Our more distinct knowledge of the career of Eunapius of Sardis is confined to its first stage, when he resided in Athens and studied under Proaeresius, the Christian from Armenia. Common agreement (with some slight variation) holds that Eunapius reached Athens c. 362, when he was sixteen, and that he remained there for five years, returning to Lydia c. 367 when he was twenty. These conclusions derive from two passages in the V. Soph. in which Eunapius first described the unusual circumstances attendant on his arrival in Athens (10.1.2–2.3) and then alluded to his departure therefrom (10.8.2). But though the first passage is unproblematical enough, the second is less so; as will appear, the very context which includes within it the datum of the five-year-long residence in Athens carries implications which are inimical to it. Reexamination, therefore, may be profitable.

In his exposition of MS Vat. gr. 2226 (V) in 1888, Leopold Cohn brought to light two consecutive grammatical treatises, both attributed to Aelius Herodian: the Περ⋯ ⋯μαρτημ⋯νων λ⋯ξεων(here loc. prav.), containing seventy paragraphs, and the Φιλ⋯ταιρος (here Philet.) with 312 glosses. Both had been published in part: fifty-four paragraphs of loc. prav. by G. Hermann in 1801 from MS Mon. gr. 529 (M) and a version of fifty-nine paragraphs by J. Cramer under the title of Περ⋯ τ⋯ν ζητουμ⋯νων κατ⋯ κλ⋯σιν παντ⋯ς λ⋯γου μερ⋯ν;. Glosses 1–78 of Philet. were published by J. Pierson (1759) from a copy of MS Par. gr. 2552 (P).

The term filiaster (fem. filiastra), though quite unknown in classical Latin literature, occurs with reasonable frequency in epitaphs from the 2nd century A.D. onwards. It is generally defined as the every-day equivalent of privignus/-a (= stepson, stepdaughter), and it is this Vulgar word which comes down into the Romance languages (e.g. Italian figliastro).

In his article on the early career of Aristophanes, in particular on the relevance of the thiasotai on IG ii2.2343 and the importance of Herakles in the plays of Aristophanes, David Welsh has supported the thesis of Dow, that several of the thiasotai are mentioned by Aristophanes in his plays (e.g. Simon, Amphitheus, Antitheos). He suggests that another of these thiasotai, Lysanias, may be alluded to at Clouds 1162. Here the unusual word λυσαν⋯ας in the text means ostensibly ‘deliverer’, but Welsh argues that in view of the rarity of the word ‘the spectators would have been put in mind of a contemporary individual…a Lysanias who was known for his filial piety or forensic ability (or lack of the same).’

There is a problem in §23 of Against Andokides, the sixth speech of the Corpus Lysiacum. The passage in question runs: ⋯κ δ᾽ οὖν το⋯του το⋯ τιμ⋯ματος ⋯δ⋯δετο ⋯γγὺς ⋯νιαυτ⋯ν … ‘And as a result of the proposed penalty he was imprisoned for nearly a year …’. The speaker's context is as follows: he is castigating Andokides in connection with his trial in 400/399 for impiety and describing his lawless life since his (alleged) part in the great scandals of 415, the mutilation of the Herms and the profanation of the Mysteries. The problem in the text concerns the words ⋯νιαυτ⋯ν ‘for nearly a year’, as the statement contradicts what we learn about Andokides' imprisonment in 415 from his own defence speech (On the Mysteries) and above all from Thucydides.

Cicero's Cato, in a passage nicely illustrating that enthusiasm for Greek literature which is said to have come upon him in old age, offers some valuable observations about manure (Sen. 54): ‘quid de utilitate loquar stercorandi? dixi in eo libro quern de rebus rusticis scripsi; de qua doctus Hesiodus ne verbum quidem fecit, cum de cultura agri scriberet; at Homerus, qui multis ut mihi videtur ante saeclis fuit, Laertam lenientem desiderium quod capiebat e filio, colentem agrum et eum stercorantem facit.’

One of the most surprising features of the final part of the fourth book of the De rerum natura is the peculiar way Lucretius introduces the topic he intends to examine at length. We approach the extensive treatment of love from merely physiological phenomena. The terms libido and amor are mentioned for the first time at 1045 and 1046 respectively; I would like to focus on the interpretation of those lines and on the meaning of the clausula dira libido in the context of the final section of Book Four. Lucretius is talking of semen:

quod simul atque suis eiectum sedibus exit,

per membra atque artus decedit corpore toto,

in loca conveniens nervorum certa cietque

continuo partis genitalis corporis ipsas.

irritata tument loca semine fitque voluntas 1045

eicere id quo se contendit dira libido,

idque petit corpus mens unde est saucia amore.

