tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4134533972010981122.post2672488372629892489..comments2024-03-28T17:46:07.937+00:00Comments on The Edithorial: On Virgil's Death Anniversary, Was the AENEID complete?Edith Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02518971064140009711noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4134533972010981122.post-46864486063986270192020-09-24T20:38:32.720+01:002020-09-24T20:38:32.720+01:00When I got my iPod and played music of "shuff...When I got my iPod and played music of "shuffle" I was amazed at the brilliant juxtapositions and song-lists produced randomly by the little thing. <br /><br />These are all great observations about how some half-lines work great as they stand, and I have argued that there is very little about the Aeneid that needed to be fixed (since some of its inconsistencies can be seen as deliberate or functional). <br /><br />Here's another great one I have discussed in print:<br />"The one half-line that is not a syntactically complete clause can also be seen as effective and moving. Hector’s widow Andromache, whom Aeneas has found living in Greece, asks whether his son Ascanius still lives: quid puer Ascanius? superatne et uescitur aura?/ quem tibi iam Troia 3.339-40 “What about the boy Ascanius? Does he survive and breathe the air above? Whom to you Troy (or ‘Trojan…’)…” It is easy for us to imagine Andromache being unable to speak Creusa’s name, not only because of Aeneas’ loss of his wife but especially because Aeneas’ son Ascanius must call to mind her own dead son Astyanax."<br /><br />But I don't think there is any real reason to think half-lines were a poetic choice Vergil made, instead of a gift from fate, like my iPod song-lists. One strong argument is that no other poet, among all of those influenced by Vergil, ever used this (except maybe some centoists?). If you look for a precedent you can cite the passage in Catullus 51 where that poet’s notoriously flawed manuscripts have a missing short line right where the speaker says his voice breaks off when he looks at Lesbia. But is the a good argument?<br /><br />Basically no ancient readers operated with a horizon of expectations that would have prepared them to treat half-lines as a deliberate poetic device.<br /><br />I like Goold's argument that Vergil seemed to have composed in bunches of verses, that later needed to be joined together. Often the join is at mid-line, and if the two pieces did not fit together some writing or rewriting had to be done.<br /><br />I love the way the start of our extant Satyricon introduces some major themes and characters, and also fools into thinking the speaker is sincere instead of just trying to get a dinner invitation. But was it the start of the ancient novel? Probably not.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04092077609814958342noreply@blogger.com