Mnemosyne

In two passages of the Oneirocritica, Artemidorus discusses the practice of asking the gods for a dream containing a prediction or an advice. The prevailing opinion among scholars is that Artemidorus rejects this type of dreams categorically. In this article it is argued that, on the contrary, Artemidorus does accept the validity of petitionary dreams, provided that some rules are taken into account. Further, a couple of proposals for improvement of the text are made for a pivotal passage on petitionary dreams, namely 246.15-8 Pack.

This essay discusses Ovid's poetic rendition of Hellenistic astronomy in the Phaethon myth. In Met. 2.63-75 Sol presents his diurnal and annual movements as separate, but the first instruction (127-8) to his son in his second speech refers to the υπολειψις-theory; so far Ovid has followed Geminus Isag. 12. Met. 2.129-33 telescopes the Milky Way (via quinque per arcus) and the ecliptic together, the sectus in obliquum limes zonarumque trium contentus fine reflecting the Aratean system of three imaginary circles connected by means of the fourth (Phaen. 526 ο δε τετρατος) circle, the ecliptic; Nonnus D. 38.256-9 points in the same direction. In the last instruction utrumque (Met. 2.140) refers to the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. In 2.116 I adopt quam, the reading of Par F (Tarrant, OCT 2004), instead of quem, thus making Aurora the subject of petere terras, which makes excellent sense since she carries the passage Met. 2.112-44. In late Antiquity both Nonnus (D. 38.424-5) and Claudian (VI. Cons. Hon. 172) catasterise Phaethon into Auriga; this paper offers some fresh viewpoints, based on e.g. Ov. Am. 3.12.31, 37 and Hyginus Astr. 2.42.1324-7, that could defend the presence of Phaethon's catasterismus in the Metamorphoses.

Manuscripts of two relatively late authors of classical Latin, Aulus Gellius and Nonius Marcellus, have garbled the word duovicesimus, a word that fell out of use after the first century BC. Modern scholars have had difficulty in restoring the true form of the word to the ancient manuscripts and then in assessing the effect of that restoration on the histories written by three authors of the second and first centuries BC, who are cited as having used that word: Fabius Pictor, Cato the Elder, and Varro. Once the valid form of the word is restored and its meaning realized, the following conclusions are possible. Fabius Pictor had his own peculiar chronology of the period between the Gallic sack of Rome and the first plebeian consul. Cato the Elder marked the beginning of the siege of Sarguntum as the sixth violation of a treaty by the Carthaginians. It is highly likely that Varro had Ancus Marcius die in the twenty-second year of his reign.

The influence exerted by tragedy on the comedies of Aristophanes has attracted much attention and this article examines one of its manifestations—his preoccupation with tragic lamentation. Focusing, in particular, on Acharnians 1069-142 and 1174-234, I attempt to examine how he exploits some of the basic features of tragic laments in the context of the comic plot and to discuss how this parodic juxtaposition of the polar worlds of tragedy and comedy functions within the play. A detailed consideration of parallels from tragedy suggests that Aristophanes had in mind specific tragic patterns, in the exaggeration and/or distortion of which the audience would no doubt have recognized some of the most striking characteristics of tragic lamentation.

This paper re-examines the treatment of Athena in some passages of Aristophanes' Knights along the lines of a previous study by C.A. Anderson (1991 and 1995). Two topics will be considered: the dream-oracles of Athena (Eq. 1090-5), and some epithets characterizing the goddess during the food-serving contest (Eq. 1172-81). The Paphlagonian's and Sausage-Seller's portraits of Athena are self-referential images in that they are able both to play a significant 'dramatic' role in the contest for the steward-ship of Dêmos, by preparing for the final fate of each character within the comic plot (Eq. 1090-5), and to mirror, respectively, the war-mongering, grasping and violent nature of Cleon (Eq. 1172-81), and the poet's and Athenians' political ideal. By focusing on the self-referential nature of the Paphlagonian's portrait of Athena, I shall argue that Athena's image also resonates with a particular trait of Cleon, which is a constant object of Aristophanes' denunciation concerning the manipulative politics of the demagogue, i.e. his tendency to make people believe that the polis' welfare is his main concern; in other words, his pretense to be a good leader, sincerely interested in the citizens' well-being. This meaning of the Paphlagonian's portrait of Athena is corroborated by the characterization of the goddess through specific epithets in the food-serving contest.

