Some Misquotations of Homer in Plato

Author(s): Seth Benardete

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Phronesis, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1963), pp. 173-178
Published by: BRILL
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4181724 .
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SomeMisquotationsof Homerin Plato

SETH

PLATO

OFTEN

HAS

BENARDETE

Socrates and his other characters quote Homer.

Their quotations for the most part exactly agree with our vulgate,
but sometimes they differ. The most recent and careful study of these
variants (La Barbe, L'Homere de Platon) concluded that Plato cited from a
text that the 'oral tradition' had influenced. Although La Barbe's thesis
has been doubted,I no one has yet, as far as I am aware, accounted for
the variants without appealing to a tradition other than ours. Here we
propose to show that some of these misquotations could be deliberate:
Plato would have forced Homer's lines as we know them to conform
to the context in which he has placed them. We cannot of course
strictly prove deliberateness on Plato's part, nor should it be demanded,
for our 'proofs' will depend on what isn't there: the absent context of
the Homeric quotation. All we can show is that the deformed lines when
read with the vulgate in mind cohere more closely with the Platonic
context than they would do by themselves. It should not, moreover,
strike us as strange that the privilege of argumentum ex silentio which the
ancients attributed to Homer was taken over by his greatest critic:
O y&p FLOVOV-T C 7ty

&k
oc

xod

Tl

9ppVTLarV

?t

(B schol. A 49;

cf. Strabol. 2, 2 2).

Apology 28d2 (340-344).z Socrates compares himself to Achilles, who
chose rather to avenge Patroclus' death than to save his own life; and
-T
rC&XOiV-n
&Lxrv eT0LZg
he quotes him as saying, oc&xL -e0vXlXv,
'Vo
7Towpv-uv&
xopcovLaLv
VX0
0
(u - uu-[-] uu - ), tVA p ?vOoc
&XOoq&poup-n. Our Homer reads: & 7'roC rap& vpaGVv C76daLov &Zx0;
ipoup-q ( i o4.). Socrates' suppression of ?rMatov, if that is what it was,
can be accounted for if we recall the following lines, in which Achilles
explained why he was a "vain burden of the earth":
aX v ZoXxoZLLvov
'06io4 Z&VoLoq cA t 'AoC
eV 7MoX&,o0' &yOpn 8&

'

tVLVoV4

LC
Xa

LOc X?oL.

Since excellence can only be shown in its employment, Achilles' idleness

prevents him from being what he is, a warrior; but Socrates' excellence
consists in speaking in the market place - not of course in the assembly -,
I

Cf. e.g. van der Valk's review, (Mnemos. (1952)

153-155).

Numbers in parenthesis after a Platonic citation refer to the pages of La Barbe's book
where he discusses the lines in question.

' 73

where Achilles admits there are better men than himself. Socrates would
not show hlisidleness in his not fighting - he nmentionshis soldierly duty
only to dismiss it (28dio-e4) - but in his not questioning, which he
would not be prevented from doing if he abstained from fighting. It is
not surprising, then, that Socrates wished to distinguish himself from
Achilles even when he was setting up the comparison; for at the end
of his speech, when he mentions those with whom lhe should like to
converse in Hades, Achilles is not among them. Odysseus, however, is
there (4oc I). Indeed the &yop' of the Achaeans is situated by the ships
of Odysseus (A 8o6-8); the phrase `x?Ooq poupq refers to Odysseus
in its only other place in Homer (u 376-379); and although E 338 (or
E 58) would account for xopcovLaLv as a nmetrical equivalent of &T7awOV,
yet once we see that Odysseus lurks behind Socrates' change, the replacement proves to be more than mechanical. Odysseus in urging the
Achaeans to stay after Agamemnon has put them to flight concedes
something to their restlessness (B 2 9 - 2 9 7):
pLzv

8' etvoe,t6,

evOaBE:

5TrL
7rCTCEp0t7TrO(V

p.rvvrsav

Vap
7XPO
&azCXXM2CV

sV!cUt7o;

