EICKS, M.,
Liebe und Lyrik. Zur Funktiom des erotischen Diskurses in Horazens erster Odensammlung.
De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston, 2011. X,376p. Original grey cloth. Light remains of pencil striks of front cover. A lot of reviewer's pencil markings and annotations. Series: Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, Band 291. ‘In 2011 Mathias Eicks’ ‘Liebe und Lyrik. Zur Funktion des erotischen Diskurses in Horzanes Odensammlung’ appeared. Unlike many other scholars - first among them Fraenkel (1957) - Eicks considers Horace’s love poems to be the very core of his lyric poetry. (…) Chapter I consists of a status questions and a description of the book’s purpose. With chapter II, an interpretation of the cluster of love poems 3.26-28, Eicks wants to illustrate how Horace constructs clusters, i.e. larger units. He calls 3.26-28 a triptych of love and demonstrates how in these odes three typical love situations are presented chronologically: the young Chloe being reluctant, Galatea on the verge of marriage and the older Lydia, together with Horace, enjoying an Epicurean (love) union. Furthermore, Eicks believes that we are dealing with a triple goodbye to love (poetry) (…). In chapters III-IV we first get a study of the parade odes (Carm. 1.1-9) and then of the clusters 1.13-17 and 3.7-12. Eicks not only shows that the love theme is present in each of the nine parade odes, but also that the theme undergoes a meaningful evolution over the course of the nine poems. Besides (…) the programmatic love poem Card. 1.5 prefigures the essential aspects of Horace’s love poetry (thus Eicks p.287 and p.331). (…) Chapter V, p.229-319, is the most important chapter of the book. It discusses the connections between the theme of love and the other core themes in Horace’s lyric poetry. The ties between the theme of love and the other central themes - symposium, friendship, ethical and political considerations - are made in several ways by Horace: (1) through a reprise of the motive of divine rescue (…), (2) through the role of the counsellor, which the poet repeatedly plays (…), and (3) through the reoccurrence of the image of the cave (…). Chapter VI offers some conclusions. Of crucial importance is the fact that it is due to the love poems that the poet can obtain an autonomous position towards Augustus within the whole of his Carmina 1-3. (…) Also interesting is the way in which Eicks demonstrates how the evolution of the love theme from the ‘Epodes’ to ‘Carmina’ proves that for Horace love poetry is the core of his lyric poetry. (…) In my opinion Eicks also very convincingly demonstrates that the position developed by Horace as a lyricist and love poet is crucial for his strategy of assuring the independence of his discourse towards Augustus (see e.g. p.296). (…) Less obvious is the thesis that Horace’s experience and (wise) attitude towards love, are the foundation of his authoritative demeanour in other areas of life. (…) I also think the following remark is of importance. By maximalizing the functionality of the discourse of love on p.321-324, Eicks overshoots the mark. By interpreting the theme of love and its discourse solely in function of political themes, ticks obscures the value of the them of love in itself as an irreplaceable component of a full life and of lyric poetry.’ (WILLY EVENEPOEL in Ancient Society, 2015, pp.307-311).
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