MOUSEION - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative ...

M OUSEION
JOURNAL OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
REVUE DE LA SOCIETE CANADIENNE DES ETUDES CLASSIQUES
LI - Series III, Vol.7, 2007 No.1
ISSN 1496-9343

Editorial Correspondents/Conseil consultatif- Janick Auberger, Universite
du Quebec a Montreal: Patrick Baker, Universite Laval: Barbara
Weiden Boyd, Bowdoin College: Robert Fowler, University of Bristol:
John Geyssen, University of New Brunwsick: Mark Golden, University
of Winnipeg: Paola Pinotti, Universita di Bologna; James Rives, University
of North Carolina; c.J. Simpson, Wilfrid Laurier University
REMERCIEMENTS/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Pour I'aide financiere qu'ils ont accordee a la revue nous tenons a
remercier / For their financial assistance we wish to thank:
Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada / Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Dean of Arts, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dean of Arts, University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba Centre for Hellenic Civilization
Brock University
Dalhousie University
University of New Brunswick
University of Victoria
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada,
through the Publication Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing
costs.
Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior
written consent of the editors or a licence from The Canadian Copyright
Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright
licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

Mouseion aims to be a distinctively comprehensive Canadian journal of
Classical Studies, publishing articles and reviews in both French and
English. One issue annually is normally devoted to archaeological topics,
including field reports, finds analysis, and the history of art in antiquity.
The other two issues welcome work in all areas of interest to
scholars; this includes both traditional and innovative research in philology,
history, philosophy, pedagogy, and reception studies, as well as
original work in and translations into Greek and Latin.
Mouseion se presente comme un periodique canadien d'etudes classiques
polyvalent, publiant des articles et comptes rendus en fran

NOTES TO CONTRIBUTORS
1. References in footnotes to books and journal articles should follow
the forms:
E.R. Dodds. The Greeks and the Irrational (Berkeley 1951) 102-134 [not
102ff.]
F. Sandbach. "Some problems in Propel'tius," CQ n.s. 12 (1962) 273-274
[not273f.]
For references which require departures from the above formats.
see the most recent edition of The Chicago Manual ofStyle.
Abbreviations of names of periodicals should in general follow
l'Annt?e Philologique.
References to these standard works should follow the forms:
V. Ehrenberg. RE3A.2 1373-1453
IG213 10826
OL 4.789
TLL 2.44.193
2. Citations of ancient authors should take the following form:
PI. Smp. I 75d3-5 not Plato, Symposium 175d
Tac. Ann. 2.6-4 not Tacitus. Annales (or Annals) n.6
Plu. Mar. 553C not Plutarch. De sera numinis vindieta (or De sera) 7
Abbreviations of names of Greek and Latin authors and works
should in general follow LSfand the OLD.
3. Contributors should provide translations of all Latin and Greek.
apart from single words or short phrases.
4. Manuscripts submitted for consideration should be double spaced
with ample margins. Once an article has been accepted. the authol'
will be expected to provide an abstract of approximately roo words.
and illustrative material. such as tables. diagrams and maps, will
have to be submitted in digital or camera-ready form.
5. The journal will beal' the cost of publishing up to six plates / illustrations
per article: fees will be charged for plates/ illustrations beyond
this number. The cost of the additional half-page plates / illustrations
is $12 each, of the additional full-page plates / illustrations $20
each.
6. Authors of articles receive 20 offprints free of charge: authors of
reviews receive 10 offprints free of charge. Additional offprints can
be ordered at a modest cost.

AVIS AUX AUTEURS
I. Les references aux ceuvres modernes doivent etre formulees comme
Ie montrent les exemples suivants:
AT. Tuiliel'. Etude comparee du texte et des scholies d"Euripide. Pal'is.
1972. pp. IOI-123111on pas wlff.]
P. CI'imal.« Properce et la legende de Tal'peia». REL. 30 (1952). pp. 32-
33 [non pas32f.J
Dans les cas exceptionnels formulel' selon les regles de l'edition la
plus recente de The Chicago Manual ofStyle.
Pour les titres de periodiques. utiliseI' les abreviations employees
dans L 'Anm:,e Philologique.
CiteI' comme suit ces ceuvres de base:
V. Ehrenbel'g. RE IlIA.2. 1373-1453
IC2/3 10826
ClL 4. 789
TLL 2. 44. [93
2. Les references aux auteurs antiques doivent etre formulees conune Ie
montrent les exemples suivants:
Platon. Banquet. [75d. non pas PI. Smp. 175d3-4
Tacite. Annales. If. 6. non pasTac. Ann. 2.6-4
Plutarque. De sera numinis vindicta (ou De sera) 7-8. non pas Plu. Mol'.
553c- e
3. Priere de traduire toutes les citations du latin ou du grec. sauf les
mots simples et les locutions courtes.
4. Les manuscrits soumis a l'evaluation doivent etre en double interligne
avec d'amples marges. Une fois une communication acceptee,
l'auteur doit en fournir un resume de 100 mots environ, et Ie materiel
d'illustration-tableaux. diagrammes. cartes-doit etre soumis
sous fOI'me prete a la reproduction.
5. La revue s'occupe des frais d'edition jusqu'a six planches/ illustrations
par communication: l'auteur doit portel' les frais au-dela de ce
chiffre. Le cout de chaque planche/illustration en demi-page est de
12$, et Ie cout de chacune en page est de 20$.
6. L'auteur d'une communication rec;oit gratis 20 tires a pal't: l'auteur
d'une I'evue critique en rec;oit 10 gratis. On peut commander des tires
a part supplementaires a un coGt modeste.

ABSTRACTS/RESUMES
IMPERIAL BUILDING PROJECTS AND ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN
OVID'S METAMORPHOSES AND STATIUS' THEBAID
ALISON M. KEITH
Stace dans la Thebaide decrit les ensembles architecturaux. la decoration
interieure et l'emploi de l'espace. Nous etablissons d'abord Ie parallele entre ces
descriptions, Ie programme architectural contemporain de l'empereur flavien
et Ie cadre architectural retrouve dans les Metamorphoses d'Ovide (de meme
que l'accueil que fait ce dernier poeme aux projets d'Auguste). Puis nous
demontrons Ie role important qu'a joue Ie poeme d'Ovide dans l'accueil
litteraire de l'architecture imperiale chez Stace. Enfin nous considerons les
nombreux points de contact retrouves dans les registres linguistiques des deux
poemes et leurs importantes repercussions sur !'interpretation thematique et
politique des deux textes.
PETRONIANA
WADE RICHARDSON
Avant de presenter une compilation des nouvelles lectures des Satyrica. nous
presentons un bref resume de l'etat du texte et des tentatives faites pour
expliquer les types de corruption et pour y remedier. Incidemment les resultats
sont representatifs et se repartissent egalement entre les tentatives de
correction. d'insertion et de suppression. A ceci. il faut ajouter quelques erreurs
de transposition et de ponctuations.

Mouseion, Series III, Vol. 7 (2007) 1-26
©2007 Mouseion
IMPERIAL BUILDING PROJECTS AND ARCHITECTURAL
ECPHRASES IN OVID'S METAMORPHOSES
AND STATIUS' THEBAID
ALISON M. KEITH
The reception history of Ovid's Metamorphoses in later Latin and
European literature and culture currently constitutes a focus of concentrated
scholarly interest, I not least because of the contemporary renewal
of popular interest in Ovid's poem. 2 Recent research on the reception
of the Metamorphoses in antiquity has revealed a special debt in
Statius' Thebaid not only to Ovid's so-called "Theban narrative" of Met.
3.1-4.605 but also to the larger literary and imperial programmes of the
Metamorphoses. 3 Scholars have documented Statius' deployment in the
Thebaid of Ovidian techniques of characterization and narrative in the
Metamorphoses, and this research suggests the importance of investigating
other aspects of the relationship between the two poems in areas
such as politics and myth. In this article, I examine Statius' descriptions
of built forms, interior decoration, and spatial usage in the Thebaid in
relation both to the architectural settings of the Metamorphoses (and
their reception of Augustus' building projects) and to the contemporary
architectural programs of the Flavian emperors. In particular, I analyze
the layout, decoration, and use-patterns of the royal households of
Thebes (1.46-52, 7.243-52, 8.607-54) and Argos (1.386-536), as well as the
palace-temples of the gods Jupiter, Mars, and Dis (Theb. 1.197-2,7.40­
63, 8.21-83) in Statius' Thebaid in conjunction with their Ovidian (and
contemporary imperial) models.
Although this study focuses on Statius' appropriations of architectural
descriptions in Ovid's Metamorphoses, it is essential to consider as
well the building projects of the emperors under whose rule they
wrote, primarily Augustus and Domitian, in order to emphasize the
impact of Augustan and Flavian building projects, both public and do-
I Allen 2002; Burrow 2002; Dewar 2002; Dimmick 2002; Lyne 2002a and
20mb; Newlands 2002a; Tissol and Wheeler 2002; Keith 2002, 2004-2005, and
Keith and Rupp 2007; Hardie 2006.
2 Ransmayr 1988; Hofmann and Lasdun 1992; Hughes 199T Terry 2001;
Zimmerman 2002. On current literay interest in Ovid's Metamorphoses, see
Henderson 1999 and Kennedy 2002.
3 Feeney 1991: 337-363; Keith 2002 and 2004-2005; Newlands 2002a.

ALISONM. KEITH
mestic, not only on the urban fabric of Rome but especially on the literary
imagination of her poets. I shall argue that Ovid's Metamorphoses
plays a crucial role in the literary reception of imperial architecture for
Statius. Alexandrian court poetry provides examples of literary celebration
of Ptolemaic spectacle (e.g., Theocr. IS, Call. Aetia 4 fro I IO PO,
but no instance of epic commemoration of contemporary building projects
survives, if indeed any existed. 4 Ennius' Annales, no longer fully
extant, very likely included descriptions of built-forms 5 but the evidence
is lost and is, in any case, not as obviously relevant a model for the celebration
of an emperor's architectural projects, undertaken with resources
both financial and topographical unavailable to republican aristocrats.
Early Augustan poetry also offers few literary models for
Ovidian epic practice. The works of Vergil. for example, focus insistently
on bucolic, agricultural and pre-urban settings, though partial
precedent is provided by the ecphrasis of an imagined temple in the
preface to Georgics 3 (usually interpreted as a metaphor for a future
literary project, but perhaps also reflecting contemporary templevowing
and building)6 and the description of Latinus' palace in Aeneid7
(often read as a commentary on Augustus' building programme on the
Palatine,7 which the princeps had begun, but not fully realized, before
Vergil's death in 19 BeE). Tibullan elegy and Horatian lyric follow the
Vergilian pattern of avoiding specific reflection on urban settings. By
contrast, both Propertius and Ovid include descriptions of contemporary
Augustan buildings in their elegiac poetry, Ovid much more extensively
than Propertius. 8 Moreover it is in Ovid's Metamorphoses
4 It is by no means certain, pace Thomas 1983: 97-99, that Callimachus'
Victoria Berences, for example, contained a temple description: see Newlands
1991: 442. For Callimachus' interest in temples (not necessarily contemporary)
and the artwork adorning them, see Thomas 1983.
5 See Skutsch 1985: 144-146 on Enn. Ann. I and, especially, 1985: 649 on Enn.
Ann. 487, on Ennius' commemoration of the foundation of a temple or portico
of Hercules and the Muses by his patron M. Fulvius Nobilior in 179 BCE.
6 On Vergil's temple as a literary metaphor, see Thomas 1983: 96-101 and
Newlands 1991: 446; on late republican/early imperial temple-vowing and temple-building,
see Meban 2002: 23-66.
7 See especially Wiseman 1987= 397-403, who notes that Ovid's poetry provides
the most detailed engagement with the Augustan building programme on
the Palatine, and d. Smolenaars 1998 on the Vergilian background of the palace
of Atreus in Seneca, Thyestes641-82.
8 Ovid encomiastically describes the grandeur of the temple of Mars Ultor
(dedicated in 2 BCE) in the Fasti (5.551-62), while Propertius celebrates the radiance
of the temple to Apollo on the Palatine (2.31) in language that is remarkably
close to Ovid's description of the Palace of the Sun at the opening of MetamOlphoses
2 (discussed below). On Ovid and the monuments, see now Boyle

ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN OVID ANDSTATIUS 3
that we first encounter an epic architectural ecphrasis that explicitly
invites literary and political reflection on contemporary imperial
building projects (1.170-80), the council of the gods convened on the
"Palatine of Heaven" (magni ... Palatia caeli. 1.176). Elsewhere in the
Metamorphoses too. Ovid includes ecphrases of built forms that suggest
contemporary architectural projects: 2.1-30 (the Palace of the Sun);
4.437-54 (the House of Dis in the underworld); and 12.43-58 (the House
of Fama).9 It is therefore worth surveying the building programs of
Augustus and the Flavian emperors as a preface to this discussion of
their literary reception in the epics of Ovid and Statius.
In his memoirs, Augustus records that he undertook a number of
architectural projects throughout his principate. both in Rome (RG 19­
21) and elsewhere in the empire (RG 24). including restoring 82 temples
in the city, as well as vowing and building temples to Apollo (Palatinus,
vowed in 36 BCE. dedicated in 28 BCE). Jupiter (Tonans. vowed in 26 BCE,
dedicated in 22 BCE) and Mars (Ultor. vowed in 42 BCE. dedicated in 2
BCE), among other gods. and embarking on an ambitious domestic architectural
program that ultimately conjoined the temple of Apollo
Palatinus and a shrine of Vesta with his own home. ro The relationship
between Augustus' extensive architectural program and literary descriptions
of building activity in contemporary poetry has been well
discussed in connection with Vergil's Aeneid. even though by the time
of Vergil's death in 19 BCE many of the princeps' most ambitious archi-
2003 with detailed discussion of Ovidian elegy but less full treatment of the
Metamorphoses; on Propertius and the monuments. see Welch 2005.
9 Other ecphrases in the poem evoke contemporary interest in suburban
gardens (e.g. Pomona's horti. 14.635-62) and landscaped grottoes for outdoor
bathing (e.g. Diana's bath, 3.155-64) and dining (e.g. Achelous' dinner party.
8·550-75)·
lOOn Augustus' architectural programme in Rome see Zanker 1988. Favro
1996, and Boyle 2003: 36-44. Favro 1996: 80-142 identifies three phases of
Augustan building projects: Phase I (44-29 BCE. Favro 1996: 80-103) saw construction
of manubial monuments in the city by successful generals associated
with the triumvirs; Phase II (29-17 BCE, Favro 1996: 103-120) witnessed a frenetic
building program undertaken by Augustus and Agrippa in the city: and
Phase III (17 BCE-14 CEo Favro 1996: 120-142) saw the consolidation of Augustan
monuments in the city. Ovid comments on Augustus' consolidation of his
household in a temple complex on the Palatine at F 4.949-54 (on which see Boyle
2003: 226-229): cognati Vesta recepta est I limine: sic iusti constituere patres. I
Phoebus habet partem: Vestae pars altera cessit: I quod superest illis, tertius
ipse tenet. I state Palatinae laurus. praetextaque quercu I stet domus: aeternos
tres habet una deos ("Vesta was received on her relative's doorstep; so the just
Fathers decreed. Phoebus Apollo has a share: another share is given to Vesta;
what remains from theirs. he himself holds as third. Stay Palatine laurels, and
let the house stand girt with oak: one house has three eternal gods").

ALISONM. KEITH
tectural projects remained unfinished. I I A generation after Vergil's
death, the princeps could boast that he had found Rome a city built of
brick and left it a city of marble (ut iure sit gloriatus marmoream se
relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset, Suet. Aug. 28.3). This is the city
commemorated in Ovid's poetry, which celebrates Rome's rejection of
her rustic past and transformation into a golden city, worthy of an imperial
capital (simplicitas rudis ante fuit: nunc aurea Roma est I et
domiti magnaspossidet orbis opes, AI's 3. I 13-14).12
Augustus' architectural enhancement of Rome was praised by many
contemporary and later writers (e.g. Livy 1.56.2, Strabo 5.3.8, Vell.
2.81.3), including the biographer Suetonius, who commemorates his
achievements as a builder at length (Aug. 28.3-30.2) and evaluates those
of his successors by reference to the founding prince's accomplishments.
13 When reporting the extensive building projects of the Flavian
emperors (Div. Vesp. 8-9, 19, Div. Tit. 7·3, 8·3-4, Dom. 5, 13), for example,
Suetonius particularly approves Vespasian's decision to build an
amphitheatre in the centre of Rome because Augustus had planned to
do so (Div. Vesp. 9. I). Despite the biographer's derision of Domitian's
erection of numerous arches in the city-reporting one wag's punning
comment, arci ("arches," a pun on Greek arkei, "it is enough")-it is
clear that the last Flavian emperor seized the opportunity "to remap
Rome, to leave the Flavian mark on the most historically resonant sites
by rebuilding hallowed shrines in the name of religious revival or by
gracing prestigious Augustan monuments with Flavian additions to ensure
that the second dynasty was linked to the first. "1-1 Suetonius reports
IIYergil witnessed the construction associated with Favro's Phase I and
much of that of Phase II. but did not live to see the conclusion of Phase II or any
of the architectural monuments of Phase III. On Yergil's interest in
contemporary building projects see, e.g.. Eden 1975: Fordyce 1977: and
Gransden 1976. all discussing Aeneid8.
12 Boyle 2003.
13 Suetonius excoriates Tiberius for his miserly refusal to complete the two
construction projects he undertook as princeps (both apparently in deference to
Augustus's wishes, Tib. 46-47) and praises Caligula for completing these after
his uncle's death (Gaius 21). Claudius he praises for the utility of his building
projects rather than their extent or beauty (Claud. 20). noting that at least one
had been contemplated by Augustus (but rejected as too difficult), but Caligula
and Nero earn Suetonius' censure for the decadence and selfishness of their
architectural projects (Gaius 22, 37: Nero 31). Nero's extravagance in building
the domus aurea is a focus of elite hostility: d. Tac. Ann. 15.42-43.
1-ID'Ambra 1993: 5. According to Dio (66.24.1-3), all the buildings between
the Pantheon and the Capitol had been destroyed or damaged. On Flavian
building projects. see MacDonald 1982: 47-74: D'Ambra 1993: and Darwall­
Smith 1996.

ALISONM. KEITH
Cadmus in Statius' Thebaid, the latter of which he invokes as the subject
of his poem: limes mihi carminis esto I Oedipodae con/usa domus ("let
the limit of my lay be the troubled house of Oedipus," Theb. 1.16-17).2

ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN OVID ANDSTA TIUS
both passages is the House of Dis. which stands as a fixed point of reference
in the "realm" or "city" of the dead (infernas ... sedes. Met.
4·433: urbs. Met. 4.437. 440: d. letiferasque domos regisque arcana
sepulti. Theb. 8.2). both in Ovid's references to the "dread palace of
black Dis" (nigri fera regia Ditis. Met. 4-438) and the "halls of the underworld
tyrant" (imi tecta tyranni. Met. 4.444). as well as in Statius'
climactic portrait of the ruler dispensing fearsome justice to his unhappy
subjects (Theb. 8.21-22: d. Suet. Dom. 8 on Domitian's scrupulOUS
performance of his judicial responsibilities).
By locating not only the route to hell but also the palace of Dis in
such close proximity to Thebes. Statius both acknowledges the overarching
debt of his Thebaid to Ovid's Theban narrative and particularly
underlines the thematic connection between Thebes and the underworld.
first broached in Ovid's Metamorphoses. where Juno traverses
the road to hell in order to punish Cadmus' Theban dynasty (Met. 4.447­
48). Moreover. the city of Rome may also be implicated in this thematic
nexus in Ovid's Metamorphoses. since the underworld is here
represented as a city (urbs. 4.437. 440) with strikingly Roman features.
including a forum (4-444), city-gates (portas. 4.439). and ruler's palace
(regia Ditis. 4.438: tecta tyranni. 444).2R In the Metamorphoses. hell is
thus envisaged as a Roman city. perhaps Rome itself. with close relations
to Thebes. Lucan elaborates the identification of Thebes with Rome
in the Bellum Ciuile. where he portrays Thebes as a dystopic political
model for Rome (BC 1.55°-52.4.549-51).29 although without the architectural
ecphrases of Ovid and Statius. and the implication may also be felt
in Statius' description of the underworld ruler clispensing justice in his
palace. surrounded by his infernal courtiers. the allegorical figures of
Furies. Deaths. and Punishment (stant Furiae circum uariaeque ex
ordine Mortes. I saeuaque multisonas exertat Poena catenas. Theb.
8.24-25).
Aen. 6.275). but pallor is not a controlling image in his description of the underworld
and no form of the root pallor appeal's again until 6.480 (AdTasti
pallentis imago).
2ROvid's urban undel'world stands in striking contrast to Vergil's. which
figUJ'es as an uninhabited labyrinthine landscape and is compal'ed to a moon-lit
forest: ibant obscuri soja sub nocte per umbram I perque domos Ditis uacuas et
inania regna I quaJe per incertam Junam sub Juce maligna I est iter in siJuis
("they move forward unclearly in the lonely night thwugh the shade. the empty
halls and realm of the underworld prince. just as though through uncertain
moonlight under an ill light. there is a path in a fOJ'est." 6.268-71). On Vergil's
Labyrinthine underworld. see Fitzgerald [984 and Miller 1995. with furthel'
bibliography.
29 Braund 2006.

ALISONM. KEITH
The ecphrastic phraseology with which Ovid's description of the underworld
opens (est uia dec1iuis. 4.432) invites further comparison with
the opening of his detailed topography of Olympus in the first book of
the Metamorphoses (1.168-69): est uia sublimis. cae10 manifesta sereno;
I Lactea nomen habet. candore notabilis ipso ("there is an upward path
visible in the clear sky: it has the name 'Milky' and is known for its brilliance").
a passage whose importance for Statius' epic I discuss below in
connection with the Council of the Gods in Thebaid I. The parallels between
the Ovidian passages extend beyond the opening syntax to the
inclusion of anachronistic descriptions of the ruler's palace and a detailed
urban topography (Met. 1.170-76):
hac iter est superis ad magni tecta Tonantis
regalem domum. dextra laeuaque deorum
atria nobilium ualuis celebrantur apertis.
plebs habitat diuersa locis: hac parte potentes
caelicolae clarique suos posuere Penates.
hic locus est quem. si uerbis audacia detur.
haud timeam magni dixisse Palatia caeli.
By this road the gods journey to the halls of the great Thunderer. his
royal palace. Right and left the reception halls of the noble gods are
thronged, their doors open. The common folk dwell in different places:
in this part the powerful and illustrious heaven-dwellers have established
their household gods. Here is the place which. if boldness be
granted my words. I would not fear to call the Palatine of great heaven.
Of special interest is Ovid's explicit invitation to read both the architecture
and the topography of heaven in terms appropriate to contemporary
Rome. Thus the royal dwelling of Jupiter Tonans ("the Thunderer")
is both an imperial palace (1.171) and a god's temple (1.170).
while the celestial aristocracy inhabit atrium-houses featuring doubledoors
(1.172) and establish their own household gods (Penates. 1.174) in
the "Palatine" of heaven from which the "Plebeian" gods are excluded
(LI73). Ovid confirms the invitation to read the passage in contemporary
Roman political terms. and perhaps in the emergent terms of imperial
cult, at two later points in the first book. comparing the gods'
outrage at Lycaon's impious attack on Jupiter to contemporary Romans'
outrage at plots against Augustus' life (Met. 1.200-2°5) and making explicit
reference to Augustus' display of triumphal laurel (with its Apolline
associations). along with the civic crown of oak. on the doors of his
Palatine house (Met. 1.560-63).30 Given the close verbal and situational
3 0 Augustus records a senatorial decree of January 27 BeE authorizing him to
decorate his doors with laurel and oak in recognition of his having saved the
lives of citizens: RG6. r6. D.C. 53. r6.4: d. Ov. Ars 3.389 Uaurigero sacrata Palatia
Phoebo) and F 4.953-54 (state Palatinae laurus. praetextaque quacu I stet

12 ALISONM. KEITH
horrentibus armis ("Tydeus enters Agenor's citadel. There he sees
harsh Eteodes aloft on his throne, fenced with bristling lances"). Eteodes'
authority anticipates that of the ruler of the underworld in
Thebaid8. who dispenses justice to his unhappy citizens (8.21-23, quoted
above). The display of military force and the lofty position from which
Eteodes presides (as Dis will later in the poem) can be paralleled in
Roman literary accounts of contemporary imperial despotism. Juvenal,
for example, comments sarcastically of Domitian's advisor Q. Vibius
Crispus. thrice-consul and governor of Africa, that his circumspection
provided him with the "weapons" that enabled him to survive to a ripe
old age in the imperial court Ouv. 4.93): his armis illa quoque tutus in
aula ("with these weapons. he was safe even in that court").33 The undertone
of menace in Juvenal's depiction of Domitian's summary dismissal
and summons of the imperial council is also striking Ouv. 4.144­
46): surgitur et misso proceres exire iubentur I consilio. quos Albanam
dux magnus in arcem I traxerat attonitos et festinare coactos
("Domitian rises, dismissing the Council, and the leading men, whom
the great leader had dragged to his Alban citadel shaken and forced to
hurry. are bidden depart").
Eteodes explicitly contrasts the poverty of his household with the
luxury of the palace at Argos, where his brother Polynices has settled
after marrying Argia. the daughter of the Argive king Adrastus (Theb.
2.430-42):
te penes Inachiae dotalis regia dono
coniugis. et Danaae (quid enim maioribus actis
inuideam?) cumulentur opes. felicibus Argos
auspiciis Lernamque regas: nos horrida Dirces
pascua et Euboicis artatas fluctibus oras.
non indignati miserum dixisse parentem
Oedipoden: tibi larga (Pelops et Tantalus auctor)
nobilitas. propiorque fluat de sanguine iuncto
Iuppiter. anne feret luxu consueta paterno
hunc regina larem? nostrae cui iure sorores
anxia pensa trahant. longo quam sordida luctu
mater et ex imis auditus forte tenebris
offendat sacer ille senex ..
To you belongs dotal kingship by gift of your Inachian bride. Let
Danae's riches pile high-for why should I be jealous of a greater career?
Rule Argos and Lerna with happy auspices. while I keep Dirce's
rough pastures and the shores narrowed by Euboea's waves. not disdaining
to call poor Oedipus my father. Yours be generous nobility­
Pelops and Tantalus your ancestors-with Jupiter flowing closer from
33 Braund 1996: 255 comments ad loe. that aula is often used "in contexts of
danger and despotism. e.g. Tac. Hist. 1.7. eadem ... nouae aulae mala."

ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN OVID ANDSTA TIUS /3
allied blood. Will the queen accustomed to her father's luxury endure a
horne like this?-where our sisters would in duty spin anxious threads
for her. where our mother. unkempt in long mourning. and that
accursed ancient. heard by chance from the depths of darkness. would
offend her?
Eteocles emphasizes the poverty of both his kingdom and his household
through references to untamed nature (2-433-34) and the metonymy of a
single household god (laI'em, 2.439) in conjunction with the dreary
domestic activities of his sisters (dutiful spinning) and parents (Jocasta's
laments and Oedipus' curses). His characterization of Adrastus' palace
as a setting of luxury, by contrast. is borne out by Statius' description of
the Argive king's palace in the opening book (Theb. 1.514-21, 1.524-26):
... adolere focos epulasque recentes
instaurare iubet. dictis parere ministri
certatim accelerant: uario strepit icta tumultu
regia: pars ostro tenues auroque sonantes
emunire toros alteque inferre tapetas.
pars teretes leuare manu ac disponere mensas.
ast alii tenebras et opacam uincere noctem
aggressi tendunt auratis uincula lychnis.
... laetatur Adrastus
obsequio feruere domum. iamque ipse superbis
fulgebat stratis solioque effultus eburno.
Adrastus gives order to rouse the fires and renew the recent feast. The
servants hasten in rivalry to obey his word. The royal abode hums
with various bustle. Some furnish the couches with fine-spun purples
and rustling gold. piling high the cushions. some polish the round
tables and set them in place. Yet others essay to overcome dark night's
shades. stretching chains with gilded lamps.... Adrastus delights in the
seething activity of his household. and now himself glows propped up
on proud draperies and ivory throne.
The splendour of Adrastus' palace in luxury of decoration and opulence
of food evokes the splendour of Dornitian's new imperial residence on
the Palatine and the banquets the princeps gave there (commemorated
by Statius in Si]vae 4.2).34 This description of the hospitality offered by
Adrastus to Polynices and Tydeus, as potential sons-in-law, is usually
discussed in intertextual relation to Vergil's description of the reception
of Aeneas and the Trojan survivors in Dido's palace in Carthage at the
34See Coleman ad Stat. Silv. 4.2. Like Adrastus' palace. Domitian's imperial
residence is richly decorated (Silv. 4.2.26-3 r: d. Theb. I.5 17-21) and like
Adrastus. the emperor offers a banquet to his guests on a sacred occasion (Silv.
4.2.5-8. 16-r8: d. Theb. 1.154-55). Martial also celebrates the rich decoration of
the new imperial residence in contemporary occasional poems (Ep. 7.56 and
8·36).

14
ALISONM. KEITH
end of the first book of the Aeneid (Verg. Aen. 1.637-42,697-706,723­
27) and indeed the verbal texture of Statius' passage adheres closely to
the Vergilian modeP5
But the passage also invites comparison with Ovid's description of
the conjugal hospitality extended to the Argive hero Perseus by his
father-in-law Cepheus after Perseus rescues Andromeda from the seamonster
in Metamorphoses 4, in both its luxury and its explicitly marital
context (Met. 4.758-64):
... taedas Hymenaeus Amorque
praecutiunt.largis satiantur odoribus ignes.
sertaque dependent tectis et ubique lyraeque
tibiaque et cantus. animi felicia laeti
argumenta. sonant. reseratis aurea ualuis
atria tota patent. pulchroque instructa paratu
Cepheni proceres ineunt conuiuia regis.
Hymen and Love shake the marriage torch: the fires are fed full with
incense rich and fragrant. garlands deck the dwellings, and everywhere
lyre and flute and songs resound. blessed proofs of inward joy.
The huge folding-doors swing back and reveal the great golden palacehall
with a rich banquet spread. where Cepheus' princely courtiers
grace the feast.
Adrastus is already planning to marry his two guests, Polynices and
Tydeus, off to his daughters (1.529-34), with lawful Venus (iustae
Veneri, 1.531) and sacred modesty (sacrum ... pudorem, 1.531) presiding
over the maidens' first meeting with the heroes, just as the wedding
god Hymenaeus and Love himself preside over the marriage of Perseus
and Andromeda in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Hymenaeus Amorque,
4.758). After the ritual libation. moreover. the Argive household renews
the festal worship of Phoebus Apollo with a description of domestic
hospitality that recalls the nuptial celebrations of Metamorphoses 4
(Theb. 1.554-55): cui festa dies largoque refecti I ture uaporatis lucent
altaribus ignes ("the holiday is Apollo's and it is for him the fires, revived
by abundant incense. glow on the smoking altars").
Two other palace settings in Statius' Thebaid rework still more
closely architectural ecphrases in Ovid's Metamorphoses in their
elaboration of the earlier poet's allusions to contemporary Augustan
building projects. In the first book of the Thebaid, Statius describes a
council of the gods, whom Jupiter summons to his throne-room (Theb.
1.197- 212):
At louis imperiis rapidi super atria caeIi
lectus concilio diuum conuenerat ordo
35 For the reception of Vergil in Statius, see Gossage 1959: Mozley 1963-64:
Kytzler 1969: Vessey 1973: Hardie 1989 and 1993: Frings 1991: and Ganiban 2007.

ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN OVID ANDSTAnus 17
terrarumque orbem caelumque. quod imminet orbi.
The palace of the Sun was raised high on lofty columns. bright with
flashing gold and bronze imitating flames. whose high gables were
tiled in glowing ivory; the folding double doors gleamed with a silver
radiance. The craftsmanship outstripped these materials: for Vulcan
had there engraved the sea encircling the lands in their midst. the globe
of lands and heaven which hangs over the world.
The ecphrasis of the Palace of the Sun has often been interpreted as a
poetic meditation on the temple to Apollo built by Augustus to be contiguous
with his own residence on the Palatine and which. according to
Propertius. featured a statue of Helios in a chariot on the roof (in quo
Solis erat supra fastigia currus. 2.31. r r). 39 Moreover Ovid's description
of Phaethon's awe at the sight of the temple and its owner not only suggests
the overwhelming magnificence of the temple of Apollo Palatinus.
"universally admired as the most sumptuous and magnificent of all
early Augustan buildings,"4" but may also evoke the splendour of an
audience with the princeps (Met. 2.19-24):
Quo simul accliui C1ymeneia limite proles
uenit et intrauit dubitati tecta parentis.
protinus ad patrios uertit uestigia uultus
consistitque procul: neque enim pl'Opiora ferebat
lumina. PUI'purea uelatus ueste sedebat
in solio Phoebus claris lucente smaragdis.
Now when Clymene's son had climbed the steep path which leads
thither. and had come beneath the I'oof of his sire whose fatherhood
had been questioned. straightway he tumed to his father's face. but
halted some little space away: for he could not bear the radiance at a
nearer view. Clad in a purple robe. Phoebus sat on his throne gleaming
with bl'illiant emeralds.
Statius too, Dominik suggests. implies in "the resignation of deities ... to
the all-powerful Jupiter on Olympus ... the pusillanimous submission of
the Senators to the autocratic Julio-Claudian and Flavian emperors in
the Senate house as described in Tacitus and other writers. "41 The sug-
39See Bomer 1969: 236 ad Joe.; Boyle 2003 does not discuss the passage in connection
with the temple of Apollo Palatinus although he notes Augustus' close
association with the god. Suetonius records the outrage that greeted the repOl't
of a "banquet of the twelve Olympians" during the famine caused by Sextus
Pompey's naval blockade of Italy. to which Octavian came as Apollo (Aug. 70).
4" Richal'dson 1992: [4.
4 1
Dominik 1994: 164. In his view. "the scene may well have evoked a typical
reminiscence of an assembly chaired by Domitian" and. indeed. there are stl'iking
points of I'esonance with the caustic pOI'trait of a Domitianic Council Juvenal
provides in Satire 4.

ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN OVID ANDSTA TIUS I9
thronged with crowds (Met. 12.53-4. Theb. 1.208). though Statius' Jupiter
can command the silence (quies. Theb. 1.211) that Ovid's House of
Fama is designed not to offer (Met. 12.48).43
The final built-form we may consider in Statius' Thebaid is the Temple
of Mars. to which Jupiter sends Mercury at the opening of the seventh
book of the Thebaid in order to rouse the war-god from his torpor
and revive the epic narrative. Statius describes the god's house from the
aerial perspective of Mercury (Theb. 7.40-63):
hic steriles delubra notat Mauortia siluas
horrescitque tuens. ubi mille Furoribus illi
cingitur auerso domus immansueta sub Haemo.
ferrea compago laterum. ferro apta teruntur
limina. felTatis incumbunt tecta columnis.
laeditur aduersum Phoebi iubar. ipsaque sedem
lux timet. et durus contristat sidel'a fulgOI'.
digna loco statio: primis salit Impetus amens
e foribus caecumque Nefas Iraeque rubentes
exsanguesque Metus. occultisque ensibus astant
Insidiae geminumque tenens Discordia fel'I'um.
innumeris stl'epit aula Minis. tristissima Virtus
stat medio. laetusque Furol' uultuque cruento
Mors armata sedet: bellorum solus in al'is
sanguis et incensis qui raptus ab urbibus ignis.
terrarum exuuiae circum et fastigia templi
captae insignibant gentes: caelataque ferro
fragmina portarum bellatricesque carinae
et uacui currus protritaque curribus ora.
paene etiam gemitus: adeo uis omnis et omne
431n addition to these several Ovidian models. Statius seems to have drawn
inspiration for the Thebaid's first divine council from his attendance at the
impel'ial banquet in the new palace recorded in Silvae 4.2. In this poem he implicitly
likens Domitian to Jupiter and the imperial palace to the god's celestial
dwelling (medius uideor discumbere in astris I cum loue. 4.2.LO-II). in a desCI'iption
that recalls Jupitel"s council chambers in the opening book of the
Thebaid (I.I97-99. quoted above) and comments on the god's astonished gaze
from his neighbouring temple on the Capitoline hill (stupet hoc uicina Tonantis
I regia. Silv. 4.2.20-21). Like Jupiter's celestial council chambers (Theb. I.208-1O.
quoted above), Domitian's palace is thronged with guests (Silv. 4.2.32-33) and,
"embracing much of heaven within its shelter" (multumque amplexus operti I
aetheros, Silv. 4.2.24-25), seems to have as its roof "the guilded ceiling of
heaven" (fessis uix culmina prendas I uisibus auratique putes laquearia cadi.
Silv. 4.2.30-31). On Stat. Silv. 4.2 see Vessey 1983: Coleman 1988: and Malamud
2001. For the celestial height of the imperial palace. d. Mal't. Ep. 8.36.7-8. 10-11:
aethera sic intrat nitidis ut conditus astris I inferiore tonet nube serenus apex I
... I Haec. Auguste. tamen. quae uertice sidera pulsat. I par domus est caelo sed
minor est domino. For the actual roofing matel'ials of the triclinium of the
domus Flavia. see Gibson. DeLaine. and Claridge 1994 and Darwall-Smith 1996:
193-199.

20 ALISONM. KEITH
uulnus. ubique ipsum. sed non usquam ore remisso
cernere erat: 44 talem diuina Mulciber arte
ediderat; nondum radiis monstratus adulter
foeda catenato luerat conubia lecto.
Here he marks barren woods. Mars' shrine, and shudders as he looks.
There under distant Haemus is the god's ungentle house. girt with a
thousand Rages. The sides are of iron structure. the trodden thresholds
are fitted with iron, the roof rests on iron-bound pillars. Phoebus'
opposing ray takes hurt. the very light fears the dwelling and a harsh
glare glooms the stars. The guard is worthy of the place. Wild Impulse
leaps from the outer gates and blind Evil and ruddy Angers and
bloodless Fears. Treachery lurks with hidden swords and Strife holding
two-edged steel. The court resounds with countless Threats. Valour
most somber stands in the centre, and joyful Rage and armed Death
with bloodstained countenance there sit. On the altars in blood of wars.
that only. and fire snatched from burning towns. Trophies from many
lands and captured peoples marked the temple's sides and top and
fragments of iron-wrought gates and warship keels and empty chariots
and heads by chariots crushed. groans too almost. Every violence
truly. every wound. Everywhere himself to be seen, but nowhere with
easy look; thus had Mulciber portrayed him with his divine art. Not yet
had he been revealed an adulterer by sunbeams and expiated a shameful
union in a chained bed.
Statius' description of the Palace of Mars has been much discussed and
his literary debts to Homer, VergiL and Valerius Flaccus in this passage
minutely examined. 45 Another important epic model for Statius'
ecphrasis, however. is Ovid's description of the Palace of the Sun (Met.
2.1-7. quoted above). Ovid there anticipates Statius in his combinatorial
allusion 46 to Homer's glittering palace of Alcinous (Od. 7.84-97) and the
Vergilian temple in which Latinus receives the Trojan embassy (Aen.
7.170-92). While the Statian Mars' palace is constructed of iron ­
appropriately the metal of military weaponry-and so darkens the
landscape in which it is set. however. the Ovidian Sun's palace gives off
44Contrast Domitian in Silv. 4.2.46-47. where the conqueror of Germany relaxes
non aliter geJida Rhodopes in ualJe recumbit I dimissis Gradiuus equis
("not otherwise than Mars Gradivus in Rhodope's cool valley having dismissed
his horses"). M. Dewar wonders if we can see. in the confrontation of the two
passages (Theb. 7.40-63 and Silv. 4.2.46-47). Statius engaging directly with the
Flavian programme of "peace" (instantiated architecturally in Vespasian's
templum Pads. inaugurated 75 CE) as a triumphant result of just war: Pax resides
in the centre of (Flavian) Rome while Mars and the warfare in which he
engages have been expelled to the very edges of the world. the remote regions
where Domitian wins his victories. On the templum Pads. see Darwall-Smith
1996: 55-68.
45 See Smolenaars 1994: adlac.. for commentary and further bibliography.
460n combinatorial allusion. see Hardie 1989.

ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN OVID ANDSTAnus
a radiant glow that equally reflects the character of its owner. Statius
implicitly signals his debt to the bright radiance of the Sun's palace in
the Ovidian passage in his reference to the dull iron of the fa

ALISONM. KEITH
fication of war while traces of his characteristic activity litter the landscape
(7.53-60). Even the narrative progression of Statius' passage may
be derived from the Ovidian model, for Ovid's ecphrasis follows the
arrival of Phaethon at the Sun's palace at the Eastern ends of the earth,
while Statius' description of the Palace of Mars follows the arrival of
Mercury at Mars' temple in the northern wilds of Thrace.
The convergences between Domitian's contemporary architectural
and decorative practice and Statius' description of the royal palace of
Cadmus at Thebes and the Temple of Mars also demand closer scrutiny.
The temple of Mars-located in the northern wastes of Thrace (Mars'
traditional home)-invites comparison with Domitian's military exploits
in Germany, where he campaigned successfully against the Chatti
in 83 CE, and in Dacia (Romania), where he campaigned less so in 85-87
CE (concluding a peace treaty in 89 CE after two defeats). While we know
of no temple of Mars built by Domitian, his extensive temple-building
for Jupiter and Minerva may in itself have afforded considerable scope
for martial celebration. since their iconography included Jupiter's
thunderbolt and spear (appropriated by Domitian on coins from 85 CE
on),4 R and Minerva's shield, spear, helmet, and Gorgon-breastplate.
In addition, two anecdotes can be fruitfully brought into contact with
Statius' description of the Palace of Mars. Towards the end of his reign,
Suetonius says that Domitian hung mirrors of phengite. a hard white
translucent stone described as similar to obsidian (Pliny, Nat. 36.136.
196), "in order to see in its brilliant surface the reflection of all that
went on behind his back" (tempore uero suspecti periculi
appropinquante sollicitior in dies porticuum. in quibus spatiari consuerato
parietes phengite lapide distinxit. e cuius splendore per imagines
quidquid a tergo fieret prouideret. Dom. 14.4). A similarly sombre. not
to say morbid. taste on the emperor's part is evidenced in Dio's account
of a dinner party he gave. the famous "black banquet" (67.9.1-5):
Domitian prepared a room that was pitch black on every side. ceiling.
walls and floor. and had made ready bare couches of the same colour
resting on the uncovered floor; then he invited in his guests alone at
night without their attendants. And first he set beside each of them a
slab shaped like a gravestone. bearing the guest's name and also a small
lamp. such as hang in tombs. Next comely naked boys. likewise painted
black. entered like phantoms, and after encircling the guests in an aweinspiring
dance took up their stations at their feet. After this all the
things that are commonly offered at the sacrifices to departed spirits
were likewise set before the guests. all of them black and in dishes of a
similar colour. Consequently. every single one of the guests feared and
48Darwall-Smith 1996: 34.

ARCHITECTURAL ECPHRASES IN OVID ANDSTA TIUS 23
trembled and was kept in constant expectation of having his thl'Oat cut
the next moment. 49
After sending his guests home (alive). he presented them with the placemarkers
that turned out to be made of solid silver. The deathly hues of
this banquet resonate eerily not only with the Statian Mars' somber palace.
but also with the House of Cadmus at Thebes and indeed the Palace
of Dis in Hell. all of which put on terrifying display the symbols of
death and the underworld.
This study of architectural ecphrases in Ovid's Metamorphoses and
Statius' Thebaid has uncovered numerous points of contact in the linguistic
registers of the two poems. with important implications for the
thematic and political interpretation of both epics. Particularly striking
is Ovid's anachronistic representation of the topography and architecture
of Olympus and the underworld in contemporary Roman guise
and Statius' adaptation of this anachronistically Roman heaven and hell
in his Thebaid. Like Ovid. Statius locates the underworld in close
proximity to Thebes and portrays the king of the underworld as an emperor
presiding over a contemporary urban landscape that features
both Roman architecture and Roman justice. Both poets also draw on
the luxury of contemporary imperial residences in their description of
royal palaces such as those of Cepheus in Metamorphoses 5 and Adrastus
in Thebaid I. Statius' most extensive debt to Ovid in his descriptions
of built forms and spatial usage. however. lies in his ecphrases of the
gods' temple-palace complexes. Ovid's witty representation of Jupiter
as Augustus in Metamorphoses I. modeled in part on Augustus' close
identification with Apollo in the Palatine complex. is closely reworked
in panegyrical mode by Statius in his portrait of a Domitianic Jupiter in
the divine council of Thebaid [. Even where Statius departs from Ovidian
models. moreover. he signals a larger conceptual debt to the earlier
poet as. for example. when his Jupiter pointedly supersedes Ovid's by
including the semidei as full participants in the divine council. even
though the Ovidian Jupiter had deemed them as yet unworthy of
heaven. and when his temple of Mars deflects the rays of the Sun even
as it reverses the themes and imagery of Ovid's palace of the Sun.
Throughout the Thebaid. Statius accommodates his architectural
ecphrases to the thematic demands of his narrative while simultaneously
refracting the richness and careful attention to detail of contemporary
imperial building projects. Ovid provides an instructive model

24 ALISONM. KEITH
for both practices in the Metamorphoses.5°
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
TORONTO. ON MSS 2C7
REFERENCES
Allen, C. 2002. "Ovid and art." in Hardie 2002: 336-367.
Bergmann, B. 1991. "Painted perspectives of villa visit: Landscape as status and
metaphor," in E. Gazda. ed. Roman Art in the Private Sphere. Ann Arbor.
49-70.
Bomer. F. 1969-1986. P. Ovidius Naso: Metamorphosen. Kommentar. 7 vols.
Heidelberg.
Boyle. A.J. 2003. Ovid and the Monuments: A Poet's Rome. Victoria.
Braund. S.M., ed. 1996. luvenal. Satires Book I Cambridge.
__.2006. "A tale of two cities: Statius. Thebes, and Rome," Phoenix 60: 259­
273·
Burrow. C. 2002. "Re-embodying Ovid: Renaissance afterlives," in Hardie 2002:
301-319.
Cary. E.. trans. 1925. Dio's Roman History VIII- Books LXI-LXX. Cambridge.
MA/London.
Coleman, K.M., ed. 1988. Statius. Silvae IV, edited with an English translation
and commentary. Oxford.
D'Ambra. E. 1993. Private Lives. Imperial Virtues: The Frieze of the Forum
Transitorium in Rome. Princeton.
Darwall-Smith, R. 1996. Emperors and Architecture: A Study of Flavian Rome.
Brussels.
Dewar. M.J. 2002. "Siquid habent ueri uatum praesagia: Ovid in the 1'-5' centuries
A.D.... in B.W. Boyd. ed. Brill's Companion to Ovid. Leiden. 383-412.
Dimmick. J. 2002. "Ovid in the Middle Ages: Authority and poetry." in Hardie
2002: 264-287.
Dominik. W.J. 1989. "Monarchal power and imperial politics in Statius' Thebaid,"
in A.J. Boyle. ed. The Imperial Muse. Victoria. Australia. 74-97.
__. 1994. The Mythic Voice of Statius: Power and Politics in the Thebaid.
Leiden.
Eden, PT, ed. 1975. Aeneid 8. MnemosyneSupplement 35. Leiden.
Favro, D.G. 1996. The Urban Image ofAugustan Rome. Cambridge.
Feeney. D.C. 1991. The Gods in Epic. Oxford.
Fitzgerald, W. 1984. "Aeneas, Daedalus and the labyrinth." Arethusa IT 51-66.
5°1 am grateful to Michael Dewar, John Porter. and Stephen Rupp for their
comments on an earlier version of this article. as well as to the journal's two
readers. Naturally. they are not responsible for any remaining errors. inconsistencies.
or omissions.

26 ALISONM. KEITH
Miller, P.A. 1995. "The Minotaur within: Fire, the labyrinth, and strategies of
containment in Aeneid5 and 6," CP90: 225-240.
Mozley, J.H. 1963-64. "Virgil and the silver Latin epic," PVS 3: 12-26.
Newlands, C 1991. "Silvae3.1 and Statius' poetic temple," CQ41: 438-452.
__. 2002a. "Ovid and Statius: Transforming the landscape," APA Abstracts
133: 52.
__. 20mb. The Poetics ofEmpire. Cambridge.
Ransmayr, C 1990. The Last World. New York [originally published in German
in 1988].
Richardson, L., Jr. 1992. A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome.
Baltimore/London.
Ripoll, F. 1998. La morale heroi'que dans les epopees latines d'epoque flavienne:
tradition et innovation. Louvain.
Royo, M. 2001. "De la Domus Augusti au Palatium Caesarum: Nouvelles
approaches et bilan des vingt dernieres annes de recherches sur Ie Palatin
imperial (I. s. av.-IIl s. ap. J.-C)," Pallas 55: 53-88.
Shackleton Bailey, D.R. 2003. Statius, Thebaid, 2 vols. Cambridge, MA.
Smolenaars, J.J.L. 1994. Statius, Thebaid VII: A Commentaly. Leiden.
__. 1998. "The Vergilian background of Seneca's Thyestes 641-682,"
Vergilius 44: 5 1- 65.
Skutsch, O. 1985. The Annals ofQuintus Ennius. Oxford.
Tarrant, R.J., ed. 2004. P. Ovidi Nasonis Metamorphoses. Oxford.
Terry, P., ed. 2000. Ovid Metamorphosed. London.
Tissol. G. and S. Wheeler. 2002. The Reception of Ovid in Antiquity. Arethusa
35·3·
Vessey, D.W.T.C 1973. Statius and the Thebaid. Cambridge.
__.1983. "Mediis discumbere in astris," AC52: 206-220.
Welch, T.5. 2005. The Elegiac Cityscape: Propertius and the Meaning of Roman
Monuments. Columbus.
Wiseman, T.P. 1987. "Conspicui postes tectaque digna deo: The public image of
aristocratic and imperial houses in the late Republic and early Empire," in
L 'urbs: Espace urbain et histoire (f siecle avo ].-C-III siecle ap. ].-C). Actes
du colloque international organise par Ie Centre national de la recherche
scientifique et l'Ecole fran

Mouseion. Series III. Vol. 7 (2007) 27-52
©2007 MOLlseion
THE TRANSMISSION
PETRONIANA
WADE RICHARDSON
Jacobi Butricae ad Memoriam
Of the more than three-score corrections to the text of the Satyrica here
proposed, about half offer a new solution to difficulties treated by
predecessors, from the first editol's like Pithou, Scaliger and Scheffer.
through Bucheler and contemporaries, notably Wehle, right down to
active modern scholars such as Oberg. The entries under suspicion fall
into recognized types of "indisputable error" within a text that is both
damaged and corrected: omissions, inversions, confusions, dislocations,
interpolations, mistakes of reading and punctuation (see e.g. Oberg
1999: x-xiii). The other half present solutions to freshly identified problem
areas of similar character, and critics will be especially attentive to
these claims of elTor as yet unperceived. The number of new readings
here proposed may raise an eyebrow, and I fear the charge of unprofitable
tampering. They are but the tiniest fraction of the thousands of
changes from the manuscripts that have already gained favour. Martin
S. Smith's Oxford Cena edition, well received and considel'ed quite cautious,
athetized thirty-five times and obelized ten times: and six of the
rejected superfluities consist of phrases and even clauses of four to six
words. The conservation-minded Oberg proposes around the same
number of corrections as I, sixty-seven, to the Cena alone, and still no
textual critic or translator could claim that few difficulties of sense remain
that might benefit from textual healing.
The uncertainties relate in part to the work's damaged transmission.
In summary, the Satyrica of today is an aggregation of lacuna-laced passages
of varying lengths that form a progressive narrative. The whole,
if it may so be termed, occurs close to the physical environment of the
I'elatively well preserved section known as the Cena Trimalchionis,
whose special features may have earmarked it for survival, carJ'ying
the ambient milieu along with it. Some reasonable manuscript evidence,
accepted notably by Muller and van ThieL suggests that the Cena occupied
the fifteenth book of an original that went to a few books more.
The inference is that the Cena and surrounds were contained upon a
single papyrus roll that transmitted approximately books fourteen to
27

