CORIPPO, FLAVIO CRESCONIO. — Having previously been a grammar teacher in a municipality in Africa, he subsequently went to Carthage. In 549 or 550 he published an epic poem in 8 books, entitled *Iohannis* or *De bellis Libycis*, in which he sang the deeds accomplished by JOHANNES, *magister militum* of Africa, in the war of the Romans against the Moors from 546 to 548; the 8th book is unfinished. It seems that the poem earned C. a place at the court of Constantinople. Later, reduced to poverty, he published, in order to obtain aid from the Emperor, a panegyric of JUSTIN in 4 books.
The choice of subject is not easy in the epic poem, which celebrates episodes of contemporary history, still less so in the panegyric, in which the first 3 books sing of the first eight days of the reign of JUSTIN, and the 4th, unfinished, deals with the protagonist’s assumption to the consulship and the festivities that accompanied II. The author considers it the duty of a Christian poet to reject mythological material, while inserting Christian elements in several places, such as prayers to God, to Christ, to the Virgin, and even a brief compendium of the Catholic faith. Artistically his importance is quite limited, especially in the panegyric; it is, however, of notable interest as a historical source, for the account of a phase of the war and for the descriptions of the characters and customs of the Moorish peoples.