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Yale University Press

The following articles are in CJ 105.3



THE DANAIDS' THREAT: OBSCURITY, SUSPENSE AND THE SHEDDING OF TRADITION IN AESCHYLUS' SUPPLIANTS
K. Paul Bednarowski

Abstract: Contrary to the standard view, the Danaids' threat to kill themselves if Pelasgus does not come to their aid in Aeschylus' Suppliants (455-67) is not decisive evidence of their cruel and manipulative nature. Rather, the threat admits of a range of interpretations that exacerbated spectators' questions regarding the Danaids and their circumstances and generated suspense regarding these well-known figures from myth.



METON'S STAR-CITY: GEOMETRY AND UTOPIA IN ARISTOPHANES' BIRDS
Matthew Amati

Abstract: The geometrical ideas parodied in Meton's speech are not exclusive to his scene but are addressed at various points throughout the play. Meton plans a 'star-city' whose chief features--streets, lots, agora and star-shape--represent everything a comic hero despises. His intellectually-derived Nephelococcygia is democratic, allows ownership of property, and lets in all comers. He is a threat to the anti-civic tyrant Peisetairos and must be driven off.



IMPIETY IN THE MIDDLE REPUBLIC: THE ROMAN RESPONSE TO TEMPLE PLUNDERING IN SOUTHERN ITALY
Jack Wells

Abstract: The senate's response to the plundering of Persephone's temple near Epizephyrian Locri in 204 BCE illustrates how the Romans established clear boundaries between pious and impious behavior. Scipio Africanus' enemies induced the senate to prosecute his legate Pleminius for impiety and to send Roman officials to carry out expiatory rites. As a result, the senate afterward viewed the proper care of religious sites in southern Italy as Rome's concern.



A DUET OF PRAISE: HORACE, VERGIL AND THE SUBJECT OF CANEMUS IN CARM. 4.15.32
Jonathan P. Zarecki

Abstract: The Vergilian references in Carm. 4.10-15 suggest that Horace and Vergil, not Horace and a Roman crowd, are the subjects of canemus in 4.15.32. Horace has resurrected Vergil through his poetry to help him praise Augustus, because a true encomium of the princeps lies outside the capabilities of Horace's lyric persona.





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