Antonomasia as a Means of Character—Definition in the Works of Hrotsvit of

Gandersheim.
Author(s): Katharina M. Wilson
Source: Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 1984), pp.
45-53
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the International Society for the
History of Rhetoric
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KATHARINA M . WILSON

Antonomasia as a Means of Character—

Definition in the Works of Hrotsvit of
Gandersheim.

rotsvit of Gandersheim, tenth-century canoness of the

Saxon Imperial Abbey of Gandersheim, is probably best
known for her six "Terentian" comedies which she com-
posed as pious efforts to provide her Christian and monastic read-
ers with instructive lecture.' Hrotsvit's learning and rhetorical pol-
ish have often been noted.^ Judging by her works, she seems to
have been versed in both medieval and ancient literature, showing
familiarity with the works of Horace, Ovid, Statius, Boethius,
Terence, Virgil, Prudentius, Avitus, Arator, Aldhelm, Jerome,
Agius, Alcuin, Bede, Notker, the Vulgate, liturgical texts, and

'The most recent edition of Hrotsvit's works is the excellent volume Hrotsvithae
Opera, ed. Helena Homeyer (Miinchen, Paderborn, Wien: Ferdinand Schoningh,
1970). A short version of this paper was delivered at the Ninth Annual Conference
of the Southeastern Medieval Association on October 8, 1983.
^See, for example, A. Sturm, "Das Quadrivium in den Dichtungen Rosvithas
von Gandersheim," Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Benediktiner-ordens und
seiner Zweige 33 (1912) pp. 332-338; David Chamberlain, "Musical Learning and
Dramatic Action in Hrotsvit's Paphnutius," Studies in Philology 77:4 (Fall 1980)
pp. 319-343. Helena Homeyer, Opera, pp. 21ff;Kurt Kronenberg, Roswitha von Gan-
dersheim: Leben und Werk (Bad Gandersheim, 1962).

© The International Society for The History of Rhetoric. Rhetorica, Volume 2,

Number 1 (Spring, 1984).
46 RHETORICA
legends.^ In addition, she was acquainted with grammatical and
metrical textbooks and compilations such as those of Donatus,
Boethius, Isidore of Seville and Bede."
Hrotsvit's utdization of pagan-learning, particularly of the art
of rhetoric, conforms to the Augustinian and Jeromian dicta of per-
missible or even desirable imitation and aemulation: these models
advocate the Christian utilization of pagan learning and formal
beauty for the purpose of Christian instruction and as effective
weapons of Christian apologia;' intent upon putting her God-
given talent to good use, Hrotsvit composed her eight legends, six
plays and two epics glorifying the ideals of Christian asceticism in
a form embellished with rhetorical ornaments. Doing so, she at-
tempts to make the perusal of her didactic works as palatable as
possible so that they may all the more inspire the espousal of the
hagiographic ideal they exemplify. In this paper I would like to ad-
dress Hrotsvit's use of a particular rhetorical device, antonomasia,
which she employs with great virtuosity both as a means of charac-
ter-definition and as a didactic vehicle of her agonistic themes.
Antonomasia, the figure in which objects or, as in Hrotsvit's
most frequent use, characters are referred to by an epithet which is
used as the equivalent of the name which it replaces, is listed un-
der the rhetorical tropes in the Ad Herennium, and in the texts
of Cicero, Quintilian, Donatus, Servius, Isidore of Seville, and
Bede. The later writers, notably Donatus and Isidore, single out
antonomasia and epithet as the tropes noted not only for their or-
namental but also for their vituperative or laudatory value . . . val-
ues remarkably well adaptable for Hrotsvit's hagiographic themes
depicting the struggle of moral absolutes. In this struggle the per-
sonality of the character becomes subordinated to the idea he or
she represents; the substitution of a descriptive phrase for the

