Petronius and Lucan De Bello Civili1

P. A. George

doi:10.1017/S0009838800030305

Petronius and Lucan De Bello Civili1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009

P. A. George

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The precise nature of the relationship between Lucan's epic De Bello Civili and Petronius' essay on the same theme1 has proved one of the most intractable and perplexing interpretative problems of the Satyrica. Some have regarded Petronius' version as a straightforward parody of Lucan's; others have adopted the almost contrary view that Petronius is offering a ‘fair copy’ designed to show how Lucan might have treated his material in a more appropriate (i.e. more Virgilian and traditional) manner.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Classical Quarterly , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , May 1974 , pp. 119 - 133

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800030305 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1974

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^{page 119 note 2} Notably Sullivan (Petronius, pp. 579 ff.).

^{page 119 note 3} Introd. to Haskins's, Luton, p. xxxvi.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 4} The Roman Novel, pp. 49 f.; cf. C.P. lxiii (1968), 208 ff.

^{page 119 note 5} Bellum Civile, 11. 92 f.

^{page 120 note 1} Sat. 90. 1–6.

^{page 120 note 2} Sat. 124. 2: 'cum haec Eumolpus ingenti volubilitate verborum effudisset, tandem Crotona intravimus.' Cf. similar comments at 90. 3; 93. 3; IIO. I.

^{page 120 note 3} Cf. Walsh, C.P. lx ii (1968), 210: ‘passing derisive judgment by parodying the vices of [Lucan's] verses’xs.

^{page 120 note 4} See Stubbe, Philol. Suppl. xxv. 2, pp. 52 ff.

^{page 121 note 1} For the text, see below.

^{page 121 note 2} T.A.P.A. xcix (1968), 460.

^{page 121 note 3} I use Mueller's sigla.

^{page 121 note 4} For similar interpolations identifying the speaker after a lacuna, cf. 85. I; 94. I; 96. 7; 99. 2; 107. I; 113. 11; 126. 1; 128. 1; 128. 7; 129. 5; 132. I; 534. I; 534. 8.

^{page 121 note 5} 0 is omitted in Ss, all of which derive from a fifteenth-century apograph of an O-group manuscript made under the direction of Poggio: cf. Mueller¹, introd. pp. ix f.

^{page 121 note 6} Maxima pars vatum, pater et iuvenes patre digni / decipimur specie recti …

^{page 121 note 7} See below, p. 130.

^{page 121 note 8} There is another possible exception in the Herculaneum fragment; cf. Bardon, L.L.I. ii. 136 ff.

^{page 122 note 1} Cf. Bardon, op. cit., p. 137.

^{page 122 note 2} Bardon, op. cit., pp. 160 ff.

^{page 122 note 3} In particular that of Servius, ad Aen. i. 382: ‘Lucanus ideo in numero poetarum esse non meruit, quia videtur historiam composuisse, non poema.’ Cf. also: Schol. ad Lucanum I. s; Isid. Orig. 8. 7. so; Sullivan, Petronius, p. s 68.

^{page 122 note 4} De legg. 1. i. 4 f.: ‘sed tamen nonnulli isti, Tite, faciunt imperite, qui in isto perculo non ut a poeta, sed ut a teste veritatem exigant … intellego te, frater, alias in historia leges observandas putare, alias in poemate.’

^{page 122 note 5} Hist. conscr. 8: Cf. Avenarius, Lukians Schrift zur Geschichtsscreibung, pp. i6 f. for further refs. and discussion.

^{page 122 note 6} Poetics 9.

^{page 122 note 7} Some of the criticisms are in any case misdirected if aimed at Lucan, in particular the warning against vilitas verborum (sect. 4), and the accusation of unfamiliarity with previous literature (sects. 3, 6), which is given great emphasis.

^{page 122 note 8} Mnemosyne, Suppl. xvi, pp. 88 ff. Rose is rightly sceptical of some of the wilder claims.

