Cato and the Battle with the Serpents

??. Batinski: Cato and the Serpents71 Cato and the Battle with the Serpents Emily E. Batinski Ih Lucan's Bellum Civile, the battle widi die Libyan serpents purports to confirm Cato's virtus. WhUe preparing to lead his troops across die desert, this stem Republican declares diat he wUl be an exemplar for his men (9.394-406). After die battle, die reader is told diat Cato is present at die death of every soldier, he inspires his men to endure hardship and to die without a groan (9.881-89). Despite diese explicit explanations ofhis role which frame the episode, critical response is disparate and reflects die changing trends in Lucanian scholarship. Heitland dismisses die batde as mere padding which contains yet another example of diat "plague of catalogues," a feature which serves only to flaw thenarrative. Aumont concludes diat die contest widi die snakes is decorative and a manifestation of Lucan's baroque mind, his love of die macabre and his obsession widi death. Jh contrast, Marti and AM have attempted to redeem tins passage. They argue diat die batde is integral to die epic and Cato's role within die work. For Marti, the Bellum Civile is a philosophical epic about man. The war with die vipers demonstrates Cato's virtus in order diat he might emerge as a Stoic sapiens. AhI contends diat Lucan has imbued dus journey through die desert widi mythic undertones. The Garden of die Hesperides widi its allusion to Hercules, the Stoic saint, appears strategically in the narrative as Cato sets foot in Africa (9.365-67). Consequently, as AhI argues, this reference parallels and enhances Cato's trek through die desert. The batde widi die serpents, dierefore, becomes Cato's aristeia.1 1 W.E. Heitland in his introduction to M. Annaei Lucani Pharsalia, GE. Haslrins, ed. (London 1987) xxiv, lxxii-v; J. Aumont, "Sur l'épisode des reptiles dans la Pharsale de Lucain (LX, 587937 )," BAGB (1968) 103-19; B. Marti, "Tragic History and Lucan's Pharsalia," in Classical Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies in honor of BL. Ullman (Romel964) 165-204; and F. AhI, Lucan: An Introduction (Ithaca 1976) 259-61, 268-71. For an opposing view of the parallel between Cato and Hercules, see C Martindale, "Lucan's Hercules: Padding or Paradigm? A Note on De Bello Civili 4589-660," SO 56 (1981) 71-80, who persuasively argues that Lucan diminishes and parodies the Hercules'myth. These interpretations reflect trends in Lucanian scholarship in the twentieth century. O.S. Due ("An Essay on Lucan," CAM 23 [1962] 68-132, esp. 81-86) outlines these changes and the growing critical appreciation for the epic Ih antiquity, the famous criticism of Lucan's historical epic is delivered by Eumolput in Petronius' Satyricon: non enim res gestae versibus comprehendendae sunt, quod longe melius historicifaciunt (118.6). For discussion of this criticism, see J.P. Sullivan, The Satyricon ofPetronius: A Literary Study (London 1968) 165-86, who interprets this as an attack upon Lucan. Cf. E.M Sanford, "Lucan and His Roman Critics," CP 72Syllecta Classica 3 (1991) Dissonance, however, emerges between die structuring epic conventions and die narrative. AhI must temper his assessment of die episode. He charges Lucan widi misguidedly employing numerous little snakes instead of one huge mythic serpent suchasHercules andRegulusencountered. Thepoethas mus diminished die epic and mythic grandeur which, according to AhI, he sought to create.2 Altiiough Morford considers die Libyan adventure a Stoic allegory, he concedes tiiat die philosophic structure collapses after die first Roman soldier dies. The struggle widi die serpents, dierefore, cannot enhance Cato's virtus and dignitas? The assumption underlying botii Ahl's and Morford's arguments is that Lucan fails to achieve his grand design because die episode fads to elevate Cato to die status ofa Stoic hero of epic and mythic dimensions. Johnson has cleverly argued tiiat die flawed struggle widi die serpents results from Lucan's deliberate sabotage of die episode widi Ovidian humor. The poet mus makes Cato's virtue "as implausible and fantastic as die snakes tiiat destroy his soldiers."4 Johnson conjectures diat Lucan's portrait of titis stem Republican arises from his growing disenchantment widi Stoicism.5 As...