CZECHOSLOVAK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES The Posthumous Life of Plato SCIENTIFIC EDITOR Prof. Dr. Ludvik Svoboda, DrSc. Corresponding Member of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences J. L. Barton, B.C.L., M.A. (Oxon) Scientific and linguistic adviser The Posthumous Life 0 Plato Frantisek Novotny MARTINUS NIJHOFF THE HAGUE 1977 Published in co-edition with ACADEMIA, Publishing House of the Czecho­ slovak Academy of Sciences, Prague Distribution throughout the world with the exception of socialist countries: Martinus Nijhoff's Boekhandel en Uitgeversmaatschappij B. V. Lange Voor­ hout 9-11. The Hague, The Netherlands © FrantiSek Novotny - Ludvik Svoboda 1977 Translation © Jana Fabryova 1977 Preface © Ludvik Svoboda 1977 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1977 All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form ISBN-13: 978-94-009-9706-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-9704-2 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-9704-2 Frantisek Novotny (29th August 1881 - 20th September 1964) Frantisek Novotny was first encouraged to become a scholar while he was still a student at the Charles University in Prague by his great teacher Josef Kral whom he remembered with affection for the rest of his life. Novotny made soon full use of this opportunity and set forth on the path of independent and original research. He followed Josef Kral's example in several respects. First of all in'the wide extent of his interests. Until Krru's time Czech classical philology had been taken to mean philology in the strict sense: the grammar of the two classical languages and the criticism of the exegesis of the texts. It involved little study of literature, and even less of the realities. This state of affairs was changed principally by Josef Kral (1853-1917), who consi­ dered himself, as he used to say, "a mere autodidact", especially in prosody, mythology and the so-called antiquity. Kral's earliest important contributions were inspired by more practical motives. While preparing an edition of Plato's dialogues (Apology, Crito, Protagoras) for the requirements of gymnasia he found it necessary to study also the history of the Platonic manuscripts, which was of great importance for the establishment of the Platonic texts. Kral proved that the opinion generally held upon the mutual relationship of the manuscripts was incorrect and he amended the text of the dialogues in accord with the results of his research. These were confirmed afterwards by fragments of the texts of Plato's dialogues found among Egyptian papyri. While preparing an edition of the Greek tragedians for gymnasia he made a more elaborate metrical analysis of the choral parts in Sophocles than had hitherto been attempted. Hence grew his monumental work "The Greek and Roman Rhythm and Metric" in four volumes (1890-1913). This is an original work, but also "notably onesided", as F. Novotny wrote later. Kral kept here to the rhythmic theory of Westphal's and it was upon it he built his own theory of metric. The so-called historical school (Wilamowitz), which was opposed by Krru, emerged, however, victorious. Together with this rasearch Kral was concerned also with problems of the Czech prosody, which he encountered in reviewing translations from classical literature. His inquiry was broad and profound. He published its results over a period of many years in the Filologicke listy (= Philological Letters). Prof. Jan Jakubec edited them in the CAY (= Cze­ choslovak Academy of Sciences) as late as in 1923, but a shorter edition was published earlier in 1909 in Otto's World Library (Svetova knihovna). Kral 6 deals here with the controversy about the Czech prosody which arose during the National Revival and proves that the Czech rhythm is governed by into­ nation and therefore the quantitative metre is unsuitable for the Czech verse. Novotny investigated this question later more than once. He came to the conclusion that Kral's classical approach had rendered him insensitive to romantic elements, that his concept of the rhythm was narrow and therefore he did not understand that rhythm is dependent also upon our subjective perception of the expressivness of the syllables and tones, and finally that quantity too has a greater significance in the Czech language than Kral thought. Besides this, Kral's example was an incentive for Novotny also to study Hu­ manism. Novotny's first works already deal with Plato, and in particular with his Epistles: These are his DPh dissertation "On Plato's contacts with the Court in Syracuse" (1905) and "A Contribution to the Solution of the Question of the Authenticity of Plato's Epistles" (LF 33, 1906). He published then in the compendium of the Gymnasium in Vysoke Mjto the translation of the 7th epistle (1907), his first translation of Plato. At this period there were distin­ guished experts who held Plato's