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Author Law, Vivien.

Title Wisdom, authority, and grammar in the seventh century : decoding Virgilius Maro Grammaticus / Vivien Law
Published Cambridge, GBR : Cambridge University Press, 2009
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Description 1 online resource (182 pages)
Contents 1. The outer layers: parody and word-play -- 2. The wisdom tradition -- 3. Avarice and the four keys to wisdom -- 4. The multifarious nature of wisdom -- 5. Heretical knowledge? The constitution of man -- 6. The Epistolae: Virgilius' Retractatio? -- 7. Concealment of mysteries: the techniques of secrecy -- 8. Virgilius and the seventh century -- 9. Conclusion -- Appendix 1: Epistola II 14-93: The vocative of ego -- Appendix 2: Epitome XV: The catalogue of grammarians
Summary The works of the enigmatic seventh-century author Virgilius Maro Grammaticus ('Virgil the Grammarian') are amongst the most puzzling medieval texts to survive. Ostensibly a pair of grammars, they swarm with hymns, riddles, imaginary writers, invented words and attacks on authority. Conventionally interpreted either as a benighted barbarian's unfortunate attempt to write a 'proper' grammar, or as a parody of the pedantic excesses of the ancient grammatical tradition, these texts are desperately in need of a reading which takes into account their many idiosyncrasies. Why should a grammarian preach the existence of twelve different kinds of Latin? Why should he attack the very notion of authority, thereby destabilising his own position? The search for an answer leads via patristic exegesis and medieval wisdom literature to the tantalisingly ill-documented reaches of heterodox initiatory traditions
Analysis Latin language
Notes Print version record
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-163) and indexes
Subject Virgilius Maro Grammaticus, 7th cent. -- Ethics
Authority.
Ethics, Medieval.
Latin language, Medieval and modern -- Grammar -- Moral and ethical aspects.
Latin language, Medieval and modern. -- Historiography.
Learning and scholarship -- History -- Medieval, 500-1500.
Wisdom literature -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 0511551339
9780511551338