Going a Step Further: Valerius Flaccus' Metapoetical Reading of Propertius' Hylas

Abstract

I. RETROSPECTIVE INTERPRETATION Propertius 1.20 poses many interpretative questions, which scholars have tried to solve not least by comparing the poem with other versions of the Hylas myth, notably those of Apollonius (Argon. 1.1153ff.) and Theocritus (Id. 13). The relationship of Propertius' poem to Valerius Flaccus' Hylas episode (Argon. 3.481ff.), however, has received little attention, although Valerius offers the most elaborate version of the myth. 1 Recently, Philip Hardie has initiated the approach of 'retrospective interpretation' for Valerius Flaccus' reading of Virgil's Aeneid. He has shown that Valerius-and other Flavian epic poets-read and interpret their most important model, Virgil's Aeneid, in a way that anticipates modern studies of intertextuality; it is therefore attractive to use Valerius' readings and interpretations of Virgil as a critical tool for our own reading of the Aeneid. 2 But what about Valerius' other models? I would like to show through a few examples that in his Hylas episode Valerius has carefully read and interpreted Propertius 1.20 in a way that bears close resemblance to modern readings of Latin poetry. In addition I hope to show that Valerius also provides us with an interesting new interpretation of Propertius 1.20. II. GOING FURTHER That there is contact between Valerius' Hylas episode and Propertius 1.20 is very clear from a verbal echo that has often been noted 3 but never subjected to close 606

Sulle orme dell'Iliade

“…169-82;Landolfi 2002;Río Torres-Murciano 2013. Numerosi sono i contributi di Mark Heerink su questo argomento (Heerink 2007;2020, pp. 199-201).…”

A Literary Joke in Martial 9.65

“…1, 32-3 and ad 9.64, 65,101 Mastronarde (1968); Hutchinson (1988,192-6); Van Erp Taalman Kip (1994,153-69). For scholarly discussion of the Hylas episode and especially its role in intertextual and metapoetical play in Latin poetry, Malamud & McGuire (1993,196-210); Petrain (2000); Heerink (2007). For Hylas in Martial, see C. Henriksén (1998, ad 9.25.7).…”

“…"'> Both Martial's remittet and Valerius' responsant carry '' Note also the modern hypothesis that the name Hylas is a rationalization of the ritual cry öXa, see Kretschmer 1925, 35-6. ' Heerink 2007, 613-14. See Petrain (2000 for the etymology.…”