eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780486149042 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 12/21/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 1024 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
Read an Excerpt
Medieval Literature in Translation
By Charles W. Jones
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 1978 Charles W. JonesAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-14904-2
CHAPTER 1
THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION
The Christian literary tradition began in Hellenic Asia Minor in the days of persecution before the Edict of Constantine (A.D. 311). After the period of writings eventually included in the canon of the New Testament came a period of apocryphal writings and works of the Fathers of the Church, that is, of clergy who wrote books of instruction, theological tracts, Christian biographies either factual or idealized, histories of the Church, hymns and antiphons, and the like. The primary languages were Greek, Coptic (Egyptian), and Syrian. Not until the third century did Christianity become firmly enough established in the West to develop a notable literature in Latin, and only after the Church became a ward of the Empire early in the fourth century did Latin literature become really Christianized. The four great Latin Fathers, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory, all wrote after A.D. 350.
The selections that follow have been chosen, not to give a proportioned view of Christian teaching, but to acquaint the reader with cardinal passages and works on which medieval literature depends. Those who use this book are advised to read, in addition to the selections given here, the following passages in the New Testament: Luke 1, 26–39 (Annunciation); 11, 1–34 (Nativity); Matthew V–VII (Sermon on the Mount); Mark XIV, 10–16, 20 (Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension); John 1, 1–18 (Divinity of Christ); Acts 11, I Thess. IV, 14–v, 3 (Holy Ghost, Second Advent, Formation of the Church); Acts VII, 54–VIII, 4, IX, 1–31 (Stephen, Paul); Romans VIII, 28–30 (Predestination, Election); I Cor. XIII (Faith, Hope, Charity); xv, 12–50 (Eternal Life); Gal. IV, 1–6, 22–31, v, 13–23 (New Law and New Jerusalem); Eph. 11, 18–22 (Communion and Intercession of the Saints); VI, 10–20 (Arming of the Christian Warrior); Col. 11, 8, I Tim. 1, 3–11, II Tim. 11, 16–17 (Secular Literature); II Tim. 111 (Christian Ministry); Hebrews XI, I–XII, 2 (Faith and the Patriarchs); I Peter 11, 13–18 (Right of Kings); II Peter 11, 4, Jude 1, 6 (Fall of the Angels); II Peter 111, 7–18, Revelation, esp. XII (Millennium and Last Judgment).
Until the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), called by the Emperor Constantine, Christians lived under fear of persecution as opponents of the religion of the state. In consequence, the literature of this ante-Nicene period is characterized by anonymity, an enigmatical form of writing, and a considerable amount of prophecy and apocalypse in anticipation of better days. Moreover, since the Gospels were not theological but a record of Christian experience, dogma and doctrine had to be established, and much of the literature was created to support and disseminate some particular theological view. At the time of the Nicene Council, the Church was torn between Arianism and Orthodoxy; largely through the efforts of Bishop Athanasius and his supporters the orthodox view prevailed.
Almost immediately began a period of historical writing, for the clergy, now freed from its illegal position, felt the need to explain its status to the world. The increase in number of converts and the new problems arising from its official position forced increased organization. The bishops' sees had been small; but now emerged the metropolitan, eventually an archdiocese. Four "apostolic sees" came to be viewed as arbiters in dogma and canon law: Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. For the first three, Greek was the ecclesiastical language; for Rome, Latin.
Through the fourth century, most Christian literature was at least inspired by the East; but as literacy declined with the decline of state power in the West, fewer ideas were imported from the Greek and Hebrew world, and fewer works were translated. In the fifth and sixth centuries, communication between Latin and Greek churches came to be limited to envoys and ambassadors. The Latin-speaking people of the West no longer depended upon eastern churches for their knowledge of Christianity and for literature acceptable to Christians; but already a vast mass of liturgy, Christian history, doctrine, story, and legend from the Orient had come into the West. It is a vital element in medieval literature.
APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT
A group of writings composed during the first five centuries of the Christian Era, generally called the Apocryphal New Testament, is made up of spurious gospels, acts, epistles, or visions of St. Mary, the disciples, apostles, or other figures of the New Testament. Their authors' purpose in writing under the assumed names of New Testament personages was to enlist respect; usually the pretence was that a work, hidden in apostolic days, had just been brought to light. A modern editor and translator, Montague Rhodes James says: "As religious books they were meant to reinforce the existing stock of Christian beliefs: either by revealing new doctrines — usually differing from those which held the field; or by interpreting old ones — again, usually in a fresh sense; or by extolling some special virtue, as chastity or temperance; or by enforcing belief in certain doctrines or events, e.g. the virgin birth, the resurrection of Christ, the second coming, the future state — by the production of evidence which, if true, should be irrefragable.... Not a few of the stories are notable and imaginative, and have been consecrated and made familiar to us by the genius of mediaeval artists. But the authors do not speak with the voices of Paul or of John, or with the quiet simplicity of the three first Gospels. It is not unfair to say that when they attempt the former tone, they are theatrical, and when they essay the latter, they are jejune." The works varied in popularity in antiquity as well as during the Middle Ages and recent times.
