THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 105
and not least for the decisive demonstration Lattimore which are not represented. Some
that the simplistic solution of the translation of the lyric versions taken from the Oxford
of one writer's Latin into another's Greek, or Book of Greek Verse in Translation are out of
vice versa, is impossible. place today. A good idea of the original is
given in Baldry's own versions which are
University of Edinburgh P. G. WALSH simple and eloquent.
The many plates and illustrations which
gave rise to the book's rather pretentious
title are related to the main text by short
H. C. BALDRY: Ancient Greek Litera- descriptive paragraphs. These illustrations,
ture in its Living Context. (Library of as is claimed in the introduction, intensify
the Early Civilizations.) Pp. 144; and enliven the reader's understanding of
28 colour pis., 96 black and white Greek literature, but the way in which they
ills. London: Thames and Hudson, are reproduced and presented leaves a good
deal to be desired. The colour plates in
1968. Cloth, 305. (Paper, iy.). particular tend to be garish and unreal; an
THIS is an adapted and extended version of extreme example is the photograph of the
the fourth chapter of The Birth of Western citadel of Mycenae. Some of the black and
Civilization, a lavish and expensive produc- white illustrations are too dark and the detail
tion, with contributions by a number of dis- is obscured. It is also irritating to the reader
tinguished scholars, which appeared in 1964. to have the text constantly broken up by
There are now more plates, but most of illustrations. In general the book leaves a
them have been reduced in size to suit the visual impression of ostentation which is
smaller format of this book and they are to quite out of keeping with the modesty and
a greater extent interspersed among sections simplicity of Baldry's text.
of the text than they were in the earlier
volume. H. L L . HUDSON-WILLIAMS
The text gives an account of Greek litera- University of Newcastle upon Tyne
ture from its beginnings to Roman times.
Although this account is very short, much of
the book being taken up with illustrations,
it is remarkable what Professor Baldry has 1. W. T. STACE: A Critical History of
been able to achieve. His survey gives a good Greek Philosophy. Pp. xiv+386. Lon-
idea of individual authors and general trends, don: Macmillan, 1968. Stiff paper,
and includes short references to recent
155.
theories and discoveries. The secret of his
technique is judicious selection of material. 2. G. F. PARKER: A Short Account of
He concentrates on salient characteristics Greek Philosophy. Pp. x+194. Lon-
and the relevant background, leaving out
what is not essential. Economy of words and
don: Arnold, 1967. Cloth, 305. net.
selection of detail characterize above all the 3. ALASTAIR MACINTYRE: A Short
chapter on the Homeric poems, but space History of Ethics. Pp. viii+280.
is found for allusions to relevant Hittite texts
and Linear B tablets and for an outline of London: Routledge, 1967. Paper,
the technique of oral poetry. In the chapter 15J. net.
on drama the characteristics of the three I. I T is disturbing that Macmillan has de-
tragedians are illustrated by describing their cided to give W. T. Stace's lectures renewed
different treatment of the Orestes theme. vitality nearly half a century after their de-
Poets lend themselves better to Baldry's livery. Stace himself adds a cautionary note
technique than prose-writers. Over-simplifi- (dated 1966) to the Preface, saying that he
cation tends to distort his account of Hero- has himself moved from semi-Hegelian
dotus, to describe Isocrates as 'the chief idealism but did not think it worth while
creator of rhetoric as a distinct science' is attempting a modification of the passages in
misleading without further explanation, and the book affected by this. The difficulty is
not much idea of Plato and Aristotle can that the proportions and emphases of the
be given in the four pages allotted to them. whole work are affected by this basic ap-
Passages in translation illustrate the proach. Would that he had spent his
authors described. These are by various Princeton retirement rewriting it, able to
hands and of uneven quality. More use might take account of Jaeger (and all that has
have been made of recent and less traditional followed), of Cornford (especially Plato's Cos-
translations, particularly those of Richmond >), of Kirk and Raven—and, of course,
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Nottingham, on 12 Jan 2020 at 17:18:38, subject to the Cambridge Core terms
of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009840X00296042
io6 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW
of Sambursky. How can any history now call Klassische Parodien: Kuckuckseier in
itself 'critical' which antedates them all? zwei alten und zjuun neuen Sprachen.
