The Reception of Vergil in Renaissance Rome [27, 1 ed.] 9789004519756, 9789004528420, 2022043617, 2022043618

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The Reception of Vergil in Renaissance Rome

Medieval and Renaissance Authors and Texts Editor-in-Chief Francis G. Gentry (Emeritus Professor of German, Penn State University) Editorial Board Teodolinda Barolini (Lorenzo Da Ponte Professor of Italian, Columbia University) Cynthia Brown (Professor of French, University of California, Santa Barbara) Marina Brownlee (Robert Schirmer Professor of Spanish and Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University) Keith Busby (Douglas Kelly Professor of Medieval French, University of Wisconsin-Madison) Jason Harris (Director of the Centre for Neo-Latin Studies, University College Cork) Alastair Minnis (Professor of English, Yale University) Brian Murdoch (Professor of German, Stirling University) Jan Ziolkowski (Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Medieval Latin, Harvard University and Director, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection)

volume 27

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/mrat

The Reception of Vergil in Renaissance Rome By

Jeffrey A. Glodzik

LEIDEN | BOSTON

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Glodzik, Jeffrey A., author. Title: The reception of Vergil in Renaissance Rome / by Jeffrey A. Glodzik. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2023] | Series: Medieval and renaissance authors and texts, 0925-7683 ; 27 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022043617 (print) | LCCN 2022043618 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004519756 (hardback ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9789004528420 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Virgil—Appreciation—Italy—Rome. | Virgil—Influence. | Rome (Italy)—Intellectual life—16th century. | Rome (Italy)—Civilization—Classical influences. | Renaissance—Italy—Rome. | Humanist—Italy—Rome. Classification: LCC PA6825 .G49 2023 (print) | LCC PA6825 (ebook) | DDC 871/.01—dc23/eng/20221201 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022043617 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022043618

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 0925-7683 isbn 978-90-04-51975-6 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-52842-0 (e-book) Copyright 2023 by Jeffrey A. Glodzik. Published by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink, Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau, V&R unipress and Wageningen Academic. Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Requests for re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via brill.com or copyright.com. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1 Vergilius Omnipraesens 10 2 Renovatio Romae 32 3 Saturnia regna renata 50 4 Imperium sine fine 82 5 Fatum Romae 106 6 Conclusion: Vergilius et Roma 131 Bibliography 141 Index 152

Acknowledgements In the process of researching and composing a monograph one incurs a debt to many people. Numerous individuals have devoted their time to reading and constructively critiquing my work, or simply pointing me in the right direction when it came to texts that would benefit my research. First, I must thank Charles Stinger. His guidance and consistent availability made my research and writing a most rewarding task. His own research on Renaissance Rome provided my text with the sturdiest of foundations, without which this project would likely never have been undertaken. Our provocative discussions and his perceptive commentary on my work were invaluable. I would also like to thank Craig Kallendorf, whose expertise in Vergilian reception ably assisted my inquiries at various junctures and whose encouragement was instrumental. I am grateful for his support and his commentary on my text undoubtedly improved the quality of my work. I must also thank James Bono, Martha Malamud, Jonathan Dewald, and Frances Muecke. Each of them contributed significantly to this work in its earlier phases through their critiques, recommendations, and unmatched erudition. I am also grateful to the two anonymous readers secured by Brill, whose suggestions improved both the argument and sources. I express the same sentiments to those who commented on my presentation on portions of chapters three and four for the New York State Association of European Historians. Further, I must convey my gratitude to the ever-helpful staffs at the following libraries: Harvard University’s Houghton Library, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Newberry Library, Princeton University’s Firestone Library (Rare Books and Special Collections), the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library (Rare Books Collection), and the Vatican Film Library in St. Louis. I offer special thanks to Sixteenth Century Journal for permission to republish portions of my article “Vergilianism in Early Cinquecento Rome: Egidio Gallo and the Vision of Roman Destiny.” XLV, No. 1 (Spring 2014): 73–98. Finally, I would like to thank my extended family for all of their support throughout the periods of my research and writing. I especially acknowledge the support of my partner, Alexandria, and my children, Sophie and Will. To them I owe my deepest gratitude for their unyielding patience and love. This project would never have been completed without them. The research and writing of this project were largely funded through the Plesur Dissertation Research Fellowship and the Mark Diamond Research Fund, both granted by the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as the Vatican Film Library Mellon Fellowship. Any errors in this work are solely mine.

Introduction Ergo ipsum ante alios animo venerare Maronem, Atque unum sequere, utque potes, vestigia serva1 Marco Girolamo Vida, De arte poetica, I. 208–9

⸪ Vida’s quote advises young poets in the early sixteenth century that Vergil is the model to learn from and apply to their own work. Such a recommendation was perhaps unnecessary but common. Just as Cicero was the model for oratory, Vergil was the “Prince of Poets” and exemplar of poetic style and excellence in the Renaissance. Whether through the soaring grandeur and heroic exploits of his epic poem or through the simpler beauty of his pastoral poetry, Vergil has held the imaginations of countless readers and writers in the western world over the centuries. No period appeared more enamored with this ancient Roman poet than the Renaissance. The starting point for this project is that in Rome, Vergil’s adopted city, this passion was pursued with particular fervor, purposefully placing the poet at the center of the city’s narrative in the early Cinquecento. For what purpose did the intellectuals (the Roman humanists) associated with the papacy – the intellectual and cultural heart of Rome – employ Vergilian language, themes, and episodes in their neo-Latin literary productions? It is evident that they appropriated Vergil so as to articulate a vision for Rome and its presumed providential destiny. By analyzing the neoLatin poetry produced in Rome it is possible to demonstrate that Vergilianism, based upon an application of Vergil particular to Rome, became the language of the prevailing discourse of papal Rome. The language of this discourse that showed the significant influence of Vergil is apparent in the neo-Latin texts produced at Rome in this period. These texts seemed not only consistently to display Vergilian influence, but also set forth an image for Renaissance Rome based upon the multiple themes in Vergil’s opera. What became increasingly manifest was the humanist notion of Vergil as the articulator of human destiny and Rome’s leading role in it. The texts produced by Roman humanists at the papal court became a type of elevated discourse. By 1 “Therefore revere Vergil in your mind before all others, follow only him, and as you are able, keep to his footsteps.”

© Jeffrey A. Glodzik, 2023 | doi:10.1163/978900452

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Introduction

using Vergilian allusions the Roman humanists imparted further authority and dignity to papal ideology. The Vergilian themes and images projected in this setting enhanced the veneration of the papacy and helped form papal perceptions as to their roles in shaping the course of human history from the Eternal City. Vergil, therefore, must be viewed as part of a broader Roman culture and crucial to Roman identity. Vergil, like all formative “canonical” texts, inevitably is interpreted through the lenses of one’s own experiences, and the humanists’ Vergilian-inspired works reflected the experience of Rome – all of its imperial glories, religious power, and destiny, both real and imagined. The familiarity of the humanists with Vergil allowed them to create their own Vergil, specific to Renaissance Rome. Further, this imitation and application of Vergil did not reside only in the literary world of Renaissance Rome, as Julia Haig Gaisser essentially argued in her discussion of Catullus in the Renaissance world, but became part of the larger Roman culture. Vergilianism reflected the values and ideals of Renaissance Rome and at the same time helped fashion them in the papal-directed city. In his analysis of Vergilian reception in the Renaissance David Scott WilsonOkamura argued that different cultures and institutions give texts new meanings and a new life.2 The meaning of Vergil’s texts is not stable, that is, meaning is not fixed and permanent. Even if one could recover the original meaning of a text,3 it is highly unlikely that someone reading Vergil in Christian Rome, some 1500 years later, would interpret Vergil according to the original context of the text’s creation in polytheistic ancient Rome. Meaning, then, rests in how texts are understood by readers over time. Both Wilson-Okamura and Craig Kallendorf underscore the importance of examining the marginalia in printed editions of Vergil and the commentaries on Vergil’s opera. These give insight into how books were read and bound Vergil’s texts to the dominant scholarly interpretations of them in the Renaissance. I agree that it is imperative that reception studies, as Kallendorf argued in The Protean Virgil, must have a foundation in this practice.4 In order to comprehend Vergilian reception reading practices of particular periods and locations must be understood, for this is where meaning is constructed. This idea was also emphasized by Philip Hardie, who argues that there are countless transformations of The Aeneid in western

2 David Scott Wilson-Okamura, Virgil in the Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 1. 3 Charles Martindale argues in his “strong thesis” that we cannot ever recover original meaning. See his Redeeming the Text (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), Ch. 1. 4 Craig Kallendorf, The Protean Virgil (Oxford University Press, 2015), 107.

Introduction

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culture and that the poem was interpreted and appropriated in so many ways because meaning is realized only a the point of reception.5 As noted above, Wilson-Okamura, in his Virgil in the Renaissance, earlier argued that in terms of reception new cultures provide texts with new meanings. However, he argued that throughout Europe the same meanings of Vergil existed because humanist education transcended state boundaries.6 While I agree with his assessment of basic Vergilian understanding, I contend that how the meanings gleaned from those texts are applied in local contexts is what allows for altered “Vergils,” which assumed nuances found locally. Therefore, I posit that there is a specific Renaissance Roman Vergilianism, just as Kallendorf previously argued for a Vergil that was specific to Venice.7 L. B. T Houghton also affirms the idea of a multiplicity of “Vergils” in the Renaissance, as strands of Vergilian understanding combined in various ways to influence readers of Vergil and create interpretive environments over time. The study of any of the uses of Vergil’s opera, he asserts, offers a point of access into the Renaissance world of learning.8 Furthermore, Houghton’s Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue in the Italian Renaissance is but a single chapter of Renaissance Vergilian reception in which he sought to understand what one poem of Vergil’s meant to readers and how it was employed in Italy. Like Houghton’s most recent monograph, I intend my study to be yet another chapter in Vergilian reception by focusing on the appropriation of Vergil’s work in early Cinquecento Rome. In order to better explain the reception and application of Vergil in Renais­ sance Rome, I must allude to the transformation methodology known as allelopoiesis (“reciprocal creation”). The term allelopoiesis was coined by the German scholars associated with Collaborative Research Centre 644, Transformations of Antiquity to describe this new method of understanding reception. In employing their transformation concept Vergilian scholar Craig Kallendorf defines allelopoiesis in his book Printing Virgil as a process of change between a reference sphere (antiquity) and a reception sphere (Renaissance), in which transformations are produced by an agent. Kallendorf explains, “The agent is print, and the important point here is that printing played a key role in ‘selecting, adopting, or otherwise incorporating’ Virgil’s text in such a way that it modified the reception sphere, the Renaissance, by 5 Philip Hardie, The Last Trojan Hero: A Cultural History of Virgil’s Aeneid (I.B. Tauris, 2014), 19. 6 Wilson-Okamura, 9. He does admit that minor differences could exist, yet he cautions to not mistake “ripples for tides.” This is certainly a fair warning; however ripples from a stone cast into one part of a body of water still alter the surface, thus transforming the placid water of a general Renaissance understanding of Vergil. 7 See Craig Kallendorf, Virgil and the Myth of Venice (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999). 8 L. B. T Houghton,ed. Virgil and Renaissance Culture (ACMRS, 2018), 2.

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Introduction

injecting Virgilian elements into it. But printing Virgil’s works also constructed the reference sphere, antiquity, by construing Virgil – building a text, selecting which parts of it require interpretation, and putting forward one interpretation at the expense of other possibilities.”9 As Kallendorf makes clear, this process constructs both spheres and print is the agent that transforms the texts of Vergil. My work builds upon this most recent publication of Kallendorf. The printed neo-Latin works and Renaissance commentaries of Vergil, which I will analyze, transformed how the texts of the poet were understood by advancing applications or usages of the texts that were divorced from the reference sphere of Vergil’s poetry. Something new was created that met the needs of the reception sphere, that is, the culture of Renaissance Rome. It should be noted that allelopoiesis is a new concept that allows for the analysis of phenomena that can be discussed by other methods. The system itself is flexible and heuristic; it is not intended to be rigid. There are multiple transformation types within the methodology and admittedly there can be overlap among them. This does not detract from their usefulness. Rather, it allows for new avenues of exploration and analysis. The transformation types I have employed to analyze Roman Vergilianism are by no means the only types that can be used for the neo-Latin texts that appear in this study and more than one type might be applied to a specific instance of transformation. The concept of allelopoiesis is divided into fourteen transformation types, which are divided into the three categories of inclusion, exclusion, and recombination. The category of inclusion encompasses the concepts of appropriation, assimilation, disjunction, encapsulation, reconstructions, and substitution. The category of exclusion contains focalization (associated with obfuscation), ignorance, creative destruction, and negation. Lastly, the category of recombination includes hybridization, montage, translation, and resignification.10 These transformation types are employed in different situations and in different times and places. For our purposes the most relevant concepts for application to Renaissance Rome are appropriation, encapsulation, substitution, focalization, creative destruction, and ignorance. Let us define each of these and provide an example of their application to the intellectual world of Renaissance Rome. In our case appropriation removes a text (or object) from its ancient context and places it into the reception sphere of the Renaissance. Kallendorf cites 9 10

Craig Kallendorf, Printing Virgil (Brill, 2020), 5. See Bergemann, Dӧnike, Schirrmeister, Toepfer, Walter, and Weitbrecht, “Transformation: A Concept for the Study of Cultural Change” in Beyond Reception (De Gruyter, 2019), 9–25 for the explanation of each transformation type within the wider methodology. Kallendorf explains them as well with a focus on examples of Vergil and the Renaissance in Printing Virgil, 4–13.

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the example of the Renaissance editions of Vergil that included ancient and Renaissance commentaries on his works. Here Vergil’s opera was provided in full yet steeped within the Renaissance world. It remained the same as an ancient text but also was altered by being framed by Renaissance concerns contained within the later commentaries. We will explore this when examining the frequently published commentary of Antonio Mancinelli within the context of Renaissance Rome. Encapsulation passes the reference object down “unchanged and integrated as a self-contained whole into the reception sphere, but without being subsumed into it entirely.”11 This concept, for example, could witness the transferring of a line of Vergil’s text directly into the context of Renaissance Rome. An example is the unchanged quotation from Vergil’s Aeneid in a text of Egidio da Viterbo regarding Jupiter not setting any boundaries of space or time to the empire of Rome. The words of Vergil – his ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono – were transferred from the context of the Roman Empire intact to that of papal-led Renaissance Rome. Substitution “exchanges one cultural complex for another.”12 In place of epic poetry, Renaissance scholars often read Vergil’s Aeneid through the lens of epideictic rhetoric, that is, through the filter of praise of virtue and blame of vices. Aeneas was an ideal man whose actions  – grounded in pietas – provided a template for the moral behavior of well-educated Renaissance Romans. This is evident not only in the commentaries of Vergil’s work, but also in the poetry of the period. In an unpublished work of Johannes Michael Nagonius the nephew of Pope Julius II, Francesco Maria della Rovere, was described as insignis pietate, a reference to the virtuous behavior of Aeneas himself. Focalization is the underscored and narrow focus on a particular aspect of a Vergilian text. The best example of this is the Christian interpretation of Vergil’s Eclogue 4, in which Vergil foretells the coming of the birth of Christ through his description of a child born of a virgin who will inaugurate a Golden Age. A particular portion of the text is emphasized while the rest is ignored or downplayed. This occurred regularly in Renaissance Rome as witnessed in both the Mancinelli’s commentary on the text and Jacopo Sannazaro’s De partu virginis which celebrates the virgin birth and imitates Vergil’s text. Creative destruction “refers to the deliberate shattering of the reference object as the necessary condition for creating something new.”13 In the Renaissance, through educational methods, we recognize that Vergil’s texts were divided for 11 12 13

Ibid., 18. Kallendorf, Printing Virgil, 8. Ibid., 10.

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Introduction

the purpose of noting brief passages that emphasized moral content or style. An over-arching understanding of Vergil’s text was sacrificed for the values that Renaissance society desired to highlight. Examples of this are the verses from Aeneid 1 and 6, altae moenia Romae and parcere subiectis et debellare superbos. Numerous texts composed in Renaissance Rome focused on these specific phrases in order to proclaim and emphasize the renewal of Rome and that it was the moral duty of the papacy to act similarly in a hoped-for expansion of papal and Christian power throughout the world. Ignorance is the refusal to accept a part of the reference text. The best example is the purposeful overlooking of the negative connotations of founding the Roman Empire in order to champion an optimistic and triumphant understanding of the Aeneid. In Renaissance Rome neo-Latin poets regularly portrayed ancient Rome as the model for the inevitability of the papacy’s imperial Christendom. The text celebrating Pope Julius II and his nephew by Nagonius emphasizes this particular triumphalist understanding of Vergil’s epic poem. This triumphalist interpretation of Vergil, as we shall see, was characteristically widespread. The transformation methodology of allelopoiesis will be applied to better understand the neo-Latin texts in Renaissance Rome that contained the Vergilian themes of renewal, the Golden Age, empire, and destiny which were most prominent in the overwhelmingly triumphalist literature of the period. This, I argue, provides a more nuanced understanding of this neo-Latin literature than the examination of its fantastical and unrealistic tone and expectations (though they are often undeniable) in past scholarship regarding High Renaissance Rome.14 Through these transformation types, which demonstrate the diversity of Vergilian usage, it is evident that in Renaissance Rome both a medieval and Renaissance reading of Vergil15 combined to form a particular kind of Vergilianism in the texts produced in the early Cinquecento. The texts were medieval in their insistence that Vergil’s works confirmed Christian truths and were compatible with Christianity on multiple levels. At the same time, they were emblematic of the Renaissance in their support of Vergil as a model for virtuous behavior and stylistic excellence. These readings could be 14

15

See both Ingrid Rowland The Culture of the High Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and Charles Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985). Both rightly note that the literature of the period is often divorced from reality, yet my study intends to comprehend both why and how the literature adopted particular Vergilian elements and what it meant for Roman culture. Craig Kallendorf, The Protean Virgil (Oxford University Press, 2015), 41. Kallendorf notes here, among other places, the difference between typical medieval and Renaissance readings of Vergil.

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applicable to different locations are various times, yet Rome’s claim to both religious and imperial authority as the center of Christianity gave it a peculiar outlook that only the city and its intellectuals could express. There are certainly continuities in the interpretation of Vergil throughout Europe, and as Wilson-Okamura has noted,16 we could build an edifice of Vergilian understanding through case studies like Kallendorf’s Virgil and the Myth of Venice. This, I would argue, is a preferred strategy. While it certainly would take longer to flesh out the picture of Vergil in the Renaissance, case studies would also allow us to reveal local flavors and application of different transformational strategies. Roman Vergilianism will have similarities to Vergilian interpretation and usage as other forms within Europe, but a more detailed study of an individual locale enables us to recognize alternate applications of Vergil that we might not otherwise perceive from a broader view of Vergilian understanding. There are specific chronological parameters that I have set for this study of Roman Vergilianism. The focus will primarily be on early Cinquecento Rome up to the Sack of Rome in 1527. This period, often termed “High Renaissance” Rome, is centered on the pontificates of Julius II (1503–1513) and Leo X (1513–1521) and is largely accepted as the height of curial humanism when Vergilian allusions reached their apex.17 Since I am focusing only on the “High Renaissance” period in this work I should note that such a term can be problematic, signifying that the period is of the highest achievements or even the highest class. Jill Burke examined this issue, and while she focused more on visual culture in the period, she ultimately found use of the term acceptable if used cautiously to describe a cultural movement: “We should not echo unthinkingly the qualitative judgments of the past, where “high” equates to a culturally transcendent “highest class”… Rather, it is possible to see how a cluster of ideas and methodologies relating to the conflation of excellent and fitting exemplars was shared by many visual artists, architects, and humanists; this quest for perfect form perhaps accorded with the Golden Age propaganda and millennial fervour that was key feature of this period, and which became increasingly steeped with nostalgia after the 1527 Sack of Rome.”18 The obsession with the Golden Age in the literature composed in Rome during this period, as will be evident in Chapter 3, corresponds to the notion that Roman intellectuals attempted to 16 17 18

Wilson-Okamura, 146. Vergilian allusions were applied in Renaissance literature in Rome previous and subsequent to this period, though not in such an expansive fashion. See Houghton, Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue in the Italian Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 2019), Ch. 6. Jill Burke, “Inventing the High Renaissance, from Winckelmann to Wikipedia: An Intro­ ductory Essay” in Rethinking the High Renaissance: The Culture of the Visual Arts in Early Sixteenth-Century Rome (Ashgate, 2012), 19–20.

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Introduction

create a new elevated order,19 and thus the use of the term “High Renaissance” can be suitably employed to describe the period of this particular intellectual movement. Chapter 1 focuses on the ubiquity of Vergilian language and themes in the intellectual world of Renaissance Rome. Types of reading, marginalia in Roman editions of Vergil, which differ from Venetian marginalia, Renaissance commentaries included in printed works of Vergil (an example of appropriation), and the symbiotic relationship between the papacy and humanists are discussed. Chapter 2 explores the theme of renewal in early Cinquecento Rome and its expression through neo-Latin works containing Vergilian language and references. Here the reader will note the use of particular Vergilian passages or phrases, a product of creative destruction in which writers had likely learned to read those sections for their own writing style. Chapter 3 tackles the Vergilian idea of the Golden Age, especially, though not exclusively, via Eclogue 4. The texts of Roman humanists echoed Vergilian notions of the Golden Age, both as a harmonious period of indolence supported by nature’s bounty and as an age brought about by labor. Here focalization was paramount, as poets intently concentrated on a Christian interpretation of the messianic eclogue. Chapter 4 treats the theme of empire through the Roman humanists’ celebration of a renewed imperial power based on the Aeneid. Building upon passages from Books 1 and 6, the works portray a triumphal (and inevitable) Christian empire grounded in order, peace, and justice. In addition to the obvious employment of specific Vergilian passages again, these works also bear the imprint of the transformation type ignorance: poets in Renaissance Rome ignored any possible pessimism in Vergil’s legend of the founding of the Roman Empire in favor of a triumphal narrative. Substitution is also present, as Aeneas was perceived as the model of virtuous behavior and would be emulated by the latter day heroes of Renaissance Rome. Chapter 5 describes the role of Roman destiny. The Eternal City had a sacred destiny, which was comprised of renewal, the ushering in of a new Golden Age, and global imperium, that was not subject to fortune. Reading Vergil through the lens of Christianity, Rome, a city that was both terrestrial and celestial, was divinely-guided and greater than its ancient predecessor. Several texts describing destiny exhibit encapsulation, where verses and phrases from Vergil are placed, unchanged, directly into the work. Chapter 6 is the conclusion in which we examine why it is important to analyze the particularly Roman brand of Vergilianism in the Renaissance, which

19

Ingrid Rowland, The Culture of the High Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 1998), 1–2.

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demonstrates that local context matters, and discuss exactly how transformative Roman Vergilianism was. As a final note, it remains worthwhile to focus on the work of Vergil generally. As “Prince of Poets” during the Renaissance, it is impossible to escape the ubiquity of Vergilian references. His work was at the core of education and intellectual life throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period. Modern scholarship has paid much attention to the influence of Vergil throughout the Western world and this study on another facet of his influence will contribute significantly to the broader understanding of Vergil in Western tradition. Finally, it is noteworthy that Vergil has not disappeared in the contemporary world; several new editions and translations of Vergil’s work, both in poetry and prose, have appeared in the last decade. If these new publications are any indication, Vergil continues to reach new readers and therefore remains influential. Modern concerns and interpretations of Vergil differ significantly from those of the Renaissance, yet our focus on “other voices” or the cost of empire, for example, underscores his continuing relevance.

Chapter 1

Vergilius Omnipraesens Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas; Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. Iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna; Iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto. Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum Desinet ac toto surget gens aurea mundo, Casta fave Lucina: tuus iam regnat Apollo. Now has come the last age of the song of Cumae; The mighty march of the centuries begins anew. Now the Virgin returns, Saturn’s kingdom returns. Now is a new race of men sent down from heaven on high And as the boy is born who will end at last The iron age, and bring the world the age of gold, Bless him chaste Lucina: your Apollo rules now.1 Vergil, Eclogue 4.4–10

…

Ni mors heu miseris italis rapuisset iulum In magnis magnum conatibus: alta parantem Deque suo grege sollicitum, templisque caducis Semper: et invicto meditantem pectore summa. Heu mors saepe virum felicibus invida coeptis Inde renascentem decora in sua pristina Romam: Utque domos miras ac templa imitantia coelum Aedificavit. Had Death not snatched him away from Italy’s miserable people, Great, and attempting great things, readying lofty endeavors, Steadfastly driving his flock out of its tottering temples, Pondering mighty concerns in his invincible bosom – 1 Vergil. Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid I–VI, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), 29.

© Jeffrey A. Glodzik, 2023 | doi:10.1163/978900452

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Vergilius Omnipraesens

Woe Death, how often you envy mankind’s fortunate undertakings Jealous of Rome reborn to all her primordial splendor, As he built wondrous houses and temples to imitate heaven.2 Girolamo Borgia, Ecloga Felix (1513)

⸪ Separated by more than 1500 years, the work of Vergil and that of Girolamo Borgia, one of his many Renaissance imitators, share much more than a common language. And for good reason: Vergil was not only the poet most Renaissance neo-Latin poets sought to emulate, but his works provided the foundation for a literary movement that expressed the values, desires, and ultimately the cultural outlook of Renaissance Rome. In essence, Vergil was the lens through which Rome viewed the world in the High Renaissance. Besides the obvious similarity of literary form (the eclogue), the themes apparent in Vergil’s fourth eclogue also resonate in Borgia’s Ecloga. The references to Sibylline prophecy, the Virgin, and a newborn child who would rule over a time of peace were readily adapted and re-fashioned by Renaissance humanists to fit the Christian outlook of papal Rome in the early sixteenth century. Perhaps most important, however, is the idea of the return of a Golden Age. Vergil was the first ancient poet to claim that a renewal of an age of gold was possible.3 Previously, ancient writers – most famously Hesiod – had described a steady deterioration to the age of iron in which they lived. Vergil’s shift in attitude was exploited by the papal-employed Roman humanists in their celebration of a reborn and renewed Rome, into which a Golden Age was sure to come. Undoubtedly, those living in early Cinquecento Rome were living in the best of all possible times. One of Borgia’s figures in this poem praising the Colocci gardens (the property or “academy” near the Trevi fountain where many Roman humanists met to debate and discuss ideas) was actually the recently deceased Pope Julius II, but he, as the Vicar of Christ, was depicted as being responsible for preparing Rome for its ultimate destiny as center of the Golden Age. For Borgia, all of Julius’ rebuilding of religious edifices and urban beautification projects were directed toward a Rome renascentem, reborn to her pristine state, heralding the return of the Golden Age. 2 Rowland, 184. 3 M. Owen Lee, Death and Rebirth in Virgil’s Arcadia (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 78.

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Vergilian themes and ideas by no means were solely the preoccupation of Roman humanists. From Petrarch onward, Vergil was a central author for all Italian humanists, but, as it happens, these leading Renaissance Roman poets and scholars do clearly illustrate that Vergil was indeed the central figure for Renaissance poetic composition. Tommaso “Fedra” Inghirami, in reference to Vergil, proclaimed: … hunc ergo imitemur, hunc sequamur, ab hoc ne latum quidem unquam digrediamur si poeticam assequi desideramus.4 Marco Girolamo Vida in his De arte poetica also seemingly worshipped at his feet: Ne tibi quis vatum certaverit. Omnia cedant / secla, nec invideant primos tibi laudis honores. / Fortunate operum!… / dum tua fida lego vestigia, te sequor unum, / o decus Italiae, lux o clarissima vatum.5 Pietro Bembo’s poem “Sarca,” which includes a summary of the ancient poet’s major works, praises Vergil, exclaiming: Salve, magne parens vatum antistesque verende / musarum ingenio quo non divinior alter / ortus adhuc neque venturis orietur in annis.6 There was a great deal of Renaissance scholarly attention paid to Vergil and his influence. As Craig Kallendorf has elucidated, Renaissance scholarship on Vergil reached maturation in the late fifteenth century. His In Praise of Aeneas considers early humanists’ (fourteenth and fifteenth centuries) approaches to Vergil’s Aeneid. While during the Middle Ages Vergil was perceived as a magician or prophet of Christianity, Kallendorf argues that five early humanists – Petrarch, Boccaccio, Vegio, Salutati, and Landino – saw Vergil as a moralist, a poet engaged in praising virtue and condemning vice. The epideictic tradition (one of three branches of ancient rhetoric as defined by Aristotle which developed into the medium for praise and blame) became a legitimate element of poetry and prose fiction and it is within this framework that Kallendorf believes the early humanists read and understood Vergil.7 Although these humanists may have had to distort the text of the Aeneid at times to fit the goal of praise and blame, each scholar perceived praise and blame as central to the understanding 4 Rowland, 205. “Let us imitate him, therefore, let us follow him, let us never stray far from him if we wish to pursue poetry.” [Translation Rowland]. 5 De arte poetica 3. 574–6, 584–5. “Let no poet ever dispute your supremacy: let all ages give way, nor let them envy you your absolute eminence in praise. O man blessed in your works!… For I tread in your sure footsteps; I follow you alone, O glory of Italy, O supreme splendor of the poets!” Translation is from Ralph G. Williams, ed. and trans. The De arte poetica of Marco Girolamo Vida (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1976). 6 Bembo, “Sarca”, lines 608–610. “Hail, great parent of the poets and revered priest of the Muses, up to now no one with a more divine talent has been born nor will be born in years to come.” Translation is from Mary P. Chatfield, ed. and trans. Bembo: Lyric Poetry / Etna (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005). 7 As mentioned in the introduction, this is an example of the transformation type known as substitution.

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of Vergil’s work. Vergil’s main role, then, was that of an articulator of moral philosophy, which was a typical concern of Renaissance humanists throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Yet by the early sixteenth century ideas about Vergil expanded to include more than the epideictic interpretation described by Kallendorf. The employment and exploitation of Vergilian themes was frequently a practice of those outside of Rome (see below for the Florentine example), however people and ideas gravitated toward Rome where they were absorbed into the Roman worldview and became a part of broader Roman culture. Rome became a melting pot of sorts, where Romans and non-Romans molded Vergilian ideas and themes into the image of Christian Rome. In the Rome of the early sixteenth century the process of literary transvaluation was clearly at work. The literature produced consciously acknowledged the values of an antecedent text or texts  – Vergil’s, in this case  – and transformed them to serve the uses of the present.8 Through the texts of Vergil Roman humanists indeed had a recreative relationship with their ancient predecessor. Whether it was a focalized reading the fourth eclogue as a prophesy of the birth of the Christian messiah and the introduction of a Christian Golden Age, re-fashioning the Aeneid through willful ignorance as the imperial triumph of the Christian West over the Muslim East, or celebrating the achievements of individuals as ultimately fulfilling the renewal and divine destiny of the Eternal City, the intellectuals at Rome employed Vergilian texts  – their themes, values, and language  – in the service of papal-directed Renaissance Rome. The Roman humanists consistently understood Vergil optimistically and applied this interpretation to their celebratory texts.9 Vergil was being used in a cultural and poetic/creative context, no longer being understood simply in a scholarly context. While Vergil was still read in a scholarly context, his works were ultimately re-fashioned by the intellectuals at Rome and employed in a manner specific to Rome. 8 Barbara Bono, Literary Transvaluation: From Vergilian Epic to Shakespearean Tragicomedy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 1. 9 I cannot state with certainty whether or not the Roman humanists of the early Cinquecento perceived pessimism or “further voices” in Vergil’s work, but I do believe that because of their association with Rome and the papacy they typically employed a fundamentally optimistic view of Vergil in their texts. The culture of Renaissance Rome fostered this triumphant and celebratory outlook. A fascinating example of this can even be found in the later sixteenth century when Giulio Cesare Stella’s Columbiad (1585) exhibits a fairly clear example of Vergilian “pessimism” in its original printing (at London), but is revised and lengthened for another edition printed later at Rome. This new edition takes a more “optimistic” stance, as many of the pessimistic strains are muted. See Craig Kallendorf, “Aeneas in the ‘New World’: Stella’s Columbeis and Virgilian Pessimism” in his The Virgilian Tradition (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2007), 9–10.

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Before further detailing the Roman understanding and usage of Vergil, it is imperative that we compare it to Vergilianism in another local context so that it is possible to recognize that local variants exist. The most detailed examination of a local Vergilianism is Craig Kallendorf’s analysis of Venice in Virgil and the Myth of Venice. Kallendorf argues that the “myth” of Venice was supported by a specific reading of Vergil that focused on moral, religious, and political values and social hierarchy. The myth of Venice itself was based on the moral rectitude and religious piety of the Venetians.10 Furthermore, the stability of Venice was based upon its “mixed” form of government (democraticallyinclined through the Senate and monarchical via the Doge) and its hierarchical social structure with patricians at its head. Kallendorf also notes that by the late fifteenth century the identity of Venice was closely associated with antiquity and Vergil was vital to the myth of Venice. He was the central author taught in Venetian schools in the second half of the sixteenth century and the Aeneid, which was largely emphasized at the expense of the Eclogues and Georgics, was closely bound to Venice, for it treated moral, religious, social, and political themes that were crucial to Venetian identity.11 Through studying the marginalia  – the notes and commentary left in margins by Renaissance readers – in printed Venetian editions of Vergil Kallendorf argues that Vergil was accommodated to support the myth of Venice and the myth itself partly determined what readers highlighted or ignored in Vergil. The analyzed marginalia focused on moral content, virtuous living, patriotism, and the value of hard work.12 What was present in the marginalia of printed editions of Vergil in Venice was a product of and reinforced the myth of Venice. Working hard for God and country emphasized the importance of the moral, religious, and political values of the Venetian state. This implies that Vergil can be read, interpreted, and appropriated in a particular fashion. Just as this was evident in Venice, so too can we see it in Rome. While some ideas find parallels in Rome as elsewhere, for a general understanding of Vergilian texts was common to all of Christendom, the Venetian reading and application of Vergil is different from that of Rome. Roman reading and application of Vergil did not concentrate primarily on political values, social hierarchy, or even necessarily morality (though it did on occasion). At the core of Roman Vergilianism is the renewal of the city, a reborn Golden Age, its empire, and its destiny. In order to comprehend the foundations of Roman Vergilianism it is important to understand how Vergil was read, and James Hankins provides a concise 10 11 12

Kallendorf, Virgil and the Myth of Venice, 14–5. Ibid., 26–30. Ibid., 31–4.

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synopsis of two types of reading in the Renaissance that are relevant to Vergil. Of the seven types of reading Hankins discusses in his Plato in the Italian Renaissance, two – imitative and doctrinal – are central, though the reading of Vergil in Rome does not fit perfectly into these categories. The aim of imitative reading was for a reader to be able to stylistically imitate the best ancient authors. The texts of these authors were worthy of imitation because they transmitted the values of an educated, upper echelon of society. The outcome of such noble speech and style, ideally, was noble and virtuous behavior. While a convincing reproduction of the style of the ancient author was imperative for Vergilianism, the focus on imitating noble behavior was of lesser, though not insignificant, importance. Hankins claimed that most humanistic reading was a hybrid of imitative and doctrinal reading13 and it certainly holds true in the case of Vergilian poets. The purpose of doctrinal reading was to employ the text as a repository of moral lessons and a vast knowledge of the arts and sciences. Passages were bound to marginal commentaries, thus creating a “memory palace” for the retention of knowledge.14 Clearly, certain passages or phrases in Vergil were used frequently by the Roman poets, thus illustrating the importance of this type of reading. Kallendorf has further noted that this type of reading, which breaks texts apart into memorizable expressions for style and content, dominated Renaissance consumption of Vergil. Passages were collected in notebooks – commonplace books – from which one could employ specific passages or phrases from Vergil.15 Also a part of doctrinal reading is the assumption that great authors are wise and were inspired in their writings to educate humanity. For Vergilianism the intention to teach, especially the moral components (exempla) of the authors, was not as central as a further objective of doctrinal reading: the uncovering of hidden truths. It is through this mentality of reading that Roman Vergilianism flourished. The Renaissance readers and writers found hidden truths everywhere in Vergil, specifically Christian ones since his works were read through the lens of Christianity (a typically medieval interpretation) and not their original Augustan era historical context. For the humanists who forged an increasingly stronger bond between the ancient poet and Christianity Vergil indeed was the poeta-theologus.16 13 14 15 16

James Hankins, Plato in the Italian Renaissance (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990), 23. Ibid., 19. Craig Kallendorf, The Protean Virgil, 95–98. Kallendorf also examines the Osservationi … sopra l’opere di Virgilio of Orazio Toscanella as an example from mid-sixteenth century Venice. See Craig Kallendorf, “From Vergil to Vida: The Poeta Theologus in Italian Renaissance Commentary” Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 56, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), 41–62. He argues that the assumptions of theologica poetica  – that pagan poetry contained elements of

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A further aspect of reading in the Renaissance was the understood power of language. There were historical links between the creative Word of God and mankind’s use of language. As man was made in the image and likeness of God, he had something of the divine within him. He was creative like God and man’s language mirrored God’s Word. As Giovanni Pico della Mirandola argued in his Oration on the Dignity of Man, man was co-creator of his own nature and could fashion himself and his world. Man’s creative nature was bound to his language, and thus his language possessed real power that could influence others and the world around him. Since the greatest of the pagans had some form of divine knowledge, Vergil chief among them, his words were believed to possess significant authority. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Renaissance Roman intellectuals looked to the ancient poet not only for inspiration, but also for guidance in their quest to elucidate their perceived destiny of Rome. Since it is imperative that we understand how Vergil was read, it would be particularly useful at this point to examine the marginalia in editions of Vergil printed in Rome just as Kallendorf did for Venetian editions. While the surviving texts of the five Roman editions of Vergil printed between 1469 and 1500 are significantly fewer in comparison to those printed in Venice (and discussed by Kallendorf), the commentary contained within them can still provide invaluable insights into the Roman worldview.17 Marginalia are especially important, as Kallendorf argued, “And it would seem that marginalia, the responses early readers left in their books, would be among the most useful of all, for they bear witness to a consciousness in the process of constituting itself, first by struggling to understand another person’s ideas, then by reacting to them.”18 The marginalia in Roman editions illustrate a particular Roman outlook, as Vergil was read through the filter of Christianity and applied to God’s chosen city. Most every note or bracketed passage in a text reveals the perceptions of the reader, thus supplying a personal source that reflects the outlook of the reader and his society in general. Underscoring their importance, Kallendorf argued that marginalia roughly fall into two groupings  – one that notes etymologies, myths and other references essential to basic textual criticism, the other that concentrates on moral content19 – and demonstrates the process of the

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Christian truth that required interpretation to uncover hidden meanings – were alive and well in Italian Renaissance interpretations of Vergil. See Martin Davies and John Goldfinch, eds. Vergil: A Census of Printed Editions, 1469– 1500 (London: Biographical Society, 1992) and Howard Jones, Printing the Classical Text (Utrecht: Hes and De Graff, 2004) for the specific editions. Kallendorf, “Marginalia and the Rise of Early Modern Subjectivity” in Marianne Pade, ed. On Renaissance Commentaries (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 2005), 111. Ibid., 114.

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reader’s learning to speak, write and behave through the text, thus fashioning himself.20 In regards to Rome the marginalia in Roman editions of Vergil help to fashion the particular perception of the city and, ultimately, its perceived special destiny. How Vergil was understood at Rome and how notions concerning the city were expressed through Vergilian language is absolutely fundamental to the understanding of the culture of early Cinquecento Rome. The marginalia of a handful of Roman readers that I examined can provide some insight. For example, the marginalia in a late fifteenth century Roman edition of Vergil’s opera21 reveal both the tendency to read Vergil through a Christian lens and to perceive Rome as a city with an incontrovertible destiny.22 Bracketed passages and brief explanatory notes in Book 6 of the Aeneid of this volume point to an interest on the reader’s part in the underworld,23 likely evidence for the belief that Vergil did indeed possess some knowledge concerning Christian truths. First, however, an interest in prophecy and the mystical utterances of the Sibyl is evident from lines 72–3, in which Aeneas promises to place the oracles in a shrine dedicated to Apollo, and 117, in which Aeneas refers to the Sibyl as all-powerful, which are bracketed. The passages noted 20 21

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See also H. J. Jackson, Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 87. Jackson argues that in addition to being part of the process of learning marginalia also contribute to the construction of identity. Vergilius, Opera. (Rome: Ulrich Han and Simon N. Chardella, 4 Nov. 1473). Shelf mark: VRG 2945. 1473. 2q [Princeton]. As a note of caution: this particular edition of Vergil, while printed in Rome, eventually reached England sometime later. While the early readers and commentators may very well have been Roman, there is a chance that the marginalia belongs to a non-Roman. Two copies of another edition of Vergil’s Opera published at Rome contained almost no marginalia, thus proving virtually useless in this discussion. See Vergilius, Opera omnia. (Rome: Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz, 1469). Shelf mark: VRG 2945. 1469q [Princeton] and Opera (Rome: Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz, 1469) [Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève] Cote du document: OEXV 68 RES, accessed online at 17 June, 2021. Readers of the Roman editions tended to make their own annotations on specific Vergilian texts; the fourth eclogue, which fit neatly into the Christian framework, and the first half of the Aeneid, which witnessed Aeneas following his destiny set out by divine prophecy as well as the demonstration of his pietas, received the most attention. A manuscript from the Newberry Library, of an unknown date in the fifteenth century, would have been of great use in illustrating this particular Roman understanding of Vergil’s works. The manuscript includes voluminous marginalia and textual emendation in the first eight books of the Aeneid that is ascribed to Pomponio Leto, though the ascription is dubious. I have not employed this manuscript, which contains the coat of arms of the Maffei family of Volterra, since it is unknown whether or not it was specifically produced in Rome. This would have been typical since the katabasis in Book 6 generated massive commentary in Renaissance Europe as a whole. See Wilson-Okamura, Ch. 5.

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illustrate that Rome’s progenitor is unmistakably devout, but also that the Sibylline prophecies are divinely authoritative, thus supporting the prophetic glorious destiny of Rome. Numerous verses and passages appear bracketed or noted in reference to the underworld. The passage describing the entrance to the underworld (lines 273–91) is bracketed with the note “mala quae sunt”, as well as the sight of Charon (lines 298–303) with the note “descriptio Charontis”. Further, the reader notes in the underworld where those of different fates spend eternity, writing in succession “primus locus”, “secundus locus”, up to “sextus locus”, which is the Blissful Groves.24 The final note in this book is one calling attention to the meeting of Aeneas and the shade of his father Anchises (lines 684–94). Undoubtedly driven by his religious sensibilities and concerns, the reader most closely reads Vergil’s depiction of life beyond this world. It is likely that the reader’s attention is focused so clearly on this part of Book 6 because he believed that Vergil both possessed knowledge of the after-world and recognized that Aeneas did not fail to fulfill his duty to visit his father, demonstrating his pietas. Implicitly understood is that Vergil was a poeta theologus and his writings therefore included a foreknowledge of the truth regarding the existence of the life beyond this one in addition to acting as a guidebook for moral behavior. Vergil’s status as poeta theologus in the mind of the reader further seems apparent from lines 48–63 of the fourth eclogue, which are bracketed. Here Vergil calls upon the “offspring of the gods” to enter upon his honors, for the time is near for him to renew a Golden Age and the poet prays to be worthy to celebrate the accomplishments of this wondrous child. Read through the lens of Christianity, this passage is crucial because it foretells the glorious deeds and achievements of Christ’s coming.25 Certainly the actions of Aeneas could serve as an illustration of moral behavior, but they can also be read as furthering the destiny of God’s chosen city. The reader bracketed lines 395–96 in Book 4, where Aeneas returns to his fleet leaving behind Dido. Despite his sadness, the Trojan hero follows divine command, illustrating his pietas. Aeneas sets out to fulfill his divine destiny: he chooses to continue his journey and found Rome, the eventual center of the Christian world, at the expense of earthly love. His behavior follows divine decree, but it is the outcome of his choices that lead to the establishment of the city glorious 24 25

The passages noted comprise lines 426–444, 545–577, 619–625 and 637–643. The notion of Vergil prophesying the coming of Christ and the return of the Golden Age was neither new, nor evident only in Rome. During the rule of the Medici in Florence these notions were taken up and it showed in a Florentine edition of Vergil, in which the same passage is noted. The notes indicate the understanding of the arrival of an incipient Golden Age. See Vergilii Maronis Opera (Florence: Bernardus Nerlius, 15 Calen. Aprilis, 1487). Shelf mark: PA6801.A21 L363 1487q [Princeton].

