Additional Materials for exegesis of the Boncompagnus Boncompagni


Chaucer Troilus and Crisede    1786-1800

       Go, litel book, go litel myn tragedie,
       Ther god thy maker yet, er that he dye,
       So sende might to make in som comedie!
       But litel book, no making thou nenvye,
1790   But subgit be to alle poesye;
       And kis the steppes, wher-as thou seest pace
       Virgile, Ovyde, Omer, Lucan, and Stace.

       And for ther is so greet diversitee
       In English and in wryting of our tonge,
1795   So preye I god that noon miswryte thee,
       Ne thee mismetre for defaute of tonge.
       And red wher-so thou be, or elles songe,
       That thou be understonde I god beseche!
       But yet to purpos of my rather speche. --

1800   The wraththe, as I began yow for to seye,
       Of Troilus, the Grekes boughten dere;
       For thousandes his hondes maden deye,
       As he that was with-outen any pere,
       Save Ector, in his tyme, as I can here.
1805   But weylawey, save only goddes wille,
       Dispitously him slough the fiers Achille.

Return


 

Buchanrede: Add 'Das Buechlein' (formerly titled 'Das zweite Buechlein' and attributed to Hartmann von Aue), v. 811ff.

Hartmann von Aue, 12th cent.
             TITLE: Das Klagebuechlein Hartmanns von Aue und das zweite
                    Buechlein. Hrsg. von Ludwig Wolff.
         PUBLISHED: Muenchen, W.Fink, 1972.
  PHYSICAL DETAILS: 114 p. 23cm.
Altdeutsche Texte in kritischen Ausgaben, Bd.4.
----------------------------------------------------------
To add to the authors' speeches to their books:

Masuccio Salernitano's _Novellino_ (1474/5): the Parlamento at the close of the collection.

Michael Papio
Dept. of Italian Studies
Brown University
Papio@Brown.edu

 AUTHOR: Masuccio Salernitano, 15th cent.
             TITLE: Il novellino / Masuccio Salernitano. Reprint / a cura di
                    Salvatore S. Nigro.
         PUBLISHED: Roma ; Bari : G. Laterza, 1975.
  PHYSICAL DETAILS: li, 430 p. ; 18 cm.
            SERIES: Biblioteca degli Scrittori d'Italia degli Editori Laterza :
                    Reprint ; 3.

     OTHER AUTHORS: Nigro, Salvatore S.

             NOTES: Reprint of the 1940 ed., which was issued as no. 173 of
                    Scrittori d'Italia.
                    Bibliography: p.[xlv]-li.
                    Includes index.

AUTHOR: Masuccio, Salernitano, 15th cent.
             TITLE: Il novellino / Masuccio Salernitano ; nell'edizione di Luigi
                    Settembrini, a cura di Salvatore S. Nigro.
           EDITION: 1. ed.
         PUBLISHED: Milano : Rizzoli, 1990.
  PHYSICAL DETAILS: 609 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 18 cm.
            SERIES: Classici della BUR.
                    BUR (Series) ; L771.

     OTHER AUTHORS: Settembrini, Luigi, 1813-1876.
                    Nigro, Salvatore S.

             NOTES: Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-[53]).

AUTHOR: Masuccio, Salernitano, 1420?-1500?
             TITLE: The Novellino of Masuccio, now first translated into English
                    by W. G. Waters. With eleven full page illustrations by
                    Hughes.
         PUBLISHED: London, Published for the trade [19--?]
  PHYSICAL DETAILS: 2 v. in 1. plates.

----------------------------------------------------------
Dear Steven,

Just in case that you might be interested also in vernacular adoptions of this topos (?): Provencal trobadors and French trouveres sometimes closed their chansons with a tornada/envoi addressing the chanson and telling it to go to this or that court or lady, as for instance Folcetz de Marselha, _Tant m'abellis l'amoros pessamens_ (Pillet-Carstens 155.22):

   Vas Nems t'en vai, chanssos, qui que.s n'azire,
   que gauch n'auran, per lo meu escien,
   las tres donnas a cui ieu te presen.

   [Go to Nimes, chanson, whosoever may be vexed by it;
   because, to the best of my knowledge, the three ladies
   will enjoy it to whom I present/dedicate you]

Following Provencal models, this usage (actually a variation on the more usual final address directed to the joglar) was adopted by some Italian poets, as for instance by Dante (who knew this and similar Provencal poems) in his canzone _Voi che 'ntendendo il terzo ciel movete_, which was later commented on in the second book of his _Convivio_ (cf. his explanations Cv II.xii):

   Canzone, io credo che saranno radi
   color che tua ragione intendan bene,
   tanto la parli faticosa e forte.
   Onde, se per ventura elli adivene
   che tu dinanzi da persone vadi
   che non ti paian d'essa bene acorte,
   allor ti priego che ti riconforte,
   dicendo lor, diletta mia novella:
   "Ponete mente almen com'io son bella!"

   [Chanson, I believe that those are rare
   who will understand what you say (your doctrine/meaning),
   because your saying makes it so strenuous and strong/difficult.
   Thus, should it happen by chance
   that you come by persons
   who seem not to be well aware of it (i.e. of your doctrine/meaning),
   then, please, take your comfort
   by telling them, my beloved new Chanson:
   "Pay attention, at least, to how beautiful I am!"]

BTW, I myself would like to have a look at your own bibliography on this subject, or at your article, if it is an article what you are preparing.

Yours,

  Otfried

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Tel.: ++49 30 8516675 (fax on request), E-mail: lieberk@berlin.netsurf.de
  Homepage for Dante Studies:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just thought I'd add a quick case-in-point to the mention of troubadour and trouvere lyric:  in the famous rotrouenge by Richard Coeur de Lion, the (admittedly rather whiney) poet exclaims:

     Mes compaignons que j'aimoie et que j'ain
     Ces de Cahen et ces de Percherain
     Di lor, chancon, qu'il ne sunt pas certain
     C'onques vers aus ne oi faus cuer ne vain
     S'il me guerroient, il feront que vilain
          Tant con je serai pris.

     My companions whom I loved and whom I love
     Those of Caen and those of Perche,
     Tell them, song, that they are not worthy of trust,
     For never towards them have I had a false or selfish heart;
     If they fight me, they will be doing vile deeds
          As long as I am a prisoner.

It's an off-the-cuff translation, but the address to the song is clear. And I too would be interested in the findings of this study, so please
keep us posted!

