Stesichorus

Yet we know it was Columbus who did it first, and the sheer courage of that is something that I believe could be honored.

The term Atlantic was first used in the 6th century BC by the Greek poet Stesichorus, who referred to it as Atlantikoi Heligei, meaning Sea of Atlas.

The Greeks also referred to modern-day Gibraltar on one side and Morocco on the other as the Pillars of Hercules, with the concept that this was the end of the world.

Plato placed the legendary island of Atlantis, a lost kingdom, beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

Yeah, let's talk about the premise.

The foundation of the book is a sixth century BC Greek poet named Stesichorus.

He wrote a poem called Geryoneis

And the original myth is about Geryon, who was a red-winged multi-bodied monster

Right, they're just obstacles

They exist solely as props for the hero to destroy, proving the hero's strength.

But Stesichorus did something incredibly radical for the sixth century BC.

He gave the monster a subjectivity

Oh, absolutely.

And for you listening right now, you might be wondering why we are going so deep on a poetry prize.

Well, Carson is essentially the ultimate counterweight to the sheer volume of, like, frictionless automated text that we all just wade through every single day.

That is a great way to put it.

It's a methodology.

Yeah, they are rewarding a lifetime of work that violently resists any kind of easy categorization.

Right, because Carson doesn't just write poetry, she engineers entirely new spaces for language to occupy.

Which is exactly what we are going to examine today.

nothing if the speech was really such as you describe well and is not eros the son of aphrodite and a god so men say but that was not acknowledged by lysias in his speech nor by you in that other speech which you by a charm drew from my lips for if love be as he surely is a divinity he cannot be evil yet this was the error of both the speeches there was also a simplicity about them which was refreshing having no truth or honesty in them nevertheless they pretended to be something hoping to succeed in deceiving the mannikins of earth and gain celebrity among them wherefore i must have a purgation and i bethink me of an ancient purgation of mythological error which was devised not by homer for he never had the wit to discover why he was blind but by stesichorus who was a philosopher and knew the reason why and therefore when he lost his eyes for that was the penalty which was inflicted upon him for reviling the lovely helen he at once purged himself and the purgation was a recantation which began thus false is that word of mine the truth is that thou didst not embark in ships nor ever go to the walls of troy and when he had completed his poem which is called the recantation immediately his sight returned to him now i will be wiser than either stesichorus or homer in that i am going to make my recantation for reviling love before i suffer and this i will attempt not as before veiled and ashamed but with forehead bold and bare nothing could be more agreeable to me than to hear you say so only think my good phaedrus what an utter want of delicacy was shown in the two discourses i mean in my own and in that which you recited out of the

book

would not any one who was himself of a noble and gentle nature and who loved or ever had loved a nature like his own when we tell of the petty causes of lovers jealousies and of their exceeding animosities and of the injuries which they do to their beloved have imagined that our ideas of love were taken from some haunt of sailors to which good manners were unknown he would certainly never have admitted the justice of our censure socrates i dare say not socrates therefore because i blush at the thought of this person and also because i am afraid of love himself i desire to wash the brine out of my ears with water from the spring and i would counsel lucius not to delay but to write another discourse which shall prove that ceteris paribus the lover ought to be accepted rather than the non lover be assured that he shall you shall speak the praises of the lover and lucius shall be compelled by me to write another discourse on the same theme you will be true to your nature in that and therefore i believe you speak and fear not but where is the fair youth whom i was addressing before and who ought to listen now lest if he hear me not he should accept a non-lover before he knows what he is doing he is close at hand and always at your service Know then, fair youth, that the former discourse was the word of Phaedrus, the son of vain man, who dwells in the city of Myrhina, Myrhinosios, and this which I am about to utter is the recantation of Stesichorus, the son of godly man, Euphemus, who comes from the town of Desire, Chimera, and is to the following effect i told a lie when i said that the beloved ought to accept the non-lover when he might have the lover because the one is sane and the other mad it might be so if madness were simply an evil but there is also a madness which is a divine gift and the source of the chiefest blessings granted to man for prophecy is a madness and the prophetess at delphi and the priestesses at dodona when out of their senses have conferred great benefits on hellas both in public and private life but when in their senses few or none and i might also tell you how the sibyl and other inspired persons have given to many an one many an intimation of the future which has saved them from falling but it would be tedious to speak of what every one knows There will be more reason in appealing to the ancient inventors of names, who would never have connected prophecy , which foretells the future, and is the noblest of arts, with madness , or called them both by the same name, if they had deemed madness to be a disgrace or dishonour.

