Localizing Early Epic Material in Pindar’s Sicilian Odes: Epichoric Concerns and Panhellenic Fame

Pindar’s Sicilian odes composed for Hieron and Chromius are embellished with various mythological narratives that are also encountered in early epic material. I suggest that Pindar not only localizes -to some extent- these originally Panhellenic mythological narratives in order to embed them in the foundation narratives that he constructs for the Sicilian victors but that the poet creates a complex interplay between epichoric and Panhellenic elements within the context of the Sicilian odes. In this way, Pindar creates for Hieron and his new-founded city a mythical past and legitimizes his right to rule before the eyes of local and Panhellenic audiences.

‘Conserere Sapientiam’, To Engage in Wisdom: The Rhetoric of Philosophical Debate and the Speech of Caecilius in Minucius Felix’s Octavius

Here I will elucidate both the rhetorical and philosophical significance of the introduction to Minucius Felix’s Octavius—in effect, to give voice to what Minucius Felix hoped to do in having Caecilius and Octavius conserere sapientiam (‘engage in wisdom’). I draw special attention to the introduction to the dialogue because (i) Minucius’ rhetorical care in establishing an appropriate otium (in other words, a locus amoenus) for his dialogue participants has been underappreciated (ii) because Caecilius’ arguments have, in general, been given short-shrift, and, (iii) because the view that the introductory parts should, instead, be read with suspicion has found a recent prominent voice in an influential recent article (Powell 2007).

What’s with Caesar and the Third Person in the Gallic Wars?

While we say that the Gallic Wars were written by Caesar, they were really written by the scribes. The thesis of this paper is that they used the third person singular to refer to Caesar, since they were taking down dictation and would not use “I/we,” as they were not the ones who had done the action. This use of the third person is attested to in Greek authors, and Caesar obviously was pleased with how it sounded; while he had the last word on the subject, it’s the scribes who deserve the credit for style.

Towards a ‘Political’ Tibullus: Ceres and Grain in Elegies Books 1 and 2

This article argues that unfulfilled prayers to Ceres in Tibullus’ elegies are symptomatic of Rome’s grain crises at the end of the Republic and beginning of Empire. My approach includes philological, socioeconomic, and psychoanalytic analysis of the elegies, in which the poet examines the shifting definition of a ‘Roman’ in his day. I seek to demonstrate the ways in which the poet grapples with the political and economic forces at work during the most turbulent period of Roman history: a time when income inequality was roughly equivalent to that of the U.S. and E.U. today.1

“Women Must Weep—Or Unite Against War”: Virginia Woolf’s Feminist Critique of Classical Epic in To the Lighthouse

Previous scholarship on Virginia Woolf’s classicism has acknowledged her debt to Vergil primarily in the context of the Eclogues or Georgics, and her debt to classical epic as a genre rarely and sparsely. Tremper (1992) and Tudeau-Clayton (2006) have both suggested a reading of “The Lighthouse,” the third part of To the Lighthouse, as an example of modernist epic. This paper, conversely, proposes that the novel in its entirety functions as a satirical critique of epic, specifically of Vergil’s Aeneid, with the goal of demonstrating the pitfalls of epic ideology as it impacted English society during the First World War.

In Search of Helen Maria Chesnutt (1880-1969), Black Latinist

Classical scholars have begun to delineate the dynamic pattern of black classicism. This new subfield of the classical tradition involves the analysis of the creative response to classical antiquity by artists as well as the history of the professional training in classics of scholars, teachers and students in high schools, colleges and universities. To the first group belongs Helen Maria Chesnutt (1880-1969). Born in Fayetteville, NC, Chesnutt was the second daughter of acclaimed African American novelist, Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932). She earned her B.A. from Smith College in 1902 and her M.A. in Latin from Columbia University in 1925. She was a member of the American Philological Association and the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. Her life was spent teaching Latin at Central High School in Cleveland, OH. This is the first full scale account of her career.