EXTRAIT

COLLECTION LATOMUS Fondee par M. RENARD en 1939

Dirigee par C. DERoux et J. DuMoRTIER-BmAuw VOLUME239

Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History

VIII Edited by

Carl Deroux

LA TO MUS REVUE D'ETUDES LATINES

BRUXELLES 1997

TABLE OF CONTENTS

M. F. WILLIAMS, The Cyzicus Episode (Ap. Rh., Arg. I, 936-1158) and Aeneid V : Cybele and Ritual . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 5

W. J. DoMINIK, Ratio et Dei: Psychology and the Supernatural in the Lernnian Episode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 29

I. MEDNIKAROVA, Patterns of Hyperbaton in Latin Prose from Cato to Bulgaranus . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

T. P. HILLMAN, The Serpent under the Flower: Pompeius Strabo and Q. Sertorius, 89-87 B.C. .. ...... ..... .... .. .. ...... .. ..... ... ....... .. 85

B. G. AcKROYD-CRoss, Catullus 68,41-86 ........ ........ ...... ....... .... 116 B. BERG, Cicero's Palatine Home and Clodius' Shrine of Liberty.

Alternative Emblems of the Republic in Cicero's De domo sua ................ .... ..... .. ... .. ..... ... .. ...... .. ...... ..... ... ..... ...... ... ...... 122

T. D. PAPANGHELIS, Winning on Points: about the Singing-Match in Virgil's Seventh Eclogue ...... ....... ... .... .... .. ... ... ... ... 144

W. W. DE GRUMMOND, The "Diana Experience" : a Study of the Victims of Diana in Virgil's Aeneid .... .... ... ... .. ... ... .... .......... 158

K . VERBOVEN, Damasippus, the Story of a Businessman? .......... 195 M. C. BoLTON, Elegy upside Down: the Inversion of Elegiac

and Epic Elements in Hero ides III. .................... ... ..... .. ....... 218 P. J . JoHNSON, Ovid and Poetic Facundia .... ........ .... ..... .... .. .. ..... 231 E. P. FoRBIS, Voice and Voicelessness in Ovid's Exile Poetry ....... 245 A. FELDHERR, Caeci auaritia : Avarice, History, and Vision in

Livy V .... ..... ... ....... ... ...... .... ... .... ..... ..... .. .... ... ... .... ...... ....... . 268 R. S. LoRscH, An omen of Diuus Augustus : Portent of Triumph

or Divinity ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 278 J. C. REEDER, The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta and

the Underground Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 H. M. JACKSON, Further Notes on Problems in the Text of

Carmina Priapea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 G. MADER, Duplex nefas,Jerus spectator : Spectacle and Spectator

in Act 5 of Seneca's Troades ..... .. ....... ....... .. .. ... .. ...... ... ....... 319 A. L. SPISAK, Martial's Special Relation with his Reader ..... ....... 352 N. SHUMATE, Compulsory Pretense and the "Theatricalization of

Experience" in Tacitus . . . .. . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . 364

506 TABLE OF CONTENTS

R. B. MoBERLY, Jerome's Age : Some Further Thoughts ... .. ... .... 404 P. SIVONEN, The Good and the Bad, the Civilised and the

Barbaric : Images of the East in the Identities of Ausonius, Sidonius, and Sulpicius ....... ... ..... .... .. .. ..... ..... .. .... .. ..... ..... .. . 417

C. M. BooKER, The Codex Purpureus and its Role as an Imago Regis in Late Antiquity ..... ... ..... ... .... .......... .... ..... .. .... .. ...... . 441

E. J. OwENs, Zosimus, the Roman Empire, and the End of Roman Britain .. ... .... ........... .. ... ........ .... ... ..... .. .. ... ....... ... .. .. 478

Ratio et Dei : Psychology and the Supernatural in the Lemnian Episode

The Lemnian episode is one of the most physically graphic and emotionally charged scenes in epic. Its preoccupation with sex, violence, death and the supernatural reflects a mythical gynocratic society in which these elements function collectively for a period of time as the controlling principle of human conduct. The comparison below between the accounts of the Lemnian episode in Apollonius Rhodius' Argo­nautika (1, 609-914), Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica (II, 78-431) and Statius' Thebaid (V, 49-498) (1) emphasises the importance of psychology and the role of the supernatural in the unfolding of events. Moerner, Legras, Bahrenfuss and Vessey have compared the versions of the Lemnian episode given by Apollonius, Valerius and Statius (2). However, Moerner, Legras and Bahrenfuss generally do not attempt to account for the divergences and resemblances between these versions, while this chapter challenges some important aspects of Vessey's interpretations, especially his reasons for the differences between the accounts. While Apollonius was certainly familiar to Valerius and Statius (3), it is difficult to ascertain whether Valerius or Statius composed his adaptation of the Lemnian episode first, although the evidence suggests that Valerius' version probably preceded that of Statius (4).

(1) With some brief references to Homer, Pindar, Herodorus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Myrsilus, Apollodorus and Hyginus.

(2) F. MoERNER, De P. Papinii Statii Thebaide quaestiones, diss. Konigsberg, 1891, p. 19ff. ; L. LEGRAs, Etude sur Ia Thebai'de de Stace. Les Jegendes thebaines en Grixe a Rome, Paris, 1905, p. 61ff.; w. BAHRENFUSS, Die Abenteuer der Argonauten auf Lemnos bei Apollonios Rhodios (Arg. 1.601-915), Valerius Flaccus (Arg. 2.72-427), Papinius Statius (Theb. 4.746-5.498), diss. Kiel, 1951 ; D. W. T. VESSEY, Notes on the Hypsipyle Episode in Statius, Thebaid 4-6 in BICS 17, 1970, p. 44-54.

(3) See M. N. J. ManzER, De Apollonii Rhodii et Valerii Flacci Argonauticis, diss. Amsterdam, 1891, passim ; F. MoERNER, De Thebaide quaestiones [n. 2], p. 30ff.

(4) For echoes of Valerius in Statius' Thebaid, see C. ScHENKL, Studien zu der Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus, Vienna, 1871 ; L. LEHANNEUR, De P. Papinii Statii vita et operibus quaestiones, diss. Paris, 1878, p. 221 ; F. MoERNER, De Thebaide

30 W. J. DOMINIK

The basic outline of the Lemnian massacre and its aftermath in all versions is that a prosperous and wealthy Lemnos incurs the anger of Venus because of its citizens' failure to worship her (Ap.Rh. I, 614-616; V.Fl. II, 98-102; St., Th. V, 54-60; cf. 302-309). In the Flavian adaptations Venus inspires the Lemnian women to an intense hostility toward their husbands (V.Fl. II, 126ff. ; St., Th. V, 135ff.). In all accounts the women avenge their actual or reputed displacements as their husbands' sexual partners by murdering them after they return from Thrace (Ap.Rh. I, 617-619; V.Fl. II, 220ff.; St., Th. V, 21lff.). Hypsipyle saves her father and becomes queen (Ap.Rh. I, 620ff.; V.Fl. II, 249ff. ; St., Th. V, 244ff.), after which the Argonauts arrive at Lemnos, take the women as concubines, then eventually depart (Ap.Rh. I, 640ff. ; V.Fl. II, 329ff. ; St., Th. V, 422ff.) (5).

