The magic of ancient literature
Thus language has such power that it is like a tyrant, or even a God, and therefore holds great sway over mankind. Similarly, in Plato’s Gorgias 452e, he presents Gorgias arguing that through the power of language, one can persuade ‘ τὰ πλήθη’ - the masses and everyone becomes your ‘δοῦλον’ (slave). Furthermore, in paragraph 14, Gorgias compares the power of logos with the effect of ‘ τῶν φαρμάκων’ – drugs. The use of ‘τῶν φαρμάκων’ is noteworthy for its ambiguity in meaning since it can also be an enchanted potion, charm or spell. Gorgias also describes how language, like a drug, can:
φόβον παῦσαι καὶ λύπην ἀφελεῖν καὶ χαρὰν ἐνεργάσασθαι .
Stop fear, take away pain and create joy.
This is similar to Pindar’s description in the Nemean Odes 8 of the anaesthetic power of language:
ἐπαοιδαῖς δ᾽ ἀνὴρ νώδυνον καί τις κάματον θῆκεν
With sung words, a man can even make any toil painless.
The word ‘ἐπαοιδαῖς‘ can mean not only ‘sung words’, but also often ‘spells’ or ‘incantations’, once again showing the link between language and magic.
In order the better to understand the connection between ancient literature and its language, one must consider that ancient literature was written to be heard. Poems, plays, and speeches were composed to be read aloud. Many ancient writers further explored the magical power of literature through how it affected the audience’s emotions when read aloud. In this way, the magic of the language already shown by the sources, also applies to the magic of their literature. This explains how the two concepts, language and literature, are fundamentally inseparable. Plato, in The Republic 10.605c-d, describes the power of the language of literature when the epic poems of Homer were recited by wandering bards to enraptured crowds. Plato describes how the audience can at one moment be ‘συμπάσχοντες’- suffering, but then ‘χαίρομέν’ – rejoice. The sharp contrast of grief and joy, moments after each other, vividly conveys the power of language and its ability to control the audience’s emotions. The listeners are at the mercy of the language. Similarly, plays were written to be read aloud, in front of an audience in the theatre. An example of the power of plays, and hence the power of language as spoken literature, is ‘ The Fall of Miletus ’ by Phrynicus. When the play was performed in Athens too soon after the Persian conquest of Miletus, according to Herodotus The Histories 6.21:
ἐς δάκρυά τε ἔπεσε τὸ θέητρον .
The theatre fell into weeping.
Phrynicus was fined and it was forbidden for the play ever to be performed again. The power of the literature, conveyed through the language, was too strong, and the content struck too close to home, for the Athenians to bear. The new genre of literary oratory, created by the Ancient Greeks in the fifth century, also emphasizes how closely related the magic of language was to the magic of ancient literature. Literary oratory created the new profession of speechwriters, and Plato, in Euthydemus 289 (e) draws the link
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