This paper is concerned with the formulation and analysis of an epidemic model of COVID-19 governed by an eight-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations, by taking into account the first dose and the second dose of vaccinated individuals in the population. The developed model is analyzed and the threshold quantity known as the control reproduction number R0\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\mathcal {R}_{0}$$\end{document} is obtained. We investigate the equilibrium stability of the system, and the COVID-free equilibrium (...) is said to be locally asymptotically stable when the control reproduction number is less than unity, and unstable otherwise. Using the least-squares method, the model is calibrated based on the cumulative number of COVID-19 reported cases and available information about the mass vaccine administration in Malaysia between the 24th of February 2021 and February 2022. Following the model fitting and estimation of the parameter values, a global sensitivity analysis was performed by using the Partial Rank Correlation Coefficient (PRCC) to determine the most influential parameters on the threshold quantities. The result shows that the effective transmission rate (α)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$(\alpha )$$\end{document}, the rate of first vaccine dose (ϕ)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$(\phi )$$\end{document}, the second dose vaccination rate (σ)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$(\sigma )$$\end{document} and the recovery rate due to the second dose of vaccination (η)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$(\eta )$$\end{document} are the most influential of all the model parameters. We further investigate the impact of these parameters by performing a numerical simulation on the developed COVID-19 model. The result of the study shows that adhering to the preventive measures has a huge impact on reducing the spread of the disease in the population. Particularly, an increase in both the first and second dose vaccination rates reduces the number of infected individuals, thus reducing the disease burden in the population. (shrink)

Publication date: 22 December 2020 Source: International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Vol. 89 Author: Lukman Adegboyega Abioye This study discusses brown envelope syndrome as it is used to promote hate speech and fake news with negative effect on the practice of journalism in Nigeria. Various reasons were advanced from the study why the menace of brown envelope syndrome on hate speech and fake news persists and solutions to it were also explored. Two theories were used in putting (...) the study in proper perspectives. The theories are Agenda Setting and Dependency Theory. The two theories recognize the role of mass media in mobilizing, educating and entertaining the public on vital, social economic and political issues. The study recognizes the role of journalists in promoting hate speech and fake news in order to advance the interest of certain political class. Hate speech and fake news consists of lies and vulgar languages against a particular section of the society. The study found out that journalists use both print and electronic media to spread fake news and hate speech which however has significant effect on the political development of the country. The study recognizes that poor remuneration, inadequate training, job insecurity as well as general economic down turn in Nigeria have been responsible for brown envelope syndrome. Media researchers are of the opinion that proprietors of media houses, and the government should take the welfare of journalists’ very important if journalistic code of ethics and practice would be applied on any erring journalist. The study recommends regular training and staff motivation as necessary for eradicating the menace of brown envelope syndrome, fake news and hate speech among practicing journalists in Nigeria. Appropriate legislation must be put in place by the legislatures to discourage hate speech and fake news in the country. Erring journalist and the media house he or she represents must be sanctioned accordingly to serve as deterrent to others. (shrink)

Following the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria on 29th of May 2023, residents of Lagos State have witnessed a significant spike in cost of living. Incidentally, this has also turned into a serious challenge in the educational sector as this has affected the continued sustenance of the traditional mode of learning where students and lecturers meet on campus on a daily basis. Hence, the present research offers distance computer-assisted learning via Open and Distance Learning (ODL) as a complement to (...) traditional or conventional learning in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Distance computer-assisted learning boasts mainly of synchronous, asynchronous or blended means of learning all of which have been used in the past to complement face-to-face interactions between lecturers and students of Lagos State University. It is on the basis of the economic inconveniences of fuel subsidy removal with the declaration of the three-day work week by the Lagos State University that this research proposes distance computer-assisted learning to mediate the gap created between lecturers and students of Lagos State University. However, the present research concerns with students’ readiness and awareness of this mode of learning. The methodology adopted for this research is quantitative analysis which involves the use of questionnaires offered to 380 students of Lagos State University in February 2024. The result shows that whereas students are willing to adopt distance computer-assisted learning, the challenges of power and telecommunications appear as serious challenges. It is the submission of this study that when the recommendations offered in this research are explored, ODL may serve as a complement to conventional learning. (shrink)

