I think one of the most important factors in the development of the epyllion is the number of extremely _bad_ epics that get produced both in the Hellenistic era and the Augustan and (pre-Augustan era); this is what Callimachus (+others) are concerned to distance themselves from passim.
However, what Callimachus etc. are distancing themselves from is not Homer. Homer and Hesiod retain sublime status. The Hellenistic epyllions (Callimachus' Hecale; Moschus' Europa; Theocritus) are stuffed full of recondite Homeric / Hesiodic scholarship. The Callimachean hymn to Apollo is a good statement of the Callimachean aesthetic - I think you can read it as laying down the propositions I've just outlined. Aetia 1 has been supposed to refer to an aethetic dispute between Apollonius of Rhodes and Callimachus; I find that surprising - I think the Argonautica is a lot closer to the Callimachean aesthetic than it is to the tired panegyrics that I think Callimachus is distancing himself from. The same thing happens in Rome, broadly speaking. Ennius acquires something of the sublime status of Homer, but the trendy poets (i.e. Catullus; and probably Calvus and Cinna) disparage the big book and are at pains to identify themselves with the Callimachean aesthetic. The antithesis becomes more acute among the Augustans. I think considerable pressure can be detected on the Augustan poets to write an epic for Augustus. The Augustan poets take a hint from Aetia 1 and adapt this into a form of wittily saying no, I don't want to write this poem - the statement becomes not just aesthetic but anti-propagandist. It is in this context that the decision to write the Aeneid must be viewed. Vergil, where other artists refused to "compromise their artistic integrity", decided to take up the challenge - this was a big risk in poetic terms. Interesting to note that Augustus is at pains to get one of the best poets to write this poem (see Horace Epistles 2); in Page's Fragmenta Poetarum Graecorum there's a dozen-odd hexameters of the sort of empty panegyric Augustus could have been content with. Augustus is v. happy with what he gets. Whether he is right to so be is another question altogether. That's all fairly general:- there are interesting specific points of discussion: the structure of the epyllion (in particular the "ekphrasis" device); where does the epyllion start? Callimachus? Philetas? (related question - is there a tradition of narrative elegy?); what's the relationship to, say, Stesichorus? The focus on "human" aspects? Humour? Imitation of Homeric devices. Adrian Pay -----Original Message----- From: Dr D P Nelis [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, December 05, 1998 12:14 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: VIRGIL: epic and epyllion Alan Cameron has a chapter on the epyllion in his 1995 Callimachus and his Critics, and one on Vergil and the recusatio. D. Nelis ---------- >From: David Wilson-Okamura <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: VIRGIL: epic and epyllion >Date: Sat, Dec 5, 1998, 0:51 > >Date: Fri, 04 Dec 1998 16:27:57 -0800 >From: MISS C L DAVIES <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Hi there, I'm new to this but am currently participating in an >interesting discussion with my colleague about the difference between >epic and epyllion. What are your thoughts? > > >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. >Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message >"unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You >can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
