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Philosophy (and Athens) in Decay: Timon of Athens
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 September 2016
Abstract
Pericles famously described the Athenians as “lovers of the beautiful with thrift, and lovers of wisdom without softness.” Yet he cautioned that Athens's pursuit of boundless empire and glory could corrupt the citizens and destroy Athenian brilliance. Timon of Athens, the counterpart of A Midsummer Night's Dream, depicts what Pericles had warned against. The Athenians' love of the noble has given way to a voracious love of gold. With artists looking upon their work as merchandise to be sold at the highest price, the only thing considered beautiful is a line of salacious chorus-girls. Flattery and utility prevail throughout. The lowest form of friendship is thought to be the highest. Athens has disintegrated as a community of citizens sharing a common heritage. And philosophy, no longer a speculative inquiry, has become a shameless way of life, based on a fixed doctrine and virtually indistinguishable from misanthropy.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- The Review of Politics , Volume 78 , Special Issue 4: Shakespeare's Politics in Honor of the 400th Anniversary of his Birth , Fall 2016 , pp. 539 - 550
- Copyright
- Copyright © University of Notre Dame 2016
References
1 See Blits, Jan H., The Soul of Athens: Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2003)Google Scholar.
2 Timon's name comes from the Greek word for “honor” or “worth” (timē).
3 References are to the Arden edition, ed. H. J. Oliver (London: Methuen, 1965).
4 Epicurus, Aristotle's opponent in almost every other respect, similarly writes, “Of the things wisdom acquires for the blessedness of a good life, by far the greatest is the possession of friendship” (Epicurus, Key Doctrines 27). See also Cicero, De amicitia 51; Plutarch, On Having Many Friends 3 (94b); Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 7.124.
5 “The teaching of Diogenes was by no means what we now call ‘cynical’—quite the contrary. He had an ardent passion for … virtue and moral freedom in liberation from desire” ( Russell, Bertrand, A History of Western Philosophy [New York: Simon and Schuster, 1945], 229 Google Scholar).
6 “Currency is called currency [nomisma] because it exists not by nature but by convention [nomos] and we can change it or render it useless at will” (Aristotle, Nic. Eth. 1133a31–33).
7 Diogenes called freedom of speech (parrhēsia) “the noblest thing in the world” (D. L. 6.69).
8 Folio's list of “The Actors' Names.”
9 See, for example, Antisthenes, though penniless, priding himself on his wealth (Xenophon, Banquet 4.34).
10 The Fool seems an exception.
11 Williams, Gordon, A Glossary of Shakespeare's Sexual Language (London: Athlone, 1997)Google Scholar, s.v. “scald.”
12 Williams, s.vv. “use,” “usury.” For the Fool's wordplay, see, further, 4.3.84–88.
13 The Folio reads “master's.” Here and at 2.2.75, modern editors sometimes gloss it as “mistress'.”
14 Only Timon's stewards show real affection for him.
15 Timon's imitation in the woods includes often using Apemantus's asteismos, particularly, as here, in exchanges with Apemantus.
16 In addition, the only time he ever speaks of his own love, Apemantus tells Timon, “I love thee better now than e'er I did” (4.3.235), and, at moments of uncharacteristic civility, twice offers him food and promises to return (4.3.284, 304, 355–56).
17 See Montaigne, Essays, 1.50.
18 See, for example, Plato, Republic 509d–11e.