Apollonius and Maximus on the Order and Meaning of the Oblique Cases

SUMMARYApollonius Dyscolus' science of syntax examines the expression of meanings and is founded on the assumption that the system of meanings and expressions is well ordered. The order of the various expressions involving cases is based on the logic of what they express, and therefore the order of verbal predicates and of spatial relations must not be confused with the order of the case-forms in which they are expressed. Just such a confusion lies behind the passage in which Maximus Planudes is commonly thought to have originated a "localist" theory of case: a summary of the introduction to Apollonius' Syntax, in which the order of the cases received a passing mention, is embellished by Maximus with material adapted (by way of Heliodorus) from Apollonius' discussion of the order of spatial relations, each of which may be expressed by a certain case. Besides being unoriginal and misguided in its interpretation of Apollonius, the resulting exposition of Maximus is not even a "localist" theory of case-meaning, as has often been uncritically claimed.RÉSUMÉLa science de la syntaxe elaboree par Apollonius Dyscolus examine l'expression des significations et part de la presomption que le systeme des significations et expressions est bien ordonne. L'ordre des diverses expressions impliquant des cas se fonde sur la logique de ce qu'elles expriment; par consequent, l'ordre des predicats verbaux et des relations spatiales ne se confond pas necessairement avec l'ordre de formes casuelles ou s'expri-ment ces predicats et relations. C'est justement une telle confusion que re-vele le passage ou Maximus Planudes fonde, pense-t-on generalement, une theorie "localiste" du cas: a un resume de l'introduction a la Syntaxe d'Apollonius, ou l'ordre des cas est mentionne en passant, Maximus ajoute un "embellissement" en servant de materiaux qu'il adapte (par l'interme-diaire d'Heliodorus) a partir de la discussion d'Apollonius sur l'ordre des relations spatiales, chacune pouvant etre exprimee par un cas determine. Interpretation sans originalite, voire fourvoyante d'Apollonius, la presentation a laquelle aboutit Maximus n'est meme pas une theorie "localiste" de la signification des cas, au contraire de ce qu'on a souvent affirme sans exa-men critique.