MINNEN, PETER VAN, Isocrates and Menander in Late Antique Perspective , Greek, Roman 
and Byzantine Studies, 33:1 (1992:Spring) p.87 

Isocrates and Menander 
In Late Antique Perspective 

Peter van M innen 

f\.ATE ANTIQUE POEM OF DIOSCORUS in iambic trimeters uses 
Isocrates and Menander as models of rhetorical skill. 

Interest in the Nachleben of both Isocrates and Men­
ander has unduly neglected this poem, which offers the only 
ancien t association of these writers. 1 Even its initial editor 
scorned the poem,2 and his successors have dealt with the text 
in a far from satisfactory manner. I shall present the Greek text, 
some textual notes, and a translation, before discussing the 
poem in greater detail and addressing a more general issue, its 
literary-critical Sitz im Leben. 

P.Rein. II 82 is part of a papyrus from the archive of the well­
known sixth-century notary public Dioscorus of Aphrodito, in 
Middle Egypt, who has recently been the subject of a full­
fledged monograph 3 and whose poetry and personality con­
tinue to interest scholars.4 The papyrus contains two columns 
with poems on an official called Romanus, one in iambic 
trimeters (P.Rein. II 82) and one in hexameters (P.Lit.Lond. 
98).5 Dioscorus wrote them in his own hand, as is clear from the 
prose header: ~WO'~9POU a1tO 8T\~~l8o<; EY[Kro)~W. d<; 'tOY 
KUpWV ['P]wj.luv6v. This is the only time that Dioscorus refers 

1 In Aelius Theon's catalogue of classical authors (Progymnasmata p.68 
Spengel) Menander and Isocrates appear in succession. 

2 P. COLLART, ed., "Les papyrus Theodore Reinach," BIFAO 39 (1940: 
hereafter 'Collart') 19-22, with an unusually sharp introductory statement. 

J L. S. B. MACCOULL, Dioscorus of Aphrodito: His Work and His World 
(Berkeley 1988: hereafter 'MacCoull'), whose discussion of Dioscorus' poetry 
(57-146) is the core of the book. For some criticisms, see the review by E. 
Wipszycka, BibO 48 (1991) 529-36. 

4 Several dissertations on his poetry are in progress. 
5 C. A. KUEHN, "Dioskoros of Aphrodito and Romanos the Melodist," 

BASP 27 (1990: hereafter' Kuehn') 103-07, argues an identification of the 
addressee of the poem with the writer of hymns, a view also proposed by R. J. 
Schork (Kuehn 107 n.24). For a rejection of this identification see the 
Appendix (97f infra). 

87 



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88 ISOCRATES AND MENANDER 

to himself in the headers of his poems. The first fourteen 
iambic trimeters form an acrostic: 6 K'UpWe; ·Pro~avoe;. They are 
followed by four more lines. The text of the first fourteen lines 
according to the latest, authoritative edition is as follows: 6 

OAl3tE 1taVoAl3tE 'tip YEVEt K[a]l 'tOtC; MYOtC;, 
KaAAt<na crOt 1tpE1tEt· 8EXO[ u], (b 8Ecr1to'ta' 
u~wv 'tae; a~iac; AEYEtV ou 13[ a ]crKavoe;, 

4 (>11'trop aptcr'toe; d ~i) EUCPUi)C; 1tavu, 

[t .............. ] AoYtcr~ov aKptl3ft 
[0 )'ta[ ]crtVroE1tE E'tJ ]E [] 'tllV 
[cr~]~bc; 1taA~:n6~ '(b 'M~~a~8p~c; 'tOte; AoYOte; 

8 [po ]~llv MEvav8pEiav 'IcroKpa'tllC; MYEt. 
[ro .. ]E 8£ y[a]p il~tv il ~OAtC; crrocppocrvvllc;. 
[~ ]E8rov E1tatVOV 'tE'tEAEcr~EVOC; cpvcrEt .. . 
[a ] KPt'tOC; EcpUe; 'ta 8mAa 'twv apnarov, 

12 [v ] EO)'tEPOC; 1tav[E]V'tl~OC; 'tVXllC; [Kat] YEVOUe;, 
[6]Al3w8ai~rov 6 81l~OK1l8E~WV ~Eyac;, 
[cr ]ocpOC; crocpro'ta'trov U1tEPEl3llcra[ C; A]OyOV. 

