DOCSLIB.ORG

Cicero's Somnium Scipionis and Chaucer's Early

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cicero's Somnium Scipionis and Chaucer's Early “FOR I HADDE RED OF AFFRYCAN BYFORN:” CICERO’S SOMNIUM SCIPIONIS AND CHAUCER’S EARLY DREAM VISIONS Timothy A. Shonk When Marcus Tullius Cicero began his contemplative work on the perfect state, De re publica, he confronted two questions, one public and one per- sonal, that must have consumed his psychic energies: how to remain influential in the growth of the Roman state after his year of exile in Greece, and how to ensure that his words and concomitant reputation for rhetorical power endured. To answer the first question, Cicero, removed from the office of Consul and the hall of the Senate, had little choice in continuing to work to meld the classes into an ideal functioning govern- ment but to “do so from his study.”1 To this end, he developed an imagined conversation, closely modeled on Plato’s Republic, featuring personages who loomed large in Rome’s recent history: among them, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus the Younger, Manius Manillus, Publius Rutilus Rufus, and Quintus Mucius Scaevola. The primary speaker, Scipio the Younger, following an opening discussion of the possible explanations of the recent phenomenon of two suns in one day, begins the theme that dominates the work: the three types of government—dictatorship, aristo- cratic rule, and pure democracy of rule by the people—outlining the mer- its and demerits of each system before settling on the view that Rome comes closest to perfection in balancing the three types as best as can be imagined. The second question consuming Cicero had to be his future and his name. Out of the power of government and away from the eyes of the crowds, his rhetorical skills were of limited benefit. Whereas his powerful speeches had in earlier days made his name, those opportunities in the larger arena of public debate in the largest city must have seemed forever gone. Ironically, given Scipio the Elder’s admonition to the Younger in Book 6 of De re publica—“Do you suppose that your fame or that of any of us could ever go beyond those settled and explored regions?”2—Cicero 1 Anthony Everitt, Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician (New York, 2001), p. 178. 2 Marcus Tullius Cicero, De re publica, trans. Clinton Walker Keyes (Cambridge, UK, 1943). All subsequent citations from Cicero are from this source, and page numbers will be 86 timothy a. shonk needed the public acclaim that brought power to his ideas, and, like any serious author, feared the thought of his words and actions being lost from the public forum forever. True, his public performances had been remarkable, but the vibrations of sound in the air are as ephemeral as the moment that prompts them, and the memories of those hearing the speeches inevitably fail and die. As Levitt describes it, “a speech was a one-time, live event like an actor’s performance and that, in the public eye, he would be only as good as his latest appearance.”3 The remaining hope of some permanence, then, was that the words would be recorded, available to the reading public for some time after the moment, the live event, had ended. There were no scribes, of course, sitting at his feet recording his speeches, and “publication” in his time resembled nothing like that which came with the advent of print- ing, though one could argue that blogs and personal websites return us to the self-publishing stage. Thus, Cicero accepted the responsibility that others in the pre-publication centuries did: he wrote out his thoughts and speeches, committing them to the written word and ensuring that his words survived beyond the “one-time event.” I do not mean to argue that Cicero was as shallow, as self-occupied as this brief summary suggests. There is every indication in his work and in the views of his peers that his concerns about and models for the social and political welfare always remained central to his work. Indeed, in his defense of the rhetorician (De oratore), he envisioned rhetoric as means by which the morally good life could be presented and advocated.4 His superb speaking performances, then, were linked in his mind to his hope that the Republic would indeed develop into a harmonious, moral society, and it was the power and persuasion of rhetoric that could effect this end. But Cicero was human and, one would think, as is the case for nearly every person in a position of prominence, at least a little vain, wanting his name remembered, as those names in the conversation of De re publica were remembered, and his words preserved. And preserved they were, of course. Although the manuscripts of De re publica have survived in a fragmented state, they have survived. For a cited parenthetically within the text. William Harris Stahl, Macrobius: Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (New York, 1952), pp. 69–77 provides a translation of the Somnium based upon the interpretation of Macrobius that varies slightly but not substantially. 3 Everitt, p. 179. 4 Ibid..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 4 a Pocockian Moment
    77 4 A Pocockian Moment My encounter with John G. A. Pocock, not in person but in bookish mode, took place more than two decades ago in rather unexpected cir- cumstances. It was in the course of my struggle with a couple of medieval English poems that I came across The Machiavellian Moment. 1 Reading it was for me a revealing experience and helpful in making out those oth- erwise intractable pieces of work. The poems in question were by Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame and The Parliament of Fowls, both belonging to the medieval poetic genre called the “dream vision,” in which the poet/narrator describes in the first person singular the con- tents of a dream. Briefly put, the visionary experience comprising The House of Fame is made up largely of three sections through which the poet/narrator goes through: (1) in the first section (called the Temple of Venus) we are given an abridged version of the story of the Aeneid as the poet/narrator sees it portrayed on the walls of the temple. It should be noted for our present purposes that the Virgilian story is an exemplary instance of the topos “translatio imperii ”; (2) in the second section, the poet/narrator undergoes a version of the cosmic flight vision, in which the visionary/narrator describes his/her flight from the earth to some higher place. Its celebrated examples include the Somnium Scipionis, Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae (esp. Book IV, metrum I), and Dante’s Paradiso. In Chaucer’s House of Fame, however, as we shall see later, what is supposed to be a transcendental cosmic flight was parodied so that the destination of the flight was neither the other side of the uni- verse (“on the outside of the swift air”) as in the case of Boethius, nor the 1.
