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M. N. Kazanskaya
PLATO, RESP. 331A: QUOTATION PLUS ALLUSION?
Статья посвящена пассажу из начала Государства Платона (330e-331a), в котором Кефал цитирует отрывок из утраченного стихотворения Пиндара (fr. 214 Maehler). На основании анализа прозаической парафразы пиндаровской мысли высказывается предположение, что под своеобразным синтаксисом фразы -qSsia s^niq asi napsaxi ка! ауаб^ упрохрофо^ скрывается прежде не отмечавшаяся аллюзия на Гомера (Od. 9, 27).
Ключевые слова: Платон, Пиндар, гомеровская рецепция, архаическая лирическая поэзия, упрохрофо^, коирохрофо^.
Editors of Plato' Republic, as well as those among Pindar's editors who choose to print the verses recited by Cephalus (Pind. fr. 214 Maehler) together with the preceding sentence at Resp. 331a, face a considerable difficulty when determining how to articulate Cephalus' description of the feelings of an elderly man whose conscience is burdened by no wrongdoing, хф Se ^nSev еаихф aSixov auveiSoxi ^Seia ¿Али; aei napeoxi ка! ауаб^ упрохрофо^ ю^ ка! nivSapo^ Aeyei (Plat. Resp. 331a). It is not easy to decide whether ауаб^ qualifies еАлц or упрохрофо^, word that Cephalus admits to have borrowed from Pindar1. This might seem a question of minor importance, but in this case the articulation of the phrase has direct bearing on the delimitation of poetic material in Cephalus' speech and on our understanding of Pindar's fr. 214. We will start by examining the approaches to this passage that have been hitherto proposed.
The passage occurs in the longest speech of the elderly Cephalus at the beginning of the Republic. Socrates has just asked him what he considers the greatest benefit of being rich (330d), and in the course of his answer (see especially 331b) Cephalus makes it clear that he values wealth principally as means for paying one's debts, both before gods and men, when one is nearing death. To show the importance of being able to acquit oneself of one's obligations, Cephalus starts by describing the cares and thoughts of the elderly,
1 The exact sense and the poetic connotations of yqpoxpo^oq will be discussed below.
opposing the fears of those who have done wrong and the hopeful assurance of those who have lived their life justly and piously:
o p,sv ouv supioKrov sauxov sv xro piro rcoM,a aSiK^pma Kai ek xrov unvrov, roonsp oi naiSsq, Oap,a sysipop,svoq 8sip,aivsi Kai Zn P-sxa KaK^q s^niSoq^ xro 8s p,n8sv sauxro aSiKov ouvsiSoxi ^Ssia s^niq asi napsoxi Kai ayaO^ yqpoxpo^oq, roq Kai nivSapoq ^sysi. Xapisvxroq yap xoi, ro 2<»Kpaxsq, xovx' sKsivoq sinsv, oxi 5q av SiKairoq Kai ooiroq xov piov Siayayn, y^uKsia oi KapSiav axaXAoioa yqpoxpo^oq ouvaopsi s^niq a p,a^ioxa Ovaxrov no^uoxpo^ov yvrop,av KuPspva. su ouv ^sysi Oaup,aoxroq roq o^oSpa (Plat. Resp. 330e-331a)2.
Judging from the kerning used by Burnet and others to emphasize the Pindaric insertion, the sentence must be understood in the following way: only ynpoxpo^o^ is taken from Pindar, while aya0^ must be Cephalus' addition; the expression aya0^ ynpoxpo^o^, "good nourisher of old age", then functions as an attribute of ¿Anig, and as such is coordinated with the adjective ^Seta by the conjunction Kai. From the point of view of syntax, this understanding of the text is perfectly legitimate. Still, one is obliged to recognize that Cephalus has supplemented Pindar's striking qualification of hope as ynpoxpo^o^ with a trite and largely superfluous epithet aya0^3.
