N 202 B.C., as part of his efforts at eastward expansion, Philip V of Macedon formed an alliance ... more N 202 B.C., as part of his efforts at eastward expansion, Philip V of Macedon formed an alliance with the city of Lysimacheia, brief mention of which is made by Polybius (15.23.7-9, 18.3.11). In 1915, fragments of the treaty, the official public Macedonian copy, were found near Dion and published by Giorgios Oikonomos. 1 In 1955, it was Lysimacheia's turn to reveal physical evidence of this alliance in the form of a stone shield, carved in relief with Philip's name and the club of Heracles. 2 The shield is 33 cm in diameter and, though the top
“Plutarch’s Avoidance of Philip V,” in Jeffrey Beneker, Craig Cooper, Noreen Humble, and Frances Titchener, eds., Plutarch’s Unexpected Silences: Suppression and Selection in the Lives and Moralia (Leiden: Brill, 2022) 173–187.
“Demosthenes’ Life: The Biographic Tradition,” in The Oxford Handbook of Demosthenes, ed., by Gunther Martin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019) 297–308.
However many extraordinary deeds were done and whatever far lands were reached by Alexander the G... more However many extraordinary deeds were done and whatever far lands were reached by Alexander the Great, the legendary Alexander always outperformed and outtraveled his historical self. But when the legendary Alexander's world turned modern, as marked in 1467 by Vasco da Lucena's revival of the historical Alexander at the expense of the Romance, 1 the glory of the Alexander Romance was quickly eclipsed, and the Romance has lain in a sort of scholarly never-studied land over the centuries. Today, with cultural studies and the literature of the whole world within our ken, the once-upon-atime almost global popularity of the Alexander Romance calls for particular study. 2 In this environment, instead of labeling the flexibility of the Romance to move through languages, cultures, and time as a characteristic of an unstable, subliterary text, lacking a defining narrative, we should study the Alexander Romance as an "open," adaptable text. David Konstan has opened a new vista on the Romance by writing of the "cunning of the open text," examining how the openness of the text reveals the ingenuity of Alexander. 3 My goal is to show how the text's openness calls forth the ingenuity of the 1. See the prefatory remarks in his French version of Quintus Curtius' Life of Alexander; the preface is printed in Bossuat 1946: 210-15, esp. 213 (for the preface and selected passages in modernized French, see
The political unaccountability of ordinary citizens in classical Athens was originally raised as ... more The political unaccountability of ordinary citizens in classical Athens was originally raised as a challenge by ancient critics of democracy. In tension with that criticism, the authors argue that attention to the above challenge is consistent with a defence of Athenian democratic politics. In fact, ordinary citizens' function in the Assembly and courts implicitly included the burden of justifying their own political decisions to an imagined authority, as if they could be brought to account. By means of practices that encouraged this self-scrutiny, Athenians marked the challenge of citizens' political unaccountability as an unavoidable but manageable aspect of their democracy.
Bruni created a whole new Life, his Cicero novus, the first modern biography of Cicero. 3 Bruni's... more Bruni created a whole new Life, his Cicero novus, the first modern biography of Cicero. 3 Bruni's work is of interest to scholars because he claimed to be reacting to inaccuracies in Angeli's translation. Of greater importance for Plutarch scholars is Bruni's second claim that he ended up writing his own text because Plutarch had failed to satisfy Bruni's desire for a proper account of Cicero, the «summus vir», the great man. 4 Though Bruni's charge against Angeli is problematic, 5 it is the charge against Plutarch that I address here. Modern assessments of Cicero novus are in conflict, 6 and their differences arise from an incomplete analysis of Bruni's use of and reaction to Plutarch. At present I give a sample of the sort of analysis that is needed to explain 1 See J. Hankins «Manuel Chrysoloras and the Greek Studies of Leonardo Bruni», in his Humanism and Platonism in the Italian Renaissance, 2 vols.
This paper applies cognitive linguistic frame analysis to three long speeches from fourth-century... more This paper applies cognitive linguistic frame analysis to three long speeches from fourth-century Athens. It examines how Aeschines constructs and successfully deploys the socio-political concept or frame of the good citizen against Timarchus in 346/5 B.C. and then in a more elaborate form against Demosthenes in 330 B.C. and how Demosthenes wins the case by redefining the frame through metaphor-based reframing of the good, steadfast citizen. This framing analysis reveals Aeschines' overall rhetorical strategy and facilitates rhetorical assessment of the two crown speeches through a comprehensive, socio-politically integrated perspective.
