MASTER 
 NEGATIVE 
 
 NO. 91-80249-17 
 
MICROFILMED 1991 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK 
 
 as part of the 
 "Foundations of Western CivUization Preservation Project 
 
 Funded by the 
 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 
 
 Reproductions may not be made without permission from 
 
 Columbia University Library 
 
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 
 
 The copyright law of the United States - Title 1 7, United 
 States Code ~ concerns the making of photocopies or other 
 reproductions of copyrighted material... 
 
 Columbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to 
 accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order 
 would involve violation of the copyright law. 
 
AUTHOR: 
 
 DUCKETT, ELEANOR 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 INFLUENCE OF 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 S.L 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 » 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 Master Negative it 
 
 '.t 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARHRT 
 
 Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 
 
 Restrictions on Use: 
 
 BKS/PROD Books FUL/BIB NYCG91-B75793 
 
 Record 1 of - Record added today 
 
 + 
 
 .. RTYP:a 
 
 DCF:? 
 INT:? 
 
 Acqimitions 
 
 I0:NYCG91-B75793 
 CC:9668 BLTram 
 CP:nyu L:eng 
 
 300 
 LOG 
 QD 
 
 ST:p 
 CSC:? 
 GPC:? 
 REP:? 
 
 FRN 
 MOO 
 BIO 
 CPI 
 
 ? 
 ? 
 
 RR: 
 
 MS 
 SNR 
 FIC 
 FSI 
 COL 
 
 NYCG-PT 
 
 9 
 
 * 
 
 ? 
 
 EL: 
 
 ATC: 
 CON:??? 
 
 ILC:???? MEI:? 
 EML: 
 
 A0:08-21-91 
 UD:08-21-91 
 
 GEN 
 
 PC:r P0:1991/ 
 
 MMO: OR: POL: DM 
 
 040 NNC}:cNNC 
 
 100 10 Duckett, Eleanor S. 
 
 ?nn ^^ 351^34^^ ""^ alexandrian poetry upon the Aeneid^h[microforml. 
 
 ORIG 
 08-21-91 
 
 II:? 
 BSE: 
 
 # 
 
 TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA 
 
 FILM SlZE:___3^_j^jU _ REDUCTION RATIO: //V 
 
 IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA (llA JB IID ~^~ 
 
 DATE FILMED: Z^/l/. INITIALS,. /^5;0 
 
 HLMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOQDBRIDGE. CT 
 
r 
 
 Association for information and image Rffanagement 
 
 1100 Wayne Avenue. Suite 1100 
 Silver Spring. Maryland 20910 
 
 301/587-8202 
 
 Centimeter 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 im 
 
 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm 
 
 miiiiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiilii 
 
 I I 
 
 Inches 
 
 'l''l'l!'!'l|'!'l['''l|'iil[''il['M^ 
 
 I 
 2 3 4 
 
 1.0 !^itt IIIIIM 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 1^ 
 
 Hi 
 
 32 
 
 UO 
 
 2.2 
 
 1.4 
 
 2.0 
 
 1.8 
 
 1.6 
 
 imlmjimlmjii 
 II I I I 
 
 ih 
 
 rfi 
 
 MfiNUFfiCTURED TO fillM STRNDORDS 
 BY OPPLIED IMOGE, INC. 
 
fi^ ^^Ut^ /^/^ 
 
 
 f. 
 
 <^K/ 
 
 INFLUENCE OF ALEXANDRIAN POETRY UPON THE 
 
 AENEID 
 
 By Eleanor S. Duckett 
 Western College, Oxford, Ohio 
 
 The Uterary influence of the Alexandrians upon Vergil's work is 
 no new subject; it has been indeed the happy hunting-ground of 
 editors, commentators, and Doctors-elect. But these researches 
 have endeavored rather to point out signs of direct influence: 
 verbal resemblances in Uterary descriptions, suniJes, and phrases 
 consaously or half-consciously borrowed by Vergil to adorn his 
 verse. No one as yet, I think, has adequately traced the indirect 
 influence of the literary atmosphere, charged with Alexandrian 
 elements, upon the poet who grew up in its midst; an atmosphere, 
 as recent discussions of the Ciris, the Culex, and the Catakpta have 
 shown, diffusing inquiries on phenomena both psychical and physi- 
 cal, conscious efforts toward an understanding of the natures of 
 men and of things, and efforts, equally conscious, toward the repro- 
 duction of thought in fitting form. It was impossible that the 
 man whose early youth was trained amid these elements should 
 fail to show in his riper work marks of the Alexandrian school in a 
 keener insight into the minds of men, a greater curiosity concerning 
 the things of Nature, and a HveUer appreciation of art. In tracing 
 this indirect and subtle connection, there is matter for deep and 
 detailed study; here I am only attempting to outline by way of 
 preparation some of the better known Hellenistic features which 
 Vergil seems to reproduce in the A eneid. I have omitted considera- 
 tion of Book iv, as essentially Alexandrian in type, and of Book vi, 
 as fully discussed in Norden's work. 
 
