Giuseppe Pezzini

A comprehensive study of early Latin language, literary and non-literary, featuring twenty-nine chapters by an international team of scholars. 'Early Latin' is interpreted liberally as extending from the period of early inscriptions through to the first quarter of the first century BC. Classical Latin features significantly in the volume, although in a restricted sense. In the classical period there were writers who imitated the Latin of an earlier age, and there were also interpreters of early Latin. Later authors and views on early Latin language are also examined as some of these are relevant to the establishment of the text of earlier writers. A major aim of the book is to define linguistic features of different literary genres, and to address problems such as the limits of periodisation and the definition of the very concept of 'early Latin'.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/early-latin/EF5154C3456A3BA425352A5E2DF0377C#fndtn-information

Terence and the Verb 'To Be' in Latin is the first in-depth study of the verb 'to be' in Latin (esse) and some of its hidden properties. Like the English 'be' (e.g. it's), the Latin forms of esse could undergo phonetic reduction or contraction. This phenomenon is largely unknown since classical texts have undergone a long process of transmission over the centuries, which has altered or deleted its traces. Although they are often neglected by scholars and puzzling to students, the use of contracted forms is shown to be widespread and significant. These forms expose the clitic nature of esse, which also explains other properties of the verb, including its participation in a prosodic simplification with a host ending in -s (sigmatic ecthlipsis), a phenomenon which is also discussed in the volume. After an introduction on methodology, the volume discusses the linguistic significance of such phenomena, focusing in particular on analysis of their behaviour in the plays of the ancient Roman playwright, Terence. Combining traditional scholarship with the use of digital resources, the volume explores the orthographic, phonological, semantic, and syntactic aspects of the verb esse, revealing that cliticization is a key feature of the verb 'to be' in Latin, and that contractions deserve a place within its paradigm.

Based entirely on original research, the DMLBS is the most comprehensive dictionary of Medieval Latin to have been produced and the first ever to focus on British Medieval Latin.
Completed in print in 2013, the DMLBS is a definitive survey of the vocabulary of one of the most important languages in British and European history.

The paper investigates Tolkien’s narratives of decline through the lens of their classical ancestry. Narratives of decline are widespread in ancient culture, in both philosophical and literary discourses. They normally posit a gradual degradation (moral and ontological) from an idealized Golden Age, which went hand-in-hand with increas- ing detachment of gods from mortal a􏰘airs. Narratives of decline are also at the core of Tolkien’s mythology, constituting yet another underresearched aspect of classical influence on Tolkien. 􏰙uch Classical narratives reverberate e.g. in Tolkien’s division of Arda’s history into ages, from an idealized First Age 􏰚lled with Joy and Light to a Third Age, described as 􏰛Twilight Age (􏰜) the 􏰚rst of the broken and changed world􏰝 (Letters 131). More generally, these narratives are related to Tolkien’s notorious perception of history as a 􏰛long defeat􏰝 (Letters 195) and to that 􏰛heart-racking sense of the vanished past􏰝 which pervades Tolkien’s works – the emotion which, in his words, moved him 􏰛supremely􏰝 and which he found 􏰛small di􏰞culty in evoking􏰝 (Letters 91). The paper analyses the reception of narratives of decline in Tolkien’s legendarium, pointing out similarities but also contrasts and di􏰘erences, with the aim to discuss some key patterns of (classical) reception in Tolkien’s theory and practice (􏰟renewal’, 􏰟accommodation’,
􏰟focalization’).

What is "realism"? A mirror-like reflection of the mere appearances of reality? Or a representation of some sort of deep "meanings," "truths," or "essences" underpinning that reality? Or a combination of both, or something in-between? Does "realism" aim at, or result in, deception, entertainment, and/or instruction? How are these issues addressed by ancient theorists, especially in relation to the "realistic" genre par excellence: comedy? In particular, how is "realism" understood by critics of (Roman) comedy, from comic dramatists such as Terence himself, to commentators such as Donatus, to modern scholars? These are some of the questions this article addresses. My primary aims are: (1) to reexamine the key concept of "realism" in ancient literary theory, using the reception of (Roman) comedy as a case-study; (2) to demonstrate that "realism" is a highly elusive concept in (ancient) scholarship, which evokes different kinds of relationships between comedy and reality, and which can be manipulated by and underpin different theoretical frameworks; (3) to reveal how Terence's own views on "realism" appear to be dissimilar from, or at least more nuanced than, that of most scholarship on Terentian comedy.