Textual Notes 

5: The lacuna obviously contained a verb on which Aoytcrll-0V (bcpt~f1 
depends. In view of line 8 I would be tempted to supply ['Icr01CpU't1lS 
A£yn]. Dioscorus praises Romanus by comparing him with well­
known figures from the Greek literary past-including, in what fol­
lows, Menander and Isocrates. In the hexameter poem (P. Lit. Lond. 
98.4) Dioscorus compares Romanus to Homer: UAAOV "Oll-llPOV lOov. 
These are the only authors mentioned by name, and only in the case 
of the £YlCWIl- toY for Romanus are they compared to the person who 
is the object of his praise. Dioscorus mentions Homer by name 
elsewhere only in P.Cair.Masp. II 67185 verso B 4 (Heitsch 146 no. 20). 

8: [p ]Il-llv: Coli art did not notice the acrostic. His supplement at the 
beginning of this line ([yvw]ll-llV?) therefore cannot be right. Of the 
supplements in Heitsch's apparatus-[pU]ll-llV, !P"Jll-llV, and [pw]Il-TJV 
-only the last will do. There may be an additional pun on 

6 E. HEITSCH. Die griechischen Dichterfragmente der romischen Kaiserzeit 
(Gottingen 1961: hereafter 'Heitsch') 141 no. 12 (=MacCoull 68),142 no. 12B 
(poem in hexameters). 



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PETER VAN MINNEN 89 

Romanus' name.? It is extremely odd to find Prolll1 ascribed to 
Menander, as the reading of the successive editors implies. T. Gagos 
points out to me, however, that instead of MEvavopdav we should 
read IlEV avop£iav. The adjective avop£iav is well suited to [Pro]Il11V. 
With IlEV avopdav Dioscorus may of course have intended an 
additional pun on Menander mentioned in the preceding line. 

9: [ro ]E: Collart indicated three letters missing at the beginning of 
this lin·e. The omega is a broad character and allows space for only one 
more letter. Thus only [6)O]E is a possible reading. Although 6)OE Of 
yap sounds awkward, there can be no objection to roOE Of, as such a 
combination occurs frequently at the beginning of a Homeric hex­
ameter. The following y[6:]p might be a misreading for n:[a]p' but this 
is not really necessary. . 

10: [11 ]EOroV: For the beginning of this line [IlEA]EOrov seems likely; 
cf the i~st line of the hexameter poem (P.Lit.Lond. 98.20): ayAail1v 
eviK1l<TaC; epO)'to'to1C01) IlEAEOrovOC;. where IlEAEOrov refers to Aphrodite.8 

It is possible to construe a satisfactory sentence with IlEAEOc.OV by 
assuming that En:awov is either an editorial or scribal mistake for 
en:aivrov, or more lik'ely a relational accusative depending on IlEAE­
Oc.Ov. The resulting phrase, IlEAEOWV en:awov (or en:aivO)v), should be 
interpreted as "one who takes care of (speeches of) praise.» It cannot 
be excluded that [IlEA]EOrov serves as the phonetic equivalent of 
[IlEA]nrov. In that case en:awov can of course be retained as an or­
dinary objective accusative. 

We can now recast the Greek text In a more appropnate 
form: 9 

7 As suggested by T. Viljamaa, Studies in Greek Encomiastic Poetry of the 
Early Byzantine Period (Helsinki 1968) 83, who believes that Dioscorus often 
plays with the name of the dedicatee, e.g., P.Cair.Masp. II 67131 verso B 
(Heitsch 140 no. 10 B=MacCoull 77), where at line 9 SEDU oropov seems indeed 
to be a pun on the name of the well-known count Theodorus, the probable 
dedicatee of the poem. 

8 At least in MacCoull's translation (70). Kuehn (106£) independently 
suggests reading [ileA] eOrov in line 10 but thinks lleAeOO)v6~ a better reading 
for the last line of the hexameter poem. I consider fleAeOroVO~ preferable, as the 
adjective lleAeOO)v6~ referring to Romanus would require an object, and I see 
no problem in taking lleAeOroV as "the embodiment of care" or "a person who 
embodies care." 

