Latin Poets Research Articles

V. Style, Language, Metre

The excitement of the new critical and theoretical approaches applied to Virgil in the last thirty years should not make the reader forget the importance of a close attention to the linguistic and metrical detail of the text for a full appreciation of what Virgil is about. Virgilian ambition manifests itself not just in the extensiveness of the poems’ conceptual and allusive scope, but also in a microscopic attention to detail and to the relation of the detail to the wider context. The classic status that his poems immediately achieved was due, as much as to anything, to his perfection of the stylistic and metrical experiments of the previous two centuries of Latin poetry in order to forge a flexible and varied poetic manner, the master and not the slave of both Greek and Latin poetic traditions, responsive to context, and integral to the wider meanings and functions of the poems. For example, in a recent discussion of Virgil’s style, O’Hara draws attention to the fact that the ambiguity that has become so central to modern critics’ treatments of the meaning and ideology of the poem is generated partly by small-scale indeterminacies of syntax; and I have suggested that stylistic figures such as oxymoron and hypallage contribute to larger structures of paradox in the areas of poetics and ideology. Virgil’s liking for stylistic ambiguity and paradox also reminds us that his style is not ‘classic’ in the sense of a uniformly limpid and serenely balanced manner; his use of language can be difficult and unexpected, often straining at the limits of Latinity. While no later Latin poet can escape the influence of Virgil, it was left to Ovid to perfect ‘a poetickoine, a stylistic instrument which was freely manageable by writers of lesser genius. The Ovidian manner, as generations of clever English schoolboys have discovered, is imitable; Virgil’s is not.’

Interpolating an isthmus: Juvenal 6.294–7

R. J. Tarrant has remarked that ‘Latin poets from Ovid onward...felt an almost irresistible urge to mention the Isthmus of Corinth wherever possible’,2 and A. E. Housman admitted to a similar, though less urgent, inclination to introduce the city of Corinth into the passage quoted: ‘inter 295 et 296 excidisse uidetur uersus cuius clausula fuerit Corinthus’. Corinth would, of course, be very much at home in this list of depraved and wealthy (or formerly wealthy) Greek cities, and would suitably head the list.

The Freedom of Dryden's Homer

If it shall please God to give me longer Life, and moderate Health, my Intentions are to translate the whole Mas; provided still, that I meet with those Encouragements from the Publick, which may enable me to proceed in my Undertaking with some Chearfulness. And this I dare ensure the world before-hand, that I have found by Trial, Homer a more pleasing Task than Virgil, (though I say not the Translation will be less laborious). For the Grecian is more according to my Genius, than the Latin poet. In the Works of the two Authors we may read their Manners, and natural Inclinations, which are wholly different. Virgil was of a quiet, sedate Temper; Homer was violent, impetuous, and full of Fire. The chief Talent of Virgil was Propriety of Thoughts, and Ornament of Words: Homer was rapid in his Thoughts, and took all the Liberties both of Numbers, and of Expressions, which his Language, and the Age in which he liv'd allow'd him.2

Las odas de Baltasar de Alc�zar: Elementos clasicos y configuraction retorica

Baltasar de Alcazar (1530–1606) is represented in the Spanish ode history with two poems in saphic stances, entitled A Don Felix and A Cupido. Lacking a specific model in the Horace's Carmina, both poems derive from the whole Horatian tradition, which in the second poem is blended with the influence of Hellenistic epigram. The classical relationship of its subject matter is strengthened by the study of structural elements (poetic voice and dispositio). Therefore, the poet makes a trustworthy adaptation of moral and satirist odes of the Latin poet. The analysis of three translations from Horace proves the acquaintance of Alcazar with this model.

