Volume 25 Number 1: October 1994
One piece of information. Because the annual meeting of CAPN will be held earlier than usual this year, the winter edition of the Bulletin will appear sometime in late January. So if you have any items you would like to include, please have them to me by January 14 at the latest.
Alain M. Gowing
Editor
We will be sending more detailed information, including registration materials and a draft program, in early November.
Martin Cropp and Bob Schmiel
CACW/CACW Conference 1995
Department of Greek, Latin & Ancient History
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive, N.W.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4
1. The meeting was called to order at 1:10 PM.
2. Barry apologized that the ACL delegate was incorrectly identified in last year's minutes. The 1993 ACL delegate was Rosemary Wagoner. The minutes of the 1993 meeting were then approved.
3. Report on Regional Associations meeting at the APA Meeting in Washington, DC
Discussion at the APA meeting centered around how Classics Programs threatened by budgetary cuts might be assisted. It was agreed that a liaison or "point person" for each region should be appointed. This person would be in charge of mobilizing resources to protect threatened programs.
4. Lowenstam read a letter from Rosemary Wagoner, CAPN's ACL delegate (please see the letter in this Bulletin). Wagoner will be CAPN's delegate for the 1994 ACL meeting.
5. National Committee on Latin and Greek
It was moved, seconded, and passed to increase the CAPN contribution to NCLG from $100.00/year to $150.00/year.
6. Treasurer's Report (Bill Barry): please see the report in this Bulletin.
7. Report of the Scholarship Committee
The Scholarship Committee members for 1994 are Richard Williams, David Lupher, Sheila Colwell.
No requests for scholarships were received for this last year. Members generally lamented the paucity of scholarships awarded by CAPN and proposed that the Scholarship Committee work with Rosemary Wagoner to spread the word to high schools about the CAPN Scholarship Fund. Alain Gowing noted that the University of Washington has a mailing list of high school Latin/Classics programs and that prospective applicants could be contacted via the list.
It was also moved, seconded, and passed to change CAPN's operating procedures concerning the scholarship awards. The changes follow:
Old Text: The Association shall award, from funds contributed for this purpose, an annual scholarship to a graduating high school senior.
New Text: The Association shall award, from funds contributed for this purpose, scholarships to graduating high school seniors, primary and secondary school teachers of classics, or students preparing to teach classics at the primary or secondary school level.
8. Next year's meeting: BANFF, ALBERTA
Bob Schmiel invited CAPN members to next year's meeting. The meeting will be hosted by the University of Calgary at the Conference Centre of the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts. It will be held jointly with the Classical Association of the Canadian West. The dates of the meeting are March 10-11, 1995. Proposals for papers to be presented in Banff may be submitted after the published June 6, 1994 deadline. Send proposals to:
Martin Cropp and Bob Schmiel
CACW/CAPN Conference 1995,
Department of Greek, Latin and Ancient History,
University of Calgary,
2500 University Drive N.W.,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
Some members expressed the desirability of an extended program of sessions on Saturday or even sessions on Sunday morning rather than concurrent sessions.
9. New Officers
The following slate of officers was elected:
President: Bob Schmiel, University of Calgary
Vice President: Jim Scott, University of Montana
Secretary/ Treasurer: Cathy Connors, University of Washington
Editor of CAPN Bulletin: Alain Gowing, University of Washington
Executive Committee:
Steve Lowenstam, University of Oregon
Bob Schmiel, University of Calgary
Jim Clauss, University of Washington
Linda Rutland Gillison, University of Montana
Celia Luschnig, University of Idaho
10. New business
Fred Lauritsen sends greetings from Christian Erhardt of New Zealand to his friends in the Pacific Northwest. Fred also noted that Tony Rook will be visiting the Northwest in the second-half of October and has expressed a willingness to speak at schools in the area. If interested, contact Fred Lauritsen.
James Russell of the University of British Columbia noted that Canadian members enjoyed an advantage over American members in membership dues. Given the vicissitudes of the American and Canadian dollars, the cost of Canadian membership ($10.00 Canadian) was less than that of US members ($8.00 US). Members agreed that, henceforth, the cost of Canadian membership in CAPN would be based on the current exchange rate and pegged to the $8.00 US.