9 I have made some changes in punctuation. The trace seen by Collan at the 
beginning of line 6 must have been the omicron. Heitsch prints [0]. 



MINNEN, PETER VAN, Isocrates and Menander in Late Antique Perspective , Greek, Roman 
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90 ISOCRATES AND MENANDER 

OA~l£ 1taVOA~l£ 'to YEV£t K[ an 't01.<; AOYOl<;, 
KUAAUJ'tU crOl 1tPE1t£V ()£xo[ U], c1 bE(}"1tO'ta. 
UflWV 'ta<; a~ia<; AEY£tV OU ~[u]crKavo<;. 

4 pil'twp liPlcr'tO<; d fll) £ucpul)<; 1tUVU . 
['IcroKpu'tll<; AEY£t] AOYlcrflov aKpl~ll. 
o'ta[ ]crlVW£1t£ £'t [ ]£ [ ] 'tllv ..•. ...... ~..... . .·0. 

[cro ]cpo<; 1taAalo<; cO MEvavbpo<; 't<;>1.<; AOYOl<;. 
8 [PW]flllV flEV avopdav 'IcroKpu'tll<; AEY£t· 

[<bo]£ bE y[a]p TW1.V it 1tOAl<; crwcppocruvll<;. 
[fl£A]£bWV £1talv<;>v 't£'t~A£crflEVO<; cpucr£t, 
[li]KPl'tO<; £cpu<; 'ta Ol1tAa. 'tWV ap£'tuwv, 

12 [v]£w't£po<; 1tav[E]V'tlflO<; 'tUXll<; [Kat] YEVOU<;, 
[0 ]A~tobaiflwv 6 bllflOKllb£flwV flEyU<;. 
[cr]ocpo<; crocpw'tu'twv U1tE:pE~llcra[<; A]OyOV. 

Translation 10 

Blessed in every respect, blessed with a pedigree and intelli­
gence, you deserve the best: here you are, Sir. It does not 
hurt to speak about your qualities. [4] You are an excellent, 
not to say highly talented, speaker: Isocrates presenting a 
careful argument! ..... [8] You are Menander, wise man of 
old, in your intelligence! Isocrates speaking with manly 
power! For that makes our city a city of wisdom. A natural 
talent in delivering speeches of praise, you are beyond criti­
cism on account of a double portion of virtues: [12] as a 
young man you arc honored by all because of your fortune 
and pedigree, and as the great protector of the people you 
are truly blessed. Your intelligence has surpassed that of the 
wisest men. 

Commentary 

1: OA~tr: MacCoull (70) refers inter alia to the famous late antique 
tapestry from Egypt, now at Dumbarton Oaks, representing' EO'ria 
1tOAUOA~O<;. The vocative 1taV6A~t£ only occurs three times in John 
Chrysostom. The adjective 1taV6A~tOS is very rare. 

10 See MacCoull 69 for an entirely different translation. 



MINNEN, PETER VAN, Isocrates and Menander in Late Antique Perspective , Greek, Roman 
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PETER VAN MINNEN 91 

2: aExo [u]: Dioscorus offers his poem to Romanus after first es­
tablishing that Romanus deserves only the best. The implication is 
that Dioscorus' poetry is the best of its kind. 

3: ou ~[a](JKavos: Properly speaking ~a(JKavos is an adjective. 
MacCoull's translation implies reading ~a(JKaVOtS instead: "it is not 
for the envious to recite your worth." I think Dioscorus uses ~a(J­
Kavos here as a neuter substantive with the sense of ~a(JKavla. In 
Eusebius (On Isaiah II 52.110 Ziegler) ~a(JKavos is mentioned on a 
par with <p9ovos and 1tpo<pa(JtS, and seems to function there as an 
abstract vice rather than to refer to a person who is ~a(JKavos. John 
Chrysostom always uses ~a(JKav{a in his catalogues of vices. 

To the ancient mind excessive praise was dangerous and might 
tempt the evil eye. Even today in the Mediterranean it is considered 
suspect to pay too much attention to something that is dear to 
someone else. This topos of envy occurs quite frequently in ancient 
art and literature.ll Cf also <PfUYfO, ~a(JKav{l1 in another poem by 
Dioscorus (P.Cair.Masp. III 67318.23 [Heitsch 148f no. 23]). 

