Books by Michael Fontaine
Preview: tinyurl.com/OvidBreakup
Breakups are the worst. On one scale devised by psychiatrists... more Preview: tinyurl.com/OvidBreakup
Breakups are the worst. On one scale devised by psychiatrists, only a spouse’s death was ranked as more stressful than a marital split. Is there any treatment for a breakup? The ancient Roman poet Ovid thought so. Having become famous for teaching the art of seduction in The Art of Love, he then wrote Remedies for Love (Remedia Amoris), which presents thirty-eight frank and witty strategies for coping with unrequited love, falling out of love, ending a relationship, and healing a broken heart. How to Get Over a Breakup presents an unabashedly modern prose translation of Ovid’s lighthearted and provocative work, complete with a lively introduction and the original Latin on facing pages.
Ovid’s advice—which he illustrates with ingenious interpretations of classical mythology—ranges from the practical, psychologically astute, and profound to the ironic, deliberately offensive, and bizarre. Some advice is conventional—such as staying busy, not spending time alone, and avoiding places associated with an ex. Some is off-color, such as having sex until you’re sick of it. And some is simply and delightfully weird—such as becoming a lawyer and not eating arugula.
Whether his advice is good or bad, entertaining or outrageous, How to Get Over a Breakup reveals an Ovid who sounds startlingly modern.
In 45 BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero fell to pieces when his beloved daughter, Tullia, died from... more In 45 BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero fell to pieces when his beloved daughter, Tullia, died from complications of childbirth. But from the depths of despair, Cicero fought his way back. In an effort to cope with his loss, he wrote a consolation speech—not for others, as had always been done, but for himself. And it worked. Cicero’s Consolation was something new in literature, equal parts philosophy and motivational speech. Drawing on the full range of Greek philosophy and Roman history, Cicero convinced himself that death and loss are part of life, and that if others have survived them, we can, too; resilience, endurance, and fortitude are the way forward.
Lost in antiquity, Cicero’s Consolation was recreated in the Renaissance from hints in Cicero’s other writings and the Greek and Latin consolatory tradition. The resulting masterpiece—translated here for the first time in 250 years—is infused throughout with Cicero’s thought and spirit.
Complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction, Michael Fontaine’s engaging translation makes this searching exploration of grief available to readers once again.
Can jokes win a hostile room, a hopeless argument, or even an election? You bet they can, accordi... more Can jokes win a hostile room, a hopeless argument, or even an election? You bet they can, according to Cicero, and he knew what he was talking about. One of Rome’s greatest politicians, speakers, and lawyers, Cicero was also reputedly one of antiquity’s funniest people. After he was elected commander-in-chief and head of state, his enemies even started calling him “the stand-up Consul.” How to Tell a Joke provides a lively new translation of Cicero’s essential writing on humor alongside that of the later Roman orator and educator Quintilian. The result is a timeless practical guide to how a well-timed joke can win over any audience.
As powerful as jokes can be, they are also hugely risky. The line between a witty joke and an offensive one isn’t always clear. Cross it and you’ll look like a clown, or worse. Here, Cicero and Quintilian explore every aspect of telling jokes―while avoiding costly mistakes. Presenting the sections on humor in Cicero’s On the Ideal Orator and Quintilian’s The Education of the Orator, complete with an enlightening introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Tell a Joke examines the risks and rewards of humor and analyzes basic types that readers can use to write their own jokes.
Filled with insight, wit, and examples, including more than a few lawyer jokes, How to Tell a Joke will appeal to anyone interested in humor or the art of public speaking.
The Pig War, 2019
In 1530, amid the ferment of the Reformation, the strangest poem in all of Latin literature appea... more In 1530, amid the ferment of the Reformation, the strangest poem in all of Latin literature appeared. Written by one John Placentius, it consists of 248 verses in which every word begins with the letter p. The poem—titled Pugna Porcorum—is a satirical epic telling of a conflict between the corrupt hogs, who are hogging all the privileges, and the disgruntled piglets, who want in on them. It devolves into open war.
In The Pig War, Michael Fontaine offers the first critical Latin text and the first translation of the Pugna into any language, and original illustrations by David Beck bring the timeless fairytale of privilege and oppression to life. In an afterword, Fontaine established the poem's true authorship and explores its possible influence on Orwell’s Animal Farm.
All proceeds from the sale of the book go to benefit student scholarships, with a directive to promote diversity, access and inclusion at the Paideia Institute.
Is there an art to drinking alcohol? Can drinking ever be a virtue? The Renaissance humanist and ... more Is there an art to drinking alcohol? Can drinking ever be a virtue? The Renaissance humanist and neoclassical poet Vincent Obsopoeus (ca. 1498–1539) thought so. In the winelands of sixteenth-century Germany, he witnessed the birth of a poisonous new culture of bingeing, hazing, peer pressure, and competitive drinking. Alarmed, and inspired by the Roman poet Ovid’s Art of Love, he wrote The Art of Drinking (De Arte Bibendi) (1536), a how-to manual for drinking with pleasure and discrimination. In How to Drink, Michael Fontaine offers the first proper English translation of Obsopoeus’s text, rendering his poetry into spirited, contemporary prose and uncorking a forgotten classic that will appeal to drinkers of all kinds and (legal) ages.
