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The Green Cabinet and the Pastoral Design: Theocritus, Euripides, and Tibullus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2014

Gilbert Lawall
Gilbert Lawall*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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Extract

The title of Thomas Rosenmeyer's book, The Green Cabinet: Theocritus and the European Pastoral Lyric, points to a conception of the pastoral as a closed world, set off from the real world outside, despite the author's disclaimer that the title is a misnomer.

… the clarity with which the landscape is articulated suggests the limited confines of an interior, (vii) … the freedom of the herdsman is incorruptible; sealed in the bower … it survives and flourishes … (109)

In seeking to define the essence of pastoral, Rosenmeyer strips off later accretions and sets the pastoral in sharp contrast to Hesiodic peasant poetry, drama, lyric, romance, and the poetry of Horace and Tibullus. He concentrates on a small number of passages from a limited number of texts to show what he regards as central in Theocritean pastoral: a restricted world of simplicity, freedom, and leisure (otium) that finds its closest corollary in the garden of Epicurus.

Yet, even in Rosenmeyer's view, the pastoral ‘pleasance’ is not entirely isolated from the real world. There are, he admits, ‘intimations of a sterner and more hurtful life ostensibly excluded from the arbor’. (23)

Type
Research Article
Information
Ramus , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , 1975 , pp. 87 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Aureal Publications 1975

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References

1. Rosenmeyer, Thomas G., The Green Cabinet: Theocritus and the European Pastoral Lyric (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969) viiGoogle Scholar.

2. Marx, Leo, The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (New York, 1967) 25Google Scholar.

3. Cullen, Patrick, Spenser, Marvell, and Renaissance Pastoral (Cambridge, Mass., 1970) 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Ott, Ulrich, Die Kunst des Gegensatzes in Theokrits Hirtengedichten, Spudasmata, XXII (Hildesheim, 1969) 208Google Scholar.

5. Putnam, Michael C. J., Virgil’s Pastoral Art: Studies in the Eclogues (Princeton, 1970) 13Google Scholar.

6. Leach, Eleanor Winsor, Vergil’s Eclogues: Landscapes of Experience (Ithaca, N.Y. and London, 1974) 47–48Google Scholar.

7. See Lawall, Gilbert, Theocritus’ Coan Pastorals: A Poetry Book (Cambridge, Mass., 1967) 116Google Scholar.

8. Ott, note 4 above, 149–153.

9. Serrao, Gregorio, Problemi di poesia alessandrina: I. Studi su Teocrito (Roma, 1971) 61Google Scholar, and Segal, Charles, ‘Theocritus’ Seventh Idyll and Lycidas,’ WS 8 (1974) 48–49Google Scholar; also Lawall, note 7 above, 101.

10. Compare the analyses of Ott, note 4 above, 149–153, Serrao, note 9 above, 60–61, and Segal, note 9 above, 45–58. The themes of the song give expression to ‘die inneren Zustände des Liebenden,’ Ott, 150.

11. For a review of the older views that denied unity in Lycidas’ song, see Ott, note 4 above, 149 note 419.

12. For similar views, see Pavlovskis, Zoja, ‘Man in a Poetic Landscape: Humanization of Nature in Virgil’s Eclogues,’ CP 66 (1971) 151–168Google Scholar.

13. So Segal, note 9 above, 54, ‘Lycidas knows of a harmony between man and nature. He sings of nature’s sympathetic response to human emotion …’

14. See Segal, note 9 above, 45–58 and 62 where he describes Lycidas as ‘in touch with nature’s rhythms and processes …’

15. Rightly interpreted by Serrao, note 9 above, 56 note 92 and 57 note 93.

16. Segal, note 9 above, 55–56, points out Lycidas’ knowledge and awareness of ‘the autonomous power and mystery of natural processes’ and his ability to ‘assimilate nature to human emotion.’

17. Thus Ott, note 4 above, 152, observes, ‘Lykidas’ innere Bewegung (V. 55f.) ist von einer Beschreibung des Meeres begleitet.’ Segal, note 9 above, 57, notes ‘a feeling of sympathy between man’s emotional life and nature’s processes.’

18. Ott, note 4 above, 153 and Segal, note 9 above, 56.

19. Segal, note 9 above, 56, ‘Even this indoor scene contains a sympathetic correspondence between man and nature, for here are flowers in abundance (62/63) and a deep coverlet of fragrant grasses and herbs (67/68).’

20. Ott, note 4 above, 150, is right in remarking that both joy of remembrance and sorrow of separation are present for Lycidas at the celebration, but he presses the point too far in saying that the distress of his love stands before him again and that he again needs help (151). Lycidas expresses a need for help only in lines 55–56. The scene at the celebration is one of fulfilment, quiet contentment, and bitter-sweet nostalgia, not of distress.

21. Kühn, Joseph-Hans, ‘Die Thalysien Theokrits (id. 7),’ Hermes 86 (1958) 50Google Scholar, and Ott, note 4 above, 150, would limit the relevance of the pining Daphnis to the figure of Lycidas during the celebration, affected by longing for the now departed Ageanax. This view is based on an exaggerated assessment of the distress that Lycidas feels during the celebration (see note 20 above).

22. For the song as a paidikon composed to win Ageanax’s favor, see Kühn, note 21 above, 48–49 and Lawall, note 7 above, 87–95.

