Latin 411 Spring 2018, MW 4-5:15 pm, Phelps 310 Kyle Khellaf ([email protected]) Office Hours: MW 5:15-6:15 pm, and by appointment
Early Rome: From Aeneas to Romulus
How did the Romans imagine the founding of their city, nation, and eventual sprawling empire? These were events to which they attached the greatest significance. Yet they possessed very little reliable information about these early moments in their history. In fact, they had only a collection of legends with only a few material remains (e.g. the lapis niger) to support the veracity of these fables. The purpose of this course is to attempt to answer how the Romans imagined their early civic history, and how the mythologies they created for this proto-Rome provided them with a powerful ideological framework for their later imperial ambitions and “manifest destiny.” Each text we read will be examined from two points of view: the idea of early Rome generated within the text, as well as its relation to the underlying sociopolitical concerns of authors who lived and wrote these texts during the Late Republic and Augustan periods. Key themes will include founding myths of hybridity, intersectionality, migration, and exile; empire and imperial ideologies; nationalism; religious ritual; and the various Augustan reforms.
We will read works in the original Latin by Virgil, Livy, Ovid, Propertius, Sallust, and Cicero— different literary genres, in both prose and verse. Since this is a second semester intermediate Latin course, we will also dwell on matters like vocabulary and syntax, meter and style, and touch upon the rudiments of Roman literary history. Translating and interpreting the Latin texts will be a core focus of the class, but I will also periodically assign secondary readings, including Augustan visual and material culture; articles, book chapters, and a variety of commentaries on the Latin text by classical scholars; and even the occasional selection from relevant postmodern literary theory.
1 The pace, at the beginning, will be akin to first semester intermediate Latin, and will develop over the course of the semester to eventually entail around 2-3 pages of Latin prose per class meeting. We will be reading both prose and poetry, so we will practice reading aloud Latin verse in dactylic hexameter and elegiac couplets (the teaching of these meters for those not yet familiar will be incorporated into the class lessons). Initially there will be some review of grammar and syntax built into the day-to-day routines of close reading and translation, but this will shift by mid-semester. As such, it should be expected that we will not cover all the readings in class as the course progresses—part of the process of moving to more advanced Latin is learning to read independently without it being fully explained by the instructor, and being able to prepare questions about translation, grammar, and syntax on only the most difficult Latin.
Course Requirements:
As indicated on the syllabus, for every class meeting you have a reading assignment. You should not merely look this over, but prepare it carefully, so that, when called on, you can translate it and explain your translation. Unless told otherwise, adhere to the syllabus even if in class we should fall behind. Ideally, you should begin spending more time analyzing what is being described in the text and making observations about various matters (historical, poetic, ideological) that strike you as problematic or significant in some way.
To measure preparation and progress, about once every fourth meeting will include a grammar and translation quiz, the format of which will vary. Many, to be sure, will require you to translate a few lines from the homework, but others might ask for ask for analysis, explanation, or interpretation.
Short Paper Assignment:
You will also need to write a paper, approximately 5 to 7 pages in length analyzing a passage or two (from one or two authors) that deals with an issue of contemporary relevance. Possible topics might include:
— The Rape of the Sabine women (Livy and/or Ovid) in light of contemporary issues surrounding rape/harassment culture in America (e.g. Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, Vice Magazine, Fox and CNN news anchors, #MeToo, etc.) — The theme of Romulus’ asylum in light of international migration, displacement, and immigration — The Roman ideologies of empire presented in Virgil’s Aeneid and American political interventions abroad over the past several decades
I am more than happy to discuss other possible topics either via email or during office hours, and would encourage students to meet with me prior to writing the first draft of the paper in order to diagnose potential issues with the topics before the writing begins. Keep in mind that this paper should not aim to make blanket generalizations, but rather should use key quotations from the ancient sources in order to make relevant comparisons with our contemporary sources (news media, visual culture, personal narratives, etc.).
2 The first draft of this paper will be due by email anytime on Friday, March 30 (the Friday after Spring Break). The final draft, following comments from me on the drafts which I will return on Monday, April 9, will be due by email anytime on Friday, April 27 (the last day of classes).
Vertumnus Workshop:
The majority of our extant Latin literature comes down through us through a manuscript tradition which has created issues of fidelity, authenticity, and (often unacknowledged) ideology for how we should read textual variants and Latin that doesn’t make sense. The texts we will be using for this class include, at the bottom of each page, an apparatus criticus which shows editorial variants for the lines in question, from both the manuscripts themselves as well editorial interventions dating from antiquity to the present day. Given this hermeneutic crux, it makes sense to learn about its implications in an advanced intermediate Latin course.
For this two-day class workshop, we will therefore read a particularly striking poem by Propertius, told from the perspective of a Maple-carved statue of the Etruscan-Roman hybrid god Vertumnus, who declares, “My nature is suitable for all shapes and types. Turn me into whatever you desire: I will suit the occasion” (opportuna mea est cunctis natura figuris / in quamcumque uoles uerte, decorus ero). The textual tradition of Propertius, whose earliest manuscript dates from the 13th Century CE, has long been a source of debate for readers, scholars, and editors.