Arguing that moderation, not abstinence, is the key to lasting sobriety, and that drinking can be a virtue if it is done with rules and limits, Obsopoeus teaches us how to manage our drinking, how to win friends at social gatherings, and how to give a proper toast. But he also says that drinking to excess on occasion is okay—and he even tells us how to win drinking games, citing extensive personal experience.
Complete with the original Latin on facing pages, this sparkling work is as intoxicating today as when it was first published.
(Click the link to read the introduction online for free.)
For forty years, American priest an... more (Click the link to read the introduction online for free.)
For forty years, American priest and friar Reginald Foster, O.C.C., worked in the Latin Letters office of the Roman Curia's Secretary of State in Vatican City. As Latinist of four popes, he soon emerged as an internationally recognised authority on the Latin language - some have said, the internationally recognised authority, consulted by scholars, priests, and laymen worldwide. In 1986, he began teaching an annual summer Latin course that attracted advanced students and professors from around the globe. This volume gathers contributions from some of his many students in honor of his enduring influence and achievements. Its chapters explore a wide range of linguistic and literary evidence from antiquity to the present day in a variety of theoretical perspectives. If the motivation for putting together this collection has been to reflect (and reflect upon) Foster's influences on Latin scholarship and pedagogy, its title alludes - via the medieval folk etymology of the word "labyrinthus" ("quasi labor intus") - to its theme: ambiguity in Latin literature.
Joannes Burmeister of Lüneburg (1576-1638) was among the greatest Neo-Latin poets of the German B... more Joannes Burmeister of Lüneburg (1576-1638) was among the greatest Neo-Latin poets of the German Baroque. His masterpieces, now mostly lost, are Christian ‘inversions’ of the classical Roman comedies of Plautus. With only minimal changes in language and none in meter, each transforms Plautus’ pagan plays into comedies based on biblical themes. Singular Renaissance curiosities in their day, they have since been entirely forgotten. This volume offers the first critical edition of the newly discovered Aulularia (1629), which exists in a sole copy, and the fragments of Mater-Virgo (1621), which adapts Plautus’ Amphitryo to show the Nativity of Jesus. The introduction offers reconstructions of Susanna (based on Casina) and Asinaria (1625), his two lost or unpublished inversions of Plautus. It also provides the only biography of Burmeister based on archival sources, along with discussions of his inimitable Latinity and the perilous context of war and witch burning in which he wrote. Scholars of early modern literature will take special interest in the poetic German plot summaries (also translated), while students of the Thirty Years War or the Holy Roman Empire will want to add Burmeister's contemporary view of military abuses to those later expressed in Grimmelshausen's Simplicius Simplicissimus.
In recent decades literary approaches to drama have multiplied: new historical, intertextual, pol... more In recent decades literary approaches to drama have multiplied: new historical, intertextual, political, performative and metatheatrical, socio-linguistic, gender-driven, transgenre-driven. New information has been amassed, sometimes by re-examination of extant literary texts and material artifacts, at other times from new discoveries from the fields of archaeology, epigraphy, art history, and literary studies. The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy marks the first comprehensive introduction to and reference work for the unified study of ancient comedy. From the birth of comedy in Greece to its end in Rome, from the Hellenistic diffusion of performances after the death of Menander to its artistic, scholarly, and literary receptions in the later Roman Empire, no topic is neglected. 41 essays spread across Greek Comedy, Roman Comedy, and the transmission and reception of Ancient comedy by an international team of experts offer cutting-edge guides through the immense terrain of the field, while an expert introduction surveys the major trends and shifts in scholarly study of comedy from the 1960s to today. The Handbook includes two detailed appendices that provide invaluable research tools for both scholars and students. The result offers Hellenists an excellent overview of the earliest reception and creative reuse of Greek New Comedy, Latinists a broad perspective of the evolution of Roman Comedy, and scholars and students of classics an excellent resource and tipping point for future interdisciplinary research.
"Plautus, Rome's earliest extant poet, was acclaimed by ancient critics above all for his mastery... more "Plautus, Rome's earliest extant poet, was acclaimed by ancient critics above all for his mastery of language and his felicitous jokes; and yet in modern times relatively little attention has been devoted to elucidating these elements fully. In Funny Words in Plautine Comedy, Michael Fontaine reassesses some of the premises and nature of Plautus' comedies. Mixing textual and literary criticism, Fontaine argues that many of Plautus' jokes and puns were misunderstood already in antiquity, and that with them the names and identities of some familiar characters were misconceived. Central to his study are issues of Plautine language, style, psychology, coherence of characterization, and irony. By examining the comedian's tendency to make up and misuse words, Fontaine sheds new light on the close connection between Greek and Roman comedy. Considerable attention is also paid to Plautus' audience and to the visual elements in his plays. The result is a reappraisal that will challenge many received views of Plautus, positioning him as a poet writing in the Hellenistic tradition for a knowledgeable and sophisticated audience. All quotations from Latin, Greek, and other foreign languages are translated. Extensive indices, including a "pundex," facilitate ease of reference among the many jokes and plays on words discussed in the text.
