Category Archives: Classics

In Search of Elijah Smith: Glastonbury

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

If you’ve been following my inquiries (here and here) into the mysterious inscription in my old edition of Cicero, you know that I’ve pinpointed Glastonbury, CT, as the place where all the principals lived. I was at Yale with some students … Continue reading →

Posted in Cemeteries & Funerals, Classics, Education, Family, New England, Rivers, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Little Mystery Postscript

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

So I’ve done a little sleuthing about the characters mentioned in my last post who appear on the mysterious inscription in my 1750 edition of Cicero. I had looked on the British DNB, thinking these folks lived in England. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Time | 2 Comments

Little mysteries in an old edition of Cicero

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

See this update How this book came into my possession, I really can’t say, but it’s probably the oldest one I own, a copy of select orations of Cicero (together with Asconius’ commentary) as well as De Senectute and De … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Education, England, Italy, Language & Etymology, Rome, Sewanee, Time, Trees & Flowers, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

“The American Cincinnatus”

Posted on February 10, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, “The American Cincinnatus” (1919) When I was a kid, I picked up a copy of the 1932 Georgetown yearbook for a dime at a second-hand store my mother and I used to go to. Being a … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Education, Family, Military, Race, Slavery, Time | Leave a comment

“New Greeks at Old Sewanee” (TIME Nov. 9, 1962)

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

Time’s piece on a joint Classics-Phys Ed class from November, 9, 1962 (pp. 55-56)

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Sabine Women & Bride-napping

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

The custom of kidnapping women for marriage, memorialized in Livy’s account of the Sabine Women’s abduction, is not confined to antiquity.  A former student of mine, Gambrill, was in the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan, wrote the following to me about … Continue reading →

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Dante Purgatorio cantos 22-23 cartoons

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

About 20 years ago, former student of mine at Boston College made these cartoons for me of Purgatorio cantos 22-23, on the Prodigal and the Gluttonous. She dashed them off, but I think they’re really wonderful.

Posted in Bible, Cartoons, Classics, Florence, Italy, Poetry, Saints, Time, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Daniel/Amos/Jonah: discussion questions

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

Some old discussion questions for an Honors class at Boston College on the prophets Daniel The Book of Daniel is set explicitly during the Babylonian Captivity, that 400-year period when the Israelites were forcibly removed from the Promised Land to … Continue reading →

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Notes on Ovid’s Fasti 1.1-288

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

These are some notes I made for a class I taught over two decades ago at Boston College on Ovid’s Fasti, his epic poem on the Roman calendar,  At that time, there wasn’t a good commentary on Book 1, although … Continue reading →

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Ovid’s Priapus (Notes on Fasti 1.391-441)

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Uncomely and Broken

These are some notes I made for a class I taught over two decades ago at Boston College on Ovid’s Fasti, his epic poem on the Roman calendar,  At that time, there wasn’t a good commentary on Book 1, although … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Italy, Mythology, Poetry, Rome, Trees & Flowers, Uncategorized | Leave a comment