    [Show full text]
  • 1489 Macrobius
    1489 Ambrosius A.T. Macrobius –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Although the T-O diagrams were the first to be published (see 1472), other more detailed drawings in the medieval manuscripts of early scholars were copied too, notably those with climatic zones by the Roman philosopher, Ambrosius Aurelius !eodosius Macrobius. Some of these early circular woodcut maps after Macrobius are attractive miniatures, all very similar in design but differing in both their dimensions and details. The British Library !e first in this series of nine maps was printed in Venice by Johann L. Santritter in 1489 (see above). It measures 93 x 98 mm. with east and west reversed and this mistake does not much help in deciphering the topography. !e cities of Babylon, Jerusalem and Alexandria are shown pictorially, but only Babylon survives on all the later blocks and then without its name. Two mountain ranges are also indicated, the Riphaean in the north and the Atlas in Africa, but only the first is on all the later maps. !ule, Britain, Spain, France and Italy are shown in Europe and on later versions too, but Sardinia and Sicily only on the first one. Parthia, India and Taprobana are named in Asia but the last of these not again. Ethiopia in Africa is found on all versions and the Red Sea on most. !e maps which followed were of various sizes, all somewhat smaller than the first but four of them were almost the same as each other, about 80 mm. square. Although the nomenclature in the northern hemisphere was much simplified, it remained unchanged in the southern one.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Rome – Wars and Battles the Ancient Romans Fought Many Battles and Wars in Order to Expand and Protect Their Empire
    Ancient Rome – Wars and Battles The Ancient Romans fought many battles and wars in order to expand and protect their empire. There were also civil wars where Romans fought Romans in order to gain power. Here are some of the major battles and wars that the Romans fought. The Punic Wars The Punic Wars were fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. Carthage was a large City located on the coast of North Africa. This sounds like a long way away at first, but Carthage was just a short sea voyage from Rome across the Mediterranean Sea. Both cities were major powers at the time and both were expanding their empires. As the empires grew, they began to clash and soon war had begun. There were three major parts of the Punic wars and they were fought over the course of more than 100 years, First Punic War (264 - 241 BC): The First Punic War was fought largely over the island of Sicily. This meant a lot of the fighting was at sea where Carthage had the advantage of a much stronger navy than Rome. However, Rome quickly built up a large navy of over 100 ships. Rome also invented the corvus, a type of assault bridge that allowed Rome's superior soldiers to board enemy navy vessels. Rome soon dominated Carthage and won the war. Second Punic War (218 - 201 BC): In the Second Punic War, Carthage had more success fighting against the Roman legions. The Carthage leader and general, Hannibal, made a daring crossing of the Alps to attack Rome and northern Italy.
