Maturam frugem flore manente ferens: pochwała starości w poezjach Auzoniusza

Vox Patrum ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 169-183
Author(s):  
Tatiana Krynicka
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Small World ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
The People ◽  
Literary Character ◽  
Old Men ◽  
Late Roman ◽  
Good Deeds

Decimus Ausonius Magnus (ca 310-394) was a rhetorician, a teacher, a tutor of young Gratian and a highly-ranked, influential official, as well as one of the most famous poets of the late Roman Empire. In his poems, he frequently described the small world he belonged to, the daily routine of his own, of his relatives, professional colleagues and friends. As the poet reached his old age, he made it a subject of his poetry. Ausonius considers old age to be a blessing, a time which permits a wise, generous person to gather fruit of his good deeds and fulfilled duties, to watch children and grandchildren grow and achieve successes, to share one’s wisdom with younger persons. Ausonius shows his grandfather and his grand­mother, his aunts, but first of all his father, Ausonius senior, as the examples of happy old persons, loving and loved, respected and needed by the people who surrounded them. He notices that old persons can be joyful, healthy and beautiful. Writing about old age, he mentions illness only once, while expressing his joy of having recovered and being able to send greetings to the grandson who celebrates his birthday. In spite of his age, Ausonius still loves his wife Sabina, who died many years before, the same way as he loved her when he was a young husband. He is deeply attached to Bissula, the charming German girl cap­tured and given to him by the Emperor Valentinian I probably circa 368. Besides, he really enjoys spending time with his friends and with the Muses. In his epigrams, most of which don’t have personal, but rather literary character, the poet translates, quotes, paraphrases and imitates Greek and Latin epigrams which deal with the theme of old age. Although in Ausonius’ poems exists an obvious resemblance to their models, he grants himself much freedom in his remouldings. Not only he alters circumstantial details, expands or abbrevi­ates the original, bur also uses them as mere starting points of his reflexion. It becomes more important for him to ponder over quickly passing youth or over a lover’s feelings towards a woman who rejected him when she was young, but whom he still admires, than to play a literary game. Ausonius never parodies nor even portrays women trying to attire men in their old age, even though he may mock old men pretending to look younger than they are. Neither he complains about pains and sorrows of old age. In all that, he remains a true Roman and a true gentleman.

scholarly journals Obraz schyłku epoki w powieści Ladislava Fuksa „Vévodkyně a kuchařka”

2017 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 541-556
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Pająk
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Old Age ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Historic Time ◽  
Literary Character ◽  
The Subject ◽  
American Historian ◽  
Hayden White

Portrait of the end of an epoch in Ladislav Fuks’ novel Vévodkyně a kuchařka The subject of the article entitled ‘‘Portrait of the end of an epoch in Ladislav Fuks’ novel Vévodkyně a kuchařka” is the reflection on the last work of the novelist published in 1983. Apart from old age, which is the conference key matter and is considered mainly on the level of literary character in this case such strategy may be related to arepresentative of an aristocracy prince Leuchtenberg-Aulendorf, the author dedicates majority of attention to metaphorical understanding of this issue. For old age can refer to the decline of the ‘long’ 19th century, and the argumentation for such biological consideration of historic time is provided in the views of an American historian Hayden White. That is why, the motif of intended museum of the declining epoch is broadly analysed as well as the sensed decay of Hapsburg monarchy, which simultaneously is accompanied by allusions to the fall of Roman Empire in the play written by Sophia La Tâllière d’Hayguères-Kevelsberg — the work’s main character.Obraz konce epochy v románu Ladislava Fukse Vévodkyně a kuchařkaČlánek snázvem Obraz konce epochy vrománu Ladislava Fukse „Vévodkyně a kuchařka” je věnován reflexím na téma poslední spisovatelovy prózy vydané vroce 1983. Kromě, pro konferenci klíčové problematiky stáří, kterou je možné aplikovat na literární postavu hlavně vosobě knížete Leuchtenberga-Aulendorfa, se autorka soustřeďuje především na tento jev chápaný metaforicky. Takto vnímané stáří je možné vztáhnout ke sklonku dlouhého devatenáctého století. Důvody pro takto biologicky vnímaný historický čas lze nalézt vtextech amerického historika Haydena Whitea. Ztohoto hlediska je nejvíce pozornosti věnováno motivu plánovaného muzea epochy spějící kzániku, ataké předpokládanému tušenému konci habsburské říše, kčemuž tvoří paralelu četné narážky na pád římského impéria líčeného vdivadelní hře psané hlavní hrdinkou románu — Sophií La Tâllière d’Hayguères-Kevelsberg.

