Terence and the verb to be in Latin

374 Pages·2016·1.82 MB·English

by  Pezzini, Giuseppe

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OXFORD CLASSICAL MONOGRAPHS
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Terence and the Verb
‘ ’
To Be in Latin
GIUSEPPE PEZZINI
1
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3
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To my Mother
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Preface
TheoriginofthisbookliesinaconversationwithJimAdamsin2008
inhisofficeatAllSoulsCollege,Oxford.AtthattimeIwasworking
on a commentary on Terence’s Heauton Timorumenos, which was
my intended project for the D.Phil. in Classical Languages and
Literature. During one of my first supervisions with him, Jim did
not pay much attention to my first attempts at commentary but
pointed me towards what looked like a very small detail in the first
line of the passage I was commenting on, the form inueniundumst
(Haut. 513). With his characteristic urgency he invited and chal-
lenged me to write a note on this phenomenon (‘prodelision’), to be
basedonmyownresearchandnotjustrepeatingorparaphrasingthe
vulgata. I went back to the Bodleian Library and began my work,
whichinmymindwouldnothaverequiredmorethanadayortwo.
Myfirststep,owingtoacombinationofchanceandcuriosity,wasto
typeintoadatabaseofLatintextsthese‘prodelided’forms.Itwasabit
like Alice encountering the White Rabbit: that quick search was
enough to make me realize that ‘prodelision’ is not just a feature of
Plautus, Terence, and Lucretius (as most Latin scholars and readers
believe)butisfoundintextsofmanyotherauthors,bothpoetryand
prose.Thatwasjustthetipoftheiceberg,asveryfewmoderneditors
printcontractions;butitwasenoughtointrigueme.Ithusdecidedto
follow the rabbit into the hole and I have spent the following years
working on Latin contractions, soon realising their linguistic signifi-
cance and their relationship with the peculiar nature of the verb ‘to
be’ in Latin. That short note became this book, which is thus an
accountof a journeyof research withinthe‘underworld’of contrac-
tion (what ‘prodelision’ really is) and the cliticization of the verb ‘to
be’inLatin.
Severalofmy‘lay’friendsoftenaskmewhatisthepointofresearch
inasubjectthathasbeenstudiedforcenturies.Ihopethatthisbook,
aswellasmanyothers,mayprovideananswer,andshowhowmany
mysteries of the Latin language still need to be revealed, and how
many of our basic tenets are inaccurate or misleading, including the
paradigmoftheverb‘tobe’.
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viii Preface
InmyjourneyJimAdamshasbeenmasterandcompanion,always
remindingmeofthesupremacyoffactsoverfancifulinterpretations,
of clarity and precision over ‘waffling’; Fraenkel’s dedication to Leo,
that‘notasinglelineofthisbookcouldhavebeenwrittenwithouthis
work and teaching’ can appropriately be repeated here. To this I
would also append ‘and without his affection, kindness, and gener-
osity’, if I did not know that Jim would probably frown at these
‘sentimentalities’.
Thewritingofthisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthe
aid of a number of people, and its quality would be considerably
inferior without their comments and criticism; I apologize for any
remaining mistakes, which might obscure the calibre of the help I
havereceived.
Firstofall,IwishtothankwarmlytheexaminersofmyD.Phil.,in
itsfieriandcompletion:PeterBrown,DavidLangslow,Wolfgangde
Melo,and TobiasReinhardt. I did not knowit atthat timebut their
help would have been much more precious and extensive than their
invaluable comments on my thesis. Each of them, with his rigorous
work, inspiration, and guidance, has made and makes possible my
growthasapersonandasascholar.
A special thanks also goes to my adviser John Penney, for
his patience and advice, and to Peter Kruschwitz, for his constant
support and wit, together with the colleagues of the Department of
ClassicsatReading.
Severalotherpeoplehavereadandcommentedonpartsorearlier
drafts of this book: among them I am especially grateful to Siobhan
Butala, David Butterfield, James Clackson, Anna Chahoud, Luca
Grillo, Luke O’Duffy, Costas Panayotakis, John Trappes-Lomax,
andRexWallace.
Oxfordisaspecialplace,inwhichIhavebeenluckytofindmany
colleagues and friends who have offered me their expertise and
encouragement, both during my D.Phil. and while I was converting
the thesis into a book: I would like to mention in particular Amin
Benaissa, Felix Budelmann, Stephen Harrison, Matthew Leigh, Tom
Mackenzie, Oliver Taplin, Barney Taylor, Alessandro Vatri, and the
colleagues at the Dictionary of Medieval Latin, especially Richard
Ashdowne, Peter Glare, David Howlett, and Carolinne White. I am
also grateful to all the students I have had the privilege to teach in
these years, and who have helped me to retain my passion for our
subject: a special place is held by the undergraduates of Lady
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Preface ix
MargaretHallwithwhomIsharedabeautifulyearafterthecomple-
tionofmythesis.
For the preparation of this book I have visited many libraries,
where I have found open doors and kind assistance: I would like to
expressmygratitudeinparticulartothestaffoftheBodleianLibrary,
theBritish Library, theBiblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, theBibliothè-
que nationale de France, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, and the Biblio-
tecaLaurenziana.
I also would like to mention the importance of the teaching I
received in Pisa, above all from Gian Biagio Conte, Rolando Ferri
and Glenn Most, as well as the support I received in the crucial
monthsbefore Icame to Oxford, especially that of Alessandro Banfi
andMicheleRosboch.
Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the financial support I received
from a generous scholarship of the Banca Gesfid (now PKB Privat-
bank),andajointscholarshipofSt.Anne’sCollegeandtheFacultyof
ClassicsatOxford.
Theyearsinwhichthisbookwaswrittenhavebeenaroller-coaster
of events, some joyful, some less: I would not have been able to go
through them without the presence of many friends with whom I
sharethegreatestofadventures;itwouldbeimpossibletonameallof
them here and I am therefore sadly forced to offer a collective, but
sincere thanks. I cannot fail however to single out the names of
Beniamino Arnone, Noel Murphy, Stefano Rebeggiani and Marco
Sinisi.Theyknowwhy.
My family of origin supported me from the very beginning and I
wouldneverbeherewithoutthem,especiallywithoutmyfather.The
bookisdedicatedtomymother,theonewhoisattherootandcentre
ofall.
Last, but certainly not the least, I thank my wife, in qua maxime
delector: she followed me to the UK to study for my D.Phil., she
tolerated with great benevolence all my stress over many days and
nights, and, most of all, she bore my wonderful children, who bring
light to my life. She will probably never pride herself for it, but this
bookwouldnotexistwithouther.
Oxford
April2015