Search results for "Roman late republic"
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A View from the Garden: Contemplative Isolation and Constructive Sociability in Lucretius and in the Epicurean Tradition
2021
It is often assumed that Epicurean philosophy and its foremost Roman prophet, T. Lucretius Carus, adopted a deeply hostile attitude towards both politics and religion. Individualistic (or even solipsistic) interpretations of Epicureanism – as well as of the Epicurean catechism of De Rerum Natura – have long co-existed with, and provided support to, the claim that the Epicureans attached little value to religious experiences. In the present paper, I shall argue that, in this and many other respects, the modern reception of Epicureanism – with its brave aspirations after the liberation of science from social and religious restraints – has had undue influence on our understanding of De Rerum N…
Libraries and Intellectual Debate in the Late Republic: the Case of the Aristotelian Corpus
2013
The present chapter explores the catalyzing function of libraries in the intellectual debate of the late Roman Republic, by focusing on the significant case of the Aristotelian esoteric corpus. A careful analysis of the literary and historical evidence concerning the use of Peripatetic texts allows to detect the presence of at least two important libraries containing Aristotle's 'pragmatiai' in Roman Italy: Lucullus' collection in Tusculum and Sulla's one in Cumae. Several Greek and Latin sources bear witness to the vicissitudes of such libraries, and the present paper reassesses their accounts in order to point out the close connection between intellectual patterns and material culture - i…