 347

dering it partly inaccessible and thus difficult if not impossible to

excavate thoroughly. In the process of building the Ottoman village,
moreover, the builders flattened large parts of the acropolis, not only
making the task of excavation more difficult but also complicating
the prospects for future analysis.17 Furthermore, like residents of other
cities, ancient Gadarenes were prone to recycle building materials,
so that not much from the earliest period can be recovered, and
even the late Roman and Byzantine structures were severely dam-
aged by earthquakes, especially in the seventh and eight century.18
All these factors as well as others combine to make the recovery of
Gadara’s history quite problematic.19 Despite these limitations and
the need at key points to rely on inference and conjecture rather
than literary and material evidence, it is possible to trace the gen-
eral outline of ancient Gadara’s history and to note some aspects of
the city’s social, cultural, economic, and religious life. This depic-
tion, which at points relies heavily on published results and inter-
pretations of recent archaeological excavations, is necessarily tentative
and subject to revision in light of the ongoing excavations at Gadara.
In undertaking the task of providing this outline, it will be helpful
to begin with the city’s geographical location.
In terms of modern geography, the remains of the Greco-Roman
city of Gadara are situated alongside the modern village of Umm Qeis
(= Umm Qais = Umm Qays, M.R. 214229).20 The ruins cover an

17
Ibid.
18
Susanne Kerner, “Umm Qais—Gadara: Recent Excavations,” ARAM 4 (1992):
407–23, esp. 407–8.
19
Another major difficulty is that the ancient literary references to Gadara vary
significantly in quality and accuracy. On this point, see Maxwell, “Gadara of the
Decalopis,” 30, who also provides a fairly complete list of ancient and medieval lit-
erary references to Gadara and discusses each reference briefly (30–89).
20
A medieval name for the site that appears in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-
century literature is “Mkès” (or “Mukès”), which probably indicated the presence
of a toll station (maks = “tax”) there in later times. See Mershen and Knauf, “From
]adar to Umm Qais,” 132, who discuss the history of the site and its various names.
The identification of Umm Qeis as the site of ancient ]adara was made by Ulrich
Jasper Seetzen, a German explorer, in 1806, and Gottlieb Schumacher did the first
thorough survey of the site in 1886. Jordan’s Department of Antiquities started work
on the site in the 1930s, with various international teams beginning to participate
in excavation and restoration projects as early as the 1970s. Teams from Germany
have been at the forefront, viz., the German Protestant Institute for Archaeology
(headed successively by Ute Wagner-Lux and Thomas Weber), the German Archaeo-
logical Institute in Berlin (Adolf Hoffmann), and the Liebighaus Museum (Gallery
of Ancient Sculpture) in Frankfurt am Main (Peter Cornelius Bol), though a team
348 john t. fitzgerald

area of approximately 450 meters from north to south and about 1600
meters from east to west, with the Greco-Roman acropolis, as pre-
viously indicated, still partly buried beneath the late nineteenth century
Ottoman village.21 Beginning from that acropolis in the east, the set-
tlement expanded westward in several different phases, with the east-
west street (in Roman times the decumanus maximus) serving as the
backbone of the growing town.22 Located on a flat plateau in northern
Jordan, the ancient site is perched about 350 meters above sea level23
and offers a panoramic view of the surrounding region, which includes
“the perennial Yarmouk River to the north, the forested hills of the
Ajlun range to the south, the fertile lands of the Irbid plateau to
the east and of the Jordan Valley to the west.”24 The name Gadara
is clearly Semitic,25 which indicates its origin in the pre-Hellenistic

from Denmark (headed by Svend Holm-Nielsen) has made important contributions,

especially in regard to the Byzantine baths. For the history of exploration and exca-
vation of the site to 1990, see Maxwell, “Gadara of the Decalopis,” 90–125. See
also Thomas Weber, “One Hundred Years of Jordanian-German Fieldwork at Umm
Qais (1890–1990),” in The Near East in Antiquity 1:15–27.
21
Thomas Weber, Umm Qais, Gadara of the Decapolis: A Brief Guide to the Antiquities,
At Kutba Jordan Guides (Amman: At Kutba, 1989), 12. On ancient Gadara, see
esp. Schürer, The History of the Jewish People, 2:132–36; Maxwell, “Gadara of the
Decapolis”; Svend Holm-Nielsen, Ute Wagner-Lux, and K. J. H. Vriezen, “Gadarenes,”
ABD 2 (1992): 866–68; and Adolf Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte
von Gadara/Umm Qais,” in Gadara—Gerasa und die Dekapolis, 98–124. To my great
regret, I have not been able to consult Thomas M. Weber, Gadara Decapolitana:
Untersuchungen zur Topographie, Geschichte, Architektur und der Bildenden Kunst einer “Polis
Hellenis” im Ostjordanland, vol. 1 of Gadara—Umm Qès, Abhandlungen des Deutschen
Palästinavereins 30.1 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002). For the late nineteenth cen-
tury Ottoman village of Umm Qeis, see Seteney Shami, “Umm Qeis—A Northern
Jordanian Village in Context,” in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan III,
ed. A. Hadidi (Amman: Department of Antiquities; London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul, 1987), 211–13, and Susanne Kerner, “Gadara—Schwarzweisse Stadt zwischen
Adjlun und Golan,” in Gadara—Gerasa und die Dekapolis, 125–36, esp. 125–28.
22
Adolf Hoffmann, “The Monumental Gate extra muros in Gadara,” in The Near
East in Antiquity, 1:95–103, esp. 96.
23
The maximum altitude of the plateau is 378 meters above sea level; the sur-
face of Lake Tiberias is, by contrast, about 210 meters below sea level (Weber,
“One Hundred Years,” 15).
24
Weber, Umm Qais, 5. According to Eusebius, Onom. 32.16, Gadara was located
twelve miles southwest of Abila, another Decapolis city. Josephus occasionally men-
tions it together with Hippos, a Decapolis city located to the northwest on the east-
ern shore of Lake Tiberias (Ant. 15.217; 17.320; etc.). For Gadara’s physical
environment, see esp. Maxwell, “Gadara of the Decapolis,” 1–23, who discusses the
city’s location, topography, geology, climate, hydrology, and land use.
25
The ancient name of the site was apparently “Gadar.” The Hellenistic name
“Gadara” is thus simply a transliteration of the Semitic name into Greek, with, as
 gadara 349

period,26 and the recent discovery of what appears to have been an

old “high place” may go back to this period and have been the site
of various sacrifices.27 But by the time of Philodemus’ birth about
the year 110 b.c.e. the city had acquired a number of Greek features28

was often the case with Semitic toponyms, the Greek locative ending -a added to
the Semitic stem. Etymologically, the name “Gadar” means “wall” (as is also the
meaning of both rdg and hrdg in Hebrew), and it is possible that the name orig-
inally referred to agricultural terracing on the upper slopes of a local wadi or in
the Yarmuk valley. In this case, the name “could have been used as early as the
Late Bronze Age” (Mershen and Knauf, “From ]adar to Umm Qais,” 129). Alternatively,
the name may suggest a fortification wall, linking the name to its use as a frontier
post (Weber, Umm Qais, 6). Etymology thus suggests that Gadara originated as either
a military or agricultural settlement. Needless to say, these two options are not
mutually exclusive.
26
Mershen and Knauf, “From ]adar to Umm Qais,” 129, suggest that the site
was occupied as early as the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries b.c.e. The earliest
evidence of people at the site comes from Iron Age and Persian pottery found in
a survey; see Flemming G. Andersen and John Strange, “Bericht über drei Sondagen
in Umm Qès, Jordanien, im Herbst 1983,” ZDPV 103 (1987): 78–100, esp. 90–92.
For an orientation to Syria in the Early Bronze (ca. 3000–2000), Middle Bronze
(ca. 2000–1550), Late Bronze (ca. 1550–1200), Iron Age I (ca. 1200–1000), and
Iron Age II (ca. 1000–550 b.c.e.), see Rudolph H. Dornemann, “Bronze Age and
Iron Age Syria,” ABD 6 (1992): 274–81. For possible but unlikely references to
Gadara in ancient Egyptian topographical lists, see Maxwell, “Gadara of the
Decapolis,” 32–34.
27
For a brief discussion of this possible old “high place,” see Hoffmann, “Topo-
graphie und Stadtgeschichte,” 108.
28
As the finds at Lefkandi in Euboea prove, the Greeks had contacts with Cyprus
and the Levant at an early pre-colonial stage. According to Mervyn Popham, one
of its excavators, the burial grounds there have yielded “an extraordinary wealth
of Near Eastern imports which make it certain that the Syro-Palestinian region”
was a vital part of the Mediterranean exchange network in the late Protogeometric
period of ca. 950–900 b.c.e. See his “Precolonization: Early Greek Contact with
the East,” in The Archaeology of Greek Colonisation: Essays Dedicated to Sir John Boardman,
ed. G. R. Tsetskhladze and F. De Angelis, Oxford University Committee for
Archaeology 40 (Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1994),
11–34, esp. 17. Similarly, Mycenaean pottery has been found at Sabouni, a hill
town closely associated with the Iron Age port city of Al Mina. The latter, located
in the delta of the Orontes (the major river of western Syria), is usually viewed as
the site of the first Greek presence in Syria, perhaps as early as 825 b.c.e., though
the preponderance of Greek pottery found there dates to ca. 750. Al Mina has
been traditionally regarded as an important trading post where Greeks resided and
perhaps constituted a small colony, but some scholars regard it as devoid of any
real significance, “a mere funnel for the transmission of table-ware to the élites of
the more important administrative centres that lay inland.” So A. M. Snodgrass,
“The Nature and Standing of the Early Western Colonies,” in The Archaeology of
Greek Colonisation, 1–10, esp. 4–5. For discussion and a range of viewpoints, see
J. M. Cook, The Greeks in Ionia and the East, Ancient Peoples and Places 31 (London:
Thames and Hudson, 1962), 64–65; Rosalinde Kearsley, The Pendent Semi-Circle
Skyphos: A Study of Its Development and Chronology and an Examination of It as Evidence for
350 john t. fitzgerald

and no little renown.29 Although Hellenistic influence in Syria goes

back to the conquest of Alexander,30 the beginnings of a Greek pres-
ence in Gadara itself likely go back only to the third century, when
the Ptolemies appear to have fortified the town and settled a mili-
tary garrison there.31 The town at that point likely would have been

Euboean Acitivity at Al Mina, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 44 (London:

University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, 1989); Jacques Y. Perreault,
“Les emporia grecs du Levant: Mythe ou réalité?” in L’Emporion, ed. A. Bresson and
P. Rouillard; Publications du Centre Pierre Paris 26; Paris: E. de Boccard, 1993),
59–83; Popham, “Precolonization,” 26–27; and John Boardman, The Greeks Overseas:
Their Early Colonies and Trade, 4th ed. (London: Thames and Hudson, 1999), 38–54,
270–71. Two other coastal sites in North Syria, located to the south of Al Mina,
are also widely viewed as showing signs of a Greek presence from a slightly later
period: Ras el Bassit (“Poseidon”) and Tell Sukas. On the former, see esp. Paul
Courbin, “Ras el Bassit, Al Mina et Tell Sukas,” Revue archéologique (1974): 174–78;
“Bassit,” Syria 63 (1986): 175–220; and “Bassit-Posidaion in the Early Iron Age,”
in Greek Colonists and Native Populations: Proceedings of the First Australian Congress of Classical
Archaeology held in honour of Emeritus Professor A. D. Trendall, ed. J.-P. Descœudres
(Canberra: Humanities Research Centre; Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 503–9. For the
latter, see esp. P. J. Riis, Sukas I: The North-East Sanctuary and the First Settling of Greeks
in Syria and Palestine (Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters,
1970), Sukas VI: The Graeco-Phoenician Cemetery and Sanctuary at the Southern Harbor
(Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1979), and Sukas X:
The Bronze and Early Iron Age Remains at the Southern Harbour (Copenhagen: Royal
Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1996). These early contacts between
Greece and the Levant played a role in fostering the so-called “orientalizing revo-
lution” in archaic Greece; see Walter Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern
Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1992).
29
Meleager (fl. ca. 100 b.c.e.) calls it a “famous city” (kleinå pÒliw) in one of
his autobiographical epigrams (Anth. Pal. 7.418).
30
During the Roman period, the Transjordanian cities of Capitolias, Dium,
Gerasa, and Pella claimed to have been founded by Alexander, but many scholars
have been highly suspicious of these unproven claims, viewing them as foundation
legends propagated in a later period. In any case, it should be noted that the region
of northern Syria, where Antioch, Apamea, Seleucia, and Laodicea were located,
“was the most intensively hellenised in the whole Orient,” but southern Syria, where
Gadara was located, was less affected during the third century. The key difference
was that the Seleucids controlled northern Syria, whereas the Ptolemies controlled
southern Syria. See Cook, Greeks, 169–70. For the activity of Seleucus I Nicator in
founding Greek cities and creating a new Macedon, see Appian, Syr. 57. For the
northern Syrian cities, see John D. Grainger, The Cities of Seleukid Syria (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1990).
31
George Syncellus (fl. ca. 800 c.e.) in his Chronicle (558–559 Dindorf = 355.7–10
Mosshammer) gives Gadara as one of several Macedonian époik¤ai conquered by
Alexander Jannaeus, and Stephanus of Byzantium (early sixth century c.e.) in his
Ethnika (s.v., Gadara) says that Gadara is the name of both a city in Coele Syria
and a town in Macedonia, and also that it was also called Seleuceia. As A. H. M.
Jones, The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, 2nd ed., revised by M. Avi-Yonah
 gadara 351

laid out in typical Ptolemaic fashion, with urban features concen-

trated on the acropolis, a simple asymmetrical street system, and
fortifications forming geometrical lines around the summit.32 The
fortifications themselves may have consisted of a ring of standing
towers about the city, with each isolated tower placed at a strategic

et al. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971), 449 n. 16, notes, this late evidence has led some
scholars to infer that Gadara was founded by Macedonians, who named the new
city after the Macedonian village. Maurice Sartre, for example, contends that Gadara
was founded by either Alexander or his lieutenant Perdiccas; see his “La Syrie à
l’époque hellénistique,” in La Syrie de l’époque achéménide à l’avènement de l’Islam, vol. 2
of Archéologie et histoire de la Syrie, ed. J.-M. Dentzer and W. Orthmann, Schriften
zur vorderasiatischen Archäologie 1 (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei, 1989),
31–44, esp. 36. Similarly, Julius Beloch, “Die auswärtigen Besitzungen der Ptolemäer,”
Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete 2 (1902): 229–56, esp. 233, suggests
that Gadara was founded by Antigonus I or his predecessors. Because of the toponym
Seleuceia, one could also propose Seleucus I Nicator (312–281 b.c.e.)—who founded
Seleuceia on the Tigris (ca. 305 b.c.e.)—as the founder of Gadara. Finally, Thomas
Weber, “Gadara,” in RGG 4 3 (2000): 449, gives Gadara as a Macedonian colony
of the fourth century b.c.e.
In order to accept a Macedonian origin for Gadara, however, one must argue
that Syncellus’ information was gleaned from a reliable earlier source, and that
Stephanus’ attempt to link the Semitic name Gadara with a town in Macedonia
was the result of confusion about the true explanation for Gadara’s Macedonian
descent. This is the approach taken, for example, by Bezalel Bar-Kochva, The Seleucid
Army: Organization and Tactics in the Great Campaigns, Cambridge Classical Studies
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 35, 221–22 nn. 77–78. On the
one hand, it is clear that Syncellus’ source for his report about Alexander Jannaeus
and his conquests is not dependent on Josephus, and that it helpfully specifies which
Gadara was conquered; see Heinrich Gelzer, Sextus Julius Africanus und die byzanti-
nische Chronographie (2 vols.; Leipzig: Hinrich, 1898; repr. New York: Burt Franklin,
1967), 1:256–58, and for Syncellus’ use of his sources, see William Adler, Time
Immemorial: Archaic History and Its Sources in Christian Chronography from Julius Africanus
to George Syncellus, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 26 (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks,
1989), esp. 132–234. On the other hand, there is no archaeological evidence to
connect Gadara to “the first Macedonians” (see Strabo 16.2.10, with regard to the
founding of Pella). Consequently, as Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
100, notes, the question whether Gadara had a Macedonian foundation still can
not be answered.
In the absence of supporting archaeological evidence, it is best to follow those
scholars who attribute the Hellenistic settlement at Gadara to the Ptolemies. They
include A. Negev, “Gadara,” in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, ed. R. Still-
well (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), 341; Shami, “Umm Qeis,” 211;
Mershen and Knauf, “From ]adar to Umm Qais,” 130; and Esti Dvorjetski, “Nautical
Symbols on the Gadara Coins and their Link to the Thermae of the Three Graces
at Hammat-Gader,” Mediterranean Historical Review 9 (1994): 100–11, esp. 100.
32
For these and other characteristic features of Ptolemaic urban forms, see Asem
N. Barghouti, “Urbanization of Palestine and Jordan in Hellenistic and Roman
Times,” in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan I, ed. A. Hadidi (Amman:
Department of Antiquities, 1982), 209–29, esp. 213.
352 john t. fitzgerald

location.33 Archaeological evidence from the second half of the third

century b.c.e. indicates that Ptolemaic Gadarenes had a remarkably
high standard of living, which is suggested by a large number of fine
ceramic and glass pieces imported from Egypt, Greece, and Italy.
These decorated vessels, terracotta figurines, and amphora handles
indicate that Ptolemaic Gadara was no mere military outpost but a
city of some affluence, and they also attest both the city’s strong
commercial links to the Greek islands and its strategic location along
the supra-regional transportation network.34 As military stations,
moreover, Gadara and other fortified towns in the region would have
functioned to maintain control of the inland caravan trade routes,
to secure the area against rebellion by the indigenous population,
and to protect the Ptolemies’ northern border against incursions by
the Seleucids.35 The last of these was the role that Gadara played
in the Fourth Syrian War (219–217 b.c.e.),36 when it was regarded
as the strongest town in that district (Polybius 5.71.3).37

33
Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 104, suggests that the great
tower under the so-called Bait Melkawi (a modern archaeological station) could have
belonged to the Ptolemaic defense system.
34
Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 99 and 101, and “The Monu-
mental Gate,” 96. The strategic importance of the site for commerce is also empha-
sized by Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, 251: “Abila and Gadara . . . must
have grown up in the Persian and Ptolemaic periods, stimulated by the develop-
ment of the Indian and South Arabian trade through Petra to Damascus and the
Phoenician ports.”
35
For the Ptolemaic use of colonies as a military buffer, see Victor Tcherikover,
Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America,
1959), 106; Martin Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in their Encounter in Palestine
during the Early Hellenistic Period, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), 1:14; and
Mershen and Knauf, “From ]adar to Umm Qais,” 130. For the Ptolemies’ use of
both military garrisons and military settlers in Syria and Phoenicia, see Roger S.
Bagnall, The Administration of the Ptolemaic Possessions Outside Egypt, Columbia Studies
in the Classical Tradition 4 (Leiden: Brill, 1976), 14–17.
36
For the Fourth Syrian War, see Werner Huss, Untersuchungen zur Aussenpolitik
Ptolemaios’ IV., Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und antiken Rechtsgeschichte
69 (Munich: Beck, 1976), 20–87, and Édouard Will, Histoire politique du monde hel-
lénistique (323–30 av. J.-C.), 2 vols., 2d ed., Annales de l’Est 30, 32 (Nancy: Presses
Universitaires de Nancy, 1979–82), 2:26–44. For particular attention to the role
played by Jews in this conflict, see Dov Gera, Judaea and Mediterranean Politics 219
to 161 B.C.E., Brill’s Series in Jewish Studies 8 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 9–20.
37
Gadara was doubtless selected by the Ptolemies because of its strategic impor-
tance both militarily and commercially, and subsequent powers continued to occupy
the site for the same reasons. It overlooked both the Sea of Galilee and the Golan
Heights, and during the Roman period it lay directly on the way from Tiberias
via Capitolias to Bosra in the Hauran (see, for example, the Peutinger Table).
 gadara 353

Gadara’s political orbit changed briefly in 218 when it was taken

by the Seleucid king Antiochus (III) the Great (ca. 242–187),38 but
the Ptolemies quickly resumed control of Gadara after Ptolemy IV
Philopator defeated Antiochus at Raphia the following year in what
rightly has been called “one of the two greatest battles of the Hellenistic
world.”39 Gadara doubtless rejoiced at this outcome, for it was a
Ptolemaic city and, like Coele Syria in general, was more attached
to the Ptolemies than to the Seleucids (Polybius 5.86.7–11). Yet
Gadara’s reprieve and rejoicing was to be quite brief. Ptolemaic
power declined dramatically toward the end of Philopator’s reign,
so that when he died and the child king Ptolemy V Epiphanes
acceded to the throne—perhaps in 20440—the Ptolemaic kingdom
was the weakest that it had been in more than a century.41 Antiochus
the Great took full advantage of the situation, at least as much as
his circumstances permitted. Having reached an accord with Philip
V of Macedon (221–179),42 he launched the Fifth Syrian War (202–198)

Mershen and Knauf, “From ]adar to Umm Qais,” 134, note that “the strategically
important plateau of Umm Qais” was “a perfect spot to erect some form of mili-
tary installation to monitor both the activities of the other side of the Jordan and
any traffic on the road to and from Tiberias.”
38
Polybius 5.71.3. On Antiochus III, see esp. Hatto H. Schmitt, Untersuchungen
zur Geschichte Antiochos’ des Grossen und seiner Zeit, Historia Einzelschriften 6 (Wiesbaden:
F. Steiner, 1964), and Susan Sherwin-White and Amélie Kuhrt, From Samarkhand to
Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire, Hellenistic Culture and Society 13
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993), 188–216. For the
biblical depiction of the reign of Antiochus III, see Dan 11:10–19.
39
E. Galili, “Raphia, 217 b.c.e., Revisited,” Scripta classica israelica 3 (1976–1977):
52–126, esp. 52, with the other great battle being the one at Ipsus in 301 b.c.e.
On the battle of Raphia, see also Huss, Aussenpolitik Ptolemaios’ IV, 55–68; and Bar-
Kochva, The Seleucid Army, 128–41.
40
The date of Ptolemy IV Philopator’s death and especially the year when
Ptolemy V Epiphanes acceded to the throne have been much debated. For 204 as
the year for both Philopator’s death and Epiphanes’ accession, see Gera, Judaea and
Mediterranean Politics, 20–21. For 205 as the year of Philopator’s death and 204 as
the date of Epiphanes’ accession, see Alan Edouard Samuel, Ptolemaic Chronology,
Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und antiken Rechtsgeschichte 43 (Munich:
Beck, 1962), 106–14. For 204 as the year of Philopator’s death and 203 as the date
of Ptolemy’s accession, see F. W. Walbank, “The Accession of Ptolemy Epiphanes:
A Problem in Chronology,” JEA 21 (1936): 20–34.
41
John D. Grainger, The Roman War of Antiochos the Great, Mnemosyne Supplements
239 (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 17.
42
On Philip V, see F. W. Walbank, Philip V of Macedon (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1940), and N. G. L. Hammond, G. T. Griffith, and F. W. Walbank,
A History of Macedonia, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1972–88), 3:367–487. The his-
toricity of the secret pact between Philip and Antiochus has been fiercely contested,
354 john t. fitzgerald

by invading Coele Syria.43 He apparently took Gadara in the first

phase of the war, only to lose it during the second phase.44 But after
decisively defeating the Ptolemaic forces at Panion (Panium) in 200,45
Antiochus quickly regained control of Gadara later that year (Polybius
16.39.3; Josephus, Ant. 12.136) and completed his occupation of the
region in 198 (when Gaza fell), thereby extending Seleucid domi-
nation to the Sinai.46
Antiochus and his successors colonized the Jordan region, estab-
lishing new cities and re-founding old ones,47 giving the latter Seleucid
dynastic toponyms to signify their new foundations.48 As a conse-
quence, “Syria was covered with Greek cities,”49 and Gadara received

with R. Malcolm Errington calling it “one of the most disputed problems of hel-
lenistic history.” See his A History of Macedonia (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University
of California Press, 1990), 291 n. 18. Some scholars accept the pact as an agree-
ment between Antiochus and Philip to divide the Ptolemaic lands between them,
whereas others dismiss it as nothing more than Rhodian propaganda designed to
heighten Roman suspicions about Philip; still others grant the pact’s authenticity
but contend that Polybius has misconstrued its terms. See, for example, the con-
trasting views of Schmitt, Untersuchungen, 237–61, and Errington, “The Alleged Syro-
Macedonian Pact and the Origins of the Second Macedonian War,” Athenaeum 49
(1971): 336–54.
43
On the Fifth Syrian War, see Will, Histoire politique du monde hellénistique, 2:118–21.
The inception of this war is usually dated to 202, but Gera, Judaea and Mediterranean
Politics, 22–23, argues strongly for 201.
44
Gera, Judaea and Mediterranean Politics, 24.
45
It was likely the victory at Panion—the decisive battle of the war—that prompted
Antiochus to lay claim to the title “Great King,” i.e., the king of Asia; see John
Ma, Antiochos III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1999), 73, 272–76. On the Battle of Panion, see Bar-Kochva, The Seleucid
Army, 146–57.
46
For a recent modern discussion of key events and negotiations during this
period (202–198) of Antiochus’ reign, see Grainger, Roman War, 15–29. On the sup-
port that Antiochus received from Ptolemy, the son of Thraseas, see Dov Gera,
“Ptolemy Son of Thraseas and The Fifth Syrian War,” Ancient Society 18 (1987):
63–73, and Judaea and Mediterranean Politics, 28–34. Antiochus’ actions in regard to
Gadara are noted by Edwyn Robert Bevan, The House of Seleucus, 2 vols. (London:
E. Arnold, 1902), 1:317; 2:37; and Pierre Jouguet, Macedonian Imperialism and the
Hellenization of the East (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner; New York: Knopf,
1928), 228.
47
See, in general, Getzel M. Cohen, The Seleucid Colonies: Studies in Founding,
Administration and Organization, Historia Einzelschriften 30 (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1978).
48
See esp. Edmond Frézouls, “Fondations et refondations dans l’Orient syrien:
Problèmes d’identification et interpretation,” in Géographie historique au Proche-Orient
(Syrie, Phénicie, Arabie, grecques, romaines, byzantines), ed. P.-L. Gatier, B. Helly, and
Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais, Notes et monographies techniques 23 (Paris: Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique, 1988), 11–31, esp. 117–19.
49
Jouguet, Macedonian Imperialism, 367.
 gadara 355

the toponyms Seleuceia and Antioch (Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnika,

s.v. Gadara).50 It was during the second century b.c.e., therefore,
that the largely village society of Syria began to be more urbanized,
and inasmuch as urbanization and Hellenization were inextricably
linked, the city of Gadara soon acquired a more pronounced Hellenistic
character.51 Once the Seleucids were in control of Gadara, the city
would have begun to acquire urban forms characteristic of the
Seleucids, such as a street system based on major and minor thor-
oughfares, with the major thoroughfare running east-west, but hav-
ing no necessary relation to the fortification walls.52 Apparently
replacing the Ptolemaic fortifications with their own, the Seleucids
enclosed the entire acropolis with extremely well-built walls, thus
making Gadara as secure as possible against attack.53 They may also
have used the occasion to expand the size of the city.54 Be that as
it may, already in the Hellenistic period people likely built houses
beyond the safety of the city walls.55

50
The reliability of Stephanus’ testimony has been debated by scholars, with
some regarding it as reflecting only a late foundation legend. Others, such as
Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, 98, regard Stephanus’ statement as “credible
although not yet confirmed by coins.” Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
101, believes that a fragmentary building inscription dating from 86/85 b.c.e. prob-
ably confirms the historicity of the toponyms. The credibility of Stephanus’ testi-
mony is certainly supported by the actions of Jason and other Jewish Hellenizers
during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 b.c.e.). They wanted Jerusalem
to be renamed Antioch and a citizen list established (2 Macc 4:9, on which see
Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, 161–62, 404–9, and Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism,
2:184 n. 134; see also 2 Macc 4:19).
51
Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais, “Decapolis,” ABD 2 (1992): 116–21, esp. 118. Gadara
is usually viewed as having acquired its status and concomitant rights as a polis dur-
ing the first half of the second century, during the reign of either Antiochus III
(died 187 b.c.e.) or Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 b.c.e.). For a second cen-
tury b.c.e. intaglio found in the vicinity of Gadara that portrays a young Seleucid
prince, see Martin Henig and Mary Whiting, Engraved Gems from Gadara in Jordan:
The Sa’d Collection of Intaglios and Cameos, Oxford University Committee for Archaeology
6 (Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1987), no. 274 (descrip-
tion on pp. 1, 28).
52
For characteristic features of the Seleucid urban form, see Barghouti, “Urban-
ization,” 215. See, however, Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 106,
who suggests that Gadara had an orthogonal system of streets directed toward the
gates of the city.
53
Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 104.
54
Ibid., 106.
55
Ibid. The domestic quarters found south of the city may, however, go back
only to the early Roman period. See Kerner, “Umm Qais—Gadara,” 409.
356 john t. fitzgerald

Inasmuch as the Seleucids used the gymnasium as their chief insti-

tution to foster social stability and transmit cultural values, one may
confidently posit the presence of one in Hellenistic Gadara and affirm
that it would have been central to Greek life in the city and to the
luxury that the city offered.56 The same is true for an ephebeion,
with which the gymnasium usually was closely allied and which would
have been particularly important for the Greek Gadarene aristoc-
racy.57 They certainly built sanctuaries and temples,58 as the recent
discovery of a Hellenistic monumental sanctuary in the northeast
section of the acropolis hill proves.59 This particular temple, which
has three well-preserved rooms as part of its substructure, was quite
likely devoted to Zeus, who was popular both in Gadara and in the
area.60 Inasmuch as the building of the temple appears to have com-
menced about the middle of the second century, it may well have
been begun or commissioned by Antiochus IV (Theos) Epiphanes
(175–164 b.c.e.),61 who not only adopted Zeus as his patron deity

