Giornale Italiano di Filologia

In Her. 1,133,2 l’espressione πεινῶντας παύεσθαι è interpretata in genere nel senso che i Persiani sostenevano che Greci, quando essi dopo il δεῖπνον smettevano di mangiare, avevano ancora fame. Jacques Jouanna ha proposto un’interpretazione diversa che fa dipendere il participio dal verbo παύεσθαι: dopo il pranzo i Greci cessano solamente di aver fame. Q uesta proposta è corretta, ma per ben intendere il passo occorre considerare globalmente le abitudini dei Greci, i quali ad un momento riservato ai pasti facevano seguire uno specificamente riservato al vino (il simposio). Erodoto vuol dire che i Greci, al dire dei Persiani, non cesserebbero di mangiare nel dopo cena (ἀπὸ δείπνου), ovvero durante il simposio vero e proprio, se fossero loro proposti dei dessert degni di questo nome.

In Her. 1,133,2 the expression πεινῶντας παύεσθαι is related to the Persians’ opinion about the Greeks that when after the δεῖπνον they stopped eating, they were still hungry. Jacques Jouanna has proposed a different interpretation which makes the participle depend on the verb παύεσθαι: after the δεῖπνον, the Greeks only stopped being hungry. This proposal is correct, but, in order to understand the passage in the right way, one needs to globally consider the habits of the Greek people, who had two specific different times first for the meals and after for the wine (the symposium). Herodotus means that the Greeks, according to the Persians, would not stop eating in the afterdinner (ἀπὸ δείπνου), that is during the real symposium, if they were proposed some desserts worthy of this name.

In the Eclogues Vergil elevates Daphnis from the lovesick cowherd of Theocritean poetry to an energizing spirit that rules the Roman countryside. To this direction, he invests Daphnis with elements from the two most contrasting heroes of antiquity: gentle and musically inclined, Daphnis experiences an Orphic death and is mourned by his mother (Verg.Ec.5.23), just like Calliope had once grieved for her son, Orpheus (A.P.7.8.5). Still, at the point of his apotheosis Daphnis is cast as another Heracles at the threshold of heavens (Ec.5.56; cf. Hes. Th.950-955). Here I argue that Vergil wished to invest the Sicilian cowherd with the mystic associations for which both Orpheus and Heracles were popular by the later Hellenistic period and whose source can be traced in near eastern pastoral traditions. Vergil acknowledged Daphnis’ affinity with these traditions, as advocated in Theocritus, but was also aware of other sources that further supported the eastern origins of the religious authority ascribed to Orpheus and Heracles. Thus, far from inventing a new god, Vergil remains faithful to his penchant for drawing on ancient traditions in order to cast Daphnis as a divine savior and an ideal frontrunner of the Augustan age.

On parle volontiers de « réforme du calendrier » à propos de la modification du comput du temps par Jules César; mais il serait plus judicieux de parler de révolution, tant les modifications rendent l’usage antérieur obsolète et instaurent une nouvelle ère, en même temps qu’ils élargissent au temps le pouvoir que le dictateur exerçait sur l’espace. La division du mois, de son côté, subit elle aussi des transformations radicales dont la chronologie est généralement mal maîtrisée. Il s’agira ici de traquer les premières apparitions de la semaine et son intégration dans le calendrier.

‘Calendar reform’ is usually said about the change of reckoning of the time by Caesar; but it would be better to speak about revolution, so much so that the modifications made the previous use obsolete and established a new era, while at the same time extending to time the power which the dictator already exercised on space. On the other hand, the division of the month also underwent radical modifications, but its chronology is not generally well-understood. Here we will examine when the week first appeared and how it was integrated into the calendar.

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht den unspektakulären, unpolitischen Suizid in der römischen Kaiserzeit, vollzogen zum Beispiel aufgrund von Lebensüberdruss sowie wegen unerträglicher Krankheit und Schmerzen. Es wird die These vertreten, dass dieser weitaus stärker verbreitet gewesen ist als gemeinhin angenommen wird. Dafür sprechen unter anderem medizinhistorische Quellen.

The present article focuses on the unspectacular suicide in the Roman imperial period, not motivated by political reasons, but rather, for example, by world-weariness or unbearable illness and pain. The main hypothesis is that this form of suicide was more widespread than commonly assumed. This assumption is based on – inter alia – medicalhistorical evidence.

Amida (now known as Diyarbakır) is a city of geographical and chronological boundaries. Set on the Roman-Persian limes, it may have been (re)founded on two occasions during Late Antiquity: a first time by Constantius II who, according to Syriac authors cherished it above any other city of his empire, and shortly after by Valens, if we are to go by the only Latin inscription found on the site. It was therefore both one of the latest and one of the most recent cities. Likewise, following the loss of Nisibis in 363, it became the most eastern Roman city of the Empire.

