SOURCE: "Love, Fate, and Deceit: Some Principal Themes in the Argonautica," in Unity and Coherence: Studies in Apollonius Rhodius's "Argonautica" and the Alexandrian Epic Tradition, Lund University Press, 1992, pp. 1-21.

[In the excerpt below, Nyberg replies to the criticism that the Argonautica lacks narrative unity, arguing that the poem's unity is found in its themes and imagery.]

1 Unity and coherence

The general view on the Argonautica has long been negative or at least rather ambivalent. As Levin has observed, there has been a tendency

to approach the Argonautica in connection with studies whose primary focus, if not bias as well, is directed towards some predecessor, successor or contemporary rather than Apollonius himself.¹

The outcome of such comparative studies has not been in Apollonius' favour as he is invariably considered inferior to his predecessors (Homer) or followers (Vergil, Valerius Flaccus). Some episodes, especially in the third book, are admitted to have been handled with great poetical skill but the general conclusion seems to have been that Apollonius lacks the creative power to give his poems a narrative unity.² Also in some recent handbooks Argonautica is treated rather harshly. Trypanis, for example, finds fault with the professed lack of unity in the epic—'about three quarters of the Argonautica is pure chronicle', and with its cumbrous lore. He echoes Körte's opinion, bringing forward Apollonius' 'cooly' superior attitude to the old heroic myth:

He offers his readers no new way of life and makes it abundantly clear that his attitude to the old heroic myths is one of cooly critical superiority. Without wholehearted credulous admiration of the great past heroic epic can hardly be written.³

It is, however, as many later interpreters have noticed, rather doubtful whether Argonautica really ought to be characterized as heroic in the proper sense of the word. Hainsworth remarks that it is the first epic in which, in spite of it being set in the heroic age, the heroic element is played down. Instead, the poet focuses on the romantic, religious and philosophical elements.⁴ Another scholar seems to consider the term 'anti-epic' more adequate, the poem being a deliberate perversion of the Homeric model, formally of course but also in its view of life, in its representation of fundamental aspects of human existence.⁵

Deciding the genre appears to be of vital importance when trying to assess the poetic value of Apollonius' poem and the (poetic) truth of his vision of human existence.

Hirsh claims, for example, that all real understanding of a text is closely related to the question of genre and that divergences concerning the interpretation of a text are often due to different opinions in this matter. The genre of a poem is not only essential for interpreting the poem in an adequate way, it also influences the organization of the text into a meaningful pattern whose parts are interrelated with each other and interact with each other. Thus the significance of the parts is derived from other textual elements and from the work as a whole. The use of a specific genre has been called a literary strategy which makes it possible to create a meaningful interplay between the parts and the whole, the whole and the parts, of a literary work.⁶

Hirsch stresses the importance of the 'archetexte'.⁷ The reader's generic expectations are constitutive to everything he subsequently understands'; as the reading proceeds this is either corroborated or falsified. If these expectations are inadequate, the understanding of the text will subsequently be distorted. The Argonautica seems to have often given rise to such misreadings: The prooemion indicates that the poem will be a traditional heroic epic. The first two books seem to confirm this expectation. The invocation to Erato in the first lines of book 3 contradicts the first proemion; Eros' shooting later on alludes to Iliad 3 (irony) but it also demonstrates that the poem will take a course different from the Iliad.⁸ Apollonius then uses similes freighted with associations both from love poetry and heroic epic: fire and celestial bodies, expecially the ill-boding star Sirius. These strengthen the fusing of the martial and erotic spheres and function as an ironic comment on the traditional epic. The events related in the earlier books acquire new meaning retrospectively; they become incorporated into the whole.

Consequently Olofsson's claim that the mixing of different genres does not necessarily create confusion—that these might, on the contrary, communicate internally to create a new meaningful pattern, seems particularly apt when applied to the Argonautica.⁹ Mackail remarked on this blending of genres in his essay from 1911 though he considered it as a flaw, the Argonautica being a rather miscreated hybrid between a traditional heroic poem and a romance, a monster ex aligenis membris compactum, like the strange creature Horace describes in the opening lines of Ars Poetica.¹⁰ It might, however, be argued that Apollonius uses the romance as a means whereby he deliberately deconstructs and reinterprets the heroic epic, undermining heroic values, demonstrating their obsolescence and essential lack of subtlety in a society which has grown too sophisticated to conform to the old-fashioned Homeric hero ideal and the moral and social code which this ideal implies.¹¹

This blending of genres, genera mixta, seems to be typical of Hellenistic literature. It functions—as many other devices, such as the

refocusing of poetic subject matter onto what in earlier tradition has been in the margin of interest /… / the shattering of generic expectations¹²

or the abundant use of aetiological and geographical lore—as a means of coming to terms with the legacy of the past, a response to the awareness of the poet's epigonal status, manifesting itself as 'self-conscious distancing' and parody.¹³ Apollonius is thus, in Pavlock's words, involved in some kind of dialectical process in relation to his predecessors:

The new poet cannot accept the position supported by the primary model but instead arrives at a new solution.¹⁴

The Argonautica has thus frequently been characterized as a refutation of the Homeric epic, of heroism and old-fashioned ideals, representing a rather disillusioned and pessimistic conception of life, lacking the grandeur of the great past but nevertheless valuable and interesting as an interpretation of fundamental human conditions and limitations—in spite of the lack of 'ideals to be emulated'.¹⁵

It would seem that Apollonius, in his sceptical attitude to heroism, was more modern than his predecessors. We are, today, more prone to share the poet's scepticism concerning martial feats and traditional values and feel sympathy towards the 'anti-hero', Jason, less imposing than the likes of Achilles perhaps but more human in his weakness and in his inevitable surrender to the grim realities of life.

