Virgil E-Book

R. Alden Smith

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 408

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

VIRGIL

“A truly useful introduction to Vergil and his poetry. Smith combines up-to-date information on the issues with an intelligent and well-written assessment. Highly recommended.”

Karl Galinsky, University of Texas at Austin

“For the newcomer to Virgil, this book will be a welcome introduction to the poet’s works and their reception by critics, artists, and scholars through the centuries.”

Peter E. Knox, University of Colorado, Boulder

Incorporating the most up-to-date classical scholarship, Virgilian scholar R. Alden Smith presents a comprehensive introduction to Virgil’s literary works and narrative technique. In addition to exploring the historical milieu, this book considers the reception of Virgil’s works, citing examples from painting, sculpture, and drama. After analyzing Virgil’s three major works – the Eclogues, Georgics, and the great national epic of Rome, the Aeneid – Smith addresses other key topics, including the manuscript tradition and various problems associated with establishment of the text. Virgil’s legacy, including his influence on subsequent Latin poetry and later literary figures (e.g., Dante, Camões, Milton) is also a feature of this study. Combining scholarly rigor and an accessible writing style, Smith offers an insightful introduction to Virgil and the world in which he lived.

Leseprobe

Contents

List of Figures

Preface

Note on Abbreviations

1 Generalizing about Virgil: Dialogue, Wisdom, Mission

Of Codes and Codices

Code of Readership

Poetic Craft

Thematic Contours

Poetic Models

Virgil’s Allusive (and Imitative) Style

Telling Themes: Virgil and Story

2 Publius Vergilius Maro: A Preamble

The Proto-Augustan Milieu

The Augustan Context

Patronage: Pollio, Maecenas, and Augustus

3 Eclogue Dialogues

L’arte allusiva: Virgil’s Imitative Style

Poetic Pairingh

Eclogues 1 and 9

Eclogues 2 and 8

Eclogues 3 and 7

Eclogues 4 and 5

Eclogues 6 and 10

4 The Georgics: A Repast of Wisdom

Georgic 1: Bread and Circuses

Georgic 2: In uino, ciuitas

Georgic 3: Civic Promise and Rural Catastrophe

Georgic 4: The (Parallel) World of Bees

Conclusion: Recapitulation, Regeneration and Repast

5 The Aeneid: Mission and Telos

Book 1: Mission and Safe Haven

Book 2: Memories of the Fall, Visions of the Mission

Book 3: Fiction and Reality

Book 4: Love and Destiny

Book 5: Names and Games of Identity

Book 6: Past Presenting Future

Book 7: Home and Hostility

Book 8: Triplets and Triumph

Book 9: Raiding Party and “City” Siege

Book 10: Balance of Powers: Pietas in Action

Book 11: Effete Prattle and Dexterous Battle

Book 12: Spectacle of Arms

Conclusion

6 Virgilian Manuscripts: Codex to Critical Edition

Books and Manuscripts

Variant Readings

Eclogue 4.62-3

Georgic 4.415

Aeneid 8.223

Aeneid 10.558

Conclusion

7 The Virgilian Legacy

Virgil in Antiquity

Late Antiquity through the Aetas Vergiliana

Virgil and Renaissance/Post-Renaissance Literature

Virgil in Art

Virgil in Music

Virgil in Film

Virgil in Society and Virgilian Societies

Conclusion

8 Further Reading

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Index

BLACKWELL INTRODUCTIONS TO THE CLASSICAL WORLD

This series will provide concise introductions to classical culture in the broadest sense. Written by the most distinguished scholars in the field, these books survey key authors, periods and topics for students and scholars alike.

Published

Greek Tragedy

Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz

Roman Satire

Daniel Hooley

Ancient History

Charles W. Hedrick, Jr.

Homer, second edition

Barry B. Powell

Classical Literature

Richard Rutherford

Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory

Thomas Habinek

Ancient Epic

Katherine Callen King

Catullus

Julia Haig Gaisser

Virgil

R. Alden Smith

Ovid

Katharina Volk

In Preparation

Roman Historiography

Andreas Mehl, translated byHans-Friedrich Mueller

This edition first published 2011

© 2011 R. Alden Smith

Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smith, Alden.

