LAT381A: Advanced Latin
Horace’s Odes/Catullus’ poems
Fall 2015
Credits: 4
Instructor: Tina Chronopoulos
Office: Library Tower 1105 (= 11th floor)
Office Hours: Wednesdays 16:40-18:40
Also by appointment: [email protected]
Class meetings:
T Th 14:50-16:15, Student Services Wing 313
Course Synopsis
The Latin lyric poetry of Catullus and Horace represent two disctinct but nevertheless closely
related and extremely influential models of lyric expression. This course will focus on Book
1 of Horace’s Odes and a selection of poems from Catullus, with particular attention to subtypes of lyric including erotic verse, invitation poems, poems of abuse, political praise
poetry, hymns and so on. We will begin by considering what makes a Latin poem “lyric” and
the relationship between the Latin lyric project and Ancient Greek lyric. Throughout the
course we will combine close attention to the text (through translation and analysis) with
attention to the social, political, and cultural contexts in which these poems were written, and
the various ways in which they have been interpreted.
Learning Goals
Our main focus in this course will be on getting to know Horace’s poetry by translating and
analysing his Latin, concentrating on book one of the Odes, and reading poems by Catullus
for comparison and contrast. We will revise and practice specific grammar constructions as
they occur in the text. We will also think about some of the litrerary aspects of the poems: the
function of the lyrical form, the effectiveness of the characterization, the rhetorical flavour of
the poetry, and so on. Finally, we will pay attention to the contexts in which this poetry was
created and consumed.
This course meets the Harpur W requirement since students are required to write three
essays of 1,500 words each that count, collectively, towards 30% of the final grade.
This course meets the GenEd H requirement in that students will read a substantial amount
of Latin poetry against the backdrop of the social, political, and cultural contexts in which it
was written.
Required text
R. Mayer, Horace: Odes Book 1 (Cambridge, 2012)
Selections from Catullus provided by instructor
**A composition note-book
Additional Bibliography
Grammar
P.R. Taylor-Briggs, Via Plana: Graduated readings in Advanced Latin (2000)
E. Woodcock, A New Latin syntax (1959)
Dictionary
It is important to own or have access to a good Latin dictionary. If you’re in
the library use the Oxford Latin Dictionary or Lewis and Short (the latter can
also be found online at the Perseus website).
Secondary
reading
J. Haig Gaisser, Blackwell Introduction to Catullus (2012)
S. Harrison ed., Cambridge Companion to Horace (2007)
Penguin editions Catullus in English and Horace in English
Assessement
Attendance, prep & participation
Critical analysis essays (three)
Presentations (two)
Final exam
30%
30%
20%
20%
Grading scale: A (93-100), A- (90-92), B+ (87-89), B (83-86), B- (80-82), C+ (77-79), C (7376), C- (70-72), D (60-69), F (0-59). The policy on grades, incompletes, withdrawals etc. will
be in accordance with official university policy.
Attendance
We begin each class by drawing a 2-minute selfportrait on an index card (dated). The cards
serve as a record of your attendance. If you come in after attendance has been taken, you are
late to class. If you miss 5 or more classes without a valid excuse you will not be allowed to
receive a passing grade (you will either fail or have to withdraw). I will also often ask you to
write out on the back of the card any observations on what you have read or new vocabulary,
so be ready! E-mail me when ill; proof may be required, and you are responsible for finding
out from a fellow student what you missed. Any make-up work or accommodations (e.g.
quizzes, homework) for reasons of illness, university business, or religious observance will
need to be discussed with me and arranged in advance.
Participation and homework
Your composition note-book is your new best friend! In it you will write and keep all notes
from this course – your translations and notes for class, your observations and thoughts on
Latin poetry, etc. The content of and the way in which you use your composition notebook
will factor into your grade for this part of the assessment. Make sure you do not lose it since I
will ask to see it at various points during the semester. To get an A-range grade you must not
only spend more time on assignments and demonstrate active engagement with the work, you
must also find something original during the course of the semester. This “finding something
original” is hard to define, but can entail something like a new approach to translating or
analyzing Latin poetry that you did not know before and that extends beyond the limits of our
class time. Those who spend more time on assignments and demonstrate engagement with
the work will get a B. Those who do the minimum amount of required work will get a C.
Your homework and participation grade will be based on the percentage of classes that you
attended and the assessment of your performance when you were present (I expect you to
participate fully in class activities), plus the content and use of your composition notebook.
