View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository WRITTEN INTO THE LANDSCAPE : LATIN EPIC AND THE LANDMARKS OF LITERARY RECEPTION James Stuart McIntyre A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St. Andrews 2008 Full metadata for this item is available in the St Andrews Digital Research Repository at: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/543 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Written Into the Landscape: Latin Epic and the Landmarks of Literary Reception James Stuart McIntyre Ph.D. 30th April 2008 Abstract Landscape in Roman literature is manifest with symbolic potential: in particular, Vergil and Ovid respond to ideologically loaded representations of abundance in nature that signal the dawn of the Augustan golden age. Vergil‟s Eclogues foreground a locus amoenus landscape which articulates both the hopes of the new age as well as the political upheaval that accompanied the new political regime; Ovid uses the same topography in order to suggest the arbitrary and capricious use of power within a deceptively idyllic landscape. Moreover, for Latin poets, depictions of landscape are themselves sites for poetic reflection as evidenced by the discussion of landscape ecphrases in Horace‟s Ars Poetica. My thesis focuses upon the depiction and refiguration of the locus amoenus landscape in the post-Augustan epics of the first century AD: Lucan‟s Bellum Civile, Valerius Flaccus‟ Argonautica, Statius‟ Thebaid and Silius Italicus‟ Punica. Landscape in these poems retains the moral, political and metapoetic force evident in the Augustan archetypes. However, I suggest that Lucan‟s Neronian Bellum Civile fundamentally refigures the landscapes of Latin epic poetry, inscribing the locus amoenus with the nefas of civil war in such a manner that it redefines the perception of landscape in the succeeding Flavian poets. Lucan perverts the landscape, making the locus horridus, a landscape of horror, fear and disgust, the predominant landscape of Latin epic; consequently, the poems of Valerius, Statius and Silius engage with Lucan‟s refiguration of landscape as a means of expressing the horror of civil war. In the first part of my thesis I examine archetypal landscapes, including those of the Augustan poets and Lucan‟s Bellum Civile. Taking an approach which engages with literary reception theory and the concept of the “horizon of expectation” as a framework within which literary topographies can be understood as articulating a response to the thematics of civil war, in the second part of my thesis I demonstrate the manner in which landscapes represent a coherent and paradigmatic response to Lucan‟s imposition of his civil war narrative within the literary landscape of Roman literature. ii Declarations I, James Stuart McIntyre, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. date .................. signature of candidate ........................................................ I was admitted as a research student in September 2004 and as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. in September 2005; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2004 and 2008. date .................. signature of candidate ........................................................ I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. date .................. signature of supervisor ........................................................ In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration. date .................. signature of candidate ........................................................ iii Acknowledgements I have far too many debts of gratitude to mention in full; many people have provided support and help over the last four years, without which this thesis would never have been written. The Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Miller-Lyell Scholarship fund and the Guthrie Award fund have all provided generous financial support which has made it possible to research and prepare this work; in addition, the School of Classics at St Andrews has given access to the necessary facilities and resources, as well as providing administrative support in the ever helpful persons of Irene Paulton, Margaret Goudie, Andy Crawford and Susan Grant. In addition to