James Zetzel, 611 Hamilton

854-5682; zetzel@columbia.edu; www.columbia.edu/~zetzel

Office Hours: Tuesday 10-11; Wednesday 3-4

 

Goals

This course generally has some undergraduate majors and some first- and second-year graduate students enrolled. The goals of the course (at least my goals for the course) are different for the two groups, and expectations differ accordingly.

For undergraduates: This course is meant to improve your facility in reading Latin rapidly; it is also meant to give you a context for the texts that you have read in other courses and to give you some acquaintance with authors you have not read. While I expect you to take the weekly quizzes on readings (as well as the final examination), I also expect that you will at times find completing the reading (to put it mildly) challenging, and in computing grades I will throw out the lowest three grades on quizzes. The more (and the better) you can do, the better; you should concentrate on reading as much as you can, and you should attend all classes, as the lectures (and passages discussed) will form the basis of the final examination. You should use the recommended handbooks as needed for further background and general information. If you are thinking about going to graduate school in Classics, then you can think of this as an early clue to what graduate training is like.

For graduate students: This course is meant to give you a framework for what you will do in your advanced work in seminars; it is also meant to give you the opportunity to read as much Latin literature as you can in preparation for the M.Phil. translation examinations. For that purpose, the Latin reading assignments are a minimum, not a limit; whenever possible, you should read the whole text, not just the excerpts assigned. You should also read the relevant chapters in the recommended handbooks, and you should dip into the secondary literature when you can. I expect you already to know Latin reasonably well; all quizzes will count for the final grade. You are also required to write two short essays, as described below.

Format

In general (but not always) the class will meet for two hours on Monday and one hour on Wednesday. There will be a 15-minute translation quiz on the week's assignment at the beginning of the MONDAY class-i.e. you are expected to have read the text before any lecture or discussion. Normally, the Monday class will be primarily lecture, and the Wednesday class will involve close reading of a portion of the assigned text.

Quizzes weekly, as above.

There will be no midterm, but there will be a final examination (that will not include translation).

Graduate students are required to submit two short essays (approximately 2000 words each) on texts assigned in the course. They are to be turned in at the beginning of class on October 31 and December 5.

Readings

On average, assignments will be approximately 700 lines of Latin weekly. In those cases (e.g. Plautus, Terence) where this is not a complete text, you should read the entire text in English. You should also read at least a general treatment of the author under discussion: preferably the relevant chapter in either Gian Biagio Conte's Latin Literature or Cambridge History of Classical Literature, Part II.

Further assistance: this syllabus will also be found on the course website, www.columbia.edu/itc/classics/zetzel (a link also from my own website). Linked to the date of each assignment will be some suggested further readings, together with some questions or comments to assist your reading of the texts. These are not required; they may be useful. Translations are not specifically recommended (although some will be mentioned in class) and have not been ordered, but you should use them both to check your understanding of the assigned texts and to read more of the authors than you have time to read in Latin . Of the standard series of translations, the Penguins are usually better than the Loebs.

The following titles have been ordered through Labyrinth:

Plautus, Amphitruo, ed. Christenson (Cambridge)

Courtney, ed., Archaic Latin Prose (APA/Oxford)

Terence, Adelphoe ed. Martin (Cambridge)

Catullus, Carmina ed. Mynors (OCT)

Lucretius, Book III ed. Kenney (Cambridge)

Cicero, Pro Caelio ed. Austin (Oxford)

Cicero, De re publica ed. Zetzel (Cambridge)

Sallust, Bellum Catilinae ed. Ramsey (APA/Oxford) [currently out of stock; if unavailable, OCT will be ordered instead]

Livy, Books 1-5 ed. Ogilvie (OCT)

Virgil, Opera ed. Mynors (OCT)

Recommended: Commentaries of Coleman on Eclogues and Thomas on Georgics (Cambridge)

Horace, Opera ed. Bailey (Teubner)

Propertius, Carmina ed. Barber (OCT)

Cambridge History of Classical Literature, Vol. 2, Parts 1 and 2.

Sept. 5: Introduction: origins of Latin literature

Sept. 10 and 12: Plautus, Amphitruo 1-498, 633-881, (optional) 1053-1130

Sept. 17 and 19: Lost texts: Epic, tragedy, oratory and history in archaic Rome

fragments of Livius Andronicus, Naevius, and Ennius (website)

Courtney, Archaic Latin Prose: selections from Ennius; Cato, Agr. 1-5, 141, Origines, fr. 83, Speeches, all fragments; Orators, fragments of Gaius Gracchus

Sept. 24 and 26: Terence, Adelphoe 1-287, 540-997

Oct. 1 and 3: Lucretius, De rerum natura 1.1-145; 3.1-93, 417-547, 830-1094

Oct. 8 and 10: Catullus, poems 1-3, 5, 8, 36, 49-51, 58, 63, 64, 70, 72, 73, 76, 85, 95, 96, 101, 109

Oct. 15 and 17: Cicero, Pro Caelio, sections 1-22, 27-50, 70-80

Oct. 22 and 24: Cicero, De oratore 1.1-44; Somnium Scipionis

Oct. 29 and 31: Sallust, Bellum Catilinae 1-6, 51-54

Nov. 7: Livy, Praefatio; Book 1, chapters 3-13, 57-60 [2 hour class; no class Nov. 5]

Nov. 12 and 14: Horace, Sermones I, poems 1, 4-6, 9, 10

Nov. 19: Vergil, Eclogues 1, 4-6, 9, 10 [No class 11/21]

Nov. 26 and 28: Propertius, Carmina I 1-10, 18-19, 21, 22 (and Eclogues, continued)

Dec. 3 and 5: Vergil, Georgics Book 1, lines 1-203, 424-514; Book 2, lines 109-175, 361-542

Dec. 10: Vergil, Georgics Book 3, lines 1-48; Book 4, lines 281-566.