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Book Chapter

The Episode and 1

NELIS, Damien Patrick

Reference

NELIS, Damien Patrick. The Aristaeus Episode and Aeneid 1. In: Haan, E. From Erudition to Inspiration. Belfast : Belfast Byzantine Enterprises, 1992. p. 3-18

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1 / 1 Kevin's playing games. He stands for lyric Intervention in the scheme ofthings, The Aristaeus episode and Aeneid 1 As when a simile begins to find Damien N elis

Focus and direction in epic verse And the bard's strong band upon the poem's helm The existence of a considerable number of verbal similarities between the Goes dreamy and the whole craft drifts or lifts second half of the fourth book of 's and certain passages of the Aeneid is often remarked upon. Most of the scholarly activity devoted to the apparent connections between the two poems has dealt While the boatmen think they smell hearthsmoke from home with the question of the priority of composition of the verses, a problem Upon the seawind, and then the story swings which of course raises the issue of the laudes Gal/i and the Servian On course again towards some bloodied landfall. tradition of the publication of a second edition of the Georgics after the death of C. Cornelius Gallus in 27/26 B.C. Recent contributions to this debate' have tended to lend credence to Servius's statements, or at least to certain parts of them, but many remain unconvinced.2 Another III approach to the connections between the Aristaeus episode and the Aeneid, one which deliberately ignores the Prioritdtsfrage, bas attempted And since the whole thing's irnagined anyhow, to study the verbal sirnilarities in the context of broader thematic Imagine being Kevin. Which is he: connections between the two works.3 This method, building on the Self-forgetful or in agony ail the time findings of several earlier contributions to the study of the fourth book of the Georgics, has produced the theory that an allegorical reading of both works reveals the story of bugonia, Aristaeus, Orpheus and to From the neck on out down through his hurting forearms? be a commentary on recent historical events and characters, namely Are bis fingers sleeping? Does he still feel his knees? Actium, Augustus, Antony and Cleopatra. This interpretation has received Or has the shut-eyed blank of underearth a decidedly cool reception. One reviewer4 has written, ' .. . this paper is

1 See, for example, E. Paratore, 'L'episodio di Orfeo', Atti del Convegno Virgiliano Crept up through him? Is there distance in his head? ne/ Bimillenario delle Georgiche (Naples, 1977), 9-36; E. Lefèvre, 'Die Laudes Ga/li Alone and rnirrored clear in love's deep river, in Vergils Georgica', WS, n.s.20 (1986) 183-192; H. Jacobson, 'Aristaeus, Orpheus 'To labour and not to seek reward,' he prays, and Ûle iAudes Ga/li', AJP, 105 ( 1984), 271-300; P. Domenicucci, 'L'Elegia di Orfeo ne! IV libro delle Georgiche', GIF, n.s.,16 ( 1985), 239-248. 2 See, for example, J. , C. Cornelius Gallus und Vergil: Das Problem der A prayer his body makes entirely Umarbeitrmg des Vierren Georgica-B11ches (Diss. Münster, 1977, pub!. 1980); R.F. For he has forgotten self, forgotten bird Thomas, Virgil. Georgics (Cambridge, 1988), 1.13-16. The classic statement in And on the riverbank forgotten the river's name. English of this view is that of W.B. Anderson 'Gall us and the Fourth Georgie', CQ, 27 ( 1933), 36-45, 73. See also E. Norden, 'Orpheus und Eurydice', Sitzungsber. d. Pre11ss. Akad. Wiss. Phil-Hist. Kl.22 (1934), 626-683 = KI. Schr. (Berlin, 1966), 468- 532. For a most useful bibliography on the subject, see Jacobson, 'Aristaeus'. 3 See Y. Nadeau, 'The Lover and the Statesman: A study in apiculture (Virgil, Georgics 4.281-558)', Poetry and Politics in the Age ofA ugustus, eds. T. Woodman and D. West (Cambridge, 1984), 59-82; see also the additions to the original argument by the same author: 'Aristaeus: Augustus: Berenice: Aeneas', , 42 (1989), 97-101. 4 J. den Boeft, MnemoJyne, 39 (1986), 517.

