CURRICULUM VITAE May 2008

MICHAEL J. ROBERTS

Robert Rich Professor of Latin

Department of Classical Studies Home: P.O. Box 422

Wesleyan University 25 Jackson Hill Road

Middletown, Connecticut 06459 Middlefield, CT 06455

Phone: (860) 685-2068 Phone: (860) 347-1002

EDUCATION

University of Cambridge, St. John's College, Cambridge, England, l966-69 (B.A. Classics l969; M.A. l973)

University of Texas, Austin, Texas, l969-70

Manchester Polytechnic, Faculty of Commerce, Manchester, England, Professional Librarianship Qualification, l97l

University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, l972-78 (M.A. Classics, l974, Ph.D. Classical Philology, l978)

EMPLOYMENT

University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Assistant, l969-70

Zoological Society of London, Assistant Librarian, Jan.-Aug. l972

University of Illinois, Urbana, Teaching Assistant, l972-74, l975-76, l977-78

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Classics, l978-80

Wesleyan University, Middletown, Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, l980-86; Associate Professor, l986-91; Professor, 1991-

Harvard University, Visiting Professor, Spring 2003

PUBLICATIONS Books

Biblical Epic and Rhetorical Paraphrase in Late Antiquity, ARCA Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs l6 (Liverpool: Cairns, l985)

Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri: A Commentary (with David Konstan) Bryn Mawr Latin Commentaries (Bryn Mawr, l985)

The Jeweled Style: Poetry and Poetics in Late Antiquity, (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell U.P., l989)

Poetry and the Cult of the Martyrs: The Liber Peristephanon of Prudentius (Ann Arbor: Michigan U.P., 1993)

The Humblest Sparrow: The Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus (Ann Arbor: Michigan U.P, 2009)

Articles

"The Prologue to Avitus' De Spiritalis Historiae Gestis: Christian Poetry and Poetic License," Traditio 36 (l980), 399-407

"A Note on the Hunting Horn (bucina) in the Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity," Classical Philology 77 (l982), 248-52

"Rhetoric and Poetic Imitation in Avitus' Account of the Crossing of the Red Sea (De spiritalis historiae gestis 5.37l-702)," Traditio 39 (l983), 29-80

"The Mosella of Ausonius: An Interpretation," Transactions of the American Philological Association ll4 (l984), 343-53; reprinted in Manfred Joachim Lossau, ed., Ausonius, Wege der Forschung 652 (Darmstadt, 1991), 250-64

"Horace Satires 2.5: Restrained Indignation," American Journal of Philology l05 (l984), 426-33

"The 'First Sighting' Theme in the Old Testament Poetry of Late Antiquity," Illinois Classical Studies l0 (l985), l39-55

"Paulinus Poem ll, Virgil's First Eclogue and the Limits of Amicitia," Transactions of the American Philological Association ll5 (l985), 27l-82

"Tacitus' Account of the Revolt of Boudicca (Annals l4.29-39) and the Assertion of Libertas in Neronian Rome," American Journal of Philology l09 (l988), ll8-32

"The Treatment of Narrative in Late Antique Literature: Ammianus Marcellinus (l6.l0), Rutilius Namatianus and Paulinus of Pella," Philologus l32 (l988), l8l-95

"The Use of Myth in Latin Epithalamia from Statius to Venantius Fortunatus," Transactions of the American Philological Association ll9 (l989), 32l-48

"Reading Horace's Ode to Postumus (2.l4)," Latomus 50 (1991), 371-375

"Barbarians in Gaul: The Response of the Poets," Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? J. Drinkwater & H. Elton, edd. (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1992), 97-106

"St. Martin and the Leper: Narrative Variation in the Martin Poems of Venantius Fortunatus," Journal of Medieval Latin 4 (1994), 82-100

"The Description of Landscape in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus: the Moselle Poems," Traditio 49 (1994), 1-22

"Martin Meets Maximus: The Meaning of a Late Roman Banquet," Revue des études augustiniennes 41 (1995), 91-111

“The Latin Literature of Late Antiquity” in Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide, edd. Frank A. Mantello and A.G. Rigg (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1996), 537-46

"Bibeldichtung," "Carmen de Martyrio Maccabaeorum," "De Iona," "De Sodoma," "In Genesim ad Leonem papam," "Marius Victor, Claudius," "Paulinus of Pella," "Paulinus of Périgueux,” Der neue Pauly.

