Vergil's Georgics 0199542937, 9780199542932

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Oxford Readings in ClassicalStudies

Vergil'sGeorgics Edited by KATHARINA

VOLK

OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRESS

OXFORD UNIVBB.SITY PUSS

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford on 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 2008

The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vergil's Georgics I edited by Katharina Volk. p. cm.-(Oxford readings in classical studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978--0-19-954294-9 ISBN 978--0-19-954293-2 I. Virgil. Georgica. 2. Didactic poetry, Latin-History and criticism. 3. Virgil-knowledge-Literature. 4. Allusions in Literature. 5. Rome-In literature. I. Volk, Katharina, I969PA6804.G4V47 2008 873' .0 l---..{(J'fJ-rpaxei 06vor; ('may Envy not cast a 20

OL 9.81; Pyth. 10.65; Nern. l.7; Isthrn. 2.1, 5.38, 8.61; fr. 124.

21 ' ...

22 23

den Musenwagen (vor allem von Pindar ausgebildet)': Wimmel 1960: 105. Hymn 2.105; Epigr.21.4. 01. 2.95, 6.75, 8.55; Pyth. 1.85, 8.32 (cf. 72), 11.29 (cf. 54); Nern. 8.21-2, 10.20.

188

L. P. Wilkinson

rough stone at me', 01. 8.55); µ,-r, K6pos eA0wvKvtuv ('lest Insolence come and scratch us', Pyth. 8.32). So that the personified Inuidia of line 37 is at least as likely to have been suggested by Pindar as by Callimachus. Once at least in the Aeneid Virgil was to recall Pindar, in his description of Etna at 3.570 ff. (cf. Pyth. 1.20 ff.); and it is possible that in his description of the tortures of the damned at 6.601-7 he had in mind 01. 1.54-60. 24 The silence of the commentators on the main part of the proem to Georgics3 about Pindar may have been due to the fact that the similarities I have mentioned are not such as can severallybe nailed down as certain results of influence; but I submit that the conjunction of such a number of probabilities makes it virtually certain that the inspiration of the whole is Pindaric. 24

Nardi 1956.

10 Callimachus, the VictoriaBerenices, and Roman Poetry Richard F. Thomas

It is now five years since P. J. Parsons published the Litle Callimachus, 1 and the dust appears to have settled. The appearance of these fragments, which greatly increase our knowledge of the opening of the third book of the Aetia,2 has been followed by no great critical reaction. Apart from the attractive suggestion of E. Livrea that the 'Mousetrap' (fr. 177 Pf.) may belong within the story ofHeracles and Molorchus, 3 the episode has had somewhat limited impact. 4 This is against the usual trend of overreaction to the publication of new literary texts (witness the Cologne Archilochus and the new Gallus), and is in part a tribute to the thoroughness and clarity with which Parsons presented the fragments. We might, however, have expected more of significance from the VictoriaBerenices.lts placement, at the beginning of the third book of Part of this paper was delivered in March 1980 at a conference on Alexandrianism held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was first published in 1983 and reprinted in R. F. Thomas 1999: 68--113, and it appears here virtually unchanged except for the addition of translations of the Greek and Latin passages by Katharina Volle. 1 Parsons 1977: 1-50. 2 See Parsons 1977: ~8 for lucid arguments on the placement of the episode. 3 Livrea 1979: 37--40. 4 A number of scholars have in fact dealt with the fragments: Kassel 1977; Luppe 1978a and 1978b; Bornmann 1978; Livrea 1978; Barigazzi 1979 and 1980; Livrea et al. 1980. Most of these works, however, are concerned with technical matters relating to the text of the new fragments. None deals with the impact of the episode, which will be our chief concern.

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RichardF. Thomas

the most important poem of the most influential Alexandrian poet, should lead us to delve deeper. Callimachus was dearly attuned to the possibilities in structural organization and, as Parsons has noted, 5 not only does the third book begin and end with epinician sequences (to Berenice and to Euthydes of Locri, fr. 84-5 Pf.), but the entire second half of the Aetia is framed by tributes to the poet's queen ( Victoria and Coma, fr. 110 Pf.). Prima facie the opening lines of Book 3 will not have constituted a casual or incidental aetion. What follows is an argument for the importance of Callimachus, specificallyfor the influence of the new episode, together with other Callimachean verse, on the poetry of Virgil, and to a lesser degree on that of Propertius and Statius. If such influence can be shown, then it may be possible to reverse the procedure and to increase our knowledge of the VictoriaBerenices.While such an approach may appear in part based on circular argument, I believe that in most parts the combination of the demonstrable and the circumstantial will be persuasive. Much, however, is speculative, and I do not conceal that fact. Nevertheless, in the light of the importance of this subject, it will be worthwhile to pursue certain possibilities in spite of their tentative nature.

1. THE PROEM TO THE THIRD GEORGIC The first 48 lines of the third Georgieconstitute Virgil's most extensive statement ofliterary purpose. The poet, after a couplet addressing the theme of the third book, turns aside from the immediate project to treat his own poetic destiny. In seeking a new path to immortality (8-9), he first rejects certain themes as being well worn-omnia iam vulgata (3-8 )-then turns to the alternative, the projection of his poetic future, metaphorically stated: victor in a pointedly Italian setting, Virgil will preside over games and construct a temple, complete with elaborate statuary, in commemoration of the exploits of Caesar Octavian (10-36). The perfection of

5

Parsons 1977: 49-50.

Callimachus,the Victoria Berenices, and Roman Poetry

191

this structure will quell the voice of Invidia (37-9). Meanwhile the present task must be completed (40-8). All in all, then, an elaborate recusatio. At what specific tradition, or to what poet, are these lines, particularly the opening ones, directed? The critics have been at odds. W. Wimmel claimed to find reminiscences and adaptations of Callimachean programmatic poetry. 6 On the other hand, U. Fleischer,7 L. P. Wilkinson, 8 and S. Lundstrom 9 have argued against this and in favour of the importance of Pindar, Wilkinson in particular concluding: 'the influence of the whole is Pindaric.' As will emerge, I believe that each of these views contains a half-truth: the former is correct in the choice of poet (Callimachus), but incorrect on the type of poetry (programmatic purple passages); the latter proposes the right type of poetry (epinician), but the wrong poet (Pindar). New assessment of these lines is warranted, both as a result of the publication of the Lille papyri, and on more general grounds. The third Georgieopens with an address to Pales, Apollo Nomius, and the woods and streams of Mt Lycaeus-normal enough at the beginning of a book on the care and raising of animals. However, the manner of reference to Apollo is noteworthy: pastorah Amphryso(2). This constitutes a gloss on Callim. Hymn 2.47-9: oi{3ov Kai N6µ.iov KLKA~aKoµ.Ev J[lr, Kdvov, J[6T' J1r''Aµ.cppvaaci> {wy{n8a, €TpE.aµ.ov r

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