^{page 122 note 9} This is not to say that some of the parallels would not gain credibility if it were already proved that the B.C. were written in A.D. 63/6 when Petronius might have had full access to a text of Lucan. However, the chronology cannot be maintained without circularity, since the only plausible parallel outside the B.C. (between Sat. o8. 14, v. s, and Phars. i. 8) is both Virgilian (Aen. 5. 670) and rather common. place (cf., e.g., Ovid, Met. 3. 531, 641; 6 170).

^{page 123 note 1} Lest I be accused of selectivity, the passages comprise all of those cited b) Stubbe, Sullivan, Rose, and Walsh a particularly impressive, with the exception o five items which appear only in Rose, and where the Petronian passage is five or mort lines long: the similarities in these longer passages are in any case somewhat mon diffuse and less immediately convincing.

^{page 123 note 2} Cf. Sallust, Ep. Mithridatis, and other passages cited by Stubbe ad loc.

^{page 123 note 3} omnia sub pedibus, qua sol utrumque recurrens aspicit Oceanum vertique regique videbunt.

^{page 123 note 4} victor adest magni magnum decus ecce triumphi / victor qua terrae, quaque patent maria; cf. Aen. 236: qui mare, qui terras omnis dicione tenerent.

^{page 124 note 1} A good example by Fabianus ap. Sen. Contr. 2. I. 13; cf. ibid. 2I.

^{page 124 note 2} Cf. Stubbe ad loc. The best example is possibly Sallust, Cat. 10 ff.

^{page 124 note 3} Georgics I. 303.

^{page 124 note 4} contigerant rapidas limosi Phasidos undas: is quoque, Phasiacas Argo qui duxit in undas.

^{page 124 note 5} Cf. Val. Max. 7. 6. 4 (also about Marius) …. quo tempore non rei p. victoria quaerebatur, sed praemium victoriae res erat publica.

^{page 125 note 1} Florus 2. 13. 5: misers res publica in exitium sin mercer erat.

^{page 125 note 2} crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam / maiorumque fames.

^{page 125 note 3} Pis. 41: vos geminae voragines scopulique rei publicae.

^{page 125 note 4} Aen. 4. 66 ff.

^{page 125 note 5} Ann. 584: ultimately from Od. 20. 13, and possibly via a more recent intermediary, since Statius, Theb. 2. 388 is very close in diction.

^{page 125 note 6} Vell. Pat. 2. 53. 3.

^{page 125 note 7} Compare also Seneca, Oedipus 68.

^{page 126 note 1} Cf. for example Latro ap. Sen. Suas. 6. 3.

^{page 126 note 2} Aen. 2. 600: inimicus et hauserit ensis;. 804: (hasta) virgineumque alte bibit acta cruorem.

^{page 126 note 3} Cf. Otto, Sprichwarter, s.v. Sullanus.

^{page 126 note 4} gemuit sub pondere cumba.

^{page 127 note 1} Cf. especially I. 467: cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit. Titan is an almost mechanical variant of Sol (much favoured by Ovid) just as vultum is of caput. Again Petronius seems closer to Virgil than to Lucan.

^{page 127 note 2} Aen I. 296 (of Furor).

^{page 127 note 3} Sen. Suas. 2. 59.

^{page 127 note 4} By Arbronius Silo, ap. Sen. ibid.; by Seneca, Phoen. 458; and again by Lucan, i. too. The Elder Seneca's comments might have prompted some reaction from Petronius if he had the Lucan before him.

^{page 127 note 5} Aen. 5. 35; cf Ciris 307.

^{page 128 note 1} Virgil, G. 3. 492; Cic. N.D. 3. 70; and cf. the frequent use in Greek of in contexts of slaughter.

^{page 128 note 2} Tristia, 4. 2. 42.

^{page 128 note 3} See below, on B.C. ego ff.