they must have thought that there was an inspired madness which was a noble thing for the two words mantike and manike are really the same and the letter tau is only a modern and tasteless insertion and this is confirmed by the name which was given by them to the rational investigation of futurity whether made by the help of birds or of other signs this forasmuch as it is an art which supplies from the reasoning faculty mind nous and information historia to human thought oiesis they originally termed but the word has been lately altered and made sonorous by the modern introduction of the letter omega oionistice and oionistice and in proportion as prophecy mantice is more perfect and august than augury both in name and fact in the same proportion as the ancients testify is madness superior to a sane mind sophrosyne for the one is only of human but the other of divine origin again where plagues and mightiest woes have bred in certain families owing to some ancient blood guiltiness there madness has entered with holy prayers and rites and by inspired utterances found a way of deliverance for those who are in need and he who has part in this gift and is truly possessed and duly out of his mind is by the use of purifications and mysteries made whole and exempt from evil future as well as present, and has a release from the calamity which was afflicting him.

the third kind is the madness of those who are possessed by the muses which taking hold of a delicate and virgin soul and their inspiring frenzy awakens lyrical and all other numbers with these adorning the myriad actions of ancient heroes for the instruction of posterity but he who having no touch of the muse's madness in his soul comes to the door and thinks that he will get into the temple by the help of art he i say and his poetry are not admitted the sane man disappears and is nowhere when he enters into rivalry with the madman End of section 5.

Having no truth or honesty in them, nevertheless they pretended to be something, hoping to succeed in deceiving the manikins of Earth and gain celebrity among them.

Wherefore I must have a purgation, and I bethink me of an ancient purgation of mythological error which was devised not by Homer, for he never had the wit to discover why he was blind, but by Stesichorus, who was a philosopher and knew the reason why.

And therefore, when he lost his eyes, for that was the penalty which was inflicted upon him for reviling the lovely Helen, he at once purged himself, and the purgation was a recantation which began thus: "False is that word of mine.

The truth is that thou didst not embark in ships, nor ever go to the walls of Troy." And when he had completed his poem, which is called The Recantation, immediately his sight returned to him.

Now, I will be wiser than either Stesichorus or Homer, in that I am going to make my recantation for reviling love before I suffer, and this I will attempt not as before, veiled and ashamed, but with forehead bold and bare.

Nothing could be more agreeable to me than to hear you say so.

Only think, my good Phaedrus, what an utter want of delicacy was shown in the two discourses.

Ah, but where is the fair youth whom I was addressing before, and who ought to listen now, lest if he hear me not he should accept a non-lover before he knows what he is doing? [laughs] He is close at hand and always at your service.

We have the Eleusinian Mysteries because Hades stole Persephone and Demeter wanted her back, blah, blah, blah.

But at the festivals themselves, poets are being hired to professionally perform myths to entertain the worshipers who have gathered.

And if the poet is doing a good job of that, if he's really a great performer, that's gonna make those myths more credible.

It's going to make the gods in those myths more credible.

There's another feature that, that I think, um, complements what Sarah's just said, and it's worth remembering that there is no way in which Greek myths have a single canonical form.

There is no single version of a myth that dominates all others.

So that if even if you go to a festival at, say, Delphi or Olympia, and even if there are poets who are reciting various, uh, hymns in honor of the gods and myths are being told, um, there's a curious quality to myth, and that is that a version that's told in the Peloponnese and a version that's told at Thebes and a version that's told up at Dodona might be different.

And the Greeks are very, very adroit at handling that kind of difference without it being a problem.

Now I recognise my error.

