Investigations into the origin of the Ecbasis captivi.

After the German animal legend had been at the forefront of Germanic studies between 1832 and 1840, interest in it cooled: only here and there a word was spoken in this direction, only a few further studies appeared: and especially on this side of the Rhine and in the area of ??the three oldest Latin adaptations of the same, almost nothing happened. And yet, this is still a rich field of research, and the further back in time we go, the less the existing results meet legitimate requirements. This is particularly true of the first more extensive written account of these legends, or at least their core, the Ecbasis captivi. ... it is a plagiarism in the boldest sense of the word. A cento that far surpasses everything that previous medieval Latin poetry achieved in this genre, both in the number of verses borrowed and especially in the number of poets used. And only after the discovery of the sources and models the poet followed will it be possible to definitively ascertain the word and meaning, as well as the mythological content in general. The formal genesis of the Ecbasis will therefore be the guiding principle of the following investigation. As for the structure, it does not seem appropriate to immediately parade the columns of stolen verses and the suspicious analogies of the predecessor poets. External reasons are indeed external, and the argument of mere coincidence in related matters is too readily accepted by the anxious mind. - [Author]

Language: German