Issued also as thesis, Bonn. / Bibliography: p. 135-137.

The object of this study is two-fold: 1) to show that the Liber Cathemerinon of Prudentius Aurelius Clemens is not just a series of unrelated hymns, but a poetic breviarium, or handbook, of fundamental Nicene Christian belief. Behind the literal narrative lies a salvation history, running through the chief elements of the Old and New Testaments. 2) To examine how Prudentius not only presents the salvation-history narrative, but also translates it into the Augustan poetic idiom through intertextual dialogue with Augustan pagan authors, primarily Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. By reinterpreting and refuting pagan religious sentiment through developed intertextual dialogue, Prudentius produces a hybrid world-view that is both Roman and Christian. / A thesis examining the cross-cultural context of Prudentius' Liber Cathemerinon.

While Constantine worked diligently to unite the Roman Empire under the banner of Christianity in the early fourth century after the Edict of Milan and Council of Nicaea, it was the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 under Theodosius I that made Christianity the Roman state religion. During this time of conversion and great change within the empire, as well as earlier in the fourth century, new adherents to the religion were unsure about what it meant to be a Christian as well as how one should act in order to present themselves as a true believer. Many were still very familiar with their ancestral and polytheistic traditions, but were unsure of the character of this new, singular God. They had questions concerning their identity within this new framework. Was everything different now that they had accepted Christianity? Were their actions supposed to be entirely different than what their ancestors had taught them? To address the issue of Christian identity during this period, Prudentius, a Spanish Christian, composed many works in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, including his Peristephanon Liber, a compilation of fourteen Christian martyr texts. In these texts, Prudentius used gendered language to show the superiority of the Christian martyrs. The Christians were depicted as having self-control, active, and having a willingness to die while the pagan persecutors and judges were seen as being filled with wrath, unjust, and unable to properly govern. By using gendered language that was familiar to the new converts of the Roman Empire with respect to sexuality and masculinity, Prudentius sought to help create a masculine Christian identity that was both recognizable and superior to the masculinity of the previous regime. In order to prove this, an analysis on gender in the ancient world and its scholarship will be summarized. I will then describe the two martyr texts that portray women as the protagonist: Eulalia and Agnes. By analyzing the gendered language of these texts, I hope to show how Prudentius used gender, something that the Romans already understood, to invert traditional gender roles and present the Christians as the more masculine and the pagans as more feminine. By bending gender, Prudentius sought to teach these new Christians that being a Christian made a person not only masculine, but also a superior masculine figure than if they still believed in paganism. By focusing on the language of these texts and using secondary sources, I show that Prudentius, like previous Christian authors, used gendered language and female protagonists in order to show these new Christians what it meant to be a true believer, thus attempting to create a superior Christian identity in a newly Christianized society.

This thesis examines the violent punishments undergone by various martyrs in Prudentius’ Peristephanon. In particular, it explores how the poet’s depiction of this violence and suffering might affect readers of the collection. Four poems (poems II, III, IX and XI) are studied from the point of view of the emotions they are likely to evoke in the reader. The question of whether different types of readers might undergo different emotional experiences while reading these poems arises as a result of the proposed study. The first chapter of this thesis thus examines the nature of emotions, focussing on their sources and composition. This examination suggests that an individual’s emotional experience can be influenced both by biological factors and by social and cultural environment. With this in mind, an examination follows of various aspects of Roman society and culture which were likely to influence the ways in which its citizens, in particular, reacted to the violent scenes in the poems. We will also consider how our own specific cultural milieu may influence modern readers to sometimes react differently to Roman readers. In particular, it is proposed that most readers of the Peristephanon will react with varying shades of disgust and horror. These two emotions are thus used as a framework for discussing reader reactions to the poems. Disgust and horror are understood in a very broad sense, allowing for different varieties of these emotions, which at times even give rise to contradiction and paradox. The remaining chapters of the thesis are devoted to examinations of the four chosen poems which explore the various ways in which they might evoke horror and disgust among both Roman and modern readers. Often, there is considerable overlap between these two groups. These examinations provide a way of understanding why these poems are so striking, and have impacted so strongly on readers through the ages. / Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2009

This thesis examines the violent punishments undergone by various martyrs in Prudentius’ Peristephanon. In particular, it explores how the poet’s depiction of this violence and suffering might affect readers of the collection. Four poems (poems II, III, IX and XI) are studied from the point of view of the emotions they are likely to evoke in the reader. The question of whether different types of readers might undergo different emotional experiences while reading these poems arises as a result of the proposed study. The first chapter of this thesis thus examines the nature of emotions, focussing on their sources and composition. This examination suggests that an individual’s emotional experience can be influenced both by biological factors and by social and cultural environment. With this in mind, an examination follows of various aspects of Roman society and culture which were likely to influence the ways in which its citizens, in particular, reacted to the violent scenes in the poems. We will also consider how our own specific cultural milieu may influence modern readers to sometimes react differently to Roman readers. In particular, it is proposed that most readers of the Peristephanon will react with varying shades of disgust and horror. These two emotions are thus used as a framework for discussing reader reactions to the poems. Disgust and horror are understood in a very broad sense, allowing for different varieties of these emotions, which at times even give rise to contradiction and paradox. The remaining chapters of the thesis are devoted to examinations of the four chosen poems which explore the various ways in which they might evoke horror and disgust among both Roman and modern readers. Often, there is considerable overlap between these two groups. These examinations provide a way of understanding why these poems are so striking, and have impacted so strongly on readers through the ages. / Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2009

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.