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Between the Commemorative Games and the Descent to the Underworld

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Between the Commemorative Games and the Descent to the Underworld ORBIT-OnlineRepository ofBirkbeckInstitutionalTheses Enabling Open Access to Birkbeck’s Research Degree output Between the commemorative games and the descent to the Underworld in Books 5 and 6 of Vergil’s Aeneid: a study of structure and narrative technique in the transition https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40202/ Version: Full Version Citation: Powell„ David John (2017) Between the commemorative games and the descent to the Underworld in Books 5 and 6 of Vergil’s Aeneid: a study of structure and narrative technique in the transition. [Thesis] (Unpublished) c 2020 The Author(s) All material available through ORBIT is protected by intellectual property law, including copy- right law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. Deposit Guide Contact: email Between the commemorative games and the descent to the Underworld in Books 5 and 6 of Vergil’s Aeneid: a study of structure and narrative technique in the transition Thesis submitted in September 2016 by: David John Powell awarded the degree of Master of Philosophy February 2017 Powell, D J September 2016 Declaration I hereby certify that the work presented in this thesis is my own work. …………………………………….. David John Powell ***** DEDICATIO Hunc librum dedico: et memoriae mulieris amatae Mariae et filio dilecto Antonio. Acknowledgments I wish to thank my supervisor, Professor Catharine Edwards, for her prudent suggestions throughout. Also my son, Anthony, and daughter-in-in-law, Julia, both Cambridge classics graduates, for their consistent encouragement. Any and all shortcomings are my own. 2 Powell, D J September 2016 Abstract Book 5 of Vergil’s Aeneid is known for the games commemorating the first anniversary of Anchises’ death; Book 6 for Aeneas’ visit to the Underworld. Each of these major episodes offers a fairly homogeneous narrative, the former describing the Trojans relaxing, the latter didactic and philosophical. Connecting these two extended episodes are 529 lines (5.604-6.261) in which twelve heterogeneous scenes, mostly short, effect modulation from a superficially happy atmosphere to one of solemnity. This thesis considers this ‘Transitional Section’ as a single coherent unit, spanning the weak division between Books 5 and 6. In fulfilling the principal function of transition, the twelve scenes provide recapitulation of important themes for (re-)readers and preparation for what is to come both for (re-)readers and for Aeneas and the Aeneadae. After the Introduction, individual scenes or groups of scenes are analysed in five chapters. Chapter 2 considers whether the rôle of the Olympian gods, returning to centre-stage after a lengthy absence, can be demythologized, finding established interpretations not entirely satisfactory. Chapter 3 challenges interpretation of the loss and subsequent death of the helmsman Palinurus as a ‘sacrifice’. Chapter 4 examines historical and political symbolism underlying images said to have been sculpted by Daedalus on temple doors at Cumae. Chapter 5 investigates why an obscure personage, Misenus, is accorded a magnificent funeral. Chapter 6 postulates Vergil himself as a third vates, along with Apollo and the Sibyl, and proposes metapoetic, as well as generic human, interpretations of the Golden Bough. In conclusion, the individual scenes are set in the wider context of the poem as a whole, demonstrating how major themes are brought back into prominence and foreshadow subsequent developments. Attention is also given to structure and narrative technique. Passages of metapoetic and/or self-referential significance are highlighted in each of the five core chapters. 3 Powell, D J September 2016 Table of contents Page Abstract 3 Table of contents 4 List of tables 5 1 Introduction 6 1.1 Trends in Vergilian scholarship since 1960 8 1.2 Previous scholarship relating to the transition between Aeneid 5 and 6 14 1.3 Function of the Transitional Section 18 1.4 Structure of the Transitional Section 20 1.5 Direct speech as a dramatic element in the Transitional Section 26 1.6 Metapoetic and self-referential passages in the Transitional Section 28 1.7 In a nutshell 29 2 Divine interference: crisis and (interim) resolution 31 2.1 Attenuation of the rôles played by the gods in the Aeneid 34 2.2 Scholarship on the gods in the last half-century 36 2.3 The burning of the fleet 39 2.4 Aeneas and Anchises 45 2.5 Rome founded in Sicily 47 2.6 Venus and Neptune 50 2.7 Somnus and Palinurus 52 2.8 Narrative treatment 53 2.9 Conclusion 55 3 The ‘sacrifice’ of Palinurus 58 3.1 Sacrifice and its variants in the Aeneid 60 3.2 Modern views of sacrifice and scapegoat 73 3.3 The circumstances of Palinurus’ death 75 3.4 Palinurus’ death as ‘sacrifice’ 80 3.5 Conclusion: Palinurus’ death reclassified 83 4 Labyrinthine chronology in the Daedalus ekphrasis 86 4.1 Viewers and readers 88 4.2 Contrasts with other ekphraseis in the Aeneid 90 4.3 The mythological past 93 4.4 The Trojan present 97 4.5 The Augustan ‘future’ 103 4.6 Self-referential and metapoetic elements 106 4.7 Synthesis 109 4.8 Conclusion 112 4 Powell, D J September 2016 5 Misenus Aeolides: the almost unknown warrior 115 5.1 Discovery of Misenus’ body 116 5.2 Misenus and Palinurus, and links with Homer 118 5.3 The nature of Misenus’ death 121 5.4 Who was Aeneas’ companion Misenus? 