Cathy Connors recommended that the membership dues form include spaces for E-MAIL and FAX addresses.
SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Balance as of April 3, 1993 $2,415.40
+ Contributions $109.38
+ Interest (thru 3/30/94) 76.40 $185.78
Balance as of April 16, 1994 $2,601.18
GENERAL FUND
Balance as of April 3, 1993 $668.25
+ Deposits
(dues, contributions,
subscriptions) $3,940.00
+ Interest (thru 3/30/94) ____8.34 $3,948.34
Sub-Total $4,616.59
- Paid subscriptions $1,381.25
- Expenses:
Annual Meeting $1,315.00
Contributions 150.00
Printing 343.38
Mailing 422.37
Supplies ___9.04 - $3,621.04
Balance as of April 16, 1994 $995.55
University of Puget Sound
The collection of the American Academy in Rome includes two votive arulae (miniature altars) that were part of a larger gift given by E.D. Van Buren in 1920. Both pieces are made of terracotta, are decorated on one side in relief, and have the "hourglass shape" typical of such objects from Latium.
Arula #8772 is an early mold-made form and bears the image of a winged male figure (daemon) in an archaic running position. #8773, only partially preserved, represents three spirited horses galloping energetically to the left.
Although the arula as a type occurs in limited numbers, it is typically Italian and is represented at practically every sanctuary in Latium, Sicily and Magna Grecia and occurs at many Etruscan sites as well.
The aim of this presentation is partly to place these two objects in the typological context of votive arulae from Latium, and partly to use these specific examples as the focus of an iconographic analysis aimed at determining if an overriding theme (pun intended) exists to help clarify questions of function and meaning.
"Garden Warfare: Politics by Other Means"
Linda W. Rutland Gillison
University of Montana
A political tactic much favored by Pompey was the contrived absence, which he utilized at several junctures in his urban career in order to make the populus Romanus "realize" its need for him and give him a mandate for action. In this paper I examine Pompey's pattern of contrived absence and the political use he made of his urban park (modelled on the slightly senior and neighboring park of his rival Lucullus) in this respect.
The location of the park (horti Pompeiani) on the city's periphery allowed the Magnus to remove himself from the public arena at will, while retaining the possibility of immediate return when the political situation was more to his liking. Lucullus, back from campaign and in some political disgrace, was utilizing his own Horti (Lucullani) overlooking the Campus Martius to maintain visibility and presence on the Roman scene. Pompey's personality and approach to politics differed greatly from Lucullus'. Nonetheless, for him as well the horti urbani proved to be an invaluable resource in the complex game which was Roman political life.
University of British Columbia
In 1991 a previously unknown city came to light by accident on the coast of Rough Cilicia about 50 kilometers south-east of Alanya. Though none of the inscriptions discovered on the site contains its name, it is possible to identify the city from the Stadiasmus Maris Magni as Nephelion. From the epigraphic evidence the city seems to have flourished during the second and early third centuries. The most interesting text, however, takes the form of an acclamation in honor of the Emperor Zeno (A.D. 474-491). This celebrates his generosity in renewing the city, presumably after crushing the Isaurian rebellion in the early years of his reign. The inscription thus adds further proof of Zeno's benevolence towards the region of his birth. A review of the evidence now available of his activities in Isauria provides a much more favorable impression of this Emperor than the negative account of his reign found in the Orthodox sources.
University of Montana
The iconography of the Devil is well known, but utterly non-Biblical. This paper traces the origins of two independent iconographies of the devil, in Eastern and Western Christianity, to two common figures in classical visual art: the satyr and the river-god.
Evil spirits are seldom shown in early Christian art, since they characteristically flee the presence of the Holy. One exception is the spirit of the River Jordan, regularly shown in scenes of Jesus' baptism as green or blue or brown in color and carrying a trident. The first canonical representations of the Devil in Christian art are in the Anastasis or the "Harrowing of Hell" scenes, which show the pit of hell in much the iconography as the river Jordan in the Baptism scenes, and in the pit a bound Satan firmly subdued by Jesus' cross or foot.
