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PRUDENTIUS, AURELIUS CLEMENS (348-c. ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 518 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRUDENTIUS, AURELIUS CLEMENS (348-c. 410) , the most remarkable of the earlier See also:Christian poets in the See also:West, was probably See also:born at Tarraco, though See also:Saragossa and Calagurris have also been claimed as his birthplace. The meagre autobiographical See also:preface, which he affixed to the See also:complete edition of his See also:works when he was fifty-seven years old, makes it clear that he received a liberal See also:education—being of See also:noble See also:family—practised as a lawyer and entered See also:official See also:life, and finally held some high See also:office under See also:Theodosius. At the See also:age of fifty-seven he retired to a monastery, but died shortly afterwards. See also:Bentley calls Prudentius " the See also:Horace and See also:Virgil of the Christians," but his diction is See also:stilted and his See also:metre often faulty. The See also:list of his works given in the preface mentions the See also:hymns, poems against the Priscillianists and against See also:Symmachus and Perislephanon. The Diptychon or Dittochaeon is not mentioned. The twelve hymns of the Cathemerinon See also:liber (" Daily See also:Round ") consist of six for daily use, five for festivals, and one intended for every See also:hour of the See also:day. Prudentius shows See also:Ambrose as his See also:master here, but gives to Ambrose's mystic symbolism much clearer expression. The See also:Apotheosis and Hamartigenia are polemic, the first against the disclaimers of the divinity of See also:Christ, the latter against the gnostic See also:dualism of See also:Marcion and his followers. In them See also:Tertullian is the source of See also:inspiration. Of more See also:historical See also:interest are the two books Contra Symmachum, of 658 and 1131 See also:hexameter verses respectively, the first attacking the See also:pagan gods, the second directed against the See also:petition of Symmachus to the See also:emperor for the restoration of the See also:altar and statue of Victory which See also:Gratian had See also:cast down.

The Peristephanon consists of fourteen hymns to martyrs. These were mostly See also:

Spanish, but some were suggested to Prudentius by sacred images in churches or by the See also:inscriptions of See also:Damasus. This See also:book, with the Cathemerinon liber and the Psychomachia, was among the most widely read books of the See also:middle ages. Its See also:influence on the iconography of See also:medieval See also:art was See also:great. The Psychomachia is aesthetically inferior, but had the greatest influence of all of Prudentius's writings. In it he depicts the struggle of Christendom with paganism under the See also:allegory of a struggle between the Christian virtues and the pagan vices. The Dittochaeon is a See also:series of quatrains, probably intended to explain See also:forty-nine pictures of a See also:basilica. The See also:work is more interesting for See also:archaeology than for literature. Prudentius's works were, published by Giselin' at See also:Antwerp in 1564, and by F. Arevalo at See also:Rome in 1788, with complete commentary. This last is the edition reprinted in J. P.

See also:

Migne's Palrologia See also:Latina, vols. lix.–lx. (See also:Paris, 1847). More See also:recent See also:editions are by Obbarius (See also:Tubingen, 1845) and A. Dressel (See also:Leipzig, 1886), while a See also:critical edition has been undertaken by J. Bergmann. See also J. Bergmann, See also:Lexicon prudentianum, fast. i. [a-adscendol (See also:Upsala, 1894) ; M. Schanz, Gesch. d. rem. Lit. (See also:Munich, 1904); A. See also:Ebert, Allgem.

Gesch. d. Lit. See also:

des Mittelalters, vol. i. 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1889) ; M. Manitius, Gesch. d. christl. See also:lat. Poesie (See also:Stuttgart, 1891; T. R. See also:Glover, Life and Letters in the See also:Fourth See also:Century (See also:Cambridge, 1901); C. See also:Brockhaus, Aur. Prud. Clem. in seiner Bedeutung f. d. Kirche seiner Zeit (Leipzig, 1872) ; A.

Pnech, Prudence; etude sur la poesie latine chret. au IV' siecle (Paris, 1888) ; F. St See also:

John See also:Thackeray, See also:Translations from Prudentius (See also:London, 1890) ; F. Maigret, Le Poete chretien Prudentius (Paris, 1903) ; E. O. Winstedt, ' The See also:Double Recension in the Poems of Prudentius," The Classical See also:Review, vol. xvii. (1903). PRUD'HON, See also:PIERRE (1758–1823), See also:French painter, born at See also:Cluny on the 4th of See also:April 1758, was the third son of a See also:mason. The monks of the See also:abbey undertook his education, and by the aid of the See also:bishop of See also:Macon he was placed with Devosges, director of the art school at See also:Dijon. In 1778 Prud'hon went to Paris armed with a See also:letter to Wille, the celebrated engraver, and three years later he obtained the triennial See also:prize of the states of See also:Burgundy, which enabled him to go to Rome, where he became intimate with See also:Canova. He returned to Paris in 1787, and led for some See also:time a See also:precarious existence. The illustrations which he executed for the See also:Daphnis and Chloe published by See also:Didot brought him into See also:notice, and his reputation was extended by the success of his decorations in the Hotel de Landry (now See also:Rothschild), his See also:ceiling See also:painting of "Truth and See also:Wisdom " for See also:Versailles (Louvre), and of " See also:Diana and See also:Jupiter " for the See also:Gallery of Antiquities in the Louvre. In 18o8 he exhibited " See also:Crime pursued by Vengeance and See also:Justice " (Louvre, engraved by Royer which had been commissioned for the See also:assize courts, and "See also:Psyche carried off by Zephyrs " (engraved by Massard).

These two remarkable compositions brought Prud'hon the See also:

Legion of See also:Honour; and in 1816 he entered the See also:Institute. Easy as to See also:fortune, and consoled for the misery of his See also:marriage by the devoted care of his excellent and charming See also:pupil, Mlle See also:Mayer, Prud'hon's situation seemed enviable; but Mlle Mayer's tragical See also:suicide on the 26th of May 1821 brought ruin to his See also:home, and two years later (Feb. 16, 1823) Prud'hon followed her to the See also:grave. Mlle Mayer (1778–1821) was his ablest pupil. Her " Abandoned See also:Mother " and "Happy Mother " are in the Louvre. Voiart,"Notice historique de la See also:vie et oeuvres de P. Prud'hon, "in See also:Arch. de fart See also:francais; Qu. de See also:Quincy, Discours prononce sur la tombe de Prud'hon, Fev. 1823 ; See also:Eugene See also:Delacroix, Rev. des deux mondes, 1846; See also:Charles See also:Blanc, Hist. des peintres francais.

End of Article: PRUDENTIUS, AURELIUS CLEMENS (348-c. 410)

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