I forgot to mention this one yesterday, but our favourite Cambridge Don has been adlected as a Fellow of the British Academy! She allowed herself a little boast on her blog last week, and rightly so! Congrats!
Category: Classicists
d.m. Herbert H. Huxley
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From the Canadian Classical Bulletin, with the kind permission of John G. Fitch:
Herbert Henry Huxley, Professor of Latin at the University of Victoria from 1968 to 1979, died on 5 May in Cambridge, England at the age of 93. Educated at Manchester Grammar School and St John’s College, Cambridge, he held positions successively at the Universities of Leeds and Manchester before coming to Canada.
HHH had a wide-ranging interest in Latin verse of all periods, contributing, for example, a useful article on the Latin poems of George Herbert (1593-1633). In 1961 he published a school edition of Books 1 and 4 of Vergil’s Georgics. His real talent, however, lay in writing Latin verses (both translations and original compositions), in a variety of metres, quantitative and accentual. Though his verse is characterised chiefly by its elegance and wit, it takes on real poetic power on those occasions when it deals with love and loss, with mortality and with religious themes. His version of Landor’s “Well I remember how you smiled” is at least as good as the original. Guy Lee identified correctly the “inspired simplicity” of Huxley’s style in a poem like his “Eucharistic Hymn”. “If one can write like that,” commented Lee, “one has not lived in vain.”
Huxley’s mind turned unerringly to the quaint and recherché, perhaps as an antidote to a certain melancholy. Characteristic titles of his publications are “Two Sanskrit Epigrams & Epitaph on an Unknown Female Corpse (Kipling)” and “Sir Winston Churchill, Aeneid VII and the Vocative Case”. He claimed that his paper “It” had the shortest title of any learned article in Classics. Wit was characteristic of his conversation as of his writing. On one occasion a colleague who rejoiced in the surname Currie happened to be late for a faculty meeting. As we waited, “Currie a non currendo” murmured Herbert — a mot that survives though the topic of the meeting is long forgotten.
In relations with colleagues, alas, he could be fierce and even destructive. But he could be charming in company, and was amazingly patient and entertaining with children. He was particularly interested in “town and gown” relations, offering many non-credit courses for mature students and even co-leading a group to Greece. Shortly after coming to Victoria he co-founded the Classical Association of Vancouver Island, which has grown and thrived to this day and is his best Canadian memorial.
d.m. Michel Janon
From the Canadian Classical Bulletin, with the kind permission of Daniel M. Millette:
Michel Janon, Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Ottawa from 1986 to 1995, died on May 31st, in Marseilles, France, at the age of 72. He was educated in Algiers (History and Archaeology, 1964) and earned his doctorate at the Sorbonne (History, 1970). He held positions within the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) from 1965 to 1970 in Algiers, and from 1970 to 2010 in Aix-en-Provence. From 1995, he was a member of the Institut de Recherche sur l’Architecture Antique (IRAA), within the CNRS.
Janon was highly specialized in Latin epigraphy and architectural decor, particularly of Narbonensis. He published two seminal volumes: the first on the Latin Inscriptions of Narbonensis (Fréjus), with J. Gascou, in 1985, and the second on architectonic elements of Narbonne, in 1986. His other published work followed these research themes. A second principal area of interest was archaeology, first practicing in Algeria at Cherchell, Tiddis and Lambaesis, and eventually in France, at Fréjus, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Gaujac and Orange. He was an authority on the urban plan and archaeology of Lambaesis, producing an innovative book, with J.-M. Gassend, in 2005.
Michel’s intellect was of the extremely independent kind. He defended his ideas fiercely, often remaining misunderstood and at times fuelling intense debate. He expected brilliant work from his students, resulting in high quality research. For his students and selected colleagues, he could be charming, displaying a joie de vivre that could only be matched by his love of debate. In his final years, he found happiness through his grandchildren, spending time with his wife Nancy, and painting from his homes in France and Spain.
d.m. Herbert and Eve Howe
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Herbert M. Howe, emeritus professor and former chair of both Classics and Integrated Liberal Studies (ILS), passed away on Tuesday, June 29 in Fort Atkinson. He was 98. His spouse and colleague in ILS, Evelyn Mitchell (Eve) Howe, passed away two days later, at age 94.
A memorial service commemorating the Howes’ lives will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, July 16 at the St. Francis House, 1001 University Ave. The Howes had met there 70 years ago.
Raised in Rhode Island, Herb Howe received his AB from Harvard in 1934 and came to UW-Madison for his graduate studies. Upon receiving his Ph.D in 1948, he taught for 34 years, officially retiring from teaching in 1982. According to his obituary, he had taught approximately 26,000 students – “more, he believed, than any other faculty member in the history of UW-Madison.” In large part, this came from his mastery of the 400-student lecture he led on myth.
In 1952, the UW Press published his “Classics in Translation,” a two-volume set of Greek and Roman literature written with colleague Paul McKendrick for an ILS course on Greek and Roman culture. Together, the two volumes became the Press’s all-time top selling title; the paperback edition remains in print today. He also provided the translations for colleague Barry Powell’s book “Classical Myth,” itself still the top textbook in its field.
Powell, who retired in 2006, considers Howe a great teacher, raconteur and something of an eccentric. He served as the third member of an ILS team that included both Herb and Eve Howe for 10 years.
“Eve kept track of Herb, in a way,” says Powell. “They had this old sort of Charles Addams house, over in University Heights. They had a room downstairs that was almost a cubbyhole, completely filled with books and artifacts. Herb would sit in one corner and Eve would sit in the other, and they’d both read.”
