00567 - Latin Literature (E-M)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Moduli: Daniele Pellacani (Modulo 1) Daniele Pellacani (Modulo 2) Bruna Pieri (Modulo 3)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2) Traditional lectures (Modulo 3)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Humanities (cod. 8850)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to present authors and genres of the literature of Rome in their historical development and to provide the basic tools (phonetics, morphology, syntax, prosody and textual criticism) for interpreting Latin texts and documents. Upon successful completion of the course students will be able to competently demonstrate: 1. knowledge of Roman literature (main genres, authors and works set in their historical and literary context); 2. knowledge of Latin language (phonetics, morphology, syntax), of Latin prosody and of the basic concepts of textual criticism as appearing in the mentioned texts; 3. capacity to translate the Latin texts listed in the programme; 4. capacity to carry out a literary and linguistic analysis of the listed in the programme.

Course contents

In order to make the study of the handbook of Latin Literature more effective, classes will provide an overview of different literary genres. The course will be divided up into three parts: the first one will be held by prof. D. Pellacani and will start on September the 20; the second one, held by prof. Daniele Pellacani will start as soon as the first one is over; the third one, held by prof.ssa Bruna Pieri will start as soon as the second is over.

If there are no relevant changes related to the Covid-19 emergency, the first week of class will be online for everyone; from the second week on, a blended teaching mode will be adopted, with students attending online and in class at the same time. Shifts of attendance will be organized in case the request to attend is higher than the capacity of the classroom.

 

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE (lessons in class)
The literary genres in Roman literature

  • module I (D. Pellacani): Theatre and Lyrics
    (readings from Terence's Adelphoe; Horace's Odes; Seneca's Troades)
  • module II (D. Pellacani): Philosophical Prose and Didactic Poetry (readings from Lucretius' De rerum natura 4 and Seneca's Epistulae).
  • module III (B. Pieri): Epic and Elegy
    (readings from Virgil's Aeneid 1 and 2; Ovid's Heroides 3)

Not attending students have to prepare Vergil, Aeneid, book VI and Seneca, De brevitate vitae instead of the Latin texts read during the courses.

II. LATIN LITERATURE (classes; individual study):

The insights on genres and authors, presented during the lessons in class, should be integrated by a general historical framework. In particular, knowledge of the following authors of Latin literature is required:

Augustine, Apuleius, Catullus, Caesar, Cicero, Ennius, Juvenal, Hieronymus, Livy, Livius Andronicus, Lucanus, Lucilius, Lucretius, Martial, Naevius, Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Plautus, Plinius the Elder, Propertius, Quintilian, Sallustius, Seneca, Statius, Suetonius, Tacite, Terentius, Tibullus, Virgil.


III. Latin Language (syntax); Textual Criticism, Metres (hexameter and elegiac couplet). Students are in charge of this part

 

IV. AUTHORS (in Latin): Students are in charge of this part

1. Cicero: Pro Archia.

2. Vergil: Aeneid, Book 4

SEMINARS (not compulsory) will be online, via Teams

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3a2e21f33427aa401e85b98a54427bdafe%40thread.tacv2/conversations?groupId=9eea20e2-580a-4d18-9da2-17d25f4a986f&tenantId=e99647dc-1b08-454a-bf8c-699181b389ab

1. Cicero, Pro Archia (D. Pellacani): thursday, 13-15 (from September 30)
2. Vergil, Aeneid IV (E. Dal Chiele): thursday, 15-17 (from September 30).

3. Written test (exercitations): friday, 13-15 (from October 1st).

 

V. WRITTEN TEST (translation from Latin into Italian)

The written test (a translation from Latin into Italian) is compulsory (except for Students from Degree Cycle in History attending Latin Literature [6 ects]) and must be overcome before the oral exam of Latin Literature. The written test can be done only twice; a negative mark does not prevent from accessing to the viva voce examination.

In the event that the Covid-19 emergency continues beyond the end of the course, the written test will be taken in the same way as the second half of the 19/20 semester (with an integrated oral translation test: see teacher's notices).

 

Readings/Bibliography

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
Slides or pdf containing the Latin texts will be uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici"; further bibliography will be suggested as well.

In addition to the notes from the lessons, it is compulsory to read the following essays:

  • G.B. Conte, Il genere tra empirismo e teoria, in Id., Generi e lettori, Milano 1991, 145-173 (in alternativa S. Harrison, Generic Groundwork, in Id., Generic Enrichment in Vergil & Horace, Oxford 2007, 1-33)
  • G. B. Conte-A. Barchiesi, Imitazione e arte allusiva in Lo spazio letterario di Roma antica , I, La produzione del testo, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 1989, 81-114.

