Trine Arlund Hass | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

Papers by Trine Arlund Hass

Aarhus University Press eBooks, Aug 15, 2018

"Caesars, Shepherds and Cities", in: Urban Network Evolutions: Towards a high-d... more "Caesars, Shepherds and Cities", in: Urban Network Evolutions: Towards a high-definition archaeology, edited by R. Raja & S. Sindbæk, Aarhus University Press, 51-55

Aarhus University Press eBooks, Oct 15, 2020

Aarhus University Press eBooks, Sep 8, 2017

Transformations of the Classics via Early Modern Commentaries, 2014

Helius Eobanus Hessus was the first German to publish a collection of Latin eclogues, as he state... more Helius Eobanus Hessus was the first German to publish a collection of Latin eclogues, as he states in the beginning of his Bucolicon Idyllia from 1509. With a focus on Hessus's own considerations of conventions and poetics in metatexts, this chapter traces in the return to bucolic poetry a re-evaluation of Theocritus and a development in Hessus's poetic ideals. The chapter considers how Hessus deals with the traditional poetics of the bucolic genre, as conveyed by the late antique commentaries, in his return to bucolic poetry in late 1528. Hessus claims in his preface to Bucolicorum Idyllia that the re-issued version of his bucolic poems has a more serious tone than the earlier bucolic work, even though the primary model for the collection is the bucolic poetry of Theocritus. By returning to the original source of bucolic poetry, Hessus has effectively made himself part of the entire bucolic tradition. Keywords: bucolic poetry; Bucolicon Idyllia ; Helius Eobanus Hessus; metatexts; poetic ideals; Theocritus

Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Upsaliensis

In the following the author considers the structural patterns in selected collections of neo-Lati... more In the following the author considers the structural patterns in selected collections of neo-Latin bucolic poetry in order to sketch out a genre development. Especially important is the division originating with the commentary of Donatus of the Vergilian genres into three hierarchical levels appropriate for different phases in life, and the conception of the Eclogues as political and autobiographical allegories. Based on this, the author searches for interaction - directly invoked and formal - between the writers and the bucolic tradition, and for explicit poetological statements. Servius uses the expression bucolicum carmen in respect of how the poems stick to the conventions of humilitas, tenuitas, and rusticitas. The metaphorical reading of Galatea for Mantua and Amaryllis for Rome and the combination of a certain place with a certain age further strengthen the connection between genres, stages in life, and poetic career presented in the preface to the commentary. Keywords:Amaryllis; Bucolicum Carmen; Donatus; Galatea; Neo-Latin bucolic poetry; Rome; Vergilian genres

Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Albasitensis, 2020

This paper is the first treatment of the eclogue De obitu nobilissimæ matronæ Annæ Rantzoviæ Domi... more This paper is the first treatment of the eclogue De obitu nobilissimæ matronæ Annæ Rantzoviæ Domini Ioannis Rantzovij coniugis Ecloga presumably written by Heinrich Rantzau and published in Leipzig and Schleswig in 1582 as part of Epitaphia aliquot in obitum Annæ Walstorpiæ. The paper focuses on the use of the name Daphnis, which is intimately connected to the bucolic genre and through its use in Classical poems evokes certain associations and expectations, and the non-bucolic proper name of the deceased, Anna, which is used. She is called by her proper name once while most frequently referred to as Daphnidis uxor. It is discussed how allegory is employed in the construction of a narrative and how the text balances reality and fiction in its construction of an appealing picture of the Rantzau family starting with Heinrich Rantzau’s mother, Anna Walstorp. It is examined how the authoritative reading of Vergil’s eclogue 5, the primary model for funerary eclogues involving a Daphnis, influences the decoding of allegory in Rantzau’s poem. The examinations employ and discusses Tilg’s considerations of fiction (based on Frank Zipfel’s categories) that are presented elsewhere in this book.

