This course aims to provide specialist knowledge and skills in the field of philology and textual criticism of Greek and Latin texts, both through an in-depth analysis – in a historical and methodological perspective – of the stages that lead to the critical edition of a text, and through the analysis of important textual traditions and concrete case studies.
1) P. Maas, Critica del testo, trad. di N. Martinelli, presentazione di G. Pasquali, con lo “Sguardo retrospettivo 1956” e una nota di L. Canfora, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1972 (3rd ed.).
2) G. Pasquali, Storia della tradizione e critica del testo, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1952 (repr. Firenze, Le Lettere, 1988).
3) S. Timpanaro, La genesi del metodo del Lachmann, Torino, UTET, 2004 (4th ed.).
4) C. Valerii Catulli Carmina, rec. R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford 1958 (or later reprints).
5) T. Lucretius Carus, De rerum natura libri VI, ed. M. Deufert, Berlin - Boston 2019 (book I).
6) L.D. Reynolds, Lucretius, in Id. (ed.),Texts and Transmission, Oxford 1983, pp. 218-222.
Non-attending students will in addition prepare:
7a) Herodotus, book I, ed. N.G. Wilson, Oxford 2015; and
7b) id., Herodotea. Studies on the Text of Herodotus, Oxford 2015, pp. i-xxvi and 1-24;
or alternatively:
8a) Vergil, Aeneid, books IV-VI, ed. G.B. Conte, Berlin – Boston 2019 (2nd ed.); and
8b) id. Ope ingenii: esperienze di critica testuale, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2013.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course students will have acquired skills and specialist knowledge in the field of Classical Philology. They will know the main concepts, tools and methods of stemmatics, history of tradition, textual criticism, and ecdotic technique; they will know in depth the history of at least one complex transmission; they will be able to read and use different kinds of critical editions; they will be able to assess the main features and the quality of a critical edition; they will be able to discuss with colleagues specific textual and exegetic problems as well as to argue for or against competing hypotheses.
Prerequisites
Very good knowledge of Greek and Latin. Knowledge of the basic principles of classical philology, textual criticism and transmission (see also Further information).
Teaching Methods
Lectures and seminar activities. Students will be asked to prepare a short presentation on a given topic. The quality of their presentation will be taken into account for the final assessment.
Further information
Students who do not know the basics of classical philology are strongly encouraged to read one of the following texts:
- R. Tarrant, Texts, editors, and readers. Methods and problems in Latin textual criticism, Cambridge 2016;
- T. Braccini, La scienza dei testi antichi. Introduzione alla filologia classica, Firenze, Le Monnier Università, 2017.
Type of Assessment
Oral examination. The conversation will test the ability of understanding, translating and discussing in a philological perspective the texts analyzed during the class (4) as well as other texts eventually taken into account (5-6 and, for non-attending students, 7 or 8), with special regard to their transmission and stemma, corrupted passages with relative amendments, and methods of editorial presentation. Starting from this, the conversation will assess student’s familiarity with some advanced notions related with the transmission of classical texts as well as with the development of the modern philological method, as exposed in the required readings (1-3). The final evaluation will also take due account of the quality of the seminar presentation.
Course program
"Catullus’ Carmina: textual history and editorial methods."
During the course some advanced concepts of classical philology will be addressed starting from the study of the transmission of Catullus’ Carmina.
During the course, the main stages of textual transmission, handwritten and printed witnesses, editorial history, as well as the main issues that still remain open will be presented. A close text reading will offer opportunities for reflection on the methods of stemmatics, text criticism and ecdotics. Exemplary cases will be illustrated, and large space will be given to open discussion.
After some introductory lessons, each student will receive the task of preparing a seminar presentation, to be illustrated in the last part of the course. The presentation will consist of a critical edition essay with philological commentary of a short passage. The seminar activity will be evaluated and will contribute to the final assessment.
For the very nature of this course, regular attendance is warmly recommended. Students who, for personal reasons, will not be able to attend, will prepare the philological reading of an additional text (see below).
All students will read:
1) P. Maas, Critica del testo, trad. di N. Martinelli, presentazione di G. Pasquali, con lo “Sguardo retrospettivo 1956” e una nota di L. Canfora, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1972 (3rd ed.).
2) G. Pasquali, Storia della tradizione e critica del testo, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1952 (repr. Firenze, Le Lettere, 1988).
3) S. Timpanaro, La genesi del metodo del Lachmann, Torino, UTET, 2004 (4th ed.).
All students will also prepare the reading and philological commentary of Catullus’ Carmina using the edition of R.A.B. Mynors, which will also be the reference edition during the course:
4) C. Valerii Catulli Carmina, rec. R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford 1958 (or later reprints).
All students will also read the first book of Lucretius' De rerum natura in the following edition:
5) T. Lucretius Carus, De rerum natura libri VI, ed. M. Deufert, Berlin - Boston 2019 (Bibliotheca Teubneriana).
For the transmission of Lucretius students must refer to:
6) L.D. Reynolds, Lucretius, in Id. (ed.),Texts and Transmission, Oxford 1983, pp. 218-222.
Non-attending students will also read:
7a) Herodotus, book I, ed. N.G. Wilson, Oxford 2015, and 7b) id., Herodotea. Studies on the Text of Herodotus, Oxford 2015, pp. i-xxvi and 1-24;
or alternatively:
8a) Vergil, Aeneid, books IV-VI, ed. G.B. Conte, Berlin – Boston 2019 (2nd ed.), and 8b) id. Ope ingenii: esperienze di critica testuale, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2013.