classical literature

499 Pages·2009·43.21 MB·English

THE OXFORD

C 0 MPANION
TO CLASSICAL
LITE RATU R E

Compiled and edited

bY

~ I R
PAUL HARVEY

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

Oxford University Prees, Watton Street, oxford OX2 ~ D P

0XFOR.D LONDON QLASQOW

NEW YORR TORONTO MELBOURNE WBLLINQTON
KUALA LUMPUR BINQAPORE BONG KONQ TOKYO

DELE1 BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAB KARAOHI
NAIROBI DAR E8 SALAAM OAPE TOWN

ISBN o 19 866103 7

First published October 1937
Reprinted with corrections 1940, 1946, IgsI, I955
1959. r96a,r966,r969,1974,r980

Printed i n &eat Britain
at the University Press, Oxjwd
bz/ Eric B ~ k l e y
printer to the University

PREFACE

HE aim of this book, as designed by the publishers, is to
T
present, in convenient form, information which the ordinary
reader, not only of the literatures of Greece and Rome, but also
of that large proportion of modern European literature which
teems with classical allusions, may find useful. It endeavours to
do two things: in the first place to bring together what he may
wish to know about the evolution of claasiml literature, the
principal authors, and their chief works ; in the second place,
to depict so much of the historical, political, social, and religious
background as may help to make the classics understood.
Accordingly, for the first of the above purposes, articles in
alphabetical arrangement (1) explain the various elements of
classical literature--epic, tragedy, comedy, metre, $e ; (2) give
an amount of the principal authors; and (3) describe the
subjects or contents of their works, either under the name of
the author, or, where more convenient, under the title of the
work itself. Interesting points of connexion between the classics
end medieval and modern English literature are noticed. In
general the book confines itself to the clasFical period, but some
authors of the decline, such as Plutarch and Lucian, Jerome and
Ausonius, are included, because of their exceptional interest or
importance.

In addition, to effect the second of the above purposes,
articles are added:

(1) on the principal phases of the history of Greece (more
particularly Athens) and Rome, down to the end of the
period of their classical literatures, and on their political
institutions and economic conditions ; outstanding histori-
cal characters, inseparable from literature, such as Pericles
and Pompey, are separately mentioned ;

(2) on Greek and Roman religion and religious institutions,
and the principal schools of philosophy ;
(3) on various aspects of the social conditiom, under such

vi
PREFACE

headings as Houses, Women (Position of), Xlavery, Educa-
tion, Food, Clothing, and Games; the art, industry, com-
merce, and agriculture of the Greek and Roman periods
are also noticed ;

(4) on the more important myths and mythological charac-
ters, as an essential element in Greek and Roman litera-
ture ;

(5) on geographical names of importance in a literary
oonnexion, as the birthplaces of authors, or as the scene of
events frequently alluded to; something is said of the
topography of Athens and Rome, and further geographical
information is furnished by maps and plans ;

(6) on the manner in which ancient books were written, and
the texts transmitted and studied through the ages ;
(7) on such things as Roman camps, roads, and aqueducts,

ancient ships and chariot-races, horses and elephants in
antiquity, and domestic pets.

It should be remembered, nevertheless, that this work does
not include articles on antiquities as such, but only those
antiquities which concern the study of classical literature.

The compiler of a book such as this is necessarily under a
heavy debt to previous writers. It would be impossible, within
the limits of a preface, to enumerate the works, whether editions
of and commentaries on ancient authors, or treatises on various
aspects of antiquity, which have been consulted in the course
of its preparation. Of such works I may specially mention,
rather as an illustrative sample than as giving any indication of
the extent of my obligations, the works of Werner Jaeger on
Aristotle, of Prof. Gilbert Murray on Aristophanes, of C. M.
Bowra on Homer, of Sir J. C. Sandys on Epigraphy and on the
History of Scholarship, of A. W. Pickard-Cambridge on the
evolution of the Greek drama, of F. G. Kenyon and F. W. Hall
on ancient books, of W. W. Tarn on Hellenistic Civilization, of
R. C. Jebb on the Attio Orators, and of R. G. Collingwood
on Roman Britain. Apart from this general acknowledgement
of my indebtedness, I must confine myself to naming a few

