Aratus on the Maiden and the Golden Age

Author(s): Friedrich Solmsen

Source: Hermes, 94. Bd., H. 1 (1966), pp. 124-128
Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4475396 .
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I24
Miszellen
In the syllabic columns the one noteworthy difference of distribution is
the markedly smaller proportion of cases in the Halieutica occurring at the
beginning of a line as opposed to those after a caesura. The total lack of cases
after a first-foot dactyl accords well with the small no. in Homer. In the tem-
poral columns a much more striking discrepancy is presented by the shift in
the Halieutica away from cases determined by the metrical form of the verb
to those which occur after a caesura, of which there are no examples in Homer.
In both the syllabic and the temporal columns for omitted augments alone
the proportion of the total which is made up by cases without strong metrical
causes is very nearly the same for Homer and the Halieutica. But in the Hali-
eutica the proportion of syllabic augments omitted for whatever reason is
much lower, whilst the proportion of omitted temporal augments is markedly
higher'. Thus in the Halieutica there are 34 cases of omitted syllabic augments
without strong metrical cause out of a total of 4I8 tense forms for which an
augment is normally used, a proportion of approx. I: I2. For the temporal
augment the respective figures are 45 out of
i85,
a proportion of approx. I:4.
VAN LEEUWEN concludes that it was clearly easier in the Homeric poems to
ignore for metrical purposes the lengthening of an initial vowel by the temporal
augment than to discount a syllabic augment, and notes that the proportion
of temporal and syllabic augments omitted without the recognised extenuating
metrical factors is approx. 2: i respectively. The results of my analysis give
a proportion of 3: I for the Halieutica, which means that, consciously or not,
the differentiation in the Homeric hexameter between the temporal and
syllabic augments for the purpose of omission is perpetuated and indeed
strengthened by the author of the Halieutica.
I dare hope that this contribution of mine may stimulate others to investi-
gate the stylistic feature under discussion as employed by other epic poets2,
so that we may form a clear picture of the phenomenon within the framework
of what is felicitously termed 'innerepische Tradition'.
Cambridge A. W. JAMES
1
In Homer 4543 omitted syllabic augments to 6276 included, in the Hal. 129 omitted
to 289 included. In Homer 1955 omitted temporal augments to 3936 included, in the Hal. 72
omitted to II3 included.
2 On the importance of Oppian's Halieutica and his influence on later epic poetry
cf. KEYDELL, RE, s.v. Oppianos I), cOl. 702.
ARATUS ON THE MAIDEN AND THE GOLDEN AGE
Walther LUDWIG'S illuminating article3 has shown how ingeniously and
with how gentle a hand Aratus appropriates Hesiodic motifs and phrases.
Availing myself of LUDWIG'S insights, I offer a few additional observations
bearing on the section about the
Hae08voq
(vv. 96-I36).
In the opening lines of this section Aratus professes to leave his readers
a choice between three opinions about the origin or identity of the Maiden,
but the second of these opinions is stated in so indefinite a form (EYm xrv 4alov
scil. ySvS, v. 99, which means: or whether she has a father other than Astraeus 4)
3
Die Phainomena Arats als hellenistische Dichtung, Hermes 9I, I963, 425ff., esp.
438ff.
4
The phrase leaves open the possibility of Zeus' paternity; for Zeus as father of Dike
see Theog. 902, Op. 256. Cf. Ernst MAASS, Aratea (Berlin, I892) 277 and Jean MARTIN
in his edition of Aratus (Florence, I957) ad loc.
