Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae
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Old Women: Divination and Magic or anus in Roman Literature
Get PDFWord anus was used in a primarily negative sense to describe an old woman. Anus is usually presented as a libidinous and hideous hag who indulges in strong wine or practices black magic, mainly for erotic purposes. Though Latin literature brings as well examples of a different type of anus: goddesses assuming the shape of old women to guide or deceive the mortals and old prophetic women, inspired by the gods. Anus can be gifted with divine powers and secret knowledge. The paper traces the motif of anus as a witch or a divine woman on the basis of selected examples from the works of Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Apuleius and Silius Italicus
The Role of the Old Interlocutors in Plato\u27s Dialogue. A New Philosophical Meaning of Old Age
Get PDFThis paper highlights the platonic conception of old age as very different from the traditional one. In order to demostrate it, the Parmenides and the Laws will be analyzed as key texts to understand the new philosophical meaning of old age that finds his main characterization in connection with young age. The topic of old age will be discussed along with youth training and the birth of the philosopher as a “result” of a proper philosophical education. At length, well-educated youths will be able to become philosophers who, in turn, will evolve into masters of others
Starzec i grzeczność językowa w komediach Plauta (Old man and linguistic politeness in comedies of Plautus)
Get PDFThe aim of the article is to study the conversational behaviour of the Plautine old men in light of the politeness theory. The analysis concerns those scenes of salutatio and giving advice, where one of the speaker is senex, in order to examine features of his linguistic characterization.Según se desprende de la lectura de las obras plautinas, la caracterización de la figura del senex en las comedias de Plauto se centra en destacar su dignidad personal y pública como paterfamilias, un miembro de la élite económica y política. En este artículo hemos igualado la dignitas de los ancianos –que se revela en cada interacción verbal– con el concepto de la imagen social proveniente de la teoría de la cortesía lingüística. A continuación, hemos analizado dos tipos de comportamiento lingüístico (el saludo y las secuencias de aconsejar), donde el senex interactúa con personajes de diferente estatus social. En cuanto a las escenas de saludo realizadas por y hacia los ancianos, se percibe un alto grado de ritualización de la apertura dialógica, tanto más evidente entre dos senes. Las secuencias en las que se dan consejos a un noble paterfamilias también necesitan de varias estrategias de cortesía lingüística para no dañar su imagen social, puesto que este tipo de interacción verbal conlleva una asimetría de poder entre los hablantes. En una breve revisión de dichas escenas, hemos indicado los recursos utilizados tanto para afirmar la imagen del interlocutor (cortesía positiva), como para expresar respeto y reverencia hacia él (cortesía negativa). En consecuencia, la cortesía lingüística, como fenómeno conversacional, nos parece un importante recurso de la caracterización de los personajes plautinos no a nivel estilístico, sino a nivel de la interacción dialógica
Witolda Stefańskiego interpretacja Platońskiego dialogu Kratylos (Plato\u27s Cratylus Interpreted by Witold Stefański)
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to present and evaluate the studies in Plato’s Cratylus performed by Witold Stefański, which resulted in several articles concerning this dialogue and its translation into Polish. While the interpretation of this dialogue offered by the author may be called into question, the dialogue’s translation remains undoubtedly an excellent piece of work
Pierre Dalicourt i Sekret opóźniania starości (1668). Zarys lektury w kontekście translatio studii [Pierre Dalicourt and Le secret de retarder la vieillesse (1668). Prolegomena to the lecture in the context of translatio studii]
Get PDFIn this article, an attempt is made to describe the way of ancient text elements in Frenchlanguage medical writing, prior to the publication of Dalicourt’s work. It enables to reconstruct three channels of antique medical knowledge transfer: physiological thought reflection (whose important documents in France are: the treatise On old age by Pierre du Lauriers and the textbook of surgery by Ambroise Paré), philosophical thought (Christian Neostoicism inspired by works of Seneca, Erasmus and Lipsius) and theology (which combines Judeo-Christian motifs with Greek-Roman ones through the Bible exegesis). Further, at the end of the work, a political dimension of Dalicourt’s discussion is signalled. The author, who dedicates his text to the chancellor Pierre Séguier, makes in a way reference to the antique discussions on gerontocracy
On madness without words: gestures in Homer’s poems as a nonverbal means of depicting madness
Get PDFThe paper discusses various ways of depicting madness in Homer’s epics based on the example of a scene from the Iliad, in which Andromache is compared to a maenad, as well as the scene concerning the feast of suitors in book XX of the Odyssey. Depicting madness by means of gestures affects the reception of the described scenes by the external and internal epic audience in a very special way. The gestures that are described invoke in the listeners associations related to their own experiences and appeal to particular emotions, whose presence affects the reception of an epic. The gestures and the nonverbal message allude to the Bacchic trance and this raises the question whether Homer and his audience were familiar with the cult of Dionysus
Medea’s Inner Voice
Get PDFThe story of Medea provides a wide range of themes to be explored and passion emerges as a frequent one. This article is based on the text Medea by the Stoic Seneca, yet in some parts comparisons will be drawn with Euripides’ tragedy of the same name as well. They treat the same theme in remarkably different ways: In the Senecan tragedy, Medea’s long soliloquies or monologues differ from Euripides’ version in that they reveal the protagonist’s inner conflict between the voices of passions and reason. This tragedy particularly focuses on the passions amor (love), ira (anger), furor (madness, insanity) and the consequent self-division. Therefore it can be analyzed from both psychological and philosophical aspects
Furiosa libido. Ovid on love and madness.
Get PDFThis paper presents Ovid’s views on the concept of love madness. Taking Ars amatoria, in particular the distich (1.281–282) in which the poet blames woman’s love fury on her lust as its research material, the paper investigates how the notion in question has been realized in this “textbook for lovers.” There, Ovid uses the mythological figures of women who committed crimes against social rules to illustrate the said concept; the paper, in turn, juxtaposes it with the narratives in Metamorphoses (the stories of Byblis and Myrrha). Additionally, it makes use of the tale of Iphis, a story not included in Ars amatoria which can nevertheless be also treated as illustrative of how madness can overcome enamored women. The paper both contrasts the above mentioned stories with the narratives showing men’s inclinations to insanity caused by passion and examines the notion of love madness in the context and with regard to the style of Ovid’s works
Luctus est istic tuus,/ crimen novercae. Boskie i ludzkie szaleństwo Heraklesa na podstawie tragedii Eurypidesa i Seneki (Luctus est istic tuus,/ crimen novercae. Divine and human madness of Heracles according to the dramas by Euripides and Seneca)
Get PDFThe article aims to examine the tragedies: Ήρακλής μαινόμενος by Euripides and Hercules Furens by Seneca and exactly the different types of the madness, by which the main character is overcome in the above mentioned dramas. Although the article touches also on the issue of the insanity sent to the hero by Hera/ Juno, concentrates especially on the fit of madness, that is here defined as a human madness
La visione di mania umana e divina in Platone (The concept of divine and human “mania” in the Platonic dialogues)
Get PDFIn this article will be discussed the passages of the Platonic dialogues that give information about the way in which the philosopher understood the term “mania”. Particularly important is the reflection on this subject contained in Phaedrus in which different kinds of madness were distinguished and briefly characterized. Especially the essential is the concept of poetic inspiration because it takes an important place in Plato’s theoretical and literary thought. It had also a significant influence on shaping his opinions on the subject of poets and their work. The Plato’s term of poetic inspiration and connected with it the issues of literary output and its reception make the fundamental part of this article