A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets 9004099441, 9789004099449

Citation preview

MNEMOSYNE BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATAVA COLLEGERUNT

J. M.

BREMER • L. F. JANSSEN · H. PINKSTER

H. W. PLEKET • C.J. RUUGH • P. H. SCHRIJVERS BIBLIOTHECAE FASCICULOS EDENDOS CURAVIT C.J. RUUGH, KLASSIEK SEMINARIUM, OUDE TURFMARKT 129, AMSTERDAM

SUPPLEMENTUM CENTESIMUM SEPTUAGESIMUM TERTIUM

DOUGLAS E. GERBER

(ED.)

A COMPANION TO THE GREEK LYRIC POETS

A COMPANION TO THE GREEK LYRIC POETS EDITED BY

DOUGLAS E. GERBER

BRILL LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KOLN 1997

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A companion to the Greek lyric poets : edited by Douglas E. Gerber. p. em. - (Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum, ISSN 0169-8958 ; 173) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 9004099441 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Greek poetry-History and criticism. I. Gerber, Douglas E. II. Series. PA3092.C66 1997 884' .01 09-dc21 97-28625

CIP

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme [Mnernosyne I Supplernenturn] Mnemosyne : bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum. - Leiden ; New York; Koln: Brill. Friiher Schriftenreihe Reihe Supplementum zu: Mnemosyne

173. A companion to the Greek lyric poets.- 1997

A companion to the Greek lyric poets I ed. by Douglas E. Gerber. Leiden; New York; Koln : Brill, 1997 (Mnemosyne ; 173) ISBN 90-04-09944-l

ISSN 0169-8958 ISBN 90 04 09944 1

© Copyright 199 7 by Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, Ihe Netherlands All rights reserved. No part qf this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval .rystem, or transmitted in a'!)' form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. PRINfED IN THE NETHERLANDS

CONTENTS

Preface...............................................................................................

VII

General IntToduction. .. .......... .... .............. ........... .. ... ... .. ....... .. .. .... ... ... ..

1

Douglas E. Gerber (University of Western Ontario)

!ambos...............................................................................................

11

Christopher G. Brown (University of Western Ontario) Introduction............................................................................ Archilochus ........................................................................... Semonides .............................................................................. Hipponax..... .. .... .... .... .. ..... ... ... ..... ... .. ... ... .... .... .... ... .... .... ......... .

13 43 70 79

Elegy..................................................................................................

89

1. 2. 3. 4.

Douglas E. Gerber (University of Western Ontario) Introduction............................................................................ Callinus................................................................................... Tyrtaeus .................................................................................. Mimnermus .......................................................................... Solon........................................................................................ Theognis ........... ............ .......................................................... Xenophanes............................................................................

91 99 102 108 113 117 129

Personal Poetry .................................................................................

133

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Bonnie C. MacLachlan (University of Western Ontario) Alcaeus ....... ........ ............................. ................................. ...... Sappho ...... ............ ................................... ................................ Ibycus ...................................................................................... Anacreon................................................................................ Corinna...................................................................................

135 156 187 198 213

Public Poetry .............................. ....................................... ................

221

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Emmet Robbins (University of Toronto) 1. Alcn1an. .... ............................................... ... ............................ 2. Stesichorus..............................................................................

223 232

vi

CONTENTS

3. Simonides .............................................................................. 4. Pin dar...................................................................................... 5. Bacchylides ..... ..... ................ .............. .... ...... .................... .....

243 253 278

Indices................................................................................................

289

1. Greek Index............................................................................ 2. Passages Discussed .................... ........................................... 3. General Index........................................................................