2 The text follows Burnet's 1905 edition in all particulars, including the use of emphasis; the presentation of the text is the same in Schroeder 1900: 472; Paoli 1959: 13 (cf. Tucker 1900: 8; Slings 2003: 6, who omit the comma before rôq Kai nivôapoq ^sysi). This view of the text is shared by Jowett and Campbell (1894, III: 12, ad 331A: "the order of the words is not s^niq ^ôsîa Kai àya0^, but ^ôsîa napsaxi Kai napsaxiv àya0^ ynpoxpô^oq"), as well as by Emlyn-Jones and Preddy, as is evident from their use of hyphens in the translation: "But if a person is conscious of having done no wrong, sweet hope is ever present to cheer him and to be the good 'nourisher of old age' as Pindar himself has it". Here and later only the editions where kerning, use of punctuation marks or the accompanying translation show the editor's interpretation of this passage will be taken into account.
3 Indeed, some of the translators that follow this interpretation, are moved to render àya&q by an adjective more elaborate than "good": cf. "il y a toujours près de lui une douce espérance, bienfaisante nourrice de sa vieillesse" (Chambry 1932: 8); "hope is ever present to cheer him (^8sva) and to be his kindly nurse in age" (Jowett, Campbell 1894: III, 12). In both cases emphasis is mine.
A different interpretation of the text was adopted by Adam (1961: 10) who in his edition marked упрохрофо; as a borrowing, while separating it from the text by commas on both sides: хф Se ^nSsv еаитф aSiKov ^uveiSoxi ^Seih ¿Али; aei napeoxi ка! ауаб^, уПрохрофо^, ю; ка! П^аро; Aeyei4. Adam explained this punctuation as follows: he would have both ^Seih and ауаб^ qualify ¿Ani;, the latter adjective being added in order to create an antithesis to the expression Sei^ivei ка! Цеха как^; ¿AniSo; in the preceding sentence; he states specifically that ауаб^ is not part of the quotation and concludes that "упрохрофо; is best taken by itself and not with ауаб^"5. Despite Adam's well-argued position, from the point of view of style the separation of ауаб^ and упрохрофо; is not plausible6: had Plato wished ¿Ani; to be defined by two adjectives followed by an apposition, it would surely have been more natural to place the two epithets side by side, without risking the misconstruction ауаб^ упрохрофо;.
Finally, Race has recently proposed a different interpretation of Plato's text preceding Pindar's verses: "Ever attendant upon the man who is conscious of no wrong deed is 'sweet hope,' that 'good nurse of old age,' as Pindar says" (Race 2012: 423). By means of hyphens Race qualifies the expressions ¿Ani; and ауаб^ упрохрофо; as extraneous to Cephalus' speech, thus escaping the principal flaws of the two previous interpretations - the unnatural separation of ауаб^ and упрохрофо;, on the one hand, and the triteness of the adjective ауаб^ (if one supposes that it was added by Cephalus), on the other. Unfortunately, the format of the Loeb edition left Race no possibility to justify his editorial choice, which was anything but
4 Adam was not the first to propose this division (cf. Schmelzer 1884: 13; Maass 1921: 6-7; Shorey 1937: 19 had a similar view of this sentence, as is evident from his translation: "But on him who is conscious of no wrong a sweet hope ever attends and a goodly, to be the nurse of his old age..."). However, Adam was the only one to argue his view of the passage; his punctuation is often accepted (cf. Newman 1987: 90, n. 3; Ford 2004: 212 n. 7, specifically referring to Adam's edition).
5 Adam 1961: 10, ad 331 a, 1. One further argument, not mentioned by Adam, could be added in support of this view: ауаб^ sAniq is an established religious term, used to describe the award that awaits the pious after death (more precisely, those initiated to Eleusinian mysteries). The term ауаб^ еАлц has been described in detail by Cumont 1949: 401-405; cf. Shorey 1937: 18. For its use in Pind. Isthm. 8, 15, see Newman 1987: 89-90; Newman, Newman 1984: 137; Day 1991: 52-53. These religious connotations are, of course, well suited to the context.