56
On the central importance of the gymnasium in the Hellenistic East, see Cohen,
The Seleucid Colonies, 36–37 and 87. Fergus Millar notes the existence of gymnasia
at Laodicea and Daphne near Antioch, and suggests that “Poseidonius’ remarks on
the luxury of life in Syria (Ath. 210e–f = 527e–f ) imply that gymnasia were com-
mon.” See his “The Problem of Hellenistic Syria,” in Hellenism in the East: The
Interaction of Greek and Non-Greek Civilizations from Syria to Central Asia after Alexander, ed.
A. Kuhrt and S. Sherwin-White (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California
Press, 1987), 110–33, esp. 117. That the pre-Hasmonean Jewish Hellenizers built
a gymnasium in Jerusalem (1 Macc 1:14; 2 Macc 4:9) reflects their perception of
its fundamental significance for Greek culture.
57
See esp. 2 Macc 4:9, 12 for the coherence between the two institutions in
Jerusalem. For the Hellenistic ephebeion as primarily the domain of the affluent,
see A. H. M. Jones, The Greek City from Alexander to Justinian (Oxford: Clarendon,
1940), 224, and Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, 162.
58
For an orientation to sanctuaries in Syria and the religious life of the region,
see the essays by Javier Teixidor (“Sur quelques aspects de la vie religieuse dans
la Syrie à l’époque hellénistique et romaine”), Jean-Marie Dentzer (“Le sanctuaire
syrien”), and Michel Gawlikowski (“Les temples dans la Syrie à l’époque hellénis-
tique et romaine”) in La Syrie de l’époque achéménide à l’avènement de l’Islam, vol. 2 of
Archéologie et histoire de la Syrie, ed. J.-M. Dentzer and W. Orthmann, Schriften zur
vorderasiatischen Archäologie 1 (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei, 1989), 81–95
(Teixidor), 297–322 (Dentzer), and 323–46 (Gawlikowski).
59
Adolf Hoffmann, “Ein hellenistisches Heiligtum in Gadara,” TOPOI: Orient-
Occident 9 (1999): 795–831. See also Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
106–12.
60
Seleucid sanctuaries of Zeus are attested at other Decapolis cities, such as
Gerasa and Scythopolis, and the propylaeum of a Roman temple to Jupiter appears
to have stood on the southern side of the decumanus maximus.
61
The suggestion is that of Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 109.
 gadara 357

and gave himself the traditional Zeus epithet of Nikephoros but also
minted coins of himself with an enthroned Zeus Nikephoros on the
reverse. That a marble statue of an enthroned Zeus Nikephoros was
found on the temple plateau and that Gadarene imperial coins often
bear an image of Zeus Nikephoros seated in a tetrastyle temple give
credence to this hypothesis.62
It is much more difficult to posit what other features of a tradi-
tional Greek polis Gadara would have had during this period because
of insufficient archaeological and literary evidence.63 That it, for
example, had a theater is extremely doubtful, for no theaters are
attested anywhere in Hellenistic Syria.64 That it was organized and
functioned like the traditional self-governing, free Greek cities of the
Aegean world is debated, with one’s position on that issue depen-
dent on inferences drawn from other Hellenistic cities and one’s over-
all assessment of the Hellenistic polis.65
Whatever its limitations in comparison with Greek cities located
elsewhere in the ancient Mediterranean world, Gadara appears to
have attained a conspicuous position within Syria by the beginning
of the first century b.c.e. At that point Meleager, one of its natives,

62
For the statute found in 1974 on the plateau beyond the so-called “northern”
theater, see Thomas Weber, “A Survey of Roman Sculpture in the Decapolis:
Preliminary Report,” ADAJ 34 (1990): 351–55, esp. 352. Photographs of the statue
appear in Weber, Umm Qais, 36, and Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
111. Gadarene coins from the imperial period depict temples devoted to both Zeus
and Tyche. For a list of these coins, see the index in Augustus Spijkerman, The
Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia, ed. M. Piccirillo, Studii biblici Franciscani
collectio maior 25 ( Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1978), 314–15.
63
Pausanias (10.4.1) gives government offices, a gymnasium, a theater, an agora,
and fountains as the minimal features necessary to be considered a polis, and Gadara
probably lacked a theater (see main text and next note). But Hoffmann, “Topographie
und Stadtgeschichte,” 101, argues that a fragmentary building inscription dating
from 86/85 b.c.e. proves that Gadara had developed into a true polis by that date.
64
E. Frézouls, “Recherches sur les theaters de l’Orient syrien,” Syria 36 (1959):
202–27, and David F. Graf, “Hellenisation and the Decapolis,” ARAM 4 (1992):
1–48, esp. 28–29, reprinted in Graf ’s Rome and the Arabian Frontier: From the Nabataeans
to the Saracens, Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS594 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1997).
Gadara during the imperial Roman period had three theaters, two in the city proper
and a third at Hammat Gader.
65
The older assumption that Gadara and the other cities of the Decapolis were
city-states with a constitution patterned after the Greek model is represented, among
others, by Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis, 14. For a challenge to this view, see
esp. Graf, “Hellenisation and the Decapolis,” 6–8, 28–29, and passim. For a possi-
ble bouleterien in Roman Gadara, see Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
120.
358 john t. fitzgerald

could unabashedly refer to it as “an Attic fatherland among Syrians”

(Anth. Pal. 7.417).66 By comparing it “with the Hellenic world’s undis-
puted centre of Classical arts, culture and science,”67 Meleager was
boasting that Gadara had a similar status in Syria.68 Some two cen-
turies later Josephus, writing about the city during the reign of
Augustus, could call it without hesitation a “Greek city” ( J.W. 2.97;
Ant. 17.320), undoubtedly reflecting the claims of the Gadarenes
themselves.69 At the same time, it must be stressed that Gadara dur-
ing the Seleucid and early Roman periods was not a demographi-
cally homogenous colony comprised of Greeks but a city with a
decidedly mixed population and culture,70 where Greeks were sta-
tistically the minority.71 Nor was there any program aimed at the
Hellenization of the non-Greek Gadarenes. “The hellenizing that did
occur was a natural process and not one actively fostered by the
[Seleucid] kings.”72 That Seleucid Gadara was a culturally diverse

66
Compare Meleager’s claim that Homer was a Syrian (Athenaeus, Deipn. 4.157b).
For these and other examples of pride and patriotism in regard to the Greek cities,
see Joseph Geiger, “Local Patriotism in the Hellenistic Cities of Palestine,” in Greece
and Rome in Eretz Israel: Collected Essays, ed. Aryeh Kasher, U. Rappaport, and G. Fuks
( Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1990), 141–50.
67
Weber, Umm Qais, 4.
68
Its closest cultural rival would have been nearby Hippos, which, according to
Rey-Coquais, “Decapolis,” 119, “was considered the most cultivated city of south-
ern Syria” during the second century b.c.e.
69
Geiger, “Local Patriotism,” 143.
70
Contra Aryeh Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities in Eretz-Israel: Relations of the Jews
in Eretz-Israel with the Hellenistic Cities during the Second Temple Period (332 B.C.E.–70 C.E.),
TSAJ 21 (Tübingen: Mohr, 1990), 25 and 45, Meleager’s poetry gives no indica-
tion that Gadara had a “Phoenician colony, populated by former denizens of Tyre.”
Kasher’s claim is an attempt to find support for his thesis that the cultural affinity
between Gadara and Phoenicia resided in their shared oriental paganism, which,
he argues, was in strong historical continuity with ancient Canaanite and Philistine
culture. For Kasher’s problematic working assumptions, see the review by Daniel
J. Harrington in JBL 111 (1992): 137–39.
71
Cohen, The Seleucid Colonies, 37, notes that “heterogeneity of population was
one of the distinguishing characteristics of the great Seleucid cities,” and calls atten-
tion to Appian, Syr. 1, where Antiochus the Great is said to have re-founded
Lysimacheia with a mixed population. Nor was this phenomenon entirely new; for
cosmopolitanism as a characteristic of early western Greek settlements, marked by
a high “degree of integration of indigenous and intrusive populations,” see Snodgrass,
“The Early Western Colonies,” 2. As to the minority status of Greeks in “Greek
cities” such as Gadara, Graf argues that “foreign settlers of the Decapolis cities in
the Hellenistic period probably numbered in the hundreds at most, and were greatly
dominated by the indigenous Arameans and Arabs.” See his “Hellenisation and the
Decapolis,” 6.
72
Cohen, The Seleucid Colonies, 88. See also Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization,
 gadara 359

city was reflected in the particular urban form that it acquired dur-
ing this period. Like other Greek cities in the region,73 it was a mix-
ture of East and West:
Outwardly, its physical aspect corresponds to the general principles
developed in the Mediterranean West, but its essence and nature are
Oriental. Urban arrangements in Syria during that period exhibit in
many ways the interaction of the various elements of which the new
culture was composed and show the development of the tradition which
was shaped by these elements. Consequently, any consideration of
urban arrangements in Syria has to be looked upon as part of the
major development of Hellenistic culture, a Hellenistic harvest, in its
various aspects. Therefore, the point is not the “ready-made” pat-
terns . . . introduced to the area, rather it is the way in which they
were applied and adapted according to the traditional and character-
istic elements of the Syrian town. . . . Here it is enough to state the
fact that religious tendencies, manifest in all Oriental material culture
from its beginning, reveal themselves in sharp contrast to the princi-
ples of the Graeco-Roman life. These tendencies guided the way in
which foreign cultural aspects were accepted in Syria, giving the whole
a distinctive and varied style.74
About the same time that Meleager was extolling the Greek char-
acter of his native city, its political status as a Seleucid city changed
dramatically. The Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus (103–76
b.c.e.) took Gadara at some point during his reign, though precisely

159–60, who emphasizes that the Seleucids did not seek “to Hellenize their sub-
jects” but rather “saw in the Greek element of their kingdom the strongest prop
of their rule over the indigenous populations.” Assessing the degree of Hellenization
in Syria is extremely problematic, especially in contrast to the situation in Judea,
where both the resistance to and the absorption of Greek culture can be clearly
seen in diverse kinds of material. The paucity of evidence for Syria’s non-Greek
culture during both the pre-Hellenistic period and the Hellenistic period makes is
extraordinarily difficult to make a similar assessment for the impact of Hellenic cul-
ture on Syria during the Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods. On this problem, see esp.
Millar, “The Problem of Hellenistic Syria,” 110–33.
73
See, in general, Jean-Baptiste Yon, “The Greco-Roman Era: Cultural Fusion
in a Hellenistic Setting, 323 b.c.–337 a.d.,” in The Levant: History and Archaeology in
the Eastern Mediterranean, ed. O. Binst (Cologne: Könemann, 2000), 80–139.
74
Barghouti, “Urbanization,” 211, 213. According to Rey-Coquais, “Decapolis,”
119, the eastern borrowing of the Decapolis cities served both to give them “a feel-
ing of shared culture” and conferred on them “an originality noteworthy in this
part of the Orient.” For the possible identification of a temple with a propylaeum
in Roman Gadara built according to local domestic traditions rather than Classical
and Hellenistic Greek forms, see Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
122.
360 john t. fitzgerald

when is a matter of debate.75 The key text in the debate is Josephus,

Ant. 13.356, a passage in which the Jewish historian writes as follows:
Thereupon Alexander, being rid of his fear of Ptolemy,76 at once
marched on Coele-Syria77 and took Gadara after a siege of ten months,
and also took Amathùs, the greatest stronghold of those occupied
beyond the Jordan, where Thedorus, the son of Zenon, kept his best
and most valuable possessions. This man fell upon the Jews unex-
pectedly and killed ten thousand of them, and plundered Alexander’s
baggage.78
The majority opinion is that Josephus is referring to the Gadara that
is the subject of this essay, later known as Gadara of the Decapolis
(Umm Qeis).79 If this is correct, Alexander would have launched his

75
Gadara’s relationship with the inhabitants of Judah during the second century
can only be a matter of speculation and inference, for there are no texts that explic-
itly refer to Gadarene-Jewish relations during that period. One may readily assume
that Gadara, as a Seleucid city, was neither supportive of the Hasmonean revolt
nor sympathetic to the anti-Hellenistic elements within the independent Jewish state
that subsequently emerged. Kasher’s claim ( Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 80) that Judas
the Maccabee and Jonathan deliberately avoided the city because of its size and
hostility is possible, yet problematic. It can only be sustained by anachronistically
attributing to the Gadarenes of Judas’ time the antagonistic feelings of those whose
city was conquered by Jannaeus more than a half century later. Similarly, we have
no evidence for Gadarene relations with Jannaeus’ more immediate predecessors,
though one may easily imagine that they were troubled by the expansionist poli-
cies of John Hyrcanus (134–104 b.c.e.) and Aristobulus (104–103 b.c.e.). Given
those policies and the previous Hasmonean incursions into Idumea, Samaria, and
Galilee, the Gadarenes should not have been surprised by Jannaeus’ invasion of
their territory. The Hasmonean policy of territorial expansion was dictated by a
number of factors, including the need to provide land for the overcrowded Judean
population. On this latter point, see esp. B. Bar-Kochva, “Manpower, Economics,
and Internal Strife in the Hasmonean State,” in Armées et fiscalité dans le monde antique,
Colloques nationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 936 (Paris:
Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1977), 167–96.
76
The reference is to Ptolemy IX Soter II (= Ptolemy Lathyrus [“Chickpea”]),
who, in response to an entreaty from the city of Ptolemais, had invaded Judea and
fought against Alexander Jannaeus in preparation for his invasion of Egypt and war
against Cleopatra III, his mother. Lathyrus was ultimately unsuccessful in this attempt
to defeat his mother and eventually returned to Cyprus. The conflict ultimately led
to Jannaeus and Cleopatra forming an alliance ( Josephus, Ant. 13.324–355). For
the details, see Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 139–51.
77
In the section immediately preceding the one here quoted, Josephus locates
Scythopolis in Coele Syria, though it lies west of the river Jordan (Ant. 13.355).
Gadara and Amathus, by contrast, are located to the east, “beyond the Jordan.”
For the three different geographical connotations of Coele Syria in the Greco-
Roman period, see Marcus’ note in the LCL on Josephus, Ant. 11.25.
78
See also Josephus, J.W. 1.86.
79
This position is taken, for example, by Schürer, The History of the Jewish People,
1:221 n. 10.
 gadara 361

campaign of 101 b.c.e. in northern Transjordan, with Gadara as his

first and strategically most important target. “Jannaeus with great
tactical wisdom first tried to capture Gadara . . . and its vicinity, for
thereby he would obtain control of the natural and secure geo-
graphical border to the north of the Gilead—the Yarmuk River.”80
“Jannaeus apparently took its considerable advantages into account
and realized that its occupation might well give him the key to
expansion throughout Transjordan.”81 Therefore, according to this
interpretation, Jannaeus’ victory in 100 b.c.e. after a siege of ten
months enabled him “to detach the first link in the chain of Hellenistic
cities east of the Jordan.”82 With the powerful and heavily fortified
Gadara subdued, he moved next against Amathus, “the greatest
stronghold of those occupied beyond the Jordan” (Ant. 13.356).83 With
Gadara and Amathus thus under his control, Jannaeus would have
two key bases from which to carry out his expansionist agenda.
The minority view identifies the Gadara of this narrative with the
city that later was the capital of Perea.84 It was located in the same

80
Aryeh Kasher, Jews, Idumaeans, and Ancient Arabs: Relations of the Jews in Eretz-
Israel with the Nations of the Frontier and the Desert during the Hellenistic and Roman Era
(332 B.C.E.–70 C.E.), TSAJ 18 (Tübingen: Mohr, 1988), 87.
81
Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 151.
82
Kasher, Jews, Idumaeans, and Ancient Arabs, 87. Kasher (p. 86) also contends that
Jannaeus’s policy of conquest was designed to give him a firm grip on the two
international highways in the region (the King’s Highway and the Via Maris) and
thus a share in the revenue generated by those who used them. Kasher’s discus-
sion of Gadara’s occupation is intended as an illustration of this policy. In Jews and
Hellenistic Cities, 144, he argues that Gadara and Amathus controlled an important
segment of the King’s Highway. But the situation is not nearly as clear as Kasher
depicts it. Gadara certainly had strategic importance both militarily and economi-
cally, so it is easy to see why Jannaeus would have targeted it. But the city did not
lie on either the King’s Highway or the Via Maris, though a branch of the latter
did pass through the Yarmuk Valley on the opposite slope, coming within about 5
km of Gadara. The King’s Highway was even further away, about 30 km to the
east of Gadara (see Maxwell, “Gadara of the Decapolis,” 21). There is not, to my
knowledge, any evidence that suggests that Gadara and Amathus jointly controlled
a segment of this highway, and it is difficult to see how Jannaeus could hope to
control segments of the two international highways without simultaneously control-
ling other key Decapolis cities, such as Abila, Hippos, and Pella.
83
Kasher, Jews, Idumaeans, and Ancient Arabs, 87 n. 128, thinks that Jannaeus’
attacks on Gadara and Amathus may have been simultaneous rather than sequen-
tial, attacking the two cities in pincer fashion.
84
Advocates of this view include Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, 255
and 455 n. 39, and E. Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule: From Pompey
to Diocletian, SJLA 20 (Leiden: Brill, 1976), 15 n. 38.
362 john t. fitzgerald

general area as Amathus, against which Jannaeus also took action.

Militarily, according to this interpretation, Jannaeus did not divide
his energies by attacking cities in two different parts of Transjordan
nor ignore Pella, an important city lying between Umm Qeis and
Amathus. On the contrary, he concentrated his initial efforts in Perea
and later switched from the east to the west, attacking cities on the
southern part of the coast. He subsequently returned to middle and
southern portions of Transjordan, avenging his defeat at Amathus
by razing the fortress.85 Consequently, it was only later in Jannaeus’
reign, probably between 83 and 76 (especially 83–80), that he attacked
and annexed Gadara, Pella, Hippos, and other inland Greco-Syrian
cities that lay close to Perea and Galilee (which already had been
successfully occupied by his father Aristobulus I [104–103 b.c.e.]).
Furthermore, Josephus elsewhere ( J.W. 4.413) describes Perean
Gadara as a “strong” city that might indeed have taken ten months
to subjugate.86
Of these two viewpoints, the one held by the majority of schol-
ars is far more likely and has been bolstered by recent archaeolog-
ical excavations that show that Gadara’s walls were indeed destroyed,87
almost certainly when the city fell to Alexander Jannaeus.88 Yet
Gadara’s story may be considerably more complicated than the one
that Josephus narrates. Gadara’s Seleucid walls appear to have been
destroyed in two stages, not one. That raises the possibility that the
city walls were only partly destroyed when Jannaeus took the city,
and that some years later, after the Gadarenes temporarily retook

85
Josephus, J.W. 1.87–89; Ant. 13.357–374. Whether Josephus depicts Jannaeus
as militarily involved in northern Transjordan during the early period of his reign
depends in part on the interpretation of J.W. 1.90 and Ant. 13.375, where a conflict
with the Nabataean king Obodas I (ca. 96–ca. 87 b.c.e.) is narrated. For a dis-
cussion and an affirmative answer, see Kasher, Jews, Idumaeans, and Ancient Arabs,
90–95.
86
If the “Gadara” in Josephus, J.W. 1.170 and Ant. 14.91 is a reference to the
city in Perea, this would be another instance of Josephus mentioning Amathus and
Perean Gadara together. But most scholars identify this Gadara with Gazara (Gezer).
87
For a comprehensive report on Gadara’s walls, see Adolf Hoffmann, “Die
Stadtmauern der hellenistisch-römischen Dekapolisstadt Gadara: Zusammenfassender
Bericht über die seit 1991 durchgeführten Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen,”
Archäologischer Anzeiger (2000): 175–233. See also his “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
103–5.
88
Some scholars, such as Ya‘akov Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis
in the Roman Period ( Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1985), 80, claim that the city
was destroyed during the Jewish civil war between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II
(67–63 b.c.e.), but I know of no evidence in support of this view.
 gadara 363

the city and attempted to repair the walls, Jannaeus reclaimed the
city and destroyed the walls completely. That is speculation,89 but it
would explain the archaeological evidence, and Jannaeus’ defeat at
the hands of the Nabataean king Obodas I (ca. 96–ca. 85 b.c.e.),
perhaps near Hippos, and his subsequent withdrawal to Jerusalem
would provide a suitable occasion for the Gadarenes to regain con-
trol of their city ( J.W. 1.90; Ant. 13.375). If this hypothesis is cor-
rect, it would mean that Jannaeus’ occupation of Gadara was not
unlike that of Amathus, which he initially took, then lost, and finally
razed to the ground ( J.W. 1.86–89; Ant. 13.356, 374).
Because Gadara has not yet been fully excavated, it is impossible
to calculate the extent of the damage that the city suffered at this
point in time. Scholarly opinion on this issue varies, with some tak-
ing a minimalist view and others viewing the damage as constitut-
ing total devastation. According to the minimalist standpoint, most
of the damage was restricted to the city walls, against which siege-
works had been employed (Ant. 13.356). The only other structures
likely damaged or destroyed would have been the city’s pagan tem-
ples.90 Yet Josephus’ language implies that the damage was much
more catastrophic in scope than this. He not only says that Jannaeus
forcibly “seized” (kratÇei: J.W. 1.86) and “took” (aflre›: Ant. 13.356)
the city but also that he “destroyed” (katestramm°nhn: J.W. 1.155)91
and “demolished” (kataskafe›san: Ant. 14.75)92 it, so much so that
it subsequently had to be rebuilt (én°ktise: Ant. 14.75; énakt¤zei:
J.W. 1.155).93 Such language evokes the image of massive destruc-
tion, not just damage to the city’s fortifications and the destruction

89
The hypothesis is that of Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 104–5.
90
So Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 153.
91
See esp. Josephus, J.W. 1.199: “to rebuild (énakt¤sai) the ruined (kates-
tramm°na) walls.” See also Amos 9:11 v.l. and Acts 15:16 v.l.
92
See esp. Josephus, Ant. 4.313: Moses prophesied that “their land would be
filled with the arms of enemies, their cities razed (kataskaf∞nai), their temple
burnt,” and Ant. 8.128: God “would also raze their city to the ground (kataskã-
cein) by the hand of their enemies.” See also Acts 15:16 (quoting Amos 9:11 LXX):
“After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen;
from its ruins (kateskamm°na) I will rebuild it, and I will set it up” (NRSV). For
a brief discussion of the textual issues related to Acts 15:16 and its quotation of
Amos 9:11, see Metzger, A Textual Commentary, 379.
93
See esp. Josephus, J.W. 1.165: “restoring order in the cities which had escaped
devastation, and rebuilding (énakt¤zvn) those which he found in ruins (kates-
tramm°naw).”
364 john t. fitzgerald

of specific structures within the city. On the other hand, Josephus

may well have been exaggerating the devastation in order to vilify
Jannaeus or to glorify those would rebuild Gadara and the other
severely damaged Syrian cities. Indeed, the previously mentioned sec-
ond-century Hellenistic temple to Zeus, which may have been finished
only shortly before Jannaeus took Gadara, appears not to have been
destroyed during the entire Hasmonean period.94 Therefore, the dam-
age done to Gadara by Jannaeus did not entail total devastation of
the city, though it likely did render it in need of extensive repairs
and selected rebuilding.
In any case, Gadara and many other Hellenistic cities situated
east of the Jordan River suffered at the hands of the Hasmoneans
and remained under their control for up to three and a half decades.95
The general situation at this time is clear. For Gadarenes and the
residents of other occupied cities, it was a time of political, social,
economic, intellectual, and religious oppression.
After a hellenized town had been sieged and taken, the rich politai
[citizens] were normally expropriated and their lands on the Chora
[country] were distributed to Jewish military colonists. Subversive ele-
ments of the population were either imprisoned or sold into slavery,
opponent intellectuals were expelled from the cities, and spent the years
of Hasmonean dominion in exile.96
Again,
We will apparently not be wrong to state that the official Hasmonaean
policy concerning the conquered Hellenistic cities was expressed in the
suppression of idolatry, expulsion of the hostile pagan population to
whatever degree possible, abolition of Hellenistic law and enforcement
of the Biblical commandments, seizure of lands and property . . .,
confiscation of other property owned by citizens (houses, shops, etc.),
reduction of legal status, cutting off sources of income, etc.97

94
Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 109.
95
Both Josephus (Ant. 13.396) and George Syncellus in his Chronicle (pp. 558–559
Dindorf = 355.7–11 Mosshammer) give a list of cities held by Alexander Jannaeus,
and Syncellus makes clear that Gadara of the Decapolis was among them, doing
so by referring to the hot springs in the vicinity.
96
Thomas Weber, “Gadarenes in Exile: Two Inscriptions from Greece Recon-
sidered,” ZDPV 112 (1996): 10–17, esp. 10.
97
Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 167. See also 142, where Kasher discusses
Jannaeus’ policy of Judaization and focuses on four elements of that policy. He
does not believe that Jannaeus or the other Hasmoneans, as a matter of policy or
practice, either “flooded the slave markets with captured citizens of devastated poleis”
or impressed “various population groups into the service of the Jews.” To the extent
 gadara 365

Meleager and Philodemus, the two best know Gadarene intellectu-

als from this time period, are perhaps typical in this regard. Both
lived abroad while the Hasmoneans controlled the city, Meleager
residing in Tyre and Cos, and Philodemus in Athens and Campania.98
Their departures from the city may or may not have been occa-
sioned by the Hasmonean occupation of the city, but it certainly
offered no incentive for them to return.99
The Hasmonean occupation of Gadara was brought to an end by
the Roman general Pompey, who “liberated” the city during his
incursion into Syria in 64/63 b.c.e.100 As a favor to his freedman
Demetrius, a native of Gadara, Pompey re-founded (én°ktise) the
ruined city.101 None of the other ruined cities received this benefac-
tion, which gave Gadara an enormous advantage over the other

that it occurred, “it was most probably marginal and local in scope” (166). Possible
counter-evidence is Pompey’s freedman Demetrius, who hailed from Gadara, but
we do not know under what circumstances he either became or was born a slave.
Susan Treggiari, Roman Freedmen during the Late Republic (Oxford: Clarendon, 1969),
246, thinks it is possible that he was a prisoner of war. On Demetrius, see below.
98
Weber, “Gadarenes in Exile,” 14.
99
In the case of Meleager, it is almost certain that he had left Gadara for Tyre
prior to the Hasmonean occupation of the city. His snide references to Jews and
Jewish practices (Anth. Pal. 5.160) are limited to sterotypes and can’t be related
specifically to the Hasmonean occupation of Gadara, though the latter would hardly
have made him more sympathetic. Philodemus and his family, on the other hand,
are much more likely to have been affected by the city’s loss of sovereignty and
status, and this is often given as a possible reason for his departure from the city;
see, e.g., Ernest Will, “L’urbanisation de la Jordanie aux époques hellénistique et
romaine: conditions géographiques et ethniques,” in Studies in the History and Archaeology
of Jordan II, ed. A. Hadidi (Amman: Department of Antiquities; London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1985), 237–41, esp. 240 n. 19.
100
On Pompey in Syria, see Will, Histoire politique du monde hellénistique, 2:505–17.
Several intaglios dating from about the time of the Roman conquest have been
found at Gadara, and some of the Italic gems found there could have arrived with
Pompey’s soldiers or as a result of trade; see Henig and Whiting, Engraved Gems, 1,
who point out that the nearest parallels to one intaglio (no. 267) are found on
Etruscan scarabs.
101
For Pompey’s action as evidence of Demetrius’ pride in his native city, see
Geiger, “Local Patriotism,” 146 n. 30. Demetrius’ desire to see his native city rebuilt
was not unique; the same desire is attested for Aristotle in regard to Stagira (Dio
Chrysostom, Or. 2.79). Demetrius may have repaid this and other favors by build-
ing a monumental stone theatre on the Campus Martius and naming it after Pompey.
Cassius Dio (Hist. 39.38.6) says that he had heard the (likely false) rumor that the
famous “Theater of Pompey” (theatrum Pompei ) “was not erected by Pompey, but by
one Demetrius, a freedman of his, with the money he had gained while making
campaigns with the general. Most justly, therefore, did he give his master’s name
to the structure, so that Pompey might not incur needless reproach because of the
366 john t. fitzgerald

cities in the region ( Josephus, J.W. 1.155; Ant. 14.75).102 Its changed
economic situation is reflected in some of its pre-imperial coinage,
on which cornucopias appear as symbolic of its new wealth and
abundance.103 Furthermore, if Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria in
57–55 b.c.e., did not—as is usually assumed on the basis of J.W.
1.166 and Ant. 14.88—undertake a massive rebuilding program for
the other ruined cities, Gadara had an even greater advantage over
its sister cities during the early years of Roman rule.104 Be that as
it may, Pompey not only rebuilt Gadara but also assigned it and
the other Greek cities of that region to the Roman province of Syria
( Josephus, J.W. 1.155–157; Ant. 14.75–76).105 Pompey appears also
to have laid the foundation for the subsequent organization, possi-
bly on the basis of Hellenistic or even Persian precedents, of a num-
ber of prominent cities of the region into a geographical and
administrative unit later named the Decapolis, with Gadara included
in that group.106 The relevant cities, inasmuch as they were attached

fact that his freedman had collected money enough to suffice for so huge an expen-
diture” (trans. E. Cary, LCL). On Demetrius, see also Plutarch, Pom. 40.1–5, and
Treggiari, Roman Freedmen, 184–85.
102
It is surprising that the rebuilding of the city by Pompey apparently did not
involve the rebuilding of the walls, which appear to have been totally destroyed.
According to Hoffmann, “Topographie and Stadtgeschichte,” 104, the walls were
not rebuilt until the second half of the first century c.e.
103
See coins numbered 4–7 in the catalogue given by Spijkerman, Coins of the
Decapolis, 128–29. The coins are dated between 47/46 and 40/39 b.c.e. Cornucopias
also appear on Gadarene coins from the early Roman period; see coins numbered
12 (Tiberius), 17 (Claudius), 20 (Claudius), 25 (Nero), and 28 (Titus).
104
Benjamin Isaac has raised considerable doubts about Gabinius’ alleged build-
ing program. See his The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1990), 336–40.
105
On Roman Syria, see esp. Rey-Coquais, “Syrie romaine, de Pompée à Dioclé-
tien,” JRS 68 (1978): 44–73, and also his “La Syrie, de Pompée à Dioclétien: histoire
politique et administrative,” in La Syrie de l’époque achéménide à l’avènement de l’Islam,
45–61.
106
On the Decapolis, see Hans Bietenhard, “Die syrische Dekapolis von Pompeius
bis Traian,” ANRW 2.8 (1977): 220–61; Rey-Coquais, “Decapolis,” 116–21; and
Susanne Kerner, “Die Dekapolis-Städte: Der Versuch einer Zusammenfassung,” in
Gadara—Gerasa und die Dekapolis, 146–47. For the possibility of a Hellenistic pre-
cursor to the Roman organization of the region, see Will, “L’urbanisation de la
Jordanie aux époques hellénistique et romaine,” 239. For the related possibility that
“Coele Syria,” the term that the cities used after the annexation of Arabia in 106
c.e., is “an older administrative term for the region, designating the former Ptolemaic
territories in Syria-Palestine, and perhaps originally the Greek equivalent for the
former Achaemenid Persian satrapy of ‘Across the River’ ('abar naharâ ),” see Graf,
“Hellenisation and the Decapolis,” 2–3.
 gadara 367

to Syria, were placed under the jurisdiction of the Roman legate of

that province ( J.W. 1.155; Ant. 14.74) and likely administered by
one of the legate’s subordinates.107
Gadara and the other cities of the region welcomed this transi-
tion to Roman rule, viewing it as the dawning of a new era. “The
enthusiasm of the Decapolis cities is not hard to understand, as the
new regime signaled independence from the imperialistic schemes
and religious intolerance of the Hasmoneans.”108 Needless to say, it
provided the occasion for some of the Gadarenes living abroad to

