DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0014
862
Appendix A
the scales on the edge of a razor and depressing one pan with his finger1. The
would-be archaic wings, floating tresses, muscular body, and barocco pose all
point to Pergamene influence.
Equipoise on the razor was a trait naturally suggested by the old Greek
proverb ' it stands on the razor's edge2.' An engraved corne-
lian of imperial date in the Berlin collection figures Kairos
himself, scales in hand, treading gingerly along the narrow
loom of a steersman's paddle (fig. 800)3. And Phaedrus must
have seen similar representations in which the light-footed
god even trod the razor's edge—cursu volucri, pendens in
novacula^,—unless indeed we venture with G. Thiele5 to
translate the last phrase '■weighing on the razor's edge,' in
which case Phaedrus and the Turin relief would be in exact
rig. 800.
agreement.
The recognition of Kairos on Italian soil was attended by a certain gram-
matical awkwardness. Phaedrus describes the god in words of the masculine
gender0, but names him Tempus in the neuter7, and says that he signifies
occasionem rerum...brevem8. Occasio, as the Latin equivalent of Kairos, was in
fact the name current during the third9 and fourth10 centuries of our era; and,
being a feminine term, it entailed a change of sex. Ausonius in one of his
epigrams11 professes to expound a group of Kairos and Metanoia carved by
in his Denkm. ii. 771 f. fig. 823 ('aus spat-romischer Zeit, aber unzweifelhaft echt'),
B. Sauer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 900 fig., F. Durrbach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant.
iii. 787 fig. 4251 (' la reproduction d'un original grec'), Reinach Re~p. Reliefs iii. 423 no. 3.
Italian marble. Height o'6om ; breadth o'65m.
For an exact replica on sale at Florence see Friederichs—Wolters op. cit. p. 751 f. no.
1898 n. ; and for a fragmentary relief of the same type at Athens, E. Curtius loc. cit. 1875
xxxiii. 6 pi. 2, 4, L. von Sybel Katalog der Sculptural zu Athen Marburg 1881 p. 375 no.
5987, Friederichs—Wolters op. cit. p. 751 f. no. 1898.
1 Cp. Himer. eel. 14. 1 woiei (sc. 6 AuaLTnros) waloa. to elSos afipov, tt\v aKfxriv e<j)f](3ov,
nopuvTo. pkv to e/c KpoTa<pwi> eis pATtoirov, -yvfivbv de to oaov eneWev (til to. vQsto. p-epi^eraL-
aiSrjpip tt\v de^cav ibir\io~p.evov, £vy(p tt]v Xaiav eirix0VTa} WTepurbv rd o~<pvp&, ovx ws /xerdp-
olov virep yr)s avu k.ov<pl'gto~da.l, d\\' iVa hoK&v eTri^paveiv tt}s yrjs \avddvrj kXetttuu to p.7]
/card 777s eTrepeideadai.
2 First in //. 10. 173 enl £vpov 'LaTaTai d/c/x?}s. See further Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling.
v. 1692 B—o.
3 Furtwangler Geschnitt. Steine Berlin p. 273 no. 7358 pi. 55, E. Curtius in the Arch.
Zeit. 1875 xxxiii. 4 pi. 2, 2 ( = my fig. 800).
4 Phaedr. 5. 8. 1.
0 G. Thiele ' Phaedrus-Studien' in Hermes 1906 xli. 5776°. Dr J. P. Postgate in a
letter to me (Aug. 30, 1917) says: 'The absolute use of pendere is certainly possible
though at first strange, and this perhaps has led to the belief that the participle comes
from pendere. The expression of the thought is compressed in other respects; and Havet
reads Cursor uolucri pendens in nouacula, Caluus comosa fronte, nudo ocerpitio for cursz^.'
Dr Postgate adds that in//. 10. 173 urraTcu ' should I suppose be understood of " weighing,"
a common meaning of 'loT7}fu, though the commentators do not say so.'
c Phaedr. 5. 8. 2 f. 7 Id. 5. 8 tilulus, 5. 8. 7. 8 Id. 5. 8. 5.
!' Cato disticha 2. 26. 2 fronte capillata, post est Occasio calva.
10 Paulin. Nolan, epist. 16. 4 (lxi. 130 B Migne) unde et Spes et Nemesis et Amor
atque etiam Furor in simulacris coluntur, et occipiti calvo sacratur Occasio, et tua ista
Fortuna lubrico male nixa globo fingitur (figuratur codd. F.P.U.). nec minore mendacio
Fata simulantur vitas hominum nere de calathis aut trutinare de lancibus.
