Tragic Flames in Lucretius 1.471-7

Daniel Markovic (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

denique materies si rerum nulla fuisset
nec locus ac spatium, res in quo quaeque geruntur,
numquam Tyndaridis forma conflatus amore
ignis, Alexandri Phrygio sub pectore gliscens,
clara accendisset saeui certamina belli,
nec clam durateus Troiianis Pergama partu
inflammasset equos nocturno Graiiugenarum.               (Lucr. 1.471-7)

These lines are influenced by the story and imagery of Ennius’ Alexander much more than the isolated parallels adduced by the commentators reveal. Ernout observes ad partu in 1.476 that this and the following line were inspired by Ennius (XXVI 72-3 Jocelyn): nam maximo saltu superauit grauidus armatis equus | qui suo partu ardua perdat Pergama. Bailey adduces the same lines, essentially repeating the observation: “a passage that Lucretius probably had in mind”.

The dominant idea of this poetic amplification, namely the materialistic translation of a symbolic fire into actual flames that will eventually consume the city of Troy, is a result of Lucretius’ contamination of two literary motifs. The first is the traditional metaphor of fire for love; the second is the story of Ennius’ original, the Alexander of Euripides (the play was a part of the tetralogy consisting of Alexander, Palamedes, Troades and the satyr play Sisyphus; only Troades survive). Both the Alexander of Euripides and that of Ennius opened with the dream vision Hecuba had while she was pregnant with Paris. In her dream the queen gave birth to a torch that will burn down the city of Troy: mater grauida parere se ardentem facem | uisa est in somnis Hecuba (XVIII 50-51 Jocelyn). The fragments show that the image had significant prominence throughout the play. Thus we read in the preserved lines from Ennius’ Alexander: adest adest fax obuoluta sanguine atque incendio. | multos annos latuit. ciues ferte opem et restinguite (XVII 41-2 Jocelyn); also, in a preserved line from Euripides’ Alexander we encounter the image of Hecate bearing a torch (the words were probably addressed to Hecuba by Cassandra): ÑEkãthw êgalma fvsfÒrou kÊvn ¶s˙ (Kannicht 62h). The dream of the queen was eventually fulfilled by the actual conflagration of the city of Troy. In the aftermath of the destruction, as the preserved Troades shows, the image of the torch is revived: Cassandra enters the stage with a bridal torch, which now symbolizes the destruction of her groom, Agamemnon (Troad. 308 ff.). The Leitmotiv of Euripides’ tetralogy seems to be compressed with great artistic mastery in the lines of Lucretius, where they illustrate the Epicurean principle that body and void are two necessary conditions for everything that took place in past.

Lucretius’ tragic flames were not extinguished by his great successor, Vergil. Ph. Hardie (1986, 232-3) pointed out that Lucretius’ lines, in particular the progress from metaphorical to literal fire, influenced Vergil’s treatment of the Carthaginian love-episode in Book Four of the Aeneid. In this book Vergil traced the story of Dido from the moment when her heart was set on fire by her love of Aeneas for the first time, until the moment when this fire escalated to a huge pyre in which she dies, abandoned by her lover. We might add that it is very likely that Vergil was not only aware of Lucretius’ lines, but also of Lucretius’ sources.