Epistles spurious. Novotny arrived, however, at the conclusion that almost all are authentic. Thus we gain valuable infor­ mation about Plato's life and his teaching. His 7th epistle is particularly im­ portant because it tells us something authentic of Plato's philosophy, for which it had previously been necessary to rely upon the dialogues, which adopted the requirements of artistic form, and where the author's own views could be deformed by aesthetic considerations. Novotny already used in this "Contribution to the Solution of the Question of Authenticity of Plato's Epistles" the so-called stilometric method in which he made certain im­ provements. According to K. Janacek (in the obituary in the LF 88, 1965) Novotny "penetrates thus to the very substance of the matter, i. e. to the artistic aim and to the effect of metres, clauses, arrangement of words and other artistic manifestations of the writer's style". Janacek sees NovotnY's own contribution also "in the comparison of the clause with the other less prominent parts of the sentence". In other words: Novotny did not isolate the clauses, but mea­ sured the part by the whole, respecting the dynamic of the style. Janacek is right in considering this a dialectical concept. Let us mention, just as a matter of interest, that Novotny verified his method also on a modern text, a short story of Antal Stasek (LF 42, 1915). Stasek admitted with astonishment to Novotny, that he did in truth deviate from the customary word-order to achieve the so-called heroic clause. Novotny dealt with the rhythm of Greek and Latin prose systematically in his huge work "Eurhythmics of the Greek and Latin Prose" in two vommes (I 1918, II 1921). The first volume is histo­ rical; Novotny here analyses chronologically the views and theories of the 7 antique writers on eurhytmics. Iil the second volume, entitled "Manifestations of Eurhythmics", he treats critically the new theories Oil the rhythm of prose and also expounds his own view upon this question. Novotny conceives eu­ rhytmics in a very broad and complex sense. He does not deal only with rhythm in the current sense of the word, but also with the articulation of the language, with its harmony and elocution, with the significance of melody for rhythm, with different means by which rhythm may be achieved, with the significance of the study of eurhythmics for the criticism of the texts and also for the so­ -called higher criticism, and he speaks even of eurhythmics of the intellectual content. Much attention is bestowed on the method of investigation. Novotny succeeded in applying his method also to the analysis of Sallust's contro­ versial writings. He proves here that the so-called Invectiva is spurious (LF 45, 1918). He described the contemporary state of eurhythmical stu­ dies in the article Etat actuel des etudes sur rhythme de la prose latine (Lwow 1929). It is not possible to enumerate here Novotny's grammatical works, nor his etymological, semasiological, onomatological and other contributions, al­ though even these do not lack interest for the philosopher. Philosophical inte­ rests were always apparent in Novotny, although he claimed to be no phil­ osopher. It is sufficient to study in his grammars particularly the passages on syntax and style. All these distinct branches of linguistic study were with Novotny somehow mutually interconnected. For example the article What is Metonymy? (LF 79,1956) lies on the borderline between stylistic and lexicogra­ phy. He was always attracted by the relation of language to thought. This is apparent also in the exemplary arrangement of the headings in the well-known Latin-Czech dictionary, which he first published with J. M. Prazak and J. Sedlacek in the year 1910 and which was later many times reedited but thereafter under the sole care of Novotny. In Novotny's grammatical works there are many specific observations which reveal the experienced translator who always ponders upon the peculiar qualities and possibilities of the Czech language as compared with the classical languages. We learn from Janacek's obituary that Novotny was preparing up to the very end of his life a complete Latin~Czech dictionary, wherein he wished "for the first time to find Czech equivalents for thousands of unusual expressions and construc­ tions" (LF 88, 1965). The centre of gravity of Novotny's activity is, however, the inquiry into Plato. It bore fruits in quite a number of preparatory writings, partial studies and expositions, a translation of the complete corpus of Plato and a systematic work called simply "On Plato" (I-III 1948-9), the 4th volume of which is here presented to the reader. Let us recount here a number of studies which served as intellectual preparation for this great work. These are, apart from the two first works in 1906 mentioned above, following: 8 1911 "The Secret Teaching" ana Plato's Epistles (Sbornlk filologicky = Phi­ logical Anthology 2).