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CHAPTER TWO

HISTORY OF RECEPTION IN ANTIQUITY

1 Ancient Testimonia

The roughly forty testimonia (including four ancient commenta­ ries) indicate that the Golden Verses was known to a wide range of authors from late antiquity, including , , Galen, , , , , Gregory of Nazianzus, Jerome, , Stobaeus, , Simplicius, and other Neoplatonists. These testimonia not only provide evidence for the probable date of the poem, they are also invaluable as indications of the context in which the Golden Verses functioned, of its authorship and genre, of the interpreta­ tions of specific terms and passages, and indeed also of the com­ position of the poem. 1 It is clear from the testimonia that the Golden Verses was highly regarded in late antiquity as a concise formulation of the principles of the philosophical life. The Neo­ platonists, starting with Iamblichus, probably all used the poem as a propaedeutic moral instruction preparing the way for philosophy proper. Earlier authors, from Plutarch onwards, also prized the moral value of the poem; for them too, the poem was an instru­ ment to be used to strengthen and reinforce moral conviction. The testimonia may be divided into two general categories, namely, (a) those citing the Golden Verses by name or quoting verses from the poem, and (b) those containing probable allusions to the Golden Verses. In the former category, the most important testimonia, in chronological order, are the following (the verses quoted or alluded to are indicated in square brackets):

Chrysippus (281177-208/04 BC) SVF 2.1000 [GV 54]; Plutarch (ca. AD 45-120) Consolo ad Apoll. 29.116e [GV 17-18], De superst. 7.168b [GV 42], De curios. 1.515f [GV 42], frg. 86 Sandbach [GV 7-8];

1 Previous scholarship has used the testimonia almost exclusively to determine the date of the Golden Verses. Cf. esp. Nauck, "Dber die goldenen Spriiche"; idem, "De aureo carmine"; Pesenti, "Pythagorica," 499-509. 14 CHAPTER TWO

[Plutarch] Vito Hom. 153 [GV 17-18]; Epictetus (ca. AD 55-135) ap. Ar­ rian Epict. Diss. 3.10.2-3 [GV 40-44], 4.6.32-35 [GV 40, 42]; Galen (AD 129-99) Affect. dignot. 5.10 [GV 12]; Theano Ep. Pyth. 7.5 (2d century AD?) [GV 38]; A1ciphron (2d/3d century AD) 3.19.7 [ GV title]; Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-ca. 215) Paed. 1.10.94.1 [GV 44]; Origen (AD 185-253) frg. in Ps. 4:5 [GV 42]; Porphyry (AD 234- 30114) VP 40 [GV 40-42]; Iamblichus (ca. AD 240-325) VP 144 [GV 1-2], Protr. 3, pp. 10-16 [GV 45-71]; Iamblichus Arabus in CA [GV 1-71]; Laertius (end 3d century AD?) 8.22 [GV 42]; Ausonius (AD 310-94) 363.14-26 [GV 40-44]; (AD ca. 317-88) Or. 13.175a [GV 42]; Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 329/30-390/91) Or. 4.102.6-7 [GV title]; Jerome (AD 345-419) c. Rufin. 3.39.27-32 [GV title]; Proc1us Arab. in CA (second half of 4th century AD?) [GV 1-71]; Calcidius (fl. ca. AD 400) in Tim. 136 [GV 70-71]; Hieroc1es (early 5th century AD) in CA [GV 1-71]; Stobaeus (early 5th century AD) 3.1.11 [GV 9-16], 3.3.21 [GV 21-26, 39], 3.15.7 [GV 37-38], 3.24.2 [GV 12], 4.25.11 [GV 4],4.37.1 [GV 32-35],4.44.17 [GV 17-18]; Proc1us (AD 412-85) in Tim. 1.203.24-27 [GV 1-2], 3.53.5-7 [GV 47-48]; Ammonius (fl. ca. AD 550) in Porph., pp. 15.17-16.3 [GV 9-10, 40- 44]; Simplicius (early 6th century AD) in Epict. 2, p. 85 [GV 60]; 30, p.328 [GV 7-8]; Elias (6th century AD) in Porph. 12, p. 34.10-12, 16-21 [GV 12, 40-42, 44]; David (6th century AD) Proll. 8, p. 26.6-8 [GV title]; 15, p. 48.24-28 [GV 47-48]; Hesychius (6th century AD) ap. Suda s.v. IIpoKAo~ (II 2472) [GV title]; Arethas (ca. AD 860-940) Scripta min. 40.2-4 [GV 7]; Suda (10th century AD) s.v. IIv9a'Yopa~ (113120) [GVtitle]. The following testimonia contain probable allusions to the Golden Verses: Cato the Elder (d. 149 Be) ap. (106-43 Be) Sen. 38 [GV 40- 44]; Seneca (5 Be-AD 65) Dial. 5.36.1-4 [GV 40-44]; Galen Affect. dignot. 6.10 [GV 40-44 or whole poem]; Methodius (early 4th century AD) Symp. 6.5.147 [GV 47]. In addition, there are numerous citations of, and allusions to the Pythagorean oath on which GV 47-48a are based. 2 However, since the form in the Golden Verses is derived from this earlier, independent oath, these citations cannot be considered testimonia

2 See Aetius 1.3.8; [Plutarch) Placita 877a; Theo of Smyrna Expos. rer. math., p. 94.6- 7; Lucian Vito auct. 4; Math. 4.2, 4.9, 7.94; Hippolytus Haer. 6.23.4, 1.2.9,4.51.7, 6.34.1; Porphyry VP 20; Iamblichus VP 150, 162; Theol. ar. 18, p. 22.21- 22; Metbodius Symp. 6.5.147; Or. 9.196c, p. 164; in Somn. Scip. 1.6.41; Stobaeus 1.10.12; Proclus in Tim. 1.16.31-17.1.