Journal article
VERGIL AND ST. PAUL IN JOHN OF ALTA SILVA’S DOLOPATHOS (DE REGE ET SEPTEM SAPIENTIBUS)
Vergilius (1959), Vol.70, pp.73-98
01/01/2024
Abstract
This article examines the role of Vergil in John of Alta Silva’s Dolopathos (De rege et septem sapientibus). First, I consider how Vergil’s pedagogy qualifies and prepares the future king Lucinius to engage with the Christian holy man. Second, I show how the holy man uses Vergil’s poetry to tailor a special message for Vergil’s own student. Third, I argue that the holy man is the apostle Paul, that he arrives in Sicily just a little too late to meet Vergil, and that Dolopathos is therefore the earliest extant witness to the “missed connection” legend of Vergil and St. Paul. Fourth, I show that my identification of the holy man as St. Paul was already anticipated by a mid-thirteenth-century reader, Gossouin of Metz, in redaction B of his Image du Monde. This article therefore offers a new interpretation of the role of Vergil in Dolopathos and a new interpretation of the role of Dolopathos in the reception of Vergil.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- VERGIL AND ST. PAUL IN JOHN OF ALTA SILVA’S DOLOPATHOS (DE REGE ET SEPTEM SAPIENTIBUS)
- Creators
- Craig A. Gibson
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Vergilius (1959), Vol.70, pp.73-98
- Publisher
- Vergilian Society
- ISSN
- 0506-7294
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2024
- Academic Unit
- Classics
- Record Identifier
- 9984757683002771
Metrics
1 Record Views