6 Cf. Tucker 1900: 97, ad 331A: "The order is altogether against construing as if it were ^5sia ка! ауаб^ sAniq asi napsoxv упротрофо^".
evident, as neither ayaBo^, nor its synonyms appear in the Pindaric fragment. In the following pages, I would like to present arguments in favour of this subtle and perceptive articulation of Plato's text and to suggest that the identification of the expression aya0^ ynpoxpo^o^ as a poetic borrowing allows us to discover a supplementary allusion in Cephalus' words.
The first question to consider concerns the syntactic status and function of ynpoxpo^o^ in the phrase xro Se ^Sev eauxro aSiKov cuvetSoxi ^Seta ¿Anig aei napecxt Kai aya0^ ynpoxpo^o^. In surviving texts ynpoxpo^o^ is normally used as a noun, principally masculine, as suits the meaning "provider of nourishment for the elder" (duty principally reserved for sons in Ancient Greece). For example, it is paired with another noun in Admetus' promise to be a dutiful child to anyone who can bring Alcestis back: Keivou ^eyro // Kai natSa elvai Kai ^i^ov ynpoxpo^ov (Eur. Alc. 667-668); in the Republic 8 Socrates likewise describes the tyrant as "a patricide and a bad provider for the elder": naxpa^oiav, ^v S' eyro, Aiyetg xtipawov Kai %a^enov ynpoxpo^ov... (Plat. Resp. 569b); similarly, syntactic parallelism of the antithesis in Demades' repudiation of war shows that ynpoxpo^o^ is used as a noun: avxtcxpo^ yap yivexat npay^axrov xro no^e^ro- Banxet nax^p xov natSa yap, yeprov xov ynpoxpo^ov (Demad. fr. 78). It should be noted that the situation in Resp. 331a is different, since ynpoxpo^o^ is paired with an adjective (^Seta... Kai aya0^ ynpoxpo^o^). As regards the semantics, the verb ynpoxpo^ero, as well as his synonyms ynpoPocKero and ynpoKo^ero, are well attested as social terms: in oratory and drama they are used to designate the duty of grown-up children towards their elderly parents7. The nomina agentis ynpoxpo^o^, ynpoPooKo^, ynpoKo^o^, and nomina actionis ynpoxpomia, ynpoPocKeta, ynpoKo^ia, are also used, but are less frequent . If ynpoxpo^o^ is
7 In the Attic legal system, taking care of one's parents was obligatory since the time of Solon (see Solon, Test. 454-456f. Martina = fr. 104b Ruschenbusch).
8 In oratory yqpoxpo^sro appears, for example, in Demosth. 24, 203; 40, 32 and 36; Lys. 13, 45; Lycurg. In Leocrat. 144; Isocr. 14, 48; Isaeus, 1, 39; 2, 10. The verb yqpoPooKsro is preferred by drama (Eur. Alc. 663; Med. 1033; Aristoph. Ach. 678; cf. Xen. Oec. 7, 13), as well as the noun yqpoPooKoq (Soph. Aj. 570; Eur. Suppl. 923; Phoen. 1436; cf. Xen. Oec. 7, 19). The word ynpoKo^oq is the earliest attested compound with this meaning, as it appears in Hesiod (Theog. 605); in the classical period, on the other hand, its use seems to recede; both ynpoKopiro and ynpoKop,oq return into frequent use in the Hellenistic and Roman period (Call. ep. 50; A. P. 7,
considered a noun in Pindar's verses and in Cephalus' paraphrase, its use as an attribute of ¿Anig may suggest that hope for a good afterlife is as important for the sustainment of the old as is their children's material aid9.
It is alternatively possible to interpret Pindar's ynpoxpo^o^ as a poetic epithet of the type Koupoxpo^oi; (e.g., Hes. Op. 228; Eur. Bacch. 420), innoxpo^o^ (Hes. Op. 507; Bacchyl. 10, 114) or Aaoxpo^o^ (Pind. Ol. 5, 4; 6, 60)1 . If ynpoxpo^o^ is taken as an adjective, it must be considered an antonym of the more frequent compound Koupoxpo^o^, "nourisher of the young", known as an epiclesis and epithet from the times of Homer that can be applied to a number of deities or notions11. The practice of modifying established epithets is, of course, typical of Pindar's poetics (cf. Sotiriou 1998: 55-64 for a list of such examples), and if one accepts that this is the case in fr. 214, the change of Koupoxpo^o^ into ynpoxpo^o^ would implicitly oppose youth that stands in need of food and other material goods and old age, principally sustained by hope for a happy life in the next world.