2 3 DAMIEN NELIS TIIE ARIST AEUS EPISODE either the sumrnit of ingenious brilliance or utter nonsense'. Another good reason to deny that Virgil completed the Georgics in 29 B.C.9 The critics is of the opinion that 'readers will find many grounds for disbelief'. argument based on chronological considerations can be accompanied by It would be wrong, however, to react to the undoubted excesses of this other objections to Servius's claim. Why was Gallus allowed to retain allegorical reading by throwing the baby out along with the bath water such prorninence in Eclogues 6 and 10 if he had to be removed from and thus ignoring the significance of both the verbal and, more Georgics IV? How could a poem in which Augustus figures prominently importantly, thematic parallels which do undoubtedly exist betw.een the end with large-scale praise of a subordinate? How could a passage by Aristaeus episode and the Aeneid. The purpose of this paper is the very Rome' s most famous poet in praise of such a striking figure of both the lirnited one of going over once again this much-trodden ground in an literary and political world disappear without trace after having been in attempt to set out as clearly as possible the themes and actions which link circulation for at least two years? Do not the inconsistencies of Servius's Aeneas to Aristaeus in the first book of Virgil's epic. I stake no large remarks (were the laudes Ga/li replaced by Aristaei fabula or by Orphei claims to originality. What follows owes much to the work of such fabula or both?) suggest the confused, unsound basis of his sources? My scholars as inter alios Heurgon, Büchner, Knauer, Segal, Crabbe, Griffin, position is basically the same as Knauer's,10 that Virgil can be seen Berres and Nadeau and my very considerable debt to them will be bringing to perfection in the mythological narrative of the fourth Georgie obvious throughout. those techniques of imitation which were to provide the basis for the I should make it clear from the outset that as far as the Prioritiitsfrage composition of the Aeneid. I would also argue that the arguments set out is concerned I am convinced of the priority o(Georgics IV over Aeneid below conceming the relationship between , Georgics IV and. 1. 6 It is obvious from the proem to Georgics III that the composition of an Aeneid 1 lend support to Knauer's thesis. epic poem was already on Virgil's mind while he was still working on the The following is a list of the verbal sirnilarities between Georgics Georgics and I would accept that the two poems contain similarities of IV.281-566 and Aeneid 1.11 Not ail of the links here cited will be diction and theme because they reflect many of the poet's most constant discussed below but the very number of parallels is noteworthy and preoccupations during some of the most disturbed years of Roman reinforces the basic argument that Virgil consciously intended them and history. I would even go so far as to say that Virgil was already doing wanted his informed reader to notice them. preliminary work on Aeneid 1, 4 and 6 while he was composing the Aristaeus episode. But I do not believe that we can speak in any Aeneid 1 Georgics IV.281-566 meaningful sense of large-scale simultaneous composition of both works or that Virgil would in fact have finished the second version of the 71 538 - 550 Georgics in 26 B.C. when the Aeneid was already well under way. I take 72 343 Servius's remarks7 about the rewriting of parts of the adventures of 84 471 Aristaeus and/or Orpheus to be garbled versions of a quite different 93 498 explanation of certain features of the Aristaeus episode, 8 and I see no 126f. (cf. 154f.) 35lf. 136 454f. 5 N.M. Horsfall, CR, 35 (1985), 53. 159 387 6 Most recently R. Martin, Enciclopedia Virgiliana (Rome, 1985), 2, 668, bas argued for simultaneous composition of the passages in question while T. Berres, following K. Büchner, RE VIIIA, s.v. P. Vergilius Maro, 1315-1318, Die Entstehung der 9 See J. Griffin, 'The Fourth Georgie, Virgil and Rome', in Latin Poets and Roman Aeneis, Hermes Einzelsehriften, 45 (Wiesbaden, 1982), 303-314, bas contended that Life (London, 1985), 163-182, here p. 180 (originally published G & R, 26 [1979], the early sections of the Aeneid pre-dated and influenced the revised version of 61-80); Thomas, Virgil, Georgies, 1.1. Georgies IV. 10 See G.N. Knauer, 'Virgil and Homer', ANRW, II. 31.2 (1981), 870-918, here 910- 7 In bis famous notes on Eclogue 10.1 and Georgies 4.1 Servius states that Virgil 914. rewrote part of Georgies IV after the death of C. Cornelius Gallus (in 27/26 B.C.; see 11 Berres, Die Entstehung, and W. Moskalew, Formular Language and Poetie Design R. Syme, The Roman Revolution [Oxford, 1939], 309, n.2). in the Aeneid, MnemoJyne Suppl., 73 (Leiden, 1982), 194-199, provide the most 8 There is evidence to suggest that the Aristaeus episode as we have it contains complete collections of the similarities between the passages in question and my list is laudes Ga/li in the form of prolonged imitation of both the form and content of based on theirs, with only a few additions. Unless stated otherwise, Arabie numerals Gallus's own poetry; see R. Coleman, 'Gallus, the Bueolies and the Ending of the refer to the books of the Aeneid, Roman numerals to the books of the Georgies. The Fourth Georgie', AJP, 83 (1962), 55-71; Lefèvre, 'Die Laudes Ga/li', 190; Thomas, text of Virgil used is that of R.A.B. Mynors, P. Vergi/i Maronis Opera (Oxford, Virgil, Georgies, 1. 15f.; G. D'Anna, Virgilio: Saggi Critiei (Rome, 1989), 76f. 1969)2.