Reviews: American Journal of Philology 132.3 (2011), 510-3 (A. Sharrock); Ancient History Bulletin Online Reviews 1 (2011), 67-70 (W. Stockert); BMCR (J. Tatum); Gnomon 83.8 (2011), 692-5 (Jo. Henderson); Greece and Rome 58.1 (2011) 116-117 (R. Langlands); Journal of Roman Studies 101 (2011), 9-14 (S. Goldberg); New England Classical Journal 37.4 (2010), 296-8 (D. Christenson)"""
Op-eds by Michael Fontaine
Princeton University Press Ideas, 2024
This is a blog post for Princeton University Press summarizing all 38 strategies Ovid offers for ... more This is a blog post for Princeton University Press summarizing all 38 strategies Ovid offers for coping with unrequited love in the Remedia Amoris (Remedies for Love), and setting them in a contemporary context. Link: https://tinyurl.com/Ovids38
Antigone Journal, 2024
Those hoping to see the Roman world’s remaining wonders generally know where to look. Pompeii and... more Those hoping to see the Roman world’s remaining wonders generally know where to look. Pompeii and the Colosseum are squarely on the beaten track, and so are other marvels scattered around Britain, Europe, and Turkey. More adventurous types might journey to Baalbek in Lebanon or Leptis Magna in Libya. Few, however, make it to Algeria. But we recently did, and there we saw some of the world’s greatest – and least visited – Roman ruins.
It was an exceptional visit, unlike any either of us had ever undertaken. This photo essay shares a few Classics-inflected impressions from a week on the road: https://antigonejournal.com/2024/06/roman-algeria/
In Medias Res, 2020
The elevator inscription in the Vatican is legendary among Latinists. Until recently, I thought i... more The elevator inscription in the Vatican is legendary among Latinists. Until recently, I thought it was the only Latin elevator inscription around — a unicorn, a collectible. Not so, as I recently discovered. And in digging around for more, I found out a couple fascinating things.
USA Today, 2020
Five hundred years ago, a German wine enthusiast wrote a treatise called "The Art of Drinking." T... more Five hundred years ago, a German wine enthusiast wrote a treatise called "The Art of Drinking." The author, Vincent Obsopoeus, presents a total system-complete with special tricks, hacks, and algorithms-for enjoying the fruit of the vine sustainably and with discrimination. And he knew what he was talking about. In his time, Obsopoeus witnessed the birth of binge drinking as a socially and professionally acceptable behavior. He lived near an important wine region, and in those days per capita consumption was six times what it is today. The allowance in hospitals-for patient and doctor alike-was an astonishing seven liters a day. Worse, binge culture was taking over college and work life. Obsopoeus wrote his book, in part, to try to put a stop to it. The key to lasting dignity and sobriety, he insists, is not total abstinence, but moderation. For centuries Obsopoeus' book was banned, and eventually, it was forgotten. I recently rediscovered the Latin text while combing through hundreds of dusty tomes, and the advice it offers couldn't be timelier for our current moment when we're suddenly all stuck at home. For example, says Obsopoeus, home beats going out because it spares you the drama to be found in bars-the buzzkills, the snubbing, the snitting, the beer tears and the fights.
LinkedIn, 2019
A few weeks ago, the Business Roundtable released an important new statement that redefines the p... more A few weeks ago, the Business Roundtable released an important new statement that redefines the purpose of corporations for today’s world. In this series of blog postings, Cornell University Classics Professor Mike Fontaine and Devin Bigoness, Executive Director for Customized Executive Education programs at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, apply insights from the classics to problems faced by leaders today. In this second posting, we go back to Cicero's treatise On Duties to discuss the classical and modern duty of a company.
Fortune, 2018
Twitter has become a modern-day blood sport. Seneca, who saw similar spectacles in ancient Rome, ... more Twitter has become a modern-day blood sport. Seneca, who saw similar spectacles in ancient Rome, can show us a way forward.
The translation used here is that of Ancient Rome: An Anthology of Sources, by R. Scott Smith and Christopher Francese (Hackett 2014), slightly adapted. I recommend this excellent sourcebook to anyone interested in learning more about ancient Rome.
Papers by Michael Fontaine
Plautus Revisited: Problemstellungen und Perspektiven der Plautusforschung, 2023
Do characters in Roman comedy ever allude to famous paintings without saying so? The evidence sug... more Do characters in Roman comedy ever allude to famous paintings without saying so? The evidence suggests they do. In this case study, I maintain that a scene in Plautus' comedy Curculio (or Gorgylio) parodies a lost painting by Apelles, a painting that was once kept on display in Epidauros.
