From Virgilt oV ida: The Poeta Theologusi n ItalianR enaissance C ommentary

8/16/2019 From Virgilt oV ida: The Poeta Theologusi n ItalianR enaissance C ommentary

1/23

From Virgil to Vida: The Poeta Theologus in Italian Renaissance CommentaryAuthor(s): Craig KallendorfSource: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 41-62Published by: University of Pennsylvania PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2710006 .

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2/23

From

Virgil

oVida:

The Poeta Theologus

n

ItalianRenaissance ommentary

CraigKallendorf

Not ongafter

t

rolled ff hepresses

n

1537, copyof the argefolio

edition f Virgil ublished

n

Veniceby Lucas Antoniusunta ame nto he

handsof an unknown cholarwhose annotationsevealan unusuallywide

range f reading, rom iodorus iculusand Aulus Gellius hrough erome

and Lactantius o Boccaccio and Poliziano.1 his

scholar's avorite oint f

reference,owever, as Augustine; nd his notes how a constant oncern

with he

religious

ontent f

Virgil'spoetry, articularlys

it

couldbe used

to distinguishhefalsegodsof antiquityrom he rueGod ofChristianity.

n

the Aeneid 2.501-2), for example,Servius explained hat

n

the empty

prayers f Priam, theconcealedmeaning s that eligion s of no benefit"

(latenter

stenditur ihil

rodesse religionem).

or our

earlyreader,

ow-

ever,

his

sweeping eneralization

isses

the

key point,

whichhe

extracts

from

Augustine's ity f

God 1.2: these

gods

were

of no

benefit

o Priam

becausethey re falsegods (Pt. II, f.65r).He makesthe samepointmore

forcefully

few

folios

ater,

wherehe writes hat thehallowed

emple

f

Junowas

not

able

to freeher

Trojans

rom hehands f theGreeks ecause

their

ods

were

empty;

ee

Augustine,

e civ.

Dei, 1.4."2

Where ne ofthe

printed

ommentariesraws

parallel

etween

clogue

1

and the

proper

hristian

od,

the reader dds a

precise

reference

n

the

margin: David, Psalmus119" Pt.

I,

f. 6r).Similarly,

note eft

y

another

anonymous

eader

n

a

copy

of the 1543-44 untaedition ocuses n Aen.

6.853 to observe hat indness oward hehumble s as Augustinians itis

Virgilian:

I would ike to thank heGladysKriebleDelmas Foundation,heAmerican ouncilof

Leamed Societies, nd theNationalEndowment or he Humanities or heir upport.

I

Padua, BibliotecaAntoniana, helfmarkV.VI.

15 (page referencesnthetext).

2

"Templum unonis sanctissimum on potuit

iberare uos troyanos x manibus

grecorum uia vani erant

ii

eorum; id. Aug.

ib.

.

de c. dei cap. 4";

Pt.

I,

f.

74v, n Aen.

2.76 1-67.

41

Copyright

995

by

Journal f the

History

f

deas,

nc.


http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/23

42

Craig

Kallendorf

Augustine

ays

n the

City

f

God

thatGod

opposes

theproudbut

shows

favor

o the

humble. his

s in truth

n thenature f God,

that

he tries

o gain

control

ver

the swollen

pride

of the overbearing

spirit nd loves for t to be said to hispraisethathe "sparesthe

subjected

nd overcomes

he

proud."3

On

theone

hand,

his ffort

o associate

VirgilwithChristianity

hould

not ome

as

a great

urprise

o us. Because

modem

cholarship

as

generally

laid to rest

such

outmoded

laims as

that

of Burckhardt,

ho wrote

hat

Renaissance

humanism

as,

in

fact, agan,

nd became

more

nd

more o

as its phere

widened

n

the

fifteenthentury,"4

e should

ow

expect

o

find

that ditions f Virgilwithhumanistommentarieserepurchasedndread

by

clerics

ike Frater

Andreas

Nicsil Utinensis

rdinis

.

Augustini,

rater

Adrianus

eonicenus

Ordinis

redicatorum,

nd

loannes

Petrus

Calegarius

Presbyter.5

arly possession

notes show

that hese

same books

ended up

regularly

n monastic

ibraries

ikethose

f

theDominican rder

f S.

Maria

del

Rosario

n

Venice,

S.

Maria

del

Gesiu

n

Treviso,

nd

the

Capuchin

brothers

n Verona.6

ndeed,

n

the

wenty

ears

ince

Trinkaus'smagisterial

survey,

urther

xploration

f

"humanity

nd

divinity

n Italian

humanist

thought"7as cometo appearperfectlyatural.

3

"Augustinus

e civitate

Dei, superbis

Deus

resistit,

umilibus utem

dat

gratiam.

Hoc veroquod

Dei est,

superbae

uoque animae

piritus

nflatus

ffectat,

matque ibi

in

laudibus

dici,

Parcere

subiectis,

t debellar[e]

superbos."

Venice,

Biblioteca

Nazionale

Marciana,

146.d.18.

4

Jacob

Burckhardt,

he

Civilization of

the Renaissance

in Italy, tr. S. G.

C.

Middlemore

2 vols.;

New York,

1958),

II,

479-80. Parts

ofhis approach

re enjoying

contemporary

evival,

as in

William

Kerrigan

nd

Gordon

Braden,

The Idea

of

the

Renaissance Baltimore, 989); andas a recent ssaybyDavid Bevington"Marloweand

God,"

Explorations

n

RenaissanceCulture,

7

[1991],

1-38)shows,we

stillfind

nalyses

of

Renaissance

ulture

n terms f a

dichotomy

etweenChristianity

nd

humanism.

5

The books

owned

by

theseclerics

are as

follows:

Venice,

Stagninus,

507:

Padua,

Biblioteca

del Museo

Civico,

F.7445;

Venice,

Cominus

deTrino,

1546:

Venice,

Biblioteca

Nazionale

Marciana,

147.d.13;and

Venice,

Bonellus,

1566:

Venice,

BibliotecaNazionale

Marciana, 19.t.2.

6

The books owned

by

these institutions

re Venice,

Bonellus,

1574-75: Venice,

Biblioteca

Nazionale

Marciana,

134.d.54;

Venice,Liga

Boaria,c.

1488: Venice,

Biblioteca

Correr,

nc. E. 233;

and

Venice,

Sessa,

1597: Verona,

Biblioteca Civica, Cinq.

C.583.

Romeo de Maio, "I modelliculturalidella Controriforma.e biblioteche ei conventi

italiani

lla

finedel Cinquecento,"

iforme

mitinella Chiesa

del Cinquecento

Naples,

1973),

365-81,

calls attention

oth

to

the

existence

of a series

of monastic

ibrary

catalogues

from he

end of the

sixteenth

entury

n

Biblioteca

Apostolica

Vaticana,

Vat.

lat.

11266-11326

nd to

theneed to

organize

nd analyze

hismaterial

orhistorical tudy.

7

Charles

Trinkaus,

n Our

Image

and Likeness:

Humanity

nd Divinity

n

Italian

Humanist

Thought2

vols.; Chicago,

1970).

See also Paul

Oskar Kristeller,

enaissance

Thought:

he Classic,

Scholastic,

nd

Humanist trains New

York,

1961),70-91; and

the

essays

n

Timothy

erdon nd

John

Henderson

eds.),

Christianity

nd the

Renaissance:

Image

and Religious

magination

n theQuattrocento

Syracuse,

1991),

esp. Part II,

"The

World f theChristian umanist,"45-532.BibliographyyTrinkaus,n AlbertRabil,Jr.




