A Hellenistic Anthology

151 Pages·1988·7.435 MB·English

by  Neil Hopkinson

A HELLENISTIC
ANTHOLOGY
SELECTED AND EDITED BY
NEIL HOPKINSON
F,llowo f Tr ini!, Colug, Cambridg,
I
OCAMBRIDGE
V
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1R P CONTENTS
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
©Cambridge University Press 1988 Preface page vii
First published 1988 Abbreviations IX
Reprinted 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999
Maps XI
Printed in Great Britain at the Introduction
Athenreum Press Ltd, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear
1 The background 2
British Libraryc ataloguingin publicationd ata
2 Alexandria 3
Hellenistic anthology. - (Cambridge Greek
and Latin classics). 3 Hellenistipc oetry 6
1. Greek poetry
The Apparatus Criticus 12
I. Hopkinson, N. I I. Cambridge Greek and
Latin classics
A HELLENISTIC ANTHOLOGY 13
881'.01'08 PA3431
I-IV Callimachus 15
Libraryo f Congrescs ataloguingin publicationd ata
V Cleanthes 27
A Hellenistic anthology.
(Cambridge Greek and Latin classics) VI-VII Aratus 29
Includes indexes.
1. Greek literature, Hellenistic. I. Hopkinson, N. VIII Nicander 31
II. Series.
IX-XII Theocritus 32
PA3423.Z5H45 1987 880'.01'09 97-6359
XIII Simias 44
ISBN o 521 30696 5 hardcovers
ISBN o 521 31425 9 paperback XIV Phanocles 45
XV-XVIII Apollonius 46
XIX Moschus 52
XX-XXI Bion 58
XXII Rhianus 62
XXIII Lycophron 63
XXIV Herondas 64
XXV Machon 67
XXVI Epigrams 68
XXVII Drinking-song 80
V
vi CONTENTS
Comm,ntary PREFACE
83
Addenda
274
Appendix:D oric dialect
275 Undergraduates who wish to read and appreciate Hellenistic poetry are
ltuk1tes 277 faced with a forbidding range of scholarly commentaries, many of them
written in Latin, German, French and Italian. The aim of this book is to
make accessible to English-speaking students a small but varied sample
of Hellenistic poetic texts. Wherever possible I have tried to aid literary
appreciation by including whole poems rather than extracts. In making
my final selection I have been influenced by the advice and opinions of
colleagues engaged in teaching Hellenistic poetry in several British
univenities. Theocritus may be thought under-represented; but he is at
least available to undergraduate readen in the useful edition of K. J.
Dover. Dr G. 0. Hutchinson's HellenisticP oetry( Oxford, 1988) discusses
in greater detail topics touched on in my own necessarily brief
introduction.
I am most grateful to Professor W. S. Allen, Mr P.J. Callaghan, Dr G.
C. Horrocks and Professor C. M. Robertson for their advice on matters
philological and artistic; to Professor R. G. G. Coleman, Mr I. C.
Cunningham, Mr N. C. Denyer, Mr H. B. Freeman, Dr S. D. Goldhill,
Professor E. W. Handley, Dr R. L. Hunter, Professor D. A. Kidd,
Professor H. Lloyd-Jones, Dr K. J. McKay, Dr M. Schofield and
Professor F. H. Sandbach, who read various sections of the commen
tary; to my colleague Dr R. D. Dawe, who scrutinized the entire
typescript and made many chastening criticisms and improving sugges
tions; to the General Editors, Mn P. E. Easterling and Professor E. J.
Kenney, for their detailed comments and helpful guidance; to Mr A. R.
Munday and Professor E.W. Handley, for reading the proofs; and to the
staff of Cambridge University Press, for the care which they have
expended on the production of this book.
N.H.
vii
ABBREVIATIONS
CA CollectaneaA lexandrina, ed. J. U. Powell (Oxford,
1925).
GAF ComicorumA tticorumfragmenta, ed. T. Kock (Leip
zig, 1880-8).
