Criticising Change: From Theognis to Plato

Abstract

This paper examines how socio-political and cultural change is discussed in selected archaic and classical Greek texts (Thgn. 53-60, 287-92; Pherecr. fr. 155 K.-A.; Aristoph. Nub. 889-1023; Pl. Lg. 700a-701c). The analysis underlines the thematic, rhetorical and stylistic features and the moral preoccupations that are common to these sources. It is then argued that they all participate in an intertextual ‘discourse on change’. Furthermore, the article samples how close textual readings can be enhanced by the awareness that each single passage, as an instance of this tradition of discourse, is intertextually connected to the others.

Keywords

• Change. Intertextuality. Morals. Paideia. Theognis