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VERGIL AND DIONYSIUSAuthor(s): Jerzy LinderskiSource: Vergilius (1959-), Vol. 38 (1992), pp. 3-11Published by: The Vergilian SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41592188.
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2/10
VERGIL
AND
DIONYSIUS*
Archaic Rome: is it
history
or literature?
If
history,
s it
possible
to
recover facts fromfiction?Are modern
theories
superior
to ancient
egends?
But
fictions hemselves nd
legends
are
history
oo. La
grande
Roma dei
Tar-
quini
mirrors,
vokes and
justifies
a
grande
Roma of
Mussolini,2
nd Roman
stories of
early
Rome reflect
he successive
ayers
of Roman
history,
rom
he
Punic Wars
through
he Gracchi to
Augustus.
t was at the
time of the
first
rin-
ceps that the new and lasting dition ofRome's pastwas compiled.Two names
stand out:
Livy
and
Vergil;
in
their shadow
languishes
Dionysius
of
Halicarnassus. The vates and
his
prose counterpart
oast innumerable
modern
treatments;
Gabba's
bibliography
overs
twenty
hree
pages
and
yet
one sear-
ches
in
vain for an earlier
book
entirely
evoted to
Dionysius.
ncredibile
ietu
and
yet
true,
the
monograph
of Gabba
appears
to be the first
book
with
Dionysius'
Antiquitates
s its sole
subject.
Domenico Musti's Tendenze
nella
storiografia
romana e
greca
su Roma arcaica. Studi
su Livio e
Dionigi
d'Alicarnasso
(Rome,
1970)
dealt
equally
with
Livy's
and
Dionysius'
image
of
early
Rome;3
it s
striking
hat
nobody
eems to have been interested
n
the
COn-
^These
ommentsave een
prompted
y
he ook
y
milio
abba,
ionysius
nd he
Historyf
Archaic
ome
Berkeley,
niversity
f
California
ress,
991.
p.
XI
+
253.
Cloth,
o
price
tated.
Sather
lassical
ectures,
ol.
6).
SBN
0-520-07302-9.
ney
re ffered
n
ieu f
formaleview.he
book
s
composed
f ix rudite
hapters:
)
Greek
istoriography
ndRome
before
ionysius
)
Political
ndCultural
spects
f heClassicisticevival
n
he
Augustange
3) Dionysius's
istorical
enets ndMethods
) History
nd
Antiquarianism
)
Dionysius
nthe
Social
ndPoliticaltructuresf
Early
ome
)
ThePolitical
eaning
f
Dionysius's
istory.
The
remarksere
resented
eal
mostly
ithssues aised
n
chapters
ournd
ix,
nd
hey
eal
with
hem,
s befitshis
ournal,hrough
he
rism
f
Vergil
nd
Vergilian
ommentators.
he
book of Gabba
s an
outgrowth
f a
long-standing
nterest:
e has devoted
pecifically
o
Dionysius
o ess
han
ight
rticles,
he irst
ating
rom966.
2Onthis onceptthoughe doesnot iscussts ieswithontemporaryolitics),eeA.
Alfldi,
arly
ome nd he atins
Ann
Arbor
965)
18-35. etachedrom
olitical
ropaganda
this
atchy hrase
it
was
nvented
n
1936)
ontinues
o flourish:ee the
recent xhibition
catalogue:
.
Crist
rani,
a Grande
oma ei
TarquiniRome
990).
^The nterest
n
Dionysius
n
taly
ontinues:ee the ecent
onography
.
Fascione,
I
mondo
uovo.La
costituzioneomana ella toria i Roma rcaica i
Dionigi
'Alicarnasso
(Naples,
988,
22
pp.).
ts
opic
oincides ith abba's ifth
hapter;
s Gabba's
reface
s dated
1987,
ewas
not ble otake
otice
f
Fascione'sook.
n
general,
abba
nfortunately
evotes
littlettentiono
Dionysius'
erminology;
necan till onsult ith
rofit
missing
rom abba's
bibliography)
he
monograph
y
V.
Nordstroem,
e institutionum
omanorum
ocabulis
ionysii
Halicarnassensis
Diss.
Helsingfors,890).
Herewe should lso record he
onference
t the
University
f
Dijon
n
1988
evoted
ntirely
o
Dionysius.
he
papers
f his onference
ppeared
in
MEFRA
101
1989)
-242. hree
ontributionseal
directly
ith he
ssues aised
n
Gabba's
book nd nthe resentrticle: .Poucet,Denys 'Halicarnasset Varron:e casdesvoyagesd'Ene (63-95);D. Briquel, Denys, moin e traditionsisparues:'identificationes
Aborignes
ux
Ligures
97-111);
.M.
