I've been writing this month about the underworld. Here's something I'm
curious about: when Dante and Virgil are going through hell, Dante asks
his guide whether anyone from limbo ever visits the lower circles.
Here's Virgil's response in Singleton's translation:
"It seldom happens that any of us makes the journey on which I go. It is
true that once before I was down here, conjured by that cruel Erichtho
who was wont to call back shades into their bodies. My flesh had been
but short while divested of me, when she made me enter within that wall
to draw forth a spirit from the circle of Judas. That is the lowest
place, and the darkest, and farthest from heaven that encircles all.
Well do I know the way..." (Inf. 9.19-30)
And here is Singleton's commentary:
"Erichtho [was] a Thessalian sorceress, who, according to Lucan (Phars.
VI, 507-830), was employed by Pompey's son Sextus to conjure up the
spirit of one of his dead soldiers on the eve of the battle of
Pharsalia, so that he could learn what was to be the outcome of the
campaign. The story Dante tells about Erichtho's sending Virgil into the
nethermost Hell is of unknown authority. It probably was suggested to
Dante by one of the numerous legends associated with Virgil in the
Middle Ages, when the Roman poet was universally regarded as a magician.
Boccaccio, for instance, in his comment on Inf. I, 71, calls Virgil
'solennissimo astrolago' ('a very great astrologer) and gives a list of
his wonderful performance. (On this aspect of Virgil's reputation in the
Middle Ages, see D. Comparetti, 1955, pp. 266-67; also see E. Moore,
1896, pp. 234-37.) Referring specifically to Dante's story about
Erichtho and Virgil, Boccaccio admits in his Comento that he cannot
'recall ever having read or heard just what this story was.' Benvenuto
was of the opinion that Dante invented the tale: 'Ista est simpliciter
fictio nova.' (This is simply a new fiction.') But the 'fiction' is, in
a sense, not so new: the Sibyl who guided Aeneas through the nether
regions declared that she had beenthere once before and had seen all
(Aen. VI, 562-65)."
That was 35 years ago. To my knowledge, no one has discovered a source
for the episode, and I think B. d. I. was probably right: this was
Dante's invention. But why does he drag Erichtho into it? The connection
between Aen. 6 and Phars. 6 is obvious, interesting, and one that
commentators in the Middle Ages had a lot to say about. But whom did
Virgil "draw forth" from the circle of Judas, and did Erichtho animate
Virgil's corpse to do it?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. David Wilson-Okamura http://virgil.org david@virgil.org
English Department Virgil reception, discussion, documents, &c
East Carolina University Sparsa et neglecta coegi. -- Claude Fauchet
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
