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Peter Bing
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100 Peter Bing
2. E.g. W. Ludwig, Aratos, RE Suppl. X (1965), pp. 33-34, and Bernd Effe, Dicht-
ung und Lehre, Munich 1977, pp. 41, 43. Against this view, cf. G.O. Hutchinson,
Hellenistic Poetry, Oxford 1988, pp. 224-226 esp. n. 17, 233-235.
3. References to seafaring: w. 37-39, 154-155, 287-302, 408-430, 729-731, 744-
748, 758-768 (n.b. el jioxe), 933-936 (i.e. 66 verses total). References to farming:
265-267, 742, 1051-1063, 1075-1081 (24 verses total).
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Aratus and his audiences 101
4. Thus E. Maass, Aratea, Berlin 1892, pp. 317-320; M. Erren, Die Phainomena
des Aratos von Soloi, («Hermes» Einzelschr. 19), Wiesbaden 1967, pp. 10-16; W.
Ludwig & D. Pingree, «Gnomon» 43, 1971, p. 350: review of Erren's book (cit.).
5. Aratea, «Hermes» 29, 1894, p. 91.
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102 Peter Bing
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Aratus and his audiences 103
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104 Peter Bing
10. Sur un Acrosticbe dyAratos,«Rev. Et. Anc.» 62, 1960, pp. 48-61. W. Levitan,
Plexed Artistry: Aratean Acrostics, «Glyph» 5, 1979, pp. 55-68, esp. 57 ff., identifies
a further acrostic, Jidoa, at 803-806 (cf. also G.O. Hutchinson, Hellenistic Poetry,
Oxford 1988, p. 215 n. 4, though he is apparently unaware of Levitan's article), and
thinks that still another may have been attempted unsuccessfully at 808-812
(ZEMEiHfor neut. pl. <rr)H£ia- though is it not more likely to have been for fern. sg.
0T)|i£ia?cf. below), as at Nicander, Alex. 266-274, cf. E. Lobel, Nicander's Signa-
ture, «Class. Quart.» 22, 1928, pp. 114-115.
Confining ourselves to the two indubitable examples, we should note that the
first line of the Jiaoa acrostic at 803 begins, exactly as in the case of Xejittj(and the
acrostic yair\in Philostephanus of Cyrene [D.L. Page, ed., Further Greek Epigrams,
Cambridge 1981, 21], with the word contained in the acrostic, and that that word is
prominent throughout the passage (cf. jtaoiv and jiAvrctin 805, and jiAvtt)at the start
of 802, the line immediately preceding the beginning of the acrostic), cf. Jacques,
op. cit. p. 52 with n. 1. It is no coincidence, moreover, that both instances occur
shortly after the recurrent injunction, «be watchful,* ox&rceo(778, 799). Are we
perhaps meant to take the two nominative feminine adjectives together (Xejitti
jiaoa), supplying a noun such as ftoidrjand recalling the injunction to the Muses at
18 to «guide my whole song,» xex^TJQaxe jiaoav &oi6rjv?Or should we, if we choose
to include the third, more doubtful acrostic, read Xejixf)jiaoa arjiieia?
On the other hand, Michael Haslam (Hidden Signs: Aratus Diosemeiai 46ff.,
Vergil Georgics 1.424ff., «Harv. Stud. Class. Philol.» 94, 1992, pp. 199-204, here
esp. 201) has recently identified a syllabic acrostic at w. 807-808:
and suggests that, taken together in the context of the section in which they occur,
namely that on the phases of the moon, Xejitti(w. 783 ff.), jiaoa (w. 803 ff.), and
(w. 807 f.) signal the new-phase, full-phase, and half-phase respectively.
|ie*|oi1
In the meantime we know that Aratus' acrostics were not the earliest: for one has
been discovered by R. Kannicht in the tragedian Chairemon (2nd half of the 4th
century B.C.), cf. F14b Snell and Id., Szenen aus griechischenDramen, Berlin 1971,
pp. 159-160, 166-168. On acrostics generally, cf. E. Vogt, Das Akrostichon in der
griechischen Literatur, «Ant. u. Abendl.» 13, 1967, pp. 80-95; E. Courtney, Greek
and Latin Acrostichs, «Philologus» 134, 1990, pp. 3-13.
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Aratus and his audiences 105
11. The pun was first noted by W. Levitan, op. cit. (n. 10 above) n. 18; thereafter
cf. D.A. Kidd, Notes on Aratus*Phaenomena>«Class. Quart.* 31, 1981, pp. 355-
362 and N. Hopkinson, A Hellenistic Anthology, Cambridge 1988, p. 139 ad n. 2,
neither of whom seem to know of Levitan's article.
