Arae: The Curse Poetry of Antiquity 0905205758, 9780905205755

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ARAE: THE CURSE POETRY OF ANTIQUITY

ARCA Cla~ical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs

26

Publication of this volume was aided by a subvention from the University of Sydney

General Editors: Francis Cairns, Robin Seager, Frederick Williams Assistant Editors: Neil Adkin, Sandra Cairns ISSN 0309-5541

ARAE THE CURSE POETRY OF ANTIQUITY

LINDSAY WATSON

X

FRANCIS CAIRNS

Published by Francis Cairns (Publications) Ltd c/o The University, Leeds, LS2 9JT, Great Britain

First published 1991 Copyright c, Lindsay C. Watson 1991 All rights reserved. No pan of this publication may be repr duced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Publisher.

BritishLlbnry Catalopiq-lD-PllblicatloaData A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN ~905205- 75-8

Printed in Great Britain by Redwood Press Ltd, Melksham, Wiltshire

CONTENTS Preface

1. On Curses in General l. 'Curse': Fluchzustand and Imprecation 2 Prayer and Cursing 3 The Execution of Curses 4 Sub-categories of Curses a) Revenge curses b) Provisional curses c) Selbstverwiinschung d) Unprovoked curses 5 The Antiquity of Curses 6 Curses in Greek and Roman Life 7 Belief in the Ineluctability of Curses 8 Circumstances which render a Curse more likely of Fulfilment 9 Curses fulfilled posthumously 10 Standardisation of Themes and Phraseology in Curses 11 Justice 12 Lex Talionis 13 Curses and Abuse 14 Curses, the Gods, Religion, and Magic

2. Greek and Roman Curse-Poetry I GREEK CURSE-POETRY OF THE ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL PERIODS I The Strasbourg Epode and its Authorship 2 From Homer to the Tragedians a) Alcaeus frg. 129 L.-P. b) Theognis c) 'The Oven' d) Tragic Curses II HELLENISTIC CURSE-POETRY I Mythological Counterparts 2 Paradigmatic Exempla 3 Justice 4 The Catalogue-Form and the Pursuit of Brevity 5 Patterns of Destruction 6 Obscurity and Function 7 The General Section and the Prologue of Ovid's Ibis 8 Abuse in Curse-Poetry a) The TIPl; and Alexandrian Literary Quarrels b) Targets of other Curse-Poems 9 Disproportion and Comic Incongruity 10 Humour in Curse-Poems a) Greek b) Roman

vii

1 I 3 4 6 6 7 9 11 12 18 22 25 27 30 38 42 46 48

54 56 56 62 63 66 69 74 79 82 88 90 96 I00 103 113 116 121 130 133 139 139 145

III SOME VERSIFIED CURSE-TEXTS OF THE REPUBLICAN AND AUGUSTAN PERIODS I The Relationship of Latin Curse-Poems to the Hellenistic 'Apai 2 Three Case-Studies a) An Ennian Curse b) Tibullus 1.5.49-58 c) Seneca Phaedra 1201-43 IV CONCLUSION

150 152 159 159 160 163 165

3. The Hellenistic apai in their Literary Context 167 1 2 3 4 5 6

Obscurity and Leaming Intractable Material Looseness of Construction Horror Discretion Playfulness

168 175 177 179 187 191

4. The Hellenistic apai and the Defixiones

194

Appendix 1 On Euphorion frg. 9 P. Appendix 2 A Medieval Curse-Poem Appendix 3 Hellenistic Curse Poetry: The Texts Abbreviations Select Bibliography Index Locorum Index of Scholars cited Index of Curse Themes General Index Addendum

217 219 223 231 233 237 250 254 255 260

PREFACE The present work began life as a study of Hellenistic curse-poems, a by-product of the Commentary which I am preparing on the Epodes of Horace. As work progressed, it became clear that these texts could not legitimately be studied in isolation from mainstream Greek and Roman curse-practice, and chapters 1 and 4, on curses in general, and on the dejixiones,were added in consequence. But the Hellenistic poems remain the central concern of my work, and it is here, perhaps, that this monograph will prove most useful. The completed text of Arae was submitted in August 1988.Some attention has been paid to scholarship which has appeared since that date, but, partly as a result of severe financial pressures on the Australian university system, it has not been possible to do this in a systematic or comprehensive way. Two works with a particular bearing on the subject-matter of Arae have however appeared within the last few months, and they are discussed briefly in the Addendum at p. 260. It is a pleasure to acknowledge obligations incurred in the composition of this book. Thanks are due to: Francis Cairns, for going over the whole of an earlier version with me, and suggesting numerous improvements and clarifications, and for providing valuable bibliographical assistance; Robin Nisbet, for reading an early draft and noting at least one important omission, and even more for much generous assistance and helpful criticism over the years; Jim O'Neil, for providing detailed information on the subject of free speech under the early Hellenistic monarchies; George Rigg, for responding with alacrity to a query about the mediaeval poem discussed in Appendix 2; the University of Sydney, for a grant towards the publication costs of this book, and for the award ofleave which allowed access to the resources of the Oxford libraries; my wife Pat, who assisted at every stage in the writing of the book, and most generously gave up some of her own research time to forward the compl.etion of Arae; my mother-in-law Joan Whatley, for typing successive versions, and for the ready willingness with which she embraced the te"a incognito of computers. It is conventional in dedications to thank X or Y for reducing to typed form a nearly illegible manuscript, but the description in the present case happens to be literally true. I am grateful to Oxford University Press for permission to

viii

PREFACE

reproduce the following passages: in Appendix 3, Euphorion frgs. 8 and 9 from J.U. Powell CollectaneaAlexandrina(1925/1970), and Theocritus Idyll 7.98-114, cited from A.S.F. Gow Bucolici Graeci (1952), on pp. 56-7 Hipponax frg. 115 (Strasbourg Epode) from M.L.West Iambi et Elegi Graecivol.1 (1971), on pp. 63-4 Alcaeusfrg 129 from E. Lobel and D.L. Page PoetarumLesbiorumFragmenta ( 1955),on pp. 69-70 'The Oven', cited from R. Merkelbach and M.L. West Fragmenta Hesiodea (1967) pages 156-7, and on pp. 75-6 Sophocles Oedipus Coloneus 1372-96, cited from the older Oxford Classical Text of A.C. Pearson (1925). Thanks are equally due to Walter de Gruyter and Co. for permission to reproduce from pages 196-9 of the Supplementum Hellenisticum(Berlin/New York, 1983)ed. P. Parsons and H. LloydJones the lengthy papyrus fragment of Euphorion's Thrax,and from pages 478-9 of the same work, P. Sorbonn. 2254. Unsure of the convention in such matters, I have respected the editors' preference for iota adscript when quoting these texts in full in Appendix 3, but elsewhere have followed my own preference for iota subscript. My final debt of gratitude is to my late parents, John and Mary Watson, sine quibus non ... Sydney September 1991

