Latin 510 (Tacitus). Assignment for Week 9 (T 12/1 and Th 12/3)

Dialogus 14-26

Reports

(in order to accommodate two talks each day this week, we'll devote about 45 minutes at the beginning of each meeting this week to the Dialogus readings, and the remainder to your presentations)

Tues. – Bridget on Agricola, Britain, and insularity; Ed on Agricola and 'secret places'

Thursday -- Laura on Tacitus and Lucan; Rachel on Mons Graupius and 'pacing'

Ponderanda

Who are these people (the ones in your Dialogus reading, that is)? If you’ve not given this any thought yet, use Mayer, or do some extra digging in, e.g., the RE to find out.

In the sections you have read for this week, who comes off as the more persuasive – Aper or Messalla?

Something to think about, if only in a preliminary way (you’ll prob. have more to say about this once you’ve reached the end of the Dial.): Why should we believe -- as many do -- that Maternus speaks for Tacitus? Can you cite parallels between his speeches in the Dial. and passages in the other two minor works that might support (or refute) that view?

Secondary reading (for brief discussion on Thurs.): T.J. Luce, "Reading and Response in the Dialogus," in Tacitus and the Tacitean Tradition, T.J. Luce and A.J. Woodman, edd., 11-38 (Princeton 1993). I'll send this to you as a pdf.