Excerto de Preface to Plato

Transcription

1 Excerto de Preface to Plato Nomos X Ethos by Eric Havelock [ ] Hesiod surely celebrates them [the Muses] in their general aspect as embodying the universal power of poetry, and in this context he proceeds to define the content of what they sing as: The custom-laws [nomoi] and the folk-ways [ethea, conduct] of the immortals. [ ] The poet began in his first line with a general statement: They sing the laws and ways of all and he added a second line, associatively linked with the first, Even of the immortals do they celebrate (these) [as leis e condutas de todos] This means in effect that in Hesiod s mind there was no rigid distinction between the ways of men and the ways of gods. As we shall see later, this blending of the two does represent the world-view which lies behind the Theogony, and it also represents the blend which is found in Homer, where the divine society mirrors the human. What is meant by the two words nomoi and ethea which we have translated as customlaws and folk-ways? Nomos [o singular de nomoi] becomes familiar in later Greek as the normal term for law, even though two and a half centuries later, in that treatise of Plato which carried the title of Nomoi or Laws, the sense of solemn custom often prevails over that of statute. Nomos in fact represents both the force of usage and custom before it was written down, and also the statutory law of advanced Greek societies which was written down. But the word in this sense is not Homeric. Hesiod was the first to use it and was perhaps responsible for bringing it into currency. In so early a poet the word cannot mean statute but it might cover the usage which was promulgated orally. What, then, are the ethea? Originally, the word may have signified the lair or haunt of an animal; in later Greek it develops into the meaning of personal behavior pattern or even personal character [o que chamamos de conduta em nossas aulas] and so in Aristotle supplied the basis for the term ethics. That is to say, between Hesiod and Aristotle both nomos and ethos [o singular de ethea] passed through a similar evolution out of the concrete towards the abstract. The poet here, we suggest, may be using both of them to describe the social and moral behavior pattern which is approved and therefore proper and goodly. Perhaps his conception or rather his image of this code of behavior is roughly polarised between what we would call the public law of the group and its private instincts and family usage, and this is why he uses the two words.

2 Ethea are not less binding than nomoi but are more personal; the word may originally have denoted the way a human being lived in his or her haunts. If so, it could be easily extended to cover the mores of the human haunt which is the household and family, whereas the nomoi, which may be connected with the distribution of pasture, would look at custom and usage from a rather larger and more social point of view. Nomos has a wider field of vision. Thus ethos would cover a man s proper feelings and reactions to intimates and to enemies. Nomos would describe, as it does in Hesiod, the universal law of hard work or the prohibition instinctively observed by mankind against cannibalism. [ ] The Greeks at Troy have sacked a neighbouring city and in the division of the spoils Agamemnon has appropriated as his property the daughter of a priest of Apollo. Despite the appeal of the girl's father he decides to keep her. The god thus outraged through the indignity done to his representative sends disastrous plague on the Greek host and an assembly has to be convened to deal with the emergency. Chalcas the seer, prodded by Achilles, chief fighting man, reluctantly reveals the truth: the commander-in-chief must give the girl back to avert the plague. This proposal enrages Agamemnon; he took her as his portion of the booty; he at least requires a substitute. Achilles points out there is at present no substitute available unless the previous distribution of spoil is cancelled. Agamemnon only gets angrier and threatens to compensate himself by taking from Achilles his own prize, Briseis. At this point the wrath of Achilles boils over in an explosion which matches Agamemnon's own. He almost kills him and then vows total abstention from the war. He will make not only the commander but all the Greeks pay for the insult to his prowess. The aged and revered Nestor intervenes with an attempt to conciliate the quarrel. Both sides, he implies, are somewhat at fault. But the two powerful men ignore his plea. Achilles retires to his tent and watches while Agamemnon's heralds take away Briseis. He then takes his grievance to his mother, the mermaid Thetis, who by the seashore promises to intercede with Zeus. The father of gods and men will arrange matters so that the withdrawal of Achilles will prove effective. Victory is to pass to the Trojans. Ceremonious arrangements meanwhile are concluded for the restoration of the priest's daughter. She is sent back in charge of a deputation headed by the politic Odysseus, and Apollo is duly appeased with prayer and sacrifice. The scene then shifts to Olympus, as Thetis makes her appeal. Zeus assents, though reluctantly, for he knows his own wife Hera does not wish the Trojans to win, even temporarily; and in fact, Hera finds out what he has promised, which provokes a bitter quarrel between the two on Olympus. This however is promptly resolved in Zeus's favour: he threatens to thrash her if she does not mind her own business. One of her sons

