North American Scholar

A.B. (Phi Beta Kappa) University of California, Berkeley (1948); M.A. (1949); Ph.D. (1953).

Asst. in classics, U. of Utah, 1949-50; Fulbright Scholar & Fellow, AAR (1953-55); instr. class., Cornell, 1955-57; acting instr. Stanford U., summer 1956; asst. prof classics, U. Pennsylvania (1957-62); assoc. prof. classics (1962-66); asst. dean College of Arts & Sciences (1960-62); vice dean (1962-64); acting dean, Spring 1964; prof. classics Ohio State, (1966-92); chair dept. classics, 1966-68, 1980-88; dean, College of Humanities, 1968-70; dir. APA, (1968-72); pres. Vergilian Society of America (1975-76); CAMWS, (1977-78); professor-in-charge, Summer School, AAR (1966); resident in classical studies, 1986; trustee, 1981-83; acting Mellon Professor-in-Charge, School of Classical Studies (1988-1989); Latin Examination Comm., Advanced Placement Examination, 1967-74; chairman, 1972-74; professor-in-charge, Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies (1974-75); chair, managing comm., 1975-82; pres. Association of Departments of Foreign Languages, 1986; scholar-in-residence, Hope College, 1993.

“Erasure of the Antonii Names and the Dating of the Capitoline Fasti” (California, 1954).

“The Study of Latin Inscriptions,” CW 52 (1959) 237-244; “The Role of Faunus in Horace, Carmina I,4,” TAPA 92 (1961) 13-19; “An Inscription of Trajan Decius from Cosa,” AJP 83 (1961) 147-158; “Dio and Plutarch on the damnatio of Antony,” CP 57 (1962) 30-32; “The Early Career of Fulvia,” AJP 86 (1965) 1-32; “Si certus inrarit dolor. A Reconsideration of Horace's Fifteenth Epode,” AJP 87 (1966) 400-19; “Horace, Carm. I, 32 and the Dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus,” CP 62 (1967) 189-92; Omne militabitur bellum. The Language of Commitment in Epode 1,” CJ 70 (1974) 14-31; “Recreatioand consilium in the Pierian Cave,” CJ 75 (1979) 1-9; “Horace, Epodes 13. Some Comments on Language and Meaning,” Wege der Worte. Festschrift für Wolfgang Fleischhauer, ed. D.C. von Riechel (Köln: Böhlau, 1978) 107-118; “Carmina operosa. Critical Approaches to the Odes of Horace, 1945-1975” ANRW II N° 31.3 (1981) 1560-1611; “Sola... multis e matribus: A Comment on Vergil's Trojan Women,” The Two Worlds of the Poet: New Perspectives on Vergil, ed. Robert M. Wilhelm & Howard Jones (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1992) 39-50; “ ‘Vir bonus dicendi peritus atque vivendi’: Clarence A. Forbes, on the Advent of his 100th Birthday,” CB 77,1 (2001) 127-128.

Not even his heroic combat experience as a Captain of infantry in the European Theater of Operations in World War II (for which he was awarded the Bronze Star with a Valor device) could dampen Charles Babcock’s love of Italy and the sites of Roman literature and history. After being demobbed in 1947 after serving as an aide to Gen. Jon B. Coulter, this California native returned to Berkeley where he completed his interrupted undergraduate career and completed his graduate training. Throughout his long and distinguished career as teacher, scholar, and administrator, he never ceased to share his enthusiasm for Rome with students in his classroom and especially on site. His personal warmth and administrative skills successfully served both the Summer School and the School of Classical Studies at the American Academy at Rome, as well as the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies. A scholarship was established in his name to support students studying in Italy. Following a successful stint as an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to Ohio State, where was the first dean of the newly created College of Humanities. His service to Ohio State was recognized with numerous awards, including the Alfred Wright Award (1968), the first College of Humanities Exemplary Faculty Award in 1989 (now called the Babcock Award), and the Distinguished Service Award (1996). He received an Ovatio from CAMWS in 1982.