Boucquey Thierry (General Editor). Encyclopedia Of World Writers. 3 volumes

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

Segal, Erich. Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.

Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus)

(23–79) historian, nonfiction writer

Gaius Plinius Secundus, known in English as Pliny

the Elder, was born in Como, Italy, to parents of

the equestrian class, which meant wealth and posi-

tion in the world of ancient Rome. As a youth he

studied rhetoric, the art of speaking in public, and

also traveled. At age 23 he joined the military and

was made tribune, a common entry point for sons

of the equestrian or senatorial classes. He worked

his way up to a cavalry unit and was stationed in

present-day Germany.

During his years of service on the Rhine, Pliny

wrote a short treatise, now lost, on spear-throwing

from horseback, based on his observations of the

Germanic tribes. He followed this work with a bi-

ography of his teacher and military commander,

Publius Pomponius Secundus. After a brief visit to

Rome in 52, he returned to Germany and began

his 20-volume History of the Germanic Wars. This

work, also lost, had an immense impact on his fel-

low historians;

TACITUS

and Suetonius quote Pliny

a great deal.

Returning again to Rome in 59, Pliny withdrew

from the military to practice law and turn his atten-

tion to writing. His next works were not considered

particularly original or inspiring. The Scholar, for

example, was a training manual for orators and

rhetoricians, and its advice would be surpassed in

both substance and style by

QUINTILIAN. The eight-

volume Problems in Grammar was perhaps the only

subject Pliny could find to write about that would

not incur the wrath of the capricious Emperor

Nero. His Continuation of the History of Aufidius

Bassas updated events at Rome from the late 40s to

his own time. None of these works, unfortunately,

have survived to the present time.

In 69, after a succession of emperors, Pliny re-

turned to favor under Vespasian, with whom he

was previously acquainted. He served as procurator

in a series of provinces and was then made prefect

of the Roman navy stationed at Misenum, in the

Bay of Naples. He was killed while attempting to

evacuate people from Pompeii when Vesuvius

erupted on August 24, 79. His nephew,

PLINY THE

YOUNGER, wrote in one of his letters:

The fortunate man, in my opinion, is he to

whom the gods have granted the power either

to do something which is worth recording or to

write what is worth reading, and most fortu-

nate of all is he who can do both. Such a man

was my uncle.

By the time of his death, Pliny had published

75 books and left behind 160 volumes of unpub-

lished work. His crowning literary achievement,

the only one that survives, was the encyclopedic

Historia naturalis, or Natural History, consisting

of 37 books, published in 77. In these volumes,

Pliny deals with the entirety of creation, from cos-

mology to anthropology, geography to biology, as

well as horticulture and agriculture, medicine,

magic, and the properties of metal and stone. In

fact the work covers all things natural and in addi-

tion contains frequent accounts of human inven-

tions and institutions. The work reflects Pliny’s

systematic mind, his immense curiosity, and his

tireless working habits. The younger Pliny said of

him: “He had a keen attention, incredible devo-

tion to study, and a remarkable capacity for dis-

pensing with sleep.” It was said that he even

dictated notes to his secretary while in the bath.

The Natural History freely mixes fact with fic-

tion, since the author, though a Stoic like most ed-

ucated men of his day, possessed a great love of the

curious. The Natural History was frequently read

and relied on during the

MIDDLE AGES, when some

of its more peculiar notations were taken as literal

fact—for instance, when Pliny describes certain

peoples of the East as having ears that they can tie

around their heads or heads set directly upon

shoulders, with no neck at all. To the modern

reader the work may often appear simply quaint,

as, for example, when Pliny speculates that people

in Ethiopia grow tall due to their country’s climate,

Pliny the Elder 241

because “the juice is called away into the upper

portions of the body by the nature of heat.” In

other places he flatly contradicts current knowl-

edge—for instance, when he declares that the earth

is clearly the center of the universe.

The Natural History is still valuable as an an-

thropological document reflecting the world of the

first century as Pliny knew it, and his process of

direct observation remains a foundational method

for conducting scientific research.

An English Version of a Work by

Pliny the Elder

Natural History: A Selection. Translated by John F.

Healy. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.

Works about Pliny the Elder

Beagon, Mary. Roman Nature: The Thought of Pliny

the Elder. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1992.

