JUVENCUS' FOUR BOOKS OF THE GOSPELS EVANGELIOR UM LIBRI QUATTUOR Translated and with an introduction and notes by

~

~-/ ~ Scott McGill

I~~~o~1~~n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK -

ABBREVIA TIONS INTRODUCTION

AA Auctores Antiquissimi Early in Book two of Juvencus' fourth-century CE poem Evangeliorum CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina libri quattuor (ELQ), the author recasts Jn 1:43-51, on how Jesus called CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Philip and Nathaniel (ELQ 2.99-126).1 In the story, Jesus induces CLE Carmina Latina Epigraphica Nathaniel to believe by stating that he saw Nathaniel lying under a fig csa Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum tree before they had ever met (ELQ 2.115-20). To Nathaniel, Jesus' state- I~ MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica ment is miraculous, and it leads him to proclaim Jesus the Son of God OCD Oxford Classical Dictionary and, in Juvencus' version, renowned king of his race (rex inclite gentisi? OL Old Latin Jesus responds that Nathaniel believes based on a simple sign, namely OLD Oxford Latin Dictionary that Jesus saw him lying in the shade of a tree, and he promises greater ~ PG Patrologia Graeca miracles to come (ELQ 2.121-3). The Latin in which Jesus states that he ~ PL Patrologia Latina saw Nathaniel reclining in the shade is arborea quod te vidi recubare sub SC Sources Chretiennes ~ umbra (ELQ 2.122).3 This combines language from Jn 1:50, vidi te sub TLL Thesaurus Linguae Latinae arb ore jieulnea (I saw you under the fig tree ),4 and from Virgil, Eel. 1.1, Tityre, tu patulae reeubans sub tegmine fagi (Tityrus, you reclining under the cover of a spreading beech tree).' Linguistic fidelity to the Gospel meets Virgilian imitation to create a hybrid line with debts to two authori- tative texts. The fusion of sources promotes contrast between Nathaniel, who has come to believe in Jesus, and Virgil's Tityrus, who promises to perform sacrifices to Octavian, the god (deus) in Rome who saved Tityrus from the land confiscations of the late 40s BCE (Eel. 1.6-8). When Juvencus' Jesus describes to Nathaniel the greater miracles that are to come, the poet once more brings together John and Virgil, but in a new way. Jesus states that Nathaniel will see the whole sky split apart and God's swift angels enter heaven and bring to the Son of Man a gleaming crown (ELQ 2. I24-6). "Whole sky split apart" is totum se seindere eae- lum (2.124), which replaces caelum apertum (heaven opened) in Jn 1:51. Se seindere echoes Virgil, Aen. 1.587: scindit se nubes et in aethera pur- gat apertum (the cloud parts and dissolves into the open air). Assurance that this is an instance of deliberate imitation comes when Juvencus uses aethram for heaven at ELQ 2.125; the poet adapts Virgil's in aethera one

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line after adapting his scindit se. It would appear that Juvencus was led classical epic, whose history by the fourth century CE stretched back, to Aen. 1.587 by the resemblance between John's caelui II apertum and on the Greek side, over a millennium and, on the Roman side, hundreds Virgil's aethera ... apertum. The poet moves between traditions, with of years. Juvencus was bound to that non-Christian past, but he diverted the Gospel serving as a catalyst for the recollection and imitation of the the long path of ancient literary history into Christian terrain. His efforts classical model. Juvencus surely remembered as well that the Virgilian are a reminder that Jerusalem had much to do with Athens and Rome. passage described Aeneas stepping out from a cloud, shining in the clear Christianity arose as a separatist sect in the Greco-Roman world, and light ictaraque in luce refulsit, Aen. 1.588) and looking like a god in separatism and hostility mark certain significant Christian responses his face and build (os unierosque deo similis, Aen. 1.589), because his to Greco-Roman culture, including those of Tertullian, Jerome, and mother had enhanced his looks. Juvencus makes Jesus resemble the bril- Augustine. But it is a mistake to think only in terms of polemics and polari- liant Aeneas when he departs from Jn 1:51, which says only that the ties when dealing with the relationship between Christianity and classical angels will ascend and descend upon the Son of Man," and adds the culture. A better view comes into focus when, rather than allowing the detail at £LQ 2.126 that the angels brought Jesus a "gleaming crown" separatists and polemicists to dominate things, we recognize the multiple tclaram ... coronamy; Virgilian influence is apparent on the linguistic responses among Christians to the classical past and to the classical culture level (see claraque at Aen. 1.588). The epic material shapes the retelling that still surrounded them." Juvencus contributes to that varied picture. He of the Gospel. Jesus is like Aeneas in his divinely bestowed radiance, demonstrates how a Christian could operate within the traditional cultural I although, of course, his religion and his heroic identity differ entirely matrix while carving out new space for himself." Classical literature was from those of the pagan hero.? a given for him, part of the air he breathed, and engagement with it was ~ These examples give just a slight glimpse into how Juvencus com- essential to his art." Yet as a Christian poet, he set out to remake that inher- bines the Christian and the classical to create a new form of narrative itance and to convert it into something never before seen. poetry. Written circa 330 CE, the ELQ retells the story of Jesus in the Gospels over the course offour books and about 3200 hexameter lines. It The author and the date of the ELQ is natural to assume that Juvencus wanted the number of books to corre- spond to the number of Gospels." He does not, however, follow a single Little is known about Juvencus, whose full name, according to the evidence Gospel in each book-Matthew in one, Mark in a second, Luke in a of various manuscripts, was Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus, Jerome is third, and John in a fourth. Instead, he weaves together a continuous nar- the major source for information, such as it is." In chapter 84 of his De rative with material taken from all the Gospels. Juvencus stays basically viris illustribus (On Famous Men), he presents an entry on Juvencus: close to the original; while he adapts Gospel material, notably by ampli- fying, omitting, and reducing details, he never does so to the point where Iuvencus, nobilissimi generis Hispanus, presbyter, quattuor evangelia he would stray too far from his model." Matthew is his principal source, hexametris versibus paene ad verbum transferens quattuor libros although he turns to Luke to treat the birth of John the Baptist and the composuit, et nonnulla eodem metro ad sacramentorum ordinem birth and youth of Jesus, while also including a few scenes from John.'? pertinentia. Floruit sub Constantino principe. Mark is little used, with just one scene derived from it (£LQ 2.43-74, from Mk 5: 1-18) and occasional glancing debts to it incorporated into Juvencus, a Spaniard of extremely noble birth, a priest, translating passages primarily taken from a different Gospel." It is unclear how the four Gospels in hexameter verses almost word for word, much Juvencus consulted a Greek New Testament; his reliance on an composed four books," and several things in the same meter Old Latin (i.e., pre-Vulgate) text, meanwhile, is certain." pertaining to the order of mysteries. He flourished under the reign Juvencus' is the first of six poems labeled biblical epics to come from of Constantine. Latin antiquity. 13 As such, it is a work both early and late. The £LQ has a vanguard position in the history of Christian poetry; it inaugurates a tradi- As Jerome indicates, Juvencus was an aristocrat and a committed Christian, tion of Christian epic that extended through the early modern period and as well as an author of Christian hexameters beyond the ELQ. (His work includes, in English, the towering John Milton.':' At the same time, the on "the order of mysteries" is lost.) In two other places, however (Chron. poem responds in many ways to earlier classical poetry and, especially, 329 and Ep. 70.5), Jerome mentions the ELQ alone, which suggests that

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this was the poem for which Juvencus was best known. These other notices opposed to the warlike would-be god of the Georgics"? Yet Juvencus' in Jerome again place Juvencus in the time of the first Christian emperor, Constantine is no less powerful than Augustus and, in fact, is presented as Constantine, with one, the Chronicle, dating the ELQ precisely to 329. the ruler of the wide world (terrae regnator apertaei. The phrasing sug- Whether this is the exact year when the poem appeared is uncertain. But if gests a date after 324, when Constantine defeated Licinius at the battle of the ELQ was not completed in 329, there are no grounds for doubting that Chrysopolis aJ1dbecame sole Roman emperor. it appeared close to that year." Consistent with this terminus post quem is Juvencus' emphatic asser- Juvencus himself confirms that his poem is Constantin ian, and the tion of Constantine's Christianity. After 324, Constantine grew much evidence he provides is consistent with a date around 329. That evidence more open in professing his Christianity and in supporting the religion; appears in an epilogue to the ELQ (4.802-12): as Jonathan Bardill writes, "Examination of the written sources sug- I gests that it was only after Constantine had achieved unrivalled control Has mea mens fidei vires sanctique timoris of the Roman world in 324 that his preference for, and indeed personal cepit et in tantum lucet mihi gratia Christi, adherence to Christianity was expressed unequivocally in public.?" versibus ut nostris divinae gloria legis Juvencus is nothing ifnot unequivocal about Constantine's faith, which ornarnenta libens caperet terrestria linguae. 805 indicates that he was responding to conditions after 324. The poet could Haec mihi pax Christi tribuit, pax haec mihi saecli, have hoped that the emperor would see his poem, and he could have quam fovet indulgens terrae regnator apertae sought to honor his Christianity and to flatter his Christian humility by Constantin us, adest cui gratia digna merenti, stating that he alone of kings "dreads a holy name."?' The hope might qui solus regum sacri sibi nominis horret well have been blind. Nothing in the epilogue suggests that Constantine imponi pondus, quo iustis dignior actis 810 commissioned the ELQ; Juvencus presumably invoked the emperor of aeternam capiat divina in saecula vitam his own accord." per dominurn lucis Christurn, qui ill saecula regnat. Along with setting conditions for a favorable imperial response, Juvencus attempts to dignify the poet and the poem by associating ~ My mind assumed such faith and holy fear ~~ them with Constantine. There is an underlying sense in the epilogue ~ and grace of Christ so shone that in my poem that Christianity was ascendant now that it had imperial legitimacy. By divine law in its glory readily invoking Constantine, Juvencus spreads some of that legitimacy over his assumed the earthly ornaments of speech. 805 work. The ELQ stands as a Christian poem for a Christian age, defined Christ's peace gave this to me, and peace today, as such by the religion of the "whole world's ruler." Juvencus shows that graciously fostered by the wide world's ruler, he is in step with historical forces, and he lends his work authority by Constantine, duly touched by worthy grace; aligning its Christian content with Constantine's faith. A date after 324 is alone of kings he dreads a holy name, extremely likely for such a confidently legitimizing use of the emperor's so that, more worthy by just acts, he wins 810 Christianity. Attempts to use Juvencus' epilogue to date the poem more eternal life throughout immortal ages precisely have yielded less than cogent results." The best that can be said through Christ, the Lord of Light, who ever reigns. is that the passage supports a dating to 329 or thereabouts.

