Advisors/Committee Members: Jones, W. R.

Advisors/Committee Members: Allison, June W.

Advisors/Committee Members: Titchener, John B.

▼ This thesis examines the commentary of Saint Robert Bellarmine on Psalm 118 in his work, the Explanatio in psalmos, a commentary on the 150 psalms of the Psalter written in Latin. Psalm 118 is the longest psalm consisting of 176 verses, organised into 22 strophes, with eight verses per strophe. The law of God is the subject of this acrostic psalm. The examination is focused on the manner in which Saint Robert Bellarmine delivers his message, in terms of structure, style, language, and the use of sources. In looking at the structural aspects, the relative length of the commentary for the strophes, and the nature of subtitles are scrutinised. In stylistic considerations the overall features and the uses of stylistic devices are examined. In the use of sources we look at how, where, and why Saint Robert Bellarmine uses scriptural quotations, cites other authors, and discusses the Greek and Hebrew equivalents of selected phrases. All instances of use of sources and stylistic devices are listed and commented upon. Comparisons also are made with the methodology of other authors commenting on Psalm 118, namely Saint Augustine, most frequently cited by Saint Robert Bellarmine and Saint Jerome, the author of Gallican Psalter. References are made to the commentary of Callan, a twentieth-century author. To promote better understanding of this work, related matters, such as biographical details about Saint Robert Bellarmine, Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome is also given as well a presentation in the Psalter, its theme, language and liturgical importance. The conclusion focuses on the identity of intended audience and the benefits of studying good Latin texts. Besides greatly benefiting priests and religious who use the Psalter in their daily payers, the intended audience includes Protestants as well, since Saint Robert Bellarmine demonstrates makes such frequent use of Saint Augustine, who is greatly respected by Protestants. Recommendations are made for promoting Latin literacy and methods of commenting on Latin texts are suggested, which would promote this aim. Advisors/Committee Members: Coulson, Frank T.

▼ By 440 BC, the Athenians had created an empire for themselves with Athena, patron of their city, as patron of the empire. This dissertation discusses the dynamic relationship between Athena and her city and how the Athenians negotiated their role as imperialists by characterizing her on stage. Understanding Athena in this way shapes how we understand changes in Athenian hegemony. As the nature of Athenian power shifted so too did the way Athena was presented. The implications behind this understanding are that the more ruthless aspects of Athenian imperialism belong not to the post-Periclean period, but begin to emerge in the 470’s and 460's. The tragedians themselves are aware of the changing nature of Athenian power and used their plays as platforms from which to comment on imperial policies. Athena stands, I argue, within the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles as a symbol for contemporary Athens and her empire. Aeschylus’ plays on the surface both support Athenian hegemony and help create a favorable image of that hegemony. He creates an idealized image of Athens that could be used as support for the empire by portraying Athena and Athens as the source of a system of justice superior to other systems. This endorsement of legal dominance also lends itself readily as a confirmation of the military dominance of Athens. In the character of Athena Aeschylus creates a paradigm both for Athenian imperial and democratic ideology. Sophocles presents Athena in two plays through which he both supports and questions Athenian power. In Ajax Locrus, Athena appears similarly to Aeschylus’ Athena. She, while having strong grounds for punishing Lesser Ajax, opts instead for a trial by jury. This is similar to the portrayal found in Aeschylus' Eumenides and in the legal documents from the fifth century that connect Athena to courtroom justice. This changes in Sophocles’ Ajax. For here Athena embodies those very elements of punishment that she worked so hard to suppress in Eumenides. She, like the empire she now represents in the mid fifth century, is concerned with authority at the expense of true justice and the freedom of others. Advisors/Committee Members: Allison, June W.

Advisors/Committee Members: Forbes, Clarence A.

Advisors/Committee Members: Davis, John.

Advisors/Committee Members: Scott, H. F.

▼ My dissertation is a thematic exploration of themes of reception in Vergil’s Aeneid and how those themes are received by Augustine in his Confessions. I begin with the problem of reception in the Aeneid, a world which lacks a clear and consistent gauge to assess action and desire. Reception is explicated through an examination of gifts, which is exemplary of giving and reception in general. A study of gifts is also useful in illuminating the desire that guides reception. Reception is examined on three levels: reception within the Aeneid itself, Augustine’s reception of the Aeneid, and reception within the Confessions. The project resembles Augustine’s conversion process, in that it moves from the objects of desire in the phenomenal world, such as empire and body to the all-encompassing desire of the Christian faith for a unified and omnipotent God. The gifts from God, which are instruments of Augustine’s conversion, include rhetoric, exempla, and Continentia. By accepting and using these gifts, as God intends them, Augustine is making a proper return on them. The composition of his Confessions is one such return, in that it is a gift to his audience, in which he offers himself as an exemplum in return for the exempla that shaped his conversion narrative and experience. Augustine’s narrative of this conversion transforms and appropriates the language and themes of erotic desire as represented by the Aeneid, so that his conversion narrative effects a conversion of the Aeneid itself. Augustine offers a solution to the problems of desire in the Aeneid by defining all problems and issues of reception in terms of a good and merciful creator. Advisors/Committee Members: Batstone, William.

Advisors/Committee Members: Tracy, Stephen.

Advisors/Committee Members: Schlam., Carl C.

Advisors/Committee Members: Abbott, Kenneth Morgan.