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Lucretius' philosophical epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of
Things) is a lengthy didactic and narrative celebration of the
universe and, in particular, the world of nature and creation in
which humanity finds its abode. This earliest surviving full scale
epic poem from ancient Rome was of immense influence and
significance to the development of the Latin epic tradition, and
continues to challenge and haunt its readers to the present day. A
Reading of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura offers a comprehensive
commentary on this great work of Roman poetry and philosophy. Lee
Fratantuono reveals Lucretius to be a poet with deep and abiding
interest in the nature of the Roman identity as the children of
both Venus (through Aeneas) and Mars (through Romulus); the
consequences (both positive and negative) of descent from the
immortal powers of love and war are explored in vivid epic
narrative, as the poet progresses from his invocation to the mother
of the children of Aeneas through to the burning funeral pyres of
the plague at Athens. Lucretius' epic offers the possibility of
serenity and peaceful reflection on the mysteries of the nature of
the world, even as it shatters any hope of immortality through its
bleak vision of post mortem oblivion. And in the process of
defining what it means both to be human and Roman, Lucretius offers
a horrifying vision of the perils of excessive devotion both to the
gods and our fellow men, a commentary on the nature of pietas that
would serve as a warning for Virgil in his later depiction of the
Trojan Aeneas.
The third century AD was one of unprecedented crisis and chaos for
the Roman Empire. Nightmares both internal and external threatened
to spell the end of Rome's thousand-year history. Diocletian was
born either a slave or a freedman, and he grew up to become the
saviour of Rome in her hour of crisis, a powerful military and
political leader who transformed the Roman Empire from a hotbed of
unceasing strife and turmoil into a renewed, restored, revivified
and stable polity. His more than twenty years of power were marked
by the ill-fated Great Persecution of the Christians, an
undertaking that would prove to be one of the less successful
initiatives of his reign, even as in its own way it helped to pave
the way for the coming of an equally famous, successful emperor in
the person of Constantine the Great. The present study seeks to
provide an introduction to the life and times of Diocletian for the
general reader, offering a balanced portrait of an immensely
talented man in a time of trial and tumult, an accomplished emperor
who knew when it was time to retire to his gardens.
Few surviving works of classical literature have cast the haunting,
hilarious, insightful, and eerie spell conjured by the Satyricon of
the Neronian courtier and eventual victim Petronius. Fragmentary,
opaque, and enigmatic, at times it seems that deception and
obfuscation are the favorite tricks of its author. A Reading of
Petronius’ Satyricon offers a fresh look at this genre-defying
masterpiece, proceeding episode by episode and scene by scene
through a vision of the hell that humanity has fashioned for
itself. Petronius mercilessly and exactingly appraises Rome’s
embrace of the Golden Age dreams of the Augustan principate,
judging his fellow citizens and himself by the yardstick of the
Neronian reign that broods over them like an avenging specter.
Petronius' Satyricon offers medicine for ambulatory corpses, a
prescription that consists of notifying the dead of the diagnosis,
and of pointing out the inevitable and eminently logical antidote
for those consumed by insatiable hunger and unfulfillable longing.
Bitterly sardonic and preternaturally serene, Lee Fratantuono’s
reading reveals Petronius to be nothing less than the ultimate
literary voice of a dying dynasty, a prose and poetic verbal
magician of serious intention, a virtuoso in the art of unmasking
the ghoulish horror and inconsolable sadness that lurk often just
below the surface of the comic.