Commenting on the Sophoclean tragedy, Segal notes that our age is less responsive to 'the unique harmony and reason', which of old has been considered the hallmark of classical Greek art and literature, than to 'the dissonances and disharmonies in the universe which it portrays'. This comment seems to apply equally well to Hellenistic, Callimachean poetry.¹⁶ The complexity and ambivalence on different levels, generic as well as existential, is, according to one scholar, one of the fundamental traits of the classical epic tradition.¹⁷

Apparently, in the last few decades, there has been a shift towards a more favourable view of Apollonius' epic.¹⁸ Lawall claims to have detected a profound unity in the Argonautica, describing it as a kind of Bildungsroman. A characteristic of the modern examples of this genre seems to be that they relate the inner, psychological development and education of a young person. Having been subjected to a series of trials and conflicts, e.g. between body and spirit, nature and culture, the principal character is moulded into a mature, or at least a more experienced, human being and finally integrated into society. In a similar way, Jason is subjected to an involuntary paideia; through the different characters, different ways of responding to the demands of reality are demonstrated. The actors in the epic thus

embody an exploration of… man's potential for achievement and survival, and of the nature of the world in which man acts.¹⁹

Each adventure and the various ways of handling the trials with which the Argonauts are confronted add to Jason's experience, contributing in shaping him into a man who can efficiently carry out the seemingly impossible task imposed on him by Pelias and later by Aietes.²⁰ The result of this educational journey is thus that Jason becomes a mature or rather a more experienced person, well-versed in the ways of the world, though the necessity of conforming to reality also implies sacrificing certain values vindicated earlier in the poem. The hero in the Vergilian epic develops into pius Aeneas, furor having been overcome, whereas Jason becomes an opportunist committing an act that is the reversion of pietas and which later will give furor, or its Greek equivalent, free scope. Heroism is represented as ambiguous and complex.²¹

The characterization of Jason as an anti-hero has, however, lately been criticized.²² Bey argues, for example, that Jason is undoubtedly the hero of the story as he is the cause of the entire expedition; he occupies the centre of the poet's interest throughout the epic and it is he who eventually wins the fleece and the princess.²³ Moreover Apollonius focuses on Jason's psychological status, which is not the case with any of the other heroes,²⁴ except the heroine, Medea of course. Jason is a new kind of hero—a love hero. When he is preparing himself for the meeting with Hypsipyle the reader is in various ways reminded of Achilles.

Moreover, the Homeric characters are not so monolithic as has been supposed; Agamemnon, for example, is prone to despondency and brutality, and the versatility of Odysseus has often been commented on. Like Jason he is, moreover, not unfamiliar with despair and helplessness.… Neither is a literary work a simple reflection of the author's time and values.²⁵ Hutchinson points out that the concept of male and female roles as well as the values attached to them are not fixed, instead they change in a kind of 'dialectical pattern'.²⁶

The supposed psychological flaws in the characterization of the principal characters is also a much discussed item.²⁷ Medea especially has been accused of suffering from schizofrenic tendencies as it has been deemed hard to reconcile her purity and erotic innocence in book 3 with the 'Euripidean figure' who emerges in the following book.²⁸

It is, however, questionable whether psychological truth or plausibility (a less pretentious term) necessarily by itself represents a criterion of literary value. Wellek and Warren claim that this demand on the artist's psychological competence is a naturalistic convention without any universal applicability. Great literature often violates contemporary or later psychological norms; it deals with incredible situations and fantastic motifs. Psychological insight might, however, be of aesthetic importance if it contributes to the coherence and complexity of a literary work of art but it is not the only device through which these artistic values are attained.²⁹ It is true that the Hellenistic penchant for realism is often exemplified in the Argonautica, yet it must not be measured … according to a rule applicable to a quite different genre.

We must also make allowance for the myth behind the story of the Argonauts. Medea is not a character drawn from real life, i.e. any ordinary adolescent female, but a mythical and literary figure.³⁰ Her sudden and vehement infatuation for Jason is foreshadowed by other passages describing Aphrodite's irresistible power over mortals and gods alike, e.g. Heracles and the nymph in book 1, the mention of Apollo's and Zeus' erotic proclivities in books 2 and 3 respectively, just as the slaying of Apsyrtus adumbrates the tragedy in Corinth, the murder of Medea's own children.³¹ Consequently it is not a question of psychological credibility but a mythologically founded way of coping with fundamental human conditions, the problem of human freedom—are we responsible for our actions or are we victims of the whims and caprices of the gods and Tukhē and our own impulses?—and of literary devices such as thematic interrelations, allusions, repetition etc.³²

