Guy Valery Flaccus (poet)

Imitated Virgil ; lived in the I century. Born, as can be seen from one of the epigrams of Marcial (I, 62, 77), in Patavia , dedicated his epic poem to Vespasian and died, as Dodwell concludes from some of the hints of Quintilian , in the 88th year.

The only surviving work of Valery is his unfinished epic poem in 8 books about the campaign of the Argonauts : “ Argonauticon libri octo ”, written according to the plan of Apollonius of Rhodes , the poet of the Alexandrian era . The Latin author in some places literally conveys the original, in some places complements it, introducing new faces, developing separate positions.

So, for example, losing sight of the geographical details of the poem by Apollonius of Rhodes, Valerius Flaccus develops in a romantic spirit the episode of Jason's stay in Colchis . In the first book, Jason's farewell and the killing of his parents serve the poet as a pretext for rhetorical methods of presentation. The stay of the Argonauts in Lemnos and in general the adventures of the heroes before their arrival into the possession of Eeta are especially detailed. The eighth book is cut short by Medea ’s request that Jason take it with him on his way back home. Completed the poem by Valeria Pii Bologna , author of the Renaissance.

“ Argonauticon ” is one of those works that are widely known but read very little. Based on Quintilian's remark: “ Multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus ” (X, I), the oldest Latinists, like Scaliger , Genzius , Weichert , put on a very high poetic talent of Valery Flaccus; even one of the newest philologists, Wagner ^[2] , considers him the second epic poet after Virgil. But, undoubtedly, an impartial critic will not find anything in “ Argonauticon ” that would exceed mediocrity. Poem Guy Valerius Flaccus testifies to the author’s diligence and scholarship; he sometimes succeeds in approaching Virgil, whom he always imitates, by the grace of the verse, but he is completely devoid of inspiration and originality of his model.

The poem of Valery Flaccus was unknown in the Middle Ages . For the first time in 1416, during the Constance Cathedral , Poggio Bracciolini opened the manuscript of the first three and the beginning of the fourth book in the S. Gall monastery . Editio princeps was made (very carelessly) in 1472 in Bologna by Hugo Ruguerius and D. Bertahus. Then many good publications appeared in Italy and Holland ; of these, the best of Petrus Burmanus in Leiden (4th ed., 1724). Of the newest editions, the French edition of Lemaire ( Paris , 8 volumes, 1824) is the most convenient for reading. 8 The book was published separately, with critical remarks, by Wayhert, in 1818.

Valery Flaccus translations are available in German, English and Italian; only passages were translated into Russian, and in 2013, book I.

• Latin text
• English translation of Mosley in the “ Loeb classical library ” series (No. 286): see online
• In the “ Collection Budé ” series, the poem is published in 2 volumes.

Russian translation of excerpts:

• Information about Scythia and the Caucasus // VDI . 1949. № 2. S. 340-351.
• Valery Flaccus. Argonavtika. Book I / Per. by ed. A. V. Podosinova. - M .: Impeto, 2013. - 104 p.

• Albrecht M. Fon . History of Roman literature. T. 2. M., 2004. pp. 1018-1030.

• Vengerova Z. A. Valery Flakk // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.