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COMMODIANUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 777 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COMMODIANUS , a See also:

Christian Latin poet, who flourished about A.D. 250. The only See also:ancient writers who mention him are Gennadius, See also:presbyter of Massilia (end of 5th See also:century), in his De rcripioribus ecclesiasticis, and See also:Pope See also:Gelasius in De libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, in which his See also:works are classed as Apocryphi, probably on See also:account of certain heterodox statements contained in them. Commodianus is supposed to have been an See also:African. As he himself tells us, he was originally a See also:heathen, but was converted to See also:Christianity when advanced in years, and See also:felt called upon to instruct the ignorant in the truth. He was the author of two extant Latin poems, Instructions and Carmen apologeticum (first published in 1852 by J. B. Pitra in the Spicilegium Solesmense, from a MS. in the Middlehill collection, now at See also:Cheltenham, supposed to have been brought from the monastery of See also:Bobbio). The Instructiones consist of 8o poems, each of which is an See also:acrostic (with the exception of 6o, where the initial letters are in alphabetical See also:order). The See also:initials of 8o, read backwards, give Commodianus Mendicus Christi. The A pologeticum, undoubtedly by Commodianus, although the name of the author (as well as the See also:title) is absent from the MS., is See also:free from the acrostic restriction. The first See also:part of the Instructiones is addressed to the heathens and See also:Jews, and ridicules the divinities of classical See also:mythology; the second contains reflections on See also:Antichrist, the end of the See also:world, the Resurrection, and See also:advice to Christians, penitents and the See also:clergy.

In the Apologeticum all mankind are exhorted to repent, in view of the approaching end of the world. The See also:

appearance of Antichrist, identified with See also:Nero and the Alan from the See also:East, is expected at an See also:early date. Although they display fiery dogmatic zeal, the poems cannot be considered quite orthodox. To the classical See also:scholar the See also:metre alone is of See also:interest. Although they are professedly written in hexameters, the rules of quantity are sacrificed to See also:accent. The first four lines of the Instructiones may be quoted by way of See also:illustration: " Praefatio nostra viam erranti demonstrat, Respectumque bonum, cum venerit saeculi See also:meta, Aeternum fieri, quod discredunt inscia corda: Ego similiter erravi tempore multo." These versus politici (as they are called) show that the See also:change was already passing over Latin which resulted in the formation of the See also:Romance See also:languages. The use of cases and genders, the construction of verb, and prepositions, and the verbal forms exhibit striking irregularities. The author, however, shows an acquaintance with Latin poets—Horace, See also:Virgil, See also:Lucretius. The best edition of the See also:text is by B. Dombart (See also:Vienna, 1887), and a See also:good account of the poems will be found in M. Manitius, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie (1891), with bibliography, to which may be added G. See also:Boissier, " Commodien," in the Melanges Renier (1887) ; H.

See also:

Brewer, Kommodian von See also:Gaza (See also:Paderborn, 1906) ; L. See also:Vernier, " La Versification latine populaire en Afrique," in Revue de philologie, xv. (1891); and C. E. See also:Freppel, Commodien, Arnobe, Lactance (1893). See also:Teuffel-See also:Schwabe, Hist. of See also:Roman Literature (Eng. trans., 384), should also be consulted.

End of Article: COMMODIANUS

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