Neo-Latin Literature Research Articles

Letters of a Peking Jesuit: The Correspondence of Ferdinand Verbiest, SJ (1623-1688) ed. by Noël Golvers

Reviewed by: Letters of a Peking Jesuit: The Correspondence of Ferdinand Verbiest, SJ (1623-1688) ed. by Noël Golvers Liam Matthew Brockey Letters of a Peking Jesuit: The Correspondence of Ferdinand Verbiest, SJ (1623-1688). Edited by Noël Golvers. Revised and Expanded. [Leuven Chinese Studies, Volume XXXV.] (Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, University of Leuven. 2017. Pp. 962. €82,00. ISBN 978-908-2090-987.) With the exception of Matteo Ricci, few figures loom larger over the history of the Jesuit mission to China than that of Ferdinand Verbiest. He stands as the exotic counterpart to the European court Jesuits of the early modern era, employing his skills as an astronomer and engineer in the service of the Kangxi Emperor at Beijing. Indeed, it is primarily due to the prestige of Verbiest, as well as of his immediate predecessor in the role of court astronomer Johann Adam Schall von Bell, that the Jesuit mission to China was for centuries considered a metropolitan affair; that is, one centered upon the Chinese imperial capital in the hopes of bringing about the conversion of the emperor himself. Scholarship in recent decades has revised this rather limited view of the Jesuit enterprise, thanks in no small part to the reconsideration of the missionaries at court whose role was understood by contemporaries to provide protection and, indirectly, patronage to missionaries in the far-flung provinces of the Qing Empire. This new volume of Verbiest's correspondence, painstakingly compiled by Noël Golvers over the course of two decades, is an essential contribution to that on-going project of reimagining the Jesuits in the court of the Chinese emperors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Letters of a Peking Jesuit. wholly supersedes an earlier edition of Verbiest's correspondence published by H. Josson and Léopold Willaert in 1938, a work that built on the research of H. Bosmans in the early twentieth century. The identification of a substantial number of other documents, as well as a number of errors in the previous edition, gave ample justification for Golvers' new volume. The result of his efforts—including his many other publications on the court Jesuits—is the most complete testament of Verbiest's work that will likely be possible. This volume of correspondence includes not only letters written by Verbiest, but also those sent to him by other missionaries and prelates around the globe. The volume therefore includes documents in several languages including Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Dutch; a variety of tongues that demanded of Golvers a polyglottism on par with his subject. Letters of a Peking Jesuit. is also a triumph of bibliographic sleuthing: Golvers tracked down autograph and copied versions of Verbiest's correspondence in libraries and archives throughout the world, cataloging the extant copies in the edition's apparatus. And finally, the editor's depth of knowledge of late Renaissance culture, as well as his many years of studying neo-Latin literature and missionary writings on China, enabled him to provide invaluable annotations to the letters, replete with references to modern and early modern scholarship. The letters included in Golvers's edition describe several of the iconic moments associated with the Jesuits at the Kangxi court. Verbiest's scientific endeavors are described in considerable detail, as well as his personal relationships with imperial officials and the emperor. Verbiest's work on behalf of the interests of the Society of Jesus, as well as his repeated interventions in favor of the Catholic [End Page 590] missions in China more broadly, are also documented throughout. The variety of topics discussed in the letters themselves are contextualized by a succinct biography of Verbiest, as well as by the numerous explanatory notes that accompany the texts and the comprehensive indices. This large volume will therefore be of great interest to specialists, primarily as a reference work and a source for future scholars working on the Jesuits in China, the early Kangxi period, and early modern missions. Liam Matthew Brockey Michigan State University Copyright © 2017 The Catholic University of America Press

Amphitheater und lachende Hügel: neulateinische Landschaften

The concept of landscape is often said to have developed only in the 18th century. Earlier place descriptions supposedly lack the sense of unity and mood that we feel to be constitutive for a real landscape. Using the example of Neo-Latin literature, the present article shows that this idea is wrong. Early modern Latin authors are perfectly able to describe true landscapes. They even have developed a number of specific literary techniques to represent scenic unity and atmosphere.

