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Geoffrey of Monmouth's Classical and Biblical Inheritance Chapter 2 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Classical and Biblical Inheritance Paul Russell 1 In the Beginning The “very old book in the British tongue” brought to Geoffrey by Walter has always been the natural starting point for any discussion of Geoffrey and his sources for the De gestis Britonum.1 But the sentence which follows mention of the book (apart from its reference to translation (transferre)) has attracted relatively somewhat less attention: Though I have never gathered showy words from the gardens of others, I was persuaded by [Walter’s] request to translate the book into Latin in a rustic style [lit. stilus], reliant on my own reed pipe.2 But this is arguably even more revealing of his sources than the preceding sen- tence with its much discussed “very old book” and references to the works of Gildas and Bede. The crucial phrase, which could be taken as Geoffrey’s nod toward the modesty topos, is agresti tamen stilo propriisque calamis, “in a rustic 1 DGB, Prologus 2.9–10: “… quendam Britannici sermonis librum uestustissimum …” Translations of the DGB are normally Wright’s unless it was felt necessary to vary it; for other texts, translations are my own unless otherwise indicated. To a large extent the following discussion focuses in the DGB, which provides many more complex examples to consider, but some cases where Geoffrey draws on classical sources in the VM are also discussed. His debt to biblical sources in the latter is less easy to pin down; for a discussion of some of the theological aspects of the VM, see Barry Lewis’s chapter in this volume (pp. 420–23). I am grateful to Ben Guy for reading a draft of this chapter and for the comments of the anony- mous referees, and also to the editors for their careful guidance and help. 2 DGB, Prologus 2.12–15: “… Rogatu itaque illius ductus, tametsi infra alienos ortulos falerata uerba non collegerim, agresti tamen stilo propriisque calamis contentus codicem illum in Latinum sermonem transferre curaui …” Wright, and others (Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, trans. L. Thorpe, Geoffrey of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of Britain, London, 1966, p. 51; Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, trans. M.A. Faletra, The History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Peterborough, Ontario, 2007, p. 41), ren- der stilo as “style” but it may be intended more precisely as stilus, “pen, stylus”. © The Author, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004410398_004 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 License. Paul Russell - 9789004410398 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:55:00AM via free access 68 Russell style, reliant on my own reed pipe”; on the face of it, he seems to be taking refuge in the rusticity of his Latin as an excuse for a lack of polish. But there is something else going on here. In the longer prologue containing a joint dedica- tion to Robert of Gloucester and Waleran of Meulan, which is preserved in ten manuscripts, the veil is pulled back a little further:3 … so that I may rest beneath the shade of your spreading branches and my muse can play her melody on my rustic pipe, safe from envious critics.4 Under the protection of Robert and Waleran, Geoffrey has had the time and the space to listen to his Muse. But at this point the allusion to (and the partial quotation of) Virgil’s first Eclogue is unmistakable and was clearly intended for what it was (the relevant phrases are italicized): Meliboeus: You, Tityrus, lie shaded by the spreading branches of a beech and woo the woodland muse with your slender reed; but we are leaving the lands of our country and its pleasant fields. We in exile from our country; you, Tityrus, at ease in the shade teaching the woods re-echo ‘Fair Amaryllis’. 5 Tityrus: O Meliboeus, a god has brought about this peace for us; For he shall always be a god to me, and often shall a tender lamb from our folds stain his altar. He has permitted my cattle to roam, as you can see, and me to play what I like upon my rustic pipes.5 10 3 On the Waleran prologue, see DGB, pp. ix–x and xix; cf. Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, ed. A. Griscom, The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth with Contributions to the Study of its Place in early British History with a Literal Translation of the Welsh Manuscript No. LXI of Jesus College Oxford, London, 1929, pp. 49–50. 4 DGB, Prologus 4.8–10 (n. 23.8–10): “… ut sub tegmine tam patulae arboris recubans calamum musae meae coram inuidis atque improbis tuto modulamine resonare queam”; improbis is understood here by Wright as “critics”, but others take it to reflect a more general hostility: “envious and malicious enemies” (Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, trans. Thorpe, p. 52); “the jealous and craven” (Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, trans. Faletra, p. 42). 