Latin Literature

Sign in Modify your search

Perform this search in

Narrow Your Choices

Availability

Subject

 21-40 of 506 Results  for:

  • Latin Literature x
Clear all

Article

alcoholism, Roman  

John Maxwell O'Brien and Barney Rickenbacker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
  2. Roman History and Historiography
  3. Roman Material Culture
The ancient Romans were as interested in the harmful effects of excessive drinking and chronic intoxication as their Greek counterparts. In On the Nature of Things, *Lucretius writes that wine's fury disturbs the soul, debilitates the body, and provokes quarrels (3. 476–83). The younger *Seneca warns that habitual drunkenness so weakens the mind that its consequences are felt long after the drinking has stopped (Ep. 83. 26). He notes that some men become so tolerant of wine that even though they are inebriated they appear to be sober (Ep. 83. 11). Seneca also suggests that drunkenness tends to disclose and magnify character defects (Ep. 83. 19–20). In his Naturalis historia, *Pliny (1) the Elder finds irony in the fact that men spend hard-earned money on something that can damage the mind and cause madness (14. 137). Like the Greeks, Pliny comments on truth in wine (‘in vino veritas’), but emphasizes that the truths therein revealed are often better left unspoken (HN 14.

Article

Alfius  

Edward Courtney

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Wrote Libri rerum excellentium, a gallery of famous deeds in Roman history, in iambic dimeters. He seems to have lived in the first half of the 3rd cent. ce.

Article

allegory, Latin  

Jonathan Tate and Philip Hardie

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
An awareness of the Greek traditions of allegory (see allegory, greek) entered Rome with the Hellenization of Roman culture; *Ennius and *Varro adopted Greek methods with the Roman gods, and the Stoic in *Cicero's De natura deorum (2. 62–9) supplies examples of ‘etymological’ allegorism on these lines, deriving e.g. Neptunus from nare. *Lucretius engages extensively with physical and moral allegories of the gods and of the Underworld; *Virgil's imitation of Homer seems to reveal an awareness of the allegorical interpretations typical of the Pergamene school (for example of the Shield of Achilles). *Horace defends the claims of poetry with allegorizing interpretations of the Odyssey (Epist. 1. 2) and of the tales of *Orpheus and *Amphion (Ars. P. 391 ff.). *Apuleius works a Platonizing psychological allegory into his fable of Cupid and Psyche (Met. 4. 28 ff.). The word ἀλληγορία first appears in a Roman author (Cicero), although it has a restricted use, as a term of rhetoric.

Article

Ambivius Turpio, Lucius, actor and theatre-director  

Peter G. M. Brown

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Produced plays by *Caecilius Statius and (the *didascaliae record) all of *Terence's.

Article

amoebean verse  

Edward Courtney

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Amoebean verse, a stylistic form found mainly in bucolic poetry (adapted in Catull. 62, Hor. Carm. 3. 9), consists of matching groups of verse assigned alternately to two characters usually in singing contests, which probably have roots in folk-poetry. Each theme introduced by one character has to be closely ‘capped’ by the other; sometimes an umpire decides the result.

Article

Ampelius, Lucius  

Leofranc Holford-Strevens

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Ampelius, Lucius, dedicated his 50-chapter Liber memorialis to a Macrinus still sometimes identified with the emperor M. *Opellius Macrinus, but language and intellectual level are those of late-antique compendia: moreover, there are far more errors and absurdities than can be blamed on later copyists. Subjects covered are cosmography, geography, marvels (some not found elsewhere), religion (from a Euhemeristic standpoint; see euhemerus), and history; the Roman items are almost exclusively republican. Some items derive, even if indirectly, from *Nigidius Figulus, *Nepos, and the Roman historians, but several sources, at least one Greek, remain unknown.

Article

anagnōstēs  

John Wight Duff and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Anagnōstēs, a reader, often an educated slave, whose duty in Roman houses was to entertain his master and guests at table by a recitation in Greek and Latin. *Cicero (Att. 1. 12. 4) mentions his distress at the death of his young reader Sosthenes. *Atticus (see pomoponius atticus, titus) kept very good readers whom he thought indispensable at dinner parties (Nep.

Article

analogia, De  

Alessandro Garcea

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Julius Caesar’s composition of two books entitled De Analogia in the spring of 55 or 54bce must be seen as a contribution to the contemporary debate about the role of language at the end of the Republic. When normalisation measures became a priority in the growing Roman world, and after the publication of Cicero’s De Oratore, Caesar restored the use of sermo facilis et cotidianus (“easy and everyday speech”) (fr. 1b Garcea: Cic. Brut. 253) to the heart of eloquence. This standard linguistic model was based on the twin elements of Latinitas (“correct Latin”) and explanatio (“clarity”), which join in elegantia (“refined diction”) (see Auct. ad Her. 4.12.17), the chief quality of Caesar’s eloquence according to all ancient sources. To achieve the first goal, Caesar resorted to ratio (“analogy”), the rules which form a linguistic system and which, within consuetudo (“usage”), allow a distinction to be drawn between forms that are correct and those that are incorrect or useless. In order that speech may attain clarity, he called for an extremely selective dilectus uerborum (“choice of words”) (fr.

