Vita e Pensiero

The basic argument in this paper is twofold: first, that Lucretius serves as an important target of allusion in Tibullan elegy; second, that through allusions to the De Rerum Natura Tibullus affirms the validity of the elegiac view of love over Lucretius’ Epicurean perspective. Tibullus’ allusions to Lucretius are primarily polemical. On the one hand, Lucretius represented for Tibullus the first hexameter Latin poet who wrote extensively about the human experience of love...

Tibullus’ sixteen canonical poems owe a debt to Horace’s invective Epodes, sixteen of which are in metres that feature alternating lines. Play and playfulness, in particular proleplay and wordplay, typify the creative dialogue between these poetry collections...

Twentieth-century neglect of Tibullus is offset by the prominent position accorded to the elegist in earlier literary catalogues of elegiac, amatory and other poets. Latin authors of the Renaissance are enthusiastic in their praise of Tibullus, often employing terminology borrowed from or modelled on expressions in ancient literary criticism, and engagement with Tibullus’ own texts can likewise be used to convey appreciation of the poet’s literary stature...

This paper focuses on Janus’ speech in Ov. fast. I 63-288 as a model for Lucan’s Book I (vv. 60 ff., the causes of the civil war) and for Statius’ silv. IV 1 (the panegyric for Domitian, consul for the seventeenth time)...

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on some philosophical reappraisals of Ulysses. After a brief general introduction (I), I focus on Plato’s Ulysses, whom I consider as the symbol of “demotic virtue” (II)...

In the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Hermes is associated with (a) the night(time) and (b) the characteristic of good eyesight. I argue that the Greek god shares these characteristics with the Vedic fire-god Agni.

The paper deals with a well-known epigram by Antipatros of Sidones on the poetess Erinna. I offer a re-evaluation of its contents and a new translation.

The myth of gigantomachy has long been read as a political myth, i.e. the fight of the subversive Giants against the established order, and in Flavian era it was used by poets to legitimate the power of the Flavians, who had successfully defeated the Giants/Vitellians in the fight of 69 CE on the Capitol hill...