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both in ancient times and for the Christian world. The centrality of Roman destiny is emphasized by a marking on line 276 of Book 2. The reader here noted Aeneas’ vision of the deceased Hector, in which Hector tells Aeneas to flee from Troy because it has already fallen. This imago, appearing so different from the living Hector, further relates that Aeneas will establish a mighty city. Again, Rome – the city and its destiny – seems to be a focal point of the reading of the text. Finally, the reader marked lines 679–80, which describe the portent of the flame over the head of the young Ascanius and Anchises’ decision to accompany his son on his journey upon witnessing the wonder. Despite not actually writing anything, one can surmise that the importance of this passage to the reader lay both in Aeneas becoming the divinely-appointed protector of Troy (and by extension Rome) and his dutiful nature, as he carried his aged father on his shoulders out of the destruction of Troy. His “Christian” moral behavior and destiny as founder of the umbilicus of the Christian world underscore the Christian, and specifically Roman, reading of Vergil. This particular Roman outlook is even evident in reference to the Georgics. The reader makes a special note – “hic laudat Italiam” – at Georgic 2.138, where Vergil claims no other place may compete with the glories of Italy. This passage celebrates the fruits, olives, herds, and eternal spring of the land as well as the shrines of the gods and the Roman triumphs. As one might suspect, this same passage is also noted in both another 1473 copy of Vergil’s Opera26 and a Roman edition of Vergil’s Eclogues and Georgics.27 In three separate surviving printed editions of Vergil a passage that celebrates the Vergilian themes of a land of plenty, imperial triumph, and religious significance is clearly perceived as of great consequence, furthering the notion that the Roman outlook – reflected in the neo-Latin poetry of the early Cinquecento, as we shall see – included a sense of renewed destiny for the city in Vergilian terms. The marginalia of the second copy of the 1473 edition further emphasizes destiny. While this copy does not contain many notes there are some passages associated with destiny that are bracketed by the reader. In addition to the aforementioned passage from Georgic 2, the reader also bracketed Georgic 3.34–39. In Vergil’s intention to honor Caesar at the outset of the book he 26 27

Vergilius, Opera (Rome: Ulrich Han and Simon Chardella, 4 Nov. 1473). Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, accessed online at 10 June, 2021. See Vergilii Bucolica et Georgica cum commentario Mancinelli (Rome: Eucharius Silber, 20 Oct. 1490). Shelf mark: (Ex1) PA6804.A9 xM36 [Princeton]. This particular edition contains marginalia that appears most interested in Mancinelli’s commentary (for which, see below), but also seems to illustrate an interest in agriculture and the cultivation of vineyards on the part of the reader.

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describes a shrine to him and the reader notes the marble statues celebrating the gods and the Trojan race. One might interpret the interest in the passage as focused both on destiny and divine sanction. The Romans were the race destined to rise from Troy and this was accomplished by divine decree. The reader could focus on this passage in the belief that Rome itself continues this destined glory and is now so much greater by virtue of its position as center of the Christian world. Another bracketed passage further underscores the attention on the destiny of Rome. The reader draws our attention to Aen. 6.885–892. This passage at the end of the book describes Anchises leading his son through the underworld after discussing Marcellus and his untimely death. Anchises eventually tells Aeneas of the wars he must fight, but perhaps more importantly he inflames his son’s soul with the glory that was to be for Rome. Again, the destiny of his descendants and the duty he must carry out have caught the reader’s attention. Finally, the reader bracketed Book 8.717–728 – yet another passage concerned with destiny. On the shield wrought by Vulcan is the image of Caesar riding into Rome in triumph, making vows to the gods, and consecrating temples as the defeated peoples walk in procession through the city. In addition to the focus on pietas, a central moral and religious theme emphasized in the Renaissance, the passage highlights imperial destiny. Rome’s destiny, as stated by Vergil in his epic poem, was to rule over all the peoples of the earth and possess imperium sine fine. It should not surprise us that passages such as these were marked in Roman editions of Vergil. Rome’s destiny, it seems, was never far from readers of Vergil in Renaissance Rome. The understanding of Vergil and his works combined with the general prophetic mentality of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries created a strongly supportive environment for the imitation and appropriation of Vergil. Vergilian ideas served as aspirations for the papacy, a most striking example being the Medici Golden Age ideals evident during the pontificate of Leo X. In Florence the Medici family was associated with Vergil’s legendary hero and the Saturnia regna through both art and literature. Apollonio di Giovanni’s illuminations in a Florentine copy of Vergil’s Aeneid depict a building that resembles the Medici palace near several Roman monuments, such as the Pantheon. One could interpret the scene as the city erected by Aeneas being bound to Florence, and its “builder,” Cosimo de’ Medici, being bound to Aeneas.28 Even the “Triumph of Fame” birthtray commissioned by Piero de’ Medici for the birth of Lorenzo confirmed the destiny of the Medici, a work in which a Medici prince could imagine himself as a new Aeneas establishing 28

Dale V. Kent, Cosimo de’ Medici and the Florentine Renaissance: the patron’s oeuvre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 226.

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Florence in the likeness of Rome.29 During Cosimo’s and Lorenzo’s reign court poets emphasized the Medicean Golden Age through Vergilian language. Naldo Naldi thus ascribed to Cosimo’s age a return to the Age of Saturn: Iam mihi, iam, Medices, te consultore redibant aurea Saturni saecla benigna senis  …30 Similarly, Bartolomeus Fontius asserts of Lorenzo’s age: Tempora nunc tandem per te Saturnia surgunt … Nunc surgunt artes, nunc sunt in honore poetae …31 As in Vergil, an incipient Golden Age of pax et concordia is central to the Medicean projections of Florentine destiny. Arts and poetry flourish in an everlasting peace. These ideas were then reinforced by the pontificate of the Medici pope, Leo X, in Rome.32 The idea of the Golden Age in Rome is entirely compatible with the Vergilian themes employed in Florence, for not only was Leo a great patron of arts and literature, but the Golden Age easily fused with notions of Christian thought in Rome. Through Vergil, commonly believed to be a prophet of Christianity, the ancient Saturnia regna was fused with the ultimate millennial expectations of Christianity.33 Vergilian ideas and themes were molded into the image of Christian Rome. The papacy, as the center of the Christian world, differentiated the employment of Vergilian themes from other places. Here it was no longer simply about the humanist scholarly attention to Vergil, or even the Florentine notion of an age of perfection. In the center of the Christian world the application of Vergilian themes was concerned with a historical moment, the culmination of time. Time was understood as linear and moving toward a specific end. Christian Rome must play the leading role in the return of the glory of God. Other cities made use of Vergil in various ways, but each one lacked the fundamental religious component – they were not the umbilicus of the Christian world. Kallendorf, again, in discussing Venice argues that readers of Vergil played an active role in the forming of Venetian ideology. The Vergilian themes, 29 30 31 32 33

Ibid., 299. Quoted from E. H. Gombrich, “Renaissance and Golden Age” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 24 (1961), 308. “Now, Medici, now with you as counselor the abundant Golden Age of old Saturn returned.” Ibid., 307. “Now through you the Golden Age finally arises … now the arts arise, now the poets are honored …” For a discussion of the Golden Age myth in architecture that bound Florence and Rome under Leo X, see Manfredo Tafuri, Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects, trans. Daniel Sherer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), Ch. 4. For an overview of the Christian interpretation of Vergil, especially regarding the fourth eclogue, see Stephen Benko, “Vergil’s Fourth Eclogue in Christian Interpretation,” Augstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt, [II] 31.1, 646–705. See also L. B. T. Houghton, Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue in the Italian Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 2019) for interpretations and uses throughout Italy during the Renaissance.

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especially the values of Aeneas and his act of the creation of a new society, reinforced Venetian moral values and reflected the just social order of the city. Venetians saw themselves as “descendants” of Aeneas and embraced Vergil as a precursor of Christianity, but the very fact that Venice was not the focal point of the entire Christian world renders the religious aspect less significant. It was only in Rome where the Vergilian “religious” message could take root and flourish as it did. Indeed the centrality of Vergil in Rome is undeniable. Vergil was ubiquitous in the educational and scholarly domain of late fifteenth and early sixteenth century Rome.34 As the greatest of Latin poets he took center stage at the Roman Academy. Headed by Pomponio Leto, a major commentator on Vergil himself, the Academy had been suppressed by Pope Paul II in 1468 for suspicion of pagan leanings, sexual immorality, and an over-enthusiastic passion for the classical past. It resurfaced in 1478 and although it returned under the guise of a religious sodalitas, it nevertheless remained a center for humanist educational and scholarly activity. A notable example of a “Vergilian” in the renewed Academy was Antonio Mancinelli (1452–1505).35 As a distinguished figure in Roman humanist circles and a devoted member of the Academy, he lectured extensively on Vergil in Rome at the Sapienza during the years 1486–91 and 1500–05. His works and commentaries were widely published in his lifetime, as 200 editions of works as commentator or editor and 132 editions of his own work were published.36 As a best-selling author in the early days of printing, his works were largely aimed at the educational market and thus had a significant influence on educating young men. Karl A. E. Enenkel has persuasively argued that such commentaries not only had an impact on reading and writing practices and the transmission of knowledge, but they also transformed 34

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See Robert Black, Humanism and Education in Medieval and Renaissance Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2001). He discusses the centrality of Vergil in fifteenth century education in Rome and throughout all of Italy. Black observes that Vergil is front and center in the upper levels of grammar curriculum and describes the significant use of Vergilian schoolbooks in general (pp. 256–60). Further, he notes the primacy of Vergil in Gaspare da Verona’s secondary grammar manual, composed in Rome c.1450 (p. 131). In the scholarly domain, among the many texts produced, the crowning achievement of the early Cinquecento was Pierio Valeriano’s Castigationes et varietates vergilianae lectionis (Rome, 1521). See Dugald McLellan, “Spreading the Word: Antonio Mancinelli, the Printing Press, and the Teaching of the Studia Humanitatis,” in The Classics in the Medieval and Renaissance Classroom, eds. Juanita Feros Ruys, John O. Ward, and Melanie Heyworth (Brepols, 2013), 287–308 for a biographical sketch of his personal and professional life. Ibid., 287. McLellan also discusses the total editions of Mancinelli’s work until the end of the sixteenth century.

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classical authors and allowed them to be adapted to various usages.37 Mancinelli firmly believed in the intimate connection between poetry and truth. In addition to instructing youth in proper forms of expression and morality and virtue, true religious sentiments were to be found in classical poetry, as he believed in the powerful and revelatory nature of poetry. As an example of focalization, Mancinelli believed that Vergil was undoubtedly a poeta theologus, as he stated in his commentary of the fourth eclogue. In explaining Ecl. 4.5 Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo, he states: Edictis Cumeae Sibyllae haec poeta sumpsit: quae quidem omnia de Christo praedixerat.38 Vergil may not have understood that the prophecy was about Christ, yet Mancinelli firmly maintains that the Sibyl was referring to Christ. He continues to claim that Vergil prophesied the messiah of both the Jews and Gentiles and the nova progenies he knew to be Christ, but records it as the son of Pollio in order to gratify his friend. In order to illustrate Vergil’s (and the Sibyl’s) prophetic ability, Mancinelli also took pains to note Eusebius’ explanation that Vergil’s death in 19 BC predated the birth of Christ. His commentary on the Eclogues and Georgics (Rome, 1490) that was published alongside Vergil’s texts and other commentaries is an example of appropriation. Vergil’s texts were removed from their ancient context and placed into the reception sphere as the complete texts were then surrounded by both ancient and Renaissance commentaries. Vergil’s unaltered texts, however, were now also transformed by being framed by Renaissance concerns present in the commentaries. A commentary such as Mancinelli’s would have been widely read not just in academic circles, but by the many educated in Roman schools, which – along with the commentaries – shaped how books were read. In fact, Mancinelli’s motives were educational. In a letter of dedication to Orso Orsini, rettore of the Sapienza, which prefaces his commentary on the Eclogues and Georgics, Mancinelli claims that he does not intend to refute or disprove the learned with his commentary.39 Unlike Cristoforo Landino’s “definitive” commentary on Vergil with its neoplatonic undertones of Vergil as a divinely-inspired avatar of truth, Mancinelli intended his commentary – with its insistence that the pagan Vergil clearly fit within the bounds of Christianity – to make the work of Vergil more easily understood

37 38 39

Karl A. E. Enenkel, ed. Transformations of the Classics Via Early Modern Commentaries (Leiden: Brill, 2013), introduction. Vergilius, Opera (Venice: B. de Zanis de Portesio, 1493). “The poet took these up from the decrees of the Cumaean Sibyl, who indeed had prophesied everything about Christ.” … Nec ego eo consilio commentarios edidi: ut homines eruditos redarguam. Qq aliud alii videtur. Sed uti Vergilii carmen & facilius & apertius habetur.

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and open to all.40 This medieval interpretation of accommodating Vergil to the Christian faith suited the intellectual outlook and concerns of Renaissance Rome and was proliferated throughout the educational and scholarly domain of the city. It should be noted that even the largely philologically-oriented commentary on the Aeneid (1488) by Landino, who also saw poetry as a source of truth, could be accommodated to a specifically Roman worldview. In explaining the famous line parcere subiectis et debellare superbos (Aen. 6.853) regarding Roman rule, Landino stated: Cum enim quies et pax civitatis summum bonum sit, ea maxime ratione bella gerenda esse videantur: ut nihil nisi pax quaesitum esse videatur. Itaque erit eorum officium quietos et legibus obtemperantes tutos esse iubere eosque ab omni iniuria prohibere …41 This clearly is Landino providing moral justification for war and treatment for those who have submitted, yet it could just as easily be interpreted as a part of the historical role of Rome. The greatest good is peace and justice that is initiated through the practice of imperium. Such an interpretation could justify a Christianity-dominated world with its center based in a renewed Rome which was fulfilling its historical fate. Landino also described the “superbos” as contumaces and those who act sua immanitate. This brutality was often ascribed to enemies of the faith and provided further justification for calls for another crusade and expansion of Roman imperium under papal leadership. Vergil was also a focal point at the Sapienza, or the University of Rome. As another one of the centers of intellectual life in Rome, a place where Leto also held a chair of rhetoric, Vergil was widely read. In fact, he was the most widely read poet in all Renaissance schools and the Sapienza was no different. The Sapienza gained academic prominence after the papacy’s return to Rome. It became a center for humanistic studies by the mid-fifteenth century, mostly due to the efforts of Pope Nicholas V. Many were drawn there simply to attend lectures on a given topic. Gaspare of Verona relates that about one hundred listeners were present for his lectures (1451) on Vergil and Terence.42 Domizio 40 41

42

Vladimiro Zabughin, Vergilio nel rinascimento italiano da Dante a Torquato Tasso (Bologna: N. Zanichelli, 1921–23), 251. Vergilius, Opera (Venice: Bartholomeaus de Zanis, 31 July, 1493). Bayerische Staatsbiblio­ thek, accessed online 25 May, 2022. “Since tranquility and peace of the state is the highest good certainly by this reason let it seem that wars must be waged so that it seems that nothing except peace is sought. Therefore it will be their duty to order that those obeying be peaceful and secure by laws and defend them from all injuries.” D. S. Chambers, “Studium Urbis and gabella studii: the University of Rome in the fifteenth century” in Cecil H. Clough, ed. Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance: Essays in Honor of Paul Oskar Kristeller (New York: Alfred F. Zambelli, 1976), 84.

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Calderini (1446–1478), whose commentaries on the Appendix Vergiliana and unedited commentary on Book 6 of the Aeneid survive,43 may have taught courses on Vergil at the Sapienza as well. By the early sixteenth century the Sapienza was the premier university in Italy for humanistic studies, boasting such teachers as Tommaso Inghirami, Filippo Beroaldo the Younger, and Raffaele Brandolini in addition to the above-mentioned Mancinelli.44 As such, the Sapienza undoubtedly supported a continuous stream of lectures on Vergil. The late fifteenth and early sixteenth century Roman nobleman and humanist Marco Antonio Altieri, in his Li Nuptuali references a lecture on Vergil’s Aeneid by Nicola Barzellone at the Sapienza, a good indicator of the relevance of Vergil at the university.45 This emphasis on Vergil at the Sapienza is further evidence that the poet was crucial to the educational and intellectual community of Renaissance Rome. “Lives” of Vergil, often based on the works of Servius and Aelius Donatus that were printed alongside Vergil’s texts, were likely read and critiqued, as the humanist education tended to value accounts from the late antique period. While chair at the Sapienza Leto composed a life of Vergil that, although based on Vergil’s earlier biographies at times, avoided the apologetic tone of the early biographers Donatus and Servius. He did not attempt to depict the poet as a moralist, and even continued the traditional notion of Vergil as a magician.46 Other “lives” of Vergil that proved relevant for the understanding of Vergil were those of Landino and Pietro Crinito (who interestingly claimed Vergil’s Georgics far surpassed Hesiod’s Works and Days, but did not assert the same when noting the debt his Eclogues owed to Theocritus),47 the latter of which played a significant role in the particularly Vergilian outlook of Rome in the early sixteenth century. Lastly, in grasping the principal role of Vergil in Rome, one may look to a further public illustration which indicates that Vergil was clearly an essential part of the Roman cultural mentality. The pasquinate, the short epigrams or poems attached to the Pasquino statue in Rome, most often satirical in nature, even began to show hints of Vergilian language, a more elevated tone, and the optimism reflecting the mood of early sixteenth century Rome. An example from 43 44 45

46 47

See Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (16), 601. Paul Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 220–21. Paolo Cherubini, “Studenti universitari romani del secondo Quattrocento a Roma e altrove” in Roma e Lo Studium Urbis: Spazio Urbano e Cultura dal Quattrocento al Seicento (Roma: Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, Ufficio centrale per i beni archivistici, 1992), 108. Zabughin, 203. Ibid., 205.

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the 1512 pasquinate (“Pasquillus ad Romanos”), although containing themes mirroring Pope Julius’ war-like nature, nevertheless echoes the opening lines of Vergil’s first eclogue with the verse Recubas tu lentus in umbra.48 In the pasquinate of 1513 the Golden Age under Leo X is referenced: Nam iam speratam, decimo regnante Leone, / omnipotens pacem praebuit et requiem. / hac igitur saevas depone, Phoebe, sagittas, / et dulcem cytharam nunc tibi sume tuam.49 The preface to the 1515 pasquinate also reiterates the Golden Age themes under Leo with language reminiscent of Vergil’s fourth eclogue: Aurea sed postquam redierunt saecla Leonis, / pax rediit, virtus, ius, pietasque simul.50 Similarly, while coming from a very public figure (though not necessarily public themselves) the lettere familiari of Egidio da Viterbo, a leading theologian of Julian and Leonine Rome, clearly illustrate the notable Vergilian presence in the Roman mind. In the letters composed between 1494 and 1517 Egidio quotes Vergil seventy-six times: the Eclogues eleven times, the Georgics sixteen times, and the Aeneid forty-nine times.51 Remarkably, he quotes the ancient poet with as much ease as he does Scripture.52 Not surprisingly, the fourth eclogue is quoted several times (Saturnia regna) as is Aeneid 6 (the Sibyl and Aeneas’ journey to the underworld), themes associated with the Golden Age and destiny of Rome. No less important was the centrality of Vergil in the “private” sphere in Rome. Here the Vergilian-inspired compositions were not academic but creative. The literary compositions produced by the Roman humanists defined the city’s meaning, thus actively shaping the cultural outlook of the city not simply reflecting it. Just as Vergil and other poets helped to define Augustan Rome through their writing, so too did the Renaissance poets recreate and redefine the city in the early Cinquecento.53 The physical city of Rome was renewed 48 49 50 51 52

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See Anne Reynolds, “Cardinal Oliviero Carafa and the Early Cinquecento Tradition of the Feast of Pasquino” Humanistica Lovaniensia, Vol. XXXIV–A, 1985, 203. Ibid., 204. “For now with Leo X reigning, the omnipotent one provides the hoped-for peace and rest. Therefore, Apollo, put down your fierce arrows and now take up your sweet lyre.” Ibid., 205. “But after the Golden Age of Leo returned, peace, virtue, law and piety returned simultaneously.” See Egidio da Viterbo’s Lettere familiari (Romae: Institutum Historicum Augustinianum, 1990). Egidio da Viterbo was thoroughly a Vergilian. Not only could he quote Vergil with facility, but he also appeared as an enthusiastic admirer of Vergil’s country (including the “Sibylline cave”), where he wrote from the ‘bank of Avernus’ and fell under the spell of the prophetic voice of the Sibyl in her aedicula. See R. J. Clark. “Giles of Viterbo on the Phlegraean Fields: A Vergilian View?” Phoenix, 49 (1995), 150–62. Catherine Edwards, Writing Rome: Textual approaches to the city (Cambridge University Press, 1996), 6–8. Her overview “Writing the City” focuses mostly on ancient Rome, but

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through the building projects of the Renaissance, but the idea and meaning of the city was also renewed and transformed through the Vergilian-inspired literature of the period. This Vergilianism in Renaissance Rome had a particular character. It matured in the academies, the loosely-organized literary gatherings of curial humanists (intellectuals recruited for employment at the papal court) in the homes of some wealthy individuals which were conducive to the circulation and exchange of ideas. As a distinctive aspect of the Roman intellectual and cultural world, these informal sodalities favored literary composition, oratory, and history over philosophical speculation (as distinct from the Platonic Academy in Florence), thus proving to be fertile ground for Vergilian expressions. These academies were instrumental in providing intellectual unity to Roman humanism and defining its peculiar character within the intellectual limits imposed by the papacy. In the words of John D’Amico, the academies “acted as both regulators of opinion and disseminators of opinion among the Roman humanists.”54 This Vergilianism, then, was not necessarily the outcome of Renaissance scholarly trends, though the educational realm in Rome undoubtedly had an impact, but rather the result of a specific literary environment and the influence of Rome itself. Vergil had been interpreted in various ways at different times. Certain late classical era understandings of Vergil  – specifically Lactantius and Prudentius, who both accepted a Christian reading of Vergil’s fourth “messianic” eclogue  – became particularly relevant to Roman humanists. Medieval interpretations of Vergil, especially those of Vergil as prophet, also found a place in the writings and orations of Renaissance Roman humanists. While Vergil was a source of moral wisdom and elegant literary style, as elsewhere in the Renaissance, nevertheless humanists in Rome anchored Vergil’s poetry in Christian truths. Whether inspired by aspects of epic or pastoral poetry, in the private sphere Vergil evoked and stimulated poetic creativity that focused on the divinely-appointed city. The most influential academies were those of Pomponio Leto, Paolo Cortesi, Johannes Goritz, and Angelo Colocci. Leto’s revived Roman Academy focused on history, commenting on classical authors, and theater, but was also responsible for a huge body of Neo-Latin works. The works were often religious in tone, reflecting the ambience of Rome and usually praising the Church, but also were frequently Vergilian in style and language. An example of a leading member of the new Academy was Aurelio Lippo Brandolini (1454–97). He was a well-respected scholar and typified the Roman humanist culture with

54

also makes reference to Renaissance Rome, especially through Flavio Biondo’s Roma instaurata. John D’Amico, Renaissance Humanism in Papal Rome: humanists and churchmen on the eve of the Reformation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 91.

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his works De laudibus beatissimi Sixti IV, a collection of poems praising the pope and his court, and his commentary on Vergil’s Georgics.55 Another member, representing the international character of Rome, was the Dalmatian Elio Lampridio, who was crowned poet laureate of Rome in 1481.56 Leto’s academy was succeeded by that of Paolo Cortesi, which functioned from the early 1490’s to 1503. D’Amico notes that this group was international in its composition, devoted to the canons of classical eloquence, demonstrated an interest in vernacular poetry, and maintained numerous members who also belonged to Giovanni Pontano’s academy in Naples.57 The gatherings under Johannes Goritz, a native of Luxemburg and an apostolic protonotary, were frequented by the most influential Roman humanists. Among many others, recognizable members were Pietro Bembo, Egidio da Viterbo, Tommaso Inghirami, Jacopo Sadoleto, and Baldassare Castiglione. Goritz’s circle was famously devoted to Neo-Latin poetry. This sodality is most well-known for its poetry associated with the feast of Saint Anne, which was published in 1524 as the Coryciana under the guidance of another of its members, Blosius Palladius. The volume contains over 400 poems that focus on religious topics. However, the poems are commingled with classical ideas and references, especially Vergilian themes. The work as a whole points to a renewed Vergilian Golden Age in contemporary Christian Rome. It represents Roman humanism at is pinnacle, illustrating the peculiar mixture of the classical world, papal-led Christianity, and the ubiquitous notion of renewal. It should be noted that the Roman Academy of Angelo Colocci, who picked up the reins following the departure of Cortesi, was comprised of many of the same members of Goritz’s circle and embraced similar issues and interests. Colocci, highly devoted to classical antiquity and a Latin poet himself, and his circle were just as vital to Roman intellectual life. While the influence of the poetic sodalities in the “private” realm undoubtedly functioned as havens for the cultivation of Vergilianism, perhaps the greatest influences on the use of Vergil were the papacy and Rome itself. During the first quarter of the sixteenth century Roman humanists not only nurtured forms of Vergilian epic, most notably the papal-sponsored Christiad of Marco Girolamo Vida, but also perfected the practice of pastoral poetry, emulating Vergil’s Eclogues, in the service of Rome and the papacy. The alliance between Church and humanists developed because of their symbiotic relationship. Pontiffs often employed humanists in the Curia, specifically the chancery, 55 56 57

Ibid., 99–100. Ibid., 100. Ibid., 104–05.

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where they carved out a decent living as scriptores, abbreviators, and especially apostolic secretaries.58 There was obviously some enthusiasm for humanism within the Curia and the finest examples of humanist success in the Curia were Pietro Bembo and Jacopo Sadoleto, both appointed by Leo X. The humanists in return for employment and patronage set forth an ideology in their published works (including paratextual material) that praised the pope as their ally in learning and overseer of a renewed and even more glorious Rome. D’Amico stated that the alliance was achieved by a particular reading of history and by ignoring the obvious differences between Christianity and antique culture, thus avoiding any serious conflict.59 This process, in which humanists identified classical culture (and the importance of humanism itself) with the Church and papacy, began in the early Quattrocento and reached its peak in the early Cinquecento. Humanists maintained that the papacy, linked through the cultural medium of the Latin language,60 inherited the imperium of the Roman Empire and certainly displayed imperial characteristics at times. The Pope was the new emperor and his Church the Empire.61 The Roman humanists of the early Cinquecento thus both reflected the ideals of the papacy, while continuously shaping and popularizing those ideals. While D’Amico argued that Ciceronianism was the means to express the cultural ideals, Vergilianism, I contend, was just as important a vehicle to express Roman humanist ideology. Cicero was the ideal for oratory and prose composition, but Vergil was the authority on poetry. Vergil, like Cicero, exemplified the finest characteristics of ancient Rome, which was being renewed culturally under the papacy in the early Cinquecento, and represented the Golden Age of Rome at the height of its power. Themes of imperialism and renewal in Vergil resonated with the papacy. The notions of empire and domination bequeathed to the Church from ancient Rome helped affirm the papacy’s political and cultural goals, and these themes were evident in the language of Vergil and the humanist poets who imitated him in their praise of the papacy. Yet at the head of both the humanists’ program and the Renaissance popes’ was the renewal of Rome. The humanist desire for a return to the glory of ancient Rome melded perfectly with the Renaissance papacy’s desire to renew the glory of Rome and the Roman Church. Frequently, papal outlook and ambitions found their resonance in Vergilian themes. Humanists perceived in Vergil a highly religious 58 59 60 61

Ibid., 29. Ibid., 116. Not only did the humanists believe that they could renew their contemporary culture through the purification of Latin, but also that they could surpass the ancients. This view would play a significant role in the highly optimistic Roman outlook. D’Amico, 122–23.

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dimension, evident in the alleged prophecy of Christ in the fourth eclogue or the hero Aeneas, known for his pietas, which fit the aims of the papacy. For Pope Julius II, who understood the value of cultural patronage, this was an undertaking that had to be realized immediately. He wanted control over Christendom and he employed humanists and theologians in his quest for a renewed Church with supreme authority. He at least once styled himself Caesar and he was the culminating figure of Egidio da Viterbo’s De aurea aetate, in which the Cumaean sibyl’s prophecies proved central to God’s plan for Rome as the center of human salvation. While Julius II is best known for his patronage of ambitious artistic and architectural projects, notably the Sistine Chapel – where the sibyls (central in Vergil’s Eclogues and Aeneid) play a prominent role in the frescoes, literature was not absent from his pontificate. In one of the previously mentioned pasquinate from his pontificate (“Pasquillus ad Romanos”) Vergilian language is unmistakable. Further, numerous poems reveal strong Vergilian influence. Adriano Castellesi’s Iter Julii II, containing a Vergilian triumphal procession of Pope Julius as he enters Bologna, Sannazaro’s De partu virginis, commissioned by Julius, and Vida’s lost Juliad are but some examples. The literature of the pontificate of Leo X witnessed more Vergilian allusions and references to the Golden Age than ever before. Roman humanists truly were in a Golden Age, a time when literary patronage flourished and literary productions seemingly increased exponentially.62 Leo undoubtedly understood the value of such cultural productions  – as any member of the Medici family would – and basked in the glow of the humanist literary praises. Countless works praised Leo and the incipient Golden Age in Vergilian tones. Vida’s Christiad, the Christian Vergilian epic, not only praised the ultimate sacrifice of the “hero” Christ, but also the cultural glory of Renaissance Rome; the parallels with Aeneas and Augustan Rome are undeniable. The Coryciana, a volume of poetry by Goritz’s circle celebrating the feast of St. Anne, is replete with Vergilian references. Zaccaria Ferreri’s Somnium features Leo uniting the scattered peoples and bringing back a peaceful Age of Gold. These major works, among so many other lesser poems, illustrate both the close relationship between Roman humanists and the papacy and the fundamental centrality of Vergil to the Renaissance Roman worldview. If the influence of Vergilianism is as important to understanding the cultural outlook of Renaissance Rome as Ciceronianism, we must examine the themes evident in Vergilian poetry that were employed and re-focused by the Roman humanists in the service of the papacy and Rome. The specific Vergilian themes 62

Roman culture assumed a decisive role and Rome, even more so than under Julius II, became the focal point of humanism.

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central to the understanding of Renaissance Rome are: rebirth/renewal, the Golden Age, renovatio imperii, and Roman destiny. Each of these themes can be found in the works of Vergil and in the imitative Vergilian poetry of High Renaissance Rome. We will examine the poetry that fits each theme and assess both its Vergilian content and relevance to Renaissance Roman ideology. Whether in the form of bucolic, occasional poems or epic poems, this literature gave a voice to the aspirations of Rome, the papacy, and the intellectuals of early sixteenth century Rome.

Chapter 2

Renovatio Romae The notion of rebirth or renewal emerged as a pervasive theme among Renaissance humanists. The belief of Italian intellectuals that their age was witnessing the renewal of ancient knowledge and wisdom became commonplace, beginning in the fourteenth century and remaining persistent through the early sixteenth century. The idea of renewal in Rome expanded to encompass not only learning but also the prominence of the city and ultimately its destiny. In Rome the theme of renewal, or renovatio Romae, assumed a specific character. In the fifteenth century the notion of the renewal of Christian Rome began to spread in literature, art, and public displays. The most telling instance of this is perhaps Lorenzo Valla’s Elegantiae, his guidebook for proper and persuasive use of Latin. The “Prooemium” to this work focuses on a reborn classical Latin that in antiquity had created a linguistic imperium. This, for Valla, was the true achievement of ancient Rome, which overshadowed its farflung empire and truly bettered humankind.1 Thus, Valla argued, this linguistic imperium nearly made the Romans divine. Contemporary Roman humanists could easily employ this theme, for the classical Latin language was indeed being renewed in humanist writings, and so too it followed that the almostdivine status of Rome would be renewed with the city and the papacy being the umbilicus of religious renewal. In essence, the Roman humanists felt that this imperium, based on a renewed and pure Latin, could continue to support Rome’s world dominance. This theme of rebirth reached its zenith in the early Cinquecento in the work of Roman humanists who cultivated the ideas of a reborn and eternal Rome. The culture of renewal saturated the works of humanists, both in terms of the revival of learning and the restoration of the Church and religion.2 Closely bound to the papacy – as papal patronage had turned Rome into a center for humanist scholarship – humanists publicized the notion that Christian Rome possessed an imperium that transcended both earthly boundaries and time. For the popes of the early Cinquecento the renewal of Christian Rome 1 Stinger, 289. 2 The renewal of religion is particularly interesting because it seems to echo Augustus’ renewal of religion and morals in ancient Rome. Pope Leo, especially, was often noted to be distinguished by his pietas and a healer of the ills of the Christian world. See Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988), Ch. 4 for Augustus’ renewal of religion and culture in ancient Rome.

© Jeffrey A. Glodzik, 2023 | doi:10.1163/978900452

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was not simply propaganda or mere rhetoric, but rather a goal that was to be attained. The cultivation of Vergilian themes or language evident in the works of the Cinquecento humanists proved an apt means to articulate and express these themes of Rome’s renewal and its impending realization.3 A large body of Roman humanist poetry could be cited to illustrate Roman renewal and its Vergilian underpinnings, but a number of texts, situated in the pontificates of Julius II and Leo X, merit particular attention as evoking significant aspects of this pervasive theme. Two poems, celebrating the new suburban villa of the wealthy Sienese banker, Agostino Chigi (1466–1520), regard its construction as embodying Rome’s renewal. Chigi’s villa, subsequently known as the Villa Farnesina, with its ancient Roman character and celebrated Raphael frescoes, was one of the new wonders of Renaissance Rome, and thus provided an apt subject for developing Vergilian themes of renewal. Egidio Gallo’s De viridario Augusti Chigii, composed in 1511, suggestively points to a renovated Rome to which Julius II has brought peace. Gallo himself was a Roman and in addition to being a member of the city’s literati he was also an actor. Chigi seems to have been his main patron. Gallo was likely an instructor at the University of Rome by 1514 and published several works before and after this appointment. Several of his early plays were printed and he had a couple poetic works published, the Odarum Liber and Liber de Leone. He also gave the funeral oration for the wife of Angelo Colocci and had his verses published in the Coryciana.4 Gallo’s De viridario Augustini Chigii, in which Gallo refers to himself as poet laureate, honors Chigi’s villa and glorifies the rustic life beyond the bustle of the city. The construction of country villas outside of Rome, imitating and surpassing those of antiquity, became a not uncommon status symbol for wealthy and intellectually-driven Romans in the early Cinquecento.5 Gallo’s claim that the Villa was blessed with eternal spring again alludes to a renewed age of unending tranquility. Venus, the mother of Aeneas in Vergil’s Aeneid and by extension of Rome itself, is actually the main character of Gallo’s poem. 3 On the interdependence of the idea of renewal and Vergilian language in the Renaissance, specifically that of the fourth eclogue, see Houghton, Ch. 2. 4 Mary Quinlin-McGrath, “Aegidius Gallus, De Viridario Augustini Chigii Vera Libellus.” Human­ istica Lovaniensia Vol. XXXVIII (1989), 2–4. 5 See Marcello Fagiolo, Roman Gardens: Villas of the City (New York: Monacelli Press, 2001) for several examples of Roman villas constructed during the Cinquecento. Poems celebrating these villas were common as well in this period. Complete texts and translations of Francesco Sperulo’s poem on the “Villa Julia Medica” (1519) and Marco Girolamo Vida’s poem on the same Villa Madama (1524) can be found in John Shearman, Raphael in Early Modern Sources, 1483–1602 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 414–38 and 774–78, respectively.

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Associated with spring  – the time of renewal6 – it is only through her that Arva suas segestes: vel si redolentibus herbis / prata reflorescunt varios latura colores …7 It is therefore only by means of her control of the climate and bountiful landscapes that Rome can witness an eternal Golden Age, recalling the one described in the fourth eclogue. While the first book of De viridario briefly recounts the Vergilian foundation myth of Rome and witnesses the priestesses of Venus preparing for her spring, much of the poem involves the story of Venus visiting other deities, from Apollo to Aeolus to Neptune, convincing them to end the cold season and prepare for spring. Yet the spring which Venus brings will be eternal, one which she will announce to her Roman priestesses. Motivated by the piety of the Romans (descended from Trojan stock), Venus – having arrived after soaring over the magnae moenia Romae8 – will provide them with everlasting happiness. She announces: … concedimus annum Perpetuo vobis sub Aprico tempore laetum: Ut pateant terrae: pateant maria omnia Romae Romanus vigeat populus: patresque Quirini. Quae tamen inter vos collo superare catervam Gaudet honorato rutilos diffusa capillos: Hec nostrum adventum, hec matrem testetur Amorum De supero venisse polo: quae praebeat orbi Temperiem caeli aeternam, lucemque serenam …9 Not only will Rome witness an age of renewal, but it will in fact be the center of this renewed world. Reborn to an eternal spring, Rome is blessed by the divine favor of Venus. This textual reference from Aeneid 1.7 – the moenia Romae – is a prominent example of transformation via creative destruction. As described 6 The notion of spring as renewal and rebirth is famously described in Vergil’s Georgic 2.315–45. 7 De viridario, 1. 97–8. “the fields have their crops, or if the meadows about to bring forth various colors, gleam with redolent grasses …” [Translation from Quinlin-McGrath; all translations from Gallo’s text are hers.] In addition to the echoes of Ecl. 4.42 in terms of diction, the role of Venus here also recalls Lucretius’ De rerum natura. 8 “The walls of great Rome,” likely recalling the altae moenia Romae (“the walls of lofty Rome”) of Aen. 1.7. 9 Ibid., 4. 384–92. “We grant perpetually the happy year to you under Sunny climes, so that the lands open up, and that all the seas be open to Rome, and that all the Roman people thrive, and the Roman fathers. Let however this one among you who rejoices to tower with her honored neck over the crowd, her red hair flowing, let her attest to our coming, let her attest that the mother of Loves has come down from the high heavens to supply to the world eternal temperance and the serene light of heaven …”

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in the introductory chapter, creative destruction is the purposeful splintering of a reference object in order to create something new. In the Renaissance passages of Vergil were emphasized for content or style and the original text was shattered to underscore a particular cultural idea or value. The walls of Rome in particular signify a renewed and refounded city. Roman humanists focused specifically on this phrase in several different texts always with the intention of celebrating the city’s renovatio. The fifth and final book of the poem sees spring return and the scene shift to the villa of Agostino Chigi. He is presented as a man of great Christian morals and virtue – the just man who presides over all intellectual discourse in Rome. Venus marvels at the beauty of his villa, one that surpassed the finest of ancient villas. Containing even a grotto for nymphs, Venus blesses the villa with eternal spring, constantly flowering gardens, and bountiful fruits. Not only will spring be eternal here but the villa will be the site for great people and deeds, as well as the inspiration for poets. Finally, Venus names it her own seat when she descends from Olympus. Especially noteworthy is the reference to Pope Julius II. Gallo notes that he should be recognized as lord of the world, but he also encouraged Julius to visit the villa should chance afford him the opportunity: Ipse autem Romae et toto qui primus in orbe est Iulius, arbitrio cuius vel caetera pendent: Qui venit: ut venit, videt: utque horrentia vidit Quaecunque, optata vicit, fruiturque quiete. Ut si unquam per se renovate moenia et urbis Strata, triumphales populo comitante vel arcus Officii plenus lustret: tua florida, Opacisque Arva repleta locis paulum dignetur adire.10 Julius, as both God’s representative and conqueror (echoing the familiar phrase – “I came, I saw, I conquered” – ascribed to Julius Caesar, the pope’s namesake), is responsible for bringing peace and renewing Rome. After conquering the evil in the world as imperator, his actions have ushered in an everlasting peace, reminiscent of the Pax Romana of Augustus. Further, he has renewed the 10

Ibid., 5. 201–08, 214–15. “Moreover Julius himself who is first of Rome and in all the world, or from whose judgment all the rest depend, who comes, when he has come, sees, and when he has seen each and every dreadful thing, he has conquered it, and he enjoys the peace that he has desired. So if ever he, filled with duty, with the people accompanying, should survey the walls and the streets of the city renovated by himself, or the triumphal arches, let him deign to go a little into your fields flowery and full of shady places.”

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physical city, strengthening the bond between the Renaissance city and the glory of its ancient predecessor. Blosius Palladius’ poem, also on Chigi’s villa, is similarly instructive in linking the renewal of the classical villa with the rebirth of the city of Rome. Palladius, a humanist at the heart of the intellectual world of early sixteenth century Rome, was a poet, orator, and prominent member of both Colocci’s and Goritz’s circles. He edited the text of the Coryciana, and was a man of great literary ability, despite publishing no major work.11 Palladius also served as papal secretary to both Clement VII and Paul III. He died in 1547, in an intellectual landscape far different from the one in which he composed the text dedicated to the Villa Farnesina. His 1512 text, Suburbanum Augustini Chisii, while displaying a greater influence of Statius than Vergil,12 nevertheless like Gallo’s emphasized the theme of renewal at Rome. Palladius focused on the site of Chigi’s villa and the Tiber River, thus underscoring the connection of the villa to ancient Rome. By forging the link between the villa of Chigi and its ancient predecessor – at least in literary terms, the villa of Vopiscus, celebrated by Statius in Silvae, 1.3, he set the stage for a discussion of Roman renewal in the early Cinquecento. The idea of Roman renewal, made evident through Chigi’s wondrous new villa, finds articulation in the words of the Tiber itself. The villa, renewing the environment of the ancient world, impels the river to claim: Nunc mea nobilitas squalentibus obsita ripis, / auspicio meliore redit. Iam Tybris honoris / ibit aquis: audaxque meum delabar in aequor.13 The river, like the city, is reborn and re-invigorated. Recalling the fall of the ancient city, the Tiber then notes its rebirth through the true religion: At prior ex animo clades effluxerat, ut nos / relligio miserata pie respexit, et urbem / restituit cum sede, Penatibus, et veris diis:14 Christianity has saved Rome and has given the city new life, but it is the magnificent new villa that has renewed the Tiber and its ancient glory. The river joyfully proclaims, 11

12 13 14

D’Amico, 111. This is not to say he published no works, for some of his work, including a small book of elegies and several of his orations, was printed. See Mary Quinlin-McGrath, “Blosius Palladius, Suburbanum Augustini Chisii.” Humanistica Lovaniensia, Vol. XXXIX (1990), 96. Quinlin-McGrath, “Blosius Palladius”, 99–102. Suburbanum, lines 333–35. “My nobility, that was sown with unkempt banks, now returns with better omen. Now the Tiber will run with honored waters, and boldly I will flow into my sea.” [Translation: Quinlin-McGrath; all translations from Palladius’ text are hers.] Ibid., lines 357–59. “But the previous disaster had fallen from my mind, when religion having taken pity on us, piously regarded us and restored the city with its seat, to its Penates, and its true gods.”

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Abstulit has tandem tuus, Augustine, querelas Ruris honos, dextrae quem miror in aggere ripae. Tu moerentem amnem, et squalentia flumina luctu, Liventemque, situm precioso abstergis honore. Ergo ego deposito, tuleram quem moestus, amictu: In veteres ibo cultus.15 Chigi’s splendid villa on the banks of the Tiber wiped away the sadness of the fall of Rome and the mistreatment of the river over the years. The Tiber, now renewed, flows majestically as it did in antiquity. It is also noteworthy that Palladius celebrates the pontiff, Julius II, who visited the villa. He refers to Julius as a new Jove and implies the renewal of a Golden Age: Confer modo numina: et ipsum / cum nostro Iove pone Iovem. Fuit ille procaxque / et malus: et primos dedit in sua tempora fures, / hic bonus, extremosque fugat se principe fures. / Iustitiaque regit terras, frenatque superbos.16 The previous Jove ended the reign of Saturn and his reign witnessed the rise of sin and thievery, while the reign of Julius, the new Jove, sees the lands ruled through justice and restraining of the proud, alluding to the Vergilian destiny of the Roman rule of law and the command debellare superbos (Aeneid, 6.853). This poem provides another example of creative destruction in a Renaissance Roman text. In the case of this passage from Aeneid 6, Roman humanists proclaimed that it was the moral duty of the papacy to emulate its ancient predecessors in increasing and renewing power and faith throughout the world. It is no longer only the exercise of authority but now the expansion of a superior faith as well. The idea of renewal of Renaissance Rome frequently evoked ancient Troy, taking up the story narrated by Vergil. The allusion to Trojan lineage occurs in Gallo’s text and often appeared in the poetry of the early Cinquecento. A 15

16

Ibid., lines 370–375. “Your ornament of the country, which I admire on the embankment of your right shore, Agostino, finally took away these complaints. You wipe away the grieving river, and the streams squalid with grief, and the envious mould with precious ornament. Therefore the garment which I had sadly worn having been cast aside, I will go in my ancient splendor.” Ibid., lines 156–60. “Now compare the gods: and place Jove himself with our Jove. That one was both shameless and bad, and he gave the first thieves to his time; this one is good and he routs the last thieves in his principate. And with justice he rules the lands, and restrains the proud.” Michael Dewar argues that the last thieves whom Julius routs are the French, who had seized – or “stolen” – territory in northern Italy during the Italian Wars. See his ‘Encomium of Agostino Chigi and Pope Julius II.” Res publica litterarum XIV (1991), 61–68.

