Vincent Obsopoeus Explained

Vincent Obsopoeus
Death Date:1539
Notableworks:De Arte BibendiDiodori Siculi Historiarum Libri Aliquot, qui extantIn Graecorum epigrammatum libros quatuor Annotationes longe doctissimae
Pseudonym:Vincentius Obsopoeus
Nationality:German
Language:Latin

Vincent Obsopoeus (or Opsopoeus) was a German humanist, Latin poet, and translator active in the Reformation. His most famous work, De Arte Bibendi (The Art of Drinking), was written and published in 1536. He published a second edition in 1537, and died in 1539.[1]

Biography

Born Vincent Heidnecker in “Vindelitia” (i.e. Bavaria), Obsopoeus was the son of a chef for local princes and the wealthy.[2] He too began his career by training to be a chef, but fell in love with literature, and by 1526 was living in Nuremberg.[3] He soon became active as a translator from Greek into Latin, from Latin into German, and German into Latin. He translated many of Martin Luther's works. For a number of years, Obsopoeus was rector (principal) of the classical Gymnasium in Ansbach; Albert Alcibiades was one of his students there.[4] In 1529, he published a Latin translation of some less popular pieces by Lucian.[5] The book includes a translation of Prodicus's fable Hercules at the Crossroads; a manuscript copy is also extant https://www.e-manuscripta.ch/bau/content/zoom/790183.In 1531, he was wrongly suspected of writing The Pig War by Philip Melanchthon, with whom he had had a falling out.[6]

For a number of years, friends and rivals accused Obsopoeus of enjoying wine too much, and the accusation cost him several professional job opportunities. In 1536, in gleeful revenge, he wrote De Arte Bibendi, the world's first guide to drinking alcohol.[7] In book two, Obsopoeus alludes to Lucian's dialogue Slander: A Warning to strike back at his enemies.[8]

An early mention of De Arte Bibendi outside of Germany appeared in Olaus Magnus' 1555 work Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (A Description of the Northern Peoples), which was printed in Rome. The author is there referred to as "a certain German named Vincent Obsopoeus" (p. 462). In 2020 and 2021, De Arte Bibendi was translated into English, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

In 1539, he wrote Diodori Siculi Historiarum Libri Aliquot, qui extant. He died that same year. His book In Graecorum epigrammatum libros quattuor Annotationes longe doctissimae appeared posthumously in 1540.

Works

Obsopoeus contributed a 30-line epigram to the Sylva Bibliocorum Nominum of Andreas Althamer (1530).

Notes and References

  1. Wilhelmi, Thomas. 2015. “Opsopoeus, Vincentius.” In: Frühe Neuzeit in Deutschland 1520-1620. Literaturwissenschaftliches Verfasserlexikon, vol. 4, Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 664-673.
  2. Schiller, Ludwig. 1874/5. “Die Ansbacher gelehrten Schulen unter Markgraf Georg von Brandenburg.” Programm zur Schlussfeier des Jahres 1874075 an der Königlichen Studienanstalt zu Ansbach (Ansbach: Brügel und Sohn), 1-36 (online here). Schiller extracts and contextualizes the many biographical details that Obsopoeus shares in the various prefatory letters found in his Luciani opuscula.
  3. Schiller 1874/5, p. 9
  4. Johannes Voigt, Markgraf Albrecht Alcibiades von Brandenburg-Kulmbach Berlin 1852, Volume 1, p. 42. A letter of recommendation written by Obsopoeus around 1534 is preserved in Jahresbericht des Historischen Vereins für Mittelfranken (Historischer Verein für Mittelfranken, 1889), p. 119.
  5. Obsopoeus, Vincentius. 1529. Elegantissima aliquot Luciani opuscula.(online here). The translated pieces are Zeus Catechized (Zeus Cross-Examined), Zeus Rants, Anacharsis or Athletics, The Passing of Peregrinus, Demonax, My Native Land (An Encomium of Fatherland), Phalaris 1, Phalaris 2, The Scythian or the Consul, Herodotus or Aetion, Zeuxis or Antiochus, Harmonides, Hippias or The Bath, Dionysus, Amber or The Swans, The Dipsads, A Conversation with Hesiod, Halcyon, The Dance (Of Pantomime), Essays in Portraiture (Images), Essays in Portraiture Defended, The Parasite: Parasitic an Art, Hermotimus or Concerning the Sects, and The Parliament of the Gods.
  6. Phontaine, Michael 2019. John Placentius: The Pig War. New York: Paideia Institute Press.
  7. Web site: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger [by Michael Fontaine].
  8. Fontaine, Michael. "The Art of Slander: How to Create a Masterpiece, Troll your Enemies, and Win Bigly." Classical Wisdom Litterae November 2020, iii-xvii. (online here)

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