Virides iumenta per agros: questioni di zoologia in Draconzio

This article focuses on the long excursus through which Dracontius (laud. dei 1,180-205) describes the Eden, tracing the characteristics of the Golden Age. The imperishability of the flora, the production of honey without the bees, and the total absence of the animals enables us to argue that the Eden did not host them. The occupation of the rest of the world belongs to the animals, because they have to eat the grass, otherwise destined to wither (1,271). So, the poet establishes a break between the Eden and the rest of the world. The conclusion lingers on the comparison between vv. 270-273 and the corresponding ones on the recensio Eugeniana, discussing the logic of the textual emendation.