Posthomerica Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Mnemosyne Supplements Monographs on Greek and Latin Language and Literature EditorialBoard G.J.Boter A.Chaniotis K.M.Coleman I.J.F.deJong T.Reinhardt VOLUME343 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.nl/mns Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica Engaging Homer in Late Antiquity By CalumAlasdairMaciver LEIDEN•BOSTON 2012 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Maciver,CalumAlasdair. QuintusSmyrnaeus'Posthomerica:engagingHomerinlateantiquity/byCalumAlasdair Maciver. pages.cm.–(Mnemosynesupplements;volume343) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-90-04-23020-0(hardback:alk.paper)1.Quintus,Smyrnaeus,4thcent.Posthomerica. 2.Homer–Appreciation.I.Title.II.Series:Mnemosyne,bibliothecaclassicaBatava.Supplementum ;v.343. PA4407.Q6M262012 883'.01–dc23 2012007864 Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characters coveringLatin,IPA,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthe humanities.Formoreinformation,pleaseseewww.brill.nl/brill-typeface. ISSN0169-8958 ISBN9789004230200(hardback) ISBN9789004230217(e-book) Copyright2012byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,GlobalOriental,HoteiPublishing, IDCPublishersandMartinusNijhoffPublishers. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher. AuthorizationtophotocopyitemsforinternalorpersonaluseisgrantedbyKoninklijkeBrillNV providedthattheappropriatefeesarepaiddirectlytoTheCopyrightClearanceCenter, 222RosewoodDrive,Suite910,Danvers,MA01923,USA. Feesaresubjecttochange. Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper. CONTENTS Preface.................................................................. vii Introduction............................................................ 1 I. SignsoftheTimes:BeingHomerLater............................. 7 i. ReadingQuintusReadingHomer .............................. 7 ii. ALateAntiqueAesthetic? ..................................... 13 iii. (M)use-lessSinging:Quintus’Art? ............................. 27 II. EcphrasisandtheEmblemsofthePast ............................ 39 i. ReadingDirectionsinEcphrasis ............................... 39 ii. (Re-)readingtheShieldofAchilles............................. 48 iii. UnfoldingEcphrasis:TheMountainofArete................... 66 III. SpeakingMoralitythroughGnomai................................ 87 i. HomericVoices?NarratorsandNarratees ..................... 87 ii. Fate,Gods,andtheSayingsofNestor .......................... 101 IV. PosthomericSimiles,HomericLikenesses ......................... 125 i. Penthesileia:ANewDawn ..................................... 125 ii. HelenReceived,HelenJudged ................................. 153 iii. LikeFatherlikeSon:ComparingNeoptolemus ................ 171 Afterword............................................................... 193 Bibliography............................................................ 197 GeneralIndex........................................................... 215 IndexLocorum ......................................................... 219 PREFACE Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica has been part of my life since 2004: a Mastersbyresearchdissertation(2005)andaPhD(examinedin2008)have now culminated in this book, a thorough revision of the latter doctoral thesis.Therearemanymoremilestotravelwiththisdemandingtext,but I feel I have at least gained a foothold somewhere on the mountain of Arete. ItisonthispagethatIamobligedtoexpressmymanydebtstomanypeo- ple.ThegreatmajorityofmyworkonQuintuswasdoneattheUniversity ofEdinburgh,bothasapostgraduatestudentand,subsequently,asamem- beroftheteachingstaff.Iamunablefullytoexpressmygreatgratitudeto andfondnessforitsClassicsdepartment,tomyfriends,colleagues,andfor- merteachersassociatedwithit.MyprimarydebtistoDouglasCairns.He hasbeenbothanexcellentsupervisorandfriendfromthestartandalways encouraginginmycontinuanceinacademe.Hisinsightfulscholarshiphas everbeenanexampletofollow,unlikehistasteinGlasgowfootballteams. StephanieWinderneverfailedtolosefaithinmewhenIhadnone,andher flairintheinterpretationofpost-Homericpoetrywasmatchedonlybyher friendshipandsupport.RogerReeswastheoneresponsibleformyintroduc- tiontoQuintus,andasmyMScsupervisor,andassupervisoroftheinitial stagesofmyPhD,hemorethanhelpedmelaythefoundationsofthisbook. Ialsoacknowledgeheretheoriginalthesisexaminers,RichardHunterand MichaelLurie,fortheintensenatureofthevivavoceexamination,andfor theirrecommendations. Muchofthetransformationofthisworkfromitsversionasathesistook