Aristotelianism in the First Century BC

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Aristotelianism in the First Century BC CHAPTER 5 Aristotelianism in the First Century BC Andrea Falcon 1 A New Generation of Peripatetic Philosophers The division of the Peripatetic tradition into a Hellenistic and a post- Hellenistic period is not a modern invention. It is already accepted in antiquity. Aspasius speaks of an old and a new generation of Peripatetic philosophers. Among the philosophers who belong to the new generation, he singles out Andronicus of Rhodes and Boethus of Sidon.1 Strabo adopts a similar division. He too distinguishes between the older Peripatetics, who came immediately after Theophrastus, and their successors.2 He collectively describes the latter as better able to do philosophy in the manner of Aristotle (φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ ἀριστοτελίζειν). It remains unclear what Strabo means by doing philosophy in the manner of Aristotle.3 But he certainly thinks that the philosophers who belong to the new generation, and not those who belong to the old one, deserve the title of true Aristotelians. For Strabo, the event separating the old from the new Peripatos is the rediscovery and publication of Aristotle’s writings. We may want to resist Strabo’s negative characterization of the earlier Peripatetics. For Strabo, they were not able to engage in philosophy in any seri- ous way but were content to declaim general theses.4 This may be an unfair judgment, ultimately based on the anachronistic assumption that any serious philosophy requires engagement with an authoritative text.5 Still, the empha- sis that Strabo places on the rediscovery of Aristotle’s writings suggests that the latter were at the center of the critical engagement with Aristotle in the 1 Aspasius, On Aristotle’s Ethics 44.20–45.16. 2 Strabo, Geography 13.1.54. Cf. Plutarch, Life of Sulla 26.1–2. He too speaks of older Peripatetics (πρεσβύτεροι Περιπατετικοί), making the same distinction as Strabo. 3 Elsewhere Strabo tells us that Posidonius, the leading Stoic philosopher of the first cen- tury BC, was criticized for his ἀριστοτελίζειν. In this case, ἀριστοτελίζειν is used to empha- size what is perceived as an excessive concern with the search for the causes (πολύ . τὸ αἰτιολογικὸν . καὶ τὸ ἀριστοτελίζον). 4 I am adopting the translation offered by Sharples (2010: 24). Hahm (2008: 98) renders the Greek as follows: “[the older Peripatetics] were unable to philosophize in a systematic [or substantive] way but merely prattled on about philosophical propositions.” 5 Cf. Hahm 2007 (especially 98–101). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi ��.��63/97890043�540�_007 102 Falcon first century BC. The extant evidence is scarce but there is no doubt that, at least for some of the noted Peripatetics of the century, a critical engagement with Aristotle was at the very heart of their philosophical activity. For this rea- son, we often refer to these philosophers collectively as “early commentators.” But we must be careful not to generalize from the little we know about some of them or, worse, to project back to first century literary conventions that make full sense only in the subsequent tradition. There is no compelling reason to think that critical engagement with Aristotle had to be codified in the specific form of the philosophical commentary. When we consider the extant evidence for the critical engagement with Aristotle of the first century BC, we immediately realize that this engage- ment was not merely explanatory and philological but informed by a strong philosophical agenda. Moreover, it did not result in the adoption of a single interpretation of Aristotle. Quite the opposite. What is especially interesting about the Peripatetic tradition in the first century BC is that it broke down into a number of different, and often competing, interpretations of Aristotle. Some of them appear to have been creative interpretations based on a selec- tive reading of his writings and responding to essentially post-Aristotelian concerns. This is hardly surprising, as the Peripatetic philosophers of the first century BC were not doing philosophy in a vacuum. Rather, they were taking part in a larger philosophical debate, to which they consciously contributed from an Aristotelian point of view. 2 The Starting Point and Parts of Philosophy For a first impression of the way the Peripatetic engagement with Aristotle in the first century BC may have resulted in the creative use of his philosophy, we may look at how the Peripatetics contributed to the debate on the starting point and parts of philosophy. That philosophy is a whole that consists of three parts—logic, physics, and ethics—is a Stoic thesis.6 The Stoics developed a number of analogies designed to illuminate their distinctive understanding of the unity and nature of philosophy. They also discussed the order in which the three parts are to be 6 While there is some evidence that this tripartition goes back to the old Academy, and in par- ticular to Xenocrates (Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors 7.16), there is no doubt that it was a staple of Stoic philosophy..