PREFACE
vii
works &om which I have more especially and more frequently
sought guidance, viz.: in the matter of Greek Literature, the
histories of the subject by A. and M. Croiset, Prof. Gilbert
Murray, and Prof. Rose; Latin Literature, the works of J. W.
Mackail, R. Pichon, J. Wight Duff, and Prof. Rose; Cheek
mythology and religion, Prof. Rose’s ‘Handbook of Greek
Mythology’ and M. P. Nilsson’s ‘History of Greek Religion’;
Roman religion, the works of W. Warde Fowler and Cyril Bailey
and Sir J. G. Frazer’s commentary on Ovid’s ‘Fasti’; Greek
and Roman History, the works of G. Glotz, M. Cary, J. B. Bury,
M. Roatovtzeff , G. Ferrero, and the Cambridge Ancient History.
On antiquities in general I have obtained much assistance from
the Cambridge Companions to Greek and Latin Studies, from
the dictionaries of Daremberg and Saglio and of Seyffert
(Sandys and Nettleship), and from Stuart Jones’s ‘Companion
to Roman History’; on points of biography from Liibker’s
‘Reallexikon’ ; and on certain matters from the ‘Real-Encyclo-
pldie’ of Pauly-Wissowa.

I must also acknowledge the helpful suggestions which I have
received from several people who were concerned with this book
in its various stages: from Dr. Cyril Bailey; Mr. J. B. Poynton
of Winchester College; Mi. W. H. Walsh of Merton College,
Oxford; Mr. A. H. M. Jones of All Souls College, Oxford; Mr.
H. A. Murray of King’s College, Aberdeen ; Mr. J. M. Wyllie ;
Mr. S. H. Steadman; and Miss C. M. M. Leask of Aberdeen;
ab0 from the staff of the Clarendon Press. Such value as the
book may have is largely due to them.

>

H.P.H.

September, 1937.

LIST OF PLATES AND MAPS

PAGES

Detailed description
.
465-8

PLATES

1. Greek and Roman Houses.
2. Roman Villas and Roman Camp.
3. Greek Armour.
4. Roman Armour.
6. Greek and Roman Theatres.
6. Greek and Roman Temples.

MAPS

7. Asia Minor and the East: Routes of Xerxes, Gyrus,

8. Greece and Asia Minor.
9. Roman Empire.

Alexander, and the March of the Ten Thousand.

10. Italy.
11. Gaul.
12. Roman Britain.
13 (a). Athens. (b). Piraeus.
14 (a). Rome under the Republic.

(b). Centre of Rome under the Early Empire.

GENERAL ARTICLES

THH following selected list indicates the headings under whi&
information on general subjects can be found.

Admidtration,PubUa (Athens, 5 9 ;Rome,

812).
Agriculture.
Alohabet.
Asueducts.
Architecture, Greek (for Roman Archi-

tecture, see Art).

Army.
Art, Roman (for Greek Art see Architec-

ture, Painting, Sculpture, Tomutic Art).
Augurs and Auspices.
Aumt&n Age.
Baths.
Birthplaces
of
Greek
and Roman

Books, Ancient.
Burial and Cremation.
Byzantine Age of Greek Literature.
Calendar.
Castra.
Chariot races.
Ciceronian Age.
Classic.
Clothing and Toilet.
Colonization.
Comedy.
Corn Supply.
Dancing.
Dictionaries.
Didactic poetry.
Divination.
Dogs.
Economfo Conditions (Athew 5 10;

Editions of Collections of the ClaSdCS.
Education.
Elegy.
Elephants.
Epic.
Epigraphy.
Enitaphs.

authors.

Rome, B 13).

~Lstivds.
Finances (Athens, 0 11; Rome, B 14).
Food and Wine.
Qames.
Gladiators.
Glass.
Guilds.
Hellenistic &e.
Historians, Ancient, and Modern.
Homeric Age.

Eorses.
Houses and Furniture.
Hunting.
Judiclal Procedure.
Law, Roman.
Libraries.
Ludi.
Lsrio Poetry.
Magic.
Maps.
Metre.
mmtions and Dialects, Greek.
Mines.
Money and Coins.
Monsters.
Museums.
Music.
Mysteries.
Mflho1og.g.
Names.
Novel.
Omens.
Oracles.
Oratory.
Ostraca,
Painting, Greek (for Roman Painthg see

Art).
Papyri, Discoveries of.
Pete.
Philosophy.
Pottery.
Priests.
Prose.
Provinces, Roman.
Religion.
Roads.
Roman Age of Greek Lite~ahne.
Sacrifice.
Satire.
Satyrlo Drama.
Sculpture, Greek (for Roman SCulPturO

Ships.
Slavery.
Temples.
Texts and studies.
Theatre.
Tragedy.
Vase-painting.
Weights and Measures.
women, position of.

see Art).

A date chart of Greek and Latin authors and of events conternporttry With

them is given on pages 466-62.

