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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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;
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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