SAPERE Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia Schriften der späteren Antike zu ethischen und religiösen Fragen Herausgegeben von Heinz-Günther Nesselrath, Reinhard Feldmeier und Rainer Hirsch-Luipold Band XVI Plutarch On the daimonion of Socrates Human liberation, divine guidance and philosophy edited by Heinz-Günther Nesselrath Introduction, Text, Translation and Interpretative Essays by Donald Russell, George Cawkwell, Werner Deuse, John Dillon, Heinz-Günther Nesselrath, Robert Parker, Christopher Pelling, Stephan Schröder Mohr Siebeck e-ISBN PDF 978-3-16-156444-4 ISBN 978-3-16-150138-8 (cloth) ISBN 987-3-16-150137-1 (paperback) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Natio- nal bibliographie; detailed bibliographic data is availableon the Internet at http:// dnb.d-nb.de. © 2010 by Mohr Siebeck Tübingen. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. This book was typeset by Christoph Alexander Martsch, Serena Pirrotta and Thorsten Stolper at the SAPERE Research Institute, Göttingen, printed by Gulde- Druck in Tübingen on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. SAPERE Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st–4th centuries AD) have for a long time been overshadowed by those dating back to so-called ‘classi- cal’ times. The first four centuries of our era have, however, produced a cornucopia of works in Greek and Latin dealing with questions of philoso- phy, ethics, and religion that continue to be relevant even today. The series SAPERE (Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque per- tinentia, ‘Writings of Later Antiquity with Ethical and Religious Themes’), now funded by the German Union of Academies, undertakes the task of making these texts accessible through an innovative combination of edi- tion, translation, and commentary in the form of interpretative essays. The acronym ‘SAPERE’ deliberately evokes the various connotations of sapere, the Latin verb. In addition to the intellectual dimension – which Kant made the moo of the Enlightenment by translating ‘sapere aude’ with ‘dare to use thy reason’ – the notion of ‘tasting’ should come into play as well. On the one hand, SAPERE makes important source texts available for discussion within various disciplines such as theology and religious studies, philology, philosophy, history, archaeology, and so on; on the other, it also seeks to whet the readers’ appetite to ‘taste’ these texts. Consequently, a thorough scholarly analysis of the texts, which are inves- tigated from the vantage points of different disciplines, complements the presentation of the sources both in the original and in translation. In this way, the importance of these ancient authors for the history of ideas and their relevance to modern debates come clearly into focus, thereby foster- ing an active engagement with the classical past. Preface to this Volume The first idea of bringing this volume into existence came into my head aer a dinner conversation with Donald Russell at All Souls College, Ox- ford in May 2004, during which Donald told me that already a long time ago he had collected material for an edition (with commentary) of De ge- nio Socratis, one of the most wonderful pieces of Plutarch’s Moralia. When – twenty-two months later – I finally plucked up the courage to ask him whether he might be willing to provide an introduction into and a text and translation (with notes) of De genio for a SAPERE volume, his first re- action was to call me a fool for bothering someone at his age with such a proposition – but barely half a year later he had in fact done what I had asked him for, thus giving us the heart of the present volume. He had first worked on this subject under the guidance of E. R. Dodds, and would like this contribution to be regarded as a partial, and very late, fulfilment of his obligations to that great scholar. It took the next two and a half years to assemble a team of further con- tributors and get them to write a number of essays, all of which – I hope – will be useful and enlightening to all interested in De genio. To all contrib- utors I am profoundly grateful for the time and energy they poured into this venture; it has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with each and everyone of them. My greatest debt of gratitude, however, I still owe to Donald, without whom this volume would not exist. May he yet live long to receive the acclaim he deserves for it. Heinz-Günther Nesselrath Göingen, August 2009 Table of Contents SAPERE . V Preface to this Volume . VII A. Introduction Introduction (D. A. Russell) ............................... 3 1. Preliminary Remarks . 3 2. Synopsis . 4 3. The Text . 12 4. Suggested variations from Teubner text . 12 B. Text, Translation and Notes Περὶ τοῦ Σωκράτους δαιµονίου (Text and Translation by D. A. Russell) . 