Cæsar - manden og myten, 2020

Hass, T. A. & S. G. Saxkjær 2020. "Cæsars liv og efterliv", in: Cæsar - manden og myten, Aarhus U... more Hass, T. A. & S. G. Saxkjær 2020. "Cæsars liv og efterliv", in: Cæsar - manden og myten, Aarhus University Press, pp. 9-21

Politiken Historie, 2020

Hass, T. A. & S. G. Saxkjær 2020. "Julius Cæsar: Tyran eller frelser?", Politiken Historie 14: 24-31

Sfinx 44 (3), 26-31, 2021

in: Hass & Pade (eds.). 2021. Philology then and now. Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 44,, 2021

in: Hass and Pade (eds.). 2021. Analecta Romana Instituti Danici: Philology then and now, eds. , 2021

In a correspondence of 1628, the Danish physician, natural historian and antiquarian Ole Worm and... more In a correspondence of 1628, the Danish physician, natural historian and antiquarian Ole Worm and the royal Danish historiographer Johannes Pontanus debated the etymology of the northern designation for Christmas, jul. Worm stated that jul was called after Julius Caesar, which appears to have been commonly accepted, but Pontanus argues against it and offers an alternative theory. He suggests that the word has been adopted from Greek where it was used of a feast for Ceres. The article studies the way the etymologies are argued as well as the terms of the debate. Interestingly, a kind of code of conduct is established between the two which they both respect. This is compared to debates treated in studies by Blair, Grafton and Rothstein? Lastly, based on the early modern premise that an etymology of a word reflected the essence of the object designated, it is discussed how the etymologies of jul by Pontanus and Worm, as well as Anders Sørensen Vedel, who had drafted a thesis on the matter, may reflect theories on the origin of the population of Denmark by the authors.

Logos: Klassikerforeningens Medlemsblad, 2020

Meaningful Memories: a cultural memory perspective on humanist interactions with the past, 2020

Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Albasitentis, 2020

Vitae Pomponianae: Lives of Classical Writers in Fifteenth-Century Roman Humanism, 2015

Renaessanceforum - Journal of Renaissance Studies, 2016

The main focus of this paper is the Neo-Latin work Bucolica (Wittenberg 1560) by the Danish human... more The main focus of this paper is the Neo-Latin work Bucolica (Wittenberg 1560) by the Danish humanist poet Erasmus Laetus, and in particular the introduction to his third eclogue. Laetus's Bucolica is permeated by a striving both after a loftier genre and for career advancement on behalf of the poet. However, at the beginning of the third eclogue the reader is presented with a metadiscursive passage in which a first-person narrator (Laetus?) hails and celebrates the validity of bucolic poetry and challenges the imperative to strive after nobler genres. Comparing Laetus's work with Baptista Mantuanus's Adolescentia (1498), which also renders an inversion of similar ambitions as a metadiscourse, the paper examines the questioning of poetic ambition in Laetus's work and attempts to reconcile it with the seemingly contradictory ambition for epic that is also expressed.

Aarhus University Press eBooks, Aug 15, 2018

Aarhus University Press eBooks, Oct 15, 2020

Aarhus University Press eBooks, Sep 8, 2017

Transformations of the Classics via Early Modern Commentaries, 2014

Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Upsaliensis

Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Albasitensis, 2020

Cæsar - manden og myten, 2020

Politiken Historie, 2020

Hass, T. A. & S. G. Saxkjær 2020. "Julius Cæsar: Tyran eller frelser?", Politiken Historie 14: 24-31

Sfinx 44 (3), 26-31, 2021

in: Hass & Pade (eds.). 2021. Philology then and now. Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 44,, 2021

in: Hass and Pade (eds.). 2021. Analecta Romana Instituti Danici: Philology then and now, eds. , 2021

Logos: Klassikerforeningens Medlemsblad, 2020

Meaningful Memories: a cultural memory perspective on humanist interactions with the past, 2020

Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Albasitentis, 2020

Vitae Pomponianae: Lives of Classical Writers in Fifteenth-Century Roman Humanism, 2015

Renaessanceforum - Journal of Renaissance Studies, 2016

Dansk Selskab for Oldtids- og Middelalderforskning (inviteret taler), 2021

Perioden 1800-1870 betegnes almindeligvis Romantikken i Danmark og betragtes som dansk kunsts gul... more Perioden 1800-1870 betegnes almindeligvis Romantikken i Danmark og betragtes som dansk kunsts guldalder. Dyrkelsen af den nordiske oldtid er central, men almindeligvis siges det også, at der sker en opprioritering af den græske antik, som prises for originalitet, på bekostning af den romerske. Men kunstnere og forfattere valfartede til Italien og ikke så få havde været i latinskole. Som del af en reevaluering af, hvilken rolle det romerske spiller i den danske litteratur fra romantikken, præsenteres undersøgelser af den måske berømteste romers, Gaius Julius Cæsars, rolle i digte af de romantiske koryfæer Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850) og Schack von Staffeldt (1769-1826).

