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The article treats the presence of stars in terrestrial landscapes, in opposition to the Underworld and in connection to the topos of katabasis, above all in order to pursue in more depth a textual problem in the fabula Orphei of Vergil’s Georgics (4,509 astris / antris). The philological question is approached both on the basis of context and in relation to the descent into Hades of Aeneas, as well as in diachronic comparison with the earlier Homeric katabasis of Odysseus and the later otherworldly voyage of Dante in the Commedia. This internal and intertextual investigation reveals multiple functions of the celestial bodies in similar stories, as well as analogies between Homer, Vergil and Dante, linked by interests in nature and astronomy and by reciprocal influences. In fact, the Greek model and the Italian emulator seem to help clarify the contested passage in the Vergilian katabasis of Orpheus, while the Latin poet and Dante (who also share echoes of Apollonius Rhodius) rework a celestial detail already present in the νέκυια of Homer. Finally, both these classical authors, as well as Ovid, are subtly present at the ends of the three parts of the Commedia, each of which closes with the suggestive and symbolic image of “stars”, which evokes and renews an ancient tradition.

The paper deals with a proposal by Cicero in the fourteenth Philippic aimed at erecting a public tomb for the brave soldiers who died in the battle of Forum Gallorum. This proposal hides the orator’s desire for a monument, perhaps strategically placed in a prominent position in the Campus Martius, which would combine the celebration of the fallen with a firm condemnation of Antonius, who is, in the opinion of Cicero, a hostis publicus.

This paper proposes a focus on the city of Carthage through Florida: Apuleius lavishes continuous and extraordinary praise on Carthage and its citizens. It becomes clear how the city, in Apuleius' time, was by then an established and ‘Romanised’ cultural centre. In Apuleius' words, Carthage appears as the only city capable of competing with Rome.

Saggio introduttivo, traduzione e commento degli Adelphoe di Terenzio Introductory essay, translation and commentary of Terence's Adelphoe

Both our view of Seneca’s philosophical thought and our approach to the ancient consolatory genre have radically changed since the latest commentary on the Consolatio ad Marciam was written in 1981. The aim of this work is to offer a new book-length commentary on the earliest of Seneca’s extant writings, along with a revision of the Latin text and a reassessment of Seneca’s intellectual program, strategies, and context. A crucial document to penetrate Seneca’s discourse on the self in its embryonic stages, the Ad Marciam is here taken seriously as an engaging attempt to direct the persuasive power of literary models and rhetorical devices toward the fundamentally moral project of healing Marcia’s grief and correcting her cognitive distortions. Through close reading of the Latin text, this commentary shows that Seneca invariably adapts different traditions and voices – from Greek consolations to Plato’s dialogues, from the Roman discourse of gender and exemplarity to epic poetry – to a Stoic framework, so as to give his reader a lucid understanding of the limits of the self and the ineluctability of natural laws.

Review to the volume of: GIORGIA BANDINI - CATERINA PENTERICCI (a c. di), Personaggi in scena. Il Parasitus (Ludi Plautini Sarsinates 2), Roma, Carocci 2019

Questo articolo si inserisce nell’ambito degli studi sulla ricezione classica nella letteratura italiana, con una particolare attenzione verso la poesia e la traduzione. L’obiettivo è duplice: da una parte, offrire un quadro sinottico originale della presenza della latinitas nella poesia italiana contemporanea; dall’altra, effettuare un’analisi critica di uno dei casi di studio più rilevanti al riguardo: Sotto la scure silenziosa. Frammenti dal «De rerum natura» (2005) di Milo De Angelis., This article falls within the scope of studies on Classical Reception in Italian literature, with a special focus on poetry and translation. The aim is, on the one hand, to provide an original framework of the presence of Latinitas in Italian contemporary poetry; on the other hand, to offer a critical analysis of one of the most relevant case studies in this regard: Sotto la scure silenziosa. Frammenti dal «De rerum natura» (2005) by Milo De Angelis.

L’article analyse la présence de citations de Virgile dans l’Institution Oratoire de Quintilien. La présence de Virgile dans l’œuvre de Quintilien est l’un des premiers témoignages de la diffusion de la production du poète mantouan dans les pratiques scolaires, avec une nette préférence pour la doctrine relative à l’elocutio mais aussi, comme on peut le voir dans Inst. Or. 12.1.25, pour la revendication du rôle fondamental de l’orateur dans la société romaine.

The article examines the models of the Electra-Clitemestra-Aegisthus scene in Act V of Seneca’s Agamemnon: Sophocles’ Electra, Livius Andronicus’ Aegisthus, Accius’s Clutemestra and Pacuvius’ Dulorestes.

The paper deals with the quarrel between Pyrrhus and Agamemnon in the Troades, with an analysis of Greek and Latin antecedents, focusing in particular on the characterisation of the Achaean commander. The character of Agamemnon, who embodies the suffering of the defeated, shows a new model of royalty in line with Senecan ideology.

Recensione dell'edizione critica dei Menaechmi a cura di Giorgia Bandini