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The didactic epos Φαινόμενα καὶ Διοσεμεῖα by Aratus of Soloi was very popular among the Romans. Thus, it was translated into Latin by several Roman authors including Marcus Tullius Cicero and Germanicus Iulius Caesar. The aim of this paper is to find out whether these two authors only translated the information contained in Aratus' text or whether they also managed to imitate the didactic tone of the poem. Did both translators manage to play their roles as teachers? Did they try to make the lectures more interesting and perhaps to interact with the reader? Or did they minimize the didactic aspects of the epos and concentrated on other features of the text? The main goal of my paper is to analyse the ways in which Cicero and Germanicus applied the features of the didactic poetry genre in their translations. This includes a comparison of these with Aratus' text and with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A guide of an underworld tour is one of the significant features in medieval visionary literature as well as in ancient catabases and Jewish-Christian apocalyptic. It represents an archetype and universal motif of many otherworld journeys through the centuries and cultures. This paper based on a huge collection of sources investigates this topos in medieval visionary accounts composed between the 6th and 13th century. Here the most frequent appearing guide figure is an angel, especially an archangel or a guardian angel. In many other visions a saint holds the role of an instructor and protector. It is almost always possible to find a closer relation between the saint and the visionary - a kind of patronage (personal or local patron). The third usual guide type represents a human connected to the visionary with a spiritual bond (confrère, superior) or a blood relationship (family member). This paper introduces a short characteristic of these three basic otherworld guides and offers a list of all visionary records from the mentioned period including this figure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his De errore profanarum religionum, Firmicus Maternus fiercely attacks the traditional cults of the Roman Empire as well as the mysteries, which he considers to be the invention of the devil and a complete perversion of Christian sacraments. This paper analyses the motif of blood in his work. A close reading of the text reveals that Firmicus applies dichotomic functions to the use of blood in ritual contexts, such as poison and remedy, purity and pollution, and salvation and damnation. These dichotomies serve two purposes for him: First, they allow him to construct clear boundaries between the pagan religion (deliberately constructed as 'one' system and suppressing its diversity) and Christianity as two opposing religious systems. Second, by turning the tables, they allow him to undermine the traditional conceptions concerning ritually used blood. Thus, he presents 'pagan' blood as being venomous, polluting, and only leading on the road to perdition, whereas only the blood of Christ truly has the power to heal, to cleanse, to redeem, and to grant eternal salvation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the means of expressing indirect (inferentive and reportative) evidentiality in Latin narrative prose of I-II A. D. on the material Petron's Satyricon and Apuleius' Meta-morphoses. Morphological forms and syntactic constructions treated as evidential strategies are taken into account, since their main meanings are within the pattern of the grammatical categories (tense, mood etc.), and the information about the source and/or means of access to information is contextually motivated side effect. The result of the research reveals singling out eight strategies to express indirect evidentiality. Inferentive evidentiality is represented by five evidential strategies, while the reportative -- by the three. Different use of evidential strategies in both works relates to context and personal choice of the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the means of expressing indirect (inferentive and reportative) evidentiality in Latin narrative prose of I--II A. D. on the material Petron's Satyricon and Apuleius' Metamorphoses. Morphological forms and syntactic constructions treated as evidential strategies are taken into account, since their main meanings are within the pattern of the grammatical categories (tense, mood etc.), and the information about the source and/or means of access to information is contextually motivated side effect. The result of the research reveals singling out eight strategies to express indirect evidentiality. Inferentive evidentiality is represented by five evidential strategies, while the reportative -- by the three. Different use of evidential strategies in both works relates to context and personal choice of the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the re-analysis of the evidence this paper demonstrates that a variety of Celtic was indeed spoken in Pannonia at least until the end of the 2nd c. AD. It also argues that most of the proposals regarding the influence of Celtic on Pannonian Latin cannot be upheld, because there were no demonstrable Celtic features that could have triggered such a change. The remaining cases are attested outside of the Celtic speaking areas too, and thus Celtic could at best have reinforced these changes. Only the sound change a > e might be attributed to Celtic influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Vulgar Latin, the nominative and the accusative are used as neutral forms