Monthly Archives: August 2005

Fulke Art II

Here’s another neoclassical poem from Caelica, number XCIII complete: The Augurs were of all the world admir’d, Flatter’d by consuls, honor’d by the State, Because the event of all that was desir’d, They seem’d to know, and keep the books … Continue reading

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Fulke Art I

I’ve been leafing through Fulke Greville’s Caelica, partly as congenial bedtime reading, partly to try to find a favorite passage from years ago. It turns out to be lines 69-74 of poem LXXXIII: The ship of Greece, the streams and … Continue reading

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Macaulay On Plato And Socrates

I am now deep in Plato, and intend to go right through all his works. His genius is above praise. Even where he is most absurd,–as, for example, in the Cratylus,–he shows an acuteness, and an expanse of intellect, which … Continue reading

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Schopenhauer On Books II

According to Herodotus, Xerxes wept at the sight of his enormous army to think that, of all these men, not one would be alive in a hundred years’ time; so who cannot but weep at the sight of the thick … Continue reading

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Schopenhauer On Books I

As the strata of the earth preserve in succession the living creatures of past epochs, so the shelves of libraries preserve in succession the errors of the past and their expositions, which like the former were very lively and made … Continue reading

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Spooneristic Misreading

After my trip to the U.N.C. library, I’ve been leafing through Toto Notus in Orbe, Perspektiven der Martial-Interpretation (ed. Farouk Grewing, Palingenesis LXV, Stuttgart, 1998). One sentence in T. J. Leary’s paper on the Xenia and Apophoreta caused a double-take. … Continue reading

Posted in Latin Literature, Nachleben | Tagged | 3 Comments

Tiny Linguistic Puzzle

One of the books in the classics section at U.N.C.’s library is Un Dialogo sul Management. What ancient author and work are the subject of this book? I will leave that as a not-too-difficult puzzle for my readers. Suggestions may … Continue reading

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Martial’s Dexiocholus

The word dexiocholus, ‘lame in the right leg’, though securely attested in Martial 12.59.9, is not to be found in either the Oxford Latin Dictionary or Liddell-Scott-Jones: no doubt each editorial team thought it could safely be left to the … Continue reading

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New Categories

Now that I have my library mostly unpacked, I will posting more frequently on various topics. Some of these will be classical blogules: ideas interesting enough to write up, but too small to send off to a journal. Of these … Continue reading

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Is This A Pun?

From the picture of the book jacket on Blogographos, it appears that Harry Potter in Greek is APEIOΣ ΠOTHP. Assuming the accents match, that also means “Warlike Drinking-Cup”. Perhaps those who have dipped into the Greek version can tell me … Continue reading

Posted in Nachleben, Orbilius | 1 Comment

Macaulay On The Greek Novel

From one of Macaulay’s Calcutta letters: I have at stray hours read Longus’s Romance and Xenophon’s Ephesiaca: and I mean to go through Heliodorus, and Achilles Tatius, in the same way. Longus is prodigiously absurd; but there is often an … Continue reading

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Greek Morphology Question

In reviewing my Greek to get ready to teach Antigone, I’ve come across a curious question about Greek verbs. For many verbs, the shortest forms, which students tend to find the most confusing, are not the present indicatives, as we … Continue reading

Posted in Greek Grammar | 1 Comment

After Long Silence

I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been moving all my stuff from Baltimore to North Carolina for a new job. I’ll be teaching Latin II (second half of Wheelock), Latin IV (AP Vergil), Greek IV (Antigone and Apology) and … Continue reading

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Schopenhauer On Reading II

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents. Ibid.

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Schopenhauer On Reading I

The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, … Continue reading

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Macaulay On Martial

I have now gone through the first seven books of Martial, and have learned about 360 of the best lines. His merit seems to me to lie, not in wit, but in the rapid succession of vivid images. I wish … Continue reading

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Macaulay On Grote

Macaulay used to say that a lady who dips into Mr. Grote’s history, and learns that Alcibiades won the heart of his fellow-citizens by the novelty of his theories and the splendour of his liturgies, may get a very false … Continue reading

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