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University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting THE ANATOMY OF ROMAN EPIC: A STUDY OF POETIC VIOLENCE By JAMES MOSS LOHMAR A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 James Moss Lohmar 2 Meis parentibus sororibusque bellis 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I must first thank my mother, for forcing me to take Latin, and my father, for always talking shop. My sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth, have supported me throughout my studies, and their enthusiasm for my progress is always welcome. I have profound respect for Dr. Robert Burgess and Professors Mario Erasmo and James Anderson, without whose enthusiasm and instruction my decision to pursue a Ph.D. would have never come about. My gratitude goes to Professor Victoria Pagán and the students of her Lucan seminar during Fall 2009, whence the nascent stages of this project were born. My thanks go to Seth Boutin, Megan Daly and George Hendren, in particular, for their erudition and collegial support in this process. Lindsay Rogers offered me much support in the way of professional and academic advice throughout my graduate studies. I have appreciated the criticisms of Professor Gene Witmer in UF Philosophy, who has offered help in making this project appeal to a non-specialist audience. His suggestions of horror bibliography and modern film comparanda have been indispensible. Professor Kostas Kapparis has been a steady mentor in my teaching and writing since I began Ph.D. work, and his objectivity has kept my argument grounded in the text. Dr. Jim Marks has offered oversight in my research since my M.A. thesis, and I appreciate his editorship always. I am ever thankful for Professor Neil Bernstein‘s presence on the committee and the copious bibliography and challenging criticisms he offered; his guidance has rooted me better in the contemporary discussion regarding Roman epic. I appreciate my conversations and correspondence with Professor Carole Newlands, who helped me better articulate the grotesque aesthetic experience of reading epic violence. I cannot thank enough Kyle Gervais, who offered stimulating discussion and pertinent bibliography on Internet Body Horror, cognitive film theory, and 4 the amphitheater as the project came to a close. Finally, maximas gratias ago to my director, Professor Jennifer Rea, without whom not a letter of this thesis could have been written. Her patience and candid advice on all matters has made this process smooth and encouraging. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. 9 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTORY: VIOLENCE AND THE BODY OF LITERATURE ...................... 13 Σ῵μα, Corpus and Textual Violence ....................................................................... 13 Ennius‘ Annales as Material Metaphor.................................................................... 21 Linchpin: Eliding Real and Textual Violence ........................................................... 26 Lessons in Limb-Loss: Lucretius and Horace ......................................................... 30 From Metaphysics to Metapoetics: Lucretian Word Pictures .................................. 33 Violence in Horatian Hexameter ............................................................................. 38 The Anatomy of Roman Epic .................................................................................. 42 2 VIRGIL‘S RETICENCE AND THE GAPS OF VIOLENCE NARRATIVES ............... 44 Violence Narratives and Virgilian Ellipsis ................................................................ 46 The Grim Brothers: Hector and Deiphobus ............................................................. 49 A Corpus Without A Name ...................................................................................... 56 Picking Up the Pieces of Polydorus ........................................................................ 58 Homer, Ennius, and Virgil‘s Epic Imperialism ......................................................... 60 Re(-)Membering the Corpus ................................................................................... 63 Forward-Looking Conclusions ................................................................................ 66 3 THE CORPUS IN FLUX: SNIPPETS OF THE METAMORPHOSES ...................... 68 Anatomy of an Exile ................................................................................................ 69 New Beginnings: Metamorphoses 1 and The Violence of Creation ........................ 75 Under the Knife: Marsyas‘ Pain Aestheticized ........................................................ 81 Détente: Ovid‘s Corrosive Aesthetics ..................................................................... 85 Cannibalism as Poetic Blemish: Erysichthon .......................................................... 87 Ballroom Blitz: Pantomime in the Perseus Episode ................................................ 91 War Stories: The Lapiths and Centaurs .................................................................. 97 Hippolytus‘ Muscular Memory Loss ...................................................................... 105 Reliving Mettius Fufetius ....................................................................................... 107 Forms Changed: Ovidian Apotheosis and Grotesque Aesthetics ......................... 109 4 TO WOUND THE TRADITION: LUCAN IN THE EPIC ARENA ............................ 112 6 Senecan Sidelight ................................................................................................. 115 Corpora Mutata: Ovidian Tellus and Lucanian Fodere ......................................... 121 Aestheticized Violence: the Naumachia at Massilia .............................................. 127 I‘ll Meet You Overboard: Vulteius and the ‗Ship of Fools‘ ..................................... 132 Some Virtue: Scaeva the Epic Gladiator ............................................................... 134 Pompey: Lucan‘s Plaything ................................................................................... 136 Snakes on a Plain: Art Horror in the Libyan Excursus .......................................... 140 Horror Business: a Portrait of the Poet at Work .................................................... 144 Poetic Suicide and the Metahistorical Moment ..................................................... 147 Conclusions: Violent Poetics and the Lucanesque ............................................... 151 5 EPILOGUE: STATIUS‘ TYDEUS AS NARRATIVE CANNIBAL ............................ 155 Recognizing Tydeus, Statius‘ Saetiger Sus .......................................................... 155 Das Auge Isst Mit: Tydeus‘ Narrative Cannibalism ............................................... 157 Hunting Zombies ................................................................................................... 163 A House of Horrors ............................................................................................... 165 WORKS CITED ........................................................................................................... 167 Primary Texts ........................................................................................................ 167 Secondary Texts ................................................................................................... 168 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 177 7 LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1 Wounding Statistics for Ovid‘s Perseus and Lapiths and Centaurs Battles ...... 101 4-1 Distribution of fodere in the Bellum Civile ......................................................... 125 4-2 Synopsis of Libyan Snakebites and their Symptoms ........................................ 143 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AJP American Journal of Philology Arist. Poet. Aristotle, Poetica Caes. B Civ. Caesar, Bellum Civile Callim. Aet. Callimachus, Aetia Cic. Att. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum Cic. Brut. Cicero, Brutus CA Classical Antiquity CJ Classical Journal CP Classical Philology CQ Classical Quarterly CR Classical Review Enn. Ann. Ennius, Annales Eur. Hipp. Euripides, Hippolytus G&R Greece and Rome GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies Hermes Hermes, Zeitschrift für klassische Philologie Hom. Il. Homer, Iliad Hom. Od. Homer, Odyssey Hor. AP Horace, Ars Poetica Hor. Epist. Horace, Epistulae Hor. Sat. Horace, Satirae or Sermones JRA Journal of Roman Archaeology JRS Journal of Roman Studies LSJ Liddell and Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edn., rev. H Stuart Jones (1925-40); Suppl. by E. A. Barber and others (1968) 9 Luc. BC Lucan, Bellum Civile or Pharsalia Lucr. DRN Lucretius, De rerum natura OCT Oxford Classical Texts Ov. Met. Ovid, Metamorphoses PBSR Papers of the British School at Rome PCPS Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society Petron. Sat. Petronius, Satyrica Pf. R. Pfeiffer Pl. Phdr. Plato, Phaedrus Plut. Vit. Sull. Plutarch, Vita Sullae Quint. Inst. Quintilian, Institutio oratoria Sk. O. Skutsch, ed. 1985. The Annals of Quintus
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