1 Xenophanes on Drinking-Parties and Olympic Games^ MIROSLAV MARCOVICH Unlike the early Presocratics (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes) , the thinkers between 550 and 450 B.C. (Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles) all had the ambition of being enlighteners. In their endeavors, some even invoked divine assistance and authority (Pythagoras, Parmenides, Empedocles). The traveling sage Xenophanes of Colophon lived a long life of at least ninety-five years (ca. 570-475). He himself attests to his writing elegiac poetry at the age of ninety-two (B 8 Diels-Kranz). Of his rich harvest, however, only 120 lines survive. They fall into three categories, (i) A philosophical poem in hexameters, probably called Tlepl cpvaios andvTwv ("On the essence of all things"), dealing with God, with human know- ledge, and with natural phenomena (only 28 lines are extant). (2) At least four or five books of UlWoi, short parodies in hexameters and iambics, ridiculing almost everybody: Homer and Hesiod, Epimenides (B 20), Pythagoras (B 7), Simonides (B 21), Lasos of Hermione (A 16), and others (only 24 lines survive). (3) The lion's share, however, belongs to Xenophanes' elegiac poetry (with 68 extant lines). This is a poetry of exhortation and good advice, and I think it is this TrapaiveriKov yevos which enabled the wandering sage to keep soul and body together, while traveling from one Greek city to another and reciting his practical philosophy in verse-form, all the way from Colophon and Paros to Zancle, Catana, and the rich court of Hieron of Syracuse in Sicily. Thanks to Athenaeus two of his elegies survive complete (or almost complete). But for some reason 1 This is an enlarged version of a lecture delivered at the Johns Hopkins University, at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana. I am indebted to Professors Bernard M. W. Knox, Georg Luck, James H. Oliver, and James W. Poultney for kindly giving me the opportunity for delivering this lecture.
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1
Xenophanes on Drinking-Parties and
Olympic Games^
MIROSLAV MARCOVICH
Unlike the early Presocratics (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes) , the
thinkers between 550 and 450 B.C. (Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus,
Parmenides, Empedocles) all had the ambition of being enlighteners. In
their endeavors, some even invoked divine assistance and authority
(Pythagoras, Parmenides, Empedocles).
The traveling sage Xenophanes of Colophon lived a long life of at least
ninety-five years (ca. 570-475). He himself attests to his writing elegiac
poetry at the age of ninety-two (B 8 Diels-Kranz). Of his rich harvest,
however, only 120 lines survive. They fall into three categories, (i) Aphilosophical poem in hexameters, probably called Tlepl cpvaios andvTwv
("On the essence of all things"), dealing with God, with human know-
ledge, and with natural phenomena (only 28 lines are extant). (2) At least
four or five books of UlWoi, short parodies in hexameters and iambics,
ridiculing almost everybody: Homer and Hesiod, Epimenides (B 20),
Pythagoras (B 7), Simonides (B 21), Lasos of Hermione (A 16), and
others (only 24 lines survive). (3) The lion's share, however, belongs to
Xenophanes' elegiac poetry (with 68 extant lines). This is a poetry of
exhortation and good advice, and I think it is this TrapaiveriKov yevos
which enabled the wandering sage to keep soul and body together, while
traveling from one Greek city to another and reciting his practical philosophy
in verse-form, all the way from Colophon and Paros to Zancle, Catana, and
the rich court of Hieron of Syracuse in Sicily. Thanks to Athenaeus two of
his elegies survive complete (or almost complete). But for some reason
1 This is an enlarged version of a lecture delivered at the Johns Hopkins University,
at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, and at the University of Illinois at
Urbana. I am indebted to Professors Bernard M. W. Knox, Georg Luck, James H. Oliver,
and James W. Poultney for kindly giving me the opportunity for delivering this lecture.
2 Illinois Classical Studies, III
scholars have not hitherto attempted to assess their literary and philo-
sophical impact.
