Pacatus the poet doing Plinian prose
Abstract
Juxtaposition of Pacatus's speech to Theodosius next to Pliny's Panegyricus in the PanLat collection invites comparison of the two. Intertexts reveal Pacatus's debts to Pliny, but his speech also regularly features stylistic elements which cannot be traced to the Panegyricus; in particular, the speech has passages which owe more to Pacatus's interests as a poet. The stylistic adventure which Pacatus dares has implications for the history of Latin epideictic oratory and its aesthetic evolution—and for contemporary politics, as in his praise of Theodosius, Pacatus both recalls and surpasses Pliny to Trajan.
Citation
Rees , R 2013 , ' Pacatus the poet doing Plinian prose ' , Arethusa , vol. 46 , no. 2 , pp. 241-259 . https://doi.org/10.1353/are.2013.0012
Publication
Arethusa
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0004-0975Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2013 The Johns Hopkins University Press
Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.