Mac Góráin, Fiachra; (2023) Virgilius superat Calabrum: La Cerda on the "imitation" of Quintus of Smyrna in the Aeneid. In: Casali, Sergio, (ed.) Early Modern and Modern Commentaries on Virgil. (pp. 285-307). De Gruyter: Berlin, Germany; and New York, NY, USA. (In press).

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Abstract

The Jesuit polymath and Virgil commentator Juan Luis de La Cerda (1558/60–1643) believed that in writing the Aeneid Virgil had imitated and improved upon the Posthomerica of Quintus of Smyrna. This chapter considers the Renaissance rediscovery of Quintus’ poem and the scholarly context in which La Cerda came to think of it as a model for Virgil’s epic. Following an overview of La Cerda’s citations of Quintus throughout the Aeneid commentary, the chapter turns to the notes on Aeneid 2, Aeneas’ account of the fall of Troy, which overlaps with Posthomerica 12 and 13, as well as with Triphiodorus’ epic poem on the same subject. La Cerda’s criticism is geared towards teaching verse composition within a rhetorical framework of poetic imitatio. Quotations from Quintus are used to support the argument that Virgil surpassed Homer as well as Quintus himself. Parallels from Quintus serve to illustrate the kinship of epic and historiography, two genres that should arouse the reader’s emotions. La Cerda uses Quintus parallels not only to assert Virgil’s excellence in the poetic tradition, but also to draw interpretative conclusions about the Aeneid.

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