#roman literature

[eirene]

Thisbe, 1875

Edwin Long

[kusurrone]

little Virgil

[scribl1ta]

Circe for the end of summer 🐬🌞🐚✨one I needed to stop editing and just post since I've had it since june. I can always make things better😔

Just so u all know, right now I'm not drawing so much because I'm coping with a heat wave and Aristophanes-hating classmates. But I reminded the professor of a reading assignment she forgot to send our class, so I've had my revenge. And, it's none of my business if others enjoy that lifestyle. I chose suffering which is why I'm in this particular situation with these people to begin with, now I choose peace😊(<- becoming the joker)(<- might delete later)

[moon-kissed-corner]

The painting Orpheus and Eurydice, by George Frederic Watts.

Lines from the song Talk, by Hozier, and extract from Orpheus and Eurydice, from Book X of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

[cassandra-said-i-told-you-so]

Artemisia Gentileschi, Lucretia, 1627

“The blade, which she had kept hidden under her gown, she then plunged into her heart, and she fell, collapsing onto her wound and dying.”

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.58

(original translation)

[greekmythcomix]

Watch as a video instead: Greek Myth Comix tells an Ancient Ghost Story feat. Pliny The Younger

https://youtu.be/mLLo8Y5ZZyM

Teachers: get this as a poster or PDF for class: https://greekmythcomixshop.wordpress.com/2020/11/06/an-ancient-ghost-story-comic-pdf-or-poster/

[taisart11]

Da iugulum cultris, hostia dira, meis. 🗡️

No delay is mine: I act as priest with sure prayer. Whoever is at my rites, show favour to my words: whoever is at my rites, speak your words of mourning, and with wet cheeks begin your weeping for Ibis: and run with every ill, and on stumbling feet, and cloak all your bodies with black garments! You too, why hesitate to don the fatal bands? Now your funeral altar’s ready, as you yourself can see. Your cortège is prepared: no delay to the sad prayers: dread sacrifice, relinquish your throat to my knives. Ibis (vv. 93-106), Ovid

I've been wanting to draw something more 'classical' for a while, so here's my interpretation of Ovid in his Ibis! It's somehow darker than what we are used to see, but he's still our beloved poet.

[ds2coffin]

was anyone going to tell me that ancient rome had an estrogen spring

[mtlibrary]

Provenance mysteries: Opera, quae exstant L. Annaei Seneca

This edition’s provenance mystery features a three volume set of the collected work of Seneca: Opera, quae exstant L. Annaei Senecae ; cum integris Justi Lipsii, J. Fred. Gronovii, & selectis variorum commentariis illustrata ; accedunt Liberti Fromondi in quæstionum naturalium libros & [apokolokuntosin] notæ & emendationes, printed by Daniel Elzevir in Amsterdam in 1672. It includes commentaries by the noted Dutch humanist Justus Lipsius and botanist Johannes Fredericus Gronovius amongst others.

As can be seen in the photograph, the book is bound in vellum over boards with a gold-tooled armorial crest on the front (and back) boards. The coat-of-arms has the motto ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense,’ part of the British royal motto, and also used by knights and ladies of the Order of the Garter. The coat-of-arms is probably easily identifiable by someone with the knowledge and skills, but remains a mystery to this writer. There is no other provenance information in the book itself, and no record of its acquisition by the Library.

The book was published during the period when Daniel Elzevir worked with his cousin Louis Elzevir in Amsterdam, printing and publishing a range of classical Latin texts in octavo format, such as this one. The gilt armorial stamp and vellum binding sets this book apart from many of the books in our collection, which tend to have undecorated calf bindings. Vellum and parchment bindings are commonly found in continental libraries, but their presence is not as common in seventeenth century English libraries. Vellum was an expensive material to use as well, suggesting that this was a high status item for its owner.

The book features in the Library’s current exhibition: Mapping the Early Modern Inns of Court. This exhibition highlights some of the areas that the ‘Mapping the Early Modern Inns of Court’ group has explored in seminars and publications: recreation (fencing, revelling, and gaming); literary culture at the Inns; religion and preaching; learning the law and verbal skills; travel and exploration endeavours. Barristers regarded Seneca as a model orator and lawyer, and they frequently studied, quoted, and translated his works. They were taught Senecan verse while still at school, and continued to study, and translate his works as adults.

As ever, if you recognise this armorial device or have further comments please get in touch: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

August 2024

[swallowtail-ageha]

I just know back then in 60 ad proto fujoshis Esquilina and Procula were reading the satyricon by petronius while kicking their feet and giggling

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Plays

Round 1

The Physicists :

This play is a hilarious satirical comedy. From the Wikipedia entry: "The play deals with questions of scientific ethics and humanity's general ability to manage its intellectual responsibility. It is often recognized as his most impressive yet most easily understood work." I have read it in both English and German and it is really clever.

Phædra :

Text here

[kusurrone]

Why was vergil coughing off blood all the time?

He had endometriosis

[scribl1ta]

Lost tomb vibes🤎🪲🥀

I didn't get any photos of them, but at the Etruscan museum I was looking at the bronze tomb figurines, and imagining a whole tomb that's full of them🖤

Etruscan moodboard:

I also drew a comic for this in my sketchbook🫣I'll try to find it and add it to the post or rb but I'm too tired from finals this week

[theoneandonlypigeon]

difficilis facilis, iūcundus acerbus es īdem:

nec tēcum possum vīvere, nec sine tē.

unbearable and agreeable, you are both pleasant and bitter in equal measure:

I can neither live with you, nor without you.

[gennsoup]

"She, with the right spells, claims she can liberate minds when she chooses, But that, in others, her power can induce intractable anguish. Hers is the power to stop rivers, reverse heaven's stars in rotation. She makes dead spirits stalk dark night; you'll see the earth rumbling Under your feet; you'll see ash trees striding down from the mountains."

Virgil, Aeneid

[cassandra-said-i-told-you-so]

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Vesuvius in Eruption, 1817-20

“The shuddering black cloud, broken up by twisting, trembling dispersions of fiery air, ruptured into long streaks of flame, both similar to and greater than lightning bolts.”

— Pliny the Younger, to Tacitus

(original translation)