Introduction
The following Fable, from the collection of first-century Roman poet Phaedrus, concerns Simonides (?556-468 BC), a Greek lyric poet remembered among the ancients for his miraculous escapes, his long career composing songs flattering the rich and celebrated, and his eager love of money.
THE MAN with a trade* has his treasures beside him always. Simonides, who composed such remarkable songs, embarked on a tour of the finest cities of Asia, singing the praises of competition winners for a fee,* as being an easier way to support himself in hard times. After he had made himself very well off in this fashion, he was ready to take ship for home (for he was, they say, born in the island of Kea). While he was on board, the ship went down, as the result of a terrific storm working on the vessel’s ageing timbers. Some passengers snatched up their moneybelts, others scrabbled about for the valuables that were the mainstay of their livelihoods. Curiosity drove one to ask: “Simonides, have you nothing you want to take with you?” “All that is mine” he replied “is here with me.” After that some swam for it, though a great many were drowned, weighed down by their baggage.
* In Latin ‘doctus’, which implies training. It is important for the story that we imagine a man with practical and saleable skills, a man with a trade: abstract learning did not impress Simonides unless it conferred independence. “Those who have need of the wealthy are many in number” mused Aristotle in his Rhetoric (II. xvi. 1391a) “Hence the answer of Simonides to the wife of Hiero concerning the wise and the rich, when she asked which was preferable, to be wise or to be rich. ‘Rich,’ he answered, ‘for we see the wise spending their time at the doors of the rich.’”
* Simonides pioneered the ‘victory ode’, a form of poetry celebrating winners of athletic competitions in the Panhellenic games. His services came at a price, but if the price was high enough he would prostitute his art quite cheerfully. “When the winner in a mule-race” recalled Aristotle, reflecting on the poet’s handling of rhetoric “offered Simonides a small sum, he refused to write an ode, as if he thought it beneath him to write on half-asses; but when he gave him a sufficient amount, he wrote:
‘Hail, daughters of storm-footed steeds!’
—
and yet they were also the daughters of asses.” The nature of a victory ode inevitably tended towards hyperbole, of course, but Simonides was often criticised for going too far. On one occasion, he sang that on current form Glaucus of Carystus, a famous boxer, would have knocked out Heracles.
Précis
Roman fabulist Phaedrus told how the ancient Greek songwriter Simonides, sailing home after a highly lucrative musical tour of Asia, had been caught in a storm and shipwrecked. While the other passengers loaded themselves with their treasures, Simonides leapt into the waters saying that he had all he needed, and was one of the few who made it ashore. (59 / 60 words)
Roman fabulist Phaedrus told how the ancient Greek songwriter Simonides, sailing home after a highly lucrative musical tour of Asia, had been caught in a storm and shipwrecked. While the other passengers loaded themselves with their treasures, Simonides leapt into the waters saying that he had all he needed, and was one of the few who made it ashore.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: despite, just, must, or, otherwise, ought, whereas, whether.
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