What error? oh that was a dreadful speech which you brought with you and you made me utter one as bad phaedrus how so it was foolish i say to a certain extent impious can anything be more dreadful phaedrus nothing if the speech was really such as you describe Well, and is not Eros the son of Aphrodite, and a god? so men say but that was not acknowledged by lysias in his speech nor by you in that other speech which you by a charm drew from my lips for if love be as he surely is a divinity he cannot be evil yet this was the error of both the speeches there was also a simplicity about them which was refreshing having no truth or honesty in them nevertheless they pretended to be something hoping to succeed in deceiving the mannikins of earth and gain celebrity among them wherefore i must have a purgation and i bethink me of an ancient purgation of mythological error which was devised not by homer for he never had the wit to discover why he was blind but by stesichorus who was a philosopher and knew the reason why and therefore when he lost his eyes for that was the penalty which was inflicted upon him for reviling the lovely helen he at once purged himself and the purgation was a recantation which began thus false is that word of mine the truth is that thou didst not embark in ships nor ever go to the walls of troy and when he had completed his poem which is called the recantation immediately his sight returned to him now i will be wiser than either stesichorus or homer in that i am going to make my recantation for reviling love before i suffer and this i will attempt not as before veiled and ashamed but with forehead bold and bare nothing could be more agreeable to me than to hear you say so only think my good phaedrus what an utter want of delicacy was shown in the two discourses i mean in my own and in that which you recited out of the book would not any one who was himself of a noble and gentle nature and who loved or ever had loved a nature like his own when we tell of the petty causes of lovers jealousies and of their exceeding animosities and of the injuries which they do to their beloved have imagined that our ideas of love were taken from some haunt of sailors to which good manners were unknown he would certainly never have admitted the justice of our censure i dare say not socrates therefore because i blush at the thought of this person and also because i am afraid of love himself i desire to wash the brine out of my ears with water from the spring and i would counsel lucius not to delay but to write another discourse which shall prove that ceteris paribus the lover ought to be accepted rather than the non lover be assured that he shall you shall speak the praises of the lover and lucius shall be compelled by me to write another discourse on the same theme you will be true to your nature in that and therefore i believe you speak and fear not but where is the fair youth whom i was addressing before and who ought to listen now lest if he hear me not he should accept a non-lover before he knows what he is doing he is close at hand and always at your service Know then, fair youth, that the former discourse was the word of Phaedrus, the son of vain man, who dwells in the city of Myrhina, Myrhinosios, and this which I am about to utter is the recantation of Stesichorus, the son of godly man, Euphemos, who comes from the town of Desire, Chimera, and is to the following effect i told a lie when i said that the beloved ought to accept the non-lover when he might have the lover because the one is sane and the other mad it might be so if madness were simply an evil but there is also a madness which is a divine gift and the source of the chiefest blessings granted to man for prophecy is a madness and the prophetess at delphi and the priestesses at dodona when out of their senses have conferred great benefits on hellas both in public and private life but when in their senses few or none and i might also tell you how the sibyl and other inspired persons have given to many an one many an intimation of the future which has saved them from falling but it would be tedious to speak of what every one knows there will be more reason in appealing to the ancient inventors of names who would never have connected prophecy mantique which foretells the future and is the noblest of arts with madness manique or called them both by the same name if they had deemed madness to be a disgrace or dishonour they must have thought that there was an inspired madness which was a noble thing for the two words mantike and manike are really the same and the letter tau is only a modern and tasteless insertion and this is confirmed by the name which was given by them to the rational investigation of futurity whether made by the help of birds or of other signs this forasmuch as it is an art which supplies from the reasoning faculty mind nous and information historia to human thought oiesis they originally termed but the word has been lately altered and made sonorous by the modern introduction of the letter omega oionistice and oionistice and in proportion as prophecy mantice is more perfect and august than augury both in name and fact in the same proportion as the ancients testify is madness superior to a sane mind sophrosyne for the one is only of human but the other of divine origin again where plagues and mightiest woes have bred in certain families owing to some ancient blood guiltiness there madness has entered with holy prayers and rites and by inspired utterances found a way of deliverance for those who are in need and he who has part in this gift and is truly possessed and duly out of his mind is by the use of purifications and mysteries made whole and exempt from evil future as well as present, and has a release from the calamity which was afflicting him.

