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Gender, Text, and the Body in Martial's Epigrams By GENDER, TEXT, AND THE BODY IN MARTIAL’S EPIGRAMS BY JESSICA ROSE WELLS DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Philology in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Craig Williams, Chair Professor Antonios Augoustakis Associate Professor Angeliki Tzanetou Associate Professor Brian Walters ABSTRACT The expression “body of work” has long been used to describe the creative output of an author or artist, and the Latin word corpus is traditionally used to signify the bulk of a textual work because it represents a whole being made of many parts. This dissertation explores Martial’s Epigrams to ask how the poet presents his own work as a whole, gendered entity within its generic context. This dissertation undertakes a close textual analysis of epigrams that prominently feature body imagery for the text and textual imagery applied to the body. The analysis reveals that the text of the epigrams is often figured as a phallic male, but that the text may be figured as a more vulnerable body (e.g., that of a woman, boy, or an emasculated man, “gallus”) to demonstrate moments when the text is most at risk of theft or alteration; this vulnerability is especially applicable to pre-published texts. The research suggests that the figuration of a body of text as a phallically aggressive man presents the text as authoritative and the genre as a worthy form of literature. In the first chapter, I focus on the representations of “wrong” bodies or bodies in need of correcting. In chapter 2, I define various terms in Latin and English and give a brief cultural background before I introduce the idea of the text as an altered male body; the poet employs this imagery to threaten poetic rivals and situate his own text in an authoritative position. In the third chapter, I argue that Book 3 of Martial’s Epigrams is presented as a “macro-epigrammatic” text: the book itself is structured as if it were a large-scale, bipartite epigram, and the joke contained within hinges on the identity of the book as a vir (“man”), not a gallus (“emasculated man”) as the book’s first poem suggests. ii Tibi lectori dulci iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not exist without the following. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Craig Williams, for being available to work through ideas, for engaging conversations, and for reading many drafts. I would also like to thank my committee members: Antony Augoustakis, Angeliki Tzanetou, and Brian Walters, whose comments, feedback, and suggestions have helped me immensely. Whatever errors remain are solely mine. I would like to acknowledge my professors at the University of New Mexico, Monica Cyrino and Lorenzo Garcia, who encouraged me to continue my studies of Classics. Many thanks go to my parents for their love and support throughout this entire process. Thank you to my mother who instilled in me the value of hard work and demonstrated a love of the written word and the curiosity to seek out stories. Thank you to my father who expected that I could do anything and taught me that a willingness to learn is the first step. To Alejandra Pires and Diana Sacilowski, for solidarity in studies and work, adventures in culinary procrastination, and bonding over 80s movies. To Becca Bowlin (and Trout), for being a refuge. To Bekah Jane Duplichan, for many laughs along the way. To Linda Holland, who always showed up in the nick of time with a word of encouragement. To Michelle Martinez, Katie Cantwell, and Carina Moss, for all of your support. To my many colleagues Aine McVey, Stephen Froedge, Chris Gipson, Kostas Arampapaslis, Adam Kozak, Ashley Weed, Ky Merkley, Clarissa Goebel, Amy Oh, Amy Norgard, Sebastian Anderson, Ryan McConnell, and Daniel Abosso. Thanks to our librarian, David Morris. I would also like to thank the Champaign Park District, the Champaign Public Library, and the Writer’s Workshop at UIUC for providing spaces for repose and work. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: LITURA CORPORIS: THE BODY AS A TEXT IN NEED OF CORRECTING ..................................................................................................................25 CHAPTER 2: UNMAKING MEN: THE SOCIAL, HISTORICAL, AND LITERARY CONTEXT OF EMASCULATION IN THE EPIGRAMS ................................................46 CHAPTER 3: SCRIPTA MENTULA: CASTRATION/EMASCULATION AS A METALITERARY REFERENCE TO THE BOOK .........................................................97 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................131 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................136 v INTRODUCTION The expression “body of work” has long been used to describe the creative output of an author or artist. As often, we use the Latin word corpus in