Objections against the tendency displayed by many classicists of criticising epic poetry in the same way as the modern realistic novel have recently been raised by Feeney, especially the frequently proposed dictum that gods in the epic are merely used as a literary device, i.e. as a

more or less lame shorthand which the poet must perforce employ in order to achieve effects more satisfyingly achieved by novelistic naturalism.³³

Feeney stresses Eros' function in book 3 of the Argonautica. The discepancy between Medea's suffering and the playful, lighthearted description of Eros is emphasized, likewise the feeling of 'misgivings and disquiet' evoked when we remind ourselves that Eros is the tool of Hera, who deliberately directs the chain of events leading to the ultimate catastrophe at Corinth, the psychological motivation accounting for the suddenness of Medea's infatuation and the idea of Eros as a creature who dominates the universe.³⁴

The increasingly sinister influence of Hera is decisive as it is responsible for Medea's vacillations after her meeting with Jason. Medea is not acting of her own free will but a woman manipulated by the gods, a pawn in the game they are playing in order to achieve their own ends.³⁵ Finally, there is the will of Zeus, which lurks in the background of the whole epic, investing it with dramatic irony.

As I have indicated earlier, I would like to stress Eros' pervading influence and the significance of this aspect, in connection with the eros theme, for the question of psychological credibility. From the very beginning Medea is depicted as a powerful witch. Her frightening traits are continually emphasized—in book 3 as well as in book 4, she is a sorceress, and her magical powers and her cunning are pointed out by Hera in 3.28, 89 and in Argus' speech in 3.530 f. Nevertheless, she falls prey to invincible Eros. Both her cleverness and her sexual inexperience are emphasized; both traits run parallel in books 3 and 4.³⁶ The irony of the situation is stressed by the repetition of the verb thelxai, used in the prooemion (3.4) and then twice by Hera in 3.28 and 3.86.

The passages recall the simile in 1.754 f. likening Jason to a star which charms, … the love-sick maidens who gaze at it from their chambers, thus emphasizing Jason as a human counterpart to the love god. The character of Medea constitutes the climax in a series of mythical exempla demonstrating the force of eros.³⁷

Instead of dealing too much with the perhaps pointless question of psychological credibility, I have tried to trace the 'dialectic' progression of the narrative focusing on the imagery, considering it as an oblique commentary on the protagonists' character and moral status. The focal point is here on the

almost sinister aspects of his (Jason's) behaviour which serve his success as a heroic leader.³⁸

This leads to one of the major questions of the Argonautica—its unity and coherence. As some other scholars, Newman for instance, I think that the unity of the poem principally is to be sought in a number of symbolic and thematic devices: verbal repetition and leitmotifs of moral and existential significance. These also bear on the question of psychological coherence and on the power of love, of human passions, which is stressed in the poem: Medea's dolos and magical skills are of no avail—even the gods must yield to Eros (chapter 3).

Argonautica has been compared with Vergil's handling of Dido's and Aeneas love story. Symbols and recurrent key words complicate the moral and psychological status of the main characters and hint at future events. Even the pure and innocent maiden of book 3 is thus not devoid of the more disturbing traits of character made explicit in book 4. Symbolic unity and psychological development might thereby to some extent be claimed to have been achieved, though the stress no doubt lies on the first mentioned quality.³⁹

2 The problem of unity in the Argonautica

A major point in my thesis is that there is some kind of unity in the Argonautica, though not in the Aristotelian sense, i. e. every event logically following from the preceding ones. Rather, the unifying elements are to be found on the symbolic, thematic and emotional level. The events, on the other hand, are only loosely arranged, seemingly without any organic connection with each other. Hutchinson has commented on this dual character of the Argonautica: The poet strives on one hand to bind the epic together, on the other there is a deliberate breaking apart of the episodes, an avoidance of continuous narrative by use of digressions on religious customs, aetiology, geography and so on.⁴⁰

Barich discusses this question in his dissertation on Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica. He opposes Homer and Apollonius to Vergil, stressing the episodic nature of the former poems, the relatively independent character of their parts in contrast to the 'dramatischer Stil' of the Aeneid where Vergil has attained a far more developed integration of the separate elements into a meaningful whole, where every detail is invested with an organizing function, 'nothing is extraneous or self-justified.⁴¹ One example of this unifying technique seems to be Vergil's use of similes. The elaborated extended similes in the Homeric poems are often used, so to speak, in their own right, each tending to stand by itself

as an independent 'little picture', as an adornment applied to the structure of the poem rather than as a part of that structure.⁴²

Vergil, on the other hand, invests his imagery with a symbolic meaning; it points forward to future events, thus also pointing beyond itself and its immediate context. In the linking of the incidents and destinies of the individual characters with a future political and historical event of world-wide consequence, the former are given a wider significance.⁴³ The imagery concerning Dido and her destiny is often quoted in this context; the separate similes are interrelated with each other and their total meaning, i.e. the presaging of Dido's fate, is perceived only 'in the cumulative effect of thematic interconnections.⁴⁴ The uniqueness of the Aeneid in this respect is often taken for granted ever since Pöschl's influential book.⁴⁵ Barich quotes with approval Schiller's famous characterization of older epic poetry:

