ABSTRACT
Blossius Aemilius Dracontius was trained in classical rhetoric at Carthage and then worked as a lawyer there at the end of the fifth century. He was apparently thrown into prison by the Vandal king Guntamund for addressing a poem to the Byzantine emperor Zeno. While in prison Dracontius wrote a poem called the Satisfactio in which he admits his guilt and pleads for forgiveness. It was about this time that he also wrote his major work, the De Laudibus Dei (sometimes referred to as the Carmen de Deo) which consists of 2327 hexameters divided into three books, in which the author praises God the creator and benefactor of mankind. The first book is largely a paraphrase of the account in Genesis of the six days of creation, but it is markedly different from the treatments of such poets as Cyprian, Avitus and Claudius Marius Victorius: the narrative passages are punctuated not so much by allegorical interpretations as by lyrical passages celebrating God’s goodness or giving examples of his benevolence, as in the attempt to prove the concept of resurrection by presenting examples of rebirth and regeneration from nature. The second book describes man’s sinfulness – a section which allows the poet to verge on the satirical – and God’s punishment of man and his mercy towards him, particularly in sending Christ to redeem mankind. This leads to a section recounting the incarnation, passion and resurrection of Christ, as well as an account of some of Christ’s miracles. The final book is concerned to show that people should demonstrate their love and faith by sacrificing themselves to God, as Christ sacrificed himself for us. Dracontius gives examples of such self-sacrifice from the Old Testament but also provides a long series (lines 256-530) of heroes and heroines from the legends of antiquity1
to convince those who are not Christians of the truth of what he is
saying. On the whole, his poem is less dependent on Scripture, drawing also on the poet’s observations of natural phenomena as well as his knowledge of Christian and classical writings.