The Classical Tradition in Operation

In these five essays Niall Rudd presents an eclectic set of comparisons between certain ancient authors and later English writers ranging from Chaucer to Pound. He shows how five English writers consciously used and adapted classical works, and in so doing he illuminates both the classical authors and their English imitators and admirers. Readable translations and summaries of the Latin sources make these stimulating studies accessible even to scholars and students with little or no Latin. The first essay compares Chaucer's treatment of Dido in The House of Fame and The Legend of Good Women with Virgil's presentation of Dido in the Aeneid, and Ovid's in Heroides 7. The second essay, comparing Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors with Plautus' Menaechmi, demonstrates how Shakespeare, weaving Roman farce into the framework of Hellenistic romance, developed both genres into something richer and more complex. The third essay on Pope's Epistle to Augustus shows his conversion of Horace's praise of Augustus into an anti-royalist attack on George II. In the fourth essay, Rudd discusses how much of Tennyson's Lucretius is invented and imported by Tennyson as a way of externalizing the inner conflicts he experienced in the age of doubt. The final essay, on Pound and Propertius, looks at Pound's representation of the Latin poet in Homage to Sextus Propertius, specifically in the areas of imperial politics, love, and language. In his preface Rudd writes: 'Everyone knows of the Classical Tradition - comprehending it is another matter.' This book brings it closer to our understanding.

Deathless Marriage and Spiritual Fecundity in Venantius Fortunatus'sDe Virginitate

The Latin poet Venantius Fortunatus (ca. 530–600) is known today for his Holy Cross hymns, for the classicizingepithalamiumthat he wrote for the wedding of the Frankish king Sigibert, and for his panegyrics of the royal and powerful in Merovingian society. Yet despite the attention that has been lavished on Fortunatus's other major works, his ambitious four hundred line poemDe Virginitate(8.3) has been noticeably neglected, perhaps because of its subject matter. A highly original work nevertheless, this poem was written in the late 560s for his patroness, the royal nun Radegund. Most probably, it was recited by the poet at the installation of Radegund's “spiritual daughter” Agnes as abbess of the Convent of the Holy Cross, which Radegund had founded at Poitiers. It is a work equal in importance to Fortunatus's episcopal panegyrics and other ceremonial poems for church occasions.

E. Courtney, The Fragmentary Latin Poets. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. Pp. xxvi + 504. ISBN 0-19-814775-9. £55.00.

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The Fragmentary Latin Poets

The Fragmentary Latin Poets

Musical Sources and Stemmatic Filiation: A Tool for Editing Music

Ever since the philologist Karl Lachmann, in the last century, announced the startling results of his investigations into the texts of the New Testament and the Classical Latin poet Lucretius, textual critics have sought to apply his principle of common error to establish the genealogical relationships of the sources of a wide variety of texts.' Lachmann's method arose from the problem of dealing with a text that was central to the fabric of Western Civilization, the New Testament. In its witnesses, as in those of all texts, he found three types of readings: good readings, places where the witnesses offered variant reasonable readings, and clear errors. (The following discussion naturally pertains to both printed and manuscript sources. To avoid cumbersome locutions like scribal/ typographical, or scribe/typesetter/engraver, I have chosen to use scribe or scribal to stand for the various possibilities.) The

The Fragmentary Latin Poets

The Fragmentary Latin Poets

The Fragmentary Latin Poets. Edward Courtney

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Fragmentary Latin Poets. Edward Courtney James J. O'HaraJames J. O'Hara Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Classical Philology Volume 89, Number 4Oct., 1994 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/367438 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright 1994 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

John Parkhurst and the traditions of classical Latin poetry in sixteenth-century England

Sixteenth-century England witnessed a remarkable flowering of neo-Latin poetry. Hundreds of volumes of verse were printed, a sign both of the impact of humanism and the continuing vitality of the classical tradition. One of the most important and interesting Elizabethan Latin poets is John Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich. HisLudicra of 1573 is a substantial volume of several thousand lines, containing epigrams, epitaphs, occasional verses, religious poetry, and, unusually for an Englishman of this period, passionate love poetry. The importance of this corpus of poetry is assessed, and the influence of Martial, Catullus and Prudentius is examined, as an aspect of the continuing importance of the classical tradition in sixteenth-century England.