Dan O'Sullivan
Dept. of RLL
Boston College
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re:The author's address to his book (Buchanrede)
    Date: Thu, 5 Jun 97 20:42 MET DST
   From: lieberk@berlin.netsurf.de (Otfried Lieberknecht)
      To: "Steven M. Wight" <swight@loop.com>

Dear Steven -- Lieber Steven,

Herzlichen Dank fuer Ihr freundliches und reichhaltiges Schreiben! Schade, dass ich in Kalamazoo keine Gelegenheit hatte, den Autor auch persoenlich kennenzulernen. Immerhin habe ich aber Ihren Lehrer Bengt Loefstedt, den ich u.a. aufgrund meines Interesses fuer Sedulius Scottus sehr verehre, mit einem ebenso lehrreichen wie unterhaltsamen Vortrag ueber seine Edition des Matthaeus-Kommentars von Hrabanus Maurus gehoert.

Was Ihr freundliches "crediting" meiner bibliographischen Hinweise anbelangt, so bin ich zwar mit eigenen Publikationen so sehr im Rueckstand, dass ich fuer jede gedruckte Erwaehnung meines Namens eigentlich dankbar sein muesste. Aber trotzdem sind meine Hinweise doch so unbedeutend, dass es mir eher ratsam erschiene -- auch wenn ich damit Bengt Loefstedt widerspreche! --, den Platz in Ihrem Apparat lieber fuer Ihre eigenen Anmerkungen zu verwenden.

>  I did
>look at some Provencal poetry (in my tiny Reclam collection), the Vita
>Nuova, and the Canzone, but had found only very fleeting addresses,
>nothing as substantial as the passage you quoted.  As I recall, I was
>looking only at the first few lines of poems, not at the end.

Ich selber kenne "Chanson-Anreden" dieses Typs nur in der Tornada, und hatte das fragliche Beispiel übernommen aus Frank-Rutger Hausmann, _Die Gedichte aus Dantes "De vulgari eloquentia"_: Eine Anthologie provenzalischer, franzo"sischer und italienischer Gedichte des Mittelalters_, Mu"nchen: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1986 (= Klassische Texte des Romanischen Mittelalters in zweisprachigen Ausgaben, 27), Nr. 2, p.38ss. Ebendort finden sich auch noch zwei weitere Beispiele:

Nr. 8, Aimerics de Belenoi, _Nulhs hom no pot complir adrechamen_ (P-C 9.14), p.114ss.:

   Vas la bella n'Elionor t'enansa,
   chansos, qu'en lieis pren bos pretz meilluransa;
   qu'eu te tramet a lieis per meillurar,
   e, se t'aizis, poiras segur'anar.

   E si.s dona nuill regart al passar
   ne no.m defol, vai, e no.t cal doptar.

   [Hausmann: eil zu der scho"nen Elinor, Kanzone,
   denn bei ihr wird, was wertvoll ist, noch besser;
   ihr send ich dich, damit sie dich verbessert,
   nimmt sie dich auf, kannst ganz getrost du reisen.

   Schenkt sie dir einen Blick, wenn du vorbeikommst,
   ru"gt mich auch nicht, geh weiter, lass die Sorgen!]

Nr. 26, Guido Cavalcanti, _Donna mi prega_ (p.364ss.):

   Tu puoi sicuramente gir, canzone,
   la\ 've ti piace, ch'io t'ho si\ adornata
   ch'assai laudata - sara\ tua ragione
   da le persone - c'hanno intendimento:
   di star con l'altre tu non hai talento.

Diese letztere Kanzone, einer der beruehmtesten italienischen Texte aus und in Dantes Zeit, ist sicherlich auch ein Vorbild fuer Dantes eigene Gestaltung der Tornada von _Voi che 'ntendendo_ gewesen. Ein bemerkenswerter Unterschied ist, dass Cavalcanti elitaer das un- oder minder verstaendige Publikum verschmaeht und sich lediglich an die 'happy few' wendet, waehrend Dante sich an beide Gruppen zugleich in je verschiedener Weise wendet (an die minder verstaendigen mit dem Angebot, zumindest die musikalisch/rhetorische Schoenheit zu geniessen, und an die 'happy few' zugleich auch mit der 'ragione' seiner Dichtung). Von daher ruehrte auch mein spezielles Interesse, da ich in meiner Dissertation ein Kapitel zu Dantes spezifischer, von der biblisch-bibelexegetischen Tradition gepraegter Publikumserwartung im Convivio und in der Commedia zu schreiben hatte.

Moeglicherweise waere es von Interesse, auch die (mehr oder minder) zeitgenoessischen Kommentare zu _Donna mi prega_ in ihren eventuellen Erla"uterungen der Tornata zu konsultieren. Ich selbst habe bisher nicht mit diesen Kommentaren gearbeitet, habe aber einen Hinweis zu Dino (m. 1327) aufgenommen:

DINUS von Florenz
O. Bird, The Canzone d'amore di Cavalcanti According to the Commentary of Dino del Garbo. In: Mediaeval Studies 2 (1940)
p.150-203; G. Favati, La glossa latina di Dino del Garbo a 'Donna mi prega' del Cavalcanti, in: Annali della Scuola normale superiore di Pisa 21 (1952), p.70-103

>I had been meaning to write you directly for a while now, but wanted to
>leave you a decent time after your paper at Kalamazoo.  I have several
>questions to put to you.  The first relates to numerology and Dante.  Is
>there a consensus among Dante scholars about where Dante got the number
>100 (cantos)?  That is, Dante have a literary model of a work also
>divided into 100 sections, or did the number 100 come from some other
>source.  Besides your answer to this question, any pertinent bibliog.
>would help.

Forschungsliteratur zu Dantes Zahlenverwendung gibt es zwar reichlich, aber ich kann eigentlich nichts davon guten Gewissens empfehlen: die meisten Arbeiten sind historisch und methodologisch dilettantisch, und viele sind blanker Unsinn. Es gibt jedenfalls keinen Konsensus ueber ein literarisches Vorbild fuer die Einteilung in hundert Cantos, und wenn es ihn gaebe, so waere ich skeptisch. Tatsaechlich hat man nach einem solchen Vorbild meines Wissens bisher noch nicht besonders gesucht. Die uebliche Erklaerung bezieht die Einteilung in 34+33+33 Cantos auf die Lebensjahre Christi und auf die Trinitaet und sieht die Summe 100 etwa als Rundzahl oder als 'heilige' Zahl. Vermutlich gibt es auch konkretere arithmologische oder 'symbolische' Zahlendeutung (etwa als 'vollkommene' Zahl in Anknuepfung an Dantes Deutung der 10 in der Vita nuova), doch habe ich hierzu nichts besonderes notiert.

