Claiming <i>pietas</i> : Vergilian Rhetoric in Valerius Flaccus’ <i>Argonautica</i>

Abstract The opening of Book 4 of Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica finds its protagonists confounded by the loss of Hercules, their hero-of-heroes whom Juno has caused to run off. As the Argonauts deliberate, loyalty to the man contends with the desire to carry on his heroic labor , presented in terms of Vergilian arma uirumque . This paper uses the debate over Hercules’ abandonment as a case study for Valerius’ engagement with Vergil’s celebration of the fides, pietas and magnanimitas of his hero as the foundation of Roman political legitimacy. By setting Valerius’ Vergilian framing in dialogue with his engagement with Lucan’s Bellum Ciuile and Horace’s Epodes , I argue that the Argonautica rereads Aeneas’ exemplary model as a guide to internecine conflict, exploring how the essential Augustan concepts of duty and familial fidelity may be encoded and reproduced to a very different effect.