4 5 DAMIEN NELIS THE ARIST AEUS EPISODE

159-161 418 - 421 hears a noise and one of her sister-, Arethusa, raises her 166 374 head out of the waters to see whence it cornes. eptune, combining the 166 - 168 422f.,429 rotes of the two nymphs, hears the sound of a raging stonn and looks out 235 282 from the surface of the water to see exactly what is going on.12 372 (cf. 753) 285f. Aristaeus's speech has been replaced by a storm at sea but significant 387f. 324 details of the action are oonunon ta both narratives. In addition to the link 403f. 415-417 between Neptune and Cyrene + Arethusa, the preceding narratives both 407 356 contain speeches in which Aeneas and Aristaeus bewail the situation in 4llf. 424 which they find themselves (cf. IV.321-332 and 1.94-101, Aeneas being 614f. 444f. caught in a storm at sea, Aristaeus having lost his hive of and 677f. 354f. standing at the source of a river), and bath men see death as preferable to 700 -706 376 - 379 such suffering (cf. IV.326-328 and 1.94-101). In addition, Virgil imitates Aristaeus's speeeh of complaint soon after at two other points in Aeneid Two further passages of Aeneid 1 must be mentioned. Compare 1.742- 1. 746 and IV. 345-347 (the song of Iopas and the song of Clymene) and Not long after the calming of the storm by Neptune, Venus, saddened compare also 1. 430-436 witb lV.162-169 (the compariso~ of the by the sufferings of her son Aeneas, complains to Jupiter (1.229-253). At Carthaginians to bees and a narrative description of bees). Detatled study the end of her speech she draws attention to the fact that Aeneas is of of the most striking of these verbal similarities will illustrate the close divine parentage and that he has been promised deification but that in his thematic connections between the narrative of the Aristaeus episode and case even these advantages count for little (1.250-252): the adventures of Aeneas in the opening book of the Aeneid. As the Trojans sail away from Sicily a violent storm arises._ Aeneas's nos, tua progenies, caeli quibus adnuis arcem, fleet is battered by the tempest, raised by Juno and , unt1l Neptune navibus (infandum!) amissis unius ob iram intervenes to still the winds and cairn the seas. The entrance of the sea­ prodimur atque Italis longe disiungimur oris. god on to the scene is described as follows (1.124-127): In Georgics IV the burden of Aristaeus's complaint to his mother is exactly the same. 13 He moans (IV.322-325): Interea magno misceri murmure pontum emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus et imis stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus, et alto ... qoid me praeclara stirpe deorum prospiciens somma placidom capot extolit onda. (si modo, quem perhibes, pater est Thymbraeos Apollo) invisum fatis genoisti? aut quo tibi nostri Virgil here quotes almost a whole line from Georgics IV. There, pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare iubebas? following Aristaeus's complaint to his mother Cyrene at the source of the He too suffers, despite bis divine parentage and the e)(pectation of river Peneus, the Arethusa raises her head out of the water imm.ortality. In the Georgics the son complains directly to bis mother (IV.35lf.): whereas in the Aeneid it is the mother who pleads to Jupiter on her son's behalf but this difference is unimportant given that soon after the meeting ... ante alias Arethusa sorores with Venus and Jupiter Aeneas meets his mother, disguised as a huntress prospiciens somma flavum capot extolit onda. in the Libyan forest. lt is only as the goddess disappears from his sight The poet also has in mind Cyrene's reaction to Aristaeus's lament, ~be nymph, like Neptune, being beneath the surface of water and heanng 12 Vîrgil's original source for both passages is to be found in Apollonius Rhodius, sounds from above (IV.333f.): Argonautica 1.1310-1314 where the sea-deity Glaucos rai ses his head out of the waves to speak 10 the . See F. Rüuen, De Vergilii Srudiis Apollonîanis At mater sonitum thalamo sub fluminis alti (Diss. Münster, 1912), 49; D.P. elis. The Aeneid und rir e Argonaulica ofApollonius sensit. Rhodiu (Diss. B.elfast, 1988), 8lf. (publication fortbcoming). 13 See Nadeao, 'The Lover and the Statesman', 61.

6 7 TIΠARIST AEUS EPISODE DAMIEN NELIS that the hero recognizes the true identity of the girl and this recognition her city and then into her palace. Sacrifices follow (1.632) and a feast takes place (1.695-756). Strange as it may seem, Virgil here has in mind provokes the following complaint (l.407f.): Aristaeus's entry into the watery realm of Cyrene and her nymphs quid naturn totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis (IV.358-373) and the subsequent description of the preparation of a feast ludis imaginibus? and the offering of sacrifices (IV.374-385). Once again, direct quotation from the Georgics makes clear the link. The description of the feast in Arethusa reports the content of Aristaeus's complaints to his mother as Dido's palace begins as follows (1.701-706): follows (IV.353-356): ... o gemitu non frustra exterrita tanto, dant manibus famuli lymphas Cereremque canistris Cyrene soror, ipse tibi, tua maxima cura, expediunt tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis. cristis Aristaeus Penei genitoris ad undam quinquaginta intus famulae, quibus ordine longam stat \acrimans, et te crudelem nomine dicit. cura penum struere et flammis adolere penatis; 705 centum aliae totidemque pares aetate ministri, Both Aeneas and Aristaeus, therefore, in bitter complaints describe tbeir qui dapibus mensas onerent et pocula ponant. respective motheTS as crudelis. Virgil thus draws on Aris~eus_s spee~h to his mother Cyrene at IV.321-332 on three different occasions m Aene1d l: Virgil here refers to IV.376-383 : for Aeneas's speech in the storm, for Venus's complaint to Jupiter and finally for Aeneas's lament to his mother...... , manibus liquidos dant ordine fontis The striking sirnilarity between 1.127 and IV.352 (prospzciens germanae, tonsisque feront mantelia villis; summa ... ) tbus serves to draw the reader's attention to further, Jess pars epulis onerant mensas et plena reponunt 14 pocula, Panchaeis adolescunt ignibus arae. inunediately obvious, links between Aeneid l and Georgics IV . The 380 et mater 'cape Maeonii carchesia Bacchi: same may be said of some further verbal similarities between the two Oceano libemus' ait. simul ipsa precatur texts. After the calming of the stoun by Neptune the Trojans make for the Oceanumque patrem rerum Nymphasque sorores, nearest land and so corne to the Libyan shore (l.159-161): centum quae silvas, centum quae flumina servant.

est in secessu longo locus: insula portum The passages are so similar as to be unmistakably connected. The efficit obiectu laterum, quibus omnis ab alto description of the banquet offered to Aeneas by Dido is modelled in part frangitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos. on the preparations for a feast described after Aristaeus's entry into the umida regna (IV.363) of Cyrene. Once again, Aeneas's experiences in Virgil evidently has in mind IV.418-421 where the place m which the first book of the Aeneid closely resemble those of Aristaeus in Aristaeus must confront is described as follows: Georgics IV. Aristaeus, after the loss of his bees, goes to the source of the Peneus ... est specus ingens and complains bjtterly to his mother Cyrene about his suffering. On being exesi latere in montis, quo plurima vento heard by Arethusa, he is kindly received by his mother in her wonderful cogitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos, realm. A banquet is being prepared there and offerings made to the gods. deprensis olim statio tutissima nautis; Cyrene goes on to tell Aristaeus of Proteus and then the narrator proceeds to describe Aristaeus's encounter with the Neptuni ... vates (IV.387) in a Aeoeas discovers exactly such a safe landfall for the sailor in distress that great cave. Aeneas is first seen in the middle of a great storm at sea but be is in the narrative of Aeneid l. But soon after his landing in Libya the this commotion is felt by Neptune (who is described in such a way as to Trojan hero receives guidance from his mother and he is fioally recei~ed recall Arethusa) and calmed by him. Aeneas next lands in a great harbour in friendly fashion by Dido Queen of Carthage, and welcomed first mto (the description of which quotes from the description of Proteus's cave). Soon after, Venus, the hero's mother, complains to Jupiter on her son's 14 The best demonstration of Virgil's use of this technique in the imitation of his models, that is the use of explicit verbal allusions to signal broader patterns of behalf and a little later still Aeneas meets his mother in the wood and thematic imitation is that of G.N. Knauer, Die Aeneis und Homer, Hypomnemata, 7 describes her as crudelis, exactly as Aristaeus had called his mother. (Gèittingen, 1964), 119, 145f., 233f. etc.