“Letters from a Poet to a Saint: The Correspondence of Venantius Fortunatus with St. Radegund and Agnes,” in New England Classical Journal 25 (1998) 107-13

"Claudian," in Glen Bowersock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar (edd.), A Guide to the Late Antique World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999) 279-80

"Prudentius: Importance for Early Christian Art and Archaeology," in Encyclopedia of Early Christian Art and Archaeology

“Fortunatus’ Elegy on the Death of Galswintha (Carm. 6.5),” in R. Mathisen and D. Shanzer (eds.), Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul: Revisiting the Sources (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001), 298-312.

“Rome Personified, Rome Epitomized: Representations of Rome in the Poetry of the Early Fifth Century,” American Journal of Philology 122 (2001) 533-65.

“The Last Epic of Classical Antiquity: Generic Continuity and Innovation in the Vita Sancti Martini of Venantius Fortunatus,” Transactions of the American Philological Association, 131 (2001) 257-85

“Creation in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Latin Poets of Late Antiquity,” Arethusa 35 (2002) 403-15

“Venantius Fortunatus’ Life of St. Martin,” Traditio 57 (2002) 129-87.

“Vergil and the Gospels: The Evangeliorum Libri IV of Juvencus,” in R. Rees (ed.), Vergil in the Fourth Century (London: Duckworth, 2004) 47-61

“Bringing Up the Rear: Continuity and Change in the Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity,” in Wim Verbaal, Yanick Maes, and Jan Papy (eds.), Latinitas Perennis, Volume I: The Continuity of Latin Literature (Leiden, 2007) 141-67

“Latin Poetry,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming) 628-40

“Late Roman Elegy,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming)

“Venantius Fortunatus and the Uses of Travel in Late Latin Poetry,” in Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer and Petra Schierl (eds.), Lateinische Poesie der Spätantike: Internationale Tagung in Castelen bei Augst, 11.-13. Oktober 2007 (Basel: Schwabe, forthcoming)

Reviews

Catullus--Tibullus--Pervigilium Veneris, 2nd ed., revised by G.P. Goold, New England Classical Newsletter and Journal 18 (1991) 42

G. Schmeling, Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri (with Professor David Konstan),

American Journal of Philology 113(1992) 470-73

J.M. Pizarro, A Rhetoric of the Scene: Dramatic Narrative in the Early Middle Ages, Speculum 67(1992) 1029-30

P. Salway, The Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain, New England Classical Newsletter and Journal 22 (1994) 81-82

M. Flieger, Interpretationen zum Bibeldichter Iuvencus: Gethsemane, Festnahme Jesu und Kaiphasprozess (4, 478-565), Gnomon 68 (1996) 461-62

F. Stella, La poesia carolingia latina a tema biblico, Journal of Medieval Latin 5 (1995) 267-70

R. Fichtner, Taufe und Versuchung Jesu in den Evangeliorum libri quattuor des Bibeldichters Juvencus (1, 346-408), Gnomon 69 (1997) 556-58

J. Harries, Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome, Classical Philology, 91 (1996) 196-98

C.E.V. Nixon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers, In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini, New England Classical Journal 24 (1997) 119-20

L. Webster and M. Brown (edd.), The Transformation of the Roman World, AD 400-900, New England Classical Journal 25 (1998) 155-56

L.R. García, La poesía de Prudencio, Classical Review 49 (1999) 268-69

F. Felgentreu, Claudians praefationes: Bedingungen, Beschreibungen und Wirkungen einer poetischen Kleinform, Classical Review 50 (2000) 604-5

S. Labarre, Le manteau partagé: Deux métamorphoses de la Vie de saint Martin chez Paulin de Périgueux (Ve s.) et Venance Fortunat (VIe s.), Gnomon 264-65.

