On Nov 14, 2011, at 1:00 PM, Tom Bishop (ARTS ENG) wrote:
> Bacchus' connection with Osiris is also presented in the middle
> lines of
> Tibullus 1.7, the poem for Mesalla's birthday, possibly in an
> attempt to
> rehabilitate Egyptian cult after the disrepute it had been thrust into
> during and after the last civil war.
Although this comes a bit late, there's a very thorough discussion of
the links between Mesalla and Osiris in Maltby's commentary on
Tibullus I.7 (Robert Maltby, "Tibullus Elegies: Text, Introduction and
Commentary" Francis Cairns 2002). Maltby traces the subtle
interweaving of certain words and ideas that highlight the
connection. And Tibullus wasn't just trying to rehabilitate Egyptian
cult but the country itself along with the religion as Konstan argued
in 1978. The contemporary propaganda against Egypt was quite strong,
and I.7 appears to argue "for the rehabilitation of this rich and
potentially dangerous province and for its peaceful integration into
the culture of Rome" (Maltby 281).
Tibullus is a preoccupation right now since I'm doing a new verse
translation of Books I and II including introduction and commentary in
the Peter Green mold. I.3 and 1.10, the two greatest antiwar poems in
Augustan literature, have already been published by Arion. Another is
coming soon. All the existing English translations are essentially
worthless as poetry and deficient in philology, though Guy Lee's
"Tibullus Elegies" (Francis Carins) has some witty, forceful and
occasionally eccentric verse. He make no effort, however, to reflect
the elegiac distich structure.
I'm surprised no one has to my knowledge mentioned Euripides'
"Bacchae." Dodd's old OUP commentary is still highly useful, but
Richard Seaford has published a more recent edition and commentary in
the Aris&Phillips series (now under Oxbow Books/David Brown Book
Co.). Seaford traces the evolution of the Dionysiac cult in some
detail and explains its role in the polis. He also provides a rice
collection of references to outside literature. His own take on the
play, which I don't share, is psychoanalytic.
Steven Willett
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