One of the most popular, though consistently condemned or cited with disapproval by Church writers from St. Augustine on, is the Apocalypse or Vision of Paul, which stimulated western writers to create visions of the afterlife and specifically influenced Dante in the composition of his Comedy (cf. Inferno ii, 28). It was subjected to numerous revisions, adaptations, and paraphrases in verse and prose, as homilies or romances; versions exist in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Armenian, and Slavic.
The work opens with a prologue describing the alleged discovery of the text, and then narrates the vision of Paul of Tarsus who "while I was in the body, was caught up into the third heaven." The vision falls into six parts: (1) an appeal of creation to God against man; (2) a report of the angels to God about men; (3) a description of the deaths and judgments of the righteous and of the wicked; (4) a vision of Paradise; (5) a vision of Hell and Paul's intercession; (6) a second vision of Paradise. The selections that follow are translated from what is generally regarded as the oldest Latin version.
THE VISION OF PAUL
Anonymous (3rd cent.?)
[From The Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Additional Volume, edited by Allan Menzies; T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1896.]
In the consulship of Theodosius Augustus the Younger and Cynegius, a certain nobleman then living in Tharsus, in the house which was that of Saint Paul, an angel appearing in the night revealed to him, saying that he should open the foundations of the house and should publish what he found, but he thought that these things were dreams.
But the angel coming for the third time beat him and forced him to open the foundation. And digging he found a marble box, inscribed on the sides; there was the revelation of Saint Paul, and his shoes in which he walked teaching the word of God. But he feared to open that box and brought it to the judge; when he had received it, the judge, because it was sealed with lead, sent it to the Emperor Theodosius, fearing lest it might be something else; which when he had received the emperor opened it, and found the revelation of Saint Paul; a copy of it he sent to Jerusalem, and retained the original himself.
While I was in the body in which I was snatched up to the third heaven, the word of the Lord came to me saying: "Speak to the people: Until when will ye transgress, and heap sin upon sin, and tempt the Lord who made you? Ye are the sons of God, doing the works of the devil in the faith of Christ, on account of the impediments of the world. Remember therefore and know that while every creature serves God, the human race alone sins. But it reigns over every creature and sins more than all nature.
The creature is subject to God, but the human race alone sins. For this cause, therefore, ye sons of men, bless the Lord God unceasingly, every hour and every day: but more especially when the sun has set: for at that hour all the angels proceed to the Lord to worship him and to present the works of men, which every man has wrought from the morning till the evening, whether good or evil. And there is a certain angel who proceeds rejoicing concerning the man in whom he dwells. When therefore the sun has set in the first hour of night, in the same hour the angel of every people and every man and woman, who protect and preserve them, because man is the image of God: similarly also in the matin hour which is the twelfth of the night, all the angels of men and women go up to God to worship God and present every work which each man has wrought, whether good or evil. Moreover every day and night the angels show to God an account of all the acts of the human race. To you, therefore, I say, ye sons of men, bless the Lord God without fail all the days of your life."
Therefore at the appointed hour all the angels whatever, rejoicing at once together, proceed before God that they may meet to worship at the hour determined. And behold suddenly it became the hour of meeting, and the angels came to worship in the presence of God, and the spirit proceeded to meet them: and there came a voice and said: "Whence come ye, our angels, bearing the burdens of tidings?"
They answered and said: "We come from those who have renounced this world for the sake of thy holy name, wandering as pilgrims, and in caves of the rocks, and weeping every hour in which they inhabited the earth, and hungering and thirsting because of thy name, with their loins girded, having in their hands the incense of their hearts, and praying and blessing every hour, and restraining and overcoming themselves, weeping and wailing above the rest that inhabit the earth. And we indeed, their angels, mourn along with them: whither therefore it shall please thee, command us to go and minister, lest others also do it, but the destitute above the rest who are on earth."
And there came the voice of God to them saying: "Know ye that now henceforward my grace is appointed unto you, and my help, who is my well-beloved Son, shall be present with them, guiding them every hour; ministering also to them, never deserting them, since their place is his habitation."
When therefore these angels had retired, behold other angels came to adore in the presence of honour, in the assembly, who wept; and the spirit of God proceeded to meet them, and there came the voice of God and said: "Whence come ye, our angels, bearing the burdens of the ministry of the tidings of the wold?"
They answered and said in the presence of God: "We have arrived from those who called upon thy name, and the impediments of the world made them wretched, devising many occasions every hour, not even making one pure prayer, nor out of their whole heart, in all the time of their life; what need, therefore, is there to be present with men who are sinners?"
And there came the voice of God to them: "It is necessary that ye should minister to them, until they be converted and repent: but if they do not return to me I will judge them."
