The poet and the prince : Ovid and Augustan discourse PDF
Preview The poet and the prince : Ovid and Augustan discourse
ImprintinClassicalLiterature — InhonorofbelovedVirgil “Odeglialtripoetionoreelume.. — Dante,Inferno Thi On© The Poet and the Prince The Poet and the Prince OvidandAugustan Discourse Alessandro Barchiesi UNIVERSITYOFCALIFORNIAPRESS Berkeley • LosAngeles • London — Thepublishergratefullyacknowledgesthecontributiontothisbook providedbytheJoanPalevskyEndowmentinClassicalLiterature. UniversityofCaliforniaPress BerkeleyandLosAngeles,California UniversityofCaliforniaPress,Ltd. London,England Translation©1997bytheRegentsoftheUniversity ofCalifornia ThisbookisatranslationofIIpoetaeilprincipe: Ovidioeildiscorsoaugusteo(Rome:Editori Laterza,1994).©1993Gius.Laterza&FigliSpa, Roma-Bari. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Barchiesi,Alessandro. [Poetaeilprincipe.English] Thepoetandtheprince:OvidandAugustan discourse/AlessandroBarchiesi. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )and indexes. ISBN0-520-20223-6(cloth:al—k.paper). 1.Ovid,43B.C.-17or18a.d. Polit—icaland socialviews. 2. Politicalpoetry,Latin History andcriticism. 3. Augustus—,Emperor—ofRome, 63B.C.-14a.d. 4. Rome History Augustus, 30B.C—.—14A.D. 5. Politics—andLiterature Rome History. 6. Rome In literature. I. Title. PA6537.—B28 1997 87i'.oi dc2i 96-49230 CIP M9an8ufa7ctu6red5in4the3Uni2ted1StatesofAmerica Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetsthe minimumrequirementsofAmerica—nNational StandardforInformationSciences Permanence ofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials, ANSIZ39.48-1984. huncegocumspectem,videormihicernereRomam ExPonto2.8.19 credulitasnuncmihivestranocet Amores3.12.44 Leroiestmort,viveleroi! Frazer,TheGoldenBough Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 PARTI. ArmavirumqueintheMirroroftheBlackSea 13 PARTII. OvidWritesRome 45 1. CalendarandPoeticForm 47 2. SyntagmaticTensions 79 3. ParadigmaticEffects 105 4. Genealogies 141 5. GuarantorsandSelf-DestroyingInformation 181 6. TheCausesandMessagesofRites: 214 RecuperationoftheAntique 7. TheSatyricElement 238 PARTIII. TheEnd *51 Bibliography 273 Index 283 IndexLocorum 289 Copyrightedmaterial Acknowledgments AsIpresenttherevisededitionofIIpoetaeilprincipe(1994),itisstill easyformetogo backintimeandacknowledgesomeformativeinflu- encesonthebook.ButbeforeIthanksomeofmyinfluencesbynaming them,Ifeelthatacoupleofmoregeneralremarkscanbehelpfultore- construct(orconstruct)mygenealogy.First,Iwastrainedinclassicsat Pisa (StateUniversityandScuola Normale) intheseventies: thiswasa periodwhena studentworkingonRomanliteraturewouldperceivea strongpolarizationbetween“formal”and“historical”interpretationof literary texts. I hope the book will clarify what I mean by this. It is enough to say that since then I have felt the need to experimentwith readingsofclassicalpoetrythatcouldresistordisplaceortrespassany fixed borderline between “form” and “history,” literatureandculture, oreven “poetics”and“politics.”ThebookcamesimplybecauseIdis- coveredonlylatelythatOvid’sFasti,andOvid’sworkingeneral,could beafruitfulspaceofinquiryforsuchaproject. Boththeformal/struc- tural tradition and the historicist tradition have been pursued in Italy with great vigor and polemical engagement: my book can be read, I think, asan attempttodismantlethe militarized frontierortoinhabit a no-man’s-land. It is perhaps too detailed and formalistic for serious historians, too preoccupiedwith thecultural contextformorerelaxed philologists. Second,tostartnowfromalessambitiousstatement,Imustconfess anoldinterestinaminimalistproblemofinterpretation.EveryOvidian IX Copyrightedmaterial — X Acknowledgments scholar could tell you that the fourth line ofMetamorphoses, admea perpetuumdeducitetemporacarmen,isoneofthemosttantalizingmo- mentsinthewholeofLatinpoetry.Perpetuum “continuous,”encapsu- , latesawholedebateaboutthenatureofthatpoemanditsgenre,struc- ture,relationshiptomodels,andpoetics. Muchlessattentionhasbeen paidtothefirstlineoftheFasti,TemporacumcausisLatiumdigestaper annum andevenlesstotheimplicationsofdigesta “distributed,”“dis- , , continuous.”So,ifperpetuumisviewedasakeytotheepicpoem,why nottrydigesta asa meaningful descript—ion oftheelegiacpoem? Iwas greatlyhelpedherebyaveryformalistic andthereforeintheendmore — than formal observation pointed out to me by Michael Reeve about thetextualtransmissionoftheFasti.1FromthisI—begantolookforways inwhic—hthemeaningofthepoemisconstituted