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Socratism and Eleaticism in Euclides of

Aldo Brancacci* Università di Tor Vergata

1 Foreword

The sources for Euclides of Megara are scarce, and it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct his fully. The aim of this paper is to reassess the main evidence about Euclides and answer a pair of questions. These are indeed the two fundamental questions posed by his thought: the nature of Euclides’ Socratism, and the problem of his adherence to Eleaticism. Although these issues are largely independent, they are still to some extent linked. In fact, a survey of the sources related to the Socratism of Euclides is not of secondary importance for considering whether he was somehow also connected to the Eleatic tradition. The difficulty of this survey is related to the imbalance between the com- plexity of these issues and the scarcity of the extant documentary framework. In this chapter I first determine the most reliable data emerging from the ancient texts and then reconstruct the overall character of Euclides’ thought. I will relate these data to a broader theoretical and historical-philosophical con- text. I will thereby refrain from giving drastic or prejudicial answers to either question, in contrast to what has occasionally been done before. Although I will neither cite nor discuss in detail the wide bibliography on Euclides and the Megarian school, I will deal with the contributions that have most influenced the study of those two issues.

2 Euclides as a Disciple of

It is certain that Euclides was a direct disciple of Socrates,1 just as it is certain that the entire ancient tradition referred to him as the founder of the Megarian school.2 Yet modern historiography has passed through a stage of hypercriti-

* I thank Daniele Iozzia and Francesco Verde for reading and discussing an earlier version of this paper. 1 Cf. dl 2.47 (= ssr i h 5); Suda s.v. Εὐκλείδης; Suda s.v. Σωκράτης (= ssr ii a 1). Cf. also Dio Chrys. Or. viii 1 (= ssr i h 2). 2 On the foundation of the school of Megara by Euclides, see Anon. Comm. In Plat. Theaet.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi: 10.1163/9789004341227_009 162 brancacci cism in dealing with the Megarian school. Some scholars have come to deny its unity and continuity, if not its , stretching the data deriving from ancient sources. For this chapter, however, this problem is not directly relevant, as for the earliest phase of the school nobody doubts that philosophical activity related to Euclides took place in Megara, and that this activity was character- ized by doctrinal unity. It is worth noting that an inquiry into the sources and modern scholarly literature is the first step towards addressing correctly the question of the Socratic schools. The philosophical traditions generated by Socrates’ teaching did not yield institutions like the philosophical schools of and , or later of and . Less unified, and not necessarily provided with an institutional structure or a regular teaching location, the Socratic schools can be located halfway between the teaching model of the — although compared to this, not only do they appear much more structured but also much longer lasting—and that of the later Hellenistic philosophical schools—to which they will later be contemporary and much closer from a doctrinal viewpoint.3 It is not difficult to see how this reflects Socrates’ independent style, and the fact that neither dogma nor orthodoxy could be traced back to him. This is also the reason that, as observed,4 many different philosophical orientations derived from the teaching of Socrates. It is undeniable that Euclides was the initiator of the school called Megarian. It is also certain that he initiated a philosophical circle in Megara, where he was born and seems to have always lived on a stable basis.5 It is likely that from the inception of the school he had a number of companions and followers, including Terpsion whom Plato mentions in the Phaedo alongside Euclides; apparently both had come from Megara to attend the execution of Socrates in prison.6 Plato’s passage is of utmost value, since the death of Socrates and the identity of the disciples who attended to it were precise and familiar historical facts Plato was obliged to report in an accurate way; this is why

(PBerol. 9782) coll. 3.50–4.3 Bastianini-Sedley (= ssr ii a 26): “Euclides was among the distinguished disciples of Socrates and started the so-called Megarean school, which later became rather Sophistic.” Cf. also Strabo 9.1.8 (= ssr ii a 29): “Once in Megara there were also the so-called Megarian philosophers, successors of the Megarian Euclides, who was disciple of Socrates.” Cf. ps-Galen Hist. philos. 7 (Dox. Gr. p. 604.7–16) (= ssr ii a 27). 3 On the juridical status of the philosophical schools in Greece, see Maffi 2008. 4 Cf. Cic. De or. 3.16.61–17.62 (= ssr i h 4). 5 Cf. dl 2.106 (= ssr ii a 1). 6 Cf. Pl. Phd. 59c2–3 (= ssr i h 1). On Euclides’ disciples, cf. dl 2.108 (= ssr ii a 23); dl 2.112–113 (= ssr ii a 24); dl 6.89 (= ssr ii a 25).