Classics 250B Spring 2017 Exam #1 Key Part I: 6 Points Each, 48 Total

Classics 250B Spring 2017 Exam #1 Key Part I: 6 points each, 48 total Livius Andronicus: first playwright to have performed a Latin play in Rome based on a Greek model in 240 BCE, and translator of Homer’s Odyssey. Menander: most famous playwright of Greek New Comedy (Late 4th/early 3rd century BCE), especially admired for his plays’ psychological realism; provided source-plays for many Roman comedies. Memmius: republican politician and literary patron of Lucretius; Catullus accompanied him on his governorship in Bithynia. suovetaurilia: the sacrifice of a pig, sheep, and bull; purification ritual for farmland described by Cato in De Agri Cultura. Pompey: chief opponent of Caesar in the civil wars, unenthusiastically supported by Cicero in his letters. Terentia: wife of Cicero, whom he addresses tenderly in his earlier letters, later divorced by Cicero. contaminatio: the blending together of plays or scenes from (multiple) plays, viewed as a fault by Terence’s critic(s), but essential to the Roman process of creatively adapting Greek literature. Epicurus: Greek founder of the philosophy of Epicureanism, based on atomic theory, as set forth in Lucretius’ poem On the Nature of Things. fabula palliata: “play in Greek style of dress”, the name given to the genre of Roman comedy based on Greek New Comedy, such as the plays of Plautus and Terence. Callimachus: important figure in Greek poetry in Alexandria (3rd century BCE), who influenced Latin poets such as Catullus and Lucretius (e.g. in advocating non-epic poetry, focus on craft, etc.). Lesbia: addressee of several of Catullus’ poems, identified with the historical Clodia; her fictional name reflects Catullus’ poetic debt to Sappho (early Greek lyric poet of Lesbos). Attis: main character of Catullus’ Poem 63 who, as priest of Cybele, castrates himself in the prime of youth and comes to regret his action. Part II: 20 points each (120 points total). Distribution of Points: (a): 2 points total (author & work) (b): 2 points total (speaker(s)) (c): 4 points total (context) (d): 12 points total (commentary) 1. (Plautus, Rudens 83ff.) a. Plautus, Rudens b. Sceparnio c. Sceparnio comments on the damage left by the storm in the play’s opening scene. d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. the comic incongruity of a crude rustic slave dropping an allusion to a Greek tragedy, i.e. the first instance of what becomes a running dialogue between comedy and tragedy in the play; 2. thematic possibilities embodied by the storm, e.g. the storm’s blowing the roof off Daemones’ house as a metaphor for the re-opening of the issues of familial identity that come with Palaestra’s fortuitous arrival in N. Africa; 3. the unusual role of the gods in this comedy (cf. “Neptune”, here mentioned immediately after Arcturus’ prologue about the justice of Jupiter’s universe). 2. (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 2.1ff.) a. Lucretius, On the Nature of Things b. poem’s speaker/Lucretius c. one of the book openings, in which Lucretius typically praises Epicurus and the liberation his philosophy brings d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. the superior vantage point of the person watching the shipwreck symbolizes that of the ideal Epicurean, who has separated himself from the noise, danger, and anxiety of the world; 2. the simple (ethical) life of Epicureanism, i.e. living life in accordance with nature’s simple requirements, as it is laid out here; 3. the description of human ataraxia here approximates the detached and tranquil life of the gods vis-à-vis the (human) world. 3. (Catullus 1) a. Catullus, Poems b. poem’s speaker/Catullus c. the opening (i.e. “programmatic”) poem of the collection d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. Catullus’ setting forth of his Alexandrian program, esp. his “polished” papyrus, his choice of nugatory “scribbles”, the “slimness” of his volume; 2. possible patronage and the poert’s relationship with biographer/historian Cornelius Nepos; 3. the speaker’s seemingly ironic stance about his poetry and its durability. 