330 Lozovsky
aesthetic tastes.62 In the third elegy of Maximian’s corpus, the poet seeks to
gain the love of a young woman and turns to Boethius for advice. Maximian’s
elegy presented the philosopher as an acknowledged and rather cynical expert
in love affairs while making allusions to Boethius’ philosophical ideas.63
Ennodius’ epigrams and Maximian’s elegies, with their elements of parody
and play, reveal a lighter side of 6th-century intellectual culture, which still
had a taste for erotic motifs and obscenity. The case of Ennodius, who most
likely wrote his obscene epigrams while occupying an ecclesiastical office in
Milan, is particularly intriguing.64
The Love of Wisdom
The encyclopaedic variety of studies pursued by learned people in Ostrogothic
Italy fits under the umbrella of philosophy as it was understood in Neoplatonic
thought. The philosophical tradition called Neoplatonic by modern schol-
ars went back to the teachings of Plato, but its founders such as Plotinus (ca.
205–70) and his pupil Porphyry (ca. 232–ca. 303) departed from Plato in many
respects, adding interpretations based on Aristotle. One of their main doctrines
taught that the One, an ineffable and unknowable first principle of reality, was
the source from which all classes of beings emanated and the ultimate destina-
tion to which they returned in the end. Philosophy, which started by consider-
ing material things and gradually progressed to contemplating things divine,
was a way for a human soul to return to the One. Many late antique intellectu-
als, including Christians, were fascinated by this school of thought. Augustine
experienced its attraction as a young man, and he devoted much attention to
discussing Neoplatonic teachings. Secular writers of the 5th century, such as
Macrobius and Martianus Capella, whose work was studied by Symmachus
and other intellectuals in 6th-century Italy, also popularized Neoplatonic ideas
about divinity, cosmic harmony, and ways leading to knowledge.65
62 Goldlust, “Introduction”, in Maximien, Élégies, especially. pp. 27–38; cf. Roberts, Jeweled
Style.
63 Shanzer, “Ennodius, Boethius”, especially p. 194; Barnish, “Maximian, Cassiodorus,’
Boethius”, especially p. 27; Wasyl, Genres Rediscovered, pp. 139–45; Goldlust, “Introduction”;
Vitiello, Theodahad, pp. 83–4.
64 Shanzer, “Latin Literature, Christianity, and Obscenity” (especially pp. 182–3 on Ennodius
and 184–5 on Maximian) has argued that while obscenity was gradually disappearing
from Latin high culture, it was still tolerated in 6th-century Italy.
65 For Augustine’s own account of his relationship with Neoplatonic philosophy see
books 7 and 9 of his Confessions; see also Brown, Augustine of Hippo. Numerous studies