Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus was a Spanish Christian and Latin poet of the fourth century. (3rd century - 4th century - 5th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ...

Of his life we know only what St. Jerome tells us (De viris, lxxxiv; cf. 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 of Constantine I. For other uses see: Jerome (disambiguation) Jerome (about 340 - September 30, 420), (full name Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. ... Bronze statue of Constantine I in York, England, near the spot where he was proclaimed Emperor in 306 For other uses, see Constantine I (disambiguation). ...

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 hexameters, is entitled Evangeliorum libri (The Gospels). It is a history of Christ according to the Gospels, particularly that of St. 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. Dactyllic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter) is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. ... For the genre of Christian-themed music, see gospel music. ... Matthew the Evangelist (מתי Gift of the LORD, Standard Hebrew and Tiberian Hebrew Mattay; Septuagint Greek Ματθαιος, Matthaios) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Matthew. ...

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 the Holy Ghost, uersutia for the Devil), or, lastly, archaic expressions. There is no colour, no movement. The language is correct, the verses well constructed. A few obscurities of prosody betray the period in which the work was written. The whole effect is carefully wrought out. A sculpture of Virgil, probably from the 1st century AD. For other uses, see Virgil (disambiguation). ... The Holy Spirit, from the Christian viewpoint, while related to Gods will, is not Gods will personified. ... The Devil is the name given to a supernatural entity who, in most Western religions, is the central embodiment of evil. ... Prosody may mean several things: Prosody consists of distinctive variations of stress, tone, and timing in spoken language. ...

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 invoked the Muses or Apollo. A prologue (Greek πρόλογος, from προ~, pro~ - fore~, and lógos, word), or rarely prolog, is a prefatory piece of writing, usually composed to introduce a drama. ... Homer (Greek HómÄ“ros) was a legendary early Greek poet and aoidos (singer) traditionally credited with the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey. ... In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai : from a root meaning mountain) are nine goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional music and dances. ... Lycian Apollo, early Imperial Roman copy of a fourth century Greek original (Louvre Museum) In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (Ancient Greek , Apóllōn; or Ἀπέλλων, Apellōn), the ideal of the kouros, was the archer-god of medicine and healing and also a bringer of death-dealing plague; as...

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 the gifts 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. This page is about the title or the Divine Person. For the Christian figure, see Jesus. ...

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 to St. John. Mark the Evangelist (1st century) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark, drawing much of his material from Peter. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

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, and Statius. The cold correctness of the work recommended it to the taste of the Middle Ages, when it was frequently quoted, imitated, and copied. == ... Sextus Aurelius Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet born between 57 BC and 46 BC in or near Mevania, who died in around 12 BC. Like Virgil and Ovid, Propertius was also a member of the poetic circle of neoteric poets which collected around Mæcenas. ... Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ... Silius Italicus, in full Titus Catius Silius Italicus (AD 25 or 26 - 101), was a Latin epic poet. ... Publius Papinius Statius, (c. ...

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 of Augustodunum (Autun). Autun is a town in the Saône-et-Loire département in Burgundy, France, and has a history which dates back to Roman times. ...

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)

External link

• 1911 Britannica article

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by The Encyclopedia Press. ...