Relaciones entre el sabio (Anaxágoras) y el olítico (Pericles): echarle aceite a la lámpara: ¿Una anécdota ad maiorem gloriam Periclis?

Abstract

In chapter 16 of the Life of Pericles Plutarch, to dispraise that the Athenian politician was disengaged from his friend due to his numerous obligations of government, tells us an anecdote that we only know from him. Certainly it is framed in the opposition between the βίος πρακτικός represented on this occasion by Pericles and the βίος θεωρητικός, own of the wise; but it has given also rise to diverse interpretations for or against the human or the political Pericles. The anecdote allows us (in addition to understanding that it is in accordance with Plutarch’s thought and that probably has had an interested role concerning the relations with his influential friends in the Roman administration) to review again the relationship between the sage and the politician in this Life. In my study I underline the literary interest of Plutarch concerning the friendship between Pericles and Anaxagoras, as well as I offer a brief commentary on the influence, enough limited, that the anecdote had in the European literary tradition.