the third kind is the madness of those who are possessed by the muses which taking hold of a delicate and virgin soul and their inspiring frenzy awakens lyrical and all other numbers with these adorning the myriad actions of ancient heroes for the instruction of posterity but he who having no touch of the muse's madness in his soul comes to the door and thinks that he will get into the temple by the help of art he i say and his poetry are not admitted the sane man disappears and is nowhere when he enters into rivalry with the madman End of section 5. section six i might tell of many other noble deeds which have sprung from inspired madness and therefore let no one frighten or flutter us by saying that the temperate friend is to be chosen rather than the inspired but let him further show that love is not sent by the gods for any good to lover or beloved if he can do so we will allow him to carry off the palm and we on our part will prove in answer to him that the madness of love is the greatest of heaven's blessings and the proof shall be one which the wise will receive and the witling disbelieve but first of all let us view the affections and actions of the soul divine and human and try to ascertain the truth about them the beginning of our proof is as follows the soul through all her being is immortal for that which is ever in motion is immortal but that which moves another and is moved by another in ceasing to move ceases also to live only the self moving never leaving self never ceases to move and is the fountain and beginning of motion to all that moves besides now the beginning is unbegotten for that which is begotten has a beginning but the beginning is begotten of nothing for if it were begotten of something then the begotten would not come from a beginning but if unbegotten it must also be indestructible for if beginning were destroyed there could be no beginning out of anything nor anything out of a beginning and all things must have a beginning and therefore the self moving is the beginning of motion and this can neither be destroyed nor begotten else the whole heavens and all creation would collapse and stand still and never again have motion or birth but if the self moving is proved to be immortal he who affirms that self-motion is the very idea and essence of the soul will not be put to confusion for the body which is moved from without is soulless but that which is moved from within has a soul for such is the nature of the soul but if this be true must not the soul be the self moving and therefore of necessity unbegotten and immortal enough of the soul's immortality of the nature of the soul though her true form be ever a theme of large and more than mortal discourse let me speak briefly and in a figure and let the figure be composite a pair of winged horses and a charioteer now the winged horses and the charioteers of the gods are all of them noble and of noble descent but those of other races are mixed the human charioteer drives his in a pair and one of them is noble and of noble breed and the other is ignoble and of ignoble breed and the driving of them of necessity gives a great deal of trouble to him i will endeavor to explain to you in what way the mortal differs from the immortal creature the soul in her totality has the care of inanimate being everywhere and traverses the whole heaven in divers forms appearing when perfect and fully wing'd she soars upward and orders the whole world whereas the imperfect soul losing her wings and drooping in her flight at last settles on the solid ground there finding a home she receives an earthly frame which appears to be self-moved but is really moved by her power and this composition of soul and body is called a living and mortal creature for immortal no such union can be reasonably believed to be although fancy not having seen nor surely known the nature of god may imagine an immortal creature having both a body and also a soul which are united throughout all time Let that, however, be as God wills, and be spoken of acceptably to him.

