252 Harry M. Hubbell, Ph.D.. 



down with a reasonable degree of certainty that Philodemus 

 was a prominent figure in the Hterary circles of Rome of the 

 late republic and early empire ; that his interest in polite letters 

 distinguished him as it had his master Zeno from the rest of the 

 Epicureans, and that his interest in literature is reflected in the 

 doctrines of the Rhetorica. 



The latter works have attracted less attention than they de- 

 serve. The philosophical works were naturally the first to be 

 attacked in the hope of supplementing our scanty knowledge of 

 Epicurean doctrines. But little that was satisfactory was done 

 on the Rhetorica until Sudhaus' edition." In this he collected 

 all the fragments of the Rhetorica, using the Oxford and Nea- 

 politan copies, and supplementing these with his own examina- 

 tion of the papyri. His results were little short of astounding, 

 when the nature of his material is taken into consideration, 

 though unfortunately for the general reader or even for -the 

 specialist in this field they are almost nullified by glaring faults 

 in arrangement and presentation. He has clearly established the 

 existence of two works, a 'YTrofx-vrj/jLaTiKov in one book, and Uepl 

 prjTopLKrj^ in seven. The relationship between these works is as 

 follows : The Hypomnematicon is the precursor of the Uepl 

 prjTopiKrjs. It was intended for private circulation, to propound 

 to his own immediate associates at Rome his peculiar views on 

 rhetoric, at that time a subject of lively interest and active debate 

 in the Graeco-Roman world. These views were not original 

 with Philodemus ; he had derived them from his master, Zeno, 

 and their source may be still higher in the Epicurean school. 

 But Zeno was known to Roman audiences mainly through the 

 intermediary of Romans who like Cicero had attended his lec- 

 tures at Athens, and Philodemus may have found that his doc- 

 trines had the appearance of novelty at Rome. The pamphlet 

 circulated anonymously, though we must suppose that the author- 

 ship was an open secret, at least in Rome. By accident the book 

 fell into the hands of an Epicurean of Rhodes, who scented 



^^ Spengel published the fourth book in 1837. an admirable piece of work 

 considering the scanty nature of his materials. Gros published the 

 Rhetorica from the Oxford copies with Latin translation and commentary 

 in 1840. 



