In the context of recent challenges to long-standing assumptions about the nature of Ennius' Annals and the editorial methods appropriate to the poem's fragmentary remains, this volume seeks to move Ennian studies forward on three axes. First, a re-evaluation of the literary and historical precedents for and building blocks of Ennius' poem in order to revise the history of early Latin literature. Second, a cross-fertilization of recent critical approaches to the fields of poetry and historiography. Third, reflection on the tools and methods that will best serve future literary and historical research on the Annals and its reception. Adopting different approaches to these broad topics, the fourteen papers in this volume illustrate how much can be said about Ennius' poem and its place in literary history independent of any commitment to inevitably speculative totalizing interpretations.

When Romans applied the term "parasite" to contemporaries in dependent circumstances, or "clientes," they were evoking one of the stock characters of ancient Greek comedy. In the Roman world the parasite was moved out of his native genre into the literatures of invective and social criticism, where his Greek origins made him a uniquely useful transmitter of Roman perceptions. Whenever the figure of the parasite is used to mask a person in Roman society, we know that an effort of interpretation is underway. The fit between the mask and its wearer is in the eyes of the beholder, and in Rome the mask seemed to fit people in many different situations: entrepreneurs, tax-farmers, lawyers, female companions, philosophers, and poets.
In "The Mask of the Parasite," Cynthia Damon maintains that the parasite of Latin literature is a negative reflection of the "cliens," In Part One she assembles a composite picture of the comic parasite using as evidence fragments of Greek comedy, works from Greek writers of the imperial period whose works reflect the comic tradition, and the ten complete plays of Roman comedy in which a parasite appears. In parts two and three she examines the ways in which Cicero and the satirists use the figure of the parasite: Cicero in belittling his opponents in court, Horace and Martial in creating a negative foil for the "poeta cliens," Juvenal in painting contemporary patron/client relationships as morally and spiritually bankrupt.
"The Mask of the Parasite" is a fascinating study of the intersection of literature and society in ancient Rome. However, neither the parasite nor patronage is confined to the Roman world. Students of classical studies as well asstudents of literature and cultural studies will find this to be a work of utmost importance in understanding these complex issues of human interaction.
Cynthia Damon is Assistant Professor of Classics, Amherst College

Caesar's Civil War is an unfinished masterpiece. It was abandoned by an author who found himself living in a different world than that which saw its commencement. A snapshot of the late republic, it offers a vivid and detailed account of the troubled Roman empire near the turn to the common era. In it, Caesar recounts his break with the Senate and general Pompey and narrates the events of the nineteen months of civil war that followed. It ends after general Pompey's death, amidst the lead up to the Alexandrian war that initiated the next phase of the fight for Rome. The work shows the brilliance for which Caesar's oratory, like his generalship, was known. The primary topics covered in this introduction to Caesar's gripping history are the generic background of Caesar's commentarii or "Notebooks," his criteria for selection of material, the contemporary context of the civil war, the literary techniques employed, and the work's characterization and structure. General aids to the reader include maps to accompany the particular events discussed, a timeline of the civil war and of Caesar's life, explanation of technical terms, and a glossary.

Studies on the Text of Caesar's Bellum civile is a companion volume to Damon's revised Oxford Classical Texts edition of Caesar's Bellum civile, his account of his civil war with Pompey. Comprising three parts, this volume investigates the detailed philological arguments that underpin the revised edition of the text. The first part supplements the preface of the Oxford Classical Texts edition, providing an expanded background on the history of the text and a more detailed argument for the shape of the stemma. The second part is a discussion of nature and the causes of the difficulties present in the text of the Bellum civile and their consequences for the revised edition. The third part presents a series of around 75 notes on different areas of the text, exploring in depth the contentions behind the various remedies suggested in the critical apparatus of the Oxford Classical Texts edition.

Civil wars, more than other wars, sear themselves into the memory of societies that suffer them. This is particularly true at Rome, where in a period of 150 years the Romans fought four epochal wars against themselves. The present volume brings together exciting new perspectives on the subject by an international group of distinguished contributors. The basis of the investigation is broad, encompassing literary texts, documentary texts, and material culture, spanning the Greek and Roman worlds. Attention is devoted not only to Rome's four major conflicts from the period between the 80s BC and AD 69, but the frame extends to engage conflicts both previous and much later, as well as post-classical constructions of the theme of civil war at Rome. Divided into four sections, the first ("Beginnings, Endings") addresses the basic questions of when civil war began in Rome and when it ended. "Cycles" is concerned with civil war as a recurrent phenomenon without end. "Aftermath" focuses on attempts to put civil war in the past, or, conversely, to claim the legacy of past civil wars, for better or worse. Finally, the section "Afterlife" provides views of Rome's civil wars from more distant perspectives, from those found in Augustan lyric and elegy to those in much later post-classical literary responses. As a whole, the collection sheds new light on the ways in which the Roman civil wars were perceived, experienced, and represented across a variety of media and historical periods.