Thus, as we are bound to the period and space of ancient Rome, the nature of the site questions the implementation of norms, and the deviations from norms. Here, its border location meant that Amida was a window case for the Roman world, a weapon of armed Romanisation which, therefore, showed all that Rome had retained, and wished to display, of its millennial experience.

Recent work has revealed that the urban structure stems from an ‘etrusco ritu’ plan, compliant with the canons of classic Roman influence, to such an extent that it seems to be an exact replica of a groma design. Yet this demonstration swayed between measure and excess, particularly when the city was equipped with the most formidable black basalt wall of the Middle-East.

The dynamics of this policy can also be deduced from the hapax formed by the classicising development of late Upper-Mesopotamian art, in particular the Christian art of Tur’Abdin, whose characteristics continue to astonish the scientific community. Recent studies have demonstrated that certain architectural cartoons stem from the observation of Amida’s monuments.

Il difficile brano di Verg. ecl. 10,50-51, più volte indagato dagli studiosi, che ne hanno dato interpretazioni anche assai divergenti, può essere letto come una sintesi delle idee e del procedimento sviluppati nell’intera ecloga, nel costante confronto della bucolica virgiliana sia con la poesia elegiaca di Gallo, sia con la tradizione di poesia pastorale teocritea.

The complex verses of Verg. ecl. 10,50-51, studied many times with different results, can be read as a synthesis of the ideas and the proceedings developed in the whole eclogue, in the comparison between Vergilian bucolic poetry and Gallan elegy, but also in relation to the Theocritean pastoral tradition.

En s’inspirant de la critique lucrétienne de l’idéalisation amoureuse, Horace et Ovide conseillent un discours indulgent, l’un sur les imperfections de l’amicus (Satire I, 3), l’autre sur celles de l’amica (Art d’aimer, livre II). Dans les deux cas cette euphémisation, dirigée par la raison et la volonté, repose sur une utilisation consciente du langage pour modifier la représentation et a pour but de maintenir heureusement la relation. Chez le poète satirique elle est liée à une éducation du regard (apprendre à rendre justice à l’autre et prendre conscience de ses propres défauts); chez le magister amoris elle est d’abord orientée vers l’autre, comme compliment galant, avec pour effet secondaire l’autosuggestion. L’indulgence du discours illustre ici deux conceptions de la douceur: Horace demande une atténuation du jugement par souci de l’amitié, qui implique bienveillance et réciprocité; Ovide entend la douceur comme complaisance pour cultiver l’illusion indispensable à la relation amoureuse, dans une atmosphère de paix. On peut ainsi déduire une série: aveuglement dénoncé par Lucrèce (caecus), douceur amicale recommandée par Horace (dulcis), flatterie revendiquée par Ovide (blandus).

Drawing on the Lucretian critique of love-induced idealization, Horace and Ovid promote an “indulgent discourse”, one on the flaws of amicus (Satires I, 3), the other on those of amica (Ars amatoria book II). In both cases this euphemization, guided by reason and will, is based on a conscious use of language to modify the representation, and is intended to maintain a good relationship. From the satirist’s point of view it is linked to an education of moral perception (learning to do justice to the other and being aware of one’s own shortcomings); but for the magister amoris it is first of all focused on the other, as a gallant compliment, with autosuggestion as a side effect. The lenient discourse highlights two conceptions of gentleness here: Horace asks to make allowances for the sake of friendship, which implies benevolence and reciprocity. Ovid conceives kindness as a complacent attitude which allows one to cultivate the illusions required by love, in an atmosphere of peace. One may infer a series, amorous blindness denounced by Lucretius (caecus), friendly kindness recommended by Horace (dulcis), flattery professed by Ovid (blandus).

This article proposes to solve the question of whether Porphyry could be considered to have been one of the authors of Augustine’s Platonicorum libri by centering on a seemingly marginal detail: Augustine’s acquaintance, during his stay in Italy and immediately after his return to Africa, with Porphyry’s engagement with the doctrine of the astral body. The writings of Porphyry that were allegedly part of the Platonicorum libri show a clear and unmistakable presence of the doctrine of the astral body. However, in his works composed in Italy Augustine does not appear to be aware of this. Thus, most likely Porphyry’s works were not part of the books that had such a great influence in Augustine’s conversion.

