83249 - LINGUA E LETTERATURA LATINA 2 (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with knowledge of the main poetic genres of Latin literature through the reading, in the original language, of the most significant texts of Latin poetry from the classical period. By the end of the course, students will be able to read and understand Latin poetic texts and relate them to similar literary expressions in other languages and cultures.

Course contents

The course continues that of LINGUA E LETTERATURA LATINA 1 (LM) and offers students an in-depth study of classical Latin poetry, with metric reading, translation and commentary on some particularly significant texts of Latin literature. The programme consists of four parts:

 

PART I

Reading, translation and commentary of texts by the teacher, with a critical essay chosen by the students. The texts that will be read, representing different poetic genres, are:

• Bucolic poetry: Virgil, Eclogue I (Tityrus and Meliboeus)
• Epic poetry: Ovid, Metamorphoses IV 55-166 (the story of Pyramus and Thisbe)
• Epigram: Martial (a selection of epigrams)
  
  

IMPORTANT:

1. The programme for non-attending students is the same as that for attending ones.

2. Students not belonging to LM 39 Degree Course (attending and non-attending) are required to add the reading in Latin of the following two texts: Cicero, Brutus; Seneca, Phaedra.

 

PART II

Latin Literature from the Archaic Age to the Imperial Age (included).

Along with the knowledge of genres, authors and works presented during the lessons, students are required to study the Latin literature from the Archaic to the Imperial Age (included), with periodization and with a general historical framework, with reference, in particular, to the following authors: Augustine, Apuleius, Catullus, Caesar, Cicero, Ennius, Juvenal, Jerome, Livy, Lucan, Lucilius, Lucretius, Martial, Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Plautus, Pliny the Elder, Propertius, Quintilian, Sallust, Seneca, Statius, Tacitus, Terence, Tibullus, Virgil.

 

PART III

Elements of Latin grammar, prosody and metrics.

Basic linguistic knowledge, continuing LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 1 (LM), regarding phonetics, morphology, lexicon, elements of syntax.

Knowledge of the rules of prosody and ability to metrically read the hexameter and elegiac couplet are required.

 

PART IV

Reading and translation of a text to be prepared by the students:

• Virgil, Aeneid, book 2 (selection of passages for which didactic materials will be provided).

 

Attendance to COMPLEMENTARY LESSONS (ESERCITAZIONI) on prosody and reading of Aeneid 2 is highly recommended for all students (link to the course page here).

Readings/Bibliography

 PART I

Bibliography for the texts that will be read during classes:

• for Vergil's Eclogues: P. Vergili Maronis Opera, recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford 1969. Italian editions: Publio Virgilio Marone. Le Bucoliche, traduzione di Alfonso Traina, a cura di Andrea Cucchiarelli, Roma, Carocci. 2012; Publio Virgilio Marone. Le bucoliche, note esegetiche e grammaticali a cura di Massimo Gioseffi, Milano, CUEM, 2016. English editions: W. Clausen, Virgil Eclogues, edited with introduction and commentary, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994; A. Cucchiarelli, A Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2023.

• for Ovid's Metamorphoses: Ovidio, Metamorfosi, volume II (libri III-IV), a cura di A. Barchiesi e G. Rosati, testo critico basato sull'edizione oxoniense di R. Tarrant, traduzione di L. Koch, Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla - Mondadori, 2007 (e successive). English edition: A. Barchiesi - G. Rosati (ed.), A Commentary on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Volume I: General Introduction and Books 1-6, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2024.

• for Martial's Epigrams: M. Val. Martialis Epigrammata, rec. W.M. Lindsay, Oxford 1929. Italian edition: Marco Valerio Marziale. Epigrammi, saggio introduttivo di M. Citroni, trad. di M. Scàndola, note di E. Merli, voll. 1-2, Milano 1996.

 

Students are also required to read one essay chosen from the following (further readings will be suggested during lessons):

• A. Cucchiarelli, Un punto di svolta: le Bucoliche di Virgilio, in L. Galasso (a cura di), La letteratura latina in età ellenistica, Roma, Carocci, 2021, pp. 191-215.

• G. De Trane, La storia di Piramo e Tisbe: tra mito e realtà, «Rudiae» 19, 2007, pp. 21-38.