I. Xenophanes on Drinking-Parties : b i dk (ap. Athen. 462 c)^
und Formen friihgriechischen Denkens (2nd ed., Munich, i960) 335-337. J. Defradas, Les
Elegiaques Grecs (Paris, Collection firasme, 1962) 74-81. /rfe/n, "Le banquet de Xenophane,"
Revue des Etudes Grecques 75 (1962) 344-365. H. Frankel, Dichtung und Philosophie desfriihen
Griechentums (2nd ed., Munich, 1962) 372-376 = Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy (transl.
by M. Hadas and J. Willis, New York, 1975) 326-330. K. Ziegler, "Xenophanes von
Kolophon, ein Revolutionar des Geistes," Gymnasium 72 (1965) 289-302. D. A. Campbell,
Greek Lyric Poetry (London, 1967) 74-76 and 331-339. D. E. Gerber, Euterpe (Amsterdam,
1970) 238-239 and 243-249. M. Eisenstadt, The Philosophy of Xenophanes of Colophon (Diss
U. Texas at Austin, 1970) 37-78 and 186-195. M. L. West, Iambi et Elegi Graeci, H(Oxford, 1972) 163-165. Idem, Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus (Berlin, 1974) 189.
Miroslav Marcovich
F ^ B^ , P
^ojjjLos S' avOeaiv av to fxeaov ttccvttji TrerrvKaoTaL,
^, , , , ,, / . ^ ,
12 ixoXvrj S' dfj-fpls e';^ei Stu/xara /cat BoXltj. R
H G EJ^/dt) Se TTpwTov fxev deov VfJLvelv evcppovas avSpa?
F^ ^
A ^^
eixfnjixois fivOois kol Kadapolai Aoyot?, RaTTeiaavTccs re /cat ev^a/ievovs to. St'/cata hvvaodai
not . .." {Studies 189). Both interpretations are possible; but the difference
is of no vital importance to my point.
Xenophanes' prescriptions deal with: (i) libations, prayer and the
paean (i 3-1 7a); (2) drinking instruction (176-18) ; (3) the right entertain-
ment at a symposium (19-23) ; finally (4), propemptic good advice before
adjourning (24). The topics follow Greek symposiac customs.
(i) Libation. At the end of the dinner and before the floor was cleaned,
the guests had poured a libation of pure wine to Ayados AacfMcov (as Karl
Kircher had shown) .^ Now, at the beginning of the drinking-party, the
guests most probably will pour a triple libation of wine: to Zeus 'OXvfnnos
and the Olympians, to the heroes, and to Zeus EojTTjpJ Evidently, Bowra
(7) is wrong when writing: "Xenophanes seems to place the libation after
the paean, and the Ionian practice may have differed in this respect from
the Athenian." It did not; notice the difference in tense between
(TTTeiaavTois re Kal evia/xevovs (aorist) and vfiveiv (present) ; this implies
that the libation and prayer preceded the paean (compare Herter 35 n. 8).
(2) Prayer. "Pray for the strength or faculty to act justly, not for acts
of violence." I think West is right in defending u/Spet? (17) against v^pis
(introduced by Marcus Musurus in the Aldine edition of Athenaeus, of
1 5 14, and adopted by all scholars). For, as West (189) correctly pointed
out, if Xenophanes really wanted to say, "It is no sin to drink as muchas . . .," he could easily have said ouS' v^pis avoiding such a violent
postponement of 8e. What seems to be more important: it is questionable
whether the phrase ovx u/Spt? can yield the required sense, "fas est bibere"
(Karsten), "it is no sin to drink" (Guthrie), "it is no presumption to drink"
(Frankel), "dann soil's keine Siinde sein, zu trinken" (Reinhardt), "ist's
kein Ubermut so viel zu trinken" (Diels-Kranz), etc. On the contrary,
the opposition of u/Spei? ("acts of violence," predominantly on the battle-
field) to ra Si'/cata seems to be easy in early Greek. West refers to Hesiod,
Opera 145 f-, where the third generation of mortal men is said to have
cared only for woeful works of Area and deeds of violence (oIolv
"AprjosI
epy' e'jLceAe arovoevra Kal v^pies).