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very brief poem by Faustus Capiferreus Magdalenus,17 “Phoebi Vaticanium De Roma condenda,” explains that the fall of Troy was a necessity for the founding of Rome, and by extension, the renewal of the ancient city in the Renaissance. After ten years of divinely-guided security from the Greek forces the fate of Troy has been sealed and the question is then posed: Quid trepidas mea Troia? Dabunt incendia vitam.18 A new life and a new age will be given to Troy’s descendants through its destruction. The poem reaches its conclusion with a reminder of the city’s fate: Troia renascetur vitamque resumet ab igne.19 Implicitly understood is that just as Troy fell and was reborn in Rome, so too will the ancient city come to life in the early Cinquecento. An anonymous poem from this period entitled “Venus” offers another example of the themes of Trojan lineage and renewal. Several passages develop these themes, employing typical Vergilian meter and language. Venus, tellingly, speaks, along with the Graces, as both goddess of love and mother of the Romans. She proclaims: Vos mea progenies Troia gens missa vetusta / Romulidae tristes animo deponite curas / omniaque ex ira veteri pacata residant / corda Venus placidae fert vobis munera pacis.20 The linkage is made between Troy and Rome, Juno’s anger is no longer a concern, and peace will come for the Roman race. Through the aid of Venus the Trojans also united with the Latins, thus laying the foundations for the most glorious race. By way of Aeneas’ marriage to Lavinia the Graces announce: Inde furor saevi requievit Martis & omnis / tradita sub pacis leges Saturnia gens est.21 Ultimately, the Romans will rule over a time of peace, a destiny both the Romans and the papacy hoped would be fulfilled. Ascanius, too, continued the path of Trojan/Roman renewal. The Graces state: Ille quidem longa populos ditione gubernat / antiqui Latii qualis Saturnus & aurea / progenies olim prisci longo ordine reges.22 Throughout the text Venus emphasizes her role in the security and growth of the new race, watching over it as it expands, even referencing triumphs. While the poem appears to simply re-tell portions 17 18 19 20 21 22

Evangelista Maddaleni Capodiferro, a Roman aristocrat, was a member of the Roman Academy as well as a member of Giovanni de’ Medici’s household. See Rowland, The Culture of the High Renaissance, 87–90 for a more detailed biographical sketch. BAV, Vat. Lat. 3351, 78r. “Why are you afraid, my Troy? The fires will give life.” Ibid., “Troy will be reborn and will resume its life from the fire.” BAV, Vat. Lat. 2833, 227r. “You, my offspring, the ancient race sent from Troy, put aside the sad cares from your mind, Romans. All your hearts, made peaceful, may rest from the ancient anger. Venus bears the gifts of quiet peace to you.” Ibid., 228v. “Then the rage of savage Mars rested and the whole Saturnian race is handed over under the laws of peace.” Ibid., 228r. “Indeed that one governs the people of ancient Latium with far-reaching sovereignty, like Saturn, and his golden offspring, the ancient kings who once ruled in a long line.”

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of the Aeneid, it is meant to be understood by contemporary Romans as the story of their own lineage as the city is renewed again. Theirs is a long history and one that will undoubtedly rise once more in glory. Similarly illustrative of the theme of Roman renewal is Pietro Bembo’s Julii Secundi Pontificatus Maximus, a poem likely composed in 1503–04.23 The Venetian-born Bembo (1470–1547) was one of the great humanists of the Cinquecento.24 Perhaps best known for being secretary to Leo X, he was later made cardinal in 1539. Bembo published numerous works, including Gli Asolani (a dialogue on Platonic love) and poetry in both Latin and Italian. He died in Rome, aged seventy-six. The text itself exhibits instances of Golden Age themes, reminiscent of Vergil’s fourth eclogue, but its core message is that of renewal under Julius II. A short poem, it consists of only twenty-four lines in dactylic hexameter. As a sure sign of renewal under the quercus (the oak tree which was the ubiquitous symbol of Julius II and his family, the Della Rovere), Bembo writes: Namque boni mores nostro rediere sub aevo.25 Rome is clearly reborn, but Bembo extends this notion further. At the outset he affirms: Nunc O nunc redit ad primos bona quercus honores, / quos habuit, mundi cum tener orbis erat.26 Though it may echo the age of Saturn, nevertheless it is emphasized that Julius will renew the world. Yet the final four lines stretch beyond this simple repetition of ancient glory and point to an even loftier end for Julius: Nec redit ad primos tantum bona quercus honores, / quos habuit mundi cum tener orbis erat: / sed provecta solo nitidis caput inserit astris, / quantum homines aluit, tantum alitura Deos.27 This notion of undertakings succeeding to an even greater degree than past glories, the quanto magis motif, is a persistent theme in Roman humanist thought. Julius will not only preside over an earthly renewal, but as supreme pontiff his regenerative rule will also extend to the heavens. Instantly recognizable in the 23 24

25 26 27

Marco Pecoraro, Per le Storia dei Carmi del Bembo (Venezia: Istituto Per La Collaborazione Culturale, 1959), 145. Bembo was also particularly well-versed in Vergil. His poems “Amica ad Gallum”, in which a scorned female lover recalls the Dido episode from Aeneid 4, and Etna, in which the time span and form are modeled on Ecl 1, attest to this. See Chatfield, Pietro Bembo: Lyric Poetry / Etna for commentary (xiii, xx) and poems (38–47, 194–249). Julii Secundi Pontificatus Maximus in Carmina quinque illustrium poetarum (Venetiis: Ex officina Erasmiana Vincentii Valgrisii, 1548), line 17. “For the good customs returned in our time.” Ibid., lines 7–8. “Now, O now the virtuous oak returns to the original glories, which it had when the earth was young.” Ibid., lines 21–24. “Not only does the virtuous oak return to the original glories, which it had when the earth was young, but raised up from the ground it puts its head up among the shining stars: as much as it nourishes men, so much will it nourish the gods.”

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poem is the Vergilian language. Many of the images of Vergil’s pastoral poetry resonate here, as Bembo makes reference to a previous age of gold, describing a time when the plowing of fields and the cultivation of vineyards was not necessary, and an age of forests dripping with honey and rivers running with milk instead of water.28 While employing slightly-altered Vergilian language, Bembo can too be seen to transform via creative destruction. The language of the fourth eclogue is again used to emphasize a papal-led renewal of Rome. Pietro Thamyras’ Ad divum Julium II P.M. Aegloga further extends these Vergilian themes of Roman renewal associated with Julius II. Little is known about Thamyras (Tomarozzi) other than that he moved in literary circles in Rome from the 1480’s until the pontificate of Leo X and claimed that Pomponio Leto was his mentor.29 Several of his verses appear in the Coryciana, indicating he was a contributing member of Goritz’s circle. The eclogue itself is distinctly Vergilian in style. Two shepherds sing their songs in dactylic hexameter, calling for inspiration and favor from above. References are made to well-worn Vergilian themes and phrases, such as the Saturnian reign and subdued peoples. Yet most noteworthy is the early reference to the tall oak tree with its golden acorns. Thamyras claims that the oak is ordered laeta caelum delambere fronde.30 From its roots upward to heaven the oak that is Julius will allow for the earthly Rome to reach the heights of celestial paradise. Much of the text then is more geared toward imperial themes. Referred to as Invictissime Iuli, the poet notes the pontiff’s military attempts to achieve a renewal of Rome imperium. This text establishes that renewal can arrive in many forms – from the Golden Age to empire – as the following chapters will demonstrate. Poetry honoring art also promoted the notion of Roman renewal under Julius. Roman poets celebrated the recovery of the Laocoӧn, the acclaimed ancient sculpture unearthed from Roman soil in 1506. Jacopo Sadoleto’s (1477– 1547) poem is probably the most famous. Born in Modena, he eventually arrived in Rome in 1500. He emerged into particular prominence during the pontificate of Leo X, becoming a papal secretary in 1513 and eventually being named bishop of Carpentras in 1517. His hexameter poem on the Laocoӧn declared

28 29 30

Ibid., lines 3–6. Nec proscissa graves vertebant arva iuvenci, / vinea nec lacrimas falce resecta dabat, / mella sed aeriae sudabant roscida silvae; / et lac pro gelida flumen habebat aqua. Cf. Ecl. 4.30 and 40. See Anne Reynolds, Renaissance Humanism at the Court of Clement VII: Francesco Berni’s Dialogue Against Poets in Context (London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1997), 269. Thamyras, Pietro. Ad Divum Iulium II P.M. Aegloga, (Rome: M. Silber, 1510), 1r. “to happily touch heaven with its foliage.”

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that the statue … nunc celsa revisit / exemptum tenebris redivivae moenia Romae.31 The exhumed Laocoӧn beheld those walls of a renewed Rome, rivaling its ancient predecessor. The image of the lofty Roman walls echoes that of Aeneid 1.7 (“altae moenia Romae”), where Vergil introduces the Trojan hero and the glorious race that descends from him. Here, too, we may observe the transformation of Vergil’s text via creative destruction. Much like in Gallo’s text, the walls of Rome signify a renewed Rome of the Renaissance and not the walls of ancient Rome described in the Aeneid. Many other poems celebrated the find of this famed ancient sculpture, delighting in the genius (specifically as an exemplum doloris) brought to light, indeed reborn, in the renewed Rome.32 A final instance of this theme of Roman renewal from the pontificate of the “Warrior Pope” is evident in Lorenzo Parmenio’s Res gestae of Pope Julius II. Lorenzo Parmenio de San Ginesio was a papal librarian during the pontificates of Julius II, Leo X, and Adrian VI. He was named to the position at the Vatican Library in 1511 and held the position until he resigned in late 1522.33 In addition to his Res gestae, he composed several other works, including multiple poems praising Julius’ successor, Leo X. While Parmenio’s Res gestae obviously cannot be categorized as Vergilian poetry, as it is a laudatory prose composition, it nevertheless illustrates the renewal theme and the notion of a reborn ancient (and semi-divine) leader in the person of Julius II. It celebrates the renewal of the pinnacle of ancient culture in early Cinquecento Rome. At the outset Parmenio proclaims that he will set forth the greatness of Julius’ actions. Among the topics he treats are the financial stability Julius brings to the papacy, and the care for all his people – which includes a constant supply of cheap fruits of the earth. The most visible of Julius’ achievements is his renewal of Rome through the growth of the city and building projects. Like his ancient imperial predecessors, he beautified the city as a sign of renewal. Parmenio claimed, in fact, that the reborn city and the marvelous buildings might appear just as they did in antiquity (ut ad

31 32

33

Sadoleto, Laocoӧn, lines 6–7, in A. Perosa and J. Sparrow, eds. Renaissance Latin Verse: an Anthology (London: Duckworth and Co., 1979), 185. “… now removed from the darkness he sees again the lofty walls of renewed Rome.” For example, see Beroaldo’s poem In statuam Laocoontis (Ottob. Lat. 2860, 165r), Faustus Capiferreus Magdalenus’ poem (BAV Vat. Lat. 10377, 75v), which Hans Brummer interprets as the priest ultimately acting as a patriotic sacrifice and Elio Cerva’s poem on the statue [see R. D’Alfonso. Il ritrovamente del Laocoonte Vaticano e due umanisti di quel tempo, (Gubbio, 1929)]. Jeanne Bignami Odier, La Bibliotheque Vaticane de Sixte IV a Pie XI Studi e Testi 272 (Vaticano, 1973), 27.

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veterum illa admiranda aedificia accedere videatur).34 In particular, Parmenio celebrates Julius’ restoration of the Palatine: Tu denique maiorem Palatii partem vetustate ruinam minitantem magno sumptu instaurasti.35 Not surprisingly, for Parmenio, Julius’ greatest achievements are his military exploits. His triumphal procession into Bologna parallels that of the ancient Romans: … strata decentibus velis adaperta, triumphalisque pompa undique disposita veterum triumphos adaequare videbantur.36 This magnificent triumph functions as an act of renewal for Rome as the city enters a new age of glory. Yet it is the actions of Julius after his entry into Bologna that prove most important. He freed the city from both oppression and taxation: Mox populum illum intollerabili vectigalium, multarumque rerum onere, quo misere premebatur, exonerasti.37 Through his kindness also Pope Julius bound the people to himself: Plebis tibi animos mirifica benignitate devinxisti.38 Parmenio portrays Julius as the benevolent leader of a growing Italy. In some sense, like Vergil’s hero Aeneas, he commences the process of unifying Italy. Parmenio describes Julius’ entry into Rome as a great Roman hero, which permits him in concluding the work the opportunity to praise Julius in verse. Julius perceives the true joy in Rome upon his return: Vocibus ex magnis spectasti gaudia vera;39 yet it is the future good that he will do that will expand the process of renewal. Julius will perform even greater feats: Ut velut aeterna, Iuli mitissime, laude haec bona gessisti, sic meliora geras.40 The pontiff, himself most clement, will continue to perform good deeds and fulfill the Roman destiny of sparing the subjected in the Vergilian vein, thus completing the renewal of Rome. Parmenio, as others, employs Vergilian ideas to imagine a renewed imperium and bring justice to the pontiff’s people. These themes of renewal continued, perhaps even more spectacularly, during the pontificate of Leo X. Egidio Gallo, whose work on the Villa Farnesina celebrated the renewal of Rome under Julius II, praised the reborn Rome of Leo X to an even greater degree in his printed collection of poems, Liber de Leone. 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Giovanni Amaduzzi and Giovanni Bianconi (eds.) Anecdota Litteraria, Vol. III (Romae: apud G. Settarivim; A. Fulgonium, 1773–83), 310. “… so that it seemed to approach those remarkable buildings of the ancients.” Ibid., “Finally you renewed at large expense the greater part of the Palatine threatening ruin because of old age.” Ibid., 315. “… the pavement opened fully with the appropriate awnings, and everywhere the arranged pomp of the triumph seemed to compare to the triumphs of the ancients.” Ibid., 315. “Soon you freed that populace from the intolerable burden of taxes and many matters, by which it was wretchedly pressed.” Ibid. “You bound the minds of the people to yourself by means of amazing benignity.” Ibid., 317. “You look upon the true joy from their loud voices.” Ibid. “Most clement Julius, as you carried out these good deeds with eternal praise, so may you perform better ones.”

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The text commences with a short poem on Leo himself (“De Leone X”). Gallo immediately describes the less fortunate times: Libertas ubi nulla iam manebat: gentem gens ubi in arma contrahebat: et caecas Herebi superba Maetas.41 These days now end because Jupiter himself wants this time of struggle to cease and desires a happier and carefree age which Leo will oversee. War, arrogance, sedition, rapine, and deceit will disappear. In their place, Gallo proclaims, Immo Mercurius, Minerva, laudes Phoebus quisque suae reportat Artis.42 Wisdom, the arts, and happiness in general will return, a theme that will become ubiquitous in the literature of the Leonine period. The poem concludes: Et tu Roma tuo Leone gaudes.43 Rome, by divine decree, will undoubtedly rejoice in the peace and renewed age brought by Leo. The glories of the ancient city are born again to Renaissance Rome. Similar themes are evident in a following poem addressed to Leo (“Ad Leonem X”). Here Gallo again notes that with the end of wars and treachery a time of peace is present. Further, this time of peaceful renewal is due solely to the Roman pontiff’s leadership: Praemia, Honos, et Amor virtutum alimenta per orbem / et duce te surgunt: et duce te vigeant.44 In this age all forms of human virtue will flourish throughout the papal-directed world. Gallo even claims that the poets, who owe so much to Leo, will dutifully celebrate his deeds as the one who presides over the age of renewal. Leo is also firmly bound to the heavens, as Gallo proclaims, Propterea aeternas servent tibi Numina sedes.45 The gods themselves smile down upon Leo, keeping his divinely-appointed role in mind. The centrality of Leo to the renewal of Rome and the world is assured and unquestioned. Two further poems from Gallo’s collection further explore the notion of renewal. The poem “Cantio in honorem Leonis X” is not Vergilian in style but takes up Vergilian themes, including that of renewal. It commences with exhortations to praise Leo: Surgamus pariter novo Quirites / caetu, Pontifici novo canamus / exultantia verba et offeramus / nosipsos animoque & ore mites.46 All Romans, duty-bound, should rejoice at Leo’s coming and sing his praises, for what he will accomplish – a renewed age – will be worthy of great praise. 41 42 43 44 45 46

Egidio Gallo, Liber de Leone (Rome: Stephanus et Hercules Socios, 1513), 1v. “When no liberty remained: when race provoked race into haughty war and the dark boundaries of the lower world.” Ibid., 2r. “Rather Mercury, Minerva, and Apollo each bring back the praise of their arts.” Ibid., 2r. “And you, Rome, rejoice in your Leo.” Ibid., 3r. “Rewards, Honor, Love and the nourishment of virtue rise through the world with you as leader; and may they flourish under your guidance.” Ibid., 3r. “Therefore the gods will keep the eternal seats for you.” Ibid., 23r. “Let us rise together, Romans, in a new society; let us sing exulting words for the new pontiff and let us offer ourselves meek in both spirit and word.”

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Under Leo the people will forsake strife and insult: Nefas perit / per quem gloria summa erit / atque artes aderunt in orbe dites.47 Many of the themes of renewal are mentioned – religion will be renewed with the cessation of discord, supreme glory will return for Rome and all Christendom, and creative endeavor will be reborn and acclaimed throughout a tranquil world. Gallo expands his prophetic view into the future, comparing Leo to Apollo as he repels evil, removes wickedness, and ends the destruction of the past. This new peaceful world that Leo will oversee is made clear through Gallo referring to him as “healer.” As Apollo was known as “paean,” or healer, so too is Leo (playing on his Medici family name), the great Christian leader who will close all wounds and renew the world.48 The choice of comparison is also not surprising since Apollo was the patron divinity of Augustus, solidifying the connection between Leo and the emperor who presided over the greatest age of the ancient Romans. Lastly, in the final poem in Gallo’s collection, “Tyberinus ad Leonem X”, thematically and stylistically Vergilian echoes are unmistakable. The poem is composed in dactylic hexameter and immediately presents the idea of renewal: Tune ades expectate Leo? Praesentia cuius / sancta urbem nostrumque potest renovare Senatum / terrarumque orbem?49 Leo is not only addressed as the one “wished for,” fulfilling the desires of the people and carrying out divine providence, but also the one who is able to renew the entire world with Rome at its head. The gods and the fates, supporting him, are already aware of the undertakings that summe Leo and the invictissime Princeps should attempt and likely accomplish. Indeed all past ruin, witnessed by the Tiber, will cease as Leo will hopefully bring peace and prosperity to the Romans; both the gods and the people longed for it: Caelum hoc speravit: de te hoc speravimus omnes.50 The poem is one long call to rouse Leo, a healer, to action. Through his own person and the fates Leo’s mission is clear: Ergo age, cum pietate tua compesce virorum / impietatem: et iam melioribus utere Fatis.51 The world can be renewed through Leo’s dutiful actions and the pious Christian world will start anew with the misfortunes of the past left behind. Nearing the conclusion of the poem, Gallo 47 48 49 50 51

Ibid., 23r. “Sin is destroyed, through which there will be the highest glory, and the rich arts will be present throughout the world.” Ibid., 23r, Romanus Populus sacer senatus / ac tota Italia ac simul renatus / orbis crimine quolibet soluto / te quisquis Diademate obvoluto / o Paean Medice … Ibid., 25v. “Are you present, wished-for Leo? Whose presence in the holy city is able to renew our Senate and the whole world?” Ibid., 26r. “Heaven hoped for this: we all hoped for this from you.” Ibid., 26v. “Therefore, come; restrain the impiety of men with your pietas: and use your nobler fates.”

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fervently exhorts him: Tuus orbis habenas / imperii tibi commisit. Tu suscipis orbem: / orbem tu serva: et melioribus utere Fatis.52 It is undeniably Leo’s duty employ his power of imperium and save the world, for the favorable fates will permit him to do so. Vergilian ideas and language pervade the poem. Two examples will suffice. First, Leo is known for his pietas, much like Vergil’s hero Aeneas. This distinction is caelesti  … bene culta favore, or well cultivated by heavenly favor. So Leo, not only distinguished by his pietas like Aeneas, is also clearly favored by the gods, and by extension, has a divine mission to accomplish. It is not to found Rome as Aeneas did but to renew it. Second, numerous instances of Vergilian diction are manifest, none more so than the line: Et dulces patriae fines florentiaque arva linquere. This line noticeably echoes line 3 of Eclogue 1: Nos patriae finis et dulcia linquimus arva.53 Gallo also employs the line quo vultu caelum terramque serenas, noting the serenity that Leo brings to both heaven and earth. This echoes the first book of Vergil’s Aeneid: vultu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat.54 By creatively destroying Vergil’s verses Gallo’s poem creates a cultural idea that emphasizes the celebration of Roman renewal in the Renaissance and further implies a certain Roman destiny in which Leo will exercise an imperium to establish a Golden Age. Marco Girolamo Vida, the well-known poet famous for his Christian epic, the Christiad (to be discussed in chapters 3–5), employs the theme of renewal to describe Leo’s pontificate in his Oda secunda. While the form of poem is not Vergilian, themes and language within the poem certainly are. Vida almost immediately proclaims Leo’s destiny: Macte qui tantos animos superbus / concipis. Magnis nova te triumphis / gloria invitat, nova laurus, o ter / maxime regum.55 Leo has the power to unite all men and also will be the recipient of a new glory, even fashioned with great triumphs. This renewal has martial overtones, and it is precisely through these that the Vergilian language and themes become evident. Leo’s entrance into the city, as Vida describes it, includes the fixing of spoils to the lofty temples (arduis figes spolia ampla templis). This event not only renews the practices of the ancient Romans, but it also recalls 52 53 54 55

Ibid., 26v. “Your world entrusts the reins of imperium to you. Take up the world, protect the world: and use your nobler fates.” Vergil: “We leave the boundaries of our country and the sweet fields.” Gallo: “To leave the sweet boundaries of our country and the flowering fields.” Vergil, Aen. 1.255: “With that look by which he (Jupiter) makes serene the sky and storms.” Gallo, Liber de Leone, 26v: “By this look you make serene heaven and earth.” Marci Hierolymi Vidae Cremonensis De arte poetica … Hymni, Bucolica (Romae: Ludovicum Vicentinum, 1527), Oda Secunda, 5–8. “A blessing on you, proud one, who holds together so many minds. A new glory, a new laurel invites you with great triumphs, O thrice greatest of kings.”

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the rituals of Aeneas, Romulus, and Augustus56 and, ultimately, pietas since the dedication of spoils was the beginning of Roman piety. Leo is meant to be conceived of as the reborn past leaders, re-founding the city, restoring the temples, and illustrating his devotion to God. Roland Béhar argued that through the reconstruction of temples and hanging of spoils that Livy transformed Augustus into a new founder or Romulus.57 So too might Vida’s text be seen as a transformation of Leo into a renewer of the city and imperial and spiritual authority. As a whole, the text most prominently develops imperial themes, which will be discussed in chapter 4. However, it should be mentioned that the images of the sea (including the typically Vergilian description of the sea as the spumosum aequor) and references to Troy (specifically, the river Xanthus) underscore the Vergilian backdrop. One further poem that points to the ubiquitous theme of renewal is the dedicatory poem of Johannes Baptista Pius to his edition of the ancient poet Claudius Rutilius Namantianus’ work De laudibus urbis.58 Pius, a native of Bologna, was a member of a number of literary academies in Rome during the first quarter of the sixteenth century. He composed numerous works, including commentaries on Plautus, Fulgentius, Lucretius and Apuleius, and also taught at the Studium Urbis in the early Cinquecento.59 This dedicatory poem praises Leo for the period of renewal that he will usher in. The opening lines immediately point to the great role Leo plays: Maxime terrarum custos, et Ianitor axis / mystica cui gemino fulgurat ense manus.60 As the supreme pontiff he is the greatest guardian of earth and also guards the entrance into heaven, possessing the “power of the keys.” Leo himself can lift up the poet to the heights of inspiration and drag out the naked masses from the bowels of hell, just as Christ, descending from heaven, harrowed the depths of the netherworld to save the world: Erigis attonitos Princeps ter maxime vates, / e furnisque trahis agmina nuda suis. Non aliter quam cum divinitus orbe redempto / nigra

56 57 58 59 60

See especially Aeneid, 6.855–59 and 8.714–23. Roland Béhar, “’Haec Domus Omnium Triumphorum’: Petrarch and the Humanist Trans­ formation of the Ancient Triumph” in Beyond Reception: Renaissance Humanism and the Transformation of Classical Antiquity (DeGruyter, 2019), 120–122. This poem, among others, demonstrates that in addition to the main printed works paratextual material was also central to the reception of Vergil’s poetry. See Carlo Dionisotti, Gli Umanisti e il Volgare fra Quattrocento e Cinquecento (Firenze: Felice Le Monnier, 1968), 81–128. Johannes Baptista Pius, ed. Claudius Rutilius Namantianus, poeta priscus: De laudibus urbis (Bononiae: in aedibus Hieronymi de Benedictis, 1520), 1v. “Greatest guardian of earth, and gatekeeper of heaven, whose sacred hand gleams with a twin sword.”

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triumphator Tartara Christus obit.61 This renewal may be even greater since he not only directs a terrestrial renovatio but also, as spiritual head of Christian­ ity, saves souls. Leo with his semi-divine nature, like Aeneas’, will ultimately bring great rejoicing, according to Pius. He then describes Leo’s future greatness as leader of worldly renewal, as well as the divine support for his destiny. His greatness will be known in all corners of the world because of the praises he will receive in verse: Ille super Gangem Leo, trans Leo pontica longe / littora, et Hesperii fixa trophea maris / evectus musarum alis in saecula vivet / nestoris, et latiae tempora Deiphobes.62 With the aid of the Muses his glory will travel westward and far eastward over lands still untouched by the true religion. His reign will renew the greater times of the ancient world  – again with the reference to fixed spoils – and Pius claims that he will ultimately bring peace and an age of perfection: Nomen olympiades super ardua sidera tollent / cultorique dabunt aurea secla suo.63 The gods will demonstrate their favor for Leo and renew the world by introducing a golden age. These themes and the language are unmistakably Vergilian. Finally, Pius focuses on the theme of renewal in Italy itself: Tempus erit quo tu ducibus comitatus, et altis / regibus, Italiae prisca trophea noves. / nec mirum si tantus eris, proavita decora / in latios fines si tua dextra feret.64 The divinely-supported Leo will carry his ancestral glory back into Italy, renewing the land with great Christian leaders in his retinue. One cannot help but make the connection between Leo renewing the glories of the ancient Roman world and Aeneas renewing the fallen Troy on the Italian peninsula. In the conclusion of the poem Pius praises the holy Leo and begs for assistance in raising the author himself to a place of poetic glory. An oration by Blosius Palladius, entitled Oratio totam fere Romanum historiam complectens, can neatly conclude this discussion of the theme of renewal in the Leonine period. This work will be discussed in greater depth in chapter 5, yet the vision of renewal contained within this oration to celebrate 61 62 63 64

Ibid., 1v. “Thrice great prince, you raise the inspired poets, you drag the unprotected flock out of its hell. Not unlike when Christ, the triumphator from heaven, traverses the dark underworld to redeem the world.” Ibid., 2v. “That Leo, carried on the wings of the Muses over the Ganges, across the faraway shores of the Black Sea and the fixed trophies of the Western sea, will live in the age of Nestor and the times of Latin Deiphobe.” Ibid., 2v. “The Olympian gods will raise his name above the lofty stars and will give a golden age to their supporter.” Ibid., “This will be the time in which you, accompanied by leaders and high-born kings, will renew the ancient victories of Italy. Would it not be remarkable if you were so great, if your right hand would bear the ancestral glories into the Latin boundaries.”

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the statue of Leo X and the festivities of the Palilia (birthday of Rome)65 is not only striking, but it also affords a glimpse into Vergilian influence beyond neoLatin poetry in early Cinquecento Rome. This Ciceronian oration, which was only attributed to Palladius in the eighteenth century and which he never actually delivered due to Leo’s death, journeys from the beginnings of time in a harmonious Golden Age through Roman history from its early stages to the pontificate of Leo. The work both champions the role of the papacy and the unity of classical and Christian Rome, the latter acting as a parallel successor to the former. A more comprehensive discussion of the text in its entirety is available elsewhere so we will focus on only a few major points.66 First, Palladius claims that God constantly favored the Romans (just as he did Aeneas and the long line of Roman heroes in Vergil), choosing them to establish peace and then to spread Christianity. They created a glorious empire to which the Christian empire, with the papacy at its head, would be heir. The culture of the Roman Empire, including its newly-embraced religion, Christianity, lived on in the new Christian empire. It was this empire that would grow and expand to an even greater extent than did Rome’s political and military empire. Its glory would culminate in the personage of Pope Leo X, an emperor-pontiff who resembles the great Augustus, bringing peace and stability as well as increasing religion. Further underscoring the notion of renewal under Leo Palladius announces, … sub Romulo haec urbs nata, sub hoc Principe renata videatur.67 It is in Leo that we not only perceive the renewal of the ancient empire, growing significantly in size and Christian population, but also the hint of a Vergilian hero. The Christian empire, by the grace of God, has recently grown both westward and eastward (further than the ancient empire), spreading Roman law and true religion: Addidit et Deus nostris temporibus foelicitatem; si quidem novus terrarum Orbis nostris majoribus ignotus ad Occidentem Hispanis, ad Orientem Lusitanis classibus adapertus, Romanas leges accepit, Romanoque Pontifici, & Christianis legibus paret.68 Now with Leo at the helm, so to speak, 65

66 67 68

Hans Henrik Brummer and Tore Janson, “Art, Literature and Politics: An Episode in the Roman Renaissance.” Konsthistorisk tidskrift (December, 1976), 81. The authors note that the actual celebration of the Palilia was not to take place on the canonical date (21 April) in 1521, but later that same year. See D’Amico, 134–37. Ridolfino Venuti (ed.), Oratio totam Romanam historiam complectens (Rome: Typis H. Mainardi,1735), 4. “… this city was born under Romulus, it seems reborn again under this prince.” Ibid., 125. “And God added felicity to our times; since the New World, unknown to our ancestors, was opened to the West by the Spanish and to the East by the Portuguese fleets, it receives Roman laws and obeys the Roman pontiff and Christian laws.”

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Christianity will flourish throughout the world, as he is pietate insignem. In another example of creative destruction, just as in his poem celebrating Chigi’s villa, Palladius employs a phrase to emphasize the moral duty of the pope to expand the faith and papal authority. It is no accident that he applies the words characteristically used to describe Aeneas to depict the pontiff who is watching over a renewed and expanding empire that is destined by the heavens. Leo is loved by all and brought peace to his time: Ergo de repente ad nutum optimi Principis conversa Civitate, arma togis cesserunt  … Urbs Urbi, quies civibus, tranquillitas aulicis, securitas omnibus est restituta.69 Employing a classical Latin dictum, Leo’s reign witnesses the arms yielding to the toga, furthering the notion that Leo plays the role of both pontiff and reborn emperor. Leo’s calming effect on the world then is likened to Neptune’s calming of the seas following Aeolus’s windstorm in Aeneid, 1. The typical themes associated with renewal and even Vergilian references appear prominently in the oration. Just as in the other texts discussed in this chapter, Vergil’s texts were used as a stylistic model from which phrases were reused. In conventional Renaissance fashion, the fragments were re-inscribed into the work – transformed by creative destruction – to emphasize the cultural idea of renewal in Rome. Yet perhaps it is one of the most notable Vergilian themes with which Palladius commences his history in the oration  – the Golden Age – that Renaissance humanists in Rome gravitated toward in their quest to praise their city. The Vergilian expression of the Golden Age would permit some of the greatest poets of the era to give a voice to papal dreams of eternal religious harmony and political hegemony. 69

Ibid., 159. “Therefore with the state having been turned over at the nod of the noblest prince arms yield to the toga … The city is restored to its inhabitants, rest to the citizens, tranquility to the courtiers, and safety to all.”

Chapter 3

Saturnia regna renata Looking to the distant past as a time of peace and harmony, of innocence and community, is not new. Myths of a Golden Age have circulated for thousands of years. In the Western tradition one can point to the Greeks, and especially the Romans, as disseminators of such ideas. The first example of the Golden Age idea is evident in Hesiod. The Golden Age was a time of innocence and natural abundance. He held that humanity has steadily declined from that Age of Gold through successive metallic ages (or races) to our present age – one of misery, labor, and pain. Hesiod may not be representative of the Greek outlook, for the Greeks, as a whole, believed that things have been worse at some time in the past and have improved by means of “science.” The Romans, the progenitors of the Italian Renaissance humanists, possessed a strong tradition of portraying the present as significantly worse than the more “perfect” past.1 Roman instances of the distant Golden Age often included a rural nostalgia, as seen in Varro’s De re rustica and Vergil’s Georgics. It is the hope for a return to the Golden Age that formed a major component of the Roman nostalgia for the past, when humans supposedly lived simple lives with no conception of time. Following the Trojan War, the turning point for human existence when divinehuman interaction ceased, humans are enveloped by time and are trapped in its ever-moving progress.2 Yet it is in Vergil’s fourth eclogue that this narrative of human time appears to revert to an earlier age by turning back the lapse of time. Vergil is the first Roman author to describe the return to the Golden Age, where the gods and humans co-mingle, peace will reign, the earth will naturally send forth its bounty (as agricultural pursuits disappear), and sheep will provide colored wool. We are not quite sure precisely when this age commences for Vergil, but with the unnamed child as a focal point of the poem, its messianic qualities inevitably attracted a Christian interpretation.3 It is exactly because of these connections that the notion of a returning Golden Age, now Christian, comes to the fore during the Renaissance. The transformation type of focalization – with a narrow focus on a specific aspect or interpretation of 1 Denis Feeney, Caesar’s Calendar: ancient time and the beginnings of history (Berkeley: Univer­ sity of California Press, 2007), 112. 2 Ibid., 116–18. 3 The lack of specificity and problems determining exact meaning of the forth eclogue permitted a multiplicity of interpretations – and uses – over centuries.

© Jeffrey A. Glodzik, 2023 | doi:10.1163/978900452

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a text – is central to the Renaissance Roman application of the notion of the Golden Age. The intense concentration on the Christian interpretation of Vergil’s fourth eclogue provides insight into the particularly Roman reception and understanding of Vergil. The Golden Age theme was not first used by Roman humanists, but was employed in other contexts, most notably in the idea of a Golden Age in the Quattrocento Florence of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Florentine humanists hailed Lorenzo as a new Augustus bringing back peace, prosperity, and learning. The examples of Naldo Naldi and Bartolomeus Fontius briefly discussed in chapter 1 attest to this sense of a returning Golden Age. Another instance of this notion is evident from the beginnings of Lorenzo’s rise to prominence. Following the peace of 8 May 1468 between Florence and Venice, which consolidated Medici power despite the war resulting in a military stalemate, a military triumph of sorts was celebrated that focused on the teen-aged Lorenzo as an ancient hero. Lorenzo had assumed at this time the motto Le tems revient, clearly alluding to the peaceful Golden Age promised in Vergil’s fourth eclogue.4 These themes would translate easily to the Roman context, where peace and harmony were central to Christian renewal and to fulfilling Christ’s proclamation of “one shepherd, one flock,” especially during the pontificate of Leo X, Lorenzo’s son. The early sixteenth century is most closely associated with the Roman renovatio, especially during the pontificates of Julius II and Leo X (1503–1521). This period was often perceived by contemporary Roman humanists as the culmination of history, the Golden Age. This age witnessed the rebirth of classical culture and a religious renewal. Paralleling the conditions of the Roman renovatio are the two interpretations of Vergil that comprised Roman Vergilianism. First, in terms of style and language, Vergil represented the highest point of poetic culture. Through his example humanists could renew the grandeur of the Roman Empire. Throughout Italy, and especially in Rome, humanists perceived Vergil as the supreme authority on poetry; he was indeed the “Prince of Poets.” Imitation of Vergil was unquestionably a necessity for the perfection of style and grace in poetry. A second interpretation of Vergil is the religious interpretation. Although traditionally seen as a medieval understanding, the Renaissance continued to accommodate Vergil to Christian theology. The fourth eclogue, The Georgics and The Aeneid foretell a time of peace, a Golden Age, brought about in (or near) the reign of the divine emperor Augustus. In the specific context of ancient Rome, the first work describes a paradisiac period of innocence and living harmoniously 4 Charles Dempsey, The Portrayal of Love: Botticelli’s Primavera and humanist culture at the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent (Princeton University Press, 1992), 81–2.

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with nature, while the other two describe a time of peace gained through labor and imperial conquest. Karl Galinsky has argued that the concept of the Golden Age under Augustus connotes order rather than a paradisiac state of leisure. The period of indolence described in the fourth eclogue was not desirable because no mental or physical application was necessary. Rather, the ideal of labor, as evidenced in Georgic 1. 121–46 where Jupiter pushed mankind into activity (cultivating the land), brought about the Golden Age by means of a thorough working of the earth.5 The blessed agricultural Golden Age is the product of consistent effort.6 Galinsky further argues that labor was also at the core of the Aeneid. In Book 8 (319–27) Saturn, a refugee in Latium, brought laws to Italy and ruled over the nations in a peace born of labor. So, too, would Augustus rule over a peaceful Golden Age with an expanding imperium, as Anchises prophesied.7 Augustus’ Pax Romana would be the product of labor, but for him war and conquest is the required effort. The goal of a new Golden Age is fulfilled more meaningfully through ongoing labor. Just as the farmer’s effort must be renewed daily, Aeneas’ labors are ongoing throughout the Aeneid and, as Galinsky points out, that work is not to be completed until Augustus ushers in the new divinely-ordained age (1.291–96) centuries later. Similarly, a Golden Age of pax et concordia was believed to be imminent in Renaissance Rome with the papacy, God’s representative on earth, as leader. The work of the Roman humanists echoes both Vergilian notions of the Golden Age. Some poetic texts focus on the paradise described in the fourth eclogue, notably because of the connection with the extraordinary child whose birth opens the gates to heavenly paradise,8 but many also seem to concentrate on the notion of labor, which usually takes the form of the spread of Christianity, the expansion of Christian imperium and the defeat of the Turks. The greatest of all ages is not fulfilled by Augustus but rather through the labors of the Renaissance papacy. Yet for both Vergil and the humanists the Golden Age returns. What exactly Vergil’s Golden Age inaugurated by Augustus entailed is open to much scholarly debate.9 The Golden Age described by Roman humanists more consistently invokes a religious renewal within which is secured a 5 Karl Galinsky, Augustan Culture: An Interpretive Study (Princeton University Press, 1996), 93–5. 6 See Georgic 2. 513–31. 7 See Aen. 6. 791–801. 8 These texts not only celebrate the glory of Christ, but also (implicitly) Vergil’s prophetic knowledge and role as poeta theologus. 9 See Christine Perkell, “The Golden Age and Its Contradictions in the Poetry of Vergil.” Vergilius, Volume 48 (2002), 3–39. She argues that Vergil’s work, taken as a whole, does not provide a coherent vision of the Golden Age.

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purely Christian community living in peace and harmony. One world of faith led by the papacy paralleling the military hegemony of the Roman Empire, the Church as imperium, and popes styled as Caesars all bound the ancient world of Vergil to the contemporary Christian world of Renaissance Rome – but we will re-visit the discussion of imperial themes in the next chapter. Before discussing the major poetic texts that celebrate the Golden Age ideal in Renaissance Rome it will be useful to examine a sermon of the great Church reformer and scholar Egidio da Viterbo that gets at the core of the mentality that underlies the typical Renaissance notions of the Golden Age.10 The sermon De aurea aetate was originally delivered in a somewhat altered form in St. Peter’s basilica on December 21, 1507 at the request of Pope Julius II. We cannot positively identify how much was changed, but the surviving text was probably an expansion of the original sermon.11 Julius requested that Egidio give this sermon in honor of the Portuguese achievements of landing in Ceylon and forcing payment of tribute, a naval victory over the Zamorin of Calicut, and the discovery of Madagascar. The sermon is divided into two sections. The first is a philosophical tract on golden ages. It discusses four successive golden ages throughout history, those of Lucifer (before his fall), Adam, Janus, and Christ. Within these ages existed an aurea vita, or a life lived in accordance with the demands of reason and religion.12 The first section, the descriptions of Golden Age social and religious harmony that was previously enjoyed by Lucifer, Adam, and Janus and the Etruscans, sets the stage for Egidio’s expounding of prophetic fulfillment of the Golden Age under Pope Julius. Egidio commences the second section with a brief discussion of three different types of ages that recall the ideas of ancient writers: gold, silver, and iron. The greatest, of course, is the Golden Age, which only Christ can cause to return because of his divine nature. This gold was transported throughout the world by twelve chosen heroes, namely the apostles. These twelve “vessels” were sent to all nations lacking faith to preach the Word. These men, Egidio argues, brought a golden life to men of iron. Here King Manuel 10

11 12

Egidio da Viterbo, perhaps more than any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance Roman intellectual and cultural outlook. As a leading theologian it is hardly surprising that he makes considerable use of Scripture to support his claims about the Golden Age, but it is noteworthy that Vergilian references also appear. Vergil, whom he believed expressed divine truths, played a significant role in most of his texts. For a discussion of the centrality of Vergil in his works, see Ch. 6 (“Egidio da Viterbo e Virgilio”) in Gennaro Savarese’s La Cultura a Roma tra Umanesimo ed Ermetismo (Roma: De Rubeis Editore, 1993). John W. O’Malley, “Fulfillment of the Christian Golden Age Under Julius II: Text of a Discourse of Giles of Viterbo, 1507,” Traditio 25 (1969), 266. Ibid., 271.

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and the Portuguese take their place in God’s plan: Iam dudum, Iuli secunde, pontifex maxime, te praeside, ista fiunt. Gentes ignotae inveniuntur, Christus insciis mirantibus praedicatur, novus ad auroram orbis acquiritur, infoelix ferrum a fide alienum in beatum tuae fidei aurum commutatur.13 The Portuguese are opening up the whole world to Christ and expanding God’s empire, thus paving the way for the return of the Golden Age. Yet the true instrument of God is Julius. He has undoubtedly been favored: Vide quanto te Deus quam pontifices alios magis amaverit, ornaverit, auxerit, quantoque peculiarius a te amari velle curaverit, quippe qui voluerit aliis pastoribus greges auferri credentium, tibi eas tradi gentes, quae ne credentium quidem nomen unquam audierint.14 Christendom has grown exponentially during his reign, while previous pontiffs witnessed the size of Christendom diminish. Egidio then proclaims that Devecti hi quidem omnes summum in locum sunt, sed ad lachrymas ac gemitus evecti visi sunt. Tu vero non modo / id Deo debes, quod te pastore nihil e sacro grege perierit, sed id etiam solus nostra aetate debes, quod sacro gregi multum Orientis adiectum est. Nam ubi apparere coeperunt aurei tuae quercus rami, obtulere se quam primum quae vinci velle videbantur regna, tamquam ramorum auro illecta auream se vitam receptura sperarent.15 Most central to this idea is, however, the oak tree that represents Julius. Egidio perceives Julius fulfilling Scriptural prophecy, for Isaiah foretold of an oak tree that would “spread out its branches.” In this manner Isaiah suggested that not only would Christians recover what was truly theirs, but also that Christendom would expand its territories under Julius. King Manuel of Portugal played the role of an agent of Julius. In spreading the faith: Quamobrem aurea quercu coronatus Emanuel, Taprobane sinuque 13

14

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“Today, in your reign, Pope Julius, these same things are happening. Peoples hitherto unknown are being discovered, Christ is being preached to ignorant and wondering folk, a new world lying toward the sunrise is being won, wretched iron which was a stranger to faith is being turned into your faith’s blessed gold.” See Francis X. Martin, Friar, Reformer, and Renaissance Scholar, 254. All translations from this text are Martin’s. Latin text is taken from O’Malley. Ibid., 254. “Consider how much more God has loved, adorned, and enriched you than other pontiffs, and how specially he has acted on your behalf in order to win your love! While it was his will to take away flocks of believers from other shepherds, to you he has given peoples who have never heard the name ‘believers’.” Ibid., 255. “All these pontiffs were advanced to the highest office, yet they seem to have been promoted only to tears and grief. You, by contrast, must thank God not only that no part of the sacred flock has been lost while you have been shepherd, but also that a great region of the East has been added to it. You alone, in this our age, should be thankful, for when the golden branches of your oak tree made their appearance, kingdoms yielded as though they were longing to be conquered, attracted by the gold of its branches and hoping to cull from it a golden life.”

