DOCSLIB.ORG

Catullum Numquam Antea Lectum […] Lego »: a Short Analysis of Catullus’ Fortune in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Catullum Numquam Antea Lectum […] Lego »: a Short Analysis of Catullus’ Fortune in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries chapter 15 « Catullum Numquam Antea Lectum […] Lego »: A Short Analysis of Catullus’ Fortune in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Alina Laura de Luca The Liber Catulli Veronensis has a mysterious history full of twists and turns, chance discoveries and sudden disappearances, avid attempts at correction and of convictions for obscenity. We know that it had an enormous and imme- diate popularity among poets of the ‘Golden Age’ and was read and discussed from the second to the fourth century.1 However, the study and discussion of Catullus in the Middle Ages have left only a few traces. He is mentioned two or three times and he is not listed in the manuscript catalogues of monastic libraries during the Carolingian age; whereas in the same period we witness a multiplication of copies of Horace, Virgil, Ovid, and Juvenal. Nevertheless, there is evidence that Catullus was being read in France and northern Italy: in the late ninth century poem 62 was included in a florilegium;2 in 966 Raterio, Bishop of Verona, was reading Catullus, as he says in one of his sermons: “I read Catullus that has never been accessed before”.3 However, the Liber soon disap- peared, or more probably it lay undisturbed in the Chapter Library of Verona throughout most of the Middle Ages.4 1 The modern study of Kenneth Quinn, The Catullan revolution (Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1959), describes the impact that Catullus had on Roman poetry. Individual Catullan poems were admired and imitated by the Augustan poets, above all by elegists, and his popularity continued later with Martial, Pliny the Younger, Aulus Gellius and Pomponius. In the fourth century Nonius Marcellus, Aelius Donatus and Servius quoted single verses of Catullus. 2 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 8071: it contains Cat. 62, various minor works and selec- tions from Martial, Juvenal and Seneca’s tragedies. The florilegium is referred to as ‘T’ after his sixteenth-century owner, Jacques-Auguste de Thou. 3 The text of Raterius runs as follows: Quid de me dicere, quid valeo cogitare (et ut turpia subsid- ens honesta solum, prohibita licet, depromam), si in lege Dei, ut debitorem me fore non nescio die meditor et nocte, Catullum numquam antea lectum, Plautum quando iam olim lego neglec- tum, musicam quando saepe rogatus expono, cum nequeam (primo aritmetico scilicet cassatus auxilio), cf. Benny R. Reece (ed.), Sermo de Maria et Martha in Sermones Ratherii episcopi Veronensis (Worcester, Mass., Holy Cross College, 1969), p. 86. 4 The last medieval ‘sighting’ of Catullus is connected not with Italy or France but with Britain. Its echo is found in the twelfth-century De gestis regum Anglorum of William of Malmesbury. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi �0.��63/97890043�6638_0�6 <UN> 330 De Luca Eventually, it came dramatically to light at the end of the thirteenth century. The date and the circumstances of its discovery are obscure, as is the identity of the finder. We only know that the discovery was commemorated by Benvenuto Campesani of Vicenza (d. 1323),5 with an enthusiastic but ambiguous epigram.6 However, the manuscript usually called Veronensis deperditus (v) disappeared again, but not before it had been copied at least twice: from these copies have descended our oldest Catullus codices.7 It seems that before its disappearance v was studied in Verona by several anthologists. Petrarch himself quoted or discussed Catullus several times; dur- ing the fifteenth century, Catullan verses were imitated and studied, and in the decade from 1472 to 1481 six editions were published; however Catullus, unlike Tibullus and Propertius, his companions in the 1472 editio princeps, still lacked a commentary.8 This was because of the confused text conditions: many of the poems were transmitted together and scholars disagreed on their separation; others were beset by corruptions that obscured their meaning.9 This is a problematic piece of evidence because William apparently never left England and there is no other evidence about a presence of Catullus in Britain before the fifteenth century. 