Gaius Valerius Flaccus

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Gaius Valerius Flaccus (Setinus Balbus) (died c. AD 90) was a Roman poet who flourished in the "Silver Age" under the emperors Vespasian and Titus and wrote a Latin Argonautica that owes a great deal to Apollonius of Rhodes' more famous epic.

He has been identified on insufficient grounds with a poet friend of Martial (1.61.76), a native of Padua, and in needy circumstances; but as he was a member of the College of Fifteen, who had charge of the Sibylline books (1.5), he must have been well off. The subscription of the Vatican manuscript, which adds the name Setinus Balbus, points to his having been a native of Setia in Latium. The only ancient writer who mentions him is Quintilian (10.1.90), who laments his recent death as a great loss; as Quintilian's work was finished about 90 AD, this gives a limit for the death of Flaccus.

His only surviving work, the Argonautica, dedicated to Vespasian on his setting out for Britain, was written during the siege, or shortly after the capture, of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD. As the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD is alluded to, its composition must have occupied him a long time. The Argonautica is an epic poem probably intended to be in eight books (though intended totals of ten and twelve books, the latter corresponding to Virgil's "Aeneid", an important poetic model, have also been proposed) written in traditional dactylic hexameters, which recounts Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. The poem's text, as it has survived, is in a very corrupt state; it ends so abruptly with the request of Medea to accompany Jason on his homeward voyage, that it is assumed by most modern scholars[1] that it was never finished. It is a free imitation and in parts a translation of the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, "to whom he is superior in arrangement, vividness, and description of character" (Loeb Classical Library). The familiar subject had already been treated in Latin verse in the popular version of Varro Atacinus. The object of the work has been described as the glorification of Vespasian's achievements in securing Roman rule in Britain and opening up the ocean to navigation (as the Euxine was opened up by the Argo).

In 1911, the compilers of Encyclopaedia Britannica remarked, "Various estimates have been formed of the genius of Flaccus, and some critics have ranked him above his original, to whom he certainly is superior in liveliness of description and delineation of character. His diction is pure, his style correct, his versification smooth though monotonous. On the other hand, he is wholly without originality, and his poetry, though free from glaring defects, is artificial and elaborately dull. His model in language was Virgil, to whom he is far inferior in taste and lucidity. His tiresome display of learning, rhetorical exaggeration and ornamentations make him difficult to read, which no doubt accounts for his unpopularity in ancient times."

Recent scholarship

Increased interest in the last decades has resulted in a full-length general introduction,[2] two new editions, in 1997 (Liberman) and 2003, a commentary on the whole poem by F. Spaltenstein (Brussels: Latomus, 2002: Books 1-2; 2004: Books 3-5; 2005: Books 6-8) and a fair amount of commentaries on individual books:

-Book 1: Aad J. Kleywegt (Leiden: Brill, 2005); Daniela Galli (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2007); Andrew Zissos (Oxford: OUP, 2008)

-Book 2: Alison Harper Smith (Diss. Oxford, 1987); Harm M. Poortvliet (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1991)

-Book 4: (lines 1-343) Matthias Korn (Hildesheim: Olms, 1989); Paul Murgatroyd (Leiden: Brill, 2009)

-Book 5: Henri J.W. Wijsman (Leiden: Brill, 1996)

-Book 6: Henri J.W. Wijsman (Leiden: Brill, 2000); Thomas Baier (Munich: Beck, 2001); (lines 427-760) Marco Fucecchi (Pisa: ETS, 1997); (lines 1-426) Marco Fucecchi (Pisa: ETS, 2006)

-Book 7: A. Taliercio (Rome: Gruppo Ed. Int., 1992); Hubert Stadler (Hildesheim: Olms, 1993); Alessandro Perutelli (Florence: Le Monnier, 1997)

-Book 8: Cristiano Castelletti (forthcoming)

The most recent translation of the poem into English is a version in blank verse by Kenyon College Classics Professor Michael Barich (XOXOX Press, 2009).

Flaccus also appears as a recurring character in Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series of children's novels.[3] In the television adaptations he is played by British actor Ben Lloyd-Hughes.

Notes

  1. ↑ J.H.Mozley, in Loeb Classical Library, A.J. Kleywegt (2005) and others.
  2. ↑ Debra Hershkowitz, Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica: Abbreviated Voyages in Silver Latin Epic (Oxford University Press, 1999)
  3. ↑ http://www.romanmysteries.com/books/beggar.htm

Some editions

Older editions

  • editio princeps, Bologna 1474
  • Giovanni Battista Pio, Bologna 1519 (with commentary and continuation of the poem: remainder of book 8, book 9, book 10])
  • Aldine edition, Venice 1523
  • Louis Carrion, Antwerp 1565 (2nd ed. 1566) (Plantin edition)
  • Nicolaas Heinius, Leiden 1680 (2nd ed. Utrecht 1702 [by Pieter Burman], 3rd ed. Padua 1720 [by Giuseppe Comino]
  • Pieter Burman, Leiden 1724 (variorum edition)
  • Bipontine edition, Zweibrücken 1786
  • J.A. Wagner, Göttingen 1805 (with commentary)

Modern editions

  • G. Thilo, Halle 1863
  • C. Schenkl, Berlin 1871
  • E. Baehrens, Leipzig 1875 (Bibliotheca Teubneriana)
  • P. Langen, Berlin 1896-7
  • J.B. Bury, London 1900 (in Postgate's Corpus Poetarum Latinorum)
  • C. Giarratano, Palermo 1904
  • O. Kramer, Leipzig 1913 (Bibliotheca Teubneriana)
  • J.H. Mozley, London & Cambridge, MA, 1934 (Loeb Classical Library)
  • E. Courtney, Leipzig 1970 (Bibliotheca Teubneriana)
  • W.W. Ehlers, Stuttgart 1980 (Bibliotheca Teubneriana)
  • G. Liberman, Paris 1997 (Collection Budé) - Books 1-4
  • F. Caviglia, Milan 1999 (Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli [BUR])
  • G. Liberman, Paris 2002 (Collection Budé) - Books 5-8

