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Notes On Paulinus of Nola, Carmina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

A. Hudson Williams
Affiliation:
University of St. Andrews

Extract

Among the Christian Latin poets Paulinus, Bishop of Nola in the early fifth century and for Gronovius the ‘swan’ of that city, occupies a prominent place and his work throws important light on contemporary tendencies in language and literature as well as on religious customs. In editing both his epistles and poems (C.S.E.L. xxix-xxx, 1894) W. von Hartel performed a valuable service. Yet, great as was the improvement upon the Migne edition (Patrologia Latina lxi, 1847), numerous questions of text and interpretation have remained to be dealt with and these have received comparatively small attention. The passages discussed below are a sample of those that call for elucidation or amendment. The text quoted at the head of each note is that of Hartel. At or near the beginning of the first note on a new poem, where a point of reading is considered, the manuscripts available are specified.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1977

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References

page 453 note 1 I am grateful to Professor Walsh and Dr. M. Winterbottom for various comments and criticisms in the preparation of these notes; they do not necessarily accept my conclusions.

page 453 note 2 Cf. 20.255 ‘quas illi referam tanto pro munere digne [E, dignet AD, dignas M.] … grates?’ and 21.718 ‘sed redeam ad grates operis pro munere habendas’.

page 454 note 1 Here and elsewhere I quote the Bible according to the Vulgate. It should be noted, however, that P. is believed to have followed the Old Latin versions or something closer to them than to the Vulgate (cf. Philipp, M., Zum Sprachgebrauch des P. von Nola, pp. 70 ff.).Google Scholar

page 454 note 2 For 25 cf. Virg. Aen. 2.10 ‘sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros’.

page 455 note 1 Wien. Stud. 2 (1880), 308.Google Scholar

page 455 note 2 Later (P.S. 58), visited by metrical qualms, he rejects herois in favour of more extensive alterations.

page 456 note 1 Cf. Prud. Symm. 2.237 ‘quae [numina] simules parere meis [sc. diuinis] uirtutibus’.

page 456 note 2 H. adds unaptly ‘zumal diuina potentia folgt’: for the type of sentence ista suis uirtutibus diuina potentia fregit see next passage.

page 457 note 1 The same words are used in their literal sense in the same verse-position 31.127 ‘in cruce fixus homo est’.

page 457 note 2 Green, R. P. H., The Poetry of P. of Nola, A Study of his Latinity, 1971.Google Scholar

page 457 note 3 Cf. 24.124‘bonis simul tributum uel malis’, 26.429 ‘quae flamma uel unda refugit’.

page 458 note 1 Notice sur les manuscrits des poésies de P., 1880, p.93.Google Scholar

page 458 note 2 Sedulius has a neat illustrative couplet in the so-called Hymn 1.5 f. ‘unius ob meritum cuncti periere minores; / saluantur cuncti unius ob meritum’.

page 458 note 3 For the sense cf. 6.279 'das genti sensum, quo uel bona uel mala noscant, 24.509 ff. ‘antequam … bonumue saperet aut malum discerneret, / beatus elegit bonum’.

page 458 note 4 See T.L.L. s.v. in 766.69 ff., 767.83 ff., exemplum 1339.71 ff., Hofm.-Sz. 274 f.

page 458 note 5 Wien. Stud. 1 (1879), 121.Google Scholar

page 459 note 1 ‘während doch besser von dem Vater oder der Mutter gesagt wird, dass sie dem Kinde die Zunge lösen, in ihm die ersten Laute wecken’.

page 459 note 2 e.g. Virg. G. 4.452 (ora, Aen. 3.457, Ov.Met. 13.126, etc.), Ov. Met. 3.261 (linguam), Sen. Thyest. 682 (uocem), etc.

page 459 note 3 Where divinity is concerned, the case is of course different: cf. 15.34 ‘nee tibi difficile, omnipotens, mea soluere doctis / ora modis’.

page 459 note 4 Quite different is Auson. Epist. 22.68 p.264 P. ‘gremioque [paruulos] fouens et murmura soluens’ (‘sedans eorum uagitus’ Delph.).

page 459 note 5 Vixen. Stud. 1 (1879), 118.Google Scholar

page 459 note 6 Cf. 754 ‘mea Nola’. Poem 21 is thought to have been written in 407, where P. was a leading church dignitary and benefactor, two years before his elevation to the bishopric.

page 460 note 1 In v. 34 the confusing comma after eorum in H.'s text should be deleted.

page 460 note 2 Cf. H. (P.S. 89) ‘Nola hat zwar Felix das Wasser vorenthalten (fuerat Felici ante superba), aber nicht felicibus. Ich habe dafür Felice arente vermutet. …’

page 460 note 3 Cf. 318 parente due to parente in 320, 756 patronum due to patrono in 754 (discussed above).

page 461 note 1 Cf. 16.81 ‘perque ipsa uiri uestigia currunt’, 20.345 'hospes homo egreditur tecto notumque suem uir / conspicit’ (uir ═ homo).

page 461 note 2 T.L.L. 1950.3.

page 461 note 3 ‘costam appellat uxorem Cytherii , eo quod primi hominis uxor ex ipsius costa procreata sit’ M.

page 462 note 1 Cf. ‘by the sides of thine house7rsquo; A.V., ‘in the innermost parts …’ R.V.

page 462 note 2 Cf. Suet. Dom. 7.2 ‘ne quis in Italia [uineas] nouellaret’ (‘plant new vines or vineyards’), Arnob. Iun. Euang. 143.15 (on Matth. 21:33 ‘qui plantauit uineam’) ‘uinea quam dixit nouellasse, lex noua est’, Isid. Quaest. in 4 reg. 8. 1 and 3; so renouello Colum. Arb.,6.1.

page 463 note 1 Ind. 422 ‘crispans camera 27.388’. Cf. T.L.L. 1208.25 (crispo ═ splendeo).

page 463 note 2 Paulinus' Churches at Nola, Texts, Translations and Commentary, 1940.Google Scholar

page 463 note 3 Cf. Hor. Od. 2.18.1–2 ‘non ebur neque aureum / mea renidet in dome- lacunar’, Prop. 3.2.11 f. ‘quod non Taenariis domus est mihi fulta columnis, / nee camera auratas inter eburna trabes’.

page 463 note 4 Cf. 18.35 ff., 19.412 ff.

page 463 note 5 Cf. 27.550 ‘tandem conuertitur aduena Christo’ etc.

page 463 note 6 The previous words ueterem deponere formam et gestare nouam reflect Ephes. 4:22 ‘deponere … ueterem hominem’ and ‘et induite nouum hominem’; cf. too Coloss. 3:9–10.

page 464 note 1 So Vulg.; the old versions have their variations, which include the omission of dei (═ ); cf. Epist. 70.22, 79.25, 215.16 ‘ quae retro sunt obliuiscens et in priora se extendens’.

page 464 note 2 For this type of accusative see Löfst. Synt. i. 244 ff. (espec. 247), T.L.L. s.v.gero 1940.74 ff.; note Stat. Theb. 9.13 ‘mitis adhuc hominemque gerit’ (here = ‘shows humanity’).

page 464 note 3 Cf. Ps.-Damas. Epigr. 67 (De cogno-mentis saluatoris).2 ‘iudex porta gigas rex gemma propheta sacerdos’.

page 464 note 4 Cf. Epist. 410.7 ‘[Christus] qui et legis et prophetarum finis est’.

page 465 note 1 Cf. Daniel 4:24 ‘peccata tua eleemosynis redime et iniquitates tuas misericordiis pauperum’. corde for m. would not be intelligible.