- Juvencus
Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus ( _la. "GAIVS·VETTIVS·AQVILINVS·IVVENCVS"; _es. Juvenco), known as Juvencus or Juvenk, was a Spanish
Christian and composer ofLatin poetry in the4th century .Life
Of his life we know only what
St. Jerome tells us (De viris, chapter 84; Chron., ad an. 2345; Epist. lxx, 5; In Matt., I, ii, 11). He was a Spaniard of very good birth, became a priest, and wrote in the time ofConstantine I .From one passage in his work (II, 806, sq.) and from St. Jerome's Chronicle it must be inferred that he wrote about the year 330. His poem, in
dactylic hexameter s, is entitled "Evangeliorum libri" (The Gospels). It is a history of Christ according tothe Gospels , particularly that ofSt. Matthew . He goes to the other Evangelists for what he does not find in St. Matthew — as the story of the Infancy, which he takes from St. Luke. He follows his model very closely, "almost literally", as St. Jerome says.The whole problem for him is to render the Gospel text into easy language conformable to the tradition of the Latin poets, and borrowed especially from
Virgil . His task is of no higher order than might be accomplished by a proficient schoolboy; it permits of little originality beyond that exhibited in new words composed, or derived, according to familiar types ("auricolor", "flammiuomus", "flammicomans", "sinuamen"), elegant synonyms to express the Christian realities ("tonans" for "God", "genitor" for the Father, "spiramen" for theHoly Ghost , "uersutia" forthe Devil ), or, lastly, archaic expressions. There is no colour, no movement. The language is correct, the verses well constructed. A few obscurities ofprosody betray the period in which the work was written. The whole effect is carefully wrought out.In the
prologue Juvencus announces that he wishes to meet the lying tales of the pagan poets,Homer and Virgil, with the glories of the true Faith. He hopes that his poem will survive the destruction of the world by fire, and will deliver him, the poet, from hell. He invokes the Holy Spirit as the pagans invokedthe Muses orApollo .The work is divided into four books, which make arbitrary divisions of the life of
Christ . The number four seems to be symbolical, corresponding to the number of the Evangelists. Other traces of symbolism have been found in Juvencus, the most notable being the significance attached to thegifts of the Magi — the incense offered to the God, the gold to the King, the myrrh to the Man. This interpretation, of which he, certainly, was not the inventor, was to have the greatest success, as we know.Lastly, eight preliminary verses, Juvencus's authorship of which is disputed, characterize the Evangelists and assign emblems to them; but they assign the eagle to
St. Mark and the lion toSt. John .The Bible text which Juvencus paraphrased was of course an ancient one. He appears, too, to have had recourse at times to the Greek text. The source of his poetical phraseology and his technic is, first, Virgil, then
Lucretius ,Propertius ,Horace ,Ovid ,Silius Italicus , andStatius . The cold correctness of the work recommended it to the taste of the Middle Ages, when it was frequently quoted, imitated, and copied.St. Jerome tells us that Juvencus composed another, shorter, Christian poem on "the order of the mysteries" ("Sacramentorum ordinem"). This work is lost.
Modern writers have incorrectly attributed to him the "Heptateuchus", a work of
Cyprian of Gaul , and the "De Laudibus Domini", a work of Juvencus's time, but to be credited to some pupil of the rhetoricians ofAugustodunum (Autun).External links
* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Gaius_Vettius_Aquilinus_Juvencus 1911 Britannica article]
* [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0350-0450-_Vettius_Aquilius_Juvencus.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina]Editions
*
C. Marold (Leipzig, 1886) in the "Bibliotheca Teubneriana"
*J. Hümer (Vienna, 1891) in the "Corpus script. ecclesiast. latinorum"References
*
W. S. Teuffel , "Geschichte der römischen Literatur" (Leipzig, 1890), 1016
*Martin Schanz , "Geschichte der röm. Literatur", IV (Munich, 1904), 1, 190
*Otto Bardenhewer , tr.Thomas J Shanan , "Patrology" (St. Louis, 1908)
*Cornel Heinsdorff , "Christus, Nikodemus und die Samaritanerin bei Juvencus. Mit einem Anhang zur lateinischen Evangelienvorlage", Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte 67 (Berlin/New York 2003) ISBN 3-11-017851-6
*Cornel Heinsdorff , "Der interpolierte Juvencus des Codex Augiensis 112 und Severus von Malaga", Vigiliae Christianae 60 (2006), 148-170
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