The Artistry of the Homeric Simile William C. Scott The Artistry of the Homeric Simile Dartmouth College Library & Dartmouth College Press Hanover, New Hampshire Published by University Press of New England Hanover and London dartmouth college press Published by University Press of New England, One Court Street, Lebanon, NH 03766 www.upne.com © 2009 by William C. Scott Printed in U.S.A. 5 4 3 2 1 This work has been published simultaneously in print and in electronic form. The author, William C. Scott, asserts his rights as copyright holder for both print and electronic versions. The print version of this book is available from UPNE, One Court Street, Lebanon, NH 03766. The electronic version is available for download by the public, free of charge, at the website of the Dartmouth College Library: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/publishing/ scott2009. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scott, William C. (William Clyde), 1937– The artistry of the Homeric simile / William C. Scott. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-58465-797-2 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Homer—Literary style. 2. Greek language—Figures of speech. 3. Oral-formulaic analysis. 4. Oral tradition— Greece. 5. Rhetoric, Ancient. 6. Simile. I. Title. pa4177.s5s28 2009 883'.01—dc22 2009016159 contents Preface · vii chapter one Similes, the Shield of Achilles, and Other Digressions · 1 The Usefulness of Book Divisions · 10 chapter two The Simileme: The Background of the Homeric Simile · 14 The Oral Nature of Homeric Verse · 14 The Simileme · 18 Homer and His Audience · 31 Simile and Simileme · 37 chapter three Homer’s Use of Similes to Delineate Character and Plot · 42 Iliad, Book 2: Ironic Characterization · 43 The Similes of Book 2 · 44 The Role of Similes in Book 2 · 59 Iliad, Books 21 and 22: Similes to Show a Thematic Contrast · 65 Iliad, Book 11: Similes to Mark a Shifting Scene · 78 Conclusion · 89 chapter four Similes to Delineate a Narrative Theme · 94 Iliad, Book 12: Direct Focus on a Single Theme · 94 Iliad, Book 5: The Use of Parallel Similemes to Create a Unified Theme · 102 Odyssey, Book 22: Similes to Interpret Typical Actions · 112 Odyssey, Book 5: Thematic Similes · 118 Conclusion · 126 chapter five Problem Books · 130 Iliad, Book 13: The Ordering of Conscious Chaos · 130 Iliad, Book 17: Similes as Guides through a Series of Type Scenes · 145 Iliad, Book 16: Similes for Complexity · 155 Conclusion · 171 chapter six The Creative Poet and the Co-creating Audience · 174 The Simile within the Narrative · 174 The Poet’s Choices in Forming the Individual Simile · 181 The Creative Moment: Poet and Audience · 185 Charts of Similemes: The Basic Motifs · 189 Notes · 207 Bibliography · 247 Index · 257 preface The similes in Homer are treasure troves. They describe scenes of Greek life that are not presented in their simplest form anywhere else: landscapes and seascapes; storms and calm weather; fighting among animals; aspects of civic life such as disputes, athletic contests, horse races, community enter- tainment, women carrying on their daily lives, and men running their farms and orchards. But the similes also show Homer dealing with his tradition. They are basic paratactic additions to the narrative showing how the Greeks found and developed parallels between two scenes, each of which elucidated and interpreted the other, and then expressed those scenes in effective poetic language. My earlier book, The Oral Nature of the Homeric Simile, identified series of repeated simile topics and common locations in the narrative with the goal of revealing the oral basis for the content of many of the similes as well as their placement. The current book, directed at the aesthetic qualities that Homer sought in forming each simile, represents that work’s other side. The first study focused more on the traditional alternatives that occurred to Homer as he composed; this second study explores the variations and modifications to each of the topics that Homer employs in order to make similes blend expres- sively with the larger context. The focus moves from compositional modes to aesthetic choices—from the poetic background to the act of creation by the poet and the act of reception by his audience. The major question for the second study is: how does the artist translate his thoughts into his chosen lan- guage? He does so through the indispensable participation of a co- creating audience. Thus the two books are meant to be a unified study of Homer’s similes as compositions derived from and dependent on an oral tradition. The second study is rooted in the mixture of traditional materials pres- ent to the poet every time he considers