V
ou vzeL'~otL'

auCL

'zxou

XOpCXVCarV

He reminds them, however, of Calchas' prophecy that Troy will fall in

the tenth year (299-332). That the Achaeans should remain out of trust
in a seer inevitably recalls Socrates' reason for persisting in his practice:
the oracle at Delphi obliged him to keep his station (2 8 e4- 29a4). Thus
the noble but hardly guiltless Achilles yields almost completely to the
prudent Odysseus.
Cratylus3 9 2 e I (2 6 g- 26 8). Socrates infers that the Trojan men called
Hector's son Astyanax from Homer's saying that while Hector used to
call him Scamandrius (he says this when Hector confronts Andromache),
called him Astyanax (Z 402). By alluding to this
the rest (oc &?CXoL)
passage, he justifies his conflation of X 5o7:
oloq yap apLv spuCo TCU?oCxoCi -L'xg

with Z 403:

oTog yap

ApUsrO

FLOXpC

"IXLov"Exr-jp. This yields:

'reUjxa tocxpxC.
XoCL
ozoq y&p apyLvepxo 7cu,Xcv

not only to bring in the "IMovof

He would replace ri)Boawith 1To6?Lv
Z 403 but in order to lea(d up to his identification of a`sruan(d7trXL:
Archepolis and Astyanax mean the same though they share but two
letters in common (394c 2). He would further wish to make his line a
'74

self-evident etymological explanation of Astyanax, which it would not

immediately look like if it lacked the word 'city'.
Leges

706e1-707ai

The Athenian

(242-249).

Stranger backs up his

claim that the possession of a fleet instills in hoplites bad habits by

quoting Odysseus' rebuke to Agamemnon (E 96-102):
0x6X?Xva

FtLOLO auvE(6Tao

VO4 iuaeXso4
TpXcaiL

'aa3

e)xta'

sv

8' oc=ln

tv

a(YxOuvv

C`=Ut,

?&X&0tevoLta -p

oV

eLpps'=l

yap

'AXaLo'

7t0?\pL0 vTuiv &?dX8 rxopsv&xv,

oX? a7or7r0C-vVouav,
'vocx aZ

E'XXeLV,
OQ(p CTCLpxXXO?v

yevwrwv.r

O`Opo4

XUC
cL

Cp(,6096

dE

XCP[LTh

OL, o' &yopsu?q.

O3U? 8-?dac-

Only two variants are significant: ?Ze8op.6voLtfor the vulgate e'TCxpaT0ouac, and oL &yopeu$sig for 6pZGasu&v8pCov. As La Barbe has seen,
Plato wished to remove an address which would be meaningless in
context, and he found in the otov ?RC7tCC
of E 9gS a phrase that easily
suggested it. He might have been influenced as well by Diomedes'
rebuke when once before Agamemnon had also suggested they should
flee (I 40-41):
8chLp6vL',OVCJ
r0vp)ou
I

a7rTO?OUC

''

c it?au utao, 'AXaLv

N I)

CP.FvOLxoCd&vocxxLc,

(q ayopeu,e.

The reason behind the replacement of 7rLxpoCa0uGL

seems more subtle.
eXaoti,UvoLaLtwice

occurs

in a simile,

which

La Barbe also refers to

without realizing its significance (H 4-7):

c,

w8oxev
8? OOc, Vo0C}r-vLVW,e8o0
VoLGLvV

OUPOV e7re

XXZZOCP{CaLVe CsaT-nj

76OVTOV
&XOCYvov-eq,xaCPaci
"

C?JT

aL

8' 67M YuZocX UVtCzL,

TpW1EaaLV 'CXOrL&VOLL YXV7)TvYV.

Paris and Hector reappear in battle just as if a god had given a breeze
to tired rowers. The Stranger reminds us of this passage because he
wishes to prepare the way for his claim that Marathon and Plataea
made the Greeks better while Artemisium and Salamis made them
worse (707b4-c7). The barbarian Trojans as hard-pressed rowers were
saved by the heroes Paris and Hector, just as the riff-raff Greeks of
Salamis saw their labours crowned by the hoplites of Plataea. The change,
then, makes Odysseus a spokesman for the Stranger's view of the Persian
War.
175

Republic424bg (202-206).
Socrates is afraidlest Teleniachus' words
to his mother will be misunderstood (a 3 1-2):
T-JV yxp aCOL87V[LiXXG0V C'MOZEOUGa VOP&T0L,
el
v f,y& apXV.YME
&
&Ou6va
'f TLq JXGVOVTF_G17
X-qTL.
V?COT(XT

They may be thought, Socrates says, to refer to a new manner of song

and not to songs new to the hearers. But as no one would so interpret
the vulgate, Socrates changes it to bear that meaning:
aoL(~
8.n?k0paRovtlyp
Ttq

OVSGUO
CXVO

p&)7t(C,

OC?l80"VTeCYC VEWTXCTfY UXLYMCXTou.