Healy, John F. Pliny the Elder on Science and Technol-

ogy. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius

Caecilius Secundus)

(ca. 61–ca. 112)

lawyer, orator, letter writer, poet

By the first century, after hundreds of years of bit-

ter warfare, Rome had established uncontested

dominance through the entire Mediterranean re-

gion. All independent powers had bowed to the

might of the Roman legions, and no sovereign state

remained to challenge Rome’s supremacy. At the

same time, after a series of civil wars, the republican

form of government had been overthrown, and

Rome had become an empire. Though the impe-

rial government was autocratic, it brought political

and social stability to the Mediterranean region for

centuries. This period is now known as the Pax Ro-

mana, or “Roman Peace,” the stability of which al-

lowed literature and art to flourish. One of the

best-known and most influential literary figures of

this time was Pliny the Younger.

Born in the Roman city of Novum Comum,

Pliny was the nephew and adopted son of the fa-

mous Roman writer, soldier, and statesman, PLINY

THE ELDER. His uncle moved him to Rome to en-

sure that he received an excellent education and

the opportunity to enter the legal profession,

which Roman society considered very honorable.

In 79, Pliny the Younger witnessed the famous

eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of

the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, having

gone there with his uncle, the commander of the

fleet that was sent to help the citizens evacuate.

Pliny the Elder was killed during the evacuation,

and Pliny the Younger wrote an account of the en-

tire event in a letter to the Roman historian TACI-

TUS. The letter has been preserved and provides the

best firsthand information concerning what hap-

pened at Mount Vesuvius.

Pliny eventually became a lawyer in Rome, ar-

guing his first case when he was only 19. He made

excellent connections with important people in

Roman society and before long embarked on a

prosperous career within the imperial administra-

tion. He served three different emperors—Domi-

tian, Nerva, and Trajan—working in military,

judicial, and administrative capacities, as well as

sitting as a member of the Senate. He was clearly

efficient as a civil servant, and his contributions

were highly valued, as evidenced by the numerous

letters that he exchanged with Emperor Trajan.

In the year 100, Trajan made Pliny a consul, the

highest position in the Roman government besides

emperor. To express his thanks, Pliny made a fa-

mous speech on the floor of the Senate to thank

Trajan for the honor bestowed upon him, an ora-

tion that has become known as the Panegyricus Tra-

jani. In this speech, Pliny praises Trajan’s qualities

and compares him favorably to other emperors. Al-

though it was an unabashed eulogy of Trajan, the

content of this speech provides historians with im-

portant information about the early events of Tra-

jan’s reign. As an orator, Pliny was greatly

influenced by

CICERO, an earlier Roman orator

whom he greatly admired and tried to emulate.

In 114, not long after assuming a position in the

Roman province of Bithynia, Pliny the Younger

242 Pliny the Younger

died. His public career had been uneventful, but he

was universally respected for the sobriety of his

private life and his compassion as a magistrate.

Critical Analysis

Pliny the Younger’s fame rests on his correspon-

dence. Despite the demands of his duties in the im-

perial government, he found time to devote

himself to a life of literature and letters. Although

much of what he wrote has been lost, including

most of his poetry, 247 of his letters survive in a

collection known simply as Letters. This work is

accessible to modern readers and provides a price-

less account of what life was like among the upper

classes during the time of the Pax Romana.

During Pliny’s time, letter writing was a crucially

important skill. Not only personal matters but also

affairs of state and government had to be commu-

nicated entirely by letter. This was particularly true

of the Romans, who had the burdens of communi-

cating across a vast empire and dealing with a vari-

ety of administrative and military matters.

In addition to official administrative matters,

the subjects covered in Pliny’s letter are numer-

ous. He discusses everything from Roman literary

life and his own intellectual interests to the

weather conditions in the place from which he is

writing. The letters also provide a fascinating

glimpse into the personality of Pliny himself, re-

vealing a man of both kindness and vanity.

Scholars have organized the Letters into 10 dif-

ferent books, although each was likely intended as

an entirely independent piece. In addition to sim-

ple communications between friends, Pliny clearly

intended his letters to be presented for publica-

tion, which he states in the first letter of the first

book.

Two letters in particular have become famous.

The first is the one addressed to Tacitus in which

Pliny describes the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

and the death of his uncle. The second letter, ad-

dressed to Emperor Trajan, was written when Pliny

was governor of the province of Bithynia and con-

cerns the persecution of the Christians.

This second letter is significant because it sheds

considerable light on the Romans’ general attitude

toward Christians during the early days of Chris-

tianity. In it, Pliny writes to Trajan requesting guid-

ance on how he should deal with Christians

brought to him for trial, pointing out that he has

never presided over such a trial before. He states

that he executes those who admit to being Chris-

tians and refuse to recant, but he lets go those

Christians who do recant their faith. He also states

that he has received anonymous accusations

against a number of people, charging them with

being Christians, but most of these prove to be

harmless. This letter to Trajan is interesting to his-

torians for its firsthand account of the persecu-

tions of Christians.

