E-Book Overview
Medieval commentaries typically included an accessus, a standardized introduction to an author or book. In the twelfth century these introductions were anthologised, referred to now as "Accessus ad auctores". They served as the first handbooks of literary criticism. The earliest and most comprehensive example, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 19475, saec. XII, is presented here for the first time in a faithful critical edition, with a new translation and explanatory notes addressing different aspects of the text. This book's aim is to present an accurate version of the text while respecting the arrangement and integrity of the anthology as a whole, and includes previously unpublished material from the anthology.
E-Book Content
Accessus ad auctores
SECULAR COMMENTARY SERIES GENERAL EDITORS Robert R. Edwards Michael J. Livingston ADVISORY BOARD Rita Copeland, University of Pennsylvania John V. Fleming, Princeton University William J. Kennedy, Cornell University Alastair J. Minnis, Yale University Richard J. Tarrant, Harvard University The Secular Commentary Series provides modern English translations of medieval texts that analyze, annotate, and explicate classical and vernacular works. These texts date from the fourth through the sixteenth centuries, and they represent various traditions (grammatical, allegorical, exegetical, academic, and humanistic). The works they elucidate include poetry, fiction, history, philosophy, and scientific treatises. Each volume in the series contains a critical introduction and select bibliography, a clear prose translation, and notes designed to gloss difficult passages. The aim of the series is to support teaching in the broadest sense: the volumes are suitable for the classroom and serve as an aid to scholars and generalist readers across the full range of the humanities.
Medieval Institute Publications is a program of The Medieval Institute, College of Arts and Sciences
Accessus ad auctores Medieval Introductions to the Authors (Codex latinus monacensis 19475)
Edited and translated by Stephen M. Wheeler
TEAMS • Secular Commentary Series M E D I E VA L I N S T I T U T E P U B L I C AT I O N S Western Michigan University Kalamazoo
Copyright © 2015 by the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Accessus ad auctores : Medieval Introductions to the Authors (Codex latinus monacensis 19475) / edited and translated by Stephen M. Wheeler. pages cm. -- (TEAMS/Secular Commentary Series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58044-189-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Latin literature, Medieval and modern. 2. Criticism--History--To 1500. 3. Classical literature--Study and teaching--History--To 1500. I. Wheeler, Stephen Michael, 1962- editor translator. PA8112.A34 2014 870.8'003--dc23 2014011370
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For Marcus and Clara
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Contents
Acknowledgments
ix
Abbreviations
xi
Introduction 1 Accessus ad auctores Text and Translation 1. Introduction to Ovid’s Epistles [Heroides] 2. Again [Introduction to Ovid’s Epistles] 3. Introduction to Prudentius’s Psychomachia 4. Again, alternatively: Introduction to Prudentius’s Psychomachia 5. Introduction to Cato [Disticha Catonis] 6. Introduction to Avianus 7. Introduction to Maximianus 8. Introduction to Homer [Ilias Latina] 9. Introduction to Physiologus 10. Introduction to Theodolus [Ecloga Theoduli] 11. Introduction to Arator [Historia apostolica] 12. Introduction to Prosper [Epigrammata] 13. Introduction to Sedulius [Carmen paschale] 14. Of Ovid on the Art ofa Love 15. On the Cure for Love [Remedia