Citation

Beringer AL. Viator - Medieval and Renaissance Studies 2014; 45(1): 247-264.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014)

DOI

10.1484/J.VIATOR.1.103790

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the fifteenth century, a new interpretive strand emerges for Aesop's fable of the hares and frogs. This fable, part of the post-classical corpus of Aesopian fables, is found in high and late medieval collections, both Latin and vernacular. Initially, the fable was understood as a type of ars vivendi, offering advice for its listeners, in particular on how to control fear. Listening to the hares' experience, the audience was guided to a realization that fear is a condition shared by many creatures and one that should not lead to suicide. In the fifteenth century, this fable is read as a lesson on how to die, a reading that, I argue, can be seen in connection with the explosion of the new genre of the ars moriendi. Against the fable's earlier literary history, I show how interpretation of this fable effectively went from an ars vivendi to an ars moriendi.

Language: en

Keywords

Despair; "Picture ars moriendi"; Aesopic tradition; Ars moriendi; Ars vivendi; Fable commentary; Fable of the hares and the frogs; Fifteenth century; Manuscripts