    [Show full text]
  • When Kings Become Philosophers: the Late Republican Origins of Cicero’S Political Philosophy
    When Kings Become Philosophers: The Late Republican Origins of Cicero’s Political Philosophy By Gregory Douglas Smay A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Erich S. Gruen, Chair Professor Carlos F. Noreña Professor Anthony A. Long Summer 2016 © Copyright by Gregory Douglas Smay 2016 All Rights Reserved Abstract When Kings Become Philosophers: The Late Republican Origins of Cicero’s Political Philosophy by Gregory Douglas Smay Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology University of California, Berkeley Professor Erich S. Gruen, Chair This dissertation argues that Cicero’s de Republica is both a reflection of, and a commentary on, the era in which it was written to a degree not previously recognized in Ciceronian scholarship. Contra readings which treat the work primarily as a theoretical tract in the tradition of late Hellenistic philosophy, this study situates the work within its historical context in Late Republican Rome, and in particular within the personal experience of its author during this tumultuous period. This approach yields new insights into both the meaning and significance of the work and the outlook of the individual who is our single most important witness to the history of the last decades of the Roman Republic. Specifically, the dissertation argues that Cicero provides clues preserved in the extant portions of the de Republica, overlooked by modern students in the past bur clearly recognizable to readers in his own day, indicating that it was meant to be read as a work with important contemporary political resonances.
    [Show full text]
  • 582 in Altman's Two Books on Plato, Plato the Teacher
    582 Book Reviews William H. F. Altman, (2016) The Revival of Platonism in Cicero’s Late Philosophy: Platonis aemulus and the invention of Cicero. Lanham, MD; London: Lexington Books. xxxii + 351 pp. $100.00. ISBN 9781498527118 (hbk). In Altman’s two books on Plato, Plato the Teacher (2012) and The Guardians in Action (2016), we find the traditional reading of Plato, i.e., the philosopher of ‘unchanging, eternal, and transcendent Ideas’ (p. xviii), combined with a rather unique interpretation of Plato as a pedagogue, whose main goal is not to instantiate the ideal state in reality but rather to spread an enlightened form of democracy through an ennobling education program of philosophy. Altman’s interpretation of Cicero as reader of Plato naturally progresses from these two books. Cicero is not the Academic Skeptic, as recent scholarship has argued, but rather an advocate for Platonic transcendence – and one no less relevant to our own historical moment than to the crisis for which Cicero’s philosophy was immediately intended: the fallen Republic. Central to Altman’s argument on Cicero is the main theme of his earlier work on Plato: the return to the cave. According to Altman, although Plato’s belief in transcendent Ideas of the world of intelligibility is genuine, the goal of Plato as philosophical pedagogue is not transcendence but rather a return to the chaotic world of becoming, in which politics take place. Cicero then, in his emulation and rivalry of Plato, is picking up where Plato left off. He is not merely indulging in Platonic transcendence but relying on his philosophical rhetoric at its most subtle level to win over an ideologically fraught and often incredulous Roman readership to political enlightenment and devotion to the Ideas.
    [Show full text]
  • MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, Cato Maior De Senectute
    MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, Cato Maior de senectute [On Old Age]; Paradoxa stoicorum [Stoic Paradoxes]; Somnium Scipionis [The Dream of Scipio] In Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment Northern Italy, c. 1440-1470 ii (parchment) + 32 + ii folios on parchment, a palimpsest, parchment reused from fourteenth-century documents (under-text is perpendicular to the present text), and at least one other source, probably fifteenth-century, where the under-text and present text have the same orientation (under-text scrubbed away but partially visible in margins, see especially ff. 2v, 8v-9, 11, 12v-13, 15, 17, and 18v; on f.18v, a previous cataloguer read “Johannes de V” in Cremona, dated 1[3]53; there is a notary mark on f. 19), modern foliation in pencil top outer corner recto, wanting an unknown number of quires at the end (only the first page of the Somnium Scipionis present), else complete (collation: i12, ii- iii10), horizontal catchwords center lower margin, no leaf or quire signatures, ruled very lightly in lead or brown crayon with single vertical bounding lines, some prickings remain top and bottom margins (justification, 138 x 82-80 mm.), written in an accomplished humanist bookhand in twenty-nine long lines, red rubrics on f. 32v only, blank lines for rubrics, three large six- to four-line red initials with delicate contrasting penwork in brown, some folds from vellum’s original use, discoloration to first and last leaves, and some worm holes in the closing leaves, but overall in good condition. Bound in modern blue morocco over pasteboard by Bernard Middleton (b.
