Tacitus: Dialogus de oratoribus

240 Pages·2001·10.158 MB·English

by  Tacitus, Roland Mayer (editor)

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CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
GENERAL EDITORS
DSESB/ASTIERIJENG
Regius Professor of. Greek, University of. Cambridge
PnuirLiP HARDIE
Reader in Latin Literature, University of Cambridge
RricHuagD HUNTER
Reader in Greek and Latin Literature, University of Cambridge
E. J. KENNEY
Emeritus Kennedy Professor of Latin, Uniwersity of Cambridge
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B MEL LIE
JUCI NBIPD NS
DIALOGVS
Db ORATORIBVS
EDITED BY
ROLAND MAYER
Professor of. Classics, University of London
JICAMBRIDGE
4D» UNIVERSITY PRESS
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PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
'The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cB2 2nu, UK
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(O Cambridge University Press 2001
'This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2001:
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
Typeset in Baskerville and New Hellenic Greek [A0]
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
" Tacitus, Cornelius.
7'., Dialogus de oratoribus / Tacitus ; edited by Roland Mayer.
p. cm. — (Cambridge Greek and Latin classics)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN O 521 47040-4 (hardback) tsBN o 521 46996 1 (paperback)
1. Dialogues, Latin. 2. Oratory, Ancient. 1. Mayer, Roland, 1947—
rr Title. ri. Series.
PA6706.D5 T34 2001
808.5'10937—dc21 00-062142
ISBN O 521 47040 4 hardback
ISBN O 521 46996 t paperback
CONTENTS
Preface page vii
Abbreviations and references viii
Introduction I
I The background I
2 Tacitus? career 6
3 The Agricola 8
4 Fame 9
5 he state of oratory 12
6 The Dialogus 16
7 Authenticity 18
8 Date of composition 22
9 The style of the work D
10. 7 he layout of the Dialogus 31
II Characters and characterization 44
19 The transmission of the text 47
GOUIRSNIESDODDAA:GUTUDTSDIOPGA SEVI SED ES
ORATORIBVS 51
Commentary 87
Works cited by author and date 217
Indexes 222
I Latin words l SUR 222
2 General 229
LP]n
PRIEEAGLE
Old Sippy's one-time headmaster, Mr Waterbury, 'author of *Some
Little-Known Aspects of Tacitus" and muck like that', would have
been among the first to welcome a new English-language commen-
tary on the Dialogus de oratoribus (see 'Inferiority complex of old
Sippy', in P. G. Wodehouse, Very good, 7eeves (London 1930) 49). In-
deed a century is a long time to leave a work of such interest and
flair unequipped with the sort of introduction and notes an anglo-
phone undergraduate might want. University teachers too are con-
stantly in need of manageable prose works for their classes and sem-
inars (poetry will always be well served), and it is surprising that the
Dialogus, a brillant work by a classic author in a reasonably familiar
style, has not attracted a commentator m English since the final dec-
ade of the nineteenth century, when to be sure there was something
of a glut.
'The present work has benefited greatly both from a visit to the
Fondation Hardt at Vandoeuvres (made possible by the British
Academy and the Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique),
and from the assistance and advice of eminent colleagues: Professor
R. H. Martin of the University of Leeds, and Professor M. Winter-
bottom of Oxford University were unfailingly helpful in their notes
upon the commentary, and the reader owes them as much as does
the editor himself for improvements in clarity and precision. As
usual the Series Editor, Professor E. J. Kenney, read and advised
upon the whole work, and, also as usual, he is owed my warmest
thanks for his support. I should also like to thank Pauline Hire and
Susan Moore for their help and interest.
vil
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B. L. Gildersleeve and G. Lodge, Latin grammar.
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(eds.) S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, 77e Oxford
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(ed.) P. G. W. Glare, Oxford Latin dictionary. Oxford
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Otto A. Otto, Die Sprichwórter und. sprichwórtlichen Re-
densarten der Rómer. Leipzig 1890, repr. 1962.
viii
ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES ix
PIR Prosopographia Imperii Romani saec. I, I1, III. 2nd edn.
Berlin 1933- .
(ed.) T. Klauser, Aeallexikon für Antike und Christen-
tum: Sachwürterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christen-
tums mit der antiken Welt. Stuttgart 1950— .
RE (eds.) A. Pauly, G. Wissowa and W. Kroll, Real-
Encyclopádie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Stutt-
gart 1894—1972.
Roby H. J. Roby, A grammar of the Latin language from
Plautus to Suetonius. Part 11 Syntax. London 1889.
Schanz-Hosius M. Schanz and C. Hosius, Geschichte der rómischen
Literatur bis zum Gesetzgebungswerk des Kaisers fustinian
(Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, vrrm.r,2.).
4th edn. Munich 1927, 1935.
THEE Thesaurus linguae Latinae. Munich 1900— .
Except where there might be ambiguity, the name of Tacitus is
omitted from references to his other works.
See also the list of Works cited by author and date, below pp. 217—21.
» — is the source of" or 'leads to'.
« — 'is derived from'.