James E. G. Zetzel

The classical commentary : histories, practices, theory

This collection explores the issues raised by the writing and reading of commentaries on classical Greek and Latin texts. Written primarily by practising commentators, the papers examine: philosophical, narratological and historiographical commentaries; ancient, Byzantine and Renaissance commentary practice and theory, with special emphasis on Galen, Tzetzes and La Cerda; the relationship between the author of the primary text, the commentary writer and the reader; special problems posed by fragmentary and spurious texts; the role and scope of citation, selectivity, lemmatization and revision; the practical future of commentary-writing and publication; and the way computers are changing the shape of classical commentary. With a genesis in discussion panels mounted in the UK in 1996 and the USA in 1997, this volume continues international dialogue on the genre and future of commentaries.

LAUREL, TONGUE AND GLORY (CICERO, DE CONSVLATV SVO FR. 6 SOUBIRAN)

Cedant arma togae , ‘let arms yield to the toga’. Thus begins the famous verse from Ciceros poem on his consulship that highlights the protagonists suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy by favourably contrasting this political achievement with success on the battlefield. But how does the line continue? Its conclusion is transmitted in two different versions, concedat laurea laudi and concedat laurea linguae , and scholars have long been divided over which one is Ciceros original text. In this paper, we revisit the issue and not only (1) propose an answer to the question of what Cicero actually wrote, but also (2) examine those attestations of the verse that date to the authors own lifetime, elucidating the contexts that account for the quotation of one variant rather than the other.