yeah, ciminius mons!

and now for the random OCD fact! did you ever want to know what the Ciminius mons is? It's the range of volcanic mountains rising to just over 900 m (c. 3,000 ft.), which separate southern from central Etruria. A crater lake (lacus Ciminius: Lago di Vico) nestles amongst them. Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus won fame by penetrating their awe-inspiring, thickly wooded slopes in 310 B.C. (Livy 9.36-9). Sutrium and Nepete are keys to the region.

by the way: i remembered tonight how much i dislike reading scholarship on sappho.

Wainy. Weedy. Weaky.

I've argued often on the merits of restored classical pronunciation and have just stumbled upon the best defense:

si 'sub aqua sub aqua' ranae 'cecinere querelam',
    cur sessineere velis dicere, cur sub akway?
balat ovis 'be be', vocem effert noctua 'tu tu'?
    haec bee bee, tew tew posse sonare putas?

-- T.F. Higham, 1958 (cited in L.P. Wilkinson, Golden Latin Artistry p. 5)

Keep in mind that that's a short e. 'Bay bay' is no better than 'bee bee' (and for a great discussion on the pronunciation of Greek eta -- with this very same example -- check out Edgar Sturtevant's Pronunciation of Greek and Latin).

oh, how my gilded rose shines...

and here, friends, is the inimitable gil's translation of thucydides' comment on pericles' incredibly persuasive and powerful oratorical skill. when the athenians would get overly confident, pericles 'got them going in the direction of fear with his astounding downess'.

yes, i know--it is totally awesome.

i gots to flo like horace

and now for today's 'random OCD fact'!!!

do you know who marcus aurelius carus was? well, friend, he was a praetorian prefect from Narbo who overthrew Probus after rebelling in Raetia in AD 282. Leaving his elder son, Carinus, as Caesar in the west, Carus marched against Persia with Numerianus. He captured Ctesiphon, but, advancing further, was killed, perhaps by treachery (summer 283). He was the first emperor not to seek the senate's approval of his accession.

The Twenty-Seventh Annual Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference

This post isn't really about that. I don't even know what that is. The web browser did an auto-completion when I typed "The," and heck if it wasn't better than my title.

So welcome to the Twenty-Seventh Annual Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference.

The subject of my address is Eric's abandonment of the Campus. He apparently thinks his time is better wasted explaining why dave bergman is neat.

And so it's up to me to pass along Eric's favorite Gil Prose quote (which by now will surely have devolved into a poor paraphrase):

"Pericles was impressing them with his astounding downness."

All this talk of Gil reminded of something else. After the dinner which he made us pay for we were waiting for the train. Super J. Dawg was saying something about a fan letter he'd written to Jacques Barzun when we were interrupted by some kid with a guitar.

-- Are you talking about ideas?
-- Huh?
-- Are you guys talking about ideas?
-- ... Some ideas ... I guess.
-- That's really cool, man. No one does that anymore. [Ed. note: he was 15. Does he really remember those good ol' intellectual days of yore?] I'm writing this school paper right now on video games, and ... uh ... I just lost my train of thought. Sorry.

And so it went. A fitting end to a fine night.

"This is your last chance to be drilled by me."

While that sounds like a line from a Ron Jeremy flick, it was said, tearfully, today in Greek Prose Composition. And drill us he did. On grammatical forms.

Yep, there's nothing quite like an unintentionally funny collocation from the lips of Gil Prose. Like this gem:

"After Thucydides said that Pericles was all that ...."

But I'll let Eric fill you in on the ultimate Gilapropism. I'll miss 'em.

a hippy hankerin' for modalization

you'll all be pleased to know that today i heard an excellent use of the english subjunctive in a present contrary-to-fact condition in three dog night's 'joy to the world': 'if i were the king of the world, tell you what i'd do....'

i'll take THAT over hoobastank any day.

you like jargon, honey?

go here: http://hatemongersquarterly.blogspot.com/

and look for 'the academic superstars calendar'.

Well I'll bite, Mikey ...

My first contribution in this effort to promote dativity awareness is the Dative of Standard of Judgment.

Were you to say, "We judge the rocking by the quantity of Marshall stacks on stage," the phrase by the quantity ... would be a Dative of the Standard of Judgment.

Which, incidentally, is the title of our second album. If you didn't know that, you're not a true fan.

rock and roll will never die

so i was just reading some thucydides and i came across a use of the dative that i may never have seen before. the commentator called it the 'dative of military accompaniment'. those greeks--they really had a dative for everything.

for this reason, i think this site should be at least half devoted to various uses of the dative. think of all the places it could take you!

also, be sure you practice HARD before you send us any audition tapes. the spurious diphthongs are a top-notch outfit, and any mediocre crap posing as 'post rock' will find the trash bin post haste.

Auditions Start Tomorrow!

I know many of our faithful readers have been waiting for this for some time, so here goes.

The Spurious Diphthongs are now holding auditions for a kick-ass rhythm section to back our two-headed guitar assault. That means bass and drums, and if you didn't know that already, don't bother applying!

Now, if you've got the chops and you want a shot, e-mail our road manager Aaron (akook@brynmawr.edu). Make sure the Subject heading of the e-mail reads, "Why don't you cut that mullet, you numbskull?," or YOU WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THE POSITION.

(If you know who sang the song from which we took that line, Aaron will treat you to dinner at Felini's -- he's in tight with the wait staff.)

Get to it!

Who wouldn't want a date(ive) of interest with a classicist?

i, personally, don't know of anyone. and if you think talking about dancing camels equals a 'lack of seriousness in terms of studies', you better think again, and you also better talk to jerome.

anyway, i just wanted to say hi. it's possible that i'll have something worthwhile to say at some point in the future. this, however, is POTENTIAL and not NECESSARY. would you like it in wish form?

would that i might have something worthwhile to say at some point in the future!

and now, like belpis, i feel that sleep is in order. i only hope that ronnie james d(ennis)io soon will have a post on the danaids and chaucer in order.

Kronos's Obstetrical Adventure!

The title of this message comes to you from the inimitable Froma Zeitlin, and if you enjoyed that bit of wit, her published work is a mine of inanity.

Which brings me to Luc Brisson. I haven't gotten very far in Gerard Naddaf's translation but I am so relieved finally to be reading something comprehensible. No more ludic liminality or actantial positions -- just clear prose.

Maybe now I'll actually know whether I agree with what I'm reading.

GREETINGS!

Let me begin by saying that I looked at what you call your "blog," and I find it to be very superficial. Only by digging down to the fundamental presuppositions about blogging can you compare bloggers who, on the surface, have entirely different sets of errors. I suggest that you come blog with me before you embark on the next phase, since you made a good start before you got distracted by the inane blogologies.

I will speak with you anon.