Fulgentius

La place que tient Orphée dans la mythologie et la religion gréco-romaines est connue depuis fort longtemps. Ce qu'on savait moins jusqu'à une époque récente, c'est que le chantre thrace n'a jamais disparu de la culture occidentale. On le retrouve en effet dans la littérature pseudépigraphique de l'époque hellénistique et romaine, chez les Pères de l'Église, dans l'art paléochrétien, la philosophie médiévale et les littératures en langues latine et vernaculaires du Moyen Âge. Le livre de John Block Friedman s'interroge sur les raisons de cette survivance et étudie les métamorphoses de la figure mythique au cours quelque dix-huit siècles qui séparent le judaïsme hellénisé de la Renaissance écossaise.
Cet ouvrage ne met pas seulement à disposition des lecteurs francophones un classique des études médiévales, il présente en outre plusieurs traductions françaises inédites de textes écrits originellement en grec, en latin et dans diverses langues vernaculaires du Moyen Âge.
Une postface intitulée "De l'Orphée juif à l'Orfée écossais" propose un bilan des travaux effectués depuis la publication de l'ouvrage et fait le point sur les perspectives qui s'offrent encore aux chercheurs.

Note: The PDF does not exactly match with the printed book and the page references in the index are not right.

Gottschalk of Orbais (808-867):  His influence upon the transmission of Augustinian theology to the future reformers may make him the de facto source of Protestantism.  His name meant “God’s Servant” (Ussher, Elrington 124) and he was an impressed monk who attained to monastic magister and secular professor (Gillis 154, 156).  He was an accomplished poet and hymnist and missionary among the Balkan Bulgars.  He coined the phrase “the German people (Genke, Lectio 1)” and “confessed that God is sovereign…in election and reprobation (H. Hanko, ‘Martyr’),” “defended by orthodox prelates and provincial synods (Prichard 186).”  Incarcerated for two decades as a yurodivy  hermit forgotten by man, he was “one of the saddest characters of early-medieval German culture (Murdoch, Gottschalk).”  The question whether or not Gottschalk belongs to the category of early reformer hinges upon whether he is more like Fulgentius and Augustine [430 or less years before him] on the one side, or Bradwardine and Rimini [430 years or more after him] on the other (Gumerlock, “Gottschalk” 16).  According to Hans von Schubert , “It is not only our right but also our obligation to regard this German Calvin as one of the first heroes of the history of our faith  (H. Hanko, ‘Martyr’).”

This chapter identifies a typically late antique phenomenon: the emergence of a pervasive “poetics of silence”, involving a metaliterary problematization of language and representation. This phenomenon, reminiscent of the postmodern “linguistic turn”, is not restricted to the field of literature, but can be defined as omnipresent in late antique culture, underlying Augustine’s semiotics, Evagrius Ponticus’ hesychasm, Gregory of Nyssa’s apophatic theology or Pseudo-Dionysius’ negative mysticism. The chapter focuses on the different ways in which this problem (embodied in the metaphor of silence) is tackled by several authors: Sidonius Apollinaris, Fulgentius, Augustine of Hippo, Ausonius, Rutilus Namatianus and the anonymous writer of the Peruigilium Veneris. At times, silence is depicted as the haven of tranquillity which enables literary creation; at other times, it is a threat of dissolution hovering over the fragility of the poet’s work; most often, it is the deep, ultimately unknowable reality beyond the murmuring of words. Despite this variety, there is something common to all these authors: their problematizing approach to human language and their inner distrust of the classical idea of representation, teetering on the brink of collapse amidst the crisis of certainties that shook the very foundations of late antique society.

This is an afterword to the French translation of John Block Friedman's book on "Orpheus in the Middle Ages," Harvard, 1999.

The format of this PDF does not exactly mirror the printed version.

La place que tient Orphée dans la mythologie et la religion gréco-romaines est connue depuis fort longtemps. Ce qu'on savait moins jusqu'à une époque récente, c'est que le chantre thrace n'a jamais disparu de la culture occidentale. On le retrouve en effet dans la littérature pseudépigraphique de l'époque hellénistique et romaine, chez les Pères de l'Église, dans l'art paléochrétien, la philosophie médiévale et les littératures en langues latine et vernaculaires du Moyen Âge. Le livre de John Block Friedman s'interroge sur les raisons de cette survivance et étudie les métamorphoses de la figure mythique au cours quelque dix-huit siècles qui séparent le judaïsme hellénisé de la Renaissance écossaise.
Cet ouvrage ne met pas seulement à disposition des lecteurs francophones un classique des études médiévales, il présente en outre plusieurs traductions françaises inédites de textes écrits originellement en grec, en latin et dans diverses langues vernaculaires du Moyen Âge.
Une postface intitulée "De l'Orphée juif à l'Orfée écossais" propose un bilan des travaux effectués depuis la publication de l'ouvrage et fait le point sur les perspectives qui s'offrent encore aux chercheurs.

