Palamedes: The Victim and the Hero of Letters
Elia Marinova
Abstract. The ancient interpretations of Palamedes’ life and death convey an old intuition that letters may be a dangerous gift, a destructive power which may cause damage or death to the inventor, or even create confrontation with the community. The mythical figure of Palamedes, a hero absent in the Iliad, attracted the attention of several genres and époques because of his important inventions and his tragic death. This paper is a kind of diachronic portrait of the πρῶτος εὑρετής, recognized subsequently as a victim or a hero of the letters.
Key Words: Palamedes, Greek myths about the origins of the alphabet, Function of letters, Cyclic poems, Attic tragedy, Sophistics.
References to Epicurus in Cicero’s In Pisonem
Dragana Dimitrijević
Abstract. The aim of this paper is to shed more light on references to Epicurus in Ciceroʹs oration In Pisonem as a part of his rhetorical strategy. Cicero used Roman ethnic biases and ethnical considerations in the portrait of Pisoʹs immoral personality.
Key Words: Cicero, Greek Philosophy, Epicurus, Biases, Rhetorical Strategy.
Teorijski i praktični aspekti ironije kod Cicerona
Vesna Dimovska
Apstrakt. Tekst predstavlja rezime opširnijih proučavanja ironije u
Ciceronovim retoričkim dijalozima i u desetak Ciceronovih beseda. Bavi se problemima teorijskog definisanja i klasifikacije različitih pojavnih modaliteta retoričke ironije, kao i analizom njene zastupljenosti i načina funkcionisanja u besedama iz različitih perioda Ciceronove besedničke karijere.
Ključne riječi: retorika, besedništvo, ironija.
Looking (at) Ariadne: Vision and Meaning in Catullus, Ovid and Hofmannsthal
Violeta Gerjikova
Abstract. Ariadne’s story in Catullus’ Wedding of Peleus and Thetis is a drama of looking, seeing, and not seeing. It depicts interpersonal relations and distinguishes presence and absence, life and death, by thematizing the visual contact between the characters, between gods and humans, and between the internal audience and the image described in the ecphrasis. In Catullus the gaze sometimes expresses the objectifying force of power or its failure, but it may also denote the possibility of communication, interpersonal contact, or mutual attachment. The preoccupation with visual perception represents the complexity of the encounter with the Other in the face of those we might or might not love or need: a lover, a close relative, a divine power, a work of art, a fictional reality. Ovid’s Letter of Ariadne to Theseus echoes its predecessor. While Catullus’ Ariadne comes into contact with reality through intense and desperate looking, Ovid’s heroine relies on actual interpersonal contact: she tries to send visual signs, stay visible and thus make Theseus reconsider. Hofmannsthal’s libretto for Ariadne auf Naxos is amazingly comparable to Catullus’ poem. The text is again complex and sophisticated, exploring concepts like memory, fidelity, loss, transformation, surviving and living on. The paradox of the human condition, the dialectic of sameness and transformation, of rigidness and vitality, is expressed through Ariadne’s refusal to look or even stay visible. All three Ariadnes experience a gap between themselves and reality, marked through a visual vacuum, by looking in vain, being unable to see or be seen, or refusing to look and see.
Key Words: Roman literature, Catullus, Ovid, Hofmannsthal, visual perception, gaze, visual contact
‘Cure Offered to Rival’: IMS 2.228
Vojin Nedeljković
Apstrakt. Autor predlaže novo čitanje i tumačenje za jedan rimski grafito nađen u Kostolcu početkom XX veka i u međuvremenu izgubljen.
Ključne reči: rimski grafiti, latinska epigrafika, vulgarni latinitet.
Potresna pjesnička svjedočanstva: Latinsko pjesništvo o dubrovačkom potresu 1667.
Gorana Stepanić
Apstrakt. Dubrovačku je Republiku 6. 4. 1667. pogodio snažan potres koji je odredio daljnju demografsku, ekonomsku i političku sudbinu te države. U sklopu diplomatskih nastojanja da dobije financijsku i političku pomoć europskih velesila i manjih država, dubrovački su se autori poslužili i žanrom epa, odnosno epilija kako bi prikazali nedaće koje su se dogodile njihovim sugrađanima te zatražili pomoć. Ovaj članak donosi prikaze triju heksametarskih tekstova trojice dubrovčana koji tematiziraju potres: De laudibus serenissimae reipublicae Venetae et cladibus patriae suae carmen (Mleci, 1675) Stjepana Gradića, Proseucticon de terraemotu (Rim, 1690) Benedikta Rogačića te dio spjeva Philosophiae versibus traditae libri VI (Mleci, 1744) Benedikta Staya. Analizira se struktura pjesama, podudarnosti na planu kompozicije, sadržaja i izraza u izvještaju o samome potresu, pripovjedački okvir pjesama, mimeza, epski topoi, te se iz aspekta diplomatskih nastojanja i političkih odnosa na Mediteranu preispituju realia triju pjesničkih izvještaja.
Ključne riječi: Stjepan Gradić, Benedikt Rogačić, Benedikt Stay, potres, Dubrovnik, epska poezija, epilij.