and now let us ask the reason why the soul loses her wings the wing is the corporeal element which is most akin to the divine and which by nature tends to soar aloft and carry that which gravitates downwards into the upper region which is the habitation of the gods the divine is beauty wisdom goodness and the like and by these the wing of the soul is nourished and grows apace but when fed upon evil and foulness and the opposite of good wastes and falls away zeus the mighty lord holding the reins of a winged chariot leads the way in heaven ordering all and taking care of all and there follows him the array of gods and demigods marshalled in eleven bands hestia alone abides at home in the house of heaven of the rest they who are reckoned among the princely twelve march in their appointed order they see many blessed sights in the inner heaven and there are many ways to and fro along which the blessed gods are passing every one doing his own work he may follow who will and can for jealousy has no place in the celestial choir but when they go to banquet and festival then they move up the steep to the top of the vault of heaven the chariots of the gods in even poise obeying the rain glide rapidly but the others labour for the vicious steed goes heavily weighing down the charioteer to the earth when his steed has not been thoroughly trained and this is the hour of agony and extremest conflict for the soul for the immortals when they are at the end of their course go forth and stand upon the outside of heaven and the revolution of the spheres carries them round and they behold the things beyond but of the heaven which is above the heavens what earthly poet ever did or ever will sing worthily it is such as i will describe for i must dare to speak the truth when truth is my theme there abides the very being with which true knowledge is concerned the colourless formless intangible essence visible only to mind the pilot of the soul the divine intelligence being nurtured upon mind and pure knowledge and the intelligence of every soul which is capable of receiving the food proper to it rejoices at beholding reality and once more gazing upon truth is replenished and made glad until the revolution of the worlds brings her round again to the same place in the revolution she beholds justice and temperance and knowledge absolute not in the form of generation or of relation which men call existence but knowledge absolute in existence absolute and beholding the other true existences in like manner and feasting upon them she passes down into the interior of the heavens and returns home and there the charioteer putting up his horses at the stall gives them ambrosia to eat and nectar to drink such is the life of the gods but of other souls that which follows god best and is likest to him lifts the head of the charioteer into the outer world and is carried round in the revolution troubled indeed by the steeds and with difficulty beholding true being while another only rises and falls and sees and again fails to see by reason of the unruliness of the steeds the rest of the souls are also longing after the upper world and they all follow but not being strong enough they are carried round below the surface plunging treading on one another each striving to be first and there is confusion and perspiration and the extremity of effort and many of them are lamed or have their wings broken through the ill-driving of the charioteers and all of them after a fruitless toil not having attained to the mysteries of true being go away and feed upon opinion the reason why the souls exhibit this exceeding eagerness to behold the plain of truth is that pasturage is found there which is suited to the highest part of the soul and the wing on which the soul soars is nourished with this and there is a law of destiny that the soul which attains any vision of truth in company with a god is preserved from harm until the next period and if attaining always is always unharmed but when she is unable to follow and fails to behold the truth and through some ill hap sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and vice and her wings fall from her and she drops to the ground then the law ordains that this soul shall at her first birth pass not into any other animal but only into man and the soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a philosopher or artist or some musical and loving nature that which has seen truth in the second degree shall be some righteous king or warrior chief the soul which is of the third class shall be a politician or economist or trader the fourth shall be a lover of gymnastic toils or a physician the fifth shall lead the life of a prophet or hierophant to the sixth the character of poet or some other imitative artist will be assigned to the seventh the life of an artisan or husbandman to the eighth that of a sophist or demagogue to the ninth that of a tyrant all these are states of probation in which he who does righteously improves and he who does unrighteously deteriorates his lot ten thousand years must elapse before the soul of each one can return to the place from whence she came for she cannot grow her wings in less only the soul of a philosopher guileless and true or the soul of a lover who is not devoid of philosophy may acquire wings in the third of the recurring periods of a thousand years he is distinguished from the ordinary good man who gains wings in three thousand years and they who choose this life three times in succession have wings given them and go away at the end of three thousand years but the others the philosopher alone is not subject to judgment for he has never lost the vision of truth receive judgment when they have completed their first life and after the judgment they go some of them to the houses of correction which are under the earth and are punished others to some place in heaven whither they are likely borne by justice and there they live in a manner worthy of the life which they led here when in the form of men and at the end of the first thousand years the good souls and also the evil souls both come to draw lots and choose their second life and they may take any which they please the soul of a man may pass into the life of a beast or from the beast return again into the man but the soul which has never seen the truth will not pass into the human form for a man must have intelligence of universals and be able to proceed from the many particulars of sense to one conception of reason this is the recollection of those things which our soul once saw while following god when regardless of that which we now call being she raised her head up towards the true being and therefore the mind of the philosopher alone has wings and this is just for he is always according to the measure of his abilities clinging in recollection to those things in which god abides and in beholding which he is what he is and he who employs aright these memories is ever being initiated into perfect mysteries and alone becomes truly perfect But as he forgets earthly interests and is wrapped in the divine, the vulgar deem him mad and rebuke him.