ABSTRACT: In his Life of Alcibiades Cornelius Nepos presents his readers with a classic praeteritio : when dealing with the love affairs of Alcibiades’ youth he changes his mode into the vague referremus nisi and tells us that he will move on to maiora potiora (Nep. Alc . 2.3). As he characterizes Alcibiades’ affairs as something done delicate iocoseque , he draws a line between his own serious biographies, dealing with important issues of politics and military action and a genre that focusses on delicate and funny things. That Nepos calls these things odiosa in the same sentence aroused the justified suspicion of Karl Nipperdey, who in 1846 proposed reading otioso (governed by the preceding quoad licitum est ) instead of the - at least odd - odiosa . The present article first and foremost tries to corroborate Nipperdey’s sound emendation by providing contexts and parallels for quoad licitum est otioso from Nepos’ extant writing. In a second step the three keywords of the passage ( otiosus , delicatus , iocosus ) are juxtaposed with the usage of this vocabulary in Nepos’ contemporary and fellow countryman, Catullus, who writes (mainly in Catull. 10.12.50.56) about the very issues Nepos is skipping so pointedly in the praeteritio of Alc . 2.3. Showing how two potential rivals in the literary field find a way forward by clearly defining their own territory (love poetry and invective vs. historiography and biography) may help to further call into question the unjust but widespread opinion of Catullus’ ironical superiority over the dedicatee of Catull. 1.
The article suggests several conjectures, transpositions, and deletions to the text of the first seven books of Ovid's Metamorphoses, explains a few doubtful passages, and modifies or defends others' suggestions.
This article sheds light on how Shakespeare has incorporated metadramatic elements from Senecan Thyestes into Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare is influenced by his Senecan model in the portrayal of the avenger Aaron, who uses deception and violence as means to complete his revenge plan, just like Atreus. Both characters are aware of their metadramatic role and openly address their audience, so that it becomes an accomplice to their crimes. Aaron's theatrical language may also indicate that he constitutes an intratextual double of Shakespeare, in order to make indirect self-referential apologetic comments about his poetry, a characteristic that could be traced back to Seneca.
We focus here on two powerful Athenians, Cimon and Pericles, whose position and great personal influence were an obvious departure from democracy. Thus here I discuss what their dominance (or one-man rule) was based on and why it became possible in democratic Athens. Perhaps their influence can be partly explained by the fact that they were repeatedly elected as generals (sigma tau rho alpha tau eta gamma omicron iota). But the question remains whether the dominance of these men was only formal, i.e. rooted in some office (such as the sigma tau rho alpha tau eta gamma iota alpha), or informal and based on patron-client relations and personal charisma.
This article argues, largely on the basis of Procopius Aed. 4.8.4-7 and 10-17, that the topographical setting of the fragmentary Interpretation of Heliodorus' Aethiopica, most probably composed by Philip Philagathos of Cerami in the twelfth century, was undoubtedly the countryside to the west of Constantinople, which included the popular holiday resorts of Rhegium and Pege. The article concludes that the topographical setting of the Interpretation, while featuring historical places, is literary, emulating the pseudo-Platonic dialogue Axiochus, but relocating it from Attica to the hinterland of Constantinople. Such an idyllic setting would have appealed to Philip's readership at a time in which allegorical exegesis and ancient narrative fiction were popular in South Italy.
At first glance, the description Isidore of Seville gives of the course of the Nile in his Etymologiae seems both insufficient and erroneous, especially as he says the river turns south before entering Egypt. Reference to a modern map only compounds the problem. When, however, we take into account Isidore's conception of the world, and the African continent in particular, and his habit of conveying in his own work only a limited number of the concepts from his sources that inform his thought, we see that the course he ascribes to the Nile accords with the best geographical science of his day
The prologue to the Civil War includes a description of the four cardinal points, which reflects Lucan's interest in geography and astronomy (1.15-18). While the general meaning of the passage is quite obvious, the image characterising the west in the second part of line 15 (et nox ubi sidera condit) has led to various interpretations and controversies over the centuries. The present research provides a fresh and thorough examination of the vocabulary, imagery and internal structure of the line, as well as a comparison with texts drawn from the output of Lucan and other writers. These analyses allow us to conclude that sidera means the 'star' or the 'fires' of the sun and that the phrase refers to its setting on the horizon, as opposed to its rising in the east, mentioned in the first part of the line ( Vnde uenit Titan).
