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Phaedrus The Fabulous

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2010

Edward Champlin
Affiliation:
Princeton University, champlin@princeton.edu

Extract

Phaedrus, far from being a Greek freedman striving to inscribe himself among the élite of Latin letters, was a Roman aristocrat masquerading as a man of the people to say in fable what could not safely be otherwise said. Modern biographical constructions are mostly fantasy. In coded terms the poet playfully reveals his gentle birth in Rome itself; he parades a mastery of the two most Roman contributions to literature, (Horatian) satire and jurisprudence; and he proclaims his belief in life's unfairness and in resignation to it, his contempt for both monarchs and mobs, and his admiration for the wise individual.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Edward Champlin 2005. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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