Beatitudes in Juvencus’ Epic "Evangeliorum libri quattuor" – Philologically Analyzed and Poetically Translated
Viktor Wintner
Masaryk University, Brno , CzechiaAbstract
Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Iuvencus is the author of the first biblical epic which is known as Evangeliorum libri quattuor. It retells the Gospel story in classical hexameter in order to adapt its form to the literary aesthetics of the 4th century pagan society. Through the analysis of his poetic version of the beatitudes, this study aims to uncover and appraise the basic principles of his periphrastic technique, whether they apply to the form or content of the Matthean original. It shows that the author constantly tries to vary its syntax with the intention to disturb its monotonous regularity. He also promotes the value of heavenly rewards promised to Christians, providing them with sympathetic epithets and embellishes the original with stylistic figures such as alliteration or contrast. As for the content, the most significant change is the occasional insertion of author’s comments, the purpose of which is to provide the Matthean text with additional theological information that he might find missing. The study concludes with our free translation of this passage into iambic heptameter or fourteener.
Keywords:
Biblical epic, Juvencus, beatitudes, versification, translationReferences
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, ed. R. Gryson – R. Weber, Stuttgart 2007; The Bible. Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha, ed. R. Carrol – S. Prickett, Oxford – New York 1997; The Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version, anglicized edition, Oxford 2001; Itala. Das Neue Testament in Altlateinischer Überlieferung. I. Matthäus-Evangelium, ed. A. Jülicher, Berlin 1976.
Q. Vetii Iuvenci Libri Evangeliorum IIII, ed. C. Marold, Lipsiae 1886; Gai Vetti Aquilini Iuvenci Evangeliorum libri quattuor, ed. I. Huemer, Vindobonae 1891; L. Canali – P. Santorelli, Aquilino Giovenco: Il poema dei Vangeli, Milano 2011; F. Galli, Giovenco: I libri dei Vangeli, Roma 2012; S. McGill, Juvencus’ Four Books of the Gospels: Evangeliorum libri quattuor, London – New York 2016.
Hieronymus, Commentarius in Evangelium Matthaei Libri Quattuor, PL 26, 15-208.
Hilarius Pictaviensis, Commentarius in Evangelium Matthaei, ed. J. Doignon, SCh 254; 258, Paris 1978-1979.
Origenes, Commentaria in Evangelium secundum Matthaeum, ed. E. Klostermann – E. Benz, GCS 38, 40, Leipzig 1933, 1935, tr. R. Heine, The Commentary of Origen on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Volume I, Oxford 2018.
Bradtke M., Lateinische Stilmittel, Stuttgart 2016.
Colombi E., Paene ad verbum: Gli Evageliorum libri di Giovenco tra parafrasi e commento, “Cassiodorus” 3 (1997) p. 9-36.
Green R., Latin Epics of the New Testament: Juvencus, Sedulius, Arator, Oxford 2006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284573.001.0001
Herzog R., Die Bibelepik der lateinischen Spätantike: Geschichte einer erbaulichen Gattung, München 1975.
Kievits H., Ad Iuvenci Evangeliorum librum primum commentarius exegeticus, Groningen 1940.
Limbeck M. – Müller P. – Porsch F., Stuttgarter kleiner Kommentar zu den Evangelien, Stuttgart 2009.
Majtán Ľ., Ježišova zVRCHovaná reč: Evanjelium podľa Matúša, 5. – 7. kapitola, Doľany 2021.
Mrázek J., Kázání na hoře, Jihlava 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23363525.2017.47
Müller M., Tod und Auferstehung Jesu Christi bei Iuvencus (IV 570-812): Untersuchungen zu Dichtkunst, Theologie und Zweck der Evangeliorum libri quattuor, Stuttgart 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25162/9783515113410
Orban A., Juvencus als Bibelexeget und als Zeuge der “Afrikanischen” Vetus-Latina-Tradition: Untersuchungen der Bergpredigt (Mt. 5,1 – 48) in der Vetus Latina und in der Versification des Juvencus (I 452-572), “Vigilae Christianae” 49 (1995) p. 334-352. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1583824
Roberts M., Biblical Epic and Rhetorical Paraphrase in the Late Antiquity, Liverpool 1985.
Rollins, S., The Parables in Juvencus’ Evangeliorum libri IV, Liverpool 1984.
Souter A., A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D, Oxford 1996.
Thor A., Studies on Juvencus’ Language and Style, Uppsala 2013.
Thraede K., Juvencus: Der Übergang zur Bergpredigt des Matthäusevangeliums, in: Alvarium: Festschrift für Christian Gnilka, ed. W. Blümer – R. Henke – M. Mulke, JbAC Ergänzungsband 33, Münster 2002, p. 377-384.
Wacht M., Concordantia in Iuvenci Evangeliorum libros, Hildesheim – Zürich – New York 1990.
Wetmore M., Index verborum vergilianus, New Haven 1961.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Pursuant to the Act on Copyright and Related Rights of February 4, 1994, the Author of the publication grants the Publisher of the journal "Vox Patrum" a non-exclusive and free license to use the Work submitted for publication for an indefinite period of time on an unlimited territory in the following fields of use:
a. In the field of recording and reproducing the work - producing copies of the work using a specific technique, including printing, reprographic, magnetic recording and digital technology;
b. Within the scope of trading in the original or copies on which the work has been recorded - marketing, lending or renting the original or copies;
c. In the scope of disseminating the work in a manner other than specified in point b - public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and rebroadcasting, as well as making the work available to the public, so that everyone can have access to it at a place and time chosen by them.
Moreover, the Author allows the Publisher free of charge to use and dispose of the compilations of the Works.
The publisher may grant sub-licenses.
Third parties may use the Works and other materials containing or based on the Works in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (also known as CC-BY-NC 4.0) license pattern.
