APOTELESMATICA 2. (1) 14–140: SOURCES AND MODELS*

88 Maria Ypsilanti
The influence of Aratus on the level of poetry:
concept, images, vocabulary
The principal technique in which the author of the Apotelesmatica
uses the Phaenomena is generally variation and imitation by
contrast, manifest throughout the lines in which there is reference
to Aratus. As will be shown, Pseudo-Manetho’s play with Aratus
on the level of expression is evident in the lines under discussion in
which, as we have seen, the Hellenistic poet is also used on the level
of content.
The author of the Apotelesmatica does the exact opposite of
what Aratus did; the Hellenistic poet referred briefly to the five
planets (Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Zeus, Cronus), “for the sake of
completeness”, 47 devoting his poem to the fixed stars and their significance
for the weather; Pseudo-Manetho, on the contrary, refers
briefly to the fixed stars, also for the sake of completeness, one can
indeed remark, his main theme being the five planets themselves.
The author presents his subject in the opening of the Apotelesmatica
(2. [1] 14–17) imitating Aratus in opposition, as his image
echoes the relevant Aratean passage and is directly opposite in
purpose:
Ofl dÉ §pim‹j êlloi p°ntÉ ést°rew oÈd¢n ımo›oi
pãntoyen efid≈lvn duoka¤deka dineÊontai.
OÈk ín tÉ efiw êllouw ırÒvn §pitekmÆraio
ke¤nvn ∏xi k°ontai, §pe‹ pãntew metanãstai.
...
OÈdÉ ti yarsal°ow ke¤nvn §g≈: êrkiow e‡hn
éplan°vn tã te kÊkla tã tÉ afiy°ri sÆmatÉ §nispe›n.
(Arat. 454–7, 460–1)
But there are five other stars among them, but quite unlike them, that
circulate all the way through the twelve figures of the zodiac. You cannot
in this case identify where these lie by looking at other stars, for
they all change positions (. . .). I am not at all confident in dealing with
them: I hope I may be adequate in expounding the circles of the fixed
stars and their constellations in the sky.
Pseudo-Manetho presents the image of the planets wandering
through the Zodiac in a condensed form, by comparison with his
model, and comes to the opposite conclusion: these five planets are
exactly the subject of his poem. On 455 (pãntoyen . . . dineÊontai)
47) Kidd 343.