Defence of the ‘portrait-study’ (18-21)

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0062.tlg040.perseus-eng4:18-21

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But I am perhaps straying from the point. What I have to defend is the having likened you, in giving your outward form, to the Cnidian and the Garden Aphrodite, to Hera and Athene; such comparisons you find out of all proportion. I will deal directly with them, then. It has indeed been said long ago that poets and painters are irresponsible; that is still more true, I conceive, of panegyrists, even humble prose ones like myself who are not run away with by their metre. Panegyric is a chartered thing, with no standard quantitative measure to which it must conform; its one and only aim is to express deep admiration and set its object in the most enviable light. However, I do not intend to take that line of defence; you might - think I did so because I had no other open.

But I have. I refer you to the proper formula of panegyric, which requires the author to introduce illustrations, and depends mainly on their goodness for success. Now this goodness is shown not when the illustration is just like the thing illustrated, nor yet when it is inferior, but when it is as high above it as may be. If in praising a dog one should remark that it was bigger than a fox or a cat, would you regard him as a skilful

v.3.p.31

panegyrist? certainly not. Or if he calls it the equal of a wolf, he has not made very much of it so either. Where is the right thing to be found? why, in likening the dog’s size and spirit to the lion’s. So the poet who would praise Orion’s dog called it the lion-queller. There you have the perfect panegyric of the dog. Or take Milo of Croton, Glaucus of Carystus, or Polydamas; to say of them by way of panegyric that each of them was stronger than a woman would be to make oneself a laughing-stock; one man instead of the woman would not much mend matters, But what, pray, does a famous poet make of Glaucus?—

To match those hands not e’en the might

Of Pollux’ self had dared;

Alcmena’s son, that iron wight,

Had shrunk—

See what Gods he equals him to, or rather what Gods he puts him above. And Glaucus took no exception to being praised at the expense of his art’s patron deities; nor yet did they send any judgement on athlete or poet for irreverence; both continued to be honoured in Greece, one for his might, and the other for this even more than for his other odes. Do not be surprised, then, that when I wished to conform to the canons of my art and find an illustration, I took an exalted one, as reason was that I should.

You used the word flattery. To dislike those who practise it is only what you should do, and I honour you for it. But I would have you distinguish between panegyric proper and the flatterer’s exaggeration of it. The flatterer praises for selfish ends, cares little for truth, and makes it his business to magnify indiscriminately; most of his effects consist in lying additions of his own; he thinks nothing of making Thersites handsomer than Achilles, or telling Nestor he is younger than any of the host; he will swear Croesus’s son hears better than Melampus,

v.3.p.32

and give Phineus better sight than Lynceus, if he sees his way to a profit on the lie. But the panegyrist pure and simple, instead of lying outright, or inventing a quality that does not exist, takes the virtues his subject really does possess, though possibly not in large measure, and makes the most of them. The horse is really distinguished among the animals we know for light-footed speed; well, in praising a horse, he will hazard:

The corn-stalks brake not 'neath his airy tread.

He will not be frightened of ‘whirlwind-footed steeds.’ If his theme is a noble house, with everything handsome about it,

Zeus on Olympus dwells in such a home,

we shall be told. But your flatterer would use that line about the swineherd’s hovel, if he saw a chance of getting anything out of the swineherd. Demetrius Poliorcetes had a flatterer called Cynaethus who, when he was gravelled for lack of matter, found some in a cough that troubled his patron—he cleared his throat so musically!

There you have one criterion: flatterers do not draw the line at a lie if it will please their patrons; panegyrists aim merely at bringing into relief what really exists. But there is another great difference: the flatterers exaggerate as much as ever they can; the panegyrists in the midst of exaggeration observe the limitations of decency. And now that you have one or two of the many tests for flattery and panegyric proper, I hope you will not treat all praise as suspect, but make distinctions and assign each specimen to its true class.

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about	2	w	3042
the	47	w	3045
swineherd	1	w	3054
s	207	w	3056
hovel	1	w	3061
if	4	w	3064
he	71	w	3066
saw	1	w	3069
a	208	w	3070
chance	1	w	3076
of	26	w	3078
getting	1	w	3085
anything	1	w	3093
out	6	w	3096
of	27	w	3098
the	48	w	3101
swineherd	2	w	3110
Demetrius	1	w	3120
Poliorcetes	1	w	3131
had	3	w	3134
a	212	w	3135
flatterer	4	w	3144
called	2	w	3150
Cynaethus	1	w	3159
who	4	w	3162
when	5	w	3167
he	75	w	3169
was	4	w	3172
gravelled	1	w	3181
for	14	w	3184
lack	1	w	3188
of	28	w	3190
matter	2	w	3196
found	2	w	3202
some	3	w	3206
in	57	w	3208
a	220	w	3209
cough	1	w	3214
that	11	w	3218
troubled	1	w	3226
his	13	w	3229
patron	2	w	3235
he	76	w	3238
cleared	1	w	3245
his	14	w	3248
throat	1	w	3254
so	10	w	3256
musically	1	w	3265
There	2	w	3271
you	13	w	3274
have	5	w	3278
one	8	w	3281
criterion	1	w	3290
flatterers	1	w	3301
do	10	w	3303
not	14	w	3306
draw	1	w	3310
the	49	w	3313
line	3	w	3317
at	42	w	3319
a	230	w	3320
lie	2	w	3323
if	5	w	3325
it	31	w	3327
will	5	w	3331
please	1	w	3337
their	3	w	3342
patrons	1	w	3349
panegyrists	2	w	3361
aim	2	w	3364
merely	1	w	3370
at	44	w	3372
bringing	1	w	3380
into	1	w	3384
relief	1	w	3390
what	5	w	3394
really	3	w	3400
exists	1	w	3406
But	7	w	3410
there	1	w	3415
is	51	w	3417
another	1	w	3424
great	1	w	3429
difference	1	w	3439
the	53	w	3443
flatterers	2	w	3453
exaggerate	1	w	3463
as	16	w	3465
much	3	w	3469
as	17	w	3471
ever	4	w	3475
they	2	w	3479
can	2	w	3482
the	55	w	3486
panegyrists	3	w	3497
in	62	w	3499
the	56	w	3502
midst	1	w	3507
of	29	w	3509
exaggeration	2	w	3521
observe	1	w	3528
the	57	w	3531
limitations	1	w	3542
of	30	w	3544
decency	1	w	3551
And	2	w	3555
now	2	w	3558
that	12	w	3562
you	14	w	3565
have	6	w	3569
one	9	w	3572
or	34	w	3574
two	1	w	3577
of	31	w	3579
the	58	w	3582
many	1	w	3586
tests	1	w	3591
for	15	w	3594
flattery	2	w	3602
and	20	w	3605
panegyric	5	w	3614
proper	3	w	3620
I	18	w	3622
hope	1	w	3626
you	15	w	3629
will	6	w	3633
not	16	w	3636
treat	1	w	3641
all	10	w	3644
praise	4	w	3650
as	18	w	3652
suspect	1	w	3659
but	2	w	3663
make	5	w	3667
distinctions	1	w	3679
and	21	w	3682
assign	1	w	3688
each	2	w	3692
specimen	1	w	3700
to	27	w	3702
its	3	w	3705
true	2	w	3709
class	1	w	3714