107
Although Pompey can rightly be said to have established the Roman province
of Syria (Will, Histoire politique du monde hellénistique, 2:508–12), no ancient source
credits him with creating the Decapolis. The frequent claim that he did so (see,
e.g., Will, “L’urbanisation de la Jordanie aux époques hellénistique et romaine,”
238), is a highly questionable inference drawn from the widespread use of the
Pompeian era on Decapolis coins minted during the time of the Roman empire.
Furthermore, S. Thomas Parker, “The Decapolis Reviewed,” JBL 94 (1975): 437–41,
correctly points out that there is no evidence that the Decapolis ever functioned as
a league or confederation. What united the cities was their status as Greek cities
within the same geographical region, and, as such, “shared common political, cul-
tural, commercial and security interests” (Weber, “One Hundred Years,” 16).
Accordingly, the term “Decapolis” is used in the ancient sources primarily, though
not exclusively, to describe a geographical region. Yet the significance of Pompey’s
action was almost certainly more than geographical, for implicit in the cities’ attach-
ment to Syria was the establishment of some means of administering the area. By
the Flavian period at the end of the first century c.e., the Decapolis was an admin-
istrative unit annexed to the province of Syria, and this is very likely to have been
true from an early period. See Benjamin Isaac, “The Decapolis in Syria: A Neglected
Inscription,” in his The Near East Under Roman Rule: Selected Papers, Mnemosyne
Supplements 177 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 313–21. Graf, “Hellenisation and the Decapolis,”
23–24, suggests that the governor’s (strathgÒw) deputy was called a sub-strategos
(Ípostrãthgow), a term that Josephus uses for one of Gabinius’ subordinates ( J.W.
1.172; Ant. 14.93). But he dates the organization of the Decapolis cities into a geo-
graphical unit to the Augustan era (26) and argues that it is anachronistic to use
the term for the earlier period (34). Similarly, Hoffmann, “Topographie und
Stadtgeschichte,” 101–2, assigns the rise of the Decapolis to the first century c.e.,
but he thinks of it in terms of a league of independent cities, not a geo-adminis-
trative term. In any case, the New Testament provides the earliest evidence for the
use of the term “Decapolis”: Mark 5:20; 7:31 and Matt 4:25.
108
David F. Graf, “The Nabateans and the Decapolis,” in The Defence of the Roman
and Byzantine East, 2 vols., ed. P. Freeman and D. L. Kennedy, BAR International
Series 297 (Oxford: Hadrian Books, 1986), 785–96, esp. 789; reprinted in Graf ’s
Rome and the Arabian Frontier: From the Nabataeans to the Saracens, Variorum Collected
Studies Series: CS594 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1997). Graf (785, 792–93) suggests that
one of Pompey’s chief purposes in freeing the Syrian cities was military, viz., to
contain the Hasmoneans and check their expansionist ambitions. See also Weber,
“One Hundred Years,” 16, who argues that the Decapolis cities functioned as an
effective check against expansion by both the Hasmoneans and the Nabataeans.
368 john t. fitzgerald

return home and for other people to move there for the first time.109
In celebration of this momentous transition and the reacquisition of
at least a certain degree of municipal autonomy, Gadara and most
other Decapolis cities abandoned the Seleucid era of dating and
inaugurated a new one, hailing the beginning of the Pompeian era.110
Coins issued by Gadara in the year 64/63 b.c.e. are dated “year
one of Rome,”111 and one extant coin from that year depicts the
ram of a Roman galley,112 most likely in honor of Pompey’s victo-
ries over the pirates.113 Later, in 161 c.e. the Gadarenes apparently
honored Pompey’s foundation of the city and his naval victories by
holding a naumachia (a simulated sea battle).114 The Gadarenes’ con-
tinuing gratitude to Pompey is also reflected in imperial era coins
that designate the city “Pompeian Gadara.”115 Yet even as Gadarenes
embraced this transition to Roman power, they steadfastly main-
tained their connections with Greek culture. This continuity is seen
in numerous ways, especially in the realm of religion. Local Syrian

109
Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 175. The experience of Gadarenes living
abroad provides one reason for the discernible foreign influence on the city’s funer-
ary art; see Weber, “Gadarenes in Exile,” 14.
110
Of these, Gadara appears to have been the only city to have received per-
mission to mint bronze coins; so Rey-Coquais, “Decapolis,” 118. On coins issued
by Gadara from 64/63 b.c.e. to 240/241 c.e., see Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis,
126–55; for those from the Roman period, see Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel
and the Decapolis, 80–83, 118. Meshorer (pp. 8, 80, 83) also points out that Gadara
had one of the largest municipal mints in the region, and that during the reign of
Caracalla (212–217 c.e.) it was granted the right to mint large silver coins; for the
latter, see Alfred R. Bellinger, The Syrian Tetradrachms of Caracalla and Macrinus, Numis-
matic Studies 3 (New York: American Numismatic Society, 1940), 90–92. At the
end of Gallienus’ reign (268 c.e.), however, Rome cancelled the right of Gadara
and other cities to mint coins, thus bringing to an end more than three centuries
of almost continuous minting activity by Gadara.
111
Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis, 15 n. 17, 128–29.
112
Ibid., 128–29.
113
The significance of the nautical imagery is fiercely contested, but the nauti-
cal imagery on Gadara’s pre-imperial coins is most likely connected with the vic-
tories of Pompey and his troops. For the view that Gadarene imperial coins with
Roman galleys also signify Pompey’s victories, see Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel
and the Decapolis, 82.
114
Ibid., 82–83.
115
Pomphi°vn Gadar°vn, “of the people of Pompeian Gadara.” See Spijkerman,
Coins of the Decapolis, 127, 300–1, and Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the
Decapolis, 80. The only other city in the region to take the name of Pompey was
Pella; see Kent J. Rigsby, Asylia: Territorial Inviolability in the Hellenistic World, Hellenistic
Culture and Society 22 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press,
1996), 533 n. 9.
 gadara 369

deities had long since been assimilated to their Greek counterparts;

for example, Gad (dg), the Semitic deity of good luck, was most likely
identified with Tyche, the Greek deity of good fortune, whom the
residents of Gadara (rdg) honored as the city-goddess.116 From their
perspective, the honor was apt, since fortune had smiled on them
through Pompey’s generosity.117 Busts of Tyche, Herakles,118 and
Athena119 appear on pre-imperial Gadarene coinage120 as well as on
coins minted subsequently.121 Throughout the Decapolis cities pairs
of male military gods were routinely identified with the Dioscuri.122
Furthermore, in an inscription found on Delos that probably dates
from the late Hellenistic period, a Gadarene native named Ision

116
On Gad the god of luck and the common equation of him with Tyche, the
goddess of fortune, see Dominique Sourdel, Les cultes du Hauran à l’époque romaine,
Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 53 (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale; Paris: Paul
Geuthner, 1952), 49–52, and S. Ribichini, “Gad,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons
(DDD), ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P. W. van der Horst, 2nd ed.
(Leiden: Brill; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 339–41. The connection between
the two terms appears also in Gen 30:11, where Leah’s cry of “good fortune” (dgb)
at the birth of Gad is translated by the LXX as §n tÊx˙. On the meaning of dg
as “good fortune,” see also DCH 2 (1995): 315. For Tyche as Gadara’s city-god-
dess, see Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, 80, and Weber, “One
Hundred Years,” 27. A larger-than-life-sized white marble statue of the seated god-
dess Tyche, likely weighing about three and a half tons, was found among the seats
of Gadara’s western theater, which dates from the Roman period. Weber, Umm
Qais, 36, suggests that it originally stood in a shrine dedicated to the goddess. For
a brief discussion and a photograph of the statute being removed from the theater,
see Thomas Weber and Adolf Hoffmann, “Gadara of the Decapolis: Preliminary
Report of the 1989 Season at Umm Qeis,” ADAJ 34 (1990): 321–42, esp. 331,
342.
117
For the quite different Jewish connection of Gad with the realm of the demonic,
see Isa 65:1 LXX and the discussion above of Matt 8:28–34.
118
Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, 80, rightly infers from
Herakles’ presence on Gadarene coins that he was part of the city’s pantheon. On
the common equation of Herakles with Melqart (“king of the city”), see Sourdel,
Les cultes du Hauran, 33–35, and D. E. Aune, “Heracles,” and S. Ribichini, “Melqart,”
both in DDD, 402–5 (Aune), 563–5 (Ribichini).
119
As the chief polis divinity in Greek religion, Athena naturally played an impor-
tant role in Greek cities. In Syria, she was most often equated with the pre-Islamic
Arab war-goddess Allat; see Sourdel, Les cultes du Hauran, 69–74, and Pau Figueras,
“The Roman Worship of Athena-Allat in the Decapolis and the Negev,” ARAM 4
(1992): 173–83.
120
Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis, 128–29.
121
See the index in Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis, 312–15. In several cases,
as Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, 83, points out, “a river-god,
personifying the Yarmuk River, is shown swimming at Tyche’s feet.”
122
Thomas Weber, “Karawanengötter in der Dekapolis,” Damaszener Mitteilungen
8 (1995): 203–11.
370 john t. fitzgerald

gives thanks to Artemis Sosikolonos, “Artemis, the savior of colonies.”123

The inscription may well reflect not only a Gadarene’s continuing
devotion to the Greek gods but also his deep gratitude that, through
Pompey, Artemis had saved his native city.124
Gadara’s political situation changed several times in the decades
following its incorporation into the Roman political orbit. When Sex.
Julius Caesar was governor of Syria in 47–46 b.c.e., he appointed
Herod (the Great) as strategos of Coele Syria ( Josephus, J.W. 1.213;
Ant. 14.180).125 Inasmuch as Gadara was part of Coele Syria, it prob-
ably became temporarily subject to Herod. In the tumultuous period
that followed Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 b.c.e., Syria as a
whole was dramatically affected. It was under the administration of
C. Cassius Longinus from 44 until 42 b.c.e., when Cassius and Brutus
were defeated at Philippi. The control of Syria at this point passed
to Mark Antony, who in 41 appointed a legate for the province
(Cassius Dio 48.24.3) and named Herod and his brother Phasael
joint tetrarchs of Judea ( J.W. 1.244; Ant. 14.326). But later that year
or in 40 the Parthians launched an invasion of Syria and conquered
it (Cassius Dio 48.24.7–26.4), thereby gaining control of most of the
province (Livy, Epit. 127). At this point Gadara and the other cities
of the region would have been under Parthian control or at least
threatened by that prospect. Herod fled to Rome, where, with the
backing of both Antony and Octavian, the Senate declared him king
of Judea in 40 ( J.W. 1.282–285; Ant. 14.381–393). By 37 Herod had
won his kingdom, having defeated the Hasmonean king Antigonus
II, who had gained the throne as a Parthian protégé. But as long

123
Inscriptions de Délos no. 2377, on which see Weber, “Gadarenes in Exile,” 12–13.
124
Marble fragments depicting Ephesian Artemis have been found in Gadara’s
so-called rectangular “nymphaeum”; see Weber, “One Hundred Years,” 20, and
Weber and Hoffmann, “Preliminary Report of the 1989 Season,” 323. For a pho-
tograph of the statuette, see Weber, “Survey of Roman Sculpture,” 354. On Artemis
in Syria, see Sourdel, Les cultes du Hauran, 42, and at Gerasa, the essay by Roberto
Parapetti, “Gerasa und das Artemis-Heiligtum,” in Gadara—Gerasa und die Dekapolis,
23–35. On Artemis Ephesia, see Robert Fleischer, Artemis von Ephesos und verwandte
Kultstatuen aus Anatolien und Syrien, EPRO 35 (Leiden: Brill, 1973), and G. Mussies,
“Artemis,” in DDD 91–97, esp. 93–96.
125
On Sex. Julius Caesar, see Schürer, The History of the Jewish People, 1:248.
Herod’s father Antipater had previously appointed him strategos of Galilee, so Sex.
Julius Caesar’s appointment functioned to expand the area under Herod’s control
( Josephus, J.W. 1.203; Ant. 14.158).
 gadara 371

as Antony was enamored of Cleopatra, Herod could have no hope

of regaining Gadara. Indeed, since Cleopatra sought to use her
influence over Antony to expand her kingdom, Herod was fortunate
in being able to retain Judea. As the powerbroker in the east, Antony
controlled the fate of Syria, though he did give Cleopatra a part of
Coele Syria (Ant. 15.79).
That situation changed in September of 31, when Octavian defeated
Antony and Cleopatra at Actium and became the new power-broker.126
Herod, who already had switched his allegiance from Antony to
Octavian (Plutarch, Ant. 71.1), wasted no time in acting: the follow-
ing spring he went to see Octavian at Rhodes and was confirmed
by him as king ( J.W. 1.386–393; Ant. 15.183–197). In the autumn
of that same year he once again visited Octavian, this time in Egypt,
and on this trip he finally succeeded in regaining Gadara as well as
a number of other cities ( J.W. 1.396; Ant. 15.217). According to
Josephus, Herod obtained Gadara and the other cities as a result of
his hospitality to and friendship with Augustus, who recognized that
Herod’s realm was insufficient and wished to enlarge its extent.127 In
gratitude for the gift of Gadara and likely with Augustus’ permis-
sion, Herod issued Gadarene coins in 30 b.c.e. with Augustus’ por-
trait.128 That city coins rarely bore Augustus’ portrait is indicative of
Herod’s appreciation for the acquisition of the city.129

126
For the Roman Near East from the Battle of Actium to the death of Constantine,
see esp. Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.–A.D. 337 (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1993).
127
For Herod’s hospitality to Augustus and his soldiers and their recognition of
the limited extent of Herod’s realm, see Josephus, J.W. 1.394–396. On Herod’s
speaking to Augustus with frankness (parrhs¤a) as a sign of their friendship, see
Josephus, Ant. 15.217. For the role of hospitality in friendship and the connections
between frank speech and friendship, see John T. Fitzgerald, “Hospitality,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background, ed. C. Evans and S. Porter (Downers Grove:
InterVarsity, 2000), 522–25, and John T. Fitzgerald, ed., Friendship, Flattery, and
Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World, NovTSup 82 (Leiden:
Brill, 1996). For the suggestion that Augustus’ action in awarding Gadara to Herod
was a reward for his support at Pelusium, see Hoffmann, “Topographie und
Stadtgeschichte,” 102; for the argument that it was a punitive measure taken against
Gadara on account of its perceived previous loyalty to Cleopatra, see Kasher, Jews
and Hellenistic Cities, 194.
128
For the coins, see Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis, 130–31.
129
Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, 80: “From Augustus onwards,
imperial coins were struck in Gadara, including coins bearing his portrait, a fea-
ture uncommon on city-coins.”
372 john t. fitzgerald

Most Gadarenes, however, were not thrilled with Herod’s rule and
subsequently sought relief, complaining about his tyrannical decrees,
accusing him of violence and plunder, and charging him with raz-
ing their temples (Ant. 15.351, 354–358).130 These were serious charges,
especially the accusation that Herod had razed (kataskafåw) Gadarene
temples (Ant. 15.357). In making this charge, the Gadarenes were
not only charging Herod with religious crimes but were probably
also accusing Herod of showing contempt for Rome by violating its
decree that Gadara was inviolable.131 Despite the severity of these
charges, Augustus viewed them as unfounded, acquitted Herod, and
thus refused the city’s petition to restore it to the province of Syria
(Ant. 15.359). As a result, Gadara remained under Herod’s control
for the remainder of his reign.132 When he died, the city once again
asked to be annexed to Syria, and on this occasion it was finally
successful ( J.W. 2.97; Ant. 17.320).133 To celebrate their regained
freedom, the Gadarenes may have erected a new temple in grati-
tude to one of their gods.134
Consequently, Gadara belonged to the Roman province of Syria
throughout the first century. Like the other Decapolis cities, it was

130
According to Rey-Coquais, “La Syrie, de Pompée à Dioclétien,” 50–51, the
Gadarenes lost their municipal autonomy when they were given to Herod. Kasher,
Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 195, thinks that their autonomy and sovereignty were only
seriously curtailed, not forfeited entirely. Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces,
271, infers from the Gadarenes’ complaints against Herod that “the city enjoyed
local self-government” and had not been assimilated to the general administrative
structure of Herod’s kingdom. In any case, Gadara’s desire to escape Herodian rule
indicates that it did not enjoy a privileged position vis-à-vis other sectors of Herod’s
kingdom; for this point, see Jack Pastor, “Herod, King of Jews and Gentiles:
Economic Policy as a Measure of Evenhandedness,” in Jews and Gentiles in the Holy
Land in the Days of the Second Temple, the Mishnah and the Talmud, ed. M. Mor,
A. Oppenheimer, J. Pastor, and D. R. Schwartz ( Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press,
2003), 152–64, esp. 161. On the Gadarenes’ attempts to extricate themselves from
Herod’s control, see Kasher, Jews, Idumaeans, and Ancient Arabs, 157–60, and Jews
and Hellenistic Cities, 195–97.
131
See below. It is uncertain when Rome granted Gadara the status of inviola-
bility, but the city’s accusation against Herod would have had particular political
poignancy if it already had achieved this status.
132
Herod may have minted Gadarene coins in 20 b.c.e. depiciting Augustus,
doing so in gratitude for allowing Herod to retain Gadara. For this possibility, see
Schürer, The History of the Jewish People 2:134 n. 249.
133
See Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule, 105–10, and Kasher, Jews and
Hellenistic Cities, 217–18.
134
See Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 108, who points to a
recently discovered extra-mural temple located to the east of the city that was built
about the beginning of the first century c.e.
 gadara 373

apparently administered by an equestrian officer appointed by the

legate of Syria.135 At some point, either early in the first century c.e.
or, as is much more likely, already during the first century b.c.e.,
Rome declared the city of Gadara “sacred (flerã) and inviolable (êsu-
low).”136 In making this declaration, Rome may well have been
confirming a status granted the city by the Seleucids.137 There has
been much debate about the precise meaning and implications of
such declarations of territorial inviolability in the Greco-Roman
period, but it was most likely an honorific term designed to add
prestige to a city and, above all, to its tutelary god.138 Extant Gadarene
coins from the second and third centuries c.e. bear these civic titles
as well as that of “autonomous,” another largely honorific title of
even greater distinction.139 Inasmuch as, with one exception, “the
titles of inviolability always accompany an image of Zeus Nicephorus

135
This was certainly true during the Flavian period, as IGRom 1.824 proves. On
this inscription see Isaac, “The Decapolis in Syria,” 313–17.
136
Inasmuch as cities and their territories were typically declared inviolable when
temples were located inside the city, this was quite likely the case at Gadara. For
this general rule, first recognized by Louis Robert, see Rigsby, Asylia, 20. Rigbsy
(532, 534) surmises that Gadara was the first of the Decapolis cities to be granted
the status of inviolability, and he speculates that the status may date back to the
time of Pompey or Gabinius. It was certainly granted this status prior to 22–23
c.e., when Rome became alarmed about the potential implications of this practice
(2–4, 580–86).
137
Some have seen in Meleager’s (Anth. Pal. 7.419) reference to “Gadara’s sacred
soil” ( flerå xy≈n) and to Tyre as “holy” (7.418) their status as “sacred and invio-
lable cities” during the Seleucid period (see, for example, Hengel, Judaism and
Hellenism, 2:57 n. 209, in regard to Tyre). But this is the emotive language of poetry,
“applied to cities by poets and orators from Homer . . . to the end of antiquity,”
and has nothing to do with Tyre’s inviolable status, which is attested as early as
141/140 b.c.e. See Rigsby, Asylia, 8, 21, 533 n. 6. Consequently, there is no solid
evidence to support my conjecture that Gadara first acquired this status during the
Seleucid period. On the other hand, it is clear that the Seleucids, in fierce com-
petition with rival monarchs for the allegiance of cities, did grant a large number
of cities the status of inviolability. In Syria and Phoenicia they began to bestow this
honor soon after 145 b.c.e., with this practice “accelerating toward the end of the
second century b.c.” (Rigsby, Asylia, 27). Given this situation, it would be remark-
able if Gadara did not attain this honor. In any case, Gadara’s inviolable status is
certainly not Ptolemaic; the first known Ptolemaic declaration of inviolability is from
96 b.c.e. (Rigsby, Asylia, 21), by which time Gadara was in Hasmonean hands.
138
Rigsby, Asylia, 14: “these declarations were first and foremost a religious ges-
ture, increasing the honor of the god.” For honor as the fundamental intention of
the practice, see pp. 22–25.
139
For “autonomous” as an honorific term reflecting privileged status rather than
true political independence, see Graf, “Hellenisation and the Decapolis,” 9. For its
greater import than “sacred and inviolable,” see Rigsby, Asylia, 28. Inasmuch as
374 john t. fitzgerald

seated in a tetrastyle temple,” Rome’s declaration of Gadara’s invi-

olability likely functioned to extol Zeus, whose cult was highly promi-
nent in this region.140 Although the granting of this status to a city
was essentially honorific, Rome expected its decrees to be respected,
and any violation could be viewed seriously, not only as an affront
to Roman honor but also as a threat to the pax Romana.
The Roman peace was shattered in 66 c.e. by the outbreak of
the first Roman-Jewish War.141 Gadara’s inviolable status did not
exempt it from attack, and it is quite possible, indeed likely, that
Gadara was one of the Syrian cities whose unprovoked aggression
against Jews was a contributing factor in the outbreak of the war.142
In any case, the city was adversely affected when Jews from Tiberias,
responding to the savage massacre of the Jewish population of
Caesarea, attacked Gadara and other Hellenistic cities in Syria, burn-
ing the villages within their territories ( J.W. 2.457–460; Life 42, 341,
410). Without walls to protect the city, Gadara was vulnerable, and
one likely casualty was the Hellenistic sanctuary of Zeus Nikephoros,
which on archaeological grounds appears to have been destroyed
about this time.143 The Gadarenes and inhabitants of the other cities
responded predictably. In hatred and fear they slaughtered some of
the Jews in their midst—including some, such as infants, who posed
no threat to their own safety—and plundered their property, and
arrested other Jews whose only crime was that they sought to remain

Tyche “was a characteristic symbol of autonomous aspirations,” a certain degree

of autonomy for Gadara may be evidenced by its frequent use of Tyche on its
coins (Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 101). Gadarene coins as early
as 47/46 depict Tyche; see Spijkerman, The Coins of the Decapolis, 128–29.
140
Rigsby, Asylia, 534. Among other Zeus sanctuaries, the one at Gerasa was
especially impressive; see J. Seigne, “Recherches sur le sanctuaire de Zeus à Jérash,”
in Jerash Archaeological Project, ed. F. Zayadine, 2 vols. (vol. 1: Amman: Department
of Antiquities; vol. 2: Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner; 1986–89), 1:29–59.
141
For Josephus’ contradictory discussion of the hostilities between Jews and the
residents of Syria both prior to and at the beginning of the first Roman-Jewish
War, see Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 268–87. For Gadara, see pp. 269–70,
276–77.
142
See Josephus, Life 25: “The inhabitants of the surrounding cities of Syria pro-
ceeded to lay hands on and kill, with their wives and children, the Jewish residents
among them, without the slightest ground of complaint; for they had neither enter-
tained any idea of revolt from Rome nor harboured any enmity or designs against
the Syrians.” See also J.W. 2.461, where Josephus refers to previous acts of vio-
lence against Jews being done out of hatred rather than self-defense.
143
Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 109, 111.
 gadara 375

politically neutral during the conflict ( J.W. 2.461–465).144 According

to Josephus, “the people of Hippos and Gadara made away with
the more daring of their enemies and kept the timid folk in custody”
( J.W. 2.478). Nor, according to Josephus, were the city’s reprisals
restricted to Gadarene Jews. Alone of the Decapolis cities, Gadara
joined forces with Gabara, Sogane, and Tyre to attack the Galilean
city of Gischala.145 The Gadarenes and their allies “mustered a large
force, stormed and took Gischala, burnt and razed it to the ground,
and returned to their homes” (Life 44). Their attack radicalized John
of Gischala, turning him into one of the fiercest opponents of Rome
and causing him to launch a counter-attack against the Gadarenes
and their allies (Life 45).146
Given these conditions in Gadara, its Jewish inhabitants doubtless
left the city if they were at all able to do so. Fleeing especially to
Galilee, some of these Gadarene Jews and refugees from the other
Decapolis cities joined in the war against Rome.147 Of these, some
were certainly killed whereas others were captured and brought before
Vespasian, who had received complaints about the attack on Gadara’s
villages as soon as he had arrived in Ptolemais and begun planning
Rome’s attack on Galilee (Life 410).148 Leniency was not deemed an

144
Josephus depicts these atrocities as Syrian reprisals for the attacks by the Jews
of Tiberias and their ringleader Justus. The Jewish attack on the Syrian villages
not only changed the motive for attacking Jews but also enlarged its scope. What
had previously been done by the Syrians out of pure hatred for the Jews was now
done out of fear of attack, with even the very mildest among the Syrians taking
part in the massacre of Jews ( J.W. 2.461, 464). This depiction of events functions
in part to castigate Justus—one of Josephus’ adversaries—by showing that his rash
actions had increased Jewish suffering (Life 40–41).
145
Rey-Coquais, “Decapolis,” 119, calls attention to the fact that “Gadara was
the only city to organize an expedition against the Jews; the other Greek cities of
the region do not seem to have sent any contingent.”
146
The story of Gadara’s participation in this attack may well be wrong, the
result of scribes confusing the Syrian city with another city that had a similar name.
This possibility is strengthened by the fact that the names of Sogane and Tyre are
not given in the manuscripts but are emendations of an obviously corrupt text.
Furthermore, because Josephus does not supply here a motive for Gadara’s partic-
ipation in this attack, it is difficult to fathom why the Gadarenes would attack a
Galilean city so far removed from their own area. For similar doubts, see Shaye
J. D. Cohen, Josephus in Galilee and Rome: His Vita and Development as a Historian,
Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition 8 (Leiden: Brill, 1979), 4 n. 6.
147
For the role of these Jewish refugees in radicalizing the town of Tarichaeae,
see Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 270–71.
148
For Vespasian’s arrival in Ptolemais and reception of a delegation from
Sepphoris, see J.W. 3.29–34.
376 john t. fitzgerald

option. Vespasian had the old and unserviceable executed, the most
robust of the youths sent to Corinth to work on the canal that Nero
planned to dig across the isthmus, and the remainder sold as slaves
( J.W. 3.532–542).
With the fall of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. and that of Masada a few
years later, the pax Romana was restored to the region, and within
this context Gadara enjoyed its greatest years, flourishing economi-
cally and reaching its cultural apex. It was during this post-war period
of the last quarter of the first century c.e. that Gadara began a
steady geographical expansion westward and the first Roman walls
were erected, with gates placed where already existing paths and
roads led to key regional destinations, such as Tiberias, Scythopolis,
Hammat Gader, Capitolias, and Abila.149 The next phase in its polit-
ical history came in 106 c.e., when Rome established the province
of Arabia and distributed the cities of the Decapolis among three
different provinces. Gadara was apparently assigned to Judea (Provincia
Judaea), though it and several of its sister Decapolis cities insisted on
continuing their celebration of the imperial cult in the district of
Coele Syria.150 Furthermore, when the philhellene Roman emperor
Hadrian visited the Roman East in 129–131 c.e., including the
area around Gadara,151 that visit undoubtedly provided a major new