Although the broad outlines of the three versions are similar, there are a number of differences between the accounts. One of the most obvious differences IS m emphasis, as illustrated in the following schema:

The Lemnian Massacre The Visit of the Argonauts Departure of the Argonauts

Ap.Rh. I, 609-914 (306 11.)

609-632 (24) 633-909 (277) 910-914 (5)

V.Fl. II, 78-431 (354 11.)

78-310 (233) 311-427 (117) 428-431 (4)

St., T11. V, 49-498 (450 11.)

49-334 (286) 335-467 (133) 468-498 (31)

As can be seen, Apollonius provides only a brief outline of the Lemnian massacre, whereas Valerius and Statius devote roughly two-thirds of their narratives to events of the massacre. Apollonius devotes nine­tenths of his narrative to the visit of the Argonauts, while Valerius and Statius devote about one-third of their narratives to this part of the Lemnian episode. Apollonius and Valerius devote only a few lines to the departure of the Argonauts, while Statius covers the departure and its aftermath in greater detail. These differences in emphasis be­tween the accounts are significant.

One of the most important differences is in narrative stance. The Lemnian episode is seen in the account of Valerius from the viewpoint

quaestiones [n. 2], 1891, p. 25ff.; R. HELM, De Papinii Statii Thebaide, Berlin, 1892, p. 153ff. ; W. C. SuMMERS, A Study of the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus, Cambridge, 1894, p. 8ff.; L. LEGRAS, Etude sur Ia Thebaide [n. 2], p. 65-66; J. J. L. SMoLENAARs, Statius, Thebaid VII. A Commentary, Leiden, 1994, p. xxxv-xlii, 396ff.

(5) See also HDT. VI, 138; APoSTOL. X, 65; ZEN. IV, 91 ; ScH. AP.RH. I, 609, 615.

RATIOETDEI 31

of the Argonauts, whereas in Apollonius and Statius events on Lemnos are viewed from the perspective of Hypsipyle. Apollonius' Hypsipyle narrates events in such as way as to encourage Jason to remain on Lemnos, while in Statius Hypsipyle recounts the episode to Adrastus and the Argive warriors as background to her current tragic predicament as the slave of Lycurgus. In Apollonius there is a general sense of the tragedy that afflicts Lemnos, while in Valerius and more especially in Statius this sense is particularised by the emphasis upon the personal misfortunes and suffering of Hypsipyle.

The Lemnian Massacre (Ap.Rh. L 609-632; V.Fl. lL 77-310; St., Th. V, 49-334)

In Apollodorus the Lemnian women fail to honour Aphrodite, whereupon the goddess visits a 15vaoaJ.da upon them, which causes their husbands to take captive women from Thrace as concubines (1, 9, 17). Venus' role is limited to sending this 15vaoaj1fa upon the Lemnian women, whose subsequent replacement by Thracian concubines is portrayed as a natural consequence of their husbands' aversion to their smell. According to the Apollonian scholiast (2: I, 609e), there was a version preserved by Myrsilus of a 15vaoaJ1fa caused by a cpapJ1aKov of Medea (6). But Apollonius suppresses the plausible biological reason of smell for the men's rejection of their wives and subsequent trip to Thrace for new consorts. The mere mention of the 15vaoaj1fa of the women would have been entirely unsuitable for an epic context that stresses not only the physical attraction between the Lemnians and Argonauts but also Jason's discovery of the pleasures of love and how to use sex to his advantage. Instead Venus, angry over the women's failure to honour her, infuses the Lemnian men with a hatred of their wives and a fierce passion for the captive Thracian women they bring back to Lemnos (1, 611-615).

In Valerius' Argonautica the element of marital disharmony and the motive for the men's sojourn to Thrace are missing. Although the voyage of the Lemnian men to Thrace is not divinely motivated, Venus incites Fama to spread the rumour among the Lemnian women that their husbands, enslaved by luxury and shameful lust, are returning

(6) SeeS. JACKSON, Myrsilus of Methymna and the Dreadful Smell of the Lemnian Women in ICS 15.1, 1990, p. 77-83; Creative Selectivity in Apollonius' Argonautica, Amsterdam, 1993, p. 59-61.

32 W. J. DOMINIK

with Thracian concubines (II, 126-133). The reason for the intervention of Venus is attributed (as in the accounts of Apollodorus and Apol­lonius) to the nefas of the Lemnian women in failing to worship her, which was brought about by their loyalty to Vulcan, wronged by Venus and Mars in their adulterous affair (98-102 ; cf. 87-98). Whereas in Apollodorus (I, 9, 17) and Apollonius (I, 611-614) the Lemnian men are actually adulterers, in Valerius the goddess, an adulteress herself, merely attributes adulterous motives to the Lemnian men (II, 131-132, 142ff., 183). Valerius' narrative does not confirm Venus' rumour about the men's adulterous intentions and enslavement to luxury and lust ; in fact, very much the opposite is evident, for the men wage a successful war and build ships to convey their spoils of Thracian flocks and women to Lemnos, then shout across the seas to their wives that they are bringing them slaves to ease their cares :

dux Lemni, puppes tenui contexere canna ausus et inducto cratem defendere tergo. laeta mari tum signa refer!, plenasque mouebant armentis nuribusque rates. et barbara uestis et torques insigne loci. sonat aequore clamor : "o patria, o uariis coniunx nunc anxia curis, has agimus longi famulas tibi praemia belli" (V.Fl. II, 108-114).

There is nothing specifically elsewhere in the text to dispute this, al­though Valerius inserts a passage during the banquet with the Argonauts (341ff.) that suggests the Lemnian women still believe the rumour of their husbands' adultery with the Thracian slaves: standing by at the banquet are Thracian women who are believed not to have consorted with the Lemnian men (343-345). By compelling Fama to spread the rumour that the men are bringing concubines back to Lemnos, Venus gives a false impression to the women of their husband's loyalty. Whereas in Valerius the loyalty of the Lemnian women to Vulcan is adduced as the reason for their failure to worship Venus (94-100), in the Thebaid the reason for their neglect is not mentioned.

Prior to the intervention of the supernatural powers in the Thebaid, the Lemnians are a wealthy and populous race (V, 54-60) (1). In revenge for the wives' neglect of her worship, Venus, assisted by the Furies and presence of Odia, Furor and Discordia, destroys hymeneal love (64-74).

(7) So too are the inhabitants of Argos before their supernaturally inspired war with Thebes (Th. I, 390-391, XI, 165).

RATIOETDEI 33

Venus then infects the men with martial zeal so that they prefer to attack and destroy the innocent inhabitants ofThrace (73ff., esp. 75-80; cf. 53-54, 170-176) rather than stay with their children and wives, whose sorrow over the men's absence is emphasised (77, 81-84).

