The Philosophy of Antiochus Edited by David Sedley Frontmatter More Information

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19854-7 - The Philosophy of Antiochus Edited by David Sedley Frontmatter More information

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANTIOCHUS

Antiochus of Ascalon was one of the seminal philosophers of the first century bce, an era of radical philosophical change. Some called him a virtual Stoic, but in reality his programme was an updated revival of the philosophy of the ‘ancients’, meaning above all Plato and Aristotle. His significance lies partly in his enormous influence on Roman intellectuals of the age, including Cicero, Brutus and Varro, partly in his role as the harbinger of a new style of philosophy, which thereafter remained dominant for the remainder of antiquity. Yet much remains controversial about his ideas. This volume, the first in English to be devoted entirely to Antiochus, brings together a team of leading scholars to discuss every major aspect of his life, work and significance. In addition, it contains the first full guide to his testimonia in any modern language.

david sedley is Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Christ’s College. His books include Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom (1998), Plato’s Cratylus (2003)andCreationism and Its Critics in Antiquity (2007). He is also editor of The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy (2003).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANTIOCHUS

edited by DAVID SEDLEY

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb28ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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c Cambridge University Press 2012

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2012

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The philosophy of Antiochus / edited by David Sedley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-19854-7 (hardback) 1. Antiochus, of Ascalon, d. 68 b.c. I. Sedley, D. N. b535.a774p45 2012 186 .2 –dc23 2011043836

isbn 978-0-521-19854-7 Hardback

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Contents

List of contributors page vii Acknowledgements viii

Introduction 1 David Sedley 1 Antiochus’ biography 9 Myrto Hatzimichali 2 Antiochus and the Academy 31 Roberto Polito 3 Antiochus and Asclepiades: medical and philosophical sectarianism at the end of the Hellenistic era 55 Rebecca Flemming 4 Antiochus as historian of philosophy 80 David Sedley 5 Antiochus’ epistemology 104 Charles Brittain 6 Antiochus on contemplation and the happy life 131 Georgia Tsouni 7 Antiochus, Aristotle and the Stoics on degrees of happiness 151 T. H. Irwin 8 Antiochus on social virtue 173 Malcolm Schoﬁeld 9 Antiochus on physics 188 Brad Inwood

vi Contents 10 Antiochus’ metaphysics 220 G. R. Boys-Stones 11 The neutralizing argument: Carneades, Antiochus, Cicero 237 Malcolm Schoﬁeld 12 Varro and Antiochus 250 David Blank 13 Other followers of Antiochus 290 Carlos L´evy 14 Antiochus and Platonism 307 Mauro Bonazzi

Appendix: A guide to the testimonies for Antiochus 334 References 347 Index locorum 359 General index 374

Contributors

david blank: Professor of Classics, University of California, Los Angeles mauro bonazzi: Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy, University of Milan g. r. boys-stones: Professor of Ancient Philosophy, Durham University charles brittain: Professor of Classics and Philosophy, Cornell Uni- versity rebecca flemming: Senior Lecturer in Classics, University of Cam- bridge myrto hatzimichali: Leventis Lecturer in the Impact of Greek Culture, University of Exeter brad inwood: University Professor (Classics and Philosophy), University of Toronto t. h. irwin: Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Oxford carlos levy:´ Professor of Latin, Universite´ de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) roberto polito: Research Associate, Humboldt University, Berlin malcolm schofield: Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy, Uni- versity of Cambridge david sedley: Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Cambridge georgia tsouni: Professor, College Year in Athens

vii

Acknowledgements

In the four years October 2005–September 2009, the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge hosted a project entitled ‘Greco-Roman Philosophy in the First Century bc’, generously funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It was directed by David Sedley (principal investiga- tor) and Malcolm Schoﬁeld, and employed two post-doctoral researchers, Roberto Polito and Myrto Hatzimichali. In addition, funding was pro- vided by the AHRC for one Ph.D. studentship, which was taken up by Georgia Tsouni. Finally, during the summer of 2009 the project team was fortunate enough to be strengthened by the voluntary research assistance of Samantha Horn. These jointly constituted the project team which planned the present volume. The warmest thanks are due above all to the AHRC itself, but also to all those who contributed to the success of the project. By the latter I mean not just the ofﬁcial project team, but the many members of, and visitors to, the Cambridge academic community who during those four years participated in the project’s weekly seminar, attended the two international workshops which it organized, or focused their own research on topics falling within its scope. There can be no doubt that in the scholarly community consciousness of its issues both was and remains raised. The present volume is one of four volumes to come directly out of the project. It is built around papers given to the project’s July 2007 international workshop on Antiochus of Ascalon. In addition to the authors of the individual chapters, those who contributed to the success of the workshop include Jonathan Barnes, Thomas Benatou´ ¨ıl, Gail Fine, Michael Frede, Katerina Ierodiakonou, George Karamanolis, Inna Kupreeva, Bob Sharples and Stephen White, as well as many Cambridge participants. A further example of that collaboration is that, following the workshop’s discussion of Philodemus’ biographical testimony for Antiochus, David Blank undertook a new autopsy of the papyrus, and was able to send viii

Acknowledgments ix us from Naples an importantly new reading of the key sentences (see Appendix, T3). To ensure the volume’s comprehensiveness, Rebecca Flemming, Georgia Tsouni and Malcolm Schofield were kind enough to write additional chapters (Chapters 3, 6, 8 and 11). In the early editorial stages Samantha Horn’s expert assistance, which included checking drafts and assembling material for the appendix of Antiochean testimonies, was of enormous value. At Cambridge University Press, Michael Sharp and Christina Sarigiannidou has been unfailingly helpful, supportive and patient in seeing the volume through to publication, and Jan Chapman’s meticulous copy-editing has done much to enhance the quality of the final product. Special thanks are due to Charles Brittain for first suggesting Antiochus as the subject of our workshop. Finally, I would like to express my own personal gratitude to Malcolm Schofield, who co-directed the project with me and has had a huge input into the planning and content of the present volume.

david sedley