placeinthecongenialenvironmentoftheKlassisch-PhilologischesSeminar attheUniversityofZurich,whereIheldaStudyAbroadPostdoctoralFel- lowship(2008–2009)fundedbytheLeverhulmeTrust.IthanktheTrustfor theawardofthefellowship,andfortheirsupport,andIgratefullyacknowl- edgeallofmyscholarlyfriendsatZurichwithwhomIdiscussedQuintus, especiallyManuelBaumbach,SilvioBär,NicolaDümmler,andFabianZogg. I would like to thank too Katerina Carvounis for kindly sending me her OxfordDPhilthesisonPosthomerica14. Variousversionsandportionsofthisbookweresharedwithaudiences inanumberofEuropeanuniversities,andIhavebenefitedfromtheinput ofanumberofscholars,notonlyspecialistsonImperialGreekliterature. viii preface ButitisthepostgraduatecommunityatEdinburghwhichhadtohearmore papersonthePosthomericathananyotheraudience,andsotheirpatience andhumourisgratefullyacknowledgedhere. TotheeditorsatBrill,andespeciallyMilindaHoo,thanksaredueforthe publicationofthismonographandforthespeedandefficiencywithwhich theybroughtittofruition.Ialsoexpressmythanksforthecommentsofthe anonymousreaderofthemanuscript. Theeditionsusedforancientauthorsarethemostrecentunlessother- wisestated;alltranslationismyownunlessotherwisestated.ForQuintus Smyrnaeus, I use the edition of Vian 1963–1969, and for the Iliad that of M.L.West1998and2000(butwithalteredorthographyandpunctuation). FortheIliadicScholia,IuseErbse1969–1988,andfortheOdysseanScholia, Dindorf1850.IdonotalwaysitalicisesomeGreekwords,suchasgnome,or gnomai,duetofrequencyofoccurrence.IalsousethewordPosthomeric asanadjectiveforthepoemthePosthomerica—thatis,itistheadjectival formofthetitleofthatpoem.Ancientauthorsandworksareabbreviated afterthoselistedintheLiddell-Scott-JonesGreeklexicon(9thedition). Thisbookwouldneverhaveappeared,andIwouldneverhaveplunged myselfintotheworldofClassics,haditnotbeenformyfather.Hegaveme theimpetustostudyLatinindependentlybackin1999,inaperiodofillness betweenschoolanduniversity;thereafterIabandonedallideasofLawfor theworldoflanguages,myth,andepicpoetry.Idonotappreciateenough hiswisdomandsupport.Mybrother(andformerstudentflatmate)Iainhas constantlybeenaninterestedhearerofQuintus-things,andheandhiswife Sarah and wee Annie have always been the most fantastic of hosts when hostswereneededinEdinburgh. Idedicatethisbooktothememoryofmymother,whoseloveIwillalways carrywithme. December2011,UniversityofLeeds INTRODUCTION QuintusofSmyrna’sPosthomerica ThisstudyisconcernedwiththeImperialGreekhexameterpoemthePost- homericabyQuintusofSmyrna.Mypurposeinthisbookistoexaminethe Posthomerica as a poem worth reading and interpreting in its own right, principallybymeansofanalysisofQuintus’appropriationanduseofthe Homericpoems(thoughIdocovertooamuchwiderrangeofintertextu- ality,includingHesiod,Aratus,ApolloniusRhodius,andStoicphilosophy, astheyhaveimpactontheliteraryandethicalsignificanceofthetext).In English, the last, book-length, encompassing treatment of the Posthomer- icawasthedissertationbyGeorgeWashingtonPaschalin1904.1Mystudy is therefore the first monograph in over a century to focus on the poetic andliterarynatureofthepoemandthefirsttoassesscriticallythepoem’s Homeric intertextuality in relation to the work’s aims and thematic con- cepts. I have chosen three key areas of the poem’s poetic fabric to assess thisintertextuality:thepoem’ssimiles,gnomai,andecphrasis.Withinthis broaderframework,Idiscussaspectsonewouldexpectfromstudyofepic, includingcharacterisation,ethics,narratology,fate,andthegods.Thusthe many features of the Posthomerica, from plot construction and narrative sequencetothepoet’svoiceandstylearediscussedagainstboththeepic traditionandQuintus’inevitableandcalculateduseofthisepictradition.In thisintroduction,Ioutlinewhatweknowtodateabouttheauthorandthe poem’scomposition.Fullertreatmentsofthistopiccanbefoundelsewhere, butitisneverthelessimportanttounderstandtheculturalandliteraryenvi- ronmentofthePosthomerica.2Historicalcontextandanunderstandingor 1 Otherbook-lengthtreatmentsfocusononeparticularaspectofthePosthomerica.The mostimportantbooktodateinthisrespectisthemagisterialworkbyVian(1959)onthe poem’ssources,butnotethathedoesnotdiscuss,inmostinstances,theliteraryimpactof thesourcesonthePosthomerica.Mansur(1940)wroteashortbutunfairlynegativeaccount ofcharacterisationinthePosthomerica;Gärtner(2005)wroteamonographontheparallels betweenVergil’sAeneidandthePosthomerica;andPh.I.Kakridis(1962),inaprivatelyprinted book in modern Greek, wrote a useful monograph on the Posthomerica—a work which amountstoashortrunningcommentaryonthewholepoem. 2 ThefullestandmostscholarlyintroductionisstillVian1963.vii–liii,butBaumbachand Bär2007.1–26ismoreuptodate.