Reading Reading of a chorus from Albertino Mussato’s Ecerinis (vv. 113-162) between Seneca, Guizzardo and Castellano

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze, as a privileged specimen, the first chorus of Albertino Mussato’s Ecerinis (vv. 113-162, inc. «Quis vos exagitat furor»), in the light, above all, of the senecane suggestions (but also drawn from Boethius and other classical and medieval auctores) that innervate it. Together, we try to contextualize the function and role that this choir plays within the mussatian tragedy. The reading and analysis of the choral piece are then supported by the correlative comparison with the commentary by Guizzardo from Bologna and Castellano from Bassano, also in order to highlight the ways and techniques of explanation and interpretation experienced by the two fourteenth-century exegetes.