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The Books of Phaedrus Requested by Cicero (Att. 13.39)

Kirk Summers

The Classical Quarterly , New Series, Vol. 47, No. 1. (1997), pp. 309-311.

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S H O R T E R N O T E S 309

than it would if it simply evoked the broade r associations of myrtle with Venus andsex.

At this point it is appropriate to note that investigations of the Casina usuallyaddress the issue of its relation to Diphilus Kleroumenoi, which Plautus says is hismodel (324).21Could these aromatic names have originated in Diphilus play? N onames of characters preserved in fragments of D iphilus seem to play similar games. Itis also clear from Plautus adap tation of Menander s Dis Exapaton in the Bacchidesthat he could invent new an d funnier nam es for his model s characters. Thu sMenander s Syrus is renamed Chrysalus: Chrysalus makes jokes about gold that playon th e Greek etymology of his nam e (Bacch. 240, 361-2); an d, expressing his owngreater am bitions in deceiving his master, says that he disdains Parmenos an d Syruseswho snatch two or three minas from their masters (Bacch. 649-50).22

Whatever Diphilus may or may not have done, in the Casina scents signify therelations of the characters. The aromatic names Pardalisca, Casina, and Myrrhinaconstitute a spectrum of erotic appeal: the breath of then 6 p S a A i s is alluring,dangerous, and remote from human experience; cassia is an obtainable, thoughexpensive, foreign luxury; myrtle is familiar, appealing, and available close to home.Just as exotic perfumes are not suitable for old men, Casina will elude Lysidamus.Myrrh ina, thou gh she aids in Cleostrata s plot against Lysidamus, remains withinmarriage, a t hom e in the landscape (like myrtle) as she has been all along. Pardalisca,the exotic n d p S a A i s excluded from legitimate marriage, will remain an alluringoutsider.

University of Washington C A T H E R IN E C O N N O R S

2 For an overview, see W. T. MacCary, The Comic Tradition and Comic Structure in DiphilosKleroumenoi , Hermes 101 (1973), 194208; see also W. S. Anderson, Barbarian Play: PlautusRoman Comedy(Toronto, 1993), pp. 53-9.

SOnoted by E. W. Handley, Menander and Plautus: A Study in Comparison (University ofLondon Inaugural Lecture, London, 1968), p. 9.

TH E BOOKS O F PHAEDRUS REQ UESTED BY CICERO (ATT. 13.39)Around 16 August of 45 B C Cicero wrote a brief letter t o A tticus (A tt. 13.39) inwhich he reminds Atticus to send the book s of the Epicurean scholarch Phaedrusthat he had requested. The Greek words in the text of his request have beencorrupted through the centuries:

Libros mihi de quibus ad te antea scripsi velim mittas et maxime@ai8pov xrpi Ocdvet <l7A AIA OC>.

Based on this passage alone, some have assumed with an unwarranted degree ofcertainty tha t Phaedr us wrote a work o n the gods. In fact, the manuscripts offer nomore t han the following enigma:@A IAP OY l7EPIOCQNet l7AA IA OC.

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310 S H O R T E R N O T E S

No oth er evidence exists to tell us the title of anything that P haedrus wrote. Still, alleditors have accepted nr plOecjv as a reasonable dec iphermen t for the lettersOCQWthat appea r in most manuscripts. Editors have made little headway, thou gh , with thesecond title. Tyrrell and Purser rep ort several scholars' suggestions (nrp l l7aAAd6os,A ~ o A X o S d ~ ~ o v,nd navrds), but prefer to leave the text obelized. On the same textShackleton-Bailey comments, 'Nothing worth record has been made of what followsin the MSS'.2

The historical context in which Cicero wrote this letter, and the timeline that wecan trace, albeit tentatively, for the composition of his philosophical works duringthose days, allows us to imagine still other possibilities for this distorted passage.Earlier in the same letter Cicero mentions that he is thoroughly immersed inwriting ('valde enim in scribendo haereo'), and indications from other passages arethat he is writing the de natura d e o r ~ m . ~t first glance it seems logical that Cicerowould be requesting theological works to help him accurately portray the Epicureanstance on the nature of the gods in the first book of thede natura deorum. Philippsonargues on the basis of A f t . 13.38.1 , however, that Cicero had already completedVelleius' presentation of Epicurean doctrine (DND 1.42-56) and had moved on toCotta's rebuttal of it (DND 1 57-124).4 For Velleius' presentation, C icero apparentlyrelied mainly on two works of Philodemus: nepl e;ue/3elas for the doxographicalsection, and nepl Orcjv for the theoretical discu~sion.~id Cicero now intend tosupplement what he gleaned from Philodemus' nrplOecjv by examining Phaedrus'work of the same name? Possibly, but if Philippson's chronology is correct, he mighthave been interested in using Phaedrus' work for the rebuttal instead. Pa rt of Cotta'sobjection to Epicurean theology was that it undermined religious practice (esp.1.115-124), an d so Cicero may have wanted to compare Phaedrus' views with those hehad found in Philodemus' nrp l r;ur/3elas. Perhaps, then, Cicero was not requesting atheoretically oriented nepl Oecjv, but a work about religious worship, a n rp l dulwv (atitle roughly equivalent to Philodemus' nr pl E ;O E /~ E ~ U S ).n terms of paleography, nepl'dulwv has at least the merit of nrpl Oecjv: we would only be dealing with the accidentalomission of a single vertical stroke. And even though this title does not have as rich atradition in Epicurean circles as nepl Oecjv, Diogenes Laertius does record thatEpicurus himself wrote a work entitled nepl d u ~ d ~ ~ r o s10.27) and that he exhibitedoutstand ing piety towards the gods (np Oeods ~ U L ~ T ~ S ,0.10). Furthermore, aninscription found in the Athenian agora reveals that Phaedrus, like Epicurus beforehim, had been initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, an indication that he had aninterest in religiousrites6

Th e second book requested by Cicero need not relate to thede natura deorum at all.

