Vergil, Philodemus, and the Augustans

by Armstrong, David; Fish, Jeffrey; Johnston, Patricia A.; Skinner, Marilyn B.

• ISBN13: 9780292701816
• ISBN10: 0292701810
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

"This is an outstanding collection. It is beautifully produced and provides a fascinating insight into one of the most promising and productive areas of current Vergilian scholarship." -- Vergilius The Epicurean teacher and poet Philodemus of Gadara (c. 110-c. 40/35 BC) exercised significant literary and philosophical influence on Roman writers of the Augustan Age, most notably the poets Vergil and Horace. Yet a modern appreciation for Philodemus' place in Roman intellectual history has had to wait on the decipherment of the charred remains of Philodemus' library, which was buried in Herculaneum by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. As improved texts and translations of Philodemus' writings have become available since the 1970s, scholars have taken a keen interest in his relations with leading Latin poets. The essays in this book, derived from papers presented at the First International Symposium on Philodemus, Vergil, and the Augustans held in 2000, offer a new baseline for understanding the effect of Philodemus and Epicureanism on both the thought and poetic practices of Vergil, Horace, and other Augustan writers. Sixteen leading scholars trace his influence on Vergil's early writings, the Eclogues and the Georgics, and on the Aeneid, as well as on the writings of Horace and others. The volume editors also provide a substantial introduction to Philodemus' philosophical ideas for all classicists seeking a fuller understanding of this pivotal figure.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	1	(24)
DAVID ARMSTRONG
I. EARLY VERGIL
1. Vergil's Farewell to Education (Catalepton 5) and Epicurus' Letter to Pythocles	25	(12)
DISKIN CLAY
2. Philosophy's Harbor	37	(6)
FRANCESCA LONGO AURICCHIO
3. Vergil's Epicureanism in His Early Poems	43	(20)
RÉGINE CHAMBERT
II. Eclogues AND Georgics
4. Consolation in the Bucolic Mode: The Epicurean Cadence of Vergil's First Eclogue	63	(12)
GREGSON DAVIS
5. A Secret Garden: Georgics 4.116-148	75	(10)
W.R. JOHNSON
6. Vergil in the Shadow of Vesuvius	85	(18)
MARCELLO GIGANTE
III. THE Aeneid: THE EMOTIONS
7. The Vocabulary of Anger in Philodemus' De ira and Vergil's Aeneid	103	(8)
GIOVANNI INDELLI
8. Anger, Philodemus' Good King, and the Helen Episode of Aeneid 2.567-589: A New Proof of Authenticity from Herculaneum	111	(28)
JEFFREY FISH
9. Philodemus: Avocatio and the Pathos of Distance in Lucretius and Vergil	139
FREDERIC M. SCHROEDER
IV. THE Aeneid: PIETY AND THE GODS
10. Piety in Vergil and Philodemus	159	(16)
PATRICIA A. JOHNSTON
11. Vergil's De pietate: From Ehoiae to Allegory in Vergil, Philodemus, and Ovid	175	(36)
DIRK OBBINK
12. Emotions and Immortality in Philodemus On the Gods 3 and the Aeneid	211	(20)
MICHAEL WIGODSKY
V. THE Aeneid: AESTHETICS
13. Carmen inane: Philodemus' Aesthetics and Vergil's Artistic Vision	231	(14)
MARILYN B. SKINNER
14. Vergil and Music, in Diogenes of Babylon and Philodemus	245	(22)
DANIEL DELATTRE
VI. OTHER AUGUSTAN POETS
15. Horace's Epistles 1 and Philodemus	267	(32)
DAVID ARMSTRONG
16. Varius and Vergil: Two Pupils of Philodemus in Propertius 2.34?	299	(24)
FRANCIS CAIRNS
Bibliography	323	(20)
Contributors	343	(4)
General Index	347	(10)
Index Locorum	357