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Indico potitus, dat illis cum aurea quercu auream aetatem.16 This, too, was prophesied in Isaiah when he said, Hear, o islands … And listen you peoples who are far off. The Lord has called me from the womb (Is 49:1). It is clear to Egidio that Isaiah is addressing Ceylon and far off India as lands to be conquered by the faith. Egidio further provides numerous examples from Scripture to support this prophetic belief, noting especially that Kings and queens will be your [the Church’s] nurturers (Is 49:23), in reference to a return to the Church’s ancient greatness. Manuel is even compared to Joshua, working for the cause of divine honor. Yet Manuel’s greatest glory was in bringing salvation to those ignorant of the true faith: … usque in haec tempora quando, te rem Christianam administrante, eo usque genitum rex Emanuel Christi nomen fidemque convexit. Deo Deique cognitione tam diu caruere donec, Iulio principe ac duce Emanuele, Deum cognoverunt susceperuntque.17 Pope Julius again is viewed as the main instrument of God’s prophecy, being God’s representative on earth, yet Manuel also acted as a divine messenger: Si eos qui ad gentes adeo alienas fidem nostrumque aurum portaverunt apostolos iure nominamus, Lusitanum regem si non apostolum (veterum enim dumtaxat est id nomen), certe apostolicus appellandus venit.18 Egidio then turns to Julius’ achievements and future tasks. Julius’ historical role was prophesied as well: Solium siquidem sedemque Romanam  … bifariam attollendam praemonuit, tum vasta aedificiorum mole, tum nova iimperii propagatione.19 Julius had indeed begun to restore Rome through his building projects and extended the empire through the Portuguese advances. Sirach also foresees that Julius would extend and renew the Church: Quod quidem duplex ecclesiae incrementum a te uno omnium datum sacrum vaticinium ita cecinit, Templi etiam altitudo ab ipso fundata est, duplex aedificatio (50:2), qua plane rerum tuarum praedictione nihil legisse me memini efficacius, apertius,

16 17

18 19

Ibid., 256. “Manuel, conqueror of Ceylon and the Bay of Bengal, is wreathed with oak leaves, for together with the golden oak he brings them a Golden Age.” Ibid., 260. “They were exiled up to the present when, under your sovereignty over the Christian world, Manuel, king of peoples, brought in the name and faith of Christ. They were completely without God and the knowledge of God until Prince Julius and General Manuel began their rule and the peoples began to know and receive God.” Ibid., 263. “If we are right to call apostles those who carried our golden faith to distant peoples, then the king of Portugal, if not an apostle (for that is strictly speaking an ancient title), surely deserves to be called apostolic.” Ibid., 264. “Surely Isaiah predicted that the Roman See and throne … would be lifted up in two ways, first the vast structure of its buildings, and second in the extension of its empire.”

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manifestius.20 Yet Julius has a greater destiny to fulfill. A Golden Age is imminent, where a great king will lead victorious Christian armies, princes will be sent to accomplish God’s work, men will hear and see (though perhaps not fully comprehend the mystery of) the divine plan, and the kingdom of God will be extended. But first Julius, championing pietas and virtue, must lead the reform of Christians: … gregem quem pascis iustitia, liberalitate, charitate pascens ab humanarum rerum studio ad divina traducas. Des operam legem, fidem, pietatem sancte, constanter, incorrupte permanere, vitiis supplicia, praemia non deesse virtuti.21 Julius must also unite all Christian princes so that they relinquish their hatreds and cease waging war amongst themselves. Then, with this accomplished, the enemies of the true religion may be conquered and Jerusalem regained. Further, Egidio implores Pope Julius, reminding him of his calling, Sustulisti seditiosos, domuisti contumaces, instaurandi templi fundamenta iecisti, gemina ecclesiae incrementa dedisti, credentium numerum Lusitana foelicitate adauxisti. Nihil deest ut omnium foelicissimus habearis nisi ut Asaph fias, hoc est, princeps pace data congreges, exercitum colligas, in Christi hostes mittas, Christi hereditatem, Christi patriam, domum, sepulchrum lugenti tuae sponsae restituas.22 After so many setbacks, ages of decay and loss of believers, the tide has turned and all Julius must perform is his divinelyprophesied duty for a Golden Age to be fulfilled. Lastly, Egidio stresses that everything that has occurred or will occur is all a part of God’s plan. King Manuel came to the throne of Portugal like the biblical David and opened the East to Christ (Isaiah 11:11–12), as his predecessors were unable to do, by divine grace. Further, God ordained that Rome would rule the world in religious harmony: Qui statuit penes hanc unam civitatem esse universi imperium…23 There will be one Christian world, for Reliquiae convertentur 20

21

22

23

Ibid., 267. “The holy prophecy surely sang about this double increase in the Church given by you alone among all others: He also established the height of the temple, a double building (Sir50:2). I do not remember ever reading anything more direct, more clear and manifest than this prediction of your accomplishments.” Ibid., 268. “Feeding the flock that you shepherd with justice, generosity, and charity, you must lead it from the zeal for human to the zeal for divine things. You must take pains to uphold law, faith, and piety and devotion, constancy, and purity, so that penalties for vices and rewards for virtue are not lacking.” Ibid., 269. “You destroyed the plotters, you subdued the rebellious, you laid the foundation on the renewed temple, you gave a double enlargement to the Church when you increased the extension of the Church and increased the number of believers through the Portuguese success. You lack nothing to be considered the most fortunate of all except that you become like Asaph, that is, that you bring together the rulers after peace is restored; that you gather an army, send them against the enemies of Christ, and restore to your mourning bride the heritage of Christ, and the country, home, and tomb of Christ.” Ibid., 275. “It is this God who decreed that the empire of all should belong to this city alone …”

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ac mundus universus fidem cultumque suscipiet.24 God had also specifically chosen Julius and Manuel, as Egidio asserts, … te pastore, te praeside, Iuli pontifex, et res maximas per Lusitanum David fecerit, et multo promiserit maiora se facturum.25 Egidio concludes the sermon with words of great optimism, Perbreve est quod laborantes serimus, quod metentes colligimus est eternum. Quae omnia saepe, si accurate, si solerter intuearis, non dubito fore, ut quicquid mille iam per annos principes nostri amisere, brevi te repetente rediturum daturumque te laetissimo gregi aureos quercus tuae fructus atque aurea tempora in Hetruria tua instauraturum.26 The sermon De aurea aetate reflects Egidio’s optimistic view about the contemporary age of Christianity – a view that was certainly not uncommon among other Roman humanists. The accomplishments of the Portuguese under Julius and Manuel are fulfillments of the prophecy in Scripture, as well as the fulfillment of the incipient Golden Age. For Egidio Scripture was the key to unlock the contemporary political and religious realities. God ordained Julius’ successful pontificate and Manuel’s victory in the East. It is also noteworthy that while the majority of Egidio’s quotes are taken from Scripture he frequently references Vergil, especially the Golden Age passages in Aeneid 6, Georgics 1, and Eclogue 4. For Egidio Scripture is the Word of God, but Vergil, too, had a significant role for understanding the incipient Christian Golden Age. Vergil, just like Scripture, was read with this prophetic mentality.27 The work of Vergil had a deeper, hidden meaning that was waiting to be uncovered. Yet for the Golden Age to arrive Julius has to reform Christians, bring peace to the princes of Christendom and fight the enemies of Christ, the Turks. Only in this way could there exist unus pastor et unum ovile throughout the entire world. The destiny of Julius was manifest and his tasks were to be explicated further in Egidio’s later works. 24 25 26

27

Ibid., 277. “The remnant will be converted (Is 10:21–22), and the entire world will accept faith and religion.” Ibid., 280. “For you, Pope Julius, pastor and protector, God has accomplished these great deeds through the Portuguese David, and he has promised that he will accomplish even greater things.” Ibid., 281–2. “What we sow in our labors is very brief, what we gather at harvest is eternal. If you contemplate these things often, accurately and skillfully, I doubt not that it will come to pass that, whatever our rulers have lost over the past thousand years, you will in a brief time of seeking restore and establish. And you will renew for a rejoicing flock the golden fruits of your oak and the Golden Ages in your Etruria.” In this oration Egidio da Viterbo even specifically mentions the prophetic ability of the Sibyl (“quod enim de Christo Deo praenunciavit Sibylla …”), as well as referring to the Saturnia regna, gens aurea, and nova progenies of Vergil’s fourth eclogue. Furthermore, one should note that this echoes Mancinelli’s commentary on the fourth eclogue discussed in the first chapter.

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With the Roman mentality regarding the Christian Golden Age in mind, we can turn to the texts that celebrated this incipient Golden Age by drawing upon the Eclogues of Vergil. Through the transformational strategy of focalization humanists in Rome emphasized the Christian interpretation of Vergil’s Eclogue 4 for the descriptions of the Golden Age. Notable in this respect is Jacopo Sannazaro’s mini-epic De partu virginis. Sannazaro (1458–1530) was born at Naples and studied there with Giovanni Pontano, subsequently becoming a member of Pontano’s renowned academy. He was closely associated with the princes of Aragon at Naples, yet his fame came from his own writing. His most well-known works are Arcadia, the Piscatorial Eclogues and his Vergilian masterpiece De partu virginis. Although De partu virginis was revised from 1519–21 and was not published until 1526, the text itself originally was composed during Julius’ pontificate (1503–13). Written at the request of Julius II, it was supposed to be a Christian Aeneid. Yet due to its relative brevity – and his loss of favor with the pope – it became known more as a Renaissance fourth eclogue.28 The focus on the birth of the savior child, for whom the whole world waits, echoed a central element of Vergil’s fourth eclogue. A closer examination of the text will yield more than the simple imitation of Vergilian ideas. This text detailing the Virgin giving birth is divided into three books, each pregnant with Vergilian references and prophecies of the Golden Age described in the fourth eclogue. Book 1, in typical epic fashion, invokes the Muses, but also the Virgin Mother in hopes of having language graceful enough to do justice to the topic at hand. This book presents the Annunciation, with brief references to an unending age of peaceful rule,29 but the “Song of David” is perhaps the most relevant in terms of the notion of a Christian Golden Age. It foretells the events of Christ’s life on earth from birth – as the divine child reminiscent of Vergil’s child in the fourth eclogue – through his crucifixion and resurrection, which leads true believers to heaven. Yet perhaps most intriguing is the way in which this child will bring not only salvation but a Golden Age. The child will “loose our bonds” since ridet Pax alma tibi.30 More than anything, the child, echoing Vergil’s child, is Speratum per saecula munus, / promissamque diu pacem, certamque salutem / terrarum …31 While the notion of eternal salvation is clearly Christian, the child as a gift of the incipient Golden Age and bearer of peace echo the sentiments of not only Vergil, but the hopes of the ancient 28 29 30 31

Ralph Nash, ed. The Major Latin Poems of Jacopo Sannazaro (Detroit: Wayne State Univer­ sity Press, 1996), 14. De partu virginis, 1.139–41. Latin text is based on Charles Fantazzi and Alessandro Perosa, eds. Iacopo Sannazaro – De Partu Virginis (Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1988). Ibid., 1.254. “blessed Peace smiles upon you.” [All translations from the text are Nash’s.] Ibid., 1.267–69. “the gift awaited through the ages, the peace long promised and sure salvation of the world.”

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Roman world in the first century BCE, which as we will see, can be linked to those of Renaissance Rome. Book 2 describes the pregnant Virgin and her faithful and wondrous nature, but more importantly the miraculous birth in Bethlehem. The Virgin feels no pain, the heavens stop to make witness, and even the ox and the ass present at the time of birth bow their heads in adoration of the child even they know to be divine. The second book concludes with the “Song of Joseph,” the child’s step-father marveling at the child in such simple surroundings. He metaphorically prophesies that the child will bring about a Golden Age of peace and religious unity in which he, as shepherd, … Dispersas revocare per agros / missus oves late  …32 and proclaims, … rabida ora luporum / compesces, saturumque gregem sub tecta reduces, all the while opposing weapons and enemies.33 Book 3 bears the greatest resemblance to Vergil’s Golden Age. Sannazaro describes the original Saturnia regna, the world created by God, where countless birds fill the air, beasts fill the forests, and the sea overflows with fish. Yet much like Vergil’s belief that the subsequent ages regressed, but the earth will be reborn anew, God decrees that through the Virgin birth the angels should be … faventes / omnia felicem ventura in saecula pacem.34 However, it is through the “Song of Lycidas and Aegon” that the Golden Age of Vergil’s fourth eclogue is most clearly imitated and sought. These two shepherds, characters actually from Vergil’s Eclogues,35 begin borrowing Vergil’s words from the messianic eclogue, Ultima cumaei venit iam carminis aetas, Magna per exactos renovantur saecula cursus. Scilicet haec virgo, haec sunt saturnia regna: Haec nova progenies caelo descendit ab alto, Progenies, per quam toto gens aurea mundo Surget et in mediis palmes florebit aristis.36 32 33 34 35

36

Ibid., 2.459–60. “was sent to call back the sheep wide-scattered through the fields …” Ibid., 2.462–63. “You will restrain the wolf’s devouring maw, and to its fold return the fullfed flock.” Ibid., 3.83–84. “… eagerly proclaiming blessed peace to all time yet to come.” William J. Kennedy argued that Aegon is older and powerful and Lycidas is young and humble (see Eclogue 3), thus representing the entire spectrum of society. One could claim, then, that according to Sannazaro it is the whole world that celebrates – in Vergilian language – the coming of the Christ-child and the Golden Age. See his Jacopo Sannazaro and the Uses of Pastoral (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1983), 212. De partu virginis, 3.200–05. “Now is the last age of the Cumaean prophecy; the Magnus Annus is reborn through its accomplished course. Clearly this is the Virgin, this is the reign of Saturn; this new birth has descended from heaven on high – the birth through

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The Virgin birth is the fulfillment of Vergil’s prophecy. According to Sannazaro, Vergil, the divinely-inspired poeta theologus, did indeed foretell the birth of Christ, who would bring the Golden Age with the rise of a Christian race and a worldwide faith centered in Rome. Yet Lycidas and Aegon further reference Vergil’s fourth eclogue, proclaiming, Aspice felici diffusum lumine caelum, Camposque, fluviosque, ipsasque in montibus herbas; Aspice, venturo laetentur ut omnia saeclo. Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae Hubera: nec magnos metuent armenta leones, Agnaque per gladios ibit secura nocentes Bisque superfusos servabit tincta rubores.37 Much like Vergil’s depiction of the Golden Age, here the goats’ udders will always be full, peace will rule, and the wool of a lamb will be colorful.38 Sannazaro, like Vergil, refers to further wars, another Typhis and Argo to carry heroes, but the child, underscoring the Christian interpretation, will be the harrower of hell: atque ingens stygias ibis praedator ad undas.39 At last, as the divine child in the fourth eclogue was instructed, so too was Christ to acknowledge his mother with a smile, thus signaling the beginning of the longed-for time.40 Finally, later in Book 3, the prophecy of Proteus (the singer, prophet and shepherd of sea creatures) mingles the notion of the Golden Age with Christian belief in the miracles of Christ. With Christ’s coming, … tristes discedere morbi Corporibus passim incipient; iam victa repente Cessabit, turpeis squamas maculasque remittet

37

38 39 40

which a golden race will arise throughout the entire world, and the vine will flourish in mid-harvest.” Ibid., 3.214–20. “Behold the heavens, suffused with joyous light, behold the fields and streams and the very grasses on the high hills – how all rejoice at the age that is to come. Of themselves the goats will bring home their udders swollen with milk, and the herds will have no fear of the powerful lions, and the lamb with go in safety among the dangerous swords and twice-dyed will preserve the redness that overspreads it.” See Nash, 210–11 for his argument that the single lamb’s red wool is only a slight reference to Vergil’s lambs whose wool grows in different colors and more an instance of Christian symbolism. De partu virginis, 3.230. Ibid., 3.231. Incipe, parve puer risu cognoscere matrem  … is the exact same line as Eclogue 4.60.

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Dira lues lacerosque elephas effusus in artus Ulcera sanguineo sistet manantia tabo. Quin et letales (dictu mirabile!) febres Diffugient iussae possessaque membra relinquent.41 In addition to the banishment of disease, the blind will see, the mute will speak, the lame will walk, bloodless limbs will regain feeling, and most amazingly Proteus proclaimed, Iam deploratis vitam post funera reddi / corporibus video.42 A new age of peace, harmony, and salvation will arrive, thus concluding Sannazaro’s work. Sannazaro’s imitation of Vergil is obvious, but why is the holy nativity cloaked in the Golden Age ideal of Vergil and how is it connected to Renaissance Rome? Writing for the papacy, Sannazaro, whose poetical perspective was perhaps more Neapolitan than Roman,43 had to make a direct link between the Virgin birth and Rome. What better way to bind the divine child of Christianity to Rome than in terms of the divine child of Vergil? Through the idea of the divine child a linkage could be established between the Roman Empire and the Roman papacy, which believed itself to be the former’s heir. The pagan connotation was erased since Vergil was a divinely-inspired poeta theologus, a notion still alive during the Renaissance.44 A virgin and a divine child marked the beginning of the Golden Age in the fourth eclogue and was therefore only a natural choice for Sannazaro to bind Christianity and the renewal of Rome.45 Further, if read against the political and social background of early sixteenth century Rome, the work is a plea for peace and love in a world of violence and discord. However one chooses to interpret it, Sannazaro’s De partu virginis undoubtedly demonstrates the transformation type of focalization. Vergil’s text was read through the lens of Christianity and the Christian interpretation of the fourth eclogue was applied and emphasized in Sannazaro’s work. 41

42 43 44 45

Ibid., 3.345–51. “… grievous diseases will begin to depart from men’s bodies. The cruel scabies will yield forthwith, and abate its ugly scales and spots; and leprosy spread into deformed limbs will check the running sores in its bloody putrefaction. Yes, deadly fevers (marvelous to tell!) will flee when commanded, relinquishing the limbs that they possessed.” Ibid., 3.390–1. “I see life after death restored to corpses already mourned.” See David Marsh, “Sannazaro’s Elegy on the Ruins of Cumae.” Bibliotheque d’Humanisme et Renaissance, L (1988), 688–9. See Ch.1, 18–9. Sannazaro may very well have been influenced by his friendship and intellectual companionship with Egidio da Viterbo. See Charles Fantazzi, “Poetry and Religion in Sannazaro’s De Partu Virginis” in Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia XII: Ut Granum Sinapis: Essays in Neo-Latin Literature in Honor of Josef IJsewijn (Leuven University Press, 1997), 231–33.

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Likewise, several works of Egidio Gallo are suffused with Vergilian Golden Age themes. As discussed previously, Gallo’s De Viridario Augustini Chigii demonstrates themes of renewal, yet the text is also replete with Golden Age references. We have already seen Venus’ ability to control the climate and bountiful landscapes so that Rome may experience an eternal Golden Age, similar to the one described by Vergil in the fourth eclogue.46 Venus even indicates to Mars an incipient time of prosperity and harmony, claiming that … Nulla fuit foelicior aetas / quam nunc: vel nullae leges: nullumque regendi / maius opus: nulli fasces: nullaeque secures.47 Here was a time of peace, happiness, and leisure. Even war-like Mars wanted it to be established firmly for an eternal age, though he specifically calls for an empire ruled by virtue and just laws. Again, the final book of the poem witnesses Venus marveling at the villa of Agostino Chigi, which she blesses with eternal spring, constantly flowering gardens, and bountiful fruits. This is reminiscent of Venus’ role in Vergil’s Georgics, in which she represents spring and oversees cultivation. Venus remarks to Chigi, Hic ergo aeternam rerum tibi confice sedem: / ut sit odoratis quocunque in tempore Pratis / et cuicunque locus tutissima causa quietis.48 Not only will spring be eternal here, but the villa, in complete harmony with nature, will be the site for leading Romans to enjoy rest and tranquility, as well as the inspiration for poets. It should also be remembered that Gallo encourages Julius II, himself the one anointed with the task of renewing the Golden Age, to visit the villa blessed with spring in order to both rest and recall his duty to renovate Rome and the world. Gallo’s poems in his collection Liber de Leone (1513) provide further instances of the centrality of the Golden Age. The poem Ad amicos de aetate Leonis describes an incipient Golden Age with Leo at its head. The poem begins with a reference to the Golden Age of the distant past: Noverunt veteres (si credimus) Aurea Secla / quam Felicem Aetatem aiebant. / Felicem me hercle: nullis ubi tempora bellis / sanguine aut Mavorte fluebant.49 Immediately Gallo harkens back to this age of peace and happiness, a time when war is absent and no blood is spilled. It is the return to that age, following the Vergilian notion, which 46 47 48 49

See Ch. 2, 42–3. De viridario, 2. 216–218. “No age was happier than now, and no laws, and no greater work of ruling, no fasces, no axes.” Ibid., 5.177–79. “Therefore make for yourself here the eternal seat of things, so that in all possible weather it may have scented meadows and that the place may be to all the most secure reason for repose.” Liber de Leone, 11v. “The ancients (if we are to believe) knew the Golden Age: they called this the blessed age. Blessed, by Hercules: when the times proceeded with no wars or the blood of war.”

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Gallo proclaims: An nostra haec felicior Aetas / auspicio iam coepta Leonis illa habuit solum hoc / primevae iura quietis: / tutaque ab insidiis fulgebat. Nostra tunc subito foedatam sanguine Romam et / civibus orbatam sanavit.50 This happy age, brought to fruition under the guidance of Leo, is one of tranquility and safety. Rome, the umbilicus of this new age, is healed after being defiled “with our blood.” Rome rises following the deprivation of its true worthy status. Its citizens are restored to their rightful place and even attain their freedom: Reddita nunc Populo est Libertas / et quid non poterant quae diximus Aurea Secla / praemia summa Viris haec profert.51 Unequivocally, Gallo emphasizes, the new age – more blessed than any previously celebrated ages – brings forth the greatest rewards to men. The gifts of the new age seem to increase exponentially: Nunc fervent / nunc florent Artes  … ut Virtutis alantur munera: et ad summum extollantur.52 The gifts of culture and virtue blossom and reach the loftiest peaks in the new Golden Age of papal Rome. Though recalling the Vergilian Saturnia regna, the vibrancy of this age far surpasses that of the leisurely pastoral age of the ancients. Gallo concludes the poem praising the new age, especially its originator: Iudicio haec igitur nostro est felicior Aetas: / quae verae virtutis alumnae est: / ipse Novae Aetatis nomen … Au[c]tor / ipse Leo aeternum sibi ponet.53 Not only is this age greater than any other, but it will be an eternal age, one that will be known by its initiator – Leo X. Vergil’s Golden Age was inaugurated with the birth of a child, implicitly believed to be Jesus by Renaissance humanists. It is Leo, the heir of St Peter who guided Christ’s Church, who fulfills the promise of the Golden Age. Just as prophesied by Vergil, the poeta theologus, the Golden Age has returned through the efforts of Leo. Another poem from the collection seems to specifically focus on the importance of labor in the age of Leo X. Ode XXIIII, “Labor Ocium Trahit sub Leone X P.M.”, describes both the necessity of labor and the destructive forces of leisure. The poem seems to declare that in order to become a dominant power practicing imperium, and retain such a position, a people must apply themselves in war and avoid the pitfalls of leisure. It commences with a reference 50 51 52 53

Ibid., 12r. “Or this our more blessed Age, already begun under the guidance of Leo – this land had those laws of youthful peace – gleamed, safe from treachery. Then suddenly he healed Rome defiled by our blood and deprived of citizens.” Ibid., 12r. “Now Liberty has been restored to the People, and she offers great rewards to Men, something that what we called the Golden Age could not do.” Ibid., 12v. “Now the Arts are inflamed, now they flourish … so that the gifts of Virtue may be strengthened and raised to the greatest heights.” Ibid., 12v. “Therefore this Age is more blessed by our judgment: which is of true native virtue: the Author of the New Age, Leo himself, will put his own eternal name to it.”

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to labor: Qui colunt armis Asiam potentem / vendicant nomen sibi bellicosum: / vendicant quales Labor ipse confert / cuique Triumphos.54 Clearly, the labor – the actions of the war-like – on the part of peoples grants victory to their efforts. This perhaps is also a reminder to Leo of powerful forces beyond Christendom which he should overcome as part of Rome’s ultimate destiny. Gallo then provides the example of the Greeks, who were once powerful but fell into slothful ways. The world at first feared the rule of Greece, but Greciam tandem superavit Orbis / ocio postquam patitur Laborem / greca lascivo famulans amori / cedere Turba.55 The leisurely life, seemingly effeminate with its embracing of love, caused the fall of the Greeks. Even Hercules himself was a slave to such desires: Herculem fecit magis impudicum / ocium et vani veneris favores: / dum se in amplexu posuit puellae / victus amore.56 Leisure, ever destructive, must be avoided as Gallo (in conclusion) proclaims: Disce Saturni superare falcem Quem vides nostro Pede colligatum: Disce quam turpe est fluere Ociosis Labile Tempus. Ocium Ingentes reprimit Penates: Ocium magnas populatur urbes: Ocium enervat generosa longae pectora vitae.57 Leisure, the quiet associated with the Golden Age of Vergil’s fourth eclogue – referring to the reign of Saturn, is here denied. It ruins religion, civilization, and the good life of the noble soul. Labor, therefore, is a necessity in Gallo’s text. Further, it must be greater than the simple labor of agriculture or animal husbandry, for Gallo states that Rome must learn to surpass the sickle of Saturn58 thus implying not simply domination of the land, but the imposition of will 54 55 56 57

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Ibid., 20r. “Those who promote the advancement of mighty Asia with arms claim the “war-like” name for themselves: whatever they claim Labor itself bestows triumphs to it.” Ibid. “At last the world overcame Greece after the Greek crowd, serving unrestrained love, allowed labor to yield to leisure.” Ibid., 21v. “Leisure and the vain favors of Love made Hercules more shameless: while conquered by love he placed himself in the embrace of his girl.” Ibid. “Learn to overcome the sickle of Saturn, whom you see bound at our feet. Learn how shameful it is to proceed from smooth-flowing time in idleness. Leisure represses the great Penates: leisure devastates the great cities: leisure deprives the noble heart of a long life.” The sickle of Saturn is also noted in Vergil, Georgics 2.406 when discussing the tending of vines.

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over all nations and religions. The majesty of Rome and the papacy depend upon the action and diligence of Pope Leo; it is only through his effort that Rome will rise to glorious heights and a new age, perhaps ultimately fulfilling his historical role, will dawn. Rome must labor to create a Golden Age based on Christian imperium, an ideal more in line with the human action of the Aeneid. It also seems to epitomize the emphasis on the Renaissance notion of human capabilities. Yet all that Rome is capable of was described by Vergil in the ancient world, where labors were ongoing until Augustus, and re-introduced in the Renaissance through the work of the humanists, who portrayed Leo as laboring until the divinely-ordained age arrived. Another poem, Janus Vitalis Castalius Leonem X P. M. Lateranen Episcopatum Ingredientem Laetabundus Admiratur, epitomizes the Golden Age theme in Leonine Rome.59 Vitalis (c.1485–c.1560) was a native of Palermo. He resided in Rome between 1512–1525, where he published several works. He contributed to the Coryciana, indicating he was a member of Goritz’s circle. He was said to be a favorite of Leo X and had a close bond with other literati, including Pierio Valeriano and Lilio Gregorio Giraldi.60 Francesco Arsilli in his De Poetis Urbanis wrote this about Vitalis: Vergilii hic manes semper sub nocte silenti / evocat et Musis cogit adesse suis.61 It appears that he was clearly a Vergilian at heart. Vitalis continued to compose poems dedicated to the papacy, well beyond the early Cinquecento, including elogia to Julius III.62 Vitalis’ poem for Leo X, written in Vergilian hexameters, was dedicated to Pierio Valeriano. It describes a world in which Leo X brings a Golden Age distinguished by peace and an expanded Christendom. Under Leo, the glory of the gods, virtue triumphs and the Turkish menace is removed. The first stanza of the poem sets the stage for the Golden Age in Rome: Iam novus in terras alto descendit Olympo Iuppiter et sancto laetatur Martia vultu Roma triumphales iterum ductura quadrigas: 59 60 61

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It should be noted that there are numerous similar examples of Vergilian Golden Age poetry during Leo’s pontificate not discussed here. See Houghton, 139–46. Malcolm C. Smith, “Looking for Rome in Rome: Janus Vitalis and his Disciples.” Revue de litterature comparee, LI (1977), 512. Francesco Arsilli, De poetis urbanis ad Paulum Iovium Libellus in Girolamo Tiraboschi, Storia della letteratura italiana, Vol. VII (Venezia, 1795), 1585. “The shade of Vergil, always under the silent night, summons him and compels him to be present with his Muse.” Arsilli himself also describes a Vergilian Golden Age of the early Cinquecento in his work. For an analysis see Houghton, 40–41. Alessandro Perosa and John Sparrow, eds. and trans. Renaissance Latin verse: an anthology (London: Duckworth, 1979), 242.

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Sed tamen armorum cedat furor: impia cedant Proelia Mavortis: siquidem revocamur ad illa Saecula Cumeis praecognita vocibus aurea Saecula: quies numque maius sonuere Poetae Ausonii: patribus assurgit Romula Thuscis Pompa: genusque suum et veteres agnoscit honores Unde urbem proceresque auxit gentemque togatam.63 All Golden Age themes are present: Rome witnesses triumphal processions, as peace arrives with the cessation of conflict and war. The new age emerges, just as the Cumaean Sybil had prophesied, and Rome renews itself, increasing its city and its race. Making a clear connection with the contemporary pope, most of the remaining stanzas begin with the following line: Roma tuum meritis decimum venerare triumphis.64 Vitalis proclaims the necessity of admiring Leo. He paints the portrait of a pontiff who is both godly and imperial, Christian and Ausonian, the perfect melding of all that is Roman throughout history. After a description of the Christian world expanding through Byzantium, Thrace, and Asia, as well as a reference to Leo being noted for his pietas, Vitalis again turns to the idea of the Golden Age. O, tandem, O, longo post tempore saecula nobis / aurea nascitur nullo poscente colono / matris Eleusinae fruges et palmite pleno. / Decerpet dulces uvas et dona Lyei / mella dabunt sentes: sudabunt Robora amomum.65 He claims that the Golden Age is born, as the fruits of the earth come naturally, vines flourish sweetly, and briars will give honey while oak trees exude spice. Not only does this passage recall the Saturnia regna of Vergil, but the language also reflects that of his fourth eclogue. Line 30 of Vergil’s fourth eclogue states, et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella – the stubborn oak will exude dewy honey. Further, line 25 of the fourth eclogue notes, Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum – Assyrian spice will spring up commonly. Vitalis describes the Golden Age under Leo using the oak tree, honey, 63

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Vitalis, Leonem X  … Admiratur, (Rome, 1513). “Now a new Jupiter descends from high Olympus onto earth and Martian Rome, about to lead its triumphal chariots again, rejoices with its holy face: But nevertheless the rage of arms yields: the impious battles of Mars yield: since we are called to that age foreknown by the Cumaean voices, the Golden Age: surely the greater peace the Ausonian Poets spoke of: the Romulan pomp rises from the Etruscan fathers: and their race knew the ancient honors, whence it increased the city, the nobles, and the toga-wearing race.” Ibid., “Rome, revere your tenth [Leo] with deserved triumphs.” Ibid., “O, at last O, after a long time, [Rome] bears a Golden Age and the fruits of Ceres with a plump vine for us with the demand of no inhabitant. It plucks the sweet grapes and the gifts of Bacchus: the briars give honey: the oaks will give spice.”

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and spices, much in the way Vergil did. While the descriptions are not exactly the same, the diction and imagery are clearly borrowed. Vitalis also employs several Vergilian phrases throughout the poem with minor variations. Gelidos fontes (see Ecl. 10.42) and Improvisus adest (see Aen. 2.182, 7.506) are two such examples. Vitalis concludes the poem addressing Leo as imperial ruler, O felix patriae dominus nunc urbis et orbis, then proclaiming, Rex tu noster eris: tali tu stemmate dignus.66 Leo is the lord of Rome and of the earth, a great king worthy to wear the imperial garland. Leo will be master of this world, but Vitalis invokes Leo’s association with divinity as well. Leo is referred to as Pater hominum with a serene face (placida ora), the divine one who will renew humanity. The final three lines portray Leo in all his divine glory: Da decimo prodesse aegris mortalibus atque / (quod cupit humanum genus) instaurare medela / quam tulit e summo per te demissus Olympo.67 Associated with the gods, Leo renews a sick mankind by restoring its health through a divine cure. Playing on his family name, Vitalis depicts him as the divine medicus, a healer restoring humanity to its original (golden) state before the decline of the successive metallic ages. This text is undeniably Vergilian in its focus on a Golden Age. While it substitutes Leo, the heir of Christ’s Church, for the unnamed child in the fourth eclogue as the one to fulfill the promise of the Golden Age, Vitalis’ text nevertheless is founded upon the Christian interpretation of Vergil’s poems. While not as obvious in its Golden Age references as Vitalis’ poem, the Ecloga Felix of the Neapolitan poet Girolamo Borgia is instructive in its underlying notions of the Golden Age in Renaissance Rome. Borgia, born in 1475 (1480?), was another poet who moved with facility through the intellectual circles of Renaissance Italy. A disciple of Pontano, he spent significant time in Rome, beginning in the 1490’s until his twilight years in the 1540’s, as well as in Naples and Venice. From the mid-1510’s onward Borgia was a part of the Roman literary world of Colocci and founded a relationship with his patron Alessandro Farnese – the future Pope Paul III – that would last for years. As pope Farnese even made Borgia bishop of Massalubrense in 1544, but Borgia soon retired to private life in March, 1545. He died in 1550.68 Borgia was a prolific writer, composing Latin poems and panegyrics, as well as his Historia de bellis Italicis. His eclogue is not only thoroughly Vergilian in tone and diction, 66 67 68

Ibid., “O blessed master of the patria, the city, and now the world”; “You will be our king: worthy of such a garland.” Ibid., “Sent down from highest Olympus, allow the Tenth [Leo] to benefit the sick mortals: and (because the human race desires it) to renew them with a cure which he bore through you.” Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, [12], 721–24.

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but it also touches upon the themes of rebirth and the Golden Age. Themes of renewal and the advent of a greater age notably continue in the poetry of Borgia for decades, as evidenced by his poem Urbis Romae renovatio, published in 1542 and dedicated to Paul III. Borgia’s Ecloga Felix is a brief hexameter poem that celebrates the opening of the garden of Angelo Colocci in 1513 and its guest of honor Felice della Rovere, the daughter of Pope Julius II. In the text Borgia claims that Felice is the statue of the nymph (so popular in the late Quattrocento and early Cinquecento), honored by Venus, the Graces, the Muses and Minerva, preserved in the garden of Angelo Colocci. Apollo lifts the praises of Felice to the heavens on his lyre and through her virtues will rule over the Latin fields. The praise for Felice is the centerpiece of the eclogue, but it is the mention of her recently deceased father that is significant. She proclaims the rebirth of Rome, for Julius, the magnanimous shepherd, increased the imperium of the new Rome by means of arms. Before his untimely death Julius not only renewed Rome, but also began to inaugurate a Golden Age: Quod sanctum finisset opus cunctisque salubre / et nunc laeta lupis extinctis ocia tutos / servarent gregibus cum tot felicibus agros.69 The noble shepherd, when alive, finished the sacred work for all people, ultimately destroying enemies and bringing peace to the land. Julius began God’s work and now begins to usher in a Christian Golden Age. The text, although briefly discussed in the first chapter, continues to focus on rebirth, but moves away from the pastoral themes and concentrates on the reborn city: Ni mors heu miseris italis rapuisset iulum / in magnis magnum conantibus: alta parantem / deque suo grege sollicitum, tempisque caducis / semper: et invicto meditantem pectore summa. 70 Julius still appears as a shepherd (moving his flock), but he seems more the representative of the almighty God than a simple pastor – preparing lofty things and pondering the greatest concerns. Following then is the urban focus: Heu mors saepe virum felicibus invida coeptis / inde renascentem decora in sua pristina Romam / utque domos miras ac templa imitantia caelum / aedificavit  …71 Unfortunately, Death snatched away Julius just as he had renewed Rome, building the city in the image of heaven. This passage does not 69 70

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BAV, Vat. Lat. 5225, 1015r. “Because he had finished his holy work, beneficial to all, and now with the wolves destroyed a happy peace may watch over the fields safe with so many fortunate flocks.” Ibid., 1015r. “Had Death not snatched him away from Italy’s miserable people; Great, and attempting great things: readying lofty endeavors, steadfastly driving his flock out of its tottering temples: and pondering mighty concerns in his invincible bosom.” [Translation here and below, as in chapter 1, is Rowland’s.] Ibid., 1015r. “Woe, Death! How often you envy mankind’s most fortunate projects, jealous of Rome reborn to all her primordial splendor, as he built marvelous houses and temples to imitate heaven.”

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simply point to renewal and rebirth, however. It appears to build the foundation for the Golden Age. Vergil pointed to the returning of a time of peace and leisure, and it is precisely to this that Borgia alludes. Julius is the instrument through which renewal and peace will return. The text mentions Julius’ rededication to religion as well. The renewal of religion could further link the pope not to his namesake, but to Augustus, famous for his “dedication” to religion and morality. Borgia notes that the “signum apollineum” will stand in the ancient seats under Julius, binding Rome closer to the Golden Age since Apollo rules over it in Vergil (Ecl. 4.10). Noteworthy, too, is Vergilian diction in the poem. Borgia refers to “humiles myricas” (lowly tamarisks), a phrase clearly borrowed from Vergil’s messianic eclogue, in which he mentions “humilesque myricae” (Ecl. 4.2). Finally, Borgia recalls Vergil’s first eclogue when he describes the echoing of Felice’s name: sonarent flumina Felicem: Felicemque antra referrent. Here the rivers and caves echo Felice, whereas in Vergil the forests echo “Amaryllis” (Ecl. 1.5); nevertheless the Vergilian imprint is obvious. In addition to employing Vergilian language and style, Borgia’s text expresses a notion of the Golden Age that is clearly informed by the Christian interpretation of Vergil’s Saturnia regna. The Golden Age and Felice della Rovere also appear together in the Epithalamion Felicis Ruverae et Ioannis Iordani Ursini of Pietro Francesco Giustolo. This text, celebrating the marriage of Felice and Giovanni Giordano Orsini which took place on 24–25 May, 1506, again points to an incipient Golden Age in Rome. Giustolo was born in Spoleto between 1450–1460 and little is known of his early days or his education. He did attend the school of Pomponio Leto and became the panegyrist of Cesare Borgia, composing multiple panegyrics in honor of Cesare and his military exploits. After the death of Cesare, Giustolo eventually found the favor of Felice della Rovere, for whom this poem was composed. In the early sixteenth century Giustolo befriended Angelo Colocci and members of his circle, and his opera (published in 1510), which included the epithalamion, Vergilian eclogues, and other works, was edited by Colocci. The edition even contained a dedicatory letter to Colocci. While the exact date of Giustolo’s death is unknown for certain, it appears that he died in 1511.72 Giustolo’s text, again composed in dactylic hexameter, is replete with Ver­ gilian echoes from the fourth eclogue. Virtually from the outset of the text this marriage, blessed by fortune, is bound to an incipient Golden Age. Tum fore promittunt Felicia saecula: coeli Cum videas spatiis sublimibus astra benigna 72

Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, [57], 384–87.

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Iuncta simul radiis lustrare salubribus orbem. Tunc etenim frugum largos effundet acervos Terra parens genitasque feret vix pampinus uvas Et matris nimio curvabunt pondere baccae Palladiae ramos passim redolentia filius Mella fluent ultro venient in retia pisces Iacta mari …73 The coming of this happy age, linked to Felice, will bring wondrous occurrences to the earth, recalling the paradise of Vergil’s fourth eclogue. The earth will pour forth abundant food, enormous fruit that weighs down branches will grow, honey will flow freely, and fish will literally leap into the nets of fishermen. This age inaugurated by the marriage clearly embodies the ideas of Vergil’s Golden Age to an even greater degree as Giustolo continues: … aer nam purus ubique Atque salutaris spirans defendet ab omni Labe viros: mortisque manus compescet et arma: Iurgia, bella, doli, furtum, discordia: lites Cessabunt penitus: longe pax optima rerum Et tranquilla quies toti dominabitur orbi. Aureaque incipient decurrere saecula rursus74 The pure air of the new age will defend men from stains of infamy and halt wars, theft, and discord. Yet perhaps most importantly, peace will return and reign supreme throughout the world. Indeed, as Giustolo states, the Golden Age will hasten to return again, just as Vergil predicted. In addition to the Golden Age themes, the text describes the worthiness that is Felice’s husband, Gian Giordano Orsini, as well as the joy at their wedding, but two other points are worth noting. First, Rome continues to be the center of the world in an imperial sense. Giustolo proclaims, Gaude Roma tibi rursus 73

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Pietro Francesco Giustolo, Opera (Rome: Jacobus Mazochius, 1510), lines 5–13. “Then they promise there will be a blessed age: when you see the benign stars of the sky in sublime space joined at once to the beneficial rays to illuminate the earth. Indeed at that time Mother Earth will pour out plentiful heaps of fruits and with difficulty will the vine-shoot bear the begotten grapes; and the fruits of mother Pallas will bend the branches with excessive weight, everywhere the scented honey will flow, spontaneously fish will come into the nets thrown into the sea …” Ibid., lines 16–22. “Everywhere the pure and healthful air will preserve men from all defects with its breezes: and will restrain the hands of death. And arms, disputes, wars, deceit, theft, discord, and strife will thoroughly cease: for a long while the greatest peace and calm rest will rule over the whole earth. Again the Golden Age begins to hasten.”

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submittitur orbis / atque triumphales dabitur sperare curules.75 The world again will submit to Rome and triumphs will be celebrated, renewing the glory of Rome’s past. This extraordinary renewal will occur under the auspices of Julius II. This leads us to the second point, which underscores that not only the advent of a great age will take place, but that it will arrive because of the stewardship of the papacy and the della Rovere family. A single line emphasizes the point: Umbra dabit Quercus aurata glande redundans.76 When Giustolo wrote “the Oak, overflowing with golden acorns, will give shade” the meaning is manifest: Julius’ mighty, shining and fruitful oak will provide protection and care for a Christian world over which he will rule.77 Just as Vitalis’ and Gallo’s poems celebrated Leo X’s pontificate fulfilling the Golden Age promised by the birth of the divine child, Giustolo’s text substitutes the marriage of the Pope Julius’ daughter. However, the poem is still erected specifically upon a Christian interpretation of Vergil’s fourth eclogue: the Golden Age returns to Rome and is now based in a triumphant Christianity. Finally, the notion of an incipient Golden Age was also applicable in a religious setting for the Cinquecento humanists. The religious and literary sodality of Johannes Goritz – also called Corycius, a name which recalled the old man in Vergil’s fourth Georgic as well as the Muse’s cave on Mt. Parnassus – proved a fertile ground for the Vergilian idea of a Golden Age. The published works of the members of Goritz’s sodality illustrate this point. Published in 1524, and edited by the indefatigable humanist Blosius Palladius, the Coryciana contains several literary examples of a Vergilian Golden Age that were celebrated in Goritz’s vigna. A native of Luxembourg and member of the Roman Curia, Goritz celebrated the feast of St. Anne (26 July) at the altar he commissioned in the Church of Sant’ Agostino in Rome. Julia Haig Gaisser argues that he embodied the gathering of nations to the cultural and religious center that was Rome.78 The members of his circle indeed hailed from numerous different countries, yet all perceived Rome – certainly in their poetry – as the epicenter of a cultural and religious renewal. Some four hundred poems comprise the

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Ibid., lines 103–04. “Rejoice, Rome, the world submits to you and is given to hope for curule triumphs.” Ibid., line 128. “The Oak, overflowing with golden acorns, will provide shade.” The image of the oak and its association with the Golden Age, as witnessed in Egidio da Viterbo’s oration, was regularly evoked. There exist various other examples in the neo-Latin poetry of Julian Rome. For further instances, such as Pacifico Massimi and Rodolphus Iracintus of Teramo, see Houghton, 36–7; 134–137 and Tournoy-Thoen, “Le manuscrit 1010 de la Biblioteca Cataluña et l’humanisme italien à la cour de France vers 1500”, Humanistica Lovaniensia, 26 (1977), 25–26. Julia Haig Gaisser, “The Rise and Fall of Goritz’s Feasts,” Renaissance Quarterly, 48 (1995), 47.