Martin,
Ene hez
Denys
'Halicarnasse.
roblmese
gnalogie
113-42).
Vergilius
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3/10
J.
Linderski
ceptual
inksbetween
Dionysius
nd
Vergil.
In
Gabba
only
two
(but dense)
pages
(116-17)
explore
those
links,
nd
only
two
passages
from he
Aeneid are
called for
comparison:
hey
oncern
the
return f the
Trojan
Dardanidae to the
country
f their
ncestor.4
The
prob-
lem is a central one:
nothing
ess than the
origins
f the Roman ethnos.
Where
do
the
Aborigines,
the
Trojans,
the
Sabines,
the
Etruscans,
and most
impor-
tantly
for
Dionysius)
the Greeks fit n?
The Rome of
Dionysius
was
ultimately
Greek
city;
ven
the
Aborigines
came fromGreece. This entailed various
consequences:
first f all
Dionysius
had to reject the theory of autochthony (and the etymologyab origine)
propounded
(so
the communis
opinio)
by
the
greatest
umen of
Roman anti-
quarian
science,
by
Varro
in
his
variousworks.5
Here we have our first
ink
with
Vergil,
r rather
with he
Vergilian
nti-
quarian
lore for
Vergil
himself t the outset
of his
poem
does not mention
he
Aborigines
at
all;
he
introduces Aeneas to Latium
already
in
the sixth
ine:
inferretque
dos
Latio;
genus
unde Latinum
/ Albanique
patres atque
alta
moenia Romae
(1.6-7;
cf.
1.31: arcebat
longe
Lati );
and over Latium
rules
the rex Latinus
(7.38, 45).
For the commentators his
posed
a
problem.
The
canonical version
was enshrined
by Livy:
the loca where the
Trojans
dis-
embarked were held by Latinus rexAboriginesque (1.1.5); and itwas only
after
he death of
Latinus that Aeneas Latinos
utramque gentem
appellavit
(1.2.4)6
On the
phrase
genus
unde Latinum Servius remarks
ensibly:
si
iam
fuerunt
Latini
et
iam
Latium
dicebatur,
contrarium st
quod
dicit ab
Aenea
Latinos
originem
ucere.
A
two-pronged isquisition
ollows,
rammatical
nd
historical. The
grammatical
argument
centers on the
meaning
of the
adverb
unde it does not
apply
to
persons
but to
places.
So
Servius;
but a
grammarian
gnalogie
113-42).
Aen.
.205
in
fact
06-8),
40.
We
may
ddthat abba dduces
nly
our
assages
f
Serviusnd
Servius
uctusad Aen.1.378
nd3.148
dealing
ith arro'sdeas
f he
enates);
7.176
Varro
nthe
Roman
orrowings
rom
ther
ations);
.638
the
rigin
f he
abini).
his
neglect
fthe
choliast
n
modern
iterature
s
not nusual.
A
pity:ntiquarian
ontroversies
about
he
arly istory
f
taly
ontinuedo ive
n
he
xegesis
f
Vergil
s
practiced
n
chools.
There s still
much ork
obe
done. or n
appraisal
f erviusnd fhis
ommentary
and
of
Servius
uctus
,
see
R. A.
Kaster,
uardians
f
Language.
heGrammarian
nd
ociety
nLate
AntiquityBerkeley988)
69-97.
^Gabba
114)
mentions
nly
he
Antiquitates
erum
umanarum
cf.
Dion.Hal.
1.14.1;
Serviusnd
ervius
uctusadAen.
.51),
utVarro
iscussedhe
Aborigines
lso
n
he e
lingua
Latina
5.3
and
n
theDe
gente opuli
Romani
Servius,
d Aen.
7.657);
ndhe alsowrote
saturantitledboriginesonwhicheeJ.-P. be,Varron,atires nippes.ditiontraductionet ommentaire
Rome
972)
-35. or
dissenting
iew,
ee
below,
.20.
On
Liv/s
ersion,
f.
R.M.
Ogilvie,y4
ommentary
n
Livy.
ooks
-V
Oxford965)
8.
4
Vergilius
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4/10
Vergil and
Dionysius
hiding
n
the
textof Servius auctus
rightly
dverts: sed veteres uncleetiam
ad
personam
adplicabant.
