Fasti 4
1 Fasti 4, lecture 1Fasti 4. Lecture 1.Fasti, fasti, and the
aetiological project
1. Fasti and fasti. The 'poetics of simultaneity' (K. Volk):
e.g. Fasti 1.723-4 - 2.1-2 sed iam prima mei pars est exacta
laboris, | cumque suo finem mense libellus habet. || Ianus habet
finem. cum carmine crescit et annus: |alter ut hic mensis, sic
liber alter eat. 4.163-4 dum loquor, elatae metuendus acumine
caudae | Scorpios in virides praecipitatur aquas.With a twist:
4.947-9 exit et in Maias sacrum Florale Kalendas: | tunc repetam,
nunc me grandius urget opus. | aufer, Vesta, diem.
2. The inscribed fasti.Verrius Flaccus, Fasti Praenestini (see
separate illustration)
The politicization of the calendar: for a pre-Augustan example
cf. Cic. Phil. 2.87 At etiam adscribi iussit in fastis ad
Lupercalia C. Caesari dictatori perpetuo M. Antonium consulem
populi iussu regnum detulisse; Caesarem uti noluisse. Ovid on the
different kinds of days in the fasti, F. 1.45-62:Ne tamen ignores
variorum iura dierum,45non habet officii Lucifer omnis idem.ille
nefastus erit, per quem tria verba silentur:fastus erit, per quem
lege licebit agi.nec toto perstare die sua iura putaris:qui iam
fastus erit, mane nefastus erat;50nam simul exta deo data sunt,
licet omnia fari,verbaque honoratus libera praetor habet.est
quoque, quo populum ius est includere saeptis;est quoque, qui nono
semper ab orbe redit.vindicat Ausonias Iunonis cura
Kalendas;55Idibus alba Iovi grandior agna cadit;Nonarum tutela deo
caret. omnibus istis(ne fallare cave) proximus ater erit.omen ab
eventu est: illis nam Roma diebusdamna sub averso tristia Marte
tulit. 60haec mihi dicta semel, totis haerentia fastis,ne seriem
rerum scindere cogar, erunt.
Fasti as commentary on the fasti: 5.727-8 Quattuor inde notis
locus est, quibus ordine lectis | vel mos sacrorum vel fuga regis
inest.
3. Multiple explanations: see Beard (1987), Scheid (1992), and
(in German) Loehr (1996).F. 4.783-806 six different explanations
for the use of water and fire at the Parilia.
Cf. Plutarch Roman Questions 1:
4. Astronomy in the Fasti: see Santini (1975); Gee (2000); Fox
(2004), arguing that Ovid got it more right than is usually
thought).1.1-2 Tempora cum causis Latium digesta per annum |
lapsaque sub terras ortaque signa canam (cf. 4.11-12 tempora cum
causis, annalibus eruta priscis, |lapsaque sub terras ortaque signa
cano).
5. The question of authority: very much at the centre of
Newlands (1995); see also her chapter on Fasti in The Cambridge
companion to Ovid.Rival claims to the last day of April by Flora
and Vesta, preparing for the large-scale dissent over the etymology
of May at the beginning of the next book: see A. Barchiesi
'Discordant Muses', PCPS 37 (1991) 1-21.Which god presides over the
Vinalia (863-900), Venus or Jupiter? See Porte (1985) 82-99, who
concludes 'Consacrs exclusivement Jupiter, les Vinalia [in April
and September] sont la double fte du vin, de sa promesse en aot, de
sa consommation en avril Vnus ne participe aux Vinalia que par
l'effet d'une coincidence des syllables [uinum - Venus].'. Varro
Ling. Lat. 6.16 hic dies Iouis, non Veneris.4.899-900 Iuppiter
illam | uindicat et festis gaudet inesse suis: cf. 4.85-90 quo non
livor abit? sunt qui tibi mensis honorem| eripuisse velint
invideantque, Venus. | nam, quia ver aperit tunc omnia densaque
cedit | frigoris asperitas fetaque terra patet, | Aprilem memorant
ab aperto tempore dictum, | quem Venus iniecta vindicat alma manu.
Debate over etymology of April: Porte (1985) 78-82; Macrob. Sat.
1.12.12 from ajfrov": Fulvius Nobilior and Iunius Gracchanus; from
aperio: Cingius and Varro: Cingius in eo libro quem De fastis
reliquit ait imperite quosdam opinari Aprilem mensem antiquos a
Venere dixisse, cum nullus dies festus nullumque sacrificium
insigne Veneri per hunc mensem a maioribus institutum sit. uindico
and Ovid's predilection for legal language: Fantham on F. 4.90;
McKeown on Ov. Am. 1.4.39-40.
6. The authority of the poet.The poet in exile disempowered:
4.79-84 huius erat Solimus Phrygia comes unus ab Ida, | a quo
Sulmonis moenia nomen habent, | Sulmonis gelidi, patriae,
Germanice, nostrae. | me miserum, Scythico quam procul illa solo
est! | ergo ego tam longe -- sed supprime, Musa, querellas: | non
tibi sunt maesta sacra canenda lyra. On exilic elements in the
Fasti see Fantham (1985); Feeney (1982); Boyle (1997).Poetic and
ideological authority: Newlands (2002), on Erato as the authority
for information about the Magna Mater.
7. Fasti as the Roman Aitia: see esp. items on biblio. by J. F.
Miller.F. 4.133-8 and Callimachus Hymn 5 (The Bath of Pallas):
Fantham (1998) 11-16; Barchiesi (1997) 220-7; Floratos (1960). With
the ritual instructions at F. 4.133-8 cf. Callim. Hy. 5.1-4 'Come
forth all you bath-attendants of Pallas: I have heard the sacred
horse whinnying and the goddess has come. Hurry, now, hurry, fair
daughters of Pelasgos!' (a 'mimetic hymn').
8. Fasti and Aratus (astronomical didactic): see esp. Gee
(2000).
9. Fasti and Metamorphoses: as complementary halves of a single
project?
10. Fasti and Aeneid: e.g. F. 4.251-64, the Magna Mater
retracing the geographical and literary steps of Aeneas.Riddles
about mothers: F. 4.257-62 carminis Euboici fatalia verba sacerdos
| inspicit; inspectum tale fuisse ferunt: | 'mater abest: matrem
iubeo, Romane, requiras. | cum veniet, casta est accipienda manu.'
| obscurae sortis patres ambagibus errant, | quaeve parens absit,
quove petenda loco. Cf. Aen. 3.94-101 'Dardanidae duri, quae uos a
stirpe parentum | prima tulit tellus, eadem uos ubere laeto|
accipiet reduces. antiquam exquirite matrem. ..' cuncti quae sint
ea moenia quaerunt, | quo Phoebus uocet errantis iubeatque
reuerti.
