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Durham E-Theses Hesiod's Works and Days: An Interpretative Commentary CANEVARO, LILAH-GRACE How to cite: CANEVARO, LILAH-GRACE (2012) Hesiod's Works and Days: An Interpretative Commentary, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5255/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Hesiod’s Works and Days: An Interpretative Commentary Lilah Grace Canevaro Hesiod’s Works and Days was performed in its entirety, but was also relentlessly excerpted, quoted and reapplied. This thesis places the Works and Days within these two modes of reading and argues that the text itself, through Hesiod’s complex mechanism of rendering elements self-contained and detachable whilst tethering them to their context for the purposes of the poem, sustains both treatments. However, Hesiod gives remarkably little advice on how to negotiate such modes of reading. The seeds of reception are there in the poem’s structure and formulation, but a fully worked out schema of usage is not. This thesis argues that this strategy is linked to the high value Hesiod places on self-sufficiency, which is consistently foregrounded in the Works and Days as the Iron-Age ideal. Hesiod’s emphasis on self-sufficiency creates a productive tension with the didactic thrust of the poem: teaching always involves a relationship of exchange and, at least up to a point, reliance and trust. This thesis argues that the poem’s structure and modes of reading reflect the interplay between self-sufficiency and the very point of didactic literature. Hesiod negotiates the potential contradiction between trust and independence by advocating not blind adherence to his teachings but thinking for oneself and working for one’s lesson. The issues are presented in an extensive essay, and then followed through the poem in a line-by-line analysis. This thesis complements the available commentaries on the Works and Days (West 1978, Ercolani 2010) by offering a sustained analysis of key aspects of the poem and by using the commentary format self-reflexively to track different ancient reading practices. 1 Hesiod’s Works and Days: An Interpretative Commentary Lilah Grace Canevaro Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics and Ancient History Durham University 2012 2 Contents Declaration and Statement of Copyright............................................................................4 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................5-6 Abbreviations......................................................................................................................7-8 Introduction.......................................................................................................................9-15 Part 1 a) Two Reading Traditions: Linear and Excerpting..........................................16-25 b) Two Structuring Strategies: Tethering and Detaching.................................26-40 c) Two Ideals: Didacticism and Self-Sufficiency...............................................41-60 Part 2 Interpretative Commentary on Hesiod’s Works and Days.........................61-363 Bibliography................................................................................................................364-378 3 Declaration and Statement of Copyright This work has been submitted to Durham University in accordance with the regulations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It is my own work, and none of it has previously been submitted to Durham University or any other university for a degree. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. 4 Acknowledgements This thesis and its author are truly products of Durham University, as the Department of Classics and Ancient History has taken me right from BA to doctorate. The project has been shaped and reshaped through discussions with my supervisor Prof. Barbara Graziosi, who always managed to keep me motivated when there seemed to be too much Work and not enough Days. Prof. Johannes Haubold's impeccable eye for detail has fine-tuned the thesis to within an inch of its life (any remaining inaccuracies being all my own work). To both I am eternally grateful. The thesis has also benefitted from exchanges outside the rarefied atmosphere of Durham. In organising a panel at the 2012 APA Meeting I had the pleasure of working with Prof. Richard Martin, Prof. Ruth Scodel, Dr. Zoe Stamatopoulou and Dr. Athanassios Vergados, all of whose contributions made this a really rewarding experience. Further, in my co-organiser Prof. Jenny Strauss Clay I found a willing victim for sounding out my ideas and, to my delight, a generous supporter of those ideas. I owe debts of gratitude to Prof. Luigi Battezzato, who was kind enough to invite me to Vercelli University to work with him on points of textual criticism, and to Prof. Jonas Grethlein, who did me the honour of acting as host at Heidelberg University in the final stages of my PhD. Indeed, giving a paper in Heidelberg led to a singularly stimulating discussion: further thanks to Dr. William Furley, Dr. Andreas Schwab and Dr. Anna Bonifazi. Nor would this thesis have been possible in the first place were it not for generous funding from various 5 sources: the SPHS, the Thomas Weidemann Fund, the Durham Stokes Fund, the Durham Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and in particular the AHRC. Of the remarkable friends I have had the good fortune to make over the past few years, one deserves special mention. Donald Murray, another of the Graziosi/Haubold brood, was passionate about his work, unshakeably amiable, with relentless good humour and a hint of eccentricity. Though he lost his battle with cancer in 2011, I count myself lucky to have known him. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my new husband, Mirko. It would seem that the Durham Department of Classics Couples had its effect – perhaps it's something in the water. But whatever it was that brought us together, may this thesis mark the beginning of an incredible journey. I may have undertaken this project as a Fraser, but I am proud to finish it as a Canevaro. 6 Abbreviations Abbreviations of the names of classical authors and works are those used in S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth (20033) (eds.) Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford. LfgrE = Snell, B. (1st ed.) (1896–present) Lexikon des Frühgriechischen Epos, Göttingen. Journal names are abbreviated according to the usage of L'Année Philologique. The text used is that of West, M.L. (1978) Hesiod Works and Days, Oxford. The sigla referred to are also those of West’s edition. I provide below a list of the commentaries on, and editions of, the Works and Days to which I refer by author’s surname only. When I refer to them in commentary notes without page numbers, the reference is s.v. or ad loc. Ercolani = Ercolani, A. (2010) Esiodo Opere e Giorni: Introduzione, Traduzione e Commento, Rome Goettling = Goettling, C. (1843) Hesiodi Carmina, London Mazon = Mazon, P. (1914) Les Travaux et les Jours, Paris Paley = Paley, F.A. (1861) The Epics of Hesiod, London Rzach = Rzach, A. (19583) Hesiodi Carmina, Stuttgart Sinclair = Sinclair, T.A. (1932) Hesiod Works and Days, London Solmsen = Solmsen, F., Merkelbach, R., West, M.L. (19903) Hesiodi Theogonia, Opera et Dies, Scutum, Fragmenta Selecta, Oxford Twesten = Twesten, A. (1815) Commentatio critica de Hesiodi carmine quod inscribitur Opera et Dies, Kiel 7 Verdenius = Verdenius, W.J. (1985) A Commentary on Hesiod Works and Days vv.1-382, Leiden West = West, M.L. (1978) Hesiod Works and Days, Oxford Wilamowitz = Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, U. von (1928) Hesiodos’ Erga, Berlin 8 Introduction This thesis comprises an introductory essay in which I establish the scope and focus of my analysis of Hesiod’s Works and Days (Part 1), and an interpretative lemmatic commentary in which I follow specific themes throughout the poem (Part 2). In Part 1a I explore the dual way in which the Works and Days was experienced in antiquity. The poem could be useful in two different, even if related ways: as a piece of extended instruction performed in its own right; and as a repository of lines that, when detached from their original context, could be applied to almost any scenario. I give examples of such applications, first of a particular passage to show the range of potential uses, then from various time periods to give an idea of the longevity of the Works and Days’ perceived usefulness. I start from ancient practices of reading, then, in order to offer a fresh examination of the Works and Days. In this respect, my work can be seen as part of a wider shift towards approaching ancient literature through its reception.1 Recent work on the reception of Hesiod in antiquity