Es wird mir aus allem, was Sie sagen, immer klarer, dass die Selbstandigkeit seiner Teile einen Haupt-character des epischen Gedichtes ausmacht…sein Zweck liegt schon in jedem Punkt seiner Bewegung; darum eilen wir nicht ungeduldig zu einem Ziele, sondern verweilen uns mit Liebe bei jedem Schritte.⁴⁶

Consequently the Vergilian epic is considered as something quite new in the history of the classical epic. As distinguished from earlier examples of the epic genre, which are characterized by their essentially episodic mode of composition, the distinguishing quality of the Aeneid is said to be its careful thematic structure, i.e. in its integration of the parts. This new mode of composing an epic is thus characterized by subtle interconnections unifying the work, an integration of the epic in thematic terms and by details made significant to the poem as a whole.

In the last few years, however, there seems to have been a tendency to put more stress on the continuity between Apollonius and Vergil and later epic poetry. By adopting a double style, combining the Homeric objectivity and detachment, i.e. the poet remaining 'within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork … invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, pairing his fingernails',⁴⁷ with a more personal, emotional manner of narration which hints at the poet's own feelings, Apollonius is said to anticipate the subjective style of Vergil.⁴⁸

Newman claims that the Argonautica is a genuine Callimachean epic, profoundly influenced by Hecale and the Aitia. Failure to appreciate it as it deserves is due to a misunderstanding of the poetic tradition to which it adheres:

The Aeneid stands in the same succession. Virgil's poem has never lacked appreciation, but it has often been admired for the wrong reasons, in ignorance of its literary background, and has either been viewed as something unique, or else forced to fit in a mould which suits the preconception of the critic. Most ludicrous of all perhaps has been the folly of those who, after defining the Aeneid as a heroic poem in the conventional sense, have then proceeded to scold Aeneas for being a conventional hero.⁴⁹

There seems to be a tendency also in the Argonautica for Apollonius to integrate the different elements of the poem into a coherent pattern. For example, it has been noticed that Apollonius strives in various ways to integrate his similes more closely with the general structure of his poem than Homer is claimed to have done.⁵⁰ He is, for example, more discrete when introducing the similes and he makes a point of providing a 'metrical integration of simile and narrative'.⁵¹

Of far greater importance than these formal devices are, however, the thematic interrelations constituted by the imagery, especially by a chain of recurrent images which runs through the major part of the poem, thus constituting a coherent pattern. Carspecken, for example, has demonstrated that certain extended similes in conjunction with each other and with material in the narrative sections 'create a developing symbol'.⁵² The similes are given an important structural function. Newman's characterization of Homer's use of imagery seems particularly apt also in this context:

Similes may be made to echo one another, giving unity to the narrative and a depth of meaning which might be missing if all syntheses were left to the reader's own reflections. When the images evoked by a simile recur in the story itself, we find not only unity, but a moral and aesthetic satisfaction in their repetition.⁵³

Consequently the separate parts of the poem cannot be seen as independent of each other, only when they are interpreted as parts of a whole is their real significance realized.

Bey has also pointed out that there are several other major structural elements i.e. elements which might be defined as interrelated or cooperating elements which create a coherent, meaningful whole, the elements depending on each other so that they cannot be changed without altering the whole. A comparison of book 2 with book 4 reveals a number of such elements. Both these books depict the victory of good over evil (Polydeuces over Amycus, Jason over Aietes). The realistic sea-voyage of the second book is paralleled by the return journey in book 4, which is narrated in a 'looking-glass' perspective.⁵⁴

There is a similar balance between books 1 and 3 constituted by a pattern of interconnections, a recurrence of scenes. Jason's love affair with Hypsipyle can be seen as a kind of preliminary exercise to his dealings with Medea. His fight with the Earthborn men in book 3 is a counterpart to Heracles' fight with the Giants in 1.989-1011.⁵⁵ In book 1 Jason is confronted with Pelias' demand that he sail to Colchis and fetch the golden fleece. This demand is prompted by a prophecy … which suggests that his nephew will kill him. In his attempt to get rid of Jason, Pelias only brings about his own destruction. In book 3 Jason is forced to accept Aietes' challenge, that he shall plow with the copper oxen and defeat the Earthborn men. Aietes is also warned by a prophecy … against his own kin. Just as in Pelias' case his attempt to escape his fate only succeeds in bringing it to fulfillment (he misinterprets the oracle). In both cases the instrument of fate is Medea.

Even though the episodes seem rather independent in relation to the plot they nevertheless function quite well as parts of a whole as they contain developing symbols and vary recurrent situations and motifs which are central to the 'meaning' of the poem.

