Master Virgil : the author of the Æneid as he seemed in the middle ages a series of studies / by J.S. Tunison.

  • Tunison, Joseph S. (Joseph Salathiel), 1849-1916.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Master Virgil : the author of the Æneid as he seemed in the middle ages a series of studies / by J.S. Tunison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the king, and the variations in the name of the prince. Oes- terley, following his manuscript, has Luscinius, though Lucisnius occurs in some places. In the French translation the name became Lucinien and Lucimien, the latter being the form ac- cepted by Brunet and Montaiglon, and the one adopted in the preceding pages. All presuppositions as to the probable form of this appellation in Jehan’s undiscovered writing were vain. Comparetti, though he was acquainted with the fragments dis- covered by Professor Mussafia, apparently conjectured that the name would turn out to be Lucinianus, and so used Luciniano in Italian. This w'as a natural inference from the use of Lu- cinien in one of the French manuscripts, and the result justifies the common observation that Gallic versions of proper names from other languages can not be trusted. It was, perhaps, Jehan’s acquaintance with ancient writings, and his lack in various directions of a practical knowledge of the antique, as was evinced, for example, by his placing Mantua in Sicily, which led him to give Virgil so prominent a place in his romance. He calls Virgil a most celebrated poet, fmnosimmue poeta, and adds in a spirit worthy of Macrobius that he was fore- most among philosophers, inter philosoplws prcecipum. WJiile the libelulum mamtede which he attributes to Virgil, as a compend of all the sciences, contained a treatise on divination by means of the planets and other stars; yet he is as careful as Neckam not to accuse his poet-philosopher of magic. Nevertheless, he leaves the book in the hands of its author even after his death, showing that he accepted the almost univei'Siil formula of folk- lore respecting the final disposition of magical writings, and this was sufficient to w’arrant Herbers in asserting that the treatise was one on the subject of necromancy. The close relationsliip of Jehan’s work, on the one hand, to the earlier philosophy, and on