Roman Love Poetry

This new companion (edited by Patrick Finglass and Adrian Kelly) aims to incorporate the newest finds of Sappho's poetry into an overall study of her importance in the ancient world and her reception into the modern. The cast list and proposed structure can be found in the attached document.

La questione della genesi e dell’evoluzione dell’elegia latina è uno dei temi più interessanti e maggiormente affrontati dagli studiosi di ogni epoca, in quanto pare di ritrovarsi dinnanzi ad una forma letteraria che non ha alcun riscontro preciso nella letteratura greca, soprattutto per quanto riguarda uno dei suoi caratteri distintivi: quello erotico soggettivo. A tal proposito, nell’ambito della poesia neoterica, il carme 68 di Catullo occupa un ruolo di primo piano assoluto e potrebbe, pertanto, considerarsi «the prototype of the Latin erotic elegy», ovvero la prima grande elegia latina, derivata dall’applicazione dei canoni alessandrini alla mentalità propria del mondo romano, per la funzione archetipica svolta per la restante produzione elegiaca. Oggetto privilegiato di questo saggio, tuttavia, sono i versi 1- 20 del carme 68, facenti parte della sezione dell’opera dedicata a Manlius. Dopo aver ricevuto da lui una lettera compassionevole, infatti, Catullo risponde che, a causa della difficile situazione in cui si trovava, non possedeva uno stato d’animo adatto né per affrontare discorsi inerenti all’amore, né per dedicarsi alla composizione di poesia amorosa.

In Virgil’s Eclogues the Muses Pierides are always represented as authors of the poems, like in the Gallus papyrus from Qaṣr Ibrîm. Their presence in passages allusive to the verses of the papyrus and the employ of the epithet by Prop. 2, 10 and 2, 13 in texts rich of gallan references let suspect that the word Pierides was already in Gallus’ poetry and perhaps in the lacuna at v. 6 of the papyrus.

L'ottantacinquesimo carme del Liber catulliano è forse il primo tweet della storia, il distico amoroso più famoso di sempre, con l'ossimorica asserzione iniziale dell'Odio e dell'Amore, che assume valenza universale pur in un contesto in definitiva intimista, se non propriamente egotista.

RESUMEN El mito de Dido y Eneas es conocido, entre otros aspectos, por las distintas pasiones que desata el anuncio del troyano con respecto a su partida de Cartago. Las pasiones de este episodio se han analizado, principalmente, en la Eneida de Virgilio. Por tal razón, en el presente trabajo se estudian desde otra perspectiva: la de Ovidio en las Heroidas. Este artículo pretende enfocarse en las pasiones compasión, vergüenza y temor presentes en la epístola VII de la obra a partir de una interpretación retórica de las mismas. ABSTRACT The myth of Dido and Aeneas is known, among other aspects, for the different passions provoked by the announcement of the departure of the Trojan hero from Carthage. The passions of this episode have been analyzed, mainly in Virgil's Aeneid. For this reason, in the present paper they study from another perspective, that is, the one presented in Ovid's Heroids. Therefore, this article focuses on the following feelings: compassion, shame and fear in the VII epistle of the work from a rhetorical interpretation.

ABSTRACT.  The character of Orpheus as unhappy lover is in the Hellenistic love elegy, but it appears in Latin poetry only with the Virgilian epyllion at the end of the Georgics. The scrutiny of several texts (Virgil's ecll. 2, 6, 8 and 10; the anonymous Lament for Bion; Hor. carm. 1, 24; Prop. 2, 34, 90 – 91; Ov. amor. 3, 9, 63 – 64) allows to assume the presence of Orpheus in Gallus' elegy and to guess his figure behind the Virgilian Orpheus.

The name of the addressee of Catullus 32, whether Ipsit(h)illa, Ipsimilla or Ipsicilla, contains a bilingual wordplay on the Homeric hapax ἴψ, a woodworm which bores through materials just as Catullus’ unfulfilled erection does at the end of the poem. It may also relate to certain conventions of hetaira-names.

