Editor's Note

A new TAPA editor faces a daunting task. In publishing issue 136.1, I acutely feel the twin challenges of living up to the high standards set by my predecessors and of continuing to make TAPA a journal that speaks directly to the interests of the ever more diverse body of scholars who call the American Philological Association home. Philology itself is not a static concept. As our understanding of the "word" and its relation to the person who speaks it, the people who receive it, and the languages and cultures that make it possible have changed so has our concept of what it means to carefully, lovingly study it. Yet, in spite of these necessary changes, the "word" itself remains. Spoken by Socrates and Cicero, Homer and Vergil, it speaks to us today, and the unchanging task of the philologist remains to listen attentively to it and to insure that it continues to speak anew to generations and to audiences that have yet to hear it. The articles in the present issue, in both their scholarly rigor and their thematic and methodological diversity, respond to the demands of that task with admirable aplomb.

The job of the editor of TAPA has always been to find and present the best that contemporary philology in all its variety has to offer while fostering an atmosphere of frank discussion and collegial support. With this in mind, a call for papers has been posted on the APA website for a series of clusters on literary and material culture to be published as part of issues 137.1, 137.2, 138.1, 138.2. The text of that call is reproduced at the end of this note. It is hoped that it will serve both as a stimulus to new research and will help TAPA, in the best spirit of its tradition, continue to grow in tandem with the profession.

In the production of this first issue, I owe a great debt of thanks to Cynthia Damon. Not only has she been a superb editor of the journal and shepherded it successfully to its present twice-yearly format, she has also been of invaluable assistance throughout the lengthy transition. Her considerable help has made a daunting task seem, at times, quite doable. Thanks are also owed to Marilyn Skinner, Chair of the Publications Committee and herself a distinguished past editor of TAPA. She and the other members of the committee have provided sound counsel and firm support throughout the transition. The more than one hundred colleagues who have already served as referees continue to convince me of the genuine intellectual rapport and true spirit of generosity that bind us together in this common enterprise. Finally, this issue could not have been produced without the material support and considerable encouragement of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina under first Dean John Skvoretz and then Dean Mary Anne Fitzpatrick. My editorial assistants for this first issue, Matthew Kenney, Yanina Arnold, and Brittany Powell, have been invaluable.