WORMS AND THE MAN IN LUCILIUS. (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goh, Ian
• Is Part Of: Classical quarterly. Volume 71:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 624
• Page End: 631
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: Lucilius -- worms -- mosaic -- insects -- phthiriasis -- satire -- invective -- Republican lawcourt; Classical philology -- Periodicals; Classical literature -- Periodicals; 880
• DOI: 10.1017/S0009838821000756
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0009-8388

Abstract

Abstract: This piece explores possible reasons for Lucilius' suggestive reference to worms, emblemate uermiculato, in the famous comment (about speech arranged akin to mosaics) which has survived from Book 2 of the satirist. The fragment can be set metatextually amid other extracts of Lucilius to show the poet's agency and skill, considered as having influenced aspects of its own afterlife (especially in Hor. Sat . 2.4) and appreciated in its historical context as a hit at Publius Mucius Scaevola, who died from phthiriasis.