Classica Cracoviensia

Front Matter

2023-12-20T11:47:56+01:00

On the Development of the Proto-Indo-European *u̯ih1-ró-, ‘Man’, in Latin

2023-12-29T16:16:01+01:00

The present article investigates the problem of the etymology and development of the Latin word vir, ‘man,’ usually assumed to have descended from the Proto-Indo-European form *u̯ih1 -ró-, ‘man’, but with somewhat irregular and not commonly accepted pretonic shortening of the vowel in view of the cognates in Indo-Iranian and Baltic. The shortening is usually explained as an effect of Dybo’s Rule, but it is pointed out that there might be a simpler solution to explaining the change, namely, the socalled Osthoff’s law, which occurred in the prehistory and history of Latin at least three times.

Back Matter

2023-12-20T13:35:19+01:00

Procopius and Thucydides

2023-12-29T16:16:11+01:00

Modern understanding of the emperor Justinian’s protracted war against the Gothic regime in Italy and Sicily is based almost entirely on the account of Procopius of Caesarea from 535 to 552. The chronology of the war therefore depends on the interpretation of Procopius’s narrative in the fundamental books by J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (1923) and E. Stein, Histoire du Bas-Empire (1949), which underpin all modern accounts. Both Bury and Stein presumed that Procopius’ Gothic war year ran uniformly from the end of June of one year to the end of June of the next. This paper aims to demonstrate that the Procopian Gothic war year did not run at a fixed time from June to June each year, but from the beginning of the annual campaign season (normally March) to the end of the following winter, in clear imitation of his model Thucydides. Also explored are the implications for redating key episodes of the Gothic War.

Italici an Itali?

2023-12-29T16:16:09+01:00

During the Social War, certain linguistic choices must have had particular importance for the rebel Italian allies who fought against Rome. This article aims to demonstrate why the insurgents were likely to have rejected the term Italici and adopted the name Itali as their self-designation. A thorough analysis of the meanings and connotations of Greek and Latin terms used for the inhabitants of Italy clearly indicates that during the war the ethnonym Itali allowed the rebel Italians to radically dissociate themselves from the Romans and strengthen their own common identity.

A Tangled Web

2023-12-29T16:16:06+01:00

Few debates in modern academia are as heated as the one among scholars who consider the arrival of bubonic plague in Constantinople in the spring of 542 as a demographic and social disaster and those who argue for less tumultuous outcomes. Whatever side one stands on in the current discussion, the pandemic’s immediate impact on the administration, economy, politics, society and religious culture within Constantinople and the wider empire seems clear. In this article I will suggest that increased competition amongst Constantinople’s elites for a shrunken pool of suitable brides and grooms for their sons and daughters was one hitherto underappreciated result of the pandemic. The sixth-century eastern Roman historian, Procopius of Caesarea, offers ample evidence not only about the devastation wrought by the bubonic plague but also its impact on the political alliances in Constantinople. His digressions in Secret History concerning marital politicking amongst Constantinople’s elites provide evidence of this impact. Capitalizing on advances in our knowledge about Procopius both as an author and historical figure, I will analyze his writings on three levels: as history, literature and propaganda. By pondering what motivated Procopius to focus on these marital alliances and, moreover, pondering links between them, the paper offers some revisionist takes on these digressions, both as literary devices and as actual events.

A Defence of the Traditional Chronology of 542–545, Again

2023-12-29T16:16:04+01:00

The chronology of the campaigns of the years 542–545 has been the subject of debate, with Michael Whitby defending the traditional interpretation that Procopius’ long account of the bubonic plague concealed the end of the year 542, whereas Geoffrey Greatrex has championed the chronology of Kislinger and Stathakopoulos, which locates Khusro’s march to Adarbiganon and the Roman defeat at Anglon in late 542 and the siege of Edessa in 543, with Procopius failing to note the end of a year during peace negotiations in 544–545. Considerations of the progress of Khusro I’s invasion in 542 in light of his probable speed of march, and the distances he had to cover, coupled with the relatively slow advance of bubonic plague over large land masses and Procopius’ practice in arranging his material, point to the missing year-end, being that of 542/543. While the new chronology cannot absolutely be ruled out, the assumptions on which it is based are shaky.