5 Virgil, Eclogues i.1–10, ed. R.A.B. Mynors, P. Virgili Maronis Opera, Oxford, 1969, my transla- tion; the relevant phrases are italicized: “Meliboeus: ‘Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi / silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris auena; / nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arua. / nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra / formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas.’ Tityrus: ‘O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit. / namque erit ille mihi semper deus, illius aram / saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. / ille meas errare boues, ut cernis, et ipsum / ludere quae uellem calamo permisit agresti.’ ” Paul Russell - 9789004410398 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:55:00AM via free access Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Classical and Biblical Inheritance 69 While the reference has been noted, its significance has not been recog- nized even though it offers an immediate reason for thinking afresh about how Geoffrey was using source material which was probably part of his staple education.6 It is easy to spot such allusions, but far harder to gauge their im- port for Geoffrey’s audience. Eclogue I has the form of a dialogue between two standard characters of pastoral, Meliboeus and Tityrus. The former begins with a contrast: while he is leaving his lands (linquimus arua / nos patriam fugimus, “we are leav- ing the lands of our country and its pleasant fields”), Tityrus reclines under a shady tree practicing tunes on his pipes. Tityrus replies that a god (deus) has brought him leisure (otia); he does not have to leave his land and so can relax and play his rustic pipes (calamo agresti). The historical context of the poem is well known and would have been familiar to Geoffrey:7 the poem refers to Octavian’s annexation in the late 40s BC of land in Transpadana (the area of northern Italy north of the Po, near Cremona and Virgil’s home, Mantua) to pay off the veterans of the campaigns against Pompey. Despite its pastoral tone, this is a highly political poem about loss of homeland, exile, and finding new lands on the edge of the known world; as such, it encapsulates the themes played out in the DGB. The deus (l. 6) is of course Octavian (Augustus-to-be) to whom Virgil successfully appealed through his powerful friends to be allowed to keep his patria. Just as Tityrus can relax under a tree thanks to Octavian, so can Geoffrey under the protection of Robert and Waleran. But just as they are depicted as displaying the generosity of an Octavian, so is Tityrus at this point to be equated with Virgil and by implication with Geoffrey. But Eclogue I is not to be set aside just yet. In the closing stanzas Tityrus of- fers a series of adynata “impossibilities” (of the pigs-will-fly type): 6 The link with Eclogues I is noted in Geoffrey of Monmouth, De gestis Britonum, ed. Griscom, pp. 49–50 where it is suggested that Geoffrey “modelled his new line on Virgil” (p. 50); the suggestion here is that he is simply making the allusion already present in the main part of the Preface more explicit. On Geoffrey’s schooling, see below, pp. 82 and 101. 7 The circumstances of Virgil retaining his land was a standard part of all the antique and medieval lives of Virgil, and from there seem to have been absorbed into Virgilian commen- taries; see Vitae Virgilianae Antiquae, ed. G. Brugnoli and F. Stok, Rome, 1997; J.M. Ziolkowski & M.C.J. Putnam, The Virgilian Tradition. The First Fifteen Hundred Years, New Haven, 2008, pp. 179–403. Paul Russell - 9789004410398 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:55:00AM via free access 70 Russell … sooner each shall wander in exile far from their lands and sooner shall the Parthian drink from the Saône or the German from the Tigris than shall his (sc. Octavian’s) gaze slip from my mind.8 In his safety and self-assurance Tityrus can blithely assert that peoples will not have to travel vast distances across the world: the Parthians will not come from the east all the way to Gaul to drink the waters of the Arar (Saône), nor will the Germans travel as far east as the Tigris. But Meliboeus’s response is more sanguine, “it is alright for you but …”: But we shall go from here, some to the thirsty Africans, others to Scythia, and to Crete’s swift Oaxes, and to those who are completely cut off from the world, the Britons.9 In fact, he says, people will go into exile and, what is more, they will even go to the ends of the earth, even as far as Britain.
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