2012:vico-dethroning-in-heroic-society
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Vico: Dethroning in Heroic Society
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Authored by Frank Redmond, 2012
Vico is always full of interesting curiosities and interwoven references to literary figures. In order to understand Vico it is essential to cross-reference these tidbits and find out why Vico decided to use this source. Vico is challenging, not because of his language, but because of his vast encyclopedic reference work!:
<blockquote>But Thucydides says that in heroic times the kings drove one another off the throne almost daily; as Amulius drives Numitor from the kingdom of Alba and Romulus then dethrones Amulius and restores Numitor. This came about through the savagery of those times, and also because the heroic cities were without walls, nor were fortresses then in use. We shall see later that this was true also of the second barbarian period.</blockquote>
The following passage is full of many Vichean golden passages (in BOLD). It's clear that this Thucydidean heroic age is wholly Vichean in flavor:
For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion. Accordingly Attica, from the poverty of its soil enjoying from a very remote period freedom from faction, never changed its inhabitants. And here is no inconsiderable exemplification of my assertion that the migrations were the cause of there being no correspondent growth in other parts. The most powerful victims of war or faction from the rest of Hellas took refuge with the Athenians as a safe retreat; and at an early period, becoming naturalized, swelled the already large population of the city to such a height that Attica became at last too small to hold them, and they had to send out colonies to Ionia.18)
Amulius: His brother, Numitor, was the King of Alba Longa. Amulius overthrew him and took the throne. Aced Rhea Silvia, Numitor's daughter, to become a Vestal Virgin, a priestess of Vesta, so that she would never bear any sons that might overthrow him. However, she was raped or seduced by the god Mars, resulting in the birth of Romulus and Remus. Amulius buried Rhea Silvia alive and threw her sons into the river Tiber because he thought she violated her oaths of chastity. The river-god, Tiberinus found the twins and gave them to a she-wolf to suckle and then saved and married Rhea Silvia. Romulus and Remus went on to found Rome and overthrow Amulius, reinstating their grandfather Numitor as king of Alba Longa.19)
By placing these references, references that Vico used throughout his works, the New Science really comes to life. The New Science is recommended reading for anyone who stumbled on this blog or has been looking at The Lucian of Samosata Project. Buy it here: New Science by Giambattista Vico
2012/vico-dethroning-in-heroic-society.txt · Last modified: 2015/12/16 11:03 by 127.0.0.1