Miszellen I25
that the choice practically narrows down to two possibilities. We may either
regard the Maiden as a daughter of 'ancient' Astraeus or identify her with
Dike, who in the early days dwelt among men on Earth. Astraeus is in the
Theogony (vv. 376. 378-382), the father of all stars; Dike's experience with
mortals is described in the Works and Days (vv. 2I7ff. 256-262). Evidently
we are set for a journey across Hesiodic territory. Throughout the section
Dike remains in the center and it gradually becomes clear that Aratus has
decided to relate all that he has to say about her to the Hesiodic scheme of
mankind's progressive decline from the condition of the golden age. For his
purpose the first three y8v8a( of Hesiod's five suffice (very understandably
he stops at the point where the race of the heroes interrupts the downward
trend). In the details of his account Aratus allows himself the utmost liberty;
there is more inventio than imitatio, and if we look for verbal echoes we must
content ourselves with a relatively small harvest. pi5a yvvatx6Cv (v. I03) is
a Hesiodic 'tag". With v. I04, where Dike takes her seat in the midst of
mortals, MAASS and TREU have compared the passage at the beginning (as
we now know) of the Katalogoi about the xotvol Oo'wxot of gods and men
V. I26, a'as8rat &vQc&tonott, xaxov d' 6rErt'o'erat a'Ayog has now by LUDWIG3 on
'rhythmic' and other grounds been linked to Op. 20I
OV'qTrOl dv0Qotort,
xaxov
d' ov3x '0rdr8t at xc1-, and I would suggest that there is a similar relationship
between v. IIO xaaenr' 6' ebXE&TO OacUao'ca and Op. I5I
1w{ag
6' d7dx&Tro
at5oX (abexo, not ovx gcoxE was obviously the reading which Aratus here
found) 4. 100 ovaa xaAatcov '08a Aa6cv (v. II6) recalls the description of the
similarly-and for similar reasons-dismayed Dike in Op. 2225. Other echoes,
limited to single words and not in every case beyond question, need not be
listed. But on the content of the section something may still be said.
WILAMOWITZ8 pointed out that Aratus transfers to Dike what Hesiod had
said of Aidos and Nemesis (Op. I97ff.); as they leave the Earth when injustice
and hybris are rampant, so Dike '7rraY'
v5rovqav'7
(v. I34) because she hated
the increasing wickedness of man. That Dike was present among the golden
race could be inferred from the word
'orvXot which Hesiod uses of it (v. II9)
and perhaps even more confidently from his description of hybris as originating
in the silver race (vv. I34f.). However Hesiod, as is well known, develops the
opposition of Dike and injustice not in the myth of the ages but in the section
subsequent to this myth. Here he draws the contrasting pictures of the just
city which prospers and the unjust which is visited by Zeus' wrath and punish-
ment. From the observations made by several scholars and now synthesized
by LUDWIG
7
(who adds some of his own) it is evident that Aratus has introduced
1
See Theog. 59I and for approximations in the Catalogues Theog. I02I and Scutum 4
(both of them in truth Catalogue passages).
2 Pap. Oxyrh. 2354,6f. = frg. 82 RZACH; see alsoR. MERKELBACH, DieHesiodfragmente
auf Papyri (Leipzig, I957) A 6f. Cf. MAASS in his edition ad loc. and Aratea 275. Max
TREU, Rh. Mus. IOO,
I957,
I69f.
3
loc. cit. 44I.
a ne'xe8To iS not an obvious word to use of the sea. In Op. I5I no manuscript but
only Philostratus' quotation (v. Ap. 6,2) has preserved this reading which WILAMOWITZ
in his edition of the Erga (Berlin I927) does not even mention. Aratus' testimony alters
the balance of probability for the text of Op.
I5I.
Cf. MAASS, Aratea 276. With Phaen. I03 'vivaTo
9p2fa
cf. now Pap. Oxyrh. 2488 B
4
d]7ravalveTo
9piAov.
6 Hellenist. Dichtung (Berlin 1924) II 265. Cf. also KAIBEL, Hermes 29, I 894,
85.
7esp. 440.
I26 Miszellen
into his account of the golden age (vv. IOO-II4) motifs of Hesiod's just city.