Juvencus aligns Constantine with Jesus as princes of peace, who make it possible for him to express the "glory/of the divine law" (dlvinae The program of the ELQ gloria legis) in the "earthly ornaments of speech" iomamenta ... Bookending Juvencus' epilogue is a 27-line preface to the ELQY Like terrestria linguae). As Michael Roberts has convincingly argued, other prefatory paratexts, the passage establishes a program for reading Juvencus contrasts Const-antine and Augustus as he appears in the conclu- the poem. To do that, Juvencus focuses on the theme of poetic immor- sion of Virgil's Geotgics (G. 559-66)21 Augustus is emphatically a military tality, but gives it fresh treatment by framing it in Christian terms. He victor in Virgil's passage, while Constantine is a "Christian ruler who pro- begins with the arresting line inmortale nihil mundi compage tenetur (the motes peace - the peace of Christ - and who will enjoy eternal life ... [as1 universe has nothing without end). The world, human kingdoms, golden

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Rome, the sea, the earth, and the stars - all must pass away, Juvencus lives of sublime homines, but they, as great men themselves, also enjoy continues, because God set an irrevocable time when a final scorching something like immortal glory. Even with the great gloria that the poets fire would destroy the world (2-5).:s This is no cyclical Stoic ecpyrosis; have achieved, however, they meet their match, and then some, in Juvencus it is eflamma ultima (5), a final conflagration, divinely ordained, that himself." Or so he relates as his preface continues, where he enters the pas- will end the world. sage as a Christian counterpart to the classical poets (ELQ praef. 15-24): Juvencus then proceeds in less foreboding fashion (ELQ praef. 6-14): Quod si tam longam meruerunt carmina famam, 15 Sed tamen innumeros homines sublimia facta quae veterum gestis hominum mendacia nectunt, et virtutis honos in tempora longa frequentant, nobis certa fides aeternae in saecula laudis adcumulant quorum famam laudesque poetae. inmortale decus tribuet meritumque rependet. hos celsi cantus, Smyrnae de fonte tluentes, nam mihi carmen erit Christi vitalia gesta, illos Minciadae celebrat dulcedo Maronis. 10 divinum populis falsi sine crimine donum. 20 nec minor ipsorum discurrit gloria vatum, nec metus, ut mundi rapiant incendia secum quae manet aeternae similis, dum saecla volabunt hoc opus; hoc etenim forsan me subtrahet igni et vertigo poli terras atque aequora circum tunc, cum flamrnivoma discendet nube coruscans I aethera sidereum iusso moderamine volvet. iudex, altithroni genitoris gloria, Christus.

~ Still, lofty deeds and honor paid to virtue And yet if poems that weave together lies IS exalt throughout the ages countless men with ancient acts have earned such long repute, whose fame and praise the poets amplify. my steadfast faith will grant the deathless glow The high-flown verse that flows from Smyrna's spring of endless praise to me, my due reward. ~ lifts some, the charm ofMincian Virgil others. 10 For I will sing of Christ's life-giving deeds- The poets' glory ranges just as far, a gift to nations, cleared of lies, divine. 20 almost eternal, lasting long as time, Nor do I fear world-wasting flames will seize ~ abiding while the spinning axis turns my work: this might, in fact, deliver me the starry sky on its determined path. when Christ the gleaming judge, his high-throned Father's glory, descends within a blazing cloud. Juvencus describes the ability of epic poetry to confer long-lasting fame. His focus on that genre is first clear from the words sublimia facta (lofty Because he compares himself to earlier writers of laudatory heroic verse, deeds) at line 6: it is epic heroes who perform such deeds and thereby including Homer and Virgil, Juvencus must logically be, like them, a exhibit virtus. Juvencus' references tofama and laus in line 8, moreover, writer of epic. Confirming that the poet was indeed presenting himself ascribe to the poets purposes that were traditionally associated with ancient in those terms is his use of gesta to describe his subject matter, the "life- epic. The genre was the heroizing and immortalizing poetic form par excel- giving deeds of Christ" (Christi vitalia gesta, 19). This answers gestis lence in Greek and Roman culture, and authors used both mythological in line 16 (quae veterum gestis hominum mendacia nectunt), which is and historical epic (categories that can, of course, overlap) to praise and itself another tenn for the sublimiafacta that form the subject of epic. If commemorate the K)cI~au.vbpwv, the "deeds of men," from Homer through we understand by gesta only Christ's actions and not his teachings, then Late Antiquity." Homer and Virgil are then introduced as the outstanding luvencus' statement of intent gives an inaccurate picture of his poem, representatives of Greek and Roman epic, respectively.'? Only if Juvencus which contains the Sermon on the Mount, many parables, and much was thinking of the two as epic poets would he have them doing what epic exhortation and teaching. But rather than fault him for this, we should poets characteristically do: praise and confer immortality on great men.'! recognize what luvencus was after when he chose the shorthand gesta For Juvencus, epic poetry brings fame to its authors as well as to the to describe his poem: he was portraying the work as a new kind of epic, men whose praises it sings. Not only do Homer and Virgil prolong the whose new heroic content was its source of originality."

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Critics who wish to understand Juvencus' poem as a version of the matter how long it might last." Whereas "the classical poet points to his school exercise of rhetorical paraphrase, as important studies have done," future immortality or glory ... in terms of his art," Juvencus suggests depart from Juvencus' own statements about the tradition in which he that his art might save his soul "beyond art, in heaven.":" worked and about his elevated subject matter. This is to look past the Juvencus here presents a particular vision of poetic success, in which most relevant evidence for the sort of text he was writing. The fidelity that truth and falsehood are the measures of achievement. The idea that poets Juvencus shows to his biblical source material is consistent with the prin- lie is as old as Hesiod and appears in Christian writing before Juvencus." ciples of rhetorical paraphrase. Some of his approaches to retelling the But rather than just making that point about the earlier epicists, Juvencus Gospel story, moreover, and, specifically, ways in which he amplifies and asserts that he will do something entirely different from what they do abbreviates the Bible narrative, resemble approaches found in the school and better than what they do by writing poetry whose Christian sub- exercise." Yet Juvencus' faithful approach to his core text and some of ject matter is true. That content will enable the work to live on after the his compositional techniques can also be linked to the ecclesiastical tradi- mendacious epics of the past have died their fiery death. What Juvencus tion of biblical paraphrase." Perhaps he considered the ELQ an outgrowth describes is the triumphal development of the epic genre. On the one of that tradition. But whether or not he did, and however much he was hand, he situates himself and his text in the epic tradition by relating that influenced by the rhetorical exercise, he makes it clear that he was doing he, like Homer and Virgil, produced a work praising a great hero. This something other than producing a paraphrase, Juvencus presents the ELQ was to epicize the Gospel story, i.e., to give it the grandeur associated emphatically as a Christian epic poem; he audaciously suggests that he is with that kind of poetry, and to indicate that the biblical narrative was the Christian counterpart to Homer and Virgil, which is to define his work being recast in a culturally prestigious poetic idiom." On the other hand, as a poetic composition in the highest sense." His purpose in his preface Juvencus legitimates his text and assigns it superior value and authority is to establish that programmatic point and to try to set up a compact with by separating it in its truthfulness from the earlier epics." The result is a his readers so that they view the ELQ in the literary and generic terms that defamiliarization of the genre: Juvencus holds his text up as something at he lays out." Whatever links in paraphrase - rhetorical or biblical - the once familiar and unfamiliar, at once continuous with and distinct from ~ text might have had, Juvencus ties it to a different tradition. This was a traditional epic, in that he moves its content beyond traditional epic bor- way of showing his readers what kind of work they were getting. The ders and, through a kind of contrafacture, extends it into the arena of ~ ELQ, Juvencus relates, belonged to a line of poetry that stretched back Christian truth." Christianity brings about a new sort of poetry, whose ~ to Homer and Virgil, but that he had now bent so that it moved in a subject matter has a new relation to reality. Christian direction. Even as Juvencus places his true epic above the false epics of the Seeing that Juvencus treats epic as a genre of praise, it stands to rea- past and, thus, asserts his superiority to his classical predecessors, he son that he understood his poem to be itself encomiastic." Just as his does not denounce those writers. His is not the sharp-elbowed poetics of predecessors gave renown to the sublimiafacta of men, so he will give later writers like Sedulius and Paulinus of Nola, who are severe in their it to the vitalia gesta of Christ. In the process, he will win eternal fame assessments of the lies of classical verse." Rather, Juvencus displays and glory (\ 7-18, 21-2) - and inmortale decus in line 18 contrasts with admiration for the poetry of Homer and Virgil, despite their mendacia. inmortale nihil in the opening line to underline that Juvencus' rewards The Homeric works are still lofty and the Virgilian still charming, and are not of this world, and that his poetry and reputation will last beyond both receive what Juvencus presents as deserved glory. While this is not the final conflagration of things. The poem could even save Juvencus truly eternal, it remains a mark of distinction within the mortal world." himself (22--4): his subject matter, the eternal truth of Christ, will res- By treating Homer and Virgil with generosity, Juvencus makes it cue his poem from destruction at the Last Judgment and will, perhaps, rhetorically possible that he write classicizing epic poetry. Since those deliver the author from its flames. This would mean that he would authors are admirable even with their lies, there must be nothing wrong achieve true personal immortality, rather than the renown of Homer and with his using the form that they represent - and, as we will see, with Virgil that is aeternae sintilis (12). In this variation on the topos that echoing Virgil's language - to write about Christian truth. At the close of poetry can survive destruction and bring eternal fame to an author, the his preface, moreover, Juvencus goes on to indicate that he aspires to the focus lies upon the eschatological, as distinguished from the mortal fame sweetness of Virgil that he esteems. The relevant detail is his use of dulcis that, from Juvencus' Christian point of view, is ultimately transient no to describe the river Jordan, which he invokes along with the Holy Spirit

