Latin 520 ('Schooling the Emperor'): Assignment for Week 9 (23-29 May)

• Read:

Pliny, Panegyricus 1-43.

I'll circulate presently a pdf of the text found in Radice's Loeb (but note that you may also find the full Latin text on the 'Latin Library' here.)

Don't forget that we only meet on Wednesday this week!

• Ponderanda:

Some things to think about as you read:

• Is Pliny trying to 'school' the emperor, i.e., tell him how to do his job? If so, what sorts of things (thus far) does Pliny believe are important? In connection with this, I strongly encourage you to have a look at Pliny, Ep. 3.18, a letter we'll look at together on Wednesday
• Pliny was Quintilian's student. Where do you detect possible influences of his teacher?
• Is Trajan a 'bonus vir'? Do his oratorical skills matter at all to Pliny?
• Imagine Tacitus (Pliny's friend...or at least they knew each other) sitting in the audience (quite possible). What do you think his reaction to Pliny's speech might have been?
• Be prepared to point out a particular section of this week's reading that you found especially striking or odd or noteworthy or surprising or funny. And why.

• Secondary reading:

We live in happy times, for in 2011 Cambridge published Pliny's Praise. The Panegyricus in the Roman World. Edited by Paul Roche, this is a collection of papers about the Panegyricus. I will have you read one of these pieces (Innes) for the following week (but may send you the pdf earlier).

For this week, I'd like you to read Mark Morford's classic ''Iubes esse liberos': Pliny's Panegyricus and Liberty,' AJP 113.4 (1992) 575-93. This provides a great introduction to the text, and I think you'll find it quite interesting. Be prepared to say a few words about it.