9 8 THE ARISTAEUS EPISODE DAMIEN NELIS sings during the banquet organized in honour of on ScheriatS Finally the Trojan hero is kindly received by Dido and he enters her and Virgil goes as far as to imitate the content of Demodocus's second marvelÎous palace where sacrifices are offered and a ~anquet prepare?, sang (in ail the bard sings three times in 8). lopas's cosmology preparations which are closely mode~ed on those which take place_ m in fact draws on allegorical interpretations of the infamous second song of Cyrene's home after Aristaeus's amvaJ there. ': common narranve Demodocus.16 The Phaeacian bard's scandaJous story of the adulterous pattern involving complaint and lament by a suff~nn? hero, help offered affair on Olympus was given a leamed veneer of respectability and by the hero's mother and a friendly reception which 1~volv_es a feast and seriousness by the allegorists who argued that Ares and Aphrodite suggests the possibility of a solution to the hero's tnals, 1s co~on to represented the two great cosmic forces of Neikos and Philia, Strife and both narratives and the conunon elements a~e mark~d by th~ repetition of Love.17 Virgil imitates in a remarkably leamed manner by having Iopas whole phrases and lin es from Georgics IV m_ Aene1d 1. It is well known present a de-allegorized version of Demodocus's song, an account of the that in the first book of Virgil's epic Aeneas is model_led on Odysseus. It work:ings of the universe. Such allusive refereo.ce to Odyssey 8 does not, is less often acknowledged, but equally true, that be is also model_led on however, reveal the full extent of Virgil's imitation of Homer at the end and Jason. It is rarely stated that be. continually recall_s. Anstaeus of Aeneid l. but this link too is undeniably present and important. In addition to the The other famous passage of Homer to be read as an allegory of the evidence set out above further material may also be_ produced to support cosmic activity of Love and Stcife was the description in Jliad 18 of the the argument that Aeneas is consciously and meanmgfully modelled on shield of Achilles with its two cities, one at war, the other living in peace and harmony .1s Virgil was well aware of tb.is interpretation of the shield Aristaeus. , · · f h Following Aristaeus's lament but preceding ~ethu~ s ra1s1°:g o ~r as be shows in bis creation of the shield of Aeneas in Aeneid 819 but he head from the waters of the river Virgil desc~bes m splendid. de!ail also refers to the shield of Achilles in the song of Iopas.20 Virgil's (IV.334-344) the retinue of nymphs surroundmg Clymene, spmnmg errantem lunam solisque labores (1.742) refer to Homer's TJÉÀtÔv -r' fleeces and listening to ber song (IV.345-347): àx:âµavro crÛ.T)Vl'lV tE 1tÂ.1'j0oooav at !liad 18.484. The line whicb runs Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones (I. 744) refers in part to inter quas curam Clymene narrab~t inanem 18.486f.: Volcani, Martisque

In Aeneid 1 a related singing performance takes place, altho~gh at a 15 See Knauer, Die Aeneis, 164-173. different point in the narrative, during the banquet shared by TroJans and 16 See Knauer, Die Aeneis, 168, n.2; A. Wlosok, 'Gemina Doctrina: On Allegorical Interpretation', Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar 5 (1986), 75-84· P. Hardie, Carthaginians in Dido's palace (l.740-747): Virgil's Aeneid: Cosmos and lmperium (Oxford, 1986), 61-63; J. Farrell, Virgil 's Georgics and the Traditions of Ancient Epic: The Art of Allusion in Literary History .. . cithara crinitus Iopas (Oxford and New York, 1991), 258-260. Virgil s direct model is in fac1 Apollonius persona! aurata, docuit quem_ maximus . Rhodius, Arg.1.496-511 where the cosmogonie song of Orpheus is in fact a direct hic canit errantem lunam sohsque labores, imitation of the tale of Ares and Aphrodite in Odyssey 8; see D.P. elis, 'Dernodocus unde hominum genus et pecudes, unde imber_ et ignes, and me Song ofOrpheus: (Ap. Rhod., Arg. 1. 496-511)', forthcoming, MH(l992). Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Tnones, 17 See Heraclitus, Homeric Allegories 69.7-8: NoµtÇw 6' fyùY'fE Kallt€p Èv cf)alo.!;w, 745 quid tantum Oceano properent se ~ingere soles cxv8p6:,itoi.ç iJ&>vfl &6ot>À.(l)µfvo1ç , (tS(>~vo. -uximx q,1J.ooôµT)V rouœv àitè ingeminant plausu Tyrii, Troesque sequuntur. tO'O'tlÀÎ.IX • lS See Heraclitus, Homeric Allegories 49.2: ME'tv, i'.vo. µT}6' corrunon but on closer inspection highly allusive ~d subtle co~ecttons 'EµltE&>tlf!ç 'A1qxxy1vtîvoç àit' aÀ.Â.ou nvoç 1' ito.p' 'Oµfipot> rltv :E1ru11CT1v begin to appear. As so often with Virgil, due attention mu~t be pa1~ to the âp(xreto.t 661;0.v. Cf. P. Hardie, 'Cosmological and Ideological AspecLS of the Shield poet's models if his poetry is to be understood. lapas smgs dunng the of Achilles', JHS, 105 (1985), 15 . .. · · Carthage fior Aeneas by Dido exactly as Demodocus 19 See Hardie, Virgil's Aeneid 336-376. b anquet g1ven m 20 See Servius on 1.742; Hardie, Virgil's Aeneid, 63, n.72; R.D. Brown, 'The Homeric Background to a Homeric Repetition', AJP, 111 ( 1990) 182-186.