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as sources of inspiration. The Jordan is a Christian alternative to classical reconciles literary charm and seriousness of purpose; his dulcedo will poetic springs like the Hippocrene, while the Holy Spirit replaces Apollo express spiritual content as part of the poet's fundamental commitment and the Muses as a divinity that inspires poetry (ELQ praef. 25-7): to his Christian message." Juvencus returns to the subject of combining high Christian subject Ergo agel sanctificus ads it mihi carminis auctor 25 matter with pleasing classical form in the epilogue to the ELQ, when spiritus, et puro mentem riget amne canentis he claims to have achieved the aims laid out in the preface and to have dulcis lordanis, ut Christo digna loquamur. blended the "glory/of the divine law" with "earthly ornaments of speech": versibus ut nostris divinae gloria legislornamenta libens caperet terres- So come! Be near, 0 sanctifying Spirit, 25 tria linguae (ELQ 4.804-5). By distinguishing between divine content source of my poem; and you, sweet Jordan, flood and earthly form, Juvencus implies the superiority of the former.>' Yet I me with pure drafts, to speak as Christ deserves. he still presents the ornamenta as integral to his text. Instead of hiding from or downplaying his desire for appealing verbal refinement and his With his reference to the Jordan, Juvencus links the writing of poetry turn to non-Christian material to achieve it, he advertises them, so that he with baptism; to produce his Christian work, he is to be purified and to again links the ELQ to the classical past - the tacit but obvious source of find his inspiration in that cleansing stream." But the adjective dulcis the "earthly ornaments of language" - while also setting his work, with also recalls dulcedo Maronis in line 10. Dulcedo was a characteristic its biblical subject matter, above that past. The poem stands very much feature of poetry for classical and Christian authors; several of the latter, as an aesthetic document and an aesthetic achievement, in which there is however, associated it with the charming deceptions of non-Christian no tension between the Christian and the classical but, rather, a felicitous verse." Juvencus resembles them when he links Virgil to poetic lies. (note libens) blending of the two. Yet he proceeds in his preface through yet another example of signifi- cant repetition to make dulcedo a part of his poetry as well. Juvencus The ELQ as epic will draw inspiration from a sweet source, which is a way of saying that he will write sweet poetry a la Virgil- whom Juvencus had connected The epic features of the ELQ are many. On the formal and stylistic level, to another river"> while differing from that predecessor in offering up an obvious one is the meter of the poem. While dactylic hexameter was ~ Christian truth." His call for the Jordan to flood him is on one level a hardly exclusive to epic, particularly in Late Antiquity, it was still a way of advertising his concern with investing his Gospel narrative with marker of the genre, and Juvencus would have seen it as necessary in the aesthetic value and appeal found in Virgil's classical verse; the dulcis a poem he sought to define as a new kind of epic. Just as clearly epic is Iordanis will give his poem dulcedo while the river's baptizing waters the length of the books of the ELQ: they average around 800 lines, with and the Holy Spirit guide him to write about Christ. Book one the shortest (excluding the preface) at 770 lines and Book two To convey this message is to reconcile stylistic sweetness and reli- the longest at 829. The number of lines per book recalls the epic norm.> gious truth in a manner reminiscent of a passage in Lactantius' Divinae A range of other features demonstrates that Juvencus was concerned institutiones. The subject is harmful auditory pleasures, which Lactantius to invest the ELQ with elements of the Roman epic code. Roger Green calls upon his readers to avoid. In his view, however, there is also an has shown that these are pervasive in his text and integral to it. They acceptable voluptas: hearing and singing chants and songs that praise include epic-style description, elevation, and expansion, along with a God. Such music, Lactantius contends, brings true pleasure and is the range of specific lexical items like archaisms; compound adjectives; companion and associate of virtue (Inst. 6.21.9-10).°2 Lactantius thus grand epithets; epic periphrasis; markers of narrative transition such makes room for pleasurable carmina that offer up laudes Dei; the aes- as iamque, interea, and haud/nec mora; the interjections mirabile thetic \'01 uptas of poetry need not be avoided or condemned if the verses dictu/visu and nefas; and double -qlle at line end. 56 A further conspicu- are devoted to the right subject. I do not want to suggest that Juvencus ous set of epic terms comprises phrases that introduce and conclude had Lactantius in mind as he concluded his preface. Still, he resembles direct speech, such as talia fatur, talibus infit, olli respondit, talia Lactantius in granting a place for pleasurable Christian poetry - poetry dicentem, haec ubi dicta dedit, and dixerot," These speech formulae that is sweet like Virgil's, but that, unlike Virgil's, is true. Juvencus give Juvencus' mixed narrative an epic cast. Not only does he combine

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third-person narration and direct speech, he also frames the latter in are no battle narratives, no ecphrases, no catalogues, no katabasis, no ways that reproduce established epic patterns. A good number of all inset retrospective narrative, and, naturally enough, no Olympian divine these epic features show parallels with Virgil's Aeneid and, in many machinery." luvencus' interest in staying fundamentally close to the cases, presumably derive from it.58 At the same time, there are similari- Gospel narrative means that he cannot assimilate that narrative to those ties with a range of classical epics, including Ovid's Metamorphoses, classical epic conventions and scenes, as, for example, Milton and the Lucan's De bello civili, and Statius' Thebaid. sixteenth-century Marco Girolamo Vida, author of the Christiad, later One hallmark of epic style, the epic simile, is almost entirely missing do. This bears out what Juvencus relates through the programmatic dis- from the ELQ59 But the epic features are wide and conspicuous enough tinctions he draws between his narrative and conventional epic subject in the poem to show that Juvencus was cornrn itted to the genre and its matter: there is a significant gap between his heroic content and that of modes of expression and representation and, thus, to giving his work a traditional epic. strong epic stamp. Those features do more than just overlay Juvencus' In content no less than in form, the epic genre (like literary genres on text with poetic ornatus or constitute a transparent "translation medium" the whole) was never monolithic or static, and it constantly had its field iUbersetzungsmediunn through which Juvencus presents the Bible." of possibilities expanded in the hands of different authors.?' Juvencus is Language and style are not so superficial or utilitarian; they are instead just such an agent of change, and very much a radical one; his content fundamental to a text's identity, essential to its definition, and even con- breaks in a sharp and, to his time, unparalleled manner with the epic I stitutive of its content. Juvencus' programmatic message in his epilogue past. In his preface Juvencus posits an essence of the epic genre in its that the "glory of the divine law" freely took on "the earthly ornaments focus on the hero who performs grand and praiseworthy deeds. As he ~ of language" shows how much poetic form mattered to him and his pro- then suggests, his poem holds onto that essence by centering on a larger- ject. The ornamental is not incidental; instead, it joins with Christian than-life, laudable figure that performs great gesta," But the divine Jesus content to make the ELQ the novel poem it is, and to create a work who emerges from humble circumstances to become a religious leader defined, as Juvencus says, by its hybridity. and who performs miracles, teaches, experiences the Passion, and is res- The ELQ also contains extensive classical poetic diction that, while urrected is, of course, someone that classical epic had never seen. As not generically marked, fits comfortably into an epic. Yet a focus on epic Roger Green notes, "There are so many similarities in general [between does not give a complete picture of the language of the poem. At some Jesus and] the traditional hero of epic - the ordeals and suffering as he points, and especially when treating parables in the Gospels, Juvencus engages in a particular action, helped or hindered by divine agency, often absorbs pastoral and agricultural material from Virgil's Eclogues and battling forces greater than himself before attaining to eventual victory Georgicsr' What is more, he sometimes strays from classical Latin in his quest."66 Even so, the story of Jesus unfolds in an entirely different and retains biblical language, including prosaic terms, found in his Old narrative structure and religious framework from anything in classical Latin source(s) for the Gospels; adapts aspects of Christian Latin more epic, Nor does Juvencus use classical echoes to align Jesus with an epic generally; uses Greek words; and incorporates Late Latin vocabulary hero in any overarching way on the intertextuallevel. Thus, on the very and synrax.v- While epic features are dominant in the ELQ, and while rare occasions when he links Jesus and Aeneas, as he does in one of Juvencus is largely classicizing in his diction, he nonetheless produces the examples with which this Introduction begins (ELQ 2.124-6),67 the a poem with a distinctive linguistic mix. Epic was always a genre that effect is local and the parallel one that points up contrast as much as could assimilate language from different literary forms. But Juvencus similarity." Juvencus' purpose is not to turn Jesus into a classical epic takes this flexibility in new directions: he combines the epic with the hero but to redefine epic heroism so that it includes the Jesus of the non-epic, the classical and the Christian, and the traditional and the late Gospels. The poet does alter the Gospel Jesus by enriching his emotional in ways unique to him as the first poet to write a biblical epic. With his responses to some events and by focusing more on his psychological unprecedented work comes an unprecedented aesthetic. state. Yet this is to develop the human dimension of Jesus and the drama Innovation is just as apparent when we turn to the subject matter of of his story, not to make him more epic in appearance.s? the poem. As we have seen, Juvencus is at pains in his preface to present To focus on the genre of Juvencus' poem is no academ ic exercise in the Christian story in heroic, epic terms. Yet he proceeds to reconstitute literary taxonomy. On the contrary, because Juvencus uses classical epic, very little traditional content of epic when retelling that story: thus there and particularly Homer and Virgil, to foreground his generic affiliation

