{"product_id":"roman-luxuria-a-literary-and-cultural-history-9780192846402","title":"Roman Luxuria: A Literary and Cultural History","description":"In classical Latin, \u003cem\u003eluxuria\u003c\/em\u003e means 'desire for luxury'; it is linked with the ideas of excess and deviation from a standard. It is in most cases labelled as a vice which contrasts with the innate frugal nature of the Romans. Latin authors do not see it as endemic but as an import from the East in the aftermath of military conquests--and as a cause of fatal decline. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFollowing these etymological and semantic origins, \u003cem\u003eRoman Luxuria: A Literary and Cultural History\u003c\/em\u003e discusses the influence of Greek culture on the Roman concept and the peculiar characteristics of Roman \u003cem\u003eluxuria\u003c\/em\u003e. It analyses Roman views on \u003cem\u003eluxuria\u003c\/em\u003e through close readings in historical order from Cato the Elder, who regards \u003cem\u003eluxuria\u003c\/em\u003e as the opposite of the ideal Roman way of life, to the Christian poet Prudentius, who represents it in an allegorical fight with Sobriety. The book attends both to key authors and to wider literary genres, such as historiography and satire. Particular consideration is given to the rhetorical device of personification, which can be traced from the first appearances of \u003cem\u003eluxuria\u003c\/em\u003e in Latin literature to those of late antiquity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBerno devotes detailed attention to Seneca the Younger, whose work is often preoccupied with this passion. Seneca both defends himself from the charge of \u003cem\u003eluxuria\u003c\/em\u003e and violently attacks it in others, describing it as the archenemy of a philosophical life. Along the centuries, the focus on \u003cem\u003eluxuria\u003c\/em\u003e shifts from the economic sphere (and the waste of money) to the erotic, to the extent that in the Christian world it becomes one of the Seven Capital Sins representing the vice of lust.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Francesca Romana Berno\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/17\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.80w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780192846402","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":41207848403059,"sku":"9.78019E+12","price":173.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_9df1b208-11cb-429e-9651-aaebde04788d.jpg?v=1704813853","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/roman-luxuria-a-literary-and-cultural-history-9780192846402","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}