Latin 510 (Tacitus). Assignment for Week 3 (T 10/20 and Th 10/22).

Agr. 23-34

We’ll start Tuesday with discussion of the Sailor article. Give some thought to what you learned from it...and what you didn’t. To put it another way: what are its strengths and weaknesses?

Ponderanda

•Carefully read and reread the speeches of Calgacus and Agricola (we will spend a good deal of time discussing them, so come with things to say). What points of contact do you notice between the two speeches? Is there a clear 'winner' or a 'kreitton logos', i.e., is one speech more persuasive than the other? What does Calgacus' speech contribute to the plan of the Agricola enunciated at 3.3?

•O&R cite on p. 253 several comparable speeches in other historians as well as in T. Choose at least one of these other speeches and read it for comparison. You might add the episode described in Ann. 12.31-39, esp. the speeches of Caratacus in 34 and 37, and consider how it compares to this section of the Agricola; or the speech of Arminius the Cheruscan summarized at Ann. 1.59; or that of Boudicca at Ann. 14.35.

Secondary Reading

I will send you pdfs of two short articles to read for Thursday:

Martin Tacitus 43-45 (see your bibliography for this book)

Rhiannon Ash, ‘Tacitus and the Battle of Mons Graupius: A Historiographical Route Map?’ in A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography, J. Marincola, ed. 2 vols., (Blackwell 2007) pp. 434-40.