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in his programmatic preface while also setting himself apart from those that the author was unlikely to miss or striking linguistic or thematic epic predecessors, he makes genre a crucial consideration for understand- choices on his part provide a solid basis for maintaining that he did, in ing his work. His statements on the epic past, as well as his treatment of fact, intend a particular allusion. In others no such evidence is available, it within his poem, make the ELQ a striking example of "innovation or the evidence is ambiguous. When intentions cannot confidently be under the banner of tradition."?" All ancient authors worked with what pinned down, the reader is still free to identify and activate an allusion. came before them to achieve originality. But as the first biblical epicist, This is to recognize that texts have an existence apart from their authors, Juvencus was an original in how he handled his past. The result was a and that readers can legitimately determine, based on linguistic, thematic, tertium genus, a new-model epic that stood apart from classical literature or historical evidence, whether texts say and do things irrespective of and from the Gospels due precisely to how it combined them." what their authors might have intended." The plausibility of an allusion rests on how convincing the reading of that evidence is. The question is not if the author intended the allusion; it is whether, and how much, a Imitation of classical models parallel is "susceptible of interpretation'?" on textual and, at times, con- Echoes of classical poetry are pervasive in the ELQ, and individual lines textual grounds as an active reference to a model. reveal a wide range of responses to that cultural past." In some cases An example of a nonreferential allusion appears at ELQ 4.366, where echoes of earlier texts appear to be unconscious or formulaic. These Juvencus describes Lazarus' sister Mary calling out to Jesus with the can lead the reader to register how Juvencus and his classical predeces- words rumpitque hanc pectore vocent (and broke out with this cry). This sors worked within the same intertextual grid. One can then go further is an exact echo of Virgil's Aen. 3.246, where it is the harpy Celaeno and recognize Juvencus' ability to Christianize what had been classical who delivers to the Trojans a dark prophecy about what waits for them poetic language (a kind of interpretatio christianay; alternatively one can in Italy. While the debt is clear, Juvencus certainly did not wish to link see how Juvencus is able to classicize, and often epicize, his Christian Mary and Celaeno, and while there is, of course, a contrast between Mary content (a kind of interpretatio c!assica or epicai." and the hideous monster, the Virgilian context does not add meaning At many other points, the evidence is strong that Juvencus recast a to Juvencus' account beyond that basic juxtaposition. Juvencus reuses specific classical model, with Virgil's Aeneid his most common source. Virgil's language without activating in a meaningful way Virgil's con- There is among those cases of imitation a sliding scale of referentiality, tent, and he transforms his source material so that it comes to describe i.e., of engagement through allusion with the content of the source text to the cry of a despairing and pious Christian sister, instead of the cry of a produce further meaning in the imitating poem. On one pole are nonref- monstrous creature. erential allusions, which do not create extra content in the imitating text; This and other nonreferential debts to Virgil and others are discrete on the other are referential allusions, which generate and clarify meaning moments of imitation that embellish the ELQ. They give the poem the in the later text through how they activate and interact with the content look and feel of classical poetry, especially epic." Yet more than that, of the model. Between the two poles are moments of imitation showing they demonstrate how Juvencus participates in the codes of the past, varying degrees of possible referentiality. 74 thereby situating his text in the literary tradition and, in the many cases When dealing with imitation on this sliding scale, approaches to autho- where he reuses epic phrasing, in the epic genre. At the same time, his rial intention must vary according to the textual evidence. Even when allusions cast light upon his creative use of his models' words and how linguistic markers are strong enough to indicate convincingly that a writer he remakes what came before him." Contact with classical predecessors deliberately recast a model, it is very often difficult to pin down why he reveals distance from those predecessors; the ELQ appears as a continua- did so - that is to say, what his intentions were when he recast his source, tion of the literary past but also as a Christian transformation of that past. and whether he meant to generate the referential allusion that a reader Even if Juvencus did not intend to show all of this when he imitated Aen. detects. This does not mean that we should "wish the alluding author out 3.246, the reader is able to draw these conclusions about the ELQ and of existence altogether" and despair at the ultimate unknowability of his Juvencus' technique, which originate out ofthe evidence of the text. The intentions." But it is necessary to recognize that those intentions almost nonreferential allusions are aesthetic, but not merely decorative. While always can be reconstructed only from the text itself," and that they are they do not engage with the source content to create new and surplus the product of interpretation. In some instances contextual similarities meaning in individual lines, they transcend inert ornamentation to reveal

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how Juvencus stood both in and outside of the classical tradition, how he The model is Aen. 6.640-1: largior hie campos aether et lumine vest it/ connected his text to the poetic past while also opening gaps that sepa- purpureo (here the ampler air cloaks the fields in dazzling light). Virgil's rated his text from that past." A sense emerges of the author's mastery subject is the groves of the blessed in the underworld. It seems clear over his classical sources, his power to expand the expressive potential that Juvencus recalled Virgil's metaphor lumine vestit, which is found of their language. Juvencus derives authority both from his ability to just this once in the Aeneid, because it appeared in a context similar to take part in the traditional codes of classical poetry and from his ability Juvencus': both poets describe sacred topography, and the blessed space to make that code say new things. of the Transfiguration, inhabited only by Jesus and chosen disciples, An example of an allusion on the other end of the scale of referential- resembles the heaven-like fields of the blessed." It is hard to believe that ity comes in the preface to the poem, at line 27. Having invoked the Holy Juvencus did not wish to draw his and Virgil's contexts into comparison. Spirit and the Jordan as his sources of inspiration in place of Apollo, the But exactly what he wished to suggest through allusion is uncertain, and Muses, and the springs of classical poetry, Juvencus calls upon them to the text itself points in two directions. As Roberts observes, "The reader allow him to sing as Christ deserves: lit Christo digna IOqU([IIII1I'. This can see the Christian usage as contrasting with and correcting Virgil's closely imitates Virgil, Aen. 6.662, which describes poets in the Elysian pagan view of the underworld or as pointing to a telling point of agree- Fields: pii votes et Phoebo digna locuti (pious bards, who sang worthily ment between the two poets.'?" for Phoebus). The indication is very strong of Kontrastimitation, i.e., a Moments of ambiguity like this appear throughout the poem; while moment of imitation in which the content of the imitating text contrasts it is sufficiently clear that the allusion is referential, the meaning of the with that of the source text, so that meaningful differences between the reference can be viewed in different ways. More common, however, are ij I two come into focus and the imitating text has a contrary, corrective rela- cases of imitation that fall somewhere between the two poles of refer- tionship to its predecessor." Kontrastimitation is a f0l111of allusion that entiality. Whether Juvencus intended a reference is uncertain to varying distinguishes sharply between Christian and classical poetry, with the new degrees, even though the evidence points to a conscious debt. The reader text engaging polemically with the old one." The manner and context in decides where to place the allusion on the scale, how far to push inter- which Juvencus recast Virgil forcefully indicate that he wished to contrast pretation away from or toward referentiality, while recognizing that the himself as a poet with the pii votes in Virgil. Juvencus "corrects" his model author's thinking on the matter must remain unsure. A good example by implying, through allusion, that he, Juvencus, is the true pius votes who appears at ELQ 2.411, where Juvencus describes the blindness of the can hope for true eternal life (see ELQ praef. 15-24, discussed earlier), two men in Mt 9:27-31 with the words lumen ademptum (lost sight). and that he sings of and for a true god rather than of and for a false pagan This echoes cui lumen ademptum at Aen. 3.658; Virgil's subject is the one - but one that, like Apollo, was associated with healing, prophecy, blind Cyclops. At first blush, the allusion seems to be nonreferential: and light." Juvencus does not wish to compare or contrast the blind men and the All instances of referential allusion to classical sources in Juvencus Cyclops, but he does want readers to recognize the debt and, thus, the have at least some measure of contrast in them, because Juvencus manner in which he reused Virgil. Yet one can pursue things further. applies his pagan/classical source material to Christian content. But In Juvencus, Jesus heals the blind men and tells them not to reveal his Virgil's content can also resemble Juvencus' in a complementary way, name to anyone (nec cuiquam nostrum post haec edicite nomen, ELQ so that the reader can recognize similarities between them as well as 2.413-14), an injunction that they ignore in their joy (ELQ 2.415-\6). differences. Thus, in the example just discussed, there is a parallel to Jesus' command in Juvencus not to reveal his name varies Mt 9:30, be drawn between Christian salvation and Virgil's Elysian Fields, even where Jesus states only, "See that no one knows" (videte, ne quis sciat). though, at the same time, the contrast between Juvencus and the pii votes The change could, of course, be nothing more than amplification on the can be extended so that the Christian heaven appears as the true locus Gospel. But in having Jesus refer to his name, Juvencus echoes a central of immortality and Virgil's fields as a false one. A similar situation is theme in the Cyclops story in Homer's Odyssey (Od. 9.105-542), that of found at ELQ 3.330-1. There, Juvencus describes how a cloud envel- naming. Odysseus first tricks Polyphemus by telling him that his name oped the disciples Peter, James, and John at the Transfiguration: caelo is "No-man" (OUTli;, Od. 9.366). Upon blinding the Cyclops, he then praefulgida nubeslcircumiecta oculis vestibat lumine montem (a brilliant vaunts and tells Polyphemus his real name, including his patronymic crowd from heaven/enveloped them and clothed the mount in light). (Od. 9.504-5). Odysseus' expression of epic pride proves harmful, since

16 17 - INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

Polyphemus can now pray to his father, Poseidon, to do Odysseus harm edification, for letting readers know about the glory and the word of tOd. 9.5~6-35). Could Juvencus have alluded to Virgil's Cyclops to Jesus." There will never be "pessimistic" readers of the ELQ as there are recall Homer's Cyclops and the theme of naming in the Odvssev, which of the Aeneid, no interpreters who find in the poem a private voice ques- Juvencus then echoed in his poem? Whether or not he did, the text per- tioning Christian ideology and registering the costs of the religion and mits a reading that views Virgil as a conduit to Homer and compares the its historical mission. Juvencus wrote as a true believer. He produced the heroic behavior in Juvencus' and Homer's poems. Jesus does the oppo- ELQ as a Christian himself (and, as Jerome tells us, a priest) to spread the site of Odysseus: he heals blindness rather than blinds, and he wants his story of Jesus, which included spreading Christian doctrine and a vision name kept quiet instead of shouting it out. The suggestion is of a new of Christian justice and salvation. This was a new purpose for epic, one kind of hero, and one who is wiser than Odysseus, who rightly antici- that was particular to the religious dimensions of the poem." pates the danger of fame. Juvencus largely lets his Gospel story teach for itself. Unlike his suc- Naturally, not all will find this reading convincing. By their nature, cessor Sedulius, the fifth-century author of the biblical epic Carmen interpretations of uncertainly referential allusions are contestable. Textual paschale, Juvencus does not widely intervene in his narrative with evidence in such cases allows for different perspectives and conclusions, extended interpretive observations.?" Instead, when he provides exegeti- and it drives readers to reflect upon the possibilities and limits of interpre- cal content, he incorporates it into his poem, weaving the relevant details tation. The presence of such allusions in the ELQ is part of what makes it into his narrative without intruding in a forceful manner as Sedulius such a rich and challenging poem for readers. The text constantly presents often does. An example comes at ELQ 1.250-1: audiences with classical echoes that command attention. The narrative !~ pushes the reader forward, but the echoes compel him to pause and dig tum munera trina beneath the poem to have a closer look at its classical roots. tus, aurum, murram regique hominique Deoque dona dabant. Edification, exegesis, Christian thought And then they gave as gifts By imitating classical models and otherwise adapting the language to him - the king, the man, the god - a threefold and forms of classical poetry, Juvencus dramatically alters the appear- tribute of frankincense and gold and myrrh. ance of his primary source material, the Gospels. The aesthetic of the ELQ is nothing like that of the Gospels, despite the recurring moments By adding regique hominique Deoque to Mt 2: II, Juvencus implicitly where Juvencus echoes the language of a biblical text. Jerome states that explains why the three gifts were suitable: each one represented an aspect Juvencus translated the four Gospels "nearly word for word" (paene ad of Jesus." The exegetical point is made tacitly, but it is made; Juvencus verbum, Vir. ilf. 84). But Roman culture understood "exact" translation has clear designs on providing biblical interpretation. Yet the exegesis more loosely than ours does," and Jerome need not have missed what is occurs within the flow of the narrative. By contrast, Sedulius, after simi- obvious about Juvencus' approach: the poet was not at all interested in a larly matching the gifts with the aspects of Jesus, proceeds to halt the strictly literal rendering of the Gospels, and he gave himself the freedom narrative to explain, over the course of four lines, why the gifts were three needed to turn them into his sui generis epic poem. in number (CP 2.97-101). Of course, that freedom was exercised within narrow bounds, since Juvencus frequently adds material to the Gospel frame that, while not Juvencus was committed to staying basically close to the Gospel content theologically exegetical as ELQ 1.250 is, clarifies a detail in his source text he treated. Through that fidelity, the poet sought to achieve his program- and, thus, reveals his understanding of it. Many instances involve an added matic aim of making audiences, including posterity, know Jesus' vitalia word - often an adjective, the free use of which is a hallmark of Juvencus' gesta as audiences of epic knew the sublimia facta of heroes. To reiterate style" - phrase, clause, or line that gives interpretive shape to Juvencus' an earlier point, the ELQ contains much more than gesta, if the word is material. These include cases that reflect exegetical traditions; critics have understood narrowly to refer only to what Jesus does, rather than to what traced details in Juvencus to Origen and to Latin predecessors, although it is he says. But both Jesus' actions and Jesus' discourses contribute to the certainly possible that things originating with Origen were mediated through particularly Christian function of the poem: it was a vehicle for religious Latin works, or that both Origenist and Latin exegesis came to Juvencus

