Hunters of acrostics have had little luck with Horace. Despite his manifest love of complex wordplay, virtuoso metrical tricks and even alphabet games, acrostics seem largely absent from Horace's poetry. The few that have been sniffed out in recent years are, with one notable exception, either fractured and incomplete—the postulatedPINN-inCarm.4.2.1–4 (pinnis?Pindarus?)—or disappointingly low-stakes; suggestions of acrostics are largely confined to theOdesalone. Besides diverging from the long-standing Roman obsession with literary acrostics, Horace's apparent lack of interest is (...) especially surprising given that Virgil, his contemporary, friend and ‘poetic pace-maker’, was at the time conducting what seems to be a systematic adaptation of Hellenistic acrostic-poetics into Latin poetry. (shrink)

This article highlights two possible unnoticed acrostics in Ovid's Metamorphoses concerning the predictions of Calchas and Helenus.

In any competition for monuments of wasted labour the collection of accidental acrostics in Latin poets published by I. Hilberg would stand a good chance of a prize. But amongst his examples of ‘neckische Spiele des Zufalls’ is one I am gullible enough to believe may be more significant. In Aeneid 7. 601–15 Vergil describes the custom of opening the gates of war in a long anacoluthic sentence, the first four lines of which run: Mos erat Hesperio in Latio, (...) quern protinus urbes Albanae coluere sacrum, nunc maxima rerum Roma colit, cum prima movent in proelia Mortem, Sive Getis inferre manu lacrimabile bellum…. (shrink)

Very shortly before the end of Book 11 of the Aeneid, Turnus, hearing of Camilla's death, is forced to abandon his ambush in order to fall back to the city. Just after he leaves the wooded gorge, Aeneas passes through it unscathed with his company. Both then head toward the city walls. Virgil marks this near miss of the two commanders by an acrostic :ille furens deserit obsessos collis, nemora aspera linquit.uix e conspectu exierat campumque tenebat,cum pater Aeneas saltus ingressus (...) apertosexsuperatque iugum siluaque euadit opaca.sic ambo ad muros rapidi totoque ferunturagmine nec longis inter se passibus absunt. (shrink)

In any competition for monuments of wasted labour the collection of accidental acrostics in Latin poets published by I. Hilberg would stand a good chance of a prize. But amongst his examples of ‘neckische Spiele des Zufalls’ is one I am gullible enough to believe may be more significant. In Aeneid 7. 601–15 Vergil describes the custom of opening the gates of war in a long anacoluthic sentence, the first four lines of which run: Mos erat Hesperio in Latio, (...) quern protinus urbes Albanae coluere sacrum, nunc maxima rerum Roma colit, cum prima movent in proelia Mortem, Sive Getis inferre manu lacrimabile bellum…. (shrink)

This article argues that an intentional acrostic spanning the first five lines of Propertius’ elegy for Cynthia's birthday (3.10), MANE[T], contributes significantly to the poignancy and purpose of the poem. MANE can be read as māne, ‘in the morning’, or manē, ‘stay!’, both of which emphasize the fleeting nature of dawn—and of Cynthia's youthful beauty. MANET can suggest both ‘[art] remains’ and ‘[death] awaits’. All four of these meanings work together to capture the tension between human transience and artistic immortality. (...) The theme is further enhanced by a balancing reverse telestich at the poem's end, ROSA RVES (‘[a] rose, you will fall to ruin’). (shrink)

A syllabic acrostic (de-ca-te, “tenth”) has recently been discovered by Leah Kronenberg at Eclogue 4.9–11. The aim of the present article is to adduce further evidence for the intentionality of this acrostic. The article begins by pointing to corroborative clues in the text encompassed by the acrostic itself. Attention is then drawn to the overlooked deni‑acrostic in the previous Eclogue (3.55–58). This acrostical deni, for whose intentionality arguments are likewise adduced, evidently serves to corroborate acrostical decate. This deni‑acrostic is itself (...) confirmed shortly afterwards by decem (Ecl. 3.71), which is in turn an imitation of Theocritus (Id. 3.10). This Theocritean text, which contains the word δέκα in ‘line ten’, provides further corroboration of the decate-acrostic, which is likewise centred around ‘line ten’. In particular it is argued that this passage of Theocritus has inspired the noun which decate can be shown to qualify. (shrink)