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Coryciana and, as we shall see, they not only celebrated the religious feast of St. Anne and the sculpture of St. Anne, the Virgin, and Jesus, but also echoed the Vergilian framework of a returning Golden Age. The majority of the several hundred poems that comprise the Coryciana contain some Vergilian allusion and a few specifically touch upon the notion of a Golden Age and Vergil’s fourth eclogue. By examining two instances of Golden Age references from this volume we can deduce that Vergilian themes were clearly not out of context in a religious setting.79 The first example was penned by Aulus Orpheus Pellatus, a poet of whom little is known besides his membership in Goritz’s circle and his position as custos librorum from 1537 to 1549 in the Vatican.80 It begins by noting that a greater age is present among the poets in Rome. He seems to proudly proclaim, Virtus prisca redit, redeunt cum moribus artes / et reparata novis remeant iam saecula lustris /… stat dictis manifesta fides, sunt publica facta.81 A vanished past, so worthy, has returned with exceptional virtue and arts. Further, the contemporary age is one of renewal, including the renewal of religion. Again, this harkens back to the Augustan age, thriving not only with genius (like Vergil’s), but with renewed religion and morality. The author then discusses the piety of Corycius and glowingly describes the art of Andreas Sansovino, the stunning beauty of his sculpture and the life-like appearance of St. Anne, Mary, and Jesus. He finally prays to the gods that the human race may shine brilliantly and concludes the poem in the following manner: Exultet, laudetque simul iam quilibet ordo: / Mercurii, Venerisque probae, mundaeque Dianae / cum Iove, cum Phoebo, cum Pallade saecula surgunt / aurea Saturni, pulcherque renascitur orbis.82 Rebirth and the Golden Age of Saturn returning to Rome is another obvious reference to the opening lines of Vergil’s fourth eclogue, the work so frequently interpreted in a Christian framework by the Roman humanists. The second example, the In divam Annam Corycii Hymnus of Janus Vitalis Panhormitanus, describes a Christian Golden Age with Vergilian undertones that specifically focuses on St. Anne. Before proceeding, it should be noted that the idea of a Christian Golden Age became a commonplace notion in the early 79 80 81 82

I have made use of the more recently published edition of the Coryciana (prefaced and edited by Joseph IJsewijn). All Corycian poems are quoted from this volume. Bignami-Odier, 289. Joseph IJsewijn, ed., Coryciana (Rome: Academia Latinitati Fovendae, 1997). No. 256, lines 4–5, 8, p. 179. “The ancient virtue returns, the arts return with probity, and the renewed age returns with new sacrifices … faith stands evident with words, deeds are public.” Ibid., lines 34–37, p. 180. “Now let whatever order exult and praise at once: the golden age of Saturn arises, and of Mercury, honorable Venus, and elegant Diana, and with Jove, Apollo, and Minerva, and the beautiful world is reborn.”

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Cinquecento. In addition to Egidio da Viterbo’s De aurea aetate cited above, multiple other examples, including the orations of Cristoforo Marcello and Johannes Baptista Gargha at the Fifth Lateran Council, inundated Rome under Julius and Leo, and even extended to earlier pontiffs.83 After feigning disbelief that he was chosen to sing her praises, Vitalis launches into a discussion of a new Christian age with multiple Vergilian references: Sed tua nunc, fateor, quaedam divina voluptas Praepetibus pennis Zephyrisque iuvantibus alta Remigium alarum quibus advolem ad astra paravit, Unde tibi genus immensum, genus immortale, Ante homines omnes, ante omnia saecla ferarum Fulsit, ut aeternum toto dominetur Olympo; Unde Deum sator atque hominum, sine corpore corpus, Dat Superis pia iura piis, almisque elementis Imperat, et rebus reparat res omnibus omnes.84 From St. Anne an immortal race will rule eternally that surpasses all other peoples and ages. In a renewed world this greatest age will be characterized by its pious laws handed down from the pious gods. Evidently, this will be the greatest of ages, a true Golden Age destined by the gods. Further, as noted by IJsewijn, several lines refer to Vergil’s Aeneid, illustrating the centrality of the ancient poet.85 Later in the poem the idea of a Christian Golden Age is reiterated through the person of the Virgin’s mother: Ut rerum per te pereant mendacia mille, / per te vera canant divina volumina patrum! / Per te fatidicae cecinere uno ore Sibyllae: / ecce Deus, Deus ecce Deus! Procul este prophani!86 Christian revelation triumphs while false religious beliefs are eradicated and the Sibyls warn the unholy to stay away for the coming of God. The final line 83 84

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See Stinger, 296–99. Ibid., No. 375, lines 11–19, p. 256. “But now, I make known, your divine pleasure on swift wings with the help of the west wind prepared the oarage of wings for the stars for which I may hasten. Whence your boundless and immortal race shines before all men and all ages of the uncivilized, as it will rule eternally from the whole of Olympus; from where the father of gods and men, body without body, gives pious laws from the pious gods, and rules from the nourishing elements, and renews all things from all things.” “Praepetibus pennis” echoes Aen. 6.15, “Remigium alarum” Aen. 6.19, and “Deum sator atque hominum” Aen. 1.254. The references are from Books 1 and 6, not surprisingly, since they were often the focus on Renaissance readers. Ibid., lines 66–69, p. 258. “So that through you a thousand falsehoods may perish, through you the divine books of the fathers may sing truths! Through you the prophetic Sibyls sang in one voice: ‘Behold God, behold God! Be far away, unsacred ones!’”

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recalls Aeneid 6.258, in which the Sibyl similarly warns the “profani” to be away from the opening to the underworld. The Sibyl, as we have seen, was absolutely central to Christian prophecy in Vergil’s Aeneid, just as in the fourth eclogue. For Vitalis the arrival of God creates the Christian Golden Age, flawlessly combining the Vergilian notion of the perfect age and a triumphant Christianity. Returning to the main figure of the poem as well as the leader of the sodality, Vitalis concludes his work with a call to St. Anne to allow the pious Corycius to continue celebrating her feast forever. After all, the poet might argue, it is through her and her descendants that a Golden Age will arrive and the world will ultimately be saved. The finest example of the co-mingling of the Vergilian Golden Age and Christianity is Marco Girolamo Vida’s Christiad. The text, while not focusing exclusively on an incipient Golden Age, alludes to a Christian Golden Age brought about by God himself in several important passages. Vida was born in Cremona between 1480 and 1485 and was a member of the literary circles at Rome in the early Cinquecento. His major works consists of the lost Juliad (an epic poem celebrating Pope Julius II), the Ars Poetica, Bombyx, Ludus Scacchia, and numerous Latin poems, including odes, eclogues, and contributions to the Coryciana. His greatest work, however, was the Christiad, an epic poem about the life of Christ that culminates not with the birth of Christ as Sannazaro’s De partu virginis does, but in the Resurrection, the event that truly ushers in the Golden Age. Vida’s text was the pinnacle of Vergilianism in Renaissance Rome, fusing elements of Christianity with the prophetic words of Vergil’s Eclogue 4. This epic poem, commissioned and begun in 1518 under Leo X, was not completed until 1532 and was not published until 1535, a few years beyond the ubiquitous optimism of the early Cinquecento. Vida, in addition, was made bishop of Alba in 1532. He died on 27 September, 1566.87 Vida’s Christiad is perhaps the greatest example of the linking of Vergil and Christianity, as Kallendorf has cogently argued.88 This text embraces both 87 88

For a more complete biography of Vida, see Mario DiCesare, Vida’s Vida and Vergilian Epic (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), Ch. 1. Kallendorf, “From Virgil to Vida: The Poeta Theologus in Italian Renaissance Commentary.” Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 56 (1995), 41–62. He argues that Vida’s work is the final union of the theologia poetica (the required interpretation of the prophetic nature of pagan poetry to uncover concealed meanings) and Christianity. Since the Holy Spirit – invoked by the author  – speaks through Vida, who employs Vergilian language, the Christian poet cannot set forth incorrect knowledge, thus resulting in a complete fusion of pagan and Christian. J. Christopher Warner – in a dissenting view on how the Christiad should be read  – argues in his The Augustinian Epic, Petrarch to Milton (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005) that the Christiad was meant to raise its readers’ thoughts toward a higher purpose. Warner claims that Vida “purified” and improved upon

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understandings of the Vergilian Golden Age – the paradisiac period described in the fourth eclogue and the time of peace gained through labor. From its outset, the opening lines (Qui mare, qui terras, qui caelum numine comples / spiritus alme, tuo liceat mihi munere regem / bis genitum canere …) recall lines 48–54 of Vergil’s fourth eclogue.89 In several passages Vida points to the fourth eclogue and the idea of a Golden Age centered in Rome. In Book 1, while talking to the Apostles in the temple, Jesus berates Jerusalem for its attacks on divinely-sent prophets and its ignoring of godly warnings, all of which will result in the overturning of the temple. He then announces that God will establish another location as the “chosen” city: Longe alias pater omnipotens sacra transtulit oras. / Longe alia vult ipse coli, et placarier urbe. / Atque adeo hic alte depactus terminus esto.90 The city “far from here” is clearly Rome. God himself has chosen Rome to be the center of the renewed world, further setting the stage for the reconciliation of Christianity and Vergil’s prophecy. Later, after Jesus prays to God in heaven, the Father provides a response that underscores the greater importance and centrality of Rome in the heavenly plan: Atque adeo gravida imperiis Roma illa superba, Apennini vagi quae propter Tybridis undam Ingentes populos frenat pulcherrima rerum, Summittet fasces, et, quas regit, orbis habenas. Illic relligio, centum illic maxima templa, Centum arae tibi fumantes, centumque ministri, Quique viris late, atque ipsis det iura sacerdos Regibus, et summo te in terris reddat honore.91

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the pagan literature of Vergil. But Vida’s text is constructed upon Vergil’s material (especially regarding the providential role of Rome) and Warner attempts to understand the text removed from its early Cinquecento genesis. Thus, in my mind, he unjustly diminishes the centrality of Vergil as a foundation, albeit an imperfect one because of his lack of complete Christian knowledge, for the epic. DiCesare, 157–59. Christiad, 1.579–81. “To other shores far from here the all-powerful Father has transferred his sacred rites. He himself wills that he be revered and reconciled far from here in another city. And so here let there be a terminus profoundly established.” Translation from The Christiad: a Latin-English Edition, ed. and trans. Gertrude C. Drake and Clarence A. Forbes, (S. Illinois Univ. Press, 1978). All further translations of the text will be from this edition. Ibid., 1.911–18. “And even haughty Rome, grown great with empire, who curbs mighty peoples, even that most magnificent city near the waters of the Tiber, which flows from the Apennines, shall yield to you [Christ] her dominion and the reins of the world which she holds. There shall the faith be, there many towering churches shall rise, with many altars smoking in your honor, and many priests. And a pontiff shall everywhere give men and even kings your laws, and set you in the highest honor throughout the world.”

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God prophesies that mighty Rome will become a Christian realm and the new age of Christianity will be centered there. Its glories will not be lost, but renewed through its association with Christ. Even the holy pontiff, representing Christ, will exhibit his undisputed authority from Rome. Further, as God continues, he foretells that Rome will attain its zenith of glory as a Christian empire much later in what will be the true Golden Age: Siqua tamen paulatim annis labentibus aetas Decolor inficiet mores, versisque nepotis Degeneres surgent studiis, per dura, laboresque Exercens lapsam revocabo in pristina gentem. Illa malis semper melior se tollet ad astra. Saepe solo velut eversam, excisamque videbis, Quam modo praedixi, populorum incursibus urbem. Verum quo magis illa malis exercita, semper Altius hoc surgens celsum caput inseret astris, Moeniaque in melius semper recidiva reponet. Nec nisi subiecto passim sibi desinet orbe. Sic placitum. Nostri sedes ea numinis esto.92 Here God himself proclaims the Rome will lift itself to the stars, but what is perhaps more notable is when Christian Rome will rise to such prominence. God mentions the invasions of Rome (alluding to the repeated barbarian invasions) and the fact that Rome will undergo many tribulations over the years. Implicitly understood is that its finest glory arrives in Vida’s lifetime, the return of a Golden Age after years of deterioration, mirroring the Vergilian understanding of ages in Eclogue 4. It is also prophesied that Rome will rebuild itself to even greater heights, a labor taken up literally by the pontiffs of the early Cinquecento. One might even interpret this as a re-founding of the city on sturdier foundations. Finally, God has willed it that Rome will not be at rest until the world is subject to it. While this may illustrate imperial overtones, what is more significant is that 92

Ibid., 1.919–30. “Yet if, as years glide by, little by little an age deteriorates and corrupts its traditions, and degenerate children rise to overturn your teachings, however hard and troublesome it may be, I will strive to recall the lapsed nation to its former state. Rome, always stronger for its adversities, will lift itself to the stars. You shall often see that city, as I have just foretold, overturned and almost leveled to the ground by the inroads of hordes of people. But the more it is harassed by tribulations, the higher it will ever rise, thrusting its head aloft among the stars, rebuilding its walls time and time again for the better. It shall not rest until the world everywhere is subject to it. So it is willed. Let Rome be the dwelling place of our holy Spirit.”

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Christian Rome will rule. This will be the ultimate victory for Christianity, as the entire world embraces the truths of Christian belief, a persistently-articulated goal or aspiration of the Renaissance papacy. No age could be more “golden” than the one in which all peoples are in accord in their acceptance of the teachings of the messiah foretold by the poeta theologus, Vergil. Vida later explicitly references the fourth eclogue when Joseph reminds Pilate of Vergil’s poem: Vestri etiam audierant (si vera est fama) per oras / Ausonias iam iam venturum lucis ad auras / invictum regem, cui passim cederet orbis / regnandus, qui se patria virtute potentem / seque, suumque genus sublimi inferret Olympo.93 The Christian Golden Age simply cannot be divorced from Vergil; the poet is prophet, foretelling the joys of the greatest of all ages. Associated with the arrival of the Golden Age is the golden race, evoking Ecl. 4.9, which will enjoy the fruits of the greatest of ages. Vida makes references to the golden race on several occasions in a prophetic manner. First, the golden race is mentioned as Christ is arrested and dragged away. Here Vida depicts it as a race that will lift itself to the stars by its piety.94 Later, in a story recounted to Pilate by Joseph, Mary tells of an ancient prophecy where a royal virgin would bring forth God and the golden race would arise throughout the world.95 The most substantial benefit the golden race would enjoy would be the justice of the Golden Age. Joseph, while praying to live long enough to see the fruits of his son’s labor, describes how the child will bring peace to the earth and then continues, … Atque resurgere ubique / justitiam in melius versus mirabitur orbis. / Tum ferus in falces curvas conflabitur ensis, / aureaque incipient mundo succedere secla.96 The Golden Age will be renowned not only for its eternal peace, but also for universal justice, by which the age is ushered in. 93

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Ibid., 3.511–15. “Your Ausonian shores, if report be true, also had already heard that very soon there would come to this earth’s light an unconquerable king to whom all the world would yield the scepter, who would victoriously bring himself to the heights of paradise, himself and all his people, by virtue of his Father’s power.” Ibid., 2.861–62. It is noteworthy that here Vida used the precise words to describe the golden race (pietate insignis) that Vergil employed in his description of Aeneas. Additionally, the idea of a race raising itself to the stars is reiterated by Christ in 6. 648. Ibid., 3.305–12. Ibid., 3.535–38. “… and the world, changed for the better, will marvel that everywhere justice rises again. Then will the cruel sword be beaten into pruning hooks, and a golden age will begin to dawn upon the earth.” Interesting to note is that the idea of an end to wars and swords being made into agricultural implements follows Isaiah 2.4 [“et conflabunt gladios suos in vomeres, et lanceas suas in falces” – “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks”], but the diction and even the voice of the verb in Vida follow the inverted form from Georgic 1.508 [“et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in ensem” – “And the pruning hooks are beaten into a stiff sword”].

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In Book 4 John further makes clear the association between the two, preaching: Discite iustitiam interea, atque assuescite recto, / et duce me scelus infectum lavite amne liquenti. / Ipse autem aetherea divinitus eluet aura / omne malum, ac veteris penitus contagia culpae, / seclaque mutato succedent aurea mundo.97 Justice, Christianity, and the Golden Age are inextricably bound. Di Cesare states this most succinctly: “Justice is the necessary preparation for the full acceptance of Christ. It is postulated on a universal world order, which itself is based on a combination of the Vergilian universe and Christian tradition.”98 Significantly, mortals play a role in the embracing of justice, and it will be the duty of the papacy to lead this endeavor, thus stressing the critical importance of Rome and the pope. The final 125 lines of The Christiad emphasize the Golden Age, its appearance, and the Vergilian influence. God first recognizes the input of the disciples for the onset of the Golden Age. He proclaims, Implebunt terras monitis, et cuncta novantes / templa pererrato statuent tibi maxima mundo, / ad tua mutatae properabunt nomina gentes, / divisae penitus toto urbe per aequora gentes, / seclaque conversis procedent aurea rebus.99 By spreading the Word of God – the labor that is necessary to hasten the Golden Age – the disciples will reshape the world and Christianity will flourish everywhere. Notable also is the reference to nations divided by the seas – presumably a reference to the New World – that will be converted. Again, the Golden Age rises when the entire world accepts the truths of Christianity. Yet the period in which this occurs appears to be the Cinquecento. The Father continues: Quin etiam mox tempus erit, cum scilicet olim Ter centum prope lustra peregerit aethereus Sol, Tum veri Graium obliti mendacia vates Funera per gentes referent tua carmine verso, Atque tuis omnes resonabunt laudibus urbes, Praesertim laetam Italiae felicis ad oram …100 97

Ibid., 4.194–98. “Until then learn justice and make uprightness a habit, and, with me to guide you, wash away the stains of your sins in the flowing stream. He himself, divinely sent from the ethereal heavens, shall cleanse you of all evil and of the deep taint of longstanding guilt. A golden age shall follow when the world has been transformed.” 98 Di Cesare, 271. 99 Christiad, 6.863–67. “They shall fill the lands with your doctrines, and reshape everything in the world they have roamed, building great cathedrals in your honor, and nations shall flock to your name and be converted, nations that are wholly sundered from all the world by oceans, and a golden age shall rise when all has been changed.” 100 Ibid., 6.880–885. “But also there soon shall be a time, after the sun in heaven shall have completed fifteen centuries, when true prophets, forgetting the false gods of the Greeks, with a new song shall tell of your death throughout the nations, and all cities shall resound with your praise, and specially on the happy shores of fertile Italy …”

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For Vida it is in the contemporary age, in which the papacy wields such fantastic power, that the Golden Age reaches its pinnacle. In that time, the sacrifice of Christ will be heard and embraced throughout all nations with all false religions abandoned. Most importantly, Christianity will be praised in the land of Italy, where Rome reigns supreme. Vida then concludes his Vergilian epic, just as he began it, with an allusion to Eclogue 4: … Religioque novas nova passim excusitat aras, / protinus hinc populous Christi de nomine dicunt / Christiadas. Toto surgit gens aurea mundo, / seclorumque oritur longe pulcherrimus ordo.101 The final two lines Vida adapts from lines 4–10 of Eclogue 4. The joy and optimism associated with the golden race and the beginnings of the greatest of times are inspired by Vergil, but comprehensible only through the lens of a Christian Rome.102 Kallendorf further underscores the bond between the pagan poet and Christianity, as he argued that Vida’s Christiad tightened the link between the two, for in it “the language of the Messianic Eclogue can refer unequivocally to the Messiah …”103 For the Renaissance papacy, however, the most revealing portion of the text can be observed earlier in Book 6. A significant passage, in which Christ is speaking to his disciples, focuses on the foundation of the papacy and the powers it possesses. Interea Petre te (nulli pietate secundum Novi etenim) his rerum summam, clavumque tenentem Praeficimus cunctis, ultro qui nostra sequuti Imperia. hoc te praecipuo insignimus honore. Tu regere, et populis parcens dare iura memento. Summa tibi in gentes iam nunc concessa potestas. Iamque pios tege pace. Voca sub signa rebelles. Quencunque in terris scelus exitiale perosus Admonitum frustra iusta devoveris ira Colloquio absterrens hominum, coetuque piorum, Idem erit invisus coelo. Non ille beatis Sedibus aspiret, nisi tu placabilis idem Dignatus venia meliorem in pristina reddas. Iamque adeo tibi concessum mortalibus aegris Claudere siderei portas, ac pandere coeli.104 101 Ibid., 6.983–86. “… Everywhere the new faith raised up new altars. Henceforth, from the name of Christ, the people were called Christians. A golden race arose upon all the earth, and by far the fairest succession of ages began.” 102 Di Cesare, 160–61. 103 Kallendorf, “From Virgil to Vida”, 62. 104 Christiad, 6.662–76. “Meanwhile, Peter, since I know that your piety is second to none, I put you in complete command of all who follow our sway, and you shall hold the key of

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Nothing is new in what Vida has written regarding ideas of the pope and his powers but its inclusion is telling. This text was commissioned by Leo X and it epitomizes the cultural and intellectual outlook of Rome in the early Cinquecento. There was a palpable feeling in Rome that a new age had indeed dawned, especially among the many humanists serving the papacy, and at its head was the pope. Vida takes pains to present Christ as proclaiming to Peter, the Prince of the Apostles and first pope, that the holy pontiff not only held the keys to the kingdom of heaven on earth, letting in the pious and withholding eternal happiness in paradise at his discretion, but he also had the power to rule (mercifully) and to exercise his spiritual power over all peoples. This section of Vida’s text echoes and conflates both Aeneid 6.851–53 (Anchises’ underworld prophetic declaration of the Roman Empire’s civilizing mission “to spare the vanquished and crush the proud”) and Matthew 16:18–19 (the famous proof text of Petrine primacy and the papal power of the keys). Vergil’s special destiny for Rome – terrestrial rule founded upon law, mercy, and peace – and Christ’s proclamation of the papacy’s spiritual power are united, establishing not only the city’s celestial and terrestrial supremacy and its position as focal point for the Golden Age, but also that Vergil was firmly embedded in Roman culture and continued to be accommodated to Christian thinking. The time when the pope in Rome would reign over all peoples was approaching, for all nations would soon embrace Christianity. The Golden Age “began” with the resurrection and spreading of Word, but its full realization would be reached in the sixteenth century. It is no exaggeration to state that Vida is perhaps the best example of focalization. The Christian interpretation of Vergil’s works was emphasized and applied directly to his epic poem in order to celebrate an incipient Golden Age in Renaissance Rome. Finally, it is worth considering why the poem contains such an optimistic outlook for the time in which it was composed and completed. Vida’s poem was finished in 1532, a decade and a half after the beginnings of what we now view as the Reformation. The poetic and intellectual heyday of Julius and Leo were a fading memory and religious conflict was moving to the fore. It is in highest office. I mark you out with this signal honor. Remember to rule and give judgment to the people with mercy. The highest power has been given to you over the nations. And now protect the faithful by peace and summon the recalcitrant to your banners. Out of loathing for death-bringing sin, you shall curse with righteous wrath whoever on earth has been warned to no avail, frightening him off from the councils of men and from the congregations of the faithful. He shall also be an abomination in heaven. He cannot hope for a seat among the blessed unless you shall be appeased, deeming him of better heart and worthy to be restored to his former grace. So it has now been granted to you to shut the gates of the starry sky on erring men, and to open them.”

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this environment that the Golden Age will so easily dawn in Rome. One can argue that Vida here falls into that sense of unreality that surrounded Rome beginning in the 1520’s. Vida was not the only poet to continue writing with grandiose assessments of Rome well into the pontificate of Clement VII. It may indicate that Vida was too close to the Medici popes, but it also reveals that continuing notion of Roman grandeur after the opening two decades of the Cinquecento among Roman humanists. It is true that the subject matter of the poem, by its very nature, is triumphant, yet the tone of the poem perhaps recalls the glory days of Rome when the work was commissioned. However, the text may be best perceived, following Kallendorf, within the tradition of theologia poetica.

Chapter 4

Imperium sine fine The previous chapter focused on Vergilian Golden Age themes that were expressed, though not exclusively, through the fourth eclogue. Here we now turn to another powerful Vergilian theme from the Aeneid: imperial power. Closely bound to the ideals of ancient Rome, imperium came to dominate the narrative of both Vergil’s epic poem and the ancient city itself. In Renaissance Rome such notions, unsurprisingly, were revitalized. There are many passages in the Aeneid that are relevant. Jupiter’s prophecy to Venus underscores the position of Rome as ruler of the entire world: His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono; / imperium sine fine dedi.1 Rome, its prophetic destiny voiced by Vergil, will rule the world ad infinitum. The papacy and the intellectuals at Rome perceived Renaissance Rome as the heir to this great empire, accepting the notion that the story of Troy connected all civilization in a linear model.2 Vergil further spelled out the historical role for Rome through the words of Anchises to Aeneas in the underworld: Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento / (hae tibi erunt artes), pacique imponere morem, / parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.3 Rome’s mission, as articulated by Vergil and other Augustan writers, was to create a “civilized” world based on order and stability, while sparing those who submit and destroying the unyielding. Further, as R. D. Williams argued, in Book 4, when Jupiter sends down Mercury to push Aeneas back toward his duty in Italy and away from Carthage, he claims that Aeneas will rule an Italy pregnant with empire, but will also bring laws to the whole world. It is Rome’s “civilizing mission” to bring eternal peace and universal law.4 The world that the papacy desired to advance and humanists portrayed in literature mirrored exactly this. Peace could finally be achieved after a complete conversion of all peoples to Christianity, and order and law 1 Aeneid, 1.278–79. “To these I place neither bounds of space or time: I have given rule without end.” 2 As a founding legend it encompassed both translatio imperii and translatio studii, thus domination and learning were parts of the same process of the transmission of civilization. Furthermore, it explained human events via divine agency. Such ideas were integral to the intellectual world of Renaissance Rome. For further analysis, see Richard Waswo, The Founding Legend of Western Civilization (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1997), preface and Ch. 1. 3 Ibid., 6.851–53. “You, Roman, remember to rule the peoples with imperium (these will be your arts), and to put law in place by peace, to spare the vanquished and to crush the proud.” 4 R. D. Williams, The Aeneid (London: Allen & Unwin, 1987), 50–51.

© Jeffrey A. Glodzik, 2023 | doi:10.1163/978900452

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would become benefits to all because of the justice spread through the mission of Christ. It should come as no surprise, then, that Vida focused on the justice associated with Christ in an incipient Golden Age in his Christiad (see chapter 3). The greatness of Cinquecento Rome, however, lay not only in its avowed capacity to rule over an ordered world, but also in its ability to bring true religion along with everlasting peace. Humanists identified with Aeneas, whose descendants founded Rome, and who carried his household gods with him to Latium and made a promise at Cumae to raise a temple to Apollo (who, according to Vergil, would rule over the renewed Golden Age in Eclogue 4). The papacy, humanists argued, continued this history of piety and devotion. Williams, explaining the devotional connection between Troy and ancient Rome, discusses Aeneas’ visit to the Arcadian Evander on the Tiber at site of the future Rome, where the Arcadians are honoring Hercules in a religious festival (8.102–279). Williams states, “The passage ends with reference to the priestly caste who were in charge of the ceremonies in Virgil’s day, and the Ara Maxima where they were celebrated (8.268–72); thus a strong religious bond of continuity between Aeneas’ times and those of Virgil is set up.”5 It is precisely this connection that Renaissance Rome wanted to continue. According to the humanists, Rome was still the center of the world and Christianity, the advent of which was foretold by Vergil when the true prophetic meaning of his texts was comprehended, had succeeded the pagan beliefs as the true religion while maintaining the characteristic of pious devotion. Even Evander’s urging to despise wealth at the entrance of his humble home (8.364–65) recalls Christ’s description of the good life, which Vida echoed through the words of John in Book 4 of the Christiad.6 In the Christian context, Roman imperialism was unified with salvation. Marie Tanner succinctly states, “Rome’s universal sovereignty was understood to satisfy a millenarian prophecy that had been applied to the Christian state since the fourth century. According to imperial rhetoric, the restoration of the empire of the ancient Romans was the precursor to the return of the Golden Age in Rome, the new Troy, which stood as a civic metaphor for Eden before the Fall.”7 The idea of translatio imperii was based upon the notion that the empire was universal, persisting, and reflective of God’s will. The role of the papacy was manifest: centered in Rome, it was 5 Ibid., 51. 6 DiCesare, 153. 7 Marie Tanner, The Last Descendant of Aeneas (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), 119. Even though Tanner discusses these ideas in relation to the emperor and the Hapsburgs, the basic principle can still be applied to the papacy, which believed itself heir to the ancient empire and was actually seated at Rome, the umbilicus of the empire.

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the heir to the empire begun by Aeneas and its historical role was to preside over the eternal peace of God. This is what fundamentally differentiated papal Rome from other claims to inheritance of imperium. Elsewhere poets could laud their secular masters in states both inside and outside of Italy. Yet their rulers could neither claim the spiritual authority of the pope nor to be ruling the umbilicus of the Christian world without significant intellectual gymnastics. Roman humanists emphasized this difference. Even in the fifteenth century Flavio Biondo argued (in Roma instaurata) that Rome possessed a non-transferable sacredness.8 A renewed Christianity could only be seated in the Eternal City. Furthermore, being situated in Rome required no translatio imperii as other states. What was required was renovatio. Kallendorf notes that Venice even referred to itself as a new Rome, implying translatio, not renovatio, though there was disagreement among Venetians whether Venice surpassed Rome or failed to equal Rome’s achievements.9 Nevertheless, what is important is that through their moral, political, and religious values Venice was a rival to Rome. To the Roman humanists Rome never relinquished its claim to authority and they underscored the renewal of that ancient imperium. The Aeneid linked past, present, and future in both an optimistic and pessimistic manner, yet it must be noted that Renaissance humanists in early Cinquecento Rome emphasized only the optimism in Vergil’s poem. The pessimism that we can clearly perceive today either went unseen or was simply glossed over.10 This is a striking reflection of the optimistic, essentially conservative, interpretation of Vergil taught in schools.11 And for good reason: the humanists living in Rome were most interested in creating a grand narrative for Rome and the Church. Since this optimistic interpretation of Vergil dominated Renaissance Rome the transformation type of ignorance was applied. Ignorance is the refusal to accept or purposely disregard aspects of a reference text. In early Cinquecento Rome poets and intellectuals overlooked negative connotations in the Aeneid that may have been perceived by others in order to 8 9 10

11

Flavio Biondo argued that the blood of the early Christian martyrs provided a greater foundation for the glory of Rome than even the ancient imperial legions. See Stinger, 170–1 for a detailed analysis. Kallendorf, Virgil and the Myth of Venice, 17–8. I contend that this holds true only at Rome – ‘pessimistic’ readings of Vergil were evident during this period. See especially Craig Kallendorf, The Other Virgil: ‘Pessimistic’ Readings of the Aeneid in Early Modern Culture (Oxford University Press, 2007). His very brief discussion of ‘pessimism’ in Vida’s Christiad (pp.47–8) focuses on the inconsistent criticism of Vergil by Bartolomeo Botta’s massive commentary on the work in 1569. I do not think it affects the overall grand narrative of the Aeneid as understood at Rome in the early Cinquecento. See Kallendorf, The Other Virgil, 9–11.

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champion an optimistic and triumphant reading of the text that would serve as a model for the inevitability of the papal-led imperial Christendom.12 Renewed imperial power and imperial themes, built upon the notions expressed in Aeneid 1 and 6, were featured regularly in the Roman literature of the early Cinquecento. The finest examples appear in some of the epics and mini-epics of the day, but such themes can be found in the shorter occasional poems of this period, most notably during the pontificate of Julius II, the namesake of the first Caesar. The examples of epic poems from the Renaissance, which we will discuss shortly, harken back to Vergil’s epic. Imitation of the Aeneid became fashionable among humanists during the Renaissance, beginning with Francesco Petrarch’s fourteenth century Latin epic, Africa. The fifteenth century saw an explosion of historical epics on the Italian peninsula. Kristen Lippincott has discussed several epics from the northern Italian courts in the second half of the fifteenth century.13 She notes that the content for epics is taken from recent historical events and the protagonist is cast as a hero. The poems composed in Rome follow this path, but what is noteworthy is that the focus of the texts is greater on what will be accomplished by the hero, again reflecting the prophetic mentality of Rome. At the onset of the Cinquecento, Francesco Sperulo’s miniepics dedicated to Cesare Borgia exemplify this; he celebrates the military prowess of Cesare, but at the same time gives attention to what Cesare will achieve in the future. Pietro Francesco Giustolo’s panegyrics function similarly, commemorating Cesare’s conquests, proclaiming him a conveyor of the Golden Age, and even using Vergilian language to liken his duties to those of the ancient Romans.14 It is noteworthy that Vergilian language glorifying leaders could be somewhat formulaic and applicable to both secular and religious leaders; however, poets in the High Renaissance Rome did adapt their

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Though he admits that optimistic readings of Vergil dominated in the Renaissance, it is worth noting that of Kallendorf’s Renaissance examples of pessimistic readings of Vergil none are Roman. See her article “The neo-Latin historical epics of the north Italian courts: an examination of ‘courtly culture’ in the fifteenth century.” Renaissance Studies, 3 (1989), 415–428. In order to examine court culture, she employs Basinio Basini da Parma’s Hesperis (celebrating Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta), Francesco Filelfo’s Sforziad (celebrating Francesco Sforza), and Tito Vespasiano Strozzi’s Borsiad (celebrating Borso d’Este). Giustolo, Opera Panegyris tertia: … sed parcere victis / ac revocare manus miserorum a caede memento / militis infreni  … [… but remember to spare the conquered and call back the hands of the unbridled soldier from the slaughter of the wretched …]. Compare Aeneid 6.851–53.

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laudatory texts to the personal backgrounds of the pontiffs.15 Christianity, as we shall see, will also play the most significant role in the Roman examples. However, before we entertain any epic or quasi-epic poetry, an examination of ideas from David Quint’s Epic and Empire will provide a foundation from which to better understand Renaissance application of Vergil in imperial texts. In this work, Quint uses the Aeneid and other epics to analyze the politicization of epic. He claims that Vergil’s Aeneid is bound to a national history, the idea of world supremacy, a monarchical system, and that later epics of Western Europe assumed the imperial politics of Vergil’s work, which was responsible for transmitting the ideology of empire. He also asserts that epic, with its linear teleology that frames history as a coherent, end-directed story, belongs to the victors.16 This formulation not only fits the mold of the Roman empire of Augustus, but also perfectly suits the mindset of Renaissance Rome. The “national” history of Italy is at home with the papacy located in Rome, Christian Rome aspired to world domination (as a singular world religion), and the papacy on earth, in theory, functioned as a monarchy, mirroring the organization of heaven. Quint further argues that the imperial ideology in the Aeneid projects “otherness” on the enemies of Rome and Augustus, often pitting the masculine West against feminine East (Augustus vs. Antony/Cleopatra).17 This, too, is evident in Renaissance works, which set in opposition the righteous Christianity of Rome and the heretical Islam of the East. The East/West rivalry was not just found in Cinquecento epic, but also in all forms of literary works and oratory, as evidenced by the previously discussed De aurea aetate of Egidio da Viterbo. The empire that Vergil portrays is based on order – unifying different peoples – and this entity, unified in peace, is bound by its potent leader, Augustus. It is through his power that the empire can continue to exist. Quint declares that Vergil’s ideology is “doubly imperial”, stressing the necessity of both empire and emperor.18 Roman humanists followed Vergil’s lead again here, easily translating the ideas from ancient Rome to Renaissance Rome. A single peaceful Christian empire was the seemingly inevitable outcome for the 15

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See Houghton, 131–2. He addresses this question and notes that even in the Quattrocento poets did often attempt to adapt their texts. I would argue that in the early Cinquecento this was even more the case in reference to Julius II and Leo X, identified by the oak and as healer, respectively. David Quint, Epic and Empire (Princeton University Press, 1993), 8–9. Quint also discusses epics of dissent (those identified with the defeated), specifically Lucan, but these are largely irrelevant to our discussions of early Cinquecento Rome, a period in which virtually all of the texts produced are celebratory and triumphant. Ibid., 23. Ibid., 27.

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world – the true renovatio imperii – and at its head was the pope, representing God on earth. Finally, the epic form in Renaissance Rome also took up the same understanding of history that Quint describes (further proving his contention that meanings in epic become universalized),19 especially in the works of Nagonius and Vida that will be considered below. Quint argues that imperial conquest, that is, the imposing of an identical order on disparate peoples, is a process of history making. It is a universal history that the Aeneid sets forth. “Virgil’s epic depicts imperial victory as the victory of the principle of history – a principle lodged in the West, where identity and power are transmitted across time in a patrilineal succession – over the lack or negation of historical identity that characterizes the ever-changing, feminized nature of the East.”20 The universal history of Vergil, a triumphal history, fits the model of the Christian understanding of history. Time is linear, moving toward a defined end, where the order imposed on all peoples is that of Catholicism. The masculine, powerful West will come to dominate the feminine East, imparting a true identity. It is through this thought process that Renaissance Rome understood the Islamic East and continued to call for conquest and crusade, no matter how unrealistic it may have been.21 It is also notable that this same way of thinking informed Europeans’ views about their Christian mission in the New World during the sixteenth century. In this conception of history the victors possess power and will continue to possess power in the future. In Vergil, Augustus had the power to end war and rule through an everlasting peace in the Pax Romana; so too, humanists proclaimed, will the Church lead the world to a universal peace. The understanding of epic, history, and Vergilian influence set forth by Quint is best exemplified in the work of Johannes Michael Nagonius. His work, a manuscript for Julius II and Francesco Maria della Rovere, the pope’s nephew, is Vergilian both thematically and in tone, taking up typical Renaissance ideas 19

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Quint attempts to establish a genealogy for epic, endeavoring to “show how the meanings of any one epic (the Aeneid, for a salient example) that were originally determined by a particular occasion (the ascendancy of Augustus) became ‘universalized’ and codified as the epic becomes part of a larger literary history – and how that tradition, now already freighted with political ideas and expectations, becomes, in turn, an inseparable constituent of the political meaning of other epics …”, 13. Ibid., 30. The calls for crusade against the Turks continued into the era of the Reformation. Girolamo Balbi, the bishop of Gurk, Austria who had attended the Diet of Worms in 1521, continuously called Christians to arms and employed the Aeneid to argue for such action in his work (De Civili et Bellica Fortitudine Liber ex mysteriis poetae Vergilii nunc primum Promptus) dedicated to Clement VII in late 1523. See James M. Scott, “The Aeneid as Philosophical Guide ‘To Turn Arms against the Turks’,” Vergilius, 50 (2004), 63–95.

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about the expansion of empire and a teleological pattern in time that ultimately concludes with a divine peace. Nagonius was from Borgo Franco, southwest of Pavia. In Rome he was acquainted with Pomponio Leto and possibly attended the Roman Academy under him. Nagonius took pride in becoming an honorary Roman citizen, which was conferred upon him when he was named poet laureate. Nagonius also traveled extensively throughout Europe, going to France, England, and Eastern Europe. Some of Nagonius’ life is left to conjecture; however, Paul Gwynne provides a convincing sketch of his life.22 The manuscript dedicated to the pontiff and his nephew, noted in an inventory of Julius II’s private library in 1509, is divided into eight books of poetry, of which the first three contain the panegyric to Julius and his nephew. Gwynne persuasively argues that Nagonius composed and presented the text to Julius II in 1509.23 The first three books, which are regarded as an epyllion by Gwynne, are composed in dactylic hexameter.24 In Book 1 a personified Jerusalem calls on Julius to lead a Crusade against the Turks and recover the Holy Land, while Books 2 and 3 contain the quest to discover a new Roman hero (Francesco Maria), a quest that includes a visit to the Cumaean Sibyl. Notable also in the manuscript is the “Triumphator” image (folio 8v) in which Julius is seated in a triumphal chariot and standing next to him is the figure of Francesco Maria, his helmet surrounded by an oak-wreath garland. An inscription reads: Hierusalem syonque tuus pater ecce triumphat / iulius expulsis hostibus atque nepos. The image and the poetry predict Julius’ success against the infidel, Christianity triumphing over Islam and West triumphing over East.25 Book 1 begins with a reference to the Quercus (oak) and golden acorns, which recalls the della Rovere family arms, an allusion which will be frequently made throughout the text. Immediately, however, we are introduced to the personified figure of Jerusalem begging the pontiff for aid. Disheveled, she cries out, … terramque fidelem / eripe maurorum manibus: vinclisque nephandis / solve domum sanctam …26 The Holy Land longs to be freed from its dark prison. This new Caesar, Julius II, only has to push forward and victory over the Turks will 22 23 24 25 26

Paul Gwynne, Poets and Princes: The Panegyric Poetry of Johannes Michael Nagonius. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2012), Ch. 1. Ibid., 229–30. While Gwynne notes that the three books may comprise Nagonius’ ultimate panegyric, he argues that epic is a form of praise. He cites O. B. Hardison The Enduring Monument (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973), 71. See BAV, Vat. Lat. 1682, 8v. The illumination is described in greater detail in Gwynne, Ch. 7 ‘Decoration and Illumination’ and Stinger, 109–10 (image included). Ibid., 10r. “Snatch the holy land from the hands of the Moors: and free the holy home from their abominable chains.” The personified Jerusalem is likely an allusion to the disheveled Rome appealing to Caesar in Book I of Lucan’s Pharsalia. However, Nagonius’ description

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be assured with a liberated Jerusalem: Infidas extende crucis vexilla per oras / quae reges …27 The Christian empire will expand throughout the Holy Land and beyond, encompassing all non-Christian territories. Jerusalem even proclaims that Julius will rule over the bounds of the earth, establishing Christian dominion eastward beyond the Tigris, Euphrates, and Indus.28 At the center of this great Christian empire still stands Rome, and the final outcome is the advent of the Golden Age. Jerusalem foretells the coming of this age, the inevitable conclusion of Julius’ work: Aurea cumque fide per te nunc nascitur aetas / et soboles antiqua redit: delapsa per auras / iustitia insultans liquidas venit alma: tyrannis / tot saevis obsessa soror: concordia leges / apperit oppressas obscuro in carcere diva.29 This notion molds flawlessly to the Christian conception of history. Not only does the Golden Age return as the greatest of ages, but it is defined by the triumph of justice. This final age is characterized by the justice imparted through Christ, just as Vida describes in his great Renaissance Christian epic, the Christiad. Vergil predicted the return of the Golden Age through the birth of a child, but it is the Renaissance poets of the early Cinquecento who emphasize justice – perhaps echoing Vergil’s admonition to the Romans to impose laws by peace – as the finest characteristic of the new age. The remainder of Book 1 describes the current sad state of Jerusalem, replete with deserted shrines and signs of destruction. Yet it is the call to Julius to do what is necessary that remains the repeated theme. Jerusalem predicts success for the pope in this undertaking, which is truly a just cause, and she even portrays Julius as the perfect Christian knight.30 Illustrating the undoubted Vergilian influence, Nagonius employs the figure of Aeolus, who will provide a safe journey across the waters for the inevitably triumphant Julius. Triumphs will be celebrated in Rome as the pontiff ushers in a world-wide peace (again recalling the Golden Age). Jerusalem goes so far as to link Julius’ undertaking

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of Jerusalem’s pleading with Julius completely avoids the negative connotations associated with Rome begging Caesar not to cross in Rubicon in Lucan. Ibid., 11v. “Stretch out the standards of the cross through the shores of the unfaithful which you will rule.” The far-reaching conquest over the great rivers is not an uncommon reference. Another example, from the pontificate of Leo X, is Pietro Zanchi’s Tiberinus: “… et famulas tibi mollior undas / submittet Ganges, atque auro morbidus Indus, / Euphrates …” BAV, Vat. Lat. 5225 (4), 833v. BAV, Vat. Lat. 1682, 11r. “Through you the Golden Age is now born with faith, and the ancient progeny returns: kind justice, triumphing, comes, gliding through the liquid air: her sister, watching over so many savage tyrants, divine harmony, opens the laws oppressed in a dark prison.” Ibid., 16v. See also Gwynne, 238.

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with mankind’s redemption: … populisque redemptis / laetitiam iam sponte dabis.31 Julius proclaims that he will indeed proceed with his duty and summons a council, informing his army of his plans. Nagonius then introduces Francesco Maria della Rovere, who declares that the army will follow Julius anywhere. He is portrayed as the ablest of generals, and compared to ancient Roman conquerors. Nagonius praises Francesco Maria’s potential rather than actual accomplishments. This is most evident as Book I concludes with not only a call for him to restrain the Turks and godless peoples, but also to perform what will be his God-given duty: Vade pius, felix, invictus semper, in hostes / tende libens, populos et debellare rebelles.32 Just as Aeneas, Francesco Maria, the pious and unconquered one, is called upon to fulfill his duty set forth by Vergil for the Romans in Aeneid 6.853. Book 2 is particularly Vergilian in scope, including a visit to the Sibyl at Cumae and a rendition of the conversation between Jupiter and Venus from Aeneid I. Nagonius employs the Venus-Jupiter episode in the same manner as Vergil: Venus tells Jupiter of her concern for Rome and the della Rovere family, asking her father to free her from her worries. She claims Julius and his nephew will create a reborn and supreme Rome, with temples built to the stars, devoted to him (36r–37v). Jupiter, as in the Aeneid, is moved by Venus’ words. He then explains that the fates have a glorious future in store for Julius and Francesco Maria. Furthering the link between Aeneas and the pope’s nephew, Jupiter claims that Francesco Maria is “insignis pietate” and that he and his uncle will not only be victorious in their battle against the infidel, but they will bring an everlasting peace to Rome and the world (38v–r). Notable also throughout the conversation are the implied connections between Caesar and the della Rovere family. The Vergil-inspired visit to the Sibyl at Cumae enhances the joint destiny of Julius and Francesco Maria. She prophesies a glorious future for Julius and Francesco Maria. Interesting to note as well here is the discussion of a Franco-Papal alliance with Crusade as its ultimate goal. Divine approval for the pact and the prophetic future of the pope’s nephew is symbolized by two doves, one carrying the lily (representing France) and the other acorns (representing the della Rovere papacy).33 Finally, the journey through the underworld is noteworthy for its Vergilian echoes. The reader sees the shades of great heroes, including Charlemagne, but most significant is the future of Francesco Maria 31 32 33

Ibid., 23v. “Now of your own accord you will give happiness to the redeemed peoples.” Ibid., 29v. “Hasten always, pious, blessed, and unconquered one; willingly strive against your enemies and to conquer the insurgent peoples.” The image of the two doves again recalls Vergil. See Aeneid, 6.190–92.

