Some presidents' messages in the winter newsletter encourage members to come to the annual meeting. I don't think that I need to do that, because this meeting will be bursting at the seams already, and I've already announced the expansion of our grants and awards. But I do need to repeat their thanks to the volunteers who do all the work of the organization, since the people who do the hard work are never thanked enough, whether in CAMWS or any other organization I've been involved in, whether my synagogue or the Pittsfield Union Grange (the local chapter of the National Order of Patrons of Husbandry: if anybody is curious about the role of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the initiation to the degree of Ceres of the Patrons of Husbandry, I'll be happy to tell the less-secret parts). Being president of CAMWS has allowed me to see even more of the great qualities of people I knew already, and to work with some wonderful people I didn't know before. Thanks to all of you (especially Tom Sienkewicz and Jevanie Gillen).  

My apologies to those frustrated because they either have to stay over in Boulder until Sunday or have to leave on Saturday and miss what looks like a great session, and to those who can't get into the Millennium. Big meetings remind me of the saying about sausage-you are better off not seeing how they are made. In this case, in September, we had a worried secretary-treasurer and president because we had an unusually high commitment of rooms to fill and a dip in panel submissions. Also, it was clear that even though we'd like to have everybody at the banquet, there wouldn't be room for them all. Then, right at the deadline (of course), we had a flood of individual abstracts, but not a Callimachean flood-the quality was high. Then we find out that the hotel has one room fewer available for sessions than we had been told, and the university couldn't get us an extra room, either. So the program crept to the end of Saturday afternoon, and the Millennium ran out of rooms. We will all be very tired by the time our next meeting is over, but I am pretty confident that we'll be happy-tired.

Dear fellow members of CAMWS: 

The 2015 meeting in Boulder promises to be one of the largest CAMWS meetings within memory. I am sorry if some of you are disappointed that you were unable to book a room at the Millennium Harvest House. This is actually the same hotel CAMWS used when we last met in Boulder in 1997. I remember that as a great meeting in a good hotel. Unfortunately, I think CAMWS has grown significantly since then, and especially in the last few years, to the point that we will be stretching the facilities of the Millennium Harvest House to its limits. For example the ballroom could simply not accommodate everyone at the Friday night banquet, so we have reverted, for this year, to previous custom and have given registrants the choice of opting out of the banquet. If you do go to the banquet, however, you will have the opportunity to hear the presidential address entitled "Sunt Lacrimae Rerum" by Ruth Scodel of the University of Michigan. We are also experimenting with the event sponsored by our university host. Instead of the late afternoon reception or the mid-afternoon refreshment break sessions we have had in the past, this year our colleagues at the University of Colorado are inviting CAMWS to a luncheon in their impressive Stadium Club overlooking their Folsom Field with a spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains for your dining pleasure. They will also host a very light afternoon break between sessions in their "home" on the third floor of the Humanities building where all the Friday afternoon papers will be read. So we will have ample opportunity to visit our Colorado colleagues on their own turf.

Once again presenters are encouraged to upload handouts, PowerPoints, and other materials onto the CAMWS website at camws.org/2015-meeting-uploads 

As I write, the various sub-committees of the Steering Committee are busily evaluating the many applications for CAMWS awards and scholarships. Applications are high for all the opportunities and it is rewarding to see so much interest in them.

You might also be interested to know that I recently made a site visit to Lincoln, Nebraska as the location for the 2019 meeting. I was very impressed with the facilities of the university and the enthusiasm of our Cornhusker Classicists and am pleased that the Executive Committee has approved Lincoln for 2019. CAMWS is now looking for bids to host the 2020 meeting, which would ideally be held in the Upper or Deep South.

Once again I would like to acknowledge the good work of Jevanie Gillen, who keeps the CAMWS office functioning on an even keel. She is looking forward to seeing many of you in Boulder. I, too hope to see you in Boulder, where I am confident you will enjoy spectacular views of the Rockies, hear stimulating papers, have rewarding conversations with old friends, and make many new ones.

Tom Sienkewicz

Secretary-Treasurer, CAMWS

Monmouth College 

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• This article examines the earliest uses of the eponymous word Augustus as a divine epithet outside of Rome. It argues that during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius the epithet was not intentionally vague or generic, as earlier authors have asserted, but served several distinct purposes, but in particular to connect local cults and individuals to imperial events in Rome.