Recommended publications
  • The Place of Ethics in Aristotle's Philosophy
    Offprint from OXFORDSTUDIES INANCIENT PHILOSOPHY EDITOR:BRADINWOOD VOLUMEXL Essays in Memory of Michael Frede JAMESALLEN EYJÓLFURKJALAREMILSSON WOLFGANG-RAINERMANN BENJAMINMORISON 3 THEPLACEOFETHICSIN ARISTOTLE’SPHILOSOPHY GEORGEKARAMANOLIS . The issue D the wealth of studies on Aristotle’s ethics, there has been almost nothing, as far as I know, dedicated to considering the place that ethics occupies in Aristotle’s philosophy. This issue does not seem to be interesting to modern students of Aristotle. There was, however, a debate and indeed a controversy about this issue in late antiquity, as I shall show in this paper. There are two questions in- volved here, which are interrelated, and the debate was about both of them. The first concerns the order in which ethics or practical philosophy, more generally, must be studied by the student of Aris- totle’s philosophy. The second concerns the relative significance of this part of philosophy within the framework of Aristotle’s philoso- phical work. Both questions arise from remarks that Aristotle himself makes. The second in particular, some might argue, is addressed by Aris- totle in various parts of his work. In Metaphysics Ε –, for instance, he famously discusses the relative value of theoretical, practical, and productive sciences. Aristotle there argues explicitly that the the- oretical sciences are preferable (hairetōterai) to all others, practical © George Karamanolis It is a pleasure to offer this contribution in honour of Michael Frede, who taught me so much. Drafts of this paper were presented at Princeton, Oxford, and the Department of Theory and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens. I have benefited from the comments of all these audiences.
    [Show full text]
  • Aspasian Infidelities. on Aspasius' Philosophical Background (EN I)
    apeiron 2016; 49(2): 229–259 António Pedro Mesquita* Aspasian Infidelities. On Aspasius’ Philosophical Background (EN I) DOI 10.1515/apeiron-2015-0028 Abstract: The discussion on Aspasius’ philosophical background has benefited in recent years from a wide consensus. According to this consensus, Aspasius should be regarded as a Peripatetic, or even as an “orthodox Peripatetic” (Barnes’ phrase). It is true that Aspasius’ commentary is generally in tune with Aristotle. It is true that he shows an extensive knowledge of Aristotelian research pertinent for the discussions and that he uses Aristotelian concepts, principles, and doctrines with ease as if they were his own, thus denoting an old assimila- tion of those materials and a long accommodation to them. In a word, it is true that Aspasius is an Aristotelian. He is, however, as I will try to show in this paper, an Aristotelian strongly influenced by Stoicism. I will do so by selecting those points from Aspasius’ commentary on book I of the Nicomachean Ethics where the Stoic influence is most flagrantly evident, namely in his interpretation of art (τέχνη), his conception of continence and incontinence and, especially, his interpretation of the relation between happiness, virtue, and external goods in Aristotle. Keywords: Aspasius, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, happiness, virtue, external goods The Consensus The discussion on Aspasius’ philosophical background has benefited in recent years from a wide consensus. A good example of this consensus is the position Barnes sustains on the matter in his excellent “Introduction to Aspasius”, where he states the following1: Next, Aspasius’ philosophical position. Galen calls him a Peripatetic, and it is plain that his pupil taught Galen Peripatetic philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015, in Sehepunkte 15 (2015), Nr
