The author analyses the beginning of the poetic work of Prudentius (Praefatio) in whom the poet does the self-examination over his own previous life. The poet runs short his own past: the childhood, the beginning of rhetorical studies , errors of the youth, the lawyer’s career , finally the development of the public career. This are quick scenes from following stages of his life. The poet considers, how to live the period of the old age. One ought to talk with himself, to perform the dialogue with the own soul. The old age is the time which man should think about God. The poet wants to laud God with his own word, with her own poetry. Prudentius expresses the conviction that his poesy, lauds God with the day and by night, praises apostles and martyrs, fights with the idolatry and heresies and explains Catholic faith. Such poetry will assure him the salvation.
W niniejszym artykule autorka przedstawia kilka kluczowych zagadnień: poezja jako locus theologicus – miejsce spotkania z Bogiem, hymny Prudencjusza ze zbioru Cathemerinon i ich chrystocentryczny wymiar. Dwanaście utworów lirycznych Prudencjusza zebranych w Cathemerinon jest hymnami przeznaczonymi na każdy dzień chrześcijanina. Mogły być wykorzystywane do prywatnej medytacji i modlitwy, zaś jako całość zachowują charakter literacki. Hymny zostały ułożone dla słuchaczy pochodzących z arystokratycznych kręgów z IV i pierwszej połowy V wieku, którzy byli szczerze zainteresowani poezją i nauką chrześcijańską. Wszystkie hymny omówione w niniejszym artykule koncentrują najważniejsze aspekty życia ludzkiego na Chrystusie jako źródle, świetle i ostatecznym przeznaczeniu każdego stworzenia. Symboliczna ekspozycja jest widoczna w zdecydowanej większości hymnów. Prudencjusz bardzo często stosuje metaforykę światła, które odnosi się do Chrystusa i nauki chrześcijańskiej. Pokazuje także mistrzostwo języka i zasad klasycznej metryki.
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In this essay, the author deals primarily with the following topics: poetry as locus theologicus – a place of encounter with God, hymns of Prudentius’ Cathemerinon and their Christocentric dimension. The twelve lyrical poems by Prudentius, collected in Cathemerinon, are hymns for Christians’ every day. They could be used for private meditation and prayer; as a whole, they have a literary character. The hymns were written for an aristocratic audience of the fourth and the first half of the fifth century for those really keen on poetry and the Christian Doctrine. All the hymns discussed in this essay focus the most important aspects of human life on Christ as the source, the light and the ultimate destiny of every human being. The symbolic exposition occurs in most of the hymns. Prudentius very often uses metaphor of light which symbolize Christ and the Christian Doctrine. He also shows a mastery of language and classical metric threads.
This article attempts to show the image of heretics in early Christian poetry. There are presented most characteristic speeches Aurelius Prudentius Clemens – Spanish poet from the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries, contained especially in the Liber Apotheosis and concerning the problem of derogation from the orthodox faith. The sources of heresy are widely discussed as well as all specific vocabulary, which is mostly negatively marked.
The following article covers the issues regarding the Incarnation of Jesus Christ presented in a poetic manner in Liber Apotheosis and Liber Cathemerinon by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens. The first part illustrates the references to the fact of Birth taken from the Old Testament. It focuses primarily on the messianic prophecies – the prophecies of the Messiah, who was to be sent to the world. The second part presents the circumstances and the place of the Bethlehem event. The poetic depictions of the place and time of the Nativity as well as the consequences arising from accepting Christ as the Saviour sent by God have been presented in reference to the evangelical accounts. The third part discusses the results of the Incarnation that were illustrated in a poetical form by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens. Thus, the article presents the fact of the exaltation of human body resulting from the absolution of sins, redemption of man, as well as the emphasis of human dignity.
Hac in dissertatiuncula recentes excavationes archeologicae sub Romana Basilica S. Pauli extra muras, de qua iam IV saecolo Aurelius Prudentius in Peristephanon XII 45-54 scripsit, recensentur.
This paper deals with the topos of locus amoenus in Latin poetry of Christian antiquity. Descriptions of idealized landscape can be found in whole literary tradition from Homer on. In Latin epic poetry Virgil used this device to describe Elysium, which Aeneas enters in the Aeneid. In Virgil’s eclogues locus amoenus is a place of refuge for shepherds from calamities of fate and an alien world. For the farmer in his Georgics it is a reward for honest agricultural work. For Horace it was an escape from the noise of the city. For Christian poets, Prudentius in Cathemerinon, Sedulius in Carmen paschale, Avitus of Vienne, Dracontius, Venantius Fortunatus and other, locus amoenus becomes the biblical paradise in the eschatological sense, or morę generally, salvation. Use of the topos of locus amoenus shows the cultural continuity of antiquity. In Christian poetry this theme is filled with a new content, but the process of thinking and artistic creation remains they share with classical authors.
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