Other letters deal with mundane matters. In

one letter to Tacitus, he describes his own surprise

at killing three boars while on a hunt, even though

his personal preference is to study rather than

hunt. In another letter to his friend Sura, he de-

scribes ghost stories he has heard. Such letters

offer a fascinating record of Roman life at the

time, making them invaluable historical docu-

ments.

English Versions of Works by

Pliny the Younger

Letters of the Younger Pliny. Translated by Betty

Radice. New York: Penguin Classics, 1990.

The Letters of the Younger Pliny: First Series, Vol. 1.

Available online. URL: IndyPublish.com.Accessed

2002.

Works about Pliny the Younger

Bell, Albert A., Jr. All Roads Lead to Murder: A Case

from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger. Boone,

N.C.: High Country Publishers, 2002.

Gamberini, Federico. Stylistic Theory and Practice in

the Younger Pliny. Hildesheim, Germany: Georg

Olms Publishers, 1983.

Hoffer, Stanley E. Anxieties of Pliny the Younger. Ox-

ford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Pliny the Younger 243

Plotinus (205–270) philosopher

All that is known of Plotinus comes from the Life

of Plotinus composed by his student PORPHYRY,who

published the biography as a preface to his collected

treatises about 30 years after the philosopher’s

death. His arrangement of Plotinus’s writing into

six sets of nine tracts each, ordered by subject and

named the Enneads (which means ‘nines’ in

Greek), remains the sole means by which the ideas

of Plotinus have survived.

Plotinus was born in Lycopolis in Upper Egypt,

and at age 28 he began to study philosophy at

Alexandria under Ammonius Saccas. Wishing to

study Persian and Indian philosophy, he joined the

military expedition of Emperor Gordian III to the

East in 243. After Gordian was murdered in

Mesopotamia, Plotinus fled to Antioch and, in 244,

made his way to Rome, where he began to teach.

Ten years later, at 50, he began to write.

Plotinus’s pupils included doctors, politicians,

literary men, and women. His method of teaching

consisted of conversation; sessions would begin

with a reading of a commentary on PLATO or ARIS-

TOTLE and proceed to a debate of certain points of

philosophy. Though he had no political aspirations

of his own and believed philosophers should not

be involved in reform of the state, Plotinus did ask

permission from his friends, the Emperor Gal-

lienus and Empress Salonina, to establish a city

called Platonopolis. He envisioned a community

founded entirely on the ideals of Plato. However,

too many people opposed the plan for it to become

feasible. In 269 an illness, probably leprosy, forced

him to retire to the country estate of one of his

pupils, where he died the next year.

The scholar Dominic O’Meara correctly notes

that “many paths lead back to Plotinus.” Plotinus

and his successors, known as the Neoplatonists,

continued their teachings during late antiquity in

the great schools of philosophy in Syria, Athens,

and Alexandria, which in their turn shaped the

philosophical foundations underlying the Islamic,

Byzantine, and Western worlds of the

MIDDLE AGES,

Renaissance, and Enlightenment.

Plotinus’s main achievement was a systematized

worldview in which he ordered and defined im-

portant metaphysical concepts. For him, philoso-

phy was a religion, a way for the mind to ascend

from the material to God. Building on the ideas of

Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, he conceived of re-

ality as a hierarchy of spiritual powers that all had

their source in an infinite and transcendent entity

he called the First Principle or the One. The One,

he believed, contained and was the source for all

being. The next state of being he called the Nous, a

Greek word roughly meaning Divine Intellect. This

was the force that ordered the world, a finite entity

comprised of the sum of all living things.

The third state Plotinus called the Soul of the

World, and he described it in two parts, the first

consisting of intelligence and reason, and the sec-

ond consisting of material being or nature. For

Plotinus, evil and imperfection existed only in the

state of matter, and the material could be tran-

scended through contemplation. Contemplation,

which turned away from the material or external

and focused on the inner soul or true self, was the

way an individual could unite with the Universal

Soul and, from there, the Nous. The purpose of ex-

istence was to strive for moral and intellectual per-

fection, which would ultimately bring the soul

closer to the First Principle or the One, the source

of all life. Evil and suffering, though a necessary

part of the plan, were caused by a selfish attach-

ment to the body and could be conquered through

moral goodness, discipline, and wisdom.

