Challenging Philosophy Through Elegy: Boethius’ use of Ovid’s exile poetry in the Consolatio
By Victoria Lansing, University of Oxford
Awaiting execution, Boethius turned to a variety of classical authors in the Consolatio, but Ovid looms largest. I argue that the Tristia and Ex Ponto shape our understanding of the way the prisoner and Philosophy interact, and that a heretofore missed allusion to Ovid colors the way we evaluate the success of Philosophy’s consolation effort.
Animals, Nature, and Power: the Zoological Content of Solinus' Collectanea
By Giovanni Piccolo, University of Melbourne
This paper intends to offer a new reading of the zoological content of Gaius Julius Solinus’ Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium (III-IV AD). Specifically, it aims to provide an explanation for the significant presence of exotic animals within the paradoxographical chapters of the work.
Constructing Virgil’s Authority in Pseudo-Asconius’ Commentary on the 'Verrines'
By Gianmarco Bianchini, University of Toronto
In ancient and late-antique materials that provide support for the interpretation of classical Latin texts, Virgil is the author who appears most frequently, being repeatedly cited as a reference point for linguistic, stylistic, and moral purposes. Recent investigations have focused on the function of Virgilian authority in the complete corpus of scholia on Lucan (Esposito 2004; Lanzarone 2004) and on Porphyrio’s quasi-uncritical perspective and exaggerated consideration of Virgil’s linguistic exemplarity in the commentary on Horace (Mastellone Iovane 1998).
An Ovidian audax aranea at Work in Claudian’s De Raptu Proserpinae
By Lucy McInerney, Brown University
This paper examines the legacy of Ovid’s Arachne in the fourth century epic poet Claudian’s De Raptu Proserpinae. Arachne, the arrogant young woman metamorphosed by Minerva at the beginning of Metamorphoses 6 for the crime of daring not only to challenge the goddess in the art of weaving, but also for the subject matter she chose to depict (the rapes of women by Olympians) has been called a surrogate for Ovid himself (Harries 1990, Pavlock 2009). Her reception at the hands of Claudian evokes a similar relationship between poet and spider.
Meliboeus esse coepi: A critical reading of Sidonius Epistula VIII.9
By Noel Lenski, Yale University
Sidonius Ep. 8.9 contains a 59-line poem addressed to his friend Lampridius. In the aftermath of the Visigothic seizure of Sidonius’ city of Clermont, Lampridius had found favor with king Euric (r. 466-484), while Sidonius himself was still struggling to recover an estate which had been confiscated by the Goths. Ostensibly composed at Euric's court, where Sidonius had been waiting for months for an audience, the poem has traditionally been construed as panegyric (Hannaghan, 97-8; Mratschek, 316-7; Mathisen, 70; Harries, 240-1; contra Gualandri, 118-29).