This article is devoted to the problem of interpretation and understanding of African philosophy as a phenomenon of intercultural communication. It is a question of the presence of stereotypes in perception and assessments of African philosophy: from the assertion of its interiority and non-philosophical character to the propaganda of its primacy in the whole of world philosophy as the theorized core of spiritual life. The author also indentified the significant obstacle in the study of African philosophy and understanding of its (...) status in the history of world philosophy. Also the article touched the importance of African revival, and the key factors to its revival, the idea of Afrocentrism was also been mentioned as the key solution for the African revival. In this work, ethnophilosophy is further considered as the source of the whole philosophy of Africa. Attention is also paid to the problem of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of African philosophy and culture in the framework of world or universal philosophy and science. Also in the article, issue of searching for African identity is being raised, the ideas and impacts of some African thinkers, also socio-political concepts such as Pan-Africanism, Negritude, African socialism, African humanism, Afrocentrism and others, which had a serious impact on African socio-political life were also identified. The diversity of ethnic cultures, and its roles in the black continent were mentioned, and as well, emphasis on ethical issues, religions representations and superstitions. (shrink)

Nigeria, as a geographical entity is replete with various ethnic and cultural identities that have continued to evolve from pre-colonial times to recenttimes. Granted that civilizations from Europe and Arabia have dictated almost all spheres of living, both in the Northern and Southern geographies of the country and eroded nearly all traditional values that would have assisted in curbing social and filial tensions; it is pertinent to inquire into the social relations before this ‘encounter.’ This is important as this research (...) seeks to invoke some aspects of the past that can be relevant for contemporary utility. Hence, through the method of critical analysis, this study takes a look at the socio-economic norms among the pre-colonial cultures that eventually evolved into Nigeria, paying attention to the place of slaves and women and laying emphasis on the filial and communal nature which allowed for a not too wide the gap between the rich and the poor. Even when this study is not unaware of the positive roles of foreign influence, it recounts the deficits of this presence and suggests that aproper way is to explore some indigenous ideas and apply them for contemporary living. Keywords: Culture, Family, Moral Values, Nigeria, Pre-colonial. (shrink)

Genetically modified cassava is currently being developed to address problems of diseases that threaten the food security of farmers in developing countries. The technologies are aimed at smallholder farmers, in hopes of reducing the vulnerability of cassava production to these diseases. In this paper we examine barriers to farmers’ voice in the development of GM cassava. We also examine the role of a translational research process to enhance farmers’ voice, to understand the sources of vulnerability farmers in a group in (...) Kenya’s Coast face, and to determine if their concerns are consistent with those of the scientists in agriculture addressing farmers’ needs. A two-way communication participatory process provided insights into the complex vulnerability context of farmers, their primary concerns with processing and markets of cassava in order to improve livelihoods, the lack of networks with two way communication flows, and the lack of information on GM technologies. The translational research engaged farmers and scientists in an iterative process where scientists are learning what farmers need, and farmers are learning about the potential benefits and risks from GM technologies, while at the same time expressing their concerns. (shrink)

Since the Farnesianus emerged in the 15th century, a passage where Festus sets himself against his predecessor Verrius Flaccus has been interpreted in four different ways. These are discussed and an emendation proposed that does not depend on any of them but has a consequence for what Festus published.

In Italy, at the end of the tenth century, a pedant named Regulus (?) who had a copy of the De Verborum Significatu (or had made extracts from one), wishing to read Plautus (so often quoted by Festus), took the opportunity of an illness to appeal to certain prelates whose church-library contained a MS. of the comedian. Through their stupidity he received not Plautus, but Plato, i.e. Chalcidius' translation of the Timaeus. Disappointed, but not deterred, he wrote the following (...) letter (in a sort of rhyming prose, affected by the litterati of that time) on the fly-leaf and returned the MS. (now Bamberg. Class. 18), hoping that by much repetition he might hammer into their dull heads the difference between PL-AU-TUS and PL-A-TO and yet save them from chagrin and resentment (the material for the letter was supplied by Festus, although the opening illustration comes from Chalcidius). (shrink)

