Latin 311: Roman Satire

Wellesley College/Fall, 2007/Mr. Starr

Thursday, September 6: Introduction to Roman satire and to Roman Satire

First things first:

Please fill out the beginning-of-the-course questionnaire online at /ClassicalStudies/Latin311/welcome311.html

I realize that those of you who have taken courses with me before have filled out similar questionnaires before--please fill it out again, especially since something may have changed, such as taking another course, reading another author, seeing another movie, visiting a museum..

Then, on the course First Class conference, introduce yourself to your classmates in at least two paragraphs. Again, some of you already know each other (which means those people can't make up things toooo wildly), but no one knows everyone.

Monday, September 10: Lucilius and an introduction to Horace

Ancient Reading in Latin:

• Lucilius, the fragment on virtus (handout on paper)
• Lucilius, a few more selections (handout on paper: this handout has both the Latin and the English)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Horace, Satires 1.1

Modern Reading, for general background and orientation: P. A. Miller, Latin Verse Satire (Routledge/London and New York 2005), pages 1-17 and 21-30 (In class, I'll explain how to access this.)

Thursday, September 13: Horace I

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Horace, Satires 1.5 (104 lines):  A Trip to Brindisi (the text, for this and other Horace poems in Latin, will be Miller's school edition, now in the public domain; handout on paper)

AN EXPERIMENT:  Today’s assignment is long, but rather than drop the course, try this:   First, read through the entire poem in translation, quickly, to give yourself a general sense of its content. To help yourself focus, write out a summary of the poem in two or three sentences. Then read through the whole poem in Latin without stopping, trying to understand as much of the general meaning as you can. As you read, circle the fifteen words you don’t know but think would help you most in understanding the poem.  When you've finished that initial reading, look up those fifteen words and then read it again in Latin. Then read it a third time in Latin.  This time you can look up words as you go, but don’t look up more than a comparatively small number (25? 30?).  Your translation still won't be perfect, but it will be much better. In class we’ll go over the poem and talk about ways to approach a Latin text.

Ancient Reading in Translation:   The fragments of Lucilius’ satire about a trip (handout on paper)

Oral Presentation:  Horace and Lucilius:  The Trip Satires.  Lucilius’ Sicilian trip is thought by some to be the ancestor of Horace’s satire in a general way, by others to be its model in fine detail.  What is the relationship between the two poems?  You may find the following items helpful in your analysis:  Niall Rudd, The Satires of Horace (1966; Bristol 1994), pp. 54-64 (on 1.5, contesting its detailed dependence on Lucilius) (e-reserve, with the title: LAT319 Satires of Horace- Entertainments/ Rudd); Emily Gowers, “Horace, Satires I.5:  An Inconsequential Journey,” Proceedings  of the Cambridge Philological Society 39 (1993) 48-66 (e-reserve--NOTE: if this article could not be processed in time for e-reserve, let me know and you can borrow my copy).

Monday, September 17: Horace II

Ancient Reading in Latin: Horace, Satires 1.6.1-55. (Do I need to tell you how many lines that is?)  Horace, Horace’s father, Maecenas, and Horace’s daily routine. Note that this is a comparatively short Latin assignment, and remember it later if you're ever feeling beleagured by a comparatively long Latin assignment. Starting by reading the whole assignment through in Latin without stopping is still a good idea, though: it helps to remind you that the poem is continuous, not a sequence of vocabulary units.

Ancient Reading in Translation:  Horace, Satires, Book 1.2, 1.3, 1.4.

