The Julius Caesar Problem

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Øystein Linnebo
Keyword(s):  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Pragmatic Argument ◽  
Linguistic Practices

The Julius Caesar problem concerns cross-categorical identities such as “3 = Julius Caesar”. The problem and its significance to some Fregean projects are explained. The notions of sortal and category are introduced. A neo-Fregean argument to the effect that every object belongs to a unique category is criticized and an alternative, more pragmatic argument to the same effect is developed. The handling of such mixed identity statements often needs conceptual decisions, not just factual discoveries. The conceptual decisions of our ancestors are implicit in our inherited linguistic practices, which have by and large legislated against the overlap of categories, but exceptions to the rule are certainly possible and very likely even actual.

Lesse Greeke? Homer in Jonson and Shakespeare

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Miola
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Ben Jonson ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Troilus And Cressida ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Love's Labor's Lost ◽  
And Function

Throughout their careers both Jonson and Shakespeare often encountered Homer, who left a deep impress on their works. Jonson read Homer directly in Greek but Shakespeare did not, or if he did, he left no evidence of that reading in extant works. Both Jonson and Shakespeare encountered Homer indirectly in Latin recollections by Vergil, Horace, Ovid and others, in English translations, in handbooks and mythographies, in derivative poems and plays, in descendant traditions, and in plentiful allusions. Though their appropriations differ significantly, Jonson and Shakespeare both present comedic impersonations of Homeric scenes and figures – the parodic replay of the council of the gods (Iliad 1) in Poetaster (1601) 4.5 and the appearance of “sweet warman” Hector (5.2.659) in the Masque of the Nine Worthies (Love's Labor's Lost, 1588–97). Homer's Vulcan and Venus furnish positive depictions of love and marriage in The Haddington Masque (1608) as do his Hector and Andromache in Julius Caesar (1599), which features other significant recollections. Both Jonson and Shakespeare recall Homer to explore the dark side of honor and fame: Circe and Ate supply the anti-masque in the Masque of Queens (1609), and scenes from Chapman's Iliad supply the comical or tragical satire, Troilus and Cressida (c. 1601). Both poets put Homer to abstract and philosophical uses: Zeus's chain and Venus's ceston (girdle), allegorized, appears throughout Jonson's work and function as central symbols in Hymenaei (1606); Homer's depiction of the tension between fate and free will, between the omnipotent gods and willing humans, though mediated, inflects the language and action of Coriolanus (c. 1608). Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare practice a kind of inventive imitatio which, according to classical and neo-classical precept, re-reads classical texts in order to make them into something new.

Et tu, Brute ? – Editorial 1/2018

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Julius Caesar

An den Iden des März 44 vor Christus wurde Julius Cäsar von einer Gruppe Senatoren mit dem Dolch ermordet. Mit dabei Cäsars Verbündeter und Mitstreiter Brutus. Auch Du, Brutus? Diese letzten Worte legte William Shakespeare 1599 in seinem Drama «Julius Caesar» dem Sterbenden in den Mund, als auch Brutus mit dem Dolch zustach. Auch Du hast mich verraten. Wir Schweizer Sportmediziner wurden am 30. Januar 2018 aufgeschreckt. Ein Schweizer «Sportarzt» wurde mit versteckter Kamera überführt, wie er aktiv einem Sportler verbotene leistungsfördernde Medikamente (Doping) empfahl und abgab. Et tu, Brute!

Rīgā 17. gadsimtā sacerētās latīņu kāzu dzejas komponentes

2020 ◽  
pp. 212-226
Author(s):  
Anna Strode
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Latin Poetry ◽  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Occasional Poetry ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius

Soon after the Protestant Reformation took place in Livonia in the 16th century, the currents of European humanism came to Livonia. As a result of the historical and religious impact, the level of education increased, enabling an environment for the development of the literature. Soon various Latin poetry texts int. al. 17th-century occasional poetry written by the humanists of Riga started to appear. The aim of the article is to bring to light the components of nuptial (epithalamium, ὑμέναιος/hymenaeus, carmen nuptialis, etc.) poetry written in Riga in the 17th century, as well as by exploring the specific features of occasional poetry to capture readers’ and researchers’ interest in the previously undiscovered cultural heritage. At the beginning of the article, the tradition of nuptial poetry is explained. Then, by examining the basic principles one must take into account in composing occasional poetry based on works of the ancient rhetors – Menander (Μένανδρος Ῥήτωρ, c. 3rd century), pseudo-Dionysius (pseudo-Dionysius/Διονύσιος), Himerius (Ἱμέριος, c. 315–c. 386) and the book “Seven Books on Poetry” (Poetices libri septem, 1561) written by Italian humanist Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484–1558) – a table of the most used topics in nuptial poetry is formed. Afterwards, the poetry written in Riga and its most typical components (didactics, laudation, inducement, foresight, wishes/congratulations and prayers) is compared to the topics offered by previously mentioned theoreticians. Fragments of Latin nuptial poetry written in Riga are included to portray the components of poetry more clearly. All translations of poetry included in the article are made by the author of the article.