Publicada en 1979, Violence se desarrolla en la ciudad nigeriana de Benín, durante el boom petrolífero de la década de 1970. La narrativa se centra en dos matrimonios que representan ambos extremos del espectro social, cuyos caminos se cruzan mientras sortean diversos obstáculos. La novela de Iyayi constituye una crítica marxista de la violencia ejercida por la pobreza y la desigualdad extrema. Violence muestra cómo ciertos cuerpos humanos se cosifican y explotan de manera sistemática, a la vez que aquellos que (...) no generan ganancias son descartados sin el menor rastro de humanidad. Desde la perspectiva de la ecocrítica urbana, este artículo examina instancias de cosificación corporal en la novela y, específicamente, de comoditización de energía y materia humanas entendidas como recursos naturales. El estudio propone que Iyayi no solo critica esta comoditización al presentarla como una consecuencia del proyecto capitalista, sino que también la cuestiona mediante actos de cuidado resistente que devuelven a los cuerpos cosificados su calidad de sujeto. Estos actos de cuidado constituyen una forma de refutar la separación artificial de Naturaleza y Sociedad, contenida en el dualismo de cuerpo y mente, que históricamente ha justificado la explotación y expropiación capitalista (neo)colonial. El presente artículo contribuye entonces tanto al campo de los estudios poscoloniales como a los de ecocrítica urbana y literaturas africanas, centrándose en una obra relativamente poco analizada y en problemáticas sumamente relevantes para la Nigeria contemporánea. (shrink)

In a day in which there are different religious system vying for acceptance and probably even dominance, it is high time to identify a peaceful model for inter-religious understanding and communication. St. Paul had several interactions with the Jewish leaders, monarchs and government officials on religious topics and issues in between A.D. 60 to A.D 62 at Caesarea. His interaction with King Agrippa II and Governor Festus can be used as a paradigm for contemporary inter-religious understanding and communication. Even (...) though Paul’s life was hanging on a balance as a prisoner about to be transported to Rome, he did not resort to violence, verbal abuse or rain down curses, when his religious claims were questioned. Instead, he argued as a seasoned philosopher, prayed as a pious saint and appealed as a prisoner in chains with humility for the ‘veracity and the reasonability’ of his truth claim. The article will interact with few philosophical themes that surface during this discourse and dialogue and also attempt to trace St Paul’s use of rhetoric in his discourse. The title of this article is ‘St. Paul’s discourse and dialogue with King Agrippa and Governor Festus as a model for contemporary inter-religious understanding and communication’. The primary source for this article is the book of Acts in the New Testament and the secondary source would be dictionaries and books. (shrink)

In the Phillipps Library at Cheltenham there is a MS. of the Epitome which Professor Thewrewk was unable to use for his edition. No one who knows the difficulties which attend the study of MSS. in this Library will blame him for the omission. The Phillippsianus has the form usual in codices of the Epitome , a quarto volume with two columns to the page, and with each article occupying a separate paragraph and beginning with a fairly large initial letter. (...) It was written by Ellinger , during his previous stay at Altaich, as is shown by the subscription in capital letters which stands at the end of the whole volume, : Abbas indignus ego Ellinger peccator istam glosam scripsi dum essem in Altahensi monasterio Deo sanctoque Quirino. Rogo vos omnes in ea legentes ut oretis pro me. (shrink)

When Festus said to Paul: ‘Much learning doth make thee mad’, Paul's answer was the instinctive defence of a scholar under attack: ‘I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness’. Whether poets were mad or sober has been a question for critics ever since Gorgias pointed out the incompatibility; it is less frequently debated why scholars unlike poets should need to affirm their sobriety. I should like to concentrate on one (...) aspect of ancient criticism, that of problem-solving, in order, as I hope, to put into a different perspective the whole business of what Alexandrians did with texts. Inevitably perhaps it will be argued that I am neglecting the vast philological and lexical labours of the Alexandrians and failing to appreciate their subtlety in textual criticism. I hope that my criticisms will not be construed in this way; yet I believe that the Alexandrians have been idealized and their critical attitudes over-simplified. By taking a problem from antiquity and setting it in its context, I will be trying to give what I consider to be a more correct perspective to the labours of our ancient predecessors. (shrink)