Students are also supposed to read one from the following essays:

Lucretius: I. Dionigi, Modello grammaticale e modello fisico, in Id., Lucrezio, le parole e le cose, Bologna, Pàtron, 2005.

Horace: A. Traina, Introduzione a Orazio lirico: la poesia della saggezza, rist. in Id., Poeti latini (e neolatini). V, Bologna, Pàtron, 1998, 133-168.

Seneca: A. Traina, Lo stile “drammatico” del filosofo Seneca, Bologna, Pàtron 19954 (e successive ristampe), 9-41.

Vergil: A. Barchiesi, Virgilian Narrative: ecphrasis, in C. Martindale (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Virgil, Cambridge 1997, 271-281; R. Heinze, La tecnica epica di Virgilio, Bologna 1996, 33-67.

Ovid: A. Barchiesi, Narratività e convenzione, in Id., P. Ovidii Nasonis Epistulae Heroidum 1-3, Firenze 1992, 15-41.

NB: Please notice that the essays are compulsory for not attending students as well. Not attending students have to prepare Vergil, Aeneid, book VI and Seneca, De brevitate vitae instead of the Latin texts read during the courses.

 

II. LATIN LITERATURE

G.B. Conte, Letteratura latina. Manuale storico dalle origini alla fine dell'impero romano, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002 [also in Engl. transl.: G.B. Conte, Latin Literature: A History, Baltimore, The John Hopkins UP, 1994].

 

III. LANGUAGE, TEXTUAL CRITICISM AND LATIN PROSODY

Language: I. Dionigi - E. Riganti - L. Morisi, Il latino, Bari, Laterza 2011 is recommended. As for the syntax: A. Traina, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina, Bologna, Cappelli, 1993. As an alternative, Allen and Greenough's New Latin grammar, Ginn & Company, Boston-NY-Chicago, 1903 (both for syntax and morphology). See also A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007, chapt. I-VI.

Textual criticsm and Latin prosody: A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007, chapt. VII-VIII.



IV. AUTHORS

Cicero: Difesa di Archia, saggio introduttivo, traduzione e note a cura di D. Pellacani, Sant’Arcangelo, Rusconi, 2020 (in print)

Vergilius: Aeneis, Book 4, from Eneide, introduzione di A. La Penna, traduzione e note di R. Scarcia, Milano, Rizzoli BUR 2002, or Virgilio, Eneide, traduzione di M. Ramous, introduzione di G.B. Conte, commento di G. Baldon, Venezia, Marsilio, 1998.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class on part 1 and on some issues of part 2 (History of Latin literature) and 3 (prosody, textual criticism); students are in charge of part 4 and 5. Seminars (see course contents) devoted to the introduction to the bases of the Latin language (phonetics, morphology and syntax) through the reading of Cicero and Virgil

Assessment methods

Students must take a written Latin Examination (a translation from Latin into Italian of a short passage with the help of bilingual vocabulary); the written examination must be taken before the oral one. The written test can be done only twice; a negative mark does not prevent from accessing to the viva voce examination.

In the event that the Covid-19 emergency continues beyond the end of the course, the written test will be taken in the same way as the second half of the 19/20 semester (with an integrated oral translation test: see teacher's notices).

In the viva voce examination the students will be tested Latin phonetics, morphology, syntax and literature through the reading and translation of the Latin texts dealt with in class and listed in the programme.

please note that, as far as the viva voce examination is concerned, the course can be splitted between core course (parts II, III and IV), to be completed first and focus course (part I): two exam sessions at most are allowed between these two parts

Assessment guidelines:

  • failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of the text. Lack of knowledge of Latin literature
  • passing grades: language proficiency at an intermediate level; translation and literary interpretation of the texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking autonomy
  • excellent grades: language proficiency at an upper-mid level; translation and interpretation of the texts not only correct, but performed with autonomy and precision. Knowledge of Latin prosody and metrics.

Erasmus or foreigner students are allowed to attend the exam - as far as translation from Latin is concerned - in English, French, German or Spanish.

Teaching tools

Pdf files and slides containing texts and / or further bibliography will be uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici"

Office hours

See the website of Daniele Pellacani

See the website of Bruna Pieri