00567 - Latin Literature (H-Q)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to present authors and genres of the literature of Rome in their historical development and the basic tools for interpreting Latin texts and documents.
The following knowledge and skills will be requested:
1. knowledge of the literary history, which includes the ability to outline profiles of the main genres, authors (listed in the programme) and their works and set them in their historical and literary environment;
2. the ability to translate the texts in Latin listed in the programme;
3. knowledge of phonetics, morphology and basic syntax, as appearing in the mentioned texts;
4. the ablity of carrying out a literary analysis of the studied texts (both in Latin and in Italian).

Course contents

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
Philosophical literature at Rome.

The course will be divided into two modules:
Module I: Eros and the plague (D. Pellacani)
Lectures from Lucretius, On the nature of things, book I, IV, VI.

Lectures (module I):
Lucr. I, 1-148; 921-950.
Lucr. IV, 1030-1207; 1263-1287
Lucr. VI, 1138-1286

Module II. The soul and death (F. Citti)

Lectures from Lucretius (III 931-1094); Horace (Odes I 4; 11; 28; IV 7), Vergil (Aeneid I 1-33; VI 268-336; 384-425; 548-655; 724-751; 826-887 in Latin; whole VIth book in translation), Seneca (Oedipus, 530-658; Troades, 156-163 e 371-408; and also Hercules furens, 655-829, only in translation).

II. CORE COURSE
Latin Language (syntax); Latin Literature (history of Latin literature),Textual Criticism, Metres (elegiac couplet).

III. AUTHORS
1. Cicero: Pro Archia.
2. Juvenal: Satire 8
3. Vergil: Aeneid, Book IV

IV. CRITICAL ESSAYS (see. Bibliography)

SCHEDULE: mon. 13-15, tue. wed., 9-11, aula VI (Zamboni 38). The course will start on Monday 26 September.

SEMINARS

(if not specified, hosted by the Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica, 32 Zamboni Street, 3rd floor), from 5 October.

Authors
1. Lecture of Cicero, Pro Archia (D. Pellacani): Wednesday, 15-16 (students A-L); 16-17 (students M-Z).
2. Lecture of Juvenal, Satire 8 (G. Dimatteo): Thursday, 15-16 (students A-L); 16-17 (students M-Z).
3. Lecture of Virgil, Aeneid book IV (O. Fuà): Thursday, 13-15 (students M-Z); Friday, 13-15 (students A-L).

Latin Language: the students of the course of Letteratura latin can also attend the seminars of the course of Lingua latina:
1. Beginners – I semester: see the program of Lingua Latina
2. Intermediate 1st level (morphology and elementary syntax) – II semester: see the program of Lingua Latina
3. Intermediate 2nd level (translation and syntax) – II semester: see the program of Lingua Latina.

Readings/Bibliography

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
Texts: Lucretius: Lucrezio, De rerum natura, a c. di A. Fellin, Torino, Utet 2005, or Lucrezio, La natura delle cose, a c. di I. Dionigi - L. Canali, Milano, BUR 1994; De rerum natura libri sex, ed by Cyril Bailey, Oxford 1947 (vol. I). Vergil, Eneide, lib. VI, from Eneide, introduzione di A. La Penna, traduzione e note di R. Scarcia, Milano, Rizzoli BUR 2002, or P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos Liber Sextus, with a commentary by R.G. Austin, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1977. The texts of Horace and Seneca will be uploaded on the online teachings materials. You can also refer to: Horace: Orazio, Opere, a c. di T. Colamarino e D. Bo, Torino, Utet (Classici latini) 2008, oppure Orazio, Tutte le opere, a c. di L. Canali e M. Beck, Milano, Mondadori (I classici collezione), 2007; Seneca, Le tragedie, a c. di G. Giardina, Torino, Utet (Classici latini) 2009; Seneca, Tragedies, edited and translated by J.G. Fitch, Cambridge MA, Harvard UP, vol. I-II, 2002-2004.
The knowledge of the hexameter is required also for the texts of the special focus course (i.e. Lucretius); the students are warmly invited to learn also the greater and lesser aslepiadean, as well as the Sapphic and Alcaic stanzas.

Readings: almost three essays / chapters from the following list: F. Citti, Studi oraziani. Tematica e intertestualità, Bologna, Pàtron, 2000; P. Hardie (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius, Cambridge, University Press, 2007; I. Dionigi, Lucrezio, le parole e le cose, Bologna, Pàtron, 2005; L. Landolfi, Simulacra et pabula amoris. Lucrezio e il linguaggio dell’eros, Bologna, Pàtron, 2013; A. Long, La mente, l'anima, il corpo. Modelli greci, Torino, Einaudi, 2015 (or. ed. Greek Models of Mind and Self, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press 2015); P. Mantovanelli, Populus infernae Stygis. Il motivo dei dannati del mito in Seneca tragico, Quaderni di Cultura e Tradizione Classica di Palermo, 11, 1993, pp. 135-147 (repr. in Patologia del potere. Studi sulle tragedie di Seneca, Bologna, Patron 2014, 127-140); G. Petrone, Paesaggio dei morti e paesaggio del male: il modello dell’oltretomba virgiliano nelle tragedie di Seneca, Quaderni di Cultura e Tradizione Classica di Palermo, 4-5, 1986/87, 131-143; C. Segal, La peste riconsiderata: il progresso, il poeta e il filosofo, in Id., Lucrezio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1998, 257-267; A. Setaioli, Inferi, loci, in Enciclopedia Virgiliana, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1995, vol. II, pp. 955-963; A. Traina, Semantica del carpe diem, in Poe­ti latini (e neolatini). Note e saggi filologici, I, Bologna 1986, 227-251; Dira libido (Sul linguaggio lucreziano dell’eros), in Poeti latini (e neolatini). Note e saggi filologici, II, Bologna, Pàtron, 1991², 11-34.

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.
Juvenal: Satire, a cura di B. Santorelli, Milano, Mondadori, 2011; or Satire, a cura di L. Canali - E. Barelli, Milano, BUR, 1976.
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;
Seminars (where individual research will be discussed and essays and tests corrected).

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. Students are required to read the elegiac couplet, and analyze its prosody; and also to answer questions about the main authors, genres, periods of the Latin literature, and to discuss discuss the essays and topics related to the special focus course.

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.

Teaching tools

1. Online teaching materials: (see webpage above); handouts with the same content will be distributed in class
2. Seminars (cf. course content) devoted to the introduction to the bases of the Latin language (phonetics, morphology and syntax)

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Citti

See the website of Daniele Pellacani