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This paper sheds new light on a mode of late antique Vergilian interpretation, according to which Aeneas, Dido, and other characters in the Aeneid observe the regulations of Roman ritual norms, even standing in for priests including the famous flamen and flaminica Dialis. I argue that this mode of interpretation, which I refer to as sacro-legal exegesis, was a productive endeavor in Late Antiquity, offering members of the pagan aristocracy a means for locating and formulating the practice of traditional Roman cult within the pages of the Aeneid. I close by offering some parallels to a mode of rabbinic midrash according to which the biblical patriarchs followed the commandments prior to the revelation at Sinai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we develop a framework for the analysis of 'movement' in literary texts. We focus on characters, translation and transmission, thereby going beyond, on the one hand, a stylistic analysis of individual passages, and, on the other hand, the linear enchainment of scenes and summaries underlying much of the narratological discussions around movement, speed and pace. We will develop this framework through a discussion of the character Camilla in Vergil's Aeneid: Book XI, Gavin Douglas's Eneados (1513) and John Dryden's Aeneis (1698). Both the version stylistically close to Vergil (Dryden) and the one that is stylistically looser (Douglas) allow for a discussion of movement that takes the principle beyond a primary concern with style. In a final step, we move to the contemporary example of Ursula Le Guin's Lavinia (2008) in order to investigate how 'movement' translates from the epic to the novel. Movement, as we shall show, can be analysed as movement of plot, movement of thought, and movement of figure in narrative. The framework that we propose allows for the principled discussion of transgeneric transfer of narratives, here between epic and novel, as well as the comparison of texts from different moments of literary history between the Middle Ages, the Early Modern period and the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Aeneid, Ancient Rome’s seminal epic poem and Vergil’s greatest work, a queen falls in love and later commits suicide. This queen’s name is Dido, and her story contains some of Vergil’s best poetry, but it has also long been a source of interpretive debate by translators. This paper seeks to illuminate how popular, modern, English translations of the Aeneid have depicted this dynamic, tragic character. These translations (i.e. Ruben, Fitzgerald, Lewis, and others) are the ones read in classrooms and disseminated to the wider public. This paper will attempt to understand them by examining how a translator’s personality and philosophy affect their decisions about the translation’s fidelity, cadence, and expressiveness. It is a comprehensive outline of Dido’s journey through the modern age and how that journey may change as more translators come to the fore who have their own distinct, diverse stories. The Aeneid lives through its translators; it grows as the translators do, and it falters too when they do. Dido is the perfect case study for that.

Copyright of Lampas is the property of Amsterdam University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The passage from pseudo-Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1905-1908 describes how Hercules briefly replaced the Titan Atlas in his duties supporting the Sky. However, the poet refers to Olympus, characterizing it with an epithet that does not belong to a mountain but to the sky. In this way an equation is created between these two places, mountain and sky. What is noteworthy in the passage of pseudo-Seneca, however, is not the general use of Olympus as a synonym for the sky, but the use of a designation of the sky for Olympus that completes the image of the identification of Olympus with the sky. Such mixing of adjectives is and remains rare as evidenced by the intertextual analysis attempted in the article. Moreover, mythology also mentions that Atlas holds the heavens forever (Hesiod, Vergil). It therefore follows that verse 1907 should be translated as 'of the starry sky' and not 'of starry Olympus'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dopo una disamina delle principali enunciazioni di Sebastiano Timpanaro a proposito della tradizione indiretta, l’articolo prende in considerazione due casi esemplari (Verg. Aen. 1, 703–704 ed Enn. Ann. spur. 5 Skutsch = 609 Vahlen2) ai quali il filologo si dedicò a più riprese, rivedendo la propria posizione. After an examination of Sebastiano Timpanaro’s main statements regarding the indirect tradition, this paper considers two exemplary cases (Verg. Aen. 1, 703–704 and Enn. Ann. spur. 5 Skutsch = 609 Vahlen2) to which the philologist devoted his efforts on several occasions and revised his position.