of nouns to replace the oblique cases, whose meaning and functions they can duly acquire. In this paper, I analyse the examples of such uses in the epigraphic corpus of early and late Lusitania, with special attention to the development of the Ibero-Romance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the paper is on the role of "untypical", supernatural characters in ancient fable, namely on the role of gods in this literary genre, which usually features anthropomorphized animals, plants or minerals. The Olympians do not appear frequently in ancient fables, but their place in them is not insignificant either . They are presented as objects of piety, which is probably connected with the age-old (oral) tradition of fable, the origin of which is usually traced back to the seventh and sixth centuries BC. The gods possess authority even though there are, as the paper shows, fables that express critical attitude towards them and sometimes even ridicule them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gorgias is frequently read as a dialogue in which Socrates fails to convince especially his last interlocutor Callicles to adopt a philosophical way of life. Instead, Callicles becomes increasingly indignant about the repeated refutation of his personal convictions and eventually refuses to participate in the conversation any longer. In general scholars explain this result by Callicles' recalcitrance. It is supposed that the dialogue illustrates the impossibility of persuasion if an interlocutor refuses to cooperate - which would imply certain limitations of the Socratic elenchus. In contrast, this paper demonstrates that Socrates indeed achieves his aim of shaking Callicles' faith. By decoding the medicine and court imagery, ubiquitous throughout the whole dialogue, it will be argued that, far from being an illustration of failure, the text instead indicates that Socrates' conversation with Callicles is successful - and thus proves the efficacy of the elenctic method even on reluctant opponents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Seneca (and the Stoics in general) benefactions are the essential element for social bonding: they are meant to be reciprocal and thus create relationships. But as he points out in the beginning of De beneficiis they often remain unanswered (and thus fail to create or stabilize community life) because of the recipients' ingratitude. What Seneca undertakes in De beneficiis is to teach people how to avoid ingratitude. As he points out in the beginning of the treatise, a real philosopher's duty is to heal people's souls, so his approach is a therapeutic one. In my paper I present Seneca's therapy of ingratitude. I argue that it is rooted in Stoic Ethics and at the same time adapted to his non-sage readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lucian, one of the most prolific authors during the Second Sophistic, is famous for his multifaceted and manifold literary production. His works are dealing with different topics such as literary criticism, philosophy and myth, and display a wide range of various stylistic devices such as irony, parody and satire. Especially the art of rhetoric is highly present in his texts. This has been emphasized in different works regarding his theoretical writings. This reflects the importance of the rhetorical handbooks, the progymnasmata, which were flourishing during the Second Sophistic and had a strong influence on Lucian. However, the rhetorical approach in Lucian's shorter dialogues has not attracted much attention. An exhaustive commentary on the dialogues is also missing. This paper focusses on Dialogue of the Dead (28) and analyses the rhetoric used by the figures in this dialogue. It is shown that Lucian - in a playful manner - displays different modes of persuasion (especially logos and pathos) with the help of his figures Protesilaos and Pluto arguing in the dialogue with each other. In addition to this treatment of the dialogue, the influence of the progymnasmata is also discussed. Further, it is argued that the dialogue can be seen as a 'model' for rhetoric in practice. Therefore, the dialogue fulfills two purposes: rhetorical education and entertainment by using myth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to highlight some characteristic features in the use of poetical figures and puns in three corpora of Byzantine begging poems (Theodoros Prodromos, Manganeios Prodromos and Ptochoprodromos, mid-12th century) and to examine whether their analysis would shed light on the question of the authorship of these texts. At the beginning the two types of parallelism (antithesis) are presented--binary and triple--, characteristic not only for begging poetry but for the Byzantine "political verse", a fifteen-syllable accentual iambic verse in general. The paper continues with the analysis of the differences and similarities in the use of figures among the three collections. In Manganeios Prodromos the very frequent occurrences of paronomasia, figura etymologica and other (pseudo)etymological puns can be observed. Many similarities in the use of figures can be found between the poems of Ptochoprodromika and Manganeios Prodromos. On the other hand, Theodoros Prodromos' literary techniques are more varied and often without parallels in the other two collections. The paper also briefly discusses some hitherto unrecognized lexical and motific parallels between Manganeios Prodromos and the Ptochoprodromika collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, the meaning and word formation of the Homeric adjectival compound κορυϑαίoλος are discussed. This