Clement Lawrence Smith

Clement Lawrence Smith (born April 13, 1844 in Upper Darby Township , Pennsylvania , † July 1, 1909 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) was an American classical philologist who worked at Harvard University from 1870 .

Life

Clement Lawrence Smith was the son of lawyer George Smith and his wife Mary Lewis Smith. At his father's request, he first studied economics at Haverford College ( AB 1860, MA 1863) to become an entrepreneur. According to his inclination, Clement Lawrence Smith began studying classical studies at Harvard University , from which he graduated in 1863 with a Bachelor of Arts. He got his first job that same year at Haverford College as Assistant Professor of Classics and Mathematics; at the same time he worked there as a librarian. In 1865 he gave up the position and traveled to Europe to deepen his studies. He stayed in Greece, Italy and Germany, where he studied for a year at the University of Göttingen with Ernst Curtius , Ernst von Leutsch , Hermann Sauppe and Friedrich Wieseler .

Upon returning to the United States, Smith taught as Professor of Greek and German at Swarthmore College . In 1870 he moved to Harvard University as a tutor of Latin, where he worked with a few interruptions until the end of his life. In 1873 he was appointed Assistant Professor, later Professor, and finally in 1901 Pope Professor of Latin. Haverford College awarded him an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) in 1888 .

In 1897/98 Smith was director of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome , and in the following year 1898/99 president of the American Philological Association . During his career, Smith did a lot of work in managing Harvard. He has served as Dean of the Faculty and Harvard College several times. In 1904 he retired for health reasons.

Smith's scientific production took a back seat to academic teaching and administration. He dealt with various areas of Roman literature, especially with the school authors Cicero , Catullus , Suetonius and Virgil , but also with Horace and Tacitus . In addition to several articles in the American Journal of Philology and Harvard Studies in Classical Philology , he published a translation of the Odes, Epodes, Epistles and Satires of Horace (1898) and a bibliography of the editions of Horace's Oden and Epodes (1901). With Tracy Peck , he edited the College Series of Latin Authors , a series of study editions by Latin authors.

Fonts (selection)

• Horace. The Odes and Epodes; The Satires and Epistles . Boston 1898. Second edition, Boston 1903
• Bibliography of Editions of the Odes and Epodes of Quintus Horatius Flaccus . Boston 1901
• A boy to educate . Boston 1943

literature

• Ward W. Briggs : Smith, Clement Lawrence . In: Derselbe (ed.): Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists. Greenwood Press, Westport CT et al. 1994, ISBN 0-313-24560-6 , pp. 595f.

Web links

• Entry on Clement Lawrence Smith in the Database of Classical Scholars (English)