The second interpretation seems preferable, and in fact, there is one indication that at least a part of ancient readers saw ynpoxpo^o^ in Plato and Pindar as a variation of Koupoxpo^o^. Among the
606; 8, 75; Opp. Hal. 5, 85; Ael. Nat. animal. 10, 16; Maxim. Dial. 34, 76; etc.).
9 Cf. Tucker 1900, 97, ad 331A: "'EAniq is personified. The ynpoxpo^oi [...] were usually the sons or daughters".
0 For a list of such compounds see Chantraine 1977: 1134, s.v. xps^ro, c.4.d. With regard to Pindar's Aaoxpo^oq, however, Sotiriou 1998, 60 postulates an analogical formation on the basis of Koupoxpo^oq.
1 Koupoxpo^oq appears as an epiclesis of a group of feminine deities believed to watch over children's growth to adulthood - especially Gaia and Demeter, but also Persephone, Hecate, Hera, Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena; moreover, epigraphic sources (cf. Aristoph. Thesm. 298-300) show that Koupoxpo^oq was worshiped as a separate deity (the fullest overview of Koupoxpo^oi, especially in art, is Hadzisteliou-Price 1978; see also Jeanmaire 1939: 283-297; Pirenne-Delforge 2004). Besides this religious use, Koupoxpo^oq develops a non-religious usage in poetry as an epithet that can be applied to (a) a specific land (Eur. Tro. 566; Call. Hymn. 4, 2 and 276; cf. Od. 9, 27 which will be discussed in detail below); or (b) to (personified) abstract notions: the first example of this sort occurs in Hesiod, where Koupoxpo^oq qualifies peace, but is juxtaposed with the word yq so that it is probably a modification of a formular expression, sip^vn 8' ava yqv Koupoxpo^oq (Op. 228). For other archaic examples, see Beck 1991.
numerous sources that quote Pindar fr. 21412, several replace the compound упротрофо^ with коиротрофо^:
oi 5e aya0oi Kav ^upia лаохюог кака, ката nivSapov, s^niSa коиротрофоу sxouow оик a9vsvoav Trav napovTrav KaKrav aio&novv ^aPsiv; (Ioann. Chrysost. Adversus oppugnatores vitae monasticae 2, 10 = PG 47, 347 Migne);
йоте ^v u^vnoE T^v E^niSa о nivSapoq nspi avSpoq ^syrav EuSai^ovoq, oti ара аитф у^икЕга KapSiav атаМоюа коиротрофос; ouvaopEi ё^лц, а ца^юта OvaTrav no^uoTpo9ov yvra^av CTPEpva, фагл Tiq av ou nEpi rqc; ипар ^ёуЕобаг, rqc; аяатп^л?, ^v ^цек; ёаитоц Smn^aTTop,Ev (Synes. De insomniis, 13)13.
This divergence in the tradition has led Q. Cataudella to suggest that коиротрофо^ was Pindar's original reading that Plato modified into упротрофо^ (both in his own text and in the verses he quoted) in order to suit the character of Cephalus, as he famously did on another occasion, when quoting the beginning of Pind. fr. 169 in Gorg. 484b14. Cataudella argued that nothing in Pindar's fragment, apart from the epithet, indicated that his yvro^n was applied exclusively to people of older age, and that if several authors, independently of one another, read коиротрофо^ for упротрофо^, a distinct textual tradition must have existed: he concludes that коиротрофо^ deserves to be taken seriously and included into Pindar's apparatus criticus as an alternative reading to упротрофо^. These arguments are certainly important, but do not seem to be conclusive as regards Pindar's text. Seeing that упротрофо^ is rarely used as a poetic epithet while коиротрофо^ is fairly common, and that the idea of hope as a "nourisher of old age" is more complex15, уПротрофо^ is the lectio difficilior and must be retained as such.