El tema de la estatua silenciosa: imitación compleja y poesía neolatina

Este trabajo estudia el tratamiento del tópico de la estatua silenciosa en la literatura neolatina. El tema proviene de los epigramas sobre Pitágoras de la Antología Palatina. Las imitaciones neolatinas de este tópico son numerosas y complejas al utilizar varias fuentes al mismo tiempo. Los autores han realizado una lectura activa de los epigramas de sus predecesores, aplicando el motivo tradicional a temas nuevos y adaptándolo a la temática religiosa.

EPYLLION - (M.) Baumbach, (S.) Bär (edd.) Brill's Companion to Greek and Latin Epyllion and its Reception. Pp. xxvi + 640, ills. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012. Cased, €188, US$258. ISBN: 978-90-04-21432-3.

A Short Introduction to the Ancient 'Epyllion'. Manuel Baumbach & Silvio Bar Contributors Abbreviations 1. History and Development of the Term and Concept of the 'Epyllion' Before the Epyllion: Concepts and Texts Virgilio Masciadri On the Origins of the Modern Term 'Epyllion': Some Revisions to a Chapter in the History of Classical Scholarship Stefan Tilg Catullus 64: the Perfect Epyllion? Gail Trimble 2. The Archaic and Pre-Hellenistic Period The Songs of Demodocus: Compression and Extension in Greek Narrative Poetry Richard Hunter Demodokos' Song of Ares and Aphrodite in Homer' Odyssey (8.266-366): an Epyllion? - Agonistic Performativity and Cultural Metapoetics Anton Bierl Borderline Experiences with Genre: The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite between Epic, Hymn and Epyllic Poetry Manuel Baumbach Rhapsodic Hymns and Epyllia Ivana Petrovic The Pseudo-Hesiodic Shield and The Poetics of Deferral Peter Bing 3. The Hellenistic Period Pindaric Narrative Technique in the Hellenistic Epyllion Christine Luz The Hecale and Hellenistic Conceptions of Short Hexameter Narratives Kathryn Gutzwiller Miniaturizing the Huge: Hercules on a Small Scale (Theocritus Idylls 13 and 24) Benjamin Acosta-Hughes Herakles in Bits and Pieces: Id. 25 in the Corpus Theocriteum Thomas A. Schmitz Achilles at Scyros, and One of his Fans: The Epithalamium of Achilles and Deidameia (Buc. Gr. 157-158 Gow) Marco Fantuzzi 4. The Late Roman Republic and the Augustan Period epsiloniotasigmaf epsilonpieta kappaalphaiota epsilonlambdaepsilongammaepsilon alphasigmaf alphanu gammaepsiloniotanu: The Erotika Pathemata of Parthenius of Nicaea Jacqueline J.H.Klooster A Virgo infelix: Calvus' Io vis-a-vis Other Cow-And-Bull Stories Regina Hoschele The Tenth Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses as Orpheus' Epyllion Ulrich Eigler 5. The Imperial Period The Fast and the Furious: Triphiodorus' Reception of Homer in the Capture of Troy Vincent Tomasso Musaeus, Hero and Leander: Between Epic and Novel Nicola Nina Dummler 'Museum of Words': Christodorus, the Art of Ekphrasis and the Epyllic Genre Silvio Bar The Motif of the Rape of Europa: Intertextuality and Absurdity of the Myth in Epyllion and Epic Insets Peter Kuhlmann 6. The Middle Ages and Beyond 'Epyllion' or 'Short Epic' in the Latin Literature of the Middle Ages? Carmen Cardelle de Hartmann & Peter Stotz Short Mythological Epic in Neo-Latin Literature Martin Robert Burns' Tam O'Shanter: a Lallans Epyllion? Ewen L. Bowie General Bibliography Indexes General Index Index of Passages Discussed

CroALa

Croatiae auctores Latini (CroALa), a text collection first published in 2009, makes freely accessible Latin texts written by or about people of Croatian origin from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. The collection is intended primarily for scholars of Latin and neo-Latin literature and language and of Croatian history and culture. Texts are encoded in TEI XML and made searchable and readable online using PhiloLogic. This edition is intended to become a starting point and a useful tool for serious research, both traditional and digital. What can be done, besides adding more texts, to stimulate such research? This article describes the editors’ solutions in the following six areas: fine-tuning the metadata and user interface to enable grouping of texts by author, period, genre, theme; providing language tools for users; adding supplemental material and links; making citations of CroALa texts easier and providing hyperlinks between texts; digitizing and providing access to finding aids for effective search and retrieval; disseminating the texts in outside repositories. These enhancements are realized by XML encoding, XSLT stylesheets, and configuring PhiloLogic. These solutions are simple to implement and are within reach of an advanced, non-programmer computer user. The documentation of these solutions serves a twofold pedagogical purpose: first, to help newcomers find their way around the immense potential enabled by the TEI encoding scheme and, second, to encourage other humanities scholars to become makers—or, at least, adapters—of TEI-based digital tools. Simply put, if I did it, you can do it too!

