Latin 510: Tacitus' Minor Works

Autumn Quarter 2009

TTh 2:30-4:20 PM

Denny 210

Instructor: Prof. A.M. Gowing

Office: M-24 Denny Hall

Office Hours: W 10:30-11:30, and by appointment

Phone: 543-2270 E-mail: alain@u.washington.edu

Course Objectives: This class will entail a detailed reading of all three of Tacitus' opera minora (two of which are on the PhD reading list): the Agricola (AD 98), a biography of Tacitus' father-in-law Agricola which includes an account of his term as governor of Britain from AD 78-84; the Germania (AD 98), an ethnographic treatise on the nature and customs of the Germans; and the Dialogus (AD 102?), an investigation into the decline of oratory under the Empire. In addressing a wide range of issues -- style, genre, perspective (esp. Tacitus' views on the ruled and the ruler), etc. -- we will focus on two fundamental questions: what do these three texts have in common and how do they relate to Tacitus' later, more ambitious undertakings, the Histories and the Annals?

Required texts: M. Winterbottom and R.M. Ogilvie, edd. Cornelii Taciti Opera Minora. Oxford 1975 (please do not substitute!)

R.M. Ogilvie and I. Richmond, edd. Cornelii Taciti De Vita Agricolae. Oxford 1967, reprint David Brown Book Co., aka Oxbow Books. (the text printed here is identical to that printed in the OCT...but both are now -- evidently -- out of print)

R. Mayer, ed. Tacitus: Dialogus de Oratoribus. Cambridge 2001.

J.B. Rives, ed. Tacitus: Germania. Oxford 1999.

Requirements: 1) general preparedness and participation (15%)

2) an abstract of a paper on some aspect of one (or all of) Tacitus' minor works, written in accordance with APA guidelines for abstracts of papers submitted to the annual meeting. Due no later than Nov. 19 (15%)

3) an oral report on the paper, no longer than 15 minutes in length (20%)

4) an ‘article’ version of that paper written in accordance with TAPA guidelines, due no later than Wed., Dec. 16 (give or take a day) (30%)

5) various translation exercises (20%)

NB: You should arrange to meet with me soon – and in any case no later than Friday, October 30 – to discuss a paper topic.

Course website: I will post to the course website (follow link on http://faculty.washington.edu/alain) this syllabus, a select bibliography on Tacitus’ minor works, the weekly assignments (see below), and any pertinent links to reputable and relevant Tacitus materials on the web.

Schedule of readings:

NB: Prior to each class meetings I will post to the course website a brief ‘assignment’ detailing the specific portion of text we will cover in that meeting, any secondary reading I would like you to do (sometimes required, sometimes optional), a few discussion topics I’d like you to give some thought to prior to our seminar meeting, etc.

Week 1 (Oct. 4-10): Agr. 1-9

Week 2 (Oct. 11-17): Agr. 10-22

Week 3 (Oct. 18-24): Agr. 23-34.

Week 4 (Oct. 25-31): Agr. 35-46

Week 5 (Nov. 1-7): Ger. 1-15 (NB: truncated mtg. on Th 11/5 to accommodate Hurwit lecture)

Week 6 (Nov. 8-14): Ger. 16-27

Week 7 (Nov. 15-21): Ger. 28-46

Week 8 (Nov. 22-28): Dial. 1-13. NO CLASS THURS., Nov. 26 (T’giving)

Week 9 (Nov. 29-Dec. 5): Dial. 14-26

Week 10 (Dec. 6-11): Dial. 27-42