In Petrus Nannius' posthumously published commentary on Vergil's Eclogues (Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1559), one section contains a forgotten mock epitaph ascribed to Erasmus. The short poem, omitted in modern editions of Erasmus' poetry, is written for a man simply referred to as "Theodoricus". In the present article, I offer a diplomatic transcription, translation, and contextualization of the epitaph and the commentary section in which it is imbedded. In my discussion of the epitaph, I identify "Theodoricus" as Dirk Martens of Aalst (Theodoricus Martinus Alustensis/Alostensis), Erasmus' close friend and the publisher of many of his works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Lalies is the property of Editions Rue d'Ulm and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper focuses on one of ancient mythology's most notorious voices, the nymph Circe, daughter of the Sun and witch of Aeaea. Tracing the evolution of Circe's mythology through the works of Vergil, Ovid, and Valerius Flaccus, it shows how these early imperial authors use her presence in Rome's family tree to push back on Augustus' version of Rome's genealogy and his own right to rule. By embedding Circe in the "Italian" side of Rome's antecedents, they demonstrate the fragility of the principate's claim to legitimacy through control of Rome's inheritance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gli eventi narrati nel quinto libro dell’Eneide segnano uno snodo fondamentale tra la prima e la seconda esade. Enea, organizzando i giochi funebri in onore di Anchise, si sostituisce a lui nel ruolo di pater della comunità troiana, mentre la fondazione di Segesta permette ai membri più anziani della flotta di porre fine al loro viaggio e di cedere, al contempo, il passo alle giovani generazioni, che aspirano a raggiungere l’Italia. Non è pertanto un caso che l’apice di questa sezione del poema sia rappresentata dal Lusus Troiae, una performance a metà tra spettacolo e atto cultuale, generalmente interpretata come un rito di passaggio, nato per commemorare il dramma dell’ultima notte di Troia. A partire da tali premesse, il presente contributo intende analizzare il modo in cui Virgilio ha sfruttato l’impianto metaforico della competizione sportiva per alludere alle iniziative portate avanti da Ottaviano per forgiare la propria identità politica di erede di Cesare, nel contesto dei torbidi che fecero seguito alle Idi di Marzo. Inoltre, focalizzandosi sui significati simbolici del Lusus Troiae, il contributo cercherà di mettere in luce il fatto che il poeta abbia interpretato i giochi funebri organizzati dal futuro Augusto in onore del dittatore come un solenne rito di passaggio tra padri e figli, tra vecchi e nuovi sistemi di potere, entrando in competizione con i propri avversari politici. Questa cornice interpretativa permetterà anche di illustrare i meccanismi con cui Virgilio, attraverso l’Eneide, ha cercato di apparire agli occhi del proprio pubblico come il protagonista di un ulteriore passaggio di testimone: adottando il modello dell’Iliade per narrare gli eventi del presente, egli si è posto quale legittimo erede di Omero nella nuova Roma di Ottaviano.

