Week 6

Poetry and Patronage Redux

Mar. 3

Primary Readings: Horace Odes 1.32 (Poscimus, si quid vacui - 16v.)

Readings in Translation: Horace Odes 1.1, Alcaeus 34; Sappho 1, 2

Secondary Readings: Horace ix-xv; {Halporn 103-106}

Assignment: Complete scanning worksheet for Horace Odes 1.32

Mar. 5

Primary Readings: Horace Odes 2.20 (Non usitata - 24v.)

Readings in Translation: Horace Odes 2.1, 1.38, Theognis 237-254

Listening Assignment: Odes 2.20 on CD

Assignment: Complete scanning worksheet for Horace Odes 2.20

Secondary Readings: Conte, Latin Literature: A History, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, pp. 249 - 261

Questions: What are the possible meanings of biformis? Catullus always referred to himself as a poeta; what different resonance does Horace convey by calling himself a vates (you should look this term up in LS); Why does Horace choose the swan as the animal into which he is changing?

Mar. 7

Primary Readings: Horace Odes 3.30 (Exegi monumentum aere perennius - 16v.), Odes 1.1.29-36

Readings in Translation: Horace Odes 1.1 (re-read), 3.1, 3.4

Secondary Readings: Conte, Latin Literature: A History, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, pp. 292 - 319 (esp. 303-312)

Listening Assignment: Odes 3.30 on CD

Additional Resources: Adaptations of Odes 3.30 by Alexander Puskin and Ezra Pound

Questions: Think of 2 words or phrases to characterize the Augustan Age; Think of 3 types of things that are "more lasting than bronze"; Look up "impotens" in LS, why is this word significant in a Roman context; Look up "exigo" in LS, note the variety of meanings, how does the ambiguity of this word adequately summarize Horace's project? Why does Horace characterize himself as ex humili? Through his poetry, what does he become?

Quiz: Vocabulary 401-450

Quiz on Horace's Life & Times - Take Home, due Monday at start of class