Category Archives: Critical Texts

New Texts: Albinovanus Pedo and Cornelius Severus

I haven’t posted anything in almost three months, partly because half the site was not working for six weeks (December 16-January 28) and I could not figure out why (a server move and PHP ‘upgrade’ made my main text database … Continue reading

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Claudian’s Orrery – 3-column display of critical texts

It has been obvious for many years that an on-line text with an apparatus criticus should put it to the right of the text, since the bottom of the page may be hundreds of lines away, and a line-by-line apparatus … Continue reading

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Dissertation Now On-Line

The University of Virginia library has (with my permission) placed my dissertation, “Problems of unity and design in Propertius II” (1990) on-line. It’s a bit half-baked, but I still think my conclusions are sound. Should you read it? The best … Continue reading

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A Tactful Cue (and Non-Q) in Horace (Ep. 1.13.17)

    The last four lines of the epistle to Vinnius, on his way to deliver a copy of Horace’s Carmina to Augustus, are clear enough, but one of the conjunctions seems dubious (16-19): neu uolgo narres te sudauisse ferendo carmina quae … Continue reading

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Vigils and Strigils: Juvenal 3.262

    The man crushed by a collapsing stone-wagon never comes home, and his household, though still unaware of his death, finally gives up waiting for him (260-63):         obtritum uulgo perit omne cadauer more animae. domus interea secura patellas iam lauat et … Continue reading

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Mood and Voice: A Footnote on Horace, Epode 10

    In their commentaries on the Epodes, both D. Mankin (Cambridge, 1995) and L. C. Watson (Oxford, 2003) note the appropriateness of the name Inachia in 12.17:     “Inachia langues minus ac me; Inachiam ter nocte potes, mihi semper ad unum     mollis … Continue reading

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Catullus 41: Is the Line-Order as Screwed Up as the Subject?

    I quote the whole poem, since it is so short, with Mynors’ apparatus, which is conveniently sized for my purposes:(1) Anneiana puella defututa, tota milia me decem poposcit, ista turpiculo puella naso, decoctoris amica Formiani. propinqui, quibus est puella curae, … Continue reading

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Two Conjectures on Horace’s 16th Epode

    Horace introduces his proposed solution for the corruption of contemporary Rome with a Greek precedent (17-22):(1) nulla sit hac potior sententia: Phocaeorum     velut profugit exsecrata civitas agros atque Lares patrios habitandaque fana     apris reliquit et rapacibus lupis,        20 ire pedes quocumque … Continue reading

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Two Kinds of Crux, neither of them Christian (Maecenas, Fr. 4.4)

    Thousands of lines of excellent verse dedicated to Maecenas survive, but only a few precious bits of his own – precious in more ways than one. Seneca (E.M. 101.10-12) preserves, and comments on, one of the most interesting (Fr. 4 … Continue reading

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Iccius’ Socratic Domus: Horace, C. 1.29.14

    The last stanza of Horace’s Ode to Iccius (1.29.13-16) follows some adynata – ‘Who will deny that anything is possible . . .'(1) cum tu coemptos undique nobilis libros Panaeti Socraticam et domum     mutare loricis Hiberís,         pollicitus meliora, tendis? Commentators … Continue reading

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No Adduction Needed: A Tense Problem in Persius 4.2

    Persius opens his fourth satire with an obscene double entendre and a couple of historical presents:(1) ‘Rem populi tractas?’ (barbatum haec crede magistrum dicere, sorbitio tollit quem dura cicutae) ‘quo fretus? dic hoc, magni pupille Pericli. 2 dura αGL : … Continue reading

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Three Small Problems in Persius, Prologus 14

1. I find Harvey’s argument for a question mark at the end of the poem compelling and do not understand why subsequent editors have not followed him. I’m tempted to quote his entire long paragraph (9), but these bits should … Continue reading

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POTIS Comment Policy

A Public On-Line Textual-Interpretative Seminar (POTIS) is a new thing for me and – as far as I know – the classical world, though the APA has announced plans for something similar. No doubt it will take some time to … Continue reading

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Index and Database

Before I put together my Adversaria database (here), I made a simple Index file for Persius (here). Should I try to combine the two, or keep them separate? Does anyone have any advice on that? (Please note: your first comment … Continue reading

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Categories of Adversaria

As mentioned in my previous post, I plan to assign categories to my various notes so users can filter them to see only what they want to see. This will become more important as their number increases. Here are my … Continue reading

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Vaut le Detour? Adversaria as Database

Apologies for the long delay in my Persius project. As soon as I uploaded my first few Persius Adversaria, I realized that I needed to rethink the whole web-publication process, since blog posts with links to printable PDF versions would … Continue reading

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Persius 1.53: An Udderly Hypocritical Patron

A rich patron fishes for compliments (1.53-55):                         calidum scis ponere sumen, scis comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna, et ‘verum’ inquis ‘amo, verum mihi dicite de me.’        55 The two gifts offered as bait are oddly assorted. A worn cloak shows a … Continue reading

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Persius 1.4: Machinical Error?

A minor question of orthography: ne mihi Polydamas et Troiades Labeonem The name of the Trojan hero Πολυδάμας does not scan in hexameters: the first three syllables are short. Homer therefore lengthened the first syllable to make Πουλυδάμας. How that … Continue reading

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Persius 5.159: When Two Ets Are Two Too Many

A concise animal allegory illustrates the difficulty of achieving true freedom (5.157-60): nec tu, cum obstiteris semel instantique negaris parere imperio, ‘rupi iam uincula’ dicas; nam et luctata canis nodum abripit, et tamen illi, cum fugit, a collo trahitur pars … Continue reading

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Persius, Prologus 6: semipaganus

I suspect that more pages have been written on semipaganus than on any other single word in Persius. Not only is the meaning of paganus obscure – fellow-townsman? rustic? civilian? – it is far from obvious what the implied other … Continue reading

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