HUM 110 Conference 12

Conference leader: Minott Kerr

Week V: 23 February - 1 March

Monday, 24 Feb.

Reading:

Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 10-15

Possibly useful links:

Outline of the Metamorphoses

Strategies:

Ovid is retelling stories and thus his text is like the characters he is writing about something that is being transformed.
Pay close attention to the "frame" of a given story, that is consider why Ovid has decided to place a particular story in a particular place in his poem (i.e. pay attention to what seem to be detours and digressions, and note how sories are sometimes nested, meaning a story within a story, or even a story, within a story, withina story).
Also pay careful attention to who is telling a given story and note when the narrator of the poem seems to speak himself.
Keep on the lookout for scenes or stories about creating or making. Consider how such scenes may relate to Ovid's own "making" or creating the Metamorphoses.
Ovid is often considered to be a or the "literary" writer par excellence. How are episodes made deliberately artificial? What could literary purpose could such deliberate sacrifice of realism serve?
For last Wednesday I suggested that you focus on individual stories, but you shouldn't forget that the Metamorphoses is one continuous poem. This idea is stated outright in the opening lines. The dactylic hexameter of the poem's meter identifies the work as, in fact, an epic. So you should keep in mind the following:
- How are the subject and themes of the poem related and not-related to the subject themes of other epics we've read (Iliad and Aeneid and perhaps the Theogony (?))
- How does Ovid create continuity over the length of the poem?
- How are different stories linked? (thematically, formally, etc.)
  - You might look especially closely at the transitions between stories or how stories are framed.

Suggested Passages to consider:

Discussion Topics:

Wednesday, 26 Feb.

Reading:

Tacitus, Annals, 31-60, 90-99, 104-128

Possibly useful links:

List of Emperors, some have on-line biographies.
On-line version of the Annals

General Strategies:

Pay special attention to the offhand authorial comments
Keep track of who seem to be good guys and bad guys (and, of course, why Tacitus thinks this)
Keep in mind other polarities or contrasts Tacitus thinks important. Private vs. public. Open vs. secret. Center vs, periphery

Characters to keep track of:

Augustus
Tiberius
Drusus
Germanicus
Livia
Agrippina
the army
the Senate
the plebs (a.k.a. the masses or the people)

Discussion Topics:

What is Tacitus' concept of history?
What is Tacitus' avowed purpose in writing his Annals?
What sorts of problems does Tacitus focus on in the Annals? That is what seem to be the major problems of the period he discusses?
What is Tacitus' avowed purpose in writing his Annals?
Compare the events that occur with Rome with those that occur on along the border. Why does Tacitius contiually switch back and forth between these two arenas? (Hint: he's not trying to confuse the reader).
Are there similarities and differences between these events?
What are the diffferent groups involved in these events? Can you draw comparisons between those at the center of the empire and those at the periphery?
How do different groups interact? In Rome? Along the perphery?
How does Tacitus characterize the reign of Augustus? What does he think is positive or negative about it?
How does Tacitus' account of Augustus' reign compare to that related in the "Res Gestae."
How is Tiberius' reign similar to or different from that of Augustus.
What evidence does Tacitus cite for his evalutaions of Augustus and Tiberius.
Additional Tacitus topics

Friday, 21 Feb.

Reading:

Tacitus, Annals, 157-227

General Strategies:

Keep track of who seems to act, in Tacitus' view, honorably.
Watch for where appearance and reality (to use William's terms) are juxtaposed with each other, or come into conflict or become confused. Watch especially for this in scenes involving:
- games
- theater or other perfromances
- statues or other images
- actors, singers and writers

Characters to keep track of:

various members of the imperial family
Sejanus

Suggested Passages to consider:

p. 167 (evaluation of Lepidus)
pp. 172-75 (Cremutius story)
pp. 175-76 (Tiberius' speech and Tacitus' comments about it)
p. 190 (Comment on soldiers' precision)
pp. 190-91 (Sabinus' story)
pp. 203-204 (the knight, Terentius' story)
pp. 206 (events in the theater)
pp. 210-11 (discussion of fate)
p. 214 (discussion of suicide)
pp. 226-27 (summary and evaluation of Tiberius' reign)

Suggested Discussion Topics:

see the general strategy section above
Given the political situation of imperial rule, how do people act?
Is how someone acts, the same for all members of Roman society? Or does this vary with class, ethnicity, gender and age? If so why? That is, what allows different people to act differently?
How does Tacitus think one should act? Does this vary with class, etc.?
Why is suicide so popular with certain people? Is the reason Tacitus gives (on p. 214), valid? Is his view the only way to account for its recurrent occurence?