The Art of Pliny's Letters: A Poetics of Allusion in the Private Correspondence PDF
Preview The Art of Pliny's Letters: A Poetics of Allusion in the Private Correspondence
This page intentionally left blank THE ART OF PLINY’S LETTERS In the first book on intertextuality in Pliny the Younger, Professor Marchesi invites a new reading of Pliny’s collection of private epis- tles: the letters are examined as the product of an authorial strategy controlling both the rhetorical fabric of individual units and their arrangementinthecollection.Byinsertingrecognizablefragmentsof canonical authors into his epistles, Pliny imports into the still fluid practice of letter-writing the principles of composition and organi- zationthatforhiscontemporariescharacterizedotherwritingsaslit- erature. Allusions become the occasion for a metapoetic dialogue, especiallywiththecollection’sprivilegedaddressee,Tacitus.Anactive participant in the cultural politics of his time, Pliny entrusts to the lettershisviewsonpoetry,oratoryandhistoriography.Indefininga model of epistolography alternative to Cicero’s and complementing thoseofHorace,OvidandSeneca,healsosuccessfullycarvesaniche forhisworkintheRomanliterarycanon. ilaria marchesi isAssistantProfessorofClassicsandCompara- tiveLiterature,andDirectoroftheClassicsProgramatHofstraUni- versity. Recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities Grantin2005–2006forherworkonPliny,shehaspublishedalsoon HoraceandPetroniusaswellastheclassicaltraditionintheMiddle Ages. THE ART OF PLINY’S LETTERS A Poetics of Allusion in the Private Correspondence ILARIA MARCHESI CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521882279 © Ilaria Marchesi 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2008 ISBN-13 978-0-511-38827-9 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-88227-9 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Acknowledgements page vi Preface viii Introduction 1 1 Thesemioticsofstructure 12 2 Sedquidegotamgloriose?Pliny’spoeticsofchoice 53 3 TheimportanceofbeingSecundus:Tacitus’voicein Pliny’sletters 97 4 Storminghistoriography:Pliny’svoiceinTacitus’text 144 5 OvercomingCiceroniananxiety:Pliny’sniche/nikeinliterary history 207 Fromdawntilldusk:fournotesinlieuofaconclusion 241 Appendixtochapter5 252 Listofworkscited 258 Generalindex 272 Indexlocorum 275 v Acknowledgements IhesitatetoadmitthatIdiscoveredPlinyasasubjectworthyofstudyonly in graduate school, in the context of a course on the history of the book withJohnBodel.Itwashisinspiredteachingthatfirstprovidedtheimpetus forthisbook,andhisgenerosityandsupportiveadvicehaveaccompanied thisprojecttoitscompletion.Myfirstandgreatestdebtistohim. Over the years many friends and colleagues have helped me think and writeaboutPliny’stexts,bypatientlyreadinganddiscussingmymanuscript in its various incarnations. It would be impossible to express fully my gratitudetoeachofthemhere,butIwouldliketosingleoutthreeofmy earlyreaders:AlessandroBarchiesi,LowellEdmundsandDenisFeeney.To theirsupportivecriticismsthisbookowesthecouragetotryandexportinto astudyofPliny’sprosethedelicateinstrumentsusuallyreservedforpoetic texts.ToRoyGibsonandGarethWilliamsgoesmywarmestgratitudefor their painstaking readings and priceless suggestions. Roy’s enthusiasm for renewing the study of Pliny has sometimes surpassed even my own, and hashelpedmeovercomemanyfitsofskepticismandself-doubt.ToTony Woodman,areaderextremelygenerouswithhistimeandasskepticalashe isselfless,Iowethedistinctpleasureofhavingbeenforcedtorethinkmany arguments. The Art of Pliny’s Letters is definitely a better book thanks to him.HestilldoesnotagreewithmanyofthepointsIhavemadehere,and shouldnotbeheldinanywayresponsibleformyobstinatedisposition. I am grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a research fellowship in 