Phaedrus

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Phaedrus (* around 20/15 BC allegedly in Katerini ( Greece ), see section Life ; † around 50/60 AD), probably full name: Gaius Iulius Phaedrus (or: Phaeder), was a Roman fable poet in the reigns of the emperors Augustus , Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius and Nero .

Life

According to his own statements (Prologue to Book III), which are questionable as to whether they should be taken literally, Phaedrus was born around 15 BC. Born on Mount Pieros in Katerini (Greece) in BC, Macedonian by birth . However, he seems to have come to Italy in his early years , since he reports that he read the verses of Ennius as a pupil . Following the title of his main work, he was a slave released by Augustus . He incurred the wrath of Seianus , Tiberius' powerful minister, because of some alleged allusions in his fables , was brought to justice and condemned - according to his self-testimony in the prologue to Book III, which is dedicated to Eutychus , in whose person some scientists the see the famous charioteer and favorite of Caligula of the same name . Phaedrus remained poor due to a lack of appreciation for his works. He probably died around AD 50.

plant

Fables, published by Moritz Weidmann in 1724

General

Phaedrus' fables are composed in the iambic senar (six-footed verse), the meter of popular Roman comedy. They are divided into five books, but not all of them have survived. The fourth book is dedicated to Particulo, who seems to have dabbled in literary terms. The time of publication is unknown, but Seneca mentions in Chapter 27 of the Consolatio ad Polybium , written between 41 and 43 , in which he considers the writing of comedies as a means of consolation, namely only Aesop, but not Phaedrus. So maybe he hadn't published anything by then.

Phaedrus gives the Greek fable writer Aesop as a literary model , who wrote his works in prose form. In the first two verses of his book Phaedrus writes:

Aesop was the first to find this material;
I have now shaped it in the meter of the senar.

Phaedrus has the merit of having brought the originally Greek genre into an independent, Latin form and provided it with Roman values. The fable itself is a short ( brevitas ), at times dramatized, authorial narrative in perspective, which illustrates a moral imperative or a wisdom of life mostly through animal figures, but also through distinctive human types, plants or inanimate objects. Phaedrus summarized this for the first time in verse form ( iambic senare ). The fables are introduced or concluded with a sententiously pointed moral interpretation (Pro- / Epimythion ).

Building a fable

The ancient fables are subject to the laws of the ancient poetics of rules. They always have an arc of tension that culminates in a climax or punch line. The general structure is as follows:

  1. often, but not necessarily: a moral sentence (as a foreword [ promythium ] or as an afterword [ epimythium ])
  2. Initial situation ( res )
  3. Action ( actio ),
  4. often with a counter-act ( reaction ) (possibly also in conversation form)
  5. Outcome or result ( eventus )

Actors / characters

The acting, often personified characters usually embody few, typical, often negatively connoted character traits from the human realm. These are explicitly named or implicitly present to the reader through role expectations. Furthermore, a polarizing antithesis often shapes the plot: If there are two main actors, they are often characterized as opposites. The opposites “strong versus weak” and “morally superior versus morally inferior” are often discussed. Often times beyond this superficial design, society is exposed as immoral.

intention

According to Phaedrus, the fables were invented so that people of lower social standing could express their opinion safely through the entertaining and alienating medium ( fictis iocis , Phaedrus III, prol. 33-44). The context is not only reduced to the Roman relationships between masters and slaves (Phaedrus himself was a released slave), but mainly includes everyday relationships. So social criticism often starts on a small scale. Overall, the fables problematize human behavior and aim to change it, with a pedagogical claim. Although this is aimed at the ancient readership, many character traits and behaviors can also be found in today's world. The fable should both delight and instruct (Phaedrus I, prol. 2-3).

reception

Although Phaedrus often refers to the envy and disparagement with which he is persecuted, he appears to have drawn little attention in ancient times. He is mentioned by Martial (III, 20, 5), who imitates some of his verses, and by Avianus . Prudentius must have read it because he imitates some of his stanzas ( Prud. Cath. Vii. 115; ci. Phaedrus, iv. 6, 10).

The Greco-Roman fables were received particularly intensively, for example in the Middle Ages by Odo von Cheriton , who interpreted the fables in Christian theological terms, or in modern times by Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) or Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) .

Werner Hensellek and Martin Neubauer attempted a new iconographic implementation of the Phaedrus texts, who in 1991 exploited the possibilities of modern comics while largely preserving the original Latin text.

Lore history

The first post-antique edition of the five books of Phaedrus was published by Pierre Pithou in Troyes in 1596 from a manuscript now in the possession of the Marquis of Rosanbo. Perotti (1430–1480), Archbishop of Siponto , discovered a manuscript in Parma that contained 64 fables by Phaedrus, more than 30 of which were previously unknown. These new fables were first published in Naples in 1808 by Giovanni Antonio Cassitto and a year later (much more correctly) by Cataldo Jannelli. Both editions were superseded by the discovery in the Vatican of a much better preserved Perotti manuscript , which Angelo published in May 1831. For a while the authenticity of these new fables was questioned, but they are now accepted as real Phaedrus fables. They do not form a sixth book, especially since Avian reports that Phaedrus only wrote five books, at the same time it is also not possible to assign them to their possible original places in the five books. Therefore, they are usually printed as an attachment.

