The Poetry of Criticism: Horace Epistles II and the Ars Poetica

140 Pages·1990·5.27 MB·English

by  Ross Kilpatrick

THE POETRY OF CRITICISM
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THE POETRY OF
CRITICISM
Horace, Epistles II and
Ars Poetica
Ross S. Kilpatrick
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESS
First published by
The University of Alberta Press
Athabasca Hall
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6G 2E8
Copyright © The University of Alberta Press 1990
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Kilpatrick, Ross S. (Ross Stuart), 1934-
The poetry of criticism
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-88864-145-7 (bound). — ISBN
0-88864-I46-X (pbk.)
1. Horace. Epistulae. 2. Horace. Ars
poetica. I. Title.
PA6393-E8K55 1990 871'.01 089-091310-2
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any forms or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Typesetting by The Typeworks, Vancouver, British Columbia
Printed by Hignell Printing Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
For Suzzanne
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C O N T E N TS
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xiii
1 The Epistle to Augustus 1
EPISTLE 2.1
2 The Epistle to Florus 15
EPISTLE 2.2
3 The Epistle to the Pisos 32
ARS POETICA
4 The Literary Epistles: Pattern and Coherence 55
Translations: TO AUGUSTUS 59
TO FLORUS 66
TO THE PISOS 72
NOTES ON THE TEXT AS TRANSLATED 84
Abbreviations 87
Notes 89
Selected Bibliography 111
Index: ANCIENT AUTHORS 117
GENERAL INDEX 119
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P R E F A CE
THE ARS POETICA, or the Epistle to the Pisos, is
Horace's longest poem by far: 476 lines. The Epistle to Augustus (270)
and Epistle to Florus (216) both fall short of the lengthy Satire 2.3 (326),
but are still long poems by Horace's standards. This makes a total of 962
lines or about the length of the Aeneid's longer books: a convenient
length for a papyrus scroll.
The critical bibliography on these three poems is enormous. There are
23 pages of titles overall in Charles Brink's three volumes of Horace on
Poetry (1963, 1971, 1982), which he describes as "selective." The sur-
vey by Walter Kissel of Heidelberg, "Horaz 1936-1975: Eine
Gesamtbibliographie," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt II,
31.3 (1981), 1403-1558, includes eight pages of titles on Epistles II
(1521-28). The same volume also includes a new critical survey by
Francesco Sbordone, "La poetica oraziana alla luce degli studi piu ecenti"
(1866—1920). Nor is interest waning in the probable sources of Horace's
views on poetic criticism; see, for example, H.J. Mette, "Neoptolemus
von Parion," RM CXIII (1980), 1-24. Kissel prints two pages of
bibliographies alone (1411-12). Representative of earlier surveys are A.
Viola's two volumes, L'Arte Poetica di Orazio nella Critica Italiana e
Straniera (Napoli, 1901, 1906).
The appearance of Brink's third and final volume of Horace on Poetry