Prudentius on the Martyrs.

Clarendon Press, Oxford,1989. X,326p. Original blue cloth with dust wrps. Spine gilt titled. A lot of pencil markings and strikes, mostly in the margins as well as some pencil annotations. Series: Oxford Classical Monographs. ?The book under review was developed from a doctoral thesis (?), but bears few if any of the imperfections that one might associate with a budding scholar?s first fruits. The composition of the book is well-considered so that most of the information presented has an identifiable function within the whole. Questions, problems, controversies are dealt with in a systematic and logical manner, giving the reader a clear notion of the author?s own point of view. The book as a whole makes for pleasant reading and leaves the reader a good deal better-informed on matters concerning both the poet Prudentius, his cultural environment and his heritage, and the hymns on the martyrs, Peristphanon, which form the study?s main concern. (?) The author (?) is convinced (?) that ?a more far-reaching and balanced judgement of the poems? [of the Peristephanon - ND] can be achieved only by setting them in their cultural context. This tenet proves a guiding principle throughout the book (?). The first two chapters deal with Prudentius as a man of the world and as a Christian poet, and with his writings. The author deals carefully with the biographical information contained in the praefation and in incidental lines elsewhere in his work (?). She proceeds to place the Peristephanon firmly within a framework of contemporary and traditional writing. (?) In the third chapter the author gives a lucid and cogent exposé of her conviction that the Peristephanon hymns were not meant for singing. (?) In the following chapter ?Prudential ?imitatio? and Christian Augustinisme? the author examines the reminiscences (verbal and implied) of classical writers in the writings of Prudentius. With vigour she stresses that they must be studied within their context. Reminiscences entail more than Christian matter in pagan form, rather their use ?involves the two-way movement of ideas (?), both Christian and pagan. Against this background the author discusses the relation between the Peristephanon and Ovid?s Fasti (?). In chapter five (?) the ?epic? qualities of the Peristephanon are discussed. Focusing on the ideas of virtue, fides and pietas, the author goes into the parallels between the heroes of old, more particularly the founders of Rome, and the ?heroes? of the Church, more particularly the ?founding heroes? of the new Christian Rome. (?) By noting the many references to the ?Aeneid? and explaining their function within the tale of Eulalia?s martyrdom, she shows how an ?heroic framework is built up agains which it is possible to measure and appreciate the girl-martyr?s achievements.(?) Chapter six is devoted to Prudentius and the Imperial Poets, but given her well-founded maxim that imitatio is more than verbal similarity her conclusion that Vergil?s influence is predominant proves inescapable. (?) As this study progresses it becomes increasingly clear that Prudentius attaches far greater importance to the poetic and dramatic effectiveness of his writings than to the actual facts, or even the reliability of his sources, be they written, oral or pictorial. If this conclusion is not particularly arresting, the methodical and painstaking analysis which leads to it is, and as such this final chapter proves a fitting crown on what is in so many respects a most commendable feat of scholarship.? (MARION M. van ASSENDELFT in Mnemosyne, 1991, pp.479-483).