Plato's Law of Slavery in Its Relation to Greek Law by Glenn R.

Morrow
Review by: D. T.
The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 62 (1942), pp. 94-95
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/626735 .
Accessed: 06/08/2014 16:02
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 support@jstor.org.
.
The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 132.248.101.52 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:02:48 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
94
NOTICES OF BOOKS
Asklepiades of
Samos
by
William and
Mary
Wallace con-
tains the text of the
poems
of this
author,
who was
probably
an earlier
contemporary
of
Theocritus,
extracted from the
Anthology,
with versions
by
the editors and selected
renderings by
other translators. It is remarkable how
many
British scholars and
literary
men have tried their
hand at
translating
the
Anthology; they
include A. C.
Benson,
Lord
Cromer,
Richard Garnett, G. B.
Grundy,
Andrew
Lang,
Walter
Leaf, J.
H.
Merivale, J.
S.
Phillimore,
J.
A.
Symonds
and Humbert Wolfe. The
general impres-
sion which these versions
give
is that it is
extraordinarily
difficult to render a Greek
epigram
into
English
which
contains all the ideas of the
original
without
becoming
too
lengthy
and avoids all'
padding.'
Not a few of the versions
given
here are
highly successful;
for
example,
Walter
Leaf's version of
VII, 284
and the editor's version of V.
150.
This little book is
admirably printed
and
produced.
The Bud6 volume is the fourth volume to
appear
of the
Greek
Anthology
and contains the first half of
Book
VII
(the Sepulchral Epigrams).
It consists of an
Introduction,
text with full
apparatus criticus,
translation and notes. The
Introduction discusses the
manuscript tradition,
the com-
position
of the
book,
the
literary
form of the
Sepulchral
Epigram
and the conditions of its
composition.
The
apparatus
criticus is
admirably
clear and contains a number
of new
emendations, many
of them due to M.
Desrousseaux,
who acted as
supervisor
of the edition. The notes
give
just
the sort of information which is
required
for the
explanation
of the
epigrams.
The
Bud6
Greek
Anthology
is
a valuable work of serious
scholarship,
and it is much to
be
hoped
that it will be
completed
in due
course,
and will
not remain unfinished like
Stadtmiiller's edition,
which
ended in the middle of Book IX in
1906.
The translations of the Prometheus and Medea
by
R. C.
Trevelyan
and that of the
Antigone by
D. Fitts and
R.
Fitzgerald
offer an
interesting
contrast. Mr.
Trevelyan
states that his
object
is ' to
reproduce
as
faithfully
as
possible
for those who cannot read
Greek,
not
only
the
meaning,
but the
form, phrasing
and movement of the
original.'
He
considers,
no doubt
rightly,
that
English
blank verse is similar in movement and
general
effect to
the Greek iambic
line;
in the
lyrical
and
anapaestic
passages
he has tried to imitate as
closely
as
possible
the
metrical
pattern
and
phrasing,
in such a
way
that one
musical
setting
would fit both the Greek and the
English
words. The version is
remarkedly faithful,
and one seldom
feels that one is
reading
a translation. The
rendering
of
the
lyrics
is an
interesting and,
on the
whole,
a successful
experiment, although,
since Greek
poetry depends
on
quantity
and
English
verse on
stress,
it has been
necessary
to substitute the latter for the former. In the famous
ode,
however,
written in
praise
of Athens
(Medea,
826
ff.),
the
translator does not
attempt
to
reproduce
the Greek
rhythms
and uses freer verse forms. There is no doubt that
any
Greekless reader would derive a
good
idea from these two
versions of what a Greek
play
is like.
Messrs. Fitts and
Fitzgerald
have set before themselves
quite
a different ideal. As
they justly remark, they
have
not made a translation of the
Antigone
'in the class-room
sense of the word.'
Passages
are
omitted, expanded
and
altered. Their version is
printed partly
as verse and
partly
as
prose,
and some
lines can
certainly
be scanned as blank
verse. The
general
effect is to
bring
the
play
down to
the level of
everyday life; Antigone
and Ismene talk like
two modern
young women,
and Creon is a
claptrap
orator.
The
play
as thus transformed
may
well be effective when
put upon the stage, but to the ordinary reader it would
give
a
very false idea of
Sophoclean tragedy.
EDWARD S. FORSTER
A
Greek-English Lexicon, compiled by
H. G. LIDDELL
and ROBERT
SCOTT.
New
edition,
revised and
aug-
mented
by
HENRY STUART
JONES
with the assistance
of RODERICK M'KENZIE and with the
co-operation
of
many
scholars. Part X.