Generell scheint jedenfalls die Auffassung vorherrschend, dass nicht ein bestimmtes literarisches 'Vorbild' gegeben ist, sondern allenfalls eine 'Quelle' oder voraufgegangene Tradition fuer Dantes Verstaendnis der Zahl und ihrer Komponenten anzunehmen ist. Und ebenso wuerde auch ich vor allem die bibelexegetische Zahlendeutung als Quelle annehmen, wobei dann als ein 'Vorbild' zumindest im weiteren Sinn der Psalter mit seinen 150 Psalmen und dessen Behandlung in der Exegese, aber auch generell numerologische Deutungen der biblischen Bucheinteilungen (vgl. die zahlhaft gegliederte Prozession der Personifikationen der biblischen Buecher in Pg 29), in Frage kommen. In meinem Vortrag in K'zoo habe ich -- in sehr verkuerzter und noch
wenig erhellender Form -- dargelegt, wie die traditionelle exegetische Verfahrensweise, von der Zahl eines Psalms Rueckschluesse auf dessen Inhalt anzustellen, auf Dantes Commedia uebertragen werden kann, von mir dargestellt speziell anhand von Inf. 28, wo das traditionelle Verstaendnis der 28 als 'numerus perfectus secundum partium aggregationem' (d.h. als Zahl die gleich der Summe ihrer moeglichen Divisoren ist: 28 = 1+2+4+7+14) einen Schluessel zum Verstaendnis des Gesangs und seines thematischen Aufbaus
bietet. Mit der Hundertzahl der Gesaenge habe ich mich jedoch noch nicht beschaeftigt, zumal der Schwerpunkt meiner eigenen, an der Methodik patristisch-mittelalterlicher Bibelexegese ausgerichteten Arbeit weniger auf en formalen Zahlenverhaeltnissen, als auf den Zahlen der "res significatae per litteram" (Dinge, Personen, Vorgaenge, etc.) liegt und ich hierbei auch nicht den Gesamtaufbau der Commedia oder der einzelnen Cantica, sondern kleinere Bauabschnitte (insbesondere einzelne Gesaenge) untersuche.

Es gibt in der Forschung verschiedene Ansaetze, den formalen Aufbau der Commedia zu interpretieren. Einige Arbeiten untersuchen das Phaenomen von 'Parallelgesaengen', d.h. dass in einigen Faellen diejenigen Gesaenge, die innerhalb der jeweiligen Cantica an der zahlhaft gleichen Stelle stehen, thematisch miteinander verbunden sind, so z.B. im Fall des jeweils 6. Gesangs, der im If die politische Situation von Florenz, im Pg diejenige Italiens, und im Pd diejenige des Imperiums thematisiert:

PETROCCHI Policarpo "Del numero nel poema dantesco" Rivista d'Italia, an. IV, 1901, fasc. 6 (Giugno 1901), p.225-254; fasc. 11 (Novembre 1901), p.385-421

TRUCCHI Ernesto "Un trittico e due nuove rispondenze dantesche. In: GD 30 (1927), p.214-220 [GD = Giornale dantesco]

NOYER-WEIDNER Alfred Symmetrie und Steigerung als stilistisches Gesetz der Divina Commedia. Krefeld: Scherpe, 1961 (= Schriften und Vortra"ge des Petrarca-Instituts Ko"ln, 14)

BERNARDO Aldo S. "Dante's pervasive symmetry. In: Romance Notes 12 (1971), p.95-98

HAWKINS Peter S. "Virtuosity and Virtue: Poetic Self-Reflection in the 'Commedia'. In: DSt 98 (1980), 1-18 [DSt = Dante Studies]

BROWNLEE Kevin "Phaeton's Fall and Dante's Ascent. In: DSt 102 (1984), p.135-144

FIDO Franco "Writing like God - or Better?: Symmetries in Dante's 26th and 27th Cantos. In: Italica 63 (1986), p.250-264

KAY Richard "Parallel Cantos in Dante's Commedia" Res Publica Litterarum 15 (1992), p.109-113

Einige weitere Publikationen, die die Zaehlbarkeit der Gesaenge (Paden), das Verhaeltnis von formaler und thematischer Gliederung (Gilbert) oder die ebergaenge zwischen Schlussversen und Incipits (Barolini) untersuchen:

GILBERT Allan H. "Dante's Hundred Cantos. In: Italica 40 (1963), 99-197, wieder in: *American Critical Essays on the Divine Comedy, ed. Robert J. Clements, New York 1967, p.17-25

PADEN William D. "The Numerical Structure of the «Divine Commedy»: 1-33-33-33 or 34-76-100? In: Romance Philology 26 (1972/73), p.52-55

BAROLINI Teodolinda The Undivine Comedy: Detheologizing Dante. Princeton (N.J.): Princeton UP, chap. 2: cap. 2: Infernal Incipits:    The Poetics of the New; Append.: Transition: How Cantos Begin and End

Besonders viel Aufmerksamkeit hat ein Ansatz gefunden, der die Verteilung der Gesaenge nach deren Verslaengen und den Quersummen dieser Verslaengen (wie z.B. 142 Verse -> 1+4+2 = 7) untersucht und hierbei symmetrische, um den jeweils 17. Gesang gruppierte Verteilungen in den zentralen 13 Gesaengen des Purgatorio und des Paradiso (sowie eventuell in den quasi-zentralen
Gesaengen If 16-18) erkennen will:

SINGLETON Charles Southward "The Poet's Number at the Center. In: MLN 80 (1965), p.1-10

PEGIS Richard J. "Numerology and Probability in Dante. In: Mediaeval Studies 29 (1967), p.370-373

LOGAN J. L. "The Poet's Central Numbers. In: MLN 86 (1971), p.95-98

HARDT Manfred Die Zahl in der Divina Commedia. Frankfurt a.M.: Athenäum Verlag, 1973 (= Linguistica et Litteraria, 13), p.90ss.

LOOS Erich "Zur Zahlenkomposition und Zahlensymbolik in Dantes Commedia. In: Romanische Forschungen 86 (1974), p.437-444

SAROLLI Gian Roberto Analitica della Divina Commedia, I: Struttura numerologica e poesia. Bari: Adriatica Editrice, 1974, p.112ss.