2. Here we step from 1919 into today, with Zusammengestellt von KLAUS BAR-
Sir Karl Popper in the Preface and an attempt TELS. Pp. 96. Zurich: Artemis-
to make sixth-formers both literate and
Verlag, 1969. Stiff paper, 7.80 Sw. fr.
numerate in the first chapter. Then we have
Yeats's version of the two great masters: MOST of the Greek and Latin jewe d'esprit in
Plato thought nature but a spume that plays this collection are of British origin—J. D.
Upon a ghostly paradigm of things; Beazley's Gaisford 'Herodotus at the Zoo';
Solider Aristotle played the taws R. A. Knox's short 'Fragment of a Tele-
Upon the bottom of a king of kings. . . . phoniazusae'; and a selection from A. D.
Godley's fifth Book of the Odes: Germany
and so on. But it will not do to sit down and adds one which will be new to most British
weep, and wish for W. T. Stace or for readers, the thirty-first Character (the <PiAo-
J. F. Ferrier's lectures on Greek philosophy Xoyos) provided for Theophrastus by the
delivered at St. Andrews in i860 or there- Philologische Gesellschaft of Leipzig on the
abouts—even though these were better food occasion of a conference in 1897. With these
for thought than either Stace or Parker pro- may be counted A. E. Housman's famous
vides. What Parker does achieve quite 'Fragment of a Greek Tragedy'. The other
brilliantly is to elucidate the Greek thought- items are in German and represent a dif-
world for the good sixth-former or liberal ferent kind offun—extracts from a burlesqued
arts college student. Sometimes it is as Aeneid by Aloys Blumauer (1784-8), Odes of
irritating as T. R. Glover's illustrations, in Horace brought up to date by Ludwig
his lectures, of ancient history from contem- Holty (1914), J. H. Voss (1802), and Chris-
porary Canada: it told us most about Canada. tian Morgenstern (1897), and a moderniza-
But the infinite variety of Greek thought tion of the Ars Amatoria in Bavarian dialect by
could hardly be better conveyed. The prin- Eduard Stemplinger (1922).
ciples of selection may cause some surprise—
less on Socrates, less on the Symposium and
Phaedrus than one might have expected—
and Aristotle really gets a better close-up
than Plato; but one ought in this case to
respect the motive and plan and not carp at MARIO UNTERSTEINER: / Sofisti.
details. They can come later for Mr. Parker's Seconda edizione riveduta. 2 vols.
readers. This is an up-to-date Protrepticus. Pp. 318, 332. Milan: Lampugnani
3. Formally only the first 109 pages of this Nigri, 1967. Paper, L. 5,500.
book concern the classical scholar: in fact THE first edition of this book was published
the discussions of Machiavelli and Hegel are at Turin in 1949, and an English translation
quite as important for him. Throughout was published in 1953. Untersteiner's views
Maclntyre steers between moral relativism have also received ample expression in the
and unclothed theorizing; he is therefore four volumes of texts with translations from
very good on pre-philosophical Greeks Diels-Kranz published between 1949 and
(though maybe a too hook-line-and-sinker 1962 under the title Sofisti: Testimonialize e
Adkins man) and excellent on the Sophists Frammenti (see C.R. lxiv [1950], 153; lxvii
and Socrates. The social and philosophical ['953]» 196, lxxix [1965], 32-3) and their
impasse of the demand for a pure and in- general lines may be taken by now to be
variable ethical universal is highlighted, and sufficiently known—in case any one should
the different ways of preceding from that still be interested in my own appraisal I may
point are made clear. It is to be expected perhaps refer to my own earlier review of the
that Aristotle's ethics will come off better first edition of the present work in J.H.S.
than Plato's plan for society, and they do. lxxv (1955), 166-7.
There are no geometric axioms in morality
The second edition has been extended by
for Professor Maclntyre. Is the vision of
the addition of an article on 'Le Origini
the Good for philosophers only? Where is
sociali della Sofistica' previously published
Vhomme moyen sensuel? The Phaedrus seems to
in Studi di FUosofia Greca in onore di R. Mon-
suggest that he will listen to a true philoso-
dolfo (Bari, 1950), and by considerable addi-
pher—orator, who sees the truth and under-
tions to the bibliography and the notes. But
stands man's nature. But this, of course, is
there has been no change in any of the essen-
opium for the people. And yet, is it opium?
tials of the original interpretation, and
University of Durham J. B. SKEMP although the work has been reset to make
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Nottingham, on 12 Jan 2020 at 17:18:38, subject to the Cambridge Core terms
of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009840X00296042