 Prominent among Hellenisric traits is the absence in epic and 
 epyUion of the childlike impersonality of the Homeric narrative, 
 and the fresh spontaneity of its characters. Poet and people 
 inevitably turn their thoughts inward upon themselves; the whole 
 atmosphere is intensely self-conscious. The author of the Ciris 
 is torn between the desire to glorify his master and the consciousness 
 
 333 
 
334 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 that his power is not yet ripe for the work. A similar trait marks 
 
 the opening of the Culex; Horace later on continues this artificial 
 
 modesty. ApoUonius is reluctant to sing of horrors; at times 
 
 reverence (occasionally very conveniently for his art) withholds his 
 
 song, he avows, or makes him dubious to tell his tale. Vergil is 
 
 conscious that virtue goes forth from his song: 
 
 Nee tu canninibus nostris indictus abibis, 
 Oebale .... 
 
 and: 
 
 Non ego te, Ligurum ductor fortissime bello, 
 transierim . . . . ; 
 
 yet also his consciousness is tempered by judgment on the power 
 
 of his work, either direct: 
 
 Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt, 
 nulla dies unquam memori vos eximet aevo; 
 
 or more general: 
 
 Hie mortis durae easum tuaque optima faeta 
 si qua fidem tanto est open latura vetustas, 
 non equidem nee te, iuvenis memorande, silebo. 
 
 The verses included in the Oxford text as preliminary to the Aeneid 
 give a touch of personal history which links present to past in the 
 author's life: as present is Unked with past in the opening of the 
 CiriSj and present with future in that of the Culex. Ennius opens 
 his Annates with a personal touch, borrowed, we may believe, from 
 Callimachus; and Horace opens his Epistles with his recall from the 
 philosophy of the present to the poetry of the past. 
 
 The Hellenistic poet interrupts his epic narrative with his own 
 reflections. ApoUonius bursts into pity at the fate of the women 
 of Lemnos or into indignant accusation of pitiless Love; he laments 
 that we men ever suffer joy mingled with pain and lie at the 
 mercy of terrors unknown. Theocritus laments the temerity of 
 lovers, or voices his thought on religion. Vergil expresses in like 
 manner his Stoic views: in persona poetae, pity for human igno- 
 rance and folly in prosperity, and, through the Hps of Aeneas, con- 
 tempt for riches, or, elsewhere, the futility of struggle against 
 Fate; he, also, breaks out into pity at the fall of Pallas. A similar 
 detail appears in the use of the single epithet: (tx^tXios is used by 
 Callimachus in describing the victims of Artemis' wrath and the 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE ''AENEID'* 335 
 
 rash Teiresias, by ApoUonius in describing Medea; so infelix or 
 miser heul or visu miserahile or demens or felix in the Latin epylUon 
 (as Jackson notes, Harvard Studies, XXIV); so in the Aeneid. 
 
 Akm to these traces of self-consciousness is the poet's custom 
 of addressing himself, his characters, or his readers. Callimachus 
 mterrupts his story of Acontius and Cydippe to rebuke himself- 
 Callimachus, ApoUonius, and the poet of the Ciris address those 
 of whom they are writing; the Aeneid frequently shows the same 
 practice, and even cases in which persons mentioned in description 
 are directly addressed. Direct address to the reader is a feature 
 of ecphrasis in the poetry of ApoUonius and of Moschus, and in the 
 Aeneid; the Homeric description of Achilles' shield does not con- 
 tain this detail. 
 
 But far more self-conscious than even the poet himself are the 
 characters on his stage, men, and gods aUke. The Medea of 
 ApoUonius, Simaetha, and the Maid of the GrenfeU Fragment find 
 their Latin counterpart (excluding Dido) in Ariadne, ScyUa, and 
 Amata; Juno reviews herself objectively in the first and in the 
 seventh book of the Aeneid, as Artemis in the hymn addressed to 
 her; both Vergil and CalHmachus use the objective proper name 
 mstead of the first personal pronoun here. So Polyphemus in 
 Theocritus' eleventh idyU consciously reviews his own good and 
 bad points, and even breaks out into exhortation addressed to 
 himself. Medea speaks of herself with pity; Jackson notes that the 
 heroines of the Latin epyllion do the same; so do Juno, baffled 
 m her design, Amata in her rage, and Evandrus in his sorrow. 
 The height of self-consciousness is reached in the words of Vergil's 
 hero: 
 
 .Sum pius Aeneas, raptos qui ex hoste penatis 
 classe veho mecum, fama super aethera notus. 
 
 As in HeUenistic poetry, so throughout the Aeneid, action is the 
 handmaid of feeUng and dramatic play. The struggles between 
 right and wrong in the mind of Medea and of Scylla are of much 
 greater importance than the deeds which foUow. The varying 
 emotions of Jason and of Aeneas are pictured in graphic detail. 
 The most stirring story in the Aeneid— the FaU of Troy— is placed 
 where it may directly move the heart of Dido; and yet this story 
 
336 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 Itself is a record of mental struggle, between Laocoon and Sinon, 
 between Aeneas' own desire and the bidding of Fate, between 
 Anchises and Aeneas, between Aeneas' impulse to flee and his 
 longing to seek his wife. The consummation of the Aeneid — the 
 fall of Turnus — is given but insignificant place in comparison with 
 the analysis of the sufferings of Tumus' mind as, despite himself, 
 he gradually draws nearer to his death, a death which he owes 
 directly to the issue of conflict in Aeneas' mind. It would be hard 
 to find in so small a space greater play of feeling than the few words 
 
 toward the end give to Turnus: 
 
 aestuat ingens 
 uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu 
 et funis agitatus amor et conscia virtus. 
 
 Heinze has remarked that the motives which induce the actions 
 of Vergil's characters are usually made clear in speeches; but 
 there are exceptions to this rule. It is significant that a student of 
 CalHmachus should begin his poem with the appeal: 
 Musa, mihi causas memora .... 
 