18 19 - INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

orally and through the homiletic tradition." As Wilfrid Rottger recognized, is not necessarily the same thing as adopting an anti-Jewish position. The moreover, when dealing with exegetical material in Juvencus, a distinction religion was by definition expansionist and had global ambitions, whose should be drawn between explicit and implicit exegesis." Often Juvencus scriptural basis was the Great Commission (Mt 28:16-20). Juvencus had includes details that can be linked to the exegetical tradition, whether clearly internalized that viewpoint, and he universalized passages in his directly or indirectly, without actually seeking to provide exegesis; he has poem to reflect it. Anti-Jewish attitudes are evident at times. But it can be assimilated the exegetical content and its interpretive perspective but con- hard to know if Juvencus was rejecting and suppressing Jewish content or veys it without exegetical intent. These cases reveal his thinking on matters if he was altering the Gospels simply to express Christian aspiration and but do not show him to be an exegete in verse, as Sedulius so frequently is. the belief that the religion was meant to grow and reach the entire world, Omissions of Gospel material are also common in the ELQ. These are without a polemical intent where the Jews were concerned. not exegetical, in that they do not explain Gospel details, but they can Strong evidence for Juvencus' antipathy toward the Jews does appear indicate how Juvencus thought about certain things. An intriguing set of when he amplifies his source material to cast Jews in a negative light. possible examples relates to the issue of Arianism, i.e., the belief, named Notable is his treatment of Jewish rage at the Passion and of their guilt after Arius of Alexandria, that Jesus Christ did not always exist and was for Jesus' crucifixion." Juvencus intensifies the ferocity and bloodlust of created by God, and that he was separate from and subordinate to God. The the Jews (while also treating Pilate favorably and downplaying Roman Council of Nicaea, convened by Constantine in 32S, deemed Arianism a involvement) and is vivid in ascribing guilt to them. Even here, literary heresy and countered it with the Trinitarian message of the Nicene Creed. concerns should be taken into account: Juvencus presumably sought to Green has suggested that Juvencus omitted four passages in the Gospels sharpen the dramatic conflict in his account and, thus, to heighten its dra- ij I in which "an interpreter might observe that Christ was in some way infe- matic effect, perhaps with an eye to achieving epic-style intensity. But rior to God the Father."?' While Juvencus' motives in the passages are these concerns and an anti-Jewish attitude are not mutually exclusive, not entirely certain, it is very possible that he was sensitive to the issue of and Juvencus likely reflected broader thinking about Jewish ugliness and Arianism, given the time at which he wrote, and that he wished to avoid Jewish guilt surrounding the death of Jesus. Juvencus does not blacken material that could be seen to run counter to Constantinian orthodoxy. Jews alone; other groups come in for criticism as well."? He also omits Another area where critics have understood that Juvencan omissions Gospel material critical of the Jews, which further complicates the pic- reflect his Christian thought is in his treatment of the Jews and Jewish ture of his treatment of them.'?' Still, in the Passion and at some other material. Juvencus cuts a good amount of Jewish geographical detail points his treatment of them bespeaks hostility and opposition. and cultural references found in the Gospels. Critics have taken this as Along with emphasizing the guilt of the Jews for Jesus' crucifixion, evidence of an anti-Jewish attitude, which led Juvencus to remove indica- Juvencus appears to have manipulated his narrative to emphasize Jesus' tions of Jesus' Jewish origin and identity." The problem for this argument innocence, At ELQ 4.306--402, the poet inserts into his Matthean account is that Juvencus did not remove all such indications, which means that he of the Passion the story of Lazarus from Jn 11: 1--46. At ELQ 4.403-9, was not entirely opposed to having Jesus' Jewish background and identity Juvencus then returns to Mt 26:3-S, which relates the Jewish plot to kill revealed. What is more, while a wish to suppress Jewish content is evident Jesus. A similar Jewish plot to kill Lazarus is described in Jn 12: 10-11. at several points, literary concerns, notably a desire for narrative conci- The suggestion is that Juvencus inserted the Lazarus story where he did to sion and speed, can explain some omissions, while metrical challenges draw a connection between Jesus and Lazarus as objects of the murderous can explain others, especially those involving Jewish names. (Juvencus scheming of Jewish authorities, which, in turn, implies the further connec- is also generally economical with names, Jewish and otherwise.) Finally, tion that Jesus and Lazarus both rose from the dead. At the same time, the Juvencus was likely motivated at times to downplay or eliminate details transition immediately from the story of Lazarus to the plot against Jesus that would be unfamiliar to a Roman readership of his Latin poem. But makes it clear that Juvencus chose the Johannine explanation for Jesus' this would seem to be a matter of naturalizing the narrative and making it arrest and execution (miraculous resurrection) rather than the synoptic legible, and not of manifesting an anti-Jewish agenda. one (the temple cleansing and indictment of religious leaders). Juvencus, Juvencus also adapts Gospel passages that have a specifically Jewish in effect, adopts the logic of Jn 11:4S-S3, where the chief priests and orientation and gives them universal scope to globalize the Christian mes- Pharisees decide to kill Jesus upon hearing how he miraculously revived sage and mission." Yet universalizing the reach and claims of Christianity Lazarus, while recounting Mt 26:3-S.101 He reveals his thinking about

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how to interpret Jewish motives, about which Gospel got the story better. confidence to Juvencus' undertaking, which is of a piece with the rise of The version that Juvencus follows shows that it was the glory of Jesus that Christianity under Constantine and the emperor's own assertiveness about got him killed, his miraculous and Messianic power to grant life. his faith after 324. Yet not only was Juvencus the first biblical epicist, but Juvencus' transposition of the Lazarus story to produce this message there is also no evidence to suggest that he ushered in a fourth-century illustrates his edificatory aims. Again, this Christian utilitas is fundamental movement in Latin Christian epic.'?' The lone approximate poem to sur- to the ELQ. But it is a mistake to think that they and the Christian content vive from the rest of the century is the Cento Probae, a 694-line work and thought in the text are all that really matters, and that the poetry is just by Faltonia Betitia Proba, probably from the 360s, in which the author an ancillary vessel for delivering the message. JOe To maintain as much is reconnects discrete lines from Virgil's Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid to go against the programmatic wishes of Juvencus. As we have seen, he to produce a narrative combining Old Testament and New Testament sto- encourages his reader to understand his work as a new-model epic poem, ries.I'" Only with the growth of classicizing Christian poetry beginning and while he places divine content above earthly form, he still highlights in the very late fourth and early fifth centuries':" does biblical epic seem both when summing up his work and presents his turn to ornamenta as to have emerged again as a going genre. The Heptateuchos, attributed to integral to his achievement. The ELQ itself, moreover, reveals that liter- Cyprian of Gaul but in all likelihood not written by him, was probably my issues deeply mattered to Juvencus and shaped his work. Thus, to written early in the fifth century, while Sedulius produced the Carmen build upon earlier statements, amplifications and omissions are constants Paschafe likely at some point in the second quarter of the fifth century, in the poem, and they are often motivated by concerns of style, pacing, The isolation of Juvencus in literary history is not total; another characterization, and dramatic effect. Juvencus also embraces thoroughly notable Christian poet under Constantine was Optatian, although his a cardinal literary technique in the Roman tradition by so commonly turn- funhouse pattern poetry stands at a distant remove from the ELQ.I08Still, ing to imitation. Approaching the ELQ as, essentially, a homily dressed Juvencus is an author largely on his own, a vanguard figure unattended up in the trappings of verse is as misguided as doing the same thing with by a group of immediate successors. What motivated this early poet Paradise Lost because Milton wished to "assert Eternal Providence, / in Late Antiquity? Why did he choose to write a kind of poem never and justify the ways of God to men" (1.25-6). Juvencus is nowhere near ~ before seen and, apparently, without contemporary parallel? An answer the poet Milton is. But he is, like Milton, a poet all the same. Hermann emerges from the very form of the ELQ: Juvencus sought to address the Widmann was wrong to state about Juvencus, "The poet vies with the the- problem raised some 20 years earlier by Lactantius, that scripture lacked ologian" (certat poeta Clll1l theologoi.i'" The poet and the theologian or, credibility among the cultured and the powerful because of its plain more accurately, the poet and the Christian are not at odds; they are one. style.l'" The poet aimed to fix this in a manner akin to what Lactantius Juvencus advertises in his preface that he wanted to produce a poem that had suggested: Christian writers should put the appealing elements of had aesthetic appeal and value, which he associated with and significantly classical eloquence to Christian use."? A desire to provide such a remedy derived from classical poetry, and that conveyed Christian truth. While best explains why Juvencus chose to write a poem at all. The point was the form of the ELQ is not divine, it is just as defining a characteristic of to give cultural prestige to the Gospel story by expressing it in the orna- it as its Christian content is. Juvencus sought not only to create a pleasing menta of classical verse, especially of epic. This means that the literary poem, but also to join that pleasure to utilitas. The ELQ was to function as and the aesthetic aspects of the ELQ are, indeed, essential to its exist- an epic of faith - a high, accomplished literary text with a classical pedi- ence. Juvencus wished to put honey on a cup of medicine; he sought to gree but also with a new religious commitment, message, and purpose. In attract readers who might be put offby the style of the Gospels and to get it, different aims were combined: casting the Gospels as an epic, praise, them to drink in the edifying Christian message.'!' His undertaking was edification, exegesis, and aesthetic ornamentation.'?' a variation on the broad eagerness of Christians to translate their scrip- tures, rituals, and practices into other languages and idioms. Juvencus The ELQ: why and for whom? sought to spread the word of Christian truth, to help it to reach a wider audience, and he turned to poetry on classical models to reach his goal. Juvencus was a product of his time and ahead of his time. His book fits It is entirely plausible that Juvencus had educated pagans in mind as

with the growth of Christianity under Constantine and the turn of the reli- potential readers. I I:> The point would have been to present them with a gion toward the mainstream, guided by imperial support. There is also a version of the Gospel story that appealed to their literary sensibilities. It

