PRUDENTIUS. - Latin Christian poet (b. 348, d. after 405). Between Saragossa and Calahorra, which both claim the honor of his birth, preference goes to Calahorra because the Valerianus whom P. greets as his guide (Peristeph. hymn., XI) is, according to the Albeldense and Emilianense codices, a bishop of Calahorra. P. speaks of his poetic work in a brief autobiography as a purification and a crowning of his life: indeed he recalls his childhood, remembers his art of lying joined to other vices learned from the toga, deplores the faults of his youthful years, mentions offices held in the government of noble cities, his military ranks and perhaps that of comes primi ordinis, that is, count in the emperor's retinue. With his songs he intends to atone for his demerits: Atqui fine sub ultimo - Peccatrix anima stultitiam exuat; - Saltem voce Deum concelebret si meritis nequit (Proem. 34-35); then he enumerates in general terms his songs: Hymnis continuet dies - Nec nox ulla vacet, quin dominum canat (Cathemerinon) - Pugnet contra haereses (Apotheosis) - Catholicam discutiat fidem (Hamartigenia) - Conculcet sacra gentium (Psychomachia) - Labem, Roma, tuis inferat idolis (Contra
Symmachum - Carmen martyribus devoceat, laudet apostolos* (Peristephanon, Proem., 37-42).
(progr. Esc. Colt.)
The work of P. is lyric and didactic.
Lyric are: 1) the Cathemerinon, or hymnbook of the day, with 12 hymns that mystically poeticize the various moments of the day and where there are stanzas that have rightly become famous, such as those dedicated to the Holy Innocents: "Salvete, flores martyrum" (vv. 125-32); 2) the Peristephanon, or poem of the crowns: 14 compositions in 3500 verses, of various meters. It is the most characteristic work of P., in which he is truly the singer of martyrdom. P. had no predecessors in the genre, and the stereotyped Tituli of Damasus do not stand comparison with the pathos of his inspiration, although here and there P. elaborates and transfigures some passage from them. A poet and not a critic, he has many times taken the subject of his lyric from legends already very far from the objectivity of the primitive documents. Literary tact and good taste do not always accompany the author in this gallery of pictures brilliant with exultant, passionate lyric, rich in meters and technical skill.
Didactic, on the other hand, are: 1) the Apotheosis, a defense of the Trinity and of the divinity of Christ against the heresies and the opposing errors of the patripassians, the Sabellians and the Jews. It is the dogmatic formulation of tradition, especially of Tertullian, whose concepts attain proven plasticity in 1084 hexameters worthy of Lucretius. 2) The Hamartigenia, that is, the origin of sin, in 63 iambic trimeters and 966 hexameters on the problem particularly crucial at that time. The doctrine here too is that of Tertullian Contra Marcionem; the form, moreover, is the greatest merit of P., a master at poetically giving plastic shape to the truths of the faith and at expressing in his soul his expressions of communicative ardor. The presentation of the devil as the sworn antagonist of human nature and the description of hell are of a universally celebrated beauty. 3) The Psychomachia, or struggle for the soul, is the first allegorical poem on a grand scale that has survived from antiquity. The introduction, of
68 iambic trimeters, typologically describes the life of
Abraham, the struggle of the Faith (Christ) against the kingdoms of
Sodom and Gomorrah (the vices) which tempt Lot (the human
soul). There follows the grandiose picture of the poem in 915
intensely dramatic hexameters: the struggle between Christian
virtue and the vices of paganism. Although there is no lack
in antiquity of partial models of this kind of personification of
abstract entities, nevertheless the harmonious conception of an allegorical
epic with its scenographic setting, animated by a poetic expression of Virgilian nobility, is the authentic glory of P. No work of his left a deeper
and more lasting trace. Medieval art
made use of this living allegorism: miniatures, codices,
Romanesque capitals gave form to the fantastic world of the
Spanish poet.
A late echo of the struggle of St. Ambrose against Symmachus (d. 402), when this prefect of Rome asked
that the Altar of Victory be restored in the Senate, resounds
(384) in the two books of P. Contra Symmachum. The Dittochaeum (double nourishment) is a series of 49 terrastich epigrams in hexameters, to illustrate as many mural paintings of some Christian basilica in Spain representing
personages and scenes of the Old and New Testaments.
In the literary heritage of P. lies the creation of Christian
lyric and its artistic independence, breaking through
the narrow limits of liturgical meter and the almost
mathematical symmetry of St. Ambrose and giving
new wings to inspiration. However, P. is to be read; in fact his sweeping
versification excluded his odes from the liturgy, except
for some fragment. Better than anyone else he made use of the
classics: Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, without losing anything
of his originality.
The pomp of his southern rhetoric and the mystical and
prolonged symbolism of his works sometimes obscure the
substance and leave the profiles of his content
undecided; despite the defects, however, he remains a great poet,
leaving a deep and lasting trace.