Publius Ovidius Naso (43
BCE
–18
CE
) was the most accomplished elegist that Rome produced, and is notable for the sheer volume and unprecedented variety of his works.
Inconsistent and contradictory accounts of Terence’s death conclude his biography in Suetonius’ De Viris Illustribus . Many of these narratives originated in the work of scholar-poets active at the end of the second century b.c.e. This article shows that the numerous versions of his death are interpretations of the formation of his canon from the retrospective viewpoint of his late second-century readers. These death scenes dramatize the construction of Terence’s literary legacy in its reception. Furthermore, they elucidate the role that the nascent genre of Roman literary biography played in enacting and articulating literary-critical debates among Terence’s readers.
(including: 'Zeus Is Sovereign', 'The Gods', 'Female Divinities', 'Male Olympians' and 'What Happened to Asclepius?'), 'God and the Gods', 'Zeus, the Consul of the Gods' and 'Memory Sites'. C. concludes these chapters on religion by stating that the main contribution of her work is that 'we have become more able to draw some distinction between the public Libanius, with his protestations of militant paganism, and the man of the letters, who does not seem to believe with equal intensity in an all-powerful pantheon of divinities' (p. 228). Although this conclusion might be hard to prove definitively, C. successfully emphasises the 'religious anxiety and confusion' (p. 227) which many fourth-century intellectuals experienced, and she explains Libanius' rhetorical traditionalism as a manifestation of this religious anxiety. Furthermore, C. states that she has 'reflected on the fact that pagans and Christians were not two diametrically opposed groups' (p. 230). This seems in line with recent scholarship which continues to deconstruct and re-interpret late-antique religion, society and textual evidence. As a leading authority on Libanius, C. continues to increase our knowledge about and appreciation of this intriguing personality. The main contribution of this publication is the investigation of the theoretical approach to Libanius' work and rhetorical self-fashioning. It advocates a nuanced picture of the fourth century in consideration of both genre, audience expectations and religious affiliation. However, the theoretical nature of the book draws attention away from Libanius' own words. Despite the many helpful footnotes, Libanius' work is rarely quoted. Still, this will be a useful book to introduce the intricate world of the fourth century and the complex work of Libanius. Unlike most other scholarship on Libanius, it tackles orations, epistles and autobiography together and thereby offers many original interpretations and new approaches which will further scholarship on the orator.
A lyric poet from Cisalpine Gaul, Gaius Valerius Catullus (84–54?
BCE
) was a member of a group of poets at Rome whom Cicero disdainfully labeled the “Neoterics” for their literary experiments in a Hellenizing style (
Att
. 7.2; Lyne 1978).
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