There is in the epic a pervading dramatic irony dependent on a tension between the characters' and the reader's knowledge of the myth, which creates a double perspective. This discrepancy is, for example, manifest in the hopeless efforts of Pelias and Aietes to avoid their destinies and further elaborated in the Heracles, Amycus and Cyzicus episodes (1.910-1152, 1392-1362, 2.1-97). There are also several hints of future disaster, allusions to other mythical exempla, such as Theseus and Ariadne, and the Euripidean Medea. The foreshadowings are linked to the boulē of Zeus and ultimately to fate. Premonition and fulfillment are thus fused in a way similar to that of the drama.⁵⁶ The irony is also directed towards Jason who is continually enmeshed in unsolvable moral choices: as soon as he has escaped from one set of responsibilities he is deeply entangled in another. In 2.1194-1195 he informs the Phrixids that he has been forced to the enterprise of fetching the fleece in order to atone for the criminal treatment of Phrixus. The atonement, however, will be effected in a quite unexpected way, (unexpected to Jason, that is—the reader remembers his Euripides). The [telos] of the Argonautica is as Feeney has remarked not the [telos] of Zeus' boulē."⁵⁷ The difference between the characters' and the reader's understanding creates, consequently, a dramatic unity which, moreover, by the continual use of exempla functions as a leitmotif strengthening the suggestion of 'teleological unity'.

3 Thematic connections

A Leitmotifs, thematical unity

In the following chapter I investigate this functional aspect of the imagery and also some thematic connections. The function of the former is, of course, partly to throw light on characters and incidents in the poem, but the images also serve as leitmotifs and might in this capacity emphasize certain connections and interrelated events, helping to bind the poem organically into a unit.

They also allude to similes in Homer's poems whose context the learned reader is supposed to know thus giving them an added significance.⁵⁸ The allusions to and verbal reminiscenses from Homer, Euripides and the lyrical poets often give essential passages a hidden meaning or at least 'furnish the surface context with associative richness and emotive colouring'.⁵⁹ Similes and keywords superficially benign are proved to be loaded with more disturbing connotations and implications when the passages alluded to are recognized. The similes and allusions unfold their meaning gradually over the whole of the narrative. A progression from more or less oblique allusions to more explicit ones is thus developed. The effect of the former depends on a recognition of their significance from knowledge acquired outside of the poem, i.e. from their contexts in other poetic texts, e.g. the Iliad and archaic love poetry, Sappho and Archilochus.

I would like to stress that I do not consider the question of the author's intentions as particularly significant. We know next to nothing about Apollonius' life and opinions; even the famous quarrel with his colleague, Callimachus, is nowadays looked upon with a great deal of scepticism. As Lefkowitz has demonstrated, most of the ancient testimonies on Greek poets ought to be taken cum grano salis.⁶⁰ Consequently we are reduced to (a close reading of) the poetic works.

Moreover, the problem concerning the author's intentions confronts the student of modern or even contemporary literature. Wellek claims, for example:

Even if we are in possession of contemporary evidence in the form of an explicit profession of intentions, such a profession might not be binding on a modern observer. Intentions of the author are always 'rationalizations', commentaries which certainly must be taken into account but also must be critici-zed in the light of the finished work of art.⁶¹

Even if we could reconstruct the meaning which a novel, for example, held for its contemporaries, the meaning would not be exhausted. A great work of art continually gains a new significance, transcending its original meaning. Hence its 'total meaning' is 'the result of accretion'; every new generation will detect something new in the works of past ages.⁶²

Giving due consideration to 'the intentional fallacy' Schaar suggests that the term 'allusion' should be avoided altogether. He regards the following questions as more to the point: 'Does this passage suggest some other passages' and 'How does this other evoked passage affect it', i.e. he focuses on the reader's response to the text, his associations and ability to comprehend the 'complex of poetic infracontexts' which invest the text with an additional meaning, whether intentional, semi-intentional or subconscious on the part of its author.⁶³ Moreover, it seems also reasonable to maintain the reader's right to make his own associations

and if he can make them work for others they should be freely offered and freely rejected by those who find them unassailable.⁶⁴

I think it is essential to make this point as it might seem questionable whether some passages, discussed in chapters 2 and 3 of this study, ought to be considered as 'allusions proper' or not.⁶⁵

Schaar's characterization of the intellectual habits of Milton's day and his intellectual milieu is no less relevant of Alexandria in the Hellenistic era. The demands made by a work of art, whether pictorial or literary, upon the connoiseurs' learning and ability to combine and associate were often exacting.⁶⁶ Apollonius and his colleagues were in the highest degree literate, saturated with reminiscences from Homer, the lyrical poets and the Tragedians, writing for learned readers with

… a similar frame of reference, capable of recognizing echoes which added to the meaning perceived by them.⁶⁷

Giangrande goes so far as to regard Hellenistic poetry as 'nothing if not arte allusiva'⁶⁸ He is chiefly concerned with the phenomenon called imitatio in oppositando, the imitation and variation of textual variants, which not only demonstrated the poet's erudition but also contributed to philological controversies and expressed the poet's opinions about the original readings of the Homeric texts.⁶⁹

I think that these observations are also important to the discussion of phenomena such as 'leitmotif, 'verbal repetition' and 'recurrence of significant words' which, according to our reading, are used as organizing devices and which also function as 'markers', investing the poem with an overall emotional atmosphere.⁷⁰ As it is impossible to substantiate any claims concerning the author's intentions, the allegation of subjectivity and 'oversophisticated' interpretation seems imminent.