Early Modern German Literature 1350-1700 by Max Reinhart

226 Reviews Wachinger)of thesixteen-volume Repertorium derSangspriiche und Meisterlieder, justoverhalftheessaysinthe collection discusslyric genres andother musicological themes: inadditiontotopics already mentioned,there arecontributions onLuther's hymns, the melodyofepicstrophes, andmusical instruments in Wittenwiler's Ring. A localor regional connectionrunsthrough eightessays which arevariously de votedto Konradvon Wurzburg, WalthervonderVogelweide, andHans Sachs,and totheimage ofFranconiain medievalGerman literature. TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE MARK CHINCA Early ModernGerman Literature 1350-1700.Ed. by MAXREINHART. (The Camden HouseHistoryofGermanLiterature, 4)Rochester, NY:CamdenHouse. 2007. liii+1094 pp. $i1o; ?6o. ISBN 978-1-57113-247-5. Thisground-breaking contribution tolate medievalandearly modernGermanstu dies isthefirst volume-length literary history of thisrich period.It manages at the sametimetofunction as anaccessibleintroduction for students, aswell aspointing the way tofuture research byhighlighting previously neglected areasofscholarship andproviding detailed bibliographical references. Thevolumeischaracterized byits important interdisciplinary approachtoliterary studies andby its detailedattention to thecoexistence ofLatinandvernacularliterary culturein thisperiod.Refresh ingly, theforms which thevolumeconsidersrangefromthetraditional genres drama,poetry, prose-to thethose whichweremore oftenoverlooked by earlier scholarship, suchasdemonologies, theemblem,translations, and travel reports. Early ModernGerman Literature starts withthe BlackDeath and,as Max Reinhart explains inhis introduction, it is therefore able to examine thecoexistenceof late medieval and humanistic forms at the beginning of the period as well as taking into account the transition frommanuscript culture to that of printing with movable type. The volumeplaces early modern literature (in thebroadestsense of the word) in its historical context, showing how texts had meaning 'within specific discursiveframeworks' (p.xvii) in theearly modernperiodand focusing on their communicative function at thattime. Reinhart highlights nationalism and confessionalism as twoof thepowerful drivingforces of theperiod.The volume also tracestheriseofbourgeoisintellectual culture, through thegrowth of cities, chanceries, anduniversities, while reminding us of itsimportant relationship with aristocratic circles onwhich itoften dependedfor employment. Thevolumeisdividedintofive sections('Transitions', 'Formations', 'Forms', 'Re presentations', 'Lives'). The first section providesa framework for what istocome, with thought-provoking reflections byKlausGarberandHans-GertRoloff on the natureofearly modern scholarship. Garberprovidesan incisive analysis ofearlier generations' approachestothis period, whileRoloff emphasizesthe wealthofearly modern texts whichhavenotyetbeenproperly understood orevenproperly edited. Roloff calls for literary history to be 'orientated towards human values' (p. 31) that is, to explore texts as responses to particular existential problems at a given MLR, 104.1, 2009 227 time. GraemeDunphy focuses on 'Literary Transitions' at thestart of theperiod, analysingthechanging natureof courtly culturein thelate medievalperiod,as well as theimportance ofmonasticismand theriseof thecities, whose literary forms included the Stadtchronik. RenateBorn'schapter endsthissection, providing a succinct account of the emergence of a single standardized German as a literary language whichemphasizesthecoexistence during muchofthe periodof 'Common German' inBavaria and Austria and theEastern Central German which was adopted byProtestant printers andwriters. The secondsection('Formations') beginswith awide-ranging chapter by Wil helm Kiihlmann on education, encompassing humanist approaches and thecultural patriotism of theseventeenth century, which saw a shifttowards Germanbeing used as thelanguage of theclassroom.Joachim Knape's excellent chapter'Poetics andRhetoricsinEarly ModernGermany'providesa clearand readable accountof theclassicalorigins ofpoeticsand texts on rhetoric, regarding bothas closelylinked theories ofcommunication. Knape also examinesconversational andbehavioural rhetorics, whichdealt with ritualized behaviourincourtor insociety. The section 'Formations' alsocontains severalimportant contributions on thesixteenth century. Stephan Fiisselexaminesthe origins andspread ofprinting and WilhelmKiihlmann analysestheliterature writteninneo-Latinfrom thelatefifteenth totheearly eigh teenth century in Germany, muchofwhichwas readbyintellectuals across Europe. Humanists'rediscovery ofancient playwrights suchas PlautusandTerenceled to the foundation of amodern dramatic tradition inLatin, such as the comedy Julius redivivus (1585)byFrischlin; eroticlovepoetry waswritten, modelledonCatullus; neo-Latinpanegyric poetryandotheroccasionalpoetry was alsowrittenthrough out this periodandexisted alongside German-language writingfor sometime after Opitz'spoeticreforms. Neo-Latinwas ofcoursealsoan important language forsci entific writing. Kiihlmannalsoanalysesthe European-wide tradition ofLatinJesuit drama, which had an important influence, forexample, on the tragedies ofAndreas Gryphius. ErikaRummel'scontribution onhumanists as translators andeditors also engages with neo-Latin literature, as well as examining theReuchlin affairand hu manistbiblicalscholarship, suchasErasmus's Greek-Latin New Testament of1516. One of the great strengths of thisvolume is that it showcases themost recent re search on each of the subject areas. C. Scott Dixon's chapter on theReformation is a case inpoint. Dixon highlights theimportance ofthe University of Wittenberginthe origins of the Reformation movementand showshow initsearlystages Lutherand hiscolleaguesregarded the new theology as 'ourtheology', the product ofcollabora tive work inthefaculty. The chapter emphasizesthe heterogeneity of the Reforma tion movementand showshow itfragmented as itspreadbeyond Wittenbergor Zurich. Dixon alsoexaminesthe political dynamic ofthe Reformation, showing the close linkbetweenthe Reformation and thesystems ofgovernancein townsand cities. Parts iII ('Forms')and iv ('Representations...

