About the marriage of Philology and Mercury

The traditional title of the novel “On Marriage” (De nuptiis), as well as the other common title “Satyricon”, later, they do not belong to the author of the essay ^[3] .

The early commentators of Martian (Foss, Fabrice, Sachs, Funk) believed that the book was written about 470 years, proceeding mainly from the "decadent" style of Martian. In 1866, F. Eyssenhardt drew attention to the fact that in the poetic afterword Martian mentions the proconsul of Carthage , and this post was officially abolished after the capture of Carthage by Geiserich in 439 . On this basis, for a long time it was believed that the work was written before this date. Although this dating remains widely accepted among philologists (it is also enshrined in the latest edition of the British Encyclopedia ), since the mid-1970s, it has undergone significant correction. New data allow us to argue that the position of the proconsul also existed later, under Gunerich and Guntamund ^[4] . It is assumed (based on cross-sectional analysis of citations) that the composition was written in the last quarter of the 5th century (470-480s). ^[5] Sabina Grebe argues for an even later dating, 496-523, linking it to the cultural heyday of the Vandal kingdom under Trazamund ^[6] .

The work consists of nine books, of which the first two contain a novel in itself about Mercury’s love for the beautiful maiden of Philology, about her ascension to heaven and her subsequent wedding (Curtius indicates that Martian took as a model the novella of his countryman Apuleius about Amur and Psyche , in which the marriage of a deity with a mortal is authorized by the assembly of the gods ^[1] ). Philology receives seven maidservants as a gift, each of which embodies one of the free arts. The remaining seven books are devoted to an encyclopedic description of these arts.

• Liber I. <no title>
• Liber II. <no title>
• Liber III. De arte grammatica
• Liber IV. De arte dialectica
• Liber V. De rhetorica
• Liber VI. De geometria
• Liber VII. De arithmetica
• Liber VIII. De astronomia
• Liber IX. De harmonia

The plot of the first two books

The work begins with a verse to Gimeney , to which the author refers not only as a conciliator of the elements and sexes in the service of Nature, but also as the organizer of marriages between the gods.

Of these latter, Mercury is still single. On the advice of Virtus, he turns to Apollo for help. Apollo offers the candidacy of the learned maiden of Philology, who possesses not only Parnassian wisdom, but also the secrets of starry heaven and the underworld, and therefore embraces all knowledge. Virtus, Mercury and Apollo, accompanied by the Muses , rise through the celestial spheres to the palace of Jupiter . The Assembly of the Gods, which also includes allegorical figures, authorizes Mercury's desire and decides that Philology will be erected into the host of the gods, just like any other mortal who deserves it.

Her mother Fronesis (Mind) decorates philology; she is greeted by four Cardinal virtues and three Graces . At the request of Athanasius (Immortality), she eats an egg, and she is torn out by a fountain from books. This makes her worthy to become immortal. Then she ascends to heaven on a stretcher, carried by the young men Labor (Labor) and Amor (Love), as well as the virgins Epimelia (Zeal) and Agripnia (night work and sleep in fits and starts, which are unavoidable during intellectual work).

In heaven, Juno, as the patroness of marriage, greets her and introduces the inhabitants of Olympus , who are not at all those on the Greek Olympus: among them are not only demons and demigods, but also ancient poets and philosophers. As a wedding gift, the bride receives seven free arts. In accordance with the taste of the era they are personified by women who differ from each other in clothes, accessories and hairstyles.

Grammar

The grammar is depicted as a gray-haired elderly woman who boasts of her descent from the Egyptian king Osiris. Later, she lived in Attica for a long time, and now wears Roman clothing. She carries with her an ebony box, where she stores a knife and a file, with which she performs surgical operations on children's grammatical errors.

Rhetoric

Rhetoric - a majestically tall and beautiful woman in a dress decorated with all figures of speech ; she has a weapon with which she hits her opponents.