I principi di sintassi interna che regolano la strutturazione delle linee degli Hisperica Famina palesano affinità con altri testi paralleli, fra i quali alcune iscrizioni metriche di argomento sepolcrale, provenienti dalla Spagna visigotica, raccolte ed edite da José Vives. La predilezione, palesata dai faminatores, per le strutture in iperbato potrebbe denotare la volontà di riprodurre, in una sorta di prosa artistica, l’eleganza propria dell’esametro classico: in tal senso, i Famina potrebbero collegarsi ad una lunga tradizione, quella dell’influenza della poesia esametrica sulla prosa. Altri testi affini risultano il Carmen Paschale di Celio Sedulio e l’epistola di Aldelmo a Heahfrith.

The internal syntax principles in the structuring of the lines of Hisperica Famina reveal affinities with other parallel texts, including some metrical inscriptions of burial subject, from Visigothic Spain, collected and edited by José Vives. The predilection, clearly evident in the Hisperica Famina, for hyperbatic structures could denote the will to reproduce, in a sort of artistic prose, elegance of classical hexameter: in this sense, the Famina could connect to a long tradition, that of influence of hexametrical poetry on prose. Other related texts are the Carmen Paschale of Celius Sedulius and the epistle of Aldhelm to Heahfrith.

Fino al XIII secolo le Passiones e le Legendae sanctorum erano per lo più ad usum chori, specie nei monasteri. Gli ordini mendicanti, in particolare i domenicani, si dedicarono alla predicazione e per essi non erano necessari i grandi codici corali, ma agili libretti, che, raccontando le vite dei santi spesso anche in modo estremamente ridotto, potessero diventare uno stimolo per i fedeli. Il latino ormai incomprensibile si abbandona per necessità, ed ecco la stagione dei grandi volgarizzamenti religiosi. Accanto ai libretti di devozioni con le preghiere e i precetti dei buoni cristiani, si moltiplicano e sono resi accessibili opere come i Dialoghi di Gregorio Magno, che, ad imitazione delle Vitas Patrum, si attengono all’essenziale, ridotti spesso al minimo, e diventano momento esemplare nella predicazione, scendendo anche dal pulpito, come avvenne per alcuni racconti: Paolino da Nola è tratteggiato nel Novellino, secondo quel rapporto di osmosi tra sacro e profano che sta all’origine della novella. Vite dei santi, dunque, in grandi raccolte, come la Legenda aurea, lavoro di impegno e vastità e complessità, ‘aggiornato’ persino dopo la morte di Iacopo da Varazze. Ma anche vite singole, perché la devozione di un borgo, di una confraternita, di un privato, richiedeva una scelta. E così abbiamo tante versioni e, come nel nostro caso, due vite di Gregorio: la prima, che apre i mss., è anonima, forse nata in volgare a Firenze a metà Trecento circa; la seconda, che conclude i mss. con i quattro libri dei Dialoghi, è volgarizzamento dalla Legenda aurea, anche questo anonimo. Si esamina pure, testi alla mano, quella che può sembrare una ‘teoria della traduzione’, vista con gli occhi di quattro volgarizzatori dei Dialogi e si pubblica una inedita vita di Gregorio Magno.

Until to XIII century Passiones and Legendae sanctorum were mostly ad usum chori, especially in monasteries and cloisters. Mendicant orders, particularly Dominicans, pursued preaching and didn’t need large choral codices, but light booklets, often summarizing lives of saints, to stimulate believers. By the time incomprehensible, Latin was necessarily abandoned and since begins the season of great volgarizzamenti (translacion into the vernacular). Next to devotional booklets, with prayers and precepts for good Christians, other works, like Dialoghi by Gregory the Great, grow and are made accessible; these works, like Vitas Patrum, are condensed and become exemplary moment of preaching, coming down from pulpit, as happened for some tales: Paulinus of Nola is outlined in Novellino, according to that correlation of osmosis between sacred and profane that’s at the origin of novella. So lives of saints in large collections, like Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine, work of dedication and extent and complexity, updated even after the death of Jacobus. But also individual lives, because the devotion of a village, confraternity, private citizen, needed a choice. So we have many versions and in this case two lives of Gregory: the first, opening manuscripts, is anonymous, maybe born in Florence in volgare around at the half of the fourteenth century; the second, anonymous too, closing manuscripts with four books of Dialoghi, is volgarizzamento from Legenda Aurea. We examine, according to texts, what may seems a ‘theory of translation’, seen though the eyes of four volgarizzatori of Dialogi and we public an unpublished live of Gregory the Great.

The face of Portuguese Humanism has been frequently presented to us from a clearly male perspective. Nevertheless, numerous women from this period have distinguished themselves in the Arts, Letters and Education. Such women form an impressive retinue of historical figures, having contributed by way of their actions to the country’s growth, strength, modernization and vision of the future. This paper will attempt to stress to what extent these illustrious women have remained a role model for many generations by virtue of their teachings, doctrines, and example, holding on their own merit a prominent place in history.