adding a simile to his narrative. No name has been assigned to this conglomerate of topics and scenes, of previ- ously successful placements of similes, of multiple choices available to the poet, of the alternate narrative techniques that poet and audience bring to the moment, and of the highly developed traditional language that was the birth- right of every Greek. Poet and audience together used their understanding of vii the means of expression and their memory of tales from the past as mutually helpful partners in creating Homer’s old-style “new” poetry. The similes are not presented sequentially or in their order of appearance in the narrative; rather, they are grouped by books and then analyzed as they fit broad functional categories. The first chapter shows how Homer has used expository digressions widely and effectively in telling his stories and how the similes can be approached as parallel narrative devices. The second chapter will analyze the poet’s and audience’s inheritance from previous performances of epic in order to determine the choices available to Homer in shaping his similes to support the narrative. The next three chapters examine those books in the Iliad and the Odyssey that contain the largest numbers of similes—in other words, the books where Homer seems to have chosen to give the simi- les major significance in his design. Finally, the conclusion attempts to imag- ine how a poet could have juggled all the elements that went into the series of choices that produced the individual simile. Together these chapters dem- onstrate my major point: the individual simile—even the shortest one—is the result of a complex process that requires the participation of both poet and audience. The translations are mine; I have everywhere tried to follow the original closely and have not added the Greek text of each simile. Many friends have aided me in completing this study. E. M. Bradley, E. Bakker, M. Edwards, J. Foley, J. A. W. Heffernan, C. Higbie, E. Minchin, G. Nagy, R. Rabel, H. Tell, W. G. Thalmann, and L. Whaley have been loyal guides as the book took shape. To them and to the many other friends and colleagues who have offered generous criticism, I offer my appreciation. The publication of this book in its double format has depended on close and friendly cooperation with the Dartmouth College Library and the Uni- versity Press of New England. I wish to express my thanks for the interest and enthusiasm of Michael P. Burton, the Director of the Press, and Jeffrey L. Horrell, the Librarian of the College, as well as Phyllis Deutsch, William Fon- taine, Elizabeth Kirk, and David Seaman. Hanover, New Hampshire W.C.S. viii · Preface The Artistry of the Homeric Simile chapter one Similes, the Shield of Achilles, and Other Digressions Similes are often repeated with very little change, they accumulate when there is no need, and they compare where there is nothing comparable. Great art would consist in making one large and highly appropriate simile. Homer becomes too carried away with his own similes and forgets narrative. m. de la motte1 In the eighteenth book of Homer’s Iliad Hephaistos makes a new shield for Achilles.2 The description of this shield is justly famed as a small master- work in its own right as well as being the prototype for later poets and writers who include art objects within their works.3 The most notable ancient exam- ples are The Shield of Heracles, the shields in the central scene of Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes, the cup in Theocritus’ first Idyll, the tapestry in Catullus’ epyllion on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (c. 64), and the shield of Aeneas in book 8 of The Aeneid. These ekphrases occupy so large a portion of each work that they are necessarily major elements in the overall design.4 Homer often describes objects and implements in the course of his nar- rative, even pausing in the midst of events to present a detailed picture of some article drawn from the background. Book 11 of the Iliad contains three examples. The first and second are the descriptions of the breastplate and the shield of Agamemnon embedded in his arming scene (11.19–40); the third is “Nestor’s cup” (11.632–37). The presentation of each object is sufficiently detailed that it has been possible to find fragmentary yet often rather pre- cise remains that parallel the verbal descriptions.5 These descriptions focus sharply on physical features. While they may interrupt an action, they do so only long enough to permit a listing of the elements that would meet the eye of the observer. Such quick sketches of a person’s possessions, however, strengthen the characterization being developed in the larger passage. The 1