Dickison, Sheila K. and Hallett,
Judith P. A Roman Women Reader:
Selections from the Second Century BCE through Second Century CE
ISBN: 978-0-86516-662-2 Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers 2015
Paperback $19.00
This reader is part of a series from Bolchazy for
intermediate and advanced students of Latin.
Some are conventional, based on extracts from a particular author
(Cicero, Livy, Propertius etc.), but this a thematic selection about the life
of women in Rome based on a wide variety of texts. It aims to and succeeds in extending the
range of the students’ reading beyond the usual suspects to inscriptions,
archaeological finds and unusual texts found in extracts from Aulus Gellius. It contains an excellent introduction to
Sulpicia or rather the two Sulpicias who are among the few authentic women’s
voices we have. Extracts are short and
can give only a glimpse into the complex texts which are included, such as the
attack on Clodia in Cicero’s pro Caelio, or the story of Nero’s disastrous
relations with his mother Agrippina, which is told here in the version of
Suetonius rather than the better known one of Tacitus. However, a picture of the way women were seen
by men begins to emerge from the selection.
Men’s attitudes tend to dominate of course as men have written the
majority of the texts, but the selection and the extensive and well-judged commentary
enables us to begin to hear the women’s voices.
Cornelia on her son Gaius Gracchus, the strong character of Sophoniba in
Livy, the few poems of Sulpicia (found in Tibullus) and several funeral
inscriptions show some of what life was like for women right through the Roman
period. The epigraphic and
archaeological material is particularly welcome, especially Claudia Severa’s birthday
party invitation, found in Vindolanda by Hadrian’s Wall and now in the British
Museum. This recently found text is
quickly establishing itself as standard reading for Latin students. The attitudes found in some extracts will be
quite shocking to younger readers encountering, for example, the full fury of
Juvenal’s misogyny perhaps for the first time.
In addition, the texts and commentary are not reticent about including
material of a sexual nature which will demand mature reactions from the young
readers at whom this book is aimed. Some
teachers may well feel more comfortable setting some passages for private
reading rather than dealing with them in class, but Dickison and Hallett
deserve credit for giving us the full picture.
This is a manageable and student-friendly selection with a full
vocabulary and notes that explain most difficulties and give a full context to
each section, which move from Plautus to Juvenal. It will lead students off into new
directions, but does not itself need a lot of extra material and resources to
be worked through. I found this an
exciting and significant development in the way material is presented to
students. We should no longer rely on
(or prescribe as set texts) the traditional commentary on a whole book of
Cicero or even Virgil. This selection is more attractive and manageable with the
inevitable time constraints imposed on over-worked teachers who will find that
a lot of the work of searching out and editing suitable material has already
been done for them, and a whole new aspect of the ancient world has been opened
up for their students.
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