Akroterion

Miles Gloriosus is a Roman Comedy, written by Plautus in the late 3rd century BC. The action of the play centres around a young Athenian man whose girlfriend (Rosie) is abducted by the miles (colonel), an arrogant and overbearing soldier, while the young man is away on a political errand. Whilst trying to warn his master, the young man’s servant (Micky) is captured by pirates and taken to Ephesus where he is sold to the same miles. After receiving a letter from his slave, the young man travels to Ephesus and takes up lodging with a family friend (Mr. Brown) who happens to be the miles’ neighbour. In order for the lovers to see each other, the young man’s servant makes a hole in the wall between the houses. In the following scene, the lovers have been caught in the act by one of the miles’ servants, and the owner of the house (the family member) is worrying what to do.

Since the publication of the article on the Classical Association of South Africa (CASA), covering the period from 1955 to 1961,1 more documents, all from files of the CASA Executive, which were not available at the time of writing, have been added to the archive, which is kept in the School of Ancient Languages and Text Studies at North-West University. It is therefore necessary to place these documents on record in order to present a fuller account of the activities of the Association during the early years of its existence. The documents offer testimony of the dedication and enthusiasm of the early members, of how they surmounted problems of communication and travel, of the creation of international links, and of the struggle to preserve the Classical tradition. They also reveal much about the issues, attitudes and mind-set of the period.

The South African poet J D du Toit, popularly known as Totius (1877-1953), published collections of personal, religious and political poetry, inspired by the struggles of the Afrikaner people after the South African War or Second Boer War (1899-1902). Although the poet enjoyed a Classical education, firstly as a child at a German mission school, and subsequently in his Theological studies, Classical influence on Totius’ work has not been considered to date. This article investigates two poems for their possible Classical precedents. In the first, Totius considers but ultimately rejects the idea of the river Lethe as a way of forgetting his personal tragedies. In the second, he compares the disaster the Afrikaners experienced in the South African War to a roadside thorn-tree that is destroyed by a passing ox-wagon, here representing British imperialism. This may have a precedent in the destruction of the flower cut down by a plough at the edge of the meadow (Catullus 11.21-24), the political dimensions of which coincide with Totius’ anti-imperialist sentiments. Although the Biblical, Christian paradigm is dominant in Totius’ writing, this article suggests that the Classical world was an alternative source of inspiration for this poet.