In Apollodorus the women's murder of their husbands is portrayed as a natural reaction to the social dishonour incurred by their rejection (I, 9, 17). Like Apollodorus, Apollonius portrays Venus as the prime instigator of the human chain of events that leads to the women's murder of their husbands (I, 614ff.), but the massacre itself is explained in psychological terms as the natural consequence of the women's jealousy (616) : w /-)D.elal, (1]A.m6 r' emCJ/-)D)'epox; ax6p1JTOl. Apollonius goes one step further in emphasising the plausible psychological reaction of the wives. In order to ensure that the surviving males do not attempt to avenge the murders of their husbands when they grow to manhood, the women take the precaution of murdering them too :

OUT( ofov avv r[jazv toils lfppmaav axohas OpJj/ eVV[j, nav 6' apaev Oj).OV ytvos, Ws KeV onfaaw JJ.ftuva A.evyaJ.tow rp6vov rfaaav apmfifJv (Ap.Rh. I, 617-619).

In Valerius the women too are under the influence of Venus (II, 134, 174ff., 186ff., 196ff., 209ff.), but the poet stresses their duplicity in wel­coming and reclining beside their husbands at the banquet (187-195). In contrast to Apollonius and Valerius, in the Thebaid the psycho­logical motivation of the women in slaying their husbands is lacking, for there is no mention that the Lemnian men spurn their wives and return from Thrace with captive women as paramours. Indeed, there is barely a hint at human jealousy : in inciting the Lemnian women to murder their husbands, Venus merely suggests to them the possibility of adultery on the part of their husbands (Bistonides ueniunt fortasse maritae V, 142); furthermore, Hypsipyle alludes early in the episode to the supernatural disruption of the familial home (dis uisum turbare domos 57) and supernatural motivation of the massacre : ( o miserae, quibus hie furor additus I 33; cf. 30, 32-33) (8). The nefas that is

(8) D. W. T. VESSEY, Notes on the Hypsipyle Episode [n. 2], p. 45, and Statius and the Thebaid, Cambridge, 1973, p. 172, maintains that Statius blames the massacre on "furor - a coercive force, beyond human control". However, it is important to note that the higher powers, especially Venus and the Furies, are responsible for causing the massacre, since they infuse the Lemnian women with furor (e.g., Th. V, 158, 202-203) and release them from their control only when the grisly deed has been accomplished (302ff.).

34 W. J. DOMINIK

committed (32, 46) is something for which the women are to be pitied rather than condemned. It is the supernatural causation of the nefas (the massacre of the Lemnian men) rather than the culpa leading to it (the failure of the Lemnian women to honour Venus) (9) or the ratio (the psychological motive of jealousy) that is emphasised (IO).

An obvious but important difference between the various accounts of the massacre and background events is the length of each description. While Apollodorus merely mentions the wives' murder of their male relations, Apollonius makes only two brief references to the massacre (I, 609-610, 617-619). Valerius and Statius, on the other hand, trace the events leading up to the massacre (V.Fl. II, 115ff. ; St., Th. V, 90ff.) and develop the horrific and pathetic dimensions of the massacre in their graphic descriptions (V.Fl. II, 196-241 ; St., Th. V, 195-265). After Venus inspires Fama to spread the rumour of the men's adulterous motives in Valerius (II, 126-133), the goddess assumes the form of Dryope and strikes that woman's children headlong from her breasts, while inciting the women to violent intrigue against their husbands (174-185). Venus and her destructive agents Pauor, Discordia, Irae, Dolus, Rabies and Letum inspire terror in nature, the Lemnian wives and their suckling children (200-208). Furthermore, Venus fabricates the sounds of the dying men (209-210), holds up a grisly trophy of a severed Lemnian head for the women to see (211-213), drives the women with her lash into the marriage chambers (214-215), forces swords into the reluctant hands of the women (215), and compels them to slay their menfolk who are either unaware of their fate or are paralysed with fear at the sight of their wives, whose appearance she has made infernal (220-232). As blood flows through the chambers, the victims struggle vainly against the onslaught, their wounds boiling and smoking as if to reveal their infernal causation (233-235).

In Statius' adaptation the husbands are returning victorious from Thrace, still out of sight of Argos, when Venus exerts her demonic influence over the bacchantic Polyxo (V, 90ff.), whose effect upon the

(9) The culpa is not the women's attention to Polyxo, leading to their spurning ofpietas, as D. W. T. VEsSEY, Notes on the Hypsipyle Episode [n. 2], p. 45, asserts.

(10) Therefore it is misleading to assert, as D. W. T. VESSEY, Notes on the Hypsipyle Episode [n. 2], p. 46, does, that "without the action of Polyxo, there is no reason why the Lemnian men should not have returned to a renewed harmony with their wives".

RATIOETDEI 35

women is sudden and frenzied (99-102) (Il). Polyxo claims that the gods sanction the slaying of their husbands and urges them to harden themselves for the task :

rem summam instinctu superum meritique do/oris, o uiduae (ftrmate animas et pe!lite sexum !) Lemniades, sancire para (St., Th. V, 104-106).

The old woman then makes an appeal to the other women based on the unfairness of their plight and the suffering they have endured (I 05-108). She promises that the gods will assist her in providing new marriages if they slay their present husbands (109-110). Just as Polyxo attempts to incite the women to violence by promising to sacrifice her own children (123-129), the Lemnian fleet is seen approaching Argos (130-131 ; cf. 141-142). Polyxo exhorts the women again, claiming that the gods are leading the men to Argos to meet their deserved fates (132-134). It is not until this point of the narrative that the old woman names Venus as the motivator of her resolve and the guarantor of her earlier promise to provide other husbands for the women (134-140; cf. 109-110). Although irae (133) and an earlier reference to dolor (104) suggest a psychological motive on the part of the women (12), the ira itself is inspired by Venus (158) (13). Driven to a paroxysm of fury, the women sacrifice an innocent babe while taking a pledge to slay their husbands (143-169). The infernal deities bear witness to this gruesome slaying and unnatural pledge :

hie sanxerefidem, tu Martia testis Enyo atque iriferna Ceres, Stygiaeque Acheronte recluso ante preces uenere deae ; sed fa !lit ubi que mixta Venus, Venus arma tenet, Venus admouet iras

(St., Th. V, 155-158).

(11) F. DELARUE, La haine de Venus in Latomus 29, 1970, p. 444, aptly describes Po1yxo as an "agent provocateur" in the service of Venus.

(12) Cf. P. VENIN!, Furor e psicologia nella Tebaide di Stazio in Athenaeum 42, 1964, p. 203-204.

(13) The maddening of Po1yxo is the first step in Venus' scheme to punish the Lemnian women for their lack of religious piety, just as the madness of Oedipus is utilised by Jupiter to put his plan into action of punishing the royal houses of Thebes and Argos. Contra D. W. T. VESSEY, Notes on the Hypsipyle Episode [n. 2], p. 45, who misrepresents the situation in asserting that it is "Polyxo who brings ruin on the Lemnian women".

