The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Scipio och Laelius går i kloster: Aelred av Rievaulx om den andliga vänskapen

Scipio och Laelius går i kloster: Aelred av Rievaulx om den andliga vänskapen
Scipio och Laelius går i kloster: Aelred av Rievaulx om den andliga vänskapen
Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167) wrote his De spiritali amicitia to provide a modern counterpart to Cicero's De amicitia which had deeply affected him as a young man. This article represents an attempt, through a comparative reading of the two dialogues, to analyse how Aelred has adapted Cicero's text to the requirements of life in a 12th century monastery. The differences in the setting of the respective dialogues and in the delineation of character of the interlocutors underline the difference in the goals set by their respective authors. While Cicero represents friendship as the ideal virtue to be imposed on an imperfect world, Aelred is in a situation where one ideal, friendship, has to be reconciled with another, ruling ideal, namely that of Cistercian monasticism. His concern is very much with the practical realities of this reconciliation process. This explains why Aelred's dialogue is set in his own time, with himself and his friends as interlocutors, and why so much of the dialogue is taken up with the personal concerns of individuals. Cicero was trying to rescue an accepted ideal from its abuses; Aelred has to justify why friendship, from a Christian perspective, is to be counted as an ideal at all.
9789187976292
657-667
Skåneförlaget HB
Wahlgren-Smith, L.
fb73438f-1e7c-420b-8b80-8c3d080fc16f
Wahlgren-Smith, L.
fb73438f-1e7c-420b-8b80-8c3d080fc16f

Wahlgren-Smith, L. (2008) Scipio och Laelius går i kloster: Aelred av Rievaulx om den andliga vänskapen. In, Förbistringar Och Förklaringar: Festskrift Fill Anders Piltz. Sweden. Skåneförlaget HB, pp. 657-667.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167) wrote his De spiritali amicitia to provide a modern counterpart to Cicero's De amicitia which had deeply affected him as a young man. This article represents an attempt, through a comparative reading of the two dialogues, to analyse how Aelred has adapted Cicero's text to the requirements of life in a 12th century monastery. The differences in the setting of the respective dialogues and in the delineation of character of the interlocutors underline the difference in the goals set by their respective authors. While Cicero represents friendship as the ideal virtue to be imposed on an imperfect world, Aelred is in a situation where one ideal, friendship, has to be reconciled with another, ruling ideal, namely that of Cistercian monasticism. His concern is very much with the practical realities of this reconciliation process. This explains why Aelred's dialogue is set in his own time, with himself and his friends as interlocutors, and why so much of the dialogue is taken up with the personal concerns of individuals. Cicero was trying to rescue an accepted ideal from its abuses; Aelred has to justify why friendship, from a Christian perspective, is to be counted as an ideal at all.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2008

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 151077
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/151077
ISBN: 9789187976292
PURE UUID: e891752e-55c9-49f6-8582-d26faf207d6d

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 May 2010 15:28
Last modified: 10 Dec 2021 18:02

Export record

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×