5 Cf. Roberto Weiss, ‘Benvenuto Campesani (1250/55-1323)’, Bollettino del Museo Civico di Padova, xliv (1955), pp. 129–144. 6 Ad patriam venio longis a finibus exul; / causa mei reditus compatriota fuit, / scilicet a calamis tribuit cui Francia nomen / quique notat turbe pretereuntis iter. / Quo licet ingenio vestrum cel- ebrate Catullum, / cuius sub modio clausa papirus erat. According to some scholars, Benvenuto’s epigram contests the idea that the manuscript remained in Verona: after a period of distant exile Catullus returned to his homeland thanks to a fellow countryman. Others consider this unlikely: “longis a finibus exul” is a metaphorical expression and this idea is confirmed by the last pentameter where sub modio clausa means “in bushel”, that is, “in a hidden place”. 7 Sangermanensis Parisinus 14137 (G); Oxoniensis Bodleianus Canonicianus Latinus 30 (O). Apographs of a twin of G: Vaticanus Ottobonianus Lat. 1829 (R); Marciamus Venetus Latinus cl. xii, 80 (M). 8 By now regular companions of Catullus in the manuscripts, as well as the Silvae of Statius. 9 For example, the codex emended by Baptista Guarinus (1435–1505) probably before 1496 was corrupt and he published his results as a nitidum et tersum opus, according to Alexander’s Guarinus Preface to his Catullan commentary. The exact date of Baptista Guarinus’ emenda- tions is unknown; neither manuscript or editions contains his name; as we know from sev- eral sources, Baptista presented the work to the city of Verona and it was finally published by his son, Alexander Guarinus, in his commentary aimed to preserve and explain his father’s work; cf. A. Guarini Ferrariensis expositiones in C.V. Catullum Veronensem per Baptistam patrem emendatum (Venice, Georgium de Rusconibus, 1521). <UN>.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Collection 13
    EARLY EUROPEAN BOOKS Explore the Record of European Life and Culture About Collection 13 Early European Books Collection 13 presents a selection themed around literature, poetry and drama. Items from London’s Wellcome Library, Florence’s Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Copenhagen’s Kongelige Bibliotek and The Hague’s Koninklijke Bibliotheek provide a rich assembly of content from across Europe. Supported by key classical and medieval texts, at the heart of Collection 13 is a body of works which document the remarkable flowering of vernacular literatures witnessed during the early modern period. Among the thousands of titles featured are acknowledged literary landmarks, but also less familiar items. Brought together, Collection 13 builds up a picture of the early modern literary scene that embraces ephemeral as well as timeless works, and that strongly accentuates its creative diversity. Collection 13 comes complete with USTC subject classifications to enable and enhance user experience. From Homer to Persius The early modern period was defined by its rediscovery of classical texts, and Collection 13 presents a choice of these ranging from literary giants like Homer and Ovid to more minor figures like Persius (34-62 CE) and Claudian (c.370-c.404 CE). Prose pieces include a 1624 Amsterdam edition of Apuleius (c.124-c.170 CE) which includes his Erasmus (1466-1536) and Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560). Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass, while a 1700 edition of Other Erasmus items include a 1524 edition of Euripides Petronius’ notorious Satyricon is another bawdy inclusion. in Greek and Latin, and a 1507 Aldine printing of the same Classical literature’s rediscovery inevitably involved its Latin translation bound with his own classical imitation, reconstruction, and items featured reflect both advances Ode de laudibus Britanniæ.