Critical Analysis essays
You will write three critical analysis essays during the course of the semester. Each essay
will examine two short poems side by side (on by Horace, the other by Catullus) or one
longer one. You will practice doing this in your composition notebook in class first.
Bring a print-out to class AND send it to me via email before class.
Due dates: 1 October, 3 November, 1 December
Length: 1500 words, 5-6 pages
Font size: 11 or 12 (Times New Roman or similar).
Line spacing: 1.5
Bibliography: supply this, properly formatted, at the end of your essay
Latin/English: all quotations should be in Latin; provide English translations in footnotes.
Presentations
You will give two presentations during the course of the semester. In consultation with me,
for each presentation you will choose an Horation Ode or a Catullan poem that is not part of
the assigned readings but that relates in some way to what we are reading during the week for
which you are scheduled to present. Your presentation will entail leading group translation of
the poem and discussion of its form and style.
Final Exam
You will take one final at the end of the semester. The final will consist of passages for
translations from the texts we have read in class. In addition, you will be asked to
identify/analyze words/grammatical constructions.
Extra Credit
You can earn extra credit in two ways: 1) if you have perfect attendance at the end of the
semester, I will add 1.5 points to your final grade. I start counting the second week of classes.
2) If you recite in class, from memory, a poem by Horace or Catullus, to be chosen in
consultation with me, I will add 1.5 points to your final grade.
Classroom Rules
We don’t use our real names in class. We go by character names.
We bring our composition notebooks and all our books to every class.
We sit in a different seat for each class beside different classmates.
We do not activate electronic devices in class. Ever.
We don’t just get up and leave the classroom (to use the phone or bathroom). We stay put
unless there is an emergency.
Daily workload
You may need to spend about two-three hours outside of class for every hour in class. That
means at least 9 hours a week according to university guidelines.
E-mail correspondence
Please apply epistolary conventions when you write me an e-mail. I will not answer emails
that do not follow this structure:
- Dear Professor/Dr …
- your message
- Yours/Best wishes/Kind regards/etc
- your name
You are welcome to email me with quick questions. I try to respond to emails within 24
hours, but please note that I do not check student email after 5pm or on weekends. Weightier
issues will be referred to a face-to-face meeting. I will not discuss grades (potential or
disputed) by email. Please check the syllabus, Blackboard, and any handouts before asking
routine questions about course requirements – I won’t respond to such emails. Please use
your university email addresses.
Adaptations and accommodations
If you have a disability that may require an accommodation for taking this course, please
contact Services for Students with Disabilities (http://www2.binghamton.edu/ssd/index.html;
607.777.2686). Students who need accommodation should present me with an SSD
authorization letter and contact me to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain
confidential. Accommodations cannot be made retroactively.
Academic dishonesty
Don’t cheat, plagiarize, have somebody else do your work for you, or turn in work from
another course. If you are caught, you may fail the course, in addition to any universitymandated penalties for plagiarism and academic dishonesty. Familiarize yourself with
Binghamton’s Student Academic Honesty Code:
http://www2.binghamton.edu/harpur/faculty/acad-honesty.html If you are confused about
what might constitute academic dishonesty or plagiarism, please see me or a librarian.
Class Schedule
*Note: this schedule is provisional and subject to change. (In fact, it almost certainly will
change. Stay tuned…)
Please do ALL of these exercises & preps in your composition notebook.
September
Tue 1 Sept.
first class – introduction
Ode 11, Catullus 85
Thur 3 Sept.
The Beginning
prep: Ode 1, Catullus 1
write out Catullus 1 in your notebook, highlight verbs and nouns with
two different colours
Tue 8 Sept.
Invitation Poems
prep: Ode 20, Catullus 13
write out Ode 20: highlight verbs, nouns, adjectives in diff. colours
draw a map of Italy and plot place names from Ode 20
draw five items from Catullus 13 and label them in Latin
Thur 10 Sept. Invitation Poems
prep: Odes 9 & 17
write out the bare bones of Ode 9 – just verbs & nouns
go back to your Italy map and add details from Ode 9
draw a map of Greece and plot place names from Ode 17
Tue 15 Sept.
no class, Rosh Hashanah
Thur 17 Sept. More ‘invitation’ poems
prep: Odes 27 & 38
write out Ode 38: highlight verbs, nouns, adjectives & pronouns in
diff. colours
draw Charybdis, Chimaera, and Pegasus (I don’t want you to look
them up, just draw what you think they look like)
Tue 22 Sept.
no class, Yom Kippur
Thur 24 Sept. Erotic verse
prep: Ode 13, Catullus 51, Sappho 31
draw the scene the narrator sees in each of the poems with Latin
labels
draw what the narrator of each poem looks like & what he is doing
BI-WEEKLY STUDENT PRESENTATIONS START on 29 Sept.
