Research Overview
My scholarly work focuses on translation practices in ancient Rome, examining how Roman authors engaged with Greek texts and transformed them through cultural adaptation. By analyzing programmatic statements in which Roman translators describe their relationship to source texts, I explore how they negotiated authority and identity through translation.
Rather than viewing Roman translation on a simplistic spectrum from "literal" to "free," my research examines how translators positioned themselves within their cultural and literary context. I've identified several distinct modalities of translation: source-representative, allusive, and independent, each reflecting different approaches to textual authority and cultural mediation.
My dissertation, "The Modalities of Roman Translation," examines how Roman translators like Livius Andronicus, Catullus, Cicero, and Horace established their authority through strategic translation choices. This work contributes to both classical scholarship and translation studies by reconsidering how we evaluate ancient translation practices.
Refereed Conference Papers
Mental Health is Physical Health
This paper examines mental health challenges in the mining industry, addressing how psychological factors significantly impact physical safety and wellbeing. Traditional safety approaches in mining focus on physical hazards like ground instability and machinery accidents, while mental health risks remain underrecognized despite their substantial impact.
The research identifies key contributors to mental ill-health in mining, including workplace harassment, limited rural support services, substance abuse, and social exhaustion. These factors affect both individual workers and the industry's economic health, with recent studies indicating significant financial costs associated with mental health issues.
The paper provides a practical framework for mining corporations to recognize mental health symptoms and implement appropriate support systems, including connecting workers with local resources and incorporating mental health first aid responders into workplace safety protocols.
Stoic Authority in the Library of Lucullus: de Finibus 3-4
This paper analyzes the strategic significance of the library setting in Cicero's de Finibus, focusing on how Cicero positions Cato as a Stoic authority surrounded by philosophical texts. The unusual setting—a library more suited for storage than study—serves a deliberate rhetorical purpose in establishing the dialogue's authority.
Contrary to interpretations that view the library setting as merely reflecting Cato's peculiarity or Cicero's social status, I argue that Cicero deliberately places the dialogue within a library to position the surrounding books as silent authorities overseeing the conversation. This setting helps validate Cicero's role as a translator bringing Greek philosophy to Roman audiences.
By comparing this scene with the fifth book's setting in the empty Academy at Athens, I demonstrate how Cicero uses physical settings to establish his authority as a Roman translator capable of meaningfully adapting Greek philosophical traditions.
Catullus, Horace, and a Polysystem in Rome
This paper applies Itamar Even-Zohar's polysystem theory to Roman translation practices, particularly in the poetry of Catullus and Horace. Polysystem theory proposes that translations occupy either a central position, where they influence native literature, or a peripheral position, where they conform to existing literary norms.
I argue that Catullus and Horace represent a transitional period in Roman literature—a "neither-nor" phase when native literature was still developing independence from Greek models while seeking originality. This transition is evident in both poets' work: Catullus follows Sappho closely in Poem 51 before breaking away with his original warning about otium, while Horace navigates between translation and invention by capturing the sentiment rather than the exact wording of his Greek sources.
By examining how these poets balance adherence to sources with creative innovation, we gain insight into the evolution of Roman literary culture and translation practices during a crucial transitional period.
A Statement of Independence in Catullus 51
This paper examines Catullus 51, a well-known translation of Sappho's poetry that takes an unexpected turn in its final stanza. While Catullus closely follows Sappho for the first twelve lines, describing his lover's beauty and its overwhelming effect on him, he abruptly shifts direction in the closing stanza with a self-rebuke about the dangers of otium (leisure).
I argue that this final stanza constitutes a declaration of Catullus' poetic independence from his Greek sources. By first establishing a clear connection to Sappho through straightforward translation, Catullus creates the perfect context for his break from tradition to resonate more powerfully.
Against interpretations that view the final stanza as disconnected from the rest of the poem or added later, I demonstrate how this carefully crafted conclusion serves as both a personal warning about infatuation and a meta-poetic statement about the dangers of following too closely in another poet's footsteps.
Horror in the Fifth Epode of Horace
This paper challenges the common interpretation of Horace's fifth Epode as primarily humorous or mocking. While scholars often focus on the caricature of the inept witch Canidia, I argue for a more complex reading that follows the natural narrative progression and emotional experience of the poem.
The poem opens from the perspective of a kidnapped child who, like the audience, has no understanding of his abductors' intentions. This creates immediate sympathy and tension. While Horace does introduce humor through Canidia's incompetence, I argue this serves as temporary relief before a shocking tonal shift when the focus returns to the boy.
The child's transformation from frightened victim to vengeful prophet, promising divine justice against his captors before contemplating his parents' grief, creates a complex emotional trajectory. This reading reveals the sophisticated interplay of horror, temporary humor, and pathos that characterizes this narrative poem.
Public Lectures
The Modalities of Roman Translation
This lecture explores my dissertation research on how Roman translators positioned themselves through programmatic statements about their relationship to source texts. Rather than evaluating translations on a simplistic spectrum from literal to free, I examine how translators like Livius Andronicus, Catullus, and Cicero established their authority through distinct approaches to translation, which I categorize as source-representative, allusive, and independent modalities.
Horace in the Latin Polysystem
This lecture applies modern translation theory, particularly Itamar Even-Zohar's Polysystem Theory and Gideon Toury's concept of translational norms, to Horace's poetry. I examine how Horace's works occupy a transitional space in the Roman literary system, balancing fidelity to Greek models with creative independence. The lecture compares Horace's approach to Archilochus in the Epodes with his treatment of Alcaeus in the Odes, revealing how he negotiated this dynamic space between tradition and innovation.
Research Themes
Translation Theory
Examining how Roman translators positioned themselves in relation to their Greek sources, challenging binary understandings of "literal" versus "free" translation, and analyzing how translation served cultural and political purposes in ancient Rome.
Roman Poetry
Analyzing the poetic strategies of Catullus and Horace, particularly how they adapted Greek models while establishing their own distinctive voices, and examining how their translation practices reflect broader cultural transitions in Roman literature.
Cultural Adaptation
Investigating how Roman authors transformed Greek concepts and literary forms to suit Roman audiences, and how these adaptations reflect broader processes of cultural negotiation and identity formation in ancient Rome.
Occupational Health
Exploring the intersection of mental and physical health in occupational settings, particularly in high-risk industries, and developing frameworks for addressing psychological wellbeing as an essential component of workplace safety.