Simonides fees and gifts

Use in the book

Socrates says Hipparchus kept Simonides always about him by persuading him with large fees and gifts. Unlike the enforced ordering of the rhapsodes, this relationship is described through persuasion; unlike the voyage for Anacreon, it concerns continuing proximity. The patron uses material inducements to maintain a poet’s presence.

Money consequently appears inside the central cultural narrative without being immediately condemned as base gain. The story occurs in an argument about whether the desire for gain singles out discreditable people. Simonides’ receipt of large rewards is part of the evidence for Hipparchus’ wisdom and generosity, not an explicit accusation that the poet is unscrupulous. The text does not call him a lover of gain here. Reading that label into the sentence would anticipate a connection the reader may consider but Socrates does not expressly make.

The pairing of fees and gifts prevents an overly simple opposition between commerce and benefaction. A ruler can support poetry through payment and through generosity, while the poet may be moved by both. Nothing in the account specifies contractual terms, a rate per poem or the value of the gifts. The real argumentative point is that material advantage and cultural production coexist in a narrative offered as ethical praise.

The action is then included in the wish to educate citizens. Whether the direct beneficiary is Simonides, Hipparchus or the wider city depends on which relation one considers. That distribution illustrates why counting what a person receives does not by itself determine the whole value of an exchange. The dialogue, however, does not conduct a calculation of these benefits or claim to prove patronage just by its educational aim.

Aelian’s later retelling adds an emphatic characterization of Simonides as fond of money. That belongs to the reception of the passage and should not be silently substituted for the more restrained statement in the supplied Greek.

Places to read

1. 228cΣιμωνίδην δὲ τὸν Κεῖον — The second living poet is identified as Simonides of Ceos.
2. 228cἀεὶ περὶ αὑτὸν εἶχεν — Hipparchus maintains his continuing company.
3. 228cμεγάλοις μισθοῖς καὶ δώροις πείθων — Fees and gifts are explicitly means of persuasion.

Translation in this edition

The edition’s “fees and gifts” keeps the two categories distinct, and “persuading” preserves the verbal link with obedience and conviction elsewhere. It does not translate the payments as “bribes,” a word that would prejudge their moral status and obscure the flattering purpose of Socrates’ narrative.