This thesis examines the increasing sophistication of sixteenth-century French literary engagement with Virgil's Aeneid. It argues that successive forms of engagement with the Aeneid should be viewed as a single process that gradually adopts increasingly complex literary strategies. It does this through a series of four different forms of literary engagement with the Aeneid: translation, continuation, rejection and reconciliation. The increasing sophistication of these forms reflects the writers' desire to interact with the original Aeneid as political epic and Roman foundation narrative, and with the political, religious and literary contexts of early modern France. The first chapter compares the methods of and motivations behind all of the sixteenth-century translations of the Aeneid into French; it thus demonstrates shifts in successive translators' interpretations of Virgil's work, and of its application to sixteenth-century France. The next three chapters each analyse adaptation of Virgil's poem in a major French literary work. Firstly, Ronsard's Franciade is analysed as an example of French foundation epic that simultaneously draws upon and rejects Virgil's narrative. Ronsard's poem is read in the light of Mapheo Vegio's “Thirteenth Book” of the Aeneid, or Supplementum, which continues Virgil's narrative and carries it over into a Christian context. Next, Agrippa d'Aubigné's response to Virgilian epic in Les Tragiques is shown to have been mediated by Lucan's Pharsalia and its anti- epic and anti-imperialist interpretation of the Aeneid. D'Aubigné's inversion of Virgil is highlighted through comparison of attitudes to death and resurrection in Les Tragiques, the Aeneid and Vegio's Antoniad. Finally, Guillaume de Salluste du Bartas' combination, in La Sepmaine and La Seconde Sepmaine of the hexameral structure of Genesis with Virgil's narrative of reconciliation after civil war is shown to represent the most sophisticated understanding of and most complex interaction with the Aeneid in sixteenth-century France.

"Ce livre constitue la reprise abrégée de la deuxième partie d'une thèse de doctorat d'Etat soutenue en janvier 1992 sous le titre suivant: Lire, écouter et récrire l'Enéide: réceptions de l'épopée virgilienne du IXe au XIIe siècle"--P. 5. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-252).

"Ce livre constitue la reprise abrégée de la deuxième partie d'une thèse de doctorat d'Etat soutenue en janvier 1992 sous le titre suivant: Lire, écouter et récrire l'Enéide: réceptions de l'épopée virgilienne du IXe au XIIe siècle"--P. 5. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-252).

Thesis (MA (Dept. of Ancient Studies) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Throughout the centuries artists have visualised the imaginative works of Publius Vergilius Maro in a variety of art forms. Paintings, frescoes, sculptures and even tapestries have made the wordscenes of his great epic, the Aeneid, concrete. The thesis investigates only the illustration of the epic in manuscripts and printed texts or translations. The illustrations of scenes in Book VI – the journey of Aeneas in the underworld – are studied using the reception-historical approach. This is to determine whether the illustrations of the Trojan hero’s journey in the underworld reflect the reception of the Aeneid in the different eras or periods. The illustrator is a “reader” of the Aeneid text or translation and consequently his/her illustration of a particular scene reflects his/her own visual interpretation thereof. Illustrations of Book VI in manuscripts like the Vergilius Vaticanus of late Antiquity and the mid- 15th century Riccardiana Vergilius of Apollonio di Giovanni are examined. A study of illustrations in printed texts or translations range from the 1502 Grüninger edition of Vergil edited by Sebastian Brant to the Book VI illustration of Thom Kapheim in a textbook published in 2001. The aim is to establish how illustrators associated with Book VI, interpreted it, how their environment and the spirit of the age influenced their visualisation and how their illustrations reflect the reception of the epic throughout the centuries. Such a study hopes to provide a contribution to Vergilian reception and Nachleben. In the process a better understanding can be obtained for the importance and changing role of Aeneid VI and the whole epic in different eras. It is found that the illustrators of the Aeneid – influenced by the different spirit of their times and environments – brought forth unique visual interpretations of scenes in Book VI that suggest a particular reception of the epic at that specific point of time. The illustrative spectrum of Book VI throughout the centuries can be summarised as follows: revival, allegorisation, pedagogic, realistic decoration and eventually increasingly unrealistic decoration. From late Antiquity to the beginning of the 21st century, the illustrative visualisation of the journey of Aeneas in the underworld indicates that there has always been a definitive response to Vergil and his epic.

Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Chapter 1 begins by giving the 21st century reader of the Aeneid insights into the innovative socio-cultural environment of the Augustan Age. Following this is an investigation into the societal and cultural importance placed on the Four Cardinal Values in Augustan Age society. Virgil’s attitude to war has been a perennial topic of debate amongst Virgilian scholars. The focus of chapter 1 becomes more specific as it examines Virgil’s personal history, the socio-cultural environment of his childhood and the influence this may have had on his adult opinion of war and the way it is expressed in the Aeneid. An aspect of Virgil’s personal history that is fundamental to understanding his social context, is his relationship with Emperor Augustus. To conclude chapter 1, this is investigated with specific reference to two episodes in the Aeneid. In chapter 2, attention is given to particular aspects of Virgil’s portrayal of Aeneas’ heroic nature. The chapter opens with an examination of Virgil’s representation of Aeneas’ imperfect heroism, then suggests possible reasons behind the inclusion of ambiguity in this characterization. In addition to this, the question of Homeric characteristics in Virgil’s Roman hero is investigated. Chapter 2 then examines the more positive aspects of Virgil’s depiction of Aeneas’ heroism, concluding with a discussion on the favourable interpretation by Augustan Age Romans of Virgil’s demonstration of Aeneas’ heroic nature. Chapter 3 is devoted to a discussion of the manner in which Virgil’s environment influenced his presentation of Aeneas’ personal interactions. Prior to addressing the actual relationships, the chapter explores the question of Virgil’s characterization of Aeneas as somewhat uncommunicative in the epic. This chapter then concentrates on two main facets of Virgil’s portrayal of Aeneas’ personal relationships, i.e. those with family members and those with relevant non-family members that illustrate the extent to which Virgil’s social context influenced his composition of this poem. In conclusion, this study summarises the importance of viewing the Aeneid in its correct context. A bibliography is appended.

Cette thèse se propose d’étudier comment la lecture de Virgile informe toute l’oeuvre bellayenne, voire définit et révèle la poésie et la figure du poète bellayens. Dans une première partie, un état des lieux de la réception du texte virgilien de l’Antiquité à la Renaissance nous fait découvrir les moyens mis à disposition de Du Bellay pour lire et imiter Virgile, la lecture se révélant indissociable de l’écriture. Un premier relevé et une première typologie des emprunts à Virgile dans l’oeuvre bellayenne (1549-1560) permettent alors de dégager des éléments d’analyse de l’imitation de Virgile par Du Bellay. La deuxième partie examine alors de manière diachronique la notion d’”innutrition” virgilienne. Elle met ainsi en relief l’année 1552, année de la traduction des livres quatre et six de l’Enéide, année charnière dans la production poétique bellayenne, où s'opère l’assimilation du texte virgilien et le passage à une véritable réécriture de Virgile dans les poèmes ultérieurs (1552-1560). La troisième partie articule ces enjeux proprement poétiques aux enjeux socio-politiques dans la mesure où elle met au jour les enjeux de cette imitation de Virgile par Du Bellay, en particulier la définition de sa place de poète au sein de la cité dans les recueils romains (1558) et surtout dans les discours politiques des dernières années (1558-1560). / This dissertation presents a critical analysis of the way reading Virgil impacted the works of Du Bellay, even so far as to define and reveal Du Bellay’s poetry and his figure as a poet.In the first part, an assessment of the various tools for reading Virgilian texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance brings to light the means available to Du Bellay in order to read and imitate Virgil – his reading of Virgil and his own writing being intrinsically associated. A preliminary listing and categorization of the elements Du Bellay borrowed from Virgil in his works from 1549 to 1560 makes it possible to highlight ways to analyze how Virgil is imitated by Du Bellay. The second part then examines in a diachronic fashion the notion of Virgilian “innutrition”. This part thus draws particular attention to 1552, year of the translation of books four and six of The Aeneid, a pivotal year in Du Bellay’s poetic production for it seemed to have born witness to his assimilation of Virgilian texts and his moving on to genuine rewriting of Virgil in his later poems from 1552 to 1560.The third part articulates the specifically poetic issues to socio-political concerns, insofar as it exposes the purpose of Du Bellay in his imitation of Virgil, most particularly the definition of his position as a poet within the city in the Roman collections (1558) and especially in the political speeches from the later years (1558-1560).