An independent tradition in the West stems from secular wall frescoes of the Pompeian type, which frequently represents satyrs in characteristic roles, invariably lustful. The satyr is a goat-like creature with cloven hooves, tail and horns, He is typically contrasted with white-skinned females by a deep reddish-brown skin tone suggesting sun-tan from an outdoor, uncivilized life.
The later image accounts for the iconography of Western Christianity, due to the stronger presence of secular fresco-painting in Western Europe. The former image has more strongly Eastern Christianity due to the more continuous tradition of religious mosaic and fresco traditions in churches from early Byzantine times through the time of the Turkish conquest.
University of Oregon
In this paper I explore several similarities between events at the beginning and events at the end of the Trojan War, the former related in the epic Kypria, and the latter in the Ilioupersis and the Mikra Ilias. My methods are similar to those of Neoanalysis, which interprets instances of repetition of motifs and of narrative patterns as evidence of compositional links between epic poems. My first example is the familiar parallel between Iphigeneia and Polyxene, each the daughter of a powerful king and each sacrificed by the Achaians. The first sacrifice is a prerequisite for the campaign against Troy, while the second sacrifice marks the conclusion of that campaign. I next observe a series of parallels between Paris' initial journey to Sparta and events surrounding the wooden horse, parellels which, to my knowledge, have not been recognized previously. These, I believe, are the result of interaction which occurred between the narratives in the course of their development, i.e. of influence, perhaps mutual, between epic bards who recounted the two events. Furthermore, I suggest that this exchange of motifs, rather than simply a mechanical or formulaic means of building and expanding the saga, represents an attempt to produce a recognizable harmony and sense of closure between the initial and final chapters of the war.
Reed College
This paper presents an analysis of the prominent role which the mortal body plays in the series of "recognitions" which delimit Euripides' Bacchae. As the title of the paper suggest, a phenomenological interpretation is applied to three "moments' in the tragedy where the human body is integral to Dionysos' assertion of his reality and power. My paper argues that the conflict of the drama evolves not from an unbridgeable gap between transcendence and immanence (and the kinds of knowledge these may permit), but from a gulf between linguistic and corporeal intersubjectivity. The god's incorporation as a mortal, Pentheus' cross-dressing, and Agave's anagnorisis each highlight the body as the gateway to another mode of perception.
For all of its precedents in the Homeric world and elsewhere, Dionysos' choice to take on a mortal body is perhaps the only instance of a god explicitly doing so in extant Greek tragedy (Athena in the Rhesus is a possible addition). His embodiment stresses how language limits the characters' capacity for understanding (e.g. he is a mortal god, a stranger coming home), and tragedy seems to replace language with vision in order to capture the essence of the god. However, an examination of Pentheus' two "visions" of the god, the phasma of the palace miracles scene (630) and the bull-god at 922, reveals that these visions are entangled in related instances of physical contact (with the bull in the stable and women's clothes) and thus suggests that "knowledge" of the god is not primarily visual, but phenomenal. Agave's anagnorisis also conflates visual and physical sensation: "I see," she says, "the greatest pain" (ir<< mdeg.giston êlgow <= tãlain'[[section]]g~, 1282).
The paper concludes by using Scarry's The Body in Pain to read the relationship between sensation and illusion which has developed in the tragedy. I suggest that the relationship between pain and the imagination created by Dionysos in order to reveal himself is similar to that which occurs in the course of torture when the torturer (the god?) succeeds in making the victim see his own body as the realization of belief or illusion by removing any object to which that belief or illusion can be ascribed. Scarry writes, "[T]he less the object accommodates and expresses the inner requirements of...hunger, desire, or fear, the less there is an object for the state and only the state itself, the more it will approach the condition of pain." Thus, it is possible to suggest that to know Dionysos (the most terrible and the mildest, 859-861) is to encounter the illimitability of sensation, good or bad, a condition which for mortal beings can only be understood, ultimately, as pain.
