POLITICS AND POETICS IN CLASSICAL LITERATURE
PROSE / POLITICAL THEORY SEMINAR
Questions and gobbets:
What do Gorgias and Herodotus have in common, if anything?
What is poetic about Gorgias?
What is poetic about Herodotus?
What can we say about Herodotus’, or Gorgias’, attitude to political power?
Passages:
Herodotus 1.5.3–4:
ἐγὼ δὲ περὶ µὲν τούτων οὐκ ἔρχοµαι ἐρέων ὡς οὕτως ἢ ἄλλως κως ταῦτα ἐγένετο, τὸν δὲ οἶδα αὐτὸς πρῶτον ὑπάρξαντα ἀδίκων ἔργων
ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, τοῦτον σηµήνας προβήσοµαι ἐς τὸ πρόσω τοῦ λόγου, ὁµοίως σµικρὰ καὶ µεγάλα ἄστεα ἀνθρώπων ἐπεξίων. τὰ
γὰρ τὸ πάλαι µεγάλα ἧν, τὰ πολλὰ αὐτῶν σµικρὰ γέγονε, τὰ δὲ ἐπ’ ἐµεῦ ἦν µεγάλα, πρότερον ἦν σµικρά. τὴν ἀνθρωπηίην ὦν
ἐπιστάµενος εὐδαιµονίην οὐδαµὰ ἐν τὠυτῷ µένουσαν ἐπιµνήσοµαι ἀµφοτέρων ὁµοίως.
I am not proceeding with any intention to say that these things happened in this way or any other way; I shall indicate the man who I myself
know began unjust deeds against the Greeks, and then go forward to the rest of my account, moving through cities of humans, small and
great alike. For those that were great long ago have for the most part become small; and those that were great in my own day were small in
the past. I therefore know that human prosperity never abides long in the same place, and I will mention both sorts equally.
Herodotus 3.142–3:
In Samos power was in the hands of Maeandrius, the man whom Polycrates on leaving the island had appointed to attend his affairs. When
he learned of Polycrates’ death, he would have liked, had he been allowed, to behave with exemplary regard for justice; but he was not given
the chance. His first act was to erect an altar to Zeus the Liberator, and to enclose it in a piece of ground just outside the city, where it can
still be seen; then he called a meeting of all the citizens of Samos and addressed them in the following terms: ‘You know as well as I do that
the sceptre of Polycrates, and the power it represents, have passed into my hands, so that I may, if I wish, become your absolute master. So
far as I am able, however, I shall refrain from doing myself what I should object to in another. I did not approve the conduct of Polycrates,
nor should I that of any other man who sought irresponsible power over people as good as himself; therefore, now that Polycrates has met his
end, I intend to surrender the power to which I am entitled, and to proclaim you equal before the law. All I claim as a special privilege for
myself, is the sum of six talents from Polycrates’ fortune, together with the right of keeping for myself and my prosperity the priesthood of
Zeus the Liberator to whom I built the shrine; I who now offer you your liberty.’
One of his audience, a man of repute named Telesarchus, at once sprang to his feet: ‘What?’ he cried; ‘that’s a fine speech to hear from a
low-born rogue like you! Far from being fit to govern us, you ought rather to account for the money you have had your hands on.’ This was
enough to show Maeandrius that, if he surrendered the tyranny, somebody else would be sure to seize it; so he changed his mind and
determined to hold on to what he had got. Withdrawing to the citadel, he sent for each one of the leading men in turn, making out that he
intended to show them his accounts, arrested them all, and put them in irons.
Shortly after the arrests Maeandrius fell ill, and his brother Lycaretus thought he was going to die; so in order to facilitate his own seizure
of power, he had all the prisoners put to death. So, it seems, the people of Samos did not want liberty.
Herodotus 3.53, Periander sends his daughter to plead with Lycophron
Time passed, and when Periander was an old man and no longer felt equal to the task of managing his affairs, he sent to Corcyra to invite
Lycophron to return to Corinth and take over the tyranny, passing over his elder son, who seemed to him a dull-witted fellow without any
sort of ability. Lycophron, however, did not deign even to answer the messenger: so Periander, who was now very anxious to be reconciled
to him, sent his daughter, the boy’s sister, to plead with him, in the belief that he would be more likely to listen to her than to anyone else.
‘Brother,’ she said,’ would you rather see our father’s power pass into strange hands, and the family’s fortune broken up than come back to
Corinth and enjoy them yourself? Stop punishing yourself, and come home with me. Obstinacy never got a man anywhere. Do not try to
cure one evil with another. Many think that mercy is a better thing than justice, and many a man, too, by pushing his mother’s claims has
thrown away his father’s fortune. Tyranny is a slippery thing, and has never lacked lovers to woo it [τυραννὶς χρῆµα σφαλερόν, πολλοὶ
δὲ αὐτῆς ἐρασταί εἰσι]. Our father is an old man now and far past his prime. Take then what belongs to you, and keep it – do not abandon
it to strangers.’ Periander had told the girl to use these arguments, as most likely to influence her brother; but his only reply was that he
would never return to Corinth while he knew that his father was still alive. Periander, when he heard of it, made a third and last effort: he
sent a messenger to say that he was willing to come to Corcyra himself, if his son would return to Corinth and assume power in his place. To
this Lycophron agreed, and each began his preparations for leaving – Periander for Corcyra, Lycophron for Corinth; but the Corcyraeans,
when they got wind of what was happening, murdered the young man in order to keep Periander away. It was for this deed that Periander
took his vengeance on them.
1/2 Quotes:
Herodotus:
Dewald (1987) 150–1:
‘Consider the following sentences:
“As for what is said by the Egyptians, let the person who finds such things credible use them. But for me throughout the whole logos it is the
case that I write what is said as I have heard it from each speaker.” (Hdt. 2.123.1)
“These two causes then are said to have occurred for the death of Polycrates, but it is possible to be convinced by whichever of them one
wants” (3.122.1)
More than forty times Herodotus interrupts the ongoing narrative to make comments like these which expressly call into question the truth of
the version of events he records. But what kind of historian expressly rejects his own data, without going on to put something better in its
place? What kind of historian warns us that much of what we read in his history is simply untrue?’
Gorgias:
Porter (2011) 279:
[T]here is the genuine problem that Gorgias’ view of persuasion is, in itself and from all that can be gleaned about it from antiquity, glaringly
unpersuasive. Gorgias’ individual arguments in his best-preserved writings, including even those that concern persuasion, tend to unravel
one another. And if he enjoyed a reputation in antiquity, it was not for the persuasiveness of his arguments, but for his cleverness and his
ability to construct absurd but entertaining (or irritating) paradoxes – what was called his paradoxologia.
2/2