Saul's Pride

7/24/2019 Saul's Pride

1/4

Saul's Pride (Purg. XII. 40-42)Author(s): Erich AuerbachSource: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Apr., 1949), pp. 267-269Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2909570.

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2/4

SAUL'S

PRIDE

(PURG. XII.

40-42)

267

SAUL'S

PRIDE

(PURG.

XII.

40-42)

It

seemsthat

no sufficientxplanation

as beengiven, ither

by

ancient or by

modern commentators,or the

inclusion of Saul

among the examples

of superbia

carved as bas-reliefs

nto

the

marble round f the first irone

f the Purgatorio.

For

the

reader

not

familiar

with the details

of mediaeval nterpretation f

the

Bible, Saul's

wickedness eems

rather to be envy or

a kind of

wrathfulmelancholyhan pride

(tristitia nd ira,

cf. InfernoVII

andVIII). Jacopodella Lana, the Anonimo iorentino,rancesco

Buti

and Pietro

Alighieri give

very general and

insufficient

x-

planations of

his superbia, such as because

he foughtagainst

David, or because he did

not wish to be captured

live by

the

Philistines.

Benvenuto a Imola

and the Ottimo,whilerecording

thewhole

tory

f

Saul,

mention

he

facts

which

ontain

he

solution

of

the

problem,

ut

they

do

not

stress hem

s

the

important

nes.

In Christian thics uperbia s linked withthe originalsin and

disobedience o God. By

his

pride,

i.

e.

by preferring

is

own

will to the

order

of God, Adam committed

he disobediencewhich

caused the

fall

of

man.'

Thus,

the first

xamples

of

pride

in

Purgatorio

XII

and severalof

the

following

nes

are

examples

of

disobedience

o

God

or

contempt f

divine

power.

This

disobedience,

aused

by pride,was committed

y Saul whe-n

he

acted against

the will of God

announced

o

him by Samuel:

first y offeringhe sacrifice efore he arrivalof Samuel (1 Sam.

13,

8-14) -and

evenmorewhen

he spared he ife

of Agag, the king

of

Amalec, nd saved from estruction

he bestof

thebooty, gainst

the

express

rders

of

God (1

Sam. 15). From that momentGod

abandonshim

and

confers

he kingdom pon

another, pon David;

from hat moment

God sends

him the evil spirit

who darkens

his life.

All

commentators,

uch

as

Gregory

he Great,2the

Pseudo-Eucherius,3

alafrid

Strabo

and Rupertof

Deutz

5

agree

I

Cf.

e. g.

Thomas

Aq.,

Summa

theol.

II

IIae, quaestio

105, 2, ad

3.

2

In

1

Reg. Ecxpositio,

ib.

VI, Patr.

Lat.

=xix,

col.

347-48, 417, 421

et

seq.

3

Comm.

in Libr.

Regum, lib.

I,

Patr. Lat. L, col. 1059, 1064.

4

Comm.

in Libr.

Reg.,

In libr.

I,

Patr.

Lat.

cix,

col.

41

et

seq.

6

De Trinitate et

operibus

eius, In Reg.

libr. I, cap. XX, Patr.

Lat.

CLXVII,

1088.

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3/4

268

MODERN LANGUAGE

NOTES,

APRIL,

1949

in

considering

hese

disobediences

s

superbia nd

as the

cause

of

Saul's

misfortunesnd

his final

ruin. They

all

stress

Samuel's

words

(1

Sam. 15, 17):

Nonne cum parvulus

esses

n

oculis

tuis

etc., nd Gregory ays: Aperte rgotransgressorerinobedientiam

extitit, uia

implere

erbum omini

per

superbiam

ecusavit.

There

are even several

omparisons

ithalnd

llusions

o the original

in,

e.

g.

in the commentary

f Walafrid

Strabo.

I

wish

to add

still another oint,

which s only

an hypothesis;

t

seems

nteresting

o me because

of the

generalprinciple

nvolved:

principle

rather trange

for

modern

minds,but

indispensable

or

the understandingfmediaevalfiguralism.

In

every

xample,

Dante

reports he

punishment

f pride;

there-

fore,

he

mentioning

f Saul's

death needs

no explanation,

nd

the

last

verse,

che

poi

non senti

pioggia

ne rugiada, may

have

been

added

for

pure convenience,

ecause

Dante

needed verse

with

he

rhyme

f -ada.

But

Dante rarely

fills gaps

of this

kind with

a

meaning

hat s only tmospherical

nd

not also concrete.

I suggest

that

in the

last

verse there

s

an

allusion

to another xample

of

pride-a muchmore important ne. In manycommentariesf

David's attitude

fter aul's

death 2

Sam. I) -when

he orders

he

deathof

the man whoboasts

of

having

killed Saul,

when

he laments

over

Saul's

death and

curses he mountains

f Gilboa-Saul is

con-

sidered,

n

spite

of

his

sins,

as

the

Lord's anointed:

quomodo

non

timuistimitteremanum

tuam

ut occideres

hristum omini, says

David (2

Sam.

1,

14).

Therefore,aul

is interpreted

s

a

figure

of Christ;his death becomes prefigurationf the Passion; and

the mountains

f Gilboa

mean

the arrogant

earts

superbia

corda)

of the Jews who

reject

his

message:

on

whom

the dew or rain of

Divine Grace

will

never

fall

and who

will

never

bear

the

first

fruits

of

the

field.

I

quote

the

commentary

alsely ascribed

to

Eucherius,6

which

paraphrases

passage

from

St.

Gregory:

7

Scire

enim

debes, quia

veraciter

Saul, qui

post

unctionem

Sancti

Chrismatis,

a

quo

et Christus

Domini vocatus

est,

occidi

meruit,

mortem

veri

Christi,

quam sine culpa subire dignatus est, insinuat; montes quoque Gelboe, in

quibus

interiit,

superbos

Judaicae

plebis

conatus, quibus

contra auctorem

vitae

rebellabant,

insinuant . .

.

, propter quod

eis merito

optatur,

ne

rorem

de

coelo

pluviamque

suscipiant;

quod

hodie videmus

expletum,

in

eo

6

Loc.

cit. col.

1080.

7

Moralia

iv,

In cap.

III

lob;

Patr.

Lat. LXXV,

636.

Cf. Walafrid

Strabo,

loc.

cit.

col.

73,

and Rupert

of

Deutz,

loc.

cit. col.

1120.



4/4

SAUL'S

PRIDE

(PURG.

XII. 40-42)

269

quod illos

gratia coelestis

deserens ad plebem gentium

translata est....

De quibus et benedicitur,

ut agri primitiarum

esse

non possint. Superbae

quippe Hebraeorum

mentes primitivos fructus

non ferunt,quia in Redemp-

toris adventu ex parte maxima in perfidia remanentes, primordia fidei

sequi

noluerunt.

The

priniciple

nvolved,which eems

trange

o modern

minds, s

the principle

of

polysemy

in the figurative

nterpretation:

t

veryoften

considers,

s in our case,

the same person n morally

contradictory

eanings. The same

Saul who

has been

rejected

or

his

superbia

appears

as figuraChristi. The

Pseudo-Eucherius

continues:

Nec

tibi absurdum videri debet,

ut mala

reproborum

acta

aliquid

boni

significent,

aut rursum

bona

justorum

opera

in

contraria

significatione

ponantur. Lege Moralia

sancti papae

Gregcorii

,

et videbis quia usi-

tatissimum

est

in

Scripturis,

ut et

bona

in

malorurnl

ignificatione

acei-

piantur, et

e

converso.

ERICH AUERBACH

The

Pennsylvania

State

College

THE CHEERYBLE BROTHERS: A FURTHIER NOTE

A close studentof humanity, ickens peopled his fiction

with

the Englishmenwhom

he

met on

the

streets,

n

the

coaches,

nd

at the inns. Whether hey

were

only

casual

acquaintances or

friends f long standing, heymighteventually

ind

places

in his

gallery of pen-portraits,ome of them caricatured nd pi.lloried

without cruple, others showeredwith elaborate encomium. To

the latter category elong

the benevolent

heerybles f Nicholas

Nickleby. That the prototypesf

these

philanthropicrothers ere

William and

Daniel

Grant,

wo

prominent

Mlanchester

erchants

whom Dickens had

met in the

winter

of

1838,

has

long been

accepted.1 HIitherto, owever,

no one

has

commented

n

two

curiousmisstatements

hich he

novelist

made

with

respect o these

brothers

ine

years

fter he

publication

f the work

mmortalizing

them.2A considerationfthesediscrepanciess thepurpose f this

note.

1

For

a

fairly full

account

of

the Grants

see James

Nasmyth,

Engineer:

An Autobiography,

ed.

Samuel

Smiles (New

York:

Harper and

Brothers,

1883),

pp.

193-197.

2

The

first

edition

of Nicholas Nickleby

appeared

in 1839, following

the

serial

publication.


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