Bowra (2) wrote in support of u/3pt?: "Nor was it unusual to regard too
much drinking as u/Spt?. For even Anacreon subscribes to this belief, whenhe regulates the amount of water to be mixed with wine that he may hold
his revels avv^pLortos (fr. 43.5 Diehl)." I do not think Anacreon's regula-
tion is relevant here. If we read Anacreon PMG 356 so: ws avv^pioTOJs
^ Die sakrale Bedeutung des Weines im Altertum (RGW IX, 2, Giessen, 1910) 13 ff.
' E. Buchholz, Anthologie aus den Lyrikern der Griechen, 4th ed. (Leipzig, 1886), I, 64.
A. B. Cook, Z^^i II) Appendix (Cambridge, 1925) 1123 f. n. 7.
8 Illinois Classical Studies, III
(Pauw: av f v^pioTioJ's t Athen.)|ava hrjvre ^aaoaprjow, it may yield the
sense, "to revel in a decorous way, so that I may keep drinking without
engaging in disorderly acts." But Xenophanes' phrase is different. I think
the only sense the phrase ovx v^pig (sc. iorl) ttlvclv kt\. could give is,
"moderate drinking does not involve acts of violence" (which is out of
place here), not "it is no sin or outrage to drink."^ At least, it cannot be
paralleled.
Next, the word Trpox^f-porepov (i6) is puzzling. Possibly, it implies,
"it is an easier way for men to pray for strength to act justly than to pray
for success in deeds of violence," this "easier way" implying "preferable."
For, in the end ALktj always defeats "Y^pis, and a fool who does not knowthis will have to learn through suffering : TraOcov Se re vrj-nios eyvoj (Hesiod
Opera 216-218).
The most original idea of the prayer, however, seems to reside in
8vvao6aL (15), "strength or faculty to do what is just." Reitzenstein^ had
referred to Ion's prayer to Dionysus (fr. 1.15 f West) : "Give me long life,
and to drink, and to play, and to be mindful of right things (ktcci to: hiKaia
(ppov€lv)" which coincides with Hipparchus' inscription (apud Plato
Hipparch. 229 a), areixe SUata cppovcjv. But to think or purpose the right
thing is not the same as to have the strength to accomplish it, as Reinhardt
(128) had correctly pointed out; he refers to an anonymous poet in Plato's
Meno (77 b 2), who defined the ap^T-q as ;^atpetv re KaXolai Koi hvvaadai,
"to be fond of noble things and be able to provide or achieve them"
{hwarov etvai nopL^eaOai, explains Plato). 1°
Here too Bowra (8) had underestimated Xenophanes: "His prayer is
for strength to do the right things, and these are what almost any Greek
aristocrat would regard as belonging to his code." For, rrpriaoeiv (16)
most probably implies "to achieve, accomplish, bring about, fulfil," (as
Reinhardt, Snell, and Frankel had seen), and SvyaoOai. (15) is best
explained as hinting at a man's intellectual capacity to choose the right thing
to do: "die innere Kraft zum sittlichen Handeln" {Ziegler 293). By
stressing the need for divine assistance in a man's moral decision-making
(possibly implying freedom from delusion-"^T7^) Xenophanes radically
differs from the authors of traditional prayers.
^ Incidentally, Eduard Buchholz (n. 7, supra) already seemed to have sensed the violent
postponement of Se here; he prints: Tavra yap tSv ecrrt TTpoxeiporepov, ovx ^iSpi?. But his
rendering is weak in sense, "denn diese ist die hochste Pflicht, nicht frevle Uberhebung."^ R. Reitzenstein, Epigramm und Skolion (Giessen, 1913; reprint 1970) 50. Reinhardt
127 f.
^^ "Mit anderen Worten: wenn der Mensch auch noch so sehr das Gerechte denkt und
will, es zu vollbringen ist doch nicht in seine Macht gegeben ; er bedarfdazu der gottlichen
Hilfe." The rest of Reinhardt's interpretation (128-131) is far from convincing.
Miroslav Marcovich 9
(3) Paean. Most likely, it is sung either to Apollo or to Dionysus, and
not "to the god to whom the altar in the middle of the hall is dedicated."
