Caeneus as the Stoic Ideal: Plutarch, Compendium Argumenti Stoicos quam poetas absuriora dicere 1057d

Name:    Plutarch Date:      46 – 119 CE Region:    Chaeronea [modern Greece]   Citation:     Compendium Contra Stoicos,1057d

It is important to note that, like Palaephatus, Plutarch rejects the incredulity of Caeneus' bulletproof skin, but not his gender.

Pindar’s portrayal of Caeneus is criticized because: 1)  he is unrealistically portrayed as being bulletproof, 2) he has an invincible body, as well as 3) he was swallowed whole by the earth without a wound, as he “rends the earth with his right foot.” [Pindar fragment 166f / 147f]

But the Stoic Lapith*, equally made of adamantium (a material impervious to detriment) supposedly is free of not only injury, illness, and grief, but also lacks fear and sorrow. He is completely invincible, never yielding to any by force, and if he is wounded, he never suffers pain. Even if he is tortured, even if his homeland is destroyed, this Caeneus never seems to be upset.

* Caeneus was a Lapith [name of a region in Thessaly]

ὁ Πινδάρου Καινεὺς εὔθυναν ὑπεῖχεν, ἀπιθάνως ἄρρηκτος σιδήρῳ καὶ ἀπαθὴς τὸ σῶμα πλασσόμενος, εἶτα καταδὺς ἄτρωτος ὑπὸ γῆν ‘σχίσας ὀρθῷ ποδὶ γᾶν:’ ὁ δὲ Στωικὸς Λαπίθης, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀδαμαντίνης ὕλης ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν τῆς ἀπαθείας κεχαλκευμένος, οὐκ ἄτρωτός ἐστιν οὐδ᾽ ἄνοσος οὐδ᾽ ἀναλγής, ἄφοβος δὲ μένει καὶ ἄλυπος καὶ ἀήττητος καὶ ἀβίαστος, τιτρωσκόμενος ἀλγῶν στρεβλούμενος, ἐν κατασκαφαῖς πατρίδος ἐν πάθεσιν, τοιούτοις.

Reprehensus fuit Pindarus, quod Caeneum parum probabiliter finxisset ferro inviolabilem, et corpore quod laedi non posset, terram subiise nullo accepto vulnere, cum "RECTO PEDE SCIDISSET SOLUM."

At Stoicorum iste Lapitha ex adamantina, vacuitatis omnium perpessionum conflatus materia, non vulnerum duntaxat, morborum, dolorum, fingitur expers, sed et metu et moestitia carere, insuperabilis manere, nulli cedere viribus, tum quidem, quando vulneratur, dolores patitur, torquetur, atque adeo etiam in patriae excidio, aliisque Caeneus duntaxat ictus nullo cum vulnere excipit. 

--Translated into Latin by Daniel Wyttenbach, 1832.

 

Plutarch [46 – 119 CE, modern Greece] was a Greek author from Chaeronea, and Roman citizen who lived during the 1st century CE. He had minor governmental and religious administrative roles during his lifetime, but he is best known for his writings. He has numerous philosophical and historical works still extant, including the Parallel Lives, in which he compares the lives of a Roman and Greek statesman for moralistic purposes.

Gone, But Not Forgotten: The Undeath of Caeneus, Pindar, fr. 166f / 147 f.

Although it does not mention the transformation aspect of the myth of Caeneus, this version does attest to his invulnerability. 

 Struck by the green pines, Caeneus broke the earth with his foot and disappeared.

ο δε χλωραϊς ελάταισι τυπείς ώχετο Καινεύς σχίσαις ορθω ποδι γαν

Caeneus vero virentibus abietibus percussus abiit, recto pede terra scisa.

--Pindar, fragment 45 (1821; modern number 166f/147f; attested in Schol. Apollon. Argon.I.61); Translated into Latin by Augustus Boeckhius (1821)

 Pindar is a famous Greek poet from Boeotia (modern Greece) known for his victory odes. These odes, for victors of Pythian, Nemean, and Olympic games, are rich in mythological imagery, and help us understand the relationships of the ancient Greeks to their cultural heritage and their understanding of the past. 

