© Copyright 2016 Joshua J. Hartman Allusion and Cultural Memory in Late Antiquity: Ausonius, Prudentius, and Claudian Joshua J. Hartman A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2016 Reading Committee: Stephen Hinds, Chair Alain Gowing Joel Walker Alexander Arweiler Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Classics University of Washington Abstract Allusion and Cultural Memory in Late Antiquity: Ausonius, Prudentius, and Claudian Joshua J. Hartman Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Stephen Hinds Classics This dissertation explores the influence of poetry on the construction and perpetuation of culturally dominant narratives. I demonstrate that late antique poets were particularly sensitive to the effect that their work had on memory, and I focus on textual allusion as a mechanism that allowed poets to guide readers through negotiations of memory. My first chapter reveals an ancient understanding of cultural memory through a reading of a Republican, rather than a late antique work. My analysis of Cicero’s De Legibus reveals that Cicero, easily the most influential Roman intellectual, intuited the concept of lieux de mémoire, a modern theory of cultural memory that conceives of both texts and sites as “places” where memory can be rehearsed and reinforced. Furthermore, I show that Cicero understood poetry as a force that constructs, transforms, and defends such lieux and the narratives they represent. After establishing that Roman intellectual traditions engaged cultural memory, I turn to the late antique period, particularly to three case studies. Each of my subsequent chapters treats a widely-read poet of the late fourth century. I examine the negotiations of memory present in the works of the poets Ausonius, Prudentius, and Claudian in order to demonstrate a clear memory motivation in each author’s work. I begin with Ausonius, whose work provides an important foundational example; the poet uses allusion not only to construct lieux de mémoire about Gaul, his home province, but also to navigate personal anxieties about memory, forgetting, and commemoration. In contrast to these regionalist lieux de mémoire, the third chapter focuses on the more universalizing narratives of Prudentius’ Contra Symmachum. The poem’s Christian perspective on Roman imperial history advances ideas contentious for its time, and I examine the role allusion plays in acknowledging and delegitimizing competing traditions while reinforcing the Christian traditions valued by the poet. The final chapter identifies allusive strategies Claudian deployed in order to construct narratives about the general Stilicho and reveals that critics relied on allusion to refute such constructions. I conclude by revealing how Claudian’s allusions guided the recollection and self-reflection of his elite senatorial audience. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Memory Studies and Classics ..................................................................................................... 4 Allusion and Memory ............................................................................................................... 12 The Aims of This Study ............................................................................................................ 16 Chapter 1. Cultural Memory and Cicero’s De Legibus ................................................................ 20 1.1 Cicero versus the Neoterics: What Ensures the Vitality of Poetic Traditions? ........... 26 1.2 An Ancient Lieu De Mémoire ....................................................................................... 28 1.3 Reading Lieu de Mémoire in Antiquity ........................................................................ 32 1.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 2. Ausonius As Gallic Lieu de Mémoire ......................................................................... 38 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 38 2.2 Life of Ausonius ........................................................................................................... 39 2.3 Summary of Ausonian Scholarship .............................................................................. 40 2.4 Programmatics and Praefatio 1 – Mnemonic Self-Preservation .................................. 42 2.5 Instability of Memory and Identity in the Works of Ausonius ..................................... 46 2.6 The Gallic Poet ............................................................................................................. 52 2.7 The Professores and Parentalia: Ausonius and the Angel of History .......................... 56 2.8 Minervius and the Lieu de Mémoire ............................................................................. 68 v 2.9 Sphragis: The Coronis to the Professores ..................................................................... 77 2.10 Ausonius and His Circle: Drepanius Pacatus ................................................................ 80 2.11 Ausonius and his Circle: Theon of Médoc ................................................................... 90 2.12 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 97 Chapter 3. Prudentius’ Allusive Dialogue with Roman and Christian Traditions ...................... 101 3.1 Summary of Prudentian Scholarship .......................................................................... 103 3.2 Polemical Programming in Contra Symmachum Pf. 1 ............................................... 105 3.3 Expectations of Rome Betrayed .................................................................................. 109 3.4 Remapping the City, Remapping the Emperor ........................................................... 113 3.5 Failures of Tradition Building in the Contra Symmachum ......................................... 132 3.6 Rome Personified ........................................................................................................ 138 3.7 Roman Victory and the Urban Environment .............................................................. 144 3.8 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 155 Chapter 4. Claudian’s Roman Empire and its Traditions ........................................................... 158 4.1 The Life and Works of Claudian ................................................................................ 159 4.2 Claudian the Roman .................................................................................................... 162 4.3 Stilicho: Guardian of Roman Order ............................................................................ 174 4.4 The Absent Emperor and His Senate – The Sixth Consulship of Honorius ................ 195 4.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 211 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 214 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 219 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1. The Victory Medallion of 313. ..................................................................... 118 Figure 3.2. Constantine receives the Victoriola from Sol (RIC VII, p.468, no. 8). 118 Figure 3.3. The “Vetranio Coin” (RIC VIII, p. 369, no. 283) ........................................ 121 Figure 3.4. The Column of Arcadius – Western Side of Base – ..................................... 148 Figure 3.5. Column of Arcadius – Western Side of Base (enlarged) – .......................... 149 Figure 3.6. The Murano Diptych (The Miracles of Christ) – ........................................ 150 Figure 3.7. The Murano Diptych (enlarged) ................................................................... 151 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While the dissertation that follows is the product of a few years of my own work, it owes much more to a lifetime of support from friends, family, and mentors. In the first place, I must thank my dissertation chair, Stephen Hinds, for his enthusiasm, generosity, and patience. The effect of his encouragement and insight over the past six years can be found on every page of this dissertation. My approach to memory has been shaped by countless discussions with Alain Gowing, just as my understanding of late antiquity and early Christianity has been informed by the constant advice of Joel Walker. I must also thank Alexander Arweiler of the University of Münster, whose interest in my work has changed and refined it in countless ways. Lastly, I express my sincere gratitude to the entire Classics faculty at the University of Washington, as well as Michael Williams of the Comparative Religion program; their instruction and advice have made me the scholar that I am today. This project could not have developed