    [Show full text]
  • Altea Gallery Macrobius in Somnium Scipionis
    Altea Gallery Ltd. 35 Saint George St,London W1S 2FN [email protected] - www.alteagallery.com Tel : +44(0) 20 7491 0010 An important Classical geography with an early world map MACROBIUS. Macrobii Ambrosii Aurelii Theodosii, Viri Consularis, et illustris, In Somnium Scipionis, Lib. II. Saturnaliorum, Lib. VII. Ex uarijs, ac uetustissimis codicibus recogniti, & aucti. Lyons: Sebastian Gryphius, 1556. 8vo, contemporary vellum, with blind-stamped illustrated decoration; two works in one; title with printer's device, pp. 177, with woodcut map, five diagrams & two initials; & pp.178-567, five initials, + (73) (index). £1,200 Two works by Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, written in the early 5th century. 'In Somnium Scipionis' is a commentary on Cicero's 'The Dream of Scipio', the final part of his 'Republic'. In a fictional dream, the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus has a cosmic vision in which the universe isis mademade upup ninenine celestialcelestial rings,rings, andand hehe hearshears thethe 'music'music ofof thethe spheres'.spheres'. HeHe thenthen seessees thethe climateclimate belts of Earth, with the Antipodes separated from the known world by a region of fire (Perusta). In this commentary, Macrobius interprets these visions, with diagrams to illustrate the theories. The original version of his map, first printed 1483, was important as one of the first maps to show the world as a globe, and for showing an Antipodes to counterbalance the land in the Northern Hemisphere. When this edition was published the 'Perusta' theory was controversial: as the Bible stated that the whole world was re-populated by the sons of Noah there could be no unreachable Antipodes.
    [Show full text]
  • Cicero's Style
    MNS-245-albrecht.qxd 03/04/2003 12:13 Page i CICERO’S STYLE MNS-245-albrecht.qxd 03/04/2003 12:13 Page ii MNEMOSYNE BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATAVA COLLEGERUNT H. PINKSTER • H. S. VERSNEL D.M. SCHENKEVELD • P. H. SCHRIJVERS S.R. SLINGS BIBLIOTHECAE FASCICULOS EDENDOS CURAVIT H. PINKSTER, KLASSIEK SEMINARIUM, OUDE TURFMARKT 129, AMSTERDAM SUPPLEMENTUM DUCENTESIMUM QUADRAGESIMUM QUINTUM MICHAEL VON ALBRECHT CICERO’S STYLE MNS-245-albrecht.qxd 03/04/2003 12:13 Page iii CICERO’S STYLE A SYNOPSIS FOLLOWED BY SELECTED ANALYTIC STUDIES BY MICHAEL VON ALBRECHT BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2003 MNS-245-albrecht.qxd 03/04/2003 12:13 Page iv This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Albrecht, Michael von. Cicero’s Style: a synopsis / by Michael von Albrecht. p. cm. – (Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum ; 245) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 90-04-12961-8 1. Cicero, Marcus Tullius–Literary style. 2. Speeches, addresses, etc., Latin–History and criticism. 3. Latin language–Style. 4. Rhetoric, Ancient. 5. Oratory, Ancient. I. Title. II. Series. PA6357.A54 2003 875’.01–dc21 2003045375 ISSN 0169-8958 ISBN 90 04 12961 8 © Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Libertas and Virtus of the Citizen in Cicero's De Republica*
    Libertas and Virtus of the Citizen in Cicero’s De Republica* Valentina Arena Introduction In 54 ΒὈ. Cicero began the composition of the De republica, a work that he presented to his brother Quintus as a treatise on the best organization of the commonwealth and on the best citizen (de optimo statu civitatis et de optimo cive)} In 51 ΒὈ. the completed work took the form of six books, structured in three pairs, each corresponding to one of the three days in which the dialogue allegedly took place, and characterised by a theo­ retical analysis followed by a historical account. Its subject matter, however, as Cicero himself suggests to his brother, can also be read in a twofold manner. The first three books of the treatise, concerning the government as a whole, present an analysis of the different constitutions (Book I), an account of Roman history (Book II), and an investi­ gation of the role of justice in the foundation of governments (Book III). The last three books, centred on the optimus civis, focus on the education and institutions that produce good citizens (Book IV), the qualities and activities of the rector (Book V), and the du­ ties of the rector at the moment of crisis, followed by the Somnium Scipionis (Book VI).I 2 I would like to thank Michael Crawford, Miriam Griffm, Fergus Millar, and Wilfried Nip­ pel, as well as seminar audiences in London, Berlin, and Zaragoza, for their very helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Many thanks are also due to the anonymous readers of SCI for their very useful suggestions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Aldine Press
