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The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

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government <strong>of</strong> the state. Four persons participate <strong>in</strong> this dialogue—Socrates, <strong>The</strong>odorus<br />

<strong>of</strong> Cyrene, a Stranger, <strong>and</strong> Socrates the Younger. <strong>The</strong> word occurs twice <strong>in</strong> a passage <strong>in</strong><br />

which the Stranger highlights the <strong>in</strong>complete state <strong>of</strong> his conversation with the younger<br />

Socrates:<br />

So we have made our discourse too long <strong>and</strong> after all have never made an end <strong>of</strong><br />

the tale, but our talk, just like a zw|~on, seems to have a good enough outl<strong>in</strong>e<br />

(e1cwqen me\n perigrafh_n), but not yet to have received the clearness<br />

[e0na&rgeian] that comes from pigments <strong>and</strong> the blend<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> colors. And yet it is<br />

more fitt<strong>in</strong>g to portray (dhlou~n) any zw|~on by speech <strong>and</strong> argument than by<br />

pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g (grafh~j) or any h<strong>and</strong>icraft (xeirourgi/aj) whatsoever to persons who<br />

are able to follow the argument; but to others it is better to do it by means <strong>of</strong><br />

works <strong>of</strong> craftsmanship (dia_ xeirourgiw~n). (Plt. 277c) [146]<br />

Plato’s Stranger describes the <strong>in</strong>complete state <strong>of</strong> his discussion with the younger<br />

Socrates as analogous to the artistic render<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> a zw|~on, whose outl<strong>in</strong>e is sketched, but<br />

the application <strong>of</strong> colors to it has not yet been completed. 593 Harold Fowler translates this<br />

zw|~on as a “picture <strong>of</strong> a liv<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>g,” <strong>and</strong> Christopher Rowe as a “portrait.” 594 With<strong>in</strong><br />

this context, which po<strong>in</strong>ts to pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> thus to the visual arts, the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the first<br />

zw|~on is not easy to determ<strong>in</strong>e. It can be understood both as an <strong>in</strong>complete (just the<br />

outl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> an) image or subject <strong>of</strong> representation, underscor<strong>in</strong>g aga<strong>in</strong> the tendency not to<br />

dist<strong>in</strong>guish between image <strong>and</strong> subject. Either way, the aspect <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>completeness that<br />

dom<strong>in</strong>ates both possibilities is essential, for it contrasts with the previously seen mean<strong>in</strong>g<br />

<strong>of</strong> zw|~on as the f<strong>in</strong>ished product <strong>of</strong> pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g. What this contrast reveals is that different<br />

stages <strong>of</strong> the process employed for the production <strong>of</strong> a work <strong>of</strong> art to which zw|~on<br />

referred did not affect the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the word <strong>in</strong> the fourth century.<br />

593 For a discussion <strong>of</strong> the connection between the notion <strong>of</strong> “outl<strong>in</strong>e sketchily,” <strong>and</strong> the ancient term<br />

skiagraphia, see Keuls, Plato <strong>and</strong> Greek Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g 75.<br />

594 H. Fowler, ed., tr., Plato. <strong>The</strong> Statesman. Philebus (Cambridge, Mass. <strong>and</strong> London, 1925; repr. 1962)<br />

77; C. J. Rowe, tr., Statesman, <strong>in</strong> J. M. Cooper, ed., Plato. Complete Works (Indianapolis <strong>and</strong> Cambridge,<br />

1997) 319.<br />

303

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