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Priscian: a Syntactic Interpretation of a Graeco-Roman World

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Priscian: a Syntactic Interpretation of a Graeco-Roman World Priscian: A Syntactic Interpretation of a Graeco-Roman World Biagio Gatto UCL PhD 1 I, Biagio Gatto, 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. Signed .................................................. 2 ABSTRACT Priscian is an emblematic figure of the Graeco-Roman world of late antiquity; my study focuses on the ability of grammar to account for socio-cultural factors. In the first chapter, the reading of the preface to Priscian’s Ars places him within an established cultural framework in which Greek sources are seen as a foundation of knowledge for any kind of Latin study. The linguistic approach taken by Priscian to describe Latin grammar reflects the beliefs and the expectations of his readership, and the status of standard language as perceived by the contemporary elites. Priscian’s work is evidence of the importance placed by the elites on knowledge of both Greek and Latin as a means to gain prestige and respectability in the competitive society of late antiquity. In the second and third chapters, a metalinguistic analysis of the last two books of the Ars, the De constructione, provides an insight into Priscian’s method of transferring Greek elements into Latin, and helps us to shape his audience. Priscian did not merely accomplish a grammatical work; in describing and codifying the grammar of a language he synthesised a vision of a world. The fourth and fifth chapters offer a close analysis of the linguistic data used by Priscian to describe Latin syntax, namely literary quotations, and exempla ficta. They reflect a codified standard written language which had become by the sixth century a mark of distinction for elites, despite the spoken language taking different developments. Elites in Constantinople considered this language deeply shaped by Greek grammar, a fact that provides guidance for the interpretation that elites had of their identity. The pairing of Latin with Greek syntax enables Priscian and his readers to bridge differences on issues concerning identity and provides us with a key for understanding the idea of the Graeco-Roman world of sixth century. 3 IMPACT STATEMENT My study of Priscian and his work on Latin syntax combines a philological approach with an analysis of the cultural history of Priscian’s time. The benefits of my research will not be limited to linguists and philologists, but also to a wider audience of classicists, historians of late antiquity, medievalists, researchers on ancient education and Reception studies, sociologists. My research of Priscian’s grammatical doctrine looks not merely at explaining the peculiarities of ancient grammar, which is a primary interest of specialists, but also at the broader cultural context. The choice to focus on a grammatical treatise enables the modern reader to analyse the specificities of ancient educational system, and the primary role of rhetoric, which constitutes an element of continuity throughout Antiquity. Much can be learnt by looking at how ancient society educated its members. A new perspective is given to the work of the last great Latin grammarian of Antiquity. I expect that my study will bring a non-specialist audience close to a field of enquiry which has often been thought as ancillary to Classical studies. The constant reference to Greek and Latin linguistic theories and structures through the perspective of a bilingual author provides modern readers with an example of promotion of the teaching and learning of ancient languages. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 7 Introduction Priscian: Life and Career 8 Existing Scholarly Literature 10 My Study 23 Chapter 1 A Graeco-Roman World 1.1 Introduction 27 The East in Late Antiquity: A Historical and Cultural 1.2 Overview 27 1.3 The East of Priscian’s Time 37 1.4 Grammatical Studies 49 1.5 Priscian’s Circle 59 1.6 The Preface to the Ars: In the Footsteps of the Greeks 62 1.7 Priscian’s Task: transferre and colligere 70 1.8 A Charge of Plagiarism 74 1.9 Greek Origin of Latin 76 1.10 Knowledge of Greek and Latin 81 1.11 Conclusions 88 Chapter 2 Priscianus grammaticus et translator 2.1 Introduction 91 2.2 Considerations about a Graeco-Roman Syntax 94 2.3 Priscian and Apollonius: Two Authors for One Text 97 2.4 Target Text and Source Text Interactions 106 2.5 Conclusions 112 Chapter 3 Graeci dicunt... nos uero: Teaching a Greek Audience 3.1 Introduction 115 3.2 The Teaching-Learning Process 116 3.3 Shaping Audiences 118 3.4 Priscian’s Audience 121 3.5 The Idiomata in the Eastern Teaching Practice 130 3.6 Idiomata and Graecus mos 138 3.7 Coniunctissima cognatio 142 3.8 Examples