Augustine and the Church Fathers

Tasso’s letters of summer 1586 show clearly that upon leaving Sant’Anna his wish was to embark upon a vast amount of theological reading, with the objective of enriching his works with sacred doctrine, starting with the Gerusalemme. They also contain his requests for books by Saint Thomas, Gregory the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Philo of Alexandria, and especially for an edition of the works of Saint Augustine (an imprint published in Geneva in 1555) that Tasso had given in loan to Giovan Battista Licino from Bergamo. Tasso’s copy is now preserved at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Rome and is replete with notes. As soon as the book was returned to him in the early weeks of 1587, Tasso used it for his final revision of the Messaggiero, and above all in constructing a number of passages in the Gerusalemme Conquistata and the Giudicio, when Augustine’s views became crucial in resolving the distinction between true, false and fictitious. The Epitome of Augustine’s works, together with Basil and Ambrose and the works of St Thomas, became part of the galaxy of readings behind the Mondo creato, as reflected in the reference notes contained in the manuscript preserved at Parma’s Biblioteca Palatina.