CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE ALBAN KINGS IN THE : AN OVIDIAN CATALOGUE AND ITS HISTORIOGRAPHICAL MODELS

Stratis Kyriakidis

Ovid, Met. 14.609-23, 765-76 inde sub Ascanii dicione binominis Alba resque Latina fuit. succedit illi 61 0 quo satus antiquo tenuit repetita nomina cum sceptro. clarus subit Alba Latinum. Epytus ex illo est; post hunc Capetusque Capysque, sed ante fuit; regnum Tiberinus ab illis cepit et in Tusci demersus fluminis undis 615 nomina fecit aquae; de quo Remulusque feroxque Acrota sunt geniti: Remulus maturior annis fulmineo periit, imitator fulminis, ictu. fratre suo sceptrum moderatior Acrota forti tradit Aventino, qui, quo regnarat, eodem 620 monte iacet positus tribuitque vocabula monti. iamque Palatinae summam Proca gentis habebat. rege sub hoc Pomona fuit, ... haec ubi nequiquam formae deus aptus anili 765 edidit, in iuvenem rediit, et anilia demit instrumenta sibi talisque apparuit illi, qualis ubi oppositas nitidissima solis imago evicit nubes nullaque obstante reluxit, vimque parat; sed vi non est opus, inque figura 770 capta dei nympha est et mutua vulnera sensit. proximus Ausonias iniusti miles Amuli rexit opes, Numitorque senex amissa nepotis munere regna capit, festisque Palilibus urbis moenia conduntur; Tatiusque patresque Sabini 775 bella gerunt, ...

Next double-named ruled the land Of Latium and Alba. Silvius Succeeded him. His son, Latinus, took 212 STRATIS KYRIAKIDIS

The name and sceptre of his ancestor. After Latinus glorious Alba reigned; Then Epytus, and next came Capetus And Capys (Capys first), and following them The reign of Tiberinus, king from whom Was named the Tuscan river where he drowned. Fierce Acrota and Remulus were his sons; Then Remulus, of riper years, who mimicked Lightning, was by a lightning-flash destroyed. Acrota, better balanced than his brother, Passed on the sceptre to brave Aventine, Who on the hill where he had reigned was buried And to that hill bestowed his royal name. And now King Proca held the sovereignty And ruled the people of the Palatine. Pomona lived in good King ' reign ...

Thus the god pleaded in the old dame's guise, But all in vain. Then he resumed his own Young shape and shed the trappings of old age, And stood revealed to her as when the sun Triumphs in glory through the clouds and rain And bright with beams untrammelled shines again. No need of force. His beauty wins the day, As she with answering love is borne away. Next wicked by force of arms Ruled rich Ausonia, till old By a grandson's bounty gained the throne he'd lost. And then on Pales' festal day the walls Of Rome were founded. Led by Tatius The Sabine fathers battled ... (Trans. A. D. Melville) Catalogues are a standard feature of Roman literature and of Augustan poetry in particular. Their study can often disclose poetic intentions, for quite often they become set-pieces for emulation where poets, by changing some elements of their models or constructing them in a certain way, give a new purpose to them. At times, this literary func­ tion of a catalogue seems to be served better when its form and content have as a model a historiographic text rather than a poetic work. Dynastic or ktetic catalogues may be offered as a case study, since they can be found in epic as well as in historical works of antiquity, and they are therefore open to comparisons. The order in which names are listed in a catalogue, the addition or omission of a name, the qualifying epithets and its structure in general may