Plotinus revived and popularized the ideas of

Plato and Aristotle in the Latin world and became

the chief exponent of Neoplatonism. He influ-

enced the Byzantine scholar Michael Psellus, and

Arabic translations of the Enneads, particularly the

“Theology of Aristotle,” circulated in the medieval

Islamic world. He also influenced Christian the-

ologians, such as Gregory of Nyssa,

AMBROSE, and

AUGUSTINE, and the medieval philosophers

BOETHIUS and Macrobius. Translator H. A. Arm-

strong calls him “metaphysician and mystic, a hard

and honest thinker who enjoyed intense spiritual

244 Plotinus

experience and could describe it in the language

of a great poet.” His ideas have contributed to phi-

losophy, art, literature, and religious thought.

See also PLUTARCH.

An English Version of a Work by Plotinus

The Enneads. Translated by Stephen MacKenna.

Edited by John Dillon. New York: Penguin Books,

1991.

Works about Plotinus

Hadot, Pierre. Plotinus or the Simplicity of Vision.

Translated by Michael Chase. Chicago: University

of Chicago Press, 1998.

Miles, Margaret Ruth. Plotinus on Body and Beauty:

Society, Philosophy, and Religion in Third-Century

Rome. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell Publishers, 1999.

Plutarch (ca. 50–ca. 125) biographer,

essayist, philosopher

Plutarch was born in the city of Chaeronea, in the

ancient Greek district of Boeotia, where his family

had long been established. He studied in Athens

under Ammonius, traveled to Rome, and became

equally at home in both cultures. He was extraor-

dinarily erudite and particularly knowledgeable in

the areas of literature, contemporary history, and

PLATO’s philosophy. Plutarch married, fathered five

children, and spent much of his life in Chaeronea,

where he involved himself in community activi-

ties and served in public office.

Plutarch’s range of experience and scholarship

allowed him to pursue a variety of careers: as Del-

phic priest, lecturer, archon, and influential leader

in the literary and intellectual circles of the court

of the Roman emperor Trajan. During Trajan’s

reign (98–117), Plutarch produced his master-

piece, Parallel Lives. This set of biographies of fa-

mous Greeks and Romans reflects the sensibilities

of his age, putting Roman traditions and achieve-

ments on a level with Greece’s glory-filled history.

It was the belief at the time that studying the indi-

vidual accomplishments and mistakes of histori-

cal persons was a character-building pursuit.

Plutarch, a moralist and ethicist after the fashion of

ARISTOTLE, wrote to improve the moral fiber of his

audience.

Parallel Lives reveals Plutarch’s pride in the her-

itage of Greek thought and classic ideals, his pro-

found admiration for Roman civilization, and his

attempt to reconcile the two. The treatise offers 23

pairs of biographies. The portrait of a Greek states-

man or military leader is presented first, and the

life story of his Roman counterpart follows for

purposes of comparison. Plutarch creates both

inner and spoken dialogue, stages dramatic scenes,

and narrates anecdotes to depict his subjects as

men of honor, principle, and integrity. His protag-

onists are at turns dutiful and self-important, out-

raged and triumphant, generous and petty,

autocratic and heroic, and censured and rewarded.

One of the finest and most appropriate pairings

within Parallel Lives is that of DEMOSTHENES, the

Greek orator, and CICERO, the Roman orator. Demos-

thenes’oration shows “thoughtfulness, austerity, and

grave earnestness” displayed by his morose counte-

nance and anxious aspect. On the other hand, Cicero

is “disposed to mirth and pleasantry,” and his “love of

mockery often [runs] him into scurrility; and in his

love of laughing away serious arguments in judicial

cases by jests and facetious remarks . . . he [pays] too

little regard to what [is] decent.”

Another of Plutarch’s important works is the

series of essays on moral philosophy called the

Moralia. The topics of these more-than-70 essays

range from education, religion, and literary criti-

cism to psychology, politics, and matters of eti-

quette. Jacques Amyot’s French translations of the

Lives (1559) and Moral Essays (1572) made

Plutarch available to such thinkers and artists as

Rabelais, Montaigne, Racine, and Molière.

Translated into English by Philemon Holland in

1603, the Lives provided fertile ground for English

playwrights, including Ben Jonson and William

Shakespeare. Shakespeare, in particular, borrowed

from Plutarch’s writings and used the Greeks’

analysis of human behavior to embellish the action

Plutarch 245

and characters of his history plays, including Julius

CAESAR. Later, John Dryden was inspired to write

Life of Plutarch (1683), in which he analyzes the

structure and style of Parallel Lives. The Moral Es-

says influenced English poets and thinkers like

John Lyly, George Chapman, Jeremy Taylor, and

John Milton.

