The criminal history of Rome without the letter "L", by Fulgentius the Mythographer: translation of Book XI of the lipogram De aetatibus mundi et hominis

Abstract

This is the first translation in the form of a lipogram and the first to the Portuguese language of Book XI by De aetatibus mundi et hominis. This composition is the oldest lipogram concretely attested, assuming significant relevance for the History of Art. De aetatibus is attributed to Fulgentius, the Mythographer (late 5th – early 6th century), belonging to Late Antiquity, a period still little examined in research developed in Brazil. In this lipogram, the ages of the world and of humanity are portrayed through a Christian moral guideline that marks a set of values of a medieval man crossed by influences of patristic thought, so that the work presented here also proves itself useful for historical, theological and philosophical studies. Finally, it should be noted that, in the section presented, some episodes of the criminal history of Rome are indicated without the use of words that present the letter 'l', which was maintained in our translation proposal, which parts from the critical edition established by the Latinist philologist Rudolf Helm (Fvlgentii, 1898).