For the probability is that this indoor-altar is dedicated to no god at all;
it is simply a small portable terracotta arula, "too small to support a sacri-
ficial fire, but rather intended to receive merely a few hot coals" for
burning incense, as archaeological material from both Greece and MagnaGraecia have shown.
^
Probably fMvOos refers to the content of the paean, Aoyo? to the verbal
expression. The chosen story or tale should be reverent, and it must be
expressed in adequate hymnic diction, contra Bowra (5): ".. . he means
that in hymns to the gods the tales told must be €V(pr)iJiOL and the subjects
treated KaOapoL'" The epithet Kadapos (14) may have been deliberately
chosen in order to resume Kadapos from lines i and 8. Language should
match the occasion.
We now come to a problem. Starting from the fact that singing a song
(/zoAtt-tj, 12) before the performance of the paean {Oeov u/xvetv, 13) is not
known from Greek symposiac literature. Professor Herter (in 1956)
advanced the interpretation that ixoXtttj is actually the paean sung by the
guests. While the guests sing the paean (=/zoA77-7j, 12), Xenophanes takes
the opportunity of telling us what the content of an ideal paean should be
{xprj 8e). "Vor allem bedeutet das Wort [/uoAtttj] ja gar nicht Musik,
sondern Gesang und kann daher nur das normale Festlied meinen [with
reference to Iliad 1.472-474]." ".. . es bleibt dabei, will man genau sein,
dass die Ermahnung [i.e., lines 13-24] wahrend des Gesanges gesprochen
wird. Damit zeigt sich aber, wozu sie da ist: sie soil eine Vorstellung von
dem Paian geben, der selber nicht reproduziert wird." (36). Herter then
saw in Xenophanes' elegy the earliest example of the device called
^eitraffung ("Time snatching"), which became so dear to later Hellenistic
and Roman poets: a selective discontinuity of the logical succession of
events in time, a clear example being TibuUus' Ambarvalia poem (2.i).i2
I am in strong disagreement with Herter's ingenious interpretation:
PloXtttj is not v[xvos. I prefer to think that Part I (1-12) describes only the
preparations for the symposiac ritual (libation, prayer, paean). Notice the
difference in tense between Part I and Part H (13-24). In Part I all the
verbs are in the present (or in the perfect-present) tense. What they
describe is what is actually happening. Starting with line 13, Xenophanes
qua avjXTToaiapxos takes the floor and gives his instructions for the ensuing
ritual, drinking, and entertainment : xPl followed by infinitives. Accord-
ingly, the paean is never sung in this poem : it will be sung after Xenophanes
II C. G. Yavis, Greek Altars (St. Louis, 1949) §54 (p. 137 f.) and §65 (pp. 171-175).
12 Herter (n. 1, supra) 37 ff.
lO Illinois Classical Studies, III
finishes his instructions. Then [xoXttt] must refer to some prelude to the real
paean, most probably sung by the hired lyre-player.
I have two main objections to Herter's interpretation. First: as is known,
libation and prayer precede the paean. Now if the guests had already
reached the stage of the paean in /xoATny (12), the toast-master's belated
instructions about libation and prayer in lines 15-17 become unmotivated,
even pointless. What is the point in telling the guests how to pray if they
had already prayed and are now singing the paean ?
Second: Plutarch {Quaest. conviv. 7.8.4 p. 712 F) writes: "The lyre has
been of old, both in Homer's times and today, an intimate member of the
banquet. Now it is not fair to dissolve an intimate friendship of such a long
standing: all we need do is request the singers to drop too many dirges and
laments from their repertory and to sing cheerful songs appropriate to menof festive spirit (evcprjixa kol TrpeirovTa 6aXidt,ovoLV avOpcoirois aiSovra?).
As for the flute, we could not drive it away from the table even if wewanted to: it is as essential to our libation as is the garland, and it helps
impart a religious tone to the singing of the paean (at yap airovhal
irXaoOevras ocKoveiv toxjs TralSag (377 b 6, where TrXaoOevrag recalls Xeno-
phanes' TrXdafiara, as Eisenstadt 58 had suggested). (2) They are politically
harmful while encouraging the youths to engage in civil strife, oi)Se ye (sc.
