Ennius himself composed an acrostic on his name: QVINTVS ENNIVS
FECIT (‘‘Quintus Ennius wrote this,’’ Cic.Div. 2.111–2).
Also relevant is the signature acrostic by the otherwise unknown
author of a Neronian-era mini-epic, theIlias Latina:
Iram pande mihi Pelidae, Diua, superbi
Tristia quae miseris iniecit funera Grais
Atque animas fortes heroum tradidit Orco
Latrantumque dedit rostris uolucrumque trahendos
Illorum exsangues, inhumatis ossibus, artus.
Confiebat enim summi sententia Regis,
yProtulerantyex quo discordia pectora pugnas,
Sceptriger Atrides et bello clarus Achilles.(The wrath of proud Achilles, reveal, O Goddess, to me,
How it heaped fierce pyres for the miserable Greeks
And sent strong souls of heroes down to Orcus
Giving their limbs over to dogs and birds of prey,
Bloodless, with bones uninterred.
Thus decreed the judgment of the supreme king
From when discordant hearts.. ... battles,
The scepter bearing son of Atreus against Achilles renowned in war.)
Ilias Latina, 1 8^55Sed iam siste gradum finemque impone labori
Calliope, uatisque tui moderare carinam,
Remis quem cernis stringentem litora paucis,
Iamque tenet portum metamque potentis Homeri.
Pieridum comitata cohors, summitte rudentes
Sanctaque uirgineos lauro redimita capillos
Ipsa tuas depone lyras. Ades, inclita Pallas,
Tuque faue cursu uatis iam, Phoebe, peracto.(But now halt your progress and put an end to labor,
Calliope, and steer the ship of your poet
Whom you see skirting the shore with his paltry oars,
Until just now! he reaches the harbor and finish line of great Homer.
You, Pieridan cohort, loosen the mast line,
And wreathing your youthful hair with sacred laurel,
Lay down your lyres. Be at hand, noble Pallas,
And you, dear Phoebus, show favor to your poet
Who has completed his prescribed course.)
Ilias Latina, 1063 70- For text and interpretation of this and the subsequent passage see Scaffai 1982.
Scholars have proposed various substitutes forprotulerant(line 7) that complete the acrostic
and match the sense of the passage.
132 Situating Literacies