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / Para a cultura clÃssica antiga, o gÃnero Ãpico parecia apresentar diferentes formas e possibilidades. à provÃvel que, para os antigos, o metro tenha sido o principal recurso para classificar os gÃneros literÃrios. Assim, um poema vertido em versos hexamÃtricos poderia ser de imediato identificado como um Ãpico. HÃ, contudo, diferenÃas entre os Ãpicos homÃricos e os hesiÃdicos, o que parece reforÃar a hipÃtese de o gÃnero Ãpico poder apresentar manifestaÃÃes distintas. Enquanto os Ãpicos homÃricos sÃo longos quanto à extensÃo e cantam feitos bÃlicos, os hesÃodicos sÃo breves e tÃm a preocupaÃÃo de transmitir um conhecimento. As GeÃrgicas, de VirgÃlio, filiam-se à composiÃÃo de tipo hesÃodico. Ainda que uma influÃncia helenÃstica seja percebida, o poema virgiliano segue caracterÃsticas de estrutura, forma e conteÃdo do Ãpico hesÃodico (que tambÃm pode ser chamado de Ãpos didÃtico); no entanto, em diversos passos parece exceder essas caracterÃsticas, deixando a impressÃo de que tambÃm manteria vÃnculos com a Ãpica homÃrica (ou com o chamado Ãpos heroico). Essa discussÃo sugere que a leitura do poema como didÃtico nÃo parece ser suficiente para sua classificaÃÃo de gÃnero, sugere tambÃm que o poema se insere numa espÃcie de progressÃo poÃtica que perfaz duas formas de Ãpos, o didÃtico e o heroico. / For the ancient classical culture, the epic genre seemed to have different shapes and possibilities. It is likely that, for the ancients, the meter has been the main resource for classifying literary genres. Thus, a poem composed into hexameter lines could be readily identified as an epic. However, there are differences between the Homeric and the Hesiodic epics which seem to reinforce the assumption that the epic genre could have different manifestations. While the Homeric epics are long as for the extent and sing the martial feats,the Hesiodic epics are brief and have the intent of transferring knowledge. The Virgilâs Georgics affiliated to the composition of Hesiodic type. Although a Hellenistic influence is perceived, the Virgilian poem follows characteristics of structure, shape and contents of the Hesiodic epic (which can also be called didactic epos). However, in several passages, the poem seems to exceed these characteristics, leaving the impression that also could maintain bonds to the Homeric epic (or the so-called heroic epos). This discussion suggests that the reading of the poem as didactic does not seem to be sufficient for the classification of genre, it also suggests that the poem is part of a kind of poetic progression that to goes through two forms of epos, heroic and didactic.

This study explores the relationship between poetry and politics in Books 1 and 15 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Vergil had refashioned the concept of the golden age to better resonate with Roman values, and Ovid in turn responds to Vergil by making his own golden age free from law, seafaring, and warfare (Met. 1.89-112). Ovid’s golden age clearly foils his ‘praise’ of Augustus in Book 15 (819-70), and thus challenges Vergil’s innovations. Ovid closely connects his demiurge (opifex, 1.79), who created the conditions necessary for the existence of the golden age, to himself (15.871-9); they together display the potency of poetic power. Poesis is different than the power of empire, which is inherently destructive: Jupiter terminates the golden age (1.113), and Augustus’ accomplishments are only ostensibly ‘peaceful’ (15.823, 833). Ovid suggests that the power of poesis remains beyond the destructive reach of Augustus, since Rome’s power is limited to the post-golden, chaotic world, and that poesis enjoys the status of eternality which Rome and Augustus claimed to possess themselves.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität zu Köln, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [252]-262) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Princeton University, 1930. / "Bibliographical index": p. [133]-135.