In the context of recent challenges to long-standing assumptions about the nature of Ennius' Annals and the editorial methods appropriate to the poem's fragmentary remains, this volume seeks to move Ennian studies forward on three axes. First, a re-evaluation of the literary and historical precedents for and building blocks of Ennius' poem in order to revise the history of early Latin literature. Second, a cross-fertilization of recent critical approaches to the fields of poetry and historiography. Third, reflection on the tools and methods that will best serve future literary and historical research on the Annals and its reception. Adopting different approaches to these broad topics, the fourteen papers in this volume illustrate how much can be said about Ennius' poem and its place in literary history independent of any commitment to inevitably speculative totalizing interpretations.

The first historical work by Rome's greatest historian, Tacitus' Histories hold a crucial place in the history of Latin literature. Book I covers the beginning of the infamous 'Year of the Four Emperors' (69 CE), which brought imperial Rome to the brink of destruction after the demise of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius ride the currents of senatorial politics and military sedition to power, while the survivor Vespasian waits just off-stage. After a distinguished public career during the principates of Vespasian and his sons, Tacitus, in middle age, embarked on a historical narrative recording the seering events of the Rome of his youth. This edition provides a Latin text of Book I, a commentary accessible to students of intermediate level and above, and an introduction discussing historical, literary, and stylistic issues. The chance survival of three parallel accounts permits detailed analysis of Tacitus' selection and stylization of material.

Caesar's Civil War is an unfinished masterpiece. It was abandoned by an author who found himself living in a different world than that which saw its commencement. A snapshot of the late republic, it offers a vivid and detailed account of the troubled Roman empire near the turn to the common era. In it, Caesar recounts his break with the Senate and general Pompey and narrates the events of the nineteen months of civil war that followed. It ends after general Pompey's death, amidst the lead up to the Alexandrian war that initiated the next phase of the fight for Rome. The work shows the brilliance for which Caesar's oratory, like his generalship, was known. The primary topics covered in this introduction to Caesar's gripping history are the generic background of Caesar's commentarii or "Notebooks," his criteria for selection of material, the contemporary context of the civil war, the literary techniques employed, and the work's characterization and structure. General aids to the reader include maps to accompany the particular events discussed, a timeline of the civil war and of Caesar's life, explanation of technical terms, and a glossary.

A compelling new translation of Tacitus' Annals, one of the greatest accounts of ancient Rome, by Cynthia Damon. Tacitus' Annals recounts the major historical events from the years shortly before the death of Augustus to the death of Nero in AD 68. With clarity and vivid intensity Tacitus describes the reign of terror under the corrupt Tiberius, the great fire of Rome during the time of Nero and the wars, poisonings, scandals, conspiracies and murders that were part of imperial life. Despite his claim that the Annals were written objectively, Tacitus' account is sharply critical of the emperors' excesses and fearful for the future of imperial Rome, while also filled with a longing for its past glories.

Oxford Classical Texts, also known as Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, provide authoritative, clear, and reliable editions of ancient texts, with apparatus criticus on each page. In this revised critical edition of Caesar's account of his civil war against Pompey during 49-48 BC, Damon allows readers to get closer to the renowned author's original writings than ever before. Based on a new collation of the ancient manuscripts and on a stemma that permits the reconstruction of the archetype more frequently than has previously been possible, the text is suitable for classroom use in upper-level Latin classes, as well as for reading and research purposes. A comprehensive English preface is followed by a conspectus editionum, which lists the 300+ places where modern editions of the text differ from each other, while the Latin text is complemented by an expanded and up-to-date critical apparatus. Also included are an appendix critica which allows readers to gauge the character of the manuscript witnesses to the text, and an appendix orthographica which explains the orthographical principles underlying the printed text. This Oxford Classical Text is also accompanied by a companion volume, Studies on the Text of Caesar's Bellum civile, which presents the detailed philological arguments underpinning this revised edition.