Dido's gifts to the shipwrecked Trojans in book 1 of the Aeneid resemble suitors' gifts (ἕδνα) recorded in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women. Reading Dido against a Hesiodic rather than Homeric model casts her as a suitor of Aeneas, which in turn lends further coloring to the composition of Aeneas's reciprocating gifts of a palla ("dress"), uelamen ("veil"), corona ("crown"), and jewelry, gifts associated in Greek tragedy with the bridal trousseau (φερναί). The (imperfect) recasting of Dido and Aeneas as suitor and bride, respectively, only becomes legible when better attention is paid to the gendered dynamics of exchange and modes of female communication within the Aeneid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first seven lines of his opening proem, where we notoriously find a Hymn to Venus, Lucretius compensates the Muses with an invocative Muse-telestich spelling MuSAS/MuSIS, which is signposted by caeli ... labentia signa and thus connected to the Aratean tradition of both heavenly and written "signs". Moreover, Lucretius' telestich establishes a firm tradition including (so far) Catullus, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, who mark some of their most emphatic--predominantly, but not exclusively, proemial--passages with variants of the Lucretian Muse-telestich and adjust them to their respective poetic programs. The Muse-telestich thus became a textual device by which Latin poets watermarked their highest poetic aspirations in exceedingly creative ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vergil's Aeneid contains more allusions to Augustus' wife than scholars have previously recognized; because Livia was connected with both the Drusi and Claudii, Vergil's references to those gentes and their ancestors allude to her (among other people). Vergil pays special attention to the Claudii, the gens of which Livia was a member, into which she had married, and to which her sons also belonged. These allusions fit both with Vergil's treatment of contemporary women and Livia's public presentation at the time. Like all references and allusions to Augustus' marriage, however, these can be read in a positive or negative light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I reevaluate the relationship between the figures of the felix and the fortunatus at the end of Georgics Book 2. Rather than representing an opposition between Epicurean natural philosophy and traditional religion, the figures are complementary, embodying the physical and ethical teachings of Epicureanism respectively. I first discuss the implications of Vergil's praise of the felix for his views on traditional religion and analyze allusions to Lucretius in his description of the fortunatus. Then I show that Vergil's treatment of the divine both has parallels to Epicurean cult practice and follows Lucretius' poetic model of divine symbolism, the divinities named at 2.494 being symbols for Epicurean ethical ideals. As a whole, my argument indicates a positive attitude towards Epicureanism in the Georgics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melinno's so-called Hymn to Rome was composed sometime between the third century BCE and the third century CE. Nearly all scholars judge the poem to be a relatively straightforward panegyric of Rome's power. The final stanza compares the Romans to the Sown Men. This article argues that the appearance of Theban or Colchian Spartoi could have evoked a more complex response from many probable readers of Melinno's poem in antiquity, especially those who were well versed in Latin literature and Rome's harrowing histories of civil war. It proposes that the closing comparison underscores the Romans' fatal flaw: their inborn compulsion to engage in internecine strife. By concluding the hymn with a destabilizing reference, Melinno's linking of Rome and Thebes points to a more nuanced evaluation of Roman power than scholars have yet to recognize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates William Strachey's use of Vergilian epic in his forthright, firsthand account of the Jamestown colony in 1610. By relying on the Aeneid as a classical colonial predecessor, Strachey justifies the difficulties occurring in the colony as a necessary component of colonial success, reflected by Aeneas's suffering prior to his divinely foretold foundation of Rome. In particular, Strachey utilizes the Aeneid 's split travel-foundation structure, its use of the Muse as a figure conferring divine authority, and its procolonial ideologies presented in the foundations of both Rome and Carthage. In doing so, Strachey both critiques the governance of Jamestown before the arrival of Lord de la Warre in 1610 and figures de la Warre's arrival as a moment of rebirth for the colony. Strachey's creation of the colony's rebirth allows him to highlight the assured successes of Jamestown while further urging his audience to participate in the colonial project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines one chapter from the end of Tacitus' Histories III (84), which gives an account of the events in Rome on December 20, AD 69 and concentrates, firstly, on the Vitellian soldiers' hopeless resistance against the Flavian army and, secondly, on Emperor Vitellius' pathetic death. The paper's particular focus is on Greek and Roman texts (Euripides' Hecuba, Sallust's Catiline, and especially Vergil's Aeneid) which Tacitus seems to evoke and allude to in his own narrative. Since most of these intertextual references relate to the sacking of Troy, the reader is invited to associate what happened in Rome during the last stage of the Civil War of AD 68/69 with the Trojan War and its aftermath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes B.