ONE ON CURSES IN GENERAL

1. 'Curse':Fluchzustandand Imprecation The English word 'curse' can mean two distinct things. On the one hand, the term can refer to a state of divine anger or displeasure: this is brought about by an offence against moral or religious canons, and it finds concrete expression in misfortunes visited by heaven upon the offending party, and on those who stand in close association with him. 1 The word 'curse', in this sense, describes a condition,for which W. Speyer has coined the label Fluchzustand.2 Alternatively, 'curse' may be used in the more familiar sense of a spoken 'malediction' or 'imprecation': a:s the OED has it, 3 'an utterance consigning, or supposed or intended to consign, (a person or thing) to spiritual and temporal evil, the vengeance of the deity, the blasting of malignant fate etc.•. It is with curses in this latter sense (a.pa{or 1ea-rapa1as they are usually called in Greek), and with their manifestations in literature and life, that the present work will be concerned. 4 a.pa{and 1Ca-rapa1, however, are sometimes found bearing the first sense, as in the following instance: 6u1 yap ~Euyvua· l'iµdc;1ta-rpirov/µti..a0prov 'for the curse of a mother's murder severs us µ11-rpoc; q,ov1011ea-rapa1 from our paternal home' (Euripides Electra 1323-4).5 Here 1Ca-rapa1 1

Hes. Op. 238-47 well describes the effect of such a curse. A similar curse afflicts the Thebans on account of Oedipus' unwitting crimes (Soph. OT 22-30). On such cursestates, see Speyer 1176ff.; for the relevant terminology, 1175-6. 2 1176 etc. 1 Oxford English Dictionary (1933 edition), s.v. 'Curse' 1. 4 On the various terms for 'curses/utter curses', see Speyer 1174-6, Kakridis 5-9, and Pollux 5.129f. 5 Other examples of apai or 1Catapa1referring to a Fluchzustantf. Soph. OT 417-8, OC 153-4, Eur. Pho. 1610-11, and probably Or. 995-6.

2

ON CURSES IN GENERAL

refers to the Fluchzustand generated by Orestes' matricide. In other words, the same ambiguity attends on Greek dpa as on the English term 'curse'. Moreover, an dpa of the second class may, with the connivance of the gods, be turned into one of the first type, a Fluchzustand. 6 It is, in fact, not always easy or practical to enforce a rigid distinction between these two types of curse. The results of a Fluchzustand - failure of crops, infertility of women and herds, A.otµ~ 'pestilence' 7 and the like - are sometimes identical with the evils which are imprecated in a spoken curse 8 (and spoken curses usually name specific misfortunes envisaged for the enemy, although sometimes vaguer formulations such as Katapato; lotc.o 'let him be accursed' and sacer esto are considered sufficient).9 Again, the Fluchzustand which results automatically from a transgression is often reinforced by a publicly pronounced imprecation against the offender: on occasion it can be difficult to decide which of the two is in question. 10 Moreover, in both kinds of curse the gods have a significant role to play. Whereas theF/uchzustandissuesfrom heaven as a kind of religious sanction, curses of the second class, uttered by men, regularly work by enlisting the aid of the gods, who are often morally affronted by the offence which provokes the imprecations. Such curses are therefore a means of directing divine attention to a misdeed or wrong: on one occasion, indeed, (Phi/octetes 1183), Sophocles speaks of Ztu; dpaio; 'Zeus who listens to curses'. Elsewhere (Trachiniae 1239)11 he makes Heracles threaten Hyllus with the 0trov dpa 'the curse of the gods' if he does not obey his father's orders: in other words, the gods will make themselves responsible for executing the curses which the father is uttering against his recalcitrant son. All this demonstrates the great overlap between Fluchzustand and 'curse' in the second sense. 6

Thus the prayer of Chryses to Apollo for revenge (Hom. //. 1.37-42) - in other words, a Rachgebet or curse - issues in a Fluchzustandfor the Greek army (ibid. 50ff.). For a similar sequence of events, see e.g. Diodor. 4.61. 1-3, and Plut. Mui. Virt. 248a. 7 For this term, its frequent combination with X1µ6~'famine', and its possible cognates, see Chantraine DELG and Frisk GEW s.v., also Parker 257-8. 8 Notably in the curse of the Delphic Amphiktyones as reported by Aeschines c. Ctes. 111; cf. Soph. OT 269-72, Hdt. 3.65, Speyer 1178 and Parker 191 n. 3. 9 For more recent examples of non-specific curses, cf. Monterone to Rigoletto in Verdi's opera of that name ('Sii maledetto'), John the Baptist to Salome in the Strauss opera ('Sei verflucht'), or the enraged Santuzza to Turiddu in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana ('A te la mala Pasqua, spergiuro'). The results of these curses are quite specific, however. 10 See Parker 192. 11 Where see Jebb ad /oc.

