ANCIENT ROME AUTHOR
Gaius Valerius Flaccus
Also known as: Valerius Flaccus, Caius Valerius Flaccus
Most acclaimed
Valerius Flaccus
VALERIUS FLACCUS, Gaius, Latin poet who flourished in the period c. A.D. 70-90, composed during the course of the decade 70-80, in smooth monotonous correct and sometimes obscure style, an incomplete epic 'Argonautica' in eight books on the Quest for the Golden Fleece. The poem is typical of his age, being a free re-handling of the story already told by Apollonius Rhodius (LCL No. 1) to whom he is superior in arrangement, vividness, and description of character. He shows much imitation of the language and thought of Virgil, and much learning, rhetoric, and ornamentation. The chief interest of the epic lies in the relations between Medea and Jason, especially the growth of Medea's love where Valerius is at his best. The long series of adventures and various 'Roman' allusions suggest that the poet meant to do honour to Vespasian (to whom the epic is dedicated) with special reference to that emperor's ships in waters round Britain.
Argonautica
1751
"This commentary on the first book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica also includes an introduction, the text (with apparatus criticus) and a facing English translation. The commentary proper addresses narrower textual and semantic questions, on the one hand, and broader questions of stylistics, poetics, thematics, and cultural context on the other. Particularly close attention is paid to Valerius' choice of diction, his sophisticated use of figures and tropes, his often sly erudition, the recurring and strategic resort to subtle intertextual gestures and, where appropriate, the reception of his work in later authors. The substantial introduction provides an overview of the poet and his poem. It discusses, inter alia, the limited evidence for Valerius' life; the main features of his often difficult poetic language; the handling of the Argonautic myth in literature prior to Valerius; his innovative treatment of the inherited material; and his self-positioning within the broader literary tradition, particularly his sophisticated adaptation of formal and thematic elements from his two principal poetic models, Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica and Virgil's Aeneid. While the commentary is written for readers with some competence in Latin, the introduction, and the facing English translation, are thoroughly accessible to non-Latinate readers with an interest in Roman literature and in the ancient epic tradition."--Jacket.