Præsenteret 8. november 2021

Keynote lecture presented at the conference Popular Receptions of Classical Antiquity: The Aarhus... more Keynote lecture presented at the conference Popular Receptions of Classical Antiquity: The Aarhus Studies in Mediterranean Antiquity 2021 Conference

Although Gaius Julius Caesar expanded the Roman borders far to the north, it is generally agreed today that he did not make it to the Danish regions – Denmark was never part of the Roman Empire. As long as Danish literature has existed, however, connections have been established between the Danish regions and culture and the illustrious Roman ditto. This paper addresses what is perhaps the most famous instance of Danish Caesar reception in a line of the Danish national play, Elverhøi, and its reuse (reception?) in the translation of Gosciny and Uderzo’s Asterix. My hypothesis is that they can provide insight into ways of negotiating the relationship between the two cultures, the Danish and the Roman.
Elverhøi, written by the immensely influential and renowned playwright, critic et al. J.L. Heiberg on the occasion of the wedding of the crown prince, is a product of Danish Romanticism, drawing on Nordic folklore and popular balladry (music by F. Kuhlau). Set in the region of Stevns in south-eastern Sealand, Denmark – in the play the mythical realm of the Elf King – and during the reign of King Christian IV (1588/1596-1648), it tells a story of mistaken identities sorted out, in the end, by King Christian himself. As he is about to cross the stream Tryggevælde Å to Stevns, defining the reign of the Elf King, he famously exclaims: “Vel er jeg ikke Cæsar, og disse bølger ikke Rubicon, men dog jeg siger: Jacta est alea” (I may not be Caesar and these waves not the Rubicon, and yet I say: Jacta est alea). To understand the line in its own context, I will discuss 1. how the reference to Caesar and his invasions affects the ‘confrontation’ between the Danish king and the Elf King of Stevns and the conflict of the play, and 2. the effect of Christian IV’s negation of his own identification with Caesar?
Moving on to Asterix, a paraphrase of King Christian’s line from Elvhøi is put into the mouth of Caesar, when determined to say ‘something historical’, in Per Då’s translation of Le bouclier arverne. In comparing this statement with the role of Latin quotation in the Asterix series as such, I intend to discuss it as reception, as well as its effect on a Danish audience.

Lastly, I will attempt conclusions on the insights offered by the Elverhøi and Asterix cases of Classical reception into ways of intermingling Danish and Roman culture and of negotiating roles and balances between their heroes.

Paper presented in the section "CAESAR’S FORUM: THE URBAN HISTORIES OF CENTRAL ROME" at The 2021 ... more Paper presented in the section "CAESAR’S FORUM: THE URBAN HISTORIES OF CENTRAL ROME" at The 2021 Archaeological Institute of America and Society for Classical Studies Joint Annual Meeting in Chicago (online)

Guest lecture presented at Classical Studies, Aarhus University

Paper presented at the meeting of Societas Latina Daniae at The Danish Academy in Rome 14 January

Paper presented at the conference "Caesar's Past and Posterity's Caesar"

Paper presented at the conference "Philology Then and Now: History, Role and New Directions" Tod... more Paper presented at the conference "Philology Then and Now: History, Role and New Directions"

Today it is generally agreed that reception studies are an integral part of philology. In my paper will discuss two works by the Danish humanist Andersen Sørensen Vedel (1542-1616). I will focus on an aspect of Vedel’s work that can be designated, from my viewpoint, as a reception phenomenon: Gaius Julius Caesar’s role in his arguments. My studies will, necessarily, be indebted to Marita Akhøj Nielsen’s seminal study Anders Sørensen Vedels filologiske arbejder (The Philological Works of Anders Sørensen Vedel, Copenhagen 2004). She has shown how, in some of Vedel’s works, philological methods are applied to produce sound historical descriptions of Denmark, while in others philological questions were examined with apparently no ulterior motives. Such is the relationship between the thesis Oratio de origine appellationis regni Daniæ (Slesvig 1584) and an examination of the etymology of the Danish word jul: De origine nominis Iülæi qvo magnum ac solemne illud festum nativitatis, Circumcisionis, ac Epiphanias Salvatoris nostrj Iesu Christj antiqvitus in Ecclesijs Septentrionalibus appellarj consvevit, facta indagine accurate ab Andrea Vellejo (The Royal Library, Copenhagen, NKS 642b, 4°). Caesar appears in both but in different ways and functions.
In the article “Philology in Three Dimensions”, Postmedieval 5 (2014), 398-413, Sheldon Pollock has described philology as oriented along three planes of meaning, of which the second is the so-called traditionist plane. I am interested in Vedel’s management of “the truth of tradition” (Pollock 2014, 405) – how he deals with previous interpretations of his subjects, especially previous arguments centered on Caesar. Furthermore, I will examine Vedel’s use of Caesar in his own arguments – Vedel’s own reception of Caesar. While referring both Vedel’s and my own studies to Pollock’s philological framework, I will also employ the terminology of reception theorists such as Iser, Jauss and Martindale.

