| August 27: be sure to read pp. 1-13, 19-23, 47-51, and 63-66 of the Introduction to my commentary and carefully prepare Pseudolus 1-132 in advance of our class (PDFs available in D2L). Early Latin verb morphology. Introduction to Plautus. We translated Ps. 1-77 in class. |
| September 3: You may want to start thinking about a Report. "Whipped Peter" photo (1863; African American Registry entry). We translated Ps. 1-133-264 in class. |
| September 10: Faith, Joey, and Shannon are performing Ps. 320-71. Elise Larres, aka Argiope (UA MA Classics, 2021), is dropping an EP of classically themed songs entitled Invocation on September 13. Short description of illocutionary force. We translated Ps. 265-393 in class. |
| September 17: Quiz #1 "Keys" (LAT 530; LAT 430); Garrett is reporting on Plautus as a translator (Menander's Dis Exapaton and Plautus's Bacchides). Register to vote in Arizona online (voting eligibilty for college students; Arizona dates & deadlines). We translated Ps. 394-494 in class. |
| September 24: Ethan is reporting on Greek and Greekness in Plautus. If you don't know the 1966 film version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a pastiche of Cas., Ps. and other Plautine comedies (with clever songs by Stephen Sondheim), here is a clip of Zero Mostel as Pseudolus (disclaimer re the film, from my 2019 book on Casina: "Apart from Domina as ‘the battle-axe wife’, the women of the film include the pretty, but intellectually feckless Philia (‘Lovely’ I’m lovely, / All I am is lovely. / Lovely is the one thing I can do …’) and the repeatedly specularized prostitutes in Lycus’s brothel next door. In one protracted scene the latter are made the locus of assorted male fantasies (stripping, ménage à trois, subjection to a dominatrix) that reflect a 1960s American sexual revolution seemingly for men only"). We translated Ps. 504-45, 561-93, and 600-39 in class. |
| October 1: Study Guide for the Midterm. Plautus' iambo-trochaic verse. Here is a recent report by a group of researchers using stylometry to assess the language of Roman Comedy's character types. I weigh in on the question of just how horrific Plautus' Jupiter is in "Frighteningly Funny Gods: Cosmic and Comic Space in Plautus", which appeared in a collection of essays entitled Sublime Cosmos in Graeco-Roman Literature and its Reception (London 2024). For example, the chapter's general conclusion (there I sketch some contemporary parallels) includes the sentence "The political ascendency of illiberal, clownish figures such as Donald Trump within constitutional democracies is an alarming response to global tensions created by the quasi-religion of ‘free marketism’," with the following footnote: "Apropos of Jupiter’s expropriation of Alcmena’s body while doing ‘what he likes’ (p. 135 above), Trump, a uorsipellis and tireless manufacturer of simulacra, was elected US president despite the emergence of videotape in which he boasts of his sexual omnipotence, ‘I’m automatically attracted to beautiful . . . And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything . . . Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything’ (full transcript: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tapetranscript.html, accessed 16 December 2022). À la Jupiter’s immunity to human limitations, while campaigning Trump frequently claimed license to ‘stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody’, and in his presidency habitually invoked an ‘I was just joking’ defence (cf. p. 143 above) when confronted with either his ignorance or cruelty: https://www.ahoo.com/video/trump-jokes-150223195.html, accessed 16 December 2022)."
We translated Ps. 667-789 in class.
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| October 8: Midterm [LAT 530: includes Plautus, Amphitruo 186-262 (text & commentary in D2L)]. LAT 530 Midterm Key. We translated Ps. 790-904 in class. |
| October 15: David is reporting on Philosophy in Plautus. We translated Ps. 905-1016 and 1063-1102 in class. |
| October 22: Faith is reporting on Law in Plautus. We translated Ps. 1103-1245 in class. |
| October 29: Joey is reporting on Cooks in Plautus. We translated Ps. 1246-1335b in class. |
| November 5: Introduction to Terence. If you want more help with Terence's Latin, here's a link to Ashmore's The Comedies of Terence (1910). We translated Ad. 1-127 in class. |
| November 12: Will is reporting on Prostitution and Prostitutes in Plautus. We translated Ad. 155-96, 209-27, 254-87 in class. |
| November 19: Quiz #2 "Key"; Shannon is reporting on Manumission in Plautus. We translated Ad. 299-409 in class. |
| November 26: Draft of LAT 530 Paper (optional) Due (11:59pm in D2L); Chris is reporting on Humor in Terence. We translated Ad. 447-516, 540-91 in class. |
| November 29: Creative Project Due (11:59pm in D2L). |
| December 3: We translated Ad. 610-786 in class. |
| December 10: Chris, Ethan, and Will are performing Ad. 924-57. We translated Ad. 787-881 and 924-96 in class. |
| December 13: LAT 530 Paper Due (11:59pm in D2L) |
| December 18: Final Examination, 3:30-5:30pm [LAT 530: includes Terence, Eunuchus 539-614 (text & commentary in D2L)]; Final Exam Study Guide; LAT 530 Final Key. |
