MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

CHC2610

Roman life and literature

A C Romano

Synopsis The subject aims at analysing three aspects of Roman life, approaching them through literary texts with the support of historical and archaeological sources. The aspects are (a) Public life and spectacles: theatre and public games on festive days; oratory on working days; (b) Education: philosophical and rhetorical training; moral and civil edification and correction of the mores and (c) Private life: institutions pertaining to private life, seen through lyric poetry and personal correspondence.

Assessment Written (4000 words): 60% + Examination (2 hours): 40%

Prescribed texts

• Plautus Amphitryo in The Rope and other plays tr. Watling, Penguin
• Cicero Selected works tr. M Grant, Penguin
• Lucretius The way things are Bk III, tr. Humphries, Indiana U P
• Horace The satires of Horace and Persius tr. Rudd, Penguin
• Horace Odes tr. Clancy, Phoenix Books or U Chicago P
• Juvenal The sixteen satires tr. Green, Penguin
• Ovid The Art of Love tr. Humphries, Indiana U P
• Propertius The poems of Propertius tr. Watts, Penguin
• Tibullus The poems of Tibullus tr. Dunlop, Penguin