SoKel iTTirriSeia elvai Xeyeiv ve'ojt aKovovTi) to Trapdirav ojs Oeol deols iroXepLovai
re Kal em^ovXevovai /cat ixd^ovrai . . . et ye Set rjiilv tovs jxeXXovTUs ttjv ttoXlv
cpvXd^eiv ataxioTov vofii^eiv to paiSiaig aAA-^Aot? drrexOdveadaL—ttoXXov Set
yiyavTop-axl-ocs re fjLvdoXoyrjTeov avTOi^ Kal ttolkiXtcov, Kal dXXas exOpag noXXd^
Kul iravTohaTTas dea)v re Kal -qpcLaiv irpos ovyyevels re Kal oiKeiovs avTcov.
16 As H. Diels, Poetarum philosophorumfragmenta (Berlin, 1901) 35, J. Adam, The Republic
ofPlato (Cambridge, 1902 ; 2nd ed. 1963), I, 114, and recently Eisenstadt 58, and especially
in Hermes 102 (1974) 145 f., have pointed out.
14 Illinois Classical Studies, III
(6) Lines 19 and 20. If this interpretation of lines 21-23 holds good wemay be able to understand better why Xenophanes expects the singers
"to strive for moral excellence." Because such a zeal fits a singer's know-
ledge about the true nature of the gods (being exactly the opposite of the
"fabricated stories," -nXdaixara, of Homer and Hesiod) and about the real
value (xp-qaTov) for the city.
The success of a guest's performance, then, seems to depend on two
things: on his memory (ixvrjfxoavvT]) and on his moral endeavor (tovos
afx(p' aperfji). The former quality is part of his technical poetic skill, the
latter is much more than that. (Therefore Reinhardt's interpretation
of apcTTj as "der musikalische Teil des Vortrages" [p. 133] cannot be
correct.)
The text of line 20 no longer seems to present difficulty. I prefer Ahrens'
rji to Koraes' ol for the simple reason that an omitted dative can be more
easily understood than an omitted verb, and a parallel case is at hand:
Xenophanes B 2.8, where air' clt} stands for ctit' ol cLrj. Koraes' emenda-
tion Tovos seems to be well established since J. Sitzler {Berl. philol. Woch.
1921, 1053) referred to Pindar Pyth.ll.^^^walai S' a.jxcp' dperals rerafiai,
against the defense of the transmitted t6v o? by Wilamowitz {Hermes 71
[1926] 278 f), by T. W. Allen {Revue de philologie 8 [1934] 239 n. 11), by
Bowra (8), and by Untersteiner (104 f.). For, if we adopt Wilamowitz's
"two-singers theory" while translating, "Above all men praise this manwho after drinking tells noble thoughts as his memory serves, and that manwho tells about excellence" (Bowra, reading /cat tov os djxcp^ dpeTrjs), wewill find ourselves in the awkward position of distinguishing between
"noble deeds" {iadXd) and "moral excellence" (apeTTy).
West (189) advanced a different interpretation of lines 19 f. : "As for the
guests, applaud him whose skolion is edifying, so that the company's
reflection on things past, and their effort in the future, may be concen-
trated on goodness" {ojs rji ixvrjfjLoavvr] /cat tovos dp.cp' dperrji). I am at a
loss to see the point in the request that a man's reflection on things past be
concentrated on goodness. In addition, the change of subject from "the
singer" (in 19) to "the company as a whole" (in 20) seems to destroy the
deliberate opposition between ea^Aa ava99atveiv (19) and fxaxas Sterreiv
(21). Consequently, I prefer to understand the line as translated above
(compare, e.g., Campbell 336, "as his memory and his enthusiasm for the
virtue enable him").
