00567 - Latin Literature (E-M)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to present authors and genres of the literature of Rome in their historical development and to provide the basic tools (phonetics, morphology, syntax, prosody and textual criticism) for interpreting Latin texts and documents.

Upon successful completion of the course students will be able to competently demonstrate:

1. knowledge of Roman literature (main genres, authors and works set in their historical and literary context);

2. knowledge of Latin language (phonetics, morphology, syntax), of Latin prosody and of the basic concepts of textual criticism as appearing in the mentioned texts;

3. capacity to translate the Latin texts listed in the programme;

4. capacity to carry out a literary and linguistic analysis of the texts listed in the programme.

Course contents

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
Nature, love, death

The course will be divided into two modules:

Module I: Anxius angor. Love and plague in Lucretius (I. Dionigi)
Readings from Lucretius, On the nature of things, book IV, VI.

Readings (module I):
Lucr. IV, 1030-1287
Lucr. VI, 1138-1286

Module II. Non omnis moriar. Poetry and death (D. Pellacani)

Lectures from Lucretius, On the nature of things, book I; IV; Vergil, Georgics, book IV; Horatius, Odes; Ovid, Metamorphoses, book I.

Readings (module II):

Lucr. I,1-148; IV, 1-25.

Verg. georg. IV, 453-566

Ov. met. I,1-4; 452-567 + Amores I,1

Hor. carm. I,4; 9; 11; II, 14; 20; III,30; IV,7; 8.

 

II. CORE COURSE
A. Latin Language (syntax); Textual Criticism, Metres (hexameter and elegiac couplet).

B. Latin Literature (history of Latin literature): Augustine, Apuleius, Catullus, Caesar, Cicero, Ennius, Juvenal, Hieronymus, Livy, Livius Andronicus, Lucanus, Lucilius, Lucretius, Martial, Naevius, Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Plautus, Plinius the Elder, Propertius, Quintilian, Sallustius, Seneca, Statius, Suetonius, Tacite, Terentius, Tibullus, Virgil.

III. AUTHORS
1. Cicero: Pro Archia.
2. Vergil: Aeneid, Book IV

IV. CRITICAL ESSAYS (see. Bibliography)

STUDENTS WHO WON'T BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE COURSE are supposed to prepare (in Latin) Vergil, Aeneid, book VI instead of the Special Focus Course.

SCHEDULE:

mon., tue., wed., 11-13, aula II (Zamboni 38). The course will start on Monday 25 September.

 

SEMINARS:

(aula Pascoli, 32 Zamboni Street, ground floor), from 5 October.

Authors
1. Lecture of Cicero, Pro Archia (D. Pellacani): Thursday, 15-16 (students A-L); 16-17 (students M-Z).
2. Lecture of Virgil, Aeneid book IV (O. Fuà): Thursday, 13-15 (students M-Z); Friday, 13-15 (students A-L).

Readings/Bibliography

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
Recommended texts: Lucrezio, La natura delle cose, a c. di I. Dionigi, trad. di L. Canali, introduzione di G.B. Conte, Milano, BUR 1994. Virgilio, Georgiche, a cura di A. Barchiesi, introduzione di G.B. Conte, Milano, Mondadori, 1992. Orazio, Odi; Epodi, a cura di M. Ramous, Milano, Garzanti, 1989. Ovidio, Metamorfosi, a cura di N. Scivoletto, Torino, Utet, 2013. Non-italian speakers can ask the teacher for information about English / French / Spanish editions.
The knowledge of the hexameter is required also for the texts of the special focus course; the students are warmly invited to learn also the greater and lesser Aslepiadean, the Alcaic stanza as well as the Archilochian systems (I and III).

Readings: Lucretius: I. Dionigi, Modello grammaticale e modello fisico, in Id., Lucrezio, le parole e le cose, Bologna, Pàtron, 2005. Horatius: A. Traina, Introduzione a Orazio lirico: la poesia della saggezza, rist. in Id., Poeti latini (e neolatini). V, Bologna, Pàtron, 1998, 133-168. Ovid: A. Barchiesi, Introduzione, a Ovidio. Metamorfosi (libri I-II), vol. I, a cura di A. Barchiesi, Milano: Mondadori, 2005, CV-CLXI.

II. CORE COURSE
Language: I. Dionigi - E. Riganti - L. Morisi, Il latino, Bari, Laterza 2011 is recommended. As for the syntax: A. Traina, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina, Bologna, Cappelli, 1993. As an alternative, Allen and Greenough's New Latin grammar, Ginn & Company, Boston-NY-Chicago, 1903 (both for syntax and morphology). See also A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini,Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007, chapt. II-VI.
Literature: G.B. Conte, Letteratura latina. Manuale storico dalle origini alla fine dell'impero romano, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002, or M. Citroni, Letteratura di Roma antica, Bari, Laterza, 1997 [also in Engl. transl.: G.B. Conte, Latin Literature: A History, Baltimore, The John Hopkins UP, 1994] or V. Citti - C. Casali - C.Neri, Gli autori nella letteratura latina. Disegno storico. Dalle origini alla tarda latinità, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2005.
Textual criticsm and Latin metres: A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007, chapt. VII-VIII.

III. AUTHORS
Cicero: Il poeta Archia, a c. di E. Narducci, traduzione di G. Bertonati, Milano, Rizzoli BUR, 2000.
Vergilius: Eneid, Book IV, from Eneide, introduzione di A. La Penna, traduzione e note di R. Scarcia, Milano, Rizzoli BUR 2002, or Virgilio, Eneide, traduzione di M. Ramous, introduzione di G.B. Conte, commento di G. Baldon, Venezia, Marsilio, 1998.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class on part I and on some issues of part II (History of Latin literature, prosody, textual criticism); students are in charge of part III.  Seminars (see course contents) devoted to the introduction to the bases of the Latin language (phonetics, morphology and syntax) through the reading of Cicero and Virgil

Assessment methods

In a viva voce examination the students will be tested Latin phonetics, morphology, syntax and literature through the reading and translation of the Latin texts dealt with in class and listed in the programme.

please note that, as far as the examination is concerned, the course can be splitted between core course (to be completed first) and focus course: two exam sessions at most are allowed between the first and the second part

assessment guidelines:
failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of the text. Lack of knowledge of Latin literature
passing grades: language proficiency at an intermediate level; translation and literary interpretation of the texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking autonomy
excellent grades: language proficiency at an upper-mid level; translation and interpretation of the texts not only correct, but performed with autonomy and precision. Knowledge of Latin prosody and metrics.

Erasmus or foreigner students are allowed to attend the exam - as far as translation from Latin is concerned - in English, French, German or Spanish.

Teaching tools

Lectures are complemented by seminars on different aspects of Latin Literature (please see the course programme). Teaching materials will be distributed in class and uploaded online as well.

Office hours

See the website of Ivano Dionigi

See the website of Daniele Pellacani