Eve Howe, originally from London, received her Ph.D from UW-Madison in 1946. She began teaching at a time when few universities, including UW-Madison, offered positions to faculty spouses. Nevertheless, she served as a lecturer and faculty advisor in ILS until her retirement, also in 1982. She taught frequent seminars on 18th and 19th century literature and art, as well as classical art and archaeology and children’s literature.
Together, the Howes took an active role in campus life. In addition to championing ILS, they were perhaps best known for mentoring Ford Scholars in the 1950s — and the legacy of their assistance. The program allowed 15- and 16-year-olds to study at the university, no small feat for young students labeled “Percival Suckthumb” by the humor magazine of one participating school. The Howes not only shepherded the scholars through their classes but held dinners in their home and arranged home housing for women, out-of-staters and those too young for the dorms.
In 2006, several former scholars endowed the Herbert and Evelyn Howe Bascom Professorship, given every other year to individuals who make ongoing contributions to ILS and who have enhanced student learning. A UW Foundation article about the gift described the Howes as a “slightly daunting, very proper, always available and endlessly encouraging couple who cheered on their transitions from kids to collegians.”
Both remained vigorous until a few years ago, when they moved near a daughter to a Fort Atkinson retirement home. Herb Howe, a competitive Masters swimmer who held national and international records in his age group, was named Badger State Athlete of the Year in 2000, at age 88. He rose early for workouts at the Red Gym or SERF pool. Always conscious of the earth, the Howes never owned a car, preferring to bike and walk everywhere.
“You always saw them walking together on the sidewalk; you got used to seeing them on the street,” says Powell. “It was impossible to think of Herb without Eve.”
Survivors include children Evelyn Payson, Herbert M. Howe, Jr., and Emily Howe Wilson, as well as five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to UW Foundation, US Bank Lockbox #78807, Milwaukee, WI 53278; to Friends of the Madison Public Library, 201 W. Mifflin St., 53703; or to Rainbow Hospice Care, 147 West Rockwell, Jefferson, WI 53549.
Warmongers v Senators in the Third Century
I think this is something many folks suspected …
Military warmongers took over the Roman Empire in the third century. The senate, the administrative elite of the Roman empire watched from the sidelines. Dutch researcher Inge Mennen investigated the balance of power in Imperium Romanum during the ‘crisis of the third century‘. Conclusion: senators lost their military power but retained their status. Meanwhile military emperors pulled the strings.
Inge Mennen studied biographies of the most prominent men from the turbulent third century to gain an impression of the shifts in the balance of power.
For decades power in ancient Rome was in the hands of the senators who traditionally came from a small group of wealthy aristocratic families. Status and network paved the way to the top. Military experience assumed second place. The senate was also the rearing ground for future emperors: only the ordo senatorius could cultivate emperors. At least that was the case until the third century AD. Then senators had to make room for men of an utterly different class: military emperors from the equestrians. Within just 100 years the Roman Empire changed almost beyond recognition: emperor Diocletianus realised large-scale reforms. He reorganised the army and shared the power with his most important general. The Roman Empire was then effectively split in two. How could that have happened within such a relatively short space of time? Inge Mennen attempted to answer this question.
Elite
In the third century the border areas of the immeasurably large empire came under pressure. Emperors had to spend increasing amounts of time dealing with the far corners of the empire and the increasing threat of war. Senators, with their limited military experience, were overshadowed by military leaders. Yet Inge Mennen’s research also reveals that some of the senators managed to use the new situation to their advantage. They retained their high social position but at the same time quietly expanded their power in the more peaceful parts of the empire. They relinquished some of their military might but flourished in legal, administrative and financial positions. Appointments up to the level of the senate were made via the emperor who in this way honoured the elite of Rome and at the same time could consolidate his own power.
EquestriansMeanwhile the ‘new era’ at the start of the tumultuous crisis century ensured the expulsion of the equestrians from Rome. For a long time equestrians had occupied mainly advisory positions in the emperor’s palace. Yet with the absence of the emperor in times of war and the increasing power of cunning senators, this group became superfluous. That left the equestrians with just one option: defending the empire. Professional soldiers also saw an opportunity to climb up to the equestrians via a career in the army. Gradually the composition and culture of this social class changed. The Roman Empire at war made grateful use of this growing group of warmongers: they now advised the emperor and controlled the border areas. Equestrians who had won their spurs in the Roman army even rose to the rank of emperor, an honour which up until that time had been the exclusive privilege of the senators.
EmperorsThe senators continued to control Rome, the empire’s old seat of power, whereas the equestrians gained increasing control of the periphery of the empire. The focus came to lie on the peripheral provinces, in the regions of the empire where wars had to be fought. In order to retain control of these areas the emperors needed a military background. They also devoted an increasing proportion of their time to military matters and so they frequently felt obliged to put off other tasks. At the worst of times, the emperors were even forced to give up parts of their empire.
The old imperial dynasties were not reinstated in the third century. Instead military emperors emerged: powerful generals who, with the support of their troops, gained the emperorship for a short period of time. They reigned until the next coup by an ambitious general. Military and civil affairs came into the hands of two completely different groups until these issues were formally separated by emperor Diocletianus. According to Inge Mennen, the reforms implemented by this emperor are not as radical as they might initially appear. The biographies of the powerful men of the third century reveal that many changes had already been set in motion a good century previously. Although Diocletianus put these ideas in writing, they were not entirely new.
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