Thus
in
the school edition of the
commentary
he
meaning
of unde and hence
also the
question
of the
origin
f the
genus
Latinum
was
neatly
solved,
and it was
solved
in
conformity
ith the Livian
account;
in
the
more extended
edition
containing
piniones
variorum
t
was
left
hanging
n
the
air,
as
it should: the verbal
ambiguity
s
genuine,
nd it cannot be
conjured
away
solelyby
the
grammatical
earning.7
Hence the
historical
isquisition.
Here Servius
nvokes he
mighty
ames
of
Cato and
Sallust: Cato
in
originibus
hoc
dicit,
uius auctoritatem
allustius
sequitur n bello Catilinae,8primo taliam tenuisse uosdam qui appellabantur
Aborigines
hos
postea
adventu
Aeneae
Phrygibus
unctosLatinos
uno nomine
nuncupates 9
Thus
the
pueri
n
the school
learned this:
ergo
descenduntLatini
non
tantum
Troianis,
ed etiam
ab
Aboriginibus.
This
presupposes
unde
applying
o
loca but what
f
the
poet
really
meant
the
adverb
to refer
directly
o Aeneas?
Was he
historicallywrong?
Of course
not;
an iron
tenetof
Vergilian
nterpretes
as that
he vateswas
alwaysright.
ut
Cato
could not be
wrong
either. Hence this
piece
of
sophistic explanation:
Aeneas
and his
Trojans
were the
victors;10
onsequently
Aeneas
could
impose
on
the Latins
the
name
of
his
people:
novimus
quod
vieti victorumnomen
accipiunt. Aeneas chose a differentourse: to conciliate the Latins he notonly
did
not
deprive
themof
theirname
but even
extended
t to
the
Trojans.
Aeneas
could
rightfully
bliteratethe
nomen
Latinum he chose to
preserve
t.11
n
this
7No
progress
n
modern
ommentaries;
f.
.g.
R.G.
Austin,
.
Vergili
oroniseneidos
Liber
rimus
Oxford
971)
0 ad oc.:The
reference
n
unde ould e to the
whole
rocessust
described,
ut
irums
themore
atural
ntecedent
examples
f ndewith
personal
eference
follow).
bserve
hat he
modern
ommentator,
nlike
is
ncient
olleague,ntirelyisregards
the
nly
oint
f
eal
mportance,
he
ontroversy
ver
he istoricalubstancef
Vergil's
ine.
The
ext f
allust
Cat. .1)
reads:
Urbem
omam,
icuti
go ccepi,
ondidere
tque
habuere
nitio
roiani
ui
Aenea
uce
rofugi
edibusncertis
agabantur,
um
ue
is
Aborigines,
genus
ominum
greste,
ine
legibus,
ine
mperio,
iberum
tque
olutum.
i
postquam
n
una
moenia onvenere. . incredibileemoratustquam acile oaluerint. alluss namoenia
finds n
echo
n
Vergil's
ltamoenia
curiously
ot bserved
y
Austin d
loc.).
On Salluss
characterization
fthe
Aborigines,
f.
P.
McGushin,
. Sallustius
rispus,
ellum atilinae.
Commentary
Leiden
977)
0-1.
Frg.
.5
n
H.
Peter,
istoricorum
omanorum
eliquiae
i
(Lipsiae 914)
2.
For
detailed
ommentary,
ee W.A.
Schrder,
.
PorciusCato. Das
erste
uchder
Origines
(Meisenheim
m
Glan
971)
02-8.
10This
resupposes
he
ersion
entioned
n
passingy ivy
1.1.5):
alii
proelio
ictum
Latinum
.
.
tradunt.
ivy,
ato nd
Varro
avoredhe
tory
f
n amicablencounterfAeneas
and
Latinus
cf.
Ogilvie,
ommentaryn.
above] 8). Vergil'story
s more
omplicated:
irst
friendly
ncounter,
170ff.),
hen
he
avages
f
war,
eneas'
ictory,
nd
divineommandhat
the
atins hould
ot
erish,
ut
reserve
heir ame nd
heir
anguage,
nd bsorb
he
rojans
(Aen.
2.819-40).
^Servius,dAen1.6: volensibi avorematii onciliarethischoes ivy,.2.4) omen
Latinum
on
olum
llis on
ustulited
etiam
roianis
mposuit.
erito
rgo
lli
ribuit
uod
n
ipso
uerat
t
posset erire.
Vergilius
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5/10
J.
Linderski
perspective
he takes the
place
of a new founder f
the nomen
Latinum
the
vir
fromwhom the
Latins descended. Whatever he
application
of
unde,
Vergil
was
right.
But
invoking
nd
quoting
Cato,
the commentators
lso edited
him.