CHCL1 The Cambridgeh istory ,if Classical literature. I Greek
literature,e ds. P. E. Easterling & B. M. W. Knox
(Cambridge, 1985).
Denniston, GP J. D. Denniston, The Greek particles (2nd edn,
Oxford, 1954).
Fraser P. M. Fraser, PtolemaicA lexandria (Oxford, 1972).
FGE FurtherG reeke pigrams:e pigramsb eforeA .D.5ofrom the
Greek Anthology and other sources. .. , ed. D. L. Page
(Cambridge, I 98 1) .
FGH Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, ed. F.
Jacoby (Berlin, 1923- ).
Goodwin, GMT \V. W. Goodwin, Syntax ,if the moodsa nd lenseso f the
Greek verb (London, 1889).
GP The Garlando f Philip and some contemporareyp igrams,
eds. A. S. F. Gow & D. L. Page (Cambridge,
1968).
HE The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic epigrams, eds.
A. S. F. Gow & D. L. Page (Cambridge, 1965).
K.-B. R. Kiihner & F. Blass, AusfiihrlicheG rammatik der
griechischenS prache. Erster Tei/: Elementar-und For
menlehre( Hanover, 1890-2).
K.-G. R. Kiihner & B. Gerth, AusfiihrlicheG rammatik der
griechischen Sprache. -?.,weiter Teil: Satzlehre
(Hanover/Leipzig, 1898 1904).
LSJ A Greek-Englishl exicon,e ds. H. G. Liddell, R. Scott,
H. Stuart Jones, R. McKenzie (9th edn with
Supplement, Oxford, 1968).
Newman J. K. Newman, Augustus and the new poetry
=
Collection Latomus 88 (Brussels, 1967).
ix
X ABBREVIATIONS
Pfeiffer, HCS R. Pfeiffer, History of Classical scholarshipfr om the
beginningst o the end of the Hellenistic age (Oxford,
1968).
PMG
Poetaem elici Graeci,e d. D. L. Page (Oxford, 1962).
SH SupplrmentumH ellenisticum,e ds. H. Lloyd-Jones &
P. Parsons (Berlin/New York, 1983).
SLG Supplmientuml yricisG raecis,e d. D. L. Page (Oxford,
1974).
SVF Stoi,orum uetuum fragmenta, ed. J. von Arnim
(Stuttgart, 1905-24).
TGF TragicorumG raecorumfr agmenta, eds. B. Snell, R.
Kannicht, S. Radt (Gottingen, 1971- ).
West, GM M. L. West, Gruk metre (Oxford, 1982).
Periodicals are abbreviated as in L'Annee philologique.
> = 'the source of' or 'leading to'
< = 'derived from'
~ = 'corresponding to' or 'contrasting with' ISLLAIPNADRSI
"
Italic numbers (1-1739) refer to the continuous line numeration printed SICILY •
to the right of the text. • yracuae 0,i 40 11
.. Q "
'See Add.' refers to the Addenda on p. 274. ~ o • RHOD
CARPATHUS6
c~•
L I B Y A
0 260 500 km
0 100 200 300 mile•
Map 1. The central Mediterranean
xi

2 INTRODUCTION 2. ALEXANDRIA 3
I. THE BACKGROUND• speech, the Ko111g1r'Ja,d ually replaced the ancient dialects. (The stylized
and artificial literaryd ialects, which had long since lost their geograph
By the middle of the fourth century e.c. many of the old Greek city ical and ethnic associations and had become linked with particular
states had become weakened by decades of almost continuous warfare, types of poetry, continued to be used by Hellenistic poets.)
and the centre of power shifted to wealthy Macedonia. Philip II of During the second and first centuries B.C. the monarchies gradually
Macedon allied Greece with his own kingdom; his son Alexander came under Roman domination. Egypt retained a token independence
conquered Egypt, Syria, Persia and Asia as far east as the Indus. At until the death of Cleopatra in 30 B.C. The deaths of Alexander and
Alexander's death in 323 the empire was divided amongst his generals, Cleopatra are taken conventionally to mark the limits of the Hellenistic
and bitter wars ensued. By about 275 four main dynastic kingdoms had period (323-30 u.c.). Pergamum, Antioch and Alexandria continued as
emerged: cultural centres until well in to the Christian era.
