Neste breve estudo introdutório salienta-se e justifica-se que o Livro VI da Poética de Júlio César Escalígero seja, com toda a justiça, reconhecido como um riquíssimo manancial de teoria literária aplicada à produção poética em língua latina desde a Antiguidade ao séc. XVI. Escalígero é verdadeiramente inovador relativamente a poéticas congéneres do humanismo renascentista. Um ponto notável desse espírito inovador consiste numa concepção literária que, reconhecendo muito embora o valor paradigmático dos Antigos, concede foros iguais, de fama e autoridade, à produção dos autores mais modernos que se imponham pela qualidade da estruturação do conteúdo e pela correcção, sobriedade e vigor da escrita. Tudo se resume, para que seja possível a existência da crítica literária como ciência, a encontrar e definir com clareza os fundamentos universais do juízo de valor, aplicáveis a todos os autores de todas as épocas, em pé de igualdade.

Desde el artículo de Weinberg “Scaliger versus Aristotle on Poetics”, publicado en Modern Philology, 39 (1942), 337-360, es bien conocido que el autor paduano contraría al estagirita en varios puntos fundamentales, sintetizados en cuatro por Weinberg. Intentamos, sin embargo, demostrar en este artículo que la interpretación que realiza el estudioso de Chicago no siempre es totalmente correcta, y procuramos explicar cómo articula Escalígero su argumentación contra el Estagirita.

El concepto de res es uno de los más escurridizos en la teoría poética de Escalígero. Utilizado abundantemente en toda su obra, se encuentra particularmente presente en los inicios del séptimo libro. Su particular concepción de la poesía, centrada sobre todo en el aspecto externo, lo que lo lleva a una inversión de los tradicionales términos materia y forma, hace que la res escaligeriana no coincida con la de otros autores. En este trabajo intentamos aportar reflexiones que ayuden a echar alguna luz sobre este concepto en el último libro de la Poética de Escalígero.

Trata-se de um livro com dezassete capítulos, que tem por objectivo principal indicar o caminho para a formação completa de um poeta. Segundo Escalígero, essa tarefa deve ser metódica e compreender dois critérios fundamentais, a imitação e o juízo crítico. Desde o início que, em detrimento de Homero, Virgílio é apontado como o exemplo da máxima perfeição; esta intenção há-de ser sublinhada frequentes vezes ao longo do texto, com o recurso ao adjectivo 'diuinus' para qualificar o vate mantuano.

The catalogue of genres presented by Scaliger in book 1, 4 et seq. of Poetics, is organized chronologically and describes the origin of various poetic forms based on the most primitive life styles. The theoretician is consistent with his system in that he justifies the origin of the tragedy in the comedy, as well as offering a definition of the tragedy different to the one advocated for by Aristotle.

Not only has Fernando de Herrera considered elegy from a theoretical standpoint in his Anotaciones, providing in this sense a real chapter of general theory on the genre, but he has also developed it with numerous examples and great success in all its inherent aspects. Thematically, he uses it as a suitable vehicle for expressing the negative side of the relationship with his protector, the Countess of Gelves, Mrs Leonor of Milan. Elegy IV is an excellent example of this, since in it we find the majority of the topics pertaining to the Classic elegy as described by Scaliger, such as subjectivity, structure, rhetoric and the perfect adjustment of the linked tercet or terza rima as the metric unit equivalent to the elegiac distich, applying in it those criteria stated in his Anotaciones that any elegy must fulfil.

Passionate about literature, especially in Latin, and poetry, Julius Caesar Scaliger has endeavoured in his Poetics to discuss these in a systematic and exhaustive manner with the purpose of creating a definitive treatise on poetics, a synthesis of the theory and the history of literature. Therefore, he took into consideration the most important treatises of Antiquity (Aristotle, Horace, Hermo-genes of Tarsus), as well as the contemporary (Marco Girolamo Vida). Not only did he present their doctrines, but he has also rebutted them, pointed out differences and put forward his own ideas throughout all the treatise, in such a way that we can say that he has been the most original author of all who have attempted a similar task in the Renaissance.

The presence of Aristotle’s opinions on literary criticism in Scaliger’s work is an indisputable fact that has been analysed by critics. The Renaissance author has picked up opinions from the Greek author and, in some cases, has transferred them into his theoretical corpus. However, there are some distortions and manipulation of the received material. Therefore we can say that, even though his terminology is mainly Aristotelian, Scaliger also incorporates eastern Byzantine tradition by providing his work with a logical substratum that doesn’t spring from Aristotle’s argumentation theory but rather from the idea of ‘method’ of Hermogenia origin.

How do theorists of Renaissance poetics value their own verse? We have sought an answer in the poetics of Scaliger and Viperano, two distinct works both in their scope and purpose. In the Poetices, Sclaiger talks about his poetic production with the optimism with which he values his work in general. The same doesn’t happen with Viperano’s De Poetica, which explains why we had to look in his verse, especially the Carmina, for his opinions about poetry and his self-appraisal as a poet.

This article focuses on the subject, contents and structure of Book IV of Scaliger’s Poetics devoted to elocution.Therefore: 1. it begins by assessing the way the author has dealt with the Hermogenian theory of the archetypal forms of style analysed both by themselves and in the translation by Jorge de Trebizonda; 2. it proceeds to comment on the large space devoted by Scaliger to the figures of diction and, in the last chapters, to the semantics of sounds; 3. through an analytical study, we have sought to highlight not only the strong theoretical component of the Book, peculiar to the author, but also the systematic character of its illustration based on Virgil’s work.