I do agree with Simon - please don't withdraw to a café in Paris. As someone who is not professionally involved in the Classics, but simply (having a little Latin) wants to try and enjoy them as straightforward reader it is fascinating to hear the complexities that might be revealed as one becomes more closely aquainted with the works in question and the various commentaries upon them. I had no idea, for example, that Virgil indulged in "grave abuse of Latin word order rules." Was he a sort of James Joyce of the Roman world? (I think I now understand why I sometimes find the Virgilian word order mind-defeatingly difficult - comforting when I thought it was my poor knowledge of Latin grammar).
As a result of Rob Dyer's posting I have also spent much of the evening trying to find out what a 'cola' is which, in my view, is more fun than watching TV. Question: would the average reasonably well-educated Roman contemporary with Virgil have picked up his works and said "this is splendid stuff, I must read on" or, more likely, "this is all too difficult for me, I am going to stick with Ovid and Catullus"? Patrick Roper > >Perhaps we should continue this debate privately, or over > lunch in Paris, > >if you live here. > > Dear MM. Plantade and Dyer > > By all means have your discussion over lunch in Paris, but > please don't > withdraw your e-mail exchanges on this subject from > mantovano. This is > fascinating! No doubt "cette question de la diction des > vers latins ... > intéresse peu de gens sur terre", but mantovano subscribers > are a special > group. > > Simon Cauchi > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.lpf.org.nz/free/directory/cauchi.htm > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > ----------- > To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. > Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation > marks). You > can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
