The Pseudo-Platonic Seventh Letter PDF
Preview The Pseudo-Platonic Seventh Letter
The Seventh Platonic Letter The Seventh Platonic Letter A Seminar Myles Burnyeat and Michael Frede EDITED BY Dominic Scott 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries Editor’sIntroductionandEditor’sGuide#DominicScott2015 PartI:#KaterinaIerodiakonou2015 PartII:#MylesBurnyeat2015 EndnotestoPartI:#CarolAtackandDominicScott2015 Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2015 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015933303 ISBN 978–0–19–873365–2 Printedandboundby CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY Acknowledgements In preparing this volume for publication, I have benefited enormously fromthesupportandguidanceofMylesBurnyeatandKaterinaIerodia- konou. Meg Bent has also been a constant source of help. Three of the original seminar participants, Lesley Brown, Tobias Reinhardt, and Christopher Taylor, read parts of the manuscript and shared their notes or recollections of the seminar. Malcolm Schofield and Terry Irwin also read some of the work in progress and provided very useful comments.CarolAtackhelpedinthefinalstagesofediting,checkingthe referencesanddoingadditionalresearch.IwouldalsoliketothankPeter Momtchiloff for his encouragement and support, as well as the two anonymous readers for Oxford University Press, and Kim Richardson for his meticulous copy-editing. Finally, I am grateful to the Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University, for providing a grant to help with edi- torialassistance. DominicScott, January2015 Contents Editor’sintroduction viii Sicilytimeline xv Part I Michael Frede Seminar1 3 Seminar2 15 Seminar3 27 Seminar4 41 Seminar5 59 Appendix 67 Editor’sguide 85 Endnotes(CarolAtackandDominicScott) 99 FacsimilepagesofFrede’snotes 113 Part II Myles Burnyeat 1. Thepseudo-philosophicaldigressioninEpistleVII 121 2. Thesecondprosetragedy:aliteraryanalysisofthe pseudo-PlatonicEpistleVII 135 Appendix:VerbalrepetitivenessinEpistleVII 193 Bibliography 197 Generalindex 205 Indexlocorum 213 ’ Editor s introduction TheSeventhPlatonicLetter,orEpistle(Ep.)VII,isoneofacollectionof thirteen letters allegedly written by Plato. It purports to have been written in 354 BC to a group of political leaders in Sicily, associates of the recently assassinated ruler, Dion. They have, apparently, asked for Plato’s advice on what to do in the aftermath of the assassination. However, the letter does a great deal more than give advice. For one thing,itdetailsthehistoryofPlato’sassociationwithSicily,andmuchof it appears autobiographical in character. According to the letter, he visited the island three times: first in 388, though we do not know the reason for this visit. While there he met Dion (a close associate of the thenruler,DionysiusI),whomadeanextremelypositiveimpressionon him.Severalyearslater,in367,DionwrotetoPlatoaskinghimtocome backtoSicilyandeducatethenewleader,DionysiusII(sonofDionysiusI), to become a philosopher-ruler. Dion’s idea was that this would be Plato’sopportunitytorealizehisdream,butPlatohimselfwasextremely reluctant, andonlyagreedafter agreatdeal ofsoul-searching. Thevisit was a failure, as Plato soon discovered that Sicilian politics and the attitude of Dionysius II militated against any chances of success. He thenlefttheisland.Butin361/0,hewaspersuadedtoreturnandmentor Dionysius (with even more reluctance than before). On his arrival he immediately set Dionysius a test to see if he was any more likely to succeedthanbefore,andquicklyrealizedthathewasnot.Onceagain,he resolved to leave. But events conspired to prevent him, and he was in effect kept prisoner on the island for several months. Only in the following year did he manage to set sail, never to return. When he got back to Greece he found that Dion, who had been sent into exile by Dionysius,wasplanningtoleadamilitaryforcetoSicilyandtakepower. Thisheeventuallydid,onlytobeassassinatedshortlyafterwards,in354, whichpromptedhiserstwhileassociatestoseekPlato’sadvice. AswellascontainingagooddealofinformationaboutPlato’svisitsto Sicily,theletteralsoreflectsonmoregeneralquestionsaboutphilosophy and politics, especially about when a philosopher should become EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION ix involved inpolitics. But there isyet anotherdimension tothe letter. At onepoint,wearetoldthatDionysiusIImayhavewrittenabookabout philosophy,basedonhisconversationswithPlato(341b).Thisleadsthe authorontoadigressionaboutwhythewrittenwordcanneversucceed in generating knowledge in its reader. The digression touches on epis- temology, and also considers the true objects of knowledge (which languageistooimpoverishedtocommunicate),theForms. BecauseitpurportstorepresentPlato’sviewsonsuchimportanttopics, Ep.VIIhaslongattractedgreatinterest.Inhisactualdialogues,Platonever speaksinhisownperson;indeed,hehardlyreferstohimselfatall.Sothis letterwouldrepresentacrucialsourceofinformationabouthislife,inten- tions,andcharacter.Thequestionhaslongbeenwhetheritisgenuine. Theoriginofthisbookwasaseriesofseminarsonthesubjectgivenby Myles Burnyeat and Michael Frede at Oxford in 2001. In a memoir writtensoonafterFrede’sdeathin2007,Burnyeatgaveavividdescrip- tionofthebackgroundtotheseminars: I do not recall how it came about that we decided to give a joint, term-long seminaronPlatonicLetters;atOxfordwewereofteninthesameclassroom,but onlythisoncejointlyincharge.Onestimulusfortheundertakingwasashared dissatisfactionwiththewayscholarsofPlatostandardlyjustifyappealingtothe Seventh of the thirteen Epistles ascribed to Plato in the so-called Thrasyllan arrangement of his works. Most scholars, they say, accept the Seventh Letter (Epistle VII) as genuinely from Plato’s pen, or at least as a reliable account of Plato’s life written by someone associated with the Academy and close to the eventsnarrated.Themoreoftenthisissaid,themoretrueitbecomes.Moreand more scholars do accept the reliability of the Seventh Letter—but not because moreandmoreofthemhavedoneseriousscholarlyworkonthesubject.Many havemerelyaddedtheirvotetothetallywithoutthemselvescontributingtothe arguments in favour of authenticity—often without even looking at the argu- mentstherearetolookat,fororagainst.Justgoingwiththeflow. OurseminartookplaceintheMichaelmastermof2001.Theoriginalideahad beenthatIwoulddefendtheSeventhLetter,Michaelwouldopposeit.Shortly beforetermbegan,IwasduetoflybackfromtheUSAandthoughtitpoliticto remindmyself,onthejourneyhome,ofwhatIhadundertakentodefend.Tomy dismayIfoundmyselfmoreandmoreconvincedthatthestuffwasindefensible. ItcouldnotpossiblybeauthenticPlato.Itcouldnotevenbeattributedtosome philosophicalassociateofPlato’s,wellinformedabouttheeventsdescribed.This, thestandard fall-back position forthose whodefend the letter’shistorical reli- ability,collapsesinthefaceoftheauthor’sphilosophicalincompetenceandhis invocationat326eand336bofamaligndeity,anideawhichPlatonictheology
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