medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Christopher,
The sources I quoted were meant only to illustrate exegetical views that
offer conceptual parallels to Dante's verses, but as regards direct
influence, no, it is rather unlikely that Dante knew these passages in
Cyrill (or Cummianus) and in the Pseudo-Bedes directly. Yet in the case of
moralizing interpretations of "post meridiem" in Gn 3,8, Dante did not need
Pseudo-Bede but may well have been influenced by other and similar but more
widespread explanations as in Bede's own commentary on Gn (or later
compilations drawing on it) where Bede parallels the first age of the world
and its moral decline with the decline of the "day" spent by Adam in
Paradise ("hic dies ad vesperam jam coepit declinare, cum protoplasti
peccando felicitatem patriae coelestis perdiderunt... et hoc ad horam post
meridiem, ut lucem in se homo divinae cognitionis minoratum esse
cognosceret"). In the case of Comestor's Historia scholastica we can be
fairly sure that Dante had a certain direct knowledge of this work, but
this does not mean that he was necessarily influenced of this particular
passage (especially not as it seems to occur in a later addition the
textual history of which I have not investigated). In any case, Dante
certainly had a strong interest in chronological matters of this kind and
in their spiritual exegesis: note, for instance, that it is in the morning
of the sixth day of his journey that Dante-pilgrim, as another Adam, enters
the earthly Paradise.
Unfortunately we know much less than we could or should know about Dante's
exegetical sources, due -- as I have argued elsewhere -- to a longstanding
tradition of negligence in Dante scholarship. While most Aristotelian
quotations in Dante's work have been analysed carefully (and often
fruitfully) by Bruno Nardi and other scholars in the context of the
medieval commentary tradition of Aristotle's works, much less has been done
with regard to Dante's biblical quotations or allusions and their informing
context in patristic and medieval exegesis, although the exegesis of the
Bible was of significantly higher doctrinal relevance (and had much more to
offer from a poetical point of view). Most Dante commentators would not
dare to comment on an Aristotelian quotation or term in Dante's work
without having any knowledge of its significance in doctrinal sources of
his time. But few commentators think it necessary to check biblical
commentaries by Augustine, Isidore or Bede (or later compilations like the
Glossa ordinaria) when commenting on the way how and why Dante adopted a
certain biblical topic.
On the other hand, our ignorance of these traditions is not as
anachronistical as one might think. Dante was aware of the fact that in his
times, too, only a minority of 'happy few' had fed themselves with what he
calls the "bread of the angels", whereas the majority of his readers had no
own access to these sources of divine knowledge. In his works, especially
in his Commedia, Dante addresses both groups and writes for both at the
same time, yet we should not trust that he intended to serve both in the
same way.
Best,
Otfried
At 18:11 29.11.2001, you wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>Otfried Lieberknecht <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>Dear Christopher,
>
> >...Dante's reference to the course of the sun might suggest a possible
>influence of moralizing explanations of "post meridiem" as, for instance, in
>Pseudo-Beda, De libro psalmorum, In Ps. XXIX, PL 93,627...
>
> >...In Pseudo-Beda, Commentarii in Pentateuchum (9th cent.?), PL 91,210A, you
>find: "Adam quipe in sexta feria formatus est, in quo peccavit, et mortuus
>est, traditur" -- yet this might as well be referring to different "sixth
>days" of the week and not or not necessarily to one and the same day.
>
> >Similarly, in Cyrill of Alexandria, Fragmentum epistolae ad S. Leonem,
>PL 54,605s....Same text in Cummianus Hibernus, De controversia paschali, PL
>87,975....
>
>
>thanks, Otfried.
>
>wasn't my question, but i'm not adverse to learning something every now or
>then, as long as it's not too painful.
>
>i'm wondering --from my position of precious, nearly pristine, ignorance--
>would Dante have been au courant with the Pseudo-Bede, Cyrill, Cummianus,
>etc., *directly,* or would he have relied on intermediary sources, like the
>G.O. or the Caetana Aurea?
>
>best from the Danteanly Challenged,
>
>christopher
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