compound is smally translated as either 'with glancing helm' or 'moving the helmet quickly', but there is no decisive argument in favour of one of the two meanings. However, a more fine-grained analysis of the internal structure of this compound as well as the contexts in which it occurs, including some remarks on Greek military equipment in Homeric times, clearly show that the meaning 'with glancing helm' must but be secondary. The problem remains how the secondary meaning developed from the original therefore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sermon with central theme Diliges Dominum Deum was preached by Jan Hus as his first synodical sermon at the synod of Prague Archdiocese on the feast of st. Lucas at the 19th of October 1405. This text, written in form of thematic preaching, is concerned with usual problems of the Church at that time, especially with sins of adultery and simony. The value of the sermon lies in an opening part, in which Jan Hus described his ecclesiological meanings based on the opinions of John Wycliff. This occurence of Wycliffe's ecclesiology is one of the earliest evidences of his influence over Jan Hus' concept of the Church. The aim of this paper is to introduce the sermon Diliges and the context, in which was preached. Attention will be paid not only to content, but also to form of the sermon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Herman (2000: 28) "in the late third century the grammarian Sacerdos mentions the tendency to shorten long vowels in the final syllable of words and calls it a barbarism of our time, barbarismus nostri temporis (GL, VI. 493-94)." In the opinion of Adams (2007: 264), however, "this passage and its surrounds are misinterpreted by [...] Herman (2000: 28). [...] The passage of Sacerdos has nothing to do with the loss of vowel length or with the shortening of long final vowels. It is about clausulae acceptable in an earlier age and those acceptable at the time of Sacerdos. In the context the expression structura nostri temporis (493.16) means a clausula approved at the present time, and barbarismus nostri temporis (several times) means a clausula not approved at the present time (i.e. one now considered a barbarism)." In this paper, surveying all the related passages of Sacerdos in detail, it will be demonstrated that (1) the expression barbarismus nostri temporis does indeed refer to the loss of phonemic length (vowel quantity), i.e. the shortening of long unstressed (final) vowels and the lengthening of short stressed vowels in Sacerdos' age and (2) Sacerdos' expression for a clausula not approved at his present time is vitiosa structura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presented contribution there are discussed some aspects of ancient medicine, especially those which are associated with slaves as patients and slaves as doctors. There are mentioned several facts about slavery in ancient Greece and Rome as well as the facts about medical profession and status of doctors in the society. Partial focus is paid to slaves as a social class and the existence of slave-doctors in Greece is under discussion. The particular group of physicians in Rome - servi medici - as specific phenomenon of Roman is described in detail. The ancient medical works and also some documents and papers in history of medicine were used as sources. We would like to note that epigraphic evidence and archeological artifacts have not been taken into consideration when writing the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A collection of letters known as Formularius epistolarum cum exposicione rhetoricali survives in manuscript IX E 4 from 15th century (folios 114r-197v), which is deposited in the National Library of the Czech Republic and contains various rhetorical handbooks. Texts included in this collection are related to the part of medieval rhetoric called ars dictaminis and are divided into three parts composed of letters and commentaries. The present paper focuses especially on the commentaries accompanying letters included in the first two parts of the collection. The aim is to examine the nature and structure of these commentaries, the type of information introduced, types of expressions commented on by the author of the collection, and the reasons for his choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the reworking of the hagiographical vita of Constantine the Great by three authors of the late byzantine period, namely Constantine Akropolites (BHG 368), Nikephoros Gregoras (BHG 369), and John Chortasmenos (BHG 362). To a certain extent, all three texts are influenced by BHG 364, the most popular text on Constantine which probably was composed during the 8th-9th c. In comparison to the older hagiographical texts on Constantine all paleologan texts are composed in a rather high linguistic as well as stilistic register. Moreover, Akropolites' and Gregoras' texts belong to the literary genre of enkomion which by itself demands a higher stilistic level than a vita. As to the content, Akropolites follows closely BHG 364, whereas Gregoras explicitly sets for himself the task to write the truth about Constantine which allegedly has been distorted by other texts as BHG 364. Chortasmenos in his turn, relies on Gregoras as his most important model text which he copies almost verbatim in 25 % of his text without even mentioning Gregoras' name. Akropolites' and Gregoras' texts on Constantine show the same stilistic characteristics which already have been observed in other works of these two productive authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]