Virgil/R. Alden Smith.

p. cm. – (Blackwell introductions to the classical world)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4051-5949-4

1. Virgil–Criticism and interpretation. 2. Virgil–Technique. 3. Virgil–Influence.

I. Title.

PA6825.S633 2011

871′.01–dc22

2010017708

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Set in 10.5/13pt Galliard by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited Printed in Malaysia

unus liber tantis liberis

Katie, Harry, Ben, Rachel, Bayush, Sileshi, Tarikwa

Figures

1.1 Virgil, Codex Mediceus

5.1 The Pantheon in Rome

5.2 Silver denarius of Caius Julius Caesar

5.3 A medallion from the Antonine period (AD138–160)

6.1 Stele of Timocrates (second century AD)

6.2 Excerpt of G Codex of Virgil

7.1 Depiction of mounted Aeneas, Klosterneuburg manuscript (twelfth century)

7.2 Flight of Aeneas from Troy by Federico Barocci (1526–1612)

7.3 Cayot, Augustin (1667–1722)

Preface

Virgil is to ancient literature what Michelangelo is to Renaissance art; remove the adjectives, and the sentence may still be true. I am privileged to be one of those who study Virgil and to have come to know him, at least the Virgil who is his text.

For this project I owe a great measure of debt to my friends and colleagues. Many have read portions or all of this manuscript. I sincerely thank my colleague Julia Hejduk, who offered feedback, challenged ideas, checked translations—all of it summa cum caritate. To Jeff Hunt, whose comments were truly invaluable, I owe more that I can say. Jenny, his wife, also read much of the manuscript, improving it in both style and substance. Kenneth Jones and Richard Duran also offered welcome feedback on select chapters. I thank, too, Antony Augoustakis, Simon Burris, Susan Colon, Tommye Lou Davis, Jeff Fish, Brent Froberg, Daniel Hanchey, Tim Heckenlively, David Jeffrey, Steven Jones, Michael Sloan, and Amy Vail for their encouragement and informal exchange of ideas. I am also grateful to Darin Davis, for allowing me to present some of my ideas to Baylor’s Crane Scholars. Thelma Mathews is deserving of my deepest gratitude for performing endless tasks on my behalf. I thank Paulette Edwards for extricating me from much administrative paperwork, and Doris Kelly for taming my schedule.

I received much aid from other colleagues and friends. Gareth Williams received me warmly at Columbia University, where much of this book was written, securing me access to Butler Library. I also thank Joe Farrell who assisted me logistically in Philadelphia when I researched in Penn’s Van Pelt Library; there I met Dan Traister, Curator of Research Services in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. I am grateful to him (and to my Baylor colleague, David White, who introduced us) for assistance in my research on manuscripts; Nico Knauer’s advice on this topic was also valuable.

Professor Mario Geymonat (Venice) offered both welcome guidance on manuscripts and other topics. I thank Monsignor Piazzi of Verona’s Biblioteca Capitolare for special assistance. For important aspects of my research in Italy I also thank ex corde Professor Gianni Profita and Dr Maurizio Fallace, Direttore Generale per i Beni Librari. Professors Peter Arzt-Grabner and Gerhard Petersmann were also very supportive, permitting me the opportunity to present some of my ideas at the University of Salzburg. I thank also Eleanor Stump of St. Louis University for library access and hospitality, and Karl Galinsky and David Armstrong for feedback on a lecture presented at the University of Texas.