This paper presents two notes relating to Jason’s prayer to Apollo before the launch of the Argo in Apollonius’ Argonautica. In both cases, I examine what may be termed the “subtextual” facets of the passage: textual data that are significant—productive of meaningful interpretation—and yet hardly apparent on a surface-level reading of the poem. The first note concerns the changing total number of crewmembers aboard the Argo, an evolving figure which Apollonius encourages the reader to track as the narrative progresses. The (...) second proposes a new acrostic that “completes” the ΑΚΤΙΑ acrostic that Selina Stewart recently discovered in Jason’s prayer. In each case, I draw different conclusions from these subliminal data, which have ramifications for questions of gender and inclusivity in Jason’s crew and the role of the gods in the poem. Both readings, however, are a testament to the careful design and unity of purpose that runs through the epic. (shrink)

‘Of course laniabor is not a name.’ Thus very recently Cristiano Castelletti in a discussion of this notorious acrostic, which he associates with Aratean ἄρρητον and Virgilian MA VE PV. If, however, laniabor is itself ‘not a name’, the aim of the present annotatiuncula is to argue that it is an etymological play on a ‘name’. Laniabor spans the description of Amycus’ cave, which is adorned with the dismembered limbs of his victims: Amycus himself will shortly suffer the same fate (...) at Pollux’ hands. The name ‘Amycus’ was etymologized from ἀμύσσω, which exactly matches lanio. Hence by a cutely etymological jeu onomastique ‘Tearer’ says ‘I'll be torn’. (shrink)

What follows is an experiment in reading practice. I propose that we read some key passages of theAeneidand theMetamorphosesin the active pursuit of acrostics and telestics, just as we have been accustomed to read them in the active pursuit of allusions and intertexts; and that we do so with the same willingness to make sense of what we find. The measure of success of this reading practice will be the extent to which our understanding of these familiar and well-studied (...) texts can be usefully enriched by our interpretation of our discoveries (or rediscoveries). These will include an undiscovered authorial signature NASO in the ‘second proem’ of theMetamorphoses; an unnoticed self-referential response to Horace with NITIDO at the centre of Ovid's epic and a similarly self-referential AVSVM at the centre of Virgil's epic; in theAeneidwe will also find glances to Aratus with LEPTE and an Aratean anagram on Aeneas’ shield; and two new acrostics connecting Dido, Ajax and Lavinia. (shrink)

This article proposes that Horace's Epodes and Ovid's Metamorphoses open with significant acrostics that comprise the first two letters, in some cases forming syllables, of successive lines: IB-AM/IAMB (Epod. 1.1–2) and IN-CO-(H)AS (Met. 1.1–3). Each acrostic, it will be argued, tees up programmatic concerns vital to the work it opens: generic identity and the interrelation of form and content (Epodes), etymology and monumentality (Metamorphoses). Moreover, as befits their placement at the head of collections, both acrostics negotiate the challenge (...) of literary commencement. The introduction reviews recent developments in acrostic studies and discusses important predecessors and parallels for Horace's and Ovid's ‘two-letter’ and syllabic acrostics. Two subsequent sections examine the acrostics singly, and a conclusion compares the dialogues that these acrostics open between author and reader, underscoring the welcome challenge which Ovid's acrostic offers to the prevailing scholarly view that this form of wordplay is a strictly visual affair. (shrink)

This article proposes a new acrostic (SAPI) and telestic (SOIS) at Laus Pisonis 227–30. Their position opposite one another is an indication that they are to be read as a single sentence and an admonition to both dedicatee and reader that poet and patron need each other to gain eternal fame. The telestic allows us to reconstruct the poet's usus scribendi of the reflexive possessive pronoun suus.