BUCK August "Die Commedia" in: *Grundriss der romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters, in Zusammenarbeit mit Jean Frappier... hg. von Hans Robert Jauss, Bd.X/1 (Heidelberg 1987), p.59-62 (Kap.5.1 'Zahlensymbolik'), bes. p.61

GUZZARDO John J. Dante: Numerological Studies. New York/Bern/Frankfurt a.M./ Paris: Peter Lang, 1987 (= American University Studies, II/59), p.103ss.

Ich selbst habe in meiner Dissertation ein Kapitel "Das Problem des Textaufbaus und das Sonderproblem der Zahl" geschrieben, wo unter anderem die historische Frage, ob Beruecksichtigung von Quersummen bei Dante bereits vorausgesetzt werden kann, untersucht wird. Allerdings ist das Manuskript derzeit in wenig vorzeigbarem Zustand, da ich es fuer die Drucklegung revidiere.  Ich hoffe die Revision im August oder September abzuschliessen und koennte Ihnen dann eine Kopie zusenden, falls Sie dann noch daran
interessiert sein sollten.

Zu Ihrer Frage betreffs "Laurea" und "laureatus" habe ich leider ueberhaupt nichts zu bieten. Aber vielleicht darf ich meine Unwissenheit zum Anlass nehmen, Sie als Herausgeber von Boncompagno zur Teilnahme an unserer Diskussionsliste "Italian-Studies" einzuladen? George Ferzoco und ich haben die Liste im letzten Jahr gegruendet. Sie ist noch nicht besonders gross (ca. 240 Mitglieder), und die Zahl und Qualitaet der Beitraege lassen noch zu wuenschen uebrig, aber wir haben einige recht kompetente Mitglieder unter uns, die moeglicherweise zu Ihrer Frage etwas beitragen koennten. Falls Sie interessiert sind, koennen Sie sich einschreiben, indem Sie die uebliche e-mail mit dem Text

   join italian-studies Steven M. Wight

an die Adresse

   mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk

senden. Ich wuerde mich freuen, Sie als Mitglied dabeizuhaben und naeheres eber Ihr Editionsvorhaben zu erfahren.

>Finally, I am curious whether you ever found anything in your search for
>extant, planned or ongoing editions of Alexander Neckam's mythological
>commentary on the first two books of Martianus Capella?  I have been
>trying to find out if anyone is working on, or has ever worked on (and
>perhaps abandoned the project) an edition of Neckam's De naturis rerum,
>Bks 3-5, and have turned up no activity on Neckam's inedita.

So viel ich weiss, hat sich bisher niemand zur Vorbereitung einer Edition des Martianuskommentars entschliessen koennen. Catharine Emerson scheint ihr Projekt nie ausgefuehrt zu haben. Christopher McDonough soll letztes Jahr geplant haben, Ms. Digby 221 in Augenschein zu nehmen, um zu pruefen ob eine Edition lohnt, aber ich weiss nicht, was dabei herausgekommen ist. Hajo Westra und John Friedman haben sich damit begnuegt, eine von Judson Allen angefertigte Transkription des Digby Manuskripts zu benutzen, die sich derzeit im Besitz von Friedman befindet. Was _De naturis rerum_ betrifft, so kenne ich den Text zwar nicht, habe aber eine Edition (oder handelt es sich um eine Teiledition ohne Buch 3-5?) von Th. Wright, London 1863 (= Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, 34), p.1-354, registriert.

Falls es Ihnen Vergnuegen bereitet, mir auf Deutsch zu schreiben, brauchen Sie sich wegen Ihres "terrible German" keine Zurueckhaltung aufzuerlegen: auch ich selbst traktiere mit meinem alles andere als fehlerfreien Englisch ganz bedenkenlos das Internet, und zwar so gewohnheitsmaessig, dass es mir beinahe schon schwer faellt, e-mail in meiner Muttersprache zu verfassen.

Herzliche Gruesse,

  Otfried

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Otfried Lieberknecht, Schoeneberger Str. 11, D-12163 Berlin
Tel.: ++49 30 8516675 (fax on request), E-mail: lieberk@berlin.netsurf.de
  Homepage for Dante Studies:
http://members.aol.com/lieberk/welcome.html
  ORB Dante Alighieri - A Guide to Online Resources:
http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/lit/Italian/Danindex.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

Since I also recently erred against MEDTEXTL conventions by omitting a translation (mea culpa), I'll make a stab at Eric's snippet from the prologue to Petrus Comestor's _Historia scolastica_:

"I have brought the historical brooklet from Moses' cosmography to the Savior's ascension, leaving the ocean of mysteries to the more learned, in whom it is granted to continue the old and to coin the new.  I have inserted some incidental matters from pagan histories for sake of continuity, following the example of a riffle, which does not cease to flow full past the diversions which it finds alongside the river bed."

Porro a cosmographia Moysi inchoans, rivulum  historicum deduxi, usque ad ascensionem Salvatoris, pelagus mysteriorum peritioribus relinquens, in quibus et vetera prosequi et nova cudere licet.  De historiis quoque ethnicorum, quaedam incidentia  pro ratione temporum inserui, instar rivuli, qui secus alveum diverticula quae invenerit replens praeterfluere tamen non cessat.  (PL  vol 198 col. 1053)

This passage wraps the the compilatio vs. nova theme so often found in prologues with the equally common humility topos.  Like Otfried, and unlike most of the other postings in this thread, I think Peter is talking here about books, not about history or time; although philosophical echos are possible.

In addition, more attention should be paid to his diction.  Peter compares his own written history book with a river's tributary or perhaps a riffle in it, rather than the river itelf: "rivulus" as opposed to "fluvius", "flumen", "amnis", "alveum".  For direct contrasts of the river to "rivus"/"rivulus", see Cicero De rep. 2.34 and the proverb "e rivo flumina magna facis".

It may well be that they will all eventually flow into an ocean of mysterious reality, as Kevin would have it.  But I think here Petrus primarily means the other three senses of the Sacred Page, to be dealt with by more learned theologians.  Hence he seeks acceptance by denying the novelty of his emphasis on the literal sense.

As my stumbling translation seeks to suggest, he may intend "rivulus" in two slightly different ways.  "Rivulus" is a brooklet, the smallest possible unit of flowing water, or indeed the first drops coming from a spring or collecting together from rain--in a way the opposite of the diverticula which dissipate a river's flow.  If Comestor does intend "rivulus" this way in the first sentence, he draws on an analogy still quite alive in many languages: historical "sources", "fonti", "Quellen" etc.  This fits with the 'peritoriorum' humility topos; his own treatment of the various books of the Old and New Testaments is just another "rivulus"; which will not attempt to coin new historical methods.