Apollonius' use of recurring symbols and images, significant words and phrases which are constantly repeated and varied,⁷¹ as an organizing device, a means of connecting the episodes with one another might remind the reader of the 19th and 20th century novel, e.g. Tolstoy and Thomas Mann, a similarity which is continually pointed out by Newman who regards them as votaries of the same 'Alexandrian' tradition.⁷² When describing one of the principal organizing devices, I have followed Newman's example in adopting the terms 'musical analogy' and 'musical leitmotif. The latter term of course belongs originally to musical history; its provenance is to be found in the Wagnerian opera where themes and symbols continually recur in association with some person, situation or sentiment and which accordingly are used as a means of creating unity and evoking a certain emotional atmosphere. Though it must not be taken too literally it seems singularly apt as it catches one of the essential characteristics in Apollonius' poetical praxis. Moreover, it has also been pointed out that Callimachus tried to revive Greek poetry by restoring the lyrical element and thus bridge the split between poetry and music which occurred in the 4th century B.C.⁷³

That the imagery thus is not a question of

aimless embroidery but a deepening commentary on the human significance of what is being said⁷⁴

is distinctly visible in Apollonius' use of recurrent similes which function as a commentary on the characters' development and the moral significance of their actions.

B The themes of fate and love

Tyche as an instrument of divine will plays, as Fränkel has observed, an important role in Apollonius' epic.⁷⁵ I think this adds to the pessimism of the poem (also attested by Jason's development).⁷⁶ Man is depicted as a plaything of Fate and the gods: Pelias, Cyzicus, Heracles, Idmon, Aietes, Jason and Medea are all examples of the inevitability of fate. The existential message also constitutes an organizing element.… I think it is possible to discern two dominant themes, eros and moira, which, however, are connected with a variety of other minor motifs. These various devices—similes, allusions to other poems, verbal repetition, foreshadowings, dramatic irony—contribute in creating a coherent moral and emotional atmosphere.

C Barbary versus civilization

One of the structural elements mentioned above, the civilization theme, has often been treated by other scholars.⁷⁷ The Argonauts are frequently confronted by adversaries associated with the Chthonic powers. By their defeat of these, civilized values, divine and social justice, are vindicated. The different scenes depicting the victory of good over evil, light over dark, etc., parallel each other; The Giants, slain by Heracles, are analogues to the Earthborn men in book 3, just as Amycus, defeated by Polydeuces in book 2, corresponds to Aeetes, who is outwitted by Jason or rather Medea (book 3). The parallelism is stressed by certain keywords.…

The polarity expressed in the first two books collapses, however, in book 3, as the Greeks are forced to adopt less honourable or straightforward methods in order to cope with the treacherous and powerful Colchian king.⁷⁸ Rose has demonstrated how Apollonius uses the imagery to illustrate the inversion of values. Through the star simile, Jason is aligned with the Olympian sphere. At the same time, however, he is associated with the Chthonian powers; his strength is derived from Medea and he is also, like Amycus earlier, compared to a wild animal, a boar. By seeking Medea's assistance Jason has 'allied himself to the forces he was commissioned to destroy', the princess was not only a barbarian but also a witch, 'a kind of dragon' herself.⁷⁹ Chapter II concentrates on the character of Jason with particular emphasis on the star imagery as a developing symbol underlining the change of moral atmosphere and the eventual collapse of opposing values.

D The necessity of guile

Connected to the theme mentioned above is the necessity to abandon heroism and resort to guile and treachery. … This motif is announced in the Lemnian episode, which also in this respect functions as a counterpart to book 3. While the first part of the epic principally has dealt with feats of traditional heroic brand the emphasis in books 3 and 4 is laid on Eros and peithō, especially the kind of persuasion associated with Aphrodite and her charms.… There is, consequently, also a shift from male prowess to feminine characteristics, from Jason and the Argonauts to Medea and female psychology. The blending of values mentioned earlier is paralleled by a reversion of male and female roles. Jason will play the passive female part while Medea adopts the male one thus representing a perverted heroism.⁸⁰ Many of these themes and motifs are foreshadowed in the first part of the epic; the Lemnian episode, for example, as has often been observed, constitutes in many ways a doublet to the story of Jason and Medea.⁸¹ I will try to establish the connections of the different motifs and their significance for the existential and moral message of the poem.

The Argonautica is hence a rather complex work of art; episodes which earlier were considered as self-contained and only loosely connected with other parts of the poem seem, upon closer investigation, to be essential elements in a densely woven texture.…

Notes

¹ Levin (1972) 4; cf. Otis (1964) 41-98.

² Körte (1929) 140: 'The events follow one after the other, but they do not proceed one out of the other. Only seldom does the poet succeed in binding together considerable masses of material by means of significant motifs.'

³ Trypanis (1981) 288, Körte (1929) 240: 'The poet has no way of life to set before men of his own period. His characters are not ideals to be emulated. His relation to the heroic period is not one of credulous admiration but often rather of cool superiority.' Cf. also Gaunt (1969) 177.

⁴ Hainsworth (1991) 67.

⁵ Bey (1964) 34.

⁶ Olofsson (1980) 12, Hirsh (1967) 76 f.

