Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists 17

https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/215

Context

Eunapius from Sardis became an accomplished sophist and historian at Athens during the late 4th into the early 5th century. He wrote a collection of 24 short biographies of leading thinkers during his time, concentrating chiefly on their intellectual leaning, characteristic style, and professional record in the fields of literature, philosophy, and rhetoric. His work famously avoids consideration of or reference to the Christian establishment. This biography of Acacius the Phoenician—not to be confused with the contemporary bishop of Caesarea of the same name—portrays his rhetorical brilliance and rivalry with the younger Libanius during the mid-4th century. We learn from Libanius’ writings (see below) that Acacius came from an academic family in Phoenicia, taught in Antioch, and finished his career in Palestine.

Text

(1) ἈΚΑΚΙΟΣ. Παλαιστίνης Καισάρεια τὸν Ἀκάκιον ἤνεγκεν, καὶ ἦν συνανασχὼν τῷ Λιβανίῳ κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους· τόνου δὲ σοφιστικοῦ καὶ πνεύματος, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, γέμων, καὶ ἡ λέξις μετὰ κρότου πρὸς τὸν ἀρχαῖον ἐπέστρεφε τρόπον· συνανασχὼν δὲ Λιβανίῳ, κατέσεισε τὰ πρῶτα, καὶ περιῆν ἰσχυρῶς. (2) βιβλίδιον γοῦν τῷ Λιβανίῳ περὶ εὐφυΐας τι γέγραπται, πρὸς τὸν Ἀκάκιον ἅπαν ἐκτεθειμένον, ἐν ᾧ δῆλός ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῷ κρατεῖσθαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐκείνου φύσεως αἰτιώμενος, αὐτὸς δὲ ἑαυτῷ μαρτυρῶν τὴν περὶ τὰ λεξείδια ⟨ἐπί⟩στασιν καὶ ἀκρίβειαν· (3) ὥσπερ ἀγνοῶν ὅτι μήτε Ὁμήρῳ παντὸς ἔμελε μέτρου, ἀλλ’ εὐφωνίας τινὸς καὶ μέλους, μήτε Φειδίᾳ τοῦ τὸν δάκτυλον παραλαβεῖν καὶ τὸν παῖδα πρὸς ἔπαινον τῆς θεᾶς, ἀλλὰ τυραννεῖν τὸ μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἀκοήν, ⟨τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν⟩, καὶ τὸ αἴτιον ὑπάρχειν ἀνεύρετον ἢ δύσκριτον, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς καὶ ἐρασμίοις σώμασιν, οὐ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ θαυμάζουσιν, ὁ δὲ ἁλοὺς οὐκ οἶδεν ὅθεν εἴληπται. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀκάκιος ἐς τὸ ἄριστον ἀναδραμών, καὶ πολλὴν ἑαυτῷ παρασχὼν δόξαν ὡς τοῦ Λιβανίου κρατήσων, ἀπῄει νέος ὢν ἔτι· οἱ δὲ ἄνθρωποι, ὅσον σπουδαῖον ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἐθαύμαζον αὐτὸν ὥσπερ εἰς γῆρας ἀφιγμένον.1

Textual Note

Ed. Giangrande 1956

Translation

(1) ACACIUS. Caesarea Palestinae produced Acacius, and he emerged at the same time as Libanius. No one else was so full of sophistic force and inspiration, and his sonorous diction was inclined to classical models. Although he came up at the same time as Libanius, he took first prize in their match and excelled through sheer strength. Accordingly Libanius wrote a booklet Genius, completely dedicated to Acacius, in which (the author) clearly attributes his defeat to the magnitude of that man’s talent, while providing evidence for his own stance and exactitude in using an erudite lexicon. It is as though he was unaware that Homer did not just carefully study every verse, but also beautiful expression and melody, and that Pheidias did not strive to represent the finger and the foot for the praise of the goddess, and yet the former ruled the faculty of listening, and the latter over the faculty of seeing; and that the source of their artistry is impossible to discover and hard to discern, just as in beautiful and attractive bodies everyone does not marvel at the same feature, and the captivated viewer does not know what caught his gaze. So Acacius rose through the ranks to excellence, and he acquired a great reputation as the one who beat Libanius. He passed away when he was still young. And men, at least the studious ones, admired him as they would one who made it to old age.2

Translation Note

Adapted from Wright 1921

Works Cited

1 Eunapius, Eunapii vitae sophistarum, ed. Giuseppe Giangrande, Scriptores Graeci et Latini. (Rome: Poligrafico, 1956), section: 17.
2 Eunapius, Philostratus and Eunapius: Lives of the Sophists, trans. Wilmer Cave Wright, Loeb Classical Library 134 (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1921)

Additional Bibliography

Raffaela Cribiore, The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007)

How to Cite This Entry

Joseph L. Rife, “Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists 17,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published October 19, 2022, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/215.

Bibliography:

Joseph L. Rife, “Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists 17.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2022. Entry published October 19, 2022. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/215.

About this Entry

Entry Title: Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists 17

Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:

Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists 17”
Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists 17”

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TEI encoding by William L. Potter
Electronic text added by Joseph L. Rife
Testimonia identified by Joseph L. Rife

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