More difficult is the text of line 19. My reason for banning viwv is not
so much the breach of Hermann's bridge (Xenophanes violates it at
B 1. 17; ^t B 15.2 epya reAetv anep dvSpes, and at B 34.2 ccaaa Xdycu Trepl
TrdvTcjjv), nor the strange position of vuLv (as pointed out by Frankel,
Miroslav Marcovich 15
EGP 327 n. 3), but the very association of iriajv with eoOXa avacpaivei.
Scholars adopting ttlcov explain it as standing in opposition to a.va(paivei:
"who although he has drunk reveals noble thoughts" (Gerber 246)
;
"his performance is good, although he has been drinking" (Campbell
336) ; "si la place des mots est inhabituelle, c'est que le poete met en
valeur le participe concessif mcuv" (Defradas, "Banquet" 348 n. 2). But I
think such an opposition is trivial and unworthy of the rest of Xenophanes'
message. As I have just stated, the excellence of a singer's performance
will depend on two things only: on his memory, and on his drive for moral
excellence. It does not depend on how strong his body is in resisting
intoxication. Theognis' instruction {491 f.), avUrjTos Se tol ovtos, os-
TToAAas' TTLvuiv fjL'q Ti ^(XTaiov ipei, is a platitude: it speaks of a commondrinker (cf. 481 /jLvdelrai 8' airdXaixva, to: vrjfpoci yiverai alaxpa), not of a
noble singer of tales.
For a close parallel to the corruption of 'iadX' iviajv into iaOXa ttlcov
compare Parmenides B 8.4: r]8e TeXecrrov (A. Covotti) for the transmitted
fjS' areXearov (an error possibly caused by ayevrjrov in the preceding line).
(7) Line 24. Finally, Xenophanes provides good advice for tomorrow
(notice alev) : "It is meet always to keep a good regard for the gods."
Herter, however, after referring to the Pythagorean injunction, "Be well
disposed toward the divine race" (Iambi. VP 100, en vpos tovtois Trepi t€
rod deiov /cat irepl rov Sai/jLOVLov Kal irepl rod -qpunKov yivovs €V(pr]p.6v re
(elvai ex Porph. add. C. Rittershausen) koL ayadrju exeiv SidvoLav =Porphyr. VP 38),!^ suggested that Xenophanes' drinking-party may well
be a spiritual conventicle of the Eleatics: "1st es zu kiihn, den letzten Vers
der Elegie des Xenophanes—es war sicher der letzte—als Reflex eines
ahnlichen Schlusswortes aufzufassen ?" (37). "Will man dies annehmen,
so miisste man vielleicht an ein Konventikel geistiger Menschen denken,
und was lage dann naher als die Philosophengemeinschaft, die sich in
Eleabildete?" (48).
Six years later, Defradas gave a new twist to Herter's interpretation.
Xenophanes not only "evoque sans doute la reunion d'un thiase philoso-
phique eleate." He even criticizes and corrects Pythagoras' excessive
asceticism. Pythagoras had commanded, [xi^re otvov oAco? nlveiv: Xeno-
16 ovt' el TTevradXelv ovre TTaXaiOjxoavvr^v, (2, 3) Rovhk fxev el rayyTrjTi voSaJv, rorrep iarl TTpOTtfxov (
i
)
pcLfJLrjg oaa dvhpwv epy iv dycbvi iriXeL,
Tovv€Kev dv 8rj p.dXXov iv evvop-iiqi 77oAt? elf]'
20 opLiKpov 8' dv Ti TToXei -x^dpyia yevoir^ eVt rcDi,
et Tis deOXevcov vikcol Tliaao Trap" oxOas'
ov ydp TTialvet, ravra pLV^ov^ TToAetu?- ®
5 eire to Wakefield: eiTeTi. A Snpooepav A, corr. Jacobs Saireirj A, corr. Turnebus:
aiTTjaiv Kaibel 9 et 22 ttoXcos Schneidewin 10 k el-navTa A, corr. Schweighaeuser
15 Xaoiaiv It' eiri A, corr. Stephanus
Translation
Nay, should a man win victory by the swiftness of his feet, or in the
five-contest [pentathlon), there where the precinct of Zeus stands, by the
streams of the river of Pisa [i.e., Alpheus] in Olympia; or else in wrestling,
or by possessing skill in the painful boxing, or again in that dreadful
contest which they call pankration: he would be more glorious [sc. than
others] to look upon, in the eyes of his fellow-citizens ; and he would win
the privilege of a conspicuous first-seat at the contests; he also would have
bread from the public stores, granted to him by the city; and even a
present to serve him as his heirloom. Even if he won with his horses, he
would obtain all these though he is not worthy of such rewards as muchas I am. 19 For our art [or wisdom] is better than the strength of men and
horses.
