ABSTRACT

Writing from the vantage point of Monte Soratte, a site that has always been, and still remains, in the shadow of Rome, Benedict crafts a narrative that disparages but cannot ignore the city. The ridge of Monte Soratte is an inhospitable outpost adjacent to fertile plains. Monte Soratte is covered in dense scrub, and wells cannot be dug into its limestone base. The image of locusts descending upon Italy evokes the biblical image of the plague sent by God to punish the Egyptians. That the Romans’ depravity is linked to their destruction is made even more explicit later in the chronicle, again at a moment when foreign control over Rome is weak. Benedict was certainly familiar with the city of Rome, and he may even have identified as ‘Roman’ himself.