The Teubner edition of Festus de Verborum Significatu had scarcely appeared when Professor Anspach announced his discovery of a MS. of Isidore's Etymologies with some Scholia taken from Festus. Last Easter, in the limited time at my disposal, I transcribed from the MS. the greater part of this Isidore Commentary and, later, received a transcript of the remainder from Abbe Liebaert some weeks before his death. Although hampered by the deficiencies of our University Library, I am unwilling to (...) keep this new evidence any longer from students of Festus. (shrink)

In 1883 Alexander Enmann demonstrated the existence of ‘eine verlorene Geschichte der romischen Kaiser’. Not all of his arguments or conclusions were valid, but one fundamental postulate is undeniable: Aurelius Victor in 359/60 and Eutropius a decade later independently used a common source, a lost Kaiser geschichte of relatively brief compass. This lost work went down to the death of Constantine in 337, and traces of it can also be discovered in other writings of the late fourth century: in (...) class='Hi'>Festus’ Breviarium, in Jerome's revision of Eusebius’ Chronicle, in the Epitome de Caesaribus—and in the HA. If the HA used the Kaisergeschichte, its composition postdates 337— as Otto Seeck stated plainly in 1890. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:American Journal of Philology 121.4 (2000) 549-557 [Access article in PDF] Cato Orationes 66 and the Case Against M.' Acilius Glabrio In 189 B.C.E. J. Bradford Churchill THE RACE FOR THE CENSORSHIP of 189 became the setting for one of the most dramatic domestic political disputes of the early second century. 1 M. Porcius Cato (cos. 195) was seeking the censorship, and among his competitors was another homo novus, (...) M.' Acilius Glabrio (cos. 191). Now, Cato had served as tribunus militum under the consul Glabrio during the campaign of 191 against Antiochus III in Greece. Cato had led a flanking expedition to decide the battle at Thermopylae, at the conclusion of which the king's camp was invaded and plundered. 2 Cato said that after the battle, Glabrio had embraced him and cried out that neither he nor the Roman people could repay his good services. 3 Glabrio sent Cato home with news of the victory. 4Now, in the race for the censorship of 189, public opinion was inclining in favor of Glabrio because he had conducted a lavish distribution of congiaria--vessels, perhaps precious, filled with wine or oil. The nobles among the competitors took umbrage at his being preferred to them, and two tribunes, P. Sempronius Gracchus and C. Sempronius Rutilus, brought Glabrio to trial on the charge "that there was some amount of the royal money and booty taken in the camp of Antiochus which he had neither carried in the triumph nor deposited in the treasury." 5 Legates and military tribunes were called to testify, and most visible among them was Cato, who had a reputation for integrity, but [End Page 549] because he was testifying against an opponent in a political race, his influence was diminished. The substance of Cato's testimony, as Livy summarized it, was that he had seen some gold and silver vessels among the royal booty at the sack of the camp, and had not seen them in the triumph.Glabrio withdrew from the race after a fine had been proposed and twice argued, and the case lapsed. He vilified Cato as a perjurious hypocrite for attacking a fellow homo novus for something the nobles usually passed over in silence. 6We have a fragment of a speech Cato gave against Glabrio, and his trial is the only appropriate occasion which is known to us. The fragment itself is clearly designed to set up a contrast between Cato and Glabrio, but the text is corrupt. The codex Farnesianus of Festus has the following entry (Fest. p. 268L): Penatores: qui penus gestant. Cato adversus M.' Acilium quarta: "postquam nativitas ex navibus eduxi, non ex militibus atque nautis piscatores penatores fici, sed arum dedi." First there are several problems which are relatively minor and no longer yield much controversy. The word quarta indicates there were at least four speeches "against Acilius." More often than not, this is dismissed as a simple error. 7 The word nativitas is clearly foreign to the context, and was long ago emended to navitas, as a poetic and archaic variant on nautas. 8 The transmitted fici is regularly and reasonably emended to feci. 9 [End Page 550]The more difficult question centers on the phrase sed arum dedi. André Dacier, in an early modern edition of Festus (Amsterdam 1700), emended arum to aurum. 10 Much later, Theodor Mommsen offered the conjecture arma. 11 This is now the prevailing reading, accepted most significantly by Enrica Malcovati (1953, 39) in the authoritative edition of the Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta. 12 Maria Teresa Sblendorio Cugusi (1982, 77), following Lindsay (1913, 268), printed and obelized arum, but in her commentary (1982, 215) considered Mommsen's emendation preferable to Dacier's because the latter "appears inconsistent with the context." I intend to show that this is rather the opposite of the case, and we ought to accept Dacier's emendation. 13With Mommsen's conjecture, the passage reads: "When I brought sailors off the ships, I didn't make fishers and provisioners out of soldiers... (shrink)

