The Commerce of War

by Coffee, Neil

• ISBN13: 9780226111872
• ISBN10: 0226111873
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780226111902
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-30
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
• More Book Details

Summary

Latin epics such as Virgil'sAeneid, Lucan'sCivil War, and Statius'sThebaidaddressed Roman aristocrats whose dealings in gifts, favors, and payments defined their conceptions of social order. InThe Commerce of War, Neil Coffee argues that these exchanges play a central yet overlooked role in epic depictions of Roman society. Tracing the collapse of an aristocratic worldview across all three poems, Coffee highlights the distinction they draw between reciprocal gift giving among elites and the more problematic behaviors of buying and selling. In theAeneid, customary gift and favor exchanges are undermined by characters who view human interaction as short-term and commodity-driven. TheCivil Wartakes the next logical step, illuminating how Romans cope once commercial greed has supplanted traditional values. Concluding with theThebaid, which focuses on the problems of excessive consumption rather than exchange, Coffee closes his powerful case that these poems constitute far-reaching critiques of Roman society during its transition from republic to empire.

Author Biography

Neil Coffee is assistant professor of classics at the University at Buffalo, SUNY.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
List of Abbreviations	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Reciprocity in Crisis: Vergil's Aeneid
Roman Heroic Reciprocity	p. 39
Juno's Agents and the Negotiations of Aeneas	p. 67
The Triumph of Venality: Lucan's Civil War
Reciprocity Exposed	p. 117
Caesar, Pompey, and Cato	p. 135
Conspicuous Consumption: Statius's Thebaid
Exchange Eclipsed	p. 185
Eteocles, Polynices, and Creon	p. 241
Conclusions	p. 272
Bibliography	p. 275
Subject Index	p. 291
Index of Cited Passages	p. 297
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