Homeworkfor Latin 201: Vergil and Augustus
Homework
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For this date |
Homework |
| 1/27/99 | (1) In Latin: Aeneid 1.1-22, the opening of the Aeneid. Reread the lines several times: what are the main themes? Write out a translation if you want to, but you do not have to. Please don't read from your translation in class. Keep track of problems you have with the lines, both specific problems and general problems. (2) Read the paper handout entitled "Epic Openings." Compare the opening of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey to the opening of the Aeneid. What are the standard elements in the opening of an ancient epic? (3) Modern activity (I hope this works! If it doesn't work easily, it won't work at all, so don't lose sleep over it!): Use the Interactive Ancient Mediterranean map of ancient Italy, an Adobde Acrobat file available for download at ftp://ftp.wellesley.edu/pub/ClassicalStudies/IAMitaly.pdf (in the web version of this handout, clicking on the URL will download the map). After you have downloaded and opened the map by clicking on its icon, first, look at the general geography of the Italian peninsula (for example, the way the Appenine Mountains run down the center of the peninsula). Now locate (1) North Africa, with its famous city of Carthage, long Rome's most dangerous enemy and legendary home of Dido, who falls in love with Aeneas in the Aeneid, and (2) Rome. (4) Fill out the first-day-of-class questionnaire at this address: /ClassicalStudies/Latin201/welcome201.html (In the web version of this handout, clicking on the URL will take you to the page.) |
| 2/1/99 |
(1) Make sure you're done your beginning-of-the-term questionnaire, at (2) In English, read from wherever we stopped sight-reading to Aeneid 1.80. That's the line number in the Latin text, which some translations give you; in Mandelbaum's translation 1.80 corresponds to Mandelbaum, Book 1, line 116. Read the English part of the assignment before reading the Latin part, since otherwise the Latin part won't make as much sense to you. (3) In Latin, read Aeneid 1.81-107. Read the passage several times and at several times (once Friday, once Sunday, once Monday morning before class?), so you get comfortable with it. How does the first part of the passage describe the storm? what image does Vergil use? why? Today's assignment introduces Aeneas: what is the effect of introducing him this way and only after 90+ lines? (4) Look at the paper handout on Aeneas' first speech in the Aeneid ("o terque quaterque beati"). Aeneas' speech draws on a speech of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey: how are the two speeches similar? different? How does the Homer passage affect your reading of Vergil? Vergil's Roman readers would have known the Homer virtually by heart. (5) EXTRA CREDIT: Look at the paper handout entitled "Was Aeneas Afraid?", about Aeneid 1.92. The sheet gives you the analysis of line 1.92 according to the late fourth/early fifth century CE Vergilian commentator Tiberius Claudius Donatus. Read the selection and write a brief essay (no more than one page) answering the four questions I've posed about the extract from Donatus. |
| 2/2/99 | (1) In English, read from wherever we stopped sight-reading to Aeneid 1.179 (= Mandelbaulm's translation 1.250). (2) In Latin, read Aeneid 1.180-209. Read the passage several times and at several times. What does Aeneas do in this passage? Consider Aeneas' speech to his men: in what tone would you read this speech aloud? Practice aloud. (3) Today's Latin passage draws on two different passages in Homer's Odyssey. Using the paper handout, compare the Homer to the Vergil in detail. Make lists of the elements of each passage if that helps you focus on the details and not on general impressions. What does Vergil alter, and how does he alter it? What effect is produced by Vergil's using the Homer passages? Would your reaction to the Vergil passage be different if you did not know the Homer? |
| 2/4/99 | (1) In English, get to Aeneid 1.339 (= Mandelbaum 1.481)
(2) In Latin: Aeneid 1.340-371. |
| 2/8/99 | (1) In English, from where last time's Latin stopped to Book 1.425.
