Peter Habermehl, Petronius, Satyrica 79-141. Ein philologisch-literarischer Kommentar. Bd. 2: Sat. 111-118, Texte und Kommentare 27.2 (Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 2020), Exemplaria Classica 25 (2021), pp. 391-398 (original) (raw)

Abstract

There has been a long interval between the publication of the first and the second volume of the commentary by Peter Habermehl (hereafter PH) on the latter half of Petronius’ novel (i.e. the chapters subsequent to the Cena Trimalchionis). The first volume appeared in 2006 and the author’s original intention was to finalise his project in two instalments only, and to skip chapters 119-24.1 (the Bellum Civile). By now, however, the commentary has grown considerably: the current volume covers no more than eight chapters (instead of twenty-six, if we do not count Eumolpus’ poem), PH has changed his mind about the omission of the Bellum Civile, and it is likely that the commentary as a whole will consist of four volumes totalling at least some 1700 pages. Thus we are dealing here with a huge enterprise which, nowadays, is usually tackled by a team of scholars; PH himself (p. IX) refers to the Groningen Apuleius project (1977-2015, nine volumes). If, on the other hand, we are looking for an individual scholar’s work of comparable size and character, we may recall the commentary on Tacitus’ Annals by Erich Koestermann (1963-1968, four volumes), that on Thucydides by Simon Hornblower (1991-2008, three volumes) or that on Livy’s Books 6-10 by S.P. Oakley (1997-2005, four volumes).

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References (8)

