| This dissertation integrates Virgil's poetry into a broader generic and philosophic context by relating it to Socratic and Varronian dialogue. I argue that Virgil's polyphony is connected to the dramatic style of Plato, Xenophon, and Varro, not just in its many voices but in the way that some of the voices are discredited through techniques of irony and parody. In addition, I show that the Georgics and Aeneid investigate similar questions about the nature and foundation of morality as Socratic dialogue and similarly blur the line between literature and philosophy.;In Part I, I show how the Georgics places itself in a tradition of agricultural dialogue, including Xenophon's Oeconomicus and Varro's De Re Rustica, which has the essentially philosophic purpose of juxtaposing the active and contemplative life, to the advantage of the latter. Farming represents not just the active life, but a type of hypocritical morality which conceals a self-interested, materialistic ethics. Since it is only recently that the Oeconomicus has been appreciated as a serious philosophic work, I dedicate Chapter 1 to an interpretation of it which demonstrates its subtle literary style and profound philosophic interest. The De Re Rustica has suffered even greater eclipse in the scholarly estimation of its literary and philosophic merit; thus, I devote Chapter 2 to producing a new reading of the De Re Rustica, which emphasizes its affinities with Socratic dialogue, as well as its anticipation of the philosophic themes of the Georgics . Chapter 3 shows how Virgil incorporates the Xenophontic and Varronian satire of the active life into his poem, only to go beyond it into an examination of the problems that the absence of a secure foundation for moral values poses in human life.;In Part II, I demonstrate how the Aeneid carries forward the philosophic project of the Georgics in exploring different conceptions of morality and the meaning of moral values, this time through a juxtaposition between Aeneas and Mezentius, who come to represent and redefine the meaning of pietas and impietas. |