Recently in the pages of The Classical Quarterly Mathias Hanses convincingly demonstrated the existence of a fourth occurrence of the programmatic adjective λεπτός in Aratus, Phaen. 783–7. This new example occurs in the form of a diagonal acrostic alongside the known ‘gamma-acrostic’ and the occurrence of the same form of the adjective in line 784. Jerzy Danielewicz has now proposed yet a fifth instance of λεπτή in the form of an acronym spread over two lines and meant to be read (...) anticlockwise. (shrink)

This note identifies a new acrostic in Christodorus’ sixth century c.e.Ekphrasis of the Baths of Zeuxippus (Anth. Pal. 2) and explains its significance.

Aratus has been notorious for his wordplay since the first decades of his reception. Hellenistic readers such as Callimachus, Leonidas, or ‘King Ptolemy’ seem to have picked up on the pun on the author's own name atPhaenomena2, as well as on the famous λεπτή acrostic atPhaen.783–6 that will be revisited here. Three carefully placed occurrences of the adjective have so far been uncovered in the passage, but for a full appreciation of its elegance we must note that Aratus has set (...) his readers up to notice a fourth. (shrink)

The dating of Manilius' Astronomica and of the Aratea attributed to Germanicus are both long-standing problems of Latin scholarship. The large number of significant correspondences between the two poems suggests a considerable degree of imitation and allusion one way or the other, but it is widely agreed that the internal evidence of the poems can shed no light on the direction of the influence. I would like to present a new observation, however, suggesting that the Aratea was already available to (...) Manilius in some form by the time he came to compose his first book. (shrink)

Journal Name: Philologus Issue: Ahead of print.

This article argues that the incomplete acrostic INCIP- at Ov. Met. 15.871–5 can be completed. If viewed as a ‘gamma-acrostic’, we can supply -iam from line 871, so that it receives its termination in retrospect. Ovid's manipulation of gamma-acrostic conventions caps his persistent confusion of beginnings and endings, and emphasizes the role of the reader as co-creator of his metamorphic œuvre.

Journal Name: Philologus Issue: Ahead of print.

That Cicero as a young didactic poet embraced the traditions of Hellenistic hexameter poetry is well recognized. Those traditions encompass various forms of wordplay, one of which is the acrostic. Cicero's engagement with this tradition, in the form of an unusual Greek-Latin acrostic at Aratea 317–20, prompts inquiry regarding both the use of the acrostic technique as textual commentary and Cicero's lifelong concerns regarding translation.

Lucan's account of Caesar crossing the Rubicon is dense with metapoetic allusion. Although the river has been specified as a small stream at Caesar's arrival, it becomes swollen, tumidus, as soon as Caesar ‘breaks the delay of war’ and ‘carries his standards in haste over the [now] swollen river’. This has been pinpointed both as a metapoetic signpost of Lucan's engagement with the anti-Callimachean swollen river of grandiose epic at the outbreak of Civil War, and as a programmatic statement that (...) the whole Bellum Ciuile will set up a series of contrasts between Caesar's urgency in crossing boundaries and Lucan's narrative obstructions to or compliances with Caesar's progress. In fact, as Jamie Masters notes, ‘in spite of the “undoing of delay,” the perfect “tulit” and the adverb “propere,” Caesar has not crossed the river yet; or if he has, he must do it again’, precisely at 1.213–22. Within this densely self-reflexive passage, Lucan inserts a palindromic acrostic which signals both the doubling of Caesar's action and Lucan's poetic representation of Caesar taming the forces of nature. (shrink)