36 W. J. DOMINIK

Especially effective is the gruesome description of the slaying and Hypsipyle's reaction (159-165), which arouses pathos for the defenceless victim and horror at the deed.

Upon their return to Lemnos the men disembark with considerable haste and eagerness - the men's former rejection of their wives seems forgotten here ( cf. 64-80) - and make the offerings promised to the gods for their safe return (170-175). The enthusiastic manner of their arrival, the dutiful sacrifices they present to the gods, and the celebrations that follow are replete with tragic irony : despite the unfavourable haruspices (175-176), the husbands are ignorant of the fate that awaits them (14). As in Valerius, the Lemnian wives recline with their husbands at the banquet table, each woman in her finest garment (190-192), but Statius plays down the duplicity and jealousy of the Lemnian wives in comparison with the versions of Apollonius (I, 616) and Valerius (II, 187-195). The irony of the men's situation is more forcefully presented in the Thebaid, as Venus provides a brief moment of happiness and infuses them with a passion for their wives (V, 192-194). Focusing on the details of individual slayings for ironic or pathetic effect, Statius emphasises the causative role of Venus, the horror of the massacre and the pathos of the victims more heavily than Valerius (15). Details of total desolation and bizarre morbidity predominate. Somnus selects the victims (16) (197-200) and the Furies sharpen the weapons of the women (201). Whereas Valerius describes the general scene of devastation (II, 220ff.), Statius cites the names of specific women and their victims (V, 215ff.) ('1).

(14) The Lemnian husbands' ignorance parallels the tragic ignorance of Adrastus, who fatally misinterprets the significance of Tydeus and Polynices' arrival in Argos (cf. Th. I, 493ff.). Furthermore, the incongruity between the positive expectations of the Lemnian men and the grim reality that awaits them parallels the discrepancy between the pleasant thoughts of the Argives about their impending arrival at Thebes (note especially the avian simile in V, 11-16) and the harsh circumstances that confront them once they reach the city. The forbidding thick fog and dark night that descends upon Lemnos prior to the massacre of the husbands (183-185) parallels the pitchy darkness that conceals the earth just prior to the duel between Polynices and Eteocles (XI, 130-133) ; in both instances the darkness foreshadows the perpetration of an offence that is morally corrupt.

(15) The massacre of the male population of Lemnos specifically anticipates the murder of the sleeping Thebans (Th. X, 262-346) and parallels generally the horrible death and destruction that are to afflict the Argives and Thebans.

(16) Somnus also does this during the massacre of the Thebans (Th. X, 156ff.). ( 17) Thus Venus is depicted as being responsible for two of the most gruesome divine

interventions in the Thebaid: the instigation of the Lemnian women's human sacrifice

RATIOETDEI 37

Vessey suggests that the Lemnian women fall into sin when they accept Polyxo's advice to slay their husbands (18), whereas their culpa lies primarily in neglecting to worship Venus in the first instance, as Hypsipyle suggests (V, 57-59) (19). However, Statius does not lay stress on the element of human guilt in the Thebaid. The women whom the supernatural powers infuse with destructive emotions and a desire for vengeance are to be pitied no less than are their innocent and helpless victims. Schetter asserts that the driving force behind the arousal of the Lemnian women by Polyxo to murder their husbands is nothing else but the fury caused by unfulfilled amorous desires ; he further suggests that the presence later of the Argonauts in Lemnos ameliorates the condition of the women, but that it is only a temporary relief since, like the Lemnian men, the Argonauts depart from the island ; in this way Statius creates an erotic theme common to both episodes that gives an inner unity between the two scenes (2°). However, there is a danger in carrying the sexual implications of the episode too far. This is evident in some of the arguments of Vessey, who follows Schetter in maintaining that the cause of the women's madness is sexual (21). Vessey posits neatly but unnecessarily that Hypsipyle re­mains unaffected by the sexual impulse that had incited Polyxo and the other women to madness because she is still a virgin (22); however, it is the psychological strength and moral superiority of Hypsipyle that prevents her from being infected with the madness that strikes the other women, not the fact that she is a virgin. Vessey's claim that Venus is merely a personification of Polyxo's frustrated lusts (23) is incompatible

(V, 157-165) and (with the assistance of the Furies) the women's massacre of their husbands (190-240; cf. 85-169). The massacre scene is perhaps surpassed in horror only by the nocturnal massacre of the sleeping The bans (X, 271-323), which it resembles especially in the admixture of blood and wine that floods the scene (V, 255-257 ; cf. X, 311-313, esp. 312-313).

(18) Cf. above, n. 9. (19) The offences of the Lemnian women have much in common with those of

the Argives and Thebans, since they set the events in motion that lead eventually to the deaths of many innocent victims. The Lemnians are more guilty than the majority of Argives and Thebans, since as a group they are responsible for incurring the wrath of Venus through their neglect of her worship.

(20) W. ScHETTER, Untersuchungen zur epischen Kunst des Statius, Wiesbaden, 1960, p. 55.

(21) D. W. T. VEsSEY, Statius and the Thebaid[n. 8], p. 179. (22) D. W. T. VESSEY, Statius and the Thebaid [n. 8], p. 181. (23) D. W. T. VESSEY, Statius and the Thebaid [n. 8], p. 181.

38 W. J. DOMINIK

with the goddess' action of destroying sexual love between the Lemnian women and their husbands (64-74).

In the narrative of Hypsipyle the Lemnian women are completely under the influence of Venus and the Furies when they slaughter their husbands and later are compelled by Venus and Amor to fall in love with the Argonauts. The imposition of divine will upon the helpless women leaves them no chance of exercising their own will. Hypsipyle is the sole figure to remain unaffected by the destructive influence of the gods, yet she suffers no less than the other women. The pathetic description of the Lemnian massacre (195-261) bears testimony to the malevolence and injustice of Venus, since the severe penalty she imposes upon the women seems entirely out of proportion to the magnitude of their offence. Her plan to exact retribution sets family members against one another and involves the guiltless in its fulfilment (24).

Apollonius relates briefly how Hypsipyle spares Thoas, her father and former king of Lemnos, by setting him adrift in a sea-borne chest (I, 620-623). In the account of Valerius, Hypsipyle reveals the nobility and moral superiority of her character in the midst of the carnage when she preserves the life of her father. Hypsipyle is described as decus et patriae laus (II, 243), yet she accepts collective responsibility for the murders and suggests that Venus has had some psychological effect upon her :

"fuge protinus urbem meque, pater ; non hostis", ait "non moenia laesi Thraces habent; nostrum hoc facinus; ne quaere, quis auctor. iam fuge, iam dubiae donum rape mentis et ensem tu pot ius, mise1-ere, tene" (V.Fl. II, 249-253).

Refusing to succumb to the power of Venus, she hides Thoas in a shrine of Bacchus (253-259), disguises him as a statue of Bacchus, which she removes the next morning from the shrine ostensibly to purify after the massacre, then conceals him in a forest (261-280); fearful of Thoas being discovered and of the Fury who has been cheated of a victim, she eventually finds an oarless ship on which her father makes his escape from the island (280-302).

