Inconsistency in Roman Epic: Studies in Catullus, Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid and Lucan (Roman Literature and its Contexts)

181 Pages·2007·1.38 MB·English

by  James J. O'Hara

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Inconsistency in Roman Epic
How should we react as readers and as critics when two passages in a
literary work contradict one another? Classicists once assumed that all
inconsistenciesinancienttextsneededtobeemended,explainedaway,or
lamented.BuildingonrecentworkonbothGreekandRomanauthors,this
bookexploresthepossibilityofinterpretinginconsistenciesinRomanepic.
After a chapter surveying Greek background material including Homer,
tragedy,PlatoandtheAlexandrians,fivechaptersarguethatcomparative
studyoftheliteraryuseofinconsistenciescanshedlightonmajorprob-
lemsinCatullus’PeleusandThetis,Lucretius’DeRerumNatura,Vergil’s
Aeneid,Ovid’sMetamorphoses,andLucan’sBellumCivile.Notallincon-
sistenciescanorshouldbeinterpretedthematically,butnumerousdetails
inthesepoems,andsomeancientandmoderntheorists,suggestthatwecan
bebetterreadersifweconsiderhowinconsistenciesmaybefunctioning
inGreekandRomantexts.
James J. O’Hara is George L. Paddison Professor of Latin at the
UniversityofNorthCarolina,ChapelHill.HeistheauthorofDeathand
theOptimisticProphecyinVergil’sAeneid(1990)andTrueNames:Vergil
andtheAlexandrianTraditionofEtymologicalWordplay(1996),aswell
asnumerousarticlesandreviewsonLatinliterature.

ROMAN LITERATURE
AND ITS CONTEXTS
InconsistencyinRomanEpic
ROMAN LITERATURE
AND ITS CONTEXTS
Serieseditors:
DenisFeeneyandStephenHinds
ThisseriespromotesapproachestoRomanliteraturewhichareopentodialogue
withcurrentworkinotherareasoftheclassics,andinthehumanitiesatlarge.
Thepursuitofcontactswithcognatefieldssuchassocialhistory,anthropology,
historyofthought,linguisticsandliterarytheoryisinthebesttraditionsofclassical
scholarship:thestudyofRomanliterature,nolessthanGreek,hasmuchtogain
from engaging with these other contexts and intellectual traditions. The series
offersaforuminwhichreadersofLatintextscansharpentheirreadingsbyplacing
theminbroaderandbetter-definedcontexts,andinwhichotherclassicistsand
humanists can explore the general or particular implications of their work for
readersofLatintexts.Thebooksallconstituteoriginalandinnovativeresearch
andareenvisagedassuggestiveessayswhoseaimistostimulatedebate.
Otherbooksintheseries
JosephFarrell,LatinlanguageandLatinculture:fromancientto
moderntimes
A.M.Keith,EngenderingRome:womeninLatinepic
WilliamFitzgerald,SlaveryandtheRomanliteraryimagination
StephenHinds,Allusionandintertext:dynamicsofappropriationin
Romanpoetry
DenisFeeney,LiteratureandreligionatRome:cultures,contexts,
andbeliefs
CatharineEdwards,WritingRome:textualapproachestothecity
DuncanF.Kennedy,Theartsoflove:fivestudiesinthediscourseofRoman
loveelegy
CharlesMartindale,Redeemingthetext:Latinpoetryandthehermeneutics
ofreception
PhilipHardie,TheepicsuccessorsofVirgil:astudyinthedynamics
ofatradition
AlainGowing,Empireandmemory:therepresentationoftheRoman
Republicinimperialculture
RichardHunter,TheshadowofCallimachus:studiesinthereceptionof
HellenisticpoetryatRome

Inconsistency in
Roman Epic
Studies in Catullus, Lucretius,
Vergil, Ovid and Lucan
JamesJ.O’Hara
PaddisonProfessorofLatin
TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill
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First published in print format 2007
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