Thematic bibliography

Introductions / general

  • Barnes, W.R. (1995), "Virgil: The Literary Impact", in: N. Horsfall (ed.), A Companion to the Study of Virgil, Leiden: Brill, 257-95 ("Valerius Flaccus": pp. 273-8).
  • Burck, E. (1979), 'Valerius Flaccus', in: E. Burck (ed.), Das römische Epos, Darmstadt: WBG, ?-?.
  • Hershkowitz, D. (1998), Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica: Abbreviated Voyages in Silver Latin Epic, Oxford: OUP.
  • Zissos, A. (2005), "Valerius Flaccus", in: J.M. Foley (ed.), Blackwell Companion to Ancient Epic, Malden, MA/Oxford/Victoria: Blackwell, 503-13.

Conference proceedings ("Ratis omnia vincet" I-III)

  • Eigler, U. & E. Lefèvre (eds.) (1998), Ratis omnia vincet: neue Untersuchungen zu den Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus, Munich: Beck (Zetemata, 98).
  • Korn, M. & H.-J.Tschiedel (eds.) (1991), Untersuchungen zu den Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus, Hildesheim: Olms.
  • Spaltenstein, F. (ed.), Untersuchungen zu den Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus: Ratis omnia vincet III, Munich: Beck (Zetemata, 120).

Text

  • Coulson, F.T. (1986), "New Evidence for the Circulation of the Text of Valerius Flaccus?", Classical Philology 81: 58-60.
  • Delz, J. (1991), "Beiträge zur Textkritik", in: M. Korn & H.-J.Tschiedel (eds.), Untersuchungen zu den Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus, Hildesheim: Olms, 9-16.
  • Ehlers, W.W. (1970), Untersuchungen zur handschriftlichen Überlieferung der Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus, Munich: Beck (Zetemata, 52).
  • Ehlers, W.W. (1985), "Valerius-Probleme", Museum Helveticum 42: 334-50.
  • Ehlers, W.W. (1991), "Neuere Arbeiten zur Datierung und Überlieferung der Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus", in: M. Korn & H.J.Tschiedel (eds.), Untersuchungen zu den Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus, Hildesheim: Olms, 17-34.
  • Hurka, H. (2003), Textkritische Studien zu Valerius Flaccus, Stuttgart: Steiner (Hermes Einzelschriften, 90).
  • Reeve, M.D. (1983), "Valerius Flaccus", in: L.D. Reynolds (ed.), Texts and Transmission, Oxford: OUP, 425-7.
  • Taylor, P.R. (1989), "The Authority of the Codex Carrionis in the MS-tradition of Valerius Flaccus", Classical Quarterly 39: 451-71.
  • Ussani, V. (1955), Studio su Valerio Flacco, Rome.

Language and style

  • Eigler, U. (1998), "Valerius Flaccus: Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Stil?", in Eigler & Lefèvre (above), 33-44.
  • Kleywegt, A.J. (1986), "Die Dichtersprache des Valerius Flaccus", Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 2.32.4: 2448-90.
  • Kleywegt, A.J. (1998), "In eigener Sprache", in: Eigler & Lefèvre (above), 45-50.

Narrative, narratology and speeches

  • Auhagen, U. (1998), "Heu quid agat? - Erlebte Rede bei Valerius Flaccus und seinen Vorgängern", in: Eigler & Lefèvre (1998: above), 51-65.
  • Ferenczi, A. (2004), "Narratologische Beobachtungen über die Argonautica", in: Spaltenstein (2004: above), 47-54
  • Fuhrer, Th. (1998), "Ahnung und Wissen: Zur Technik des Erzählens von Bekanntem", in: Eigler & Lefèvre (1998: above), 11-26.
  • Manuwald, G. (2002/2005), "The Narrative Function of Similes in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica: Comment on Franco Caviglia's Article", Aevum Antiquum 2: 63-72.
  • Manuwald, G. (2005), "Die Argonauten bei den Mariandynern und die Erzähltechnik in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica", Philologus 149: 297-320.
  • Sauer, Chr. (2011), Valerius Flaccus’ dramatische Erzähltechnik, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (Hypomnemata, 187).
  • Schmitz, Chr. (2009), "Narrative Wiederholung mythischer Modelle im Argonautenepos des Valerius Flaccus", in: C. Schmitz, A. Bettenworth (eds.), Menschen - Heros - Gott: Weltentwürfe und Lebensmodelle im Mythos der Vormoderne, Stuttgart: Steiner, 119-148.

Models and intertextuality

  • Hardie, P.R. (1993), The Epic Successors of Virgil, Cambridge: CUP.
  • Hershkowitz, D. (1998), Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica: Abbreviated Voyages in Silver Latin Epic, Oxford: OUP, Chapter 2: "Belatedness: Silver Linings" (pp. 35-104).
  • Zissos, A. (2002), "Reading Models and the Homeric Program in Valerius Flaccus's Argonautica", Helios 29: 69-96.
  • Zissos, A. (2006), "Sailing and Sea-Storm in Valerius Flaccus (Argonautica 1, 574-642)", in: R.R. Nauta, H.-J. van Dam & J.J.L. Smolenaars (eds.), Flavian Poetry, Leiden: Brill, 79-95.

Reception

Zissos, A. (2006), "Reception of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica", International Journal of the Classical Tradition 13.2: 165-85.

External links

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