《希腊悲剧》课程参考资料：Alan H. Sommerstein 2010 Aeschylean Tragedy-Bristol Classical Press.pdf_P21-P25

1. The Life and Times of aeschylus Many of these plays were, or may have been, produced in connected sequences(tetralogies); these will be discussed in Chapter 3 The Aeschylean corpus as known to us thus comprises some 78 plays about a quarter of them(exactly the proportion we should expect, given the structure of the City Dionysia programme)certainly or probably satyr-plays. The figure of 90 for Aeschylus'total output, offered by the tenth-century Suda lexicon, if not a scribal error may derive from the festival records and include plays that did not survive into the hellenistic period. During the early centuries of the Christian era most of the plays gradually ceased to be read and copied, and long before the tenth century (the date of our oldest medieval manuscript of Aeschylus, known as the Mediceus, now in the laurentian library at Florence)only seven were still in existence. More recently, papyrus discoveries have restored to us sub- stantial portions of The Net-Haulers and The Sacred Delegation, and other papyri, together with many ancient quotations and references, give us greater or lesser degrees of information about the vast majority of the other lost’ plays. Aeschylus'ancient Life says that he won thirteen victories in the dramatic competition and not a few after his death; the Suda lexicon credits him with 28 victories, which, if correct, must include the posth mous ones Aeschylus left two sons, Euphorion and Euaeon, both of whom them selves became tragic poets. Euphorion is reported to have won four first prizes with previously unperformed plays by his father(Suda E3800), and since it is hardly a plausible supposition that aeschylus had composed new plays in the last three years of his life it was not unreasonable for West to suspect that on some at least of these occasions Euphorion was actually producing his own work under his fathers name; it may have been with one such production that he won first prize in 431, defeating Sophocles and Euripides(Euripides' plays included Medea). Of Euaeon's professional life nothing is known; but his good looks are the theme of about a dozen vase- inscriptions of the 440s This evidence sug gests a substantial age-gap between the brothers, with Euphorion born no ater than about 480. Euaeon no earlier than about 467. In addition to his previously mentioned brother, Cynegeirus, Aeschylus had a sister who married one Philopeithes and became the ancestress of a long line of tragic dramatists. The first of the dynasty was Philocles, whose known period of activity extends from about the 430s until after 410. He is said to have written 100 plays, and on one occasion he defeated Sophocles when the latters production included Oedipus the King. He was thought, however, to have an unpleasant style, and was nicknamed Gall and"Briny Philocles had a son Morsimus and probably another son Melanthius: both were tragic poets(Melanthius may have been an actor also), both were active in the last three decades of the fifth century, both were lampooned in comedy, from which we learn that Morsimus was 13

Many of these plays were, or may have been, produced in connected sequences (tetralogies); these will be discussed in Chapter 3. The Aeschylean corpus as known to us thus comprises some 78 plays, about a quarter of them (exactly the proportion we should expect, given the structure of the City Dionysia programme) certainly or probably satyr-plays.32 The figure of 90 for Aeschylus’ total output, offered by the tenth-century Suda lexicon, if not a scribal error may derive from the festival records and include plays that did not survive into the Hellenistic period. During the early centuries of the Christian era most of the plays gradually ceased to be read and copied, and long before the tenth century (the date of our oldest medieval manuscript of Aeschylus, known as the Mediceus, now in the Laurentian library at Florence) only seven were still in existence. More recently, papyrus discoveries have restored to us substantial portions of The Net-Haulers and The Sacred Delegation, and other papyri, together with many ancient quotations and references, give us greater or lesser degrees of information about the vast majority of the other ‘lost’ plays. Aeschylus’ ancient Life says that he won thirteen victories in the dramatic competition ‘and not a few after his death’; the Suda lexicon credits him with 28 victories, which, if correct, must include the posthumous ones.33 Aeschylus left two sons, Euphorion and Euaeon, both of whom themselves became tragic poets. Euphorion is reported to have won four first prizes with previously unperformed plays by his father (Suda e3800), and since it is hardly a plausible supposition that Aeschylus had composed sixteen new plays in the last three years of his life, it was not unreasonable for West to suspect34 that on some at least of these occasions Euphorion was actually producing his own work under his father’s name; it may have been with one such production that he won first prize in 431, defeating both Sophocles and Euripides (Euripides’ plays included Medea).35 Of Euaeon’s professional life nothing is known; but his good looks are the theme of about a dozen vase-inscriptions of the 440s. This evidence suggests a substantial age-gap between the brothers, with Euphorion born no later than about 480, Euaeon no earlier than about 467. In addition to his previously mentioned brother, Cynegeirus, Aeschylus had a sister who married one Philopeithes and became the ancestress of a long line of tragic dramatists.36 The first of the dynasty was Philocles, whose known period of activity extends from about the 430s until after 410. He is said to have written 100 plays, and on one occasion he defeated Sophocles when the latter’s production included Oedipus the King.37 He was thought, however, to have an unpleasant style, and was nicknamed ‘Gall’ and ‘Briny’. Philocles had a son Morsimus and probably another son Melanthius: both were tragic poets (Melanthius may have been an actor also), both were active in the last three decades of the fifth century, both were lampooned in comedy, from which we learn that Morsimus was a 1. The Life and Times of Aeschylus 13

Aeschylean Tragedy small man and practised as an eye-doctor, while melanthius had a skin disease and was fond of good food. Philocles may have lived c. 480-405 Morsimus c 450-400 Morsimus'son, Astydamas, first entered the dramatic competition in 398 but won little distinction; he lived to be sixty, so his dates may be taken as c. 423-363. He in turn left two sons, a second Astydamas and a second Philocles; the latter is an obscure figure, but the former was one of the leading tragic dramatists of the fourth century. He won his first victory in 372, when he cannot have been much over twenty-five, and was still at the height of his fame in 340 when he was awarded the signal honour of a bronze statue of himself in the theatre. In all he won fifteen victories, and he is credited with no less than 240 plays(many of which must have been produced outside Athens).a It is tempting to conjecture that when lycur gus(who dominated Athenian finance and administration from 338 to 326) sought to establish an official text of the three great fifth-century tragedi ans for future revivals, it was to Astydamas, as the heir of Aeschylus, that he turned for copies of Aeschylus' scripts-for Aeschylus' plays, being much less often revived than those of Sophocles or Euripides, will have been considerably harder to come by in the 330s. If so, it is to Astydamas that we owe the preservation of no small part of what remains of Aeschylean drama. 9 Notes 1. Dates given in this form refer to the Athenian calendar year, which normally began and ended soon after midsummer. Our sources give, or rather imply, various dates for Aeschylus'birth, but 525/4 is the only one which is attested more than once(Suda a357, with T2230; Parian Marble A 48 and 59), and it is consistent with our other evidence about the chronology of Aeschylus career. It may well, however, have been reached by the common ancient chronological practice of king a notable event in a persons career(in this case Aeschylus' first victory in 485/4)as his floruit and assuming he was then forty years old, and it should not be regarded as more than appre 2. [Plato], Hipparchus 228b(crediting Hipparchus); Cicero, De Oratore 3.13 Palatine Anthology 11.442; Pausanias 7.26.13(all crediting Peisistratus). See Janko1992:29-32. 3. This traditional date for the institution of the tragic competition has been queried by Connor 1990 and by Scullion 2002: 81, but Osborne 1993 and Sourvinou-Inwood 1994 have argued on independent grounds that the competition is likely to date from the time of Peisistratus. Certainly it was the general belief.. from as far back as we can see... that Thespis lived under Pisistratus'(M L West 1989: 253) 4. Polis(plural poleis) will often be left untranslated. It denotes an inde political unit, able to make its own laws, and focused on a(normally fortified)ur entre; it is commonly translated as 'city,, 'stateor city-state. See Hansen 2006. 5. Dithyrambs were performances of song and dance, originally(but by the fifth century not always)in honour of Dionysus, by a chorus of fifty in circular formation. 6. These records were later published on stone, and have in part survived as IG i22318

