Course Requirements:
Required Texts:
Augoustakis, A. ed., comm. Plautus Mercator. Bryn Mawr Latin Commentaries, 2009.
Henderson, J. ed. comm. A Plautus Reader.
Selections from Eleven Plays. Bolchazy-Carducci, 2009.
Moodie, E., comm. Poenulus:A Student Commentary. Michigan
Classical Commentaries, 2015.
New England Classical
Journal
Special Issue 37.1 (February 2010). Change
and Exchange in PlautusÕs Mercator.
Starks,
J.H., Jr., Panciera, M.D., Brunelle,
C., Johnson, D.M., et al. Latin Laughs. A Production of
PlautusÕ Poenulus. Student Edition. Bolchazy-Carducci,
1997.
Also – You need a good Latin
dictionary. I recommend the Elementary Latin Dictionary by Charlton T. Lewis,
also available from Oxford. Electronic versions of LewisÕ elementary dictionary
and the complete Lewis and Short dictionary are available on the link for your
daily assignments, but I recommend, if you will be doing Latin long-term, that
you purchase a hardback since this site (Perseus) has a history of instability
and may not be there when you need it most.
Syllabus on the Web and in MyCourses: please check
the syllabus often; every class day is preferable. I will update the syllabus occasionally,
adding upcoming readings, links, and resources that you should consider as you
read and prepare that material for class.
Class Participation: ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED. Most of the work
of this upper-division (numbered 300 or above) undergraduate class can only be
completed by regular attendance and disciplined, consistent adherence to the
syllabus. In this course meeting twice a week, you will average 50+ poetic
lines of Latin reading + articles, chapters, or other materials each session,
with some sessions requiring a bit more reading time than average and some a
bit less.
You are reminded that your
IN-CLASS time per week is c. 3 hours, and that you receive 4 credit hours for
the work you do in this course. Credit hours awarded recognize the rigor of
your coursework inside AND OUTSIDE
the classroom. Your reading, writing, practice and critical thinking should
amount to at least triple the amount of time you spend INSIDE the classroom.
That means you are expected to fulfill a minimum average of 12-13 hours of work
per course, per week, especially in reading and writing.
Please look ahead on your syllabus. Some of the readings will be dense and
different than other scholarly literature you will have read. Do NOT wait till
the last minute to do all readings.
In-class activities in this W course will include lecture, web resources,
student group performances, article reviews, group work, research paper
writing, and LOTS OF DISCUSSION of readings.
Beginning
the first week of class, you will receive a daily grade for participation in
class that suggests your level of preparation on material covered (A, B, C, D
or 0) and your involvement in class activities. Participation includes
questions, exchange of ideas, and responses to directed
or general questions from the instructor or others. An absence from class for
ANY REASON must be counted as a 0 since you cannot participate if you are
absent. Two (2) absences or your lowest participation grades will be dropped,
no questions asked, at the end of the term allowing 1 week of class days for
illness, family matters, etc. In general, I do not distinguish between excused
and unexcused absences for purposes of daily participation grades, but PLEASE
always contact me by email or phone before class if you MUST be absent on a
given day. I want to know when and why you need to miss class, and make sure
that you don't get behind.
It is important to understand that participation can include
informed questions, requests for further explanation, offering to answer
specific questions, or any contributions that foster learning in the classroom
environment.
TEXT BOOK PROVISO – failure to bring the textbook(s) to class when required by the syllabus may result in a grade of 0 for that day.
DAILY
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT TYPE OF WRITTEN WORK ON WHICH I
ENCOURAGE YOU TO WORK WITH OTHERS, BUT MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING FOR
YOURSELF BY THE TIME YOU GET TO AN EXAM.
Exams: 2 term exams on material covered prior to that point
in class. Sight passages and seen passages for translation will both appear on
these along with content, style, and analytical questions about comedy,
performance, or Greek/Roman social history.
