7/29/2019 Cynic Conception of AYTARKEIA http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cynic-conception-of-aytarkeia 1/8 The Cynic Conception of Aytapkeia Author(s): Audrey N. M. Rich Source: Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 9, Fasc. 1 (1956), pp. 23-29 Published by: BRILL Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4427776 . Accessed: 04/08/2011 22:53 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Mnemosyne. http://www.jstor.org
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Author(s): Audrey N. M. RichSource: Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 9, Fasc. 1 (1956), pp. 23-29Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4427776 .
Accessed: 04/08/2011 22:53
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Mnemosyne.
continually stresses his abstemious way of life 1), while Plato toobears witness to his frugal habits, his ability to endure hardshipand his indifferenceto materialprosperity. But whereasXenophonemphasises the austere side of Socrates'character, Plato gives us aless one-sided view and shows us that the cxU&tCpxsLocf Socrates is based
on motives which differ radically from those underlying the Cynicconception. Socrates, it is true, neglects his material concerns,buthis reasonfor so doing is not that he feels, like the Cynic, that such
concerns are a necessary bar to the good life, but simply that hismission as a philosopher eaves him no time to attend to his worldlyaffairs2). Again, his attitude to pleasure s obviously quite differentfrom that of the Cynic. In moments of relaxation, as Plato'sSymposium indicates, he can enjoy the pleasures of drinking andsocial intercourse with considerable zest - and yet without de-triment to his Self-Sufficiency. For his conduct illustrates a truthto which the eyes of the Cynics were apparently blinded, namely,that the ability to maintain a temperate attitude in the enjoyment
of material blessings, is really a far more convincing proof ofspiritual independence than the outright rejection of all pleasureas an obstacleto be avoidedby those who would attain xcxU'tpx?e&c.
In some ways Plato's attitude is much more "cynic" in tonethan that of Socrates. Admittedly he realises that in the materialsphere the au-&cpxeLocf the individual is a physical impossibility,and actually attributes the genesis of the community to the factthat tuyZXv pvxiatov oux acurocpxs&?a&&oc v 3), buton the moral level, however, o'crcXpxexcs, he thinks, attainable by
the virtuous man. The Good at which men aim is, so Plato thinks,of necessity perfect, and as such, lacks nothing (0tv?v 0t8eV0'
tC7poa8eaOocL)4). It follows then, that he who is in possession of the
i) AMem.. III. 5. o0rc y&p zT 5 iv &a-T otx o18' av E' TLL o5tcZ5 oXLyOC
kpydcOLTo, ?rCSa 4n xOC,43&VzLVO'TEC)xp&TrL &pxo(5v-tOx.Cp. I. II. I4. It is interesting to notice that Xenophon puts into the mouth
of Socrates a remark similar to that elsewhere (D. L. VI. I04) ascribed toDiogenes: -o6 pdv V68eV 8aCLeoat eov lVcLL, T0 8? @c zXM artCv&yyu'r&cxa-ro5 OeLou.... (Mem. I. VI. io).
Only on the level of pure contemplation will Aristotle admit the
possibility of Self-Sufficiency 5). For, in order to contemplate, a
man needs no object external to himself on which to focus his
activity. But even the contemplative can never be Self-Sufficient
in the physical sense, for even he needs food, clothing, and bodily
health if his contemplative activity is not to be hindered by materialcares, ou yap au ocpxz n cp6uC p T4O&pv 6).u-0pXSa is,
I) Pol. I253 A 29. Possibly Aristotle has the Cynics actually in mind whePhe says this, for of course, the gods and the animals are, in the eyes of theCynic, the very types of the oc&rapxeLoco which he aspires.
2) Nic. Eth. 1097 B II. cp. II69 B 8. itoMnXOV yap o ocvOpW7Oq xOl GUonv
7recpux6q.3) See Nic. Eth. II69 B 3 ff.4) ibid. II77 A 30.
5) Nic. Eth. II77 A 27. iT Tr tyOL6VW OcutpX?L 7epL T7V O p?y-Lx7V [LOcMa'r,
therefore, only attainable, accordingto Aristotle, in a limited sense,
as a product of the contemplative life. On the practical level it is
not possible at all. Thus, as far as Aristotle is concerned, there is
absolutely no case for ocU'rpxeLocn the Cynic sense. For the Cynic
being essentially an adherent of the r'to4 7rp0Cx'nx0q,repudiates
Oep(pLan all its forms, and ipso facto, on Aristotelian premises at
least, his claim to Self-Sufficiency must be disallowed.
CARDIFF, University College.
AD VERGILII CULICIS vss. 35-38
Culicem Vergilii carmen esse teneo sed nunc fusius demonstrare praeter-mitto. Versus 35 sqq. hi sunt:
35 mollia sed tenui pede currere carmina versuviribus apta suis Phoebo duce ludere gaudet.Hoc tibi, sancte puer; memorabilis et tibi certetgloria perpetuum lucens mansura per aevum.
Pro apta nonnulli codices praebent acta, quod immerito Giomini (Ap-
pendix Vergiliana, 1953) in textum recepit. Deinde pro gaudet codd. AUhabent gaudent, faciliorem sane lectionem, quam Plesent et Giomini alteripraetulerunt; Leo singularem numerum defenderat, ita ut pagina (vs. 26)eius verbi subiectum sit, qua in re ei assentior. Contra astipulari ei nequeoasseveranti: 'Constructio ita variata est, ut in priore membro pagina gaudeatquod carmina currant, in altero ipsa ludere gaudeat'. Scilicet non offenditconstructionis variatio minime insolita, sed offendit asyndeton vel iuvenipoetae nimis durum. Vix dubito equidem, quin infinitivus q. e. currere
pendeat ab adiectivo q.e. mollia: 'mollia tenui pede currere' significat'mollia ad currendum tenui pede'; cfr. e.g. Georg. I, 284 '(dies) felix ponerevitem'; Ecl. 5, i '(pastores) boni calamos inflare et dicere versus' (videKiihner-Stegmann II ? I25 A 3). Ergo carmina non est subiectum verbi
quod sit gaudent (ut volunt Pl6sent et Giomini) sed obiectum verbi q.e.ludere: pagina versu ludere (cfr. Ecl. 6,I) gaudet carmina, mollia tenui pedecurrere, quaeque (aliter atque res versibus praecedentibus indicatae) viribussuis sint apta.
Quod attinet ad lectionem traditam certet, Leo eam defendere conatusest sed locutionem curiosius quaesitam exemplo comprobare se non posseconfitetur. Alii alia excogitaverunt: restet Ellis; crescet Sillig; sibi perstetHeinsius; certast (certa est) Baehrens; tibi perstet Pl6sent; memorYabile;it tibicerte Buecheler. Nisi omnia me fallunt, praestat legere constet (cstet pro ctet).Cfr. e.g. Colum. 9, 9, 7 'si constat principibus gratia'; Val. Max. 4, 4, 7 'ei ....dignitas patris familiae constitit'; Sen. Dial. 9, 7, 6 'constet illi licet fides etbenevolentia', sed imprimis Gratt. 206: 'quae Petroniis bene gloria constat'.
Traiecti ad Rhenum, Prins Hendriklaan 68. H. WAGENVOORT