The diminutive "rivulus" could also be considered as a very small strand within a river's current, a "riffle", since "rivus" can mean a river's channel.  I may well have grossly mistranslated the Comestor passage, but it seems that sense requires this latter meaning of "rivulus" (instar rivuli) in the second sentence, which seeks to simultaneously justify, advertise and render innocuous the _Historia Scolastica_'s use of secular historians like Livy.

The compatibility of these two meanings of "rivulus" is often quite visible when differently coloured streams flow into a river, and the unique colors can be seen as separate strands even miles after the confluences.

Looming behind Comestor's analogies to a "rivulus" here is Sirach 24, when after the Sacred Page's self-laudation, it is compared with some mighty rivers: Tigris, Euphrades, Jordan, Phison, Geon.  See in particular the end of this chapter, where the author of Sirach compares his own writings to a fluvius/flumen. [But note how different the Vulgate is from the DOUAY-RHEIMS version].

It would indeed be useful to find other medieval books which are compared to rivers, brooklets or springs.  One can make a start with:
SIMON, GERTRUD "Untersuchungen zur Topik der Widmungsbriefe mittelalterliche Geschichtsschreiber bis zum Ende des 12. Jahrhunderts" Archiv für Diplomatik 4 (1958) 52-119, 5/6 (1959-60) 73-153

A valuable corrective to A.J. MINNIS's historical portrait of the compilatio topos is:
HATHAWAY, NEIL "Compilatio: from Plagiarism to Compiling" Viator 20 (1989) 19-44

The most recent work on Comestor seems to be:
MOREY, JAMES H. "Peter Comestor, Biblical Paraphrase, and the Medieval
Popular Bible" Speculum 68 (1993) 6-35
RANIER, BERNDT "Pierre le Mangeur et André de Saint-Victor. Contribution
à l'étude de leurs sources" Recherches de théologie ancienne et
médiévale 61 (1994) 88-114

Steven M. Wight

Dear Erik,

It seems rather his narrative account of history than history itself what Comestor's prologue describes as a river. Curtius, _Europa"ische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter_, p.361, has some references for 'flumen orationis'. The passage seems also related to the more widespread metaphor of the narrator or orator as a navigator, see Curtius, p.138ss. And you might look into descriptions of the four evangelists or gospels as the four rivers of paradise watering the world.

Otfried

Dear Keavin,

it seems to me that the river metaphor here refers *both* to the historical events and to their narration (read this as a partial retraction from my earlier statement, which may have sounded a bit too definitive). The common medieval understanding of 'historia' was "narratio rei gesta" (Isidore), whereas today we tend to understand 'history' (especially in a historiographic context) more exclusively only as "res gesta(e)". That's why I stressed the aspect of narration, thinking also that the passage in question should be read rather (though not exclusively) in the context of rhetorical river metaphors than in the context of philosophical river metaphors. In my opinion the author compares the narration of historical events to a river following the course (the river-bed) of history (rerum
gestarum), mainly of biblical history, but filling also the "diverticula" of pagan history as he finds them on his way. The "pelagus mysteriorum" is of course the allegorical interpretation of biblical history, which he declares to leave to the experts. Since rivers don't leave the sea behind them, but usually flow into the sea, I would say that that "pelagus" here simply metaphorizes a large (and deep) quantity of matters which the narrator intends not to 'bring', water which is not to be expected from the actual river of his narration.

Yours,

Otfried
 

Dear Erik,

I think that there is no need to be careful with associating Peter's use of 'historia' with the 'sensus historicus', since he himself is very explicit on this matter and clearly distinguishes his 'historia' from the 'mysteria' revealed by the other scriptural senses. Also in biblical exegesis 'historia' was not an uncommon term for the 'sensus historicus'. To compare the _Glossa ordinaria_ with the _Historia scholastica_ might in fact cause some difficulties, because the HS is a compendium or compilation of biblical history (which tended to substitute the Bible in schools), whereas the GO is a compilation of patristic and medieval explanations glossing the
biblical text and its doctrinal contents. A similar difference as between summary and footnotes. Steven M. Wight's references regarding the term 'compilatio' will help to clarify the generic differences (btw, the article quoted only in short form is A. J. Minnis, _Late-Medieval Discussions of 'compilatio' and the Role of the 'compilator'_, in: PBB [Beitra"ge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, Tu"bingen] 101 (1979), p.385-421; see also M. B. Parkes, _The Influence of the Concepts of 'Ordinatio' and 'Compilatio' on the Development of the Book_, in: AA.VV., Mediaeval Learning and Literature: Essays Presented to Richard William
Hunt, ed. J. J. G. Alexander / M. T. Gibson, , Oxford: Oxford UP, 1976, p.115-141). One minor addition to Steven's bibliography of recent studies on Petrus Comestor: Louis H. Feldman, _The Jewish Sources of Peter Comestor's Commentary on Genesis in His Historia Scholastica_, in: AA.VV., Begegnungen zwischen Christentum und Judentum in Antike und Mittelalter:
Festschrift fu"r Heinz Schreckenberg, ed. Dietrich-Alex Koch & Herman Lichtenberger, Go"ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993 (= Schriften des Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum, 1), p.93-121.

The coherent (chronistical) order of the historical narrative in the HS (which is essentially an 'ordo naturalis' already observed in most books of the Bible itself) may well be associated with the river or 'rivulus' metaphor of the prologue, as you suggest it. Although Steven's comments on this metaphor are linguistically correct and certainly also thought-provoking, it seems to me that his strictly tecnical (hydrological, if I may say so) understanding of "rivulus" might be a bit too sophisticated here. According to my own more simplistic understanding of the prologue, "rivulus" is to be understood only as diminuitive form of "rivus", meaning a small river, and is part of the general strategy to express the author's humility by opposing the "rivulus historicus" of his own narrative to the vaster "pelagus mysteriorum" of allegorical exegesis which he leaves to the experts.

Yours,

Otfried

Hi Erik.  When this thread "Peter's out", please do post your own understanding of the passage, since you have been studying the _Historia scolastica_ and hence are in a better position to comment than those who of us who have responded.

