Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:17:22.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

MYSTIC RIVER: AUSONIUS' MOSELLA AS AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL REVELATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2016

Jesús Hernández Lobato
Jesús Hernández Lobato*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca [email protected]
Get access

Extract

Ausonius' Mosella is probably the most remarkable, studied and beloved poem of late antiquity. This essay aims to examine it from a new perspective, by reinterpreting it as a complex and many-layered depiction of a sui generis epiphanic experience, ultimately triggered by an unmediated encounter with nature. This sudden ‘revelation’, be it real or merely an artful literary device, did not only provide Ausonius with a deeper insight into the world around him, but also raised many epistemological issues on the limits of human knowledge and the (in)ability of language to convey reality. Both aspects—the poetical rendering of a non-discursive quasi-mystical experience and the epistemological and philosophical reflections it brings about—pervade the whole of the poem and are absolutely central to an in-depth understanding of its very raison d’être.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ramus , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , December 2016 , pp. 231 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © Aureal Publications 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahl, F. (tr.), and Fantham, E. (introd.) (2007), Virgil: Aeneid (Oxford).Google Scholar
Alvar Ezquerra, A. (tr.) (1990), Décimo Máximo Ausonio: Obras (2 vols.: Madrid).Google Scholar
Armstrong, A.H. (tr.) (1989), Plotinus Vol. 1: Enneads 1.1-9 (Cambridge MA/London).Google Scholar
Bartsch, S., and Wray, D. (eds.) (2009), Seneca and the Self (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Baudrillard, J. (1994), Simulacra and Simulation, tr. Glaser, S.F. (Ann Arbor).Google Scholar
Bloom, H. (1975), The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (London/Oxford/New York).Google Scholar
Borges, J.L. (1964), Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings, ed. Yates, D.A. and Irby, J.E. (New York).Google Scholar
Borges, J.L. (1984), Seven Nights, tr. Weinberger, E. (New York).Google Scholar
Borges, J.L. (2004), Dreamtigers, tr. Boyer, M. and Morland, H. (Austin).Google Scholar
Cary, P. (2008), Outward Signs: The Powerlessness of External Things in Augustine's Thought (Oxford).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castorina, E. (ed., tr. and comm.) (1967), Claudio Rutilio Namaziano: De Reditu (Firenze).Google Scholar
Cavarzere, A. (ed., tr. and comm.) (2003), Decimo Magno Ausonio: Mosella (Amsterdam).Google Scholar
Charlet, J.L. (1984), ‘Théologique, politique et rhétorique: la célébration poétique de Pâques à la cour de Valentinien et d'Honorius, d'après Ausone (Versus paschales) et Claudien (De salvatore)’, in La poesia tardoantica: tra retorica, teologia e poetica (Messina), 259-87.Google Scholar
Cleveland, R.E. (tr.) (1910), The Soliloquies of St Augustine (Boston).Google Scholar
Delatte, A. (1932), La catoptromancie grecque et ses dérivés (Liège).Google Scholar
Dräger, P. (1997), ‘Alisontia: Eltz oder Alzette? Der Nebenflußkatalog und ein unentdecktes Strukturprinzip in Ausonius’ Mosella ’, KurtrJb 37, 11-38.Google Scholar
Dräger, P. (2000), ‘Pythagoras in der Mosella des Ausonius’, Gymnasium 107, 223-28.Google Scholar
Dräger, P. (ed. and tr.) (2002), D. Magnus Ausonius: Mosella, Bissula, Briefwechsel mit Paulinus Nolanus (Düsseldorf/Zürich).Google Scholar
Drinkwater, J.F. (1999), ‘Redating Ausonius’ War Poetry’, AJPh 120, 443-52.Google Scholar
Duff, J.W., and Duff, A.M. (trs.) (1934), Minor Latin Poets (2 vols: Cambridge MA/ London), 753-829.Google Scholar
Elsner, J. (1996), ‘Naturalism and the Erotics of the Gaze: Intimations of Narcissus’, in Kampen, N.B. (ed.), Sexuality in Ancient Art (Cambridge), 247-61.Google Scholar
Elsner, J. (2004), ‘Late Antique Art: The Problem of the Concept and the Cumulative Aesthetic’, in Swain, S. and Edwards, M. (eds.), Approaching Late Antiquity: The Transformation from Early to Late Empire (Oxford), 271-309.Google Scholar
Elsner, J. and Lobato, J. Hernández (eds.) (2017a), The Poetics of Late Latin Literature (Oxford).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elsner, J. and Lobato, J. Hernández (2017b), ‘Introduction: Notes towards a Poetics of Late Antique Literature’, in Elsner and Hernández Lobato (above), 1-22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evelyn White, H.G. (tr.) (1921), Ausonius (2 vols: Cambridge MA/London).Google Scholar
Fontaine, J. (1977), ‘Unité et diversité du mélange des genres et des tons chez quelques écrivains latins de la fin du IVe siècle: Ausone, Ambroise, Ammien’, in Christianisme et formes littéraires de l'Antiquité tardive en Occident: Entretiens de la Fondation Hardt tome XXIII (Genève), 425-72.Google Scholar
