De Iudicio Domini

DE IUDICIO DOMINI. - A poem also entitled Carmen ad Flavium Felicem, which in the past was attributed to Tertullian or St. Cyprian. But the Flavius Felix mentioned in the title is without doubt the same man who lived in the times of the Vandal king Thrasamund (496-523) at Carthage, where he composed some poems (v. Manitius, Gesch. der Christi-latein. Poesie, Stuttgart 1891, p. 342; W. Meyer, Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Mittellateinischen Rhythmik, II, Berlin 1905, p. 122).

The African poet imitated especially Dracontius, who lived under Thrasamund's predecessor (Waszink in his edition, p. 33). The attribution of the poem to Verecundus is untenable (Manitius, p. 155; Waszink, op. cit., p. 35). The author, who probably lived around 500 in Africa, knew the works of Commodian, Dracontius, Juvencus, the Carmen adversus Marcionitas, but it seems that in his eschatological ideas he was also influenced by an Eastern source (Oracula Sibyllina?). In his arguments for the resurrection of the dead the author preserved an old tradition. The same holds for his catalogue of vices (Apocalypse of Peter?).

Erik Peterson