The "Iohannis", or, "De bellis Libycis" of Flavius Cresconius Corippus

230 Pages·1998·23.251 MB·English

by  Flavius Cresconius Corippus, George W. Shea (transl.)

Front cover
Credit: Scala/Ait Resource, NY
1. SOO14356 K15584 Color Transp.
The Emperor Justinian and his Court. S. Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
T I D B L
he ohannis or e ellis ibycis
F C C
of lavius resconius orippus
Introduction and Translation
by
George W. Shea
Studies in Classics
Volume 7
The Edwin Mellen Press
Lewiston*Queenston*Lampeter
Library of Congres* Cataloging-in-Publicatioo Data
Corippus, Flavius Cresconhu.
[Johannis. English]
The Iohanms, or, De bellis Libycis / of Flavius Cresconhu
Corippus / introduced and translated by George W. Shea,
p. cm.—(Studies in classics ; v. 7)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7734-8242-3
1. Epe poetry, Latin-Translations into English. 2. Byzantine
Empire—History-Justinian I, 527-565-Poetry. 3. Africa, North-
-History—To 647—Poetry. 4. Vandals—Poetry. I. Shea, George W.
n. Title, m . Series.
PA6375.C76J616 1998
873’ .01—dc21 98-39785
CIP
This is volume 7 in the continuing series
Studies in Classics
Volume 7 ISBN 0-7734-8242-3
SCI Series ISBN 0-88946-684-X
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright O 1998 George W. Shea
All rights reserved. For information contact
The Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press
Box 450 Box 67
Lewiston, New York Queenston, Ontario
USA 14092-0450 CANADA LOS 1L0
The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.
Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales
UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8LT
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to the memory of my parents
Helen Brueckmann Shea
and
George A, Shea

CONTENTS
Page
P reface...........................................................................................................................vii
Introduction............................ 1
The A uthor......................................................................................................... 2
The T ex t.......................................................................... 4
Historical Background......................................................................................6
Corippus as Imperial A pologist.................................................................... 21
Adaptation of Classical Rhetorical Techniques . . ......................................28
Corippus’ Poetic Achievement .................................................................... 43
Notes .................................................. 51
Translation..................................................................................................... #............63
P reface..............................................................................................................63
B o o k I....................................... 64
B o o k ll..............................................................................................................81
Book HI ............................................................................................................96
Book I V ..........................................................................................................HO
Book V ............................................................................................................ 130
Book V I ........................................................................................ 146
Book VII ........................................................................ 170
Book V m .............................................. 187
Notes .............................................................................................................. 208
Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 211
V

PREFACE
My interest in the Johannis or de Bellis Libycis of the sixth century African
poet Flavius Cresconius Corippus grew out of my study of Latin poetry with the late
Gilbert Highet, Anthon Professor of Latin at Columbia University. It resulted in my
doctoral dissertation, which was submitted to that university in 1966. Four years
later, in 1970, an excellent new Latin text of Corippus was produced by the English
classicists, J. Diggle and F.R.D. Goodyear and published by the Cambridge
University Press. I decided then to revise and publish the translation appended to my
dissertation, using the new edition and the many new insights into Corippus' text
which it provided.
Unfortunately, administrative duties which I assumed shortly after the
appearance of the Diggle and Goodyear edition forced me to postpone this
undertaking. Indeed, it has only been in recent years that I have been able to
contemplate its completion.
This volume contains my revised translation as well as a new introduction to
the poem. The translation is based on the 1970 Cambridge text of the poem. The
revision of my original translation has given me the opportunity to correct a number
of earlier errors and inaccuracies and to attempt a more readable prose version.
Much of die introduction is also new, although I have incorporated large sections of
my 1966 dissertation into it I have tried not only to make it more readable but also
to give it a tighter structure by focusing first on Corippus' treatment of the historical
material and the strategy of the Emperor Justinian and then on his role as apologist
viz
viti THE lOHANNlS OF CORIPPUS
for the Empire and the problems that this presented. In the last section, I have
attempted to assess his performance as poet and propagandist. In doing this I have
also incorporated into this study much of what appeared in two of my earlier articles
on Corippus: “Justinian's North African Strategy in the Iohannis of Corippus” in
Byzantine Studies, 10, p tl (1983), 29-38, and “Myth and Religion in an Early
Christian Epic” in Medieval Studies, XXXV (1973), 118-128.
Even the edition of Diggle and Goodyear presents a translator with many
textual problems. The reasons for this is obvious: the text is corrupt or lacunose io
many places and, since we must rely upon a single manuscript for much of the poem,
die passages in question resist definitive resolution. This problem is made even more
complex by the fact that the appearance of the Diggle and Goodyear text evoked
many new conjectures by other students of Corippus. While many of these are
plausible, the absence of any other textual evidence makes their adoption
problematic. I have, therefore, decided to follow the Diggle and Goodyear text
except in two cases: A) when they leave the text in its corrupt state and when the
context makes the sense of the passage clear and B) when I feel that a conjecture of
my own or of another critic is clearly preferable. In both of these cases I have
indicated in the notes the various emendations being followed. In a very few cases,
where no clear emendation of the Latin text is possible. I have simply filled in the
sense indicated without noting this. These cases are very rare and generally involve
no more than one or two missing words. I have included in the bibliography a
number of articles which offer many plausible alternate emendations. I recommend
these to my readers' attention. My failure to adopt these readings should not be
construed as a negative judgment of the conjectures offered. Rather, it reflects, as I
noted above, my belief that a definitive resolution of these cruces is not possible
viu