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Copyright by Benjamin Vines Hicks 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Benjamin Vines Hicks Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Satiric Effect in Horace’s Sermones in the Light of His Epicurean Reading Circle Committee: L. Michael White, Supervisor David Armstrong, Co-Supervisor Thomas Hubbard Timothy Moore Kirk Freudenburg The Satiric Effect in Horace’s Sermones in the Light of His Epicurean Reading Circle by Benjamin Vines Hicks, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 The Satiric Effect in Horace’s Sermones in the Light of His Epicurean Reading Circle Benjamin Vines Hicks, Ph.D The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisors: L.Michael White and David Armstrong Scholarship on Roman satire has been dominated for nearly fifty years by a rhetorical approach that emphasizes the artifice of the poet. Consequently, it has been unsure what to do with the philosophical material in Horace’s Sermones. In my dissertation, I argue for the importance of Epicurean philosophy in the interpretative scheme of Horace’s satiric oeuvre. Epicurean ideas appear prominently and repeatedly, mostly in a positive light, and respond to the concerns and philosophical prejudices of Horace’s closest friends. In the prologue, I explore how Horace himself inscribes the process of interpreting and responding to a satire into S. 2.8. He frames his reading circle as key observers in the satiric scene that unfolds before them, suggesting the importance of the audience to satire. Chapter one builds upon this vision by emphasizing reader response as a key element of satiric theory. Satire, as a participant in the cultural debates of its day, orients itself toward a like-minded group of readers who are expected to grasp the iv satiric thrust of the text and understand its nuances. It orients itself against outsiders who respond seriously to the text in some fashion, often failing to realize that satire is even occurring. I term this process the satiric effect. Chapter two demonstrates that Horace’s closest friends in his reading circle share connections to Epicureanism. The social dynamics of reading circles reinforce my theoretical emphasis upon the satiric audience. Vergil, Varius, Plotius Tucca, and Quintilius Varus studied with the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus whose treatises also offer insight into the social dynamics of an Epicurean circle. Chapter three explores how Sermones I articulates itself toward Horace’s reading circle. Given the Epicurean biases present within Horace’s reading circle, I explore an interpretation through the lens of these Epicurean preferences. Chapters four and five emphasize that the philosophical themes initiated by Horace in the first book also run through the second, making it more cohesive than previously thought, but only become apparent when we consider them from the particular mindset of the reading circle. I conclude by noting possible extensions for my literary theory in other authors. v Table of Contents List of Illustration ................................................................................................ viii Prologue ...................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Nature of Satire in the Scholarship of Classical and English Satire, and the Theoretical Case for Pursuing Epicureanism as a Central Feature of the Interpretation of Horace's Sermones .............................................................21 Introduction ...................................................................................................21 History of Scholarship on Roman and English Satire ..................................24 Persona: an Element in Satire, not the Element of Satire ............................36 The Satiric Effect and Horatian Satire ..........................................................49 The Satiric Effect and Epicurean Friends .....................................................52 Chapter 2: Epicureanism and the Social Context of Horace's Intellectual Circle.60 Horace's Reading Circle as Revealed in the Sermones .................................62 Elite Networks and the Dissemination of Literature .....................................67 Horace's Friends: Vergil, Varius, Plotius Tucca, Quintilius Varus, and Maecenas..............................................................................................77 The Importance of Philodemus in the Late Republican Literary and Political Landscape ............................................................................................84 Did the Roman Epicureans Take Their Beliefs Seriously? ..........................93 Conclusion ..................................................................................................103 Chapter 3: Audience and Philosophy in Horace Sermones I ..............................105 Introduction and Background to Sermones I ..............................................105 Insiders, Outsiders, and the Conceptualization of Audience in Sermones I107 Audience in the Programmatic Sermones 1.4 and 1.10 .....................111 Audience in Sermones 1.1-3 ..............................................................119 Friendships in Satire: Horace's Pivot from 1.3 to 1.6 to 1.9 .............120 Friendship in a Travel Narrative ........................................................122 Philosophy and Horace's Literary Circle in Sermones Book I ....................128 Diatribe Satires: Horace's Sermones 1.1-3 .................................................131 vi Sermones 1.6, 1.9 and 1.5: The Nature of Friendship Within the Circle ...146 Chapter 4: Horace's Sermones Book II: Consultations and Stoic Sermons: A Reading of Sermones 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, and 2.7 ...............................................................155 Introduction and Background to Sermones II .............................................155 Sermo 2.1: Epicurean Safety in the Consultation with Trebatius ..............163 Stoic Sermons: Damasippus and Davus in Sermones 2.3 and 2.7 .............176 Becoming Odysseus: The Consultation with Teiresias in Sermo 2.5 ........195 Conclusion ..................................................................................................198 Chapter 5: The "Food" Satires ............................................................................200 Introduction to Food and Dining in Satire ..................................................200 Sermo 2.2 ....................................................................................................204 Sermo 2.4 ....................................................................................................219 Sermo 2.6 ....................................................................................................227 Sermo 2.8 ....................................................................................................239 Conclusion ..................................................................................................248 Epilogue ...............................................................................................................251 Works Cited .........................................................................................................263 vii List of Diagrams Diagram 1: .......................................................................................................3 viii Prologue I begin my study of Horace’s Sermones by turning to the final satire in his two volume collection. It may not have been the last satire that he wrote, but it is certainly the last satire that we read in sequence.1 It has sometimes been considered anticlimactic and a “poor” finish to his two books of satire (Horace would not return to satire as a genre throughout the rest of his life).2 But perhaps Horace’s satirical subtlety has eluded us, for 2.8 functions as a microcosm of one of the central features of satire, the framing of audience perspective. S. 2.8 tells the story of the disastrous dinner party of Nasidienus. Horace has not been invited, and so he does not narrate the events in his own voice. Instead, he inquisitively seeks details from his friend, Fundanius. Nor does Fundanius, the comic poet, disappoint, but he relates the entire scene in true comic fashion.3 Nasidienus, a known acquaintance, has invited Maecenas to a dinner, largely as an attempt to impress him, perhaps to obtain his patronage, and ultimately to improve his station with the rising star, Octavian. But the dinner party goes awry. The dinner starts with exotic delicacies served in strange fashion; all the while Nasidienus prattles on about their preparation. The 1 For the purpose of my argument, the exact order of composition of the individual poems is not important. I am more interested in their structure as a completed unit and specifically in the effects of their sequential presentation in performance. 2 For 2.8 as a poor conclusion see the treatment of Rudd, Satires of Horace 213-223. 3 S. 1.10.40-50 contains the fullest reference to the many members of the reading circle. Fundanius is the first mentioned, and he includes reference to his role as a comic poet within the reading circle. The notion of using Fundanius to narrate what happened at Nasidienus’ dinner party also has some important parallels to Plato’s Symposium