Eclogues

Translating Virgil’s Bucolics is a hard challenge for the Italian translators, both for the inherent musicality of the text and because of the long literary tradition of Arcadia. The analysis of the different approaches to the text during the XX century and the comparison between the solutions can give a measure of these difficulties, but also illuminate historical and ideological influences.
Key words: Virgil’s Bucolics; translation; Italian literary taste in XX century; fascism.

In Virgil’s Eclogues, beside the main model of Theocritus, there is a strong influence of the new Latin love elegy by Gallus. This is particularly evident in the ecll. 2, 8 and 10, Theocritean in form, but marked by a new vision of love and poetry.

Eva LARA y Alberto MONTANER (coords.), Señales, Portentos y Demonios: La magia en la literatura y la cultura españolas del Renacimiento, Salamanca, Sociedad de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas, 2014, 950 pp., 232 ils.— ISBN 978-84-941708-2-9

This article is the first study on Benedetto Varchi's "Dafni" (1539), an early example of his pastoral pastoral poetry. It argues that this poem, composed in blank verse, should be read in the context of  the revival of classical pastoral poetry (and more specifically Theocritus) in vernacular literature developed by Iacopo Sannazaro and Luigi Alamanni. It also shows that Varchi's eclogue is the first (and so far only) example of a translation of Baldassar Castiglione's "Alcon"-—an aspect that has so far eluded modern scholarship. The article is followed by a critical edition of "Dafni" together with a commentary.

The meaning of the Arcadia in Virgil’s Eclogues, often misunderstood, is understandable chiefly in ecl. 10. Here Arcadia symbolizes Virgil’s bucolic poetry, original in comparison with that of Theocritus: for this purpose the poet imagines ancient and noble origins in the land of Pan. Even the myth of the descent of the Romans from the Arcadians is perhaps useful for Virgil to assert the originality of his poetry.

À la différence du nom Fortuna, qui désigne le destin dans ce qu’il a d’imprévisible et changeant, l’adiectif dérivé  fortunatus est toujours pris en bonne part dans l’oeuvre de Virgile. Un examen plus précis permet de constater qu’est dit fortunatus celui qui justement èchappe aux caprices redoutables du destin: les bergers des Bucoliques, qui ne perçoivent qu’un écho lointain des conflicts, les paysans des Géorgiques ou les peuples du Latium primitif. On ne devient pas fortunatus par un effet de la volonté, mais en s’abandonnant à une sagesse innée, qui fait apprécier les vrais biens de l’existence. Les morts enfin sont, par excellence, des fortunati, et ce d’autant plus s’ils ont eu la chance d’une mort glorieuse au combat. L’analyse du mot permet ainsi de reconstituer l’idée que Virgile se fait du bonheur, lequel est pratiquement hors d’atteinte en ce monde.

Lo studio dell’aggettivo fortunatus in Virgilio merita una particolare attenzione perché, a differenza del sostantivo Fortuna, solitamente impiegato del poeta a designare la mutevolezza e la temibilità della sorte, si riferisce sempre a condizioni positive, non però nel senso di un generico benessere, ma con precise caratteristiche. Fortunatus è infatti chi si trova fuori dal dominio della Fortuna, come i pastori delle ecloghe, sottratti alla violenza della storia, o gli agricolae delle Georgiche, o i popoli del Lazio primitivo. Fortunatus è chi, non per suo merito, gode di un’innata saggezza che gli fa apprezzare i veri beni della vita. Fortunati sono poi naturalmente i morti, e in special modo i caduti che hanno avuto la ventura di morire gloriosamente in guerra. L’analisi del termine consente così di ricostruire il pensiero virgiliano in relazione alla felicità, che gli appare praticamente irraggiungibile nella vita umana.

In this article I begin by comparing and contrasting our reading practice regarding acrostics with our practice regarding allusions and intertexts, looking in particular at the problematic notion of authorial intention; I suggest an approach that assumes that ancient learned readers were on the look-out for acrostics, just as they were for allusions, and that they would test them for significance (as we imagine they did for allusions). I then apply this approach to the beginning and end of the Aeneid, and the beginning of the Metamorphoses, exploring how our reading of these well-studied passages changes if we pay attention to the acrostics and telestics that this process unearths. I note among other things how the presence of ILUS, of ARMA and a man, and of a Horatian MUS and a Vergilian ERATO can enrich our reading of the text. I close with an old and particularly controversial acrostic in Eclogue 4 (CACATA) that presents a potential challenge to my approach.