PRELIMINARY NOTE

HEAD-WORDS

PROPER
names are entered as head-words in the form in which they
are moat familiar to ordinary readers, e.g. Ajax, A’riatotle,
Menelii‘us, Phi‘dias, Te’rence. The Greek v appears as y, IC as c,
and final -os as -ua where these are the more familiar forms. The
correct transliteration of Greek names and the full Latin names are
added in brackets where required: e.g. a j a x (Ais),
A’riatotle
(AristoteEB), Menels’us (Me&s),
Phi‘dias (PheidiiEs), Te’rence
(Publius Terentiwr &er).
(Less familiar names, not head-words, such
as Adpichos, Pherenikos, are given in transliterated form.)

Latin proper names appear under the person’s n m e n unless he is
generally known by his cognomen; e.g. Cicero appears under thab
name, not under ‘Tullius’. In a few cases the names are given under
the pmenomen, e.g. Appius Claudius, where this is the customary
designation.

QUANTITIES AND PRONUNCIATION

The ordinary English pronunciation of names is shown, by stress
and quantity maxka, in head-words only (Le. in the words printed in
heavy black type at the beginning of each article). Where the
quantities in the English pronunciation differ from those in Greek or
Latin, the name is repeated in brackets with the Greek or Latin
quantities. The quantities shown in all names and common nouns
other than head-words axe their quantities as Greek or Latin words,
and are not necessarily an indication of their accepted pronunciation
in English. For instance

(1) Catu’llus, Giiius VALGRIUS,
(2) Clau’dius (Tibgriwr Chudim NZr6 QerrnZrkicus),
(3) a river in Pamphylie,

where Catu‘llus and Clau‘dius represent the ordinary English
pronunciation, while GZus, VAL~RIUS,
Tibgriwr, NLr6, Qermiinicwr,
Pamphfrlia, show the quantities of the Latin or Greek names.

In general only the long vowels are marked, and vowels are to be
taken as short unless marked as long; but
(1) a syllable in which the vowel is long (or common) by position,

XtV
PRELININARY NOTE

under the ordinary rules of Greek and Latin prosody, as being
followed by two consonants, is usually not marked; e.g. the fist
syllables in ThersitEs, Petrcnius ;

(2) the vowels of Latin case-endings which are long by the ordi-
nary rules of Latin prosody, for instance -0, -a, -b of the ablativej
-i, -orum, -arum of the genitive, are not marked; 0.g. De Amicitia.

(3) short vowels are occasionally marked with the short sign,
e.g. for emphasis, as where a vowel which is short in Greek or Latin
is ~sually pronounced long in English; e.g. Sblon (X&n), Ti’tus
(Titus).

Where a vowel is common (sometimes short, sometimes long) other-
wise than under (1) above, this is indicated by the sign “; 0.g.
~ ~ & . a .
Where, in a name of some importance, a quantity is un-
known or uncertain, the fact is stated.

The groups of letters AE, AI, AU, EI, EU, ou, are to be taken
diphthongs unless it is indicated that the letters are to be pro-
nounced separately, e.g. AlphG’us, Anti’n6us.

Where a name which appears as a head-word occurs also elsewhere
in the course of an article, the quantities are not always again in-
dicated there. For instance, where ‘Socrates’ ocours in the article
on Plato, it is printed without indication of the quantities. The great
majority of the names of persons and places mentioned in the course
of articles are given also as head-words, if only for purpose of cross-
reference ; and this applies also to Greek and Latin common nouns
such as ecclesia, venationes. Accordingly a reader who desires to know
the quantities of the syllables of such a, name or noun should fist
look for it among the head-words. If it does not appear there and
no quantities are marked where it is found in an article, it may be
inferred that its syllables are short.

ABBREVIATIONS

ad fin.: ad finem, a t or near the end.
b. : born.
0.: century.
cc.: centuries.
0.: circa, about.
cf.: confer, compare.
d.: died.
dr. : daughter.
et seq. : et sequefites, and following.
p.: pornit, flourished.

gen. : genitive.
Gk.: Greek.
L. or Lat.: Latin.
m. : married.
O.T.: Old Testament.
q.v.: quod vide, which see.
qq.v.: quae vide, both which, or all

so. : scilicet, understand or supply.

which, see.

The abbreviated names of authors and works, such as ‘Horn. Il.’,
‘Virg. Aen.’, appearing in this book are for the most part sufficiently
familiar to need no explanation ; but the following may be noted :
Apoph. Reg. : Apophthegmata Re-

Ep. : Epistulae (Epistles).
Epod.: Epodes.
Nub.: Nubes (Clouds).
Phaed. : Phaedo.

gum.

Phaedr. : Phaedrus.
Ran.: Ranae (Frogs).
Sep. c. Th.: Septem contra Thebas

1 Veap.: Vespao (Wasps).

(Seven against Thebes).