Aristotle as Poet: The Song for Hermias and Its Contexts

264 Pages·2011·0.83 MB·English

by  Andrew L. Ford

ARISTOTLE
AS POET
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ARISTOTLE
AS POET
The Song for Hermias and
Its Contexts
Andrew Ford
3
2011
3
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CONTENTS
Abbreviations xix
1.TheText 1
Aristotle:TheSongforHermias 1
SourcesandFirstReading 3
2.HistoryandContext 9
DeconstructingAtarneus:QuestionsofMethod 10
ConstructingHermias:TheErythraeanInscription 17
TheEndofHermias:Theopompus’sLettertoPhilip 21
3.PerformanceandOccasion 27
CommemorativeEpigrams:AristotleandSimonides 29
BookEpigrams:TheocritusofChios 35
TextsandThings:HerodotusonHermotimus 41
4.PerformanceandContext 45
Witnesses:Callisthenes’Hermias 48
vii
viii Contents
Sources:Hermippus’sOnAristotle 54
Authenticity:“Aristotle’s”Apology 60
5.GenresofPoetry 69
LyricGenresfromPlatotoAlexandria 71
ImpiousSong:ThePaeantoLysander 80
Paean,Hymn,Skolion? 86
6.KindsofHymn 91
HymnicForm:Ariphron’sPaeantoHealth 91
HymnicFlexibility:Pindar’sFourteenthOlympicOde 97
HymnsinHexameters:“Homer”andAristotle 105
7.Ethos 113
EthosinDebate:AnAtticSkolionandaPoem
bySappho 114
EthosinProtreptic:Aristotle’sHymntoHermias,
vv.1–8 121
EthosinEpiphany:ImmortalVirtueinSophocles’
Philoctetes 127
8.Reading 137
Troping:(cid:2)o(cid:3)(cid:4)´(cid:5)o(cid:6)(cid:7)oςinEuripidesandBacchylides 138
Mythologizing:HymntoHermias,vv.9–16 144
Immortalizing:HymntoHermias,vv.17–21 147
9.Endurance 157
Memorial:Aristotle’sElegiacstoEudemus 160
Survival:ALetterfromPlato 166
NOTES 173
BIBLIOGRAPHY 217
GENERALINDEX 233
INDEXOFPASSAGESDISCUSSED 239
PREFACE
People are often surprised to hear that Aristotle wrote poetry,
naturally thinking of him in the first instance as a philosopher
andindeedasoneofthegreatestthinkersintheancientworld.In
fact,Aristotlecomposedenoughpoetrytofilltwopapyrusrolls
in the ancient collections of his works, for it was not unusual
thatawell-educatedgentlemanofhisdayshouldbeabletocome
upwithaverseorsongtogracespecialoccasions.Whatisvery
surprisingisthestorytoldaboutoneofhispoems,forthesources
that preserve the text also tell us that it came near to costing
the philosopher his life. This lyric, one of only two to survive
complete, will be the central thread in the study that follows,
which combines a close reading of that work with an attempt
to understand its remarkable reception. Though very little of
Aristotle’spoeticoutputsurvives,Ihopetherebytocastfurther
lightonhisrelationtotheGreeklyrictraditionandtothemusical
cultureofthelaterfourthcentury.
The poem—strictly speaking, the lyric to a brief song—
commemoratesHermiasofAtarneus,rulerofasmallprincipality
in the northeast corner of the Aegean. In the late 340s BCE,
ix