A collection of essays on the Astronomica of the first-century Stoic author Manilius, a poem which purports to teach the reader the art of astrology and the means by which an accurate horoscope may be cast. An international team of scholars analyse this dynamic poem from a variety of perspectives.

1. Introduction: A century of Manilian scholarship ; I. INTELLECTUAL AND SCIENTIFIC BACKDROP ; 2. More sentiment than science: Roman stargazing before and after Manilius ; 3. Manilius' conflicted Stoicism ; 4. Myth and explanation in Manilius ; II. INTEGRITY AND CONSISTENCY ; 5. Watch this space (getting round book 1: 215-46) ; 6. On two Stoic 'paradoxes' in Manilius ; 7. Manilian self-contradiction ; 8. Arduum ad astra: The poetics and politics of horoscopic failure in Manilius' Astronomica ; III. METAPHORS ; 9. Tropes and figures: Manilian style as a reflection of astrological tradition ; 10. Sums in verse or a mathematical aesthetic? ; 11. Census and commercium: Two economic metaphors in Manilius ; IV. DIDACTIC DIGRESSIONS ; 12. Digressions, intertextuality, and ideology in didactic poetry: The case of Manilius ; 13. Cosmos and imperium: Politicized digressions in Manilius' Astronomica ; 14. A song from the universal chorus: The Perseus and Andromeda epyllion ; V. RECEPTION ; 15. Augustus, Manilius, and Claudian ; 16. Renaissance reception of Manilius' anthropology ; 17. Lorenzo Bonincontri's reception of Manilius' chapter on comets (Astr. 1.809-926)

This volume can certainly be used to show (to students, for example) how knowledge should not stay fixed and dogmatic and how the different disciplines in classics, such as philosophy, epistemology, and literature, should always have dialogues with one another. I must stress the open-mindedness not only of the editors, but also of the seventeen contributors who are often openly criticized by their fellow contributors to the same volume. This volume is well constructed and easy to use.

Undertakes a detailed and scholarly investigation into a previously neglected Roman poet Combines literary, philosophical, socio-political, and astrological analyses of Manilius Written by a distinguished international team of contributors, whose differing approaches provide variety and interest throughout

Undertakes a detailed and scholarly investigation into a previously neglected Roman poet Combines literary, philosophical, socio-political, and astrological analyses of Manilius Written by a distinguished international team of contributors, whose differing approaches provide variety and interest throughout