22 23 - I\lTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

would have been too audacious for Juvencus to imagine that his poem Iambic pentameter is a shorter line and a faster rhythm than the dac-

could replace Virgil and the classical poets in pagan eyes. More reason- tylic hexameter. I 17 One way of dealing with the fewer syllables and, thus, able is that he conceived of the ELQ as a text that could hold cultured less space that the pentameter provides would have been to add lines and pagan attention, and that reading the Gospel story through could open make the translation longer than the ELQ. I chose instead to stick almost

up a path to increased knowledge about Christianity, acceptance of it, or entirely to line-by-Iine translation. I IS While necessitating compression, this even conversion to it. Some details would have been obscure for those allowed me to stay true in scale and structure to the original - and as far as I who were unfamiliar with the New Testament. But this does not preclude could, I also reproduced Juvencus' end stops and enjambments. Individual an anticipated pagan readership: Juvencus might well have thought that lines necessarily do not read as Juvencus' lines do, not only because of the the important main lines of narrative and teaching were sufficiently clear, change in rhythm: thus it was impossible to reproduce certain features of and he may have even hoped that the poem would spur readers to explore Juvencus' more flexible word order, such as his penchant for framing lines the scriptures more carefully and to look into things they did not under- with an agreeing adjective-and-noun pair. But the broader architecture of stand. Certainly a good number of pagans by around 330, anyhow, would the translation approximates that of the source text. have known a reasonable amount, if not more, about the Gospel story. While all translations must aim to be accurate, a translator must nev- At the same time, Juvencus must have also anticipated that Christians ertheless avoid the awkwardness that comes from excessive fidelity, would read the ELQ. It only makes sense that he expected those of faith from playing the role of Horace'sf/dus interpres,"? I have sought a mid- to be drawn to the poem, no matter what their degree of religious commit- dle ground between accuracy and freedom, with an eye to readability in I ment, sense of Christian identity, and knowledge about scripture - and it English, and with the flexibility needed to render hexameters in pentam- • is important to bear in mind that Christians were not a homogeneous bloc eters. While my language reads more naturally and less poetically than in antiquity any more than they are today. I I} Juvencus might have hoped does that of the ELQ - and I deliberately avoided much poetic diction that the firmly pious would delight in his rendering of the Gospel story, as well as poetic word order because they are obtrusive and distracting while the less committed and less knowledgeable would learn and benefit in contemporary English in ways that Juvencus' language was not - I from the edifying account and be stirred to come to a deeper understand- have aimed to invest the translation with a seriousness of tone appropri- ing of Christianity and to stronger faith. All, too, would see and be able to ate to the original. Of course, I have also worked to retain elements of show others that the gulf between high poetry "and the seemingly rebar- Juvencus' style. For instance, I preserve some of his abstract nouns and bative Gospels could be bridged."!':' reproduce a bit of his pervasive alliteration; follow his lead when he amplifies and when he abbreviates the Gospels; capture as much of his The translation and notes imagery as possible; and strive to find equivalents for his many adjec- tives rather than succumbing to the exigencies of meter and cutting them. A translation of the ELQ should not undo Juvencus' achievement in The notes that follow the translation are designed to allow the reader turning the Gospels into poetry by rendering the work in prose. On the to look behind the translation and to see how Juvencus turned the Gospels contrary, a translation in verse is necessary if it is to reflect the unique into his poem. Because they do not constitute a full commentary, they innovation of the ELQ, which we might also describe as the strangeness have no claims to exhaustiveness - and because notes are more selective of a text that takes a narrative so familiar in prose form and converts it than commentary lemmata, they show more clearly the imprint of the into poetry. Accordingly, I have produced my translation in blank verse, author's interests and choices than commentaries do. The hope is to guide i.e., lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter. Milton linked blank verse (the the reader, however partially, toward deeper understanding of the ELQ, by rhythm of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained) to the heroic verse of explaining details in the poem and by revealing what I consider to be sali- Homer in Greek and Virgil in Latin. 115 Iambic pentameter has a historical ent and interesting aspects of it. Focus will especially lie upon Juvencus' and cultural weight in the English tradition that approximates the weight treatment of the Gospel narrative, with emphasis on amplifications, omis- of the dactylic hexameter in the Latin tradition. The pentameter also sions, and other variations; his language and style, including his use of adheres to a formal pattern whose strictness and regularity are appropri- classical poetic diction and specific classical models; and the Christian ate in a translation of a work written in the correspondingly rule-bound thought embedded in the poem. I only lightly touch upon textual criticism Latin hexameter. I 16 in the notes, mainly to discuss alternative readings to the Huemer edition

24 25 - Il\:TRODUCTIO;-J INTRODUCTION

that I use; this seems appropriate given that the Routledge Series does not 10 It seems clear that Juvencus did not use a harmony of the Gospels. For print the Latin text and its apparatus criticus. A new critical edition of the discussion, see Nestler 1910.31-8, Herzog 1989.335, and Fichtner 1994.11. ELQ is a desideratum. On reasons for Juvcncus' reliance upon Matthew, see Green 2006.24. For analysis of Juvencus handling of the Gospels, see Braun and Engel 1998. Juvencus' ELQ was a school text and, as such, a well-known poem II For examples of such mixing of Gospels, see Green 2006.30-1. through the Middle Ages into the Renaissance.':" Its fortunes changed 12 Green 2006.385-90 examines the evidence for which texus) of the New for the worse in the modern period, and particularly in the Anglophone Testament Juvencus used. I generally cite Gospel material from the Itala or world, it fell far away from the canon and came to lie, like so much poetry European tradition in Julicher's edition, rather than from the African tradi- of Late Antiquity, in a remainder bin of literary history, read by few and tion. While parallels link Juvencus to the !tala text, it is possible that he knew readings from both the Itala and the African families. The relationship appreciated by fewer. Reflecting this state of affairs is the lack of any between those families is very complicated, and Juvencus' Gospel text or complete English translation of the poem. It is time for that gap to be texts could certainly have combined elements of them. filled, so that the ELQ can begin to rebuild an audience. The ELQ is not 13 The others are the Heptateuchos, Sedulius' Paschale carmen, Arator's a great poem, despite Juvencus' aims and his aestheticizing turn to orna- Historia apostolica, Victorius' Alethia, and Avitus' De spiritalis historiae menta ... terrestria, including through his use of imitation. The language gestis. Dracontius' De laudibus Dei is counted a biblical epic by Fontaine 1981.245-64 and Springer 1988.5-6, but not by Roberts 1985.4 and Trout is sometimes obscure, the imagery and expression rarely arresting, and 2005.557-9. (While a relatively long hexameter poem on biblical material, the thought only as profound as that in the Gospels.!" But it is a signifi- the Cento Probae is to be distinguished from these texts due to its cento forrn.) cant text in literary history and in the history of Christianity. As a work For useful overviews of Juvencus and the ELQ, see Amatucci 1955.134-40, grounded in both classical literature and the Bible, it is representative Fontaine 1981.67-80, Herzog 1989.331-6, yon Albrecht 1992.1046 and of the wider hybridity of Late Antiquity, when the relationship between 1072-4, and Moreschini and Norelli 2005.1.411-12. For a good introduction to Latin Christian epics of Late Antiquity, see Trout 2005.550-61. Christianity and classical culture was marked by "negotiation, accom- 14 For Juvencus as the first biblical epicist, see Venantius Fortunatus, Mart. modation, adaptation, [and] transformation" as much as by polemics and 1.14-15: primus enim, docile distinguens ordine carmen. lmaiestatis opus distance.!" As the first biblical epic, moreover, it is an example of his- metri canit arte Iuvencus (for Juvencus was the first to sing the work of torical change and development on two fronts: it shows how Christian majesty in the art of verse, adorning his poem with a pleasant structure). On subject matter remade classical poetry, by extending the range of what its the tradition of biblical epic from antiquity into the early modern period, see Springer 2003.103-26. See also Dinkova-Bruun 2007. forms and language could describe, and how classical poetry gave new 15 Notable is the work of Alan Cameron over the course of his career; a capstone shape and expression to Christian subject matter. book is Cameron 2011. See also Scourfield 2007.3-5 and Chin 2008.72-169. 16 Relevant is Roberts 1989.123: "It has proved extremely difficult to discover Notes a type of Christian literature or a technique of style or composition that does not have a precedent in the ancient tradition or a parallel in contemporary Sections of this Introduction are adapted from McGill 2016. secular writings." 2 Nathaniel proclaims Jesus the king oflsrael in In I :49. On Juvencus change J 7 ! echo Brown 1982.93 and Cameron 2004.343. to John. see the note to 2.118-20. 18 On the prosopography of Juvencus, see NOl10n 1962.114-20. 3 The text of Juvencus is that of H uerner 1891. 19 Jerome appears to see a correspondence between the number of Gospels 4 The text of the Gospels is that of Julicher 1938. 1940, 195-1, 1963. See, and the number of books in Juvencus' translation. further, n. 9. 20 For discussion of the date of the ELQ and the evidence for it provided by 5 Virgil figures prominently in Juvencus and, thus. in my Introduction and notes. I Jerome, see Green 2006.3-7. use M:-nors 1972 for the Eclogues and Georgics. and Conte 2009 for the Aeneid. 21 Roberts 2004.48-9. See also Sandnes 2011.55-6. 6 Videbitis ... angelos Dei ascendentes et descendentes supra/ilium honiinis, 22 Roberts 2004.49. 7 For possible biblical intluence as well, see the note to 2.126. 23 Bat·diIl20J2.281. Bardi1l281-306 examines Constantine's relationship to 8 See Green 2006.26, citing Thraede 200 Ia.882. Green proceeds on p. 27 to Christianity and self-presentation as a Christian after 324. suggest that the number of books "rnaj be secondary. a result of other fac- 24 What title Juvencus means by "holy name" (sacri ... nominis, ELQ 4.809) tors. such as book length. which averages 800 lines.' I fail to see how book is unknown; see my notes to 4.809 and 4.812. length has an. bearing on the number of books; certainly Juvencus could 25 Gregory of Tours was surely mistaken when he contended that Constantine have written three books or five books of roughly 800 lines each. commissioned Juvencus' poem (History of the Franks 1.36 [PL 71.179]); see 9 On Juvencus handling of the Gospels, see Campagnuolo 1993.47-84. Green 2006.2-3. On Constantine as a patron of Christian verse, see Green 201 O. Green 2006.23-50. and Galli 2012.14-2-1. 26 On those attempts, see Green 2006.4-6.

