Classics

Fall Term: Roman satire in the early empire: Persius and Juvenal This course aims to provide students with a general understanding of the features of the satiric genre in Roman literature and its transformation under the empire, by means of a close and perceptive analysis, both from a linguistic-philological and historical perspective, of significant portions of text or passages from Persius and Juvenal. Special attention will be paid to the satiric language and style as well as to the intertextual nexus with literary models, both Greek and Latin. Spring Term: Oratory and politics in Cicero: pro Sestio and pro Milone This course aims to provide students with a good knowledge of Cicero's political oratory by a close reading of significant passages from the pro Sestio and pro Milone. The main focus will be on the historical and political context of Cicero's work and the language and style of Cicero as philosopher and political man. Cicero's political and pedagogical project will also be analyzed. Attention will also be paid to the reception of both the speeches in the following centuries.

Students are required to possess a good knowledge of Latin language. It also of some importance that they have an adequate knowledge of Roman history and Latin literature. Familiarity with prosody and metrics as well as rhetorical figures (peculiar to Roman prose) is a basic requirement.

Fall Term (Persius and Juvenal) W. Clausen (ed.), A. Persi Flacci et D. Iuni Iuvenalis Saturae, Oxford (2nd edition), 1992 Spring Term (Cicero): T. Maslowski (ed.), Cicero. Scripta quae supersunt omnia, fasc. 22. Oratio pro Sestio, Leipzig, Teubner 1986 T. Keeline, Cicero. Pro Milone, Cambridge 2021.

Though not mandatory, attendance is recommended

Students are required to take a written examination (a translation from Latin into Italian) before being admitted to the final oral test. During the final examination students will be asked to read, translate and interpret selected texts (taken from the authors or topics touched upon during the course). They will be evaluated according to the following criteria: a) linguistic knowledge b) interpretative skills c) historical and critical skills d) ability in illustrating and explaining literary topics

Fall Term (Persius and Juvenal): K. Freudenburg, A. Cucchiarelli e A. Barchiesi (ed.), Musa Pedestre. Storia e interpretazione della satira in Roma antica, Roma, Carocci 2007; F. Bellandi, Persio: dai verba togae al solipsismo stilistico, Bologna, Patron 1996; W.S. Anderson, Anger in Juvenal and Seneca, London 1968. Spring Term (Cicero): E. Narducci, Introduzione a Cicerone, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005; E. Narducci, Cicerone: la parola e la politica, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2009; R. Kaster (ed. and comm.), Cicero. Pro Sestio, Oxford 2006; P. Fedeli, In difesa di Milone (pro Milone), Venezia, Marsilio 1996.. Students will be provided with further bibliography during the course.

Class lectures and seminars

During the first semester, the lessons will tackle selected passages from Seneca’s Epistulae morales and Prudentius’ Psychomachia, two works connected by the moralistic struggle and the thematic image of the fighting between virtues and vices. Each passage will be read, analysed and discussed in their every respect (linguistic, stylistic, metric, thematic and ideological analysis; textual criticism), with special regard for issues related to literary and philosophical sources, structure, and literary genre. During the second semester the course will focus on Cicero’s speech Pro Cluentio as well as on the history of Latin phonology and morphology. Reading, translation and linguistic, textual critical, stylistic, and historical commentary of Cicero’s text will be provided during the lectures. The programme includes also the study of Latin literature from the 2nd century AD (after Apuleius) to the 7th century AD (Isidorus of Seville).

Students are required to possess a good knowledge of Latin language. It also of some importance that they have an adequate knowledge of Roman history and Latin literature from the beginnings to the 2nd century AD. Familiarity with prosody and metrics as well as rhetorical figures is a basic requirement.

