Literature
Odi et amo
Catullus 85 is two lines long and refuses to explain itself. That refusal is the poem.
Writing
Essays
Classical tradition, linguistics, philology, and the neighbouring rooms: literature, myth, philosophy, Christianity, and music.
Philosophy
The question is the instrument
Socratic dialogue is less a store of doctrines than a way of pressing a definition until it comes apart in the speaker’s hands.
Mythology
Daphne, afterwards
The laurel on a classical portrait is not a blank ornament. In Ovid it is what Daphne becomes when pursuit leaves her no other exit.
Music
Not a flute
The aulos is a reed instrument, usually a pair of pipes. Calling it a flute is a good way to mishear the ancient stage.
Christianity
A hymn is also a poem
When Prudentius writes a hymn in classical metre, Christianity is not stepping outside the schoolroom. It is using it.