For feedback on various parts of the manuscript, I am particularly grateful to Neil Coffee, Craig Kallendorf, Richard Thomas, and John Van Sickle. Sophia Papaiannou, too, offered many thoughtful comments. I cannot possibly mention all those who have been helpful with various bits of advice, but I must mention Giancarlo Abbamonte, Greg Daugherty, Patricia Johnston, Philip Lockhart, Michèle Lowrie, Piergiacomo Petrioli, Fabio Stock, and Katharina Volk; at Moody Library, Kenneth Carriveau and Janet Sheets. For a special matter in Chicago, I thank also Peter Knox and Ujival Vyas. As I began this project, it was an honor to serve as president of the Virgilian Society. I profited much from rich conversations with the late Sandy McKay. I thank, too, Vonnie Sullivan for her invaluable assistance and hospitality, and Bruce Jaffie and Lettie Teague for dinners in New York and various matters concerning wine.

My students at Baylor eagerly assisted with this project. I particularly thank my personal assistants T. J. McLemore, Kathleen Miller, Heather Outland, and Faith Wardlaw, as well as Anne Langhorne, Stephen Margheim, Joe Muller, Holly Murphy, and Anna Sitz. My 2008 Virgil class also offered insights: Jessie Carrothers, Sam and Ashely Cole, Ashley Crooks, Noelle Jacot, Gideon Jeffrey, Jason Milam, Clint Pechacek, William Priest, Harry Smith, and Mary Claire Russell, who deserves special mention, for skillfully rendering the illustrations.

I express my appreciation to the Baylor’s sabbatical and research committees and, in particular, to Vice Provost Truell Hyde and his staff, as well as my supportive chair, John Thorburn. I owe much to my deans Tom Hibbs (Honors College) and Lee Nordt (Arts and Sciences), as well as Provost Elizabeth Davis and President David Garland.

At Wiley-Blackwell, I thank Sophie Gibson, Haze Humbert, Graeme Leonard, and Galen Smith, as well as anonymous reviewers who offered many useful criticisms. Finally, I wish to express deepest gratitude to my wife, Diane, for her boundless help and grace, and to my courageous children for patience and steadfastness. I dedicate this book them.

Note on Abbreviations

All abbreviations in this book are consonant with those of L’Annrée Philologique.

1

Generalizing about Virgil: Dialogue, Wisdom, Mission

And behold I hear a voice… “pick it up and read it!”

Augustine (Confessions 8.12)

Literary code and genre dictate the nature of the tacit communication between the poet and the audience.

Charles Segal (from his introduction to Conte’s The Rhetoric of Imitation, 9)

Virgil wrote in code. The word “code,” as it occurs in the citation above, refers to poetic style and to the method by which a poet conveys meaning. Poetry is encoded through certain generic associations and allusive connections. Though originally composed for a scroll, Virgil’s poems have been preserved for us in the form of a book known as a “codex,” the shape of a book that we still use today. The Latin word codex (i.e., caudex, originally “bark,” later “book”) is the origin of the English words code and codex. The epic code that the reader confronts when reading Virgil was itself recoded when it was transferred from the ancient scrolls to codex.

Virgil composed three major poetic works, each in dactylic hexameters under the generic term epos (Greek “word”). Virgil’s works can thus be classified as three manifestations of epic code. Virgil’s earliest work, the Eclogues, is bucolic, to all appearances concerning the world of herdsmen; his second, the Georgics, is didactic, ostensibly on farming; his grand narrative, the Aeneid, is heroic. These distinctions within the code belonging to epos represent the first signposts on our journey through Virgil’s poetry.

Of Codes and Codices

To decipher Virgil’s code, the reader must begin by accessing the codex in its modern book form. The modern form is derived from ancient and medieval sources and such a history will be explored in the sixth chapter of this book. For the moment, however, let us consider one such manuscript as contributing to the history of Virgil’s text.

In the sixteenth century, an important manuscript came into the hands of Francesco I de’ Medici, and thus it came to be called Codex Mediceus. Francesco moved it from Rome to the seat of Medicean influence, Florence. Housed in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, this antique codex preserves emendations added in red ink by the fifteenth-century philologist Julius Pomponius Laetus (in Italian, Pomponio Leto). Prior to Leto, however, an early owner and editor of the manuscript had added a subscription in a tiny font at the end of the just before the opening of the ():