referring to the bulk of a textual work because it represents a whole being made of many parts. In one of the most famous poems of Martial’s Epigrams, the poet likens his text to the body of Priapus with a request to the reader to leave the body uncastrated (Nec castrare velis meos libellos. / Gallo turpius est nihil Priapo. “Don’t emasculate my little books. / Nothing is more shameful than a dickless Priapus,” Mart. 1.35.14– 15).1 In this dissertation, I examine the representation of the epigrammatic text as a body and the body as an epigrammatic text. The body in epigram varies from that represented in other genres, such as elegy or epic, and the epigrammatic representation of the text sets itself up as literature worth reading, i.e. a body in competition with other bodies of text (e.g., high literary genres). The text is represented as a male citizen body after it is secured by publication, but the pre- publication vulnerability of the text is figured as a woman or a non-man (eunuch, boy). The general way that the Epigrams present masculinity and femininity marks the body as an editable text. The poet possesses the ability to edit and correct these bodies as texts by the same authority that he edits his own texts. Rival poets (including plagiarists) are not given the freedom to work with their own texts without criticism by the poet. One of the methods of characterization comes from interactions between gendered physical human bodies in space. The text as a body may be interpreted as the body of the 1 All translations are my own. For the implications of an emasculated Priapus, see Spisak 2007: 32, “... in this poem Martial seems to be asking here how Priapus could do his job of protecting the garden: for to turn him into a Gallus—a priest of Cybele who had both of his testicles and penis removed—would render him weaponless.” 1 beloved (as in elegy), the body of the poet (Mart. 1.1), a child or slave of the poet (in moments of vulnerability). The text as a body in each of these relationships acts and responds according to a prescribed, complex set of social rules, most of which rely on gender. These relationships characterize how the text interacts with the author and the reader as well as how the author and the reader “interact” with each other. This study focuses primarily on the body represented in the text of the poet Martial. Typically, the epigrammatic body is represented by the ithyphallic god Priapus, a being who is always prepared to be the penetrator.2 When the text is represented as a body of a different type (female, youth/boy, emasculated man, etc.), the text is in a vulnerable state. In order to understand how the body works as a metaphor for the text in the genre of epigram, attention must be paid to the representation of “actual” bodies in the text of epigram.3 Male bodies in Martial’s Epigrams conform to a hierarchical structure that is similar to the theory of Hegemonic Masculinity first proposed by Connell.4 The main thrust of this theory is that the masculine gender contains varying degrees of masculinity. The highest masculinity in the hierarchy is the masculine ideal: in this context, the Roman vir. All other masculinity (and femininity) types are subordinate to the ideal type. Subordinate masculinities may be critiqued as such by different means of clothing, behaviors, sexual acts, and assumed or perceived bodily integrity. Many of the people represented in epigram are constructs. Often the women represent the 2 Richlin 1992a. 3 By the term “actual,” I refer to the description of bodies within the text, not a historical body that the text may be describing with any accuracy. 4 Connell 1987: 183–187. Identity in general and self-identification in ancient Roman society was constructed in a different manner than identity is constructed in the modern world. Hierarchies of gender from Connell’s theory do not map directly onto the constructs of gender in the ancient world, but a similar system of hierarchy does begin to emerge in epigram. 2 elegiac genre as a foil and competitor to epigram as a genre, particularly in Martial’s Epigrams.5 What has been referred to as “images of women” criticism offers a framework for the discussion of fictionalized women in epigram that aligns with Martial’s stated methodology of representation.6 In contrast with elegy, the genre of epic is also traditionally gendered as masculine.7 Martial’s Epigrams upend this relationship to present the genre in contrast with both of these genres. Epigram, as a genre, is represented by the hyper-masculinized figure (Priapus), who is at the same time ridiculous and idealized. In order to understand the complex gendered roles and relationships that this poet presents, the overall cultural and literary context of the Epigrams shapes the presentation of the text as well as its interpretation.
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