Latin Literature
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The course aims at: a) improving language skills of students concerning phonetics, vocabulary, morphology and syntax of the Latin language, in agreement with level B2 of the Linguistic Certification of Latin (http://www.cusl.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sillabo-.pdf); b) leading students to the comprehension of Latin literary texts read in the original language, through the analysis of significant passages of prose and verse; c) transmitting tools and methods for a deep exegesis of Latin literary texts; d) providing an exhaustive picture of the history of Latin literature from its origins to the Late Antiquity; e) highlighting challenging correspondences with modern languages and literatures, mainly the European ones.
In accordance with the educational outlines of the degree program and the expected employment opportunities, the stated purposes aim to provide undergraduate students a solid methodological, historical and linguistic training in the scholarly study of Latin ancient literature, both in relation to Greek culture (his model in many respects), and to the modern and contemporary Italian studies (literature, filology and linguistics).
In accordance with the educational outlines of the degree program and the expected employment opportunities, the stated purposes aim to provide undergraduate students a solid methodological, historical and linguistic training in the scholarly study of Latin ancient literature, both in relation to Greek culture (his model in many respects), and to the modern and contemporary Italian studies (literature, filology and linguistics).
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge: at the end of the course the student will have achieved: a) a proper knowledge of phonetics, morphology and syntax of the Latin language, and of the fundamentals of prosody and metrics; b) the full understanding of the passages read in class (vocabulary, morphology, syntax), in agreement with level B2 of the linguistic certification of Latin (http://www.cusl.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sillabo-.pdf); c) the knowledge of contents and relation with the literary tradition and historical-social context; d) the knowledge of the main features of Latin literary history from its origins to the Late Antiquity, with peculiar attention to literary genres; e) the awareness of the development of Latin language and literature with respect to the Italian language and vocabulary and to the permanence of Latin classics in modernity.
Skills: the student will be able to analyze prosaic and poetic texts, examined in class, from the linguistic, lexical, content and stylistic point of view, recognizing the main expressive codes; he will be able also to get the main trends of the history of Latin literature in a diachronic and synchronic perspective, identifying traits of permanence and continuity within literary genres; will be able to develop clearly a well-articulated argument aimed at the exegesis of the texts, by means of specific vocabulary of the discipline.
Pursuing the study autonomously, the student will be able to face the original Latin texts and will also be able to apply the acquired skills to improve his competence in Italian and evaluate the importance of the permanence of the Latin classics in the modern literature and in a wider cultural context.
Skills: the student will be able to analyze prosaic and poetic texts, examined in class, from the linguistic, lexical, content and stylistic point of view, recognizing the main expressive codes; he will be able also to get the main trends of the history of Latin literature in a diachronic and synchronic perspective, identifying traits of permanence and continuity within literary genres; will be able to develop clearly a well-articulated argument aimed at the exegesis of the texts, by means of specific vocabulary of the discipline.
Pursuing the study autonomously, the student will be able to face the original Latin texts and will also be able to apply the acquired skills to improve his competence in Italian and evaluate the importance of the permanence of the Latin classics in the modern literature and in a wider cultural context.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
(without concepts of latin language)
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Course syllabus
The course consists of four teaching units.
Teaching unit A (N. Pace) will be aimed at illustrating the literary and linguistic features of Lucretius' "De rerum natura", with particular concern to the introduction to Book I (vv. 1-145) and to the proems to other books.
The teaching units B-C (N. Pace) will be dedicated to Catullus' "nugae" and epigrams (Teaching Unit B) and poem 68a and b (Teaching Unit C).
In teaching unit D Prof. M. Gioseffi will examine the new trajectories undertaken by Latin poetry in the decade or so that followed the death of Lucretius and Catullus (ca. 55-54 BC), a period of deep political and social changes, reaching their height with the institution of the Second Triumvirate and the battle of Philippi (42 BC).
Knowledge of the history of Latin literature (from the origins to Late Antiquity) is also required: this part of the programme is to be prepared through the study of the below mentioned bibliography.
Besides, students are asked to read (metrically Virgil), translate and briefly expound the following works:
1) Vergil, Eclogues, or Aeneid, Book VI, as chosen by the student;
2) Cicerone, Pro Caelio, or Pro Murena, or Laelius, De amicitia, as chosen by the student.
