UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI _____________ , 20 _____ I,______________________________________________, hereby submit this as part of the requirements for the degree of: ________________________________________________ in: ________________________________________________ It is entitled: ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Approved by: ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ 'Fame is the Spur': Memoria, Gloria, and Poetry among the Elite in Flavian Rome A dissertation submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) Greek and Latin Philology in the Department of Classics of the College of Arts and Sciences 2002 by Peter J. Anderson BA (Honours) University of Ottawa (Canada), 1995 MA University of Ottawa (Canada), 1997 Committee Chair: Dr. William A. Johnson In this dissertation I situate and analyze expressions of renown in nugatory poetry of the Flavian period – Statius, Martial, and Pliny –within the context of Roman elite attitudes toward memoria and the literary tradition of the poet's own success and renown. I assess the extent to which elite concern for commemoration affect literary expressions of the poet's own renown. I begin in Chapter One "Memoria" with a series of illustrative examples in support of the base assertion that concern for memoria is symptomatic of Roman elite culture. I suggest – through brief analyses of Cicero's post-consular and post reditum speeches, Tacitus' de vita Julii Agricolae, the so-called damnatio memoriae and the Senatus Consultum de Pisone Patre, and two quasi-case studies on the importance of memoria for writers under the early empire – that the major motivation which seems to underpin this need to commemorate is the desire to ensure individual posterity and/or to assure a corporate family influence. In Chapter Two "Terms of Praise" I focus on those words used by poets in the Flavian period to describe their own excellence and success as poets. Five key terms dominate this discussion: fama, laus, nomen, honor(-os), and gloria. In Chapters Three (Statius), Four (Martial), and Five (Pliny) I undertake focused analysis of the expressions of and attitudes towards their own success and renown. Statius, a professional poet, serves in many respects as a counter example to Martial and Pliny, most of all because Statius shows no interest in the Silvae as vehicles for his own memoria or renown. He looks instead to his epic poetry in that regard. Martial, the jaded raconteur of elite attitudes and habits, provides an informative perspective on the criteria for a poet's success, and on the consequences of success for memoria and renown. With Pliny I describe the motivations and assumptions underlying the production of literature – especially nugatory poetry – among his group of elite friends, relating these to similar aspects of literary culture in Martial. for Lisann my best and most perfect joy Acknowledgments It has been said, I'm unsure by whom, that gratitude expressed is in reality hope for more of the same. At the end of the dissertation process this statement is in many ways utterly false. And yet, it is also so very true. After five years in the Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati, among many friends and colleagues, I have a very long list of people I could thank, and for a very long list of things. But in the interest of space, I shall be brief. To Harry Gotoff, who answered my early inquiries into the graduate program here with his usual good grace, who supported my early forays into Cicero, and who expected excellence – yet dealt patiently with my work nevertheless – thank you. To Holt Parker, who has influenced my approaches to ancient culture and literature, and who gave me a bottle of wine for limericks – proving once and for all the value of nugae – thank you. To Kathryn Gutzwiller and Ann Michelini, who supported and encouraged my development as a research student in uncountable ways, thank you. I also feel a great debt of gratitude to the Department and the trustees of the Semple fund for supporting my work in practical ways, to Jean Wellington, Mike Braunlin, and David Ball for making research in the Burnam Library such an enjoyable and low-frustration task, to the faculty as a group for working hard to create an atmosphere which balances the needs of creating high quality researchers and teachers with the needs of being human. Special thanks must go to John Wallrodt for years of technical advice. If I were to begin to thank William Johnson for the many ways in which I have been privileged to have worked with him and become a friend I should not be able to stop easily. I must simply say a heartfelt, "Thank you". There are of course, several people made conspicuous by their absence from this list, my parents Peter and Rosemary Anderson, my wife Lisann's parents Jack and Do Gurney, my suavissimi liberi Christopher and Megan, and many close friends both here and elsewhere. To all of these I am profoundly indebted. Joy comes in many forms, and most of all in the faces of those you love and who love you. As for Lisann, my best and most perfect joy ... I hope to repay my deep, deep thanks to you over many lifetimes and in many places. 'Fame is the Spur': Memoria, Gloria, and Poetry among the Elite in Flavian Rome INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................4 CHAPTER ONE: MEMORIA ................................................................................................10 1.1 Memoria.......................................................................................................................12 1.2 Controlling Memoria....................................................................................................15 1.2.1 Cicero and Memoria: Construing the Past for the Future.......................................16 1.2.2 Tacitus' Agricola: Remembering virtus .................................................................24 1.3 Memoria Controlled .....................................................................................................31 1.3.1 Sanctions against Memory....................................................................................32 1.3.2.1 Assumptions and Terminology .............................................................................35 1.3.2.2 Intent and Teleology.............................................................................................38 1.3.3 Sanctions and Memoria: the SCPP........................................................................41 1.3.4 Sanctions and Literature: Cremutius Cordus .........................................................58 1.4 Remembering Rufus.....................................................................................................61 CHAPTER TWO: TERMS OF PRAISE...............................................................................73 2.1.1 Existimatio, Fama.................................................................................................74 2.1.2 Laus, nomen, honos ..............................................................................................79 2.1.3 Gloria...................................................................................................................84 2.2 Gloria in Elite Society..................................................................................................90 2.2.1 Cicero: gloria and virtus .......................................................................................91 2.2.4 Seneca: gloria and Philosophy..............................................................................95 2.2.4 Gloria in Augustan Minor Poetry .........................................................................97 2.2.5 Tacitus' Dialogus: The Concerns of the Elite ......................................................104 CHAPTER THREE: STATIUS ...........................................................................................109 3.1 Background.................................................................................................................109 3.1.1 In the Poet's Image..............................................................................................118 3.2 The Poets ....................................................................................................................121 3.2.1 Stella and the end (?) of poetry ...........................................................................121 3.2.2 Laudatio Lucani: Silvae 2.7 ................................................................................127 3.2.2.1 Incongruity and Praise .....................................................................................130 3.2.2.2 Praising Lucan.................................................................................................133 3.2.3 The Elder and the Younger Papinii .....................................................................136 3.2.3.1 Statius' Renown ...............................................................................................137 - 1 - 'Fame is the Spur': Memoria, Gloria, and Poetry among the Elite in Flavian Rome CHAPTER FOUR: MARTIAL............................................................................................139