The Didactic and Dialogic Exordia of Apuleius‟ Florida Thesis
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First and Lasting Impressions: The Didactic and Dialogic Exordia of Apuleius‟ Florida Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Sarah Dubina, B.A. Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2010 Thesis Committee: Richard Fletcher, Advisor Tom Hawkins Anna McCullough Copyright by Sarah Dubina 2010 Abstract In response to recent scholarship on the function of the prologue to Apuleius‟ Metamorphoses and the exordium of the Apologia, this thesis employs the intersection of these approaches in analysis of Apuleius‟ Florida, a collection of rhetorical fragments. Although most of the fragments are incomplete, some can be identified as exordia which still retain some or all of their contextualizing narrationes; these fragments can be analyzed similarly to the exordium of the Apologia in that the themes introduced in the exordium can be traced intratextually throughout the course of the speech. Florida 1, although its narratio has not survived and thus cannot be analyzed as an introductory exordium, does occupy the position of the praefatio to the collection as it has survived in textual form. Florida 1 therefore occupies the same role for the collection as a whole as the prologue does for the Metamorphoses, preparing the reader for the literary text to follow. An analysis of the introductory passages to Apuleius‟ Florida must take into account the text‟s unusual plurality of introductions both in number and form, necessitating an approach that incorporates both the rhetorical and the literary. Analysis of these passages principally demonstrates Apuleius‟ didacticism and dialogism, the foundations of which are the relationship which he cultivates with his audience, his own text, and other texts. Apuleius characterizes his relationship with his audience most prominently by means of captationes benevolentiae, statements generally ii dismissed by scholars as the means by which an orator ingratiates himself to his audience. Apuleius‟ addresses to his audience, however, demonstrate the cultural and intellectual exchange which is the foundation of their relationship. He often presents his speech as a means of intellectual repayment to the city of Carthage, creating an intimate link between his audience, his speech, and education. In this manner, Apuleius invites his audience to participate in intellectual and philosophical discourse. Apuleius‟ many introductions also display a high degree of intratextuality and intertextuality. These rhetorical devices are also often dismissed as sophistic displays, but the way in which Apuleius‟ speeches and texts reference themselves allow Apuleius to cue his auditor or reader into the main themes which are explored throughout any given text. This self-referencing allows the ancient auditor or modern reader to more closely follow Apuleius‟ arguments and to create connections between different sections of texts which on the surface may deal with different concepts. Such intratextuality therefore serves as a didactic tool, allowing Apuleius to lead his audience to greater understanding. Similarly, Apuleius‟ intertextuality prompts the cognizant auditor to juxtapose new texts and new themes, prompting an intellectual and intertextual dialogue between Apuleius, auditor, and texts. An analysis of Apuleius‟ introductory passages allows us to witness the manner in which his sophistic rhetoric allows him to lay the groundwork for philosophical discourse. iii Dedication quibus tandem uerbis pro hoc tuo erga me animo gratias habitum . nondum hercle repperio. --Apuleius, Florida 16.32 iv Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the assistance and guidance of my advisor, Prof. Richard Fletcher. His support and encouragement—both on this project and in this program—have deepened my appreciation for this field and for Apuleius. I simply could not ask for a better mentor. I am also indebted to Profs. Tom Hawkins and Anna McCullough, not only for their involvement in this project, but also for providing me with much mentorship over the past two years. I additionally wish to thank the faculty and my fellow graduate students of the OSU Greek and Latin Department for the incredible education they have provided me and all of the support they have offered. I am also grateful to Profs. Danny Richter and Tom Habinek from the USC Classics Department for converting me to the field and for first introducing me to Apuleius, respectively. Finally, I would also like to thank my family and friends for their continual loving support, and lastly (but not leastly) Tristan. I could not have done this without you. v Vita Dec. 29, 1985 . Born (San Diego, CA) 2004 to 2008 . B.A. Classics, University of Southern California, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa Fall 2007 . Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies, Rome 2008 to present . Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Greek and Latin, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Greek and Latin vi Table of Contents Abstract . ii Dedication . iv Acknowledgements . v Vita . vi Chapter One: Introductions and First Appearances . 1 Introduction to the Rhetorical Framework . 4 Introduction to the Theoretical Framework . 12 Breakdown of Chapters . 15 Chapter Two: The Exordia of the Florida . 19 Florida 9 . 21 Florida 16 . 36 Florida 17 . 50 Florida 18 . 62 Conclusion . 79 Chapter Three: From Exordium to Praefatio: Reading Florida 1 . 83 Apuleius‟ False Prefaces . 84 Florida 1: Exordium and Praefatio . 88 Conclusion . 98 Chapter Four: The End of the Program and Last(ing) Impressions . 101 References . 104 vii Chapter One: Introduction Introductions and First Appearances “Fust appearances are ced to be everything. I don‟t put all my faith into this sayin. I think oysters and klams, for instance, will bear looking into.” --Henry Wheeler Shaw First appearances are—by nature—impossible to avoid, yet we often find that our reading of a certain person, situation, or text changes with a little looking into. It is, perhaps, our own fascination with the inevitability of first impressions that has led to the proliferation of works addressing „programmatic‟ and introductory passages in Greco-Roman literature.1 This flurry of scholarly work on introductory passages has consequently influenced contemporary Apuleian scholarship and interpretative approaches to the Apuleian corpus. Two major works have arisen in the past decade: Kahane and Laird‟s A Companion to the Prologue of Apuleius‟ Metamorphoses (published 2001, but resulting from their 1996 colloquium on the prologue to Apuleius‟ Metamorphoses), and Asztalos‟ “Apuleius‟ Apologia in a Nutshell: The Exordium” (2005). Kahane and Laird‟s collection arose from the premise that “[v]iewed on its own, the Prologue raises many linguistic, historical, and literary questions. But the fact that it is also a programmatic declaration multiplies these problems, and projects them into a much wider sphere.”2 A number of readings of the prologue emerge, from those relying on cultural or philosophical contexts to those which explore 1 For the rise of scholarship on programmatic passages, see Batstone (2007); for scholarship on introductory passages, see the collection of essays in Dunn (1992). 2 Kahane and Laird (2001), 1. 1 Apuleius‟ use of intertextuality to those probing dialogism, narrative, and the authorial voice.3 While each scholar is examining the prologue, in truth these articles (necessarily?) move beyond the prologue—the question which permeates the various approaches is how this puzzling prologue can allow us to better understand the Metamorphoses as a whole.4 This work in turn prompted Asztalos to devote a paper to the exordium of Apuleius‟ Apologia. In addition to serving as a response to the attention lavished upon the prologue to the Metamorphoses, she also works under the premise “that the exordium presents a compact and condensed version of the speech as a whole.”5 She carefully demonstrates how Apuleius discredits his various prosecutors in these introductory lines. As did the various scholars dwelling upon the prologue to Apuleius‟ Metamorphoses, Asztalos begins with the beginning but traces the ramifications throughout the following speech: the beginning leads her to the end and a better understanding of the whole. This thesis will examine the extent to which these principles and methodologies are applicable to one of Apuleius‟ works which has not as yet been thoroughly analyzed with a view towards introductions: the Florida. The Florida is a collection of selections from Apuleius‟ epideictic speeches delivered in Carthage in the 160s CE. Although the origin and method of selection of the collection is unknown,6 Lee notes that most of the fragments are in some way concerned with Carthage, and that “[i]n this regard the Florida could be 3 Cultural: Edwards (2001); philosophical: Trapp (2001); intertextual: Gibson (2001), Gowers (2001), and Smith (2001); dialogic: de Jong (2001) and Slater (2001); narratorial: Zimmerman (2001) and James (2001); authorial: Too (2001). 4 Laird (2001) observes that “the Prologue can be integrated with the rest of the text—as fabula or narrative—if we acknowledge a form of narratival ring composition which links it to the end of the work. This is „ring composition‟ in a fuller sense than is generally understood. However, we have to enter the ring at a certain point. The Prologue allows us to do so, by simultaneously operating as sermo” (279). 5 Asztalos