The Reception of Classical Latin Literature in Early Modern Philosophy

the case of Ovid and Spinoza

Authors

Keywords:

Ovid, Spinoza, Reception of Latin Literature

Abstract

Although the works of the authors of the Golden Age of Latin Literature play an important formative role for Early Modern philosophers, their influence in Early Modern thought is, nowadays, rarely studied. Trying to bring this topic to light once again and following the seminal works of Kajanto (1979), Proietti (1985) and Akkerman (1985), I will target Spinoza’s Latin sources in order to analyze their place in his philosophy. On those grounds, I will offer an overview of the problems of the reception of classical literature in Early Modernity and then dwell on the particular case of Ovid and Spinoza. The present paper will argue that although Spinoza’s references to Ovid fill a rhetorical purpose as suggested by the existing literature, these mentions have a prior philosophical motivation. That is, the references in the Ethics are not merely illustrative; instead, they indicate that Spinoza acknowledges Ovid’s beliefs about human experiences and deliberately elaborates on Ovid’s view to construct and defend his own theses. To this end, the paper will analyze some citations mapped by Proietti (1985) and add a new one in an attempt to enlarge the list of places and topics that merit further investigation. To conclude, I will point out how the references to Ovid are part of Spinoza’s own defense of the powers of imagination.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

AKKERMAN, F. (1985). Le caractère rhétorique du “Traité théologico-politique”. Spinoza entre lumiere et romantisme. Les Cahiers de Fontenay No 36-38. E.N.S. Fontenay-aux-Roses, Mars 1985. p. 381- 389.
AKKERMAN, F. (2009). Humanism and Religion in the Works of Spinoza. In: MACDONALD, A. A.; MARTELS, Z. R. W. M.; VEENSTRA, J. (edS.). Christian Humanism Essays in Honour of Arjo Vanderjagt. Leiden, Brill Online, p. 211-224.
ARIEW, R.; GRENE, M. Notes on the text. In: MONTAIGNE, M. (2003). The Apology of Raymond Sebond. Translated by Roger Ariew and Marjorie Grene. Indianapolis, Hackett publishing Company.
BOAS, G. (1957). Dominant Themes of Modern Philosophy: A History. New York, Ronald Press Co.
BOILLAT, M. (1976). Les Métamorphoses d’Ovide Thèmes majeurs et problèmes de composition. Berne, Herbert Lang.
BOOTH, J. (1991). Ovid. The Second Book of Amores. Warminster, Aris & Phillips.
BOUTCHER, W. (2017). The School of Montaigne in Early Modern Europe. Volume One: The Patron-Author. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
BRUNOLD, C.; JACOB, J. (1961) De Montaigne a Louis de Broglie. Paris, Librarie Belin.
CURLEY, E. (1985). The Collected Works of Spinoza. Edited and translated. Vol. 1. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
CURLEY, E. (2016). The Collected Works of Spinoza. Edited and translated. Vol. 2. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
DESCARTES, R. (1987). Discours de La Méthode. Texte et commentaire par Étienne Gilson. Paris, Vrin.
DESCARTES, R. (2006). Meditations, Objections, and Replies. Edited and Translated by Roger Ariew & Donald Cress. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company.
GALINSKI, K. (1975). Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Berkeley, University of California Press.
HAZARD, P. (2013). The Crisis of the European Mind 1680-1715. Translated by J. Lewis with an Introduction by Anthony Grafton. New York, New York Review of Books. (First published in 1961).
HERVET, C. (2011). De l’imagination à l’entendement La puissance du langage chez Spinoza. Paris, Classiques Garnier.
KAJANTO, L. (1979). Aspects of Spinoza’s Latinity. Arctos Acta Philologica Fennica 13, p. 49-83.
KLEVER, W. (1990). Proto-Spinoza Franciscus van den Enden. In: Studia Spinozana: An International and Interdisciplinary Series. Vol. 6, p. 281-290.
KOYRE, A. (1968). From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press. (First published in 1957).
KRISTELLER, P. (1961). The Classic, Scholastic, and Humanistic Strains. New York, Harper & Row Publishers.
MCKIM, R. (1985). Myth against Philosophy in Ovid’s Account of Creation. The Classical Journal 80, n. 2. (Dec 1984- Jan 1985), p. 97-108.
MILLER, F. J. (1977). Ovid. Metamorphoses. Books 1-8. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
MILLER, F. J. (1984). Ovid. Metamorphoses. Books 9-15. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
MONTAIGNE, M. (2003). The Apology of Raymond Sebond. Translated by Roger Ariew and Marjorie Grene. Indianapolis, Hackett publishing Company.
MORE, B. (1922). Ovid. Metamorphoses. Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co.
PARK, K.; DASTON, L. (ed.) (2006). The Cambridge History of Science. Vol. 3: Early Modern Science. New York, Cambridge University Press.
POPKIN, R. (2003). The History of Scepticism: from Savonarola to Bayle. New York, Oxford University Press.
PROIETTI, O. (1985). Adulescens luxu perditus Classici Latini Nell’Opera di Spinoza. Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica 77, n. 2 (aprile-giugno 1985), p. 210-257.
RUTHERFORD, D. (2007). Innovation and Orthodoxy in Early Modern Philosophy. In: RUTHERFORD, D. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 11-38.
SHOECK, R. J. (1988). Intertextuality and the Rhetoric Canon. In: FEMING, R.; PAYNE, M. (ed.). Criticism, History, and Intertextuality. Toronto, Bucknell University Press, p. 98-113.
TARRANT, R. (2006). Ovid and Ancient literary history. In: HARDIE, P. The Cambridge Companion to Ovid. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 13-33.
VAN ROOIJEN, A. J. S. (1889). Inventaire des livres formant la bibliothèque de Bénédict Spinoza. La Haye, Martinus Nijhoff.
ZOURABICHVILI, F. (2002). Spinoza Une Physique de la Pensée. Paris, PUF.
Archai Journal nº25 (2019 [1])

Downloads

Published

2018-12-10

How to Cite

Pugliese, N. (2018). The Reception of Classical Latin Literature in Early Modern Philosophy: the case of Ovid and Spinoza. Revista Archai, (25), e02502. Retrieved from https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/20203

Issue

No. 25 (2019): Archai 25 (2019 [1])

Section

Articles

License

Given the public access policy of the journal, the use of the published texts is free, with the obligation of recognizing the original authorship and the first publication in this journal. The authors of the published contributions are entirely and exclusively responsible for their contents.

1. The authors authorize the publication of the article in this journal.
2. The authors guarantee that the contribution is original, and take full responsibility for its content in case of impugnation by third parties.
3. The authors guarantee that the contribution is not under evaluation in another journal.
4. The authors keep the copyright and convey to the journal the right of first publication, the work being licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License-BY.
5. The authors are allowed and stimulated to publicize and distribute their work on-line after the publication in the journal.
6. The authors of the approved works authorize the journal to distribute their content, after publication, for reproduction in content indexes, virtual libraries and similars.
7. The editors reserve the right to make adjustments to the text and to adequate the article to the editorial rules of the journal.