-R. Voss' proposal to attribute the verb vicisti to Cicero's Consolatio (fr. 3 Vit. = 13 Mü.: cedo -- inquit -- en manum tollo), based on two quotations from Jerome (Alterc. 14.519: en tollo manus, cedo, vicisti and Adv. Pelag. 3.7: iam iam tollo manum, cedo, vicisti). In a different perspective, the hypothesis advanced here is that Jerome derives vicisti not from Cicero, but from Vergil (Aen. 12.936-937: vicisti et victum tendere palmas / Ausonii videre), contaminating the two quotations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the rhetorical frameworks of exhortation and illustrative exemplum, Horace's second and sixth Roman Odes offer compressed, contrasting images of a young person's education and transformation, presenting these as stories about a puer and a virgo , respectively, in a lyric mode that does not narrate. In the first of these stories (Carm. 3.2.1–12), Horace slyly usurps characters from Vergil's unfinished Aeneid , alluding to some of its distinctive narrative techniques, but also draws on the similes and plot structure of its Iliadic model. The second of Horace's stories (Carm. 3.6.21–32) plays off his first, as he converts the adulta virgo who figures in Carm. 3.2 into her antitype. This story has as its intertext an obscene Hellenistic epigram by Automedon. Horace makes both intertextual and metatextual use of his models, while his indirect references, through Homer, to Vergil's intended design for his emerging Aeneid may be considered under the new heading of extratextual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hybrid cultural weave of the Sibylline Oracles is one of the most arresting aspects of a collection which preserves Judaeo-Christian compositions in Greek ranging from c. second century BCE to the seventh century CE. Reviewing world history in the form of prophecy, sketching rewards and punishments due at the end of days, and urging ethical behavior, these oracles in Homerizing hexameters combine Classical and Biblical traditions and are attributed to an ancient Sibyl. This article focuses on a distinctive case of repetition within the Sibylline corpus to highlight how the sense of a Classical canon is updated in the Jewish development of this prophetic genre. The passages triggering both intertextual and intratextual investigation ar Sibylline Oracles 3.419–25, which "predicts" that the blind Homer will be the first to open the Sibylline books and copy her tale of Troy, and the far less studied Sibylline Oracles 11.163–71, where phrases about Homer are revised to produce an emphasis on Vergil's skill as a poet and discretion in concealing the Sibylline writings until his death. Study of these lines in their immediate and wider narrative contexts reveals the Jewish sibyllists exploiting the literary knowledge of Classically-educated readers, first and foremost in order to build up the Sibylline authority, a priority which is developed through both "combative" and "parasitic" stances in relation to canonical authors. Overall, this study offers new information about modes of allusion in Jewish Greek literature and the relationship between the tracks of Homeric and Vergilian reception in cross-cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconstructs the history and meaning of a hitherto unexplained astronomical allusion recurring several times in Roman epithalamic poetry: the association of the evening star with Mount Oeta. By examining the iterations of this motif in surviving Latin literature (especially Catullus 62, Vergil's Eclogue 8 and the pseudo-Vergilian Ciris), I propose to explain the original meaning of this association as a mythological reference to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, offering a reconstruction of the Hellenistic epithalamic context where it was probably invented, and an interpretation of its function in each of the poems under consideration. The results of this analysis shed new light on some of the most well-known texts of Latin literature, allowing us to understand how this allusion was used to explore the relations between the genres of epithalamic poetry, bucolic and epyllion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Appendix Vergiliana is a heterogeneous collection of pseudo-Vergilian poems, consisting in part of primary pseudepigrapha, i.e. poems that selfconsciously create the illusion of Vergilian authorship (especially Culex and Catalepton). For centuries, scholarship on these poems has been dominated by the question of authenticity. In the wake of New Criticism, Barthes’ ‘The Death of the Author’ (1967) and Foucault’s ‘What is an Author?’ (1969), however, classical scholars have grown to understand and appreciate how these poems – regardless of who actually wrote them – produce their ‘Vergil’, supplementing the master poet’s oeuvre, inserting themselves in his poetic biography, and casting him in the role of Homerus Romanus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution I study Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend novels. I link Ferrante’s own pseudonymity with the way in which the classical author Vergil is represented in the series. An important theme in the novels is the appropriation of a female subjectivity by male authors. This theme features most prominently in the relation between Vergil and Queen Dido. Dido is a Leitmotif in Ferrante’s tetralogy: she is both a role model and an anti-model for the female protagonists, and the unconventional reading they give to her plays an important part throughout. Remarkably enough, Vergil is never mentioned as Dido’s ‘author’ whenever the protagonists discuss Dido. My suggestion is that Ferrante thus indicates that a text can only ever be open to interpretation once the author is ‘absent’ (or dead, in Barthes’ terms). Paradoxically, Vergil is precisely that, because he is such a classic: his text has become a reality on its own. This interpretation finds confirmation in the fact that Vergil does in fact occur in the novels, but only in the guise of Vergilius magus (the magician) of medieval legends. This shows that ‘biographical’ stories about authors do not necessarily have any relation to their work, nor help to interpret them: hence Ferrante’s own choice to be an absent author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ovid’s tale of Cipus, the returning general who discovers that horns have miraculously appeared on his forehead, combines narrative elements that point back to the poem’s early books with others that suggest historiography. Cipus’ own hybridity, therefore, figures a generic combination that simultaneously invites incredulity and belief. These different interpretative strategies feature in the different responses to the prodigy within the episode. The general’s determination to keep his horned presence, and the kingship it predicts, out of Rome makes space for Republican history to proceed as normal, while his likeness to other metamorphic figures within the poem complicates that strategy. As a representation of the Roman past, Ovid’s Metamorphoses necessarily summons up foreign, even tyrannical, comparands at the moment of their exclusion and questions the very reality on which history’s authority depends by grounding it in unbelievable stories. The second half of this article uses this Ovidian perspective as a vantage point for re-examining the blending of myth and history at the conclusion of Aeneid 6, intermittently recalled by the language and imagery of the Ovidian episode. Reading Vergil back through Ovid exposes the earlier poet’s refashioning of history to serve dynastic ends: Cipus’ prescription for the Roman future, ‘no kings’, sets up a Republican response to the entire Vergilian spectacle and suggests how its internal contradictions persist in the normative conclusions Anchises draws from it.

In this paper we begin with a brief survey of the presence of the mysteries in Greek and Latin epic poetry, before giving an overview of the mysteries in Vergil and attempting to identify the function of the references to mystery religion in Aeneid 6. Throughout, we consider the modality of how the poets allude to the mysteries in ways that allow mystery cults to take on a life of their own in imaginative literary representations, arriving at the conclusion that it is only by means of closer collaboration between literary critics and historians of religion that progress will be made in this complex field of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I propose an emendation for a long-standing textual problem in the Satyricon. In the Cena Trimalchionis one of the freedmen, Niceros, recounts a bizarre story, culminating in a frightening encounter between him and a werewolf. In a desperate attempt to escape peril, Niceros draws his sword to repel horrific shadows and utters a sequence of eleven letters which has puzzled scholars for more than a century: matavitatau (Petron. Sat. 62.2). I propose a correction which hypothesizes the presence of a verb and an interjection, namely gladium strinxi etmatavi – tatae! –umbras cecidi. I support my proposal by analyzing the intersections between literary genres and poetic texts in the Satyricon. After analyzing the meanings and nuances of tatae, I argue that the presence of such an exclamation is perfectly suitable for the situation of fear and danger that Niceros is experiencing. I suggest that Homer's Odyssey and Vergil's Aeneid offer decisive indications to make the presence of an interjection plausible. Niceros' dreadful encounter with the werewolf recalls epic models, namely the descent of Odysseus and Aeneas into the Underworld. Finally, I suggest that Petronius portrays Niceros as a mythomaniac narrator who fails to appropriate the conventions of Latin and Greek epic poetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Philologus -- Zeitschrift für Antike Literatur und Ihre Rezeption is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The 9th-century manuscript Metz 292 (Metz, France, Bibliothèque municipale) of Servius' commentaries on the poems of Vergil was destroyed in World War II. Photographs taken in the 1930s for the Harvard Servius Project are the only surviving evidence for this important manuscript of Servius.This short document provides background information for the placing of digitized versions of the photographs in the open-access Shared Shelf Commons (ArtStor) and the URL for access.

