Showing papers in "Classical World in 2011"
TL;DR: In Amores 3.1 Ovid establishes functional connections between the figure of Elegy and both the poetic puella and poet-speaker as discussed by the authors, and enhances the status of the puellas by making her, along with the poetspeaker, a practitioner of the arts of E/elegy, and he celebrates the female further by using Elegy to showcase his accomplishment.
Abstract: In Amores 3.1 Ovid establishes functional connections between the figure of Elegy and both the poetic puella and poet-speaker. This paper demonstrates how the elegiac puella shares qualities with both Elegy and the poet-speaker, especially the ability to persuade; and how this ability contributes to the puella 's function as a poeta herself, a role that the poet-speaker develops in other poems in Amores 1-3. Ovid enhances the status of the puella by making her, along with the poet-speaker, a practitioner of the arts of E/elegy, and he celebrates the female further by using Elegy to showcase his accomplishment.
30 citations
TL;DR: In Epistles 1.2.2, Horace designs summaries of the Iliad and Odyssey to function as critical exercises for someone who intends to read Homer's epics for moral insight as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In Epistles 1.2, Horace designs his summaries of the Iliad and Odyssey to function as critical exercises for someone who intends to read Homer's epics for moral insight. Horace models two approaches to reading Homer, one insufficiently self-reflective and the other excessively so. With allusions to metapoetically significant episodes in the epics, Horace points out the attractions and pitfalls of the readings he models, and implies that a moral reading of Homer requires a balanced and individualized approach.
21 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined Livy's depiction of prominent women as exempla in book 1 of his history and found that the ideal public role of these women is to support the efforts of their men to make the Roman state strong and stable, a role which appears to be an elaboration of women's efforts with respect to their families.
Abstract: This paper examines Livy's depiction of prominent women as exempla in book 1 of his history. It seems that the ideal public role of these women is to support the efforts of their men to make the Roman state strong and stable-a role which appears to be an elaboration of women's efforts with respect to their families. It is clear, however, that Livy complicates each exemplum and that the women generally fall short in this role, so that the overall picture is one of inherent instability, in which men must be wary of the influence of prominent women.
18 citations
TL;DR: The progymnasmata were graded prose compositional exercises, often begun under the grammarian and continued under the sophist or rhetor as discussed by the authors, which were preliminary to exercises in declamation.
Abstract: The progymnasmata were graded prose compositional exercises, often begun under the grammarian and continued under the sophist or rhetor. They were preliminary to exercises in declamation. This paper examines their content and role in education in the Roman Empire. Considerable attention is paid to their discussion in theoretical treatises, almost entirely in Greek. Appreciation of these modes of discourse is important to the student of antiquity, not only because of their role in education, but also because they continued to surface in the writings of adults into whose heads they had been ingrained during their school days.
12 citations
TL;DR: A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls (1851) and Tanglewood Tales (1853) have been retelling Greek and Roman myths for children and have been a widespread and influential means of popularizing classical material as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Since Nathaniel Hawthorne's pioneering A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls (1851) and Tanglewood Tales (1853), retelling Greek and Roman myths for children has been a widespread and influential means of popularizing classical material. While Hawthorne unabashedly appropriated the myths as entertainment for young readers, works by his contemporary counterparts (such as the "Myth-O-Mania" series, Greece! Rome! Monsters! , and the Percy Jackson series) display a more anxious and conflicted approach to the same material, caught between the aims of educating their readers about antiquity and appealing to their readers' presumed hostility to school and learning.
10 citations
TL;DR: A reexamination of evidence for the Matronalia's participants and distinct components reveals its significance as a family observance that contributed to the welfare of the domus as a whole.
