Author: JvW

Romano on Ep. 9.14 Iuventii Martialis historia

Antonio Romano has come up with ‘A proposito della Iuventii Martialis historia’, Graeco-Latina Brunensia 28 (2023) 129-40.

Download here

Abstract: In a letter to his friend Burgundio (Sidon. epist. 9.14), who was about to write a laus Caesaris, Sidonius Apollinaris drew up a short list of the works written on Caesar that Burgundio had to face: scripta Patavinis … voluminibus, opera Suetonii, ephemeris Balbi, and finally a Iuventii Martialis historia. If the mention of Livy, Suetonius, and Balbus is not surprising, the name Iuventius Martialis (or Vivencius in the Parisinus Latinus 9551) raises some problems: first the identification and, subsequently, the nature of his work on Caesar. Following an ancient hypothesis of identification as Quintus Gargilius Martialis, this paper aims to discuss this suggestion by placing it in the political and cultural context of the end of the Severan age, during the reign of Severus Alexander.

N.B. See also J.S. Reid, ‘Note on the Introductory Epistle to the Eighth Book of Caesar’s Gallic War’, CP 3 (1908) 441-5 on pp. 443-5, which Romano does not mention (JvW).

The Jeweled Style Revisited

Now out in e-book: Joshua Hartman and Helen Kaufmann (eds), A Late Antique Poetics? The Jeweled Style Revisited, Bloomsbury Academic (hardback available 13 July).

‘The poetry of the late Roman world has a fascinating history. Sometimes an object of derision, sometimes an object of admiration, it has found numerous detractors and defenders among classicists and Latin literary critics. This volume explores the scholarly approaches to late Latin poetry that have developed over the last 40 years, and it seeks especially to develop, complement and challenge the seminal concept of the ‘Jeweled Style’ proposed by Michael Roberts in 1989. While Roberts’s monograph has long been a vade mecum within the world of late antique literary studies, a critical reassessment of its validity as a concept is overdue.

This volume invites established and emerging scholars from different research traditions to return to the influential conclusions put forward by Roberts. It asks them to examine the continued relevance of The Jeweled Style and to suggest new ways to engage it. In a joint effort, the nineteen chapters of this volume define and map the jeweled style, extending it to new genres, geographic regions, time periods and methodologies. Each contribution seeks to provide insightful analysis that integrates the last 30 years of scholarship while pursuing ambitious applications of the jeweled style within and beyond the world of late antiquity.’

Marolla Commentary Letters 5/1

Out now, in Edinburgh Studies in Later Latin Literature, Giulia Marolla’s commentary on Sidonius Letters Book 5, Part 1. It covers the first half of this book from a philological, literary and historical perspective:

— providing the first commentary on Book 5 of Sidonius’ Letters
— including a newly edited Latin text and a new English translation
— contributing to an overall understanding of Sidonius’ literary output as a whole
— offering a comprehensive and innovative study of key historical data, especially prosopography and dating of the letters.

Enjoy a 30% discount with the promo code NEW30. Here is to the publisher’s catalogue

Kelly on Sidonius in England

Gavin Kelly wrote a blogpost on the manuscript transmission of Sidonius in England, following up on a tweet concerning the Durham Bible of William of St Calais (1096 CE) and the list of manuscripts it contains, which mentions a copy of Sidonius’ ‘panegyrics’ among others (see also on this website). William’s Sidonius manuscript is a typically English representative of manuscripts containing Sidonius’ poems without the letters.

On 5 February ‘Ennius’ (@Red_Loeb) shared an image from a Durham manuscript, Cathedral Library A.II.4, the bible of William of St Calais, bishop of Durham, from AD 1096. This bible is said to originate in Normandy, like its owner. On f. 1v there is a list of the books that the bishop gifted to the library. In a retweet, my friend and colleague Justin Stover (‘Transmission of the Latin Classics’ = @OxGTLC), pointed out that it contained references to the works of Justin and Sidonius. Sure enough, two thirds of the way down you can see a paragraphus sign (¶) followed by Sidonius Sollius Panigericus. …
Read on here