C. has contributed another gem to recent offerings on the later Greek Epic author of the Posthomerica, Quintus Smyrnaeus (c. third century ce). This time, it is a commentary on the last book, Posthomerica 14. In its simplest form, the Greek poem can be (and frequently is) said to ‘fill the gap’ between the end of Homer's Iliad and the beginning of the Odyssey. In tone and shape the Posthomerica is more in line with the Iliad, where the usual suspects are doing much the same as their Iliadic selves: Achilles killing, Priam suffering, Odysseus conniving, with the latter emerging again near the end as an anticipatory nod to his central role in the Odyssey. Yet, the addition of Epic Cycle heroes (see M. West, Greek Epic Fragments [2003]), such as Penthesileia, Memnon, Neoptolemos and Philoktetes, adds further colour.
After Troy has fallen (old Priam killed by Neoptolemos, Astyanax hurled from the parapets, and Menelaos and Helen finally reunited through Aphrodite's mediation, Post. 13), Quintus’ concluding book closes proceedings: the Trojan women are taken as booty, bards recount the war's events, dead Achilles instructs his son Neoptolemos, amongst other things, to dispatch Polyxena as a sacrificial offering, the Greeks (including Odysseus) begin their ill-fated nostoi, Locrian Aias is terminally punished for raping Cassandra inside Athene's temple, and Poseidon levels down Troy, obliterating its memory, at least in concrete terms. In these Post. 14 echoes the cyclic epic's Ilioupersis and Nostoi.
In the preface C. notes that this book ‘evolved’ from her 2005 doctoral thesis, ‘Transformations of Epic: Reading Quintus of Smyrna Posthomerica XIV’ (p. v). Fourteen years later, C. sets the scene in her introduction, warming us up to Quintus’ more positive twenty-first-century reception by quoting Constantine Lascaris, the fifteenth-century Greek scholar: ‘Whoever he may be, he became an excellent poet and greatest emulator of Homer’ (p. xvii; cf. H. Lloyd-Jones's view, CR 19 [1969], 101). C. gives a useful brief summary of Quintus’ books (p. xix), and, as a generous chaperon, gently guides readers through the textual intricacies of Post. 14. The other aspects covered in C.'s thorough introduction are: ‘Q.'s Dates and Context’, ‘Q.'s Sources and Models’, ‘The End of the Epic: Contrasts, Continuity, Closure’ and ‘Note on the Manuscript Tradition’. The introduction, perhaps not surprisingly, covers much the same ground as previous Quintus studies (i.e. S. Bär and M. Baumbach [edd.], Quintus Smyrnaeus [2007]: who was Quintus?; criticism and defence; engagement with Homer, Epic Cycle, Latin influence, or not), but then C. veers towards Book 14, in ‘Sources and Models’, noting Iliadic and Odyssean ‘representations of Helen’, plus her Euripidean self (Troades; pp. xlviiff.). Yet, C. is very clear, often summarising key points (e.g. ‘The case, then, for Q.'s drawing directly on the poems of the Cycle cannot be pressed’, p. liv). In her penultimate introductory section, ‘The End of the Epic’, C. breaks down Book 14 into three main parts: ‘A. Helen's return to the Greeks’ (ll. 1–178); ‘B. The sacrifice of Polyxena’ (ll. 179–369); ‘C. The storm in the return journey of the Greeks’ (ll. 370–658); each with sub-divisions, for example ‘A’: ‘1–38. The Trojan Women’; ‘39–70. Helen before the Greek Army’; ‘71–84. The lament of the landscape’. This is extremely helpful, as are C.'s succinct comments, such as on Quintus’ more detailed exploration of certain scenes, including the Greek army's reception of Helen etc. compared to earlier extant accounts (p. lxvi). ‘Note on the Manuscript Tradition’ concludes the introduction, with C. noting her use of F. Vian's text and apparatus (Quintus de Smyrne, vol. III, 1963–1969).
