Juvenal and the Satiric Emotions

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Juvenal and the Satiric Emotions Juvenal and the Satiric Emotions Juvenal and the Satiric Emotions Catherine Keane 1 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 © Oxford University Press 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress. ISBN 978–0–19–998189–2 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Note on Texts and Translations ix Introduction 1 Generalizing about Juvenal 3 Satire and Affect 8 Satiric Emotions as Subjects and Tools 11 Themes in Roman Satire Studies 16 How to Do Things with Feelings 21 Chapter 1 Anger Games 26 The Indignant Performer 26 The Contexts of Juvenalian Anger 29 The Rhetoric Student at Work 35 Histories of Anger 38 Suppression, Contestation, Compensation 44 Anger between Friends 53 Chapter 2 Monstrous Misogyny and the End of Anger 68 Bringing It All Back Home 70 Farrago and Phantasia 73 A Look in the Mirror 79 Passing On the Burden 83 Chapter 3 Change, Decline, and the Progress of Satire 87 The Janus View 89 Anger without Eloquence 91 Ante Ora Parentum 98 Sermo and Sirens 108 Chapter 4 Considering Tranquility 117 Democritus on Display 122 Beyond Laughter 127 Democritus in Rome? 130 Demolition and Reinvention 136 The Senecan Model 146 The Satirist behind Closed Doors 150 Outside-In Satire 153 Reclaiming a Legacy 160 Chapter 5 The Praegrandis Senex 168 Rethinking the Grand Narrative 169 The Satiric Senex and the Emotional Plot 171 Old Men and Sermo 174 Nestor Redivivus 181 Not Your Father’s Ira 192 On Reading the End, or “You and What Army?” 205 Conclusion 213 Bibliography 219 Index Locorum 239 General Index 247 vi | Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS his book has been long in the making, and I finish it in debt to Tmany people. Over the past decade, my colleagues and students at Washington University were willing to listen to me talk about Juvenal again and again, keeping me focused on the project even as other responsi- bilities kept progress slow. Proto-chapters and overviews were also shared at conferences and colloquia in Columbia, Missouri; San Francisco; Oxford; Urbana-Champaign; Tucson; Ithaca; Austin; and Miami, Ohio, and on each occasion my audience taught me a great deal. During a luxu- rious year’s leave in 2012–13, I benefited from the help of my summer research assistant, Jacob Emmett (and from research funds provided by my department and administration); from Washington University’s Center for the Humanities, where I spent the fall as a Faculty Fellow; and from the University of Cincinnati Department of Classics, where I was a spring Tytus Fellow. As I peruse parts of the book in the future, I will be visited with visions of the different offices and desks where they were created. I will also remember the many individuals who helped make these experi- ences possible and useful, including George Pepe, Tim Moore, Caroline Bishop, Joe Loewenstein, Erin McGlothlin, Steve Zwicker, Dan Hooley, John Henderson, Susanna Braund, Barbara Gold, Susan Prince, Daniel Markovic, and Lauren Ginsburg. I have been unbelievably lucky in other mentors, supporters, friends, and readers; quite a few have left marks on this project through conversa- tions, invitations, careful evaluations, and/or other forms of inspiration. Their interventions and encouragement helped me go in new directions and solve nagging problems, and any flaws that remain in the book are my own doing. I particularly thank Ralph Rosen, Joe Farrell, Jen Ebbeler, Amanda Wilcox, Carlos Noreña, Allen Miller, David Larmour, Brian Hook, Henry Dyson, Bryce Walker, Heather Elomaa, Eric Brown, Christine Johnson, Denise McCoskey, Kirk Freudenburg (special thanks for reading a big chunk of the manuscript at a pivotal stage), and John Henderson (again). Two scholars in particular have oriented and inspired me many times over with their work and, even more important, welcomed me warmly into the field. I feel I owe as much to W. S. Anderson and Susanna Braund as Juvenal does (and that’s an awful lot). Finally, I must also single out Dan Hooley again because I have been so lucky to have him as a neighbor and to benefit from his hospitality and professional