FIRST PART OF THE COURSE Critical editions: Seneca: L. D. Reynolds (rec.), L. Annaei Senecae Epistulae ad Lucilium, Oxford 1965 Prudenzio: M. P. Cunningham (rec.), Aurelii Prudentii Clementis Carmina, Turnholti 1966 Translations: Seneca: R. Marino (cur.), Seneca, Lettere a Lucilio, Milano 2016; letters to study: 18, 30-80, 83, 86, 89, 95, 112, 114, 122 Prudenzio: B. Basile (cur.), Prudenzio, Psychomachia. La lotta dei vizi e delle virtù, Roma 2007 Commentaries and essays (downloadable on Classroom): a) Seneca: F.R. Berno, Roman luxuria. A literary and cultural history, Oxford 2023, pp. 142-191 S. Citroni Marchetti, Plinio il vecchio e la tradizione del moralismo romano, Pisa 1991, pp. 116-173 C. Edwards, Selected Letters of Seneca, Cambridge 2019 B. Inwood, Seneca, Selected Philosophical Letters, Oxford 2010 b) Prudentius: F.R. Berno, Roman luxuria. A literary and cultural history, Oxford 2023, pp. 228-234 S.G. Nugent, Allegory and Poetics. The Structure and Imagery of Prudentius’ Psychomachia, Frankfurt am Main 1985 A. Pelttari, The Psychomachia of Prudentius. Text, Commentary, and Glossary, Norman OK 2019 SECOND PART OF THE COURSE Edition (downloadable on Classroom): S. Rizzo (rec.), M. Tulli Ciceronis pro A. Cluentio Habito oratio, Milano 1991. Scans of the critical edition will be provided during the lectures. Translation: Cicerone, Difesa di Cluenzio, Introd. by E. Narducci, It. Transl. by M. Fucecchi, BUR. History of Latin language: either F. Cupaiuolo, Problemi di lingua latina, Napoli, Loffredo, 1991 or C. Mandolfo, Lineamenti di grammatica storica del latino, Lugano, Agorà & Co., 2017. History of Latin literature (2nd-7th centuries): either G. B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura latina. Dalle origini alla tarda età imperiale, Firenze, Mondadori-Le Monnier, 2019 (2° ed.) or F. Gasti, La letteratura tardolatina. Un profilo storico (secoli III-VII), Roma, Carocci, 2020. Secondary literature (downloadable on Classroom): E. Narducci, Criminali di provincia: la Pro Cluentio di Cicerone, in Id. (a c. di), Eloquenza e astuzie della persuasione in Cicerone. Atti del V Symposium Ciceronianum Arpinas, Arpino 7 maggio 2004, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2005, pp. 42-55; S. Rizzo, La tradizione manoscritta della Pro Cluentio di Cicerone, Genova 1979; C. Santini, Cicerone, in P. Poccetti – D. Poli – C. Santini, Una storia della lingua latina. Formazione, usi, comunicazione, Roma 1999, pp. 316-324.

attendance is not mandatory but strongly suggested

In order to be admitted to the oral examination, students have to pass a written test consisting of the translation of a Latin text into Italian. The oral examination focuses on the Latin works and the secondary literature included in the programme. For the former part of the course, the oral examination is based on an interview. Students will be asked to prove their ability to read the text according to the metre; translate; understand the grammatical and syntactical structures; conduct an analysis of the contents and the formal and stylistic choices; contextualise and comment from a literary point of view selected passages (chosen by the examiner) among those included in the program. For the latter part of the course the oral exam consists of reading, translation, and analysis of one or more passages of Cicero’s Pro Cluentio, questions about the history of Latin phonology and morphology and syntax, questions about the history of the Latin literature from the 2nd century AD to Isidorus of Seville. Lowest mark (of both written and oral exam): 18/30 Highest mark: 30/30 cum laude

Further bibliograpy Seneca: on the structure of Epistulae: I. Lana, Le Lettere a Lucilio nella letteratura epistolare, in P. Grimal (éd.), Sénèque et la prose latine, Vandœuvres-Genève, 253-311; G. Mazzoli, Effetti di cornice nell’epistolario senecano, in A. Setaioli (a c. di), Seneca e la cultura, Perugia 1991, 67-87; A. Setaioli, Epistulae morales, in G. Damschen (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Seneca, Leiden-Boston 2014, 191-200; on moral improvement as the aim of the Epistulae: B. Inwood, Getting to Goodness, in Id., Reading Seneca. Stoic Philosophy in Rome, Oxford 2005; A. Setaioli, Ethics I: Philosophy and Therapy, in G. Damschen (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Seneca, Leiden-Boston 2014, 239-256; R. Wagoner, Seneca on Moral Theory and Moral Improvement, “Classical Philology” 109, 2014, 241-262; on style: A. Traina, Lo stile ‘drammatico’ del filosofo Seneca, Bologna 2011; A. Setaioli, Facundus Seneca, Bologna 2000. Further bibliography on single letters and specific issues will be provided during the class. Prudentius: On allegory: B. Machosky, The Face that is not a Face: the Phenomenolofy of the Soul in the Allegory of Psychomachia, “Exemplaria” 15.1, 1-18; G. Mazzoli, Prudenzio e Draconzio tra vizi e virtù, “Il calamo della memoria” 7, 2017, 51-66; K. R. Haworth, Deified Virtues, Demonic Vices and Descriptive Allegory in Prudentius’ Psychomachia, Amsterdam 1980; on literary sources: M. Mastrangelo, The Roman Self in Late Antiquity. Prudentius and the Poetics of the Soul, Baltimore 2009; M. Smith, Prudentius’ Psychomachia: A Reexamination, Princeton 1976; Other general studies: S. G. Nugent, Allegory and Poetics. The Structure and Imagery of Prudentius’ Psychomachia, Frankfurt am Main 1985; M. Frisch (ed.), Prudentius, Psychomachia, Berlin-Boston. The following works are recommended for further studies on Cicero’s Pro Cluentio: V. M. Patimo, La Pro Cluentio di Cicerone. Introduzione e commento dei §§ 1-81, Nordhausen 2009. J. T. Kirby, The Rhetoric of Cicero’s Pro Cluentio, Amsterdam 1990; on the manuscript transmission of Cicero’s speeches: R. H. Rouse – M. D. Reeve, Cicero. Speeches, in L. D. Reynolds, Texts and Transmission, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1983, pp. 54-89; on the history of Latin language: W. D. C. de Melo, Latin Linguistics. An Introduction, Berlin-Boston 2024; M. Weiss, Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, Ann Arbor-New York 20212 (20201).