I originally translated Book II of Vergil’s Aeneid for my advanced placement Latin course in high school; two years later, I returned to the translation of the Aeneid for Professor Carrie Mowbray’s Latin course, which focused on an in-depth, thorough examination of the Aeneid (more specifically, Books I-VI) in both Latin and English. This excerpt taken from Book II has remained a favorite of mine for years, as the vivid imagery and language utilized allow readers to envision the most detailed of scenes. Vergil’s personification of the Trojan Horse is the prime reason this excerpt has always appealed to me. Of course, Laocoon’s famous line, “quidquid id est, timeo Danaos dona ferentis,” is oft-cited throughout ancient literature, on account of its structure and importance to the Aeneid’s plot. My translation aims to highlight the vivacity of Vergil’s poetry, in order to allow the readers to conjure up uniquely graphic and evocative scenes.

The Hercules and Cacus episode in Book VIII highlights the problematic nature of Aeneas’ exploits throughout the Aeneid. Through the violence of Hercules, Vergil makes the reader question whether a story like the founding of Rome and its eventual imperial expansion can be as cut and dry as the story of a rugged hero slaughtering someone whose name literally means “evil one” might superficially seem. Calling into question Aeneas’ morality and his justification for settling in Italy in turn casts doubt on Augustus’ own means of attaining power.The Hercules and Cacus episode is fundamental to our understanding of the Aeneid as a whole inasmuch as it brings up the question of right. The question of the rightful owner of Geryon’s cattle finds its parallel in Aeneas and Turnus’ dispute over betrothal to Lavinia, as well as in Augustus’ contested claim to rule Rome. The Italy of Hercules’ day, in which violence determines right, must be compared with the universal empire Augustus will eventually establish. This paper explores to what extent the Hercules and Cacus episode can influence our understanding of Aeneas and Augustus and how Vergil might be reacting to the political climate of his day through his poetry.N.B. I give citations in Latin throughout the paper, with my own English translations in the footnotes.

In this paper I examine Augustus's reconceptualisation of the Sibylline books' role in Roman culture, religion and politics, focusing on the affiliation between the prophecies and Apollo. These oracles were described as the fata et remedia Romana; this concept, arguably, allows us to uncover that in republican religion Apollo's position was similar to the one occupied by the libri Sibyllini: both served to avert prodigies and help pursue the pax deorum. I believe, that Augustus utilised this connection to the benefit of his chosen god-patron, and appropriated the books in order to emphasise his reign as a new age, where no more prodigium could occur. Tibullus and Vergil contribute to this narrative. The Sibylline books did not lose all significance, rather they were reconfigured as instruments legitimising Augustus, supporting his desire to celebrate the ludi saecularis in 17 BC. Finally, I will present an alternative view on the Sibylline books' incorporation into the Augustan system using Ovid's distinctive treatment of the Sybil's story in Metamorphoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proba is a 4th century poetess who belonged to the Roman aristocratic family of the Petroni Probi. A very well-educated woman, she reworked Vergil’s hexameters and hemistichs into a biblical cento (approximately 600 verses), starting from the creation of the world and ending with Christ’s Ascension to Heaven. This work was read by and had a deep infl uence on Empress Eudocia, who after Proba composed a Homeric Christian cento in Greek. Proba’s Cento refl ects the scholastic techniques of memorizing and interpreting ancient poetry, especially Vergil, who, although a pagan, is treated as a pivotal author throughout Antiquity, even by Christians. Some scholars suggested that Proba, as a Christian, did intend her poem to replace the reading of Vergil at grammarian schools, by “cleaning” and Christianising his work. However, a close look shows that Proba was skillfully using Vergilian fragments to interpret the biblical episodes which she was retelling. For example, God’s love towards His creatures and Peter’s love towards (dead) Christ are described