8.R.4. Skafte Jensen, Minna (2004) Friendship and poetry: studies in Danish Neo-Latin literature

Skafte Jensen, Minna (2004) Friendship and poetry: studies in Danish Neo-Latin literature. Edited by Marianne Pade, Karen Skovgaard-Petersen, Peter Zeeberg. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. (Renæssancestudier; 12.) 273 p. ISBN 87-7289-961-1.

Vergilius Redivivus: Studies in Joseph Addison's Latin Poetry

PREFACE It is hardly an exaggeration to say that Latin poetry has been virtually ignored by modern scholarship. Since the appearance in 1914 of Guthkelch's edition of his works1 there has been no modern edition of the Latin poetry, with the exception of the hypertext version (together with brief notes) by Sutton.2 And critical discussion is equally thin, amounting in fact to just two articles, one unpublished thesis, and single chapter in another unpublished thesis. As far back as 1938 Bradner, in an article that should have paved the way for further study, offered comprehensive survey of factual problems surrounding the publication of several of Latin poems.3 It is evident, however, that this discussion did not aim to offer critical analysis. Almost twenty-five years later Schuch's dissertation on Addison and the poetry of Augustan Rome made some good observations,4 but this focused on his vernacular rather than Latin writings, tracking down thematic parallels, while neglecting seventeenthcentury appropriation of classical models. Nearly two decades later Wiesenthal in an unpublished thesis convincingly demonstrated that Addison's Latin is both vigorous and energetic.5 His chapter on the subject is particularly useful when set in the context of the other English Augustans whose Latin poetry he surveys. And more recently some insight into reworking of Virgil in his Pax Gulielmi has been afforded by Williams and Kelsall6 in an article which, as Sutton observes, is a model for the way Neo-Latin poetry can be discussed with profit.7 What is immediately apparent, nonetheless, is the fact that Latin verse has failed to receive the critical attention it deserves. And this seems to be the consequence of number of factors. Until recently classical scholars have not ventured into the immensely important domain of neo-Latin literature, important because it illuminates our understanding of such issues as reception, the classical tradition, and more generally the complexities of early modern culture.8 And English scholars (barring only few exceptions) rarely cross that linguistic divide between poet's vernacular and Latin works,9 despite the fact that such an approach can and does prove mutually insightful for both disciplines. It is unfortunate then that Bradner's observation made well over half century ago that very little has appeared in the way of critical study of these poems in relation to the literature of their time10 still holds true today. Typical of its reception is the viewpoint of Courthope, who could only remark that the Latin poems distinguished by the ease and flow of the versification, but they are generally wanting in originality.11 It is the aim of the present monograph to begin to fill this gap in modern scholarship by examining the intricate intertextual relationships between some of neo-Latin poems and the poetic corpus of one Augustan poet: Virgil (the Georgics in particular). While so doing it fully accepts nonetheless that Latin poetry also interacts, even if in less overt or sustained way, with other Roman authors.12 Offering case study, as it were, of one neo-Latin poet's engagement with Virgil, it presents series of chapter-length discussions, all of which, while clearly interrelated, may also, it is hoped, stand independently.13 Throughout, the analysis is informed by twofold aim: to assess how Virgilian texts were refined and redefined through appropriation to contemporary context; to demonstrate on representative level an apparent paradox: that in the case of Addison late seventeenth-century neo-Latin poetry, far from being self-contained, was in virtue of its intertextual relationship with Virgil traversed by otherness.14 As such, the Addisonian Latin text exemplifies Kristeva's definition of intertextuality: text is mosaic of quotations; any text is an absorption and transformation of another. …

