M.A. (Latin) / This study is focused on a literary analysis of the Passio Agnetis, the last poem in the Peristephanon-series, written by the poet Aurelius Prudentius Clemens. This analysis is preceded by a historical survey on Agnes, the martyr who is venerated in poem fourteen, as well as a survey of Prudentius' life and work. The survey of the background of Agnes shows that she was still very young when she chose to worship Christ and not the gods of the Romans. She also refused to be married to a magistrate's son, as she saw herself as the bride of Christ. Because of this choice she was decapitated. According to .the ancient sources (Damasus, Ambrose and Prudentius), Agnes is an historical figure and she forms part of the Christian martyrology, and has consequently been worshipped and venerated throughout the centuries. Prudentius, a Roman citizen, was born in Spain. He led an active life as a magistrate and at the age of fifty-seven, after his retirement, he decided to devote himself to a more worthy cause, and he started writing. In the Peristephanon Prudentius combined his devotion to the martyrs with his love of poetry. This survey is followed by a translation of the one hundred and thirty-three lines of poem fourteen. Then follows a discussion on the metre and form of poem fourteen. This was deemed necessary as the metre is complex and the form and contents of the poem raise the problem of genre, as the poem shows elements of both epic and lyric. The bulk of this study is taken up by the literary analysis of the poem. The poem is divided into different sections. In each section the style, contents and the thought development of the poem are discussed.

This dissertation comprises the first study of the poetry of the Portuguese humanist Diogo de Teive (1513-14 – c. 1569). It examines and presents a scholarly edition of the Epithalamium which Teive composed on the occasion of the marriage of Princess Maria of Portugal to Alessandro Farnese in 1565. It also critically explores the work in which the poem was published, the Epodon libri tres (Lisbon, 1565). Because both this and the Epithalamium bring together different strands of Teive’s literary work, Chapter One analyses the development of his literary career, linking it to the ideological and cultural transformations which took place in Portugal from the 1540s to the 1560s, and the author’s attempt to carve his identity and space in the Portuguese literary scene. Chapter Two explores the concepts of ‘imitatio’ and ‘mimesis’ in the Epodon libri tres, shedding light on specific aspects of the Epithalamium. In the eyes of his readers, Teive emerges as a Catholic Horace. This is achieved by means of formal imitation, ‘aemulatio’, and allusion to Horace, a process whereby Teive introduces significant and ideologically motivated differences representative of the impact of Counter-Reformation upon literary writing. The ‘aemulatio’ of Prudentius’s Peristephanon in book II is to be understood in this light. Part Two engages with Teive’s comments on questions of verbal representation in the Epodon libri tres. Chapter Three analyses the Epithalamium from a generic perspective, arguing that it presents instances of generic enrichment, and that these are an example of the appropriation of occasional poetry for the purpose of authorial self-representation. One of the instances of generic enrichment is the incorporation of a didactic passage indebted to the tradition of the ‘speculum principum’, which is analysed in Chapter Four. Part One interprets the rewriting and appropriation of Plutarch and Erasmus as authorising strategies whereby Teive represents himself as an advisor of kings in the Epodon libri tres. Part Two discusses the author’s political thought and opinions, drawing from an analysis of the Epithalamium. Finally, Chapter Five comprises the study of the transmission of the poem, its metrical analysis, edition, translation, and commentary.