The Epyllion: From Theocritus to Ovid 0367192608, 9780367192600

Citation preview

Routledge Revivals

The Epyllion

The Epyllion

From Theocritus to Ovid Thesis approved for the Degree of Doctor of Literature in the University of London

M. Marjorie Crump

First published in 1931 by Basil Blackwell This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business ©1931 by Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-0-367-19260-0 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-429-20142-4 (ebk)

THE EPYLLION

THE EPYLLION FROM THEOCRITUS TO OVID Thesis approved fo r the Degree of Doctor of Literature in the University of London By M. MARJORIE CRUMP, M.A., D.L it. LATE OF ST. HUGH’ S COLLEGE* OXFORD AND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON LECTURER IN LATIN AT GOLDSMITH’ S COLLEGE, LONDON

BASIL

BLACKWELL OXFORD i93i

PREFATORY NOTE I wish to express my gratitude to Professor H. E. Butler for many valuable suggestions and criticisms made in the course o f the work; to Professor M. T. Smiley for his kindness in reading and criticising the chapters dealing with Greek authors; to Dr. R . A . Fisher, f .r.s., whose Statistical test o f the figures for the occurrence o f different types o f hexameter I have used in Note IV .; and to Mr. C. G . Crump for reading the work in Manuscript. The publication o f this work has been aided by a grant from the Publication Fund o f the University o f Lon­ don.

v

CONTENTS CHAPTER.

PAG E

I. Introductory II. T he G reek

i

and

L atin E pyllia

25

III. T he E pic Idyll. T heocritus, Moschus and B ion

50

IV . T he Hecale of Callimachus

72

V. V I.

VII.

E uphorion of Chalcis and Parthenius of N ic ® a Catullus

and

His School

T he Culex

X.

T he A rist/bus of V ergil T he Metamorphoses

of

T he Metamorphoses

of

Ovid

E fyllion

and

G rand E pic

vii

195

Ovid

II. THE OVIDIAN EPYLLION

X II.

154 178

I. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE POEM

X I.

115 141

v m . T he Ciris and the School of Cornelius G allus IX.

92

217 243

Contents NOTE

PAGE

I. T he O rder of the Columns Rainer Board

on the

258

II. L ost G reek E pyllia

261

in.

T he Culex

IV.

M etrical T ests of the A uthorship the C ulex a n d Ciris

V.

and the

N arrative E legy

A ristsus

and

263 of

E pyllion

VI. T able of the Construction Metamorphoses

263 271

of the

274

B ibliography

279

Index

281

viii

THE EPYLLION FROM THEOCRITUS TO OVID i IN T R O D U C T O R Y i the general heading o f Greek Epic it is custo­ mary to include a large number o f poems and fragments o f very various types. They are ah written in the same metre and approximate more or less to the Style con­ secrated to epic poetry and known as Homeric; they are narrative or partially narrative in form, and deal with persons and events o f remote or legendary ages. But within these limits the scope o f the Greek Epic is extraordinarily wide, embracing, as it does, such widely divergent forms as the Iliad, the Hesiodic Catalogue poems, the Hymns o f Callimachus and the epic Idylls o f Theocritus. While it is impossible to date with certainty every indi­ vidual example, yet every epic work o f any importance may be ascribed to one o f two groups, the first includ­ ing all the works attributed by the ancients to Homer, Hesiod and the Cyclic poets, and the second the epics and epyllia o f the Alexandrian Age. Between these two periods lies the great age o f Attic literature which proi U n der

The Epyllion from Theocritus to Ovid duced no epic work o f real importance. Doubtless epics appeared from time to time; indeed a few names o f epic authors and their works have come down to us, the best known being that o f Antimachus o f Colophon, who wrote a Thebais, which obtained a certain reputa­ tion— o f notoriety perhaps rather than o f genuine fame. But none o f these epics have survived, and even in their own time they probably had little significance. In considering the history o f the epic they may be re­ garded as negligible. Am ong the many problems connefted with the Ilia d and Odyssey, none is more remarkable than their isola­ tion. Not only are they infinitely greater than any other ancient epic, but they are totally unlike any o f them in chara&er. It may be safely assumed on consideration o f the evidence that they were as far removed from the lost epics as they are from any extant epic poem. The Cyclic and Hesiodic poets represent indeed a develop­ ment o f the Homeric tradition; the Alexandrian epic, however, shows a complete and a deliberate change. The Argonautica o f Apollonius Rhodius has nothing in common with the Ilia d and Odyssey except the most general characteristics o f Style. Still later the truth was forcibly Stated by Vergil, who maintained that it was easier to Steal his club from Hercules than a single line from Homer.1 This isolation o f the two great epics was felt all through the Attic period, as is proved by the 1