    [Show full text]
  • The Recollections of Encolpius
    The Recollections of Encolpius ANCIENT NARRATIVE Supplementum 2 Editorial Board Maaike Zimmerman, University of Groningen Gareth Schmeling, University of Florida, Gainesville Heinz Hofmann, Universität Tübingen Stephen Harrison, Corpus Christi College, Oxford Costas Panayotakis (review editor), University of Glasgow Advisory Board Jean Alvares, Montclair State University Alain Billault, Université Jean Moulin, Lyon III Ewen Bowie, Corpus Christi College, Oxford Jan Bremmer, University of Groningen Ken Dowden, University of Birmingham Ben Hijmans, Emeritus of Classics, University of Groningen Ronald Hock, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Niklas Holzberg, Universität München Irene de Jong, University of Amsterdam Bernhard Kytzler, University of Natal, Durban John Morgan, University of Wales, Swansea Ruurd Nauta, University of Groningen Rudi van der Paardt, University of Leiden Costas Panayotakis, University of Glasgow Stelios Panayotakis, University of Groningen Judith Perkins, Saint Joseph College, West Hartford Bryan Reardon, Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of California, Irvine James Tatum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire Alfons Wouters, University of Leuven Subscriptions Barkhuis Publishing Zuurstukken 37 9761 KP Eelde the Netherlands Tel. +31 50 3080936 Fax +31 50 3080934 [email protected] www.ancientnarrative.com The Recollections of Encolpius The Satyrica of Petronius as Milesian Fiction Gottskálk Jensson BARKHUIS PUBLISHING & GRONINGEN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GRONINGEN 2004 Bókin er tileinkuð
    [Show full text]
  • Orthographies in Grammar Books
    Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 30 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201807.0565.v1 Tomislav Stojanov, [email protected], [email protected] Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistic Republike Austrije 16, 10.000 Zagreb, Croatia Orthographies in Grammar Books – Antiquity and Humanism Summary This paper researches the as yet unstudied topic of orthographic content in antique, medieval, and Renaissance grammar books in European languages, as part of a wider research of the origin of orthographic standards in European languages. As a central place for teachings about language, grammar books contained orthographic instructions from the very beginning, and such practice continued also in later periods. Understanding the function, content, and orthographic forms in the past provides for a better description of the nature of the orthographic standard in the present. The evolution of grammatographic practice clearly shows the continuity of development of orthographic content from a constituent of grammar studies through the littera unit gradually to an independent unit, then into annexed orthographic sections, and later into separate orthographic manuals. 5 antique, 22 Latin, and 17 vernacular grammars were analyzed, describing 19 European languages. The research methodology is based on distinguishing orthographic content in the narrower sense (grapheme to meaning) from the broader sense (grapheme to phoneme). In this way, the function of orthographic description was established separately from the study of spelling. As for the traditional description of orthographic content in the broader sense in old grammar books, it is shown that orthographic content can also be studied within the grammatographic framework of a specific period, similar to the description of morphology or syntax.
    [Show full text]
  • 412 and Beneficial to Further Studies. in Contrast to This Precise Demar
    412 DE NOVIS LIBRIS IUDICIA and beneficial to further studies. In contrast to this precise demar- cation of Julian's literary output his military and political acts are treated with less exactness and somehow do not seem to have been fully integrated with the history of his time. This has something to do with A.'s handling of the historical sources. In this she seems not critical enough, not merely regarding details. There is e.g. preciously little analysis of the principles and viewpoints from which Ammianus Marcellinus portrayed Julian. Although the achievement of the historian is quite admirable and honourable, it definitely testifies to personal involvement. Moreover, it is cer- tainly not a Hellenist who emerges from the many pages he devoted to Julian. Such critical remarks are not new. A. has reacted to them in her introduction, explaining her own particular objectives on some enlightening pages, which command respect. On these she also admits to have overstated Julian's Mithraic devotion and its conse- quences. This had not been generally noticed by reviewers; K. Rosen (Gnomon 55, 245-9), however, was quite justified in expressing his doubts in some detail. Describing the life of a versatile and even enigmatic person like Julian is treading on a path full of pitfalls. One reviewer called this biography ` `the polar opposite of the invectives of Gregory". Even if such a remark were not an overstatement, Mrs. Athanassiadi's portrait of Julian has much to offer to those who take a deep interest in the history of the 4th century. 2353 BM LEIDERDORP, van Effendreef 15 J.
