THE LYRIC NINE

The poet Theognis, represented in the previous entry as a “pre-Socratic,” is often described by historians of ancient Graeco-Roman literature as a lyric poet. A legitimate question must therefore be asked at this time as to what is the criterion, or criteria, by which Theognis has been included in this section as a pre-Socratic, whereas the canonic “Nine Lyric (or Melic) Poets” are only mentioned, but not included.

(For the record, these Nine Lyric Poets are Alcman of Sparta; Sappho and Alcaeus of Lesbos; Anacreon of Teos; Stesichorus of Himera; Ibycus of Rhegium; Simonides and Bacchylides of Ceos, and, finally, Pindar of Thebes, at least four of these names eminently familiar outside the professional circle.)

It must be quite obvious that, like Homer and Hesiod, Theognis had aroused philosophical interest in such giants of philosophy as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, among others, as a moralist and thinker, whereas our illustrious Lyric Nine are primarily arousing an aesthetical appreciation. Surely, had we found philosophy in any of the Nine, we would have singled them out and counted them as pre-Socratics as well.

But, as things stand, no such thing is in evidence. It is perhaps advisable for me to expand my Sonnets section to include some or all of these, but within the PreSocratica section the Lyric Nine may only provide us with an important point of reference and help us clarify the main criterion for membership in this section.