CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository EPINICIAN PRECEPTS: A STUDY OF CHIRON AND THE WISE ADVISER IN PINDAR By JONATHAN MILES HALLIWELL A Thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham For the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Classics School of Historical Studies The University of Birmingham September 2008 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. EPINICIAN PRECEPTS: A STUDY OF CHIRON AND THE WISE ADVISER IN PINDAR ABSTRACT This thesis offers a fresh appraisal of the wise adviser in Pindar's epinician poetry. By focusing on the prominent figure of Chiron, it shows how Pindar engages with the paraenetic tradition in a way that reveals the distinctive character of the epinician poet. The first part of the study explores the function of Chiron as an interactive model for Pindar as poet-teacher. Chapter 1 examines how the mythical pedagogue enhances the status of the poet as wise adviser by illuminating the moral character of his advice. It shows how the relationship between teacher and pupil in the myth provides a model for that of poet and addressee and enables the poet to present his advice indirectly. In two separate case studies, I explore how Chiron's paradigmatic associations interact with the poet as adviser. In Chapter 2 (Nemean 3), I argue that the poet dramatises the instruction of a pupil as part of a collaborative and interactive form of learning. In Chapter 3 (Pythian 3), I argue that Pindar reconfigures preceptual instruction in a 'dialogue' between two speakers who enact the pedagogic relationship of Chiron and Asclepius. This strategy allows the poet to present his teaching tactfully and authoritatively. I conclude that Chiron is a figure for the poet as tactful and authoritative adviser and contributes to the poet's creation of a 'paraenetic encomium'. Secondly, this study of the reception and remodelling of the paraenetic tradition in Pindar illuminates the distinctive character of his advice and its central importance in Pindar's construction of poetic and moral authority. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have at times in the course of this demanding study felt like the 'shadowy' man of Nemean 3.41, shifting my purpose and not always taking a precise step, whilst being thrown off course by ever- changing winds of the imagination. That I have managed to complete this feat at all is due, in no small measure, to someone who as far as I am concerned, is more than a minor practitioner of Chiron's arts. My chances of returning home with a laurel wreath, passing through spectators to great shouting - not forgetting a poet's ringing endorsement in a crown of song - have been greatly enhanced by the sage advice and astute criticism of my tutor, Professor Andrew Barker. Any errors or omissions that remain are, of course, my sole responsibility. I have many people to thank for their encouragement and assistance in bringing this thesis to its fulfilment. On an academic note, I would like to express my thanks to Dr David Fearn and Dr Andrew Morrison for allowing me to see their forthcoming publications in advance. I am grateful to Ralph Hancock for producing his excellent Greek fonts at minimal cost and thereby enabling me to improve the appearance of my text. Dr Pfeijffer's 'Pindaric Bibliography', freely available on the web, proved very useful in the early days spent exploring the voluminous scholarship on Pindar, especially on the Aeginetan odes. I am indebted to the Staff of Milbourne Lodge School for their personal support in the past two years and to Mark Bradley for putting me in touch with the school in the first place. This employment has provided a different kind of stimulus in the form of disseminating ancient Greek for youngsters! For his friendship, mutual love of music as a fellow member of Birmingham Cathedral Choir and for his excellent example, I would like to pay a personal tribute to Dr David Creese. The recent International Conference on Epinician (June, 2006), organised by my colleagues at the University of London, Peter Agocs and Richard Rawles, furnished me with the opportunity to work up some of my ideas on Nemean 3 for a public audience. My understanding of Pindar was enriched by a broad range of papers from many leading Pindarists, which spurred me on to pass the turning post and reach the homeward stretch. Alan Griffiths kindly let me have a detailed look at his paper, which went some way to solving the 'riddle of Oedipus' in Pythian 4 and