    [Show full text]
  • Further Commentary Notes
    Virgil Aeneid X Further Commentary Notes Servius, the author of a fourth-century CE commentary on Virgil is mentioned several times. Servius based his notes extensively on the lost commentary composed earlier in the century by Aelius Donatus. A version of Servius, amplified by material apparently taken straight from Donatus, was compiled later, probably in the seventh or eighth century. It was published in 1600 by Pierre Daniel and is variously referred to as Servius Auctus, Servius Danielis, or DServius. Cross-reference may be made to language notes – these are in the printed book. An asterisk against a word means that it is a term explained in ‘Introduction, Style’ in the printed book. A tilde means that the term is explained in ‘Introduction, Metre’ in the printed book. 215 – 6 In epic, descriptions of the time of day, particularly dawn, call forth sometimes surprising poetic flights. In Homer these are recycled as formulae; not so in Virgil (for the most part), although here he is adapting a passage from an earlier first- century epic poet Egnatius, from whose depiction of dawn seems to come the phrase curru noctivago (cited in Macrobius, Sat. 6.5.12). This is the middle of the night following Aeneas’s trip to Caere. The chronology of Books VIII – X is as follows: TWO DAYS AGO Aeneas sails up the Tiber to Evander (VIII). NIGHT BEFORE Aeneas with Evander. Venus and Vulcan (VIII). Nisus and Euryalus (IX). DAY BEFORE Evander sends Aeneas on to Caere; Aneneas receives his armour (VIII). Turnus attacks the Trojan camp (IX, X).
    [Show full text]
  • Illinois Classical Studies
    24 Parental Gifts: Father-Son Dedications and Dialogues in Roman Didactic Literature FANNIE J. LEMOINE Introduction Literary dedications are designed either to acknowledge a bond between the author and the dedicatee or to attempt to establish such a bond. In the Latin didactic tradition authors frequently present themselves as fathers giving their educational treatises to their sons or composing fictive dialogues in which they act as the teacher and the son as the pupil. The dedications and dialogues reflected historical practice and reinforced patterns of paternal and filial behavior through literary example. Father-son dedications and dialogues also serve formal literary ends. They help the author speak in a more intimate, yet authoritative voice and create a sense of reciprocal obligation between composer and reader. The dedication or the dialogue establishes the context within which the author presents his literary gift. The five aims of this study are: (1) to trace a brief history of father-son dedications and dialogues in Latin didactic literature, (2) to examine the formative contributions made by Cato and Cicero, (3) to argue for a distinctly Roman character to the tradition, (4) to illustrate the conventional presentations of authorial personality and subject matter found in later introductory prefaces, and (5) to show how the conventions dealing with persons and subject matter are subverted by two late Latin paternal authors, Augustine and Martianus Capella. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the influence of this pattern of familial instruction upon didactic texts in the Middle Ages. Ancient rhetorical theory advocated finding the material for introductions either from the personalities involved (ex personis) or from the subject matter itself {ex rebus).