124 5.5 Misenus as bard: metapoetic significance 129 5.6 Misenus’ funeral 133 5.7 Symbolism in the funeral 139 5.8 Conclusion: the purpose and function of the Misenus episode 141 6 Vates tres: Apollo, the Sibyl, and the poet 146 6.1 Structure, time, and location 147 6.2 Adsunt tres vates 150 6.3 Fictitious, real, and metapoetic temples 153 6.4 Plucking the recalcitrant Bough 158 6.5 Metapoetic, and generic human symbolism of the Bough 164 6.6 Sacrifices to the chthonic gods 166 6.7 Conclusion 167 7 Conclusion: transition in context 171 7.1 Recapitulation 172 7.2 Preparation 175 7.3 Narrative and poetic technique 177 7.4 Intertextuality, and metapoetic and self-referential significance 182 7.5 Overall contribution to the poem and concluding remarks 184 Appendix: Analysis of metrical patterns in the Daedalus ekphrasis of Aeneid 6 187 Bibliography 188 A Commentaries and ancient texts 188 B Modern scholarship 192 List of tables 1 Book divisions in the Aeneid 23 2 Structure of the Transitional Section 24 3 Descriptions of components of sacrifice in the Aeneid 61 4 Component elements of sacrificial rites in the Aeneid 68 5 Similarities between Elpenor and Palinurus and Misenus 120 5 Powell, D J Chapter 1: Introduction September 2016 1. Introduction My principal objective in this thesis is a critical examination of Vergil’s treatment of the section of the Aeneid which carries the narrative forward from the end of the interlude represented by the commemorative games for the first anniversary of Anchises’ death to the beginning of Aeneas’ descent to the Underworld, spanning two books from 5.604 to 6.261. Throughout the thesis these 529 lines, which are divided almost equally between Books 5 and 6 (268 + 261 lines), will be referred to, for the sake of convenience, as the ‘Transitional Section’. Here, it should also be noted immediately that a short passage from a little later in the poem (6.337-83) has also had to be included in my scope, in order to facilitate a full interpretative evaluation of the Palinurus episode which takes place within the Transitional Section, at the end of Book 5. If, beginning from a very early date, Book 5 of the Aeneid has often been characterized, loosely speaking, as ‘the games’ and Book 6 as ‘the Underworld’,1 such convenient designations take no account of the essential continuity of the Transitional Section of the text which leads the reader from the concluding high point of the games towards the major climax of the first half of the Aeneid. Rigid adherence to the book divisions in this way, even though they are Vergil’s own, risks overlooking the powerful momentum of the narrative at this point. As will become apparent during the course of this Introduction and of my thesis as a whole, my contention is that notwithstanding the break between Books 5 and 6 the Transitional Section constitutes a coherent, composite narrative unit integral to the poem as a whole, but has not previously been addressed as such,2 even though a considerable amount of scholarly attention has been devoted to some of the individual episodes, such as the burning of the ships, the loss and death of Palinurus, the Daedalus ekphrasis, and the Golden Bough. Viewed as a single unit, this ‘bridge’ between games and κατάβασις is especially remarkable in a number of respects. First of all, the Transitional Section contributes significantly to the poem as a whole, since, following the extended episodes at Carthage and Drepanum, it effectively restarts the main plot through the recapitulation of 1 Servius on 3.718: quinto festivitatem, sexto scientiam, in Thilo & Hagen, Vol. 1 (1878-81). 2 Suerbaum (1980) and annual bibliographies published in Vergilius, prepared by Alexander McKay up to 2005-6 (Vol. 52), and since then by Shirley Werner, testify to the relative paucity of material concerning the latter part of Book 5 and the earlier part of Book 6; Nugent (1992), p. 275, also refers to ‘the rather meagre bibliography on Book V’. 6 Powell, D J Chapter 1: Introduction September 2016 important themes and through religious and psychological preparation in anticipation of Aeneas’ κατάβασις. Secondly, in terms of structure, the Transitional Section is markedly different from the extended narrative sections which precede and follow it, being constructed of a concatenation of diverse, shorter, faster-moving scenes, in which a certain number of symmetrical patterns may be perceived.
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