inaculturalcontext, Iguess throughitspeculiar,fragmented,andCallimacheanformat. Ihaveupdated bibliographyandnoteswherepossibleandhavesys- tematicallyrevisedthetext,butIhavenotincorporatedcommentsabout publicationswhichappearedaftermybook.Somearequitecompatible with my approach.2The book ofGeraldine Herbert-Brown, Ovidand theFasti(Oxford 1994),isverydifferentfrommineandcouldgenerate a fruitful dialogue, butin factmy book alreadyowes muchto a book which belongs in the same categoryas Herbert-Brown’s: AugustoFra- schetti,Romaeilprincipe(Roma-Bari 1990).IhavelearnedfromFra- schetti’shistoricalmethodologyandtriedtocontrastsomeofhisread- ings of Ovidian poetry. I have also learned much from the work of AndrewWallace-HadrillandSimonPrice,especiallybecausethosenew studiesofAugustanculturearediscouragingallofusfromviewingthe literarytextsaseithersimply“oppositional”orsimply“orthodox”and fromreadingpoetryasareflexofaprefabideology.3 1. Seebelow,p.103,andforacharacteristicallybriefassessment(onepage)byReeve himself,inPecereandReeve1995,507-8. 2. SeeespeciallyNewlands1995;Krevans1997. 3. IrecommendthebalancedandfairdiscussionsofHerbert-Brown’sbook,together withmine,byElaineFantham(1995)andPhilipHardie(1995).Ialsoreferbrieflytoan importantpaperbyFergusMillar,“OvidandtheDomusAugusta”(1993).Millarteaches ushowtouseOvidasawitnessoftheatmosphereofpoliticalchangeinthelateAugustan aisntd”—Imppeerrhiaalpspebreicoadu,sebuttheIiadmeanaontdvethreywiomprrdesasreedsobyfohriesigdnestcoritphteiIotnaloifanOvtriaddiatsioan.“lHooyawl-- ever,itwillbeseenthatOvid’spoliticalideasarenotanimportantconcerninmyown work.AndIcertainlywasveryimpressedandinfluencedbyMillar’spaperon“theimpact ofmonarchy”(Millar1984). AnothersurpriseafterthepublicationofmyItaliantext:givenmyinterestinOvid’s versionofthedeathofRemus,itwasashocktodiscoverthatthisversionofthemyth withthesurvivingbrotherexculpatinghimselfandlamentingthepoliticalhomicideasa Copyrightedmaterial Acknowledgments xi Severalpeoplehelpedmeatdifferentstageswiththisbookand/orits firstItalianversion: Leslie-Anne Crowley, a specialistofEnglishlitera- ture at the University ofBrescia, who agreed to translate most ofthe Italianoriginal,perhapsincommemorationofherclassicalbackground atOxford;MarioDeNonno;FrancisDunn;AliceFalk;MarcoFantuzzi; DenisFeeney;DonFowler;PhilipHardie;StephenHinds,whoshowed methemanuscriptofhisfundamentalpaper,herecitedasHinds 1992; PaulineHire;TomJenkins;MaryLamprech;AlessandroLaterza;Geor- gia Nugent; Alessandro Schiesaro; and Charles Segal and the anony- mousrefereesforthePress.4Grazie. IquotetheFastifromtheTeubnertextofAlton,Wormell,andCourt- ney (1985) and occasionally from the outstanding Englishtranslation of Betty Rose Nagle (Bloomington 1995), a timely publication which supportsandstimulatesarenewed interestinthepoemintheEnglish- speakingworld. Verona,Arezzo,andCambridge,Massachusetts,1995 — deplorablemistake hadinfluencedaprimaryschooltextbookinthetimeofMussolini. SoawholegenerationofItaliansweretaughthowtobeagoodFascistbyanelegiac Romulus. 4. IalsothankmycolleaguesattheclassicsdepartmentinVerona,aswellastheclas- sicistsattheUniversityofCambridge,whoinvitedmetoaninspiringLaurenceSeminar ontheFastiinthesummerof1990. Introduction COINCIDENCES AND PROBLEMS Thisbookisaboutanemperorandapoetwhoarealso,forourcontem- poraryculture,EmperorandPoet,RegimeandArt.WhatImeanisthat this subjecthas a sortofimplicitmagneticpolarity in it, which forces everynewinterpreterintothepositionofhavingtochoosebetweenop- posingfieldsandthustosaygood-byetohisorherownneutrality.IfI trytoforgetforthemomentthatIamaphilologistandlookattheques- tioninsteadthroughtheeyesofacontemporarystoryteller(orofmore thanonecontemporarystoryteller),itwillbequickerandeasierforme toretraceinyourcompanytheoriginsofthisparadox. — Itis p—robablya coincidence but perhaps itis an invitation to reread Ovid thatinthe space ofa fewyears no fewerthanthreeinteresting worksoffictionwithOvidastheirherohavebeenpublished.Theyare notaboutOvidingeneral,butabouttheexiledpoetandhislifeinthe gloomynewworldoftheBlackSea.1ThefirstoftheseisSognidisogni, anairylittlestory,likeadreamorabutterfly.OneJanuarynightinTomi the poet dreams (through Antonio Tabucchi) that he has been trans- formedintoabutterfly.HeisbroughtbacktoRome,whereinaflutter- ingdanceheofferstheemperorsomepoemswhichshouldwinbackhis favor:butheisrejectedandscorned,hiswingsaretornoff,andheissent i. Tabucchi1992;Ransmayr1988;Malouf1978.
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