Liberius the Patrician

Traditio ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 31-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
The People ◽  
Late Roman

It is an accepted paradox of late Roman studies that modern students have been more concerned to find culprits for the ‘fall of the Roman empire’ than were the people who actually lived through it. Gibbon, who believed the empire of the Antonines to be the apogee of human accomplishment, knew perfectly well what he was doing: chronicling the triumph of barbarism and religion. His approach influenced scholarship for centuries. Many more culprits have been found, including population decline, homosexuality, and (for a somewhat delayed fall) the Moslems.

Apologetic Literature and Ambassadorial Activities

1989 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Schoedel
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Previous Analysis ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Rhetorical Tradition ◽  
The Third ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The People ◽  
Literary Character

The following study on aspects of the form of apologetic literature in the early church and Judaism grows out of a previous analysis of themes in the apologist Athenagoras that reflect the manner of praising kings in the Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition. My argument was that, although Athenagoras'sLegatiois correctly read as apologetic literature, the task of the orator to render the judge well disposed to his cause is carried out by Athenagoras by calling on familiar epideictic strategies known to us primarily from Menander's (or Ps.- Menander's) codification of them in the third century. Meanwhile, Robert M. Grant has reoriented my discussion of Athenagoras by reading it against the background provided by Fergus Millar in the latter's detailed investigation of the activities of the Roman emperors in meeting the appeals and requests of the people of the Roman empire. Here the fact that Athenagoras's apology is entitled “Embassy” is seen as significant in the light of the importance of embassies in presenting appeals and requests to the emperor. It seems natural to look at the kinds of addresses that ambassadors gave in such circumstances for more precise clues to the literary character of the Christian apologies. The following study is intended as a contribution to the inquiry that has been opened up by that suggestion.

Senectus / senex / senior w pismach św. Grzegorza Wielkiego

Vox Patrum ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 427-436
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Tyburowski
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Gregory The Great ◽  
Old Men

The issue of the old age – senectus arise in abundance in the writings of many ancient authors. First of all we can see it in the biographic works written both in biographies of Saints and in other works. In most cases the purpose of these works was the admiration of an exceptional person, whose the author sometimes was a disciple, and the education and sanctification of the Christian reader as well. Therefore the authors of ancient biographies used some known in antiquity forms for reaching their purpose. One of them was the fi­gure of old man (senex, senior), who was a synonym of wisdom and holiness. Gregory the Great writes relatively much, although not directly, about the education of man. Certainly the cause of such his attitude was the disastrous situation of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. Gregory wants to teach his reader the wisdom. The wisdom (which is a synonym of old age (senectus) is seen first of all in the lives of the old men (senes, seniores). This article is a presentation and analyse of above-mentioned problem on the basis of three latin terms: senectus, senex, senior used by Gregory the Great.

‘Strength in What Remains Behind’: Wordsworth and the Question of Ageing

Romanticism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
Mark Sandy
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Frequent Pattern ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
Old Men ◽  
Poetic Vision

Attending to the hoped-for connection between young and older generations, this essay revisits Wordsworth's poetic fascination with the elderly and the question of what, if any, consolation for emotional and physical loss could be attained for growing old. Wordsworth's imaginative impulse is to idealise the elderly into transcendent figures, which offers the compensation of a harmonious vision to the younger generation for the losses of old age that, in all likelihood, they will themselves experience. The affirmation of such a unified and compensatory vision is dependent upon the reciprocity of sympathy that Wordsworth's poetry both sets into circulation and calls into question. Readings of ‘Simon Lee’, ‘I know an aged Man constrained to dwell’, and ‘The Old Cumberland Beggar’ point up the limitations of sympathy and vision (physical and poetic) avowed in these poems as symptomatic of Wordsworth's misgivings about the debilitating effects of growing old and old age. Finally, Wordsworth's unfolding tragedy of ‘Michael’ is interpreted as reinforcing a frequent pattern, observed elsewhere in his poetry, whereby idealised figures of old men transform into disturbingly spectral second selves of their younger counterparts or narrators. These troubling transformations reveal that at the heart of Wordsworth's poetic vision of old age as a harmonious, interconnected, and consoling state, there are disquieting fears of disunity, disconnection, disconsolation, and, lastly, death.