289 290 291

PREFACE The primary aim of this book is not to break new ground, but to make the reader aware of the main problems and controversies associated with the Greek Lyric poets and to provide the necessary bibliography for further study. Mter the introduction the book is divided into four roughly equal sections: iambos, elegy, personal poetry, and public poetry. The last two headings are not entirely accurate representations of the poetry involved, since so~e of these poets composed both for a select audience and for a more general public, but no other headings seemed preferable. No attempt has been made to impose a strict uniformity of style or method of citation on the contributors, the primary concern being to ensure clarity on the part of the reader. Considerable attention is paid to bibliography and each section contains a reference to the appropriate pages in D.E. Gerber's Lustrum surveys. These surveys are in full: "Pindar and Bacchylides 1934-1987," Lustrum 31 (1989) 97-269 and 32 (1990) 7-98, 283-92. "Early Greek Elegy and Iambus 1921-1989," Lustrum 33 (1991) 7225, 401-409. "Greek Lyric Poetry since 1920. Part 1: General, Lesbian Poets," Lustrum35 (1993) 7-179. "Greek Lyric Poetry since 1920, Part II: From Aleman to FragmentaAdespota," Lustrum36 (1994) 7-188,285-97. Journals are cited according to the abbreviations in L'Annee Philologique, except that CP, AJP, TAPA etc. are used in place of CPh, A]Ph, TAPhA. Works cited frequently are given short titles as follows: Adkins, Poetic Craft = A.W.H. Adkins, Poetic Craft in the Early Greek Elegists (Chicago 1985). Bossi, Studi =F. Bossi, Studi su Archiloco (Bari 19902) Bowra, GLP = C.M. Bowra, Greek Lyric Poetry from Aleman to Simonides (Oxford 19612).

Vlll

PREFACE

Burkert, GR = W. Burkert, Greek Religion (Cambridge, Mass. 1985). English translation by J. Raffan of Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassischen Epoche (Stuttgart 1977). Burkert, HN = W. Burkert, Homo Necans (Berkeley 1983). English translation by P. Bing of Homo Necans (Berlin 1972). Degani, Studi =E. Degani, Studi su Ipponatte (Bari 1984). Frankel, EGPP = H. Frankel, Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy (Oxford 1975). English translation by M. Hadas and J. Willis of Dichtung und Philosophie des friihen Griechentums (Munich 19622). Gentili, Poetry = B. Gentili, Poetry and its Public in Ancient Greece from Homer to the Fifth Century (Baltimore 1988). English translation by A.T. Cole of Poesia e pubblico nella Grecia antica da Omero al V secolo (Bari 1984). Kirkwood, EGM = G.M. Kirkwood, Early Greek Monody. The History of a Poetic Type (Ithaca 1974). Mosshammer, Chronicle = A.A. Mosshammer, The Chronicle of Eusebius and Greek Chronographic Tradition (Lewisburg 1979). Podlecki, Early Gr. Poets= AJ. Podlecki, The Early Greek Poets and Their Times (Vancouver 1984). West, Studies = M.L. West, Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus (Berlin 1974).

GENERAL INTRODUCTION Each section in this introduction deserves far more space than can be allotted here. Some sections, in fact, would require an entire book in order to receive a full treatment. Of necessity, therefore, I can do little more than give a brief account of the main issues and provide bibliographical aid for further study. Also, some of what might be included here is reserved for the introduction to elegy.

Terminology When we speak of early Greek lyric poetry it is customary to include under this heading all poetry from the 7th to the mid-5th century B.C. with the exception of stichic hexameters and drama. The term 'lyric,' however, is something of a misnomer. It implies that such poetry was accompanied on a stringed instrument, 1 which was certainly not true of most iambus and elegy; it does not take account of the aulos,2 a wind instrument which at least sometimes accompanied elegy and which could also accompany Pindar's epinician odes;3 and it fails to recognize that some poetry, especially iambus, may not have had any musical accompaniment.4 Furthermore, the Greeks themselves did not use the word ll:uptKOE"-Eac;). It has been suggested that this fragment formed part of his long Foundation of Colophon, but that seems unlikely.

8

Marcovich 78.