'Homeyer, Opera, p. 8.
nbid., p. 8.
'St. Jerome, in his commentary on Deuteronomy 21:12 (if a Hebrew man
wishes to wed a heathen slave, he shall first cut her hair and her nails) observes that
in a similar manner Christians should purify secular learning from pagan errors and
put it thus to the service of glorifying God. Similarly, St. Augustine when comment-
ing on Exodus 3:22 and 12:35 (when leaving Egypt the Israelites took gold and sil-
ver vessels with them) advocates the use of pagan learning for Christian use. See
E. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (Princeton: Princeton Univ.
Press, 1972) pp. 39 ff.
47 Antonomasia in Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
name, thus, helps to idealize the hero or heroine into a hagiographic
stereotype.
Donatus defines antonomasia thus:
Antonomasia est significatio vice nominis posita, quae fit modis tribus,
ab animo, a corpore, extrinsecus his duobus tropis (i.e. anto-
nomasia and epithet) vel vituperamus aliquem vel ostendimus vel
ornamus."
and the venerable Bede, whose De Schematibus et Tropis (II 5) be-
came a standard textbook in 9th and 10th century classrooms of the
Continent, both elaborates on Donatus (his main source), and
departs from the work of his predecessors by substituting illus-
trations from the Bible for pagan poetic citations. Bede defines
antonomasia thus:
Antonomasia est significatio vice nominis posita: ex accidentibus vide-
licet propriam significat personam. Quae fit tribus modis: ab animo, a
corpore, extrinsecus. Ab animo, ut "Numquid non tu percussisti su-
perbum?" A corpore, ut "vir spurius altitudinis sex cubitorum et
palmo;" ab elatione enim animi diabolus, a quantitate corporis gigans
significatur.
And he adds:
Per hunc tropum aliquotiens et Dominus ipse demonstratur'
Hrotsvit uses antonomasia for all three of the purposes mentioned
by Donatus and Bede, although the solely identificatory employ-
ment of the trope is relatively rare. The purely ornamental uses of
the trope, such as the substitution of Phoebus or Phoebus' chariot
for the rising sun are also few.® Moreover, ornamental uses of the

''Dormti Ars Grammatica, Grammatica Latina, ed. Henricus Keil (Hildesheim:

Georg Ohms, 1961) vol. 4, p. 400. (Antonomasia is the designation without the use
of the proper name, of which there are 3 types: from qualities of character, from
physical characteristics and from external circumstances. . . Through these 2
tropes (antonomasia and epithet) we may disparage someone, identify him or ex-
tol him).
^ Bedae Venerabilis Opera, ed. Ch. W. Jones, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina,
vol. 123, part I, pp. 155, 166. Antonomasia is the designation without the use of the
proper name: one can clearly identify a particular person by means of his traits. This
can happen in 3 ways: from qualities of character, from physical characteristics,
from external circumstances . . . The devil is designated (identified) by his pride,
the giant by his size . Through this trope even the Lord himself is designated.
^ Maria 360, Theophilus 364.
48 RHETORICA
trope almost invariably refer to inanimate objects whde the deliber-
ative use of antonomasia almost always concerns either humans or
God and the Devil. The notable exceptions to this observation con-
cern the euphorically laudatory antonomasiac descriptions of the
Gandersheim Abbey.
Since it is the vituperative and laudatory uses of antonomasia
that prevail in Hrotsvit's works almost to the complete exclusion of
the ornamental use, they must reflect Hrotsvit's poetic intent. She
uses the trope with great virtuosity and great frequency not only, I
believe, to avoid repetition, (i.e. of proper names) but, more impor-
tantly, for the purpose of delineating her characters and reenforc-
ing her agonistic themes. In all of her works good and evd struggle
in the eternal strife of God and the devil, with God and his repre-
sentatives on earth invariably carrying the palm of victory. To em-
phasize this struggle, Hrotsvit frequently employs antonomasia
to call attention to the exclusive nature of her moral opposites, to
group her characters, so to say, in two diametrically opposed camps:
God and his followers, epitomizing values associated with the
Kingdom of Heaven on the one hand, and the Devil and his ser-
vants, exemplifying vices of the realm of hell, on the other. God's
civitas, characterized by attributes of concord, love, and wisdom, is
constantly juxtaposed to Satan's domain marked by discord, hatred
and foolhardiness. Hrotsvit achieves an immediate and uncon-
testable recognition of the membership of a given character to ei-
ther one of the camps by verbal links between the human and
superhuman recipients of antonomasiac descriptions. Her lan-
guage, however inspired, cannot approach total perfection (or for
that matter total corruption) directly, so that access to that meaning
is given in the antonomasiac associations of her heroes and villains
with God or the devil respectively. God is described in liturgical
and doxological terms; He is referred to as rex caeli fortis,'' omni-
potens rector,^" solus pietatis amator, mundi rerumque parator,^^ bonus
pastor,^^ rex regum,^^ altithronus," summus dominus,^^ iustus iudex,^''
imperator,^'' celsitonantis,^" rex aetemus,^'' supernus arbiter,^° rex perren-

'Maria 360, Theophilus 364.