S.-B., ibid., p. 387.See At t . 13.38 (S-B. 5.341, dated c . 15 August 45 B.c. . Taken in conjunction with

de divinatione 2.3-4, it is clear th at Cicero has finished (or just abo ut finished) theTusculanDisputations an d is in the midst of w riting thede natura deorum . For a discussion of th e dating seeA S Pease (ed.),M . Tulli Ciceronis de natura deorum (Cambridge, M A 1955), vol. 1, pp.20-2.R . Philippson, 'Die Quelle der epikureischen Go tterlehre in Ciceros erstem Buche de naturadeorum', S O 19 (1939), 1 5 4 0 .

Ib id., 29-31. Also Pease, op. cit., passim, an dM . Gigante, Philodemus in Italy transl. by D.Ob bink ( An n Arbor, 1995), pp. 5-7.

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311H O R T E R N O T E S

The rapidity with which Cicero produced his philosophical works during 45 and 44B.C. implies that Cicero was constantly thinking ahead to upcoming projects.' Theurgency evident in the word 'maxime' suggests that the books he wants relate either toworks in progress or those in the stage of formulation. Cicero had still to write thededivinatione and de fato at this time, while the next non-theological work in whichEpicurean ideas are touched upon is thede amicitia. In the de divinatione Cicerodismisses Epicurus out of hand at 1.5, and a lthough Epicurus wrote a work abou t fate(rep : ~ ~ p a ~ p 6 v ~ ~ ) ,icero does not seem to have used it or any other Epicureantreatise for his de fato. Neither the de senectute nor the de officiis depends onEpicurean sources. Thus, the only work that lay ahead of Cicero for which he shouldneed Epicurean sources is thede amicitia, which was finished during the monthsfollowing Caesar's assassination in the spring of B.c., perhaps receiving the finaltouches as late as a ~ t u m n . ~n view of this, the enigmatic second Greek title may havebeen nr p l +Alas. This conjecture not only provides a reasonable untangling of theGreek letters (especially if one notes the reading ofR 'CIAAIAOC), it fits well withPhaedrus' personality: by all reports, he made up in congeniality what he lacked inintellectual prowess. Furthermore, Cicero's brief treatment of Epicurean ideas onfriendship in thede amicitia would have a textual basis if this reading were correct. Inparticular, the idea that friendship should be entered upon for utilitarian reasons('praesidii ad iumentique causa', 13.46) was developed by laterepicurean^.^ But eventhis reading is not without its problems: the Epicurean view of friendship is alreadytreated an d refuted at length in thedefinibus (1.65-70, 2.78-85), the sources of whichremain a mystery. Still, we cannot rule out the possibility that, for thedefinibus, whichdid not have as its primary focus the topic of friendship, Cicero simply recalled whathe had heard at the lectures of Zeno of Sidon and Phaedrus himself. Later, whiledoing a book specifically on the topic of friendship, Cicero may have been anxious todouble check his information.

To sum up, I offer the following conjectural text for the end ofAtt. 13.39:

Libros mihi de quibus ad te antea scripsi velim mittas et maxime@ a i8 po v r e p > d o i w vet r c p l i X i a s .

In th e absence of any solid evidence, neither of the two conjectures is better o r worse

than what has been offered before by others. The form er one, however, by providinga reasonable alternative to the long-accepted reading ncpl ;v, should at least causeus to rethink the certainty with which we have attributed such a work to Phaedrus,while the latter is a challenge to th e notion, inherent in all the other conjectures, thatthe second work need relate to th ede natura deorum.

University of Alabam a, Tuscaloosa K I R K S U M M E R S

As Att. 13.8 S.-B. 5.313, dated the Ides of June 45 B.c. shows. There Cicero asksfor Panaetius' r e p i r p o v o i a s , which presumably he needed for the upcomingde divinatione.Then in the de divinatione, Cicero points ahead to thede fato at 127, when he promises todiscuss in anothe r work how everything happens by fate (but on his change of plans, seede fato1 and 4).

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The Books of Phaedrus Requested by Cicero (Att. 13.39)Kirk SummersThe Classical Quarterly , New Series, Vol. 47, No. 1. (1997), pp. 309-311.Stable URL:http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-8388%281997%292%3A47%3A1%3C309%3ATBOPRB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y

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6 Phaidros and His Roman PupilsA. E. Raubitschek Hesperia , Vol. 18, No. 1, The Thirty-Sixth Report of the American Excavations in the AthenianAgora. (Jan. - Mar., 1949), pp. 96-103.Stable URL:http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-098X%28194901%2F03%2918%3A1%3C96%3APAHRP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9

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