Book VIII of Virgil's Aeneid with special reference to ecphrasis.

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dc.contributor.authorEdwards, Johnen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-13T22:12:34Z
dc.date.available2024-08-13T22:12:34Z
dc.date.copyright1973en_US
dc.date.issued1973
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Classics
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Greek and Roman Studies
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThe thesis is concerned with the use of ecphrasis in the eighth book of Virgil's Aeneid. It is focused primarily upon the description of the shield of Aeneas (Aeneid VIII, 630-728). My intention is to examine Virgil's use of an existing poetic form, ecphrasis, and to evaluate, by means of comparative literary analysis, his achievement. I commence with the assumption that Virgil's consummate artistry enables him to perfect the rhetorical device of ecphrasis, the first appearance of which, in classical literature, is in Homer's Iliad, XVIII, 483-607, the shield of Achilles. The results of my investigations do not, I think, disappoint this assumption. Because my approach to the problem of evaluating the success of Virgil's use of ecphrasis is comparative, I pursue four separate but interrelated methods of inquiry in the various chapters of the thesis. Firstly, the description of the shield of Aeneas is placed within the context of Book VIII as a whole and a strong argument is constructed for the interpretation of the Cacus episode (Aeneid VIII, 184-279) as a passage which is both preparatory and complementary to this description. Secondly, I relate the climactic ecphrasis of book VIII to other examples of the use of this device in the Aeneid, and demonstrate, by argument and illustration, its superiority over them. Thirdly, the thesis follows the method of comparative analysis through the juxta­position of Aeneid VIII, 630-728, with Homer's Iliad XVIII, 483-607, with the Pseudo-Hesiodic Shield of Herakles, and with Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica, I, 721-767. Fourthly, the connexions between Aeneid VI, 756-886, and Iliad XVIII, 675-728 are explored in order to explain more fully Virgil's intentions in the shield ecphrasis. In addition, brief appendices are supplied to suggest the general lines along which ecphrasis developed after Virgil both in Roman and in English literature. Passages from Ovid, Claudian, Spenser, Nashe, and Milton are included without comment, with the exception of Milton. The thesis begins with a general definition of ecphrasis based upon relevant passages in J. F. D'Alton's Roman Literary Theory and Criticism and Gordon Williams' Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry. It differen­tiates between thematic and ornamental ecphrasis in the Aeneid by means of a discussion of Aeneid V, 249-257. In chapter II a brief comparative study of Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica I, 721-767 and Aeneid I, 453-493 and VIII, 608-731 supplies further evidence for the necessity for the distinction between the two kinds of ecphrasis in classical poetry. Chapter III approaches the problem of the importance of the Cacus episode to book VIII, and especially to the shield description. The relationship between the Cacus passage and Homer's Odyssey is examined and Virgil's use of aetiological themes is discussed with reference to Callimachus, Propertius, Ovid, Juvenal, and Servius. Chapter IV examines some of the connexions between Aeneid VI, 756-886 and VIII, 675-728. The writings of Otis, Poschl, Galinsky, Quinn, and Putnam on this subject are briefly evaluated. Chapter Vis concerned with the relationship of Virgil's Aeneid to Homer's Iliad, with particular reference to the comparison of the ecphrases in Aeneid VIII and Iliad XVIII. Arguments are given to support the conclusion that Virgil's use of ecphrasis in the eighth Aeneid is more thematic than is Homer's in the eighteenth Iliad. Chapter VI evaluates the success of the composer of the Shield of Herakles and maintains the method of comparative analysis which informs the thesis as a whole. Its fundamental importance to the subject> of the thesis is that it supplies an extended example of bad poetry and of mishandled ecphrasis. Virgil's achievement thus is given greater perspective when his readers become cognizant of the difficulties inherent in ecphrastic poetry which he avoided, but which Pseudo­-Hesiod did not. Chapter VII analyses in detail Aeneid VIII, 630-728 and is meant both to build upon and to complete the discussions of the preceeding chapters. A political interpretation is given to this supreme example of thematic ecphrasis. The general conclusions of the thesis are twofold: that Virgil did indeed s urpass the achievements of his predecessors in the use of ecphrasis in epic poetry, and that he was able to transform what was, before him, essentially a stylized set piece necessary for the fulfillment of the conventions of e pic poetry into a vehicle not merely of great beauty but of subtle political comment as well.en
dc.format.extent116 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/17685
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleBook VIII of Virgil's Aeneid with special reference to ecphrasis.en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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