D. Trout, Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems, New England Classical Journal 28 (2001) 242-43.

F.E. Consolino (ed.), Letteratura e propaganda nell' occidente Latino da Augusto ai regni barbarici, Classical Review 52 (2002) 85-87.

Ralph W. Mathisen, People, Personal Expression, and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, New England Classical Journal 31 (2004) 199-201.

Sabine Horstmann, Das Epithalamium in der lateinischen Literatur der Spätantike, forthcoming in Gnomon.

Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, The Life and Miracles of Thekla: A Literary Study, New England Classical Journal 33 (2006) 248-50.

Wolfgang Fels (trans.), Venantius Fortunatus, Gelegentlich Gedichte: Das lyrische Werk, Die Vita des hl. Martin, Catholic Historical Review 94 (2008) 325-6.

Marc Mastrangelo, The Roman Self in Late Antiquity: Prudentius and the Poetics of the Soul, New England Classical Journal (forthcoming)

WORKS IN PREPARATION

Books

The Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus (translation and parallel text), Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (Harvard University Press)

LECTURES AND COLLOQUIA

The Biblical Paraphrase of Late Antiquity, Colloquium. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, May 4, l978

Pompeii, A.D. 79, Public Lecture. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, October 27, l978

The Crossing of the Red Sea as Epic Battle Narrative, 7th International Conference on Patristic, Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies. Villanova University, Villanova, PA, September 25, l982

The Development of the Narratio in the Latin New Testament Epic of Late Antiquity, l8th International Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, MI, May 8, l983

Paulinus Poem ll, Virgil's First Eclogue and the Limits of Amicitia, Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, Cincinnati, OH, Dec. 27-30, l983

'Jewelled Meadows': A Literary Metaphor in Late Antiquity, l9th International Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, MI, May l0-l3, l984

The Adventus of Constantius (Ammianus l6, l0) and the Poetics of Late Antiquity, 20th International Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, MI, May 9-l2, l985

Organizer and chairman of sessions on the Literature of Late Antiquity, l9th and 20th International Congresses on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, MI l984 and l985

Member of a panel on the Teaching of Ovid in Latin at High School and College, Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of New England. Burlington, VT, April l2-l3, l985

Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana and the Question of Christian Poetics, Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association. Washington, D.C., Dec. 27-30, l985

Determinatio : Medieval Poetics and Classical Rhetoric, The Classics in the Middle Ages, 20th Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies. State University of New York at Binghamton, Oct. l6-l8, l986; Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, New York, Dec. 27-30, l987

Christianity and the Poetics of Display. Liverpool University, Oct. 22, l987; Harvard University, Nov. l6, l987

The Journey to Heaven in Prudentius' Peristephanon . Cornell University, March 4, l988

Interpreting the Peristephanon: Poetry and the Cult of the Martyrs, 23rd International Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, MI, May 5-8, l988

Barbarians in Gaul: The Response of the Poets, Conference paper, Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?, Sheffield, England, April 17-21, 1989

Romanitas Christiana : Martyrs, Church and Roman Empire in the Peristephanon of Prudentius, paper given in seminar Religion in Society, Wesleyan University, October 5, l989

Prudentius Peristephanon 12 and the Sacred Geography of Christian Rome, Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, San Francisco CA, Dec. 27-30, 1990

The Shorthand of Martyrdom: The Passion of Cassian of Imola (Prudentius, Peristephanon 9), Cambridge University literary seminar, Jan. 29, 1992, and Nottingham University, April 22, 1992

The Rhetoric of Place in Late Latin Poetry: Prudentius and Paulinus of Nola, Conference Paper, Unfinished Devolutions, Texts and Rhetoric of Material Culture: Italy in Late Antiquity, University of Sheffield, England, March 14, 1992

The Individual and Representation in Late Antiquity, Discussant, AIA/APA Joint Session, Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, New Orleans, Dec. 27-30, 1992

The Description of Landscape in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus: The Moselle Poems, Princeton University, October 17, 1993

