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Ovid's Satirical Successors in the Early Imperial Period University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2015 Ovid's Satirical Successors in the Early Imperial Period Anna Louise Goddard University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Goddard, Anna Louise, "Ovid's Satirical Successors in the Early Imperial Period" (2015). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1740. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1740 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1740 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ovid's Satirical Successors in the Early Imperial Period Abstract In this dissertation, I examine the early reception of Ovid in satirical authors from the time of Ovid’s death in 17 AD through to the early years of Neronian rule. I argue that in this earliest period of Ovidian reception, writers of satire, broadly defined, were reading and engaging with Ovid in their own writings and treating him as an important predecessor in facing the problem of how to write under restrictive, imperial circumstances. In each chapter, I focus on a single text — Phaedrus’ Fables, Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis and Persius’ Satires — and consider how each author interacts with Ovid to develop his own position as social critic under imperial rule and to communicate ideas that are difficult or dangerous to express more openly. In the first chapter I argue that Phaedrus situates both the struggles of the animals in the world of the fable and poets writing under powerful regimes as post-Augustan and post-Ovidian. In the second chapter I examine how Seneca engages both with the Metamorphoses and the Fasti as prequels for the action of the Apocolocyntosis to consider what kind of sequel the Apocolocyntosis is. In the final chapter I argue that in Satire One Persius provides a picture of contemporary poets who are trying hard to be like Ovid, but are failing to do it well, while also engaging himself with Ovid as a poet who had important insights about the difficulties of living and writing under empire that Persius makes applicable to his own situation as an imperial satirist. In each chapter I demonstrate how the author forges connections with Ovid in his own individual ways, but across the three authors I argue that Ovid’s poetry provides a point of intersection at which two important issues for these satirical authors meet, the theme of freedom of speech and the problem of how to face the pressures of the imperial discourse. The conjunction of these themes provides a shared basis for this strand of Ovidian reception at this time period. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Classical Studies First Advisor Joseph Farrell Subject Categories Classics This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1740 OVID’S SATIRICAL SUCCESSORS IN THE EARLY IMPERIAL PERIOD Anna Louise Goddard A DISSERTATION in Classical Studies Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 Supervisor of Dissertation _______________________ Joseph Farrell Professor of Classical Studies Graduate Group Chairperson _______________________ Emily Wilson Associate Professor of Classical Studies Dissertation Committee James Ker, Associate Professor of Classical Studies Emily Wilson, Associate Professor of Classical Studies OVID’S SATIRICAL SUCCESSORS IN THE EARLY IMPERIAL PERIOD COPYRIGHT 2015 Anna Louise Goddard This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ny-sa/2.0/ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Trying to put into words my gratitude to all the family, friends and faculty without whose support I would not have completed this dissertation only serves to remind me of the depth of the debt I owe to so many people. While my expressions of thanks may be inadequate, they are truly heartfelt. Firstly, I am indebted to the members of my dissertation committee, Emily Wilson, James Ker and especially to my advisor, Joseph Farrell. I thank all three of them for their generosity in reading drafts and for their patience and continued encouragement when my own confidence was faltering. In particular, I cannot overstate Joe’s contribution to this dissertation and my professional development. I have benefited enormously from his guidance, close reading of my writing and always insightful comments. I thank him especially for giving me the freedom to explore and for pushing me to take my arguments as far as I could. It has been a privilege to be a part of the department of Classical Studies at Penn alongside such genuine, kind, and brilliant people. I have learnt more than I could possibly imagine from the faculty and my fellow graduate students. My thanks must go especially to my cohort – Joanna Kenty, Kate Wilson, and Heather Elomaa, with whom I was lucky enough to start and finish graduate school. I cannot adequately express how grateful I am that I got to experience the highs and lows of graduate school and dissertation writing in their company. Their friendship, support and example have been invaluable. Finally, I want to thank my family. I am beyond lucky to have my parents and sister as my foundation. Their unwavering belief in me has given me the confidence and determination to always persevere and finish what I started. Geographically we may have been distant but their love and support have truly carried me through every step. iv ABSTRACT OVID’S SATIRICAL SUCCESSORS IN THE EARLY IMPERIAL PERIOD Anna Louise Goddard Joseph Farrell In this dissertation, I examine the early reception of Ovid in satirical authors from the time of Ovid’s death in 17 AD through to the early years of Neronian rule. I argue that in this earliest period of Ovidian reception, writers of satire, broadly defined, were reading and engaging with Ovid in their own writings and treating him as an important predecessor in facing the problem of how to write under restrictive, imperial circumstances. In each chapter, I focus on a single text — Phaedrus’ Fables, Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis and Persius’ Satires — and consider how each author interacts with Ovid to develop his own position as social critic under imperial rule and to communicate ideas that are difficult or dangerous to express more openly. In the first chapter I argue that Phaedrus situates both the struggles of the animals in the world of the fable and poets writing under powerful regimes as post-Augustan and post-Ovidian. In the second chapter I examine how Seneca engages both with the Metamorphoses and the Fasti as prequels for the action of the Apocolocyntosis to consider what kind of sequel the Apocolocyntosis is. In the final chapter I argue that in Satire One Persius provides a picture of contemporary poets who are trying hard to be like Ovid, but are failing to do it well, while also engaging himself with Ovid as a poet who had important insights about the difficulties of living and writing under empire that Persius makes applicable to his own situation as an imperial satirist. In each chapter I demonstrate how the author forges connections with Ovid in his own individual ways, but across the three authors I argue that Ovid’s poetry provides a point of intersection at which two important issues for these v satirical authors meet, the theme of freedom of speech and the problem of how to face the pressures of the imperial discourse. The conjunction of these themes provides a shared basis for this strand of Ovidian reception at this time period. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION: A Satirical Ovid ...............................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: Ovidian Identity Crises in Phaedrus’ Fables .................................18 Section One: Ovidian Deer in Phaedrus’ Fables .......................................................22 1.1 Fable 2.8 Home or the Wild? ................................................................................23 1.2 Mirror, Mirror .......................................................................................................30 Section Two: Horns in the Metamorphoses and the Fables ......................................43 2.1 Horns as a Marker of Special Status / Divinity ....................................................44 2.2 Horns as a Marker of Leadership .........................................................................48 2.3 Standing Out in the World of the Fables ..............................................................52 Section Three: The Specter of Ovid’s Fate ................................................................57 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................70 CHAPTER TWO: Ovidian Prequels and Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis ..........................73 Section One: The Metamorphoses and the Apocolocyntosis ......................................75 1.1 The Apocolocyntosis as Sequel to the Metamorphoses ........................................77 1.2 The Metamorphoses
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