^{page 128 note 4} arbitrium belli, ius belli, aka belli, bellum sumere, fortuna belli, fortunam sequi, fortunae ius, fortunae arbitrium, fortunae iudkium are all frequent, mainly in historiography.

^{page 128 note 5} Cited as such by Stubbe, Rose, and Walsh.

^{page 128 note 6} De Lege Agraria, 2. 59; and cf. Ennius ap. Cic. Tusc. 1. 34; Virgil, G. 3. 9.

^{page 128 note 7} e.g. Cic. Sest. 131; Virg. Aen. 147; Ovid, Fasti, 3. 641; Cons. ad Liviam 179.

^{page 128 note 8} Cons. 177: consul init fractis maerentem fascibus urbem.

^{page 129 note 1} Cf. in particular 1. 397; also 9. 72; Culex 216 ff.

^{page 129 note 2} Especially 1. 50: adspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum.

^{page 129 note 3} C.Q.xii (1962), 168.

^{page 130 note 1} Cf. Rose, ibid.

^{page 130 note 2} The difficulty becomes more crucial in view of the unfinished and unpublished state of the later books; and if the Satyrica was originally in 24 books, the B.C. appearing in Book 16 or 17, then Petronius must have worked at a speed which is belied by his attention to detail.

^{page 130 note 3} (h) and (t); (c), (d), (o), (r), (s), and (x) merely reproduce diction or idiom which is well attested in a variety of previous authors; (b), (e), (f), and (m) are reworkings of commonplace sentiments of the period; (k) is of dubious authenticity; and (q) is as close to Ovid as to Lucan; the Virgilian passages are (a), (g), (i), (j), (n), (p), (u), (v), (w).

^{page 130 note 4} For which see Bardon, L.L.I. ii. 61 ff.; 535 ff.

^{page 130 note 5} Mnemos. Suppl. xvi, app. B, p. 87.

^{page 130 note 6} Rose, ibid. (comments on Moessler).

^{page 131 note 1} e.g. the Sullan War (P. 96–9; L. 330–2); the Panic (P. 209–44; L. 466–522).

^{page 131 note 2} e.g. the crossing of the Alps (P. 177–208; L. 183); the Triumvirate (P. 6s-6; L. 98–557).

^{page 131 note 3} e.g. the crossing of the Alps precedes Caesar's speech, which in turn precedes the panic at Rome.

^{page 131 note 4} In P., the locus de luxuria precedes the portents, which are divided and separated by 185 lines; and the prophecy of war precedes the crossing of the Alps.

^{page 131 note 5} Hence the structural importance of the opening invective against luxury, and the assault on sexual mores in 11. 20

^{page 131 note 6} P. avoids all mention of the Rubicon, and makes Caesar cast the die before crossing the Alps.

^{page 131 note 7} Op. cit., pp. 85

^{page 131 note 8} For Lucan's practice, cf. Heitland, op. cit., pp. xciv f. The Petronian passage is B.C. 164–75.

^{page 132 note 1} Ovid, Met. 7. 14 is possibly the locus classic=; cf. also Met. 1. 653 ff.; Culex 224 ff.

^{page 132 note 2} e.g. by Walsh, , The Roman Novel, p. 49.Google Scholar

^{page 132 note 3} Collignon's objection that a whole genre is too wide a target for effective parody is refuted by numerous successful essays from Lucian's Vera Historia to the Dunciad, Gulliver's Travels, or Cold Comfort Farm. A similar problem arises in the case of the Troiae Halosis: the parody is clearly of tragic rhesis, but the faults of style, even to the details of versification, are common to the Osactt. and Herc. Oet., as well as Seneca.

^{page 132 note 4} Sat 3. 1; 84.4.

^{page 133 note 1} The scale of the Cena, too, compares significantly with that of the B.C. Both would be preposterously misproportioned in a short work.

^{page 133 note 2} I am most grateful to my colleagues, in particular to Martin Smith and Gordon Williams, for their advice and criticism.

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