Philodemus On Poems Book One

by Philodemus; Janko, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780198150411
• ISBN10: 0198150415
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The On Poems by Philodemus (c. 110-35 BC), the Epicurean philosopher and poet who taught Virgil and influenced Horace, is our main source for Hellenistic literary theory. In Book 1 Philodemus summarizes a survey of previously unknown poetic and aesthetic theories. Compiled by Crates of Mallosthis survey reviews the critical theories of earlier Epicureans, Peripatetics, and Stoics, who argued in some way that sound is the source of poetic excellence, and that the ear, unaided by the mind, can judge it. Philodemus led the reaction against this invasion of Hellenistic literary criticism bymusical theory, arguing that form and content are interrelated, and that substantive content, not pretty sound, is what makes poetry worthwhile. The 200 fragments of Book 1 were entirely jumbled after its discovery at the site of Vesuvius' destruction of Herculaneum. This edition reconstitutes their original sequence, according to a new method, while exploiting previously unknown manuscript sources and new techniques for reading the extantpieces. In thus restoring this important aesthetic treatise from antiquity, it makes a major addition to the corpus of classical literature.

Author Biography

Richard Janko, Professor of Greek at University College, London, and co-directs the Philodemus Translation Project. He was formerly Professor of Classics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xiii
List of Tables	xv
Introduction	1	(2)
Philodemus of Gadara and his Aesthetic Works	3	(8)
De poematis I: The History of the Text	11	(37)
The Papyrus-Rolls of De poematis	11	(4)
How the Papyri were Opened and Recorded	15	(12)
The Contribution of the Interpreti	27	(5)
Bernardo Quaranta and the Collectio Altera	32	(7)
Previous Editions	39	(9)
The Manuscripts of De poematis I	48	(38)
The Papyrus: Catalogue, Condition, and Description	48	(9)
The Neapolitan Disegni: Catalogue, Description, and Errors	57	(11)
The Transcripts of the Interpreti	68	(2)
Format and Script	70	(5)
Syllabification, Orthography, and Punctuation	75	(6)
Mistakes, Corrections, Accentuation, and Marginalia	81	(5)
The Reconstruction of the Papyrus-Roll	86	(34)
The Relative Sequence: Joins and Parallels	86	(18)
The Absolute Sequence: Layers, Circumferences, and Roll-Length	104	(10)
The Stichometry	114	(6)
Philodemus' Sources and Opponents	120	(70)
Crates of Mallos and the Kριτικoι	120	(9)
Crates' Arguments against the Philosophers (Epicureans)	129	(5)
The Musical Critics	134	(4)
Megaclides of Athens	138	(5)
Andromenides	143	(11)
Crates' Arguments against the Critics	154	(1)
Heracleodorus	155	(10)
Pausimachus of Miletus and the Euphonist Tradition	165	(25)
The Work: Purpose, Form, and Style	190	(4)
The Purpose and Form of De poem. I-2	190	(2)
Style, Authoriship, and Title	192	(2)
The Present Edition	194	(7)
System of Presentation	194	(3)
Conspectus Siglorum	197	(4)
φιγoδημoν Περι πoιηματων A'	201	(250)
Conspectus Studiorum	451	(11)
Concordances	462	(33)
By papyrus and disegno	462	(12)
By HV2	474	(8)
By Hausrath	482	(4)
By Sbordone	486	(5)
By Nardelli	491	(4)
Index Verborum	495	(22)
Index Poetarum	517	(2)
Index Locorum	519	(21)
General Index	540