PRAYERAND CURSING

3

2. Prayer and Cursing Greek dpai and Katapal ('imprecations') often invoke the gods. Hence they overlap with 'prayers' and largely share the vocabulary of prayer. Indeed in Greek dpaoµal, Kat&uxoµal and tn&uxoµal 12 mean both 'pray' and 'curse', and the same ambivalence can be 13 and Kat&uyµa.14 This observed in the nouns dpa, &UXll,E1t&ux11 pattern is repeated in Latin, where precor can signify 'pray for good' (for oneself) or 'evil' (for another), depending on the context, or on whether bene or male is attached. Similarly imprecari, usually 'to curse', can also mean 'to invoke benefits'. 15 In the same way preces may be either 'prayers' or 'imprecations', while vota, usually 'prayers', is sometimes encountered in the sense 'curses'. 16 Apuleius even has the remarkable phrase devotionesfaustae:11 this noun is usually reserved for maledictions. Of adjectives, Latin sacer, like Greek t~ayloto~. 18 means both 'holy' and 'accursed'. 19 Such lexical ambivalence reflects a material interrelationship between the actions of praying and cursing. A prayer requests something which is beneficial to the person uttering it. But sometimes this takes the form of harm to an enemy, 20 in which case the prayer becomes in effect a curse (cf. Velleius Paterculus 2.22.2 'deos ... in exsecrationem Cinnae partiumque eius ... precatus'). A legend of Theseus will illustrate the point. This hero was (according to Euripides Hippolytus 887ff.) awarded three dpai by his father Poseidon, 21 plainly with the intention that they should be used for his benefit; but he utilises one of them to effect the destruction of his son Hippolytus, after Phaedra's false accusations against him. The nexus between prayers and curses can also be discerned in cases where both are combined in a single text, as in the following instances: 12

For the ambivalence of i:m:uxoµm. see Pollux 5.129. For occasional uses of i:m:uxti = 'curse', see Speyer 1174. On dpa = 'prayer'/ 'curse', see Garvie on Aesch. Cho. 145-6. 14 For Katwyµa = 'prayer' instead of 'curse' (its usual sense), see Aesch. Cho. 218 (not 'vow'. LSJ). 1 TLL Vll.675.67ff. ~ OLD s.v. I band 16 Sen. Thy. II I0-1 'vindices aderunt dei,/ his puniendum vota te tradunt mea •. 1.1

[Verg.] Dirae 3, 25, 47. 17 Met. 11.16.

'" See Parker 328. iv For 'sacer' = 'accursed', see OLD s.v. 2. 20 See Kakr1dis 5. 21 The problems raised by Eur. Hipp. 887ff. are discussed at length by Kakridis 2645.

4

ON CURSES IN GENERAL

'tQ>µtv d1t£' 'Cl>{).ta6..aaov.' 'to him he spoke "Come, Poseidon, if the sweet gifts of the Cyprian goddess lead at all to gratitude, stay the brazen spear of Oenomaus, and convey me on the swiftest of chariots to Elis, and bring me into company with victory."' (Pindar Olympian l.75ff.)

and 'sacerdotes publicos quotienscumque pro populo Atheniensi sociisque, exercitibus et classibus eorum precarentur, totiens detestari atque exsecrari Philippum liberos eius regnumque ...' (Livy 31.44.6).22 It is also possible to regard many curses as specialised forms of prayer, i.e. prayers of revenge (Rachgebete). Indeed, as various scholars have urged, 23 it is by no means clear that a distinction was always recognised in early times between praying and cursing. At the very least, then, there was considerable blurring between the notions of 'prayer' and 'curse'. But it was not complete. Alongside words which could do service for both 'prayer' and 'curse', there existed a specialised terminology of imprecation. 24 Nor were all curses - unlike prayers - addressed to a specific deity. 25 And, on at least one famous occasion, a sharp distinction was drawn between the two activities: bidden by the Athenian people to pronounce a curse on Alcibiades, the priestess Theano declined, fq>T)ydp Et>xilaei ii El n Kai hepov µetaKlV11aei, Kai cpp{"ll Kai 7tUpEtq\,Kai tetaptcp Kai tUcpavn. Kai c5aa KaKciKai Oripfoic; Kai dv8pronoic; y{yvet, tauta yiyvta8co tcp to)..µ11aavn tK toutou tou 1'pcpou µetaKivfiaa{ n.

'if anyone deface this tomb or deprive it of its paving or remove anything else, whether personally, or through the agency of another, let him not be able to walk upon the land or sail upon the sea, but he shall be rooted out with all his race. He shall experience every kind of ill, shivering and ague, quartan fever, and elephantiasis. And let all the evils that happen to man and beast happen to him that dares to remove anything from this tomb'. (IG 3.1423. 7-13)

Provisional curses were also pronounced at each meeting of the Athenian t1C1CAT1tovµev Ka9' tKacn11v ~11µ00{~ Kata t~ loiou~ ciVtt1ta>..ou~1'v1oxouvte~. ci>..>..a µa>..>..ovap1taaov autO\l~ AKt(OVlo{rov apµatrov Kai atp&'lfov tm triv yfiv 'iva neattroaav navti t61tro tou l1t1to6p6µou, µa>..tata os tv toi~ Kaµ1ttflpatv, ai>v tot~ loiot~ 'i1t1tOl~,µeta p>..aPTI~tOU aci>µato~ Kai aKe>..rov Katayµato~· flOTIflOTI[fl-] OTI,taxi> taxi> taxt~. Kata6T1aov KataoTlaov KatClOT1v ci6t1Cia~oEtvto~ outE yovtcov dpci~ orEv&8>..to~ oihco 6tci>ICEt icai µhEtot taxt~ co~ tpaatai~ dyvcoµoV118Eimv o"Epco~o~u~ u1taicouEt'for not so quick is Zeus the god of hospitality to pursue and follow up wrongs done to guests and suppliants, or Zeus the god of the family to prosecute the curses of fathers, as is Eros to listen to lovers who have been treated unfairly'. In general on the power of the parental curse, see Speyer 1193-4, Parker 196-7, Vallois 254-5, Kakridis 27 n. I , Von Lasaulx 165, Thomas 603-4, Trevisa Barth. De P.R. VI. XIV (1495), 199 'The faders curse greuyth the chyldren', quoted in OED s.v. 'Curse' 1, and further§ 8 below. 59 cf. [Lys.] c. Andoc. 51 for a similar phrase in connexion with another type of curse.

14

ON CURSES IN GENERAL

many echoes in later times. 60 For additional proof of the antiquity of the curse-motif, one need look no further than the legends which are utilised by Attic tragedy, particularly those concerning the Labdacidae and Pelopidae. Here anc; 1tT}µaivot,At:t6l118t:i11. 'I, Idomeneus, erected this tomb, so that glory should be mine, and may Zeus destroy utterly whoever damages it'.

