Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval

Epic and Empire in Vespasianic Rome: A New Reading of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica

Tim Stover

This book offers a new reading of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, a poem which is here dated to Vespasian's regime (70–79 ce). Its primary purpose is to show that Valerius' epic reflects ... More

This book offers a new reading of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, a poem which is here dated to Vespasian's regime (70–79 ce). Its primary purpose is to show that Valerius' epic reflects the restorative ideals of Vespasianic Rome, a thesis that sets it apart from the largely ‘pessimistic’ readings of other scholars. An important element of Valerius' poetics of recovery is an engagement with Lucan's iconoclastic Bellum Civile, a poem whose deconstructive tendencies offered Valerius a poetic point of departure for his attempt to renew the epic genre in the context of the political renewal triggered by Vespasian's accession to power. Thus, a secondary purpose of this study is to examine Valerius' response to his most recent epic predecessor, Lucan, a topic that has been woefully understudied. Accordingly, this work interprets Valerius' Argonauticaas a reaction to two primary stimuli, one poetic — Lucan's deconstructive epic of civil war — and one political — Vespasian's restoration of order following the destructive civil war of 68–69. The approach is thus both formalist and historicist: the book seeks not only to elucidate Valerius' dynamic appropriation of Lucan but also to associate the Argonautica's formal gestures with a specific socio-political context. Less

Exemplary Epic: Silius Italicus' Punica

Ben Tipping

The force of example was a distinctive determiner of Roman identity. However, examples always rely upon the response of an audience, and are dependent upon context. Even where the ... More

The force of example was a distinctive determiner of Roman identity. However, examples always rely upon the response of an audience, and are dependent upon context. Even where the example presented is positive, we cannot always suppress any negative associations it may also carry. This book considers the virtues and vices they embody, their status as exemplars, and the process by which Silius as epic poet heroizes, demonizes, and establishes models. The book argues that example is a vital source of significance within the Punica, but also an inherently unstable mode, the lability of which affects both Silius' epic heroes and his villainous Hannibal. Less

Feminine Discourse in Roman Comedy: On Echoes and Voices

Dorota M. Dutsch

Ancient scholiasts and modern scholars have long been aware of a specialized feminine vocabulary (terms of endearment, a special word for ‘please’, and interjections) used by the authors ... More

Ancient scholiasts and modern scholars have long been aware of a specialized feminine vocabulary (terms of endearment, a special word for ‘please’, and interjections) used by the authors of Roman comedy. This study investigates the cultural implications of these linguistic choices for female characters. Lexical mannerisms are, it emerges, only one manifestation of a larger tendency to portray women as disregarding of interpersonal boundaries and moral principles in their attitudes towards others and themselves. Yet comedy also employs allegedly feminine features of speech as a way to undermine masculine identities, creating ambiguous figures such as the comic lover. Conversely, masculine points of view are often grafted onto the speech of comedic women. Most comedic roles thus represent both the dominant cultural discourse (male) and the voices this discourse attempts to exclude (female). The tension between these voices, which constitutes an implicit theme in the first half of this study, takes center stage in the second half. This part of the book explores the interfaces between the feminine discourses of Roman comedy and other ancient perceptions about gender and speech. Contemporary Roman notions of gender and boundaries, and Plautus' use of bacchanalia as a metaphor for acting, come into focus first. The narrative moves further away from Plautus and Terence, to examine Greek and Roman assumptions about identity and language, and then moves to propose that the Platonic concept of the chôra is a particularly useful lens for examining the feminine in Roman comedy. Less

Forgotten Stars: Rediscovering Manilius' Astronomica

Steven J. Green, Katharina Volk (eds)

The Astronomica of Manilius is a poem in five books, at least partly written under Augustus, which purports to teach the reader the art of astrology and the means by which an accurate ... More

The Astronomica of Manilius is a poem in five books, at least partly written under Augustus, which purports to teach the reader the art of astrology and the means by which an accurate horoscope may be cast. It is, therefore, a text from the classical age of Latin literature which deals with a topic to whose enduring popular interest any daily western newspaper will testify. And yet, despite some notable modern exceptions, the infamously harsh verdict of Manilius’ most famous twentieth-century editor, A. E. Housman, continues to cast an imposing shadow on the poem, especially for Anglophone readers. The current volume—seeks to lift this shadow once and for all, as it brings together an international contingent of scholars for an interdisciplinary exploration of Manilius at an auspiciously significant time, close to the bimillennial celebration of the poem’s composition. The range of perspectives from which Manilius is approached in the present volume is testament to both the complexity of Manilius and the differing fruitful avenues for modern interdisciplinary enquiry. Matters of literary interest, especially generic affiliation and intertextuality, are complemented by approaches which assess the socio-political, philosophical, scientific, and astrological resonance of the poem. Moreover, as a salutary counterbalance to the relative neglect of our author in recent times, the popular reception of the poem, especially in Renaissance times, is also explored. Less

Frontiers of Pleasure: Models of Aesthetic Response in Archaic and Classical Greek Thought

Anastasia-Erasmia Peponi

This book calls into question a number of influential modern notions regarding aesthetics by going back to the very beginnings of aesthetic thought in Greece and raising critical issues ... More