These motifs include-besides the central idea of the honored presence of
Dike-the peaceful life unfamiliar with strife and war and the absence of
navigation: xaAesr' 6' a'&rxetro OaAaoaa / xact
Pliov
o" ow v4Eg &rO QO08V
'yiVErxov (vv.
iiof.). These lines correspond to the clause ovzb' sar vvJs' vtoaov-
rat (Op. 236).
Even the modem reader of the Erga is likely to feel a certain similarity
of tone and outlook between the description of the golden age and that of
the just city'. But we are in the habit of 'analyzing' the poem and of dividing
it into sections. Aratus, even if he could think in terms of parts or sections,
would not hesitate to fuse conceptions that Hesiod had elaborated in different
connections. My reason for making this rather obvious point2 is that as soon
as we recognize this 'method' of Aratus' procedure we may arrive at a new,
and I hope better understanding of vv. II2f., where the interpreters have
found a problem whose solution has so far eluded them.
Grammatically vv. II2f. are the continuation of the statement (just quoted)
about the absence of navigation in the golden age; logically they are its comple-
ment: a'AAa'
Bo'eg
xat
deorQa
xat avtr, rowrvta Aacov, /
/>veta
6avTa ialE !Xs
Abxr,
60Yr8teQa
6txaiwOv3. The comment, made more than once, that oxen and ploughs
have no place in the traditional account of the golden age is entirely correct.
In Hesiod and ever after him it had been the prime boon of this paradisical
condition that
xaeno'v
6'
`eQ8v
C81coeog a-kovqa
/ av'roua',I noXo'v Te xat a`c0ovov
(OP.
II7f.). NORDEN4 who may have been the first to notice Aratus' unortho-
dox departure thought that it should be attributed to Stoic influences. WILAMO-
WITZ protested 5 when NORDEN'S view had been taken up by others: Jch traue
dem Versuche nicht, aus Arat + Poseidonios eine altstoische Kulturgeschichte
zu konstruieren; wer weiB denn, daB es uiberhaupt eine gegeben hat ? < His
own explanation was that since the stars, as Aratus states in the proem, have
been created by Zeus to guide men in their work on the fields they must
have served this purpose in every age, including the first; therefore even the
golden race must have practised agriculture. I am not sure that Aratus had
reasoned out matters so closely but, whether or not he had, the mention of
oxen and ploughs in these Hesiodic surroundings has a significance which is
independent of such explanations. Oxen and ploughs (or ploughing) bring the
agricultural section of the Erga to mind6. Hardly any other words or motifs
could 'represent' this central part of Hesiod's epic so effectively. When Aratus
I
See e.g. WILAMOWITZ'S comments (in his edition p. 69) on Op. 231.
2
See again LUDWIG 240f. and also his comments 24If. on the gain in depth and
perspective achieved through these combinations.
3
It is considerably bolder to describe Dike as bo'Tvta AaaWv (cf. WILAMOWITZ, I-Hell.
Dichtg. II 269) than to call her do'rtea &txaocov with a variation of the phrase 6onT4eg
Ed(ov which Hesiod and the Odyssey use of the gods in general. I assume that
nraQwe8e
has
three subjects among which At'X is given prominence. WILAMOWITZ' alternative inter-
pretation (ibid.) has, however, its attractions.
4
Jahrb. f. class. Phil. Suppl. i9, I893, 426. Cf. also KAIBEL, loc. cit. 83 and on Stoic
sources e.g. PASQUALI, Charites, Friedrich Leo ... dargebracht (Berlin, I9iI) II9f. (now
also HERTER, Maia n. s. 4, I963, 477 n. 58). It should be mentioned that even in Hesiod
the men of the golden race
gQy'
eve'ovro (Op. iig); cf. on this somewhat puzzling phrase
the discussion in Entretiens sur l'antiq. class. 7, I960, i99ff. NORDEN observed that
Germanicus in his 'version' of the Phaenomena reintroduces the traditional avwTo'taTov
motif (v. II7
sponte sua). 5
Op.
cit. II 266.
