Song Exchange in Roman Pastoral (Trends in Classics) (Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes)

Agonistic or friendly song exchange in idyllic settings forms the very heart of Roman pastoral. It is also a key means of metapoetic stance-taking on the part of the long line of authors who have cultivated this “traditional” genre. The present book examines the motif of song exchange in Roman bucolic poetry under this double aspect: as a central theme with established or constantly forming sub-themes and paraphernalia (thus providing a comprehensive listing, description and analysis of such scenes in the totality of Roman literature), and as the locus where, thanks to its very traditionality, innovative generic tendencies are most easily expressed. Starting from Vergil, and continuing with Calpurnius Siculus, the Einsiedeln Eclogues and Nemesianus, the book focuses on how politics, panegyric, elegy, heroic and didactic poetry function as guest genres within the pastoral host genre, by tracing in detail the evolution of a wide variety of literary, linguistic, stylistic and metrical features. Acknowledgments 7 Contents 9 Introduction 13 Methodological Remarks: ‘Bucolic’ or ‘Pastoral’ Genre 13 Theocritus and the Formation of a Bucolic Genre 23 Post-Theocritean Bucolics: The Continuation of a Genre 32 Vergil vs. Pre-Vergilian Pastoral: The Construction of the Roman Genre 38 Post-Vergilian Pastoral: ‘Generic Expansion’ 47 Language and Style / the Term Callimachean – Neoteric: Methodological Remarks 62 Aims of the Present Study: Defining Pastoral Song Exchange 63 Corydon vs. Thyrsis in the Seventh Eclogue: Why Not a Draw? 66 ‘Unpastoral Dispositions’ and Neoteric Defects 69 Frigidity of Style and Character: Winter Imagery and t1 xuwq1m 74 Gods, Goddesses and Daphnis the Referee 78 Neoteric Language and Style 84 Conclusions 97 Generic Issues in Vergilian Pastoral Again: The Third Eclogue 99 The Cups and the Ecphrasis 100 The Bickering Scene 107 The Poetic Contest 123 Eros 124 The ‘Unfriendly Landscape’ 129 Eros ... Continued 131 Last but not Least: the Puzzling Riddles 132 The End of the Singing Match 134 Conclusions 136 The Poetics of Recusatio: The Eighth Eclogue 137 The Dedication Part 138 The Narrative Frame 142 Damon’s Song 145 Alphesiboeus’ Song 156 Conclusion 163 Reviving Pastoral: Vergil and his Fifth Bucolic 165 ‘An Epitome of Generic History’ 165 The Framing Narrative 166 Mopsus’ Performance 169 Menalcas’ Performance 180 Closure 191 Poetic Initiation Settings 194 Conclusion 195 Memory Destroyed: A Reading of the Ninth Eclogue 196 The Preliminaries 197 Song Exchange 206 Linguistic Characterisation 219 Conclusion 223 Pastoral Hybridism: Poetics of Meta-language in Calpurnius Siculus’ Amoebaean Songs – Calp. 2 225 The Prerequisites 226 The Singing Match 233 The draw 247 Linguistic Realism 249 Conclusion 250 Pastoral Backgrounds – ‘Unpastoral’ Foregrounds: The Fourth Calpurnian Eclogue 251 The Introductory Narrative 252 The Song Exchange 271 Diction and ‘Generic Novelty’ 287 Conclusion 290 Epic Excellence in Pastoral: A Reading of the First Einsiedeln Eclogue 292 The Introductory Setting 293 Ladas’ Song 300 Thamyras’ Song 305 Conclusion 307 Elegiac vs. Pastoral Again: Reading the Second Eclogue of Nemesianus’ 309 The Narrative Framing 310 Idas’ Song 315 Alcon’s Song 325 Conclusion 331 The Rematch: Reading Nemesianus’ Fourth Eclogue 333 The Narrative Framing 333 The Song Exchange 338 Conclusion 349 Bibliography 351 General Index 381

Agonistic or friendly song exchange in idyllic settings forms the very heart of Roman pastoral. It isalso a key means of metapoetic stance-taking on the part of the long line of authors who have cultivated this “traditional” genre. The present book examines the motif of song exchange in Roman bucolic poetry under this double aspect: as a central theme with established or constantly forming sub-themes and paraphernalia (thus providing a comprehensive listing, description and analysis of such scenes in the totality of Roman literature), and as the locus where, thanks to its very traditionality, innovative generic tendencies are most easily expressed. Starting from Vergil, and continuing with Calpurnius Siculus, the Einsiedeln Eclogues and Nemesianus, the book focuses on how politics, panegyric, elegy, heroic and didactic poetry function as guest genres within the pastoral host genre, by tracing in detail the evolution of a wide variety of literary, linguistic, stylistic and metrical features.

Annotation The term a ~pastorala (TM) designates a genre of European post-classical poetry which is strongly influenced by Vergila (TM)s Eclogues. In fact, the Eclogues function as the primary literary model for this post-classical poetic trend. The present study discusses a ~generic self-consciousnessa (TM) and a ~generic interactiona (TM) as motifs in the amoebaean eclogues of Roman pastorals. Yet this very objective presupposes the notion of a genre, a quite debated issue, especially in the case of pastorals Agonistic or friendly song exchange in idyllic settings forms the very heart of Roman pastoral. By examining in detail the evolution of a wide variety of literary, linguistic, stylistic, and metrical features, the present book focuses on how politics, panegyrics, elegy, heroic, and didactic poetry function as guest genres within the pastoral host genre, starting from Vergil and continuing with Calpurnius Siculus, the Einsiedeln Eclogues and Nemesianus