4/23

The Poeta Theologus

43

On the other

hand,

marginalia

ike

those in the

early

unta editions

threateno

upset some

of our most fundamental

ssumptions

bout how

Renaissancehumanism

nterpretedhe

past. By the end of the

sixteenth

centuryvant-gardetalian hilologistsad spent wohundred ears efining

and cultivatingthecritical

nd historical abit f

sizingup

authorsn their

proper imensions,"

f studyingheclassics

and tryingo "understand

hem

as a historical henomenon."

hat s,

"it

was

humanism hich lacedVirgil

back ntohis

historical

ontext;

nd which

ried o

explain

Aristotle

n

terms

of the

problems

nd sciences

of the Athens f

the fourth entury efore

Christ."8 o

suggest,

owever,

hatPriam

failed

because

he

reliedon

the

wronggods

or that he Christian od favors

he same humilitys Virgil

threatenso do somethinguitedifferent,hich s toremove heAeneid rom

itshistoricalontextnd

yoke t arbitrarilyo the deas

andvalues

ofanother,

later

culture.

uch critical ssumptions

eer dangerously

lose to

making

Virgil

nto

prophet

f Christ-a

notion

hathas remained

tereotypically

"medieval" ince

the

days

of Comparetti.9

In this essay, shall explorehow

severalof the commentaries

ost

frequently

ublished

n ItalianRenaissance ditions

f Virgil ttempted

o

provide nough nterpretive

ues to

steerbetween he Scylla of

ahistorical

syncretismndtheCharybdisf a pureclassicism hathadlittle earing n

an

everyday

ife nfused ith

he

goals

andvaluesof Christianity.shall

first

lookat the raditionalelationship

etween

oetry

ndtheologys

ithadbeen

understood

n late

antiquity

nd theMiddle Ages

and

modified

y

Renais-

sance humanists.

shall hen urn

o

selected

assages

n the

most

mportant

printed

ommentariesn

Virgil o showhow

humanistnterpretation

orged

progressivelyighter

ink

between

Virgiland Christianity.

inally, shall

examineMarco

Girolamo ida's

Christias,

n

epic

poem

whosefusion

fthe

Christian nd theVirgilian esolvesthe tensionswithin hecommentary

tradition.

n this

way hope

o show hat

nyone

who

read

Virgil

n

an edition

of the

talianRenaissancewas

forced o confront

he

relationship

etween

pagan

and Christian

n

ways

that he

expressed oals

of humanist

hilology

sometimes bscure.

From ts

beginnings

hristianity

truggled

o

develop

an

appropriate

response

o

the

eligious

ontentf

pagan

poetry.

ora few

f

themost

ious,

prohibition as theonly answer, ut thefamousdream n whichJerome

(ed.),

RenaissanceHumanism: oundations,

orms,

nd

Legacy,

II: Humanismnd

the

Disciplines Philadelphia,

988), 344-45;

see also John . D'Amico,

"Humanism

nd Pre-

ReformationTheology,"

ibid., 349-79;

and Pino Da Prati,

"II problema religioso

nell'Umanesimo,"

GiovanniDominici

e l'UmanesimoNaples,

1965), 34-51.

8

EugenioGarin, talian

Humanism:

hilosophy

nd

Civic

Life n theRenaissance,

r.

PeterMunz New York,

1965), 6,

14-15.

9

DomenicoComparetti,

irgilio

nel Medioevo,

ed.

Giorgio

Pasquali (2

vols.; Flor-

ence,

1943; repr.1981), I, 118-27.




5/23

44 Craig

Kallendorf

imagines

imself eing

urnedwayfrom

heheavenly atesbecause

he was

moreCiceronian han

hristian

howshow difficultt

was for he

ntellectual

leaders

fthe arly

hurch o

turn heir acks

on the ulture

n

which hey ad

been trained.10ntheorytleast, type f cultural elativism hich llowed

all

peoples

heir wn

religious

eliefs fferednother ossible esponse,

ut

in fact uch open-mindedness

as almost mpossible

n

an age whenmany

people

took heir

eligion

eriously nough

o die

willingly

or t. The most

common esponse

was to view

the

content

f paganpoetry s containing

t

least omeelements

f Christianruth,

ither

ecause

the

uthor onsciously

concealed

hidden

ruth

elow

a

deceptive

urface r because

the

author

received

unconscious

ccess to that ruth

hrough ivine

nspiration. his

madepaganpoetrynto kind fprophecyn needof nterpretationo reveal

its hidden

meanings-a

"poetictheology"

theologia

oetica).11

The

tradition

f

the

poet

as

theologian

ad a

long

nd venerable

istory

which

ater

writers

raced ack as far

s Aristotle

Metaphysics

.3.983b28-

30).

Allegory

llowed

almost imitless

pportunities

or

dentifying

he

prophetic

tatements

n

ancient

oetry

hich

oretoldater evealed ruth,nd

medieval uthors

anging romAbelard

o Innocent

II

took advantage f

these

opportunities.12

he

diverse

trands

f this tradition ere collected

togethert thebeginning f the fourteenthentury y thePaduan pre-

humanist

lbertino ussato,

who presented

inereasons o consider

oetry

divine:

1)

from

ts earliest

manifestations,oetry

was called

theology,

(2) poetry iscusses

heologicalssues, 3)

poets re

called prophets,4) po-

etry

was

given

o us

by God,

5) poetry

auses

wonder nd

delight

or ts

audience, 6)

Moses

used

poetry

o

thankGod for

reeing

sraelfrom ond-

age, (7)

poetry

s

in

accordance

with he

Bible, 8)

the

beauty

f poetry

s

eternal,

nd

(9)

the Christian

aith

was

announced

y

means of

poetry.13

10

See

thediscussion

f

Epist. 22,

with

ecent

ibliography,

n

Steven

M.

Oberhelman,

Rhetoric nd Homiletics

n Fourth-Centuryhristian iterature

Atlanta, 991), 64,

n. 5.

11

Trinkaus,

n Our mage, I, 683-89, and StanleyMeltzoff, otticelli, ignorelli

nd

Savonarola: Theologia

Poetica and Paintingfrom

Boccaccio to

Poliziano

(Florence,

1987).

12

RonaldWitt, Coluccio Salutati nd

theConception f

the

Poeta Theologus

n the

Fourteenth entury," enaissance Quarterly,

0 (1977), 539-42.

As ErnstRobert

Curtius

points ut,

n Aristotle's ystem oetry annot ctually

e

equated

o theology European

Literature nd the

Latin Middle Ages, tr.WillardTrask Princeton,

953], 218), but

this

pointrestson an understandingf thePoeticswhichwouldnot have been likely n the

Middle Ages and early Renaissance; see

0. B.

Hardison,Jr.,

The Place of Averroes's

Commentary

n

thePoetics

in

the

History

f Medieval

Criticism,"

ohn

.

Lievsay ed.),

Medieval and RenaissanceStudies:Proceedings

f theSoutheastern

nstitute f Medieval

and

Renaissance

Studies, ummer,

968 (Durham,N.C., 1970),57-81.

13

In

1316 Mussato

engaged

in

a

debate

with

the

Dominican

Fra

Giovanninoda

Mantova verthese

ssues. Mussato's ettero Fra Giovannino

oes not survive, ut have

presentedMussato's

position from

he summary

n

Fra Giovannino's etter, ublished

(with

an Italiantranslation)

n

EugenioGarin,

1l

pensiero pedagogico

dell'Umanesimo

(Florence,1958),2-13. These ideas are similar

o

thosedeveloped

n

Mussato'sEpistolae

IV, VII, and XVIII, although hepresentationhere s not so clear; see ibid.,2, headnote;




6/23

The

Poeta

Theologus

45

Indeed,

for Mussato,

ancient

poetry, ike

the Bible

itself,

was

inspired

directly

y

God.'4

From this

pointon, the theory

f

the poet as theologian

ecamethe

cornerstonef humanistoetics."5 owever, s Mussato'sarguments ere

takenup again

and refined ver

the next

ouple of generations,

ew com-

plexities

were

discovered and

acknowledged.

n his

Invective

contra

medicum,

or

xample, etrarch

eganwith

hebasic dea that hefirst

agan

poets

were heologians,

uthe developed

hepoint

with sense

ofcaution

ot

found

n

Mussato: The poets

were forced

o

conceal

their hallenge

o

polytheism,

nd

they

did not attain

ull nd perfect

nowledge f

God but

went s far s

they

ould

go

in

their ime

nd

culture.16

n

his

Genealogie

deorum entiliumoccaccioclarified keypoint f chronologyy admitting

thatMoses was

the

originator

f this

heologia

oetica and that

heGreeks

followed

im

and

the other

oet-prophets

f the HebrewBible.17

oluccio

Salutati,

he

third reat

arly

Florentine umanist,uggested

n

turnwhat

could and

could

not

be done

n

interpreting

oetry

rom his

perspective.

f

possible,

nterpretation

ught

o uncover

what he

poet-theologian

ad really

meant;

ut

f

adapting

agan poetry

o

Christian

ruth roduces

omething

which iolates

uthorial

ntention,

uch

violations

nevertheless

n

accept-

able opinion,ndeed farmore ppropriate eaninghan heonethe uthor

thought

e

had

nvented.18

GivenVirgil's

continued

opularity

hrough

he

MiddleAges

and

Ren-

aissance,

we

would

xpect

his poetry

o be subjected

egularly

o

this ort

f

interpretation,

nd this s

in

fact

precisely

whathappened.

