LAT 415/515, “Latin Love Elegy”

Fall 2012

TTR 2:00–3:15 p.m., SS 312

Syllabus

Instructor:Marilyn B. Skinner ()

Office:LSB 225

Telephone:621-1361

Office Hours:TTR 12:00–1:45 p.m., T 3:30–4:30 p.m., or by appointment

Required Textbooks:

Paul Allen Miller, ed., Latin Erotic Elegy, London and New York: Routledge, 2002

Objectives and Scope of the Course:

Love elegy is a distinct genre of Latin poetry with a complex set of stylistic and thematic conventions. Though strongly influenced by Greek models, most notably Callimachus’ Aetia, it is a peculiarly Roman cultural product. Contemporary scholarship in Roman cultural studies is dominated by work on elegy because, as we will see, its stylized erotic scenarios indirectly mirror the social and political concerns of the Augustan age. Reading the elegists, then, is both a challenging literary experience and a means of exploring Roman ideological constructs of power, gender and sexuality. In this course, we will begin by examining their literary predecessor Catullus and his contributions to Roman discourses on eroticism. We will then study a selection of poems by the major elegists Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. The work of Sulpicia—the only surviving Roman woman poet—provides a fascinating example of gender reversal and a somewhat different perspective on the erotic motifs of elegy. Arguably the key preoccupation of the genre, constructions of gender will be a central focus of the course.

Your textbook includes a range of works by each of the five canonical elegiac poets with accompanying commentary and nine critical essays representing major trends in the interpretation of Roman love elegy over a thirty-year period from 1968 to 1997. While course assignments will not cover all the Latin texts included in Miller’s collection, we will read a representative number by each author (in the case of Sulpicia, the whole 40-line corpus) and one critical essay each week.

Performance Expectations:

Since this is a 4xx/5xx course, assignments and grading will be different for students enrolled for each level of credit, undergraduate or graduate.

On the 415 level, performance expectations will center on mastery of grammar and translation and understanding of the Latin text. Two one-hour translation and comprehension examinations and a two-hour final examination following the same format will be required of all 415-level students. Students will also be expected to turn in a critical essay involving investigation of a problem related to the course material and consultation of both primary and secondary sources. Grading scale is as follows:

  • attendance, preparation, in-class translation and discussion20%
  • averaged score of two one-hour examinations30%
  • critical essay of 8–10 pages25%
  • two-hour final translation and comprehension examination25%

On the 515 level, performance expectations will assume competence in Latin grammar, capacity to translate smoothly from Latin to English, and ability to grasp nuances of meaning. Students enrolled for 515 credit will be expected to participate fully in class translation and discussion of assigned readings. In addition, they will be expected to read, on their own, the further selections from the elegists listed below. These extra reading assignments may be completed over the course of the semester, but I will schedule special sessions, if needed, in which I will go over and explain designated passages. The final examination for graduate students will require translation of selected lines from all extra passages assigned and will test passage comprehension as well.

Passages from assigned class readings to be translated on exams and questions to be discussed will be at a 5xx level of difficulty.

Graduate-level students will have two further assignments:

  • Since some background knowledge of Republican and Augustan Rome and the historical events of the Augustan period is necessary in order to appreciate Roman elegy, students at the 515 level will be assigned a twenty-minute historical report for oral class presentation. Use of PowerPoint is required and a handout should be provided. Follow instructions for handouts and PowerPoint presentations given at A list of topics accompanies this syllabus and topic assignments will be made during the second class meeting.
  • Graduate students will be expected to submit a seminar paper of standard length (a minimum of 16 pages) on a literary or historical topic of their own choosing. Papers must follow the format of the Style Sheet on-line at must be accompanied by a signed Check List form ( Failure to comply with the Style Sheet or to follow the instructions on the Check List will be noted and reflected in the final grade. I have on occasion, if rarely and reluctantly, given grades of “C,” “D,” and “E” to submissions falling below acceptable level.
  • Please be aware that quoted passages in ancient languages must be accompanied by your own prose translation. Because it is assumed that enrollment in a 5xx course indicates proficiency in the ancient language, mistranslations in papers submitted for graduate credit will be heavily penalized.

