:''See also the Catharist

Consolamentum ''Consolamentum'' (called heretication by its Catholic opponents) was the unique sacrament of the Cathars. Cathars believed in original sin, and – like Gnostics – believed temporal pleasure to be sinful or unwise. The process of living thus i ...

The ''Consolatio'' or consolatory oration is a type of ceremonial oratory, typically used

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

ally to comfort mourners at funerals. It was one of the most popular

classical rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate part ...

topics,

Ernst Robert Curtius Ernst Robert Curtius (; 14 April 1886 – 19 April 1956) was a German literary scholar, philologist, and Romance language literary critic, best known for his 1948 study ''Europäische Literatur und Lateinisches Mittelalter'', translated in Eng ...

, ''European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages'', trans. W.R. Trask (Princeton: 1953) section 5.1 ''Topics of Consolatory Oratory'' pp.80-2 Petrie, Graham (1970)
A Rhetorical Topic in 'Tristram Shandy' "
''

Modern Language Review ''Modern Language Review'' is the journal of the Modern Humanities Research Association ( MHRA). It is one of the oldest journals in the field of modern languages. Founded in 1905, it has published more than 3,000 articles and 20,000 book reviews. ...

'', Vol. 65, No. 2, April 1970, p. 262 and received new impetus under

Renaissance humanism Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

''Consolatio'' as a literary genre

The ''Consolatio'' literary tradition ("consolation" in English) is a broad

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided i ...

encompassing various forms of consolatory speeches, essays, poems, and personal letters. This literary tradition flourished in antiquity, and its origins date back to the fifth century BC. Orators in antiquity often delivered consolatory speeches to comfort mourners at funerals or in cases of public mourning. Friends wrote personal letters consoling each other on the loss of a loved one. These were often highly personal and emotional. In addition to personal offerings of solace, ''Consolatio'' works also include philosophical

treatises A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions."Treat ...

on grief. These works are usually more detached in tone, and many are written in essay format. Many ancient poets even wrote verse in this distinct ''Consolatio'' style. These consolatory works are all called ''Consolatio'' because of their similar arguments,

topoi In mathematics, a topos (, ; plural topoi or , or toposes) is a category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or more generally: on a site). Topoi behave much like the category of sets and possess a noti ...

, and distinctive rhetorical appeals. Only fragments of early ''Consolatio'' works survive, and it is not until

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

's ''

Tusculan Disputations The ''Tusculanae Disputationes'' (also ''Tusculanae Quaestiones''; English: ''Tusculan Disputations'') is a series of five books written by Cicero, around 45 BC, attempting to popularise Greek philosophy in Ancient Rome, including Stoicism. It is s ...

'',

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

's '' Ad Marciam'', and

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...

' ''

Consolation of Philosophy ''On the Consolation of Philosophy'' ('' la, De consolatione philosophiae'')'','' often titled as ''The Consolation of Philosophy'' or simply the ''Consolation,'' is a philosophical work by the Roman statesman Boethius. Written in 523 while he ...

'' that a unified character appears. Scholars often view these works as the bedrock of the formal ''Consolatio'' tradition. (Fournier, introduction)

Defining characteristics

All ''Consolatio'' works draw from a relatively narrow range of arguments aimed at offering solace, to allay the distress caused by the death of a loved one, a matter of ill ''

fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

''. The conventional opening of a ''Consolatio'' was ''All must die''. The most typical arguments characterizing the ''Consolatio'' genre were: "All must die; even the oldest must die; the youngest too must die, and this is as one with the death of the old."Scourfield, JHD. "Consolation." Oxford Classical Dictionary. N.d. Print. Path: Consolatio; Kassel quote: "Death brings release from the miseries of life; time heals all griefs; future ills should be prepared for; the deceased was only ‘lent’--be grateful for having possessed him. Normally grief is regarded as natural and legitimate, though not to be indulged in." In the post-classical period, an additional Christian consolation was developed. ''Consolatio'' works are united by their treatment of bereavement, by unique rhetorical structure and topoi, and by their use of universal themes to offer solace.

Ancient history

Some scholars claim the genre arose from the

Sophist A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...

belief in the healing power of discourse. Others believe it arose as a response to passages of grief found in the works of the Greek poet

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

. Although several ancient writings contain elements of the ''Consolatio tradition'', it was the Academic Crantor of Soli (c. 325- c. 275BC), a member of

Plato's Academy The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Classical Athens, Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum. The Academy ...

