Cursus aetatis. On Jan Kochanowski’s Cycle Na XII Tablic Ludzkiego Żywota

Abstract

Jan Kochanowski’s cycle “Na XII tablic ludzkiego żywota” appeared as a whole only six years after the poet’s death in the volume “Fragmenta abo pozostałe pisma” (Kraków 1590) and was prepared by his friend, the printer Jan Januszowski. This paper seeks to prove that contrary to the hitherto views, Kochanowski did not draw here on to the so-called “Tabula Cebetis”, a Greek dialogue on the first century BC, but to the late-medieval tradition of the presentations of human life in the form of twelve stages that correspond to the twelve months of the year. Everything indicates that in the case of Kochanowski’s distichs we are dealing with a cycle of calendar poems that initially were supposed to be accompanied by some respective prints. The project was not carried to effect for some unknown reasons. Ultimately, the poet included in his collection of “Fraszki” only three two-verse works taken from the whole that had been prepared earlier.