4: PTP:rop apt(J'tos: In this and the following lines Dioscorus does 
not use the vocative as he did in lines If. 

5: dill) fU<pUllS: The adjective is here used in the sense of "talented." 
Cf e.g. the combination avapa AEYEtV IlEV OUK fU<pua. at Aeschin. 
1.181. It occurs in late antique documents from Egypt as well, some 
of them by Dioscorus; see P.Land. V 1678.3 and P.Cair.Masp. III 
67295 I 17: ~ m:pt 'taus AOYOUS [fucpula. In the latter text the editor's 
supplement is ingenious. 

I have kept d Ill) together, although d, Ill] is conceivable. But in that 
case Ill] should have the force of ou Ilovov, which is odd. It seems better 
to assume here a logical inconsistency on the part of Dioscorus. We 
would have expected him to say: "You are a highly talented speaker, 
not to say the best!" 

5: aKpt~fj: Isocratean aKp{~£ta is also mentioned in Romanus the 
Sophist's DEpt aVEtIl£VOU 2.12 

7: i1 M£vavapos: One is reminded of the famous saying of Aris-

11 See K. M. D. Dunbabin and M. W. Dickie, "lnvidia rumpantur pectora. 
The Iconography of PhthonoslInvidia in Graeeo-Roman Art," JAC 26 (1983) 
7-37 (lowe this reference to G. Sehwendner). 

12 W. Camphausen, Roman! Sophistae llEpl. UV£tfl£V01.) (=Rhetores Graeci 
XIII [Leipzig 1922]), who dates this Romanus to the fifth or sixth century. 
This work is not listed in L. Berkowitz and K. A. Squitier, Canon of Greek 
Authors and Works) (New Yark 1990). 



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92 ISOCRATES AND MENANDER 

tophanes of Byzantium: (1 MEvavDpE Kat ~ic, 1tO"CEPO<; &p' Uf1.Wv 
1tmEpOVa1tEf1.tf1.l)O"a"Co;13 

8: [i)(o]f1.llv: Cf Pi. Phdr. 267 A: prof1.llV "Cou ADYOU (of Gorgias)14 and 
Leg. 711 E: "Cn "COu AEYEtV prof1.n. Cf also Cratinus minor 7.3 Kock: "C11<; 
"Cwv AOY(J)V prof1.ll<;. For the combination of prof1.ll and the adjective 
aVDpE1.o<; see Hdt. 7.153. Not surprisingly prof1.ll and aVDpEia often 
occur in the same context in Greek literature of all sorts. At Isoc. 
Evag. 22f physical prof1.ll is linked with o"(J)<ppoO"UVll and avDpEia; cf 
Nicocles 3f: the linking of prof1.ll and avDpEia. 

9: 1tOAt<; O"ro<ppoO"UVll<;: Dioscuros goes a step beyond the classical 
topos' of a city governed by O"ro<ppOOUVll (e.g. Thuc. 8.64.5) in ascribing 
o"(J)<ppoO"UVll to the city at large on the basis of the political, i. e., 
rhetorical, activity of Romanus, the exemplary O"ro<PP(J)v. It is not 
excluded that by using 1tOAt<; Dioscorus refers to some abstract 
'community' . 

11: [u]Kpno<;: "Subject to no judge, beyond criticism" in a positive 
sense seems to be the only possible rendering. The adjective uKpno<; is 
often used in Dioscorus' own notarial documents, but in most in­
stances it has the meaning "not (yet) judged." Only in Aeschylus, 
Supp. 371, where the chorus addresses the king as 1tpu"Cavt<; uKpno<;, 
does the adjective seem to carry the same meaning as here. It is glossed 
avu1tEu8uvo<; in the scholia. 

"Ca. Dt1tA&: In this case Dioscorus uses a relational accusative with 
uKpno<; in the same way as with f1.EAEDrov in the previous line. We find 
relational datives in lines 1 ("C0 YEVEt Kat "Coi<; AOYOt<; with OA~ tE 
1taVOA~tE), 7 ("C01.<; AOYOt<; with O"o<po<;), and 10 (<puO"Et with "CE"CEAEO"­
f1.EVO<;), and relational genitives in line 12 ("CUXll<; Kat YEVOU<; with 
1taVEv"Ctf1.0 <;). 