This paper presents the results of a fresh analysis of all lemmata found in Plautus and Terence, focusing in particular on those words that are almost or altogether non-existent in classical Latin, but appear in Late Latin, Medieval Latin and/or Romance. The aim of the paper is to assess the lexical evidence from the early Latin comic corpus which may support the ‘karstic’ theory, according to which a stream of Latin flowed from Plautus’ time to the Late empire, but was ‘submerged’ in the classical period under the pressure of linguistic standardisation and the literary filter.
The paper shows that the vast majority of comic lemmata (69%) are standard Latin words, current from 2nd century BC Latin to the end of the Classical era (e.g. dare, lupus, in, bonus). Moreover, many words (11%) used by Plautus and Terence apparently did not reach late Latin, as they are not attested beyond the comic corpus, early Latin, or classical Latin; many of these are particular to the linguistic character of comedy, such as humorous neologisms (e.g. oculicrepidae) and Greek borrowings (e.g. pyelus). Both these two groups are not relevant. Another group (14%) includes words which are not well attested in classical Latin, featuring a limited number of occurrences (<10 instances) or being restricted to specific text types, such as poetry, technical, treatises, low registers, or a combination of these. Finally, a small group of comic Latin (6%) is not attested in classical sources or is found only in archaizing authors, but it does occur in late Latin, medieval Latin, or Romance, thus potentially having been continuously ‘flowing submerged’ since Plautus and Terence’s times. However, in most cases this continuity is only apparent: most words of these two groups do not have reflexes in early Romance and are generally rare affixal formations (e.g. dictatrix, indomabilis): these are likely to be literary revivals and/or independent re-coinages. Submerged or quasi-submerged lemmata with reflexes in early Romance form a very small fraction of the total corpus: many of these are affixal formations (e.g. agnellus, carcerarius, scutarius, vitellus), which could well have been re-coined in late Latin, independently from Plautus and Terence. The amount of comic and late Latin that clearly was submerged in CL is extremely small (<3%) and only a tiny fraction of it (<0.2%) is not attested at all in CL. Although many words belonging to this small group are Greek (e.g. basilicus, blitum, bolus) and/or technical nouns that do not have synonymic counterparts in CL (e.g colostra, lumbricus, resina), others strongly point to continuity between Early and Late Latin and are good candidates for ‘submerged’ Latin. Some good examples are pessulus, very rare in CL but attested in the Vindolanda Tablets, strena, found in Svetonius and in a few inscriptions: Vindolanda tablets and inscriptions are the sort of texts which may point to ‘submerged’ Latin. The paper analyses all the above and other types of non-standard CL words found in early comic texts, in order to reassess the evidence in support of the idea of a ‘karstic’ stream of Latin flowing from Plautus’s time to the late empire and the Middle Ages.

In the opening of Plautus’ Casina the prologue warns the audience: ‘in case you're waiting for [Euthynicus], he isn't returning to the city in this comedy today. Plautus didn't want him to. (64–6)’. The adulescens Euthynicus never becomes present onstage, and yet he is not completely absent either: his mother ‘knowingly supports him in his absence’, by supporting him against her lascivious husband. Euthynicus is not alone: Roman comedy is populated by a crowd of absent characters who are represented on stage by (guileful) proxies.  Thanks to the poet’s imagination all these absent characters become present, and through their proxies they ‘benefit us in their absence as if they were present’, as the same prologue of Casina proclaims (20), with reference to the most important proxied absence of all, Plautus himself. There is something inherently theatrical about ‘proxiness’ and (Roman) comedy, a genre performed by actors proxying absent playwrights, featuring slaves proxying absent masters, and written by playwrights proxying both the Roman elite and the (lost) Greek models. The aim of the chapter is to delve into the world of proxied absentees in Roman comedy, investigating their meta-theatrical potential and the comic force of ‘proxiness’ in general.

This chapter focuses on patterns of divine interaction in Tolkien’s works and their possible classical ancestry. Tolkien himself compared the Valar to the gods of “traditional” “higher” mythology (albeit with differences) and in the Cottage of Lost play he suggested that gods of classical mythology are indeed the Valar themselves, although mediated by the misleading representations of human beings. These correspondences do not only concern the Valar’s identity and natural association (as well known), but also encompass their activity within the narratives, and in particular the ways they interact with non-divine (and especially elvish and human) characters. While keeping in mind Tolkien’s warning against focusing on the ox’s bones rather than the soup, the chapter will thus investigate, through comparative analysis, the classical ancestry of Tolkien’s patterns of divine interactions, and discuss how this source material has been “put to new uses”: the ultimate aim is to reflect on the differences between Tolkien’s secondary theology and that of his classical sources, and how these relate with the different narrative framework of Tolkien’s legendarium.

Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (CJRT) died on 16 January at the age of 95, in the town of Draguignan in Southern France, where he had been living for many years. CJRT was born on 21 November 1924 in Leeds, the third son of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (JRRT), who had just been promoted to a Professorship in English Language in the University. He was named after Christopher Wiseman (Letter 306), the only surviving member of the T.C.B.S, the group of his father's closest school friends, who had played an important role in revealing and encouraging his literary vocation. CJRT moved to Oxford with his family in early 1926, where he attended the Dragon School, a preparatory school near his home in Northmoor Road, and later boarded at the Oratory School, just outside Reading. In 1938 he was forced to intermit his studies because of a heart problem, which kept him in poor health for the following three years. In 1942 he began a degree at Oxford, but in the summer of 1943 he was enrolled into the Royal Air Force, and spent most of the wartime in South Africa, training as a pilot. An extensive and often moving epistolary exchange between him and his father survives from this time; this also includes precious insight into the ongoing writing of the Lord of the Rings, which his father sent to him in batches, both to comfort his war gloom with glimpses of beauty and heroism, and to receive literary support and feedback (which he often followed, as in the case of the retention of the name Samwise, cherished by CJRT). After the war CJRT came back to Oxford, where he completed his degree in English in 1949 at Trinity College. In 1951 he married Faith Faulconbridge, a would-be sculptress who had also read English in Oxford; their son, Simon, was born in 1959.

In this chapter I will carry out a systematic review of some aspects of the diction of Lucilius’ iambo-trochaics, and compare them with their coun- terparts in the speech of the palliata, as can be analyzed in its two best- preserved authors, Plautus and Terence.  e aim is to investigate Lucilius’ indebtedness to Roman comedy as far as language is concerned. It will be shown in particular that Lucilius’ multifarious language, be tting his thematic “mixed-bag” (satura), was probably developed on the model of Plautus’ linguistic inclusiveness; at the same time, Lucilius limited Plautine variety in other linguistic areas, following a trend of standardization and regularization that is already operative in Terence.

"Recall to your mind and ponder the fact that C. Caesar, while engaged in a most formidable war in Gaul, wrote ... two books of the most meticulous character On Analogy, discussing amid flying darts the declension of nouns, and the aspiration of words and their classification mid the blare of bugles and trumpets [Fro. Parth. 9 transl. Haines]."

In a letter to the emperor Marcus Aurelius, the grammarian and rhetorician Fronto refers to Caesar to encourage his former pupil to dedicate some of his time to intellectual activities. Fronto’s passage is one of the few testimonies to Caesar’s linguistic interests, which culminated in the writing of a treatise in two books, De Analogia. Suetonius (Jul. 56) reports the episode in less romanticized terms, confirming the title and the number of books of the work, and also adding detail about its composition, namely that it was written “while crossing the Alps and returning from Hither Gaul, where he had held the assizes”. Caesar’s treatise is also mentioned by Quintilian (1.7.35) and Gellius, who also transmits two important quotations. The first (1.10.4) is a fortunate aphorism:

[fr. 2]1 Avoid, as you would a rock [scopulum], every unheard and unusual word [inauditum atque insolens verbum].

The second piece, quoted by Gellius, is found in an anecdotic passage (19.8.1-8), in which the same Fronto, engaged in a grammatical discussion, invites his audience to read an excerpt of the De Analogia. The passage quoted is a rhetorical question, in which Caesar apparently opposes a naturalistic conception of language:

[fr. 11B] Surely you do not think that it happens from the nature of these things that we say ‘one land’ and ‘several lands’ ... and that we cannot convert quadrigae into a singular nominal form or harena into a form of the plural, do you?

Another important testimony to De Analogia is found in Cicero. In his rhetorical work Brutus (253), finished in 46 BC, Cicero attests that in the midst of the most absorbing activities (in maxumis occupationibus) Caesar wrote with great care (accuratissime), and dedicated to Cicero himself a treatise on the method of “speaking correct Latin” (de ratione loquendi).
Cicero also quotes two passages from the text. The first, short and paraphrased, is a summary of what seems to be Caesar’s theory of eloquence as presented in De Analogia

(fr. 1A “[Caesar] affirmed that the choice of words is the source of eloquentia”), to which Cicero makes further allusion in a later passage (Brutus 258 = fr. 1C).

The second quotation, in Caesar's own words (his verbis), is a convoluted and flattering (and probably ironic) extract from Caesar's dedication to Cicero:

[fr. 1B] And if, to the task of giving brilliant expression to their thought, some have devoted study and practice - and we must recognize that you [i.e. Cicero] have deserved well of the name and prestige of the Roman people as almost the pioneer and inventor of this resource - yet are we now to consider that the
knowledge of this easy and everyday speech may be neglected [facilem et cotidianum novisse sermonem nunc pro relicto est habendum]?

