Common to the two most prominent ecphrases in the Aeneid is the
introduction of the images using the word "ordine": at Aen. 1.456 (the
temple of Dido) "ex ordine" and Aen. 8.625 "in ordine". The point of
the emphasis has been variously interpreted - e.g. "ex ordine" at Aen.
1.456 is intended to show that *all* the scenes from the Trojan war
are there; "in ordine" at Aen. 8.625 is intended to show that the
scenes are chronologically ordered (on a round shield...?). At the
surface level, I am sure that something like this is correct - the
scenes are depicted 'in order' i.e. one-by-one.
The phrase also appears in the Ciris-poet's ecphrastic description of
the peplos of Athene:
ergo Palladiae texuntur in ordine pugnae,
magna Giganteis ornantur pepla tropaeis, 30
Now, Rosati (1999) in discussing the episodes of the Minyeides and
Arachne drew attention to the fact that the root meaning of 'ordior',
is to lay the warp for something woven (see Lewis & Short s.v. ordior;
cf. 'exordior') and to the fact that the commonplace word 'ordo' can
retain something of that meaning (Rosati cites Ov. Met. 5.335; 7.520;
9.5; 14.473 and especially 15.29 'idemque retexitur ordo'; but not
Ciris 29-30; cf. Lewis & Short sv. 'exordium' properly 'the beginning
or warp of a web').
Thus at Ciris 29-30, 'in ordine' is not merely incidental: it is meant
to suggest a meaning 'Athene's battles are *woven* into the *warp*',
and only secondarily 'in order' (for 'in ordine' Lyne ad loc. compares
Aen. 1.456 and Aen. 8.625 but only notes 'presumably *chronological*
order' (his emphasis)). (Note that 'in/ex ordine' always appears at
the beginning of the ecphrasis - i.e. the 'start of the garment').
Cf. further and interestingly, "polliceor: nihil est, quod texitur
ordine, longum.' Ciris 399 and Lyne ad loc. ('I suppose but I am not
sure that our poet intends texitur metaphorically [sc. from the
earlier discussion 'weaving'] but what picture he could have in mind
is not clear to me.") - that weaving is had in mind is confirmed by
'ordine' and presumably the phrase has been pillaged by the Ciris-poet
from a context where the literal or metaphoric weaving was apposite
(perhaps the same source as for Ciris 29 - curiously Lyne does not
note the parallel between 29 and 339).
This all suggests to me that where Vergil has 'ordine' in *his*
ecphrases, he has been influenced by a famous ecphrasis where 'ordine'
*did* have a double-meaning exploiting its root sense (i.e. the warp
for a woven garment vel sim.), presumably a source common to Ciris
29-30 and the two Vergilian ecphrases. This would be a description of
a battle-scene on a woven garment (note that battle scenes are common
to the two Aen. passages and Calvus but not to other ecphrases in the
Aeneid). NB especially: (1) the entire phrase 'ex ordine
*pugnae*' (Ciris 29) is repeated at Aen. 1.456 'ex ordine
*pugnas*' (given the appropriateness of ordine to the context of the
Ciris, but not the Aen., the likelihood is V. imitating the Ciris'
source rather than the Ciris-poet imitating Verg.); (2) at Aen. 8.625,
the shield illustration is described as 'non enarrabile *textum*',
where 'textum' of course suggests *something woven*; (3) at Ecl. 1.73,
Vergil seems to glance at the root meaning of 'ordine' - "*insere*
nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone *ordine* vites." '*Sew in* your pears now,
Meliboeus, put your vines *into the warp*.
Lyne posits Calvus' Io as the likely source for the ecphrasis at Ciris
29ff, and he is followed by Thomas (1986). Thomas reaches a similar
conclusion to me (as to Calvus being a source for the ecphrasis at Aen
1) via a different route: he points to the appearance of Athena's
'peplum' (a very rare word in Latin) at Aen. 1.479-81 (as a scene in
the ecphrasis) suggesting that Vergil, here, glances at the
hypothesised Calvan ecphrasis.
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