Reading the "History of the Romish Literature" of Manfred Fuhrmann (Part I)

1) the Latin language: only the idiom of the region Latium, but together with the Idea of the State the Romish idiom became the normative language for the west part of the Roman Empire, especially for Iberia, North Africa, the region around the Black See. The Rumanian language of today is developed from Latin. The development of the Latin language to its classic form as a normative language of the Empire includes the "Rhotacism" ('s' between vocals is substituted by 'r'); the disappearance of Diphthongs; the three verbal forms of the Indo-German language family, which survive in Greek, were reduced: the aorists were reduced to the present and perfect forms; the grammar became more strict.

2) the begin of the Romish literature: 240 before Christus with the translation of Greek comedies and tragedies. Greeks began to settle down in Italy and had a large influence on the Etruscan culture. The Romans didn't have their own myths and thus the Greek literature must have had also an influence on the development of the Roman religion. Also the Lex XII tabularum was the result of the influence of Greek culture. The Romish religion is more abstract, the gods were identified with their power and acts, while the Greek religion is more anthropomorphic. The symbols of the power: faces, lictores and the sella curulis go back to the Etruscan influence. Livius wrote about the Etruscan people: "Gens ante omnes alias eo magis dedita religionibus, quod excelleret arte colendi eas". The fights of the gladiators also go back to Etruscan customs. Before the direct influence of the Greeks the Romans didn't know the difference between proses and poetry. They used rhythmic lines in the proses, and called text written in such a way "Carmen". One kind of verses was known: versus Saturnius (allusion of the Golden age), which was used by Livius Andronicus and Naevius. But Ennius substituted it through the Greek hexameter. Two examples of the Versus Saturnius: "Adesto, Tiberine, cum tuis undis" (a prayer) and "Virum mihi, Camena insece versutum" (the translation of "Odysseus" by Livius Andronicus). Other kinds of literature: nenia, accompanied by flute, lamentation of the dead; heroic songs, sung at the meal, and harvest songs. Besides these one can also find the Fabula Atellana, the Laudatio Funebris (a specific Roman genre), and the Annales.

3) the development of the Romish Literature after the muster of the Greek literature: ludi Romani - ludi scaenici (theatre plays). The school system of the Greeks: all children could learn gymnastics, music, writing, reading and calculating. Children from better families could go later to school to learn literature, grammar and stile. Later, a small number of privileged young men could learn rhetoric. The Romans copied this kind of school system. The Roman schools were private, while the theatre plays were organised by the State. Not only in these two domains did the Greek culture influence the Roman culture, but also regarding the Roman customs.

(To be continued)

The Death as Cynic - Johannes von Tepl's "The Ploughman and the Death"

It is a short dialogue between a Ploughman, who ploughed with feather (that means he was not a peasant, but a clerk) written in Middle High German. The ploughman laments the early death of his wife Margaretha, whom he loves dearly, and accused the Death of injustice. The Death answers in plural form "We", like God do in the second last chapter of this dialogue. The Death attests that the wife of the ploughman has been a very virtuous woman, but refuses to acknowledge the injustice down to the ploughman. As everyone who is once born must die, disregarding with what age and who. The ploughman lists the virtues and great deeds of man, but the Death laughs at the folly of man. The ploughman praises the luck of family life, the Death numbers all the disadvantages of a married life. The ploughman sings a hymn of beautiful and virtuous women, the Death sneers and plays the role of the worst misogynist. The ploughman asks sincerely for advices to make amend of sorry, the Death stresses the uselessness of all hope to find remedy for the loss. In the end God comes to settle the quarrel, and tells the Death to be humble as the power of Death comes only from God. The ploughman is praised for his courage but is also asked to rest the case, because, as God is written as saying: "Every human being is obliged to give the Death his life, the Earth his body, and Us his soul" (chapter 33). Thus, the ploughman calms down and prays for the soul of his wife. The last chapter (34) consists in a very long and moving prayers which assembles a litany, in which the ploughman addresses God in all his attributes as the Creator and Lord of our life and existence.