As Fragment 46 of the first book of Sallust's Histories Maurenbrecher prints: Magnis operibus perfectis obsidium cepit per L. Catilinam legatum. This he takes in effect to mean that Lucretius Ofella after the completion of great siege works received reinforcements brought by L. Catiline legate of Sulla. The interpretation depends largely upon his contention that the phrase obsidium cepit is to be taken as equivalent to subsidium cepit, for which he claims the authority, ultimately, of Verrius Flaccus as represented by (...) Festus p. 193M s.v. obsidium. Though opinions may occasionally have differed as to the precise event documented by the fragment, this central assumption seems to have gone unchallenged by historians. Yet it rests upon remarkably insecure foundations. The reading cepit has scant authority and the interpretation of obsidium as subsidium none at all. It is in fact the result of misunderstanding the passage of Festus in which the text is embedded. In Lindsay's edition the Festus entry which is here quoted in full runs as follows: Obsidium tamquam praesidium, subsidium recte dicitur, cuius etiam auctor C. Laelius pro se apud populum : ‘Ut in nobis terra marique simul obsidium facerent.’ Et Sallustius historiarum I : ‘Magnis operibus perfectis obsidium coepit per L. Catilinam legatum.’ Coepit is the reading of the manuscript F, which has been generally accepted, while cepit appears only in the Aldine edition where it may well be an emendation or even an error, there being no obvious independent source which might have provided it. For Maurenbrecher it was merely the ‘correction’ of Corte who produced the earliest roughly chronological arrangement of the fragments of Sallust's Histories. (shrink)

In App. Verg. Priap. 3, 3, the most recent editor adopts the form fomitata, first proposed by I. Voss, a form which seems to derive its only authority from a passage in Paulus' abridgement of Festus . Though there is some variation in the MSS. of the Priapeia , the first four letters are in every case the same—namely, form-. Again, in Ps.-Placidus the MSS. give formitat, but Goetz prints this as fo[r]mitat. The reading formitata was upheld by Skutsch, (...) who quoted the form formitare as a parallel to exitare in Catull. 17, 24, which all recent editors have changed to excitare. (shrink)

It has been pointed out above that Festus in his quotations cares more for the completion of the line than of the sense. His normal form is one complete line. So the probability is that Liu. Andr. com. is an Iambic Senarius, with a dactyl in the first foot and hiatus at the pause in the sense.

The bilingual Philoxenus Glossary drew some of its materials from Festus de Signif. Verb. and occasionally mentions his name. Its Festus glosses have been collected in a Jena dissertation by Dammann. The Abolita Glossary seems to have begun with Festus excerpts. Before we can glean from these two glossaries every available scrap of evidence about Festus, we must try to complete and correct them. For of the Philoxenus Glossary we have practically only one MS., and that (...) of the ninth century. It must have omitted many items and perverted the words of many others. The Abolita Glossary was associated with another, the Abstrusa Glossary , in Spain, and this composite collection passed into Italy. The MSS. are, we may say, only two, and of each a certain number of leaves are missing. The older and better MS. , an uncial codex of the eighth century, was written apparently in Central Italy; the other was written two centuries later at Monte Cassino. They show us Abol. not in its original form, but rearranged in a not too strict alphabetical order . The St. Gall Glossary was compiled from Philox., the composite Abstr.-Abol., and supplies some of those Festus glosses of Philox. and Abol. which are omitted in our MSS. It seems to have been a Bobbio compilation . Our best MS. was written in rude uncials at St. Gall in the eighth century. (shrink)

The relation of the glossae breviores of Placidus, or rather Pseudo–Placidus, to Festus1 epitome of Verrius has been the subject of much discussion; but after Karl's detailed examination inDe Placidi Glossis , the view has generally prevailed that Ps.–Plac. is not dependent on Festus, and that any similarities between them are referable to the use of similar sources by Verrius and our compiler.

