Editing Ibycus (section)

==Poetry==
Ibycus' role in the development of Greek lyric poetry was as a mediator between eastern and western styles: 
{{quotation|[[Sappho]] and [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]] wrote while [[Stesichorus]] was developing the different art of the choral ode in the West. They owed nothing to him, and he owed nothing to them. But soon afterwards the art of the West was brought to [[Ionia]], and the fusion of the two styles marked a new stage in Greek poetry. For Stesichorus left a disciple, who began by writing in the master's manner and then turned to other purposes and made his poetry the vehicle for his own private, or public, emotions. — [[Cecil Maurice Bowra]]<ref name="C.M.Bowra, 1961, page 241">C.M.Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides'', Oxford University Press (1961, reprint 2000), page 241</ref>}}
Although scholars like Bowra have concluded that his style must have changed with his setting, such a neat distinction is actually hard to prove from the existing verses, which are an intricate blend of
the public, "choral" style of Stesichorus, and the private, "soloist" style of the Lesbian poets.<ref>[[Gregory Hutchinson (academic)|G. O. Hutchinson]], ''Greek Lyric Poetry: a commentary on selected larger pieces'', Oxford University Press (2001), page 234</ref><ref name="D.A.Campbell, 1991 page 7">D.A.Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 7</ref> It is not certain that he ever in fact composed monody (lyrics for solo performance), but the emotional and erotic quality of his verse, and the fact that his colleague in Samos was Anacreon, who did compose monody, suggest that Ibycus did too.<ref>D.A.Campbell, "Monody", in P.Easterling and B.Knox (ed.s), ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), page 214</ref> On the other hand, some modern scholars believe that 'choral' lyrics were actually performed by soloists and therefore maybe all Ibycus' work was monody.<ref>Gregory Nagy, ''Greek Literature Vol.7: Greek Literature in the Hellenistic Period'', Routledge (2001), page 287</ref> He modelled his work on the "choral" lyrics of Stesichorus at least in so far as he wrote narratives on mythical themes (often with original variations from the traditional stories) and structured his verses in triads (units of three stanzas each, called "strophe", "antistrophe" and "epode"), so closely in fact that even the ancients sometimes had difficulty distinguishing between the two poets<ref>D.A.Cambell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 305</ref><ref group="nb">Cambell elsewhere (''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb, page 63) cites this comment by Athenaeus (4.172de): "but Stesichorus or Ibycus had previously said in a poem entitled ''Funeral Games''&nbsp;..."</ref> Whereas however ancient scholars collected the work of Stesichorus into twenty-six books, each probably a self-contained narrative that gave its title to the whole book,<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 254</ref> they compiled only seven books for Ibycus, which were numbered rather than titled and whose selection criteria are unknown.<ref name="D.A.Campbell, 1991 page 7"/> Recent papyrus finds suggest also that Ibycus might have been the first to compose 'choral' [[Epinikion|victory odes]] (an innovation usually credited to [[Simonides]]).<ref>D.A.Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), pages 8–9</ref><ref group="nb">Cambell cites P.Oxy.2637 and  finds also a [[pindar]]ic/epinikion tone in a quote from [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] (''comment. in Ptolem. harmon.'' iv):"with the gluttonous mouth of Strife will one day arm for battle against me."; translated by Cambell, Loeb III, page 271</ref>

Until the 1920s, all that survived of Ibycus' work were two large-ish fragments (one seven, the other thirteen lines long) and about fifty other lines scraped together from a variety of ancient commentaries. Since then, papyrus finds have greatly added to the store of Ibycean verses – notably, and controversially, forty-eight continuous lines addressed to Polycrates, whose identification with Polycrates of Rhodes (son of Polycrates, the Samian tyrant) requires a careful selection of historical sources.<ref>John P. Barron, 'Ibycus:Gorgias and other poems', ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' Vol.31 Issue 1 (Dec. 1984), pages 13–24, [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2041-5370.1984.tb00526.x/abstract online here]</ref> Authorship of the poem is attributed to Ibycus on textual and historical grounds but its quality as verse is open to debate: "insipid", "inept and slovenly"<ref>David A. Campbell,  ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), pages 306–7</ref> or, more gently, "not an unqualified success"<ref name="C.M.Bowra, 1961, page 241"/> and optimally "the work of a poet realizing a new vision, with a great command of epic material which he could manipulate for encomiastic effect."<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, citing opinions of Barron (1969) and Sisti (1967), ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', Brill (1997), page 191</ref>  In the poem, Ibycos parades the names and characteristics of heroes familiar from Homer's Trojan epic, as types of people the poem is '''not''' about, until he reaches the final stanza, where he reveals that his real subject is Polycrates, whom he says he will immortalize in verse. This "puzzling" poem has been considered historically significant by some scholars as a signal from Ibycus that he is now turning his back on epic themes to concentrate on love poetry instead: a new vision or ''recusatio''.<ref>D.A.Campbell, 'Monody', P.Easterling and B.Knox (ed.s), ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), page 216</ref>    

