{"title":"Lucanian Pragmatism and the Manilian Cosmos","authors":"Elaine C. Sanderson","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10183","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Lucan’s invocation to Nero (1.33-66) is notorious for its seemingly contradictory praise and condemnation of the emperor. While analyses of this passage often turn to Virgil’s <jats:italic>Georgics</jats:italic> (1.24-28, 489-497, 500-515) to begin to explain this inherent paradox, Grimal (2010) has demonstrated the importance of Manilius’ <jats:italic>Astronomica</jats:italic> as a cosmological framework for these lines which invites a more positive reading of Nero’s presentation here. By examining the presence of two Manilian models in Lucan’s invocation to Nero, their contributions to the Lucanian cosmos, and their consequences for our understanding of the options laid out for the emperor’s heavenly future, this study argues for a more pragmatic—even hopeful—reading of Nero’s apotheosis and the implications of this for Lucan’s commentary on the Neronian present.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"MNEMOSYNE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10183","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"CLASSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Lucan’s invocation to Nero (1.33-66) is notorious for its seemingly contradictory praise and condemnation of the emperor. While analyses of this passage often turn to Virgil’s Georgics (1.24-28, 489-497, 500-515) to begin to explain this inherent paradox, Grimal (2010) has demonstrated the importance of Manilius’ Astronomica as a cosmological framework for these lines which invites a more positive reading of Nero’s presentation here. By examining the presence of two Manilian models in Lucan’s invocation to Nero, their contributions to the Lucanian cosmos, and their consequences for our understanding of the options laid out for the emperor’s heavenly future, this study argues for a more pragmatic—even hopeful—reading of Nero’s apotheosis and the implications of this for Lucan’s commentary on the Neronian present.
期刊介绍:
Since its first appearance as a journal of textual criticism in 1852, Mnemosyne has secured a position as one of the leading journals in its field worldwide. Its reputation is built on the Dutch academic tradition, famous for its rigour and thoroughness. It attracts contributions from all over the world, with the result that Mnemosyne is distinctive for a combination of scholarly approaches from both sides of the Atlantic and the Equator. Its presence in libraries around the globe is a sign of its continued reputation as an invaluable resource for scholarship in Classical studies.