Prophetic, Poetic and Political Ambiguity in Vergil Eclogue 4
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Stephen Harrison
Abstract
The debate about the possible identity of the male child whose birth is predicted in Eclogue 4 is one of the longest-standing discussions in Vergilian interpretation. This contribution follows recent suggestions that the future baby can be read as deliberately ambiguous between potential children of the young Caesar and Antony from the perspective of the poem’s setting at the Pact of Brindisi of autumn 40 BCE; but it also suggests that the child may allude to the political position and family prospects of Sextus Pompeius in the period between the Pact of Misenum (summer 39) and the beginning of the Bellum Siculum (winter 39−38), the likely publication point of the Eclogues, whose original readership might well see links with both Pacts in Eclogue 4.
Abstract
The debate about the possible identity of the male child whose birth is predicted in Eclogue 4 is one of the longest-standing discussions in Vergilian interpretation. This contribution follows recent suggestions that the future baby can be read as deliberately ambiguous between potential children of the young Caesar and Antony from the perspective of the poem’s setting at the Pact of Brindisi of autumn 40 BCE; but it also suggests that the child may allude to the political position and family prospects of Sextus Pompeius in the period between the Pact of Misenum (summer 39) and the beginning of the Bellum Siculum (winter 39−38), the likely publication point of the Eclogues, whose original readership might well see links with both Pacts in Eclogue 4.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures XI
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Part I: Concepts and Aesthetics of Ambiguity
- Modern and Ancient Concepts of Ambiguity 1
- Aristotle on Ambiguity 11
- Intended Ambiguity in Plato’s Phaedo 29
- The Ambiguity of the Unambiguous: Figures of Death in Late Medieval Literature 43
- The Modern Perspective: Ambiguity, Artistic Self-Reference, and the Autonomy of Art 61
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Part II: Playing with Linguistic Ambiguity
- Traversing No-Man’s Land 81
- The Ambiguity of Wisdom: Mētis in the Odyssey 91
- Borges in Alexandria? Modes of Ambiguity in Hellenistic Poetry 101
- Sympotic Sexuality: The Ambiguity of Seafood in Middle Comedy (Nausicrates fr. 1 K.-A.) 123
- Liber esto – Wordplay and Ambiguity in Petronius’ Satyrica 141
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Part III: Ambiguous Narratives
- Half Heroes? Ambiguity in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 157
- Underneath the Arachnean and Minervan Veil of Ambiguity: Cultural and Political Simulatio in Ovidian Ecphrasis 175
- Ambigua Verba, Hidden Desire and Auctorial Intentionality in Some Ovidian Speeches (Met. 3.279−92; 7.810−23; 10.364−6, 440−1) 193
- The Pleasures of Ambiguity: Aristomenes’ Tale of Socrates in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 207
- Legens. Ambiguity, Syllepsis and Allegory in Claudian’s De Raptu Proserpinae 219
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Part IV: Ambiguity as Argument
- Between Conversion and Madness: Sophisticated Ambiguity in Lucian’s Nigrinus 237
- Catullan Ambiguity 251
- Prophetic, Poetic and Political Ambiguity in Vergil Eclogue 4 273
- Vitae aut vocis ambigua: Seneca the Younger and Ambiguity 285
- Who speaks? – Ambiguity and Vagueness in the Design of Cicero’s Dialogue Speakers 297
- Unsettling Effects and Disconcertment — Strategies of Enacting Interpretations in Tacitusʼ Annals 315
- The Latin Commentary Tradition on ‘Inclusive’ Intended Ambiguity 331
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Part V: Ambiguous Receptions
- Ambivalent Allegories: Giovan Battista Marino’s Adone (1623) between Censorship and Hermeneutic Freedom 351
- Multipliers of Ambiguity: The Use of Quotations in Cavafy’s Poems Concerning the Emperor Julian 365
- Seven Perspectives of Ambiguity and the Problem of Intentionality 381
- List of Contributors 405
- General Index 411
- Index of Passages 417
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures XI
-
Part I: Concepts and Aesthetics of Ambiguity
- Modern and Ancient Concepts of Ambiguity 1
- Aristotle on Ambiguity 11
- Intended Ambiguity in Plato’s Phaedo 29
- The Ambiguity of the Unambiguous: Figures of Death in Late Medieval Literature 43
- The Modern Perspective: Ambiguity, Artistic Self-Reference, and the Autonomy of Art 61
-
Part II: Playing with Linguistic Ambiguity
- Traversing No-Man’s Land 81
- The Ambiguity of Wisdom: Mētis in the Odyssey 91
- Borges in Alexandria? Modes of Ambiguity in Hellenistic Poetry 101
- Sympotic Sexuality: The Ambiguity of Seafood in Middle Comedy (Nausicrates fr. 1 K.-A.) 123
- Liber esto – Wordplay and Ambiguity in Petronius’ Satyrica 141
-
Part III: Ambiguous Narratives
- Half Heroes? Ambiguity in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 157
- Underneath the Arachnean and Minervan Veil of Ambiguity: Cultural and Political Simulatio in Ovidian Ecphrasis 175
- Ambigua Verba, Hidden Desire and Auctorial Intentionality in Some Ovidian Speeches (Met. 3.279−92; 7.810−23; 10.364−6, 440−1) 193
- The Pleasures of Ambiguity: Aristomenes’ Tale of Socrates in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 207
- Legens. Ambiguity, Syllepsis and Allegory in Claudian’s De Raptu Proserpinae 219
-
Part IV: Ambiguity as Argument
- Between Conversion and Madness: Sophisticated Ambiguity in Lucian’s Nigrinus 237
- Catullan Ambiguity 251
- Prophetic, Poetic and Political Ambiguity in Vergil Eclogue 4 273
- Vitae aut vocis ambigua: Seneca the Younger and Ambiguity 285
- Who speaks? – Ambiguity and Vagueness in the Design of Cicero’s Dialogue Speakers 297
- Unsettling Effects and Disconcertment — Strategies of Enacting Interpretations in Tacitusʼ Annals 315
- The Latin Commentary Tradition on ‘Inclusive’ Intended Ambiguity 331
-
Part V: Ambiguous Receptions
- Ambivalent Allegories: Giovan Battista Marino’s Adone (1623) between Censorship and Hermeneutic Freedom 351
- Multipliers of Ambiguity: The Use of Quotations in Cavafy’s Poems Concerning the Emperor Julian 365
- Seven Perspectives of Ambiguity and the Problem of Intentionality 381
- List of Contributors 405
- General Index 411
- Index of Passages 417
