Iambic Ideas: Essays on a Poetic Tradition from Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire 0742508161, 9780742508163

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Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches Series Editor: Gregory Nagy, Harvard University Assistant Editor: Timothy Power, Harvard University On the front cover: A calendar frieze representing the Athenian months, reused in the Byzantine Church of the Little Metropolis in Athens. The cross is superimposed, obliterating Taurus of the Zodiac. The choice of this frieze for books in Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches reflects this series' emphasis on the blending of the diverse heritages-Near Eastern, Classical, and Christian-in the Greek tradition. Drawing by Laurie Kain Hart, based on a photograph. Recent titles in the series are:

Nothing Is As It Seems: The Tragedy of the Implicit in Euripides' Hippolytus by Hanna M. Roisman Lyric Quotation in Plato by Marian Demos Exile and the Poetics of Loss in Greek Tradition by Nancy Sultan The Classical Moment: Viewsfrom Seven Literatures edited by Gail Holst-W arhaft and David R. McCann Nine Essays on Homer edited by Miriam Carlisle and Olga Levaniouk Allegory and-the Tragic Chorus in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus by Roger Travis Dionysism and Comedy by Xavier Riu Contextualizing Classics: Ideology, Performance, Dialogue edited by Thomas M. Falkner, Nancy Felson, and David Konstan The Pity of Achilles: Oral Style and the Unity of the Iliad by JinyoKim Between Magic and Religion: Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and Society edited by Sulochana R. Asirvatham, Corinne Ondine Pache, and JolinWatrous Iambic Ideas: Essays on a Poetic Tradition from Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire edited by Alberto Cavarzere, Antonio Aloni, and Alessandro Barchiesi

Iambic Ideas

Essays on a Poetic Tradition from Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire

EDITED BY ALBERTO CAV ARZERE, ANTONIO ALONI, AND ALESSANDRO BARCHIESI

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, . Lanham • Boulder • New York• Oxford

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for Enzo Degani

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ROWMAN&I:ITILEFIELD.PUBLISHEllS, INC. Published in fhe·UniteclStates of America byRowman ~Littiefield Publishers, Inc~ · 47?0 ~ostnWay, Lanham, Maryhµ1d20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com .. . .

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12 I-lid'sCops~Road'., CumnorHill~Oxford OX2 9JJ,England by Rowman&Littlefield Publishers,Inc. Copyright::· ©:2001 : . •.

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Iahlbic ideas : essays on a poetic tradition from Archaic Greebeto the late Roma11Empire . / edited by :Alberto·Cavarzere,Antonio Aloni, and AlessandroBarc:hiesi. p. cm~-(Greek studies: interdisciplinary-approaches) It1cludesbibliographical refetenc~ and.i11dex; ISB:l'l0:"7425~0816-l(~kpap~r)---ISBN 0"."7425~0817-X {pbk.. : alk. paper) . . .•..L poetry,·ciassfo~History and .criticism.. 2. Gr~eklanguage-Metrics and.rhytlnnics.}. Latin language-Metrics and rhythmfos.. L Cavarzere,Alberto. III. Barchiesi,Alessandro~IV. Series. II. Altat taµ(M:~y xaABL'tat .vuv, ··.O'tL.. ,:cp.µB'tQq>..'tOU't(p .taµ~L~OV •.·•(l/1.At}ACrug; •. xat

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Semonides fr. 23

; Nobody offered even a }adel~ulof dregs Semonides fr. 25

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awaythe table ...

Semopides fr. 26

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Perhaps one ofthose n9t taken away was this t\.rgive

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can only guesswork how the poem went on, but an account the speaker's visittoA~haea wouldl)e a suitable continp.11.tion. .·. . . ·. . . . . This Inay not.~eem.much .for the thirty or so fragments of Semonides·that .•are longer than w< ...;_,/.~ • :•~...,: '•• •_,•••••h••:.,• ~ ...,~,.-,,,: :.~• • ,~•.,_-••' :~• • • ••• ~,

from ·stones we built

Tetrameters lhave~ retained tlie trochaictetrametersuntil last, for it is ·herethafthere seem to haye beenJo~g .stretches o.f political ~cl miUtID' ·naqatiye~ ·and where the temptation has bee11gre,atestto infert~at. they belong· to diff~r~ntgenre. Are these-pp~:ms which Archilochus. andhis ha.tQOL(c~:mrrades) woul~ not~ave seen

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as iambon ·•... . . .· ·.•> .. . ..• ··•···•.•. . •·. · ... ··• . •..•• .·. ... ·•······ Sorile ~~quences ofthe-poems•_excerpted inth~.S9stlienes 111onumentonP~og ~~ unaJUbiguouslyII1arked ~s narraHveby-the.fr.use.of pc1stten~es.Of the~e soIIle . _are"politicaJ.,,tc~ctimit+g ¥lldefhand diplomacy and bribery: .

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inflicted pa:in••· .. ·. .. ·.·. .. . , ... with pur swift [spears] ... then?] they put up [iadders] near the::tow~r, labouring .. ·· . ·

Arc~Hochus•fr.. 98;6,. 10,)4-16.

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But even in this. predominantly mm-ativesequ~nce \Ve fmd a.spin that it to a narnedaddresse~~.A.t one point the poet s.eemsto ctjticise.Glaµcllsf?~ at1act pffolly(the supplementi~ based.on the woids·used·fointroduce.the lines iri the

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