Faces of the Aetna

Magister, teaching and discipulus

Abstract

In this article, after trying to point out some essential features of a Latin didactic poem called Aetna – such as the presence of the teacher-student constellation and the transmission of knowledge through hexameters –, we comment more specifically on some of these aspects. Thus, the magister (teacher) is analyzed under the rhetorical perspective of ethos; teaching is addressed from approaches such as its nature, ways, and targets; the discipulus (student), finally, is sometimes described by the magister as incredulous about his words, but dangerously credulous about rumors.