Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica

Reconsideration of some marginal notes relating to the lost part of the Herakliskos in the ‘Antinoe Theocritus’ (P.Ant. s.n.; MP3 1487) suggests that, in the final section of the poem, the serious tone gave way to the traditional picture of Heracles the glutton.

Poetic etymology, starting from the Iliad, associated the name of Achilles with ἄχος and the notion of pain. This popular etymology is echoed by Apollonius in the Argonautica (4, 866- 868), when Peleus, grief-stricken, is rendered speechless after the epiphany of Thetis. This scene shares a number of motifs with the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite: the punishment inflicted by Zeus on a goddess by making her sleep with a man, the impossibility of a lasting love-affair between gods and mortals, and the distress that resulted from the asymmetrical match. In a sophisticated intertextual move, Apollonius reworks the scene in which Aphrodite calls her son ‘Aineias’ in recognition of her own αἰνὸν ἄχος (h. Ven. 198-199), thereby transferring the grief of a divine mother to Achilles’ mortal father, Peleus, and giving greater prominence to human suffering within the framework of Homeric ‘theology’.

The restoration of Hosius’ conjecture tenerae in the manifestly corrupt opening line of Porcius Licinus, ep. 6 Blänsdorf, furnishes an example of parenthetic apposition. This definitively refutes the attribution of the so-called schema Cornelianum, formulated by O. Skutsch, whereby the Virgilian figure of the type Raucae, tua cura, palumbes is to be credited to Cornelius Gallus.

A persuasive solution of the problem in Verg. Aen. 9, 461- 463 has recently been proposed by G. B. Conte in his Teubner edition. The new punctuation adopted by the editor solves the interpretative difficulty and is supported by Servius, who detects pleonasm in l. 463 (aeratasque acies). From an analysis of the occurrences of plenus, -a, -um and pleonasmus in the works of Servius, it appears that the usage of these terms in grammatical and exegetical contexts is coherent and consistent with Conte’s solution.

This paper discusses Cornelius Gallus fr. 1 C = fr. 144 H. It analyses the imitations of Gallus by Propertius and Ovid (including a new example), refines the meaning of dividit, explores a reason for Gallus’ interest in the Hypanis additional to its status as a continental boundary, i. e. its role as a thauma, and explores Gallus’ probable sources in paradoxography, Callimachus and Parthenius.

A short discussion of the verbal-metrical links between Ovid, trist. 3, 3, 51-66 with, on the one hand, contemporary elegists and, on the other, Republican authors of epic and didactic poetry (Ennius, Lucretius). The recognition of a close intertextual link between rer. nat. 1, 122 and trist. 3, 3, 59, while not providing conclusive proof, suggests that, in dictating utinam pereant animae cum corpore nostrae, Ovid had in mind a verse of Lucretius in the form in which it is transmitted by the Carolingian manuscripts (i.e. neque permaneant animae neque corpora nostra) and not the humanistic variant permanent, which is the reading that has been preferred by most editors and commentators in recent decades.

The common exegesis of Persius 5, 42 is not persuasive: both the language (i. e. the usual construction of decerpo, as well as the meaning of epulae) and Persius’ technique of Horatian imitation suggest that we should take epulis as neither a final dative nor an instrumental ablative; it is better to regard it as a separative ablative. This interpretation is much more consistent with the form and content of Satire 5 (a strong encomium of Stoicism), and with the way in which Persius usually imitates Horace and addresses his most important satiric predecessor.

In Petronius, Satyricon 116, which works as a type of prologue to the Croton episode, there is a ‘dialogue’ between the novelistic genre (Petronius) and epic (Virgil and Homer). The article analyzes the function of this ‘dialogue’ in Petronius’ framework in terms of the ‘parodic transformation’ of the epic base-text, both the Odyssey and the Aeneid. The parodic transformation achieved by inverting and undermining the epic base-text (Virgil) is a vehicle, in turn, for the transformation of the base-text on the macro-level (Homer), which was, in turn, Virgil’s model.

As transmitted, Juv. 8, 111b-112a is tautological and yields no satisfactory sense. As a first step, it should be regarded as an ironical parenthesis, peculiar of Juvenal's style. Then, by emending at 111b haec etenim sunt to haec rapientur, the repetition is removed and it becomes clear that, in this ironical parenthesis, Juvenal is commenting upon the reckless plundering of provinces by dishonest governors in his own day, and at the same time he shows a mock empathy towards the plundered provincials.

The collation of ms. Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale 10054- 10056 makes it possible to identify many glosses in the text transmitted for De Platone et eius dogmate and De deo Socratis by Apuleius and propose a new constitutio textus for some loci vexati.

The article deals with the meaning of paidophoneus, a very rare word occurring only in Quintus Smyrnaeus 2, 322; Nonnus, Dion. 18, 31; Apollinaris, MetPs. 134, 11. A careful examination shows that in these three attestations the exact meaning is ‘killer of the son’.

This article analyzes Majorian’s novella 3, whereby the role of the defensor civitatis was re-established in the West. The text sheds light upon Majorian’s political insight and his commitment to legislation that was aimed at lessening the iniquities and disparities that affected the lower classes. In this law we find significant evidence for the evolution of the defensor civitatis and, more generally, the administration of the city in the fifth century. In particular, the text reveals the active role exercised by the plebs in appointing the defensores.

Alessia Bonadeo, L’Hercules Epitrapezios Novi Vindicis. Introduzione e commento a Stat. Silv. 4, 6 - Marco Fucecchi

Gaia Clementi, La filologia plautina negli Adversaria di Adrien Turnèbe - Caterina Mordeglia

Ovidio, Metamorfosi. Volume III: Libri V-VI. A cura di Gianpiero Rosati. Traduzione di Gioachino Chiarini - Thomas Gärtner

Lo storico antico. Mestieri e figure sociali. Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Roma, 8-10 novembre 2007). A cura di Giuseppe Zecchini - Arnaldo Marcone