Lectures in presence; students will be invited to present their own researches on the texts.

During the first part of the module (42h), the lessons will tackle selected passages from Seneca’s Epistulae morales and Prudentius’ Psychomachia, two works connected by the moralistic struggle and the thematic image of the fighting between virtues and vices. Each passage will be read, analysed and discussed in their every respect (linguistic, stylistic, metric, thematic and ideological analysis; textual criticism), with special regard for issues related to literary and philosophical sources, structure, and literary genre. During the second part of the module (42h) the course will focus on Cicero’s speech Pro Cluentio as well as on the history of Latin phonology and morphology. Reading, translation and linguistic, textual critical, stylistic, and historical commentary of Cicero’s text will be provided during the lectures. The programme includes also the study of Latin literature from the 2nd century AD (after Apuleius) to the 7th century AD (Isidorus of Seville).

Students are required to possess a good knowledge of Latin language. It also of some importance that they have an adequate knowledge of Roman history and Latin literature from the beginnings to the 2nd century AD. Familiarity with prosody and metrics as well as rhetorical figures is a basic requirement.

Critical editions: Seneca: L. D. Reynolds (rec.), L. Annaei Senecae Epistulae ad Lucilium, Oxford 1965 Prudenzio: M. P. Cunningham (rec.), Aurelii Prudentii Clementis Carmina, Turnholti 1966 Translations: Seneca: R. Marino (cur.), Seneca, Lettere a Lucilio, Milano 2016; letters to study: 18, 30-80, 83, 86, 89, 95, 112, 122 Prudenzio: B. Basile (cur.), Prudenzio, Psychomachia. La lotta dei vizi e delle virtù, Roma 2007 Commentaries and essays (downloadable on Classroom): a) Seneca: F.R. Berno, Roman luxuria. A literary and cultural history, Oxford 2023, pp. 142-191 S. Citroni Marchetti, Plinio il vecchio e la tradizione del moralismo romano, Pisa 1991, pp. 116-173 C. Edwards, Selected Letters of Seneca, Cambridge 2019 B. Inwood, Seneca, Selected Philosophical Letters, Oxford 2010 b) Prudenzio F.R. Berno, Roman luxuria. A literary and cultural history, Oxford 2023, pp. 228-234 S.G. Nugent, Allegory and Poetics. The Structure and Imagery of Prudentius’ Psychomachia, Frankfurt am Main 1985 A. Pelttari, The Psychomachia of Prudentius. Text, Commentary, and Glossary, Norman OK 2019 SECOND PART OF THE COURSE Edition (downloadable on Classroom): S. Rizzo (rec.), M. Tulli Ciceronis pro A. Cluentio Habito oratio, Milano 1991. Scans of the critical edition will be provided during the lectures. Translation: Cicerone, Difesa di Cluenzio, Introd. by E. Narducci, It. Transl. by M. Fucecchi, BUR. History of Latin language: either F. Cupaiuolo, Problemi di lingua latina, Napoli, Loffredo, 1991 or C. Mandolfo, Lineamenti di grammatica storica del latino, Lugano, Agorà & Co., 2017. History of Latin literature (2nd-7th centuries): either G. B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura latina. Dalle origini alla tarda età imperiale, Firenze, Mondadori-Le Monnier, 2019 (2° ed.) or F. Gasti, La letteratura tardolatina. Un profilo storico (secoli III-VII), Roma, Carocci, 2020. Secondary literature (downloadable on Classroom): E. Narducci, Criminali di provincia: la Pro Cluentio di Cicerone, in Id. (a c. di), Eloquenza e astuzie della persuasione in Cicerone. Atti del V Symposium Ciceronianum Arpinas, Arpino 7 maggio 2004, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2005, pp. 42-55; S. Rizzo, La tradizione manoscritta della Pro Cluentio di Cicerone, Genova 1979; C. Santini, Cicerone, in P. Poccetti – D. Poli – C. Santini, Una storia della lingua latina. Formazione, usi, comunicazione, Roma 1999, pp. 316-324.