Extra Credit: Read and post a page's summary and discussion of I. A. Ruffell, "Beyond Satire: Horace, Popular Invective and the Segregation of Literature," The Journal of Roman Studies 93. (2003), pp. 35-65, available through JSTOR at this stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0075-4358%282003%2993%3C35%3ABSHPIA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F

Thursday, September 20: Horace III

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Horace, Satires  1.6.56-131 (75 lines)

Oral Presentation:  Satire 1.6:  The Meaning of Freedom.  This satire encompasses many topics, some apparently quite different from each other:  Horace’s first meetings with Maecenas, the extraordinarily powerful man who became his patron; Horace’s father, a former slave who supervised his son’s education; and Horace’s daily life.  But one theme that might be said to unify the poem is freedom of various kinds.  What does freedom mean in the poem (freedom from slavery? freedom from compulsion?)?  For a helpful discussion, you might consult Niall Rudd, The Satires of Horace (1966; Bristol 1994), pp. 36-53. Further exploration (more detailed than you will be able to summarize in class) of the idea of libertas, though not specifically on Horace: Chaim Wirszubski, Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome during the Late Republic and Early Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968: an old book, but a valuable one).

Monday, September 24: Horace IV

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Horace, Satires 1.9 (78 lines):  The Bore

Modern Readings:  Read one of the following two articles.  Email me before class to let me know which you read. In class, be ready to discuss the articles you read, remembering that some of your classmates have not read the same article you’ve read. Before reading your article, think consciously about what you want to get out of it and how to read it most effectively. You might want to skim the article first very quickly to get the main point, perhaps summarize that point for yourself in a few sentences, and then go back and read the article a second time more slowly. Reading an article twice can sound like it would take longer than reading it just once, but it often actually takes less time, because you're focused on a specific goal as you read.

• W. S. Anderson, “Horace, the Unwilling Warrior:  Satire I, 9,”  pp. 84-102 in W. S. Anderson, Essays on Roman Satire (Princeton 1982) = American Journal of Philology 77 (1956) 148-66, on Horace and the bore as a comically epic struggle. Available through JSTOR at this stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9475%281956%2977%3A2%3C148%3AHTUWSI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X
• E. Courtney, “Horace and the Pest,” Classical Journal 90 (1994) 1-8 (e-reserve)

Extra Credit: Read either of these articles and post a page's informal summary and discussion on the First Class conference:

Thursday, September 27: Horace V

Ancient Reading in Translation (to get you up to the Latin for today): Horace, Satires 2.6.1-39

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Horace, Satires 2.6.40-117 (end of 2.6) (77 lines):  The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

Modern Reading: Niall Rudd, The Satires of Horace (1966; Bristol 1994), Chapter IX:  “Poet and Patron (2):  2.6” (pages 243-257) (an overall interpretation of 2.6) (e-reserve)

Oral Presentation:  Translating Horace. What challenges does translation present, whether to the translator or to the reader of the translation? Discuss those challenges and illustrate them with translations of Horace, Satires 2.6. To help orient yourself to potential issues, you might look at several relatively brief scholarly articles in the monumental Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, ed. Mona Baker (1998/2001, rpt. 2005): "Literal translation" (D. Robinson, pp. 125-127), "Literary translation: practices" (P. Bush, pp. 127-130), "Literary translation: research issues" (J. Lambert, pp. 130-133), and "Poetry translation" (D. Connolly, pp. 170-176) (e-reserve, in one piece). For your examples, find translations of 2.6 in English from several different periods. Horace in English, edited by D. S. Carne-Ross and K. Haynes (New York:  Penguin 1996), conveniently contains three 17th and 18th century versions:  by Sir John Beaumont (1629), by Abraham Cowley (1668), and by Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope (1727:  Swift does the first part, Pope the second). Find a 19th century and a 20th (or 21st?) century version as well.

Extra Credit: Read and post a page's summary and discussion of D. West, “Of Mice and Men:  Horace, Satires 2.6.77-117,” pp. 67-80 in Woodman and West, eds., Quality and Pleasure in Latin Poetry (Cambridge 1974) (on Horace and the mice, from various points of view, including food, philosophy, fable; disagrees with Rudd) (e-reserve)

Extra Credit: The influence and importance of Horace’s Satires in English Literature. Read and post a page's informal discussion of J. P. Sullivan’s essay, “Satire” in The Legacy of Rome:  A New Appraisal, edited by Richard Jenkyns (Oxford 1992), pp. 215-242, although Jenkyns includes far more detail than you’ll be able to summarize: hit the high points and comment on them.. 