PERSONAL POETRY by Bonnie C. MacLachlan

ALCAEUSI Lesbos in the Archaic Period

From as early as the seventh century we have evidence that the island of Lesbos, situated strategically near the Ionian coast and the headland yielding access to the Hellespont, prospered and afforded a rich cultural milieu for poets. Lesches, generally regarded as the composer of the !lias Parva, lived in Mytilene. Terpander, from Antissa, holds the reputation for developing the citharodic nome and Arion of Methymna was an important figure in the development of the dithyramb. The dating of the acme of all three poets is traditionally placed in the seventh century.2 During this century the Greek emporium at Naucratis in Egypt was established, and Lesbos was invited to be one of the trading partners. From Strabo (17.1.33) we read that Sappho's brother CharaJms traded in wine at Naucratis, and it is likely that references in the poetry of Alcaeus and Sappho to goods from Lydia, Sardis and elsewhere testify to a vigorous trade between Lesbos and cities around the eastern Mediterranean. The superior reputation of Lesbian poets among foreigners is framed in a one-line fragment of Sappho's, words which became proverbial for excellence: n£ppoxo~ cb~ O't' aotOO~ 0 A£apw~ a"-AoMnotcrtv (fr. 106). During the Archaic period Lesbos and its principal city Mytilene struggled, as did other Greek centres at this time, with the political devolution from monarchy. Hereditary kings descended from the legendary figure Penthilus, bastard son of Orestes, ruled in Mytilene until the late seventh century. The Penthilids then became just one of several powerful family groups competing for political leverage under a succession of tyrants, individuals like Melanchrus and Myrsilus, who figure directly in the poetry of Alcaeus (frr. 70, 129, 331, 332). The ancient chroniclers3 give us dates 1 All references to the fragments of Alcaeus follow the numbering in Voigt's edition, those of the testimonia follow Campbell, Greek Lyric I ( 1982). 2 Mosshammer, Chronicle 226-233, combining evidence from Eusebius and the Parian Marble, fixes the sequence as Lesches-Terpancler-Arion. A Lesbian chronicler Phaenias is regarded by Mosshammer to be the source for Eusebius' elating. 3 The principal sources like Eusebius probably relied on the sequential

136

PERSONAL POETRY

for the sequence of political events affecting the lives of Sappho and Alcaeus towards the end of the seventh century. Melanchrus was overthrown in the 42nd Olympiad (612/9) by a group among whom were the brothers of Alcaeus (Diog. Laert. 1.74). Pittacus assisted in this coup, a man who would later become one of the Seven Sages, elected by the people as sole ruler, aisymnetes (aipE'tTJ 'tUpavvic;, Arist. Pol. 1285a31). As a leader he developed a reputation for clemency but was despised by Alcaeus. A few years after the ousting of Melanchrus Pittacus secured his international reputation by defeating the Athenians in a battle for control of the strategic coastal city of Sigeum, just north of Troy. This he did by killing in single combat Phrynon, an Olympic victor (Diog. Laert. 1.74-5). In the same battle of 607/6 Alcaeus fought, but less successfully, for he lost his shield to the Athenians (fr. 401B, cf. Strabo 13.1.38). It would be another 10 years before Pittacus would be elected ruler and could resolve the political instability brought about by the struggle between rival factions (Diod. Sic. 9.11). During this time, Alcaeus went into exile, perhaps as many as three times, 4 on the first occasion because of a failed attempt to overthrow Myrsilus (schol. ad fr. 114). The exile of Sappho to Sicily, recorded on the Parian Marble, also happened during this decade. The resolution of the struggles, obtained by the awarding of plenipotentiary powers to Pittacus, was prompted-according to Aristotle (Pol. 1285a35)-by the actions of exiles led by Alcaeus and his brother Antimenidas. Alcaeus' anger over this decision of the populace is recorded in his fr. 348, quoted by Aristotle, in which he condemns the city as "gutless and ill-starred." Nonetheless, this Solon-style ruler developed a reputation for clemency: Diogenes Laertius (Life of Pittacus 1. 75-6) records the tradition that he released Alcaeus with the words "pardon is better than vengeance" and after maintaining control for 10 years resumed private life for another decade before his death in 577/6.