of Priscian’s Linguistic Views 145 3.9 Conclusions 150 Chapter 4 Multi et diuersi usus ab auctoribus utriusque linguae 4.1 Introduction 152 4.2 Priscian on the Construction of Words 153 4.3 Priscian on Literary Language 158 4.4 Corpus auctorum: An Established Standard Language 164 4.5 Vsus auctorum and Linguistic Change 174 4.6 Auctorum expositio 178 4.7 Conclusions 182 5 Exempla ficta: comprehensio dictionum aptissime Chapter 5 ordinatarum 5.1 Introduction 184 5.2 A Typology of the exempla ficta of the De constructione 187 5.3 The Classical and Rhetorical Frame of the exempla 192 5.4 Exempla ficta: Three Case Studies 202 5.5 Conclusions 206 Conclusions 209 References 220 6 To my family, in Italy and in London These past few years have been full of learning. It has sometimes been a demanding path whose end I did not always see. I have loved diving into a topic which I started to know when studying in Padua, and at that time I would have never thought that it would have taken me so far, literally, and metaphorically. All this has been possible thanks to Prof. Colvin, who believed in me when I could barely form a sentence in English. His support, expertise and guidance have been invaluable. Many thanks also go to Prof. Manuwald whose encouragement and advice helped me throughout my course of studies at UCL, and to Dr. Salway, who shared with me his vast knowledge of Late Antiquity. I want to thank everyone in the Department of Greek and Latin at UCL, especially Dr. Fiachra, who never left me without a full and helpful answer. The possibility to study at UCL would have never been possible without the studentship offered by the AHRC London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP), to whom I am very grateful. I thank very much all the friends I made in these years, who made my life in London beautiful: Federica, Roberto, Nicolò, Matteo, Giacomo, Caterina, Angela, Matteo, Antonio, Flavia, Giulia, Roberto, Giovanni, Francesco, Chiara, Sofia, Giovanni, Federica, Federico, Keti. I thank all my friends in Italy who have always supported me and whom I have missed very much: Rosy, Amber, Tatiana, Gas, Chiara, Marco, Giulia, Chiara, Stefano, Chiara. Enough cannot be said of my family in Italy, my parents Raffaella and Galdino, grandparents, brothers Elia and Valentino, my aunts Mirella, Nadia, Michela, Maristella, and Iole, my uncles Fabio, Nicola, Christian, Mattia with Irene, and Luca, my cousins Maddalena and Marco, and Tobia, my nephew. To them all I want to dedicate my effort, especially to my grandparents Bruno, Gianna, Anna, Renzo. I mention last, but not least the person who is my family in London, Joseph. He has been incredibly patient in these years and has never stopped to support me and believe in me. He helped me to get through it and I do not think I could have finished this chapter of my life without him on my side. 7 INTRODUCTION Priscian: life and career Priscian was the last great Latin grammarian of Antiquity and was born in a city called Caesarea in the second half of the fifth century. We do not know much about his personal life and career but what we reconstruct from pieces of information contained in the incipits and explicits of the manuscripts of his works, from references in his works, and from few mentions in contemporary sources; we can be sure of only a few dates from Priscian’s life. The communis opinio considers Priscian as originating from Caesarea in Mauretania,1 based on a well-established tradition which appears for the first time in an anonymous medieval Vita published in the eighth volume of the Grammatici Latini collection,2 and on a passage of the Panegyric to Anastasius where Priscian praises the emperor for his benevolence towards western refugees. 3 He would have then moved to the East following the Vandalic invasion of the African province. We find Priscian holding a high social position in Constantinople at the beginning of the sixth century as he delivered a panegyric to the emperor Anastasius (491-518 CE) probably in 513,4 and was a Latin professor at the city auditorium founded a century earlier, in 425, by the eastern emperor Theodosius II.5 He was author of various grammatical works which are evidence of the extent of his teaching; they include three treatises dedicated to the western aristocrat Q. Aurelius Symmachus,6 the De figuris numerorum, the De metris fabularum Terentii and the Praeexercitamina, which concerned respectively with the symbols for numbers and weights, the metres of Terence’s plays and other republican comic poets, 1 It is the modern town of Cherchell, in Algeria. There were also two eastern cities with the same name, namely in Cappadocia and in Palestine. 2 GL 8, pp. clxvii-clxix. 3 See BALLAIRA (2002 and 1989), and ZETZEL (2018).
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