Latin Literature
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OBJECTS 1 Latin Literature 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 This highly accessible, user-friendly work provides a fresh and illu- 17 minating introduction to the most important aspects of Latin prose and 18 poetry. 19 Readers are constantly encouraged to think for themselves about 20 how and why we study the texts in question. They are stimulated and 21 inspired to do their own further reading through engagement with both 22 a wide selection of translated extracts and a useful exploration of the 23 different ways in which they can be approached. Central throughout 24 is the theme of the fundamental connections between Latin literature 25 and issues of elite Roman culture. 26 The versatile structure of the book makes it suitable for both 27 individual and class use. 28 29 Susanna Morton Braund is Professor of Classics at Yale University 30 and previously taught at the Universities of Exeter, Bristol and London. 31 She has written numerous books and articles on Roman satire and 32 epic, and has also translated Lucan’s Civil War into English verse. 33 34 35 36 37 Folio ARCHAEOLOGY: THE BASICS Classical Foundations The books in this series introduce students to the broad areas of study within classical studies and ancient history. They will be particularly helpful to students coming to the subject for the first time, or to those already familiar with an academic discipline who need orientation in a new field. The authors work to a common brief but not to a rigid structure: they set out to demon- strate the importance of the chosen subject and the lines of recent and continuing research and interpretation. Each book will provide a brief survey of the range of the subject, accompanied by some case studies demonstrating how one may go deeper into it. Each will also include guidance of a prac- tical kind on sources, resources and reference material, and how to pursue the subject further. When complete, the series will comprise a critical map of the whole field of ancient studies. The series is planned to include: Early Christianity Greek History Greek Literature Greek Philosophy Late Antiquity Latin Literature Roman Social History The Roman Empire Books currently available in the series: Latin Literature Susanna Morton Braund Roman Social History Susan Treggiari OBJECTS 1 2 Latin 3 4 5 6 Literature 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Susanna Morton Braund 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 TL E D 31 U G O E 32 R • 33 • T a p 34 y u lo ro r G 35 & Francis 36 London and New York 37 Folio ARCHAEOLOGY: THE BASICS For Josiah, Giles and Tim – best of students First published 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2002 Susanna Morton Braund All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Braund, Susanna Morton. Latin literature/Susanna Morton Braund. p. cm. – (Classical foundations) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Latin literature – History and criticism. 2. Rome – In literature. I. Title. II. Series. PA6003.B73 2001 870.9 – dc21 2001031920 ISBN 0-203-99685-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–19517–9 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–19518–7 (pbk) OBJECTS 1 2 3 4 5 Contents 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 List of illustrations vii 13 About this book viii 14 Acknowledgements xvi 15 16 1 Virgil and the meaning of the Aeneid 1 17 18 2 Role models for Roman women and men 19 in Livy 20 20 21 3 What is Latin literature? 37 22 23 4 What does studying Latin literature involve? 53 24 25 5 Making Roman identity: multiculturalism, 26 militarism and masculinity 70 27 28 6 Performance and spectacle, life and death 89 29 30 7 Intersections of power: praise, politics 31 and patrons 110 32 33 8 Annihilation and abjection: living death 34 and living slavery 133 35 36 9 Writing ‘real’ lives 152 37 v Folio CONTENTS 10 Introspection and individual identity 176 11 Literary texture and intertextuality 190 12 Metapoetics 207 13 Allegory 225 14 Overcoming an inferiority complex: the relationship with Greek literature 242 15 Building Rome and building Roman literature 265 Appendix A Extract from Darkness Visible by W. R. Johnson 275 Appendix B Who’s afraid of literary theory? by Simon Goldhill 277 List of authors and texts 288 Time-line 294 List of translations used/adapted 296 Index of names and topics 298 Index of passages quoted 303 vi 1 2 3 4 5 Illustrations 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 Augustus wearing a cuirass, from the Villa of Livia at 13 Prima Porta 10 14 2 Titian Tarquin and Lucretia 30 15 3 Gentileschi Tarquin and Lucretia 31 16 4 Tiepolo Tarquin and Lucretia 32 17 5 Sketch map of the triumphal route through Rome 80 18 6 Edward Burne-Jones Pygmalion and The Image, ii 19 ‘The Hand Refrains’ 214 20 7 Edward Burne-Jones Pygmalion and The Image, iv 21 ‘The Soul Attains’ 215 22 8 Prudentius Psychomachia 238 23 9 Cycle of virtues and vices on Notre Dame Cathedral, 239 24 central porch 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 vii Folio ARCHAEOLOGY: THE BASICS About this book This book belongs to the year 2000. I started writing it on 1 January 2000 and I finished by writing this introductory note on 24 December 2000. Just as the year 2000 has been claimed by the past and the future – as the final year of the second millennium and as the first year of the third – so my year 2000 has two allegiances. In this year I have moved from England to New England. I have left Royal Holloway (University of London) in leafy Surrey to move to Yale University in leafy Connecticut. And I find that my new home of New Haven really is a new haven from the lunacy of the audit and assessment processes that currently dominate British academic life. This book has been shaped by many individuals. There have been conversations with friends and with colleagues, too numerous to name here, though I thank you all for your ideas, advice, enthusiasm and encouragement. There were discussions with Richard Stoneman of Routledge and with the other Routledge authors involved in this exciting new series. There were discussions with my co-panelists and with the audience at the panel on the future of literary history at the Classical Association AGM (Bristol, April 2000), when I presented an outline of this project. Thanks to all of you, too. But more than anything, this book has been shaped by my teaching and by my students. At Royal Holloway I taught an introductory course on Latin viii ABOUT THIS BOOK literature in English translation, which generated many ideas and 1 strategies for this book. I have been influenced by my graduate students 2 at Royal Holloway, Giles Gilbert and Tim Hill, who co-taught on the 3 introductory course and whose research interests – the representations 4 of battle in Roman epic poetry and Roman attitudes to suicide – have 5 inspired some of my emphases in this volume. And at Yale I have 6 benefited enormously from the intelligence and acumen of another 7 graduate student, Josiah Osgood. Josiah took my typescript, removed 8 embarrassing errors, filled in missing data, made copious suggestions 9 for further reading and came up with some stunning ideas for further 10 study. That this book has been completed before 2000 is out is thanks 11 to him. 12 This book is not intended to be comprehensive. There are some 13 glaring gaps both in the primary texts culled and, inevitably, in the 14 secondary literature referred to. For example, there’s nothing here from 15 one of my favourite prose authors, Sallust, and my coverage of later 16 Latin authors is scanty and random, to say the least. I make no apology 17 for these gaps because the book is intended as an introduction. That 18 is why the chapters are relatively short. It is an introduction to Latin 19 literature and also an introduction to some of the fine translations 20 currently available. Where I have adapted an existing translation I have 21 indicated this. Otherwise, the translations are my own. I have provided 22 a list of all the authors and texts, Latin and Greek, referred to, along 23 with all the translations which I have adapted, at the end of the book. 24 What’s more, I have also tried to avoid using abbreviations or Latin 25 titles that will deter those meeting this material for the first time. This 26 book is intended to be very user-friendly.