On a toujours soupçonné que Gallus avait fourni le modèle dont s’inspiraient conjointement le propemptikòn Lycoridis de Virgile (ecl. 10, 46-49) et Prop. 1, 8, si proches. Faut-il trouver dans ce réseaux textual des traits polémiques, comme on l’a souvent dit? On peut plutôt penser que Virgilie évoquaitsimplement la fin de l’activité poétique de Gallus, tandis que Properce, utilisant le propemptikòn Lycoridis comme un pivot, inversait l’orientation propre à Gallus pour restaurer une vision positive de la poésie.

Le evidenti somiglianze tra Virg. ecl. 10, 46-49 (il cosiddetto propemptikòn Lycoridis) e Prop. 1, 8 hanno sempre lasciato sospettare un modello comune nella poesia di Gallo Il rapporto di Virgilio e di Properzio con esso non è però necessariamente polemico, come spesso si è sostenuto, ma forse l’ecloga allude alla cessazione dell’attività letteraria di Gallo, mentre l’elegia properziana potrebbe indicare il propemptikòn come momento conclusivo della produzione galliana da cui il successore riparte invertendo l’esito della vicenda e recuperando una considerazione positiva della poesia.

"Na niebie wszystkie rzeczy dobrze są zrządzone" – harmonia wszechświata a mikrokosmos folwarku. O "Żeńcach" Szymona Szymonowica i ich związkach z myślą neoplatońską [w zbiorze:] Inspiracje platońskie literatury staropolskiej. Materiały z konferencji zorganizowanej przez Zespół Badań Literackich nad Historią Kultury Epok Dawnych Instytutu Literatury Polskiej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 14-15 października 1998 r. Pod red. A. Nowickiej-Jeżowej i P. Stępnia. Warszawa 2000, s. 163-202.

Questo lavoro si focalizza sull'immagine dell'incoronazione poetica presente nelle prime esperienze poetiche latine del Boccaccio. Il tema sembra essere particolarmente caro al Certaldese, che lo sviluppa sia nella giovanile corrispondenza bucolica con Checco di Meletto Rossi del 1347-'48, che nell'epistola al Petrarca "Ytalie iam certus honos", la cui datazione è qui mantenuta agli anni 1351-’53, nonostante un recentissimo tentativo di datazione seriore.  Ad alimentare la ricorrenza dell'immagine è senza dubbio la contingenza "storica" dell'incoronazione ufficiale del suo amico e maestro (1341), ma anche la questione del riconoscimento poetico affrontata nella corrispondenza bucolica di Dante con Giovanni del Virgilio (1320-’21), già nota da tempo al Boccaccio. Petrarca e Dante dunque costituiscono le figure più "degne" della gloria poetica e appaiono come esempi attivi di emulazione per il giovane poeta. L'articolo percorre l'evoluzione di queste figure nell’immaginario boccacciano concentrandosi soprattutto nel recupero di alcune allusioni presenti nei testi bucolici. Le allusioni concernono la scelta di specifici nomi per alcuni personaggi della "fictio" bucolica ("Mopso" per Petrarca e "Aminta" per Dante), la filigrana delle riprese intertestuali e, infine, la caratterizzazione dei poeti-pastori di volta in volta evocati con elementi peculiari (nella fattispecie, i "signa" floreali dell’incoronazione poetica, come l’alloro, il mirto e l’edera).

This paper focuses on the imagery of poetic coronation in Boccaccio’s early Latin poems. That seems to be a matter of special interest for the Certaldese, who develops it in his early bucolic correspondence with Checco di Meletto Rossi (1347-’48), as well as in his epistle to Petrarch “Ytalie iam certus honos”, which is here still assigned to 1351-’53, despite a very recent hypothesis of dating it later. To nourish such interest is with no doubts the “historical” event of the official coronation of his friend and master (1341), but also the question of poetical recognition arising in Dante’s bucolic correspondence with Giovanni del Virgilio (1320-’21), which Boccaccio already knew for a while. Therefore, Petrarch and Dante appear as figures deserving the most poetical glory, as well as influent models for the young poet. The paper aims to outline the evolution of such figures in Boccaccio’s imagery by gathering especially some allusions appearing in his early bucolic poems. These allusions concern in particular the choice of specific names for some shepherds acting in his pastoral fiction (“Mopso” as Petrarch and “Aminta” as Dante), the weft of intertextual cross-references, and finally the characterisation of the evoked shepherds-poets by some peculiar elements (namely, the floral “signa” of poetic coronation, such as laurel, myrtle, and ivy).

