Latin Didactic
The aim of this paper is to explore the three major didactic poems of the late Republic / early Empire, Lucretius’ De rerum natura, Virgil’s Georgics and Ovid’s Ars Amatoria, in relation to each other and against the background of the didactic tradition. What is it that these poems ‘teach’? What themes and preoccupations are shared by these apparently very different didactics, and how does each react to its predecessor? How does all this relate to our view of Roman culture and politics at the moment of transition from Republic to Empire? And how can technical or quasi-technical material make poetry?
P. Toohey, Epic Lessons (London 1996); K. Volk, The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Manilius (Oxford 2002).
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