26 27 - INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

27 On the preface, see Witke 1971.199-203, Ian der Nat 1973.249-57, epic as a poem of praise, hymning the deeds ... of a hero or heroes." See Herzog 1975.:-.:1\-xlix, Kartschoke 1975.56-9, Kirsch 1989.85-92. Carrubba also Ware 2012.29, who observes that Juvencus ..takes Virgil as his model 1993:303-12. Gartner 2004"+31-6. and Green 2006.15-23. There are also for bestowing praise" but transfers that praise to Christ. Relevant as well is eight preliminarv verses on the Evangelists attached ta the poem in the man- Evenepoel 1993.47-8, who suggests that for Christian poets the versus heroi- uscripts; these are verv likel. not b: Juvencus. CIIS "made it possible to sing the praises of God in a more exalted fashion." 28 Green 2006.19 discusses the Stoic as well as Epicurean/Lucretian aspects of 40 Campagnuolo 1993.53 similarly discusses Juvencus' treatment of his immortality. these lines. 41 Witke 1971.202. 29 On this aspect of epic (with emphasis on Roman epic). see Dewar 1996. 42 See Klopsch 1980.9-12. Springer 1988.16n. 71. Evenepoel 1993,41-2, and xxi-xxii, Pollmann 2001.63 and 74. and Ware 2012.27-31. Deproust 1998. 101-21. 30 Smyrna's spring is a meton my for Homer; Smv rna was one of the places 43 I echo Roberts 2004.4 7. identified in the ancient biographical tradition as the birthplace of Homer, 44 Van der Nat 1973.254 views the focus on truth as a legitimizing gesture. and Juvencus accepts that piece of information. 45 By contrafacture, I mean the recasting of a secular song as a religious one 31 Green 2006.19-20 overlooks the details I discuss when he contends that (so Rondholz 2012.27). On the importance given in the age of Constantine, Homer and Virgil are not "explicit pointers to Juvencus generic affiliation." including by Juvencus, to the expression in poetry of new kinds of truth, see The poets thus function in Juvencus preface in a II a: similar to that described Hose 2007.535-58. in an inscription on a statue of Claudian, erected in the Forum of Trajan (CfL 46 See Costanza 1985.260-6. On Sedulius' Christian poetics, see also Gartner VI.1710): Claudian is said to combine the mind of Virgil and the Muse or 2011.436-45. Paulinus. however. does write of using "the abundance of inspiration of Homer (BlpYlf.iOlO voov Kat Mouonv 'Ourjpou), which is a way speech and verbal ornament" (linguae copiam et oris ornamentumi of I of marking him as an epic poet in the tradition of those two forebears. (The pagan authors for Christian ends (Ep. 16.11). inscription also represents him as greater than Virgil and Homer individually, 47 Costanza 1985.259 similarly notes that Juvencus' approach to the pagan poets is ! since he has the traits of both. ) Cf.. too. Corippus, foil. praef. 11-14: Smyrnaeus "lacking in acrimony" ipriva di actimoniai and even "does not lack a certain admi- niles fortem descripsit Achillem. lAeneam doctus carmine Vergilius. lineque ration for the excellence of Homer and the sweetness of Virgil" (non vi manca una Iohannis opus docuit describere pugnaslcunctaque vent uris acta referre viris certa ammirazione per leccellenza d'Omero e per la dolcezza di Virgilio). (the poet from Smy rna described strong Achilles. learned Virgil Aeneas in his 48 So Costanza 1985.259-60 n. 15 and 280-1 n. 64. poem; and John's work taught me to describe battles and to relate all his deeds 49 For discussion and examples, see Costanza 1985.259n. 15; Roberts 1985.73 to future generations). n. 47; and Evenepoel 1993.42-3 n. 25. For a late-antique example from an 32 On the autobiographical speaker in Juvencus preface, see Witke 1971.202-3. author on non-Christian themes, see Maximianus, Carm. 1.11: saepe poet- 33 I do not agree with Green 2004.215 that Juvencus might be "shining an arum mendacia dulcia finxi (I often composed the sweet Iies of poets). ironic light on the supposed similarity between the deeds of Christ and 50 See Minciadae ... Maronis in line 10. Virgil himself mentions the Mincio, the deeds of epic." Juvencus point is. instead. to contrast the subject mat- a tributary of the Po, in Eel. 7.12-13 and G. 3.14-15; see alsoAen. 10.206. ter of his epic with that of earlier classical epic. For further discussion of 51 Sandnes 2011.54 likewise notes, "The Latin text emphasizes a connection ~ Juvencus stance toward epic. see Gartner 2011.29-35. between the sweetness of Maro and the sweet river Jordan." He goes on, 34 Curtius 1953.148 and Roberts 1985. Critics who call this idea into question however, only to observe that this implies that both Juvencus' and Virgil's include Springer 1988.9-13 and 17-19 and Green 2006,46-7. poetry were inspired. See also Kirsch 1989.91 and Green 2006.22 on the 35 Roberts 1985.passim is indispensable on the topic. See as well Simonetti connection between the dulcis Jordan and the dulcedo Maronis. Abbolito 1985.304-24. 52 ltaque si voluptas est audire cantus et carmina. dei laudes canere et audire 36 Springer 1988.12-14 examines the possible ties between biblical epic and iucundum sit. haec est voluptas vera quae comes est et socia virtu tis (Thus, this ecclesiastical tradition. if it is a pleasure to hear chants and songs, let it be a delight to sing and hear 37 Springer 1988.18 notes that no biblical epicist describes his poem as a para- the praises of God. This is true pleasure, which is the companion and associ- phrase. and that Juvencus could hav e done so but chose not to and. instead. ate of virtue). M: discussion echoes that of Evenepoel 1993.42. aligned himself with the epic tradition. 53 My remarks resemble those of Roberts 1989.128-9 and 142, on the purposes 38 Conte 1994.112 and 114-15. on genre as a strategy rather than a recipe. is an of Christian literature and stylistic ornamentation. Cf., too, Prudcntius, influence here. Two critics who recognize that Juvencus is by self-definition Cath. 9.1-2: da, puer. plectrum, choraeis ut canam fidelibusldulce carmen an epic poet are Herzog 1975.67-8 and Thraede 200 Ia.883 (although they. er melodum, gesta Christi insignia.' (give me my plectrum, boy, so that I in different II'a: s. downplay the epic element within his text - a curious may sing in faithful numbers a sweet and melodious song, the glorious development after their recognition of how Juvencus constructs his authorial deeds of Christ!). While Prudentius' message resembles that of Juvencus, identity). Kartschoke 1975.121-3 explores whether. and hOII. to view the the appearance of dulce and gesta Christi in Prudentius' lines is to my mind bibl ical poems on the whole as epics or as paraphrases. not enough to show that he imitated Juvencus specifically. 39 So Roberts 2004,47-48: "Juvencus clearf understands his poem as epic. 54 This is a variation on the topos in Christian literature in which writers placed He compares it with the songs of Homer and Virgi I .... He understands the content before form; on that topos, see Janson 1964.134-41. A concomitant

28 29 BOOK ONE BOOK ONE and madness that accompanies the moon made by a tiny stroke will be neglected; all went away at his commanding word. but all will come to pass in its due course. As he performed these miracles, mixed crowds If someone dares to break the least command 490 of Jews and Syrians - from populous or, by his daring, teaches men the same, Judaea and from Galilee, and those 450 he will then have the least name in high heaven. beyond the flooding Jordan - followed him. But he who acts with measure and preserves Beholding them, he sat upon a mount Matthew 5: 1-48 intact the ancient teaching will be great and, ringed by his disciples, said these words: and will obtain a great name past the stars. 495 "Blessed the humble, ringed by a poor spirit; "You have heard the ancient law and its precept: the lofty kingdom will receive them all. 455 If anyone pollutes his hands with murder, Just like them are the meek, whom mildness crowns; the guilty man will pay by vengeful steel. the splendid earth lies under their control. But I demand that no one dare rise up Great comfort, too, will come to those who mourn. in rage and seethe with hatred for a brother. 500 A well-stocked table waits to fill the ones A candid judge will make the guilty pay. who now seek out the food and drink of justice. 460 No less a flame will follow the abuse Blessed is he who pities wretched fates; of those who call a brother fool or wretch. the Lord's abundant mercy waits for him. "But if you wish to give your gift in prayer Blessed the pure of heart who look to heaven; upon the altar, and a feud at home 505 God will be ever visible to them. with a brother anguishes your silent depths, leave at the temple all the gifts you brought God counts the peacemakers among his children. 465 and quickly run to make your peace with him. Most blessed they whom grinding persecution When joined again in brotherly affection, afflicts due to the justice of their lives; serenely offer welcome gifts to God. soon heaven's kingdom will open up for them. 510 "The body's forces are opposed to you Rejoice, just men who suffer cruel abuse; always; let love of virtue cure it fast for your immense reward is kept on high. 470 while it accompanies you through your swift life. Such was the persecution of the prophets. For what you do with your polluted flesh "Know that, on earth, you are the taste of salt. will bring you bound before the lofty judge. 515 And if that taste should lose its strength and fade, His officers will drag you off, condemned, what substance will make sharp again its taste? to vicious chains; you will not leave your foul Then the insipid salt has no more use, 475 prison until you pay the final cent. un less cast wide for feet to tread upon. "And not unknown, I think, is the law against "You are the bright light of the world - hide not' adultery. But my commands restrain 520 Who could conceal a city founded on the hidden scheming of a secret heart; high rocks? Thus let your light extend to all, one must atone for lusts no less than deeds. and let the luster of your deeds shine bright. 480 "If your right eye ensnares you with its sin, Let all give praise to your creator's glory, quickly tear Olltthe source of rank disgrace he whose throne is the kingdom high above. and throw it far off. Better that small organ 525 "I have not come now to dissolve old laws than handing your whole body to the flames or to subvert the ancient prophets' will; and sweeping soul away to endless pains. fulfilled by me, they will abide for you, 485 And if your right hand leads your mind astray, Truly, till sky and land and ocean pass, better to cut away the cause of sin no letter of the law or subtle mark than give your whole self to eternal fire. 530

