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<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:9.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:9.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">We are delighted to invite you to the first presentation of Semester 2, 2026 in our Classics and Ancient History research seminar series.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:9.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">10<sup>th</sup> August 2026 (Monday, 12.15pm UTC+11)
</span></strong><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:9.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">V. Gordon Childe Boardroom, Madsen Building Level 2.</span></strong><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:9.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white">
<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">Zoom link</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">:
</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><a href="https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/81493879684">https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/81493879684</a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">Chair</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">: Anne Rogerson
</span><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:9.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">Professor Paul Roche</span></strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">:
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:#212121">Gratian’s debt: reciprocity, privilege and rhetoric in Ausonius’<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Gratiarum actio.</i></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">Abstract: </span></strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:#212121">My paper examines Ausonius’ consular<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black">Gratiarum
actio</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:#212121"> (late 379). This was a speech made to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the emperor Gratian in thanks for Ausonius’ consulship. I interpret the speech as<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> a
skilful piece of self-fashioning, in which Ausonius presents himself as the beneficiary of an acknowledged debt owed to him by the emperor. Self-fashioning in the speech has drawn some scholarly attention, but its complexity and prominence have not been fully
appreciated. Ausonius’ privileged position, the justification for his political advancement, and Gratian’s ‘debt’ to him, all result from his role as the emperor’s former tutor in rhetoric. Ausonius repeatedly raises the notion of Gratian’s debt to him for
his education: by making reciprocity a programmatic theme of the speech, by quoting and dwelling upon the emperor’s words, and by interweaving the speech with financial and accounting imagery. Ausonius’ denial of this debt only serves to focus the audience’s
attention upon it. A related matter is Ausonius’ demonstration of his close familiarity with Gratian: through his intimate manner of addressing the emperor, his possession of personal letters, his own recollections and his receipt of imperial gifts. A further
related issue is Ausonius’ playing the role of rhetor throughout the speech: in this, he effectively reprises and demonstrates the skills for which Gratian honours him. This can be seen in Ausonius’ citation of literary texts; through his critique of both
his own and Gratian’s language; and through his exposition of the emperor’s virtues by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black">sententia</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:#212121">.
Ausonius thus takes full advantage of his consular thanksgiving to show the value of his former service and the emperor’s abiding appreciation and affection. </span><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style="margin:0cm;background:white"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">Biography: </span></strong><span style="font-size:11.5pt;color:#111111;letter-spacing:.25pt">MA UQ PhD Otago, FAHA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Inter",serif;color:#111111;letter-spacing:.25pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;color:#111111;letter-spacing:.25pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Paul researches and writes on the Latin literature of the late republic and the Roman empire, mainly
in the period from the first century BCE to the first century CE, but occasionally as late as the fifth century. Within this broader field, he has a number of research interests. His main body of work is a sequence of full-scale scholarly commentaries on Lucan’s
brilliant poem <i>Civil War</i> (or <i>De Bello Civili</i> in Latin (book one (Oxford University Press 2009), book seven (Cambridge University Press 2019), currently book ten (contracted to Oxford University Press). He has also undertaken a number of studies
on Pliny’s <i>Panegyricus</i>).</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Inter",serif;color:#111111;letter-spacing:.25pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540">We look forward to seeing you there.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif;color:#273540"><br>
Tamara<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#919191;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">----------------------------------------</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#919191;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">DR TAMARA NEAL FHEA | Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek (Education Focused) | Academic Advisor |
Accredited University-wide Peer Reviewer of Teaching<br>
President </span><a href="https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/Oyo2CXLW2mUqYjr2ys6fL4hWitHs?domain=classics.org.au/"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Helvetica;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Classical Association of NSW</span></a><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#919191;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">
<br>
Classics & Ancient History | School of Humanities | Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences<br>
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><img border="0" width="16" height="10" style="width:.1666in;height:.1041in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DD2340.05CD6990" alt="cidimage001.png@01D70E99.9CD0BE30"> </span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#404040;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">I
acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional custodians of the land (the Cammeraygal and Gadigal of the Eora Nation). It is upon their ancestral lands that I live and work.</span><span style="color:#404040;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><br>
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#ED1C24;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">I support the U</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#EE2824;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">n</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#EF3423;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">i</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F04123;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">v</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F04D23;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">e</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F15922;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">r</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F26522;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">s</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F47620;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">i</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F6881F;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">t</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F8991D;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">y</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#F9AA1C;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#FBBB1A;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">o</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#FDCD19;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">f</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#FFDE17;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#D5D420;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">S</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#AACA28;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">y</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#80C031;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">d</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#55B53A;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">n</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#2BAB42;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">e</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#00A14B;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">y</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#059356;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#098562;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Pride</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1C4E8F;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#21409A;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">N</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#31409A;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">e</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#404099;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">t</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#504099;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">w</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#603F99;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">o</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#6F3F98;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">r</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#7F3F98;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">k</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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