4. (Plautus, Truculentus 873ff.) a. Plautus, Truculentus b. A = Phronesium; B = Diniarchus c. near the end of the play, Phronesium implicates Diniarchus in a further scam against Stratophanes; d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. the Plautine deformation of a typical Greek New Comedy (rape/marriage plot) into a play focused on a clever and manipulative prostitute (a good example of over-the-top characterization/caricature in P.); 2. the larger historical/cultural import of such a satire in the light of its post-2nd Punic War Roman world (traditional Roman views of prostitution, expenditure, etc.); 3. how the scene consolidates the play’s satirical focus on foolish lovers in setting up the cynical final—i.e. immediately following—scene, in which Phronesium demonstrates that her con-jobs will likely continue with the audience’s (moral) collusion. 5. (Terence, Adelphoe 985ff.) a. Terence, Adelphoe b. Demea c. the end of the play, just after Demea effectively has turned the tables on Micio by forcing him to marry and to give away his land, free a slave, etc. d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. contrary to expectations set up in the play, Demea shows Micio to be more a “pushover” than a principled, liberal theorist so far as parenting goes; 2. Demea’s offer to provide guidance to Aeschinus, taken together with his new tolerance and Aeschinus’s (positive) response here, suggests that the play advocates a middle position between the parental severity of Demea and the laxity of Micio, i.e. the drama in the end offers a mediation of opposites; 3. the play’s preoccupation with ethical issues, here related to parenting, is typical of Terence’s “naturalistic” comedy. 6. (Cato, De Agri Cultura, Introduction) a. Cato, De Agri Cultura b. the didactic speaker/Cato c. the introduction to his manual on farming d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. the work’s literary historical significance (first extant work of Latin prose, the continuation of the Greek didactic tradition in Rome); 2. the sharply elite perspective of a Roman style “gentleman farmer” (e.g. the landed aristocracy and its prejudice against trade and other potential vehicles of social mobility/threats to traditional order); 3. the—to us—moral absurdity of placing the slave-owning estate-overseeing farmer on a pedestal (“good husbandman, good farmer”) in light of the instructions that follow (e.g. treating slave-workers as dehumanized “tools”). 7. (Catullus 7) a. Catullus, Poem b. poem’s speaker/Catullus c. one of Catullus’ nugatory love poems addressed to his beloved Lesbia d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. “kissimizations” is an example of C.’s many creative (and comic here) word coinages; 2. the straightforward “as many stars in the sky” simile stands in sharp contrast to the learned Alexandrian one about specifically Libyan sands (“Battus” alludes to Callimachus); 3. the wish to confuse meddlers/kiss-accountants marks the poem’s stance against Roman traditional values (cf. moral censuring). 8. (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 1.926ff.) a. Lucretius, On the Nature of Things b. Lucretius/speaker of poem c. Lucretius discusses the challenges of introducing philosophy/teaching ”hard science” to average readers d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. after the manner of the Alexandrian Callimachus, Lucretius asserts that his poetic journey is fresh and original, even claiming that he is the first Latin poet to write of science/philosophy in verse; 2. as Book 1 comes to its close, the light-bestowing, evangelical Lucretius reasserts his primary aim, i.e. to liberate humankind from “the narrow bonds of religion”; 3. Lucretius here gives his fullest justification for choosing poetry (traditionally associated with myth, deception, etc.) over prose—just a spoonful of the Muses makes the medicine of philosophy go down (easier). 9. (Cicero, Letter 166) a. Cicero, Letters b. the letter’s speaker/Cicero c. Cicero is writing to Brutus as his own life and the failing republican cause are coming to an end d. some possible talking points for elaboration: 1. the letter is socio-historically significant, as it attests to the influence of Brutus’ mother in political events of great moment; 2. the letter is the last known of Cicero’s collection, and captures his last tragic efforts to preserve the traditional oligarchical system of (senatorial) government; 3. as is the case for many letters, Cicero effectively mixes discussion of momentous political events with personal matters (note here his pledge to protect Brutus’ sister’s children). The exam is worth 168 Total Points. Scores are computed and recorded on D2L as a percentage. .

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