6 ploughing: vv. 384, 405, 429ff., 432ff., 450, 458ff.,
467 etc.; oxen: (46)
405
(406),
429, 434, 436ff., 452, 453, etc.
Miszellen I27
refers to the oxen a second time in his account of the ages (v. I32), he provides
them with their Hesiodic epithet:
floCov Jeorir4ecov
(cf. Op. 405:
P0o?v
r'
deQoTrra),
combining once more the
fl6g-
and the
aeorea
motif and confirming for his
educated readers that in v. II2 Hesiod had been in his mind. Having previously
fused the Hesiodic vision of the just city with that of the golden age, he goes
in vv. II2f. a step farther, placing Hesiodic agriculture in the golden age and
identifying the condition of life in which Justice was present and powerful
as that of the peasant. This is his boldest and final integration of Hesiodic
motifs and at the same time his most eloquent act of homage. The tribute
paid to Hesiod is obvious but unobtrusive. We are not far from Vergil's aureus
hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat'. Whether Aratus' own contemporaries
were ready for this 'idealization' of rural life is a question not easy to answer-
Theocritus' ebucolic' poetry seems to be conceived in a different spirit. The
possibility that Aratus had recent authorities to bear out his departure need
not be completely ruled out; if we were in a position to substantiate this
hypothesis2 it would provide a welcome subsidiary explanation. It remains
to mention WILAMOWITZ'S observation that Hesiod's A
ixq
has turned into
Atatoaov'v; her t%
juoT9e
(v. I07) are not enforcements of the law, verdicts,
or punishments, but ordinances. Antigonos Gonatas, himself a
&qaortXOq
,BaotAsv) , may have been pleased when reading of b,uovr?ag 0,tuora;3
(although the temptation is strong, I refrain from suggesting that Aratus
chose these words to please his royal patron).
As LUDWIG well says4, the Stoic poet Aratus could look upon Hesiod as
a )>Vorlaufer seines Glaubens< concerning Zeus' providential care for man.
The echoes-both of the Theogony and of the Erga-that have been noticed
in the proem of the Phainomena are meant to acknowledge this kinship of
outlook. Op. 398 ?ya ra r'
dvOQcootort
0o' 6t8
rxEiYgQavro
is a line which must
have impressed itself strongly upon Aratus' mind, all the more as nxMa(QeocOat
is one of his own favorite verbs and as he could find in Hesiod ample evidence
that the divine
(bta)rxMuat'QeoOat
materializes through the constellations. In
the proem of the Phainomena it is no longer the good Eris but Zeus himself
who d 47t'
eyov ?yEieet;
he reminds men of their
lt'oTog
(here and elsewhere
Aratus seems to correct Hesiod's xqv'pavre;
yae EXovat
Ocot /tiov avOedrowat) 5.
The 'eyov of man is, as we may expect, defined in agricultural terms. In
speaking of it Aratus uses a vocabulary which is partly but by no means
entirely or even predominantly Hesiodic. His emphasis on the
cbeat,
while
l georg. 2,538; see now LUDWIG 427 n. I.
2
Theophrastus, according to whom the first men had a life of >troubles and tears(
(cf. Porph. de abstin. 2,5f., esp. I35,9ff. NAUCK), and Dicaearchus (frg. 49 WEHRLI) are
entirely on the side of the av?To'uarov tradition. The case for an early Stoic theory is, as
we have seen, precarious. WILAMOWITZ (Op. cit. II 266) says with regard to vv. I05 ff.
that Aratus' golden age has even ))eine Art von Staat und Regierung'(. This seems a slight
overstatement. The idea of Dike's presence at that stage has (unlike that of oxen and
ploughs) certain antecedents; see esp. Plato, Legg. 4,7I3 c-e, where after a reference
to the
avxTo'parov
motif the Hesiodic ad0ov(a xae7Cv
is turned into an
dq0ovia
Jxb%
(cf.