Tue 29 Sept.
October
Thurs 1 Oct.
Erotic verse
prep: Odes 5 & 8
write out Ode 5 into your notebook: using differently coloured pens to
highlight the different people involved (their actions, characteristics,
anything that describes them)
draw the scene of Ode 5 and label in Latin
draw a map of Rome and plot places mentioned in Ode 8
Essay 1 due in class
Erotic verse
prep: Odes 22 & 23
plot on a map the places mentioned in Ode 22
write out Ode 22: highlight w. different colours the various kinds of
words in this poem, including their relationships to each other
draw the scene of Ode 23 and label in Latin
Tue 6 Oct.
More Erotic verse
prep: Odes 33, Catullus 45
draw the various relationships bw the people of Ode 33
draw the characters of Catullus 45 & label in Latin
Thur 8 Oct.
Even more erotic verse
prep: Catullus 5, 7, 48, 99
write out poems 5 & 7: highlight diff. kinds of words w. different
colours and draw arrows to show how they all relate to each other
can you draw a kiss? kisses? people kissing?
Tue 13 Oct.
Hymns
prep: Ode 10, 21, Catullus 34
draw the characters mentioned in Ode 10
make a list of who sings in praise of what in Ode 21
write out or type & print out & glue into your notebook the text of
Catullus 34: highlight any words in this poem that Horace uses in Ode
21
Thur 15 Oct.
(Political) praise
prep: Ode 2
draw the animals in this poem & label them in Latin
make a list of the gods mentioned, draw them with their attributes or
doing their actions
Tue 20 Oct.
(Political) praise
prep: Odes 7 & 14
make a list of the place names in Ode 7 & plot them on your maps
draw the ship
Thur 22 Oct.
(Political) praise
prep: Ode 12.1-32
write out the first 32 lines, highlight all verbs
Tue 27 Oct.
(Political) praise
prep: Ode 12.33-end
write out the remaining lines, highlight all verbs
Thur 29 Oct.
(Political) praise
prep: Ode 35
pick out seven things from this poem, draw them, label them in Latin
November
Tue 3 Nov.
Essay 2 due in class
More praise
prep: Catullus 49 & 50
write out Catullus 50 as if it were in English word order - but in Latin.
Thur 5 Nov.
Praise/Deities
prep: Ode 6 & 26
write out the narrators actions (in Latin)
write out Ode 12 in English word order but in Latin
Tue 10 Nov.
Deities
prep: Ode 26 & 32, Catullus 35
write out Ode 32: highlight names, verbs, things
draw the different contexts in which the lyre is being used in Ode 32
plot the place names from Catullus 35 on your Italy map
Thur 12 Nov. Muses
prep: Ode 19 & 30, Catullus 3
draw the story of the sparrow s in Catullus 3
Tue 17 Nov.
Muses
prep: Odes 24 & 31, Catullus 101
plot the place names in 31 on your maps
draw the foods the narrator eats & label them in Latin
Thur 19 Nov. Travel
prep: Ode 3, Catullus 46
draw 7 things from Ode 3 and label them in Latin
write out Catullus 46 = highlight all verbs
Tue 24 Nov.
Abuse
prep: Ode 25, Catullus 11
draw what you see in the first two stanzas of Ode 25
plot the places in Catullus 11 on a map
write out Catullus 11 and highlight verbs, nouns, and adjectives in
different colours.
Thur 26 Nov. no class, Thanksgiving
December
Tue 1 Dec.
Essay 3 due in class
Abuse
prep: Catullus 12 & 84
draw the story of poem 12
Thur 3 Dec.
Abuse
prep: Catullus 39 & 69
draw the various scenes in which Egnatius is depicted
Tue 8 Dec.
Horace’s birthday
Wine & Friends
prep: Odes 18 & 36, Catullus 9
draw seven things from Ode 18 and label them in Latin
Thur 10 Dec. Writing poetry
Catullus 14 & 42
draw the main scene of 42 – what do hendecasyllables look like?
Tue 15 Dec.
The End
prep: Catullus 116
Exam – to be scheduled