(2) In Latin: Aeneid 1.426-458 --on Thursday (2/11) we'll have a vocabulary quiz on the words on Pharr's pull-out sheet at the back of the book |
| 2/9/99 | (1) In English, get up to 1.493
(2) In Latin: 1.494-529 (3) Handout on the Dido simile (Homer, Apollonius of Rhodes, and Aulus Gellius) --for the vocab quiz on Thursday, do ALL of Pharr's pull-out sheet from the back of the book (the paper handout from class is missing part of one column of Pharr's vocabulary) |
| 2/11/99 | (1) Vocabulary quiz on the pull-out sheet at the back of Pharr. I'll give you 15 items from his list, and you'll provide 1-2 word definitions
(2) In English: read up to 2.200 (i.e., finish Book 1 and start Book 2) (2.200 = Mandelbaum 2.283) (3) In Latin: 2.201-233 (Laocoon and the snakes) (4) Images of Laocoon. Go to this wet site, created by Ali Kraley '01 and Alexis Dinniman '00 under a Kech Foundation Grant in the summer of 1998: |
| 2/16/98 (Tuesday = Monday schedule, so we meet at 12:30 | When the ancient Laocoon statue was dug up in 1506, it was an instant attraction: here the ancient world seemed to speak directly to the modern world. Jacopo Sadoleto wrote a poem in Latin about the discovery of the statue. For today, read his Latin poem. In another part of Ali Kraley and Alexis Dinniman's web site, they provide the Latin text of the poem along with hyperlinked vocabulary: /ClassicalStudies/LocalOnly/Latin201/Laocoon/frames.html Get through at least line 33. Whoever gets the farthest beyond that will win a stylish and elegant Classics Club tee-shirt, courtesy of the Department of Classical Studies. If you happen to see Ali or Alexis, remember to thank them! |
| 2/18/99 | English: get up to where the Latin starts
Latin: 2.268-297 (Hector appears to Aeneas) Note: the vocabulary quiz on the list in Pharr, pages 97-100, will be on Thursday, 2/25 (this is one session later than I originally said). |
| 2/22/99 | English: get up to where the Latin starts
Latin 2.526-558 (the death of Priam) From Virgil in English: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516-1547), translation (1557) of today's passage on the death of Priam. Pages 9-11 in Virgil in English. |
| 2/23/99 | English: get up to where the Latin starts
Latin: 2.655-704. This is a substantially longer assignment than what we've done so far, so plan ahead and start on it early (i.e., don't try to do it all on Monday evening!) Since this assignment is unusual, let's approach it in an unusual way: (1) read through the entire assignment in Latin without stopping.
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| 2/25/99 | English: get up to where the Latin starts Latin: 2.774-804 (end of Book 2) (Creusa disappears) Vocabulary quiz on Pharr's vocabulary list on pages 97-100 |
| Monday, March 1 | English: get up to where the Latin starts Latin: 3.315-355 (Aeneas, Andromache, and Helenus) English: 3.356-505 (= up to Mandelbaum 3.659) |
| Tuesday, March 2 | English: get up to where the Latin starts Latin: 3.612-654 (Achaemenides and the Cyclops) English: finish Book 3 (less than 100 lines) |
| Thursday, March 4 | Hourly exam |
| Monday, March 8 | Latin: Aeneid 4.1-39 (Dido and Anna speak about love)
Sight in class: as far as we can get: the farther we get, the shorter Tuesday's assignment will be. From Virgil in English: 4.1-37 (Dido's speech) in the translation of Sidney Godolphin (early seventeenth century) (page 81-82) |
| Tuesday, March 9 | Latin: up to 4.89 (where the assignment starts will depend on where we get at sight on Monday, but I would assume that we would not get further than 4.55 on Monday, so if you want to work ahead you could start there and then make adjustments after class on Monday)
After reading today's passage, look back (in English) at Aeneas' first view of Dido in Book 1.418-438 (= Mandelbaum 1.595-621). Compare Dido in the two scenes. What has happened? Why? |
| Thursday, March 11 | English: 4.90-150 (= Mandelbaum 4.119-201)
Latin: 4.151-197 THIS IS LONG--PLAN AHEAD (Aeneas and Dido's "marriage," the picture of Fama spreading the news) In class, as background for Aeneas and Dido's "wedding," I'll tell you about the ceremonies associated with a Roman marriage. No, no one will have to part their hair with a spear in class, although a Roman bride did. |
| Monday, March 15 | English: 4.198-258
Latin: 4.259-295 (Mercury visits Aeneas; Aeneas plans to leave) (36 lines) |
| Tuesday, March 16 | Latin 4.296-330 (Dido addresses Aeneas) (34 lines)
Outline the points Dido makes in her speech. This is to help analyze the speech, not to turn in. Approach Dido's speech as a speech in a play or as a dramatic reading. What tone of voice would you use to deliver it? Where would you pause? Be ready to read the speech aloud in Latin in class and discuss your dramatic interpretation. |
