Oldal 36 [36]
STEFAN FREUND
FIRST PART: STRUCTURE
The addressee, Donatus, has reminded the author of a promise, and now,
during grape harvest holidays, it seems the ideal time to fulfil it. The location,
Cyprian continues, seems appropriate, too:
The delightful appearance of the gardens harmonizes with the gentle breezes of
a soothing autumn in delighting and animating the senses.
Mulcendis sensibus ac fouendis ad lenes auras blandientis autumni hortorum
facies amoena consentit. (Donat. 1)
In a classical locus amoenus,'' where “the leafy covering has made a vine¬
covered portico” (uiteam porticum frondea tecta fecerunt, Donat. 1), Cyprian
finds a silent place for an undisturbed conversation. This is, as we learn at this
point, what Cyprian has promised. The first lines illustrate the complexity of
any attempt to assign the work to a specific literary genre. The initial words
(“well do you remind me, dearest Donatus,” bene admones, Donate carissime,
Donat. 1) resemble the beginning of a letter. The beautiful place, however,
where two people are said to meet for a conversation, is a typical feature of an
ancient dialogue. In chapter 2, Cyprian, as initially quoted, refuses to employ
rhetoric to communicate the truth, which is actually a gift of divine grace.
This leads him to his main subject. In chapters 3, 4, and 5, the author reflects
on his own baptism, which he experienced as a fundamental transformation
of his whole life and thinking. God’s grace opened his mind and enabled
him to resist evil (we will come back to this later). In chapters 6 through 10,
Cyprian makes his addressee look upon the world as a whole, and he does so
by using an astonishing trick:”
For a little consider that you are being transported to the loftiest peak of a high
mountain, that from this you are viewing the appearance of things that lie below
you and with your eyes directed in different directions you yourself free from
earthly contacts gaze upon the turmoils of the world.
Paulisper te crede subduci in montis ardui uerticem celsiorem, speculare
inde rerum infra te iacentium facies et oculis in diuersa porrectis ipse a terrenis
contactibus liber fluctuantis mundi turbines intuere. (Donat. 6)
See Winterbottom, Cyprian’s Ad Donatum, 191-194, who analyses the intertextual
implications, too.
2 For the motif and its provenance see Ellien, Curiosité, 140-148.
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