ABSTRACT: The prologue to the Civil War includes a description of the four cardinal points, which reflects Lucan's interest in geography and astronomy (1.15–18). While the general meaning of the passage is quite obvious, the image characterising the west in the second part of line 15 ( et nox ubi sidera condit ) has led to various interpretations and controversies over the centuries. The present research provides a fresh and thorough examination of the vocabulary, imagery and internal structure of the line, as well as a comparison with texts drawn from the output of Lucan and other writers. These analyses allow us to conclude that sidera means the 'star' or the 'fires' of the sun and that the phrase refers to its setting on the horizon, as opposed to its rising in the east, mentioned in the first part of the line ( Vnde uenit Titan ).
This article examines the myth of Clytemnestra's death as portrayed variously in tragedy by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, with the goal of illustrating how each playwright used the core elements of that myth for the particular purposes of a given play. Within that general framework, I pay particular attention to the newly added but vivid detail whereby Clytemnestra bares her breast to Orestes just as he is poised to plunge the knife, a detail that then resonates not only through the plays but also in Greek artwork.1 I argue that the skeletal outlines of the myth left each playwright with substantial freedom address to vary the murder scene, and that the distinctive ways each addressed Clytemnestra's baring of her breast provide important keys to how a given play might be interpreted.
This paper offers a new discussion of the deportation of the Ligures Apuani that the Roman Republic carried out in 180 BCE, and of the impact and wider implications of the decision to establish two new communities of Ligurians in inland Samnium. The logic and practicalities of the operation are given close consideration, through sustained engagement with Livy's account, on the one hand, and of the documentary and archaeological record, on the other. Some wider implications are drawn on the role of this exceptional event in the trajectory of the Roman conquest of Italy and the longer-term processes of integration and exploitation that it entailed.
This article aims to show that the seated Socrates (mainly Arist. Cat. 5.4a 23-28 and Metaph. 4.2.1004b1-4) is connected to the sitting or flying Theaetetus (Pl. Soph. 263a), and the so-called new fragment of Protagoras (R27 Laks-Most).
This article uses Speech Act Theory to analyse The Prayer of Jacob, a magical incantation from the fourth-century Greek Magical Papyri ( PGM 22b. 1-26). Drawing from Austin and Searle's Speech Act Theory, I examine various speech acts within the prayer, following Lesses' methodology. Three primary speech act types (directives, expressives, and direct addresses) are identified, alongside an exploration of phrases invoking the power and names of God, and enigmatic voces magicae. Ultimately, the paper suggests that the combination of verbal utterances with divine names, expressions of power, and voces magicae enhances the prayer's potential effectiveness, leading to the desired outcomes under appropriate conditions.
The term missicius, documented primarily in first-century historical sources, has undergone scrutiny by successive generations of scholars. Recent investigations suggest that it likely functioned as a synonym for the term veteranus, but the specific reason for its concentrated use in the first century AD remains unclear. Relying on Tacitus' Annals, Franco Porr & agrave; suggests that missicius was employed to prevent confusion between veterans and reservists during the early principate. This article challenges Porr & agrave;'s interpretation, asserting that the particular context of terms presented in Tacitus' narrative renders his view unsupportable. Instead, this article provides a fresh interpretation, arguing that missicius declined in subsequent centuries because it was inadequate as an honorary title and means of self- identification for the veteran group. In contrast, veteranus, influenced by social and political factors and the epigraphic habit, steadily gained popularity from the second century onwards.
Although Neo-Latin is a global phenomenon and one can find scholarship on NeoLatin literature in numerous countries, Neo-Latin in South Africa (and Africa in general) is still an under-researched area, which is omitted or marginalised in the standard handbooks or monographs on the topic, even in the most recent ones. There is an urgent need for a systematic and comprehensive overview of the material known to date and its related scholarship. This is the aim of this article. It includes all the texts and scholarship I am aware of. The article concludes with an outlook on further research.