Also I would be grateful if you could share with me your findings, present and future, as to any other medieval (or earlier) books which are compared to rivers, brooklets or springs.  I am myself working with a prologue written in 1215 or 1226 which compares the book to the Nile and its chapters to "rivuli".  Its author didn't have the humility gene.  I suspect Comestor's prologue may be a foil here.  Or perhaps there is a parallel source for both.  Unfortunately MOREY's article doesn't deal with Comestor's reception in Italy, where my text was written.  Obviously IV Lateran played a role in making the HS known everywhere--and especially at the council itself, which I believe Boncompagno attended.  So if you know or will know anything about Comestor in Italy, I'd be pleased to hear about that also.

If you'd like a peek at the prologue passage to which I refer, from my edition in progress of the _Boncompagnus Boncompagni_, I could send it to you as an attachment (it is in HTML), although it does postdate Comestor.  It was not likely to have be known to Alfonso el Sabio, although there is one Boncompagno MS at Salamanca, and he mentions Spanish history and universities a few times.

Yours,
Steven M. Wight
 

Dear Steven,

I think the "pelagus mysteriorum" refers to other senses of scripture.  I should have mentioned it in my original posting, but much of the prologue describes the canonical way of interpreting scripture with a house metaphor:  history is the foundation, allegory the walls and tropology the roof.  Comestor is telling us he is purposely leaving out allegory and tropology.  Rodriguez Ximenez de Rada does this even more explicitly in his Breviarum Historie Catholice, written around 1207 and basically just a copy of the Historia Scholastica.  Ximenez de Rada writes:

Deducto uero triplici riuo catholici hystorie in loco campestri
prestolans, in montem ascendere non presumo:  anagogicum, allegoricum,
tropologicum intellectum illis relinquo....  (6)

The fact that "flumen orationis" was a rhetorical topic is interesting to me, however.  I'm looking at how Alfonso interprets the Bible and the commentaries he translates along with the Bible, both by what he actively includes and by what he excludes.  The General Estoria is much more than just a vernacular translation of the Historia Scholastica, though I would say it is very similar in spirit.  It includes much more of everything. Comestor leaves out biblical verses, perhaps because he is writing in Latin and can assume that his readers are familiar with the Bible, but Alfonso generally translates every single verse for a given passage as well as all of comestor and Josephus and some of the Glossa Ordinaria.  I  think a lot of what Comestor does is fill in the gaps of the bible and
make it an understandable narrative.  One of the most important differences between the Historia Scholastica and the Glossa Ordinaria is that the HS is an independant prose narrative, a history, whereas the GO is more of a reference book.

I don't really know much about translations outside of Iberia and not much more than Morey puts.  There is a Catalan version, which I believe comes from a Provenc,al version, but that's as close as I get to Italy.  I'm a hispanist and not really a Biblical scholar.

Also, looking back at your message... Ximenez de Rada attended Lateran IV as well, though he had been a student in Paris earlier and must have already known of the HS before, since his Breviarum Historie Catholice is from 1207.  It's in the Corpus Christianorum, though maybe not yet on the latest Cetedoc CD.  Thanks again for all the help.  I will get my thoughts together and post to the list.  I would love to see the prologue to your edition?  Are you doing it in HTML?  Is it destined for a website or have you found someone to distribute a cdrom?
 

Erik Ekman
ekman@umich.edu
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ekman/
Office:  (313) 764-9378
Fax:     (313) 764-8163
 
 

Ximenez de Rada is only available through the Corpus Christianorum continuatio mediaeualis LXXII.  The editor is Juan Fernandez
Valverde.  It came out in 92.  It is also supposed to be on the new Cetedoc cdrom if it hasn't already been released

Thank you to all who have responded to my query.   I am always amazed by how much information medtext is able to produce.  I would also like to apologize for the untranslated Latin.  I am just a hispanist and thought it would be better to give you the original than to subject you to my muddled translation.

I think Comestor is referring to the canonical method of interpreting Scripture in this passage.  Earlier in the prologue he uses the topic of comparing exegesis to a house.  History is the foundation, allegory the walls and tropology the roof.  The Historia Scholastica is a literal interpretation of the Bible.  Outside of the prologue, the word allegoria"  appears only once.  (col. 1185c).   Comestor is letting us know that he is purposely omitting other interpretations.  Rodrigo Ximenez de Rada is even more explicit in his Breviarum Historie Catholice (in the Corpus Christianorum), which was written in 1207 and is basically a copy of the HS.  He says:

Having been led down to the true river of the three part universal
history, waiting in a meadowy place, I do not presume to climb any
mountains.  I relinquish allegorical tropological and anagogical
understanding to others.

Deducto uero triplici riuo catholici hystorie in loco campestri
prestolans, in montem ascendere non presumo:  anagogicum, allegoricum,
tropologicum intellectum illis relinquo....  (6)
 

However, I am very interested in the fact that the flumen orationis and the orator as navigator were topics in the Middle Ages.  People I have talk to about this project have warned to be careful in distinguishing the word "estoria" as used by Alfonso and "sensus historicus" as used by exegetes.  However, one of the aspects of the HS that most distinguished it from the Glossa Ordinaria, for example, is the fact that it is a prose narrative.  Much of what Comestor actually does with the Bible is make it a coherent narrative, explaining things that the reader is left wondering. Why is the Red Sea called red, for example.  Much of what would be "sensus
historicus" or "sensus litteralis" in the Glossa Ordinaria is etymology.  I know I am comparing apples and oranges, but I think what Comestor does is narratio rei gestae, which does not happen in the GO.  Both are important sources for the General Estoria, though the Alfonsine compilers tend not to include much of the Glossa Ordinaria.  The crossing of the Red Sea, for example, is read as an allegory for baptism in the GO, which is not included in the General Estoria.   I think the fact that Comestor is careful to produce a coherent narrative, include important pagan events and follow the Eusebius-Jerome time-line has a lot to do with his choice of the word "rivulum."    Thank you all again for your help and suggestions.

Erik Ekman
ekman@umich.edu
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ekman/
Office:  (313) 764-9378
Fax:     (313) 764-8163

Hi Erik.

Rodgriquez Ximenez de Rada's _Brevarium Historie Scholastica_ sounds interesting, and I'll have to look at it.  What edition do you use?

As mentioned before, I'm interested in the Latin tradition of comparing books to rivers or to "rivuli".  I would suspect much of it derives from Sirach 24, but am interested to hear about all usage of this topos before 1226.  As for Comestor himself, I'm mainly interested in his influence on other Latin authors, also before 1226.  When I get a chance, I am going to look at the _Thesaurus Linguae Latinae_'s entry for "flumen" etc., alas it is not yet up to the letter "R".