Plautus Revisited Problemstellungen und Perspektiven der Plautusforschung, 2023
Why do people do bad things? In this paper, I argue that Plautus’ stage comedy Captivi (“The Pris... more Why do people do bad things? In this paper, I argue that Plautus’ stage comedy Captivi (“The Prisoners”) was written to answer that question. The play suggests that evil is social and situational in origin. Accordingly, I make two main points:
First, Captivi is the world’s first exploration of dehumanization in prison contexts. It replicates the conditions of a psychological “obedience study.” And, since the play dates to c. 200 BCE, it anticipates the most famous such study, the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, by roughly 2,150 years.
Second, the title refers to all the characters in the drama, not just the war captives. It signifies that everyone is “caught” up as a prisoner in this System—that is, the social nexus of war prisons and slavery, which converts soldiers into slaves.
Antigone Journal, 2022
In 1583, against all odds, the text of Cicero's lost Consolation sensationally resurfaced in Veni... more In 1583, against all odds, the text of Cicero's lost Consolation sensationally resurfaced in Venice. Or did it? Four centuries after the polemics petered out, a computer program analyzed the style and concluded that it was “probably” not authentic. The computer was right. I was able to prove it definitively last year, and what I discovered in the process was startling. Here’s the story.
In Medias Res, 2021
It’s widely believed that the Latin phrase Sic semper tyrannis (thus always to tyrants) originate... more It’s widely believed that the Latin phrase Sic semper tyrannis (thus always to tyrants) originates in one of two stories from ancient Rome, both of them connected with a freedom-lover named Brutus. That's wrong. Strange as it sounds, the source is Homer's Odyssey -- specifically, a single line quoted in ancient Rome, and recontextualized by two Founders of the United States.
Classical Wisdom Litterae, 2020
This magazine article discovers an ingenious Renaissance allusion to Lucian's essay "Slander: A W... more This magazine article discovers an ingenious Renaissance allusion to Lucian's essay "Slander: A Warning," an allusion calculated to troll the author's enemies. Profusely illustrated, it includes six rare images of a lost fresco by Albrecht Dürer. Other classical or Renaissance artists and writers discussed include Sandro Botticelli, Apelles, Ovid, Pliny the Elder, Lucian, Michelangelo, Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, Vincent Obsopoeus, and Friedrich Spee.
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Books by Michael Fontaine
Breakups are the worst. On one scale devised by psychiatrists, only a spouse’s death was ranked as more stressful than a marital split. Is there any treatment for a breakup? The ancient Roman poet Ovid thought so. Having become famous for teaching the art of seduction in The Art of Love, he then wrote Remedies for Love (Remedia Amoris), which presents thirty-eight frank and witty strategies for coping with unrequited love, falling out of love, ending a relationship, and healing a broken heart. How to Get Over a Breakup presents an unabashedly modern prose translation of Ovid’s lighthearted and provocative work, complete with a lively introduction and the original Latin on facing pages.
Ovid’s advice—which he illustrates with ingenious interpretations of classical mythology—ranges from the practical, psychologically astute, and profound to the ironic, deliberately offensive, and bizarre. Some advice is conventional—such as staying busy, not spending time alone, and avoiding places associated with an ex. Some is off-color, such as having sex until you’re sick of it. And some is simply and delightfully weird—such as becoming a lawyer and not eating arugula.
Whether his advice is good or bad, entertaining or outrageous, How to Get Over a Breakup reveals an Ovid who sounds startlingly modern.
Lost in antiquity, Cicero’s Consolation was recreated in the Renaissance from hints in Cicero’s other writings and the Greek and Latin consolatory tradition. The resulting masterpiece—translated here for the first time in 250 years—is infused throughout with Cicero’s thought and spirit.
Complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction, Michael Fontaine’s engaging translation makes this searching exploration of grief available to readers once again.
As powerful as jokes can be, they are also hugely risky. The line between a witty joke and an offensive one isn’t always clear. Cross it and you’ll look like a clown, or worse. Here, Cicero and Quintilian explore every aspect of telling jokes―while avoiding costly mistakes. Presenting the sections on humor in Cicero’s On the Ideal Orator and Quintilian’s The Education of the Orator, complete with an enlightening introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Tell a Joke examines the risks and rewards of humor and analyzes basic types that readers can use to write their own jokes.
Filled with insight, wit, and examples, including more than a few lawyer jokes, How to Tell a Joke will appeal to anyone interested in humor or the art of public speaking.
In The Pig War, Michael Fontaine offers the first critical Latin text and the first translation of the Pugna into any language, and original illustrations by David Beck bring the timeless fairytale of privilege and oppression to life. In an afterword, Fontaine established the poem's true authorship and explores its possible influence on Orwell’s Animal Farm.
All proceeds from the sale of the book go to benefit student scholarships, with a directive to promote diversity, access and inclusion at the Paideia Institute.