Il

10 E TIIE ARIST AUS EPISODE DAMIEN NELIS Clymene's song thus draws n a u egoncal. mterpretation. of the second 'Optrova<; W..T1t� 0' ·y� 't£ -co tE a0Eva<; song of Demodocus in Od sse � exactly as does the song of lopas and so E1t1.1CA.T]O\V KaA.Eoucnv. • ApK'tOV 0', flv KS'tp(i)V demonstrate the relationship betw Clym n 's_ song an _ 18. It is fliad oi'.11 6' &µµop(x; ton e e ;: s e an inversion of 18.489, in fact the cas 23 that the lam nt o staeu to his mother IS modelled on s en as e of both the song of Iopas thus involv s imitation two Iliad ic passages, the lament of Achilles to at Iliad 1 348-356 'QicEavo'i:o. The song of of both the e e Virgil fuses aspects e e e d d shield of Achill s as e and the same h ro's second sp ec h f complamt · to his mother at fliad D mo ocus an th d gorical e e as representing in all e O e e e c passag s which w re rea 18. 79-93. In addition the catal ogu � �ymphs at IV.334-344 is mod ll d famous Hom ri world_ Exactly the e and Philia in the natural e nymphs accompanymg Thetis at fliad 18 37-49 Th guise the workings ofN ikos on the retinu of ' · · e e Clymene. out come of the second meeting b � tw T hetis · and Achilles is the same is tru of the song of t� ocus, of Venus/Aphrodite, e sings, like Demod e creation of the arms for the h g : famous _shiel_d. Giv n The nymph Clyrnene s r divine e she ings of many oth e � e e lcan/Hepha stus, but e densos yrrgil's acc ss to the tradition 0���h:ta�';;?ip w ich saw this obJ ct as an Mars/Ar s and Vu e th . . Virgil tells th reader, she recoWlts e e . b e omeac affairs as well. In fact, e aque Chao unag . of th. c�smos, �t is possi le to appreciat his handling of H love e of cr ation, t Georgics . e c divum amores right from the b ginning 21 d ma ena. 1 m this particular section. of . IV. Th ac ount of . . . e Argonautica an . e so w ll his Apollonian u an tm c The Virgil who kn w the Aristaeus's lament d the me� g with his mother Cyrene who omes to (IV.347). is flly aware of d e e e an of Sil en us and lopas d g i was the author of the songs e his aid is create from a th_ sc .n � involvin Ach lles d who e d and Vulcan ha fliad � s ene c e O mo ocus's Aphrodit e Thetis in 1 and 18 lnt!1:::t:0 pl s song, ations of thes two words. d d n :� Cl ' impli e e an Philia an wh des e ��::t;;� e d repr s nt cosmic Neikos e c ption of which reflects all g o >;"1 e long been und rstoo to e divine th ri sang of all th loves of the e �; :��fs �; that Clymene d Chao) c w s en as closely simil: t o Virgil states explicitly e (aque :i� ? : e of the cr ation of the worl !��:�:e: e e e s e e ers right from th moment the hi ' ,. .. s cond ong of D modocus, th only other pow allegorical reading of u e e e . o e e is fully aware of the passage in the H omenc corp s to b se n as an all· gonca 1 acc unt of th h makes it clear that he . . role played by Neikos and Ph"liI a m th e creation of the world. Virgil's song of the Phaeacian bard.22 · . awareness of the l"nk1 s betw een lliad 18 and OdY s Sey 8 pe!Dllts hrm to . . ta e d . e 21 See note 16 above. 83f.; Farrell, Virgil's mu t both mo els taking his basic . n rrat1ve structure from th former 68, n.2; Hardie, Virgil's Aeneid, s nus n 22 See Knauer Die Aeneis, 1 n Chao), of but incl ud ing from �he latter a o ; V� a d Mars rather than here that the mention of creatio (aque 2 270f. lt is worth noting andPhilia) and of anything that resembles the shield �; lcii�:es Georgics, of Mars and Venus as Neikos s . cosmic love (the allegorical reading song (cf. He iod, e Georg1cs e of many divine amores) in Clymene's v Wby does Virgil re-us material from · IV · m this · way in th mythological love (the telling wer on ,'\'tot µ.e c Aeneid • Q.lll e v o Eros as primal cosmic po follows reation of 1? A p�....:a1 answ. r, Yma e b pro t·d ed by the o 120 where the naming f o from The gony account of the birth f the gods ve o d e (l l6] and precedes the s e remarkably imitati quality of all V"_irgi 1 s p �try, an h wiJI have npoma-ta Xa� ytvu· song of Silenus t 1tab e e to theunder tanding of both th considered his own earlier work to be J':15 as 1� � as any other t xt. n divine unions), is relevant il 84). In the umerous (cf. Hardie, Virg 's Aeneid, c us1ve e and that of lopas in Aeneid 1 of Virgil in fact seems to have cuno usly L� � approach to th in Eclogue 6 central importanceof the theme it would seem to establishthe whole Graeco-Roman literary:::.;.I , and a stnvmg for comprehensive- case of the former, of thesong (see Z. Stewart, 'The n factor linkingthe different pans it love as thecommo here 181) while in the latter case enus'. 64 [1959], 179-205, o and Song of Sil HSCP, closely related to the love of Did n it, song is indeed to beseen as g the theorythat theAristaeus story as Vir ii o . . a II y wrote it, and as we. now have shows thatlopas's n surrounding a.ction durin v c �i n ngf10 n and in o way extraneous to the n contained faudes Galli through the e o a o Galla themes and techmque; seen. 8 Aeneas in thefourth book of lopas's songto the actio it occurs(on the thematicrelevance above. the banquetin which 'The Structural Function of the 1l 4 see most recently R.D. Brown, lioses 23 See A.M. Crabbe, 'The Aristaells 'E tr ,• (DP �. _1hes1s, Oxford, 1975), 52f.; of Aeneid 1 and of 's Metamorp is il 93 (1990], 15-34). The opening n Knauer, 'Virgil and Homer' 910-91/, ;tomn as, Virg , Georgics, 2.202 R.A.B. Song of lopas', HSCP, hoses and theTraditio s 'wit/ ; Farrel P.E. Knox, 'Ovid's Metamorp Mynors, Virgil. Georgics ed (Oxford, 1990) on rv.333; l also closely relevant here (see l 11 [Cambridge, 1986], -270. . ta commentary Society Supp ., i1rgil's �eorgics,2 66 . of Augustan Poetry' Cambridge Pliilological n Orpheus in the first . . in this tradition of the so g of _On this approach to the imitation of both H omenc epics m the Aeneid see F and the central importance 'Demodocus 7 2 e 9-23). s not be overlooked (see elis, C3.II11S, (C. b "d also F arrell, o 's mu t estin a link Virgil'sAug1man E ic � Vi:gil'; b ok of Apollonius Argonautica wonh sugg g here th t this ; � f n.16 above). It is also assa e Goorgics, 266-2_70 fora sli:huy dr;er:nf:��::�io� ;;.