Tpayeiv-4?c8rls,
and Addenda
et Corrigenda. Pp. 302. Oxford: Clarendon
Press,
1940.
Ios.
6d.
This
journal,
which welcomed the first
part
of the new
Liddell and
Scott,
should not let its last
part pass unnoticed,
and
since the editor invites me to raise this much-belated
cheer,
I
gladly
do
so,
for I have been
using
the
completed
book for some three
years,
know it to be a
great improve-
ment on its
predecessor,
and can offer its
editors, printers,
and
publishers hearty
thanks and
congratulations.
It is
not in order to find fault with
them,
but to aid their suc-
cessors,
that I offer the
following criticisms;
for no dic-
tionary
is ever
perfect,
and the
completion
of one revision
is an invitation to look forward to the next.
Since a scholar must
chiefly
notice the obstacles over
which his own
hobby-horse
has
stumbled,
I had better
say
that I have been
using
the book
mainly
on
Theocritus,
and, viewing
it from that
angle,
I have two
general
com-
plaints
to make. The first is that the
representation
of
later
epic vocabulary
is
desultory
and
misleading.
One
cannot infer from silence that a Homeric word is not used
by
the Alexandrians or
by Quintus, Oppian,
and
suchlike;
nor,
where
post-Homeric
citations are
given,
that
they
present
a true
picture.
For
instance,
the author of Theocr.
Id.
xxv uses the forms
600IIVEKEV
and
r.poq)p'oEov,
and the
first occurs also in
Apollonius.
'Oeo0oEKEv
is cited
only
from
Timo,
Wpo1PpEPaKov only
from
Quintus
and an
inscrip-
tion of Roman date. A lexicon has
many uses,
but one
of them is to enable an
inquirer
to trace the
history
of a
word
through
the extant
literature;
and here this lexicon
is defective.
My
second
complaint
is that too
many
mistakes of
earlier editions have been
perpetuated,
and in Theocritus
at
any
rate some of them are
gross indeed-see,
for
instance,
s.vv. 6rIlK6s, TrpoaXEET!V.
I am sorry
to add that this edition
has
gone
from bad to worse over
&O-rTIK6
and has introduced
some
original
blunders elsewhere
(e.g., s.vv. EpvoS,
iepmntOco).
It is much easier to
get
blunders into a lexicon than to
get
them out
again;
therefore I
hope
that all who notice
such
things
will communicate them to Dr. P.
Maas,
who
sits at the Clarendon Press to receive
them-indeed,
I think
it their bounden
duty
to do
so,
for the more cooks who lend
a hand in
skimming
this broth the better it will be.
The new edition contains
vastly
more than its
prede-
cessor, largely owing
to the accretion of new words from
papyri,
and in
spite
of
rigorous compression (which
occas-
ionally delays
one in
finding
the
required entry)
is
nearly
three hundred
pages longer.
Those of us who must have
it
constantly
at hand heard with
dismay
that it was to be
in two volumes. For the benefit of others I record that I
have bound the Addenda in one
slim,
and the rest in
one
stout, volume,
and have found the latter not
appreciably
more cumbersome than ed. 8. A. S. F. G.
Scholia Platonica contulerunt
atque investigave-
runt F. D.
Allen,
J.
Burnet,
C. P. Parker
;
omnia
recognita praefatione indicibusque
in-
structa edidit.
By
G. C. GREENE.
Pp. xlii + 569.
Haverford,
Penn.: American
Philological Association,
1938. $4.00.
In his
preface
the editor sets out
fully
the various sources
of the scholia on Plato and the
story
of their
collection,
leading up
to those most recent labours of F. D.
Allen,
J.
Burnet and C. P. Parker
upon
which the
present pub-
lication is based. He treats in detail the work and collec-
tion of
Arethas,
and discusses later contributions to the
corpus
and the
bearing
of variants in the scholia
upon
the relations between
manuscripts.
In the
text,
the scholia
vetera are followed
by
those of Arethas set out in a
separate
section. The footnotes
give
not
only
variant
readings
but
copious parallels
and illustrative matter from the lexica
and other sources. There are full indexes of
proper
names
and of words. This bare
inventory
of contents is the best
indication that can be
given
of the
importance
and value
of this monumental
volume,
which will be
indispensable
to
students of Plato. It
may
be added that the
printing
and
arrangement
are clear and
spacious, making
the book in
this
respect
a model for works of reference. Dr. Greene
has made an
outstanding
contribution to Hellenic studies.
D. T.
Plato's Law of
Slavery
in its Relation to Greek
Law.
By
GLENN R.
MORROW.
Pp. 140.