28 WADE RICHARDSON
sixteen. This nucleus of our story, upon the single rolL survived into the
early Carolingian era, and was therefore the archetype that could be
reconstructed from the interrelations of the manuscript orders L. Oand
H. with each representing an excerpt taken from it in the ninth century.
The physical state of the Cena is somewhat better than the rest, in that it
has fewer significant lacunae and instances of dislocation. Furthermore.
it conveys a somewhat fuller version of the archetype. as can be seen
from a section of the archetype containing chapters 27 to 37. which
happens to reside in both Land H. However, these advantages are offset
very manifestly by the severe copying problems evinced in our
unique Renaissance manuscript constituting H The many corruptions
result, one surmises. from the combination of a difficult-to-read Cena
archetype (which I would identify as the non-extant Codex Coloniensis:
see ad loc., c. 63.3, below), unfamiliar vocabulary and subject matter,
and a hasty and untalented scribe who cared little for showing even
elementary word divisions. For a recent assessment of the text's history
see the maturest consideration of Muller 1995: iii-xxviii. The text lemmata
in this article are taken from this edition. These are in most instances
his preferred manuscript reading. Also Muller's are any brackets.
asterisks or obeli. Where he favours a variant or emendation. the
manuscript reading is shown in my brief apparatus. Combine Muller
xlii-xlviii with the list of References to obtain the cited sources.
THE EMENDATIONS
The analytical work of Bucheler in the middle of the 1800s produced the
most important advances in establishing something resembling the
modern scholar's text, and it gave rise to a host of successful emendations.
It also proposed a context and a rationale for so much corruption,
not explicitly in a comprehensive theory, but at least by inference from
an apparatus packed with Bucheler's hints and suggestions relating to
corruption and solution. The ninth-century archetype. apart from inadvertent
or inevitable defects. was larded with actual interventions by a
well-meaning but not particularly gifted or scrupulous Carolingian
copyist whose aim seems to have been simultaneously to recover. to
correct and to explicate his text. notably by emending and interpolation.
This is speculative.
It was surely from Bucheler's lead that. a century after his first edition,
the team of Eduard Fraenkel and Konrad Muller developed, refined
and enshrined the picture of an individual working to repair his
remnant of the Satyrica and producing further corruption. This reasoning
was set out, with many new examples of interpolation, in
Muller's first edition (1961). The thorough reviews that followed, nota-

PETRGNIANA 29
bly by Browning. Delz. Nelson and Nisbet. together with his own principled
reservations. led Muller to conclude for his second edition (1965)
that he and Fraenkel had gone too far in eliminating material. His recantation.
though. should not be exaggerated: he maintains 70 percent
of his deletions from the first edition and five new ones. with Fraenkel's
contribution dropping to 56 percent. The existence of interpolations and
their evaluation as an editing tool in Petronius is clearly established. and
their affirmation may be seen in the work of J.P. Sullivan. Smith. Oberg
and to some extent in all modern texts. In regard to The Interpolatol'.
1861 Wehle's "stupidus librarius." Muller's latest opinion (200T xxvii) is
that the whole theorizing question must be held in abeyance pending
further study. Yet if the shal'ed character of the corl'Uptions is a worthy
consideration. it would not be unreasonable to suspect the hand of a
single individual behind them. working in response to the special exigencies
of the surviving archetype in the only era that could account for
their simultaneous importation into the tradition: a generation or so
before the confirmed ninth-century date of our oldest manuscript of the
Gorder. B.
In reviewing the present contribution I see that my suggestions are
evenly divided between outright emendations. additions and deletions.
with a few devoted to transposition and re-punctuation. Deletions are
inevitably the most provocative. because they subtract from the text and
raise the concern. as Nisbet put it. that "flakes of genuine paint ... have
come away in the cleaning." Also. they rest upon an individual scholar's
claim to have discovered unacceptable stylistic or semantic redundancy
or other compositional shortcoming unlikely to have been the responsibility
of the author. Fortunately there is a way to hew to objectivity by
invoking three conditions: when in the vicinity of the proposed deletion
the same word exists in a better relation to the passage's sense; when
the physical character of the text is conducive to certain types of scribal
corruption. such as dittography, haplography and line skipping; and
when better usage-parallels may be found from elsewhere in our text.
The basic tool of editors. however. remains effrontery-their personal.
trained sense of the sense-to guide their suspicions of failure and instincts
for improvement.
Among the interpolations which are presumed to offer a short clarification
or expansion of sense. one may tentatively perceive groupings
that give some clue of their reason for existence. There are a few, for
example. that appear to comment on the functioning of a "pederastic
code" (d. notably at 130.8). In other words. the basis for such an interpolation
would be to assist comprehension. with a gloss. of a dynamic
that may have fallen into obscurity in the copyist's era. Since the status
of these particular words affects the soundness of modern efforts to

30
WADE RICHARDSON
analyze and interpret, from the text, the sexuality in the Satyrica (a
growth area), here is no better demonstration of the productive partnership
of secure text and legitimate sense. A further grouping consists
of conjunctions that appear manifestly too often and in incongruous positions,
signifying a maladroit effort to "patch" the narrative flow. Thus
the importance of this admittedly dull set of words is in their witness to
a struggle to improve the sense and continuity of an entire paragraph
that may be particularly damaged (d. at 29. 3 autem and 81.1 etiam). All
successful solutions naturally have the aim of contributing to enhanced
translation and use of the passage in which they occur.
4.2/3 eloquentiam. qua nihil esse maius confitentur, pueris induunt
adhuc nascentibus. Quod si paterentur laborum gradus fieri, ut studiosi
iuvenes lectione severa irrigarentur.
ut studiosi [iuvenes] lego
The focus of this passage is on correcting the education of pueri before
bad habits set in, and on the need to inculcate good habits of study and
imitation early on in young boys; and the paragraph continues with reference
only to young boys at this critical formative juncture, on the understanding
that nihil esse magnificum quod pueris placeret (4.3). Then
at 4.4 pueri in scholis are contrasted expressly with their outgrowth,
iuvenes ... in foro, youths who later, after their improper schooling. try
out their speaking in the forum. It appears that iuvenes. which is not
attested in OLD as a substantive for young children. has entered prematurely
from the later context into the passage here. where it is neither
indicated nor appropriate.
10.6 cras autem. quia hoc libet, et habitationem mihi prospiciam et
aliquem fratrem.
aliquern: aliurn "scripsi" Biicheler
As Bucheler indicated, whereas the trio of Encolpius, Ascyltus and
Giton have been (uncomfortably) sharing lodgings for some time (6.3;
d. 8.2), a small alteration here would better convey Ascyltus's point
about now seeking a separate place to stay and another boyfriend.
Presumably, if alium be acceptable, its sense is to be carried back to the
first noun also. Yet it is semantically more logical to enter aliam sooner
and carry its sense forward: et habitationem mihi prospiciam

et!aliquemj fratrem.
PETRONIANA 3 1
11.3 opertum me amiculo evolvit et "Quid agebas." inquit. "frater
sanctissime? Quid? tVertitcontubernium facis?"
vesticontubernium TUI'nebus: veste contubernium Fuchs: vel'ticontubemium
The soldier's cloak. sagum. served as a blanket on campaign. but was
also a handy privacy screen for sexual activity and a familiar symbol in
the pederastic ethos. Here amiculum (pun?) does duty. Turnebus'
emendation thus seems secure (for other examples of "parasynthetic covalent
compound" nouns in Petronius see Swanson I96T 83-84: e.g. 56.8
serisapia. 75.6 fuldpedia). Encolpius is recognized as enacting a trite
role with a hackneyed prop. and is fair game for the sarcasm of
Ascyltus. which becomes more pointed thus: frater sanctissime. qui
vesticontubernium fads? Boy-scouting. is it? This structure Petronius
finds useful: IO.3 turpior es tu. hercule. qui ut foris cenares poetam
laudasti. and 134.9 qualem putas esse. qui de Circes toro sine voluptate
surrexit?
15.2 advocati tamen [iam peneJ nocturni. qui volebant pallium lucri
facere.
del. Fuchs: iam poenae aJim Blichelel': iam plane Gial'dina: iam bene Scioppius:
iam p(a)ene Pithoeus: impol'tune Nisbet I nocturni "patius carruptum"
Bucheler
The ms. reading defies accurate translation (as efforts show: Branham­
Kinney and Walsh simply gloss over the detail or delete with Fuchs).
and Giardina's suggestion does not really help. What nocturni accomplishes
is unclear. The proposed change. advocati tamen iam plani
!nocturnij. renders: "but now mediators. crooks in reality (jam) intent
on reaping a windfall from the cloak ... " For planus and nocturnus together.
possibly prompting the gloss. d. 82.2 miles. sive ille planus fuit
sive nocturnus grassator.
19.4 Tres enim erant mulierculae. si quid vellent conari. infil'missimae
scilicet; contra nos. si nihil aliud. virilis sexus. Sed et pl'aecincti certe
altius eramus.
scilicet: contra distinxit Fraenkel I nos. Dousa I sexus. Sed et
Pithoeus: sexus esset. Et
This tricky and amusing passage has been resolved over the centuries in
various ways. A furthel' possibility is to delete esset. making neater

32 WADE RICHARDSON
sense than most by recognition of the descriptive genitive as a not inelegant
zeugma initial predicate of the following eramus. contra nos. si
nihil aliud. virilis sexus [esset] et praecincti certe altius eramus: "while
we at least were of the male sex and definitely more suitably dressed."
For the construction d. Caesar BG 2.15.5 Nervios esse homines feros
magnaeque virtutis.
2 1.2 Ultimo cinaedus supervenit myrtea subornatus gausapa
cinguloque succinctus ... modo extortis nos c1unibus cecidit
lac. indo Biicheler
Balance in the description requires that the colour of the cummerbund
or sash be supplied. and cinguloque succinctus may be a
good choice (d. 28.8 ostiarius prasinatus. cerasino succinctus cingulo).
though cinguJoque succinctus would also work. Cherry-andgreen
is an attested combination. the house livery. perhaps: d. Smith on
27.1: "there is a notable frequency of red and green in the description of
Trimalchio and his surroundings." Biicheler. without supplying a suggestion.
suspected that a colour had dropped out. but appears to believe
additional material to be missing after succinctus ("hiat constructio
orationis"). Galbino. the colour of Fortunata's sash at 67.4. is another
possibility. but while Fortunata therewith also conforms to the "house
colours" (greenish sash and cherry-red petticoat). a dark-green. lightgreen
combination here at 21.2 for the cinaedus. despite common associations
of effeminacy. is neither regulation crimson and clover nor sufficiently
striking.
23.3.4 Femore facili. clune agili [etl manu procaces. Molles. veteres.
Deliaci manu recisi.
manu alterum corruptum opinor
One suspects that second manu has encroached from the previous line.
where it occurs in the same line-position but in a totally different sense.
The repetition makes for poor poetry and a weak conclusion. For other
usages in Petronius of cutting plus instrument. d. fro 51.12 falee recisa
Ceres. More appropriate here too would be some instrument; and for
genital cutting see fro 47. 3 ferro succiderit inguinis oram. Cf. also 89· 1.4
[ferro] caesi vertices. where the Q-class reading is deleted by editors.
though presently ferro cannot be supported for metrical reasons.
24.3 "per fidem." inquam. "[nostraml Ascyltus in hoc triclinio solus
ferias agit?"

PETRONIANA
nostram: vostram (j.e. vestram) Dousa: del. BiicheleJ'
Bucheler rightly suspected a gloss, since a qualifying possessive pronoun
is not indicated. Cf. two good per fidem parallels, also from an
emotional Encolpius, at 93.3 and 98.3. However, transposition and not
outright deletion seems contextually indicated, in the familiar (here
ironic) usage with the proper name: "Per fidem." inquam. "[nostrami,
Ascyltus in hoc triclinio solus ferias agit?" Cf. at 25. I cur non
... devirginatur Pannychis nostra?
24.6 "quare ergo," inquit. "me non basiavit?" Vocatumque ad se in
osculum applicuit.
There is awkwardness in the text that needs attention. Applico would
appear to require the reflexive object, as also Quartilla at 25.4 maioribus
me pueris applicui; and at 67.5 applicat se illi toro. It is effectively repaired
as vocatique [ad sei in osculum applicuit. The phrase vocati
in osculum I would therefore argue to be a humorous mild legal echo of
vocare in ius. vocare in iudicium. vocare in discrimen (OLD s.v. 4.c):
osculum therefore as a form of supplicium. The error is explained by
the accusative context of me and the influence of osculum.
27.3 non quidem eas quae inter manus lusu expellente vibrabant,
lusu H: luxu L: del. Smith I expellentes Asztalos in Oberg
Difficulty with the sense was noted by Smith. but his deletion still leaves
the cryptic oddity of expellente. Friedlaender struggles to defend the
phrase with not very apposite citations on the evident property of
bounce in ancient balls (a rare commodity, no doubt, in the absence of
rubber). Muller retains, and Ehlers alongside translates "die im Prellspiel
von Hand zu Hand flogen." This is still a stretch. and I would delete
and emend to {lusui expellentium. The number of catches as the ball
made the round of the players was-unexpectedly-not counted, but
rather the times it touched the ground after ejection. Expellentium emphasizes
the chain of catch and discharge. Expellentes is almost satisfactory,
but the difficulty with lusu remains. The corruption has some
haplographic basis in the consequent vibrabant inter manus
expellentium vibrabant.
29.3 Erat autem venalicium titulis pictum.
add. Burmannus
Autem hel'e requires the sense of enim. more as a convention of style
33

34
WADE RICHARDSON
than semantics. Cf. 42.2 lui enim. It was in the previous sentence in the
sense of mild contrast: et collegae quidem mei riserunt. ego autem ...
non destiti .... And it occurred twice just prior to that, at 28.8 and 28.9,
in the sense of "moreover." This stylistically excessive incidence of
autem, especially in the last sense. where the context would seem to rule
it out. is suspicious. Cf. at 81.1 for similarly excessive uses of etiam. For
a similar cadence d. 30.3 et duae tabulae. I believe I should see
Erat enim venalicium in preference to outright deletion.
34.4 Subinde intraverunt duo Aethiopes capillati cum pusillis utribus,
quales solent esse qui harenam in amphitheatro spargunt,
esse: habere Braswell I suppl. Muller
The Latin is seen by many as suspect, and adjustments have been proposed
that would generally convert the subject in the relative qui-elause
from instrument to agent (to have people as opposed to skins spattering
the sand). Esse eis qui would be an alternative to Muller's. though such
a spelling for the dative and ablative is rare in Petronius.
35. 4 super scorpionem ... [pisciculum marinuml,
lac. indo Gaselee: del. Smith I super scorpionem [pisciculuml
marinam Gaselee .. I marinum del. Jacobs I super scorpionem pisciculum
marinum Oberg
The text is flat and the rebus seems to deserve better. Oberg's recent
attempt is creditable. Another possibility is neatly secured in Pliny Nat.
1.32,9.162,32.151, by the presence of the scorpio marinus. the common
venomous-spined Mediterranean scorpion-fish. or sea-weever (genus
Trachinus). or perhaps the sculpin. Thus super scorpionem
[piscicuJumJ marinum.
40.1 iuramus Hipparchum Aratumque comparandos illi homines non
fuisse,
homini Heinsius I comparatos ilIi. homines Rohde
A problem is indicated by homines. Perhaps delete as a glossator's reminder
that Trimalchio's competition was at least mortal.
40.4 Circa autem minores porcelli ex coptoplacentis facti,
The emphasis on the piglets (or perhaps petite grown pigs) as smaller
seems particularly uncalled-for. And Swanson (196T 88) notes that only
here does Petronius use an adjective of smallness to modify a diminu-

PETRONIANA 35
tive (though this occurs. principally with parvus, in Martial). But the
comparative is less defensible, and minores should rather be taken as a
leaden and reflexive glossator's reminder on the smaller size (compared
to 40.3 primae magnitudinis apeI') of the surrounding sucklings.
43.6-7 Tamen verum quod frunitus est. quam diu vixit. tCui datum est.
non cui destinatum.
quod sua vel quod vitam vulgo I cui miratur
Biicheler I Cui . datum est Muncker
There is actually a plausible Petronian way out of the first puzzle. suggested
by 75.3 "Habinna, sic peculium tuum fruniscaris. " Render quod
frunitus est, quam diu vixit. Final sense may be provided concisely
by cui datum [est}, non cui destinatum: "It's what you obtain
that counts. not what you're owed."
46.5 etiam si magister eius sibi placens fit nee uno loco consistit. Scit
quidem litteras, sed non vult laborare.
fit Biichelel': sit I Scit quidem Bltimner: sed venit dem I venit dem Wehle
There have been several efforts to repair this seeming truncation.
though even dem of the ms. reading has been defended as a subjunctive.
Mine is a simplification of Wehle, with an advantage in paleography:
haplography: nec uno loco constitit, sed venit, dem litteras.
I believe the sense of consistit is largely literal: this magister will not
settle into doing the time and work (non vultlaborare).
52.6/7 Ille dimissus circa mensam percucurrit ... et "aquam foras.
vinum intro," clamavit.
lac. ind. Biicheler
Biicheler implies a lacuna of a fair size. in which there is a bathroom
visit. followed by the change of subject for the witticism. The lacuna
may. however. be as brief as a small insertion and deletion combination:
Ille dimissus circa mensam percucurrit ret}
"aquam foras, vinum intra, "clamavit. This antecedent/relative is common
(d. at 3l.8 Trima1chionem, cuI); note at 40.2 another instance of
running around a single table; and the aquam could refer not to Trimalchio's
toilet but to the spilled contents of the calix at 52.4 (though the
guests never got water for handwashing; 34.5). The calix is simple. dispensible
ware; d. 75.10 calicem in faciem Fortunatae immisit, and 74.5
calicesque circa fictiles (in contrast with vinum ... sacco defluens).

WADE RICHARDSON
54.1 Cum maxime haec dicente eo puer ... Trimalchionis delapsus est.
eo Muller: Gaio I lac. susp. Scheffer: baronis in bracchium suppl. Oberg
Trimalchionis: in bracchium eius Wehle
Far preferable is simply to delete: puer fTrimalchionisl de1apsus est.
The account is beautifully paced by the narrator: the boy is introduced
at 53.1 and his routine described; attention is diverted by a typical
Trimalchionian aside on the spectacle; the boy falls; the guests cry out at
the unsavoury omen. Any expression of ownership or indication of direction
at this point robs the narrative of the surprise in store:
Trimalchio lets out a groan and nurses his arm (54.2): he is hit.
62.9 Gladium tamen et tmatauitataut umbras cecidi
rna tan Hekatan Heraeus: mataiotatos Kelly
There have been various adjustments of the ghost word. either emending
as an expletive or bringing into line with acceptable onomatopoeia
to present the thwack of the sword-swipes. Following Kelly. I am supporting
the regular Greek superlative. though preferring the transliterated
adverb form mataiotatafulfor being both grammatical and plausible
on paleographic grounds: the u from following umbras has been
assumed. Swanson 1963: 212 cites the use of five other Greek exclamatory
adverbs: sophos. pax. io. en. deurode. Translate "all too uselessly."
62.11 lupus enim villam intravit et omnia pecora ... : tamquam lanius
sanguinem illis rnisit.
omnia pecora: 0 mea pecora lac. Gronovius I lac. ind. Bucheler. lancinavit
cogitans: laceravit suppl. Heraeus: anacoluthon statuit Hofmann
Melissa was badly shaken but perhaps not at a loss for words. Further
possibilities include laniavit. an apt word for the work of a wild beast;
for the iigura etymologica d. Suet. fro 176laniat lanius cum membratim
discerpit; and necavit. with a certain paleographic justification (haplagraphy:
pec..a and neca-). but less suitable for describing a graphic
killing.
62.14 Viderint alii quid de hoc exopinissent;
alii quid de hoc Bucheler: quid de hoc alii Heinsius: viderint qui hoc de alibi H
Some small change from the ms. is needed. and surely viderint qui de
hoc aliter must be counted as a good possibility. for closeness and sense:

PETRONIANA 37
people who have a different explanation (of the soldier's neck wound)
had better watch out.
63.3 ipsimi nostri delicatus decessit, mehel'cules margaritum, catamitus
et omnium numerum
ipsimi nostri Scheffer: ipim mostl'i I catamitus Jacobs: caccitus H
The first of two difficulties treated here is a special case, in that Jacobs
appears to have recovered by correction a gloss in an earlier exemplar
of H that was misread and corrupted by the Renaissance scribe of the
codex Traguriensis (H), created in 1423. The non-extant exemplar is
thought to be the codex Coloniensis. discovered in Germany in 1420,
apparently an old ms., possibly Carolingian, that was difficult to reador
so one judges from the famous plethora of copying errors in H. I
should therefore urge the deletion of catamitus, not the nonsensical
caccitus, as the medieval gloss on the term of endearment margaritum.
Secondly, I am not comfortable with numerum (though others are), in
the face of 68.8 esset omnium nummorum (the reading of H, usually
emended to numerum). With the deletion of caccitus the phrase has a
good, colloquial balance: mehercules margaritum et omnium
nummorum-God he was a pearl beyond price!
67.10 Mulieres si non essent. omnia pro luto haberemus: nunc hoc est
caldum meiere et frigidum potare.
It is not altogether cleal' how this proverb of vain urination, which endures
in various guises today, can be a summation of Habinnas's goodnatured
"without women everything would be cheap as dirt" rant, but
one sense would be more logical with inversion: frigidum potare et
caldum meiere. This is thus one of those proverbs denoting the expenditure
of laborious, futile effort-drink it in cold and piss it out (i.e..
warm it up only to get rid of it) hot.
68.8 Nam quod strabonus est, non curo: sicut Venus spectat. Ideo nihil
tacet, vix oculo mortuo umquam.
nihillatet Delz: mihi placet Heinsius
Another piece of obscure folk wisdom from Habinnas leaves the application
unclear. Surely the boy's attractive squint cannot be summed up
(ideo) by the present reading-a non-sequitur to finish off the sentence.
On the other hand, a proposed iacet continues the visual metaphor well
and can be reconciled with vix oculo mortuo (hyperactive. eyes never

WADE RICHARDSON
shut). Perhaps the scribe's own eye was caught by 69.3 ideo ... tace, just
a few lines further down. In regard to syntax and sense, if nihil tacet can
mean "he's never quiet" (Walsh), I see little difficulty in translating nihil
iacet as "he never lies down" or "he never sits still." For this indeclinable
noun in adverbial force see OLD s.v r r, citing Plautus Mil. 625 nihil
amas. Cf. also the following entry, nihil sibi defraudat.
69.2 "adcognosco," inquit, "Cappadocem: nihil sibi defraudat, et
mehercules laudo illum;"
Adcognosco (or accognosco) , though deemed an acceptable vulgarism
by Heraeus r899: 48, is very rare, and occurs nowhere else in Petronius.
Agnosco is the normal and frequent form; d. at 7.3 cum ego negarem
me agnoscere domum. The double prepositional prefix may be due to
the incorporation into H of an ad superscript offered as a correction to
the cog- of cognosco in the exemplar.
69.7 Insecuta sunt Cydonia etiam mala spinis infixa, ut echinos
efficerent.
effingerent Heinsius
Two problems: the quinces themselves, presumably even Cretan ones,
are not unusual; it is their arrival with thorns embedded in them that
startles. Thus a transposition to mala etiam spinis infixa is indicated.
And in this elegant narrative by Encolpius efficerent is suspect. It is not
that the thorns produce sea-urchins; they suggest or represent them.
Thus effingerent is to be preferred, with Heinsius. The text corruption
is readily attributable to effecisset, a mere line beneath, in the accurate
"producing" sense: 69.7 ferculum longe monstrosius effecisset ut vel
fame perire mallemus. Cf. 4.5 quod sentio et ipse carmine effingam. I
submit the basis for change as part of a proposal I had made independently.
70.6 Consternati nos insolentia ebriorum intentavimus oculos
ebriorum: servorum aliquis in Biicheler. quem refutat
Here is another oddity of logic, since it is not the slaves' insubordination
of being drunk that upsets the guests, but their ignoring of their master
and smashing of an amphora. One prospect is to replace ebriorum as a
gloss that drove out the underlying servorum, a solution rejected by
Biicheler on the rather arch ground that ebriorum is ironical in view of
the guests' drunkenness, and therefore appropriate. An alternative

PETRONIANA 39
solution favoured here is to delete the phrase insolentia ebriorum: d.
60.2 consternatus ego exsurrexi et timui. ne... (no reason provided). The
slaves' disobedience and violence startle and upset the guests. That they
are fueled by drink seems irI'elevant and beside the point. Thus the
phrase smacks of a miscued explanatory gloss. Insolentia is. according
to Encolpius, a characteristic of Trima1chio (50.3 pro re1iqua insolentia).
73.2 balneum intravimus, angustum scilicet et cisternae frigidariae
simile, in quo Trima1chio rectus stabat.
angustum scilicet et del. George: angustum ... simile del. Sullivan I in quo
Blichelel': in qua H
Modern objections register discomfort with the picture of a hot tub the
size of a cold water reservoir: or else, if the balneum is understood as
the entire indoor area. the comparison is even less workable. The text is
made to stand as Encolpian sarcasm, but there is something about the
use of simile. with its explanatory resonance. that to me suggests a gloss
by someone who either never knew the ancient proportions 01' ratios.
or mistakes the meaning of balneum: thus retain angustum scilicet. indeed
as irony, but delete et cisternae frigidariae simile. which provides
intrusive. misdirected data.
79.4 notabili candore ostenderunt en'antibus viam.
Errantibus was used. with perfect application, just above: 79.1 quae iter
aperiret errantibu5. Here it does not seem right for immediate repetition.
inelegance apart. now that the main problem has been eliminated
by chalk blazes on the columns. Cf. also 79.4 cum ... timeret errorem. It
is a candidate for deletion as an imported. echoic gloss.
79.6 ni tabellarius Trima1chionis intervenisset * tvehiculis divest.
TI'imalchionis del. Delz I intervenisset FI'. Daniel: invenisset I ex vehiculo
divus Watt: * vehiculis dives t: x vehiculis dives lp I dives] "/atetne rediens?OO
Mi.illel'
The emendation to ex is well justified by the manuscripts. and the
meaning of the deus ex machina seems established, but one wonders if
the minor insertion of ex vehiculo divus is needed to convert
metaphor to simile. Granted that there is figurative language in our
author, with links to proverbs and vulgar Latin, that does not have the
qualifier: d. 57.8 immo lorus in aqua: yet quasi is used in addition very
commonly in Petronius (17X). as perhaps here in the narrative of
Encolpius. to comment ironically on a representation of reality by a

