las bases de la anyigua parodia griega y latina. el centón. 1954. ok

8/12/2019 Las Bases de La Anyigua Parodia Griega y Latina. El Centn. 1954. OK

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80o THE BASIS OF ANCIENT PARODY

wrrpi otq~6i-rrcov&M& Kai 'APXiRoXoS Kal Kpa-rivoS Kai KokipaXos v

Trois ETrypappaaiv ap'rupo0ati 'Opipov ivat r6woi ra.

The Scholiast on Ar. Aves 913 records the attribution to Homer andquotes a line preserved with two others by Atilius Fortunatianus also:

ETETroErroETro 5 Kai 6 Mapyi'l5 ToJO Ocppou EIvalv 6 ?iplrTal Movo'x-

COv0Ep6drrcov Kal KrlP6 ou 'AT-r6Acovos.

Here Mova&cov Epdrrcov s not in fact Homeric, but it might be; and

EKfl6 oA 'ArATr6AAcovoss of course authentic. From the surviving lines itseems likely that the Margites, like the Cercopes, was a comic picaresqueepic rather than a parody and the latter term is not applied to it in anti-

quity, rraliyviov eing generally the word employed. Nevertheless,granted the existence of writing of this sort' employing from time totime phrases from true Epicz and doubtless including incidents andsituations resembling those of Epic, it is clear that the borderline of

parody has been reached, though there may not be present the elementof conscious distortion which is at the heart of parody and which makesit the more sophisticated form.

If the Margites, which perhaps belongs to the Homeridae of Colophon,3is dated

c. 700 B.c.,it

maywell itself have served as one of the links

between piriorts and wi~roicos P~r~iC. A comparison of the fragmentswith the four lines of Hipponax preserved by Athenaeus4 shows sometechnical similarity in the former, with its use of Homeric phraseologyin telling a humorous tale, to the latter where scraps of Homeric dictionare added to a satirical base for the sake of their comic effect. Suidass.v. Hiypurs ndicates a considerably later date for the Margites:

Hiyprls- K&pd-rr6 AAtKapvacclo, 68EA(po 'ApTEPlaoiaS Tfils v TroiS roXhPot

biayavo5s,Maucaocou yUValK65 .. EypayE ... TOV EIS Oyprpov rvacpEp6-

PEVOV apyi-rv ...but this evidence is generally discredited. If it is assumed that the wordsMacuboou yuvat(K6S re Suidas' own and not an interpolated gloss, he isat variance with Plutarch,s who makes it clear that Pigres was brother tothe Artemisia who took part with her fleet in Xerxes' invasion, not to

x Arist. Poet. 1448b 30 6 Mapyi{rrls ai -ra TOlcTrra.2 Cf. also &lXapva- ' pya (II. viii. 130) in the fragment of the Cercopes pre-

served by Suidas, s.v. KipKCOTrES. roXXAvv' TrTi aiav ov-rES~v6pc~Tous rrra-

aKOV, AcjiEVOIt lcrra-r&VTa, he

conclusion of thefragment, remotely suggeststhe opening lines of the Odyssey.

3Homrn. tHes. Cert., p. 313 (Goettling); Homer, vol. v, O.C.T. Cert. 11.15-17:KoXhoycvlol 8E Kai -Tr6Trrov 6EKVOOvUlV

,v

4 acrliv a-rrbv [Homer] yp&ppara 6tS&-

OKOVTrarf TrOIl?rEWcS &pacOai Kal TrOlcal rTTrporov rov MapyiTrrlv.

4 xv. 698 c. s De Herodoti Malignitate, ? 43.

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THE BASIS OF ANCIENT PARODY 8Ithe Artemisia of a century and a half later who was quieen to Mausolus.Suidas himself suggests the earlier Artemisia by the phrase -rfs v -rotSTroMaio taypavoc's, and on this showing the poem could reasonably be

placed in the first half of the fifth century; but the attribution of theMargites to Pigres can be regarded as an example of the tendency to

assign anonymous work to a suitable writer. If Homeric authorship is

rejected, the Margites becomes anonymous, while Pigres, to whom the

BccrpaXopvovarXia s attributed by Suidas and Plutarch, is clearly a likelyrecipient.

The influence of one particular work on the evolution of parody is notin any event a matter admitting certainty. It can be said, however, that

while the genesis of parody need call for no more than an original poemand a mind to impart a humorous distortion to it, the type of writing towhich the Margites belongs was capable of suggesting and stimulatingthe process: furthermore, credit should go to the Rhapsodes at least for

possessing the requisite technical ability to advance the new form. Con-

jecturally the line of evolution may thus be said to start with Epic. Thevalue as contrast or relief of a story whose central figure or figures dis-play precisely the reverse of heroic qualities produces Comic Epic.Verbal similarities and similarities in situation between comic and true

epic give rise to mock-epic Parody. The mock-epic technique is thenextended and parody comes to include play on a wide range of forms anda variety of techniques. With Aristophanes there develops the mostadvanced function of parody, that of selecting and illuminating the

special characteristics of the author whose material is employed.

Quemadmodum ntempestiva postulatio pugnae inhibeatur

THE following little anecdote is recorded in the Strategemata of Frontinus(c. A.D. 30-104). His style is admirably concise and straightforward, as befitsone who writes a practical handbook for soldiers.

Q. Sertorius, quod experimento didicerat imparem se universo Romano-rum exercitui, ut barbaros quoque inconsulte pugnam exposcentes doceret,adductis in conspectum duobus equis, praevalido alteri, alteri admodumexili, duos admovit iuvenes similiter adfectos, robustum et gracilem. Acrobustiori imperavit equo exili universam caudam abrumpere, gracili autemvalentiorem per singulos pilos vellere. Cumque gracilis ecisset quod impe-

ratum erat, validissimus cum infirmi equi cauda sine effectu luctaretur,'Naturam', inquit Sertorius, Romanarum ohortium per hoc vobis exemplumostendi, milites; insuperabiles sunt universas adgredienti; easdem lacerabitet carpet, qui per partes adtemptaverit.'

Strat. I. x. i.3871.N.s.1 G

las bases de la anyigua parodia griega y latina. el centón. 1954. ok

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