He can all the more readily deform Homer here because of the previous
lines he does not quote (347-3 so):
01 VU
iT

XOLOL

Zs' c OC"TLOo, -r?

.# ,n,f wto7Oi
a1Xx~k

C
avrxoL,
X tLO,

Mctv

oAvp&aLv O&C
Ya-~~LV 075t04 e'OCXrLV Exa-rcp,
xxxov OTTOV
CX'ev LV.
TOUTCO8o U V4tJGL4 LavOCCOv

Since Socrates has established that the gods are only responsible for
good things, these lines would either have to go or be revised in the
new regime. They vould have to assert just the opposite, the poets and
not Zeus are responsible for novelty; and novelty could then only mllean
a poet's attempt once more to lay the blame for evil on Zeus. Suchl a
song would surely make the citizens reflect (CtL?pOVEouct). [his
indirect expurgation of Homer resembles Socrates' onmissionof' A 3 1xvwhen he gives AgaLaToV
OOLV'~v xodLEPOV ?Co~ &V-nav
mennon's speech to Chryseis in oratio obliqua (33 e 3-394a i; cf. La
Barbe contra Bolling, 3g3-3g7), for any show of' indecency has already
been excluded from poetry, and Socrates is here discussing only miimesis.
Sophist 2i6aS-b6
(296-297). This is a rather different case from the
others. As Socrates quotes the passage in prose, it allows him to veave
together at least three different passages from Homer. It wvillbe necessary, then, to quote the whole:
-

p'

OU'v,

C0fpO?

oVuivov

0s6'cope,

XO6yov xcOOa;

ax'k

TLVO Osv0"Cyv

XcXTOC TOV

C6Oi'*Oq&VOPWI0OL`

o'S Yp7atv 'IXxox? T?

O7cOa ILeTeZOULV 'h3oU &(Xcdx4, x0cd on xac TOVE'VFOv OQ,

'txZLaTX
Oebv aUVO7C8QOV yLYV64LCVOV
U"P,eL4 T? XcaX CivoQUL'a T(5V &vOp0corv
x.Cop5Ev. Ta'C' ouv IV
cpoiAXou4

6v
I76

06vTaCq

'rL4 C?'yXn6X4

xzL
ev

(u

aoL TLq OUVToqt(J)v XpSLTTO-V()V ()UV67OVlO

TOtq

- D1 -

?Q6yoLg

(V) uu -

?J7O+OUS'VOq
-/1)

Tz
TSi.L

- uu).

sa?Ay-Gov,

Os;Oc

Socrates first refers to Odysseus' words to the Cyclops

Zs

8' Z'TZLT&p

CXETI-CV

TE 4vcov

(F

270-I:

te

49LVL04 04 C4?LV0LSLV OqL aLOLLLoo

o 7tvo0L.

Second he refers to what the young suitors say to Antinous about the
disguised Odysseus (p 484-487):
o0X6Fsv',

eL Of

xc'L Z EOt

ZOU 'rrt eoupXvtoL

LVOLaLVeO'X60'T

av-rozo T?e)ZOov-r,

0Os6 ECTL.

aXkoXa80oaL

-Tp&)Yp&)L 70XX4,

iVOpWtVpx(i)V U"3pLV TS xOCd e:V0

LLYIV F(pOpG)0VT4.

The Stranger then is another Odysseus; and Odysseus saw the cites of
many men and knew their mind, and hence the variety of customs
that implies suggests the variety of 1{'3psL4and ?t)Voptluo he would encounter. Indeed Odysseus wanted to know about the Phaeacians,
Cyclopes, and his own countrymen whether ( I 202
0 r I 7 5, V 2 0 1):
l

'

Qp0

,, 34ppo-roatPa "c'
ezt
X L OCYPLOL
oU C 8LXcLoL,
T

r?E YpLX?VVOL,

XOCXLO(pLV

VOO4 eGti.