Formisano, M. (2017), ‘Displacing Tradition. A New-Allegorical Reading of Ausonius, Claudian and Rutilius Namatianus’, in Elsner and Hernández Lobato (above), 207-35.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1966), Les mots et les choses: une archéologie des sciences humaines (Paris).Google Scholar
Fuchs, H. (1975), ‘Textgestaltungen in der Mosella des Ausonius’, MH 32, 173-82.Google Scholar
Fuoco, O. (1993), ‘Tra rivelazione e illusione: la natura nella Mosella di Ausonio’, BStudLat 23, 329-58.Google Scholar
Görler, W. (1969), ‘Vergilzitate in Ausonius’ Mosella ’, Hermes 97, 94-114.Google Scholar
Green, R.P.H. (ed. and comm.) (1991), The Works of Ausonius (Oxford).Google Scholar
Gruber, J. (ed., tr. and comm.) (2013), D. Magnus Ausonius: Mosella (Berlin).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gualandri, I. (1999), ‘Parole come neve: da Omero ad Ambrogio’, in Conca, F. (ed.), Ricordando Raffaele Cantarella (Bologna), 167-85.Google Scholar
Gualandri, I. (2017), ‘Words Pregnant with Meaning: The Power of Single Words in Late Latin Literature’, in Elsner and Hernández Lobato (above), 125-46.Google Scholar
Guttilla, G. (1994-1995), ‘Presenze di Ausonio e Paolino da Nola nel De Reditu Suo di Rutilio Namaziano’, ALGP 31-32, 161-96.Google Scholar
Hadot, P. (1976), ‘Le mythe de Narcisse et son interprétation par Plotin’, Nouvelle revue de psychanalyse 13, 81-108.Google Scholar
Hadot, P. (1993), Plotinus, or the Simplicity of Vision, tr. Chase, M. (Chicago/London).Google Scholar
Hernández Lobato, J. (2007), ‘Ausonio ante el enigma de número tres: política y poética en el Griphus ’, in Hinojo Andrés, G. and Corte, J.C. Fernández (eds.), Munus quaesitum meritis: homenaje a Carmen Codoñer (Salamanca), 455-62.Google Scholar
Hernández Lobato, J. (2012), Vel Apolline muto: estética y poética de la Antigüedad tardía (Bern).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernández Lobato, J. (2017), ‘To Speak or Not to Speak: The Birth of a “Poetics of Silence” in Late Antique Literature’, in Elsner and Hernández Lobato (above), 287-310.Google Scholar
Heyworth, S.J. (2004), ‘Looking into the River: Literary History and Interpretation in Callimachus, Hymns 5 and 6’, in Harder, M.A, Regtuit, R.F. and Wakker, G.C. (eds.), Callimachus II (Leuven/Pais/Dudley), 139-60.Google Scholar
Kenney, E.J. (1984), ‘The Mosella of Ausonius’, G&R 21, 190-202.Google Scholar
Lévine, I.I. (1976), ‘Le statut communicatif du poème lyrique’, in Lotman, Y. and Ouspensky, B. (eds.), Travaux sur les systèmes de signes: École de Tartu (Bruxelles), 205-12.Google Scholar
Lyotard, J.F. (1979), La condition postmoderne: rapport sur le savoir (Paris).Google Scholar
Martin, R. (1985), ‘La Moselle d'Ausone est-elle une poème politique?’, REL 63, 237-53.Google Scholar
Miller, F.J. (tr.) (1966-1968), Ovid: Metamorphoses (2 vols.: Cambridge MA/London).Google Scholar
Mortley, R. (1998), ‘The Face and the Image in Plotinus’, Journal of Neoplatonic Studies 6, 3-21.Google Scholar
Mullach, F.W.A. (ed.) (1860), Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum, Vol. 1 (Paris).Google Scholar
Newlands, C. (1988), ‘ Naturae mirabor opus: Ausonius’ Challenge to Statius in the Mosella ’, TAPhA 118, 403-19.Google Scholar
Nugent, S.G. (1990), ‘Ausonius’ “Late-Antique” Poetics and “Post-Modern” Literary Theory’, Ramus 19, 26-50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pastorino, A. (ed. and tr.) (1971), Opere di Decimo Magno Ausonio (Torino).Google Scholar
Roberts, M. (1984), ‘The Mosella of Ausonius: An Interpretation’, TAPhA 114, 343-53.Google Scholar
Roberts, M. (2010), The Jeweled Style: Poetry and Poetics in Late Antiquity (Ithaca NY).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scafoglio, G. (1999), ‘Intertestualità e contaminazione dei generi letterari nella Mosella di Ausonio’, AC 68, 267-74.Google Scholar
Sewter, E.RA. (tr.) (1953), Chronographia (New Haven).Google Scholar
Sivan, H.S. (1990), ‘Redating Ausonius’ Moselle ’, AJPh 111, 383-94.Google Scholar
Stahl, W.H. (tr.) (1990), Commentary on the Dream of Scipio by Macrobius (New York).Google Scholar
Taylor, R. (2009), ‘Death, the Maiden and the Mirror: Ausonius’ Water World’, Arethusa 42, 181-205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ternes, C.M. (1970), ‘Paysage réel et coulisse idyllique dans la Mosel d'Ausone’, REL 48, 376-97.Google Scholar
Ternes, C.M. (ed. and comm.) (1972), Ausone: La Moselle (Paris).Google Scholar
Ternes, C.M. (1992), ‘From Vergil to Ausonius: Poets on World-Politics’, in Wilhelm, R.M. and Jones, H. (eds.), The Two Worlds of the Poet: New Perspectives on Vergil (Detroit), 392-407.Google Scholar
Traina, A. (1974), Lo stile ‘drammatico’ del filosofo Seneca (Bologna).Google Scholar
Vessereau, J. (ed. and tr.) (1904), Claudius Rutilius Namatianus (Paris).Google Scholar
Wedeck, H.E. (1960), ‘The Catalogue in Late and Medieval Latin Poetry’, M&H 13, 3-16.Google Scholar