Latin 212 / 312: Vergil’s Aeneid
Fall 2014
Instructor: Brenda Fineberg
Class meetings:
MWF 12:00-1:10 pm GDH 309B
Mosaic of Dido and Aeneas sheltering from the storm in Aeneid 4.
From a Roman Villa in Low Ham, England.
Additional optional meetings:
TTh 9:20-10:30 am GDH 305
The central work of this course will be the reading of selections of Vergil’s Aeneid in Latin. We shall
simultaneously read the entire Aeneid in English in order to understand the larger context of the Latin we read,
and to gain an understanding of the literary and political context in which Vergil lived and wrote.
We shall spend some time reading secondary scholarship, that is, articles and portions of books written by
modern scholars about the Aeneid. The scholarship on the Aeneid is immense—we’ll scarcely begin to read
what has been written. What we do read and discuss and write about will constitute our entry into the
conversation about Vergil and the Aeneid—a conversation that has been going on among students and scholars
for more than two millennia.
You will be asked to demonstrate your engagement in that conversation in several ways (see Evaluation, below).
In order to write about the Aeneid, you will need some practice in the skill that is arguably the key tool of
classical philologists: close reading. Most of what we do in class will be aimed at developing that skill:
translating the Latin text and observing its exquisite poetics--figures of speech, patterns of imagery,
composition, tone, temporal distortions, importance of place, etc.
Required Texts
Pharr, Clyde and Alexander Gordon McKay. 1998. Vergil’s Aeneid. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers.
ISBN 0-86516-272-2
Virgil and Stanley Lombardo (trans). 2005. Aeneid. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co.
ISBN 9-780872-207318
Virgil, and R. A. B. Mynors. 1969. P Vergili maronis opera. Oxford University Press.
ISBN 9-780198-146537
Recommended
Allen, Joseph Henry, and J. B. Greenough. 1988. Allen and Greenough's New Latin grammar for
schools and colleges: founded on comparative grammar. New Rochelle, N.Y.: A.D. Caratzas.
Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar is also available online at Perseus: www.perseus.tufts.edu
Evaluation
Classwork (attendance, preparation, participation,
presentations)
Quizzes (4 @ 5%, 15%, 15%, 20%)
Writing
3 close readings
2 article reviews
Interpretive Essay
20%
60%
20%
Schedule of Assignments
1
2
3
4
5
6
M
W
9/15
9/17
Introduction; Aeneid 1.1-7
Aeneid 1.1-18
F
9/19
Aeneid 1.19-22
W. R. Johnson “Introduction,” xv-lxxi (56 pp.) from S. Lombardo, trans.
Virgil Aeneid.
M
9/22
Aeneid 1.23-32
Read Aeneid 1 in English (26 pages in Lombardo translation)
W
9/24
Aeneid 1.33-49
Read Aeneid 2 in English
F
9/26
Review Aeneid 1.1-64; Practice quiz
Read Aeneid 3 in English
M
9/29
Aeneid 1.198-222
Read Aeneid 4 in English
W
10/1
Aeneid 1.223-246
Read Aeneid 5 in English
F
10/3
NO CLASS
Read Aeneid 6 in English
M
10/6
Aeneid 1.247-260
Close reading #1 due
W
10/8
Aeneid 1.260-73
Read Aeneid 7 in English
F
10/10 Aeneid 1.273-91
Read Aeneid 8 in English
M
10/13 Quiz #2 (Aeneid 1.1-54 and 1.198-291)
Read Aeneid 9 in English
W
10/15 Aeneid 1.292-324
Read Aeneid 10 in English
F
10/17 Aeneid 1.325-furor in 348
Read Aeneid 11 in English
Article presentations:
M
10/20 Aeneid 1.348-371
Read Aeneid 12 in English
W
10/22 FALL INSTITUTES DAY: NO CLASS
7
8
9
10
F
10/24 Aeneid 1.372-396
Turn in paper topic and thesis, including Close Reading #2 (of passage related to topic)
M
10/27 Aeneid 1.397-422
Quiz #3 (outside of class: times arranged individually)
W
10/29 Aeneid 1.423-449
F
10/31 Aeneid 1.449-465 and 561-574
M
11/3
Aeneid 4.160-85
W
11/5
Aeneid 4.296-319
Article presentations
F
11/7
Aeneid 4.320-344
M
11/10 Aeneid 4.344-370
W
11/12 Aeneid 6.679-702
F
11/14 Aeneid 6.756-780
Turn in Draft, or detailed outline, of paper, including Close Reading #3
M
11/17 Last class
Quiz #4
11/22 10:00 pm Paper Due
Sat