Again, certain cipai plainly bear the impress of a primitive agricultural society. There was, for example, the quaint, indubitably archaic, practice of sowing particular crops under an apotropaic curse.78 From the same period, as the name suggests, come the socalled ~u~&ytot dpai. 79 The scholion to Aristides T.111.473Dind. explains the nomenclature thus: Bou~uyat 1ea).ouvtat o{ t~ {Ep~ Pou~ ta~ tv 'EAEUCJiVt dpotptci>oa~tptcpovt£~ ... to ytvo~ 6£ tOUtO 1'v l£p6v 'Buzygae is the name of those who look after the feeding of the sacred cattle that do the ploughing at Eleusis ... this family was holy'. This priestly family, we are told, pronounced curses on those who refused another fire and water, failed to show a wanderer the correct way, left a body unburied, or advised others to do what they perceived as disadvantageous to themselves. In other words, the Pou~&ytotdpa{ safeguarded fundamental rights in a pre-legislative community. 80 were thought of as falling into curses upon minimal provocation (something like this point is made by the Schol. Laur. to Soph. OC 1375 with J. Griffm Home on life and Death (Oxford, 1980), 14-15: cf. also Eur. Pho. 66ft'.7tpoc;6i Ti\c;-ruxric;voofbv/ 4pac; 4pc1'tal7talolv 4voauo'ta'tac;/ 8riic'tq\Ol6,ipep6&µa 6laAcqdv 'to&, 'and being made to suffer at fortune's hands, he uttered upon his sons the most unholy of curses, that they should divide this house with the point of the sword' with Pearson and Wecklein ad loc.). 76 Sec nn. 64 and 74. 77 /G 12.1.737. However, P.A. Hansen Carmina Epigraphica Graeca (Berlin/NY, 1983), 256 denies that the inscription is cpitaphic. 71 Theophr. Hist. Plant. 7.3.3, Plut. Q.Conviv. 701a, Plin. NH 19.120, Pallad. 4.9.14, Hesych. s.v. 4pac; tmo1tdpal 'to sow curses over the crops'. 79 Ancient references: Von Lasaulx 168. Modem discusssions: J. T0pffer Attische Genealogie (Berlin, 1889), 136ff., W. Schulze Kleine Schrfften 2 (G0ttingen, 1966), 191, J. Bcrnays Ges. Abh. l.277fT. 10 For the use of the curse as a sanction in a primitive community, compare the early Dirae Teiorum (Ditt. Sy/I. 3 37-8: post a.479), in which a variety of activities which could threaten the existence of the state are laid under an 4pa.

18

ON CURSES IN GENERAL

Curses came early into being in the Roman world too. The evidence is found mainly in a series of archaic laws, the penalty for infringing which was to become sacer, 'accursed'. Relevant texts include 'Numa Pompilius statuit, eum, qui terminum exarasset, et ipsum et boves sacros esse' (Festus 368 M.); 81 'si parentem puer verberit, ast olle plorassit paren, puer divis parentum saceresto' (Festus 232 M.: a law ofServius Tullius); 'patronus si clienti fraudem faxit, sacer esto' (XII Tables,8.21).82 Somewhat later the /egessacrae threatened with the same sanction those who violated them: as Festus 3.18M. explains, 'sacratae leges sunt, quibus sanctum est, qui quid adversus eas fecerit, sacer alicui deorum sit cum familia pecuniaque'. 6.

Curses in Greek and Roman Life

It will already be apparent that the curse was a pervasive feature of Greco-Roman life. It is worth exploring this matter more deeply, because previous treatments of curse-poetry, particularly of Hellenistic curse-poetry, have tended to give the impression that such poems may be studied in isolation from the curse as a wider social phenomenon 83 - although an exception is usually made in the case of the defixiones.84 This is a misleading approach, since, as Chapter 2 will show, there was extensive congruence of theme and detail between curse-poetry, including the highly artificial, literary 'Apai of the Hellenistic poets, and the mainstream of Greco-Roman curses. It would be astonishing if this were not so: notwithstanding the attrition, from the fifth century BC on, of the religious sentiment which had provided the original impulse for pronouncing curses, 85 imprecation continued to be a major feature of life in the fourth and later centuries, and it is altogether improbable that poets, when they 81

For divine sanctions in a similar context, cf. Plat. Leg. 843a. For such early curses, and the leges sacrae (see below), see Von Lasaulx 171,and Speyer 1209-10. On 'sacer esto', see H. Bennett TAPA 61 (1930), 5-18, and H. Fugier Recherches sur fexpression du sacre dans la langue latine (Paris, 1963), 224-47. Additional bibliography in J. Linderski C.Ph. 82 (1987), 379. 83 Ch. Picard, in his review ofKakridis' 'Apa{, REG 44 (1931), 329 rightly takes K. to task for focussing on the world of mythical dpai, and ignoring the archaeological and inscriptional evidence for the practice. 84 See eh. 4. 85 See Speyer l 163f. On the unease felt by one Hellenistic intellectual, Callimachus, towards the contradictions inherent in orthodox religion, see A. W. Bulloch 'The Future of a Hellenistic Illusion' MH 41 ( 1984),209-30. See in addition P. Veyne Roman Erotic Elegy (Chicago, 1988), 15-30. 82