12: 1taVEv"Ctf1.0<;: This adjective occurs in Greek literature only once 
in U. Chrys.] Vision of Daniel p.35.10 Vassiliev. But cf the use of this 
adjective in early eighth-century Greek documents from Egypt, such 
as P.Apoll. 52.2. 

13: Dllf1.0K11DEf1.roV: This word is not attested elsewhere, and the only 
other composite adjective with KllDEf1.cOv is <ptAOK11DEf1.cOV at Xen. Ages. 
11.13. In P.Oxy. I 41.12f a 1tpu"Cavt<; at a public meeting is acclaimed "Cov 

13 This saying is included not as a fragment but among the testimonia (1"7) 
in W. J. Slater, A ristophanis Byzantii Fragmenta (Berlin 1986). 

H See V. Buchheit, Untersuchungen Zur Theorie des Genos Epideiktikon 
'Von Gorgias his Aristoteles (Munich 1960) 31f. 



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PETER VAN MINNEN 93 

Kll0qlOVU 't1l nOAl (noA£l).15 For KlloqlcOV in the archive of Dioscorus 
sec also P.Land. V 1676.20.16 

From the translation it is clear that Dioscorus is praIsing a 
professional speech writer in his community. This radically 
changes MacCoull's interpretion of lines 4f and 7f.17 Lines 4f and 
7f are in fact directed to Romanus, who is addressed as the best 
orator around, a new Isocrates, a new Menander, and again as a 
new Isocrates. 18 When Romanus speaks everyone has to admit 
that "He is like Isocrates presenting a detailed argument, he is 
like Menander stating general truths, and again he is like 
Isocrates speaking powerfully!» Romanus seems to have been 
an important man in late antique Egypt. Although we cannot 
identify him with any person known from other texts (see 
Appendix), we may safely assume that Romanus is an official in 
the Egyptian bureaucracy. His sphere of influence may have 
extended beyond Aphrodito to the whole of the Thebaid. For 
all we know, he may have been resident in Antinoopolis, where 
Dioscorus lived for several years after 565 (MacCoull 11-14). 

It is useful to point out, as others have done before, that 
Dioscorus owned a copy of an anonymous biography of Isoc­
rates (P. Cair.M asp. II 67175) 19 and was the original owner of the 
Cairo codex of Menander. But these facts, in combination with 
the above reconstruction of the poem on Romanus, demand a 
fresh investigation into the reception of Isocrates and Menander 
in late antiquity. What possible use can Dioscorus have made of 
the codex of Menander? How did Dioscurus perceive Isoc-

15 On this text see also M. Blume, "A propos de P.Oxy. I, 41. Des accla­
mations en I'honneur d'un prytane confrontees aux temoignages epigraphiques 
du reste de I'empire," in Egitto e storia antica dall' ellenismo all' eta araba 
(Bologna 1989) 271-90, especially 283ff on KT]oq.lWv. 

16 On OT]I-WKT]OqlWV see now also the remarks of A. Saija, AnalPap 1 (1989) 
53. 

17 "Menander, the ancient thinker, (might have [framed an accurate speech 
about you]) in his sayings, and Isocrates (would have) echoed Menander." 
Line 6 seems beyond repair. 

18 The word "new" is not actually used, although Dioscorus elsewhere 
occasionally uses v£o~ in this connection (e.g. P.Cair.Masp. III 67315 verso 59: a 
high official hailed as the new Solon) or aAA.o~ (Romanus as the second 
Homer: supra 88). 

19 Not at all a school text, as R. A. Pack, The Greek and Latin Literary 
Texts from Greco-Roman Egypt (Ann Arbor 1965) 113 no. 2080, suggests. 



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94 ISOCRATES AND MENANDER 

rates? What qualities did he admire most in the work of the 
Attic orator and comedian? 

