The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius

354 Pages·2002·3.05 MB·English

by  Katharina Volk

The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius
Katharina Volk
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.001.0001
Published: 2002 Online ISBN: 9780191714986 Print ISBN: 9780199245505
FRONT MATTER
Copyright Page 
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.002.0003 Page iv
Published: June 2002
Subject: Classical Poetry
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Reprinted 2008
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ISBN 978-0-19-924550-5
p. iv  This book has been printed digitally and produced in a standard speci�cation in order to ensure its continuing
availability
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With o�ces in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan South Korea Poland Portugal
Singapore Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Katharina Volk 2002
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
Reprinted 2008
All rights reserved No part of this publication maybe reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
And you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
ISBN 978-0-19-924550-5
p. iv  This book has been printed digitally and produced in a standard speci�cation in order to ensure its continuing
availability
graphic
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With o�ces in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan South Korea Poland Portugal
Singapore Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Katharina Volk 2002
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
Reprinted 2008
All rights reserved No part of this publication maybe reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
And you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
ISBN 978-0-19-924550-5
The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius
Katharina Volk
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.001.0001
Published: 2002 Online ISBN: 9780191714986 Print ISBN: 9780199245505
FRONT MATTER
Dedication 
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.002.0004 Pages v–vi
Published: June 2002
Subject: Classical Poetry
pp.. vvi PARENTIBVS OPTIMIS
The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius
Katharina Volk
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.001.0001
Published: 2002 Online ISBN: 9780191714986 Print ISBN: 9780199245505
FRONT MATTER
Preface 
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.002.0005 Pages vii–viii
Published: June 2002
Subject: Classical Poetry
Many of the most famous literary works from Greek and Roman antiquity—for example, Hesiod’s Works and
Days, the poem of Lucretius, and Vergil’s Georgics—are didactic poems. Still, while these texts continue to be
read and studied, their generic status is not typically the object of scholarly investigation, and neither is the
genre of ancient didactic poetry as a whole. This may have something to do with our wariness of anything
that is or purports to be ‘didactic’; as a matter of fact, the student of this genre is not infrequently faced with
miscomprehension on the part of classicists and non-classicists alike (‘Didactic poetry? Sounds awful.’).
Nevertheless, by understanding what it is that sets a particular body of texts apart as a speci�c genre, we are
able to appreciate better the qualities of the individual texts, and especially in the case of a comparatively
neglected type of literature such as didactic poetry, attention to generic characteristics can contribute in
important ways to our interpretation even of otherwise well-studied works.
In this book, I both provide a discussion of the genre of didactic poetry as a whole and examine in detail four
great Latin didactic poems, Lucretius’ De rerum natura, Vergil’s Georgics, Ovid’s Ars amatoria and Remedia
anions (which I treat as a unity), and Manilius’ Astronomica. My object is to show that there are certain
de�ning characteristics of the genre and to trace the permutations of these features through the individual
texts. Special attention will be given to the ‘poetics’ of these works, that is, to what each didactic poem has
to say about its being poetry and how it presents the relationship between poetic form and didactic subject
matter, or, to quote Manilius, between carmen and res. Contrary to popular associations of didacticism with
the dry and prosaic, it will turn out that ancient didactic poetry is in fact especially self-consciously ‘poetic’.
The book is a revised and expanded version of my 1999 Princeton Ph.D. thesis and would never have been
written without the support of my adviser Elaine Fantham and the other members of my dissertation
committee, Andrew Ford, Stephen Harrison, and Robert Kaster. In addition, I am grateful to Greta Austin,
p. viii John Cooper, Richard Hunter, and René Nünlist for enlightening discussion of individual matters and to
Ryan Balot, Joseph Farrell, and the late Don Fowler for allowing me to use and cite unpublished material. My
editor at Oxford University Press, Hilary O’Shea, has been extremely helpful, as have Enid Barker, Lucy
Qureshi, and Jenny Wagsta�e; I should also like to thank Rowena Anketell for her diligence in copy-editing
