Nathaniel Solley, University of Pennsylvania
In this paper I argue that Horace’s famous transformation into a swan in Odes 2.20 can be identified with the constellation of the Bird (i.e. Cygnus) described in Aratus’ Phaenomena. The Bird (275-281) is contiguous with the Lyre (268-274), a constellation that symbolizes Horace’s genre in the Odes. I base my argument on three points: insights into astronomical texts have proved fruitful for the study of ancient poetry, since ancient readers were more attentive than modern readers to matters of astronomy and astrology (Green, 2014; Gee, 2013 & 2000; Possanza, 2004); the sequence of odes addressed to Maecenas forms a carefully constructed, coherent group (Santirocco, 1984); and Horace’s self-canonization fits with the development of narratives of catasterism (Zucker, 2022; Dicks, 1963). On this basis, I show that Odes 2.17 activates largely unnoticed celestial imagery in Odes 2.20.
The grotesque rendering of the skin and feathers of the bird has distracted from the celestial aspects of the swan’s description. The aether through which the bird flies points toward the celestial realm. The rough texture of the metamorphosing skin echoes Aratus’ description of a cluster of stars in the swan as having a rough texture. Moreover, the lists of places traversed by the bird begin in the east and end in the west, following the path of the constellation through the sky. The Hyperborean and Gaetulian locations trace Aratus’ northern and southern limits for the northern group of constellations.
The position of Odes 2.17 in the book is unique among the odes addressed to Maecenas, and the interval leading to Odes 2.20 is the shortest between any two such poems. Horace entertains the interest of his patron, Maecenas, with the use of technical terms for astronomical phenomena in Odes 2.17 (Kidd, 1982). To an astrologically minded reader, these terms would more naturally suggest geometrical relationships between constellations than the position of a constellation in relation to a human observer. The address to Maecenas and the sacrifice envisioned in final line (humilem feriemus agnam) connect the poem to Odes 1.1, in which the poet’s aspiration to the strike the stars with his head in the final line (feriam sidera) has been associated with catasterism. Thus, the end of Odes 2.17 is simultaneously a diminuendo and a hint at the type of immortality that will be achieved in Odes 2.20.
Constellations that did not have their identity fixed to the name of a specific individual tended to have various catasterism narratives attached to them over time. Horace refers to the swan as ales, following the tradition of Aratus’ ὄρνις and Cicero’s translation of Aratus (ales, fr. 33.47). By adding the adjective canorus, Horace gives a reason to associate the Bird with a swan, an identification codified by subsequent Roman adapters of Aratus, who present different aetiologies (e.g. Hyginus, Astronomica 2.8).
For these reasons, Horace’s metamorphosis can be understood not merely as a comic avian riff on Ennian and other models but as a catasterism.