Download Lecture 4: Greek History and Rhetoric

T H E W O R L D O F G R E E K M Y T H & L I T E R AT U R E | C L A S S 4 : J U N E 2 5
HISTORY & RHETORIC
DR. MICHAEL GRIFFIN
UBC CLASSICS & PHILOSOPHY
S O C R AT E S . A R T S . U B C . C A / H E L L A S
[email protected]
GREEK HISTORY
1. HERODOTUS
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HERODOTUS
• Born in Halicarnassus
(Turkey)
• Lived c. 484-425 BCE
• “Father of history” (Cicero)
• Collected evidence and
compared sources
systematically for a
narrative of the wars
between Greece and
Persia
HERODOTUS
• What Herodotus the
Halicarnassian has learnt by
inquiry (historiē) is here set
forth: in order that so the
memory of the past may
not be blotted out from
among men by time, and
that great and marvellous
deeds done by Greeks and
foreigners and especially
the reason why they warred
against each other may not
lack renown. (1.1)
HERODOTUS
• Greco-Persian Wars
• Persia conquered Greek Asia
Minor (Ionia) late in the 6th C.
• “Ionian revolt” (499-493)
prompted Darius to embark
on an enormous undertaking
—the invasion and
subjugation of mainland
Greece. A major force, having
conquered many of the
Cyclades islands, was
unexpectedly defeated by an
Athenian hoplite force at the
Battle of Marathon (490 BCE)
Athens
HERODOTUS
• Greco-Persian Wars
• Darius’ son Xerxes
prepared a larger,
overwhelming invasion
force, which bridged and
crossed the Hellespont in
480, “drinking rivers dry”
• The force was unexpectedly
blocked at the small pass of
Thermopylae by a Spartan
force under King Leonidas,
with 300 men briefly
delaying the entire Persian
army in the narrow pass
David, Leonidas at Thermopylae (1814)
HERODOTUS
• Greco-Persian Wars
• The Spartan sacrifice gave the
Athenian general Themistocles
time to prepare a fleet to meet
the Persian force at Salamis.
• Years earlier, Themistocles
had persuaded the
Athenians to correctly
interpret the Oracle from
Delphi that “the wooden
wall alone shall not fail”
• The Athenian naval victory at
Salamis in 480 is decisive, and
Xerxes retreats.
HERODOTUS
• The Persian Wars—especially Xerxes’
attempt to raise an overwhelming
invasion force and dominate both
men and nature—were treated in
Greek literature as exemplary of
hubris followed by nemesis (e.g.,
Aeschylus’ tragedy Persians)
• The wars set up Athens and Sparta
as major powers for the duration of
the 5th century, with Athens
developing its naval alliance into a
Commonwealth, the Delian League,
which would become in practice an
empire; and Sparta developing its
land power into an alliance that
would go to war with Athens in the
Peloponnesian War (431-404)
HERODOTUS
• Herodotus apparently travelled very widely.
He consults, uses and compares sources in
a systematic way to narrate the wars; he
also conducts extensive “ethnographic”
projects (e.g., Book 2 on Egypt)
• He blends mythic and ‘historical’ events
(Book 1, opening)
• "Many things prove to me that the gods
take part in the affairs of man" (9.100).
• “The importance of the divine in
Herodotus is precisely that it guarantees
the world order. Therefore the majority
of the historical actions in Herodotus are
accompanied by some kind of divine
causation, which parallels human
motivation, but on a higher
plane” (Immerwahr, Form & Thought in
Herodotus, 1966: 312).