• Throughout his allegedly biographical prologues and epilogues, Phaedrus represents his work as developing gradually from submissive translation of Aesop to independent literary creation. While scholars usually take this progression at face value, closer scrutiny reveals that Phaedrus modifies Aesopic material to serve his own ends long before he overtly asserts his poetic autonomy. In poem 1.2, Phaedrus adapts a fable about Athenian democracy for uniquely Roman audiences, engaging allusively with Cicero's De Re Publica. At the same time, he adjusts Cicero's ideas about political change in the Republic to fit realities of life in the Empire. Poem 1.2 also functions programmatically by establishing Cynic-Stoic resignation as a major theme for the rest of the fable collection.

• This article demonstrates that Catalepton 10, the famous parody of Catullus 4, has a pervasive sexual subtext. Quinctio the muleteer not only transforms into the politician Sabinus; he also undergoes a sexual transformation from an active lover of women to a passive lover of men. The poem's subtext employs equestrian sexual metaphors and also plays upon the erotic associations of muleteers, mules, and upstart/parvenu figures in Roman culture. 

• This article provides a detailed interpretation of the programmatic introduction to Plutarch's treatise On Isis and Osiris. The analysis of its three sections reveals Plutarch's systematic emphasis on a theoretical Platonic approach and throws light on his zetetic ideals. It also clarifies Plutarch's ζήτημα methodology and his broad understanding of philosophy. 

The following articles are in CJ 110.3: 

• This article offers a reading of Penelope's lion-comparison (Odyssey 4.791-3), which has not hitherto received a sustained treatment despite its importance to Penelope's characterization. Framed by her description of Odysseus as θυμολέων, Penelope's comparison to a terrified lion graphically represents how the θυμός-destroying pain she suffers on hearing about Telemachus' departure and the suitors' assassination plans disrupts in her the qualities that define her character and underpin her "like-mindedness" with Odysseus. Because these particular qualities explicitly distinguish Penelope from Clytemnestra and Helen, their disruption leaves her future behavior in doubt during Odysseus' adventures over the next twelve books, perhaps longer. 

Rick M. Newton, "Eumaeus Rustles Up Dinner"

• Eumaeus' hospitality in Odyssey 14, culminating in the sacrifice of a fatted boar, exhibits features of a post-raid feast. Inspired by the beggar's "Cretan tale," which conflates the themes of raiding and hospitality, the swineherd augments the rustic reception of his guest with an impromptu raid on the very livestock which the marauding suitors have stolen from his master. While the chine compensates Odysseus as the aggrieved victim of robbers, the portion honoring Hermes recognizes the Olympian founder of the animal-raid which, when executed with caution and celebrated with moderation, remains a legitimate heroic enterprise. 

• Agamemnon 393-5, about the chasing of a bird, has been traditionally interpreted with close reference to Paris. This article re-examines the relevance of the proverbial phrase of 394 to its context by looking into its possible origin and its relationship with the adjoining participial clause in 395. The reading offered here rests on the assumption that the gnomic character of the passage precludes secure identification with a single character in the play. So too, a reading of the participle θείς as denoting past action restricts the wide range of connotations of the passage, which surface by interpreting θείς as a coincident participle.

Annals 2.13 and 13.25"

• This paper examines Annals 2.13 and 13.25 in light of folk narratives about the "incognito king." The Germanicus scene of 2.13 is modeled upon a widely attested narrative structure, in which a king assumes a disguise to test and ensure the morality of his subjects. The structure of the narrative as it appears in the Annals is modified from its normal rubric to emphasize the uprightness of Germanicus and his troops. The Nero episode of 13.25 also features an incognito king, but with contrasting results: in that instance, the disguised king actively degrades the morality of his subjects.  

Jack Mitchell, "Literary Quotation as Literary Performance in Suetonius"

• Most acts of literary quotation in Suetonius are ironical reflections by emperor-characters on the burdens of imperial rule, deployed at transitional moments in the biographies. Consideration of literary performance traditions in Suetonius' society, from the classroom to the recitatio to the acroamata at dinner parties, allows us to understand these transitional quotations as moments in which Suetonius' listener is invited to sympathize with the emperor-character as a fellow enthusiast for literature. The biography of Nero reverses this scheme, as Nero's quotations bathetically distance him from the listener.