Challenging Gender Roles: The Poet Corinna, Pausanias, Descriptio Graeciae, 9.22.3

 There is a famous monument in the heart of the city for Corinna, the only famous poet from Tanagra; it lies in the Gymnasium. Corinna is depicted with a ribbon in her hair, the trophy of her victory over the poet Pindar in Thebes. It seems to me that she won because of her dialect; she didn’t use the Doric tongue (which Pindar used), but rather the Aeolian dialect. The fact that she was super pretty [if the she looks anything like the statue of her] probably helped her win, too.

Corinnae quidem, quae sola apud Tanagraeos cantica fecit, in celebri urbis loco est monumentum: in gymnasio ipsa picta est, taenia redimita: victoriae illud insigne, quod Thebis carmine Pindarum vicerit. Vicisse ea arbitror linguae causa. Neque enim Dorica, uti Pindarus, cecinit, sed ea quam essent facile Aeolenses percepturi. Quod autem fuerit ea sui temporis feminarum formosissima, non est difficile ex ipsius imagine coniicere.

[3] Κορίννης δέ, ἣ μόνη δὴ ἐν Τανάγρᾳ ᾁσματα ἐποίησε, ταύτης ἔστι μὲν μνῆμα ἐν περιφανεῖ τῆς πόλεως, ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ γραφή, ταινίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἡ Κόριννα ἀναδουμένη τῆς νίκης ἕνεκα ἣν Πίνδαρον ᾁσματι ἐνίκησεν ἐν Θήβαις. φαίνεται δέ μοι νικῆσαι τῆς διαλέκτου τε ἕνεκα, ὅτι ᾖδεν οὐ τῇ φωνῇ τῇ Δωρίδι ὥσπερ ὁ Πίνδαρος ἀλλὰ ὁποίᾳ συνήσειν ἔμελλον Αἰολεῖς, καὶ ὅτι ἦν γυναικῶν τότε δὴ καλλίστη τὸ εἶδος, εἴ τι τῇ εἰκόνι δεῖ τεκμαίρεσθαι.

--Pausanias, Descriptio Graeciae IX.xxii.3; Translated into Latin by Romulus Amaseus (1696)

 

 Pausanias was a Greek writer who lived during the era of the “Five Good Emperors.” His work, the Description of Greece, is an important source for geographical, historical, archaeological, and cultural information about ancient Greece.

 

Challenging Gender Roles: Corinna, Greek Poet: Suda K.2087

Corinna the Poet Defeats Pindar Five Times!

Name:    The Suda Date:      10th century CE      Region:    Unknown   Citation:    Suda K.2087

   Corinna: The daughter of Achelodorus and Procratia. She was either Theban or Tanagrean. She was a student of Myrtis. Her nickname was Myia (“The Fly”). She was a lyric poet. It is said that she beat the poet Pindar five times in a competition. She wrote five books of poetry, both of epigrams and pastoral poems.

Κορίννα, Ἀχελωοδώρου καὶ Προκρατίας, Θηβαία ἢ Ταναγραία, μαθήτρια Μύρτιδος: ἐπωνόμαστο δὲ Μυῖα: λυρική. ἐνίκησε δὲ πεντάκις, ὡς λόγος, Πίνδαρον. ἔγραψε βιβλία ε#, καὶ ἐπιγράμματα καὶ νόμους λυρικούς.

Corinna, Achelodori & Procratiae filia, Thebana vel Tanagrea, discipula Myrtidis, Myia cognominata: Lyrica. Quinquies, ut ferunt, Pindarum vicit. Scripsit (carminum) libros V. itemque epigrammata & cantica lyrica. Translated into Latin by Christianus Wolff

The Suda is a literary encyclopedia created in the 10th century CE by an anonymous Byzantine scholar.