    [Show full text]
  • Rhetorical and Dramatic Performance in Donatus' Commentary On
    chapter 10 From the Stage to the Court: Rhetorical and Dramatic Performance in Donatus’ Commentary on Terence Beatrice da Vela Aelius Donatus’ Commentary on Terence (4th cent. ad) is the most complete late antique exegesis of Terence’s plays, commenting on five of them (Andria, Eunuchus, Adelphoe, Hecyra, Phormio) in full.1 Scholars have often used this work to shed light on Terence’s words and lines which are not sufficiently clear, or to reconstruct extra-textual features (particularly concerning delivery and performance). Besides commenting on Terence’s language and explain- ing the meaning of obscure references in the text (in a way which is very similar to another great late-antique commentary, that of Servius on Vergil), Aelius Donatus is particularly interested in performative elements, especially the different uses of the voice and the gestures of different parts of the body (primarily hands and face).2 The grammarian is able to describe extra-textual features of Terence’s text in detail, showing awareness of and sensibility to the peculiarity of drama as a genre.3 What remains to be determined is the 1 From now on, texts from the Donatus’ Commentary on Terence will be indicated by the abbre- viation Don., followed by the abbreviation for the name of Terence’s play (e.g. Don. Ad. shall be interpreted as Donatus’ commentary on Terence’s Adelphoe). To avoid ambiguity, each time Terence’s text is quoted, the abbreviation of the play is preceded by the abbreviation of the author (e.g. Ter. Ad.). 2 An example of a note on delivery: Don.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Groningen a Cultural History of Gesture Bremmer, JN
    University of Groningen A Cultural History Of Gesture Bremmer, J.N.; Roodenburg, H. IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 1991 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Bremmer, J. N., & Roodenburg, H. (1991). A Cultural History Of Gesture. s.n. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 24-09-2021 Gestures and conventions: the gestures of Roman actors and orators FRITZ GRAF We all gesticulate - that is, accompany our speech by more or less elaborate movements of arms, hands, and fingers. Northerners gesticulate less, the stereotype says, Mediterranean people more; in 1832, the learned author of a book on Neapolitan gestures (see Thomas, p. 3 of this volume) even asserted that among the inhabitants of northern Europe (that is, presumably, all of Europe north of the Alps) gesticulation did not exist - the cold climate having made them less fiery than the Italians.' This exaggerated opinion shows how gesticulation is generally viewed - as something natural and spontaneous, dependent upon factors of climate or character.
    [Show full text]
  • The Royal Librarian's Notes
    Gábor Bolonyai The Royal Librarian’s Notes The first printed Greek-Latin dictionary was edited by Johannes Crastonus in 1478 in Milan. Its second edition was released 5 years later on 10 November 1483 in Vicenza. One copy of it was bought by a certain Paulus Romuleus,1 who sent it as a present to his friend, Taddeo Ugoleto serving at that time as a royal librarian in the distant Buda. Apart from enlarging the library’s collection, Ugoleto was also for a while in charge of educating János Corvin, Matthias’s illegitimate son. In the king’s ambitious view, a proper education for a royal scion and heir (although, for the time being, János was only a secret heir) comprised knowledge of both Latin and Greek languages. Thus, a new printed dictionary must have been doubly welcome for Ugoleto: both for his own research work (perhaps he had already cherished plans of editing printed texts, which were fulfilled later on)2 and his teaching obligations. It is no wonder, therefore, that as soon as the Crastonus dictionary had arrived, Ugoleto immediately got down to work on it. He read through the whole book item by item, and added notes propria manu on the margins, by inserting missing entries, alternative meanings, and other grammatical information. The original printed dictionary contained about 15 thousand entries (on 520 pages), to which Ugoleto supplied more than one thousand new items. We do not know exactly how much time this meticuously done work took, but certainly not more than six months, because, as his note at the end of the book indicates, by the 20th of June next year he had already finished it: „Relectum xxo.