    The Aldine Press 1495 – 1585 Two new books about the Aldine Press of Venice, written by Adam Mills, rare books specialist in Cambridge since 1980 Aldines at Harrow Aldines at Harrow, researched and A Discursive Catalogue compiled for Harrow School, is a discursive catalogue describing the hitherto overlooked Lionel Oliver Bigg Collection of 167 Aldine books held at The Old Speech Room Gallery, Harrow School. Printing & Publishing at TheAdam AldineMills Press Printing & Publishing at The Aldine Press 1495–1585 is an extensive handbook that, uniquely, covers the complete 90-year history of the press and its activities, bringing together material otherwise scattered in many different sources. Adam Mills Published by Adam Mills Rare Books Issued in matching bindings and layout, and available to be purchased either separately or together. www.adammillsbooks.com Printing & Publishing at The Aldine Press 1495–1585 Printing & Publishing at The Aldine Press An Introductory Handbook to the Life 1495–1585 & Work of Three Generations of the Manutius & Torresani Families Introduction: Setting the Scene The Manutius & Torresani Families SETTING THE SCENE 1 The Aldine Press • Their business & family partnerships 1495 – 1585 Introduction Furthermore, Egnatio wrote, Aldus The Aldine Press is often consideredAdam one of the most Millslived with the highest reputation among all men for honesty • Their lives & achievements in Venice & Rome important presses in the history of publishing. Aldus and scholarship ... Indeed, it is known that many important Manutius, who founded the press in Venice in 1495, was men came to Venice just to greet and see this man, and also the first to succeed in resolving the apparently intractable to shower him with gifts.
    [Show full text]
  • Excellence Redefined: the Evolution of Virtus in Ancient Rome
    Excellence Redefined: The Evolution of Virtus in Ancient Rome A thesis submitted to Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors with Distinction by Emily J. Trygstad May 2010 Oxford, Ohio i Abstract While there has been extensive academic research for over a thousand years in the field of Classics, it is impressive to note just how much research still needs to be done. For my thesis, I plan to take some of my own personal academic interest and channel it into a largely understudied topic: the evolution of the Roman value of virtus, and the effects that this change produced in Roman society. Virtus, which was in many ways held to be the paramount quality an ancient Roman male could possess, was initially expressed through an assertion of martial prowess. No simple translation for this ideal exists, however; “bravery” or “manliness”, while sometimes used, do not fully render the complex importance of virtus. Historian Myles McDonnell sums the notion up best: “the relationship... between virtus and all the other things the Romans valued – liberty, property, family, and fatherland – is one of dependence. Virtus embraces all that is good because it is virtus that guards and preserves all that is good” (McDonnell, 32). Over the course of time, however, history sees virtus make a gradual shift as an ideal manifested through military distinction to a more liberal celebration of “excellence”, not dissimilar from the Greek notion of‟αρετή. While most classicists and historians alike seem to agree that the ideal did indeed evolve over time, the study of what caused this shift has only barely been explored.
    [Show full text]
  • Scipio's Dream + Macrobius' Comment V
    Scipio's Dream + Macrobius' Comment v. 07.17, www.philaletheians.co.uk, 17 September 2021 Page 1 of 10 CONSTITUTION OF MAN SERIES CICERO’S DREAM OF SCIPIO About Scipio’s Dream 1 The Dream of Scipio is a dream-vision written by the Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero in which Publius Cornelius Scipio Æmilianus meets his grandfather by adoption, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–184 BCE) hero of the Second Punic War against Hannibal’s Carthage. The Dream of Scipio forms a digression within the sixth book of Cicero’s De re publica, his treatise on the laws and polity of the Roman republic. Comparisons have been drawn between this concluding section of Cicero’s work and the Myth of Er which appears in Plato’s Res publica and to which De re publica is said to respond. In the brief but compressed work Scipio Æmilianus travels through the planetary spheres. Digressions upon cosmology, dream-interpretation, prophecy, time-cycles, geography and doctrine upon the nature of the soul are included in it as well as ad- vancing Pythagorean thought and the idea of the Music of the Spheres. Somnium Scipionis was studied by the Roman philosopher Macrobius (395–423); his Commen- tary upon Scipio’s Dream was valued throughout the Middle Ages. The Dream of Scipio was known to the early Christian era philosopher Boethius. Chaucer was also acquainted with it, referencing the work explicitly in his Parliament of Foules and the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. The 16-year old composer Mozart wrote a short opera entitled Il sogno di Scipione (K126) based upon Scipio Æmilianus’ inter-planetary journey through the cosmos.
    [Show full text]