e-mail us at: vivario@geocities.com Tutorial, graduate-level courses will be offered in Rome to interested students or young scholars (languages: English, Italian). The specific study program, which typically will include a reading list and exercises or field work, or work on a research project, is agreed upon well in advance between professor and student, in consultation (if appropriate) with the student’s adviser/mentor. Indeed, cooperation and advice from the students’ home professors are warmly encouraged. Courses include:
The Trivium: Art of the Middle Ages
Reading Italian Literature
Roman Itineraries
The Quadrivium: Readings in Medieval Latin
Palaeography and Codicology
Diplomatics
Edition of Texts
Introductory courses: Introduction to Latin
Medieval Latin
The Quadrivium comprises the basic disciplines also known as "Manuscript studies," but we prefer the name "quadrivium" because it stresses their interrelatedness and the plain fact, and underlying philosophy for all courses, that no discipline exists in isolation. Thus, palaeography is always "integral palaeography.
The Trivium includes studies in Italian literature of the Middle Ages, with visits to monuments and excursions ("Roman itineraries"). Unlike their ancient namesakes, these courses may be taken individually and need not be in sequence. A working knowledge of medieval Latin (two semesters college Latin or the equivalent) is a prerequisite for the courses of the Quadrivium. This requirement may be met by a qualifying exam, or the student may choose "Introduction to Medieval Latin" or "Medieval Latin."
For tutorials, the meeting time is 15 contact hours on a one-to-one basis, plus consultation with the professor as needed, both in Rome and back home. Thus, an intensive course can be arranged for a fortnight’s stay in Rome, (two contact hours every second day while in Rome and follow-up work by mail as needed); on the other hand, if the student is staying longer, meetings will be weekly or biweekly.
All courses are planned in view of the student’s specific research interest(s). Thus, if a student intends to work on Bede, but needs some help in Latin, the meat of his/her reading course in Latin will be Bede or texts related to Bede’s work. While the time schedule for tutorials is strictly by arrangement, "Introduction to Latin," "Medieval Latin" and "Palaeography" will be offered in January 2001 as a regular class, contingent upon sufficient enrollment, and again in June 2001. Classes will convene in Rome, meeting for two and a half hours daily, Monday through Friday.
SAMPLE COURSE: READING MEDIAEVAL LATIN Textbook: ‘Reading Medieval Latin’ is an introductory or survey-type course with the aim to present a broad spectrum of writings, representative of the many facets of medieval Latin. The textbook used will be Reading Medieval Latin by Keith Sidwell (Cambridge University Press 1995, last reprint 1999). Very, very basic reference works are Medieval Latin Paleography by Leonard Boyle (or the Italian edition, with supplement 1982-1998 and an introduction by Fabio Troncarelli); Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide, Frank Mantello and A.G. Rigg, eds., and Medieval Studies: An Introduction, J. M. Powell, ed. (2nd ed. Cornell 1992). Suggested readings: The readings will be brief selections by the following authors, ordered as they appear in Reading Medieval Latin. The numbers given correspond to class meetings; thus, 1 = Monday, January 8, 2 = Tuesday, January 9, and so on. An outline follows: Day 1: Benedict, Cassiodorus, Isidor; Day 2: Vulgate, Augustine, Jerome; Day 3: Prudentius, Adomnan, Aldhelm; Day 4: Bede, Hygeburg, Gregory of Tours; Day 5: Venantius Fortunatus, Ionas of Bobbio, Alcuin; Day 6: Paulus Diaconus, Einhard, Hrotsvitha; Day 7: William of Poitiers, Wido of Amiens, Lampert of Hersfeld; Day 8: St. Anselm of Canterbury, Carmina Cantabrigensia, Ruodlieb; Day 9, John of Salisbury, Gratian, Peter of Cluny; Day 10, Bernard of Clairvaux, Abelard and Heloise; Day 11, Hildegard of Bingen, Andreas Capellanus; Day 12, Carmina Burana, the Archpoet, Walter of Châtillon. One day will be reserved for the final exam and two for lectures by visiting professors (see below, "Text and Context"). Text and Context: Any text, no matter how brief or unpretentious, is a window on the culture of a given epoch. Therefore, it should be read in context, against its historical and cultural background; and for this reason, much class time will be devoted to a discussion of the text in its cultural context, as opposed to a simple translation exercise; however, if