40 WADE RICHARDSON
substitute: d. two apposite examples in this notion of "unreal" or impossible
comparison: 1.3 omnia dicta factaque quasi papavere et sesamo
sparsa. and 2.8 omnia quasi eodem cibo pasta. Here too. in this supernatural
evocation. quasi (or velut) is indicated to draw full attention to a
clever and self-conscious metaphoric image.
79.7 stabuli ianuam effregit et nos tper eandem terramt admisit.
per earn tandem Gurlitt: per eandem tramisit Watt. non probante Muller
Because of the choice of preposition (per), one has interest in immisit.
Forms of admitto exist elsewhere. notably with different complements:
19.2 vetui hodie in hoc deversorio quemquam mortalium admitti. and
51.2 admissus ergo Caesarem. But d. 72.10 per eandem ianuam emissus,
which I believe strengthens the case for immisit by its proximate use in
precisely the same semantic context and construction. Thus (pace
Muller): stabuli ianuam effregit et nos per eandem [terram] immisit.
80.8 Egreditur superbus cum praemio Ascyltos
Egreditur superbus would be indicated. after a verb of
"motion." as often. to sum things up and smoothe the change of subject
from Encolpius to Ascyltus. Cf. at 67.4 Venit ergo galbina succincta
cingillo. Here there is a paleographic basis for its disappearance: haplagraphy.
8 1.1 Nec diu tamen lacrimis indulsi, sed veritus ne Menelaus etiam
antescholanus inter cetera mala solum me in deversorio inveniret.
No less than four occurrences of etiam in the first part of 81 signify that
it is one of those chapters where light repairs to the manuscript account
have been attempted. yielding an uncertain relation of grammar to
sense (d. at 29.3 autem). The postponement of etiam to its manuscript
position imports conflicting emphases: whereas it accentuates veritus
and answers tamen better thus: veritus ne Menelaus {etiam]:
"still fearing" (i.e.. though he might reasonably be considered safe in his
room: OLD s.v. I: "still. yet. even now"). Encolpius concedes his lingering
fear of being the only one to be found. to receive the full brunt of
any chiding by Menelaos for skipping out on the dinner party. since he
is apparently traceable (location known to the tabellarius.79.6-7).
83.5 et omnes fabulae quoque habuerunt sine aemulo complexus.
et et fabulae quoque del. Fraenkel I quoque] quondam "fortasse" Muller. qui
"nondum sanatus " dedarat

PETRONIANA 41
The awkwardness might be eliminated by printing let} omnes fabulae
quoque habuerunt sine aemulo complexus. "All these stories
contained in some manner [i.e., in common. though in different permutations]
love with the field clear." This necessitates taking quoque not as
a conjunction but as ablative of the distributive pronominal adjective in
the transferred attested post-classical sense of quocumque; see L. & S. II;
d. the use of cuiusque modi, "of every kind," OIDs.v. 7.
87. I rogare coepi ephebum ut reverteretur in gratiam mecum. id est ut
pateretur satis fieri sibi,
id ... sibi del. Haley
Some special insertions in our text occur in the homoerotic environment
and appear addressed to explaining or underscoring an aspect of
the pederastic code that to our minds (and presumably to those of the
author's original audience) need no explaining. While Haley's full interpolation
is plausible along these lines, I should like to confine the intervention
to [jd est uti for having the ability to retain sense and
point. with the bonus of a double entendre: "I set to asking the lad to be
friends with me again. and to allow me the chance to make it up to
him." Cf. entries at 91.3 and 130.8 for the pederastic code. For the cadence
of the construction d. at 49.5 cum constitisset ad mensam cocus
tristis et diceret se oblitum esse exinterare.
87.8 Et non plane iam molesturn erat munus.
[non] paene "fortasse" Muller
In prospect is intercourse for the third time that evening, and Muller's
intervention signals a growing doubt in Eumolpus at his own resolve or
capacity. Yet I am not in favour of disrupting a sense of the inherent
agreeability of the duties. thus would retain plane. in transposed position
for better pacing: Et plane iam non molestum erat munus. "Well. to
be sure, even now this was no disagreeable task." Cf. 53.1 Et plane
interpe1lavit, and compare with other uses of the postpositive negation:
35.3 plane non pro expectatione; 63.6 etplane non mentiar.
88. I Erectus his sermonibus consulere prudentiorem coepi ... aetates
tabularum et quaedam argumenta mihi obscura simulque causam
desidiae praesentis excutere,
coepi aetates proposuit in lacuna dubitanter Bucheler

42 WADE RICHARDSON
The sentence as it stands is ungrammatical. and a less radical solution
than Biicheler's is to read aetates: "I commenced to take counsel
from a wiser head and to interrogate [OLD excutere g] him on the dates
of the paintings and certain themes that were unclear to me, plus the
reason for the present stagnation."
88.7 Ubi sapientiae tconsultissimat via?
sapientiae Tornaesius in margine: sapientia cultissima R: inlustrissima
"fortasse" Muller
The ms. reading of consultissima has detractors with alternatives, but it
is a good word found in Gellius and Fronto for "highly prudent" and
"most well-advised," perhaps more palatable with a proposed insertion
(error through haplography): Ubi sapientia consultissima via?
Cf. 84.1 rectum iter vitae coepitinsistere.
go.1 * ex is, qui in porticibus spatiabantur. lapides in Eumolpum
recitantem miserunt.
Our sources for L (the passage is not in 0) posit the lacuna. If the gap
(following the Sack of Troy) is very small. as it could be, quidam ex is
would be a good bet. Cf. 7.3 video quosdam inter tituJos nudasque
meretrices furtim spatiantes (an interesting coincidence though not
probative).
91.3 Supprimere ego querellam iubeo. ne quis consilia deprehenderet,
relictoque Eumolpo
What plans would these be? At this point the lovers are not planning
flight. I believe convicia would fit the context far better, since the protagonists
frequently show concern for the confidentiality of their pederastic
relationship that a typical lover's fight would expose: a common
theme in their gossip-obsessed culture. Cf. 10.3 ex turpissima lite and
10.5 miJIe causae nos quotidie collident et per totam urbem rumoribus
different, and 12g.2 Veritus puer. ne in secreta deprehensus daret
sermonibus locum.
9 I .7 Postquam se amari sensit, supercilium altius sustulit
The sense in context seems to be "still loved" (despite betrayal of a longstanding
relationship. 80.6); thus Ehlers: "noch immer geliebt," Walsh:
"retained my affection," rather than "actually loved." In which case
surely this would be more accurately represented by se amari

PETRONJANA 43
sensit. Cf. 141.3 scimus adlwc legem servari. There is a slight haplographic
basis.
9 1·9 Exosculatus pectus sapientia plenum inieci cervicibus manus. et ut
facile intellegeret redisse me in gratiam et optima fide reviviscentem
amicitiam. toto pectore adstl'inxi.
I propose toto cO/pore adstrinxi. First. we are getting rather far
from an object. and this one is indicated by the sense: second. the phrase
toto pectore. though unexceptionable when the noun is used metonymically
in the sense of cor. animus. sensus. affectus. amor (e.g. Verg. Aen.
9.276 Te vero. venerande puer. iam pectore toto Accipio-"wholeheartedly":
d. Ov. Tr. 1.3.66 pectora iuncta-"hearts knit") is ruled out by the
anatomical sense required from the graphic adstrinxi. Though the
phrase escaped suspicion by its plausibility. a closer appraisal reveals
an inept. not to say impossible. physical picture. Pectore has assuredly
crept in from the line above. pectus sapientia plenum. with help from
nearby 91.6 in hoc pectore. Toto cO/pore is required. as often in
Petronius, for the full lover's press: d. 86.3 totoque corpore citra
summam voluptatem me ingurgitavi: and [31.11 Totoque corpore in
amplexum eius immissus. Thus here too we should render. "r attached
myself to him with my entire body." Pectus is unattested as a physical
synonym for cO/pus.
92.2 Deinde ut solum hospitem vidi. momento recepi.
deinde Scaliger: demum
The manuscript sources ask us to accept the absence of an object for
recepi, and it gives me trouble: re-supplying solum hospitem? The insertion
< Ewnolpon> momento is appropriate. We might link its omission
to an ample supply in this little sentence of words with shal'ed
letters, especially momento (haplography). I would accept demum (with
Biicheler), the attested reading of the L sources (0 is absent). though
some demur. thinking initial position to be impossible: but d. Plaut.
Mere. 3.2.9 demum igitur cum senex is. tum .... What we have hel'e is a
quite elegant style-transposition from Encolpius to avoid commencing
the sentence with ut. with the usual enclitic rhythm retained in the
background. I see little wrong in I'eading demum ut (= ut demum) to
mean "when and only when." See OLOs.v. r: "at the stated time and not
before"-the rather stronger and more pointed reflection of Encolpius's
caution. and of his expectation that the intimidating Ascyltus
might accompany Giton (when last seen, they had departed together at
So.S).

44
WADE RICHARDSON
92.7 Ex altera parte iuvenis nudus, qui vestimenta perdiderat, non
minore clamoris indignatione Gitona flagitabat.
Clamoris is a good candidate for deletion as a gloss borrowed from just
above, 92.7 c1amitare, since the expression is quite doubtful-defining
genitive? For a similar setting of repeated indignation without characterization
d. 100.4 eadem indignatione mulier lacerata ulterius
excanduit.
93.3 totam concitabit viciniam, et nos orones sub eadem causa obruet.
The phrase sub eadem causa seems unexpected. "On the same accusation"?
Possibly read sub eodem casu, which goes better with obruet. Cf.
87.1 cum similis nos casus in eandem fortunam rettulisset.
94.14 Rudis enim novacula et in hoc retusa, ut pueris discentibus
audaciam tonsoris daret, instruxerat thecam.
tonsoris del. Fraenkel
I read novacu1a (haplography) and delete instruxerat thecam.
First, the author's style and ear for rhythm support the inclusion of the
verb. For a reason for it to slip out see two lines above, neque Giton ul1a
erat suspicione vulneris laesus. Relatedly, the absence of the verb forces
novacu1a to be the subject of instruxerat, for the clause to mean something
like, "For the practice razor was still in its sheath." This is difficult
Latin and a bad image in context, since it weakens the realism of Giton's
gesture and makes the restraint of the servant and Eumolpus too obvious.
This was a purposely blunted practice razor which did not require
a protective sheath to ensure safety. Furthermore, if it were in its
sheath such a description would be irrelevant-a point seemingly lost
on the interpolator. The inclusion of erat and deletion of the offending
words as an inappropriate gloss make for the concision and pacing we
expect from Encolpius's story-telling.
97.4 ac sic ut olim Ulixes tprot arieti adhaesisset, extentus infra
grabatum scrutantium eluderet manus.
pro] Cyclopis Biicheler I arieti Biicheler: ariete
Earlier interpolation hunters such as Fraenkel had a field day with this
passage, which certainly seems to contain some corruption consequent
on Encolpius's elaborate imagery, especially as pro is unlikely in any

PETRONIANA 45
way to describe Odysseus's position. hanging upside-down and gripping
the belly-fleece of the lead ram (ad. 9.425-430). Bucheler initially
posited a short lacuna and emendatation. pro ... arieti adhaesisset, with
various suggestions for the filler. My preference is to read Ulixes
Polyphemi arieti adhaesisset. The error may have commenced with the
po... and pro resemblance. Cf. I01.7 antrum Cyclopis, a citation which
may later have inspired Bucheler Un adnJ here.
100.6 ut subter constratum navis occuparemus secretissimum locum.
subter Muller: super I super constratum del. Fraenkel: super constratum
navis del. Muller in prima
The change to subter seems secure as necessary to the context, and
constratum can hereby be preserved. I should like. however. to remove
navis as both unnecessary and encumbering: in the fifteen other uses of
forms of navis the descriptive is important to the sense (see e.g. I IO.I
cum ancilla Tryphaenae Gitonem in partem navis inferiorem ducit); not
here. The plausibility of the phrase is perhaps due to proximate IOO.3
super constratum puppis.
101.2 comprehendi Eumolpi genua
I read comprehendi Eumolpi genua. The modesty of this change
should not prejudice its correctness. since Encolpius's rhetorical sense
and style are improved by it. The graphic narrative switches from subject
Giton swooning on top of him, to his sweat reviving both, to his
own action here as subject. It is a favourite story-telling cadence; see.
among many examples. 25.3 obstupui ego and 90.2 timui ego.
101.7 Quaerendum est aliquod effugium. nisi naufragium tponimust et
omni nos periculo liberamus.
optamus Muller
"We've got to find some way out. unless we cause a shipwreck and put
an end to all our worries!" With Muller I am uncomfortable with the
Latin of naufragium ponimus. and prefer imponimus in an overlapping
sense: the shipwreck is to be arranged prejudicially ("inflicted," OLD
S.v. 5); and it is to be caused by deception (d. 81.3 imposui harenae and
I02.13 permutato colore imponemus inimicis. "cheat." "put one over";
OLD S.v. 16). The paleography is plausible: .. .-ium ...
102.14 tamquam hie solus color figuram possit pervertere et non multa
una oporteat consentiant. ut omni ratione mendacium constet.

WADE RICHARDSON
oporteat Heinsius: oportet I ut omni Crusius: et non I ratione Pithoeus:
natione
Giton in full sarcastic flow has produced many adjustments over the
centuries. Pervertere to me seems strong ("distort," "falsify." rather
than convertere. "change." as at 102.15), but simplest is to accept
Muller's text up to consentiant. then print let non} nationi
mendacium constet. The deletion and insertion are Bucheler's. the small
adjustment to nationi mine (dative with consentiant, a Silver usage): ...
et non multa una oporteat consentiant nationi. ut mendacium constet
"as if there shouldn't be plenty else to harmonize with a people [such as
the mentioned Ethiopians. Jews. Arabs. Gauls-all nationes] for the deception
to hold up."
103.6 silentioque compositi reliquas noctis horas male soporati
consurnpsimus.
compositi "nescioquis" Blicheler: composito
Since Bucheler the ms. reading has been avoided, and the anonymous
emendation looks sound (see below). but the thought is not yet quite
complete. I propose an insertion: silentioque lecto compositi: "settling
down on our beds in silence." Cf. fro 48.1 lecto compositus vix prima
silentia noctis / carpebam. The zeugmatic double-ablative in separate
functions ("manner" and "place") seems striking but possible.
109.7 Ecce etiam per anternnam pelagiae consederant volucres. quas
textis harundinibus peritus artifex tetigit;
textis] structis Butrica I artifex] auceps Butrica
There is a question over redundancy in either peritus or artiiex. English
might tolerate "a craftsman skilled in his trade," but in the Latin it
seems more obtrusive despite the narrator's expansive mood. Butrica's
structis has the merit of better sense and a Propertian parallel (2.19.24
structo [stricto mss.] ... calamo)-i.e. the reeds are assembled and not
woven; and textis might have replaced it from a look along the line to
tetigit. Auceps also is strengthened by sense and the parallel at 40.6
Parati aucupes cum harundinibus fuerunt. It would of course end the
need for a deletion.
I 14.2 tSiciliam modo ventus dabatt. saepissime [in oram] Italici litoris
aquilo possessor convertebat hue illuc obnoxiam ratem.
ventus "exspectabam" Muller I in oram t: del. lrp

PETRONIANA 47
Various measures have been tried to make sense of this sailing arcanum
and consequent disruption. In my version below I offer some admittedly
fussy surgery: an initial nam to lead off this elaborate explanation.
then a Siciliam corrupted through dittography: dabat is specious, but
the intransitive sense is not paralleled. and I propose flabat-common
enough for winds. as is ablatival origin of direction: in Dram is a miscued
scribal gloss that draws the genitive to it instead of where it belongs
with aquilo possessor (see below). Thus: Sicilia[m} modo
ventus flabat. saepissime {in Dram} Italici litoris aquilo possessor.
convertebat hue illuc obnoxiam ratem: "For now the wind would blow
from Sicily. and then very often Aquilo, controller of the Italian littoraL
turning the exposed ship first in one direction and then in another." The
awkwardness may be the result of anacoluthon at convertebat. For
possessor with genitive in a similar nautical context see Sil. 6.687
possessor pe1agi ... captivos puppes ad litora victor agebat. Modo occurs
frequently in Latin with another temporal adverb (on the analogy
of modo ... modo): d. at 41.6 modo Bromium. interdum Lyaeum
Euhiumque confessus.
115.8 Substiti ergo tristis coepique umentibus oculis maris fidem
inspicere
maris fidem susp. Fraenkel I maris malam fidem quaeritMuller
Inspicere. making umentibus oculis instrument rather than circumstance
after coepi. does not seem right, and a word of upbraiding instead.
such as increpare. improves things; for such a locution, d. Cic.
oFr. 2.3.3 cum illius in me perfidiam increparet. auditus est magno
silentio malevolorum. The permissibility of maris fidem is not fully settled.
It has been accepted presumably through irony, though I do not
have a parallel.
I 17. I * Prudentior Eumolpus convertit ad novitatem rei mentern
genusque divinationis sibi non displicere confessus est
divinationis Itp: divitionis I'; ditationis Dousa: divitationis Gruter
None of our L sources has the variant right. though r comes close. The
lacuna (*) signalled by the L editors may have been encouraged by the
reading divinationis. with its implication of an elaborate alternative
strategy. perhaps from Giton (see Biicheler app. ad loc., where his logic
is surely fanciful). Though the comparative may imply some comment
or expression of surprise or dismay now missing in a small lacuna, I
posit with some confidence divisionis as the apt characterization of a

WADE RICHARDSON
novel situation which Eumolpus is quicker than the others to grasp,
relish and put to good use. This word arises naturally out of the circumstances
at Croton just described by the encountered vilicus. and recapitulates
the essential fact of the strict binary division of the citizens of
Croton into "hunters" and "hunted" (see OLD S.v. "divisio" 2). The exploitation
of this dichotomous divisio becomes. in short order. the precise
basis for Eumolpus's scam.
117.12 "Quid vos." inquit. "iumentum me putatis esse aut lapidariam
navem?"
An adjustment in the punctuation raises the tone of indignation and sarcasm
from Corax: "Quid? Vos." inquit, "iumentum me putatis esse aut
lapidariam navem?" Cf. 127.4 "Quid? Tu." inquit illa. "donas mihi eum
sine quo non potes vivere ... ?"
127.5 Haec ipsa cum diceret. tanta gratia conciliabat vocem loquentis,
tam dulcis sonus pertemptatum mulcebat aera.
Loquentis is plainly not needed after cum diceret. and though the redundancy
could be minimized by some such rendering as "she imbued
her voice as she spoke with such charm ...." an imbalance with the second
object is created. I should like to delete. though admitting to uncertainty
at the glossator's need for the stressed identification with Circe.
128.4 et postquam omnes vultus temptavit. quos solet inter amantes
risus fingere,
risus: lusus "fortasse" Muller I fingere Cuperus: frangere
The emendation of Cuperus seems secure (see below). but uncertainty
clouds this charming image of Circe rehearsing funny faces for her lovers
in front of a mirror. I find it impossible to justify solet. Good sense
can be reached by employing the Petronian quales solent (33.3: quales is
common): after Circe had tried out all the expressions that customarily
produce (OLD "fingo" s.v. 7) a laugh between lovers. For this use of
fingere as a feminine wile d. 113.7 Omnia oscula me vulnerabant,
omnes blanditiae. quascumque mulier libidinosa fingebat. An amusing
parallel evoking both passages is found in Apuleius Met. IO.2 I et
blandissimos adfatus: "amo" et "cupio" et "solum te deligo" et "sine te
iam vivere nequeo" et cetera. quis mulieres et alios inducunt et suos
testalltur adfectationes.
130.8 Hinc ante somnum levissima ambulatione compositus sine Gitone

PETRONIANA 49
cubiculum intravi. Tanta erat placandi cura. ut timerem ne latus meum
frater convelleret. Postero die. cum sine offense corporis animique
consurrexissem. in eundem platanona descendi
Tanta ... convelleret suspicor
Encolpius's going to bed without Giton (sine Gitone cubiculum intravI)
is a direct and full response to the instructions of Circe. 129.8 si vis
sanus esse. Gitonem re1ega. This piece of commentary inserted into the
narrative flow is banal and uncalled-for-which alone would not be
grounds for deletion. But there are two other features of suspicion: in
its unique vulgarity it violates a lovers' convention in the pederastic
code of discreetly shading crude physical details: and the logic that the
syntax forces upon the meaning is very doubtful: "I took such pains to
appease (her). that I was afraid my lover would break my balls." The
interpolation seems to be an admittedly ambitious scribal attempt to
"spell out" what was only too obvious for participants and ancient
audience. Cf. at 134.5.
132.2 Manifestis matrona contumeliis verberata tandem ad ultionem
decurrit
verberata: exacerbata Buchelel': vexata Nisbet: efferata Muller
Though metaphorically plausible and attested (Cic. De Rep. 1.9.
contumeliarum verbera subire). verberata has given considerable
pause. perhaps because it is Encolpius who will shortly be on the receiving
end of an actual lashing. If there is in fact a stylistic hindrance.
Petronian precedent for another metaphor can be found at 100.4 eadem
indignatione mulier lacerata ulterius excanduit.
132.7 conditusque lectulo totum ignem furoris in earn converti. quae
mihi omnium malorum causa fuit.
in earn Jego
Surely something has dropped out after eam. and my solution seems
better than taking the antecedent demonstrative to anticipate the distant
causa or to imply something like mentulam. Cf. with nearby 132.12
secretoque rubore perfundi, quod oblitus verecundiae meae cum ea
parte corporis verba contulerim. quam ne ad cognitionem quidem
admittere severioris notae homines solerent.
134.5 Ingemui ego utique propter mascarpionem. lacrimisque ubertim
manantibus obscuratum dextra caput super pulvinum inclinavi.

50
WADE RICHARDSON
utique propter mascarpionem delendum puto
Here. in the context of 0 and L. is another ambitious. perhaps sexually
tinged. gloss. uncovered by doubtful sense and formulation (d. at 130.8.
above). The phrase interrupts the flow of a "sobs-and-tears" cliche
suited to the melodrama (d. 91.8 haec cum inter gemitus lacrimasque
fudissem. detersit ille pallio vultum ....). Mascarpio itself is a mystery
word which has translators divided on derivation and meaning. Some
belabouring of Encolpius's groin seems indicated. though the context
does not support it. and the action is more punitive than libidinous.
140.2 Ea ergo ad Eumolpum venit et commendare liberos suos eius
prudentiae bonitatique ... credere se et vota sua.
lacunam indo Bucheler I bonitatique coepit cum aliis impletis conatur Muller:
bonitatique credere se lego I se: spes Heinsius
Minimal surgery sets the stage and the pun with great point and precision;
exclusion through haplography. Cf. 140.14 Socrates ... nec ...
oculos suos crediderat for credere with object of person or thing consigned;
also Ter. An. 272 mihi suom animum atque omnem vitam
credidit.
140.2/3 Illum esse solum in toto orbe terrarum. qui praeceptis etiam
salubribus instruere iuvenes quotidie posset. Ad summam. relinquere
se pueros in domo Eumolpi. ut illum loquentem audirent ... quae sola
posset hereditas iuvenibus dari.
lacunam indo Bucheler
In this passage. directly following the preceding entry. the need to signal
a lacuna (for which Muller offers a nine-word filler) can be avoided
entirely by transposition: Illum esse solum in toto orbe terrarum, qui
praeceptis etiam salubribus instruere iuvenes quotidie posset. quae sola
posset hereditas iuvenibus dari. Ad summam. relinquere se pueros in
domo Eumolpi. ut illum loquentem audirent. The logic is improved: the
only true legacy that one can vouchsafe to one's young is surely not an
audience with Eumolpus. but a diet of daily instruction in wholesome
values. This places iuvenes ... iuvenibus repetitiously in the same sentence
(instead of consecutive ones). but deliberately so. For it is the reported
pitch of the breathlessly conniving Philomela. at pains to stress
the attractive youthfulness (read: underage but viable status) of her
children. It is a piece of representation for purposes of characterizing
Philomela and her indelicate plan. For the anaphora d. Juv. 3.157­
8 inter / Pinnirapi cultos iuvenes iuvenesque lanistae; and Shorey on

PETRONIANA
Hor. Od. I.r3.1 (of "Telephus"): "repetition has the effect of a direct
quotation of her fond iteration."
140.8 Ille lente parebat imperio puellaeque artificium pari motu
remunerabat.
To reward the girl's tricks or to match them? Renumerabat occurs to
me as a better accompaniment to pari motu in this tableau. Corax "paid
back" what was "owed," i.e.. balanced the tally by repaying in kind and
number her motions, thrust for' thrust. The metaphor is slightly different,
but the metaphorical use of renumerare is no less plausible than
metaphorical remunerare. and more appropriate, since the idea of
"rewarding" the girl is not really the point here. In fact renumerare is
hardly metaphorical at all. and the focus is kept squarely on the duties
performed for Eumolpus by his man.
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND CLASSICS PROGRAM
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
855 SHERBROOKE STREET WEST
MONTREAL. QC H3A 2T7
REFERENCES
Bracht Branham. R. and D. Kinney. 1996. Petronius Satyrica. Berkeley/Los
Angeles.
Browning. R. 1962. Review of Muller 1961 in CRn.s. 12: 218-221.
Bucheler. K. 1862. Petronii Arbitri Satirarum Reliquiae. Berlin. Editio MaioI'.
__. 1904. [922. Editiones MinOl'es 4 et 6.
Butrica. J. 2005. Email correspondence to author.
Delz. J. 1962. Review of Muller 1961 in Gl1om01134: 676-684.
Ehlers. W. [965. Petronius Satyrica. Schelmengeschichten. Munich.
Kelly. F.W. 1854. The Satyricon ofPetronius Arbiter. London.
L & S =C.T. Lewis and C. Short. eds. A Latin Dictionary. OxfOl'd 1879.
Mullel'. K. 1961. Petronii Arbitri Satyricon. Munich. Editio MaioI'.
[965.1983. Petronius Satyrica. Munich. Editiones 2 et 3.
_ 1995. 2003. Petronius Satyricon Reliquiae. FI'ankful,t. Editio 4 et
Correctior.
Nelson. H.L.W. 1971. "Bemerkungen zu Einem Neuen Petrontext." in Mnemosyne
24: 60-87·
Nisbet. R.G.M. 1962. Review of Muller 1961 in JRS52: 227-232.
Oberg. J. 1999· Petronius Cena Trimalchionis. Stockholm.
OLD = P.G.W. Glal'e. ed. Oxford Latin Dictionaly. Oxford 1982.
Smith. M.s. 1975. Petronii Arbitri Cena Trimalchionis. Oxfol'd.