CURSES IN GREEK AND ROMAN LIFE

19

set their hand to composing versified 'Apai, should have remained impervious to popular usage. What follows amplifies earlier remarks about the various areas of Greco-Roman life in which curses are frequently encountered. For the minutiae reference will be made to published studies of the role of curses in the social fabric of Greece and Rome. 86 The wide variety of contexts, both religious and profane, in which curses became institutionalised falls broadly under the rubric oflegal and constitutional. As far as curses in the religious sphere are concerned, they were for example used to secure the inviolability of sacred things - the ground upon which a temple stood, the right of doulia 'inviolability' associated with it, the holy animals dedicated to the service of a deity. 87 At Rome, curses were also employed in the related category of leges sacrae, of which mention has been made above. 88 The more elaborate dpa pronounced by the Amphiktyones upon those who should settle upon the accursed territory of Kirrha will serve to illustrate comparable Greek formulations: ytypmrtal yap o&pElV, µt\tE yuvaiKac; t&KVa tiKtE\V yovEOmv to1K6ta, dlla ttpata, µt\ts poaKt\µata Kata q,umv yovac; 1tolEia8al, ~ttav 6t autoic; dva11toltµou Kai 61Kci>v Kai dyopci>v,Kai ~ci>).s\c;dva1 Kai autouc; Kai olKiac; Kai ytvoc; to tKdvrov. 'Kai µt\1t0ts' q>T)aiv'6airoc; 8uas1av tcp 'A1t6).).rovtµT)6&tfi 'Apttµ161 µT)6& tfi AT)tOiµT)6' 'A8T)V~Ilpovoi~. µT)6&6t;a1vto autoic; ta {spci.' 'It is written as follows in the curse: "If anyone should transgress these provisions, whether city or private individual or nation, let the offender be accursed in the sight of Apollo and Artemis and Leto and Athena Pronoia." And it imprecates upon them that neither should the earth bear them fruits nor their wives give birth to children resembling their parents, but rather monstrosities, nor should their cattle bear young in accordance with nature, but that they should suffer defeat in war, and in legal cases and assemblies, and that they and their houses and their families should be utterly destroyed. "And may they never," it says "sacrifice in a holy fashion to Apollo or Artemis or Leto or Athena Pronoia, nor may these accept their offerings.'" (Aeschines contra Ctesiphonem110-1)

Mention may also be made here of the sanction which was attached 86 87 88

For bibliography, see Lattimore 108 n. 147. See Ditt. Sy/I. 3 997. Above § S ad fin.

20

ON CURSFS IN GENERAL

to a decree of Lycian Telmessos setting up a cult for Ptolemy son of Lysimachus: 89 tav [6t] µ11 auvtEA'(j 6 dpxrov Kai o{ 1t0Aitat tllV [0uai]av Kat· tvtaut6v, ltµaptroAoi fatroaav [8Em]v1tcivtrov'but if the magistrate and the citizens do not accomplish the sacrifice each year, may they be accounted sinners in the eyes of all the gods' (Dittenberger OGIS 55.30-3). As for curses designed to enforce obedience to moral laws, one example has already been noted (Pou~6ytol cipai).90 Following the pattern established in sacral usage, cipai were also entrusted with the safeguarding of profane laws and constitutional rights - or indeed just the well-being of the commonwealth. Something has already been said of such cipai 1tOAlnKaiand their role as a constitutional watchdog. 91 It is worth adding one more example from a relatively late period to show how long the practice persisted: tov 6t KaKoupyouvt[a 1t£pi t]11v Kotv,,v rlli; 1t6A.Eroi; £U£t11PiavKai 1tapaq>8ipavtc; x:ax:roc; cp8dpe1av 'therefore may the father who rules over Olympus here, and the mindful Fury and all-powerful Justice destroy you evilly, evil as you are'; and 'post commissa iniquitatibus variis ante dicta et impressas foede corporibus liberis, quae supervixerant, notas, inconivus Iustitiae oculus, arbiter et vindex perpetuus rerum, vigilavit attente. namque caesorum ultimae dirae perpetuum numen ratione querellarum iustissima commoventes Bellonae accenderant faces ... ' (Ammianus Marcellinus 29.2.19-20:cf. 28.6.25for the same association of dirae and the lustitiae oculus sempitemus). 186 The last passage is but one instance of the oft-expressed conviction that the gods made themselves responsible for executing ('teuiv)just curses. 187 It is against this background that we must read the frequent confident assertions, by persons uttering a curse, that they wi//have justice. Cases in point are 'vindices aderunt dei./ his puniendum vota te tradunt mea' (Seneca Thyestes 1110-1)188 and 'eveniet (sc. my curse); dat signa deus: sunt numina amanti,/ saevit et iniusta lege relicta Venus' (Tibullus 1.5.57-8).And even if the divinely executed fulfilment of the curse was slow in coming, one could always fall back on the comforting belief that the gods would at least deliver over the malefactor to torment after death. 189 This represents a kind of posthumously enacted 6{1CT) which reflects both the popular notion of Tartarus and the philosophically based idea that the soul is immortal, and will be treated after death according to its possessor's behaviour in the preceding life. Two final points may be made in connexion with the subject of curses and 6i1CT).The first is that the outcome of dpai may be 190 identical with the consequences of neglecting 6i1CT). According to 116

For the all-seeing eye of heaven in curse-contexts, see further AP 7.580, Soph. OC 868-70, C/L 6. 34635a. The association between divine justice and human curses is also pointed by the way in which the Roman grammarians ctymologiscd 'dirum': 'quasi dcorum ira missum' Non. Marc. 30 M.: cf. lsid. Etym. JO.75, Fest. 69 M. 117 For the conviction that just curses were inevitably fulfilled, sec above § 7. 188 On this curse of Thycstcs, sec recently 0. Zwicrlcin Hermes 111 (1983), 124. 189 cf. above p. 36 with n. 159, Speyer 1224-5. Interesting in this connexion is Callim. frg. 358 Pf., which may come from a curse: d 6t &h:ri a£/ nap ff66a µ1' nµ(l)poc; tn:ioaTo, 6ic; Tooov ,na-rp~ ~ d6bcou/ lPllCJµot~ d6bcoi~ 6ie)..uµav9rtv •Alas, alas, wretched man, I have been destroyed by the unjust oracular pronouncement spoken by an unjust father.' By lPllCJµot~ 'oracle' Hippolytus means his father's curse. He describes it in these terms because an oracle, which derives from a god, is a true forecast of future events. Theseus' curse, because its fulfilment was guaranteed in advance by Poseidon, was precisely that. 195 The examples of Theseus and Amyntor reflect a primitive conception according to which the curse embodies its own intrinsic energy, which operates independently of moral considerations. 196 A second kind of unjust curse involves the dejixiones. Although many of these are uttered in response to a prior offence, and the authors.of curse-tablets on occasion claim to have been wronged, 197 this is not always so, as was noted in the case of circus-dejixiones. Moreover, whereas in curses other than dejixiones a person who has been wronged will often request, and in literature frequently gains, the aid of the righteous gods in executing his maledictions, the dejixio, by attempting to constrain not just the dejixus but the deities who 191

