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Locus Communis, Laus Legum and Laus Locorum: Rhetorical Exercises As a Model for Propertius, Book Iii I

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Locus Communis, Laus Legum and Laus Locorum: Rhetorical Exercises As a Model for Propertius, Book Iii I ■ 72-4676 UNDERWOOD, Jr., John Thornton, 1945- LOCUS COMMUNIS, LAUS LEGUM AND LAUS LOCORUM: RHETORICAL EXERCISES AS A MODEL FOR PROPERTIUS, BOOK III I The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 Language and Literature, classical University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan1 Copyright by John Thornton Underwood, Jr. 1971 -c THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED X,0CfJ5 COMUNIS, LAUS LEGUH AND LAUS LCCORUMs RHETORICAL EXERCISES AS A MODEL FOR PROPERTIUS BOOK III DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Pnilosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University John Thornton Underwood, Jr*, B*A., M»A* ****** The Ohio State University 1971 Approved by PLEASE NOTE: Some Pages have indistinct print. Filmed as received. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my advisors, Professors John Davis, Mark Morford and Charles Babcock, for their advice and suggestions offered during the preparation of this dissertation, and my friends for their encouragement and good wishes. ii VITA April 9, 19^5 Born - Brooklyn, New York 1967 . B.A« (Honors), Lehigh University Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1967-1971 University Fellow, Department of Classics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1968 M.A*, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Latin Poetry Latin Literature: Professors Kenneth M. Abbott, John T, Davis, Mark P. 0* Morford, Carl C. Schlara and John B. Titchener Greek Literature: Professors Bernard C. Earmann, Clarence A. Forbes, David E. Hahm, Robert J. Lenardon. and John W. Shumaker Philological Studies: Professors Kenneth M. Abbott, Clarence A. Forbes, Mark P« 0* Morford and John B. Titchener iii TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..................... '.................. ii VITA .................................................. ill INTRODUCTION .......................................... 1 Chapter I. THE LOCUS COMMUNISi RHETORICAL BACKGROUND.... 11 II.' THE LOCUS COMMUNIS IN PROSE AUTHORS .......... 23 III. THE ELEGIES MODELLED ON RHETORICAL EXERCISES . 37 CONCLUSION * ........................................ 89 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................. 93 INTRODUCTION Selected for examination here are five elegies from Book III of Propertius' elegies• Ify purpose in this study is to show the connections between these five elegies and the rhetorical exercises of the schools, particularly the locus communis in vitia dorectus with regard to elegies 3*11, 3*13 &nd 3*19, the laus legum with regard to elegy 3,1b and the panegyric, especially the laus locorum. with regard to elegy 3*22. The locus communis is cited as an exer­ cise in the Controversiao of the elder Seneca, and Quintilian lists all three of these forms.^ I hope to demonstrate that Propertius, seeking new forms for the composition of elegy, chose to model the five poems on those exercises which he had probably studied as a boy. Book III differs greatly from the first two books of elegies, and indeed from the Latin elegy as a whole, in that Propertius intro­ duces a variety of new subjects for his poems. Propertius still asserts his claim to be a poet of love (see, for example, 3*2*2, 3*3*^7-52, 3*9*i*'3“^) » yQt the book contains poems on literary theory (3*1, 3*2, 3*3, 3*9), poems on patriotic themes (3«^» 3*11, 3*22), narrative olegy (3*15 and 3*17), two enicedeia (3*7 and 3*18), in all of which the erotic associations are minimized. W. A. Camps, whose notes on Propertius1 third book have inspired much of this ^See Chapter I for discussion of the locus communis. Chapter III for the laus legum and laus locorum. study, has remarked, "Hence it is clear that in this Book the author is no lover in search of a means of expression, but a poet 2 in search of subjects." In Books I and II Propertius is concerned with exploring the qualities of the various experiences he has had with Cynthia; the great majority of these poems are connected with Propertius' personal involvement in some sort of erotic relationship, and the poet offers us his personal reflections and emotional responses. Only a few of these poems deal with themes outside of the conventionally erotic subject matter of the Latin elegy. In Book I the last two elegies depart from these conventions; elegy 21 is an epitaph for a man who died in the Perusine war, and elegy 22 is Propertius' sphraflis poem for the Monoblblos. In'Book II elegies 1, 10 and 3^ deal with the relationships between elegy and the other literary genres, elegy 12 is a highly conventionalized description of Cupid, and in elegy 31 Propertius describes the dedication of the Portico of Apollo on the Palatine. Those historical and descriptive elegies foreshadow the developments in Books III and IV which include more poems on similar topics. Of the twenty-five elegies in Book III, less than half deal with erotic situations typical of the Latin love elegy. Propertius hints at his desiro to writo on subjects more serious than those of elegy in 3»5»22ff., where he claims to wish to write on philosophical and scientific questions, and in 2.10, perhaps half-jokingly, he promises that one day he will try epic. Book III marks a definite 2 Propertius, BieRiest Book III, ed. by V/. A. Camps (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, l§6& )» p. 2. 