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seen on the fields of Elysium. In addition to him being the protector of Rome and taking up imperium with all nations serving him, his main role will be the champion of Christendom: Hic primum turchas invadet Ductor atroces / et mauros gentemque feram populosque rebelles. Post sacra Hierusalem renovabit templa subactae / Mauris …34 He will take on the infidel and liberate Jerusalem, a notion that is consistently repeated. Further, he will become a new Caesar and renew ancient Rome. … Caesar germanicus alter Dicetur: montem populo mirante subibit Splendidus: et festam gaudebit tangere Quercum Cum lauro sacra fulvis et glandibus iste. Parte alia natus superum pietate futurus Pontificum veniet magna de stripe parentum Concedens dextra assaracis: et luce paterna Aspiciet Romam resoluto pondere priscam.35 Francesco Maria will be the new imperator, renewing Rome, but most importantly he is known for his pietas and his association with the oak-tree of the della Rovere family. It is through Julius and his nephew that the Christian Roman empire will ultimately triumph. Book 3 begins with ambassadors of foreign kings arriving in Rome to learn more about the destinies of Julius and Francesco Maria. They set out on a tour of ancient Roman sites36 and also the Vatican palace (67r–74r). The ambassadors are given a banquet with jousting as entertainment. Afterwards Mars arrives with a gift of armor and a group of Romans, led by Gian Giordano Orsini (husband of Felice della Rovere), immediately set off to recruit for the Crusade. There follows a discussion of the life of the emperor Hadrian, in which Nagonius mentions Julius’ repairs to his Mausoleum  – the Castel 34 35

36

BAV, Vat. Lat. 1682, 64r. “First this leader will attack the savage Turks and the Moors and the savage races and the insurgent peoples. Afterward he will renew the sacred temples of Jerusalem subjected by the Moors.” Ibid., 65v–r. “He will be called another Caesar Germanicus: shining he will climb the mountain with the people in awe: and that one will rejoice to touch the festive Oak with the sacred laurel and golden acorns. In another part the future son with the piety of the gods will come from the great stock of the relatives of popes joining the Romans with his right hand: and with paternal light he will look upon ancient Rome with the weight having been lifted.” In the first century CE Germanicus was a fine Roman general and particularly well-loved by his soldiers and the Roman citizens. He was in line to be heir to the empire, but died before he could he ascend to the position of emperor. This is unambiguously based on Aeneas’ tour in Aeneid, 8.

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Sant’Angelo (91r–92v), a clear indication of Julius’ rebuilding and renewal of ancient Rome. The Romans, traveling through Italy, encounter the shade of Gaius Flaminius. He corroborates the prophecy of a successful Crusade and the glory of Francesco Maria given by the Sibyl, announcing that the pope’s nephew will be awarded the oak garland (given to Augustus for life, implying his saving of all Romans) and will hang the spolia opima in the temples (95v), effectively demonstrating his pietas. The work ends with the ambassadors hastening back to Paris to tell Louis XII about the prophecy of the Sibyl. Upon hearing the news, Louis announces that he is prepared to conquer the infidels along with Francesco Maria. His decision is relayed to Julius II, whose benediction – emphasizing that faith calls us to conquer the Turks – concludes the work (109v). Nagonius’ work undoubtedly reflects Quint’s understanding of epic, the meanings of which were set by Vergil and then became universalized. The political expectations that were associated with the Aeneid  – an expanding imperium, the triumph of justice, and an eventual lasting peace – are all present in Nagonius’ work. Nagonius borrows liberally from Vergil in regard to particular episodes, but more significantly he clearly follows him thematically. Just as in the Aeneid, this text portrays a linear and triumphal history. It is a coherent story that will have a defined end. He pits West (Christianity) versus East (Islam) and focuses on the notion of world supremacy, ending with an empire that reigns over a universal peace. However, whereas Vergil wrote from the vantage point of a Rome after Augustus’ triumph, Nagonius, as was typical in Roman Renaissance poetry, focused on what will happen. Although the work was not commissioned by Julius II, nevertheless Nagonius’ text portrays the fundamental optimism of Renaissance Rome and the emphasis on a triumphal interpretation of the Aeneid. As any possible negative connotations are overlooked, Nagonius’ work, informed solely by an optimistic reading of Roman imperium, is a prime example of ignorance. Julius II once more plays the role of hero in Iter Julii II by Adriano Castellesi. This text is a 164-line poem composed in hexameter verse that celebrates his journey toward and triumphal entry into Bologna in 1506. While this work does not exhibit certain Vergilian epic themes, such as an East-West dichotomy, it does underscore Julius’ character as a pious leader wielding imperium, yet ultimately bringing peace. Castellesi was born in Corneto c.1460 and little is known of his early life. Well-versed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, he came to Rome through connections with Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI). He entered the Curia and rose in the ranks during the final decades of the fifteenth century, holding multiple positions, including apostolic secretary and protonotary, and taking part in diplomatic missions. As a diplomat he obtained

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the patronage of Henry VII of England and was appointed private secretary to Alexander VI in 1497. Alexander VI made Castellesi a cardinal in 1503, a position in which he became rather wealthy. As a practitioner of Ciceronian Latin he published several works, following his ascendance to the position of cardinal, for which he attained an outstanding reputation. As cardinal, however, he had poor political judgment; he made a disparaging comment about Julius II to Henry VII of England and was implicated in the conspiracy to poison Leo X. He was forced to flee Rome during the pontificates of both Julius and Leo. Castellesi died in 1521/2 on his return to Rome to elect the successor of Leo.37 As Iter Julii II illustrates, even a Ciceronian stylist like Castellesi felt the ubiquitous influence of Vergil. He portrayed Julius as a new heroic Caesar who ruled strongly with the threat of force but a desire for peace. In describing Julius’ journey (on which he was a member of the pontiff’s retinue) from Rome to his “victory” in Bologna, Vergilian references and language pervade the work. Castellesi begins the text noting that on 26 August (1506) Julius was sent out to begin what appears like a divinely-sanctioned journey to free Bologna.38 The opening lines proclaim, Augusti memoranda dies vigesimasexta / Pontificem magna Roma dimisit Iulum.39 Immediately foreshadowing Julius’ inevitable victory, Castellesi notes that the date of his departure must be remembered, for this is a blessed day that will recall Julius’ accomplishments. The second line also seems to echo Vergil’s verse in which Juno sends down Iris to free Dido’s spirit upon her death.40 Just as Iris is sent down from Olympus to liberate Dido’s spirit, so too is Julius sent forth from Rome to free Bologna from the tyranny of Giovanni Bentivoglio. The religious connection is made between Rome and Olympus, while Julius’ act of kindness and pity mirrors that of Iris. The narrative of the journey then truly begins. We are taken through several of the stopping points of Julius’ expedition, of which two examples provide a glimpse into the heroic character of the pontiff.41 Castellesi mentions that the papal entourage halted at Viterbo, known for its baths, and Julius made his presence felt: Discordes bonus hic cives pacavit Iulus.42 Strengthening the 37 38 39 40 41 42

D’Amico, 16–18. D’Amico provides greater detail concerning Castellesi’s literature and public life than is presented here. For a complete account of Julius’ journey and “liberation” of Bologna, see Christine Shaw, Julius II: The Warrior Pope (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993), 148–61. Adriano Castellesi, Iter Julii II (Cologne, 1529), lines 1–2. “The twenty-sixth of August, a day that must be remembered, sent forth Pope Julius from mighty Rome.” See Aeneid, 4.694: … Irim demisit Olympo. Julius also is said to have quoted Vergil’s Aeneid while on the expedition. Whether or not this is simply invention, it emphasizes the Vergilian character of his journey. Iter, line 9. “Here the good Julius made peaceful the discordant citizens.”

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notion of the pontiff as a heroic peace-bearer, Julius did actually cement the peace between warring factions at Viterbo in September, 1506 by changing officials and arranging marriages between members of the city’s leading families.43 Similarly, Castellesi claims that Julius ultimately brought peace to Perugia. Following references to the long history of violence and war in the city, Castellesi announces, Ingredimur Perusinam urbem, civilibus actam / eversamque odiis, hanc tu pater optime Iuli / in placida tandem compositam pace relinquis.44 The reality of the situation in Perugia was that Julius desired to exert control over the city and Gianpaolo Baglioni, but there was a ceremony of reconciliation between the rival factions in Perugia that Julius orchestrated.45 Castellesi’s recounting of both of these examples underscores Julius as a supreme leader able to conquer discord and create the necessary conditions for peace, regardless of how antithetical such a characterization of the martially-inclined “papa terribile” might be. Such references highlight the optimistic view of Roman destiny as the heroic type, exemplified by Julius, who impose peace through their authority. Further, to emphasize his religiosity and abilities to effect a Christian peace, Castellesi often portrays the pater optime praising God and worshipping in holy places. The themes of empire, religion and peace, linked in the person of Julius II, are interwoven in the final 25 lines of Castellesi’s poem. Julius approached the entrance to Bologna on 11 November, with the city and the Bentivoglio having submitted without a battle. Carried on his litter Julius appeared as an ancient emperor: Cui trabea ex auro, gemmis, ostroque coruscat.46 Julius’ robe (trabea) was that worn by kings; as the greatest of all rulers his appearance glowed with gold and precious stones, and the color purple recalled the imperial garb of the ancient Romans. No better picture could be imagined of a conquering hero, a new Caesar. Yet the triumphal procession, complete with soldiers and cardinals, also celebrated the religious nature of the hero. Castellesi depicts the procession and the reaction of the citizens of Bologna: Obvia quaeque oculis praestringunt numinis instar. / Visendi studio effusi iuvenesque senesque / et matres puerique simul tecta omnia complent: / culminibusque astant, portisque, et turribus haerent.47 At the head of the line is the image of Christ, the deity 43 44

45 46 47

See Shaw, 154. Iter, lines 36–38. “We entered the Perugian city, driven and overturned by citizen hatred, you, Most Holy Father Julius, at last left this city settled in a calm peace.” One could perhaps read into this a greater glory for Julius since this city was the site of one of Augustus’ greatest massacres (the Perusine War). See Shaw, 154–57. Iter, line 141. “His robe flashed with gold, gems and purple.” Ibid., lines 148–51. “They tied up an image of God, which was exposed to everyone’s eyes. Young men and old poured out with desire to see it, and at the same time mothers and

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bestowing divine favor upon Julius. All the Bolognese come out to see the procession, inspired both by Julius and the savior. It is not only a victory for the reborn Caesar but also for Christ. Inside Bologna at the cathedral of San Pietro Julius … aspersitque patres in limine primo / rore levi: geminis manibus veneratus ad aras / effigies sacras …48 Here Castellesi portrays the pious Julius praying and giving thanks, while providing yet another Vergilian reference.49 His piety is only matched by the peace and safety he is able to provide. Castellesi, praising the new Caesar, proclaims, Tu nos incolumes per tot discrimina vectos / urbe hac Felsinea sine caede, et sanguine donas.50 All of Bologna remains safe without a drop of blood being spilled. Julius liberated Bologna from tyranny of the Bentivoglio in a peaceful manner, befitting a true Christian leader. He established a direct government in Bologna via papal legates, although he would not always be so successful in the city, as subsequent historical developments reveal. The expeditions against Perugia and Bologna, as David Chambers claimed, “proved to be more a military demonstration than a conflict,”51 however it allowed Castellesi to characterize Julius as a supreme leader, fighting on behalf of God, armed with peace as well as the sword. Castellesi concludes his text with Julius praying again, proving to be the model Christian imperator. The entire work evokes the endless empire, imposed peace, and defeating of the proud that an optimistic reading of Vergil would entail. Made even greater by the Christian pietas of the pontiff, any possible negative reading of the Aeneid is absent from Castellesi’s Vergilian text. Having chosen his pontifical name with the ancient namesake in mind, the portrayal of Julius II as a new Christian Caesar52 was likely a product of Julius’

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boys filled up all the roofs: and they stood at the tops and at the gates and they hung onto the towers.” Ibid., lines 153–55. “[Julius] sprinkled the fathers on the first threshold with light dew: worshipped the images at the sacred altars with hands in prayer …” Aen. 6.230 – “spargens rore levi”. Here those well-versed in Vergil might recall the passage of the burial of Misenus, where Corynaeus was “sprinkling with light dew” his comrades in order to cleanse them. The burial of Misenus was a duty that had to be fulfilled before Aeneas could enter the underworld with the Sibyl. Iter, lines 158–9. “You deliver us unharmed dragged through so many dangers without slaughter and blood in this city of Bologna.” David Chambers, Popes, Cardinals and War: The Military Church in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006), 111. It is important to note that historically Julius Caesar was never actually a Roman emperor who wielded supreme imperium as Augustus did. As evident in Castellesi and others, Renaissance Roman poets often made little distinction between ancient Roman heroes, preferring to employ them as symbols of an ancient power and glory that was to be renewed. For instance, the term Caesar could refer to Julius Caesar (as was often the case when poets discussed Julius II) or Augustus Caesar, depending on the context and what the poet wished to convey.

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desired image, but even more so that of his courtiers and humanist followers. Castellesi and countless others depicted Julius in such a manner in poems, orations, and the erecting of triumphal arches to celebrate his military victories. Even a critic like Erasmus, in his Julius Exclusus, portrayed him similarly, though much less flatteringly. Outside of the medal commemorating his expedition to Bologna, bearing the inscription IULIUS CAESAR PONT. II, Shaw claims that little of the connection between Julius Caesar and the pontiff can be traced to his motives.53 Triumphs and comparisons to ancient Roman leaders were not uncommon in Renaissance Rome and throughout Italy; being involved in such matters was in no way exceptional. However, Rowland provides a compelling argument that Julius indeed desired the formation of a universal Church that would supersede the ancient Roman empire. The pontiff made it clear that he was in command over both the Papal States and Christendom as a whole by employing numerous methods of communication (poetry, art, oratory) – the main goal was the recovery of the Roman Church’s all-encompassing authority.54 Shaw further argues that if Julius identified with anyone, it was with his uncle Sixtus IV, not Julius Caesar. Whether or not this was the case, it had no bearing on the laudatory humanists’ consistent identification of him with the triumphant and imperial Julius Caesar. Again, this emphasizes the point that, at least in reference to the persona of the pope, the Roman humanist poets, who urged him to re-conquer Jerusalem and proclaimed that he ruled over the greatest empire, were largely responsible for the shaping of the optimistic Roman cultural outlook of the early Cinquecento. Several more examples of imperial and Vergilian themes in poetry dedicated to Julius illustrate the humanists’ continued interest in binding the papacy to the ancient world in a linear history. While not epic in scope, many of the occasional poems composed by poets at Rome frequently referred to Julius as a victorious imperator who fulfilled the legacy of Rome as spelled out in Vergil’s Aeneid. The brief Ad Julium of the Ferrarese poet Antonio Tebaldeo establishes the focus: Sume animos, bene Dii spondent, Victoria currens / restitit; in regno certa manere tuo.55 Tebaldeo characterizes Julius as a victor who is favored by the gods and will expand Roman imperium. Julius also continues the promise and duties of Rome, as related by Vergil, in Marco Antonio Casanova’s De Clementia Julii Pont. In Venetos. In this short poem, part of a collection dedicated to Angelo Colocci, Casanova begins, Vix bellum indictum est,

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Shaw, 204–07. Rowland, 141–42. BAV, Ottob. Lat. 2860, 35v. “Take up your heart, the Gods promise truly, Victory, hastening, stayed; certain to remain in your reign.”

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quum vinces: nec citius vis / vincere quam parcas …56 Immediately the reader notes how rapidly the strength of the pontiff wins the conflict, but it is Julius’ clemency that proves even faster. The poem, probably composed in 1510, describes Julius’ victory over Venice in the War of the League of Cambrai, yet it is the Vergilian reference to clemency (parcere subiectis et debellare superbos) that is most significant. Factually, we should note that the terms of peace set by Julius were actually quite harsh, but this is less relevant than the portrayal of Julius. Casanova furthers the connection by stating, Nec tibi quam bellum longior ira fuit.57 In addition to his clemency, Julius is forgiving, perhaps underscoring both his role as a new Julius Caesar, who was most noted for his clementia, and as head of the one true Church. In 1510 Julius then joined Venice in an alliance to expel France from the Italian peninsula. The poem implies that this not only reveals the excellent character of Julius, by making relations friendly, but also to the classic ability to increase the empire by bringing the “conquered” into the orbit of Rome. Two more poems celebrate the glories of the della Rovere family; one focuses on the divine link between Julius’ family and Jove, while another reprises the Christian, imperial and triumphal themes of the della Rovere family. Faustus Capiferreus Magdalenus,58 from a family of ancient Roman nobility and whose patron was Cardinal Giovanni Colonna previous to Giovanni de’ Medici, composed Divi Julii II Pont. Max., a poem that alludes to the connection between the pontiff and Julius Caesar. Yet it is the religious theme, imbued with Vergilian ideas, that is most prominent. The final seven lines of this short work are noteworthy: Conjunctum imperium cum Jove Julius habet. Sacra Jovi quercus saturnia saecla redeunt: Haec bene culta aetas sed rudis illa fuit. Graecia Dodonae facules desere quercus Heic responsa deum Julia quercus habet. Ob cives quernam servatos grata coronam Roma dedit quondam nos tibi ebura damus.59 56 57 58

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BAV, Vat. Lat. 1834, 15v. “Scarcely was war proclaimed as you conquered: nor did your power conquer more quickly than you spared …” Ibid., “Nor was your anger longer than the war.” The poet also composed poems portraying Julius as successor of the Caesars by celebrating the pontiff’s statue court, specifically the so-called Cleopatra. See Hans Henrik Brummer, The Statue Court in the Vatican Belvedere (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1970), 220–222. BAV, Vat. Lat. 3351, 29r. “Julius has an imperium joined with Jove. Sacred oak of Jove, the Golden Age returns: this age is well-cultured but that one was uncultivated. The favorable

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Here Julius possesses a divine imperium and because of his direct bond with Jove the della Rovere oak will usher in a new Golden Age. Obviously the author takes his cue from Vergil’s Eclogue 4, but he expands the notion, claiming that this Golden Age will be even greater due to its cultured nature. Magdalenus enlarges the importance of the new age, announcing that the sacred oak and oracle at Dodona are of little importance now, for the Julian oak at Rome receives the oracles. Finally, in the past Rome bestowed the oak wreath, which signifies the saving of Roman lives, however Julius receives something even more valuable. Implied in all of this is that Julius, through his divine power, has proven to be the ablest of supreme leaders in bringing about a peaceful world through Roman overlordship. The final example is an epigram of Johannes Michael Nagonius dedicated to Julius II and his nephew, Francesco Maria della Rovere. The particular work is one of the author’s many epigrams expounding similar themes. The text, located in the same manuscript as Nagonius’ epyllion, begins by depicting a new Golden Age at Rome and referencing an expanding empire. It then briefly describes the seas being made peaceful (perhaps a reference to one of Augustus’ accomplishments), but only after the seas have been dyed with the blood of the infidel.60 The conclusion of the epigram, however, ties together the major themes of epic in the Vergilian vein: Inpia gens paret: populus tibi templa dicabit: / et dabit assiduas pastor Iule preces. / Continuoque ducem tecum laudabit amica / Roma: sibi laudes pro quoque te tribuet.61 As in his mini-epic, Nagonius successfully meshes the triumph of Rome and Christianity over the non-believers while elevating the pontiff to hero status. The infidels from the East are defeated and submit, Julius receiving the adoration of the people in a religious manner, and even Rome itself cannot help but praise the pious conqueror, thus strictly highlighting a triumphalist vision. Vergilian imperial themes persisted in literature during the pontificate of Leo X, though generally in a different guise.62 Janus Vitalis’ poem Leonem X

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oak of Dodona is left behind in Greece, here the Julian oak possesses the oracles of the gods. In front of the protected citizens grateful Rome once gave an oak wreath, we give ivory to you.” This is likely a reference to Octavian’s defeat of Cleopatra’s “infidel” navy at the Battle of Actium. Just as the future Augustus, Julius II must destroy the enemies of Rome before a lasting peace is attained. BAV, Vat. Lat. 1682, 179r. “The impious race submits: the people will dedicate temples to you: and will give constant prayers, Pastor Julius. Immediately favorable Rome will praise the Duke with you: and also will assign its praises for you.” The notion of exercising Roman imperium certainly continued throughout Leo’s pontificate, but the emphasis on war – so prevalent during Julius’ pontificate – did not receive as much insistence. The humanists associated Leo much more with Augustus and the

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P.M…. admiratur celebrated notions of the Golden Age (discussed in chapter 3), yet at the same time imperial themes play a significant role. As previously mentioned, the poem repeats the line Roma tuum meritis decimum venerare triumphis, announcing the centrality of the renewed Roman imperialism through its repetition. It is this expansion of the Christian empire of Rome that becomes the focus as Vitalis assures that Leo will bring destruction to the Turks. An eastward expansion is inevitable: Thracia debetur nobis spatiosa Propontis / nostra fuit nostrisque venit nunc obvia regnis. / Tuque Asia ampla tuos ritus antiquaque sacra / iamdudum aspicies pietas est tanta Leonis.63 The Christian empire spreads worldwide and at its heart is the considerable pietas of Leo, recalling again Vergil’s hero and the notion of imperium sine fine. The pontiff, Vitalis claims, is the glory of the gods and master of the patria, city, and world. The supremacy of Christendom and its leader is undeniable, indeed fated. To conclude, in order to further emphasize the imperial theme, Leo X is worthy to wear the garland – saving Rome and securing the expansion of Christendom. Vitalis’ poem, in addition to its focus on imperial themes, also exhibits the hallmark of substitution. Vergil in the Renaissance was often read through the lens of epideictic rhetoric, or through the medium of praise and blame. Aeneas, distinguished by his pietas, provided the model for virtuous behavior and was to be emulated by heroes of Renaissance Rome. Leo, the hero of the poem, possesses great pietas; indeed, it is central to the expansion of the Christian empire. Further, the wearing of the garland illustrates his virtue and selflessness, for he acts as a savior of Roman lives. It is his virtuous actions, like those of Aeneas, that define him and point to the employing of substitution. The poems of Castellesi, focusing on Julius’ piety, and Casanova, emphasizing the rapid nature of Julius sparing the vanquished, discussed above provide similar examples regarding Julius. Marco Girolamo Vida’s Oda secunda to Leo X (briefly described in the second chapter) underscores the imperial themes still evident during Leo’s pontificate as well. In Vergilian fashion Vida depicts a new glorious age for Leo, in which he will hang ample spoils in the temples and magnificent triumphs will be celebrated in his honor. Vida predicts that Leo will seize many cities and urges him, Ergo age arrectam Ausoniam, et paratos / publica Europae voca ad arma

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Pax Romana, unlike Julius’ association with his ancient namesake. Casanova’s “In laudem Leonis Max. Opt.” applies here: Olim habuit Cypris sua tempora: tempora Mavors / olim habuit: sua nunc tempora Pallas habet. (BAV Vat. Lat. 2834, 13r). Vitalis, Leonem X … admiratur. “Thrace is owed to us, the spacious Sea of Marmora was ours and now friendly it comes to our realm. And you will see your ceremonies and ancient sacred rites in vast Asia for a long time; so great is the pietas of Leo.”

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reges.64 Not only is Leo assured of victory in his endeavor, it seems, but he is the true leader of Christendom, whose “vassals” – the secular kings of Europe – answer his call to expand the Christian world. All of Italy is excited, especially the young men, yet it is the author who becomes the subject of the second half of the ode. Vida himself describes how he now burns with the love of war, desiring to follow the pontiff’s lead. It becomes pleasing to hear the clanging of swords, the shrill sounds of the battle-horns and to see the troops rushing toward one another. It is for Leo and the glory of an expanding Christendom that Vida would willingly struggle against the infidel. Illustrating the lengths of his allegiance to this Christian hero Vida proclaims, Non ego pro te, laribusque, et aris / horream extremos penetrare ad Afros / non ego Xanthum galea cava po- / tare, nec Indum.65 Vida here purposefully names the far-away destinations that will eventually be conquered, each place currently held by the enemies of Christianity. The mention of the Xanthus, the river running through Troy, conjures memories of Vergil’s epic poem and reinforces the reality that the site to which Rome traced its lineage was in the hands of the infidel. Not only will Vida follow where he is called to go by war, he will perform worthy deeds against the enemies of Christ in the service of Leo: trementi / barbari tellure cadent mea sub / cuspide reges.66 Finally, he longs to be the first to overcome the enemy walls and break into the citadels – there perhaps will be another vates to sing of Leo’s triumphs throughout the world.67 Clearly referring to the opening line of the Aeneid, Vida’s ode celebrating the imperial ambitions of the papacy and Rome concludes by employing Vergilian language. Numerous examples of poems relating to Rome, but only partially associated with the papacy, also recall ancient Rome and its imperial rebirth in the Renaissance. One such example is a laud composed for Prospero Colonna by Pietro Gravina. Colonna for a time was a commander of the papal forces during the Italian Wars. Gravina opens the poem by immediately praising Colonna and linking him to the Roman past: Virtute invidiam vicisti, antiqua resurgit / Gloria, Romanus te duce vivit honos.68 Through martial feats Colonna renews 64 65 66 67

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Vida, Oda secunda, 2.21–2. “Therefore incite roused Ausonia, and call to public arms the kings of Europe prepared (for war).” Ibid., 41–44. “On behalf of you, the Lares and the altars, I will not shudder to penetrate the extremes of Africa, nor to drink from the Xanthus or Indus with my empty helmet.” Ibid., 50–52. “The barbarian kings will fall on the ground under my trembling spear.” Ibid., 53–62. Ante me haud alter vacuus timoris / audeat muros superare capti / oppidi, nemo prior obstinatas / rumpere in arces. / Forsan et vestros aliquis triumphos / dum canet vates Asiam, Africamque / cedere, et victum iuga vestra ferre / protinus orbem, / me quoque heroas memorabit inter / Maximos. Ottob. Lat. 2860, 14r. “You conquered ill-will with virtue, the ancient glory rises again, and with you as leader Roman honor lives.”

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ancient honor and the glory of imperial Rome re-appears, for he is honored favorably by the god of war. To further the bond between Colonna and imperial Rome Gravina proclaims, Nunc tibi devictis debetur laurea Gallis / aequasti veteres Prosper honore duces.69 Just as his imperial predecessors, Prospero Colonna is worthy to wear the laurel-crown for his valor in victory. Further, he is the equal of the long line of Roman victors, including the Fabii, the Caesars, and Camillus (each of these are mentioned in the underworld episode of Aeneid 6), for his defense of Italy and defeat of the barbarians. Gravina goes as far as to describe Colonna as both “Caesar-like” and “unconquered,” though the events of the Italian Wars in their entirety do not conform to Gravina’s depiction of Prospero. Short laudatory poems similar to Gravina’s were plentiful and they demonstrate how embedded the imperial ideals were in the culture of early Cinquecento Rome. A four-line poem by Antonio Tebaldeo, though not specifically imperial, highlights the Vergilian influence on Rome and Christianity. The central figure in this short poem, De Leone X Pont. Max., is God, but it is the connection to Leo that proves most significant: Sidoniis caeli rector cum mugiit agris / servitii verum praebuit indicium / nunc cum magnanimi faciem induat ille Leonis / prostratis veniam se dare velle docet.70 Since the pope is God’s representative on earth, God metaphorically assumes the form of Leo. Due to the magnanimous and pious person of Leo in Rome, God now concentrates on forgiveness. His clemency for sinners echoes the duty given to Aeneas and Rome in the Aeneid to spare the subjected. Even in what appears a purely religious matter Vergilian ideals are present. It is worth noting that these imperial themes of Vergil are found not only in the Latin poetry of the early Cinquecento. They were so pervasive that they can be observed both in prose compositions and orations delivered in a religious setting, a location seemingly ill-suited for descriptions of temporal power. The Res gestae of Pope Julius II by Lorenzo Parmenio takes up the imperial deeds of the pontiff. Parmenio describes Julius’ peace-making in Perugia and focuses specifically on his “conquest” of Bologna. Parmenio explicitly states what Julius’ deeds accomplished: … et Bononienses ea quoque formidine, ea quoque forsan calamitate iterum liberasti.71 In propagandistic fashion, Parmenio 69 70 71

Ibid., 14r. “Now with the French defeated the laurel is owed to you; you, Prosper, are made equal to the ancient leaders by your honor.” Ottob. Lat. 2860, 36r. “When the ruler of heaven groaned in the Sidonian fields he served as a true sign of servitude; now since he has assumed the form of magnanimous Leo he teaches himself to be willing to give pardon to the prostrate.” Parmenio, “… and you also freed the Bolognese from this terror, and perhaps again from this calamity.”

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claims that Julius liberated Bologna from further war and from the tyranny of the Bentivoglio, much in the same way Aeneas did for Latium (as the Aeneid was often interpreted). His glorious entry into Bologna clearly accentuates the triumphalism associated with Julius’ pontificate: Eiectis ex illorum statu Bentivolis, omnibus ex sententia pacatis, Bononiam post paucos dies incredibili omnium laetitia triumphans ingressus, per Civitatem, qua iter faciebas, strata decentibus velis adaperta, triumphalisque pompa undique disposita veterum triumphos adaequare videnbantur.72 Julius’ entrance into the city indicates a hero’s welcome and his triumph is as magnificent as those of the ancients; it is the Rome of Vergil renewed. His kindness engendered the love of the people, bringing peace and unity, which are fundamental to the practice and ultimate ends of imperium. As previously mentioned, Parmenio’s work approaches its conclusion with Julius returning to Rome in triumph, further underscoring the centrality of the imperial theme in Renaissance Rome. In texts describing the city itself the urge to speak of the Roman pontiff in imperial terms seemed only natural. Francesco Albertini’s (c.1470–1520) De Mirabilibus Novae Urbis Romae, a guidebook as well as a text dedicated to praising the rebuilt and renewed Rome of the Renaissance, is prefaced by letters of the author to Julius II that reinforce imperial ideas. In the Epistola ad Iulium II Albertini trumpets Julius’ accomplishments of several cities returning to the pristinam libertatem ecclesiae and the pope’s certain future destiny of converting the unbelievers, which has already begun under his watch in the barbarous lands of the New World.73 Further, in a brief extract entitled “De nonnullis triumphantibus,” Albertini again lauds Julius as the conqueror of tyrants and the enemies of the Church, even addressing him as Julius imperator.74 Albertini asserts that the first triumph of the pontiff was over Bologna, where he was called pater patriae, demonstrated his magnificence and liberality, and was called pater … coelorum et planetarum by the Bolognese.75 Here, unmistakably, Albertini intentionally binds Julius to Augustus, whose own destiny, as Vergil related, was to effect the Pax Romana with his semi-divine being. Julius’ second triumph was his actual triumphal entry into Rome following 72

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Ibid., “With the Bentivoglio having been thrown out from their position, with all things pacified sensibly, after a few days triumphantly you entered Bologna to the incredible happiness of all, through the city, by which you made your journey, the streets fully opened with proper awnings and the triumphal pomp arranged everywhere seemed to equal the triumphs of the ancients.” August Schmarsow, ed., Francisci Albertini Opusculum de Mirabilibus Novae Urbis Romae (Heilbronn, 1886), XIX–XX. Ibid., XXI. Ibid., XXII.

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his successful campaign, which rivaled the triumphs of the ancients. Lastly, the third triumph erit maximum de infidelibus ipsis ac perfidis Maumethanis.76 Conquest over the “other” in the East in the future will not only be the greatest of his triumphs, but it will also lead to the surpassing of the ancient empire and the creation of a uniform world in which peace and Christianity reign. Even papal oratory in the early Cinquecento demonstrated the ubiquitous nature of the imperial themes. Two of the orations delivered by Cristoforo Marcello specifically illustrate that imperial notions found their way even into sacred oratory. His oration on All Saints’ Day (1511) imagines a triumphal entry of Christ into heaven, which exceeds even the renowned processions of ancient Rome. The imperator Christ, dressed in imperial garb and crowned, ultimately gives peace and leads mankind. Among the many following Christ in the procession is Julius II. In his delivery Marcello proclaims that Julius has done more than anyone to increase the imperium of the Church, praising him as a second Caesar and celebrating his martial campaigns that freed Italy and dominated the barbarians. It is his duty, Marcello declares, to defeat the enemies of God.77 Evident here again are the Vergilian epic themes of increased imperium, destruction of enemies (in the East), and the final outcome of everlasting peace. Secondly, Marcello’s oration to the fourth session of the Fifth Lateran Council (10 December, 1512) further references certain imperial themes. The central thrust of the oration is the elucidation of the pontiff’s duties as leader.78 Yet for our purposes it is telling that within the oration Marcello notes that Italy has been liberated by means of Julius’ righteous wars. He refers to Julius as pontifex invictissimus and asserts, just as in his oration on All Saints’ Day, that Julius has enlarged the Church’s imperium more than anyone through his many just conflicts. Julius, the head of all people, has acted as protector in war and must be care-taker of his flock in peace. He must help the faithful and deserving, while removing the evil and seditious, even if it requires, he declares, in eos armis et potentissimis utere. By performing as a most worthy princeps a Golden Age will return. Marcello concludes his oration thus: Redibunt aurea saecula, tuoque flante spiritu effluent aquae, et irroratione tua terra pinguescet.79

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Ibid., XXIII. “[The third triumph] will be the greatest over the infidels themselves and the faithless Muslims.” For a more detailed description of this oration, see Stinger, 242. See Stinger, 238–9. Johannes Dominicus Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio (Graz, 1901), XXXII, 762. “The Golden Age will return, and the waters will flow out with your blowing breath of life, and the land will grow fertile with your bedewing.”

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While these two orations provide a glimpse into the omnipresence of the imperial themes outside of neo-Latin poetry, there are numerous similar examples in sacred oratory, including Blosius Palladius’ oration on the statue of Leo X – discussed in chapter 2  – in which he describes the renewal and augmentation of the ancient imperium, the representation of popes as emperors, and Leo X being the conveyer of peace. All of this is discussed against the backdrop of the typical Renaissance Christian understanding of history which imagines a terrestrial empire mirroring the heavenly one. John D’Amico also rightly pointed out that Palladius stressed that Leo’s statue was located in the heart of imperial Rome  – the Campidoglio, thus highlighting the imperial connections.80 Indeed, the Campidoglio was the umbilicus for urban development in the Renaissance. Evoking the ancient imperial ideal, the Capitoline in the Renaissance likewise symbolized Rome’s renewed imperium. This location, too, was the ancient seat of the Sibylline books, which foretold the glorious destiny of the Romans, the same destiny to which Renaissance Romans believed they were the heir. Even the Capitoline festivities in September, 1513, which witnessed the granting of Roman citizenship to the brother and nephew of Pope Leo X, celebrated the global Christian imperium of Rome.81 The epic poem of Vida, the Christiad, again provides a suitable conclusion for discussion of imperial themes in Renaissance Rome (his lost Juliad would likely have illustrated these themes quite well, too). In Christ’s Ascension he entered heaven to the jubilation of angels, much like a Roman triumph.82 Rome, in addition, is to become the predetermined umbilicus of imperial Christendom. A fundamental notion underlying Vida’s work is the expansion of Christian world. Centered in Rome, Christianity will inevitably conquer the entire world, commencing with the Word being preached by the apostles. Christianizing the Vergilian idea of imperium sine fine, Vida explicitly states that Rome will be the

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D’Amico, 137. See Charles Stinger, “The Campidoglio as the Locus of Renovatio Imperii in Renaissance Rome” in Charles M. Rosenberg, ed., Art and Politics in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy: 1250–1500 (University of Notre Dame Press, 1990), 135–156. For the theatrical presentations that highlight Roman imperium, triumphalism, and the connections between Rome and Florence at the festivities, see Fabrizio Cruciani, Il teatro del Campidoglio e le feste romane del 1513 (Milano: Il polifio, 1969). A similar triumphal scene is imagined in Sannazaro’s De partu virginis, although the influence of the Book of Ezechiel is also evident. Here Christ leads the prophets and elders out of the depths of the underworld, who lift their victorious standards in the heavenly fields with shouts of joy. Christ leads the procession on a chariot – the quadriga Christi – and his royal face expresses clemency (1.358–77). His chariot is even hung with the spoils of the pallid kingdom (1.390).

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seat of Christendom and that it will not rest until the world is subject to it.83 Rome, directed by the papacy which has the power to rule mercifully and wield spiritual power over all people, is destined to become the supreme imperial power. Bringing peace, justice, and the message of Christianity to all nations is the ultimate goal of “Roman imperialism” in the Renaissance, and the one to which the early Cinquecento popes aspired with the consistent encouragement from Roman humanists. As is evident from the works of Nagonius, Castellesi, Vida, and others, the poets of Renaissance Rome refused to accept any other possible interpretation of Rome and its empire from Vergil than the optimistic reading. As a consequence of ignorance, their texts regularly celebrated Renaissance Rome as destined for imperial glory through papal rule, the destruction of rival faiths, and inevitable world domination. Whether the Roman humanists perceived pessimism (or “other voices”) in Vergil’s epic we cannot be sure; we can only be certain that their Vergilian-inspired works showed no trace of it. 83

Christiad, 1.929. “Nec nisi subiecto passim sibi desinet orbe.”

Chapter 5

Fatum Romae For Renaissance humanists the city of Rome had an undeniable destiny. The Eternal City possessed a timeless sacred imperium. The bonds between the ancient Empire and its heir, the Roman Church, were unbreakable. Just as Rome had ruled over the greatest of empires in the ancient world, so too would Rome under the guidance of the papacy be destined to hold sway over the world and, illustrating the typical Renaissance quanto magis theme, over the spiritual domain as well. The empire which Renaissance humanists celebrated transcended this world, reaching heaven, for the popes – more powerful than the Caesars – possessed the keys to the celestial gates. Indeed the hierarchy of heaven was reflected on earth; God ruled the heavens, just as the pope governed the earth. Roma Aeterna was divinely guided and transmitted the true faith, thus its destiny was secure and ultimately not subject to Fortune or to the whims of humankind (though human beings could labor to fulfill this destiny as part of their dignity). As Stinger has pointed out, the Ecclesia and the Urbs had not always been so bound together in the outlook of the papal court, but in the early Cinquecento this was undoubtedly the case.1 The notion of a renewal of Rome took root firmly during the later Quattrocento when Roman intellectuals consistently made allusions to Rome’s past and employed language symbolic of the bond between Christian Rome and the ancient empire, but the idea of a sacred and incontrovertible destiny fully matured and reached its pinnacle during the early Cinquecento. Ingrid Rowland succinctly describes the humanists’ role in the promotion of this destiny: “Developing this idea of eternal Rome, in turn, became the special province of humanist scholars, who could provide apposite allusions from the past, resurrect appropriate heroes to inspire every occasion, and do so with professional cogency  …”2 Roman humanists celebrated the city as the center of God’s universe, ordered and harmonious, reflective of the divine, the image of heaven. The destiny of the papacy, with popes being providentially-elected and exercising divine power as the agents of a superior God, was to extend an even greater Christian 1 Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, 293–94. In describing Lapo da Castiglionchio’s early Quattrocento dialogue he notes the divorce of the destiny of the Church and the actual city, but sees them clearly linked in the Cinquecento, as evidenced by the orations on the Golden Age and the Papal-Imperial alliance delivered by Egidio da Viterbo. 2 Rowland, 43.

© Jeffrey A. Glodzik, 2023 | doi:10.1163/978900452

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Roman imperium world-wide, just as Roman imperium, granted by the lesser pagan gods in the Aeneid, was to be spread by the ancients. Yet the Vergilian influence on the Renaissance notion of Roman destiny was even more pervasive. In addition to an expanding imperium, Roman destiny encompassed the Vergilian themes of rebirth, renewal, and an incipient Golden Age. Roman humanists assimilated each of these themes into a Christian framework, thus providing the context for a greater destiny for Rome, one that was both terrestrial and celestial. This was often accomplished via the transformation type of encapsulation. Phrases or verses from Vergil were placed, unchanged, directly into the texts of Roman humanists and were thus integrated into the reception sphere and recontextualized. Vergil’s words became fundamental to an assumed Christian destiny of Renaissance Rome. By looking once again to Egidio da Viterbo the Renaissance understanding of Roman destiny will become apparent. His letter to Antonio Zoccoli and the Roman people (composed between 1503 and 1508) is not so much a letter as a transcript of a sermon, as John W. O’Malley has persuasively argued.3 In this text Egidio relates man’s dignity to the destiny of Rome itself. He discusses man’s divinization by means of the love of God and importance of love for the existence of humanity. He then relates man’s godliness to the destiny of Rome, which will be fulfilled with the assistance of the papacy. Notably, Egidio quotes or references Vergil fifteen times throughout the oration, over one-third of which are from Aeneid 6. Of course, this is an indication of the general interest in the book in the Renaissance but it should also be noted that Roman destiny is a central concern of it. While the other themes present in this work are important to the text, and emblematic of Renaissance thought, it is his explication of Rome’s destiny that concerns us. This portion of the oration commences with the Spirit speaking, caput caeli Christus, caput terrarum Roma, Roma princeps, Christus princeps. Si is sponsus caelestis sponsam in terris quaerit, principem princeps ducat, rex reginam, terrarum imperatricem caeli atque terrarum imperator. Mea es, mea, o septimontia Roma!4 Rome is chosen as Christ’s bride, providing a sacred 3 John W. O’Malley, “Man’s Dignity, God’s Love, and the Destiny of Rome: A Text of Giles of Viterbo,” Viator 3 (1972), 391. 4 Francis X. Martin, Friar, Reformer and Scholar: the Life and Work of Giles of Viterbo (Oxford University Press, 1992), 217. I employ Martin’s English translations for all quotations from Egidio’s sermons, unless otherwise indicated. The sermons appear as Appendix II, pp. 203– 336, in his book. “Christ is head of heaven, Rome head of the world; Rome is ruler, Christ is ruler. If this celestial bridegroom seeks a bride in the world, let ruler marry ruler, king marry queen, the emperor of heaven and earth marry the empress of the world. You are mine, mine, O seven mountains of Rome!”

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destiny for the city. Christ, a new Romulus, also welcomed twelve doves to the city, bearing olive branches as a symbol that Rome will rule the world in peace. The Tiber River, flowing through Rome, will be a vessel for a religious stream and will be called the River of Love. To the Tiber the Spirit states, Christo caelique ministeriis do, dico, dedico, Iordanisque vim, maiestatem, potestam trado.5 The Tiber itself becomes a sacred river, furthering the foundation of Rome’s destiny. The Spirit then commands the river to be a protector and teacher of God’s holy mortals.6 Having become Christ’s bride and her river being sacred, Rome has been made eternal, living forever. Then Egidio points Rome to her great destiny: Imperato ergo non terrae marive modo sed et caelo; claves accipe. Pande cum lubet caelum, cum lubet rursus occlude.7 Rome’s ancient destiny of possessing far-reaching imperium continues, but now it is her sacred destiny also to rule heaven since the city has become the umbilicus of the Christian world. Rome will certainly be God’s seat, for Jerusalem (equal to Rome) has fallen forever in Asia. Rome will be made a vessel of divine authority, into which the salt of the earth will be placed. Through God’s love Rome will be restored as ruler of heaven and earth, the kingdom of all ages.8 Through the Spirit Egidio emphasizes the eternal power of Rome by quoting the poeta-theologus, Vergil: Robur regnumque nostrum regnum esto omnium saeclorum, cuius nec metas rerum nec tempora pono.9 The Vergilian text is here encapsulated into Egidio’s text and recontextualized. No longer does it simply refer to a terrestrial empire. It now refers to an inevitable Roman destiny that describes a limitless power and authority which is both terrestrial and celestial.10 Papal Rome’s destiny, as Egidio explicates, is greater than that of the ancient city. For Rome, the chosen center for God’s kingdom, victory is assured so long as Julius fulfills his destiny. The cries of the Church must be heard by Rome and Julius, for all that would remain without their action would be despair and ruin (of which there has already been enough). God invokes Julius, God’s heir 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ibid., 217. “I give, appoint, dedicate you to Christ and to the ministers of heaven, and I hand over to you the strength, majesty, and power of the Jordan River.” Ibid., 217. Ibid., 218. “Therefore receive the keys and you shall rule not only earth and sea, but also heaven. Open heaven when you wish and close it again when you wish.” Ibid., 218. Ibid., 218. “You, however, shall be the power of our kingdom and of the kingdom of all ages, whose ‘ages and end I do not establish’.” The bolded text is taken word for word from Aeneid, 1.278. Egidio similarly quotes Aeneid 6.851–3 directly in the conclusion to his sermon De aurea aetate, exhorting Julius to accept his divinely-appointed destiny of imperium and clemency.

