Ad impellendum satis, ad edocendum parum. Notes on Varro's alleged praise or the Menippean praise in Ac.1 9

Authors

  • Diomira Gattafoni Liceo statale “G. Marconi”, Pescara

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/2532-5353/10909

Abstract

This paper proposes an alternative reading of the praise addressed by Cicero to Varro in Ac.1 9, interpreting the passage not litteratim but in a Menippean key. The author seems to take this dedication to Varro as a literary and philosophical
challenge — a reading for which there are other clues in the dedicatory letter and in the Letters to Atticus. The initial reticence of Varro’s character resembles that attributed by Szlezák to Socrates in the Euthydemus: before being Cicero encourages and seeks to initiate Varro to serious philosophical writing, Varro’s character is reluctant, reactionary. The final observation ad impellendum satis, ad edocendum parum of Varro’s eulogy would be a fulmen in clausula, used
by the author to emphasize how Varro had yet to prove himself as a philosophical author, particularly one engaged in the ethics learned from his teacher Antiochus. Therefore through his Varro Cicero had already tacitly and rightly affirmed
his victory over Varro. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Diomira Gattafoni, Liceo statale “G. Marconi”, Pescara

Diomira Gattafoni (diomira.gattafoni@scuola.istruzione.it) è docente di ruolo di Discipline letterarie e latino presso il Liceo statale “G. Marconi” di Pescara. Studia Scienze filosofiche presso l’Università della Calabria. Da ricercatrice indipendente si è occupata e si sta occupando delle Menippeae di Varrone, dei dialoghi e delle epistole di Cicerone e delle testimonianze letterarie ed epistolari di alcuni antifascisti. Nel saggio Varrone accademico e menippeo (Milano 2021) ha affrontato l’aperto problema dell’agonismo-antagonismo tra Cicerone e Varrone, cercando di ricostruire il debito del secondo nei confronti di Menippo e dei Silli di Timone e interpretando alcuni frammenti delle Menippeae anche alla luce del dogmatismo della Vetus Academia.

Downloads

Published

2024-06-30

How to Cite

Gattafoni, D. (2024). Ad impellendum satis, ad edocendum parum. Notes on Varro’s alleged praise or the Menippean praise in Ac.1 9. Ciceroniana On Line, 8(1), 245–276. https://doi.org/10.13135/2532-5353/10909

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2024): CICERONIANA ON LINE 2023 VIII, 1

Section

Papers

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.