L'uso di epos nella letteratura latina
Questioni testuali ed esegetiche (Lucilio, Orazio, Ovidio, Stazio, Marziale) e la definizione in Diomede (GLK III 483.27 ss.)
abstract
The contribution explores the use of epos in Latin literature, a very rare and often uncertain term in the manuscript tradition, in contrast with its later fortune. Starting from the examination of the detailed definition of it in Diomedes' Ars grammatica, all the five attestations of epos in Latin poets (Lucilius, Horace, Ovid, Statius and Martial) are examined, evaluating readings and conjectures in the search for the more reliable text, on the basis of the context and parallel passages. Research shows that the term in the Greek-Latin world had a partly different meaning from the current one, suitable for other literary genres, in addition to the epic poetry.
Keywords: Diomedes • Epic poetry • Epos • Latin poetry • Hexameter