This book calls into question a number of influential modern notions regarding aesthetics by going back to the very beginnings of aesthetic thought in Greece and raising critical issues about Greek conceptions of how one responds to the beautiful. The analysis centers on a dominant aspect of beauty—the aural—associated with a highly influential sector of culture that comprised both poetry and instrumental music, the “activity of the Muses” named mousikê. The main argument relies on a series of close-grained readings of literary and philosophical texts, from Homer and Plato to Kant, Joyce, and Proust. Through detailed attention to such scenes as Odysseus’s encounter with the Sirens and Hermes’s playing of his newly invented lyre for his brother Apollo, the book demonstrates that the most telling moments in the conceptualization of the aesthetic are found in the Greeks’ debates and struggles over intense models of auditory pleasure. Despite a recent rebirth of interest in aesthetics, extensive discussion of this key cluster of topics has been lacking. Unlike current tendencies to treat poetry as an early, imperfect mode of meditating upon such issues, the author claims that Greek poetry and philosophy employed equally complex, albeit different, ways of articulating notions of aesthetic response. As a whole, the book discusses alternative modes of understanding aesthetics in its entirety. Less

The Function of Humour in Roman Verse Satire: Laughing and Lying

Maria Plaza

Our image of Roman satire has developed from that of a static, moralizing genre to a deliberately complex form, but our approach to the humour intrinsic to satire has not developed ... More

Our image of Roman satire has developed from that of a static, moralizing genre to a deliberately complex form, but our approach to the humour intrinsic to satire has not developed accordingly. This book offers a comprehensive new analysis of humour in the writings of Horace, Persius, and Juvenal, with an excursus to Lucilius. The main thesis is that far from being an external means of sweetening the moral lesson, humour lies at the heart of Roman satire and shapes its paradoxical essence. The book argues that while the satirist needs humour for the aesthetic merit of his work, his ideological message inevitably suffers from the ambivalence that humour carries. By analyzing object-oriented humour, humour directed at the speaker (including self-irony), and humour directed at neither object nor subject, the book shows how the Roman satirists work round this double mission of morals and merriment. As a result, they present the reader with a much more sprawling and ‘open’ literary product than they promise in their programmatic self-presentations. The argument is rounded off by a contemplation of the end of Roman satire, and its descendants — not only modern satire but also the novel, in which satire’s humorous orchestration of epic questions was later taken up and richly elaborated. Less

Funny Words in Plautine Comedy

Michael Fontaine

Plautus, Rome's earliest extant poet, was acclaimed by ancient critics above all for his mastery of language and his felicitous jokes; and yet in modern times relatively little attention ... More

Plautus, Rome's earliest extant poet, was acclaimed by ancient critics above all for his mastery of language and his felicitous jokes; and yet in modern times relatively little attention has been devoted to elucidating these elements fully. In Funny Words in Plautine Comedy, Michael Fontaine reassesses some of the premises and nature of Plautine comedy. Combining textual and literary criticism, the author argues that many of Plautus’ jokes and puns were misunderstood already in antiquity, and that with them the names and identities of some familiar characters were misconceived. Central to his study are issues of Plautine language, style, humor, psychology, coherence of characterization, and irony. By examining the comedian's tendency to make up and misuse words, Fontaine sheds new light on the close connection between Greek and Roman comedy. Considerable attention is also paid to Plautus’ audience and to the visual elements in his plays. The result is a reappraisal that will challenge many received views of Plautus, positioning him as a poet writing in the Hellenistic tradition for a knowledgeable and sophisticated audience. A final chapter investigates Plautus’ use of double entendre—that is, his sexual jokes and puns—and offers a new interpretation of his parasites as characters who allude to Greek pederasty. All quotations from Latin, Greek, and other foreign languages are translated. Extensive indices, including a “pundex,” facilitate ease of reference among the many jokes and plays on words discussed in the text. Less

The Further Academic Papers of Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones

Hugh Lloyd-Jones

This collection of papers completes the published Academic Papers of Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, who has a worldwide reputation as one of the foremost classical scholars of his generation. It ... More

This collection of papers completes the published Academic Papers of Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, who has a worldwide reputation as one of the foremost classical scholars of his generation. It follows on from the two volumes published in 1990, reflecting his exceptionally wide interests in the fields of Greek epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy, Hellenistic literature, religion, and intellectual history. It contains important and thought-provoking recent articles on Prometheus Bound, ritual and tragedy, Greek religion and modern ethics. Less

Gilbert Murray Reassessed: Hellenism, Theatre, and International Politics

Christopher Stray (ed.)

This book presents an account of the life and work of the distinguished scholar and public figure Gilbert Murray (1866-1957). Sixteen contributors survey his childhood, his work in the ... More

This book presents an account of the life and work of the distinguished scholar and public figure Gilbert Murray (1866-1957). Sixteen contributors survey his childhood, his work in the theatre and in international relations, his Greek scholarship and contributions on religion and philosophy, his friendships (including those with Bertrand Russell and A. E. Housman), his long commitment to the Home University Library, his radio work, and his involvement with psychic research. The book opens with memoirs by two of his grandchildren. Two biographies of Murray were published in the 1980s, but the range of his activities makes it impossible for a single person to encompass them all adequately. This book, published fifty years after his death, aims to provide a new reassessment of a remarkable man. Less

Greek Lyric, Tragedy, and Textual Criticism: Collected Papers

W. S. Barrett

M. L. West (ed.)

W. S. Barrett (1914-2001) was one of the finest Hellenists of the second half of the 20th century, known above all for his celebrated edition of Euripides' Hippolytus. This volume of his ... More

W. S. Barrett (1914-2001) was one of the finest Hellenists of the second half of the 20th century, known above all for his celebrated edition of Euripides' Hippolytus. This volume of his collected scholarly papers includes five articles published between 1954 and 1978, together with a much larger number of others that remained unpublished in his lifetime and are presented here for the first time. They deal mainly with Greek lyric poetry (Stesichoros, Pindar, Bacchylides) and Tragedy. Less