I appreciate this poem because Horace here points to the influence chance, personified in Fortuna, has on the lives of everyone. He examines anxieties common to everyone, especially those living […]
Author Archives: Jane Mason
Justice and the City: Solon fr. 4
Solon, statesman-poet and archon of ancient Athens, here plays off the image of Dike found in Hesiod’s Works and Days, but in such a way as to not only reflect […]
The Golden Age in Pastoral: Eclogues 4.15-45
Virgil’s vision of the Golden Age of peace and prosperity is notable, to me, for its deep emotional resonances as expressed in the earthy imagery of the pastoral genre. The […]
Sulpicia IV: On Adultery
The fourth poem in what survives of Sulpicia’s corpus, this direct and scornful reproach of Cerinthus’ adultery is the voice of a strong-willed, emotionally autonomous Roman woman. Drawing attention to […]
de rerum natura 1.62-79: Lucretius’ devotion to Epicurus
This famous passage from the first book of Lucretius’ de rerum natura is that in which Lucretius describes the philosophical feat of Epicureanism. The eminently spatial description of this epistemic […]
Catullus 101: A fraternal farewell
Here, Catullus provides a glimpse of tender sincerity as he bids farewell to his brother. Having travelled far and wide to be at the funeral, Catullus honours his brother with […]
Catullus IIa: Lesbia’s Sparrow
Here, Catullus considers Lesbia’s pet sparrow in a playful and charming poem. In true Catullan style, there is an acute corporeal focus at the start of the poem, with a […]
Women who hate, women who kill: 1. Clytemnestra – Agamemnon 1372-1398
Once he was back from the Trojan war, Clytemnestra killed her husband Agamemnon. Some years before, she exiled (or, according to another version of the myth, failed to kill her […]
An emotional encounter between Cicero and Brutus at Velia – Philippics 1.8-9
After the assassination of Caesar, there was a breakdown of law and order and Cicero had left Rome. However he then received news that encouraged him to return. Upon his […]
Aeneid 4: 120-127 and 160-172: Scene – A Cave
Virgil is SO lazy… At Aeneid 4.124 and 165 he even repeats the same line, with just the subtlest variation: the verb that completes the sense in the following line […]