Article

Annaeus Cornutus, Lucius  

Leofranc Holford-Strevens

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
  2. Philosophy
Annaeus Cornutus, Lucius, Stoic philosopher, grammarian, and rhetorician whose pupils included *Lucan and *Persius (who honoured him in Sat. 5, and whose Satires he reportedly revised after the poet's death); exiled by Nero. His Life, now lost, was the last in Diog. Laert. 7; the description Λεπτίτης (Suda), denoting a citizen (not merely native) of *Lepcis Magna, refutes the common supposition that he was the younger Seneca's freedman, though patronage remains plausible. His one extant work (conjectural title Ἐπιδρομὴ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν θεολογίαν παραδεδομένων, ‘Summary of the Traditions concerning Greek Mythology’), addressed to a young child, uses *etymology and also *allegory to derive philosophical insights from divine names and myths. Lost writings included a critique of Aristotle's Categories, reviewing a previous Stoic treatment of the subject; a treatise on spelling, favouring contemporary usage over ancient and balancing the claims of etymology and pronunciation; and commentaries on Virgil (one addressed to *Silius Italicus).

Article

Annaeus Lucanus, Marcus, the poet Lucan, 39–65 CE  

William Blair Anderson and Philip Hardie

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Annaeus Lucanus, Marcus, the poet Lucan (39–65 ce), was born at Corduba (mod. Córdoba), 3 November 39 ce. His father, M. *Annaeus Mela, was a Roman knight and brother of L. *Annaeus Seneca (2). Mela came to Rome when his son was about eight months old. There Lucan received the typical élite education, ending with the school of rhetoric, where he was a great success (see education, roman); he probably also studied Stoic philosophy under L. *Annaeus Cornutus, a connection of Seneca. He continued his studies at Athens, but was recalled by *Nero, who admitted him to his inner circle and honoured him with the offices of quaestor and augur. In 60 ce, at the first celebration of the games called Neronia, he won a prize for a poem in praise of Nero. In 62 or 63 ce he published three books of his epic on the Civil War. Growing hostility between him and Nero, for which various reasons are given, finally led the emperor to ban him from public recitation of his poetry and from speaking in the lawcourts. Early in 65 ce Lucan joined the conspiracy of C.

Article

Annaeus Seneca, Lucius (1), Seneca 'the Elder', Roman author on declamation, c. 50 BCE–c. 40 CE  

Christian James Fordyce and M. Winterbottom

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Annaeus, Lucius, writer on *declamation, was born of equestrian family at *Corduba (mod. Córdoba) in Spain about 50 bce. Of his life we know little; he was certainly in Rome both as a young man and after his marriage, and his knowledge of the contemporary schools of rhetoric implies that he spent much time in the capital. His family wealth was increased by his marriage to Helvia, a fellow countrywoman, by whom he had three sons, L. *Annaeus Novatus (Gallio), L. *Annaeus Seneca (2), the philosopher, and M. *Annaeus Mela, the father of the poet *Lucan. He died around ce 40, after the death of Tiberius and before the exile of his second son.His history of Rome ‘from the start of the civil wars almost up to the day of his death’, is lost. The partly preserved Oratorum et rhetorum sententiae divisiones colores, written for his sons in his old age, originally comprised ten books devoted to controversiae, each with a preface, and at least two devoted to suasoriae.

Article

Annaeus Seneca, Lucius (2), Seneca 'the Younger', Roman author and adviser of Nero, 49–65 CE  

Leighton Durham Reynolds, M. T. Griffin, and Elaine Fantham

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Annaeus Seneca (2), Lucius, was born at *Corduba (mod. Córdoba) in southern Spain between 4 bce and ce 1. He was born into a wealthy equestrian family of Italian stock, being the second son of the elder Seneca (no. 1 above) and Helvia; his brothers were L. *Annaeus Novatus, later known as Iunius Gallio after his adoption by the orator of that name, and L. *Annaeus Mela, the father of the poet Lucan (see annaeus lucanus, m.). He was happily married to a woman younger than himself, Pompeia Paulina; the evidence for an earlier marriage is tenuous. He had one son, who died in 41.He was brought to Rome by his mother's stepsister, the wife of C. Galerius, prefect of Egypt from 16 to 31. Little is known about his life before ce 41. In Rome by ce 5, he studied grammar and rhetoric and was attracted at an early age to philosophy. His philosophical training was varied. He attended lectures by Attalus the Stoic and by Sotion and Papirius Fabianus, both followers of *Sextius who had founded the only native Roman sect a generation before: Seneca was to describe it as a type of Stoicism.

