External links
- Carmen adversus paganos: the English translation of Brian Croke and Jill Harries (eds.), Religious Conflict in Fourth-Century Rome (Sydney University Press, 1981), quoted in full on Roger Pearse's blog.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
The Carmen contra paganos ("Song against the pagans"), also called the Carmen adversus Flavianum ("Song against Flavian"), is an anonymous 4th- or 5th-century Latin poem in 122 hexameters condemning a brief restoration of paganism at Rome. [1]
The Carmen (CPL 1431) survives in only one manuscript, Parisian Cod. Lat. 8084, a copy of the works of the Roman Christian poet Prudentius. It is found on folios 156r–158v. [2] It is not a work of high calibre. Its Latin is difficult to parse and often ungrammatical. Its prosody is often unmetrical. Its anti-pagan theme and tone are similar to that of the Carmen ad Antonium . [1] It provides early evidence for the Christian reception of Virgil. [2]
The Carmen is written from a Christian perspective. It describes how an unnamed prefect (either a praefectus urbi or a praefectus praetorio ) restored pagan practices at Rome, which offended God, who duly brought about his death. Theodor Mommsen identified the prefect with Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, who killed himself in 394 when the victory which his pagan sacrifices were supposed to secure failed to happen at the Battle of the Frigidus. On the basis of this identification, Mommsen published the poem under the name Carmen adversus Flavianum. An alternative theory identifies the patriarch of the Carmen with Gabinius Barbarus Pompeianus, who was prefect at Rome when Alaric besieged the city in 408–09. In response to the Gothic threat, Pompeianus permitted pagan rites to be celebrated, but he was lynched by a mob during a riot over food. [1]
The author of the Carmen is unknown. François Dolbeau suggested that it might have been Damasus I, who was pope between 366 and 384. This theory is incompatible with either of the proposed identifications of the prefect above. [1] It is consistent with the prefect being Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, who died in 384. This sets the poem in the time of the pagan reaction led by Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. [2]
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
Pope Damasus I, known as Damasus of Rome, was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies, thus solidifying the faith of the Catholic Church, and encouraged production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for Jerome. He helped reconcile the relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Antioch, and encouraged the veneration of martyrs.
Tertullian was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He was an early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy, including contemporary Christian Gnosticism. Tertullian has been called "the father of Latin Christianity", as well as "the founder of Western theology".
The 380s decade ran from January 1, 380, to December 31, 389.
Paulus Orosius, less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in Bracara Augusta, then capital of the Roman province of Gallaecia, which would have been the capital of the Kingdom of the Suebi by his death. Although there are some questions regarding his biography, such as his exact date of birth, it is known that he was a person of some prestige from a cultural point of view, as he had contact with the greatest figures of his time such as Augustine of Hippo and Jerome of Stridon. In order to meet with them Orosius travelled to cities on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, such as Hippo Regius, Alexandria, and Jerusalem.
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris, was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Born into the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, he was son-in-law to Emperor Avitus and was appointed Urban prefect of Rome by Emperor Anthemius in 468. In 469 he was appointed Bishop of Clermont and he led the defence of the city from Euric, King of the Visigoths, from 473 to 475. He retained his position as bishop after the city's conquest, until his death in the 480s. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic church, the Orthodox Church, and the True Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 21 August.
Eugenius was a usurper in the Western Roman Empire (392–394) against Emperor Theodosius I. While Christian himself, Eugenius capitalized on the discontent in the West caused by Theodosius' religious policies targeting pagans. He renovated the pagan Temple of Venus and Roma and restored the Altar of Victory after continued petitions from the Roman Senate. Eugenius replaced Theodosius' administrators with men loyal to him including pagans. This revived the pagan cause. His army fought the army of Theodosius at the Battle of the Frigidus, where he was captured and executed.
Maximus, also known as Maximus I or Maximus the Cynic, was the intrusive archbishop of Constantinople in 380, where he became a rival of Gregory Nazianzus.
On the City of God Against the Pagans, often called The City of God, is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome and is considered one of Augustine's most important works, standing alongside The Confessions, The Enchiridion, On Christian Doctrine, and On the Trinity. As a work of one of the most influential Church Fathers, The City of God is a cornerstone of Western thought, expounding on many questions of theology, such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin.
Arnobius was an early Christian apologist of Berber origin during the reign of Diocletian (284–305).
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis in 348. He probably died in the Iberian Peninsula some time after 405, possibly around 413. The place of his birth is uncertain, but it may have been Caesaraugusta (Saragossa), Tarraco (Tarragona), or Calagurris (Calahorra).
Ursicinus, also known as Ursinus, was elected pope in a violently contested election in 366 as a rival to Pope Damasus I. He ruled in Rome for several months in 366–367, was afterwards declared antipope, and died after 381.
The Gelasian Decree is a Latin text traditionally thought to be a Decretal of the prolific Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome from 492–496. The work reached its final form in a five-chapter text written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553, the second chapter of which is a list of books of Scripture presented as having been made part of the biblical canon by a Council of Rome under Pope Damasus I, the bishop of Rome from 366–383. This list is known as the Damasine List. The fifth chapter of the work includes a list of distrusted and rejected works not encouraged for church use.
The praefectus urbanus, also called praefectus urbi or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and held high importance in late Antiquity. The office survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and the last urban prefect of Rome, named Iohannes, is attested in 599. In the East, in Constantinople, the office survived until the 13th century.
Faltonia Betitia Proba was a Latin Roman Christian poet, perhaps the earliest female Christian poet whose work survives. A member of one of the most influential aristocratic families, she composed the Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi, a cento composed with verses by Virgil re-ordered to form an epic poem centred on the life of Jesus.
Vettius Agorius Praetextatus was a wealthy pagan aristocrat in the 4th-century Roman Empire, and a high priest in the cults of numerous gods. He served as the praetorian prefect at the court of Emperor Valentinian II in 384 until his death that same year.
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus was a grammarian, a historian and a politician of the Roman Empire.
The gens Septimia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. The gens first appears in history towards the close of the Republic, and they did not achieve much importance until the latter half of the second century, when Lucius Septimius Severus obtained the imperial dignity.
Gabinius Barbarus Pompeianus was a politician of the Western Roman Empire, praefectus urbi of Rome during the first siege of Alaric I.
Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi is a Latin poem arranged by Faltonia Betitia Proba after her conversion to Christianity. A cento is a poetic work composed of verses or passages taken from other authors and re-arranged in a new order. This poem reworks verses extracted from the work of Virgil to tell stories from the Old and New Testament of the Christian Bible. Much of the work focuses on the story of Jesus Christ.
The gens Rufia, occasionally spelled Ruffia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are not mentioned in history until imperial times, and they achieved little prominence until the late third century, from which time the family rose in importance, gaining the consulship on a number of occasions from the time of Constantine the Great to that of Justinian, and frequently holding the post of praefectus urbi.
