Statius and Virgil: The Thebaid and the Reinterpretation of the Aeneid PDF
Preview Statius and Virgil: The Thebaid and the Reinterpretation of the Aeneid
This page intentionally left blank STATIUS AND VIRGIL At the end of the Thebaid, Statius enjoins his epic “not to compete withthedivineAeneidbutrathertofollowatadistanceandalways revere its footprints.” The nature of the Thebaid’s interaction with theAeneid is,however,amatterofgreatdebate.Thisbookarguesthat theThebaid reworksthemes,scenes,andideasfromVirgilinorderto showthattheAeneid’srepresentationofmonarchyisinadequate.It alsodemonstrateshowtheThebaid’sfascinationwithhorror,specta- cle,andunspeakableviolenceistiedtoStatius’critiqueofthemoral and political virtues at the heart of the Aeneid. Professor Ganiban offersbothanewwaytointerprettheThebaidandalargelysequen- tialreadingofthepoem. randall ganibanisAssociateProfessorofClassicsatMiddlebury College,Vermont. STATIUS AND VIRGIL The Thebaid and the Reinterpretation of the Aeneid RANDALL T. GANIBAN CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridg e.org /9780521840392 ©RandallTothGaniban2007 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublishedinprintformat 2007 ISBN-13 978-0-511-27359-9 eBook(EBL) ISBN-10 0-511-27359-2 eBook(EBL) ISBN-13 978-0-521-84039-2 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-84039-2 hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. MATRI ET MANIBUSPATRIS Contents Preface pageviii Listofabbreviations x 1 Introduction 1 2 Oedipus’curse 24 3 Horror, prophecy, and the gods 44 4 Hypsipyle’snarrativeofnefas 71 5 Bacchusandtheoutbreakofwar 96 6 Disandthedominationofhell 117 7 DelayandtheroutofPietas 152 8 Spectacle,crime,andmonarchyatThebes 176 9 Pietas,burial,andclementiainaworldofnefas 207 Workscited 233 Generalindex 243 Indexlocorum 249 vii Preface ThisbookbeganasadissertationonnefasintheThebaidandhasevolved intoamonographthatinterpretsStatius’epicasapoliticalcritiqueofthe Aeneid. Along the way a number of institutions and individuals provided invaluable help. My dissertation work benefited from the support of the PrincetonClassicsDepartment,anassistantmastership(underBobHollan- der and Ted Champlin) at Princeton’s Butler College, a Ford Foundation dissertation fellowship, and the helpful counsel of those who at various times served on my dissertation committee: Elaine Fantham (director), DenisFeeney,GeorgiaNugent,andAlessandroSchiesaro. More recently, Jim O’Hara offered helpful suggestions as I was recon- ceptualizing the project. Generous support from Middlebury College in theformofacademicleavesandfundingforconferencetravelgavemethe timetotransformthedissertationintothepresentwork.EveAdler,Antony Augoustakis,NeilBernstein,CharlesMcNelis,KarlaPollmann,andMarc Witkin read various chapters and gave me many helpful and insight- ful comments, as did the readers for Cambridge University Press. Tony Woodman offered wonderful advice at an important moment. Rebecca Scholtz and Sarah Miller, my research assistants at Middlebury, helped track down articles through interlibrary loan, and my advanced Latin class on the Thebaid in the Fall of 2004 carefully considered a number ofmyinterpretivearguments.ThehospitalityoftheHarvardDepartment of the Classics, where I was a visiting scholar during the academic year 2005–6,enabledmetofinalizethismanuscriptefficientlyandcomfortably. Michael Sharp of Cambridge University Press has been unfailingly kind, helpful, and supportive throughout the entire process. Jane Chaplin, my colleagueatMiddlebury,andElaineFantham,mygraduateschooladvisor, have both been unstinting with their time and advice. Finally, Elizabeth viii
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