Latin 34400 Off. Hrs. Tu/Th 12-1.30
Prof. Shadi Bartsch Office: Classics 23
Classroom: Classics 26 Tel. 702-8518
Tu-Th 10.30-11.50 sbartsch@uchicago.edu
Composition class in the Forum of Pompeii
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Seminar Organization: The main purpose of this seminar will be to cultivate a sense of Latin prose style by the close study and analysis of
selected Roman authors and by the translation of passages from English into the literary style of these authors. The course will proceed
chronologically according to author. Class time will be spent on (a) translation; (b) identifying the stylistic and syntactic characteristics of a given
author, and (c) review and comparison of the class’s translations for each week (these will xeroxed and handed out each Tuesday). Homework
preceding each Thursday meeting will involve reading a selection of Latin texts by and about the author of the week; homework over the weekend
will consist of translation from English to Latin in the style of a given author. Seminar participants will also be expected to completely review Bradley’s
Assignments and Grading: Assignments include readings in our Latin authors, secondary materials, translations into English, and exercises from
Bradley’s
and participation (including oral translation) is required, and absenteeism will be reflected in your grade. There will be no midterm and no final exam.
Class Materials: Please buy Bradley’s
dictionary; if you buy it, please use it cautiously and with an ear to idiom. Selected concordances in the library may also prove of use for your translations into
Latin. The main class text will be a course-pack put together specifically for this course containing both primary and secondary sources. You will also be
provided with a comprehensive bibliography at the end of the course-pack.
Authors: Prose authors covered in this course are: Cato the Elder, Livy,
N. African Latin as represented by Apuleius/Fronto.
all be selected from J.K. Newman, Latin Compositions. Newman provides his own translations, but these will be of no use to you (sorry!) since he is not
guided by our stylistic concerns.
Latin Texts: While I have included commentary and notes from recent editions of our texts, in cases where the ms. tradition is stable, I have taken the
out-of-copyright versions on www.thelatinlibrary.com.
WEEK 1: Archaic Latin
Tuesday, Sep. 26
Introduction: goals and procedures of the seminar
In class: Translation of the SC de Bacchanalibus and the SC de Tiburtibus in Courtney, Archaic Latin Prose, as well as of the devotio in Macrobius, at Sat. 3.9.6-11.
Thursday, Sep. 28
Read for today: Cato the Elder, De agr. praef. and 1-3; Origines, fr. 83; Speech in the Senate for the Rhodians, frs. 163-169; in Courtney, Archaic Latin Prose, pp. 41-58, 77-85
In English, read: Courtney, Archaic Latin Prose, 1-11.
Lecture on style and characteristics of Cato’s prose
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 1 into Latin in the style of Cato.
Friday, Sep. 29: Bradley’s
WEEK 2: Julius Caesar
Monday, Oct. 2: Cato translation assignment due by noon via email or in my Classics mailbox.
Tuesday, Oct. 3
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Oct. 5
Read for today: Caesar, BG 6.29-44; with notes from E.C Kennedy, ed., De
In English, read: Eden, P.T. “Caesar’s Style: Inheritance Versus Intelligence.” Glotta 40 (1962): 74-117.
Lecture on style and characteristics of Caesar’s prose
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 2 into Latin in the style of Caesar.
Friday, Sep. 6: Bradley’s
WEEK 3:
Monday, Oct. 9: Caesar translation assignment due by noon via email or in my Classics mailbox.
Tuesday, Oct. 10:
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Oct. 12
Read for today: Cicero, Pro Archia, 1-19, 28-32; with notes from ed. G. S. West, Cicero: Pro Archia,
Cicero, Brutus 312-26, trans. E. Jones
In English, read: Gotoff, Cicero’s Elegant Style: An Analysis of the Pro Archia, 66-78
Lecture on style and characteristics of
Discussion of opposition of Atticism and Asianism in our extant Latin sources,
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 3 into Latin in the style of
Friday, Oct. 13: Bradley’s
WEEK 4:
Monday, Oct. 16:
Tuesday, Oct. 17
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Oct. 19
Read for today:
In English, read: von Albrecht, Cicero’s Style, 52-71
Lecture on style and characteristics of
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 4 into Latin in the style of
Friday, Oct. 20: Bradley’s
WEEK 5: Sallust
Monday, Oct. 23:
Tuesday, Oct. 24
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Oct. 26
Read for today: Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum 1-17; with notes Charles Merivale, ed. Caii Sallusi Crispi Jugurtha.