But I don't quite see which function the quarrel can have: the Death appears in the role of a cynic. Life is nothing than sorrow and hardship, human beings are bad, hope and joy make only the loss of what is dear to us more painful. The human body is nothing than a cadaver, given over to the worms. The ploughman is in comparison a lover of the mankind and tries his best to defend the value of life and dignity of man, because, as he stresses on many places, man is the creature of God so can't be as bad and unworthy as the Death sees him. But neither party lets himself be convinced by only one point of his opponent. So it is a riddle to me what the point of this dialogue is. Perhaps the writer only wants to show the unreconcilable antithesis of the human existence: Life and Death, Joy and Sorrow. Without the Christian Faith it will ends in an aporia. Without the Christian Faith we will go back to the hopeless melancholy of Horace, whose only advices to overcome this antithesis is to carpe diem, and drown your sorrow in the drunkenness. While the Death in this dialogue tells one, despite all his sneers, to "avoid the evil and do what is good, to search for the peace and to keep it constantly. And one should not overestimate the earthly joy and possessions. Above all, one should have a pure conscious". So the Death as cynic is not a hedonist nor a nihilist. He is a curing cynic like the cynics in Lucian's Satire: the cynic is there to keep people honest and to free their soul from foul spots and superfluous sorrow and conceitedness.

One chapter (chapter 16) where the Death describes himself is especially interesting, which I translate as in the following:

"You ask, what we are: We are nothing and are nevertheless something. We are nothing, because we have no life nor substance, no figure nor duration (unterstand: not quite sure what meaning this word in Mhd. has). We are again something, because we are the End of Life, the End of the Existence, the Begin of Nothing, a thing between both of them. [...]".

De vera Religione - Part I: Plato and Christianity

Yesterday in a hurry I bought the "De vera religione" for the train trip, didn't read it much though. Today I read Chapter I to VII. To be noted is the description of Plato as a crypt Christian. The search of Plato after the stable, never changing beauty is taken by Augustine as the search after God. The similitude between Plato's thinking and the Christian teaching consists according to Augustine in the followings: 1) the truth should be seen through the mind, not through eyes (non corporeis oculis sed pura mente veritatem videri), and that to adhere to this truth is the perfect luck, and that to achieve this one must live an ascetic life without the distortion and delusion which are brought up by the lusts; 2) to see the unchanging beauty, the soul must be healthy (sana); 3) among all creatures only the rational and intellectual soul is able to see the eternity of God and to enjoy the eternal life. But Augustine opines that Plato was afraid to act against the conventions of his society and thus didn't give up a life in the world and to seek God in a life style whilst all the secular interests were left behind. In comparison, the Christians achieved what Plato originally intended to.

From Chapter V to VII Augustine writes that the True Religion is only in the Catholic Church. His definition of what is catholic is quite interesting: that is the community which is free from heresy and schism (which comes up due to the arrogance). Although people can have the same liturgy, but the difference in belief can excommunicate one from the catholic community. And it is possible, thus Augustine, that very orthodox and pious people can be excommunicated through mistake. But a true saint will endure all this injustice and will never start an act of disobedience (nr. 33: "quam contumeliam vel iniuriam suam cum patientissime pro ecclessiae pace tulerint neque ullas novitates vel schismatis vel heresis moliti fuerint, docebunt homines quam vero affectu et quanta sinceritate caritatis deo serviendum sit").

To be continued. 

Death in Life (Horace's Carmen 1, 4)

The motif of the famous "Carpe Diem" (1, 11) poem of Horace can also be found in his Carmen 1, 4, where he wrote in the first three verses about the Joy of Spring. But in the first line of the fourth verse the word "Death" appeared: pallida Mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turris. And he mentioned also that we should not make plan and have expectations for times long after: o beate Sesti, vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam; iam te premet nox fabulaeque Manes.

to: Manes see the tombstone below

written in Archilochium tertium.

