7/28/2019 An Epigram on Heraclitus

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An Epigram on Heraclitus

Author(s): M. L. WestReviewed work(s):Source: The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jun., 1967), pp. 127-128Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/706864 .

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THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 127The crasis presents no difficulty; in the Iambi Callimachus specially affectscrasis, as part of his imitation of Hipponax, and this particular crasis is

paralleled at 194- 79 (oLLKE'aL). rofessor C. A. Trypanis reminds me thatstrictly speaking od'I-aAol means 'the natives of Italy' and od 'I-raAc~i-ra theItalian Greeks' (cf. Steph. Byz. s.vv. 'IaAla, LKEAla).In verse such a distinc-tion need not be insisted on, but here ol 'I-aAol probably conveys a touch ofcontempt. Sextus Empiricus, adv. math. ix. 127 speaks of of 7rept7-rvH0vaydpavKal 7v ErE8?OKA Ka%-IAoL~v 7-r1,va,-'IiavaA-OoS.ChristChurch, xford HUGH LLOYD-JONES

AN EPIGRAM ON HERACLITUS(A.P. vii. 79 = Meleager 121 [4654] Gow-Page)

CvOpVo7T' 5pCdK?o70S EyC6,uObd LOvVOgSVEUpCOVba/~ 8'a E~c'7rrpav KpEaaovaKal aorbU'?.

I PRINT the epigram as transmitted, since the various forms in which it ap-pears in the editions hardly make better sense.' It has been agreed sinceMeineke that there is a dialogue between Heraclitus and another. But therehas been much disagreement about the division of speakers, and many extra-ordinary conjectures. I believe that except for a wrong division of words inthe third line, the text is sound, and the alternation of speakers is regular, eachcouplet containing an utterance by Heraclitus and a reply by the other.

---bljl" rd 8' 'S7rTpav opEova Katao~'bos.-Ada yap Ka, ToKEcovaS,y, COcPOVOS vspav,v aK-Epvv.-Aatrpap OpE/aIEvoLUL PSp.-0oK aT E.L.v;-,v.. P'iXjr, E LTaxa Kal Ut TL;TtEcYT7PJ7XVEPOVvapas. XaPEUt )8' E 'E ov.

1x- rightly distributed between the speakers by Waltz. -r 8'E's lrdpav ...ao~l-js is obviously the answer to Heraclitus' boast: 'Yes, but one's duty toone's country is even more important than wisdom.'2 ~rltd goes well with it,and there seems no justification for changing avEvpo0v to avEvpcEv (Reiske) inorder to make it dependent upon rbiptl. HpdKAEhLrooyd must be taken as asentence in itself, as in A.P. vii. 128 tHp'KAvro70 7r t[ ' aiV Ka-co AK7'a0tovwot;3-4. Heraclitus continues his boasting. 'For roughly I barked even at fathers,stranger, foolish men.' The trampling or kicking that Aad originally impliedhad often been metaphorical, and here the adverb has come to mean simply

I Another recent discussion: M. Marco-vich, Hermes xciii (1965), 250f. (= hisEstudiosde Filosofia griegai. 59-62).2 It is absurd to make Heraclitus claim

that 'my services to my country were evengreater than my philosophic and scientificdiscoveries' (Gow-Page).

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128 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW'with ruthless contempt'. Gow-Page quote a parallel from Marcus Argen-tarius, A.P. ix. 270. 2.rTOKEVGaS ould mean 'my parents',' but the ambiguity is removed by avSpas.We know that Heraclitus commented on the contradictorybehaviourof thosewho beget children: 'After being born men wish to live and to have deaths;and they leave children behind them to be their deaths' (B 20). He may haveused the word T0KEd('begetter') in this context or in a similarpassageas wellas in B 74. The reply AaLrrpaGOpcEap,'votoXdps-does not of course imply thatHeraclitus has said something specifically about his own parents; they areincluded in his generic proposition.h6'?VE for W4'v is unusual, but sufficiently protected by the two parallelsquoted by Gow-Page, Asclepiades 33 (962) (A.P. xiii. 23) and G.V.L 701. I(second century B.c.).6iUKTEUV was probably chosen under the influence of Leonidas 1.c., thoughit suits Heraclitus well enough: he likened his own critics to barking dogs(B 97), and Theodoridas 16. 6 (3575) (A.P. vii. 479) calls him OctEorAaKr7-qv84ttov K'va.5-6. 'Be off!'--'Do not be rough, for you in your turn may hear some roughtidings, from your fatherland. Farewell: but remember that you are ofEphesus.'

Heraclitus falls back on his native curmudgeonliness; the sanctimoniousstranger continues to impress upon him that he belongs to a human society,and cannot afford to ignore it. The dark threat Kal~ L 7rET 7prp-?XV'TEPoVrra-rpas is illuminated by Epistle 7, p. 74- II Bywater, rrvvOcvotLat 'EoalovsdzEAAvEc77YELaCdTOV KarT40t cvoCLdtGa-ov.he law is, 7rv t1k yEA-ov7raatdTv'rcat~kuavOpworroov'raTrrpd'Alov 8v'vov-ros Etedva 7~-rdTAewOS. Heraclitus isexiled, according to the Epistle, because of his misanthropy; and this is justwhat is implied in the epigram.Universityollege,Oxford M. L. WEST

I Asin Leonidas 58. 3 (2327) (A.P. ii. 408) 'I7rlrwvaKrO ~ KatrOKEwVEflagva ..... Ovd'.

THREE ALEXANDRIAN EPIGRAMSI SHOULDike to study here three epigrams, which have hitherto presenteddifficulties.A.P. vii. 733 ff. (= Gow-Page 1747 ff., Peek, Griech.Vers-Inschr. 97).

tAldvouvott 8So yp7)ES OLALKES fLLEVac6WKat KAVd, 818vtIot raL8ES ErKpd&7EOS-,

KATE'oC'tov Xaptr hosevI, ojIrIPrpte'~ va L

EV W277rp' I0AEWS. VvEa8 -qEAcWvOY8WKOVraETELSsTAcEITO/LLEv CS '7085 I &aKat 7rocnas Kat 1-EKva bLOAq'uatLEv,l 8EraAatat'2rrp0' C71eLs L&7qvrp-q"'avtaIE'Oat.The alvo'jLvotof the manuscriptshas been corrected by Salmasius into al

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