Virgil Recomposed: The Mythological and Secular Centos in Antiquity (American Classical Studies) PDF
Preview Virgil Recomposed: The Mythological and Secular Centos in Antiquity (American Classical Studies)
Virgil Recomposed AMERICAN PHILOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION AMERICAN CLASSICAL STUDIES VOLUME 48 Series Editor DONALD J. MASTRONARDE Studies in Classical History and Society MEYER REINHOLD Sextus Empiricus The Transmission and Recovery of Pyrrhonism LUCIANO FLORIDI Greek Mythology in the Roman World ALAN CAMERON The Augustan Succession An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio’s ‘‘Roman History’’ Books 55–56 (9 B.C.–A.D. 14) PETER MICHAEL SWAN Virgil Recomposed The Mythological and Secular Centos in Antiquity SCOTT MCGILL Virgil Recomposed The Mythological and Secular Centos in Antiquity Scott McGill 1 2005 1 OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthatfurther OxfordUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellence inresearch,scholarship,andeducation. OxfordNewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece GuatemalaHungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright#2005byTheAmericanPhilologicalAssociation PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork,10016 www.oup.com OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutpriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData McGill,Scott,1968– Virgilrecomposed:themythologicalandsecularcentosinantiquity/ScottMcGill. p. cm.—(Americanclassicalstudies;no.48) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN-13978-0-19-517564-6 ISBN0-19-517564-6 1.Virgil—Adaptations—Historyandcriticism. 2.Virgil—Parodies,imitations,etc.—Historyand criticism. 3.Epicpoetry,Latin—Adaptations—Historyandcriticism. 4.Centos—Historyand criticism. 5.Mythology,Roman,inliterature. 6.Virgil—Appreciation—Rome. I.Title.II.Series. PA6825.M3952005 871'.01—dc22 2004022887 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper To My Son, Charlie This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This book began when I decided to take Ausonius outside with me on a lazy summerdayandreadtheMoselle.OpeningGreen’seditionatrandom,Iinstead encounteredtheCentoNuptialis,andadissertationtopicwasborn.Desidiosum iuvat Fortuna. Severalyearshavepassedsincethen.Icompletedandmanytimesrevisedthe dissertation; finishing (or better, abandoning) it now as a monograph, I feel somewhatwistful,sincetheprojectissocloselyassociatedwitharemarkabletime inmylife,andwithmanyremarkablepeople.Ilearnedmuchasagraduatestudent from my professors, particularly Michael Anderson, Bob Babcock, Susanna Braund,andGordonWilliams,whowereallmodelsofmentoring,proddingme patiently and amiably to think harder and with more clarity. As an advisor sine tituloandareaderofthedissertation,MichaelRobertshelpedmetorealizethis project in more ways than I can recount. Finally, John Matthews and Ellen Oliensiswereasgenerous,supportive,andrigorousadvisorsasIcouldhavehoped tohave. SincearrivingatRiceUniversity,Ihavebenefitedfromthehealthyandnur- turing environment that the university and the Classical Studies Department create for its junior faculty. In more concrete terms, I appreciate the editorial workofCyndyBrown,whichcertainlyspedmyprogress.Mycolleagues,Coulter George,ChristopherKelty,MichaelMaas,HilaryMackie,DonMorrison,Car- oline Quenemoen, and Harvey Yunis also facilitated the preparation of my manuscript.Conversationwiththem,teachingalongsidethem,andhavingthem aseditorshavebeentrulyenjoyableandproductiveexperiences. Whenthisbookneededafinalroundofscrubbing,DonaldMastronardeandthe anonymous readers at the APA provided me with both general and specific assis- tance.Theircriticismallowedmetoavoidmanyerrorsandescapemanypitfalls— thoughfallibilityisstubborn,andIamsurethatmistakesandinfelicitiesremain,for which of course I am alone responsible. I must also thank Eve Bachrach, Jessica Ryan,andGwenColvinatOxfordUniversityPressfortheirguidance. XVIIICentoNuptialisfromTheWorksofAusonius,byR.P.H.Green(1991), was reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. The translation of Ausonius’s epistle to Paulus was reprinted by permission of the publishers and viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library from Ausonius: Volume 1, Loeb ClassicalLibraryvol.96,translatedbyH.G.Evelyn-White(Cambridge,Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1919). The Loeb Classical Library 1 is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College. The De Alea was reprinted by permission of Loffredo Editore Napoli SpA. Finally, the Epitha- lamium Fridi and Medea were reprinted by permission of K.G. Saur Verlag. Throughout the entire process of writing this book, my family has been an anchor.IparticularlywanttothankmybrotherSeanandmyparents,whotaught me by example how to be disciplined and to stick to a task until it is done. In different ways, I am indebted to old friends in the Northeast (though the academicdiasporahastakenustofar-flunglocations)andnewonesinHouston, and especially to Joseph Luzzi. Finally, Sarah Ellenzweig makes everything worthwhile and better than I deserve. At the risk of being precious, let me end by saying what a pleasure it has beenthesepastyearstoreadandthinkaboutnotonlysomeofthewildesttexts inantiquitybutalsoVirgil,whoasapoethasnosuperiorandjustafewequals. non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum (A. 6.625), caelicolae magni (A. 10.6) possim superare labores (A. 3.368) carminaqui(G.4.565)matrisquededittibi,Mantua,nomen(A.10.200). Contents Abbreviations xi Text Editions Used xiii Introduction xv 1. Playing with Poetry: Writing and Reading the Virgilian Centos 1 2. Tragic Virgil: The Medea 31 3. Virgil and the Everyday: The De Panificio and De Alea 53 4. Omnia Iam Vulgata? Approaches to the Mythological Centos 71 5. Weddings, Sex, and ‘‘Virgil the Maiden’’: The Cento Nuptialis and the Epithalamium Fridi 92 Conclusion 115 Appendix: Texts of the Mythological and Secular Centos 119 Notes 153 Bibliography 217 Index 227
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