Life of Alcaeus

Eusebius gives 01. 45.1 (600/599) as a floruit for both Sappho and Alcaeus, which would place their births c. 640. We have no dating of Apollodorus. See Mosshammer, Chronicle 250-251. 4 See the discussion by Podlecki, Early Gr. Poets 72-73.

ALCAEUS

137

evidence for the date of Alcaeus' death: his invitation in fr. 50 to pour myrrh over his head which has "suffered much" and over his "hoary chest" suggests that (if the poet is speaking in propria persona) he did not die young. His aristocratic lineage is reflected in his reference to inherited wealth (fr. 130b.5-6) and to his descent from "noble parents" (frr. 6.13-14, 72.13). We have no undisputed evidence for contact between Alcaeus and Sappho. Fr. 384 has been taken to represent an address from Alcaeus to Sappho, but the question of whether the fragment contains the vocative of Sappho's name has been disputed. 5 Aristotle's reference to a poetic exchange between them over shameful speech (Sappho, fr. 137) is probably not to be taken seiiously. The vase-painting which depicts them conversing together (Munich, inv. 2416) could indicate no more than a conventional literary connection. In fact, their audiences were likely segregated sufficiently that there may have been little personal interchange.

Poetry

Aristotle called Alcaeus' fr. 348 one of the poet's scolia, songs composed for the symposium. Lesbian Terpander, at least two generations earlier than Alcaeus, is credited with having developed the scolion (Pind. fr. 125 M), suggesting that this occasional poetry was well established when Alcaeus began his poetic career. By the 5th century scolia were being recorded and collected in Athens into editions, presumably for broad circulation at symposia (Athen. 15.694a-c, where he makes it clear that songs of Alcaeus were included in these editions). The majority of these scolia differ from the poems of Alcaeus, however. They reflect the diffuse nature of their audience, frequently containing reflections of a generic sort about life, such as those found in the elegies of the Theognidean corpus. There is an immediacy about the songs of Alcaeus, on the other hand, where specific individuals and circumstances are named and emotions are aroused by a single event. It is clear that his partisan friends, his e'tatpot, among whom ties of loyalty were strong and passions ran high, were the intended audience for

5 Voigt prefers (JlEAAtXOJletOES) ibtot to (JlEAAtXOJlEtOE) LU1tOt retained by Lobel and Page (Ale. fr. Z 61). For a discussion see Liberman 291-298.

138

PERSONAL POETRY

many of Alcaeus' verses. His poetic exhortations to drink, such as his invitation to get drunk as a toast to the death of Myrsilus (fr. 332), suggest that the forum for many of his compositions was the symposium, the social setting to which he refers directly in fr. 368. 6 But was this the only setting, was the hetairia the only audience for his poetry? A strong case has been made recently that without his hetairia there would have been no lyric poet Alcaeus. 7 The hetairia doubtless functioned as the principal audience for his political poems, dubbed by Strabo (13.617) stasiotika, partisan songs which played a role in strengthening alliances and fomenting dissent among the citizens of Mytilene. For these compatriots Alcaeus presented scenes of danger, or the perils and loneliness of exile. Other songs reflect their convivial moments together. His audience provided not only a forum for the expresssion of shared hostility to political foes and for exhortation to action, but also for erotic sentiments or delicate reflections on the beauty of nature. It is also possible that Alcaeus composed for a broader public. He produced hymns, similar in style to the Homeric Hymns. While we possess almost nothing of the original form of his hymns, we have some idea of their content through quotations and prose summaries. These could have been heard at local religious festivals, or perhaps on other occasions when the listeners were drawn from Greek centres beyond Mytilene. They could also have been performed for the hetairia, however, either at private festivals 8 or symposia. A song that may have also been performed for a wider audience than the hetairia is fr. 10, in which a female laments her misery and shameful destiny, referring to her own timidity and infatuation like that of a doe feeling the mating call of a stag. The persona marks this as a clear departure from the style of Alcaeus' other songs in which the voice sounds very much as if it is the poet's own, or his own as representative of a group whose

