Edward Paleit
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199602988
- eISBN:
- 9780191744761
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199602988.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, British and Irish History: BCE to 500CE
War, Liberty and Caesar is chiefly an attempt to address aspects of early modern English literary and political culture between ca. 1580 to 1650, through the sometimes illuminating prism ...
More
War, Liberty and Caesar is chiefly an attempt to address aspects of early modern English literary and political culture between ca. 1580 to 1650, through the sometimes illuminating prism of the reception of a classical text. It is also a study of that text itself, through the medium of early modern engagements. It examines and interprets responses to Lucan’s Bellum Ciuile across many different forms of discourse, trying to balance an account of the cultural assumptions and practices which shaped Lucan for early modern readers with a sense of the historical specificity of individual engagements, and an evolving narrative of pre-Civil War English writing. It argues that there were many sides to reading Lucan in the period but that collectively many if not most readers used Lucan to express aspects of a troubled, changing political experience. It examines readings of Lucan by a number of important early modern English authors, including Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, Christopher Marlowe, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, Abraham Cowley, and Thomas May. The number and variety of engagements with Lucan in the period suggest it could be called an ‘age of Lucan’.Less
War, Liberty and Caesar is chiefly an attempt to address aspects of early modern English literary and political culture between ca. 1580 to 1650, through the sometimes illuminating prism of the reception of a classical text. It is also a study of that text itself, through the medium of early modern engagements. It examines and interprets responses to Lucan’s Bellum Ciuile across many different forms of discourse, trying to balance an account of the cultural assumptions and practices which shaped Lucan for early modern readers with a sense of the historical specificity of individual engagements, and an evolving narrative of pre-Civil War English writing. It argues that there were many sides to reading Lucan in the period but that collectively many if not most readers used Lucan to express aspects of a troubled, changing political experience. It examines readings of Lucan by a number of important early modern English authors, including Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, Christopher Marlowe, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, Abraham Cowley, and Thomas May. The number and variety of engagements with Lucan in the period suggest it could be called an ‘age of Lucan’.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book is a companion volume to the Oxford Classical Text edition of Caesar's Bellum ciuile. It has three parts. The first is a supplement to the edition's Preface, providing a fuller background ...
More
This book is a companion volume to the Oxford Classical Text edition of Caesar's Bellum ciuile. It has three parts. The first is a supplement to the edition's Preface, providing a fuller background on the history of the text and a more detailed argument for the shape of the stemma. The second part is a discussion of nature and causes of the difficulties present in the text of the Bellum ciuile and their consequences for an edition. The third part is a series of about a seventy-five notes on difficult spots in the text. These present in depth the arguments that underlie the various remedies suggested in the edition's critical apparatus.Less
This book is a companion volume to the Oxford Classical Text edition of Caesar's Bellum ciuile. It has three parts. The first is a supplement to the edition's Preface, providing a fuller background on the history of the text and a more detailed argument for the shape of the stemma. The second part is a discussion of nature and causes of the difficulties present in the text of the Bellum ciuile and their consequences for an edition. The third part is a series of about a seventy-five notes on difficult spots in the text. These present in depth the arguments that underlie the various remedies suggested in the edition's critical apparatus.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This introductory chapter discusses the need for a new edition of Caesar's Bellum ciuile (Civil War) by recounting its editing history since Wolfgang Hering published his influential Die Recensio der ...
