Monthly Archives: December 2017

An Herbed-Lamb Pun in Horace (C. 4.11.6-8)?

Just uploaded: another Horatianum, exegetical rather than textual for a change, PDF here.

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A ‘Calemphaton’ in Horace, C. 4.12.8?

One of the several meanings of cacemphaton (also deformitas, Greek κακέμφατον) is an inadvertent obscenity found at the junction of two words. As H. Lausberg puts it (Handbook of Literary Rhetoric, Brill 1998, § 1070), “A special kind of amphibolia, … Continue reading

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A Strange Ambiguity in Horace’s Torquatus Ode (4.7)

One of the many memorable couplets in C. 4.7 is 19-20: cuncta manus avidas fugient heredis, amico     quae dederis animo. Has anyone noted the odd change of meaning when we come to the last word? Up until then, it looks … Continue reading

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