Le formatage de ce PDF n'est pas tout à fait le même que celui de la version imprimée

In the first part of this paper, I discuss the autenticity of Fulgentius’ quotations. Following Baldwin and Wolff, I try to show that very often the grammarian is not culpable; instead, I provide some arguments which demonstrate that his erroneous quotations are more likely derived from his sources. In the second part, the paper aims to discuss the text of Apul. met. 5, 9, in order to show that Fulgentius’ quote transmits reasonably the correct lectio.

Abstract – In 1502 Jakub Locher wrote and then staged in Ingolstadt Iudicium Paridis – a work which is a dramatized vision of the judgment of Paris, complaint with moralizing interpretations of this story by Fulgentius (from Mythologiae) and by Giovanni Boccaccio (from Genealogie deorum gentilium). Locher, similarly to his predecessors, concentrates on both the issues of choice and vision of a proper model of human life, which is contrary to the anonymous author of Polish translation printed in 1542 under the title Sąd Parysa, krolowica tojańskiego, (The Judgment of Paris, the Troyan Prince) who rather focuses on the issue of choice and its consequences and more distinctively than the author of the original, christianizes antic matter.

This contribution concerns gruesome tales of cruelty and the intersection of fact and fiction. The case study is the image of some dangerous mythological women: Lilith, Lamia, Alecto, and the
Morrígain. Late-antique and early-medieval authors have clustered (some of) them by identifying them with each other. This contribution tries to explain the etymological association of Furies in general or
Alecto in particular as being ‘unstoppable/incessant’ within a narrative context. While the characteristic of ‘unstoppable’ appeared to make sense for Lilith/Lamia/Alecto, the Morrígain suddenly seemed to fall
outside the equation. She is not a strangler of babies and we have no textual witnesses of her lacerating a male partner after sex. In order to understand Eriugena’s equation of the Morrígain with Lilith/Lamia, we
need to read the whole chapter of the Book of Isaiah to which he added his glosses. This contribution ends with the intersection of human and superhuman when discussing the fifth/sixth-century rule to exclude
from the Christian community those who accused their fellow human beings of being such a destructive supernatural female.

The question of the Law as related to nature and grace was one of the main concerns of those who, after Augustine’s death, defended him against the so-called “Semipelagians”, from Cassian to Faustus of Riez. An analysis of the probable filiations between the texts by Augustine and those of his defenders, Prosper of Aquitaine and Fulgentius of Ruspe, allows us to observe the terms and reasons for the emergence of Augustinianism, in the sense of a partly conscious and partly unconscious hardening of the original doctrine. Although the terms and developments are identical in appearance and deeply rooted in Augustine’s theology, their application to various objects and their integration into new contexts help to give a distorted representation of Augustine’s thought.

Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta testemunhos da tradição manuscrita e impressa e discute sobre o processo de estabelecimento de uma composição poética do prólogo prosimétrico das Mitologias de Fulgêncio, o Mitógrafo, autor latino tardo-antigo e norte-africano. Realiza-se, pois, um estudo de alguns códices e edições que integram, respectivamente, sua tradição manuscrita e impressa, discutindo-se ainda sobre a eventual necessidade de que os tradutores de textos antigos-para além de seguirem uma versão do editor-também se voltem ao estudo da história do texto. Ressaltando-se a relevância do critério métrico para a fixação textual de composições poéticas em textos de tradição politestemunhal, o trabalho demonstra como certa prática reiterada de leitura do modelo contribuiu para o tardio reconhecimento desse escrito fulgenciano como o registro mais antigo de versificação acentual em textos de inspiração não cristã.