Entretiens, cited in p. 126 note 4, I91).
v. I07. The scholiast (p. 358 MAASs) explains
6rjyore'Qag
as
7reaeiag
c otv
Tveavvtxag.
Cf. Aelian, v. h. 2,20 (where Antigonos' remark about kingship as an
8v6o4og
6ov2ela
is reported):
'AvTiyovo'v
Tavt.
. . . yr1OXL6V xa' rcdov yeviaOat. See W. W. TARN, Anti-
gonos Gonatas (Oxford, 1913) 255f. 4 Ioc. cit. 442.
5
Phaen. 6f. (Hes. op. 20.42 ff.). Cf. KAIBEL, Ioc. cit. 83f., esp. 84 n. z for the valuable
comments on Phaen. 768-772: Zeus reveals things to man, and there may even be a
)>progressive revelation.o See PASQUALI Ioc. cit. (p. 126, n. 4) 12T.
I28 Miszellen
appropriate to his own argument, is bound to remind us of Hesiod's persistent
concern about
65eat,
J5Vaia, 65
ena
8eya
etc., and of the familiar fact that through-
out his agricultural section Hesiod proceeds from season to season until the
course of the year is completed'. In vv. IO-I3 Aratus, stating and at the same
time justifying the topic of his poem, becomes more specific about the manner
in which Zeus has organized man's activities:
av'rog yai
a y8
iryqaa'
ev
oveavw
eorlr?etv
... In the Theogony too, as Kurt SCHtTZE has pertinently observed,
Zeus
ar-ret$
a orj,a, namely the stone which Kronos had received from Rhea
and swallowed: rov
pz'v
Ze8vi
ar4t$e
xara
ZOovo0 8VQeVOb8h7
... or4a' i'7V 64ol7-
602. But the o uaTa in Heaven are much more in keeping with Zeus' august
majesty, as a Stoic poet would conceive it, than the ci,ua on Earth. Grouped in
constellations, they indicate to men the
TrTVYeUva
65adwv,
'
L'
y rea ivaTa
qvwvTat (vv. I2f.)3. Thus one more reference to the
doeat
and one more to
farming round off Aratus' definition of his subject which is to be the order that
lies behind Hesiod's order. Later passages where Aratus while describing the
constellations looks from the perspective of the Heaven upon the farmer's
work answer as it were the verses of the Erga in which Hesiod turns from
the farmer's occupations on Earth to the sky to find the constellation indi-
cative of the right season4. Zeus is atrtog that the Pleiads announce the be-
ginning
(deXoyevov)
of winter and summer
e'Xoevov
Tr a' eo'roto (vv. 265 ff.
cf. Op. 384
aeXaO
...
aeo'roto)
5.
University of Wisconsin FRIEDRICH SOLMSEN
1
Op. 383-6I7; see e.g. vv. 422, 450, 494, 575 (but the
C"'QlOV
motif dominates also
the precepts on navigation, v. 630, 642, 665 and occurs in later sections as well, vv. 695,
697).
2 Theog. 4g8ff. Cf. Kurt SCHfTZE, Beitrage zum Verstandnis der Phainomena Arats
(Diss., Leipzig, I935) 29 n. 2. Theog. 779, which MAASS cites in his edition ad loc., may
also have been present to Aratus' mind yet seems less close to our passage.
3
In spite of MARTIN'S learned note ad loc. I should regard the genitive as depending
on TeTvy,uiva (in the sense of 'ordered'). MARTIN rightly resists WILAMOWITZ's attempt of
drawing d.ocacov into the construction of the
o&ea
clause.
4
Phaen.
264-267, 74I-743;
Op.
383-387, 565f., 598, 6ogf., 6I4f. (6igf.).
5
Cf. SCHtYTZE'S perceptive comments, op. cit. 22f.