University of Oregon
Demosthenes' De Corona is testimony that he was a master of rhetorical technique. In this paper I will explore three kinds of imagery which occur repeatedly in the De Corona: imagery of sickness, heroic imagery, and weather imagery. Further I will show that Demosthenes uses these images to characterize himself as one who deserves pity and sympathy and portrays his enemies as worthy of derision.
I will conclude that Demosthenes employs simile and metaphor throughout the oration in order to capture the sympathy of his audience, foster hostility or fear toward his opponents, and most of all to defend his policies.
University of British Columbia
I attempt to reconstruct the intellectual and social milieu in which Pericles spent his youth and young manhood: the formative influences in the military and political spheres exerted by, respectively, his father's and mother's family; his entry upon the public stage as choregos for Aeschylus' Persians; his problematic participation with Ephialtes in an early naval expedition; the even more problematic share he is alleged to have had in the Ephialtic reforms of 462; and finally, his prosecution of Cimon c. 461. To what extent can the old adage be said to have applied in Pericles' case, "The child (and young man) is father to the man"? Where evidence fails, we can only speculate.
University of Washington
Scholars have traditionally read the Solon-Croesus interview in Book One of the Histories in accordance with literary formalist methodologies and in the hope of discerning a particular theme or metahistorical point illustrated within the subsequent narrative. The passage, however, can also be subjected to a deconstructive reading which treats the interview not as an integral part of a coherent literary artifact, but rather as a site of intertextual meaning and a confluence of historical discourses. In this regard, the Solon-Croesus interview operates as an agent in the emerging concept of sophism in the second half of the fifth century B.C.
University of Puget Sound
Several Etruscan geographical names have counterparts in the Basque country (e.g. Arezzo - Araitz). Others have meaning in Basque (e.g. Arno = wine) but not in Latin or Italian; same is true about occupations (e.g. haruspex: in Basque, herrai or errai = viscera); religious terms (e.g. Etruscan goddess Arathia, Basque aratz = pure and arrats = late afternoon: Hesperid?); astronomy (e.g. Etr. pulumchva = stars, Basque pulunpa = divining); animals (Etr. arim = monkey, Basque arin = mindless); family (Etr. lautni = freedman, Basque lotune = tie) and others (e.g. Etr. aska = vase, Basque aska = manger, crib, watering place). We suspect that those words may be remnants of a Basque-like language spoken by the population of today's Toscana before the Indo-European spread. Whether the Etruscan language of historic times was structurally related to Basque, or just was rich in words borrowed by the intruders from the indigenous population, remains an open question.
Portland State University
It is a commonplace of Greek classical literature from Penelope at her loom onward that respectable women spend most of their time spinning or weaving. But is this only a literary topos, or is it something more? How much time did Greek women really spend on textile production?
The evidence concerning the amount of work done to produce textiles for a Greek family falls into two main categories. First, there are the ancient literary and archaeological sources which tell us how many outfits a person typically had, and the kinds of technology which were used to produce these outfits. Second, there is modern ethnographic information on the amount of time it takes a skilled spinner or weaver to produce a certain amount of cloth.
Combining these two sources of information suggests that Greek women spent an average of about ten hours per week on textile production, of which the vast majority (about seven hours) was spent spinning. This represents a substantial effort, and confirms the importance of the women's economic contribution to the Greek oikos.
Richard S. Williams, Washington State University
In the ancient world, people used their fingers to indicate numbers. Ancient writers attest to this use of one's fingers, but they do not suggest any reasons for this practice. Modern writers of ancient mathematics have felt the need to provide an answer: finger symbols for numbers were necessary because of language differences. We think this is not a cogent reason and offer another explanation. Finger symbols were used in the Graeco-Roman world for the simple reason that markets were noisy, often congested places. In forum or agora, finger symbols were necessary to provide clarity and avoid confusion over quantities and prices in situations where clear hearing was often impossible.
