Herennius Pontius: the Construction of a Samnite Philosopher.

Horky, Phillip Sidney

Abstract

This article explores the historiographical traditions concerning Herennius Pontius, a Samnite wisdom-practitioner who is said by the Peripatetic Aristoxenus of Tarentum to have been an interlocutor of the philosophers Archytas of Tarentum and Plato of Athens. It argues that extant speeches attributed to Herennius Pontius in the writings of Cassius Dio and Appian preserve a philosophy of “extreme proportional benefaction” among unequals. Such a theory is marked by Peripatetic language and concepts, which suggests that these speeches derive from a single Peripatetic source, probably Aristoxenus. The reception of Aristoxenus' description of Herennius Pontius among Greeks and Romans is sharply divided. Greek theories of ethics among unequals such as those of Aristotle and Archytas, which aim for moderation, can be distinguished from that attributed to Herennius Pontius, which is circumstantial and stipulates extreme responses to extremes. Romans, in particular Appius Claudius Caecus and Sulla, espouse proverbial wisdom strikingly similar to the theory of “extreme proportional benefaction” associated with Herennius Pontius. Such comparisons suggest that starting in the late fourth century bce, Romans and Samnites may have held shared ideological principles, as defined against Greek cultural paradigms. Scholars are thus prompted to consider Herennius Pontius as a starting point for a much larger inquiry into shared ideology among non-Greeks in Italy during the Hellenistic period and beyond.

Citation

Horky, P. S. (2011). Herennius Pontius: the Construction of a Samnite Philosopher. Classical Antiquity, 30(1), 119-147. https://doi.org/10.1525/ca.2011.30.1.119

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2011-04
• Deposit Date: Feb 11, 2011
• Journal: Classical Antiquity
• Print ISSN: 0278-6656
• Electronic ISSN: 1067-8344
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 119-147
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/ca.2011.30.1.119