Thursday 17 February, Junior Parlour, T Staircase, Blue Boar Court, Trinity College
Nick Hardy (Oxford), 'Patrick Young and the study of Greek literature in Britain and the republic of letters, 1609-1657'

As royal librarian to James and then Charles, Patrick Young devoted most of his career to the study and publication of Greek texts. Many of these were ecclesiastical, and had a clear relevance to contemporary religious affairs. Others, however, were not; and even in his work on early Christianity, Young demonstrated a profound knowledge of and interest in a broader spectrum of Greek literary history, from the pagan classics to the literature of Byzantium.

Young's correspondents and colleagues fell into two categories. Some were renowned theological authors, mostly based in Britain; some were great classical scholars and members of the European republic of letters. The most influential figure in his career was Isaac Casaubon, who occupied both. What, if any, institutional contexts can explain Young's intellectual preoccupations? What did it mean for Young to be a 'Hellenist', rather than an expert on ancient languages in general? And what is the significance of the freedom with which he absorbed and juxtaposed sacred and secular forms of Greek culture?

Thursday 3 March, Junior Parlour, T Staircase, Blue Boar Court, Trinity College
Luke Houghton (Glasgow), 'Some neo-Latin responses to Virgil's fourth Eclogue'.

From antiquity onwards, Virgil's fourth Eclogue, the so-called 'messianic' eclogue, has been endlessly quoted, adapted and transformed for a multitude of different purposes, across a wide variety of literary and artistic media. This presentation provides the opportunity to explore some of the ways in which Virgil's poem has been used by writers of neo-Latin poetry and prose, from papal Rome to Medici Florence to Jacobite Scotland - and beyond. Examination of the spheres of politics, religion and aesthetics reveals how negotiations with the text of the fourth Eclogue can reflect something of the ideals, attitudes and aspirations of the authors who engaged with Virgil's composition, of the patrons for whom they wrote, and of the societies within with they were operating.

Thursday 17 March, Godwin Room, D Staircase, Old Court, Clare College
David Money (Cambridge), 'How to write Latin poetry'.