139 / 298
Vico’s Ring
139
the distinctive characteristics of each “language” (divine/heroic/articulate)
previously covered in Book II. Despite, or maybe because of, the brevity of
Section V, it stands out that Vico devoted much more space to the first kind
of language than to the rest. Since this part of Book IV does not add any new
material or substance to the discussion, we surmise that it was included in or-
der to make Book IV work or function as the counterpart of Book II in the
overall ring composition. From a rhetorical point of view, it ould be read as
an epigrammatic conclusion to the exposition in Book II.
An even more extreme case of brevity is Book IV, Section II, (§§ 919-
921), entitled “Three Kinds of Customs” (pious/choleric/dutiful), consisting
of just three short sentences. As these statement are redundant as far as their
content is concerned, we are assuming that this section, too, has a raison
d’être in terms of the larger compositional framework.
282
Mazzotta provides historical context for Vico’s treatment of these sub-
jects in
The New Map of the World
, cit., pp. 133-139.
283
On the “tree of poetic wisdom” see G. Tagliacozzo - M. Frankel,
Pro-
gress in Art? A Vichian Response
,
cit., pp. 242-243; on the cluster of the five
spheres of archaic beliefs in the second branch, see P. Cristofolini,
La Scienza
nuova
di Vico
, cit., pp. 132-134. On “poetic astronomy”, in particular, see the
monograph by J. L. Cooley,
Poetic Astronomy in the Ancient Near East: The Reflex-
es of Celestial Science in Ancient Mesopotamian, Ugaritic, and Israelite Narrative,
Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 2013. The title, however, does not refer to Vico’s
term, but to
De Astronomia
by Gaius Julius Hyginus (c. 64 BC - AD 17), first
published in 1482 as
Clarissimi uiri Hyginii Poeticon astronomicon opus utilissimum,
hence known as
Poetic Astronomy
.
284
Lollini argues for greater cognizance of (heteronomous) nature in Vi-
co’s thought in
Natura, ragione e modernità nella Scienza nuova di Vico
, cit., pp.
223-224, 230-243.
285
Nuzzo makes a strong case for Vico’s treatment of «natural causes, and
more precisely “geographic” [causes] (
cause naturali, e più precisamente “geografi-
che”
)», in
I caratteri dei popoli nella nuova scienza delle nazioni di Vico
, cit.; Nuzzo
also observes: «[…] Vico non assume il compito di effettuare una chiara trat-
tazione dei rapporti di causalità tra fattori “naturali” e “culturali” ([…] Vico
does not take on the task of a clear treatment of the relationships of causality
between ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’ factors)» (
ibid.
, p. 174).
286
Whether the same number of sections in segments
C
and
C’
is purely
coincidental or by design, is impossible to say, and is in any case a negligible
aspect.