Poetic Allusion in Plato’s 'Timaeus' and 'Phaedrus'

Abstract

Plato’s deft and playful artistry in composing allusions can be seen in two very different dialogues, Timaeus and Phaedrus. In these works Plato alludes to poetry and signals his use of allusion: to Hesiod in Timaeus and to Sappho and Anacreon in Phaedrus. Stephen Hinds begins Allusion and Intertext by quoting Christopher Ricks’ perceptive insight on allusion: ‘it is characteristic of art to find energy and delight in an enacting of that which it is saying’. 1 Hinds’ important account of Roman poetry demonstrates how: ‘alluding poets exert themselves to draw attention to the fact that they are alluding, and to reflect upon the nature of their allusive activity.’ 2 Plato’s art shares this ‘energy and delight’ as it offers teasing disclosure of its allusive activities. In Timaeus the epic poetry of Hesiod’s Theogony becomes the model that Plato emulates in his own account of the creation of the universe. In Phaedrus the lyric poetry of Sappho and Anacreon provides important starting points for Plato’s exploration of madness and self-control in the soul of the lover. The texts point to this creative engagement with poetry by presenting two pertinent images for allusion: in Timaeus poetic tradition is imaged as genealogy, while in Phaedrus poetic influence is imaged as flowing streams. 3 In each case the image for allusive activity, positioned in the early parts of the dialogue, not only reflects the content of the poetic genres referenced but also gives notice of material to follow in the main body of the work. In the prologue of Timaeus the transmission of stories about origins is directly linked with family history and genealogy (21a-d). The emphasis on lineage recalls the content of Hesiod’s genealogy of the gods and anticipates the family line that will for Plato generate the birth of the universe. Similarly, in Phaedrus the streams of poetic influence early in the dialogue (235c) recall the flowing waters of eroticized meadows in lyric and anticipate the ‘stream of beauty’ that will in the later myth flow into the lover’s soul. In this way Plato’s echoes of his poetic predecessors become thematic within his own compositions.

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