small man and practised as an eye-doctor, while Melanthius had a skin disease and was fond of good food. Philocles may have lived c. 480-405, Morsimus c. 450-400. Morsimus’ son, Astydamas, first entered the dramatic competition in 398 but won little distinction; he lived to be sixty, so his dates may be taken as c. 423-363. He in turn left two sons, a second Astydamas and a second Philocles; the latter is an obscure figure, but the former was one of the leading tragic dramatists of the fourth century. He won his first victory in 372, when he cannot have been much over twenty-five, and was still at the height of his fame in 340 when he was awarded the signal honour of a bronze statue of himself in the theatre. In all he won fifteen victories, and he is credited with no less than 240 plays (many of which must have been produced outside Athens).38 It is tempting to conjecture that when Lycurgus (who dominated Athenian finance and administration from 338 to 326) sought to establish an official text of the three great fifth-century tragedians for future revivals, it was to Astydamas, as the heir of Aeschylus, that he turned for copies of Aeschylus’ scripts – for Aeschylus’ plays, being much less often revived than those of Sophocles or Euripides, will have been considerably harder to come by in the 330s. If so, it is to Astydamas that we owe the preservation of no small part of what remains of Aeschylean drama.39 Notes 1. Dates given in this form refer to the Athenian calendar year, which normally began and ended soon after midsummer. Our sources give, or rather imply, various dates for Aeschylus’ birth, but 525/4 is the only one which is attested more than once (Suda ai357, with p2230; Parian Marble A 48 and 59), and it is consistent with our other evidence about the chronology of Aeschylus’ career. It may well, however, have been reached by the common ancient chronological practice of taking a notable event in a person’s career (in this case Aeschylus’ first victory in 485/4) as his floruit and assuming he was then forty years old, and it should not be regarded as more than approximately correct. 2. [Plato], Hipparchus 228b (crediting Hipparchus); Cicero, De Oratore 3.137; Palatine Anthology 11.442; Pausanias 7.26.13 (all crediting Peisistratus). See Janko 1992: 29-32. 3. This traditional date for the institution of the tragic competition has been queried by Connor 1990 and by Scullion 2002: 81, but Osborne 1993 and Sourvinou-Inwood 1994 have argued on independent grounds that the competition is likely to date from the time of Peisistratus. Certainly ‘it was the general belief ! from as far back as we can see ! that Thespis lived under Pisistratus’ (M.L. West 1989: 253). 4. Polis (plural poleis) will often be left untranslated. It denotes an independent political unit, able to make its own laws, and focused on a (normally fortified) urban centre; it is commonly translated as ‘city’, ‘state’ or ‘city-state’. See Hansen 2006. 5. Dithyrambs were performances of song and dance, originally (but by the fifth century not always) in honour of Dionysus, by a chorus of fifty in circular formation. 6. These records were later published on stone, and have in part survived as IG ii2 2318. Aeschylean Tragedy 14

1. The Life and Times of aeschylus 7. It was during the 70th Olympiad(Suda T2230)-which ran from 500 to 496 and Aeschylus was twenty-five years old(Suda a357) 8. It is now widely held that some very early plays of Aeschylus did survive, and that the famous Achilles trilogy(see $10.1)was among them(dohle 1967, Kossatz- Deissmann 1981: 106-14, Garzya 1995: 46-7, Michelakis 2002: 22n. 1, 31n. 21). This is because a series of vase paintings, the earliest of which are dated by art historians to the 490s, show Odysseus addressing an Achilles who is muffled up in his cloak as the Aeschylean Achilles is known to have been(Aristophanes, Frogs 911-12). It would then follow, however, that one of Aeschylus'most celebrated productions-and a popular one at the time, if it really did stimulate all this artistic activity -did not win first prize; and I would ask, with M.L. West 2000: 341n 11 does anyone trust vase datings to within five years? There is another series of vase paintings, beginning about the same time clearly linkable to the companion play The Nereids 9. There are only five plays of Phrynichus from which ancient authors quot fragments 10. Each production comprised four plays(see Chapter 3), so that fifty-two of Aeschylus' plays(perhaps about 60% of his total output, see pp 10-13)formed part of victorious productions 11. Scholia to Aristophanes, Frogs 1028. 