Madness Triumphant: A Reading of Lucan's Pharsalia offers the most
detailed and comprehensive analysis of Lucan's epic poem of the
civil war between Caesar and Pompey to have appeared in English. In
the manner of his previous books on Virgil and Ovid, Professor
Fratantuono considers the Pharsalia as an epic investigation of the
nature of fury and madness in Rome, this time during the increasing
insanity of Nero's reign. The volume proceeds chapter by chapter,
book by book through Lucan's poem, as it unfolds the thesis that
the poet Lucan crafted an epic response to both Virgil and Ovid,
the closing movement in a three act tragedy of madness. In response
to the Aeneid, Lucan raises the idea that the final ethnographic
settlement of Trojans and Italians may not have been for the best,
while in response to the Metamorphoses, he explores the idea that
the immortality achieved by the poet may not, after all, prove to
be a blessing. An introduction and bibliography provide additional
direction for the study of this greatest surviving work of
literature from the so-called Silver Age of Neronian literature,
while the individual chapters offer in-depth bibliographical
citations and extensive annotation as a guide to further study of
the poem. Lucan's poem is revealed to be the consummate hymn to
fury, as the poet offers a return to the opening of Homer's Iliad
and the wrath of Achilles, which is now viewed as part of an
unending cycle of madness that will end only in the flames of a
global conflagration that will consume all things. The pervasive
intertext of Lucan's epic poem with his predecessor Manilius'
Astronomica is also investigated, as the nature of Lucan's response
to both Stoic and Epicurean antecedents is explored. Manilius'
stars are virtually sprinkled through the Pharsalia, as the heavens
offer a celestial canvas for the poet of fury to illustrate the
beautiful lies that may ultimately be shown to conceal even more
seductive truths.
Pushing the Boundaries of Historia collects together 20 chapters,
whose coverage extends from the prehistory of Greece through early
Christianity in the Roman Empire to the reception of classical
texts by contemporary playwrights and poets. The essays range
beyond Greece and Rome to the ancient realms of Persia and China
and explore a vast array of ancient authors - Homer, Herodotus,
Thucydides, Euripides, Vergil, Ovid, Livy, and Tacitus. Written by
philologists, historians, epigraphers, palaeographers,
archaeologists, and art historians, it brings together the best of
old and new traditions of classical study, from senior emeritus
faculty with established records of scholarly productivity, to the
newest generation of classics and archaeology professors. What
draws together the disparate strands of academic inquiry found in
these pages is a passion for understanding how the lessons of the
world of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and their still lamentably
understudied neighbors, can offer commentary on the contemporary
world.
Madness Unchained is a comprehensive introduction to and study of
Virgil's Aeneid. The book moves through Virgil's epic scene by
scene and offers a detailed explication of not only all the major
(and many minor) difficulties of interpretation, but also provides
a cohesive argument that explores Virgil's point in writing this
epic of Roman mythology and Augustan propaganda: the role of fury
or madness in Rome's national identity. There have been other books
that have attempted to present a complete guide to the Aeneid, but
this is the first to address every episode in the poem, omitting
nothing, and aiming itself at an audience that ranges from the
Advanced Placement Virgil student in secondary school to the
professional Virgilian and everyone in-between, both Latinists and
the Latin-less. Individual chapters correspond to the books of the
poem; unlike some volumes that prejudice the reader's
interpretation of the work by rearranging the order of episodes in
order to influence their impact on the audience, this book moves in
the order Virgil intended, and also gives rather fuller exposition
to the second half of the poem, Virgil's self-proclaimed "greater
work" (maius opus). The notes to each chapter, as well as the
"Selected Bibliography," are meant to provide a guide to the dense
forest that is Virgilian scholarship. The notes aim at
familiarizing the interested reader with the better and lesser
known byways of Virgilian criticism, both English/American and
continental, and at introducing the reader to some of the perennial
problems of Virgilian literary criticism. It is hoped that Madness
Unchained will become the standard introductory guide to the poem,
useful in college and university courses in mythology, Roman
literature, epic poetry, and Virgil (in Latin or translation), as
well as offering a reappraisal of the poem to the many readers and
scholars in other disciplines who know they should "like" the
Aeneid, but who have always been perplexed by the seemingly stra
Madness Unchained is a comprehensive introduction to and study of
Virgil's Aeneid. The book moves through Virgil's epic scene by
scene and offers a detailed explication of not only all the major
(and many minor) difficulties of interpretation, but also provides
a cohesive argument that explores Virgil's point in writing this
epic of Roman mythology and Augustan propaganda: the role of fury
or madness in Rome's national identity. There have been other books
that have attempted to present a complete guide to the Aeneid, but
this is the first to address every episode in the poem, omitting
nothing, and aiming itself at an audience that ranges from the
Advanced Placement Virgil student in secondary school to the
professional Virgilian and everyone in-between, both Latinists and
the Latin-less. Individual chapters correspond to the books of the
poem; unlike some volumes that prejudice the reader's
interpretation of the work by rearranging the order of episodes in
order to influence their impact on the audience, this book moves in
the order Virgil intended, and also gives rather fuller exposition
to the second half of the poem, Virgil's self-proclaimed 'greater
work' (maius opus).
