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in the ninth century, however, and for the most part medieval students and readers relied on collections of scholia compiled during the Middle Ages. One such collection, the so-called Commentum Brunsianum , was written in France c. 825 and was probably produced in a monastic school setting. 108 The author lacked the Donatus commentary and was in no position to understand the historical context of ancient comedy. He felt the need, for example, to argue that Terence’s plays were written in meter (citing Priscian as an irrefutable authority) 109 and elsewhere
although Teofrastus is (too) young and Pascasius is old and worn out, because they are morally upright ( probi ) and their love derives from a good conscience ( bene conscii amantes ) they are qualified to perform this lament. 7 Swearing by Hercules ( hercle , mehercle ) is common in Terentian comedy, where its use is limited to male characters. Its use here is of a piece with the frequent citations from Terence’s plays, which are expected to be recognised among this learned coterie of monks. On Hercules and the classical tradition at the Carolingian court, see Nees
Comedy, though arguably untranslatable, has recently received numerous versions in English. The same reasoning excludes Boccaccio. 12 I have, though, included considerable material from two prose authors where existing translations exist, but for good reason: the selections from Villani published in 1906 are now old-fashioned and out of print; 13 the full
short keeping’ was Guido da Montefeltro’s political/military advice to Pope Boniface in Dante’s Divine Comedy , Inferno , XXVII, 85–111. 26 baculum. 27 clois. 28
engagement. The commentary is didactic in tone and in revealing the reasons for Whitehorn’s continued existence subtly offers a critique on the workings of the legal system. Towards the end the passage takes on elements of a comedy or fantasy. Indeed, the characterisation of the two combatants and the qualities attributed to them naturally leave the reader wondering how reliable the account is and especially
, Vergil and Lucan, to the comedies of Terence and above all to the historians Livy, Sallust, Ammianus Marcellinus, Justinus and Suetonius. 28 It was the Latin historians who most strongly influenced Lampert’s style (while that of his schoolfellow Meinhard was influenced by the poets). 29 How Lampert valued these ancient historians is apparent in an observation about Charlemagne in his biography of St
invisible devils. In a moment of high comedy, much enjoyed by the medieval artists who portrayed it, the devils would drop him, and he would fall to his death. There would then follow the fifteen signs of the end of the world, culminating in the coming of Christ in majesty. For many contemporaries the plague fitted easily into the chronology of the Last Days. Its horrors – along