, who first constructed his works in a distinct ''Consolatio'' Tradition. Although only fragments of his essays have survived, his influence is noted in the works of later writers, particularly Cicero's ''Tusculan Disputations'' and Plutarch's ''Consolation to Apollonius''. Crantor advocated metriopatheia, a tactic for dealing with strong emotions.Baltussen, Han. "Personal grief and public mourning in Plutarch's consolation to his wife", '' American Journal of Philology'' 130 (2009): 67-67. July-Aug. 2009. :" Introduction: Beginnings of consolation." Cicero's ''Consolatio'' is widely accepted as the distinct work that transmitted the earlier ''Consolatio'' literary tradition to the Romans of the late Republic. In the Early Imperial Age, most ''Consolatio'' works were constructed within the framework of

Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

produced the most recognizable examples of ''Consolatio'' in his three Consolations, ''Ad Marciam'', ''Ad Polybium'', and ''Ad Helviam Matrem''. The most recognizable example of ''Consolatio'' in verse form was written by the pseudo-Ovidian, Consolatio ad Liviam. In Boethius’ ''

'', Philosophy herself consoles the author in his sore straits. Other notable examples of the ''Consolatio'' tradition from Antiquity: Pontus 4.11 in

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's '' Letters from the Black Sea'',

Statius Publius Papinius Statius (Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...

’ poem consoling Abascantus on his wife’s death,

Apollonius of Tyana Apollonius of Tyana ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Τυανεύς; c. 3 BC – c. 97 AD) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. He is the subject of ''L ...

, the Emperor Julian, and

Libanius Libanius ( grc-gre, Λιβάνιος, Libanios; ) was a teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school in the Eastern Roman Empire. His prolific writings make him one of the best documented teachers of higher education in the ancient world and a criti ...

. Libanius was also the author of the funeral orations consoling mourners after the death of the Emperor Julian. The Plutarchian Corpus includes three works constructed in the ''Consolatio'' tradition: ''De exilio'', ''Consolatio ad uxorem'', ''Consolatio ad Apollonium''.

Reception and influence

The ''Consolatio'' genre, particularly its distinct tone and

, widely influenced other literary genres. Elements of the ''Consolatio'' tradition can be found in a plethora of later works, and the tradition continued through the Middle Ages and into the early modern era.Kierdorf, Wilhelm (Köln); "Consolatio as a literary genre." Brill's New Pauly. Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider . Brill, 2009. Brill Online. University of California UC Berkeley CDL. 20 July 2009

''Consolatio'' tradition

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Christian ideology taught that the distress, and death itself, were punishments for Adam's fall, while conceding that the tribulations of life could be vehicles of divine correction. A return to the ancient view commenced with

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...

, though the Quattrocento humanist

Coluccio Salutati Coluccio Salutati (16 February 1331 – 4 May 1406) was an Italian humanist and notary, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance Florence; as chancellor of the Republic and its most prominent voice, he was effec ...

could only offer the solace of friendships and a sense of duty. The 'art of mourning' 's general revival was expressed in many consolatory letters that circulated in manuscript and were soon printed. Among them Gianozzo Manetti's "bitter dialogue" ''Antonini, dilectissimi filii sui, morte consolatorius'' (1438) took the new intimate view of

grieving Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogniti ...

, and

Francesco Filelfo Francesco Filelfo ( la, Franciscus Philelphus; 25 July 1398 – 31 July 1481) was an Italian Renaissance humanist. Biography Filelfo was born at Tolentino, in the March of Ancona. He is believed to be a third cousin of Leonardo da Vinci. At th ...

offered an extensive compendium of Christian and Classical consolations in his consolatory oration for Antonio Marcello on the death of his son (1461). Marilyn Aronberg Lavin reads

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca (, also , ; – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca i ...

's gnomic ''

Flagellation of Christ The Flagellation of Christ, sometimes known as Christ at the Column or the Scourging at the Pillar, is a scene from the Passion of Christ very frequently shown in Christian art, in cycles of the Passion or the larger subject of the '' Life of C ...

'' (''c'' 1455–60) as a ''consolatio'' of two friends (portrayed) who had each recently lost a son.

Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and ''A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', published ...

parodied ''Consolatio'' and solemn authors in his comic novel ''

Tristram Shandy Tristram may refer to: Literature * the title character of ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', a novel by Laurence Sterne * the title character of ''Tristram of Lyonesse'', an epic poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne *"Tristra ...

''.

References

{{Death and mortality in art Ancient Greek literature Classical Latin literature Funeral orations Non-fiction genres Rhetoric