Grading scale is as follows:

  • attendance, preparation, in-class translation and discussion15%
  • historical report20%
  • averaged score of two one-hour examinations20%
  • seminar paper25%
  • two-hour final translation and comprehension examination20%

Please note: As a matter of policy, I do not give extensions on assignments or grant incompletes except in documented cases involving a serious personal emergency (e.g., illness requiring hospitalization, death in family, etc.). You will be expected to take examinations, present reports, and hand in papers on the appointed dates. Please arrange your schedules accordingly.

Preparing Assignments:

I am assuming a capacity to translate approximately 40 to60 lines of Latin per class meeting. Ideally, your skills will become faster with practice. On days when historical reports are presented, I will try to make assignments shorter.

Some of the elegies we will read in this course are fairly lengthy, and you may find the Latin syntax difficult. Assignments could seem daunting, especially during the first few weeks of the course. Here are some helpful hints to get you through the homework.

  1. Plan to do a passage of translation every day, including weekends, rather than trying to plow through the whole elegy in the course of one evening. Covering 20 lines each night will get you through any one of the weekly reading assignments below.
  2. Each elegiac couplet (hexameter and pentameter) is a self-contained unit of meaning. Proceed by couplets, and scan the lines before attempting to translate them. Scanning will often tell you the case of a noun.
  3. Consult the commentary. The editor clarifies puzzling references, provides syntactical explanations and sometimes offers translations of particular words. If you don’t work with the commentary, you’ll be flying blind. (I will expect you, as a lector doctus, to know what obscure mythic and geographical references mean.)
  4. Create a personal vocabulary list on your computer. The first time you look up a word, enter the whole vocabulary item—nominative, genitive, and gender for nouns; case(s) governed by a preposition; all principal parts for verbs. When you come across a word that already exists on your list, highlight it—you may want to use different color highlights for increasing frequencies. (Words that you’ve had to look up three or more times should be in red.)
  5. You can prepare a written translation for personal review, but don’t read from it while translating—you should be able to recognize the meaning of the Latin as you translate aloud. Going over the assignment shortly before coming to class will refresh your memory.
  6. As you read the critical essay assigned for each week, ask yourself how it applies to the Latin texts you are also reading. In class discussion, we will evaluate how well each scholar’s approach illuminates material we have covered. You may be asked to discuss critical approaches on examinations.

Bibliography

A select bibliography is provided by Miller (pp. 34–36), and additional bibliography may be found at the end of the various essays reprinted in the collection.

Schedule

Aug. 21:Introduction to Latin Love Elegy: cultural background; metrical conventions; information about elegists

Aug. 23:Latin: Catullus 70, 72, 75, 76, 85, 87, 101(58 lines)
Miller, “Introduction,” pp. 1–34

Aug. 28:Catullus 68b, ll. 41–100(60 lines)

Luck, “Introduction to Latin Love Elegy,” pp. 307–11

Aug. 30:Catullus 68b, ll. 101–160(60 lines)

Sept. 4:First Examination

Sept. 6:Tibullus 1.1, ll. 1–60(60 lines)

Sept. 11:Tibullus 1.1, ll. 61–78; Tibullus 1.5, ll. 1–40(58 lines)

Sullivan, “The Politics of Elegy,” pp. 312–28

Sept. 13:Tibullus 1.5, ll. 41–76; Historical Report(35 lines)

Sept. 18:Sulpicia (all)(40 lines)

Hallett, “Role of Women,” pp. 329–47

Sept. 20:Propertius 1.1; Historical Report(38 lines)

Sept. 25:Propertius 1.3(46 lines)

Lyne, “Life of Love,” pp. 348–65

Sept. 27:Propertius 2.1, ll. 1–42; Historical Report(42 lines)

Oct. 2:Propertius 2.1, ll. 43–78; Propertius 2.7(56 lines)