We will therefore use the poem and the so called desire for intersectionality laid out by the poetic persona of Vertumnus to consider problems of textual multiplicity in the larger context of our course’s focus on issues of migration, exile, and hybridity. Students will be assigned a short selection of the poem, as well as a range of editions and commentaries from the last century, and will lead the class discussion for 10 minutes (consisting of a short 5 minute presentation of the passage, its ambiguities, and its textual variants, and then 5 minutes leading the class through a “translation” of the various Latin and how the variants impact our reading of Vertumnus).
Grade Distribution:
Attendance, participation, and in-class translation: 20% Quizzes: 20% Midterm exam: 15% Vertumnus Workshop: 5% Short Paper Assignment: 15% (5% for the first draft, 10% for the final draft, with the potential to weight the final draft higher if major revisions are made to the first draft) Final exam 25%
Important Dates:
Midterm Exam: Monday, March 5 Paper Draft: Friday, March 30 (by email) Final Paper: Friday, April 27 (by email) Final Exam: Saturday, May 5 at 9 am (room TBD)
3 Required Books:
There will be no required textbooks for this class. It is suggested that you have a good, basic Latin-to-English dictionary (I recommend the very cheap The Bantam New College Latin and English Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 2007, since it features numerous, idiomatic Latin expressions— including less common idiomatic phrases—in addition to basic vocabulary). As for the readings, I will upload texts and commentaries to Canvas or provide internet links.
Yale College Statements on Academic Dishonesty:
“It is cheating to copy answers from other students or to refer without written permission to notes, books, laptop computers, cellular phones, or other programmable electronic devices. Likewise, the use of cellular phones to discuss or obtain answers from another student, whether present in the classroom or not, is prohibited. It is also cheating to change answers on a returned examination and then request re-grading. It is the student’s responsibility to submit the examination exactly as it was; any alteration is academic dishonesty.”
“Many instructors assign work that allows students to practice and develop skills in a low- stakes format, less formal than a paper and often ungraded. Collaboration with other students is common practice in many such courses, but students are expected to ask instructors for a written explanation of what kinds of collaboration are appropriate.”
The full series of policies regarding academic honesty and the like can be found on the following web page: http://catalog.yale.edu/undergraduate-regulations/policies/definitions- plagiarism-cheating/.
Resource Office on Disabilities:
This class adheres to university policies regarding students with disabilities, including a strict adherence to respecting the privacy of those students who need additional accommodations. Students in need of accommodations, if they have not already done so, should contact Sarah Scott Chang directly at the Resource Office on Disabilities (https://rod.yale.edu).
“The primary mission of the Resource Office on Disabilities (ROD) is to facilitate individual accommodations for all students with disabilities throughout the entire University, and by so doing, work to remove physical and attitudinal barriers, which may prevent their full participation in the University community…To create a university community, which is truly accessible to and inclusive of all persons, including people with disabilities requires the participation of each and every member of the community. Toward this goal, the Office serves as a resource and a catalyst for change by providing technical assistance, information, and disability awareness training to any member of the Yale community.”
4 Course Calendar
Date Assignment
Wednesday, January 17 Introduction (First Class Meeting)
Friday, January 19 Virgil, Aeneid 1.254-96
Monday, January 22 Aeneid 7.1-44
Wednesday, January 24 Aeneid 8.81-133
Monday, January 29 Aeneid 8.134-183
Wednesday, January 31 Aeneid 8.306-369
Monday, February 5 Aeneid 6.756-807, 851-3
Wednesday, February 7 Livy 1.1.1-2.3
Monday, February 12 1.2.4-3.11
Wednesday, February 14 1.4.1-5.7
Monday, February 19 1.6.1-7.3
Wednesday, February 21 1.8.4-7
Monday, February 26 1.9.1-9.16
Wednesday, February 28 1.10.1-7, 1.11.5-11
***Monday, March 5 Midterm exam
Wednesday, March 7 Ovid, Fasti 2.474a-532; Livy 1.15.6-8
———Spring Break———
Monday, March 26 Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.1-4; 14.772-851
Wednesday, March 28 Ovid, Ars amatoria 1.89-134, Livy 1.13.1-5
***Friday, March 30 Paper Draft due by email
Monday, April 2 Propertius 4.1.1-70
Wednesday, April 4 Propertius 4.2 (Vertumnus Workshop Day 1)
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Monday, April 9 Propertius 4.2 (Vertumnus Workshop Day 2) (***Papers returned with feedback and comments)
Wednesday, April 11 Sallust, Bellum Catilinae 6-7; Livy 1.16.1-4
Monday, April 16 Cicero, De re publica 2.4-6; Livy 1.16.5-8
Wednesday, April 18 Cicero, De re publica 2.5-9
Monday, April 23 2.10-14
Wednesday, April 25 2.15-19
***Friday, April 27 Final Drafts of Papers Due
***Saturday, May 5 at 9 am (room TBD) Final Exam
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