    Citation style Andrea Falcon: Rezension von: Michael J. Griffin: Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015, in sehepunkte 15 (2015), Nr. 7 [15.07.2015], URL:http://www.sehepunkte.de/2015/07/27098.html First published: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2015/07/27098.html copyright This article may be downloaded and/or used within the private copying exemption. Any further use without permission of the rights owner shall be subject to legal licences (§§ 44a-63a UrhG / German Copyright Act). sehepunkte 15 (2015), Nr. 7 Michael J. Griffin: Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire This is a book about the reception of Aristotle's Categories from the first century BC to the second century AD. The Categories does not appear to have circulated in the Hellenistic era. By contrast, this short but enigmatic treatise was at the center of the so-called return to Aristotle in the first century BC. The book under review tells us the story of this remarkable reversal of fortune. The main characters in this story are philosophers working in the three main philosophical traditions of post- Hellenistic philosophy. For the Peripatetic tradition, these are Andronicus of Rhodes and Boethus of Sidon. For the Academic and Platonic tradition, Eudorus of Alexandria and Lucius. For the Stoic tradition, Athenodorus and Cornutus. A supporting role is reserved to the following interpreters of the Categories : Aristo of Alexandria, Ps-Archytas, Nicostratus, Aspasius, Herminus, and Adrastus. In broad outline, the story told in the book goes as follows: Andronicus of Rhodes rescued the Categories from obscurity by deciding to place it at the beginning of his catalogue of Aristotle's writings (chapter 2).
    [Show full text]
  • Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48147-2 — Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture Reviel Netz Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48147-2 — Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture Reviel Netz Index More Information Index Aaker, Jennifer, 110, 111 competition, 173 Abdera, 242, 310, 314, 315, 317 longevity, 179 Abel, N. H., 185 Oresteia, 197, 200, 201 Academos, 189, 323, 324, 325, 337 papyri, 15 Academy, 322, 325, 326, 329, 337, 343, 385, 391, Persians, 183 399, 404, 427, 434, 448, 476, 477–8, 512 portraits, 64 Achilles Tatius, 53, 116, 137, 551 Ptolemaic era, 39 papyri, 16, 23 Aeschylus (astronomer), 249 Acta Alexandrinorum, 87, 604 Aesop, 52, 68, 100, 116, 165 adespota, 55, 79, 81–5, 86, 88, 91, 99, 125, 192, 194, in education, 42 196, 206, 411, 413, 542, 574 papyri, 16, 23 Adkin, Neil, 782 Aethiopia, 354 Adrastus, 483 Aetia, 277 Adrastus (mathematician), 249 Africa, 266 Adrianople, 798 Agatharchides, 471 Aedesius (martyr), 734, 736 Agathocles (historian), 243 Aegae, 479, 520 Agathocles (peripatetic), 483 Aegean, 338–43 Agathon, 280 Aegina, 265 Agias (historian), 373 Aelianus (Platonist), 484 agrimensores, 675 Aelius Aristides, 133, 657, 709 Ai Khanoum, 411 papyri, 16 Akhmatova, Anna, 186 Aelius Herodian (grammarian), 713 Albertus Magnus, 407 Aelius Promotus, 583 Albinus, 484 Aenesidemus, 478–9, 519, 520 Alcaeus, 49, 59, 61–2, 70, 116, 150, 162, 214, 246, Aeolia, 479 see also Aeolian Aeolian, 246 papyri, 15, 23 Aeschines, 39, 59, 60, 64, 93, 94, 123, 161, 166, 174, portraits, 65, 67 184, 211, 213, 216, 230, 232, 331 Alcidamas, 549 commentaries, 75 papyri, 16 Ctesiphon, 21 Alcinous, 484 False Legation, 22 Alcmaeon, 310
    [Show full text]
  • The Phenomenon of Chance in Ancient Greek Thought
    THE PHENOMENON OF CHANCE IN ANCIENT GREEK THOUGHT by MELISSA M. SHEW A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Philosophy and the Graduate School ofthe University ofOregon in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2008 11 University of Oregon Graduate School Confirmation of Approval and Acceptance of Dissertation prepared by: Melissa Shew Title: "The Phenomenon of Chance in Ancient Greek Thought" This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree in the Department ofPhilosophy by: Peter Warnek, Chairperson, Philosophy John Lysaker, Member, Philosophy Ted Toadvine, Member, Philosophy James Crosswhite, Outside Member, English and Richard Linton, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean ofthe Graduate School for the University of Oregon. September 6, 2008 Original approval signatures are on file with the Graduate School and the University of Oregon Libraries. 111 An Abstract of the Dissertation of Melissa M. Shew for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy to be taken September 2008 Title: THE PHENOMENON OF CHANCE IN ANCIENT GREEK THOUGHT Approved: Dr. Peter Warnek This dissertation engages three facets of Greek philosophy: 1) the phenomenon of tyche (chance, fortune, happening, or luck) in Aristotle's Physics, Nicomachean Ethics, and Poetics; 2) how tyche infonns Socrates' own philosophical practice in the Platonic dialogues; and 3) how engaging tyche in these Greek texts challenges established interpretations of Greek thought in contemporary scholarship and discussion. I argue that the complex status of tyche in Aristotle's texts, when combined with its appearance in the Platonic dialogues and the framework of Greek myth and poetry (poiesis), underscores the seriousness with which the Greeks consider the role of chance in human life.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 INSTRUMENTS and IMPEDIMENTS Α Senecan
