Leslie Cornelius Cox Artistic Use of the Love Charm in Greek and Latin Literature

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Previous to this study, the love charm has been the subject of several dissertations. Two of these, O. Hirschfeld, De incantamentis atque devinctionibus amatoriis apud Graecos Romanosque diss. Regimont, 1863, and U. Kehr, Quaestionum magicarum specimen,progr. Hadersleben, 1884, I regret to say have not been at may disposal. Their results have, however, been largely superseded by investigations made sincethe publication of the magic papyri, particularly those of C. Wessely in 1888, which have revolutionized opinions previously held on this charm. The monograph of L. Fahz, De Romanorum doctrina magica in Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 2.(1904), part 2, though valuable for its collection of examples is partially vitiated by their indiscriminate use. Ivor Bruns in a treatise. Die Liebeszauber bei den augusteischen Dichtern, Preussische Jahrbucher CIII, 1901, pp. 193-220, concerns himself only with one aspect of the subject, and that one which does not materially affect the questions at issue. By far the best study of the whole problem is that of R. Dedo, De antiquorum superstitione amatoria, diss. Gryph. 1904.