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Whoever Am I?

Preface to His Poetry

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by Prudentius (c. 4th century AD)
translated by Margaret Coats

If I see clear, through fifty years
I’ve lived. The seventh after them appears to wheel
Around as we enjoy these whirling circlings of the sun.

My end is near, and every day
That God may add, conveys me closer to decay.
What beneficial have I done in this expanse of time?

My early years were weeping ones,
Beneath the blows of rods. And then the toga taught
Me how to dye my words with vicious lies, not without guilt.

Next came my pert and petulant
Lascivious indulgent lust (ah, shame and gall)
To foul my youth with filthy farces of facetious evil.

And after that, severe disputes
Equipped my stubborn animosity with zeal
For victory, subjecting me to agonizing falls.

Twice, well directed by the laws,
I took up regal reins and governed noble cities;
The good I served with civil justice, and terrorized the bad.

At last advanced from soldier’s ranks,
My place was high. A prince’s kindly piety
Exalted me, and bade me stand in order near himself.

While life, the fleeting thief, sped on,
Lackluster timeworn whitewash suddenly stole in,
And told me I’d forgotten Salia’s consulship of old.

Under his rule my days began,
And many winters have returned, with meadow roses
Frozen in the cold, as snow upon my head can show.

Will my achievements, good or bad,
Sustain me once this flesh is gone, when everything
I was, already will have been abolished by my death?

To me is said, “Whoever you are,
Your world and what you cultivate, your mind has lost.
Your strivings are not things of God, who soon will hold yourself.”

Thus conscious of my utmost goal,
Now let my sinning soul strip off her foolishness
And singing, worship God, if merit renders her unable.

Let her draw out the days with hymns,
And waste no night in naught, but glorify the Lord,
Combating heresies and shining light on catholic faith.

May she tread down mere mundane rites,
And stain, O Rome, your cherished but infernal idols,
Disowning them to praise the martyrs and acclaim apostles.

As on these themes I write or speak,
Would that I might soar forth, free from the body’s bonds,
To where my tongue will have been borne in sounds of song supreme.

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Translator’s Note: The poet Prudentius (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens) was born in 348 in part of the Roman Empire now called Spain. Nearly everything known of his life comes from this poem, composed in 405 as preface to his works. He is the earliest Christian Latin poet to leave a considerable collection; it was highly influential in the Middle Ages. The most popular work was the “Psychomachia,” a fully developed psychological allegory of the battle for the soul between faith and the virtues in opposition to idolatry and the vices. In addition to poems of praise for martyrs and others on theological topics, Prudentius wrote the first set of Christian lyrics for hours of the day and festivals of the year. Two remain in use as hymns: “Corde natus ex parentis” (“Of the Father’s Love Begotten”) for Christmas and “O sola magnarum urbium” (“Earth has Many a Noble City”) for Epiphany. The latter is sung in English in the video below:

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Original Latin

Praefatio Aurelii Prudentii Clementis

Per quinquennia iam decem,
ni fallor, fuimus; septimus insuper
annum cardo rotat, dum fruimur sole volubili.

Instat terminus, et diem
vicinum senio iam Deus adplicat.
Quid nos utile tanti spatio temporis egimus?

Aetas prima crepantibus
flevit sub ferulis. Mox docuit toga
infectum vitiis falsa loqui, non sine crimine.

Tum lasciva protervitas
et luxus petulans (heu pudet ac piget)
foedavit iuvenem nequitiae sordibus ac luto.

Exim iurgia turbidos
armarunt animos, et male pertinax
vincendi studium subiacuit casibus asperis.

Bis legum moderamine
frenos nobilium reximus urbium,
ius civile bonis reddidimus, terruimus reos.

Tandem militiae gradu
evectum pietas principis extulit
adsumptum propius stare iubens ordine proximo.

Haec dum vita volans agit,
inrepsit subito canities seni,
oblitum veteris me Saliae consulis arguens,

sub quo prima dies mihi
quam multas hiemes volverit, et rosas
pratis post glaciem reddiderit, nix capitis probat.

Numquid talia proderunt
carnis post obitum vel bona vel mala
cum iam, quidquid id est quod fueram, mors aboleverit?

Dicendum mihi, “Quisquis es,
mundum quem coluit, mens tua perdidit.
Non sunt illa Dei, quae studuit, cuius habeberis.”

Atqui fine sub ultimo
peccatrix anima stultitiam exuat:
saltem voce Deum concelebret, si meritis nequit.

Hymnis continuet dies,
nec nox ulla vacet quin Dominus canat;
pugnet contra hereses, catholicam discutiat fidem.

Conculcet sacra gentium,
labem, Roma, tuis inferat idolis,
carmen martyribus devoveat, laudet apostolos.

Haec dum scribo vel eloquor,
vinclis o utinam corporis emicem
liber, quo tulerit lingua sono mobilis ultimo.

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Margaret Coats lives in California.  She holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.  She has retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable wrk in homeschooling for her own family and others.


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26 Responses

  1. Satyananda Sarangi

    Dear Margaret Ma’am,

    Such powerful lines on mortality! The most striking thing for me was the metaphor of life being a fleeting thief.

    Best wishes!

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      And best wishes to you! I agree on the power of the ancient poet’s lines about his life. Thank you for a much-appreciated comment, Satyananda.

      Reply
  2. jd

    Thank you, Margaret. I enjoyed learning
    about Prudentius, which never would have
    happened without your translation. His hymn with beautiful visuals was a good way
    to begin a Sunday too.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thanks, jd. I learned of this once-influential poet in graduate school, and never having heard the name, didn’t spell it correctly when I wrote it down. I’m impressed by the dramatic account of his coming to give due attention to God in his life.

      Reply
  3. Jeffrey Essmann

    This is marvelous, Margaret! Can’t thank you enough. This seems to be my year for Prudentius. I was introduced to him back in September when I published a poem called “Litany Before Psychomachia” on the web page I edit [https://integratedcatholiclife.org/2024/09/litany-before-psychomachia/]. Later in the fall I embarked on a major project–a poem sequence based on The Confessions of St. Augustine–and it’s remarkable how many of Augustine’s themes–the brutality of a Roman education; the “lascivious indulgent lust” (and subsequent guilt); the ambitions that Roman society stimulated; and, of course, the vanity of it all– are picked up, albeit much more succinctly, by Prudentius. Now, of course, I’ve got to find out if Augustine read him (since he seems to have read everyone). I don’t know enough Latin to compliment you sufficiently on the translation, but knowing well the difficulties of translation (in my case, from German), I suspect you’ve done something quite brilliant here. So I’ll thank you again for a first read, because I know this something I’ll be coming back to again and again to fully savor its riches. God bless, Jeffrey

    Reply
    • Julian D. Woodruff

      Augustine came immediately to my mind, too, Jeff. Whether Augustine read Prudentius would depend on the speed and breadth of manuscript circulation. (Iberia to Hippo–via Rome or Gibraltar?) Margaret may havecthe answer.

      Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      God bless you as well, Jeffrey, and thank you for this generous comment. I’m glad to know of your work, and look forward to reading the litany. In answer to you and Julian Woodruff on Augustine and Prudentius, the two were separated by only six years in age, with Prudentius being the elder. I’ll have to look further at possibilities not only of Augustine reading Prudentius, but even of the two meeting in the imperial capital of Milan. Depends on when they might have been there. Will have more to say when I’ve had time to investigate. Thanks to you both for bringing up the topic.

      Reply
  4. Paul A. Freeman

    Some topics are universal and defy time – as you’ve so aptly shown us, Margaret.

    An alliterative masterpiece, metered out in lines 8, 12, and 14 syllables long per life stage stanza.

    Alliteratively, here’s my favourite stanza:
    “Next came my pert and petulant
    Lascivious indulgent lust (ah, shame and gall)
    To foul my youth with filthy farces of facetious evil.”

