Table Of ContentTHE ANCIENT CRITIC AT WORK
ThelargebutunderratedcorpusofGreekscholia,themarginaland
interlinear notes found in manuscripts, is a very important source
forancientliterarycriticism.Theevidenceofthescholiasignificantly
addstoandenhancesthepicturethatcanbegainedfromstudyingthe
relevanttreatises(suchasAristotle’sPoetics):scholiaalsocontaincon-
ceptsthatarenotfoundinthetreatises,andtheyareindicativeofhow
theconceptsareactuallyputtouseintheprogressiveinterpretationof
texts.Thebookalsodemonstratesthatitisvitaltostudybothancient
terminologyandthecaseswhereaparticularphenomenonissimply
paraphrased.Nineteenthematicchaptersprovidearepertoireofthe
varioustermsandconceptsofancientliterarycriticism.Therelevant
witnessesareextensivelyquotedinGreekandEnglishtranslation.A
glossaryofGreekterms(withtranslation)andseveralindicesenable
thebookalsotobeusedforreference.
rene´ nu¨nlistisAssociateProfessorofClassicsatBrownUniversity,
RhodeIsland.Publicationsinclude Poetologische Bildersprache inder
fru¨hgriechischenDichtung(1998)andanewco-authoredcommentary
onHomer’sIliad(2000–).
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Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2010
THE ANCIENT CRITIC
AT WORK
Terms and Concepts of Literary Criticism
in Greek Scholia
´ ¨
RENE NUNLIST
BrownUniversity
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Firstpublished2009
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Nu¨nlist,Rene´.
Theancientcriticatwork:termsandconceptsofliterarycriticisminGreekscholia/Rene´Nu¨nlist.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-85058-2(hardback)
1.Scholia. 2.Greekliterature–Criticism,Textual. 3.Transmissionoftexts. I.Title.
pa3520.n86 2009
880.9–dc22 2008041966
isbn978-0-521-85058-2hardback
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Contents
Acknowledgments pageix
Introduction 1
Thepresentationofthematerialanditsmethodologicalimplications 2
Thematerialanditscharacteristics 7
Characteristicsofscholia 8
Topicsotherthanliterarycriticism 14
Thesourcesofthescholia 17
Translation 19
Noteonquotationsandreferences 19
part i 21
1. Plot 23
Motivationandnarrativecoherence 27
Excursus:aspecialtypeofnarrativecoherence 33
Prolepsis 34
Excursus:theterms(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:5)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)and(cid:13)(cid:6)(cid:5)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12) 43
Analepsis 45
Narratorialchoice:saveforlater 49
Introductionofcharacters 51
Transitionsandchangesofscene 57
Digressions 64
Nottodestroythestory 66
Conclusion 68
2. Time 69
Daystructure 69
Storytimevs.narrativetime 74
Simultaneousevents 79
Fill-intechnique 83
Anachronies 87
Conclusion 92
v
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vi Contents
3. Narrativeandspeech 94
Thethreeprincipalformsofliteraryart:narrative,dramaticandmixed 94
Transitionfromnarrator-texttospeech 102
Otherapplicationsofthetermsfor‘narrative’and‘dramatic’ 107
Otherclassifications 109
Excursus:thevariousapplicationsoftheterm(cid:13)(cid:2)(cid:4)(cid:10)(cid:14)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:15)
(‘apostrophe’) 114
Conclusion 115
4. Focalisation 116
Excursus:ancientliterarycriticismandthenarrativevoice 132
Conclusion 133
5. Effectsonthereader 135
Attention 137
Emotionaleffects 139
Expectation 149
Relaxation 151
Thereaderasspectator 153
Conclusion 155
6. Gapsandomissions 157
Thecooperationofthereader 164
Otherapplicationsoftheexpression(cid:16)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:17)(cid:14)(cid:18)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:19)(cid:2)(cid:8)(cid:20)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:6) 167
Excursus:Seleucusandthemeaningof(cid:16)(cid:5)(cid:14)(cid:17)(cid:14)(cid:18)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:19)(cid:2)(cid:8)(cid:20)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:6) 169
Othernarratorialomissions 170
Conclusion 173
7. Poeticlicence 174
Conclusion 183
8. Authentication 185
Conclusion 192
9. Style 194
Graphicquality(enargeia) 194
Variationandavoidanceofmonotony 198
Explanation(epexegesis) 202
Elaboration(epexergasia) 204
Brevity 208
Indirectpresentation 209
Irony 212
Iconicrelationbetweenformandcontent 215
Stylisticdifferencesbetweengenres 218
Thethreestyles 219