Oral Report: Each student will choose and read a modern scholarly article or chapter in a book on PlautusÕ Poenulus at a time listed on the syllabus, and will report to the class on the author's argument, evidence, and conclusions, NOT on the student's opinion of whether s/he agreed with the author. You may use any of the databases available through the library under Subject Guides. Classical Studies, but the most useful will be LÕAnnŽe Philologique – IÕll show you how to use this. You may, if you have the language skills, choose articles in languages other than English on which to present. There is great work on this play in German, French, and Italian. A brief handout or powerpoint would be helpful to elucidate your report. Try to limit your presentation to 10 minutes or less. You will not be penalized for time beyond that, but, elucidation of a scholarly article should not take much longer than that.
Group Performance: In groups of 2 or 3, you
will work together to craft a selected comic scene in Latin (not memorized).
The object here is to get you working on comic, oral Latin freely enough that
you can convey a joke through a combination of intonation, gesture, and
movement as well as the original Latin dialogue. You should select the lines
you wish to present well in advance so you can decide on a proper medium for
presentation of this material. If you are skillful in video/electronic media, I
will allow you to tape this using any format you like, so long as you guarantee
that it works for presentation to the rest of the class. For live performance,
you should decide on basic (not extensive) costuming and props as necessitated
by your scene. Be creative, develop a good rapport, work on your timing, and
help us laugh at oral Latin. You may also choose to do a translated version of
the scene + an oral Latin version.
Final Paper: As an advanced Latin student you need opportunities to
practice scholarly and analytical writing, so you will be required to write a
significant term paper (c. 10-20 pages, 1.5 spacing, 12 pt
Times New Roman - length is negotiable, since there are some, though few,
important topics that can be dealt with in a very short format) on presentation
of the ÔotherÕ (broadly defined) in a Plautus comedy that you will choose from
a list provided on the syllabus. You may construe the ÔotherÕ within your play through
any of the categories that we establish within the first few weeks of the
class, including any group or groups of those outside the power elite
(foreigners, slaves, women, freedpersons of lower
class, professional businesspeople, i.e. not males of the upper class, though
their opinions and expressions about others must be included in this discussion).
You will need to do some scholarly research of a somewhat original nature,
using Latin text and translation(s) of your selected comedy and modern
scholarly sources, such as commentaries, articles, chapters, handbooks, etc. I
will ask that you use and cite at least 3, and preferably 5-10, modern sources
in your preparation of this paper. This need not be a complete examination of
your thesis, simply an exploration, but a sign that you have looked into it
well enough to warrant the study. Consult with me early and often about your
topic and your writing.
ACADEMIC HONESTY AND WRITTEN WORK – I cannot stress enough (and you will see more mentioned about this below) that every piece of work you turn in for a grade must be yours and yours alone. Cheating, whether in class or out of class, is a punishable offense at Binghamton University, and will be addressed very seriously in accordance with university policy.
Grading: Your final grade will be determined roughly as follows:
40% = Average of Two Term Exams
20% = Final Research Paper
5% = Oral Article Report
25% = Participation/Preparation
10% = Oral Latin Comedy Performance
You may
need to spend 3-5 hours outside of class for every hour in class (6-10 hours
per week), and you receive an hour of credit each week beyond the required
class meetings. Foreign languages often require significant preparation time if
you want to do well.
Suggestions for Success:
1) ALL written work to be turned in
for a grade must be pledged with an affirmation of your adherence to the
Student Academic Honesty Code as described at this
site.
2) Make sure that you regularly consult your binghamton.edu
email [I recommend that you link that email address to your preferred email] and
MyCourses, as these are the most efficient ways for
me to disseminate information to everyone enrolled in this class.
3) My only real pet peeves in classroom demeanor are cell
phones and other devices used to access social networking sites (turn them
off), chronic tardiness, sleeping in class, and not informing me and others
affected if you have a schedule problem.
4) I guess the next closest thing to a peeve is my
frustration with being unable to read the minds of completely silent
students. Part of the joy of studying Latin at a more advanced level is
sharing what you think about it - whether good or bad. There's always something
that deserves discussion, and the whole class can benefit from your insights.
And (this is the lesson I've had to learn over time), if you're a natural
talker, know when to balance your contribution with that of those around you.