the manuscript and the two anonymous readers of the Press for their comments. I am grateful to Oxford
University Press for permission to cite from the Oxford Classical Texts of Lucretius (ed. Bailey, 2nd edn. 1922),
Vergil (ed. Mynors 1969), and Ovid (amatory works, ed. Kenney, 2nd edn. 1994) and to K. G. Saur Verlag for
permission to quote the Teubner text of Manilius (ed. Goold, 2nd edn. 1998). Special thanks go to my
husband Joshua, whose love and expertise have accompanied this work since its beginning. Finally, the book
is dedicated to my parents, who have taught me a lot without ever being didactic.
KV
Lewisburg, June 2001
The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius
Katharina Volk
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.001.0001
Published: 2002 Online ISBN: 9780191714986 Print ISBN: 9780199245505
FRONT MATTER
Abbreviations 
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.002.0007 Pages xi–xii
Published: June 2002
Subject: Classical Poetry
Throughout the text and bibliography, references to classical texts typically follow the style of abbreviations
of the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edn.). A list of abbreviations for periodicals and other publications is
appended.
A&A  Antike undAbendland
AAWM
Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Mainz, Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Klasse
AC
L’Antiquité classique
AGPh
Archiv�r Geschichte der Philosophie
AJPh
Amencan Journal of Philology
ANRW
W. Haase and H. Temporini (eds.) (1972– ).Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und
Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Berlin: de Gruyter
A&R
Atene e Roma
ARW
Archiv für Religionswissenschaft
ASNP
Annali della Scuola Normale Supenore di Pisa
BICS
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London
CB
Classical Bulletin
CGF
G. Kaibel (1899).Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta. Berlin: Weidmann
CH
A. Nock and A. J. Festugière (eds.) (1946-54). Corpus Hermeticum, 4 vols. Paris: Les Belles Lettres
CJ
Classical Journal
CPh
Classical Philology
CQ
Classical Quarterly
FPL
W. Morel, K. Büchner, and J. Blänsdorf (eds.) (1995). Fragmenta Poetarum Latinorum Epicorum et Lyricorum
(3rd edn.). Stuttgart: Teubner
GIF
Giornale italiano di �lologia
Gramm. Lat.
H. Keil (ed.) (1855-80). Grammatici Latini, 8 vols. Leipzig: Teubner
GRBS
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
G&R
Greece & Rome
p. xii  HSPh
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
ICS
Illinois Classical Studies
LCM
Liverpool Classical Monthly
LSJ
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. S.Jones (eds.) (1996). A Greek English Lexicon With a Revised Supplement (9th
edn.). Oxford: Oxford University Press
MD
Materiali e discussioniper Vanalisi dei testi classici
MDAI(R)
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (Römische >Abteilung)
MH
Museum Helveticum
OLD
P. G. W. Glare (ed.) (1983).Oxford Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pauly- Wissowa
A. F. von Pauly, G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll (eds.) (1894–1980).Real-Encyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft. Stuttgart and Munich: Metzler/Druckenmüller
PCPhS
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society
PQ
Philological Quarterly
QS
Quaderni di storia
RAL
Rendiconti delta Classe di Science morali, storiche e �lologiche dell’Accademia dei Lincei
REA
Revue des études anciennes
RFIC
Rivista di �lologia e di istruzione classica
RhM
Rheinisches Museum
RLAC
T. Klauser (ed.) (1950– ). Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum: Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des
Christentums mit der antiken Welt. Stuttgart: Hiersemann
SICF
Studi italiani di�lologia classica
SO
Symbolae Osloenses
SVF
H. F. A. von Arnim (ed.) (1903-24).Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, 4 vols. Leipzig: Teubner
TAPhA
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
WJA
Würzburger jahrbücher für die Altertumswissenschaft
WS
Wiener Studien
YClS
Yale Classical Studies
The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius
Katharina Volk
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.001.0001
Published: 2002 Online ISBN: 9780191714986 Print ISBN: 9780199245505
FRONT MATTER
Note on Texts 
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245505.002.0008 Pages xiii–xiv
Published: June 2002
Subject: Classical Poetry
The editions used for the major works discussed in this book are as follows:
Lucretius, De rerum natura, ed. Cyril Bailey (Oxford Classical Text, 2nd edn. 1922). Reprinted by permission of
Oxford University Press.
Manilius, Astronomica, ed. George P. Goold (Teubner, 2nd edn. 1998), © K. G. Saur Verlag. Reprinted by
permission of K. G. Saur Verlag.
Ovid, AmoreSy Medicamina faciei femineae, Ars amatona, Remedia amoris, ed. E. J. Kenney (Oxford Classical
Text, 2nd edn. 1994), © Oxford University Press, 1961,1994. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University
Press.
Vergil, Opera, ed. R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford Classical Text, 1969), © Oxford University Press, 1969. Reprinted by
p. xiv permission of Oxford University Press.