Abstract: Scholars have long contended that the Matronalia was a “women’s festival,” dominated by matrons’ rites to Juno Lucina at her temple on the Esquiline hill. This paper challenges standard interpretations and argues that the Matronalia was much more comprehensive. A reexamination of evidence for the festival’s participants and distinct components reveals its significance as a family observance that contributed to the welfare of the domus as a whole. The Matronalia brought together the household’s diverse members in a ritual that had the potential to promote unity and collective identity, while reaffirming core social values regarding gender and juridical status in particular.
10 citations
TL;DR: Quintilian communicates definite ideas about the educability of children from the perspectives of the history of education and childhood, his innovation is a theory of the child as a learning subject as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Quintilian communicates definite ideas about the educability of children. From the perspectives of the history of education and childhood, his innovation is a theory of the child as a learning subject. The child (consistently represented as the male, free puer ) has a native mimetic ability lacking judgment but with a natural, almost bodily need for book learning. The teacher (not parent) shapes the child’s developing mind just as if he were writing a book from a clean slate. The maturation of the child is imagined not in biological or social terms but as a correlate to the process of writing.
9 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the letters of Cicero, Pliny, Fronto, and Sidonius Apollinaris and argued that the violence inherent in these eroticized power relations bursts out at the end of the Republic.
Abstract: Scholars have explored the ways in which Roman oratorical training worked to construct masculinity, and vice versa. This essay historicizes Roman oratorical discourse by examining the letters of Cicero, Pliny, Fronto, and Sidonius Apollinaris. A number of Cicero’s correspondents are identified as his possible apprentices, with particular attention to a group of letters exhibiting the language of sentimental friendship, and the vocabulary of bonded master/apprentice pairs is compared with the vocabulary of oratorical invective against youthful corruption. At the end of the Republic , I argue, the violence inherent in these eroticized power relations bursts out.
8 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that misconceptions about the anatomy of deaf-muteness, combined with the focus on rhetoric, might have had an impact on the lives of the deaf- mutes and the approach towards these people, at lest in certain social environments.
Abstract: This article highlights all known instances of individual deaf-mutes in antiquity, with special attention as to how their symptoms were described, which effects were emphasized, and in what context the cases were reported. Next, the Greek and Latin vocabulary to denote deaf-muteness will be examined. Then comparative anthropology, literary sources, papyri, inscriptions, and juridic cases are used to describe daily life conditions of deaf-mutes. As a conclusion, I suggest that misconceptions about the anatomy of deaf-muteness, combined with the focus on rhetoric, might have had an impact on the lives of the deaf-mutes and the approach towards these people, at lest in certain social environments.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the language of the heroine in Sophocles' Electra and the effects of her language on the shape of the tragedy itself, and argue that Electra uses these tools of speech and song to direct the course of vengeance at the end of the play.
Abstract: This paper examines the language of the heroine in Sophocles' Electra and the effects of her language. Though Electra is initially rendered powerless by circumstances, she nonetheless imposes her priorities on other characters and on the shape of the tragedy itself. I focus particularly on two scenes in which Electra's character is expressed through lyrics and lamentation: her opening entrance and her mourning over the urn that supposedly holds her brother's ashes. I then argue that Electra uses these tools of speech and song to direct the course of vengeance at the end of the play.
6 citations
TL;DR: A cultural response to language can be detected in the mythology concerning three pairs of male and female deities in Roman religion: Liber/Libera, Faunus/Fauna, and Janus/Jana as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A cultural response to language can be detected in the mythology concerning three pairs of male and female deities in Roman religion: Liber/Libera, Faunus/Fauna, and Janus/Jana. Their same-name status usually invokes the familial relationships of the agnatic nomenclatural system, that is, brother/sister and father/daughter. The interpretation of Liber/Libera and Faunus/Fauna as husband-wife pairs in some authors could be understood in terms of the same-name status of agnatic cousins; but such marriages are rarely attested. The unusual or even scandalous treatments of these same-name divine spouses in Latin literature are best understood in light of contemporary issues in Roman culture.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the treatment of knowledge in three dialogues: Meno, Theaetetus, and Republic, and find that the Form of the Good is metaphysically primary.
