The opening chapter of the second part considers how epic's 'middle ground' allows the solitary, intransigent, and dangerous Homeric heroes of the past to function as 'agents of integration' within the context of emergent pan-Hellenism in classical Greece. A chapter on Apollonius' Argonautica considers the epic common ground in the context of amechanie and the positioning of a 'secondary', derivative culture relative to its classical past. A chapter on Virgil considers the possibility of translation, both literally and in a broader cultural sense, of epic's 'common ground'. Two final chapters, on Lucan's Bellum Civile and Quintus of Smyrna's Posthomerica consider the end of epic's diachronic dialogue. The 'closure' of historical periods is examined through the perspective of epic's special language.
Diachronic Dialogues is a selective analysis of the history of ancient epic poetry.