wisdom. He has given an enormous amount of the greatest gift in our line of work, time, in reading and commenting on this and other manuscripts for me. Stefan Vranka has given solid and patient support for several years now, assisted by Sarah Pirovitz, who efficiently and cheerfully shepherded my manuscript back and forth across the country and the Internet. It has been an honor to work with Oxford University Press again. The produc- tion process has been smooth and reassuring, thanks to the professional- ism of Pete Mavrikis and Susan Ecklund. Chris Lovell provided valuable advice and assistance on the indices. I thank my parents, Barry and Clare, whose sense of humor has sustained us all for forty-odd years and made it inevitable that I would be drawn to ancient comic literature. More thanks to the rest of our family—John, Angela, Dave —for cheering me on as I completed the book, and to our new joy Elizabeth for special inspiration these last few months. Finally, and for always, I am most grateful to David Scheu, who gave practical help and moral support from the proposal stage up through the proofing and indexing, and who with his matchless opti- mism has helped the good and civilized emotions prevail in our life. October 2014 viii | Acknowledgments NOTE ON TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS or quotations, I use the Oxford texts of ancient authors wherever pos- Fsible (Juvenal and Persius: Clausen, 1992; Horace: Wickham and Garrod, 1912; Seneca’s dialogues: Reynolds, 1977). All exceptions are cited. Translations are my own except where others’ are quoted or adapted, with citations. Juvenal and the Satiric Emotions Introduction Is a satirist supposed to express emotion? Should satire engage its audi- ence’s emotions as well as its intellect and appetite for play? Precisely what feeling or feelings are appropriate to express, or to elicit, in the practice of mockery and social criticism? Any student of literature who volunteers answers to these questions has been influenced, directly or indirectly, by one Roman satiric poet. Juvenal’s sixteen Satires, written in the early second century c.e., offer memorable commentary on the role of emotion in satire. Juvenal did not simply suggest answers to the questions I pose above, but prompted the questions themselves, thus helping to shape the reception of his work and his genre. In this way as in others, “Juvenal’s satiric perspective has become completely ours.”1 In this book, I argue that my opening questions about emotion were central to Juvenal’s definition of the satirist’s role. They inspired the first pose he struck and guided his subsequent creation of satiric verse. Juvenal connects the matter of emotion’s role in satire to a broader idea that dominates satiric theory from antiquity to the present: namely, the notion that there are a variety of ways to do satire. This idea affects even the rela- tively narrowly defined Roman verse genre, which consists largely of mono- logues on moral topics or social ills. It is not simply that satire was seen as a genre “not bound, either in form or matter, by rigid rules.”2 It is more accurate to say that varietas was a definitive feature of the genre, “staged as a problem of writing . by the ancient satirists themselves” and replicated in satiric 1.Winkler, “Media Age,” 542. 2.Duff, Iuvenalis Saturae XIV, xxx–xxxi. theory.3 It is inevitable that this generic theme would permeate the work of the most prolific extant Roman satirist. The corpus of Juvenal, despite the acci- dent of transmission that severed off part of the last poem, totals nearly four thousand lines of hexameter and would originally have filled five book rolls. This is close to twice Horace’s satiric output, and more than five times that of Persius. It could only have been surpassed by the prodigious thirty books of the genre’s “inventor,” Lucilius, now almost entirely lost. Juvenal was a career satirist. He spent at least a dozen years (by some accounts, closer to thirty) producing his poems and left no other works.4 By comparison, Horace wrote satire only during the first decade of a long and generically diverse poetic career, while Persius had not even finished his single book when he died.
