Date	Assignment
2/7 M	Introduction to the course and Catullus. Sight reading of Catullus 43 and discussion of various grammatical, metrical, historical, cultural and literary issues.
2/9 W	Catullus 83, 87, 51 The first 12 lines of Catullus 51 are an adaptation of a poem by the female Greek poet, Sappho – read a translation of her poem here. Why do you think that Catullus uses Sappho in this way and what is the connection in meaning between these opening 12 lines (based on Sappho) and the final stanza (Catullus’ own creation)?
2/11 F	Catullus 86, 5, 7 Catullus 5 and 7 make references to magic, especially the evil eye. Read this selection of ancient sources about the evil eye. Why do you think Catullus incorporated this imagery of magic and the evil eye into these love poems about Lesbia?
2/14 M	Catullus 2, 3 One of the important characteristics of poetry is that it should not always be taken literally. Words, images, ideas, often represent other things. What do you think Catullus is referring to with the passer in poems 2-3? How does this article help you better understand Catullus 3?
2/16 W	Catch-up (Catullus 86, 3) and Move forward (Catullus 92, 107)
2/18 F	Love turns bad: Catullus 8, 70, 72
2/21 M	The End of the Relationship: Catullus 58, 11 Catullus 11 is often viewed as the poem that marks the end of the relationship between Catullus and Lesbia. It is in the Sapphic meter just as 51 (which is often viewed as the poem that marks the beginning of the relationship). Do you see connections between these 2 poems above and beyond meter? Has Catullus written 11 with 51 in mind somehow?
2/23 W	Furius and Aurelius: Catullus 16, 15; also, be prepared to discuss the translations of the last 2 stanzas of Catullus 11 that I passed out on Monday. The next two poems in which we meet Furius and/or Aurelius are 15 and 16 and the vulgarity and abuse continues -- in 16 Catullus attacks both of them for thinking that his poetry is unmanly; in 15 Catullus warns Aurelius to keep his hands off his (i.e. Catullus') male lover (perhaps the Juventius named in other poems). Should we take Catullus' abuse of these 2 characters seriously? How would you go about making an argument one way or the other? How would this affect out reading of Catullus 11?
2/25 F	Catullus 48, 99 These are both love poems for Catullus' male lover Juventius. In Roman society, homosexuality itself was not an object of criticism, only the passive/penetrated participant in a homosexual act. We should probably imagine that Juventius is the younger, passive partner of Catullus. If you read poem 48 and compare it to the Lesbia kiss poems, do you see similarities, differences? Does Catullus present himself or his lover differently in his male/female lover kiss poems?
2/28 M	Catullus 10
3/2 W	Catullus 17 I want you to learn a little about the text of Catullus and how editors have to deal with manuscripts that have lots of variation and differences when they construct the text of Catullus that we read. This first document includes a text of Catullus 17 with the apparatus criticus at the bottom -- a list of differences, line by line, in the Latin of the poem that exist in various manuscripts, but the editor decided not to print in his version of the poem. Read through these other options in Latin and see if you can understand them and why the editor decided against them. Pages 2-4 explain the history of the manuscripts for Catullus. This other document is a brief account of how Catullus' poems may have been written and eventually formed into the book we read now.
3/4 F	Catullus 39, 84 Compare these 4 translations for the last 5 lines of Catullus 39.
3/7 M	Catullus 12, 13 Read this article about poems 12 and 13 and and briefly discuss what you found interesting and useful in it and what you disagreed with and why.
3/9 W	Catullus 57, 94, 105, 114, 115
3/11 F	Catullus 50, 96
3/14 M	Catullus 101, 31
3/16 W	Catullus 63.1-30 Read these three pages (the link will take you to the first one, XXXIV, but please read XXXV and XXXVI) about Attis from James Frazer's Golden Bough.
3/18 F	Catullus 63.31-61
3/21 M	Catullus 63.62-93
3/23 W	MIDTERM
4/4 M	Review the Midterm and Introduction to Horace
4/6 W	Horace 1.9, 1.11 What do the agricultural images -- the straining of the wine (vina liques) and the metaphorical pruning (reseces) and plucking (carpe) -- contribute to the meanings of 1.11? What if Horace had said more plainly "give up" (for reseces) and "seize" (for carpe) -- would something have been lost or changed?
4/8 F	Horace 1.4 As we discussed last time, Horace is a poet who likes to construct his poems with a series of images that have associations which more slowly and indirectly develop the meaning/main ideas of the poem. After translating this poem, go through and make a list of the images (winter, boats being dragged out of storage in preparation for use, etc.) and the possible associations the Romans may have had when thinking about these images.
4/11 M	Horace 1.5, 1.23 We have seen a number of poems now where love (and the mention of a lover) plays a significant role in the poem. How would you characterize these "love" poems of Horace in contrast with Catullus?
4/13 W	Horace 1.13, 1.33 We continue with the theme of Love. For 1.13, do you see any connections to Catullus? If there are connections, why does Horace make them? For what purpose?
4/15 F	Horace 1.16 Looking back over the poems we have read previous to this, what is Horace's view of love? Does this poem add anything new to the picture of Horatian love that we have come to know? Should we take this poem as light hearted and humorous or is it more serious?
4/18 M	Horace 1.15 Garrison suggests that this poem, filled with mythology, may be an elaborate reference to the relationship of Antony and Cleopatra, who had died as enemies of the Roman state and Augustus just 8 years before the publication of the ode. Do you agree that the main purpose of this poem is to say something about Antony and Cleopatra; and if so, what is it trying to say? If not, what do you see as the main purpose/meaning of this poem?
4/20 W	Horace 1.14 Horace is a poet who loves images, and his images rarely exist for their own sake -- they are meant to represent other things/ideas. Do you think that the ship in 1.14 represents Rome and all the dangers she has gone through until Augustus finally rescued her, or does it represent love/lover? What details in the poem lead you towards the first idea or the second (or some third direction)? How would we come to some conclusion about this question? What is this poem about?
4/22	Horace 1.37 Read and translate this poem, and also read E. M. Forster's account of Cleopatra from his guide to Alexandria which is reprinted in Appendix D (p.395-396). This is a famous ode on the subject of Augustus' triumphant victory over Antony (who goes unnamed in this poem) and especially Cleopatra, the enemy queen of a very powerful country, Egypt, who has finally been defeated by Horace's patron, Octavian/Augustus. Look closely at the imagery in this poem (and for perspective think about how Horace has used some of this imagery in other poems), and the way Horace refers to Cleopatra, and then answer the following question: What is Horace's attitude towards Cleopatra?
4/25	Sight Translation Day and Discussion of Paper #1 No set assignment.
4/27	Horace 2.10 Is the philosophy of life advocated in this poem compatible with the carpe diem of 1.11?
4/29	Horace 2.14 What sorts of connections, associations, and meanings have we seen for wine in other poems of Horace (or even in your wider knowledge of Roman culture), and what does it mean in the last stanza of this poem? Why include it as an image here and how does it connect to the meaning etsablished in the rest of the poem?
5/2 M	Horace 3.13, 3.18
5/4 W	Horace 4.8
5/6 F	Horace 4.15
5/9 M	Horace Satires, 1.9 lines 1-37
5/11 W	Horace Satires, 1.9 lines 38-78
5/13 F	Student Presentation
5/16 M	Student Presentation
5/18 W	Student Presentation
5/20 F	Final Exam, 10:30-12:30