| Thursday, March 18 | Latin 4.331-373 (middle of the line) (Aeneas replies to Dido, and Dido starts her response) (42 lines)
Sight in class: 4.373-387 (the end of Dido's reply to Aeneas) Outline the points that Aeneas makes in his speech. Again, this is to help you analyze the speech, not to turn in. Consider these modern reactions to Aeneas' speech to Dido at Aen. 4.333ff.). What is your own reaction to the speech? T. E. Page (commentary, 1894): "Not all Virgil's art can make the figure of Aeneas here appear other than despicable. His conduct had been vile, and Dido's heart-broken appeal brings its vileness into strong relief. No modern dramatist dare place his hero in the position in which Virgil places Aeneas here ..." R. G. Austin (commentary, 1955, rpt. with corrections 1966): "The speech is Virgil's way of showing the conflict between Dido's uncontrolled emotion and Aeneas' pale cast of thought. She has appealed to feeling, he answers by reason and logic. Her speech gives fact, as she sees it; his gives fact, as he sees it. He does not disguise the stark and brutal truth, that she has deceived herself, he has not deceived her. The tone is cold and formal, and at the end we see why it is so: had he not controlled himself ... he would have broken down and yielded. ... It is no fault of Virgil's that the harsh conflict between duty and desire is what it is; and given that conflict, Virgil knew that this was how he must show it. Aeneas has wronged Dido, and he knows it; he has wronged God, and he knows it; atonement either way means pain for ever: and it is our pity that we should give him, not our scorn." K. Quinn (Virgil's Aeneid: A Critical Description, Ann Arbor, 1968, p. 143): "In Aeneas' hesitant rejoinder Virgil is less concerned with stating a case (this is not the moment for reason, moreover Aeneas' case is far from watertight) than with creating through dialogue a portrait of Aeneas as a decent, feeling man, struggling to control himself, anxious to say nothing that will wound, aware of his share of responsibility, but ill at ease because he cannot really understand the violence of Dido's reaction to his departure. He begins determined to say as little as possible in reply to her charges of faithlessness and ingratitude ... and then wanders on in a long, vain attempt to make Dido understand the overriding, inescapable importance of his mission. Many have complained that Virgil fails to make Aeneas' case convincing. But it is not intended to convince us. We are meant even to feel that it does not convince Aeneas and certainly it does not convince Dido: his protest that personal feelings must be subordinated to duty is beyond her comprehension." |
| Monday, March 29 | English: get up to where the Latin starts
Latin: 4.437-477 (40 lines) (Aeneas is firm; Dido has a dream) |
| Tuesday, March 30 | English: get up to where the Latin starts
Latin: 4.584-629 (45 lines ) (Dido curses Aeneas and dies) |
| Thursday, April 1 | Latin: 4.-630-671 (41 lines) (Dido, in effect, delivers her own epitaph)
English: finish Book 4 and read all of Book 5 in English Old Roman Epitaphs--handout to come. Look at the handout of Old Roman Epitaphs and compare them to what Dido says about herself in her speech in today's Latin assignment. (Read the English translations of the epitaphs: I'll give you the Latin just so you can see what it looks like if you want to.) |
| Monday, April 5 | English: 6.1-439 (=Mandelbaum 6.1-580)
Latin: 6.440-476 (36 lines) (Aeneas meets Dido in the Underworld) |
| Tuesday, April 6 | Hourly exam, covering the material since the last exam |
| Thursday, April 8 | English: get up to where the Latin starts
Latin: 6.847-901 (the end of Book 6) (Anchises' vision of Rome; the death of Marcellus) Written work: 6.847-853 contain Anchises' statement on the essence of being Roman. Make a literary translation of these lines and post it on the Latin 201 computer bulletin board by 5pm on Wednesday, April 7. By "literary translation," I mean a translation that does not simply try for interlinear accuracy but goes beyond that. In a paper handout, read the ancient sources on Marcellus for background to today's Latin passage. Here Vergil is writing about very contemporary events. |
| Monday, April 12--this is long: plan ahead | English: Aeneid 7, 8, and 9
Latin: 9.424-449 (the deaths of Nisus and Euryalus) and 9.473-497 (Euryalus' mother laments). If you all can work it out among yourselves, half the class could do one translation and half the other. Both passages would be fair game on the final, though.
