Archaic Latin Prose

Shows how certain prominent features of classical Latin prose became established because of factors that conditioned the formation of archaic prose. Presents texts ranging from about 450 BC to about 100 BC to exemplify such features in their original setting and to illustrate the linguistic and styl

These twenty essays examine continuity and change in the language of Latin prose, from its emergence to the twelfth century AD. Issues debated include traditional distinctions between primitive archaic and sophisticated classical Latin, and between superior classical and inferior Silver Latin. A broad range of Latin authors are covered, including Caesar and Cicero, Bede and William of Malmesbury. An extensive introduction traces the volume's recurring themes - the use of poetic diction in prose, archaism, sentence structure, and bilingualism. The diversity of approaches makes this an essential handbook for all those interested in Latin language and literature.

Before the invention of printing, all forms of writing were done by hand. For a literary text to circulate among readers, and to be transmitted from one period in time to another, it had to be copied by scribes. As a result, two copies of an ancient book were different from one another, and each individual book or manuscript has its own history. The oldest of these books, those that are the closest to the time in which the texts were composed, are few, usually damaged, and have been often neglected in the scholarship. Ancient Latin Poetry Books presents a detailed study of the oldest manuscripts still extant that contain texts by Latin poets, such as Virgil, Terence, and Ovid. Analyzing their physical characteristics, their script, and the historical contexts in which they were produced and used, this volume shows how manuscripts can help us gain a better understanding of the history of texts, as well as of reading habits over the centuries. Since the manuscripts originated in various places of the Latin-speaking world, Ancient Latin Poetry Books investigates the readership and reception of Latin poetry in many different contexts, such schools in the Egyptian desert, aristocratic circles in southern Italy, and the Christian élite in late antique Rome. The research also contributes to our knowledge about the use of writing and the importance of the written text in antiquity. This is an innovative approach to the study of ancient literature, one that takes the materiality of texts into consideration.

This anthology fills a gap which has been widely felt. It gives students - at sixth-form, undergraduate or junior graduate level - the opportunity of sampling a very wide variety of Latin prose texts, chosen to illustrate both development and generic differences. Each of the 96 passages isaccompanied by a short introduction, and there are brief notes explaining difficult words and drawing attention to linguistic and stylistic points occurring in the extracts. The extracts range from the second century BC to the fifth century AD: Cato the Censor, C. Gracchus, and the annalists; Cicero(oratory, letters, philosophical treatises); the historians (Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus); non-historical prose (Seneca, Vitruvius, Pliny, Apuleius, Tertullian); and finally some early Patristic texts and extracts from the Vulgate.

This volume explores the significance of old age in Greek and Latin poetry and dramatic literature, not just in relation to other textual and historical concerns, but as a cultural and intellectual reality of central importance to understanding the works themselves. The book discusses a wide range of authors, from Homer to Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Euripides; from Horace to Vergil, Ovid, and beyond. Classical scholarship on these texts is enriched by a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from such fields as anthropology, social history, literary theory, psychology, and gerontology. The contributions examine the many and complex representations of old age in classical literature: their relation to the social and psychological realities of old age, their connection with the author's own place in the human life course, their metaphorical and symbolic capacity as poetic vehicles for social and ethical values.

This is the first book to describe the intimate relationship between Latin literature and the politics of ancient Rome. Until now, most scholars have viewed classical Latin literature as a product of aesthetic concerns. Thomas Habinek shows, however, that literature was also a cultural practice that emerged from and intervened in the political and social struggles at the heart of the Roman world. Habinek considers major works by such authors as Cato, Cicero, Horace, Ovid, and Seneca. He shows that, from its beginnings in the late third century b.c. to its eclipse by Christian literature six hundred years later, classical literature served the evolving interests of Roman and, more particularly, aristocratic power. It fostered a prestige dialect, for example; it appropriated the cultural resources of dominated and colonized communities; and it helped to defuse potentially explosive challenges to prevailing values and authority. Literature also drew upon and enhanced other forms of social authority, such as patriarchy, religious ritual, cultural identity, and the aristocratic procedure of self-scrutiny, or existimatio. Habinek's analysis of the relationship between language and power in classical Rome breaks from the long Romantic tradition of viewing Roman authors as world-weary figures, aloof from mundane political concerns--a view, he shows, that usually reflects how scholars have seen themselves. The Politics of Latin Literature will stimulate new interest in the historical context of Latin literature and help to integrate classical studies into ongoing debates about the sociology of writing.

This work provides an assessment of the ancient and modern evidence on Latin prose rhythm. It covers the theories of Greek and Roman rhetoricians and literary critics, and includes discussions of the methodologies crafted by German, French, and Italian scholars since 1881 to analyze prose rhythm.