''Maria, 124. '"Maria, 314. ''Gongolf, 1.
^Basilius, 240. '^Gongolf, 80; Gesta, 1.
"Gallicanus XI i; Gongolfl37; Gesta 693.
"Go«go//, 126. "Congo//, 414. "Gallicanus Xlll. 5.
" Dulcitius 1.6. "Dulcitius XIV. 2. "">Calimachus IX, 5.
49 Antonomasia in Hrotsvit of Gandersheim

nis,^^ index aequissimus orbis,^^ factor summae mediae rationis et imae,^^

rex pacificus,^" and fadus a nulla, vere . sine materia forma;'^ the
virtuous ruler (and Otto I is the paradigm of royal excellence for
Hrotsvit) is, by extension, referred to in similar honorary an-
tonomasiae. He is rex fidelis,^'' iustus,^'' rex famosus,'^ primogenitus
venerandus,^'' rex sapiens,^ rex pacificus Justus rex,'' rex pius,^^ and
dominus benedidus.^^ Clearly, the emphasis on Otto's love of peace,
on his just and pious royalty, and on his attributes of wisdom and
justice, order, and compassion are meant to be echoes of the at-
tributes of the Heavenly King.
God's saints and martyrs are also identified as such by an-
tonomasiac substitutions for their names which honor them by sig-
nifying their relationship with Christ: Gongolf is the Christi carus
amicus,^ Christi carus, gentis et omne decus,^^ heros,^ martir sandus;^^
Pelagius is martir fortissimus Christi,^^ miles Christi,^'' and egregius
Christi amicus;'^ and Dionysius is adletus Christi.''^ Saintly men of
the old Testament are praised in antonomasiae of general virtue.
Joachim is iustus necnon digne studiosus,''^ vir nobilis,'^^ and heros.'"
The virgin Mary, paradigm of all feminine virtue is extolled in her
traditional attributes of virginity and holy motherhood. She is unica
spes mundi,'^'' sanda parens regis,"^ deigenetrix,*'' lucida stella maris,"^ p
virgo, virguncula casta,'^'' incorrupta vitae corona."^ Similarly, Hrotsvit's
chaste heroines are praised in virginal antonomasiae: Constancia is
verecundia virgo,^^ Hathumonda is Christi virgo felix and virguncula
Christi,^^ Gerberga is sponsa dei" and Agnes is clarissima virgo, regis
sponsa perennis.^ Female members of the royal family and rulers of
the Gandersheim abbey, like their male counterparts, are described
in epithets of regal power and honored for their distinguished

^'Primordia, 1513. "^ Gesta, 227. ^Dionysius, 1.

^* Gesta, 17. ^Paphnutius XIII.3. '''Gesta, 17.
"^ Gesta, 326. ^ Gesta, 628. ^Gesffl, 229.
'"Gesffl, 203; 165. "'Gesta, 211. '^ Gesta, 353.
"Gesffl, 211. "" Gongolf, 205. "'Gongolf, 342.
"* Gongolf, 371. '^Gongolf, 473. ""Pelagius, 1.
""Pelagius, 238. *" Pelagius, 190. "Dionysius, 201.
"Maria, 55. "Maria, 94. "Maria, 64.
''Maria, 13. ^ Maria, 14. "Theophilus, 179.
'^Maria, 15. ''' Ascensio, 77. ^Ascensio, 81.
''Gallicanus IV1. '^Primordia, 315. ^"Primordia, 327.
^ Agnes, 3; 211.
50 RHETORICA
descent. Adelheid is summa regina,'^'' Oda, illustris domina,^ and
Gerberga is regalis proles, clarissima stirps.^''
The Devd, on the other hand, is disparaged in antonomasiae of
hostility and negation, of terms denotive of chaos, non-conformity,
savagery and subversion. He is the servus (often in direct opposi-
tion to God's description as dominus), the generis humani callidus
hostis,^" coluber cupidus, versutus, amarus,'"' daemon saevus,'^ serpens
antiquus," vetustus serpens,''^ draco,*"^ antiquus inimicus,"^ veteris hos-
tis,"^ antiquus hostis,'*' and inprobis fur." By extension, members of
the Devil's camp, and those characterized by subversion, are cen-
sored in terms of rebeUion, hostility, hatred and chaos and they are
verbally linked to the inspirator of their indemnity. Hadrian is [vir]
serpentis Satanae,*^ Julian, diaboli capellanus,'"'' the evil cleric, perversus
armiger,™ Gongolf's wife, pestiferis,'" Abderrahman is rexavarus,'^ rex
sentiescens,''^ rex saevus^^ and daemonis famellus;''^ the frightful armies
of the Hungarians bringing raids and destruction on Western Eu-
rope are ipsis domini pravis inimicis.^^ Evil women or those temporar-
ily lapsed from the blissful state of Mary's innocence are depicted
by inverted epithets of Mary denoting their lack of purity: Gongolf's
wife is ganea maligna,'''' lupa,^^ mercata ganea,''"' infelix meretrix,^ Mari
is lapsa and polluta,^' Thais sordidula, milies millenis sordium polluta.'^^
Frequently, Hrotsvit contrasts the two camps by using an-
tonomasiac descriptions of the contending forces in direct apposi-
tion to each other. Thus, for example, God, the creator of the Uni-
verse (creator universitatis) is twice compared to man-made pagan
gods created of inferior metal (inferiore metallis) stating in stark,
clear, penetrating abstractions the vast superiority of Christianity
over paganism.*' Gongolf, representative of God (legalis dominus) is
contrasted with the lascivious cleric, servant of the devil (famulus),'^

