This thesis comprises an assessment of the introductory poem of a book of six, known as the "first elegy by Maximianus". The authorship of the poem is uncertain, and a principal objective of the study is to shed light on this puzzle. A review of the poem's quality and its historical context leads to the thesis that it could have been authored as a school exercise by one or a group of students of Latin literature writing in the 6th century A.D. The influence of earlier writers on the composition of the poem has been examined by performing a thorough search through classical Latin literature for phrases that are similar to those found in this "first elegy by Maximianus". Such a study would have been prohibitively time-consuming until recently, when the introduction of high-speed computers has made the exercise feasible. In the present work, the PHI CD-ROM collection of the complete Republican and early Imperial Latin literature was used as the primary reference for phrase-matching. A methodology has been developed and described for classifying the probability of earlier influence on phrases in the poem. A complete translation of the poem is followed by a commentary on the influence of previous writings on phrases in the first 220 lines of the poem that have been found in the course of the computer search to be similar to phrases used by previous authors. It is shown that 62 phrases and half-lines are likely to have been influenced by the Latin literature of the period from 250 B.C. to 200 A.D. The evidence is consistent with the suggestion in this thesis that the elegy could have been a school exercise written by an immature student or group of students.

My purpose is to demonstrate Theocritus' treatment of traditional literary genres. I show the specialized character of the bucolic genre by concentrating on the combination of epic, tragic and bucolic elements in selected poems of Theocritus. My concern is the portrayal of characters and character-types from myth and literary tradition and how the traditional literary portrayal has been changed. My discussion of Theocritus' poetic technique is divided into two parts. The first section deals with Theocritus' method of "reducing" or down-grading figures who have previously been presented and accepted as heroes. This section is introduced by a brief survey of the changing attitudes towards heroes in Greek literature from Homer to Theocritus. This is followed by a discussion of four poems which illustrate Theocritus' inversion of the standard portrait. This treatment ranges from a humorous recasting of the status of Polyphemos (Idyll 11) and Herakles (Idylls 13 and 24) to a critical portrayal of the Dioscuri (Idyll 22). The second part deals with the technique operating in reverse. In this section, I show how Theocritus juxtaposes epic themes with 'low-life' scenes and how the characters involved are consequently upgraded or 'elevated1. The four poems I select endow their insignificant protagonists with heroic amplitude. In Idyl 1 1, epic and tragic elements are infused into the portrayal of Daphnis the cowherd. Simaetha in Idyll 2 envisages herself as a Medea in a context of bourgeois reality. The mythological material in Idyll 3 achieves humour from the disparity of the goatherd's rustic simplicicy and his awareness of mythological precedents. Idyll 7 expands the anti-heroic material of the Odyssey and describes a goatherd with a difference. In my conclusion I demonstrate the coherence of Theocritus' treatment of epic and dramatic narrative with his programmatic statements. The passages referred to are the epilogue of Idyll 22 (212-23), the characters cited in Idyll 16 (36-57), Simichidas' speech in Idyll 7 (45-48) and the description of the herdman's cup in Idyll 1. (29-61). In the light of this, I link Theocritus' poetic method to his attitude to the function of literature and its relation to society. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

The authorship and time of origin of the Shepherd have not been subjected to the same rigorous enquiry as the First Epistle of Clement and the Epistles of Ignatius. The reason for this is probably that the Shepherd has had little to contribute to contemporary polemics in the way that the other two Apostolic Fathers did. The method followed in this study is the reconstruction, where possible, of the contents of each codex of which we have fragments or quotations, and the comparison of the contents of these codices. Where the content of the original codex appears to have been only a part of the Shepherd, calculations based on the traditional three sections - Visions, Mandates and Similitudes - have been used. Where these have not sufficed, manuscript notations have been called into play. The results indicate that there are a number of lines of cleavage within the Shepherd where ancient codices began or ended their selection of material. These lines of cleavage, it is hypothesised, must have originated in the process of composition of the Shepherd. Yet at the same time there was in the ancient codices a perception of the various parts of the Shepherd as a unity. The oldest codex known to us contains the Shepherd in its entirety. Once the lines of cleavage have been established by means of the reconstructed codices and the manuscript notations, a study of internal inconsistences of the sort traditional in "Quellenkritik" or "Literary Criticism" is undertaken, and a chronological schema of the different strands which make up the Shepherd is offered. It is suggested that the core (Viss. I to IV, Mandd. I to XIIa, Simm. I singular parts only, II to VIII) came from one hand, probably towards the end of the first century. This core underwent four subsequent editorial reworkings which produced the text known to us today by the end of the second century.