καλὸν δ᾽ ἐπὶ σήματι σῆμασκέπτεσθαι, μᾶλλον δὲ δυοῖν εἰς ταὐτὸν ἰόντωνἐλπωρὴ τελέθοι, τριτάτῳ δέ κε θαρσήσειας. It is a good idea to observe one sign after another, and if two agree, it is more hopeful, while with a third you can be confident. Appropriately for a poet who is ‘subtly speaking’, the epithet applied to him by Ptolemy III Euergetes, Aratus does not cease offering unexpected material to explore. This statement holds true also for the famous passage containing the acrostic (...) ΛΕΠΤΗ. (shrink)

Presented in the form of an acrostic, the text offers six entries. It begins with the Japanese term nagori, the etymology of which is in nami-nokori, ‘remains of the waves’, to refer to the ephemeral imprints left by the waves as they withdraw from the beach. The modern word nagori carries a more general sense of resignation, of a destiny that cannot be changed, of things that pass. The opening entry, for example, refers to our present time as the nagori (...) of photography – as being ‘everywhere’ even before being shattered and scattered by the internet, by social media and cameras in mobile phones. Underlying the six entries is specific reference to the work of Roland Barthes, notably as a form of writing with Barthes, not about him. As such, and as the final contribution to a special issue of Theory, Culture & Society, ‘Neutral Life/Late Barthes’, this opens up for the ‘reader’ a specific practice and politics of writing. (shrink)

Among the literary arts of the Middle Ages, the creation of texts within strict parameters held a fascination for many poets. Acrostic poems, tricky meters, frequent rhyme, and other limitations often spurred those who sought expression in words.

In Theriaca 343–358, Nicander recounts a rather unusual myth. After Prometheus had stolen fire, Zeus was seeking the thief and, when men delivered Prometheus over to him, he gave them the gift of youth. Humans entrusted the ass to carry this load, but the ass was seized by thirst and sought the help of the snake, who demanded in return the thing he was carrying on his back. This is how the gift of youth given to men fell to the (...) serpent’s lot. Ever since, inevitable old age has weighed upon them, while the snakes cast off their old skin and gain a new one. Like any digression in Hellenistic epic poetry, this parable certainly is intended to entertain the reader, yet it must have a more serious function: by showing that it was only out of stupidity that men gave away their invaluable gift to the ass, Nicander asserts the great value of knowledge for life. Remarkably, it is precisely in this passage that the poet has inserted the acrostic of his name. The idea that his poetic work will ensure the survival of his name for future generations, directly expressed in the closing lines, is here conveyed with the greatest refinement. (shrink)

Recent decades have witnessed a growing interest injeux de motsin Greek poetry. It was especially the discovery of the ΛΕΠΤΗ acrostic in Aratus'Phaenomenaby J.-M. Jacques in 1960 that stimulated the desire for joining the elite club of those capable of detecting such encrypted messages. This period of intensiveRätselforschungrecently found its culmination in the publication of C. Luz's monograph on linguistic games in Greek poetry, in which an impressive variety of these is discussed: acrostics, palindromes, anagrams, isopsephic poems,carmina figurata, and (...) so forth. Yet even Luz's list is incomplete, and the present discussion aims to offer a brief supplement to her admirable book. I will discuss a playful device used by Greek poets which may not be as spectacular as acrostics but beats them in one hardly negligible respect – that a plausible new discovery may be easier to make in this field. (shrink)

Adorjáni Zsolt, « Bemerkungen zur Ektheosis Arsinoes des Kallimachos: Gattung, Struktur und Inhalt », Philologus 165–1 (2021), p. 2–24 [présente une interprétation d’un poème de Callimaque en se concentrant essentiellement sur le thème de la mort de la reine Arsinoé II et de son ascension parmi les divinités]. Agosti Gianfranco, « A Fragment of an Acrostic Hymn (SEG 8.225 = CIIP 711) », ZPE 215 (2020), p. 24–26 [propose de nouvelles lectures de ce texte énigmatique traditionnellement identifi...