A Commentary on Lysias, Speeches 1-11

A Commentary on Lysias, Speeches 1-11

S. C. Todd

Language: English

Pages: 800

ISBN: 0198149093

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


Lysias was the leading Athenian speech-writer of the generation (403-380 BC) following the Peloponnesian War, and his speeches form a leading source for all aspects of the history of Athenian society during this period. The speeches are widely read today, not least because of their simplicity of linguistic style. This simplicity is often deceptive, however, and one of the aims of this commentary is to help the reader assess the rhetorical strategies of each of the speeches and the often highly tendentious manipulation of argument. This volume includes the text itself (reproduced from Carey's OCT and apparatus criticus), with a facing translation. Each speech receives an extensive introduction, covering general questions of interpretation. In the lemmatic section of the commentary, individual phrases are examined in detail, providing a close reading of the Greek text. To maximize accessibility, the Greek lemmata are accompanied by translation, and individual Greek terms are mostly transliterated. This is the first part of a projected multi-volume commentary on the speeches and fragments, which will be the first full commentary on Lysias in modern times.

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speech without even entertaining the possibility that he himself or anyone else would deliver it at a real state funeral’ (Dover 1968: 197). For the objection that we would expect a more patriotic occasion, see Fernández-Galiano (1953: 32) and Schiassi (1967 [1962]: 33–34). Dionysios’ criticism of Thucydides’ choice of subject is discussed at p. 151 n. 10 above. 69 Yunis (2000), in an important study, emphasises the extent to which Dem. 18 uses models of thinking derived from tragedy to redefine

’I[σοκρ]α´τ.ην κα.κ . λ [γει and π ρ. [Νι]κ ου λ[ ]γον. Cf. e.g. Dem. 32.31–32, and similarly Aiskhin. 1.170–176, though there are political overtones in the latter case. 119 Lys. frag. 285a, citing a word which is not found in our texts of Isok. 17 (cf. following note). 120 Thus Dover (1968: 14), who argues for scribal confusion, with the author of the hypotheses knowing there was a speech under this title by Lysias but erroneously summarising that of Isokrates. 121 Compare the praise lavished

comparative study of wet-nursing, see Fildes (1986: esp. 17–25 on Classical Greece; the same material forms the basis of Fildes 1988: 1–25, but with more specific reference to the literature). Wet-nursing in Athens has not been extensively studied, primarily because of the limitations of our evidence: we lack for 16 It has also been noted that the standard term for the room used by men e.g. for the symposion is not andro¯nitis (as here and at Xen. Oikon. 9.5, implying a plurality of rooms) but

§37n). 51 Edwards (2005) similarly rejects the lacuna, but suggests reading ‘other evidence’ for ‘clear evidence’ (µ ν αλλοι for µεγα´λοι ). 52 It is particularly important, of course, that the jury should not start wondering whether one of the things that he might have done during the interval was to consult Lysias at this early stage, only to receive advice to take direct action and an offer of a speech for free . . . . 50 1. Killing of Eratosthenes: Commentary §§22–23 117 ἐκέλευον

dramatic dates are the two remaining speeches. One of these is Lysias 2, which purports to honour those who died ‘assisting the Corinthians’ evidently during the Corinthian War of 395–387. The other is to be found in Plato’s dialogue Menexenos, the core of which consists of a funeral speech placed in the mouth of Sokrates, who claims that he is reciting a text originally composed by Aspasia, the mistress of Perikles. Among the many oddities of this text are its blatant anachronisms, and in

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