Guest lecture, Aarhus University, 17 September 2018

Paper delivered at the conference "Libraries and the Organisation of Information. Fourth Conferen... more Paper delivered at the conference "Libraries and the Organisation of Information. Fourth Conference of the Nordic Network for Renaissance Studies." Helsinki, 26-18 September 2018

Abstract:
Gajus Julius Caesar has a remarkable legacy. He has left his mark in many different fields, and throughout history his person and deeds has been portrayed in both positive and negative ways.

This paper examines the organization of the portrait of Julius Caesar in the Danish humanist Erasmus Lætus' work Romanorum Cæsares Italici, ad Maximilianum II, inuictissimum Romanorum Imperatorem, semper Augustum &c. (Frankfurt am Main 1574). The portrait will be viewed through the lens of cultural memory studies (esp. A. Assmann) as the result of a selection from a storage memory of Julius Caesar consisting of both contemporary and ancient descriptions in biographies and other genres. I am going to attempt to identify which sources Lætus has selected for his portrait, what elements he selects from these sources and how he reorganizes them in his own texts.

The point of departure is the formal organization of both work (length and placement of the biography compared to other biographies in the collection, paratexts et sim.) and text (which events are narrated? How are they arranged and prioritized? ). To measure the latter narratological concepts as fabula, story, text, time, frequency and rhythm will be applied.

The result of these analyses will be discussed with regard to the purpose of the work as it is described and expressed in the dedicatory letter as well as to the reception of Julius Caesar on a wider scale.

Paper delivered at The XVIIth International Congress, International Association for Neo-Latin Stu... more Paper delivered at The XVIIth International Congress, International Association for Neo-Latin Studies, Albacete 29-07-2018-03-08-2018

Paper (invited speaker) delivered at the conference "Make Forget" organized by Verena Schultz, Lu... more Paper (invited speaker) delivered at the conference "Make Forget" organized by Verena Schultz, Ludwig Maximilian Universität, München 14-07-2018

In these years, we see a growing interest in the origins and development of philology and in its ... more In these years, we see a growing interest in the origins and development of philology and in its role within the humanities, then and now. The present almost global crisis of the humanities has made their representatives look in various directions for explanations and remedies. One has been to explore ‘the forgotten roots of the humanities’, philology.

Within the Western tradition we can trace the roots of philology back to the library of Alexandria where in the third century BC scholars like Zenodotus of Ephesus and Aristophanes of Byzantium worked at problems of text reconstruction, using primarily aesthetic criteria and the concept of analogy. Though it recognizes the importance of the Alexandrian school, recent scholarship has focused more on the republic of letters of Early Modern Europe as the intellectual environment where many of the methods that evolved into philology were first applied and described. What distinguishes their method from that of Alexandrian scholars is that they operate with very precise criteria. Thus many of the methods developed by humanists from Valla to Scaliger also became important in the development of the natural sciences.

After a long period in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when philology was almost synonymous with the humanities, that changed with the fragmentation of the field that took place during the twentieth century. Philology was relegated to a back seat and often frowned upon as dusty and backward looking. However, after decades of neglect, philology is now increasingly recognised as an essential method of making sense of texts, and as a component of human understanding as important as philosophy and the natural sciences.

In spite of its long history, scholars are still struggling to produce adequate definitions of both the field and of the methods of philology. The aim of this conference will be
1. to discuss definitions and methods of 21st-century philology, including developments of philological method in relationship to digital humanities; and
2. to deepen our understanding of philology as a discipline by investigating scholarly practice and methodological theorisation regarding central scholarly disciplines in Early Modern Europe.

