On 20 Nov 2000, at 13:53, Andy Green wrote:
> W. L. Godshalk and (possibly) Virgil wrote:
>
> > Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena
> > Carmen; & egressus sylvis, vicina coegi,
> > Vt quamvis avido parerent arva colono;
> > Gratum opus agricolis: at nunc horrentia Martis
> > Arma virumque cano . . . .
The first four lines are absolutely not by Vergil. The evidence against
them, historical, textual, grammatical, stylistic and metrical is
marshalled by Luca Canali in _Virgilio: Eneide_ I.123ff. I'm not sure
how soon after Spenser they were recognized as spurious, but
Dryden certainly knew before the publication of his translation in
1697. In the Preface he properly excoriates them. It is difficult to
believe that so good a poet as Spenser--Dryden's superior in nearly
every way--thought such trash could be Vergilian, but apparently he
did, or pretended for his own literary purpose. This then would be
true masking.
> To read the first four lines of FQ without this in hand might, indeed, be
> something of an oversight. I'd like to add to that, the following, from
> Hesiod's "Theogony":
>
> The Muses once taught Hesiod to sing
> Sweet songs, while he was shepherding his lambs
> On holy Helicon; the goddesses
> Olympian, daughters of Zeus who holds
> The aegis, first addressed these words to me:
> `You rustic shepherds, shame: bellies you are,
> Not men! We know enough to make up lies
> Which are convincing, but we also have
> The skill, when we've a mind, to speak the truth.'
>
> (tr. Dorothea Wender, Penguin, based on the Greek text of M.L.West)
One must bear in mind that the Muses are addressing Hesiod when
they say
"poimenes agrauloi, kak' elegkhea, gasteres oion,
idmen psuedea polla legein etumoisin 'omoia,
idmen d' eut' ethelwmen alhthea ghrusasthai."
They imply Hesiod has lived his life dealing with false things and in
ignorance of divine truth. They are now going to reveal it to him and
he in turn to men. This is not a situation that could possibly apply to
Spenser. See West, _Hesiod: Theogony_ 161f.
> I think I'm reading Virgil correctly when I see "... avido ..." pointing to
> Hesiod's "shame: bellies you are, Not men!".
The phrase "avido parerent arva colono" does not refer to Vergil the
way "gasteres" does to the shepherds and therefore directly to
Hesiod. Even if Spenser thought the four lines genuine, they do not
say that Vergil masked himself "in lowly Shepheards weeds" as
model for later poets. That construction is strictly Spenser's front.
Indeed, the next line "Gratum opus agricolis" clearly indicates
aesthetic distance. No one in the Classical world ever believed you
must become the subject of your poem to sing it.
Steven J. Willett
Univesity of Shizuoka, Hamamatsu Campus
2-3 Nunohashi 3-chome
Hamamatsu City, Japan 432-8012
Voice and Fax: (53) 457-4514
Japan email: [log in to unmask]
US email: [log in to unmask]
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