Ο έρωτας και οι ποικίλες εκφάνσεις του δεν έπαψαν ποτέ να βρίσκονται στο επίκεντρο του δημόσιου και του ιδιωτικού βίου της Ρώμης. Διόλου τυχαία, άλλωστε, η λέξη ROMA αναγραμματίζεται σε AMOR (= έρωτας). Οι Ρωμαίοι ποιητές, στην προσπάθειά τους να φανούν αντάξιοι συνεχιστές των Ελλήνων προκατόχων τους, καλλιέργησαν συστηματικά και διεύρυναν το πεδίο της ερωτικής γραφής κατακτώντας νέους εκφραστικούς τρόπους, εξερευνώντας νέες θεματικές και προχωρώντας σε τολμηρά νέα εγχειρήματα. Η λατινική ερωτική ποίηση είναι γεμάτη πολυχρωμία, εκπλήξεις, ανατροπές και αντινομίες. Τη διακρίνει φαντασία, ευαισθησία, τόλμη, ειρωνεία και, όχι σπάνια, καυστικό χιούμορ. Είναι ένας χώρος αναρίθμητων αποχρώσεων, όπου τα πιο λεπτά σκιρτήματα μιας ερωτευμένης καρδιάς μπορούν να συνυπάρχουν με την εκδικητική μανία ενός προδομένου έρωτα.
(…)
Η ανθολογία αυτή απευθύνεται σε κάθε αναγνώστη που επιθυμεί να γνωρίσει τη λατινική ποίηση, αλλά και σε εκείνον που θέλει να διευρύνει τη γνωριμία του με αυτήν. Σύντομα εργοβιογραφικά σημειώματα για κάθε ποιητή βοηθούν τον αναγνώστη να αποκτήσει μια, έστω αδρή, εικόνα των συνθηκών (ιστορικών, πολιτικών, πνευματικών, και άλλων) συγγραφής κάθε έργου, ώστε να μπορέσει να εκτιμήσει καλύτερα τη συμβολή κάθε δημιουργού. Σύντομες ερμηνευτικές υποσημειώσεις παρατίθενται για να διευκολύνουν την κατανόηση του κειμένου.

Gallus is mentioned five times in Propertius’ Monobiblos (elegies 5, 10, 13, 20 and 21). Scholars have thoroughly debated how these constructions may provide concrete evidence of Roman life. The possibilities found were presented on well-researched studies, which, nevertheless, were based on a false premise: that the names cited by the poet were necessarily identified with real people.
This paper argues that the name Gallus refers to one and the same character: Cornellius Gallus, as it is clear in elegy 2B.34.91. Thus this name, in Propertius, may function as a marker of the elegiac genre, or refer to a rival in the erotic narrative of the book or point to the structure of the Monobiblos. We must keep in mind that Gallus is evoked not as a historical character, but as persona ficta, whose ἦθος was constructed observing Propertius’ poetic program, and whose fides resides in the contiguity with the homonym elegiac poet, the poet-lover, whose beloved is Lycoris, his scripta puella. Thus although these characters can be real, they pass through the filter of this poetic genre.
This article aims to demonstrate how the name Gallus functions as a marker of the elegiac genre in Propertius’ Monobiblos, in which it may refer to the poetics, the erotic narrative or the structure of the book.

Abstract. In Amor. 1.2 Ovid creates a poetic dialogue not only with Tibullus and Propertius on the theme of the triumph, but also with crucial topics of the Augustan propaganda and with important poems like the Aeneid. The phrase felicia arma, in particular, shows a new reading of the puzzling Virgilian point of view about the princeps and his new regime.

Key words: Ovidian elegy; Augustan propaganda; triumph; ending of the Aeneid.

This paper is concerned with mapping the construction of the poetic personae in Roman erotic poetry from the late Republic and the early Principate, with a view to reevaluate some aspects of the “poetic game” which programmatically orients this kind of poetry between reality and fiction. Then, on the one hand, I observe some denotative and referential aspects of these poetic personae – both male and female –, restoring their ways of life (uitae modus) as well as the decorous ambience, appropriate to this forma mentis, this way of thinking and acting. On the other hand, I try to reveal how these same personae can and must be read connotatively and poetically, i.e., they must be understood as tropes. Therefore, if we associate these aspects of the personae to the denotative and referential aspects, we will not only be clear about the “poetic game” to which the reception of the erotic poetry of this period was subordinate, but also that this same game, a border genre, par excellence, provides a metapoetic reading.

Presented at the Inaugural Student Paper Conference organized by Hillsdale College's LIT honorary in March 2015, this paper attempts to offer one possible account of Ovid’s objective in writing Heroides 7, specifically in relation to the author’s role as a reader of Vergil, and focusing on the conclusion of the epistle, which, as will be shown, must be read back onto the earlier portions of the letter and onto the original Dido narrative of Aeneid 4 in order to grasp some sense of the meaning of the whole. Ovid uses the elegiac epistolary form to draw out details of the Vergilian plot which might otherwise be overlooked and which provide the necessary basis for a fully-nuanced understanding of the relationship between Dido and Aeneas. As Ovid’s Dido herself admits, she and her sister Anna are both guilty because of her breach of pudor first in forgetting her vow to Sychaeus and then in scheming to keep Aeneas with her at Carthage. While Dido is undeniably the victim of tragic fate, Ovid insists that his readers remember the active part which the queen plays in her own demise. Deceived, she deceives all. Aeneas provided the cause and the sword, but Dido fell by her own hand.

Abstract. Le particolarità di 1, 20 all’interno del I libro di Properzio possono suggerire una serie di riflessioni sul destinatario, sulla natura del componimento, sui suoi modelli e sui suoi rapporti con l’elegia erotica latina nella prima fase della sua esistenza.

Abstract. The unusual features of 1, 20 in the first book of Propertius suggest a series of considerations about the addressee of the poem, its genre, its models and its relationship with Latin love elegy in the first period of its existence.

