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Hellenic Philosophers As Ambassadors to the Roman Empire: Performance, Parrhesia, and Power

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Hellenic Philosophers As Ambassadors to the Roman Empire: Performance, Parrhesia, and Power Hellenic Philosophers as Ambassadors to the Roman Empire: performance, parrhesia, and power by Evangeline Zephyr Lyons A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Classical Studies) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Sara L. Ahbel-Rappe, Chair Professor David S. Potter Professor Arlene W. Saxonhouse Associate Professor Arthur Mfw Verhoogt © Evangeline Lyons 2011 For Momma ii Acknowledgements I must express here my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to several people without whom I could never have finished this dissertation. My primary advisor, Sara Ahbel- Rappe, is not only the smartest person I have ever met, but an extremely sympathetic and helpful reader and teacher. Her deep understanding of both philosophy and classics, and her confidence in my ideas, inspired me to pursue interests that I had never considered myself capable of exploring before I started working with her on ancient philosophy in my fourth year of graduate school, and the experience has been enormously rewarding and fulfilling. Arthur Verhoogt has very kindly offered me detailed advice on my drafts that improved the final product, and his knowledge of Roman period Alexandria has especially enhanced the chapter on Philo. David Potter’s expertise in Roman history and snappy, penetrating observations have contributed to the project enormously. I must especially thank Arlene Saxonhouse as well, for generously taking on advising responsibilities at a very late stage in the dissertation, and giving me useful and encouraging feedback. I also wish to thank the whole Department of Classical Studies here at Michigan who stuck with me through thick and thin, including illness, major surgery, and a car driving through the front of my house. Ruth Scodel, in particular, has been a protective and understanding person in my life whenever I needed her help. The Department has also allowed me the extra time to pursue a dual degree in School of Information here at Michigan, giving me extra support and making special arrangements so that I could easily do so, for which I am eternally grateful. Among my friends I would especially like to thank Linda Kenoyer, a brilliant woman, a world traveler, and a physicist, who sends a constant stream of good feelings to me from her cabin in the mountains of Montana, Ruthie Freeman, a fellow student in the School of Information, whose electric personality brightens the world wherever she iii roams and whose confidence has been a big ego boost for me during some low times, Amanda Regan, a fellow student in the Department with whom I shared many good times, laughs, and cheesy horror movies, and Netta Berlin, a very good friend, a great teacher, and a supremely gentle, understanding, and giving person who has helped me with so many things over the last several years that I would literally have to write a book about it to thank her properly. I would also like to send out a big thank you to the whole staff of the University of Michigan Libraries, a team that literally never let me down once in eight whole years, whose professionalism and perfect service made my work easier at every stage. The kind people at the Michigan League Wendy’s were also there for me many a time, and while I may have been able to finish this degree without them, it would have been much, much more difficult. Finally, I want to thank my wonderful mother. Has anyone else besides myself ever been the object of so much maternal love, care, and confidence? I suppose so, but I still find it hard to believe. Everything I have achieved in school, and everything I hope to achieve in the future, has been due to your completely selfless and astonishing love and sacrifice for me. iv Table of Contents Dedication…………………………………………………………………….……….….ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………iii Chapter I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………..…1 II. Carneades: ‘Culture wars’ in second century BCE Rome…………...……….18 III. Philo of Alexandria: Embassies within embassies…………...…….…...........58 IV. Plutarch: Civic and imperial duty…………………………………….….…104 V. Themistius: The emperor’s ambassador………………………………….…146 VI. Conclusion…………………………………………………………….……180 Appendix: Shenkl & Downey’s numbering of Themistius’ Orations…………….……182 Bibliography……………………………………………………………....