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aguaplano.eu Delfim F. Leão The Seven Sages and Plato aguaplano panchenko_abstract.indd 231 20/11/2010 11.51.06 Delfim F. Leão, The Seven Sages and Plato Estratto da/Excerpt from: Il quinto secolo. Studi di filosofia antica in onore di Livio Rossetti a c. di Stefania Giombini e Flavia Marcacci. Agua...

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The Seven Sages and Plato Delfim Leão

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The Seven Sages and Plato

Delfim F. Leão, The Seven Sages and Plato Estratto da/Excerpt from: Il quinto secolo. Studi di filosofia antica in onore di Livio Rossetti a c. di Stefania Giombini e Flavia Marcacci. Aguaplano—Officina del libro, Passignano s.T. 2010, pp. 403-414 [ISBN/EAN: 978-88-904213-4-1].

Delfim F. Leão

The Seven Sages and Plato

Aguaplano

Delfim F. Leão, The Seven Sages and Plato Estratto da/Excerpt from: Il quinto secolo. Studi di filosofia antica in onore di Livio Rossetti a c. di Stefania Giombini e Flavia Marcacci. Aguaplano—Officina del libro, Passignano s.T. 2010, pp. 403-414 [ISBN/EAN: 978-88-904213-4-1]. Videoimpaginazione/graphic layout by: Raffaele Marciano.

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copyright © 2010 by Aguaplano—Officina del libro. www.aguaplano.eu / [email protected] In copertina/Cover: Greece, Athens (Ancient). Erecthion, Caryatide Porch (1860-1890), National Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. Videoimpaginazione/graphic layout by: Raffaele Marciano.

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cholars who deal with the tradition of the Seven Sages are well aware of the fact that one has to wait until Plato’s Protagoras (343a) in order to have a irst mention of a complete list of seven sophoi. This detail grants a special place to the testimony of Plato, but two more aspects should be added, although of a very different nature: the central role that he attributes to Solon among the Sages and the fact that he must have inluenced Plutarch in imagining the Septem Sapientium Convivium. Taken as a whole, these three factors explain why Plato is usually an obligatory presence in discussions dealing with the Seven Sages. Although his contribution cannot be ignored, some scholars have pushed the argumentation too far, by asserting that the sophoi never existed as an assembled group before Plato, and that he was responsible for the creation of the concept of a sylloge of Seven Sages. With this paper, I intend to argue that the importance of Plato’s testimony is undeniable, although the weight attributed to it is not due to the radical novelty of what he says about the Sages, but more to the circumstance that it was Plato who wrote this testimony.

1. Gnomic literature was, since antiquity, an attractive and fashionable way of passing to children the traditional values of their culture, by providing a mental structure that would work as a paradigm able to inluence the behaviour of an individual not only in what concerns religious and moral beliefs, but also in the social and political ield. Al* I would like to express my gratitude to Robert Wallace, for suggestions and helpful criticism concerning an earlier version of this paper, although he cannot be held responsible for the inal perspectives here expressed.

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though simple and popular in its formulation, the literature of maxims was probably aristocratic in origin, in the sense that it represents a vehicle of transmitting a typology of principles which is usually connected with the aims and interests of the upper classes. This kind of literature is not exclusive to Greek culture and can assume very different shapes, although it generally follows the same basic scheme: an older or more experienced person who offers counsel to a younger or less skilled interlocutor.1 In Greece, the image of the Seven Sages is particularly representative of this phenomenon, a tradition that would last for centuries and lourish into the Roman times, without ceasing to incorporate new elements all through this period, to the point that more than twenty names were to ind place among the group of the seven sophoi.2 When the proile of these sophoi is considered, it becomes clear that they represent the world as seen through the lens of a smaller part of the community: the sages are usually Greek, aristocrats and men—even if some special barbaroi (as Croesus and Anacharsis) were also to be included in the group. Characters of a very different kind—as the ex-slave Aesop and the young girl Cleobouline—were also in contact with them, but although they could sometimes be present in a meeting of the Seven Sages and even participate in the discussion, they were not considered as part of that restrained circle.3 Another important factor is that most of these men had an historical existence, even if, in the future, they would attract much legendary ampliication, especially in biographical details. But as a whole, the historical context in which some of these igures (Thales, Solon, Bias, Pittacus, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, and Croesus) operated suggests that the tradition began to take shape during the Archaic period, more speciically between the seventh and sixth centuries. This is related to the fact that, throughout this period, Greece experienced great political and social tensions, which were accompanied by the rise of charismatic 1. For a general conspectus of ‘wisdom literature’, see M.L. West, The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth, Oxford 1997. 2. Cf. Diogenes Laertius, 1.41-42. 3. As is the case of Plutarch’s Septem Sapientium Convivium, a work which can be interpreted as a cosmopolis of different sorts of wisdom. On this see D.F. Leão, Plutarch and the Character of the Sapiens, in a.g. nikoLaiDis (Ed.), The Unity of Plutarch’s Works. Moralia Themes in the Lives, Features of the Lives in the Moralia, Berlin-New York 2008, pp. 480-488.

