Apuleius' Florida: A Commentary

228 Pages·2004·14.796 MB·English

by  Benjamin Todd Lee

Benjamin Todd Lee
APULEIUS' FLORIDA
W
DE
G
TEXTE UND KOMMENTARE
Eine altertumswissenschaftliche Reihe
Herausgegeben von
Siegmar Döpp, Adolf Köhnken, Ruth Scodel
Band 25
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
APULEIUS' FLORIDA
A COMMENTARY
by
Benjamin Todd Lee
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
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ISBN 3-11-017771-4
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DIS Μ Α Ν I Β U S
aviae almae optimae
SARAH TOMERLIN LEE
(1910-2001)
avi praeclari
LEO CALVIN ROSTEN
(1908-1997)
SACRUM

PREFACE
This book provides a text and commentary on the Florida, an anthology of
orations and fragments of orations that Apuleius delivered primarily in
Carthage during the 160's A.D. I have focused above all on Apuleius' artistic
and aesthetic use of the Latin language, which he regarded as a plastic medium.
The excerpts of the Florida themselves demonstrate this claim, both in theory
and in practice. The commentary also explores the complex intertextual
relationships of the Florida to earlier Greek and Latin literature, as well as the
work's extensive links to Middle Platonism, the Second Sophistic, and the rest
of the Apuleian corpus, particularly his philosophical works. This is a rich text,
and it is my hope that the commentary will facilitate a variety of critical
approaches.
Perhaps more than any other genre of classical scholarship, a commentary is
built with the labor of predecessors. I pause to recognize the admirable work of
Rudolph Helm (Apulei Florida [2nd edition Leipzig, 1925, cum addendis 1959])
and Paul Vallette (Apulee: Apologie Florides [Paris, 1924]), whose editions of
the Florida provide the basis of this commentary. Most recently, Stephen J.
Harrison's Apuleius: A Latin Sophist (Oxford, 2000) has proved a reliable and
essential collection of evidence, and my debt to his careful work is evident
throughout this book. John Dillon's The Middle Platonists (Ithaca, 1977) and
Claudio Moreschini's Apuleio e il Platonismo (Florence, 1974) have been
invaluable aids in a philosophical interpretation of Apuleius' rhetoric. Finally,
Claudio Marangoni's II mosaico della memoria (Padua, 2000) has considerably
advanced the study of Floridian intertexts.
This book began in 1997 as my doctoral thesis at the University of
Pennsylvania. I am much indebted to my dissertation committee, Professors
James O'Donnell, Brent Shaw, and above all my friend and mentor Joseph
Farrell, Jr., who devoted a tremendous amount of time and energy to my work,
and helped me so greatly. Professors Thomas Waldman and Ann Matter, also
of the University of Pennsylvania, were supportive and generous with their
expertise in palaeographical matters. William Roberts, Esq., was central to my
study of the philosophy of rhetoric. Professors Francis Newton of the
University of North Carolina, and Julia Gaisser of Bryn Mawr College, both
gave me crucial advice and bibliography at several stages of this project.
I must also acknowledge the generous spirit of collegiality I found in Europe
while researching Apuleian manuscripts. Professor Gian Biagio Conte, of
the Scuola Normale di Pisa, showed me extraordinary hospitality and
encouragement. I am most grateful to the curators and staff of the Biblioteca
Laurenziana in Florence, the Ambrosiana in Milan, and the Royal Library in
Brussels for permission to study their Apuleian manuscripts first hand, and the
generous assistance they offered me. Two Salvatori Research Fellowships,
awarded by the Department of Italian Studies at Penn, made it possible to study
viii Preface
the manuscripts of the Florida during the summers of 1999 and 2000, for which
I here record my gratitude.
For the conversion of the dissertation into a book, I benefited from the
learned criticism of Professor Andrew Dyck of the University of California at
Los Angeles, whose careful editorial comments saved me from many
infelicities. I am grateful to Professor Ruth Scodel of the University of
Michigan for her interest in my work, and her role in bringing my manuscript to
de Gruyter. Dr. Sabine Vogt and Ms. Grit Müller of de Gruyter have been
patient and helpful with my technical queries, and offered all manner of
painstaking assistance. My colleagues in the Classics Department at Oberlin
have proved to be friends as well as staunch supporters, and 1 am lucky to work
with Professors Thomas Van Nortwick, Kirk Ormand, Nathan Greenberg, and
James Helm. Professor Helm showed skill and patience in formatting this
manuscript that were nothing short of miraculous. I would also like to thank
the Mellon Foundation for a summer research grant that funded the helpful
assistance of Elizabeth Ehrenhalt, Oberlin Class of 2005, during the summer of
2003. Any errors that remain are solely my responsibility.
My family, too, deserves my most heartfelt thanks for their support during
the completion of this book. My parents Todd and Madeline Lee were a rock in
uncertain times; my brother Josh strengthened my resolve; my beautiful wife
Melanie never lost faith in me; and my daughters Isabelle and Charlotte, at the
small expense of some sleep, continue to make my life new and joyful.
Oberlin Benjamin Todd Lee
January 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS xi
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Florida: Meaning of the title of the collection 1
2. Apuleius' life and times 3
a. Sources 3
b. Date of birth 3
c. Place of birth and family 4
d. Chronology 5
3. Apuleius' works 6
a. Surviving works 7
b. Lost works 11
c. Spurious works 12
4. The Florida 12
a. Date 12
b. Contents of the Florida 13
c. Structure 14
d. Position of the Florida in relation to Apuleius' other works 18
e. Generic affiliations of the Florida·. Epideictic oratory 20
f. Discursive affiliations of the Florida with the Second Sophistic 24
g. Floridian intertexts 26
5. The text of the Florida 30
a. Manuscript tradition 30
b. The book divisions of the Florida 31
c. Manuscript organization and the division into fragments 32
d. Notes on the text of this edition 35
SIGLA 36
TEXT ofthe Florida 37
NOTES and COMMENTARY 61
BIBLIOGRAPHY 193
INDEXES 203
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Distribution of Lines per Fragment in the Florida
as represented in Codex Laurentianus 68.2 (F) 15
Figure 2: Table of where the present text differs from that of Valette 35