Alexander's mermaid, famous in Greek folktale, makes a brief but extraordinary appearance in the ... more Alexander's mermaid, famous in Greek folktale, makes a brief but extraordinary appearance in the Alexander Romance. This analysis of her presence in a small set of Romance manuscripts reveals the unique work of a Byzantine redactor and his creative effort to merge this oral folktale into the fantastic portion of the literary Romance. The mermaid, however, proves to be absent from subsequent versions of the Romance, a result of her incompatibility with the textual Romance. * 550-59, 1: 307-13, commentary 2: 1164-211; νεράϊδες appear in Nos. 651-804, 1: 387-490 (the third volume that would have had the commentary on these tales was never published); see also Politis 1878 and 1911. Of great value is Lawson 130-73 on Nymphs and 184-90 on Gorgons. On iconography, also discussed by Politis (1904) 2: 1170-89, see Zora. (For antiquity, see also Picard.) 4 On mer-creatures around the world, see Benwell and Waugh. 5 It fills a little more than four pages of text in Karkavitsas' volume of short stories. It has been issued recently in a version somewhat simplified for children by Kostas Poulos with illustrations by Nikolaos Andrikopoulos.
N 336 B.C., when Ctesiphon moved to crown Demosthenes, he included a phrase, standard for such mo... more N 336 B.C., when Ctesiphon moved to crown Demosthenes, he included a phrase, standard for such motions, which summarized Demosthenes' worthiness in two abstract terms of civic praise. Most scholars state simply that the terms of this summary clause, the ἕνεκα-clause, were ἀρετή and ἀνδραγαθία. That claim is erroneous or at best incomplete, and it impedes further analysis of the use of the abstract terms in the speeches of Aeschines and Demosthenes as well as in fourth-century Athenian civic life at large. To correct this and to deepen our understanding of the rhetoric of these two speeches and of the use of such abstract terms in the 330s, it is necessary to examine thoroughly the relevant passages in the two speeches and to compare the use of these abstract terms in contemporary epigraphical evidence in far greater depth than has yet been done. This analysis will reveal that Aeschines and Demosthenes used competing abstract terms as a way to essentialize their attack and defense respectively, and that their dispute over abstract terms is part of a broader development in civic praise in Athens as evidenced by both literary and epigraphic sources. 1 The two relevant parts of Ctesiphon's motion, the ἐπειδήclause and the ἕνεκα-clause, can be reconstructed, to a great extent, from passages in the two speeches. 2 Blass set the
N 202 B.C., as part of his efforts at eastward expansion, Philip V of Macedon formed an alliance ... more N 202 B.C., as part of his efforts at eastward expansion, Philip V of Macedon formed an alliance with the city of Lysimacheia, brief mention of which is made by Polybius (15.23.7-9, 18.3.11). In 1915, fragments of the treaty, the official public Macedonian copy, were found near Dion and published by Giorgios Oikonomos. 1 In 1955, it was Lysimacheia's turn to reveal physical evidence of this alliance in the form of a stone shield, carved in relief with Philip's name and the club of Heracles. 2 The shield is 33 cm in diameter and, though the top
“Plutarch’s Avoidance of Philip V,” in Jeffrey Beneker, Craig Cooper, Noreen Humble, and Frances Titchener, eds., Plutarch’s Unexpected Silences: Suppression and Selection in the Lives and Moralia (Leiden: Brill, 2022) 173–187.
“Demosthenes’ Life: The Biographic Tradition,” in The Oxford Handbook of Demosthenes, ed., by Gunther Martin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019) 297–308.
However many extraordinary deeds were done and whatever far lands were reached by Alexander the G... more However many extraordinary deeds were done and whatever far lands were reached by Alexander the Great, the legendary Alexander always outperformed and outtraveled his historical self. But when the legendary Alexander's world turned modern, as marked in 1467 by Vasco da Lucena's revival of the historical Alexander at the expense of the Romance, 1 the glory of the Alexander Romance was quickly eclipsed, and the Romance has lain in a sort of scholarly never-studied land over the centuries. Today, with cultural studies and the literature of the whole world within our ken, the once-upon-atime almost global popularity of the Alexander Romance calls for particular study. 2 In this environment, instead of labeling the flexibility of the Romance to move through languages, cultures, and time as a characteristic of an unstable, subliterary text, lacking a defining narrative, we should study the Alexander Romance as an "open," adaptable text. David Konstan has opened a new vista on the Romance by writing of the "cunning of the open text," examining how the openness of the text reveals the ingenuity of Alexander. 3 My goal is to show how the text's openness calls forth the ingenuity of the 1. See the prefatory remarks in his French version of Quintus Curtius' Life of Alexander; the preface is printed in Bossuat 1946: 210-15, esp. 213 (for the preface and selected passages in modernized French, see
The political unaccountability of ordinary citizens in classical Athens was originally raised as ... more The political unaccountability of ordinary citizens in classical Athens was originally raised as a challenge by ancient critics of democracy. In tension with that criticism, the authors argue that attention to the above challenge is consistent with a defence of Athenian democratic politics. In fact, ordinary citizens' function in the Assembly and courts implicitly included the burden of justifying their own political decisions to an imagined authority, as if they could be brought to account. By means of practices that encouraged this self-scrutiny, Athenians marked the challenge of citizens' political unaccountability as an unavoidable but manageable aspect of their democracy.
