Fulgence Mythographe

Of Fabius Planciades Fulgentius (known as “ Fulgence Mythographe”), one knows about nothing: its dates as well as its biography itself were the subject of many assumptions and debates of which some are not yet distinct. Indeed, since the the Middle Ages, one wondered whether it were necessary to see in Fulgence Mythographe the same person as Fulgence de Ruspe, the well-known bishop for his combat against Ariens, which lived of 468 with 533.

Attempt at dating

If one sticks to the elements of work of Fulgence which make it possible to establish in an unquestionable way a terminus post quem and a terminus handle quem , the interval obtained hardly makes it possible to locate the time of Fulgence precisely: one indeed knows with certainty that he wrote between 363 (date of the accession to the throne of the emperor Valentinien I {{er}}, to which he refers in the aetatibus , p.  179.10) and approximately 800 (because one finds echoes without ambiguity in the Libri Carolini ). No really assured detail makes it possible to specify this interval of more than 400 years. One can however insist on the fact that Fulgence refers to Martianus Capella, that it indicates under the name of Felix Capella in the Expositio sermonum antiquiorum (1, 45, p.  123, l.  4 Helm, Leipzig, Teubner, 1898 : unde and Felix Capella in libro of nuptiis Mercurii and Philologiae have… ). But the dates of Martianus are they also incertaines : one locates it either between 410 and 439, or in the Années 480. In addition, the few parallels between Fulgence and Dracontius (one can in particular compare Drac. Laud.   2,   391-4 and Fulg. Æt.   p.  136.5) do not make it possible to establish with certainty which of the two authors took as a starting point the different one. With regard to the geographic origin, the adjective Libycus , employed by Fulgence to indicate its native language ( Aet.   131,   5-14), seems to indicate a African origin. In addition, the dedication of the Mitologiae to certain Catus, priest of Carthage, seems to confirm this geographical location.

At all events, these literary bringings together (in particular with Martianus and Dracontius), as well as the style and the language of Fulgence (characteristic of the African Rhéteur S tardo-antiques, with a taste for the Hapax , the Hellénisme S and attention at the rate/rhythm of prose) make it possible to consider Fulgence, with a certain probability, like a African author of the end of the V {{E}} or beginning of the 6th century, probably writing in the context of the “rebirth vandal” (i.e. of the cultural rebirth, and in particular arts person, as from years 480).

It is appropriate however to mention here assumption recent, G. Hays (in the Journal off Medieval Latin , 2003), which brings a passage closer to the prolog of the Mitologiae of Fulgence of a passage of the Johannide of Corippe (VIII, 278), and thinks of being able to prove that Fulgence imitates Corippe, which would give for our author a terminus post quem in years 550 (thus after the release of Carthage by the Byzantine fleet).

Lastly, as for many authors of this period, one can put the question of the Christianisme of Fulgence: one generally agrees to say that Fulgence Mythographe was Christian, and one is based for that on the vocabulary (which are typically that of the African Christian authors) and on the fact that its work was used with the Middle Ages to accredit the assumption of a Christian allegorical interpretation of the ancient poets. Certain allusions in addition make it possible to support this hypothèse : one finds thus references to the Antichrist ( Mitol.   III,   1,   59), in Adam ( ibid , III,   6,   69,   15-17) like with Christ ( Expos.   87,   7-10).

The problem of both Fulgence

All these elements -   supposed dates, localization and religion chrétienne  - thus quickly incited with an assimilation of Fulgence Mythographe with another Fulgence, known much better, which lived of 468 with 533, and was bishop of Ruspe (his life relatively well is known, and one preserves many of his writings, in particular the controversies against the Ariens).

As of the 9th century, and during all Middle Ages, the authors thought that there had been one Fulgence, and this identification was called into question only with the edition of works of Fulgence de Ruspe by A. Molanus, in 1573. However, the question was again put to 19th century, when R.  Helm published four studies in which he affirmed that it was indeed only one and even personne  ; this assumption was taken again by O. Friebel, but shortly after Mr. Schanz and P. Hosius estimated that their arguments were hardly convincing.

In current research, this question was not solved in a final way, even if as a whole one agrees today to see two different people in Fulgence de Mythographe and Fulgence de Ruspe (however, in the years 1960, P. Langlois again affirmed the identity of the two authors). In fact, in the absence of precise elements on the identity of Fulgence Mythographe, there does not exist element making it possible to take a decision clearly for one or the other thèse  : one of the arguments often evoked to reject the identification is that the bishop Fulgence de Ruspe, known for the serious and serious character of his anti-ariens writings, could not have written the impressed texts of imagination which constitute the work of Fulgence de Mythographe. But one can also turn over the argument while proposing to see in the texts of Mythographe of the writings of youth of the bishop.

The dating suggested per G. Hays because of the bringing together with a passage of Corippe (see higher, in the paragraph on the dating), which would tend to locate Fulgence Mythographe in years 550, would make it possible to take a decision in favor of a distinction of the two authors, since Fulgence de Ruspe died into 533.

