11. Xenophanes

Most vicious and explicit in his criticism of epic, by which is meant Homer and Hesiod, is of course Xenophanes of Colophon (frr. 21 B 11 and 12 DK from his Silloi), and it is important to establish the vantage point of his critique. Xenophanes was not only said to have composed hexametric poetry but also to have performed his own poetry rhapsodically. [1] He therefore issues his critique from the perspective of one who can both compose and perform epic poetry in rhapsodic fashion, although unfortunately we possess no indications of what the content was of his epic poetry. While we may speculate that everyone who attended local and Panhellenic festivals would have knowledge of rhapsodic contests, it is certainly not the case that everyone possessed the specialized training and techniques of rhapsodes like Xenophanes. So for example, consider the following line (fr. 21 B 7 DK):

Because this is an elegiac, as opposed to an epic, hexameter, we may interpret Xenophanes to mean that his taste is turning away from the themes of epic to sympotic poetry. [2] But there is more here than meets the eye. This line distinctly recalls the standard ending of many Homeric Hymns, where the voice of the poet says that he will finish off the present song and then turn to another one. [3] The end of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite is especially relevant (293): These endings have been plausibly identified as narrative turning points created by rhapsodes in competition, who are at that moment ready to move on to another hymn or to the performance of epic. [4] Hence Xenophanes in the fragment above is playing the rhapsode at the same time that he is rejecting traditional epic, and a rhapsodic stance, in favor of sympotic poetry and themes. The “I” in the Xenophanes passage above is both rhapsode and symposiast.

Elsewhere the traditional content of epic is more explicitly rejected by Xenophanes as an unsuitable theme for the symposium. For him the after-dinner poetic performances—in other words, those contained in the symposium proper—must concern themes appropriate to the symposium as a festive and at the same time harmonious occasion, with due reverence for divine sanction. [5] We have already seen what a typical program for the symposium looks like, and it accords only in relative terms with Xenophanes’ view that poetic performance should proceed from a proper state of mind (B 1.13–24 West = 21 B 1 DK = Athenaeus 462c–f):

Despite the textual difficulties, the main line of thought in this passage is clear. Xenophanes’ vision of the symposium is one of quiet order and hallowed reverence, which was surely not characteristic of most symposia, even in his own time. But that does not detract from, and maybe motivates, his desire for order and proper philosophical discourse. For him, as for many symposiasts afterward, a delicate balance had to be struck between drinking and the physical excesses to which it could lead on the one hand, and the opposite extreme of too much sobriety with its consequent restraint on public χάρις on the other. [7] This is well exemplified when Xenophanes alludes in the passage above to the story of the centaur Eurytion in the Odyssey, not least to the fateful and self-ironic words of Antinoos that introduce it (21.293–94):

Not having symposia at all was not an option, of course, since these occasions had long been the preserve of aristocratic groups and subgroups of aristocrats based on perceived affinities, whether familial, social, political, or other. [8] As Wolfgang Rösler has argued, such groupings were not fortuitous: individuals “met together at the symposion precisely because they had common aims and interests outside it.” [9] Symposia must take place, and for Xenophanes harmony obtains so long as the drinking leads men to discourse properly on the gods and to display noble thoughts. Proper discourse for Xenophanes explicitly means not only choosing suitable topics for poetry, but more importantly restraining oneself from discoursing at all on certain poetic themes, especially those involving strife among the gods or heroes (21–22, above) or strife within the polis (line 23, above). [10] Topics to be avoided, as Xenophanes illustrates in the passage already quoted, are those from Hesiod’s Theogony and the Odyssey. Xenophanes himself can even wittily summarize his desire by stressing respect, or forethought (προμηθείη), for the gods in a reference to the hybristic Prometheus himself. [11] Provided the goal of poetic performance and philosophical discussion is the recalling and striving for virtue (ἀρετή), the symposium will remain within socially productive bounds. But for Xenophanes, social productivity excludes physical competition, which can be taken as an analogue to his resistance to the physical excesses that may result from too much drinking. Even if a man were to win at the Olympian games in the most prestigious athletic event, chariot racing, says Xenophanes (B 2.11–14 West):

Thus physical competition, as with the extreme physical ends and rivalry that can result from excessive drinking, are incompatible with the type of poetic skill and display that Xenophanes believes should be reserved for symposia. But I hasten to add that the denial of physical competition in no way implies a denial of intellectual competition, because, as we have seen, the symposium is an arena for the display of philosophical skill exemplified through competitive poetic performance. As others have argued, the archaic concept of σοφία ‘skill’ is discretely performative. [12] It is not a latent ability but rather a summary of talents displayed through active and improvised performance. [13] So what Xenophanes rejects at the physical level of athletic competition, he takes for granted in the intellectual atmosphere of the symposium.

For Xenophanes the display of poetic expertise and the recalling and striving for virtue through poetic performance are meant to reinforce the distinctly ethical aims of the symposium. It is foremost in this respect that Xenophanes parts philosophical company with rhapsodes. Rhapsodes, Xenophanes implies, recite poetry without regard for its possible negative influence on the behavior of the audience, while poetic performance in the symposium, by avoiding themes having to do with civil strife and warfare, is intended to edify and instruct its participants, indeed to intensify social cohesion. Doth Xenophanes protest too much?