Ennius’ Roman Medea

Amanda J. Sherpe (University of Colorado, Boulder)

The Medea Exul gives us a remarkable glimpse of Ennius’ methodology and practice in translating Greek tragedies since not only are there a large amount of corresponding fragments but also, while the basic subject matter is little changed from Euripides’ Medea, the style and format are quite different from its original. Building on the arguments of Zetzel, Roller and Feeney (Zetzel, ‘Catullus, Ennius, and the Poetics of Allusion’, ICS 8: 251–66 (1983); Roller, "Euripides, Ennius, and Roman Origins" AncW 27.2: 168–171 (1996); Feeney, Caesar’s Calendar: Ancient Time and the Beginnings of History (Berkeley and Los Angeles 2007) esp. pp.118-20), this paper argues that in his Medea Exul, Ennius has carefully employed a specific set of terms from Roman religious, political and social language that have resonance with his audience. The paper directs its attention to the points in the text where Ennius has deviated from Euripides’ original, such as the prologue, where it explores how, through the utilization of this type of specialized language, Ennius has altered and Romanized not only the vocabulary and style, but also the underlying themes of the play. Euripides introduced his subject matter in the first line of his play, by naming the Argo, which immediately brings to mind the cycle of Jason and the Argonauts and sets this play firmly within the heroic world, but Ennius instead rearranged the chronology of the events and eliminated most person or place names that orient the audience to the subject matter. Then, Ennius inserted specialized set of vocabulary from Roman religious ceremony that shifts his play into the sacred realm. For example, the location for the famous tree-felling is a nemus, a word which often refers to a grove of trees worshiped in conjunction with a deity. In addition, the instrument for and product of this action, axes (secures) and fir-wood (abiegna trabes), have religious implications in that secures were often associated with Roman magistrates as a symbol their authority and abies were linked to sacred groves. In the next line, the pleonastic gerund inchoandi exordium evokes formulaic language, and, according to Servius, the rare verb inchoare has a religious undertone. By emphasizing different events and creating a religious rather than heroic context, Ennius has modified the tone of the prologue and has framed the events of the play in terms of religious violation. Rearrangements of syntax, modifications of meaning and shifts in mythological tradition, which in several fragments emphasize a religious theme and alter the characterization of Medea, transfer the substance and effect of Euripides’ tragedy into a Roman cultural context.