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THE ROLE of EVOCATIO in MACROBIUS' SATUR ALIA By THE ROLE OF EVOCATIO IN MACROBIUS’ SATUR ALIA by ELIZABETH A. GEPHARDT (Under the Direction of Erika T. Hermanowicz) ABSTRACT In the third book of Macrobius’ Saturnalia, the evocatio and devotio of Carthage stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding text and to other quotations in the dialogue. Why would the author incorporate such a lengthy text into his dialogue, and how does the evocatio relate to Saturnalia 3 as a whole? In the past, scholars have treated the Saturnalia as a sourcebook, but more recent scholarship has centered on the didactic nature of the dialogue and its role in Vergilian criticism. How does the evocatio contribute to Macrobius’ educational dialogue? To answer these questions, I will examine how the evocatio fits within Praetexataus’ speech, how the evocatio relates to other quotations within Sat. 3, and how Macrobius’ treatment of the evocatio differs from his contemporary, Servius. INDEX WORDS: evocatio , Macrobius, Saturnalia , Vergilian Criticism THE ROLE OF EVOCATIO IN MACROBIUS’ SATUR ALIA by ELIZABETH A. GEPHARDT BA, The Catholic University of America, 1996 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2009 © 2009 Elizabeth A. Gephardt All Rights Reserved THE ROLE OF EVOCATIO IN MACROBIUS’ SATUR ALIA by ELIZABETH A. GEPHARDT Major Professor: Erika T. Hermanowicz Committee: Keith Dix Sara Spence Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2009 iv DEDICATION For Ryan v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am most grateful to my family for providing me with an incredible amount of support and inspiration for this project. Special thanks are due to my siblings Benjamin and Miriam Gephardt and to my husband Ryan Howell. In the classics department, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Hermanowicz, for her insight and patience, and the members of my committee, Dr. Dix and Dr. Spence for their thoughtful comments. I would also like to recognize Dr. Norman for encouraging me to pursue the evocatio and Sandra Phillips for helping me navigate the paperwork and policies of the University of Georgia. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 DILIGE TIA IN THE EVOCATIO ............................................................................6 Introduction...........................................................................................................6 Vergil Becomes Pontifex Maximus ........................................................................8 Proprietas in Macrobius and Other Authors ........................................................13 The Driving Force of Proprietas in Sat. 3.1-8......................................................19 How Proprietas Operates within the Evocatio ....................................................34 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................41 2 SCIPIO AEMILIANUS AND VERECU DIA .........................................................45 Introduction.........................................................................................................45 The Role of Speakers in the Saturnalia ................................................................46 The Organization of Speakers in Sat. 3 ................................................................52 Literary Voices in Praetextatus’ Speech...............................................................61 The Voice of Scipio Aemilianus in Sat. 3 ............................................................65 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................72 3 DOCTRI A IN THE EVOCATIO’S INTRODUCTION ...........................................76 Introduction.........................................................................................................76 vii Secondary Sources in Praetextatus’ Speech .........................................................77 Sammonicus Serenus...........................................................................................82 The Secret Protector of Rome..............................................................................86 The Two-Part Form of the Evocatio .....................................................................93 Conclusion ........................................................................................................101 CONCLUSIONS.....................................................................................................................106 BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................................110 1 INTRODUCTION Over five hundred and fifty years after the Punic Wars, Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius wrote the third book his dialogue, the Saturnalia , which includes a fragment containing the curse on the city Carthage. Set during the eponymous festival, Sat. 3 reports conversation from the second evening of the feast, exploring topics such as Roman religion, lavish banqueting practices during the Republic, the morality of dancing, and concludes with a catalogue of dessert foods. As the evening’s second speaker, Vettius Agorius Praetextatus lectures on Vergil’s knowledge of Roman religious practices, using the curse text to close his speech.1 First, the curse calls the protective god or goddess out of the city of Carthage ( evocatio ), luring him or her with the promise of temples and worship. Next, the curse asks the spirits of the underworld to help destroy Carthage, its army, and surrounding territory, while keeping the Roman forces safe ( devotio ). 2 When taken together, the two parts of the curse comprise the longest quotation in Sat. 3, situated in the very heart of the dialogue. Why would Macrobius use such a lengthy text like the evocatio in the Saturnalia ? Finding an answer to this question by reading modern scholarship on the Saturnalia or the ritual of evocatio is a difficult if not impossible task. Some scholars consider the Saturnalia an encyclopedia rather than a dialogue because it includes diverse topics and a multitude of textual fragments in its corpus. The Saturnalia has preserved unique fragments within in its text, which encourages literary mining. As a result, removing fragments from the dialogue’s context has become an accepted practice, considering the Saturnalia as an historical sourcebook rather than a work of literature in its own 1 For clarity in this paper, I refer to Praetextatus’ words as his own. However, I am fully aware that the author Macrobius is the mind behind the creation of Praetextatus’ fictionalized personage in the Saturnalia. 2 For brevity’s sake, hereafter I will refer to the combined curse text, evocatio and devotio as the evocatio . 2 right. Unfortunately, this practice also has demoted passages like the evocatio to historical curiosities, without considering their relationship to the larger work. The sheer quantity of fragments included in the Saturnalia creates another problem: so much of the text is either quotation or allusion that some scholars see the dialogue as a literary pastiche, lacking originality. This attitude encourages piecemeal readings of the dialogue and robs and denies the Saturnalia’s contributions to Vergilian criticism. These problems are not unique to the Saturnalia. In Beowulf and the Critics , J.R.R. Tolkien argues that Beowulf has also been summarized, taken out of context, and otherwise ill- used by historians. 3 His essay argues for studying Beowulf as the poem that it is, and chastises the greats who have overlooked the literary value of Beowulf (particularly G.K. Chesterton who called the poem “small beer”). For scholars who have analyzed the poem after only a cursory reading, Tolkien warns “The intensive student has some reward denied to the traveling giant of mighty range.” 4 Tolkien’s attitude towards Beowulf echoes Macrobius’ virtue of diligentia—that one achieves the best analysis by reading text closely, weighing each word—rather than sweeping over an entire work of literature. Robert Kaster notes that for Macrobius, “ diligentia involves a willingness to extend oneself, to behave with energetic scrupulousness in performing one’s duty.” 5 This confluence of ideas is my inspiration: as an “intensive student” like Tolkien, I hope to value the Saturnalia as first and foremost a work of literature and then study the evocatio with Macrobian diligentia . However, it is difficult to maintain a narrow focus with an author like Macrobius who pulls ideas together from many different sources. In times of doubt, I have always returned to the text of the Saturnalia for a closer reading, and of course to the Vergilian 3 J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowolf and the Critics , Ed. Michael D.C. Drout, (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renissance Studies, 2002). 4 Ibid. , 31. 5 Robert Kaster, “Macrobius and Servius: Verecundia and the Grammarian’s Function,” HSPh 84, (1980): 234. 3 corpus for guidance. To be completely clear, I am not using the evocatio to describe the historical figures of the saeculum Praetextati , to make arguments about pagan religious practice in the Late Empire, or even to determine the evocatio’s
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