6 For the symposium as a forum for early Greek poetry generally, see above p. 92, n.l. 7 Rosier 40: "Kurzum: Ohne Hetairie kein Lyriker Alkaios." This statement is preceded by a claim for the exclusivity of his audience: "Die Hetairie - so die Konsequcnz - war Voraussetzung und Bestimmungsort der Dichtung des Alkaios; sie allein bildete den konstitutiven Rahmen fiir ihre Konzeption und Prasentation." 8 On the possibility that festivals could be private celebrations see above, p. 4, with bibliography in n. 16.

ALCAEUS

139

sympathies he shared. Perhaps fr. 10 is a re-working of a popular song, composed for performance at a symposium,9 but it would have been equally appropriate for a setting in which women were present. It bears some resemblance to Sappho's fr. 102, in which a girl complains to her mother that she cannot continue her weaving because she has fallen in love . 10 The question of the poetic "I" 11 is a lively one in reading Alcaeus. His exhortations to a group to drink together or to resist tyranny in Mytilene, together with the statements from antiquity testifying to his role in local politics, tempt the reader to accept the "I" as autobiographical, not fictional. A parallel can be found, to some extent, in the elegies of Callinus, Tyrtaeus, Solon and Theognis. It is important to remember that exhortation is livelier and more effective with the inclusion of the personal voice, 12 and that while Alcaeus may indeed have been part of the symposiastic activity and the military resistance he summoned, and while he probably knew on a deeply personal level the loneliness of exile which he described (fr. 129), these were shared experiences. His songs would have provoked a resonance in others, accounting in part for their success, and the "I" is to be read also as "we." Despite the fact that literacy was not unknown by the 6th century, there are no indications that Alcaeus composed with the aid of writing, or that he composed with the written dissemination of his songs in mind. 13 An inscription from Delos dating from the 2nd century B.C. (Ins cr. Delos 1400.7 = test. 10) indicates that there was a collection of Alcaeus' book-rolls in the Andrian treasury

9 One could compare this to Archilochus' fr. 19, in which we know from Aristotle that the jJersona is the voice not of the poet but of Charon the carpenter. Certain excerpts from the Theognidea were sung in the voice of a female: 257-260, 579-580, 861-864, as was Anacreon's fr. 385. The likelihood is that these were not only composed but performed by and for men. See E. Bowie 1617. 10 Page 291-294 makes the comparison, and points out that Horace in Odes 3.12 seems to draw on both poems as models. 11 On this topic sec the Introduction above (p. 6), with bibliography in n. 23. 12 This point is made by Slings 18. 13 A case for the orality of Alcaeus is made by Rosier 77-90, who argues that the need for the written transmission of epic via the guilds of the rhapsocles differed sharply from the local setting for Alcaeus' songs. He also contrasts the situation of Alcaeus with the Theogniclean elegies (which he elates no earlier than the mid-6th century) composed with the expectation of a written text.