The answer to the last question seems fairly simple: Dioscorus 
admired Isocrates' pWIlTl av8pda and regarded Menander as a 
qo<po~ 1taAat6~. In the following I shall limit myself to the 
implications of Dioscorus' use of these two points of literary 
reference and their presentation. 

Menander was highly valued by such writers of rhetorical 
handbooks as Quintilian, and not without reason. Unfortunately, 
so far as I know, only the arbitration scene in the Epitrepontes 
has been subjected to a more or less thorough rhetorical anal­
ysis.20 As I shall point out elsewhere in greater detail,21 this scene 
must have been highly valued in late antiquity as reading material 
for all those involved in civil judication, e.g., a notary such as 
Dioscorus (who alone transmits the text of this part of the 
Epitrepontes), because of the increased popularity of all forms 
of private arbitration and arbitration by (semi-)officials in late 
antique Egypt-and presumably elsewhere. An obvious dif­
ference between the texts of the classical Greek orators of the 
fifth and fourth centuries B.C. and the arbitration scene in the 
Epitrepontes is precisely that the former were originally di­
rected to an audience of up to several hundred judges, whereas 
the latter was directed in the first instance to a single individual 
acting as judge (Cohoon 229). This alone makes the arbitration 
scene suitable for training in rhetorical technique in the whole of 
postclassical antiquity. 

At Inst. 10.1.69-71, Quintilian refers to just this aspect of 
Menander's work; in fact Epitrepontes is the first comedy of 
Menander that he mentions by name: 

hunc (sci!. Euripides) et admiratus maxime est, ut saepe tes­
tatur, et secutus, quamquam in opere diverso, Menander, qui 
vel unus meG quidem iudicio diligenter lectus ad cuncta quae 
praecipimus effingenda sufficia t: ita omnem vitae imaginem 
expressit, tanta in eo inveniendi copia et eloquendi facultas, ita 
est omnibus rebus personis adfectibus accommodatus. [70] nee 
nihil profecto viderunt qui orationes quae Charisi nomine 
eduntur a Menandro scriptas putant. sed mihi longe magis 

20 J. W. COHOON, "Rhetorical Studies in the Arbitration Scene of 
Menander," TAPA 45 (1914: hereafter 'Cohoon') 141-230. 

21 P. van Minnen and T. Gagos, Settling a Dispute: Towards a Legal 
Anthropology of Late Antique Egypt (forthcoming). 



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PETER VAN MINNEN 

orator probari in opere suo videtur, nisi forte aut illa 22 iudicia 
quae Epitrepontes, Epicleros, Loeroe habent, aut meditationes 
in Psophodee, Nomothete, Hypobolimaeo non omnibus ora­
toriis numeris sum absolutae. [71J ego tamen plus adhuc quid­
dam conlaturum eum declamatoribus puto, quoniam his ne­
cesse est secundum condicionem controversiarum plures sub­
ire personas, 23 patrum filiorum 24 maritorum militum rustico­
rum divitum pauperum irascentium deprecantium mitum 
asperorum, in quibus omnibus mire custoditur ab hoc poeta 
decor. 

95 

It is also important to take into account what Quintilian has to 
say in the passage just prior to this. He is commenting on 
Euripides, but the qualities he underscores are also to be found 
in Menander, at least if we take seriously the statement of 68: 25 

namque is (scil. Euripides) et sermone ... magis (sci!. than 
Sophocles) accedit oratorio generi, et sententiis densus, et in 
iis quae a sapientibus tradita sum paene ipsis par, et in dic­
endo ac respondendo cuilibet eorum qui fuerunt in foro dis­
erti comparandus, in adfectibus vero cum omnibus mirus, 
tum in iis qui miseratione constant facile praecipuus. 

With et sententiis dens us, et in iis quae a sapientibus tradita 
sunt paene ipsis par we go a step further in establishing the suita­
bility of Menander as a model for late antique rhetorical 
practice. Dioscorus highlights this aspect when he calls Me­
nander a cro<po~ rraAatOC; 'tOtC; Myotc;. Previous editors have seen 
in these words a reference to the collection of so-called Sayings 

22 Some manuscripts add mala here to balance absolutae. Either way the 
admission introduced by nisi is ironical. Menander's arbitration scene in the 
Epitreponles may not be perfect in all rhetorical respects-but who would 
expect that in a comedy anyhow? 

