Ménandre

Ménandre (fine of fourth century BC) is a comic author Greek, representing “new Comedy”.

Biography

Ménandre was born in a noble family, in the neighborhoods of 343, and dies towards 292 av. J. - C. It seems that he followed the teaching of the philosopher and erudite Théophraste, successor of Aristote to the Lycée and author of the Caractères that later the Heather imitated. He was also the friend of Épicure which he attended as of childhood. In contact with this eminent character, Ménandre probably acquired an acute psychological direction which enabled him to paint the characters of its parts with an ease and an accuracy which made its glory until the end of Antiquity.

Like Aristophane, it began its very young theatrical career. Its first part, Anger , would be gone back to 321 av. J. - C. It would have written approximately a hundred and eight comedies according to the Souda . The springs of these comedies are the money and the galantery. Based on complicated intrigues, they often turn to the joke. They are worth especially by the quality of the observation and the expressive flexibility of the language.

Pleasant man, cultivated, magnet to rub the rare gasoline body, looking after its maintenance and probably subscribing to the theories of his friend Épicure, it maintained the sometimes stormy relations with many mistresses, among whom Thai, Nannion and especially Glycéra which was perhaps courtesan and whose name was given to several of heroins of its parts. From a political point of view, it had mesh to leave with Démétrios I {{er}} Poliorcète when this one seized the power with Athens, after having reversed Démétrios de Phalère that Ménandre had had imprudence to support.

But it was not worried too much and it could live Athens, although Ptolémée of Egypt proposed to help it by granting the hospitality of its court to him.

Of alive sound, it seems that the art of Ménandre was not appreciated with its right measurement. The Athenians preferred Philémon rather to him and crowned only eight of its parts during the theatrical contests. Philosopher conscious of his own value, one reports that it reacts to the success of his rival by this question that it posed to him: “In all clear conscience, when you, you overcame me did not redden? ”

Redécouverte de Ménandre at the 20th century

At the end of the 19th century, Ménandre was known only by many more or less short and disparate quotations, by some anecdotes of doubtful authenticity and the extremely free Latin adaptations of the comic poet Terence. The 20th century was the century of Ménandre which became one of the florets of the literary Papyrologie. Indeed, the Papyri d' Oxyrhynque returned six complete or largely preserved comedies to us: the Dyscolos ( Δύσϰολος ) or the Man of moods , whose publication in 1958 started again the studies ménandréennes, the Arbitration ( Ἐπιτϱέποντες ), Samienne ( Ἡ Σαμία ), the Woman with the cut loop ( Ἡ πεϱιϰειϱομένη ), the Shield ( Ἡ ἀσπίς ) and Sicyoniens ( Οἱ Σιϰυώνιοι ). Less papyrological fragments belong to other lost comedies ( the Phantom , the Woman had by the divinity , etc). It is what was worth with the poet a very abundant bibliography throughout second half of the 20th century.

Quotations

One owes him in particular:

“Take advice of your pillow. ”
“He who sleeps forgets his hunger” in the form: “The sleep nourishes that which does not have what to eat. ”
“the most pleasant fruit and most useful for the world is the recognition. ”
“Better is worth to be keep silent than to speak anything to say. ”
“the repentance is an assessment which one makes on oneself. ”
“Of all the animals on ground and sea/which exist, the most malicious animal is the woman. ”

See too

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