Plato and the Traditions of Ancient Literature: The Silent Stream

290 Pages·2012·2.29 MB·English

by  Richard Hunter

PLATO AND THE TRADITIONS
OF ANCIENT LITERATURE
Exploring both how Plato engaged with existing literary forms and
howlaterliteraturethencreated‘classics’outofsomeofPlato’srichest
works,thisbookincludeschaptersonsuchsubjectsasrewritingsofthe
Apologyandre-imaginingsofSocrates’defence,Plato’shighstyleand
thecriticismsitattracted,andhowPetroniusandApuleiusthreaded
Plato into their wonderfully comic texts. The scene for these case
studies is set through a thorough examination of how the tradition
constructedtherelationshipbetweenPlatoandHomer,ofhowPlato
adapted poetic forms of imagery to his philosophical project in the
Republic, of shared techniques of representation between poet and
philosopherandofforeshadowingsoflatermodesofcriticisminhis
Ion. This is a major contribution to Platonic studies, to the history
ofPlatonicreceptionfromthefourthcenturybctothethirdcentury
ad,andtotheliteratureoftheSecondSophistic.
richard hunter is Regius Professor of Greek in the University
of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity College. He has published
extensivelyinthefieldsofGreekandLatinliterature;hismostrecent
booksincludeTheShadowofCallimachus(Cambridge2006),Critical
MomentsinClassicalLiterature(Cambridge2009)and(withDonald
Russell) Plutarch, How to Study Poetry (De audiendis poetis) (Cam-
bridge 2011). Many of his essays have been collected in the two-
volume On Coming After: Studies in Post-Classical Greek Literature
anditsReception(2008).HehaseditedtheJournalofHellenicStudies
andisontheeditorialboardofCambridgeGreekandLatinClassics,
CambridgeClassicalStudiesandseveraljournals.

PLATO AND THE TRADITIONS
OF ANCIENT LITERATURE
The Silent Stream
RICHARD HUNTER
RegiusProfessorofGreek,UniversityofCambridge
cambridge university press
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(cid:2)c RichardHunter2012
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Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Hunter,R.L.(RichardL.)
Platoandthetraditionsofancientliterature:thesilentstream/RichardHunter.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-01292-9(hardback)
1Plato–Criticismandinterpretation. 2.Plato–Influence. 3.Greekliterature–
Historyandcriticism. 4.Greekliterature–Appreciation. I.Title.
pa4291.h85 2012
184–dc23 2011042603
isbn978-1-107-01292-9Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
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Contents
Acknowledgements pagevi
Listofabbreviations vii
1 Introduction:TracingPlato 1
2 HomerandPlato 38
3 MetamorphosesoftheApology 109
4 DionysiusofHalicarnassusandthestyleofthePhaedrus 151
5 Platoasclassic:Plutarch’sAmatorius 185
6 PlayingwithPlato 223
Bibliography 256
Indexofpassagesdiscussed 273
Generalindex 277
v

Acknowledgements
Ioweaconsiderabledebttothefriendsandseminaraudienceswithwhom
variouspartsofthisbookhavebeendiscussed;Ihavealsobenefittedgreatly
fromthepointedandhelpfulcriticismsandsuggestionsoftheanonymous
readersforCambridgeUniversityPress.
Section (iv) of Chapter 2 is a revised and expanded version of Hunter
2011a, here reprinted with the permission of De Gruyter Verlag. Chapter
6isarevisedandexpandedversionofHunter2006b,herereprintedwith
thepermissionoftheCenterforHellenicStudies.
vi
Abbreviations
Standard abbreviations for collections and editions of texts and for works
ofreferenceareused,butthefollowingmaybenoted:
CPG E.L.LeutschandF.Schneidewin,Corpusparoemiographorum
Graecorum,Go¨ttingen1839–1851
FGE D.L.Page,FurtherGreekEpigrams,Cambridge1981
FGrHist F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, Berlin
1923–1930,Leiden1940–1958
HE A.S.F.GowandD.L.Page,TheGreekAnthology:Hellenistic
Epigrams,Cambridge1965
LIMC Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, Zurich 1981–
1999
LSJ H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. Stuart Jones, R. McKenzie and
P. G. W. Glare, A Greek–English Lexicon, with a revised
Supplement,9thedn,Oxford1996
PCG R. Kassel and C. Austin, Poetae comici Graeci, Berlin/New
York1983–2001
RE A.Pauly,G.Wissowa,W.Kroll,etal.(eds.),Real-Encyclopa¨die
der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Stuttgart/Munich 1893–
1978
SH H.Lloyd-JonesandP.Parsons,SupplementumHellenisticum,
Berlin/NewYork1983
SSR G. Giannantoni, Socratis et Socraticorum reliquiae, Naples
1990
SVF H. F. A. von Arnim, Stoicorum veterum fragmenta, Leipzig
1903–24.Referenceismadebyvolumeandentrynumber
TrGF TragicorumGraecorumFragmenta,Go¨ttingen1971–2004
AlltranslationsfromGreekorLatin,exceptwhereotherwisenoted,areby
theauthor.
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