Quoting from Memory? Shared Knowledge in Cicero’s Book Fragments of Accius’ Atreus
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Maria Haley
Abstract
Republican tragedies are considered forgotten theatre, surviving largely through quotations in Cicero’s works. Recalling these lines allows Cicero to demonstrate his skill as a writer by using these quotations as cultural capital. This study will examine the repeated quotations of Accius’ Atreus and Ennius’ Thyestes as a case study, to examine what Cicero’s recollection of these extracts can tell us about their cultural cache and what impact the quotations have on Cicero’s work in turn. Accius’ Atreus tells the tale of Atreus feeding his brother Thyestes’ children to him. Ennius’ Thyestes deals with Thyestes’ rape of his daughter to father an avenging son. Both are quoted in historiography, even in Seneca’s own prose, to critique contemporary tyrants by analogy. As a result, the Thyestes tragedies provide a useful case study for comparing Cicero’s recollection of the tragedies against others’. First we will consider to what extent the mnemonics in Rhetorica ad Herennium are reflected in Cicero’s recall of tragedy. Then we will examine if relative dating of quotations and performances can help us uncover whether Cicero quotes from a recent performance or a text. Finally, we will investigate how the repeated quotation of different Thyestean fragments creates intertext within Cicero’s own work and with the work of other authors. Ultimately by comparing Cicero’s works and spotting trends in his quotation, this study will reveal how the book fragments of Republican tragedy once lived beyond the book, in the memory of initial audience members, Cicero himself and his own readership.
Abstract
Republican tragedies are considered forgotten theatre, surviving largely through quotations in Cicero’s works. Recalling these lines allows Cicero to demonstrate his skill as a writer by using these quotations as cultural capital. This study will examine the repeated quotations of Accius’ Atreus and Ennius’ Thyestes as a case study, to examine what Cicero’s recollection of these extracts can tell us about their cultural cache and what impact the quotations have on Cicero’s work in turn. Accius’ Atreus tells the tale of Atreus feeding his brother Thyestes’ children to him. Ennius’ Thyestes deals with Thyestes’ rape of his daughter to father an avenging son. Both are quoted in historiography, even in Seneca’s own prose, to critique contemporary tyrants by analogy. As a result, the Thyestes tragedies provide a useful case study for comparing Cicero’s recollection of the tragedies against others’. First we will consider to what extent the mnemonics in Rhetorica ad Herennium are reflected in Cicero’s recall of tragedy. Then we will examine if relative dating of quotations and performances can help us uncover whether Cicero quotes from a recent performance or a text. Finally, we will investigate how the repeated quotation of different Thyestean fragments creates intertext within Cicero’s own work and with the work of other authors. Ultimately by comparing Cicero’s works and spotting trends in his quotation, this study will reveal how the book fragments of Republican tragedy once lived beyond the book, in the memory of initial audience members, Cicero himself and his own readership.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Acknowledgements IX
- Introduction 1
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Part I: The Mechanics of Memory
- Taking a Walk through Rome…: Comedic Itineraries and Early Republican Spatial Memory 19
- Quoting from Memory? Shared Knowledge in Cicero’s Book Fragments of Accius’ Atreus 41
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Part II: Collective Memory
- Memories of Glory: Poetry, Prose, and Commemoration in the Heraclidae 71
- Ovid’s Poetics of Memory and Oblivion in his Exilic Poetry 89
- The Memory of Marcus Regulus and Cannae in Plautus’ Captivi 103
- Divine Memories and the Shaping of Olympus in the Iliad 123
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Part III: Female Memory
- The Manipulation of Memory in Apollonius’ Argonautica 145
- Bound to Break Boundaries: Memory and Identity in Seneca’s Medea 165
- Audita mente notaui: (Meta)memory, Gender, and Pastoral Impersonation in the Speech of Ovid’s Galatea 193
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Part IV: Oblivion
- Ovid’s Labyrinthine Ars: Pasiphae and the Dangers of Poetic Memory in the Metamorphoses 219
- Divine Memory, Mortal Forgetfulness and Human Misfortune 247
- Forgetfulness as a Narrative Device in Herodotus’ Histories 267
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Part V: Further Thoughts
- Memory and its Discontents in Ancient Literature 293
- List of Contributors 309
- Index Rerum et Nominum 313
- Index Locorum 315
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Acknowledgements IX
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: The Mechanics of Memory
- Taking a Walk through Rome…: Comedic Itineraries and Early Republican Spatial Memory 19
- Quoting from Memory? Shared Knowledge in Cicero’s Book Fragments of Accius’ Atreus 41
-
Part II: Collective Memory
- Memories of Glory: Poetry, Prose, and Commemoration in the Heraclidae 71
- Ovid’s Poetics of Memory and Oblivion in his Exilic Poetry 89
- The Memory of Marcus Regulus and Cannae in Plautus’ Captivi 103
- Divine Memories and the Shaping of Olympus in the Iliad 123
-
Part III: Female Memory
- The Manipulation of Memory in Apollonius’ Argonautica 145
- Bound to Break Boundaries: Memory and Identity in Seneca’s Medea 165
- Audita mente notaui: (Meta)memory, Gender, and Pastoral Impersonation in the Speech of Ovid’s Galatea 193
-
Part IV: Oblivion
- Ovid’s Labyrinthine Ars: Pasiphae and the Dangers of Poetic Memory in the Metamorphoses 219
- Divine Memory, Mortal Forgetfulness and Human Misfortune 247
- Forgetfulness as a Narrative Device in Herodotus’ Histories 267
-
Part V: Further Thoughts
- Memory and its Discontents in Ancient Literature 293
- List of Contributors 309
- Index Rerum et Nominum 313
- Index Locorum 315
