DIVRNA I

DIES LUNAE, JANUARIUS XVII

Newsletter of the 17th Latin Summer School MMXI

Here’s a message from our directors
Salvete amici! Welcome to the 17th Latin Summer School. We hope you all find this week very enjoyable and
intellectually stimulating, and that it increases your interest in and enthusiasm for the Latin language and its
different environments, Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Post-Renaissance and Modern. Please refer to this daily
newsletter and to the notice-board in the Foyer of the Education Building for important announcements regarding
the various activities of the school. Frances Muecke, Robert Forgács, Paul Roche, Directors

Competitions
Competitions start today. Entry forms
will be available on the table in the
foyer and also on the website.

● Monday - a Latin crossword

● Tuesday - a Latin
identification test
● Wednesday - a “Rome
Depicted” - a recognition test
of visual images of ancient
Rome

Cantus Latinus
All interested participants at the LSS
(students and staff) are invited to join
an adhoc choral group. We will meet
each day for a rehearsal at 12.50 pm
in the Teachers College Hall. If there
is sufficient interest, we will rehearse
several short, simple 16th century
settings of Classical texts and
Mosaic of Doves drinking at a bowl, 1st century BC
perform them during the Closing This celebrated work was at one time at the Villa of Hadrian, and is now in
Ceremony on Friday afternoon. the Capitoline Museum, Rome.

Please remember to wear
your name tag whenever
you are on the University
grounds. This is part of
security regulations.
Scansion class with
Andrew Miles ED 452,
Tuesday beginners,
Thursday advanced, 1.30
pm. Please enrol on list
on noticeboard, limit of
12 per class.
Remember that all school
materials (including this
newsletter) are available
on the website:
latinsummerschool.com.au
Special Guest Lecture: Reinventing Flavian Rome Potio et Cibus
Paul Roche, Monday 1.30 pm, New Law LT 101 There are several places on
campus which are open for
This illustrated lecture looks at how contemporary Latin authors responded refreshments and meals: Manning
to the architectural monuments of Rome in a period which saw brilliant and House, next door, The Sports
extensive building programs as well as great political upheaval. The emperor Union near the hockey field, and
Domitian was one of the great builders of the physical city of Rome: more the Union Building, Science Road;
than 50 buildings were erected or restored in his principate from 81–96 AD. all offer hot or cold meals.
He was an uncompromising autocrat who used architecture and urban
space to further his various political and cultural agendas, including his Morning and afternoon tea is
personal Philhellenism and his own unassailable status as ‘lord and god’ provided each day by LSS, but
(dominus et deus: his preferred title, according to Suetonius). Domitian had please bring your own cup or mug,
transformed the physical fabric of the city with buildings which were as there is a very Iimited number of
intimately associated with his own heavy-handed style of principate, and disposable cups. Let’s make sure
after his assassination in 96 AD a major problem facing his successors, the we are all environmentally
emperors Nerva (ruled 96–98) and Trajan (ruled 98–117), was what to do conscious during the week.
with the physical legacy of this hated tyrant: the money had run out, and
they were left with what was essentially a Domitianic city. In this lecture we Liturgical Music in Latin
will look at some of Domitian’s most famous and enduring monuments, James’ Church, King St., Sydney
including the Stadium (the modern Piazza Navona), the Odeum, the Forum
Transitorium (a.k.a. the Forum of Nerva), and his colossal palace on the In Australia’s oldest ecclesiastical
Palatine Hill. We will look at their ancient impact and their impressive building, and one of the most
modern remains, as well as the manner in which Latin authors such as beautiful, a fully professional
Statius, Martial, and Pliny the Younger reacted to and helped constitute their performance of two orchestral Latin
changing political meanings. Masses:

Special Interest Groups for Level 4 ● Sunday January 23 - “Berliner

Monday to Thursday at 2.50 pm Messe” by the outstanding
contemporary Estonian
Frances Muecke: The Triumph in Literature and History – four sessions composer Arvo Pärt, scored for
looking at famous triumphs (e.g. those of Scipio Africanus, Fulvius Nobilior, choir, strings and organ
Augustus) and the triumph theme in Ennius, Silius Italicus, Virgil and Ovid. ● Sunday January 30 - Joseph
Haydn’s exciting and dramatic
Eleanor Cowan: In this seminar series Eleanor Cowan from the department “Nelson Mass” (Missa in
of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney will take students Angustiis, 1798) for soloists,
in detail through two of the greatest and most interesting Latin inscriptions to choir and orchestra. Both
have survived from antiquity. The “Achievements of the Divine Augustus” Masses begin at 10.00 am.
(Res Gestae Divi Augusti) was an autobiographical public account of the life
and achievements of Augustus; Theodor Mommsen called it “the queen of
inscriptions”. In it Augustus recounts (his version of) his rise to power and
the public benefactions accruing from his 45 years of supreme power. The
“Senate’s advice regarding Gnaeus Piso Senior” (Senatus Consultum de
Pisone Patre) is a fascinating first-hand account of one of the greatest
scandals to rock first century Rome, the trial of Gnaeus Piso (a close friend
of the emperor Tiberius) for murder of the beloved Julio-Claudian prince
Germanicus—Tiberius’ heir—who had died suddenly near Antioch in 19 AD.
This inscription details the punishments to be meted out to Piso (who had by
this stage committed suicide) and his family, as well as the conduct of the
emperor during the trial.

Latifundium Meum Tantum Est...

Texianus se jactabat coram Arkansianum de latifundio suo: "Age, Across Down
latifundium meum tantum est, inquit, quantum si onerario meo multo mane 2. to rejoice 1. he/she turns
proficiscar per limites circumvehi, iam nox est antequam domum 4. label 2. I bark
perveniam." Huic Arkansianus adnuit rem sibi intellegens aitque, "Itast, olim 6. after 3. to them
et mihi erat tale onerarium." 9. I leave 5. light
6. through
Spem in Alium - Music from the English Renaissance 7. sun
Saturday, 22 January 2011 @ St James Church, King Street, Sydney 8. lion
From the Tallis Scholars Summer School and The Choir of St James
Church. Music includes the great 40-part motet by Thomas Tallis "Spem in
Alium", plus selected works by Sheppard, White, and Parsons.