Pagina 17 - BCSV, XXXV, 2005

tinctive mark impresseci on a thing, i.e. thè sky. In other words, for po­
etic man thè sky has become Jove and exists only as Jove, with thè char­
acter, i.e. thè characteristics and propensities, proper to Jove, but not as
a representation of Jove. This Jove is not a poetic character in thè sense
of being a linguistic element as were thè poetic characters of De con­
stantia iurisprudentis.
It is in chapter V, however, where, as its title makes clear, Vico is con-
cerned with thè discovery of thè principle of thè characters that consti-
tuted thè vocabulary of thè first gentile nations, that thè first of thè two
conceptions of thè poetic character as a linguistic element is introduced.
Here Vico begins by stating that when a nation is so primitive as to be
unable to name some abstract or generai quality, it will give thè name of
thè property to thè person in whom it was first observed. He then takes
thè name ‘Hercules’ [Heracles] as his example. Someone who is thè first
person to be seen performing some great work of family necessity will
acquire glory for this work and, as a result, be called Hpao K^eo^o or
‘thè glory of Juno’ [Hera] because [uno [Hera] is thè goddess of mar-
riage and therefore of thè family. Then, when others are seen perform­
ing deeds with thè same property as that which led to Hercules being
given his name, they will also acquire thè name ‘Hercules’. Finally, thè
nation will then connect all thè most outstanding actions which have this
same kind (genere) of property performed by different men at different
times with thè name of thè man first named from this property. So they
will all be named ‘Hercules’ in common11.
The passage is complicated slightly by thè fact that it does not show
directly what it purports to show, i.e. how a nation comes to ascribe thè
name of a property, that of performing a great act of family necessity, to
a person, but rather how Hercules and others come to acquire their
shared name from Hera, via thè glory attached to this mediating act. Nev-
ertheless, thè principle is clear enough and in thè next paragraph Vico
gives simpler examples, such as how ‘Capuan’ carne to be thè name for
‘pomp’ and ‘Tarantine’ for ‘perfumed’ because pomp and perfume were
first observed among thè Capuans and Tarantines. He stili maintains ex-
plicitly, however, that these are all examples of antonomasia12.
What is noticeable in thè principal part of this account is that Vico
now refers to people coming to share thè same name from being seen to
perform actions with thè same kinds (generi) o fproperty. If this is so, then
thè use of antonomasia would now require an ability to identify not
THE IMAG1NATIVE UNIVERSAL 17
11 Sn25, § 262.
»2 Ivi.