Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 14 March 2017 Version of attached le: Published Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Ziogas, I. (2016) 'Introduction : power, puns, and politics from Horace to Silius Italicus.', in Wordplay and powerplay in Latin poetry. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 1-12. Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes. (36). 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Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk IoannisZiogas Introduction: Power,Puns, and Politics From HoracetoSilius Italicus Wordplayisintricatelyenmeshed with powerplayinLatin languageand poetry. The meaning of the Latin uis ranges from political power and physical violence to the significanceand etymologyofwords. Unpackingthe latent potential of words is to activatethe entire scope of theirsemantic force. Take, for instance, Ovid’swordplayonuis in the story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus. In introduc- ing her tale, Alcithoe,Ovid’sinternal narrator,promises to explain the origins of Salmacis, the spring whose waters had an emasculating force: causa latet, uis est notissima fontis, Metamorphoses 4.287(‘the cause is hidden, the power of the fountain is well-known’). ¹ The ability of the spring to incapacitatemen is noto- rious and behind its debilitating power lies the significance of the infamous lake Salmacis,abywordfor weak and effeminate persons (see Cicero, de Officiis 1.61.9,quoting Ennius 347Jocelyn). We can translate the line as ‘the cause is hid- den, the meaningofthe fountain is well-known’.Asisoften the case, etiological narratives (causa)unfold vis-à-vis the origins and significance of words. And Al- cithoe, whose name is semantically related to ἀλκή (‘strength’‘force’)and θοός (‘quick’‘nimble’), is aparticularlyappropriate narrator for explaining the verbal and physical forceofSalmacis’ running waters.² Frederick Ahlhas analyzed the tale of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus in his Metaformations,focusing on the ways in which changes in the shape of words or syllables coexistwith changes in bodilyshape (Ahl 1985: 239–44). The power of wordplaycan shift from lexical to physical violence, depriving men of their vi- rility.One needs to be aware of the power of words when swimminginthe murky waters of Latin etymologizing.One of Ahl’smajor contributions to classi- cal scholarship is his studyofwordplaynot as mere poetic ornament or display of Alexandrian learning but as fundamental to the politics of Latin poetry.³ In- stead of demarcatingthe limits of etymologizing, Ahl has openednew horizons SimilarlytoOvid’s causa latet,Strabo (..)notesthe uncertainty about the origins of the spring’sreputation (ἡ Σαλμακὶςκρήνη, διαβεβλημένη οὐκοἶδ’ὁπόθεν ὡςμαλακίζουσα τοὺς πιόντας ἀπ’ αὐτῆς ‘the fountain Salmacis,slandered, Idon’tknowfor whatreason,because it supposedly makes effeminate those whodrink fromit’). While the geographer dismisses this superstitiousbelief, whatever its origin, Ovid is interested in revealingthe mythological aition. Ahl is apioneer in arguingthat internal narrators aresignificant for interpreting embedded narratives. See Ahl () –;(). See especiallyAhl () – and passim. 2 IoannisZiogas in examininghow wordplay’sinherent power for ambiguity and polysemycan destabilize the advertisedcertainties of authoritarian regimes.The use of puns for political purposes does not proclaim itself from the topmostlevels of the nar- rative.Itisrather,like so much of the art of Latin poetry,concealed. Not unlike a skilled sculptor,apoet versed in wordplayengraves (caelare)byconcealing (ce- lare)his art (cf. Ahl 1985: 64–9). Etymological wordplayisrelated to what Ahl calls the art of veiled speech and safe criticism (Ahl 1984a), yetitisafascinating paradoxthat etymologizingissimultaneouslyassociatedwith unveiling the truth. Etymology(from ἔτυμος ‘true’)laysaclaim to disclosing the true power of words by tracing their original meaning;itisthe art of authoritative deriva- tions and that is whyetymological wordplayisatrope of authorial powerplay. The power of wordplaytoundermine proclaimed certainties can be seen in the following lines from Ovid’s Fasti: assidet inde Ioui, Iouis est fidissimacustos, et praestat sine ui sceptratimenda Ioui. Fasti 5.45 – 6 She (Maiestas)sits by Jove,isJove’smost loyal guardian, preserves Jove’sdread scepter without violence. The Muse Polyhymnia is the speaker of these lines, in an episode in which the Muses contest the etymologyofMay (Fasti 5.1– 110). ForPolyhymnia, Maius de- rivesfrom Maiestas,Ovid’sdaring personification of akey termunder Augustus.