‘Christ and the Soul are like Pyramus and Thisbe’: An Ovidian story in Fifteenth-Century sermons

The sophisticated ways in which several fifteenth-century preachers used Ovidian stories and their allegorical interpretations prove that late medieval sermons represent a promising but neglected area for classical reception studies. Preachers – whose names are today almost forgotten by scholars but whose sermons circulated at large in early printed books – considered Ovidian allegories as powerful instruments for instructing, entertaining, and moving their audiences. This article begins with a review of the literature on the presence of Ovid in sermons, and discusses the methodology to study the transformation of classical myths in preaching. Then, it focuses on four sermons that incorporated the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, which appears in the sermon collections written by Conrad Grütsch, Johann Meder, and Jacobus de Lenda. The repeated use of this Ovidian myth allows us, therefore, to investigate how different preachers appropriated and re-elaborated this story, and the role that it played in diverse contexts. Finally, the analysis of these texts also sheds light on the use of the Ovidius moralizatus in fifteenth-century sermons

Scala mundi, scala celi de la A a la Z: claves para la comprensión de la obra universal de Juan Gil de Zamora. Exégesis, libri authentici y mediadores

International audienceAlthough edited since 1994, the encyclopedic Historia naturalis of the Franciscan Juan Gil de Zamora has not been the subject of a thorough study of its contents or of its direct sources, which we suspect are not too numerous despite the multiple references to auctoritates. The first part of this study is devoted to a historiographical assessment of the prolific work of the Zamorene and allows to set some chronological milestones. The following part examines the outlines—as much as they can be reconstructed—of his conception of an alphabetical dictionary of nature based on the incomplete realization of his original universal project. The third part sheds light on his exegetical methods, which are traditional in being comparable to the hermeneutics of the first third of the thirteenth century, as well as his compilation techniques in which alphabetical systematization and self-citation play a significant role. This part highlights the prominent placement of four of HN’s sources, namely the natural summae of Bartholomaeus Anglicus (c. 1240) and Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1250), the Compendium medicinae of Gilbertus Anglicus (c. 1240), as well as the Canon of Avicenna (available since 1230), to which must be added the incontestable intellectual and textual influence of Saint Bonaventure. The fourth part focuses on the identification of sources of specific passages, which suggests that Juan Gil de Zamora made no use of philosophical translations later than those of the corpus vetustius (the “Toledan” translations and the Salernitan corpus) for the works of Aristotle and Avicenna, and did not use the work of Averroes directly. This would allow a supposition that he may have collected his material no later than in the fifth decade of the thirteenth century. The indices derived from internal examination and from comparison with other works place the preparation of the HN before 1278, that is during his sojourn in Paris, unless we suppose that he had already visited Paris previously when Bonaventure was teaching there in the 1250s.Bien qu’éditée depuis 1994, l’encyclopédique Historia naturalis du franciscain Juan Gil de Zamora n’a pas fait l’objet d’une étude approfondie de ses contenus et de ses sources directes, dont on peut soupçonner qu’elles sont assez peu nombreuses, contrairement à ce que font apparaître les multiples renvois à des auctoritates. Une première partie de cette étude est consacrée à un bilan historiographique sur l’œuvre prolifique du Zamoréen et permet de poser des jalons chronologiques. Est examinée ensuite la conception de son dictionnaire alphabétique de la nature, dans sa réalisation inachevée comme dans le projet universaliste initial tel qu’on peut le reconstituer. La troisième partie met en lumière les procédés exégétiques de l’auteur, assez traditionnels car comparables à l’herméneutique du premier tiers du 13e siècle, ainsi que ses techniques de compilation où la systématisation alphabétique et l’auto-citation prennent une large place. Sont mises en lumière la place prédominante de quatre sources de l’HN, à savoir les sommes naturelles de Barthélemy l’Anglais (c. 1240) et de Vincent de Beauvais (c. 1250), le Compendium medicine de Gilbert l’Anglais (c. 1240), ainsi que le Canon d’Avicenne (disponible dès 1230), auxquelles il faut ajouter l’influence intellectuelle et documentaire incontestable de saint Bonaventure. La quatrième partie s’intéresse à l’identification des sources de passages précis, qui tendent à montrer que Juan Gil de Zamora n’a pas fait usage de traductions philosophiques postérieures à celles du corpus vetustius (traductions « tolédanes », corpus salernitain) pour les œuvres d’Aristote et d’Avicenne, et n’a pas utilisé directement d’œuvre d’Averroès, ce qui permettrait d’anticiper sa collecte de documentation aux années cinquante du XIIIe siècle. Des indices tirés de l’examen interne et de comparaisons avec ses autres œuvres tendent à fixer l’élaboration de l’HN avant 1278, c’est-à-dire pendant le séjour parisien de J.G.Z, à moins de supposer déjà un premier séjour parisien pendant l’enseignement de Bonaventure dans les années 1250

Explorations in Augustine's Anthropology

What is a human being according to Augustine of Hippo? This question has occupied a group of researchers from Brazil and Europe and has been explored at two workshops during which the contributors to this volume have discussed anthropological themes in Augustine’s vast corpus. In this volume, the reader will find articles on a wide spectrum of Augustine’s anthropological ideas. Some contributions focus on specific texts, while others focus on specific theological or philosophical aspects of Augustine’s anthropology. The authors of the articles in this volume are convinced that Augustine’s anthropology is of major importance for how human beings have been understood in Western civilization for better or for worse. The topic is therefore highly relevant to present times in which humanity is under pressure from various sides

L’ignoranza come retaggio della prima colpa e la fede come rimedio. Analisi di alcuni testi agostiniani.

