| Description |
1 online resource (x, 180 pages) |
| Contents |
Introduction: Lucretian allusion, Virgilian allegory -- Characterizations of Epicurean atomism -- Trojans under the influence of atomism (epic winners) -- Non-trojans under the influence of atomism (epic losers) -- Turnus and the end of the Epicurean world -- Atomism and the worldview of the Aeneid |
| Summary |
"This book examines the role of philosophical metaphor and allegory in the Aeneid, focusing on tendentious allusions to Lucretian atomism. It argues that Virgil, drawing upon a popular strain of anti-atomist and anti-Epicurean arguments in Greek philosophy, deploys atomic imagery as a symbol of cosmic and political disorder. The first chapter of this study investigates the development of metaphors and analogies in philosophical texts ranging from Aristotle to Cicero that equate atomism with cosmological caprice and instability. The following three chapters track how Virgil applies this interpretation of Epicurean physics to the Aeneid, in which chaotic atomic imagery is associated with various challenges to the poem's dominant narrative of divine order and Roman power. For Aeneas, the specter of atomic disorder arises at moments of distress and hesitation, while the association of various non-Trojan characters with atomism characterizes them as agents of violent disorder needing to be contained or vanquished. The final chapter summarizes findings, showing how Virgilian allusion to Lucretian physics often conflates poetic, political, and cosmological narratives, blurring the boundaries between their respective modes of discourse and revealing a general preference for hierarchical, teleological models of order"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from PDF title page (Oxford Scholarship Online, viewed on June 30, 2021) |
| Subject |
Virgil. Aeneis.
|
|
Virgil -- Symbolism
|
|
Virgil |
| SUBJECT |
Aeneis (Virgil) fast |
| Subject |
Atomism.
|
|
Epicureans (Greek philosophy)
|
|
Cosmology in literature.
|
|
Trojans in literature.
|
|
Epic poetry, Latin -- History and criticism
|
|
Ancient & Classical.
|
|
LITERARY COLLECTIONS.
|
|
LITERARY CRITICISM.
|
|
History & Surveys.
|
|
PHILOSOPHY.
|
|
POETRY.
|
|
Atomism
|
|
Cosmology in literature
|
|
Epic poetry, Latin
|
|
Epicureans (Greek philosophy)
|
|
Symbolism
|
|
Trojans in literature
|
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2020046426 |
| ISBN |
9780197518779 |
|
019751877X |
|
9780197518755 |
|
0197518753 |
|
9780197518762 |
|
0197518761 |
|