⁴ As aMuse that givesaRomanized version of Hesiod’s Theogony,starting from chaos and ending with Romulus,Polyhymnia can be seen as praising Augustus’ Jovian regime.⁵ Her name suggests her generic affiliations with hymns and by ex- tolingJupiter’smajesty she fulfils the role of her Hesiodic counterparts (Theo- gony 36–7).⁶ At the sametime,her Roman universe is an improved version of Hesiod’s Theogony. Polyhymnia’sstatement that Maiestas is seated next to Jupi- ter sine ui is arevision of Hesiod, who had Bie (‘Power’)and Kratos (‘Strength’) sit by Zeus (πὰρΖηνὶ βαρυκτύπῳἑδριόωντα, Theogony 388 ‘Bie and Kratos sit beside loud-thundering Zeus’). Maiestas is enough for Jupiter/Augustus, who does not have to rely on forceorviolence once he prevailedupon his enemies On Julius Caesar’sand Augustus’ redefinitions of the republican value of maiestas populi Ro- mani as integral to this episode of the Fasti,see Mackie (). On Maiestas in this episode, see also Pasco-Pranger () –. On Polyhymnia and Hesiod, see Fantham () –;Boyd() –;Labate () –. On Polyhymnia’saffiliationwith hymn, see Barchiesi () . Introduction: Power,Puns, and Politics From Horace to Silius Italicus 3 and restored order.The hymnic polyptoton (Ioui, Iouis…Ioui)further adds to the solemnity of Polyhymnia’spanegyric. Yetinthis laudatory passage, wordplaycreeps in like avirus infectingimpe- rial propaganda. The very august repetition of Ioui, Iouis, Ioui suggests that there is actually uis in Iouis;that it is paradoxical, almostabsurd, to deprive Jove of his violence.⁷ While Polyhymnia declaresthat her Jove rules without violent guard- ians, wordplaytells an entirely different story.⁸ The gerundive timenda,tellingly yetunconvincingly emended by some to tenenda,further suggests thatascepter to be feared is barelyascepter wieldedwithout violence. In fact,the issue of fear and freedom of speech is suggested by the very presenceofMaiestas. Under Au- gustus, the lawofmaiestas extended to include libel and slander against the emperor.⁹ And the punishment and consequences for verballyinjuringthe princeps’ majesty werepowerful and violent.¹⁰ The hymn to Maiestas can be read as acovert comment on imperial censorship since it raises the question of how sincereahymn to the divine incarnation of repression could be. ¹¹ A poet whose freedom of speech is legallyconstrained can resort to wordplay, to the inherent power of words to defyimperial definitions, theirplayful potential for endless deferral. By punning on Iouis-uis,Ovid plays with the meaning of uis as physical violence and semanticforce. In other words, uis as the basis of the wordplaydraws attention to itself,tothe semantic relation of uis with etymolo- gizing.AJove with guardians sine ui is an insignificant Jove,aJove without meaning.Ovid’singeniouslyself-reflexivepun highlights the paradoxofhis Muse’simperial declaration and undermines her authority.Wordplayexposes Polyhymnia’slaudatory meaningtoacausality that remains externaltothe speakingvoice and thus destabilizes it.AsPaulAllen Miller (2004:161)puts it,every pun in Ovid reveals not ahiddentruth but another series of double meaningsthat reflects back on itself to createadepthless mise-en-abyme. My reading hereisinspired by Ahl () –,who argues that the wordplaybetween uis and Iouis is keytointerpretingthe story of Io in the Metamorphoses,the nymph whosuffers from Jupiter’sviolenceinatale that forces us to interpret Iouis as acombination of Io and uis;Jove’s name signifies the violencedone to Io. Cf. Hinds () – on the etymological wordplayon Venus and uis. As Hinds () puts it, “etymological word-plays can unfix poetic meaningjust as effec- tively as they can fix it.” Under Augustus’ lex Iulia maiestatis (Digest .;Suetonius, Augustus ;Tacitus, Annales ..–)allegedlysubversive works became an act of treason. The works of Ovid, Titus Labienus,and Cassius Severus werebanned under Augustus.Ovid and Cassius Severus werebanished, while Labienus committed suicide. On the issue of free speech under the principateascentral to the Fasti,see Feeney (). 4 IoannisZiogas In this volume, all the contributors have taken as theirpoint of departure critical issues that have been at the