For
Cato,
if
we are to believe
Dionysius
(1.1.11),
saw
in
the
Aborigines
not an
autochthonous
opulation
but,
surprisingly,
rrivals
from
Greece,
and this
view
was shared also
by
another
early
annalist,
C.
Sempronius
Tuditanus.12
They
dated the arrival of the
Aborigines
to
a time before
the
Trojan
War,
and
led
them to
Italy
from
Achaia;
Dionysius
devoted
a
lengthy
excursus
to the
refinement f thistheory ltimately ptingfortheAboriginesbeinga colonyof
the
Arcadians,
and
connecting
heir
migration
with he
story
f Oenotrus
1.
I-
IS).
But
in
the end he
expresses
doubt,
and asks
his readers
to
suspend
judgement
1.13.4);
as Gabba
(115)
observes,
t was not
an
easy
task
to
displace
Varro's autochthonous
heory.
nd
it
was
this
heory
hat
was to live
on
in
Pliny,
in
Johannes
Lydus,
in
the
compilers
of the
Glossae
,
and
in
the
Vergilian
commentaries.13
In
the Aeneid the crucial
passage
comes
in
Book 7
(170-248).
Latinus
receives the
Trojans
in
his
palace,
the ancient
regia
Pici
(171);
in
the
vestibulum
there stood the
magines
of
Italus, Sabinus,
Saturnus, anus,
aliique
ab
origine
reges 181). The commentatorxplains ab origine s proAboriginumeges
He
may
well be
right;
Picus and Saturnus were
in
fact
explicitly
escribed
as
regesAboriginum.1*
he ancestors of Latinus were
Italian
gods
and
kings,
not
any
Greek arrivals
Aen.
7.47-9):
hunc Fauno
et
nymphageni
um
Laurente
Marica
/
accipimus;
Fauno Picus
pater, sque parentem
/
te Saturne
refert,
u
sanguinis
ltimus uctor.
Were all other
etymological
fforts
ffectively
xcluded
from he
Roman
schools?
Dionysius
writes that some
authorities described
the
Aborigines
as
*2C.
empronius
uditanus
as onsul
n
129,
nd he uthor
f he nnales
in
which
e
will
ave ealtwith he
Aborigines),
nd f treatisee
magistratibus
in
t east hirteen
ooks.
See
Peter,
RR
1. 142-46.
^For a collectionf
eferences,
ee
TLL
s.v.
aborigines.
i4Festus 28
Lindsay
Picus);
ustinus3.1.3: Italiae
ultores
rimi
borigines
uere,
quorum
ex
aturnus'';uet.,
Vit.
,
andDion.Hal. 1.31.2
Faunus;
tAen.
7.213 atinus
s
addressed
s
genus
gregiumauni ).
arro
De ing.
at.
5.53)
derivedhe
Aborigines
rom is
native eate
n
the and
f he abines: ence he ex abinus.
f.B.
Rehm,
as
geographische
Bilddes
alten talien n
Vergils
eneis
=
Philologusuppl.
4.2
Leipzig
932)
63,
n.
135
(sceptical
f
Vergil
eally
intst the
Aborigines);
.J.M.
artelink,
tymologisering
ij
Vergilius
(
=
Mededelingen
er
Koninklijke
ederlandsekad. an
Wetenschappen,
fd.
etterkunde,
N.R. 8, (Amsterdam965) 1-2. n the raditiononcerninghe eges boriginum= the eges
Laurentum
,
see P.
Fraccaro,
tudiVarroniani.e
genteopuli
omani
ibri
V
(Padova
907)
175-83.
6
Vergilius
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6/10
Vergil
and
Dionysius
wanderers and
vagabonds,
and
suitably
alled
them
Aberrigines
1.10.2).
Who
were
those
Roman
authorities?
Were
all
other
etymological
fforts
ffectively
xcluded
from he
Roman
schools?
Dionysius
writes that some authorities
described
the
Aborigines
as
wanderers and
vagabonds,
and
suitably
alled
them
Aberrigines
1.10.2).
Who
were those Roman authorities?
Gabba avers
(114):
The
damaging
theory
f
the
people
with
no
fixed
abode was
championed by
Saufeius.
As his
source
Gabba
adduces
Cornelius
Nepos' Life ofAtticus
(12.3).
15
From the
passage
of
Nepos
we learn
that L.
Saufeius was a richeques, a friend and aequalis of Atticus.We learn of his
philosophical
studies
n
Athens,
nd of
his
pretiosas
ossessiones
n
Italy
which
were confiscated
by
the triumvirs nd restored to
him
through
he efforts
f
Atticus),
but
Nepos
has no word of Saufeius'
etymological
ursuits.16
t is
Ser-
vius auctus
who
provides
this nformation
n
his notice on
Aen. 1.6.