Mussatoclaims

that "our

faithwas completely

rophesied

y holy Virgil"

nostra

ides

sancto

ota

st

praedicta

Maroni).19

alutati

n

turn itesVergil Aen.

1.664-

65)

in

a discussion oncerning

the

unity

f

essence

nd

the

multiplicity

f

person" unitate .. essentie t multiplicitateersone),a truthwhichwas

hidden

from

Virgil

but

n

conformity

ith he trueGod.20

n

his letter

o

GiulianoZonarini,

alutati

itesthis

ame

passage along

with thers

which

and Giorgio

Ronconi,

Le

origini

delle

dispute

umanistiche

ulla

poesia

(Mussato

e

Petrarca)

Rome,1976), 17-59,

sp. 34-35. talian ranslations

f all

three ettersn Manlio

Dazzi, InMussatopreumanista

1261-1329):

l ambiente

l opera Vicenza,1964),

181-83,

188-95.

14

Ibid., 14; and

Witt,-"Coluccio alutati,"

39-42.

15

AugustBuck, talienische

Dichtungslehren

om Mittelalter

is

zum Ausgang der

Renaissance

Tiibingen,

952), 72.

16

Invective ontramedicum,

d. Pier

GiorgioRicci (Rome, 1950),

71-72,quoted nd

discussed

n

Trinkaus,

n

Our mage, I,

692.

17

Trinkaus,n

Our

mage,

I, 695.

18

De laboribusHerculis,

d.

B.

L.

Ullman

Zurich,

951), 86; Trinkaus,

n Our

mage,

II, 700.

19

QuotedbyFra Giovannino a Mantova, nGarin,

n

ensiero edagogico,6.

20

De laboribus

Herculis,82-83; Trinkaus,

n Our mage, I, 865,

n. 42.




7/23

46

Craig Kallendorf

illustrate hristian octrines y adumbrating

he

TrinityEcl. 8.72-74),

he

institutionf the hurchAen.3.409),

thenature f hell Aen.6.616-17), nd

the existence f purgatorynd paradise Aen. 6.743-44).

Here he

suggests

that hepoetwas directlynfluencedy God.21

Other cholars

roceeded

n

much he ame

way,

with

he

descent o the

underworldAen. 6) offering

he

mostobvious

opportunities

or

discussion.

Francesco a Fiano d. 1425),for xample, itesAen. 6.724-25 o showthat

Virgil s

in

accord

with

heBible, although

e

speaks

with

greater tylistic

elegance.22

n the

middleof

the sixteenth

entury,s

partof the Counter-

Reformationlowering,amberto rtensioMonforte urned o Aen. 6.265

and provided tissueof parallel itations n chaos from lassical authors,

though e ultimatelyoncludedhattwouldbe simplerndmore ccurate o

get

the ame nformation

irectly

rom

Genesis.23

The mostfamous pplication

f

theologia oetica

to Virgil, owever,s

the conversion f Eclogue

4 to the

"MessianicEclogue"

whichprophesies

the oming f Christ. he poem

n

part eads

s

follows:

Now hath he ast

age come,

foretold

y

the

Sibyl

of

Cumae;

Mightily

ow

upriseth

new millennial

poch.

Justice heMaid comesback, nd the ncient lory f Saturn;

New

is

the eed of man ent

down

from

eavenly laces.

Smileon thenew-born

abe,

for new

earth

reets

is

appearing;

Smile,

0

pureLucina;

the

ron

ge

is

departing,

Cometh he

ge

of

gold;

now

reigns hy atron pollo....

Should ome

ingering

races

f

old-world ickedness

aunt

s,

They hallperish, nd fear rom he arth e banished orever....

Home shall

the

goats

heir dders

ring

with

milk

heavy-laden,

Willingly,orgreat ions ffrighten'scattle ereafter.

Even

thy radle, Babe,

shall

pour

forth low'rs o caress

hee,

Snakes hall

perish,

nd

plants

whosefruits treacherous

oison;

All

thewholeearth hallbe sweet

with hebreath

f

Assyrian

spikenard.24

21

Epistolario

di

ColuccioSalutati,

d.

Francesco

Novati

4 vols.; Rome,

1891-191

),

I, 304; Witt,

Coluccio Salutati,"

47.

22

Vladimiro abughin,Vergilio elRinascimentotalianoda Dantea TorquatoTasso

(2 vols.; Bologna,

1921-23), , 116 and 137, n.

50; see

also

ConcettaCarestiaGreenfield,

Humanist

nd Scholastic

Poetics,

1250-1500

Lewisburg, enn., 1981), 168-77.

23

Zabughin,

Vergilio, I, 77-78.

24

"UltimaCumaeivenit am

carminis

etas;

/

magnus

b

integro

aeclorum

ascitur

ordo. /

am redit

t

Virgo,redeunt atumia

regna,

/ am nova

progenies aelo demittitur

alto./

u

modonascenti

uero, uo

ferrea

rimum desinet c toto urget ens urea

mundo,

/ casta faveLucina: tuus

am regnatApollo.... / te duce,

si

qua manent celeris

vestigia

nostri, inrita

erpetua olventformidine

erras.... ipsae lacte domum eferentistenta

capellae

/

ubera,

nec

magnos

metuent rmenta

eones;

/

psa

tibi

blandosfundent

unabula

flores./ occidetet serpens, t fallax herba veneni/ occidet; Assyrium ulgo nascetur

amomum....."

exameter

ranslations

f

Eclogue

4

are

from

homasFletcher

oyds, Virgil




8/23

The Poeta Theologus 47

In thefourthentury.D. the mperor onstantineeliveredn address o

an ecclesiastical ssembly

n which

heparallels

o

Christianityeredevel-

oped at some ength:

he

"new .. seed

of man"

novaprogenies) s Christ,

the maid" virgo) sMary, hedisappearancefhuman rimes esults rom

theResurrectionf

Christ

nd

the nstitutionf

baptism,

he

ionsno longer

feared y flocks re governmental

uthorities

ho persecute hefaithful,he

serpents the one fromGenesiswho disappears

o

symbolize hedefeat f

Satan,

he

"spikenard"amomum)

tands or he

propagation

f

the

Chris-

tianfaith,nd

so forth.25

ot

all theChurch athers

ccepted

ll

these etails:

Lactantius avored Christiannterpretationut referredt not to Christ's

birth

ut

o his

promised eturn,

hileJerome idiculed he ntire otion hat

Virgilcould have knownChristian ruth efore hecomingof Christ.26

Nevertheless,

ome form f Christian

nterpretation

s

acceptedby Proba,

Ambrose, rudentius,nd Augustine nd

in

later enturies y Abelard nd

Dante; ndeed, ante's Statius xplains

n

Purgatorio 2.64-73

hat

clogue

4

induced

is conversion

o

Christianity.27

Petrarch acillated, enying direct eferenceo Christ

n

thepoembut

allowing

he

pious

reader

o

make

the

analogy.28

alutati

proceeded

n

a

somewhat

ifferent

ay, arguing

hat

Virgil

was a

prophet,

ither s the

result f genius, gnorance,r some sortof divine nspiration.29eonardo

Bruninoted hat he coming

f Christ

had been prophesied y the Sibyl,

while

Virgil's

chievement

as to

recognize

hat

he

promised

ime

was

at

hand.30 ntonioMancinelli ontinued o refer o the Christian rophecy f

and Isaiah:

A

Study

f thePollio (Oxford, 918), 74-85,

11. -10, 13-14,21-25;Latin

text

fromR.A.B. Mynors ed.), P. VergiliMaronis opera (Oxford, 969), 10.