Nel capitolo VII ("De stella et magis") della sezione "In evangelia" dell'Historia scholastica, Pietro Comestore riporta una curiosa notizia che non trova altro riscontro letterario: Beda avrebbe creduto che la stella dei Magi caduta nel pozzo di Betlemme fosse stata vista da alcune vergini vissute al tempo di Paola ed Eustochio. I confratelli di Beda, ritenendo il racconto favoloso, avrebbero deciso di allontanarlo temporaneamente dal monastero. L'A. riesce a ricostruire soltanto in parte le fonti usate dal Comestore per l'episodio relativo alla stella dei Magi: accanto all'auctoritas di Fulgenzio dichiarata nel testo, ma in realtà poco sfruttata, si individuano calchi con le "Enarrationes in Mattheum" (attribuite da Migne ad Anselmo di Laon e in seguito al maestro Goffredo Babione), dove tuttavia l'episodio di Beda è assente, ed echi lessicali da Pietro Abelardo e Pietro Lombardo.

The Historia scholastica by the Parisian master Petrus Comestor preserves a singular testimony on the biography of Venerable Bede. The renowned monk had been separated from the community of his fellow monks due to his unacceptable beliefs regarding the star of the Magi. Bede believed the star of the Magi had fallen into a well in Bethlehem and that it had been seen by several virgins who had lived at the time of Paula and Eustochium.

The views of Isidore of Seville on predestination are described based mainly on the
thirtieth chapter of the second book of his De diff erentiis verborum and the sixth chapter
of the third book of his Sententiae. A comparative analysis of the texts of Isidore with
their sources follows. As a result, the author of this article refutes earlier argumentation
claiming that Isidore’s teaching on predestination contained nothing new but was
totally lifted from that of Fulgentius of Ruspe and Gregory the Great. The author on the
contrary points out the original elements in Isidore’s teaching.

En 515, après sept années d’exil en Sardaigne, l’évêque Fulgence de Ruspe est rappelé en Afrique par le roi Thrasamund (496-523) ; comme le mentionne la Vita sancti Fulgentii, notre seule source d’information détaillée sur la vie de l’évêque, ce dernier doit alors participer à une série de disputes publiques avec le clergé arien. De ce bref retour dans sa patrie – Fulgence en sera banni une deuxième fois vers 517 – sont généralement datés deux textes écrits par l’évêque : les Dicta regis Thrasamundi et contra ea responsionum liber unus, appartenant au genre des questions-réponses, et le long traité que constituent les Ad Thrasamundum libri III. Tous deux exposent le contenu de la foi vandale et les réfutations chalcédoniennes de Fulgence, plus développées toutefois dans l’Ad Thrasamundum. Ces textes témoignent aussi des relations tendues entre les deux personnages : on le perçoit à travers le prisme d’une disputatio réelle, puisque les deux adversaires se sont en effet affrontés, mais entièrement contrôlée par Fulgence qui opère une sélection parmi les propos du roi vandale, et les cite afin de systématiquement les critiquer à l’aide de nombreux passages bibliques. Cette stratégie, fréquente dans la littérature dite hérésiologique, s’accompagne d’une représentation ambiguë de la figure de Thrasamund, à la fois destinataire des textes et adversaire de l’évêque. Fulgence présente en effet les principaux points de dissension entre les Vandales et les catholiques de tradition nicéenne, et fait du roi le champion de la cause arienne, mais avec une certaine déférence, sans remettre en cause sa légitimité ni son autorité ; il cherche même manifestement à établir une relation de proximité avec Thrasamund, proche peut-être de celle qu’entretiendrait un maître et son élève. Ainsi, ces textes relèvent à la fois de l’éloquence officielle dans leur style, de la polémique dans leur contenu, et du protreptique dans leur finalité, trois aspects que je me propose d’étudier dans cette communication.

In order to understand the Posthomerica, or further, to show how such an understanding could be more appropriate to modern scholarship, it will be useful to set Quintus Smyrnaeus within his temporal context - a context that is not known an a definite sense: it might have taken place in the period of the Second Sophistic, in the third century A.D., or even at the rising of Late Antiquity literature. So it could be useful to tighten up the paths and detours, the forms and zhe transformations of literature at this time. Where do we find then Quintus Smyrnaeus?

TRES VERSIONES TARDOANTIGUAS DE VIRGILIO: SERVIO, MACROBIO Y FULGENCIO
RESUMEN
El presente trabajo realiza un recorrido representativo por la construcción de la figura de Virgilio en la Antigüedad Tardía, tomando como corpus las obras de Servio, Macrobio y Fulgencio, textos  latinos. El objetivo supone un doble movimiento: por un lado, dilucidar las distintas versiones de Virgilio en las lecturas del Tardoantiguo, por otro, vislumbrar algunos problemas y preocupaciones comunes a las producciones literarias de la época, que surgen a partir del eje de la construcción del poeta.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Virgilio- Tardoantiguo- enciclopedismo

ABSTRACT
The present paper aims to trace a path of some of the late antique representations of Virgil, particularly those present in the works of Servius, Macrobius and Fulgentius, which constitute a group of encyclopedic Latin texts. Our purpose implies a double movement: on one hand, we will try to elucidate the different versions of Virgil in Late Antique readings; on the other hand, we plan to perceive how some reflections, which are common to the all the Literature of the period, emerge anchored to the figure of the Mantuan poet.