Bibliography: pages i-ix. / No commentary on Martial Book 14 has appeared since that of Ludwig Friedlander (1886). Since Friedlӓnder dealt with Martial' s entire corpus, his introductory remarks to Book 14 were necessarily subordinated to his wider concerns. While his commentary is very superficial. This work hopes, therefore, to fill a significant gap. The thesis comprises three main parts. The introduction discusses the Roman Saturnalia, concentrating on its origins, the way it was celebrated, and the licence, lotteries and gifts which characterised these celebrations. Further discussion deals with the book's title and the order of the epigrams it contains. Another section defends Friedlӓnder' s dating of Book 14 against a recent challenge <Roger A. Pitcher, Hermes 113(1985), pp. 330-339). A study of Martial's use of metre and a survey of the textual tradition along with a new text conclude this part of the thesis. The second and most extensive part of the thesis comprises the commentary. In addition to the Realien which form the subject-matter of the epigrams, the commentary deals with matters of Latinity, literary style, text and metre. It includes a translation, which is intended to be elucidatory rather than literary. The thesis concludes with a three-part appendix devoted to rare usages and hapax legomena, illustrations, and textual concordances

The Facta et Dicta Memorabilia of Valerius Maximus, written during the formative stages of the Roman imperial system, survives as a near unique instance of an entire work composed in the genre of Latin exemplary literature. By providing the first detailed historical and historiographical commentary on Book 9 of this prose text - a section of the work dealing principally with vice and immorality - this thesis examines how an author employs material predominantly from the earlier, Republican, period in order to validate the value system which the Romans believed was the basis of their world domination and to justify the reign of the Julio-Claudian family. By detailed analysis of the sources of Valerius' material, of the way he transforms it within his chosen genre, and of how he frames his exempla, this thesis illuminates the contribution of an often overlooked author to the historiography of the Roman Empire.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-210). / In the ensuing dissertation I explore the extent to which a coherent praeceptor persona may be found in Horace's Ars Poetica. In the first chapter, 'Interpreting the Ars Poetica', I commence by reviewing and commenting upon previous critical attempts to explain Horace's poem. This I have divided into three main sections: 'Interpretations of Incoherence', 'Interpretations of Coherence', and 'Authorial Personae'. In the first of these I explore how some critics have denied the possibility of arriving at a coherent interpretation of the poem, which they regard as an unfinished hotchpotch effort. Most notably in this section I illustrate how the Ars Poetica fails to conform to the expected form of any one particular literary genre. In the second section, 'Interpretations of Coherence', I examine attempts, particularly Brink's in his Prolegomena, to structure the poem into certain fixed aesthetic units, and I then explore some of the difficulties of utilizing such rigorous and tendentious rubrics in a flexible and free-flowing poem. Lastly, in the third section, 'Authorial Personae', I review more modern attempts to explain Horace's poem through the identification of an authorial persona within the text. I proceed to justify my preference for this interpretative method by explaining it both with reference to modern literary theory and ancient poetic and dramatic practice. Lastly, in this chapter I briefly introduce the character of the authorial persona whom I shall endeavour to locate in the Ars Poetica – the teacher or praeceptor persona. In the second chapter, 'The Praeceptor Persona in Play', I commence by trying to build a characteristically Horatian concept of the teacher figure in the Ars Poetica, in my section, 'The Horatian Concept of the Praeceptor'. To this end I turn to the Satires of Horace, particularly, 1.1, 1.4, and 1.10, where I show that the Horatian model of a praeceptor can be explained through three conceptual criteria – 'instruction ', 'demonstration', and 'play'. Applying in turn each of these three conceptual criteria to the text of the Ars Poetica I illustrate how the very language of the authorial persona of the poem fulfils these criteria. In the third chapter, 'The Teacher of Satire 1.4 ', having established the presence of a Praeceptor persona in the Ars Poetica, I turn my attention to the Satires of Horace where the most extensive critical work has been undertaken with respect to the character of the authorial persona; particularly, since it has informed my concept of the Horatian praeceptor, I examine the teacher figure of Satire 1.4. In the first section, 'Interpretations of the Teacher Persona', I examine and criticise four scholarly attempts to explain the character of the teacher figure in the sermo. I identify the mixture of instruction and humour in the language as the key critical concern of these critics. In the final section, 'The Playful Satirist' I then apply my conceptual criterion of 'play' to the discourse of the teacher of 1.4, suggesting that his humour is not incompatible with instruction, but is actually a vital constituent of his role as a praeceptor. Finally, I give a brief 'Epilogue', summarising my analysis and, more importantly, emphasising the importance of identifying a characteristically Horatian model of a praeceptor. A detailed bibliography is then given of the source material consulted and references used through the dissertation.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-146). / This latter question necessitates a survey of the development of Greek biography through the Hellenistic era. Biography as a literary genre was characterised by a broad range of traits and styles, and was concerned with the character of the protagonist, details of his pirvate life, and his deeds, works or achievements. The belief that an investigation of a man's actions could shed light on his character was a feature of Hellenistic popular thought that had its origins with the Peripatetics. Nicolaus was a self-proclaimed follower of Aristotle's school, and certain motifs or features of Aristotelean thought permeate the Bios Kaisaros, particularly with regards to his characterisation of Octavian and Caesar. Nicolaus uses the theme of Fortune, a familliar topos of Hellenistic literature, at key moments during the text of the Caesar Extract, to highlight his presentation of Octavian and Caesar. The characterisation of Octavian and his relationship with his mother and Caesar forms the final focus of this dissertation, illustrating pertinent aspects of Nicolaus' technique in his presentation of Octavian as uniquely fitted to succeed to Caesar's political hegemony at Rome.