Recommended publications
  • Metamorphosis of Love: Eros As Agent in Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary France" (2017)
    University of Central Florida STARS Honors Undergraduate Theses UCF Theses and Dissertations 2017 Metamorphosis of Love: Eros as Agent in Revolutionary and Post- Revolutionary France Jennifer N. Laffick University of Central Florida Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the UCF Theses and Dissertations at STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Undergraduate Theses by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Laffick, Jennifer N., "Metamorphosis of Love: Eros as Agent in Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary France" (2017). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 195. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses/195 METAMORPHOSIS OF LOVE: EROS AS AGENT IN REVOLUTIONARY AND POST-REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE by JENNIFER N. LAFFICK A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honors in the Major Program in Art History in the College of Arts and Humanities and in The Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term, 2017 Thesis Chair: Dr. Margaret Zaho ABSTRACT This thesis chronicles the god of love, Eros, and the shifts of function and imagery associated with him. Between the French Revolution and the fall of Napoleon Eros’s portrayals shift from the Rococo’s mischievous infant revealer of love to a beautiful adolescent in love, more specifically, in love with Psyche. In the 1790s, with Neoclassicism in full force, the literature of antiquity was widely read by the upper class.
    [Show full text]
  • Juvenal and Suetonius on Successful Freedmen.Pdf
    Freedmen: new citizens Juvenal & Suetonius on successful freedmen Romans Romans in f cus Source 1: Juvenal’s Satires The following passage comes from Juvenal’s Satires, a collection of satirical poems written in the late 1st century to the early 2nd century AD. The satires discuss and make fun of a range of social and political situations. This passage takes place at a salutatio, where clients visit a patron. Juvenal Satires 1.97 - 116 (translation G. G. Ramsay, adapted) ille tamen faciem prius inspicit et trepidat ne He [the patron] first inspects your face, fearing that you may be claiming under someone else's suppositus venias ac falso nomine poscas: name: once recognised, you will get your share. agnitus accipies, iubet a praecone vocari He then orders the crier to call up the Trojan- blooded nobles1----for they too besiege the door ipsos Troiugenas1, nam vexant limen et ipsi as well as we: "The Praetor first," he says, "and nobiscum, ‘da praetori, da deinde tribuno.’ after him the Tribune." But a freedman is first. ”I sed libertinus prior est. ‘prior’ inquit ‘ego adsum. was here first!,” he says, ”why should I be afraid, or hesitate to defend my place in the queue? cur timeam dubitemve locum defendere? quamvis Though I was born on the Euphrates - a fact natus ad Euphraten, molles quod in aure fenestrae2 which the holes2 in my effeminate ears would testify even though I myself might deny it - I am arguerint, licet ipse negem, sed quinque tabernae the owner of five shops which bring me in four quadringenta3 parant, quid confert purpura maior4 hundred thousand sesterces3.
    [Show full text]
  • The Female in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura
    Colby Quarterly Volume 30 Issue 3 September Article 5 September 1994 Mater Matters: The Female in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura S. Georgia Nugent Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq Recommended Citation Colby Quarterly, Volume 30, no.3, September 1994, p.179-205 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colby Quarterly by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. Nugent: Mater Matters: The Female in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura Mater Matters: The Female in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura by S. GEORGIA NUGENT PIC POETRY CELEBRATES the creation of a certain kind of self. l That creation E will often-but not always-be directed toward, tested through, and dam­ aged ordestroyed by war. AI ways, it will be male. This is not to say that females do not appear on the epic stage; they may even appear in the guise of heroic warrior-there is Camilla, there is Atalanta.2 But each such figure is anomalous; the "real" subject of epic is how to be a man and, beyond that, how to be a community of men-an army, a polis, a republic, an empire. Typically, such epics will address questions ofautonomy and social comrade­ ship, appetite and sublimation, intellection and action. Whether via the portrayal of Achilles sulking in his tent, Aeneas setting sail from Carthage and Dido, Tydeus single-handedly slaughtering an ambush party of fifty men, or even Epicurus laying bare the secrets of nature, epic provides narrative models for male life in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 Men at Work: Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C. Seth G. Bernard University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, and the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Bernard, Seth G., "Men at Work: Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C." (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 492. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/492 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/492 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Men at Work: Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C. Abstract MEN AT WORK: PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION, LABOR, AND SOCIETY AT MID-REPUBLICAN ROME, 390-168 B.C. Seth G. Bernard C. Brian Rose, Supervisor of Dissertation This dissertation investigates how Rome organized and paid for the considerable amount of labor that went into the physical transformation of the Middle Republican city. In particular, it considers the role played by the cost of public construction in the socioeconomic history of the period, here defined as 390 to 168 B.C. During the Middle Republic period, Rome expanded its dominion first over Italy and then over the Mediterranean. As it developed into the political and economic capital of its world, the city itself went through transformative change, recognizable in a great deal of new public infrastructure.
