TJic Rhctorica of PJiilodeinus. 251 



was poet to the Piso family, and his reputation in Rome 

 rested fully as much on his poetry as on his philosophy. 

 And we shall find in the second book of his Hepl pi^TopLK^q that a 

 strife had arisen among the Epicureans which perhaps was not 

 serious enough to be called a schism, but at least gave rise to 

 several controversial pamphlets, and much truly Epicurean bil- 

 lingsgate. In this quarrel Zeno and Philodemus supported the 

 thesis that a certain kind of rhetoric, to which they applied the 

 adjective "sophistic," was an art, and this was disputed as heresy 

 by the opposing party. The Epicureans as a who'e rejected all 

 rhetoric as useless ; Zeno and Philodemus held that the epideictic 

 branch of rhetoric was a proper subject for study because that 

 alone could be reduced to rule, whereas the parts involving per- 

 suasion depended on the speaker's ability to catch the popular 

 favor. The rhetorical works of Philodemus are an exposition of 

 this doctrine. Thus the fragments which we have are the remains 

 of a distinct literary movement in the Epicurean sect, and should 

 be regarded as a literary pronunciamento. The interesting point 

 of connection here is that Zeno whom Cicero lauds a stylist was 

 the champion of this new view which accepted that part of 

 rhetoric which above all others was primarily concerned with 

 style rather than with thought. 



Philodemus' importance as a man of letters in Rome is shown 

 again by his relation to the Augustan group, Horace, Vergil, 

 Varius, Ouintilius. That these poets were at one time strongly 

 influenced by the Epicurean philosophy is too well known to 

 need mention. But it is only recently that any close connection 

 between this group and Philodemus has been shown. To be 

 sure there was the allusion to Philodemus at the end of the 

 second satire of the first book, but this did not prove anything 

 more than that Horace was acquainted with Philodemus' epi- 

 grams. But Korte has discovered amid the almost undecipherable 

 fragments of Uepl /coAaKcias the names Ompte, KoiVTt'Aie, Ov[€pyiXie, 

 'Opd]Ti€, showing with great probability that Philodemus was 

 acquainted with the Augustan group. ^^ Still more recently Hen- 

 drickson has traced the influence of the technique of an epigram 

 of Philodemus on Horace Car. I, 38.^- It may therefore be set 



" Augusteer bei Philodem, Rhein. Mus. XLV (1890), pp. 172-177. 

 ^' An Epigram of Philodemus and two Latin Congeners. Amer. Journ. 

 Phil. XXXIX (1918) pp. 27-43. 