In the epilogue to Idyll 22, the hymn to the Dioscuri, Theocritus makes poetic claims concerning the reciprocity between poets and their laudandi. In making these claims, he compares himself with Homer, a comparison which has puzzled readers. This paper suggests that we can understand this comparison by recognizing how this epilogue engages with the elegiac poem by Simonides represented by fr. 11 W2, which belongs to the so-called new Simonides. Alexander Sens (1997) has observed that both passages contain a programmatic comparison with Homer. Pushing this observation, I argue that these parallels constitute an allusion to Simonides' composition which serves two purposes. First, it provides a parallel for Theocritus' comparison with Homer. Second, it introduces the anecdotal tradition concerning Simonides and the Dioscuri at a disastrous banquet in Thessaly, known most fully from Cicero and Quintilian, but also found in the Hellenistic era. By introducing this anecdote, Theocritus shows that his comparison with Homer is part of a literary game concerned with praising the Dioscuri. Through the allusion to Simonides, Theocritus positions himself as the winner in this game by reminding his laudandi that he has praised them better than either Homer or Simonides.

In this paper I argue that Nicarchus AP 11.328 is not merely a parody of the tripartite division of the cosmos recounted at Iliad 15.189-93. This epigram also exploits ancient lexicographical research (i.e. the precise meaning of the adjective ερεις) as well as scholarly discussions on Homeric interpretation (i.e. the allegorical reading of Il. 15.189-93 as a reference to the four elements; the meaning of πντα at Il. 15.189; and the issue of Olympus' relation to earth and sky). The result is a scoptic epigram that cleverly parodies both Homer and certain interpretive strategies of ancient `Homeric Professors'. Finally, this study inscribes AP 11.328 in the wider category of epigrams against grammarians, and shows that Nicarchus uses a parodic technique similar to that recently pointed out in some neglected specimens of Homeric parody, such as the Batrachomyomachia or Crates SH 351.

When, in Epigrams 12.32, Martial graphically and unsympathetically depicts the eviction of Vacerra and his family from their lodgings for non-payment of rent, he is drawing upon a long-established literary tradition which viewed the penniless as legitimate targets for mockery. Of particular importance as formal models are Catullus' deeply sarcastic attack on the destitution of Furius and his relatives (Catul. 23) and the so-called parva casa motif, which Martial has here refashioned with sardonic intent. The most striking and original feature of the epigram is that, as indicated by a number of ethnically-coloured details, Vacerra and his relatives are depicted as Celts who have taken up residence in Rome: hence one purpose of 12.32 was to express the Schadenfreude and gleeful sense of superiority which Martial, himself of Celtiberian origin, felt towards immigrants who had met with disaster in the metropolis where he had so conspicuously made his mark.

1. The morphologically anomalous word sicilicissitat in v. 12 of Plautus' Menaechmi is, I argue, a Joycean 'portmanteau', or punning composite word coined for the nonce, meaning, simultaneously, the plot (i) 'affects a Sicilian atmosphere', from the Greek verb σικελιζειν, and (ii) 'is double' or 'counts twice', from the Latin noun sicilicus, a diacritical mark which served as a nota for gemination of consonants. 2. Although the evidence is inconclusive, I suggest that, on the strength of the pun, we can retrodate the period in which sicilici were used to the era before Ennius' arrival in Rome in 204 BC. 3. (Appendix) In Men. 13 read antēloquium, not antelogium.