Plutarch’s reputation has varied over the ages,

since his historical approach was somewhat unre-

liable and his facts often inaccurate. However, his

purpose was edification and instruction, and his

works reflect a vigorous mind. His Lives in partic-

ular provided models for biographers to follow. As

a moralist, he addresses questions of enduring

concern, and as literature his works provide an en-

during fascination.

English Versions of Works by Plutarch

Essays. Edited by Ian Kidd. New York: Penguin Clas-

sics, 1993.

The Life of Alexander the Great. Translated by John

Dryden. Introduction by Victor Davis Hanson.

New York: Random House, 2004.

Plutarch: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans.

Translated by John Dryden. Edited by Arthur

Hugh Clough. New York: Random House, 1992.

Works about Plutarch

Barrow,R.H.Plutarch and His Times. Bloomington:

Indiana University Press, 1967.

Mossman, Judith, ed. Plutarch and His Intellectual

World. London: Duckworth, 1997.

Pelling, Christopher B. Plutarch and History. Cardiff:

The Classical Press of Wales, 2002.

Po Chü-i

See BAI JUYI.

poetry

See BARDIC POETRY; NAHUATL POETRY, ANCIENT; OLD

ENGLISH POETRY; PURANA; TANKA; TROUBADOURS; ZUNI

NARRATIVE POETRY; and titles of specific works.

Polo, Marco (1254–1324) traveler, writer

Marco Polo’s account of his experiences in Asia

shaped the western European vision of the East. He

was born to a merchant family in Venice, and his

uncle and father owned a trading house in Soldaia,

a Crimean port on the Black Sea.

According to Polo, during their travels to the

East, his father and uncle had met the Great Khan

and promised to return to his court with Chris-

tian missionaries. After returning to Venice in

1271, the pair reunited with the 17-year-old Marco

and then, with him, headed back to China. They

traveled from Acre through Jerusalem, overland

through Armenia and Persia (now Iran) to Cen-

tral Asia, across the Pamir mountains, along the

Takla Makan Desert in Western China, through the

Gobi Desert and finally reached the summer court

of Kubla Khan in Shangdu, which was about 200

miles north of modern Beijing. They arrived in

1275 and stayed there for the next 17 years.

During this period, Polo claims that Kubla

Khan was so impressed with his intelligence and

diligence that he appointed him to diplomatic mis-

sions that took him to southern China and north-

ern Burma (now Myanmar). Polo also claims that

he was governor of Yangzhou, a large commercial

city, but this has not been confirmed by scholars.

The Polo family finally had an opportunity to

return home when they were appointed to escort a

Mongol princess en route to Persia to get married.

This time they went by sea, setting off from the

southern Chinese port city of Quanzhou in 1292

and traveling to Sumatra, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka),

southern India, and through the Persian Gulf. After

leaving the princess in Persia, the Polos traveled on

land through Turkey, where they sailed from Con-

stantinople (now Istanbul) to Venice in 1295.

After being captured in a sea battle in 1296,

Marco Polo was imprisoned in Genoa. There he

met a Pisan romance writer named Rustichello,

who collaborated with him on his only book, Il mil-

ione (called variously The Description of the World;

The Book of Marvels; The Book of Marco Polo; and,

most commonly, The Travels of Marco Polo).

246 Po Chü-i

Polo was released from prison in 1298 and re-

turned to Venice in 1299, where he married and

ran several businesses. He became famous in

Venice for telling stories of his travels, despite the

fact that some people questioned the validity of his

tales. When he lay dying on January 8, his friends

and relatives begged him to recant his stories, but

he insisted that he had not told half of what he had

seen. Marco Polo was buried in the church of San

Lorenzo in Venice.

Critical Analysis

The Travels of Marco Polo poses several interesting

questions for readers and critics. One is the issue of

classification: Is the book a travelogue, a mer-

chant’s handbook, an autobiography, or even a

fantasy? As a person, Marco Polo does not come

alive on the page; the reader cannot define his likes,

dislikes, or reactions to his experiences, so his work

is generally not considered an autobiography.

Unlike earlier travelogues, Polo does not em-

phasize the dangers or strangeness of what he en-

counters. Instead, with minimal comment, he

catalogues the religions, appearances, and customs

of the people he encounters and focuses more on

the general and objective in his descriptions of

cities and regions. His emphasis on the varieties of

goods and spices found in the various ports

throughout his travels have led some scholars to

conclude that the book is no more than a guide

for the medieval Venetian merchants who domi-

nated trade with the East. However, as John Lerner

points out in Marco Polo and the Discovery of the

World, existing merchant guidebooks do not in-

clude the interest in the Mongol Empire’s govern-

ment and court, as well as the spectacular

buildings and statues that Polo describes.