Abstract. Il confronto tra Prop. 2, 3, 91-92 e Virg. ecl. 10, 18 permette di sostenere con buona plausibilità che Gallo avesse trattato di Adone nella sua elegia erotica e che gli avesse dato una funzione di exemplum, utilizzando il mito come avrebbero fatto i suoi continuatori. La probabilità che egli avesse imitato Euphor. fr. 43 Pow. su Adone fa immaginare il suo rapporto con i modelli e la sua libertà nell’adattarli al nuovo genere elegiaco.

Parole chiave: Adone; elegia erotica latina; Gallo; Euforione; translatio; exemplum.

Abstract. The comparison between Prop. 2, 3, 91-92 and Virg. ecl. 10, 18 allows to argue that Gallus treated Adonis in his love elegy and that he used this character as an exemplum, in the same way of his future followers, in particular Propertius and Ovid. It is possible that he imitated Euphor. fr. 43 Pow., and for this reason we can try to reconstruct his relationship with the models and his freedom in in adapting them to the new elegiac poetry.

Key words: Adonis; Latin love elegy; Gallus; Euphorion; translatio; exemplum.

Sollicitos Galli dicamus amores: amor and amores in Virg. ecl. 10.
Abstract. Amor, a key-word in the last Virgilian eclogue, dedicated to the unhappy love of Gallus for Lycoris, has in the text a great importance, which deserves a careful analysis. The meaning of the term relates to the passion of Gallus for his beloved, but also to his choice of military life, and to the affection of friendship. Particularly interesting are the four occurrences of the word in the plural, perhaps alluding to the title of Gallus’ elegies and always referred to the complex metapoetic discourse developed in the eclogue.
Key words: Gallus; love elegy; amor; Vergilian bucolic poetry; Daphnis.

Sollicitos Galli dicamus amores: amor et amores dans l’ecl. 10 de Virgile.
Résumé. Le mot amor, crucial dans la dernier éclogue de Virgile, dédiée à l'amour malheureux Gallo pour Lycoris, est d'une grande importance dans le texte, et mérite une analyse approfondie. Le sens de l'expression se rapporte à la passion de Gallo pour sa bien-aimée, mais aussi à son choix de la vie militaire et à l'affection de l'amitié de Virgile. Particulièrement intéressants sont les quatre occurrences du mot au pluriel, peut-être allusions au titre des élégies de Gallus et toujours liées au complexe discours poétic de l’éclogue.
Mots-clés: Gallus; élégie amoureuse latine; amor; poésie bucolique de Virgile; Daphnis.

Abstract:
A distinguishing feature of Catullus' poetics, which was followed by other poets, is the use of his own name to present a " multivoiced ego " in his poetry, as it has been shown by Greene (1995), i.e., this ego can emerge from poetry in the first person singular or plural, in the second person singular or in the third person singular. This supposed grammatical " inconsistency " does not indicate a uitium elocutionis against the puritas or latinitas of the poetic speech, but it must be seen as a poetic uirtus which operates in the argumentative structure of his collection, no matter if we identify either one or three books of poetry in this corpus. This article aims to show how we can read this linguistic fact considering an argumentative structure whose purpose is to support the delineation of Lesbia's poetic persona within the narrative of Catullus' collection.

Resumo:
Um aspecto diferencial da poética de Catulo, que será seguido por outros poetas, é a utilização de seu próprio nome em sua poesia, apresentando-o um ego " plurívoco " como foi mostrado por Greene (1995), isto é, esse ego pode emergir da poesia na primeira pessoa do singular ou plural, na segunda pessoa do singular ou na terceira pessoa do singular. Esta suposta " inconsistência " gramatical não indica um uitium elocutionis contra a puritas ou a latinitas do discurso poético, ao contrário, deve ser lida como uma uirtus poética que é operada na estrutura argumentativa da coleção, ainda que possamos identificar nesse corpus um único livro, ou três. Este artigo tem o objetivo de aferir como podemos ler este fato linguístico em função de uma estrutura argumentativa que visa a sustentar o desenho da persona poética Lésbia na narrativa da coleção de Catulo.

The participation of the poet to the triumph and the reading of the tituli, a theme present in vv. 2-5 of the Gallus papyrus from Qaṣr Ibrîm, is polemically transformed by Prop. 3,4, where it is employed to express the indifference of the poet to war and laudatory poetry, and his elegiac choice of life is reaffirmed. Ovid in ars 1,177-228 changes it further, so that the triumph becomes an occasion for amorous encounters, but in the elegies from exile he proposes the topos in a different sense, to please the emperor.

The opinion that Virgil’s ecl. 10 can have a function of ‘courtship’ to Lycoris in favour of Gallus, or to the same Gallo by Virgil is contradicted by a careful reading of the text and by a comparison with the verses of the Qaṣr Ibrîm papyrus. The eclogue appears quite deliberately assimilated in other ways to the erotic Latin elegy with which it is compared.