Adrian Kelly gave generously of his time to challenge my thinking about Pindar. I would like to express my appreciation to the University of Birmingham for a travel grant that enabled me to attend a conference in honour of Pindar held on the Pnyx in June 2004. This coincided with the return of the Olympic Games to Athens for the first time since its modern reincarnation in 1896. The speakers included Professors Christopher Carey and Robert Fowler. Afterwards, Kostas Kakavelakis kindly sent me a volume of unpublished conference papers. Guestfriendship on an international scale, I am pleased to say, is truly alive in modern Greece! I note with considerable gratitude the generous contribution of my parents towards maintenance and university fees in all but one year of my course. Though no technophile himself, my father appreciates the importance of good tools and was prepared to relieve me of old printers and computer monitors, thus enabling me to upgrade to new equipment. My mother's particular bugbear, the prospective remark, means there will be fewer instances of "as I hope to show", or "as we will see later" than there would otherwise have been. My final debt is to my beloved wife Emma, without whom this project would have foundered. I recall that our first meeting in Cardiff in April 2000, occurred soon after I had completed my Master of Philosophy degree when the road ahead had at least two possible turnings. At that time, I was honing a different form of 'ex-tempore composition' in the Jazz Attic, which I can assure you, is no fiction or conceit. I dedicate this work to my wonderful wife, proud parents and darling daughter (ἔν τε Μοίσαισι ποτανὸς ἀπὸ µατρὸς φίλας). ii CONTENTS Abstract i Acknowledgements ii CONTENTS iii Abbreviations v Illustration vi INTRODUCTION The Wise Adviser in the Paraenetic Tradition 1 1. Approaches to Pindar's Odes 1 2. The Paraenetic Tradition 5 3. The Gnome and its Rhetorical Function 7 4 (a) The Context of Wise Sayings 13 4 (b) Ownership and Circumstances of the Saying 14 4 (c) Distancing and Authority 19 5 (a) Wise Figures 21 5 (b) Mythical Characters 24 5 (c) The Authoritative Adviser 29 6 (a) Nestor: The Wise Adviser of Kings 32 6 (b) Discourse Features of the Wise Adviser 37 6 (c) The Tactful Adviser 44 7 (a) The Ego of the Adviser 46 7 (b) Modes of Instruction 49 8 (a) The 'Wise-Minded' Kings 52 8 (b) The Good King in Homer 56 9. Wisdom Poets and the Precepts of Chiron 59 10 (a) Coded speech: Ainos, Riddles and Fables 65 10 (b) Hesiod's Fable: Ainos in Didactic Poetry 69 11. The Wise Adviser in Herodotus 74 12. Conclusions: Pindar's Epinician Precepts 79 iii CHAPTER ONE: Pindar’s Chiron and the Academy of Heroes 85 1. Achilles 87 2. Asclepius 112 3. Jason 118 Conclusions 133 CHAPTER TWO: Nemean 3 138 Part 1: Muse and Pindar 138 Part 2: Chiron and Pindar 159 Conclusions 176 CHAPTER THREE: Pythian 3 178 Part 1: A Paraenetic Dialogue 178 Part 2: Dramatising the Precepts 203 Conclusions 220 CONCLUSIONS 222 1 (a) The Paraenetic Tradition 222 1 (b) The Communication-situation 223 1 (c) A Preceptual Dialogue 225 2. Paradigmatic Interaction 230 3. Chiron and Pindar: A figure for the poet as adviser 234 4. The function of Pindaric advice 237 5. Speaking gnomes 240 6. The paraenetic encomium 242 Bibliography iv ABBREVIATIONS ABV = J.D.Beazley, Attic Black-figure Vase Painters (Oxford, 1956). ARV = J.D.Beazley, Red-figure Vase Painters, 2nd edition (Oxford, 1963). CVA = Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (1925). DK= H.Diels and W.Kranz, Die Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker, 6th edition (Berlin, 1952). Drach. = Drachmann A.B. (ed.) Scholia Vetera in Pindari carmina, 3 vols., (Leipzig, 1903-27). I = Isthmian. KA = Kassel-Austin PCG: R.Kassel and C.Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci, vol.1 (1983), 2 (1991), Berlin. LIMC = Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae classicae (1981-) L-P = E.Lobel and D.L. Page, Poetarum Lesbiorum Fragmenta (Oxford, 1955) LSJ = H.G.Liddell and R.Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edn., rev. H.Stuart Jones and R.McKenzie (1925-40); Suppl. By E.A. Barber and others (1968); Revised Suppl. by P.G.W. Glare (Oxford, 1996). M-W = R.Merkelbach and M.L. West, Fragmenta Hesiodea (Oxford, 1967). N = Nemean. O = Olympian. OCD3 = Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd edition (eds. S. Hornblower and A.Spawforth, Oxford, 1996). OCT = Oxford Classical Text (ed. C.M.Bowra, Pindari Carmina Cum Fragmentis, 1947).