In a famous passage of the third book of the Georgics (3.209–41) Vergil describes two bulls fighting over a formosa iuuenca; the bull which is at first beaten goes off to recover and prepare, returning to attack again its arrogant opponent. The description of the bull's training blends the toughness of early man, the playfulness of a young animal, the suffering of the exclusus amator and the preparations of a human athlete:

ergo omni cura uiris exercet et inter

dura iacet pernox instrato saxa cubili

frondibus hirsutis et carice pastus acuta, 230

et temptat sese atque irasci in cornua discit

arboris obnixus trunco, uentosque lacessit

ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena.

(Georg. 3.229–34)

In CQ 34 (1984), 167–74, Janet Fairweather makes the interesting suggestion that the elegiacs by Gallus on the Qasr Ibrim papyrus should be understood as ‘a fragment of an amoebaean song-contest’. This hypothesis, as she notes, might explain why the papyrus' quatrains are set apart by spaces and by an odd type of symbol, and treat ‘separate, indeed discrepant, topics’, yet show ‘unmistakable verbal and thematic connections’. Fairweather's discussion is thorough, but overlooks one small piece of evidence for Gallan amoebaean verse.

In these lines Ovid introduces Althaea's debate whether or not to kill her son Meleager by burning the brand which was his life, because he had killed her two brothers during the Calydonian boar hunt. A. S. Hollis (Oxford, 1970) says of line 476 that it contains ‘a forced and almost pointless word-play’. If sanguis is taken in its primary meaning, ‘blood’, this condemnation is quite justified. However, if one takes into account a secondary sense, the word-play acquires more strength. This sense is that of ‘offspring’ or ‘descendant’. Examples of this usage (see Lewis and Short s.v. Bib and Oxford Latin Dictionary s.v. 10) include Virgil, Aeneid 6.835 ‘sanguis meus’ (Julius Caesar), Horace, Carmen Saeculare 50 ‘clarus Anchisae Venerisque sanguis’ (Aeneas), Odes 3.27.65 ‘regius sanguis’ (Europa), and, in the Metamorphoses itself (5.514–15) ‘pro…meo veni supplex tibi, Iuppiter, …sanguine’. It may well be that Ovid was intending implications of both meanings in his choice of the word.

Among the insinuations that Tacitus bequeaths to posterity in the negative segment of his post mortem of Augustus (Ann. 1.10) is the emperor's putative role as machinator doli in the death of the consul Hirtius during the fighting at Mutina in the spring of 43. The historian is thinking of a focal moment in the Aeneid when Sinon releases his fellow Greeks from within the wooden horse. I quote Aen. 2.264–7. Among the heroes who descend from the animal's belly are Ulixes, Neoptolemus

et Menelaus et ipse doli fabricator Epeos.

invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam;

caeduntur vigiles, portisque patentibus omnis

accipiunt socios atque agmina conscia iungunt.

Manilius begins his first book with a brief summary of the early history of astronomy, leading to a sketch of the rise of civilization. In the following passage, printed as it is found in one of the principal manuscripts M, he describes the invention of language, agriculture and navigation:

1.85 tune et lingua suas accepit barbara leges,

et fera diuersis exercita frugibus arua,

et uagus in caecum penetrauit nauita pontum,

fecit et ignotis inter commercia terris.

The English critic Bentley first proposed emending the transmitted text of Troades 1109 from teget, the reading of all manuscripts, to leget. Bentley's suggestion subsequently gained wide acceptance and was printed in many later editions of the tragedies, including those of Leo (1878–9), Richter (1902), and Moricca (1917–23). More recent critics have favoured retention of the manuscript reading. Carlsson, for example, underlines the distinctive alliterative quality which the reading teget imparts to the line; and the latest commentator on the Troades has produced a spirited defence of the transmitted text:

Andromache has not yet realized the condition of the corpse, and is thinking, not of gathering up fragmented limbs, but merely of the formal requirements of burial. What Carlsson (I p. 50) defends on grounds of alliteration should be retained on grounds of sense: teget tumuloque tradet is a doublet of which the second part makes clear the religious meaning of the first, more general, word.

So the modern editions print the opening words of the work more popularly known as the Caesares. The Symposium begins with what I consider to be a playful encounter between the narrator and his interlocutor, in which the latter's expectations of seriousness in the myth which is to follow are frustrated. This playfulness has not been appreciated by Julian's commentators. I suggest that we have here a concealed trimeter which figures largely in the dynamics of this dialogue (the word δ⋯ is to be retained in Julian's text as necessary connective tissue):

γελο⋯ον οὐδ⋯ν σὐδ⋯ τερπν⋯ν οἶδ' ⋯γώ.

Among the accusations Procopius brings against Justinian in the Secret History is the following:

The matter of the kataskopoi is as follows. From ancient times many men were maintained at public expense. They would enter enemy territory and gain access to the palace of the Persians, either under the guise of trading or by some other ploy. After investigating everything thoroughly, they would return to Roman territory and be able to report all the secrets of the enemy to the government officials. Forewarned, they were on their guard and nothing unforeseen would take them by surprise.