Prudentius the Hymnodist: a Watershed in Celebratory Texts

Quarto saeculo exeunte et quinto ineunte, Christianorum hymnodica car- mina floruerunt, quod poesis novum genus, quamvis a veterum exemplis originem ducat, tamen multa et nova affert, ut plane ostendunt Prudentii Cathemerinon et Peristephanon libri et Paulini carmina natalicia sancto Felici Nolano dicata: quorum uterque laudationis suae proprietates in quibusdam locis exponit. In hoc opusculo primum in tribus Prudentii sententiis de arte poetica (Cath. 3, 5 et 9) clas- sicam biblicamque memoriam et poeticum lexicon percenseo; deinde quomodo Prudentius et quadam ex parte Paulinus auctoritates in laudativis locis haberi possent ostendo, ut licet colligere ex quibusdam eorum verbis ac thematibus quibus sequentes quoque poetae usi sunt, praesertim Venantius Fortunatus, sed etiam Sidonius, Dracontius, Ennodius.

Between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century, the new genre of Christian hymnody, which has its origins in classical poetry and yet develops in a fairly distinctive way, flourishes under the pen of Prudentius, especially with regard to the Cathemerinon and Peristephanon, but also of Paulinus, with his natalicia in honour of Saint Felix of Nola. They both declare their poetic activity of praise in poetological passages. The article first analyses three programmatic claims of Prudentius in Cath. 3, 5 and 9 by taking into account the influence of both the classical and the biblical lyrical tradition and focuses on the recurrent poetological vocabulary. Then, it shows how Prudentius and, to a lesser extent, Paulinus can be acknowledged as the turning point of programmatic statements in celebratory passages by exploring the influence of some terms and motifs analysed in the first part on the following late Latin poets, especially on Venantius Fortunatus, but also on Sidonius, Dracontius and Ennodius.