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Part of the book: Dante and Epicurus

George Corbett

Italian Perspectives 25

Legenda

MedievalItalianTheologyPhilosophyPoetryopen

Abstract.  This chapter considers four literary fields of influence which may have informed Dante Alighieri's understanding of Epicureanism during his lifetime: the Roman writers, the medieval encyclopaedias, the patristic and popular traditions of Epicurus, and the scholastic treatment. It addresses Dante's apparently conflicting representations of Epicureanism in the Convivio and in the Commedia. The chapter shows that Dante's approbation of Epicurean ethics (Convivio) and his censure of Epicurean mortalism (Commedia) are consistent with a sophisticated strand of the wider medieval reception. It argues that Dante's admiration for Epicurean ethics persists in the Commedia and that, against first appearances, his criticism of Epicurean mortalism is, in fact, foreshadowed in the Convivio. The chapter describes Dante's polemical correction of the popular caricature of Epicurus as a pig enslaved to the senses, the 'porcus de grege Epicuri'. The qualified praise of Seneca is indicative of the Roman reception of Epicureanism undistorted by Christian apologetics.

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