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Some Examples of Imitation in the Similes of Later Greek Epic*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2015

A.W. James
A.W. James*
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
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Extract

It may be helpful to the non-specialist for me to make, by way of introduction, some general observations on the use of similes by the poets from whom my examples are taken.

Already with the similes of the Iliad and the Odyssey it is apparent that we have to do both with a repertoire of themes that have become traditional and at the same time with a considerable number of verbal pictures which have the appearance of being the free invention of a particular poet. This situation remains broadly true of the similes of later Greek epic, but with the major difference that at least with several of the surviving poems from the Hellenistic period onwards the traditional becomes relatively much less prominent than the freely original, both in subject-matter and in form. However, a point that must be stressed at the outset is the sustained effectiveness of the Homeric similes as models and sources of inspiration. That Homeric dependence for subject-matter should be more prominent in the similes than in the narrative of later epics is only to be expected, except perhaps in such works as Quintus’ Posthomerica, where there is a close affinity with the narrative of the Homeric epics, and to a large extent dependence in formal expression goes together with thematic dependence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Antichthon , Volume 3 , 1969 , pp. 77 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 1969

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References

1 Mooney, G.W.The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius (Dublin, 1912).Google Scholar

2 Gillies, M.M.The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius Book III (Cambridge, 1928).Google Scholar

3 Carspecken, J.F. ‘Apollonius Rhodius and the Homeric Epic’, ϒ Cl. St. 13 (1952), 68.Google Scholar

4 Vian, F.Apollonios de Rhodes, Argonautiques Chant III (Paris 1961).Google Scholar

5 This and the following two passages are cited by Mair ad loc.

6 Even looks like an implied criticism of Oppian’s , which, unlike Mair and LSJ, I understand as ‘not to be looked on because of its brightness’, i.e. ‘dazzling’, just as it is used by Nicander of Orion (Theriaca 20).

7 Vian, F. ‘;Les comparaisons de Quintus de Smyrne’, Rev. de Phil, 28 (1954), 50.Google Scholar

8 It is probably wrong to see the influence of Lucretius ii 361 ff. here in spite of some affinity of theme.

9 For further reflection of Oppian cf. Tryphiodorus’ in the following narrative at 367 with Oppian’s

10 Euripides’ stanza on the flight of the cranes (Helen 1478–94) can hardly be the source in question, since it refers explicitly to the southward autumnal flight and it is no more than a logical deduction from the dramatic situation that the chorus’ wish in the latter half should refer to the reverse flight; A. M. Dale’s note (ad loc.) that ‘the second half of the stanza pictures their reverse flight from south to north in early spring’ is an exaggeration.