A complementary observation to determine Phaedrus’ age in Plato’s Phaedrus
Keywords:
Plato;, Phaedrus;, Socrates;, Lysias;, homoerotic love.
Abstract
This paper deals with the problem of determining Phaedrus’ age in the eponymous dialogue. The vocatives ὦ νεανία and ὦ παῖ, in Pl. Phdr. 257c8 and 267c6, could suggest that Plato depicts him as a teenager. However, most scholars believe that Phaedrus is an adult and that the vocatives point at his passive and childish character. I will first summarize the evidence given for supporting the latter thesis. Then, I offer complementary evidence, showing that those vocatives mockingly compare his passiveness with that of a young beloved in a homoerotic context.
References
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BRISSON, L. (ed.) (2004), Platon: Phèdre, traduction et présentation par L. BRISSON, suivi de “La pharmacie de Platon” par J. DERRIDA. Paris, GF Flammarion.
BURGER, R. (1980), Plato’s Phaedrus: A Defense of a Philosophical Art of Writing. Alabama, The University of Alabama Press.
DOVER, K. J. (1968), Lysias and the Corpus Lysiacum. Berkeley, University of California Press.
FERRARI, G. R. F. (1987), Listening to the Cicadas. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
GILL, M. L. (2012), “Introduction”: P. RYAN (ed.), Plato’s Phaedrus: a commentary for Greek readers, with a commentary by P. RYAN and an introduction by M. L. GILL. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, xv-xxix.
GRISWOLD, C. L. (1986), Self-Knowledge in Plato’s Phaedrus. Yale, Yale University Press.
HACKFORTH, R. (ed.) (1952), Plato’s Phaedrus, translated with an introduction and commentary by R. HACKFORTH. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
LAVILLA DE LERA, J. (2018), “The Prayer to Pan of Plato’s Phaedrus (279b8–c3): An Exhortation to Exercise the Philosophical Virtue”: Symbolae Osloenses 92 (2018) 65-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/00397679.2019.1584443
MURRAY, P. (ed.) (1995), Plato on Poetry. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
NAILS, D. (2002), The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company.
NARCY, M. (2013), “Remarks on the First Five Definitions of the Sophist (Soph. 221c–235a)”: B. BOSSI AND T. ROBINSON (eds.) (2013), Plato's Sophist Revisited. Berlin-Boston, De Gruyter, 57-70. https://doi.org/10.1515/ 9783110287134.57
NEHAMAS, A. (1999), Virtues of Authenticity: Essays on Plato and Socrates. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
NUSSBAUM, M. C. (2001), “This story isn't true: madness, reason, and recantation in the Phaedrus”: M. C. NUSSBAUM (ed.) (2001), The Fragility of Goodness. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 200-233.
PARMENTIER, L. (1926), “L'âge de Phèdre dans le dialogue de Platon”: Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé 10 (1926) 8-21. https://doi.org/10.3406/bude.1926.6369
PENNER, T. AND ROWE, C. J. (2005), Plato’s Lysis. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
ROBIN, L. (1985), “Notice”: L. ROBIN (ed.), Platon: Phèdre, notice de L. Robin, texte établie par C. MORESCHINI et traduit par P. VICAIRE. Paris, Les Bellles Letres, vii-ccxxiii.
ROSEN, S. (1968), Plato’s Symposium. New Haven, Yale University Press.
ROWE, C. J. (ed.) (1986), Plato: Phaedrus, with translation and commentary by C. J. ROWE, Warminster, Aris & Phillips.
RYAN, P. (ed.) (2012), Plato’s Phaedrus: a commentary for Greek readers, with a commentary by P. RYAN and an introduction by M. L. GILL. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press.
SALA, E. (2007), Il Fedro di Platone. Comento. Ph.D. Thesis, Padova, Università Degli Studi di Padova: http://paduaresearch.cab.unipd.it/891/..
SVENBRO, J. (1988), Phrasikleia. Anthropologie de la lecture en Grèce ancienne. Paris, La Découverte.
SZLEZÀK, TH. (1989), Platone e la scrittura della filosofia. Analisis di struttura dei dialoghi della giovinezza e della maturità alla luce di un nuovo paradigma ermeneutico, introduzione e traduzione di G. REALE, Milano. Pubblicazioni della Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore.
USHER, S. (1965), “Individual characterisation in Lysias”: Eranos 63 (1965) 99 119.
DE VRIES, G. J. A. (1969), Commentary on the Phaedrus of Plato. Amsterdam, Hakkert.
WERNER, D. S. (2012), Myth and Philosophy in Plato’s Phaedrus. New York, Cambridge University Press.
YUNIS, H. (ed.) (2011), Plato: Phaedrus. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Published
2021-04-10
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Articles
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