Abstract. I primi 5 versi dell’ecl. 1 sintetizzano il programma poetico della raccolta virgiliana, istituendo un riconoscibile confronto con il modello teocriteo, già superato nella nuova spiritualità di Melibeo, e con gli altri modelli fondamentali dell’opera, tra cui spiccano la tradizione callimachea e –in àmbito latino– Lucrezio e molto probabilmente la nuova elegia di Cornelio Gallo.

In Virgil’s Eclogues the Muses Pierides are always represented as authors of the poems, like in the Gallus papyrus from Qaṣr Ibrîm. Their presence in passages allusive to the verses of the papyrus and the employ of the epithet by Prop. 2, 10 and 2, 13 in texts rich of gallan references let suspect that the word Pierides was already in Gallus’ poetry and perhaps in the lacuna at v. 6 of the papyrus.

A comparison between ecl. 1 and ecl. 10 shows not only the deep differences of the new Virgilian pastoral poetry from Theocrit's bucolic, but confirms even Virgil's lack of confidence in the power of poetry to solace real sorrow, an idea mantained in the whole Bucolicon liber. Interesting analogies between the first and the last eclogue help also to explain Virgil's farewell to his bucolic production.

Keywords: Theocritean and Virgilian bucolic; poetry and “medecine for sorrow”; Latin love elegy.

This article interprets the figure of Daphnis in Vergil’s Eclogues as a sustained allegory for the poet Lucretius. I show how a Lucretian interpretation of his character unifies the diverse appearances of the living, dying, and deified Daphnis in Eclogues 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9. I examine how Virgil sets up parallels between the Lucretian Daphnis, the deified iuuenis of Eclogue 1 (Octavian?), and the deified Julius Caesar in Eclogue 9, but also how he ultimately distinguishes the peaceful Daphnis from the destructive forces of the Caesars.

In Virgil’s 10th eclogue the two occurrences of labor, a word unusual in the Bucolics, may be a hint at Gallus’ love elegy, as Prop. 1, 1, 9-16 seems to confirm; as a consequence, they may suggest a relationship between this type of poetry and Theocritus’ pastoral, i. e. between the two main models of the eclogue.
Key words: Virgil’s ecl. 10; Gallus’ love elegy; Theocritus’ pastoral; Properce and Virgil.

What are myths? Are there ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ versions? And where do they come from? These and many other related questions are addressed in Writing Down the Myths, a collection of critical studies of the contents of some of the most famous mythographic works from ancient, classical, medieval, and modern times, and of the methods, motivations, and ideological implications underlying these literary records of myth.

While there are many works on myth and mythology, and on the study of this genre of traditional narrative, there is little scholarship to date on the venerable activity of actually writing down the myths (mythography), attested throughout history, from the cultures of the ancient Middle East and the Mediterranean to those of the modern world. By assembling studies of the major literary traditions and texts through a variety of critical approaches, this collection poses - and seeks to answer - key questions such as these: how do the composers of mythographic texts choose their material and present them; what are the diverse reasons for preserving stories of mythological import and creating these mythographic vessels; how do the agenda and criteria of pre-modern writers still affect our popular and scholarly understanding of myth; and do mythographic texts (in which myths are, so to speak, captured by being written down) signal the rebirth, or the death, of mythology?

In Virg. ecl. 10 the image of the trees is often connected to love and they grow together. This is for Virgil a means to reflect about the sense of poetry and to quote the main models of the eclogue, Theocritus, Gallus’ elegy and Virgilian bucolic. Theocritus’ poetics is fully overcome.

Keywords: Virgilian bucolic poetry, Theocritus; Gallus’ love elegy; sense and failure of poetry.

Recalling shift in paradigms for thinking about eclogues: deconstructing 'pastoral' as genre to recover 'epos' as frame in & against which Virgil worked through its three registers: bucolic/heroic & epical species in between, all of which manifest in eclogues III, IIII, IV, VI. But remembering teachers who helped to shape the course.

In Virg. ecl. 7 many clues can suggest the presence of Gallus' poetry as interlocutor and model for Virgil. Besides Theocritus, the author seems to refer to the Gallan poems in a complex dialogue about the originality of the new Latin poetic genres, Virgilian bucolic and Gallan elegy.

Key words: Latin love elegy; Theocritus; Virgilian bucolic; polemic against critics.