Bruni created a whole new Life, his Cicero novus, the first modern biography of Cicero. 3 Bruni's... more Bruni created a whole new Life, his Cicero novus, the first modern biography of Cicero. 3 Bruni's work is of interest to scholars because he claimed to be reacting to inaccuracies in Angeli's translation. Of greater importance for Plutarch scholars is Bruni's second claim that he ended up writing his own text because Plutarch had failed to satisfy Bruni's desire for a proper account of Cicero, the «summus vir», the great man. 4 Though Bruni's charge against Angeli is problematic, 5 it is the charge against Plutarch that I address here. Modern assessments of Cicero novus are in conflict, 6 and their differences arise from an incomplete analysis of Bruni's use of and reaction to Plutarch. At present I give a sample of the sort of analysis that is needed to explain 1 See J. Hankins «Manuel Chrysoloras and the Greek Studies of Leonardo Bruni», in his Humanism and Platonism in the Italian Renaissance, 2 vols.
This paper applies cognitive linguistic frame analysis to three long speeches from fourth-century... more This paper applies cognitive linguistic frame analysis to three long speeches from fourth-century Athens. It examines how Aeschines constructs and successfully deploys the socio-political concept or frame of the good citizen against Timarchus in 346/5 B.C. and then in a more elaborate form against Demosthenes in 330 B.C. and how Demosthenes wins the case by redefining the frame through metaphor-based reframing of the good, steadfast citizen. This framing analysis reveals Aeschines' overall rhetorical strategy and facilitates rhetorical assessment of the two crown speeches through a comprehensive, socio-politically integrated perspective.
Alexander's mermaid, famous in Greek folktale, makes a brief but extraordinary appearance in the ... more Alexander's mermaid, famous in Greek folktale, makes a brief but extraordinary appearance in the Alexander Romance. This analysis of her presence in a small set of Romance manuscripts reveals the unique work of a Byzantine redactor and his creative effort to merge this oral folktale into the fantastic portion of the literary Romance. The mermaid, however, proves to be absent from subsequent versions of the Romance, a result of her incompatibility with the textual Romance. * 550-59, 1: 307-13, commentary 2: 1164-211; νεράϊδες appear in Nos. 651-804, 1: 387-490 (the third volume that would have had the commentary on these tales was never published); see also Politis 1878 and 1911. Of great value is Lawson 130-73 on Nymphs and 184-90 on Gorgons. On iconography, also discussed by Politis (1904) 2: 1170-89, see Zora. (For antiquity, see also Picard.) 4 On mer-creatures around the world, see Benwell and Waugh. 5 It fills a little more than four pages of text in Karkavitsas' volume of short stories. It has been issued recently in a version somewhat simplified for children by Kostas Poulos with illustrations by Nikolaos Andrikopoulos.
N 336 B.C., when Ctesiphon moved to crown Demosthenes, he included a phrase, standard for such mo... more N 336 B.C., when Ctesiphon moved to crown Demosthenes, he included a phrase, standard for such motions, which summarized Demosthenes' worthiness in two abstract terms of civic praise. Most scholars state simply that the terms of this summary clause, the ἕνεκα-clause, were ἀρετή and ἀνδραγαθία. That claim is erroneous or at best incomplete, and it impedes further analysis of the use of the abstract terms in the speeches of Aeschines and Demosthenes as well as in fourth-century Athenian civic life at large. To correct this and to deepen our understanding of the rhetoric of these two speeches and of the use of such abstract terms in the 330s, it is necessary to examine thoroughly the relevant passages in the two speeches and to compare the use of these abstract terms in contemporary epigraphical evidence in far greater depth than has yet been done. This analysis will reveal that Aeschines and Demosthenes used competing abstract terms as a way to essentialize their attack and defense respectively, and that their dispute over abstract terms is part of a broader development in civic praise in Athens as evidenced by both literary and epigraphic sources. 1 The two relevant parts of Ctesiphon's motion, the ἐπειδήclause and the ἕνεκα-clause, can be reconstructed, to a great extent, from passages in the two speeches. 2 Blass set the
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