Elegiac Ascent Plotting a Path Through Propertius' Poetic Landscape
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Elegiac Ascent Plotting a Path through Propertius’ Poetic Landscape Michael John Berry (B.A. Hons, M.A.) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania (February, 2012) This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of the my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. iii Abstract This thesis argues that Propertius’ poetic development and growing Callimacheanism can be charted through a programmatic reading of his landscapes. It examines Propertius’ evolution as a poet from the beginning of book two onwards as he begins to move away from the intensely personal poetry of book one on his journey to becoming the Roman Callimachus as he presents himself in book four. It focuses on four poems – 2.10, 3.1, 3.3 and 4.9 – and argues that the landscapes depicted therein reveal a poet continually re-evaluating the status of elegy and the hierarchy of genres and ever increasing in confidence as he engages and aligns more explicitly with Callimachean ideals. It shows that Propertius constructs and responds to programmatic landscapes in a more self-aware fashion than has previously been demonstrated with a greater level of complexity than has been observed. iv Acknowledgements I am in the debt of Peter Davis and Jonathan Wallis for their guidance and encouragement of this project and for their stimulating criticism of the drafts that they saw. v Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Propertius 2.10: Gazing Skyward, Lost in Allusion ................................................................................ 12 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 12 Potential Models ............................................................................................................................... 18 (Failed) Rejection of Cynthia: Looking Elsewhere ............................................................................. 44 An Un-Callimachean Scene ............................................................................................................... 57 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 62 Upwardly Mobile: Elevating the Status of Elegy in Propertius 3.1 and 3.3 .......................................... 65 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 65 A New Style? ..................................................................................................................................... 71 Fame and the Status of Elegy ............................................................................................................ 94 Elevation: A Change of Scene ......................................................................................................... 114 Closer to Callimachean Ideals ......................................................................................................... 115 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 118 Propertius 4.9: ‘Water, Water, Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink’ ................................................ 120 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 120 A Poetic Subtext .............................................................................................................................. 128 Metapoetics: The Waters of Rome ................................................................................................. 143 Reflections on a Programme ........................................................................................................... 162 Realising Callimachean Ideals ......................................................................................................... 168 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 175 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 176 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 181 vi Introduction Propertius’ poetry is remarkable not least for its breadth, diversity and development. From the immediate and personal love poetry of the first book with Cynthia as its first word and focal point, through the increasing sophistication and range of the second and third books with the waning influence of Cynthia and matters of love, and growing interest and engagement with more literary and overtly poetic concerns, to the final book of ostensibly aetiological poetry, Propertius transforms from the elegiac poet-amator to the self-styled Romanus Callimachus.1 Accompanying Propertius’ poetic evolution and a vital element of his development as a poet is his growing Callimacheanism. Although an influence in the first book,2 Callimachus is first named in the opening poem of the second book (2.1.40) when Propertius invokes Callimachus’ non-martial style as justification for declining to sing of the military accomplishments of Augustus (2.1.25-42), appears as the first word of book three (thereby supplanting Cynthia’s primacy in symbolic terms) when Propertius hopes to enter Callimachus’ (and Philetas’) sacred grove (3.1.1-6), and is the aetiological model par excellence and something of an alter ego for Propertius in his fourth and final book. It is my thesis that Propertius’ poetic development and growing Callimacheanism can be charted through a programmatic reading of his landscapes.3 Propertius employs landscapes or landscape features throughout his work as symbols and metaphors for poetry, and the most important of these landscapes involve Mount Helicon and its associated waters. Mount Helicon and its waters feature as poetic metaphors, for example, in 2.10, and 2.13 involves a scene of poetic initiation on the slopes of the mountain. The mountain and its hidden paths symbolise Propertius’ poetry in 3.1, and 3.3 1 As he calls himself at 4.1.64. 2 Callimachus’ influence is notable in 1.3 and 1.18, for example – 1.18 is discussed below and 1.3 in chapter two. 3 I consider programmatic landscapes to be those that set out, reflect upon, reassess or evaluate literary, poetic and/or generic programmes or hierarchies. 1 develops an extended metaphor with the poet imagining himself writing at Helicon’s most famous spring, the Hippocrene. Mount Helicon has a long-standing, symbolic association with poetry stretching at least as far back as Hesiod, who lived, it seems, as his father did (Op. 639-40), in the town of Ascra at the foot of the mountain (Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi, 323) and encountered upon the mountain’s slopes the Muses who taught him his poetic art (Th. 1-23). Ennius dreams of meeting Homer on (what is likely) Mount Helicon, whereupon Homer informs him that his soul has passed into Ennius (Ann. 1.1-10 Sk.), and Propertius imagines in a dream of his own that he emulates Ennius when he drinks from the inspirational waters of the Hippocrene (3.3.1.-6).4 Virgil tells of Gallus wandering alongside the River Permessus and being led up from the foothills towards the summit by one of the Muses (Ecl. 6.64-73) and Callimachus, too, when recalling Hesiod’s earlier encounter, dreams of meeting the Muses on the mountain (Aet. 1, fr. 2.1-2; Schol. Flor. ad Aet. 1, fr. 2).5 In fact, Callimachus makes a number of programmatic statements through the metaphor of landscape. A poet of Callimachus’ preferred style should tread the path less-travelled and prefer a narrow track to a broad road (Aet. 1, fr. 1.25-28). The lengthy, cyclic poem should be shunned and, thus, the road that carries much traffic must be avoided (Epigr. 28.1-2). One should not drink from the public well (for Callimachus hates all things common) (Epigr. 28.3-4), nor sing as large as the sea (Ap. 105-06) and pure, clear and sacred springs are far superior to the filthy, rubbish-laden flow of large rivers (Ap. 108-12). These statements are consistent with what is, perhaps, the most famous of Callimachean poetic metaphors: Victims should be fat, but a Muse slender (Aet. 1, fr. 1.23-24). Metaphors such as these can be read against Callimachus’ more explicit poetic announcements. He does not like lengthy works of heroic poetry (Aet. 1, fr. 1.1-5) and a poet’s skill should be judged on 4 For Ennius, I adopt Skutsch’s numbering – see Skutsch, O. (1985), The Annals of Q. Ennius (Oxford: Clarendon Press). It is unclear due to the fragmentary nature of the text exactly where Ennius’