Notes on Marcus Antonius Polemo Declamations 1.15-17 and 2.21

Among the few preserved writings of the famous second-century C.E. sophist Marcus Antonius Polemo is a pair of declamations in which the fathers of two Athenians killed in the battle of Marathon compete for the right to deliver the state funeral oration over the dead. In Declamation 1, Euphorion, the father of Cynegirus, argues that he deserves to deliver the speech because his son died when the Persians whose ship he was trying to prevent from fleeing the battle cut off his hands. In Declamation 2, the unnamed father of the polemarch Callimachus argues that, in addition to considerations of his son's superior rank, he is entitled to deliver the speech because his son died after being shot by so many arrows that his corpse remained standing. Here, Gibson offers a new interpretation of the argument about rank and privilege in Declamation 1.15-17 which he argues has been misunderstood by previous translators and commentators. He also clarifies the argument intended to counter in Declamation 2.21