502

PEUDENTIUS

PEUDENTIUS

veneration for the saints ( Perist . passim , esp. i.10-21; ii. 530 sqq.; x. ad fin.; xi. ad in. xii.) Onepoint deserves to be specially noted; the illustra-tions of the art of the time. We have mention, andin some cases a full description, of the LateranChurch (c. Symm. i. 586), the church of St. Lau-rence ( Perist. xi. 216), and of buildings over thetombs of St. Peter and St. Paul ( Perist. xii.) audof the catacombs ( Perist . xi. 153) at Rome; alsoof a church at Merida ( Perist . iii. 191), and a bap-tistery apparently at Calahorra (Perist. viii.). Wehave also descriptions of a picture of the martyr-dom of St. Cassian in the church at Imola ( Perist.ix.), of St. Hippolytus in the catacombs (xi. 123),and of St. Peter (xii. 38). The Dittochaeon con-sists of titles for pictures, and it is noticeablethat nearly all the symbols which Prudentiususes to express Christian Truth (the Dove, theTalm, the Good Shepherd &c.), as well as the Biblescenes with which he illustrates his poems, arefound on gems, or on the walls of the catacombs,so that Prudentius may have derived his use ofthem from thence (Brockhaus, cap. ix.).

From the first the poems of Prudentius wereheld in great honour; they are quoted with highpraise by Sidonius Apollinaris, Avitus, Leo, Isidore,Rabanus Maurus, Alcuin, &c. They were editedin the 6th century by Vettius Agorius Basilius,the consul and editor of Horace. They were usedas a school book by Archbishop Bruno in the 10thcentury, and by Vives in the 15th. On no book,except the Bible, are there so many Germanglosses found. No less than 33 MSS. arein existence : and as early as the 9th century acommentary on them was written by Iso, a monkof St. Gall. In the middle ages the Psychomachiaand the Cathemerinon were special favourites,and the rest were rarely copied. On the inven-tion of printing, the whole or parts of his workswere frequently printed; more than sixty editionshave appeared since 1470, though apparently nonein England. In addition to those in the differentcollections of the Fathers and the Christian poets,the most available editions are those of Heinsius,16mo. Amsterdam, 1667 ; F. Areval, Rome,1788 (reprinted with very full prolegomena inMigne’s Patrologia , lix. and lx.); Chamillard,Paris, 1687, in the “Delphin” Classics (withuseful index); Obbar, 8vo. Tubingen, 1845, andDressel, Leipzig, 1860, both of these with shortbut useful prolegomena, critical apparatus, andslight exegetical notes. The other editions,as well as the MSS. and chief translations, areenumerated by Obbar, by Dressel, and by Faguet,who adds the chief various readings in theCodex Puteanus. To these should be added anEnglish verse translation of the Cathemerinon(Rivingtons, London 1845); a German translationof Cathemerinon xi. by Schmidt in Zeitschriftfur Liith. Theclogie , 1866, and of the Apotheosisin Brockhaus, A. Prudentius in seiner Bedeutungfur die Kirche seiner Zeit , Leipzig, 1872. Thislast monograph forms a most valuable introduc-tion to the poems. A very good account of themwill also be found in Ebert, Ckristlich-Lat. Lit.pp^ 243-283, and Faguet, De A. PrudentiiClementis Carm. lyricis , Burdigalae, 1883. Wegive a fuller account of each poem.

A. Lyrical, (a) Cathemerinon (i.e. Kadiyj.ep'ivcwVfxywv) described in the Pref. 37, 38 ; a collec-tion of hymns, the first half for the differenthours of the day; the latter half for different

church seasons. A question has been raised whe-ther the fifth refers to the daily lighting of lampsin the churches, or to the ceremonies on EasterEve, but its position and language both favourthe former view. There is no evidence of thetime or place at which they were written, ex-cept that it was before a.d. 405, and apparentlywhile Prudentius was leading a religious life.The metre is very varied, though always instrophes, and often admirably adapted to its sub-ject ; e.g. in vi. where the metre has a “ lulling ”character in the hymn at bed-time ; and ix. wherethe trochaic tetrameter effectively expresses theinstantaneous effect of the words of Christ. Bothmetre and treatment shew the influence of Ambrose(cf. i. ii. xi. xii.) ; the language that of Virgil,Ovid, Horace, and Juvencus. They are poemsrather than hymns. The main tone is hortatory,the readers are called on to praise God, fast, leadpure lives, &c. This is enforced by long nar-ratives from the Bible (cf. i. 49 ; ii. 73 ; iii. 101;iv. 37; vi. 57 ; vii. 26 ; x. 69), often treatedtypically. At times the subjects are drawn outto wearisome length (cf. vii. 115-120, 164 sqq.),but on the whole they are vigorous and clear,aud at times sweet and simple (e.g. vi.), so thatfor their sweet simplicity they have been com-pared with the paintings of Fra Angelico,at times very spirited (ix. and xii.), with truelyrical inspiration. Good specimens will befound in ii. 97-112; v. 113-124; vi. 125-152;x. 117-137 ; xii. 125-140. Though necessarilytoo long for public worship, extracts were madeat least as early as the 9th century, and arefound frequently in the Mozarabic Liturgy (cf. v.vi. vii. ix. x.), and a few in the Roman and Salis-bury breviaries ; on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs-day at Lauds (i. ii.), Compline at Christmas (ix.),Compline on Good Friday (vi.), Easter Eve (v.),Epiphany, the Holy Innocents, and the Trans-figuration (xii.). (Daniel, i. 119, and Kayser,Geschichte der Kirchenhymnen, 275-336.)

(b) Peristephanon (i.e. 7repl GTtfpavaiv, DeCoronis Martyrum), described in Preface 42; acollection of 14 lyrical poems, all (except viii.which is an inscription for a baptistery), writtenin honour of martyrs. The choice of the mar-tyrs is inspired by the circumstances of the poet’slife; the details perhaps taken from existing ActaMartyrum. Half of them are connected with hisown native church of Spain (i. ii. (?) iii.-vi. xiii.),the rest are saints whom he found speciallyhonoured at Rome (ii. vii. x. (?) xi. xii.) or on hisjourney to Rome (ix.). The reason for the choiceof Romanus (x.) is doubtful. Perhaps his namehad procured him honour at Rome. More pro-bably it is due to the opportunity afforded byhis life for an attack on heathenism, xii. waswritten at Rome, ix. and xi. in Spain after hisreturn. The dates of the rest cannot be fixed.Though much too long for church service,extracts from many of them are found in theMozarabic Liturgy (i. ii. iii. vi. x. xiv.). Theygenerally begin with a reference to the bless-ings gained by the martyr’s death, then de-scribe the martyrdom, and end with a re-quest for the martyr’s intercession. Likethe Cathemerinon, they are frequently illus-trated by Old Testament stories (ii. 362; iii.51 ; vi. 86, 109; vii. 61 ; x. 736). They havemuch lyrical power, the metre being varied withthe subject, e.g. in i. the tetrameter used for a