Dear Adrian (if I may) You will find criticisms of almost evry aspect of the picture you draw in Cameron's book. He is very severe! Not that I agree with all he says, but future discussions of the epic tradition will have to tackle his work; all Vergilians will have to read Callimachus and his Critics. Bon courage! Damien ---------- >From: Adrian Pay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: RE: VIRGIL: epic and epyllion >Date: Mon, Dec 7, 1998, 21:17 >
>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 > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
