Auguste chez deux auteurs de l’Antiquite tardive, Ausone et Macrobe

Ausonius and Macrobius reflect both the positive image enjoyed by Augustus in the fourth century. They also illustrate the importance of Suetonius in Late Antiquity. The manner in which Ausone shows Augustus is not original. On the other hand Macrobius’Augustus, who is neither affected nor hieratic and supports mockery, implicitly contrasts by his conduct to the solemnity of the ceremony surrounding the emperors of the Lower Empire

The image of Augustus in the work of Sidonius Apollinaris

We found in the work in prose and verse of Sidonius Apollinaris (5th century) a few number of brief allusions to Augustus, and it comes to him in detail in the preface of Majorien’s Panegyric (Poems IV) and, indirectly, in the dedicatory poem of the same Panegyric (Poems III). We here consider for what purpose Sidonius refers to Augustus, how he is presented, and what are the qualities that are highlighted. It appears that his relations with Virgil and Horace represent an ideal relationship between the poets and the power that Sidonius wants to give as an example

Allegorical interpretations of Hera-Juno at the end of Antiquity: The example of Fulgentius

The allegorical interpretations of pagan gods flourished in late Antiquity. They were the work of the pagans, who thus sought to spiritualize their religion, but also of some Christians, who thought that the pagan fables were hiding truths they needed to discover. The goddess Hera-Juno has not escaped the phenomenon. Here we consider, taking as one basis the works of Fabius Planciades Fulgentius, African writer of the fifth-sixth century, what these interpretations are and what they tell us both about this goddess and the mentality of late Antiquity

Ausone et la réutilisation des auteurs classiques

Ausone a, par sa formation et son metier de professeur, une tres bonne connaissance des auteurs classiques. Souvent il reutilise les textes des auctores pour leur faire dire autre chose que ce qu’ils disaient. Les cas les plus significatifs sont le Cento, le Ludus, les Epigrammes 14, 20 et 75. Dans le Cento Virgile est une base pour creer un genre litteraire different, il est devoye par decontextualisation. De meme dans le Ludus les modeles Plaute et Terence sont detournes car si l’oeuvre est un spectacle (sens de ludus), ce n’est en aucun cas une comedie. Enfin dans certaines des Epigrammes les sources classiques servent de point de depart pour tenir un propos different. L’ensemble montre le caractere creatif de l’ecriture d’Ausone et sa capacite a depasser les frontieres des genres litteraires.Ausone has, through his education and his profession as a teacher, a very good knowledge of classical authors. Often he reuses the texts of the auctores to make them say something other than what they were saying. The most significant cases are the Cento, the Ludus, Epigrams 14, 20 and 75. In the Cento Virgil is a basis for creating a different literary genre, he is decontextualized. Similarly in the Ludus the models Plautus and Terence are diverted because if the work is a show (meaning of ludus), it is in no way a comedy. Finally, in some of the Epigrams, the classical sources serve as a starting point to hold a different point. The whole shows the creative character of Ausone’s writing and its ability to go beyond the boundaries of literary genres

Configurations with few crossings in topological graphs

AbstractIn this paper we study the problem of computing subgraphs of a certain configuration in a given topological graph G such that the number of crossings in the subgraph is minimum. The configurations that we consider are spanning trees, s–t paths, cycles, matchings, and κ-factors for κ∈{1,2}. We show that it is NP-hard to approximate the minimum number of crossings for these configurations within a factor of k1−ε for any ε>0, where k is the number of crossings in G.We then give a simple fixed-parameter algorithm that tests in O⋆(2k) time whether G has a crossing-free configuration for any of the above, where the O⋆-notation neglects polynomial terms. For some configurations we have faster algorithms. The respective running times are O⋆(1.9999992k) for spanning trees and O⋆((3)k) for s-t paths and cycles. For spanning trees we also have an O⋆(1.968k)-time Monte-Carlo algorithm. Each O⋆(βk)-time decision algorithm can be turned into an O⋆((β+1)k)-time optimization algorithm that computes a configuration with the minimum number of crossings