 The Trojans, as they see the flames of Dido's pyre, discuss their 
 unhappy cause; the poet himself discusses the motives which lead 
 Nautes to give his counsel regarding the Trojan weaklings, which 
 influence Latinus to welcome Aeneas, and the Rutuli to follow 
 Turnus. Heinze mentions the detailed motives assigned for the 
 pursuit of Chloreus by Camilla as savoring of the pragmatic his- 
 torian, and characterizes the incident — that of Silvia's stag — which 
 Vergil introduced into tradition for the more immediate deriving 
 of the great war, as distinctly Hellenistic in nature. To these 
 touches correspond the detailed investigation of motive in the 
 Coma Berenices, the careful attempt to explain the deed of Scylla 
 in the Ciris, and the double motive assigned in the same poem for 
 Carme's decision to help the girl. 
 
 Alexandrian poetry, as is well known, tends to the clear dis- 
 tinguishing of types of human charapter, and Heinze has noted the 
 graphic touches that in the Aeneid mark nation, age, and sex. 
 Among these types a prominent place is given to those which allow 
 of emotional display, and persons of minor importance are intro- 
 duced to lead up to this element: as Hylas, Alcimede, Gorgo, and 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE ''AENEID'' 337 
 
 Praxinoe; Aegeus, Amata, Nisus, and Euryalus. The erotic pas- 
 sages of the Aeneid need deeper probing than this paper will admit 
 of; one may note erotic language appHed exactly to the description 
 of the passionate anger of Amata. Sorrow is described by means 
 of the conventional lament of parent for son; as Alcimede and 
 Aegeus mourn, so do Evandrus (twice), the mother of Euryalus, and 
 Amata. It is in order that the son should be an only one, the 
 comfort of his parents' old age, that death should be held preferable 
 to this loss, that men or maids should surround the mourner to 
 render sympathy or aid. The story of Achaemenides is intro- 
 duced by Vergil in order to excite sympathy with suffering; in 
 miserable appearance and pitiful supplication the Greek resembles 
 Phineus among the Argonauts: realistic detail deepens the impres- 
 sion in each case. Horror is inspired, as the Alexandrians loved to 
 inspire it, by the battle in burning Troy and the violence of Pyrrhus' 
 deeds; crude force awakens wonder in the wanton slaughter of the 
 ox by Entellus during the funeral games. The supernatural is 
 called into play to further this cathartic effect. The Hellenistic 
 metamorphosis appears in the tale of the changing of the ships into 
 nymphs; in the story of Polydorus, which, with its realistic detail, 
 has a peculiarly Alexandrian tinge; in the reference to the changing 
 of the followers of Diomedes into birds, and to the transformation 
 of Picus by Circe under the influence of love into a woodpecker; and 
 in the story of Cycnus, changed into a swan through grief at the 
 loss of his beloved Phaethon. The last two among these stories are 
 told in greater detail in that storehouse of Hellenistic tales, Ovid's 
 Metamorphoses; the story of Phaethon was popular among the Hel- 
 lenistic and neoteric poets. The marvelous attack of theHarpies, the 
 settling of Sleep upon the stern of Aeneas' boat, and his besprink- 
 ling of Palinurus with drops from the magic branch, all find their 
 counterpart in ApoUonius. The meeting of Aeneas with the 
 nymphs, once his ships, in the quiet moonlight on the sea, and the 
 fanciful tale of Camilla's flight over the river, with her consequent 
 dedication to the silvan goddess, seem also to point to Alexandrian 
 influence. 
 
 ^ Not only the supernatural, but Nature also, is closely allied 
 with human feeling. All Nature mourns for Daphnis, for Adonis, 
 
336 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 itself is a record of mental struggle, between Laocoon and Sinon, 
 between Aeneas* own desire and the bidding of Fate, between 
 Anchises and Aeneas, between Aeneas' impulse to flee and his 
 longing to seek his wife. The consummation of the Aeneid — the 
 fall of Turnus — is given but insignificant place in comparison with 
 the analysis of the sufferings of Tumus' mind as, despite himself, 
 he gradually draws nearer to his death, a death which he owes 
 directly to the issue of conflict in Aeneas' mind. It would be hard 
 to find in so small a space greater play of f eehng than the few words 
 
 toward the end give to Turnus : 
 
 aestuat ingens 
 uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu 
 et funis agitatus amor et conscia virtus. 
 
 Heinze has remarked that the motives which induce the actions 
 of VergiFs characters are usually made clear in speeches; but 
 there are exceptions to this rule. It is significant that a student of 
 CalHmachus should begin his poem with the appeal: 
 Musa, mihi causas memora .... 
 
 The Trojans, as they see the flames of Dido's pyre, discuss their 
 unhappy cause; the poet himself discusses the motives which lead 
 Nautes to give his counsel regarding the Trojan weaklings, which 
 influence Latinus to welcome Aeneas, and the Rutuli to follow 
 Turnus. Heinze mentions the detailed motives assigned for the 
 pursuit of Chloreus by Camilla as savoring of the pragmatic his- 
 torian, and characterizes the incident — that of Silvia's stag — which 
 Vergil introduced into tradition for the more inmiediate deriving 
 of the great war, as distinctly Hellenistic in nature. To these 
 touches correspond the detailed investigation of motive in the 
 Coma Berenices f the careful attempt to explain the deed of Scylla 
 in the CiriSj and the double motive assigned in the same poem for 
 Carme's decision to help the girl. 
 