A good argument could be made that the Battle of Actium was the
most significant military engagement in Roman history. On a bright
September day, the naval forces of Octavian clashed with those of
Antony and Cleopatra off the coast of western Greece. The victory
Octavian enjoyed that day set the state for forty-four years of
what would come to be known as the Augustan Peace, and was in no
small way the dawn of the Roman Empire. Yet, despite its
significance, what exactly happened at Actium has been a mystery,
despite significant labours and effort on the part of many
classicists and military historians both amateur and professional.
Professor Lee Fratantuono re-examines the ancient evidence and
presents a compelling and solidly documented account of what took
place in the waters off the promontory of Leucas in late August and
early September of 31 B.C.
Lucretius' philosophical epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of
Things) is a lengthy didactic and narrative celebration of the
universe and, in particular, the world of nature and creation in
which humanity finds its abode. This earliest surviving full scale
epic poem from ancient Rome was of immense influence and
significance to the development of the Latin epic tradition, and
continues to challenge and haunt its readers to the present day. A
Reading of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura offers a comprehensive
commentary on this great work of Roman poetry and philosophy. Lee
Fratantuono reveals Lucretius to be a poet with deep and abiding
interest in the nature of the Roman identity as the children of
both Venus (through Aeneas) and Mars (through Romulus); the
consequences (both positive and negative) of descent from the
immortal powers of love and war are explored in vivid epic
narrative, as the poet progresses from his invocation to the mother
of the children of Aeneas through to the burning funeral pyres of
the plague at Athens. Lucretius' epic offers the possibility of
serenity and peaceful reflection on the mysteries of the nature of
the world, even as it shatters any hope of immortality through its
bleak vision of post mortem oblivion. And in the process of
defining what it means both to be human and Roman, Lucretius offers
a horrifying vision of the perils of excessive devotion both to the
gods and our fellow men, a commentary on the nature of pietas that
would serve as a warning for Virgil in his later depiction of the
Trojan Aeneas.
Madness Transformed: A Reading of Ovid's Metamorphoses is a
detailed critical examination of a masterpiece of Augustan Latin
epic poetry. In the manner of Lee Fratantuono's previous volume,
Madness Unchained: A Reading of Virgil's Aeneid, this sequel seeks
to explicate Ovid's magnum opus by moving scene by scene through
the entire work. Through a close study of Ovid's limpid dactylic
hexameters, Fratantuono demonstrates the way in which the
Metamorphoses stands forth as a bold answer to the Aeneid as
another epic consideration of the enigma that was the Augustan
principate, with a vision of Roman history (and literature) that
both responds to and challenges Virgil. Much of what Virgil left
enigmatic and ambiguous is addressed more directly by Ovid, who,
unlike his epic predecessor, suffered rather than prospered under
the Augustan regime. Madness Transformed considers each tale of
wondrous metamorphosis and ironic commentary as it seeks to provide
a coherent reading of what might appear a most incoherent poem.
Fratantuono carefully examines and critiques secondary scholarship
on the Metamorphoses, but the primary method for this journey
through Ovid is a close reading of what Ovid the epic poet (and
Roman historian) actually says. Fratantuono pays special attention
to the sources for Ovid's myths and the Nachleben of Ovid's great
achievement, especially in medieval and Renaissance France. These
considerations will prove valuable to any reader of classical
literature and Roman history from novice to expert. An annotated
bibliography provides a guide to further reading on the poem, while
the introduction offers a foundation for this study: Ovid as reader
of Virgil, in the aftermath of some of the more momentous turning
points of Augustus' reign. The madness that was unchained in
Virgil, destined to haunt Rome forever, is now revealed by Ovid to
have been transformed, as Rome moves definitively from Republic to
Empire.