He writes:
Saufeius Latium
dictum
ait,
quod
ibi latuerant
ncolae
qui,
quoniam
in
cavis
montium el
occultiscaventes ibi a feris eluis vel
a valentioribus
el
a
tempes-
tatibus
habitaverint,
asci vocati
sunt,
uos posteriAborigines
ognominarunt,
quoniam
+
aliis ortosesse
recognoscebant,
x
quibus
Latinos
etiam dictos.
Thus
Saufeius,
who
probably
descended
from the
family
of
Saufeii
domiciled and influential t the LatinPraeneste,was above all interestednthe
etymology
f the name of his native
region;
follower f
Epicurus,
he
may
have
written
n
Epicurean
account of the
development
f civilization
rom
he cave-
dwellers o the
higher
orms,
ut
a workof a
purely
ntiquarian
haracter
s also
possible.17
aufeius was not the first o connectLatium
with
ateo'
but
according
to
the
more
popular
explanation
it was
Saturn
who was there
hiding
after
he
was
expelled
from
Olympus.
The
Epicurean
Saufeius
substituted
in
a
rationalistic vein the incolae for the
god.
In
the shorter
edition of
the com-
mentary
he
referenceto Saufeius was
excised,
and
only
this
nformation
as
offered
o the
pueri
Latium
autem dictum
uod
illic Saturnus
atuerit.
Oddly
enough,the commentator oes not remarknthisplace that twas thisexplana-
tion
that
was favored
by Vergil,
Aen. 8.319-23: Saturnus
../...
Latiumque
vocari
/
maluit,
his
quoniam
latuisset utus
n
oris. 18
^The reference
114,p.
45)
reads:
Nepos,
Att. 2.3
=
Fr.
2
Peter.
his
s
doubly
inaccurate.
n
Nepos,
ee above
n
the
ext;
nd
n
Peter's
RR
vol.
,
p. 8)
there
s
only
ne
fragment
f aufeiusisted
culled
romerviusuctusadAen.
.6).
16On
aufeius'
ossible amily
onnections,
nd
his
philosophical
nterests
nd ttach-
ments
he
was,
ike
Atticus,
n
Epicurean),
ee F.
Mnzer,
Ein
rmischer
pikureer,
hM 9
(1914)
25-29;
.E.
Raubitschek,
Phaidrosnd
hisRoman
upils, esperia
8
1949)
6-103;
.
Nicolet,
'ordre
questrel'poque
publicaine
vol. :
Prosopographie
es
chevaliers
omains
(Paris 974)
012-13.
l Cf.E.Rawson,ntellectualifen he ateRoman epublicBaltimore985) ,n.26.
18Serviusd loc.
records he
tymology
f
Varro,
quod
atet talia nter
raecipitia
Alpium
t
Apennini,
nd
erviusuctus eturnso
the
roublinguestion
fLatinus:
quidam
Vergilius
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J.
Linderski
The
passage
concerning
he
Aborigines
s
corrupt;
Thilo obelizes
it,
the
Editio
Harvardiana
accepts
the
reading quoniam
aliis
ortos
pro-
posed
in
1879
by
A. Riese.
Thus thisemendation
as
also
all other
emendations
listed
by
Thilo
in
his
apparatus)19 presupposes
the
etymology
b
orgine
no
Aberrigines
n
Saufeius.20
Thus
Vergil,
and his
commentators,
tood
firmly
n
the
camp
of
Varro;
they
mbraced his
interpretation
o
the exclusion
nd oblivionof all others.
The
contrastwith
Dionysius
s
perfect.
In
his
Antiquitates
he
Pelasgians
form he next wave of
immigrants
o
Italy 1.17-30). They came fromThessaly,butoriginated n thePeloponnesus,
and
thus were bound
by
ties
of
kinship
to the
Aborigines.
Together
with the
Aborigines
hey
made a war
on the
Sicels,
and
expelled
them
from heir bodes
(in
the
territory
f the
future
Latium,
Campania
and
Etruria).21
But
they
uf-
fered
the wrathof
gods,
and
only
small relics of themremained
n
Italy.
Vergil
mentions he
Pelasgi
seven
times,
nd
he,
and the
commentators,
irmly
dentify
them as
the
Greeks;
but
in
six
passages
(1.624;
2.83, 106, 152; 6.503;
9.154)
they
are the
Greeks at
Troy
and their
treacherous arts. t is
only
once,
at
8.600-2,
ferunt
Latino ictumatium
this
was he
pinion
f
Livy),
lii
psum
atinum Latio
this
was
n
fact
he
nterpretation
hat
ergil
mbraced).
f.Bartelink
n.
