“Let us suppose, hypothetically, that there is in our mind a chunk of wax, and that one person has a
larger and one person a smaller chunk, one person a clearer and one a less pure, in some cases a
harder chunk and in some a more moist, while some have a chunk of just the right consistency. Let us
say, further, that this is a present from Mnemosyne, the mother of the Muses, and that, whenever we
want to remember something that we have seen or heard or thought of on our own, we make an
impression in this wax, subjecting it to our thoughts and perceptions, in the same way we make an
imprint of our seal rings. We remember and have in our mind whatever is impressed in the wax, so
long as the impression remains, but we forget and are unaware of any impressions that do not take or
have been wiped away.” (Plato, Theaetetus 191c–d)This, then, is the context for which Theognis composed his elegies and in which he used the image of a
seal on his verses so that “no one will ever get away with stealing them.” The seal cannot actually prevent
others from appropriating Theognis’ work but, however he imagines the metaphorical seal to operate, it
can apparently ensure that any unauthorized appropriation will be detected. This is the same principle that
lies behind other methods of asserting ownership, like branding horses, mules, or cattle, a practice with
which the ancient Greeks were familiar. The Greeks also on occasion employed tattooing to mark
runaway slaves or prisoners of war. (“Tattoo” is a Polynesian word introduced into English by Captain
Cook in the eighteenth century; the Greek word for tattoo is stigma which, along with its plural stigmata,
has developed a somewhat different meaning in English.) All of these practices, the use of seals, brands,
and tattoos, are means used by property owners to assert their ownership and their authority over objects
and over animate creatures treated as objects. Generally, they operate within a small, closed, aristocratic
circle, and it is necessary for the owner to “recognize” his mark because the marks are usually arbitrary,
in the sense that there is no necessary connection between the form of the mark and the person of the
owner. Although someone might recognize an impression as that of a friend’s seal, the only way to prove
conclusively one’s ownership is in person, by producing the seal and demonstrating that it matches the
impression. For this reason, the seal can assume very great significance, virtually taking on the identity of
the individual to whom it belongs.
This is illustrated by an extraordinary story told by the historian Herodotus. The story is outright
invention, but it concerns a very real historical character, Polycrates of Samos. Polycrates lived in the
second half of the sixth century BC, about a century after Semonides, who was also a native of Samos.
According to Herodotus, Polycrates was phenomenally successful in everything he attempted – so
successful, in fact, that his good friend King Amasis of Egypt became concerned that the gods, out of
jealousy over Polycrates’ good fortune, might cause Polycrates to come to a bad end. So Amasis wrote
Polycrates a letter (sealed, no doubt, with the royal seal in the form of a scarab) advising him to thwart
the gods’ resentment by, in effect, making a sacrifice. Amasis recommended that Polycrates should choose
his most valuable possession, the one thing which it would be most painful for him to lose, and throw it
away. Recognizing the soundness of Amasis’ advice, Polycrates thought long and hard before choosing, as
his most valued possession, the seal that he regularly wore. Polycrates disposed of the seal, apparently
irrecoverably, by throwing it from a ship when he was in the middle of the sea. Some time later, however,
Polycrates was given a gift of a large fish which, when cut open, was found to have his seal in its
stomach. When Polycrates told his friend Amasis about this remarkable occurrence, Amasis immediately
severed all relations with him, convinced that the gods had indeed marked him out for disaster. (Amasis
was right: Polycrates was later killed by the Persians in a manner so horrible that Herodotus cannot bring
himself to describe it.)
The point of Herodotus’ story relies upon our understanding of the convention whereby the seal serves as