Works of Fulgence Mythographe

One preserves four works which one can with certainty allot to Fulgence Mythographe : three of them were transmitted to us by the manuscripts under the name of Fulgentius Fabius Planciades , and another -   the Of ætatibus mundi and hominis   - under the name of Fabius Claudius Gordianus Fulgentius , but it is generally admitted that it is about same the auteur  ; finally, the grammatical comment Super Thebaiden , allotted to “  S. Fulgentius Episcopus  ”, is generally regarded in current research as a medieval forgery dating from the XIIIe century.

The Mitologiarum libri very

The Mitologiarum libri are dedicated to a priest of Carthage, named Catus; the author represents himself there discussing with the MUSE Calliope; after a foreword in form of prosimetrum , Fulgence evokes in the livre  I the myths concerning the Olympian gods, and presents other myths, without true order, in the livres  II and III. This explanation of the myths, tinted Stoicism and of Néoplatonisme, is interesting by its use of the etymology to the service of allegorical interpretation.

Although Fulgence is a Christian author (one can see in several allegorical interpretations a Christian direction), one notices that it makes a full use of pagan sources, in particular by the compilation of the stoico-neoplatonician explanation of the myths (gods considered sometimes as cosmic symbols, sometimes like allegories). Fulgence underlines however that the contemplative life is that of the priests and the monks, whereas formerly it was that of the philosophers. One will insist finally on the literary and philosophical culture to which the Mitologiæ testify: this book indeed seems to be the last witness of a thorough reading of the Songe of Scipion of Cicéron in Africa, and Fulgence appears to know and adapt to its point of view of Christian certain theses of the Commentaire with the Dream of Scipion of Macrobe.

The Expositio Virgilianæ continentiæ secundum philosophos moralis

The Expositio Virgilianæ continentiae secundum philosophos moralis (title that the manuscripts give to work, but which is certainly not origin): Virgile appears with the author, and the hidden direction of the Énéide reveals to him. After having insisted on the depth symbolic system of the first towards Énéide ( armed, id is uirtus , corresponds to the substantia corporis , to uir, id is sapientia , with the substantia sensualis , and primus, id is princeps with the substantia censualis , in other words the first three words of the Énéide correspond to the three degrees of the human life: nature, science, happiness), this comment of the poem virgilien presents the tours of Énée like an allegory of the human life -   with the geographical tour of Énée, Fulgence makes correspond an existential route: natiuitas , infantia , adulescentia , iuuentus and grauitas   -, and it superimposes on this allegory a diagram of interpretation neoplatonician, by seeing in the Énéide an ontological passage of the physical field ( substantia corporalis , in the livres  I with IV) with the understandable field ( substantia sensualis , in the livres  V and VI) then ethical ( substantia censualis , in the livres  VII to XII). This work of Fulgence had a considerable influence on the Middle Ages: it is at the origin of the allegorical comment to the Énéide allotted to Bernard Silvestre, and one can think that it inspired Dante directly or indirectly.

The Expositio sermonum antiquorum

The Expositio sermonum antiquorum is an opuscule where Fulgence explains the direction of 62 Latin words rare, by proposing quotations of authors of Démosthène to Martianus Capella (quotations who appear invented for a part of them).

The Of ætatibus mundi and hominis ( Of the ages of the world and the men )

The Of ætatibus mundi and hominis (which is not preserved in the same manuscripts that the first three works) comprises 14 sections which recall the history of the men of the origins with 363  ap.  J. - C. : sections I to IX cover the Biblical story, the section  X presents the career of Alexandre Large the, the section  XI history of republican Rome, sections XII and XIII life of Christ and the apostles, and section XIV history of imperial Rome, until the death of Julien the Apostate and the accession with the throne of Valentinien  I {{er}}.

It is noticed that the passages on the Roman history are violently hostile to the Romans, which indicates that the author, Roman himself, adopts with regard to the expansion of the Roman power the critical point of view which was that of the Christians. But the interest of this work comes above all from the stylistic play “lipogrammatic”, worthy of the Disparition of Perec, which is employed there: in each section, the author made disappear the corresponding letter of the alphabet (thus the account of the fall, in the first section, is carried out entirely in has , the account of the flood, without B , and so on, until the history of imperial Rome, presented without O ).

The comment Super Thebaiden

It is about a comment with Thébaïde of Stace. One finds there a bringing together between the Énéide and the Thébaïde , as of interpretations rather close to what one has in the Expositio Vergilianæ continentiæ , and same taste for the whimsical etymologies. It is generally admitted that this work is a forgery of the 13th century, but there still, no argument truly determinant makes it possible to take a decision.

Lost works

One must perhaps add to these works of poetries of youth (as the foreword of the Mitologiae indicates it), as well as a comment on the first two books of Martianus Capella.

See too