I was saddened yesterday to learn of the death on Monday at age 83 of the esteemed classics scholar Elaine Fantham, who was a teacher of mine three decades ago when she first arrived at Princeton from Toronto.
I remember a graduate seminar she taught on Vergil's Aeneid. Elaine — somehow, calling her Professor Fantham seems overly formal — brought a wealth of knowledge on Roman customs to our reading to help us experience the poem in a fresh way, not just in its relation to Greek epic or its connection to Augustan politics. And she was engaging and entertaining and funny. Wickedly funny.
Elaine had a love of opera and singing — and I seem to recall she had performed in the chorus in productions in her younger days — and while her teaching style was not overly dramatic, she knew how to hold an audience, whether with a witty remark or an unexpected question. And she warmly welcomed students to parties at her apartment in Princeton. (Her primary residence remained in Toronto, to which she retired.)
Elaine was extremely loyal to her students regardless of what they ended up pursuing, and although my own scholarship deals primarily with texts distant chronologically and culturally from classical Rome, she very much wanted to chat with me and "catch up" when I had the opportunity to see her. Her mobility was greatly diminished in her final years, but I was told that she remained a lively presence. I certainly count myself fortunate in having had the opportunity to study with her.