The course consists of four teaching units.
Teaching unit A (N. Pace) will be aimed at illustrating the literary and linguistic features of Lucretius' "De rerum natura", with particular concern to the introduction to Book I (vv. 1-145) and to the proems to other books.
The teaching units B-C (N. Pace) will be dedicated to Catullus' "nugae" and epigrams (Teaching Unit B) and poem 68a and b (Teaching Unit C).
In teaching unit D Prof. M. Gioseffi will examine the new trajectories undertaken by Latin poetry in the decade or so that followed the death of Lucretius and Catullus (ca. 55-54 BC), a period of deep political and social changes, reaching their height with the institution of the Second Triumvirate and the battle of Philippi (42 BC).
Knowledge of the history of Latin literature (from the origins to Late Antiquity) is also required: this part of the programme is to be prepared through the study of the below mentioned bibliography.
Besides, students are asked to read (metrically Virgil), translate and briefly expound the following works:
1) Vergil, Eclogues, or Aeneid, Book VI, as chosen by the student;
2) Cicerone, Pro Caelio, or Pro Murena, or Laelius, De amicitia, as chosen by the student.
Prerequisites for admission
A level of language proficiency (grammar and lexicon) corresponding to Level A2 of Latin Language Certificates http://www.cusl.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sillabo-.pdf) is the basic requirement.
The course is aimed at all students of Letters, Curriculum "Sciences of Antiquity", and those students of Letters, Curriculum "Modern Letters", and other degree courses who have carried out their high school studies in the "Liceo Classico".
The course is aimed at all students of Letters, Curriculum "Sciences of Antiquity", and those students of Letters, Curriculum "Modern Letters", and other degree courses who have carried out their high school studies in the "Liceo Classico".
Teaching methods
Main points of the teaching method are: 1) as far as the teacher is concerned, texts' presentation (through loud reading, translation, linguistic analysis, literary interpretation); 2) as far as the students are concerned, an active cooperation that is constantly stimulated, so that they will be able to analyze prosaic and poetic texts, previously examined in class, from the linguistic, lexical, content and stylistic point of view, recognizing the main expressive codes.
In order to strengthen the language skills of students in phonetics, morphology and syntax (corresponding to Level B1 of Latin Language Certificates (http://www.cusl.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sillabo-.pdf), training activities are available (optional courses): Latin Language Workshop (20 h), Training with Tutors (20 h). These workshops provide for the active participation of students in small groups. All texts and tools will be available on myAriel website. Attendance at the workshops, even if optional, is strongly recommended.
In order to strengthen the language skills of students in phonetics, morphology and syntax (corresponding to Level B1 of Latin Language Certificates (http://www.cusl.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sillabo-.pdf), training activities are available (optional courses): Latin Language Workshop (20 h), Training with Tutors (20 h). These workshops provide for the active participation of students in small groups. All texts and tools will be available on myAriel website. Attendance at the workshops, even if optional, is strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
1) As for the history of Latin literature, the use of one of the following textbooks is recommended:
G.B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura latina. Dalle origini alla tarda età imperiale, Le Monnier Università, Firenze 2004;
or: M. Citroni, M. Labate, E. Narducci, Disegno storico della letteratura latina, Laterza, Bari 1997;
or: A. Cavarzere, A. De Vivo, P. Mastandrea, Letteratura latina. Una sintesi storica, Carocci, Roma 2004.
However, students can use other Latin literature textbooks if approved by the professors.
2) As for the study of Vergil (Eclogues, or Aeneid, Book VI):
Recommended editions and commentaries: a) as for the Eclogues, the commentary for undergraduates by M. Gioseffi, Cuem, Milano; b) as for Aeneid, Book VI, the commentaries for high school students by R. Sabbadini and C. Marchesi, Loescher, Torino, or by A. Rostagni, Mondadori, Milano, or by F. Varieschi, Signorelli, Milano, or for undergraduates by R. G. Austin, P. Vergilii Maronis Aeneidos Liber Sextus, The Clarendon press, Oxford.