Arguing that moderation, not abstinence, is the key to lasting sobriety, and that drinking can be a virtue if it is done with rules and limits, Obsopoeus teaches us how to manage our drinking, how to win friends at social gatherings, and how to give a proper toast. But he also says that drinking to excess on occasion is okay—and he even tells us how to win drinking games, citing extensive personal experience.
Complete with the original Latin on facing pages, this sparkling work is as intoxicating today as when it was first published.
For forty years, American priest and friar Reginald Foster, O.C.C., worked in the Latin Letters office of the Roman Curia's Secretary of State in Vatican City. As Latinist of four popes, he soon emerged as an internationally recognised authority on the Latin language - some have said, the internationally recognised authority, consulted by scholars, priests, and laymen worldwide. In 1986, he began teaching an annual summer Latin course that attracted advanced students and professors from around the globe. This volume gathers contributions from some of his many students in honor of his enduring influence and achievements. Its chapters explore a wide range of linguistic and literary evidence from antiquity to the present day in a variety of theoretical perspectives. If the motivation for putting together this collection has been to reflect (and reflect upon) Foster's influences on Latin scholarship and pedagogy, its title alludes - via the medieval folk etymology of the word "labyrinthus" ("quasi labor intus") - to its theme: ambiguity in Latin literature.
Reviews: American Journal of Philology 132.3 (2011), 510-3 (A. Sharrock); Ancient History Bulletin Online Reviews 1 (2011), 67-70 (W. Stockert); BMCR (J. Tatum); Gnomon 83.8 (2011), 692-5 (Jo. Henderson); Greece and Rome 58.1 (2011) 116-117 (R. Langlands); Journal of Roman Studies 101 (2011), 9-14 (S. Goldberg); New England Classical Journal 37.4 (2010), 296-8 (D. Christenson)"""
Op-eds by Michael Fontaine
It was an exceptional visit, unlike any either of us had ever undertaken. This photo essay shares a few Classics-inflected impressions from a week on the road: https://antigonejournal.com/2024/06/roman-algeria/
The translation used here is that of Ancient Rome: An Anthology of Sources, by R. Scott Smith and Christopher Francese (Hackett 2014), slightly adapted. I recommend this excellent sourcebook to anyone interested in learning more about ancient Rome.
Papers by Michael Fontaine
First, Captivi is the world’s first exploration of dehumanization in prison contexts. It replicates the conditions of a psychological “obedience study.” And, since the play dates to c. 200 BCE, it anticipates the most famous such study, the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, by roughly 2,150 years.
Second, the title refers to all the characters in the drama, not just the war captives. It signifies that everyone is “caught” up as a prisoner in this System—that is, the social nexus of war prisons and slavery, which converts soldiers into slaves.
Breakups are the worst. On one scale devised by psychiatrists, only a spouse’s death was ranked as more stressful than a marital split. Is there any treatment for a breakup? The ancient Roman poet Ovid thought so. Having become famous for teaching the art of seduction in The Art of Love, he then wrote Remedies for Love (Remedia Amoris), which presents thirty-eight frank and witty strategies for coping with unrequited love, falling out of love, ending a relationship, and healing a broken heart. How to Get Over a Breakup presents an unabashedly modern prose translation of Ovid’s lighthearted and provocative work, complete with a lively introduction and the original Latin on facing pages.
Ovid’s advice—which he illustrates with ingenious interpretations of classical mythology—ranges from the practical, psychologically astute, and profound to the ironic, deliberately offensive, and bizarre. Some advice is conventional—such as staying busy, not spending time alone, and avoiding places associated with an ex. Some is off-color, such as having sex until you’re sick of it. And some is simply and delightfully weird—such as becoming a lawyer and not eating arugula.
Whether his advice is good or bad, entertaining or outrageous, How to Get Over a Breakup reveals an Ovid who sounds startlingly modern.
Lost in antiquity, Cicero’s Consolation was recreated in the Renaissance from hints in Cicero’s other writings and the Greek and Latin consolatory tradition. The resulting masterpiece—translated here for the first time in 250 years—is infused throughout with Cicero’s thought and spirit.
Complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction, Michael Fontaine’s engaging translation makes this searching exploration of grief available to readers once again.
As powerful as jokes can be, they are also hugely risky. The line between a witty joke and an offensive one isn’t always clear. Cross it and you’ll look like a clown, or worse. Here, Cicero and Quintilian explore every aspect of telling jokes―while avoiding costly mistakes. Presenting the sections on humor in Cicero’s On the Ideal Orator and Quintilian’s The Education of the Orator, complete with an enlightening introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Tell a Joke examines the risks and rewards of humor and analyzes basic types that readers can use to write their own jokes.
Filled with insight, wit, and examples, including more than a few lawyer jokes, How to Tell a Joke will appeal to anyone interested in humor or the art of public speaking.
In The Pig War, Michael Fontaine offers the first critical Latin text and the first translation of the Pugna into any language, and original illustrations by David Beck bring the timeless fairytale of privilege and oppression to life. In an afterword, Fontaine established the poem's true authorship and explores its possible influence on Orwell’s Animal Farm.
