The Theory and Practice of Imitation in the (Polyphonic?) Dido-tragedy by Nicodemus Frischlin1

Abstract In my study I will be focusing on the text transformation technique in the tragedy Dido by Nicodemus Frischlin (1547–1590) German Neo-Latin poet, this author’s first imitational drama was published in 1581 in Tübingen. In the first half of my work, I summarize Frischlin’s basic rhetorical principles, including his most significant ideas around imitation based on his 1587 oration in Wittenberg. Instead of precepts and definitions, the poet’s rhetorical concept operates with concrete examples, written passages, authoral texts by which he aims to educate the reader. In the second portion of my study, I aim to answer the question of how polyphonic imitation works in the play, and how this creative method makes it more difficult to identify the imitative techniques in the text, such as paraphrase, cento and parody. As I delve into my topic, I wish to point to examples of the switch of rhetorical theory, that is, a divergence from the tradition of Melanchton’s rhetoric textbooks, the connections between the different varieties of imitation techniques, genre transformation, the reinterpretation of the Virgilian epic into a tragedy.