Urbana:
University
of Illinois
Press,
1939-
$1.50.
This is an
interesting treatise, embodying
full research in
a field hitherto
unexplored.
Plato's treatment of
slavery
This content downloaded from 132.248.101.52 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:02:48 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
NOTICES OF BOOKS
95
in the Laws is
analysed
under various
heads,
and at
every
point
all
possible comparison
is made with known Greek
law, or,
in the
frequent
lack of such
knowledge,
with Greek
practice
as it
may
be inferred from literature. The dual
aspect
of the slave in Plato's treatment
('
both a
possession
and a
rudimentary legal person')
is
clearly brought out;
so is the
inescapable
fact that Plato
(in
the Laws
explicitly
and
constantly,
in the
Republic
also
by implication)
not
only accepts
but
approves slavery
as an institution corre-
sponding
to a natural
grading
in human
capacity and
worth. His law of
slavery
is found to be 'an
adaptation
of
positive
Greek
law,' showing
certain
innovations, some
of which
may (it
is
suggested)
be traced to his desire to
revive the
7rdTrpoI
v6pot of an earlier Athens. The author's
judicious
use of
evidence,
and his
objective
attitude
through-
out,
contribute to make the book a valuable enrichment of
Greek studies. D. T.
The
Theory
of Motion in Plato's Later
Dialogues.
ByJ.
B. SKEMP.
Pp. xv + 123. Cambridge:
Univer-
sity Press, 1942.
8s. 6d.
This
treatise,
the latest volume in '
Cambridge
Classical
Studies,'
examines the
pre-Socratic origins,
and the
emerg-
ence in the later
dialogues,
of Plato's
theory
of a
Moving
Cause. The
study
culminates of course in the
Timaeus,
and Mr.
Skemp
has thrown valuable
light
both on the
physical implications
of that
dialogue
and on its meta-
physical meaning.
In the latter
connexion,
he
postulates
as Plato's
0vro
6ivra the Forms and the
Arlptoupy6s,
who
creates the world-soul and the
OwroSoX1,
and thus sets the
cosmic
process
in motion. Aristotle's statement that Plato
neglected
the
airi'a K1Vi1
coS
is
partly explained,
he
thinks,
by
the
'gap'
which remains at the
point
of the causation
of
particular
yvE'MS.
The least
satisfying part
of Mr.
Skemp's exposition
is his treatment of
adva'yKi1,
which he
says
in his introduction
(p. xii)
'we shall find is a
power
of the
psychic
order.' In
Chapter
VI its function in
physical
motion is
thoroughly examined,
but its meta-
physical
status remains
obscure, though
we are told on
p.
III
that 'the
pre-cosmic
wThavcovjvri aTria
and the
iXvrj
of the four bodies are as ultimate as the
Arlptovpy6s.'
The
book has a short
bibliography
and an index of
passages
cited;
a
general
index would have increased its usefulness
for reference. D. T.
Plato's Method of Dialectic.
By JULIUS
STENZEL.
Trans. and Ed.
D.J.
ALLAN.
Pp. xliii + 170o.
Oxford:
Clarendon
Press, 1940.
Ios.
6d.
This volume
presents,
in a most readable version and
with a
helpful introduction,
a collection of Stenzel's
papers
on Platonic
problems;
the chief of these is an
essay
entitled
'The
Literary
Form and
Philosophic
Content of the
Platonic
Dialogue.'
Some of the shorter
papers
are of
considerable
interest, particularly
a note on Plato's relation
to Democritus. Even with such assistance from the trans-
lator and
editor,
the
English
reader will
probably
find
Stenzel's
argument
at
many points obscure;
but his work
is full of
suggestive points.
He holds to the view of an
earlier
(Socratic)
and a later
(revised) theory,
and insists
on the substantial
being
of the
Ideas;
he finds the method
of
8taipEaI5
all-important
in the
development
of Plato's
theory
of
knowledge.
The book is one for students of
Plato to
possess
and
ponder.
D. T.
Plato's Earlier Dialectic.
By
RICHARD
ROBINSON. Pp.
viii + 239.
New York: Cornell
University
Press.
London:
Humphrey Milford,
1941i.
i8s. 6d.
In this
study
of the
logical
basis of Plato's earlier
thought,
the author insists on the historical and
evolutionary ap-
proach,
and makes a close examination of the actual
language
of the
dialogues
and its
precise implications.
After
chapters
on
EeyXo, TrCayC)yi
and the Socratic defini-
tion we
pass
to a
particularly
useful treatment of the
method of
hypothesis,
with
special
reference to the
Meno,
Phaedo
and
Republic.