This paper offers a new reading of the salacious episode of therapeutic sodomy performed by Oenothea in Petronius' Satiricon (138). Is this scene only pornography? A closer examination shows that Petronius deliberately uses puns and plays with literary and scenic references. In this very short narrative, the word anus occurs twice, once with its rare anatomical meaning, and once with the more common comic sense of 'old woman'. Another pun lies in the use of femine, underlining the perversion of sexual roles: the woman plays a dominant role, empowered by the phallic attribute. This female predominance and the use of a leather dildo have literary precedents in Herodas' Mimiambs 6 and 7, where women used this arte-fact for their own sexual satisfaction. Greek and Roman iconography also provides abundant parallels. The final discussion is illuminated by the murder of the priapic goose in Sat. 136: dildo and goose are both used for sexual pleasure. Once again, the Greek mime and iconographic representations of phallic birds, especially in Apulian vase-painting, offer telling parallels. In conclusion, Petronius' narrative is essentially a literary play and a verbal masquerade, aiming to provoke the reader's laughter.

The prosecution of Caepio and Murena was a politically unpopular event from the early years of Augustus' reign. Strabo refers to the matter using a 'quoted quote' from Euripides. I look at possible conclusions to be drawn from Strabo's indirect way of handling his subject matter. I review the evidence for the date of the prosecution of Caepio and Murena. A bitter scholarly debate has led to the rejection of an early 23 BCE date. This legitimate rejection has resulted in a reaction against any date in 23 BCE. I suggest a date late in 23 BCE. A late 23 BCE date has implications for the trial of Primus, which immediately preceded Murena's own trial. I trace a possible connection between Murena's defence of Primus and his own subsequent prosecution for conspiracy. Whatever lay behind Murena's prosecution and death, his treatment shocked contemporaries so much that even the normally pro-Augustan Strabo feels compelled to register his criticism, albeit in an indirect way.

Several conjectures to the following poems of Catullus are considered: 14b, 16, 55, 58b, along with critical notes on the transmitted text and the style used. A brief remark on poems 41 and 43 is also included. The main goal of the article is to present versions of poems 16 and 55 emended according to the conjectures and other proposals mentioned above.

This paper analyses two deer similes by Simias and Theocritus that depend directly on a simile found in the New Sappho. Both passages confirm the interpretation of Sappho's simile as a case of so-called 'compendious comparison'. In turn, the New Sappho sheds new light on the texts of Simias and Theocritus. Simias' simile finds also resonances in two short similes in Id. 13.62-3 and Id. 18.41-2. This is possibly a literary tribute of Theocritus to Simias as his 'bucolic' predecessor.

This paper presents an alternative interpretation and reconstruction of ensemble a from the Strasbourg papyrus of Empedocles, P. Strasb. gr. Inv. 1665-1666 , first published by A. Martin and O. Primavesi in 1999. I claim that Martin and Primavesi's working hypothesis for the reconstruction of lines a (ii) 3-17 , upon which most of their individual supplements rely, is wrong, and that the doctrinal implications they draw from it are unfounded. Against them, I propose an alternate reconstruction of the text. If correct, two consequences follow from my alternative. First, it presents further reasons to reject a controversial variant reading revealed by the papyrus, retained by the editors, and the "we" of my title. Second, it provides new support for the role of chance in Empedocles' cosmic cycle, a theme largely ignored in modern scholarship on Empedocles.

Aristotle, Generation of Animals 2.1, 735a4-22 speaks about semen and soul. The passage speaks about 'the soul' and 'the parts'. Against all current interpretations it is argued that Aristotle means 'the soul in its entirety' and 'the parts of the soul '. It is proposed that the Greek text edited by Drossaart Lulofs in 735a22 be corrected by accepting the reading of ms Z.

An analysis of Cicero's vocabulary, argumentation, and views on Greek historians in de Orat. 2.51-8 shows that he criticizes the early Roman historians for failings in both style and content. This contradicts A.J. Woodman's claim that the views of Cicero's 'Antonius' have “nothing to do with style”. Furthermore the idea that Cicero considered the exaedificatio of an historical work not to be subject to the leges historiae is based on a mistaken interpretation of de Orat. 2.63. It is argued that this text provides no theoretical foundation for a “hard core” of material subject to the leges historiae and a “superstructure” subject only to the rhetorical requirement of plausibility.