McCoy, Marina Berzins. Philosophy, Elenchus, and Charmides' Definitions of ?????????

This paper explores why Socrates' elenchic questioning of Charmides seems to fail to change Charmides' beliefs or character. Charmides offers three definitions of ????????? or moderation. Charmides' responses to Socrates show that he vacillates between unquestioning reliance upon his own beliefs and abandonment of those beliefs in favor of obedience to others. I show that both extremes cause his failure to progress in the elenchus. The dialogue suggests that an understanding of human knowledge as partial or incomplete is necessary for philosophical progress. The Charmides argues for a kind of philosophical ????????? as a condition for good inquiry.

[those question marks are 'sophrosyne' in Greek]

Glazebrook, Allison. The Making of a Prostitute: Apollodoros's Portrait of Neaira

The portrait of Neaira in [Demosthenes] 59 is the most extensive account of a historical woman from the classical period. But what can we really know about this woman? What did the Athenian jurors know of her? This paper suggests that Neaira was relatively unknown until Apollodoros delivered his speech, and it argues, through a comparison of the narrative on Neaira in [Demosthenes] 59 with portraits of women in Isaios 3 and 6, Demosthenes 39, [Demosthenes] 40 and 48, that Apollodoros constructs and manipulates Neaira's identity as a prostitute using common rhetorical techniques, carefully chosen terms, and well-known social stereotypes in an effort to convince the jurors of her status and character as a prostitute.

Behr, Francesca D'Allesandro. The Narrator's Voice: A Narratological Reappraisal of Apostrophe in Virgil's Aeneid

The ultimate effect of Virgilian apostrophe is debated. Some critics see in Virgil's apostrophe the narrator's sympathy for the victims of a war, and others, such as G. B. Conte, find that apostrophe actually helps to distance the narrator from the defeated. In this article, the argument is made that the treatment of apostrophe is tied to the problem of representing both grief and narrative closure. Apostrophe reveals another level of commentary on the suffering caused by Aeneas's war in Latium. A narratological approach to this topic shows that, in apostrophe, Virgil both confirms the importance of Roman imperium and also questions whether its cost is not too high.

Robinson, Timothy J. In the Court of Time: The Reckoning of a Monster in the Apocolocyntosis of Seneca

Seneca's Menippean satire, the Apocolocyntosis is constantly interrupted by digressions containing apparently extraneous matter about astrological and seasonal phenomena surrounding the central events—an important device known as temporal periphrasis. But the motif of time, in and of itself, is molded by Seneca to provide particular perspective to the characters of the Apocolocyntosis. Temporal transitions and periphrases are transformed into dominant narrative devices that often dwarf and tacitly critique the characters and events that they would be expected merely to frame.

The description of Claudius's final days, death, and afterlife is interrupted by numerous temporal and historical digressions, and this disjointed narrative befits the monstrous physical and moral character of the emperor. The insipid language of the central panegyric to Nero has attracted critical comment, and this study concludes with a close reading of this section, which reveals several ambiguities in the praise of the emperor. The location of the panegyric is problematic, interrupting the account about Claudius. Nero is surrounded by the scatology, monstrosity, and buffoonery connected with Claudius' life and death. Instead of being located in the satire as successor to Claudius and being praised at the end of the narrative, Nero is embedded within it. But of most significance is the employment of the imagery of temporal periphrasis in praising Nero. He is compared with stars in flight, the evening star, and the sun at dawn—all of which call to mind the stale images of Epistle 122, as well as those of the numerous temporal digressions of the Apocolocyntosis. Character has been subordinated to abrupt narrative transitions, shifts, and temporal periphrases, and the two emperors Claudius and Nero have become part of the machinery of the Apocolocyntosis and absorbed into its temporal collapse.