Martian made a number of modifications to the ancient doctrine of free arts, in particular, he reduced their number from nine to seven. His version was accepted by Isidore of Seville . The Caroling clerics conducting educational reform adopted De nuptiis as a school text. Valuable comments on him were written by Erigen , Remigius of Osersky and Martin Laonsky (Martin Scott). The first translation into German ( Old High German ) was done by Notker Labeo, ca. 950-1022; translated two books out of nine. Allegorical figures of the seven free arts, depicted in accordance with the descriptions of Martian, are repeatedly noted in the visual arts and literature throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. They can be seen on the facade of the Chartres Cathedral and Notre Dame Cathedral , on the stained glass windows of the Lansky Cathedral , on the frescoes of Botticelli , they were part of the festive processions until the end of the XVI century.

• Between 1499 and 1599, 8 editions were published, the latter being done by Hugo Grotius . Another publication was planned in 1670 ad usum delphini : Bishop Yue entrusted him with Leibniz , who however did not carry it out.
• De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii libri VIIII, edidit Adolphus Dick. Lipsiae: Teubner, 1925.
• Martianus Capella and the seven liberal arts, ed. by William H. Stahl and Richard Johnson. 2 vls. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971 (vol. 1), 1977 (vol. 2) (scientific introduction, English translation and commentary).
• De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, ed. James Willis Leipzig: Teubner, 1983 (critical edition of the original).
• Martiani Capellae De nuptiis philologiae et Mercurii liber IX. Introduzione, traduzione e commento di Lucio Cristante. Padua: Antenore, 1987. XXI, 404 p. (= Medioevo e umanesimo, 64) (translation of IX book into Italian, with comments).
• Martianus Capella. De astronomia. Traduit pour la premièr fois en français et commenté par par André LeBoeuffle. Vannes, 1998 (translation of the VIII book into French, with commentary). ISBN 2-9509483-9-1 .
• Le nozze di Filologia e Mercurio, a cura di Ilaria Ramelli. Milano: Bompiani, 2001 (Italian translation).
• Guillaumin, Jean-Yves Martianus Capella. Les noces de Philologie et de Mercure. Livre VII: l'arithmétique, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2003 (critical edition of the original, French translation and commentary of Prince VII "Arithmetic")
• Die Hochzeit der Philologia mit Merkur. Übersetzt, mit einer Einleitung, Inhaltsübersicht und Anmerkungen versehen von Hans Günter Zekl. Würzburg: Königshausen u. Neumann, 2005. ISBN 3826030435 (German translation and commentary).
• Ramelli I. Tutti i commenti a Marziano Capella. Milano: Bompiani, 2006 (Italian commentary on the Italian translation of Ramelli).
• Guillaumin, Jean-Baptiste. Martianus Capella. Les noces de Philologie et de Mercure. Livre IX: l'harmonie, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2011 (critical edition of the original, French translation and commentary by Prince VII "Harmony")
• Liber VII. Introduzione, traduzione e commento per Anna Grion (Trieste, 2012) (original, Italian translation and commentary by Prince VII "Arithmetic")

• Danuta Shanzer . A philosophical and literary commentary on Martianus Capella's De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii book 1. Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1986 (University of California Publications. Classical Studies 32).
• Losev A.F. Chapter III. COMPLETERS (Martian Chapel and Boethius). §one. Marcian Capella // History of Ancient Aesthetics. The results of the millennium development. Book I. - M .: Art, 1992.
• Grebe S. Martianus Capella. De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii: Darstellung der sieben freien Künste und ihrer Beziehungen zueinander. Stuttgart: Teubner, 1999. 939 S. (contains a detailed bibliography on Martian and his work) ISBN 3519076683 .
• Teeuwen M. Harmony and the Music of the spheres: The "Ars musica" in ninth-century commentaries on Martianus Capella. Leiden: Brill, 2002. ISBN 9789004125254 .

• De nuptiis philologiae et Mercurii de grammatica (Vicenza, 1499) (English) (electronic facsimile of 1499 edition)
• Book IX (Latin original)