CAELUM ASCENDIT RATIO: THE DIVINIZING ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE IN DIDACTIC POETRY FROM HESIOD TO MANILIUS Zackary P. Rider A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classics. Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: James J. O’Hara Sharon L. James William H. Race James B. Rives Zoe Stamatopoulou ©2016 Zackary P. Rider ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Zackary P. Rider: Caelum Ascendit Ratio: The Divinizing Role of Knowledge in Didactic Poetry from Hesiod to Manilius (Under the direction of James J. O’Hara) In this dissertation, I seek to refine our understanding of the genre of didactic poetry in antiquity through examination of the relationship between knowledge and divinity as it is presented by Greek and Latin didactic poets. Focusing on the poetic portrayal of the didactic student, I argue for a continuity in the didactic poetic discourse based on a conception of the divinizing power of knowledge, and show the (quasi-)deification of the student to be a recurrent generic feature. This “deification” can take different forms, ranging from a qualified return to the mythological Golden Age where humans “lived like the gods,” as seen in Hesiod’s Just City, to the philosophical conception of ὁμοίωσις θεῷ, in which the promotion of the rational part of the soul brings humanity closer to divinity. Despite this diversity of forms, each poet can be seen self-consciously working within a shared tradition, portraying new articulations on this divinizing role in ways meant to recall poetic predecessors and offer students the potential for “a life like the gods.” Chapter 1 provides an overview of this divinization or return to a state like that of the Golden Age as it is portrayed by the Greek didactic poets Hesiod, Empedocles, and Aratus. Chapter 2 looks at Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, examining how Lucretius combines poetic and philosophical models to argue for the deification of the Epicurean student and especially iii Epicurus himself. Chapter 3 turns to Vergil’s Georgics to show the ways in which Vergil’s polyvalent text plays with its readers’ expectations to assert and reject simultaneously the possibility for his student to achieve a “life like the gods.” Chapter 4 concludes the dissertation with a study of Manilius’ Astronomica, showing how the poet exploits contradictions in his predecessors for his own ends while arguing for the inherent divinity of humanity. iv To my mother, who wanted it done even more than I did. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks go first and foremost to my advisor, James O’Hara, without whose advice and support this dissertation would not have seen the light of day. Jim was always ready to respond to my countless worried emails or listen to me work out uncertain aspects of my argument, and always did so with patience and good humor. Anyone familiar with his work will see the influence of his ideas on every page of this project. I would also like to thank my readers, Sharon James, Bill Race, James Rives, and Zoe Stamatopoulou, whose erudition and aid allowed me to speak comfortably and (one hopes) intelligently on subjects outside of my field of expertise, and whose thoughtful comments made this a much better work. Jim Lesher provided useful comments on my chapter on Greek didactic. Members of our department’s occasional dissertation writing group—Robyn Le Blanc, Hans Hansen, Katie Simons, Erika Weiberg, and John Esposito—saw some of the earliest sections of the dissertation in draft form and offered a helpful reminder that misery loves company. Much of this project was completed at the American Academy in Rome, where I spent the year thanks to the Berthe M. Marti Fellowship, and I am grateful to the fellows, residents, and staff of that institution for a welcoming and rewarding experience. Finally, words cannot express my debt to Ali Zawoyski and especially to my mother, Terri Rauhaus. Throughout this process, they have been unstinting in their support and optimism, and never failed to provide needed morale boosts. My interest in didaxis is largely a result of my mother’s own commitment to education, and this dissertation is dedicated to her. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 The Didactic Question.........................................................................................................1 Divine Options.....................................................................................................................3 The Present Study................................................................................................................8 CHAPTER 1: THE GREEK DIDACTIC BACKGROUND IN HESIOD, EMPEDOCLES, AND ARATUS..................................................................................................12 Hesiod................................................................................................................................13 Empedocles........................................................................................................................23 Aratus.................................................................................................................................32 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................46 CHAPTER 2: LUCRETIUS..........................................................................................................47 First Beginnings.................................................................................................................50 The Hymn to Venus...............................................................................................51 The Opposition to Religio......................................................................................57 Allusive Argumentation.....................................................................................................63 Epicurus.............................................................................................................................69 The Gods of Religio...........................................................................................................82 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................87 CHAPTER 3: VERGIL’S GEORGICS.........................................................................................88 The Invocation to Octavian................................................................................................92 vii The Agricultural Life and the Golden Age........................................................................96 The Golden Age Inverted.................................................................................................109 The Education of Aristaeus..............................................................................................114 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................125 CHAPTER 4: MANILIUS...........................................................................................................126 Caesar deus ipse...............................................................................................................129 The Iron Age Redeemed..................................................................................................134 Hermetic Thought and the Divinity of Humanity............................................................149 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................159 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................160 WORKS CITED..........................................................................................................................163 viii Introduction The Didactic Question The problem of identifying the genre now known as “didactic” in its ancient framework is well-known.1 After all, there is little ancient evidence for any clear demarcation of the genre. Indeed, the “didactic” poets themselves do not seem to recognize the genre as such, instead identifying their works by the standard criterion of metrical choice. As such, given these poets’ proclivity for hexameter and the meter’s long-standing associations with the epic tradition, the grand majority of “didactic” poems are represented in self-consciously epic terms. Thus Lucretius in the proem to his De Rerum Natura presents his poetic predecessors on “the nature of things” as Ennius and before him Homer (DRN 1.117-126), while Vergil includes his own tribute to Homeric verse near the end of his poem on agricultural instruction. This emphasis on form over content in the self-representation of genre may be seen most clearly in the opening to the second book of Manilius’ Astronomica, wherein the astrological poet gives a catalogue of his antecedent tradition comprising material today seen as markedly divergent, but united by its hexameter form: the epics of Homer (Astr. 2.1-11); the instructional poetry of Hesiod (2.12-24), astronomical poets such as Aratus (2.25-35), and Nicander (2.44-45); bucolic poetry (2.39-42); and even magical texts (2.46-48). 1For systematic