Three Greek Critics

THREE GREEK CRITICS' G. M. A. GRUBE PLATO banished the poets from his ideal Republic. This, and often little else, is remembered in every discussion of ancient criticism. Banishing the poets, however, is not Plato's only, nor indeed his chief contribution to the history of criticism, though it is a contribution of some importance. To understand his attitude to poetry and to literature we must keep in mind both the attitude of the Greeks in general to poetry and its place in Greek education. Plato wrote four centuries or more after the unexplained miracle of the Homeric poems with which, for us, Greek literature begins. Homer's outlook is in many ways Greek, not least in the respect paid to poets and poetry by Homeric society. Achilles in his tent sings epic ballads to the accompaniment of the lyre like any rhapsode; King Antinous is as proud of his court poet as he is of his sailors. Hesiod claims for the poets parity with feudal lords, and that tradition was never lost. When, during the intervening centuries, the Greeks sought guidance in the art of life, as men must ever seek it, they received little such guidance from their Olympian gods, beyond a very few ethical imperatives such as respect for parents, hospitality, the sanctity of an oath. But if the gods of Homer were of little help, there was a good deal of inspiration to be got from the moral code of his heroes; and Homer, whose only aim was to delight, became in the fullest sense a moral and educational force in Greek life. We know that every Athenian gentleman was brought up on Homer; Homeric heroes were the heroes of every schoolboy long before Alexander the Great slept with Homer under his pillow. Education in classical Greece consisted largely of poetry, music, and physical training, and among the poets Homer was supreme. Indeed , he remained the poet for two thousand years. Many, even in the fifth century, regarded him also as the teacher above all others. Now when poetry and music are such a vital force in society, such an essential part of the individual's life and outlook, they cannot be divorced from life, nor would anyone dream of so divorcing them. Art for art's sake cannot be pursued until poetry has withdrawn into the study and music to the studio. This is a view of art which no Greek critic would have conceived or understood until the days of Byzantium. Our best witness to the fact that poetry and music were vital forces in fifth-century Athens is Aristophanes. His comedies were written to lPresentcd at a meeting of the Colloquium in the Humanities, University of Toronto, October 24. 1951. 345 Vol. XXI, no. 4, July, 1952 THREE GREEK CRITICS' G. M. A. GRUBE PLATO banished the poets from his ideal Republic. This, and often little else, is remembered in every discussion of ancient criticism. Banishing the poets, however, is not Plato's only, nor indeed his chief contribution to the history of criticism, though it is a contribution of some importance. To understand his attitude to poetry and to literature we must keep in mind both the attitude of the Greeks in general to poetry and its place in Greek education. Plato wrote four centuries or more after the unexplained miracle of the Homeric poems with which, for us, Greek literature begins. Homer's outlook is in many ways Greek, not least in the respect paid to poets and poetry by Homeric society. Achilles in his tent sings epic ballads to the accompaniment of the lyre like any rhapsode; King Antinous is as proud of his court poet as he is of his sailors. Hesiod claims for the poets parity with feudal lords, and that tradition was never lost. When, during the intervening centuries, the Greeks sought guidance in the art of life, as men must ever seek it, they received little such guidance from their Olympian gods, beyond a very few ethical imperatives such as respect for parents, hospitality, the sanctity of an oath. But if the gods of Homer were of little help, there was a good deal of inspiration...