Scribes, Repertoires, and Variation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eitan Grossman ◽  
Jennifer Cromwell
Keyword(s):  
Language Variation ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Historical Sociolinguistics ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
Linguistic Practices ◽  
Culturally Embedded

As in spoken language, variation abounds in written texts. In the latter, linguistic and extralinguistic variation coexists: one finds variation in lexical and grammatical features, as well as in other textual parameters such as orthography, phraseology and formulary, palaeography, layout, and formatting. Such variation occurs both within the written output of individuals and across broader corpora that represent ‘communities’ of diverse types. To encapsulate this, we use the inclusive term ‘scribal repertoires’, a concept that is intended to cover the entire set of linguistic and non-linguistic practices that are prone to variation within and between manuscripts, while placing focus on scribes as socially and culturally embedded agents, whose choices are reflected in texts. This conceptualization of scribal variation, inspired by the relatively recent field of historical sociolinguistics, is applied to a range of phenomenon in the scribal cultures of premodern Egypt, across languages and socio-historical settings.

Vis and Seruitus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Julius Caesar ◽  
The Way ◽  
Valerius Maximus

This chapter examines the representation of oratory in chapter 8.9 Quanta Vis Sit Eloquentiae: ‘How Great is the Force of Eloquence’, of Valerius Maximus’ Facta et Dicta Memorabilia. While Valerius’ text is frequently used as a source of fragments of Republican oratory, this chapter argues that readers need to be acutely aware of the way that these extracts are framed in the structure of the wider chapter, as Valerius is certainly an author with his own, distinctive ideas. This is evidenced by the fact that traditional exemplary models of oratory such as Cicero and Demosthenes are ignored in 8.9. Valerius instead creates a dark vision of Republican oratory that links eloquence inextricably to the loss of freedom and the development of tyranny and despair under Julius Caesar and his heirs.

Montaigne’s Education

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Rural Village ◽  
Humanist Education ◽  
Comedie Humaine ◽  
The Face ◽  
George Buchanan

In spite of Montaigne’s dismissal of his schooling as a “failure,” significant features of his thought can be traced to his humanist education. Not only did he acquire literacy in French at school, but also he picked up a comic outlook from the plays of Terence in which he acted. Further, George Buchanan exposed the young Montaigne to Reformation ideas. Later, Marc-Antoine Muret’s Julius Caesar would school Montaigne in displaying confidence in the face of fortune’s vicissitudes, an attitude that he would incorporate into the “heroic” skepticism of the Essays. More generally, he adopted images, language, and postures from the stage as a way of understanding the life as a comédie humaine. Montaigne, however, preferred to award a determining influence for his adult character to the infancy he spent in a rural village.

Convivial linguistic practices: lived togetherness through language in the United Arab Emirates

Multilingua ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Robert Amilan Cook
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
The Face ◽  
Small Story ◽  
Small Stories ◽  
Linguistic Practices ◽  
The City

Abstract This paper takes up conviviality as an analytical tool to investigate everyday language choices made by foreign residents living in Ras Al Khaimah, a small city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It draws on recent work in human geography and cultural studies to understand conviviality in terms of practices rather than outcomes. Specifically, it investigates some of the linguistic dimensions of conviviality deployed by residents of the city in everyday situations of linguistic contact and negotiation of difference. The paper focuses on participants’ “small story” narratives (Georgakopoulou, Alexandra. 2015. Small stories research: Methods – analysis – outreach. In Anna De Fina & Alexandra Georgakopoulou (eds.), The handbook of narrative analysis, 255–272. Malden: John Wiley & Sons) that exemplify everyday language choices in the face of a highly ethnolinguistically diverse as well as racially and economically stratified society. Considering the multitude of ethnolinguistic and socioeconomic divisions in the city and the country as a whole, the paper unpacks how such cross-border contact is negotiated through everyday language practices. The paper identifies four types of convivial linguistic practices described by my participants: language sharing, benevolent interpretation, language checks and respectful language choices. In the process, I also probe the limits of what studying conviviality can tell us about everyday linguistic togetherness in highly segregated societies marked by stark inequalities.

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