Isocrates in the Phaedrus: a Reply

Abstract

Three times I have, more or less extensively, written about the supposed eulogy of Isocrates on which Plato's Phaedrus ends *). After the third time, f??? ????? ?p??????a?, and I felt little desire to return to the subject. But return I must, since Professor Erbse (Hermes 99, 1971, 183 ff.) calls into question some of my interpretations. In order to be as succinct as possible, I will reply by writing some comments on the points where he disagrees with me (I was glad to find him agreeing on several points). (1) Erbse (187) regards it as improbable that ep?st??? in Phdr. 269 d should be taken in a 'trivial' sense. Now the paragraph in question certainly contains an allusion to Isocrates XIII 16-18. Erbse himself admits (188) that Plato here corrects Isocrates. In 1953 (Mnem., p. 40) I regarded p??s?a??? ?p?st???? te ?a? ?e??t?? as an addition of Plato's to the Isocratean concept of f?se?. At present I think it is preferable to take the words as belonging to the 'quotation': Isocrates does fairly often parade his ep?st???. I think this ep?st??? may be dubbed 'trivial' (cf. Is. XIII 16 f??? ?a? ??? t?? ??? ?de?? . . . ?a?e?? t?? ?p?st???? ??? e??a? t?? p??? ?a?ep??). Socrates starts by quoting Isocrates apparently with full assent, then adding (?s?? d?) the typically Socratic s?????? t? which undermines the rhetorician's pr?tentions in his most personal field. (2) My silence (vielleicht sehr weise, Erbse, 192) about the import of ??? in ??? ??? ep??e??e? (Phdr. 279 a) was caused by the conviction that it is of no importance whether ??? bears on Isocrates' youth or on his ripe age. There are two stages ; in the first Isocrates has already achieved greatness, in the second he may achieve still greater things. (3) Did Isocrates' reaction show that he took the supposed eulogy not at its face value? Erbse (193) does not believe this; he thinks that the contrary appears from the fact that Isocrates shows no animosity against Plato after the publication of the Phaedrus. For this he refers his reader to Werner Jaeger, who has die ausf?hrliche Antwort auf diese Frage . . . erteilt... Er machte