KEW-WORDS: Vergil- Late Antiquity- Encyclopedism

In questa nota, prendendo spunto da un contributo pubblicato nel 1987 da Francesco Bausi, viene posta attenzione sulla «Canzona sopra il carro delle tre dee» di Jacopo Nardi ispirata al mito del giudizio di Paride. La lettura allegorica del mito di Paride era stata proposta - fra gli altri - già da Antonio Galateo nel suo trattatello «De dignitate disciplinarum», di cui è qui riportato un brano. Tale brano ha come probabile fonte i «Mitologiarum libri tres» di Fulgenzio.

Esta é a primeira tradução alipogramática para a língua portuguesa do prólogo da obra De aetatibus mundi et hominis, creditada ao escritor africano Fulgêncio, o Mitógrafo. Inserida no período da Antiguidade Tardia, a De aetatibus se trata de um lipograma consecutivo subdivido em 14 Livros, em que se evita o emprego de unidades lexicais que contenham os grafemas relativos às 14 letras inicias do alfabeto adotado por seu compositor. Ademais, embora exista uma discussão acerca do caráter constrangido do prólogo, busca-se, nesta tradução, seguir a conformação alipogramática presente na edição crítica de Rudolf Helm (1898). Note-se, por fim, que este trabalho se insere em um projeto de pesquisa mais abrangente, que visa à elaboração de duas propostas tradutórias diversas da De aetatibus, uma lipogramática, voltada para a valorização de sua dimensão poética, e outra alipogramática, destinada, sobretudo, aos que almejam acessar o texto de partida latino através de uma linguagem mais fluida...

RESUMO: Esta é a primeira tradução alipogramática para a língua portuguesa do prólogo da obra De aetatibus mundi et hominis, creditada ao escritor africano Fulgêncio, o Mitógrafo. Inserida no período da Antiguidade Tardia, a De aetatibus se trata de um lipograma consecutivo subdivido em 14 Livros, em que se evita o emprego de unidades lexicais que contenham os grafemas relativos às 14 letras inicias do alfabeto adotado por seu compositor. Ademais, embora exista uma discussão acerca do caráter constrangido do prólogo, busca-se, nesta tradução, seguir a conformação alipogramática presente na edição crítica de Rudolf Helm (1898). Note-se, por fim, que este trabalho se insere em um projeto de pesquisa mais abrangente, que visa à elaboração de duas propostas tradutórias diversas da De aetatibus, uma lipogramática, voltada para a valorização de sua dimensão poética, e outra alipogramática, destinada, sobretudo, aos que almejam acessar o texto de partida latino através de uma linguagem mais fluida. / ABSTRACT: This is the first alipogrammatic translation into Portuguese of the prologue of the work De aetatibus mundi et hominis, credited to the African writer Fulgentius, the Mythographer. Inserted in the Late Antiquity period, De aetatibus is a consecutive lipogram subdivided into 14 Books, in which the use of lexical units containing graphemes related to the 14 initial letters of the alphabet adopted by its composer is avoided. Furthermore, although there is a discussion about the constrained character of the prologue, this translation seeks to follow the alipogrammatic conformation present in the critical edition of Rudolf Helm (1898). Finally, it should be noted that this work is part of a more comprehensive research project, which aims to develop two different translation proposals from De aetatibus, one lipogrammatic, which seeks to highlight its poetic dimension, and another alipogrammatic, aimed, above all, at those who wish to access the Latin text through a more fluid language.

The paper deals with an analysis of eight quotations of ancient Greek texts in Fulgentius's work entitled The Exposition of the Content of Virgil According to Moral Philosophy. Fabius Planciades Fulgentius was the first Christian writer who decided to allegorize Virgil's Aeneid. In his sense, the book has a universal meaning: it is a representation of the development of human life from birth to manhood. Fulgentius uses Greek quotations from Homer, Euripides, Carneades and the Corpus Hermeticum collection as arguments from authority. In the prologue, Greek quotations have a deeper philosophical meaning and they illustrate a difference between the philosophical principles substance and accident. In other parts of his work he uses quotations for an etymological interpretation of the names of some persons in