Martial Publication XIII: The Xenia. Text with introduction and commentary

Farouk Grewing , Harvard University. , -koeln.de

Data on catholicmatch vs catholicsingles com Martial might developing constantly lately. The discourse under analysis listed here is T.J. Leary’s (henceforth: L.’s) second one on a manuscript of Martial’s, an achievement yet paired merely by Peter Howell, who took both products I and V under his wings. We must getting indebted to L. for having taken up thus painstaking a job as creating available the two maybe a lot of underestimated and ignored courses of Martial, which, first the Apophoreta (L.’s discourse of six years ago are henceforth called a€?L. 1996′) nowadays the Xenia. These e-books, that essentially feature two-line poems best, create a particular obstacle towards the scholar and general viewer identical.

I might need to apologize for the extreme amount of this overview, but considering the complex nature in the Xenia while the undeniable fact that however not enough Latinists look like prepared to view this range (or the Apophoreta, for instance) as a complicated piece of books, which has a right to be translated appropriately, it appeared rationalized to indicate the multi-layered (esp. literary) facets involved with it in order to read as to the degree the latest commentary supplies awareness and offers let for potential investigations.

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L.’s Introduction (pp. 1-21), perhaps not the smallest amount of because of the comparable nature of the particular style of epigram range, fundamentally provides the exact same areas as his 1996 Apophoreta, therefore, naturally adequate, L. (with afterthoughts) draws more material from his or her own work on aforementioned and from his portion a€?Martial’s Early Saturnalian Versea€? within my Toto notus in orbe (Stuttgart 1998).

Part (i) relates to the ebook’s subject, which just like the among Apophoreta may be the publisher’s very own; and so are those of the person items tituli (pp. 1-3, 37, 47). Guide was created to the aid of the phrase a€?xenion’ in literary works, especially Roman (a lot of noteworthy, obviously, Plin. epist. 6.). Discrepancies in grammatical wide variety between a poem’s lemma as well as its genuine contours often is generally discussed quite simply (metrical causes; generalizing single vs. plural lemma, etc.; look at research on p. 58).

Area (ii) briefly summarizes standard information about the Roman Saturnalia (origins, occasion, licenses, lotteries and gift ideas); moreover it touches upon the sociological size of the event and gift-giving in the context of the exhibitions of patronage (p. 7, read also 15). 1 Lucian’s Saturnalia (mentioned by L., p. 6; cf. p. 101), particularly the a€?Kronosolon’ part (ch. 10-18), deliver further insight into festival-bound gift-exchange, some of which is covered by L. 2

Section (iii), regarding the arrangement and build associated with the publication, is actually notably quicker versus exact same section in L.’s Apophoreta, just like the manuscripts in Xenia seemingly never make all of us raise a lot of questions regarding missing things and unusual lacunae – fortunately therefore, because a repair regarding the a€?original’ purchase might have been a lot more challenging than in your situation of guide XIV, in which editors get some good assistance from the author’s statement at 14.1.5 as to what principle of alternating pairs (discover L. 1996, pp. 13-21). In-book XIII, the rich-poor contrast is not a structural tool; yet, a€?rich’ and a€?poor’ are periodic attributes of gifts, e.g. in items 6, 27, 76, 106, and, implicitly, 45 and 103 (cf. pp. 51-52 and 96-97). Anyway, within the Xenia, we be seemingly met with singular little distortion of the purchase, that will be, at 98-99, where Lindsay’s transposition of Schneidewin’s 99-98 permits us to view 99-100 as a mini-unit (discover pp. 11 and 162-164). L. offers a neat and thorough summary of the publication’s arrangement, with interest are paid to your orifice area, different groupings and sub-groupings, including to their closing. 3 Speaking of which, it is definitely correct that, as L. claims (pp. 11 and 194), the publication’s finally object (127, Coronae roseae) significantly signals the conclusion the range by (a) dealing with the emperor (like the very first product, 4, following triple proem!), and (b) by recalling the thought of a€?garlands’ of epigrams (like types by Philip and Meleager), hence Martial thus dedicates the whole book for the princeps (cf. 8.82). Inside the debate of your poem, L. usefully clarifies the big event and meaning of flower garlands as well as the a€?unseasonal’ luxury of cold weather flowers in Rome. Inter alia, the guy identifies Horace, c. 1.38, whose very first stanza most likely deserves additional attention than L. acknowledges: Persicos odi, puer, device, / displicent nexae philyra, coronae, / mitte sectari, rosa quo locorum / sera moretur. D. Fowler, inside the a€?us 24 , pp. 31-58, right here: 55), keeps pointed out that Horace’s poem like Martial’s includes a reference to flowers and, once again like Martial’s, shuts a novel – plus, you ought to create, the a€?garland motif’. Is this only coincidence? Either way, some regard to the fast raising studies on a€?closure’ would-have-been in an effort. 4