LATN 773 Lucretius: Class Reports

5. Th Sept. 7 Read in Latin DRN 829-1117.
Report: The history of the text of Lucretius. Reporter: Ted.
Read Bailey Vol. 1 pp. 37ff, and supplement or correct it with a few pages from Texts and Transmissions (photocopy, from me), the intro to Smith’s Loeb, and two pages of Kenney, Comm on Book III. Tell how the text of L. survived, what manuscripts there are now, and what we know about the "archetype" (esp. on missing lines, etc.).

6. T Sept. 12 Read in Latin DRN 2.1-477
Close reader of
2.20-36. Reporter: Sarah.  The fairly recent comm. by Fowler will be the main source here.

7. Th Sept. 14 Read in Latin DRN 2.478-660
Close reader of 2.
610-28 (Magna Mater)Reporter: Patrick 

8. T Sept. 19 Read in Latin DRN 2.661-990
Report: The addressee of the De Rerum Natura. Reporter: Cameron.
Use whatever is in Clay, or basic commentaries, and read Mitsis P. (1993) "Committing Philosophy on the Reader: Didactic Coercion and Reader Autonomy in De Rerum Natura", MD 31: 111-28; and Conte, G. B. (1994) "Instructions for a Sublime Reader: Form of the text and Form of the Addressee in Lucretius' De rerum natura", chap. 1 in Genres and readers: Lucretius, love elegy, Pliny’s Encyclopedia (Baltimore)

11. Th Sept. 28  Read in Latin DRN 
Read in Latin DRN 3.350-583
Report: Philodemus of Gadara. Reporter: John E.
Start with the OCD (3rd edition) article on P; then read about the Philodemus project at the UCLA website (http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/classics/Philodemus/philhome.htm --some info is a little old)  (such links are on my lucretiuslinks page). Then read Sider, Epigrams of P, Intro pp. 3-24 for background, Clay Intro to Obbink, ed., P and Poetry, pp. 3-14 for the types of things people are doing with P., and look over Obbink's (somewhat difficult) chapter "How to Read Poetry about Gods" at pp. 189-209 in the same volume. and look very briefly at Obbink's edition of De Pietate mainly to get a sense of what it's like to work with P.

12. T Oct. 3   Read in Latin DRN 3.584-829
Close reader of something in  3.584-829 (maybe 642-56?) : Ted

13. Th Oct. 5  Read in Latin DRN 3.830-1094
Report: Cicero and the Epicureans. Reporter: Fred.
Read the selections from C. in Inwood, ed., The Epicurus Reader 47-64 (in Classics Library, on reserve), and then for one work, the Republic, read T. Maslowski, "The Chronology of Cicero's Anti-Epicureanism, " Eos 62 (1974) 55-78 (which has much general info too) (xerox, from me) and Zetzel, "De Re Publica and De Rerum Natura" in Style and Tradition: Studies... Clausen (xerox, from me). You could also (i.e. this is optional) read more of Cic. De Natura Deorum, De Finibus (excerpts of each are online at http://www.epicurus.info/etexts.html), De Div., etc. and for a more challenging philosophical argument see Stokes "Cicero on Epicurean Pleasures" in Cicero the Philosopher: Twelve Papers, ed. Powell (in Uhlmann Classics Library)
)
18. Th Oct. 26 (probably)
Report: Lucretius as a Hellenistic Poet; Lucretius and Callimachus: Reporter : Sarah.
Read Kenney, "Doctus Lucretius" (make photocopy from old bound coursepack), Brown "Lucretius & Callimachus" (make photocopy from old bound coursepack), and the objections of Knox, "Lucretius on the narrow road" (make photocopy from one on reserve).

21. Th Nov. 9 (or possibly later)
Report: The Proems of the De Rerum Natura. Reporter : Patrick.  Read Gale "Lucretius 4.1-25 and the proems of the De rerum Natura," Cox, "Lucretius and his Message: a Study in the Prologues of the De Rerum Natura"; also use whatever has been said about prologies in earlier sec. readings (including Sedley, and O'Hara proofs).

Close readings:
Fred 5.907-24
Cameron
4.1121-40
John  6.1225-46




Some other possible reports:

The Proems of the De Rerum Natura.

Lucretius as a Hellenistic Poet

The Structure of the De Rerum Natura

Diogenes of
Oenoanda

report on newish articles/book