At the end of Robert Graves’s historical novel Claudius the God<\/i>, emperor Claudius visits Vitellius, a dying courtier. Claudius ask the man why someone so virtuous as he had not supported the Republican cause during Claudius’s reign. Vitellius’s last words are “Phaemon’s dog was right.”<\/p>\n
Claudius explains:<\/p>\n
“It appears that Phaemon the philosopher had a little dog whom he had trained to go to the butcher every day and bring back a lump of meat in a basket. This virtuous creature, who would never dare to touch a scrap until Phaemon gave it permission, was one day set upon by a pack of mongrels who snatched the basket from its mouth and began to tear the meat to pieces and bolt it greedily down. Phaemon, watching from an upper window, saw the dog deliberate for a moment just what to do. It was clearly no use trying to rescue the meat from the other dogs: they would kill it for its pains. So it rushed in among them and itself ate as much of the meat as it could get hold of. In fact it ate more than any of the other dogs, because it was both braver and cleverer.”<\/p>\n
Phaemon’s dog certainly seems right; and if this is the case we have ourselves a brilliant apologia for collaboration in unjust regimes. Or is the dog’s option of scoring a moral victory by not participating in the eating of the spoils downplayed? Or is it his duty to be killed defending a just cause (his master’s meat) even if there is no chance of succeeding?<\/p>\n
But who is Phaemon? I cannot find a reference to him anywhere, which is unusual for Graves, whose novels are usually colored by real historical figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the end of Robert Graves’s historical novel Claudius the God, emperor Claudius visits Vitellius, a dying courtier. Claudius ask the man why someone so virtuous as he had not supported the Republican cause during Claudius’s reign. Vitellius’s last words … Continue reading