  1. ExClass 25, 2021, 391-398 http://dx.doi.org/10.33776/ec.v25i0.5570
  2. 3 (p. 517): femina and mulier. To Axelson add J.N. Adams, "Latin Words for 'Woman' and 'Wife'", Glotta 50, 1972, 234-55 (the same reference is missing at 113.7, p. 587).
  3. 5 (p. 522): the narrative function of cum inversum. A comparison with Sall. Cat. 10.1 would have been interesting. 111.10 (p. 543): the vinulentia of St. Monica (St. Augustine's mother). But the episode recounted in Conf. 9.8.18 refers to her early youth, so it poorly suits the theme discussed here, namely "das gerne heraufbeschworene Bild von der Trunksucht gerade älterer Frauen".
  4. 2 (p. 558): "Die Qualitäten der beiden [scil. der matrona und des miles] bilden zwei wohlabgestimmte Paare: wie sie ihm pulcherrima erscheint, so der Soldat ihr nec deformis". We may compare Verg. Aen. 1.496: forma pulcherrima Dido (she is being watched by Aeneas) and 4.141: ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnis (as focalised, we may assume, by Dido). This adds to the intertextual links with the Aeneid, effectively discussed by PH. 113.6 (p. 586): among many references adduced in order to explain obliquis […] oculis […] spectabam one is curiously missing, Lucan. 1.55. 114 (introduction, p. 604): "Der Nord beutelt sein Schiff; andere zerschellen oder sinken" (on the storm in Verg. Aen. 1). But, in fact, only one Trojan ship was destroyed by the storm (see Aen. 1.584-5). 114 (introduction, p. 605): to bibliographical references cited in n. 7 add M. Matthews, Caesar and the Storm. A Commentary on Lucan De Bello Civili, Book 5 lines 476-721, Frankfurt/M. 2008. 114.1 (p. 609): while commenting upon dum haec taliaque iactamus, PH notes a link with Verg. Aen. 1.102: talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procella etc. Additionally, iactamus here seems to ironically anticipate the description of the storm which immediately follows; for iactare used in reference to a sea storm (mainly in the passive voice), see e.g. Nep. Att. 6.2; Liv. 37.12.12; Sen. Dial. 6.10.6; Lucan. 9.331; Sil. 4.716. 114.3 (p. 617): before "Cic. Att. 7,2,1" add "poeta incertus ap.". 114.6 (p. 626): et illum quidem vociferantem in mare ventus excussit (which is followed by Tryphaenam autem: in contrast to Lichas, she managed to survive the storm). According to PH, "Quidem unterstreicht vociferantem: 'mitten im Wort'". It is more likely that quidem/autem is used to mark the difference between the fate of Lichas and that of Tryphaena; cf. 96.4: et ille quidem flens consedit in lecto. Ego autem…; 115.20: et Licham quidem rogus inimicis collatus manibus adolebat. Eumolpus autem… 114.11 (p. 641): Sen. Dial. 4.36.6 should not be cited in the context of the motif of friends (spouses, lovers etc.) dying together, with one of them falling on the corpse of the other (cf. Nisus and Euryalus). The Senecan passage deals with people who, induced by anger, kill those whom they love -and who regret their action afterwards. Seneca most probably had in mind the story Reseñas / Reviews http://dx.doi.org/10.33776/ec.v25i0.5570
  5. of Alexander and Cleitus; cf. Dial. 5.17.1, Ep. 83.19 (transfodit appears in both these passages; cf. transfoderunt at Dial. 4.36.6).
  6. 12 (p. 647): patior ego vinculum extremum. Here PH quotes from Vannini ad loc. (Petronii Arbitri, 288): "Si referisce alla zona, ma allude metaforicamente al vinculum amoris". The use of patior in this particular context suggests that Petronius refers (also) to a lover's passive role in a homosexual union (cf. 9.6, 25.3, Tac. Ann. 11.36.4). If this is right, the reference would, of course, be ironical, because in their relationship it is Giton rather than Encolpius who plays the passive role. 115.3 (p. 656): before "39-42" add "1,1" (the quotation here is from Ov. Trist. 1.1 and not, as was the case earlier, from Trist. 1.11). 115.4 (p. 659): laborat carmen in fine. Perhaps laborat alludes, on the one hand, to the labor limae of Hor. AP 291 and, on the other, to the toils of childbirth (for laborare in this context, see Hor. Carm. 3.22.2, Ov. Am.
  7. 9, Cels. Med. 5.25.14). The notion of books as the children of their authors is frequently attested, in Latin literature most movingly in Ov. Trist. 1.7 (for the composition of a literary work represented as childbirth see Ar. Nub. 530-2). See further A.T. Zanker, Greek and Latin Expressions of Meaning. The Classical Origins of a Modern Metaphor, München 2016, 123-45. (It is tempting to see in poetam mugientem of 115.5 a reference to screaming during childbirth. Admittedly, this particular aspect of mugire is not attested, but see ThLL 8.1560.47-63 de vocibus eorum, qui dolore vel affectu laborant.)
  8. 8 (p. 671): "Für diese Ironie gibt es kaum Parallelen" (on maris fidem). Possibly the phrase is used in order to evoke the motif of the sea giving back what has been entrusted to it (cf. Hor. Carm. 1.3.5-8), in this case the (dead) body of Lichas. For this imagery see 83.10.1: qui pelago credit, magno se faenore tollit. 115.9 (p. 673): "Und die Paarung filius aut pater zitiere Ceyx' letzte Gedanken…". The thoughts are not those of Ceyx, but of his anonymous fellow-traveller; Ceyx appears slightly later (Ov. Met. 11.544). 116.1 (p. 705): "Aeneas und die Seinen". On his way to Carthage Aeneas is accompanied by only one of his men, Achates. 116.3 (pp. 709-10): Encolpius and his friends inquire about their whereabouts. "Im Hintergrund sehen wir eine archetypische Situation des Epos: den ortsfremden Neuankömmling fernab der Heimat". The novelist models his narrative here mainly on Vergil's Aeneid 1: his exploraremus corresponds to the poet's explorare (Aen. 1.307), and so on. It may be asked why they have waited so long to learn that they are in the neighbourhood of Crotona. Before they met a vilicus (116.2), they might have asked the fishermen who had helped them after the shipwreck (114.4 and 115.