83249 - Latin Language and Literature 2 (LM)

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to demonstrate: 1) knowledge of the main poetic genres of Latin literature; 2) knowledge of the phonetics, morphology, syntax and metrics of the texts in the course programme; 3) knowledge of the history of Latin literature, of its main genres, authors and works within their historical and literary context; 4) ability to analyse and discuss the texts in the programme from a linguistic, literary and metric point of view.

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 are:

• Virgil, Georgics II 458-542
• Ovid, Metamorphoses IV 288-388 (Salmacis and Hermaphroditus)
• Martial, a selection of epigrams
  
  

IMPORTANT:

1. Non-attending students belonging to LM 39 Degree Course are required to read three critical essays (see Bibliography, Part I).

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.

3. Students not belonging to LM 39 Degree Course and non-attending are required to study the texts listed above at n. 2 and to replace the texts read in class with the reading, in Latin, of Tacitus, Germany, and of book 1 of Ovid, Metamorphoses, adding the reading of two critical essays (see Bibliography, Part. IV, n. 3).

 

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 Georgics: P. Vergili Maronis Opera, recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford 1969. English editions: Vergil. Georgics, vol. 1: books 1-2, edited by R.F. Thomas, Cambridge 1988; Vergil. Georgics, edited with a commentary by R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford 1990.

• 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):

• M.C.J. Putnam, Italian Vergil and the Idea of Rome, in K. Volk (ed.), Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Vergil's Georgics, Oxford 2008, pp. 138-160.
• P. Hardie, Cosmology and National Epic in the Georgics (2.458-3.48), in K. Volk (ed.), Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Vergil's Georgics, pp. 161-181.
• M. Labate, Storie di instabilità: l'episodio di Ermafrodito nelle Metamorfosi di Ovidio, in «Materiali e Discussioni per l’Analisi dei Testi Classici» 30, 1993, pp. 49-62.
• M. Robinson, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus: when two become one, in «Classical Quarterly» 49.1, 1999, pp. 212-223.
• M. Citroni, Marziale e la tradizione dell'epigramma latino, in M. Citroni, M. Scàndola, E. Merli, Marco Valerio Marziale. Epigrammi, Milano 1996, pp. 65-98.
  
  

IMPORTANT: Non-attending students belonging to LM 39 Degree Course are required to study three of the essays listed above (one for each author).

 

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 suggested: N. Horsfall, Virgil, Aeneid 2. A commentary, Leiden-Boston, Brill 2008.

 

IMPORTANT:

1. Non-attending students belonging to LM 39 Degree Course are required to study three of the critical essays listed at Part I (one for each author).

2. 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.

3. Students not belonging to LM 39 Degree Course and non-attending are required to study the texts listed above (n. 2) and to replace the texts listed at Part I with the following (in Latin):

• Tacitus, Germania: ed. Tacito, Germania, saggio introduttivo, nuova traduzione e note a cura di S. Audano, Santarcangelo di Romagna, RL, 2020; or Tacito, Germania, a cura di B. Zanco, Milano, Dante Alighieri, 1997.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, book I: ed. Ovidio, Metamorfosi. Volume I. Libri I-II, a cura di A. Barchiesi, Milano, Mondadori, 2005.

In addition, students are required to read two essays chosen from the following:

• A. Michel, Tacito e il destino dell’impero, Torino, Einaudi, 1973 (pp. 55-81).
• 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, pp. 81-114.
• A. Barchiesi, Per una lettura delle Metamorfosi di Ovidio, in F. Citti - L. Pasetti - D. Pellacani (a cura di), Metamorfosi tra scienza e letteratura, Firenze, Olschki, 2014, pp. 123-136.

 

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.

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