25

The address,

Oratio d coetum

anctorum,"s ascribed y Eusebius

to

Constantine

and appended by

him

to

his Vita Constantinii; ee TimothyBarnes, Constantine

nd

Eusebius (Cambridge,

Mass., 1981),

73-76; and SalvatorePricoco, "Messianismo,"

n

Francescodella Corte

ed.), Enciclopediavirgiliana 5 vols.;

Rome, 1984-91), II,

495-98,

with ibliography.asic

sources n

Eclogue

4 and tsreligious ontext nclude

E. Norden,

Die Geburt

des Kindes: Geschichte inerreligi6sen

dee

(Leipzig,

1924); J. Carcopino,

Virgile t le mystere

e la

IVe

Eglogue 2nd ed.; Paris, 1943);

P. Courcelle, Les exegeses

chretiennes e la quatrieme glogue,"

Revue des etudesanciennes, 9 (1957),

294-319;

and S. Benko, "Virgil's Fourth Eclogue

in

Christian

nterpretation," ufstiegund

Niedergangder

romischen

Welt,2.31.1 (1980), 646-69, listingpotentialparallels to

Christianity662-69)

and

discussing

Constantine's ddresson 671-72,

with

bibliography

(702-5).

26

Pricoco,

Messianismo," II, 497; and Comparetti,

ergilionel Medioevo,

, 101,

referringo Lactantius,

iv. inst., .24 and Jerome, pist. 53.7

(to Paulinusof Nola).

27

Pricoco,"Messianismo," II,

497; and Benko, "Virgil's

Fourth clogue,"670-81.

28

Witt,

Coluccio

Salutati," 43,

citing

De

otio religioso,

d. G. Rotondo

Vatican

City,1958),

29.

29

Witt,

Coluccio Salutati,"

548-49, referringo

his

second

letter

o

Zonarini,

n

Epistolario, ,

327.

30

De studiiset litteris,Hans Baron (ed.), LeonardoBruni Aretinohumanistisch-

philosophische

chriften

Leipzig, 1928; repr.1969),

15-16.




9/23

48

Craig

Kallendorf

the ibyl nd

hemportance

f

Eclogue

tothis rophecy.3"

heCumaean

Sibyl

n the

pavement

f

the athedral

f

Siena,

inished

t

the ndof

the

fifteenthentury,

uotesEcl. 4.4-7,32 nd

theChristiannterpretationf the

poemhad tsdefendersell fterheRenaissance.33

The ongevityfthis pproach

s a point

orthtressing,ince herere

modem cholars

ho are

distinctlyncomfortableith

heprinciplesn

which

t

rests.

iro

Trabalza,

or

xample,

dentifiesheologiaoetica

with

medievalhought,

o that

eginning

n the

Trecento,

the

oeta

heologuss

transformed

nto the poeta

rhetor t

philologus,"

which

marksprogress

towardhe

modem estheticonception

f

art.34esareVasoli

proceedsn

much

he

ame

way, rguing

hat

thenewest

nd

mostvalid aspect

f the

humanist

rguments

n

defense

f

poetry

onsists

f he efinitiveubstitutionf

he

dea

of

a

poetry

hich s a

living

nd

spontaneous

xpression

f

man nd

which oth

arrates

is

deeds nddescribes

is

haracteristics,

enti-

ments,

nd

passions,

sing nly

he

perfect

nderstanding

f a re-

finediteraryechnique

nd n effective

nderstandingf hehuman

spirit,

n

place

of

the

medieval

onception

f

the

poet

s

seer nd

theologiannd he heoryf doctrinaloetry,hich asthe nique

goal

of

erving religious

ndmoral

ruth.35

Such

simple hronological

ichotomy,owever,

ill

not o;

for

s

we

shall

see,

the

ssumptions

f

theologiaoetica

emained

ery

much live

n

the

Italian enaissance

ditionsfVirgil.

These

ssumptionsemained

live t east

n

part,

believe, ecausehe

problemsaised

y his pproachad till

ot eceived efinitive

nswersn

the arly enaissance.or xample,ne f hemost asic uestionsaisedy

the concept

f

theologia oetica

revolved round ow the

elements

f

Christian

ruth

ound

heir

ay

nto

agan oetry.

id the uthorttain

ruth

compatible

ith

hristianityhrough

atural

eason

r receive nconscious

access

to Christian

ruthhrough

ivine

nspiration?

he

relevant aterial

31

Zabughin,Vergilio,, 125-27.

32

Carcopino,Virgile, 03,

n.

1

and

plate opposite

itle

age.

33

Don CameronAllen,Mysteriously eant:

The

Rediscovery fPagan Symbolismnd

Allegorical nterpretation

n

the Renaissance Baltimore, 970), 147-48,n. 40. In 1712

Pope could stillwriteMessiah:

A

Sacred Eclogue Composed fSeveralPassages of saiah

the

Prophet, Writtenn Imitation f Virgil's Pollio;

see

Rosario Portale, Virgilio n

Inghilterra:aggi (Pisa, 1991), 100-101.

While

denying hatVirgilforecast

ither

he

birth

of

Christ

r the

theology f the ncamation, oyds continued o assert t thebeginning f

thiscenturyhat piritual ffinitiesring us back to the old view thatVirgil, ike saiah,

was

a real

prophet

f Christ"

Virgil

nd

Isaiah, 69).

34

La critica etteraria: ai primordi ell'Umanesimo ll'Eta nostra. ecoli XV-XVI-

XVII

(Milan, 1915),

3-5.

35

"L'estetica dell'Umanesimo del Rinascimento," omenti problemidi storia

dell'estetica, t.

1:

Dall'antichitaclassica

al

barocco (Milan, 1959),

333.




10/23

The

PoetaTheologus

49

from etrarch,occaccio,nd alutati asbeen urveyedeveralimesn

he

last entury,ut heres still o consensus

n

what

t

means. ugust uck

implieshat ll threeuthorselieved hat he oetatheologus as nspired

bya divine pirit,36hileRonaldWittrgueshathey ll came obelieve

that nytheologicalruthsxpressed y paganpoetswere ccessible o

naturaleason ithoutny irect ivinenfluence.37rinkauseems o adopt

a

mediatingosition,uggesting

n

one

place

hat

occaccio id

not

ttribute

direct ivinenspiration

o

pagan oets nd

n

anotherlace hat edid.38

Such isagreement

n

the art

f

hree ell-establishedcholarsught

o

makeus

suspect

hat

herelevantexts

may

notoffer

clear, onsistent

approach.

he

problemnder onsiderationas a complicatedne,and

changinghetoricalndideologicalontexts ouldnaturallyave edto

changing

uances

n

a

discussion

here

ny wrong"

ssertionsould asily

lead o

charge

f

heresy.

n

at east ne

ase-that

f

Salutati-the

fforto

describehe

ole f

heChristian

od

n

the

nspiration

f

pagan oets

ed

to

a

completeolte-face

n the

ubject.39

Thus s we enter he ge of printing,heologiaoetica ontinued

o

encourage

tudents

f

he lassics

o

search

or

arallels

o

Christian

hought

and o

speculate

n

how hose

arallels

ame nto

eing.

s

a

central

ext or

the lassical radition,irgil's oetrylayed key ole nthis nalysis.

At the

nd

fthe

ifteenthenturyhemost opular irgilianommen-

tarymong

he talian

rinters

asthat

f

Cristoforo

andino.40andino as

a

Neoplatonist

hose

nderstanding

f

poetry

as

rooted

n

the

oncept

f

divine

nspiration,rfuror.41lthough

ome

fthe

key

latonic aterial

n

this

ubject

adbeen

n

circulation

or

while,

andino

was

also able

to

benefit

romhework

fMarsilio

icino,

hose

tudy

nd ranslation

f

he

IonandPhaedrus elpedmake he oncept commonplacefRenaissance

36

Italienische Dichtungslehre, 7. Ronconi

came to

the same conclusion about

PetrarchLe origini, 46).

37

"Coluccio Salutati," 38-39.

I

have relied

n

part

here on

Witt's acute review

of

scholarship.

n "Dante

Theologus-Poeta,"

tudies n

Dante

(Ravenna, 1980), 83,

Robert

Hollander

lso

states hat

he

Trecento efenders

f the

poeta theologus o not claim

the

inspirationf theHoly Spirit or heirwork.

38 In Our mage, I, 695, 713.

39

Witt, Coluccio Salutati,"548-63.

40

On

early editions, ee Giuliano Mambelli,

Gli annali delle edizioni virgiliane

(Florence, 1954); and Craig Kallendorf, Bibliography

f Venetian ditions of Virgil,

1470-1599

Florence,1991).

41

"Comentodi Cristoforo

andino

fiorentinoopra

la

Comedia di Dante Alighieri

poeta fiorentino,"d. RobertoCardini

n

Scritti

ritici teorici

2 vols.; Rome, 1974), I,

140-53.

