Cornelius Labeo

Cornelius Labeo was an ancient Roman scholar who probably lived in the second half of the 3rd century. He wrote several works on religious topics. Only fragments have survived.

Life

Since Labeo is only known from mentions and quotations in the works of later authors, the approaches for his dating used to differ widely; they fluctuated between the 1st century BC. And the late 4th century AD. Recent research has shown that he lived in the late 2nd or 3rd century. This results from the fact that he knew a work by the philosopher Numenios, who lived around the middle of the 2nd century , and that around 300 the church writer Arnobius the Elder polemicized against him. Today it is believed that he was probably a contemporary of the philosopher Porphyrios , to whose way of thinking there are parallels. This leads to a dating to the second half of the 3rd century.

Works

Labeo played an important role in the Roman reception of Greek philosophy and as a mediator of older Roman scholarship to late antiquity . The importance of his works lies, among other things, in the fact that he evaluated older literature, which, like his own works, has been lost except for fragments. These include writings by Varro and Nigidius Figulus .

Statements by Labeo are associated with the Roman Stoa , but his thinking was probably mainly influenced by Platonism . It fits that he counted Plato, along with Hercules ( Heracles ) and Romulus, to the demigods ( semidei ), whom he classified in the hierarchy of superhuman beings above the heroes . In accordance with the different approaches to dating his life, the researchers have assumed a partly Middle Platonic , partly Neoplatonic influence on his religious convictions; today Labeo is mostly regarded as a Neoplatonist or at least placed in the vicinity of religious Neoplatonism. In contrast to the Greek-speaking Neo-Platonists, however, he showed particular interest in specifically Roman cult traditions. He also integrated ideas of oriental origin into his religious worldview.

Four of Labeo's writings are known:

• Fasti , a work on the ancient Roman religious traditions. Macrobius , Johannes Lydos and Anastasios Sinaites pass on quotations from this work; therefore seven fragments are preserved.
• De diis animalibus ("On the gods that emerged from human souls "), a treatise on the creation of divine beings from human souls . What was meant were lares (protective gods in whom one saw the souls of deceased ancestors) and penates . In this pamphlet Labeo described rites of the Etruscan religion that aimed to enable the soul to be deified in this way. Labeo distinguished between benevolent and malevolent deities; in this he deviated from the Platonic doctrine, which placed emphasis on the general goodness of the gods. The Etruscan religious tradition, with which he dealt intensively, was then completely absorbed into the Roman religion. Presumably Labeo wanted with his writing to oppose the alien redemptive religions that were spreading at his time, especially Christianity, with an alternative derived from Roman tradition, which also promised the practitioners a happy existence after death. While according to the old tradition of Etruscan origin the fate of the deceased after death only depended on the correct execution of the prescribed sacrificial rites, Labeo was of the opinion that ethical behavior was also necessary for the desired deification. With this view he followed the Platonic way of thinking and at the same time met a need that was widespread among his contemporaries. He told of two men who were opponents or enemies and who died on the same day; they were ordered (apparently by a divine authority) to return to their bodies and go on living. It did so, and it was only by reconciling and becoming friends that they created the conditions for future salvation.
• De oraculo Apollinis Clarii ("About the oracle of the clear Apollon ") was probably a philosophical and theological commentary on a collection of oracle sayings from the Apollon sanctuary of Klaros. In this work Labeo identified the sun god Sol as the supreme deity with various traditionally worshiped gods, including the Roman god Ianus . With this he showed a tendency towards henotheism or even monotheism .
• a manual for the Etrusca disciplina , the Etruscan doctrine of prophecy and the performance of religious rites, in fifteen books. The authenticity of this work has been questioned in research.

The hypothesis put forward in older literature that Labeo wrote a commentary on Virgil that was eagerly used in late antiquity lacks convincing justification.

reception

In late antiquity, there was considerable interest in Labeo from both Christian and non-Christian writers. The church fathers Arnobius the Elder and Augustine polemicized against him; Augustine described him as "very knowledgeable" in the field of the doctrine of gods. Arnobius dealt with him in detail and tried to refute him without naming him. Other authors who referred to him in their writings were Macrobius , Johannes Lydos , Anastasios Sinaites , the mythographer Fulgentius and Servius . For Firmicus Maternus , Martianus Capella and Ammianus Marcellinus, however, there are no convincing arguments for the hypothesis that they used works by Labeo.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Labeo was seen in German source research as a key figure in conveying knowledge of ancient religious traditions to late antiquity. The French scholar André-Jean Festugière turned against such speculative considerations in 1940 , who saw the overemphasis on Labeo's role as a myth created by research. Both positions in this controversy are now considered one-sided and out of date.

Edition

• Paolo Mastandrea: Un neoplatonico latino, Cornelio Labeone (Testimonianze e frammenti) . Brill, Leiden 1979, ISBN 90-04-05876-1 (edition of the fragments with Italian translation and detailed examination)

literature

• Horst Kusch: Cornelius Labeo. In: Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity . Volume 3, Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1957, Col. 429-437
• Klaus Sallmann : Cornelius Labeo. In: Klaus Sallmann (editor): The literature of upheaval. From Roman to Christian literature, AD 117 to 284 (= Handbook of Ancient Latin Literature , Volume 4). CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39020-X , pp. 77-81
• Dominique Briquel : Cornelius Labeo: Etruscan tradition and pagan apologetics. In: Luciana Aigner-Foresti (editor): The integration of the Etruscans and the continued effect of Etruscan cultural assets in republican and imperial Rome. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-7001-2715-4 , pp. 345–356
• Richard Goulet: Labeo (Cornelius). In: Richard Goulet (editor): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 4, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-271-06386-8 , pp. 60-63

Remarks

1. ↑ Augustine, De civitate dei 2,14,2 and 8,13.
2. ↑ Paolo Mastandrea: Un neoplatonico latino, Cornelio Labeone (Testimonianze e frammenti) , Leiden 1979, pp. 105-107; Dominique Briquel: Chrétiens et haruspices , Paris 1997, pp. 130-137; Dominique Briquel: Cornelius Labeo: Etruscan tradition and pagan apologetics . In: Luciana Aigner-Foresti (ed.): The integration of the Etruscans and the continued effect of Etruscan cultural assets in republican and imperial Rome , Vienna 1998, pp. 345–356, here: 354–356.
3. ↑ Paolo Mastandrea: Un neoplatonico latino, Cornelio Labeone (Testimonianze e frammenti) , Leiden 1979, pp. 199-203.
4. ↑ Paolo Mastandrea: Un neoplatonico latino, Cornelio Labeone (Testimonianze e frammenti) , Leiden 1979, pp. 209f. (Firmicus Maternus), 211-213 (Martianus Capella), 213f. (Ammianus Marcellinus).
5. ↑ Dominique Briquel: Chrétiens et haruspices , Paris 1997, pp. 120f.