THE EARLY LATIN DIONYSIUS: ERIUGENA AND HUGH OF ST. VICTOR

This essay sketches how Eriugena and Hugh of St. Victor interpreted the Areopagite, emphasizing key passages for each. Eriugena's translation of the CD and his Expositiones on The Celestial Hierarchy exerted a tremendous influence on subsequent Latin readers, including Hugh, and even survived the condemnation of his masterwork, the Periphyseon. The Victorine, whose own Augustinian inclinations were largely untouched by his encounter with the Areopagite, nevertheless exerted a distinctive influence by (falsely) attributing to Dionysius the view that in our pursuit of God, “love surpasses knowledge.” Together, despite their stark differences, they bequeathed a lively Dionysian tradition to the high medieval authors, scholastics and mystics alike.