Abstract. L’Ecloga VII di Virgilio, giudicata da Servio paene tota Theocriti, è in realtà un componimento ricco di spunti originali, entro il quale Teocrito è citato come termine di confronto: in tal modo il poeta latino può affermare e sottolineare la novità della propria produzione bucolica, debitrice di altri modelli, anche attinti dal panorama culturale contemporaneo.

Abstract. Virgil’s Eclogue VII, judged paene tota Theocriti by Servius, is instead a poem rich of original features, in which Theocritus is a basis for comparison. In this way the Latin poet is able to show and to highlight the novelty of his bucolic production, that is influenced also by other models, among which there are the most modern trends of the contemporary Latin poetry.

This paper was read at the 5th Conference of the School of Philosophy, National and Capodistrian University of Athens on "Philosophy and Cosmology", in the occasion of the 2400th birthday of Aristotle, 18-20 October 2016.
In this paper I argue that in order to gain a better understanding of Virgil's song of Silenus, not only a knowledge of philosophy and cosmology is essential, but also a perception of Alexandria as a centre of sciences. Published in: Electryone Vol. 5, Issue 2, (2017) pp. 33-48:
http://www.electryone.gr/?p=1164

(UNCORRECTED PREPRINT)

In the early modern age, pastoral poetry became a current genre of the praise of rulers, kings and emperors. In spite of its overwhelming richness and contemporaneous importance, this branch of the bucolic genre has received relatively little attention from researchers. Even in comprehensive works on the history of the genre, one often finds hasty remarks, e.g. that these panegyric poems were foremost influenced by Vergil's Eclogue 4. The present paper offers a short overview of the immense diversity of the genre, paying great attention not only to Vergil, but also to the decisive influence of Calpurnius Siculus, Sannazaro and Baptista Mantuanus, as well as to the techniques of the Kreuzung der Gattungen, mainly to the interaction between pastoral and epic poetry. The analysis shows that, in spite of the huge variety of forms and the large distances in time and space, the image of the ideal emperor is surprisingly constant, and that the picture of the mythical Golden Age is almost completely drawn with the motives of the idealized reign of Augustus taken from epic poetry

The structure of Vergil’s Eclogues has been much discussed and various models have been proposed to describe the different ways in which the poems are linked to each other. Two general types of models have been proposed. That of the concentric or recessive panel is well known, but somewhat deficient in that it ignores the inner dynamism of the collection. Models that take these dynamic aspects into account do so at the cost of some of the advantages of the concentric panel. This article proposes a new model to express the structure of Vergil’s Eclogues based on a synthesis of current models and recent criticism. One that not only describes the simple thematic correspondences between individual poems or plots the development of themes through the collection, but also attempts expresses the different levels of closeness of correspondence between individual poems and groups of poems in the collection.

Copyright © 2017 The Classical Association of the Atlantic States. These are uncorrected page proofs of an article to appear in CLASSICAL WORLD, Volume 111, Issue 1, Fall 2017, pages 7–25. Please consult the final version once published, available on Project Muse.

Abstract: Long before the Harvard School, the earliest audiences of Vergil’s Aeneid were conditioned to hear “two voices” in the epic. Vergil’s Eclogues had already illustrated and evoked dialogic interpretations; the epic’s ekphrases, including the Trojan War frieze at Carthage, show the subjective nature of all aesthetic response; and the ancient vita tradition framed the text of the Aeneid, like Pallas’ baldric, as an object of political contestation. In tying the epic’s publication to the death of its author, the Aeneid’s object history continues to implicate all readers, from Augustus to the designers of the 9/11 Memorial in New York, in a struggle for interpretive control.

CORRIGENDA to the attached proofs include the following: p. 9, line 7, read c. 39 BCE; p. 10, Aen. 1.b, strike comma after coegi; p. 10, second paragraph, add silvestrem to Ecl. 1.2 quotation; p. 10, second paragraph, read Calp. Sic. Ecl. 4.158-163; p. 11, 11th line from bottom, read 11-13; p. 13, inset translation, read “Dionean”; p. 14, translation at top of page, read “even the mind” and “these things of yours”; p. 16, first line after inset quotation, remove umlauts on “naïve”; p. 17, midway down page, “wedlock, [and] veils,” Aen. 4.172; p. 17, second line from bottom, read Georgics 3.16-39; p. 18, first line of Section III, delete initial “But” and clarify pronouns in quotation below; p. 22, third paragraph: references should read Pliny HN 7.114 and Tr. 1.7.22-30; p. 23, second line, read Vit. Verg. 33-34; throughout, organize references chronologically and do not hyphenate Harvard School when used as a compound modifier.