Monday, October 1: Horace VI

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Horace, Satires 2.7.1-118 (end of 2.7)  (118 lines):  Davus at the Saturnalia.  Yes, yes, I know this is a long Latin assignment!

AN EXPERIMENT, REVISITED:  We’ll try this again for another relatively long assignment. First, read through the entire poem in translation, quickly, to give yourself a general sense of its content. To help yourself focus, write out a summary of the poem in two or three sentences. Then read through the whole poem in Latin without stopping, trying to understand as much of the general meaning as you can. As you read, circle the fifteen words you don’t know but think would help you most in understanding the poem.  When you've finished that initial reading, look up those fifteen words and then read it again in Latin. Then read it a third time in Latin.  This time you can look up words as you go, but don’t look up more than a comparatively small number (25? 30?). 

Ancient Reading in Translation: Horace, Satires 2.1 and 2.3

Oral Presentation:  The Saturnalia in Real Life and in Literature.  The Saturnalia was a special Roman festival that reversed normal roles.  You’ll discuss the Saturnalia as historical topic and as a literary device/topic (e.g., Martial, Epigrams 11.2; Athenaeus).  For further information, you might consult Kay’s commentary on Martial, Epigrams 11.6 and H. B. Evans, “Horace, Satires 2.7.  Saturnalia and Satire,” Classical Journal 73 (1978) 307-312 (available through JSTOR at this stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-8353%28197804%2F05%2973%3A4%3C307%3AHS2SAS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K

Thursday, October 4: Horace VII

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Horace, Satires 2.8.1-end (95 lines): The Banquet of Nasidienus

Ancient Reading in Translation: Horace, Satires 2.4 and 2.5. Think about these satires compared to the other Horatian satires we've read.

Modern Readings: 

Oral Presentation:  Roman Banquets, Real and Literary.  What were Roman banquets?  How was the banquet used in the Roman literary tradition?  For general background on banquets, see J. Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, pp. 263-276; on food in Horace’s Satires, see  Emily Gowers, The Loaded Table:  Representations of Food in Roman Literature (Oxford 1993), pp. 126-179, esp. 161-179 on food, philosophy, and Roman culture in the banquet of Nasidienus. You might also consult Joseph O'Connor, "Horace's 'Cena Nasidieni' and Poetry's Feast," Classical Journal 86 (1990), pp. 23-34, available via JSTOR at this stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-8353%28199010%2F11%2986%3A1%3C23%3AH%22NAPF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z

[Monday, October 8: No class--Fall Break]

Thursday, October 11: Seneca I

Ancient Reading in Latin: Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 1-4 (97 lines)

Modern Reading: Michael Coffey, Roman Satire (sec. ed.) (Bristol Classical Press 1989), pages. 165-177: "The Apocolocyntosis of Seneca" (e-reserve)

Monday, October 15: Seneca II

Ancient Reading in Latin: Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 5-8 (85 lines)

Oral Presentation: Varro and Menippean satire. Introduce the class to Varro and to his Menippean (prosimetric) satires, of which he wrote 150 books, although only fragments survive. You might find Coffey's discussion of Varro in Roman Satire (see the Modern Reading for the first day on Seneca), pp. 149-164, helpful.

Thursday, October 18: Seneca III

Ancient Reading in Latin: Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 9-12.2 (91 lines)

Oral Presentation: The emperor Claudius in antiquity. Seneca's portrait of Claudius is devastating. How was Claudius perceived in antiquity? Read (in translation) Tacitus, Annals, Books 11-12 (Book 11 is incomplete) and Suetonius' Life of Claudius. Seneca, of course, lived under Claudius. Outline Seneca's experience with Claudius and compare the Claudius in the Apocolocyntosis with the Claudius you find in Tacitus and Suetonius.

Monday, October 22: Seneca IV

Ancient Reading in Latin: Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 12.3-15 (end of text) (95 lines)

Thursday, October 25: Midterm Exam

Monday, October 29: Persius I

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Persius, Satire 2 (75 lines), on prayers.

