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Document Details : Title: 'Narres, si poteris narrare' (Ov., Met. 3.192-193) Subtitle: Nonnus' (Dion. 5.287-551) Response to Artemis' Challenge to Actaeon in Ovid Author(s): VERHELST, Berenice Journal: Latomus Volume: 77 Issue: 3 Date: 2018 Pages: 773-786 DOI: 10.2143/LAT.77.3.3285387 Abstract : Whether Nonnus knew Ovid has been the subject of much discussion, and arguments concerning the Actaeon episodes in the Dionysiaca and Metamorphoses have been central to this debate from the start. Even the advocates of a direct influence of Ovid on Nonnus usually assume that Nonnus’ borrowings from the Latin version reduce to minor textual echoes. This article explores the possibility of a more playful and provocative type of allusive engagement and reads the speech of Actaeon’s ghost (Dionysiaca 5.415-532) as Nonnus’ reaction to the challenge posed to Ovid’s Actaeon by Artemis: narres, si poteris narrare (Metamorphoses 3.192-193). Similarly, Actaeon’s first speech (Dionysiaca 5.337-365) appears as an allusive response to the prophetic words of Athena in Callimachus’ Hymn 5. |
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