In Rome too, down to the second century BC at least, plagueswereattributed to the ira deum. See J.M. Andre 'La Notion de PestilentiaA Rome: du tabou religieux A l'interprctation prescientifique' Latom,u 39 (1980), 3-16. 192 o{>l)tyuvatK~ Ti1etooolv 'nor do the women give birth' 244, and cf. 235 for the state of affairs in the just city, rl1etoumv l)t yuvaiK~ tolK6-ra TtKVayoveOm 'and the women bear children resembling their fathers'. 193 Pestilence: cf. Hom. II. l.48tT. and Soph. OT 22-30; barrenness and fmancial ruin: cf. pp. 32f. and 35 above; shipwreck: see below p. 102, adding the Strasbourg Epode, Aesch. Supp/. 29-39, Eur. Tro. IIOOtT.,Cic. TD 1.107 =Ennius frg. CL Jocelyn, Hor. Epod. 10, and Claud. In Eutr. praef 2.67-8. 194 See Kakridis pp. 8 and 11. 195 As Barrett notes ad loc., the only difference is that an oracle prognosticates the future, but does not, like Theseus' dpa, carry within it the seeds of its fulfilment. 196 For the counter-claim that only the wrongdoer, not the good man, can be smitten by a curse, see Speyer 1227. 197 See Wunsch DTA 98, 102, and 158 for such remarks.

42

ON CURSES IN GENERAL

implement it, 198 seeks thereby to deprive the latter of the freedom to decide on the merits of the dejixus' case, and, on that basis, to further or reject it. Besides those inspired by the circus, there is one class of dejixio where considerations of justice clearly do not apply. These are the numerous curse-tablets in which a litigant invokes impairment of physical and mental faculties upon his adversary, seeking thereby to gain an unfair advantage over him in the courtroom. 199 It would be naive to suppose that such dejixiones were resorted to only by those who had right on their side.

12. Lex Talionis The curse was much given to one particular elaboration of the 6itef1theme: the so-called /ex ta/ionis. 200 Of great importance in popular ethics, 201 in statutes, 202 and in the divinely imposed moral code, 203 the /ex ta/ionis reflects a primitive 204 belief that every act should have its counter-act, and an insistence on reciprocity of treatment as a principle of social interaction i.e. like must be repaid with like. Again and again in archaic times, the sentiment is voiced that one should help one's friends and harm one's enemies:205 the notion is most familiar, perhaps, from Archilochus' boast bt]iaTaµai 'tOl Tov 198

See below p. 196. On the use of magic to exercise compulsion upon the gods, see Kakridis 9 (with bibliography there given), Eitrem on P. Osl. 1.1 and 45, PGM 2.44, 3.120, 4.2252ff., 13.752f., 15.IOf., Luc. 6.440ff. The magician will often reinforce his tncivayico1'compulsions• with threats of the most dire penalties if the deities or spirits whose aid he is invoking prove recalcitrant: see e.g. PGM 12.140ff., 57. lff and63.10ff., Butler 14-15, 41, 55ff., 82-3, and W. Brashear ZPE 33 (1979), 276 (with further bibliography), Eitrem on P. Osl. 1.5. 199 See Audollent index Va and Preisendanz 'Fluchtafel' 9-10 and 22. Cicero, in Brut. 217 (cf. Orat. 129) tells the story of Curio who, after drying up in the courtroom, claimed to have been the victim of just such a spell. For a somewhat similar incident, see Liban. Or. 1.245-50with C. Bonner 'Witchcraft in the Lecture Room ofLibanius' TAPA 63 (1932), 34-44. 200 On this, see A. Dible Die goldene Regel (G0ttingen, 1962), passim. For the various ways in which the /ex talionis can operate, see R. Hirzel Die Ta/ion Philologus Supptbd. II (1910), 407-82. 201 See Dible 30ff. 202 Dible I 3ff. 203 Dible 20 'Der Talionsgrundsatz bewahrt namlich dort, wo sich die Menschen in Verbindung zu iibermenschlichen und gottlichen Kraften gestellt sehen, sein absolute Giiltigkeit, unbeschadet aller Milderungen, die er bei fortschreitender Gesittung im zwischenmenschlichen Bereich auch erfahren mag', et sqq. 204 For the antiquity of the /ex ta/ionis, see esp. Dible 11-12. At Rome, it appears in the Twelve Tables (8.2). 205 See Dible 32ff., and B.M.W. Knox 'The Ajax of Sophocles' HSCP65(196I), 3ff.

LEX TALIONIS

43

cptA.[ to ]v[ta] µtv cp[1]uiv I to ]v 6' tx8pov tx8aipe1 v tE [1ea]i 1ea1eo[ ... 'I know to love my friend and hate my enemy' frg. 23.14-15 W. Although Isidore of Seville extends the application of the /ex talionis to the matching of benefit with benefit, 206 in practice it is limited to the answering of harm with harm, thus: a611eouµevoc; 6taA-aaaou· 6J3p1~6µevoc;nµropou 'if wronged, reciprocate: if injured, avenge yourselr (Chilon ap. Stobaeum 3.118.1-2 H.): cf. Hesiod frg. 286 M.-W. d 1ea1eanc; a1tdpa1, 1ea1ea1etp6ea 8acnKai wv nou:iv o{ touc; dµaptavovtac; olKttac; KataotKcit;ovt&c;, tiov µtv cino6t6paaK6vtcov ta OK&ATIKaiovttc; t& Kai Kataaxa~ovt&c; 1eai nat6vt&c; tii>v 6t KA&1tt6vtcovtac; xdpac; ciS0'1t&p y& Kai tiov yaatptµcipycov tflV yaattpa Kai tiov q,).uapoovtcov triv y).ii>ttav, dn).roc;6' &lndv tK&iva Ko).ci~ovt&c;ta µ6pta, 61' o}v tv&pyoum tac; µox8T)pac;tv&py&iac;

'at all events, even now those who sentence delinquent slaves are accustomed to act in this way. They apply fire to and cut open and beat the legs of runaways. In the case of thieves, punishment is executed 206

Etym. 5.27.24 'Talio autcm non solum ad iniuriam rcfcrcndam, scd ctiam pro bcncficio rcddcndo ponitur. est cnim communis scrmo et iniuriac et bcncficcntiac.' 207 Sec Courtney on Juv. 8.235. 201 For an impromptu version of this punishment, sec Apul. Met. 9.28 and Val. Max. 6.1. 13: cf. also the somewhat different context at Mart. 12.63.10. 209 Sec Mart. 3.85, the Twelve Tables, 8.2, and Hirzcl op.'cit. (n. 200abovc), 421-6.