    [Show full text]
  • Tages Against Jesus: Etruscan Religion in Late Roman Empire Dominique Briquel
    Etruscan Studies Journal of the Etruscan Foundation Volume 10 Article 12 2007 Tages Against Jesus: Etruscan Religion in Late Roman Empire Dominique Briquel Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies Recommended Citation Briquel, Dominique (2007) "Tages Against Jesus: Etruscan Religion in Late Roman Empire," Etruscan Studies: Vol. 10 , Article 12. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies/vol10/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Etruscan Studies by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tages Against Jesus: Etruscan Religion in Late Roman Empire by Dominique Briquel t may seem strange to associate in this way two entities which, at first gLance, wouLd seem to have nothing in common. The civiLization of the Etruscans, which fLourished Iin ItaLy during the 1st miLLennium BC, was extinguished before the birth of Christianity, by which time Etruria had aLready been absorbed into the Larger Roman worLd in a process caLLed “Romanization.” 1 This process seems to have obLiterated the most characteristic traits of this autonomous cuLture of ancient Tuscany, a cuLture which may have been Kin to that of the Romans, but was not identicaL to it. As for Language, we can suppose that Etruscan, which is not Indo-European in origin and is therefore pro - foundLy different not onLy to Latin but to aLL other ItaLic diaLects, feLL out of use compLeteLy during the period of Augustus. One cannot, however, cLaim that aLL traces of ancient Etruria had disappeared by then.
    [Show full text]
  • An Exploration of Changes in Role and Character by Lisa Halim A
    Psyche’s Metamorphosis: An Exploration of Changes in Role and Character By Lisa Halim A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts Department of Classics University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2017 Lisa Halim Halim I Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….III Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………….IV Dedication…………………………………………………………………………..V Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter I: Techniques and Approaches…………………………………………9 Introduction………………………………………………………………....9 Propp………………………………………………………………………..9 Campbell…………………………………………………………………...13 ATU……………………………………………………………………..…16 Psychological Elements……………………………………………………23 Artistic Tradition.………………………………………………………….24 Philosophical Elements……………………………………………………26 Societal Norms…………………………………………………………….27 Intratextual Details……………………………………………………...…28 Discussion…………………………………………………………………32 Chapter II: Psyche’s Moments of Role Reversal within the Tale……………..34 Introduction………………………………………………………………...34 Section One: Metamorphoses 4.28-4.35…………………………………...34 Section Two: Metamorphoses 5.1-5.24……………………………………40 Section Three: Metamorphoses 5.25-6.24…………………………………44 Discussion………………………………………………………………….52 Chapter Three: Application of Techniques and Approaches to the Tale……..53 Halim II Introduction…………………………………………………………………53 Propp………………………………………………………………………..56 Campbell……………………………………………………………………60 ATU…………………………………………………………………………64 Psychological Elements……………………………………………………..67
    [Show full text]
  • Naming Effects in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura
    Antonomasia, Anonymity, and Atoms: Naming Effects in Lucretius’ DRN Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics Antonomasia, Anonymity, and Atoms: Naming Effects in Lucretius’ De rerum natura Version 1.0 September 2009 Wilson H. Shearin Stanford University Abstract: This essay argues that selected proper names within Lucretius’ De rerum natura, rather than pointing deictically or referring with clear historical specificity, instead render Lucretius’ poem vaguer and more anonymous. To make this case, the essay first briefly surveys Roman naming practices, ultimately focusing upon a specific kind of naming, deictic naming. Deictic naming points (or attempts to point) to a given entity and often conjures up a sense of the reality of that entity. The essay then studies the role of deictic naming within Epicureanism and the relationship of such naming to instances of naming within De rerum natura. Through analysis of the nominal disappearance of Memmius, the near nominal absence of Epicurus, and the deployment of Venus (and other names) within the conclusion to Lucretius’ fourth book, the essay demonstrates how selected personal names in De rerum natura, in contrast to the ideal of deictic naming, become more general, more anonymous, whether by the substitution of other terms (Memmius, Epicurus), by referential wandering (Venus), or by still other means. The conclusion briefly studies the political significance of this phenomenon, suggesting that there is a certain popular quality to the tendency towards nominal indefiniteness traced in the essay. © Wilson H. Shearin. [email protected] 1 Antonomasia, Anonymity, and Atoms: Naming Effects in Lucretius’ DRN Antonomasia, Anonymity, and Atoms: Naming Effects in Lucretius’ De rerum natura Poet, patting more nonsense foamed From the sea, conceive for the courts Of these academies, the diviner health Disclosed in common forms.