(24) Just as Venus and the Furies are responsible for inciting the women to commit their murderous deed (Th. V, 195-240; cf. 85-169, esp. 157-158), so Pluto and the Furies are the prime movers of the duel that takes place between Eteocles and Polynices (VIII, 69-71 ; cf. XI, 150-154, 197-204, 208-209, 383-392, 403-406, 482-495).

RATIOETDEI 39

The story surrounding Thoas' escape in Valerius - the account appears to be original lacks credibility in the eyes of Vessey, who maintains that Hypsipyle and Thoas could not have failed to have been recognised beneath their disguises (25). This seems to me a frivolous argument, since there are numerous scenes in any epic that require the willing (and sometimes extraordinary) suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader (or auditor). The only assistance that Bacchus provides during the escape of Thoas is to render Hypsipyle uerenda (277) as she spirits her father out of the city (277-278). The point is that Valerius plays down the role of the supernatural and opts instead for a purely human response based on the principle of pietas.

Bacchus plays a much larger role in Statius' version of events on Lemnos than in Valerius' Argonautica, thus emphasising the increased role of the supernatural in the Thebaid. In the Thebaid Hypsipyle rescues Thoas with the assistance of Bacchus (V, 240ff.), who appears to them as they are fleeing the city (265ff.). Statius continues to stress the causative role of Venus by having Bacchus attribute the blame for the massacre to her (280-283). Bacchus leads Hypsipyle and her father away from the gate, where Venus is inciting the women to murder, to a ship just off shore where the father embarks (277-289) (26).

Hypsipyle's act of devotion and subsequent anxiety over the fate of Thoas (289-295) stands in marked contrast to the treacherous behaviour and emotions of the other women, whose psychological submission to Venus and the Furies is a symbolic manifestation of man's proclivity to furor and violence under the influence of hostile supernatural forces. In fact, the content of the entire episode is carefully arranged for maximum effect around the pietas of Hypsipyle; her heroic action of rescuing her father from the frenzied Lemnian women is the focus of the episode, whose structure illustrates the vicissitudes of fortune experienced by the Lemnians for their failure to worship Venus (27).

Hypsipyle returns to Lemnos to find the women remorseful and distraught over the murder of their husbands :

(25) D. W. T. VEsSEY, Lemnos Revisited: Some Aspects of Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica !!.77-305 in CJ 80, 1985, p. 337.

(26) The story of Thoas' escape from Lemnos inevitably recalls Aeneas' rescue of Anchises from the flames of Troy (Aen. II, 705ff.). Cf. B. DEIPSER, De P. Papinio Statio Vergilii et Ovidii imitatore, diss. Strasburg, 1881, p. 41-42; D. W. T. VESSEY,

Notes on the Hypsipyle Episode [n. 2], p. 47, Statius and the Thebaid [n. 8], p. 176. (27) See W. J. DoMINIK, The Mythic Voice of the Poet: Power and Politics in

the Thebaid, Leiden, 1994, p. 54-55.

40 W. J. DOMINIK

iam manus Eumenidum captasque refugerat arces exaturata Venus ; licuit sentire quid ausae, et turbare comas et lumina tingerefletu (St., Th. V, 302-304).

These lines reveal that the infection of the women by Venus and the Furies had rendered the women oblivious of their actions (28). As the women come to regret their actions, Hypsipyle counts the devastating agricultural, economic, military, maritime and social costs (305-312). Fearful that the rescue of her father will be detected, Hypsipyle lights a funeral pyre and manages to maintain a credible pretence of grief and mourning (313-318).

After Hypsipyle returns to the city from the forest where she has hidden her father in Valerius' Argonautica, there is no immediate indication that the women regret the massacre. Hypsipyle is troubled by fear and refrains from joining the women in their ritual dancing (II, 280-283), but she is not depicted feigning the loss of her father. Instead the poet shows her assisting her father to escape from Lemnos (285-302) and the women assembling, establishing new laws, and appointing Hypsipyle as their queen (306-310). Immediately afterward the women face the problem of what to do about the Argonauts, who are spotted approaching the island (31lff.). The women do not regret the massacre until they experience for a second time the desertion of their homes and the loss of partners with which to regenerate their race (393-395). There is a rational explanation for their sense of loss, whereas in the Thebaid the absence of psychological control by Venus and the Furies over the women is the major factor in the women's feelings of remorse (cf. V, 302-304).

In the Flavian adaptations of the episode Hypsipyle becomes queen after the slaughter. Whereas Valerius describes Hypsipyle being given the throne because she deserves it and as a reward for her pious conduct (II, 309-310), Statius has Hypsipyle describe how she was pressured against her wishes to succeed to the throne as a result of her ruse (V, 319-322). She suffers from doubt and the fear of her father's rescue being discovered no less than the women suffer from the knowledge of their murderous deeds. As time passes the Lemnian women regret

(28) The release of the women from their grip parallels the Furies' psychological control over (e.g., Th. I, 51-52, 60-74; II, 7-10; VII, 466-469; XI, 491-492, 617-619) and setting free of Oedipus (XI, 599ff., esp. 617-621). Like Oedipus, the women regret their actions.

RATIOETDEI 41

the massacre and mourn their losses more than ever (326ff.). Polyxo, who urged them under the influence of Venus (90ff., esp. 102ff., 134ff.), becomes hateful to them (327). Freed from the psychological grip of Venus and the Furies, the Lemnian women become aware of the enormity of their crimes and the seriousness of their plight. There is a conspicuous absence of gain or benefit to the women after the massacre ; in fact, the loss of their husbands leaves them destitute, powerless and open to invasion (305-312) (29).

The Visit of the Argonauts (Ap.Rh. L 633-909; V.Fl. IL 311-427; St., Th. V, 335-467) (3°)

Apollonius mentions a period of one year between the massacre and the arrival of the Argonauts (I, 610). During this time the Lemnian women find their tasks of herding the cattle, donning armour and ploughing the fields easier than their former domestic responsibilities (627-630), while they often gaze across the sea in grievous fear of a Thracian attack :

a.A).a yap ef1mJc; 'l Bajla Jr, nanmlVOV en! n.Aaruv Ofljlam n6vrov &ijlan AEflya.Atcp, bn6re BpftlKEc; lamv (Ap.Rh. I, 630-632).

The significant point here in psychological terms is that the Lemnian women are full of fear despite the ease with which they adapt to a life of the plough and sword. In Valerius some time evidently passes, since Hypsipyle is troubled by fear nocte dieque (II, 281) and must move Thoas twice to safety before he is able to embark (253ff., 300ff.) ; events then proceed quickly, for the women barely assume their former husband's legal and political roles before they notice the approach of the Argonauts (II, 309ff.). In the Thebaid the period between the massacre and the Argonauts' arrival seems even shorter than in Valerius since no indication of time is given, Hypsipyle needs to move Thoas only once before he flees the island (V, 248ff.), and there are only

(29) The situation is depicted in terms paralleling the consequences of the fratricide, where nothing positive emerges immediately from the deaths of Polynices and Eteocles and where the deaths of the Argive heroes leave the survivors in Argos especially vulnerable to an Athenian attack (cf. Th. XII, 720-729).