Lectures in presence.

In order to be admitted to the oral examination, students have to pass a written test consisting of the translation of a Latin text into Italian. The oral examination focuses on the Latin works and the secondary literature included in the programme. For the former part of the course, the oral examination is based on an interview. Students will be asked to prove their ability to read the text according to the metre; translate; understand the grammatical and syntactical structures; conduct an analysis of the contents and the formal and stylistic choices; contextualise and comment from a literary point of view selected passages (chosen by the examiner) among those included in the program. For the latter part of the course the oral exam consists of reading, translation, and analysis of one or more passages of Cicero’s Pro Cluentio, questions about the history of Latin phonology and morphology and syntax, questions about the history of the Latin literature from the 2nd century AD to Isidorus of Seville. Lowest mark (of both written and oral exam): 18/30 Highest mark: 30/30 cum laude

Seneca: on the structure of Epistulae: I. Lana, Le Lettere a Lucilio nella letteratura epistolare, in P. Grimal (éd.), Sénèque et la prose latine, Vandœuvres-Genève, 253-311; G. Mazzoli, Effetti di cornice nell’epistolario senecano, in A. Setaioli (a c. di), Seneca e la cultura, Perugia 1991, 67-87; A. Setaioli, Epistulae morales, in G. Damschen (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Seneca, Leiden-Boston 2014, 191-200; on moral improvement as the aim of the Epistulae: B. Inwood, Getting to Goodness, in Id., Reading Seneca. Stoic Philosophy in Rome, Oxford 2005; A. Setaioli, Ethics I: Philosophy and Therapy, in G. Damschen (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Seneca, Leiden-Boston 2014, 239-256; R. Wagoner, Seneca on Moral Theory and Moral Improvement, “Classical Philology” 109, 2014, 241-262; on style: A. Traina, Lo stile ‘drammatico’ del filosofo Seneca, Bologna 2011; A. Setaioli, Facundus Seneca, Bologna 2000. Further bibliography on single letters and specific issues will be provided during the class. Prudentius: On allegory: B. Machosky, The Face that is not a Face: the Phenomenolofy of the Soul in the Allegory of Psychomachia, “Exemplaria” 15.1, 1-18; G. Mazzoli, Prudenzio e Draconzio tra vizi e virtù, “Il calamo della memoria” 7, 2017, 51-66; K. R. Haworth, Deified Virtues, Demonic Vices and Descriptive Allegory in Prudentius’ Psychomachia, Amsterdam 1980; on literary sources: M. Mastrangelo, The Roman Self in Late Antiquity. Prudentius and the Poetics of the Soul, Baltimore 2009; M. Smith, Prudentius’ Psychomachia: A Reexamination, Princeton 1976; Other general studies: S. G. Nugent, Allegory and Poetics. The Structure and Imagery of Prudentius’ Psychomachia, Frankfurt am Main 1985; M. Frisch (ed.), Prudentius, Psychomachia, Berlin-Boston. The following works are recommended for further studies on Cicero’s Pro Cluentio: V. M. Patimo, La Pro Cluentio di Cicerone. Introduzione e commento dei §§ 1-81, Nordhausen 2009. J. T. Kirby, The Rhetoric of Cicero’s Pro Cluentio, Amsterdam 1990 2nd ed. (1985 1st ed.); on Cicero’s works and political career: E. Narducci, La parola e la politica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2009; on the manuscript transmission of Cicero’s speeches: R. H. Rouse – M. D. Reeve, Cicero. Speeches, in L. D. Reynolds, Texts and Transmission, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1983, pp. 54-89; S. Rizzo, Catalogo dei codici della Pro Cluentio ciceroniana, Genova, Istituto di filologia classica e medievale, 1983; on the history of Latin language: W. D. C. de Melo, Latin Linguistics. An Introduction, Berlin-Boston 2024; M. Weiss, Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, Ann Arbor-New York 2021 2nd ed. (1st ed. 2020).

Lectures in presence.