The dedication to Cicero and the reference to rhetoric are important elements for the reconstruction of the work. They suggest that the treatise was somehow related to Cicero’s rhetorical discourse, and in particular, as will be discussed below, that in all likelihood De Analogia is a ‘response’ to De Oratore (published in 55). Combining these elements with the information on the assizes reported by Suetonius (which excludes 53 and 52), one can suggest the spring 54 as a probable date of composition.
The final piece of evidence for De Analogia consists of a number of passages from grammatical treatises quoting linguistic views of Caesar.
This slight but yet intriguing evidence raises some crucial questions. Why did Caesar dedicate some of his precious time, in such a momentous period, to write a grammatical treatise? What was the content of this work? What was its background? To whom did Caesar address his treatise? What grammatical theory did he adhere to and why? Is there any relation between Caesar's grammatical stance and his other cultural enterprises, such as his reform of the calendar or his supposed Epicureanism? Did De Analogia have a role in Caesar's political agenda?
In this chapter I will address these questions: first I will analyze the fragments of De Analogia and discuss the grammatical background, in order to reconstruct the content and aims of the treatise. I will then explore the relation of these with Caesar’s other intellectual achievements and with the rhetorical, philosophical and political discourse of the late Republic, focusing in particular on the position of the De Analogia in the controversy with Cicero.

Who wrote The Lord of the Rings? And The Hobbit? And The Silmarillion? And in general, who is the author of the large corpus of texts, published or unpublished, which give life to Middle Earth’s imaginarium? To answer ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ would not only mean to miss a crucial feature of the literary fabric of these books, which associates them with a long-standing literary tradition, from James’ The Turn of the Screw to Manzoni’s The Betrothed. More importantly, such an answer would mean to overlook an important dimension of Tolkien’s poetics, grounded in his literary convictions, and ultimately rooted in his deep Christian faith. The aim of this article is to try to give a more precise answer to the above questions, and thereby discuss some of the literary sophistication of Tolkien’s works, unjustly obscured by their commercial success, as well as delve into the depths of his Christian poetics.

The paper analyses the contraction of est (-st). This phenomenon is generally known as ‘prodelision’ or ‘aphaeresis’ and is considered a metrical sandhi phenomenon, graphically expressed only in early Latin texts. After the introduction (1), the paper presents the first systematic collection of the evidence for this form (2), followed by a phonological discussion (3), and by the conclusions (4), which aim to show that this was a more complex and widespread phenomenon than is normally believed, and to introduce its significance for other general linguistic topics such as cliticisation, the semantics of sum, and the position of the Latin verb in the clause.1

Taking as a starting point Housman’s note on Man. 4.780 (Cyrenes lacrimis radicis Scorpios acris), the article analyses a stylistic device of Latin poetry, namely the repetition (consonance) of final -s within the same line. The analysis is based on the collection of all the cases of lines which have words, or all words except one, ending in -s, in both early and classical Latin poetry, the stylistic and linguistic features of which are discussed. A split between early texts and classical texts is observed: in early Latin texts consonance of -s is generally concomitant with asyndetic accumulation of similar words (cf. e.g. Enn. Ann. inc. 498 S. flentes plorantes lacrumantes obtestantes), which is an interesting stylistic pattern, common in early Latin and associated with elevated style, and later probably acquiring an archaising ring. On the other hand, consonance of -s in classical Latin poetry appears as an independent sound !figure, deployed by authors for poetic effect (cf. e.g. Verg. A. 12.708 ingentis genitos diuersis partibus orbis). By analysing these patterns of consonance, the article also investigates the stylistic potential of asyndeton and the phonetic status of final -s in early and classical Latin.

The article aims (1) to investigate the hidden divine narrative in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, that is the agency of divine characters in and on the story, whose presence appears to other, non-divine characters only in ‘cloaked’ or ‘glimpsed’ form; (2) to discuss the reasons for the concealing of this narrative (and of divine presence in general), which is revealed as a key feature of Tolkien’s literary technique and poetics. The article analyses both literary and non-literary sources, arguing that the Creator’s love for the freedom of His creatures is the main reason accounting for this ‘cloaking’ and this ‘glimpsing’, both within Tolkien’s sub-created, ‘secondary’ world and the ‘primary’ reality to which he belongs.

use of epithets in Book 2, F. has illustrated just how unlike Homer Quintus is, within such an overwhelmingly Homeric linguistic template. As F. so expertly puts it (p. xxx), this is a poet who pursues originality in the belly of tradition. The introduction sheds no new light on the date of composition of the poem, a point not yet fully or satisfactorily treated (see the summary in C.A. Maciver, Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica: Engaging Homer in Late Antiquity [2012], pp. 2–6). This is an excellent, careful study of Book 2, invaluable not only as the first full individual commentary on such an important book, but also for its minute study of Quintus’ original recasting of Homeric language and structures. For F. (p. xxxi) this is a poeta doctus and connoisseur of the Homeric poems, the author of a bravura poem that, below its overwhelmingly Homeric surface, conceals an intriguingly complicated intertextual game to be unravelled by a reader of similar shrewd learning. F. undoubtedly fits this category.