The Libro de Alexandre: Medieval Epic and Silver Latin

Fraker examines the style of the Libro de Alexandre, a medieval Spanish epic, and shows how it reflects the influence of Latin poets of the Silver Age, including Ovid and Lucan. He includes an analysis of two other medieval epics, the Trojan War of Joseph of Exeter and the Alexandreis of Gautier de Chatillon.

BOOK REVIEWS

ABSTRACT‘Not in Heaven’: Coherence and Complexity in Biblical Narrative. Edited by J. P. Rosenblatt and J. C. Sitterson Jr.Towards a Grammar of Biblical Poetics: Tales of the Prophets. By Herbert Chanan Brichto.The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. By John Dominic Crossan.Jesus and the Oral Gospel Tradition (Journal for the Study of the New Testament. Supplement series 64). Edited by Henry Wansbrough.The Rhetoric of Righteousness in Romans 3.21‐26 (Journal for the Study of the New Testament. Supplement series 65). By Douglas A. Campbell.Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation: An Exegetical Investigation of rhe Language and Composition of I Corinthians (Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie 28). By Margaret M. Mitchell.Divine Disclosure: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic. By D. S. Russell.Judaism (The Religious Situation of Our Time). By Hans Küng.Jewish History and Thought: An Introduction. By Menahem Mansoor.Studies in the Jewish Background to Christianity (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 60). By Daniel R. Schwartz.Der verborgene und offenbare Gott: Hauptthemen der ffühen jüdischen Mystik. By Peter Schäfer.The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century (The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism). By Bernard McGinn.The Eucharistic Prayer of Addai and Mari. By A. Gelston.Thomas Becket in the Medieval Latin Preaching Tradition: An Inventory of Sermons about St Thomas Becket c.1170‐c.1400 (Instrumenta Patristica 25). By Phyllis B. Roberts.Einsiclit und Bekehrung: Ausgangspunkt der Fundamental theologie bei Bernard Lunergan. By Grzegorz Dobroczynski.The Liberation of Consciousness: Bemurd Lonergan's Theological Foundations in Dialogue with the Theological Aesthetics of Hans Urs von Balthasar. By Hilary A. Mooney.Systematic Theology, Volume I. By Wolfhart Pannenberg.Revelation: From Metaphor to Analogy. By Richard Swinburne.Sociology and Liturgy: Re‐presentations of the Holy. By Kieran Flanagan.Communication Theory for Christian Witness. By Charles H. Kraft.Contemporary Literary Theory: A Christian Appraisal. Edited by Clarence Walhout and Leland Ryken.Eucharistic Poetry: The Search for Presence in the Writings of John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dylan Thomas and Geoffrey Hill. By Eleanor J. McNees.La Vie religieuse: Un chemin d'humanitk. By Paul Lebeau.Venantius Fortunatus: A Latin Poet in Merovingian Gaul. By Judith George.The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe. By Valerie I. J. Flint.The Later Crusades: From Lyons to Alcazar, 1274‐1580. By Norman Housley.Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth‐Century Paris. By Barbara B. Diefendorf.Gentlemen and Jesuits: Quests for Glory and Adventure in the Early Days of New France. By Elizabeth Jones.Education in New France. By Roger Magnuson.Early American Methodism. By Russell E. Richey.Cheap Bibles: Nineteenth‐Century Publishing and the British and Foreign Bible Society. By Leslie Howsam.Hopkins: A Literary Biography. By Norman White.The Old Palace: A History of the Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy (Oscott Series 7). By Walter Drumm.Peace Movements: International Protest and World Politics since 1945 (The Postwar World). By April Carter.The Christian Church in the Cold War (The Penguin History of the Church 7). By Owen Chadwick.Spirit of Africa: The Healing Ministry of Archbishop Milingo of Zambia. By Gerrie Ter Haar.Aristotle's ‘Physics’: A Collection of Essays. Edited by Lindsay Judson.Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy: Supplementary Volume, 1991. Edited by Henry Blumenthal and Howard Robinson.Substance and Predication in Aristotle. By Frank A. Lewis.The Perfection of the Universe according to Aquinas: A Theological Cosmology. By Oliva Blanchette.The Thought of Thomas Aquinas. By Brian Davies.Kant's Philosophy of Religion Reconsidered. Edited by Philip J. Rossi and Michael Wreen.Marx's Theory of History: The Contemporary Debate (Avebury Series in Philosophy). Edited by Paul Wetherly.The Cambridge Companion to Marx. Edited by R. Terrell Carver.Essentialism: A Wittgensteinian Critique (SUNY Series in Logic and Language). By Garth L. Hallett.The Realistic Spirit: Wittgenstein, Philosophy and the Mind. By Cora Diamond.From Existence to God: A Contemporary Philosophical Argument. By Barry Miller.Will and World: A Study in Metaphysics. By N. M. L. Nathan.Being A Philosopher: The History of a Practice. By David Hamlyn.