More
This introductory chapter discusses the need for a new edition of Caesar's Bellum ciuile (Civil War) by recounting its editing history since Wolfgang Hering published his influential Die Recensio der Caesarhandschriften (1963), the BC and non-Caesarian Bella as well as the Bellum Galicium. The focus of modern editorial work on the Bellum ciuile has been on rationalizing the list of witnesses to be used in constructing the text. The project of repairing the many problem spots of the tradition's archetype is ongoing, while the problems that arose from the incomplete state in which Caesar left the work are probably beyond repair. The edition that will appear concurrently with this volume relies on a fresh collation of the principal manuscripts by the late Virginia Brown; and besides the new collation and the general clearing away of error that it permits, this edition presents a text based on a new stemma.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the need for a new edition of Caesar's Bellum ciuile (Civil War) by recounting its editing history since Wolfgang Hering published his influential Die Recensio der Caesarhandschriften (1963), the BC and non-Caesarian Bella as well as the Bellum Galicium. The focus of modern editorial work on the Bellum ciuile has been on rationalizing the list of witnesses to be used in constructing the text. The project of repairing the many problem spots of the tradition's archetype is ongoing, while the problems that arose from the incomplete state in which Caesar left the work are probably beyond repair. The edition that will appear concurrently with this volume relies on a fresh collation of the principal manuscripts by the late Virginia Brown; and besides the new collation and the general clearing away of error that it permits, this edition presents a text based on a new stemma.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter describes the history of the text, inasmuch as inevitable historical discrepancies and scarce evidence can provide. As such, this chapter details working assumptions rather than a full ...
More
This chapter describes the history of the text, inasmuch as inevitable historical discrepancies and scarce evidence can provide. As such, this chapter details working assumptions rather than a full argument of the text's much disputed history. The text of Caesar's Bellum ciuile survives in almost two hundred known manuscript books. All of the extant manuscripts are ultimately derived from a single archetype, as is shown by errors grave and trivial common to them all. These accumulated as the text was copied in the course of the centuries after the publication of the corpus Caesarianum. For the Bellum ciuile alone, a work of some 33,000 words, they number in the hundreds. The date at which the archetype was produced can be established at least approximately by considering errors that arose from features of its script.Less
This chapter describes the history of the text, inasmuch as inevitable historical discrepancies and scarce evidence can provide. As such, this chapter details working assumptions rather than a full argument of the text's much disputed history. The text of Caesar's Bellum ciuile survives in almost two hundred known manuscript books. All of the extant manuscripts are ultimately derived from a single archetype, as is shown by errors grave and trivial common to them all. These accumulated as the text was copied in the course of the centuries after the publication of the corpus Caesarianum. For the Bellum ciuile alone, a work of some 33,000 words, they number in the hundreds. The date at which the archetype was produced can be established at least approximately by considering errors that arose from features of its script.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter refers to the specific emendations for key passages in the first book of the Bellum ciuile. It also notes the emendations made by other scholars regarding these passages, and whether or ...
More
This chapter refers to the specific emendations for key passages in the first book of the Bellum ciuile. It also notes the emendations made by other scholars regarding these passages, and whether or not they are chosen to be rejected in favour of a more precise interpretation, or for better clarifying the context of a portion of the narrative. The chapter also remarks on the difficulty of emendation, in explaining that a change to one part of this passage usually entails a change to another despite the syntax remaining otherwise clear. In the end, this chapter can only offer what seems to be the minimum amount of intervention needed to produce historical sense.Less
This chapter refers to the specific emendations for key passages in the first book of the Bellum ciuile. It also notes the emendations made by other scholars regarding these passages, and whether or not they are chosen to be rejected in favour of a more precise interpretation, or for better clarifying the context of a portion of the narrative. The chapter also remarks on the difficulty of emendation, in explaining that a change to one part of this passage usually entails a change to another despite the syntax remaining otherwise clear. In the end, this chapter can only offer what seems to be the minimum amount of intervention needed to produce historical sense.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter is concerned with recovering the original archetype of the Bellum ciuile through the existing descendant branches of its stemma. In particular, this chapter searches for unstable ...