    vendredi 25 mars 14h-16h Comments welcome: [email protected] 1 Maison de la Recherche D116 INSTRUMENTS AND IMPEDIMENTS Α Senecan-Aristotelian debate on the activation of the virtues My starting point is a notoriously ambiguous chapter in Aristotle. It’s well known that in Nicomachean Ethics 1.10, Aristotle rejects the view that virtuous activity is sufficient all by itself for happiness. Instead he asserts that while eudaimonia does consist in a life of virtuous activity, certain external goods, things like health, wealth, and freedom from pain, are also necessary in some sense. But in what sense? The text leaves room for interpretation: whether Aristotle means that such things are components of the best human life, such that happiness is incomplete without them, or whether they are instrumentally necessary for the best life – what we need to use to perform virtuous activities in the best way; and there are further questions about each of these possibilities. In this paper I am not seeking to provide an answer to what Aristotle meant. My interest is rather in the interpretive space defined by that ambiguity, and in what happened next in ancient philosophy within that interpretive space. I explore a series of texts in which the so- called Peripatetic philosophers, responding to Aristotle, give their accounts of the relation between happiness and external goods – and the Stoics, represented by Seneca, give their version, responding to the Peripatetics. The star player is what I call the activation argument. Some Peripatetics hold, picking up on certain things in Aristotle, that virtue is not sufficient for happiness because virtue can’t be activated—can’t give rise to any virtuous activities—without having some external goods.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Synopsis of the Aristotelian Commentary Tradition (In Less Than Sixty Minutes)
    HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS OF THE ARISTOTELIAN COMMENTARY TRADITION (IN LESS THAN SIXTY MINUTES) Fred D. Miller, Jr. CHAPTER 1 PERIPATETIC SCHOLARS Aristotle of Stagira (384–322 BCE) Exoteric works: Protrepticus, On Philosophy, Eudemus, etc. Esoteric works: Categories, Physics, De Caelo, Metaphysics, De Anima, etc. The legend of Aristotle’s misappropriated works Andronicus of Rhodes: first edition of Aristotle’s works (40 BCE) Early Peripatetic commentators Boethus of Sidon (c. 75—c. 10 BCE) comm. on Categories Alexander of Aegae (1st century CE)comm. on Categories and De Caelo Adrastus of Aphrodisias (early 1st century) comm. on Categories Aspasius (c. 131) comm. on Nicomachean Ethics Emperor Marcus Aurelius establishes four chairs of philosophy in Athens: Platonic, Peripatetic, Stoic, Epicurean (c. 170) Alexander of Aphrodisias (late 2nd —early 3rd century) Extant commentaries on Prior Analytics, De Sensu, etc. Lost comm. on Physics, De Caelo, etc. Exemplar for all subsequent commentators. Comm. on Aristotle’s Metaphysics Only books 1—5 of Alexander’s comm. are genuine; books 6—14 are by ps.-Alexander . whodunit? Themistius (c. 317—c. 388) Paraphrases of Physics, De Anima, etc. Paraphrase of Metaphysics Λ (Hebrew translation) Last of the Peripatetics CHAPTER 2 NEOPLATONIC SCHOLARS Origins of Neoplatonism Ammonius Saccas (c. 175—242) forefather of Neoplatonism Plotinus (c. 205—260) the Enneads Reality explained in terms of hypostases: THE ONE—> THE INTELLECT—>WORLD SOUL—>PERCEPTIBLE WORLD Porphyry of Tyre (232–309) Life of Plotinus On the School of Plato and Aristotle Being One On the Difference Between Plato and Aristotle Isagoge (Introduction to Aristotle’s Categories) What is Neoplatonism? A broad intellectual movement based on the philosophy of Plotinus that sought to incorporate and reconcile the doctrines of Plato, Pythagoras, and Aristotle with each other and with the universal beliefs and practices of popular religion (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • 6 X 10.Three Lines .P65
