Вертоград многоцветный полностью

As to the rest of the autograph manuscript (A) of the Vertograd, it has been possible to identify three groups of poems that derive from the Hortulus Regime sive Sermones Meffreth, of which Simeon almost certainly possessed a copy[99]. The first is on fols. 317—348^v, where 117 out of 132 poems derive from Meffreth; the other two are on fols. 382—388^v and fols. 397—404^v, where Meffreth accounts for 33 poems out of 34, and 37 out of 39 respectively. Like Faber, this book is a collection of Jesuit sermons set out according to the Sundays and festivals of the Church year.

Another important source, especially for the narrative moralising poems in the Vertograd , is the Magnum speculum exemplorum, first published anonymously in 1482 and later edited by the Belgian Jesuit Jan Major. It seems virtually certain that Simeon possessed at least one copy of this work, but the only copy preserved in the Sinodal'naja tipografija library today is one that his disciple Sil'vestr Medvedev acquired after Simeon's death. It is therefore not possible to say with certainty which edition he owned. The exempla tended to be repeated from one edition to the next, but with ever more additions. For poems deriving from the Magnum speculum exemplorum the Commentary refers the reader to the Duaci, 1603 and Coloniae Agrippinae, 1653 editions. There was also a Polish translation by Symon Wysocki published in Cracow in 1612, 1621 and 1633 entitled Wielkie zwierciadło przykładów, and Simeon may well have owned a copy. It is occasionally possible to assign the language of Simeon to a Latin rather than a Polish original[100], but usually the question remains an open one. Not all the narrative poems in the Vertograd which derive from the Magnum speculum exemplorum do so directly. For example, the poem «Běganie iz cerkve» may be traced back to the second exemplum under the heading «Ecclesia» in the 1653 edition, but when one looks at the place that the poem occupies in A one can demonstrate that Simeon's immediate source was Meffreth's third sermon for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost. Meffreth is also the immediate source for the poems «Desjatina» and «Demon ispovSdi pakost"», though the anecdotes go back to «Decimae» No. 2 and «Contritio» No. 10 respectively in the Magnum speculum exemplorum.

We regard the task of investigating the background to the poems of the Vertograd as far from complete. However, it is now clear that the question is no longer whether Simeon relied on specific sources, but rather which sources. There are 2 763 poems in the autograph manuscript A, or 2 496 if one regards the cycle entitled «Vivlia» as one poem[101]. Of this total, well over half have now been traced back to their source in either Faber, Meffreth, the Magnum speculum exemplorum, or the Hortus pastorum of Jacobus Marchantius, another Jesuit priest. The Commentary at the end of each volume of the present edition identifies those sources about which there can be no reasonable doubt, and an Appendix at the end of the third volume will list those sources that have come to light in the course of preparing the text for publication. Thus, the Commentary does not so much provide comment as factual information about the origins of particular poems. This information is so important for an understanding of both Simeon's worldview and his creative process that it has been felt necessary to quote extensively from his sources, especially as these works are not to be found in most university libraries. Although it might also have been desirable to provide translations of the numerous Latin passages quoted in the Commentary, considerations of space have rendered this impracticable. Simeon Polockij was deeply immersed in Latin culture, and a good working knowledge of Latin is a great asset to the student of this remarkable Russian poet. Indeed, the paucity of present-day scholars who bridge the gap between classical and Slavonic studies is one reason why research into Simeon Polockij has not been as exhaustive as it might have been. It is hoped that the present critical edition of the Vertograd will advance that research into a new and productive phase.

Anthony Hippisley