19 Line 10 f.: eiTe koI iTnToiaLv (sc. viK-qv ns apoiro from line i), Tavrd Ke navra Xdxoi
:
so W. E. Weber and J. N. Bach {Jahrbiicherfiir Philologie und Pddagogik 9 [1829] 315). Thesense seems to be, "And even if his victory was due only to the strength of his horses, not
his own, he would still obtain all these rewards though not being worthy of them as much
1
8
Illinois Classical Studies, III
(13) Nay, this is an utterly gratuitous custom, and it is not right to
prefer strength to the useful art [or wisdom]. For suppose there is a manamong the people good at boxing, or at wrestling, or at the five-contest,
or even in swiftness of his feet (which is most honored of all men's deeds
of strength in the contest) : not for that reason would the city enjoy a
better government. Shortlived, indeed, is the source of joy for a city
coming from a victorious athlete in the contest at the banks of the river
of Pisa: for this is not what fattens the chambers of the city.
Xenophanes' rebellious attack on the traditionally highly esteemed
^OXvyLTTLovLKai seems to be a complete poem, easily falling into two parts:
lines 1-12 against lines 13-22. For a poem beginning with aAAa, compare
and by Friedrich Maier, Der Zotpos-Begriff etc. (Diss. Munich, 1970) 40-43.29 Frankel {Wege 336) is half wrong, half correct when writing: "Es ist die Reihenfolge
in der sich die Kampfe abspielten, und zugleich die historische Reihenfolge der
Einsetzung."
Miroslav Marcovich 23
mention of which is postponed probably because it involves the pco/j-r) of
horses, not ofmen. Incidentally, Xenophanes refers only to the four-horsed
chariot-race (unlike the distinction made by Socrates in Plato Apology
36 d 5), for the two-horsed one was introduced to the Olympic Gameslong after Xenophanes' death (in 408 B.C.). Most probably, the "fleetness
of foot" comprises all running events (after all, Xenophanes is writing
poetr)^, not an Olympic program). Therefore, Bowra's dating of the poembefore 520 B.C., the year in which the race in armor—absent in Xeno-
phanes—was introduced to the Olympic Games (Problems 16), need not
be accepted: this running event too may be implied by "swiftness of
foot. "30 The chronological order of events (i, 2, 3, 4, 5) in lines 1-5 is
inverted to some extent in lines 15-17 (with the omission of the umbilicus—pankration—possibly because it consists of wrestling plus boxing, which
have already been mentioned), forming a chiastic scheme (4, 2, 3, i), as
Frankel had pointed out.^i Here is a table of Olympic events. 32
vmpiad
24 Illinois Classical Studies, III
difference between athletic skill and military fitness. In spite of such
common disciplines as javelin-throwing, horse-racing, and race-in-armor,
athletic training failed to provide skilled, brave and enduring soldiers, able
to stand the hardships of war. As Plutarch {Philopoemen 3.2-4) summedit up, aOX-qTiKOV UTpariioriKOV ocojxa Kol ^iov Siacpepeiv rois iraoi, /xaAtCTxa Se
Slairav iripav koL aoK-qaiv elvai. It would be no surprise if this difference
was first discovered at Sparta. Now Tyrtaeus wrote
:
(i) Out' av iJ,vr]oaifxrjv ovt iv Adytut avSpa Tcdetrjv
OVT€ TToScOV ap€Trjs OVT€ TTaXaLfJLOCWrj?
,
ouS' et KvkXcottcov fxev exoi [xdyeOog re ^crjv re,