László Jankovits
The aim of this paper is to interpret the well-known poem of Janus Pannonius, entitled, in the textual tradition, Abiens valere iubet sanctos reges Waradini within the frames of the myth of the Argonauts. In order to illuminate the Argonautic character of the poem, I give a brief outline of the possible date of its composition and also of its generic determination. The cultural context of the poem is the traditional Italian view about the ultramontane world as a culturally inhabitable land, a view that was inherited by the humanists from their Antique ancestors. I cite those texts of Janus’ former schoolmates and other poets which show their own expectations towards Janus as their fellow who can be their guide in that unfriendly place.
In Greek mythology, the first poet who entered the northern world was Orpheus, the mythical ancestor of all poets. He participated in the dangerous journey of the Argonauts to the Black Sea for the Golden Fleece. According to some versions of the myth, the Argonauts used the river Danube for their return home because this river had two mouths, one in the Adriatic and another in the Black Sea. Although fifteenth-century humanists regarded this concept as mythical, Pannonia was treated as a land on the border of the familar and the strange. I conclude my paper by proposing that the purpose of the poem is to show the cultural values of the ultramontane world. In this poem, Janus places himself into the re-interpreted role of Orpheus, one of the Argonauts, and the first poet who challenged his talent in a voyage to the North.