14
bove)
9-50;
.
Maltby,
A
Lexicon
f
Ancient
atin
tymologiesLeeds 991)
29.
19Maltby
n
his
ery
sefulook
n.
18
bove)
,
attributeshis
hrase irectly
oServius
auctus
and
not o
Saufeius),
nd
prints
ab iis
ortos
he
doesnot ndicatehat
his s a con-
jectural
eading).
2 Wedo notknow howas
he
riginator
f his urious
nterpretation;
n
addition
o
Dionysius
t s
recorded
n
Origo
entis
omanae .2:
Alii
olunt
os,
uod
rranteslio
=
in
Italiani)
enerint,
rimo berrigines,
ost
mutata na ittera
ltera
aempta borigines
og-
nominatos ;
f.
estus 28.9-10
.;
Paulus
x Festo
7
L. J.-C.
ichard,Varron,
Origo entis
Romanae
t es
Aborignes,
Ph57
1983)
9-37,
rgues
hattwas
n
fact arro
who nvented
this
tymology.
do
not ee how his
onclusionanbe reached n the asis f
Macrobius,
at.
1.7.28quotingarro), herehephrasecum atiumost rroreslurimosdpulissentefers
to
the
elasgi
ndnot othe
Aborigines;
n
the ther and arronianchoes everberate
n
he
Origo
in
particular
he
tymological
ethod
f his reatise
losely
esembleshe
practice
f
Varro
see
the
xamples
dduced
y
Richard
5-6).
n
the
Origo
henewcomersre
greetedy
Picus;
ney
ay
ave ome
rrantesbut
hey
ere he irstuman
ccupants
f
taly
cf.
aulus x
Festo 7
L.: fuitnim
ens
ntiquissima
taliae ),
nd hustwas
n
taly
hat
heyhanged
rom
Aberrigines
o
Aborigines.
his cheme
e
perhaps
an scribeo
Varro,
howould hus ecome
the
riginator
or
at
east
ropounder)
fboth
tymologies.
ut
his hould otmean hat arro
regarded
he
Aborigines
s the
Greeks: o P.L.
Schmidt,
Das
Corpus
Aurelianum
nd .
Aurelius
ictor,
E
Suppl.
5
1978)
1617
again
ne
wonders
ow his onclusionanbe
derived
rom
arro,
e
genteopui
omani
rg.
5Fraccaro
n.
14
bove) August.,
e civ. ei
18.15).
21Servius,
reserving
he
utochthony
f he
Aborigines
n
taly,
as curiousonstruc-
tion fthe iculiSicani) xpellingheAboriginesndbeingnturnpulsi b illis uosante
pepulerant
adAen.
.328,
f.
.795).
f.
Briqueln.
3
above)
08-9. abba
114)disregards
his
version.
8
Vergilius
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8/10
Vergil
and
Dionysius
that
Vergil
mentions he
Pelasgians
n
Italy:
veteres
Pelasgos
. . .
qui primi
inis
aliquando
habuere Latinos
(we
also learn
that
the
Pelasgians possessed
a
sacred
grove
near
the
city
f
Caere,
historically major
Etruscan
city22.
Commenting
n these lines
Servius
and
Serviusauctus adduce
various
theories
concerning
the
origin
of the
Pelasgians
(the
commentators
opt
for
Thessaly),
and
aver:
hi
primi
taliani
tenuisse
apparently
not
perceiving
ny
contradiction
etween this tatement nd their omments n the
Aborigines).
Again
a stark ontrastwith
Dionysius:
s the allies of the
Aborigines,
he
Pelasgians
are for
Dionysius
an
importantngredient
f the
earlyhistory
f
Italy
and ofRoman ethnogenesis;ntheAeneisthey re totally nsignificant,nd they
are
largelyneglected
lso
by
the scholiasts.23
Next came
the celebrated Evander withhis
Arcadians;
they
were
peace-
fully
ccepted by
the
Aborigines,
nd
establishedthemselves n the Palatine.
It
was
they
who
brought
to
Italy
ingredients
f
higher
civilization:
music, crafts,
and
laws,
and the
Greek
alphabet.24
So
Dionysius
1.31-33).
Now
Vergil
men-
tions Evander
twenty-eight
imes;
if
the
Pelasgians only tangentially
ouched
upon
the
history
f
Rome,
Evander,
the
possessor
of the
Palatine,
was an essen-
tial
part
of
Rome's
past.
