Talk:Pervigilium Veneris

Should be something on how the state of the poem as found in the two surviving manuscripts is rather disorganized, and various partial reconstructions have been offered. Also, the poem apparently played a significant role in Walter Pater's novel Marius the Epicurean... AnonMoos (talk) 10:19, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

It was set to music also by Timothy Mather Spelman in 1931 and by Virgil Thompson. On the poem itself, see also interesting review http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004-06-03.html on a new, heavily annotated edition by Andrea Cucchiarelli, recently published in Italy in the 'Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli', with an appendix also of anonymous 4th century poems on the topos of the rose, based on the Antologia Latin (which was probably assembled in Carthage in late antiquity). Sounds fascinating. Mballen (talk) 16:46, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. Hope someone has time to incorporate it. Cynwolfe (talk) 16:55, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Here are some quotes from the Bryn Mawr review of the Cucchiarelli book, which I garbled a little in my summary above. (I'd sure like obtain it, since I read Italian):

The volume is also equipped with a Breve Antologia della critica (pp. 51-60), covering over three centuries of scholarship, from Voltaire to contemporary criticism. The comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography (pp. 61-72) will be an extremely useful tool for the reader wishing to pursue the issues raised by the poem.

The book ends with an appendix containing text and translation (without commentary) of some of the most famous Late Ancient poems devoted to the theme of the rose; many of them are anonymous and come from the so-called Anthologia latina, a collection of poems from the imperial age, that was put together probably at Carthage in the context of the cultural renaissance of Vandalic Africa in the V century CE. This appendix highlights the vitality of the rose topos and of the symbolism associated with it, which spreads from the ancient world into European literature of all ages, and it offers the reader a welcome opportunity for reading and appreciating, this time in an Italian translation, a series of poems scarcely studied or known.

The reviewer concludes:

This edition by Cucchiarelli is an exhaustive work, which gives a full picture of the scholarship on the Pervigilium. Both in the introduction and in the commentary, the author gives scholars of Late ancient Latin literature an extremely valuable contribution to the interpretation of this fascinating little poem. The facing translation, the rich commentary, and the very affordable price, make this book an effective didactic tool in Italian universities, and, perhaps, also outside of Italy. Moreover, the elegant and impressionistic translation by Cucchiarelli will be not only useful to students in their analysis and interpretation of the text, but will surely succeed in attracting the interest of the cultivated readers of this little jewel from Late Antiquity.

Mballen (talk) 17:13, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Someone needs to edit the Venus article and add a reference to the role of Venus in Lucretius's De rerum natura.Mballen (talk) 06:16, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Translation

which authors translation/version is quoted under the ending subheading ? There's quotation marks but no reference 120.16.147.183 (talk) 04:57, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

I believe the translation is mine. Feel free to correct it if it can be improved. Kanjuzi (talk) 11:33, 21 January 2024 (UTC)