V i r g i l t h e Pa r t i s a n A study in the re-integration of Classics Anton Powell V i r g i l t h e Pa r t i s a n A study in the re-integration of Classics anton powell The Classical Press of Wales First published in 2008 by The Classical press of Wales 15 rosehill terrace, swansea sa1 6Jn tel: +44 (0)1792 458397 Fax: +44 (0)1792 464067 www.classicalpressofwales.co.uk Distributor in the United states of america ISD, LLC 70 Enterprise Dr., Suite 2, Bristol, CT 06010 tel: +1 (860) 584–6546 www.isdistribution.com © 2008 the author all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. IsBn 978-1-910589-39-7 a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library typeset by ernest Buckley, Clunton, shropshire printed and bound in the UK by gomer press, llandysul, Ceredigion, Wales The Classical Press of Wales, an independent venture, was founded in 1993, initially to support the work of classicists and ancient historians in Wales and their collaborators from further afield. More recently it has published work initiated by scholars internationally . While retaining a special loyalty to Wales and the Celtic countries, the Press welcomes scholarly contributions from all parts of the world. The symbol of the press is the red Kite. This bird, once widespread in Britain, was reduced by 1905 to some five individuals confined to a small area known as ‘The Desert of Wales’ – the upper tywi valley. geneticists report that the stock was saved from terminal inbreeding by the arrival of one stray female bird from germany. after much careful protection, the red Kite now thrives – in Wales and beyond. To Hans-Peter Stahl COntents page acknowledgements and prefatory note ix Chronology xi part I studying Virgil and The established partisan: The Aeneid 1. studying Virgil: several types of circularity – and an escape 3 2. the theft of Pietas 31 3. recovering sicily 87 4. the peopling of the underworld: Aeneid 6.608–27 133 5. aeneas, sex and misery 149 part II partisan in the making: The Eclogues and Georgics 6. the Eclogues 181 7. the Georgics: the fate of the Muses 227 8. Conclusion 283 9. Bibliography 291 10. Index 301 vii aCKnOWleDgeMents My numerous debts are gladly acknowledged. Many of them, taken together, serve for me as a reminder in microcosm of the historic sophistication of Manchester and its region. accordingly, and from afar, I thank first ernest Buckley from Milnrow. scholar, technician and diplomat – and formerly rural Dean of the Clun Forest Deanery – he has designed and typeset every book from the Classical press of Wales, and made the press’s priorities his own. I am fortunate to know him. lucy holden, formerly prize-winning classicist of edinburgh University and more recently head of Classics at Withington girls’ school, over years gave practical and moral support to the writing of this book. Ian lambert, from Failsworth, initially my student at the Working Men’s College and subsequently a wise friend, helped me on points of psychology. Ian McCannah, from Old trafford, by his enterprise and integrity created in london a professional organization which underpinned the finances of the press, and of my own writing. The polymathic classicist Daniel Ogden, once of Manchester grammar school, has read the book in draft and much improved it in structure as well as detail. rachel Williams, an animatrice of Classics at Manchester grammar school, has contributed to the book in detail; her exceptional students informed and encouraged its author. Much research for the book was done in France, in the superb library of the ecole normale supérieure, paris. Colleagues of the ecole to whom I am indebted are Francis prost, Monique trédé and François Menant. From other French institutions, three colleagues are to be warmly thanked for their intellectual generosity, and practical kindness: pierre Brulé (of rennes II), Jacqueline Christien (nanterre) and nicolas richer (ens, lyon). The ideas and the friendship which I have encountered in France have been an inspiration. I have benefited from the unfailing friendship of the philologist Michael Benskin (of Oslo) and the mathematician susan Friedlander (of the University of southern California). Michael lipton, development economist, inspired by his virtuoso combination of intellectual methods. Merle lipton taught me much about the politics of south africa. stephen Mitchell in swansea created enduring structure for a University of Wales institute. annette Davies, also of swansea, provided remarkable intelligence concerning academic psychology. ix Acknowledgements and Prefatory Note Three senior latinists kindly improved this work. philip hardie showed characteristic generosity and patience in the face of my unconventional approach to a revered ancient author. his judgements have been taken to heart. John trappes-lomax, textual critic and friend of many years, improved content and style throughout. and leofranc holford-strevens fortified the author both by his interest and by his valued criticisms. Ioanna Kralli, hellenistic historian, gave valued encouragement as well as practical support in athens. I thank my daughters for countless forms of encouragement, all the more inspiring because they would not have seen it as such. annie powell said, over years, that she was looking forward to the appearance of ‘V the p’. eva powell, after a childhood resolutely committed to the rug rats, the spice girls and Britney spears, when sixteen told me unexpectedly – with maximum coolness – that she was ‘getting quite interested in athenian