Vergil's Agricultural Golden Age: A Study of the Georgics

153 Pages·1980·2.693 MB·English

by  Patricia A. Johnston

VERGIL'S AGRICULTURAL
GOLDEN AGE
A STUDY OF THE GEORGICS
MNEMOSYNE
BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATAVA
COLLEGERUNT
W. DEN BOER , A. D. LEEMAN • W. J. VERDENIUS
BIBLIOTHECAE FASCICULOS EDENDOS CURAVIT
W. J. VERDENIUS, HOMERUSLAAN 53, ZEIST
SUPPLEMENTUM SEXAGESIMUM
PATRICIA A. JOHNSTON
VERGIL'S AGRICULTURAL
GOLDEN AGE
A STUDY OF THE GEORGICS
LUGDUNI BATAVORUM E. J. BRILL MCMLXXX
VERGIL'S AGRICULTURAL
GOLDEN AGE
A STUDY OF THE GEORGICS
BY
PATRICIA A. JOHNSTON
LEIDEN E. ]. BRILL 1980
ISBN 90 04 06111 8
Copyright 1980 by B. f. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche
or any other means without written permission from the publisher
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface. . . . . IX
I. Introduction. l
II. The Chronological Context of the Golden Age 8
Ill. The Metallic Myth Before Vergil. 15
Hesiod . . . 16
After Hesiod. 23
Aratus . . 25
Lucretius . 28
Catullus. . 33
IV. Vergil and The Metallic Myth . 41
V. Saturnus and the Agricultural Golden Age. 62
VI. Vergil's Bees: A Prophecy Fulfilled. . . . go
VII. Aristaeus the Farmer versus Orpheus the Nomad. 106
VIII. Conclusion: The Healing Art of Apollo 125
Bibliography . . 130
Index of Subjects 136
Index of Passages Cited 138

PREFACE
The Georgics have tended to be the last of Vergil's works to
which a reader turns. Critical scholarship, too, of the Georgics has
been considerably less extensive than that devoted to Vergil's
other works. One reason for their neglect may be the difficulty
readers have had responding to their central topic, agriculture.
Many critics who have dealt with the poem, moreover, influenced
perhaps by Hesiod's treatment of this topic, have tended to see
in it an emphasis on the harshness of agricultural labors rather
than on the rewards of the farmer's life.
My own interpretation of the poem came about somewhat
circuitously, for I began my investigation not with the purpose
of analyzing the Georgics, but rather with the purpose of examining
Vergil's use of the golden age theme in his poetry as a whole. It
soon became clear to me that his conception of a new golden age
evolves to its final form in the Georgics, rather than in the Aeneid.
Further examination of the Georgics showed that Vergil's evolving
conception of such an age is a major factor in this poem, and that
an understanding of this conception is prerequisite to understanding
the Georgics, for here Vergil has merged two traditionally pessi-
mistic topics and integrated them both into a single, optimistic
theme.
This study includes an extensive revision of a portion of my
doctoral dissertation, which was submitted to the Faculty of the
University of California, Berkeley in 1975. The last three chapters
represent new developments of the principles discovered in the
original dissertation. I am grateful to Professor W. S. Anderson,
who directed the dissertation, for his stimulating guidance and
criticisms, and also to Professors W. R. Johnson and Alain Renoir
for their invaluable guidance and encouragement.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to Professor Jan H. Waszink
for his inspiring instruction when I was first discovering the world
of classical scholarship, and for his continuing encouragement of
my scholarly endeavors. I have also had the benefit of suggestions
from Professors Helen Caldwell, David S. Wiesen, Jean D'Amato,
David A. Traill, and John J. Winkler, as well as those unseen re-
viewers who have read and commented upon this manuscript.
X PREFACE
I hope they will conclude that I have done justice to their thought-
ful criticisms, particularly those which I have accepted. The Uni-
versity of California Press has very kindly permitted me to include
in this publication those sections of Chapter V which first appeared
in Volume IO (1977) of California Studies in Classical Antiquity.
The publication of this book has been supported in part by the
generosity of Brandeis University. I am especially grateful, in this
regard, to Dean Jack S. Goldstein and Professor Leonard C.
Muellner.
I have dedicated this book to my husband, George, whose cease-
less encouragement, understanding, and belief in the value of my
work have been my mainstay: kine me sustinet.