ISSN:
0017-3835
Source:
Cambridge Journals Digital Archives
Topics:
Archaeology
,
Classical Studies
Notes:
The height of the building in which the fire has broken out, the location of the poor man's dwelling in it, and the relevance of both to Juvenal's sketch, have often been misunderstood. This misunderstanding, handed down from the early commentators, still lingers in such commonly consulted works as those of Mayor, Duff, Ramsay (Loeb), and, more recently, Peter Green (Penguin). These assume that verse 199 indicates a house that has three storeys and that the poor man lives in the third: e.g. ‘smoke is pouring out of your third-floor attic’ (Ramsay). The poor man's inexplicable ignorance (tu nescis) of the alarming events about him, of the inevitable din and commotion, even of the very smoke in his own home, has been astonishingly ascribed by some (so Mayor and Green) to his being asleep. Of this the poet gives no hint; that the fire may be nocturnal has scant relevance.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0017383500019604
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