The Use of Poenus and Carthaginiensis in Early Latin Literature

Franko, George Fredric

doi:10.1086/367405

Cited by 22 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The first is based on the fact that, for most Romans, even centuries after the end of the Third Punic War, by far the most common connotation of Carthaginian ethnicity was perfidy and trickery, socalled Punica fides. 23 By branding the Psyllus as Poenus, Cinna could be suggesting that he is in some way practising deceit. Though the lulling of a snake to sleep does not precisely constitute trickery, it could be argued to have a broad resemblance, since both are instances of the manipulation of another by means which are neither physically coercive nor frankly persuasive.…”

Section: Interpretation 1: the Biter Bitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cinna’s Trouser Snake – or the Biter Bit? Alternative Interpretations of Cinna fr. 12FRP

Cowan¹

2014

Antichthon

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The only extant choliambic line by Cinna, comparing some action to a Psyllus doing something to an asp, is preserved by Aulus Gellius to illustrate that the adjective somniculosus can have the causative sense ‘sleep-inducing’ as well as the active one of ‘sleepy’. If Gellius is correct, then the simile’s missing verb is likely to have one of the Psylli, famed for their ability to lull snakes to sleep, doing just that to a ‘sleep-inducing asp’. The situation which would be compared to this must be that of someone receiving a taste of their own medicine. This would also account for the Psyllus’ imprecise epithet Poenus, which would pun on poena. If Gellius is wrong, and somniculosus means ‘sleepy’ as in almost all other instances in Latin, the combination of snake and sleep imagery, which can be paralleled separately in other texts, with the abusive choliambic metre might suggest that what is being compared to the asp is the flaccid penis of an impotent man.

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Section: Interpretation 1: the Biter Bitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cinna’s Trouser Snake – or the Biter Bit? Alternative Interpretations of Cinna fr. 12FRP

Cowan¹

2014

Antichthon

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“…The example of 'Neo-Punic' epitomizes the dangers of creating such supposedly objective categories. The word is loaded with connotations ethnic and pejorative; Carthaginienses, by contrast, tends to be neutral, a reference to a political entity in north Africa' (citing Franko, 1994). The term was coined in AD 1869, to define a script and nothing more.…”

Section: Modern Terminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Franko is followed by Konrad (1997: 42 n. 44) who notes that 'In Livy, as in earlier writers, Poeni rarely serves as mere synonym for Carthaginienses. The word is loaded with connotations ethnic and pejorative; Carthaginienses, by contrast, tends to be neutral, a reference to a political entity in north Africa' (citing Franko, 1994). degree of sensitivity is required.…”

Section: Pragmentioning

confidence: 99%

Poenus plane est— but who were the ‘Punickes’?

Prag¹

2006

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

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POENUS PLANE EST — MA CHI ERANO I ‘PUNICKES’?Il termine ‘punico’ (o equivalenti), derivato dal latino ‘Poenus’, è un luogo comune. Il suo uso in ogni caso è frequentemente poco chiaro e contraddittorio. Questo articolo ha due finalità principali: in primo luogo vuole chiarificare Papplicazione del termine ‘punico’, sia nell'uso antico, sia in quello moderno, insieme con termini affini e associati; in secondo luogo intende dimostrare che nell'evidenza sopravvissuta, il termine ‘poenus’ non fu usato prima del I secolo d.C. come etichetta di identità autoattribuita. Una parte cruciale di questa dimostrazione è costituita dall'esame dell'evidenza epigrafica circa l'attribuzione di identità nell'antico Mediterraneo. Si prova che una simile evidenza è in genere sottostimata in rapporto all'uso che si fa delle fonti letterarie per lo studio dell'identità nel mondo classico. L'utilizzo di ‘Poenus’ è quasi interamente letterario; per cui esso è strettamente associato ad una gran quantità di stereotipi (generalmente negativi). Ciò rende il termine problematico nell'uso come un termine descrittivo culturale nella letteratura moderna.

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