2005–2006, which allowed me to take one year off fromteachinginordertoworkonthefinalrevisionofthisbook.Iamalso extremelygratefultoHofstraUniversityforhavingfacilitatedmyleave,and toStevenSmith,acolleagueandnowafriend,towhosecareIentrustedthe ClassicsProgramduringmyleave.Hisenthusiasm,commitmentandpro- fessionalismhavegivenmethepeaceofmindtoworkonmybookwithout worryingaboutthefateofourstudents. vi Acknowledgements vii I would also like to thank the environment of American academia. A projectlikethiswouldhaveneverseenthelightofdayhadInotbeengiven thechancetostudyandtoworkintheUnitedStatesaftermytrainingin Italy.Thepasttenyearshaveofferedmearemarkableseriesofopportunities to reinvent myself and my work at every step. In this time I have also benefitedmuchfromthegenerosityofStephanieCobb,ChristianDupont, Matt Fox, George Greaney, Kristi Grimes and Esther Marion. From the various vantage points of their disciplines they have not only helped to makemyItalian-soundingprosemorereadablebutalsotaughtmethereal meaningofthewordcollegial.Tothecombinedeffortsofallthesepeople thisbookowesitsstrengths;itsdefectsmustbeascribedtomystubbornness. Itonlyremainstodischargethepleasantdutyofthepublishingmember in any academic couple; that is, offering thanks to their spouse for their patienceandsupport.TomyhusbandSimone,whotwelveyearsagocon- vincedmetolookWestfromtheshoresoftheTyrrhenianSeaandimagine alifetogetherbeyondit,Isayonlyonething:maywebefortunateenough tocontinuesharingeverywordofit. In the body of this book, I follow the standard system of abbrevia- tions for ancient sources as detailed in the Oxford Latin Dictionary and theGreek–EnglishLexiconofLiddellandScott.Formodernsourcesinthe bibliography,Ihavespelledoutalljournaltitlesinfull. Preface ThisbookisaboutwhatmakesPliny’scollectionofprivatecorrespondence aliterarywork.Whiletheepistleshavepreviouslybeenstudiedasasource of historical information, recent critical interest in Pliny has acquired a largerfocus.WorkssuchasHoffer’sontheanxietiesofPlinytheYounger orthecollectiveendeavoroftheManchesterandMenaggioconferenceson Plinyandhissocial,politicalandculturalworldshaveilluminatedPliny’s engagementwithcentralissuesofhistimes.Thesecontributions,however, havelargelybeenanimatedbyaninterpretationoftheepistlesthatisexclu- sivelyinstrumental:Pliny’stextshavebeenread,infact,asawitnesstothe author’sstrategicself-fashioning.Ifthispartlynewapproachhasthemerit ofadvancingthecriticaldebatebeyondtheearlierprevailinginterestinhis collectionasasourceofprosopographicevidence,itstillinsistsoncasting the epistles as a testimony to the life, however artificially and strategically constructed, of an individual. My work intends to reorient the reading of Pliny’s letters by considering them not only as a tool for understand- ing the author or his times but also as the object to be understood. My centralcontentionisthat,whilePlinyconsciouslyembedsinhistextsthe self-portraitofamanofstrenuouspoliticalactivityandincessantcultural commitment,thisportraitcannotbeseparatedfromthetextualcorpusthat articulatesit.Pliny’slettersdonotmerelywitnesshisculturalproject;they constituteit.Inotherwords,althoughinreadingtheletterswelearnsome- thingaboutthepersonoftheauthorandtheintricatewebofpersonalities that populate them, we should also expect to learn something about the lettersthemselvesandthestrategiesthroughwhichtheyareconstructedas self-sufficient,literarytexts. Pliny’s letters are certainly documents that provide information on a realitylocatedoutsidethem:theycontainusefuldataonPliny’sowneco- nomic, political and oratorical activities; they convey a picture of power struggles, relations and customs in his circle of friends; they record the lives of some of his contemporaries and the deaths of many of his elders; viii
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