⁷ See Genette's ((1982) 11) classification of the different types of allusions and citations.

⁸ Feeney (1991) 81.

⁹ Olofsson (1980).

¹⁰ Mackail (1911) 252: 'In the Argonautica, as also in the Aeneid, there are three distinguishable threads: the epic thread, that of a single heroic action; the chronicle thread, that of a series of historical or quasi-historical events, not in themselves possessing unity; and the romance thread proper, that of a passionate situation. Virgil wove, or rather fused, the three into a single magnificent texture. In the Argonautica they lie side by side, detachably: they even to an extent jar upon one another.' Cf. Trypanis (1981) 288: '… the very success of the romance adds to the failure of the epic.'

¹¹ Cf. Gardner's foreword in Bey (1982) x-xi.

¹² Goldhill (1991) 285.

¹³ Goldhill (1991). Cf. Newman (1967) 51, 56, Hutchinson (1990) passim. There is an interesting parallel to 20th century avant-garde literature. Cf. Ulysses and Adrian Lewerkühn's comments in Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus on the predicament of the modern artist—the necessity of using parody as the only means of artistic renewal.

¹⁴ Pavlock (1990) 3.

¹⁵ Korte (1929) 240.

¹⁶ Segal (1982) viii.

¹⁷ Newman (1986) passim. Cf. also Goldhill ((1991) 285) who speaks of 'new and hybrid poetic forms' and a 'shattering of generic expectations, what Kroll calls "die Kreutzung der Gattungen"'.

¹⁸ Bulloch (1989) 58: '… modern scholarship is just beginning to discover that the Argonautica is a deceptively intricate work, and that behind the rather bland surface are complex allusions and symbols which make the Argonautica a very different poem from what it seems to be.'

¹⁹ Lawall (1966) 122, 148 f.

²⁰ Lawall (1966) 148 f.

²¹ Cf. Hainsworth (1991) 73. 'The new man, Jason, does not dominate because he is not intended to dominate; he personifies no virtue or principle in literature of what has become a "hero" of the novel—a person, not a paragon.'

²² Hutchinson (1990) 85-86, Bulloch ((1988) 51) denotes the conventional view of the Homeric heroes as 'simplicistic' and Hunter (1987) 442, rightly claims that we ought to take our departure from what the poet actually says, avoiding over-sophisticated psychologism.

²³ Bey (1969) 37.

²⁴ Bey (1969) 37.

²⁵ Hutchinson (1990) 85-86.

²⁶ Hutchinson (1990) 85-86.

²⁷ Cf. for example Hunter (1987) and Dyck (1989).

²⁸ Trypanis (1981) 287: 'In Book IV, during the homeward journey, the Euripidean figure emerges, the passionate, wild, fearless sorceress who can also be cool, calculating and openly threatening. Her character contrasts sharply with that of Medea in Book III; and this lack of unity is one more of the great weaknesses of the Argonautica.' Cf. also Phinney's ((1967) 234) polemic against Otis.

²⁹ Wellek and Warren (1956) 81.

³⁰ Cf. Hunter (1987) 130.

³¹ Dyck (1989) 455; Hunter (1987) 130.

³² Hunter (1987) 130: 'such neat patterns may indeed be more common in myth and literature than in real life, but at any event simplistic notions of "credibility" have no place here.'

³³ Feeney (1991) passim.

³⁴ Feeney (1991) 82, 84.

³⁵ Campbell (1983a) 50 f.; Feeney (1991) 84.

³⁶ Finney (1967) 367 f.

³⁷ Hunter (1989) 97 n. 4-5. Spaltenstein's ((1991) 98) observation on the characterization in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica seems no less appropriate here: 'Jason, pour parler de lui, est le personage d'une oeuvre épique, c'est à dire le personnage d'une texte soumis à certaines contraintes et qui diffère totalement de nos romans modernes, où la psychologie est reine.' Hunter, among others, has made the same claim concerning Apollonius' Medea, cf. n. 32 above.

³⁸ Bulloch (1989) 51. Cf. Hunter's (1987) observations concerning Apollonius' reworking of Homeric motifs.

³⁹ Hunter has pointed out the various verbal parallels between the third and the fourth book of the Argonautica, (1987) 134. Cf. also Pavlock ((1990) 52-68) in her discussion on perverted heroism, 'The characterization of Medea,'.

⁴⁰ Hutchinson (1990) 95-96.

⁴¹ Barich (1982) 68. The term 'dramatischer Stil' is borrowed from Staiger.

⁴² Carspecken (1952) 66.

⁴³ Barich (1982) 68.

⁴⁴ Barich (1982) 69. Cf. also Otis (1964) 70-76.

⁴⁵ Pöschl (1977).

⁴⁶ Schiller quoted by Staiger (1951) 112.

⁴⁷ As Joyce, or rather Stephen Dedalus, would have it. Quotation from The Essential James Joyce, ed. by H. Levin, Penguin 1972. 'A Portrait', 221.

⁴⁸ Especially the authorial comments, e.g. in books 1 and 4; see Hainsworth (1991) 69-70. Newman (1986) passim. Cf. Otis (1964) 42 f.

⁴⁹ Newman (1986) 32.

