Latin 414: Seneca
Autumn Quarter 2001
Denny 310, MW 2:30-3:50
Prof. A.M. Gowing
M-24 Denny Hall
Office Hours: M 9:30-10:30, W
12:30-1:30, and by appointment
Phone : 206-543-2270
e-mail:
alain@u.washington.edu
Required texts: P.T. Eden, ed.
Seneca. Apocolocyntosis.
Cambridge 1984.
W.C.
Summers, ed., Select Letters of Seneca. Macmillan 1968, reissued
by Focus.
NB: You must use these texts – no substitutions,
please. Copies of both texts are
available on our reserve shelf in Odegaard Library.
Description: This course will entail a close reading of
selections from the works of the Neronian philosopher-politician Lucius Annaeus
Seneca (ca. 4 BC - AD 65). We
begin with an early work, the Apocolocyntosis ('Pumpkinification'), a satirical sendup of the
divinization of the emperor Claudius composed most probably on the accession of
Nero in AD 54. We then move to
selections from Seneca's Epistles. Among the issues to be considered will
be the relationship of the philosophy espoused in both the Epistles and the Apocolocyntosis to the received tradition about Seneca's role in the
court of Nero.
Course website: http://faculty.washington.edu/alain
(follow the link) -- contains syllabus and other goodies (e.g., most class
handouts)
Requirements: 1) Regular class attendance and consistent daily
preparation (15%)
2)
Two translation quizzes (@ 20%) and final exam (25%). Quizzes will consist of prepared passages (i.e., no sight
passages); final exam be along the lines of the two quizzes, with the addition
of a short essay.
3)
A grammatical commentary on part or all of one Epistle (rough
draft due Monday, Nov. 7 and final draft due Monday, Dec. 10) (40%). Details forthcoming.
Assignments:
Oct. 1: Introduction
3:
Read Eden's Intro pp. 1-23; Apoc. 1-2
8:
Apoc. 3-4
10:
5-7
15:
8-11
17:
12
22:
13-15
24:
quiz #1
29:
Ep. 1 (text and notes to be
supplied; this is the only letter we will read not in Summers)
31:
5
Nov. 5: 12, 15
7:
18, 28. Rough draft of commentary
due.
12:
NO CLASS - VETERANS' DAY
14:
33, 40
19:
43, 47
21:
quiz #2
26:
51, 53
28:
54, 55
Dec.
3: 56, 57
5:
63, 77
Dec.
10: 80, 107. Final draft of
commentary due.
12:
90
17
(Monday): FINAL EXAM, 2:30-4:20