Examples

expenditure

  • Phaedri Augusti liberti fabulae Aesopicae . Recensuit usus editione codicis Rosanboniani from Vlixe Robert comparata Louis Havet. Paris: Hachette 1895 [Reprints: 1923, 1952] (xvi, 296 pp.). - Monumental edition with very thorough consideration of all previous philological efforts to the Phaedrus text in modern times.
  • The Fables of Phaedrus [a selection]. In: Ancient Fables. With 97 pictures of Aesop from Ulm from 1476. u. newly transferred by Ludwig Mader ( Library of the Old World ). Zurich: Artemis 1951 [= Munich: dtv 1973], there pp. 169–223.
  • Phaedrus: Fabulae Aesopiae. In: Babrius and Phaedrus. Edited and translated by Ben Edwin Perry (Loeb Classical Library 436). Cambridge, Ma. / London 1965 u. ö., there pp. 190-417.
  • Phaedri Augusti liberti Liber fabularum . Recensuit Antonius Guaglianone (Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum Paravianum). Turin: Paravia 1969 (xxxii, 199 pp.).
  • The thieves and the rooster. Fables of Aesop and Aesopian fables of Phaedrus . Edited by Hans Marquardt , with ink and pen drawings by Josef Hegenbarth . Leipzig: Reclam 1975 (126 pages).
  • Phaedrus . In: Fables of Antiquity. Greek u. Latin. Ed. U. translated by Harry C. Schnur ( Tusculum Library ). Munich: Heimeran 1978, there pp. 162–243.
  • Phaedrus: Aesopian Fables . In: Ancient Fables. Greek beginnings. Aesop. Fables in Roman Literature. Phaedrus. Babrios. Romulus. Avian. Ignatios the deacon. From the Greek u. Lat. translated by Johannes Irmscher (Library of Antiquity). Berlin / Weimar: Aufbau-Verlag (1978) 2nd edition 1987, there pp. 165–242. ISBN 3-351-00461-3
  • Phaedrus: Liber fabularum / book of fables. Latin and German. Translated by Friedrich Fr. Rückert u. Otto Schönberger . Ed. U. ext. by Otto Schönberger (Reclam's Universal Library 1144). Stuttgart: Reclam 1975 a. ö. (240 p.). ISBN 3-15-001144-2
  • Phaedrus: The Fables . With int., Transl., In meter of the orig., With short explanations and notes by Hermann Rupprecht. Mitterfels: Stolz 1992 (104 pages).
  • Phaedrus: the wolf and the lamb. Fables, Latin - German. Edited by Volker Riedel (Reclam Universal Library 1321). Leipzig: Reclam 1989 (284 pages). ISBN 3-379-00498-7
  • Phaedri Fabulae Aesopicae . Narrationes contextuit composuitque dialogos Werner Hensellek, schedas comicas delineavit litterisque instruxit Martin Neubauer. Vienna: Fassbands 1991. ISBN 3-900538-22-0
  • Eberhard Oberg (Ed.): Phaedrus - Fables. Tusculum Study Issues / Tusculum Collection. 2nd Edition. Academy, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-05-005268-7 .
  • J. Briscoe, Stuttgart / Leipzig 1998

literature

Overview representations

Comments

Investigations

  • Ursula Gärtner: Phaedrus tragicus. To Phaedr. 4, 7 and his self-image as a poet. In: Ekkehard strengh, Gregor Vogt-Spira (ed.): Dramatic woods. Homages to Eckard Lefèvre. (Spudasmata 80). Olms, Hildesheim 2000, pp. 661-682.
  • Ursula Gärtner: Consulto inuoluit ueritatem antiquitas. About the values ​​at Phaedrus. In: Gymnasium. 114, 2007, pp. 405-434.
  • Ursula Gärtner: Levi calamo ludimus. On the poetological game with Phaedrus. In: Hermes. 135, 2007, pp. 429-459.
  • Ursula Gärtner: From donkey and cicada - reflections on Phaedrus. In: Latin and Greek in Berlin and Brandenburg. 51: 1, 2007, pp. 23-32.

reception

  • Christian Stoffel: Phaedrus (Gaius Iulius Phaedrus). Fabulae Aesopiae. In: Christine Walde (Ed.): The reception of ancient literature. Kulturhistorisches Werklexikon (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 7). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2010, ISBN 978-3-476-02034-5 , Sp. 635-644.
  • Niklas Holzberg: Phaedrus in literary criticism since Lessing. In: suggestion. 37, 1991, pp. 226-242.
  • Andreas Fritsch : Phaedrus as a school author. In: Latin and Greek in Berlin. 29, 1985, pp. 34-69; 32, 1988, pp. 126-146; 34, 1990, pp. 218-240.

Dictionaries:

  • Julius Billerbeck: Complete dictionary on the fables of Phaedrus. Hanover 1838 Downloadable
  • Otto Eichert: Complete dictionary on the fables of Phaedrus. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1970 (reprint of the edition Hahn, Hannover 1877).
  • C. Cremona: Lexicon Phaedrianum. Olms, Hildesheim 1980.

Web links

Wikisource: Phaedrus  - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ PL Schmidt: Phaedrus. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Sp. 686-688.
  2. See Peter Hasubek: Fabel. In: Gert Ueding (Hrsg.): Historical dictionary of rhetoric. Vol. 3, 1996, Col. 185-198, esp. 185-190.