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Poetry and Music in the Life of Plutarch's Statesman E.L

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Poetry and Music in the Life of Plutarch's Statesman E.L POETRY AND MUSIC IN THE LIFE OF PLUTARCH’S STATESMAN E.L. Bowie When I first thought of talking about this subject I floated the idea before two or three eminent members of the Plutarch Society who were also good friends, perhaps putting a question of the form “Is this a topic that had already been fully explored?”. Since they gave no red lights, or even amber, I took courage and decided to offer it. Much more recently Sven-Tage Teodorsson expressed his surprise at the title, and by then I had done enough investigation to realise why he was surprised. I must confess that a mixture of inaccurate memory and creative reconstruction had led me to imagine that there were several places where Plutarch gave us clear indications of his views on the place of poetry and music in a statesman’s life. I had accordingly envisaged a paper analysing these and drawing sober conclusions (sobriety having always been a central virtue in Plutarch Society deliberations). As it is, I have a different problem, and it is one to whose solution I am not sure that I have a good answer. The problem is this: 1. It is clear that Plutarch himself had a very good knowledge of classical poetry, poetry that he cites frequently either to support a moral position or quite often simply for décor,1 and that he thinks it appropriate for a cultured Greek (πεπαιδευμν ς) like himself, even one who is a Platonic philosopher, to draw on poetry for moral lessons and for stylistic amplification (αZ)ησις). 2. Plutarch’s circle of friends also included at least one man, Sara- pion, who was a poet, and there is some chance that Plutarch wrote one work in verse himself.2 3. The civic and religious culture in which Plutarch was himself a prominent local office-holder was still one which had important musical components, and Plutarch refers to the satisfaction to be 1 See Bowie (1997) and work on Plutarch’s quotation of other poetry cited there at p.99 n.2. 2 See Bowie (2002), 45–46 116 e.l. bowie drawn from participation in musical competitive festivals (μ υσικ %γνες) and processions involving music.3 4. We know, however, that Plutarch had strong views on the capacity of poetry and music to corrupt, especially to corrupt the young. 5. In view of the tension between this negative theoretical position (point 4) and the positive perception of music and poetry that is suggested by points 1–3, it would be reasonable to expect that Plutarch might give clear indications, especially in his Lives,ofthe rôle that poetry and music might be expected to play either in the education of statesmen or in offering them a legitimate form of relaxation from their taxing political life. 6. This expectation might be all the greater given that Plutarch’s near-contemporary, Dio of Prusa, offers in his second Kingship Oration a firm and relatively detailed prescription for the poetry and music that should and should not receive approval from the ideal king. I shall begin with a closer look at this last point. In a conversation with Philip, Dio’s Alexander is represented as insisting that Homer is the only suitable poet for study by kings—Hesiod is all very well for shep- herds and carpenters. However he denies that he would himself want to have Homer’s poetic skills—he and the heroes celebrated by Homer have as their goal fine achievements (καλ* 0ργα) not fine poetry.4 When Alexander turns to music, he declares himself willing to learn to play the cithara or lyre to sing hymns to the gods or praise of men—as for melic poetry, that of Stesichorus or Pindar might be allowed, the former as an imitator of Homer, the latter because he had praised an ancestor of Alexander; but erotic poetry like that of Sappho and Anacreon is not suitable to be sung by kings, and it would be better for a phalanx to encourage itself to battle by singing Homer than Tyrtaeus.5 Dio returns later to the question of music: a king should not listen to people play- ing the aulos or the cithara, or singing wanton and voluptuous songs, nor should he indulge the evil crazes for immoral stories (λγων διε- 2 ρτων κακ ς 1&λ υς) composed to entertain the extremely unedu- cated (πρς 5δ νν τν %μα2εσττων γεγ ντας), but should purge his realm of such things, along with unrestrained comedy in prose or verse, 3 Plutarch, An seni sit gerenda respublica 787b, 792f., see below at nn. 26–28. 4 Dio of Prusa, Oration 2.8. 5 Ibidem 28–33..
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