(1) Macedon and Greece (capital Pella), ruled by the Antigonids,
descendants of Antigonus 'Monophthalmus'.
2. ALEXANDRIA 2
(2) Asia (capital Antioch), ruled by the Seleucids, descenlants of
Alexander's general Seleucus. 1. Tht sociala nd religiousb ackground
(3) Asia Minor (capital Pergamum), which between 283 and 240
gradually expanded within Seleucid territory; ruled by the At Alexandria, situated on the western edge of the Nile delta, was founded
talids, descendants of Philaenetus (son of Attalus), who had by Alexander in about 331, shortly after his conquest of Egypt; his main
administered Pergamum for Seleucus. aim was probably to provide easy sea communication with Europe. In
(4) Egypt (capital Alexandria), ruled by the Ptolemies, descendants of 323 Ptolemy set up residence in the town and made it the seat of
Ptolemy (son ofLagus), a Macedonian general of Alexander. government; in 305 he declared himself king.
In Greece and Asia Minor the old city-states maintained their Alexandria had been founded from nothing, and all its Greek
democratic machinery and had some local autonomy; but ultimate speaking inhabitants were ofimmigrant stock. In addition there was a
power resided with the kings, who lived in splendour at their courts in ,,; large population of Jews, Syrians, slaves and native Egyptians: it has
j
Pella, Pergamum, Antioch and Alexandria, surrounded by official been estimated that in the province as a whole the Egyptians numbered
'friends' and advisers and by large administrative staffs. about seven million, the Greeks only about one hundred thousand. For
Rivalling the Athenian example of state patronage for the arts the those Greeks who were citizens the trappings of democracy were
Hellenistic monarchs established their capital cities as centres of culture established, but Ptolemy kept control ofaffairs through his own officials.
equipped with libraries, facilities for scientific inquiry and schools of art The first four Ptolemies were:
and philosophy, the latter modelled on the Athenian Peripatos and (1) Ptolemy I 'Soter' (a cult title often given to great benefactors),
Academy. The prospect ofroyal patronage attracted artists and men of d. 283, who married his step-sister Berenice (I).
learning from all over the Greek world. These international centres (2) Ptolemy II 'Philadelphus' (so called because he married his sister
promoted the exchange of ideas between scholars and artists living in Arsinoe), son of Soter and Berenice, 283-246.
close proximity, and resulted in an intellectual culture more unified (3) Ptolemy III 'Euergetes' ( ='benefactor'}, son of Philadelphus and
than that which had existed in the ir6i\1s-orientated Greece of earlier Arsinoc, 1,;146--H1;h e married Berenice (II) daughter of Magas,
times. The Greek language, too, became more uniform: a common king of Cyrene.
(4) Ptolemy IV 'Philopator', 221-204, son ofEuergetes and Berenice.
1 Seef urther TheCamliridg1.A.ncimtHistaryVIl'e1d, s. F. W. Walbank& A. E.
Astin (Cambridge,1 g84), W.W. Tam & G. T. Griffith,H ,llmistit:c ivilisatio(n3 rd • Sec further Fraser passimP, feiffer, HCS 87-279, L. D. Reynolds & N. G.
Wilaon,Scriliuandschalars(3rdedn,Oxford, 1991) 1-18, CHCL 1 16-36.
edn, London, 1952).