The solidus hoard of Casa delle Vestali in context

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 107-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svante Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Gold Coins ◽  
Late Roman

In this paper, I discuss the context of a Late Roman solidus hoard found in the Casa delle Vestali on the Forum Romanum in Rome. The hoard consists of 397 solidi, Late Roman gold coins. Most of the hoard consists of uncirculated solidi struck in the name of the Western Roman emperor Procopius Anthemius (AD 467–472). By means of situating the hoard within the context of the reign of Anthemius and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the aim of this paper is to determine if the coins in the Vestal hoard can be related to other contemporary coin hoards by means of numismatic typology; this information could add to our understanding of why Anthemius’ reign is considered such an unmitigated failure and why the Empire collapsed soon after his murder. In this article, the composition of the hoard is examined, and the contents are compared to other contemporary solidus hoards in the Mediterranean, Gaul, Poland and Scandinavia. I argue that this comparison shows that the Vestal hoard is not part of a larger network but that the hoard constitutes the remains of an isolated occurrence—as initially suggested by its unusual composition and location.

Christograms as Signs of Authority in the Late Roman Empire

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ildar Garipzanov
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Courtly Culture ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Late Roman

The first section tests the main interpretations of Lactantius’ passage on Constantine’s victorious sign in 312 against existing graphic evidence from the 310s and early 320s, and consequently supports the interpretation of Lactantius’ description as a rhetorical device invented or modified by the Christian narrator. The next two sections support the argument that the perception of the chi-rho as Constantine’s triumphant sign became entrenched in courtly culture and public mentalities from the mid-320s onwards, and trace the diachronic change of the chi-rho from its paramount importance as an imperial sign of authority under the Constantinian dynasty to its hierarchic usage alongside the tau-rho and cross in the Theodosian period. The final section presents a contextualized discussion of the encolpion of Empress Maria and mosaics from several early baptisteries, illustrating the paradigmatic importance the chi-rho and tau-rho for early Christian graphicacy around the turn of the fifth century.

Letters and Communication Networks in Merovingian Gaul

2020 ◽  
pp. 530-555
Author(s):  
Andrew Gillett
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Complete List ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Manuscript Tradition ◽  
Letter Exchange ◽  
Late Roman

While some letters from Merovingian-era Gaul are well known—for example, Remigius’s letters to Clovis or Radegund’s letters founding her monastery—the scale and scope of extant and attested letters tell us more about the period than the sum of data from individual documents. The cumulative range of known epistolary communications indicates that Merovingian Gaul, like the late Roman Empire of the previous centuries, hosted multiple, entangled networks of social and political interconnections. This chapter considers how we can set about contemplating both the limitations and value of the evidence we have. Comparison with contemporary Egypt, from which letters are preserved both in manuscript tradition (as with Gaul) and as papyri originals, evokes the possibility of envisaging Merovingian Gaul quite differently from our received image. The extant evidence for letters is surveyed, including “literary” collections of letters, letters preserved in other types of texts, and the extensive number of descriptions of letter exchange in narrative texts. The chapter includes the first checklist of more than 500 extant letters and a list of narrative sources, including the first complete list of references to letters in the works of Gregory of Tours.

Unique Osteoid Osteoma of the Frontal Sinus From the Late Roman Empire

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 965-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Varotto ◽  
Maria Teresa Magro ◽  
Rodolfo Brancato ◽  
Carmine Lubritto ◽  
Lorenzo Memeo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Osteoid Osteoma ◽  
Frontal Sinus ◽  
Late Roman

Fortresses of the Tur Abdin and the confrontation between Rome and Persia

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 181-229
Author(s):  
Anthony Comfort
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Substantial Risk ◽  
Urgent Necessity ◽  
Late Roman

AbstractAlthough research is currently impossible on the ground, satellite photographs allow some further information to be gleaned concerning the region of the Tur Abdin, of crucial importance during the wars between the late Roman Empire and Sassanian Persia in the fourth to seventh century AD. This article examines the ancient sources and the reports of visitors to the area in the light of what is now visible to all via Google Earth and other suppliers of free satellite imagery. Apart from describing the remains of the fortresses and their role in defending an important redoubt against Persian attacks, it draws attention to the urgent necessity for proper ground surveys of what remains of the fortifications of various periods before these are completely destroyed by looting and reuse of building materials. Dams also present a substantial risk to some of the monuments discussed here.

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