All proceeds from the sale of the book go to benefit student scholarships, with a directive to promote diversity, access and inclusion at the Paideia Institute.
Arguing that moderation, not abstinence, is the key to lasting sobriety, and that drinking can be a virtue if it is done with rules and limits, Obsopoeus teaches us how to manage our drinking, how to win friends at social gatherings, and how to give a proper toast. But he also says that drinking to excess on occasion is okay—and he even tells us how to win drinking games, citing extensive personal experience.
Complete with the original Latin on facing pages, this sparkling work is as intoxicating today as when it was first published.
For forty years, American priest and friar Reginald Foster, O.C.C., worked in the Latin Letters office of the Roman Curia's Secretary of State in Vatican City. As Latinist of four popes, he soon emerged as an internationally recognised authority on the Latin language - some have said, the internationally recognised authority, consulted by scholars, priests, and laymen worldwide. In 1986, he began teaching an annual summer Latin course that attracted advanced students and professors from around the globe. This volume gathers contributions from some of his many students in honor of his enduring influence and achievements. Its chapters explore a wide range of linguistic and literary evidence from antiquity to the present day in a variety of theoretical perspectives. If the motivation for putting together this collection has been to reflect (and reflect upon) Foster's influences on Latin scholarship and pedagogy, its title alludes - via the medieval folk etymology of the word "labyrinthus" ("quasi labor intus") - to its theme: ambiguity in Latin literature.
Reviews: American Journal of Philology 132.3 (2011), 510-3 (A. Sharrock); Ancient History Bulletin Online Reviews 1 (2011), 67-70 (W. Stockert); BMCR (J. Tatum); Gnomon 83.8 (2011), 692-5 (Jo. Henderson); Greece and Rome 58.1 (2011) 116-117 (R. Langlands); Journal of Roman Studies 101 (2011), 9-14 (S. Goldberg); New England Classical Journal 37.4 (2010), 296-8 (D. Christenson)"""
It was an exceptional visit, unlike any either of us had ever undertaken. This photo essay shares a few Classics-inflected impressions from a week on the road: https://antigonejournal.com/2024/06/roman-algeria/
The translation used here is that of Ancient Rome: An Anthology of Sources, by R. Scott Smith and Christopher Francese (Hackett 2014), slightly adapted. I recommend this excellent sourcebook to anyone interested in learning more about ancient Rome.
First, Captivi is the world’s first exploration of dehumanization in prison contexts. It replicates the conditions of a psychological “obedience study.” And, since the play dates to c. 200 BCE, it anticipates the most famous such study, the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, by roughly 2,150 years.
Second, the title refers to all the characters in the drama, not just the war captives. It signifies that everyone is “caught” up as a prisoner in this System—that is, the social nexus of war prisons and slavery, which converts soldiers into slaves.
-What does Latin mean for the Arab World?
- What does Latin mean for the West?
The second section of the paper in English is by Michael Fontaine, under the title of "That is Latin". It is a review of Reginaldus Thomas Foster and Daniel Patricius McCarthy. 2016. Ossa Latinitatis Sola Ad Mentem Reginaldi Rationemque (The Mere Bones of Latin According to the Thought and System of Reginald). The Catholic University of America Press.
In this talk, I argue that those audiences knew of some literary activities at the Great Library of Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC). Drawing on Vitruvius and fragmentary Greek poetry, I suggest that Plautus’ The Braggart Soldier and Terence’s The Eunuch allude to (1) Ptolemy’s wedding to his sister, (2) the imprisonment of the poet Sotades, and (3) the appointment of Aristophanes of Byzantium as Head Librarian c. 194 BC. If I am right, we will have to abandon a famous myth about the history of free speech in Rome, as well as rewrite the history of Alexandria’s cultural influence on Rome in the middle republic.
Others think it is a joke diagnosis and that it means "pâté disease" (from ἡπάτιον,pâté ).
I say it is a humorous diagnosis and that it means "hepatus-fish disease" (from ἥπατος, a fish that has no pyloric caeca).
Parallels from Greek and Plautine comedy support this interpretation, which emerges as only one of several medical jokes alluding to the Asclepieion, or medical complex, of Epidaurus, where the play is set.
Vox populo: The Risks and Rewards of Public Scholarship" at the upcoming Society for Classical Studies annual meeting in San Francisco (January 2016)
In questo lavoro, io sostengo che Susanna non si basa sulla parola di Dio, ma su una commedia greca della Nea. L’autore più probabile è Difilo di Sinope (342-291 a.C.), contemporaneo di Menandro e autore dell’ originale greco delle Casina e Rudens Plautine. A mio avviso, quindi, la storia di Susanna è analoga ad una commedia romana: cioè, un adattamento di una commedia della Nea, ma ad una ellenistico-ebraica, piuttosto che ellenistico-romana, impostazione."
