Between amateur astrology and erudite gimmick: A re-examination of trimalchio’s horoscope (petr. sat. 39)

I will present a new interpretation of Trimalchio’s “learned” horoscope at Petr. Sat. 39. The aim is to point out that Trimalchio neither entirely comes out as amateur astrologer nor is his horoscope fully based on astrological treatises of his times. On the contrary, Trimalchio undertakes a widely unlearned methodological approach, recycles however astrological material and mixes this up with erudite puns at the internal recipients (the scholastici Agamemnon, Encolpius and co. who attend the dinner, yet fail to be worthy their profession)

Motyw śmierci Laokoona w Eneidzie i jego rzeźbiarskie odniesienie w Grupie Laokoona

In the epic description of Laocoon’s myth Aeneid, Virgil masterly used contrast to build the dynamics. This enabled him to create an unusually vast range of audio-visual effects, which have powerful impact on readers’ emotions. The poet uses contrast both to juxtapose the elements of action with humans’ reactions and their verbal expression. Like in a perfectly staged play, the scenography and dramatis personae complement each other to create an extraordinarily vivid and tragic picture. The Hellenistic sculpture representation of the myth corresponds with its literary description. The seemingly static sculpture of a father and his sons fighting for their lives is a drama in three acts. The first act is the fight of the eldest son, the last one shows the youngest son’s death and the middle act, which prevails, is a dramatic scene of the father, fully aware of the hopelessness of this situation, yet trying to defeat the monster. Regardless of the material, the artists achieved similar dramatic effect illustrating the urge to put up the fight against the inevitable fate, the fight which is doomed to failure

Nil sine Ratione Facio: the Enigmatic Structure of the Cena Trimalchionis.

Il paper propone una chiave di lettura di Trimalchione e della sua cena che eviti di mettere esclusivamente in primo piano denaro e cibo. Attraverso la struttura enigmistica del suo banchetto il liberto propone un’immagine culturale non priva di ambizioni, capace di sfidare le competenze dei personaggi di cultura superiore che egli ama invitare in casa sua.The paper offers a reading of Trimalchio and his dinner that avoids putting money and food in the forefront. Through the enigmatic structure of his banquet the freedman proposes a cultural image that is not without ambitions. This image challenges the skills of the characters of superior culture that he loves to invite into his house.Humanidade

The Waimakariri irrigation scheme - a vision fulfilled

The New Zealand Kellogg Rural Leaders Programme develops emerging agribusiness leaders to help shape the future of New Zealand agribusiness and rural affairs. Lincoln University has been involved with this leaders programme since 1979 when it was launched with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, USA.The opening of the Waimakariri Irrigation Scheme on the 30th of October 1999 is a sequel or rebirth of the water race system. This water race transformed the Waimakariri-Ashley Plains when opened by the Prime Minister Richard Seddon on Monday, 16 November, 1896. The Irrigation Scheme is a tribute to all the people, their initiatives and energy who created managed and maintained the 800 kms of water races covering 40,000 hectares over the last 104 years. Continued sound management of the races should see the water flowing gently over the Plains for as long as people live here. What people in the future choose to use the water for may be quite different than what we see today

2. Sing me, o Muse, again

Elena Lombardi, ‘2. Sing me, o Muse, again’, in Elena Lombardi, Ulysses, Dante, and Other Stories, Cultural Inquiry, 28 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2023), pp. 47-90 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-28_2

L’uso della citazione poetica in Petronio e negli altri romanzieri antichi

Poetic quotation is a feature of several ancient novels. In Chariton and in the Historia Apollonii regis Tyri (and even in the Iolaus fragment), for example, the quotations from Homer, Virgil, and tragedy are closely intertwined with the narrative, as is often the case in the Satyrica too. In Petronius, however, the purpose of quotations is not attaining higher literary dignity, but almost invariably the parody and desecration of lofty literary genres, as well as of a typical trait of Greek love novels