(30) See also 0RPH., A. 473ff. ; SCH. HoM., fl. VII, 468 ; Hvo., Fab. 15 ; A NAUCK (ed.), 1l·agicorum Graecorum fragmenta, Berlin, 1855, p. 79, 215ff. ; A. C. PEARSON (ed.), The Fragments of Sophocles, II, Cambridge, 1917, p. 51ff.

42 W. J. DOMINIK

brief descriptions of mourning (313-319, 326-334) and political transition (320-325). The effect of this quick transition from the massacre to the arrival of the Argonauts in the Thebaid is to stress the unremitting and ubiquitous nature of supernatural hostility and human suffering.

Apollonius (I, 633ff.) and Statius (V, 335ff., esp. 347-348) relate that when the Lemnian women see the Argo approaching their isle, they think it is a marauding enemy ship from Thrace. In Apollonius the women, already fearful (I, 632), act irrationally and incompetently. They throw on (what presumably is) their slain husbands' armour (31) and are described as sprinting to the shore from the gates of Myrine to repel the threatened invasion in the manner of ravening Thyiads (32) :

a(n:iTw nacJ(Jvofn nvA.iwv iflcroaBs MvpfviJr; oftza Te6xea OVCJal tr; alyza.Abv npoxiovw, evuimv Wf.lofJ6pmr; !ke.Aar rpav yap nov fl(avnv Bpftuwr;· ft o' a11a rfjm Boavuar; 'Y1fm6.Ana ovv' tv! re6xwz narp6r; (Ap.Rh. I, 634-638).

However, once on shore they lose their power of speech on account of their fear and anxiety :

6f.l1Jxavfn o' txiovro arpBoyyor TOlOV arpzv tnl oior; t/Wpeho (Ap.Rh. I, 638-639).

According to the Apollonian scholiast (L I, 769-773), the Argonauts in Aeschylus' Hypsipyle take refuge from a storm in Lemnos, but are prevented from disembarking until they agree to have sexual inter­course with the Lemnian women, while in Sophocles' Lemniai the Argonauts engage in a violent battle with the women. The situation in the Thebaid, on the other hand, seems comically pathetic and tragically reminiscent (33), since Pallas blushes and Mars laughs at the sight of the inept women who, after fleeing to their homes in confusion (V, 347-348), don their ill-fitting husband's arms and carry swords stained with the blood of the Lemnian males (352-356). In Valerius' adaptation there is no battle scene : the goddess incites the women

(31) Certainly Hypsipyle dons her father's armour (Ap.Rh. I, 637-638), although whose armour the other women wear - whether their own or their husbands' -is not specifically mentioned (634-635).

(32) The parallel of the women's behaviour with that of Euripides' Bacchants (see Bacch. 138-139, I 125ff.) is commented upon by the Apollonian scholiast (E I, 636a).

(33) The situation is not just "essentially comic", as E. S. PHINNEY, Apollonius Rhodius, diss. California, 1963, p. 60, n. 4, remarks.

RATIOETDEI 43

to anger so that they are eager to take up arms against the perceived foe, but Vulcan quells the furor improbus (II, 314) of the women and the saeuas iras (315) of the goddess (313-315). Polyxo, who as the aged wife of Charops in the Thebaid (V, 159) whips the women into a frenzy against their husbands at the instigation of Venus (90ff., esp. 102ff., 134ff.), assists in Valerius as a priestess of Apollo (II, 316) by urging the women to welcome the crew of the ship (322-325). Apol­lonius' Polyxo, the elderly nurse of Hypsipy1e (1, 668-669), responds by urging the assembly to offer themselves to the Argonauts in order to provide protection for the city and to ensure the survival of their race (667-696). Valerius' Polyxo is more direct in her advice: she urges the women to mate with the newcomers while they are still young enough to bear children (II, 324-325); she declares that Venus supports the union (324), whereas only a few lines earlier the narrative shows the goddess attempting to incite the women to a savage rage (313-315). Both Apollonius (1, 697ff.) and Valerius (II, 326) show the women to be pleased with Polyxo's advice.

In the Thebaid the Argonauts are able to land only after surviving a severe storm sent by Jupiter and overcoming the feeble resistance of the women (V, 335ff.), who have been left defenceless after murdering their husbands. This storm scene portends the continuing misfortunes of the Lemnian women, who must endure their infection with love for the Argonauts by Venus (34). Vessey argues plausibly that the storm corresponds to the fury of the women; however, he asserts that the storm ends when the furor of the women subsides (397) (35), whereas their furor abates and they become cognizant of their murderous deeds after the Furies and Venus depart from Lemnos in 302-303 (cf. 303-334, esp. 303-304, 326-329). With the assistance of the storm, the women manage to damage the Argo and for a while keep the semidei heroes (373) from landing (372ff.). The resolve of the women weakens, how-

(34) The storm scene evokes reminiscence of the tempest that assails Polynices and Tydeus on their way to Argos. Both storms serve as harbingers of tragic or disastrous events. Just as the storm that assails Polynices and Tydeus (Th. I, 342ff. ; cf. 403ff.) fore­bodes human violence in the form of their confrontation (408ff.) and the outbreak of war (VII, 628ff.), this storm scene portends the continuing misfortunes of the Lemnian women, who must endure their infection with love for the Argonauts by Venus.

(35) D. W. T. VEssEY, Notes on the Hypsipyle Episode [n. 2], p. 48, Statius and the Thebaid[n. 8], p. 177, 183.

44 W. J. DOMINIK

ever, when they spot the huge forms of the Argonauts in the lightning caused by Jupiter (394-397); this weakening of resolve resembles the helplessness and fear experienced by the women in Apollonius after they rush to the shore to defend their island (I, 638-639). In the Thebaid Jason eventually offers a truce to which the Lemnians agree, whereupon the storm subsides (V, 416-421).