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-88480-8 - Peripatetic Philosophy 200 BC to AD 200: An Introduction and Collection of Sources in Translation Robert W. Sharples Excerpt More information Introduction This Introduction and the chronological table that follows it are intended to give readers who may not be familiar with this period of Peripatetic philosophy a guide to the major trends and developments, and to introduce some of the philosophers who will be considered in the following pages. The actual ancient evidence relating to some of the identifications and dates will be found below in Chapter 1, ‘People’. Aristotle’s school, the Lyceum, has been regarded both in antiquity and by modern scholars as entering a period of decline after its third head, Strato. This impression may in part be the result of tendentious representa- 1 tion in the ancient evidence, but in so far as it is accurate, the fundamental reason for the decline seems to be, not that Aristotle’s works were no longer available (below, 2), but that the Lyceum had never had an agenda that was philosophical in the narrow sense of that term predominant in antiquity, as promoting a way of life and an attitude towards its events. From Aristotle himself onwards, the concern of the school had largely been with the collecting and analysis of information on a wide range of topics, and it thus suffered from the double disadvantage that, on the one hand, it did not have such a clear evangelical message to propound as did the Epicureans or the Stoics (for the message of Nicomachean Ethics 10, that the highest human activity is theoretical study for its own sake, was probably of no wider appeal in antiquity than it is now), and, on the other, that such 2 research was being carried on elsewhere, above all in Ptolemaic Alexandria.
    [Show full text]
  • Theophrastus of Eresus Commentary Volume 6.1
    TheophrastusofEresusCommentaryVolume6.1 Philosophia Antiqua A Series of Studies on Ancient Philosophy Previous Editors J.H. Waszink † W. J. Ve r d e n i u s † J.C.M. Van Winden Edited by K.A. Algra F.A.J. De Haas J. Mansfeld C.J. Rowe D.T. Runia Ch. Wildberg VOLUME 123 Theophrastus of Eresus Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought and Influence Commentary Volume 6.1 Sources on Ethics Theophrastus of Eresus Commentary Volume 6.1 Sources on Ethics by William W. Fortenbaugh, with Contributions on the Arabic Material by Dimitri Gutas LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper. Library of Congress Control Number: 2007295680 ISSN: 0079-1687 ISBN: 978 90 04 19422 9 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. for Herwig Görgemanns Scholar, Betreuer, Friend CONTENTS Preface ................................................................. ix I.Introduction........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Him the Aristotle Referred to As Alexander's Teacher in Several Texts and Renders the Emendation of This Name to Aristocles Un­ Necessary
    I2 INTRODUCTION him the Aristotle referred to as Alexander's teacher in several texts and renders the emendation of this name to Aristocles un­ necessary. If this is correct his philosophical views are represented by a passage of the de intellectu dealing with the doctrine of "the external intellect" (voui; 6upa.6e:v).54 II. THE ALEXANDRIAN CORPUS 55 The purpose of this description of the Peripatetic school in the generation before Alexander has been to place his own contribution in perspective. It is clear now that a strong tradition of scholarly exegesis was established before him, and that he was linked to it through his teachers Herminus and Sosigines. There are also some indications of a less rigorous tradition represented by Alexan­ der of Damascus and Aristocles of Messenia in which philosophical eclecticism was combined with an affiliation to the culture of the Second Sophistic. Alexander's contribution was to be entirely the continuation of the former tradition 56 and its elevation to new heights, primarily through the composition of a series of com­ mentaries on Aristotelian works. The Commentaries The precise form of pre-Alexandrian philosophical commentaries is not known to us,57 the only extant example being the somewhat 54 Mant. no. 4-n2. 