    [Show full text]
  • Hammond2009.Pdf (13.01Mb)
    Postgraduate Programmes in the SCHOOL of HISTORY, CLASSICS and ARCHAEOLOGY The Iconography of the Etruscan Haruspex Supervisor: Name: Sarah Hammond Dr Robert Leighton 2009 SCHOOL of HISTORY, CLASSICS and ARCHAEOLOGY DECLARATION OF OWN WORK This dissertation has been composed by Sarah Hammond a candidate of the MSc Programme in MScR, Archaeology, run by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. The work it represents is my own, unless otherwise explicitly cited and credited in appropriate academic convention. I confirm that all this work is my own except where indicated, and that I have: Clearly referenced/listed all sources as appropriate Referenced and put in inverted commas all quoted text of more than three words (from books, web, etc) Given the sources of all pictures, data etc. that are not my own Not made any use of the essay(s) of any other student(s) either past or present Not sought or used the help of any external professional agencies for the work Acknowledged in appropriate places any help that I have received from others (e.g. fellow students, technicians, statisticians, external sources) Complied with any other plagiarism criteria specified in the Course handbook I understand that any false claim for this work will be penalised in accordance with the University regulations Signature: Name (Please PRINT): SARAH HAMMOND Date: 22/06/2009 The Iconography of the Etruscan Haruspex by Sarah Naomi Hammond MSc by Research, Archaeology The University of Edinburgh 2009 Word count: 25,000 Abstract The religious rituals of the Etruscans incorporated several forms of divination including the practices of extispicy and hepatoscopy, the arts of divining through the examination of sacrificed animal entrails, and specifically the liver.
    [Show full text]
  • Martial's and Juvenal's Attitudes Toward Women Lawrence Phillips Davis
    University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Master's Theses Student Research 5-1973 Martial's and Juvenal's attitudes toward women Lawrence Phillips Davis Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses Recommended Citation Davis, Lawrence Phillips, "Martial's and Juvenal's attitudes toward women" (1973). Master's Theses. Paper 454. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MARTIAL' S AND JUVENAL' S ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN BY LAWRENCE PHILLIPS DAVIS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF·ARTS IN ANCIENT LANGUAGES MAY 1973 APPROVAL SHEET of Thesis PREFACE The thesis offers a comparison between the views of Martial and Juvenal toward women based on selected .Epigrams of the former and Satire VI of the latter. Such a comparison allows the reader to place in perspective the attitudes of both authors in regard to the fairer sex and reveals at least a portion of the psychological inclination of both writers. The classification of the selected Epigrams ·and the se­ lected lines of Satire VI into categories of vice is arbi- . trary and personal. Subjective interpretation of vocabulary and content has dictated the limits and direction of the clas­ sification. References to scholarship regarding the rhetori­ cal, literary, and philosophic influences on Martial and Ju­ venal can be found in footnote6 following the chapter concern-· ~ng promiscuity.
