Visualisation and Description in the Elegies of Propertius and Tibullus A
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Visualisation and description in the elegies of Propertius and Tibullus A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Classics in the University of Canterbury by Jeremy S. Purton University of Canterbury 2011 i Visualisation and description in the elegies of Propertius and Tibullus Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................ii Introduction ..................................................................................................................1 Structure ....................................................................................................................3 Hellenistic poetry and other literary precedents ......................................................4 Definitions .................................................................................................................7 I: Landscape and setting ...........................................................................................19 Introduction .............................................................................................................19 Baiae’s dangerous water .........................................................................................21 Setting the scene ......................................................................................................27 Dangerous journeys ................................................................................................38 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................44 II: Visualisation and the erotic gaze .........................................................................46 Introduction .............................................................................................................46 Samples ....................................................................................................................47 udus Amor ............................................................................................................50 The erotic gaze ........................................................................................................55 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................70 III: Two versions of elegiac immediacy ...................................................................72 Introduction .............................................................................................................72 An artistic eye in Propertius ...................................................................................73 Mimesis biou in Tibullus ........................................................................................86 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................99 Envoi ..........................................................................................................................101 Synaesthesia in Propertius ...................................................................................101 The way forward ....................................................................................................104 Bibliography .............................................................................................................106 ii Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge and thank Professor Graham Zanker, whose supervision ensured that both steady progress was made and careful reflection took place. His advice was always helpful and often sparked new lines of enquiry. Likewise, his willingness to give up his time to discuss my ideas, be they fully-formed or half- baked, led to fruitful discoveries. Throughout the process and at times under less than ideal circumstances, he remained encouraging and enthusiastic. His time and effort have been greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank the staff of the Classics Department at the University of Canterbury, who made the juggling of my courses and the completion of this thesis smooth and enjoyable. I am grateful for their support. I was fortunate to have the company of an excellent group of fellow classics postgraduates. Writer’s block was often cured with coffee or ‘learned debate’. Many thanks. 1 Introduction Propertius and Tibullus wrote with a descriptive flair that demands critical attention. In this thesis, I explore the sensory appeal of their descriptions, with a particular focus on their encouragement of the reader to visualise what is being described. What makes Propertius’ and Tibullus’ poetry so conducive to visualisation is their enargeia , or visual vividness, a quality which, as we shall see, was prized in the Hellenistic criticism of poetry, historiography and oratory, and was developed to its fullest in the practice of Propertius’ and Tibullus’ Hellenistic predecessors. I examine Propertius’ and Tibullus’ vivid description, as an aim in itself and as part of a wider aesthetic, encompassing developments in the understanding and reception of visual art in ancient Rome. Propertius and Tibullus were active during the early Augustan era and were among those poets whose works form part of Latin literature’s golden age. Personal erotic elegy was first produced by the scantily preserved Gallus, perhaps modelled partly on Catullus’ elegiac poetry, before Propertius and Tibullus published their first books sometime around 27 BC , although the relative dating of the two is a matter for debate. Their audience was the wealthy and well-educated Roman elite. The relationship between erotic elegy and the artistic developments of classical and Hellenistic Greece and Augustan Rome merits close attention. Graham Zanker has written at length on the relationship between art and poetry in the Hellenistic period, and notes that discoveries in one field could shed light on the other. Propertius and Tibullus, each in his own way, interact with visual art, be it Roman landscape painting, or contemporary or Hellenistic sculpture. This reinforces their visual qualities as poets, and also sheds light on their broader aesthetic aims; this is particularly so with Propertius. Moreover, I argue that it is possible to identify in their descriptions the stylistic quality of enargeia , which I will discuss at length below. The application of vivid description to achieve enargeia is a major feature of Propertius’ and Tibullus’ poetry. Here are two examples of the sort of descriptions we shall examine. Propertius 3.3 contains a description of a sacred grotto, wherein Muses and doves go about their activities. The description is rendered vividly and in such way that the reader can visualise the setting: 2 hic erat affixis uiridis spelunca lapillis, pendebantque cauis tympana pumicibus, orgia Musarum et Sileni patris imago fictilis et calami, Pan Tegeaee, tui; et Veneris dominae uolucres, mea turba, columbae tingunt Gorgoneo punica rostra lacu… (Prop. 3.3.27-32) Here was a green cavern decorated with pebbles, and tambourines were hanging from its rocky vault, the holy objects of the Muses and a clay mask of father Silenus, and your pipes, Arcadian Pan; and the winged doves of Venus, their mistress, my people, are dipping their red beaks in the Gorgon’s pond… Colour, furnishings and activity enliven this scene, and the space within the cave becomes increasingly picturable as Propertius adds each detail. Things hang from the cave’s roof, doves drink from the pool, and mosaics adorn the walls lining the entrance. The effect of these descriptions recalls trompe l’oeil works like the mosaic of the doves, attributed to Sosus in the second century BC , which depicts doves dipping their beaks in a bowl of water.1 Another example, this time drawn from Tibullus, is full of intimate detail, and shows us how careful use of visual references can help the reader to ‘see’ what the poet ‘sees’. Tibullus describes Venus’ erotic domination of a youth: at Venus inuenit puero concumbere furtim, dum timet et teneros conserit usque sinus, et dare anhelanti pugnantibus umida linguis oscula et in collo figere dente notas. (Tib. 1.8.35-38) And Venus came upon the way to lie furtively with a boy, while he’s scared and clings tightly in the tender embrace, and to give him, breathless, wet kisses in the duel of tongues, and with her teeth to imprint marks on his neck. It is not until in collo figere dente notas that we encounter something that appeals so directly to sight. Visual description is couched within a larger passage of description and has the effect of sharpening the image by giving the reader something – in this case, the love-bites – that is easily picturable. But it is this physical manifestation of 1 Havelock 1981: pl. XIV ; Museo Capitolini, Rome, Inv. MC0402. 3 carnal passion that helps to bring out the other sensory details, including umida oscula and teneros sinus . It also emphasizes the active role of Venus and the passive submission of the boy. The duel of tongues takes on new meaning, for our boy must now bear the scars from his battle with love. Text It is important to identify the texts used in this thesis. Heyworth’s recent Oxford edition of Propertius has provided us with a thoroughly-revised and challenging text, supplemented by an enormous and detailed commentary. 2 While Heyworth has made some significant changes when compared with earlier versions, I have chosen to adopt his text. Where necessary,