4 INTRODUCTION 2. ALEXANDRIA 5
It was not unusual in Greece for divine honours to be paid to a great into Antioch; Philopator wrote a tragedy called Adonisa nd founded a
benefactor after his death. Hellenistic monarchs went a step further and temple to Homer. Throughout the third century conditions were
instituted dynastic cults and ruler-cults as a focus for the loyalty and favourable to literature and learning. Patronage was nothing new: the
patriotism of their Greek citizens. Soter set up a cult of Alexander, Greek tyrants of the sixth and fifth centuries had earned praise from
whose body was buried in the city. A full dynastic cult was introduced poets for their beneficence. But the Hellenistic approach was quite
by Philadelphus; it was administered by a hierarchy of provincial priests different. Under the early Ptolemies permanent conditions were es
who were official 'friends' of the king. Philadelphus and his sister-wife tablished in Alexandria for academic study totally at the royal expense.
Arsinoe, whose incestuous marriage in imitation of Egyptian royal Facilities included an observatory, a school of anatomy and a zoo; but
practice had at first scandalized the Greeks in Egypt, were the most famous Alexandrian institution was the Movaeiov, literally
worshipped during their lifetimes as 9eoi •A 6e;\q,oi;8 Arsinoe was in 'shrine of the Muses', founded by Soter probably with advice from
addition identified with Aphrodite4 and with Isis, and after her death in Demetrius of Phalerum, an expelled governor of Athens, pupil of
270 she was given a separate cult with its own priesthood. These cults, Aristotle and author of philosophical works. The Museum was built
together with those of the traditional Olympian gods (especially of close to the royal palace area. For those fortunate enough to secure
Dionysus, from whom the Ptolemies claimed descent), provided oppor royal patronage it provided free meals and accommodation and the
tunity for public show as well as for ruler-workship. In 2 79 Philadelphus opportunity to pursue research in most branches oflearning. Given the
founded the TTT0;\eµa1eiaa, festival with competitions in gymnastics, Peripatetic (Aristotelian) influence on its foundation, it is hardly
music, etc., modelled on the Olympic Games. A long fragment of the surprising that scientific as well as artistic and literary inquiries were
historian Callixinus ofRhodes (FGH627 F 1-2) describes a spectacular carried on there. In overall charge was a iepevso f the Muses or
,roµn,; or procession, an amazing pageant of the colourful and the hrtaTaTilS, who administered rites for the patron goddesses: the
exotic, which took place through the streets of Alexandria in honour of Museum was literally dedicated to the arts and to learning. Its
Dionysus.~ In the second Idyll of Theocritus (574-738) Simaetha concentration of scholars and artists in one place meant that there was
describes how she fell in love whilst on her way to watch a procession of much opportunity for interaction between disciplines - and for
this sort. disagreements. Timon of Phlius, a writer of satirical lampoons, drew an
Other deities, such as the Egyptian Isis and Osiris, and the newly amusing analogy between Ptolemy's zoo and his well fed scholars:
introduced Sarapis, played a large part in religious life but left very little
trace in Alexandrian poetry, which concerned itself with treating, often ,roMol 1,1!~\10 \/'TQI W AlyvrrT(o)I,r oi\vq,uA(o)I
in novel ways, the gods familiar from earlier Greek literature. l31!3i\1mcxoalp mci'Ta1a irelp1'Ta6 TJpt6c.>ll'TeS
Native Egyptians worshipped the Ptolemies as Pharaohs. It was in Movcm.,1h1, 'Tai\a:!)c.)1,
imitation of Pharaonic tradition that Philadelphus married his sister. (SH786)
Lots of pedantic cloisterlings are kept in multiracial Egypt,
ii. Alexandriaa s culturalc entre
squabbling incessantly in the Muses' birdcage.
The Ptolemies were themselves learned and cultured men. Soter
composed a history of Alexander's campaigns; Philadelphus wu The scholars who flocked to enjoy Ptolemaic patronage needed texts
interested in science; Euergetes published a narrative of his own entry &omw hich to work. To facilitate their studies a Library was set up at the
same time as the Museum. (Again Aristotle's influence is likely: he is
! Cf. l,fDO & n. said to have been the first serious manuscript collector.') The list of
• See on 16,p-57.