' Gesta, 470. " Primordia, 451.

'Dedication to legends 1.
"Maria, 221. "" Gongolf, 353. '"Theophilus, 111.
'Abraham Ill.i. '•^Abraham XII.17. ""Theophilus, 124.
'Gongolf, 729. ^"Gongolf, 318. ** Agnes, 198.
'Basilus, 240. '^Sapientia 11.5. "''Gallicanus II.V.4.
"Gongolf, 462. " Gongolf, 555. '^Pelagius, 132.
"Pelagius, 138. "Pelagius, 188. ''Pelagius, 246.
''Primordia, 364. "Gongolf, 449. '"Gongolf, 458.
''Gongolf, 466. ""Gongolf, 543. "'Abraham Vl.i.
^Paphnutius III.7. ""Dulcitius 270; Sapientia V.4. "'Gongolf, 360.
51 Antonomasia in Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
and the same master-servant opposition occurs in the use of ser-
vants (i.e. Devil) vs. dominus (i.e. God) couching the universal hier-
archy in feudal terms.*^
Occasionally, Hrotsvit uses antonomasia for ironic purposes
. . . for self-revelation by her antagonists. Abderrahman, the cruel
and lascivious Muslem ruler of Cordoba, for instance, identifies
himself by the liturgical epithet "rex regum," a tag clearly associ-
ated with God and with God alone. His overwhelming pride and
foolish self-reliance, thus, become immediately obvious.
Between the two clearly delineated camps of Hrotsvit's charac-
ters, those of the miles Christi and the famuli diaboli, lies a smaller,
perhaps less clearly defined group, that of the repentant sinner or
the virtuous person temporarily lapsed from grace. In her use of
antonomasia, Hrotsvit enables us to identify this group clearly and
immediately and to distinguish it from the camp of Satan's fol-
lowers, the hardened sinners. Almost invariably, the repentant sin-
ner is introduced with attributes not of inverted God- or Mary-like
virtue but with antonomasiae of "infelix" or its cognates. Thais,
Maria, Terentianus' son, and Theophilus are most frequently de-
scribed as infelices while Gongolf's wife and her lover, or Abderrah-
man and the cruel pagan Emperors are almost always identified
with devilish attributes.
The purely identificatory, non-deliberative uses of antonomasia
in Hrotsvit's works, on the other hand, occur almost invariably as
self-identifications. The most famous occurrence of this particular
employment of the trope is the reference of Hrotsvit to herself in
the Prologue as Clamor Validus Gandershemensis, a pun on her name
as well as the definition of her poetic purpose.*^ Furthermore,
Hrotsvit frequently refers to herself as discipula, (in apposition to
Gerberga II, her abbess as magistra) and as famula (i.e. of Christ and
His saints).*^
Having established the fundamental stratification of the use of
antonomasia for laudatory, identificatory, or vituperative purposes
in Hrotsvit's works, we may now turn to a further stratification of
the trope into its different modalities. According to most rheto-

