Arms and a mouse: Approaching acrostics in Ovid and Vergil

Journal article

In this article I begin by comparing and contrasting our reading practice regarding acrostics with our practice regarding allusions and intertexts, looking in particular at the problematic notion of authorial intention; I suggest an approach that assumes that ancient learned readers were on the look-out for acrostics, just as they were for allusions, and that they would test them for significance (as we imagine they did for allusions). I then apply this approach to the beginning and end of the Aeneid, and the beginning of the Metamorphoses, exploring how our reading of these well-studied passages changes if we pay attention to the acrostics and telestics that this process unearths. I note among other things how the presence of ilus, of arma and a man, and of a Horatian mus and a Vergilian erato can enrich our reading of the text. I close with an old and particularly controversial acrostic in Eclogue 4 (cacata) that presents a potential challenge to my approach.

Authors: Robinson, M

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Fabrizio Serra editore
• Journal: Materiali e Discussioni per l'Analisi dei Testi Classici
• Volume: 82
• Pages: 23-73
• Publication date: 2019-09-02
• Acceptance date: 2018-05-24
• DOI: 10.19272/201901701002
• EISSN: 1724-1693
• ISSN: 0392-6338
• Language: English
• Keywords: acrostics; Ovid; Virgil