See also

Mysteriously eant, 142-54;

and Craig Kallendorf,

n

Praise of Aeneas:

Virgil nd EpideicticRhetoric

n

theEarly

Italian Renaissance

Hanover,N.H., 1989),

129-65.




11/23

50

Craig Kallendorf

literaryriticism.42huswhen andino ets

o

the

word furenti"

t

Aen.

6.100,he stops

o

explain hat his frenzy"

r

"madness"s the iftfgod

(divinitusnfunditur).

he

only eople

who

ruly

eserveo be

called oets

are hose whohavebeen arriedway ythis ivinemadness"quidivino

furoreerciti),

or the

pirit

illed

ygod

s

transported

o

heaven"deoque

plenus

ad caelum rahitur

nimus).43

When ppliedo pagan oet ikeVirgil,

owever,his eneralssertion

raises couple

f

basic uestions. asVirgileing ransportedo Christian

heaven y

theGodof

Moses,Abraham,

nd

Jesus?

f

so, did

he

understand

what appened

o

him;hats,

didhehave

rophetic

nowledge

f ventsnd

doctrines

hatwould

e

made

lear

o

most

eople

nly

fter isdeath?

Here he raditionf heologiaoetica ives andinoway oclarifyis

thinking.

n

the ntroductionohiscommentaryn theAeneid

e writes,

For he

reatnd rueoet

s none

therhan

he

heologian,

hichs

proven ot nly y he uthoritative

estimony

f

o great philoso-

pher s Aristotle,ut lsobywhats taughtpenly

n

thewritingsf

these uthorshemselves.

or

theology

s

twofold:

here

s

one

which s called

ancient,"

hose ource

was first

made ccessible

bythegodlikeMercuriusrismegistus,nd he thersours,which

is notonly steemeds more rue,

ut

s

so

absolutely

rue hat

nothinganeithere added o

t

ortaken

way rom

t.44

The "ancient heology"theologia risca) is

the

traditionalheologia

poetica,

he

ine f

reasoningy

which

rpheus,

inus,

ndMusaeuswrote

many

rue

hings

boutGod and

the

angels

nd about

he

soul

and

the

freedomf he

will.Our

heologytheologia

ostra)arries nowledgebout

God ndhis nteractionsitheople romavid ndMoses hroughoDante

in

modem imes.

he

twotheologiesre liketwo

branches

f

a stream,

parallel hrough

uch ut

not ll oftheirourses.45

42

Trinkaus,

n

Our

Image, I,

712-13,

with712-21

offering

useful ntroductiono

theologia

oetica

and its

Neoplatonic

daptation

n Landino.See also

Buck, talienische

Dichtungslehre,1-95.

43

Vergilius um quinquecommentariisVenice, 1491-92),ff.

29r-29v.

44

"Neque enim alius est magnusverusquepoeta quam

theologus, uod non solum

Aristotelisanti hilosophi uctoritasestimoniumquestendit,edipsorum uoque scripta

apertissime

ocent.

Duplex

enim

heologia

st:

altera

quam priscam

ocant,

uius divinus

ille

virMercurius ognomine

rimegistusrimus

ontem

peruit,

lternostra st,quae non

modo verior omprobatur,ed ita

verissima,

t

neque addi

quicquam nec imminui nde

possit." "Christophori andini

Florentini d

Petrum

Medicem

Laurentii

filium

n

P.

Vergilii interpretationesrohemium

ncipit feliciter,"Cardini

(ed.), Scritti critici e

teorici, ,

230. See Cardini's

ommentary

n this

passage II, 303-6) and Frank a Brasca,

"'Scriptor

in

cathedra':

les cours inauguraux

de

Cristoforo andino

au 'Studio' de

Florence

1458-74)," CharlesAdelin Fiorato nd Jean-Claude

Margolin eds.), Ltcrivain

face a'

son

public

en

France

et en Italie

a

la

Renaissance,

Actes du

Colloque

International

de Tours 4-6 decembre 986) (Paris,1989), 107-25.

45

Landino, critti ritici, I,

230-32.




12/23

The Poeta Theologus

51

Landino's

commentary

o Virgil's

Eclogue

4 provideshim with the

opportunityo elaborate

n

the wo heologies.

WhenLandino eaches ine4,

the beginning f the

section

most closely associated

withthe

Messianic

exegesisof thepoem,he movesimmediatelyo providebothpagan and

Christian eferents

or

he

passage.

The

Sibyl,

he writes, rophesiedmany

things bout

heRomanworld;

butas Augustine

rote, he also

prophesied

many hings bout

Christ. irgil,

owever, as ignorant

f that

atter heol-

ogy verum

Maro istius

heologiae gnarus),

o that e in fact s

referringo

Octavian nd the

vents f

his rule

f. 12r).

At ine

7,

on the new

..

seed

of

man" novaprogenies),

andino gain nsists

n

having

t

bothways, tating

that what

the Sibyl

foretoldbout Christ,

ererefers o Octavian"

quod

sibyllade Christo raedixit, ic ad Octavianumefert). hisshiftingocus

allows Landino

to

interpret

nova"

in

reference

o "nova

progenies"

n

three ifferentays:

s a "new"

kind f childwho s

both ivine

ndhuman,

as a

"new"

political

wonderwho

will

bring eace

to

the ntire

oman

world,

and as

a "new"

power

which an transform

hehuman ace

f. 12v).46

Thus

on theone handEclogue

4

illustrates

heclaimLandino

had made

in

his preface

o theAeneid,

hat

he

pagans

had

written

any

rue

hings

aboutGod

and the

ngels,

o

it

s

perfectly

easonable

or

him o

search

ut

these rue hingsn therestofthe Virgilian orpus.We wouldexpect his

search

o be particularlyuccessful

n

Aeneid

6,

the descent

o the

under-

world,

nd so

it

is.

The

underworld

s located

n the

center

f the

earth,

s

Christianity

eaches,

ince

"God said that

he

Son

of

Man

would be

in

the

heart f the arth

or hree ays nd three

ights, or

we know hat he enter

is

in

themiddle f

the

arth,

s thehearts

in

the

middle f

the

body."47

here

are

fivekinds

f

descent

o the

underworld,

he

fifth

ne

being

contempla-

tion of vice so that

we

can

recognize vil

and

abstain

from

t;

this

s

the

descentwhichVirgilmadeunder heguidance ftheSibyl ndwhichDante

made

under he

guidance

f

Virgil f. 230r).

To be

sure,

before

we

pass

from

he active

ife to the

safe

harbor

f

contemplation,

e

are

tossed

bout

by

so

many

torms

hat

many

f

us

never

reach

he ummumonum.

or this eason,

t line692 Landino ites

Christ's

comment

o

Martha

n

Luke

10:41, "Martha,

Martha, ou

are anxious nd

troubledboutmany hings"48;

or

Martha,

nterpreteds

the

ctive

ife,

an

teachus that he oul

which s distracted

n

daily ffairs

s

rendered

nfit

or

the contemplation

f the divine f. 248v).Other itations

anging

rom ob

and

the

Psalms

o the

beginning

f the

gospel

of John emind s continually

46

See Zabughin,Vergilio,

, 195-96.

47 "Dominus

dixitquod filiushominis

sset

futurusn corde terrae

ribus

iebus et

tribusnoctibus,

entrum nim ita

novimus esse

in medio terrae, t

cor est

in medio

corporis"f.

230v,on

Aen. 6.126).

48

"Martha,

Martha,

solicita

es et versaris circa plurima."

The Vulgate

reads,

"Martha,Martha, olicitaes, etturbarisrga plurima."Although andino mayhavebeen

using

a

faulty

ext,

e was probably mis)quoting

he Vulgatefrom

memory.




13/23

52

Craig Kallendorf

that orLandino here

was a deep and

fundamentalgreementetween

he

Bible and Virgil.49

On theother and,however, heologia risca

is

finally

otthe same

as

theologianostra.As Landinoputit in explicating clogue 4, Virgilwas

"ignorantf that atterChristian]heology,"

o that ometimes,s

with he

sibylline rophecies

mbedded

n

his bucolics,

e

simply

id

not

understand

thefull ignificance

f whathe wrote.At other imeswhathe wrote

urned

out

to

be

wrong.

For example,

he

passage

in

Aen. 6

in

whichAnchises

explains o Aeneas how

human

ouls

are cleansed nd then

eborn

11.

