Note on ΑΙΝΙΤΤΕΣΘΑΙ, Plato, Apology, 27A, 21B

Author(s): Samuel E. Bassett

Source: The Classical Review, Vol. 42, No. 2 (May, 1928), p. 58
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/701264
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 58 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW

NOTE ON AINITTEYOAI, PLATO, APOLOGY, 27A, 21B.

SOCRATES says that Meletus is like ,roXepoqovre--that is, epiV'rv ayovrev o1:uV
one who makes up a riddle and trieseipvrqv
to i yopev. Whether or not the
see if he can fool men with it. No one enigma was one of the T'rTOL of the
seems to have formulated the riddle to orator is an open question. Aristotle
which Socrates compares the wording at least recommends it in principle:
of the charge of Meletus. And yet it is
obvious. One of the commonest riddles Rhet. III. I412a, 23, pca2 tt e6 e/ivva
Sth
a bo a'v"
of all ages is of the form,' When is7rapa8o0ov y. o'8a ... yLyvETa & o6rTav
man not a man?' The most famous It seems quite possible that also in
example of this kind of riddle is Apol.
that21BofSocrates had in mind the
the eunuch and the bat (P1. Resp. same kind of riddle when he says of
479c),
which is mentioned by many writers
from Aristotle to Eustathius. Similar the response of the oracle, 71 7r0T
riddles involving a contradiction areacdvrrerat
rephon put; to The question which Chae-
the oracle was like a
given by Athenaeus (448F, 453B) andtype of riddle which was common:
many examples are given by Plutarch,
by Plutarch (Frg. XXV. 3, 4-6, ede ToO
7rEpt "EpoTrov, III. Tauchnitz, ed. VI.
conviv. sept. sap., cap. 8, and by Diog. L.,
388; the references are given by Ohlert, I. I, 35, 36 (the references are given by
Riitsel und Gesellschaftsspiele der altenOhlert, pp. o0, 112). Chaerephon was
Griechen, Berlin, 1886, 156, 115)-e.g.,fond of the riddling question, as we
know from the Clouds (vv. 144 f.,
T71?9 epO v T oV IpEt ; T7i 8od0EATac ca'
o p/3odvXerat; Now this is just what156 ff.). The response, as interpreted
Socrates says the charge of Meletus by Socrates, puts the ai'vtyr1a in this
amounts to: o`Tro4 a7p E4L4O alveTrat Ta
form: r71T, o-0o ar6o Eretv ovSevo\V a4to
evairLa Xeyetv aVTh4 aVrU, Ao7rep av el
Cvo 7rpo uao lav ; and the answer, b'r5v,
ae0e! p YI0KpaT7),, E7VOc/eKV0'Tt Lo evo\V
et7roLt c&28eL Iapda7l Beobe ob voI olwv,
AXh obveo vop~ulv. The riddle which K-X. Athenaeus (453B) actually quotes
Meletus has composed would be: TI1 a riddle not unlike this, and without
assigning any author, so that it must
oeobv votie4' o1 vopl'uwv; The charge
of Meletus is not a riddle, as od'r7ephave been well known: rT 7ra~ ' V7 ovec
indicates (so Forman), but it is like aed7rrdptLTa.evotL &BQLKolv; Socrates ap-
riddle in that its purpose is to keep pears to be playing with the two mean-
the jury 'guessing,' because, in the ings of at'veyla, 'dark saying' and
humorous turn which Socrates gives it,'riddle,' just as Sophocles does, O.T.
it says that Socrates does not believe in439 f.:
the gods, but admits at the same time
that he believes in 8at1.6vta. O0 . C'O arrA vr'7 ayav at aZvLKT Ka a(r XEyELsr.
The use of a riddle which is based Tae. OV'KOVV O1 TrarT' aptouro Vp'OOKEL VEwvr;
on a contradiction is found twice in To read into both the occurrences of
Demosthenes: (I) XIV. 24, '71 o'vatvirreaeat
~ae' in the Apology the sug-
gestion of a real enigma deepens the
ol70ro, (alvtyplart
vWv /iLV yap
olc rV, ate B 707iO
6e ryevr7d-
peLvoO; OpOotov impression, which Plato in so many
ye.
ways creates, that the whole defence of
(2) XIX.aVvt~pa
oarrep 328, KErT
y~y7ovev
7rXe . . ra 7rpdyaO'e
. ~oicovr8 Socrates is shot through and through
with a light and gentle humour.
eLp?7V)v ayewt, e'rrdvOaTre e6t6WOepa 7 SAMUEL E. BASSETT.

A GREEK EPIGRAM.

IN his recent article on Horace's

ment, discovered at Roccagiovane near
Sabine Villa (Monumenti Antichi Tivoli.
pub- The larger fragment is decor-
blicati per cura della R. Accademia
ateddeiwith the figure of a Season in
Lincei 31, 1926, pp. 495-8) Professor
relief, and bears an incomplete in-
Lugli publishes two fragmentary scription,
marble which gives, first, the name
slabs, part of a Roman sepulchralof the person who erected the monu-
monu-

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