Volume 14 (2008) No. 1
Alexander Fisher
Celestial Sirens and Nightingales: Change and Assimilation in the Munich Anthologies of Georg Victorinus
Appendix 3c
Dedication of Victorinus’ Philomela coelestis to Abbot Michael Kirchberger of the Cistercian Abbey of Aldersbach
RELIGIOSISSMO
PATRI, AMPLISISSIMO
PRÆSVLI,
D.D.
MICHAELI,
COENOBII ALDER-
SPACENSIS, S. ORD. CISTER-
CIENSIS ABBATI VIGILANTISSIMO.
Domino & Patrono suo officiosissi-
mè colendo.
Non immeritò, Præsul Amplissime, Musicam artem, eamque numeris omnibus absolutam PHILOMELÆ hieroglyphico veteres significarunt; siue enim multiplicem vocis varietatem, & flexum, siue delectabilem suauitatem, siue pertinacem modulorum continuationem perpendamus, inveniemus profectò, vnde tam paruulas fauces magnoperè demiremur. Nam quæ tot tibiarum, vocumque tormentis lassata ars hominum excogitauit, ea in tantillo Alitis huius gutture, ingenti miraculo natura cumulatissimè omnia inclusit, quod apud Euripidem etiam Hecuba mirata est. Enimuero cum felicissimo aucupio, hac, quam vides, PHILOMELA potitus essem, peccaturus in Humanitatem tuam fueram, nisi eam ad te, tuosque Hortulos, supra omnia Adonidis, & Hesperidum viridaria cultissimos, transmisissem, & virtuti tuæ apud omnes Bonos decantatissimæ tam auspicatæ Auis modulatione applausissem. Accipies ergo exiguum hoc observantiæ in te meæ pignus, Præsul Amplissime, & PHILOMELÆ meae, nonnunquam, remotis ad tempus grauioribus curis, cantillanti, benignus auscultabis; quando & Cæsares Terrarum dominos ab Auibus salutatos nouimus, & ipsa Religionum Lumina Bernardum tuum, & Franciscum, aliosq; ad diuinas laudes avium modulis accepimus esse excitatos. Placeat modo auribus tuis, animoque Philomela mea, nil nisi sacrum, castumque cantare docta; mox enim, velut copiosissimum laboris pretium, vocisque encomium nacta, lætabunda triumphansque deinceps per reliquias mundi plagas, nulli bonorum displicitura volabit. Deus Patern.m V.am sanctissimæ Religioni, & Reipublicæ quàm diutissimè seruet incolumem. Monachij ipso Melliflui Doctoris S. BERNARDI Natali Die. Anno Christiano MDCXXIV.
Ad.m R.de Pat.is V.ræ
Cliens humillimus
GEORGIVS VICTORINVS.
TO THE MOST DEVOUT FATHER AND DISTINGUISHED PRELATE, LORD MICHAEL, MOST VIGILANT ABBOT OF THE CISTERCIAN MONASTERY OF ALDERSBACH. In most dutiful honor to [my] Lord and patron.
Not unjustly, most distinguished prelate, did the ancients designate the art of music, and its perfection in all numbers, with the symbol of Philomela. Whether we consider the changing variety of its voice, and its contour, or its delectable sweetness, or the persistent elaboration of its song, we can surely discover why we marvel so greatly at such a small throat. For everything human art could devise after wearying itself by so many strainings of pipes and voices, Nature by a mighty miracle has enclosed in such a tiny bird's throat in vast accumulation, which indeed Hecuba marvelled at in Euripides.1 Certainly, in a most happy catch, as you can see, I was snared by this Philomela, [and] I will have abused your kindness, unless I had sent it to you and to your gardens, which are tended [better] than those of Adonis and Hesperides, and applauded your virtue among all good men with the song of such an enchanted and auspicious bird. Receive, then, this small token of my regard for you, most noble prelate, and perhaps at times you will listen kindly to this chirping, taking away your cares in burdensome times. For we have known that the lords of this earth are hailed by the birds, and that those lights of religion, your Bernard, and Francis, and others, were moved to praise God by their music. Now let my Philomela, trained to sing nothing but sacred and pure things, please your ears and spirit; and soon it, displeasing no good men, shall soar as a reward for [your] abundant labors, and as sounding praise, rejoicing and exulting through the remaining cares of this world. May God long watch over your paternal [care for] most holy religion and the state. Munich, on the birth day of the mellifluous Doctor St. Bernard, 1624.
The humblest client of your most reverend father,
Georg Victorinus
1 The reference here is to Euripides’ play Hecuba, where Hecuba addresses her daughter Polyxena, soon to be sacrificed: “You, if you can manage more than your mother, utter every kind of sound, like the nightingale's mouth, and strive not to be deprived of life” (lines 336–8). My thanks to Leofranc Holford-Strevens for pointing out this passage.