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Monday, November 01, 2010

Defeating the mischief intended by the Elephants



            
And therefore it was remarkably singular in the battle of Africa, that Scipio fearing a rout from the Elephants of the Enemy, left not the Principes in their alternate distances, whereby the Elephants passing the vacuities of the Hastati, might have run upon them, but drew his battle into right  order, and leaving the passages bare, defeated the mischief intended by the Elephants.

The event which Browne alludes to in chapter two of his Discourse  'The Garden of Cyrus'  is the Battle of Zama  in North Africa, modern-day Tunisia, which was fought in 202 BCE between the Roman army led by Scipio Africanus and the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal. The battle ended in the decimation of Hannibal's army and Carthage losing the Second Punic War, effectively establishing Rome's total control of the Mediterranean sea.

Scipio's fame in esoteric literature is due  to  the sixth book of Cicero's De Republica  describing Scipio's journey through the planetary spheres and  his hearing the celestial music of the spheres. The  Neoplatonic philosopher Macrobius (395 - 425 CE) wrote a commentary upon Scipio's dream which became well-known in the Middle ages. The 15 year old Mozart composed a one act opera named Il sogno di Scipio K. 126 using a libretto by Metastastio which was based upon the Roman text.

Browne's figure of speech 'defeated the mischief intended by the Elephants',  in particular, linking 'mischief'  with  'Elephants' seems  a fine example of his subtle  humour. 

Painting by Guilo Romano (1492-1546)  The Battle of Zama

2 comments:

  1. I keep thinking what a wonderful court masque the Dream of Scipio would make! Not necessarily Mozart's juvenilia, which I have never heard, but simply what could be done in Baroque staging with at sequence of visions! Or even in a work of Giulio Romano's generation, which would be someone earlier than Monteverdi. That Giulio Romano painting is spectacularly "learned" itself. Pat

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  2. What a brilliant idea Pat! The Mozart work is only worth hearing for the aria 'A Small boy cries'. The closest musical work I can think of to Il Sogno di Scipio is the 1589 Florentine Intermedia by Malvezzi entitled 'The Harmony of the Spheres'. The Stravaganza dei Medici has many Classical myths including Apollo slays the monster at Delphi, Arion and the Dolphin and Jove's gift to mortals of Rhythm and Harmony. Perhaps one day a court masque of Scipio's Dream may surface from an obscure archive!

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