149
See Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 112–14.
150
For Gadara’s probable assignment to Judea, see G. W. Bowersock, Roman
Arabia (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983), 91, and Hoffmann, “Topographie
und Stadtgeschichte,” 102. Gerasa and Philadelphia (modern Amman)—which were
situated farther to the south—were definitely connected to the new Roman province
of Arabia.. For the continuing affiliation of the Decapolis cities with Coele Syria
and their participation in the imperial cult, see Rey-Coquais, “Philadelphie de
Coelesyrie,” ADAJ 25 (1981): 25–31, esp. 31, and “Decapolis,” 120. See also Pierre-
Louis Gatier, “Philadelphie et Gerasa du royaume nabatéen à la province d’Arabie,”
in Géographie historique au Proche-Orient (Syrie, Phénicie, Arabie, grecques, romaines, byzan-
tines), ed. P.-L. Gatier, B. Helly, and Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais, Notes et monogra-
phies techniques 23 (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1988),
159–70, esp. 164, who argues that the Greek cities, whether administratively attached
to Judea (e.g., Gadara) or to Arabia (e.g., Philadelphia) continued even in the third
century to recall their connection to Coele Syria. “They want to be Syrian,” Gatier
argues, “in spite of their attachment to other provinces; for them, it is a matter of
recalling Alexander and the Seleucids, thus of being ‘Greek’ in the ‘barbarian’
provinces.” Under Diocletian’s reforms towards the end of the fourth century c.e.,
Gadara became part of Palaestina Secunda (Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis, 17, 42).
151
For rabbinic evidence of Hadrian’s presence at Hammat-Gader, see Dvorjetski,
“Nautical Symbols on the Gadara Coins,” 108, and Moshe David Herr, “The His-
torical Significance of the Dialogues between Jewish Sages and Roman Dignitaries,”
 gadara 377

impetus toward Hellenization, accelerating trends and actualizing

possibilities that had been present for centuries.152 Consequently, the
late first and the second century c.e. marked the “Golden Age of
municipal expansion, architectural splendour, economic growth and
artistic and cultural vitality,” when “most of the standing Roman
structures were built.”153 This naturally entailed a change in the phys-
ical layout of the city. Hellenistic Gadara was, first and foremost, a
fortress, laid out according to an axial urban plan and having, like
the Late Ottoman rural settlement that now covers it, a “squarish
to trapezoidal layout.”154 The expanding Roman city inevitably began
to look quite different from its Hellenistic predecessor, so that “the
contrast between the defensive character of the Hellenistic architec-
ture and the cultivated urban plan, which probably was adjusted to
the taste and needs of the Italic citizens settled at Gadara by the
Roman armed forces,”155 became increasingly conspicuous. Many of
the new buildings—and certainly the most important ones—during
the Roman period were erected along the city’s main street, the
decumanus maximus. This colonnaded street was the city’s civic and
commercial heart, its central elongated organ to which and from
which all its arteries flowed. In short, because Gadara did not build
the kind of public square that characterized Roman cities in the
West, its decumanus maximus served as its “linear forum.”156
The city’s vitality and growth during the Roman imperial period
is indicated by four gates that lie on Gadara’s western side, each
marking a different phase in either the city’s western expansion or
the protective measures taken to safeguard that expanded area. The
early Roman western gate was built as part of the city walls that
gave Gadara renewed protection from its enemies and expanded the
limits of the city approximately 1.7 kilometers to the west.157 Further

in Studies in Aggadah and Folk-Literature, ed. J. Heinemann and D. Noy, ScrHier 22

( Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1971), 123–50, esp. 123–24.
152
Graf, “Hellenisation and the Decapolis,” 31–33.
153
Weber, Umm Qais, 8; see also his “One Hundred Years,” 16. For the second
and third centuries c.e. as the time when “the cities of the region attained their
greatest economic development, accompanied by an unprecedented artistic flourishing
which expressed itself in the fields of literature and monuments,” see Spijkerman,
Coins of the Decapolis, 17.
154
Weber, “One Hundred Years,” 17.
155
Ibid.
156
The phrase is that of Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 122.
157
Ibid., 112.
378 john t. fitzgerald

to the west a free-standing gate known today as the “Tiberias Gate”

was erected, so-called because it both resembled a structure that the
city of Tiberias erected during the first century c.e. and marked at
that time “the commencement of the road connection between Gadara
and the city of Tiberias at the western shore of the Galilean lake.”158
Both gates likely functioned not only as welcoming centers for trav-
elers arriving at the outskirts of the city but also as border check
points and customs offices for the payment of duties on imported
goods.159 Significantly, “both gate monuments were erected for one
and the same purpose, corresponding to each other not only by their
architectural concepts and features of detail, but also in their topo-
graphical settings.”160 The date of both gates is disputed, but the one
in Gadara most likely dates from the Flavian period, during the late
first or early second century c.e.161 If the gate in Tiberias was built
at the same time, it would indicate that the two structures consti-
tuted a mutual building project carried out by both cities, and that
project would in turn give evidence of improved relations between
Gadara and Tiberias as well as increased trade for both cities.162 In
any case, as an extra-mural structure, the Gadarene “Tiberias Gate”
was certainly not part of the city’s defense system, though its impos-
ing flanking towers would have signified its readiness to defend itself.163
A third gate was built later in the second century c.e. as part of
the city’s walls. This late Roman western gate marked another stage
in the city’s growth and westward expansion.164 The “monumental

158
Thomas Weber, “Gadara of the Decapolis: Tiberiade Gate, Qanawat el-
Far'oun and Bait Rusan: Achievements in Excavation and Restoration at Umm
Qais 1989–1990,” in The Near East in Antiquity, ed. Susanne Kerner, 4 vols. (Amman:
At Kutba, 1990–94), 2:123–33, esp. 124.
159
Ibid., 124–26. Weber notes the tax office at Capernaum (Mark 2:14) and
suggests that flanking structures on each side of the gates could have been used “as
offices or storages for customs clearance, one each for departures and arrivals.”
160
Ibid., 124.
161
Ibid. See also Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 114, who also
regards a Flavian date as likely.
162
The gate located in Tiberias is usually dated to the period 18–26 c.e. (the
time of Herod Antipas) but could well be later. If it does date from the early first
century, Gadara’s decision to build a matching gate would still give evidence of
improved relations between the two cities.
163
Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 114.
164
For its location, see the topographical map in Weber and Hoffmann, “Preliminary
Report of the 1988 Season,” 322. See also Weber, Umm Qais, 32, and Hoffmann,
“Monumental Gate,” 102.
 gadara 379

gate,” which lies even farther to the west than the Tiberias Gate
and the late Roman western gate, was built during the late second
or early third century and marked the city’s final plans in regard to
western urban expansion.165 An extra-mural hippodrome (stadium)
that lies between the late Roman western gate and the monumen-
tal gate was part of this planned westward expansion, which likely
had already witnessed the erection of various extra-mural buildings.166
The monumental gate itself was probably modeled on and primar-
ily inspired by the Hadrianic gate at Gerasa ( Jerash). Unlike the lat-
ter, “a city wall in the line of the gate in Gadara was never planned,
but the towers, as architecture parlante, surely evoked the idea of a city
wall.”167 In short, as a reflection of the city’s self-identity and as a
probative means of its public representation, the monumental gate
was designed to impress visitors who approached the city from the
Jordan Valley, announcing that they were about to enter a city of
both wealth and splendor, which by that point Gadara certainly
was.168
Finally, towards the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth
century, the city began the task of building walls to enclose many
of the buildings that had been erected to the west of the early Roman
walls. A new gate on the decumanus maximus was built as part of these
late Roman walls, and both the gate and the walls were placed
between the first western gate (which was part of the early Roman
walls) and the monumental gate. The building of these late Roman
walls and second western gate was probably occasioned by the grow-
ing threat posed by the Sassanids, who under Sapor (240–272 c.e.)
had begun making devastating incursions into Syria and had even
captured and humiliated the Roman emperor Valerian in 260. Unlike
the monumental gate and the Tiberias gate, this second gate was
designed for protection rather than propaganda.169

165
Hoffmann, “Monumental Gate,” 101, dates it “not earlier than the beginning
of the 3rd Century a.d.” Weber, “Gadara of the Decapolis,” 126, dates it to the
late second or early third century. See also Hoffmann’s discussion in Weber and
Hoffmann, “Preliminary Report of the 1989 Season,” 325, 328–31, and in “Topo-
graphie und Stadtgeschichte,” 115–16.
166
Because key parts of the hippodrome are missing, scholars debate whether it
was ever completed or fully used. See Weber, Umm Qais, 32–33.
167
Hoffmann, “Monumental Gate,” 100.
168
Ibid., 100, 102–3. The gate at Tiberias had a similar propagandistic function;
see Weber, “Gadara of the Decapolis,” 124.
169
Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 116.
380 john t. fitzgerald

It was during the Roman period, therefore, that the Hellenistic

and Roman character of Gadara and other cities of the Decapolis
became most prominent. That Gadara built two separate theaters
during this period—a larger northen one during the early imperial
period and a smaller western one during the middle imperial period—
is vivid proof that the city had a lively and growing cultural life.170
This development affected the lives of all their inhabitants and vis-
itors, whether pagans, Jews,171 or Christians.172

170
On Gadara’s northern and western Roman theaters, see Weber, Umm Qais,
20–21, and Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 119–20.
171
For Gadara as the site of a large Jewish community, see Meshorer, City-Coins
of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, 80. For the synagogue at the hot springs near Gadara,
see below.
172
When and in what form Christianity first arrived in Gadara is unknown, but
the church was firmly established there by the early fourth century. One of its dea-
cons, Zacchaeus, was martyred in 303, and its bishop, Sabinus, took part in the
Council of Nicea in 325 c.e. (Holm-Nielsen, Wagner-Lux, and Vriezen, “Gadarenes,”
2:867). In the following century, Theodoros, the bishop of the Gadarene church,
“was unable to sign the acts of the Ephesian Synod due to the fact that he was
illiterate . . . On his behalf, the documents were ratified by the archdeacon Aitherios”
(Weber, “One Hundred Years, 17). Some Gadarene Christians were buried in an
underground “entrance hall,” built during the first half of the fourth century c.e.,
that led to an older, completely intact Roman hypogaeum (underground mausoleum).
In the Byzantine period this entrance hall, which was built with material quarried
from the nearby Tiberias Gate, featured an impressive a floor mosaic. The mosaic
mentions three of the interred Christians by name: Valentinianos, Eustathia, and
Protogenia, with each name given on a separate line. In addition, an inscription
on the lid of a lead sarcophagus found in front of a nearby cryptoporticus (a barrel-
vaulted passageway) refers to a “Helladis the Diacon” (deaconess). See Weber,
“Gadara of the Decapolis: A Summary of the 1988 Season at Umm Qeis,” ADAJ
32 (1988): 349–52, 405, esp. 350–52; Umm Qais, 29–31; and “One Hundred Years,”
20–25.
At least three churches have now been identified at Gadara, with a fourth church
a distinct possibility. The first is a basilica with five aisles that was built over the
underground mausoleum. This church, dating from the period 360–370 c.e., has
now been thoroughly discussed by Mohammad al-Daire, Die fünfschiffige Basilika in
Gadara—Umm Qais, Jordanien: Studien zu frühchristlichen Sakralbauten des fünfschiffigen Typus
im Orient (Marburg: Tectum, 2001). He argues (100–34) that it was a pilgrimage
church built in memory either of Jesus’ exorcism of the two demoniacs who had
encountered him after emerging from the tombs or of the local martyr Zacchaeus,
who was very likely buried in the crypt beneath the church. On this issue see also
Thomas Weber, “Wo trieb Jesus die Dämonen aus? Eine fünfschiffige Basilika
frühchristlicher Zeit in Gadara,” Antike Welt 31 (2000): 23–35. The second is a
Byzantine “centralized church” (i.e., a church planned around a central point and
having two axes at right angles), perhaps dating from the sixth century. It is some-
times referred to as an octagonal church because an octagonal stylobate enclosed
the central part of the building. See Ute Wagner-Lux and Karel J. H. Vriezen, “A
Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Gadara (Umm Qes) in Jordan from 1976
 gadara 381

Whether Gadara ever became a Roman colony is debated but

extremely doubtful. Inasmuch as Gadarene coins do not make any
colonial claims, it is clear that this status had not been attained by
the mid-third century c.e., when the city ceased to mint coins. A
Latin inscription found at Byblos has often been understood to indi-
cate that Gadara became a Roman colony during the reign of the
emperor Valens (364–378 c.e.), but a new interpretation of that
inscription, which assigns it to the first century c.e., casts significant
doubt on that claim.173 Another inscription, written in Greek but

to 1979,” ADAJ 24 (1980): 157–61, 323; Weber, Umm Qais, 22–23; Holm-Nielsen,
Wagner-Lux, and Vriezen, “Gadarenes,” 2:866; and Karel J. H. Vriezen, “The
Centralised Church in Umm Qais (Ancient Gadara),” ARAM 4 (1992): 371–86, esp.
372–75. For the terrace on which this centralized church was built, see Nicole F.
Mulder and Robert Guinée, “Survey of the Terrace and Western Theatre Area in
Umm Qais,” ARAM 4 (1992): 387–406. The third church lies immediately to the
southeast of the centralized church and was built as a three-aisled basilica. It appears
to have been built in two phases, with the first phase dating perhaps to the later
Byzantine period and the second to the middle of the seventh century. See Vriezen,
“The Centralised Church in Umm Qais,” 375–78, and Wagner-Lux, Vriezen, Nicole
F. Mulder, and Robert L. J. J. Guinée, “Preliminary Report on the Excavations
and Architectural Survey at Umm Qays (Ancient Gadara), Areas I and III (1997),”
ADAJ 44 (2000): 425–31. Another three-aisled church, probably dating from the
fifth century and located at the southwest corner of the acropolis, has now been
tentatively identified. For this fourth possible church, see Hoffmann, “Topographie
und Stadtgeschichte,” 123–24.
After Islamic rule was established in north Jordan in the seventh century,
Christians continued to live in Gadara. “A dedicaory inscription dated December
5, 662 a.d. recounts that the Umayyad Caliph Mu"awiya ordered the Christian
Gadarene official John to restore the baths of Hammath for the sake of the
Gadarenes.” See Weber, Umm Qais, 11, and for the inscription itself, see Leah Di
Segni, “Greek Inscriptions of the Bath-House in Hammath Gader,” ARAM 4 (1992):
307–28, esp. 315–17.
Of the Christian gems found at Gadara, the most important is a Byzantine intaglio
of the sixth or seventh century (no. 451) that depicts the story of Doubting Thomas
( John 20:26–29). This glyptic predates by several centuries the earliest known
(eleventh-century) illustrations of this scene but is somewhat similar in depiction to
that found on a sixth-century ampulla from Jerusalem; see Henig and Whiting,
Engraved Gems, 3 and 41.
173
For the claim that Gadara was Roman colony during the late imperial period,
see, for example, Thomas Leisten, “Gadara,” in Der Neue Pauly 4 (1998): 729–30.
This widespread opinion is based on Theodor Mommsen’s restoration of a crucial
line in the Byblos inscription: L(ucius) Philocalus, L. f(ilius) col(onia) Valen(tia)
Gadara, “Lucius Philocalus, son of Lucius from the Valentian colony Gadara.” This
restoration and interpretation have been seriously challenged by Esti Dvorjetski and
Rosa Last, “Gadara—Colony or Colline Tribe: Another Suggested Reading of the
Byblos Inscription,” IEJ 4 (1991): 157–62. They read: L(ucius) Philocalus, L(ucii)
f(ilius) col(lina tribus) Valen(s), Gadara, “Lucius Philocalus, son of Lucius of the
colline tribe of Valens, from Gadara.” See also Maxwell, “Gadara of the Decapolis,”
41–43, who dates the inscription to the first half of the first century c.e.
382 john t. fitzgerald

dating from the seventh century in the Umayyad period, does refer
to the city as a colony, but it does so with reference to Pompey’s
liberation of the city in 64/63 b.c.e.174 Rather than constituting evi-
dence for Gadara as a Roman colony, it much more likely indicates
that Gadara during this period claimed to be a Macedonian colony
and interpreted Pompey’s re-founding of the city “as the re-install-
ment of the Macedonian colony under Roman protection.”175
It can safely be assumed that Greek was spoken in Gadara as
soon as it became a Hellenistic settlement, and that the language
was used for a variety of purposes. A particularly interesting exam-
ple of popular poetry is provided by a Hellenistic papyrus from per-
haps the first century b.c.e.; it contains a spell against fever that “is
ascribed to a ‘Syrian woman’ from Gadara and is composed in fault-
less hexameters.”176 At the same time, many of its residents doubt-
less were fluent or at least conversant in languages other than Greek.
Gadara, as we have seen, was a Hellenistic Syrian city, one that was
open to both western and eastern influence. Even at the level of
commerce, one may assume some facility in Greek on the part of
many of Gadara’s local merchants, and, conversely, many of its native
Greek-speakers are likely to have had some acquaintance with the
other languages spoken in Gadara and elsewhere.177
The best example of a Gadarene knowing Semitic languages and
taking an interest in Judaism is the philosopher Abnimos. He is
depicted in Talmudic literature as knowing the Hebrew Bible well
enough to quote it from memory, to discuss it on equal terms with
Jewish rabbis, and to demand from the sages the biblical basis of

174
The inscription was found embedded in a wall at the Roman baths of Hammat
Gader and is dated 662 c.e. See Judith Green and Yoram Tsafrir, “Greek Inscriptions
from Hammat Gader: A Poem by the Empress Eudocia and Two Building Inscrip-
tions,” IEJ 32 (1982): 77–96, esp. 94–96.
175
Weber, “Gadarenes in Exile,” 13, who also discusses an undated inscription
found on Delos (Inscriptions de Délos no. 2377), most likely from the late Hellenistic
period. In it a Gadarene exile gives thanks to Artemis Sosikolonos, “Artemis, the
savior of colonies,” perhaps with reference to his native city. For the debate whether
Gadara was in fact a Macedonian colony, see note 31 above.
176
Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism, 1:83. For the papyrus, see P. Maas, “The
Philinna Papyrus,” JHS 62 (1942): 33–38. For an instance of the use of spells and
charms in the vicinity of Gadara, see Epiphanius, Pan. 30.8.10.
177
Millar, “The Problem of Hellenistic Syria,” 130, cites Plutarch, Ant. 41 as an
instance of a leading citizen of Antioch knowing Aramaic and perhaps Parthian.
 gadara 383

their rulings.178 Alhough the Talmudic Abnimos is largely a midrashic

creation,179 the depiction is grounded in the reality that some Gentiles,
including those at Gadara, did take an interest in Judiasm.
Among other Gadarenes, the best candidate for knowing a num-
ber of other languages is Meleager, who may have been trilingual.
In one of his autobiographical epigrams, written in the form of an
epitaph, he addresses passing strangers in Syrian, Phoenician, and
Greek.180 He appears, however, to have taken little interest in Judaism.181
Philodemus also may have been conversant in languages other than
Greek, including Latin (from his later time in Italy)182 and the local

178
Menahem Luz, “Oenomaus and Talmudic Anecdote,” JSJ 23 (1992): 42–80,
esp. 54, 61–62, 65, 67, and 79.
179
On Abnimos and his relation to Oenomaus, see below.
180
Anth. Pal. 7.419, on which see esp. Menahem Luz, “Salam, Meleager!” Studi
italiani di filologia classica 6 (1988): 222–31. Meleager was born in Gadara, reached
manhood in Tyre, and spent his old age in Cos, where he died (Anth. Pal. 7.417–418).
The three greetings that he uses in his sepulchral verse correspond to these three
periods of his own life: “Salaam” to a Syrian (Gadara), “Naidios” (or “Audonis”)
to a Phoenician (Tyre), and “Chaire” to a Greek (Cos). How fluent Meleager was
in the two Semitic languages is a matter of debate. Some (for example, Gilbert
Murray, The Literature of Ancient Greece, 3d ed. [Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1956], 394) have viewed Aramaic as his native language or have regarded the poet
as at least quite conversant in it, whereas others have viewed his acquaintance with
Semitic languages and culture as largely superficial. For example, Millar, “The
Problem of Hellenistic Syria,” 130, argues that Meleager’s “epigrams are entirely
Greek in spirit,” and that “there is nothing in the quite extensive corpus of his
poetry to show that he had deeply absorbed any non-Greek culture in his native
city.” In any event, Meleager’s use of three languages in his epigram is not a claim
to being trilingual (contra A. D. E. Cameron, “Meleager,” OCD 3 [1996]: 953), but
some degree of facility in all three languages is a distinct possibility. Furthermore,
as Luz demonstrates, the epigram reflects a precise knowledge of Syrian (Aramaic)
funerary conventions, which increases the likelihood of linguistic facility. In any
case, while Meleager has a Greek name and exceptional facility in Greek, he calls
himself—as well as Homer—a Syrian (Anth. Pal. 7.417; Athenaeus, Deipn. 4.157b)
and proclaims his eastern origin on his epitaph. As such, he is one of a host of
eastern expatriates who “were proud of their twin heritage in Hellenic and orien-
tal culture” (Luz, “Salam,” 226). On this latter point, see Millar,” The Problem of
Hellenistic Syria,” 132.
181
Meleager’s only extant reference to Jewish practices (the observance of the
Sabbath) is found in Anth. Pal. 5.160.
182
David Armstrong, “The Addresses of the Ars poetica: Herculaneum, the Pisones
and Epicurean Protreptic,” Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi de testi classici 31 (1993):
185–230, esp. 196, infers from the discovery of a fragment of Ennius at Herculaneum
that “Philodemus (unlike most Greek intellectuals of the period) was at least pre-
pared to glance at Latin poetic texts.”
384 john t. fitzgerald

Semitic tongue of Gadara,183 but if he did, his writings apparently

give no hint of that knowledge.
Many Gadarenes thought of their city as an intellectual and cul-
tural center,184 and they did not hesitate to make claims about it in
this regard. Indeed, the epitaph of Apion of Gadara contains the
patriotic boast: Gãdara xrhstomous¤a, “Gadara, an excellent abode
of learning,” “the excellent dwelling-place of wisdom,” “fond of the
Muses,” “devoted to good music.”185 The accomplishments and inter-
national fame of many of Gadara’s native sons, such as Philodemus,
naturally bolstered the city’s reputation abroad and enhanced the
sense of civic pride shared by its local residents,186 even though almost
all of these natives, including Philodemus, made their contributions

183
For speculation that “Philodemus may have known Semitic languages well
enough to amuse himself by reading the Aramaic and Hebrew prophecies that prob-
ably circulated in his time in both the Decapolis and in Italy,” see Morton Smith,
“On the History of APOKALUPTV and APOKALUCIS,” in Apocalypticism in the
Mediterranean World and the Near East, ed. D. Hellholm (Tübingen: Mohr, 1983), 9–20,
esp. 13. Smith’s speculation is based on the fact that Philodemus is apparently the
first author to use the noun épokãluciw (in On Vices 22 [p. 38,15 Jensen]), and
that “Gadara was both a center of Greek culture and a city where men acquainted
with Greek literature might also be acquainted with the language of the Semitic
world around them.” But as Smith himself recognizes, Philodemus’ use of the word
concerns the uncovering of the head and has nothing to do with Jewish apocalyp-
tic literature.
184
On Gadara as an intellectual and cultural center, see Hengel, Judaism and
Hellenism, 1:83–86, esp. 83, who argues that Gadara “acquired literary significance
at a very early stage.” Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, 98, by contrast, argues
that Gadara’s reputation for Greek culture was particularly true for the Roman
period (see also 115, for a similar judgment about the Greek cities of Palestine as
a whole). Similarly, Graf, “Hellenisation and the Decapolis,” 27–35, dates the emer-
gence of Greek civic life in the Decapolis cities to the Augustan era and its flourishing
to the reigns of Hadrian and the Antonines.
185
The first translation is that given in the LSJ Supplement, 314 (s.v. xrhsto-
mous¤a); the second is that of Geiger, “Local Patriotism,” 143; the third is that of
Gilbert Murray in H. Porter, “A Greek Inscription from near Nazareth,” Palestine
Exploration Fund (1897): 188–89, esp. 189; the fourth is that of Rigsby, Asylia, 533.
The noun is a hapax legomenon but the verb xrhstomous°v occurs in Athenaeus,
Deipn. 14.633b, where the context is music. Apion’s point is that Gadara is a city
that cultivates the fine arts, including good music, poetry, and rhetoric. For a similar
judgment, see Schürer, The History of the Jewish People, 2:136 n. 255. On the epi-
taph of Apion see P. Perdrizet, “Syriaca,” RA 35 (1899): 34–53, esp. 49–50; and
Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism, 1:83. See also Charles Clermont-Ganneau, Études
d’archéologie orientale, 2 vols., Bibliothèque de l’École pratique des hautes études 44,
113 (Paris: E. Bouillon, 1880–97), 2:141–43.
186
Meleager (apud Anth. Pal. 7.417), for example, refers with pride to Menippus,
his fellow Gadarene.
 gadara 385

and achieved fame after leaving the city.187 In terms of philosophy,

the city was best known for its Cynics, beginning with Menippus in
the third century b.c.e. and ending with Oenomaus in the second
century c.e. The Jerusalem Talmud’s depiction of Cynics may even
be based in part on the Jewish sages’ observations of Gadarene
Cynics.188 Other philosophical groups were almost certainly present
in the city. The engraved gems from Gadara include a late Hellen-
istic bust of a philosopher as well as an early Roman portrait of
Socrates.189 That Epicureans were active in the city is a distinct pos-
sibility. There were certainly Epicureans in Syria,190 and Menippus’
attack on Epicurus as well as Oenomaus’ criticisms of atomism could
reflect the presence of an Epicurean tradition at Gadara.191 In short,
Philodemus’ first exposure to Epicurean tenets could well have been
in his native city.
By the third century c.e. the three Graces had become immensely
important in Gadara.192 Imperial tetradrachms bear their image as
the emblem of the city,193 civic coins from that period sometimes
use depictions of the three Graces as a mint-mark, and a third-cen-
tury c.e. ring found at Gadara features them standing in a temple,
facts which suggest that their cult was widely practiced there.194 An
engraved gem from the first or second century c.e. even shows them
wearing helmets,195 possibly in honor of the Roman Tenth Legion
Fretensis, which played a crucial military role in the history of both

187
For Gadara’s most famous native sons, see the discussion below.
188
Menahem Luz, “A Description of the Greek Cynic in the Jerusalem Talmud,”
JSJ 20 (1989): 49–60, esp. 54. For knowledge of Gadara on the part of Jews in
the Roman period, see Luz, “Oenomaus and Talmudic Anecdote,” 50 n. 23, 55, 64.
189
Henig and Whiting, Engraved Gems, 1, 29. The bust of the philosopher (no.
278) dates from the first century b.c.e. and the portrait of Socrates (no. 277) from
either the first or the second century c.e.
190
See esp. Wilhelm Crönert, “Die Epikureer in Syrien,” Jahreshefte des Österreich-
ischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 10 (1907): 145–52, and also W. Schmid, “Epikur,”
RAC 5 (1962): 681–819, esp. 758–61.
191
Luz, “Oenomaus and Talmudic Anecdote,” 46 n. 11.
192
It should be recalled that the Gadarene Meleager’s collection of miscellaneous
essays on popular philosophical topics was entitled Graces (Charities). See Athenaeus,
Deipn. 4.157b and the introduction (which is printed without page numbers) of Peter
Whigham and Peter Jay, trans., The Poems of Meleager (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1975).
193
Bellinger, The Syrian Tetradrachms of Caracalla and Macrinus, 90–92.
194
Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, 83.
195
Henig and Whiting, Engraved Gems, 28 (no. 272).
386 john t. fitzgerald

Syria and Palestine and may at one point have been headquartered
in Gadara.196 Indeed, the nautical imagery that often appears on
imperial Gadarene coins may reflect the legion’s presence in the city
and surrounding area.197 In addition to soldiers on active duty as
well as veterans during the Roman period,198 Gadara at all times
had no lack of slaves.199
As the Synoptic manuscript tradition of Jesus’ exorcism of the
Gadarene/Gerasene demoniac(s) near some tombs200 indicates, each
of the Decapolis cities was not simply an urban entity but had ter-
ritory associated with it. These ten territories were apparently con-