52 WADE RICHARDSON
Sullivan. J.P. 1976. "Interpolations in Petronius." PCPS 22: 90-122.
Swanson. 0.1963. A Formal Analysis ofPetronius' Vocabulary. Minneapolis.
Van Thiel. H. 1971. Petron. Uberlieferung und Rekonstruktion. Leiden.
Walsh, P.G. 1996. Petronius. The Satyricon. Oxford.

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
WALDEMAR HECKEL. Who's Who in the Age of Alexander
the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire. Malden,
MA/London: Blackwen Publishing Co., 2006. Pp. xxiv + 389:
15 ills. US $99.95. ISBN 1405112107.
Waldemar Heckel's services to Alexander studies have been a catalyst to
all who are drawn to study this magnetic but illusive person. In addition
to nearly fifty articles and chapteJ's contributed to collective studies,
Heckel. in collaboration with J.e. Yardley. has provided his colleagues
with two studies of historical sources. Other books appear with regularity;
one of them. Crossroads of HistOlY: The Age of Alexander
(2003), testifies to Heckel's organization of symposia of scholars concerned
with Alexander.
These bare details indicate the weight and variety of Heckel's contribution
but two works are especially significant in demonstrating its meticulous
quality. The first is his revision of Helmut Serve's two volume
Das Alexanderreich aufprosopographischer Grundlage (1926). Since its
publication Serve's study has been crucial to knowledge of individuals
associated with Alexander's career. Over time. however. it required updating
and revision. Heckel did just that in The Marshals of Alexander
(1992), a work that has the advantage of greater accessibility to more
students of Alexander.
Heckel has now provided another essential tool in his Who's Who in
the Age ofAlexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire,
which contains more than eight hundred concise entries on Macedonians.
Greeks, Persians and. indeed, all who carne within the shadow of
Alexander of Macedon. Its range is from Abdalonymus. "an impoverished
scion of the Sidonian royal house" to Zopyrion. a Macedonian
who "succeeded Mernnon as strategos of Thrace." At roughly mid-point
stand four Heracleides, one Macedonian, one Greek, one Thracian. one
uncertain. In addition to named individuals. five pages are devoted to
anonymous women and six to anonymous men: for example female 59:
"daughter of Acuphis, ruler of Nysa"; and male 2: "young son of Memnon
and Barsine." Any independent attempt to catalogue the players in
the Alexander saga from the surviving sources will quickly reveal the
53

54
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
value of Heckel's most recent contribution.
The information in the entries is enhanced by sixty pages of notes
that include references to sources and more recent studies; fuller information
on the particular individual; analysis of textual reading; discussion
of varying views; and justification of the version given in the
bibliography. Abbreviations of the sources are given in three sections
preceding the entries: ancient sources. multi-volume reference works,
and modern works. A chronological table extending from 383/2 to 281
and a map of Alexander's campaigns from 334-323 provide the essential
temporal and spatial framework within which all these people lived.
Stemma of thirteen important lines and an appendix giving three
groups of men (e.g. cavalrymen from Orchomenus listed on IG 7.3206)
impart another sort of order to many of the individuals. A succinct
glossary defines Greek terms and names while a concordance equates
Greek and variant forms with the form used in this volume. While most
would realize that Alketas is A1cestas few would identify Taxiles' name
in its Indian form of Ambhi.
In sum. the task was monumental; the production of the book
praiseworthy for its quality and concern for usefulness. The statement
of its value printed on the inside cover is surely true: "it will open up
new perspectives for all interested in Alexander's reign." We know
how many have that interest. Thank you. Waldemar and Blackwell.
CAROL THOMAS
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
SEATILE, W A 98 195-3560
KATHERINE BLOUIN. Le Conflit Judeo-Alexandrin de 38-41:
L 'identite juive a1'epreuve. Paris: L' Harmattan, 2005. Pp.
199· $25· ISBN 2-7475-83487-1.
Katherine Blouin's study of the Judaeo-Alexandrian conflict from AD 38
to 41 offers more than its title indicates. Thus one of its two chapters
surveys the history of the Jewish community of Alexandria from Ptolemaic
times to the pogrom of 38. The enlarged chronological parameters
of the work are. of course, introduced to explain the long-term causes
of the conflict. Similarly, consideration of methodological issues and
of geographical locales-the synagogue, Jewish quarter. gymnasium
and theatre-are included for their bearing upon the central issue of the
book. Blouin's work offers two quite distinct explanations for the crisis:

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 55
an historical one and a literary. sociological and anthJ'Opological analysis.
In presenting her historical appraisal. Blouin assigns blame to Roman
policy, specifically Augustus' settlement, following the absorption
of Egypt into the Roman Empire after Actium. She argues that under
the Lagids. the Jews of Alexandria enjoyed civic rights and flourished
socially. economically and culturally. They preserved their religious
and cultural identity while partaking fully in Hellenistic cultUI'al life
and maintaining. on the whole. good relations with the Greek community
of Alexandria. With Rome's entry upon the scene. the situation of
the Jewish community deteriorated alarmingly and the seeds of the subsequent
conflict were sown.
Roman policy was not deliberately hostile to the Jewish and Greek
segments of the population of Alexandria. Rome simply desired to
maintain peace and curb disturbance and. with this aim. attempted to
satisfy both Jew and Greek. Hence the religious and communal privileges
granted the Jewish community by Julius Caesar were confirmed.
At the same time. Rome. seeking the support of the Greek community.
affirmed Greek civic superiority over the Jews of Alexandria by classifying
the Jews with the native Egyptians. Moreover. the promise of easy
access to Roman citizenship was dangled alluringly before Alexandrian
citizens. The change in civic status had a profound effect upon the economic
status of the Jews since it rendered them liable to payment of the
poll tax, the Jaographia-a move. of course, of considerable economic
benefit to Rome. Both Jew and Greek were deeply dissatisfied with the
Roman settlement: the Greeks because of their subjection to Rome, the
Jews because of their reduced socio-economic status. Attempts by the
Jews to regain their former civic and cultural position were focused
upon their discrediting the Greeks and gaining access to the ephebia
and hence to the gymnasium. These moves were resented by the
Greeks. who, in response. launched both intellectual and physical attacks
upon the Jews. By doing so. the Greeks were not merely opposing
the civic and cultural aspirations of the Jews. They were also indirectly
venting their hostility upon Roman rule.
At the same time. Blouin approaches the Judaeo-Alexandrian conflict
from a totally different angle, viewing it as a theatrical spectacle with
dramatic changes of scene from synagogue and Jewish quarter to gymnasium
and theatre, with actors engaged in typical theatrical dialogue
and action. The use of the terms divertimento, c1lOreographie dithyrambique
and dramatique sustains this image. Above all. the recoul'se
to physical force. as expressed in the pogrom and counter-attack on the
gymnasium. is descdbed as a catharsis. while Claudius' settlement (CPJ
2.153) reveals the Roman emperor as a veritable deus ex machina re-

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
storing harmony to the Alexandrian community, though it must be emphasized
that Blouin does not actually employ this term.
To buttress the dramatic image and flesh out, as it were, the details,
Blouin takes a cue from the social sciences and blends the theatrical representation
with a modern sociological-anthropological approach, placing
the drama of Jews and Greeks within a multi-cultural context. Jews
and Greeks are represented as antithetical politicaL social, and cultural
forces, les nous contre les autres, each group maintaining and safeguarding
its own legitimacy, while, at the same time, denying and destroying
the legitimacy of the other group, both in Alexandria and in
the presence of the emperors Caligula and Claudius in Rome. The culmination
of this process. the ultimate catharsis. is the physical violence
perpetrated on the other by each side in the conflict. followed by the
Claudian settlement that restored harmony between the two communities
by imposing upon both a compromise solution. Multi-cultural diversity
in the city of Alexandria is thus enforced.
Blouin's historical thesis in itself is not novel. It seems particularly
influenced by the work of J. Meleze Modrzejewski. It is well-argued and
certainly more convincing than alternative theories. offered by V.
Tcherikover' and A Kasher,2 to the effect that the Jews aimed at attaining
full citizenship or were struggling for self determination in their
own politeuma. At the same time, the prominent role assumed by native
Egyptians in the disturbance (Philo, In Fiacc. 29,92-94, Leg. 170; Joseph.
Ap. 2.69)3 obliges us to question whether the issue of the civic status of
both Greeks and Jews in Alexandria alone underlies the conflict and
whether longer term causation. specifically native Egyptian anti­
Semitism, did not play a prominent role in the conflict. It remains. of
course, an open question, given the problematic date of Manetho's alleged
hostility to Jews, whether the seeds of later Egyptian anti­
Semitism are to be traced back to the Ptolemaic period. 4
Blouin's presentation of the conflict as a theatrical display obviously
derives. to a considerable extent. from Philo's In Fiaccum and Legatio ad
Gaium, which have a distinctly literary. as opposed to historical, flavour.
With their stark contrast of noble Jews against ignoble Alexandrians.
particularly the Greek leaders Isidorus. Lampon and Dionysius,
culminating in the theologically appropriate and deserved demise of the
'V. Tcherikover and A. Fuks. Corpus Papyrorum judaicarum [CPj] 1 (Cambridge.
MA 1957) 61.
2 The jews in Hellenistic andRoman Egypt (Tubingen 1985) 322-323. 356-357.
3 P. Schafer. Xenophobia: Attitudes towards the jews in the Ancient World
(Cambridge. MA/London 1997) 145. 159-160.
4 Tcherikover. CPj 1.25.

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 57
arch foes of the Jews. Flaccus and Caligula. they certainly conjure up the
world of the Greek theatre. s This is particularly the case with the In
Flaccum. whose resemblance to a moral didactic text containing a warning
to future administrators to avoid Flaccus' fate is most apparent.
Moreover. as Blouin demonstrates. theatrical imagery permeates both
works. The other main source for the Judaeo-Alexandrian conflict. the
Acta Isidori. presents an equally fictionalized theatrical document.
though one obviously written from the opposite angle. extolling the virtues
of the Alexandrian martyrs against the vices of the Jews, in whose
number Claudius himself. as the offspring of the Jewess Salome, is included.
This also is an obvious source of Blouin's theatrical reconstruction.
Where Blouin scores in originality is in her application of the sociological-anthropological
approach to the course of events. By doing so.
she provides her readers, in a sound and subtle psychologically nuanced
manner. with a vivid depiction of the emotional stance assumed by both
groups involved in the conflict.
At the same time, a caveat is in order. What Blouin is presenting is a
highly abstract, static, stylized view of events, which tends on occasion
to be oblivious to highly pertinent historical considerations. Three examples
illustrate what I perceive as limitations of her literarysociological-anthropological
approach. First. as I have already noted,
native Egyptians appear to have played a considerable role in the disturbances.
Accordingly, Blouin's stark contrast of Greeks and Jews.
each facing the other as Jes nous contre Jes autres is, to say the least.
simplistic. Secondly, I note how Blouin emphasizes the theatrical character
of Philo's description of the Carabas incident. designed by the
Greeks to humiliate Agrippa I during his visit to Alexandria (In Flace.
38). Yet. as Louis Feldman points out, marin, the Aramaic epithet accorded
the mock king. suggests that more than mere theatricality was at
stake. 6 Philo's depiction of the incident suggests that we are dealing
with a charge against the Jews of dual loyalty, as well as with Greek
fear of the creation of an autonomous Jewish entity within Alexandl'ia.
Finally, the image which Blouin projects of Claudius as a restorer of
balance or harmony is questionable for two reasons. First. Claudius
most certainly did not solve the problem between Jew and Greek at Alexandria.
whence the explosions under Nero in AD 66 and under Trajan
S She herself cites C. Haas. Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and
Social Conf]jet (Baltimore 1997) 14-15. See also Schafer (above. n. 3) 138 on "elements
of a novel" in the In FJaeeum.
6 L.H. Feldman. Jews and Gentiles in the Ancient World (New Jersey 1995)
115·

58
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
from 115 to 117. culminating in the destruction of the Alexandrian Jewish
community. Secondly. I question whether for the Jews. even within
the context of the events of AD 43. Claudius' settlement can be termed a
resolution. After all. the inferior socia-economic status of the Jews was
by no means alleviated and. therefore. the settlement could scarcely be
perceived as a compromise from the Jewish point of view.?
A final consideration: Blouin's use of the term catharsis is. in my
view. problematical. She seems to be applying it to the experiences of
the participants in the drama. the Jews and Greeks of Alexandria. This
is most certainly not the conventional interpretation of the term catharsis
in a dramatic context. which is applied to the viewer of the drama
and not to the actors in it.
However. notwithstanding some reservations which I have with
Blouin's argument. I must emphasize that I regard her book as an important
contribution to scholarship. Her thesis is well presented. respectful
of the sources. innovative and certainly likely to provoke lively
debate. My only regret is that an index nominum et locorum was not
included.
LIONEL SANDERS
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS. MODERN LANGUAGES
AND LINGUISTICS
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
1455 DE MAISONNEUVE BLVD. W.
MONTREAL. QC H3G IM8
DAVID S. POTTER. The Roman Empire at Bay: A.D. I80-395.
London/New York: Routledge. 2004. Pp. xxii + 762. ISBN 0­
4 15- 10058-5.
This big book is the "Late Empire" volume. the seventh of the eightvolume
Routledge History of the Ancient World. It begins with Commodus
(as Gibbon did) and ends with Theodosius the Great. Potter begins
by saying that "at the height of its power the Roman Empire was
an ad hoc collection of acquisitions that ... were governed in ways that
suited them. The geographical diversity was mirrored in its administrative
diversity."
The early decentralization of the empire "strengthened the hands of
emperors who were able to negotiate between different interest groups.
? Tcherikover. CPJ 1.73

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 59
avoiding ... excessive dependence on anyone class." The consequence of
inadequacy at the top was that effective control of the state would fall
into the hands ... of the palace staff." This concentrated authority in the
third century in the hands of deeply conservative equestrian officials.
from whom. presumably. no understanding of the capabilities of the
empire's rivals and no decent strategic plan was to be expected (xi-xiii).
The text proper begins with a chapter on "Culture. Ecology and
Power." followed by an admirably lucid sketch on "Government." before
getting on to Commodus (85). The career of Septimius is followed
by "The Army in Politics: Lawyers in Government" and "Intellectual
Trends in the Early Third Century." before Ch. 6. "The Failure of the
Severan Empire." Here. after a sketch on Zoroastrianism, Potter says
(225) that "the failure [of Dio and Herodianl to understand the dynamic
behind Sasanian policy toward their empire was perhaps every bit as
serious as the failure of the army to meet those of Ardashir and Sapor
with a modern tactical doctrine" and points out (226) that "the administrative
apparatus of the army was not well suited to handling sudden
threats." On 228 Potter remarks on the difficulty faced by an emperor
who needed to develop a strategy-namely. that there were no largescale
maps available to him. Potter thinks this decisive against the view
that the Romans had any decent grand strategy. but I am not so sure
that that would follow from a lack of maps. Potter (232) thinks that by
241 the "power set" in Rome was a group of equestrian officers. most. if
not all. from the eastern provinces, with experience in the ratio privata.
Of Philip's government Potter says (239) "Greater efficiency does not
necessarily mean better government. The inherent inefficiency of Antonine
government allowed plenty of space for local initiative." Potter
does not regard Decius' edict as having been intended primarily to persecute
Christians. When he has dealt with the troubles of Gallienus he
says (261-262) "local institutions in the third century retained the vitality
to shape a vigorous destiny for themselves, responding to Rome. but
not reduced to such dependency upon it that they could not function in
the absence of imperial power," and that "centralizing tendencies ...
had yet to choke the life out of those institutions." Generally speaking.
this chapter emphasizes the growing centralization of government convincingly:
the downfall of the "local institutions" is deferred.
Ch. 7 "The Emergence of a New Order" begins with Gallienus' tl'OUbles
and his murder, goes on to Claudius Gothicus and Aurelianincluding
an extensive discussion of Aurelian's reform of the coinageand
concludes with the formation of the Tetrarchy. Potter remarks that
"the ideology of restoration was a concomitant of the practice of centralization
that was coming to the fore in these years" and "There is a

60 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
sense in which Diocletian may have been losing sight of what was possible
in place of what was ideal."
Diocletian's efforts to reshape recent Roman history prompt Potter
to discussion of "Alternative Narratives" in ch. 8, on Manicheans,
Christians and the Neo-Platonists.
The section on Christians begins by accepting K. Hopkins' estimate
of their numbers at about six millions in AD. 300, goes on to discuss
their growing respectability and proceeds to Eusebius' ecclesiastical
history, a Christian narrative which, according to Potter, "reflects the
extent to which history as defined by the imperial government often
strives in vain to establish its preeminence over alternatives that were
often far closer to home for its subjects. The imperial government might
(and did) establish the vocabulary with which power was described, but
it could not determine how the language of power would be used." This
concern with narrative is continued on 323. where Potter says that "Efforts
to create a generalized history of persecution were in potential
conflict with the traditions of each community which set up the rwes
for the veneration of martyrs." The chapter concludes. "As we return
to the imperial government. we shall see how the narrative of Roman
history that was constructed by Diocletian to lend authority to the new
regime was undermined and replaced by a new one that would exalt a
new ruler: the emperor Constantine."
The next chapter begins with Diocletian's census measures of 296-7,
which were designed to make taxation fair throughout the empire, the
Edict on Maximum Prices of 303 and the Persecution Edict of the same
year. All were examples of a general effort at reform. Potter regards
Diocletians's language as reflecting "perhaps the most important significant
change from the style of government current at the end of the
second century and throughout the third. Then each community was
encouraged to create a narrative of its own affairs that could be tied.
where relevant. to the grand narrative of imperial history. but still remain
fundamentally independent. In the language of Diocletian's edicts
all provincials are thought to share the same interests as the imperial
government." Potter then deals with various "propaganda versions of
events resulting in the collapse of the Tetrarchy." In fact this collapsed
when Diocletian began altering his own earlier arrangements and the
new senior Augustus. Constantius. decided not to accept the changes.
He did not realize what seems so clear to modern historians-namely,
that he had no rights in determining the successor to himself.
Constantine showed himself to be an astute politician. No one has
denied that. It is not necessary to suppose that Constantius' religion was
other than Christianity. as Eusebius so firmly presents it. or to believe
that it was he, rather than individual governors. who tore down some

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 61
churches in his realm mentioned by Lactantius. We do not need to reject
statements that Constantine was raised as a Christian just because of the
oratorical flight of the panegyrist who says that Constantine saw something
in the Temple of Apollo at Grand. Neither do we need to invent
"Lactantius' story of the conversion" (359) (there is no such thing) just
in order to make ourselves comfortable with Eusebius' canard about
"the conversion of Constantine." This will cause us to imagine, as Potter
does (4°1), development in Constantine's Christianity where none exists,
and to rely excessively on politics as a motivating force in his career.
It is better to accept Constantine's explanation of his career, and to
account for pagan elements in his behaviour (e.g., the pre-317 coinage)
as the result of a defect of power.
At the end of ch. 10 Potter deals with the question of the impact of
centralization on the cities of the empire. Here, like Peter Heather before
him (CAJ-P XIII, ch. 6), he is cautious, attributing much of the
change to the effects of Am'elian's coinage reform, and expressing uncertainty
as to the effects of changes in the style of coinage by Diocletian
(and Constantine). Potter sets against the exemptions from the munera
the new taxes (397) on those so exempted, and says (400) "The real question
may. perhaps, be this: Did the way the imperial government did
business with its subjects change in any significant way in the fourth
century? Here the answer may be yes, for the closer the governor came
to the governed, the more personal the relationship became," with the
emperor less and less in charge of the government.
At the beginning of ch. II "Restructuring Christianity in an Imperial
Context." Potter expresses his view that Constantine's religion evolved
between 312 and 325 and between 325 and 337. I think that anyone who
reads the texts written by Constantine will become extremely sceptical
about such a conclusion. Heinz Kraft was willing to draw it, and he did
not.
Potter's discussion of the Donatists is influenced by the fact that he
seems to regard Caecilian as a murderer (405). He says there that the
strife between the two factions "would become as much a split between
two styles of church historiography, the apologetic and the martyrologicaL
as it would be a split over the propriety of the conduct of Mensurius
and Caecilian.
Potter's account of the Arian controversy (417) suffers from a faulty
chronology regarding Constantine's sending of Ossius to Alexandria.
Potter thinks that Eusebius of Caesarea was "the first actor to take center
stage" at Nicaea," whose creed he attributes to Constantine-as if
Athanasius would have made such a fuss over an imperial document.
In discussing Constantine's legislation Potter says (424) that "the
most obvious case where Constantine was influenced by Christian doc-

62 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
trine is his declaration that episcopal courts could hear civil cases, even
those involving non-Christians." What Christian doctrine influenced
this? As regards Eusebius' assertion about Constantine's general ban on
pagan sacrifice (431-435), Potter is suitably cautious, and concludes with
the statement "His empire was neither polytheist nor Christian. It was
both." This may shock some readers, but is it not preferable to so many
pronouncements about Christianity being "the official religion of the
empire"? In the concluding section of the chapter, "The Vision of
Constantine," Potter says that Constantine's conversion "cannot be seen
as an effort to subvert his rivals," nor to insinuate imperial control at
the local level. He concludes that "It was Constantine's purpose to make
the Christian reading a valid one in public, and that was, perhaps, the
most significant effect of his reign."
With such modest aims, one wonders why Constantine would have
bothered to be converted at all. What I miss most in Potter's
Constantine is the devout man that the emperor so obviously was.
Ch. 12 "Church and State 337-355" starts with Constantine's projected
expedition against Persia and a discussion of the tactics, recruitment,
equipment and organization of his army. At 459-460 Potter explains
Constantine's testamentary dispositions and goes on to the
massacre in the imperial family after Constantine's death. Potter has no
axe to grind against Constantius II, whose strategy in the East he regards
as the best that was available to him, but his account is affected by
excessive reliance on Ammianus the apologist and Athanasius the mischief-maker.
Constantius, accordingly, comes through very badly, but
this is the norm for histories of the fourth century.
Ch. 13 "The Struggle for Control 355-366" contains Constantius II's
last struggles to obtain unity in the Church, and here Potter is on firmer
ground, for there seems to be no denying that these efforts got Constantius
into real trouble by 359. I would attribute that to his frustration
in trying to deal with the very slippery Athanasius rather than to any
heretical inclinations. Potter proceeds to "the growth of extraurban asceticism"
as an introduction to Julian the Apostate. Reliance on Ammianus
does not disturb his focus on Julian's ambitions in Gaul, which he
regards as leading to the proclamation as Augustus in Paris in the winter
of 360. (At 504 there is perhaps a misprint of "Rhone" for "Rhine.")
He also sees Constantius II's difficulties very clearly. When he comes to
Julian's Persian expedition, there is none of the usual guff about how
the Roman army might have escaped if only its prodigious leader had
not been deprived of his promising young life at just the critical moment,
etc., etc. Potter blames Julian for the disaster and gives us a
straightforward account of it.

