<< message forwarded by listowner, David Wilson-Okamura >> Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 22:31:31 +0100 From: Robert Dyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear M. Plantade, Perhaps we should continue this debate privately, or over lunch in Paris, if you live here. I do not accept any definition of philology that excludes re-analysis of the philological facts. Vergil's use of language is, as I am sure you know, particularly bizarre, and I to no degree assert that his practice in the hexameter is universal. Ovid clearly goes out of his way in his elegiacs to show that they can be wriiten without the grave abuse of Latin word order rules that Vergil alone practises. This is not a question of whose authority each of us accepts, but if how we apply what we learned from them. I accept as good authorities in Latin philology my teachers Mynors, A.F. Wells (Cyril Bailey's heir) and Fraenkel, although most of my work and teaching has been on Greek philology under the teaching of George Shipp, and the aegis of Chantraine and Snell, for whom I worked for a number of years on the Homer Lexikon. Although by saying this I in no way invoke their support for all the views I accept, you will understand at once that these names represent some of those most critical of the tradition you espouse. It is for that reason I would enjoy discussing your point of view in person. I am not in least impressed by the view that the metrical pattern in Vergil's hexameter is irrelevant to its pronunciation. In one respect I follow Fraenkel in agreeing completely with you. It is the structure of the cola that make up the hexameter line that matters, and it is within their structure, as Fraenkel always argued, that we have to account for the cola that necessarily involve the coincidence of the two rhythms and those that allow a large variation in this respect. The ground of dispute is whether each of the poet's choices is deliberate (as I believe it is in Vergil) or determined solely by the choice of words and their accidental rhythmical patterns (as I believe it is in Catullus and in most of Horace's metres, but not all). Sorry to bother the list with philological niceties, but I wanted the members to be aware both that I disagree with your arguments and that there is a dispute over the issues that separate us. Rob Dyer Paris, France ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
