Wednesday, March 08, 2006

The Cento Revisited

It is well-known to students of Late Antique poetry that Vergil's lines were could be dismembered, reassembled, and turned into something completely different by Christian and non-Christian Latin poets. I was unaware that the same happened to Prudentius in a subsequent age. That, however, is what Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopaedie tells me in the section on the Hamartigenia in the Prudentius article. Apparently the close of the poem (by which I assume is meant Prudentius' closing prayer, ll. 931-66) was made into a cento by a Spanish bishop named Ascaricus. Here is the sentence from the article along with the references given:

Aus dem Schluss des Gedichtes machte der spanische Bischof Ascaricus einen Cento (Fr. Buecheler Carmina lat. epigr. nr. 927. C. Weyman Rh. Mus. L 1895, 154).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

more for the cheat sheet:

http://pastmasters2000.nlx.com/titles/

Includes OCD as well as various other stuff (need subscription).

Dave

while I am at it, also:

http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/