18 Notes on the Translation (D. A. Russell, R. Parker, H.-G. Nesselrath) . 82 C. Essays Between Athens, Sparta, and Persia: the Historical Significance of the Liberation of Thebes in 379 (George Cawkwell) . 101 The liberation of Thebes in Plutarch’s De genio Socratis and Pelopidas (Christopher Pelling) ................................... 111 1. De genio’s Platonic subtext . 111 2. ‘Duration’ in De genio and Pelopidas . 113 3. Internal and external links . 116 4. ‘Focalisation’ in De genio and Pelopidas . 121 5. ‘Voice’ in De genio and Pelopidas . 123 6. Lessons for today? . 127 Agesilaus and the bones of Alcmena (Robert Parker) . 129 Pythagoreanism in Plutarch (John Dillon) . 139 1. Pythagorean influences in Plutarch’s philosophical upbringing . 139 2. Plutarch and Pythagorean Ethics . 141 3. Plutarch’s knowledge of Pythagorean traditions and of contemporary Pythagoreans . 142 4. Pythagorean elements in De genio . 143 X Table of Contents Plutarch on oracles and divine inspiration (Stephan Schröder, translated by H.-G. Nesselrath; translation revised by D. A. Russell) . 145 1. Preliminary remarks . 145 2. The dialogues on the oracles . 146 2.1. De Pythiae oraculis ............................... 146 2.2. De defectu oraculorum ............................. 153 3. De genio Socratis ................................... 159 4. Conclusion . 167 Plutarch’s eschatological myths (Werner Deuse, translated by H.-G. Nesselrath; translation revised by D. A. Russell) . 169 1. Preliminary remarks . 169 2. Travelling into the Beyond and eschatological topography . 174 3. The doctrine of the soul and the anthropology of the myths . 182 4. The ‘corporeal’ nature of the soul in the myths . 188 5. The ‘doctrine of daimones’ ............................. 191 6. The ‘hierarchical models’ in De genio and De facie . 194 D. Appendices I. Some Texts similar to De genio (D. A. Russell) . 201 II. Bibliography ..................................... 207 1. Abbreviations . 209 2. Editions, Commentaries, Translations . 209 3. Articles, Monographs (and Editions of other Works) . 210 III.Indices (Balbina Bäbler, Thorsten Stolper) . 213 1. Source Index . 213 2. General Index . 221 A. Introduction Introduction D. A. Russell 1. Preliminary Remarks Il est des ouvrages en Plutarque où il oublie son thème, où le propos de son argument ne se trouve que par incident, tout estouffé en matiere estrangere: voyez ses alleures au Daemon de Socrate. O Dieu, que ces gaillardes escapades, que cee variation a de beauté, et plus lors que plus elle retire au nonchalant et fortuite! Montaigne (Essais III. ix) here admires the inconsequentiality of De genio. Most modern scholarship has been disconcerted by the combination of ex- citing historical romance and serious philosophical and religious discus- sion. Many aempts have therefore been made to identify themes and con- nections which might be held to unify the whole: Liberation (as the soul is freed with difficulty from the ills of the body, so Thebes is freed from the Spartan occupation); divine guidance (Epaminondas, like Socrates, is under a special tutelary daimon); or a general concern with signs and por- tents. It is doubtful whether any of these ideas is a guide to Plutarch’s intentions.1 These should be sought rather in his educational concerns. In the preface to De audiendis poetis (14E) he observes that young students, not yet ready for the formal study of philosophy, nevertheless take pleasure in works like Heraclides’ Abaris and Ariston’s Lycon, in which philosophy and fabulous narrative are combined. If we consider De genio in this light, it is clear that it fills the bill very well. There is the exciting patriotic story of the liberation of Thebes; there is also the speculation about divination and the fate of the soul aer death; there is even a miniature Socratic dia- logue on doing good (584B–585D) and a suggestion that it is a good thing to study mathematics (579A–D). We should also recall that the narrator, Caphisias, Epaminondas’ younger brother, is young, and emphasises his youth (he has lovers, he spends time in the gymnasia), and that the brav- ery of Charon’s fieen year old son is given special prominence (595B–D). It would be foolish to suggest that Plutarch is primarily targeting an ado- lescent readership (or his own pupils) but he certainly has one in mind, as he does also in his Banquet of the Seven Wise Men and in Gryllus. And 1 But note the articles by A. G (“Epameinondas and the Socratic paradigm in the De genio Socratis”) and P. H (“Sign language in On the sign of Socrates”) in: V S 1996, 113–22 and 123–36. 4 D. A. Russell it is a Boeotian audience: he makes the visionary who relates the myth a native of his own city, Chaeronea, and he gives us a great deal of antiquar- ian detail about the religions and political practices of Boeotia in classical times.