HERODOTUS
• “The barbarians had just
reached in their advance the
chapel of Athena Pronaia,
when a storm of thunder burst
suddenly over their heads - at
the same time two crags split
off from Mount Parnassus, and
rolled down upon them with a
loud noise, crushing vast
numbers beneath their weight
- while from the temple of
Athena there went up the warcry and the shout of
victory.” (8.37)
GREEK HISTORY
2. THUCYDIDES
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THUCYDIDES
• Born in Athens
• Lived c. 460-400 BCE
• History of the Peloponnesian
War narrates the conflict
between Athens (with her
allies) and Sparta (with her
allies), gathering detailed
evidence and studying social
and economic causation of
events, but not featuring the
gods as causes
• Deep study of human nature
THUCYDIDES
• Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of
the war waged by the Peloponnesians and the
Athenians against one another. He began the
task at the very outset of the war, in the belief
that it would be great and noteworthy above
all the wars that had gone before, inferring this
from the fact that both powers were then at
their best in preparedness for war in every way,
and seeing the rest of the Hellenic race taking
sides with one state or the other, some at
once, others planning to do so. For this was
the greatest movement that had ever stirred
the Hellenes, extending also to some of the
Barbarians, one might say even to a very large
part of mankind. Indeed, as to the events of
the period just preceding this, and those of a
still earlier date, it was impossible to get clear
information on account of lapse of time; but
from evidence which, on pushing my inquiries
to the furthest point, I find that I can trust, I
think that they were not really great either as
regards the wars then waged or in other
particulars. (1.1)
THUCYDIDES
• The story of the war adopts a
classic hubris-nemesis structure:
Athens’ imperialistic ambitions
culminate in an overreaching
invasion of Syracuse (the ‘Sicilian
Expedition’, 415-13 BCE), which
decisively weakens Athens
• The later Athenian leadership—
especially following the death of
Pericles— adopts a policy of
Realpolitik that mirrors negative
depictions of the sophists:
might makes right. (Thucydides
himself depicts the ruin brought
by this philosophy).
THUCYDIDES
• “To hear this history rehearsed,
for that there be inserted in it
no fables, shall be perhaps not
delightful. But he that desires
to look into the truth of things
done, and which (according to
the condition of humanity) may
be done again, or at least their
like, shall find enough herein
to make him think it profitable.
And it is compiled rather for an
everlasting possession than to
be rehearsed for a
prize.” (1.22)
THUCYDIDES
• “We should also spend more
funds to get our young people
out of the library where they're
reading Thucydides and get
them to start living like
Herodotus — going out and
seeing the world.” (Thomas
Geoghegan, “History
Lessons,” American Prospect,
March 12, 2007)
THUCYDIDES
• “To be an admirer of Thucydides'
History, with its deep cynicism
about political, rhetorical and
ideological hypocrisy, with its all
too recognizable protagonists —
a liberal yet imperialistic
democracy and an authoritarian
oligarchy, engaged in a war of
attrition fought by proxy at the
remote fringes of empire — was
[during the Cold War] to advertise
yourself as a hardheaded
connoisseur of global
Realpolitik.” (Daniel Mendelsohn,
‘Arms and the Man’, The New
Yorker, Apr 28, 2008)
GREEK RHETORIC
3. THE
SOPHISTS:
REALPOLITIK
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The New Teachers of Athens
• Athens of the fifth century BCE
‣ “Direct democracy” governing a powerful naval empire
‣ Persuasive speeches could steer the ship of state (or court)
Theatre at Epidauros, photograph © Shunya.net (2011)
The New Teachers of Athens
• Athens of the fifth century BCE
‣ “Direct democracy” governing a powerful naval empire
‣ Persuasive speeches could steer the ship of state (or court)
‣ Attracted (and created) public intellectuals: sophistai
- Promised to teach excellence (aretê) – for a fee.
- Included personal and rhetorical excellence.
- New world-view, seen as subverting traditional customs
The New Teachers of Athens
• The ethos of the epic poets: heroic justice versus hubris (AT 1)
‣ Hesiod, Works and Days 205-217: The Hawk & Nightingale
• The ethos of Athens’ new teachers (sophistai) (AT 2)
‣ Thucydides, Melian Dialogue: strength before justice
‣ Plato’s Thrasymachus: justice just is the stronger’s advantage
‣ Plato’s Callicles: nature versus convention
The New Teachers of Athens
Hesiod, Works & Days 205-217: The Hawk & Nightingale
Piteously she, transfixed by his crooked claws, was lamenting
When the imperious hawk addressed her in arrogant parlance,
"Why, little lady, such shrieks? One stronger than you now has got you;
Where you are going I'll take you myself, though you are a songstress,
For as I please I'll make you my dinner or give you your freedom.
Witless is one who attempts to strive against those who are stronger: When he is stripped of the prize it's injury added to insult."
Thus said the fast-flying hawk, that bird with the generous wing-span.