Venantius Fortunatus: A Mannerist Poet in Merovingian Gaul, Wesleyan University, Center for the Humanities, lunchtime seminar series, fall 1993

Letters from a Poet to a Saint: The Correspondence of Venantius Fortunatus with Saint Radegund and Agnes, Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Connecticut, St. Joseph College, West Hartford, CT, October 29, 1994

Metaphor, Metonymy, and Modes of Praising in the Religious Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus, Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, Atlanta, 27-30 December, 1994

Panelist, National Endowment for the Humanities Workshop, NEH Supported Projects in the Study of Late Antiquity, Atlanta, 28 December, 1994

Dido, Cleopatra, and the Description of a Late Roman Banquet (Paulinus of Périgueux, Vita S. Martini 3.9-134; Venantius Fortunatus, Vita S. Martini 2.58-121), Third Meeting of the International Society for the Classical Tradition, Boston University, March 8-12, 1995

Fortunatus' Elegy on the Death of Galswintha (Carm. 6.5), 22nd New England Medieval Conference, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, October 14-15, 1995; Harvard University, April 14, 1997

Bishops and Ceremony: Two Poems of Venantius Fortunatus (5.3, 2.9), University of Toronto, April 19, 1996

Member of panel on The Teaching of Medieval Latin, Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Connecticut, October 26, 1996

Co-organizer and Chair of Session of the American Philological Association, Three-Year Colloquium on Late Antiquity, Annual Meeting, New York, 27-30 December 1996, Ceremony and Spectacle in Late Antiquity

“Venantius Fortunatus, Gregory of Tours, and the Image of the Bishop in Merovingian Gaul,” Smith College, April 2, 1998

“Windows of Order: The Epitaphs of Venantius Fortunatus,” Yale University, Department of Classics, Seminar Series, May 1, 1998

Organizer and Respondent, Session of the American Philological Association, Medieval Latin Studies Group, Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., 27-30 December, 1998, The Latin Epic of Late Antiquity.

“The Last Epic of Classical Antiquity: Generic Continuity and Innovation in the Vita Sancti Martini of Venantius Fortunatus,” Yale University, November 4, 1999

“Creation in Ovid and the Latin Poets of Late Antiquity,” Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, Dallas, TX, 27-30 December, 1999

“Rome Personified, Rome Epitomized: Representations of Rome in the Poetry of the Early Fifth Century,” Brown University, 24 February 2000

“A Happy Family? Venantius Fortunatus and the Women of the Convent of the Holy Cross,” University of Minnesota, March 15, 2001; Catholic University of America, March 17, 2005.

“In the Manner of Martin: The Rhetoric of Exemplarity in Venantius Fortunatus’ Letters to Gregory of Tours,” International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 9-12, 2001.

“Venantius Fortunatus: Poet of Exile,” International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 8-11, 2002.

“My Flaccus: The Presence of Horace in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus” Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, New Orleans, LA, January 3-6, 2003.

“Roman Eloquence in a Merovingian Context: Venantius Fortunatus’ Strategies of Praising,” International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 12-15, 2004

“Venantius Fortunatus, Last Poet of Antiquity?” seminar, Catholic University of America, March 18, 2005

“Bringing Up the Rear: Continuity and Change in the Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity,” Contactforum, Latinitas Perennis I: The Continuity of Latin Literature, Brussels, April 22, 2005

“Friendship Between Unequals: The Case of Venantius Fortunatus,” International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 10-13, 2006

“Songs of Praise: Sacred and Secular Traditions of Praising in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus,” Columbia University, October 24, 2006

“Venantius Fortunatus and the Uses of Travel in Late Latin Poetry” Lateinische Poesie der Spätantike, International Conference in Castelen bei Augst, October 13, 2007

ADDITIONAL SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES

Refereed books for the American Philological Association, Chicago University Press, Cornell University Press, Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, SUNY-Binghamton, Penn State University Press, University of California Press and University of Toronto Press and articles for Acta Classica, American Journal of Philology, Arethusa, Classical Antiquity, Classical Journal, Classical Philology, Helios, Illinois Classical Studies, International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Journal of Early Christian Studies, Journal of Medieval Latin, Mouseion, Phoenix, Rhetorica, Traditio and Transactions of the American Philological Association.

