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[log in to unmask] wrote: > > >Lucian wrote: > >"...... In fact, Vivarium was an Augustinian > >institution. Luciana" > >-- > >*** > Luciana: > Could you elaborate on that description? > It conjures, I suspect, "too much" of something. > Josef Gulka > > Josef Gulka > [log in to unmask] > Tel: 215- 732-8420 > Fax (215) 732-8420 Josef - My fingers ran ahead of my brains, because I stated as fact what is, at the moment, a working hypothesis - but I am happy to share my thoughts on Vivarium as an Augustinian institution. Some reasons are generic: the great importance of St. Augustine in Cassiodorus' writing and in the Vivarian tradition after Cassiodorus (Petrus Tripolitanus), and the information that Pope Gennadius had helped Augustinian monks from Africa to settle in Rome. Gennadius seems to have been connected with the family of Cassiodorus (the data on Gennadius need verification). Specifically, we have the copying of the commentary to St. Paul, drawn entirely from works of St. Augustine, and completed at Vivarium after the death of Cassiodorus. Contrary to scholarly belief, Petrus Tripolitanus did exist, he (not Florus of Lyon) is the author of the commentary, and some codices with his work are copies of a late antique, Vivarian original. Now, Cassiodorus in the Institutiones refers to the commentary of Peter as one of the books expected (but not yet delivered) from Africa. It seems to me that this shows a regular exchange with African monasteries - not the same as generically looking for books, wherever they might be found. What's more important, the juridical organization of the monastery at Vivarium seems to me to fall into the pattern outlined by Peter himself (but a young scholar told me at Leeds in 1997 that the passage in question is absolutely spurious, and when I invited him to come and talk it over at leisure, he suddenly had pressing commitments). The practical importance given to St. Augustine at Vivarium seems to me a symptom of Augustinianism. But, indeed, more work is needed beforeI can utter such thoughts in public. For the time being, they are confined to the intimacy of this learned list. Luciana I **************************************** Luciana Cuppo Csaki Societas internationalis pro Vivario e-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.geocities.com/athens/aegean/9891/ **************************************** %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%