Pushing the Boundaries of Historia collects together 20 chapters,
whose coverage extends from the prehistory of Greece through early
Christianity in the Roman Empire to the reception of classical
texts by contemporary playwrights and poets. The essays range
beyond Greece and Rome to the ancient realms of Persia and China
and explore a vast array of ancient authors - Homer, Herodotus,
Thucydides, Euripides, Vergil, Ovid, Livy, and Tacitus. Written by
philologists, historians, epigraphers, palaeographers,
archaeologists, and art historians, it brings together the best of
old and new traditions of classical study, from senior emeritus
faculty with established records of scholarly productivity, to the
newest generation of classics and archaeology professors. What
draws together the disparate strands of academic inquiry found in
these pages is a passion for understanding how the lessons of the
world of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and their still lamentably
understudied neighbors, can offer commentary on the contemporary
world.
Book XVI of Tacitus' Annals is the last of the surviving books of
the great Roman historian's monumental account of the reigns of the
emperors from Tiberius to Nero. The unfinished book offers a
stunning portrait of Nero in his last years, a man now free of the
restraining influences of his mother Agrippina and tutor Seneca.
Annals XVI presents such unforgettable scenes as the spectacle of
Petronius' suicide, and the mad quest of Nero to find the gold of
the Carthaginian queen Dido. This edition provides a commentary to
the entire book, with notes carefully aimed at first-time readers
of Tacitus as well as more advanced students. An introduction
provides a guide to what we know of Tacitus' life and work, as well
as to the reign of Nero and Tacitus' depiction of an empire in
transition, of a Rome teetering on the verge of chaos and collapse.
A full vocabulary at the end of the volume is a vital resource for
students preparing this text for class work or assessment.
The military achievements of Lucius Licinius Lucullus (118-57/56
B.C.) have been the subject of admiration and great respect
throughout the history of the study of warfare. Yet there have been
few studies dedicated to a comprehensive examination of exactly how
Lucullus conquered the Roman East and made it a more or less
cohesive part of the empire. Lee Frantantuono considers every
aspect of Lucullus life, starting with the training and education
of a future Roman officer, but the greatest emphasis is on his
military strategy and tactics during the Third Mithridatic War and
his military adventures in Armenia. His most famous achievement was
his victory against immense odds at the land battle of
Tigranocerta. We are also reminded that he one of the most
formidable naval strategists of the Roman Republic. Lucullus
complicated relationship with Sulla and Crassus is explored and the
study concludes with the retirement of the man Pliny the Elder
memorably referred to as 'Xerxes in a Toga', a patron of the arts
and master of a life of horticulture and reflection.
Metamorphoses is an epic-style, narrative poem written in
hexameters. Original, inventive and charming, the poem tells the
stories of myths featuring transformations, from the creation of
the universe to the death and deification of Julius Caesar. Book X
contains some of Ovid's most memorable stories: Orpheus and
Eurydice, Pygmalion, Atalanta and Hippomenes (with the race for the
golden apples), Venus and Adonis, and Myrrha. This edition contains
the Latin text as well as in-depth commentary notes which provide
language support, explain difficult words and phrases, highlight
literary features and supply background knowledge. The introduction
presents an overview of Ovid and the historical and literary
context, as well as a plot synopsis and a discussion of the
literary genre and metre. Suggested reading is also included.
A good argument could be made that the Battle of Actium was the
most significant military engagement in Roman history. On a bright
September day, the naval forces of Octavian clashed with those of
Antony and Cleopatra off the coast of western Greece. The victory
Octavian enjoyed that day set the state for forty-four years of
what would come to be known as the Augustan Peace, and was in no
small way the dawn of the Roman Empire. Yet, despite its
significance, what exactly happened at Actium has been a mystery,
despite significant labours and effort on the part of many
classicists and military historians both amateur and professional.
Professor Lee Fratantuono re-examines the ancient evidence and
presents a compelling and solidly documented account of what took
place in the waters off the promontory of Leucas in late August and
early September of 31 B.C.
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