Eastern Washington University
Assyria and the Assyrians have become virtually synonymous with cruelty and barbarism. There can be little doubt they used cruelty as a psychological device, intimidating and punishing rebellious subjects and enemies alike. Until now this cruelty has been treated as a symptom of the entire neo-Assyrian period. On closer examination there are differences in the depiction of various practices before and after 750 B.C.E. These differences may also be reflected in Assyrian literature. Preliminary investigation indicates that by the end of the Assyrian Empire, the Assyrians were becoming more selective in their use of cruelty and were perhaps on their way to abandoning the practice.
University of Washington
Many Catullan commentators (Quinn, Merrill, Small) admit to being unable to determine who Caecilius may have been, although some have advanced a guess (Fordyce, Della Corte, Neudling) while still others (Copley, Fisher, Khan, Basto) have attempted to reconstruct the situation as reflecting a real colleague and bona fide episode from Catullus' life. I shall provide a careful analysis of the information contained in the poem itself, as well as some observations gleaned from elsewhere in the Catullan corpus, which will culminate in the logical suggestion that Catullus is writing this poem not to or about a real or imaginary poet and friend, but to or about himself. When we thus view Caecilius as Catullus, many aspects of the poem fall quite clearly into place: the sapphica puella and the language used to describe her evoke Lesbia, and the magna mater alludes to poem LXIII. I shall offer some ideas as to why Catullus chose to use a pseudonym here, substantiating my idea with parallels from other authors as well as from Catullus himself. I shall also suggest why Catullus may have selected this particular cryptonym.
University of Oregon
In many of his critical essays Ezra Pound refers to Horace with grudging respect. Admitting that Horace's verse displays a consummate technical skill, Pound claims that at some level Horace lacks the substance, 'essence,' or, in his words, 'root,' which must accompany style. Ironically, the rhetorical device which most distinguishes Horace's work, that which gives it the visual quality of a mosaic, hyperbaton, achieves aesthetic effects similar to those intended by the 'Imagism' of the early modernists.
This paper first explores the device of hyperbaton defined by Quintilian as the separation of a word from its original context. Pound's use of quotation from earlier poets presents a form of hyperbaton that invokes an historical as well as a linguistic context. Secondly, a comparison between the end of the Soracte Ode and Pound's two line 'haiku' "In a Station at the Metro" points up the similar ways in which the two poems deploy metonymy, a rhetorical trope whose effects suggest those of hyperbaton. Finally, a close analysis of Pound's 1964 translation of Horace's ode 3.30, Exegi monumentum, reveals the twentieth century poet's fuller awareness of a shared aesthetic that simultaneously presents the poetic 'I,' the root or essence which Pound originally found missing, as implicit in the rhetorical tropes of the poetry. By an actual image of fragmentation Pound renders Horace's frequent identification of his persona with his verse as though the body were to undergo the effects of linguistic trope.
University of Oregon
This paper stems from the question "What did food mean to the ancient Romans?" To begin to answer this huge question, I evaluate one of the most luscious narratives from Roman literature -- Encolpius' description of the dinner at Trimalchio's. A systematic investigation of the use of food in the Cena Trimalchionis reveals a connection between food and control. Namely, in the production and presentation of food, Trimalchio controls, or attempts to control, his own surroundings and his guests. He does this by producing his own ingredients, on his own estates -- from staples to luxurious accompaniments -- and by presenting remarkable courses in fantastic ways. Each course comes from his own stores and is presented with a major production designed to manipulate the experiences and exploit the perceptions of the guests. By evaluating the use of food in the Cena, I hope to have raised questions for further study regarding the issues of food and control in Roman literature.
University of British Columbia
In the spring of 211 B.C. the Romans finally captured Syracuse after a prolonged siege. During the subsequent looting of the city, the renowned Greek scientist Archimedes was slain despite orders to the contrary from the Roman commander. Several accounts of his death have come down to us. In all of these with one exception, Archimedes is portrayed as being absorbed in working out the solution to some mathematical problem when he is killed by a Roman soldier. The one exception, which portrays Archimedes as carrying a container of scientific instruments to Marcellus when he is slain, is a version given by Plutarch in his Marcellus. The consideration of the details of this account, especially the mention of the scientific instruments called gvn[[currency]]ai, indicates that this version ought to be preferred over the more popular one, which is based on nothing more than the stereotyped image of a Greek mathematician/scientist.