More
This chapter is concerned with recovering the original archetype of the Bellum ciuile through the existing descendant branches of its stemma. In particular, this chapter searches for unstable relationships defined by agreement in errors that are correctable by conjecture, in order to test the positive argument for a tripartite stemma. Given the archetype ω, it could be proved that μ and π belonged to different branches of the archetype's descendants, in order to recover more of the archetype than was possible with earlier stemmata. However, μ and π do belong to separate branches, but there has also been some horizontal transmission between these branches. The extent of that transmission cannot be determined with any precision: it is somewhere on the spectrum between occasional and systematic, probably closer to the former endpoint. This makes the reconstruction of the archetype less mechanical and more a matter of editorial judgement.Less
This chapter is concerned with recovering the original archetype of the Bellum ciuile through the existing descendant branches of its stemma. In particular, this chapter searches for unstable relationships defined by agreement in errors that are correctable by conjecture, in order to test the positive argument for a tripartite stemma. Given the archetype ω, it could be proved that μ and π belonged to different branches of the archetype's descendants, in order to recover more of the archetype than was possible with earlier stemmata. However, μ and π do belong to separate branches, but there has also been some horizontal transmission between these branches. The extent of that transmission cannot be determined with any precision: it is somewhere on the spectrum between occasional and systematic, probably closer to the former endpoint. This makes the reconstruction of the archetype less mechanical and more a matter of editorial judgement.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter follows the same vein as the previous two chapters in enumerating the emendations (and the historical and contextual justifications for these) from the archetype of the Bellum ciuile, ...
More
This chapter follows the same vein as the previous two chapters in enumerating the emendations (and the historical and contextual justifications for these) from the archetype of the Bellum ciuile, this time with a focus on the third and final book in the narrative. Book 3 contains more annotations than the previous two, due to the necessity of working through the ‘problem spots’ that often leave unclear, if not implausible, interpretations of the passages. The chapter also notes that emendation based on context are more convincing, even as the context can at times require the acceptance of dubiously Caesarean phrasings and syntax.Less
This chapter follows the same vein as the previous two chapters in enumerating the emendations (and the historical and contextual justifications for these) from the archetype of the Bellum ciuile, this time with a focus on the third and final book in the narrative. Book 3 contains more annotations than the previous two, due to the necessity of working through the ‘problem spots’ that often leave unclear, if not implausible, interpretations of the passages. The chapter also notes that emendation based on context are more convincing, even as the context can at times require the acceptance of dubiously Caesarean phrasings and syntax.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter offers emendations and reconstruction of the second book of the Bellum ciuile. As with the previous book, it notes the inconsistencies present in the archetype, as well as the ways in ...
More
This chapter offers emendations and reconstruction of the second book of the Bellum ciuile. As with the previous book, it notes the inconsistencies present in the archetype, as well as the ways in which previous scholars have attempted to make sense of the more difficult gaps in the narrative. Historical sense and plausibility are, once again, essential in this act of reconstruction. This chapter also highlights several ‘repairs’ from previous scholarly editions that have been disregarded in favour of more simplified approaches that do not take too much away from the context of the book.Less
This chapter offers emendations and reconstruction of the second book of the Bellum ciuile. As with the previous book, it notes the inconsistencies present in the archetype, as well as the ways in which previous scholars have attempted to make sense of the more difficult gaps in the narrative. Historical sense and plausibility are, once again, essential in this act of reconstruction. This chapter also highlights several ‘repairs’ from previous scholarly editions that have been disregarded in favour of more simplified approaches that do not take too much away from the context of the book.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198724063
- eISBN:
- 9780191791260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198724063.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter outlines the emendations taken with this edition of Bellum ciuile, with regard to the stylistic liberties explored in previous chapters. Certain passages are emended for clearer syntax, ...
More
This chapter outlines the emendations taken with this edition of Bellum ciuile, with regard to the stylistic liberties explored in previous chapters. Certain passages are emended for clearer syntax, while others have undergone improvements to the original (and at times) clumsy wording. A number of passages are also emended with a technical term not otherwise used by Caesar. The use of certain terms over others is likewise explicated in order to better convey the intentions of Caesar, such as the battle rhetoric described in the text, or technical jargon and the use of other unusual words which might be justified by the narrative.Less
This chapter outlines the emendations taken with this edition of Bellum ciuile, with regard to the stylistic liberties explored in previous chapters. Certain passages are emended for clearer syntax, while others have undergone improvements to the original (and at times) clumsy wording. A number of passages are also emended with a technical term not otherwise used by Caesar. The use of certain terms over others is likewise explicated in order to better convey the intentions of Caesar, such as the battle rhetoric described in the text, or technical jargon and the use of other unusual words which might be justified by the narrative.