140

PERSONAL POETRY

there. Earlier than this, the poetry of Alcaeus survived presumably in oral form, but by the late 5th century was probably disseminated in books, at least in Athens, where quotations in Attic Comedy attest to a general familiarity with his work. Agathon, in the Thesmophoriazusae (vv. 160-162), includes him in his canon of the lyric poets, and earlier in the century the portrait of Alcaeus with Sappho on the Attic kalathos appeared. The reputation of Alcaeus as an important poet was further secured by the writing of a treatise on his works by Dicaearchus, a pupil of Aristotle (frr. 94-99 Wehrli: see testt. 9a, 17). His books were catalogued in Alexandria, but we do not know how many there were or how they were ordered. They were not arranged metrically, for consecutive songs (such as the two hymns which we know came from Book 1, frr. 307a and 308) were in different metres. This suggests that they may have been arranged by type, a hypothesis supported by Strabo's naming of a group of his poems as stasiotika. Most of the fragments we possess have come down to us in the form of lacunose papyrus fragments from the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., with the balance derived from short quotations. In the Roman period the reputation of Alcaeus was enhanced by the poetic imitations of Horace, who prides himself in being the first Roman to render this tribute: hunc ego, non alia dictum jJrius ore, Latinus/ volgavi fidicen, Ep.l.l9.32-33.14 Among the metres borrowed by Horace from his lyric predecessors were those named after Sappho and Alcaeus. Alcaeus used these and other Aeolic metrical forms 15 with an ease that suggests they had evolved from an indigenous Lesbian musical culture, perhaps from traditional song-forms. 16 The Sapphic and Alcaic strophes contain three periods: the first two are identical and the third is an expansion of these, in a triadic structure. (They are regularly printed in four lines.) 17 The short compass of these stanzas encouraged narratives or descriptions that were brief and 14 For Horace's debt to Alcaeus generally, see the articles by Ciresolo and Frank. 15 On the Aeolic metrical tradition, with its fondness for the iambochoriambic cola, see West 29-34. 16 For a discussion of the Lesbian lyric tradition, and how Aeolic metres may have evolved in tandem with epic, see A. M. Bowie 23-46 and Nagy 134135. 17 This follows the analysis of West (32-33). The triadic structure is repeated in the form identified with choral lyric, of strophe/antistrophe in responsion and epodic expansion. On the four-line stanzas see below pp. 233-34.

ALGAE US

141

compressed. Scenes or moods could shift dramatically from one frame to the next, and Alcaeus frequently exploited this opportunity for a dramatic juxtaposition of scenes or emotions. (He also compressed contrasting images into two- and four-line stanzas based on glyconic metres like the Greater and Lesser Asclepiads.) Alcaeus, like Sappho, composed in the Lesbian-Aeolic dialect, with recessive accentuation and no initial aspiration. It occasionally admitted epic (Ionic) forms, and likely took its shape after the Aeolic migrations brought people from the northern mainland into contact with the Ionic east. IS Dionysius of Halicarnassus said of Alcaeus' songs that they were "endowed with genius, compressed and pleasant, with intensity" (11qaA-oqru£~ Kat ppaxu Kat T]8u 11£-ra 8etv K£$aA.av Kat y6va Ldpto~/ U0'0£1 in Alcaeus. Hesiod's men are aap~ro!lc8', v. 7) or gathering courage by recalling the bravery of ancestors (!lil Katmcrxuvro!lEY, v. 13), Alcaeus places himself firmly amidst the group whom he addresses. The group needs to take emergency action to survive; the ship represents its collective life. The exhortation moves away from the allegorical when the poet's call is to fellow-aristocrats, not fellow-sailors, in the fourth strophe, and appears to shift directly into the historical situation with the reference to tyranny in the seventh strophe. Alcaeus situates himself on board another ship in trouble in fr. 29 Similarly, in fr. 5 we find the word ~a crt AE\J~ in a poem which probably refers to Pittacus. 30 Marginal scholia ad fr. 60a and fr. 114 (= P Oxy. 1360 fr. 3 + P Oxy. 2166 (c) 1A and P Berol. 9569 col. II 10-23, ed. Schubart). 31 Alleg. Hom. 5, p. 5 Buffiere. 32 Page 184-185 discounts the political reference for the occasion in favour of an actual storm at sea. This does not account for the apparently historical references in the latter part of the fragment.

