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REPETITION IN LUCRETIUS
WAYNE B. INGALLS
[6.967-969]
[5.67]
[5.73]
[2.96]
[2.105]
[2.109]
[2.116]
227
PHOENIX,
Vol. 25 (1971) 3.
228
PHOENIX
and
huncigiturterrorem
animitenebrasque
necessest
nonradiisolisnequelucidateladiei
sed naturaespeciesratioque.
discutiant,
[1.146-148= 2.59-61 = 3.91-93 = 6.39-41]
[2.478-479]
REPETITION IN LUCRETIUS
229
cumtempestas
etanni
arridet
praesertim
viridantis
herbas.
tempora
conspergunt
floribus
are employed in the proem of the second book (29-33), where the poet
suggests that simple pleasures ought to satisfy modern man, and are
repeated in Book 5 (1392-1396) in the descriptionof the amusementsof
primitiveman. The poet's feelingthat the ordinarydiversionswhich
satisfiedprimitiveman ought to be adequate forhis moderncounterpart
is reflectedin the verbal repetition.
But Smith's discussion,like thoseof Deutsch, Bailey, and Maguinness,
althoughit sheds lighton a new facetof the question,neverthelesstreats
repetitiononly as part of a larger topic, Lucretian thoughtprocesses.
Nor does it significantlyalter the fact that repetition,especially of
and casual manner.
phrases,has been treatedonly in a most perfunctory
Yet Lucretius repeats himselfmuch more frequentlythan most commentatorsseem to realize, or at any rate to document. This assertion
may be proven by analysing a passage of the De Rerum Natura in a
mannersimilarto that employedby Milman Parry in his endeavours to
demonstrate that the Homeric epics were oral verse compositions.' I
have chosen as a typical random sample twenty-five
verses beginning
at the firstparagraph after the middle of the poem (4.322-323). The
varietyof passages in whichthe phrasesare repeatedhas leftme satisfied
that these twenty-five
lines are fairlytypical. In the analysis, phrases
with continuousunderliningrecureitherverbatimor withsome negligible
change, and words with brokenunderlininghave analogues in the same
metricalposition.
4F. M. Smith,"Some Lucretianthoughtprocesses,"Hermathena
102 (1966) 77-82.
HSCP 41
5MilmanParry,"Studies in the Epic Techniqueof Oral Verse-making,"
(1930) 73-147. See especially118-120.
230
PHOENIX
Splendida porro oculi6 fugitantvitantque tueri.7
sol etiam caecats, contra si9 tendere
et alte
propterea quia" vis magnast'2 ipsiuspergas.0
aera per purumx3gravitersimulacra feruntur14
et feriuntoculos'5 turbantia composituras.
325
saepeoculosideoquodseminapossidet
ignis
330
in eorumdeniquemixta,
multaquesuntoculis23
335
'porro oculos-3.359.
7vitamquetueri-1.195, caeloque tuentur--1.152,4.434, 5.92, 6.50.
Ssol etiam caeli-2.210.
9contrasi-1.570.
o1dicere pergam-3.422.
sumere perge -2.347.
exsolvere pergo -1.932, 4.7.
inducere pergis -1.16.
concederepergat -1.1080, 2.237.
"proptereaquia-1.631; 2.72, 232; 3.572; 4.186, 320, 338, 349, 1220; 5.558, 920,
1446; 6.97,462, 1049.
12vismagna-6.530, 815.
xaaera per--2.146, aera per multum quia dum simulacra feruntur-4.358, aera per
multum-4.558, 5.580.
"simulacraferuntur-4.164, 176, 210, 239, 358, 735; 6.76.
16feriantoculos-4.217, 257; 6.923,feriuntoculorum-4.691.
16quicumqueest-5.177; 6.502.
"acer obhaesit-4.420.
Isquae gignatur--2.1078.
'1gignereconveniundo-2.923.
quaecumque creantur-1.169, fieri caeloque tuentur-1.152, and cf.feri in terris
orfient
caeloque tuentur--6.50.