 Alexandrian poetry, as is well known, tends to the clear dis- 
 tinguishing of types of human character, and Heinze has noted the 
 graphic touches that in the Aeneid mark nation, age, and sex. 
 Among these types a prominent place is given to those which allow 
 of emotional display, and persons of minor importance are intro- 
 duced to lead up to this element: as Hylas, Alcimede, Gorgo, and 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE ''AENEID'' 337 
 
 Praxinoe; Aegeus, Amata, Nisus, and Euryalus. The erotic pas- 
 sages of the Aeneid need deeper probing than this paper will admit 
 of; one may note erotic language applied exactly to the description 
 of the passionate anger of Amata. Sorrow is described by means 
 of the conventional lament of parent for son; as Alcimede and 
 Aegeus mourn, so do Evandrus (twice), the mother of Euryalus, and 
 Amata. It is in order that the son should be an only one, the 
 comfort of his parents' old age, that death should be held preferable 
 to this loss, that men or maids should surround the mourner to 
 render sympathy or aid. The story of Achaemenides is intro- 
 duced by Vergil in order to excite sympathy with suffering; in 
 miserable appearance and pitiful supplication the Greek resembles 
 Phineus among the Argonauts: reaUstic detail deepens the impres- 
 sion in each case. Horror is inspired, as the Alexandrians loved to 
 inspire it, by the battle in burning Troy and the violence of Pyrrhus' 
 deeds; crude force awakens wonder in the wanton slaughter of the 
 ox by Entellus during the funeral games. The supernatural is 
 called into play to further this cathartic effect. The Hellenistic 
 metamorphosis appears in the tale of the changing of the ships into 
 nymphs; in the story of Polydorus, which, with its realistic detail, 
 has a peculiarly Alexandrian tinge; in the reference to the changing 
 of the followers of Diomedes into birds, and to the transformation 
 of Picus by Circe under the influence of love into a woodpecker; and 
 in the story of Cycnus, changed into a swan through grief at the 
 loss of his beloved Phaethon. The last two among these stories are 
 told in greater detail in that storehouse of Hellenistic tales, Ovid's 
 Metamorphoses; the story of Phaethon was popular among the Hel- 
 lenistic and neoteric poets. The marvelous attack of the Harpies, the 
 settling of Sleep upon the stern of Aeneas' boat, and his besprink- 
 ling of Palinurus with drops from the magic branch, all find their 
 counterpart in ApoUonius. The meeting of Aeneas with the 
 nymphs, once his ships, in the quiet moonlight on the sea, and the 
 fanciful tale of Camilla's flight over the river, with her consequent 
 dedication to the silvan goddess, seem also to point to Alexandrian 
 influence. 
 
 ^ Not only the supernatural, but Nature also, is closely allied 
 with human feeling. All Nature mourns for Daphnis, for Adonis, 
 
338 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 for Bion; in Callimachus' verse Nature is transformed into gold 
 at Apollo's birth, or fears the wrath of Ares; river rejoices in 
 Artemis and sea keeps silence before Apollo. So in the Aeneid: 
 Nature weeps for the loss of the fallen Umbro, and quakes with 
 terror at the exploits of Hercules, or the cry of AUecto, a touch 
 borrowed directly from ApoUonius; the Tiber ebbs in fear at the 
 change worked in the ships, or marvels at the Trojan vessels as it 
 aids them to reach their journey's end. The winds sink when 
 Aeneas approaches the mouth of the Tiber, his goal; when he 
 touches the gruesome land of the Cyclops no stars shine in the 
 sky, and untimely Night holds the moon under a cloud: of evil 
 intention and hostile character are the approaches and woods 
 where Tumus lies in ambush. The Euphrates owns allegiance to 
 Caesar, as the rivers stay their flow to do Messalla reverence. The 
 steadfast course of Nature in her familiar road symbolizes that 
 which is familiar and welcome among men; discord in Nature 
 sympathizes with strange and sad happenings in the human world. 
 The glory of Dido shall remain as long as rivers, shadows, and stars 
 shall hold their appointed place; Aufidus flees backward, declares 
 Tumus, when Greeks fear Trojan arms, and a conquered race pre- 
 vails: so Daphnis bids all Nature run riot, since he must die. 
 
 The mention of flowers occurs in passages tinged with emotion. 
 Theocritus stays his verse to tell the grasses around the well where 
 Hylas falls to the arms of the Nymphs; Europa meets the bull as 
 she plays among the hyacinths, the roses, and the violets of spring; 
 Meleager weaves the same flowers into his garland of love; and 
 they keep fragrant the memory of the gnat. In the Aeneid Venus 
 carries the sleeping Ascanius in her arms to Idalia, where the soft 
 amaracus blows; Aeneas throws crimson flowers upon Anchises' 
 grave; Euryalus fades in death as a crimson flower cut down by 
 the plow. It is the picture of Catullus' love, cut down by the 
 passing plow at the meadow's end, as the body of Pallas, laid out 
 like a soft violet or hyacinth reaped by a girl's thumb, recalls 
 Catullus' flower that has escaped the plow, only to die plucked 
 by the hand. Propertius and Ovid, as Merrill notes, have the same 
 touch. The blush on Lavinia's cheek as she stands before her lover 
 resembles the crimson lily mingled with the rose; Ennius prefers 
 crimson mingled with milk. 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE ''AENEID'' 
 