But
in
Vergil
the stress s on the
description
of the
future site of
Rome
(
Aen
8.50ff.);
furthermore
whereas
in
Dionysius
the
Arcadians live in peace withtheAborigines, n Vergil they bellum adsidue
ducunt cum
gente
Latina
(8.55);
the
story
f theirfuture
malgamation
with
the Latins and
the
Trojans
is not told.
In
Vergil (and
in
Livy)
Hercules comes to
Italy
and Pallantium alone
withhis
cattle;25
n
Dionysius 1.39-44)
he and his followers onstitute nother
wave of
Greek
immigrants;
when Hercules
departed
from
taly
he leftbehind
him
the
Epeans
(from
Elis)
and the
Arcadians from
Pheneus,
who
ultimately
mingled
with he
Arcadians of Evander and the
Aborigines.
And
finally
here arrived he
Trojans:
for
Dionysius
1.57-8,
61-2,
68-9)
unmistakably
till
another
group
of
Greeks. For
Vergil
and
the Romans of the
Augustan age) thiswas heresy.Aeneas and his line was connected (through
gods)
with he ine of
Evander: Aeneas
stresses hishimself
n
his address to the
22No omment
ere,
ut d Aen.10.183 erviusuctus
ttributeso the
Pelasgians
he
foundationf
Caere.Cf.
lso ad 8.479
where e
hesitatesetween
elasgus, elegonus
nd
Tyrrhenus.
2^We
will
e able o
ppreciate
etterow ittle
ergil
nd
his
nterpreters
ave
o
ay
f
the
Plasgians
n
taly
f
we
considerhat .
Briquel,
es
Plasges
n
talie.
Recherches
ur
l'histoiree a
lgende
Rome
984)
evotedo
he
ubject
ull ix
undred
ifty-nineages.
z^That he
etters
ereGreek
ionysius
tates
xplicitly
1.33.4);
n
Livy
1.7.8)
vander
is venerabilisirmiraculoitterarum,nd nTacitusAnn. 1.14.3) litterarumormas. .AboriginesrcadebEvandroidicerunt.
~
Aen
8.190-265;
ivy
.7.3-12,
nd f.
gilvie,
ommentary
n.
6
above)
5-61.
Vergilius
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9/10
J.
Linderski
Arcadian
king
Aen
8.134-142),
but he was not a Greek.
Vergil
and the com-
mentators
mphasize
the
overriding
act hat
Dardanus,
the ancestor
of
Aeneas,
originated
in
Italy.26
Dionysius,
on the other
hand,
is
firm n
asserting
the
Arcadian
origin
of Dardanus
(1.61, 68).
He could
look
upon
an
illustrious
Roman
predecessor:
Graeci
et
Varro humanarumrerum
Dardanum
non ex
Italia,
sed de
Arcadia,
urbe
Pheneo,
oriundum icunt. 27
Gabba
(117)
points
out that the
story
f the Italian
origin
of Dardanus
may
have been based on
traditions f Etruscan
nobility. 28
his leads us to
the
role of
the Etruscans
in
Dionysius
and
in
Vergil.
More differences
here:
Dionysiusis a notoriouschampionof Etruscanautochthonyn Italy 1.16-30);
Vergil
remains
firmly
nchored
in
the
Herodotean tradition
deriving
the
Tyrrhenians
rom
ydia,
and
so are his commentators.29
Gabba stresses
117)
that the Etruscans are
assigned
a
decidedlyposi-
tive
role
by Dionysius
whereas
they
are divided
by
Vergil
into friends
nd
enemies of
Aeneas. But
in
the Aeneid the enemies of Aeneas
are not
the
Etruscans
per
se but rather the Etruscan
outcasts:
the cruel
Mezentius was
chased
away by
the inhabitants f
Caere,
and found
refuge
with
Turnus
n
the
Rutulian Ardea
(Aen. 8.479-93).
To
fight
Mezentius and Turnus
Aeneas
acquired
as allies
the whole of Etruria
Aen.
10.148-214),
including
Mezentius'
nativeCaere.30Vergilhere stands trikinglypposed to theannalistic radition:
in
Livy
1.3-4;
3.4-5)
Mezentius s
not an
exile,
but rules the
opulent
Caere;
the
Aborigines
nd the
Trojans
have to
cope
with
he
overbearing
ower
of
Etruria,
the
florentes
pes
Etruscorum.
And
Dionysius
sides
with
Livy,
not
Vergil:
his
Mezentius s a
powerful
ing
f the
Tyrrhenians
1.64-65).