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on earth, to undertake the work worthy of his soul. Egidio admonishes, Salem adhibeas, putrescentia cures, collapsa instaures, errata castiges, corrigas inversa, revoces antiquata …11 While this is partially a call to Julius for reforming the Church, at the center of his exhortation is the idea of renewal which is central to the destiny of Rome. Egidio finally claims that Elisha, Peter, and Rome urge this to be done and that God himself velit … ut eo duce arma moveas ac felicissimus triumphum reportes in Domini Dei nostri.12 Not surprisingly, the fulfillment of the prophesied destiny of Rome is also saturated with imperial allusions. In this text Egidio reveals the typical meaning of prophecy for Renaissance Rome. Through Scripture and ancient wisdom he has uncovered the hidden sacred destiny of Rome as the seat of God’s incipient kingdom. Egidio, in contrast to the characteristic concentration on the person of the pope, focuses more on the role Rome will play than the papacy. Egidio not only explains Rome’s destiny as the focal point of God’s kingdom, but he even addresses the seven hills13 and proclaims the role of the Tiber as God’s vessel. Julius’ duty is certainly important – to reform and prepare Rome (and perhaps here man’s dignity is manifest, for man has a worthy role in the reform of the Church and all of humanity, aiding in God’s ultimate plan) – yet the glory of God focuses on this divinely-elected city. Egidio’s optimism is also typical of Renaissance eschatological prophecy. God will come, bringing eternal love and peace to the world as his chosen city reigns supremely. The Vergilian poetry of the early Cinquecento, too, was fertile ground for the celebration of Rome’s destiny. During the pontificate of Julius II poets seemed to focus most on imperial themes. This is not to say that the poets under Julius did not take up other Vergilian aspects of Roman destiny  – Girolamo Borgia’s Ecloga Felix touches upon themes of renewal and the Golden Age in the Christian epoch14 – but the greatest flourishing of Latin poetry in the 11 12 13 14

Martin, 219. “You should apply salt and preserve things that are decaying; you should build back up what has collapsed, correct what is faulty, reform the distorted, revoke the antiquated …” Ibid., 219–220. “wills that you bear arms under this general and most happily bring back victory to the house of our Lord God.” Ibid., 216. See the discussion of this text in chapter 3. Another example from the pontificate of Julius is Faustus Capiferreus Magdalenus’ poem celebrating the Apollo Belvedere, in which he states, Per te respirant leges et munera pacis / tuque urbi atque orbi invigilas … Per te mihique redeunt animi et sibi Roma resurgit. [“Through you (Julius) the laws and gifts of peace recover / and you watch over the city and the world … Through you souls return to me and Rome rises up again.”] For the whole text see Brummer, Statue Court in the Vatican Belvedere, 225. Evident here is the renewal of the city of Rome, an age of peace and justice, and the notion of the papacy ruling over the entire world in an imperial fashion.

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early Cinquecento, in terms of the elucidation of a Roman destiny that encompassed multiple Vergilian themes, took place during the pontificate of his successor, Leo X. The dedication and introduction of Andrea Fulvio’s Antiquaria Urbis (1513) provide an excellent illustration of a neo-Latin poem that embraces the Vergilian ideas of Roman destiny. Fulvio (1470–1527), a humanist, poet, and antiquarian, also published his Illustrium Imagines (1517) on numismatics and is further known for providing Raphael with a tour and extensive knowledge of the ruins of the ancient city, which the artist sketched.15 The Antiquaria Urbis is a 3,100 line hexameter topographical poem which the author dedicated to Leo X, yet it is the dedication and an introductory section on the history of Rome that are germane to the matter at hand, for they reveal the depth of the Vergilian influence on the expectations of Rome’s destiny. The ninety-seven line “panegyricus” to Leo that opens the text assumes Vergilian ideas regarding the Golden Age and eternal rule. Fulvio clearly places the pontiff and the Church in the Vergilian framework of Roman destiny: Tu siquidem angelicus: divino numine pastor Promissus toties nuper demissus olympo Per quem Saturni renovantur saecula magni, Aureaque in lucem revocata videbitur aetas, Per te summe parens Ecclesia sancta resurgit Iustitiae: pacisque decus: secundaque rerum Copia: et aeterno concordia regna tenore …16 Leo appears to be the long-awaited shepherd, the “pastor angelicus,”17 divinelysent from the heavens to renew the Church and the Golden Age. Fulvio obviously references the age of Saturn, recalling the Saturnia regna of Vergil, and it is

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The greatest attributes of the Roman Empire, clearly outlined in the work of Vergil and believed present in the Pax Romana of Augustus, are reborn and made even greater because of their fusion with Christianity. Marcia B. Hall, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Raphael (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 184. Andrea Fulvio, Antiquaria Urbis (1513), “Panegyricus” lines 38–44. “If indeed you are angelic: the shepherd promised so often by divine God, certainly sent down from Olympus, through whom the age of great Saturn is renewed, and the Golden Age will seem recalled into the light. Through you, highest father, the Holy Church rises again, and the glory of justice and peace: and the favorable abundance of things: and the harmonious kingdom with an eternal duration …” The prophecy of the Angelic Pope, whose origins can be found in Joachim of Fiore’s theology of history, continued to be influential in Rome during the Renaissance period. See Marjorie Reeves (ed.), Prophetic Rome in the High Renaissance Period (Oxford: Clarendon

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the age in which the Church attains its highest glory, reigning over a period of peace and justice eternally. Fulvio continues on, proclaiming that God has chosen Rome as his seat and that Leo is the focal point of the ultimate fulfillment of Roman destiny. He describes Leo in unmistakable Vergilian terms: Nam Leo magnanimus sollers astutus et acer: / supplicibus clemens: pravisque acerrimus hostis / mox Lateranensem de more profectus ad aedem: / more triumphantis pompa comitatus opima: / heroum et magno qui convenit ordine rerum.18 Much like Vergil stated in reference to the Romans (Aeneid 6.853), Leo is merciful to the suppliant and is a certain foe of all evil-doers.19 Further, the pontiff plays the role of triumphator, emphasizing the imperial aspect of the city, and also that of an agent of renewal, as he assumes leadership of the Church council that will reinvigorate and strengthen Christianity. Fulvio proceeds to note the pontiff’s largesse and portrays him as the instrument of renewal of the Augustan Age, again alluding to the Golden Age and a universal peace: Parta quies orbi: nunc aurea conditur aetas. Mars silet: et positis belli Tritonia signis Exercet calamos: sopitaque tempore longo Excitat ingenia ad certamina docta sororum: Grata repromittens Augusti tempora et illas Maecenatis opes et praemia vatibus ampla Principe iam rerum frenos moderante Leone. Unde triumphales titulis insignibus arcus Tot tibi praeclari musarum munere surgunt Atque poetarum resonantia carmina passim.20

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Press, 1992). Reeves also provides a brief overview of the medieval history of the prophecy in Italy, 7–12. Fulvio, lines 67–71. “For Leo is magnanimous, skillful, clever, and sharp: merciful to the suppliant and a most keen enemy of the wicked. Soon by custom having proceeded to the Lateran building: with the conduct of one triumphing, accompanied by the rich pomp of heroes and he harmonizes with the great order of things.” The consistent reference to this particular passage of the Aeneid demonstrates the centrality of Vergil in the Roman worldview and perception of the city’s destiny. The insistence on usage of this passage was not confined to the early Cinquecento. In 1481 the medal of Sixtus IV commemorating the liberation of Otranto from the Turks is inscribed with the words PARCERE SUBIECTIS ET DEBELLARE SUPERBOS. For an image of the medal, see Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, 116. This medal provides an excellent example of encapsulation that is non-textual. Fulvio, lines 79–88. “Peace is brought forth to the world: now the Golden Age is established. Mars is silent: and Minerva with the signs of war placed aside employs the reedpipes: and she rouses the talents slumbering for a long time to a learned contest of the sisters: promising the pleasing times of Augustus and the wealth of Maecenas and ample rewards for the poets with the leader Leo now controlling the reins of the state. Whence

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Recalling Vergil’s Eclogues to an even greater degree, Fulvio claims that now with wars falling silent the talents of the reed-pipes and the genius of the poets will struggle for glory. The ultimate prize is the return of the Augustan Age under Leo. With Minerva now reigning (as Casanova had so cleverly announced) the poets could win renown and wealth, celebrating the glories of the new age. Their carmina would be heard everywhere, providing the background to the magnificent sights of the new imperial arches (likely alluding to those erected for Leo’s possesso).21 The age of Leo would not only be the Golden Age, but would also envelop the Vergilian ideals of Augustan renewal and limitless imperial power. The dedication then fittingly concludes with another allusion to the renewal of the Augustan Age: the entire world experiences an eternal peace as the doors of Janus are firmly closed. The introduction to Fulvio’s work, a very short history of Rome, binds together the various Vergilian ideas of Roman destiny. This brief history begins with a discussion of the Saturnia regna and then re-tells the history of Latium, including the characters of Aeneas and Evander, as was related by Vergil. Fulvio refers to the city as terrarum caput orbis and repeats the Vergilian phrase that it was granted imperium sine fine. He then describes in detail the fate of Rome with the Church at its head: Nunc ubi divino fundata Ecclesia nutu Maiestatis adhuc retinet vestigia priscae, Summi ubi Pontifices; Romanaque curia floret; Divini cultus praecepta datura per orbem Cui clarem semperque nitens per saecula nomen, Summa ubi regnorum: rerumque aeterna potestas Omnibus in terris Romana potentia fulgens, Delitiis opibus: gemmis praedives: et auro Dives agris: nemorumque iugis et saltibus amplis, Cum Cerere et baccho certans uberrima nutrix Terra bovum pecorisque ferax et graminis alti: Ubertate virens: et aquarum uligine pinguis.22

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so many beautiful triumphal arches with distinguished titles rise for you by the gift of the Muses and the songs of the poets resound far and wide.” This refers to the pontiff’s procession of proclaiming spiritual and political rights (a ceremonial passage) through the city, traveling from St. Peter’s to the Lateran. For Leo’s particularly elaborate possesso, see Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, 54–57. Fulvio, “Urbs Roma”, lines 60–71. “Now where the Church was founded by divine will it still retained the vestiges of its ancient majesty, where the highest pontiffs and the Roman Curia flourish; it will be given the command of divine care through the world, whose illustrious name always shines through the ages, where the highest eternal power of kingdoms and states is, Roman power gleams in all the lands. It is very rich with elegant wealth, gems, and gold; rich in fields, in the chains of groves and in ample pastures, the most

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The Church has taken up the mantle of ancient empire and will rule over the entire world with justice and piety. The very name Rome and its power echoes throughout all lands eternally, demonstrating its imperial destiny. Further, the city is a land of plenty and seeming perfection. Rome is wealthy not only in material goods, but in land, livestock, and nature itself. It possesses a brilliant and indisputable destiny, but nevertheless it is a process of the renewal of past glories ranging from an age of perfection to imperial rule. The use of encapsulation by Fulvio is also evident in the text. For example, Fulvio employs the phrases imperium sine fine (Aen. 1.279) and per saecula nomen (Aen. 6.235) and both are recontextualized to relate to a new notion of Roman destiny. The first refers to the promise made to Venus by Jupiter regarding Roman destiny and is now applied to the assumed superior heir of the Roman Empire, Christian Rome. The second refers to Mount Misenus being named eternally for the Trojan trumpeter. Fulvio here bounds the phrase to the city itself. Its illustrious name will last forever, for Rome – the seat of Christianity and led by the pontiffs – will rule the world by divine favor. In both cases the Vergilian phrases are placed into a new context and are provided with an altered meaning, applicable specifically to Renaissance Rome. Even minor poems, although lacking the flourishes of a longer and more polished work like Fulvio’s, similarly emphasized the Vergilian notions of Roman destiny. Guido Postumo Silvestri composed an elegy that is a striking example of the optimistic conceptions of Roman destiny, especially during the pontificate of Leo X. Silvestri was born in Pesaro in 1479 and was educated at Padua. He was appointed professor at Bologna, but was quickly expelled in 1506, following Julius II’s victory, because of his relationship with the Bentivoglio. Silvestri also had considerable talents as a military commander, but was captured, it appears, on more than one occasion by papal forces. He was eventually befriended by Leo X, for whom he composed multiple works of praise, in direct contrast to his evident dislike of Alexander VI and Julius II. A book of his elegies was published in 1524, three years after his death.23 His elegy “Leoni X Pont. Opt. Maximo” immediately praises Leo for his role in the providential destiny of Rome: Arbiter imperii, quo principe, Romula tellus / priscaque pacatus saecula mundus agit, / nam (quo oriere italo fortunatissimus orbi) / fulsit in exortus Solque Venusque tuos. / Quae tibi, quae felix aetas non cedit avorum?24 Rising from Rome, the greatest empire, is Leo. It

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fertile land – its nurse – contending between Ceres and Bacchus, and fruitful of cattle, sheep and tall grasses: green with abundance and rich with the moisture of waters.” For a more detailed portrait of Silvestri, see William Roscoe’s The Life and Pontificate of Leo X (London: 1827), 216–19. Guido Postumo Silvestri, Elegiarum libri (Bologna: Hieron. De Benedictus, 1524), lines 1–5. “The Master of empire – the land of Romulus – with this leader the pacified world leads

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is through him that Rome’s destiny is truly fulfilled; the world has been made peaceful and the wondrous ages of the distant past will return. Already Silvestri refers to the ancient ages (an unambiguous evocation of the Golden Age) and a pacified world (the definitive objective of imperium) when describing Rome’s destiny in Leo’s age. These subjects, central to the poetry of Vergil, are not employed accidentally; they define the contemporary Roman destiny in terms of the ancient destiny. Silvestri then continues to mention the rising of temples, the repressing of the rage of war, and the end of an iron age, all the result of the destiny of Leo, who is addressed Magne hominum rector, at Rome. Yet perhaps most telling is a single line in the elegy: Fortunaeque potes ponere frena tuae.25 Leo’s destiny, and Rome’s by extension, is a sacred destiny. Just as Aeneas’ destiny and that of ancient Rome were predetermined by the gods in Vergil, so too is the destiny of Leo in Christian Rome. The pontiff is not subject to human affairs and the slings and arrows of Fortuna: his destiny and Rome’s is one etched in stone by a far greater power. An anonymous poem, “Ad urbem de eodem Leone”, continues to emphasize the themes of Roman destiny under Leo. The author quickly notes the appearance of Rome with her leader: sub decimo clara Leone micas.26 There is good reason for Rome’s brilliance. After a brief description of war and bloodshed, Rome has commanded the violence to cease. Due to Leonine Rome, altaque per terras pax renovata foret27 and even the heavens will be renewed. Yet some of the concluding verses of the poem underscore the Roman destiny under Leo: Nunc te Gallus amat, nunc te veneratur Iberus / Germanus gelido quique sub axe iacet / sponte tibi totus sese modo subiicit orbis.28 Again, Rome is the center of a period of renewal, a universal peace is brought to the world, and all peoples willingly subject themselves to the Eternal City. The central themes of the Renaissance understanding of Vergil – renewal, a Golden Age, and unending imperium – are all present, proving yet again the ubiquity of the Vergilian ideals. Regardless of background, poets who came to Rome continued to express the sense of destiny associated with the city on the Tiber and the papacy. The poet Francesco Maria Molza (1489–1544), who interestingly later made

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out the ancient ages, for (most blessed, rise up from the Italian world) Sol and Venus gleam in your rising. What happy age of your ancestors does not yield to you?” Ibid., line 18. “And you are able to restrain your own fortune.” BAV Vat. Lat. 2836, 320v. “You shine brightly under Leo X.” BAV Vat. Lat. 2836, 320r, line 12. “The lofty peace will be renewed throughout the lands.” Ibid., lines 15–17. “Now the Frenchman loves you, now the Spaniard reveres you, the German who lies in the icy open air [does], the whole world willingly subjects itself only to you.”

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a translation of the Aeneid into Italian using blank verse, employed Vergilian themes and language in his poem “Ad Leonem X Pont. Max.” He was born in Modena and as a young man he went to Rome in 1505 first in the service of cardinal Ippolito de’Medici and then of cardinal Alessandro Farnese. He belonged to the Sienese Academy and also various literary sodalities in Rome. Although he may be best known for his pastoral poem La Ninfa tiberina, published in 1537, he also composed a significant amount of Latin verse.29 Molza’s 102-line poem centers mostly on Vergilian pastoral imagery and themes,30 but the notion of the destiny of Rome under Leo is significant. He addresses the pontiff, recognizing his importance: Te decet ingentes rerum Leo Maxime curas / excipere atque orbi prospicere inde tuo.31 It is the responsibility – indeed the destiny – of the pope to assume the duties of the state and care for the entire world, over which he has complete authority. The person of Leo at Rome has an extraordinary destiny and it is this that Molza intends to proclaim: Ipse ego victrici redimitus tempora lauru Te duce quae redeunt aurea saecla canam. Auxeris ut pace Italiam, violentaque bella Sustuleris, Musas tunc meminisse decet: Utque via immitis timeat descendere sacra Parthus, et inviso subdere colla iugo. Ut trepident Tanais, ignotaque flumina Nili, Ut paveat quisquis ultima Bactra colit. Haec ego quae pulsae respondent undique valles: Et dulci referat aura benigna sono.32 The Vergilian themes of the Golden Age and peace through conquest are immediately linked to Leo. Molza is already crowned with the laurel wreath by 29 30 31 32

Enrico Malato (ed.), Storia della Letteratura Italiana: Vol. IV, Il primo Cinquecento (Roma: Salerno Editrice, 1996), 622–23. His use of Vergilian phrases is especially noticeable. “Inflabit calamos … leves” recalling Ecl. 5.2 and “distenta … ubera” recalling Ecl. 4. 21–2 are good examples. BAV Vat. Lat. 5227, 179r, lines 13–14. “It is proper that you, great Leo, take up the enormous cares of the state and then take care of your world.” BAV Vat. Lat. 5227, 180v, lines 31–40. “I myself, wreathed with the laurel of the victor, will sing of the times, with you as leader, when the Golden Age returns. You will have endured violent wars so that you could expand Italy in peace, then it is proper to remember the Muses: that the cruel Parthian fears to walk down the Sacred Way, and to subject his neck to the hated yoke. That the unknown rivers of the Don and the Nile tremble, and anyone dwelling in utmost Bactra quakes. These valleys, which are beaten, reply everywhere: and the kind heavens echo with the sweet sound.”

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the victor, and as a favorite of Leo he seemingly plays the role of a Vergil for his Augustus. He announces – indeed ‘sings of’ like Vergil – the introduction of the Golden Age under Leo. The pontiff, having suffered through war, will ultimately increase the empire. An obvious link is made to Augustus and the Pax Romana. The enemies of Rome are paraded through the streets of Rome and the faraway lands tremble at the power of the new Rome. Molza’s reference to ultima Bactra further solidifies the link to Augustus and Vergil, recalling Octavian’s victory over Antony and his “Egyptian wife” at Actium.33 Here again the phrase taken directly from Vergil and encapsulated in Molza’s text is intended to fit the context of a new Roman destiny. Further, the phrase te duce – copied from Ecl. 4.13 and typically employed by Renaissance poets – centers it on Leo X. The destiny is thoroughly Vergilian: increased imperium, the return of the Golden Age, and a renewal of the ancient glory of Rome. However, the triumph of a Christian faith led by Leo X is now the core of the destiny. Molza completes the idea of a Roman destiny under Leo X by describing how far-reaching his “prophecy” as vates will be: Stabunt pastores, et me tua facta canentem / gaudentes variis plausibus excipient.34 The shepherds, dwelling a great distance from Rome – just as those in Vergil’s Eclogues, are overjoyed at his words and the destiny of mighty Rome. Molza, too, will be the recipient of praise following the accomplishments of the divinely-chosen pontiff. Even those beyond Rome will be amazed at the new superior Roman way of life and will spread the prophetic words of Molza regarding Leo and Rome throughout the world, indicating an ever-increasing imperium. Pierio Valeriano’s “Leoni Decimo” also emphasizes the destiny of Rome under the stewardship of Leo. The work contains religious themes and focuses on the Medici family, but the destiny of Rome and the Medici pope comprise a smaller, yet significant portion of text. Valeriano begins querying, Cui sumpsi citharam in manus?35 His answer is emphatic: Certe non alius meum, / curis aeque animum dulcibus occupat, / atque is, qui pater urbium / non falso a populis nomine dicitur, / qui Romam imperio tenet / aequo, praeesse piis quem voluit Deus.36 Valeriano speaks of Leo X – reigning at Rome  – as both chosen by 33 34 35 36

See Aeneid, 8.687–88. BAV Vat. Lat. 5227, 180v, lines 41–42. “The shepherds will stand rejoicing, and will receive me singing of your deeds with various applause.” Benedicti Lampridii necnon Io. Baptista Amalthei Carmina (bound with Valeriano, Pierio … Amorum Libri V) [Venice, 1550] 24r (renumbered). “For whom do I take up the lyre in my hands?” Ibid., 24r. “Certainly no other occupies my mind equally with sweet cares, and he, who is not called falsely ‘father of the city’ by the people, who holds Rome with favorable imperium, whom God desires to preside over all the holy.”

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God and also ruling with an imperium supported by the people. He is the one whom the poet esteems most highly. The reason for his admiration, following a description of the fortunes of the Medici family, is made manifest: Leo will fulfill the sacred destiny of Rome. Cum Rex Aetheriae domus, Cui curae soboles Romula maxime, Sceptrum dive Leo tibi Acceptum penitus detulit in gregem, Tot virtutibus ut tuis, Se se Roma iterum tolleret, et decus Priscum agnosceret inclyta, Ut secura bonum degeret ocium. Augusti alite Caesaris, Ut sanctis regeres consiliis pios, Et Turcam quateres metu Nunc, bellis alio tempore perderes. Felix Aeneadum genus, Felices reliqui, quos regis ac foves.37 At once the passage binds the fate of Rome with God, underscoring the sacred and unalterable destiny of the city and its leader. The heavenly king entrusts the scepter to Leo so that he may rule over the Romans, descended from their founder, and the whole world. Leo himself is described as god-like and virtuous, mirroring the person of Augustus, in whose reflection he will rule the renewed empire. Indeed it is through Leo that Rome will rise up again and regain her ancient magnificence; the destiny of the city and its glorious leader are inextricably bound. The pontiff will defeat the Turks and produce a lasting peace. Having been divinely-favored, the Romans, the “blessed race of Aeneas,” stand to reign over all the world. According to Valeriano, Roman destiny again envelops the major Vergilian themes. The city is renewed and the empire knows no bounds. The enemies of Rome and God will be defeated and the blessed race, with its roots traced back to Aeneas and led by the holy pontiff Leo, will usher 37

Ibid., 25r–v. “Since the king of the heavenly abode, whose care is the progeny of Romulus, handed over to you, greatest divine Leo, the scepter received into the flock, with so many of your virtues, Rome could raise herself again; and renowned know her ancient glory, so that, untroubled, she might pass the time in fine leisure. Nourish so that you may rule the holy with the sacred advice of Augustus Caesar, and now shake the Turk with fear, and do away with wars in another time. Blessed race of Aeneas, I leave behind the blessed peoples, over whom you rule and favor.”

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in an everlasting peace. The poem later concludes with an apparent exhortation to Leo to fulfill his destiny: Non quisquis spatiis sudat Olympicis, / veloces agitans equos, / pulchris iuncta refert tempora frondibus.38 Leo is encouraged to put forth significant effort, for he will fulfill his destiny as the divinely-elected leader of Rome’s renewal. He is destined to wear the crown, signifying imperial victory, and introduce the new aurea saecula. Illustrating the ubiquity of the notion of Roman destiny, one can even encounter it in the unwaveringly religious poems celebrating the Virgin in the Coryciana. This should not seem too unusual since the Vergilian destiny of Rome was understood in Christian terms during this period. The poem In Virginem Deiparum ad Corycium Hymnus by the humanist Delius Hieronymus Alexandrius Romanus concludes with a reference to Roman destiny that is willed through the Virgin. While the majority of this hexameter text focuses on the Virgin, and eventually the pious Corycius who gave the altar of St. Anne’s to the people, it is the final eight lines that prove most significant: … culmen viguit si maxima semper Relligionis et est modo culmen Roma Deorum, Sique pii quicquam, qui te cecinere, poetae Profecere suis numeris, iam respice, Virgo, Romanas arces, vasta et Capitolia passim Obsita nunc dumis sivestribus, aurea quondam Respice, Diva! Iterum rerum moderetur habenas, Terrarumque orbis solitum sit Roma theatrum.39 In a purely Christian framework the poet calls upon the Virgin to allow Rome to fulfill its destiny. If the verses of the poets, here nearly understood as prayers, had any effect on the Virgin Mother, she should assist Rome in her return to glory. Even though the author describes contemporary Rome as less than glorious – even desolate – in Vergilian terms,40 the poem concludes with a note of optimism. The Virgin could provide for Rome, permitting her a destiny of 38 39

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Ibid., 26v. “Not everyone who sweats on the Olympic courses, driving the swift horses, restores the ages joined with a beautiful crown.” Coryciana, 269–70. “… if greatest Rome always flourished as the pinnacle of religion and is now the highest point of the gods, and if the pious poets, who sang of you, accomplished anything with their lines, now, Virgin, care for the Roman citadels and empty Capitol once golden now overgrown far and wide with wooded briars – consider them Goddess! Let Rome again control the reins of the power, and let Rome be the customary theatre of the whole world.” The lines “Romanas arces … aurea quondam” recall the language, but invert the sequence of Aeneid 8. 347–48 [“Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem et Capitolia ducit / Aurea nunc, olim silvestribus horrida dumis”], in which Aeneas tours the sites of Rome with Evander.

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renewal and imperium. Rome may once again return to a position of authority because of divine favor. Rome could rule the world through her power and be the center of the world at which all marvel. Perhaps the finest example in neo-Latin poetry of the broadly-Vergilian Roman destiny is Zaccaria Ferreri’s Lugdunense Somnium. Ferreri (1479–1524) was a Benedictine abbot who was born at Vicenza and later earned a doctorate of theology at Rome. A biblical scholar and professor at Milan, he became protonotary at the Council of Pisa, blaming Julius II as the obstacle to true reform of the Church despite previously receiving his favor. Following the collapse of the schismatic council, Ferreri remained in Lyon, where the remaining participants of the council had withdrawn under French protection, but was hopeful of reconciliation with Rome after the death of Julius II and the election of Leo X in 1513. Strangely, before asking for absolution from the new pontiff he composed the Somnium, which was published at Lyon on 13 September, 1513.41 The poem, composed in dactylic hexameter yet oddly eclectic because of its particularly medieval elements (including the dream vision and certain diction), is remarkably Dante-esque  – with Ferreri being transported to the heavenly spheres and receiving Dante as a guide – yet it undoubtedly contains Vergilian elements. In this dream Dante (who now plays the role of Vergil, thus creating a linear connection in time from the ancient poeta theologus to the early Cinquecento) guides the poet to Rome and the throne of the new pope, and it is through the visions of Rome and his prophetic utterances that the Vergilian notions of Roman destiny become manifest. Dante, before even identifying himself, begins to speak glowingly of the new unnamed pontiff, already attributing to him a magnificent destiny that is clearly Christ-like in theme, but also echoes Vergil: Pontificem summum (quia iam migraverit aegris Julius e membris senio confectus, et annis) Delegere poli de tot mortalibus unum, Qui mira probitate animi, ac ingentibus ausis Temporis exigui post intervalla Latinas Pacabit terras, longave quiete potiri Efficiet, votumque omnes connectet in unum Christigenum mentes, et conciliabit amorem Perpetuum populos inter, regesque ducesque, Et quamvis Italus scelerum purgare manentes Relliquas expectet adhuc; haec omnia cedent 41

John Shearman, Raphael’s Cartoons (London: Phaidon Press, 1972), 1. Ferreri was eventually granted pardon by Leo, and was later made bishop of Guardialfiera by him in 1518.

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Februa ad aeternae tamen incrementa salutis. Post longas hominum clades diuturna videbit Gaudia paciferae, iucundaque tempora vitae, Excussoque iugo, duraque tyrannide gentis Barbaricae, stabili sub libertate manebit.42 The new pontiff is chosen for this glorious position because of his Christian and heroic attributes. His uprightness of mind demonstrates that he is the ideal candidate to lead the renewed Church, yet it will be his great ventures that finally bring peace to the land he will rule. Further, he will unite all people under the umbrella of Christianity. Reforming the people, he will bring eternal health to everyone’s souls. On the surface one notes the importance of religious purification and the focus on the souls of humankind, yet despite the insistence on a prophetic Christian age of joy a certain triumphal, even imperial, undertone is detectable. The one ruling from Rome will be the pacifying and uniting force. Joyful days return and gone are the threats of outsiders. The new pontiff will rule a free and stable Christian world, one that will surpass all the glories of Rome’s past. Dante later returns to the greatness of Leo and the theme of renewal at Rome. The illustrious person Leo will be at the center of the renewal of the ancient empire: … Gestit De Pastore novo, quem sub felicibus auris Montibus Etruscis genuit de moenibus altis, Stemmate de prisco, clara de stirpe parentum, Nostra Fluentinis ubi ridet patria campis. Illius auspicio, studiis, sapientia, et astu Sperat ad antiquum quandoque redire decorum, Atque triumphales arcus, altoque colossos, 42

Carmina Illustrium Poetarum Italorum [Tomus Quartus] – Lugdunense Somnium (Florentiae: apud Johannem Cajetanum Tartinium et Sanctem Franchium, 1719), 276. “The highest pontifex was chosen (because Julius, finished with his old age and his years, will have already departed from his sick limbs), the one out of so many mortals in the world with a remarkable probity of mind, and with great ventures – after a short period of time – will pacify the Latin lands, or will cause to reign over a long peace, and will join all minds in a single Christian prayer, and will bring about a perpetual love among the people, kings, and leaders. And although the Italian should still expect to cleanse the remaining remnants of evil deeds, all of these purifications will nevertheless result in the development of eternal health. After the long destruction of man he will see the lasting joys of the peace-bearer and the joyful times of life, and with the yoke and the harsh tyranny of the barbarian race having been thrown off he will stay under a stable freedom.”

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Ceu rerum dominos quum pax augusta Latinos Fecerat, et domiti tenuere cacumina mundi Romulidae, legesque dabant terraque, marique, Ac ferus Ausonium trepidabat barbarus ensem.43 Rome seemingly cannot contain her excitement at the prospect of her new leader, born of an illustrious and ancient stock, who will renew her glories. A brilliant and wise man, Leo will re-introduce all of the characteristics that defined the ancient empire under Augustus. The visual splendor of the city, its ability to govern judiciously, and its insuperable military power are all combined to evoke the glory of the ancient empire and heighten the sense of contemporary Rome’s incipient renewal of such a distinguished status. Dante continues to emphasize the peace that will envelop the world under the new pope, including the end of all wars, perhaps foreshadowing the Golden Age: Pax optata diu toto firmabitur orbe / nullibi stridentes litui, non arma sonabunt: / omnibus applaudet dulci concordia vultu: / Martia in herbisecas redigentur spicula falces: / et fodient segnes incurvis ensibus agros / ruricolae …44 Under Leo the sounds of war will disappear and the entire world will become peaceful and harmonious. Indeed the new age will no longer require the instruments of war, which can be reduced to agricultural implements. People return to the land, return to a simpler time, perhaps reversing the steady deterioration of ages. After referencing a glorious Christian age in which Rome is saved from schismatic error and the world experiences unus pastor et unum ovile, Dante finally speaks unambiguously about a Vergilian Golden Age. He states that the most blessed age will be revealed and then proclaims, Sedibus e summis oriuntur semina pacis, / iucundique dies caelo panduntur ab alto / aurea nunc aetas,

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Ibid., 280. “[Rome] is eager for the new Shepherd, who under the fortunate heavens was brought forth from the high walls in the Etruscan mountains, from an ancient lineage, from a distinguished stock of ancestors, where our homeland smiles upon the Florentine(?) fields. With the omen of that one, with his zeal, wisdom, and cunning, [Rome] hopes to return at some time to its ancient beauty, and its triumphal arches, and towering statues, just like when the Augustan Peace had made the Latins masters of the world, and the Romans held the limits of the conquered world, gave laws on land and on sea, and the savage barbarians feared the Ausonian sword.” Ibid., 277. “The wished-for peace will be established for a long time throughout the world: nowhere are the shrieking war-trumpets, no weapons resound: harmony strikes upon everyone with a sweet face: the Martian javelins are driven back into grass-cutting sickles: and the farmers will dig up the inactive fields with their curved swords …” The idea of weapons being changed into instruments for farming is also expressed by Vida in Christiad, 3.537–38.

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et felicissima current, / qualia Saturno fluxerunt sidera rege.45 Directly from heaven a Golden Age will return. Recalling Eclogue 4.6–7, peace will reign and the greatest of ages will spread throughout the lands with Rome – here with Leo X as the central figure – as the epicenter. The remainder of the text continues to evoke Vergilian allusions. When Dante and Ferreri look down upon a jubilant Rome the two see the features of Augustan Rome: amphitheatres, columns, the marvelous temple of Agrippa, and even Pallentaeum (clearly pointing to Evander and Hercules).46 They view the procession of the pontiff as well, recalling the triumphal displays of imperial Rome. Dante, almost pleadingly, asks Ferreri, Tu ne audin clangore tubas, et tympana pulsu / reddere multiplices partito carmine cantus, / atque Quirinales sua post vexilla senatus / tendere sacratas magni Pastoris ad aedes?47 The festive atmosphere underscores the glory the new pontiff will bring to Rome, as the most important men of the city follow him closely as a triumphant hero. The people themselves even chant, “Leo!” Leo as pontiff indeed fulfills the destiny set out for Rome by Vergil: … Leo nobilis irae, / et generosi animi (cuius clementia nota est) / supplicibus veniam facit, insequiturque superbos.48 The allusion to Vergil’s parcere subiectis et debellare superbos is again evident. Leo, by his very actions, realizes the prophetic destiny of Rome. Further, Leo builds an eternal temple of living stone, reunites the scattered, transforms an iron age into one of gold, and soothes the savage hearts of men, among many other outstanding accomplishments.49 Yet two specific verses demonstrate the centrality of Vergilian themes in the notion of Roman destiny in Ferreri’s Somnium. Toward the end of his dream – and journey with Dante – the vates asks Ferreri, Vidisti ne novum foedus, nova saecula, novumque / imperium, et Titana novum, qui illuminat orbem?50 The three major themes of Vergilian destiny are present: first, the new covenant, which is the agreement that the Christian God will 45

46 47 48 49 50

Ibid., 283. “The seeds of peace will emerge from highest heaven; the delightful days will be spread forth from high heaven and now the golden age and most happy stars will march forward, like when they flowed out with Saturn as king.” Having been exiled from the heavens, Saturn was the first god of Latium. See Aeneid 8. “Lugdunense Somnium”, 286. “Do you not hear the sound of the horns and the beating of the drums returning the numerous songs with the shared lyric, and the Roman senate after his standards stretching towards the sacred dwelling of the great Shepherd?” Ibid., 290. “Leo, noble in anger and of generous mind (whose clemency is known) gives pardon to the suppliants and pursues the proud.” See Shearman, Raphael’s Cartoons, 1. He notes the influence of biblical references in this specific passage in addition to Vergilian themes that I detect. “Lugdunense Somnium”, 292–93. “Did you not see the new covenant, the new age, the new imperium, and the new Titan who illuminates the world?”

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renew his favor for Rome again, just as the Olympian gods favored the Rome founded by the descendants of Aeneas; second, the new age, which implies the dawning of a greater (perhaps Golden) age; and third, the new imperium, which is the revival of the ancient empire – only greater because of its Christian underpinnings. Lastly, the one who illuminates the whole world is Leo X, the one divinely chosen to fulfill the destiny of Rome. Although described in detail in the third chapter, it is important to highlight both the idea of destiny and the use of encapsulation in Sannazaro’s De partu virginis. The italicized language below, previously discussed,51 provides a fine example of encapsulation in Sannazaro’s text: Ultima cumaei venit iam carminis aetas, … Scilicet haec virgo, haec sunt saturnia regna: Haec nova progenies caelo descendit ab alto, Progenies, per quam toto gens aurea mundo Surget et in mediis palmes florebit aristis. … Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae Hubera: nec magnos metuent Armenta leones …52 Sannazaro places numerous lines from the fourth eclogue directly into his text. Given the common interpretation of the fourth eclogue, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the purpose of this recontextualization is to combine the Vergilian idea of a Golden Age with the Christian. The return of the Golden Age is not only inevitable but also one that was foretold by Vergil and is divinely-sanctioned by the true religion. It is part of the greater destiny of Renaissance Rome. It should come as no surprise, then, that Sannazaro also copies the exact line from Vergil regarding the child smiling to acknowledge his mother53 to unite pagan and Christian, thus fulfilling the ultimate Roman destiny. To further emphasize the idea of destiny Sannazaro also employs the phrase “Sic placitum” (De partu virginis, 3.87) just as Vergil did in Aen. 1.283. The phrase is used in the latter by Jupiter when foretelling the future of Rome, in the former by God when deciding to bring humanity to heaven via salvation 51 52

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See 59-60. De partu virginis, III.200, 202–05, 217–18. A complete analysis of Sannazaro’s use of Vergilian language from the fourth eclogue in this portion of the text can be found in Jacopo Sannazaro: Latin Poetry, trans. Michael C. J. Putnam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), Appendix II. “Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem …” De partu virginis, 3.231 and Ecl., 4.60.

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through Christ’s suffering. The melding of the two signifies that Rome will be glorious and powerful but so much greater through the Christian faith. It is so decreed, a destiny that is unalterable. In terms of the Latin poetry of Renaissance Rome, Vida’s Christiad again provides the climactic exclamation to the notion of Roman destiny. His epic, so thoroughly Vergilian, takes up all the major themes of Vergil’s works that were central to the understanding of Rome and situated them in a Christian framework. Among numerous instances, Vida describes the idea of renewal,54 emphasizes the return of a Golden Age in the final lines of the poem by encapsulating Ecl. 4.9,55 and declares the power of Roman imperium, stating that the entire world will be subject to Rome by divine decree.56 Yet it is the fulfillment of this destiny, specifically the time of its fulfillment, that gets to the core of the Roman understanding of Vergil and the cultural outlook of the city. In Book 1 God foretells the following: Verum quo magis illa malis exercita, semper / altius hoc surgens celsum caput inseret astris, / moeniaque in melius semper recidiva reponet.57 Rome, despite downfalls, will grow ever greater, eventually touching the stars. There will come a time when Rome will truly join with the heavens, ruling eternally with divine approval. Indeed, this will occur during the early Cinquecento, as noted in the third chapter. Rome will be the umbilicus of a wholly Christian world, as God proclaims, Quin etiam mox tempus erit, cum scilicet olim Ter centum prope lustra peregerit aethereus Sol, Tum veri Graium obliti mendacia vates Funera per gentes referent tua carmine verso, Atque tuis omnes resonabunt laudibus urbes, Preasertim laetam Italiae felicis ad oram …58 According to the words of the omniscient and omnipotent Father, it is precisely during the early sixteenth century that the new age, a Golden Age, 54 55 56 57 58

Christiad, 1.922. God promises to return Romans to their former glory: “Exercens lapsam revocabo in pristina gentem.” Ibid., 6.985–86. “… toto surgit gens aurea mundo, / seclorumque oritur longe pulcherrimus ordo.” Ibid., 1.929. “Nec nisi subiecto passim sibi desinet orbe.” Ibid., 1.926–28. “But the more it is harassed by tribulations, the higher it will ever rise, thrusting its head aloft among the stars, rebuilding its walls time and time again for the better.” Ibid., 6.880–885. “But also there soon shall be a time, after the sun in heaven shall have completed fifteen centuries, when true prophets, forgetting the false gods of the Greeks, with a new song shall tell of your death throughout the nations, and all cities shall resound with your praise, and specially on the happy shores of fertile Italy …”

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will arrive on the earth in which Christianity will reign supreme. Every city will exalt Christ, and his praises will be sung most vociferously in Italy. Rome will act as head of a new worldwide empire devoted to Christ. One cannot help but wonder whether the “true prophets” might refer to the poets associated with the Renaissance papacy (of which Vida was one), yet the essential belief here is that the undeniable destiny of Rome – that God himself promises – will be fulfilled. With an even greater authority, this Rome attains the destiny promised by the gods in Vergil and then exceeds it because of the divine favor of the one true God. As evident in the discussion of earlier Vergilian themes, the notion of Roman destiny extended beyond its expression in the neo-Latin poetry of the early Cinquecento. One example from the realm of oratory provides a striking illustration of how the ideal of Roman destiny permeated the intellectual world of Renaissance Rome. The Ciceronian oration Oratio totam Romanam historiam complectens by Blosius Palladius, a poet as well as orator, honored Leo X and was composed to celebrate his statue that the city government had commissioned, as was seen in the brief discussion of this text in the second chapter. In the oration, which was never actually delivered because of the pontiff’s death, he describes the whole of Roman history from the perspective of a Roman humanist, and it is precisely because of this that the Vergilian undertones come to the fore. Previously it was remarked that the text exemplified the idea of Roman renewal, as Palladius stated, … quum sub Romulo haec urbs nata, sub hoc Principe renata videatur.59 The leader Palladius speaks of is Leo X. He is the driving force behind the renewal of Rome, for Rome cannot be divorced from its beneficent and heaven-sent leader, but Palladius perceives much more than a rebirth. Arguing that Rome is at the center of two empires – one terrestrial and one celestial, he launches into a history of Rome, even referencing the primitive world as a type of Golden Age. He describes how the popes collected the remnants of the ancient city and the western empire beginning the process of renewal, but this growing empire would be greater than its predecessor because it disseminated the one true (Christian) religion and was not founded on blood. Palladius continues discussing certain similarities between the two empires, yet consistently stressing that the ancient empire attained worldly glory while the new empire always directed itself toward heavenly grandeur. Many of the virtues of the ancient Romans, however, were inherited by the contemporary Romans. Of the inhabitants of Rome Palladius claims, Amavit itaque etiam tunc in vestris Deus fortitudinem, amavit pietatem; et praeter 59

Oratio, 4. “… this city was born under Romulus, it seems to be reborn under this leader.”

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haec, iustitiam … benificentiam, clementiam.60 These attributes are significant because they mirror the greatest virtues that defined the ancient Romans in Vergil. Vergil “foretold” the awesome imperial power Rome would wield, his hero was distinguished by his pietas, and the destiny of the empire was to bring justice and laws to its governance over the world and spare those it subjected. Christian Rome, and especially early Cinquecento Rome, assumed these attributes, laying the foundation for an even greater empire, but one that nevertheless was built on Vergilian ideals. These inherited virtues bound them to the one true God ut Roma numquam regnare desineret.61 The destiny of Rome was clear: with divine favor the city would rule eternally. Palladius continued to highlight the destiny of Rome in a Christian context: … in vestra maxima urbe, suum, ac verae Religionis domicilium stauerit.62 The Almighty founded Rome as the home of true religion, and Palladius even noted that there was no greater zeal for the gods than in the Eternal City. Underscoring the importance of Rome, Palladius remarks that Christ chose to be born under the power of the ancient empire: Adde quod Deus sub vestro maxime Imperio vestraque ditione in terris nasci voluit.63 The orator here further strengthened the link between Christianity and Rome. Yet it was through the renewed empire that Rome fulfilled its destiny. Palladius proclaimed that this greater empire of God was built upon the ruins of the previous empire at Rome. Rome maintained its governance over the world, as he insisted that the popes were essentially the new Caesars: Quod vestrae leges tum Caesarae, tum Pontificae omnia Divina humanaque in Europa moderantur.64 Roman laws, exercised by the pontiff, still governed in Europe, but the reach extended to an even greater degree: … Romanae litterae, Romanae leges toto terrarum orbe circumferuntur.65 The popes, as head of not only the Church, but also of Christendom, fulfilled the destiny of the ancient Romans by imparting just laws and good governance. And this was just one dimension of the imperial magnificence that Christian Rome displayed. The city, long renowned for its military knowledge, should continue to reign over the world having been granted “imperium sine fine.” The pontiff’s duty would be to renew the ancient 60 61 62 63 64 65

Ibid., 117. “And so God also loved their fortitude, he loved their piety; and besides these, their justice … beneficence and clemency.” Ibid., 117. “so that Rome may never cease to rule.” Ibid., 118. “… and in your greatest city God established his domicile of the true religion.” Ibid., 118. “Add to this that God most of all wished to be born in these lands under your empire and your sovereignty.” Ibid., 124. “Your laws, first of Caesar, then of the pontiff, controlled all things divine and human in Europe.” Ibid., 124. “… Roman letters and Roman laws surround the whole world.”

