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© Copyright 2017 Matthew M. Gorey © Copyright 2017 Matthew M. Gorey Atomism in the Aeneid: Physics, Politics, and Cosmological Disorder Matthew M. Gorey A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2017 Reading Committee: Stephen Hinds, Chair Ruby Blondell Alain Gowing Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Classics University of Washington Abstract Atomism in the Aeneid: Physics, Politics, and Cosmological Disorder Matthew M. Gorey Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Stephen Hinds Classics This dissertation examines the role of philosophical allegory in the Aeneid, focusing on tendentious allusions to Epicurean atomism as it is presented in Lucretius. I argue that Virgil, drawing upon a popular strain of anti-materialist and anti-Epicurean arguments in Greek philosophy, deploys atomic imagery as a symbol of cosmic and political disorder. The first chapter of this study investigates the development of metaphors and analogies in philosophical texts ranging from Plato to Cicero that equate atomism with cosmological caprice. The remaining three chapters track how Virgil applies this interpretation of Epicurean physics to the Aeneid, wherein chaotic atomism serves as a challenge to the dominant narrative of divine order and Roman power in the Aeneid. For Aeneas, the specter of atomic disorder arises at moments of distress and hesitation, while the association of various non-Trojan characters with atomism characterizes them as forces of disorder to be contained or vanquished. Instead of subordinating philosophical concerns to literary agendas, or vice versa, I show how Virgilian allusion to Lucretius conflates poetic, political, and cosmological narratives and blurs the boundaries between their respective modes of discourse. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Global Approaches to Virgil’s Lucretian Intertexts .................................................................... 3 Genre, Style, and Tone ............................................................................................................ 4 The ‘Epicurean Aeneid’ ........................................................................................................... 6 Polemical Allusion .................................................................................................................. 8 Polemical Allusion: a Synthesis ............................................................................................ 10 Philosophical Allegory in the Aeneid ........................................................................................ 12 Why Epicureanism? .............................................................................................................. 12 Static vs. Dynamic Allegory ................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 1. Characterizations of Epicurean Atomism .................................................................... 18 1.1 Early Atomism: Democritean Origins and Epicurean Contributions .............................. 22 1.2 Plato .................................................................................................................................. 32 1.3 Aristotle ............................................................................................................................ 40 1.4 Stoics and Skeptics: the Ciceronian Evidence ................................................................. 47 1.4.1 Stoic Critiques of Atomism in Cicero ....................................................................... 50 1.4.2 Academic Critiques of Atomism in Cicero ............................................................... 52 1.5 Lucretian Atomism ........................................................................................................... 58 1.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 61 Chapter 2. Trojans Under the Influence of Atomism (Epic Winners) .......................................... 64 2.1 The Atomic Opening (Nature sine numine) ..................................................................... 65 2.2 Atomic Disasters .............................................................................................................. 83 2.3 Atomic Indecision ............................................................................................................ 89 2.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 102 Chapter 3. Non-Trojans Under the Influence of Atomism (Epic Losers) ................................... 103 3.1 Atomistic Dido ............................................................................................................... 104 3.2 Italians and the Atomic Battlefield ................................................................................ 109 3.3 Turnus and the Phantom Aeneas .................................................................................... 114 3.4 Atomistic Mezentius ...................................................................................................... 123 3.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 128 Chapter 4. Turnus and the End of the Epicurean World ............................................................. 130 4.1 Turnus’ Atomic Attack .................................................................................................. 131 4.2 Turnus, Aeneas, and the Atomic Battlefield .................................................................. 141 4.3 Turnus’ Atomic Attack, Revisited ................................................................................. 147 4.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 171 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 174 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the chair of my dissertation committee, Stephen Hinds, along with my other readers, Ruby Blondell, Alain Gowing, and Susan Gaylard. Beyond providing invaluable guidance and innumerable edits for the dissertation itself, all four of these professors have been exemplary scholars and educators, and each one has supported my development professionally over the past five years in ways for which I am profoundly grateful. In addition, I am particularly thankful to Alex Sens and Charlie McNelis. Their insightful feedback on the dissertation when it was in embryonic form greatly helped me to refine my arguments for the better. Special thanks are also due to Cliff Weber, who generously provided feedback on a paper of mine for CAMWS that served as the nucleus of chapter 4, and to Eunice Kim, Adriana Vazquez, Luke Parker, Verena Kick, Joshua Hartman, and Bridget Langley, in whose wonderful company I wrote much of this dissertation, and who frequently served as impromptu editors and sanity-checkers. I would also like to acknowledge the generous financial support that I received from the Department of Classics, in the form of Greenfield Dissertation Fellowships, and from the University of Washington, in the form of the Chester William Fritz Scholarship, while writing this dissertation. I am equally grateful for the unquantifiable social and professional support that I have received from all of the faculty and graduate students of the Department of Classics at UW, past and present. It has been a pleasure being a member of the department, and I could not imagine a more enriching or supportive environment in which to complete a PhD. vi Lastly, I would like to thank the members of my family, Michael, Martina, and Sean. It is primarily to them that I owe my love of languages, literature, and intellectual inquiry. For that reason and for others, I am continually grateful for their presence in my life. Sunt autem et alii multi qui si scribantur per singulos nec ipsum arbitror mundum capere eas quae illis agendae sunt gratias… vii DEDICATION To the Goreys and the Lanphiers: for the best dinner table debates this side of Plato’s Symposium viii Abbreviations Here follows a list of abbreviations used in this dissertation. C-N The Works of Virgil, J. Conington and H. Nettleship. London (1883-1898) KRS The Presocratic Philosophers (2nd ed.) G. Kirk, J. Raven, and M. Schofield. Cambridge. (1983) OLD Oxford Latin Dictionary. P. Glare. Oxford (1996) PHI Packard Humanities Institute <http://latin.packhum.org/browse> RE Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll. (1893-1980) TLG Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. <http://www.tlg.uci.edu/index.prev.php> ix 1 INTRODUCTION Non verba autem sola, sed versus prope totos et locos quoque Lucreti plurimos sectatum esse Vergilium videmus. (Gell. NA 1.21.6-7) Moreover, we see that Virgil has imitated not only individual words of Lucretius, but also almost entire verses and a great many passages. (Aulus Gellius)1 Dumtaxat rerum magnarum parva potest res exemplare dare et vestigia notitiai. (Lucr. 2.123-4) As far as this matter is concerned, something small can offer a model of great things and trace the outlines of an
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