These are the second and third volumes in a series by the same editor of Macrin’s Latin poetry collections, dating 1528 and forward. The first, covering 1528–34, has already been reviewed in these pages (Renaissance Quarterly 66.2 [2013]: 724–25). Thus I refer to the books discussed here as volume 2 and volume 3. Macrin’s ordinary vehicles are remarkably accessible, fluid, masterful Horatian lyrics and hendecasyllabics.
The critical apparatus in both volumes is minimal, since there were no later editions or manuscripts to consult, save Guillet-Laburthe (2010). The volumes provide no explanatory notes, but each includes a metrical conspectus and an exhaustive word index. Schumann’s work will enhance access to the output of Macrin; his role as the foremost French poet of Latin lyrics of his time, and an inspiration to the vernacular achievements of the Pléiade, deserves much more attention than it has claimed.
Volume 2 (2012) contains Hymnorum libri sex (1537) and Odarum libri sex together with Aliquot epigrammata (1537). Schumann notes that Suzanne Guillet-Laburthe has already edited, translated, and annotated the Hymnorum libri sex, whereas the Odarum libri sex and Epigrammata appear here in its first modern edition. Volume 2 testifies to Macrin’s reinforced religiosity in the aftermath of the 1534 Affair of the Placards, an episode of anti-Catholic poster distribution that triggered a politico-religious backlash of official reaffirmation of Catholicism and burnings at the stake. Symptomatic here is a pair of poems (8, 9) early in book 1 of Hymnorum libri sex, a volume dedicated to his patron Cardinal Jean du Bellay, insisting that poets should invoke Christ, not Apollo or the Muses, and also do away with the ancient gods. (Not to say that Macrin always hewed to his own advice thereafter.) Meanwhile, verses dedicated to his beloved wife Gelonis, frankly amorous in earlier collections, slow from a stream to a trickle. Religious themes, as in volume 3, include Psalm paraphrases; encomia of saints; poems to or about Christ, God, and Mary; and other topics. These are interspersed freely with addresses to numerous friends, acquaintances, and public figures, in keeping with Macrin’s reputation as a cultivator of a wide circle of relationships. His addressees include Rabelais (270, Odes 2.14); Pierre du Chastel, the courtier and defender of Étienne Dolet (238, Odes 1.5); King Francis himself, at the head of each of the books of Odes; and others. He also celebrates figures close to home, as with an earthy Fescennine marriage hymn in Sapphics for a bride from Loudun, his native town (25, Hymns 1.19), and advice in hendecasyllabics to a nephew aspiring to poetic distinction (113, Hymns 3.22). The latter comes with a striking practical detail: in reading the ancients the boy should focus not on just any good poetry, but on that which brought the writer a good income.
Volume 3 (2013) contains the first modern editions of Septem Psalmi / Paeanum libri quatuor (1538), Hymnorum selectorum libri tres (1540), and Odarum libri tres (1546). In this volume, the 1538 Psalmi / Paeanum libri starts with a recasting of the seven penitential Psalms and Macrin’s assertion that rephrasing others’ poetry is harder and less appealing than composing one’s own. Secular and sacred themes share the Paeans: praises of Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Spirit; liturgical-calendar celebrations; and addresses to friends and family. He writes “To God” lamenting the follies of his earlier love poetry (76, Paeans 4.2). Macrin and Gelonis lose a two-year-old son; Macrin’s tender but clear-eyed way of consoling her, in the most touching moment of the volume (38–40, Paeans 1.16–17), offers an arresting glimpse into ways that affectionate couples of the time might have coped with the common grief of child mortality.
The poems of the Hymnorum selectorum libri, despite the implications of the title, appeared in 1540 for the first time, with rare and minor exceptions. Sacred preoccupations dominate, frequently in paraphrases of Psalms or Gospel passages. Fixation on certain themes (Christmas, the Passion and death of Christ, the virginity of Mary) borders on the tedious, especially alongside lack of interest in other possible focuses such as the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, or Christ’s healing ministry and proclamation of the kingdom. Though some pieces are addressed to contemporaries, even these normally convey quite spiritual or moral ponderings and advice. Two (168, 3.6; 187, 3.23) celebrate, from the Gallic viewpoint, the 1538 peace between the irenic statesman Francis and the devious villain Charles V. Pagan-Christian mythic crossover can raise eyebrows: at the Christianized ancient Roman celebration the Liberalia, Cybele joyfully welcomes Christ with flowers (175, Hymns 3.11 [lines 45–48]). The 1546 Odarum libri tres are nearly all personal communications to friends or family, ten of them to Jean du Bellay.
A puzzling combination of editorial decisions occasions confusion regarding the primary use intended for these volumes. The utter lack of any background notes, in contrast to the complete word index, invites the assumption that the editor seeks readers whose interpretive priorities are lexical and stylistic, rather than more broadly literary or historical. But in that case, one would expect the editions to take full advantage of the potential of a word index. This ought to mean lemmatization, or key word in context presentation, or both, but neither procedure is employed. The result is that in two key respects these editions deliver less than would be reasonable for a reader to anticipate. Nonetheless, the two volumes reviewed here and their predecessor publication constitute a wealth of material conveniently gathered in such a way as to spur further richly deserved exploration.