23 A reference to the lj901tOl to of Menander. Literary critics, such as Dio­
nysius of Halicarnassus, stressed this aspect of his work. The relevant 
testimonies arc conveniently collected in Koerte's Teubner edition of Men­
ander (II nos. 32-49). For discussions see A. Garzya, "Menandro nel giudizio 
di tre retori del primo impero," RivFil 37 (1959) 237-52 (besides Quintilian 
and Dionysius he deals with Dio Chrysostom); F. H. Sandbach, "Menander's 
Manipulation of Language for Dramatic Purposes," in Menandre (=Entretiens 
Hardt 16 lVandoeuvres/Geneva 1970]) 113-36, who echoes the ancient critics. 

24 I sec no reason to insert <caelibum> here. Quintilian need not have 
presented all the various personae in pairs. 

25 Dio Chrysostom (18.6) also mentions Menander and Euripides in the 
same breath. 



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96 ISOCRATES AND MENANDER 

of Menander. 26 The wide circulation of this collection in late 
antique Egypt is attested by a bilingual Greek-Coptic versionY 
I think Dioscorus here refers rather to the sententiousness of 
the whole of Menander's work, not just of his collected Sayings. 
Dioscorus nowhere uses a saying from the collection. 

Finally we have to address the particular suitability of Isoc­
rates, of all classical orators, as a reference point for Dioscorus' 
praise of Romanus, especially the use of PWI1Tl to describe Isoc­
rates. For critics both ancient and modern Isocrates is an ex­
ample of the so-called middle style,28 whereas Demosthenes' 
work is more easily characterized by PWI1Tl. For the writer of 
the tract IT£pt u,+,OUt; (12.4),6 KtKfPWV 'tou L\TlI100'8fvOUt; £V Wtt; 
I1£,,(E8£O't rc:apaAAa.'t't£l. 6 I1£V yap £V U'+'£l 'to rc:AEOV urc:o'tOl1ql, 6 
8£ KtKEPWV £V XUO'£l, Kat 6 l1£v T)J1£'t£pOC; 8to. 'to 11£'t0. ~lac; 
EKaO''ta, En 8£ 'ta.XOUt; pWI1Tlt; 8£lVO'tTl't0t;. 

The single characteristic of Isocrates' work that distinguishes 
him from other classical orators is presumably his stress on care­
ful reading of his work as argumentative texts by those already 
concerned with his views, rather than hearing him perform his 
speeches as part of a legal or political debate. Isocrates presents 
his arguments to an audience interested in his views on culture 
and politics. This is true of much of the public oratory of Dios­
corus' time, which was largely epideictic in character and con­
fined to harangues d'apparat in which one official praised 
another. This is also true of much of Dioscorus' own work as a 
notary public. The long legal documents, with their narratio of 
the case and their copious use of legal terminology, are ad­
dressed to individual parties to a legal dispute or the individual 
legatees of a will. 

Dioscorus' originality lies in his bold application to Isocrates 
of a characterization (pWI1Tl) usually reserved for Demosthencs. 
What to earlier Greek literary critics had seemed a characteristic 
of the one could well be applied to the other during a period in 
which the function of oratory had changed drastically-indeed, 

26 Teubner edition of the Sententiae by S. Jakel (Leipzig 1964). 

27 See D. Hagedorn and M. Weber, "Die griechisch-koptische Rezension 
der Menandersentenzen," ZPE 3 (1968) 15-50; cf M. S. Funghi, "PMil Voglia­
no inv. 1241 v.: yvwflUlJ.J.ov60",tlXOl ," in Miscellanea papyrologica in occasione 
del bicentenario del/'edizione della Charta Borgiana I (Florence 1990) 181-88. 

28 For a recent summary see G. A. Kennedy, The Cambridge History of 
Literary Criticism I (Cambridge 1989) 187: Isocrates is "a closet orator and the 
first example of the academic mind." 