⁵⁰ Carspecken (1952) 67.

⁵¹ Carspecken (1952) 67.

⁵² Carspecken (1952) 95.

⁵³ Newman (1986) 11.

⁵⁴ Bey (1982) 137.

⁵⁵ Jason's victory over his opponents is, however, not depicted as an unqualified victory of good over evil. See Rose (1979) 128-129.

⁵⁶ Barich (1982) 72, who moreover uses the phrase 'teleological unity' (71) has made this point concerning Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica. It is no less relevant in this connection.

⁵⁷ Feeney (1991) 65. The observations made immediately before are also due to him (62, 64).

⁵⁸ Newman (1986) 86.

⁵⁹ Schaar (1982) 21.

⁶⁰ Lefkowitz (1980) and (1982) passim.

⁶¹ Wellek & Warren (1956) 136. Cf. Newman (1986) 102: What the scholar may deduce about the genesis of a work from previous sources has limited relevance to its ontological status.

⁶² Wellek & Warren (1956) 31; Bachtin (1988) 10.

⁶³ Schaar (1982) 14-16, 19-20. Schaar uses the term 'vertical context system' to denote his approach to literary texts of this kind. This is described 'as made up of a surface context charged with additional meaning by contact with a deep context, an infracontext, bearing some kind of verbal similarity to the surface context.… In a great number of cases the additional meaning is of the connotative kind, and the meaning of the text is modified, amplified, reinforced or brought into contrast by the infracontext'. See Mettinger (1992) 2.

⁶⁴ Thormählen (1978) 66.

⁶⁵ I have met with the objection that the verbal similarities between the allusions (Arg. 1.774-780, 3.956-959) and its supposed model (Iliad 22.25) are too slight to admit any certainty in establishing a deliberate connexion. Other scholars, on the other hand, e.g. Bulloch, Hutchinson and Bey, seem to take the connexions for granted.

⁶⁶ Hurst (1967) 11-19.

⁶⁷ Schaar (1982) 16 f. Bey (1982) has also remarked on the 'incestuous' atmosphere of the Museum ('the muses' wickercage') and its bookish inhabitants, scholar poets like Callimachus, Rhianus and Apollonius. Cf. Kennedy (1989) 200 f.

⁶⁸ Giangrande (1970) 46.

⁶⁹ Giangrande (1970) 47: 'Unless the critics are familiar with, and able to recognize, the literary canons of reversal, the point that the Hellenistic poet is making will be disastrously lost upon them.'

⁷⁰ Cf. Barich (1982) 70. How are we to determine which words are significant or whether the structure we have projected on the text really has any degree of objectivity? Even if we could maintain that a work possesses unity by its parts fitting together 'in a significant way', the question 'significant for whom?' immediately presents itself. It must, however, be possible to postulate a structure and then try to support the hypothesis with a close reading. If certain symbols and words, heavy in associations and connotations of a certain kind, frequently (i.e. relative to their normal or expected frequency) occur in contexts of similar significance, it seems reasonable to assume some kind of (more or less intentional) connection between the passages. Thus we assume that the scholar's task is not to present a definite 'reading' of a literary work of art but to formulate possible interpretations and to avoid impossible ones.

⁷¹ Newman (1986) 89.

⁷² Newman (1986) passim.

⁷³ Newman (1967) emphasizes the parallels between Callimachus and Pindar 43-48, 49 f.…

⁷⁴ Newman (1986) 11.

⁷⁵ Fränkel (1952) 42.

⁷⁶ Rose (1984) 130.

⁷⁷ Rose (1983) 115-135; Fränkel (1952) 144-155; Bey (1982) 37. The events described in these passages point forward to the future history of Jason and Medea, they are also connected with book 4 which is 'heavy with Jason's closing theme (4.195-205) of Greek v. Barbarian' Hunter (1988) 440. 'Jason's words are in part a bitter foreshadowing of the supremacy of Greece which the Euripidean Jason throws in Medea's face (536-8, 1330-1, 1339).'

⁷⁸ Rose (1979) 129, 134-135.

⁷⁹ Burnett (1973) 17.

⁸⁰ Pavlock (1990).

⁸¹ Phinney (1963) 91; Pavlock (1990) 45-51; Bulloch (1989) 55.

Works Cited

Editions

Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica, recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Herman Fränkel, Oxonii 1961.

Apollonios de Rhode, Argonautiques, t. I-III, texte établi et commenté par Francis Vian, et traduit par Émile Delage et Francis Vian, Paris 1976-1981 (Collections des Universités de France).

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, with an English translation by R. C. Seaton, London 1912.

Argonautica, Book III, edited by R. L. Hunter, Cambridge 1989.

The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, Book III, edited by M. M. Gillies, Cambridge 1928.

The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, edited by G. W. Mooney, London 1912.

Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, with an English translation by J. H. Mozely, London 1972.

Homer's Iliad Books I-XXIV, ed. by W. Leaf and M. A. Bayfield, London 1965.

(Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica is quoted from Vian's edition throughout this study. Translations of both the Latin and the Greek Argonautica are based on the Loeb edition. The translations of the Iliad and Archilochus' poem are my own.)

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