Golden verses
Golden verse (also golden poem , Greek χρυσᾶ ἔπη chrysâ épē , Latin carmen aureum ) is the common name for an ancient poem in ancient Greek that comes from an unknown Pythagorean . It contains advice on how to live.
content
The golden verses are 71 hexameters . The poet addresses the reader directly and gives him instructions. The poem consists of two parts. The first part extends to the middle of verse 49. It offers advice on how to live a philosophical life. One should honor the gods and one's parents and relatives, make friends carefully and then keep them, carefully consider all words and deeds beforehand, bear fate with equanimity, be measured in every respect, master passions, keep an eye on transience and one every evening Take stock of the day's performance and omissions. Verses 47 and 48 contain the "Pythagorean oath", which has also been handed down elsewhere, which was sworn on Pythagoras as the discoverer of the Tetraktys (tetrad). The second part shows the reader the fruits of such a lifestyle. If he appropriates the philosophical doctrines, he will understand the laws of nature which are the same everywhere and will achieve liberation from suffering through insight into its causes. This is possible because mortals are actually divine in nature and are therefore capable of such understanding. Those who heed the advice are given the prospect that as an immortal soul, after leaving his body in death, they will enter the "free ether" and lead the life of a god. With this promise the poem ends.
Emergence
The dating of the Golden Verses has long been controversial because its content is of such a general nature that it offers little useful reference. The oldest manuscript is medieval. In addition, the poem may consist of parts of different ages that may have been disseminated independently of each other even before they were united. The dating approaches discussed in research vary between the 6th century BC. And the 4th century AD. The editor Johan Thom discusses the question in detail and argues for the second half of the 4th century BC. Chr.
All that is known about the author is that he must have been a Pythagorean. The title "Golden Verse" is certainly not authentic, it is only documented at the beginning of the 3rd century AD.
reception
Even Chrysippos (3rd century BC. Chr.), Plutarch and Epictetus quoted verses from the poem, but not this proves that it was known to them already in our present form. In late antiquity , the work was appreciated and commented on. The Neoplatonist and New Pythagorean Iamblichus of Chalkis commented on part of the golden verses in the third chapter of his Protrepticos , which forms the second part of his ten-volume work on the Pythagorean doctrine. He also wrote a separate, very detailed commentary on the poem that is lost; It is uncertain whether a surviving Arabic commentary is a summary of this work. In the 5th century the Neoplatonist Hierocles of Alexandria (Neoplatonist) wrote a detailed commentary. Another commentary from late antiquity, which has only survived in Arabic translation, is attributed to a Proclus; the famous Neo-Platonist Proclus has been thought of, but this is very uncertain.
The ancient church fathers viewed the poem with relative benevolence. An exception was Gregor von Nazianz , who said it should be called "Bleerne Verse".
In the Middle Ages, the Golden Verses were translated into Arabic several times; the oldest of these translations is attested as early as the 9th century. They were popular again in the West since the Renaissance ; the first print appeared in 1494 by Aldus Manutius in Venice. In the modern age, they have received particular attention and have been commented on in theosophical circles.
Text editions and translations
Golden verses
- Johan C. Thom (Ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses . Brill, Leiden 1995, ISBN 90-04-10105-5 (critical edition of the Greek text with English translation, introduction and commentary)
- Hierokles: Commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Poem , translated by Friedrich Wilhelm Köhler, Teubner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-51904042-5 (p. 1–3 German translation of the Golden Verse)
Ancient commentaries
- Friedrich Wilhelm Köhler (Ed.): Hieroclis in aureum Pythagoreorum carmen commentarius . Teubner, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-519-01410-6 (Greek text of the commentary from Hierocles)
- Hierocles: Commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Poem , translated by Friedrich Wilhelm Köhler, Teubner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-519-04042-5
- Hans Daiber (Ed.): Neo-Platonic Pythagorica in Arabic garb . Amsterdam 1995, ISBN 0-444-85784-2 (Arabic version of a commentary ascribed to Iamblichos with German translation)
- Neil Linley (Ed.): Ibn aṭ-Ṭayyib: Proclus' Commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses . Buffalo 1984, ISBN 0-930881-07-9 (Arabic text and English translation)
literature
- Bartel Leendert van der Waerden : The Pythagoreans. Religious brotherhood and school of science . Artemis-Verlag, Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-7608-3650-X
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Bartel Leendert van der Waerden: Die Pythagoreer , Zurich 1979, p. 152ff .; see also the objection by Johan C. Thom (ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses , Leiden 1995, pp. 36, 59ff.
- ↑ Johan C. Thom (ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses , Leiden 1995, pp. 35-58.
- ^ Johan C. Thom (ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses , Leiden 1995, pp. 15, 31-34.
- ↑ Johan C. Thom (Ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses , Leiden 1995, pp. 13f., 35-37, 43, 54f., 57f.
- ↑ Bartel Leendert van der Waerden: Die Pythagoreer , Zurich 1979, pp. 152–157.
- ↑ German translation: Iamblichos, Call to Philosophy , trans. by Otto Schönberger, Würzburg 1984, pp. 13-16.
- ^ Gregor Staab: Pythagoras in der Spätantike , Leipzig 2002, pp. 203-206.
- ↑ Johan C. Thom (ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses , Leiden 1995, pp. 23-26.
- ↑ Johan C. Thom (Ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses , Leiden 1995, pp. 28f.
- ↑ Johan C. Thom (ed.): The Pythagorean Golden Verses , Leiden 1995, p. 3 note 2.