Minorstylisticphenomena 221
Conclusion 223
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Contents vii
10. Allusions,hints,hiddenmeanings 225
Allusions 225
Hints 231
Hiddenmeanings 237
Conclusion 237
11. Characters 238
Cast 238
Characterisation 246
Excursus:themeaningof(cid:22)(cid:6)(cid:23)(cid:24)(cid:21)(cid:11)and(cid:25)(cid:24)(cid:11)(cid:16)(cid:26)(cid:12) 254
Conclusion 256
12. Mythography 257
Mythologicalexempla 261
Conclusion 264
part ii 265
13. ThegodsinHomer 267
Divineinterventions 267
Godslikeyouandme 278
Excursus:ZenodorusondivinescenesinHomer 279
Conclusion 281
14. Homericsimiles 282
InterpretationsofHomericsimiles 286
Conclusion 298
15. Epithets 299
Conclusion 305
16. Typescenes 307
Arming 307
Battlescenes 309
Deliberationscenes 312
Messengerreports 312
Typicalnumbers 314
Conclusion 315
17. Homericspeeches 316
Speechintroductionsandtheirfunction 316
NorapiddialogueinHomer 318
Ring-compositioninspeeches 319
Otherstructuralanalysesofspeeches 320
Three-wayconversation 321
Interiormonologue 322
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viii Contents
Omissionofspeeches 323
Speechwithinspeech 324
Conclusion 325
18. Reverseorder 326
Conclusion 336
19. Staging,performanceanddramaturgy 338
Identificationofspeakersandaddressees 338
Entrancesandexits 343
Delivery 349
Acting 351
Masks,costumesandprops 353
De´cor 355
Specialtechnicaldevices 356
Dramaturgicalconventions 358
Critiqueofcontemporaryproductions 361
Excursus:themeaningof(cid:2)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:21)(cid:2)(cid:11)(cid:27)(cid:3)(cid:5)(cid:7)(cid:15) 362
Conclusion 365
Epilogue 366
GlossaryofGreekterms 368
Editionsofscholia 387
Otherabbreviations 390
Bibliography 392
Thematicindex 407
Indexlocorum 412
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Acknowledgments
Thisbookfulfilsapromisethatwasmadeinthecourseofdevelopingand
writingwhatisnowcommonlyreferredtoastheBaslerKommentaronthe
Iliad. Though my main focus was on other questions, I was nevertheless
able to do more than just preliminary studies for the present book. It
is therefore a pleasant duty to acknowledge the financial support that I
received at the time from the Swiss National Foundation and the Max-
GeldnerFoundation(Basel).Theactualbasisforthebookwaslaidduring
ajuniorsabbaticalleavefromBrownUniversity,whichIhadtheprivilege
to spend at the University of Cologne as a fellow of the Alexander-von-
HumboldtFoundation.Iamgratefultoalltheseinstitutions.
Several friends and colleagues have read and made useful comments
on various parts of the book. While I will hopefully be forgiven for not
mentioning them all, credit must go to Pat Easterling, Bas van der Mije,
MartinSchmidtandtothemembersoftheHellenistenclubinAmsterdam,
inparticular,JanMaartenBremer,IrenedeJong,AlbertRijksbaron,Cees
Ruijgh,† Siem Slings† and Ineke Sluiter. My hosts in Cologne, especially
Rudolf Kassel and Helmut van Thiel, made my time there particularly
productive and pleasant. Ever since I became interested in the subject,
John Lundon has been a permanent and reliable source of wisdom in
scholiis. Finally, I wish to thank Eleanor Dickey, Rudolf Fu¨hrer, Richard
Janko and my colleague David Konstan for reading and commenting on
the entire manuscript at a late stage. As always, none of them should be
heldresponsiblefortheerrorsthatremain.
Fewofuswilleverbeabletowriteinmorethanonelanguagewithequal
ease and confidence. I am therefore all the more grateful to several of the
scholarsmentionedaboveand,inparticular,toElaHarrisonforcorrecting
my English and making suggestions of style. Blunders and infelicities no
doubtremain,andItakefullresponsibilityforthem.Exasperatedreaders
will,surely,takeintoaccountthattheonlyrealalternativewouldhavebeen
towritethisbookinmynativelanguage.
ix
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x Acknowledgments
The laborious burden of checking references and compiling the index
wassharedwithmebyCarrieThomas.
I am very happy that Cambridge University Press and Michael Sharp
(assistedbyLizNodenandJoannaBreeze)havetakenthisbookundertheir
wingsandamindebtedtoChrisJacksonforhismeticulouscopy-editing.
My final thanks must go to Jessica Wißmann for her wisdom, support
andlove.
Providence,RhodeIsland Rene´Nu¨nlist
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