12 Maehler lists Stob. 4, 31, 118; Iustin. Coh. gent. 26, p. 25; Synes. De insomn. 17, p. 149; [Aristot.] Oec. 2, 167 (p. 654 Rose), Plut. De tranq. an. 19; Theod. Metoch. p. 350; Dexipp. in Aristot. categ. 3, 1; Olympiod. in Plat. Alcib. prior. 23, 14 as the most important references.
13 It is worth noting that Synesius' commentator Nicephorus Gregoras gave the other reading, yqpoxpô^oq, in his note to this passage. Cataudella 1972, 165 also mentions that é^niq Koupoxpô^oq appeared in Michael Choniates.
14 When his article first appeared in 1964, Cataudella spoke only of Plato's modification of Pindar's text, but in the second edition he added that it is equally possible that Koupoxpô^oq/ynpoxpô^oq was Pindar's authorial variant (Cataudella 1972: 168).
15 For a more customary idea of hope that sustains everyone, cf. é^niq ôè navxaq KàrnnsiOsin xpé^si / anp^Kxov oppaivovxaq (Semonid. fr. 1, 6-7; on the relationship between Pind. fr. 214 and this passage, see Theunissen 2000: 383-384).
Moreover, the expression ynpoxpo^o^ ¿Ami; is not only attested in a greater number of sources, but was also imitated by later writers16, not to mention that the substitution of Koupoxpo^o^ for ynpoxpo^o^ would abolish the delicate contrast at the end of the fragment between the special importance of hope for those nearing the end of their life and the part that it plays in every man's life, regardless of age (¿Anig a ^aAioxa Bvaxrov noAuoxpo^ov // yvro^av KuPepva, Pind. fr. 214, 3-4). However, although Koupoxpo^o^ is no rival for ynpoxpo^o^, this substitution, whether it be due to a lapse of memory or to a deliberate modification of the Pindaric expression (thus Theunissen 2000, 387 on John Chrysostom), points to an influential literary parallel that left its mark on Pind. fr. 214 and that Plato alluded to in the phrase ^Seia eAni^ aei napeoxi Kai aya0^ ynpoxpo^o^.
One of the most striking examples of Koupoxpo^o^ in archaic poetry occurs in Odysseus' loving description of his homeland at Alcinous' banquet at the beginning of Odyssey 9. Odysseus starts the account of his travels by revealing his name and descent, and telling his host where he comes from (Od. 9, 19-20); he next speaks of Ithaca, mentioning its geographical position and relief, and is moved by these details, dry in themselves but dear to him, to express the love and longing that he feels for his island:
aux^ 8s x6ap.aA^ navunepxaxn eiv aAi Keixai
npoq Z°?ov, ai 8s t' aveu0e npoq ^ro t' ^sAiov re,
xpnxsi', aAA' aya0^ Koupoxpo^oq^ ou xi syro ye
^q yainq 8wap,ai yAuKeproxepov aAAo i8so0ai (Od. 9, 25-28).
The same sentiment will be repeated a few lines later, after Odysseus mentions how Calypso and Circe each tried to detain him, but to no avail (vv. 29-33), concluding this prefatory part of his long account with the maxim ro^ otiSev yAuKiov ^^ naxpiSo^ otiSe xoK^rov // yivexai... (vv. 34-35). Odysseus' speech with its recognition of Ithaca's disadvantages with regard to other lands and its avowal of love despite the island's imperfections was one of the well-known passages of the Homeric epics. For example, a reference to the verse ro^ otiSev yAuKiov ^^ naxpiSo^ otiSe xoK^rov (Od. 9, 34) opens Lucian's essay naxpiSo^ eyKro^iov17, is characterized as the wisest
16 The expression yqpoxpo^oq sAniq appears in a number of later texts without specific reference to Pindar (cf. A.P. 8, 165, 4; A.P. ep. sep. 197, 10 = GV 1420 Chios; Greg._Naz. De vita sua, 1942).