ON CURSES IN GENERAL

44

upon the hands, likewise in the case of gluttons upon the belly, in the case of those who talk nonsense, upon the tongue. In short, they punish those bodily parts through which the offenders execute their undesirable activities'.

The /ex talionis as a principle of natural justice is appealed to in a wide variety 210 of curses. 211 Sometimes it appears in a fairly generalised form, as in ot µev tµe Kttivavt£c; oµoiroc;avnruxo1aav/, Zeu ;tv1£, ot 6e yoveic;8tvt£c; c5va1vtoPiou 'may those who killed me meet a like fate, 0 Zeus, god of guests, but may my parents who laid me to rest have enjoyment of life' (Peek Griechische Versinschriften 1362), or in a self-imprecation from the Theognis-book £i 1tot£ pouA£ooa1µ1 vvt'anµaatflpa tci>c;

° For an attempt to analyse the whole of Tibullus' curse against the lena (1.5.49-

21

56) in terms of the /ex talionis, see Oppenheim. For the /ex talionis in literary curses, see R.C. Monti The Dido Episode and the Aeneid (Leiden, 1981), 60-1. 211 It is noteworthy that the Erinyes, whose aid is often enlisted in fulfilling curses, administer the /ex ta/ionis: see Winnington-lngram op. cir. (n. 133 above), 21. 212 For another Sophoclean curse involving the /ex talionis, cf. OC 868-70. 213 For a convenient discussion of the problems, see Stanford ad foe., and L.E. Rossi Due Seminari Romani di Eduard Fraenkel (Rome, 1977), 29. See now also H. LloydJones and N. Wilson Sophoclea (Oxford, 1990), 28.

LEX TALIONIS

45

dv6p11)..a't11v/ cpuyft'tOVai>'tov't6v6£ 'tdaaa8cu 'tp61tov'or if you live that he might requite you in the same way with exile, as having dishonoured him and driven him from home'. All these examples come from the world of myth: there is however a quaint instance from a religious text: those who eat the sacred fish of the goddess 214 at Smyrna are menaced with being in tum eaten by them (Dittenberger SyJJoge3 997): [l]x~ lt:po~ µfi d6uc£iv/ µ116!01et:i'>o~ 'tmvTijq 8£ou )..uµaivt:08a1, µ116!/ [t]1ecpep£lVt1e 'tOU lt:pou tx[i]/ 1CA.om1v. 6 'tOU'tCOV 'tl 1to1mv/ 1CQ1C~ 1CU1C'fl tl;cou{~ d1t6/A.01'to,tx8u6J3pco'to~ yt:v6µt:/v~ 'not to harm the sacred fish or damage any of the vessels belonging to the goddess, or remove them by theft from the shrine. May whoever does any of these things, evil as he is, perish by an evil end, eaten by the fish'. Of the various types of curse, it is, however, the sepulchral dpa{ which most frequently invoke the JextaJionis,215 often in the form of a wish that the person who tampers with a tomb shall himself lie unburied. 216 But sometimes greater originality is shown: cf. C/L 8.11825 'qui me commusserit/ habebit deos iratos et/ vivus ardebit' and id. 6.7191 'quiqumque hinc clavos exemerit/ in oculos sibi figat'. Of a different kind, but just as impressive in its application of the Jex taJionis, is a funerary inscription from Rome, first published in 1900,217 in which P. Grattius Celer is represented as pronouncing curses on the author of his premature decease: Hoe opto moriare malis exemplis cruciatus et ipse; nee te nunc liceat quo me privasti lumen videre; et tu des poenas quas meruist defensus inique ...218

Finally a variation upon the Jex taJionis deserves mention: cases where the curse is tailored, not to the crime, but to the peculiar characteristics of its target. Thus Ovid (Amores 1.8.114) amusingly imprecates perpetua sitis upon the bibulous Jena Dipsas, while a 214

For the seriousness of this crime, cf. Audollent 188.12 and PGM 58.13-14 (malicious accusations). 215 e.g. Peek Griechisch. Versinschr. 1374.8-11, AP 7.310, 356, 359-(i(},516,581, id. 8.179, 192, 225, 231, 245, C/L 6.34635a with Lattimore 119, ibid. 7308. 216 e.g. Peek Griechisch. Versinschr. 1373, AP 8.208, C/G 2826.11-12, Ditt. Sy/I. 3 1241, Soph. Aj. ll75ff., Hor. Od. l.28.3lff. 217 Notizie deg/i scavi (1900), 578 no. 35, l lff. 218 For two similar Greek texts, see A. Deissmann Philo/ogus 61 (1902), 252ff.

46

ON CURSES IN GENERAL

defixio found at Bologna invokes, in a manner appropriate to his calling, tercianas quartana ... morbu for a certain Porcellus ... medicus. 219

13. Curses and Abuse Curses do not merely give vent to a desire for vengeance. They are often pronounced in hot anger (see e.g. Aeschylus Septem 724-5). Hence there is a tendency for the curse to shade off into abuse. Various factors establish the connexion between cipai and lotoopia. First, the relevant terms overlap. ).01ooptoµa1, teaKci>c; ).tyro and ma/edico can all mean 'curse', as well as 'abuse'. Conversely, when Porphyrio on Horace Odes 2.13 states 'Exsecratur hac q\oti arborem in Sabino agello suo', and again on Epode 3 'Exsecratur alium significans se eo graviter vexari', he is using exsecrari very freely, since these two poems are not curses in the strict sense of wishing evil upon an offending person or object, 220 but essays in mock-abuse. 221 Second, words for 'curse' and 'abuse' are often found in close association, as at Plato Leges 742b 1eai6 auvt:toc.i>c; 1eaiµ11q,pa~rov ape} Kai ovt:iOt:lµt:ta 'tOUciyay6vtoc; evoxoc; E..>..anap13£mvta Kata>..dP&a8a{ viv Kai Katapptv C001t£ptoi; KOA.Oo6i;,Kai aUtOV Kai y6vov Kai XPllµata· toti; 6t tµµtvo101v toutoii; toii; 6p1Cio1i;Kai toii; n>..toiai t>..Aipuav Kai toii; µtvoun tv 011P~ 1'µ&v 1tOA.A.Cl Kai aya8a Kai autoii; Kai y6vo1i;