The
alignment itting
ivy
and
DionysiusagainstVergil
and
in
the case
of
the
all-important
rigin
of
Aeneas also
Dionysius
and Varro
against
Vergil)
should
serve as a
warning
o those
scholars who would
wish to
detect
in
often
26Aen3.94-6,66-8; .205-7,39-40;erviusnd erviusuctusad occ.
2
Serviusuctus
d Aen. .167.
Cf.
H.
Hill,
Dionysius
fHalicarnassusnd he
Origins
of
Rome,
RS 1
1961))
88-93
t 92. But s Poucet
n.
3
above)
3,
points
ut,
his oes
not
mean hat
ionysius
irectly
ollows
arro;
e
may
ave sed neof he nnamed
raeci
crip-
tores.
n the
temmafAeneas
n
Dionysius,
ee
now
Martin
note above) sp.
20-22,
40-41.
^As
argued y
G.
Colonna,
Virgilio,
ortona la
leggenda
trusca
i
Dardano,
rch.
Class.
2
1980)
-15. f.
Briquel,
es
Plasgesn.
23
above)
61-65.
Aen
8.479-80,99,
ndServiusnd
Serviusuctusad loc.Cf. lso
the ommentn
2.781.
ee now
hevoluminous
reatment
576 pp.) by
D.
Briquel, 'origine ydienne
es
Etrusques.
istoiree a
doctrineans
VAntiquitRome
991),
nd
pecifically
n
Dionysius,
ee
the rticle f
he ame
cholar,
L'autochtoniees
Etrusques
hez
Denys
'Halicarnasse,
EL
61
1983)
5-83.
3See the choliast'sommentn10.183: t 7.652 ducit gyllinaequiquamxurbe
secutos
mille
iros
of
Mezentius'on
Lausus)
eferso those
who
ollowed ezentius
nd
Lausus
when
hey
ad led rom
aere
=
Agylla).
10
Vergilius
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Vergil
and
Dionysius
minor
divergences
n
mythical
history
ither
signs
of
Augustan
deology
or of
veiled
opposition
to
Augustus.31
The truthof the matter
is that
Dionysius
represents
he
pre-Augustan ayer
of Roman
mythology
f the
origines
he
does
not criticize
Vergil's
vision or
the official
version of the
new
regime:
he dis-
regards
hem.32
As Gabba demonstrated
in
his marvelous
chapter
on
The Political
Meaning
of
Dionysius^
History
190-216),
the aim of the
Greek
historian
was
to bolster
the
pride
of the
Greeks: Greece was
not ruled
by
a
barbarian
nation
but
by
a
city
hat
was a
Greek
colony.
Gabba concludes (117): withinthe overall framework f Italian eth-
nography
he distance
separating Virgil
and
Dionysius may
indeed
be smaller
than one
might xpect
at first
lance.
We have tried
to take a
second
glance,
and the distance s as
great
as
ever.33
J.
Linderski
University
f
North
Carolina,
Chapel
Hill
31As
oes,
.g.,
ill
n.
27
above)
2.
32Cf.
oucet
n.
3
above)
93:
l'historien'Halicarnasse
raite on
sujet,
omme
i
l'nide
e
Virgile
'existait
as.
Martin
n.
3
above)
36,
oncludes:Le
rcit e
Denys
st
donc n
cit
l'usage
umonde
rec.
33American
niversityresses otoriously
veredit
anuscripts,
ut t the
ame ime
n
the aseof
Gabba's ook
heCaliforniaresswasnot ble o
create
decentndex.
he ndices
bristle ith
rritating
istakes:
.
249:Diocles f
Peparethus
s
presented
s
Diocles
eparethus;
p.
251:
Festus ndPauli
xcerpta
xFesto
re
onflated;
ivy'sraefatio
o
his
Ab urbe
onditas
listed s
a
separate
ork;
.
252:no
distinction
etweenervius
ndServiusuctus
lthough
Gabba
n
the
ext fhis
book
istinguishes
hem
arefully;.
253;
he
ompiler
f
he
ndex on-
flated
irsch's
ditionfVarro's
ntiquitates
erumumanarumndCardauns'
ditionf
Antiq-
uitateserumivinarum;.253:wenote he ntry:anthusfLydia,ydiaca. 28.2.As should e
clear rom
abba's
iscussion
p. 112),
nd s
was
asy
o
check,
he eference
.28.2s not o
Xanthusut o
Dionysius'ntiquitates
where ionysius
entions
anthus).
Vergilius
1