He composed like Stesichorus in a literary language, largely [[Epic Greek|Epic]] with some [[Doric Greek|Doric]] flavouring, and with a few [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolisms]] that he borrowed from the love poetry of Sappho and Alcaeus.<ref>David A. Campbell,  ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), pages 307</ref> It is possible however that the Doric dialect was added by editors in Hellenistic and Roman times, when the poet's home town, Rhegium, had become more Doric than it had been in the poet's own time.<ref>Giuseppe Ucciardello, 'Sulla tradizione del testo di Ibico' in 'Lirica e Teatro in Grecia: Il Testo e la sua ricezione—Atti del 11 incontro di Studi, Perugia, 23–24 gennaio 2003', ''Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane'' (2005), pages 21–88. See English summary online in [http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2006/2006-08-56.html Bryn Mawr Classical Review]</ref> In addition to this "superficial element of Doric dialect", the style of Ibycus features mainly dactylic rhythms (reflecting the Epic traditions he shared with Stesichorus), a love theme and accumulated epithets.<ref>C.M.Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides'', Oxford University Press (1961, reprint 2000), page 250</ref> His use of imagery can seem chaotic but it is justified as an artistic effect.<ref>Malcolm Davies, 'Symbolism and Imagery in the Poetry of Ibycus', ''Hermes'' Vol.114, No.4 (4th Qtr 1986), pages 399–405,  [https://www.jstor.org/pss/4476524 online here]</ref> His style has been described by one modern scholar as "graceful and passionate."<ref>Smyth, Herbert Weir, ''Greek Melic Poets'' Biblo and Tannen, 1963, page 271</ref> The ancients sometimes considered his work with distaste as a lecherous and corrupting influence<ref group="nb">D.A.Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb (1991) page 8: "His love poetry was what later generations particularly remembered, sometimes with distaste", citing as proof [[Philodemus]] and [[Cicero]], translated on page 217:
#Philodemus ''On Music'', here commenting on the arguments of the Stoic [[Diogenes of Sinope|Diogenes]]: "And he did not show that Ibycus, Anacreon and the like corrupted young men by their melodies but rather by their ideas."
#Cicero''Tusc.'' 4.33: "Finally, what revelations do the greatest scholars and finest poets make about themselves in their poems and songs? Alcaeus was recognised as a valiant hero in his city, but look at what he writes about love for youths! Anacreon's poetry of course is all erotic. More than any of them Ibycus of Rhegium was ablaze with love, as his writings demonstrate. And we see that the love of all these is lustful."</ref> but they also responded sympathetically to the pathos he sought to evoke—his account of [[Menelaus]]'s failure to kill [[Helen of Troy]], under the spell of her beauty, was valued by ancient critics above [[Euripides]]'s account of the same story in his play [[Andromache (play)|Andromache]].<ref>C.M.Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides'', Oxford University Press (1961, reprint 2000), page 244</ref>

=== Example ===
The following lines, dedicated to a lover, Euryalus, were recorded by [[Athenaeus]] as a famous example of amorous praise:
:::{{lang|grc|Εὐρύαλε Γλαυκέων Χαρίτων θάλος, <Ὡρᾶν>}}
:::{{lang|grc|καλλικόμων μελέδημα, σὲ μὲν Κύπρις}}
:::{{lang|grc|ἅ τ' ἀγανοβλέφαρος Πει-}}
:::{{lang|grc|θὼ ῥοδέοισιν ἐν θρέψαν.}}

The rich language of these lines, in particular the accumulation of epithets, typical of Ibycus, is shown in the following translation: 
:::Euryalus, offshoot of the blue-eyed [[Graces]], darling of the lovely-haired [[Horae|Seasons]], the [[Aphrodite|Cyprian]] and soft-lidded [[Peitho|Persuasion]] nursed you among rose-blossoms.<ref>Fragment 288, cited and translated by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 256-7</ref>
This mythological account of his lover recalls [[Hesiod]]'s account of [[Pandora]],<ref>''Op.'' lines 73–100, especially: 

: {{lang|grc|ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ Χάριτές τε θεαὶ καὶ πότνια Πειθὼ}}
: {{lang|grc|ὅρμους χρυσείους ἔθεσαν χροΐ, ἀμφὶ δὲ τήν γε}}
: {{lang|grc|Ὧραι καλλίκομοι στέφον ἄνθεσιν εἰαρινοῖσιν·}}</ref> who was decked out by the same goddesses (the Graces, the Seasons and Persuasion) so as to be a bane to mankind—an allusion consistent with Ibycus's view of love as unavoidable turmoil.<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', Brill (1997), page 196</ref>

===Fragment 286===
The following poem was quoted by the ancient scholar Athenaeus in his wide-ranging discourses [[Deipnosophistae|''Scholars at Dinner'']] and it demonstrates some of the characteristics of Ibycean verse:
:::In spring the [[Kydonia]]n
:::apple trees, watered by flowing
:::streams there where the [[Nymphs|Maidens]]
:::have their unravished garden, and vine buds,
:::growing under the shadowy branches
:::of the vines, bloom and flourish. For me, however, love
:::is at rest in no season
:::but like the [[Thrace|Thracian]] [[Etesian|north wind]],
:::ablaze with lightning,
:::rushing from [[Aphrodite]] with scorching
:::fits of madness, dark and unrestrained,
:::it forcibly convulses from their very roots
:::my mind and heart.<ref>Andrew M.Miller (translator), ''Greek Lyric: an anthology in translation'', Hackett Publishing Company Inc. (1996), page 97</ref>
The poem establishes a contrast between the tranquility of nature and the ever restless impulses to which the poet's desires subject him, while the images and epithets accumulate almost chaotically, communicating a sense of his inner turmoil. In the original Greek, initial tranquility is communicated by repeated vowel sounds in the first six lines.<ref>D.A.Campbell, 'Monody', P.Easterling and B.Knox (ed.s), ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), page 215</ref> His love of nature and his ability to describe it in lively images are reminiscent of Sappho's work.<ref>C.M.Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides'', Oxford University Press (1961, reprint 2000), page 265</ref>