8/13/2019 Knox - An Unnoticed Imitation of Callimachus Aetia FR. 1.1 PF

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An Unnoticed Imitation of Callimachus, Aetia FR. 1.1 PF.

Author(s): Peter E. KnoxSource: The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Dec., 2006), pp. 639-640Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association

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8/13/2019 Knox - An Unnoticed Imitation of Callimachus Aetia FR. 1.1 PF

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SHORTER NOTES 639

AN UNNOTICED IMITATION OF CALLIMACHUS,AETIA FR. 1.1 PF.

The first word of Callimachus Aetia is missing in the papyrus (POxy. 2079) thatpreserves the rest of the opening line, providing only one iota of evidence about how

it begins (fr. 1.1 Pf.):

......]•fkot EAXi+VES,? 7TCTp•oVUVaLoLSt

... theTelchinesqueakawayatmypoem

Other suggestions to fill the gap of six or seven letters have been proposed, but

Lobel s1,oAAdKL

has long attracted much support. This conjecture has recently been

confirmed by E Pontani, who adduces convincing evidence from the scholia to Hom.

Od. 2.50.2 Armed with this new certainty about the incipit of the Aetia, A. Barchiesi

has shown how Catullus evokes the beginning of Callimachus elegiac masterpiece inthe last poem in the transmitted text of his works (116.1-2):3

Saepe ibi studiosoanimouerbaanterequirenscarminautipossemmittereBattiadae..

Often oryouwithearnest hought vebeensearchingorwords,n order o sendyoupoemsoftheBattiad ..

The programmatic purpose of this poem in suggesting a shift to iambic content has

been noticed before;4Barchiesi s elegant discussion underscores this point with the

clinching reference in saepe (followed by a pronoun in the dative case) to the firstword of Callimachus celebrated programmatic statement. Did any other Roman

poet exploit the opening of the Aetia in this way for allusive effect?

Near the end of his first book, Martial addresses an epigramto a friend, L. Julius,swho has urged him to write poetry with more substance (1.107):

Saepemihidicis,Lucicarissimeuli,Scribealiquidmagnum: esidiosus omo es.

otiadanobis,sedqualia ecerat limMaecenasFlaccoVergilioqueuo:

condereuicturasemptempersaecula uras

et nomen lammis ripuissemeum.

E. Lobel, Callimachea ,Hermes 70 (1935), 31-45, at 32. For the most cogent defence of this

conjecture,cf. A. Cameron, Callimachusand his Critics(Princeton, 1995), 339.2 E Pontani, The first word of Callimachus Aitia , ZPE 128 (1999), 57-9.3 A. Barchiesi, The searchfor the perfectbook: a PS to the New Posidippus , in K. Gutzwiller

(ed.), The New Posidippus.A Hellenistic Poetry Book (Oxford, 2005), 320-42, at 333-6. Forfurtherdiscussion of the Prologue with the newly guaranteedincipit, see B. Acosta-Hughes andS. A. Stephens, RereadingCallimachus Aetia fragment 1 , CPh 97 (2002), 238-55.

4 See the earlier discussion in C. Macleod, Catullus 116 , CQ 23 (1973), 304-9 = Collected

Essays (Oxford, 1983), 181-6; cf. also T. P. Wiseman, Catullus and his World.:A Reappraisal

(Cambridge, 1985), 184-6 for further discussion of the programmaticcharacter of this poem,with speculation that it announces a more radicalchange of genre.

5Commentators-e.g. M. Citroni, M. Valerii Martialis Epigrammaton Liber Primus

(Florence, 1975), 326, P. Howell, A Commentaryon Book One of the Epigrams of Martial

(London, 1980), 328-express doubts about the identity of this Julius, but D. R. Shackleton

Bailey, Martial. Epigrams,3 vols. (Cambridge,MA, 1993), 1.53, n. harbours none: there can beno doubt that the Julius of this and other epigramsis M. s closest friend, L. JuliusMartialis .

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8/13/2019 Knox - An Unnoticed Imitation of Callimachus Aetia FR. 1.1 PF

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640 SHORTER NOTES

insteriles oluntamposuga erreuuenci:pinguesolum assat,sed iuuat pse abor.

Youoften ay ome,dearest ucius ulius:Writeomethingig:youarealazybones. ivemeleisure,mean uch eisure sMaecenasncemadeorhisFlaccusndhisVirgil. hen would

try o writeworks hatwould ive hroughhecenturiesndsnatchmyname rom he uneralfires.Oxen on tike o bearheyokentobarrencres. thick oil ires, ut heveryabors oy.(Trans. hackletonBailey)

Critics have recognized hat in this epigram,Martial is playingwith the themes

typicalof Augustanrecusationes,6hichhe travestiesby representing randpoetic

inspirationas a matter of findingthe right patron.As P. Howellputs it, Martial

clearlymeansthatit is as unlikely hathe wouldeverwriteseriouspoetryas thathe

should everfind a realsecond Maecenas .7But what criticshave not recognizeds

that the openingcouplet actuallybypasses he Augustanpoets and makesplayfulallusion directlyto CallimachusAetia. In the second line, Martialhumorouslyrecasts the criticismsof the Telchines.The phrasescribealiquidmagnum learly

replayson a humorously educed cale the criticismof Callimachushathe did not

produce one continuouspoem on the deeds of kings or heroes of old in manythousands Ev7roAAai.. XAthdatv)f lines (fr.1.3-5 Pf.).8Likewise,n thephrasedesidiosus omoesMartial ompresseshe Telchines ccusation gainstCallimachus

that he wasteshis timebecausehe steershissong likea child nto smallcompass 7iTL

rvw7 v... 7ratg

a E),despitedecadesnot a few (fr.1.5-6 Pf.).9Havingbeencastin

the role of the Telchines,Martial saddresseewill not have beendeaf eitherto the

echoof Callimachusn theopeningsaepemihi, he onlyinstance n whicha Roman

poet beginsa

poembyquotinghefirsttwowordsof theAetia.10

Universityof Colorado,Boulder PETER E. KNOX

Peter.Knox@Colorado.edudoi:10.1017/S0009838806000723

6 Citroni n. 5), 326: allarichiestadi comporre n operadi pilivastoimpegnoartistico ditono pili elevatoM. rispondacon una recusatio he in certosensocapovolge terminidelletradizionali ecusationes ei poeti augustei ; f. Howell(n. 5), 327-8 andfor Martial s ttitudetoward Callimachean poetics, J. P. Sullivan, Martial: The UnexpectedClassic. A Literaryand

Historical Study(Cambridge,1991),74-5.7 Howell

n.5),328.

8 Of course,magnumriggers ecognition, lthoughnone of Martial sommentatorsuitesaythis. Howell(n. 5), ad loc. compares, ot quiteaptly,Call.fr. 465 Pf. rdpEya pftflAov aoviSEyE~Evat

7T/pEyaAW,,KaKc--a poet s complaint, or a librarian s? Cf. Cameron (n. 1), 52.

For the epic associations of phrases such as magno ... ore (Ov. Ars 1.206), magni ... oris opus

(Prop.2.10.12), maiore ... plectro (Hor. Carm.4.2.33), velsim., cf. Cameron(n. 1),467-71.

9 Forthevariousassociations nvokedby the Telchines ccusationhat Callimachuswriteslikea child ,cf. Cameronn. 1),182-3.

10 Indeed his is one of onlytwo instancesnwhicha Latinpoembeginswithsaepemihi; he

other,Mart.1.92,apparentlyoes not invokeCallimachus.

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