24-

51) was a difficultne, forPlatonic eincarnation

as not compatible ith

Christianrthodoxy.

andino

xplains

what

he

sees as theplain sense

of the

passage, hen ontinues,

I

thoughthat heseverses

were

to be

interpretedlongthis

ine of

reasoning,

ot

because

believed hese hings

r

consented

o them,

for

oncerning

ur

ouls accept ompletely

nd

without

ny

hesita-

tion he

very

amethings

hich he

Christianeligionmaintains,

hat

the souls

were created y God

out of

nothing,

nd

that hey

were

created t

the

ame

time nd

placed

nto

heir

odies. also accept

greatmanyother hingswhich have explainedmorefullynmy

dialogues

n the

oul,50

ut s

regards

urPlato

i.e.,Virgil],

ince

he

was

ignorant

f

our

religion

nd since

he was

a Platonist

n

all

things,

I

determinedhat is deas should

e referredo Platonic octrine.51

Here

he

Christian

eader as no choicebut o pull back, o acknowledge

hat

a

paganpoet "ignorant

f our

religion"

as

written

omethinghich

annot

be

accepted.

As

Landino

repeatedly ays

in

his

commentary

o

Dante's

DivinaCommedia,ne can followVirgil ndtheotherncient oetsonly o

far s

Christian

heology

llows.52

49

E.g., f.230v, n Aen.6.126; f.231v, n

Aen.

6.162; and

ff.

49v-50r,

n Aen.

6.724.

In "Sacred Eloquence: Humanist reaching

nd

Lay Piety

n

RenaissanceFlorence,"

n

Christianity

nd the

Renaissance,

Ronald Weissman

oints

ut that andino

lso

preached

in

the Florentine onfraternities

nd thathis sermons

here

econciled

raditional eniten-

tial piety and practice with the newer Neoplatonic themes

he

was developing

n

his

"secular"

writings 264).

50 The references to Landino's De nobilitate nimae libri

tres,composed

around

1471.

51

"Huiuscemodi igiturratione putavi

hos

versus interpretandos,on quia haec

crederem, ut

illis

assentirer, am

de

animis

nostris ine

ulla haesitatione adem omnino

sentio

quae

Christiana

erhibet eligio, as

esse nihilo a

deo creatas

et

eodem tempore

creatas

et

corporibus nfusas,

t

pleraque

alia

quae

nos in nostrisde

anima dialogis

prolixius cripsimus, ed Platonemnostrum uoniamnostrae eligionis gnarus uerit, t

platonicus

mnino

xtiterit,d Platonicum ogma eius sententias raducendas ensui" f.

250v).

52

In the

Dante

commentary

s

printed

n

Cantica

del

divino

oeta

Danthe

Alighieri

fiorentinoVenice, 1536), representativeeferences aybe found tf.d7r, n nferno.67-

75;

f.

glr,

on

Inf 8.67-75;

and

f.

g6r,

n

nf; 9.89-90.




14/23

The Poeta

Theologus

53

For Landino,

hen,

Platonizing ersion

of the traditional

heologia

poetica

provided heguidance

e

neededfor ringing

irgil

nto onjunction

with

he

Christian aith.

o long as

theologia risca

and theologia

nostra

couldbe broughtnto greement-andhey sually ould-it was right nd

proper

or reader f

Virgil o point ut

parallels

with heBible and

with

Christian

uthors ike

Augustine.

n occasion,however,

theologia

risca"

failed

to flow

n

parallel

with

"theologia

nostra."

On such an occasion,

Landinowas

notprepared o do

violence

o the iteral evel

of his text

r to

contorthebasic

chronology

fthepast.

At

that oint

e couldonly cknowl-

edge

thedivergence,ecure

n

theknowledgehat

with his uthort east,

he

twotheological

treams ouldquickly

low

n

parallel nce

again.

The Virgil

commentary

f Jodocus

Badius Ascensius,

the

Flemish

scholar-printer,

ucceeded

hat f Landino

n

Italian

Renaissance

ditions

s

the ommentary

fchoice mong

hosewho

wanted detailed

nalysis

fthe

text.53

scensius reely

cknowledged

is debt

o Landino,54

o it shouldnot

surprise

s

to find

hat

his

new

commentary

esembles

andino'sboth

n

ts

search

or arallels

etween

heBible andVirgilian

oetry

nd

n

tsrecogni-

tion

f the imitations

hat

must e placed

on this

earch.

Toward hebeginningf Eclogue 4, for xample,Ascensius cknowl-

edges

that

he

nnouncement

f the

final ge and

thenewborn hild ndeed

corresponds

o the

coming

f

Christ,

ut at the same

time

he insists

hat

Virgil

id

not

understand

he ines

n

this

way

butrather

eferredhem

o the

offspring

f

Caesar

f. 21r,

on

Ecl. 4.1-17). Here,

as elsewhere,

scensius

advocatessearching

or

parallels

between

Scripture

nd

Virgil-he

later

refers

o the

practice

as "confirming

he secular through

he sacred"

(prophana

sacris

confirmare;

.

258V

on

Aen. 6.656-71)-but

as

with

Landino here re imits n

how far hisprocess an

go.

Whenhe comments

on

Aen.

6.724-51,

the same

passage

on the

reincarnation

f

souls

that

troubled

andino,

Ascensius

larifies

his

point:

A

great

many

f these

hings,

moreover,

ave been

produced

ut

of

Orpheus

nd Plato.

They

earned

rom he

prophetic

ooks and

the

wisdom

f

the

Egyptians

hat he

mmortal

ouls

will

return

t

last

into he

body,

but

they hought

hat

he souls could

not

reenter

he

same

bodies fter hose

odieshad

decayed

nd

withered

way,

from

5

See

A.A.

Renouard,

ibliographie

es

impressions

t des oeuvresde Josse

Badius

Ascensius,

mprimeur

t humaniste,

462-1535

3 vols.;

Paris,1908; repr.

1967);

andPaul

Gerhard

chmidt,

Iodocus

Badius

Ascensiusals

Kommentator,"

n

August

Buck and

Otto Herding

eds.), Der

Kommentar

n der Renaissance

(Boppard,

1975),

63-71;

also

Mambelli,

Gli

annali;

and Kallendorf,

ibliography.

-' Ascensius's

commentary

s

in

Publii

Virgilii

Maronis

poetae

Mantuaniuniversum

poema

..

(Venice,1558);

he acknowledges

is debt

o

Landino

n f.

139v, t Aen.

1.267-85;

f. 141r, t

Aen. 1.286-96;

f. 151r,at Aen.

1.532; f. 164r,

t Aen. 2.122;

etc.




15/23

54

Craig

Kallendorf

which

hey

aid the ouls

wouldreenterther odies

s Saint

Augus-

tine sserts.

ut although hese hings

re

n

general

ntrue,here s

no reasonto reject

completely

hosethingswhich

re relevant

o

purgation,rovidedhat deeper nvestigationrevails....

Hereare

the

basic

features

f

theologia oetica

as developed y

Landino: he

association

f Virgil

withPlato and with

prophetic nowledge

hat an

be

traced ackto Orpheus

nd

then o the ecretwisdom

fEgypt,

he cknowl-

edgment

hat ometimes

hetheologia risca

goes astray, nd

thefinalneed

to correct uch

errors hrough eference

o the revealed

ruth

f theologia

nostra,

he

Christian

aith hatVirgil

did nothave.

Nevertheless,ven though e doesnotuse theterms, scensiuswould

agree that

theologia risca"

as it is found

n

Virgil

s usually ompatible

with

"theologia

nostra."

For

example,

the Roman custom of

devotio,

whereby

eroes

ike

the

Decii

willingly

acrificed

heir ives

for heir

oun-

try, s

easy

to

transfer

o a Christian

alue

matrix,

n

which the saints

willingly

acrifice

heir ives

for heir

aith

f. 157',

on Aen.

1.712).56

he

entire ixth

ook

presents

many hings

ot

unworthy

f

a

Christian"

multa

Christiano

on

indigna;

f.

237',

on

the

arguments

receding

en.

6):

the

eternal unishmentftheguilty,hepurgationf those ouls only lightly

defiled,

he

ype

nd order f

punishments

eted ut o

sinners,

tc.First

we

find he

nfants ho died without

aptism, hen hose

who

are in purgatory

becauseof

a venial in or

because

they

ave

not

yet

finished

oingpenance,

then hosewho brought

n

everlasting

eath o

their

ody

or their oul;

the

samefire orments

hem

ll, yet

hey

uffer

n

accordancewith

he

gravityf

their in

f. 25 1V,

n Aen. 6.424-39).57 aradise,

y

contrast,s inhabited

irst

by

thosewho died

forwhat

hey

elieved

n,

then

y priests

nd

prophets,

then ythosewhose earning ndactions enefitedthersf. 258v, n Aen.

6.656-71).

55

"Plurima

utemhorum x Orpheo

t Platone fficta unt, ui quia ex

prophetarum

libris et Aegyptiaea

disciplina,

didicerant nimas immortales liquando

in corpore

redituras, utabant

n

eadem corpora,

ost putrefactionem

t consumptionemedirenon

posse, unde

in

alia rediredicebant,

t asseritDivus Augustinus. erum

cum haec fere

erronea unt, icetquae ad purgationemertinent,onpenitusreprobentur,deo altiore

indagatione upersedens..."

f. 261r).

56

The reference

s to a fathernd son, bothnamed

Publius Decius Mus,

who were

popularly elieved

o have consecrated

hemselves o the

gods

and

charged

nto

heenemy

ranks o their eaths,

he

fathers consul

n a battle gainst heLatins 340

B.C.), the on at

thebattle f Sentinum295

B.C.).

See

Livy, 8.9, 10.28.

57

In

TheFear of

Hell:

Images of

Damnation nd

Salvation nEarlyModern urope, r.

LucindaByatt Universityark,Penn.,

1991), 11-12,

Piero Camporesi otes

hat

heCeltic

conception

f

the

underworld

s

undefinedpen space

was

replaced y

a Dantesque

Hell

as

a

structured,

ierarchicality,

whichwas

replaced

n

turn

y

a

Baroque

sewerwithout rder

or shape;writing ithin he secondofthesethree aradigms, scensius ppearsto view

Virgil's underworld

n

the same basic

terms.




16/23

The Poeta Theologus

55

In most cases,

Ascensiushas little

rouble ccommodating irgilian

valuesto those

f

Christianity.hat s

not o say that e thought irgilhad a

full

understanding

f

the

Christianruthsontained

n

his poem

or even that

Ascensius roubledimself great eal about xactly owVirgil ad come o

the understanding

e did have. What s importants that s

we proceed

throughhe ixteenth

entury,hosewho

bought ndread large olio dition

of Virgilwouldcontinue o find hat

n themajor ommentary

o their ext,

the

poetry

f

Virgil

was

interpreted

n linewith hebasic principles f their

Christian aith.

As we have een,both andino nd

Ascensiuswere areful o balance he

interpretiveotential f theologia oetica againstwhat hey aw as limita-

tions n the extent

o whichpaganpoetry ould be brought

n line with he

Bible. Two other ommentatorsf the

later sixteenth entury,

owever,

tipped hebalance

way from he nalysis f imits oward

hepositingf a

greaterffinityetween

irgil nd Christianruth.

The first f these ommentators,he

SpaniardJuan uis

Vives,wrote

discussion

f

Eclogue

4

which

ecame standard

ffering

n the

arge

folio

editions f Virgil

published hrough

he second

half

of

the sixteenthen-

tury.58

ives's innovation as quantitative:s he put t, all things efer o

Christ"

omnia

untde

Christo;

n 1.

1)

in

this

poem,

and

his

explication

provides

fuller

nalysis

han

ny previous

dition ad carried.

he

com-

mentary

o 11. -17

exemplifies

hedetail

n

which

Vives

develops

his

deas.

The Sibylhad foretold

hecoming

f Christ, utVirgildiscovered henHe

would rrive

on

1.

4), as part

f the

Golden

Age

foretold

y

saiah

on

1.

6).

No

Christian,

ccording

o

Vives,

could ever

explain

he

coming

f

Christ

more

loquently

han

Virgil

id

n ine

7,

"new

s

the

eed

ofman entdown

fromheavenly laces" (iam novaprogenies

aelo demittitur

lto),

while

lines 13-14, [withyou as leader]

hould ome

ingering

races f old-world

wickedness

aunt

s,

/

they

hall

perish,

nd fear

rom

he

arth

e banished

for

ver"

te duce,

si

qua

manent

celeris

vestigianostri,

inrita

erpetua

solvent ormidine erras),

describehow Christ

ancels

out

the effects

f

original in

n

mankind.

f

we have

faith,

e

have

nothing

o fear

on

1.

14),

for

he

faithful ill

see Christ oth

physically

nd

spiritually

on

1.

16).

This evel of

detail,

which

ontinues

hroughhe ommentaryn therest

of the

poem,

recalls the

explication

resented

s

part

of Constantine's

ecclesiastical

ddress,

which

s

in

fact itedhere

on

1.

4).

The cumulative

impression,

hichVives

encourages

t the

beginning

f

his

commentary,

s

that

of

an

ever-closer

it

between

Eclogue

4

and

Christianity:

Let

the

impious

be

silent,

for

even

by

the

straightforward

ense of

the

words,

completely

ithout

ny allegorization,

hat

s

said here cannot

e under-

stood

with eference

o

anything

lse

at

all other

han

Christ."59

58

Universumoema;

the commentary

oEclogue 4 is

on ff. 3 -24t.

59

"Taceant mpii,nam vel simpliciverborumensu,absque ullis omnino llegoriis,

de

nullo

prorsus

lio potest ntelligi, uod

hic

dicitur, uam

de

Christo" on

1.

1).




17/23

56

Craig

Kallendorf

The

other ommentator

ho expanded

he

range

f

Christianeadings f

Virgil

was GiovanniFabrini,

who beganteaching

n

Venice around

he

middle

of the sixteenthentury

nd published

commentary

n

Italian o

accompany heLatin ext ftheAeneid n 1575-76.This commentary,hich

was

reprintedegularly

nto hemiddle

f

the

ighteenth

entury,w

s

signifi-

cant

not

so much

for henumber f parallels

t

presents

etweenVirgil nd

theBible, s for

heway

n

which

tultimatelyndsup

reshaping

he eader's

understanding

f

theologia oetica.

The importancef this

theme

s

establishedmmediately

n

the etter

from he

editor o Cardinal

accaria Delfino

whichprecedes

Book

1

in the

earliest ditions

fthe ommentary:

You

will

see as well the heology

f

the

ancients iddennmany assages, ere evealed yFabriniwith refinednd

purifiedudgment."'61

arly n thecommentaryroper,

abrinimoves o

the

relationship

etween irgil nd

Christianity,irst ddressing

irgil

n

a way

that ounds

onventionalnough:

O

divine

ntelligence, poet

truly orthy

f thenameof

poet,

who

although

ot

Christian,

oes not

ay

anything

hich s

not imilar o

Christian

octrine.Read

Saint

Paul,

who

you

will

see

does

not

concern imself ith nythinghichdoesnotturnmantothiskind

of

life.

On

this

account,

s there

nything

hichSaint

Paul writes

about

at

length

which

his

poet

does not

confirm ith

brevity

nd

clarity?

t is

truly

wondrous

hat

ll

his words

xpress

he deas of

Plato and Aristotle

n theRepublic...

2

The wisdomof

the

Greekspasses

into

the Aeneid,

which s "similar o"

Christian

octrine.

ince thisdiscussion

f

theologia

oetica,

along

with

greatmanyother hingsn Fabrini'scommentary,s taken traight rom

Landino,63

e

might xpect

hat abriniwould

continue o takehis deas on

this ubject, long

with

his

examples,

rom is

predecessor.

60

The commentaryas reprintedeparately

n

1581,

then s

part

f a book

containing

commentaries

otheEclogues by

Carolo Malatesta)

nd the

Georgics byFilippo Venuti)

in 1588 and

1597. Zabughin,Vergilio,I, 372-73,

cites

an edition f1741,whileMambelli,

Gli annali,

111,

cites one

of

1751.

The

bibliographical

ecord

for thiscommentarys

unusually haotic.

On Fabrini ee Allen,

Mysteriously

eant,

160-61.

61

"Vedra parimenteeologia

ntica

n

molteparti

elata scoperta al

Fabrino on fino

etpurgato iudicio."The letters in L'Eneide di Virgiliomantuano.. (Venice,1575-76),

ff.

2r-+2v,

nd

in the 1581 edition

f

thesame book,

but

t

was dropped

n the seriesof

editions

eginning

n

1588,

which

ontain ll three

major

works f

Virgil.

