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Michael von Albrecht's A History of Roman Literature, originally published in German, can rightly be seen as the long awaited counterpart to Albin Lesky's Geschichte der Griechischen Literatur. In what will probably be the last survey made by a single scholar the whole of Latin literature from Livius Andronicus up to Boethius comes to the fore. 'Literature' is taken here in its broad, antique sense, and therefore also includes e.g. rhetoric, philosophy and history. Special attention has been given to the influence of Latin literature on subsequent centuries down to our own days. Extensive indices give access to this monument of learning. The introductions in Von Albrecht's texts, together with the large bibliographies make further study both more fruitful and easy.
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A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE VOLUME ONE
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SUPPLEMENTUM CENTESlMUM SEXAGESIMUM QUINTUM
MICHAEL VO
ALBRECHT
A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE VOLUME ONE
A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE From LWius Andronicus to Boethius WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO ITS INFLUENCE ON wORLD LlTERATIJRE
BY
MICHAEL VON ALBRECHT Revised by Gareth Schmeling and by the author VOLUME ONE Trans! ted with the Assistance of Frances and Kevin
EJ. BRILL LEIDE
. NEW YORK. . KOLN 1997
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This English edition upponed by the Stiftun Humani mus HeUle des undes B dcn-Wiirttcmberg, by the ROben Bosch Company, and by the Inter tiones (Bonn). Th p per in thiJ book meets the guidelines for permanence and dunbility of the Committee on Production Guiddincs for Book Lo 'ty or the Council on Library Ruources.
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rechl, iichacl yon. [Geschic.l1lC: der rOmiJchen UtCT2lur. Ens!' ] A hi$tnry or Rorruan Iitel'llture : from Livius Andronicus 10 Bocthiu : with spccW regard 10 iu inOuence on world IitCl'llture I by ijchuf "011 A1brechl i reviJed by G. relh ScJune!ing and by the author. p. em. 1nemosyne, bibliotb.eca ca B I va. upplemenlum,l N 0169 8958 i 1651 Vol. I t.ranslated with the . tance Franees and Kevin ewm n ; v. 2 (rambled with the . an offence, softened by the surprising innocuousness o f what follows. A second form is the al ready mentioned jocular use o f the riddle (e.g. Cist. 727-735 and similarly 16-19). The w o r d disciplina at first sounds puzzling and produces the question: quid ita, amabo? T h e n follows the explanation of what was meant by disciplina: raro nimium dabat. ou
The imitation o f the Fescennine repartee in scenes o f contention is also typical (e.g. Persa 223, par pari respondere 'tit for tat'). Interven ing questions by the second speaker, and phrases such as quid vis? or ego dicam tibi, serve as structural markers. A basic feature o f Plautus' comedy is the literal interpretation o f metaphors (Amph. 325-326). Sound and w o r d play are o f course also found i n Greek literature, but i n Plautus, corresponding to his Italian temperament, they are 3
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H . HAFFTER, Untersuchungen zur altlateinischen Dichtersprache, Berlin 1934, esp. 132-143; H . HAPP, Die lateinische Umgangssprache und die Kunstsprache des Plautus, Glotta 45, 1967, 60-104. J . BLÄNSDORF, Archaische G e d a n k e n g ä n g e in den K o m ö d i e n des Plautus, Wies baden 1967. G . THAMM, Beobachtungen zur F o r m des plautinischen Dialogs, Hermes 100, 1972, 558-567. A . KATSOURIS, Word-Play in Greek D r a m a , Hellenika (Thessalonike) 28, 1975, 409-414. 2
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