Ovid: Fasti Book IV

303 Pages·1998·14.927 MB·English

by  Elaine Fantham (editor)

CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
GENERAL EDITORS
E. J. KENNEY
Emeritus Kennedy Professor of Latin, University of Cambridge
AND
P. E. EASTERLING
Regius Professor of Greek, University of Cambridge
(fl) Venus (Genetrix) Aeneas
2 Venus Verticordia 3 Gybele
4 Ceres 5 Ceres
6 Ceres 7 Flora
The cults of Fasti iv on Roman coins (for a full description see p. vi).
OVID
FASTI
BOOK IV
EDITED BY
ELAINE FANTHAM
Giger Professor of Latin,
Princeton University
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521445382
© Cambridge University Press 1998
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1998
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Ovid, 43 BC-17 or 18 AD
[Fasti. Book 4]
Fasti. Book IV/Ovid; edited by Elaine Fantham.
p. cm. - (Cambridge Greek and Latin classics)
Introd. and commentary in English; text in Latin.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0 521 44538 8 (hardback) ISBN 0 521 44996 0 (paperback)
1. Rome — Religious life and customs — Poetry. 2. Didactic poetry,
Latin - History and criticism. 3. Ovid, 43 BC - 17 or 18 AD
Fasti. 4. Rites and ceremonies - Rome - Poetry. 5. Didactic poetry,
Latin. 6. Calendar - Rome - Poetry. I. Fantham, Elaine.
II. Title. III. Series.
PA6519.F6A4 1998
871'.01-dc21 97-13724 CIP
ISBN-13 978-0-521-44538-2 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-44538-8 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521 -44996-0 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-44996-0 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2005
CONTENTS
Details of frontispiece page vi
Preface vii
Abbreviations and references ix
Introduction 1
1 The Fasti in its historical context 1
2 Genre 4
(i) Problems of genre and generic history. Epic and elegy:
elegy as 'not epic' 4
(ii) Cross-fertilizing the genre: the Hellenistic elegists 9
(iii) Callimachus' Hymn 5 and Aitia as a precedent for Fasti 11
(iv) Blending the genres: the contribution of hexameter poetry 18
(v) The transformations of Roman elegy 20
3 Themes 25
(i) Ovid's material and sources for the Fasti 25
(ii) The structure of book iv: combination and variation 36
(iii) Augustan ideology: the poet and his readers 38
4 Style 42
(i) Diction and narrative technique 42
(ii) Versification 48
5 The text 49
Summary of Ovid's April calendar entries 53
P. OVIDI NASONIS FASTORVM LIBER
QVARTVS 57
Commentary 87
Bibliography 277
v
vi CONTENTS
Indexes 285
1 Latin words 285
2 General 287
DETAILS OF FRONTISPIECE
The cults of Fasti iv on Roman coins
1. Denarius of C. Iulius Caesar (47-46 BC), Crawford, RRC 458/1.
(a) Obverse: Diademed head of Venus (Genetrix) r.
(b) Reverse: Aeneas walking 1., carrying Anchises and Palladium.
2. Denarius of M. Cordius Rufus {c. 46 BC), Crawford, RRC 463/ib.
Reverse: Venus Verticordia standing 1., holding scales and scep-
tre; Cupid on her shoulder.
3. Denarius of C. Fabius Hadrianus (c. 102 BC), Crawford, RRC
322/ib. Reverse: Veiled and turreted head of Cybele, r.
4. Denarius of C. Memmius (c. 56 BC), Crawford 427/2. Reverse:
Ceres seated r. MEMMIVS AED CERIALIA PRIMVS FECIT.
5. Denarius of C. Vibius Pansa (c. 48 BC), Crawford, RRC 449/2.
Reverse: Ceres walking with two outstretched torches, plough be-
fore. (Cf. C. Vibius Pansa (c. 90 BC) Ceres with two torches and
pig, Crawford, AftC 342/3^)
6. Denarius of M. Volteius (c. 78 BC), Crawford, RRC 385/3. Re-
verse: Ceres in chariot drawn by two serpents. (Cf. C. Vibius
Pansa (c. 48 BC), Crawford, RRC 449/33.)
7. Denarius of C. Servilius (e. 57 BC), Crawford, ARC 423/1. Reverse:
head of Flora r., with flower and lituus behind, FLORAL PRIMVS.
PREFACE
Ovid's Fasti has been the centre of increasingly vigorous literary and
historical study since 1978, but despite the flood of stimulating ar-
ticles and monographs, there has been no English language com-
mentary on any part of the text since Frazer's five splendid volumes
published in 1929. This commentary on book iv is intended to make
one of the most interesting months of Ovid's calendar available for
undergraduate and graduate study. As far as possible I have incor-
porated the ideas and approaches of recent discussions on Augustan
monuments and ideology, on the Augustan public calendar and on
both early and Augustan religious practice.
The bulk of my research for this commentary was made possible
by leave granted by Princeton University in 1994-5: during that time
I was privileged to be the guest of the Department of Classics and
Archaeology at the University of New England, Australia, and the
Dipartimento di Filologia Latina, University of Pisa. The American
Academy graciously awarded me a residency for October to De-
cember 1994: there the Librarian Christina Huemer and her staff
made research a delight, and the Professor in Charge Malcolm Bell
enabled me to walk the ground that Ovid trod and understand
where I was standing. In 1995 and again in summer 1996 Pembroke
College Cambridge generously welcomed me as a Visiting Scholar,
and the Cambridge University Faculty of Classics offered me use of
its library and enjoyment of its seminars. There and elsewhere I
have profited from the kindness of scholars ready to let me see their
unpublished work and discuss problems informally: in particular
Sandro Barchiesi, Mary Beard, Dennis Feeney, Philip Hardie,
Stephen Hinds, Richard Hunter, Richard King, Carole Newlands,
John Miller, and Peter Wiseman have generously shared their writ-
ings and ideas. I cannot thank them enough, and only hope I have
not wasted or distorted their thought. Ted Kenney has been both
patient and kind beyond his editorial duties, and I thank him for the
many occasions when I have delighted in his wit and learning. Per-
haps authors do not always appreciate just how much they owe to
the quality of their copy-editors. I was exceptionally fortunate to
benefit from the superb scholarship and meticulous editing of Susan
viii PREFACE
Moore, and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to her not
just for her skills, but also for her patience and forbearance.
Besides a sincere appreciation of the skill and tact of Pauline Hire
and the staff at Cambridge University Press I would like here to ex-
press a different kind of thanks, to my graduate students. The ad-
venturous and versatile 1995 Fasti-Class - Al, Andrew, Andromache,
Ed, Jesse, Kasha, Katharina, Lara, Peter and Paolo - were a continu-
ing stimulus. Their discussions and individual research enlivened
and improved my reading of the poem with the fun of chasing ideas
and links of thought. Among the senior graduates Grant Parker's
impeccable scholarship helped me to set my manuscript in better
order and submit a cleaner text. I would like to dedicate this com-
mentary to them all and to their futures as Classical scholars.
Princeton/Cambridge igg6 Elaine Fantham