"'Prologue to the Dramas, 3. Clamor Hrvot; validus suid. See my "Clamor Vali-
dus Gandeshemensis—Hrotsvit and Her Poetic Program," Germanic Notes, 14:2 (1983)
pp. 17-18.
"Dedication to the Legends, 12; Maria, 17.
"Dulcitius 1.7.
52 RHETORICA
ricians, antonomasia occurs in three modes: based either on a per-
son's qualities of character (ab animo); or his physical attributes (a
corpore); or his external circumstances (extrinsicus). The Venerable
Bede, whose comments are quite detaded on the trope, and with
whose works Hrotsvit was familiar, remarks on the proper use of
the trope and applies its use to God and the devil. The devil, he
says, is identified "by his haughty disposition" (i.e. ab animo),
while a giant, for instance, should be identified "by his huge body"
(i.e. a corpore); God, on the other hand, is often identified by means
of external circumstances, (i.e. extrinsicus)."" This category of the
antonomasia extrinsicus in turn, can be further subdivided, he says:
it may rest upon descent (a genere), upon a particular place (a loco);
or in a particular action (ab adu) or event (ab eventu)."''
Articulating her didactic purpose through a cast of representa-
tive hagiographic topoi (such as the renouncing of the ways of the
flesh in a total Christ-like devotion to virtue in spite of all adver-
sity, or the glory of the repentant sinner). Hrotsvit has little use for
antonomasia a corpore just as she had little use for antonomasia
purely for ornamental purposes. As a rhetorical vehicle for her
moral-ascetic didacticism, antonomasia most frequently functions
to identify the miles Christianus or the servus diaboli; to glorify God
and His saints and to denigrate the Devil and his followers and to
show pity for the repentant sinner. Thus, physical appearance and,
for that reason, antonomasia a corpore are of less consequence for
her aim than attributes of hagiographic ideals. Thus, in all of her
works the uses of antonomasiae ab animo and extrinsicus are the
most frequent depicting her models of heroism (and iniquity) in
terms of spiritual qualities and good (or evil) deeds. The devil is the
deceptor hominum, captorque rerum''^—(ab animo, extrinsicus ab eventu)
his followers are the incola gehennia""—(extrinsicus a loco); God on
the other hand is Sospitatis audor, cunda qui regit imperio""- (extrin-

""Bedae Venerabilis Opera, p. 155.

"Ibid., p. 156: "Extrinsecus quae sumuntur in plures species dividuntur
Descendunt enim a genere, ut 'Numquid vobis dabit filius Isai agrum' A loco, ut
'Auctorem seditionis sectae nazarenorum' Ab actu, ut: 'Qui autem tradidit ilium
dedit eis signum.' Ab eventu, ut: 'Discipulus ille quern diligebat lesus.' Per hunc
tropum aliquoties et Dominus ipse demonstratur A genere, ut 'Osanna filio David.'
A loco, ut 'Qui sedes super Cherubin, appare.' Ab actu ut, 'Peccari, quid faciam tibi,
o custos hominum?'"
*"Gongolf, 433. " Calimachus IX.29. '^ Calimachus IX. 21; Maria, 30.
53 Antonomasia in Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
sicus ab eventu and actu), rex altithronus, rex caelestis^^ (extrinsicus a
loco), rex pacificus'^'' (ab animo); his saints are beatus, egregius Christi,
amicus rex plus, vir nobilis '^ (ab animo) or martir sandus, consul almificus
virgo, vidrix hostis corruptelam suadentis'^'' (extrinsicus ab eventu).
In general God's most pronounced attributes derive from ex-
trinsicus a loco, a genere, or ab animo; from what He is, where He
reigns, who He is and what He does. Among humans, it is Hrotsvit's
royal characters who often receive their antonomasiac identifica-
tion extrinsicus a genere. (Otto, for example, is regali nato, primo-
genitus venerandus;'" Gerberga is regalis proles, clarissma stirpis.)'"'
Saints and martyrs of Christ, on the other hand, are identified ab
animo or extrinsicus ab eventu, while the Devil is depicted through
antonomasiae ab animo, extrinsicus a loco but never a genere. His fol-
lowers, like those of God are identified by antonomasiae ab animo,
extrinsecus ab eventu and occasionally a genere. The repentant sinner,
finally, is often referred to by attributes de animo. Antonomasiae de
corpore are extremely rare underlining Hrotsvit's often-stated con-
viction that moral and spiritual values, Divine grace, confirmed
faith, as well as good deeds are the stones that pave the road to
salvation.
What Hrotsvit accomplished through her sophisticated use of
antonomasia is the virtual equation between character and epithet.
Unlike a simple parenthetical description which serves an explana-
tory function, the substitution of a descriptive phrase or adjectival
noun for the name of the character identifies, rather than simply
describes, the person and accomphshes, thus, a complete submer-
sion of the individual character into his hagiographic role—the
transformation, one might say, of the person into the ideal. The an-
tonomasiac association of the saint or the hardened sinner with the
ultimate sources of virtue or vice, moreover, enable Hrotsvit to in-
tegrate Heaven and Hell into the human conflict and strife for
perfection.

""Gesta, 2; 149.
•"Gesta, 17.
" Gongolf 387; Pelagius 190; Gesta 353; Maria 94.
"Congo//473; Gongolf 368: Agnes 1, 39,
•" Gesta 120; 129.
"Dedication to legends, 1.