 339 
 
 Although Vergil himself loved country hfe, rustic touches in his 
 work fuUy agree with the Alexandrian narrative. From Apollonius 
 he takes the picture of the beekeeper driving out his bees from the 
 rock; in confused terror they run throughout the cells, whetting 
 their wrath with raucous buzz, while the smoke rises black to the 
 sky. ^ From his own fourth Georgic he describes the busy life of the 
 bees in early summer amid the fragrant thyme. His own is the 
 gUmpse of the pigeon, startled from her nest in the rocky niche; 
 "with loud cry and beating wings she circles round and round, till 
 reassured, she sails away with wings outstretched, motionless;" of 
 the swallow, flitting in the colonnades of a rich man's home, alight- 
 ing here and there to pick morsels for her chirping brood; of the 
 swallows that twitter at dawn beneath the eaves; of the seagulls 
 that love the sun upon the calm beach. Yet Nature is subservient 
 to man; these touches are only introduced to help his cause. 
 Legrand and Heumann point out that the Hellenistic poets place 
 their descriptions of beasts where they may heighten dramatic 
 interest in man. Theocritus depicts the serpents as they approach 
 and hover about the cradle of Heracles, or the Nemean lion as the 
 eyes of Heracles rest upon it; Apollonius writes of the dragon: 
 TOib d'iKuraofx^poLo Kar byinara viaaero Kovprj: so Vergil inserts his 
 description of the serpents between a double mention of Laocoon. 
 But there is also a prosaic side of Hellenistic poetry. It begins 
 with the appeal to authority, especially that of tradition: a practice 
 followed in varied form throughout the Aeneid, Opposite, more- 
 over, to the love of the supernatural as inducing emotion runs a 
 strong tendency toward the matter-of-fact. Legrand has marked 
 the little details which Theocritus adds to the story of the strangling 
 of the serpents by Heracles in order to make it appear more prob- 
 able—the age of the child, the hour at which the deed was done, the 
 light sent by Zeus. In similar fashion Vergil treats marvels, as 
 Heinze has shown in comparing the miraculous healing of Hector by 
 Apollo in the Iliad with that of Aeneas at Venus' hand; the latter 
 is a marvel, but a marvel naturally worked out. Vergil is half- 
 ashamed to tell the wonderful transformation of the ships, and must 
 support his tale with reference to long-standing belief; so Apollonius 
 in deference to the Pierides and report tells of the bearing of the 
 Argo over the Libyan sands. 
 
340 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 Neither in Apollonius nor in Vergil do the gods dwell among 
 
 mankind as in the Homeric day; the name of Zeus, to whom mortal 
 
 men are dear, is not, as in the Iliad, constantly on their lips, but 
 
 he dwells far apart, as the almost impersonal arbiter of Fate. No 
 
 idea of his appearance can be gathered from either poet; each 
 
 shows reserve in dealing with the human passions of Zeus which 
 
 Homer freely told. Prayers are no more the daughters of Zeus; 
 
 Anchises doubts whether they avail to move him. The Arcadians 
 
 believe they have seen Zeus, but this is only their theory; Pallas 
 
 feels no fear of unseen principalities and powers: 
 
 Numina nulla premunt, mortali urgemur ab hoste 
 mortales. 
 
 The other gods, with the exception of Apollo in the ArgonauHca 
 and of Venus in the Aeneid, take very Httle part in the action, in 
 contrast with their energetic interest, amounting even to actual 
 war, in the progress of the battle before Troy. Little description 
 is given concerning them, but Venus, when she appears to Aeneas, 
 entirely resembles an earth-born huntress, with hair disheveled, 
 bare of knee, and scant of skirt; when she manifests herself as true 
 goddess, her rose-hued neck shines forth, her hair exhales sweet 
 perfume, her dress falls to her feet — details worthy of Apollonius' 
 picture of Cypris combing her hair. This anthropomorphic 
 detail is approached from the opposite direction by the language 
 which glorifies, on the one side Ptolemy, on the other Caesar, as 
 worthy of the honor due the gods. 
 
 The matter-of-fact is only a manifestation of the love of truth; 
 and keen observation, as Knaack remarked, was fostered among the 
 Alexandrians by the impulse of their time toward natural science. 
 This impulse led them to describe minutely what they saw, both in 
 Nature and among men, and explains why humble life is so promi- 
 nent in their writings. Herondas describes the daily Ufe of his 
 time, Callimachus tells of the poor old woman who gave welcome to 
 Theseus in her cottage, and the rustics who acclaimed his feat; 
 tells in homely language the care of Artemis for her horses and 
 of Rhea for her newborn child. Theocritus describes the daily Ufe 
 of Alcmene and her babes, or of (Jorgo and Praxinoe; the everyday 
 pictures of the Moretum and the Copa are well known. In these 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE ''AENEW 341 
 
 books of the Aeneid Vergil takes from Apollonius the glimpse of the 
 woman who rouses the sleeping embers of her fire that even by night 
 she may toil to support her needy family; Aeneas' reception in the 
 home of the thrifty king Evandrus is given with simple detail. 
 The fisherman Menoetes, who knew not rich gifts, recaUs the toilers 
 of the sea in Theocritus; from CalUmachus comes the famiUar 
 picture of the boys spinning the top to which Vergil likens Amata. 
 A still more Alexandrian touch is that of Silvia's pet stag and its 
 fate, which Heinze calls '^hellenistisch genrehaft," and would 
 trace to some Hellenistic poem teUing of the story of Cypris, as in 
 the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Alexandrians among the writers of the 
 Palatine anthology had also told of pets; the detail in Catullus and 
 later Latin poetry is known to all. 
 
