"Ast ubi…": Five Hexameters at Satyrica 99.3
This article argues that a passage of the Satyrica (99.3), long printed as prose, in fact consists of five consecutive hexameters. The corruption can be explained by common scribal practice: verse written continuously without lineation was either left for the reader to recognize or was subsequently...
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| Formato: | Artículo revista |
| Lenguaje: | Español Inglés |
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Ediciones UNL
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | https://bibliotecavirtual.unl.edu.ar/publicaciones/index.php/index/article/view/15327 |
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| Sumario: | This article argues that a passage of the Satyrica (99.3), long printed as prose, in fact consists of five consecutive hexameters. The corruption can be explained by common scribal practice: verse written continuously without lineation was either left for the reader to recognize or was subsequently normalized into prose when metre was no longer perceived. In this case intrusion of unpoetic forms and rearrangements of word order obscured the original structure. With the removal of alien elements and systematic rearrangement of the word order, the passage resolves itself into a coherent sequence of hexameters whose diction finds secure parallels in Vergil, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The recognition of these lines as verse enriches our understanding of Petronius’ prosimetric art and illustrates the vulnerability of his text in transmission, where the subtle interplay of prose and poetry could easily be effaced.
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