democracy’. I record my gratitude to each of my parents: to my father, the germanist hugh powell, who used both determination and finesse to ensure that his son should have a Classical education; and to my mother, who in my childhood always answered my questions. Finally, I have had the honour to know two classical scholars who each have been an example in their field, each a master of architecture and of detail: geoffrey de ste Croix and hans-peter stahl. The former showed that, if only in rare cases such as his, partisanship was compatible with the highest standard of argument. to the latter my debt is even more obviously personal. Without his intervention as (then) a stranger, an article of my own on Virgil from 1992, which now appears a sketch for part of this book, would probably have been – as far as latin poetry was concerned – a permanent sheath for my quill. I hope he will not regret his responsibility. Until the mid-1990s I had known of two separate stahls: the author (in german) of perhaps the best argument on Thucydides of the twentieth century, and the author (in english) of a definitive study of propertius. But these stahls were one and the same. This may inspire others, if only as would-be epigones, to attempt to combine greek with roman studies. It is for many reasons that the book is dedicated to him. preFatOry nOte The text of Virgil followed is that of r.a.B.Mynors. references to appian are throughout to his Civil Wars. ‘servius’ is used almost indiscriminately to refer to items in the servian corpus. Dates are bc unless otherwise indicated. x ChrOnOlOgy The tables below show main political developments referred to in this book, alongside conventional dates for Virgil’s own activity. 44 assassination of Julius Caesar. 43– antony, Octavian and lepidus, the triumvirs, conduct massacre of opponents and of the rich, the ‘proscriptions’. Death of Cicero. popular resistance to ‘proscriptions’. 43/2 sextus pompeius, outlawed, takes control of sicily and the western Mediterranean. 42 Battle of philippi: antony (with Octavian) defeats republicans under Brutus and Cassius. Widespread seizure of Italian land by Octavian and antony, to be given to veteran soldiers of the philippi campaign. 42–36 (with interruption from 39) sextus pompeius blocks rome’s import of food by sea, and promotes rescue of the ‘proscribed’. Octavian fails several times in attempts to defeat sextus by sea. popular demonstrations at rome in favour of sextus and of peace. 40 Octavian marries scribonia, of sextus pompeius’ c. 40, Eclogues faction. written. 39 short-lived treaty of Misenum between triumvirs and sextus pompeius; remaining ‘proscribed’ are granted their lives. Octavian betrothes his infant nephew, Marcellus, to daughter of sextus pompeius. 36 Octavian defeated by sextus pompeius at tauromenium (sicily); narrowly escapes with his life. 36 Battle of naulochus (sicily): agrippa, from his base at 36–29(?), Georgics portus Iulius, defeats sextus pompeius in Octavian’s written. interest; sextus loses sicily. end of naval blockade of Italy and of prospect of restoring seized Italian lands. Fall of lepidus. 35 Death of sextus pompeius in asia Minor. 31 Battle of actium: defeat of antony. 31– sole rule of Octavian over roman world. 27 Octavian changes his name; becomes ‘augustus’. early 20s onwards, Aeneid written; unfinished at time of Virgil’s death. 19, Death of Virgil. xi part I studying Virgil and The established partisan: The Aeneid 1 stUDyIng VIrgIl: seVeral types OF CIrCUlarIty – anD an esCape every age has its own approach to the Bible – and perhaps its own Virgil. r.p.h. green 2007, 163 … although aeneas exhibits the appropriate emotions it is hard entirely to evade a feeling that … J. griffin 1986, 831 Virgil has been so much defended; collectively the effect has been to damage his reputation. ‘Why,’ the interested non-specialist may wonder, ‘does this writer need so much defence? Is he not generally recognized as the greatest of latin poets?’ But it is perhaps the very position of Virgil’s poetry as the chief asset of latinism that helps to cause such defensive anxiety among specialists. If Virgil fails to attract, and to attract the young in particular, will the survival of latin literary studies not be compromised? recent studies of Virgil have made impressive advances. The relation of his poems to their generic ancestors is being understood as perhaps never before – at least since antiquity. Close comparisons of the latin poet and his models increasingly make clear Virgil’s elaborate mastery of greek poetic forms. so intimate has Virgil’s dependence seemed that philip hardie has been able to write: ‘the Aeneid is faithful to its homeric models at all levels’.2 Modern scholarship has also converged productively on the idea of Virgil as consummate architect.3 The architectural metaphor is now used widely of Virgil’s work, quite properly; the poet himself, at a strategic moment in the Georgics, figures his poetry as a temple. he writes of his temple, his poetry, as having a centre, to be occupied by ‘Caesar’: In medio mihi Caesar erit templumque tenebit (G 3.16). Centre implies symmetry, and the search for symmetry in the poet’s oeuvre has been one of the successful aspects of recent work. It is now commonly accepted that the Aeneid divides clearly (though not cleanly) into halves, an Odyssean (Books 1–6) and an Iliadic (Books 7–12). The four books of the Georgics are themselves seen by some4 as hinging purposefully at the transition between Books 2 and 3 – the point, 3