3 advises her to submit and the tension is relieved. The rest of the divine family who have been spectators of this tense scene then sit down and relax at a banquet. Evening draws on, and so to bed. [ ] While we tend to focus our attention on the heroes as autonomous personalities, we are never allowed to forget that they are not in fact autonomous. Their acts and thoughts disturb the conduct and affect the fate of the society in which they move. yet at the same time they are controlled by the conventions of that society. This kind of poetry is public or political, and so the tale of the quarrel becomes in the first instance a vehicle for illustrating the public law, what we might call the governing apparatus of the Achaean society. The quarrel would not have arisen in the first place were it not for the strict conventions governing the division of spoils. These pose a dilemma for the commander-in-chief and for the army at large. Agamemnon had committed a form of sacrilege which in itself could have been expiated by returning the girl in exchange for a ransom. But he turned down the father's offer, and Apollo's terms for expiation then stiffened. The offer of ransom is with drawn. The penalty of plague can now be lifted only if the girl is restored without compensation.10 He might still do this without loss of face, were it not for the fact that she represented the commander's share of the spoils of a sacked city, and the distribution of these shares was governed by strict convention which accorded preferential choice to men of superior station. Agamemnon therefore justly required a substitute. Where was it to come from? The sole recourse would be to cancel the entire previous distribution and start again. The complications would be enormous, and indeed this solution was impossible. It is left to Achilles to point out the fact, and incidentally put on record the convention governing the distribution: How shall the great-hearted Achaeans give you a prize? We are not aware of any large common store lying available anywhere. What things we took from cities when we sacked them have been distributed. It is not proper that the people should reverse this and collect them back and amass them again Hard experience of the wrangling and social disorder that would result had produced this nomos; hence the descriptive formula 'It is not proper '. This piece of preserved usage is well concealed because of its close relevance to the context; the narrative scarcely pauses at all. But there is a later and parallel example which is more conspicuous. As the quarrel between the two heroes becomes exacerbated Achilles vows withdrawal from the fight: Verily by this staff-it never will leaves and shoots Put forth again when once it has left its stump in the mountains

4 Nor will it ever bloom again. Round about it the bronze has peeled off The leaves and the bark. And now the sons of the Achaeans Bear it in their hand grip, even the arbitrators of rights who the precedents Do guard under the eye of Zeus. This shall be to thee a great oath; Verily one day will desire of Achilles come upon the Achaeans. The sweep of his anger is interrupted by an excursus on the staff as symbol of authority; how you go into the woods and cut it, what it looks like, and who is entitled to hold it. The essential function of the holder is then briefly memorialised. His pronouncements conserve the legal precedents. The interruption in the narrative might sound rather quaint, were it not that the imagery employed is also relevant to the critical solemnity of the occasion, the irrevocable intensity of the hero's mood. A little later Nestor attempts the role of peacemaker and addresses Achilles, admonishing him as follows: Son ofpeleus, venture not to contend with a prince Forcefully, for he never has a portion of things on a par with that of others, Even a prince who holds the staff and to whom Zeus has given glory. If you are stronger in force, being the son of a divine mother, Yet Agamemnon is the superior, since he rules over greater numbers. Relationships which are basic to the stability of the social structure are here recapitulated. The authority of a prince must be maintained because he is a prince, not because he may be physically more powerful, and he often is not. The sanction of the divine apparatus stands behind this arrangement. The staff which he carries constitutes the outward symbol ofhis authority. Thetis on behalf of her son Achilles repairs to Zeus' palace requesting that Zeus aid her cause. Her behaviour and that of Zeus is a complete paradigm of how a petitioner presents his petition in audience and how the prince receives it. Zeus finally consents and nods his head up and down, adding this comment: This that I have done is among the immortals the biggest Sign of all. For what is mine is not recallable nor to be falsified Nor to be unaccomplished; I mean whatever with my head I confirm. The concluding words define an age-old convention, for a formal nod was subject to public witness by all members of the audience. Therefore the divine apparatus is a projection of the human. Calchas, voicing his fears that he will offend Agamemnon, describes him as He who mightily over all The Argives does exercise power, yea and the Achaeans hearken unto him

5 which is a fair definition preserved in the epic line of the political status of Agamenmon in Achaean history. And the seer continues by voicing the following sentiment: A king is greater in power whenever he is angry with an inferior. Suppose that for the present day he swallows down his choler Yet later on he keeps the grudge till he accomplish it In his breast. This can be cited as an example either of nomos or of ethos, the code of public law or the pattern of private behaviour. This is the way kings can behave; this is one of the hard facts of power. A prince may find it politic to postpone his anger; he can afford to, provided his opponent is a subject. Psychological is combined with social observation; there is no moral judgment passed. The minstrel is simply reporting and describing, and this gives to the epic idiom its curiously dispassionate quality, elevating it in the grand manner. But it is in the grand manner because the poetized speech is devoted to framing a 'pedagogic' observation in preserved and permanent form. Roteiro da atividade (para entregar na próxima aula): 1. Separe as palavras que você não conhece, procure-as no dicionário, e escreva sua definição; 2. Separe o texto em partes de acordo com sua unidade de sentido; 3. Responda às questões: a. Como o autor define nomos? E ethos? Qual a diferença entre eles? b. O que é considerado como verdadeiro em nossa sociedade, e o que garante a sua verdade?