12. See pp 45, 62-5, on the tetralogy of 472 13. In an ancient Greek context barbarian(barbaros) means non-Greek non-Greek-speaking 14. The two last-mentioned plays may have been produced together; and either this production, or one of the others here discussed, may have been posthumous. 15. The 177 dead from one of the ten tribes, killed in six different theatres of war in the same year, are commemorated in IG11147 16. Athenaeus 14.627c: Pausanias 1. 14.5 17. Michael Hendry has called to my attention the parallel case of the epitaph of Thomas Jefferson, which describes him as 'author of the declaration of Ameri can Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia-and no more: even if we did not know positively that Jefferson had prescribed this wording himself, we could have inferred it with near-certainty from the epitaphs failure to mention that he had also been Presi- dent of the United States 18. In addition, one feature of the epitaphs language(the use of alsos to mean not'grove' or'sacred precinct, but 'level expanse, is otherwise found only in poetry of the period 480-410 BC and is particularly characteristic of Aeschylus; see Sommerstein 1996 19. CAG XX145.23-32. 20. See Bowie 1993: 24-6. with references to earlier literature. 21. Dover 1968. xx 22. See Aristotle, Constitution of Athens 23.2 and Plutarch, Cimon 14.3-5 23. Plutarch. Pericles 31-2 24. So Jacoby1947:3-4. 25. M.L. West 1985: 78n 25 suggested lon as source for the 'slices from Homer 26. One is preserved in the Palatine Anthology (7. 255), and a line from another is quoted by Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 9.15. 27. It is mentioned by his ancient biographer and cited (at second hand) by Plutarch. Moralia 628d-e

7. It was during the 70th Olympiad (Suda p2230) – which ran from 500 to 496 – and Aeschylus was twenty-five years old (Suda ai357). 8. It is now widely held that some very early plays of Aeschylus did survive, and that the famous Achilles trilogy (see §10.1) was among them (Döhle 1967, KossatzDeissmann 1981: 106-14, Garzya 1995: 46-7, Michelakis 2002: 22n.1, 31n.21). This is because a series of vase paintings, the earliest of which are dated by art historians to the 490s, show Odysseus addressing an Achilles who is muffled up in his cloak as the Aeschylean Achilles is known to have been (Aristophanes, Frogs 911-12). It would then follow, however, that one of Aeschylus’ most celebrated productions – and a popular one at the time, if it really did stimulate all this artistic activity – did not win first prize; and I would ask, with M.L.West 2000: 341n.11: ‘does anyone trust vase datings to within five years?’ There is another series of vase paintings, beginning about the same time, clearly linkable to the companion play The Nereids. 9. There are only five plays of Phrynichus from which ancient authors quote fragments. 10. Each production comprised four plays (see Chapter 3), so that fifty-two of Aeschylus’ plays (perhaps about 60% of his total output, see pp. 10-13) formed part of victorious productions. 11. Scholia to Aristophanes, Frogs 1028. 12. See pp. 45, 62-5, on the tetralogy of 472. 13. In an ancient Greek context ‘barbarian’ (barbaros) means ‘non-Greek’ or ‘non-Greek-speaking’. 14. The two last-mentioned plays may have been produced together; and either this production, or one of the others here discussed, may have been posthumous. 15. The 177 dead from one of the ten tribes, killed in six different theatres of war ‘in the same year’, are commemorated in IG i3 1147. 16. Athenaeus 14.627c; Pausanias 1.14.5. 17. Michael Hendry has called to my attention the parallel case of the epitaph of Thomas Jefferson, which describes him as ‘author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia’ – and no more: even if we did not know positively that Jefferson had prescribed this wording himself, we could have inferred it with near-certainty from the epitaph’s failure to mention that he had also been President of the United States. 18. In addition, one feature of the epitaph’s language (the use of alsos to mean, not ‘grove’ or ‘sacred precinct’, but ‘level expanse’), is otherwise found only in poetry of the period 480-410 BC and is particularly characteristic of Aeschylus; see Sommerstein 1996. 19. CAG xx 145.23-32. 20. See Bowie 1993: 24-6, with references to earlier literature. 21. Dover 1968: xx. 22. See Aristotle, Constitution of Athens 23.2 and Plutarch, Cimon 14.3-5. 23. Plutarch, Pericles 31-2. 24. So Jacoby 1947: 3-4. 25. M.L. West 1985: 78n.25 suggested Ion as source for the ‘slices from Homer’ remark. 26. One is preserved in the Palatine Anthology (7.255), and a line from another is quoted by Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 9.15. 27. It is mentioned by his ancient biographer, and cited (at second hand) by Plutarch, Moralia 628d-e. 1. The Life and Times of Aeschylus 15