Latin Prose Prefaces: Studies in Literary Conventions

182 Pages·1964·3.547 MB·English

by  Tore Janson

ACT A UNIVERSITATIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS
Studia Latina Stockholmiensia
xnr -------------
LATIN PROSE PREFACES
Studies in Literary Conventions
By
TORE JANSON
fil. lie.
INAUGURAL DISSERTATION
by due permission
of the Faculty of Arts and Letters
of the University of Stockholm
to be publicly discussed in lecture room C
on Friday, May 22, 1964, at 10 a.m.
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

TORE JANSON
LATIN PROSE PREFACES

ACT A UNIVERSITA TIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS
Studia Latina Stockholmiensia
-----------XIII-----------
LATIN PROSE PREFACES
Studies in Literary Conventions
By
TORE JANSON
ALMQVIST & WIKSELL
STOCKHOLM
GOTEBORG UPPSALA
IVAR H.-EGGSTR0MS TRYCKERI AB
STOCKHOLM 1964
CONTENTS
PRELIMINARIES
Introduction 7
The Greeks. 14
Rhetorical theory and practice 24
PART I. TO THE TIME OF TRAJAN
Rhetorical treatises .
Rhetorica ad Herennium 27. De Oratore 32. Orator 40. The
type and its origins 45. The Controuersiae of Seneca 49.
lnstitutio Oratoria 50. The Dialogus de Oratoribus 60.
The historians .
Theory 6 5. The usual themes 66. Survey of the literature on
the prefaces of Sallust, Livy and Tacitus 68. When did Livy
write his preface? 73. Advertisement of future works 75. The
preface of Pompeius Trogus 77.
Agricultural handbooks .
Cato 84. Varro 88. Columella 92.
Other specialists .
95
Brevity 96. Predecessors 97. Nocturnal studies 97. The au
thor's qualifications for his subject and in rhetoric 98.
Attitudes in front of the Emperor . 100
The spread of epistolary prose prefaces 106
PART 2. LOCI COMMUNES IN LATER PREFACES
Extant texts
113
Requests and dedications 116
Words for requesting and accepting 117. The author's dilemma
120. The impossible made possible 121. Responsibility of the
dedicatee 124.
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Incompetence . 124
General 12 5. Deficiency in sty le 12 5. Three approaches to
rhetoric 127. Apology for defective style 130. Content before
form 133. The Christian approach 1 34.
Assistance 141
Help with corrections 141. Prohibition against changes 143.
Assistance from God 144.
Other forms of modesty 14 5
Diminutives 145. Ship metaphors 146. Nocturnal studies 147.
The dedicatee the only reader 148.
The subject . 149
Homer and the fame of Achilles 149. Presentation of raw ma-
terial 151. Bees and flowers 1 52 .
Brevity 154
Allusions to earlier writers
Conclusion
APPENDIX
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF LATIN AND GREEK AUTHORS
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PRELIMINARIES
INTRODUCTION
Beginning a book is no easy matter. The first impression conveyed to the
reader may be vital to his appreciation of the work as a whole. The
author concerned to make a good impression must therefore be especially
careful to fashion the overture to his work as attractively as possible.
There are several approaches. One is to plunge directly in medias res,
either without a prelude or, as Homer, with an invocation, in order to
catch the reader's interest in the content. The author who does not
choose to do this may treat one or more of the themes: work, reader,
author. The first generally involves commending in some way the subject
he is writing about. In the second he addresses his readers, or one of
them, to whom the work is then normally dedicated. The third means
that the author presents himself to his public.
Clearly the possibilities of variation are limited to the author who
does not choose to begin with the subject itself. The invocation of a deity
cannot be made in an unlimited number of ways, nor can the praise of
the subject, nor the author's introduction of himself. And the possible
variations on the different themes will be limited still more if the authors
and readers have definite ideas of what ought to be in the beginning of
a work. Such expectations, of course, are formed through the reading of
earlier works, and so constitute what is usually termed the power of
tradition. The limited range of variation and the influence of tradition
often result in the same chains of thought being repeated in preface after
preface from the same period.
The present work deals with some of the traditional thought sequences
and modes of expression in prefaces to Latin prose writings from pre
classical times up to the beginning of the Middle Ages. The purpose of
the investigation is to show how, in Latin literature, there were gradu
ally formed certain conventions as to how a book should be begun and
to demonstrate what these conventions were in late Latin.
The purpose of the investigation and the character of the material
necessitate a rather complicated arrangement of the book, which has
two main parts. In the first are treated some recurrent lines of thought
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and modes of expression in Latin prefaces up to the time of Trajan. On
the whole it has been natural to devote separate sections to prefaces
from the same literary genre, and in this way it has been possible to
show how in different genres there developed different modes of writing
prefaces, and how certain thought sequences became usual in the differ
ent genres. The prefaces of rhetorical treatises have been treated at some
length, in order to demonstrate in every one of them the same coherent
sequence of thoughts, forming a common skeleton of content. The ana
lyses of other genres are concentrated more to certain recurrent themes.
At the end there are two sections on phenomena not confined to one
particular genre.
The second, and shorter, part contains a survey of the fixed lines of
thought and cliches to be found in Latin prefaces from the time of
Trajan and up to about 500 A.D. This part is sub-divided according to
the content of the themes, and thus constitutes a systematic record of the
themes in general use in late Latin prefaces. Even the headings in this
part make it clear that the skeleton of these prefaces is the one demon
strated in the prefaces to rhetorical treatises.
These two main parts are preceded by a short account of some phe
nomena in Greek prefaces, necessary to an understanding of Latin
trends, and a couple of pages on the only existing Latin theory of pre
faces, the rhetorical one, and its application.
The different arrangement of the two main parts is occasioned by the
fact that in the Golden and Silver Ages, Latin literature presents a
number of fairly well defined genres, whereas late Latin literature is
characterized, among other things, by a mixing and dissolution of
genres. In other respects, too, the arrangement has proved to suit the
purpose of the investigation. In the first part, it has been possible to
throw light on the origins of the most usual themes through a quite
thorough analysis of the oldest and most important instances. On oc
casion, the exposition has been extended to cover relevant questions
about the situation of the several authors, their attitude to the task of
writing, etc., questions that are both relevant to the inquiry and of
considerable interest in themselves. In the second part particular themes
are traced, in varying detail, from their origins up to the beginning of
the Middle Ages. This illustrates the gradual development from classical
themes to the system of preface conventions used in the Middle Ages,
a system which has been treated already by Curtius and Simon.1
1 For the titles etc. of works by modern authors, see bibliography, pp. 169 ff.
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