Sume superbiam
quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica
lauro cinge uolens, Melpomene, comam.(Take the pride
you have so richly earned and with Delphic laurel
kindly circle my hair, Melpomene.)What makes a book literary in Rome? It is to recopy in avolumentexts
already composed. Thevolumenis always a collection in the Alexandrian
style; thevolumenis a container of a fixed dimension in which one packs
all that one can, just like a box. The object is valuable in itself because it
created the poet, who had no other social expectation, no other conse-
cration than to attach his name to a box deposited in a library. The book in
Rome is really a container and the text the contents. The interaction
between the contents and the container defines an ‘‘author’’ who is not
the subject of a writing.
There are three possible statuses for Roman literary books: there is the
book that one gives as a gift, the book that libraries preserve, and the book
that bookshops sell and resell. These three statuses are all deduced from
its material fragility and its exclusive function as a support. They owe
nothing to the value of the writings that they contain; only the occasion
and the genre play a part. It must make its addressee famous. As for the
occasion, best is that which makes it possible for the poet to be aqui
primus, to create the foundational text of a Greek genre at Rome. Only
thus can he hope for the consecration, in the Alexandrian style, of his first
text, preserved to be imitated. The text escapes the book and its fragility:
Monumentum aere perennius.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Canfora, Luciano. 1992. ‘‘Le monde en rouleaux.’’ In Jacob and de Polignac 1992:
49 62.
Cordier, Pierre. 2005. ‘‘Les habits grecs du baigneur romain.’’ In Dupont and
Valette Cagnac 2005: 81 102.
Dupont, Florence. 2005. ‘‘L’alte ́rite ́incluse.’’ In Dupont and Valette Cagnac
2005: 255 77.
and Emmanuelle Valette Cagnac, eds. 2005.Fac ̧ons de parler grec aRome. L’Antiquite ́au Pre ́sent. Paris. Jacob, Christian. 1992. ‘‘Callimaque: un poete dans le labyrinthe.’’ In Jacob and de
Polignac 1992: 100 12.
and Franc ̧ois de Polignac, eds. 1992.Alexandre IIIesiecle av. J. C.: tous les saviors du monde ou le reˆve d’universalite ́ des Ptole ́me ́es.Se ́rie Me ́moires 19. Paris. Lissarrague, Franc ̧ois. 1987.Un flot d’images: une esthe ́tique du banquet grec. Paris. Lowrie, Michele. 2002. ‘‘Beyond Performance Envy: Horace and the Modern in
theEpistle to Augustus.’’ In Michael Paschalis, ed.,Horace and Greek Lyric
Poetry, 141 71. Rethymno.
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