Music and the Poetics of Latin Narrative

Musical and enchanting qualities are typical of ancient narrative, be it in verse or prose. Music, even if simply described (as it must be in a written text) or metaphorically implied in key words like mulcere, productively interacts with narration. The role of narrated events is to produce images in the phantasia of the audience; music adds emotions, pathos, to this phantasia. Together, emotions and mental images create a vivid and credible narrative universe, which the audience is invited to enter.