Postcoloniality without race? Racial exceptionalism and south-east European cultural studies

The black Dutch feminist Gloria Wekker, assembling past and present everyday expressions of racialized imagination which collectively undermine hegemonic beliefs that white Dutch society has no historic responsibility for racism, writes in her book White Innocence that ‘one can do postcolonial studies very well without ever critically addressing race’ (p. 175). Two and a half decades after the adaptation of postcolonial thought to explain aspects of cultural politics during the break-up of Yugoslavia created important tools for understanding the construction of national, regional and socio-economic identities around hierarchical notions of ‘Europe’ and ‘the Balkans’ in the Yugoslav region and beyond, Wekker’s observation is still largely true for south-east European studies, where no intervention establishing race and whiteness as categories of analysis has reframed the field like work by Maria Todorova on ‘balkanism’ or Milica Bakić-Hayden on ‘symbolic geographies’ and ‘nesting orientalism’ did in the early 1990s. Critical race theorists such as Charles Mills nevertheless argue that ‘race’ as a structure of thought and feeling that legitimised colonialism and slavery (and still informs structural white supremacy) involved precisely the kind of essentialised link between people and territory that south-east European cultural theory also critiques: the construction of spatialised hierarchies specifying which peoples and territories could have more or less access to civilisation and modernity. South-east European studies’ latent racial exceptionalism has some roots in the race-blind anti-colonial solidarities of state socialist internationalism (further intensified for Yugoslavia through the politics of Non-Alignment) but also, this paper suggests, in deeper associations between Europeanness, whiteness and modernity that remain part of the history of ‘Europe’ as an idea even if, by the end of the 20th century, they were silenced more often than voiced

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Chapitre 3. Les thèmes des épigrammes

Les sujets de Martial sont tellement variés, ses idées semblent parfois si contradictoires, le ton des pièces affiche de tels contrastes, qu’on a été jusqu’à juger son œuvre dépourvue d’unité. Certes, Martial mêle ou juxtapose le tranchant de la critique et la légèreté de l’amusement, le sérieux et la plaisanterie, les attaques incisives et les éléments élégiaques ou lyriques (cf. IV, 22), le beau et le vulgaire, le précieux (cf. IV, 59) et le banal ; il aime et déteste la vie à Rome ; il veu..

Dialogues et discours dans l’Historia Apollonii regis Tyri

The dialogues occupy an important place in the Historia Apolloni Regis Tyri, expressing the role of speech in the romance. These dialogues, as in a fairy tale, often rest on exchanges which are simple and unvaried. Moreover, the characters frequently express themselves through enigmas. This comes from the fact that the enigma is an essential element of the romance, a sort of counterpart to the story of Oedipus.Les dialogues occupent une place importante dans l’Historia Apollonii regis Tyri, traduisant ainsi le rôle de la parole dans le roman. Ces dialogues, comme dans un conte, reposent souvent sur des échanges simples et peu variés. Par ailleurs, les personnages s’expriment fréquemment par énigmes. Ceci vient de ce que l’énigme est un élément essentiel du roman, qui constitue une sorte de pendant de l’histoire d'Œdipe.Wolff Étienne. Dialogues et discours dans l’Historia Apollonii regis Tyri. In: Discours et débats dans l’ancien roman. Actes du colloque de Tours, 21-23 octobre 2004. Lyon : Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, 2006. pp. 153-159. (Collection de la Maison de l'Orient méditerranéen ancien. Série littéraire et philosophique, 36

Pourquoi un chrétien comme Fulgence s’intéresse-t-il aux mythes ?

Dans la seconde moitié du ve siècle ou au début du vie, en Afrique du nord, un certain Fulgence, qui était chrétien mais ne doit pas être confondu avec l’évêque Fulgence de Ruspe, a écrit trois livres de Mitologiae, qui résument et interprètent cinquante fables de la mythologie secundum philosophiam (comme le précise l’inscriptio). Il est le premier chrétien à prendre la mythologie pour sujet central, et cela dans une perspective autre que la critique systématique. Certes la mythologie est un..