Finally, since the 17th century, when enduring

contact with China was established by Jesuit mis-

sionaries, many readers, critics, and scholars have

questioned whether Polo went to China at all. Sev-

eral scholars, most notably Leonardo Olschki, have

pointed out how Polo does not mention any of the

same Chinese phenomena that other travelers of

the time mention in their books: no Great Wall,

no tea, no chopsticks or footbinding. Polo’s sup-

porters argue that Polo seems to have spent his

years in China as part of the Mongol emperor’s

court and that his knowledge of customs is based

on what he observed there, rather than on native

Chinese practices. If, as Lerner theorizes, Marco

Polo spent his time in the East as a minor civil ser-

vant of the Mongol Empire, then he would have

had little contact or interest in native Chinese cus-

toms. On the other hand, he is knowledgeable and

enthusiastic about the Great Khan’s court, describ-

ing in detail the protocol for holidays and ban-

quets. For example, the servers who bring the

Khan food and drink “are all obliged to cover their

noses and mouths with handsome veils or cloths of

worked silk, in order that his victuals or his wine

may not be affected by their breath.”

Some may say that Marco Polo was a precursor

of things to come, for behind Christopher Colum-

bus’s voyage and his unexpected discovery of the

New World lay the marvelous East. While Polo

does describe some implausible events, such as the

use of eagles in gathering diamonds, his work relies

little on stories of mythical beasts and human

monsters, as did earlier travelogues and even imi-

tation travelogues, such as the travels of Sir John

Mandeville. Polo recorded the flora, fauna, and es-

pecially riches of the places he visited and thus

helped shape the Far East’s image as a fabulous

place of bizarre customs and unimaginable wealth.

His book also inspired 14th-century cartographers

to change their maps and record the geography

and cities he had visited. The spices and riches he

describes only heightened the curiosity and long-

ing of Europeans to trade with the East.

The Travels of Marco Polo has been translated

into many languages from its original Italian.

Columbus owned a copy of the work, which has

been preserved. The first English translation, by

John Frampton, appeared in 1579, followed by a

more accurate English version by W. Marsden in

the early 19th century and another English ver-

sion with notes by Sir Henry Yule in 1871. Polo is

Polo, Marco 247

remembered for his grand tales of adventure as

well as the information his work provides on the

Mongol culture and customs of the 13th century.

English Versions of a Work by Marco Polo

Travels. New York: Konemann Publishers, 2000.

The Travels of Marco Polo. Edited by Manuel Komroff.

New York: Liveright Publishing, 2003.

The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier

Edition, Vol. 1. Edited by Henry Yule and Henri

Cordier. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1993.

Works about Marco Polo

Feeney, Kathy. Marco Polo: Explorer of China. Berke-

ley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 2004.

Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the

World. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,

2001.

Olschki, Leonardo. Marco Polo’s Asia: An Introduc-

tion to His “Description of the World” called “Il mil-

ione.” Translated by John A. Scott. Berkeley:

University of California Press, 1960.

Wood, Frances. Did Marco Polo Go to China? London:

Secker & Warburg, 1995.

Porphyry (Porphyrius, Malchus) (ca.

232–ca. 303) philosopher, biographer, editor

By the third century, Greek philosophy was begin-

ning to lose the creativity and vitality that had

nourished it for so long. The rise of Christianity

and the country’s long subjugation by Rome had

eroded Greek intellectual activity. Among the last

of the great philosophers was Porphyry, who was a

great exponent of the philosophy known as Neo-

platonism.

Little is known about Porphyry’s life. He was

from the city of Tyre, on the Mediterranean coast

of what is now Lebanon. During his life, the social

order of the Roman Empire was beginning to col-

lapse, and barbarian invasions were penetrating

the imperial frontiers. In the midst of all this, the

Christian Church was growing rapidly, altering

both society and intellectual and philosophical

thought.

Porphyry came into contact with many of the

great intellectuals and philosophers of his day, and

was a disciple of

PLOTINUS, who largely developed

Neoplatonism. It is unknown precisely when the

two philosophers met, but they remained compan-

ions until 268. Porphyry not only edited Plotinus’s

works, creating his Enneads (ca. 301), but also

wrote a biography of his teacher. Another of Por-

phyry’s teachers was the philosopher LONGINUS,

and he was also acquainted with the great Chris-

tian thinker, Origen.

