Instead of exiguo prostratus corpore terra, in Theodulf of Orléans, Carmen 29,73, we should read exiguo prostratus corpore terrae. This poem is preserved in a late and very corrupt witness. Here the corruption has remained hidden because terra seems acceptable. The slight emendation terrae is supported by a number of significant parallels and a careful literary and linguistic analysis. The verse seems to be modelled on Virgil’s Aeneid, XI,87 (toto proiectus corpore terrae), and should be linked to two other contemporary compositions: Alcuin of York, Carmina, 20,23 and 44,11 (prostrato corpore terris), and the anonymous eighth century poem Exhortatio poenitendi, 86 (prostratus corpore terrae).
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