 In connection with the realism of daily life lie references to the 
 Golden Age, in which daily Ufe was free from care. At one time 
 Vergil agrees with Posidonius that the Golden Age knew no laws; 
 at another he connects the coming of Saturn with the happy 
 mstitution of law and custom. Among the novi colores added by 
 the Alexandrians to the myth of the Golden Age, Graf adds the 
 tenuis victus and the navigationis absentia (Leipziger Studien, VIII). 
 The former motive occurs directly in Evandrus' description of the 
 Golden Age and indirectly in the description of the shepherd's 
 happy Ufe in the Culex; in the words telling of the countrymen of 
 Remulus, taken from the second Georgic: 
 
 At patiens operum parvoque adsueta iuventus; 
 in the picture of the fisherman Menoetes : 
 
 pauperque domus nee nota potentum . . 
 munera ' ' 
 
 and in Vergil's own cry: 
 
 auri sacra fames I 
 
 This motive was, indeed, eminently suited to Vergil's own view 
 of Ufe. There is a hint of the navigationis absentia in the query 
 addressed by Latinus to the Trojans: 
 
 Sive errore viae sive tempestatibus acti, 
 qualia multa nautae patiuntur in alto, 
 fluminis intrastis ripas portuque sedetis. 
 
 Quid non mortalia pectora cogis 
 
342 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 The contrast is marked between the peril of the tossing sea and the 
 cahn of the harbor. Among other motives Graf notes that the 
 change from plowing as an unnecessary toil to a blessing of 
 civilization was made by Aratus; Vergil follows him in his descrip- 
 tion of human misery before the coming of Saturn: 
 
 Quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nee iungere tauros 
 aut componere opes norant. 
 
 The evil side of war, so marked in Tibullus, also appears directly in 
 the description of Evandrus; and indirectly elsewhere. That all 
 wars shall rightly cease under the race of Assaracus, under Caesar, 
 is the prophecy of Apollo and of Jupiter; the feeling of mothers, 
 sisters, and daughters against the war with Tumus recalls the 
 famous hella matribus detestata. 
 
 On turning from science in connection with daily life to science 
 as an end in itself — the love of learning with which the Alexandrians 
 have always been connected — it is refreshing to read MackaiPs 
 vindication of their poetry as a struggling to the light rather than 
 a passing down into death. Lovers of learning they undoubtedly 
 were, and of learning for its own sake; yet Mackail can write of the 
 hymns of Callimachus as marked by a "fastidiousness, by an 
 instinct for rejection which almost amounts to a passion." In 
 the Aeneid this instinct is equally deep; Mirmont points out 
 cases where Vergil deliberately turns material, which in ApoUonius 
 is of only learned interest, to the greater glory of his country: as 
 in the tracing of the Trojan race to Crete, and the glorifying of the 
 cult of Cybele. Aetiological touches are plentiful; the three most 
 interesting are the history of the Ludus Trojae, of Hercules and 
 Cacus, and of Hippolytus, whose tale Callimachus himself had 
 told for the alTwv with which, as in other cases, the narrative in due 
 form ends. The name of Byrsa is traced to the bull's hide; of the 
 Laurentes to the laurel; of Ardea to the heron; and so on. The 
 eponymous hero is sometimes mentioned: Romulus, Capys, Chaon; 
 and the Latin name is preserved for evermore at Juno's urgent 
 prayer. That matter of astronomy should be introduced is not 
 surprising in view of Aratus' wide influence; but, as Callimachus 
 Vergil brought his scientific notes into harmony with his tale. It 
 is entirely natural that' the helmsman Palinurus should scan at 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE ''AENEW 343 
 
 midnight the stars that are passing in the silent sky; that Pallas 
 m his bnght armor should be Hkened to Lucifer as it comes from 
 the ocean and drives away the gloom; that the swing and clash of 
 battle should remind one of the hailstorm that rises out of the west 
 under the rain-bringing Kids. lopas entertains the guests of Dido 
 with Lucretian questions of suns and stars, as Orpheus charms the 
 Argonauts with stories of mythology; comment ancient and 
 modern has vindicated the choice of philosophic song at the queen's 
 court. Lucretian also is the description of the shade that personates 
 Aeneas: 
 
 Morte obita qualis fama est volitare figuras 
 aut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus. 
 
 There is a matter historical: the founding of Ardea by Danae or of 
 Patavium by Antenor, and the tracing of the Kneage of various 
 noble houses; geographical: the formation of the strait between 
 Italy and Sicily, the accurate description of the fruitful flood of the 
 Nile, the definite local touch which marks so many of VergU's 
 similes; philological: the Greek derivation of Strophades the 
 chaiiging of CamiUa's name. Alexandrian, as Norden points out, 
 IS the msistmg on the correct version of a myth, and he compares 
 the msistence in the story of Maia (viii. 140) with Kaibel's example 
 m CalUmachus {Art, 172); Alexandrian, as ApoUonius shows, is the 
 frequent epithet which in Vergil marks the history of person or place 
 Pertaming equally to Vergil's thought and the form in which 
 he clothes it, is the art of the Aeneid, as Heinze has traced it. This 
 art, above all, he owes to Hellenistic fineness of perception In 
 Theocntus, also, light and shadow contrast: realistic with heroic 
 narrative in the story of the infant Heracles, comedy with tragedy 
 in the Adomazusae. In ApoUonius the secure joy of the Colchians 
 m possession of the fleece and their hope of safe return is rudely 
 broken by terror at the anger of Zeus; the misery of the Syrtes 
 follows hard upon wedding joy; grief for Idmon and Tiphys foUows 
 the mirth of the feast. The vision of Apollo at dawn, the sight 
 of the wretched Phineus, the attack of the bird of Ares, fall with 
 sudden joy, pity, and fear upon the heroes; Medea, the earthborn 
 men, the sons of Phrixus, fall suddenly upon the readers. The 
 threads which Jackson distinguishes in the web of the Latin 
 
