Accessibility navigation


'Salve, magna parens': Virgil’s 'laudes Italiae' in Renaissance Italy and beyond

Houghton, L. B. T. (2015) 'Salve, magna parens': Virgil’s 'laudes Italiae' in Renaissance Italy and beyond. International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 22 (2). pp. 180-208. ISSN 1874-6292

Full text not archived in this repository.

It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing.

To link to this item DOI: 10.1007/s12138-015-0375-1

Abstract/Summary

This article traces three major strands in the reception of the address to Italy at the end of Virgil’s laudes Italiae in Book II of the Georgics. The first is the adoption of phrasing from these lines as the basis for expressions of devotion to the writer’s country (and for panegyric of contemporary rulers), or in inverted form to lament the present state of the author’s homeland; the second is the appropriation of Virgil’s hymnic apostrophe to his patria in poems on religious themes, where language from this passage is harnessed to invoke the supreme deity or the Virgin Mary, another magna parens; and the third is the use of Virgilian terminology to celebrate Virgil himself as the mighty parent of poetry and poets, whose words (including those of the lines under discussion) have inspired the literary endeavours of his successors across Europe and beyond throughout subsequent centuries.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > Classics
ID Code:42877
Publisher:Springer

University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record

Page navigation