    [Show full text]
  • Expulsion from the Senate of the Roman Republic, C.319–50 BC
    Ex senatu eiecti sunt: Expulsion from the Senate of the Roman Republic, c.319–50 BC Lee Christopher MOORE University College London (UCL) PhD, 2013 1 Declaration I, Lee Christopher MOORE, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Thesis abstract One of the major duties performed by the censors of the Roman Republic was that of the lectio senatus, the enrolment of the Senate. As part of this process they were able to expel from that body anyone whom they deemed unequal to the honour of continued membership. Those expelled were termed ‘praeteriti’. While various aspects of this important and at-times controversial process have attracted scholarly attention, a detailed survey has never been attempted. The work is divided into two major parts. Part I comprises four chapters relating to various aspects of the lectio. Chapter 1 sees a close analysis of the term ‘praeteritus’, shedding fresh light on senatorial demographics and turnover – primarily a demonstration of the correctness of the (minority) view that as early as the third century the quaestorship conveyed automatic membership of the Senate to those who held it. It was not a Sullan innovation. In Ch.2 we calculate that during the period under investigation, c.350 members were expelled. When factoring for life expectancy, this translates to a significant mean lifetime risk of expulsion: c.10%. Also, that mean risk was front-loaded, with praetorians and consulars significantly less likely to be expelled than subpraetorian members.
    [Show full text]
  • A Note on the Myth of Tages
    0821-07_Babesch_83_07 23-09-2008 16:05 Pagina 107 BABESCH 83 (2008), 107-109. doi: 10.2143/BAB.83.0.2033101. A Note on the Myth of Tages J.H. Richardson Abstract This note suggests that Tages, the mythical founder of the Etrusca disciplina, is depicted on an engraved Etruscan mirror in the British Museum. The identification, if correct, provides some verification of the literary evidence for the myth of Tages, but it substantially undermines the common equation of Pavatarchies, a youth who appears on another engraved Etruscan mirror, with Tages. The myth of Tages is both simple and important; the figure to his right, Avl[e] Tarchunus, also important because it explains the origins of the wears a haruspex’s hat. It is true that Tarchunus Etruscan arts of divination, and simple because wears his hat pushed back over his head, but this the essence of the myth is as follows:1 working could just as easily signify that he is letting Pava- one day in his field, an Etruscan from Tarquinia tarchies interpret the liver, as it could that he is called Tarchon ploughed up an infant child. But his student. Indeed, since Tarchunus is bearded, this was no ordinary baby, for it had teeth, per- it may be he who is the teacher, and Pavatarchies haps grey hair, and the capacity of speech; it was, the student.7 Pavatarchies is fully clothed and in short, a baby with the facial features of an there is nothing to suggest that he has recently adult.2 This baby, Tages, then proceeded to ex- been unearthed, nor is there even any emphasis pound the theories and methods of divination to on the field, and the plough, an obvious icon for those who were present.
    [Show full text]
  • Etruscan News 19
    Volume 19 Winter 2017 Vulci - A year of excavation New treasures from the Necropolis of Poggio Mengarelli by Carlo Casi InnovativeInnovative TechnologiesTechnologies The inheritance of power: reveal the inscription King’s sceptres and the on the Stele di Vicchio infant princes of Spoleto, by P. Gregory Warden by P. Gregory Warden Umbria The Stele di Vicchio is beginning to by Joachim Weidig and Nicola Bruni reveal its secrets. Now securely identi- fied as a sacred text, it is the third 700 BC: Spoleto was the center of longest after the Liber Linteus and the Top, the “Tomba della Truccatrice,” her cosmetics still in jars at left. an Umbrian kingdom, as suggested by Capua Tile, and the earliest of the three, Bottom, a warrior’s iron and bronze short spear with a coiled handle. the new finds from the Orientalizing securely dated to the end of the 6th cen- necropolis of Piazza d’Armi that was tury BCE. It is also the only one of the It all started in January 2016 when even the heavy stone cap of the chamber partially excavated between 2008 and three with a precise archaeological con- the guards of the park, during the usual cover. The robbers were probably dis- 2011 by the Soprintendenza text, since it was placed in the founda- inspections, noticed a new hole made by turbed during their work by the frequent Archeologia dell’Umbria. The finds tions of the late Archaic temple at the grave robbers the night before. nightly rounds of the armed park guards, were processed and analysed by a team sanctuary of Poggio Colla (Vicchio di Strangely the clandestine excavation but they did have time to violate two of German and Italian researchers that Mugello, Firenze).
    [Show full text]