Philodemus On Rhetoric: Translation and Exegetical Essays

243 Pages·2005·5.81 MB·English

by  Clive Chandler

S C
t u d ie s in l a s s ic s
Edited by
Dirk Obbink & Andrew Dyck
Oxford University/The University of California, Los Angeles
A Ro u t l e d g e Se r ie s
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D ir k Obbin k an d An d r e w Dy c k ,
Sin gul ar Dedicat ions Sex and the Second-Best City
Founders and Innovators of Private Cults in Sex and Society in the Laws of Plato
Classical Greece Kenneth Royce Moore
Andrea Purvis
Simonides on the Persian Wars
Empedocles A Study of the Elegiac Verses of
An Interpretation the “New Simonides”
Simon Trépanier Lawrence M. Kowerski
Rhetoric in Cicero’s Pro Balbo Philodemus On Rhetoric Books 1 and 2
Kimberly Anne Barber Translation and Exegetical Essays
Clive Chandler
For Salvation’s Sake
Provincial loyalty, Personal Religion, and
Epigraphic Production in the Roman
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Jason Moralee
Ambitiosa Mors
Suicide and the Self in Roman
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A Linguist ic Comment ar y on
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Aristoxenus of Tarentum and
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Hyperbor eans
Myth and History in Celtic-Hellenic Contacts
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August an Egypt
The Creation of a Roman Province
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Not h ing Or dinar y Her e
Statius as Creator of Distinction in the Silvae
Noelle K. Zeiner
P h ilo d e m u s On Rh e t o r ic
B o o k s 1 a n d 2
Translation and Exegetical Essays
Clive Chandler
Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Philodemus, ca. 110-ca. 40 B.C.
[On rhetoric. Book 1-2. English]
Philodemus On rhetoric. Books 1 and 2 : translation and exegetical essays / [introduction, translation
and essays by] Clive Chandler.
p. cm. — (Studies in classics)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-415-97611-1 (alk. paper)
1. Rhetoric-Early works to 1800. I. Chandler, Clive, 1964- II. Title. III. Studies in classics
(Routledge (Firm)) (Unnumbered)
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In loving memory of Edward Arthur Chandler
23.3.1921-10.3.2005

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Chapter One
Introduction 1
Chapter Two
Translation 19
Chapter Three
Arguments “For and Against” 59
Chapter Four
Philodemus on Art and Rhetoric 81
Chapter Five
Textual Authority 105
Chapter Six
Psychagogia and Philodemus’ On Rhetoric 147
Conclusion 169
Notes 173
Bibliography 213
Index Locorum 223
vii
viii Contents
Index to Chapter Two: Translation 227
Selective General Index 229
Preface and Acknowledgments
The format of this book might require some explanation. It seemed to me
that a full English translation of Philodemus’ On Rhetoric would be a worth­
while enterprise, particularly since Hubbell’s 1920 translation was based on
Sudhaus’ text (which is already obsolete for certain sections of the work).
However, since new editions of certain books of the treatise are still being
prepared, and since Longo Auricchio has already produced a good text of the
first two books of the work, I decided to restrict my translation and exegesis
to those books. Given the lacunose nature of this text and uncertainties as to
the total extent and plan of the On Rhetoric, I have avoided setting forth a
continuous argument but have opted instead for a looser sequence of exeget-
ical essays. The first chapter is devoted to an introduction to Epicurean atti­
tudes and approaches to the issues implicit in paideia, art, and rhetoric and
seeks to contextualise Philodemus’ position within this tradition. The second
chapter contains my translation of Longo Auricchio’s edition (1977) of
books 1 and 2 of On Rhetoric (an earlier unrevised version of my translation
was published in Advances in the History of Rhetoric vol. 7 (2004), 243—292).
I shall have to assume that any reader of this book has access to Longo Auric­
chio’s edition. I have sometimes adopted changes to the text which Longo
Auricchio made in subsequent publications and those which have emerged
from Blanks published and unpublished work on these books. Prof. Blank
has kindly allowed me access to drafts of his new text for columns II to VII
of PHerc. 1472 and for columns II to IV of PHerc. 1674. Then there are
three essays (Chapters Three to Five) which constitute an exegetical com­
mentary on the text and generally follow the sequence of topics discovered in
Philodemus: (i) a critical survey of arguments (Chapter Three), (ii) a clarifi­
cation of the meaning of the term techne (Chapter Four), (iii) Epicurean tex­
tual authority for Philodemus’ interpretation of the orthodox position on the
issue (Chapter Five). In the sixth and final chapter I offer one explanation of
IX