��ITg1 s use o Homer m the andthe Song of Orpheus', a p g in which the andthat of Silenus in Eclogue6, passageunder discussion. between the song of Clymene rovides further evidence for evident if unquantifiable,p influence ofGallus's poetry is 13 12 DAMIEN NELIS THE ARISTAEUS EPISODE ness has been seen as a prominent feature of the Aeneid in particular.25 consistently imitates not only a given model but also an imitation of that But a more satisfying explanation of the links between Georgics IV and original model and it is in this context that the series of similarities Aeneid 1 can be proposed by once again paying due attention to the between Aeneas, Aristaeus and Achilles may best be appreciated. literary models which underly both texts the common source being, of Awareness of the workings of multi-tier allusion goes some way to course, Homer. showing why Aeneas resembles Aristaeus in Aeneid 1, but it would be In creating the Aristaeus episode Virgil draws on both the fliad and false to argue that the clear insights into the mechanics of Virgilian also Odyssey in order to create a highly original, n�tericnarrati �e, which imitation thus achieved can explain the full significance of the pattern of owes much to Callimachus and Catullus .. 6 As mentioned above, allusion discussed at length above. The question 'why does Virgil re-use Aristaeus and Cyrene are modelled on Achilles and Thetis in Iliad 1 a�d material from Georgics IV in the creation of Aeneid 1 ?' thus remains 18. Here Virgil found a narrative patterninvolving the lament of a hero m largely unanswered. distress afert having suffered loss and the subsequent help given him by The story of Aristaeus as created by Virgil has as its central concerns his mother. On to this structureVirgil grafts, from Odyssey4, the story of death and loss, the cost involved in the process of regeneration and its Eidotboe and Proteus: again, a hero in distress is helped by a value.29 Eurydice and the bard Orpheus die while Aristaeus succeeds in In addition, nymph, this time by being sent to confront the seer Proteus. r�gaining new hives. Without going to the extreme of seeing a single, and _ Virgil also refers, via Iliad 18, to Odyssey 8 in the song of Clymene,_ direct allegoncal relationship with Actium, Octavian, Antony and 1s of 0 in describing the descent of Aristaeus into ·the Peneus and kataba� Cleopatra, 3 it is surely impossible to read this narrative and not apply it Ocpheus he refers to the nekuia of Odyssey 11, Proteus correspondmg to to the world in which Virgil found himself around 30 B.C. Indeed, given Tiresias and with Clymene being modelled on Circe as well as on Thetis, the sphragis with which Virgil brings the Georgics to a close it is all but Eidothoe and Demodocus. As far as Aeneid 1 is concerned it is the impossibleto avoid making the connection between Virgil's narrativeand imitation of Tliad 1 which is of particular importance. Virgil has at many the post-Actian situation of Rome. In the final eight lines of the poem s points Linked the opening book of his epic to the firt book of Homer s Octavian and Virgil, the man of action and the poet, are deliberately Iliad. The wrath of Juno corresponds to the wrath of Achilles, for compared and contrasted and they fill roles which correspond to those example, while the great natural disturbanceof the stonn at sea recalls the occupied respectively by Aristaeus and Orpheus in the preceding 250 lliadic plague. More importantly for the issues involved here, Venus lines. 31 This interpretation of the Aristaeus episode implies that the hives appeals to Jupiter on her son's behalf exactly as Thetis approaches �us of Aristaeus represent more than just simply bees. Instead, they stand for concerning Achilles and the meeting between Aeneas and Venus which that Roman race which had been destroyed by years of civil war during follows soon after recalls the meeting between the lliadic hero and his the first century B.C. and the renewal of which seemed to be promised by mother.27 When Virgil came, therefore, to imitate this lliadic material in the victory of Octavian at Actium in 31 B.C.32 When it is realized that Aeneid l it was easy, not to say perfectly natural given his encyclopaedic such themes already underly the Aristaeus episode it becomes approachto the literary tradition, to include referenceto his own previ�us immediately clear that Virgil is dealing in Georgics IV with problems imitation of Iliad1 in the Aristaeus episode of Georgics IV, thus creaung which he will handle again in the Aeneid. a network of imitation and allusion linking the three texts. The technique of imitation variously named ' double allusion', 'window reference and 28 'two-tier allusion' accounts perfectly for this imitative process. Virgil Reference', HSCP, 90 (1986), 188f. and S. Hinds, 'The Metamorphosis of Persephone' ' . Cambridge ClassicalStudies (Cambridge, 1987), 182, s. v. allusion, two­ tter, 25 See Hardie, Virgil'sAeneid, 24. respectively. See also F. Cairns, Tibu//us: A Hellenistic Poet at Rome 26 On Virgil's imitation of Homer in the Aristaeus episode see Crabbe Tire Ari.staeus (Cambridge, 1979), 62f. and Virgil'sAugustan Epic (Cambridge, 1989), 194. ... Catullus 64 and 29 In what follows "Epy/lion', 54-59, 177-195· A.M. Crabbe, 'lgnoscenda quidem . �; my debt to Griffin, 'The Fourth Georgie', will be obvious. His is Founh Georgie'. CQ, 27 ( 1977), 342-351; A.M. Crabbe, 'Georgie 4 and the Aeneid , one of the most useful contributions to the study of Georgics IV and one of the most PVS, 18 (1979-1980), 10-31· Knauer, 'Virgil and Homer', 910-914; adeau, 'The acute discussions of the links between it and the Aeneid. Lover and the Statesman', 73-75; Farrell, Virgil's Georgics, 104-113. 30 See Nadeau, 'The Lover and the Statesman'. 27 On the imitation of l/iad I in Aeneid I see especially M. Lausberg, 'Iliadisches im 3l See Griffin, 'The FourthGeorgie', 177f. 32 ersten Buch der Aeneis', Gymnasium, 90 ( 1983), 203-239. See Griffin, 'The Fourth Georgie', 175; see also H. Dahlmann, 'Der Bienenstaat I, 28 See J.C. McKeown, Ovid, Amores: Text. Prolegomena and Commentary, von Vergils Georgica', Akad. der Wiss. u. der Lit. in Mainz, Abh. der Geistes-und (ARCA, 20, Liverpool, 1987), 37-45· R.F. Thomas 'Virgil's Geargics and the An of Sozialwiss. Kl. (1954).