Faces of Loneliness in Propertius 1.18

2023-12-29T16:15:58+01:00

In Propertius’ Elegy 1.18, the speaker arrives at an empty, desolate grove so that he may complain loud about being an abandoned lover in solitude. The work is positioned in the mainstream of the Augustan love elegy, but apart from elegiac concepts, it contains numerous topoi and intertextual references to the tradition of bucolic poetry. This article discusses the functioning of the motif of loneliness, which in 1.18 combines various elements that make up the image of the depicted world and enables the selection and modification of interpretative clues.

Marrying Apollo and Diana

2023-12-29T16:15:55+01:00

The anonymous Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri has attracted significant critical commentary in recent years, not the least on questions of authorship and date, and on its relationship to other extant Greek and Latin romances and novels. Close study of certain aspects of its plot reveals a carefully wrought, intertextual engagement with Books I and IV of Virgil’s Aeneid and the poet’s comparison of Dido and Aeneas to Diana and Apollo.

Between Sound and Silence – The Sonic World of Calpurnius Siculus’ Eclogues

2023-12-29T16:15:53+01:00

The aim of the article is to analyze selected ways of sound presentation in Eclogues, written by Calpurnius Siculus, a Latin poet who lived and created in the time of Nero’s rule. Most attention will be drawn to songs performed by shepherds in their agons along with the sounds that are composed by surrounding nature, like rustling trees, murmuring streams and singing birds. What is more, an essential part is played by onomatopoeic effects realized by means of neatly chosen expressions. The correlation of accurate sounds has an impact on the sense of hearing and on the readers’ imagination, as they can be moved into the bosom of nature and almost ‘hear’ the sounds that accompany the scenes.

Ciceros Beweisführung aus der Wahrscheinlichkeit im Geldstreit zwischen dem Schauspieler Roscius und Fannius Chaerea

2023-12-29T16:15:50+01:00

The paper explores the argumentation from probability in Cicero’s speech Pro Roscio comoedo, concerning the financial litigation between a famous Roman actor Quintus Roscius and an unknown businessman Fannius Chaerea. The Roman rhetorician had analysed the question of probability in his earlier dissertation De inventione, which influenced his art of persuasion. Because of lack of the strong proofs the arguments from probability played a great role in the defence of Roscius. Cicero used different types of likelihood arguments: syllogistic argument from probability, credibilia, incredibilia, verisimilia, as well as the arguments from ethos and kedros. He seems to be here aware of the Greek theory of argumentation present in the writings of Aristotle and Rhetorica ad Alexandrum. The Roman orator recalled often the truth and juxtaposed it with the probability. Cicero employed likelihood proofs in his speech, both in argumentation and in refutation.

The Authorial Subject as a Metapoetic Figure in Ode I 9, Vides ut alta, and Ode II 19, Bacchum in remotis

2023-12-29T16:15:47+01:00

This paper analyses the relation between the authorial and textual subject of Ode I 9, Vides ut alta, and Ode II 19, Bacchum in remotis, as a means of transition from a figurative represented world to an author’s experience of the creative process, understood as Horace’s attempt to capture the creator’s natural need to transform this key experience into an act of poetic communication. As a starting point for analysis, the construction of the subject-bard (vates) and the topics of poetic frenzy (ingenium, insania, mania) shaping the poet’s image as a medium between the divine sphere of inspiration and the poetic communication turned towards the sender were adopted.

Gratian as optimus princeps – the Literary Image of “an Ideal Emperor” in Gratiarum actio ad Gratianum Imperatorem by D.M. Ausonius and the Laudatio in Gratianum Augustum of Q.A. Symmachus

2023-12-29T16:15:43+01:00

Ausonius and Symmachus addressed their speeches to the emperor Gratian, the son of Valentinian I. Ausonius included in his gratiarum actio two praises of the young emperor in order to express his gratitude for the consulate he received; Symmachus delivered his laudatio in honour of the ruler at a meeting of the Roman senate. In their speeches both authors showed not so much a real image of Gratian as an individual but rather a literary creation of optimus princeps. Gratian is presented as an ideal that is artificial in its perfection: he loses his individual and true characteristics and appears to be pasted into a panegyric-propaganda scheme based on literary convention as well as the slogans of imperial state ideology. In this article we aim to present the literary image of Gratian as “an ideal emperor”, which emerges from both laudatory speeches, as well as to point out the literary devices, motifs, panegyrical techniques and ideological topoi used in its creation.

Persian Wars in Focus: Procopius of Caesarea

2023-12-29T16:15:40+01:00