Nisus, Euryalus, and the Flower Image. The flower image Vergil uses at 9.433-437 is based on passages in the works of three different authors: Homer, the Greek lyric poet Sappho, and the Roman poet Catullus. On the paper handout (not electronic), look at the translated passages from Homer and Sappho. I've also given you part of the Catullus poem (hardly a happy one) in Latin on the sheet. We'll translate it at sight in class (feel free to try it ahead of time if you have time). |
| Tuesday, April 13 | English: get up to where the Latin starts.
Latin: 10.769-820 (Aeneas kills Lausus, son of Mezentius) Sight in class: 10.821-832 Augustus on Augustus. On the Latin 201 shelf in Founders 308 (the Department of Classical Studies Library), I’ve put copies of a translation of what is called the Res gestae Divi Augusti, a semi-autobiographical account of Augustus’ life. Read the English translation and consider the relationship of Augustus, the emperor, to the Aeneid. What does Augustus highlight as important in his reign in this document? Do his values (political, personal, religious) match those of the Aeneid? |
| Thursday, April 15 | Latin: 10.833-872 (the first part of the scene in which Aeneas kills Mezentius)
Epic Similes: Book 10 of the Aen. is packed with epic similes (extended comparisons: "Just like ..., so ...). A paper handout gives the line references in Mandelbaum's translation. Note down the subjects of the various similes (This is NOT to be turned in, but to help you make specific observations). From what spheres are they drawn (e.g., farming, the gods)? What are their functions? What perspective do they give on the action? |
| Monday, April 19 | No classes: Patriots Day--go watch the Marathon! |
| Tuesday, April 20: regular schedule: meet at 1:30 | Aeneid 10.873-905 |
| Wednesday, April 21--MONDAY SCHEDULE: MEET AT 12:30 | English: all of Aeneid 11
Latin: Aeneid 12.1-18 (NOTE HOW SHORT THIS ASSIGNMENT IS!!!) Use an internet text for this, combined with Mandelbaum. For this assignment and the next two, you can get a text at http://patriot.net/~lillard/cp/verg.aen12.html Sight in class: We'll start at 12.19 and go as far as we can. The farther we get, the shorter the assignment for Thursday will be. |
| Thursday, April 22--regular schedule: meet at 1:30 | Latin: get through Aeneid 12.80. Where you'll start will depend on how far we got at sight in class on Wednesday. Amata and Turnus speak.
You can get a text at http://patriot.net/~lillard/cp/verg.aen12.html In this passage, Lavinia makes one of her rare appearances. |
| Monday, April 26 | English: get up to the start of the Latin.
Latin: Aeneid 12.411-440. Again, you'll need an internet text. You can get a text at http://patriot.net/~lillard/cp/verg.aen12.html Aeneas' wound is miraculously healed; he speaks to Ascanius. |
| Tuesday, April 27 | English: get up to the start of the Latin
Latin: Aeneid 12.791-842. This is in the Barbara Weiden Boyd text. Jupiter and Juno discuss the future. |
| Thursday, April 29: No class--Ruhlman Conference | But I hope you'll go to presentations and poster sessions in the Ruhlman Conference--it's a wonderful day! |
| Monday, May 3 | English: get up to the start of the Latin
Latin: 12.887-927, in the Barbara Weiden Boyd text. |
| Tuesday, May 4 | Latin: 12.928-952 (the end of the Aeneid), in the Barbara Weiden Boyd text. |
| Thursday, May 6 | (1) By Wednesday, May 5th, at noon, email me two questions you think would be good essay questions for the final exam. The questions should cover the entire course.
(2) Read Colin Burrow, "Virgil in English translation," from The Cambridge Companion to Virgil, edited by Charles Martindale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pages 21-37 (handout). (3) In Virgil in English, read these poems that are related to or inspired by Vergil: |
Ray Starr rstarr@wellesley.edu
Created: 1/21/99
Last modified: 1/21/99
Expires: 7/1/99
Ray Starr rstarr@wellesley.edu
Created: 1/21/99
Last modified: 1/21/99
Expires: 7/1/99