T. D. PAPANGHELIS, S. J. HARRISON and S. FRANGOULIDIS (EDS), GENERIC INTERFACES IN LATIN LITERATURE: ENCOUNTERS, INTERACTIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS (Trends in Classics: Supplementary Volume 20). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2013. Pp. ix + 478, illus. isbn9783110303681. €129.95/Us$182.00.

In 1516, More wrote to Erasmus, putting him in charge of the publication of Utopia. In his study about the “sources, parallels and influences” of More’s libellus, Edward Surtz points out that “the most evident influences are classical” and in 1965, in the introduction of his edition of Utopia, he noted that in the composition of this fiction, Plato and Plutarch are as essential as Cicero and Seneca. He also noted that these philosophers are “the source for the tenets and arguments of the two schools discussed by the Utopians, the Epicurean and the Stoic” and that “Cicero’s De finibus is of special interest here, but detailed studies of Ciceronian and Senecan influences have still to be made.” (p.cliv, clxi). From 1965 until today we haven’t found a specific study on this problem in the bibliography about Utopia and classical Latin literature, that’s why in this paper we will examine some of the connections that link More’s libellus to De finibus.

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Studies in Latin Literature and Epigraphy in Italian Fascism

10.11116/9789461663122 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Latin Literature ◽

Italian Fascism

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Horace's Odes

10.1093/oso/9780195156751.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Richard Tarrant

Keyword(s):

Subject Matter ◽

Lyric Poetry ◽

Latin Literature ◽

Poetic Tradition ◽

Roman World ◽

Universal Themes

Horace’s body of lyric poetry, the Odes, is one of the greatest achievements of Latin literature and a foundational text for the Western poetic tradition. These 103 exquisitely crafted poems speak in a distinctive voice—usually detached, often ironic, always humane—reflecting on the changing Roman world that Horace lived in and also on more universal themes of friendship, love, and mortality. This book introduces readers to the Odes by situating them in the context of Horace’s career as a poet and by defining their relationship to earlier literature, Greek and Roman. Several poems have been freshly translated by the author; others appear in versions by Horace’s best modern translators. A number of poems are analyzed in detail, illustrating Horace’s range of subject matter and his characteristic techniques of form and structure. A substantial final chapter traces the reception of the Odes from Horace’s own time to the present. Readers of this book will gain an appreciation for the artistry of one of the finest lyric poets of all time.

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Reading Roman Declamation

10.1093/oso/9780198746010.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Roman History ◽

Dark Side ◽

Latin Literature ◽

Sociocultural Context ◽

International Group ◽

Seneca The Elder ◽

First Time ◽

Literary Phenomenon

Situated at the crossroads of rhetoric and fiction, the genre of declamatio offers its practitioners the freedom to experiment with new forms of discourse. This volume places the literariness of Roman declamation into the spotlight by showcasing its theoretical influences, stylistic devices, and generic conventions as related by Seneca the Elder, the author of the Controversiae and Suasoriae, which jointly make up the largest surviving collection of declamatory speeches from antiquity. In so doing, it draws attention to the complexity of these texts, and maps out, for the first time, the sociocultural context for their composition, delivery, and reception. The volume’s chapters have been authored by an international group of leading scholars in Latin literature and rhetoric, and explore not only the historical roles of individual declaimers but also the physical and linguistic techniques upon which they collectively drew. In addition, the ‘dark side of declamation’ is illuminated by contributions on the competitiveness of the arena and the manipulative potential of declamatory skill. In keeping with the volume’s overall treatment of declamation as a literary phenomenon, a section has also been dedicated to intertextuality. This comprehensive, innovative, and up-to-date treatment provides thought-provoking analyses of Roman declamation, and therefore constitutes an essential volume for both students and scholars in the fields of Latin literature, Republican Roman history, and rhetoric.

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