La Società neroniana nell'opera di Petronio e Seneca: il punto di vista di due intellettuali

Il lavoro di ricerca focalizza l’attenzione sul punto di vista dei due autori Seneca e Petronio in relazione ai fenomeni sociali e culturali più clamorosi che contraddistinguono l’epoca di Nerone. La chiave di lettura e di analisi risulta nuova nel tradizionale panorama degli studi, all’interno del quale guardare a Petronio e Seneca significa entrare in contatto con due personalità “agli antipodi”, secondo quell’approccio di metodo che, dal ritratto dell’elegantier arbiter, tracciato da Tacito negli Annales, attraverso lo spirito che contraddistingue il Satyricon, giunge alle parole di fuoco che Seneca scaglia proprio contro chi, come il Petronio tacitiano, “passava il giorno dormendo e riservava la notte agli affari e ai piaceri”. I temi dell’indagine sono stati isolati e accostati secondo un criterio sinottico e vagliati alla luce della diversa formazione, stoica in Seneca, epicurea in Petronio. Del Satyricon di Petronio oltre alla Cena Trimalchionis sono stati esaminati l’episodio che ha per tema la corrupta eloquentia e quello speculare di Crotone; della produzione di Seneca principalmente le Epistulae ad Lucilium e, quando il filo delle occorrenze lo ha consentito, l’analisi si è allargata al De vita beata, al De brevitate vitae, al De Beneficiis e alle tre Consolationes. La ricerca mostra come la società cui guardano sia Petronio sia Seneca è la stessa, ovvero quella neroniana del I secolo d.C. che promuove nuovi comportamenti e tendenze quali la dèbauche, nuove figure status-symbole quale quella del cuoco, nuove classi sociali quale quella dei liberti; una società dove spesso è la fortuna a dettare le regole di uno spregiudicato profitto e a promuovere comportamenti impopolari, privi del supporto etico della tradizione. Accostando le due esperienze letterarie ci si trova di fronte un racconto d’ambiente a due voci, in cui le generiche descrizioni tracciate da Seneca prendono vita nei “tipi umani” che si agitano nel mondo del Satyricon di Petronio. Là dove lo spirito ‘epicureo’ rappresenta con disinvolta indulgenza, ma in chiave satirica gli eccessi di tutto un ambiente sociale, lo sguardo dello stoico Seneca si duole e arde di vibrante impegno parenetico, in una società che tuttavia non è più in grado di ascoltarlo

(Die) Bereitung einer Ausgabe von Schiller's "Die Zerstörung von Troja"

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1915. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Nihil sine ratione facio: a Genettean reading of Petronius' Satyrica

My thesis is a narratological analysis of Petronius’ Satyrica, particularly of the first section taking place in South Italy (Petron. 1–99), based on the methodology and terminology of Gérard Genette. There are two main objectives for the present study, which are closely connected to each other. One the one hand, I wish to identify and analyse the narrative characteristics of the Satyrica, including a selection of its literary models and the ways in which they are imitated or transformed and embedded in a new narrative schema, as well as the impact, which those texts that are connected to it have on our interpretation of the work. My narratological investigation of transtextuality in the case of Petronius includes: the assessment of matters of onymity and pseudonymity, rhematic and thematic titles, and the real and implied author in the sections on para-, inter- and metatexts; features belonging to the categories of narrative voice, mood, and time in the section on the narration (‘narrating’) and the récit (‘narrative’); the hypertextual relationships between the Satyrica and a selection of its potential models or sources in the section on the histoire (‘story’); and the architext or genre of the Satyrica. The aim of helping us understand better and appreciate the learnedness of the author Petronius and the complex piece of literary work that he has created is closely connected to our historical assessment of the date of composition of the Satyrica. It has implications that immediately concern our interpretation of the work and beyond. Moving the date of composition of the Satyrica to the second century affects our perception of the Neronian age and our understanding of the development of Imperial Latin literature, more generally