This conference is organized by the project Cultural Encounter as a Precondition for European Identity, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation (www.acdan.it/projekter/ce/index.html). During its work, the project has paid special attention to the methodological discourse of Renaissance humanism and to analysing its practice. After conferences on the expressions of humanist methodological metadiscourse, and on issues in translation in contemporary and Early Modern translation studies, the project now organises the conference Philology Then and Now: history, role and new directions.

Conference of the reception of Caesar, April 2019

Hass, T. A. and Raja, R. 2023. Julius Caesar and the Forum Caesaris. World history, historiograph... more Hass, T. A. and Raja, R. 2023. Julius Caesar and the Forum Caesaris. World history, historiography and reception investigated through Danish biographies of Caesar from the early twentieth century. In Jacobsen, J. K., Raja, R. and Saxkjær, S. G. (eds.) 2023. Caesar, Rome and beyond. Rome Studies 4 (Turnhout: Brepols), 189-210.

Lys og lærd, eds. P. Aaboe, S. Fauth, T.A. Hass & A.H. Møller, Aarhus: Klims forlag, 87-107, 2021

Antikreception i Blichers novelle "Juleferierne"

in: Raja, R. & Hass, T. A. (eds.). 2021. Caesar’s Past and Posterity’s Caesar, Rome Studies 1 (Turnhout: Brepols), 2021

rome studies rs 1 Caesar's Past and Posterity's Caesar rome studies rs 1 Caesar's Past and Poster... more rome studies rs 1 Caesar's Past and Posterity's Caesar rome studies rs 1 Caesar's Past and Posterity's Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar was the first to design a forum in his family's name. The forum itself had two focal points-a temple to Venus Genetrix and an equestrian statue of Caesar himself-carefully juxtaposed to create a narrative of a strong, enterprising, and controversial sovereign to whom legitimacy was granted by his divine lineage and links to Rome's mythical founders. Through this design, the expansion of the older Forum Romanum thus became a promotion of Caesar himself in a clever show of identity politics. It was a bold-and ultimately fatal-undertaking, and it demonstrates a political vision that not only divided his contemporaries but has continued to drive scholarly debate, with Caesar variously realized as a mirror for Antiquity, a representative of an age, and a ruler to be examined in relation to all applicable dilemmas and conflicts. This important volume offers new insights into the legacy of Julius Caesar by focusing on two central questions: how did he use the past to construct his own persona as head of the Roman State and Empire? And how has he been remembered-and used-by posterity? Contributions from a range of fields, among them archaeology, classical studies, and history, engage with these questions as they explore Caesar's own self-fashioning through his use of city space, rituals, wars, history, and literature, as well as tracing how he and his actions have been understood, justified, criticized, and used in the centuries since his death, from late antique literature to nineteenth-century drama. Rome, long known as the Eternal City, has proved a perpetual source of fascination for historians, archaeologists, literary scholars, and art historians. From prehistoric activity in the area that was to become an urban centre, through the heyday of the Roman Empire, and after, via the Renaissance and up to the modern day, the importance of Rome as both place and ideological concept has endured. This unique interdisciplinary series encourages a focus on all aspects of Rome and the Roman world from the paleolithic up to modern times, with the aim of drawing together different research fields and traditions in one place for the first time. Promoting cutting-edge and innovative new research in disciplines including archaeology, history, philology, historiography, theology, and church history, the series welcomes proposals for both monographs and edited collections that can contribute to a wider understanding of both Rome and its legacy over time.

Cæsar: Manden og Myten, 2020

Cæsar: Manden og Myten, Oct 15, 2020

The chapter "Cæsar i Danmark - Cæsariske iscenesættelser "(Caesar in Denmark - Caesarian represen... more The chapter "Cæsar i Danmark - Cæsariske iscenesættelser "(Caesar in Denmark - Caesarian representation) presentsh examples of how and where Caesar occurs in Danish culture. In studies of works by philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen and poet Sophus Claussen, we see how Caesar is used as an example in philosophical argumentation and how he can be used to describe feelings and states of mind in situations much more related to everyday life than the military and political situations in which they arose. In Claussen's poem, "Cæsarer" (Caesars) from 1891/1917 it is furthermore demonstrated how Caesar was used as a yardstick against which contemporary politicians were meassured, and, consequently, how his example served to discuss and problematize contemporary matters.