Refereed grant proposals for American Philosophical Society; reviewing board, National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowships for College Teachers, August, 1993

External Ph.D. examiner, University of Toronto; external reader, University of Chicago and Yale University, external M.A. examiner, University of Adelaide

GRADUATE THESES

M.A. Thesis: "Alcuin's Life of Willibrord and Its Literary Antecedents," University of Illinois, Urbana, December l973

Ph.D. Dissertation: "The Hexameter Paraphrase in Late Antiquity: Origins and Applications to Biblical Texts," University of Illinois, Urbana, May l978

HONORS AND AWARDS

University of Cambridge, Open Exhibition l966-68

Summer Teaching Assistant Fellowship, University of Illinois, Urbana, l973 and l974

University Fellowship, University of Illinois, Urbana, Sept. l974-August l975, June l976-May l977

NEH Summer Seminar Fellowship (Columbia University) June-Aug. l982

NEH Summer Seminar Fellowship (American Academy at Rome) June-Aug. 1986

Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies, Jan.-Dec. l987

Fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities, Jan. -June 1992

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

American Philological Association, l976-

Archaeological Institute of America, l978-2004

Medieval Academy of America, l979-

Classical Association of New England, l980-

North American Patristics Society, 1992-

Medieval Latin Association of North America, 1992-2005

COMMITTEE AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Secretary, Committee for the Comparative Study of Religion, l979-80

Wesleyan University, Chair, Library Committee, l98l-83

Wesleyan University, Member, Task Force on Foreign Language Instruction at Wesleyan, l984-85

Wesleyan University, Member, Steering Committee for Medieval Studies Program, l985; Co-Chair l986, l988-89, 1992-93, Spring 1995

Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Management Committee, l988-89, 1991

Wesleyan University, Department of Classical Studies, Chair, Fall l989, 1992-95, 2007-

Wesleyan University, Faculty Planning Committee and Institutional Priorities Advisory Committee, l989-9l, Chair 1990-91

Wesleyan University, Advisory Committee, 1993-96, 2000-01; Vice Chair, Spring 1995 and Spring 1996

Classical Association of Connecticut, Board, 1993-2000; Vice President, 1994-95: President 1995-96

Book Review Editor and Editorial Board, New England Classical Journal , 1995-2000

Editorial Board, Traditio, 1996-2007

Editorial Board, Society of Biblical Literature, Writers of the Greco-Roman World, 2000-

Wesleyan University, Dean of Arts and Humanities, 1996-99

Wesleyan University, Review and Appeals Board, 2001-4 and 2008- ; chair 2003-4, 2008-9

Wesleyan University, Educational Policy Committee, 2002-3

Editorial Board, New England Classical Journal, 2002-

Wesleyan University, Vice-Chair of the Faculty, 2004-5

Wesleyan University, Chair of the Faculty, 2005-6

Wesleyan University, Ad Hoc Committee on Tenure, 2008

COURSES TAUGHT

Latin:

First-year Latin; Accelerated Latin for Graduate Students; Catullus and Cicero; Ovid and Seneca; Readings in Latin Prose: Cicero, Pro Milone; Ovid, Metamorphoses; Livy; Horace; Medieval Latin; The Age of Nero; the Roman Historians; Reading Latin, Writing Latin.

Greek

First-year Greek (second semester); Three Versions of Socrates (Plato, Aristophanes, Xenophon); Homer, Iliad; Aristophanes; The Character of Tragedy (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound; Sophocles, Antigone); the Greek Tragedians (Euripides, Bacchae).

Classical Civilization

Greek Literature in Translation; Classical Mythology; Roman Satire; Greek Drama; Rome and the Caesars; Romans and Christians: Cultural Change in Late Antiquity; In a Manner of Speaking: The Roman Art of Rhetoric; Roman Self-Fashioning: Poets and Philosophers, Lovers and Friends; From Memory to Spectacle: Defining the Roman.