Know therefore, sons of men, that whatever things are wrought by you, these angels relate to God, whether good or evil.
And I said to the angel: "I wished to see the souls of the just and of sinners going out of the world."
And the angel answered and said unto me: "Look down upon the earth."
And I looked down from heaven upon the earth, and saw the whole world, and it was nothing in my sight and I saw the sons of men as though they were naught, and a-wanting, and I wondered and said to the angel: "Is this the greatness of men?"
And the angel answered and said unto me: "It is, and these are they who do evil from morning till evening."
And I looked and saw a great cloud of fire spread over the whole world, and I said to the angel: "What is this, my Lord?"
And he said to me: "This is injustice stirred up by the princes of sinners."
I indeed when I had heard this sighed and wept, and said to the angel: "I wished to see the souls of the just and of sinners, and to see in what manner they go out of the body."
And the angel answered and said unto me: "Look again upon the earth."
And I looked and saw all the world, and men were as naught and a-wanting; and I looked carefully and saw a certain man about to die. And the angel said to me: "This one whom thou seest is a just man."
And I looked again and saw all his works, whatever he had done for the sake of God's name, and all his desires, both what he remembered, and what he did not remember; they all stood in his sight in the hour of need. And I saw the just man advance and find refreshment and confidence, and before he went out of the world the holy and the impious angels both attended; but the impious found no place of habitation in him. The holy took possession of his soul, guiding it till it went out of the body. And they roused the soul saying: "Soul, know thy body whence thou goest out, for it is necessary that thou shouldst return to the same body on the day of the resurrection, that thou mayest receive the things promised to all the just."
Receiving therefore the soul from the body, they immediately kissed it as familiarly known to them, saying to it: "Do manfully, for thou hast done the will of God while placed in the earth."
And they led him along till he should worship in the sight of God. And when they had ceased, immediately Michael and all the army of angels, with one voice, adored the footstool of his feet, and his doors, saying at the same time to the soul: "This is your God of all things, who made you in his own image and likeness."
Moreover the angel returns and points him out saying: "God, remember his labours; for this is the soul whose works I related to thee, doing according to thy judgment."
And the spirit said likewise: "I am the spirit of vivification inspiring him; for I had refreshment in him, in the time when I dwelt in him, doing according to thy judgment."
And there came the voice of God and said: "In as much as this man did not vex me, neither will I vex him; for according as he had pity, I also will have pity. Let him therefore be handed over to Michael, the angel of the Covenant, and let him lead him into the Paradise of joy, that he himself may become co-heir with all the saints."
And after these things I heard the voices of a thousand thousand angels, and archangels, and cherubim, and twenty-four elders saying hymns, and glorifying the Lord and crying: "Thou art just, O Lord, and just are thy judgments, and there is no acceptance of persons with thee, but thou rewardest unto every man according to thy judgment."
And the angel said unto me: "Hast thou believed and known, that whatever each man of you has done, he sees in the hour of need?"
And I said: "Yes, sir."
And he saith to me: "Look again down on the earth, and watch the soul of an impious man going out of the body, which vexed the Lord day and night, saying: 'I know nothing else in this world, I eat and drink, and enjoy what is in the world; for who is there who has descended into hell, and ascending has declared to us that there is judgment there!'"
And again I looked carefully, and saw all the scorn of the sinner, and all that he did, and they stood together before him in the hour of need; and it was done to him in that hour, in which he was threatened about his body at the judgment, and I said: "It were better for him if he had not been born."
And after these things, there came at the same time the holy angels and the malign and the soul of the sinner, and the holy angels did not find a place in it. Moreover the malign angels cursed it; and when they had drawn it out of the body, the angels admonished it a third time, saying: "O wretched soul, look upon thy flesh, whence thou camest out; for it is necessary that thou shouldst return to thy flesh in the day of resurrection, that thou mayest receive the due for thy sins and thy impieties."
And after these things it was presented, that it might worship in the sight of God, and an angel of God showed him God who made him after his own image and likeness. Moreover his angel ran before him saying: "Lord God Almighty, I am the angel of this soul, whose works I presented to thee day and night, not doing according to thy judgment."
And the spirit likewise said: "I am the spirit who dwelt in it from the time it was made, in itself moreover I know it, and it has not followed my will: judge it, Lord, according to thy judgment."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Medieval Literature in Translation by Charles W. Jones. Copyright © 1978 Charles W. Jones. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
DOVER BOOKS ON LITERATURE AND DRAMA,Title Page,
Copyright Page,
PREFACE,
I. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION,
II. IRISH LITERATURE,
III. OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE,
IV. ROMANESQUE LITERATURE,
V. ARTHURIAN LITERATURE,
VI. TEUTONIC LITERATURE,
VII. ROMANCE LITERATURE,
VIII. DANTE,
IX. LATE LATIN LITERATURE,
X. DRAMA,
BIBLIOGRAPHY,
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES,