Dear Mr. Wiersum,
I do not know to what extent your curiosity has been piqued by this
material, but you may want to look at :
Courcelle, Pierre, 'Les Ex�g�ses Chr�tiennes de la Quatri�me �glogue,'
Revue des �tudes Anciennes 59 (1957), 294-319.
The following is a brief discussion on the patristic and early medieval
phase - please note, members of the list, that this is a work still in
progress and is a handbook designed for students and non-specialist
scholars. All suggestions are welcomed, however! Also note that my
e-mail doesn't handle underlining and italics.
Hagendahl (1958 and 1967) are still the standard studies of patristic
engagement with the classics, although Courcelle (1984),while unfortunately
limited to the AENEID, is a magnificent tool for tracing the use of that
poem through late anitquity into the early Middle Ages. Despite the
implications of arguments in Irvine (1994), none of the commentary
collections can be identified as specifically Christian in origin, although
Philargyrius 1 and 2 and the Scholia Bernensia have been clearly worked
over by Christian scholars (see use of Orosius and Eusebius in the Scholia
Bernensia) and include comments accepting the possibility of Christain
prophetic allegory for Eclogue 4, the 'Messianic' eclogue, a poem with an
extensive critical literature which can only be touched upon here.
Courcelle (1957) is still the fullest and most balanced study of the
patristic reaction to this text.
Christian engagement with Vergil had two sources: first, his
pre-eminent position in the literary culture and educational system of the
Latin speaking areas of the empire; second, the apparent prophecy of Christ
in the fourth Eclogue. It is possible that the second source proceeds as
much from the first source as from any apparent shared imagery of Isaiah
and Vergil. The attention lavished on Eclogue 4 is connected to Vergil's
pre-eminence as not merely 'the poet', but 'the poet of the empire' for men
like Constantine, who delivered a Christian imperial reading of Eclogue 4
in the Oratio Constantini, and his eldest son's tutor, Lactantius, who
compared Isaiah and the Sibylline oracles using Eclogue 4 as a framework in
his Divinae Institutiones (VII. 24, 7, CSEL 19).
Constantine the Great's nearly line by line analysis of the fourth
Eclogue which insists on its prophetic nature, was composed originally in
Latin and delivered by the Emperor at an Easter between 325 and 337, but
survives only in a Greek translation and re-working by Eusebius as an
appendix to his life of the Emperor. Monteleone (EV 1 913-5) drew
attention to its similarity to the works of Lactantius: Divinae
Institutiones and De mortibus persecutorum. Courcelle (1957 311) described
Augustine as assimilating Constantine's reading of Vergil. Constantine
suggested that the Erythraean Sibyl was filled with the true prophetic
inspiration, while ( Oratio Constantini XVIII) Vergil himself was not a
prophet, but aware and committed to the hidden meaning of his words, which,
out of consideration for personal safety and his audience's sensibilities,
he had embodied in more traditional terms.
For some scholars Jerome is the great biblical translator, for
others, the most venomous tongued man of his generation. For students of
Vergilian commentaries, however, his claim to fame is two-fold. First he
was the student of Aelius Donatus; second, although speaking of Vergil
with the greatest respect, calling him poeta eloquentissimus, insignis
poeta, poeta sublimis, (Holtz 1985, 9), he would have no truck with the
Vergilian fantasies of the 'muliercules' (Epistle 53. 6-7 CSEL 55). This
is unlike Augustine, who accepted in De civitate Dei 10.27 (CCSL 47, 302-3)
that Vergil, at least, was reporting the prophetic word of the Cumaean
Sibyl. Nevertheless, Jerome had only limited effect. Quodvultdeus in De
promissionibus et praedictionibus Dei (PL. 51) developed the essential idea
behind the Vergilian prophecy. Isidore ensured that it could be read
across Europe in a particular light: quarum omnium carmina efferuntur in
quibus de Deo et de Christo et gentibus multa scripsisse manifestissime
conprobantur(Etym. 8.8.7). Leopardi (EV 4, 422-3) has noted that in the
earlier middle ages interpretation oscillated between the Christian and
Servian interpretation according to the circumstances of the moment. One
quotation given by Leopardi (423) from the ninth century Ms Valenciennes
394 is of particular interest since it reflects the opinion and experience
of an early medieval teacher-commentator in the early middle ages: Volunt
quidam ad Christianos referri et nouum saeculum sub nouo testamento per
Christum dominum ex Maria uirgine natum renouatum. Unde beatus Augustinus
in quadam homelia hunc uersum 'iam noua progenies caelo dimititur alto' de
Christo predictum asseuerat. Licet sanctus Hieronimus hoc penitus neget,
quia iuxta Pauli uocem misterium ab initio saeculi absconditum nemo
principium huius mundi cognovit quod in fine saeculi per filium suum Deus
pater ostendit.
Note there is a later discussion of the particular passages in the Scholia
Bernensia and Philargyrius 1 and 2.
Helen conrad-O'Briain
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