196
Dvorjetski, “Nautical Symbols on Gadara Coins,” 109–10.
197
Ibid., 105–11. Dvorjetski’s article includes a comprehensive survey of the
different theories in regard to nautical imagery on Gadara’s coins. For these coins,
see the index in Spijkerman, Coins of the Decapolis, 312–15.
198
For inscriptions attesting the presence of Roman soldiers, centurions, and vet-
erans at or from Gadara, see Isaac, The Near East Under Roman Rule, 196.
199
For the Zenon papyri as evidence for the extensive slave trade in Hellenistic
Syria, see Millar, “The Problem of Hellenistic Syria,” 119–20. As Graf, “Hellenisation
and the Decapolis,” 10 n. 29, points out, two of Gadara’s most famous natives
were once slaves, viz., Menippus (Diogenes Laertius 6.99–101) and Theodorus (Suda,
s.v. Theodorus). G. W. Bowersock, Augustus and the Greek World (Oxford: Clarendon,
1965), 35, suggests that Theodorus’ parents were brought to Rome as prisoners of
the Mithridatic Wars.
200
Matthew indicates that the demoniacs encountered Jesus after emerging from
the tombs where they lived (Matt 8:28; see also Mark 5:2–3, 5; Luke 8:27). There
are numerous tombs and mausoleums in and around Gadara. For example, three
family tombs to the east of the city have been excavated; they are the Tomb of
the Germani, the Tomb of Modestus, and the Tomb of Chaireas, all of which
likely date from the first century c.e.; see Weber, Umm Qais, 13–15. In addition,
there are tombs to the east of the acropolis, and mausoleums have been found on
the east, west, north, and south of the city, though the southern one appears to
have been destroyed. The so-called “northern mausoleum” is located to the north
of the decumanus maximus (Weber, Umm Qais, 28–29). A Greek inscription engraved
on a lintel found near this mausoleum has the following epigram, in which the
deceased speaks to passers-by: “To you I say, passer-by: As you are, I was; as I
am you will be. Use life as a mortal!” See Fawzi Zayadine, “A Dated Greek
Inscription from Gadara—Um Qeis,” ADAJ 18 (1973): 78. There is also the pre-
viously mentioned Roman hypogaeum, which probably was built in the early Roman
imperial period. The threshold of this underground mausoleum was originally guarded
by two crouching Sphinx statuettes; see Weber, “Gadara of the Decapolis: A Sum-
mary of the 1986 and 1987 Seasons at Umm Qeis,” ADAJ 31 [1987]: 531–33,
639–40, and Umm Qais, 30–31, and note 172 above. For these and other burial
sites in and around Gadara, see Weber and Hoffmann, “Preliminary Report of the
1989 Season,” 321–22, and Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 114,
117–19. Finally, Epiphanius, Pan. 30.8.2 refers to caves near Hammat-Gader that
were dug out in the rocks and which were called polyandria, i.e., common graves
where “many men” were buried.
 gadara 387

tiguous, forming a solid geographical block of landscape, so that one

territory bordered on another and collectively formed a border to
both Perea and Galilee.201 The territory associated with the city of
Gadara was famous in antiquity for three things: its fine wine, its
abundant crops, and its hot mineral springs. The wine was produced
in the Wadi Gadar (today known as Wàdì l-'Arab), a fertile area
well suited for viticulture.202 In terms of crop production, it rivaled
some of the major agricultural centers of Italy and Africa. Varro
(116–27 b.c.e.), who as the author of 150 books of Menippean Satires
had a special interest in one of Gadara’s most famous sons,203 and
who as Pompey’s lieutenant had won the corona navalis for his hero-
ics against the pirates, wrote a work on agriculture (De re rustica). In
the latter he discusses the yields of certain crops such as wheat, not-
ing that “the same seed in one district yields tenfold and in another
fifteen-fold” (1.44.1). But the yield in certain places is much greater:
“Around Sybaris in Italy the normal yield is said to be even a hun-
dred to one, and a like yield is reported near Gadara in Syria, and
for the district of Byzacium in Africa” (1.44.2). In short, Gadara was
famous for its bumper crops, and Jesus’ reference to “seed yielding
a hundredfold” (Matt 13:8; Mark 4:8; Luke 8:8), if not an oblique
reference to the fecundity of Gadarene land, was at least grounded
in a local agricultural reality.204
The hot springs were those at Hammat Gader (= Hammatha =
Emmatha = el-Hamme, M.R. 212232), a suburb of Gadara which
was located six kilometers north of the main city and about eight
kilometers southeast of Lake Tiberias.205 The thermo-mineral baths
built there during the Roman period were one of the largest such
baths in the Roman world, with the excavated part of the building
covering more than 6000 meters, and they had the reputation of

201
Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, 259. For the Decapolis as a geo-
graphical region, see esp. Parker, “The Decapolis Reviewed,” 437–41. See also the
map in Kasher, Jews and Hellenistic Cities, 47.
202
Mershen and Knauf, “From ]adar to Umm Qais,” 131–32.
203
See Jean-Pierre Cèbe, ed. and trans., Varron, Satires Ménippées, 13 vols., Collection
de l’École française de Rome 9 (Paris: École française de Rome, 1972–99).
204
For Gadara’s advanced hydraulic technology that made possible field irriga-
tion and its agricultural success, see note 206 below.
205
For ancient references to “the hot waters of Gadara” (e.g., Strabo 16.2.45)
and key modern bibliography, see Tsafrir, Di Segni, and Green, Tabula Imperii
Romani, 138.
388 john t. fitzgerald

being inferior only to the celebrated baths at Baia in the Bay of

Naples.206 The Empress Eudocia Augusta (421–460 c.e.), the wife of
Theodosius II, wrote a paean to the hot springs of Hammat Gader
and to their marvelous healing power.207 According to the scandal-
monger Epiphanius of Salamis (ca. 315–403 c.e.), an annual health
festival was held at the thermal waters, with men and women bathing
together—a practice that he viewed as utterly diabolical.208

206
The Roman bath-house at Hammat Gader was likely first built towards the
middle of the second century c.e., but important changes were made later, espe-
cially in the fifth century. On the grand reputation of the Gadarene baths and hot
springs, see Eunapius, Vit. phil. 459. For the site and the Roman baths, see esp.
Yizhar Hirschfeld, The Roman Baths of Hammat Gader: Final Report ( Jerusalem: Israel
Exploration Society, 1997); see also Hirschfeld and Erez Cohen, “The Reconstruc-
tion of the Roman Baths at Hammat Gader,” ARAM 4 (1992): 283–306; Hirschfeld
and Michael Avi-Yonah, “Hammat Gader,” in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological
Excavations in the Holy Land, ed. E. Stern, 4 vols. ( Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration
Society & Carta; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 2:565–73; and Fikret Yegül,
Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity (New York: Architectural History Foundation;
Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992), 121–24. In addition to the baths at Hammat Gader,
there were also at least two Roman baths (thermae) located in the lower portion of
Gadara proper. The smaller of the two is known, after the donor, as the Baths of
Herakleides; located about 100 meters north of the decumanus maximus, they date
from the third century (Weber, Umm Qais, 28). The larger of the two is a complex
located along the south side of the decumanus maximus, with the main building 30 ×
50 m in size. These baths went through three periods. Built originally during the
first half of the fourth century, the bath was a magnificent structure. “Its highly
developed and efficient heating and water systems were of a high technical stan-
dard and well able to satisfy a fastidious taste. The town must have been especially
prosperous to be able to build and maintain a Bath of that standard.” So Svend
Holm-Nielsen, Inge Nielsen, and Flemming Gorn Andersen, “The Excavation of
Byzantine Baths in Umm Qeis,” ADAJ 30 (1986): 219–32, 468–72, esp. 227. The
first baths were destroyed ca. 400–450 c.e., perhaps by a fire or an earthquake.
In its second phase the structure was again used as a bath, but on a smaller scale,
a fact which may reflect a slight decline in economic conditions. During the third
phase the building was used for residential and perhaps industrial purposes. See
also Holm-Nielsen, Wagner-Lux, and Vriezen, “Gadarenes,” 2:866–67, and esp.
Nielsen, Andersen, and Holm-Nielsen, Die byzantinischen Thermen, vol. 3 of Gadara—
Umm Qès, Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästinavereins 17 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
1993). For the possible existence of a third bath, see Weber, Umm Qais, 28. For
Gadara’s water system, which would have been crucial for the effective operation
of the baths, see Weber, Umm Qais, 5, and “Gadara of the Decapolis,” 127–29,
and Kerner, “Umm Qais—Gadara,” 409–12; “German Protestant Institute,” 56–61;
and “Gadara—Schwarzweisse Stadt zwischen Adjlun und Golan,” 129–35.
207
For the Eudocia inscription, see Green and Tsafrir, “Greek Inscriptions,”
77–91.
208
Epiphanius, Pan. 30.7.5. Epiphanius’ source for this story is Joseph the comes
(Pan. 30.4.1–5.8), a Jewish convert to Christianity, who told him how a licentious
young Jewish patriarch in the bath deliberately rubbed his side against that of a
gorgeous woman, who happened to be both married and a Christian, and how the
 gadara 389

Because of the thermal baths and their medicinal value, the site
became a therapeutic center as well as a vacation resort,209 attract-
ing hordes of visitors to this Syrian spa. The site was thus simulta-
neously sacred and secular. In classical antiquity, baths and bathing
normally belonged to the secular sphere, so that those who came
there to enjoy the thermal waters and fine wines of the region would
have had a largely secular experience. But those who came for cura-
tive bathing and in hopes of healing would have viewed the site
from a religious perspective:210
Classical civilization explained the wondrous phenomenon of cold and
hot springs and the magical qualities of thermal baths as manifesta-
tions of divine powers. These thermal sources and the bathing centers
that grew around them were placed under the protection of nymphs
and other deities of nature. For the individual who sought a cure at
one of these centers, acts of homage to and worship of the nymphs
and other tutelary deities of the waters were a necessary and normal
part of treatment in the same manner as they were for patients who
became suppliants of the god of medicine at an Aesculapium.211
Hammat Gader was epecially popular with lepers. Antoninus of
Placentia, writing in the sixth century c.e., gives the following account:

youth subsequently tried, without success, to seduce her, even resorting to magic
(Pan. 30.7.5–8.10). On the phenomenon of nude mixed bathing in the Roman baths,
see Roy Bowen Ward, “Women in Roman Baths,” HTR 85 (1992): 125–47.
209
During the Roman period a theater was erected near the baths, which enhanced
the cultural and recreational appeal of the resort. Excavations have also revealed
the presence of inns and private houses; see Di Segni, “Greek Inscriptions,” 307.
210
Of the approximately seventy Greek inscriptions discovered at the Roman
bath-house, most use a fixed formula that underscores the importance of the ther-
mae as a place of healing. The same formula is attested in both synagogues and
churches of the period. See Di Segni, “Greek Inscriptions,” 309.
211
Yegül, Baths and Bathing, 125. The Roman baths at Hammat Gader probably
contained images of Aesclepius and Sarapis; see Thomas Weber, “Thermalquellen
und Heilgötter des Ostjordanlandes in römischer und byzantinischer Zeit,” Damaszener
Mitteilungen 11 (1999): 433–51. The city of Gadara had a nymphaeum that was ca.
36 meters broad and located to the north of the decumanus maximus; see Hoffmann,
“Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,” 121. Another structure, also north of the decu-
manus maximus but situated ca. 100 meters further to the west, has sometimes been
identified as a second nymphaeum, but that identification is problematic. Its iden-
tity remains debated, though it may have been a monumental platform with steps
ascending to an altar. See Weber, “Summary of the 1988 Season,” 349–50; Umm
Qais, 27–28; “One Hundred Years,” 19–20; Weber and Hoffmann, “Preliminary Report
of the 1989 Season,” 323–24; and Hoffmann, “Topographie und Stadtgeschichte,”
121–22.
390 john t. fitzgerald

Lepers are cleansed there and have their meals at the inn at public
expense. The baths fill in the evening. In front of the basin there is
a large tank. When it is full, all gates are closed, and they are sent
in through a small door with lights and incense and sit in the tank
all night. They fall asleep, and the person who is going to be cured
sees a vision. When he has told it, the springs do not flow for a week.
In one week, he is cleansed.212
Among those who visited Hammat Gader was the Neoplatonic philoso-
pher Iamblichus of Chalcis in Coele Syria. The biographical tradi-
tion about Iamblichus presents him as a thaumaturge, and of the
various wondrous deeds attributed to him, one is said to have taken
place at the hot springs:
Now he [Iamblichus] happened to be bathing and the others [his dis-
ciples] were bathing with him, and they were using the same insis-
tence, whereupon Iamblichus smiled and said: “It is irreverent to the
gods to give you this demonstration, but for your sakes it shall be
done.” There were two hot springs smaller than the others but pret-
tier, and he bade his disciples ask the natives of the place by what
names they used to be called in former times. When they had done
his bidding they said: “There is no pretence about it, this spring is
called Eros, and the name of the one next to it is Anteros.” He at
once touched the water with his hand—he happened to be sitting on
the ledge of the spring where the overflow runs off—and uttering a
brief summons he called forth a boy from the depth of the spring. He
was white-skinned and of medium height, his locks were golden and
his back and breast shone; and he exactly resembled one who was
bathing or had just bathed. His disciples were overwhelmed with amaze-
ment, but Iamblichus said, “Let us go to the next spring,” and he rose
and led the way, with a thoughtful air. Then he went through the
same performance there also, and summoned another Eros like the
first in all respects, except that his hair was darker and fell loose in
the sun. Both the boys embraced Iamblichus and clung to him as
though he were genuinely their father. He restored them to their proper
places and went away after his bath, reverenced by his pupils. After
this the crowd of his disciples sought no further evidence, but believed
everything from the proofs that had been revealed to them, and hung
on to him as though by an unbreakable chain.213

212
Antoninus of Placentia, Itinerarium 7. The translation is that of Yegül, Baths
and Bathing, 124.
213
Eunapius, Vit. phil. 459, trans. W. C. Wright, LCL. On Iamblichus, see esp.
John M. Dillon, “Iamblichus of Chalcis,” ANRW 2.36.2 (1987): 863–78; Henry J.
Blumenthal and E. Gillian Clark, eds., The Divine Iamblichus: Philosopher and Man of
 gadara 391

During the Roman period there appears to have been a large Jewish
community that resided in the vicinity,214 and numerous Jews flocked
there to enjoy the springs, making it “the Miami Beach of its day.”215
Indeed, one part of the Roman baths appears to have been named
after the prophet Elijah216 and another part may have been nick-
named after a young Jewish patriarch.217 The visitors to the area
certainly included numerous rabbis, such as Rabbi Judah the Patriarch,
who even laid down laws for traveling to and from the resort on
the Sabbath.218 In order to accommodate both the residents and the
visitors to the recreational site, a synagogue was built near the ther-
mal baths, at a prominent site about 7.5 kilometers southeast of Lake
Tiberias.219 Given the status of the hot springs as a tourist attrac-
tion, it is not surprising that some of the donations for the erection

Gods (Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1993); Gregory Shaw, Theurgy and the Soul: The
Neoplatonism of Iamblichus, Hermeneutics: Studies in the History of Religions (University
Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995); and Emma C. Clarke, Iamblichus’
De Mysteriis: A Manifesto of the Miraculous (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001).
214
Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule, 357, includes Gadara in a list of cities
with a large Jewish minority at the time of the first Roman-Jewish war (66–70 c.e.).
215
Hershel Shanks, Judaism in Stone: The Archaeology of Ancient Synagogues (New York:
Harper & Row; Washington: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1979), 115. Di Segni,
“Greek Inscriptions,” 307, points out that many devout Jews would likely have pre-
ferred the hot springs at Hammat Gader to those near Tiberias because the numer-
ous tombs associated with the latter created a problem for those seeking to maintain
ritual purity. See Josephus, Ant. 18.36–38.
216
Green and Tsafrir, “Greek Inscriptions,” 88. Furthermore, as Green and
Tsafrir also point out (pp. 84, 88), in the sixth century c.e. a companion of Antoninus
Placentius says that the hot springs as a whole were called “the baths of Elijah”
(thermae Heliae). In later Arabic tradition, the springs were connected instead with
King Solomon, the son of David. See E. L. Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue of El-
Hammeh (Hammath-by-Gadara): An Account of the Excavations Conducted on Behalf of the
Hebrew University, Jerusalem ( Jerusalem: Rubin Mass, 1935), 22–23. To the testimo-
nia regarding Hammat-Gader collected by Sukenik (pp. 18–23), add SEG 32.1502
(cited by Rigsby, Asylia, 533 n. 7).
217
Ephrat Habas (Rubin), “A Poem by the Empress Eudocia: A Note on the
Patriarch,” IEJ 46 (1996): 108–19. See note 208 above.
218
For Judah the Prince and Hammat Gader, see Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue
of El-Hammeh, 19, and Stuart S. Miller, “R. Hanina bar Hama at Sepphoris,” in
The Galilee in Late Antiquity, ed. L. I. Levine (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, 1992), 175–200, esp. 190–91. For bibliography on Judah (R. Yehudah
ha-Nasi), see H. L. Strack and G. Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash,
2d ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 81.
219
The synagogue was discovered in 1932 and the results of the initial excava-
tion were published in 1935 by Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue of El-Hammeh. More
recent discussions include Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman
392 john t. fitzgerald

of the synagogue were made by Jewish benefactors who resided in

other localities.220 Excavations of the synagogue conducted in 1982
revealed that the building likely had gone through three stages.221
The first structure, probably erected during the third century c.e.,
was a rectangular public building, paved with a simple white mosaic
floor. The mosaic floor, which had the remains of a black-and-red
frame in its center, was 1.4 meters below the third stage’s floor.222
During the second stage of the synagogue’s history, probably during
the fourth century, the plan of the building was modified. The result-
ing structure was a rectangular building with a bema (platform), fac-
ing Jerusalem, attached to the center of the southern wall. The floor
of the building was paved with flagstones (opus sectile). This structure
was perhaps severely damaged by an earthquake during the fourth
century. During the synagogue’s third and final stage, which was
during the fifth or sixth century, the flagstone floor was replaced
with a mosaic one in the nave and aisles, and an apse was added
in the southern small room of the building. Architecturally, this kind
of synagogue design—a basilical type with an apse—represented an

Period, 13 vols., Bollingen Series 37 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1953–68), 1:239–41;
Michael Avi-Yonah, “Hammat Gader,” in Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in
the Holy Land, ed. M. Avi-Yonah, 4 vols. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1975–78),
2:469–73; Frowald Hüttenmeister, Die jüdischen Synagogen, Lehrhäuser und Gerichtshöfe,
vol. 1 of Die antiken Synagogen in Israel by Frowald Hüttenmeister and G. Reeg,
Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B, Geisteswissenschaften,
12.1 (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1977), 152–59; Shanks, Judaism in Stone, esp. 115–20;
Gideon Foerster, “The Ancient Synagogues of the Galilee,” in The Galilee in Late
Antiquity, 289–319, esp. 308, and “Dating Synagogues with a ‘Basilical’ Plan and an
Apse,” in Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, ed. D. Urman
and P. V. M. Flesher, 2 vols., StPB 47 (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 1:87–94, esp. 1:90–91;
and Hirschfeld and Avi-Yonah, “Hammat Gader,” 2:566–69.
220
For the inscriptions that specify the donors, their provenance, and the amounts
of their contributions, see Sukenik, The Ancient Synagogue of El-Hammeh, 39–57. As
Lee I. Levine, The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2000), 349, points out, the donors came from Arbel, Capernaum,
Emmaus, Sepphoris, and Kefar 'Aqavia. In a similar way, other structures near the
hot springs were built or restored by non-resident benefactors. See Hirschfeld and
Avi-Yonah, “Hammat Gader,” 2:566.
221
Hirschfeld and Avi-Yonah, “Hammat Gader,” 2:568–69. Similarly, Foerster,
“Dating Synagogues,” 1:90, gives three stages in the synagogue’s history, but in
“Ancient Synagogues,” 308, he indicates that the first stage is uncertain.
222
Hirschfeld and Avi-Yonah, “Hammat Gader,” 2:568, and Foerster, “Dating
Synagogues,” 1:90. On the basis of j. Qidd. 64d, 13f., Hüttenmeister, Die jüdischen
Synagogen, 159, suggests that a bet ha-midrash (House of Study) may be attested at
Hammat Gader at the beginning of the third century c.e.
 gadara 393

adaptation of church architecture, with the apse replacing the niche

as the place where the Torah scrolls were kept.223
Relations between the residents of Gadara and those of Hammat
Gader were not always cordial. The Babylonian Talmud contains
the following conversation, which deals with the question why Rabbi
Judah the Patriarch “permitted” the inhabitants of Gadara to go
down to Hammat Gader on the Sabbath, but did not permit the
latter to ascend to Gadara:
When R. Dimi came, he explained, “The people of Geder [Gadara]
would bother the people of Hametan [Hammat Gader], and ‘permitted’
means ‘ordained.’ And how come the Sabbath was distinguished from
other days [that only on that day were they not permitted to make
the trip]? It is because on that day there’s a lot of drunkenness.”
Wouldn’t the people of Geder bother them [the people of Hammat
Gader] when they came there [to Hammat Gader]?
Not at all, ‘a dog that’s new in town doesn’t bark for seven years.’224
Well, anyhow, won’t the people of Hametan bother those of Geder?
The latter are not such total wimps as that!225
Philodemus was one of eight (or seven) Gadarenes who became
famous in the ancient world by making important contributions to
the intellectual life and literature of Greece and Rome.226 The oth-
ers were (1) Menippus the Cynic (early third century b.c.e.), whose
satires were put to good use by his fellow Syrian Lucian several cen-
turies later;227 (2) Meleager (fl. ca. 100 b.c.e.), whose amatory epigrams

223
Foerster, “Dating Synagogues,” 1:89–91, and “Ancient Synagogues,” 308.
224
As Israel W. Slotki notes, R. Dimi is clearly quoting a proverb here. See the
note to his translation of 'Erubin in the Soncino edition of The Babylonian Talmud,
ed. I Epstein (London: Soncino Press, 1938), 427 n. 14.
225
b. 'Erub. 61a. As Slotki, 'Erubin, 427 n. 17, notes, the last two lines mean that
the Gadarenes visiting in Hammat Gader will not initiate conflict with the local
residents, but they will respond if attacked by them. The translation is a modified
version of that given by Jacob Neusner, trans., The Talmud of Babylonia: An American
Translation. Volume III.C: Erubin, Chapters 5 and 6, BJS 278 (Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1993), 45.
226
For this emphasis, see Moses Hadas, Hellenistic Culture: Fusion and Diffusion
(Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press, 1959), 105–14, esp. 109–14,
and “Gadarenes in Pagan Literature,” Classical Weekly 25 (1931): 25–30. See also
J. Geiger, “Athens in Syria: Greek Intellectuals of Gadara,” Kathedra 35 (1985): 3–16
(in Hebrew).
227
For the ancient tradition concerning Menippus, see esp. Diogenes Laertius
6.99–101; see also Donald R. Dudley, A History of Cynicism: From Diogenes to the 6th
Century A.D. (London: Methuen, 1937), 69–74, and Joel C. Relihan, “Menippus the
394 john t. fitzgerald

inspired several Latin poets, including Ovid;228 (3) Theodorus, who

wrote on rhetoric, founded a rhetorical school that bore his name
(“The Theodoreans”), wrote a work on Coele Syria (FGHist 850 T
1), and served as the emperor Tiberius’ teacher (Suetonius, Tib.
57.1);229 (4) Oenomaus, the second century c.e. Cynic230 who some-
times has been suspected of being a Hellenized Jew231 because of his

Cynic in the Greek Anthology,” Syllecta Classica 1 (1989) 58–61; idem, “Menippus
the Cur from Crete,” Prometheus 16 (1990): 217–24; idem, “Menippus in Antiquity
and the Renaissance,” in The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy,
ed. R. Bracht Branham and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, Hellenistic Culture and
Society 23 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996), 265–93.
On the relationship between Menippus and Lucian, the study of Rudolf Helm,
Lucian und Menipp (Leipzig: Teubner, 1906) remains indispensable. For more recent
treatments, see Jennifer Hall, Lucian’s Satire, Monographs in Classical Studies (New
York: Arno, 1981), esp. 64–150, and Joel C. Relihan, “Vainglorious Menippus in
Lucian’s Dialogues of the Dead,” Illinois Classical Studies 12 (1987): 185–206, and Ancient
Menippean Satire (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), esp. 39–48 (Menippus)
and 103–18 (Lucian).
228
Meleager, who is sometimes called “the Greek Ovid,” is usually dated ca.
130–ca. 70 b.c.e. Alan Cameron, The Greek Anthology from Meleager to Planudes (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1993), 49–56, persuasively dates Meleager’s Garland (a collection of
epigrams) to ca. 102–90 b.c.e. For a discussion of the biographical information
about Meleager and the arrangement of his Garland, see Kathryn J. Gutzwiller, Poetic
Garlands: Hellenistic Epigrams in Context (Hellenistic Culture and Society 28; Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1998), 276–332. See also Lisa Loft Anderson Cox,
“A Critical Study of the Love Poetry of Meleager of Gadara” (Ph.D. Diss., Boston
University, 1988). For the epigrams themselves, see A. S. F. Gow and D. L. Page,
eds., The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1965), 1:214–53 (text), 2:591–680 (commentary); Whigham and Jay, The
Poems of Meleager, and Jerry Clack, Meleager: The Poems (Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-
Carducci, 1992).
229
On Theodorus, see Martin Schanz, “Die Apollodoreer und die Theodoreer,”
Hermes 25 (1890): 36–54; Willy Stegemann, “Theodoros (39),” RE 5A (1934): 1847–59;
G. M. A. Grube, “Theodorus of Gadara,” AJP 80 (1959): 337–65; Bowersock,
Augustus and the Greek World, 35–36; and George Kennedy, The Art of Rhetoric in the
Roman World, 300 B.C.–A.D. 300 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), 340–42.
An inscription on the base of an Athenian statue most likely refers to him; see
Eugene Vanderpool, “An Athenian Monument to Theodoros of Gadara,” AJP 80
(1959): 366–68. For his work on Coele Syria and his attitude toward his native
city, see Geiger, “Local Patriotism,” 147.
230
Oenomaus is traditionally dated to the time of Hadrian, ca. 120 c.e., though
his exact date is far from certain, and some scholars have dated him to the third
century. See Dudley, History of Cynicism, 162–70, and esp. Jürgen Hammerstaedt,
“Der Kyniker Oenomaus von Gadara,” ANRW 2.36.4 (1990): 2834 –65, and
“Oenomaus,” in Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, 356–57.
231
This possibility is mentioned by several scholars, including John L. Moles,
“Oenomaus,” OCD 3 (1996): 1062–63, and Diskin Clay, “Diogenes and His Gods,”
in Epikureismus in der späten Republik und der Kaiserzeit, ed. M. Erler, Philosophie der
Antike 11 (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 2000), 76–92, esp. 88.
 gadara 395

fierce criticism of Greek oracles, denunciation of divination, and

arguments against superstition.232 In addition to exposing charlatans
(The Swindlers Unmasked ) and likely serving as a literary influence on
his younger contemporary Lucian,233 Oenomaus wrote a number of
other works, including one On Philosophy according to Homer, which is
somewhat similar in title to Philodemus’ On the Good King according to
Homer;234 (5) Abnimos (Abnomos), a pagan philosopher who had a
sympathetic attitude toward the Jewish community and was the friend
of the second century c.e. tanna, R. Meir of Tiberias (ca. 135 c.e.).235
Several anecdotes are told about him in rabbinic sources, one in
which R. Abba bar Kahana, a late third century Palestinian amora,236
compares the philosopher favorably to the prophet Balaam of Num
22, doing so because of the sage counsel that Abnimos gave his fel-
low Gentiles when they wanted to attack the Jewish people. Because

232
Oenomaus’ criticisms of oracles were quoted extensively by Eusebius in his
Praeparatio evangelica. See esp. Jürgen Hammerstaedt, Die Orakelkritik des Kynikers Oenomaus,
Athenäums Monograpfien, Altertumswissenschaft 188 (Frankfurt am Main: Athenaum,
1988). Translations of the fragments are provided by Léonce Paquet, trans., Les
Cyniques grecs: Fragments et témoignages, 2nd ed., Collection Philosophica 35 (Ottawa:
Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa, 1988), 239–70, and Georg Luck, trans., Die
Weisheit der Hunde: Texte der antiken Kyniker in deutscher Übersetzung mit Erläuterungen
(Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner, 1997; repr. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buch- gesellschaft,
2002), 406–29.
233
His The Swindlers Unmasked (The Charlatans Exposed) is usually viewed as identical
to his Against the Oracles, though some scholars, such as Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting,
Der Kynismus des Diogenes und der Begriff des Zynismus, 2d ed., Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch
Wissenschaft 713 (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1988), 98, treat them as two
separate works. For the literary affinities between Oenomaus and Lucian, see esp.
I. Bruns, “Lucian und Oenomaus,” Rheinisches Museum 44 (1889): 374–96, and
Hammerstaedt, “Der Kyniker Oenomaus,” 2860–62. See also Luck, Die Weisheit der
Hunde, 405.
234
Other works attributed to Oenomaus include The Dog’s Own Voice (probably
= On Cynicism); On Crates, Diogenes, and the Other Cynics; The Republic; and tragedies.
For his On Philosophy according to Homer, see Hammerstaedt, “Der Kyniker Oenomaus,”
2851–52, who notes the similarity of the title to Philodemus’ work.
235
R. Meir, who was a student of both R. Ishmael ben Elisha and R. Aqiba
ben Joseph, belonged to the third generation of Tannaites (ca. 130–160 c.e.).
According to rabbinic tradition, he was the descendant of proselytes—a circum-
stance that may have played a role in his friendship with a gentile philosopher. For
bibliography and a brief discussion, see Strack and Stemberger, Introduction to the
Talmud and Midrash, 76.
236
R. Abba bar Kahana belonged to the third generation of Amoraim and was
a student of the famous R. Yohanan bar Nappaha (who was born at Sepphoris
and taught both there and at Tiberias). See Strack and Stemberger, Introduction to
the Talmud and Midrash, 91.
396 john t. fitzgerald

of his Gadarene provenance and his date of activity in the first half
of the second century, he is considered by many scholars to be iden-
tical to Oenomaus.237 While there may indeed be a connection
between Oenomaus and Abnimos,238 a simple identification of the
two figures is highly problematic. It overlooks or minimizes the fact
that Oenomaus’ condemnation of prophecy would also apply to the
Hebrew prophets and that the rabbinic depiction of Abnimos has
been shaped by midrashic concerns and is based, not so much on
the historical Oenomaus, but on the type of philosopher that Oeno-
maus was believed to represent;239 (6) Valerius Apsines, an early third-
century c.e. rhetorician (perhaps ca. 190–250) whose Technè provides
a good example of how the art of rhetoric was taught during the
Second Sophistic;240 and, finally, (7) Philo the mathematician (prob-
ably third century c.e.), who not only was the teacher of Sporus of
Nicaea but also improved on Archimedes’ attempt to give an exact
numerical expression of mathematical pi.241

237
See esp. S. J. Bastomsky, “Abnimos and Oenomaus: A Question of Identity,”
Apeiron 8 (1974): 57–61; see also Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism, 2:56 n. 189, who
considers the identity of the two figures “very probable.”
238
For a discussion of this possibility and some of the difficulties and solutions
involved, see Hammerstaedt, “Der Kyniker Oenomaus,” 2836–39, and Menahem
Luz, “Abnimos, Nimos, and Oenomaus: A Note,” JQR 77 (1986–87): 191–95.
239
See esp. Luz, “Oenomaus and Talmudic Anecdote,” 42–80. For the problem
of misunderstanding in the rabbinic depiction of Greek philosophers, see Luz’s “A
Description of the Greek Cynic in the Jerusalem Talmud,” 49–60.
240
For text and translation, see Mervin R. Dilts and George A. Kennedy, eds.
and trans., Two Greek Rhetorical Treatises from the Roman Empire: Introduction, Text, and
Translation of the Arts of Rhetoric attributed to Anonymous Seguerianus and to Apsines of Gadara,
Mnemosyne Supplements 168 (Leiden: Brill, 1997), esp. ix–x, xv–xix, xxii–xxvi,
75–239. See also Kennedy, Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World, 633–34. A contem-
porary of Philostratus, Apsines was especially interested in declamation and the
rhetorical techniques employed by Demosthenes. According to the Suda, he studied
rhetoric in Smyrna with Heracleides and in Nicomedia with Basilicus. He later
taught in Athens, where he may have held a chair of rhetoric. An inscription found
at Athens indicates that he married into a prominent Athenian family and thus was
well-connected socially; see James H. Oliver, “Greek and Latin Inscriptions,” Hesperia
10 (1941): 237–61, esp. 260–61, no. 65 (“Wife of the Sophist Apsines”).
241
Information on Philo appears to be confined to a single reference made to
him in Eutocius of Ascalon’s (ca. 480–540) commentary on Archimedes’ Measurement
of a Circle (3.258.25 Heiberg). The relevant portion of the text is translated by Sir
Thomas Heath in his A History of Greek Mathematics, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon,
1921), 1:234. Gregor Damschen, “Philon von Gadara,” in Der Neue Pauly 9 (2000):
857, conjectures a second century date for Philo, but his role as the teacher of
Sporus (usually dated ca. 240–ca. 300) suggests that he was active in the mid-third
century. Sporus himself was the teacher of Pappus of Alexandria (ca. 290–ca. 350),
 gadara 397

In conclusion, Gadara was already a famous city when Philodemus

was born in ca. 110 b.c.e., and his activities as a poet and philoso-
pher added to his native city’s renown. Yet he spent most of his life
abroad. Like many Gadarenes both before and after him, Philodemus
spent time in Athens.242 For a Gadarene intellectual, that was almost
to be expected. After all, inasmuch as Gadara considered itself “an
Attic fatherland among Syrians” (Meleager apud Anth. Pal. 7.417), it
was natural for its natives to want to spend time in Attica itself.
Although Philodemus apparently never returned to his native city,
his life coincided with some of the city’s most dramatic vicissitudes.
He was born when Gadara was a Hellenistic city under Seleucid
control, but for approximately half of his life, his native land was
under Hasmonean control. Philodemus would have been in his mid-
40s when Pompey liberated and began to rebuild the city, and for
the rest of his life, Gadara was part of the Roman province of Syria
and its fluctuating fortunes. He likely died not too long after the
year 40 b.c.e., thus before Augustus gave Gadara to Herod the
Great. But long after he died, he was still considered one of that
city’s greatest natives.

who was the last of the great Greek geometers. See now Serafina Cuomo, Pappus of
Alexandria and the Mathematics of Late Antiquity, Cambridge Classical Studies (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000).
242
For other Gadarenes in Attica, see IG II/III, nos. 8448a–8449; Vanderpool,
“An Athenian Monument to Theodoros of Gadara,” 366–68; and Weber, “Gadarenes
in Exile,” 10–12.
This page intentionally left blank
 INDEX OF ANCIENT AUTHORS AND TEXTS

The abbreviations used for the citation of primary texts follow, in general, the guide-
lines of the Society of Biblical Literature as published in the Journal of Biblical Literature
107 (1988) 579–96. Where no abbreviation has been recommended by the SBL,
preference in the citation of ancient authors and texts is given to the abbreviations
employed by N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard (eds.) in The Oxford Classical
Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1970). Other abbreviations are self-evident.
NOTE: n = footnote(s). If the same page of this volume contains a reference in
both the text and the footnotes to the same passage or author, only the reference
in the text is indicated in the following index.

1. Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

Gen Jer
30:11 369n 9:22–23 338
30:11 LXX 369n
Ezek
Num 16:63 308n
22 395 29:21 308n

Deut Amos
19:15 312 9:11 LXX 363n

Isa Dan
65:11 346n 11:10–19 353n
65:11 LXX 346, 369n

2. Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

1 Macc 2 Macc
1:14 356n 4:9 355n, 356n
2:15 346n 4:12 356n
5:26–27 346n 4:19 355n

3. Josephus and Philo

Josephus [ Joseph.] 351n, 362, 364, 13.355 360n

374n 13.356 360, 361, 363
AJ 13.357–374 362n
4.313 363n 13.374 363
8.128 363n 13.375 344n, 362n, 363
11.25 360n 13.396 344, 364n
12.136 354 14.74 367
13.324–355 360n 14.75 363, 366
400 index of ancient authors and texts

14.75–76 366 1.386–393 371

14.88 344n, 366 1.394–396 371n
14.91 344, 362n 1.396 371
14.93 367n 2.97 358, 372
14.158 370n 2.457–460 374
14.180 370 2.461 374n, 375n
14.326 370 2.461–465 375
14.381–393 370 2.464 375n
15.79 371 2.478 375
15.183–197 371 3.29–34 375n
15.217 348n, 371 3.37 346n
15.351 372 3.132 344
15.354–358 372 3.532–542 376
15.357 372 4.413 362
15.359 372 4.413–419 344
17.320 348n, 358, 372 4.428 344
18.36–38 391n
Vit.
BJ 25 374n
1.86 360n, 363 40–41 375n
1.86–89 363 42 346n, 374
1.87–89 362n 44 375
1.90 362n, 363 45 375
1.155 363, 366, 367 341 374
1.155–157 366 410 374, 375
1.165 363n
1.166 344n, 366 Philo
1.170 344, 362n Agr.
1.172 367n 34 298
1.199 363n 143 324, 336
1.203 370n 159–160 336
1.213 370
Det.
1.244 370
35 338
1.282–285 370

4. The Talmud

The Babylonian Talmud [b.] The Jerusalem Talmud [ j.]

'Erubin ['Erub.] Qiddu“in [Qidd.]
61a 393n 64d, 13f. 392n

5. New Testament

Matt 346n 13:8 387

4:25 367n 19:21 196
5:3 196 19:29 195
5:3–11 194
8:20 194 Mark
8:28 345, 386n 2:14 378n
8:28–34 196n, 345, 369n 4:8 387
8:31 346 5:1 345
8:32 346n 5:1–20 345
8:34 346 5:2–3 386n
11:5 196 5:5 386n
11:6 196n 5:20 367n
 index of ancient authors and texts 401

7:31 367n 4:13 253

10:21 196 5:2a–b 320
10:29 195 5:5 307n
8:11 307
Luke 9:19–22 16
6:20 196 9:19–23 17
6:20–26 194 9:19b–23 15
7:22 196 9:24–27 321n
8:8 387 11:28–32 321n
8:14 276n 12:26 307, 319
8:26 345 14:13–19 321
8:26–39 345 15:32 276n
8:27 386n 16:12 334
8:37 345 16:19 274
9:58 194
14:13 196 2 Cor 323
16:19–31 196 1–7 305, 308, 309, 310, 314,
16:20 196 317
18:22 196 1:7 310
18:29 195 1:8 308
1:11 308
John 1:12 308
20:26–29 381n 1:15–2:1 315
1:26 314n
Acts 2:3 305, 307, 310
15:16 363n 2:3–4 305
17 17 2:4 273n, 305, 306, 310
17:31 339n 2:5 306, 307
18:19 274 2:6 306, 307
18:24–28 334 2:7 306, 307
18:26 274 2:6–11 306
26 17 2:8 307, 310
2:9 305, 306
Rom 2:17 308
1:16 339 2:17–4:6 273
12:15 307, 319 3:1–3 308
14:15 307 3:2–3 310
15:14 320 3:7–4:1 308
15:26 316n 3:12 272
16:23 316n 4:2 308
4:2ff. 308
1 Cor 323 4:7–12 308
1–2 340 4:10–11 49
1:14 316 4:16–5:5 308
1:17 340 5:12 308
1:18–2:10 314 5:20 307n
2:1 338 6:3–10 308
2:1–5 337, 338, 339, 341 6:11 308
2:2 338 6:11–12 311
2:4 339 6:12 308
2:4–5 340n 6:11–13 316
2:5 339 6:13 295, 308
2:10 313 7:2 295, 309, 311
3:18–19 340 7:2a 307
402 index of ancient authors and texts

7:2b–d 308 13:2 312

7:2–4 316 13:3–4 312
7:3 309 13:4 313
7:4a 309 13:5–9 312
7:4a-c 309 13:5–10 321n
7:4b 309 13:7 313, 314
7:4c 309 13:8 312
7:5–15 309 13:9 311
7:7 306, 310 13:10 312, 313
7:8 305, 310 13:11 311
7:8–9 306
7:8–12 305 Gal 298
7:9 305, 307, 310 1:1 300
7:9–10 307 1:3 302
7:10 307 1:5 300
7:10b 306 1:6 300, 301
7:11 306, 307, 310, 316 1:6ff 299
7:12 306, 307 1:13–14 300
7:14 307 2:1–10 300
7:15 306 2:9 300
7:16 309, 310 2:11–21 300
10–12 340 218 300n
10–13 266, 295, 305n, 310, 311, 2:21 300n
312, 314, 316, 317, 318, 3:1 299
340 3:3 299, 301
10:1 307n 3:4 301
10:3 312 3:19 318n
10:8 312, 313 3:23 302
10:9–10 273 4:3–5 302
10:10 334, 335n, 336 4:8–9 300
10:13 312 4:9 301
10:14 312 4:8–11 299
10:15 311 4:12 302
11:2 311 4:12–20 302
11:4 313 4:14–15 301
11:6 336 4:15 301
11:7 312 4:16 304, 321
11:7–10 315 4:17 302
11:9 312 4:20 304
11:11 313 5:7 301
11:12 312 5:15 301
11:20 312 5:16 301
11:29 319 5:19–21 301
12:2–10 313 5:26 301
12:6 312, 313 6:1–5 301
12:9 312 6:2 318n
12:12 312 6:4 321n
12:14 312 6:12–13 302
12:15 313
12:17 312 Phil
12:19 313 1:20 273
12:20 311
13 312, 314 1 Thess 298n
13:1 312 2:3 273
 index of ancient authors and texts 403

2:7 273 3:11 275, 280, 286n, 292n

2:1–12 337n 3:12 280, 287n
2:9–12 273 3:13 274, 279, 280, 281, 288
3:14 282n
1 Tim 3:15 282n, 284n
1:1 277, 278, 291n 3:16 278
1:2 282 4:1 278, 290
1:3 274, 279, 281n, 287n, 291n 4:1–3 282
1:4 278 4:2 291, 292
1:5 282n 4:3 277, 279, 292n
1:6–7 285 4:4 279
1:8–11 283n 4:5 278
1:9 278, 284 4:6 277, 279, 281n, 282, 289
1:9–11 282 4:7 282n
1:10 281n, 290n 4:7–8 282, 283n
1:11 277 4:8 278
1:12 277, 279 4:9 279
1:12–16 277 4:10 278, 291n
1:13 282, 292n 4:11 281n
1:13–16 287, 292 4:11–16 292
1:15 278, 281n, 284 4:12 282n, 285, 287
1:16 282n 4:13 281n, 291n
1:17 277 4:15 283, 287, 292n
1:18 287n 4:15–16 281
1:19–20 283n 4:16 281n
1:20 292n 5:1 284, 291n
2:1 279, 281n, 291n 5:1–2 282n, 289
2:1–3 278 5:2 284
2:2 275, 279 5:4 278
2:3 278, 291n 5:5 278
2:4 278, 292n 5:5–7 286n
2:5–6 278, 281n 5:6 278
2:6 278 5:7 289
2:7 277, 280 5:7–8 281
2:8 278 5:10 282n, 288
2:8–15 283n 5:11 278, 284
2:9–10 280 5:11–12 283, 285
2:10 282n, 288 5:12 278
2:13 277, 280 5:14 281, 284, 288
2:15 278, 282n 5:15 283n
3:1 282n, 287n 5:17 280
3:1–13 282n 5:19 284
3:2 280 5:19–20 289
3:2–7 286n 5:20 288, 291n, 292n
3:3 274, 289n 5:20–25 288
3:4 275 5:21 278
3:4–5 287n 5:22 292n
3:5 282 5:23 279
3:7 279n, 281 5:24 283, 292n
3:8 275 5:25 282n
3:8–12 280 6:1 281, 288, 292n
3:8–13 286n 6:1–2 289
3:9 280 6:1–3 281n
3:10 287n 6:2 291n
404 index of ancient authors and texts

6:3 278, 279, 290n 2:17–18 283n

6:3–10 282, 283n 2:20–21 282n
6:3–12 275 2:21 282n, 288
6:4 290, 292n 2:22 282n, 283n, 284n, 286
6:6 275 2:23 283n, 285, 286
6:7 275n 2:24 289
6:7–10 275n 2:24–25 289n
6:9 275n, 276, 285 2:25 292n
6:9–10 283n 2:25–26 278, 283n
6:10 291 3:1 290
6:11 282n, 284n 3:1–5 283n, 284
6:11–12 283n 3:1–17 275
6:12 278 3:2 279, 282, 286, 292n
6:13 277, 278, 281n 3:2–7 282
6:14–15 290 3:3 292n
6:14–16 278 3:4 276
6:16 277, 281n 3:5 278
6:17 278, 289 3:5–9 292
6:17–18 283n 3:6 285, 292n
6:18 275, 282n 3:6–9 288
6:18–19 278, 281 3:7 287, 292n
6:19 275 3:8 280
6:20 279, 285, 287n, 292 3:8–9 285
3:10 281n, 282n
2 Tim 3:10–11 282, 287
1:1 277 3:11 277
1:2 282 3:13 286
1:3 279 3:15 278, 280, 284n, 291
1:4 282n 3:16 278, 281n, 292n
1:6 277, 281n, 287n 3:16–17 291
1:7 277, 282n 3:17 282n, 288
1:9 278 4:1 278, 281n
1:9–10 281n 4:2 291n, 292, 307n
1:10 278, 291n 4:2–3 281n
1:11 277 4:3 290, 291
1:12 279 4:3–4 285, 287
1:12–14 277 4:3–5 275
1:13 282, 290n 4:5 284n, 286, 287, 289
1:13–14 287n 4:6 290
1:14 279 4:8 278
1:15 274, 280, 282 4:9 282n
1:16 282n 4:9–13 282n
1:18 274, 278, 282n 4:14 278
2:1 277, 282n 4:14–16 282
2:2 281n, 287 4:17 277
2:7 278 4:18 278
2:10 278, 291 4:19 274
2:10–12 278 4:19–21 282
2:11–13 281n 4:20 282n, 291n
2:12–13 278
2:14 289 Tit
2:14–18 279 1:1 277, 292n
2:15 278, 279, 284n 1:2 278
2:17 290 1:2–3 278
 index of ancient authors and texts 405

1:3 278, 290, 2:9–10 275

291n 2:10 278, 281n,
1:4 278, 282, 288, 291n
291n 2:11–12 275, 282, 286
1:5 287 2:11–14 277
1:6–9 282n, 286n 2:12 290n, 292n
1:7 274, 277, 2:13 278, 291n
289n 2:14 282n, 287, 288
1:7–9 275 2:15 281n, 285, 291n
1:9 278, 281, 3:1 282n, 291n
290n, 291n 3:1–2 287n
1:10 284, 285, 3:2 284n, 292n
286 3:3 276, 286, 292
1:11 280, 286 3:4 278, 291n
1:13 289, 291n 3:4–7 277
1:13–16 282 3:6 278, 291n
1:16 282n, 288 3:7 278
1:19 290n 3:8 282n
2:1 281n 3:9 278, 285, 286
2:1–6 286 3:9–11 283n
2:2 275, 282n, 3:10 289, 291n
284, 290n 3:11 292n
2:3 292n 3:12–14 282n
2:3–5 275, 280, 3:14 282n
284 3:15 282
2:4 287n
2:5 288, 292n Phlm 298n
2:6 281n, 284, 8–9 273
291n
2:7 275, 281n, Jas
282n, 284n, 4:1 276n
287 4:3 276n
2:7–8 282
2:8 278, 285, 2 Pet
288 2:13 276n

6. Other Early Christian Literature to the END OF THE 5th Century c.e.

Acts of Paul and Thecla 30.7.5 388n

1.237 335n 30.7.5–8.10 389n
30.8.2 386n
1 Clement [1 Clem.] 30.8.10 382n
47.3 316n
Eudocia Augusta 388
Clement of Alexandria [Clem. Al.]
Strom. Eusebius of Caesarea
4.19 237 Onom.
32.16 348n
Epiphanius of Salamis 388
Adv. Haer. Praep. ev. 395n
1.7–8 277n
Justin Martyr
Pan. Dial. Tryph.
30.4.1–5.8 388n 2 248n
406 index of ancient authors and texts

Origen 345n Tertullian [ Tert.]

Comm. In Matth. Adv. nat.
15.15 195n 2.2 82

7. Classical, Late Antique, and Byzantine Sources

Abnimos 7.3 (1324b14–23) 169

[Abnomos] 382, 383, 7.9 (1329a25–26) 172n
395, 396 7.10 (1330a25–26) 172
Rh. 94n, 342
Aelius Aristides 1.1 (1354a) 330n
[Aristid. Rhetor] 1.1 (1356a) 339
Or. 124n, 335 1.3 (1358a38) 336
51.29–34 337 1.3 (1358b) 336n
1.3 (1358b2–5) 216n
Alciphron [Alciphr.] 3 100
Ep. 3.1 (1403b–1404a) 326
2.2.1–3 237 3.1 (1404a) 326n
2.2.3 233 3.19 (1420a) 336n
Antigonus of Carystus [Antig. Car.] On Philosophy 9n
Lives 66
Asconius 5
Antipater of Tarsus 154
Athenaeus [Ath.]
Antoninus of Deipnosophistae [Deipn.]
Placentia 389, 390 4.157b 358n,
Itinerarium 383n,
7 390n 385n
5.210e–f 356n
Appian 12.527e–f 356n
Syrian Wars [Syr.] (Book 11 of his 13.588b 233
Historia romana) 13.577 237n
1 358n 14.633b 384n
57 350n
Bion of Borysthenes 9n, 10n
Apsines, Valerius 396
Technè 396 Bromius 3n
Archimedes 396 Caecilius Statius
Measurement of a Circle 396n The Money-Lender 12
Aristophanes [Ar.] Carmen de bello Actiaco 11, 12
Nub. (Aegyptiaco)
218–509 247 col. 6 12n
627–790 247
Thesm. Carneiscus 8
540–41 90 Philistas 8n
Aristotle [Arist.] Cassius Dio
Eth. Nic. 145n Historia romana [Hist.]
Pol. 39.38.6 365n
1.9 (1257b19–1258a18) 143n 48.24.3 370
5.3 (1303b15) 184n 48.24.7–26.4 370
 index of ancient authors and texts 407

Catullus [Catull.] 4 2.64 206

13 107n 2.65 206
14 107n 2.69–70 206
47 88n 2.99–349 204
61 11n 2.104 205
82 107n 2.175 205
2.350–367 204
Chrysippus 11 2.351 205
Logical Questions 11n 3.19–212 204
On Providence 11n 3.143 205
Untitled work 11n 3.213–227 204
Fin. 10
Cicero [Cic.] 1 1 5, 142
Acad. Post. 1.16 104
1.5 191n 1.65 135
Att. 2.7 136n
4.13.2 203n 2.12 141
4.16.3 204n 2.21.68 231, 237
Brut. 2.23 225
25–26 203 2.29 144n
69 203 2.63 231
151 203 2.67 231
265 11n 2.68 153n
291 203 2.91 146
De Or. 197, 203, 220 2.98 136
1.5 203n 2.101 108n, 140n
1.20 207 2.119 4n, 5
1.42–44 199 5.3 138n
1.46 199 Inv. Rhet. 199, 201, 203n
1.48–50 207 1.1 202
1.49 205 1.5 200
1.50 205 1.6 202
1.51 205 1.7 200, 201
1.53 207 1.8 200, 201
1.54 205 1.9 200, 201
1.57 205 1.16 200
1.59 207 1.33 202
1.60 207 1.50 200
1.64 207 1.77 202
1.72 207 1.86 202
1.85–86 199 2.5 200
1.107–109 204 2.6 200
1.141 199 2.7 200
1.142 199 2.8 200
1.145 199 2.11 200
2.29–33 204 Nat. D. 5n, 73n
2.32–33 204 1 5, 142
2.41–42 206 1.25–41 5
2.43 206 1.54 51n
2.44–47 206 1.59 5
2.48 206 1.93 222, 230, 236, 241
2.49 206 Off.
2.50 206 3.36 124n
2.51–64 206 3.84 124n
408 index of ancient authors and texts

Orat. 197, 203, 204, 220 Rhet. Her. (see under Rhetorica
2–3 205 ad Herennium)
4 207 Sest.
37 206, 207 94 105n
43–50 205 Tusc.
44 205 1.82 22n
51 205 2.6–8 141n
51–54 205 3.38 5, 104
54 205 4.6–7 141, 164n
55–60 205 5.93 146n
61–236 205
69 206, 207 Colotes of Lampsacus 8
113 203n, 207 Against Plato’s Euthydemus 8n
118–120 208 Against Plato’s Lysis 8n
122 203n
145 203n Cornelius Severus
147 203n Res Romanae 12n
162 203n
174 203n Demetrius Lacon 3n, 9
207 206, 207 PHerc. 1055 75
Part Or. 199 PHerc. 1786 109
3 200n On Fickleness 10n
4 200n On Geometry 10n
5–8 200n, 201 On Poems 10n
5–26 200n On the Form of God
9 201n (= On the Gods) 10n
9–15 201 On the Puzzles of Polyaenus 10n
16–24 200n On the Size of the Sun 10n
16–26 201 Quaestiones convivales 10n
25 200n Untitled works 10n
26 200n
27–60 200n, 201 Dio Cassius [Dio Cass.]
48 200 Hist.
61–68 200n 55.7 107n
61–138 200n, 201
62–67 201 Dio Chrysostom [Dio Chrys.]
68 201n Or.
68–138 200n 2.79 365n
69–82 201 13.9 273n
83–97 201 32.8 332
98–138 201 32.12 257n, 273n
137 200 47.1 338n
139 200, 202 47.22 337n
140 202 72 335n
Pis. 77 290n
63 237 78.45 290n
67 225
68 5n, 105 Diodorus Siculus [Diod. Sic.]
68–70 1n 13.103.4 59n
68–72 5, 56 15.6 70n
70–71 56n 16.92.3 47n
85 105n
Prov. Cons. Diogenes Laertius [Diog. Laert.]
6–7 105n 1.47 95
 index of ancient authors and texts 409

4.43 242 Diogenes of Oenoanda

5.37 138n A letter to mother 237, 238
6.21 187n Frag.
6.23 187n 29 225
6.32 187 122 241
6.38 187 127 332
6.71 187n
6.74 187n Dionysius of Halicarnassus
6.80 188, 195 [Dion. Hal.]
6.83 195 Comp.
6.87–88 195n 24 197
6.93 195n Isoc. 220
6.99 344n
6.99–101 386n, 393n Donatus
6.104 185 Schol. Ad. Verg. Ecl.
7.6–9 63n 6.10 88n
7.121 153n, 166n 6.13 88n
7.130 163n Vita Verg.
7.173 63n 11 88n
7.181 60n 79 106n
10.3 56n, 59, 237
10.4–5 228n Ennius
10.5 227 Ann.
10.6 225 6 12, 109n
10.7 136n, 137n, 225,
227, Epictetus
234, 236 Diss.
10.8 184 1.23 166n
10.9–10 274n 3.1 334
10.10 136n, 174n, 226n 3.7.19 166n
10.11 137n, 139n, 226n 3.21.17 257n
10.15 140n 3.22.2 272
10.17 63 3.22.8 272
10.17–19 136n 3.22.52 272
10.18 108n, 138n 3.22.3–4 257n
10.19 186n 3.22.19 257n
10.20–21 136n 3.22.86–89 335n
10.22 44n, 136n 3.22.95–96 257n
10.23 238
10.24 8n Epicurus [Epicur.]
10.25 9n Epistulae [Ep.] 7n, 8n
10.26 164n Letter to Herodatus
10.27 195 (Ep. Her.) 75
10.31 50n 29.3 277n
10.117 54, 134n 36 50n
10.118 144n, 225n 38–39 277n
10.119 54, 148, 162n, 166n, 61 47n
228n 73–74 277n
10.119–120 184 75f 42
10.120 134n, 148, 151n, 76–77 277n
161n, 162n, 171n 83 47n, 50n
10.130 185n Letter to Menoceus
10.137 227n (Ep. Men.)
62,12–15 276n
410 index of ancient authors and texts

64.21–25 276n 18 143n

122 133 19 23n
124 54 21 145n, 276n
124–126 278n 27 272n
128 151n 29 145n, 276n
128–129 143n 30 144n
129–130 144n 31 276n
130 144n, 145, 148 32 134n
131 145n, 148 35 288n
132 225, 227n, 276n, 40 89
285n Sententiae Vaticanae [SV]
135 279n (Vatican Sayings)
Fragmenta [U] (ed. Usener) 7 288n
20 135n 22 23n
45.7–10 92 25 146
117 134 29 134n
135 147 33 23n
141 138n 41 142, 279n
146 136n 44 147, 275n
163 134 45 134n
164 134n 47 278n
169 135n 48 278n
181 139n 52 279n
182 139 54 282n
183 139 58 148, 228n, 279n
187 134n 60 275n
202 147n 66 89
226 134n 67 147
408–428 143n 69 279n
429–39 144n 77 147n
456 144n, 146n 81 134n, 147n,
469 145 275n
470 146n
471 146n, 147n Eunapius
477 147n
Vit. phil.
526 166
459 388n, 390n
551 139n
Fragments (ed. Arrighetti)
Euripides [Eur.]
20.1 208n
Bacch.
20.3 208n
668 90n
20.6 209n
21.4 209n
Eutocius of Ascalon 396n
22.1 48n
On Nature 7n, 78n, 109
Favorinus
Ratae sententiae [KD]
Or.
(KÊriai DÒjai) 73n, 279
37.20 334
1 277n
37.33 333, 341
2 278n
3 143n
Fragmente der griechischen Historiker [FGrHist]
5 276n
[ed. Jacoby]
7 228n
850 T 1 394
8 225
14 279n
15 145
 index of ancient authors and texts 411

Hermarchus Lactantius [Lactant.]