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leaders who would play a determinant role in solving these tensions, principally by acting as advisors and legislators, and sometimes by heading autocratic governments.4 It seems thereby quite reasonable to suppose that, at least with the most emblematic characters, their position as well-known philosophers, poets, rulers or lawgivers was a determinant factor in promoting them as special persons and candidates to paradigmatic sophoi.5 Despite the antiquity of the igures that came to be considered sages, it is only in Herodotus that we have the irst literary expression of the coniguration of a legend concerning the sophoi,6 although the historian was probably not aware of the existence of an established sylloge of Seven Wise Men. In Herodotus, what most stands out are the meetings sponsored by Croesus and the advice which he received from igures like Thales (1.74.2; 75.3-4), Bias (or Pittacus, 1.27.1-5) and Solon (1.2932). Herodotus also mentions Chilon (1.59.2-3), Periander (1.20; 23), and Anacharsis (4.76-7), thus providing a irst presentation of personalities that were to sustain an important role as sophoi in later tradition. Especially important are the details of the meeting between Solon and Croesus, which will become a typical model for the way in which a dialogue involving a Greek sage and an eastern monarch might have unfolded.7 Besides that, the importance of Croesus in the development of the tradition of the Seven Wise Men has long ago been remarked.8 This should be explained by the notoriety that the Lydian king enjoyed among the Greeks and by the probable inluence of Delphi—a perspec4. See the pertinent observations of r.W. WaLLace, Charismatic leaders, in k.a. raaWees, A Companion to Archaic Greece, Malden-Oxford 2009, pp. 411-426. This study focuses on three poleis (Mytilene, Megara, and Athens), for which contemporary evidence is provided by the poets Alcaeus, Theognis, and Solon. 5. I do not share entirely the opinion of WaLLace 2009, pp. 420-421, according to whom the sophoi represent a new kind of leaders, in the sense that they were sophoi and because of that became charismatic leaders. 6. Furthermore, the image of the advisor becomes a recurrent motive in the work of the historian. This has long ago been remarked e.g. by r. LattiMore, “The wise adviser in Herodotus”, Classical Philology, 34, 1939, pp. 24-35, p. 24, who already placed Amasis in the gallery of tragic advisors. 7. For a study of the different stages in the formation of this paradigmatic interview, see D.F. Leão, “Sólon e Creso: fases da evolução de um paradigma”, Humanitas, 52, 2000, pp. 27-52. 8. E.g. b. sneLL, Leben und Meinungen der Sieben Weisen, München 1952, pp. 4243. FLaub-H. van