In English, read: Chapter 4 (“Sallust”) in von Albrecht, Masters of Roman Prose, pp. 68-85
Lecture on style and characteristics of Sallust
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 5 into Latin in the style of Sallust.
Friday, Oct. 27: Bradley’s
WEEK 6: Livy and the Annalists
Monday, Oct. 30: Sallust translation assignment due by noon via email or in my Classics mailbox.
Tuesday, Oct. 31
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Nov. 2
Read for today: Livy, AUC book 21.1-10, ed. P.G. Walsh, with comments; book 7.9-10; Claudius Quadrigarius (from Gellius 9.13)
In English, read: Oakley, S.P. A Commentary on Livy, Books 6-10.
Lecture on style and characteristics of Livy’s early prose, contrast with the annalistic tradition
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 6 into Latin in the style of Livy.
Friday, Nov. 3: Bradley’s
WEEK 7: Seneca
Monday, Nov. 6: Livy translation assignment due by noon via email or in my Classics mailbox
Tuesday, Nov. 7
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Nov. 9
Read for today: Seneca, Epistles 12, 43, 47, 56, with notes from Walter C. Summers, Select Letters of Seneca, London, 1910, pp. 168-171, 211-217, 237-241
In English, read: Summers, “The Language and Style of Seneca’s Prose,” in Walter C. Summers, Select Letters of Seneca, xlii-xcv
Lecture on style and characteristics of Seneca
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 7 into Latin in the style of Seneca.
Friday, Sep. 29: Bradley’s
WEEK 8: Tacitus
Monday, Nov.13: Seneca translation assignment due by noon via email or in my Classics mailbox
Tuesday, Nov. 14
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Nov. 16
Read for today: Tacitus, Annals 1.1-13 with notes from Miller, N.P., ed. Tacitus. Annals Book I.
In English, read: Syme, “The Style of the Annals,” in Tacitus, vol. 1, pp. 340-52,
Lecture on style and characteristics of Sallust
Homework for Friday: Bradley’s
Homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 8 into Latin in the style of Tacitus.
Friday, Sep. 29: Bradley’s
WEEK 9: Fronto and Apuleius
Monday, Nov. 20: Tacitus translation assignment due by noon via email or in my Classics mailbox
Tuesday, Nov. 21
Review of class translations
Brief discussion of the style of Fronto and Apuleius
Thursday Nov. 23: Thanksgiving
While dining on turkey, please read: Fronto, Ep. ad Marc. Aur. 3.2, in P. Fleury, ed. Fronton, Correspondance,
Brock, M. Dorothy. Studies in Fronto and his Age.
Apuleius, Metamorphoses Book 1.1-10 in the Budé edition (sorry, no notes)
In English, read: Kenney, E.J. Apuleius: Cupid & Psyche,
Homework for Monday: Bradley’s
Also homework for Monday: Translation of Passage 9 into Latin in the style of Apuleius.
WEEK 10: Sermo plebeius and the Cena of Petronius
Monday, Nov. 27: Bradley’s
Apuleius translation assignment due by noon via email or in my Classics mailbox
Tuesday, Nov. 28:
Review of class translations
In class: Translation of several passages for Thursday
Thursday, Nov. 30
Brief introduction to vulgar Latin (lecture and reading only; no composition).
Please read: Petronius, Satyricon, 37-48, with notes, ed. Evan T. Sage and Brady B. Gilleland.
Samples of graffiti, curses, and other examples of sermo plebeius, from Wallace, Rex. E. An Introduction to Wall Inscriptions from
In English, read: Boyce, The Language of the Freedmen in Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis, pp. 46-73
NO FINAL EXAM