Veyne, “Pastoral in City Clothes,” pp. 366–85

Oct. 4:Propertius 2.15; Historical Report(54 lines)

Oct. 9:Propertius 2.34, ll. 1–46(46 lines)

Wyke, “Mistress and Metaphor,” pp. 386–409

Oct. 11:Propertius 2.34, ll. 47–94; Historical Report(48 lines)

Oct. 16:Propertius 3.5(48 lines)

Oct. 18:Second Examination

Oct. 23:Propertius 4.7, ll. 1–54(54 lines)

Kennedy, “Representation and Rhetoric,” pp. 410–29

Oct. 25:Propertius 4.7, ll. 55–96; Historical Report(42 lines)

Oct. 30:Propertius 4.8, ll. 1–44(44 lines)

Gold, “But Ariadne…’” pp. 430–56

Nov. 1:Propertius 4.8, ll. 45–88; Historical Report(44 lines)

Nov. 6:Ovid, Amores 1.1 and 1.5(56 lines)

Fredrick, “Reading Broken Skin,” pp. 457–79

Nov. 8:Ovid, Amores 2.7 and 2.8; Historical Report(56 lines)

Nov. 13:Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1, ll. 61–120(60 lines)

Nov. 15:Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1, ll. 121–70; Historical Report(50 lines)

Nov. 20:Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1, ll. 171–228(58 lines)

Nov. 27:Ovid, Tristia 2, ll. 207–66(60 lines)

Nov. 29:Ovid, Tristia 2, ll. 267–310; Historical Report (44 lines)

Dec. 4:Ovid, Tristia 2, ll. 311–58(48 lines)

Dec. 8:Review; Evaluations

Papers Due:Monday, Dec. 4

Final Examination: Wednesday, December 12, 3:30–5:30 p.m.

Extra Passages for Graduate Students

Tibullus 1.2

Propertius 2.16; 3.4

Ovid, Heroides 7

Social and Historical Reports for LAT 515

Reports are to be no more than 20 minutes in length and must present a coherent, accurate summary of pertinent historical information. Research must be conducted by the student, using both print and on-line tools. On your handout provide a bibliography of five or six major secondary sources to assist other students who may need to address related issues in their term papers. If you discuss geographical matters, clear maps are helpful.

For reports on political and social history, the obvious place to begin is the Cambridge Ancient History, 2nd ed. (1961- ). CAH2 is now online as part of the Cambridge Histories library database. A second, equally important tool is the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th ed. (2012). References to CAH2 and OCD4 are expected but will not count as one of the five to six bibliographical items.

Feel free to use archaeological and epigraphical as well as literary data. Inscriptions must be cited by CIL or ILS number. Written text and translation of all inscriptions must be supplied to the class. Images must be labeled.

Check with classmates investigating related topics to make sure your presentation does not overlap with theirs. Redundancy will be penalized.

One crucial criterion for the grade will be the question of how helpful the report will be to classmates. Put yourself in someone else’s place and ask yourself what he or she would need to know about the topic in order to discuss it adequately in a seminar paper.

Following the presentation, I give the presenter a one-page written evaluation of report content and effectiveness of presentation with a grade for this component of the course.

  1. Sept. 13: The Dictatorship of Caesar and the Rise of Augustus
  2. Sept. 20: The Second Triumvirate and the Civil Wars against Brutus and Cassius and Sextus Pompey
  3. Sept. 27: Antony and Cleopatra
  4. Oct. 4:Political and Legal Foundations of the Principate
  5. Oct. 11:Augustus’ Foreign Policy
  6. Oct. 25: Augustus and Roman Religion
  7. Nov. 1:Augustus’ Legislation on Marriage
  8. Nov. 8:Iconography of the Principate and Augustus’ Monuments
  9. Nov. 15: Augustus and the Poets: Maecenas and the Issue of Patronage
  10. Nov. 29: Livia and the Changing Role of Imperial Women
  11. Dec. 4, if needed: Dynastic Succession and the Accession of Tiberius

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