l-t IDYLLIC UTERATUKE IX GERMAST BEFORE THF: TIME OF OPITZ. 



do not meet it again till the beginuiuo: of the ninth 

 The Idyl at the century, at the Geiinan couit of Charlemagne. 

 Court of Here a i-enaissance movement had led to the foi-m- 



Chraiemagne. mg of an academy for scientific and literary 

 study. ^ The study of Latin authoi-s soon led to 

 the cultiTation of the idyl, especially under the influence of Yergil 

 and Calpui-nius. Most of these poems- possess no value apart 

 fi'om theii' histoiical iatei-est. They teem with classical phrases 

 and allusions, oddly mingl&d with Christian views. ^ 



One idyl, however, written by some member of the cux-le around 

 Charlemagne, deserves our special attention as being "the first 

 real eclogue of the Middle Ages,'"* namely: Confktns Veris et 

 Hieaiis. It is full of dramatic movement, representing Spring 

 and Winter as vying with each other in song. Spring gi-eets the 

 cuckoo, while Winter thi-eatens the bird in order to drive it away, 

 until Palaenion bids him cease (Desine plnra. Mews), and wel- 

 comes the cuckoo (Salve, dulee decns, cncalus, per saecnla salve) J 

 The winter described is the winter of Geimany, not the mild wiu- 



1 This circle chose names from antiquity, biblical and classical, in odd confn- 

 eion. Charlemagne was David, Alcnin (of England) Flaccus. Angilbert Homer, 

 and other court dignitaries bore the pastoral names of ilenaltas and Thyrsis. 

 See Wattenbach: Deatscblands GescMcbtsqneUen im Mittelalter (Berlin 

 188.3). Tol. I., p. 147. 



- These poems are lonnd in E. Dfimmler's collection Poetae Latini Aevi 

 Caroliai (Berlin 1881) Vol. I. 



3 Angilbertns, in the academy caUed Homer, wrote an Ecloga ad Carolnm 

 Regem (David) in which he offers fulsome praise to the king fMniniler's Poetae 

 Latini. I. 360). There are several refrains, each repeated nine times, which in 

 themselves show the character of the poem. These are: 



Surge, meo domno dulces fac. Sstnla. versus, 



David axaat Vates, vatoraw est gloria David. 



David amat Christum. Cbristus est gloria David. 



Surge mels caris dulces fac. Sstula, versus. 

 In an ecloga by Xaso (Dfimmler's Poetae Latini. I. 38-5, n.) a youth and an 

 aged man converse of song, after which follo^vs a description of nature and out- 

 door life. 



4 Gosche ALG, I., p. 213. 



5 In a later idyl by the Angler-Saxon Alcnin (See Dfimmler's Poetae Latini 

 Aevi CaroUni, Tol. I., Xo. LIX.), who possibly wrote the ConSictus. too. a simi- 

 lar theme is treated (beginning: Nunc cuculus ramis etiam resonavit ia altis) . 

 A description of spring is given in "which Phoebus, Bacchus, and Cupid are men- 

 tioned. It closes, however, with an admonition to praise Orrist: "Dulcisunu 

 Vbristnm resoaantis semper in ore.'' 