……………183 v Chapter I Introduction The popular image of the philosopher in antiquity was remarkably consistent across several centuries, changing little from classical times to the late antique period. The philosopher was defined by his freedom of speech (παρρησία), self-control (ἐγκράτεια), and independence (αὐτάρκεια). The ancient philosopher, no matter what his school, was committed to an end of ‘happiness’ (εὐδαιµονία), which was defined in a strictly self-centered way that is unfamiliar, even counter-intuitive, to the modern mind— and certainly not, at least on the face of it, conducive to civic engagement and activism. Attitudes towards the proper balance between action and contemplation, societal engagement and seclusion, varied across schools somewhat, but the demand that the philosopher be uncompromising and impassive in the face of societal authority was a constant. To what extent intellectuals presented a façade to conform to and uphold this stereotype is a legitimate question: the outward “performance” of being a philosopher was essential to one’s reputation, and involved many elements not necessarily related to one’s theoretical achievements. The threadbare philosopher’s cloak (τριβώνιον),1 the beard, the emotional poise, the nonchalance in the presence of powerful officials, these all constituted a particular pose that identified a philosopher, and adversaries were quick 1 Still worn by Themistius in his official meetings with the emperor in the fourth century CE (Or. 34.14). 1 to notice and accuse deviations from the ideal. Depending on the school (the Cynics, for example), the performative demands could be quite extreme. This image of an aloof and solitary sage fits strangely with another aspect of the philosopher’s image that persisted throughout antiquity and continually reasserts itself even in philosophical schools valuing seclusion above action:2 the duty of the philosopher to represent and engage with his polis as an advisor or ambassador in the business of practical political matters. From the earliest development of the polis to the late Roman empire, Hellenic communities often chose philosophers as ambassadors when important issues were at stake.3 The role of an ambassador or advocate presents special difficulties for, and contradictory demands on, the stereotypical philosopher as we have described him: the philosopher’s parrhesia must be coupled with an attitude of supplication or practical negotiation, the self-centered conception of eudaimonia must give way to an identification of one’s self and well-being with the safety of his community, and the aloof sage must reach out to compromise with a political authority or enemy. The ancient philosopher was “a man who, by a heroic effort of the mind, had found freedom from society,”4 and the ambassadorial role counteracted that freedom. This makes the study of the philosopher-ambassador a particularly useful lens for examining the relationship between philosophy and power and its development under the Roman empire. Greek philosophy was tied closely with civic activity from the very beginnings of both philosophy and the polis. Thales political contributions to Miletus are well 2 On politically active Epicureans see Habicht (1988 11-12), Vatai (123), and Sedley (1997 41-53): whether an Epicurean should participate in political matters could depend on how widely he defined his circle of “friends.” For political Neoplatonism, see O’Meara. 3 Mahaffy, 94ff; Griffin 1989, 2-3; Vernant, 58-60; Habicht 1988, 12-13; Brown, 65-9 4 Brown, 62 2 documented,5 and throughout antiquity all of the Seven Sages were remembered for political as well as intellectual achievements. R. Martin, in his study of the Seven Sages in the Greek tradition, has found that they were defined chiefly by their political involvement, poetic authority, and what he calls their “performance” of wisdom.6 This last term connotes their behavior while imparting wisdom rather than their words: they conducted themselves like “Zen masters” who trigger a “flash of illumination” by means of their cryptic utterances.7 The image of the sage was thus established very early, and the traditional concern with the performative aspects of being a ‘wise man’ is already present in these archaic exemplars (or at least is emphasized by their first chroniclers in slightly later times). The presocratics were in general politically active and influential, combining ethereal and abstruse contemplation of the cosmos with aggressive political engagement.8 In fact, these two activities, which seem diametrically opposed, may have actually been quite closely related in archaic thought: the image of nature developed by the presocratics, B. Sandywell argues, was closely related to the image and structure of the polis, and presocratic ideas about cosmological hierarchies were “facilitated by one very particular development which served as a homology for both the microcosm of moral order and the macrocosm of the universe itself” namely, the rise of the polis.9 In light of this association, political advice and management would seem suited to a natural 5 Tell, 80-81; Herodotus, 1.170; DL 1.25 6 Martin, 113-8 7 Martin, 116 8 On Pythagoras see Vatai (36-59); on the tradition of presocratics as writers of law codes for poleis, see Tell (90), on Pythagoras, Parmenides and Heraclitus—who turned down a request of his polis to write laws (DL 9.23 & DL 9.2); on Empedocles, see Tell (81-2) and DL 8.65-6 and 8.70-72; on Anaximander as leader of a colony for Miletus, and possibly drafter of the colony’s constitution, see Aelian, Var. Hist. 3.17; on Philolaus as aspiring to the tyranny of Croton, see DL 8.84; on Zeno of Elea’s possible conflict with a tyrant (named Demylus, Nearches or Diomedon, depending on the source), see Plutarch, Adversus Colotem, 1126d and DL 9.26.
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