But why! Is it common for the ancient literature? This melancholy. I don't think so. Horace seems to be too sentimental for an ancient poet. No unreflected serenity which is supposed to be so characteristic for the ancient world. Always with the antithesis of Life and Death, oh the Death triumphs in the end! But for my taste, this reflection is again too shallow. It is without the metaphysical depth of the baroque poetry, without the heroic attitude of a baroque man.

And does it move me, this poem? Not so much like that of his Carmen 1, 11. Why? Because it is only about the shortness of one's own life - though he talks to Sestius, but he just means the pleasure of one's life is so transient. In comparison, Carmen 1, 11 talks about the shortness of the time two friends (lovers) can be together. And only the latter pains me. Not only Death can part two, oh lucky is she who parts from her friend only through Death. To part while still in life is a greater pain! And do I fear Death? I don't. But people say I only say I fear Death not because I am still young. Perhaps they are right.

Die Oratio Dominica (Chapter 5 of "Jesus of Nazareth"

Recapitulation of chapter 4: the Sermon on the Mountain tells us how to be a human being. And a real anthropology is only possible in the light of a theology.

1) Then Pope Benedict turns to the version of Oratio Dominica in the Matthew's Gospel: the evangelist tells us how to pray in a right way. Not the human being should be in the centre of the prayer, but only the love to God. As the Revelation says, God calls everyone with his own name, which nobody knows other than God (Rev. 2, 17). The Oratio Dominica is a We-Prayer, that means, only in the Church we can reach God as individuals! So in a correct prayer one should brings one's innermost personality to God but at the same time in a community. The other false way to pray is the thoughtless repetition, as we are told by the evangelist.

In the prayer we intensify our relationship to God. But not only the awareness of being together with God is needed, but also concretes formulas of prayers. The prayers of Israel and later the prayers of the Church are the school of praying and also lead to a deep transformation of our life.

Saint Benedict wrote in his Regula: Mens nostra concordet voci nostrae (cf. also Reg 19, 7). But in the prayers of psalms and the prayers in the liturgy of the Church it is different: our mind must be obedient to the Word, in this Word God comes to help us to pray and find Him.

 2) the version of Luke's Gospel: the Father-Son-relationship in the Oratio Dominica. The inner unity with God.

3) Structure of the Oratio Dominica:

Our Father:
three petitions with "thou", and 7 with "we", thus its structure is parallel to Decalogue. As we only know the Father through the Son, so the prayer begins with the addressing of God as "Father". And God is our Father, because our life comes from Him as the Creator and belongs to Him. To be children of God is to be the followers of Christ. But only Jesus Christ can say: "my Father", but we all must say "our Father".

Who art in heaven:
Name of God: I am who I am (Ex 3,6).

Thy Kingdom come: 
The Kingdom of God comes over a pure heart, and this is what we pray for.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven:
Jesus Christ is the heaven, and God's will is done in Heaven. We on the earth should follow Christ in obedience, so that we can come nearer to heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread:
As Cyprian already said, we pray for OUR daily bread, no one should pray for his own alone. And he said also, that who he must pray for the bread of today, is poor, so the followers of Christ are poor because they give up their property for God's sake. And the others, who haven't went so far, should stay in solidarity with these who try to love God in such a radical way (the religious). And of course already explained by the Fathers of the Church as the prayer for Eucharist.


and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us:
This is a christological prayer, not merely a moral appeal, because the forgiveness of our Sins costed our Lord the Blood of His Son.

And lead us not into temptation:
Parallel to Hiob: not that God will tempt us into sin, but that he will send us trial, which we withstand ad gloriam Dei. But we pray at the same time, that God never let us alone in our trial.

but deliver us from evil:
with this prayer we pray for the Kingdom of God. And that is why in the Liturgy after the Pater noster the Priest prays further: Libera nos, quaesumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, praeteritis, praesentibus, et futuris, et intercedente beata et gloriosa semper Virgine Dei Genitrice Maria, cum beatis Apostolis tuis Petro et Paulo, atque Andrea, et omnibus Sanctis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris, ut ope misericordiae tuae adjuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi. Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus. Per omnia saecula saeculorum. This Embolism, thus Pope Benedict, shows the human side of the Church, which is very much in need of deliverance.