Recent work on Nordic Neo-Latin literature (2001-2004)

Recent work on Nordic Neo-Latin literature (2001-2004)

Edmund Spenser and Neo-Latin Literature: An Autograph Manuscript on Petrus Lotichius and His Poetry

AS scholars have come to attend more and more to readers' annota~tions as indicators of habits of reading, marked copies of books LI. owned by English writers have come under increasing scrutiny. But the extent to which these copies survive varies widely, from Robert Burton's vast library to what may be the single surviving volume owned by William Shakespeare.' In this respect Edmund Spenser is an especially unfortunate case. One of the most learned poets of his age, he seems to have left behind very few of his books. His copy of the 1590 Faerie Queene survives, as do copies of two books that he sent to Gabriel Harvey.2 The Folger Shakespeare Library has in its collections, however, two of what may prove to be the most interesting of his few extant books. The last leaf of one of them contains what Peter Beal describes as

Epicurean vs. Stoic Debate and Lazarillo's Character

Fictional debates between Epicures and Stoics existed in classical antiquity and lived on in the neo-Latin literature of the Renaissance, as in Lorenzo Valla's De Voluptate and Erasmus's Epicureus. Specific parallels suggest that the creator of the picaresque genre knew this tradition. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century humanists connected Epicureanism with the cult of Bacchus, and the Lazarillo contains several parallels to the Bacchean myth. In the first two books of his dialogue Valla creates an unrestrained Epicure that dwells on the foolishness of Stoics, who condemn their natural urges – though secretly following them – and blame them on Stepmother Nature's blinding influence. The self-serving narrator of the Lazarillo makes a similar claim, and in several ways lives out the recommendations of Valla's voluptuary. Similarly, Erasmus remarks on the etymology of the word 'Epicurean,' which suggests a guide who is a boy or son, and so the proto-picaro himself. After profiling the disastrous moral slide of the unrepentant who begin sinning in childhood, he praises an unblemished life, spent from youth in ever growing virtuous pleasures. Lazarillo's life and the concluding line of his account may echo that praise in ironic reversal.

Neo-Latin Studies: Significance and Prospects

Within the short span of approximately 25 years the study of Latin literature from the period ca. 1300-1800 (usually called Neo-Latin) has developed immensely: whereas earlier research almost exclusively dealt with very few authors already famous for their vernacular writing, scientific impact or innovative humanism, a large amount of hitherto unknown Neo-Latin literature has now been made accessible through editions, handbooks, surveys, translations, websites etc. But this successful activity has not led to an easy recognition of the field, either among classicists or within the university system. There are still a number of basic, unresolved problems regarding method, unity, interdisciplinary status, relation to classical studies, etc. SO has asked an experienced practitioner in the field, Prof. Hans Helander of Uppsala University, to give a report on the present situation. His challenge is met by a panel of prominent scholars from Europe and North America. After their comments, prof. Helander sums up the discussion. The debate is concluded by a comprehensive bibliography.Further contributions are welcomed.

L'Influenza Della Farsaglia di Lucano Sull'Epopea Tardo-Umanista Latina in Ungheria; Stephanus Taurinus: Stauromachia

The first humanist Latin epic in Hungary was written by the Transylvanian humanist of Moravian origin, Stephanus Stieroxel (or Taurinus, in his latinized name). The work appeared in 1519 in Vienna, under the title Stauromachia id est Cruciatorum Servile Bellum. The present study reviews the previous interpretations of the epic, which chose as its subject the 1514 peasants' revolt, led by Gyorgy Dosza. Some of the interpretations state that the author's sympathy is expressed towards the noblemen, who fell victim to the riots; some state the opposite: the author stands on the side of the peasants. According to the author of the present study, neither of these views is well founded. He supports his opinion with genre-analysis, showing that the work is an epic-parody, based on the Homeric Batracomyomachia, translated and made widely known by Reuchlin. On the other hand he shows that the author of the epic, following the Erasmian Riccardo Bartholini, condemns both the arrogance of the aristocracy and the cruelty of the peasants: both classes help to destroy the unity of Christian Europe, opening a way to the Islamic conquerors waiting at the borders. This is the reason why the author of the epic chose Lucan's epic on the Roman civil war as his moral guide in his historic pessimism, and adapted the motives of this work according to his own poetic goals. Imitation of Lucan in such format is unprecedented in the whole European Neo-Latin literature.

Klassische Bildung im Dienst habsburgischer Propaganda: Lateinische Panegyrik in der Donaumonarchie

Among those parts of Neo-Latin literature which have been largely neglected so far are the various forms of panegyric poetry, ranging from epigram to large-scale epic. These poems can, however, offer interesting aspects of imperial propaganda, and at least some of them seem to be of high literary quality. For these reasons the Vienna Institute of Classical Studies has initiated a research project, which aims at cataloging and—as far as possible—analyzing Latin panegyric poetry composed for the House of Habsburg from the 15th to the 19th century. The following article tries to illustrate the wide scope of this poetry by introducing one of its last representatives, Wilhelm Menis from Brescia (1793–1853), who appears to be a late successor of Vergil already by his choice of subjects. After some pastoral poems, e.g., on the occasion of the emperor’s birthday, he wrote the didactic poemHygea celebrating the Habsburg welfare policy and finally turned to epic poetry: Menis’Radetzky describes the dramatic events of the years 1848–49 by making frequent use of the long tradition of Latin epic and especially of Vergil as his most important model.

:Companion to Neo-Latin Studies. Part 1. History and Diffusion of Neo-Latin Literature

:<i>Companion to Neo-Latin Studies. Part 1. History and Diffusion of Neo-Latin Literature</i>

Companion to Neo-Latin Studies. Part One: History and Diffusion of Neo-Latin Literature

Companion to Neo-Latin Studies. Part One: History and Diffusion of Neo-Latin Literature

George Buchanan and European Humanism

Today Buchanan is chiefly remembered as a turncoat opponent of Mary Queen of Scots; on the evidence that survives, this view is almost certainly unjustified. His wider claims to fame have been obscured by the decline in classial studies and by the relative lack of interest shown in the Neo-Latin literature of the Renaissance, though recently an increasing number of scholars have paid attention to this aspect of humanism. Buchanan is in fact a fine example of the Scotsman who goes abroad, returns home having acquired an impressive acquaintance with European humanism, helps to put Scotland on the cultural map of Europe, and, as a man in tune with cultural developments, remains a figure whose achievements continue to impress long after his death.'

Did Opitz Translate Lotichius' Elegy on Magdeburg?

Students of German and Neo-Latin literature may have encountered references to an elusive translation by Martin of Lotichius Secundus' famous elegy on Magdeburg, Ad Joachimum Camerarium Papebergensem. De Obsidione Urbis Magdeburgensis, the fourth elegy in the second book of Lotichius' elegies.1 Harry Schnur, for example, in his invaluable Lateinische Gedichte deutscher Humanisten (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1967) mentions a translation by in his notes to the Lotichius elegy; W. Ludwig makes a similar passing reference in his Petrus Lotichius Secundus and the Roman Elegists (in Classical Influences on European Culture A.D. 1500-1700, ed. R. R. Bolgar [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976], 171-90, here p. 178). The translation, though oft alluded to, has only recently become easily accessible; Hedwig Heger has published what she calls Nachdichtung von Martin Opitz on pp. 479-85 of the second part of Spdtmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation (Munich: Beck, 1978), volume 11.2 of the series Die deutsche Literatur. Texte und Zeugnisse. Heger's source is the 1754 Amsterdam edition of Lotichius edited by Burmannus Secundus, where the elegy, Germanico idiomate reddita per Martinum Opitium, appears on pp. 284-89 of volume II, amid the documentary material Burmann appended to the works of Lotichius.2 There are two curious circumstances associated with this translation.