In a
long
discussion of the
'upward
path'
in
Republic
VI and
VII,
the
process
is
explained
as
'a
thoroughgoing
elenchus
'
which 'culminates in intui-
tion.' The distinction between the similes of the
Sun,
the
Line and the Cave is
usefully
worked
out,
and the Line is
examined in detail with
special
reference to the mathe-
matical method. In a final
chapter
on Plato's
theory
and
practice
of
analogy
and
imagery,
his inconsistencies and
his flights of
fancy are
given
due
weight
as
producing
certain 'incoherences' in the work of the middle
period.
This is a valuable
book, especially perhaps
in its
bearing
on the
study
of
Republic
VI and VII.
D. T.
Philodemus:
on Methods of Inference.
Edited,
with
translation and
commentary, by
PHILIP HOWARD DE
LACY and ESTELLE ALLEN DE LACY.
Pp. 220; pl.
I.
Philadelphia:
American
Philological Association, 1941-
$2.50.
The Herculanean
papyrus containing
Philodemus' treat-
ise known as
ITEpi ri2TEICWECov
has been edited on the basis
of
photostats
of the Oxford
copy,
and is here furnished
with a
parallel
translation of all but the most
fragmentary
passages. Introductory chapters
deal with the life and
work of Philodemus and with the contents and criticism of
this
particular
work. In further sections the
Epicurean
empiricism
is studied-its
sources,
its
development
and its
exercise in
controversy
with Stoics and
Sceptics.
A biblio-
graphy
of the Herculanean
papyri
is
appended.
The
editors have built well
upon
the foundations laid
by
Gomperz
and
Philippson;
the translation is faithful and
readable,
and both the
explanatory
notes and the
supple-
mentary chapters
contain much that is valuable for the
study
of
Epicureanism
in the Roman
period.
D. T.
Philo and the Oral Law: the Philonic
Interpreta-
tion of Biblical Law in Relation to the Pales-
tinian
Halakah. By
SAMUEL BELKIN.
Pp. xiv + 292
Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard
University
Press. Lon-
don:
Humphrey Milford, 1942.
20S.
This book
may
be described as an
attempt
to assess
part
of the
Jewish
element in Philo as distinct from his
debt to Hellenism. Three sources have been
suggested
for much of the
legal
tradition in his
works, namely,
Greek
and Roman
jurisprudence,
Palestinian Halakah and the
decisions of
Jewish
courts in
Egypt.
While Professor Belkin
is far from
denying any
contribution from the other two
sources,
he
argues
that in the main Philo's
legal
statements
are based on the Palestinian Halakah.
Chapter
I states
the
problem, Chapter II investigates
the
terminology
of
the Oral Law in Philo and his
knowledge
of
Hebrew,
and
Chapters III-X examine the
legal
evidence in detail.
Apart
from its virtues of
clarity
and
arrangement,
the
study
is
particularly
valuable as
being
made from a careful
knowledge
of the Palestinian
evidence,
a
knowledge
fre-
quently lacking
in
expositions
of Philo. In one
point
Professor Belkin's
arguments might
be
questioned.
He
maintains
that,
beside
using
the
LXX,
Philo shows a know-
ledge
of the Hebrew
original
of the Law. But this
apparent
knowledge
of the Hebrew
may
be
explained
otherwise.
It is
probable
that on occasion the text of Philo's
quotations
from the Law in Cohn and Wendland
represent
a corrected
text,
and the text that Philo
quoted
is to be found in the
readings
of the
apparatus
criticus which
diverge
from later
LXX standards. It
may
be that the real text of these
passages
sometimes accounts for Philo's
agreement
in his
exposition
with the Hebrew.
Further, though
as
early
as
the Greek version of the Pentateuch there was a traditional
exegesis
of the
Law,
Professor Belkin does not allow for
the existence of this
exegesis
in Philo's time and for its
influence on his
explanations,
even when
they
are
contrary
to his text of the Law. It
might
be wished that in this
connexion Professor Belkin had
given
more
weight
to Dr.
Goodenough's
words
quoted
in a note on
pp. 35-36.
How-
ever,
this does not detract from the
general
value of the
book, which can be
highly
commended for its treatment of
its theme.
G. D. KILPATRICK
Aeschylus
in his
Style
: a
Study
in
Language
and
Personality. By
W. B. STANFORD.
Pp. 147.
Dub-
lin :
University
Press. Oxford: B. H.
Blackwell, 1942.
Ios.
6d.
Professor Stanford has followed his earlier books on
Metaphor
and
Ambiguity
with this admirable little
book,
This content downloaded from 132.248.101.52 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:02:48 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions