Another trademark literary technique came into play when they were reading, rather than writing. They often used the word integumentum, meaning a “covering” or “cloak,” to express the way the surface meaning of a text may conceal its true significance.8 With this technique, frankly pagan material could be redeemed for use in a Christian context. In his commentary on Virgil, Bernard Silvestris explains the seduction of Venus by Vulcan as a symbolic representation of the corruption of the mind by lust. A similar message is taught by the encounter between Aeneas and Dido. Virgil shows Dido
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