23. See Segal, note 9 above, 51–52 for the achievement of ‘distance from passion through poetry’ and ‘the capacity of art to transcend immediate circumstances’ in Lycidas’ song.

24. Ott, note 4 above, 151, sees salvation from love through the healing power of music as the theme of Theocritus’ handling of the Comatas story. The theme is relevant in two directions. Lycidas’ poetry will win over Ageanax, and through the act of poetic creation Lycidas distances himself from his passion and ultimately transcends it, attaining catharsis in the final lines of his song (cf. Idyll 11 and the Cyclops’ cure of his love through song).

25. Poggioli, Renato, ‘The Oaten Flute’, Harvard Library Bulletin 11 (1957) 154Google Scholar, ‘Pastoral poetry makes more poignant and real the dream it wishes to convey when the retreat is not a lasting but a passing experience, acting as a pause in the process of living, as a breathing spell from the fever and anguish of being.’ The ‘fever and anguish of being’ are as essential to the pastoral design as is the dream of retreat.

26. Rosenmeyer, note 1 above, 42–44 and passim.

27. Lawall, note 7 above, 116–117.

28. For the balance of movements and the unity of imagery in the ode, see Segal, Charles, ‘The Tragedy of the Hippolytus: The Waters of Ocean and the Untouched Meadow,’ HSCP 70 (1965) 132–134Google Scholar, and Parry, Hugh, ‘The Second Stasimon of Euripides’ Hippolytus (732–775),’ TAPA 97 (1966) 317–326Google Scholar.

29. See Parry, note 28 above, 324–325.

30. Poggioli, note 25 above, Marx, note 2 above, Leach, note 6 above (especially Chapter 1).

31. Solmsen, Friedrich, ‘Tibullus as an Augustan Poet,’ Hermes 90 (1962) 302–304Google Scholar, Rosenmeyer, note 1 above, 11; see also Wimmel, Walter, Der Frühe Tibull, Studia et Testimonia Antiqua VI (Munich, 1968) 235–237Google Scholar.

32. See Fantazzi, Charles, ‘Virgilian Pastoral and Roman Love Poetry,’ AJP 87 (1966) 188–190Google Scholar.

33. Elder, J. P., ‘Tibullus: Tersus atque Elegans,’ Critical Essays on Roman Literature: Elegy and Lyric, ed. J. P. Sullivan (Cambridge, Mass., 1962) 79Google Scholar.

34. Steidle, Wolf, ‘Das Motiv der Lebenswahl bei Tibull und Properz,’ WS 75 (1962) 100–109Google Scholar, discusses the thematic opposition of war and peaceful life in the country in elegies 1.1 and 1.10.

35. The literature on this elegy is extensive; the following are particularly useful: Eisenberger, H., ‘Der innere Zusammenhang der Motive in Tibulls Gedicht I, 3,’ Hermes 88 (1960) 188–197Google Scholar; Walter Wimmel, note 31 above, 175–240; Hanslik, Rudolf, ‘Tibulls Elegie I, 3, Forschungen zur römischen Literatur: Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Karl Büchner (Wiesbaden, 1970) 138–145Google Scholar; Bright, David, ‘A Tibullan Odyssey,’ Arethusa 4 (1971) 197–214Google Scholar; Campbell, C., ‘Tibullus: Elegy I, 3,’ YCS 23 (1973) 147–157Google Scholar.

36. Tibullusȁ use of the name Phaeacia rather than Corcyra clearly recalls the Odyssey (Eisenberger, note 35 above, 191, Wimmel, note 31 above, 180, and Bright, note 35 above, 197). Putnam, Michael C. J., Tibullus: A Commentary (Norman, Oklahoma, 1973) 74Google Scholar, reminds us that Phaeacia in Homer was ȁa never-never land, neither wholly a part of, nor completely removed from, ordinary humanity.ȁ As such, it is an ideal location for Tibullus to ponder his spiritual dilemma.

37. Putnam, note 36 above, 50, points out a certain attraction toward the active life even in elegy 1, when it remarks that Tibullus ȁmust pray away his own ambition’ and that phrases such as iam possim contentus (‘now may I be content’), non ego requiro (‘I don’t need’), and non ego laudari curo (‘I don’t care to be praised’) ‘occur with enough frequency to be almost apotropaic.’

38. Hanslik, note 35 above, 139–141, rightly emphasizes the ‘Zwiespalt zwischen dem officium amicitiae und dem officium amoris,’ the former involving Messalla, the latter Delia.

39. Bright, note 35 above, 202.

40. For Tibullus’ offense against Amor, see Eisenberger, note 35 above, 191, and Hanslik, note 35 above, 139.

41. Wimmell, note 31 above, 212–214.

42. Bright, note 35 above, 204, Hanslik, note 35 above, 144.

43. Putnam, note 36 above, 74.

44. Elder, note 33 above, 83, ‘… when Rome enters Tibullus’ elegies, it generally “undercuts” the wishes and hopes that had made up his dream. It is as if he is determined not to leave his dream alone, undisturbed, but to burst in upon it and scatter it.ȁ It is exactly ‘the impingement of the real world … upon his pastoral world of dreams’ (Elder, 85) that creates the dynamic pastoral design.