MINNEN, PETER VAN, Isocrates and Menander in Late Antique Perspective , Greek, Roman 
and Byzantine Studies, 33:1 (1992:Spring) p.87 

PETER VAN MINNEN 97 

the distinctions preserved by Quintilian and Dio Chrysostom 
were anachronistic for their own day. In the final analysis Dio­
scorus ascribes PW/lTl av8pda to Isocrates because in late 
antique society epideictic oratory in the vein of Isocrates is seen 
to have power, to 'work', and because Isocrates rather than 
Demosthenes is the exemplary public figure, the 'right man', in 
Dioscorus' eyes. This is the meaning he ascribes to his value 
judgment, and that is what ultimately counts in his poem. 

In conclusion, the neat structure of the acrostic should be 
noted. The poem divides into two sections of seven lines 
each-no doubt intentionally: the seven letters of 6 KUpto<; form 
the first section, those of 'PW/luvo<; the second. The first and last 
lines of the first section both end in 'Wl<; AOYOl<;, just as the first 
and last lines of the second section end in /..£yEt and AOYOV 
respectively. The last line of both sections begins with O"o<po<;. 
The last line of the first section and the first line of the second 
section are connected by /lEV and 8E, which is the only instance 
in the poem of two lines explicitly connected. We should be 
grateful to Dioscorus for putting his reading of Isocrates and 
Menander in such a pleasing form.29 

ApPENDIX: On the Proposed Identification of Romanus 
with the Melodist 

Kuehn offers both external and internal arguments for identifying 
Romanus with the Melodist. His rather tenuous external argument 
(104)-that Dioscorus visited Constantinople at least once in Ro­
manus the Melodist's lifetime-cannot stand. More important, all 
Dioscorus' other poems are addressed to local officials from the 
Thebaid, except for an occasional poem for Justin II and Dioscorus' 
unmistakable request for aid from Romanus suggests that he was also 
a local official. This request at lines 15f of the poem in iambic 
trimeters ([K]U\. fl~ KU't01CVft O"UyKpO'tEtV ~[t]VOUC; 11:01:£), immediately 
following the acrostic, is echoed by another poem addressed to a 
praeses of the Thebaid (P. Cairo M asp. II 67131 verso 19): vuv fl~ 
KU't01CVft O"UYKpO'tEtV fl~ 8uO"'tuxil. 30 

29 Dioscorus is less successful in his prosody: many verses do not scan. Most 
often 'wrong', i.e., non-classical, quantity accounts for the mistakes. 

30 Kuehn could in fact have used the existence of early copies of Romanus 
the Melodist's hymns on papyrus as an additional prop for his argument: see 
J. Van I-Iaclst, Catalogue des papyrus litteraires juifs et chretiens (Paris 1976) 
252 no. 698 (of ca 600); T. F. Brunner, ZPE (forthcoming). 



MINNEN, PETER VAN, Isocrates and Menander in Late Antique Perspective , Greek, Roman 
and Byzantine Studies, 33:1 (1992:Spring) p.87 

98 ISOCRATES AND MENANDER 

Kuehn's internal arguments (104f) are equally unconvincing. It is 
not surprising that Dioscorus and Romanus the Melodist, as contem­
poraries, both use acrostics in their poems. Indeed Romanus' ref­
erence to himself as 't(UtEtvo<; and Dioscorus' description of the 
addressee of his hexameter poem as 8a,u Ila,(}"'to.; should preclude an 
identification. Likewise Dioscuros' use of lCUpWS as a title of address 
and the occasional reference to Romanus the Melodist as lCUpWS is 
meaningless, as lCUpW<; in late antique Greek denotes no more than 
'Mister'. Further, the poem certainly concerns eloquence, but its con­
cern for writing is not at all clear (Kuehn 105). Even if we concede 
this point, there is insufficient evidence for identifying the addressee 
of the poem with Romanus the Melodist; in this case the author of 
the nfpl. aVEtIl£VOU (supra n.12) could also be a candidate. Finally, 
Kuehn argues (107) that the concluding image of the poem in iambic 
trimeters (lines 17f, referring to the two tablets given to Moses by 
God) somehow relates to the possible Jewish extraction of Romanus. 
But these lines recur almost verbatim in another poem (P. Cair.Masp. 
II 67131 verso 17f=Heitsch 139 no. 10). Should we then also assume 
Jewish relations for the praeses of the Thebaid? 

ANN ARBOR 

July, 1992