:The Present State of Scholarship in Sixteenth-Century Literature

In addition to much useful bibliographical information, this book gives us an insight into the ways in which six scholars perceive recent developments in their fields. Not only do many of them approach the problem of how to define the field (what is the Renaissance, for example), but more disturbingly, many of the scholars represented do not seem to like what is going on in their fields. This trend is most evident in Theodore S. Beardsley's statistically organized essay on Spanish literature, which laments the decline in traditional scholarship (graduate students cannot read Gothic script any more), and decries the fact that most work is being done on a few major authors. The need for more critical editions of minor authors is repeated by Richard J. Schoeck in his historically oriented essay on English literature, which also laments the fact that young scholars cannot read foreign languages well enough any more to engage in truly comparative scholarship. The theme of comparative or inter-disciplinary study is one which most of the scholars represented approach warily. Many repeat some version of Professor Jones' statement in the introduction that interdisciplinary studies are producing new vocabularies (p. x). But the book itself is organized along strictly national lines, demonstrating the fact that for professional purposes at least, most scholars must remain within traditional boundaries. Another area related to the question of natural boundaries is that of political and sometimes religious bias attributed by these American academics to much of the scholarship coming out of the countries of literary origin. The late Beatrice Corrigan, in her portion of the essay on Italian literature, points out the way in which political upheaval in twentieth-century Italy clouds its perception of the same upheavals in Renaissance Italy. Bonner Mitchell, in his continuation of Professor Corrigan's essay, goes further to criticize Italian scholarship for the stereotypical mediterranean quality of disorganization, and for inability to finish bibliographic projects. Eli Sobel repeats the problem of political bias in his essay on German literature. Particularly, of course, there is a need to distinguish between the interests of East and West German scholarship. Not only do East German writers over-emphasize class conflict in the sixteenthcentury, but their major focus is on literary products associated with the Volk. Unlike the three scholars discussed so far, however, Professor Sobel seems generally satisfied with what is going on in his field, pointing to good progress in critical editions, attention to minor writers, and important research on the reading public of the time. Like that of Professor Sobel, Donald Stone's aesthetic approach appears to be in step with what is going on in his field, French literature. Unlike Professor Sobel, however, he mainly surveys the literature on the major French writers of the century, and is not quite so disturbed by the absence of research on minor figures as Professors Beardsley and Schoeck. More importantly, he makes explicit the split between traditional and contemporary approaches we hav enoticed underlying the other essays, and gives examples of the alarming extent to which feelings run high (p. 53), particularly in Rabelais studies. Lawrence V. Ryan's concluding essay on Neo-Latin literature is perhaps the most enthusiastic of the six, defining the special linguistic problems of Neo-Latin and pointing to progress in the field, especially on interrelationships with vernacular literature. Thus Professor Ryan's essay, of necessity, is the only one illustrating the comparative approach, and paradoxically he recognizes the validity of modern critical methods in what would seem to be a very conservative field. To sum up, reading this book does pose an initial problem in that each essay is written from a different methodological point of view: When individual essays are written by different authors, and a single plan is not carefully adhered to, different sections can be quite uneven (p.

El didactismo landivariano: tradición clásica, identidad cultural e ideología jesuítica en la &lt;i&gt;Rusticatio Mexicana&lt;/i&gt;

En el marco de la literatura neolatina, la poesía didáctica ha tenido un amplio desarrollo sobre la base del modelo virgiliano. Pero la “popularidad del género” se debe al interés que despertó entre los jesuitas de los siglos xvii y xviii. Tal el caso del P. Landívar, autor de la Rusticatio Mexicana. El análisis de las convenciones genéricas pone de manifiesto que el didactismo landivariano se nutre de la tradición clásica y revela un carácter identitario y claramente ideológico.