Prudentius, Aurelius Clemens
The earliest of the Christian poets of any celebrity. He was a native of Spain, and was born
A.D. 348. After practising as an advocate, and discharging the duties of a civil and criminal
judge in two important cities, he received from the emperor Theodosius, or Honorius, a high
military appointment at court; but as he advanced in years he became sensible of the emptiness
of worldly honour and earnest in the exercises of religion. His poems are composed in a great
variety of metres, and are brilliant in style and in the fervour of their Christian sentiment.
The Latinity, for its period, is good; and his metrical skill surpasses that of his pagan
contemporaries. The best editions of Prudentius are by Obbarius
(Tübingen,
1845) and Dressel
(Leipzig, 1860). See Faguet,
De Prudent.
Carminibus Lyricis (Paris, 1883); Rösler,
Der
katholische Dichter Prudentius (Freiburg, 1886); Puech,
Prudence (Paris, 1888); and the monograph by Lease on the
language and style
(Baltimore, 1895). There is an English translation of
selections from Prudentius by F. St. J. Thackeray, with good introduction and notes
(1890).