The book is edited by T. A. Hass & S. G. Saxkjær and published by Aarhus University Press

Cultural Encounter and Identity in the Neo-Latin World, edited by Camilla Horster and Marianne Pade, 2020

This chapter examines Danish humanism as expressed in Ecloga de pacis foedere, written by the Dan... more This chapter examines Danish humanism as expressed in Ecloga de pacis foedere, written by the Dane Hans Lauridsen Amerinus (1573) in celebration of the conclusion of the Northern Seven Years’ War (1563–70). It focuses on the roles and positions of the two interlocutors, Corydon and Thyrsis, and especially of Corydon, who, seen against the backdrop of humanist bucolic poetry, is modelled after Meliboeus in Virgil’s Eclogue 1. Amerinus establishes Corydon’s position using a complex interplay of intertextual allusions that nourish, frustrate, and renegotiate reader expectations.
The two interlocutors are indirectly rivals in genre: one pulls theme, form and style in the direction of epic, while the other pulls them back towards bucolic. Corydon punctuates Thyrsis’s narrating act, which otherwise would have unfolded a long epic story, with comments that transform it into dialogue. Thyrsis sings a song of pathos, but when Corydon presents a story with equal potential, it becomes a comic parody, frustrating reader expectations of an epic narrative motivated by intertextuality.
Amerinus constantly plays with reader expectations, also when it comes to self-representation: Corydon mirrors his presentation of himself in the paratexts. The chapter discusses whether Amerinus actually denigrates himself in his fictional self-representation while announcing a Golden Age for Danish humanism.

"Caesars, Shepherds and Cities", in: Urban Network Evolutions: Towards a high-definition archaeol... more "Caesars, Shepherds and Cities", in: Urban Network Evolutions: Towards a high-definition archaeology, edited by R. Raja & S. Sindbæk, Aarhus University Press, 51-55

Hass, T. A. 2015: "A Secretive Muse: Hidden References in a Neo-Latin Eclogue", in: Revealing and... more Hass, T. A. 2015: "A Secretive Muse: Hidden References in a Neo-Latin Eclogue", in: Revealing and Concealing in Antiquity : Textual and Archaeological Approaches to Secrecy, edited by E. Mortensen & S. Grove Saxkjær, Aarhus University Press, 77-91

Ole Thomsens betydning for dansk åndsliv og den klassiske filologi kan naeppe overvurderes. Den 3... more Ole Thomsens betydning for dansk åndsliv og den klassiske filologi kan naeppe overvurderes. Den 31. marts 2021 fylder han 75 år. Han har aldrig tidligere modtaget et festskrift. Det er på høje tid, at han gør det. Ole Thomsens karriere er bemaerkelsesvaerdig. I efterkrigsårene boede han i Tved på Mols. Hans far var købmand og hans mor hjemmegående. Ole har ved flere lejligheder, både på skrift og i tale, fremhaevet, at hans dannelsesrejse begyndte hos Mette Olsen, en aeldre dame i Tved, der levede en tilbagetrukket tilvaerelse, og som i stearinlysets skaer bl.a. laeste sig gennem Oswald Spenglers Der Untergang des Abendlandes. Alt det og meget mere kan man laese om i Oles barndoms-og ungdomserindringer Det lune land, der i 2011 udkom på Forlaget Wunderbuch til smukke anmeldelser i flere landsdaekkende dagblade. Ole beskriver sig selv som "en, der vil vise, at det tabte ikke er gået tabt"-derfor valgte han den klassiske filologi. Det, som kendetegner Ole, er hans levende måde at naerme sig det svundne på. Hans indlevelse i antikken, den romerske og den graeske, er uden sidestykke, og han er et sjaeldent eksempel på et menneske, der med hele sit vaesen, sin enorme viden og sit eminente vid, kan få det svundne til at traede frem og blive mindst lige så naervaerende som den såkaldte nutid. Uanset om han skriver om det tabte barndomsland (med agerbrug, andelsmejerier, forsamlingshuse, plove og heste og landsbyskole), eller om han bevaeger sig tilbage i tiden og tager livtag med de klassiske urtekster (fra Aristofanes, Platon, Euripides, Sofokles, Aischylos til Catul, Ovid, Seneca og Horats), sker det med en helt enestående sans for de til alle tider gaeldende eksistentielle grundvilkår. Ole er en digter, en historie fortaeller, en forsker og et menneske med absolut gehør. Ole er filolog i ordets egentlige betydning: ord-og sprog-elsker. Han mestrer eller behersker ikke sprog, de termer er forkerte, han kan, forstår

Hass, T. A. & S. G. Saxkjær (eds.) 2020. Cæsar - manden og myten. Aarhus University Press.