17 "Oxv p,sv ou8sv yAuKiov ^q naxpi8oq, ^Oavei npoxe0puAnp.svov. ap' ouv ^8vov p,sv ou8sv, oep,voxepov 8s xv Kai 0evoxepov aAAo; (Luc. Patr. enc. 1).
thing that Homer had ever written by Dio Chrysostom18, and is playfully quoted by Palladas at the beginning of his epigram on the true - gastronomic - reasons for Odysseus' return 9. In archaic poetry the verse was alluded to in a poem of the Theognidean corpus, where the poet enumerates the rich and fertile lands that he had seen on his travels, but that could not rival his home city20.
Verses 27-28 of Odysseus' speech, and especially the paradox xpn%ei', aW aya0^ Koupoxpo^o^, were also popular. Rhiannus began his epigram on Empedocles with praise for Troezen: 'H TpotZ^v aya0^ Koupoxpo^o^ (A.P. 12, 58, 1). The expression Tpnxet', aW aya0^ Koupoxpo^o^ was applied to the monkfish for a comic effect ("rough, but good for nourishing young men") by Matro of Pithane in his Convivium Atticum (fr. 534 SH = fr. 1, 5658 Olson, Sens). Clement of Alexandria allegorically applied Odysseus' description of Ithaca to the notion of truth: aW ^ ^ev ei^ to Papa0pov ro0et, ^ cuv^0eta, ^ Se ei^ oupavov avayet, ^ a^0eta, «Tpa%eta» ^ev to nproTov, «aAA,' aya0^ KoupoTpo^oi;»... (Clem. Protr. 10, 109). Archaic poetry also preserves several passages containing recognizable allusions to this verse. Thus, Solon in one of his minor fragments speaks of the earth as ^inap^ KoupoTpo^o^ (Sol. fr. 43 West). Unfortunately, only these words survive, making the reconstruction of the original context impossible, but it is tempting to think that Solon applied this expression not to any land, but specifically to Attica21 . More importantly still, a structurally
18 Tro yap ovti rcoM,a oo^a Kai Osia sip^Kroq "Opnpoq ouSsv oo^roTspov s^n toutou toU snouq ouSs a^nOsoTspov "roq ouSsv y^uKiov ^q naTpiSoq" (Dio Chrysost. 44, 1). _
9 „'Oq ouSsv y^uKiov ^q naTpiSoq," sinsv 'OSuoosuq^ // sv yap Toiq KipKnq skxutov ouk s^aysv, // ou povov si Kai Kanvov anoOprooKovT svonosv, // sinsv av oi^ro^siv Kai SsKa nnvs^onaiq (A.P. 9, 395). Since Palladas typically chooses the best-known Homeric passages for his parodies (Il. 1, 1-5 serves as basis for A.P. 9, 173; Aeolus' bag of winds in Od. 10, 19-27 - for A.P. 9, 484; etc.), there is little room for doubt that Odysseus' speech was one of the stock pieces. See Guichard (in press) for a useful overview of Homeric references and allusions to Homer in Palladas' epigrams.
20 Theogn. 783-788. The Homeric intertext for the last verse of this passage has been noted by Hudson-Williams 1910: 226 and van Groningen 1966: 303.
21 Solon's words are quoted by Choricius of Gaza: yq psv yap Toiq svoiKouoiv snioTaTai ^spsiv, ooa TiKTouoiv ropai, unTia ts naoa Kai KaOsipsvn Kai, to toU ¿o^rovoq, ^inap^ KoupoTpoqioq- Oa^arra 8s piKpov anroOsv Tn no^si SiaKovsi... (Choric. Or. 2. 6 Foerster-Richtsteig). Due to the shortness of the fragment, scholars tend to interpret KoupoTpo^oq here as a religious epiclesis (Jeanmaire 1939: 296; Noussia-Fantuzzi 2010: 516).
identical expression qualifies civil strife in another of Pindar' fragments:
to Koivov xiq aoxrov sv eu8ia
xi0eiq speuvaoaxro p,eyaAavopoq 'Houxiaq to 9ai8pov ^aoq, oxaoiv ano npani8oq sniKoxov aveArov, neviaq 8oxeipav, sxOpav Koupoxpo^ov
(Pind. fr. 109 Maehler = Stob. 4, 16, 6).