The Description of Landscape in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus: The Moselle Poems

Venantius Fortunatus is the last major Latin poet of late antiquity. Born near Treviso in northern Italy, he studied grammar and rhetoric in the still thriving schools of Ravenna before moving in 566 to Gaul, where he sought to employ his literary education and talents in the service of Merovingian and Gallo-Roman patrons. Fortunatus's poetry gives ample evidence of his early studies: he shows familiarity with classical poetry, especially Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and Statius, and with the main Christian poets of late antiquity. In a passage at the beginning of his verse Life of St. Martin, Fortunatus lists Juvencus, Sedulius, Orientius, Prudentius, Paulinus, Arator, and Alcimus Avitus as preeminent in Christian poetry, thereby naming all of his most important Christian Latin predecessors.

Io! In Ovid

The scribes of the Latin poets were not, as a rule, in the habit of interpolating exclamatory particles; on the contrary, their tendency was to trivialise. The particle io has MSS authority in two passages in Ovid where distinguished critics reject it.Kenney in the Oxford Text of Ars Amatoria 3.742 prints.labor, io: cara lumina conde manu.

Venantius Fortunatus: a Latin poet in Merovingian Gaul

A second Orpheus Fortunatus and the rhetorical tradition - panegyrics to kings, other poems epitaphs and consolations Merovingian bishops Merovingian noblemen Merovingian nobelwomen Fortunatus - poet and person. Appendices: Text and translation of selected poems Fortunatus' ordination as priest.

Jesuit Latin Poets of the 17th and 18th centuries: An Anthology of Neo-Latin Poetry. Selected and paraphrased by James J. Mertz, S.J.; edited and annotated by John P. Murphy, S.J.; in collaboration with Jozef IJsewijn. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1989, xvii + 229 pp., ISBN 0-86516-215-8, softbound $ 24.00

<i>Jesuit Latin Poets of the 17th and 18th centuries: An Anthology of Neo-Latin Poetry</i>. Selected and paraphrased by James J. Mertz, S.J.; edited and annotated by John P. Murphy, S.J.; in collaboration with Jozef IJsewijn. Wauconda, IL: <i>Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers</i>, 1989, <i>xvii</i> + 229 pp., ISBN 0-86516-215-8, softbound $ 24.00

Realidad e ilusión en la poesía latina tardoantigua: notas a propósito de estética literaria

One of the outstanding literary features of the latest old Latin poets (Pentadius, Optatianus Porfyrius, Tiberianus and, mainly, Ausonius) is undoubtedly the detailed description and close imitation of reality, even in its most ambiguous aspects —whether they are pellucidness, touches of light and shade, gleams, delusion or an odd blend of truth and deceit— and thus they attempt to excel their classical models, closely related to the aesthetics which rules other techniques and arts at the time. Such an aesthetic approach affects both matter and form (echoic verses, centos, carmina figurata, etc.).

A Checklist of Restoration English Translations and Adaptations of Classical Greek and Latin Poetry, 1660–1700

English translations and other adaptations from the more major Greek and Latin poets down to Boethius written or first printed in the Restoration period. Entries are in the following form: Date of first printing, with place of publication if not London. Author(s), source and/or title of English translation, author and title of English volume (if translation does not form an independent publication). Additional information. Wing number (if available).