As for Otfried's citations from CURTIUS, I only have the WILLARD TRASK tr. here, and was not able to find references to "flumen oratoris'.  The other section Otfried mentions does not discuss riparian navigation. The two main classical sources for medieval thought about rhetoric, Cicero's De inventione and the Rhetorica ad Herennium, do not use any riparian metaphors, although one would think it would be well suited to expressing the orator's copia dicendi.  After all, we speak of one being "fluent" in Spanish etc.  Navigation metaphors, on the other hand are a different story--they took such a firm root in ancient philosophy (Plato and Aristotle) that one can hardly image scholarly discourse without them.

As to flumen vs. rivus/rivulus cf. also Justinian's _Digest_ 43.12.1: Flumen a rivo magnitudine discernendum est aut existimatione
circumcolentium. [A river is to be distinguished from a stream by its size, or by the opinion of the surrounding inhabitants.]

I would like to take a much closer look at the complete text of Comestor's prologue to the Historia Scolastica.  Do you have an etext of this, or could you extract one from the PL Online, to which you have access at UM (lucky Wolverines!), and send it to me?

It would help me a great deal if you could send me that.  I can't even get a copy of PL vol. 198 until January 1998, because the Getty library, which I use, doesn't reopen until then.

I attach an HTML file with my full translation of the prologue to the Boncompagnus, with my edition of the passage containing the Nile comparison (3.19 - 3.22) appended.  The links in the notes to that passage will be dead for you, of course, although the Oliva Boncompagni is temporalily available at my test site:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9896

Finding an academic publisher who will do a CD-ROM is a good idea.  Do you know any publishers of medieval Latin texts who are doing this already?

Steven

Here is a compilation of the many recent suggestions for texts,
manuscripts and literature on the medieval author/exegete/illustrator
who invents a new symbolic image and comments on it:

SOURCES

            early Middle Ages
Hrabanus Maurus De laudibus sanctae crucis
Plan of St. Gall

            12th c.
Herrad of Landsberg Hortus deliciarum
Honorius Augustodunensis Expositio in Cantica Canticorum [ÖNB 942]
Hildegard of Bingen Scivias (Wiesbaden ms.?)
Hugh of St. Victor De arca Noe morali and De arca Noe mystica (CCCM ed. by PATRICE SICARD and study by GROVER ZINN)
Hugo de Folieto De natura avium
Peter the Chanter - see RICHARD TREXLER's study
Joachim of Fiore's Psalterium decem chordarum and Liber figurarum
Villard d'Honnecourt's Sketchbook
Arbor consanguinitatis and the Arbor affinitatis
13th-century coutumier from the Artois, Paris B.N. fr. 5249
Eike von Repge Sachsenspiegel

            13th c.
Matfre Ermengaud Breviari d'amor (ed. PETER RICKETTS, Birmingham)
The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic (in SIMON TUGWELL vol.)
Matthew Paris Chrona Maiora - see SUZANNE LEWIS on his drawings
a canon of St. Omer - see forthcoming SISMEL volume
Alfonso X El Sabio of Castile Cantigas

                late Middle Ages
Belleville Breviary (B.n.F. lat. 10483-10484) - see L. SANDLER’s study
Christine de Pizan manuscripts -- see Jane Chance JCHANCE@RUF.RICE.EDU
Mainauer Naturlehre (facs. Göppingen 1972)
Francesco da Barberino I documenti d'Amore  (see art by EVA FROJMOVIC to appear in the JWCI)
John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel
 

                LITERATURE
ANDERSON, F. et al. edd. Medieval Iconography and Narrative (1980 symposium -- collected papers) (Odense UP 1980)
BURCHMORE, D. ed. Text and Image (The Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, SUNY Binghamton 1986)
CARRUTHERS, MARY The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 10 (Cambridge: CUP 1990)
ERNST, ULRICH Carmen figuratum. Geschichte des Figurengedichts von den antiken Ursprüngen bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters Pictura et Poesis 1 (Köln/Weimar/Wien: Böhlau Verlag 1991)
HAMBURGER, JEFFREY The Rothschild Canticles (Yale UP)
HOOD, W. Fra Angelico at San Marco
KOLVE, V. A. Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative: the First Five Canterbury Tales_
MATTER, E. ANN The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1990)
MÜLLER, HANS GEORG De laudibus sancta crucis - Studien zur Überlieferung und Geistesgeschichte mit dem Faksimile-Textabdruck aus Codex Reg. Lat. 124 der vatikanischen Bibliothek (Ratingen et al., 1973) Beihefte zum Mittellateinischen Jahrbuch 11
OHLY, FRIEDRICH Schriften zur mittelalterlichen Bedeutungsforschung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buch-Gesellschaft 1977)
Rabanus Maurus In Honorem S. Crucis CCCM 100A
REEVES, MARJORIE & HIRSCH-REICH, BEATRICE The Figurae of Joachim of Fiore (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1972)
SANDLER, LUCY FREEMAN "Jean Pucelle and the Lost Miniatures of the Belleville Breviary" Art Bulletin 66 (1984) 73-96
SHAPIRO, MEYER Words, Script, and Pictures: Semiotics of Visual Language (New York: Braziller 1996)
SICARD, PATRICE Diagrammes medievaux et exegese visuelle: Le "Libellus de formatione arche" de Hugues de Saint-Victor (Bibliotheca Victorina 4; Turnhout: Brepols 1993.
SMALLEY, BERYL English Friars and Antiquity in the Early fourteenth century (Oxford 1960)
TREXLER, RICHARD C. ed. The Christian at Prayer: An Illustrated Prayer Manual attributed to Peter the Chanter (d. 1197) (Binghamton 1987)
TUGWELL, SIMON tr. Early Dominicans: selected writings (New York: Ramsey/ Toronto: Paulist Press 1982).
ZINN, GROVER A. "De gradibus ascensionum: The Stages of Contemplative Ascent in Two Treatises on Noah's Ark by Hugh of St. Victor" in Studies in Medieval Culture 5 (19XX) 61-79
ZINN, GROVER A. "Hugh of Saint Victor and the Art of Memory" Viator 5 (1974) 211-234.
ZINN, GROVER A. "Hugh of St Victor, Isaiah's Vision, and De arca Noe" in DIANA WOOD ed. The Church and the Arts Studies in Church History 28 (Oxford: Blackwell)
ZINN, GROVER A. "Mandala Symbolism and Use in the Mysticism of Hugh of St. Victor" History of Religions 12 (1972-1973) 317-341