62

"O divino ngegno,

poeta degnoveramente el

nomedi poeta, l qualenonessendo

christiano,

on dice cosa, che non sia simile

la dottrinahristiana. eggi

San Paolo, che

tu vederai,

he non attende d altro, he a

voltargl'huomini

questa vita.Perche, osa

e,

che San Paolo scrivediffusamente,

he

questopoeta

non a confermion

parlari

revissimi

e

chiarissimi?

cosa veramentemirabile,

he

tutte

e

sue

parole,

spriminoe sententie i

Platone t di

Aristotile e la Republica...."

The commentary

o theAeneid s in L'opere di

Virgiliomantoano

..

(Venice,

1597),f. 14r,

n

Aen.

1.157-79.

63

Cristoforoandino,Disputationes amaldulenses,d. PeterLohe (Florence, 980),

175.




18/23

The Poeta

Theologus

57

Fora

whilehe does ust

this.Whenhe gets oAen.

6.125-35, or

xample,

he

follows

andino

n

observing hat

heunderworld

s in thecenter f the

earth f. 149r;

cf. Landino's commentary,

. 193v).Fabrini uotes

he same

passages from cripture s Landinodoes and justifies he references y

observing

hatVirgil'sdescription

ftheunderworld

is much ikethe

belief

of the Christians"si assomiglia

molto ' l'opinione

de'Christiani;

.

149r).

However, s he proceeds

urthernto

Aeneid6, his explanations

et onger.

They lowly

begin o strain

gainst he imits f his

source, ntil

he finally

makes a statement

bout theologia oetica

whichcannot e squared

with

what

Landinowrote:

Andconsider owthis oetproceedsikea Christian,hichmust e

either ecause

the

Holy Spirit

made

him

ay what

he

did,given

hat

God

oftenuses sinners

nd animals

to

make

known

His

will,

or-something

which s

easy

to

believe-because

he had

read our

holy

books

n the

Old

Testamentnd

wanted o

say

herewhathe had

read

here. hathe was led to this

ineof

reasoning y

the

Holy

Spirit

is

notremarkable,

ecause

poetry

s

a divinefrenzy,s

the

godlike

Plato so convincingly

stablishes....64

Landinodid

not

ay

that heHoly Spirit

ed Virgil, ordidhe say

thatVirgil

was familiar

ith he

Old

Testament.

This

statement as

not an

idle slip

of thepen,

forFabrini ontinues o

develop

he

points

aised

here

s

he

progresses

hrough ook 6. For

example,

when he

gets

to

Aen.

6.548-58,

Fabrinidescribes

he three

walls

which

surround

he

city

f Dis as

the

disposition

oward

in,

he

ct

of

sin,

nd

the

habit

of

sinning,

ll of which re

glossed

with

reference

o

Psalms

1.1.

Landino nterpreted

he

passage

n the same

way

and cited

he

same

Bible

verse.

However,

abrini

dds a

key

sentence hich

s

notfound

n

Landino

butwhich s

an

application

f

his belief

hat

Virgil

might

ave read

the

Old

Testament:David says

the same thing

n

such a

way

that

t

appears

hat

Virgil

has

taken

t

from

im."65

t

another

lace,

Fabrini

icksup

the dea

that he oeta theologus

might

avebeen

divinelynspired

nd

carries

t

one

step

farther.

t

Aen.

6.595-607,

Fabrini

nterprets

fable

from

Plato

in

accordance

with heChristianccount

fthe reationnd

redemption

f

man,

64

"Et considerate ome

questo

poetaprocede

quasi Christianamente,he

e

forza,

o

che lo

spirito ivino o

facesseparlare,

onciosiache la Maesta sua

molte

volte

s'e

servito

di peccatori,

de animali

n

scoprirsi

a volunta ua;

overo

che egli havea letto

come

e

facile

da creder)

nostri ibri acri

del Testamento

ecchio,

volessedichiararlo

ui; che

egli fosse

evato

questoragionamento

a

spirito ivino, one

granfatto,

erche a poesia

e

un furor

ivino,

ome benissimo rova

l

divinPlatone..."

f.

167r,

n

Aen.6.426-39).

65

"Questo medesimo

ice Davit, n modo,che pare,

che

Virgilio

habbia toltoquesto

da lui"

f. 173V); f. Landino's

commentary,

. 206v,

nd Disp. Cam.,p.

248. Paul

Grendler,

SchoolingnRenaissance taly:LiteracyndLearning, 300-1600 Baltimore, 989),248,

notesthatFabrini

ookhis civic-life

llegory

rom andino as

well.




19/23

58

Craig

Kallendorf

explaining

hat Plato wanted

o show the coming f Christ

n the Sympo-

sium,

o

he madethiswondrous

nd holy

fable."66

he

key

point

here s the

claim

that

Plato consciously

wanted o

show,

hathe crafted myth

with

Christianignificance,omething hichfollows ogically rom he attribu-

tion of direct

nspiration

o

the

poeta

theologus

ut whichruns directly

counter

o Landino's

belief thatVirgil

was not aware

of any Christian

significance

hich clogue

4

might

ave.

This s not

o say that abrini

ffaces

ll differenceetween

he heology

of

the ancients nd

the Christian

aith.

n

the same passage

in

which

he

suggests

hat

irgil

ither rote nder

he

nfluence

fthe

HolySpirit

rread

theOld Testament,

abrini

cknowledges

hat

heauthor f theAeneid

was

not a saint and did not writehis poem to reveal everythingboutthe

underworld.

or

is

everything

irgil

wrote

n

complete

greement

ith

Catholic

doctrine

f.

167r,

n Aen.

6.426-39): Virgil

fails

to

place

children

who have

died without

xercising

heir ree

will

n

Limbo,

for

xample,

ut

original

in directs

his

udgment

or

Christian,

and we

ought

o believe

this" et questo

i debbe credere;

.

166v,

n

Aen.

6.426-39).

Usually

Virgil

and

Holy Scripture

ellus

the ame

thing,

ut

f

Virgil

s

not

enough

or

s,

seeing

hat is

poem

s only "poetic

iction"

una

fintione oetica),

we can

go directlyothefirstndprincipalource ftruth,hichs GodHimselff.

174v,

n Aen. 6.570-72).

Nevertheless,

he

imilarities

etween irgil

nd Christian octrinever-

whelm

he handful

f differences

cknowledged

n

Fabrini's

ommentary.

This

s so,

I

believe, ecause

Fabrini as made some

significanthanges

n

the

understanding

f theologia oetica

which ad governed

he nterpretation

of

Virgil p

to this

oint.

o

say

that

n ancient

oet

was directlynspired

y

the Holy Spirit

nd conscious

of the Christian

meaning

ontained

n

his

poem, nd to saythat poeta theologusikeVirgilmaywell have readthe

Old Testament,

hreaten o eliminate

he most fundamental

istinctions

between

heologia oetica

and what Landino

called

theologianostra,

he

Christian

eligion.

he

two

streams

re

not

yet

united,

ut

for

Fabrini,

he

waters

re

very

lose

indeed

o

a

final

nion.

A finalunionof

theologia oetica

and

Christianity

oes

occur around

Virgil-not

in

the

commentaries

hemselves,

ut

n

a Christian

pic

com-

posed n mitationftheAeneid: heChristias, rittenya poetfrom he ity

of Cremona amed

Marco Girolamo

Vida.

The Christiaswas by

no

means hefirst ttempt

t Christian

pic in the

Renaissance;

n

the

fifteenthentury, irolamo

elle Valli

wrote Gesuide,

Maffeo

Vegio

an Antonias,nd themonk

larione

a Verona Crisias.67

et

66

"Platone nel

Sinfosio, volendo mostrare 'avvenimento

di Christo,fa

questa

mirabile

t santissima avola" f.

177v).

67

Zabughin,Vergilio, I, 179-81.




20/23

The Poeta Theologus

59

thesepoems were

not particularlyopular ven in their

wn day, so that

humanisticallynclined hurchmen

ontinuedo feel

need for grand pic

on the ifeof Christ hatwoulddefinitivelynite he

worlds f earningnd

faith. heLutheran eresymadethisneedmore rgent,o that n 1518 Pope

Leo X commissioned

ida to write

he ong-awaitedpic. The finished oem

was delivered o Leo's successor Clemen

Documents

From Virgilt oV ida: The Poeta Theologusi n ItalianR enaissance C ommentary