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Weiß (P.) Homer und Vergil im Vergleich. Ein Paradigma antiker Literaturkritik und seine Ästhetik. (Classica Monacensia 52.) Pp. 392. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto, 2017. Paper, €88. ISBN: 978-3-8233-8110-5.
In this very useful and timely monograph, W. surveys the beginnings of a complex phenomenon, the ancient habit of comparing Virgil and Homer. Many of the connections between the two figures are so obvious, so often repeated and so fundamental to the way we still read Virgil today that it is good to have someone go back to basics, in an attempt to trace the beginnings of the habit of seeing Virgil as almost inseparable from Homer and to discuss the various angles of approach and particular interests of those who made key contributions to a fascinating story. W. shows convincingly how the Kanonisierung of Virgil is inextricably related to his perceived status as a very Homeric poet. In doing so, he sheds light in passing on the reception of both Homer and Virgil individually, but the focus throughout is strictly on Virgil and Homer as an almost inseparable couple. When the Aeneid first appeared, it was immediately read as a fundamentally imitative poem, and this feature had a strong impact on early critics. And so, like all great works of literature, the very nature of the poem led to changes in the way critics read. Appreciation of Virgil's virtuoso imitatio obviously went hand in hand from the very beginning with interpretation of his imitation of Homer before all else. But where some readers immediately saw highly successful aemulatio and variatio based on absolute mastery of well-known techniques of composition, others saw only shameless plagiarism.
Building on the standard study of E. Stemplinger (1912, but rather confusingly dated by W. in footnotes to 1990, which is merely the date of the reprint) and...