The Kaisergeschichte was a set of short imperial biographies extending from Augustus to the death of Constantine, probably written between 337 and c. 340. It no longer exists but its existence can be deduced from other surviving works. Amongst the histories of the fourth century – Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, Festus, Jerome's Chronici canones, the Historia Augusta, the Epitome de Caesaribus, and, in places, even Ammianus Marcellinus and perhaps the Origo Constantini imperatoris – there is a common selection of facts (...) and errors, and common wording and phrasing in their narratives between Augustus and the death of Constantine, especially in their accounts of the third century. A natural assumption is that later historians copied earlier ones, yet later historians include information not contained in earlier ones, and historians who could not have known each other's work share similarities. For example, it looks as though Aurelius Victor was copying Eutropius, yet Victor wrote before Eutropius, and Eutropius contains information not in Victor and does not reproduce Victor's peculiar style or personal biases, things which he could hardly have avoided. Therefore Eutropius cannot be copying Victor. Since neither could have copied the other, there must therefore have been a common source. In his Chronici canones Jerome appears at first to be simply copying Eutropius. Yet when he deviates from Eutropius, his deviations usually mirror other histories, such as Suetonius, Victor, Festus, even the Epitome and the Historia Augusta, two works that had not even been written when Jerome compiled his chronicle and that did not use, and would never have used, the Christian chronicle as a source. Jerome was hurriedly dictating to his secretary, he had no time to peruse four or five works at a time for his brief notices. There must have been a single source that contained both the Eutropian material and the deviations common to Jerome and the other works. That source was the KG. It is the purpose of this paper to add to the above list of authors who relied upon the KG two other writers whose work can be shown to have derived, either at first hand or later, from the KG: Polemius Silvius and Ausonius. (shrink)

