Christoph Schwameis – författare

Cicero's actio secunda in Verrem is undoubtedly one of the best-known speeches by the great Roman politician. Nevertheless, it has so far only been partially analysed in modern commentaries. This gap in research is closed by the commentary presented here for De praetura Siciliensi. The second book of the actio secunda is devoted to such diverse topics as bribery or enrichment in connection with civil and capital proceedings, municipal offices and honorary statues as well as cooperation with tax tenants. The commentary takes into account the findings of various research disciplines, especially legal and ancient historical research, critically analyses them and makes them useful for understanding the speech. Above all, however, it illuminates this individual speech from a philological perspective for the first time, discusses language, style and textual criticism and, above all, demonstrates the sophistication of Cicero's oratorical tactics in this speech and in the context of the entire corpus. This provides readers with all the information they need to understand the various individual aspects of the speech and to appreciate Cicero's oratorical art.

This anthology is dedicated to the Roman epic poets Lucan, Valerius Flaccus, Statius and Silius Italicus. The contributions examine the contrast between genre theory and practice, the interplay of genre interference and intertextuality, and the tension between convention and innovation. The focus is on the relationship of post-Augustan epic poetry to the earlier tradition, i.e. to authoritative predecessors such as Homer, Virgil and Ovid. The self-positioning of later poets in relation to the canon often goes hand in hand with an endeavour to reconfigure traditional elements: By omitting, varying or exaggerating aspects typical of the genre, their works enter into a dialogue with the earlier epics, permanently subverting the audience's horizons of expectation. The integration of non-genre discourses plays a central role here: modern literary concepts for analysing genre interference are critically evaluated in the anthology and incorporated into the interpretation in a reflective manner. The methodological range and innovative approaches in this volume make an important contribution to deepening and expanding the current state of research.