Concerns regarding political ‘enslavement’ and imperial constraints on free speech are especially palpable in the literature that follows the emperor Domitian’s assassination in 96 C.E. Under his successors, Nerva and Trajan, authors worked to differentiate the post-Domitianic age from the prior era of metaphorical enslavement and suppressed speech. Scholars have studied some of the ways in which Neronian and Flavian authors employed literary accounts of the Saturnalia, a festival characterized by temporary license and the notional transformation of social roles, to criticize individual rulers and thematize issues of imperial control. Yet they have not fully appreciated the pervasive use of literary Saturnalia in Flavian and post-Flavian political discourse. I examine the Saturnalia as a political metaphor in five texts: Martial’s Domitianic Epigrams 5 and Nervan Epigrams 11, Pliny’s Trajanic Epistles and Panegyricus, and Dio Chrysostom’s Trajanic fourth Oration. In Epigrams 5, Martial thematizes the circumscription of Saturnalian freedom to highlight limits to his poetic expression under Domitian. Later, in his Epigrams 11, Martial’s presentation of the Nervan regime as an age of ‘Saturnalia,’ a festival whose freedoms are inherently temporary, signifies anxiety about whether post-Domitianic freedom from imperial ‘enslavement’ will be short-lived. In the Panegyricus, Pliny praises Trajan for reasserting the social hierarchies that had become troublingly eroded under the dystopic ‘Saturnalia’ of Domitian. Through Pliny’s depiction of domestic Saturnalian celebrations in Epistles 2.17, the senator proves that the perverse ‘Saturnalia’ that plagued imperial life before Trajan are no more. Finally, in Orations 4, Dio Chrysostom uses circumscribed Saturnalian freedom not only as a metaphor for the limited political authority available to Greeks, but also to valorize his own Greek wisdom as essential to Trajan’s correction of shameful ‘Saturnalian’ rule. The authors in this study, although writing from different personal and generic perspectives, depict metaphorical Saturnalia to articulate the distressing limits of freedom under imperial rule or—in the case of Pliny and Dio—to burnish the image of the anti-Saturnalian ruler Trajan. My dissertation demonstrates that literary representations of the Saturnalia occupy a far more important role in imperial Greek and Roman understandings of autocracy than has been previously appreciated.

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In 1530, a German physician named Otto Brunfels published an herbal entitled Herbarum Vivae Eicones (Living Images of Herbs). In it, he planned to map the names of medicinal herbs known in and native to Germany onto their Greek and Latin names. Brunfels’ audience included fellow physicians and in order to assist with the identification of the herbs in his book, his publisher employed a woodcut artist to produce realistic images of them, a novelty in the genre of printed herbals. Over time, Brunfels’ work was superseded by 16th-century botanists and his legacy was relegated to the illustrations of his herbs, while his contributions to the naming and description of them were dismissed as unoriginal. However, a closer examination reveals Brunfels’ herbal as a transitional text bridging the gap between the herbal tradition and the development of the science of botany. In addition to citing Pliny the Elder as his primary authoritative influence, Brunfels also references a number of 15th-century Italian humanist scholars who were neither botanists nor physicians, but who were known for their critiques of the early printed editions of Pliny’s Historia Naturalis and even of Pliny himself as a natural history authority. Thus, Brunfels’ herbal is tied to the manuscript and printing history of Pliny and to humanist attempts to correct and stabilize his text. Moreover, in the course of his work, Brunfels encountered a number of herbs that were known to him, but whose Latin and Greek nomenclature he could not accurately identify. As a result, he was forced to describe in his own words, in original Latin, these herbae nudae with German nomenclature but with unknown Greek and Latin names. In addition, Brunfels encounters considerable disagreement among the ancient authorities about the naming and classification of other herbs and he is again forced to insert his own opinion, which he calls iudicium nostrum. I argue that Brunfels’ original Latin is a very early example of what would eventually become formal botanical Latin. Brunfels’ herbal is situated in such a way that it looks backward whilst simultaneously looking forward. It is an object of reception, appropriating terminology and methods from Pliny the Elder and from the humanist scholars who debated the quality of the printed editions of his work and the accuracy of the information provided in it. It is simultaneously the subject of reception, demonstrating a halting, hesitant vocabulary and style of Latinity that would eventually come to be identified with botany as a discipline. Chapter 1 addresses Pliny’s ideas of what constitutes knowledge (cognitio) about plants in the Historia Naturalis, via his arguments against improper nomenclature (nomina nuda) and the alignment of herbal medicine with magic (magicae herbae). Pliny’s advocacy for proper methodology (experience over book learning) is also examined. Chapter 2 turns to the manuscript tradition of Pliny’s text and the first two printed editions, in 1469 and 1470, which were corrupt and resulted in an unstable, inaccurate text. In Chapter 3, the reactions of the Italian humanists to these early printed editions are considered, along with the transition from critiques of the editors and printers to debates about inaccuracies that can be traced to Pliny himself. Chapter 4 turns to Otto Brunfels and traces his reliance on Pliny as well as on the Italian humanists, especially Ermolao Barbaro, who claimed to “heal” the errors in Pliny and stabilized his text. Brunfels’ original descriptions of herbs are also discussed. In the conclusion, Brunfels’ work is compared with that of botanists who postdated him, including Leonhard Fuchs, Kaspar Bauhin, and Karl Linnaeus.

