This volume consists of an introduction, the text of book 4 of Valerius Flaccus' "Argonautica," commentary, bibliography and index. However, it is not a standard philological commentary. Although it contains textual criticism (but only where meaning and appreciation are substantially affected) and explanation of sense and references (a vital basis for critical analysis), above all there is literary appreciation of Valerius' fourth book, which should help to bring about a revaluation of this largely neglected and sadly underestimated author. The book alerts readers to important aspects of Valerius' highly intellectual poetry, such as wit, humor, elegance, point, subtlety, narrative skill, and creative engagement with forerunners, especially Apollonius of Rhodes and Virgil.

This work provides a full commentary on the first book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, an epic which has received increased attention in the last few decades, as may be seen from two recent editions (1997 and 2003). Its first aim is to clarify the text, which is sometimes rather difficult and, in places, still not established with certainty. Apart from this philological aspect, the literary merits of the poem have also been taken into account.

The book contains a commentary on Book V of the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus, paying attention to linguistic, philological and literary aspects. Line by line the words and phrases chosen, sources used and literary models are treated. The last commentary on all eight books of the Argonautica appeared a century ago (Langen 1896), so there is ample room to apply new views in Latin linguistics and concepts of literature. A small number of textual variants is supported.

This volume offers a new interpretation of Flaccus' Argonautica, a Latin epic poem. Stover's approach to the text is both formalist and historicist as he seeks not only to elucidate Flaccus' dynamic appropriation of Lucan, but also to associate the Argonautica's formal gestures within a specific socio-political context.

Valerius Flaccus' unfinished and unjustly neglected epic recounting the Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece and the early stages of the doomed love affair of Jason and Medea has been relegated to the outer fringes of classical scholarship for many years. A full-length study devoted to the Argonautica has not been published in English for over 100 years. This book seeks to address this balance. Dr. Hershkowitz aims to provide readers who have not yet encountered Valerius Flaccus' work with a general introduction to this multi-faceted epic poem. At the same time the author offers those already familiar with the Argonautica an in-depth re-evaluation of the work, contextualizing it within both an historical and literary framework, focusing in particular on its intertextual relationship with Apollonius' Argonautica and Vergil's Aeneid.

During a stopover of the Argo in Mysia, the boy Hylas sets out to fetch water for his companion Hercules. Wandering into the woods, he arrives at a secluded spring, inhabited by nymphs who fall in love with him and pull him into the water. Mad with worry, Hercules stays in Mysia to look for the boy, but he will never find him again . . . In Echoing Hylas, Mark Heerink argues that the story of Hylas—a famous episode of the Argonauts' voyage—was used by poets throughout classical antiquity to reflect symbolically on the position of their poetry in the literary tradition. Certain elements of the story, including the characters of Hylas and Hercules themselves, functioned as metaphors of the art of poetry. In the Hellenistic age, for example, the poet Theocritus employed Hylas as an emblem of his innovative bucolic verse, contrasting the boy with Hercules, who symbolized an older, heroic-epic tradition. The Roman poet Propertius further developed and transformed Theocritus's metapoetical allegory by turning Heracles into an elegiac lover in pursuit of an unattainable object of affection. In this way, the myth of Hylas became the subject of a dialogue among poets across time, from the Hellenistic age to the Flavian era. Each poet, Heerink demonstrates, used elements of the myth to claim his own place in a developing literary tradition. With this innovative diachronic approach, Heerink opens a new dimension of ancient metapoetics and offers many insights into the works of Apollonius of Rhodes, Theocritus, Virgil, Ovid, Valerius Flaccus, and Statius.

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."--BOOK JACKET.