The poet’s new clothes: A study of Aratus’ original style as reflected in the three Roman translations of his Φαινόμενα
The poet’s new clothes: A study of Aratus’ original style as reflected in the three Roman translations of his Φαινόμενα

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores the way three Roman translators of Aratus’ Φαινόμενα (Cicero, Germanicus and Avienus) treated the style of the original and what were their reasons for treating in such a way. These considerations should, furthermore, be also revealing as to the general conceptions and ideas the translators had about their task. The three stylistic features of Aratus assessed in detail in this paper are: (1) word play (as a typically Hellenistic asset); (2) personification and comparison (understood in a way characteristic of Aratus’ poem); (3) references to the poet-teacher and the pupil-reader (as a recurrent motive in didactic poetry).

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