Article

annals and annalists  

Tim Cornell

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
  2. Roman History and Historiography
The Latin word annales (‘yearbooks’, ‘annals’) became the standard term for historical records in a general sense, and was frequently used by historians as a title for their works, probably in imitation of the *annales maximi. The first Latin writer to call his work ‘Annals’ was *Ennius, which proves that already in his time the term could be applied to any kind of historical work, even if, like Ennius' poem, it was not in the form of a year-by-year chronicle. Whether the earliest Roman historians, who wrote in Greek, adopted a year-by-year arrangement is disputed; the fact that later writers refer to (e.g.) Q. *Fabius Pictor's history as ‘Greek annals’ (Graeci annales: Cic. Div. 1. 43) is hardly decisive. Pliny (HN 8. 11) even calls the work of *Cato (Censorius)annales, even though Cato did not use the chronicle form, ridiculed the annales maximi (4.

Article

Annianus  

Edward Courtney

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Annianus, a poet of Hadrian's time and friend of Aulus *Gellius, owned a Faliscan farm (Gell. NA 20. 8) and composed verse on country themes, probably entitled (carmina) Falisca, and *Fescennini, perhaps part of the same work; his nine surviving lines employ paroemiacs and miuric dactylic tetrameters.

Article

Anser  

Edward Courtney

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Anser, a salacious erotic poet (Ov. Tr. 2. 435); nothing remains of his works. He probably profiteered from Antony's (see antonius (2), m.) exactions (Cic. Orationes Phil. 13. 11), and there seems to be a punning uncomplimentary reference to him at Verg. Ecl. 9. 36.

Article

Anthologia Latina  

M. D. Reeve

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Anthologia Latina, a modern invention gradually created in print and not intrinsically distinct from Poetae Latini minores or the *Appendix Vergiliana, gathers poems mostly short that have no better home. Riese's arrangement by date of attestation has fewest drawbacks.The largest block, found in the corrupt and mutilated Codex Salmasianus (8th–9th cent.), was compiled in Vandal Africa, on which it sheds interesting light. In numbered sections of unequal length it embraces a liber epigrammatōn in various metres by *Luxorius (Riese 287–375), which yields a date after 533 ce; another collection probably by one African poet (R. 90–197); Virgilian *centos; couplets that end as they begin, or are repeated in reverse; epigrams attributed to the younger *Seneca; snippets of *Propertius, *Ovid, *Martial; *Symphosius' 100 *riddles; and longer pieces such as the *Pervigilium Veneris. A Claudian and Neronian block in the Codex Vossianus (c.

Article

anthologies, Latin  

Leofranc Holford-Strevens

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Modern usage distinguishes the anthology, consisting of self-contained or detached texts from a specific corpus with little or no intervention by the compiler, from the miscellany, in which an author flits from subject to subject, using other writers to make points, and the *epitome, an abridgement of a single work, or works on the same subject, privileging content over style. In antiquity, however, both terminology and concepts are fluid: a great variety of names for works of mixed subject-matter is attested by *Gellius, NA praef. 6–9, though not all these works would nowadays count as either miscellanies or anthologies.The metaphor of picking flowers from a meadow is widespread, giving rise to the titles Λειμών and Pratum, used respectively by *Cicero (as Limon) and *Suetonius for miscellanies, and Florida, used by *Apuleius for an anthology of the best passages from his speeches. Republican writers from *Ennius on called their miscellaneous writings saturae (see satire); Horace’s friend *Iulius Florus compiled an anthology of these pieces under the same title, possibly adding some of his own.

Article

Anticato  

Christopher Pelling

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Anticato, or (probably less correctly) Anticatones, *Caesar's two-book contribution to the propaganda exchanges following the death of M. *Porcius Cato (2) in 46 bce. Laudations came first from *Cicero, then from *Brutus and *Fabius Gallus. *Hirtius replied to Cicero; Caesar's work followed, probably in speech form. He wrote it in Spain in early 45. A few fragments survive.

Article

Antonius Gnipho, Marcus  

R. A. Kaster

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Antonius Gnipho, Marcus, a teacher of grammar and rhetoric (Suet. Gram. 7). After tutoring the young *Caesar, he set up school in his own house, where *Cicero heard him lecture on rhetoric in 66 bce. Suetonius refers to ‘numerous’ writings, and a commentary on *Ennius' Annals is independently attested, though his pupil L.

Article

Aper, Marcus  

George Clement Whittick and M. Winterbottom

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Aper, Marcus, an advocate (see advocacy) of Gallic origin who rose to the praetorship in the middle of the 1st cent. ce and visited Britain. He is known only from *Tacitus (1)'s Dialogus, where he is portrayed vigorously defending forensic oratory in the modern style against poetry and older fashions.