Appendix B: Aggression and the Defensive Topos; Archilochus, Callimachus, Horace Thus far, I have focused on the lives of the poets, with only occasional supportive reference to the poet’s poetry. The subject of this chapter will be a theme that has been considered in passing, aggression and the defensive stance as an […]
Appendix A: Poetry, Aggression, Ritual Walter Burkert has pioneered an analysis of ancient Greek ritual that sees its roots in aggression, in biological impulses than can be observed in animals—Konrad Lorenz was especially fascinated by geese. [1] In the survey of poets in previous chapters, themes and poetic phenomena that related to […]
Epilogue The process leading from “myth” to “history”—though such terms cannot be strictly distinguished at all times, as history can function on a sacral level, and myth is always perceived by believers as history—can be seen as a process of secularization. The poet is an omniscient god; then a superhuman hero tied […]
Chapter 27. Transformations of Myth: The Poet, Society, and the Sacred This survey ends with Rome, since in Rome we have entered history, for the most part. All of our Roman poets are certainly historical. Much of the Greek material, on the other hand, is clearly legendary or mythical. [1] Greece and […]
Chapter 26. Juvenal: The Burning Poet It is fitting that we should end our survey with Juvenal, for his savagery and artistry mark a culmination of Roman satire. For Gilbert Highet, “The Roman Juvenal was the greatest satiric poet who ever lived.” [1] Though bitterness and venom characterize Juvenal’s poetry, [2] its […]
Chapter 25. Seneca, Petronius, and Lucan: Neronian Victims Of three major representatives of “Menippean” satire, Varro, Seneca, and Petronius, two met their deaths at the hand of Nero, as did Lucan, another prominent poet. In addition, it is possible that Persius was poisoned by Nero; he died of stomach sickness, always suspect […]
Chapter 24. Phaedrus: Another Fabulist In Phaedrus, we meet once again, in miniature format, the direct Aesopic line of tradition: Aesop, Archilochus, Socrates; fables, offense of the powerful, punishment. Phaedrus, an Augustan freedman of Thracian birth, versified (like Socrates) and Latinized Aesop’s fables; but he added some fables of his own, which […]
Chapter 23. Ovid: Practicing the Studium Fatale Perhaps the most famous poetic exile in Latin literature is Ovid’s. He was the first major poet-victim of the repressive powers of the imperator; as he was the most popular living poet, [1] this banishment served notice that freedom of poetic expression would be severely […]
Chapter 22. Cicero Maledicus, Cicero Exul This chapter will regard Cicero as a poet in a nontechnical sense, an artist projecting the archaic categories of praise and blame in his verbal medium, oratory, and will examine how “aggressive” elements in his speeches contributed to his exiles and death. Oratory, even if […]
Chapter 21. Naevius: Dabunt malum Metelli Naevio poetae We find the theme of the exiled Roman poet first in the life of Naevius (ca. 270–199 BC), Rome’s first writer of plays with Roman subjects, and writer of the first Roman epic with Roman subject matter, The Punic War. The scant details of […]