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
In ch 12 "The End of Hegemony" Potter takes the Battle of Hadrianople
as a big Roman disaster in which two-thirds of the cream of the
eastern field army were killed. On a careful reading of Ammianus. I
think, the total number of Roman troops fighting was about 15.000­
18,000, so that Ammianus has inflated the importance of the battle. The
entire chapter is written without taking into account the apologetic
purpose of Ammianus, who very much wanted to make the administration
of Valentinian and Valens look bad. It is to be expected that any historian
who believes Ammianus will be happy to make hay out of Count
Romanus, but it is worth noting that Romanus is the only such example
that Ammianus could turn up out of Valentinian's reign. and that Romanus
and his confederates came to bad ends. Ammianus' stuff on treason
trials may be written off as sympathizing with the conspirators.
Potter rightly does not believe assertions that Valens was an Arian. The
concluding point, on 574. is that "the courts of Gratian, Valentinian II
and Theodosius often seem to have little to do with each other. The emperor.
behind the fa\ade of imperial power, appears to have had less
and less actual control of affairs."
The Conclusion-"Change in the Roman Empire"-addresses "the
centrality of narrative to the definition of power" and "the centralization
of power around the office of the emperor" and says that another
secret of empire revealed when Marcus died was that it was possible to
reduce the emperor to a figurehead. Potter goes on to compare Septimius
as a terrorist with Constantius II. and gives his opinion that Valentinian
and Valens "were very much creatures of their senior officials.
as were Gratian and Valeninian II." Easy victories over the
Persians "disguised the fact that the army was reliant upon outmoded
doctrines" and "the inabilities of Severus Alexander's staff to understand
that there was something qualitatively different about the al'mies
of Ardashir may perhaps be explained by their participation in a culture
where the present was measured in terms of the past"; "The Roman
state remained open to outsiders, something that was always its
greatest source of strength."
The empire of the fourth century. with churches in its cities, was not
the empire that Marcus had left. It had lost its ability to project force as
it had once done, and suffered from the failure of its rulers to recognize
the changes that affected it. They had been led to overreach themselves,
with catastrophic results. Between 180 and 395 the empire had passed
from a hegemonic power to a I'egional one, without ceasing to be a
power.
This book is well written, although Potter has a disconcerting habit
of writing "there can be little doubt but that" when he means "there can
be little doubt that." The sheer volume of material that is dealt with

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
makes it a useful research tool. The illustrations (mostly coins) liven the
book a little. and Potter handles numismatic questions confidently. I was
sometimes disconcerted by the stress on his theme about narrative. It is
easy. in retirement. to grumble about this or that. but the fact remains
that I would have found the book very handy thirty years ago and for a
long time thereafter. I suppose that it is not a book that one can require
undergraduates to read nowadays. but it ought to be on any reading list
for a course on the Roman empire.
I.G. ELLIOIT
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
ERINDALE COLLEGE
MISSISSAUGA. ON L5L IC6
MARY R. LEFKOWITZ and MAUREEN B. FANT. Women's Life in
Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation, third edition.
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Pp. xxvii + 420, 22 ills. US $59.95 (hb) , $22.95 (pb). ISBN 0­
8018-8309-5 (hb); 0-8018-8310-1 (pb).
Writing a source book is no easy task. Authors have to make important
choices about their subject matter in terms of how to translate. what
material to include or discard. and the manner in which to organize the
texts in question. These choices are often the source of many quibbles in
book reviews such as this. Back in 1982. with the first edition of
Women's Life in Greece and Rome. Lefkowitz and Fant faced a formidable
hurdle: how would the critics and the academic community react
to the addition of the woman's voice into classical scholarship? Some
twenty-five years have passed. This commendable and successful work
continues to generate plenty of discussion both in and out of the classroom
and has clearly been a force behind the application of new methodologies
in the area of women in antiquity. What then does the new
edition of Women's Life in Greece and Rome bring to the table? Is the
time ripe for a new way of tackling the evidence presented in this
work?
The goals of the new edition are essentially the same as the previous
two. The authors gear this source book towards a non-specialist audience
which has little or no knowledge of Greek or Latin. They do not
include texts that (I) are more readily accessed in other major works. (2)
require reading in their entirety. or (3) are just too fragmentary for
immediate comprehension. The 526 entries include an assortment of
literary genres compiled within a broad chronological (seventh century

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
BCE-fourth century CE and later) and geographical (e.g. Greece, Italy,
North Africa, Asia Minor) framework. For those not familiar with this
work, a brief summary of the organization follows.
In keeping with the flavor and structure of the second edition, the
authors organize the documents into ten thematic chapters. These include:
"Women's Voices," "Men's Opinions," "Philosophers on the Role
of Women." "Legal Status in the Greek World," "Legal Status in the
Roman World," "Public Life," "Private Life," "Occupations," "Medicine
and Anatomy," and "Religion." Approximately 35 entries accompany
each chapter, more in "Legal Status in the Roman Word" (52 entries),
"Private Life" (74 entries), and "Religion" (69 entl'ies), fewer in "Philosophers
and the Role of Women" (4 entries). The authors number successively
each entry found within a specific chapter. The third edition
also replicates relevant notes (335-359), abbreviations (360-362) and bibliography
(363-366) and includes an updated "Concordance of Sources"
(402-406) and "Index of Women and Goddess" (407-413). as well as a
general index (414-420) from the previous edition.
Rather than incorporate the new material into their existing corpus.
the authors have simply added an "Appendix to the Third Edition"
(367-398). It comprises 72 new documents and features its own set of
notes and bibliography. Here the authors have catalogued the works in
the order that they should appear in the existing text. For example,
"6A" in the appendix-Sappho's "On old age" (P.Kdln fl'. I and FOxy
1787 = fl'. 58 Voigt G)-would, if included in the main corpus, follow
entry 6. Documents purvey a variety of topics (from the very specific to
the very broad) that the authors deem interesting for a contemporary
audience. These consist of ageing, clitol'idectomy. Late Antiquity, geographic
peripheries, and the topography of Rome. Lefkowitz and Fant
admit that the space limitations and deadlines enforced by the publisher
for the new edition hampered the addition of further material. One
wonders what limitations required the inclusion of the appendix rathel'
than placing the new additions right into the existing text. If these new
documents are as important and interesting as the authors claim, then
the supplement at the back of the book seems to devalue their overall
worth to the work as a whole.
In response to past quibbles, the authors have made an effort to
contextualize the documents. First, before each individual passage, the
authors provide a brief introduction to illustrate the document's significance
within literary, historical. and/or archaeological frameworks.
Second, the addition of a concordance (400-401) situates the respective
documents within time and place. Lefkowitz and Fant are quick to add
that the dates and geographical attributions are approximate and
should only be used as a general reference.

66 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
Where do we go from here? I will close with a few general remarks
that will nuance some of the problems inherent in this successful work.
The response to adding women's voices both to classical scholarship and
to the classroom in the last twenty-five years has been overwhelming,
to say the least. This reaction has generated new approaches and material
related to the topic as a whole. Why, then, have the authors included
the new material that they have? The reply that the additions are
simply due to "contemporary interest" seems simplistic given the overall
methodological complexities that have corne to light over the years.
Since this is a source book in translation. perhaps this is not the venue
for further discussion in this area. Yet the fact that the work has gone to
a third edition warrants some space devoted to contemporary methodology.
The authors have indicated that a website (Maureen Fanfs personal
blog: http://www.maureenfant.com) will become the place for
further conversations and expansion of the material. For the most part
Maureen Fanfs blog still remains devoid of any further references and
discussion of the material in question. with the exception of a downloadable
pdf file containing corrigenda.
As a social historian whose own research centers on material culture,
the reviewer finds especially problematic the treatment of the visual
record. Twenty-two black and white photographs of Greco-Roman
artworks are slotted into two pages in the middle of the book and are
supposedly placed here to supplement the readings. Despite the fact
that Lefkowitz and Fant chose illustrations for their relevance to the
topics at hand in the second edition. there is not a consistent effort to
cross-reference the texts and images in the third. While the authors
have responded to issues of context and current scholarship pertaining
to the literary remains, such a methodological application is glaringly
absent from the artworks themselves. Two examples will suffice. (I) PI.
I.a, "relief of Pentelic marble showing a maenad leaning on her thyrsos.
Roman copy of a Greek originaL perhaps by Callimachus ...." One assumes
that the figure of the maenad corresponds to references on
"Maenadic rites and noble customs" in ch. ro, "Religion"; yet there is no
mention of the corresponding text(s). This leads the reader to ask if this
example in the visual record pertains to all representations of maenads
in the Greco-Roman world, both literary and artistic. Furthermore, the
reference to "Roman copy of a Greek original" also raises flags. Such a
designation stems from nineteenth-century methodological approaches
to sculpture known as Kopienkritik. New contributions in the area of
Roman sculpture clearly avoid such a method (e.g. E.K. Gazda. ed.. The
Ancient Art of Emulation: Studies in Artistic Originality and Tradition
from the Present to Classical Antiquity [Ann Arbor 2002]). (2) Another
example of an uncontextualized entry is pI. 21, "Terracotta relief from

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
Ostia showing a woman selling chickens and vegetables ...." No specific
mention of Roman female vendors appears in the sections dealing with
occupations. Furthermore. the bibliography does not include any references
to Natalie Boymel Kampen's work on this very subject (e.g. "Social
status and gender in Roman art: The case of the saleswoman," in
Eve D'Ambra, ed., Roman Art in Context: An Anthology [Englewood
Cliffs. NJ 1993] 115-132).
This representative sample of images that Lefkowitz and Fant present
sends a dangerous message that we are to treat art as secondary to
the literary evidence. Because of the importance of art in ancient culture
and its bearing on current scholarly trends, there is a need for new
source books to compile artworks and provide the requisite bibliography
alongside the literary sources themselves. This is not to say that the
authors are not mindful of these matters. Perhaps part of the problem
stems from the complexities and costs involved in book design.
Many of the concerns raised here could be dealt with in part or in
whole if this work sees a fourth edition or if the website takes off as the
reference tool that the authors promise it to be. Regardless. Women's
Life in Greece and Rome will still be part and parcel of the required or
supplementary readings of many syllabi pertaining to women in antiquity.
LISA A. HUGHES
DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
2500 UNIVERSITY DRIVE N.W.
CALGARY, AB T2N IN4
ARNOLD A. LELlS, WILLIAM A. PERCY, and BEERT C.
VERSTRAETE. The Age ofMarriage in Ancient Rome. Studies
in Classics 26. Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: The Edwin
Mellen Press, 2003. Pp. x + 146. ISBN 0-7734-6625-8; SC Series
ISBN 0-88946-684-X.
The purpose of this slim book is to re-examine evidence for age of marriage
among Roman males and females. Specifically. the authors seek to
refute the arguments of Richard Saller (CP 82 [1987] 21-34) and Brent
Shaw (JRS77 [1987] 30-46) that Romans generally married at a later age
than previous studies had suggested. Saller and Shaw, utilizing their
earlier study of commemorative practice in Latin tombstone inscriptions
(JRS 74 [1984] 124-156). had suggested that the point at which the
deceased began to be commemorated by a spouse rather than by par-

68 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
ents provided a better indication of age of marriage than those relatively
few epitaphs that actually indicate age at marriage (or allow it to
be deduced from age at death and length of marriage).
Lelis, Percy, and Verstraete instead explicitly privilege literary, not
epigraphic sources, and question the validity of any statistical study
drawn from Roman sources. Their own conclusion. which they claim is
based on "[t]he preponderance of the available evidence," is that "[f]or
females, first marriages occurred from pre-puberty to the mid-teens
with a modal range from twelve to sixteen; for males they occurred
from the mid-teens to the early twenties, with a modal range of seventeen
to twenty" (14). Their approach is avowedly "impressionistic": "we
believe that a well organized and suitably analyzed assemblage of information
on the actual actions of Romans when contracting their first
marriage will provide a more accurate understanding of this behavior
and its underlying patterns than any other approach hitherto undertaken"
(II). To that end, almost twenty percent of the book comprises
two appendices cataloguing the ages of first marriage for men and
women, along with prosopographical summaries of what is known of
their careers.
There is much to be said for such an approach. It is in fact one often
used by Roman social historians, and its potential for fruitful scholarship
is illustrated by Susan Treggiari's excellent book on Roman marriage,
which draws on legaL literary, and epigraphic sources. The
authors of this study are also to be commended for their willingness to
challenge the conclusions of Saller and Shaw, which have now become
received wisdom among Roman social historians (including this reviewer)
who do not themselves have the background in statistics to understand
fully their methodology. Their suspicion of the existence of a
"Mediterranean type" of marriage in antiquity is also justified; indeed,
that such a type has existed even in more recent times is now doubted
by scholars of the European family (see now P.P. Viazzo in Continuity
and Change 18 [2003] I I 1-137).
Unfortunately, the book as a whole is flawed by over-generalizations
and failure to exploit the evidence which the authors claim to be using.
To counter the statistical methodology of Saller and Shaw, who utilize
extensive data (however problematical), an approach based on literary
anecdote and scattered sources must offer "thick description" so full
and rich in detail that the conclusions drawn will be persuasive despite
the lack of quantitative evidence. But this book provides very little in
the way of primary source citation, and what is given usually does not
come directly from the ancient writers but from moderns like Friedlaender
or articles in Pauly-Wissowa. Moreover, the authors place an
inordinate burden on the scanty evidence for marriage practices in the

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 69
middle Republic: "If we keep in mind the general scal'city of vital statistics
for this period. the existence of even one father-to-son-to-grandson
sequence demonstrably involving early AAFMs [Age At First Marriage]
is as good as proof that the practice of early marriage was ubiquitous.
Here we have two such sequences" (48). Even the most confirmed positivist
will demur at assuming "ubiquity" from two examples.
The authors also fail to engage with (or know of) much of the scholarship
on Roman marriage. sexuality. and social mores that has been
published in the past two decades. for instance recent work on infant
exposure. or the debate over the use of contraception (a topic on which.
surprisingly. they claim little has been said). This is no doubt due in part
to the fact that the genesis of this book lies in the I980s. but the study of
the Roman family has been completely transformed over the past
twenty years. and any discussion of marriage practices must take this
into account or risk faulty. out-of-date conclusions. Thus the authors'
discussion of the Augustan marriage laws relies on Csillag's idiosyncratic
book published in 1976. which has now been superseded by Astolfi
and others. This may account for the authors' misunderstanding of
Augustus' restrictions on inheritance by the unmarried and childless.
which they think affected children's right to inherit from their fathers.
This error leads to their argument that fathers would be anxious to
marry off their sons and daughters as early as possible. to ensure that
their children could receive their paternal inheritances. In fact. the laws
applied only to inheritances and legacies outside the sixth degree of kinship.
and so would not affect a father's transmission of his property to
his children. There were indeed reasons for a paterfamilias to want to
arrange his children's marriages before he died. but this was not one of
them.
The fifth chapter. "A Reconsideration of the Epigraphic Evidence." is
the strongest and most coherent. Here the authors challenge the assumption
underlying the studies of Saller and Shaw. that commemoration
by a spouse rather than a parent indicates that the deceased was
married and an analysis of the thousands of inscriptions which actually
indicate commemorator can therefore provide indirect evidence of the
average age of marriage. As they note (they are not. of course. the first
to do so). this "assumes an unproven correspondence between commemorative
practice and demographic fact" (77). Their alternative explanation
for the change in commemoration of men who rued in their
late twenties and early thirties. that this is the point at which most men
would have lost their fathers. so that "the duty of commemoration devolves
to their spouses" (87), is logical and persuasive. Their suggested
reason for a changeover in commemoration from parents to spouse for
women at around age twenty is a bit more forced: "the teenage girl who

7°
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
died without issue would not make a deep impression on her husband
or his family" (88). A more likely explanation, hinted at also by the
authors, lies in Roman inheritance practice of the late Republic and
early Empire, which strongly favored agnate relatives: a man's intestate
successors would be his children (or. if childless, his closest natal kin).
and a woman's would be her natal family (not until the later second century
did her own children have preferred succession rights). Spouses
did not inherit from each other upon intestacy, and were prevented by
the Augustan legislation from leaving more than ten percent to each
other by will unless they had children (who would then be the preferred
heirs). And as the authors point out. if a wife died childless, her
dowry was likely to return to her natal family, which would strengthen
the interest that her parents, if still alive, would have in commemorating
her.
The appendices on ages at first marriage for men (Appendix I) and
women (Appendix II) include more detail than the chapters, but are still
far from providing "the systematic database" that the authors claim.
The literary testimony for men's age at marriage in the republican period
is well-exploited (understandably, there is far less evidence for
women's age at marriage), but for the Empire the entries in both appendices
are limited almost entirely to members of the imperial family.
This is odd when one considers that, as the authors themselves point
out, emperors were more likely to marry either exceptionally early (for
dynastic reasons) or unusually late (for political reasons). No attempt is
made to exploit fully sources like Pliny the Younger, let alone the rich
evidence from the late Empire (such as Ausonius' ParentaJia, a veritable
family tree), even when these sources are mentioned in the text. For
instance, in a discussion of "hellenizing influences" on the aristocracy
(44-46), which the authors claim discouraged early marriage for men in
the Principate. the authors quote Pliny on the virtues of a young man
who preserved his reputation despite his good looks and "was a husband
at four and twenty" (sic intra quartum et vicensimum annum. and
so actually twenty-three). Yet Ummidius Quadratus, about whom we
have a fair amount of information, does not appear in the Appendix.
This is not simply a question of failure to use the evidence available;
it also vitiates the authors' attempt to refute Saller and Shaw, whose
studies of marriage age were explicitly focused on the imperial period,
not the Republic. Indeed. the epigraphic evidence used by Saller and
Shaw is at its fullest in the Principate, the very period at which, according
to Lelis et aJ.. men of the senatorial class married later than at any
other time. Evidence for early marriage in the Republic does not affect
Saller's and Shaw's thesis or methodology.

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 7 1
There are also some solecisms and misspellings. including (in both
footnotes and bibliography) the names of scholars Antti Arjava and
Henri Leclerq. The book would have benefitted from better proofreading.
It is difficult to understand why this was published as a book and not
as a shorter, more focused article. The authors claim that they wanted
to make their work accessible to a larger audience than would read a
classical journal. This is commendable, but surely that aim would have
been better met by publishing a general article in a journal of social history
(such as Journal of Family HistOly), along with a more detailed
analysis of the epigraphic question in a classical journal (as Melissa
Aubin did in a critique of Shaw in Ancient History Bulletin 15 [2000] 1­
13, apparently unknown to the authors). As it is. the weaknesses of this
book clearly outweigh its strengths.
JUDITH EVANS-GRUBBS
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
ST. LOUIS. MO 63130
CHARLES STANLEY Ross. trans, PubJius Papinius Statius. The
Thebaid: Seven against Thebes. Baltimore/London: Johns
Hopkins University Press. 2004. Pp. xxxvii + 386. US $55.00.
ISBN 0-80 I 8-6908-0.
Ross's work, following closely on Shackleton Bailey's 20°3 prose translation
and Melville's 1990 verse translation. is a testimony to the revived
interest in Statius that has witnessed over the last two decades a doubling
of the total number of available English versions of the poem.
Ross's own view is that the Thebaid's popularity was. and still is, tied to
tumultuous time, and Statius has special relevance to post-9/ I I America:
"There is, it seems. such a thing as too much success, as well as too
much failure, whether in Rome two thousand years ago or today. Even
unopposed power may be uneducated, unsteady. liable to new problems
but old emotions. Humans are self-destructive: anger comes easily" (x).
The translation, based on Hill's edition, is prefaced with a 37-page introduction.
The translation itself runs 354 pages. to which is appended a
section of notes (355-376), an index of selected proper names (377-380),
and an annotated bibliography (381-386). Before turning to examples of
Ross's versification, I have some remarks to make on the components
and structure of Ross's translation. Ross's introduction covers six topics:
"Statius's Life" (xi-xiv), "Statius and Virgil" (xiv-xvi). "The Influence
of the Thebaid" (xvi-xxvii), "Statius and his Poem" (xxvii-xxxii).

72 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
"Gender and Sexuality in the Thebaicf" (xxxii-xxxiv), and "Translating
Statius" (xxxiv-xxxvii). Two of these sections stand out. First, in "Statius's
Life," Ross enlivens his biography of the poet by placing him
within impressionistic sketches of Rome, created from details that have
been culled from Statius's Silvae. For example, he writes: "Everywhere
we see the wealth of Rome, the vast reach of the empire, and its trade in
gold, jewels, marble, exotic foods, wild animals, woods, cloth, and
wines. Aqueducts carry water to the capital; fortresses protect its frontiers.
Statius loved hot baths" (xii). Secondly, the largest section of the
introduction, "The Influence of the Thebaid," will be vital for any
scholar assessing the importance of Statius to European literature. Ross'
handling of this enormous task is laudable, and this section might easily
furnish an outline for another book. Ross's "Notes" (drafted by Dr. C.
Harrigan) and entries under "Selected Proper Names" are clear and
concise and will be a definite boon to the reader approaching Statius for
the first time. The 29 works of the "Selected Annotated Bibliography"
seem judiciously chosen to encourage the reader to explore Statian
scholarship pertaining to both the classical and the medieval world.
Ross also helps his reader navigate the Thebaid by the inclusion of a
title and a summary for each book. This strategy is not entirely successful.
Statius's books tend not to be centered on one important event or
pervaded by one theme only; although "'Piety" is a suitable title for
Book 12, there is much lost by naming Book 8 "Savage Hunger." Tydeus
does gnaw on the head of Melanippus at the close of the book (8.760­
761), but his story makes up only the subject matter of 8.373-766. The
first half of Book 8 details Amphiaraus' arrival in the underworld (8.1­
126), the election of Thiodamus, Amphiaraus' replacement (8.127-270),
and his placatio teJIuris (8.271-372). Ross's chapter summaries will be
useful for those who return to a book and need a reminder of its content.
The reader, though, may well prefer Melville's longer, lucid outlines,
for little has been done to maintain the narrative line, and one
may be misled initially into thinking that Statius has jumbled together a
mass of scenes without care. Book 2 ("Ambush") begins with the summary:
The ghost of Laius. Celebration of Bacchus at Thebes. Eteocles' nightmare.
Marriage negotiations in Argos. Weddings of Argia and Deipyle.
An evil omen. The fatal necklace of Harmonia. Polynikes frets about exile.
Tydeus insults Eteocles. who plots an ambush. Two brothers (sons
of Ide) die one death. A memorial to Athena. (27)
"Translating Statius" clarifies Ross's approach and prepares the
reader for the kind of verse they will encounter. Three statements are
particularly informative: first, "the present translation not only seeks to
keep alive an ancient classic but to let readers and listeners understand

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 73
and experience Statius's art. I have tried to find a smooth modern syntax
to render the high style. since Statius valued oration and pathos"
(xxxv); secondly. "Throughout this translation I have relied on clarity to
determine what could and could not be brought across the linguistic
barrier from Latin to English. The point of my using a regular iambic
pentameter line is that it is easy to follow" (xxxvi): and thirdly. concerning
his use of the pentameter and the adornment of his verse. "The first
foot. or iamb. is the exception to the rule that the stress falls on the even
syllables. A stress on the first syllable instead of the second gives the
line a strong beginning. thereby assisting the task of defining the veI'se
line as a unit. something with a beginning. middle. and end. The real
purpose of rhyme in English verse is not to jingle but to define the end
of the line. I have therefore used rhyme whenever available. but also
various types of assonance (matching vowel sounds) and consonance
(similar consonants). Giving strength to the middle of the line is trickier.
The best way is to be sure the line contains a verb. the strongest
part of speech. but the middle of the line can also be strengthened by
varying the pauses between syntactic units" (xxxvi).
While his methods are generally sound. they do raise some concerns.
One pervasive result of Ross's approach is that. since his line is shorteI'
than Statius's. whose verse is ah-eady compact. he needs to apply more
artifice to his translation of a particular passage than may be present in
the original. The inclusion of a verb to strengthen the line's middle also
means many short sentences or clauses. This works well with the swift.
excited moments of the Thebaid. which are plentifuL but not so well
with subdued scenes. I agree with the author that one of the functions of
rhyme is to mark the end of a line. but I believe that this is only valid if
one's ear is accustomed to expect the rhyme by its frequent use-so that
it becomes the verse standard. Ross's rhymes are rather sparse and
amount to about one a page. Thus a couplet such as that which occurs at
the close of Book 7. in a passage about Amphiaraus driving his chariot
into the underworld. "but just so. steered his chariot to hell: a last
glimpse of the heavens. then he fell" (203), coming twelve lines after the
closest imperfect rhyme ("war" and "labor" [203]) and a page from a
short run of lines ending "split." "spit." "soldiers." "murmurs" (202).
may indeed jingle and come across as trite rather than momentous. A
similar undercutting of what should be a striking image-serious in
tone-comes on 87 where Danaus is described as reveling in the sight of
his murderous daughters: "This wickedness incites their father's praise:
/ he witnesses their swords through bloody doorways."
In other contexts the author does add charm to his verse with the inclusion
of rhyme. especially where it is combined within an assonant
passage or used in type-scenes. Parthenopaeus' advice on how his com-

74
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
rade should approach Atalanta with the news of her son's death provides
an interesting example in which assonance holds the passage together
and even subdues the rhyme:
I'm dying. Dorceus! Go console my mother
in her affliction. She. indeed-if worrying
can make one prophesy what's real-has seen
this sad truth in a vision or a dream.
But use pious fraud to ease her fears:
beguile her: do not suddenly appear
or come upon her when she holds a spear.
Then. when she has invited you to speak.
say ... (263)
In the stock descriptions of the passage of time. rhyme also seems to
be beneficial in adding a softer tone and timelessness to the moment.
The ro-line transition to night on page 69 starts with "On the steep
margin of the western sea / the sun had set his flaming horses free."
The assonance and alliteration draw the reader agreeably on (see also
142 and 264).
Next, to address the degree to which Ross is able to adapt Statius's
technique, I provide several short examples of Statius's Latin alongside
Ross's translations, and one longer passage which I feel underscores
Ross's ability in handling impassioned speech. For the initial sections I
have limited myself to the inclusion of Statius's Latin and Ross's translation.
but for the longer passage Melville's, Mozley's, and Shackleton
Bailey's translations are provided for those curious about the degree of
similarity between their translations.
Statius describes Adrastus' daughters' initial reaction to seeing
Polynikes and Tydeus, the men they are to marry, with two lines full of
assonance and consonance, pariter pallorque ruborque / purpureas
hausere genas (1.537-8), for which Ross has "they showed no impropriety
/ their cheeks blushed red and white with shy variety" (20). His
rhyme and the repeated Fs do justice to Statius's ornate line.
At 2.415 Statius, after a simile in which Eteocles is compared to a
snake, marks the initial words of the monarch with s's, transferring the
sound of the snake into the narrative: cognita si dubiis fratris mihi iurgia
signis. Ross applies the same technique: "were I have to suspected,
by uncertain signs, / my brother's animosity towards me" (41-2).
He shows less skill at handling Statius's description of Perseus'
mother anxiously watching the flight of her son at 3.464-5, where the
repeated r's, p's. and t's of Statius's Persea. cum raptos pueri perterrita
mater / prospexit. create a shuddering sound. This effect seems lost in
Ross's "his rapt steps terrified his mother / who observed him" (71).
Ross's translation here also shows his occasional reliance on a Latin de-