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tive more easily understood if we take into account the impact caused in the Hellenic world by the magniicent offerings made to the oracle by Croesus.9 On the other hand, though any indication of the number seven is still not to be found in Herodotus (who refers to his special visitors in only a vague way, as sophistai10), the number seven would be the formula adopted to designate the sages as a group. The importance of this number in many other accounts and cultures is well known, but it is also arguable that it has some direct relation to Delphic interests. In fact, this was precisely the number of Apollo’s birthday (which fell on the seventh of the month of Byzios, February/March), the reason why consultations were initially conducted exclusively on this date and were only later extended to other periods to deal with the huge crowds of visitors searching for the god’s enlightenment.11 At any rate, the question of the number will be more relevant precisely to discuss Plato’s testimony. Here it is enough to stress the fact that, though the presence of a sylloge of Seven Sages is still not clearly detected in Herodotus, a few features can already be found in his work which shall be characteristic to it: the importance of certain inluential regions, like Ionia (Pittacus, Bias, and Thales), Athens (Solon) and the Peloponnese (Chilon, Periander); and the role of Delphi, as a hub for all of these igures.12 From this point on the canon will begin to establish itself, though it shall remain open to enrichment by new contributions and developments. 9. HeroDotus, 1.50-51; baccHyLiDes, 3.15-29. See also H.W. Parke, “Croesus and Delphi”, Greek. Roman and Byzantine Studies, 25, 1984, pp. 209-232. 10. 1.29.1. The word sophists is here used in the neutral sense of ‘wise’. Later on (2.49.1), Herodotus employs the same word to designate an expert in a certain ield, as happens with the art of the seer. The fact that Herodotus says that the Greek sages of the day visited Croesus has sometimes been interpreted as suggesting that the idea of synchronism of these men was popular already before Plato, as well as the existence of a group of Seven Sages. See a. MossHaMMer, “The Epoch of the Seven Sages”, California Studies in Classical Antiquity, 9, 1976, pp. 165-180, p. 172; r.P. Martin, “The Seven Sages as Performers of Wisdom”, in c. DougHerty-L. kurke, Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece. Cult, Performance, Politics, Oxford 1998, pp. 108-128, p. 113. 11. On parallels for the use of hebdomads in other cultures (Near East and ancient India), see Martin 1998, pp. 120-122, who also discusses the pertinence of the association of the Seven Sages with Delphi, although on a different ground: as an expression of the «Indo-European institution of the sacriicial collegium» (p. 123). 12. See a. busine, Les Sept Sages de la Grèce antique, Paris 2002, pp. 17-27, esp. p. 27.

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2. As told already at the beginning of this paper, the irst mention of the Seven Sages occurs in Plato’ Protagoras. But before discussing that reference more at length, it is worth mentioning the fact that the same Plato presents another list, although incomplete, in the Hippias Major.13 He mentions the Sages in the introductory part of the dialogue, where Hippias of Elis is complaining that he has no time for his own interests, because he is too much involved in the life of the polis. Socrates answers him this way (Hp. Ma. 281b-c): That is what it is like to be truly wise, Hippias, a man of complete accomplishments: in private you are able to make a lot of money from young people (and to give still greater beneits to those from whom you take it); while in public you are able to provide your own city with good service (as is proper for one who expects not to be despised, but admired by ordinary people). But Hippias, how in the world do you explain this: in the old days people who are still famous for wisdom—Pittacus and Bias and the school of Thales of Miletus, and later ones down to Anaxagoras—that all or most of those people, we see, kept away from affairs of state?14

The passage is obviously pervaded by Socratic irony, which aims at denouncing Hippias’ self-indulgence, as is made clear by the fact that Socrates mentions the detail that Hippias exacts money from the youth for his teachings. But the picture is enlarged in order to include a broader opposition between the false wisdom of a sophistes in the narrower sense (i.e. a sophist) and the true sophia of the traditional sages. The irony is even more striking because Socrates apparently is saying the contrary of this, when he states that Hippias is a “truly wise” and complete person, while those men of old had only the reputation of being wise.15 This detail contributes to the understanding of another statement which seems, at irst sight, to be quite puzzling: the fact that, according to Socrates, these palaioi sophoi refrained from participating 13. busine 2002, p. 31, considers this reference a ‘proto-list’. 14. English version by P. WooDruFF, Plato. Hippias Major. Translated, with commentary and essay, Oxford 1982. 15. As WooDruFF 1982, p. 36, remarks, Hippias seems to be “wiser because his wisdom turns a proit”, and it is the irony of this absurdity that the sophist fails to grasp. A similar kind of “Socratic” irony is used by Simonides (as sophos) with the tyrant Hiero, just from the beginning of the homonym dialogue written by Xenophon. See v.J. gray, “Xenophon’s Hiero and the meeting of the Wise Men and tyrant in Greek literature”, «The Classical Quarterly», 36, 1986, pp. 115-123, pp. 115-116.