Ancient Reading in Translation:  Persius, Satire 1.

Modern Reading: Kirk Freudenburg, Satires of Rome: Threatening Poses from Lucilius to Juvenal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2001), pp. 183-188 (e-reserve).

Thursday, November 1: Persius II

Ancient Reading in Latin: Persius, Satire 6 (80 lines): on the proper use of externals like wealth.

Ancient Reading in Translation:  Persius, Satire 5.

Oral Presentation: Persius and Horace. Persius and Horace are both interested in both philosophy and poetry, but the results are not necessarily the same, and Persius may be responding to Horace, not merely writing on the same subjects. Working with Horace, Satire 2.7 (which we've read in Latin) and Persius, Satire 5 (which we're reading in translation for today), explore the relationship between the poets' works. You may find it helpful to read Andrea Cucchiarelli, "Speaking from silence: the Stoic paradoxes of Persius," pp. 62-80 in The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire, ed. K. Freudenburg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005)--an overview to help you get a grip on Persius as a whole, since, as Cucchiarelli says, "Persius is hard to read. He wants it that way." (e-reserve)

Monday, November 5: Juvenal I

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Juvenal, Satire 6.1-60 (60 lines)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire 1.

Modern Reading:  Susanna Morton Braund, “Declamation and Contestation in Satire,” pp. 147-165 in Roman Eloquence:  Rhetoric in Society and Literature, edited by W. J. Dominik (New York 1997) (e-reserve).

Oral Presentation: Opening (First) Satires. The first poem in a book can do many things. Look back at Horace, Satires 1.1 and at Persius, Satire 1, and then at Juvenal, Satire 1, which we're reading in translation for today. What conventions develop? What roles can the first satire in a book play? What can a poet tell his or her audience in an initial satire about such things as the content to come, the persona who will speak in the work, the work's relationship to its literary tradition?

Extra Credit: Read and post a page's summary and discussion of an article on the role of the "educational autobiography" Roman satirists often provide (the article opens with today's passage of Juvenal): Catherine Keane, "Satiric Memories: Autobiography and the Construction of Genre," Classical Journal 97 (2002), pp. 215-231, available through JSTOR at this stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-8353%28200202%2F03%2997%3A3%3C215%3ASMAATC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N

Thursday, November 8: Juvenal II

Ancient Reading in Latin: Juvenal, Satire 6.61-135 (74 lines)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire TBA

Extra Credit: Read and then post a page's worth of summary and discussion of John Henderson, “Satire Writes ‘Woman’:  Gendersong,” Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 35 (1989)  50-80 (very challenging; about gender in all of Roman satire) (e-reserve).

Monday, November 12: Juvenal III

Ancient Reading in Latin: Juvenal, Satire 6.136-199 (63 lines)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire TBA

Modern Reading: A. Richlin, “Invective against Women in Roman Satire,” Arethusa 17 (1984) 67-80 (e-reserve)

Oral Presentation: Anger and Satire. Judgements (right/wrong, bad/good) and harsh, aggressive anger are sometimes thought to typify satire, though not all satirists present an angry persona. How did the Romans think of anger as an emotion? as a potentially positive but potentially dangerous force? as something that needs restraint? as a loss of control? How does Juvenal present the speaker of his Satires, at least in Satires 1-6? For guidance on Roman thinking about anger, you might consult Seneca's treatise On Anger (De Ira) for a specific example and, more generally, William Harris, Restraining Rage: The Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity (Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA 2001), pp. 201-228 (e-reserve). You might also find useful material in K. Freudenburg, Satires of Rome: Threatening Poses from Lucilius to Juvenal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2001).

Thursday, November 15: Juvenal IV

Ancient Reading in Latin: Juvenal, Satire 6.200-285 (85 lines)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire TBA

Modern Reading: Barbara K. Gold, “’The House I Live In Is Not My Own’:  Women’s Bodies in Juvenal’s Satires,” Arethusa 31 (1998) 369-386 (e-reserve)

Monday, November 19: Juvenal V

Ancient Reading in Latin: Juvenal, Satire 6.286-365--note that the so-called Oxford fragment (= O1-O34) comes in the middle of this assignment (79 lines).  Read the Oxford fragment in English.

