INTRODUCTION

In a fascinating aside to his exposition of the involucra of pagan philosophers in the Theologia Christiana (1122–7), Abelard registers a possible objection from his critics. He has argued that pagan philosophical fables are foreshadowings of Christian truth; so, he imagines, his detractors will accuse him of having distorted the real, historical sense of pagan integumenta in order to make them conform to Christian orthodoxy:

He goes on to answer the charge by saying that the philosophers spoke better than they knew, unknowingly inspired by the Holy Spirit. I relate this hermeneutic reflection here because I feel open to the same criticism as Abelard: just as he thinks that he might be accused of twisting the sense of the texts he interprets in order to make them conform to a present orthodoxy, so too, it could be argued, does my interpretation of the Anticlaudianus adjust the literal sense of the poem to make it square with an orthodoxy.