Title: The ambiguity of Plato's Menexenus: a school manifesto
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2021, vol. 26, iss. 1, pp. 191-209
Extent
191-209
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2021-1-13
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/143920
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
No general agreement has yet been reached about the meaning and purpose of Plato's Menexenus. Two mutually exclusive readings have generally been given: Socrates' funeral oration could be either a parody and a satire of Athens' funeral speeches or an example of better, idealistic, maybe even philosophically grounded rhetoric. However, the problem does not only come from the dichotomy present in most scholars' works. It lies, instead, in the ambiguity of the text itself. This paper aims to clarify the serious implications that parody can have. Exemplarity and parody, irony and seriousness should not be considered as mutually exclusive because an imitation that seriously demonstrates how easy it is to write a good epitaph can be understood as a form of parody. In fact, Plato's Menexenus seems to be a school manifesto: it recalls Callicles' charges against the educational value of philosophical practices (Grg. 484c-485d). Therefore, it may be directed against Isocrates' conception of rhetoric as related to education and politics. The mention of the Peace of Antalcidas (245c) will then prove the topical and thus political character of this work.
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[4] Coventry, L. (1989). Philosophy and rhetoric in the Menexenus. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 109, 1‒15. | DOI 10.2307/632028
[5] Dodds, E. R. (Ed.). (1966). Plato: Gorgias. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[6] Eucken, C. (2003). Die Doppeldeutigkeit des platonischen Menexenos. Hyperboreus, 9(1), 44‒55.
[7] Giannantoni, G. (Ed.). (1990). Socratis et Socraticorum reliquiae (Vols. I‒IV). Napoli: Bibliopolis.
[8] Heitsch, E. (2009). Thukydides, Aspasia und Platons Menexenos. Philologus, 153(2), 229‒236. | DOI 10.1524/phil.2009.0017
[9] Henderson, M. M. (1975). Plato's Menexenus and the distortion of history. Acta Classica, 18, 25‒46.
[10] Huby, P. M. (1957). The Menexenus reconsidered. Phronesis, 2(2), 104‒114. | DOI 10.1163/156852857X00030
[11] Kahn, C. H. (1963). Plato's funeral oration. The motive of the Menexenus. Classical Philology, 58, 220‒234. | DOI 10.1086/364821
[12] Kennedy, G. (1963). The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton: University Press.
[13] Labriola, I. (1980). Tucidide e Platone sulla democrazia ateniese. Quaderni di Storia, 6, 207‒229.
[14] Labriola, I. (2010). Il laboratorio di Aspasia. Invigilata Lucernis, 32, 61‒73.
[15] Lattanzi, G. (1953). Il significato e l'autenticità del Menesseno. Parola del Passato, 8, 303‒306.
[16] Loewenclau, I. v. (1961). Der platonische Menexenos. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
[17] Méridier, L. (Ed.). (19644, 19311). Platon. Œuvres complètes (Vol. V/1). Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
[18] Moggi, M. (1968). La tradizione sulle guerre persiane in Platone. Studi Classici e Orientali, 17, 213‒226.
[19] Monoson, S. S. (1998). Remembering Pericles: the political and theoretical import of Plato's Menexenus. Political Theory, 26(4), 489‒513. | DOI 10.1177/0090591798026004003
[20] Nannini, S. (2014). Il "Menesseno" di Platone? Lexis, 32, 248‒277.
[21] Oppenheimer, K. (1933). Zwei attische Epitaphien. Berlin: Ebering.
[22] Pappas, N., & Zelcer, M. (2015). Politics and Philosophy in Plato's Menexenus. Education and Rhetoric, Myth and History. London ‒ New York: Routledge.
[23] Pohlenz, M. (1913). Aus Platos Werdezeit. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.
[24] Ritter, C. (1910). Platon (Vol. I). München: Beck.
[25] Salkever, S. G. (1993). Socrates' aspasian oration: the play of philosophy and politics in Plato's Menexenus. American Political Science Review, 87, 133‒143. | DOI 10.2307/2938961
[26] Schleiermacher, F. (Ed.). (18613, 18262, 18091). Platons Werke (Vol. II/3). Berlin: Reimer.
[27] Scholl, N. (1959). Der platonische Menexenos. Roma: Storia e Letteratura.
[28] Taylor, A. E. (19607, 19261). Plato. The Man and His Work. London: Routledge.
[29] Trivigno, F. V. (2009). The rhetoric of parody in Plato's Menexenus. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 42(1), 29‒58. | DOI 10.1353/par.0.0025
[30] Tsitsiridis, S. (1998). Platons Menexenos. Stuttgart ‒ Leipzig: Teubner.
[31] Tulli, M. (2003). L'Atene di Aspasia: tradizione del racconto e ricerca dell'ideale nel Menesseno di Platone. In A. Casanova, & P. Desideri (Eds.), Evento, racconto, scrittura nell'antichità classica (Vol. 1; pp. 91‒106). Firenze: Dipartimento Giorgio Pasquali.
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[33] Wilamowitz, U. v. (1920). Platon (Vol. II). Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.
[34] Ziolkowski, J. E. (1981). Thucydides and the Tradition of Funeral Speeches at Athens. New York: Arno Press.