LATIN EPICS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT This page intentionally left blank Latin Epics of the New Testament Juvencus, Sedulius, Arator ROGERP.H.GREEN 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox26dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With oYces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ß Roger P. H. Green 2006 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 0–19–928457–1 978–0–19–928457–3 13579108642 To Anne This page intentionally left blank Preface This book explores some early works of Christian literature, those devoted to the New Testament in the 200 years or so after the rise of Constantine by Juvencus, Sedulius, and Arator. They have been somewhat neglected in the Anglophone world, at least, though there are notable exceptions among the small number of relevant monographs; it is important, especially in an increasingly interdis- ciplinary world, that they should be made accessible and their aims and methods carefully presented to readers. This book, it is hoped, will serve as an introduction for those new to the Weld, a companion for those who want to probe more deeply, an instrument of further study for specialists in this or related Welds, and perhaps a rehabili- tation of these authors for those who have been deterred by the lack of material or for any other reason. As well as the presentation of the necessary biographical detail, there are in it numerous critical ques- tions, great and small (and of course answers to small questions often contribute to the solution of major problems), which need careful assessment or reappraisal; and, above all, it needs to be explained for all who are interested in the classical tradition, as well as to any doubters, why these works are legitimately called epic, how they relate to their Christian backgrounds as well as to classical epic, and what their value was to later centuries. I have numerous acknowledgements to make, and hope that no one has been forgotten. My thanks for answering questions, for discussion, and for various kinds of help go to John Barclay, Donal Bateson, Philip Burton, Douglas Cairns, Leslie Dodd, Monica Gale, Alex Garvie, David Langslow, Jane Neil, Gideon Nisbet, David McOmish, Sarah Parvis, Karla Pohlmann, David ScourWeld, Carl Springer, and Jirˇi Sˇubrt. And although they were possibly spared questioning, and are in no sense ‘late’, it has been a pleasure and a privilege in the years when this book was being written to have as close colleagues on the Latin side of the department such dedicated and enthusiastic scholars as Costas Panayotakis and Catherine Steel. There are two more good friends in the University of Glasgow to whom I have a viii Preface special debt of gratitude. Peter Walsh not only answered various questions about Augustine and others, but has been generous with support and encouragement in the forty years since we discovered our common interest in Paulinus of Nola. Graham Whitaker, Senior Assistant Librarian and Research Fellow of the university, has freely put at my disposal his immense bibliographical expertise and his experience of research methods to feed my illusions that I could compile a complete bibliography on even these three little-known authors, and has generally been of great help. A work of this kind could not have been undertaken without the excellent resources of a great library, and standing on its high eminence the library of the University of Glasgow has also helped to keep me Wt. Awards from the University’s Faculty of Arts and the Arts and Humanities Research Board enabled the work to gather momentum, which was further assisted by invitations and decisions to speak in Edinburgh (twice), Glasgow, St Andrews, Maynooth, and Wassenaar, and the comments of listeners. The referees consulted by the Oxford University Press have been most helpful, and so too its staV. Finally my warmest thanks go to my wife Anne, to whom this book is dedicated, for so many things, not least her patient understanding of the diYcult conditions under which research has to be performed these days. R.P.H.G Helensburgh December 2005 Contents Introduction xi List of Abbreviations xix 1. Juvencus 1 2. Sedulius 135 3. Arator 251 4. Reception and InXuence 351 Conclusion 373 Appendix 1. Juvencus and the Text of the New Testament 385 Appendix 2. The OYcial Record of the Presentation of the Historia Apostolica 391 Bibliography 393 Index of Passages 419 General Index 432 This page intentionally left blank Introduction In the early fourth century, where the story of this book eVectively begins, perhaps the two most widely studied books in the western Roman Empire were Vergil’s Aeneid and the set of writings known collectively as the Bible. The Aeneid had long reigned supreme in education, and clearly it was read and reread long after formal edu- cation had Wnished; it stood at the summit of Rome’s literary culture, its incomparable language carrying for devoted readers an inspiring view of eternal Rome and her ideals. The Bible, existing in a variety of Latin translations from the Greek or Hebrew, was read and studied, preached and proclaimed, as a supremely authoritative text for all Christians, its text and interpretation carefully guarded and enthusi- astically debated. In the early centuries perhaps very few people were readers of both works, at least after their formal education. At the beginning of the fourth century, the emperor Diocletian required the surrender of bibles as an earnest of loyalty to the empire, but perse- cution certainly did not dent its popularity. Within a few years the emperor Constantine, eager to avoid displeasing any deity, was be- ginning to remove the disabilities of Christians, and the stage was set for the exciting developments of a century of dynamic change. From that point the Christian proWle in society grew remarkably, though presenting its message to the world of classical learning proved one of its greatest challenges. The two works came from very diVerent traditions. The Aeneid went right back to Homer, blending into this an intense Roman patriotism, a vision of Roman ideals, and so much else. The books of the Bible were the scriptures of the ancient Hebrews, containing their own history and prophecy, together with a New Testament moulded into newer forms such as gospels, apostolic ‘acts’, and apocalypse. Rome and Italy, and the concerns of their rulers, are at the emotional and ideological centre of the Aeneid; Jerusalem and Palestine, and, as Christianity expanded, the Greek world, are the focus of the Bible. The subject of epic was construed as tales of wars and warlords; the message of the Bible as essentially an eirenic one. xii Introduction These diVerences are accentuated, and aggravated, by their respective styles: broadly speaking, the gulf is between a ‘high’ literary style (highly polished and developed, and sometimes highly obscure in a learned way), that of Graeco-Roman epic, and the simpler style of the New Testament, evidently less polished but no less obscure in its own ways. To a large extent this divergence originated in what was from the beginning a strong socio-cultural disparity. Although Paul could quote Aratus to the Athenians, his statement to the Corinthians that ‘not many wise are chosen’ and his bouleversement of wisdom and foolishness in the same passage is a favourite text of Christian writers (and will remain so, even when presented in an environment of elegant Latin). Both the rhetorical and the philosophical traditions of Greece and Rome are often conspicuously despised by Christians. In the early centuries we hear more of conXict than of symbiosis, more of competing cultures and indeed conceptions of culture than of smooth acculturation, more of mutual incomprehension than of moves or initiatives to bridge the divide. The present book covers a little more than two centuries, begin- ning with Constantine and ending with Justinian; both emperors will enter the narrative. In this time the empire had refurbished itself, and had divided itself; it then lost one half, the Latin-speaking half, but by the end of the story the imperial army from Constantinople was seeking to regain at least Rome and Italy. Important in that episode is Pope Vigilius; the popes Celestine and Leo from the Wfth century are also relevant to my narrative.