Abstract
The present paper investigates the poetics of the Epitaph for Bion, principally focusing on the self-referential attitude displayed by its anonymous author and the metapoetic devices he exploits. Striking is the growing awareness of genre, which is expressed through a self-conscious use of pastoral terminology, in particular of the adjectives ,Sicilian‘ and ,Doric‘ (ll. 12; 18; 96; 122), and the self-referential image of the poet-βουκόλος (ll. 11 e 65). Close attention is also paid to the metapoetic poignancy of the appeals to Arethusa (ll. 1; 10 e 77), to be read as reiterated allusions the poet makes to his own poetic inspiration, and of the two cameos of nightingales and swans which are ordered by the poet to pass on the news of Bion’s death to Arethusa (ll. 9–12) and the Nymphs and the Muses (ll. 14–18). The metapoetic interpretation of these elements, where nightingales and swans stand for the poet and Arethusa, the Nymphs and the Muses for his poetic inspiration, allows reading ll. 9–18 as a twofold manifesto of implicit poetics through which the poet portrays himself in the actual act of composing the Epitaph. In addition, a new exegesis is suggested for the statements attested at ll. 93–97; 115–119 and 125–126: against the commonly accepted interpretation, [Moschus] is not acknowledging his poetic inferiority to his master Bion; he is rather presenting himself as the new Bucolic, Orpheus-like poet.
© by Akademie Verlag, Berlin, Germany