Oeou&qi;.

It is under the influence, then, of the Stranger's resemblance to Odysseus

that Socrates changes v'ptv and euvosudnv
into plurals. The Stranger also

appears as

perhapsin
OC64 F?_XE-YXrLX6

reminiscence of ZeiUq LTLCT&l)p,

though Theodorus insists he is much more moderate

EJCOJO'V?vol -

(2I6

b 7-8).

Eustathiusparaphrasese'7rLTLP'r&(0p
with 7r67Ttq xC fo-0O64

shows that xmOopiv was not dictated by a variant in Plato's

Homer, but was chosen for other reasons. Theodorus goes on to deny
that the Stranger is a god but he calls him like all philosophers divine;
whereupon Socrates remarks that philosophers are hardly easier to
distinguish than gods: 7tckvu
yxp &vapeqOUTO)L avTOrXZo
X
vrLct
oLEoL 86&
(I629,9)

T<V XAC?(V

ay'V0LV

Yptx06aop0L,

Xa0o

?=LCTp(c)p(?)aL
pXvXreC *6 v

OezvOV

7tOCX4>,
TCOV
vC-TvX

O'

F1

76CT&)4C

(2 I 6 c4-7).
P3'LOV

Xk

OVT&()q4

Since

the

Homeric passage refers to gods appearing in the midst of nmen, ox%op(owvt? would be as inappropriate there as it is appropriate here; for
Socrates points to the loftier view of philosophers as they look down on
human life (Heindorf compares Theaet. I13e; cf. Rep. soobg). He may,
moreover, have had in mind Zeus' turning his gaze away from the war
at Troy to look down on the just Abii: xocOopcWtsVoc
OLOV... 'AP3EWv
Te
8LIXLO-O&-roV
&vOpc7rov(N 4-6; A 337). One may also remark that U46Oev,
which does not recur in Plato, is out of eight instances in Homer five
times applied to Zeus and once to Athena.
I77

Symposium

22oC2

z}

-v 38'
ot.ov

(228-230).
' a, ?pEt
avtTOO'
r4~
7u

xcd
z at

?X
eir7

xoCpT?pO6
XCPeP,

&vnp.
oiy,

Alcibiades quotes the line as a transition between his description of the

barefoot and himation-clad Socrates at Potidaea during winter and
Socrates' standing still there while thinking one sunmmerday and nighlt.
The line occurs, each slightly different, in the mouth of Helen an(d
otov r68' xrX
Menelaus (8 242, 27 i). Helen introduces her story with &kX?'
and Menelaus his with orov xocito8' -XT. Alcibiades' use of it between
his two stories seems to explain, as others have said, his (leparture froml
either line; but much more is involved. Its difference fronmboth their
lines (as well as its borrowing her 'X& and his xa.Lfor his own 8' av) calls
attention to the stories each tells about Odysseus. Helen tells about the
disguised Odysseus in Troy, how quite different from the way he lookedl
among the Achaeans he had dressed himself in rags like a beggar, clothed
one might say as Socrates usually was; and Menelaus tells how when
Helen spoke to those insi(de the horse, Odysseus checke(d Diomlecdesandi
himself from rushing out, and when Anticlus wished to answer Helen,
,,Odysseus stopped up his mouth with his strong hands continually" until
Helen went away. Odysseus, completely unmoved by Helen's voice,
showed as much persistence in keeping the others quiet as Socrates (lid
in standing still. Just as Alcibiades' examples are meant to illustrate
Socrates' xuprep'ocand yppOvl4a, the like of which he says he would
cf. 221 C2 with 8
never have believed to find in anyone (2I9d5-7;
so Helen and Menelaus present Odysseus in the same light, for
240-I),
as Menelaus says in introducing his story (267-2 70):
S8r

,rv

7ro?Xev

C&tv

r3oU X?v

Tr

v4Gv

7toXXv 8' e'?rEXuOX yoCXev

Gyv
ou wT& ToLoUTov
`8ov yo(pOktoXacv
a'
p?v X p.
otov 'O8uaaivoq -traXxaC ypovoP4 ei
&vapxv 'pV,

Brandeis University

178