Apollonius (I, 702-707) and Valerius (II, 325-326) describe how Hypsipyle sends her herald Iphinoe to give a message of welcome to Jason. In Apollonius Jason, after donning a fantastic cloak whose scenes illustrate techniques that will become important elements of the Argonauts' voyage (36), alone proceeds to the city to converse with Hypsipyle (I, 719ff.). Hypsipyle explains to Jason how Venus caused the husbands to develop a passion for their Thracian captives and to neglect their wives (798-806) (37) ; while this is true, she fabricates the story that in response to their poor treatment they finally drove their husbands out of Lemnos to Thrace (807ff., esp. 820-826; cf. 794-796). At the beginning of the Lemnian episode Apollonius narrates only the bare outline of the massacre scene (717 -719) and focuses instead on events leading up to and including the copulation of the Argonauts and Lemnian women. Consistent with her purpose of encouraging the Argonauts to remain and mate with the companionless women, Hypsipyle relates only the inoffensive truths of the episode and omits entirely any reference to the massacre. Apollonius describes how Venus infuses the women with a desire for sexual intercourse with the Argonauts (850-851) (38). There is an apparent reconciliation here between Hephaestus and Venus, since the goddess does this for the sake of her husband so that Lemnos can be inhabited by men again

(36) On the cloak ekphrasis, see G. LAWALL, Apollonius' Argonautica : Jason as Anti-Hero in YCS 19, 1966, p. 121-169; D. N. LEVIN, LlmJca¢ noprpvpb7 in RFIC 98, 1970, p. 12-36 ; H. A. SHAPIRO, Jason's Cloak in TAPA 110, 1980, p. 263-286; C. U. MERRIAM, An Examination of Jason's Cloak (Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.730-68) in Scholia 2, 1993, p. 69-80.

(37) According to the scholiast (2: 803b), Apollonius in an earlier edition (npoeTa56cJ11;) composed four different lines for 801-804, which refer to a madness that fell among the Lemnians either from a god or from their own foolishness ; if these lines in fact were written first, then it appears that Apollonius chose in his revised version to emphasise more directly the motivating role of Venus in the disaster that afflicts Lemnos.

(38) Apollonius does not actually describe this coupling, but passages from Homer (II. VII, 467-469), Herodorus (ScH. AP.RH. I, 769-773) and Pindar (Pyth. IV, 251-254) refer to it.

RATIOETDEI 45

(851-852) (39). Appropriately the scene, as Lawall observes, is replete with sexual images of ploughing, sowing and double gates (40).

While Jason travels to Myrine alone to speak with Hypsipyle in Apollonius (I, 774ff.), in Valerius the Argonauts journey to the city after Venus banishes any fear they might have of the island as a result of the women's crime and its traces (II, 327ff.). While Apollonius merely remarks that the departure of the Argonauts was delayed from one day to another until Herakles finally reproaches them (1, 861ff.), Valerius mentions that Jupiter granted the Argonauts a period of respite in Lemnos by raising a storm to detain them on the island (II, 356ff.); this is in contrast to the storm in the Thebaid, which prevents the Argonauts from landing on Lemnos (V, 362ff.) and seems intended to demonstrate the violent power of Jupiter. Valerius describes the storm during which Tiphys, portrayed earlier as the skilful and sensible helmsman of the Argo (II, 48ff.), observes the moon and determines that the weather is unsuitable for sailing (367-369). The enforced delay provides the Argonauts with an opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of sexual intercourse with the women and subsequently they become disinterested in continuing their divinely sanctioned quest (369-373).

In the Thebaid the Argonauts present an imposing sight as they disembark (V, 422ff.). Whereas in Apollonius (I, 675-696) and Valerius (II, 322-325) Polyxo urges the Lemnian women to bed with the Argonauts, in the Thebaid the Lemnian women are induced by Venus, Amor and Juno to fall in love with the heroes (V, 445-449). As in Apollonius (1, 850) and Valerius (II, 322-325), there is the suggestion that this union is sanctioned by the gods (Th. V, 452). As in Valerius, there is no reconciliation between Venus and Hephaestus that in Apollonius prompts the goddess to instil a sexual desire in the women for procreative purposes (Ap.Rh. I, 850-852). The absence of such a reconciliation suggests in the Flavian versions more sinister motives for the divine infusion of sexual amor. In Valerius' account Vulcan must subdue the fury that Venus inspires in the Lemnian women against the Argonauts (II, 313-315), even though moments later she seems

(39) This reconciliation and the sexual union between the Lemnians and Argonauts foreshadows the reconciliation between the Argonauts and the gods at the end of the Argonautika.

(40) G. LAWALL, Apollonius' Argonautica: Jason as Anti-Hero in YCS 19, 1966, p. 150.

46 W. J. DOMINIK

actually to promote the union (324-325, 327-328). The lack of any interaction between Venus and Vulcan in the Thebaid allows Statius to stress the purely malevolent aspects of Venus' intervention during the visit of the Argonauts ; thus the Argonautic episode at its close comes to serve as yet another example of human suffering caused by her in collaboration with other supernatural powers. Mter celebrating the arrival of the Argonauts, the women achieve a brief measure of happiness, eventually bearing children by their new husbands (Th. V, 445ff.); the celebrations are nevertheless proven to be ironic (cf. 468ff., esp. 479-485), as are those that take place after the return of the Lemnian men from Thrace (186ff.; cf. 200ff.). The sole woman not to achieve any happiness is Hypsipyle, who describes herself as the unwilling consort of Jason (453-457; cf. 403, esp. 461-464) and bears him twin sons (463-465). The attempt of Venus to move the Lemnian women to fall in love with the Argonauts leaves Hypsipyle unaffected (454ff.), just as the earlier attempt of the goddess to incite the women to violence against the Lemnian men does not affect the pious queen (236ff.).

This psychological control of the women in the Thebaid is also stressed in the refusal of Hypsipyle to submit to the psychological on­slaught of Venus and the Furies: not only does she rescue her father from the maddened women (V, 240ff.), but she remains unaffected by Venus' attempt to move the Lemnian women to fall in love with the Argonauts. In Apollonius (I, 609ff.) and Valerius (II, 353-356) she be­comes enamoured of Jason. This is consistent with Apollonius' and Valerius' preoccupation in the Lemnian episode with the sexual edu­cation of a previously inexperienced Jason and their portrayal of the affair as an initiation in the power and efficacy of sexual love, for in their accounts Jason has not yet developed into the sexually mature hero who exploits his sexual relationship with Medea at Colchis to achieve his aims. Statius, on the other hand, avoids the romantic element altogether by portraying Hyspipyle as the unwilling consort of Jason (Th. V, 453ff.). Hypsipyle's refusal in the Thebaid to submit to the erotic and baser passions inspired by Venus and the Furies demonstrates the nobility of her character and shows that she is morally superior to the other Lemnian women. An additional effect of this departure from the stories of Apollonius and Valerius is to emphasise the tragic circumstances of Hypsipyle and her continued suffering ~t the hands of more powerful forces. She cuts a superior figure to Apollonius'

RATIOETDEI 47

Hypsipyle, who lies in order to establish a sexual relationship with Jason (1, 795-797, 820-826) ; nor does she allow herself to yield willingly to Jason as does Valerius' Hypsipyle, who is captivated by the hero and hangs upon his words (II, 351-356) much as Dido hangs upon the words of Aeneas in Vergil's Aeneid (I, 748ff.).