In the introduction, I discuss the problems scholars experience in trying to define the concept of Roman friendship. I argue that amicitia cannot be equated with patronage, and present justification based on some primary literature. Brief words are then offered on the sociology of friendship, and an attempt is made to relate ideas from modern sociology to ancient friendship. The first chapter is based on the Letters of Pliny the Younger, and begins with an analysis of the vocabulary employed by Pliny in describing his friendships. This is considered in conjunction with prosopographical data in order to establish the connection between vocabulary and practice. The derived results are used to conclude that friendship in the Roman world was more involved than simply patronage, and that it was one of the driving forces behind Roman social behaviour as it helps to integrate different levels of society. Chapter two follows a similar methodology, with the correspondence of Fronto as its focus. The conclusions drawn in this chapter are used to reinforce the arguments presented in the first. Also included in chapter two is a brief discussion of the ancient philosophical approaches to friendship, and a solution is presented to resolve the differences between philosophical ideals and the reality of friendship. The third chapter begins with an examination of the secondary literature on the concept of friendship with the emperor. I maintain that scholarship is lacking in this field because it neglects the personal nuances such relationships could have. The chapter then turns to Pliny’s Panegyricus to determine his attitude regarding this issue, which is used as evidence against some modern interpretations of aristocratic perceptions of the emperor. Pliny’s exchanges with Trajan are subsequently analyzed, and it is argued that it was as subject/ruler that Pliny and Trajan defined their association. Chapter four discusses the relationship Fronto shared with the Antonine emperors. I contend that Fronto related differently with each and experienced different levels of intimacy, which points to the importance of personal connections, even with people as uniquely powerful as emperors. I also conclude from this that even emperors were not above the rules and practices of friendship. The concluding remarks draw attention to the advantages of exploring Roman social relationships through the prism of friendship, as opposed to the traditional perspective of patronage. Some future avenues of research are also suggested.

ABSTRACT Around 65 AD, the Ancient Roman philosopher Seneca wrote his only text concerning Natural Phenomenon: Natural Questions. Considered since medieval times as part of a trinity of great thinkers including Plato and Aristotle, Seneca’s work in rhetoric, philosophy, and legal theory still receive praise today. The praise is not replicated for Natural Questions, however. Modern historians who consider the work paint it as uninspiring. Pliny, another Roman author and philosopher, wrote a far more encompassing and detailed work called Natural History, and it is this work that is considered the premier Roman comment on Natural Philosophy. These contemporaneous works become juxtaposed and used to criticize Seneca’s work as inferior. A deeper consideration of the texts --primarily the subject material and use of poetry-- will determine that Seneca and Pliny wrote to different audiences and belong to different genres.

My dissertation investigates the reception of Cicero in the early Roman Empire, focusing on the first 250 years after his death. I show that this reception is primarily constructed by the ancient rhetorical schoolroom, where young Romans first encountered Cicero, reading his speeches and writing Ciceronian declamations. Here they were exposed to a particular version of the man, with emphases often selected for political purposes. When they grew up, that schoolroom image of Cicero continued to permeate their thought and writing. My study unpacks this complex process and lays bare the early Empire's relationship with one of its most significant late Republican predecessors. / The Classics

Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como objetivo principal a apresentação de uma tradução para a língua portuguesa do discurso conhecido como Panegírico de Trajano de Plínio, o Jovem. A presente tradução foi realizada tendo como base o texto latino estabelecido por R. A. B. Mynors (1964), e com consulta a outras edições, tais como M. Dury (1938), R. Moreno Soldevila (2010) e D. Lassandro (1992), entre outras. Além disso, este trabalho apresenta um breve estudo introdutório sobre o Panegírico de Trajano no qual se discutem questões relativas à elaboração do discurso e seus propósitos, bem como o seu enquadramento no gênero epidítico. Dessa forma, pretende-se abordar o modo como o autor relaciona a tradição romana da gratiarum actio com o tipo de encômio dirigido aos imperadores conhecido como basilikos lógos, o que, em grande parte, contribuiu para que este texto de Plínio se tornasse a primeira gratiarum actio a ser preservada para a posteridade. / This master\'s thesis has as main objective the presentation of a translation into the Portuguese language of the discourse known as Panegyric of Trajan of Pliny the Younger. The present translation was performed based on the Latin text established by RAB Mynors (1964), and in consultation with other editions, such as M. Dury (1938), R. Moreno Soldevila (2010) and D. Lassandro (1992), among others. In addition, this paper presents a brief introductory study on the Panegyric of Trajan in which questions are discussed concerning the elaboration of the discourse and its purposes, as well as its framing in the epidictic genre. This way, it is tried to approach the way in which the author relates the Roman tradition of the gratiarum actio with the type of enkomion directed to the emperors known like basilikos logos, which, in great part, contributed to this text of Pliny became the first Gratiarum actio to be preserved for posterity.

Les premiers siècles de notre ère ont légué de nombreux témoignages de pratiques dites « magiques », de l’inventaire de remèdes jusqu’aux rituels d’envoûtement, en passant par la mise en scène de pouvoirs surhumains dans la sphère humaine. Dans un monde méditerranéen relativement globalisé, les pratiques magiques ouvrent un espace de savoirs transculturels autour de l’exercice d’un pouvoir rituel. Animaux et matières animales ont été employés dans la composition de remèdes médicaux comme de rituels guérisseurs, pour mettre en œuvre un pouvoir rituel, invoquer les dieux, envoûter. En partant de Pline l’Ancien, des Cyranides et des papyrus de magie grecs, une enquête qui fait parler aigle, chauve-souris, chat, chien, echeneis, hyène, huppe, lézards, serpents et taupe aux côtés de nombres d’autres figures animales permet d’observer leurs « cuisine », sacrifices ou mises à mort rituelles, mais aussi leur participation à la représentation des puissances surhumaines dans un contexte multiculturel, principalement entre Rome, la Grèce et l’Égypte. L’utilisation de l’animal dans les rites comme dans la médecine a été le lieu d’un dialogue entre différents domaines de savoirs et différentes cultures, et les modalités d’énonciation de tels savoirs, selon le type de documentation, témoigne de la multiplicité des interprétations qui ont pu, et doivent être apportées aux rites. L’écriture de natures animales merveilleuses permet d’énoncer tant le pouvoir rituel que des discours physiologiques, telle la notion d’antipathie. Ce faisant, l’anthropozoologie participe à une révision de la notion même de « magie » dans le champ de l’histoire des religions antiques. / Documents from the Roman Imperial Period testify for the practice of “magic” all around the Mediterranean sea, including lists of remedies and cursing rituals, as well as the pretentions for some marvellous powers in the human sphere. In a relatively globalized world, the so-called “magical” practices are an open space for a kind of multicultural knowledge. Animals have been used in the making of medical remedies and rituals in the performance of a ritual power, to invoke the gods, or to cast curses. Getting from Pliny the Elder, the Cyranides and the greek papyri of magic, an investigation where eagle, bat, cat, dog, echeneis, hyena, hoopoe, lizards, snakes and mole talk among many other animal figures gives a chance to observe their cooking, sacrifice, or ritual killing, as well as their ability to represent the powers beyond in a multicultural context, first of all between Rome, Greece and Egypt. The use of animals in rites and medicine has been a subject of dialogue between different fields of knowledge and different cultures. The modalities of enunciation of such knowledge testify of the multiplicity of possible interpretations for the rites depending on the documentation. The writing of marvellous animal natures makes the ritual power as well as physiological discourses, such as the notion of antipathy. Then, the animal studies take part in a revising of the very notion of “magic” in the field of antic history.

Thesis (doctoral)--Odense University, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-243) and index.