14 15 --- DAMIEN NELIS 11IE ARIST AEUS EPISODE

When Aeneas makes his first appearance in Aeneid 1 he is a man who The Trojan hero thus finds himself in a situation sirnilar to that of has lost his city, , and who is in search of a new one, the building of Aristaeus. Aeneas, in terms of the image imposed by the Carthage- which will eventually lead to the foundation of Rome, as the opening sirnile, has lost bis original hive and has not yet been able to find a new lines of the epic make clear (1.1-7). The hero' s situation is thus akin to one. that in which Aristaeus is first presented, after the loss of his bees. That Once it is agreed that the situation in which Aeneas finds himself in Virgil intended an at first sight unlikely comparison between the loss of a the opening scenes of the Aeneid is comparable to that of Aristaeus after city and the loss of bee-hives is clear not only from the connection the Joss of his bees the sirnilarities of expression and action which link between bee-hives and the city of Rome in Georgics IV but also from the the two heroes throughout the remainder of Aeneid 1 take on their full Aeneid as a whole, when each of the four races which dorninate the action significance. Modelled on Aristaeus, Aeneas lands on the Libyan shore of the poem, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Trojans and the Latins (cf. Proteus's cave) and receives guidance from his mother Venus (cf. (respectively at 1.430-436, 6.707-709, 7.64-67 and 12.587-592) is in turn Cyrene). He enters Dido's marvellous palace where a feast is prepared compared to a community of bees. 33 On each of these four occasions (cf. the feast in Clymene's umida regna), and Iopas sings a cosmological/ Virgil rnakes obvious verbal allusion to his description of the bees in cosmogonical song (cf. the song of Clymene). It is at this point in the Georgics IV and so sends the reader of his epic directly back to the earlier story that the first book of the epic cornes to its close and the title of this poem. It is of course particularly important that it is early in Aeneid 1 that paper limits its scope to just this point in the narrative. I cannot resist, bees make their first appearance. As Aeneas and Achates approach however, bringing this paper to a close with a brief glance forward to Carthage they look down from a height on the nascent city (1.430-436): Aeneid 4 where the sirnilarities between Aeneas and Aristaeus continue to operate.35 In explaining the cause of Aristaeus's plight Proteus explains 430 qualis apes aestate nova per florea rura how he caused the death of Eurydice and how her death led to the exercet sub sole labor, cum gentis adultos destruction of the hives (IV.454-459): educunt fetus, aut cum liquentia mella stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas, tibi has miserabilis Orpheus aut onera accipiunt venientium, aut agmine facto haudquaquam ob meritum poenas, ni fata resistant, 435 ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent; suscitat, et rapta graviter pro coniuge saevit. fervet opus redolentque thymo fraglantia mella. illa quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps, immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella Virgil refers particularly to Georgics IV.162-169 (cf. also lliad 2.87-89 servantem ripas alta non vidit in herba. and Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.879-882) but what is critically important is the fact of the comparison of the city and its people to a hive In Aeneid 4 Aeneas will be responsible to some extent for the death of and its bees. It bas been noted that what was narrative in the Georgics Dido, and Virgil describes the Queen's death in terms which evoke the here becomes sirnile, 34 but it is important to note also that the connection plundering of the once happy and prosperous bee-hive (in the ant simile at between bees and a race of humans which was certainly present but latent 4.402-407) and the destruction of Carthage as a whole (in the comparison and merely hinted at in Georgics IV is now made explicit. Furthermore, of Carthage to a captured city at 4.669-671),36 the city so strikingly the words with which Aeneas greets the sight of the bee-like likened to a bee-hive on its first appearance in the poem. In each case the Carthaginians force the reader to apply the image of the bees both to Troy, the city Aeneas has lost, and to the new city he is trying to found. As he looks down on Carthage the hero says, 'o fortunati, quorum iam 35 I will not deal here with the similarities between Aeneas and Orpheus which moenia surgunt !' (1.4 3 7). The se words sum up Aeneas' s situation become apparent especially in Aeneid 2, 4 and 6 and which merit detailed study; see perfectly. At the sight of a city being built he can only reflect on his own C.P. Segal, 'Orpheus and the Fourth Georgie', AJP, 87 (1966), 307-325; C.P. Segal, inability to found the new city in which he will install the Trojanpenates. 'Art and the Hero: Participation, Detachment and Narrative Point of View in Aeneid l ', Arethusa, 14 (1981 ), 67-83, here 68; Nadeau, 'The Lover and the Statesman', 68- 70; Griffin, 'The Fourth Georgie', 172-178; L. Bocciolini Palagi, 'Enea corne Orfeo', 33 See W.W. Briggs Jr., Narrative and Simi/e from the Georgics in the Aeneid, Maia, n.s.,42 (1990), 133-150. Mnemosyne Suppl. 58 (Leiden, 1980), 74f.; Nadeau, 'The Lover and the Statesman', 36 See V. Estevez, 'Queen and City: Three similes in Aeneid 4' Vergilius, 20 (1974), 70-72; Farrell, Virgil's Georgics, 262-264. 25-35 and 'Capta ac deserta: The Fall of Troy in Aeneid 4', Cf, 74 (1978-1979), 97- 34 See Briggs, 'Narrative and Simile', 68-75. 109.

