On poems

Philodemus of Gadara

"The On Poems by Philodemus (c. 110-35 BC), the Epicurean philosopher and poet who taught Vergil and influenced Horace, is our main source for Hellenistic literary theory. In Book 1 Philodemus summarizes a survey of previously unknown poetic and aesthetic theories. Compiled by Crates of Mallos, this survey reviews the critical theories of earlier Epicureans, Peripatetics, and Stoics, who had argued that sound is the source of poetic excellence, and that the ear, unaided by the mind, can judge it. Philodemus led the reaction against this invasion of literary criticism by musical theory, arguing that form and content are interrelated, and that substantive content, not pretty sound, is what makes poetry worthwhile." "The 200 fragments of Book 1, carbonized in the eruption of Vesuvius, were entirely jumbled after their discovery at Herculaneum. This edition reconstitutes their original...

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