'and further to this those both who were staying there and those who . were taking ship to found the colony took oaths and uttered a curse against those who whether part of the new colony in Libya or staying in Th era, contravened the provisions and did not abide by them. After fashioning images of wax they burned them, all the men and women and boys and girls coming together and pronouncing a curse to the effect that whoever did not abide by the oaths but transgressed them should melt and dissolve just like the images, himself and his family and his possessions. But those who abided by these oaths, whether they were sailing to Libya or staying in Thera, should enjoy many good things in their own and their family's persons'. 257

The melting of the waxen statues inevitably recalls a sympathetic procedure which was widespread in love magic, and is most familiar perhaps from Theocritus Idyll 2.28-9: 256 257

See the list in Audollent pp. 491-2. The text is quoted from A.O. Nock 'A Curse from Cyrene' ARW24(1926), 172-3.

CURSES, THE GODS, RELIGION, AND MAGIC

53

cbc;toOtov 'tOVIC1lp0Vtycom)y 6a{µovt talCC.O &tlcp1c; d>c;tci1eo18'un' lpc.otoc;6 Muv61oc;al'.>tl1ea 'as, with the goddess's aid, I melt this wax, so may Del phis of Myndus immediately be melted with love'.

'What is significant here', as A.D. Nock puts it, 258 'is that the community reinforces the magical potency of the curse with a magical act, identical with the practice of what we regard as antisocial black magic, and directed at a prospective individual or individuals (including naturally their descendants)'.

m op. cit. (n. 257), 172.

TWO GREEKAND ROMAN CURSE-POETRY

Already in Chapter 1 a number of curse-texts (including poetic texts) have been mentioned. This chapter will attempt to sketch in outline the development of ancient curse-poetry from Homer to the Flavian age. Not all periods will receive equal emphasis. This is partly due to accidents of survival, but also to a genuine change in the nature and scope of curse-poetry in the Hellenistic period, which makes it worthwhile to concentrate especially on that era. Certain categories of poetic curse will be excluded from detailed consideration in the present chapter. One such category consists of the many poetic apai which, like many curses in prose, are fleeting, and consequently give their author limited scope to develop them in a distinctive and individual way or, for that matter, to exploit more than one or two of the characteristic themes of the curse. An example of such a curse is the imprecation spoken by Poseidon to ldomeneus at Homer Iliad 13.232-4 'l6oµtvtu, µ11 KEivoc;av11p fn vocrt11crt1tv/ tK TpoiT)c;, (i)..)..' au0t KUVO>V µtA1tT)8paytvotto,/ oc; nc; t1t' rjµan tq>OEtKCOV µt0i1Jcrt µaxtcr0at 'ldomeneus, let not that man ever return home from Troy, but let him in this place become sport for the dogs, who, while this day lasts, of his own free will holds back from the fight'. It is not without interest that the speaker is a god in disguise, moreover the god who, as lord of the sea, is best placed to prevent the return home (µ11... vocrt11crtrnv... ) of whoever does not join eagerly in the fray. But Poseidon is not in the least interested in seeing his imprecation fulfilled. The reverse is the case. The god's curses are no more than an ephemeral response to the immediate situation. That is

GREEK AND ROMAN CURSE POETRY

55

to say, their purpose is simply to impress upon ldomeneus, in the most vigorous possible fashion, the need for the Greeks to resist to the utmost Hector and the Trojans, who in the absence of Achilles are threatening to overrun them. Another excluded category is that of curses which assume a larger significance than in the example just discussed, but where the poet's main emphasis falls less upon the curse per se, than upon the events which it sets in train. One example is the dpa{ of Oedipus in Aeschylus' Septem. Their brooding presence dominates the second half of the play, 1 yet the actual words used by Oedipus in cursing his sons are reproduced only briefly, and in summary, at lines 786-90:for an extended version of Oedipus' curses, one must look to the much longer account at Sophocles Oedipus Coloneus 1372-96 (discussed below). The solution to this apparent oddity may simply be that the actual details of the curse were given in the preceding play of Aeschylus' tetralogy, the Oedipus, as Hutchinson 2 has suggested. Nevertheless it seems fair to say that, in the Septem at least, Aeschylus is more interested in the dramatic and psychological possibilities of the curse, than in what was actually said at the moment of imprecation. In this connexion, it is interesting to observe a similar procedure on Euripides' part in the second Hippolytus. The action of the latter half of the play is determined by Theseus' cursing of his son, but the curse proper is allotted the briefest compass in the text, a mere four lines (887-90). It is hard not to feel that Euripides has let slip an opportunity by not placing in Theseus' mouth a truly terrific curse. 3 Here it is noteworthy that Seneca, in his Phaedra, likewise handles Theseus' curse upon Hippolytus in a low-key fashion (942-7)4 - yet permits the hero a far more lengthy and imposing (self-)imprecation, after the truth has come to light (12011243). The two categories of curse just discussed, though not lacking in interest, are perhaps less rewarding as a subject of study than what I 656, 695-711, 720-6, 16fr1, 785-9}, 8}9, 832-3, 840-J, 886-7, 893-9, 945-6, 953-5, 976- 7, 987-8, 1054-6. 2 op. cit. (eh. 1 n. 66), xxiv-xxx. 3 To be fair, Euripides' interest is focussed less on the curse per se, than on the fact that an ineluctable curse has been laid on an innocent party. 4 This could be attributable to the influence of Euripides' 1rut6A.ute>