2010/2011Il contenuto della tesi consiste nell’analisi dell’evoluzione cronologica del rapporto tra la nozione di ignoranza, intesa come retaggio del peccato di Adamo, e la nozione di fede, in quanto rimedio a questa condizione penale, nella sua duplice valenza conoscitiva e morale-soteriologica. Nella prima parte è proposta un’analisi delle risposte fornite da Agostino, in alcune opere composte nel primo decennio dopo la conversione, al problema che l’esperienza del male solleva, con un particolare approfondimento della condizione di ignoranza nella quale l’uomo si trova. Parallelamente viene proposto il ruolo della fede come rimedio, che si delinea, da una parte, come adesione all’insegnamento evangelico che produce un adeguato ripristino dell’orientamento dell’amore, e, dall’altra, come stato iniziale di una conoscenza che sarà perfetta nella condizione ulteriore. Nella seconda parte è esposta la tematizzazione della fede come rimedio all’ignoranza all’interno del De Trinitate ed infine nella terza parte vengono presi in esami alcuni testi agostiniani composti in occasione della controversia con i Pelagiani e, di nuovo, viene messo in risalto il problema dell’ignoranza, nella sua connessione con la dottrina del peccato originale. Emerge in questo contesto la questione dei peccati che l’uomo compie per ignoranza e per i quali è meritevole della condanna eterna. La nozione di fede viene analizzata nell’approfondimento che Agostino ne propone – in particolare nel De spiritu et littera – non solo come rivelazione, ma propriamente come grazia che, gratuitamente elargita all’uomo peccatore, lo rende giusto e capace di una vita retta.XXIV Cicl

Il concetto di materia nei commentari alla Genesi di Agostino

One of the most important concepts in Augustine’s philosophy of creation is surely that of matter. Nevertheless, a monographic study specifically dedicated to the concept of matter has not yet been published. Purpose of the thesis is at least partially to fill this gap, considering all the text of the commentaries on Genesis (De Genesi contra Manichaeos, De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus, Confessiones (XI-XIII), De Genesi ad litteram) in which Augustine employs the Latin terms “materia” and “materies”. These texts have been translated and analyzed from a lexical and an historical-philosophical point of view. A wide section is also devoted do the study of the employment of the concept of matter in the philosophical and patristic tradition. The thesis deals with the main exegetical, ontological, epistemological and ethical issues related to Augustine’s conception of matter. What emerges from this study is that Augustine draws up a consistent theory of matter. He deepens and constantly specifies his doctrine, in which the theoretical elements derived from the philosophical tradition are originally combined

Postille inedite tassiane al Platone ficiniano (Commentarium in Convivium, Simposio). Edizione e commento.

La tesi mira alla realizzazione di un’edizione critica, accompagnata da un commento, del corpus inedito di postille depositate da Torquato Tasso sul Simposio di Platone e sul Commentarium in Convivium redatto da Marsilio Ficino. Entrambi i testi sono raccolti nel volume dell’Opera omnia di Platone tradotta in latino e commentata da Marsilio Ficino, pubblicato a Basilea per i tipi dell’editore Froben nel 1539. Muovendo dall’importanza che lo studio critico della biblioteca del poeta, il quale fu per tutta la vita un infaticabile lettore, riveste per la piena esegesi della sua opera, queste pagine offrono un primo saggio della persistente e fruttuosa frequentazione intrattenuta da Tasso senza soluzione di continuità con le dottrine platoniche. Emergerà in particolare come la possibilità di disporre delle annotazioni potrà senz’altro rappresentare un importante punto di avvio per nuove considerazioni in merito alle complesse traiettorie di riscrittura innescate da Tasso a partire dalla lettura dei testi del filosofo ateniese -e dei relativi commenti ficiniani- e riversate nella sua produzione, tanto poetico-letteraria quanto teorica.The purpose of this thesis is to build a critical and annotated edition of Torquato Tasso’s marginalia written in Plato's Simposio and Marsilio Ficino’s Commentarium in Convivium. Both texts are collected -translated into Latin by Ficino- in Plato’s Opera Omnia (Basilea, Froben, 1539). The critical study of the poet’s library, who was in fact an avid reader, is the key to thoroughly analyze his work. These pages provide a sample of Tasso’s familiarity with platonic doctrines. Having the corpus of Tasso’s handwritten notes available will pave the way to a new critical perspective on the intertextual relationships between Plato’s philosophy and his literary works and critical essays

Metafisica e fisica nella dottrina della materia di Bonaventura da Bagnoregio

2010 - 2011Il nodo centrale che cercheremo di affrontare in questo saggio è la teoria della materia di Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, quale si può ricostruire dai pronunciamenti sparsi nella sua opera. Il riferimento obbligato in questo campo, come pure la fonte principale per la conoscenza di tutte le opinioni filosofiche di Bonaventura, è ovviamente, innanzitutto, il suo commento alle Sentenze di Pietro Lombardo, sul quale dunque si baserà una buona parte delle nostre indagini...X n.s