5 See E. E. Rice, The GrandP rocessioonf PtolemyP hiladelpho(sO xford, 1g83). • Strabo 13.1.54.
6 INTRODUCTION 3. HELLENISTIC POETRY 7
Chief Librarians during the third and second centuries, many of whom cannot adequately assess the originality of the third-century works
were tutors to successive crown princes, includes some of the most which do survive. In the second place, both absolute and relative
famous names in Hellenistic scholarship: Zenodotus, Apollonius of chronologies even for the works of major poets are extremely uncertain.
Rhodes, Eratosthenes (mathematician and poet), Aristophanes of Callimachus, Apollonius and Theocritus in particular frequently allude
Byzantium, Apollonius EISoypa~s ('Classifier'), Aristarchus (p. 10). to each other's work; but who alludes to whom in any given case it is
Under their direction the Library staff attempted to collect and classify usually impossible to decide. This problem is compounded by the fact
the whole of Greek literature; Callimachus, who probably never that long poems such as the Attia and Argonauticwa ere probably recited
became Chief Librarian, compiled the TTlvCI1Ca e1s2, 0-volume catalogue as 'work in progress' over many years before their final publication; this
(p. 83). A small army of scribes must have been employed in copying makes it quite likely that poets reacted to each other's works actually
papyrus rolls of works commonly consulted; and other members of staff during the process of composition. Thus even when it can be proved that
were sent out to mainland Greece in search of rare works. Euergetes one passage antedates another (and such 'proofs' are rarely convinc
went to even greater lengths. He ordered that all books found on board ing), the fact is of very limited use in establishing an absolute
ships which docked at Alexandria should be seized and copied; and he chronology. Moreover, several of the Hellenistic poets cannot be dated
borrowed from Athens for a deposit of 15 talents the official performance even to within 50 years. In the third place, only a small fraction of the
texts of the three tragedians; then he kept the originals, sent back copies, poetry written during this period survives. Most of what does survive is
and forfeited his deposit.' Philadelphus is said to have commissioned the broadly in line with the aesthetic principles often called 'Callimachean'
KOI\/Tl transl~tion of the Hebrew bible from 72 Palestinian Jews, who - so called not because Callimachus originated them, but because he
completed it in 72 days (hence the title Septuagint). The total holdings was their most outspoken advocate (see 1-4onn.). But the existence
amounted to perhaps half a million papyrus rolls. A large proportion of , today of so many poems written according to 'Callimachean' artistic
the books were burnt in 48 B.c., when Julius Caesar was besieged at ; criteria may well not be a true reflection of the popularity of those
Alexandria. In that fire many obscure works of earlier Greek literature iI criteria at the time. It seems quite likely that for every 'Callimachean'
were lost for ever. ~ poem to have survived a hundred more traditional ones are lost: we
The city long continued as a centre oflearning, and the techniques of 1 have scant fragments or mere titles of many such poems, and their
painstaking study and exegesis pioneered there were disseminated number is increasing as new papyri come to light. This is not to say that
throughout the civilized world. Modern Classical scholarship in these the new poets were less significant in their own time than they appear to
fields is part ofan unbroken tradition which had its origins in the work of us with historical hindsight; but clearly their criteria did not command
Alexandrian scholars. anything like universal support.
In other words, a literary history of the Hellenistic period cannot be
written. All we can do is to consider the works which survive and
3. HELLENISTIC POETRY 8
describe some of the broad characteristics which most of them appear to
i. Problems
share- always bearing in mind that our sample is probably unrepresen
Insuperable difficulties face the would-be historian of Hellenistic tative. On the whole such generalizations are oflimited value. It seems
poetry. In the first place, except for the plays of Menander almost that the only characteristic shared by every poem in this volume is that
each is striving in its own way to be different.
nothing survives from the rentury preceding the generation ofLycoph•
ron, Aratus and Callimachus: we have very little idea how non
dramatic poetry developed during those years, and it follows that we1 ii. Poetrya nd learning
' These two stories are told by Galen: see Fraser 11 480-1 n. 147.
8 See G. 0. Hutchinson, Htllmisticp oetry( Oxford, 1988) 1-25. Hellenistic poetry is often characterized as learned and allusive - as if