Table Of ContentThe Fragmentary
Latin Poets
EDITED WITH COMMENTARY
BY
EDWARD COURTNEY
Ely Professor of Classics, Stanford University
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Edward Courtney 1993
First published 1993
First published in paperback 2003
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The Fragmentary Latin poets
edited with commentary by Edward Courtney.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
I. Latin poetry. 2. Lost literature-Rome.
I. Courtney, E. (Edward), 1932-
PA6121.A6 1992 871'0108-dc2o 92-12387
ISBN 0-](;-814775-9
ISBN 0-19-926579-8 ( pbk )
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ANTONIO E. RAUBITSCHEK
in fragmentis componendis
et ipsi uersato
octogenario pro Non. Dec. 1992 futuro
natalicium qualecumque
Preface
W E do not have a complete picture of the development of Roman
poetry if we concentrate on the authors who survive complete and
ignore those of whom we have only partial and indirect knowledge.
What we have of the latter can be read in the standard collections,
but elucidation and illustration of their fragments and other
information have to be sought in widely scattered sources which
are difficult to control. This book seeks to bring together such
matter between one set of covers; because of this aim the business
of editing and detailed comment is combined with a certain
amount of literary history.
The strictest definition of a fragment is that it is a quotation
from a work which we do not possess in a continuous manuscript
text. A wider definition would also include works of which we have
a manuscript portion in mutilated form. It is part of the inherit
ance of Baehrens that the collections of Morel and Buchner take
the strict view, which means that they exclude poems attributed to
Pliny, Apuleius, and Gallienus in the continuous text of Binet's
Beauvaism anuscript, and the historical poem of the Herculaneum
papyrus. Baehrens could take this position because he also pro
duced Poetae Latini Minores, in which such poems found their
place. I have thought it preferable for the convenience of present
day readers to be inclusive in this area rather than exclusive, so I
have included these items and such things as Hadrian's (?) epitaph
for his horse, a fragment of Terentianus which found its place in
PLM ascribed to Tiberianus, and Tiberianus himself, also in
PLM, some of whose work we possess only in quotation and none
in any large context, as well as a few other items.
Nevertheless I have felt justified in some exclusions from the
traditional corpus. A work like this is bound to suffer from lack of
unity, but as it stands most of it does consist of verse written on
principles showing some degree of identifiable continuity from the
second century Be to the fourth AD. Primitive non-literary verse
and early saturnian poetry in many (not of course all) ways belong
Preface
Vlll
to a different world, and Livius Andronicus and Naevius merit and
have received independent full-scale treatment; I hope that it will
be no more inconvenient for my readers to look elsewhere for these
than it is in the case of the Annals of Ennius or the Satires of
Lucilius. As some compensation; since we now have modern
commentaries on the Annals and tragedies of Ennius, it seemed a
pity to let slip the opportunity to provide one on his minor poems.
Secondly, Roman writers wishing to refer to Greek poetry are in
the habit of reproducing this in Latin verse; though the results are
conscientiously included by Baehrens and his heirs, they do not
seem to me to represent proper fragments of Roman poetry, and I
have therefore omitted such items as the translated verses found in
Cicero, Julius Valerius, Calcidius, etc.
Thirdly, Baehrens on the one hand and Morel and Buchner on
the other are not united on the problem of selecting for inclusion
verses produced anonymously by metricians to illustrate metrical
units and peculiarities. Many of these are palpably fabricated, and
it is hard to make anything significant out of most of them. I
present only a very limited selection.
Finally I have allowed myself a small degree of subjectivity in
deciding that some material (e.g. most of the verses produced by
the Historia Augusta) just did not merit inclusion.
From the table on p. 487 the readers should be able to identify
my additions to and subtractions from the traditional corpus. I
should add that some of my additions have been deliberately
ignored without warrant by the traditional collections (e.g. M.
Varro by Morel and Buchner) or simply overlooked; some of the
latter matter has been identified by Traina and Bini, but again not
all of their material meets my criteria for inclusion.
Inspection disclosed that the current presentation of the texts of
these fragments needed considerable amendment, particularly in
two respects. First, I have been careful that the reader should see
them in the context in which they are quoted, and grasp not only
what the poet but also what the quoting author has in mind and
how he operates in citation. Secondly, I have examined nearly all, I
think, that has been written specifically about these fragments
(though it is hard to guarantee that I have picked up everything
noteworthy from general works on Roman literature and poetry,
nearly all of which have something to say about fragmentary
authors); from such sources I have rescued a number of useful
Preface IX
ideas which had fallen into oblivion. I have tried to indicate a
specific source for every emendation, though inevitably some have
eluded my search. At the same time I did not wish to produce a
volume of discouraging bulk, so I have tried to digest secondary
material and present its results as they are based on primary
sources. That raises a question of scholarly propriety, which I have
tried to solve as I did in my commentary on Juvenal: 'the only
practical course seemed to be to limit acknowledgements to
particularly striking ideas or to large-scale borrowings and discus
sions' (p. x). I hope therefore that readers will find this commen
tary to some extent self-sufficient, though some of my citations are
meant to guide to further information. I have thought the risks of
this course preferable to the modern urge for bibliography as a
substitute for assimilation, since I have no desire to perpetuate
multiple references to works which only repeat what has always
been perfectly well known or to such futile books as Bardon's La
Litterature latine inconnue.
In a work which contains poetry from nearly six centuries
orthography presents a hopeless problem, and attempts to intro
duce system would be a waste of effort. The reader therefore is
asked to attach no significance to any spelling unless I draw
specific attention to it, and to remember that authors like Ennius
employed a very different orthography from that in which citing
authors and current texts generally present them.
Since this book is not likely to be much used by beginners, I
have felt free to take a certain amount for granted in the interests of
concision. I hope that it will not be found inconvenient that I refer
to my commentary-on Juvenal (London, 1980) for some points on
which I did not wish to repeat myself.
It has not been possible to take systematic account of material
which came into my hands after March 1991.
Invaluable help in the correction of the proofs Was given by
Christine Perkell, Brian Champlin, Christopher McLaren, and Jay
Reed. My greatest debts are to Professor D. A. Russell, who with
characteristic kindness during a stay at Stanford agreed to read my
typescript, and to Dr L. A. Holford-Strevens, who went far
beyond the routine functions of a copy-editor. The most valuable
contributions from the profound learning and acumen of these
helpers will be visible in my notes, but much more necessarily
remains invisible.
Preface to the Paperback Edition
In this edition minor misprints and errors of reference have been
corrected in the text. On pp. 499 ff. the Addenda to the Paperback
Edition attempt to amend oversights and more substantial errors
of the first edition, and also to bring the book up to date; the
addenda to the first edition are here incorporated. The first edition
did not attempt to provide a systematic bibliography, nor does this,
but it has proportionally more references to modern discussions
because space often prevents me from engaging fully with them,
and I therefore have to content myself with directing the reader to
them, with or without a brief statement of my own reaction. As
before, matter which seems to me unprofitable as well as wrong is
mentioned only in rare cases where there is a specific reason for
exception. A few questionable statements which affect nothing
substantial have been let stand. Additional illustration of purely
verbal character is generally not noted, nor are reprints of articles
in collected volumes.
Charlottesville, Virginia
February 2003
Contents
Index of Authors XIII
Bibliography and Abbreviations xv
Sources of Quotations xx
TEXT AND COMMENTARY
Comparative Table 487
Alphabetical List of Authors 491
Index of Titles 493
Metrical Index 495
Addenda to the Paperback Edition 499
General Index 537