The last verse consists of two oxymora serving as attributes to oxaou;, both resulting from a modification of an epic expression: the first, nevia^ Soxeipav "giver of poverty", evokes the epic formula Srox^pe^ earov "givers of good things"22, while e%0pav Koupoxpo^ov "hateful nourisher of the young"23 transforms in the same manner the Homeric expression aya0^ Koupoxpo^o^. The principle idea that Pindar seeks to convey by inverting these epic expressions is that oxaou; brings with it the exact opposite of the blessings traditionally associated with peaceful life (Hou%ia of v. 2; on this concept in Pindar, see Hornblower 2004, 60-63).
In view of the celebrity of the Homeric passage (Od. 9, 19-36) and the existence of several recognizable allusions to xpn%ei', aAA' aya0^ Koupoxpo^o^ in early Greek poetry, Plato's aya0^ ynpoxpo^o^ would have been identified as a Homeric allusion by his readers who at this point of the dialogue are prepared for all kinds of poetic references by Socrates' and Cephalus' previous conversation. A Homeric allusion is suspected in the first words that Cephalus addresses to Socrates (oti Se ^iv KaxaPaivrov ei; xov
neipaia, Resp. 328c)24; in Resp. 328e Socrates describes the "road
However, in Choricius, as in Plato, the juxtaposition of two epithets in asyndeton is more likely to stem from an accurate rendering of Solon's syntax, as the marker of the quotation to xou SoArovoq also shows. 2 For the expression 8roxqpeq sarov, see Hom. Od. 8, 325 and 335 cf. Il. 19, 44; Hes. Theog. 46; 111; 633; 664. Schmitt 1967: 142-149 interprets this expression as an old, possibly Indo-European poetic formula. it should be noted that there are at least two early contexts where this formular expression was transformed in a negative way: cf. 8roq aya0^, apna^ 8s KaK^, Oavaxoio 8oxeipa (Hes. Op. 356); oioxoi... Oavaxoio AaOi^Ooyyoio 8oxqpeq (Scut. 130-131).
23 For interpretation of sxOpa Koupoxpo^oq, see Boekh 1874: 348-349; Wilamowitz-Moellendorff 1922: 193, and other scholars cited by Davidson 1966, 16. The latter, not content with the meaning of the expression, considers changing the form of the adjective into Koupo^Oopoq, according with the emendation that had been proposed by Keil.
24 Cf. the formula napoq ye p,sv ou xi 0ap,iZeiq (Il. 18, 386 and 425; Od. 5, 88). The resemblance has been noted by Jowett, Campbell 1894: 8-9,
of old age" that he wants to interrogate his host about following a Hesiodic pattern (cf. Hes. Op. 287-292; see Gifford 2001, 63-64) and phrases his first question concerning his host's views on old age with reference to the formular expression eni y^paog otiSro (328e) 5; in his reply, Cephalus illustrates the advantages of maturity by Sophocles' quip about his relief on being released from the tyranny of love (329c), and will in his next speech quote Pindar for an admirable formulation of a sentiment that he shares (331a).
Thus, given the context, Plato's audience would be ready to recognize an additional allusion in the phrase introducing the Pindaric quotation. However, the reasons for introducing this allusion and the hint or association that it meant to convey are not evident. Two explanations seem possible, but in the absence of a broader context for Pindar's poem, it is impossible to give decisive preference to either.