Pay more attention to justice and curb high-handedness, [brother];
Violence ill suits men who are lowly; not even the noble
Man can lightly endure it; it weighs on a person who's fallen
Into affliction. It's better to take your way on the other
Road which conduces to right. For outrage (hubris) surrenders to justice (dikē)…
The New Teachers of Athens
• The ethos of the epic poets: heroic justice versus hubris (AT 1)
‣ Hesiod, Works and Days 205-217: The Hawk & Nightingale
• The ethos of Athens’ new teachers (sophistai) (AT 2)
‣ Thucydides, Melian Dialogue: strength before justice
‣ Plato’s Thrasymachus: justice just is the stronger’s advantage
‣ Plato’s Callicles: nature versus convention
The New Teachers of Athens
Thucydides, History 5.84-116: The Melian Dialogue
ATHENIANS. [Y]ou know as well as we do that, when these matters
are discussed by practical people, the standard of justice depends on
the equality of power to compel and that in fact the strong do what
they can and the weak suffer what they must… Our opinion of the
gods and our knowledge of men lead us to conclude that it is a
general and necessary law of nature to rule whatever one can. This is
not a law that we made ourselves, nor were we the first to act upon
it when it was made. We found it already in existence, and we shall
leave it to exist for ever among those who come after us.
The New Teachers of Athens
• The ethos of the epic poets: heroic justice versus hubris (AT 1)
‣ Hesiod, Works and Days 205-217: The Hawk & Nightingale
• The ethos of Athens’ new teachers (sophistai) (AT 2)
‣ Thucydides, Melian Dialogue: strength before justice
‣ Plato’s Thrasymachus: justice just is the stronger’s advantage
‣ Plato’s Callicles: nature versus convention
The New Teachers of Athens
Plato, Republic I, 343A-D: Thrasymachus’ complaint
Tell me, Socrates, do you still have a wet nurse?… Because she’s
letting you run around with a snotty nose, and doesn’t wipe it when
she needs to!… You think that shepherds and cowherds seek the
good of their sheep and cattle, and fatten them and take care of
them, looking to something other than their master’s good and their
own. Moreover, you believe that rulers… think of something besides
their own advantage. You are so far from understanding… that you
don’t realize that justice is really the good of another, the advantage
of the stronger and the ruler, and harmful to the one who obeys and
serves. Injustice is the opposite, it rules the truly simple and just, and
those it rules do what is to the advantage of the other and stronger,
and they make the one they serve happy, but themselves not at all.
You must look at it as follows, my most simple Socrates: A just man
always gets less than an unjust one….
The New Teachers of Athens
• The ethos of the epic poets: heroic justice versus hubris (AT 1)
‣ Hesiod, Works and Days 205-217: The Hawk & Nightingale
• The ethos of Athens’ new teachers (sophistai) (AT 2)
‣ Thucydides, Melian Dialogue: strength before justice
‣ Plato’s Thrasymachus: justice just is the stronger’s advantage
‣ Plato’s Callicles: nature versus convention
The New Teachers of Athens
Plato, Gorgias 482C-484C: Callicles on nature and convention
[Y]ou’re in fact bringing the discussion around to the sort of crowdpleasing vulgarities that are admirable only by law [nomos, also
translatable “convention” or “custom”] and not by nature. And these,
nature and law, are for the most part opposed to each other… I
believe that the people who institute our laws are the weak and the
many. So they institute laws and assign praise and blame with
themselves and their own advantage in mind. As a way of frightening
the more powerful… out of getting a greater share than they, they
say that getting more than one’s share is “shameful” and “unjust…”
But surely, if a man whose nature is equal to it arises, he will shake off,
tear apart, and escape all this, he will trample underfoot our
documents, our tricks and charms, and all our laws that violate
nature. He, the slave, will rise up and be revealed as our master, and
here the justice of nature will shine forth.
Review of texts
F U R T H E R R E A D I N G S I N LY R I C , T R A G E D Y & M Y T H
Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet, Anthology of
Classical Myth. Primary Sources in Translation. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004.
Mark Griffith, Glenn Most, David Grene & Richmond Lattimore, Greek
Tragedies: Volume 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
R E A D I N G S F O R T H U R S D AY
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