Alan J. Ross, "Ammianus, Traditions of Satire and the Eternity of Rome"

• The fourth-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus famously attacks the inhabitants of Rome in two satirical "digressions," which have often been read as autobiographical statements of Ammianus' anger against his fellow inhabitants of Rome. This article argues, however, that Ammianus consciously adopts a light-hearted satirical persona, whose indignatio owes more to the traditions of Roman satire than personal experience. Furthermore, the insertion of these satirical passages is a radical response to the contemporary reawakening of interest in satire, particularly by Christian authors, in Late Antiquity and a statement of the Res Gestae's place in a longer literary tradition.

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Beginning with this issue, Teaching Classical Languages will offer pre-publication previews of select articles.  Visit the TCL webpage (www.tcl.camws.org) and see which ones are available from among the following forthcoming articles:

• Jiha Min, "Three Categories of Humor in Latin Pedagogy"
• Susan Thornton Rasmussen, "Why Oral Latin?"
• Christopher Francese, "A Podcasting Approach to Latin and Greek Orality"
• Ginny Lindzey, "The Biduum Experience"
• Robert Patrick, "Making Sense of Comprehensible Input in the Latin Classroom"

Teaching Classical Languages welcomes articles offering innovative practice and methods, advocating new theoretical approaches, or reporting on empirical research in teaching and learning Latin and Greek.  Contact:  

John Gruber-Miller, Editor  

Teaching Classical Languages  

Cornell College  

Mout Vernon, IA 52314

[email protected] 

• Friday, March 27, 10:00-11:45 a.m.:  CPL Workshop with Barbara Hill, Ricky Crown, and Megan Drinkwater: "Latin at the Middle School Level: Who Are Our Students? How Do We Reach Them?"
• Saturday, March 28, 11:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.: CPL Panel with Kenneth Kitchell, Jacqueline Carlon, William Short, BA Gregg, Eddie Lowrie, and Barbara Weinlich:  "Rethinking Memorization in Learning Latin."
• Friday, March 27, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.: "Let's Learn Latin" (an almost all-day workshop, funded by CPL but organized and run by the Ascanius Youth Institute)

As last year at Waco the CPL once again extends an invitation to all high school Latin teachers to come to the Happy Hour for High School Teachers of Latin.  Date: Thursday, March 26, 5:30-6:30 p.m. There will be free drinks for those who checked the box on the registration form! 

• training in Greek and Latin, enabling them to read ancient texts at an advanced level
• the advising they need to gain admittance into MA and PhD programs in Classics, philosophy, art history, Medieval studies and more.

While most individuals will use this certificate as a stepping stone for graduate school, we also encourage individuals to pursue our certificate simply as a means of enriching their lives.

Students seeking admittance to the post-bac program will need to have completed a bachelor's degree and have a strong academic record with at least one year of college-level Greek or Latin.   

The electronic application and all material are due on or before April 20, 2015.  More information about the program and an application can be found at classics.case.edu.

Any further inquiries should be directed to:

Dr. Rachel Sternberg

216-368-2251

[email protected] 

In this note I'll highlight a specific way in which we fulfill our charge.

One of our most important functions is to represent the teaching of Greek, Latin, and the ancient world through the Joint National Committee for Languages-National Council for Languages and International Studies (languagepolicy.org). We were one of the eight organizations who founded JNCL-NCLIS in 1976, and have had representatives on the Board of Directors and Delegates to the Assembly for nearly forty years. On our behalf the staff researches issues of language policy and educates both Members of Congress and their staffs, and the public in general. They make information available on their website, where you can download publications like the final report of the Languages for All? initiative or a statement on "Language Learning and National Security." You can also subscribe to weekly electronic newsletters.

The annual Delegate Assembly brings together representatives from all participating groups in Washington, where staff members brief us on legislative priorities and help us schedule meetings with our own Senators and Representatives. The Assembly provides an extraordinary opportunity to meet and work with language teachers, researchers, and other professionals who represent a wide spectrum of people interested in fostering second-language learning.  

I'm very grateful to the NCLG for making available to me the opportunity to represent our field by working with an organization of such energy and dedication.

Wake Forest University