Virgil's Fourth Eclogue and the Eleusinian Mysteries 1

This article argues that Virgil's Fourth Eclogue can in part be understood in light of the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries on Roman religion. In particular, it argues that the child can be compared with Ploutos and that the return of the Virgo reflects the myth of Persephone. The myths of Demeter at Eleusis are assimilated to the Roman myth of a golden age under the rule of Saturnus. The return of Persephone from the Underworld and the birth of the child signify an end to war. The possible significance of the poem to Augustan propaganda is also discussed.     

Getting Acquainted With Alfonso Hernández-Catá

Traditionally it has been considered that Castilian cancionero poetry has hardly preserved diálogos interestróficos, such as the primitive tensón. However, the Cancionero de Palacio contains a very significant sample of the different possibilities of the cancioneril dialogic mold: beyond poetic dialogue forms more common in Fifteenth Century Spanish poetry, through whole texts juxtaposed, the Cancionero de Palacio contains several other more original forms, and as a result it serves as a codex unicus. This article offers, for the first time, an analysis of all the diálogos interestróficos collected in this Cancionero. This analysis contradicts the widely held view about the rarity and scarcity of these texts and confirms the originality of the dialogic schemes and the strong presence of polyphonic texts in this colectánea. The article presents a list of twelve compositions—a very significant number—in which the dialogue articulates all the text, with voices alternating stanza to stanza or even within each stanza. After establishing this body of work, the study centers on a typological analysis based on the voices found in these poems.