Anti-mitologia ed Eredità Neoterica in Marziale: Genesi e Forme di una Poetica by Silvia Mattiacci, Andrea Perruccio
2010; Classical Association of Canada; Volume: 64; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/phx.2010.0045
ISSN1929-4883
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Literary Analyses
Resumo450 PHOENIX is a vital link; Propertius parades the influence of epigram throughout the corpus; and the opening lines of 2.13 should not be cited as a vivid illustration of the "disavowal of epigram" (50-51) when a sepulchral epigram is included at 2.13.35-36. The following poem imagines a dedication to Venus (2.14.27-28) and epigram will be important in, for example, 3.7, 3.13.43-46,4.2 (esp. 59-64), and right through to the collection's sepulchral closure in 4.11 (n.b. 36). Wadham College, Oxford S. J. Heyworth Anti-mitologia ed Eredità Neoterica in Marziale: Genesi e Forme di una Poetica. By Silvia Mattiacci and Andrea Perruccio. Pisa: Pacini Editore. 2007. Pp. 261. The book under review is not—as one might assume from its title—exclusively devoted to Martial's anti-mythological polemics and his neoteric heritage. Rather, each of the two essays in this volume—"Polemica anti-mitologica tra Lucilio e Marziale" by Andrea Perruccio (11-134) and "Marziale e la fortuna del neoterismo nella prima età imperiale" by Silvia Mattiacci (137-218 )—offers lengthy discussions of earlier literature before turning to the Flavian poet himself, in an effort to situate these two (distinct, but related) phenomena in Martial's epigrams within a broader literary context. Perruccio starts his examination with two introductory chapters, one on Lucilius' satirical response to the epic and tragic works of Ennius, Accius, and Pacuvius (14-40), the other on the treatment of myth and theatre in Horace and Persius (40-76), while Mattiacci first takes a look at Maecenas' poetic output (138-147) and the revival of neoteric-style poetry during the Neronian era, including Persius' parody thereof (147-161). After investigating the complex relationship between Martial and Catullus (162-195), she concludes her essay with a chapter on the reception of Catullus in the poetry of Pliny the Younger and his soda/es, such as Sentius Augurinus and Pompeius Saturninus (195-218). As a writer of epigrams, whose aim it is to imitate life itself and who proudly de clares hominem pagina nostra sapit (10.4.10), Martial—unsurprisingly—rejects mythologi cal themes, which are the stuff of epic and tragedy. In his opposition to the genera grandia he draws both on the tradition of satire with its often polemical stance toward such subject matter (as outlined by Perruccio) and that of Callimachean-neoteric poetry with its prefer ence for less common topics and stylistic refinement. However, while discarding myth as a theme in the context of a stricdy poetological discourse, Martial frequently makes use of it for his own purposes. In his essay, Perruccio, inter alia, proposes a categorization of Mar tial's mythological references with regard to their rhetorical function (for instance, meton omy, antonomasia, periphrasis, hyperbole, apostrophe, similitude), concluding that "gli epigrammi 'anti-mitologici' tendono parlare di mitologia, tutti gli altri in mitologia" (117). Mattiacci, in her chapter on Martial's epigrams, argues that he is indebted to neoteric poetics, without being a neoteric (cf. also her recent contribution "Marziale e il neoterismo," in A. Bonadeo and E. Romano (eds.), Dialogando con ilpassato [Florence 2007] 177-206): while he professes his adherence to minor poetry in a manner reminiscent of Callimachus & Co. and adapts certain elements of Catullus' carmen breve, Martial is hardly interested in the more esoteric aspects of this literary movement, for example, the display of obscure knowledge. For him Catullus is the auctor of the epigrammatic genre (cf. the praefatio to Book 1) and as such the very model he aspires to—wishing, for instance, to be considered BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 451 "less only than Catullus" (uno sed tibi sim minor Catullo, 10.78.16). Mattiacci discusses both poems that explicitly mention Catullus (to whom Martial refers about twenty times) and epigrams that allude to his poetry. A particularly amusing example is Ep. 1.7, in which Martial pronounces Stella's "Dove" bigger than Catullus' "Sparrow": Stellae delictum mei columba, /Verona licetaudiente dicam, /vicit, Maxime,passerem Catulli. /tanto Stella meus tuo Catullo / quantopassere maior est columba. Mattiacci rightly observes that Martial combines here a reference to the Catullan passer (as title of his...
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