In September 2012 the Hungarian-American psychiatrist Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) died. His death was met with a brief obituary in the New York Times, but little more. The psychiatrically atheist philosophy that he had preached for over half a century has never flourished. Though he suggested and advocated many, he cannot be credited with implementing any psychiatric, social, political, or legal reforms, save perhaps deinstitutionalization. His philosophy, and especially his chief claim that mental illness is not a medical disease, has not spread throughout the world; rather, it is psychiatry that has flourished and grown worldwide, and has spread throughout all classes in the West.
Both Szasz and Epicurus preached freedom. Epicurus sought to free men from the fear of death. Szasz sought to free men from coercive psychiatry. Why was Epicureanism so successful, while Szaszianism is such a failure?
This paper offers a comparative study of Epicureanism and Szaszianism and points out many unnoticed similarities in the two philosophies. It concludes that Szaszianism was a two-pronged approach whose aims were quite different from each other. Epicurus sought to abolish men's private fear of (unhappy) life after death. Like him, Szasz attacked the private belief that mental illness has a psychochemical or physiological, rather than social, origin. Unlike Epicurus, who advocated complete withdrawal from political life (and made no effort to combat institutionalized religion), Szasz was highly political, and made every effort to combat institutional psychiatry. It is easy to see that public Szaszianism has been a failure – and deservedly so, many would say. But because we cannot, as a rule, tell how many atheists there are in the pews of a church-whether they are theological or psychiatric atheists, and whether the pews are in church or worldwide-it is far from clear now, in 2013, just how far private Szaszianism has spread, and whether it will simply fade away or someday enjoy a revival.
In this paper, I argue that Susanna is based not on the word of God, but on a lost Greek New Comedy. The likeliest author is Diphilus of Sinope (342-291 BC), Menander’s contemporary and author of the Greek original of Plautus’ Casina, although Nicholas of Damascus—friend of Herod the Great and biographer of the emperor Augustus—is another possibility. Either way, in my view Susanna is analogous to a Roman Comedy: that is, an adaptation of a Greek New Comedy, but to a Hellenistic-Jewish rather than Hellenistic-Roman setting.
Susanna survives in about ten variants in multiple languages (Pennacchietti). The famous version is the longer of two Greek accounts. Although attributed to one Theodotion (2nd c. AD) and later translated by Jerome for the Vulgate, it dates to the first century BC (Collins). In it, two lecherous elders peep on a beautiful Jewish woman bathing in her husband’s garden and are filled with lust. They approach and offer her the Hobson’s choice of sleeping with them or being falsely accused of adultery. Refusing, Susanna is seized, tried, and sentenced to death. Suddenly, however, a young Daniel steps forth to cross-examine the elders. Catching them in a contradiction and exposing it through two puns that only work in Greek, the sentence is reversed. The elders are executed, and Susanna saved.
Theodotion’s Susanna includes many structural features and extra details not found in the other versions. According to Goodman, Barton, and Muddiman (120; cf. Kellenberger), “Most scholars suppose that Theodotion supplements the OG either on the basis of oral tradition, through redactional activity, or through using a Semitic source.” Others look to the Greek novel (Leisering). I think all four views are wrong.
In my view, all the supplements are precisely paralleled in Diphilus’ brand of Greek New Comedy as known from fragments and Plautus’ adaptations (Casina, Rudens, Vidularia; also Amphitryo [Webster]). Other parallels are found in late Euripidean tragedies (Orestes, Alkmene) that influenced Diphilus.
For example, in Theodotion we find a unified time (two days) and place (a single large house in Alexandria with an attached garden), a limited number of speaking characters, and an omniscient prologue. These are all standard features of comedy, and the prologue is structurally identical to that in Plautus’ Rudens, a play whose peripeteia involves witnesses and testimony. Many details—the participation of ancillae, a bathing scene, a lunch, a boisterous irruption into the garden, and gratuitous puns—are paralleled by the exangelos speech of an ancilla in Plautus’ Casina—a play that involves a lecherous elder in competition for a mute young woman, as well as an arbitration. Many other parallels in Euripides and New Comedy will be discussed.
References
Astorga, J. A. “The Art of Diphilus: A Study of Verbal Humor in New Comedy.” Dissertation, University of California Berkeley, 1990.
Collins, John J. 1993. Daniel: Hermeneia, a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. Minneapolis.
Doufikar-Aerts, Faustina C. W. 2011. “Susanna and her Sisters. The Virtuous Lady Motif in Sacred Tradition and its Representation in Art, Secular Writing and Popular Narrative.” In Marilia P. Futre Pinheiro, Stephen J. Harrison (eds.), Fictional Traces : Receptions of the Ancient Novel. Volume 2. Groningen.
Goodman, Martin, John Barton, and John Muddiman. 2012. The Apocrypha (The Oxford Bible Commentary). New York and Oxford.
Kellenberger, Edgar. 2010. “Schriftliche und mündliche Weitergabe in der griechischen Susanna-Erzählung.” In Melvin K. H. Peters (ed.), XIV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies. Helsinki.