3) As for the study of Cicero (Pro Caelio, or Pro Murena, or Laelius, De amicitia):
Recommended editions and commentaries: a) as for Pro Caelio, the translations and short notes by A. Cavarzere, Marsilio, Venezia; or by E. Narducci, Difesa di Marco Celio, Rizzoli (BUR), Milano; or the commentaries for undergraduates by R.G. Austin, Pro M. Caelio oratio, The Clarendon Press, Oxford 19522; or by A. R. Dyck, Pro Marco Caelio, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2013); b) as for Pro Murena, the translations and short notes by C. Giussani - S. Rizzo, Due scandali politici, introduzione di G. Ferrara, Rizzoli (BUR), Milano; or the commentary for undergraduates by E. Fantham, Cicero's Pro L. Murena Oratio, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013; c) as for Laelius, De amicitia, the translation and short notes by E. Narducci - C. Saggio, L'amicizia, Rizzoli (BUR), Milano; or the commentary for undergraduates by K. Volk e J.E.G. Zetzel, Laelius de amicitia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2024.
Monographic Part
Teaching Unity A
- Lucrezio, La natura delle cose, a cura di Guido Milanese, introd. di Emanuele Narducci, testo latino a fronte, Mondadori (Oscar Classici), Milano
Teaching Unities B-C
- Gaio Valerio Catullo, Le poesie; testo, traduzione, introduzione e commento a cura di Alessandro Fo, Einaudi (NUE , 20), Torino 2018
Teaching Unity D
The bibliography relating to this part will be indicated in class and on "myAriel" website. Forum mode is provided.
Other texts related to the course, secondary literature, didactic information, and the final version of the programme, containing the list of texts to be studied for the exam, will be uploaded on the «myAriel» website (section of "contents"), the portal dedicated to e-learning University in December 2024, after the end of the course.
Knowledge of prosody and rules of versification and proficiency in metrical reading (dactilic hexameters and elegiacs, iambic trimeters, scazons, phalaecians, Sapphic strophes) are also required from the students. See: S. Timpanaro, Nozioni elementari di prosodia e metrica latina, in A. La Penna, Romanae res et litterae, Loescher, Torino, pp. 415-436.
Please note that this syllabus for attending students applies also to non-attending ones. However, non-attending students are required to study also some additional critical essays, as will be shown on "myAriel" website.
G.B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura latina. Dalle origini alla tarda età imperiale, Le Monnier Università, Firenze 2004;
or: M. Citroni, M. Labate, E. Narducci, Disegno storico della letteratura latina, Laterza, Bari 1997;
or: A. Cavarzere, A. De Vivo, P. Mastandrea, Letteratura latina. Una sintesi storica, Carocci, Roma 2004.
However, students can use other Latin literature textbooks if approved by the professors.
2) As for the study of Vergil (Eclogues, or Aeneid, Book VI):
Recommended editions and commentaries: a) as for the Eclogues, the commentary for undergraduates by M. Gioseffi, Cuem, Milano; b) as for Aeneid, Book VI, the commentaries for high school students by R. Sabbadini and C. Marchesi, Loescher, Torino, or by A. Rostagni, Mondadori, Milano, or by F. Varieschi, Signorelli, Milano, or for undergraduates by R. G. Austin, P. Vergilii Maronis Aeneidos Liber Sextus, The Clarendon press, Oxford.
3) As for the study of Cicero (Pro Caelio, or Pro Murena, or Laelius, De amicitia):
Recommended editions and commentaries: a) as for Pro Caelio, the translations and short notes by A. Cavarzere, Marsilio, Venezia; or by E. Narducci, Difesa di Marco Celio, Rizzoli (BUR), Milano; or the commentaries for undergraduates by R.G. Austin, Pro M. Caelio oratio, The Clarendon Press, Oxford 19522; or by A. R. Dyck, Pro Marco Caelio, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2013); b) as for Pro Murena, the translations and short notes by C. Giussani - S. Rizzo, Due scandali politici, introduzione di G. Ferrara, Rizzoli (BUR), Milano; or the commentary for undergraduates by E. Fantham, Cicero's Pro L. Murena Oratio, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013; c) as for Laelius, De amicitia, the translation and short notes by E. Narducci - C. Saggio, L'amicizia, Rizzoli (BUR), Milano; or the commentary for undergraduates by K. Volk e J.E.G. Zetzel, Laelius de amicitia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2024.
