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A Supposed Testimony to Bion of Borysthens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

J. F. Kindstrand
J. F. Kindstrand
Affiliation:
Uppsala
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Extract

In his Index Bioneus, containing all instances in which Bion of Borysthenes is mentioned or quoted in ancient literature, O. Hense also included a reference to Philodemus, Rhetorica 2.55 Sudhaus, where τ⋯ν Βορυσθενίτην is mentioned, but gave no further treatment of this item. In my edition of the testimonies to and fragments of Bion I did not include this passage, not because the name Bion does not occur, but because I did not think that it really was a reference to Bion. As M. Gigante and G. Indelli have objected to this procedure and seem to be convinced that the passage really is a definite reference to Bion of Borysthenes, I think it deserves a somewhat closer interpretation. I start by giving the crucial text:

Τ[ί] γ⋯ρ μ⋯λλον αἰσχρ⋯ν

ἧν] σιωπ⋯ν, Ἱσοκράτην

δ' ⋯⋯ν λέγειν ἢ κατ⋯ πό-

λιν ζ[⋯ν], Μάνην δ⋯ [σ]κα-

π[αν]εύειν ⋯⋯ν, κ[⋯ν τ]⋯ι

γ⋯]ι διατρ[ί]βειν, ⋯π[ικ]υ-

μα]τί[ζ]εσθαι δ⋯ τ⋯ν [φο]ίνι-

κα κ]α⋯ τ⋯ν Βορυσθε[νείτη]ν,

κα⋯ ⋯σɸ]α[λέστ]ατα [μ]⋯ν ὅ[λον

τ⋯ν βίον] ἰδιω[τεύειν,

Θεμι]στο[κ]λέα δ[⋯ οτ]ρα-

τεύειν] ⋯⋯ν.

In this part of his Rhetorica Philodemus attacks the philosophical schools which pursue the study of rhetoric, and especially Aristotle. Philodemus takes as his starting point a well known parody of a line from Euripides, Philoctetes (fr. 796 Nauck), by which Aristotle is said to have justified his teaching of rhetoric: αἰσχρ⋯ν σιωπ⋯ν, Ἱσοκράτην δ' ⋯⋯ν λέγειν which was quoted already in Rhetorica 2.50 Sudhaus. Philodemus here sets out to prove that the attitude of Aristotle is wrong by ridiculing his view that it is shameful to abstain from a certain activity and leave it to someone else.

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , December 1985 , pp. 527 - 529
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1985

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References

1 Hense, O., Teletis reliquiae 2 (Tübingen, 1909), p. 101Google Scholar.

2 Kindstrand, J. F., Bion of Borysthenes. A Collection of the Fragments with Introduction and Commentary (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Graeca Upsaliensia 11, Uppsala, 1976)Google Scholar.

3 Gigante, M., ‘Una nuova edizione di Bione’, RAAN NS 53 (1978), 7Google Scholar; Gigante, M. & Indelli, G., ‘Bione e L'epicureismo’, CronErc 8 (1978), 126 and n. 31Google Scholar.

4 For this work see Hubbell, H. M., The Rhetorica of Philodemus (Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 23, New Haven, Connecticut, 1920)Google Scholar and Philippson, R., ‘Philodemos’ (no. 5), RE 19:2 (1938), 2453–5Google Scholar.

5 The same parody is also quoted as Aristotle's by Hermippus (Diog. Laert. 5.3 = fr. 45 Wehrli Suppl. 1, substituting Xenocrates for Isocrates), Syrianus, , Schol. ad Hermog, Stas. p, 298Google Scholar Walz 4, Cicero, , De or. 3.141Google Scholar, Quintilian, , I.O. 3.1.14Google Scholar; cf. Moraux, P., ‘La composition de la “Vie d'Aristote” chez Diogène Laërce’, REG 68 (1955), 132Google Scholar; Düring, I., Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition (Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis 63:2, Göteborg, 1957), pp. 58, 303Google Scholar; Chroust, A.-H., ‘A Brief Analysis of the “Vita Aristotelis” of Diogenes Laertius (DL, V, 1–16)’, AC 34 (1965), 108Google Scholar; F. Wehrli's note p. 74 with references to further literature.

6 Gigante-Indelli, op. cit. (n. 3) p. 126.

7 Cf. Pape, W.–Benseler, G. E., Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen 3 (Braunschweig, 1863–1870), ii. 853Google Scholar; Copalle, S., De servorum graecorum nominibus capita duo (Diss. Marburg, 1908), pp. 44–5Google Scholar; Lambertz, M., Die griechischen Sklavennamen (Jahres-Bericht über das k. k. Staatsgymnasium im VIII. Bezirke Wiens für das Schuljahr 1907/1908), ii. 25Google Scholar.

8 Cf. Schol. ad Ar. Av. 523: Μαν⋯ς: οὔτως γ⋯ρ ⋯κάλουν τοὺς οἰκέτας πολλάκις and Schol. ad Ar. Ran. 965.

9 Gigante, op. cit. (n. 3) p. 7 and Gigante–Indelli, op. cit. (n. 3) p. 126.

10 Gigante-Indelli, op. cit. (n. 3) p. 126.

11 For Phoenix of Colophon see Gerhard, G. A., Phoinix von Kolophon. Texte und Untersuchungen (Leipzig–Berlin, 1909)Google Scholar and Riemschneider, W., ‘Phoinix von Kolophon’ (no. 6), RE 20:1 (1941), 423–4Google Scholar.

12 For such a usage of the generic singular with ethnic names see Kühner, R.–Gerth, B., Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache 3 (Hannover–Leipzig, 1898), i. 14Google Scholar and Schwyzer, E.–Debrunner, A., Griechische Grammatik (Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft 2:1:2, Munich, 1950), ii. 41Google Scholar.

13 Cf. Kroll, W., ‘Schiffahrt’, RE 2A:1 (1921), 414–5Google Scholar.

14 It should be noted that ⋯ Βορυσθενίτης alone is not used anywhere else to designate Bion.

15 For Olbia as a commercial centre see Ziebell, W., Olbia. Eine griechische Stadt in Südrussland (Diss. Hamburg, 1937), pp. 61–75Google Scholar and de Ballu, E. Belin, Olbia. Cité antique du littoral nord de la Mer Noire (Leiden, 1972), pp. 58–62 and 108–16Google Scholar for the Classical and Hellenistic periods.

16 So Gigante, op. cit. (n. 3) p. 7 and Gigante–Indelli, op. cit. (n. 3) p. 126 n. 31.

I take this opportunity to point out that Polystratus, , De philosophia p. 36Google Scholar Crönert (= T27 K.) should probably be removed from the testimonies to Bion, as the text of the papyrus gives the reading τ⋯ι βίωι instead of τ⋯ι βίωνι; cf. Capasso, M., ‘L'opera polistratea sulla filosofia’, CronErc 6 (1976), 84 and n. 26Google Scholar.