Prudentius

War rages, horrid war
Even in our bones; our double nature sounds
With armèd discord.

Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348 – c. 413) was a Roman Christian poet. His most influential poem, the Psychomachia is an allegory of the inner struggle between vice and virtue.

Quotes

• Fervent bella horrida, fervent
  ossibus inclusa fremit et discordibus armis
  non simplex natura hominis.
  • War rages, horrid war
    Even in our bones; our double nature sounds
    With armèd discord.
  • Psychomachia, line 902; translation from C. S. Lewis The Allegory of Love (London: Oxford University Press, [1936] 1975) p. 72
  • Cf. Virgil, Aeneid, bk. 6, l. 86

• Corde natus ex parentis
  Ante mundi exordium
  A et O cognominatus,
  ipse fons et clausula
  Omnium quae sunt, fuerunt,
  quaeque post futura sunt.
  Saeculorum saeculis.
  • Of the Father sole begotten,
    Ere the worlds began to be,
    He the Alpha and Omega,
    He the source, the ending He,
    Of the things that are, that have been,
    And that future years shall see,
       Evermore and evermore!
  • "Hymnus IX: Da puer plectrum ("Of the Father's Heart Begotten"); translated by John Mason Neale, Hymnal Notes, pt. 2 (1856)

• Nunc suscipe, terra, fovendum,
  gremioque hunc concipe molli.
  Hominis tibi membra sequestro,
  generosa et fragmina credo.
  • Take him, earth, for cherishing,
    To thy tender breast receive him.
    Body of a man I bring thee,
    Noble even in its ruin.
  • "Hymnus X: Ad Exequias Defuncti", line 125; translation from Helen Waddell, Mediaeval Latin Lyrics (London: Constable, [1929] 1943) p. 45

• Illic, precor, optime ductor,
  famulam tibi praecipe mentem,
  genitali in sede sacrari
  quam liquerat exsul et errans.
  • Take, O take him, mighty Leader,
    Take again thy servant's soul,
    To the house from which he wandered
    Exiled, erring, long ago.
  • "Hymnus X: Ad Exequias Defuncti", line 165; translation from Helen Waddell Mediaeval Latin Lyrics (London: Constable, [1929] 1943) p. 47

External links

• Profile in The Catholic Encyclopedia
• The Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Works by Prudentius at Project Gutenberg - Latin and English of the Cathemerinon
• Prudentius at The Latin Library
• Liber peristephanon - Latin text.
• Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
• Prudentius framework of personality used to validate psychometric test