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The Epyllion: from Theocritus to Ovid Routledge Revivals The Epyllion The Epyllion From Theocritus to Ovid Thesis approved for the Degree of Doctor of Literature in the University of London M. Marjorie Crump First published in 1931 by Basil Blackwell This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business ©1931 by Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-0-367-19260-0 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-429-20142-4 (ebk) THE EPYLLION THE EPYLLION FROM THEOCRITUS TO OVID Thesis approved for the Degree of Doctor of Literature in the University of London By M. MARJORIE CRUMP, M.A., D.Lit. LATE OF ST. HUGH’S COLLEGE* OXFORD AND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON LECTURER IN LATIN AT GOLDSMITH’ S COLLEGE, LONDON BASIL BLACKWELL OXFORD i93i PREFATORY NOTE I wish to express my gratitude to Professor H. E. Butler for many valuable suggestions and criticisms made in the course of the work; to Professor M. T. Smiley for his kindness in reading and criticising the chapters dealing with Greek authors; to Dr. R. A. Fisher, f .r.s.,whose Statistical test o f the figures for the occurrence o f different types o f hexameter I have used in Note IV.; and to Mr. C. G. Crump for reading the work in Manuscript. The publication of this work has been aided by a grant from the Publication Fund of the University of Lon­ don. v CONTENTS CHAPTER. PAGE I. Introductory i II. The G reek and L atin Epyllia 25 III. T he E pic Idyll. T heocritus, Moschus and Bion 50 IV. T he Hecale of Callimachus 72 V. E uphorion of Chalcis and Parthenius of N ic ® a 92 V I. Catullus and His School 115 VII. The Culex 141 v m . The Ciris and the School of Cornelius Gallus 154 IX. The A rist/bus of V ergil 178 X. The Metamorphoses of Ovid I. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE POEM 195 X I. T he Metamorphoses of Ovid II. THE OVIDIAN EPYLLION 217 X II. E fyllion and G rand E pic 243 vii Contents NOTE PAGE I. The Order of the Columns on the Rainer Board 258 II. Lost G reek E pyllia 261 in. The Culex and the A ristsus 263 IV. Metrical T ests of the A uthorship of the Culex a n d Ciris 263 V. Narrative E legy and E pyllion 271 VI. T able of the Construction of the Metamorphoses 274 Bibliography 279 Index 281 viii THE EPYLLION FROM THEOCRITUS TO OVID i INTRODUCTORY i U n d e r the general heading o f Greek Epic it is custo­ mary to include a large number of poems and fragments o f very various types. They are ah written in the same metre and approximate more or less to the Style con­ secrated to epic poetry and known as Homeric; they are narrative or partially narrative in form, and deal with persons and events of remote or legendary ages. But within these limits the scope of the Greek Epic is extraordinarily wide, embracing, as it does, such widely divergent forms as the Ilia d , the Hesiodic Catalogue poems, the H ym ns of Callimachus and the epic Id y lls o f Theocritus. While it is impossible to date with certainty every indi­ vidual example, yet every epic work of any importance may be ascribed to one o f two groups, the first includ­ ing all the works attributed by the ancients to Homer, Hesiod and the Cyclic poets, and the second the epics and epyllia of the Alexandrian Age. Between these two periods lies the great age of Attic literature which pro- i The Epyllion from Theocritus to Ovid duced no epic work of real importance. Doubtless epics appeared from time to time; indeed a few names of epic authors and their works have come down to us, the best known being that of Antimachus o f Colophon, who wrote a Thebais, which obtained a certain reputa­ tion— of notoriety perhaps rather than of genuine fame. But none of these epics have survived, and even in their own time they probably had little significance. In considering the history o f the epic they may be re­ garded as negligible. Among the many problems connefted with the Ilia d and O dyssey, none is more remarkable than their isola­ tion. Not only are they infinitely greater than any other ancient epic, but they are totally unlike any o f them in chara&er. It may be safely assumed on consideration of the evidence that they were as far removed from the lost epics as they are from any extant epic poem. The Cyclic and Hesiodic poets represent indeed a develop­ ment of the Homeric tradition; the Alexandrian epic, however, shows a complete and a deliberate change. The Argonautica o f Apollonius Rhodius has nothing in common with the Ilia d and Odyssey except the most general characteristics o f Style. Still later the truth was forcibly Stated by Vergil, who maintained that it was easier to Steal his club from Hercules than a single line from Homer.1 This isolation o f the two great epics was felt all through the Attic period, as is proved by the 1<<Asconius Pedianus libro, quem contra obtreftatores Vergilii scripsit, pauca admodum obiecta ei proponit eaque circa hiStoriam fete et quod pleraque ab Homero sumpsisset; sed hoc ipsum crimen sic defendere adsuetum ait: cur non illi quoque eadem furta temp- tarent? Verumintellefturos facilius esse Herculi clavam quam Homero versum subripere.” (Suet., Vit. Verg., 46.) 2 Introductory tremendous reverence with which they were regarded, but it was perhaps not consciously laid down as a fa & of literary history, until Callimachus and his school denounced those who would attempt to imitate Homer. Whether any great heroic epic preceded the Ilia d and Odyssey we do not know, but it is certain that they are the last, if not the only poems o f their kind. There is no reason to suppose that the Cyclic epics were more than imitations, which could not pretend to the beauty and vigour of their originals. The Homeric hymns and the Hesiodic poems, though attached to the Homeric tradition, are new developments of it. The long epics o f a later age have perished with the sole exception of the Argonautica; and the Argonautica has survived in spite of its length, because, with all its faults, it is a great poem. It is generally agreed that the heroic epic is the pro- du& of an age, when man’s aftions and emotions were reStri&ed only by the custom of his associates, when legal codes were unknown and when the bounds of scientific possibility were undefined. The epic poet aims at creating an atmosphere of reality; but he is not therefore bound to abstain from the marvellous. The author of the wanderings of Odysseus had not experi­ enced the adventures of his hero, but he did not regard them as necessarily impossible; there was infinite pos­ sibility of Strange adventure on unknown seas. The absence of detailed historical and scientific know­ ledge and of written records undoubtedly provided conditions suitable for epic writing. But the fact that the task was easier in such an age does not entirely account for the absence of great epics o f the Homeric 3 The Epyllion from Theocritus to Ovid type in the later literature o f Greece and in the whole o f that of Rome. Nor does it account for the comparative rarity o f long epics like the JE n e id , which are entirely distinft from the Homeric type. For a full understand­ ing o f the attitude o f the later ages towards epic it is necessary to consider briefly some of the causes which govern the produftion and decay of the heroic epic. The first requisite for a great epic is a great poet. The comparative rarity of poets great enough to keep the interest of their hearers or readers sustained through a poem o f some thousands of lines alone accounts for the scarcity of great epics. Whatever theory is held about the authorship of the Ilia d and Odyssey it is clear that at least one poet o f supreme genius was concerned in the composition o f each of them. It is by no means impossible that several poets o f equal power had a part in the present arrangement of the poems. Athens produced three great tragedians at the same time, and there is no difficulty in supposing that the age o f the great epics produced more than one poet o f outstanding power. The second requisite is a historical or semi-hiStorical subj eft; that is to say, that the author muSt base his work on a background of events which he believes to have occurred.
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