Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Third Eclogue and the Roman Comic Spirit

The Third Eclogue and the Roman Comic Spirit THE THIRD ECLOGUE AND THE ROMAN COMIC SPIRIT BY H. MACL. CURRIE Dic mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus? an Meliboei ? The word cuium in this, the opening line of the poem 1), was common in the early comedians but by Virgil's day had become obsolete in formal Latin. At an early period it must have been considered odd in this context for it gave rise to a parody (quoted in Donatus' life of Virgil): Dic mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus anne Latinum ? non, uerum Aegonis, nostri sic rure loquuntur. Thus, at its very beginning, ipso in limine, a certain note is struck in Virgil's poem, a note which would have its own special resonances and reverberations for a Roman listener, possibly recal- ling (amongst other things) the comedies of Plautus and Terence. This and the second Eclogue are apparently of early date, both being mentioned by their opening lines in Eclogue 5, 85-7. Theo- critus 4 and 5 manifestly lie behind Eclogue 3. In Theocritus 4 a cowherd, Corydon, and a goatherd, Battus, have a conversation which, while friendly enough in general, contains some harsh teasing (3) and sarcastic remarks (7 ff.). In Theocritus 5 the tone is http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Mnemosyne Brill

The Third Eclogue and the Roman Comic Spirit

Mnemosyne , Volume 29 (4): 411 – Jan 1, 1976

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/the-third-eclogue-and-the-roman-comic-spirit-TunNphzydm

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1976 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0026-7074
eISSN
1568-525X
DOI
10.1163/156852576X00294
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE THIRD ECLOGUE AND THE ROMAN COMIC SPIRIT BY H. MACL. CURRIE Dic mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus? an Meliboei ? The word cuium in this, the opening line of the poem 1), was common in the early comedians but by Virgil's day had become obsolete in formal Latin. At an early period it must have been considered odd in this context for it gave rise to a parody (quoted in Donatus' life of Virgil): Dic mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus anne Latinum ? non, uerum Aegonis, nostri sic rure loquuntur. Thus, at its very beginning, ipso in limine, a certain note is struck in Virgil's poem, a note which would have its own special resonances and reverberations for a Roman listener, possibly recal- ling (amongst other things) the comedies of Plautus and Terence. This and the second Eclogue are apparently of early date, both being mentioned by their opening lines in Eclogue 5, 85-7. Theo- critus 4 and 5 manifestly lie behind Eclogue 3. In Theocritus 4 a cowherd, Corydon, and a goatherd, Battus, have a conversation which, while friendly enough in general, contains some harsh teasing (3) and sarcastic remarks (7 ff.). In Theocritus 5 the tone is

Journal

MnemosyneBrill

Published: Jan 1, 1976

There are no references for this article.