Classics Friday Talk Featuring Professor Luca Grillo (Notre Dame) "Consular Literature: Cato, Cicero, Pliny and the Joys of otium"

Talk description:

In the 3rd book of his Letters, Pliny poses as the ideal consul, equally concerned for the well-being of the Empire and his friends, and for the old and new generations. My talk explores some literary strategies whereby Pliny aligns himself as consul to great consuls and writers from the past, like Elder Cato and Cicero. Pliny's style and intertextual engagement with his predecessors invite a comparison and elicit some reflections on the evolution of Latin literature, the call for service to the state and the joys of otium.

Short Bio:

Luca Grillo is Professor of Latin Literature and Chair of the Department of Classics and Arabic at the University of Notre Dame. Luca's research interests range from Latin and Greek Language and Literature to Historiography and Rhetoric, Roman History, Augustan Poetry and Numismatics, with various books, articles and essays on Caesar, Cicero, Sallust, the Roman economy, Virgil, Lucilius and the Rhetorica ad Herennium. Luca is currently co-editing a volume on Rhetoric and Historiography and finishing a monograph on Irony in Latin Literature.

This talk will not be recorded and will not be available on Zoom.