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 75
rivative which clouds rather than clarifies Statius's meaning: "rapt" for
raptos is apt to puzzle the reader.
Statius's Thebaid contains a number of compound words typical of
epic. Ross's "boar-bearing Erymanthos and tintinnabulous-in-bronze
Stymphalos" (93) preserves the bulky words and the order of Statius's
monstriferumque Erymanthon et aerisonum Stymphalon (4.298) and
provides a fine example of his sensitivity to their presence and their
effect on a line.
At 5.3-4 Statius uses a predominantly dactylic line to capture the image
of refreshed horses and reinvigorated men taking to the field: acrior
et campum sonipes rapit et pedes arua / implet ovans. Ross is limited
in his pentameter but makes good use of alliteration and the
polysyllabic "rapidly" and "celebrating" to speed his lines along with
the horses as well as to show the lighter spirit of the soldiers: "their
horses now ran rapidly through meadows. / and celebrating soldiers
filled the field" (114).
At 9.901-2 Parthenopaeus sends a lock of hair to his mother, and in a
voice choked with sobs, replete with sorrowful o's, states. hunc toto
capies pro corpore crinem. Ross's "accept this lock in place of my whole
body. / accept the tresses" (263). despite the repetition, seems to fall
short of Statius's line.
Ross is. however. very successful in capturing the tone of TO.117.
which is part of a simile that compares the overall effect of the halls of
Sleep to a dying flame. Statius's ornate languida succiduis expirant lumina
flammis has its rival in Ross's "languid light / falls iI'om a fading
flame and then expires" (268).
Generally. as has probably been gathel'ed from the matel'ial above.
lines which are dominated by repeated sounds are perfect for Ross's
style. At 10.569 attoniti et tan tum matrum lamenta trementes pl'ovides a
final example of his skill: "they felt the fright / arising from their
mournful mothers' cries" (400).
Finally. the author's own wit may occasionally be found in his translations.
These will either amuse or distress the reader. The description
of Amphiaraus. whose helmet is wreathed with a crown of olive
branches (4.217), becomes "olives wigged his helmet" (90), and for a
murderous exchange of missiles at 8.414 we have "some perished in the
serve. some in the volley" (218).
As mentioned, one of Ross's strengths is in his handling of the highly
charged scenes that are so common in Statius. I turn now to 2.452-7.
representing approximately one third of Tydeus' denunciation of king
Eteocles, who refuses to return the Theban throne to Polynikes. Ross's
tl'anslation captures the rage, violence. and energy of the original.
Compare Statius'

with Ross's
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
"reddes."
ingeminat. "reddes: non si te ferreus agger
ambiat aut triplices alio tibi carmine muros
Amphion auditus agat. nil tela nee ignes
obstiterint. quin ausa luas nostrisque sub armis
captivo moribundus humum diademate pulses.
You will surrender!
You will surrender power! If iron walls
encircled you. or if Amphion sang
a second song and mounded triple ramparts.
not fire or sword could save you! You will pay
for your impertinence. and you will strike
your crown against the earth before you die.... (43)
Melville. who also chose the iambic pentameter for his translation. has
"You shall yield." he cried. "Yes. yield!
Though iron ramparts ring you. though Amphion
Should sing another song and raise for you
A triple bulwark. neither fire nor sword
Shall save you. You shall pay. and as you die.
Our captive. beat the dust with your fine crown.... (44)
For prose. there is Shakleton Bailey's forceful
"You shall return it" and again "Return it you shall. Though
an iron rampart surround you or Amphion with another song
be heard and make you triple walls. neither steel nor fire shall
protect you from the price of your deeds as you die beneath
our arms. striking the ground with captive diadem.... (I29)
And lastly. for those preferring Mozley's archaic language for rendering
epic. there is
"Thou shalt restore." he cries. and again. "Thou shalt restore!
Nay. should an iron rampart fence thee. or Amphion with the
strains of another song draw about thee a triple wall. in no
wise shall fire or sword defend thee from paying for thy bold
deed. and. ere thou die. beating thy captive diadem on the
ground beneath our arms.... (429)
Ross's translation. all told. is excellent. My concern over his choice of
the iambic pentameter. his summaries. and his use of rhyme. fall in the
shadow of the work as a whole. Ross handles Statius's poetic technique
with skill and quite often is able to represent in English Statius's epic
diction. alliteration. assonance. and consonance. Ross's readers will
definitely experience. in the translation's fierce pace and high energy.

the impact of the original.
ROBERT NAU
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
McMASTER UNIVERSITY
HAMILTON. ON L8S 4M2
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
GABOR BETEGH. The Derveni Papyrus. Cosmology. Theology
and Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 2004. Pp. xii + 441. US $rro.oo. ISBN 0-521-80108-7.
L'ouvrage de Gabor Betegh represente desormais un outil precieux
pour tous ceux qui souhaitent aborder et mieux comprendre les questions
posees par un texte aussi difficile et complexe que celui du papyrus
de Derveni. Ce papyrus. Ie plus ancien des papyri grecs connus. a
ete decouvert en 1962 aDerveni. dans Ie nord de la Grece. et contient. en
26 colonnes.le commentaire allegorique d'une cosmo-theogonie en vel's
explicitement attribuee a Orphee ; Ie rouleau. trouve carbonise. aupl'es
d'une tombe parmi les objets votifs inhumes, pourrait etre date du milieu
du IV e siecle avo I.-c.. une date exceptionnellement haute. Son importance
pour la philosophie et la religion grecque. notamment du
point de vue de leur rapport etroit. est bien etablie depuis sa decouverte;
neanmoins. it ne beneficie toujours pas d'une edition officielle
complete et fiable.
L'ouvrage de Betegh. qui constitue Ie remaniement de sa these de
doctorat. est Ie premier livre consacre a l'etude du papyrus apres celui
de Laks et Most qui. en 1997. publierent une traduction anglaise de
l'ensemble. accompagnee d'une serie d'etudes importantes sur son
contenu (A. Laks and G.W. Most. eds.. Studies on the Derveni Papyrus.
Oxford, 1997). De maniere tres systematique et claire. Betegh procede a
l'edition, la traduction et !'interpretation detaillee. en dix chapitl'es. des
extraits de cette version de la cosmo-theogonie orphique. la plus ancienne
qui nous est parvenue. ainsi que de son commentaire. tres particulier.
par l'auteur du papyrus.
En ce qui concerne Ie texte grec ancien lui-meme. qui couvre la premiere
partie du livre. il est precise. dans la note explicative qui Ie precede.
que Ie texte reconstitue « makes no claim to be a critical edition»
(p. 1). L'objectif principal de Betegh est de proposer a son tour une solution
a divers points controverses. soit en avan

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
(qui est desormais disponible, avec la collaboration de Th. Kouremenos
et G. Parassoglou, aux editions Leo S. Olschki, 2006). Betegh a pu tenir
compte de l'edition du papyrus par R. Janko (« The Derveni papyrus:
An interim text », ZPE, 141,2002, pp. 1-62), bien que celle-ci flit publiee,
comme ill'explique, au moment ou il s'appretait a remettre son manuscrit
a l'editeur. II a egalement eu la possibilite de consulter l'edition des
fragments orphiques par A. Bernabe (Poetae epici Graeci. Testimonia et
fragmenta, pars II. Orphicorum et Orphicis similum testimonia et
fragmenta, Miinchen/ Leipzig, 2004), qui a l'epoque etait sous presse.
Son edition beneficie aussi des le

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 79
terpreter a la lumiere des concepts eschatologiques. Betegh se fixe
comme objectif de situer d'une part les rituels evoques. notamment sacrificiels,
dans Ie cadre de differentes pratiques religieuses et de l'autre,
d'identifier les figures et les concepts qui y apparaissent, a savoir les
Erinyes et les Eumenides. les ames des morts, les demons, en explorant
Ie rapport entre eux. Un nouveau point de discussion se pose desormais,
car Betegh conteste Ie sacrifice d'un oiseau auquel les colonnes 2 et 6
feraient probablement allusion. en soutenant (pp. 77-78) que ce sont
plut6t les Erinyes qui sont «comme des oiseaux» (ornitheion = birdlike).
Un commentaire est en outre reserve aux figures des mages et
des inities qui apparaissent sur ces premieres colonnes, ou. entre autres,
il est soutenu, avec justesse, qu'il ne s'agit pas des mages perses mais de
ce groupe de professionnels religieux auquel appartient l'auteur du papyrus
lui-meme (pp. 81-82). Les concepts de comprehension et
d'interpretation, en tant que traits principaux de l'attitude religieuse de
l'auteur du papyrus, sont mis en relief avant que nous passions au chapitre
3, exemplaire du point de vue methodologique. dedie a la reconstruction
du poeme orphique.
En fait, a partir de la deuxieme moitie de la colonne 7 et jusqu'a la fin
du texte qui nous est parvenu, l'auteur du papyrus cite et commente des
vel'S en hexametres, qui proviennent vraisemblablement. apprend-t-on,
du meme poeme. D'emblee, Betegh affirme sa confiance dans la methode
exegetique de ce dernier ; il rejette l'idee, souvent avancee, que Ie
commentateur ancien est peu fiable et qu'il ne cite Ie poeme que pour
exposer sa propre doctrine. Ensuite. il presente la maniere dont les
lemmes provenant de la theogonie orphique sont introduits dans Ie
commentaire et donne la liste (pp. 96-97) des ceux qui se presentent
sous la forme de vel'S entiers. Apres avoir presente, dans l'ordre ou ils
apparaissent dans Ie papyrus, les lemmes les plus courts, ainsi que tout
ce qui pourrait faire partie du poeme. sans etre cite directement mais
plut6t paraphrase en prose, il decrit la structure narrative du poeme ;
ce dernier se developpe, alors. en Ringkomposition, car, apres un petit
proeme. il commence avec l'ascension de Zeus au pouvoir pour remontel'
ensuite dans Ie temps et s'achever sur la recreation du monde menee
par ce meme dieu.
Concernant l'apport de l'analyse detaillee des citations menee par
Betegh sur quelques points controverses, nous voudrions mentionner, a
titre d'exemple, son raisonnement (pp. 111-122) sur la polysemie du
terme aidoion de la colonne 13,4. qui, en se fondant sur des arguments
internes d'abord, puis externes, l'amene a adopter la signification
« penis» ; il s'agirait alors de l'episode de la theogonie ou Zeus avale Ie
penis venerable d'Ouranos.
Le chapitre 4 est consacre a I'interpretation du poeme orphique, tou-

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 81
sique de l'auteur du papyrus, puisque c'est dans les termes de cette physique
que celui-ci commente le poeme orphique, en presupposant que
sous la theogonie exposee il y a une cosmogonie. La creation du soleil,
qui constitue un moment crucial. ainsi que sa position qui. selon Betegh,
se trouverait entre la terre et Ie cieL occupe une bonne partie de
l'analyse concernant les differentes phases cosmogoniques. Un inventaire
des termes decrivant les phases d'emergence des entites independantes,
par rapport au processus de separation et ensuite d'union, nous
parait fort utile (pp. 256-257). Ensuite vient Ie tour de l'ontologie et du
systeme physique, dans Ie cadre desquels Ie role primordial de l'air ­
l'aspect physique de l'lntellect divin - et du feu est clairement expose it
la base du concept de domination. Un point d'interrogation pel'siste
neanmoins au sujet de la signification de la notion de necessite (anagke,
notamment col. 25, 7). Betegh interprete de maniere pertinente la colonne
19 et Ie sens de la domination (epikratein) de l'air sur toutes les
choses: si l'air domine Ie Tout, ce n'est pas parce qu'il se trouve dans
toute chose, mais parce que toute chose se trouve dans l'air (p. 270). La
conclusion que Ie commentateur n 'etait pas un moniste, se trouve des
lors renforcee. La fin du chapitre enumere brievement les points qui
prouvent les convergences entre la theogonie racontee dans Ie poeme et
la cosmogonie avancee par l'auteur du papyrus.
Une fois la presentation et l'interpretation du texte du papyms achevees,
les chapitres 7 et 8 Ie situent dans Ie cadre de la philosophie presocratique.
lIs visent it elucider les influences majeures provenant d'autres
systemes philosophiques, particulierement proches, it commencer par
celui d'Anaxagore et ensuite ceux de Diogene d'Apollonie et
d'Archelaos Ie Physicien, en fonction d'une comparaison systematique
et eclairante decelant autant les points conununs que les divergences:
ces dernieres revelent parfois davantage la dynamique interne de la
doctrine exposee dans Ie texte de Derveni. La question principale
concernant la relation entre la theorie physique et la teneur theologique
du papyrus emerge de nouveau dans Ie contexte de cette compal'aison.
Elle est plus directement abordee au chapitre 9 intitule «Physics and
eschatology: Heraclitus and the gold plates ». Betegh y examine de plus
pres la citation d'Heraclite it la colonne 4 et son apport, selon lui fondamental.
pour la comprehension du papyrus - grace notamment it la
mention du soleil-, du point de vue du role cosmologique et eschatologique
attribue au feu. En fait, il soutient (p. 329) que la citation
d'Heraclite dans Ie contexte des premieres colonnes pourrait constituel'
en elle-meme Ie lien entl'e les deux parties principales du texte, it savoir
entre l'eschatologie et la cosmologie. Dans ce but, il se tourne vel'S les
lamelles d'or orphiques et, plus precisement, il met en parallele la lamelle
C provenant du «Timpone Grande» it Thurii. qui contient un

82 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
texte extremement obscur, et Ie papyrus, a la base de certains mots des
(par exemple : 1'air, Ie feu, Ie soleiL Zeus, Moira).
Betegh ajoute une serie d'elements, provenant notamment des sources
litteraires, afin d'encadrer Ie role eschatologique du feu, sous la
forme de la foudre (l'attribut par excellence de Zeus) ou du bucher,
dans un contexte souvent lie aux mysteres. Cette demarche, bien que
rassemblant des elements passionnants, a en general un caractere particulierement
speculatif, comme Betegh Ie reconnait lui-meme.
Le dernier chapitre, «Understanding Orpheus, understanding the
world », est a nos yeux parmi les plus interessants de 1'ouvrage, puisqu'il
rassemble et elabore une serie de questions concernant les conditions
qui pourraient Ie mieux encadrer l'ecriture et la reception de ce
texte. En effet Betegh, tout au long de son analyse. se concentre sur la
doctrine cosmologique de 1'auteur du papyrus de Derveni. en prenant
en consideration mais en analysant brievement d'autres aspects du
texte. comme les strategies enonciatives de 1'auteur. Ie sens et Ie statut
du discours qualifie d'enigmatique (col. 7), les traits principaux de
l'exegese allegorique portant notamment sur Ie Iangage, la procedure
etymologisante et la dimension pragmatique du texte lui-meme.
Dans ce dernier chapitre, Betegh pose a nouveau la question de
1'auteur du papyrus, a laquelle il repond, sans avancer de nom, en explorant
la nature specifique du texte de Derveni. qui est defini a tort
comme commentaire. vu Ie contenu bien distinct de ses six premieres
colonnes. II soutient donc que l'auteur etait « a priestly figure with Orphic
allegiance» (p. 350), dont Ie texte temoigne du debut a la fin de ses
principes fondamentaux d'explication et d'interpretation. Betegh situe
de maniere convaincante son CFuvre dans un contexte tres concurrentiel
par rapport aux autres detenteurs de la meme tekhne, qui rappelle la
polemique parmi les medecins. De ce point de vue, Ie role de concepts
tels que 1'enseignement et 1'apprentissage se prete a I'analyse, et un
rapprochement magistral est effectue entre Ie hieros logos d'Orphee et
les caracteristiques de la parole oraculaire (pp. 364-370). Le livre se dot
avec la refutation, en appendice. de 1'identification de l'auteur du papyrus
avec Diagoras de Melos, avancee par R. Janko.
Cet ouvrage remarquable de Betegh, complete d'une riche bibliographie
et d'indices, contribue pleinement a l'etude et a la comprehension
du papyrus de Derveni et pourra faciliter 1'« accueil» des nouvelles
donnees qui feront probablement leur apparition, tellement attendue,
apres Ie dechiffrement d'autres fragments du papyrus grace a une nou-

velie technique numerique.
PENELOPE SKARSOULI
BOOK REVIE WS/COMPTES RENDUS
ECOLE DES HAUTES ETUDES EN SCIENCESSOCIALES
PARIS, FRANCE
pinelopi.skarsouli@wanadoo.fr
R.M. DANCY. Plato's Introduction of Forms. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. xii + 348. $75.00.
ISBN 0-52r-8380r-o.
In this carefully constructed monograph, Dancy aims to show in painstaking
detail how Plato's theory of Forms emerged out of Socrates'
quest for definitions. Thus. Dancy subscribes to a traditional developmentalist
approach to Plato, eschewing the increasingly common approach
that seeks to impose some sort of unitarianism on the philosophy
in the dialogues (2). By "Socrates" Dancy means the literary
character in the dialogues, not the historical person. So the "development"
from a search for definitions to the positing of Forms is taken to
be a development within Plato's thinking. not a development from adherence
to one philosopher's view (Socrates) to another, Plato's (3).
Dancy accepts the standard developmentalist division of the dialogues
into early, middle, and late. He divided the early dialogues into those
whose focus is on definition and into those whose focus is not. The former
group includes: Charmides. Euthyphro, Hippias Major, Laches,
Lysis. and Republic I. It is to the presuppositions undedying the search
for definitions in these dialogues that Dancy devotes the bulk of this
book. Scant attention is paid to the other dialogues said to be in this
group: Apology, Crito, Euthydemus. Hippias Minor. Ion, Menexenus,
Protagoras, and Gorgias. What are usually called "middle" dialogues
Dancy calls "doctrinal." The first of these, Men0, Dancy argues is a
"transitional" dialogue. That is, in it is found a sort of bridge from the
search for definition to the theory of Forms. To this dialogue Dancy devotes
one lengthy chapter. The other doctrinal dialogues discussed in
this book are Phaedo and (in a very brief chapter) Symposium. In these
dialogues, Dancy finds expression of the theory of Forms. The actual
discussion of the theory of Forms thus takes up roughly one fifth of the
book, making Dancy's introduction to the introduction of Forms very
lengthy. indeed. Notably absent from the material treated in this the last
part of the book is any discussion of the central books of Republic or
Cratylus and Pllaedrus, dialogues usually taken to belong to Plato's
middle period in which the theory of Forms is constructed. Altogether

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
absent is any discussion of subsequent developments in the theory of
Forms in Plato's so-called later dialogues.
Dancy rests his developmentalist account of the genesis of the theory
of Forms on Aristotle's testimony in his Metaphysics to the effect that
Plato began by embracing Socrates' concern with the definitions of the
virtues. Having been influenced by Heraclitus and Cratylus, however.
Plato carne to hold that these definitions could not correspond to anything
in the constantly changing sensible world (II-I3). Aristotle in his
testimony is explicit that Plato was influenced by the flux doctrine in his
youth. Presumably, this makes it at least possible or even likely that
when Plato carne under Socrates' influence he already held that the sensible
realm could not contain objects suitable for definition but that the
objects of definition had to be separate. If that is so, then it is difficult to
see the justification for insisting that Plato's theory developed from an
adherence to definitions (sans Forms) to a postulation of Forms. Why
not suppose that his postulation of Forms was coincident with his concurrence
with Socrates that definitions of the virtues were vital? But
then, against Dancy's repeated claims that the discussions of definitions
in the early dialogues do not presuppose Forms. it may be in fact that
they do.
Dancy would no doubt want to make the reasonable reply that
Plato's beliefs at the time of writing the dialogues are unrecoverable
and so irrelevant. We are only able to focus on the logic of the actual
arguments in the text. The dichotomy of psychology or logic is a false
one. As he himself argues. one of the assumptions that Socrates brings
to the definitional dialogues is that the Forms are paradigms or essences
(115-133). On the face of it this is a metaphysical claim and deserves
analysis. It is also certainly worth asking how separation arises out of
the postulation of paradigmatic entities. To explore this question, however,
is to open up the possibility that there is indeed a theory of Forms
in the early dialogues. or perhaps even the possibility that Plato assumed
at the time of writing these dialogues that the definitions sought
must be of separate Forms. Dancy. however. holds that the search for
definitions is a metaphysically innocent enterprise and that only with
the introduction of separate Forms does metaphysics enter the picture.
This would I think be plausible only if the Socratic search for definitions
treated the object of these definitions as terms or concepts. This seems
to me to be as far from the truth as anything one could say about these
dialogues. and for a reason to which Dancy himself subscribes. namely.
that the objects of the definitions are supposed to serve an explanatory
role in reality (134-147). Thus, a deed is pious owing to the Form of Piety.
This would make no sense if the sought-for definition of piety were
of a concept or of a word. But if Piety is a "thing" (a very strange thing,

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 85
indeed), then a refusal to explore what Plato meant by claiming this is
simply not justified by adducing Aristotle's testimony that Plato separated
the Forms.
Adding to the suspicion that Dancy supposes that Socratic definitions
are of concepts or terms is the third requirement he adduces for a
proper definition. namely. substitutivity (80-1 14). This is the requirement
that the definiens must be substitutable salva veritate with the definiendum.
The definiens includes necessary and sufficient conditions
for the application of the definiendum. This is a standard and reasonable
requirement for definitions in any context other than one in which
the definiendum is a "thing." There are no conditions for the application
of such a thing. And there is nothing else to which the thing is identical
but itself. The sought-for logos of a Form (which Dancy recognizes is
not exactly a definition or a horismos) may well be required to give us
necessary and sufficient conditions for the presence of an instance of it.
The very idea. though. of the Form as a thing being definable or even
expressible in a logos raises a host of metaphysical issues. One wonders
if the aporetic nature of the early definitional dialogues is intended to
reveal this fact.
Dancy will not allow that even in Meno is there a theory of Forms
(240). He rejects the standard interpretation of the Doctrine of Recollection
according to which knowledge is recollection of the Forms with
which we were acquainted prior to embodiment. though he acknowledges
that this interpretation works for Phaedo. We are to suppose
that. when Socrates uses the word eidos. either he is not talking about
the things we recollect or. if he is. this does not imply a theory of Forms
(211-2 IS). Both alternatives seem frankly far fetched. Leaving aside the
question of the cogency of the argument that learning is recollection. if
Plato held that we do recollect that which we encountered in a disembodied
state. and that it is this fact that solves Meno's paradox, why resist
the obvious implication that separate Forms are here in play? The
only reason I can see that Dancy gives for his denial of this is that if it
were true in Men0, this would cast doubt on his thesis that the discussion
of Forms in the earlier dialogues does not amount to a theory of
Forms.
When we finally do get to the theory of Forms, Dancy finds it to be
necessarily connected to separation and to the consequent diminution of
the intelligibility of the sensible world (253-283). This seems right.
though his discussion of both points is all too brief. He does not address
the question of whether separation means that Forms can exist uninstantiated
or not. Nor with respect to the diminished reality of the sensible
world does he go beyond explaining it in terms of the Argument
from Relativity and conflating this argument with the Argument from

86 BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
Flux. But it is not clear why if it is the case that x is f with respect to y
and not-f with respect to z. this in any way diminishes the being or intelligibility
of x. Nevertheless, in Republic (d. 479c-d) this seems to be
exactly what Plato wants to maintain. Since Dancy apparently does not
maintain that Republic adds an essential feature of the theory of Forms
that is not contained in Phaedo. it is at least puzzling why the central
and perhaps most notorious implication of the separation of Forms is
not here scrutinized. Nor is it clear why Dancy thinks that Plato's embrace
of the Argument from Flux amounts to the Argument from Relativity.
Plato's acceptance of the former is in any case qualified; otherwise,
there would be no cases of predication or sameness in difference
in the sensible world to explain. His endorsement of this Argument is.
on Aristotle's account, based on his conviction that knowledge exists
and knowledge cannot be of fa gignomena. If relativity is supposed to
entail separate Forms, flux does not. It is only with the added premise
that knowledge exists, and that knowledge is not of sensibles, that separate
Forms follow. But then relativity is irrelevant to this argument. It
seems rather that what Dancy takes to be an argument from relativity
in Phaedo 74a is really an argument from the deficiency (ti eJleipel) of
sensible equals, not from the fact that something equal to one thing appears
unequal to another.
Dancy's insistence on focusing on the analytic core of the theory of
Forms is wholly admirable. But his exclusion of the material contained
in Republic from this core means. among other things, that he has no
idea how to connect Socrates' insistence in Phaedo 99b on teleological
explanations with the explanatory role that Forms are given in the final
argument for the immortality of the soul. The most we can say. Dancy
argues. is that teleological explanations are not incompatible with the
essential explanatory role of Forms (293).
There is a problem in Dancy's locating the core of the theory of
Forms in those passages where Forms are explicitly adduced in order to
prove the immortality of the soul. It seems a gratuitous inference to say
that the essential features in the introduction of Forms do not include
teleological explanation just because teleological explanation does not
figure into the proof for the immortality of the soul. It is not even entirely
clear that teleological explanation is excluded from the method of
hypothesizing Forms that Socrates describes. If, as he says, hypothesizing
is to continue until one reaches "something adequate" (ti hikanon.
IOIeI-2), it is not implausible that this something adequate is the unhypothetical
first principle of all in Republic, namely. the Idea of the Good.
This interpretation leads us back to the explanatory role of Forms in the
early dialogues and the possibility that Dancy's analysis of the theory of
Forms is based on a spurious essentialism, not about Forms, but about

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
Plato's theorizing.
This book contains a virtuoso display of what might be termed analytic
Platonism, and as such it may help clarify one's thinking about
Forms. It does not. however. advance our understanding of Plato's
metaphysics very much.
LLOYD P. GERSON
DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
TORONTO. ON MsSrJ4
lloyd.gerson@utoronto.ca
C. BOWEN and ROBERT B. TODD. intra. and trans. Cleomedes'
Lectures on Astronomy: A Translation of The Heavens.
Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California
Press. 2004. Pp. xvi + 238. US $17.95. Can. $25.95. ISBN 0­
52 I -8 I 586-X.
With Cleomedes' Lectures on Astronomy: A Translation of The Heavens,
Alan C. Bowen and Robert B. Todd (hereafter BIT) have produced
an exemplary and eminently useful translation. the first in English. of
an important late Stoic pedagogical text on astronomy. By design this
collaborative effort, based on Todd's 1990 Teubner of Cleomedes'
Caelestia (Greek Meteora), is intended both for "a varied readership ...
most of whom will not know the ancient languages" and especially for
those whose interests lie in latel' Stoic philosophy. in ancient mathematical
astronomy, or in the history of ancient astronomy proper (xii).
Enhanced and enriched by an expansive introduction and a comprehensive
running commentary on the translated text. this finely produced
and affordable volume also features a substantial array of appended
explanatory materials supplementary to the translation proper. Taken
together. these features render the work a model of what a modern
translation of an ancient technical work ought to be.
To appreciate fully the significance of the Caelestia a familiarity with
the foundational concepts and background information provided in
BIT's very detailed and lucidly organized Introduction (1-18) is essential.
Divided into three sections, it will reward the patient reader's attention
when encountering the translation itself. The first section.
"Cleomedes' Date" (1-4). shows how the text's internal evidence is absolutely
parmount. For example. in the absence of any external biographical
data for its author, information drawn from The Heavens itself.
both philosophical and astronomical. can establish only that Cleomedes

88 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
was most likely active at some time during the first two centuries C.E.
and that he was a professional teacher of Stoicism who delivered lectures
on its basic tenets. Understood in this light, then. The Heavens is
hardly the strictly astronomical treatise it was long thought to be but
rather should be considered "the presentation of ancillary material
within a larger exposition of Stoicism" (3).
The second and by far longest part of the Introduction. "Cleomedes
and Posidonius" (5-17), demonstrates in great detail that the larger exposition
of central Stoic doctrines assumed and referenced in the
Cae1estia can now be properly correlated specifically with the theories
of Posidonius regarding astronomy, particularly as these are expounded
in fragment F18EK (Edelstein/Kidd). The theoretical dependence
of the Cae1estia upon a Posidonian model is evidenced in several
ways. First, there is the incorporation of "a hierarchical relation between
... physical theory and astronomy" wherein the former, encompassing
the realm of matter, cause and teleology, is assumed to be foundational
for the latter, which uses mathematical means to draw
conclusions about the observed heavenly bodies. Astronomy, however.
ultimately must "adopt and follow" the principles conceptually established
by physical theory (6). The second explicit linkage is found in
epistemology and methodology. On the one hand, Posidonius overtly
discounts visual observation as the sole basis for establishing theoretical
principles and marks such activity with the derogatory term "hypothesis,"
wishing to eliminate that kind of supposition from the process of
scientific reasoning. Cleomedes, on the other hand, is less hostile to the
role of astronomical observation. although he does express concern
about how the uncritical use of observation may lead to false theories
(8).
BIT next (9-1 I) demonstrate how the Stoic concept of the criterion of
truth (phantasia kataleptike. "cognitive presentation") likely influenced
several of Cleomedes' specific arguments about a variety of astronomical
topics (8-9). The key term kriterion figures prominently in Cleomedes'
argumentation against an uncritical reliance on sense perception
alone for ascertaining fact and, in the case of sight especially, in his
charge that astronomical observation can be misleading if taken at face
value because of the effects of distance and similar visual distortions.
Thus. even though what we have of Cleomedes is essentially a technical
tract, such philosophically grounded reflections on epistemology and
methodology, appearing in only one section of Cleomedes' work (1.5.1­
6), do "offer a basis for how far the other arguments in the Cae1estia for
astronomical and cosmological theses extend ... and. in particular. how
the Stoic criterion should be interpreted in this context of constructive
argumentation" (9-1 I).