• C. Segal, Piramo e Tisbe: «Liebestod», monumento e metamorfosi in Ovidio, Beroul, Shakespeare e altri, in Id., Ovidio e la poesia del mito. Saggi sulle Metamorfosi, tr. it. Venezia, Marsilio, 1991, pp. 165-184.

• M. Citroni, Marziale e la tradizione dell'epigramma latino, in M. Citroni, M. Scàndola, E. Merli, Marco Valerio Marziale. Epigrammi, Milano, BUR, 1996, pp. 65-98.

 

PART II

For literary history we recommend G.B. Conte, Letteratura latina. Manuale storico dalle origini alla fine dell'impero romano, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002.

 

PART III

For language institutions we recommend I. Dionigi - E. Riganti - L. Morisi, Il latino, Bari, Laterza 2011. For the syntax A. Traina, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina, Bologna, Cappelli, 1993. For particular phonetical, morphological, syntactical problems, A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007, chapters II-VI.

For metrics the reference manual is A. Traina – G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007 (chap. VII); for further readings we recommend S. Boldrini, La prosodia e la metrica dei Romani, Roma, Carocci, 1998.

 

PART IV

• for Vergil's Aeneid, book 2: P. Vergili Maronis Opera, recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford 1969. Italian editions: Virgilio. Eneide, traduzione di Mario Ramous, introduzione di Gian Biagio Conte, commento di Gianluigi Baldo, Venezia, Marsilio 1998; Virgilio, Eneide 2, Introduzione, traduzione e commento a cura di Sergio Casali, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale 2017. English edition: N. Horsfall, Virgil, Aeneid 2. A commentary, Leiden-Boston, Brill 2008.

 

IMPORTANT:

Students not belonging to LM 39 Degree Course (attending and non-attending), are required to study, in addition to the texts listed at Part I, the following texts in Latin:

• Cicero, Brutus: ed. Cicerone, Brutus, introduzione, traduzione e note di E. Narducci, Milano, Rizzoli, 1995; or Cicerone, Bruto, introduzione, traduzione e commento di R.R. Marchese, Roma, Carocci, 2011.
• Seneca, Phaedra: ed. Seneca, Fedra, introduzione, traduzione e commento di A. Casamento, Roma, Carocci, 2011.

Teaching methods

Part I will be taught as classroom lessons; Part II is up to the students' individual study; Parts III-IV are taught in a complementary course by a tutor (Esercitazioni). 

Assessment methods

• The test will consist of an oral exam, aiming at verifying: the student's ability to read metrically, translate and understand the Latin texts in programme; knowledge of the rules of prosody and metrics (especially in relation to the hexameter and the elegiac couplet); recognition of the grammatical structure of texts (with regard to phonetics, morphology and basic syntax); knowledge of the history of literature from the Archaic Period to the Imperial Age inclusive (in relation to individual authors, genres, historical-literary periods); understanding of critical essays and of the themes of the texts under examination.

• IMPORTANT: It is possible to divide the oral exam into two parts ('istituzionale' and 'monografica'), which can be taken on separate dates. The 'institutional' part concerns parts II, III and IV of the programme (= Aeneid 2 and literary history), while the 'monographic' part concerns part I of the programme (= texts read during classes and the critical essay). For both parts the metrical reading is required. 

• Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities
  We suggest that you contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and your professor immediately to work together to find the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for exams.
  Any requests for accommodations must be made at least 15 days before the date of the exam, by sending an email to the teacher and copying (Cc) the email address disabilita@unibo.it (in case of disability) or dsa@unibo.it (for students with Specific Learning Difficulties).
  
  

The evaluation will be given by the teacher according to the following parameters:

- Insufficient level: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of texts; lack of knowledge of literary history.

- Sufficient level: possession of basic literary and linguistic knowledge; translation and interpretation of texts mainly correct, but carried out with imprecision and little autonomy.

- Positive level: possession of intermediate level literary and linguistic knowledge; translation and interpretation of the texts fully correct, but not always precise and autonomous.

- Excellent level: possession of medium-high level literary and linguistic knowledge; correct, autonomous and precise translation and interpretation of the texts.

 

Exams and the use of AI

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support independent study by providing in-depth analysis, summaries and self-assessment exercises. With regard to the assessment of learning, the use of AI is prohibited during face-to-face exams. Any use constitutes a violation of academic integrity.

Teaching tools

Slides of the lessons, essays, and other teaching materials will be available online on Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Tommaso Ricchieri