46 47 BOOK ONE BOOK ONE

"The ancients ordered a writ of divorce "If achoice opportunity for justice Matthew 6: 1-34 if someone breaks a marriage bond - cruel law! reveals itself, avoid the eyes of men; A faithless wife alone should lose her home. no later payment follows such a deed. 575 Let others stay; for a deserted woman Only the crowd will cheer its empty praise. will be unchaste through what her husband does. 535 The right hand act; the left hand need not know. "The ancient laws prohibited false oaths. The searcher of the hidden heart alone Let rash oath-taking yield to my commands. will recompense just acts with due rewards. It is not right for men to swear by heaven, "Vainglorious display puffs up some men. 580 the seat of God, or earth, which supports his feet, They love to have a crowd behold their prayers, or the hallowed city named Jerusalem, 540 and they wear out the day in a sea of words; land that belongs to the majestic king. this yields the empty fruit of sheer performance. And swearing by one's head is likewise wrong, Instead, for pure prayers, close the inner rooms for as you see, it is not in your power of your house and worship God with sparing words. 585 to change the slightest hair to black or white. Your Father knows your trepidatious heart. Let 'yes' suffice for yes, and 'no' for no. 545 We do not say a thing without God there; Venom, its power awful, will supply our depths hide nothing; present God sees all. all else with guile while snaking through frail souls. So let these words conclude your prayers to him: "You know the law's long circulated word: 'Father in heaven's starry peak, we pray: 590 like punishment shall come to him who injures. may veneration of your name be hallowed; Better will calm forbearance overcome. 550 and may your peaceful and sustaining light If someone's hand should slap one of your cheeks, come to the world and open up your kingdom. be sure to offer him the other one. Your brilliant will be done on earth as in heaven; If someone threatens suit to take your tunic, and may the vital stuff of holy bread 595 freely give it, and let him take your cloak. come daily. May your kind munificence "If someone happens to demand you go 555 settle the countless debts of wicked sin, a mile and labor with a heavy load, and may we grant relief to debts owed us. proceed at once with him for twice the length. Away with the black devil's dire temptation; "I f one in need or feigning need appeals, may you lift us from evil to the light.' 600 be kind and generous; if someone pleads And thus the Father will forgive men's faults, to have a loan, give with a gentle look. 560 should you remit your sins among yourselves "Do not be pleased to help your friends alone and not be hard of heart toward misdeeds. or to think enemies deserve blind hate. "So pleasing are the fasts of men to God. I order you to gently serve all men Yet many work to mar how they appear, 605 and, through your kindly prayers, to soften God so that their fasting earns men's vain repute. to those who take delight in your destruction 565 But make your hair shine bright with pleasing oil and fiercely persecute you, full of hate. and wash your joyful face at limpid springs, Indeed, our Father gave the same sunlight so that, perceiving your devoted heart, and rain to just and wicked men alike. only the Father praises and rewards you. 610 But if we only honor our close friends, "To guard your buried treasure is in vain. what place will we then have for just reward? 570 Underground, rust and hungry maggots rule, The race that lives for gain serves friendship only. while thieves seize all that they remove from hiding. Be like your Father, perfect as he is. Store treasure for yourselves in heaven's peak;

48 49 BOOK OI\E BOOK ONE

no rust or maggots or rough band of thieves 615 for God will follow precedents of justice will plunder it. And where your wealth is stored, that you have set as captives to this world. there hearts are held by like authority. You must receive the verdict you hand down. You see the common light by the body's light. You see the speck stuck in your neighbor's eye And if your sharp eyes sparkle clear and true, but do not feel the beam that sits in yours, 660 then your entire body will burn bright. 620 and you exert yourself to cleanse his first. But if they are corrupted and hardly see, Pull out the log from your own eye, you fraud; dark shadows will descend on every limb. then see to taking out another's granule. And if the light is turned to pitchy black, Give nothing sacred to the dogs or wish how great will be the dread amid that gloom? to cast jewels to repulsive, dirty swine. 665 "No one can serve two masters the same way; 625 They will be trampled in the filth, and the pigs he will despise the one or love the other will turn and gash you with a wicked wound. and will not equally submit to both. "Who asks will have it given him; who seeks Never will one be able to attend will find; who knocks will have doors opened wide. to wealth and God at once. Keep these commands: When children ask for bread, you will not give 670 do not be worriecl for what clothes you will wear 630 a stone, nor give a snake when they seek fish. or search, distressed, for ready sustenance. Yes, even you, the very hard of heart, Do we not value souls more than the food will always give your children what is good. our bodies need and bodies more than clothes? Much more does man's kind Father take delight Observe the airborne birds: do they work soil in granting to the just sweet gifts they seek! 675 beneath the pressing plough or scatter seed 635 Show all the acts of kindness that you wish or cut down stalks of grain with curving scythes? to come to you. This is the sum of law, Still, ample food and drink will come to them. this what the prophets have declared is just. Is not the charge of man more dear to God'? "Go, righteous ones, through the narrow gate to heaven. No, it would not be right to feel concern How wide the road that on the left invests 680 about our clothes - not even if men could 640 its plunging pathway in the gloom of death! increase their height by adding on a yard. Untold crowds enter on its downward course. See how the lilies gleam in fertile fields' Enormous rocks hem in the path of life; Yet labor has oppressed not one of them. high power leads just few through its rough tracks. And such appealing dress did not array If the very treacherous plain that lures the wicked 685 famed Solomon when his halls brimmed with wealth. 645 - slick in its ugly drop - attracts a man, If God so clothes the rich green fields and bushes, it drags him headlong like a raging stream things that we use as fuel to feed our fires, or spirited horse broken free of reins why is your faith not stronger in our Father? or ship on stormy seas without a helmsman. So leave the earthly care for food, drink, clothes, "Beware of those who, with a specious name, 690 and all such empty things to faithless Gentiles. 650 lay traps for you and are considered prophets. But rightly seek the celestial realm and God's They wear sheep's clothing, but conceal within justice - all else will come of its accord- a wolf's cruel heart: they tear apart naive and worry not about tomorrow's store: bands of believers, whom cruel error deceives. each day has quite enough by way of woe. Such monstrous creatures are known by their fruits; 695 "Avoid cruel condemnation when one must discern the aim of their false creed. youjudge: Matthew 7: 1-29 655 Throughout the fields you never witnessed figs

50 51 -

BOOK ONe BOOK ONE

arise from thistles or bunched grapes from thorns. obey the law and give gifts at the temple." 740 Just as a tree is clothed in its own fruit, As Christ departed, a centurion Matthew 8:5-13 so, from their fruit, their falseness is revealed. 700 ran up to him and fell in suppliant prayer: "I am unmoved by those who flatter me; "The soul of my young slave is worn and racked. they will not have the ready prize of heaven A sudden illness deadened strength of limb. because their unctuous fawning calls me Lord. The torment grips and will outlive the boy. 745 Those willing to do what our Father bids I pray, show pity in what you command: will glory in the due gift of the kingdom. 705 for my offenses now forbid the Father The final day will soon arrive and give of life and light from entering my house. rewards for justice, hell for sinful crimes. Your will shall be enough to bring back health. Then many will despair and cry to me, My rank has often made subordinates 750 'Did not our former mighty works subdue heed orders with a word." So he did speak. all in your name by sacrosanct command? 710 Christ faced the crowd, moved by his prayer and faith: Our voice was often placed among the prophets, "1 never do recall encountering and in your name the devil was our thrall.' faith such as this among our ancient race. I will declare, 'I never knew a man But learn from these true words: the lofty realm 755 whose life so bore the stains of wicked deeds. ", will summon many born throughout the world "He who gives ears and deeds to my dictates 715 to lie at the living table with our fathers, I will compare to one who sets foundations whose scions will endure eternal pains on solid rock, on which will rise firm walls. of punishment while plunged in shadowed gloom, Unharmed by wind and rain, it will endure weeping and gnashing teeth horrendously. 760 and, strongly fortified, withstand harsh storms, But now, thanks to your faith, salvation's fruit with its foundations fixed in stable stone. 720 and light will come to you, as you believe." But he who will just hear what I command So he did speak; the gift of his sweet word and will proceed along his slippery path, outstripped his voice and hastened to the boy. his deeds far from my words, I will compare The soldier quickly came home and rejoiced: 765 to one who builds his house on shifting sand; the gifts of healing God had come already. when blasts of wind and lashing rains first strike, 725 Then Holy Jesus entered Peter's house, Matthew 8: 14-15 the structure crashes down, its base destroyed, whose mother-in-law gasped with burning fever. and it collapses in a heavy pile." But once the Savior Jesus touched her hand, In total awe, the crowd was greatly stunned she offered him a meal, her health restored. 770 at what he said; the power granted Christ so much exceeded what the elders taught. 730 And then great throngs of joyous followers Matthew 8: 1-4 swarmed him when he descended from the mount. Behold' With tlesh beset by grim disease - for leprosy had ravaged all his body- a youth fell reverently and prayed to Christ: 735 "Your will shall be sufficient to release me from the heavy burden of my pain." By touch alone, Christ cleansed his livid frame. He ordered the healed man, "Conceal your joy;

52 53