(1) In qualifying hope as aya0^ ynpoxpo^og Plato was bringing out a Homeric allusion already present in Pindar, that would have been more evident in a fuller context than is apparent in the surviving fragment. Indeed, as Plato's ^Seia ¿Anig... ynpoxpo^og repeats Pindar's yAuKeia... ynpoxpo^og... ¿Anig, the adjective aya0og may also have appeared at some point in the poem 6. The suggestion that Pindar in fr. 214 was closely following a Homeric model (aya0^ Koupoxpo^og) is rendered all the more likely by the fact that he had already done so once, when he created the expression ¿%0pa Koupoxpo^og in fr. 109. The image of hope steering the minds of mortals, as if they were ships (yvro^av KuPepva), and the epithet noAuoxpo^og, though not as significant in themselves, also contribute to the epic colouring of fr. 214. It should
Shorey 1937: 7; Gifford 2001: 62 n. 37, among others. On the other hand, Adam 1969, 5 ad 328e33 (cf. Tucker 1900: 82) notes that the verb 0а^ю is not solely poetic and does not prove that Plato was thinking of Homer; however, the resemblance is warranted not only by the choice of words but also by the phrasing and its placement at the beginning of the speech.
25 See II. 22, 60; 24, 487; Od. 15, 246; 15, 348; 23, 212; Hes. Op. 331; Hymn. in Aphr. 106. Although the expression appears both in poetry and in prose, Socrates' formulation о "sni улрао^ ои5ф" фаогу sivai о! лог^та! (Resp. 328e) shows that he is referring to it as an element of the poetic tradition, not as a proverbial expression.
26 It would, of course, be tempting to use Olympiodorus' summary of Pindar, как xrav ^vx^ о lupiKoq- 'sAniq 5' атаААоюа ка! ауаб^ упротрофо^' (Olympiod. in Plat. Alcib. 23), as an argument in favour of this view; however, Olympiodorus seems to be quoting from Plato, not directly from Pindar.
be noted, however, that the poetic quotation in Plato does not seem syntactically incomplete, and one is obliged to rely too heavily on the argument ex silentio.
(2) Alternatively, Cephalus' words may present a conflation of two poetic references - the first to Homer (left for the reader recognize), the second to Pindar (followed by a quotation of the original passage). This melding of two sources would have triggered an association between the hope for a good afterlife that determines the pious man's conduct (cf. the religious notion aya0^ e^ni^) and Odysseus' love and yearning for his home (Tpnxei', aAA,' aya0^ KoupoTpo^o^)27.
Whichever explanation is preferred, this free use poetic allusions and references qualifies Cephalus as well-read, urbane man whose views on life are largely shaped by poetry (cf. Ford 2004: 212-213). He may prove a disappointing interlocutor for Socrates who demands much more independence of thought and intellectual audacity from his partners in dialogue28, and indeed, Cephalus is not able to give a satisfactory answer to Socrates' question on what the road of old age is like; but personally for him, stories (such as the anecdote on Sophocles) and verses are a guide and support, and the portrait that Plato draws of this elderly metic, characterizing him (among other traits) by his extensive knowledge of poetry, is a touching representation of the calm wisdom of old age.
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28 There is a tendency in recent works on the Republic to judge Cephalus' character very critically, to the point of harshness. This tendency started with Annas 1981: 19-23 who showed in her analysis that "there are enough malicious touches in Plato's picture of Cephalus to show us that we are being presented with a limited and complacent man" (p. 19), and further developed in Baracchi 2001 and Gifford 2001: 52sqq. The reading of this part of the dialogue proposed by Lycos 1987: 21-23, 26-31, with a just appraisal of Cephalus' venerable traits, as well as his shortcomings, seems to be much closer to the picture presented by Plato. For a moderate position, see also Schutrumpf 1997: 34-35.
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Summary: The article studies the passage in the beginning of Plato's Republic (330e-331a) where Cephalus quotes a fragment of Pindar's lost poem (fr. 214 Maehler). An examination of Cephalus' paraphrase of Pindar's thought suggests that the peculiar syntax of the phrase ^ösia é^niç àsi napsaxi Kai àya0^ yqpoxpô^oç conceals an allusion to Homer (Od. 9, 27) that has not been noticed before.
Key words: Plato, Pindar, Homeric reception, archaic lyric poetry, ynpoxpô^oç, Koupoxpô^oç.