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
Another important section of the Introduction takes up the question
of how CIeomedes incorporated various proofs and counter-arguments
(apodeixeis. "demonstrations." and ephodoi. "procedures") into the
Caelestia (I I-IS). These terms themselves refer to the overall process of
systematic reasoning used by Cleomedes to arrive at the axiomatic underpinnings
of an argument. Such an "independently identifiable truth
01' principle" comprises both observational and non-observational
premises to arrive at conclusions. sometimes in combination with additional
data drawn from non-astronomical (e.g.. geographical) data and
hypotheses (11-12). Cleomedes also incorporates a variety of actual
procedures (ephodoJ) into his investigations and his conclusions. BIT
delineate the range of these approaches and draw special attention to
Cleomedes' applications of how similar observational data may be used
in "another way" (and "in conjunction with other premises") to estimate
and then validate conclusive results (13). They also recount in considerable
detail how Cleomedes applies a "criterion of truth" to the role
of individual premises. observational or otherwise. in the process of
drawing conclusions while still maintaining a link with the cognitive
preference inherent in Stoic epistemology (14-15). Overall. BIT conclude
that "the Stoic criterion is adapted in the Caelestia to a program
of establishing astronomical and cosmological matters" (IS).
BIT conclude the central portion of the Introduction with a recapitulation
of their theories about the influence of Posidonian Stoicism on the
Caelestia (15-17). Foremost is Posidonius's prescription for astronomy
in F18EK that "presuppose[s] an independently established cosmic
structure" and posits a sound and consistent theoretical basis for the
procedures involved in attempting to ascertain (astronomical) truths
(IS). Posidonius's interest in logic and mathematics. moreover. finds
expression in the Caelestia with Cleomedes' application of "inferential
procedures" used. for example. to explain the spherical shape of the
Earth and the size of the Sun (r6). Thus. BIT conclude that the Caelestia
is "a remote tribute by a minor Stoic to the ideas of a major predecessor."
without whose work "astronomy would never have been included
in Cleomedes' program of Stoic teaching" (17).
The brief final section of the Introduction ("Text and Translation."
17-18) outlines the technical aspects of the English tl'anslation. explaining.
among other things. the numbering system used for the text. the
standardization of measurements. and the method of transliterating the
original Greek.
One hundred forty-six pages (19-165) are devoted to the English
translation of the two books of the Caelestia and to the comprehensive
footnote-based commentary that accompanies them. The work's present
division into books is part of its original structure and repl'esents two

90
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
lecture courses (skholal) by Cleomedes; the chapter divisions date from
Renaissance editions of the text and are based on more or less logically
cohesive material (20, r6s). In this edition each book is preceded by a
single-page, chapter-by-chapter outline summarizing its basic contents,
a feature added by B/T for the benefit of the modern reader.
The two books of the Caelestia present a comprehensive overview of
the physical astronomy of Cleomedes' day. Book One (r9-9S) comprises
eight chapters. In it are found expositions of the composition of the universe
and relationship of the Earth to the heavens (I.r), of the fixed stars
and planets in their courses (1.2), of the spherical nature of the Earth
(1.5) and its place at the center of the universe (1.6), and of the effects
that solar motion through the Zodiac has on terrestrial seasons, zones
and day length (1.3,4). The final two chapters (1.7, 8) are linked conceptually
in their treatment of the methods of ascertaining the size and circumference
of the Earth.
The seven chapters of Book Two (97-r6S) focus chiefly upon various
aspects of solar and lunar astronomy. Two are devoted to the Sun and
its size (II.r-2) while Chapter 3 assesses the size of the moon and that of
other celestial objects. Three chapters treating lunar illumination.
phases and eclipses (11.4-6) are followed by a brief chapter on lunar and
planetary movements (11.7) that also serves as a conclusion to the whole
work. It is in this final chapter, too. that Cleomedes explains that the
material in his two skholai do not "comprise the writer's actual doctrines"
but rather derive from the works of others, particularly those
of Posidonius (r6s).
As might be expected, much of the material here is-and was intended
by the author to be-highly technicaL laying down specific astronomical
concepts as foundational to Stoicism. Yet there are a number
of sections that offer especially engaging reading for a modern audience.
One of these is Cleomedes' discussion of the planets (1.2). In one
section (39-4r). for example, the author describes the motions of the
planetary bodies and their positions in relation to the fixed earth while
explaining the epithets commonly joined to their names (e.g.. Mars as
Puroeis). Similarly, the discussion of the spherical shape of the Earth
and of the cosmos (1.5), though replete with highly refined calculations,
nevertheless makes for interesting reading because of its incorporation
of geographical evidence linked to observable celestial features such as
certain constellations (66-70).
Other parts of the work also appeal to readers whose interests may
lie outside the strict confines of ancient astronomy. Those drawn to the
nexus of ancient science and philosophy. for instance. will appreciate
Cleomedes' opening exposition on the nature of the universe (I.r). The
chapter ranges from a basic definition of the cosmos ("a construct

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 9 1
formed from the heavens. the Earth. and the natural substances within
them." 21) to the role of Nature in delimiting it (22). and thence to a
lengthy analysis of the concept of the void (kenon) (22-31). Along the
way Cleomedes refutes Aristotelian claims about the void. at one point
calling the school's position "simplistic" (28). Similarly. the whole of
Chapter 7 stands as an important philosophical digression that pits the
methodology of Posidonius against that of Eratosthenes in determining
the Earth's circumference. a procedural contest in which Cleomedes
ultimately sides with the latter (discussed by BIT on 13-14).
Nor does Book Two disappoint in its integration of lively philosophical
debate with scientific exposition. At the outset (ILl). the author
launches a direct and sustained attack upon the Epicureans. whose assertions
that sense perception alone proves sufficient to ascertain truth
he rejects and mocks with obvious relish. For example. in addressing
the Epicurean claim that the Sun's apparent larger size when rising and
setting is a result of its actual ascent and descent. Cleomedes states flatly
that "this involves utter ignorance [apaideusia]" (TOO) and goes on to
give a lengthy and scientifically sophisticated explanation for the whole
question of the Sun's size that takes up much of the entire chapter (IOO­
I22). Here. among many other carefully considered points. Cleomedes
rightly claims that "we see [the Sun] at the horizon through air that is
denser and damper ... and in this way the Sun appears larger to us"
(IOO-IOI). He also refutes in detail the Epicureans' assertion that the
Sun is the size it appears to be by recounting the very power of the Sun
in its multiple roles as a source of illumination and heat and as a sustaining
force for terrestrial life (I I9-I21). To this he adds that Epicurus
himself was blind to the realities of the natural world and that the act of
uncovering "the truth of what exists" cannot be ascertained by such
"pleasure-loving fellows" (121-[22). The chapter ends with Cleomedes
comparing Epicurus to Homer's Thersites in the former's boastfulness
and assertions of philosophical superiority (I24-I26) and with his final
tirade against the "evil degenerate" founder of Stoicism's rival schooL
who "has nothing to do with astronomy. much less philosophy" (126).
Like the main text. the back matter of the volume is also rich in information.
Immediately following the text of Cae1estia proper is a series
of twenty-five sequentially arranged figures. some subdivided further
into individually lettered illustrations. that demonstrate schematically a
variety of astronomical topics covered in the lectures (167-192). A lone
but lengthy appendiX (I93-204). consisting of BIT's translation of Posidonius
fro I8EK. accompanied by copious introductory and explanatory
material. affords the reader additional information pertinent to the
main body of Cleomedes' work. The remainder of the volume is made
up of a glossary of terms referenced in the translation. consisting essen-

BOOK REVIEWs/COMPTEs RENDUs 93
MARY P. CHATFIELD, ed. and trans. Pietro Bembo, Lyric Poetry
/ Etna. I Tatti Renaissance Library 18. Cambridge
MA/London: Harvard University Press, 2005. Pp. xxi + 278.
ISBN 0-674-01712-9.
Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) is best known to classicists as the owner of
the famous codex Bembinus of Terence and the author of a dialogue
dealing with the text of the plays of that author and of the Culex. In Italy.
however. his reputation rested primarily on his having played a
leading role in promoting and fashioning a form of the Italian language
as a worthy medium for serious literature. Still. in his early years it
looked as if he were set for a scholarly career in the classical languages.
and. like most humanists. he was himself a Latin poet. Most of his poetry
dates from his younger years. but he continued to write verse
throughout his life. During and immediately after his own lifetime his
Latin poems enjoyed a high reputation; in 1548 eleven of them were
published in Carmina quinque illustrium poetarum (V. Valgrisius: Venice)
and Carminum libellus. devoted solely to Bembo's Latin VeI'se. appeared
in 1552 (G. Scottus: Venice). It is gratifying. therefore. that the
editorial board of the I Tatti Renaissance Library decided to include in
its series a volume containing all of the known poems of Bembo (including
some whose attribution to Bembo is not beyond doubt).
This volume contains the Carminum libellus (41 poems). Appendix A
(8 poems that were not included in the Carminum libelllls of 1552). and
Appendix B (9 poems attributed to Bembo). It is rounded out by the
prose dialogue Etna. As is usual in this series. in addition to the Latin
text and the accompanying English translation. the volume has a general
introduction (here a good treatment of Bembo's life and of the organization
of the poems in the Carminllm libelills. with some helpful
discussion of particular poems in the whole collection). a note on the
sources of the text. notes on the poems. a brief bibliography. and an index.
The corpus of Bembo's Latin verse is fairly modest in size. and the
nature of the poems is in keeping with the output of many other humanists:
pastOl'al, love elegy. Priapea. panegyric. and epitaphs. More
distinctive is the poem sarca (A.VIII). an ambitious epyllion 619 lines in
length. the subject being the wedding of the river deities Sarca and
Garda. and their offspring. The similarities with Catullus 64 are obvious
and extensive.
The Latin text is basically drawn from the editio princeps of the
Carnllnllm libelllls and the 1990 edition of Bernbo's poems by Rosanna
Sodano (Turin. Edizioni RES). An exception is the text of Sarca. which is
taken from Otto Schonberger's edition of the poem. based on a Vienna

94
BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
manuscript. Unfortunately the text of the poems is marred by several
typographical errors. Those that caught my eye occur at II.S villa for
villas. 11.31 mea for meo. IX.S valente for volente. XV.IO vito for viro.
XVIII.2o aura for auro. XVIII.70 plena for pleno. XXXV.3 canas for canos.
XL.I sacra for sacro. A.VII-43 ventura for venturo. In Sarca (A.VIII)
we find alia for alta (47). tibet for libet (84). fingens for figens (123),
commista for commissa (279), and comprestae for compressae (280). The
last three of these also appear in Schonberger's text and have been
taken over uncritically.
What of the translation? It flows very smoothly and rhythmically for
the most part. But oh dear! Inaccuracies abound, and not just where
Bembo's Latin gets complicated, as sometimes happens. The translator
does not recognize, for example, that the stock phrase quod amat
(XIII.80: cf XIV.3) means "the object of his love," not "because he loves,"
and she translates me functo (B.v.IIS) as "with me discharging the office"
rather than "when I am dead." I give a list of passages (by no
means complete) where correction in a later edition is needed.
1.38: Fida non egeant oves canum vi. "Let the sheep not lack a trusty pack of
dogs." The sentiment relates to a return to the golden age. where "the lion will
lie down with the kids" (see line 40). The sense of line 38 must be "Let the sheep
not needa trusty pack of dogs" (to protect them).
11.20: Crissat ab imposito fixa puella mare. "A girL held in one spot by the
weight of the sea. gyrates her hips." Faunus is describing the sexual activity that
is going on in the river Nympeus. What has the sea to do with this? The sense is
that the girl is moving her hips as she is being penetrated by a male (mas. maris)
on top of her.
11.22: Surgit et in cornu spina recurva suum, "And my spine. curved back. rises
towards my horn." Faunus is describing the erection he gets from seeing the
orgy in the river. I think spina. "thorn." here must refer to the penis (d. English
"prick"), hence the reflexive suum in the phrase in cornu suum. For recurva
one may compare VllI.19 where Priapus' phallus is described as resupinaque
tota.
11.31: Non tu parva mea (sic) praebes alimenta furori, "You offer not the smallest
nourishment to my madness." The sense is rather that Faunus' desire is being
greatly increased/fed by what is happening in the river. without. of course.
its being satisfied.
VILT Qui flavum avulsis iaculatus rupibus Acin. "After he had hurled golden
Ads down the twisted crags." Literally "after he had struck golden Ads with
rocks torn [from the hillside]": d. Ov.. Met. 13.882-3 partemque e monte revulsam/mittit.
VllI.26: Foecundum. subigas tu modo. semen habet. "It is teeming with seed.
restrain it how you will." This describes the phallus of Priapus. The verb subigo
does not mean "restrain." The sense is "It is teeming with seed if only you rub
it" (see OLDs.v. 8b). or possibly "if only you 'plant' it somewhere."
XLI 1-12: Altero uti superem laetus. dum te mea vita / Placata potior. altero uti
moriaJ" "When you use me the one way. I excel in happiness. for while I possess

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 95
you / My life is delightful. but if you use me the other way. I am like to die."
Altero ... altero picks up the preceding clause whel'e the lover is said sometimes
to be bona and sometimes mala. The verb supero here means "to live on. keep
on living." not "excel." and in the dum-clause mea vita must be vocative. literally
"my life" (playing on the idea of "living on"). that is. my darling. and placata
(ablative) agrees with teo something like "content. in a good mood." The
form uti is of course the al'chaic form of ut.
XI1.22: Nec sinis ingenium splendida forma premat. "And you do not allow youl'
gleaming beauty to surpass your intellect." The verb premat means "conceal"
hel'e (01' "suppress"). (Bembo is here addressing Lucrezia Borgia. with whom he
was enamoured. though the I'elationship seems to have been Platonic.)
XIII.38-g: Meque animo nimium perpetiente feras: / Quaeiibet et praesto venias
in iussa. "And beguile me when I am in great suffel'ing: / But I grant indulgence
to whatever you command." These are examples of the addressee's behaviour
that (according to the speakel') p1'Ompt him to believe that he may be the object
of malicious gossip. But the Latin means"And you put up with me with a too
long-suffering disposition. / And you attend readily to whatever I bid you do."
Praesto is an adverb. not a verb. and venias hel'e has nothing to do with the
noun venia. but is part of the verb venire. In the next four lines the point of the
construction quo plures ... quo plus / hoc magis indignum is ignored in the
translation.
XIII.87-8: Quemque videt non insidiis. non artibus uti. / 'Hic bonus est.' inquit.
'miles eritque mihi. "He does not notice anyone using treachery or artifice. /
Rathe1', he says 'this one is a good soldier and he shall be mine...· The poet has
just been describing Cupid as a god whose absence of dissembling and duplicity
matches his nude body. free of any covering. The sense is thel'efore "When he
sees a man I'efraining from treachel'y or artifice. / 'This man.' he says ... "
XV.IS7-8: The translatol' does not understand the construction promere opem
egregios. "outstanding in giving help." and mistranslates vincam. here "I shall
p1'Ove." not "I will surpass."
XXVII.g-ro: Cui lex et bene suadus honos. rectique cupido. / Et probitas cordi
simplicitasque fuit. "He possessed restraint and most persuasive grace. and zeal
for the right. / And honesty of heart and candor." All of the nouns connect with
the predicative dative cordi. "He held dear the law ... "
A.VII.SS: cui neque Erithreos possis conferre lapillos. "It [vil'tue] may not be
decked out with the peads of EI'ithrea." Hel'e conferre has its common meaning
"compare."
A.VII.14J-2: Quid te parva iuvat mora temporis. Jcarione? / Ad tibi fallendos nil
facit illa dies. "Of what advantage is brief mourning to you. Icarius? / You are
not being deceived by this interval of time." One of the themes of this poem (Ad
Lycorim) is that virtue is mOl'e lasting and more impOl'tant than beauty.
Penelope is adduced as an example. Bembo introduces a conversation between
Penelope and her father learius in which Penelope is urged to fOl'get Odysseus
and immediately mal'ry one of the suitors. Here. in an apostrophe of the poet.
Jcarione refers to Penelope. "daughter of learius." not to leal'ius. The second
line is not easy. but the sense is fal' I'emoved from what is offered: dies must
contrast with parva ... mora temporis. Pel'haps something like "That [a short
time] is of no use to you ad fallendos dies ['for whiling away many days in deception']."
Because of the mistaken intel'pretation of Jcarione the translation

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 97
that the volume will stimulate them to engage in a badly-needed literary
study of the corpus.
JOHNN. GRANT
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
TORONTO, ONTARIO. MSS 2E8

Response to the review by John Rundin of Thomas K. Hubbard,
Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents
(Berkeley/Los Angeles/London 2003) in Mouseion 6. I (2006) 74-77.
I do not normally believe in responding to reviews of my books, but the
first two paragraphs of Mr. Rundin's review of my sourcebook Homosexuality
in Greece and Rome contain attacks of an ad hominem nature
that are extraneous to the book itself and have more to do with past
disagreements over professional association policy. For the record, I
have always opposed sodomy laws and actively support a version of
domestic partner benefits for my own institution, but I did not believe
that the feeble symbolic measures that Mr. Rundin's group proposed to
the APA were either politically effective or cognizant of countervailing
association needs. I saw no reason to demand that the APA limit its
already narrow list of possible meeting venues, when many thousands
of gay and lesbian tourists each year continued to patronize resorts
such as Provincetown and Key West, both in states with sodomy laws at
the time. As someone who has in print championed the rights of sexual
minorities which are marginalized by the mainstream gay rights
establishment and who has challenged "gay marriage" as too assimilationist,
I am amused to read that I am known for a "conservative
approach to queer issues."
The reviewer's ill-informed conjecture about my political philosophy
leads him to a skewed perspective on the book. Anyone who reads the
first paragraph of my Introduction will immediately see the falsehood
of the claim that my agenda is to "keep us all locked in the vise grip of
contemporary sexual categories." Mr. Rundin has no prior publications
or expertise in the field of sexuality. The two 1990 books on Greek
sexuality that he praises as the "new wave" of scholarship have in fact
been superseded by the more nuanced studies of Amy Richlin, James
Davidson, and Andrew Lear, as well as several of my own articles. A
sourcebook intended for undergraduate and general readers is not the
place for such theoretical discussions, but my other publications, which
are cited in the sourcebook and the reviewer has apparently not
bothered to consult, demonstrate just how dated, one-dimensional. and
theoretically unsophisticated this now 20-year old work is. What the
sourcebook adds is even more evidence of the variety and range of
same-sex behaviors and attractions in the ancient world, which resists
simple-minded reduction into the monolithic "regimes" and "sexual
protocols" so pretentiously invoked by self-styled Foucauldian
epigones.
THOMAS K. HUBBARD
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN

GRATIARUM ACTIO
HABUIT BENIAMIN VICTOR
IN VNIVERSITATE MONTIS REG II PROFESSOR
AD SOCIETATEM CANADENSEM STUDTORUM ANTIQUORUM
AD. X KAL. IUN. A MMVII
Rogatus ut gratias ob ea quibus his diebus usi simus commoda latina. ut
mos sit. oratione persoluam. id munus libenti animo suscipio. utpote de
meritis tam manifestis dicturus. unum illud submetuens. ne lingua obstet
qUin mea uerba intellegantur. pro uiribus nitar ut omnem syllabam
clare pronuntiem: uobis autem spero opus non fore nisu ut OI'atiunculam
meam capiatis.
Doctores Vniuersitatis Memorialis. quorum in cura est antiquitas
Graeca Romanaque. nominare uelim in primis. Georgium Robertson
dico et Catharinam Simonsen et Brad Levett necnon Craig Maynes ac
Tanam Allen. quae in apparando uel maximum onus in se recepit. his
plures discipuli aliique suam operam gratis praestiterunt. inter quos
Amber Porter. Catharina Kieley. Clara Goobie. Gabriel Piller.
Alexander Mugford. Alanna Ranger. Castitas Wickens. Iulia Giles.
Sophia Dold. Iosephus Basha. Adam Goodwin. Lia Montgomerie.
Alanus Boulos. Devin Dwyer. Nadine Hodder. Lynette Fischer. Kayla
Hearn. nec memoria minus dignum est decanos artium et studiol'um
superiorum uicepraesidentemque academicum suas copias aperuisse ut
omnia recte ac commode fierent.
Quibus hominibus gratiae habeantur iam. credo. absolui: restat ut
exponam cur omnino habendae sint. non ea requiro quae plana sunt et
bene nota: quis enim nescit quid sit negoti conuentum instruere. plus
centum disputationum epitomas legere et digerere. locos et tempora
assignare. oratores auditoresque hilare et copiose accipere neque utique
plus erogare pecuniae quam facultates patiantur? immo propero ad
difficiliora scitu: quid hic nobis conuentus prodest. aut quem ex eo
fructum capimus? anne ob nullam aliam causam quotannis conuenimus.
quam ut inuicem doceamus et doceamur ? omnes hinc doctiores
abituros esse non nego: at tamen fatendum est sibi quemque plus doctrinae
per idem tempus colligere potuisse e quauis uel mediocri
bibliotheca. qui rem diligentius scrutari uelit. haec cogitet: Canada tena
immensa est. cuius per uastitudinem perpauci homines eruditi
disperguntur et disrarantur. nec sane multi sunt intra fines nostros loci.
ubi facilius uiro docto quam lupo uel urso occurratul'. praeter nos ipsos
uix quemquam ibi inuenies. cui studia nostra quoquo modo cordi sint
99

JOO GRATIARUMACTIO
aut qui nobis omnino bene uelit; turn nimis crebro fit in uniuersitatibus
ut tota antiquitatis disciplina doctori uni profitenda tradatur. atque
etiam in amplioribus ea saepissime non plus quattuor aut quinque
committitur resque omnes in singulos discribuntur. ita ut unus instituta
gestaque Graecorum accuret. unus Romanorum. unus iuuentutem
sermone Attico instruat, unus Latino. quae cum ita sint, hanc quam
uidetis frequentiam nihil est cur miremini, quippe qui plerique nostrum
soli ac quasi deserti sibi uideantur, eoque magis sic sentiant quos studia
aliquanto reconditiora detinent. ut puta papyrorum uel nomismatum
scientia. nemo, mihi credite, sibimet adeo sufficit ut eum iuuet humani
congressus expertem laborare neque umquam alium coram uidere
doctrina parem studiisque congruentem. in hanc uero spem congregamur.
ut breuis inter nostri similes conuersatio longam solitudinem
aliquantum compenset, quae causa nee parua est neque ullo modo
contemnenda. occasione ergo congrediendi uidendi audiendi confabulandi
dum poterimus fruamur, ea bene fructi laetemur, laetati denique
gratias agamus omnes.