The Poems of Prudentius, vol. 2

by Prudentius

Publisher:

Catholic University of America

, 1965

Overview

It cannot be said that poetry, in a literary sense, truly prospered in Christian surroundings. However, the greatest of the Latin Christian poets was the present author, who was born in any one of the three cities: Tarragona, Saragossa, and Calahorra. Modern scholarship favors Calahorra.

Any estimate of Prudentius must include a recognition of certain defects in his works, notably the length and prolixity of his hymns, the crude realism in his descriptions of the torments of the martyrs, the long declamatory speeches, the unreality of his allegory, and his excessive use of alliteration and assonance. Though his writings as a whole cannot be ranked among those of the great poetry in many instances. Prudentius has a technical skill surpassing that of the other Christian Latin poets. He is the creator of the Christian ode and the Christian allegory. He has something of the epic power of Virgil and the lyric beauty and variety of Horace.

Prudentius has still greater claims to greatness, however, in the Christian thought and inspiration of his poetry. A recent critic has declared with truth that Prudentius is “first a Catholic and only in the second place a poet.” His faith is that of the Nicene Creed.

In his poetry, Prudentius celebrates the triumph of Christianity over paganism. He saw the Church emerging from its three-hundred-year struggle against the forces if idolatry and heresy, triumphant through its saving doctrine and the blood of its martyrs. He saw the magnificent basilicas, both in Spain and in Rome, rising in the place of the pagan temples. As an historian of Christian thought and culture at the end of the fourth century, Prudentius cannot be overestimated.

Key Features

• Christian poetry influenced by classical forms
• Functional hymns for everyday life
• One of 127 published volumes in a well-respected series on the Church Fathers

Product Details

• Title: The Poems of Prudentius, Volume 2
• Author: Prudentius
• Series: The Fathers of the Church
• Volume: 2
• Publisher: Catholic University of America
• Print Publication Date: 1965
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 234
• Era: era:nicene
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Hymns, Latin › Translations into English
• Resource ID: LLS:POEMSVOLUME2
• Resource Type: text.monograph.poetry
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:38:24Z

About Prudentius

Aurelius Prudentius Clemens was born in 348 in the Roman province of Tarraconensis. He lived mostly in northeastern Spain, but visited Rome between 400 and 405. He became a barrister and later an administrator. Prudentius was a strong Christian who admired the old pagan literature and art, especially the great Latin poets whose forms he used. He viewed Roman achievements in history as preparation for the coming of Christ and the triumph of a spiritual empire.