The difficulties of this poem have led scholars to employ surgery of various sorts upon it. This article attempts to show that surgery is unnecessary and that, given a fuller exegesis and a partial reinterpretation of subject-matter, the poem can be read as a single and consistent piece.

caeditur et tilia ante iugo leuis altaque fagusstiuaque, quae currus a tergo torqueat imosIn these two lines of his instructions for making a plough Virgil prescribes the wood of thetilia as suitable for theiugum; he also mentions thefagus, seemingly in connection with the making of thestiua. These recommendations are both problematic, and since the latter admits of no sure solution, treatment of it is relegated to a brief Appendix. The body of this paper has two aims: 1) to propose a (...) new understanding of Virgil's prescription of thetiliafor theiugum; and 2) to draw attention to Virgil's use of the Hesiod scholia in his plough instructions. (shrink)

This paper treats the fifth-century AD apocryphal Acta Barnabae. § I sets out briefly the consensus view of ABarn’s main aim - to establish the autocephaly of the Cypriot Church by endowing it with an apostolic founder, Barnabas, in a text modelled on Acts which affects to be contemporary with Acts and to be the work of John Mark. § II examines ABarn’s detailed interactions with Acts, its foregrounding of Barnabas over Paul, and its centralising of Cyprus in early Christianity; (...) ‘itinerary style’ is highlighted as a prominent feature of ABarn’s striving for verisimilitude. § III treats ABarn’s use of further ‘novelistic’ strategies for the same purpose; they mostly draw on topoi, but sometimes arguably on personal knowledge of Cyprus. § IV reflects on ABarn’s curious downgrading of its inscribed author, John Mark. This is attributed to the anti-Monophysite stance of the fifth-century Cypriot Church towards both the Antiochene and Alexandrian Patriarchates. (shrink)

In the face of contradictory past exegeses of Epode 11 this paper argues that the epode’s dominant theme is remedia amoris, that it can be read sequentially as a self-consistent narrative, that lines 15-18 are the words of Pettius, not of Horace (and so are yet another remedium amoris), and that certain literary allusions perceived in Epode 11 by past scholarship are invalid and hence have no interpretative value.

The difficulties of this poem have led scholars to employ surgery of various sorts upon it.This article attempts to show that surgery is unnecessary and that, given a fuller exegesis and a partial reinterpretation of subject-matter, the poem can be read as a single and consistent piece.

When Propertius tells Cynthia in 2. 29A that, on his drunken way to another woman the previous night, he was seized and hauled back to Cynthia by a band of Cupids, it is fairly clear that the poet is giving dramatic embodiment to the erotic commonplace that the lover fired by wine is unable to stay away from his mistress but is dragged back to her perforce by love. The nature of the drama in which the topos is embodied is, (...) however, not at all clear. Most commentators have seen it as nothing more than a fantasy or fairy-tale having no connection whatsoever with real life. Two, while recognizing that elements of fantasy are present, nevertheless have felt that the action of the drama is derived from real life with the Cupids playing a real-life role. I believe that those who have seen 2. 29A as merely fantasy are incorrect. This is not to say that pure fantasy does not occur in Propertius’ work. But when it does it takes place in a dream or fantasy landscape. In 2. 29A the scene is the streets of Rome and this realistic setting suggests that, as in another realistic setting Propertius although giving rein to his fantasy links it with reality by taking on himself the role of triumphator, so here it is more likely that the characters in a drama with a real setting will have real-life roles to play. (shrink)

When Propertius tells Cynthia in 2. 29A that, on his drunken way to another woman the previous night, he was seized and hauled back to Cynthia by a band of Cupids, it is fairly clear that the poet is giving dramatic embodiment to the erotic commonplace that the lover fired by wine is unable to stay away from his mistress but is dragged back to her perforce by love. The nature of the drama in which the topos is embodied is, (...) however, not at all clear. Most commentators have seen it as nothing more than a fantasy or fairy-tale having no connection whatsoever with real life. Two, while recognizing that elements of fantasy are present, nevertheless have felt that the action of the drama is derived from real life with the Cupids playing a real-life role. I believe that those who have seen 2. 29A as merely fantasy are incorrect. This is not to say that pure fantasy does not occur in Propertius’ work. But when it does it takes place in a dream or fantasy landscape. In 2. 29A the scene is the streets of Rome and this realistic setting suggests that, as in another realistic setting Propertius although giving rein to his fantasy links it with reality by taking on himself the role of triumphator, so here it is more likely that the characters in a drama with a real setting will have real-life roles to play. (shrink)

When Propertius tells Cynthia in 2. 29A that, on his drunken way to another woman the previous night, he was seized and hauled back to Cynthia by a band of Cupids, it is fairly clear that the poet is giving dramatic embodiment to the erotic commonplace that the lover fired by wine is unable to stay away from his mistress but is dragged back to her perforce by love.The nature of the drama in which the topos is embodied is, however, (...) not at all clear. Most commentators have seen it as nothing more than a fantasy or fairy-tale having no connection whatsoever with real life. Two, while recognizing that elements of fantasy are present, nevertheless have felt that the action of the drama is derived from real life with the Cupids playing a real-life role.I believe that those who have seen 2. 29A as merely fantasy are incorrect. This is not to say that pure fantasy does not occur in Propertius’ work. But when it does it takes place in a dream or fantasy landscape. In 2. 29A the scene is the streets of Rome and this realistic setting suggests that, as in another realistic setting Propertius although giving rein to his fantasy links it with reality by taking on himself the role of triumphator, so here it is more likely that the characters in a drama with a real setting will have real-life roles to play. (shrink)

Propertius' account of this myth contains two major difficulties of syntax and interpretation: modo. When the word modo means ⋯ννοτε μ⋯νand stands in the first of two co-ordinate clauses it requires an answering modo or its equivalent in the second clause. Et and etiam are not satisfactory equivalents. So the necessary second modo—or equivalent—is here absent. ibat uidere is the sole account of Milanion's activities in connection with the hirsutae ferae. As such it appears obscure and abrupt.

Propertius' account of this myth contains two major difficulties of syntax and interpretation: modo. When the word modo means ⋯ννοτε μ⋯νand stands in the first of two co-ordinate clauses it requires an answering modo or its equivalent in the second clause. Et and etiam are not satisfactory equivalents. So the necessary second modo—or equivalent—is here absent. ibat uidere is the sole account of Milanion's activities in connection with the hirsutae ferae. As such it appears obscure and abrupt.