RE: VIRGIL: Virgil and the mouse

[ELIZABETH CANTY]

I am far from knowledgable about the transcendental movement in America, but 
there are many conservation groups that reference Thoreau and his love of 
nature. Assuming that Thoreau had a classical education, would a textual 
analysis of "Walden" provide any references or allusions to the "Georgics"? 
I hesitate to draw a direct connection between present attitudes and Virgil 
(as much as I would like to). Instead, perhaps a better way to look at it is 
to view our present attitudes as originating with Thoreau while 
understanding the classical backdrop of his education. He was a Harvard 
graduate, though he disparaged the value of a formal education. He also 
wrote at a time when industry and progress were valued over the natural 
world. Although... now that I think about it, perhaps the age-old city vs. 
country tension in classical literature and pastoral writing provides a 
solid base for Thoreau, depite his rebellion against formal education. I am 
not familiar enough with Thoreau's works to engage in an intertextual 
analysis, but perhaps someone who is more familiar will enlighten us as to 
the connections between Virgil and Thoreau?

Elizabeth


From: "Patrick Roper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: VIRGIL: Virgil and the mouse
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 17:20:18 -0000
 " He stays as the main source of western thought. "

Inspired by the above remark made when we were discussing the pop singer
Dido,  I wonder if subscribers feel that our ambiguous affection for mice
has anything to do with Virgil's lines from the Georgics: "saepe exiguus 
mus
/ sub terris posuitque domos atque horrea fecit."

Virgil is here describing pests of the threshing floor, but with (to my
mind) a wonderful compassion.  It is difficult to feel too badly about mice
after reading such a line.
Was there a Classical antecedant to this?  Did Burns with his "Wee, 
sleekit,
cow'rin', tim'rous beastie" have "saepe exiguus mus" somewhere in the back
of his mind?  Has this love/hate element even crept into Tom and Jerry?

All the rest of the Georgics passage covering moles, toads, weevils and 
ants
seems, perhaps because Virgil writes so well, to elevate these humble
creatures far beyond their nuisance as pests.

I suppose it would be rather obvious to suggest in present company that 
much
of our current attitude to wildlife and nature conservation might have
originated with Virgil and, in particular, in the Georgics.

Patrick Roper






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