146

PERSONAL POETRY

208, a poem which Heraclitus also connects with the tyranny of Myrsilus. 33 Heraclitus believed that the poem was inspired by a 'tupavvtK'll ... m)cr'tamtcr~£vm see Woodbury 200-201.

194

PERSONAL POETRY

confidence in his own skill: Hesiod won the compet1t10n. The presence of these Muses with their technique, even if this is passed over, reinforces this theme of poetic prowess which is arguably the ultimate focus of the song. There is, however, one other message that Ibycus has embedded in S151, more subtly than the declared theme of his poetic mandate and ability. This is the warning that beauty has its dangerous underside. Central to the Ilioupersis account is not just the heroic performance of the Greek warriors but the presence of three beautiful female figures-Helen, Aphrodite and Cassandra. Helen and Aphrodite caused the a/..rocrt!lOV U!lap avroVU!lOV by the power of beauty; Cassandra's name evokes two stories of destruction-her rape by Ajax and its deadly consequences, or her capture by Agamemnon and the double murder this precipitated. Helen and Cassandra, like the city of Troy itself, are prizes that bring ruin in their train, yet provide subjects for song. The position of power in which certain men found themselves could also be double-edged. Agamemnon is ayoc; avoprov (v. 21), "leader of men," but with a change in accentuation he becomes "accursed" of men.28 As tyrant, Polycrates, beautiful and powerful, would ultimately deliver Samos into the hands of the Persians by the sensuous living he cultivated (Athenaeus 12.540f-541a). Was Ibycus prophetic in S151? Fragment 286, from a song expressing the overwhelming power of Love, was quoted by Athenaeus (13.601b). It contains two striking images: the tranquility of a pure, undisturbed garden of nymphs in springtime gives way to a storm brought on by the North Wind, a tempest of Eros who knows no season. In the garden of innocence, unshorn like the meadow sacred to Artemis (Eur. Hipp. 737 4), there is seasonal consistency: it is spring (ilpt !lEV ... [ v. 1]), when rivers flow, and vine-blossoms are growing (v. 5) with the promise of fruit from the quince-trees.2 9 The contrast is sharp between this image and what follows. In the heart of the poet/ speaker (E!lOt o: v. 6) passion is unseasonal; it never sleeps but rushes down upon him, parching, dark and shameless. The overall structure of the fragment is tripartite. The image of the inviolate garden of maidens (not unlike Sappho fr. 2 in its springtime ayo~ avliprov, pointed out by Willein 41. The presence of quince-trees holds out the expectation of erotic success, for quinces were a symbol of love in ancient poetry (Bowra, GLP 260-261, Trumpf 15-16).

28 29

IBYCUS

195

richness and promise) is followed by a simple statement of the lover's plight. This develops into the elaborate image of the windstorm, which also has Sapphic echoes but from her fr. 47 in which Eros shakes the heart like a wind felling oak trees on a mountain. Is the fragment strophic? The metre is that known as the Ibycean, a combination of dactyls and cretics, 30 and the clausula at v. 7 may represent the end of a strophic component. Commentators have attempted to find responsion, with mixed success. 31 If our fragment is part of a triadic song, this raises once again the question of whether there is a close connection between this form and choral performance, for the content of this song would be more appropriate for a private, not a public, event. There has been considerable discussion generated by the verb ia. This too may be a result of his association with the ruling-class of his time, for there is a long tradition of associating sages with rulers-one need only cite the traditional linking of Periander with Thales, Croesus with Solon, Pericles with Anaxagoras, and in myth Tiresias with the rulers of Thebes. As someone who received a fee for his services, Simonides was inevitably seen as a proto-sophist at a time when the earliest paid teachers were becoming notorious in the Greek world. And in the case of the sophists democratic prejudice seems to have influenced the popular picture, which became in part a caricature, and so Simonides easily became a clever miser ( Ktll~t~ and cro6