Be sensitive to the silences that sometimes occur - someone may be thinking
deeply. I have toyed with the idea of using other media to help out those who
are more inclined to silence, but I continue to believe, now more than ever,
that oral human communication is a most valuable gift and tool for all aspects
of contemporary life, just as it was for the even more orally oriented cultures
of the ancient world.
5) Keep on your syllabus. This class will allow little time
for catching up if you fall behind. The syllabus daily assignments are a
guide and a goal. If you find yourself unable to get through the assigned
readings and exercises, let's discuss it as a group or individually - work with
others, divide the load and then make sure you teach each other. I prefer to
have a plan, and try to find the best way to get there. CHECK YOUR SYLLABUS
FREQUENTLY FOR ANY CHANGES I MAY NEED TO MAKE ALONG THE WAY.
6) Bring all the appropriate books and/or printouts of
online texts, or a laptop with electronic files, each day they are required by
the syllabus – NOTE THE TEXTBOOK PROVISO ABOVE. DO NOT bring your written
translations into class with you and read from them (I had to be broken from
this habit first term freshman year by being called down in class. It worked).
Show that you understand what you read or that you have questions about what
you read, and don't mark up your original texts too badly - keep it clean. Make
vocabulary and grammar notes while you read, and you can bring that to class
with you if necessary. Rereading through an assignment shortly after leaving
class is the absolute best way to see if you really understood what was going
on with the changes suggested there. Nothing is worse than recalling the
incorrect interpretation that you worked so hard on before class better than
the corrected interpretation or deeper interpretation that you take away after
class simply because you spent so much more time on the former and not enough
time on the latter.
____ * Binghamton U Classics Department Corollary to Starks Suggestion 6: You
have probably figured out that someone else has already translated many
passages you are translating for class. There are two useful and honorable ways
to use someone elseÕs translation:
a) Read the entire work in English, including the parts we donÕt cover in
class, to have a fuller understanding of the context for your passages.
b) After working on a translation on your own, with all the help that
dictionaries, commentaries, grammars, and your own good sense can provide, if
you get stuck on a sentence, you may refer to a translation to get a sense of
what the sentence says and to get unstuck. Then you must put away the
translation and translate the sentence yourself to guarantee that you
understand the grammar and syntax, especially since most translations are not
written to help you get through the assignment. Ideally, you will not use
someone elseÕs translation at all. But I would much rather you do so very
occasionally than have you get frustrated or spend a whole evening on one
sentence.
7) Extra Credit
- fuhgedaboutit!! (Someone burned me long ago abusing
extra credit. I'm afraid there is no antidote for my allergic reaction to
requests for extra credit). On the other hand, you get personal extra credit
for every thing you learn above and beyond the call of absolute duty, so look
at the bigger picture.
8) Final Grades are an assessment of your whole performance.
I like to create many components to a grade as an evaluation of a complete
student. I tend not to curve (unless something is clearly wrong with the
grading apparatus) in order to preserve my overall sense of student performance
and aptitude for the assignment of the more important final grade. I do
consider improvements in problem areas as part of what shows your increased
aptitude.
9) Enjoy learning Latin. Let's make our time in class
productive, but also, as often as possible, interesting, enjoyable and thought-
provoking. We will talk frequently about the way Romans (and sometimes Greeks,
Carthaginians, or others) thought and lived to try to understand what they are
saying to us. We will not sit in a dull translation session 2 days per week. We
will change exercises and engage in discussion of ideas EVERY DAY.
Pursuant to this end, please feel free within reason
to bring coffee or other legal stimulants for our meetings - This is the Great
State of New York, not Washington or Colorado, and I did say, LEGAL and
STIMULANTS; that said, New York does allow some surprising freedoms they do
not! Some of them, we may discuss, though not practice! ;) - we
will agree to meet in locations other than the room when weather and lesson
needs permit - Latin and Greek schools often met in a stoa/basilica
or under a tree, in the open air - we should do no less, though the need for
internet may bind us to the room rather frequently.
10) One day there may be a suggestion 10, but right now, I
don't have one and there were 9 Muses, so we will leave an ennead of sage
Starks suggestions for student success - maybe suggestion 10 should be to
practice saying that 10 times fast.