Departure of the Argonauts (Ap.Rh. L 910-914; V.Fl. IL 428-431; St., Th. V, 468-498)

According to Apollonius, Herakles, who had stayed behind on the Argo, finally confronts his shipmates and shames them back to their quest (I, 862ff.). Although the Lemnian women lament the impending departure of the Argonauts, there is no bitterness evident (877ff.). Jason's affair with Hypsipyle and his departure from Lemnos is a brief precursor of his later relationship with Medea, whom he forsakes after achieving his objective with her assistance. In contrast to Medea, however, Hypsipyle seems resigned to the separation and she and Jason part on amicable terms ( cf. 886-909). Both have benefited from what can be described as a relationship of convenience: Hypsipyle has been able to assist in repopulating Lemnos (although at the time of his departure it is not clear if she is to bear his child ; cf. 898, 905), while Jason has learned the power of love.

The reaction of the women in Valerius is much more violent than in Apollonius : they experience a double sense of loss and desolation since their desertion by the Argonauts reminds them of their murderous role in the loss of their husbands (II, 396-399). Valerius concentrates on the reaction of Hypsipyle, who accuses Jason of departing at the first sign of favourable sailing weather ( 403-405). She charges that matters would have been no different if Jason had landed in Thrace :

sic portus fugeret ratis, aspera si te Plias in aduersae tenuisset litore Thraces (V.Fl. II, 405-406).

The specific reference to Thrace recalls the Lemnian men's rumoured adultery with the female slaves brought back from that region ( cf. 131ff.) and suggests that Hypsipyle is none the wiser about Venus' deception. Unlike Apollonius' Hypsipyle, though, she at least knows that she carries a child by Jason (cf. 424). In Apollonius' version Jason dons a cloak before he proceeds to Myrine to meet Hypsipyle (I, 719ff.), whereas in Valerius the queen presents Jason with a tunic just prior to his departure from Lemnos (II, 408ff.) ; however, like the cloak,

48 W. J. DOMINIK

the tunic has prefigurative significance, for the depiction of the Jupiter­Ganymede myth anticipates the important role of the Hercules-Hylas relationship (III, 485ff.).

In the Thebaid the Argonauts resolve to leave Lemnos after staying one year on the island (V. 471ff. ; cf. 459-460). As in Valerius (II, 396-399), the Lemnian women's loss of their Argonautic husbands recalls the loss of their former spouses (Th. V, 478). After the Argonauts depart, the women gaze forlornly across an empty sea (481-485) just as they did when their former husbands left them (84). Hypsipyle is the sole woman not to regret the departure of the Argonauts ; indeed, she expresses the wish that they had never visited Lemnos and denounces Jason for his disloyalty (472-474). Although the other women oppose the parting out of a supernaturally motivated love for their new husbands (cf. 445-452), there is no indication that the Argonauts want to remain on Lemnos.

According to Apollodorus, after the Argonauts depart, the women learn that Thoas had been rescued, whereupon they put him to death and sell Hypsipyle into slavery (III, 6, 4). Hyginus records that when the women discover that Hypsipyle had rescued her father, they attempt to kill her, whereupon she flees Lemnos; pirates subsequently capture her, take her to Thebes, and sell her as a slave to King Lycurgus (15) (41). After the departure of the Argonauts in the Thebaid, the Lemnian women hear a rum our that Tho as has escaped and reigns in Chios, as a consequence of which Hypsipyle is compelled to flee in order to escape being punished for her devotion to her father (V, 488-496, esp. 493-494). She is captured by pirates and brought to Achaea as a slave (497-498). These details are absent from the accounts of Apollonius and Valerius. Statius adopts the same account that Hyginus (15) does of her capture by pirates to stress further the tragic circumstances, undeserved suffering and unrewarded pietas of Hypsipyle.

The action of Bacchus in providing Hypsipyle with assistance in the rescue of his son Thoas (Th. V, 265:ff.) and the eventual restoration of Hypsipyle's sons to her twenty years later (712ff. ; cf. 463-467, esp. 466) can be explained in terms of his resolve to safeguard one of his favourite cities (cf. IV, 67-79; VII, 155-192) (42). In the case of

(41) Lycurgus is mistakenly called "Lycus" by Hyginus. (42) Bacchus also attempts to safeguard Thebes when he conspires with the semi­

divine water nymphs to effect the drought that leads to much hardship for the Argives (Th. IV, 684ff.; cf. IV, 67-79; VII, 155-192).

RATIOETDEI 49

Hypsipyle, the vagaries of divine support are especially evident, as the Fates and Jupiter do not permit Bacchus to keep her city powerful (V, 271-274); instead Jupiter grants Venus the infandum honorem (277) of destroying the Lemnians. Although Bacchus saves Thoas and restores Hypsipyle to her sons, Bacchus does not intervene to save the former queen from a band of pirates and slavery (496-498) (43). The effect in Statius' Lemnian episode of Bacchus' role, which is greater than in the account of Valerius, is to stress the unreliability and limited nature of divine patronage (44).

A comparison between the Apollonian and Flavian accounts of the Lemnian episode reveals that there are a number of important differences in theme, narrative stance, emphasis and length. Despite these differences, all three accounts connect with other sections of the texts through the paralleling of episodes, foreshadowing of events, evocation of reminiscences, and repetition of motifs in such a way as to underscore and elaborate upon the important issues of the epics. Apollonius' version stresses the pleasures and utilitarian advantages of love and specifically the sexual initiation and experience of Jason. Valerius follows Apollonius in ascribing human motives on a psycho­logical level for the conduct of the Lemnian women. Valerius' emphasis on psychological and rational factors is consistent with the themes of his epic involving the efficacy and importance of love, the necessity of human responsibility and heroic commitment, and the futility of war and violence. Statius attributes the actions of the Lemnian women to Venus, the Furies, Juno and Amor and therefore reduces the psycho­logical factors accounting for the women's actions in comparison with the versions of Apollonius and Valerius. His adaptation emphasises

(43) Bacchus demonstrates a similar lack of concern for another of his favourites, the frail priest Eunaeus, whom he abandons callously after propelling him into the fray to meet a certain death at the hands of the gigantesque Capaneus (Th. VII, 662ff. ; cf. 649-651 ).

(44) As Hypsipy1e relates her lengthy tale to the Argives, a further act of divine cruelty is perpetrated when the gods compel the exile to forget her charge Opheltes (Th. V, 499-501, esp. 501), whereupon he is struck down by a favourite serpent of Jupiter (505-540). Hypsipyle understands that the death of Opheltes is compensation for the victim that she denied Venus by saving her husband Thoas (exsolui tibi, Lemne, nefas 628). Eurydice, Opheltes' mother, is unaware that the gods have caused Hypsipy1e to neglect Opheltes, although she does comprehend that her son is a surrogate victim for Thoas (149ff.).

50 W. J. DOMINIK

the cruelty and injustice of the higher powers, the vagaries of divine patronage, human limitation and suffering in the face of pervasive supernatural hostility, and the ephemerality of human prosperity and happiness (45).

University of Natal, Durban, and University of Leeds.

William J. DoMINIK.

(45) An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the Pacific Rim Roman Seminar on "The World of Domitian" held at Cornell University, June 1993. I wish to thank Stephen Newmyer (Duquesne University) and Steven Jackson (University of Natal, Durban) for their comments during the preparation of this chapter.