Frag. Div. Inst.
35 209n 3.25.15 237
36 209n
Livy
Herodotus Epit.
Histories 127 370
1.8.1 240
1.30–33 69 Lucian 394n, 395
4.46.3 188 Bis acc.
25–35 247n
Homer [Hom.] Demon.
Il. 11 288n
8.306–308 25 Dial. Mort. 248
9.448–493 95 Peregr. 245n
Philops. 335n
Horace [Hor.] 4 34 334
Carm. (Odes) Pisc. 245, 246n, 248, 249,
1.1.1 107n 250, 251n, 257
1.6 106n 1 261
1.20 107n, 108n 2 261
2.17 107n 4 255
3.29.41–48 44 5 255, 258, 259, 260
Epist. 6 262
1.1 107n 10 259n
Epod. 14 255, 266
1.1 107n 17 255
1.16 52, 107n 20 264
Sat. 22 261
1.10.43f 106n 25 247n, 255
1.2.121 4n 25–26 255, 264
29 252
Iamblichus of Chalcis 390 29–37 252
30 252, 262
Isidorus [Isid.] 30–33 259
Etym. 33 258
8.6 82 34 253, 262
8.18 82 35 253
8.21 82n 36 253
Isocrates [Isoc.] 37 259
Ad Nic. 38 259, 260
1.2–3 273n 46 258, 260, 265
Antidos. 327n 52 258
197–198 329n Pseudol. 250n
201 336n Salt. 248n
204 336n Vit. Auct. 247, 249, 251,
Contr. Soph. 254, 261
9–10 327n Zeux. 247n
13 327n
Phil. Lucretius [Lucr.] 9
25–26 327n De rerum nat. 5, 75, 105, 142
Panath. 2.1044–1047 51n
17 327n 3 53, 106n
3.9–13 278n
412 index of ancient authors and texts

3.41–93 27 The Dog’s Own Voice 395n

3.830–1094 21n On Crates, Diogenes, and
3.904–911 89 the Other Cynics 395n
4 238 On Cynicism 395n
5 83 On Philosophy according to
5.1117–1132 228 Homer 395
5.1301 106n Republic 395n
5.1509 106n The Swindlers Unmasked
Martial 5n (= The Charlatans
Exposed ) 395
Maximus of Tyre [Max. Tyr.] tragedies 395n
Or.
36 187n Ovid 4, 394
Meleager 343, 344n, 357, Palatine Anthology [Anth. Pal.]
358, 365, 383, 5.160 365n, 383n
393, 394 7.417 358, 383n,
Garland 394n 384n, 397
Graces (Charities) 385n 7.417–418 383n
apud Anth. Pal. 7.418 350n, 373n
5.160 365n, 383n 7.419 373n, 383n
7.417 358, 383n,
384n, Pausanias
397 Description of Greece
7.417–418 383n 10.4.1 357n
7.418 350n, 373n
7.419 373n, 383n PHerc.
apud Athenaeus, Deipn. 124 10n
4.157b 358n, 383n, 128 10n
385n 176 11n
Menippus 343, 344n, 188 10n
385, 386n, 393 200 8n
208 8n
Metrodorus of 307 11n
Lampsacus 8, 186n col. 1–2 11n
Frag. (ed. Koerte) col. 9.7–12 11n
20–22 209n 312 4n
25 209n frag. 1. col. 4 106
45 64n 336 9n
Against the Dialecticians 8n 440 8n
Against the Sophists 8n 817 12n
Letters 8n 831 10n
On Wealth 8n 996 7n
1006 10n
Musonius Rufus 1012 10n
[Mus. Ruf ] 256 col. 44 9n
Or. 1013 10n
14 195n 1014 10n
Nicander [Nic.] 1020 11n
Alex. 93 col. 1 11n
col. 4 11n
Oenomaus 385, 394, 395, 1027 8n
396 1032 8n
Against the Oracles 395n 1038 11n
 index of ancient authors and texts 413

1055 10n 5.112 (= Sider 5) 88

1061 10n 9.512 (= Sider 29) 86, 87, 89, 92,
1065 3n 94, 101, 108n
1083 10n 9.570 (= Sider 3) 86, 88, 89, 92,
1115 8n 94, 101, 239
1150 9n 11.34 (= Sider 6) 88
1258 10n 11.41 (= Sider 4) 52, 88
1389 3n 11.44 (= Sider 27) 107n, 140
1418 7n 11.44.7–8 107–108
col. 20 8n De adulatione [Adul.] 58, 112n
1421 11n [PHerc. 222, 223, 1089, 1457, 1675]
1429 10n (On Flattery)
1471 3n De arrogantia [Arrog.] 112n
1475 11n [PHerc 1008] (On Arrogance)
1520 9n De avaritia 112n
1642 10n [PHerc. 465, 1613] (On Greed )
1647 10n De bono rege secundum
1786 10n Homerum 80n, 105, 124,
1822 10n 151n, 395
[PHerc. 1507] (On the Good King
Philo the according to Homer)
Mathematician 396 De calumnia 106, 111
[PHerc. Paris 2] (On Calumny)
Philodemus [Phld.] De dis 75, 82
Academicorum Historia 68, 79, 109n (On Gods)
(ed. Dorandi) Book 3 5
Columns Columns
Y.3–1,7 60 1.15–20 276n
4.25–col. 15 66n 2.23–27 51
8 65n De garulitate 109, 111n
9 65n [PHerc 1082]
10.11–15 65 Columns
13.10–18 67 1.1–7 109n
13.20–27 67 11.1–7 106n
13–18 65n De insania 111, 112
14.41–45 66 De ira 27, 39–40, 58,
22.35–23.7 67 75, 109, 110,
23.8 66 111–112, 112n,
24.9–12 60 116n, 286n
26.35–44 68n [PHerc. 182] (On Anger)
27.1–12 68n Columns
27.32–28.16 68n 1–2 17n
28.35–29.16 68n 1–8.8 26
29.39–30.11 68n 4.4–24 26
30.1–12 68n 4.16 26
31.15–19 60 8.20–31.24 26
31.34–32.10 68n 12.26–29 64n
32.14–16 68n 18.34–21.40 28
36.4–5 67 18.35–21 17n
36.19 59 36.24f 17n
72.5 65n 39.31–33 40n
Anth. Pal. 39–40 42
5.4.5 (= Sider 7) 92, 239 67 42
5.46 (= Sider 20) 87n
414 index of ancient authors and texts

De libertate dicendi 34.5 291n

[De lib. dic.] 16, 17, 55, 58, 61, 35 287, 291n, 292n
63, 66, 67, 68, 75, 36 291
78, 85, 86, 103, 36.1–2 291n
104, 109, 111, 112, 37–38 288
113, 116, 129n, 38 291n, 307n
235, 246, 271 38.7–8 306n
[PHerc. 1471] (On Frank Criticism) 38.7–10 98
(ed. Olivieri) 39 290, 291n
Fragments 40 282, 289, 290, 291
1 283, 285, 292n 40.8 291n
2–3 284 40–42 288
2.3 141 41 92, 288
4 291 42 289, 291n
4.4–5 259n 42.10 141
5–6 292 43 283n
5.6–8 68n 43.13 291n
6 291n, 292n 43–46 287
6.5 257n 44 290n
6.8 306n 45 291n
7 17n, 288, 297, 312 45.1–6 285n
8 290n 45.1–11 70
8.6–7 141 45.7–10 92, 266
9 286, 292n 45.8 257n
9.6–9 96 46 286, 292n
9–11 17n 47 292n
10 281n, 288, 292n 48 292n
10.3–7 91 49 292n
13 291n, 292n 49.6 257n
14 313 49.10 257n
15 92 50 292n
15.8–9 258n 50.3–8 92
15.9 257n 50.5 258n
16 275n, 281 51 287, 292n
17 292n 53.2–6 68n
18 285, 292n 54–55 282n
19 285 55 139n, 292n
20 290n, 291n 55.5 257n
20.4 257n 58 297, 310
22 289n 60 297
23 290n, 291n 60.4–7 91
24.8–12 70 61 291n
25 272n, 289 61.1 305
25.6–7 141 62 291n, 292n
26 291n, 292 62.1 306n
26.4 275n 63 292n
28 309n 64 290n, 292n
28.5 258n 64–65 290n
30 291n 64.5–7 91n
30.11 306n 65–66 285
31 91, 284, 291n 66 291n
31.3 306n 67 283n
32 289, 291n 67.9–11 68n
33 284, 292n 68 281n, 291n
 index of ancient authors and texts 415

69 290 8a–10b 292

70 315 8b 291n, 297, 298
70.5–7 68n 8b.6–13 289n
71 298, 304, 306, 310, 9a 291n, 292n
316 9a.1–8 289n
72 91 9b 291n, 292n
73 291n 9b.9 306n
73.3–4 257n 10 292
74.3–10 68n 10a 310
75 291n 10b 296
75.2 306n 11a 292n
76 292n 11b 296
77 291n, 292n 12–21 292
78.6–7 291n 12a 292n
79 290n 13–14 292
81.1–4 68n 13a.10 258
82 291n 14a 292n
82.1 306n 14a.7–9 68n
82.7 305 15a 292n
83 292n, 298 15b 69, 259n, 291n,
84 288, 291n 292n
84.7 306n 15b.12–13 306n
86 283n, 290 15b–16a 65
87 310 16 275n
88 292n 16a 291n
88.1–4 68n 16a.1–5 70
T2 292n 16a.9 306n
T2.D2 291n 16b 291n
T3G 291n 16b.7–8 251
T4.1 291n 17 290n
T4.1.23 306n 17a 291n, 292n
T5 291n 17b 296, 314
T12 290n 18a 292n
T12M 292n 18b 291n, 292n
T14.end.5 257n 19a.5–8 68n
Columns 19a.11–12 306n
1–4 288 19b 287n, 291n, 292n,
1–24 116, 117, 118, 119, 295, 308
120, 122 19b.6 258n
1a.1–4 68n 20 285
2–3 117 20a 292n
2b 91–92 20b.1–5 64
3a 292 21 290n
3a.3–5 68n, 69, 289n 21a 291n, 292n
3b 292n 21a.1–5 68n
4 275n 21a.3 306n
5a 64, 66 21a.7 306n
5b 64 21b 291n
5b.2 69 21b.12–15 68n
6a 64, 240 21b–22b 91
6b 292n 22b.10–13 68n, 69
6b.10–11 291n 22 20n, 284
7b 118, 121 22a 240, 291n
8 298 22b 240, 314
416 index of ancient authors and texts

22b–24a 91 29–30 43
23a 291n 30.3 30n
23a.3 306n 30–33 43
23b 117n, 292n 31.1 30
24 91, 115, 117, 118, 32.24–31 30
284 33.36–34.1 43
24a 117n, 314 33fin–35 43
24a.1–2 306n 34.1–3 30n
24b 117, 291n, 292n 34–35 28
24b.4–5 306n 34.37–35.30 29, 30
Apographs 35.36 43
N. 77 114 35fin–36 43
N. 79 114, 292n 35.36–39 33
N. 84 114 35.39–36.8 34
N. 87 114 35–36 33
N. 91 114, 291n 36.17–25 34
N. 93 114, 291n 37.1–12 45, 46, 47, 48
N. 93.7 306n 37–39 18n
De morte [Mort.] 4n, 5, 15, 18, 19, 39.7 49
26n, 27, 56, 75, 88, 39.15–27 49, 50
106n, 111n, 116n De musica 2n, 56, 110n
[PHerc. 1050] (On Death) [PHerc. 1497] (On Music)
Book 4 112n 4 27
Columns De oeconomia [Oec.] 78, 112n, 133, 142,
1–3 22 161, 164, 178, 179,
1–9 18n 193
3.30–4.1 22–23 [PHerc. 1424] [= Book 9 of Vit.]
3.32–39 35n (On Household Management)
3–18 36–37 Columns
4 78n 1–7.37 154
4–10 22 1.4–21 165n
8 23 1.5–8 195
8.1–9.14 25 1.5–10 188
8.6–10 25 2.8–12 189
8.30–10.14 25 2.17 160n
8.32 25n, 26n 5.4–14 117n
9 24 7.37–12.2 154
9.8 26n 7.45–8.18 167n
11 22 9.1–3 166n
12–20.1 36 9.7–9 167n
12–36 44 9.16–20 167n
12–39 22 9.26–10.28 175
13 36, 37 10.43–44 160n
13.36–14.14 37, 38 11.16–17 164n
17.32–18.16 38, 39 11.18–19 160n
19 31 12.2–5 189
19.33–20.1 31 12.2–16.12 189
25.2–10 40 12.5–12 165n
25.37–26.6 41 12.5–17 189
25.38 41n 12.5–25 155, 158n
36.1 41n 12.5–22.16 150, 155
27 41 12.6–7 190
28–29 43 12.15–25 165n
29.10–12 30 12.17–25 190
 index of ancient authors and texts 417

12.17–13.29 186 17.5 160n

12.18–19 184n 17.14–40 158
12.19–22 149 17.15 160n
12.25ff. 179n 17.21–31 160n
12.25–41 190 17.29–30 160n
12.29 160n 17.31 160n
12.29–38 155 17.38 160n
12.41–43 190 18.2–7 157n
12.44–13.3 190 18.2–21.35 158n
12.45–21.35 186 18.5 160n
12.46 160n 18.6–7 174
13.3 160n 18.7–20 158
13.3–8 190 18.34–35 157n, 174
13.3–11 155 18.40 160n
13.8–11 190 19 160n
13.11–19 156n 19.4–19 158
13.15–19 190 19.19 160n
13.19–29 190 19.44 160n
13.29–35 190 20.13 160n
13.34 160n 20.16–32 165n
13.34–14.5 156n 20.33 160n
13.35–39 190 20.45–21.12 165n
13.39–44 190 20.45–21.35 186
13.44–14.2 191 21.1–3 189
14.2–5 191 21.28 165n
14.5 160n 21.28–35 189
14.5–9 156, 191 21.28–22.6 158n
14.8–9 151 21.34–35 169n
14.9–15 191 22.6–26 159, 167–68
14.9–23 156 22.17–23.36 168
14.15–17 191 22.17–fin 155
14.17–23 191 22.28 160n
14.23–30 191 22.28–41 169
14.23–46 157n 22.36–37 160n
14.30–37 191 22.41 160n
14.37–15.3 191 23.1–7 169
14.38 160n 23.7–11 169
15.3–6 191 23.11–18 170
15.6 174 23.18–22 170
15.6–14 191 23.23–36 170
15.14–21 192 23.36–27.20 173
15.20 184n 23.42–24.11 174
15.21–26 157n, 184n, 192 24.11–29 174n
15.26–31 192 24.35 174n
15.31–37 192 24.41 174
15.37–45 192 24.41–25.54 175
15.44–16.12 192 25.4–26.1 175
15.45–16.6 157 25.32 174n
16.2 195n 25.38 151
16.5–6 195 25.44 175
16.8–10 157 26.1–9 175
16.44–17.2 157 26.9–18 175
17.2–6 158 26.18–29 175
17.2–18.2 158n 26.28–34 175
418 index of ancient authors and texts

27.5–9 175 18.1 61n

27.20 150 18.5 61n
27.20–29 176 18–21 61
27.23–29 186 22.5–10 61
27.30–35 176 De vitiis 4n
27.35–46 176 [PHerc. 253]
27.42–47 189 Fragments
28.3–5 189 12.4–5 106n
De pietate 5, 11n, 56, 75, 22 384n
78n, 80, 82, 104n, Epigrams
116n, 235 (ed. Sider)
[PHerc. 1428] (On Piety) 3 (= Anth. Pal. 9.570) 86, 88, 89,
Part I 92, 94, 101,
61–72 110n 239
76 110n 4 (= Anth. Pal. 11.41) 52, 88
640–57 81n 5 (= Anth. Pal. 5.112) 88
705–706 80n 6 (= Anth. Pal. 11.34) 88
790–840 135 7 (= Anth. Pal. 5.4.5) 92, 239
1402–12 139n 20 (= Anth. Pal. 5.46) 87n
2260–65 81n 27 (= Anth. Pal. 11.44) 107n, 140
Columns 29 (= Anth. Pal. 9.512) 86, 87, 89,
5 81n 92, 94, 101,
8–11 81n 108n
10 81n 36 239n
75.2175–76 109n 68 239n
De poematis 4, 56, 82, 124n Index Academicorum 82n
(On Poems) [PHerc. 164 and 1021]
Book 5 27, 82n, 93, 116 On Character and Life 111, 113n,
Columns see also De libertate 299n
5.6–18 93 dicendi [De lib. dic.],
26.5–8 94 above
26.20 170n [On Choices and
34.28–29 170n Avoidances] 21, 75n
35.17 170n [PHerc. 1251]
De signis 3, 19, 56, 78, Columns
[PHerc. 1065] 104n, 109, 17–23 27
(On Signs/On the 111n, 112n 23.9–12 27
Methods of Inference) On Not Living According to
Fragments Chance 112n
1 50n [PHerc. 168]
27 3n On Passions 112n,
45 3n 127n
Columns On Vices and the Opposing Virtues
2.15–18 109n [Vit.] 78, 112,
De stoicis 55, 56, 58, 127n, 179,
60, 62, 265 275
[PHerc. 155, 339] (On the Stoics) On Wealth 111, 133,
Columns 142, 149,
3.6–8 61 150, 51,
3.13 62 160–61, 178,
13.24 61n 179, 193
14.21–22 61n [PHerc. 97]
14.23 61n Fragments
15.2 61n 2.9–10 180, 185
 index of ancient authors and texts 419

Columns Columns
24.35 150n 12 140n
27 180, 185 30 139
34.4–9 180 Rhetorica [Rh.] 20, 26, 56,
36.12–14 152n 109n, 110,
37.11–15 150n 171n, 197,
40.6–16 180 198, 210, 211,
41.5 150n 212, 214, 218,
41.9–14 152 323, 342
41.10–15 180, 184 Volume 1 (ed. Sudhaus)
41.12–13 150n pp. xxvii–xxxix 213n
41.32–34 152n p. 70 209n
41.32–39 180–81 p. 98 215n
41.35–37 152 pp. 147–93 213n
42.14 181 p. 151 218n
42.26–35 179n, 184 pp. 193–201 213n
42.31–43.7 151 p. 201 217n
43.1–8 179n, 181, 184 pp. 201–204 213n
43.4–8 184 pp. 202–204 218n
45.15 177 pp. 204–12 213n
45.15–38 151 pp. 212–22 213n
45.15–40 181, 184, 194 pp. 213–14 217n
46.26–34 182, 184, 185 pp. 214–15 217n
46.30–34 194 p. 217 216n
46.31–34 151 pp. 217–18 217n
47.9–11 151n, 182, 194 p. 219 217n
47.26–35 184 p. 222 213n, 215n
47.34 150n pp. 265–67 30n
48.18–24 151, 182 pp. 332–33 216n
49.5–12 182, 184 pp. 363–65 216n
50.5 182, 184 Volume II (ed. Sudhaus)
50.7 179n p. 1 109n
50.30–38 182, 185 p. 15 216n
51.2–10 151n pp. 18–19 216
51.2–11 182–83, 185 pp. 83 216n
51.27–30 152 pp. 85–86 216n
52.27–31 183 p. 120 209n
53.2–5 180n, 183, 185 p. 135 216n
53.3–5 152 p. 136 216n
54.4–10 183, 185 p. 226 93
54.7–10 152 pp. 234–35 215n
55.4–14 183 Book 1
55.10 152n [PHerc. 1427]
56.2–9 183 Fragments
56.4–8 152 2.13–23 211n
58.3–9 183, 185 Columns
58.4–9 153 3.30–33 216n
58.26–30 183 5.30–33 215n
PHerc. 1003 3n, 111 7.9–29 216n
Pragmateiai or Negotia 7n, 8n, 58 Book 2
[PHerc 310 and 1418] [PHerc. 408]
(Works on the Records of Epicurus Fragments
and Some Others/Philosophy in Action) 7.1–3 216n
11.2–18 216n
420 index of ancient authors and texts

[PHerc. 1079] 58.4–8 215n

Fragments 58.4–16 215n
18.10–18 216n Book 3
[PHerc. 1672] [PHerc. 1426]
Columns Columns
9.11–14 216n A.6–10 214n
21.10–17 215n 3a.7–5a.4 216n
21.10–22.7 217n 3a.7–5a.6 216n
21.13–15 215n 6a.14–31 217n
21.36–22.19 217n 7a.2–7 211n, 212n
21.37–22.1 215n 7a.8–23 217n
22.28–36 216n 10a.25–11a.14 214n
22.29–36 217n [PHerc. 1506]
[PHerc. 1674] Columns
Columns 35.12–24 215n
1.31–34 216n 46.23–32 216n
2.15–18 211n 47.6–10 214n
2.15–24 209n 48.13–17 216n
5.31–6.19 211n 50.22–52.6 216n
5.34–6.19 209n 50.22–52.8 215n
10:24–11.31 216n 52.37–53.12 217n
11.17–34 216n 53.14–18 211n, 212n
17.8–13 216n 55.21–37 214n
20.16–21.1 210n Book 4 325, 326
21.7–27 217n [PHerc. 1007, 1673]
21.12–15 93 Columns
21.17–23 215n 1.1–24.25 213n
21.30–22.2 215n 1a.1–11a.12 213n
22.5–12 215n 11a.12–20a.12 213n
22.21–29 215n 19a.16–26 217n
23.30–24.9 215n, 217n 20a.12–22a.16 213n
23.34–24.9 216n 21a.10–22a.13 217n
30.12–19 209n, 210n 22a.16–30a.19 213n
30.19 209n 24a.26–26a.7 217n
37.22–25 216n 30a.19–42a.4 213n
37.22–27 215n 32a.6–26 217n
38 331n 32a.21–39a.3 217n
38.2–15 209 33a.19–24 217n
38.30–39.6 212n 36a.6–15 217n
38.30–39.24 210n 36a.15–37a.4 217n
38.32–33 212n 37a.4–19 217n
39.8 209n 38a.15–39a.1 217n
39.21 209n 41a.6–22 215n
41.12 212n 42a.4–8 213n
42.37–43.17 212n [PHerc. 1423]
43.4 212n Columns
43.26–52.10 212n, 216n 1.1–20.282 13n
52.11–53.11 219 7.6–14 218n
52.11–53.14 211n 9.16–25 329
53.15–25 215n 11.12–16 327
54.10–56.9 211n 11.16–25 329
54.32–55.11 216n 11.25–12.4 329
57.13–58.2 212n, 216n 12.5–8 329
57.17–58.2 211n 12.8–14 330
 index of ancient authors and texts 421

13.21–14.7 330 To Friends of the School 238

14.8–12 330 [PHerc. 1005]
14.13–17 330 2.8–17 164n
14.19–25 329
14.23–25 335 Philostratus [Philostr.]
15.3–6 327 VS 325
15.13–19 327 2.1 100n
16.5–22 328n 511 324n
16.9–13 327, 328 570–72 335n
17.18 329
17.23 327 Pindar [Pind.]
18.18 328 Ol.
19.3–10 330 1.4 96n
19.11–16 332 Pyth.
25.1–14 341 3.61 96
Book 5 (?)
[PHerc. 1015, PHerc. 832] Plato [Pl.]
Columns Ap.
21.4–22 216n 17a1–18a6 259
24.0–16 216n 19c1–5 247n
Book 6 (?) 20e9–23c1 257, 260
[PHerc. 1004] 36b5–d5 259, 260
Columns Cri.
15.3–20 216n 50a 99
46.8–11 211n 50b 99
76.4–13 216n 50c 99
Book 7 (?) 54d 99
[PHerc. 220] Hp. Maj.
Fragments 286a 98
5.28–34 216n Leg.
6.3–16 216n 731d–e 124n
Stoicorum Historia 68 Letters
(ed. Dorandi) 7.337e 69
Columns Phd.
4.4–5 62 99d 69
4.5–7 62 Phdr. 99
6 62 240d 90n
7 62 276a 336
8 62 Phlb.
8.2 63 19c 69
10.8–10 60, 62 Prt.
10.48 70n 310a 100
13–16 62 328b–c 124n
16.2 65n 361a 99
22–23 63 362a 99
24.1–3 64 Resp.
24.3–9 63 557b 90
29,5 70n Soph.
68 63 231d 67
69.4–5 68n Statesman
76.6–7 60 300c 69
78.3 60 Symp.
Syntaxis philosophorum 55, 56, 57 201cd 99
(The Ordering of the Philosophers) 201e 99n
222c 90n
422 index of ancient authors and texts

Ti. 73D 296

81e 22n 73F 299
74A 299
Plautus [Plaut.] 74D 295, 313
Asin. 74E 314
11 47n
De prof. virt.
Mi.
80BC 291n
211 47n
Tri. Conv. sept. sap.
19 47n 155a 187n
De Stoic repugn.
Pliny 1043B–C 163n
Ep. 1043E–44A 163n
5.3.5 11n 1043E 163n
HN 1047E 153
35.5 138n
35.99 233 An vit. ad infel. suff.
35.144 233 499D 195n
Non poss. suav. viv. sec. Epic.
Plutarch [Plut.] 1086C–1107C 278n
Mor. 1087A 241
Quaest. conv. 1087B 241
3.6 224n 1088D 241
7.52F 69 1089C 224
An seni 1093C 227
18.814D 65n 1094C 227
26.67C–D 70n 1094D 230
26.67C–E 69 1096E 241
Quomodo adulator ab amico 1097D 226
48E–74E 124n 1097D–E 224, 234
49B 258 1098 231
55C 64 1099B 224
56A 304 Adv. Colotem 8n
56E–F 124n 1118C 188n
59C 304 De lat. viv.
59D 296 1128C 228
59F 314n 1128f–1129A 230
61D 298 1129 230
61E 316 1129A 137
64C 304 1129B 224, 228
65F 258 1129F–1130E 229
66A 296, 320n Vit.
68C 304 Ant.
69A–B 304 41 382n
69E 297 71.1 371
69E–F 298, 312 Pyrrh.
70D 318n 20.7 231
70E–71A 306
71D 290 Polyaenus
72C 297n, 304 Frag. 43 209n
72D 301 Polybius 354n
73A 304 Hist.
73A–B 290 5.70.7 346n
73B 316, 319 5.71.3 352, 353n
 index of ancient authors and texts 423

5.86.7–11 353 1.3–3.15 201

16.39.3 354 1.16 200
2.1 200, 201
Polystratus 8, 9n 2.7 200
On Irrational Contempt 9n 3.1 200
col. 5b9–7a8 9n 3.16 200
col. 23.26–26.23 9n 3.16–90 201
On Philosophy 9n 3.17 200
4.1 200
Posidonius (Poseidonius) 4.1–69 201
apud Athenaeus, Deipn. 4.3 200
5.210e–f 356n 4.4 200
12.527e–f 356n 4.6 200
4.7 200
POxy. 4.8 200
54.3724 3n 4.10 200
4.69 200, 202
Praxiphanes 8n
Sappho
Propertius 4 1 96, 97, 98

Ps.-Demetrius Seneca [Sen.] 5

De elocutione De vita beata
287–94 100 7.3 229
21–22 153n
Ps.-Socrates 187n
Ep.
6.6 137, 241
Ps.-Xenophon
18.9 139, 180n
Ath. 90n
66.48 52
77.20 52
Quintilian [Quint.]
87.38 152
Instit.
87.38–39 181n
1.pr.11–17 199
[On Leisure]
1.6.18 203n
3.2 162
2.2.24 197n
Fr. (ed. Haase)
2.17.2 199
45 238
2.17.15 197n
3.1.20 203n
Servius
3.3.1 199
In Ecl. Verg. 106n
3.3.14–4.1 199
3.4.2 207n
Sextus Empiricus [Sext. Emp.]
3.6.60 203n
Math. 220
4.12–16 199
1.49 212n
9.2.66f 100n
1.49–53 212n
9.3 334
49 134n
9,12–13 334
Pyr.
1.14.153 195n
Rabirius, Gaius 12n
Sophocles [Soph.]
Rhetorica ad Herennium
Aias. 100
[Rhet. Her.] 199
1142 94n
1.1 200, 202
1147 94n
1.2 201
1150 94n
1.3 200, 202
1152–1153 94n
424 index of ancient authors and texts

Ant. Teles
688–700 94n 4A 187n, 195n

Stephanus of Theodorus 343, 386n,

Byzantium 351n, 355n 394
Ethnika
Gadara 350n, 355 Thrasymachus
Pathos 326
Stobaeus [Stob.]
Ecl. Tibullus 5n
2 163n
7 163n Torquatus, Lucius
Manlius 9, 11n
Strabo 343 Varius Rufus, Lucius 4n, 12n
Geographica De mor. 4n, 106
16.2.10 351n
16.2.29 343 Varro
16.2.45 387n
De re rustica 387
1.44.1 387
Suda
1.44.2 387
Apsines 396n
Menippean Satires 387
Theodorus 386n
Velleius Paterculus [Vell. Pat.]
Suetonius
Hist.
2.88 107n
Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta [SVF ]
(ed. von Arnim)
Vergil [Verg.] 4
1, p. vi 11n
Catal.
2, frg. 131 11n
5.2 106n
2, frg. 298a 11n
8 106n
3.54 152
Ecl.
3.138 153
9.35f 106n
3.645 153n
G.
Suetonius [Suet.] 1.1 107n
Tiberius [Tib.]
57.1 394 Xenophon [Xen.]
Vita Hor. 107n Mem.
Vit. Verg. 1.5.6 187n
13 107n 1.5–6 194
18 107n Oec. 154, 164
1 165
Syncellus, George 351n 2 165
Chronicle 1.2–4 188
355.7–10 Mosshammer 350n 1.4 189
355.7–11 Mosshammer 364n 2.1–4 146n
558–559 Dindorf 350n, 364n 5.1–17 169
6.8–11 169
Tacitus [Tac.] 6.9 172
Ann. Symp.
15.63 23n 3.8 195
16.35 23n 4.34 185
Dial. 4.34–44 187n
30–32 203n 4.43 185n
 index of ancient authors and texts 425

Zeno of Citium 3, 5, 9n, 11n Zenon Papyri 386n

8. Busts, Inscriptions, and Maps

Apion of Gadara Inscriptions de Délos

Epitaph 384 no. 2377 370n, 382n

Corpus inscriptionum latinarum [CIL] Naples Museum Inventory

10.1423f 7n no. 5468 11n

Inscriptiones graecae [IG] The Peutinger

II/III Table 352n
no. 8448a 397n
no. 8449 397n Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum
[SEG ]
Inscriptiones graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes 32.1502 391n
[IGRom]
1.824 373n
 INDEX OF MODERN SCHOLARS

Achard, Guy 199n, 201n Bastomsky, S. J. 396n

Adkins, Arthur W. H. 228n Becking, B. 369n
Adler, William 351n Bellinger, Alfred R. 368n, 385n
al-Daire, Mohammad 380n Beloch, Julius 351n
Aleshire, Sara 235–36 Benario, Herbert W. 12n
Alexiou, Alice S. 250n Betz, Hans Dieter 179n, 193n, 194,
Allen, Walter, Jr. 219 195, 245n, 335n
Allinson, Francis G. 246n Bevan, Edwyn Robert 354n
Ancona, R. 16n Bietenhard, Hans 366n
Andersen, Flemming Gorn 349n, Bignone, E. 10n
388n Billerbeck, Margarethe 187n
Anderson, Graham 246n Binst, O. 359n
Anderson, R. Dean, Jr. 323n, 324n, Blank, David 210n, 212n, 331
337n, 342n Blenkinsopp, Joseph 346n
Angeli, Anna 3n, 8n, 10n, 11n, 30n, Bloch, Herbert 105n
104n, 188n, 238n, 239 Blumenthal, Henry J. 390n
Applebaum, Shimon 345n Boardman, John 350n
Armstrong, David 4n, 16n, 20n, 88n, Bol, Peter Cornelius 347n
105n, 106n, 108n, 383n Bollack, Jean 2n, 143n, 166n
Arnim, H. F. A. von 11n Booth, Joan 4n
Arrighetti, Graziano 5n, 8n, 58, Bornkamm, Günther 16n
209n Boulogne, Jacques 229n
Asmis, Elizabeth 3n, 56n, 57n, 85n, Bowersock, Glen Warren 325n, 376n,
93n, 105n, 106n, 108n, 111n, 386n, 394n
127n, 151n, 177n, 178n, 181n, Branham, R. Bracht 187n, 195n,
186n, 188n, 217n, 227n 246n, 249n, 250n, 394n
Aujac, Germaine 220 Bremer, J. M. 96n
Aune, David E. 369n Brennan, Tad 226n
Auvray-Assayas, C. 5n Bresson, A. 350n
Avi-Yonah, Michael 350n, 388n, Brickhouse, Thomas C. 260n
392n Brueckner, Anthony L. 32n
Bruns, I. 395n
Baarda, Tjitze 345n Bullmore, Michael A. 337n
Bagnall, Roger S. 352n Burkert, Walter 139n, 350n
Bailey, Cyril 48n, 50n, 51n
Balch, David L. 193n, 195n Calboli, Gualtiero 199n
Baldwin, Barry 246n Cameron, Alan 3n, 86n, 383n, 394n
Balty, Jean Ch. 7n Cappelluzzo, Maria Giustina 197n
Bardon, Henry 12n Capasso, Mario 4n, 7n, 8n, 9n, 113n,
Barghouti, Asem N. 351n, 355n, 359n 115n, 116n, 126n
Barker, Ethel Ross 1 Cary, E. 366n
Bar-Kochva, Bezalel 351n, 353n, Castaldi, F. 160n
354n, 360n Castner, Catherine J. 2n, 4n, 11n,
Barnes, Jonathan 11n, 204n, 209n 235, 236n
Barrett, Charles Kingsley 338n Cataudella, Q. 93n
Barwick, Karl 200n Cavallo, Guglielmo 110, 111, 112,
Bassi, Domenico 18n, 36n, 37n, 39n, 113, 115n, 116, 117n, 124n, 126n,
41n 127n, 130n, 219n, 220
 index of modern scholars 427