Based on these influences and his own studies,

Porphyry authored many philosophical works,

most of which have been lost. Perhaps his most fa-

mous work is Against the Christians (ca. 270), in

which he attempts to show that the ideas of pagan

Greek philosophers, such as PLATO and ARISTOTLE,

were superior to the new ideas of the Christian

Church. Porphyry also wrote Life of Pythagoras, a

biography of the great philosopher and mathe-

matician; and numerous commentaries on Aristo-

tle’s works, including Eisagoge (an introduction to

Aristotle’s Categories), which would greatly influ-

ence medieval philosophy.

Porphyry was not nearly as important to the

development of Neoplatonism as was his teacher,

Plotinus, but his contributions were nevertheless

significant. Further, it was because of Porphyry

that much of the philosophical thinking of Ploti-

nus,

PYTHAGORAS, and Aristotle has been preserved.

English Versions of Works by Porphyry

Porphyry’s Against the Christians. Translated by

Joseph Hauffmann. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus

Books, 1994.

Porphyry’s Launching-Points to the Realm of the Mind:

An Introduction to the Neoplatonic Philosophy of

Plotinus. Translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie.

Grand Rapids, Mich.: Phanes Press, 1989.

A Work about Porphyry

Smith, Andrew. Porphyry’s Place in the Neoplatonic

Tradition: A Study in Postplotinian Neoplatonism.

New York: Kluwer Academic Press, 1975.

248 Porphyry

Proclus (ca. 410–485) philosopher

By the fifth century, Greek philosophy was in decline.

The rise of Christianity and the steady collapse of

political institutions contributed to this deteriora-

tion, and Greece was no longer producing thinkers

such as

PLATO and ARISTOTLE

. The last major move-

ment within pagan Greek philosophy, which took

place during this time, was known as Neoplatonism,

which had been expounded by the philosophers

PLOTINUS

and PORPHYRY. Among those who pro-

moted Neoplatonism was Proclus, who was born in

Constantinople (now Istanbul) sometime in the

early fifth century. Little is known of his life. He lived

and worked in the city of Athens, which remained an

intellectual center despite the fact that its political

and economic importance had long since faded.

Proclus, who became head of the Platonic Acad-

emy in Athens, was the author of several works con-

cerning Neoplatonism, including On Platonic

Theology, Elements of Platonic Theology, and Com-

mentary on the Timaeus. In these works, he de-

scribes the most important aspect of Neoplatonism

as the separation of the body and the mind, through

which Proclus and most Neoplatonists believed that

people could transcend physical limitations to reach

a mystical union with the “One.” Christian thinkers

later adopted this and other aspects of Neoplatonic

philosophy in developing their theology. One such

person was the theologian Dionysius the Areopagite

(ca. 500), whose The Celestial Hierarchy and The Di-

vine Names (treatises of mystical and speculative

theology) greatly affected the intellectual develop-

ment of medieval Europe.

Proclus was not as influential as other Greek

philosophers. His major achievement was to de-

velop and extend the Neoplatonic theories articu-

lated by Porphyry. Through his work on spreading

the philosophy of Neoplatonism through the

Greek-speaking world, Proclus contributed to the

development of Christian theology.

English Versions of Works by Proclus

Fragments that Remain of the Lost Writings of Proclus.

Translated by Thomas Taylor. Whitefish, Mont.:

Kessinger Publishing, 2003.

Proclus of Constantinople and the Cult of the Virgin in

the Late Antiquity: Homilies 1–5, Texts and Trans-

lations. Translated by Nicholas Constas. Leiden,

Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003.

Works about Proclus

Bos, Egbert P. and P. A. Meijer, eds. On Proclus and His

Influence in Medieval Philosophy. Leiden, Nether-

lands: Brill Academic Publishers, 1991.

Edwards, Mark J., trans. Neoplatonic Saints: The Lives

of Plotinus and Proclus by Their Students. Liver-

pool, U.K.: Liverpool University Press, 2001.

Siorvanes, Lucas. Proclus: Neo-Platonic Philosophy

and Science. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University

Press, 1996.

Propertius, Sextus (ca. 50–ca. 15 B.C.) poet

Sextus Propertius was born in Italy near Assisi, later

home to Saint FRANCIS OF ASSISI. His parents be-

longed to the wealthy equestrian class, and although

his family lost properties in the confiscations of 41

B.C., Propertius never needed to pursue a profes-

sion to earn his living, nor did he require a patron,

as did his contemporaries

VIRGIL and HORACE. He es-

tablished an enduring friendship with the wealthy

statesman Maecenas, who was patron to several

other artists and who accepted Propertius into his

literary circle. Though the precise dates in which

his books appeared are not known, one of his elegies

is addressed to a woman who died in 16

B.C. OVID,

writing the Remedy for Love in A.D. 2, implies that

Propertius was dead by this time.