Abstract: Plato’s epistemology is closely related to his metaphysics and ethics. The basic reason for this is that Plato thinks that knowledge ( ἐπιστήµη )—in at least one of the senses in which he uses this word—requires explanation. Fully adequate explanation must refer to what is metaphysically primary. The Form of the Good is metaphysically primary. Hence, fully adequate explanation must be teleological. This paper endeavors to clarify these fundamental points through an examination of Plato’s treatment of knowledge in three dialogues: Meno , Theaetetus , and Republic .
TL;DR: This article showed that Caesar treats Cato with much more restraint in his Bellum Civile than is commonly thought, and that treating Cato with greater restraint ultimately serves to add weight and credibility to his condemnation of Pompey.
Abstract: This paper demonstrates that Caesar treats Cato with much more restraint in his Bellum Civile than is commonly thought. Cato appears only three times and, although the overall portrayal is far from positive, Caesar consistently shields him from much worse. The reason for this relatively mild presentation has less to do with Cato than Pompey. Caesar, despite his personal animosity toward Cato, decides to use his implacable foe to voice a devastating rebuke of Pompey from within his own faction. Treating Cato with greater restraint ultimately serves to add weight and credibility to his condemnation of Pompey.
TL;DR: Two well-known but puzzling facts from the life of Socrates bring into question either what we know about him or what we understand about Athenian democracy, or perhaps both as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Two well-known but puzzling facts from the life of Socrates bring into question either what we know about him or what we know about Athenian democracy—or perhaps both. These facts are (a) his term as member of the Council ( Boule ) in 406/5 and (b) his military service as a hoplite. The first puzzle can be solved only in the context of the extraordinary crisis of manpower in Athens in 406. The second can be solved only if we assume that, despite his poverty, Socrates retained his inherited membership in the third-census class of zeugitai .
TL;DR: The relationship between Horace's poem and Lucilius' iter Brundisinum and Aristophanes' Frogs has been examined in this article, where it was shown that Horace was more extensively indebted to Frogs than had previously been recognized.
Abstract: This article reconsiders the relationship between Horace’s iter Brundisinum ( Sat. 1.5), Lucilius’ iter Siculum (book 3), and Aristophanes’ Frogs . It argues that both Horace’s poem and Lucilius’ are more extensively indebted to Frogs than had previously been recognized; that Horace’s claim ( Sat . 1.4.1–7) that Lucilius was “totally dependent” on Old Comedy has a superficial plausibility if one considers only Lucilius’ first three books, though hardly applicable to his whole corpus; and that Horace chose to link Lucilian satura with Old Comedy, rather than with Archilochus and the iambographers, because in his Epodes he was presenting himself as Archilochus’ heir.
TL;DR: This article examined a loose, popularized translation of Aeneid 1 and 4 published in 1870 by a small New England newspaper and argued that the translation was intended to be a response to the marginalization of the classics in school curricula and a useful pedagogical tool for attracting students to Vergil.
Abstract: This paper examines a loose, popularized translation of Aeneid 1 and 4 published in 1870 by a small New England newspaper. Through evaluation of the translator’s preface and related material, I argue that the text was intended to be a response to the marginalization of the classics in school curricula and a useful pedagogical tool for attracting students to Vergil. I then consider the translation in relation to the long tradition of Vergilian travesty and propose that it can be read as a combinatorial parody that satirizes both the original epic and nineteenth-century American society in an attempt to increase interest in the classics.
TL;DR: This paper used a female voice belonging to an inferior class that survives in a well-known inscription (CIL 6.18817 = ILS 8006) as its primary testimony regarding the manes, and deployed parallels from Latin literature as subsidiary aids to the interpretation of what she had to say.