16 17 DAMIEN NELIS dama e is done because of misplaced love.37 Eurydice flees (IV .457) t~e g A . t (IV 317) who is unaware of the disastrous results of h1s pastor ris aeus · · h · ï t 4 69 73 actions just as the deer to which Dido ~s comp~ed m t e ~~ e/ m~t -be . fr ht from a pastor wbo is nesc1us (4.7lf.) an Seneca's Phaedra and the goddess ::~ed !itb Aeneas.39 Finally, Dido is moritura at 4.?0~, 415, .5~9, 604 just as Eurydice is described as mori"!ra at IV.45~, Virgil des:bmg Diana the fate of each woman in siroilarly trag1c tones. Ansta~ and eneas ut Virgil never allows us to forget the cost of v1ctory and the succee d, b _ . John McNee price paid by those on the Wl'Ong s1dei.40

Interest in Seneca's tragedies continues to grow. Since the appearance of the first detailed commentary in English of a Senecan tragedy nearly twenty years ago, 1 major editions of all the genuine plays (except one) have been produced by British or Arnerican scholars. The Phaedra is without doubt Seneca's rnost influential play and the one which has attracted rnost critical attention in recent years. The culmination of this interest has been the recent edition by Coffey and Mayer,2 a scholarly and commendable book in rnany respects, but which, I feel, does not do full justice in its introduction or commentary to what I believe to be a key passage in the play. This is the so-called 'Song of Hippolytus' (lines 1-84), a section frequently ignored or misunderstood by critics,3 who, it seerns, are happy to acknowledge the 'programmatic' value of the opening of other ancient masterpieces (e.g. the Aeneid or Aeschylus's Agamemnon) but signally fail to recognize any such possibility in the Phaedra, 4 or indeed in Seneca's plays generally. The aim of the present article therefore is to illustrate one aspect of Seneca's artistry - his portrayal of the goddess Diana in the Song of Hippolytus - in the hope that the song as a whole and Seneca's prologues in general may be viewed more sympathetically as original, relevant, vigorous and, in terrns of the plays which follow them, significant compositions.

Close inspection of the language of Hippolytus's opening song helps to . d s· ·1 ' 74f Nadeau· 'The Lover and the Statesman'' 37 See Briggs 'Narrauve an mue, ·• ' 391 cast light on his characterization. The series of full imperatives (ite ... 64 68-70 and ~ee also J.N. Grant, 'Dido Melissa'' Phoenix, 23 (1969), 380- . cingite . .. lustra te . . . scandite [ l -7]), similar to · Hercules' s opening 3g' SeeGriffin, 'The-Fourtb Georgie', 1: 5· . • • . 987) 194-198. 39 See R O AM Lyne Further Voices ,n Virgil s Aene1d (Oxf~rd, 1 ...._ 'A 'd · · · · ' . fl f the Georgzcs on u,e ene1 was 1 Seneca: Medea, ed. C.D.N. Costa (Oxford, 1973). 40 The first version of a paper on _the in u;i;;e ~ M Crabbe (now Wilson, and to 2 Seneca: Phaedra, ed. M. Coffey and R.G. Mayer (Cambridge, 1990). written in early 1982 under the guidance o ~· . . . . artment of 3 One exception is M.M. Stiihli-Peter, Die Arie des Hippoly tus (Diss. Zurich, 1974), h m much thanks for encouragement and adv1ce throughout) m the Dep hl a punctilious and detailed study. ~at~n at the Queen's University of Belfast. It is a p~e~sur: ~: ai:;o ; ;~sene:;0 4 Most recently, Coffey and Mayer, eds., Phaedra, 88: ' ... the theme of the song revised version in honour of Prof. M.J. McGann, otwrt , does not look forward to the action of the play ... '. See also W.S. Barrett, , JtM:\OVOÇ. (Crinagoras of Mytilen.e, A.P., 6.227). Hippolytos (Oxford, 1963), 35 .

18 19