3 break with the tradition, and it serves as a bridge to Book IV, where Propertius begins on a new note, promising to write on Roman themes (4.1.69-70)*^ 'The chief differences separating Book IV from the remainder are the new themes and the increasingly objective character of the poems. The five elegies chosen for analysis lie somewhere between the traditional love elegy and the Innovative poems of Book IV in that the poet has done away with the conventional erotic themes and situations but has not entirely adopted the purely objective stance of the aetiological poems. I have isolated these five elegies on the basis of their having been modelled on known rhetorical exercises and conforming in large part to the examples preserved in prose authors as well as to the rules established by the Latin rhetoricians. Elegies 3.11, 3*13» 3*1^ and 3-19 bear some relationship to the erotic elegies of Books I and II in that Propertius introduces his subject with a motif drawn from the stock of elegiac commonplaces, but in developing his subject he turns to wider Issues and concerns. Thus, while elegy 3*11 begins with the theme of servitium amoris. Propertius includes exemola of figures whose servitium is of different kindsi Hercules, who was not only servus amoris but also a literal servus; the nation of Bactria, which Semiramis compelled into servitium; and Rome, whose fate would have paralleled Bactria1s had they not found leadership under Augustus. A number of other elegies in Book III show a similar departure from the subject matter of conventional elegy; the erotic treatment of subject matter is absent or minimized in the first four ^Seo F. Solmsen, "Propertius and Horace," CFh 43 (19^8) 105-109 for a discussion of the development of Propertius* literary theory. elegies on literary topics, the dirge for Paetus (3*7), Propertius* recusatio (3.9), and the dirge for Marcellus (3*18). It is apparent that the poet is moving in new directions, perhaps in the knowledge that he has exhausted the possibilities of the conventional themes and motifs of the erotic elegy. ELegies 3.11, 3»13» 3»1^» 3*19 and 3*22 are highly influenced by rhetorical practice. A. A. Day, commenting on rhetoric in Latin elegy, says, "The relation between rhetoric and poetry constitutes a difficult problem which may be thus expressed: poetry began as the instructress of rhetoric and came to be the disciple. The question however is further complicated in that we cannot trace the victory of rhetoric from, for example, Gorgias to Quintilian, since in every age rhetoric and poetry were reciprocally indebted."^ VJhile the locus communis, the model for three of those elegies, flourished in Roman oratory, it can be traced back to methods of oratory prac­ tised by the Sophists, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate that it was inspired by poetry. Likewise, the exercises laus legum and laus locorum can be traced back at least to Hellenistic times,^ but again it is impossible to ascertain poetic influence in their development. The rhetorical associations surrounding the five elegies chosen for study are based partly on this confused tradition of reciprocal influences involving rhetoric and poetry, but are due also to Propertius' choice of a rhetorical exercise as a model, as ^A. A. Day, The Origins of the Latin Love-elegy (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1938), P* 6 9. ^Quintilian will be demonstrated in the third chapter below. I have designated the subjects of the elegies as follows! 3*11, potentia feminarum: 3*13* avaritia; 3»1^» laus legis Soartanae. a poem in praise of the practice of Spartan girls competing in athletic contests in the nude, thus eliminating cause for shame or deception in erotic situations; 3.19* libido feminarum: 3*22, laus Italiae. The subject of 3*1^ stems naturally from the traditional erotic themes. Elegy 3*22 exhibits a certain amount of patriotic pride, as does the latter half of 3*H» describing the Roman victory over Cleopatra, but the subject dominating 3*11* as well as the subject matter of 3*13 and 3*19* owes much to popular philosophy and moralizing literature There are certain resemblances between the locus communis in vitia derectus and the Hellenistic diatribe involving first and fore­ most common subject matter, but also methods of composition and rhetor­ ical influences. Oltramaro suggests that the tradition of diatribe n is clearly traceable in Lucilius, Varro and Horace, but he remarks that in the elegists such influence is not necessarily direct, stemming rather from a gradual infiltration of themes and techniques of the diatribe into Roman literature, beginning with the comic playwrights, thus making it possible for writers, especially poets, to Incorporate material from popular philosophy into their own works without turning ^See Jean-Paul Boucher, I&udes sur Prooerce (Paris! Editions E.
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