5 Bruns; cf. n. 44. 66 See Pt. II of the bibliography for additional literature on the works and subjects discussed in this section. 69 This is another reason, quite apart from those adduced by Moraux, why Alexander might not have been the pupil of Aristocles of Messenia. Nothing however is known of the contribution of Aristotle of Mitylene to the specifically scholarly tradition, and therefore his influence on Alexander as against that of the known scholars, Herminus and Sosigines, might have been slight.
    [Show full text]
  • Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria Loren Kerns George Fox University, [email protected]
    Digital Commons @ George Fox University George Fox Evangelical Seminary 2013 Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria Loren Kerns George Fox University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes Part of the Christianity Commons, and the Church History Commons Recommended Citation Kerns, Loren, "Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria" (2013). George Fox Evangelical Seminary. Paper 6. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes/6 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in George Fox Evangelical Seminary by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. Kings College London Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria A Dissertation submitted to The School of Arts and Humanities In Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religious Studies By Loren Kerns London, United Kingdom July 2013 Copyright by Loren Kerns, 2013 All rights reserved. Abstract Philo of Alexandria forged his theory of the soul and its passions while expositing the meaning of Torah. Though writing as a Jewish teacher and disciple of Moses, his biblical reflections display a strong orientation toward Middle-Platonic philosophy. On the topic of the soul and its passions, however, Philo also exhibits significant Stoic influence. The introduction notes Philo’s apparent incompatible use of both the complex Platonic and the monistic Stoic psychological models. After assessing the degree to which Philo understood 'passion' to be a type of Stoic impulse or opinion (chapter one), chapter two demonstrates that Philo consistently drew upon the Stoics’ depiction of all passions as irrational, excessive, and unnatural.
    [Show full text]
  • Poets and Poetics in Greek Literary Epigram
    Poets and Poetics in Greek Literary Epigram A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classics by Charles S. Campbell B.A. Grinnell College M.A. University of Cincinnati November, 2013 Committee Chair: Dr. Kathryn J. Gutzwiller, Ph.D. 1 Abstract This dissertation offers a new analysis of the treatment of poets and poetics in Greek literary epigram from the early Hellenistic Period (3rd century BCE) down to the early Roman Imperial Period (1st century CE). In their authorial self-representations (the poetic ego or literary persona), their representation of other poets, and their thematization of poetry more generally, literary epigrammatists define, and successively redefine, the genre of epigram itself against the background of the literary tradition. This process of generic self-definition begins with the earliest literary epigrammatists’ fusion of inscriptional epigram with elements drawn from other genres, sympotic and erotic poetry and heroic epic, and their exploitation of the formal and conceptual repertoire of epigram to thematize poetic discourse. With the consolidation of the epigrammatic tradition in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, the distinctively epigrammatic poetic discourse that had evolved in the 3rd century BCE was subsumed into the persona of the poet himself, who is now figured as the very embodiment of the epigrammatic tradition and genre. In the first century BCE, as epigram was transplanted from Greece to the new cultural context of Roman Italy, the figure of the epigrammatist served to articulate the place of both poetry and the poet in this new world.
    [Show full text]