Propertius is known for four books of Elegies, a

total of 92 poems. The fame of these books earned

him a place alongside

CATULLUS and Ovid in the

tradition of classical love poetry. QUINTILIAN con-

sidered him second only to Tibullus as an elegiac

poet. The elegiac meter had become the accepted

form for poetry as early as Mimnermus (ca. 630

B.C.). Though it was also used for martial verse,

dirges, and lamentations, it was most widely used

for love poems.

Traditionally, the love poets professed enslave-

ment to one woman, an attachment that the 12th-

Propertius, Sextus 249

century TROUBADOURS of southern France would

imitate and that DANTE would continue in his

poems addressed to Beatrice and Petrarch in his

sonnets to Laura. Catullus addressed his mistress

as Lesbia, Cornelius Gallus wrote to Cytheris, and

Tibullus professed devotion to Delia. Propertius’s

love was a Roman lady whom he named Cynthia.

The first book is completely dominated by

Propertius’s experience of falling in love with Cyn-

thia; as he declares in the very first poem: “No girl

but Cynthia ever caught my eye / or stormed by my

heart or felled my passionate pride.” These initial

poems portray love as an external force that has

thoroughly overcome the poet, and, in keeping

with tradition, he grows ill with unrequited love.

Passionate descriptions of Cynthia’s worth and

beauty alternate with declarations of despair over

her coldness and neglect. The second book also ad-

dresses Cynthia. Propertius opens this book by de-

claring that even if he were gifted enough to write

of gods, heroes, and epic battles, he would still

write of Cynthia because, he says,

To die for love is glory; glory also

to love one only; I would have that joy.

His Cynthia is more constant than Helen, more en-

chanting than Circe, more beautiful than any of

the goddesses.

By his third book, Propertius has widened the

scope of his art. The poet’s voice here seems more

often disenchanted with love and concerned for

the things that do last. Mournfully he remarks in

the second poem of the third book,“from remem-

bered genius, fame shall flower. / It is only wit that

death does not devour.”

The fourth book contains only the rare refer-

ence to Cynthia, and the poet turns his attention to

the legendary past of Rome, occasional poems, let-

ters, and an elegy. More than any of the others, this

book demonstrates Propertius’s professed identifi-

cation with the aesthetics of the Alexandrian poet

CALLIMACHUS. The fourth book shows the true

breadth of Propertius’s talent, and together the Ele-

gies chart the maturation of a poet, his struggle to

learn from his experiences, and his quest to dis-

cover and define his own personality.

Translator Constance Carrier calls Propertius a

“daring, difficult, experimental writer.” Scholar

Margaret Hubbard concludes that Propertius has

no characteristic or distinguishable style, but

rather draws on a variety of influences and is

highly inventive, especially in his use of imagery

and metaphor. Though not as often read in later

centuries as the

EPIC poets, whose ranks he de-

clined to join, Propertius is nonetheless remem-

bered in the Roman Elegies (1788) by Goethe and

in Homage to Sextus Propertius (1917) by Ezra

Pound.

English Versions of Works by

Sextus Propertius

Propertius: Elegies. Edited by G. P. Goold. Cambridge,

Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990.

Propertius: Elegies. Translated by R. I. V. Hodge and R.

A. Buttimore. London: Bristol Classical Press, 2002.

Works about Sextus Propertius

Benediktson, D. Thomas. Propertius: Modernist Poet

of Antiquity. Carbondale: Southern Illinois Uni-

versity Press, 1989.

Carrier, Constance. The Poems of Propertius. Bloom-

ington: Indiana University Press, 1963.

Hubbard, Margaret. Propertius. London: Bristol Clas-

sical Press, 2001.

purana (first–15th centuries) Hindu

scriptural genre

The Sanskrit word purana means “ancient” and

refers to a genre of sacred Hindu scripture describ-

ing the mythological history of India. There are 18

mahapurana, or major puranas, and 18 upapurana,

or minor puranas.Each purana celebrates a differ-

ent aspect of the Hindu trinity, or Trimurti: Bra-

hama, Vishnu, or Shiva. Devotees of Sakti, the

Divine Mother, sometimes include the Devi Bha-

gavata as a major purana.

250 purana