Volume 163, Issue 2

The goal of this paper is to present an accentual rule for a combination of locations of the Homeric hexameter, the fourth and the sixth metra. The author shows that, when there is a trochaic word ending in the fourth trochee, the location of Hermann’s bridge, there is a change in the distribution of accent types in the sixth metron, favoring what he calls “barytone falls”, that is, post-acute long syllables. After presenting the regular distribution of accents in the sixth metron, the author shows how that distribution is modified when there is a trochaic ending word in the fourth trochee. The results are later revised for possible formulaic interferences. Finally, he considers the implications of this phenomenon for the interpretation of Hermann’s law and speculates on its influence on current explanations of that rule.

This paper focuses on the presumed existence of two versions of Medea and Heracles in the Euripidean corpus that circulated in antiquity. After a brief review of the main papyrological evidence, namely P.Oxy. LXXVI 5093 for the Medea and P.Hibeh II 179 for the Heracles , I discuss the implications of adding another Medea and another Heracles to the Euripidean corpus in the light of the extant ancient testimonies on the number of works in Euripides’ oeuvre. Moreover, I examine the clues provided by the headings of the hypotheses of the extant Medea and the extant Heracles as preserved in P.IFAO inv. PSP 248 and P.Oxy. LXXXI 5284. On these grounds, I argue that the supposed evidence for the existence of two distinct Medea and two distinct Heracles plays should not be interpreted as evidence of double authorial versions.

This article offers a new reading of Pankrates’ poem on Hadrian’s and Antinoos’ hunt of a lion in 130 AD, examining both its intertextual dialogue with Homer and its evocation of Egyptian imagery. I first show how the raging lion, which emerges directly out of a Homeric simile ( Il. 20.163–164), has been transformed from comparatum to comparandum : he no longer serves to illustrate a warrior’s force, but has himself become part of the main narrative and the subject of analogy. Contemplating the aition in which the text culminated I argue that the Antinoeian lotus, which grew out of the lion’s blood, ought to be read against the backdrop of Egyptian mythology and iconography as an emblem of rebirth. Both Pankrates’ allusions to Homer, which subtly evoke Achilles’ loss of Patroklos, and the symbolic function of the lotus strongly suggest that the poem was composed in the aftermath of Antinoos’ death and conceived as a celebration of the youth’s apotheosis.

The tenth prefatory letter of Pollux’ Onomasticon transmits two otherwise unattested pieces of information concerning the existence of an anonymous commentary on Xenophon and of a treatise by Eratosthenes of Cyrene entitled Σκευογραφικός. The corrupt state of the text in the manuscript tradition, which the standard edition by E. Bethe has not improved, has so far hindered the full understanding of this passage. This article (a) argues that two corrections should be introduced in 10.2–3 Bethe; (b) suggests that the anonymous commentary on Xenophon quoted by Pollux concerned not only the Περὶ ἱππικῆς, as traditionally assumed, but also the Ἱππαρχικός; and (c) re-examines the evidence supporting the hypothesis that Eratosthenes’ Σκευογραφικός was not part of the better-known Περὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας κωμῳδίας, but an independent work.

In his commentary on Plato’s Parmenides Proclos describes the maternal and paternal contributions to reproduction as of equal value: The paternal seed furnishes potential λόγοι, the mother actualises them and so causes the reversion of the offspring. However, the definition of the mother as actualising cause is linked to the particular circumstances of conception in the sphere of nature. In general, Proclus bases his concept of femininity on the idea of a shared, but not equal activity by paternal and maternal causes. In the metaphysical sphere the maternal cause is distinguished by its inspiring activity, that is, it provokes the procession of powers that are permanently anchored in the father and so it enables the begetting of the offspring as an entity separate from the father. This activity involves a loss of perfection, which is the basis for a difference in value between the activities of the maternal and paternal causes.

In the Speech of Pythagoras from Metamorphoses 15, Ovid uses a metaphor of how wax can be stamped with new images to illustrate how the anima can remain substantially the same while altering in shape when undergoing transmigration. Shortly after he describes how all things are in a state of flux, and compares the flow of time to the movement of a river. In Plato’s Theaetetus , Socrates, in an extended analogy, tells us to imagine that the ψυχή contains a block of wax, upon which are imprinted our memories, while the dialogue also contains a lengthy criticism of the Heraclitean doctrine of flux. This article will argue that Ovid adapts the wax-metaphor from the Theaetetus and that the dialogue also provides the context for Ovid’s allusion to the Heraclitean principle that πάντα ῥεῖ. It will analyse how the wax and river metaphors were transformed in the epistemological theories of the Stoics and the Epicureans in order to demonstrate how Ovid reformulates this series of philosophical discussions for poetic purposes. The final part of this article will discuss how the wax and river metaphors can be read in term of the wider intertextual agenda of the Speech of Pythagoras.

The goal of this article is to use structural, lexical and content analysis to make the case that the Church Father Lactantius, when composing Divinae institutiones 6,21, engaged with Sen. epist. 123,9 f. and pointedly refers to it. In the process, this whole chapter of Lactantius will be examined to see what the relation is between the decisive influence of the Seneca passage and that of other pre-texts that have already been identified as such in existing publications, especially the works of other Church Fathers. The content under discussion concerns the risks of purely instrumental music compared to those of artistically designed speech for the spirit of the listener, closely linked to the question of whether Christian writings, too, may – or even should – be aesthetically appealing. The treatment of this question leads ultimately to a general discussion of the relation of pleasure to virtue in the sense of a life pleasing to God.

This paper investigates the ascription of a passage in Isidore’s Differentiae to the jurist Modestinus. A collection of philological notes by the humanist scholar Barthius reports the existence of a (now lost) manuscript that credited lemma 1.434 Codoñer to one Orenius, which has ever since usually been emended into Herennius (sc. Modestinus). It is possible to place this witness in the stemma of the Differentiae. Careful study of Barthius’ reported readings from the manuscript not only indicates that it was peripheral to the tradition, but it also allows us to point out the (skilful) hand of an editor/interpolator, who may have been responsible for the addition of the name Orenius.

This is the editio princeps of the notes on the Aetna (a poem attributed to Virgil) that are contained in the codex Corsinianus 1839 (Rome, Biblioteca Corsiniana). These notes are from Pomponius Laetus’ school (XV century): many of them are similar or identical to those on the same poem that are transmitted by the codex London, British Library, Sloane 777, which is an autograph by Pomponius. These annotations are part of Pomponius’ exegesis on Virgil, a very importtant chapter of Virgil’s centuries-old exegesis.