It is a seeming commonplace to ascribe to Martin Luther, the great German ecclesiastical reformer of the sixteenth century, a general and thorough-going hostility to the pagan classics, so much so that Tertullian's famous rhetorical question can be adjusted in this regard to ask, ‘What has Athens to do with Wittenberg?’ S. offers a different answer than the worn norm by examining Luther's engagement with the classics in general and with Aesop in particular. The result is a book that will appeal to a diverse audience: from students of Martin Luther's biography, to historical theologians of the sixteenth-century Reformation, to classicists interested in the career of classical literature in the early modern era – all will find here a worthwhile read. The book's title is generated by its focus on an unfinished German edition of Aesop's fables undertaken by Luther while at the Coburg fortress in 1530. It is S.'s contention that Luther's ‘fascination with Aesop’ – evidenced by this unfinished edition of the fables, and by his frequent use of them in writing and speaking – offers a more nuanced and positive view of Luther's relationship to the classical tradition than is usually assumed. It can be fairly said that S. succeeds in his contention.
S. presents his material in five chapters. Chapter 1 addresses the wider relationship of Luther to the Greco-Roman classics in order to situate his work on Aesop in the context of his other classical literary projects. In particular, S. makes evident Luther's strong grounding in classical education and his mastery and use of the Latin language, together with his ‘strong affinities’ with Homer, Virgil, Cicero, Seneca and many others. Luther's familiarity with and use of the classics is established via the ‘authoritative indices’ now available in the Weimarer Ausgabe, the critical edition of Luther's writings. The chapter further examines Luther's acquaintance with classical Latin poets and charts his own forays into Latin poetry. In this regard, S. provides a nimble explanation of some of the more technical aspects of Luther's Latin art.
Chapter 2 deals with Luther's specific familiarity, use and appraisal of Aesop across the span of his life. S. notes Luther's lifelong interest in the fabulist and cites some 44 of the fables with which Luther was familiar and which he used with varying frequency. The chapter is especially devoted to providing a comprehensive overview of Luther's citation of Aesop throughout his sermons, writings and letters. S. provides an engaging discussion that illustrates how Luther utilised the stories for everything from politics to polemics.
Chapter 3 begins S.'s examination of the unfinished Aesop edition which Luther undertook in 1530. S. shows that Luther approached the task with great care. Of particular interest is the discussion of the unfinished Luther manuscript of the Coburg Aesop that eventually came to be housed in the Vatican Library. Because the Vatican manuscript does not include Luther's preface, S. supplies a full translation of it from the Jena edition of Luther's works. The preface reveals Luther's critical approach to the editorial task and does much to underscore Luther's abilities in classical scholarship. Chapter 4 continues the examination of Luther's Coburg Aesop by offering ‘fairly close English translations of Luther's versions … of the fables’ prepared by S. and augmented by exegetical comments that explore both the language and meaning of the fables.
The final chapter, ‘Luther as Aesop’, offers a reconnaissance of a number of incidental issues, most notably the role of storyteller Luther himself played frequently. S. explores the parallels Luther shared with Aesop in his own tales, particularly his use of ‘talking animals’ and his speech to animals made for the sake of his human hearers. Luther's possible influence on later German storytellers is also explored.
Three appendices provide alternative versions of the stories contained in Luther's Coburg collection, the Latin texts of Luther's poems introduced in Chapter 1 and the German originals of various translated texts included in Chapter 5. These combine with the copious footnotes citing Latin and German originals to allow the interested reader to shadow S.'s translations and comments throughout the book.
Produced well in time for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, this book offers the first English examination of Luther's engagement with the Greek fabulist to provide a more nuanced understanding of the reformer and his world of thought. Chapters 1, 3 and 5 should engage the interest of most readers, while the comprehensive catalogue of Luther's citations of Aesop in Chapter 2 and the review of the Coburg fables of Chapter 4 may be sampled without losing their overall contribution to the topic.