2Idecorporeeorum-4.43, 5.154.
n2seminamulta-5.658, 6.160.
nobis-5.860
sunt
. -4.715
sis
-3.1025
ignis-6.863
mutaqu
sunt
24
constant--1.588,2.337, 694, 724
debent -1.1039
fiant -2.288
possent-1.166
tollat -1.701
omnia versat -2.882
reddat --1.1011
praestat--3.214
libant -3.11
restant-3.947
REPETITION IN LUCRETIUS
E tenebris"6
autemquae suntin luce26tuemur
proptereaquia, cumpropiorcaliginisaer27
aterinitoculosprioret posseditapertos,28
lucidusaers9
insequiturcandensconfestim
qui quasi purgateos ac nigrasdiscutitumbrasso
aerisillius,nam multissx
partibushic ests2
mobiliormultisqueminutior
et magepollens.
luce replevit"
qui simulatque33vias oculorum84
atque patefecitquas anteobsederataer
(ater), continuorerumsimulacrasequuntur3
quae sita37suntin luces8,lacessuntqueut videamus."9
facerein tenebrise luce nequimus"4
quod contra40
proptereaquia posteriorcaliginisaera
231
340
345
abditus aer-6.1037
morbidus
-6.1097.
80abluitumbras-4.378.
31nammultis-2.592.
32hic/haecest-2.1066, 3.992, 4.1089, 6.238.
33quodsimul atque-3.211, 4.1041; simul atque-1.777, 4.40.
uvias oculorum-4.351.
86luce repletaest-2.806.
( vocamus-4.30
s
videmus-1.1060
rerumsimulacra vaga --4.127
recedent-4.130
feruntur-4.164,
210,239
vagari -4.724.
"7quaesita-2.802.
s3suntin luce-4.337.
agutvideamus-4.245, 255, 633.
40quodcontra--1.82, 780; 2.280.
41intenebris-see note 25; cf. in tenebris,in luci-4.235, and in luce
timemus-2.56,
3.88, 6.36.
232
PHOENIX
Latinisversibus
dificileinlustrare
esse,
cumsitagendum
multanovisverbis
praesertim
propteregestatemlinguae et rerumnovitatem;
sedtua mevirtus
tamenetsperatavoluptas
suavisamicitiaequemvis
laborem
efferre
suadetetinducitnoctesvigilare
serenas
dictisquibusetquo carminedemum
quaerentem
[1.136-145]
REPETITION IN LUCRETIUS
233
and
[2.730-731]
[3.419-420]
which indicate the effortthat went into his exposition of Greek Epicureanismin Latin verse. These verses also suggest that his effortwas
As the total vocabulary of
necessaryto surmounttwo major difficulties.
Latin is smallerthan that of Greek,therewas the considerableproblem
of findingequivalents forGreek termswherenone existedin Latin. But,
once the equivalents were found,thereremainedthe problemof fitting
them into Latin hexameters.It was here that the repetitionsassisted
the poet to compose. This can be easily demonstratedin his treatment
of one of the mostimportantconceptsof all the Graiorumobscurareperta,
that of the atom. The Greek philosophershad used the word &royos,
for
which Lucretius had several equivalents, such as primordiarerumand
seminarerum.Taking the last words as an example,we findthis collocation recurringin the overwhelmingmajority of cases in one metrical
position,namelyoccupyingthe finaltwo feetafterthe bucolic diaeresis."
Thereforewhen his Epicurean source used the word a&rouos,
Lucretius
had a ready equivalent around whichhe could build the rest of his verse
or which he could use to complete the line afterthe bucolic diaeresis.
Similarlythe Greek word oLbos,which Lucretius translated as rerum
natura,occurs in two or threefixedpositionsgovernedby the metrical
shape that the words take as natura changes its case. Again, once a
metricalpositionis establishedfora givenshape, the poet willrepeat the
collocation in that position most of the time. For example, of the six
occurrencesof the two wordsrerumnaturawithnaturain the nominative
singular,fouroccupy the same positionin the line,one is a slightvariant,
and the otheris quite different.
