Ovationes

Jennifer Tolbert Roberts

Nos, studiosi antiquitatis classicae, verissime possumus dicere studium historiae totum nostrum esse.¹ Hunc modum investigandi temporis praeteriti Herodotus noster procreavit, scriptores Graeci Romanique—corda nobis gratissima—tunc nutriverunt, et doctissima facundissimaque collega, quam nos hodie honoramus, magnifice corroboravit et illuminavit. Quamquam numquam dormientis urbis filia, quae strenuissime laboravit apud Universitatem respicientem, adspicientem, prospicientem,² tamen est adepta Baccalaureae Artium, Magistrae Artium, et Doctoris Philosophiae gradus apud Universitatem proclamantem lucem et veritatem.³ Multos libros magni momenti edidit: de patre historiae, de auctoribus huius modi scribendi; de civitate praebenti potestatem populo, de societate moribusque rationibusque rei publicae gerendae civitatum Graeciae. Societatibus disciplinae nostrae servivit, monumenta aere perenniora fecit.⁴ Plaudamus igitur Jennifer Tolbert Roberts.

The origins of History as a genre, if truth be told, belong completely to us classicists. Herodotus fathered this mode of inquiry, the Greek and Roman writers we deeply cherish nurtured it, and the most learned and eloquent colleague we honor today has splendidly strengthened and interpreted it. Although a native of Gotham who has long taught at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center, she received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University across the state line. She has published numerous and significant books in the field of ancient history: about Herodotus and Thucydides, accountability in Athenian government, the antidemocratic tradition in Western thought, and society, culture, and politics in ancient Greece. She has served as president of the Association of Ancient Historians and as Director and Vice-President for Outreach of the American Philological Association; her accomplishments have benefited our profession beyond all measure. Let us thus applaud Jennifer Tolbert Roberts.

Footnotes

1. Quintilian, Institutiones Oratoriae 10.1.93, Satura quidem tota nostra est.

2. Respice, adspice, prospice: motto of the City College of New York.

3. Lux et Veritas: motto of Yale University.

4. Second-century BCE epitaph of the matron Claudia: domum servavit lanam fecit; Horace, Odes 3.30.1: exegi monumentum aere perennius.

Carl Rubino

Veteres poetae, reddentes immortalia facta mirabilia ducis fabulosi, qui patriam Ithacam coluit, rogaverunt ut Musa memoraret quendam virum versutum.¹ Hodie celebramus res gestas memorabiles alterius viri plurium variarumque dotium, olim praesidis et diu columinis societatis nostrae. Urbs propinqua alteri Ithacae, nomine honorans sedem fontis Arethusae, eum genuit, ut esset decori stirpi Horatii nostri et aliorum incolarum Apuliensium. Domus altioris discendi fovens sapientiam et doctrinam, in municipio propter strepitus insigni, eum aluit.² Universitas laudans mentem sanam in corpore sano eum polivit.³ Apud multas universitates, nuperrime unam consecrantem verba carissima deo laureato,⁴ splenduit docendis multis discipulis multiplices modos discendorum studiorum classicorum: linguas antiquiores, litteras humaniores, peritiam cogitandi, scientiam gubernandi. Hic collega multarum artium, multarum partium, nostram disciplinam communem locupletavit. Plaudamus igitur Carl A. Rubino.

Poets of old, immortalizing the remarkable deeds of a legendary warlord from Ithaca, asked the Muse to recall a certain man of many turns. Today we likewise celebrate the memorable achievements of another man endowed with numerous and varied talents, who once served as president and has long been a pillar of this association. His professional successes also confer credit on his native Syracuse, New York, his southern Italian ancestry, and the Empire State itself: recipient of A.B. and M.A. degrees from Fordham University, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Buffalo. At many universities, most recently as a chaired professor of Classics at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, he has accrued distinction for teaching classics in its manifold dimensions: language, literature, philosophy, political science. Of many gifts and skills, this colleague has enriched our discipline and profession. Let us thus applaud Carl A. Rubino.

Footnotes

1. Virum mihi, Camena, insece versutum, translation of the first line of an earlier Greek poem by the Roman slave Livius Andronicus.

2. Sapientia et Doctrina, motto of Fordham University, Bronx, New York.

3. Mens sana in corpore sano, University of Buffalo motto.

4. “Know Thyself,” motto of Hamilton College.

Daniel P. Tompkins

Miraturi salutamus praeceptorem facultatibus egregiis praeditum, qui memoriam rerum gestarum Atheniensium et maxime aestimat et ingeniose explicavit. Saepe...