by quoting words referred by Vergil to Dido’s love for Aeneas, whereas Christ’s injured and wounded body, when he appears to the disciples after resurrection, is “commented upon” by quoting the unjust and cruel deaths of Sichaeus and Deiphobus. As a result, we should think of Proba’s expected reader as being familiar with Vergil’s hypotext quite well; otherwise, he or she would not be able to grasp the Christian meaning of the Cento. Moreover, the Cento’s episode of the Last Supper is analysed in detail. Here, two passages from the 5th book of the Aeneid serve as“Leitreminiszenzen”: ludi funebres in honour of Anchises, and Palinurus’ death. This analysis shows that even those lines that might seem mere mosaics made up of “neutralised” Vergilian tesserae can disclose their treasures if one comprehends them properly. Vergil is defi nitely being made to speak pia munera Christi (Proba 23) to such extent that some of Vergil’s words used by Proba cannot be understood properly unless we reinterpret them in light of their meaning in the Christian Sondersprache. This shows that Proba’s being a Christian is connected inextricably to her being Vergilian, and that her Cento is a goldmine that hides treasures, many of which are still waiting to be dug out.

Within the Lepantine epic production, which in recent years seems to have received more critic attention, the unpublished Cantos de la batalla ausonia by the Portuguese Pedro de Acosta Perestrello has been gone unnoticed throughout the centuries. In this work we study a scene of hospitality and internal narration of this curious epic in the light of classic literary models, especially the Vergilian one. In our analysis we will attend to the possible influence that Os lusíadas could have on it and to the thematic and contextual coincidences with the epic Felicísima victoria composed in Spanish by the also Portuguese Jerónimo de Corte-Real.

In this article, I examine the nature of Dido's magic ritual in Aeneid 4, reading it as a magic ritual aimed at inducing forgetfulness. I argue that in burning his belongings, Dido intends to forget Aeneas and not to destroy him; for this purpose, I study this episode in the light of non-literary sources and of the poetic tradition concerning love magic and the obliteration of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I take a close look at the way Vergil reworks Aratus’ weather signs in Georgics 1.393-397. This in turn leads to a new interpretation of these difficult lines and allows for a political and poetical reading of the passage.

This contribution argues that literary texts essentially operate with inventory-like elements. Especially traditional rhetoric means, such as catalogue and description, are crucial in this respect. They represent some kind of poetic inventories within stories, as can be seen from Homer onwards. 'Inventorious' elements are also main narrative strategies in medieval epic literature, which is shown by the catalogues of names and things in the Song of the Nibelungs, a medieval heroic epic in Middle High German (c. 1200 AD). These 'inventorious' elements provide an imaginative insight into cultural, social, and gender orders and practices, which can also be seen as the background of 'real' historical inventories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rónai - Revista de Estudos Classicos e Tradutorios is the property of Ronai - Revista de Estudos Classicos e Tradutorios and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Venus and Vulcan, Venus and Aeneas, Pallas and Aeneas, Aeneas and Evander, Evander and Pallas: all of these pairs are seen embracing one another in Aeneid 8. Alongside these emotive scenes of embrace, the book is peppered with embrace-related vocabulary, imagery, and metaphor, often in surprising contexts. This article weaves together these embraces in Aeneid 8 in relation to the thematics of the book as a whole. It is proposed that, when read together, the embraces in Aeneid 8 tell a story about the possibilities of knowledge in relation to the senses. Vision is the supreme sense-modality of truth in epic, as embodied in the shield of Aeneas; and yet, in book 8, embrace emerges as a way of knowing that runs counter to optical discourses of knowledge. This leads to an exploratory reconsideration of hermeneutic principles in light of Aeneas' much-puzzled-over response to the shield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]