University of California at Los Angeles
History and archaeology preserve the impressive memorials of the Augustan victory near the promontory of Actium at the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf: the foundation of Nicopolis; the refurbishment of the temple of Apollo; the dedication of a monumental podium decorated with bronze warship rams; and the celebration of Actian games in a cyclical rotation every four years. The victory city, actually a synoecism of neighboring communities, founded by a treaty and granted the status of a civitas libera, became the political, economic and social center of its provincial region and flourished until the Byzantine era. The foundation of a victory city near Alexandria, where Octavian again defeated the forces of Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen, is a much different matter. Apart from the reliable contemporary testimony of the geographer Strabo, who describes the flurry of building projects in the area, and the brief remark of the third century C.E. historian Cassius Dio, who lists the activities of the Roman victor in Egypt, the ancient sources are silent about the victory city. Archaeological excavations and modern discoveries have also been lacking. It is likely, however, that nothing is to be found, since the city seems to have been abandoned in antiquity and may have lost its original name as early as the first century C.E. (Pliny the Elder refers to a Juliopolis situated on the same canal and approximately the same distance from Alexandria). This paper seeks to survey briefly the origins, development and outcome of the victory city in Egypt. Placed in its political and social context, the foundation of a Nicopolis near Alexandria contributes to our understanding of Octavian's imperial policy and public image in the Greek East following his success at Actium. I will argue that the decision to build the Nicopolis in northwestern Greece was influenced by the victor's prolonged stay in Alexandria and admiration of the youthful Macedonian conqueror (Octavian himself was not yet thirty-three when he entered the conquered city). The so-called "other" and forgotten Nicopolis may actually have prompted the "first" and more famous victory city.
University of Montana
Tacitus boldly states in Annales 13.3 that Seneca's authorship for Nero of the eulogy of Claudius was the first time that an emperor had to rely on another's eloquence (alienae eloquentiae). This statement begins Tacitus' denigration of Nero's character by means of manipulating circumstances of direct speech. Earlier in his Dialogus Tacitus links immorality and the decline of oratory; that is to say, the Quintilianic principle that an immoral person can not become a good speaker. Continuing this idea in the Annales, Tacitus develops political situations in which Nero's depravity is exposed and magnified by his oratorical deficiencies -- or from Tacitus' perspective and intention, it is Nero's rhetorical failure that betrays and confirms his immoral nature.
Fred Lauritsen reports that he is anticipating the visit of Mr. Tony Rook at EWU from October 10th to the 12th. Mr. Rook, British archaeologist and lecturer, planned to speak on Roman baths in England for the Honors classes as well as the Spokane Society of the AIA. Mr Rook is currently working on building a working model of a Roman bath.
The Calgary Society for the Mediterranean Studies 1994-1995 season is underway. CAPNites to be featured in the Nov. 19 colloquium on Mediterranean Mysteries are Dick Smith (U of Alberta) and John Oleson (U Vic). The midwinter Mediterranean travellers will be M. Dewar (on Rome) and Monique Kaufman Westra (on Florence and Venice).
Allan Evans also took part in a panel on the Classical Tradition in the Americas, as part of the programme of the quinquennial meeting of the Federation Internationale d'Etudes Classiques which met at Universite Laval, Quebec City, in the third week in August. Prof. Evans spoke on the Classics in English Canada, and shared the session with Prof. Maurice Lebel of Universite Laval, who spoke on the Classics in French Canada. Both papers will be published.
The teacher training programs, the outreach to students from the primary grades to graduate schools, the support and encouragement so easily available and so effectively bestowed, points up the truth of the motto: Nostra Causa, Tota Vestra Est.
It is also good to remind all these devoted associates that CAPN is on the same wave length, and is anxious to be a significant supporter of all the good works accomplished. I am glad to be able to relay this information to all the other classical association delegates with whom I work on the ACL Council.