12. One might perhaps take it to mean «Let us begin with Zeus, whom men never
allow (to be like) Aratus», i.e., whom men never allow to assume the status of a
mere mortal, such as the author; or «Zeus, whom we never allow to go unspoken
(sc. as we allow Aratus [that is «Unspoken»] to go unspoken)».
Another reason that scholars may have missed the pun is that most focused their
attention on the fact that &eer]xov»tse^ alludes to a line at the start of the Worksand
Days (v. 4). In Aratus, the word is used of Zeus by men; in Hesiod, by contrast, it is
used of men, «mentioned and unmentioned, by the will of great Zeus» (qtjtoi t'
xe Aidg \iey6Xoio extjti). For the collocation
&QQTfroi £tjxoi x' &qqt]xoi in subsequent
authors, cf. M.L. West, Hesiod. Worksand Days, Oxford 1970, ad loc.
13. Thus Hopkinson, op. cit. (n. 11 above), ibid.
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106 Peter Bing
Let him be praised who toiled at this great work, and let it be
said that after Zeus
he comes second, who made the stars shine brighter16.
14. If one could document any ancient awareness of the etymology of 'Hoio6og
from the combination it^i + ati6i^,i.e. «he who emits the voice*, we might be
tempted to see a pointed contrast between fHoi66ovin the first line of the epigram,
and 'AgfJTOv in the last. On this etymology, cf. West ad Th. 22 and G. Nagy, The
Best of the Acbaeans, Baltimore 1979, pp. 296-297.
15. After publication of my article in «Harv. Stud. Class. PhiloU (cit., n. 9
above), I learned that W. Levitan had noted the possibility of this pun - though
without explanation or elaboration - in a footnote of his dissertation, The Field
of
Roman Verse:Studies on Visible Form in Ancient Poetry, Univ. of Texas 1983, 52
p.
n. 21.
16. As Gow and Page note, «atvelvhas apparantly taken on the construction of a
verb of saying*.
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Aratus and his audiences 107
17. Thus first E. Brown, Numeri Vergiliani. Studies in Eclogues and Georgics,
(Coll. «Latomus» 63), Brussels 1963, cf. R. F. Thomas, Virgil. Georgics>vol. 1,
Cambridge 1988, ad 1, 427-437.
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108 Peter Bing
tus' name, in other words that he has conflated the two? Con-
flation of models is, of course, a well-known Virgilian prac-
tice18. And we should point out that Virgil's name is present in
this passage in an oblique way comparable to that of &qqt]tovin
Aratus. That is, the play bears no apparent connection with the
surface meaning of the verses19. Thus, in conflating the acrostic
form with the play on the name (i.e. with a particular content)
has Virgil capped the epigrams of Callimachus and Leonidas
with their (merely) serial references to the two?
If I am correct in my interpretation of &qqt]xovin Aratus, and
of its subsequent echoes in Callimachus, Leonidas and Virgil,
we have an interesting new example of how a few cultivated
readers, literati with a refined sense of word-craft, received and
responded to the Phainomena. No doubt, the majority re-
sponded differently. But polysemousness is entirely in keeping
with Aratus' view of the meaning of orjuaxa. A single sign can
convey a variety of meanings to different audiences (1094-1 103)
and «all of us eager to interpret things at hand as signs, and
apply them presently* (1 102-1 103)20.
Emory University,Atlanta
18. Cf. e.g. R. F. Thomas, Virgil's Georgicsand the Art of Reference, «Harv. Stud.
Class. Philol.» 90, 1986, pp. 193-198 on «conflation, or multiple reference*.
19. Virgil may have included yet another oblique reference to his name, this time
- as in Aratus - a pun. For in the immediate vicinity of the acrostic, the word
virgineum at v. 430 acquires an extra significance: Virgil's nickname is said to have
been Parthenias («like a virgin* ; Servius, ad Aen. praef; the Suetonian Life 11). If
true, virgineum would be a literal translation (thus E. Brown, op. cit. p. 103 and R.
F. Thomas, loc. cit.).
It may also be worth considering whether the phrase is certissimusauctor in v.
432 has some significance in this connection as well. Thomas comments (ad v. 432)
as follows: «The statement is certissimusauctor refers of course to the fourth rising
(ortus), but given V.'s preoccupation with his literary source, might we not see in it
also a complimentary aside to Aratus himself?» Beyond this, I would now ask
whether the phrase might, in addition, play humorously on &qqt]tov?For in the
punning sense of his name, this author - «unmentioned» also by Virgil - is anything
but a certissimus.
20. In Callimachus, too, we find self-conscious accommodation of different levels
of readerly involvement and appreciation, cf. P. Bing, Impersonation of Voice in
Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo, «Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc.» 123, 1993, pp. 181-
198 and Ergdnzungsspielin the Epigrams of Callimachus, «Ant. u. Abendl.» (forth-
coming).
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Aratus and his audiences 109
Appendix:
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