Monica R. Gale

J. H. D. Scourfield

From the bites and scratches of lovers and the threat of flogging that hangs over the comic slave, to murder, rape, dismemberment, and crucifixion, violence is everywhere in Latin literature. The contributors to this volume explore the manifold ways in which violence is constructed and represented in Latin poetry and prose from Plautus to Prudentius, examining the interrelations between violence, language, power, and gender, and the narrative, rhetorical, and ideological functions of such depictions across the generic spectrum. How does violence contribute to the pleasure of the text? Do depictions of violence always reinforce status-hierarchies, or can they provoke a reassessment of normative value-systems? Is the reader necessarily complicit with authorial constructions of violence? These are pressing questions both for ancient literature and for film and other modern media, and this volume will be of interest to scholars and students of cultural studies as well as of the ancient world.

Texts and Violence in the Roman World

Saint Jerome

John Howell David Scourfield

Hieronymus (Kirkefader.)

How did early Christians give comfort to the bereaved? This examination of one of the most important early Christian letters of consolation shows how Christian consolers adopted many of the approaches used by their pagan predecessors. The book includes both a text and translation of the letter.

Ad Heliodorum Epitaphium Nepotiani

A wide-ranging study of violence in Latin literature, across the spectrum of texts and genres from Plautus to Prudentius.

J. H. D. Scourfield

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