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

“Most certainly.”
“It follows, then, that the sculptor must represent in his figures the
activities of the soul.” (Mem. 3.10.6-3.10.8) [193]
In this passage, the identification of Cleiton’s statues with runners, wrestlers, boxers and
fighters sets a context of representational subjects in which the human form dominates.
Next, the technical question, “How do you e0nerga&zh| (produce in) them that zwtiko_n
fai/nesqai (illusion of life),” that Socrates poses to Cleiton is straightforward evidence
that lifelikeness was an essential quality of works of art in which both philosophers and
artists showed interest. The phrase to_ zwtiko_n fai/nesqai is translated by Marchant as
“illusion of life.” Although not incorrect, this translation does not capture the literal
meaning of the phrase. The adjective zwtiko_n stems from the noun zwh&, which means
“life.” 108 Henry Liddell and Robert Scott translate it as “true to life.” 109 Similarly,
Halliwell suggests that the word “identifies the simulation of ‘life’ that might be
experienced in an image, the sense of what might be called its vividly ‘world-like’
properties.” 110 The articular infinitive to_ fai/nesqai means “to appear.” 111 Considering
that this type of infinitive “is used like any other noun,” then Halliwell’s explanation of
to_ fai/nesqai as “appearance” is more accurate than its above translation as “illusion.” 112
In this way, the meaning of the entire phrase as “appearance of life” brings the concept of
lifelikeness in sharp focus. In addition, the verb e0nerga&zh|, which derives from
e0nerga&zomai, literally meaning “to produce in,” sheds light on lifelikeness as a technical
108
H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, rev. H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie, A Greek-English Lexicon with a Revised
Supplement (new ninth ed.; Oxford, 1940; repr. 1996) 759, s.v. zwh& (henceforth LSJ 9 ).
109 9
LSJ , 761, s.v. zwtiko_n.
110
S. Halliwell, “Plato and Painting,” in N. K. Rutter and B. A. Sparkes, eds., Word and Image in Ancient
Greece (Edinburgh, 2000) 102.
111 9
LSJ , 1913, s.v. fai/nesqai.
112
First quotation: H. Hansen and G. M. Quinn, Greek. An Intensive Course (New York, 1996) 128; second
quotation: Halliwell, “Plato and Painting,” in Rutter and Sparkes, eds., Word and Image 102.
62