Un carme inedito di Giovanni Segarelli: il libellus loquens e la memoria dei classici

The contribution provides the critical edition of an unpublished work by Giovanni Segarelli da Parma, a colloquium metricum in 168 hexameters, transmitted by only one manuscript, the Matritensis 17652. The poem follows an historical account by Segarelli himself, the Addittiones to Bocaccio’s De casibus virorum illustrium, a work unpublished too and dedicated to Onorato I Caetani. By giving voice to his personified libellus, Segarelli aims at getting his work to be accepted in Onorato’s library and finding forgiveness for himself. The analysis reveals the influence of Ovid’s exile poetry, in particular the Tristia 1, 1; 3, 1 and 5, 4; more generally it bears witness to the medieval poet’s deep knowledge of the classics.