Occupyingthe line end, they are:
.... naturaquererum
rerumnatura creatrix
rerumnatura creatrix
rerumnatura repente
rerumnatura novarum
[1.498]
[1.629]
[2.1117]
[3.931]
[6.646]
[5.1362]
Thus we can see how the poet employedformulaeto assist him to overcome the difficultyhe found in expressingin Latin verse the subtle
concepts of Greek philosophy.
46Seminarerumoccurs finallyin the followinglines: 1.59, 176; 2.755, 678, 833, 1059,
1072; 5.916; 6.789, 1093.
234
PHOENIX
[4.413]
[2.995]
[2.1076]
[1194]
REPETITION IN LUCRETIUS
235
underlinesthe wretchedstate in
repeated formulaLucretius effectively
whichhe findsthe genus humanumas a resultof religion.So farwas the
poet frombeing constrainedto use formulae.
Nevertheless he found his task difficultfor the reasons he states.
Formulae helped him to overcome part of this difficulty.But this
emphaticallywas not the only reason why he chose to employ them.
There were two other factorswhich must have influencedhis decision.
First therewas the didactic value of the formulae,whichwe have already
discussed. The other considerationwas the fact that formulaewere an
integralpart of the epic style in which he chose to write the De Rerum
Natura.
Lucretius followed the example of Empedocles in setting forth a
philosophicalsystem(or at least the physical theoriesof a philosophical
system) in epic verse. The poet's high regard forhis Greek predecessor
is apparent in the lines which precede his criticismof Empedocles'
philosophy:
carmina quin etiam divini pectoriseius
et exponuntpraeclara reperta,
vociferantur
ut vix humana videaturstirpecreatus.
PHOENIX
236
UNIVERSITY,
LENNOXVILLE,
QUEBEC
49This list was compiled from the Index sermonisof Ennianae Poesis Reliquiae ed.
J. Vahlen (reprintedAmsterdam 1963) and is restrictedto repetitionsin the Annales.
The followingare repeated in other works: arbores ventovacant-Varia 12, Sc. 185;
ex ore--Ann. 578, Sc. 306; monstrantviam-Sc. 321, 398 (monstrat);in somnis-Ann.
219, Sc. 36; horrescunttela-Sc. 140, Ann. 393 (-cittelis); mari magno-Ann. 445, Sc.
65, which is employed by Lucretius in 2.1.
60Used four times; 1.22, 179; 5.224, 781.
"6Merrillop. cit. (above, n. 48).
62Theyare: lumina solis (Ann. 283; Lucr. 1.5, 989; 2.108, 162, 654; 5.462); Acherusia
templa (Sc. 107; Lucr. 1.120, 3.25, 86); somnoque sepulti(s) (Ann. 292; Lucr. 1.133,
laborem(Ann. 425; Lucr. 3.999, 5.1272, 1359); virumvi(s) (Ann. 276;
5.975); sufferre
Lucr. 1.728, 2.326); caeli templa (Ann. 65, Lucr. 1.1064, 6.1228); aetherisoris (Sat. 4;
Lucr. 2.1000, 3.835, 5.143, 683); fortis equi vis (Ann. 374-fortis equus, Ann. 486equos vi; Lucr. 3.8, 764); media regione(Ann. 505, 481-mediis regionibus;Lucr. 3.140,
6.732); duri ... laboris (Ann. 345; Lucr. 3.999, 5.1272, 1359); in somnis (Ann. 219;
Lucr. 3.431, 4.34, 770, 789, 965, 972, 988, 1006, 1012, 1097; 5.62, 885, 1171, 1181);
tolliturin (Ann. 442; Lucr. 5.265, 6.507);fit copia (Ann. 407; Lucr. 5.359 [Lachmann,
mss. sit], 6.829).