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire 10.

Modern Reading: Niall Rudd, Themes in Roman Satire (Norman 1986), Chapter Six:  “Women and Sex,” pp. 193-225 (read this quickly for the main points).

Extra Credit: Post a page's comparison of Juvenal's Tenth Satire and Persius, Satire 2, which is also about what to pray for.

Monday, November 26: Juvenal VI

Ancient Reading in Latin: Juvenal, Satire 6.366-433 (67 lines)

Modern Reading: Samuel Johnson (the English poet): "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (URL: https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/handle/1794/761/1/vanity.pdf). Johnson adapts Juvenal's Tenth Satire from Rome to England and makes something that is profoundly English yet profoundly Roman in inspiration. What is Johnson doing to/with/aided by Juvenal's poem?

Oral Presentation: Johnson and Juvenal. The whole class will have read Juvenal 10 before Thanksgiving and is reading Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes" for today. For this presentation, read Juvenal, Satire 3, on the city of Rome, and Johnson's adaptation in his famous poem "London" (edition with notes and some discussion: URL: http://mason.gmu.edu/~ayadav/Johnson---London.pdf). What is Johnson doing with Juvenal's Satire? Is he doing the same thing he does when he adapts Satire 10 into "The Vanity of Human Wishes"? You will need to present both Juvenal 3 and Johnson's "London" to the class. Consider whether you want the class to read them before your presentation (if so, give several days' notice) or whether you want to present the poems by summary and illustrative quotation.

Thursday, November 29: Juvenal VII

Ancient Reading in Latin: Juvenal, Satire 6.434-507 (73 lines)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire TBA

Modern Reading:  Read one of the following two articles. Email me before class to let me know which article you read, and in class discussion remember that everyone will not have read the same article (i.e., be ready to summarize and explain).

• W. R. Johnson, “Male Victimology in Juvenal 6,” Ramus 25 (1996) 170-186 (on the self-loathing of the speaker of Juvenal 6 in light of the threat posed by women) (e-reserve).
• Keith Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge 1994, rpt. 1996), Chapter 5:  “Quality of Life,” pp. 81-106 (to see if Juvenal’s portrait of slave life has any basis in real slaves’ experience) (e-reserve)

Monday, December 3: Juvenal VIII

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Juvenal 6.508-584 (76 lines)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire TBA

Modern Reading:  Susanna Morton Braund, “Juvenal:  Misogynist or Misogamist?”, Journal of Roman Studies 82 (1992) 71-86 (a detailed and specific study of rhetoric and Juvenal and how to approach Juvenal’s Sixth Satire) (this article is available through JSTOR at this stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0075-4358%281992%2982%3C71%3AJOM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y

Thursday, December 6: Juvenal IX

Ancient Reading in Latin:  Juvenal 6.585-661 (77 lines) (the end of Satire 6)

Ancient Reading in Translation: Juvenal, Satire 15 and 16 (again, as usual, read these quickly).

Final paper project, part 1:  Sketch out in one page what you’re thinking about for your final paper and post your sketch on the course First Class conference.  Your sketch can be very tentative:  that’s fine!  You’ll be helped by comments from other members of the class (See the assignment for the next class session).  Their comments may help you solidify your project proposal  and see where you need to think some more.

Monday, December 10 (Last day of Latin 311): Retrospect and Overview

There is no Latin assignment for today.

Final paper project, part 2:  Post comments--questions, suggestions, places where you're not clear--on the final paper sketches from last class. Post on at least three sketches--I'll hand out a list of who is supposed to post on whose sketches. Remember that everyone else will see your comments and that you have to be able to speak to everyone the next day.

Created by Ray Starr, rstarr@wellesley.edu
Last modified 9/07
Expires 1/08

Cave canem mosaic image from Maecenas: Images of Ancient Greece and Rome