344 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 epyllion are woven in the Aeneid, as in the ninth book; didactic: 
 the description of the sluggish Ganges with seven mouths, the 
 psychological question as to whence comes fell desire, the frigid 
 derivation of the name Albani; lyric: the poet's memorial to the 
 fallen heroes, and the cry of the mother over her son; dramatic: 
 the exciting story of the capture in the moonlight filtering through 
 the darkness of the wood. Heinze rightly refers to Hellenistic 
 precedent the deftness with which ecphrasis is introduced in the 
 Aeneid; Theocritus' description of the bowl rouses the desire of 
 Thyrsis to sing, and the erotic and rustic characters described are 
 entirely in keeping with the shepherd's life; Moschus in the story 
 of Europa chose well to inscribe on his bowl the fate of lo; the 
 mantle of Jason is described in order to enhance Hypsipyle's desire, 
 and ApoUonius was careful to show Phrixus and the fleece in the 
 embroideries thereon. The influence of ecphrasis upon descriptive 
 narrative is interesting; the expressions at parte ex alia .... alia 
 parte .... diversa in parte in Kterary descriptions of hfe point 
 to this model, and one wonders if literary contrast was furthered 
 by the scenes contrasted in Hellenistic embroideries and paintings. 
 How strong this influence was in Latin poetry is shown both in 
 actual description and by the words of the poet of the Ciris, who 
 would gladly weave a philosophic song to Caesar's glory as tapestries 
 wove the fame of heroes and gods. 
 
 In this ecphrasis we trace one of the most prominent details of 
 Vergil's form: concentration, due partly to Callimachus, partly, as 
 Heinze remarks, to the practical requirements of recitation. As 
 Vergil, so Apollonius begins quickly, with the coming of Jason to 
 PeKas, or passes suddenly from the heroic to the erotic sphere; the 
 miniatures framed by est locus, the abrupt transitions in minor 
 details, the parenthetic remarks and neat proverbial sayings of the 
 Aeneid point to the Alexandrians and the Latin neoteric school. 
 The Hellenistic epigram can at times be traced: addressed by the 
 living to the dead Caieta and Palinurus (vii. 1-4; v. 871-72), by the 
 dead to the living, in the words of Creusa to Aeneas (ii. 788-89), by 
 the host to his guest, the thrifty Evandrus to Aeneas (viii. 364-65). 
 
 In the more intimate phase of form, that of diction, only few 
 words, comparatively, can be traced to a Hellenistic source. 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE ''AENEID'' 
 
 345 
 
 Norden has pointed out that the neoterics replaced the old word 
 for "cave" or ''grotto''— spelunca—hy the Hellenistic ^vrpovy 
 antrum; it is interesting to note the frequent recurrence of the 
 older Latin word in the story of Hercules and Cacus, in which 
 Norden traces Ennian influence. Among Hellenistic words 
 hyacinthusy electruniy calathus, delphin (Greek form) are said by 
 Ladewig to have been introduced by Vergil ; others were adopted by 
 him, as thalamus, thiasus, orgia, Syrtis, coma (of foliage). For the 
 last, note the lines: 
 
 Numquam fronde levi fundet virgulta nee umbras 
 cum semel in silvis imo de stirpe recisum 
 matre caret posuitque comas et bracchia ferro 
 olim arbos. 
 
 The use of bracchia = rami is neoteric; and the fanciful matre caret 
 recalls Moero's lines on the cluster of grapes: 
 
 ovo In T04 fuxTrip iparov ir€p\ Kkrjpja. fiaXova-a 
 ^ixrci xnrep /cparos vcxrapcov irerakov. 
 
 Certain names of flowers, as hyacinthus, crocus, papaver, narcissus, 
 anethum, amaracus, rosa, viola (Bubbe, De meta, Graecorum), were 
 probably popularized in Alexandrian and neoteric literature imder 
 the influence of the tales connected with them. Rare words, as 
 in Alexandrian poetry, were certainly introduced or adopted by 
 Vergil, and Servius occasionally marks a word of his as "neoteric." 
 It is significant, moreover, that Cholmeley's instances of 
 rhetorical diction in Theocritus apply very closely to Vergil here; 
 for example, we find in the first and the second book of the Aeneid 
 (the instances given are only those which have come readily to 
 hand) : 
 
 Neat antithesis of lines: 
 
 Hac fugerent Grai, premeret Troiana inventus, 
 hac Phryges, instaret cumi cristatus Achilles. 
 
 Division of line into two rhythmic units: 
 
 Hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia. 
 Closing of a period of verses by a line complete in itself: 
 
 Hand secus Androgeos visu tremefactus abibat 
 [following the simile of the hidden snake]. 
 