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empire, which, in part, was being usurped by the heretical Turkish Sultan: … et ipse quoque Turcarum Imperator, Asiae, Syriae, Aegypti, Traciae, Macedoniae, Graeciaeque Dominus, quamquam diversae atque adversae vobis Religionis, tamen quod vestram Constantinopolim teneat, vestrum titulum adamat, seque Romanum Caesarem suis titulis praescribit.66 The empire of Leo X would reflect that of his city’s glorious predecessors by recovering Constantinople, and the pope claiming for himself the imperial title of Caesar, which is rightfully his. Rome’s imperium was to be renewed  – and emphasizing the quanto magis theme – the Christian empire would now surpass the ancient one because of its authority over the New World and the East following the successes of the Iberian fleets. The latter portion of Palladius’ oration focuses on how Leo has fulfilled the destiny of Rome. He brought peace to Rome, for … quies Civibus, tranquillitas aulicis, securitas omnibus restituta est.67 Further, through Leo Rome and its people received safety, honors, and wealth, and the statue dedicated to him was a gift of thanks for his role in the fulfillment of Roman destiny. The city itself would show its gratitude: Urbs Roma maximas innumeras atque immortales gratias, pro tuis in illam beneficiis, plurimis, aeternis, ac maximis … agat.68 Leo had accomplished what Augustus had done for ancient Rome. Not surprisingly, it is precisely that emperor, celebrated by Vergil, to whose deeds Leo’s are favorably compared. Palladius proclaims, Auxisti Urbem aedificiis, Coelum, Divis, Magistratibus curiam. Erexisti Templa, reformasti mores, Urbem pacavisti, arma substulisti, fertilitatem terrarum, salubritatem aeris, tuis temporibus, tua tum cura, tum ad Deum prece promeruisti.69 Leo’s accomplishments clearly recall those of Augustus’ – enhancing and enlarging the city, building temples, and reforming morals  – yet the Vergilian themes underlying his endeavors are unmistakable. After emphasizing imperial themes, here Palladius turns to the other major Vergilian ideas. Leo made peace and ruled over a harmonious natural world with fertile and abundant land, pointing to certain notions of 66

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Ibid., 124–25. “… and he himself ruler of the Turks, of Asia, Syria, Egypt, Thrace, Macedonia, and master of the Greeks; although of a religion different and adverse to you, nevertheless he may hold your Constantinople, he takes pleasure in your title, and he writes before his own title ‘Roman Caesar’.” Ibid., 159. “peace was restored to the citizens, tranquility to the court, and security to all people.” Ibid., 163. “Let the city of Rome give its greatest, innumerable and immortal thanks in that statue for your many, eternal, and greatest services.” Ibid., 165. “You increased the city with buildings, heaven with things divine, the Curia with magistrates. You raised temples, you reformed mores, you pacified the city, you bore arms, and you gained fertility of the lands and wholesomeness of the air in your times, first with your care, then with prayer to God.”

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the Golden Age. He did all things for Rome through his own careful attention, always placing the good of Rome and the people first, but failing that he puts his trust in God through prayer. Not only did Leo exemplify a good Christian in his fulfilling Roman destiny, but his person – dutiful and pious – recalls Rome’s most ancient progenitor, Aeneas. Finally, as was evident in Vergil’s epic poem, Roman history for Palladius is universal. It moves in a linear fashion, has a defined end, and ultimately is dependent on God. Rome, divinely-favored, possessed an incontrovertible destiny that would be fulfilled, as seems apparent, in the early Cinquecento. This notion is further emphasized by the conclusion of the poem In Statuam Leonis Decimi Pont. Max. by C. Silvanus Germanicus. Just as Palladius stated, the author (of whom virtually nothing is known beside this work, his contributions to the Coryciana and his German background) claims the statue will commemorate the eternal name of Leo and relates the undoubted Roman destiny: Finibus antiquis statuat victricia signa / imperii, et rursus superato ex orbe triumphet, / ac vobis meritos victrix instauret honores / roma, iterumque suo tandem sub pondere anhelet, / perpetuumque Leo rerum moderetur habenas.70 Rome and its people, specifically led by the holy pontiff Leo, will renew its glories and preside over the entire world by divine decree. The providential destiny of Rome is fulfilled by Leo, reigning over the world forever. Vergilian ideas of Roman destiny even seeped into a sacred Church council. At the Fifth Lateran Council Julius II in effect fulfilled the Vergilian destiny of Rome (Aeneid 6.853) through his actions regarding the schismatic Council of Pisa. Julius’ bulla indictionis in the very first session of the Fifth Lateran Council effectively proclaims this. The pontiff argued that the cardinals attending the Council of Pisa were heretics who were undermining the unity of the Church. Yet, in Vergilian fashion, he pardoned the penitent cardinals – in effect sparing them – and chastised those who did not (the “superbos”) by excommunication and revocation of benefices.71 Those originally attending the Council of Pisa obviously did not share the same view of Julius or his actions, but as “victor” in this religious skirmish Julius could eventually assert that he further unified all Christians, just as he had claimed to have settled the wars fought among 70

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C. Silvanus Germanicus, “In Statuam Lenois Decimi Pont. Max. Sylva.” Ed. Rodolfo Venuti, (Roma, 1735), lines 626–630. “Rome established the victorious signs of empire with the ancient boundaries, and it will again triumph over the conquered world, and as victor will renew the deserved honors for you, and again may pant under its own weight at last, and may Leo control the reins of power perpetually.” Mansi, Vol. 32. 686, C–E. See also Nelson Minnich, “The Images of Julius II in the Acta of the Councils of Pisa-Milan-Asti-Lyons (1511–12) and Lateran V (1512–17)” in his Councils of the Catholic Reformation: Pisa I to Trent (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2008).

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Christians. In the orations delivered at the council there was also the perception that Julius’ actions in convening the council aided in accelerating the fulfillment of Roman destiny. The importance of the council and the pontiff’s role in Roman destiny were proclaimed in the opening oration delivered by Egidio da Viterbo,72 but another brief example serves to underscore this point. Johannes Baptista Gargha’s oration at the eighth session of the Fifth Lateran Council emphasizes the ultimate result of the council which the papacy has directed. Gargha, a member of the Knights Hospitallers based in Rome, forcefully declares, Ab hac enim religiosi urbanique mores instaurati erunt, et flagitia quae divinum examen notaverit, coercebuntur, in qua sola animorum sinceritas et religionis amor cuncta pensabit. Quibus sic gestis, caelestes irae futura temporum felicitate expiatae videbuntur. Aurea nempe te aetas regnante incipiet, et iustitia de caelo lapsa in terras redibit.73 Due to Julius’ convening of the council and Leo’s continuation of it religion and morality are renewed, a Golden Age returns and justice, so central to Christianity and the Roman Empire, will spread throughout the lands. Vergilian vocabulary from the fourth eclogue is also unmistakably present.74 Gargha later states that the exulting populace will look to Leo for peace and harmony, and the divinely-chosen pontiff, of course, will impart the tranquility they desire. This, however, can only be done through reform of the Church and society and victory over Muslim forces. Destiny would be fulfilled not simply through imperial means but Church reform as well.75 How serious such discussion of reform, often based on morality and virtue, was is open to debate, but at least the appearance 72

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Egidio proclaims that the council is the necessary instrument of reform and restoration of the Church and Rome to its ancient purity and splendor. See especially Clare O’Reilly, “‘Without councils we cannot be saved.’ Giles of Viterbo addresses the Fifth Lateran Council.” Augustiniana 27 (1977), 166–204. Interesting to note also in this oration are the imperial themes, for Egidio urges Julius II to enlarge the Christian empire (ut denique imperium propagares) and call for a crusade against the infidel (ut … communi Christianorum hosti bellum indiceres); see O’Reilly, 197. Mansi, 854C. “For from this [council] religious and urbane customs were renewed, and the shameful behaviors which divine testing knew will have been restrained, in which only all sincerity of mind and love of religion will be pondered. With these deeds heavenly anger will seem expiated with the future felicity of the times. With you reigning the Golden Age certainly will begin, and justice, gliding down from heaven, will return to the world.” See Houghton, 145 for descriptions. For further discussion of Gargha’s oration see Nelson Minnich, “Concepts of Reform Proposed at the Fifth Lateran Council,” Archivum historiae pontificiae 7, (1969): 190–2. On reform itself Minnich argued that the Fifth Lateran Council recognized the need for reform in the Church. However, the council failed to effect any thorough reform for various reasons, including lack of urgency and dependence on existing abuses.

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of it was essential for the destiny of a single worldwide religion led from Rome. Beyond this question of reform, what is significant is that the themes of renewal, a Golden Age, and peace with justice are all present in Gargha’s oration, each part of the Roman destiny that was evident in the works of Vergil. It is fitting to conclude with a brief quotation from a work of Egidio da Viterbo, the one largely responsible for the prophetic mentality of early Cinquecento Rome. His Historia XX Saeculorum, composed between 1513 and 1518, was a text that argued for the fulfillment of the mission of Christianity at Rome with the election of Leo X. The work is a universal history in which Egidio posited that return of the Golden Age – the tenth and final age postChrist – was imminent. Leo’s pontificate would eventually usher in this age, yet Egidio glowingly describes the nineteenth age (ninth age after Christ). It is in this period excultus: eo in dicendo splendoris ventum est: quo post eversum aurei saeculi veram elegantiam: nulla aetas pervenit …76 Religion was renewed and the poets, most notably those at Rome, produced magnificent works of literature for the glory of God. The sacred and elegant works assisted in the movement toward the Golden Age, and the divinely-inspired Leo assumed that responsibility: Quorum in scribendo felicitate tu usus Leo Decime …77 The poets, acting as vates like Vergil and encapsulating his language, played an important role in the fulfillment of Roman destiny and the dawning of the Golden Age. Their brilliant works seemed inspired by God and, in turn, could inspire others. At the head of the implementation of this divine plan would be Leo X, an even greater figure than Augustus, who brought about the previous distinguished age for Rome. The destiny of Rome was divinely-sanctioned, and as glorious as was the epoch of Augustus and Vergil, the incipient age would be that much greater. 76 77

Quoted from Rowland, The Culture of High Renaissance Rome, 214 (originally Biblioteca Angelica, MS Lat. 351, 248r–v). “Religion arrived at true elegance, a level of literary splendor reached by no age since the overthrow of the Golden Age …” Ibid., “You, Leo the Tenth, have put the felicity of their writing to work …”

Chapter 6

Conclusion: Vergilius et Roma By examining the texts of the early Cinquecento in Rome the evidence for the influence of Vergil is overwhelming. Perusing the educational curricula at Rome, the marginalia in Roman editions of Vergilian texts, and the examples of the Vergilian themes of renewal, Golden Age, imperial rule and Roman destiny in Renaissance texts at Rome, this cannot be doubted. But why is this significant? It clearly illustrates the continuing influence of Vergil in the Western world, but it also sheds light on the culture of High Renaissance Rome. While during the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance Rome was not uncommonly referred to as a Babylon,1 a city of the devil, in the Cinquecento the perception of the city from local intellectuals for the most part became more favorable and reverted back to that of the classical city, which prefigured Christian Rome (an idea most noticeably stated first in Flavio Biondo’s Roma Triumphans).2 The understanding and application of Vergil by Renaissance intellectuals was a significant part of this. The image of Rome from the age of Vergil was renewed, re-used, and re-inscribed. Galinsky, in describing Vergil’s use of the story of Troy in renewal of Augustan Rome, stated, “Vitality comes not from withdrawing into the past, but from using it as a basis for transformation.”3 I argue that this is precisely what Roman humanists did. One could argue that the problem for the Roman humanists, specifically regarding the triumphal narrative of Rome, was that they dwelt too much in the past and did not employ it for a realistic transformation of the city or of the papacy.4 While there is merit to such a view, it does not take into account a cultural transformation. Printed or shared neoLatin literature itself did not change the physical city, however it did transform the reception sphere of Renaissance Rome by introducing Vergilian elements into it and at the same time construct the reference sphere of antiquity by construing a particular Vergil that possessed a distinct interpretation. The idea and image of Rome entered into a new context of meaning; it was re-imagined by 1 See Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, 353–4, n. 262. 2 Charles Stinger, “Roman Humanist Images of Rome” in Roma Capitale, ed. Sergio Gensini (San Miniato: Pacini Editore, 1994), 26–8. 3 Galinsky, 125. 4 It is reasonable to argue that though the transformation of ancient Rome as set forward by Augustus did not always correspond to reality, the transformation and renewal of the city in the early Cinquecento corresponded even less. My goal is not necessarily to argue against this, but rather for a cultural transformation.

© Jeffrey A. Glodzik, 2023 | doi:10.1163/978900452

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Roman humanists from a previous epoch but was fundamentally transformed. In this case, Christopher Celenza’s comment that “… the reimagining of the present in relation to that past is one of the hallmarks of many of the greatest Renaissance thinkers”5 seems appropriate to apply to the humanists and their reimagining of the idea of Rome. To be sure, this idea looked forward in its prophetic interpretation of Rome’s destiny, and those views were often a combination of Vergilian and Christian. This, I contend, was an outgrowth of the particular reading of Vergil in Renaissance Rome. The precise reading of Vergil in Rome  – a combination of medieval and Renaissance understandings focusing on both a Christian interpretation and virtue and stylistic excellence, culminating in an indisputable destiny for the city – profoundly influenced Roman humanists’ neo-Latin poetry and their triumphal outlook. Since every age and location reads Vergil through its own cultural lens, the interpretation is necessarily specific to their concerns. In this sense, the meaning of Vergil is continually reborn. Yet only in the heart of the Roman Empire and the umbilicus of the Christian world could such a reading take root and Vergil’s themes be applied exactly as they were.6 The celebratory works of the Roman humanists, printed or shared throughout this intellectual community, fundamentally fashioned the cultural ideals of Renaissance Rome. To the Roman humanists the city was an image, perhaps for some even a fantasy, that signaled a renewal of the ancient city, but so much more glorious because of its sturdy foundation that was Christianity. Rome itself, chosen by the Almighty himself to be the umbilicus of the Christian world, therefore possessed an undeniable destiny which the humanists at Rome expressed through Vergilian language and themes. Whether through the models of the Golden Age or imperial glory, the renewed Rome was not merely the earlier Rome re-glorified – replete with symbolic sites – in the language of the greatest ancient Roman poet. The humanists might have looked back to their ancient predecessors as exemplars and therefore described their own world, including their desires and ideals for the future of Rome, in the terms of the ancients; however both Vergil and early Cinquecento Rome were transformed by this usage. 5 Christopher Celenza, The Lost Italian Renaissance (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), 82. 6 As previously noted in reference to Venice, while other locations may have applied Vergilian themes in their literature similarly they were not precisely the same. For another example, the neo-Latin literature of the Spanish empire often used Golden Age and imperial themes, yet even for all of their religious sentiment the Spanish were performing the work of conversion on behalf of the Roman Church and typically allied themselves with the Roman papacy in this literature.

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Alexander Nagel’s description of High Renaissance art seems worth pondering in representing the Vergilianism of the early Cinquecento. He states that High Renaissance style is not modern, “it is meant to be pure and timeless, archaic and thus uncontingent, universal.”7 Just as with the artistic style, so the Roman humanists’ perception of Rome, set forth in their poetic texts, was universal though not timeless. Rome had an incontrovertible destiny that was founded upon the ideas of Rome articulated by Vergil, but the destiny of Renaissance Rome was not an ossified version of Vergil’s. The Roman humanists, it is true, did consistently look back to their ancient progenitors in their attempt to portray the nature of their city. Nagel emphasizes this point in his brief discussion of the Corycian circle and the feast of St. Anne. The sculpture of Sansovino and the poetry composed to celebrate it were a conscious renewal of antiquity. The poets’ epigrams, reflective of the ancient Roman tradition, celebrated the antique form of Sansovino’s sculpture. Nagel further notes that for the poets of the Corycian circle it was precisely this return to the ancient form that was the source of the sculpture’s virtue, which was enhanced – even surpassing the ancient form  – because of its illustration of Christian piety. Since the early Cinquecento humanists at Rome typically looked to the ancient world and its ideals it prompted Nagel to observe, “In their nostalgia for a substantial, powerful Christian art based on antique models, the Roman humanists … came up with antiquarian fantasies.”8 While he discusses art, it is fair to consider that the idea may apply to the literary productions of the period. However, I posit that such texts were not simple imitation of Vergilian texts and dreams of an ancient renewal, for the intention was to surpass antiquity. Certainly the humanists’ representations of Christian Rome’s renewal, empire, and destiny, born in the texts of Vergil, signified a degree of imaginativeness, yet we should not be so quick to dismiss the literature as mere fantasy. The Roman humanists’ ideals of destiny may have been too lofty, yet the foundation for their aspirations was not entirely unrealistic. The Vergilianism of the Roman humanists was able to take root because there were multiple indications that a period of glorious renewal was underway. The growth of the Papal States and their influence in foreign policy and military matters, the increasing importance of educated men of letters, and the re-building of Renaissance Rome all contributed to the sense of limitless possibility in early Cinquecento Rome. The papal army was a real, functional part of the endeavor 7 Alexander Nagel, “Experiments in Art and Reform in Italy in the early 16th Century.” in, The Pontificate of Clement VII: history, politics, culture, eds. Kenneth Gouwens and Sheryl E. Reiss (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 399. 8 Ibid., 400.

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to create an even more glorious Rome. Julius II’s “conquest” of Bologna and the central role played by the popes during the Italian Wars highlight Rome’s pivotal position. The fact that men of letters in Rome never flourished greater than during the early Cinquecento was evidence enough that a new age had dawned. The prolific outpouring of literary texts produced at Rome underscored the importance of Rome as a cultural center. The countless humanists, who celebrated this artistic flourishing in verse, could make their living through their talents and associations with the most influential churchmen and leaders in Rome. Finally, the rebuilding of Rome gave cause for boundless optimism. The growth of the city itself, along with the construction of churches and palaces as well as villas outside the city, promoted the notion of a city on the rise.9 How much greater now would be the return to its former glory because of Rome’s divinely-supported papal leadership! By the early sixteenth century it is certain that Rome had impressively rebounded from the constantly shrinking city of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, Rome could not be transformed entirely in the way Roman intellectuals had envisioned, but Vergilianism was a humanist attempt to employ the past as a basis for transformation. The Vergilian goals of Golden Age, empire, and destiny were perhaps unrealistic in practice; however the culture of early Cinquecento Rome was transformed by those Vergilian elements that became central to it. The Vergilian elements that were incorporated into the reception sphere of Renaissance Rome modified its culture – after all, was not the Renaissance cultural and not political?10 The combination of medieval and Renaissance interpretations of Vergil created a specific understanding that was applied within the neo-Latin literature of Rome. As we have illustrated, there was a particular collection of transformation types employed in the literature of the early Cinquecento as seen through the Vergilian themes. The theme of renewal witnessed the frequent use of creative destruction, in which the texts focused on specific Vergilian passages or phrases whose meanings were sacrificed for a Renaissance value. Blosius Palladius alluded to the phrase parcere subiectis et debellare superbos in his poem celebrating renewal at Agostino Chigi’s villa. Jacopo Sadoleto also alluded to the altae moenia Romae in his text on the Laocoӧn statue which emphasized renewal of the ancient city. The theme of the Golden Age emphasized focalization, or the narrow focus on an aspect of Vergilian text. The Christian interpretation of the fourth eclogue is 9 10

See Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, 254–81 for a discussion of the building program of the papacy that notes both its accomplishments and unrealized plans for a renewal of Rome. Celenza, 149. His comment that as a cultural movement the Renaissance was not accomplished by intellectual communities simply evoking a static classical past seems particularly relevant.

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the perfect example. Jacopo Sannazaro’s De partu virginis is entirely based on this interpretation and he borrows liberally from the text. In addition to the numerous poems similar to Sannazaro in theme, the Renaissance commentary of Antonio Mancinelli11 explicitly states that Vergil’s text foretold the coming of Christ. The theme of empire highlighted ignorance, or the refusal to accept part of the text, principally the Aeneid. The Roman humanists focused solely on a triumphal interpretation of the founding of the Roman Empire at the expense of any possible negative interpretations. The texts of Nagonius, Castellesi, and Vida all stressed the Vergilian ideas of imperium sine fine and the rule with piety, clemency, and justice. Finally, the theme of Roman destiny used encapsulation, passing lines from Vergil directly into Renaissance Roman texts. Egidio da Viterbo transferred Aeneid, 1.278 – setting no bounds of time or space to Rome’s power – to describe Rome’s destiny in his letter (and likely sermon) to Zoccoli and the Roman people. Another example is Sannazaro’s direct quotations from the fourth eclogue that emphasize the inevitability of the return of the Golden Age as part of a Vergilian-Christian Roman destiny. We should also note that substitution, the example of the Aeneid being read through the lens of epideictic rhetoric – a typical Renaissance concern, was at work in each of the themes. Popes Julius II and Leo X and Francesco Maria della Rovere were each described as insignis pietate, thus representing models of virtuous and pious men. Through these transformation types the neo-Latin texts of the Roman humanists did not simply reflect the aspirations of the papacy, but they fashioned the cultural and intellectual outlook of High Renaissance Rome. In this sense, Roman Vergilianism was quite transformative. Despite this, the intellectual and cultural outlook in the city began to gradually change after the Sack of Rome (1527). Celebrations of Rome during the 1530’s and especially the 1540’s became somewhat more restrained as the world of the Catholic reformation took root.12 The lofty notions associated with Vergilianism began to dissipate, although Vergilianism itself did not completely disappear.13 Even in the early 1540’s one can perceive vestiges of the triumphant Vergilianism, 11 12

13

Note that the inclusion of his commentary in printed works of Vergil is an example of appropriation. This is not to say that ideas regarding the renewal and reform, and even imperial glory, of Rome were absent during the 1530’s and 1540’s; they simply tended not to be grounded so much in Vergilian ideals. See Ronald K. Delph’s “Renovatio, Reformatio, and Humanist Ambition in Rome” in Heresy, Culture, and Religion in Early Modern Italy: Contexts and Contestations, eds. Ronald K. Delph, Michelle M. Fontaine, and John Jeffries Martin (Kirksville, Missouri: Truman State University Press, 2006), 73–92 for a treatment of this period and the ideas of the humanist Agostino Steuco. Vergilian expressiones in both neo-Latin and Italian poetry did continue into the seventeenth century, though the focus tended to fall largely on Golden Age imagery associated with the papacy. See Houghton, 146–65.

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as evident in Girolamo Borgia’s Urbis Romae Renovatio (1542).14 The conclusion of this hexameter work  – actually a dialogue in which Paul III is described as the redeemer and pater patriae of the renewed Rome – proclaims a world with unus pastor et unum ovile, and further announces, Christus et imperio Pauli moderabitur orbem  …15 Similar to the texts of the early Cinquecento, Christianity triumphs with Paul III reigning over a reborn Christian empire. Following the text is another poem by Borgia, “Ad L. Gauricum Astronomum Clarissimum,” which continues to illustrate that Vergilianism still held some attraction beyond the early Cinquecento. This poem, addressed to Lucus Gauricus (1476–1548), the astronomer, astrologer and mathematician who predicted the ascension of Paul III, concludes with these verses: O utinam ut Paulus Augusto it Caesare maior / et coeli et terrae maxima sceptra tenens, / sic ego Virgilio sim maior, ut inclyta Pauli / facta maroneo carmine digna canam.16 The pontiff should be greater than Augustus and the poet himself hopes to surpass Vergil, employing his poetic mastery to even greater effect. For Borgia, at least, the world is still perceived in Vergilian terms and Vergil is still the pinnacle of poetic genius for which any poet must strive. Yet by examining the work of some of those who were part of the Roman intellectual world both pre- and post-Sack the adjustment in attitude is obvious. Marcantonio Flaminio (1498–1550), who spent significant, though not continuous, time in Rome beginning in 1514 and lasting into the 1520’s, immersed himself in the intellectual culture of the Eternal City. He frequented the literary gatherings and composed numerous works that while not necessarily celebratory of Rome, nevertheless exhibited Vergilian influences. After leaving Rome in early 1526 due to illness he completed most of his lusus pastorales, pastoral poems in the Vergilian vein, and also likely composed his “Hymn to Pan.”17 This 14

15 16 17

One can even find such triumphalism in works published during the 1550’s. In a passage titled “ROMA INSTAURATA” from his Sacrosanctae Romana Ecclesia Elogia (Rome, 1553), Janus Vitalis proclaims, Quantum sit spoliis facta decora novis, / quam vere est mundi Roma una unius imago … Grandior e cinere est Roma renata suo … [“How great may it be (to see) honors made with new spoils, as the one and only Rome is truly the image of the whole world … Rome is reborn more grandly from its own ashes …”] Even going so far as to mention the appearances of new Iuluses and Scipios as well as the emergence of true virtue and majesty, Vitalis clearly celebrates a triumphant and renewed Rome. Girolamo Borgia, Urbis Romae Renovatio (Romae: Antonium Bladum Asulanum, 1542). “And Christ will govern the world through the imperium of Paul …” Ibid., “O would that Paul, holding the greatest sceptre over both heaven and earth, proceed greater than Caesar Augustus, thus may I be greater than Vergil, as I will sing of the illustrious deeds of Paul worthy of a Vergilian song.” Carol Maddison. Marcantonio Flaminio: Poet, Humanist, Reformer (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965), 50.

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text exhibited a considerable classical influence, especially notable because of its Vergilian phrases, including “lanigeri gregis” (Georgic 3.287), “custos ovium” (Georgic. 1.17), and “gelidi Lycaei” (Ecl. 10.15).18 Maddison claims that the text was probably written somewhere between 1516 and 1529, but regardless of its date of composition it still underscores the significant Vergilian influence in the early sixteenth century. Flaminio’s later career, however, was quite different; mostly absent were the Vergilian expressions,19 replaced by intensely spiritual works that were reflective of Catholic reform. In Trent in 1545 he composed a poetic version of the thirty-two psalms he had previously rearticulated in prose (1538). Notable in the beginning of the work is Flaminio addressing the “Christian reader,” claiming that the writing of the poems was only accomplished through the assistance of God.20 Even more reflective of the change to Tridentine Catholicism are Flaminio’s Carmina Sacra. Known as De Rebus Divinis Carmina as well, they were composed in his final years and dedicated to Marguerite of Valois. The poems display no classical influence or remnants of humanism, they treat solely religious themes ranging from prayer, forgiveness and abhorrence of worldliness to divine love, Jesus’ sufferings and the soul’s longing for God.21 The last of the sacred lyrics reveals the reinvigorated religious sensibilities at the mid-point of the century: Rector beate caelitum, Qui sic amas mortalium Salutem, ut almi filii Cruore sancto laveris Peccata eorum; suscipe Servi precantis spiritum …22 18 19

20 21 22

Ibid., 59–63. Vergilian influence did not completely disappear, for Flaminio did compose an ode celebrating Paul III [1535?] that clearly recalled Vergil’s fourth eclogue, proclaiming a Golden Age, peace in Italy and a renewed Roman imperium. See Jean de Gaigny, Doctissimorum nostra aetate Italorum epigrammata (Luteti, 1546). The composition of this text should not seem that perplexing since there was a degree of optimism reminiscent of the first two decades of the Cinquecento, even if for a brief moment, regarding triumph over the Turks and the healing of religious schism at the beginning of the pontificate of Paul III. Flaminio also wrote a second book of lusus pastorales as a literary diversion around 1540. Maddison, 159–62. For an exquisite discussion of Flaminio’s lyric comparing the weak human soul to the delicate flower, see Maddison, 187–88. Marcantonio Flaminio, De Rebus Divinis Carmina in Psalmorum Davidis paraphrasis poetica Georgii Buchanani Scoti … (Londini: Apud Edvv. Griffinum, 1640), 374–75. “Blessed

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It is nowhere more evident than in the poetry of Flaminio, who begs the Father to receive his spirit, that the glorious Vergilian celebrations of Rome of the early Cinquecento had given way to the religious sobriety of Catholic reformation. Numerous other major figures in post-Sack Rome, including Jacopo Sadoleto and Pietro Bembo, also ceased to compose voluminous classicallyinspired works that proclaimed the glorious destiny of Rome, for it was serious reform that became the keystone of intellectual endeavor. Even in the often laudatory neo-Latin Vergilianism associated with the Battle of Lepanto (1571), which witnessed the victory being portrayed as another Actium and Roman imperialism being extended through the alliance between Spain and papal Rome, the one-sided and thoroughly optimistic outlook was not present.23 For example, Juan Latino’s Austrias Carmen provides a sympathetic voice to a Turk alongside the Christianized destiny for Rome prophesied by Vergil. Other poems regarding the event bemoan the violence associated despite it being a victory for Roman Catholicism in the post-Reformation period.24 Perhaps what it most significant is that these highly Vergilian neoLatin poems show that poets continued to adapt Vergil to new and different circumstances. The texts of Vergil clearly continued to exert a degree of influence throughout Europe well into the early modern world, despite the change in their authoritative status in Rome. Vergil was undoubtedly a part of European high culture as a whole, but it is the centrality of Vergilian notions at Rome in the early Cinquecento that truly confirms our perceptions regarding the culture of High Renaissance Rome. Rome was a city of grandeur whose destiny harkened back to the glorious age of empire, prophesied by Vergil in his text centered on Aeneas, the Trojan progenitor of the Eternal City. The cultural elite, those educated persons generally in the employ of the papacy, perceived Rome in Vergilian terms. Through their education, which stressed the importance of Vergil, and belief in Vergil as a poeta theologus they understood the city to be destined for greatness. Charles Burroughs’ comment about Quattrocento intellectuals and Rome, “Humanists turned their attention to the ancient city and, for all their awareness of a history of successive and often violent transformations, typically envisaged it as a spectacle of a timeless and integral

23 24

ruler of heaven, who so loves the salvation of mortals, that you washed away their sins with the holy blood of your kind son; take up the spirit of your praying servant …” It is worth pointing out that the depiction of Lepanto still conforms to Quint’s analysis of the victory of the West over East. See Epic and Empire, 49 on Lepanto. Elizabeth R. Wright, Sarah Spence, and Andrew Lemons, eds., The Battle of Lepanto (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014), xix.

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magnificence”25 does not hold true for the early Cinquecento. Rome, as an interminable entity, was not one that was unaffected by the passage of time. The Renaissance representation of the urbs was a continuation of the great ancient empire, yet one that would be greater due to of its Christian underpinning. Following Burroughs’ observation that humanists viewed Rome in the Augustinian vein – that the world consisted of a series of signs which revealed divine order – one can comprehend the humanist perception which not only viewed the physical world as revelatory of divine signs, but also understood ancient texts as incorporative of heavenly design. Vergil, knowledgeable in some manner of divine intentions, revealed the true destiny of God’s chosen city. His works – focused on Rome, which would possess the privileged position as umbilicus of the Christian world – divulged the signs of divine providence even more brilliantly. Roman humanists, then, naturally gravitated toward Vergil as the vehicle in which to explicate the re-written destiny of the city. The city as a text was re-written through the building programs of the early Cinquecento pontiffs, as Burroughs similarly showed regarding the pontificate of Nicholas V, but it was the celebratory texts composed in a Vergilian vein that truly fashioned the new, yet familiar (in literary terms), destiny for Rome. These celebratory and transformational neo-Latin texts employed the Vergilian themes of renewal, endless empire, and a Golden Age, but the focus was now on a triumphant Christianity directed by the papacy at Rome. So one must ask: to what degree was the papacy involved in these texts, or signs of divine providence? The popes were directly involved in the commissioning of several of the most enduring of these works, notably the highly-Vergilian Christiad of Vida and De partu virginis of Sannazaro. Yet even in the many texts not specifically commissioned by the papacy the pontiffs are regarded as playing the leading role in the fulfillment of the destiny of the re-born Rome. Further, the papal support in general that the humanists received in High Renaissance Rome demonstrates an indirect papal involvement, which was by no means insignificant, in addition to the pontiffs’ occasional direct influence in the production of the literary works. However, we must be sure to note that the Vergilian-inspired literary texts produced during this period were not part of a finely-coordinated propaganda campaign. Finally, while it is necessary not to read all of the early Cinquecento Roman texts wholly at face value – as they were composed within a professional context that typically employed Vergilian allusions in conventional laudatory texts – there is undoubtedly a certain seriousness to the humanists’ work, a distinct belief in a Vergilian renewal at Rome. While both Stinger and Rowland have 25

Charles Burroughs. From Signs to Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990), 4–5.

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remarked that a narcissistic sense of unreality fostered by the Roman intellectuals existed in Renaissance Rome,26 for the papacy and Rome were unable or unwilling to cope with the realities of the day, whether it meant effecting real reform or dealing with the swelling ranks of the disaffected who followed the lead of Martin Luther,27 nevertheless we should not assume that the outlook of the Roman intellectuals was thoroughly static or fantastical. This cultural outlook can be better explained by humanism itself. Humanism generally injected a renewed sense of movement into the static timelessness of medieval thought. The insistence on a worldview that was significantly informed by a Christian perception of history and destiny, and which was seemingly confirmed through the writings of Vergil, nevertheless did not force humanists’ into static perceptions of history. Intellectuals associated with Rome as far back as Flavio Biondo recognized that the papacy gave Rome a renewed importance. This coupled with the humanists’ consciousness of historical development gave birth to the notion that Rome could revive and even surpass its ancient glories after centuries of decline, not a continued regurgitation of the medieval perception of static timelessness. History marched forward and for the Roman humanists it was perceptible. If the glories of classical learning could be renewed, then so too could the divinely-appointed city. Renewal – and even the attempt to fulfill the Golden Age or re-establish imperium – was a process of history-making. Through the understanding of Roman culture in the Renaissance and the explication of the Vergilian texts produced there another aspect of the influence of Vergil has been revealed. As a case study in the reception and application of Vergil this analysis has fleshed out the Vergilian influence in one small corner of the larger Renaissance world. While it provides a more nuanced view of the understandings of Vergil in the Italian Renaissance more analyses ought to be done. Further case studies on Vergilian reception and application throughout Europe in the Renaissance – and other time periods and locations – would allow differences, however small, to come into view. We may find that these differences  – or “ripples,” as Wilson-Okamura called them  – provide us with the clearest picture of Vergilian reception and impact. 26

27

See especially Rowland, The Culture of the High Renaissance, 253–54, where she discusses Girolamo Seripando’s note in his copy of Egidio da Viterbo’s Historia XX Saeculorum that describes Egidio’s optimism for Leo X which was eventually crushed when he finally recognized the harsh realities of his world. See also Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, 336–38 and “Roma Capitale”, 37–38. Perhaps the finest example of this is Blosius Palladius’ oration on the statue of Leo X (1521), in which Blosius claims that the pontiff has dealt effectively with Martin Luther. Oratio totam Romanam historiam complectens, 155: Quanta nuper sapientia, consilioque Lutheranam heresim in Germania invalescentem fere excussit? [“With how much wisdom and judgment did he recently shake off the Lutheran heresy strengthening in Germany?”].

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Index Aeneas 5, 8, 12, 17–18, 20, 22, 26, 30, 33, 38, 42, 45–49, 52, 82–83, 90, 99, 101–102, 112, 114, 117, 123, 128, 138 Aeneid 8, 12, 17, 24, 37, 41, 52, 82 optimistic vs. pessimistic interpretation 13 verses referenced 20, 24, 34n8, 45n54, 52n7, 67, 73n85 Albertini, Francesco 102 allelopoiesis 3–4, 6 Altieri, Marco Antonio 25 appropriation 4, 8, 20, 23, 135n11 Arsilli, Francesco 65 Augustus 35, 44, 46, 48, 51–52, 65, 69, 86–87, 92, 94n44, 98, 102, 111n20, 116–117, 121, 127, 130, 136 Béhar, Roland 46 Bembo, Pietro 12, 28–29, 39–40, 138 Bentivoglio, family 93–95, 102, 113 Beroaldo, Filippo the Younger 25 Biondo, Flavio 84, 131, 140 Bologna 30, 42, 46, 92–94, 96, 101–102, 113, 134 Borgia, Girolamo 11, 67–69, 85, 92, 109, 136 Brandolini, Aurelio Lippo 27 Burroughs, Charles 138–139 Calderini, Domizio 25 Campidoglio 104 Capiferreus Magdalenus, Faustus 38, 97, 109n14 Casanova, Marco Antonio 96–97, 99, 112 Castellesi, Adriano 30, 92–96, 99, 105, 135 Celenza, Christopher 132, 134n10 Chambers, David S. 95 Chigi, Agostino 33, 35–37, 49, 62, 134 Ciceronianism 29–30 Colocci, Angelo 11, 27–28, 33, 36, 67–69, 96 Colonna, Cardinal Giovanni 97 Colonna, Prospero 100 commentaries 2, 4–5, 8, 15, 22, 25, 46 Cortesi, Paolo 27–28 Coryciana 28, 30, 33, 36, 40, 65, 71–72, 74, 118, 128

Council of Pisa 119, 128 creative destruction 4, 8, 34, 37, 40–41, 49, 134 Crinito, Pietro 25 Cristoforo Marcello 103 Crusade 24, 87 D’Amico, John 27–29, 104 della Rovere, Felice 68–69, 91 della Rovere, Francesco Maria 5, 87, 90, 98, 135 Donatus, Aelius 25 Eclogues 14, 19, 23, 25–26, 28, 30, 58–59, 112, 116 verses referenced 23, 34n7, 40n28, 67, 116, 123n53 education, methods and domain of 5, 22–25, 27, 131 encapsulation 4, 8, 107, 111n19, 113, 123, 135 Enenkel, Karl A. E. 22 Evander 83, 112, 118n40, 122 expansion of Christianity 6, 24, 37, 48, 52, 71, 74, 99, 104, 139 Ferreri, Zaccaria 30, 119, 122 Fifth Lateran Council 73, 103, 128 Flaminio, Marcantonio 136–138 Florence 20, 27, 51 focalization 4, 8, 23, 50, 58, 61, 80, 134 Fontius, Bartolomeus 21, 51 fourth eclogue 11, 13, 17n22, 18, 21n33, 23, 26, 30, 33n3, 34, 39, 50–52, 57n27, 58–62, 64, 66–67, 69–72, 74–75, 77, 82, 123, 129, 134, 137n19 Fulvio, Andrea 110–113 Gaisser, Julia Haig 2, 71 Galinsky, Karl 52, 131 Gallo, Egidio 33, 35–37, 41–45, 62–64, 71 Gargha, Johannes Baptista 73, 129 Georgics 14, 19, 23, 25–26, 28, 34n6, 50, 52, 57, 62, 64n58, 71, 77n96, 137 Germanicus, C. Silvanus 128 Giustolo, Pietro Francesco 69–71, 85

153

Index Golden Age 5–8, 11, 13–14, 18, 20, 21nn30–32, 26, 28–31, 34, 37, 39–40, 45, 48–53, 55n16, 56, 63n51, 64–83, 85, 89, 97n59, 98–99, 103, 106n1, 107, 109, 111n20, 112, 114–115, 121, 123–125, 128–132, 134, 135n13, 137n19, 139–140 Goritz, Johannes 27–28, 30, 36, 40, 65, 71–72 Gravina, Pietro 100–101 Gwynne, Paul 88 Hankins, James 14–15 Hardie, Philip 2 Hardison, O. B. 88n24 Hector 19 Hercules 64, 83, 122 Hesiod 11, 25, 50 Houghton, L. B. T. 3, 7n17, 33n3, 65n61, 71n77, 86n15 ignorance 4, 8, 13, 84, 92, 105, 135 IJsewijn, Jozef 73 imperium 8, 20, 24, 29, 32, 40, 42, 45, 52, 56, 63, 65, 68, 82, 84, 91–92, 96–99, 102–104, 106, 108, 112–114, 116–117, 119, 123–124, 126, 135, 140 Inghirami, Tommaso 25, 28 Isaiah 54–56, 77n96 Julius Caesar 35, 96–97 Julius II 37n16 Jupiter 5, 43, 45n54, 52, 66n63, 82, 90, 113, 123 Kallendorf, Craig 2, 7, 12–13, 15–16, 74, 79, 81 on allelopoiesis 3–4 on Venice 3, 14, 21, 84 Lactantius 27 Landino, Cristoforo 12, 23–25 Laocoӧn 40, 41n31, 134 Latino, Juan 138 Leo X 113n23 Leto, Pomponio 17n22, 22, 27, 40, 69, 88 Lippincott, Kristen 85 Mancinelli, Antonio 5, 22–23, 25, 57n27, 135 Manuel I, King of Portugal 53–57

Marcello, Cristoforo 73 marginalia 2, 8, 14, 16–17, 19, 131 Medici, Cosimo de’ 20 Medici, Lorenzo de’ 51 Mirandola, Giovanni Pico della 16 Molza, Francesco Maria 114–116 Nagel, Alexander 133 Nagonius, Johannes Michael 5–6, 87–92, 98, 105, 135 Naldi, Naldo 21, 51 New World 48n68, 78, 87, 102, 127 O’Malley, John W. 107 oratory 1, 27, 29, 86, 96, 103–104, 125 Orsini, Gian Giordano 70, 91 Orsini, Orso 23 Ottoman Turks 52, 57, 88, 91n34, 92, 99, 111n19, 117 Palladius, Blosius 28, 36–37, 47–49, 71, 104, 125–128, 134, 140n27 paratext 29, 46n58 Parmenio, Lorenzo 41–42, 101–102 pasquinate 25, 30 Pax Romana 35, 52, 87, 102, 116 Pellatus, Aulus Orpheus 72 Petrarch, Francesco 12, 85 pietas 5, 18, 20, 30, 45–46, 56, 66, 91–92, 95, 99, 126 Pius, Johannes Baptista 46–47 poeta theologus 18, 23, 52n8, 60–61, 63, 77, 119, 138 print 2, 4, 8, 13n9, 14, 16, 17n21, 19, 25, 33, 42, 132 prophetic mentality 20, 57, 85, 130 Prudentius 27 quanto magis 39, 106, 127 Quint, David 86–87, 92 renovatio 32, 47, 51 renovatio imperii 31, 87 Roman Academy 22, 27–28, 38n17, 88 Roman destiny 1, 6, 8, 19–20, 31, 106 Romanus, Delius Hieronymus Alexandrius  118 Rowland, Ingrid 6n14, 8n19, 96, 106, 139

154

Index

Sadoleto, Jacopo 28–29, 40, 134, 138 Sannazaro, Jacopo 5, 30, 58–61, 74, 123, 135, 139 Sansovino, Andreas 72, 133 Sapienza 22, 24–25 Saturnia regna 10, 20, 26, 57n27, 59, 63, 66, 69, 111–112 Servius 25 Sibyl 17, 23, 26, 57n27, 74, 88, 90, 92 Silvestri, Guido Postumo 113–114 sodalities 27–28, 115 Sperulo, Francesco 33n5, 85 Statius 36 Stinger, Charles 6n14, 32n1, 73n83, 84n8, 88n25, 103nn77–78, 104n81, 106, 111n19, 112n21, 131nn1–2, 134n9, 139, 140n26 substitution 4, 12n7, 99, 135

Valeriano, Pierio 65, 116–117 Valla, Lorenzo 32 Venice 3, 7, 14, 16, 21, 51, 67, 84, 97 Venus 33–35, 38, 62, 68, 82, 90, 113 Vergil prophet of Christianity 12, 21–22 Vida, Marco Girolamo 1, 12n5, 30, 45–46, 74–77, 79–81, 83, 87, 99–100, 104–105, 124–125, 135 Christiad 28, 30, 74, 79, 83, 89, 104, 124, 139 De arte poetica 1, 12 Villa Farnesina 33, 36, 42 Virgin Mary 11, 58–61, 72–73, 118 Vitalis, Janus 65–67, 71–74, 98–99, 136n14 Viterbo, Egidio da 5, 26, 28, 30, 53, 57n27, 71n77, 73, 86, 107, 129–130, 135

Tanner, Marie 83 Tebaldeo, Antonio 96, 101 Thamyras, Pietro 40 Tiber River 36–37, 44, 83, 108–109, 114 translatio imperii 83–84 Troy 19–20, 37–38, 46–47, 82–83, 100, 131

Williams, R. D. 82–83 Wilson-Okamura, David Scott 2–3, 7, 140 Zabughin, Vladimiro 24n40, 25n46 Zanchi, Pietro 89n28