Cèbe, Jean-Pierre 387n Dindorf, Wilhelm 335n

Cirillo, S. 180n, 181n Di Segni, Leah 344n, 345n, 381n,
Clack, Jerry 394n 387n, 389n, 391n
Clark, E. Gillian 390n Dillon, John M. 390n
Clarke, Emma C. 391n Dilts, Mervin R. 396n
Classen, Carl Joachim 9n, 26n Dorandi, Tiziano 10n, 18n, 55n, 56,
Clay, Diskin 26n, 55n, 58, 71n, 76n, 57, 58, 59, 61n, 65n, 68n, 80n,
80n, 82n, 137, 138, 240, 265n, 83n, 105n, 149n, 197n, 213n, 214n,
284n, 394n 219, 220, 343n
Clermont-Ganneau, Charles 384n Dornemann, Rudolph H. 349n
Cohen, David 228–29 Douglas, A. E. 199n
Cohen, Erez 388n Dover, Kenneth J. 247n
Cohen, Getzel M. 354n, 356n, 358n Downing, F. Gerald 193n
Cohen, Shaye J. D. 12n, 375n Drummond, William 74n
Colaizzo, Maria 3n duBois, Page 227n
Cole, Thomas 9n Dudley, Donald R. 393n, 394n
Collins, W. Lucas 245n Dvorjetski, Esti 351n, 376n, 381n,
Comparetti, Domenico 1, 7n, 11n, 386n
55n, 57, 59
Concolino Mancini, Adele 8n Edwards, Catherine 227n, 229n, 231n
Cook, J. M. 349n, 350n Elliott, Robert C. 264n
Costil, P. 220 Ellis, E. Earle 345n
Courbin, Paul 350n Empson, William 52n
Courtney, Edward 4n, 12n Engberg-Pederson, Troels 59n, 273n,
Cox, Lisa Loft Anderson 394n 296n
Craig, E. 4n Epstein, I. 393n
Croisille, Jean-Michel 7n Erler, Michael 2n, 3n, 4n, 5n, 6n,
Crönert, Wilhelm 8n, 9n, 11n, 55n, 8n, 9n, 11n, 57n, 60n, 139n, 141n,
111n, 385n 161n, 178n, 180n, 184n, 186n, 394n
Cuomo, Serafina 397n Errington, R. Malcolm 354n
Essler, Holgar 75n
d’Amelio, M. 160n Evans, C. 371n
Damschen, Gregor 396n
Daube, David 15n Fanon, Frantz 196n
De Angelis, F. 349n Farrington, Benjamin 136
De Falco, Vittorio 10n, 75n Feinberg, Joel 32n
De Lacy, Estelle Allen 9n, 210n Feldman, Fred 32n
De Lacy, Phillip Howard 8n, 9n, Ferguson, Everett 12n
210n, 219 Ferguson, John 2n, 106n, 107n, 127n
De Petra, Giulio 1, 7n, 11n Ferguson, William Scott 80n, 138n
De Witt, Norman W. 4n, 93n, 76n, Ferrario, Matilde 10n, 150n, 179n,
136n, 137n, 139n, 141n, 142n, 231, 198n, 204n
232, 242, 274n, 275n, 276n, 277n, Festugière, André Jean 224n, 276n,
278n, 279n, 297n 277n
Deiss, Joseph Jay 178n Figueras, Pau 369n
Delattre, D. 5n, 220n Fiore, Benjamin 254n, 273n, 278n,
Denniston, John Dewar 87n 281n, 282n
Dentzer, Jean-Marie 351n, 356n Fischel, Henry A. 76n
Descœudres, J.-P. 350n Fischer, John Martin 32n
De Ste. Croix, G. E. M. 330n Fitzgerald, John T. 1, 12n, 49n,
Dever, William G. 343n 246n, 267n, 304n, 311n, 343, 371n
Di Cicco, Mario 299n Flashar, H. 2n
Diels, Hermann 39n, 82n Fleischer, Robert 370n
Dihle, Albrecht 262n Flesher, P. V. M. 392n
428 index of modern scholars

Foerster, Gideon 392n, 393n Gomme, Arnold Wycomb 330n

Forbes, Christopher 302n Gomperz, Theodor 25n, 45n, 57
Fowler, D. P. 6n, 162n Goodenough, Erwin R. 391n
Frazer, A. 7n Gordon, Pamela 2n, 73n, 136n,
Fredrickson, David E. 90n, 254, 225n, 238n, 325n
255n, 256, 257n, 258n, 272n, 273n, Gosling, J. C. B. 143n, 229n
290n, 298n, 309n Gossman, Lionel 218n
Freeman, P. 367n Goulet-Cazé, Marie-Odile 187n,
Freudenburg, Kirk 4n 195n, 394n
Frézouls, Edmond 354n, 357n Gow, Andrew Sydenham. Farrar
Friedrich, G. 88n 20n, 87, 88, 394n
Frischer, Bernard 232 Graf, David F. 357n, 358n, 366n,
Fritz, Kurt von 3n 367n, 373n, 377n, 384n, 386n
Fuks, G. 358n Grainger, John D. 350n, 353n, 354n
Furley, David 32n Green, Judith 344n, 345n, 382n,
Furnish, Victor Paul 18n, 305n, 387n, 388n, 391n
310n, 314n, 335n Green, O. H. 32n
Fürst, Alfons 296n Griffin, Dustin 247n, 264n, 265n
Griffin, Miriam 61n
Gaines, Robert N. 200n, 204n, 217n, Griffith, G. T. 353n
218n, 332n Grube, G. M. A. 26n, 209n, 215n,
Gaiser, Konrad 55n, 66n, 68n, 394n
Galili, E. 353n Guinée, Robert L. J. J. 381n
Gargiulo, Tristano 58n Guthrie, W. C. K. 247n
Garuti, Giovanni 12n Gutzwiller, Kathryn J. 394n
Gatier, Pierre-Louis 354n, 376n
Gawlikowski, Michel 356n Habas (Rubin), Ephrat 391n
Geiger, Joseph 358n, 365n, 384n, Hadas, Moses 5n, 393n
393n, 394n Hadidi, A. 348n, 351n, 365n
Gelzer, Heinrich 351n Hainsworth, John Bryan 96n
Gera, Dov 352n, 353n, 354n Haji, Ishtiyaque 32n
Gercke, Alfred 11n Hall, Jennifer 246n, 247n, 394n
Giannantoni, Gabriele 2n, 195n Halperin, David 99n
Gigante, Marcello 2n, 4n, 5n, 6, 7n, Hammerstaedt, Jürgen 197n, 394n,
9n, 10n, 12n, 19n, 21n, 22n, 23n, 395n, 396n
25n, 35n, 45n, 47n, 48n, 53n, 56n, Hammond, N. G. L. 353n
57, 59, 66n, 74n, 76n, 104, 105n, Harman, L. 339n
106n, 107, 108n, 109n, 110n, 111, Harrington, Daniel J. 358n
112n, 113n, 114, 118n, 119n, 120, Hartung, Johann Adam 179n
126n, 129n, 130n, 141n, 149n, Hawley, Richard 222n, 234n
162n, 178n, 179n, 184n, 198n, Hayter, John 25n
209n, 210n, 220, 281n, 283n, 289n, Heath, Thomas, Sir 396n
290n, 314n, 330n, 331n Heinemann, J. 377n
Gildersleeve, B. L. 96n Helly, B. 354n, 376n
Gill, D. W. J. 333n Helm, Rudolf 394n
Gilleland, Brady B. 119n Henderson, M. I. 199n
Glad, Clarence E. 12n, 15, 16, Hendrickson, G. L. 265n
17–18, 55n, 58n, 59n, 91n, 104n, Hengel, Martin 12n, 179n, 352n,
108n, 109n, 124n, 179n, 240n, 355n, 373n, 382n, 384n, 396n
245n, 271n, 272n, 283n, Henig, Martin 355n, 365n, 381n,
284n, 285n, 287, 289n, 295n, 297n, 385n
307n, 312n, 319n Henrichs, Albert 82n
Glannon, Walter 32n Herr, Moshe David 376n
Gleason, Maud 228n Hershbell, Jackson P. 2n
 index of modern scholars 429

Heschel, Susannah 193n, 194n Kleve, Knut 11n, 12n, 82n, 106n,
Highet, Gilbert 247n, 264n 109n, 214n
Hirschfeld, Yizhar 388n, 392n Kloss, Gerrit 12n
Hirzel, Rudolf 5n Knauf, Ernst Axel 344n, 347n, 349n,
Hock, Ronald 187n 351n, 352n, 353n, 387n
Hoffmann, Adolf 345n, 347n, 348n, Konstan, David 55n, 59n, 240n,
349n, 351n, 352n, 355n, 356n, 284n, 295n, 296n
357n, 359n, 362n, 363n, 364n, Körte, Alfred 1n, 4n, 8n, 10n, 209n
366n, 367n, 369n, 370n, 371n, Kraeling, Carl H. 345n
372n, 374n, 376n, 377n, 378n, Kroll, Wilhelm 197n, 199n, 200n,
379n, 380n, 381n, 386n, 389n 201n, 203n
Holland, Glenn S. 257n, 260n, 266n, Krueger, David 61n
313n Kuhrt, Amélie 353n, 356n
Holm-Nielsen, Svend 348n, 380n, Kuiper, Taco 18n, 19n, 22n, 23n,
381n, 388n 34n, 39n, 41n, 53n, 75n
Hubbard, Thomas K. 96n
Hubbell, Harry M. 199n, 204n, Laks, André 2n
209n, 213n, 214n, 215n, 219, 323n, Lana, I. 187n
327n, 328n, 329n Landolfi, L. 4n
Hüttenmeister, Frowald 392n Lane, Eugene N. 11n
Huss, Werner 352n, 353n Lasserre, François 70n
Last, H. M. 109n, 127n
Indelli, Giovanni 8n, 9n, 21, 27n, Last, Rosa 381n
75n, 112n Lauvergnat-Gagnière, Christiane
Innes, Doreen C. 209n 246n
Isaac, Benjamin 366n, 367n, 373n, Laurenti, Renato 150n, 160n, 168,
386n 179n, 181n, 184n, 186n, 187n,
188n
Jacoby, Felix 60n Leach, Eleanor Winso 7n
Jahn, Otto 203n Le Dœff, Michèle 222n
Janko, Richard 3n, 4n, 7n, 82n, 113n Leeman, Anton Daniel 199n, 203n,
Jay, Peter 385n, 394n 204n, 220
Jensen. Christian 150n, 179n, 188, Lehmeier, Karin 192n
191n, 236n Leisten, Thomas 381n
Jones, A. H. M. 350n, 352n, 356n, Levine, Lee I. 391n, 392n
361n, 372n, 387n Litfin, A. Duane 337n, 340n
Jones, Christopher Prestige 246n, Lodge, Gonzalez 47n
247n, 248 Long, A. A. 9n, 11n, 51n, 140n,
Jouguet, Pierre 354n 187n, 195n, 227n, 228n
Judge, E. A. 319n, 339 Longo Auricchio, Francesca
58n, 113n, 137n, 141n, 164n, 181n,
Kaibel, Georg 53n, 87, 88 197n, 209n, 214n, 220, 241n, 323n
Kamm, F. M. 32n Lorenz, Thuri 6n
Käsemann, Ernst 196n Luck, Georg 395n
Kasher, Aryeh 358n, 360n, 361n, Luper-Foy, Steven 32n
362n, 363n, 364n, 368n, 371n, Luz, Menahem 383n, 385n, 396n
372n, 374n, 375n, 387n Lyne, R. O. A. M. 16n
Kearsley, Rosalinde 349n Lyons, George 299n, 300n, 319n
Kennedy, D. L. 367n
Kennedy, George A. 197n, 199n, Ma, John 354n
202n, 209n, 323n, 394n, 396n Maas, P. 382n
Kern, Philip H. 342n Mace, Sarah Tolle 98n
Kerner, Susanne 345n, 346n, 347n, MacKendrick, Paul 5n
348n, 355n, 366n, 378n, 388n Mahaffy, John Pentland, Sir 1
430 index of modern scholars

Malherbe, Abraham J. 12n, 16n, Neudecker, Richard 6n, 7n

76n, 184n, 193n, 257n, 273n, 276n, Neusner, Jacob 393n
277n, 290n, 291n Neyrey, Jerome 274n, 287n
Mangoni, Cecilia 56n, 82n Niehues-Pröbsting, Heinrich 395n
Mansfeld, Jaap 238n Nielsen, Inge 388n
Marcus, Ralph 344n, 360n Noy, D. 377n
Marrone, Livia 11n Nussbaum, Martha 31n, 32n, 77n,
Marsh, David 246n 136n, 137n, 232, 233, 234, 242
Marshall, Bruce A. 5n
Marshall, Peter 297n, 302n, 303n, Obbink, Dirk 3n, 4n, 5n, 7n, 19n,
315n 23n, 27n, 53n, 56, 75n, 79n,
Martin, Ralph P. 336n 83n, 104n, 110n, 113n, 116n, 118n,
Martin, Richard P. 187n, 188 198n, 323n, 330n, 331n
Marwick, Arthur 218n Oberhelman, Steven 4n, 106n
Matthes, Dieter 200n Olbricht, Thomas H. 12n
Maxwell, Lee A. 343n, 344n, 347n, Oliver, James H. 396n
348n, 349n, 361n, 381n Olivieri, Alexander 69, 114, 115n,
Mayor, Joseph B. 5n 116n, 117n, 118, 119, 120, 121,
McIlwaine, I. C. 6n 129n, 130n
McKirahan, Richard 18n Olson. S. N. 310n
Meeks, Wayne A. 193n Oppenheimer, A. 372n
Mekler, Siegfried 55n, 57, 59 Orthmann, W. 351n, 356n
Méndez, Eduardo Acosta 30n Osiek, Carolyn 193n
Mershen, Birgit 344n, 347n, 349n,
351n, 352n, 353n, 387n Pace, Nicola 10n
Meshorer, Ya'akov 362n, 368n, Pagano, Mario 185n
369n, 371n, 380n, 385n Page, Denys Lionel 20n, 56n, 87, 88,
Methner, R. 48n 98, 394n
Metzger, Bruce M. 345n, 363n Pandermalis, Dimitrios 6n, 7n, 11n
Michels, Agnes Kirsopp 93n Paquet, Léonce 395n
Militello, C. 60n, 75n, 139n Parapetti, Roberto 370n
Millar, Fergus 32n, 343n, 356n, Parente, Margherita Isnardi 209n,
359n, 371n, 382n, 383n, 386n 277n
Miller, Stuart S. 391n Parker, S. Thomas 367n, 387n
Mitsis, P. 32n, 85n, 89n, 143n, Parsons, Peter J. 3n, 219–20
285n, 286n Partridge, Ernest 32n
Moles, John L. 394n Pastor, Jack 372n
Momigliano, Arnaldo 142n Paulson, Ronald 247n, 264n
Mommsen, Theodor 381n Perdrizet, P. 384n
Montrose, Louis 222n Perreault, Jacques Y. 350n
Mor, M. 372n Pervo. Richard I. 253n
Mueller, Reimar 160n Philippson, Robert 9n, 10n, 19n, 69,
Mulder, Nicole F. 381n 105n, 114, 118n, 119n, 120n,
Mullach, Friedrich Wilhelm August 121n, 122n, 203n, 219
185n Piccirillo, M. 357n
Münzer, F. 11n Pinkster, Harm 199n, 203n, 204n,
Murray, Gilbert 383n, 384n 220
Mussies, G. 370n Pitcher, George 32n
Pogoloff, Stephen M. 325n
Nagel, Thomas 32n, 34n Pohlenz, Max 22n
Natali, Carlo 167n Pollard, Arthur 246n, 248, 264n
Nauck, August 48n Pomeroy, Sarah B. 179n
Negev, A. 351n Popham, Mervyn 349n, 350n
Nestle, Dieter 278n Porter, H. 384n
 index of modern scholars 431

Porter, James Schmidt, F. G. 48n

Porter, S. 371n Schmitt, Hatto H. 353n, 354n
Praechter, Karl 2n Schottroff, Luise 193n
Procopé, John 42 Schürer, Emil 343n, 344n, 348n,
Puglia, Enzo 9n, 10n 360n, 370n, 372n, 384n
Purinton, Jeffrey S. 226n Schumacher, Gottlieb 347n
Schwartz, D. R. 372n
Raalflaub, Kurt 90n Schwarz, Roland 283n
Radermacher, Ludwig 204n, 207n, Scodel, Ruth 96
327n Scott, Joan Wallach 222n
Rappaport, U. 358n Scott, Walter 18n, 39n, 213n
Rasche, Wilhelm 87n Sedley, David N. 8n, 9n, 11n, 51n,
Rawson, Elizabeth 197n, 198n 68n, 70n, 73, 74, 76–77, 78, 79,
Reeg, G. 392n 80n, 81, 141n, 142n, 212n, 220,
Reginos, Alice Swift 70n 225n, 232, 233, 234, 241n, 330n
Reiche, H. 76n Seetzen, Ulrich Jasper 347n
Relihan, Joel C. 393n, 394n Segal, Arthur 345n
Renna, Enrico 10n Segal, Charles 21n, 36, 88n
Rey-Coquais, Jean-Paul 354n, 355n, Seigne, Jacques 345n, 374n
358n, 359n, 366n, 368n, 372n, Shami, Seteney 348n, 351n
375n, 376n Shanks, Hershel 391n, 392n
Ribichini, S. 369n Shaw, Gregory 391n
Rich, Audrey N. M. 149n Sherwin-White, Susan 353n, 356n
Richardson, Peter 16n Shoobridge, Leonard 1n
Richter, Gisela M. A. 11n Sider, David 3n, 4n, 20n, 52, 53n,
Rigsby, Kent J. 368n, 373n, 374n, 56n, 79n, 85n, 87n, 88, 89n, 92n,
384n, 391n 93n, 98n, 107n, 226n, 239, 240n,
Riis, P. J. 350n 254n
Rilke, Rainer Maria 178 Silverstein, Harry 32n
Rist, John M. 11n, 143n Slater, William J. 96n
Robert, Louis 373n Slotki, Israel W. 393n
Robinson, Christopher 246n, 249 Smallwood, E. Mary 361n, 372n,
Robinson, James 194n 391n
Romano, David Gilman 178n Smith, Martin Ferguson 332n
Romeo, Costantina 9n, 10n, 82n Smith, Morton 384n
Rorty, Amélie 32n Snell, Bruno 48n
Rosenbaum, Stephen 32n Snodgrass, A. M. 349n, 358n
Rostagni, Augusto 220 Snyder, Jane 223, 224, 232, 234, 242
Rouillard, P. 350n Solmsen, Friedrich 200n, 326n
Rubin (Habas), Ephrat 391n Sourdel, Dominique 369n, 370n
Russell, Donald Andrew 337n Spijkerman, Augustus 357n, 366n,
Rutherford, I. 332n 368n, 369n, 371n, 374n, 376n,
377n, 386n
Samuel, Alan Edouard 353n Spina, Luigi 58n
Sampley, J. Paul 254n, 300n, 302n, Spinelli, Emidio 8n
306n, 321n Squires, Simon 5n
Santoro, Mariacarolina 10n Stanford, W. B. 16n
Sartre, Maurice 351n Steckel, Horst 137n, 138n
Sauron, Gilles 6n Stegemann, Willy 394n
Scarpat, Guiseppe 272n, 273n, 282n, Stemberger, G. 391n, 395n
289n Stern, E. 345n
Schanz, Martin 394n Stewart, Andrew 236n
Schmid, Wolfgang 53n, 67n, 87n, Stillwell, R. 351n
385n Stocks, John L. 197n, 198n
432 index of modern scholars

Stokes, Michael C. 226n, 260n von Spengel, Leonhard 179n

Strack, H. L. 391n, 395n von Wilamowitz-Möllendorff, Ulrich
Strange, John 349n 185n
Sudhaus, Siegfried 30n, 155n, 168, Vriezen, Karel J. H. 348n, 380n,
186, 197n, 204n, 213n, 215n 381n, 388n
Sukenik, E. L. 391n, 392n
Susemihl, Franz 1n, 4n Wagner-Lux, Ute 347n, 348n, 380n,
Swain, Simon 229n 381n, 388n
Syme, Ronald 7n Walbank, F. W. 353n
Waldstein, Charles 1n
Tait, Jane Isabella Marion Wallach, Barbara Price 19n, 26n, 88n
4n, 93n, 214n, 215n, 271n Wallach, L. 3n
Talbert, Charles 18n Walpole, Robert 74n
Tarn, William Woodthorpe Ward, Roy Bowen 389n
63n Warden, F. Gregory 178n
Taylor, C. C. W. 143n, 227n Ware, James 55n, 240n, 284n
Tcherikover, Victor 352n, 355n, Weber, Thomas M. 347n, 348n,
356n, 358n, 384n 349n, 351n, 357n, 358n, 364n,
Teixidor, Javier 356n 365n, 367n, 368n, 369n, 370n,
Tepedino Guerra, Adele 3n, 8n, 377n, 378n, 379n, 380n, 381n,
141n, 149n, 150n, 164n, 177n, 382n, 386n, 388n, 389n, 397n
179n, 180n, 181n, 182n, 184n, Wehrli, Fritz 8n, 65n
185n, 186n, 209n Weiss, Johannes 324n
Thackeray, H. St. J. 344n West, Thomas G. 260n
Theissen, Gerd 193n, 314n Westman, Rolf 8n
Thom, Johan C. 55n, 240n, 284n Whigham, Peter 385n, 394n
Thompson, Edward M., Sir 12n White, L. Michael 12n
Thrall, Margaret E. 192n Whtie, S. 77n
Toorn, K. van der 369n Whiting, Mary 355n, 365n, 381n, 385n
Traversa, Augusto 55n, 59 Wigodsky, Michae 193n
Treacy-Cole, Diane I. 344n Wilcox, M. 345n
Treggiari, Susan 365n, 366n Wilke, C. 112n
Trevelyan, Raleigh 2n Will, Édouard 352n, 354n, 365n, 367n
Treves, Piero 2n, 3n, 4n Will, Ernest 365n, 366n, 367n
Tsafrir, Yoram 344n, 345n, 382n, Williams, Bernard 32n, 77n
387n, 388n, 391n Williams, C. H. 333n
Tsakiropoulou-Summers, Anastasia Willis, W. 16n
4n Wimmel, Walter 4n, 106n
Tsetskhladze, G. R. 349n Winkler, John J. 98n
Tsouna-McKirahan, Voula 21, 27, Winter, Bruce W. 324n, 325n, 332n,
75n, 150n, 186, 187 336n, 337n
Tzaferis, Vassilios 345n Wisse, Jakob 199n, 219, 220,
339n
Überweg, Friedrich 2n Wojcik, Maria Rita 6n, 7n
Urman, D. 392n Wright, W. C. 390n
Wycherley, R. E. 135n
van der Horst, P. W. 369n
Vander Waerdt, Paul A. 8n, 83n Yegül, Fikret 388n, 389n, 390n
Vanderpool, Eugene 394n, 397n Yon, Jean-Baptiste 359n
van Hook, La Rue 327n Young, David C. 96n, 100
Vermes, G. 343n Yourgrav, Palle 32n
Vickers, Brian 204n
Vlastos, Gregory 3n Zayadine, Fawzi 345n, 374n, 386n
von Arnim, Hans 204n Zeyl, D. J. 2n
 SUPPLEMENTS TO NOVUM TESTAMENTUM
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69. Newman, C.C. Paul’s Glory-Christology. Tradition and Rhetoric. 1992.

ISBN 90 04 09463 6
70. Ireland, D.J. Stewardship and the Kingdom of God. An Historical, Exegetical, and
Contextual Study of the Parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16: 1-13. 1992.
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71. Elliott, J.K. The Language and Style of the Gospel of Mark. An Edition of C.H. Turner’s
“Notes on Marcan Usage” together with other comparable studies. 1993.
ISBN 90 04 09767 8
72. Chilton, B. A Feast of Meanings. Eucharistic Theologies from Jesus through Johannine
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73. Guthrie, G.H. The Structure of Hebrews. A Text-Linguistic Analysis. 1994.
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74. Bormann, L., K. Del Tredici & A. Standhartinger (eds.) Religious Propaganda and
Missionary Competition in the New Testament World. Essays Honoring Dieter Georgi.
1994. ISBN 90 04 10049 0
75. Piper, R.A. (ed.) The Gospel Behind the Gospels. Current Studies on Q. 1995.
ISBN 90 04 09737 6
76. Pedersen, S. (ed.) New Directions in Biblical Theology. Papers of the Aarhus Conference,
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77. Jefford, C.N. (ed.) The Didache in Context. Essays on Its Text, History and Trans-
mission. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10045 8
78. Bormann, L. Philippi – Stadt und Christengemeinde zur Zeit des Paulus. 1995.
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79. Peterlin, D. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Light of Disunity in the Church. 1995.
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80. Jones, I.H. The Matthean Parables. A Literary and Historical Commentary. 1995.
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81. Glad, C.E. Paul and Philodemus. Adaptability in Epicurean and Early Christian
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82. Fitzgerald, J.T. (ed.) Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech. Studies on Friend-ship
in the New Testament World. 1996. ISBN 90 04 10454 2
83. Tilborg, S. van. Reading John in Ephesus. 1996. 90 04 10530 1
84. Holleman, J. Resurrection and Parousia. A Traditio-Historical Study of Paul’s Escha-
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85. Moritz, T. A Profound Mystery. The Use of the Old Testament in Ephesians. 1996.
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86. Borgen, P. Philo of Alexandria - An Exegete for His Time.1997. ISBN 90 04 10388 0
87. Zwiep, A.W. The Ascension of the Messiah in Lukan Christology. 1997.
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88. Wilson, W.T. The Hope of Glory. Education and Exhortation in the Epistle to the
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89. Peterson, W.L., J.S. Vos & H.J. de Jonge (eds.) Sayings of Jesus: Canonical and Non-
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 90. Malherbe, A.J., F.W. Norris & J.W. Thompson (eds.) The Early Church in Its Context.
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91. Kirk, A. The Composition of the Sayings Source. Genre, Synchrony, and Wisdom
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92. Vorster, W.S. Speaking of Jesus. Essays on Biblical Language, Gospel Narrative and
the Historical Jesus. Edited by J. E. Botha. 1999. ISBN 90 04 10779 7
93. Bauckham, R. The Fate of Dead. Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses.
1998. ISBN 90 04 11203 0
94. Standhartinger, A. Studien zur Entstehungsgeschichte und Intention des Kolosserbriefs. 1998.
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95. Oegema, G.S. Für Israel und die Völker. Studien zum alttestamentlich-jüdischen
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96. Albl, M.C. “And Scripture Cannot Be Broken”. The Form and Function of the Early
Christian Testimonia Collections. 1999. ISBN 90 04 11417 3
97. Ellis, E.E. Christ and the Future in New Testament History. 1999. ISBN 90 04 11533 1
98. Chilton, B. & C.A. Evans, (eds.) James the Just and Christian Origins. 1999.
ISBN 90 04 11550 1
99. Horrell, D.G. & C.M. Tuckett (eds.) Christology, Controversy and Community. New
Testament Essays in Honour of David R. Catchpole. 2000. ISBN 90 04 11679 6
100. Jackson-McCabe, M.A. Logos and Law in the Letter of James. The Law of Nature, the
Law of Moses and the Law of Freedom. 2001. ISBN 90 04 11994 9
101. Wagner, J.R. Heralds of the Good News. Isaiah and Paul “In Concert” in the Letter to
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102. Cousland, J.R.C. The Crowds in the Gospel of Matthew. 2002. ISBN 90 04 12177 3
103. Dunderberg, I., C. Tuckett and K. Syreeni. Fair Play: Diversity and Conflicts in Early
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104. Mount, C. Pauline Christianity. Luke-Acts and the Legacy of Paul. 2002.
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105. Matthews, C.R. Philip: Apostle and Evangelist. Configurations of a Tradition. 2002.
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106. Aune, D.E., T. Seland, J.H. Ulrichsen (eds.) Neotestamentica et Philonica. Studies in
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107. Talbert, C.H. Reading Luke-Acts in its Mediterranean Milieu. 2003. ISBN 90 04 12964 2
108. Klijn, A.F.J. The Acts of Thomas. Introduction, Text, and Commentary. Second
Revised Edition. 2003. ISBN 90 04 12937 5
109. Burke, T.J. & J.K. Elliott (eds.) Paul and the Corinthians. Studies on a Community in
Conflict. Essays in Honour of Margaret Thrall. 2003. ISBN 90 04 12920 0
110. Fitzgerald, J.T., T.H. Olbricht & L.M. White (eds.) Early Christianity and Classical
Culture. Comparative Studies in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe. 2003.
ISBN 90 04 13022 5
111. Fitzgerald, J.T., D. Obbink & G.S. Holland (eds.) Philodemus and the New Testament
World. 2004. ISBN 90 04 11460 2
112. Lührmann, D. Die Apokryph gewordenen Evangelien. Studien zu neuen Texten und zu
neuen Fragen. 2004. ISBN 90 04 12867 0