Corippus

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Corippus
BornBetween 470 and 495
Roman province of Africa
DiedBetween 540 and 560
Africa
De laudibus Iustini Augusti, published in Antwerp in 1581

Flavius Cresconius Corippus was a late

Late Antiquity
.

Biography

Flavius Cresconius Corippus name is known on a basis of just one document.[2] He was a native of Africa, and in one of the medieval manuscripts is called africanus grammaticus (teacher).[3] He has sometimes been identified, but on insufficient grounds, with Cresconius Africanus,[1] a Catholic bishop (7th century), author of a Concordia Canonum, or collection of the laws of the church.[4] Nothing is known of Corippus beyond what is contained in his own poems. He appears to have held the office of tribune or notary (scriniarius) under Anastasius, imperial treasurer and chamberlain of Justinian I, at the end of whose reign he left Africa for Constantinople, apparently in consequence of having lost his property during the Vandalic War and the subsequent Moorish revolts.[4]

He was the author of two poems, of considerable importance for the history of the times. One of these, Iohannis ("Tale of John") or De Bellis Libycis ("On the Libyan war"), the earlier of the two, was not discovered till the beginning of the 19th century. The full text survived in one copy, called Trivultianus 686; it was made by Arezzo poet Giovanni De Bonis in late 14th century, and was rediscovered in 1814[5][6] "in the library of the Trivulzio family just outside Milan". The second copy was found in 16th century in the Korvin library in Buda by Giovanni Cuspiniano; this copy was the only one that mentioned the poet's full name. The manuscript is now lost. Even the full text is fragmentory and contains a number of "lacunae", the most significant of them is the ending of the poem.[5] It was dedicated to the nobles of Carthage and relates the overthrow of the Moors by John Troglita, magister militum of Africa in a series of battles that lasted until 548. Iohannis is in eight books (the last is unfinished) and contains about 5000 hexameters, or 4700 lines. The narrative commences with the despatch of John to the theatre of war by Justinian, and ends with the decisive victory near Carthage (548).[4][7]

Although

Berbers.[4]

The other poem, In Laudem Iustini Augusti minoris ("In praise of the younger Justin"), in four books, contains the death of Justinian, the coronation of his successor

Emperor Rudolf II, from a ninth- or tenth-century manuscript.[4]

Avars.[4] On the whole the language and metre of Corippus, considering the age in which he lived and the fact that he was not a native Italian, is remarkably pure. That he was a Christian is rendered probable by negative indications, such as the absence of all the usual mythological accessories of an epic poem, positive allusions to texts of Scripture, and a highly orthodox passage (In laudem Iustini minoris iv. 294 ff).[4]

His "Panegyric" was written for Anastasius, a "Quaestor of the Sacred Palace and Master of Offices in the imperial capital".[5]

Editions

  • Averil Cameron: Flavius Cresconius Corippus: In laudem Iustini Augusti minoris (in praise of Justin II). London 1976 (Translation and commentary).
  • George W. Shea: The Iohannis or de Bellis Libycis of Flavius Cresconius Corippus (Studies in Classics 7). Lewiston/NY 1998 (Translation).
  • J. Diggle and F.R.D. Goodyear (eds.): Iohannidos Libri VIII. Cambridge. 1970 (Latin Text).
  • Bonn Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, volume 28/34, 1836: P. Mazzucchelli: Iohannis (orig. 1820); Pierre-François Foggini, In laudem Iustini minoris (orig. 1777)
  • Corippus. The Iohannis or De Bellis Libycus of Flavius Cresconius Corippus. Translated by George W. Shea.
  • Corippus, Flavius Cresconius (1820). Flavii Cresconii Corippi Iohannidos: sev, De bellis libycis libri VII. editi ex Codici medilanensi mvsei Trivvltii. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  • Corippi Africani Grammatici De laudibus Iustini Augusti minoris, heroico carmine, libri 4 (in Latin). ex officina Christophori Plantini, architypographi regij. 1581.

References

  1. ^ a b "Corippus". obo. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  2. ^ Merrills 2023, p. 5.
  3. ^ Merrills 2023, pp. 5–6.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Chisholm 1911.
  5. ^ a b c Merrills 2023, p. 7.
  6. ^ Caramico & Riedlberger 2009.
  7. ^ Merrills 2022.
  8. ^ M.L.W. Laistner, Thought and Letters in Western Europe (Cornell: University Press, 1957), p. 113.

Sources

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