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in the affairs of the polis. Herodotus says quite the opposite, when he states that these men were involved in politics at the higher level, combining diplomacy with theory and practical solutions.16 Thus in Plato’s time as in the subsequent tradition, the association of the sophoi with political discussion was something very obvious—certainly obvious enough to make Hippias’ portrait quite ridicule. A second commentary at this passage should be added in regard to Anaxagoras. Diogenes Laertius (1.42) declares that some authors considered him also one of the Seven Sages, while others sustain that he was a personality closer to Pericles and thereby to a less traditional intellectual lineage. In the Phaedrus (270a), Plato presents Socrates speaking ironically of the good inluence of Anaxagoras on Pericles.17 But apart from the perspective that would be more in accord with Plato’s own sensibility towards Anaxagoras, the most prominent in this passage is that Anaxagoras is presented as belonging to a frontier line, to a period marking the end of the epoch of the great Sages. Taking as reference the fact that the most famous Sages were active during the irst quarter (or at the most during the irst half) of the sixth century,18 Anaxagoras, who lived much later than that (500-428 BC) would represent a very low terminus ad quem to the epoch of the Seven Sages. Thus Anaxagoras is here presented as an epigonos of the ancient sophia, which would soon be replaced by the proit-oriented sagacity of sophists like Hippias. In fact, according again to Diogenes Laertius (1.22.5), who is quoting Demetrius of Phalerum, Thales was the irst to be ‘oficially’ considered sophos, and the whole group of the Seven Saves was formally identiied as sophoi during the archonship of Damasias (582/1), the same year that corresponded to the irst regular celebration of the Pythian Games.19 16. E.g. Bias or Pittacus (1.27); Thales (1.75); Bias and Thales (1.170). gray 1986, p. 120, says that the fact that a same episode is attributed to both Bias and Pittacus (1.27) is a sign that already before Herodotus there were different versions of the stories concerning these personalities—and by extension that there existed a wider tradition even if not recorded in writing. The same could be said about Anacharsis (cf. HeroDotus, 4.76-77). 17. Cf. also [PLato] Ep. 2.311a; PLutarcH, Per. 4.6 and passim. According to Plutarch (Per. 32.2) and other later sources, Anaxagoras faced an accusation of asebeia, whose real motivation was the desire to harm Pericles’ public image. 18. WaLLace 2009, p. 421, calls attention to the fact that all core Sages were active between 597 and 582. 19. On the complex problems involving the dating of the Seven Sages’ date, see MossHaMMer 1976, p. 165 sqq.

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It is now time to analyze the much-quoted passage where Plato mentions the Sages as a group (Prt. 342e-343b): Now there are some, both of earlier times and of our own day, who have seen that admiration of Sparta is much more a matter of learning than of gymnastics, and who know that the ability to utter sayings of that kind is the mark of a perfectly educated man. Thales of Miletus was one, Pittacus of Mytilene another, Bias of Priene, our own Solon, Cleobulus of Lindos, Myson of Chen(ae); the Spartan Chilon was counted as the seventh. All of these were admirers, devotees, and students of the Spartan education, and you can see that their own wisdom is of that kind, as each is the author of some brief, memorable sayings. And not only that, but they joined together to make an offering to Apollo at his temple in Delphi of the fruits of their wisdom, and inscribed there those familiar maxims “Know thyself” and “Nothing in excess”. What, then, is the point of all this? The point is that that was the form of expression of the wisdom of former times, a Laconian brevity.20

The most important thing about this passage is that it provides the irst complete list of Seven Wise Men. A possible sign that Plato was innovating in supplying the full sylloge in writing is given by the fact that the philosopher presents “l’intégralité des sept noms et leurs ethniques respectifs”.21 Still according to A. Busine, if this was not the case, it would seem more spontaneous to refer to the Sages by simply using the expression hepta sophoi, which would later become the usual designation. This argument has certain pertinence, but is not satisfactory by itself: in reality, much later than Plato, Diogenes (1.41-42) provides the name of more than twenty sophoi and he sometimes keeps using the ethnic identiication and even the patronymic when referring to well-known personalities. Even though, it is an undeniable fact that the earliest surviving reference to the sylloge is the passage under discussion, but this does not imply that Plato was himself creating the legend of the Seven Wise Men, as has already been sustained.22 On the contrary, Herodotus mentions already all these names, with the exception 20. English version by c.c.W. tayLor, Plato. Protagoras. Translated with notes, Oxford 1976. 21. busine 2002, pp. 33-34. 22. Especially by D. FeHLing, Die Sieben Weisen und die frühgriechische Chronologie. Eine traditionsgeschichtliche Studie, Bern 1985, pp. 9-19.

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of Cleobulus and Myson, although he presents them by association to other personalities or events, and not as a group. In the irst part of this paper, it has been argued that the number seven is present in many other accounts and cultures, whose origi...