Abstract: As a methodological experiment, this article privileges a female voice belonging to an inferior class that survives in a well-known inscription (CIL 6.18817 = ILS 8006) as its primary testimony regarding the manes, and it deploys parallels from Latin literature (Cicero, Propertius, Vergil, Ovid, Juvenal, and Apuleius) as subsidiary aids to the interpretation of what she had to say. Results suggest that we might use female-authored inscriptions as a means to assess the authenticity of male-authored representations of female experience, thus allowing us to recoup from both types of sources more evidence than we might have expected from either in isolation.
TL;DR: The authors analyzes several English versions of the Pyrrha ode, Horace 1.5, from the perspective of Ezra Pound's threefold distinction between logopoeia, melopsoeia, and phanopeia as categories of poetic language captured in a good translation.
Abstract: Studying divergent translations of the same poem assists in teaching intermediate Latin students how to read Horace effectively. This essay analyzes several English versions of the Pyrrha ode, Horace 1.5, from the perspective of Ezra Pound's threefold distinction between logopoeia, melopoeia , and phanopeia as categories of poetic language captured in a good translation. As the concept that includes a poem's ironical play with the normative contexts for language, logopoeia in particular encourages students to observe how a radical departure from the original may in fact bring them closer to an understanding of the rhetorical density of Horace.
TL;DR: The interpretation in the Greek-English Lexicon of the word φπη, "sickle," in line 567 of Nicander's Theriaca is challenged by as discussed by the authors, arguing that it refers to the jaw of the hippopotamus rather than its tooth.
Abstract: This note challenges the interpretation in the Greek-English Lexicon of the word ἅρπη, "sickle," in line 567 of Nicander's Theriaca , arguing that it refers to the jaw of the hippopotamus rather than its tooth. A survey of usage from the Archaic through the Hellenistic period suggests an association in Greek literature between jaws and sickles that is also found in the languages and archaeological records of other discrete cultures.
TL;DR: The authors examines how the Homeric scepter is used, and why it serves as the pre-eminent symbol of authority in epic, and concludes that it is a cudgel, a symbol of the ruling class's power to inflict humiliating punishment on their inferiors.
Abstract: This article examines how the Homeric scepter is used, and why it serves as the pre-eminent symbol of authority in epic. Contrary to the long-held view that it is used as a "talking-stick" and passes from speaker to speaker, in virtually every Homeric assembly, the scepter is held by only one man: the man who convened it, and whose concerns the assembly will have to address. Nor is the scepter a mystical talisman—rather, at its simplest level it is a cudgel, a symbol of the ruling class' power to inflict humiliating punishment on their inferiors.
TL;DR: In the Life of Dion, Plutarch depicts Plato's lasting success with Dion and inevitable failure with Dionysius through each man's relationship with outside, non-philosophical influences as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For Plutarch, the importance of education is paramount, and yet in the Lives the success of education is not always guaranteed. In the Life of Dion , Plutarch depicts Plato's lasting success with Dion and inevitable failure with Dionysius through each man's relationship with outside, non-philosophical influences. The detrimental impact of such influences is a matter of constant concern for the aspiring statesman, and its significance as a theme in the Dion recalls anxieties expressed in the Republic of Plato. Ultimately, Plutarch's Dion demonstrates the practical boundaries of philosophical instruction, which proves to be largely dependent on environment and divine will.
TL;DR: The authors argued that Catullus' pretensions of poverty privilege poetry over wealth, and pointed out that the poet's detractors did not care about the name of the neighborhood in which Catulla lived.
Abstract: This paper argues that the address to the fundus in Catullus 44 reveals a poetic persona that rejects some values shared by other members of Rome's social elite. It reviews Catullus' self-presentation elsewhere, concluding that Catullus' pretensions of poverty privilege poetry over wealth, and then claims that Catullus' language in this poem specifically implies that the poet's detractors, not the poet, care about the name of Catullus' suburban neighborhood. The pragmatic function of this poem is thus to distance Catullus from such concerns and to underscore the importance of poetry over social status.