    [Show full text]
  • A Complete List of Terms to Know
    Classical Drama and Theatre: A Complete List of Terms to Know Terms to Know From Section 1: Chapter 1 Theatre History Theatron Historiography Institution Historia Theatrical Herodotus Language Ionian Revolution Impersonation Primary Evidence Audience Secondary Evidence Positivism Inference Progress Cogent Primitive Tripartition E.K. Chambers Battle of Thermopylae Chorus Ibn Kahldun Chapter 2 Transitional Forms Herodotus Bronislaw Malinowski The Histories Aetiological Relics Claude Levi-Strauss Fossils Structuralism Aristotle Lumpers James Frazer, The Golden Bough Splitters Anthropology Mimetic Positivism Chapter 3 Age of Tyrants Pelasgians Tyrannos Indo-Europeans Pisistratus of Athens Proto-Indo-European Attic Ionians Age of Lawgivers Athens Solon Asia Minor Sicily Dorians Black Sea Peloponnese Age of Colonization Trojan War Magna Graecia Epic Phoenicians Homer Lyric Age The Iliad Lyre Heinrich Schliemann Lyric Poetry Troy Sappho Polis Classical Age 1 Chapter 4.1 City Dionysia Thespis Ecstasy Tragoidia "Nothing To Do With Dionysus" Aristotle Year-Spirit The Poetics William Ridgeway Dithyramb Tomb-Theory Bacchylides Hero-Cult Theory Trialogue Gerald Else Dionysus Chapter 4.2 Niches Paleontologists Fitness Charles Darwin Nautilus/Nautiloids Transitional Forms Cultural Darwinism Gradualism Pisistratus Steven Jay Gould City Dionysia Punctuated Equilibrium Annual Trading Season Terms to Know From Section 2: Chapter 5 Sparta Pisistratus Peloponnesian War Athens Post-Classical Age Classical Age Macedon(ia) Persian Wars Barbarian Pericles Philip
    [Show full text]
  • Articulus Postprint
    1 The articulus according to Latin grammarians up to the early Middle Ages: The complex interplay of tradition and innovation in grammatical doctrine 1 By TIM DENECKER , Leuven–Gent / PIERRE SWIGGERS , Leuven Abstract: Ancient Greek grammar, and in particular its parts-of-speech system, provided the conceptual and terminological basis for the description of the Latin language. This transfer caused a number of (sub)categorial “frictions”, due to the structural differences that exist between both languages. A specific instance is that of the article, ἄρθρον or articulus , which was considered (part of) a separate part of speech in Greek, but which is absent from Latin. In this paper we discuss the views and comments expressed on this issue by Latin grammarians up to the early Middle Ages. While some of the grammarians deny that there is an article in Latin, others state that it does exist, but that it does not “count” as a separate part of speech, or that it is “substituted for” with the demonstrative pronoun. Their comments are illustrative (a) of the various adaptive strategies followed in the “bargaining situation” constituted by the projection of the Greek parts-of-speech system upon the Latin language; (b) of transformations undergone by the Graeco-Latin grammatical legacy in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages; and (c) of a push chain of changes in the anaphoric-deictic (sub)system of Latin pronouns. In a study on the treatment of nominal gender in Latin grammars of Antiquity, Jaana Vaahtera makes the following observation: Romans writing on language frequently note that there is no article in Latin (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Controversial Topics in Literature and Education: Hrotswitha and Donatus on Terence’S Rapes,” JOLCEL 3 (2020): 2–22
    C C Chrysanthi Demetriou, “Controversial Topics in Literature and Education: Hrotswitha and Donatus on Terence’s Rapes,” JOLCEL 3 (2020): 2–22. DOI: ⒑21825/jolcel.vi⒊825⒈ * N This contribution is part of a larger dialogue of three articles and one responding piece that form the current issue of JOLCEL. The other contributions are “The Meaning and Use of fabula in the Dialogus creaturarum moralizatus” by Brian Møller Jensen (pp. 24–41) and “Introite, pueri! The School-Room Performance of George Buchanan’s Latin Medea in Bordeaux” by Lucy C.M.M. Jackson (pp. 43–61). The response piece is “Latin Education and Classical Reception: the Minor Genres” by Rita Copeland (pp. 62–66). * Controversial Topics in Literature and Education: Hrotswitha and Donatus on Terence’s Rapes* C D Open University of Cyprus A The paper examines the way Terence’s comedy was received and exploited by the dramas of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim. The discussion focuses on a particular comic motif: rape. Aer the examination of the way Hrotswitha transforms Terentian rapes and incorporates them into her dramatic composition, the paper focuses on a very important spectrum of Terence’s survival: education. Specifically, it explores how rape was read and interpreted by the most important treatise of Terence’s exegesis: the commentary of Donatus. All in all, the paper aims at identiing possible common approaches between the educational and literary sources under examination, while, at the same time, investigates the extent to which the educational context of Terence’s reception affected the literary products that used Terence as their prototype.
    [Show full text]