needed, the teachers are committed to do such exercises with interested students outside the regular class time. As a foretaste of further possibilities in medieval studies, or simply for the students’ personal enrichment and intellectual curiosity, two sessions will be devoted (respectively) to palaeography and codicology, and to diplomatics. Translation of texts: Ideally, the translation of texts for reading should be prepared before class, leaving ample time for class discussion of difficult points, stylistic peculiarities, or any point deemed worthy of particular attention. Certificate of participation and/or proficiency: Upon request, a certificate of participation (if the student chooses not to take the final exam) or of proficiency (if the final exam is successfully taken) will be given to students at the end of the course. The final exam will be a translation from a Latin text of a difficulty comparable to those offered to candidates for the M.A. degree in Medieval Latin at Toronto and elsewhere (Isidor of Seville, the Physiologus, the Vulgate, St. Augustine, etc.). Tutorials in Medieval Latin - A Case History What follows is the true story of a student who took a tutorial, as an example of how these courses can be arranged. Name and some details have been changed to respect the person’s privacy. In a nutshell, the difference between a tutorial and a class is that in tutorials the study topic(s) and time of sessions are arranged between professor and student, and the sessions are individual. Contact hours: 15 clock hours plus consultation as needed. Fee: $ 750.00. Caroline (not her real name) was a graduate student at an Ivy League university in the USA. In the summer of 1999 she had completed her course work and was preparing for the Ph.D. comprehensive examination, to be taken in January 2000. Her degree was in comparative literature(mostly French and Spanish) of the Middle Ages. At some point in her academic career, she had taken two semesters of Latin. At the beginning of the summer, Caroline learned from her academic advisers that she should do some additional readings in medieval Latin as part of her preparation for the comprehensive, and she was offered a travel grant to that effect. This was the good news, but the challenge was that she had to study her Latin in Italy, and it had to be done within the same summer. Caroline began her search, asking around if a summer course could be found anywhere in Italy. The answer, of course, was no, because in July and August institutions do not, as a rule, offer reading courses on a fairly advanced level, which is what Caroline wanted and needed. Eventually she asked me, through a colleague (I did not know her personally at the time): did I know anybody in Rome who would teach Latin? The only course we both (and a lot of other people) knew about were Father Reginald’s courses at the Gregoriana. Caroline considered that possibility, but these courses are not reading courses, and they just didn’t fit in her time frame - she only had about two weeks. She knew I travel to Rome fairly often, so she asked, would I be willing to meet her in Rome and tutor her? As it happened, I was going to Calabria in July. We compromised, and Caroline came to Calabria for about ten days. We read two hours of Latin every morning, then she studied and went to the beach, I did my own survey work at the site of Vivarium. Caroline was using her readings in Latin to explore possible topics for her dissertation With that in mind, she met with Father Boyle in Rome in August, and he did advise her and discuss her future dissertation work. The reading list was tailored to Caroline’s interests, which were poetry, women’s studies, and theatre. Back in the States, those readings became the backbone of the reading list in Latin for her Ph.D. examination, which she took and passed, as planned. Tutorials offer flexibility and individual contact, and can be the necessary introduction to work in libraries and archives. We offer them because they are needed.
Boethius and Dogen are separated by over seven hundred years and a host ofother factors. Yet it is time that brings them together. This paper examines Boethius's explanation of time in the consolation of philosophy and compares it to Dogen's "Uji," or "existence-time." The somewhat startling conclusion is reached that if Dogen's view o f time is taken seriously, it must be the case that an Enlightened person experiences time in the same manner as Boethius asserts that God does. <
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Updated: November 21, 1999