C.'s three-part precis of Book 14 forms the overall structure of her excellent and thorough commentary. Rather than a compressed summary, I have chosen particular episodes of interests to explore both Quintus’ and C.'s qualities.
In each section, A, B or C, C. begins with a helpful overview of the select lines from her sub-divisions, followed by the commentary proper; for instance, ‘A. Helen's Return to the Greeks, 14.1–38. The Trojan Women’ discusses key aspects from Post. 13 that prepare readers for Book 14. C. also provides intertextual links, such as Hektor's concerns about the enslavement of the Trojan women and about Andromache after his demise (Il. 6.454–9), before spotlighting Quintus’ Hippodameia's thoughts on slavery for the Trojan women (Post. 1.433–5; C.'s p. 26).
‘A: 14.121–42. Victory Songs’: as C. notes, this is mainly in honour of Achilles, citing accounts of his conquests (Post. 14.128–9; Il. 9.328–9), similarly Nestor's song at his funeral (Post. 4.148–62). We also learn of Diomedes’ and Odysseus’ summaries of Achilles’ heroic exploits as they take Neoptolemos from Skyros to Troy (7.379–81; p. 76), and C. provides rich references for further consideration of encomia, i.e. p. 76 n. 46, Hermogenes, Progymn. VII (D.A. Russell and N.G. Wilson, Menander [1981], pp. xxvii–xxviii). ‘As it stands near the end of the PH and recapitulates in linear style key events from the beginning to the end of the Trojan War until this very moment on the celebrations (PH. 14.140–1 …), the present song gives a closural effect to the epic as a whole’ (p. 78). At ll. 125–41 (p. 80) C. draws our attention to this summary of events that cover the Iliadic war from inception to end, noting that Telephus, Eëtion and Cycnus feature early in the war, with their fates relayed in the Cypria and the Iliad; at 131 (p. 81) she expands on Κύκνον … ὑπέρβιον, referencing Proclus’ precis of the Cypria (PEG 2 I.42), where, following Penthesileia's death, Achilles kills Cycnus, with elaboration in Apollodorus (Epit. 3.31) that Achilles stoned Cycnus, whilst Aristotle (Rhet. 1396b) notes the latter's invulnerability etc.
‘B: The Sacrifice of Polyxena – 14.179–227. Achilles and Neoptolemus’: a wonderful episode, with C. giving a useful summary and contextual notes regarding Achilles’ ghostly address to his son, Neoptolemos, including a helpful precis of Achilles’ speech, i.e. part 1 (185–209), Achilles’ discussion of emotional restraint (185–8), the tree of Arete (195–200); part 2 (209–22), demand for Polyxena's sacrifice (209–15), threat of raising a storm that will trap the Greeks in Troy (215–22). C. sets this within the context of Aethiopis (PEG 2 I.69), Andromache (1260–2) and Apollod. Epit. 5.5 (p. 98). In fact, this introduction is relatively extensive (pp. 98–103) and saturated with useful scholarship referred to in the main body and footnotes. Though informatively discussed, I would like to have seen more on p. 116, n. 209 τοὔνεκα μείλιχος ἔσσο, Achilles’ advice to his son to be ‘gentle’. C. rightly highlights this most Patroklean adjective (Il. 17.671; 19.300), but should consider: (a) to what effect it is picked up by Nestor (14.344; p. 164, n. 343–4); (b) its dark foreboding that surely evokes Herakles’ loaded warning to Neoptolemos (Soph. Phil. 1441; cf. Verg. Aen. 2.550–3; see B. Boyten, Epic Journeys [2010], pp. 193–4, 201–3).
This is an enjoyable, learned and useful contribution to Quintus scholarship. C. displays unusual magnanimity towards her fellow scholars in this excellent addition to commentaries on Quintus (from Bär, QS 1 [2009]–present offering).Footnote 1
