The Cosmic Christian Vision of Prudentius' Liber Cathemerinon, and the Inculturation of Augustan Vatic Poetry

Abstract

The object of this study is two-fold: 1) to show that the Liber Cathemerinon of Prudentius Aurelius Clemens is not just a series of unrelated hymns, but a poetic breviarium, or handbook, of fundamental Nicene Christian belief. Behind the literal narrative lies a salvation history, running through the chief elements of the Old and New Testaments. 2) To examine how Prudentius not only presents the salvation-history narrative, but also translates it into the Augustan poetic idiom through intertextual dialogue with Augustan pagan authors, primarily Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. By reinterpreting and refuting pagan religious sentiment through developed intertextual dialogue, Prudentius produces a hybrid world-view that is both Roman and Christian.