“I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and soberness.” In this cry of Paul's we hear the idealist in all ages making his agonized claim to realism in face of the Powers that Be. Festus and Agrippa represent the ex-officio history-makers in this scene. Paul is proclaiming fundamental facts and possibilities that those who have power fail to see. And so, in claiming to be sane, he becomes the spokesman for all who (...) see the Not-Yet as stronger than the Now, and behold What is Meant to Be as more powerful than What Is. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:American Journal of Philology 123.2 (2002) 275-286 [Access article in PDF] Cum Vicensimariis Magnam Mantissam Habet (Petronius Satyricon 65.10) Marc Kleijwegt AT PETRONIUS Satyricon 65.10 1 THE STONEMASON HABINNAS provides an explanation for his late arrival at Trimalchio's party. 2 He has been attending a ninth-day memorial feast in honor of one of Scissa's slaves, whom she 3 had manumitted on his deathbed: "Scissa lautum novendiale servo suo misello (...) faciebat, quem mor tu um manu miserat." 4 And he adds: "et puto, cum vicensimariis magnam mantissam habet; quinquaginta enim millibus aestimant mortuum." 5 Although we do not know what type of skills the dead man possessed, there is no need to assume that the amount set by the tax officials was incredibly high. Such amounts, and indeed much higher ones, were regularly paid for [End Page 275] exceptionally talented or attractive slaves. 6 By way of comparison, fifty thousand sesterces is the amount claimed to have been paid by a doctor from Assisi in return for his freedom (CIL 11.5400). Above all, there is nothing peculiar about Scissa having to pay the tax on manumission. She manumitted the slave before he died and is now liable to pay 5 percent of his estimated value in tax. And yet Habinnas seems to find the situation extremely funny.The key word is mantissa, the meaning of which is controversial and subject to much misunderstanding. While the majority of Petronians translate magnam mantissam as "enormous sum" or "pretty penny," 7 others prefer to read it as "huge conflict." 8 However, the former raises serious grammatical objections—it would take cum in a strained sense (cf. Smith 1975, 184), and the latter presupposes that some sort of conflict will arise from the officials' assessment, but what would be the issue of dispute? Both views seem to assume that Scissa will have to pay a huge amount in tax. 9 This is in fact not the case. Scissa will only have to pay 5 percent of the estimated value of the slave, which is twenty-five hundred sesterces. 10 If Scissa was wealthy enough to pay fifty thousand sesterces for a single slave, it is unlikely that she will have a problem with [End Page 276] paying a much smaller amount in tax. Habinnas, I believe, is not making a joke about Scissa having to pay a bigger amount than she originally expected, but he is making fun of the fact that she has to pay an amount at all. The following study sets out to demonstrate how this view can be recovered from the meaning that mantissa has elsewhere in Roman literature and subsequently attempts to show how the Petronian passage may shed some light on the representation of slavery in the Cena Trimalchionis.The key passage that forms the point of departure for the readings discussed above is an entry in the etymological dictionary of Festus (Paul ex Fest. 103, 1L): "Mantisa 11 additamentum dicitur lingua Tusca, quod ponderi adicitur, sed deterius et quod sine ullo usu est." 12 Without the benefit of a specific context in which the word was originally used (commerce? taxation?), Festus' explanation can easily lead to further confusion. 13 If, for example, the original sense of mantisa is taken to be that of a make-weight, it is evident that it cannot have the exact same meaning in Petronius. 14 Because the original Etruscan context of mantisa cannot be recovered, it will no longer concern me here. Instead I will focus more closely on the text that accompanies Festus' remark, a fragment from one of Lucilius' satires: "mantisa obsonia vincit" (1208 M = 1231 K = 1225 W). The brevity of the fragment makes it difficult to establish which sense Lucilius gave to mantisa (Festus obviously believed that it was in line with his explanation), and this has produced a cascading effect of misinterpretations affecting the passage in Petronius as well.Obsonia suggests that the context in Lucilius should be a culinary one. 15 The conclusion drawn by Marx... (shrink)

Charisivs, in his chapter on Adverbs, cites for Hispane a line of Ennius' Annals : Hispane, non Romane memoretis loqui me. Professor Norden , the apostle of Combinations-forschung, combines this fact with another fact mentioned by Livy , the celebre per Hispaniam responsum of a Spanish town to a Roman embassy. But why does he ignore a third fact which must be brought into any combination that can be convincing—the quotation of this line of Ennius by Festus in a (...) paragraph which apparently deals with Graeco-Roman affinities ? (shrink)

In the Teubner edition, just published, I had to reduce the apparatus criticus to the smallest possible dimensions. All conjectures that were merely probable and not fairly certain had to be excluded. Some of them that are new may find a place here. There is only one MS. of Festus′ epitome of Verrius. It is now at Naples, and is said to have been found in Illyria. Dr. E. A. Loew, the leading authority on Italian script, tells us that (...) it was written at Rome towards the end of the eleventh century. It must have been rescued from a fire; for the outer edges of all the pages are burned away, so that the greater part of the outer of the two columns on each page has been lost. The chief task for editors is to fill up by conjecture these gaps in the outer columns. Scaliger won immortal fame in this work, although many of his conjectures merely followed out a suggestion of his predecessor, Augustini. Ursini and Miiller were of service in adapting to the conditions of space the stop-gaps of Scaliger, and both of them, chiefly Miiller, added excellent conjectures of their own. The conjectural supplements, printed in italics in Müller's edition, have often, especially in German students′ dissertations, been treated as if they were actually part of the text. The Hungarian editor, Emil Thewrewk, who first provided satisfactory manuscript material for Paulus′ epitome of Festus, in order to prevent this error, took the extreme course of omitting these supplements in his edition; although many of them are made absolutely certain by the words of Paulus. I have taken a middle course between Miiller and Thewrewk and have admitted the certain and the probable supplements, leaving blanks elsewhere. The supplements are printed within angular brackets, the merely probable supplements being in italic type. (shrink)