this, the School has been a lively and supportive research environment, and I would like to thank the fellow PGs with whom I shared Craigard 21 and who provided help, suggestions and friendship: Jeremy Armstrong, Gwynaeth McIntyre, Hannah Swithinbank, Ralph J. Covino, Michael Sloan, Jon Entwisle, Andy Gammon, Kelly Joss, Adam Bunni, Anna McCullough, Craig Galbraith, Joe Howley, Carmen Cvetkovic, Trevor Mahy, Christos Zekas, Margarita Lianou, Estelle Strazdins, Symke Haverkamp, Jesper Majbom, Laurie Wilson and Dan Mintz all have my thanks, as do the many students on the Masters programme who have joined us in St Andrews over the years. I would also like to thank the staff in Classics with whom I have worked and taught, and who make the School what it is: particularly Greg Woolf, Jon Coulston, Emma Buckley, Christopher Smith, Arnoud Visser, David Lambert, Harry Hine, Adrian Gratwick, Stephen Halliwell, Ralph Anderson, Rebecca Sweetman, Jon Hesk, Jason Koenig, Sian Lewis, Alice Koenig, Alex Long, Dan Hogg, as well as the rest of the School staff. Outside of St Andrews I would like to thank Ruth Parkes, Alison Keith, Philip Hardie, Victoria Pagán, Katharine Earnshaw and Tom Harrison, all of whom have commented on or discussed various aspects of Latin epic landscapes with me. I would also like to express my gratitude to my examiners, Roger Rees and Carole E. Newlands; moreover, I owe special thanks to my supervisors, Karla Pollmann and Emily Greenwood, who commented, made suggestions, and who were continually willing to read new drafts; their guidance and support is the foundation for this work. My final thanks are to my parents, who have always encouraged me; and, most of all, to Alexandra, who has been there for me throughout. iv Table of Contents List of Tables vi Abbreviations vii Introduction: Framing the landscape 1 i) Space and landscape 1 ii) Landscape and poetry 3 iii) Written into the landscape 7 1: Putting down roots: loca amoena and horrida in Augustan epic 10 1.1: Topography into topos: epic, pastoral and the locus amoenus 13 1.2: Elysian fields forever: poet, patria and the locus amoenus 18 1.3: Artful violations in the Ovidian locus amoenus 21 1.4: Inamoenitas: what is the locus horridus? 25 2: Fractured landscapes in the Bellum Civile 36 2.1: Cosmic catastrophe: civil war at the river Po 41 2.2: Cut to ribbons: deforming the Massilian landscape 49 2.3: Prophetic landscapes: the groves of Phemonoe and Erictho 58 i) Phemonoe 59 ii) Erictho 66 2.4: Cato in the garden: a rational man in a world gone mad 74 2.5: Ruination and refiguration: Rome and Troy 85 3: Suicides and sacrifices: transgressive landscapes in the Argonautica 88 3.1: Paradise lost? Aeson and Alcimede in the locus horridus 92 3.2: Lost in paradise? Hylas in the locus amoenus 102 3.3: Strangers in a strange land: Cyzicus, Amycus and the Argonauts 110 i) Cyzicus 111 ii) Amycus 120 3.3: Medea in the grove of the triple-formed goddess 125 4: On a slippery slope: redefining epic landscape in the Thebaid 142 4.1: A displeasure to behold: Greek landscapes in the Thebaid 155 4.2: Fire: the Nemean episode 165 4.3: Space invaders: Amphiaraus in the Underworld 175 4.4: Flood: the river Ismenos 181 5: Laying the groundwork: Silius Italicus, Hannibal and civil war. 188 5.1: Acheronta movebo: Juno and the locus horridus. 195 5.2: Calendar girl: Anna Perenna in the Punica 202 5.3: A peak you reach: breaking through the locus amoenus. 211 5.4: Bringing Hell to Earth: transforming Italy into the locus horridus. 222 5.5: Herculean endeavours: Regulus, a snake, and civil war 233 5.6: You reap what you sow: Cannae 243 5.7: The choices of Scipio Africanus. 246 Conclusion: rewriting the landscape 258 Appendix: Silius Italicus Punica, 8.144-224 262 Bibliography 264 v List of Tables Table 1: Topographical features of the locus amoenus and locus horridus 35 Table 2: Narrative structure of Underworld scenes in the Aeneid, Bellum Civile and Argonautica 102 Table 3: Herculean narratives in the Aeneid, Bellum Civile and Punica 242 vi Abbreviations Names of ancient authors and works are abbreviated following the usage of the Oxford Latin Dictionary and Liddle & Scott‟s A Greek-English Lexicon. Exceptions to this convention and abbreviations of modern works are listed below.