Bibliography: 197-207. / The j)rin;ary aim of this thesis is to make available in English for the first time a translation of, and full commentary on, the panegyrics in question. A general introduction contains sections on the collection of panegyrics known as the XII Panegyrici Latini, the term panegyricus, the uses to which panegyrics might be put, and the scope of the present study. Attention is then turned to the two panegyrics themselves and, in each case; an introduction, dealing with the occasion and the date, the question of authorship, and the place of delivery, is followed by a translation and commentary, which concentrates on historical problems. In the introduction to Pan. VII, proposed delivery dates of 31 March 307 (Seston et al.) and 25 December 307 (Lafaurie and Bruun) are discussed and rejected, along with the proposal of a third dies nataZis for Constantine; Sutherland's date of late April is upheld, but it is emphasized (pace Sutherland) that the speech jointly celebrates Constantine's marriage to Fausta and his promotion as Augustus. In the introduction to Pan. VI, a precise date of delivery of August 310 is suggested, and it is considered unlikely that the orator was a jurist or had held a full-time post in the imperial administration; the eviuence of the speech itself indicates that he combined occasional ewployment by the palace as orator, with a career as master of rhetoric. An appendix contains an index of the imperial virtues and attributes found in Pans. VI and VII.

In almost any general study of Roman history, references can be found to the character of the Roman people. Roman character forms the explanation of their conquests, the justification of their empire. Roman character and its resultant code of behaviour influenced early Christian writers; Roman ethical concepts form the firm foundation of Western civilization. Augustine used the Roman spirit of sacrifice for the common good as an example for the inhabitants of the City of God. Dante claims that the Roman people were ordained by nature for empire by foregoing their own advantage to secure the public safety of mankind. Many modern authors echo these sentiments: R.H. Barrow says: 'His virtues are honesty and thrift, forethought and patience, work and endurance and courage, self-reliance, simplicity and humility in the face of what is greater than himself.' He even gives a 'catalogue of virtues' which Romans regarded as characteristically Roman throughout their history. Religio, pietas, officium, gravitas, discipline, industria, virtus, clementia, mores maiorum are the character traits of the Roman people. F.R. Cowell gives a much shorter list (pietas, virtus, gravitas) but he at least warns his readers that these are the virtues which Cicero regarded as typically Roman. Cowell regards them as symptoms of Cicero's enthusiasm for the good old days, and he adds: 'we have learnt in our own day that there are few more misleading imaginative exercises than that of generalizing about the supposed character of so large and complete an organism as a nation.' The purpose of this study is to investigate some of these concepts, their development and importance in early Roman sources. The approach will be ideogrammatic, but to make more general conclusions possible the group of concepts has to be fairly large and this of course means sacrificing depth for the sake of breadth.

Bibliography: pages 207-225. / In this thesis I offer a detailed examination of the ten prose prefaces which head the Epigrams of Martial (AD c45-c96) and the Siluae of Statius (c45-c96). The most remarkable feature of these ten short pieces of prose lies in the field of literary history: these are the first extant instances of collections of verse which are headed with pieces of prose, and it is chiefly from this angle that the prefaces are studied. The body of the thesis (Section B) is devoted to a close thematic examination of the prefaces. Their content is discussed under three main headings, namely justification, information and request (chapters 5, 6 and 7 respectively). Within this framework the prefaces are examined in the terms suggested by the four chapters of Section A - the literary history of prefacing (both prose prefaces per se and proems to collections of verse), the production and dissemination of ancient literature, the patronage of letters, and the biographies of the two poets (chapters 1 to 4 respectively). All these topics are treated broadly in Section A and then with specific reference to the prefaces in Section B.