Marrying Stoicism with Platonism? Pseudo-Plutarch's Use of the Circe Episode

Abstract

Abstract:The present paper discusses the account of Circe that was put forward by an unknown author in the treatise De Homero. When analyzing how the enchantress transmogrifies from an allegory of pleasure into an allegory of metempsychosis, this article shows that Pseudo-Plutarch utilizes various Pythagorean, Platonic and Stoic views, as he moves from a Platonizing account of the story (Odysseus personifies renunciation of the flesh, Circe symbolizes reincarnation) to a Stoicizing one (the hero represents the self-sufficiency of virtue, the sorceress stands for pleasure). The study argues that Pseudo-Plutarch's goal is more rhetorical than philosophical and that his approach is better characterized as "encomiastic" rather than "syncretic" or "eclectic."