Читать книгу Gian Vittorio Rossi's Eudemiae libri decem - Группа авторов - Страница 16

Despite RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s declared indebtedness to PetroniusPetronius Arbiter’s Satyricon,1 a more direct model for Eudemia was John BarclayBarclay, John’s Euphormionis lusinini satyricon, published in two parts (in 1605 and 1607 respectively).2 The most significant Neo-Latin Menippean satire of Rossi’s time, Euphormionis lusinini satyricon tells the story of EuphormioEuphormio, a traveler from the idyllic fictional land of Lusinia, who is shocked by the corruption he finds in the land where he has arrived: seventeenth-century Europe. Part One of Barclay’s satire consists of the first-person narration of the title character Euphormio’s travels throughout Europe where, as David FlemingFleming, David A summarizes, he

encounters many of the social and professional classes of the early seventeenth century … [and] discovers through bitter experience the defects of all those whom he meets: the jealousy and internal rivalry of the clergy, the hypocrisy of physicians, the inconstancy of friends and lovers, the ostentation and selfishness of the nobility, the stupidity of rustics, the degeneracy of the learned.3

FlemingFleming, David A describes Part One of Euphormionis lusinini satyricon as “purely episodic” with short and self-contained incidents, ending without much advancement in plot or character development, and with EuphormioEuphormio having “achieved nothing but disillusionment and bitterness.”4 Part Two coheres much more as a narrative, consisting of “a few large sections, each of them embracing a considerable number of interrelated incidents” that together move the plot toward a singular goal: Euphormio’s reception and establishment in the court of King Tessaranactus (King James I) in the court of Scolimorrhodia (England).5 Eudemia’s first-person narrative in the voice of Flavius VopiscusFlavius Vopiscus Niger (Gian Vittorio Rossi?) Niger; the nonerotic nature of his main characters; his criticism of thieves, moneylenders, priests, quack doctors, and charlatans; and the disjointed, inconclusive nature of the narrative, are all reminiscent of BarclayBarclay, John’s satire, particularly Part One.

BarclayBarclay, John’s Euphormionis lusinini satyricon was immensely popular, appearing in almost fifty editions, including multiple translations published over the course of a century.6 It was an important milestone in European literature for at least two reasons: first, as FlemingFleming, David A writes, “with the single exception of Don Quixote … [it] was the most important work of prose fiction published in Europe in the first decade of the seventeenth-century”7; second, because it was the first major roman à clef, a genre that remained popular for the remainder of the century.8 Satire’s referential nature, pointing to people and events outside itself, provided fertile ground for the development of such novels. In the words of Dustin GriffinGriffin, Dustin H., “Satire likes to name names; it attracts ‘keys.’”9 Even in this aspect, Eudemia was no exception.

In the section above on Eudemia’s publication history—where RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s 1646 letter to Kaspar SchoppeSchoppe, Kaspar is cited, in which he explained how the book came to be published in Leiden—we saw how Rossi situates his work within the genres of Menippean and verse satire. However, in that letter he additionally claims the genre of romantic fiction in the vein of ArgenisArgenis, BarclayBarclay, John’s most famous work. Barclay’s novel tells the story of the princess Argenis, daughter of Meleander King of Sicily,10 who is secretly betrothed to Poliarchus but must fend off two other suitors, the valiant Archombrotus Archombrotusand the villain Radirobanes. The narrative arc of Argenis, with its plot driven by obstacles—including rivalries for her affection, pirates, shipwrecks, wars, conspiracies, poison, duplicity, and disguise—that separate the two lovers and delay their happiness, is typical of the romantic genre.11 In addition to being a romance, Argenis is a political allegory depicting the sixteenth-century wars of religion in France.12 Barclay combined the romantic and historical genres to create a wholly new one, the political romance, and did this so successfully and with such a high degree of artistry that his novel enjoyed enormous popularity, going through more than sixty editions, including translations into more than ten different languages.13

Similarities between Eudemia and ArgenisArgenis exist, but they are few in number. For example, both are extended works of Latin fiction combining prose and verse, both were written for an elite, intellectual audience, and are replete with allusions to ancient literature, and both are romans à clef. On the whole, however, RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s comparison of his work to Argenis is telling mostly in its inaccuracy. Most significantly, Eudemia is almost entirely void of romantic elements (the inserted tale of OlindaOlinda and PhilotasPhilotas in Book Four being the one exception). The protagonists are three men—the two Romans and their guide GalloniusGallonius (Gabriel Naudé?)—who harbor no romantic or sexual interest for each other. The episodic, haphazard plot has no overarching narrative structure and leads to no real conclusion. In addition, while BarclayBarclay, John, in the assessment of Mark T. RileyRiley, Mark T., treats the issues of his day in “an elevated and serious tone, a great imaginative power, and an acute judgment in the treatment of political and religious questions,”14 Rossi’s observations about the inhabitants on the island of Eudemia are, on the whole, petty and mocking rather than insightful and advisory, and the situations he describes are either too specific and ludicrous, or too commonplace (e.g., attacks against priests and moneylenders), to be applied as general moral lessons. Even the two authors’ use of the key technique differs significantly: As Riley explains, the main characters in Barclay’s Argenis

perform the function played in the real world by certain persons, but they are not portraits of the persons themselves. Meleander, the king of Sicily … is not a portrait of Henry IIIHenry III, King of France, but a character who labors under the same kinds of difficulties as those of Henry III.15

By contrast, a large number of the pseudonymous characters in Eudemia map onto specific historical people, most of whom were in his own circle of acquaintance—and more than half of whom are profiled in his Pinacotheca.

Because RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s mocking and inconclusive Eudemia resembles BarclayBarclay, John’s Euphormionis lusinini satyricon much more than it does his ArgenisArgenis, it is telling that Rossi does not specifically mention the Euphormionis lusinini satyricon as his model, especially since we know that he read it. Rossi’s biography of John Barclay, included in the third book of his Pinacotheca, provides a clue as to why this might be the case:

John BarclayBarclay, John is among those non-Roman and even non-Italian [rhetoricians] who have devoted themselves to the study of Latin letters. I have read his ArgenisArgenis, and I have also had a taste of part of his EuphormioEuphormio, before it was against the law for bookstores to sell it or for people to have it at home and read it.16

RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s mention of the limited access booksellers and consumers had to the Euphormionis lusinini satyricon refers to the fact that Part Two of the work was placed on the Index of Prohibited Books almost immediately after its publication in 1607.17 This is because John BarclayBarclay, John, a Roman Catholic but a “partisan of British interests,” wrote critically of the Jesuits and of the Pope.18 Comparing his work to ArgenisArgenis, instead of to his more likely model Euphormionis lusinini satyricon, benefited Rossi in two ways: he could distance himself from a controversial title; at the same time, by associating his work with an enormously popular and successful novel that, by the time of Eudemia’s 1637 publication date, existed in at least thirteen Latin editions and twelve translations,19 he could make Eudemia more attractive to potential publishers, booksellers, and readers. Similar to his soft Horatian turn discussed above, Rossi’s association of Eudemia with Barclay’s romance, as opposed to his harsh (and officially condemned) Euphormis lusinini satyricon, was a way to remove some of the bite from his satire.