Literature on early development of emblems

Thanks for all the help.  I'll report back to the list when I have
worked through all these suggestions.
 

on Fri, 3 Oct 1997 Steven M. Wight wrote:
>
> Are there medieval manuscripts where the text explicitly describes AND
> analyzes an accompanying visual image, which was invented and drawn by
> the author of that text?
>
> Perhaps some list members cannot immediately recall similar manuscripts
> where an invented image is analyzed in the text itself, but do have
> useful bibliography on the subject of iconographic invention or on the
> theme "text and image in the Middle Ages".  With regards to the latter,
> I be particularly grateful for examples of medieval texts which
> interpret or analyze symbolic visual images.
>
> Any and all responses would be appreciated, on list or off.
>
> A quick explanation of my interest here:
> I'm editing a long Latin work, written ca. 1215-1226, in whose prologue
> the author warns against envy--a common topos in literary prologues.  As
> can be seen in many manuscripts transmitting this work, the author
> himself drew in the archetype manuscript (in hoc loco dipinxi) a
> personified image of Envy, whose iconography he apparently invented,
> using biblical and classical sources.  The inventor/executor of this new
> and unique symbolic image includes in his text an extended discussion of
> its iconographic sources, meaning and elements.
>
> For dramatic purposes, the author represents Invidia as a "real" beast,
> which has caused damage to her real victims. Hence he does not
> explicitly claim her visual image as his own invention.  But it is quite
> different from other medieval visual (and literary) images of envy.  In
> fact, the author does explicitly reveal the various sources which he
> combined: Hydra, Cerberus and the beast of the Apocalypse.
>
> Steven M. Wight


 

HISTORIA SCHOLASTICA PETRI COMESTORIS.

PROLOGUS EPISTOLARIS.

    Reverendo patri ac domino suo Guilielmo Dei gratia Senonensi archiepiscopo, Petrus servus Christi presbyter Trecensis, vitam bonam et exitum beatum.
    Causa suscepti laboris fuit instans petitio sociorum, qui, cum historiam Sacre Scripture in serie et glossis diffusam lectitarent, brevem nimis et inexpositam, opus aggredi me compulerunt, ad quod pro veritate historie consequenda recurrerent.  In quo sic animus stylo imperavit, ut a dictis patrum non recederem, licet novitas favorabilis sit et mulcens aures.  Porro a cosmographia Moysi inchoans, rivulum historicum deduxi usque ad ascensionem Salvatoris, pelagus mysteriorum peritioribus relinquens, in quibus et vetera prosequi et nova cudere licet.  De historiis quoque ethnicorum, quedam incidentia pro ratione temporum inserui, instar rivuli, qui secus alveum diverticula, que invenerit, replens preterfluere tamen non cessat.
    Verumtamen, quia stylo rudi opus est lima, vobis, Pater inclyte, limam reservavi, ut huic operi, Deo volente, et correctio vestra splendorem et auctoritas prebeat perennitatem.
    Per omnia benedictus Deus.
 

INCIPIT HISTORIA SCHOLASTICA THEOLOGIE DISCIPLINE.

    Imperatorie maiestatis est in palatio tres habere mansiones: auditorium vel consistorium in quo iura decernit; cenaculum, in quo cibaria distribuit; thalamum, in quo quiescit.
    Ad hunc modum Imperator noster, qui imperat ventis et mari, mundum hunc habet pro auditorio, ubi ad nutum eius omnia disponuntur.  Unde illud Isaie: "Coelum et terram ego impleo."1  Secundum hanc dicitur Dominus.  Unde: "Domini est terra, et plenitudo eius."2
    Animam iusti habet pro thalamo, quia "delicie" sunt ei ibi quiescere et "esse cum filiis hominum."3 Secundum hanc dicitur sponsus et anima cuiusque sponsa.4
    Sacram Scripturam habet pro coenaculo, in qua sic suos inebriat, ut sobrios reddat.  Unde: "Ambulavimus in domo Dei cum consensu"5, in Sacra Scriptura id ipsum sapientes.  Secundum hanc dicitur paterfamilias.  Cenaculi huius tres sunt partes: fundamentum, paries, tectum.

    Historia fundamentum est, cuius tres sunt species: annalis, kalendaria, ephimera.
    Allegoria paries superinnitens, que per factum aliud factum figurat.
    Tropologia, doma culmini superpositum, que per id quod factum est quid a nobis sit faciendum insinuat.

    Prima planior, secunda acutior, tertia suavior.

    Sumitur allegoria quandoque a persona, ut Isaac significat Christum; etiam David quandoque hoc modo significat Christum.
    Quandoque a re, que non est persona, ut vervex occisus humanitatem passam significat et lapis duritiem cordis.  Persona enim est individua rationalis nature substantia. [col. 1055]
    Quandoque a numero, ut "apprehendent septem mulieres virum unum etc."6, id est septem dona gratiarum Spiritus sancti.
    Quandoque a loco, ut per montem,7 in quo docebat Christus eminentia virtutum.
    Quandoque a tempore, ut "non sit fuga vestra hieme vel Sabbato,"8 id est in refrigeratione charitatis.
    Quandoque a facto, ut interfectio Golie a David,9 id est interfectio diaboli a Christo.

    Tropologia est sermo conversivus pertinens ad mores animi et magis movet quam allegoria, que pertinet ad Ecclesiam militantem, anagoge ad triumphantem et ad Domini trinitatem.
 

1 Ier. 23.24
2Ps. 23.1
3 Prv. 8.31
4 cf. Ioel 2.16
5 Ps. 54.15
6  Is. 4.1
7  Matt. 5.1
8  Matt. 24.20
9  I Reg. 17.50
 


 

HYDRA INVIDIAE


PL 194. Hugo of Poitou Historia Vizeliacensis lib 4 (at 1167)    ...trahebant ligna cum plaustris de adjacenti nemore suo: unde inflammata  hydra peste invidiae, immisit satellites vesaniae suae, qui in ipsis...
PL 25.1153-4 Jerome In Michaem 1.1
PL 40.1264-1266 Augustine Sermo 18. De invidia cavenda
PL 177.60 Hugh of St. Victor [probably Hugo de Folieto De Bestiis 2.7 De hydro et hydra