>I am trying to find just some brief contextual information on Carolus >Ruaeus/Charles de la Rue who I think was a commentator, possibily an >editor, of Vergil in the 17th/18th c. Waldo Sweet cited him as the >source for the Latin prose summary of his edition of Aen. 1 & 2 with >notes from Servius et al.
I just happened to be looking something up on Ruaeus earlier this week. Here's what I know: (1) Charles de la Rue (1643-1725) published an edition with commentary (including a De natura Aeneidos disquisitio) in 1675. (2) It was apparently undertaken ad usum Delphini, "for the use of the Dauphin." (3) According to http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat0385/wordsworth.html the Ruaeus edition (also known as the "Delphine Virgil") was still one of two standard school editions in eighteenth-century England. (The other was by Jan Minel.) (4) Ruaeus was a Jesuit; here's what the Jesuit Family Album <http://204.142.194.96/faculty/jmac/jp/jprost.htm> has to say about him: "Charles de la Rue, S.J. (French: 1643-1725) was a distinguished Latinist, humanist, and court preacher during his 65 years in the Society. The early part of his career was spent in teaching humanities and rhetoric at the College of Louis the Great of Paris. Pierre Corneille paid Charles the compliment of translating into French some of his Latin poems, celebrating Louis XIV's victories over the Dutch and the Bavarians. From this period dates the beginning of Charles' work in drama. To the more strictly literary part of Charles' career belongs the extensive commentary on the major works of Virgil. The explanatory notes, rhetorical exercises, and indices were produced as an aid to the Dauphin. Charles became a court preacher and spiritual director to the nobility. He enjoyed a great reputation as a preacher, and many of his publications were funeral orations. Although immersed in court life, Charles longed to go to Canada and to labor among the North American Indians as a missionary. His superiors thought his talents were better used in France." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- David Wilson-Okamura http://www.virgil.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Chicago Online Virgil discussion, bibliography & links ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
