VIRGIL: VERGIL: lost verses
> These are the notorious verses alleged by Donatus and Servius to have > been removed from the beginning of the Aeneid by its first editors: > > Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus auena > carmen, et egressus siluis uicina coegi > ut quamuis auido parerent arua colonis > gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis > > It must be ages since any half-decent critic has believed in them; the > likeliest explanation is that they were written above an author-portrait > in an early manuscript. > This raises an interesting question to me, of what Romans saw when they picked up a copy of the Aeneid - their most hallowed work. If these spurious lines got into the manuscripts so early, how much else might have found its way into the text to mar the poem for these fellow-admirers of Virgil? I wonder if many such problems arose out of the inclusion of author-portraits and the like, as Leofranc suggests this one might have. Dan King --- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
Re: VIRGIL: VERGIL: lost verses
>These are the notorious verses alleged by Donatus and Servius to have >been removed from the beginning of the Aeneid by its first editors: > >Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus auena >carmen, et egressus siluis uicina coegi >ut quamuis auido parerent arua colonis >gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis > >It must be ages since any half-decent critic has believed in them; the >likeliest explanation is that they were written above an author-portrait >in an early manuscript. Apparently James Henry in his Aeneidea (1873-92) defended the authenticity of these verses. See C. Martindale (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Virgil (1997), p. 160, where there is also a reference to R. G. Austin, 'Ille ego qui quondam', Classical Quarterly 18 (1968), 107-115. Simon Cauchi, Hamilton, New Zealand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
Re: VIRGIL: VERGIL: lost verses
>book one of spenser's faerie queene begins with four lines supposed to >be imitative of verses found at the beginning of some medieval and >renaissance editions of _the aeneid_: > > Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, > As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, > Am now enforst a far unfitter taske. > For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds... > >does anybody know anything about this? based on my superior >understanding of _the aeneid_ (grin), i cannot believe that anything >like these lines belong to V. > >love from, >-m.spencer These Latin lines exist (see below); for the view that they are not by V. cf Horsfall Companion to V p. 24 with bib (there is also an EJ Kenney article somewhere); I think there may be arguments in favor in Koster, Severin: Ille ego qui. Dichter zwischen Wort und Macht. Erlangen 1988 (Erlanger Forschungen A, 42). At http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~joef/cnh/a/01/1-11.html you can find some of the old Conington-Nettleship commentary, which says "1.] Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris This line is preceded in some MSS. by the following verses, Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena Carmen et egressus silvis vicina coegi Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono, Gratum opus agricolis: at nunc horrentia Martis They are not found in Med., Rom., Gud. Or the Verona fragments (Pal. and the fragments of Vat. and St. Gall seem to fail here), and the only MS. in Ribbeck's list which contains them (the Berne MS. No. 172) has them written in the margin by a later hand. They appear to have existed in the time of Suetonius, who says (Vita Vergilii 42) that Nisus the grammarian had heard a story of their having been expunged by Tucca and Varius; on which Heyne remarks, "Si res ita se habet, acutior sane Varius Vergilio fuit." [Suetonius, it should be remembered, is a poor authority on matters of criticism; he has no difficulty, for instance, in accepting the Culex as genuine. Ti. Donatus knows nothing of these four lines. --H. N.] Those who speak of them as an introduction to the poem, forget that if genuine they are an integral part of the first sentence; and that it is, to say the least, remarkable that the exordium should be so constructed as to be at once interwoven with the context and yet capable of removal without detriment to the construction, just at the point which forms a much better commencement. The words arma virumque are quoted by Martial, 8. 56., 19. 14. 185. 2, and Auson. Epig. 137.1, evidently as a real commencement of the Aeneid while Ovid, Trist. 2. 533, and Persius 1. 96, quote arma virumque, or arma virum, as important and independent words, which they cease to be the moment arma is viewed in connexion with the words supposed to precede it. [The words arma virumque -- litora, are quoted in an inscription (Corpus Inscr. Lat., vol. 2, No. 4967, 31) assigned by Hubner to the first century A.D. Arma virumque cano has also been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii. --H. N.] Virg. himself, 9. 777, has (of the poet Clytius) "Semper equos atque arma virum pugnasque canebat." Comp. also Ov. 1 Amor. 15. 26, Prop. 3. 26. 63, which point the same way. Macrob. Sat. 5. 2 quotes Troiae qui primus ab oris as part of the first verse of the Aeneid. On the other hand Priscian 940 P cites Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus avena as Virg.'s. Henry's view that "arma Martis" is happily contrasted with "arma agricolae" (comp. G. 1. 160) seems to be favoured by the structure of the sentence, and may very possibly have been present to the mind of the author of these lines; but it clearly was not present to the minds of those who quoted arma by itself as war. Tastes may differ as to the rival commencements, on which see Henry in loco, and on 2.247; but it may be suggested that Virg. would scarcely in his first sentence have divided the attention of the reader between himself and his hero by saying, in effect, that the poet who wrote the Eclogues and the Georgics, sings the hero who founded Rome. [It should be added that supposing the Aeneid to have begun with arma virumque cano, the first seven lines of the poem will be found to correspond strikingly in rhythm with the first seven lines of the Iliad. Did Ennius begin his poem with "arma"? Horace 1 Epist. 19. 7, "Ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma Prosiluit dicenda." --H. N.] Wagn. and Forb., however, as well as Henry, consider the lines as genuine; and they have been imitated by Spenser in the opening of the Faery Queene, and Milton in the opening of Paradise Regained." Jim O'Hara James J. O'Hara Professor of Classical Studies & Chair Classical Studies Dept. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wesleyan University 860/685-2066 (fax: 2089) Middletown CT 06459-0146 Home Page: http://www.wesleyan.edu/classics/faculty/jim.html
Re: VIRGIL: VERGIL: lost verses
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, matthewspencer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >book one of spenser's faerie queene begins with four lines supposed to >be imitative of verses found at the beginning of some medieval and >renaissance editions of _the aeneid_: > > Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, > As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, > Am now enforst a far unfitter taske. > For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds... > >does anybody know anything about this? based on my superior >understanding of _the aeneid_ (grin), i cannot believe that anything >like these lines belong to V. > These are the notorious verses alleged by Donatus and Servius to have been removed from the beginning of the Aeneid by its first editors: Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus auena carmen, et egressus siluis uicina coegi ut quamuis auido parerent arua colonis gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis It must be ages since any half-decent critic has believed in them; the likeliest explanation is that they were written above an author-portrait in an early manuscript. Yours sincerely Leofranc Holford-Strevens *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* --- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
VIRGIL: VERGIL: lost verses
book one of spenser's faerie queene begins with four lines supposed to be imitative of verses found at the beginning of some medieval and renaissance editions of _the aeneid_: Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, Am now enforst a far unfitter taske. For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds... does anybody know anything about this? based on my superior understanding of _the aeneid_ (grin), i cannot believe that anything like these lines belong to V. love from, -m.spencer --- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