11 Aus. epigr. 33 Peiper.
Appendix A
the scales on the edge of a razor and depressing one pan with his finger1. The
would-be archaic wings, floating tresses, muscular body, and barocco pose all
point to Pergamene influence.
Equipoise on the razor was a trait naturally suggested by the old Greek
proverb ' it stands on the razor's edge2.' An engraved corne-
lian of imperial date in the Berlin collection figures Kairos
himself, scales in hand, treading gingerly along the narrow
loom of a steersman's paddle (fig. 800)3. And Phaedrus must
have seen similar representations in which the light-footed
god even trod the razor's edge—cursu volucri, pendens in
novacula^,—unless indeed we venture with G. Thiele5 to
translate the last phrase '■weighing on the razor's edge,' in
which case Phaedrus and the Turin relief would be in exact
rig. 800.
agreement.
The recognition of Kairos on Italian soil was attended by a certain gram-
matical awkwardness. Phaedrus describes the god in words of the masculine
gender0, but names him Tempus in the neuter7, and says that he signifies
occasionem rerum...brevem8. Occasio, as the Latin equivalent of Kairos, was in
fact the name current during the third9 and fourth10 centuries of our era; and,
being a feminine term, it entailed a change of sex. Ausonius in one of his
epigrams11 professes to expound a group of Kairos and Metanoia carved by
in his Denkm. ii. 771 f. fig. 823 ('aus spat-romischer Zeit, aber unzweifelhaft echt'),
B. Sauer in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 900 fig., F. Durrbach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant.
iii. 787 fig. 4251 (' la reproduction d'un original grec'), Reinach Re~p. Reliefs iii. 423 no. 3.
Italian marble. Height o'6om ; breadth o'65m.
For an exact replica on sale at Florence see Friederichs—Wolters op. cit. p. 751 f. no.
1898 n. ; and for a fragmentary relief of the same type at Athens, E. Curtius loc. cit. 1875
xxxiii. 6 pi. 2, 4, L. von Sybel Katalog der Sculptural zu Athen Marburg 1881 p. 375 no.
5987, Friederichs—Wolters op. cit. p. 751 f. no. 1898.
1 Cp. Himer. eel. 14. 1 woiei (sc. 6 AuaLTnros) waloa. to elSos afipov, tt\v aKfxriv e<j)f](3ov,
nopuvTo. pkv to e/c KpoTa<pwi> eis pATtoirov, -yvfivbv de to oaov eneWev (til to. vQsto. p-epi^eraL-
aiSrjpip tt\v de^cav ibir\io~p.evov, £vy(p tt]v Xaiav eirix0VTa} WTepurbv rd o~<pvp&, ovx ws /xerdp-
olov virep yr)s avu k.ov<pl'gto~da.l, d\\' iVa hoK&v eTri^paveiv tt}s yrjs \avddvrj kXetttuu to p.7]
/card 777s eTrepeideadai.
2 First in //. 10. 173 enl £vpov 'LaTaTai d/c/x?}s. See further Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling.
v. 1692 B—o.
3 Furtwangler Geschnitt. Steine Berlin p. 273 no. 7358 pi. 55, E. Curtius in the Arch.
Zeit. 1875 xxxiii. 4 pi. 2, 2 ( = my fig. 800).
4 Phaedr. 5. 8. 1.
0 G. Thiele ' Phaedrus-Studien' in Hermes 1906 xli. 5776°. Dr J. P. Postgate in a
letter to me (Aug. 30, 1917) says: 'The absolute use of pendere is certainly possible
though at first strange, and this perhaps has led to the belief that the participle comes
from pendere. The expression of the thought is compressed in other respects; and Havet
reads Cursor uolucri pendens in nouacula, Caluus comosa fronte, nudo ocerpitio for cursz^.'
Dr Postgate adds that in//. 10. 173 urraTcu ' should I suppose be understood of " weighing,"
a common meaning of 'loT7}fu, though the commentators do not say so.'
c Phaedr. 5. 8. 2 f. 7 Id. 5. 8 tilulus, 5. 8. 7. 8 Id. 5. 8. 5.
!' Cato disticha 2. 26. 2 fronte capillata, post est Occasio calva.
10 Paulin. Nolan, epist. 16. 4 (lxi. 130 B Migne) unde et Spes et Nemesis et Amor
atque etiam Furor in simulacris coluntur, et occipiti calvo sacratur Occasio, et tua ista
Fortuna lubrico male nixa globo fingitur (figuratur codd. F.P.U.). nec minore mendacio
Fata simulantur vitas hominum nere de calathis aut trutinare de lancibus.
11 Aus. epigr. 33 Peiper.