Monographic Part
Teaching Unity A
- Lucrezio, La natura delle cose, a cura di Guido Milanese, introd. di Emanuele Narducci, testo latino a fronte, Mondadori (Oscar Classici), Milano
Teaching Unities B-C
- Gaio Valerio Catullo, Le poesie; testo, traduzione, introduzione e commento a cura di Alessandro Fo, Einaudi (NUE , 20), Torino 2018
Teaching Unity D
The bibliography relating to this part will be indicated in class and on "myAriel" website. Forum mode is provided.
Other texts related to the course, secondary literature, didactic information, and the final version of the programme, containing the list of texts to be studied for the exam, will be uploaded on the «myAriel» website (section of "contents"), the portal dedicated to e-learning University in December 2024, after the end of the course.
Knowledge of prosody and rules of versification and proficiency in metrical reading (dactilic hexameters and elegiacs, iambic trimeters, scazons, phalaecians, Sapphic strophes) are also required from the students. See: S. Timpanaro, Nozioni elementari di prosodia e metrica latina, in A. La Penna, Romanae res et litterae, Loescher, Torino, pp. 415-436.
Please note that this syllabus for attending students applies also to non-attending ones. However, non-attending students are required to study also some additional critical essays, as will be shown on "myAriel" website.
Assessment methods and Criteria
A summative assessment is done at the end of the course, consisting of: (1) a preliminary and mandatory test to evaluate the level of language skills and (2) an oral interview to assess the knowledge of Latin literature and skills in reading and interpreting Latin texts of poetry and prose.
1) The test mainly concerns a prose Latin text of 10-15 lines and is articulated in 30 questions (time allowed: 90 minutes; number of questions: 30. Test results will be marked by an assessment (failing, passable, fair, good, excellent). Students are not allowed to use the dictionary. See previous tests on myAriel website. The results of the preliminary test are made available within few days on the myAriel website.
Please note that the students, who are already provided with Level B1 of Latin Language Certificates, are exempted from the mandatory and preliminary test.
2) The oral interview consists of six questions (concerning three of the four teaching units, the history of literature, Cicero and Vergil). Students are required to analyse prosaic and poetic texts from a linguistic, lexical, content and stylistic point of view; to recognise the main expressive codes; to know the main trends of the history of Latin literature in a diachronic and synchronic perspective; to identify traits of permanence and continuity within literary genres; to develop clearly, in relation to the topics dealt with in the course, a well-articulated argumentation, aimed at the exegesis of the texts, by means of specific vocabulary of the discipline. The level of accuracy in reading and translating, of linguistic and grammatical skills, as well as command of language and clearness of argumentation, the ability to express acquired knowledge, the ability to propose connections between different parts of the programme or with related disciplines will be assessed. Please note that the final mark will result from the oral exam only, not from the written test (which is a pass-fail test).
1) The test mainly concerns a prose Latin text of 10-15 lines and is articulated in 30 questions (time allowed: 90 minutes; number of questions: 30. Test results will be marked by an assessment (failing, passable, fair, good, excellent). Students are not allowed to use the dictionary. See previous tests on myAriel website. The results of the preliminary test are made available within few days on the myAriel website.
Please note that the students, who are already provided with Level B1 of Latin Language Certificates, are exempted from the mandatory and preliminary test.
2) The oral interview consists of six questions (concerning three of the four teaching units, the history of literature, Cicero and Vergil). Students are required to analyse prosaic and poetic texts from a linguistic, lexical, content and stylistic point of view; to recognise the main expressive codes; to know the main trends of the history of Latin literature in a diachronic and synchronic perspective; to identify traits of permanence and continuity within literary genres; to develop clearly, in relation to the topics dealt with in the course, a well-articulated argumentation, aimed at the exegesis of the texts, by means of specific vocabulary of the discipline. The level of accuracy in reading and translating, of linguistic and grammatical skills, as well as command of language and clearness of argumentation, the ability to express acquired knowledge, the ability to propose connections between different parts of the programme or with related disciplines will be assessed. Please note that the final mark will result from the oral exam only, not from the written test (which is a pass-fail test).
Modules or teaching units
Part A and B
L-FIL-LET/04 - LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor:
Pace Nicola
Part C
L-FIL-LET/04 - LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Pace Nicola
Part D
L-FIL-LET/04 - LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Gioseffi Massimo
Professor(s)