Simone Poggi’s Neo-Latin Fables: a Jesuit in the Footsteps of Phaedrus

Abstract

The Italian Jesuit Simone Maria Poggi (1685-1749) was an outstanding member of the “Academy of Arcadia”, where he was known as Nimesius Ergaticus. He wrote ten books of Latin fables under the inspiration of Phaedrus. These apologues were published posthumously by Giuseppe Boero in 1883. In their composition, the Jesuit from Bologna used iambic senarii, the metre employed by Phaedrus, and tried to adapt the Roman fables to his time and circumstances. In this article, I will offer an overview of Poggi’s Latin fables paying special attention to his prologues, epilogues and programmatic fables, in which, following Phaedrus’ example, our poet gives many clues about his sources and literary interests along with autobiographical issues. I will focus my research on Poggi’s relationship with his predecessors and on his conception of the fable not only as a literary subgenre but also as a very useful educational tool. Summing up, my aim will be to show that Poggi’s fable collection constitutes a remarkable and curious product of Phaedrus’ influence on Neo-Latin literature in the eighteenth century.