Rosemary Wagoner
CAPN Delegate to the ACL Council
2. If you plan to attend the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago, please come to the AAH reception Friday, Jan. 6th, 5:30-7:00 p.m. in Conference Room A of the Hilton Hotel.
3. This year's annual meeting will be held in Nashville, 5-7 May, 1995.
For information on any of these matters, contact Carol Thomas, current president of the Association, Dept. of History, University of Washington or Diana Delia, current secretary-treasurer of the Association, Classics Dept., Brown University.
***
The idea was born more than 10 years ago, when Jim Clauss was a teaching assistant at the University of California at Berkeley. Students in his Latin class would come up to him and say, "I'm doing better in my other classes because of this one."
Typically, these students were the ones who came from less rigorous educational backgrounds, and many of them were minorities. Clauss was struck by the comments, and he tucked the idea away for future reference.
Time passed; Clauss joined the UW Classics Department; he worked on his research. Then last year, Spike Lee's film about Malcolm X made its debut, and Clauss was spurred to action. He wrote to Minority Affairs Vice President Myron Apilado, suggesting the creation of a Latin class designed for students in the Educational Opportunity Program.
Wait a minute. Back up. Malcolm X? Latin for minority students? Are we missing something here?
Clauss laughs. "When I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X years ago, I remember Malcolm said he took a correspondence course in Latin while he was in jail. It was only a sentence in the book, but when the movie came out, I thought of it, and I thought of those students in Berkeley."
His letter to Apilado led to a meeting with William Baker, associate vice president for minority affairs, and the meeting led to the offering last fall of "Grammar and Syntax through Latin," a class open only to those enrolled in the EOP. The idea, says Clauss, is only incidentally to teach Latin. The idea is to teach a way of thinking that one has to do in order to understand Latin sentences.
For example, the sentence "Filiam spectat mater" translates this way: Filiam means "daughter," spectat means "to look at" and mater means "mother." It does not follow, however, that the sentence means "the daughter is looking at her mother." In Latin, cases are indicated by the endings on the words, and word order may have nothing to do with meaning. In the example sentence, the ending "-am" indicates that "daughter" is in the objective case. Therefore, "daughter" is the direct object, not the subject, and the sentence must mean "the mother is looking at her daughter."
A student studying Latin, then, must do more than memorize what the words mean. He or she must figure out--using case endings--what part of the sentence a given word is . "In learning the rules of Latin grammar," Clauss says, "students begin to realize there are comparable rules in their own language. And the process of picking apart Latin sentences is good practice in the techniques of logical analysis."
This, says Clauss, explains the Berkeley students' comments that studying Latin had helped them in their other classes. He believes there are three main benefits--learning logical skills, seeing the relationship to English grammar and expanding vocabulary because of the Latin derivation of some English words.
Clauss included those benefits in his written description of the class, which was added to the schedule so late that it didn't appear in the catalogue. He also included the quote from the Malcolm X autobiography. He says it was really the EOP counselors, though, who made the class happen. Their enthusiastic recruiting attracted 24 students. Of these, two were no-shows, but only two of the other 22 dropped out. Clauss received glowing course evaluations with the expected comments about the class' usefulness. In fact, the major criticism was that as a two-credit class, it didn't meet often enough. Next fall, it will be offered for three credits.
If all goes well, it will also have a new textbook. Clauss used a high school textbook this time around, but found it inappropriate and somewhat patronizing in tone, so he's writing his own text to use in the future. It will, he says, contain a lot of comparisons between English and Latin, as well as more familiar vocabulary than that contained in the high school book.
For Clauss, teaching the course--which he took on as an overload--provided a different kind of satisfaction than he finds in his regular classes. "The EOP students were afraid and uncertain when they started," he said. "It was wonderful to watch them meet this challenge. By the end, I could see that they had enjoyed it and derived benefit from it, and that was so rewarding for me."
In fact, the class ended with a celebration of sorts. It being near Christmas, the students sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer -- in Latin.