346 
 
 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 
 
 Anaphora, with conjunction: 
 
 Vestnim hoc augurium, vestroque in numine Troia est. 
 Anaphora, without conjunction (common) : 
 Talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat. 
 'ETraj^aSiTrXoxTts : 
 
 Mirantur dona Aeneas, mirantur lulum; 
 
 or, at beginning of Une, to convey fresh detail, and with change of 
 accent, a characteristically Hellenistic feature: 
 
 Ecce autem telis Panthus elapsus Achivmn, 
 Panthus Othryades .... 
 
 (the Theocritean bravah['!r\(^(ns in the fifth foot, with bucohc caesura, 
 appears in this neat line from Book xii: 
 
 Deserit et muros et summas deserit arces). 
 Triplets of expression: 
 
 Tu mihi quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra lovemque 
 concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divum 
 
 (the use of ter or tres in threefold and twofold repetition is notable 
 in Apollonius and in Vergil). 
 
 Repetition of word from main to subordinate clause: 
 
 Ilium expirantem transfixo pectore flammas 
 turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto. 
 
 Traductio: 
 
 Sic Venus: et Veneris contra sic filius orsus. 
 Paronomasia: 
 
 Falle dolo et notos pueri puer indue vultus. 
 
 The inversion of particles in Vergil Norden notes as also of HeUen- 
 istic character. 
 
 One word on meter. Here again we may dupUcate HeUenistic 
 usage in applying Kirby Flower Smith's examples of Hellenistic 
 workmanship in the elegiacs of TibuUus to the second book of the 
 Aeneid. Assonance of the type: 
 
 Tunc vitula innumeros lustrabat caesa iuvencos [Tib. i. i, 21]: 
 
 is common, beginning with line 31; the reverse type, substantive- 
 adjective, is represented in line 246: 
 
 Tunc etiam/a/w aperit Cassandra /w/wrt^. 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN POETRY AND THE "AENEW 
 
 347 
 
 There are three examples of the type: 
 
 Spicea quae templi pendeat SLute fores [Tib. i. i, 16]: 
 
 beginning at line 119: 
 
 AiigoUca. vulgi quae vox ut venit ad auris; 
 
 three examples join verb and object, as in the line: 
 
 Maluerit praedas stultus et anna sequi [Tib. i. 2, 66]; 
 
 cf. line 288: 
 
 Sed graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens. 
 To the type 
 
 Nam neque tunc plumae nee stragula picta soporem [Tib. i. 2, 77] 
 corresponds line in: 
 
 Interclusit hiems et temiit Auster eunfis. 
 The ablative at either pause: 
 
 Totus et argento contextus totus et auro [Tib. i. 2, 69] 
 finds a neat equal in line 221: 
 
 Perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno. 
 T^e aWa variety (with accusative instead of ablative) appears in 
 
 SoHemnis taurum ingentem mactabat ad aias; 
 with ablative in line 211: 
 
 Sibila lambebant Unguis vibrantibus ora. 
 The abab variety is found in line 489: 
 
 Turn pavidae tectis matres ingentibus errant. 
 The source of Vergil's artisticaUy descriptive rhythm is disputed, 
 but It IS e^^dent that the famous labyrinth painting of Catullus and 
 of Vergil finds its forerunner in Callimachus. 
 
 .., ^^ff ?f^^^ ""^^ '^^^ ^"^ ^"^ ^°°i« introductory sketch of 
 the field of Alexandrian influence over these books of the Aeneid 
 In Its preparation I have drawn largely, as is inevitable, upon the 
 storehouse of material contained in Heinze's Vergils Epische 
 Techmk mNoxden's edition of Book vi, and in the editions of 
 Heyne Forbiger, and Jahn. Heumann's thesis De Epyllio Alexan- 
 drtno, Couat s well-known book, and Mirmont's work on the gods 
 in ApoUomus and Vergil are also to be added to the authorities 
 mibedded m my text. 
 
THE DIRECT METHOD IN LATIN: RESULTS 
 
 '4\ 
 
 •1 1 
 
 By Edward C. Chickering 
 Jamaica High School, New York City 
 
 In the discussion of any experiment the question which obviously 
 strikes at the root of the matter is: What are the absolutely definite 
 results ? And this question is distinctly pertinent when so radical 
 an experiment as that of the direct method in Latin is under con- 
 sideration. 
 
 It has been my privilege to have a share in what is probably the 
 most extensive experiment in this country, at least as far as the 
 number of pupils affected is concerned, in the direct method of 
 teaching Latin. In Jamaica High School, New York City, there are 
 about 500 pupils studying the subject, and the present first-term 
 class contains about 140, taught in four sections. 
 
 The work is now entering upon its fourth year, and consequently 
 three successive classes have finished the first two years. Because 
 of the present status of requirements made by authority outside 
 the school itself, including the admission regulations of coUeges, 
 these first two years are typical of the direct method in far greater 
 degree than are the two which follow; for there, obviously, the 
 course must adapt itself more closely to conventional require- 
 ments. Eventually we hope to see certain definite modifications 
 made in the curriculum of these years also, but at present the direct 
 method simply has the position of a fundamentaUy different 
 approach to the reading of Cicero and of Vergil. 
 
 The way in which I have chosen to set forth the facts as they 
 are now developed is this. The University of the State of New York 
 (the Board of Regents), which controls the entire educational 
 system of the state, has authorized a direct-method Latin examina- 
 tion, based upon two years' work, and has given it equal credit 
 with the' conventional examination in Caesar. This examination 
 was first given in June, 1914, and has since been given in January 
 and in June, 1915. The first of these three papers, as is so often 
 the case with matters entirely without precedent, was not typical 
 
 348 
 
 -.-_*».