otio exsultas nimiumque gestis: otium et reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes.
But my tongue becomes numb and a delicate flame flows down under my limbs, my ears ring with their own buzz, my eyes are enveloped by twin night. 19
Pleasure, Catullus, is dangerous for you: in pleasure you excessively indulge and delight. Pleasure has squandered both kings and blessed cities before.
Although it has already been shown that Catullus 51 is modelled on Sappho 31 20 , it could even be argued that Virgil is alluding to Catullus (51) alone in these two lines, rather than Sappho, because of CatullusÊ reknown at the time and the poignancy of CatullusÊ last sentence. The ÂotiumÊ does destroy DidoÊs city and threatens to squander AeneasÊ fate – however Aeneas is the better man, he withstands his temptation and, taking the august route, leaves Dido to fulfill his fate. I consider Catullus as only one layer of meaning underlying this text. I believe Virgil uses Sappho for inspiration just as Catullus did. On account of SapphoÊs fame, Virgil had no need to use Catullus as an intermediary translation, but could go straight to the source, Sappho. Thus I would argue that the similarity of the passages may not result because Virgil uses Catullus 51 for inspiration, but that they are both using Sappho 31. Furthermore, the imagery of ÂblindnessÊ is missing in Catullus, but is present in both Sappho and Virgil. From a more general perspective I would now like to suggest that SapphoÊs characterization of women influences VirgilÊs Dido. Pei-jing Li points out that Ovid compares Sappho to Dido, in their epistles, with respect to their characterization: ÂDido and Sappho are both infused with a masculine bent. They both feminize ⁄ their absent male lovers.Ê 21 I believe Ovid is picking up on a theme true of SapphoÊs own poetry, that SapphoÊs women are not passive objects (as women were often presented) but active agents (as men were presented). Page duBois, on SapphoÊs telling of the Trojan epic, points out that ÂWomen in the Homeric world are exchanged, given as prizes, stolen, sold as slaves⁄ She ( Sappho ) sees Helen as an ÂactantÊ in her own life, the subject of a choice, exemplary in her desiringÊ. 22 There are further indications that Virgil is influenced by SapphoÊs characterization of women with respect to his Dido. For example, Dido (in lines 60-90) leads (taking the male role, even using the male verb to marry) Aeneas around the walls of her city. She is equal to men, she hunts (lines 129- 139) and even surpasses Aeneas by building a city while he, contrary to his destiny, is not. In line 375, she emphasizes how she Âsaved his lost fleet, and his friends from deathÊ. Thus this characterization of Dido suggests that Virgil was indeed influenced by Sappho. DidoÊs masculine characterization has the further impact of emphasizing how Aeneas is acting passively, even femininely. To regain his masculinity and fulfil his fate, he must act by leaving. Finally I shall suggest that Virgil may have been motivated to allude to Sappho on account of the palpable effect such implicit allusions would have had on the contemporary audience. From the first two lines, we are told that DidoÊs love is comparable to SapphoÊs sensual, even erotic, poetry. 19 Obeying the Sapphic Strophe, the final ÂaÊ of ÂgeminaÊ scans long, which makes it agree with ÂnocteÊ rather than, as would be natural, to ÂluminaÊ. We could therefore take ÂgeminaÊ as a transferred epithet referring to ÂluminaÊ, though I have chosen to remain as literal as possible here.
20 See footnote 4. 21 Pei-jing Li 2004. 22 Page duBois 1978.
143
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker