"AUDIT TYRANNUS ANXIUS". - Hymn of Matins for the feast of the Holy Innocents. It is part of Prudentius's Hymnus Epiphaniae and consists precisely of stanzas 24, 25, and 34, in which the inhuman massacre ordered by King Herod is described in a most vivid tone: terrified by the announcement of the birth of the King of Israel, he orders his henchmen to go and immediately cut the throats of the newborns of Bethlehem in their cradles. But of what use, the poet asks, is so great a slaughter? Among all the children one alone is saved, precisely the one against whom Herod's soldiers had been sent! A disappointment that the poet takes delight in setting in clear evidence.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: G. G. Belli, Inni del Breviario romano tradotti, Rome 1856, pp. 122-31; L. Venturi, Gli inni della Chiesa, tradotti e commentati, 3rd ed., Florence 1880, pp. 172-73; S. Colombo, La poesia cristiana antica, Rome 1910, pp. 103-23; G. Bossi, Gli inni del Breviario romano, versione ritmica, Rome 1919, p. 70; U. Moricca, Storia della letteratura latina cristiana, II, Turin 1928, p. 893; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Naples 1947, p. 90.

Silverio Mattei

@incollection{ec2_audit_tyrannus_anxius, author = {Mattei, Silverio}, title = {Audit Tyrannus Anxius}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {392}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/audit-tyrannus-anxius} }

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