Leisering, Christina. 2008. Susanna und der Sündenfall der Ältesten. Eine vergleichende Studie zu den Geschlechterkonstruktionen der Septuaginta- und Theodotionfassung von Dan 13 und ihren intertextuellen Bezügen. Münster.
Moore, Carey A. 1977. Daniel, Esther, and Jeremiah: The Additions (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries). Garden City.
Pennacchietti, Fabrizio. 2006. Three Mirrors for two Biblical Ladies. Susanna and the Queen of Sheba in the Eyes of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Piscataway, New Jersey. Gorgias Press.
Webster, T. B. L. 1970. Studies in Later Greek Comedy. Manchester.
In this paper, I argue that Susanna is based not on the word of God, but on a lost Greek New Comedy. The likeliest author is Diphilus of Sinope (342-291 BC), Menander’s contemporary and author of the Greek original of Plautus’ Casina, although Nicholas of Damascus—friend of Herod the Great and biographer of the emperor Augustus—is another possibility. Either way, in my view Susanna is analogous to a Roman Comedy: that is, an adaptation of a Greek New Comedy, but to a Hellenistic-Jewish rather than Hellenistic-Roman setting.
Susanna survives in about ten variants in multiple languages (Pennacchietti). The famous version is the longer of two Greek accounts. Although attributed to one Theodotion (2nd c. AD) and later translated by Jerome for the Vulgate, it dates to the first century BC (Collins). In it, two lecherous elders peep on a beautiful Jewish woman bathing in her husband’s garden and are filled with lust. They approach and offer her the Hobson’s choice of sleeping with them or being falsely accused of adultery. Refusing, Susanna is seized, tried, and sentenced to death. Suddenly, however, a young Daniel steps forth to cross-examine the elders. Catching them in a contradiction and exposing it through two puns that only work in Greek, the sentence is reversed. The elders are executed, and Susanna saved.
Theodotion’s Susanna includes many structural features and extra details not found in the other versions. According to Goodman, Barton, and Muddiman (120; cf. Kellenberger), “Most scholars suppose that Theodotion supplements the OG either on the basis of oral tradition, through redactional activity, or through using a Semitic source.” Others look to the Greek novel (Leisering). I think all four views are wrong.
In my view, all the supplements are precisely paralleled in Diphilus’ brand of Greek New Comedy as known from fragments and Plautus’ adaptations (Casina, Rudens, Vidularia; also Amphitryo [Webster]). Other parallels are found in late Euripidean tragedies (Orestes, Alkmene) that influenced Diphilus.
For example, in Theodotion we find a unified time (two days) and place (a single large house in Alexandria with an attached garden), a limited number of speaking characters, and an omniscient prologue. These are all standard features of comedy, and the prologue is structurally identical to that in Plautus’ Rudens, a play whose peripeteia involves witnesses and testimony. Many details—the participation of ancillae, a bathing scene, a lunch, a boisterous irruption into the garden, and gratuitous puns—are paralleled by the exangelos speech of an ancilla in Plautus’ Casina—a play that involves a lecherous elder in competition for a mute young woman, as well as an arbitration. Many other parallels in Euripides and New Comedy will be discussed.
References
Astorga, J. A. “The Art of Diphilus: A Study of Verbal Humor in New Comedy.” Dissertation, University of California Berkeley, 1990.
Collins, John J. 1993. Daniel: Hermeneia, a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. Minneapolis.
Doufikar-Aerts, Faustina C. W. 2011. “Susanna and her Sisters. The Virtuous Lady Motif in Sacred Tradition and its Representation in Art, Secular Writing and Popular Narrative.” In Marilia P. Futre Pinheiro, Stephen J. Harrison (eds.), Fictional Traces : Receptions of the Ancient Novel. Volume 2. Groningen.
Goodman, Martin, John Barton, and John Muddiman. 2012. The Apocrypha (The Oxford Bible Commentary). New York and Oxford.
Kellenberger, Edgar. 2010. “Schriftliche und mündliche Weitergabe in der griechischen Susanna-Erzählung.” In Melvin K. H. Peters (ed.), XIV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies. Helsinki.
Leisering, Christina. 2008. Susanna und der Sündenfall der Ältesten. Eine vergleichende Studie zu den Geschlechterkonstruktionen der Septuaginta- und Theodotionfassung von Dan 13 und ihren intertextuellen Bezügen. Münster.
Moore, Carey A. 1977. Daniel, Esther, and Jeremiah: The Additions (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries). Garden City.
Pennacchietti, Fabrizio. 2006. Three Mirrors for two Biblical Ladies. Susanna and the Queen of Sheba in the Eyes of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Piscataway, New Jersey. Gorgias Press.
Webster, T. B. L. 1970. Studies in Later Greek Comedy. Manchester.
This is an interim report, commissioned by a colleague working on the history of medicine, on the idea that Hep! Hep! originates as an acronym of the Crusader-Latin phrase Hierosolyma est perdita (Jerusalem is Lost or Destroyed).
I'd be grateful for any comments, corrections, or counter-evidence! (This is a working paper only.)