We shall read extended selections from poetry writers of recognized importance to the Latin tradition. Our sampling of texts will emphasize writers of the Late Republic and Early Principate. D. Wray. Autumn.
Substantial selections are read from Cato, Caesar, Cicero, Livy, Seneca, and Tacitus at a rapid pace, with attention paid to their use of resources of the Latin language and their role in the development of Latin style. S. Bartsch-Zimmer. Winter.
This course examines the phonological and morphological development of the Latin language from Indo-European to Vulgar Latin. That development is studied both for its own sake and as a point of departure for introducing linguistic concepts useful for the analysis of other layers of language and of aspects of literary texts. Discussion of major topics in phonology and morphology will alternate with close examination of sample or otherwise relevant texts and lexical families. Major topics are: the principles of historical and comparative linguistics; the development of the Latin sound inventory; Latin and its sister languages; the creation of the Latin nominal and verbal systems; (some of) the varieties of classical Latin; and the influence of Greek on Latin. B. Krostenko. Autumn.
We shall read extensively in Latin from the Satires of Juvenal. We shall focus on language, poetic technique, and understanding the text (also with the help of early Latin-language commentaries). M. Allen. Spring.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–44 BC) was the most accomplished orator of the Roman Republic. Among the most fascinating of his speeches are the three “Caesarian” speeches delivered to Julius Caesar on behalf of persons who had opposed Caesar in the civil war. In the speeches Cicero, in many different ways, uses his hard-won rhetorical and literary skills, practiced over a lifetime in lawsuits, political debates, and philosophizing, not merely to speak on behalf of the immediate subjects of the speeches, but also to suggest social and political roles for Caesar himself. Caesar’s place in the Roman world is as much a topic of the three speeches as the immediate issue of each speech. The chief purpose of this class is to reach an understanding of the basic issues of each speech and the roles that Cicero scripts for Caesar in them. B. Krostenko. Autumn.