    I was reminded, though in a less generic way, of the 7 stages of Man. To visualise Prudentius’s life, from so long ago and so clearly, is fascinating, almost like watching a biographic film.

    Reply
    • Julian D. Woodruff

      Margaret, you found a distinctive way to reflect P’s metrical scheme and retain his marked penchant for alliteration. Was alliteration a commonly used device in Latin poetry of the period, or perhaps a regional characteristic?

      Reply
      • Margaret Coats

        Thanks, Julian, for both your pertinent comments. Regarding the very obvious alliteration, it’s present in other poems by Prudentius–but he seems to reserve it for occasional use. About other poetry of the period or region, I don’t know enough to say. But as I said to Paul, the technique is always available and often taken advantage of by poets for appropriate sound effects, just as it is by advertisers who hope to make their products memorable!

    • Margaret Coats

      Thanks, Paul. The poet summarizing his life is certainly a common topic for those who grow old enough and learn enough from life to do it! As is the turn toward things of the spirit when one matures.

      Alliteration, too, is a technique that appeals across the ages. If you looked at the Latin of the stanza you favor, you saw that Prudentius put plenty of P’s and L’s in it–and I follow him.

      Reply
  5. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Being able to translate into English with great alliteration and internal rhymes fascinated me and propelled me through the entire poem with enthusiasm secure in the comfort that I was in the presence of an awesome mind.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Roy, I was thinking of you and your predilection for rhyme as I translated this piece that is unrhymed in the original. I used some good opportunities for rhyme in the English. You’ll be happy to know, I’m sure, that the earliest Latin poetry was characterized by rhyme, according to an expert in the period. And in some early medieval poems I’ve dealt with, there is often rhyme without a regular rhyme scheme–just as it struck the poet’s fancy. Prudentius is, as you say, an awesome mind, so much better able than most to consider the ultimate meaning of his life and times. Thanks for your response!

      Reply
  6. Joseph S. Salemi

    This is nicely done. Margaret’s English tercets pick up the rhythm of Prudentius, with their staggered lengths of tetrameter, hexameter, and heptameter.

    Even though the poem is a “Preface,” it functions as a farewell to life by a speaker who recounts his history, his sins, and his established faith in Christianity.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Joseph. Line lengths (and the content of each) try to reproduce the effect of the unusual form chosen by the author. You are right that the whole functions as a farewell–in two senses. It looks forward to upcoming death, but proclaims as well the “death to life as lived in this world” that enables Prudentius to emphasize things of God exclusively in his time remaining. And his poetry is the labor proper to this time, by which he wishes principally to be remembered.

      Reply
  7. Warren Bonham

    We seem to go through very similar stages, even today after we have supposedly become much more civilized. My favorite stanza was:

    “My early years were weeping ones,
    Beneath the blows of rods. And then the toga taught
    Me how to dye my words with vicious lies, not without guilt.”

    Thankfully togas have been replaced but we’re all still taught how to dye our words with vicious lies.

    Thanks for your extremely well-done preservation efforts. Hopefully, your version will be read and translated into some as yet unknown language hundreds of years from now.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Warren, I’m very happy to have your civilizational comment! Prudentius does give a succinct review of how to be successful in the later Roman Empire–and ultimately with God. As he admits, it’s not all good, though we can surely appreciate his determination as a ruler to be guided by good laws. I hope the state of education will preserve Latin in the future, such that the future translator you envision can work directly from the original. The poem is a magnificent one to which I’ve tried to do justice, but it’s always best to get that feeling from the ancient poet’s own words.

      Reply
  8. Gigi Ryan

    Dear Margaret,
    It was a privilege to have this glimpse into the heart of a Christian from long ago. Truly there is nothing new under the sun. Thank you for this labor of love in preserving Prudentius’s poem.
    Gigi

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you very much, Gigi, for responding to it. I apologize for the long delay of my reply. I was caught up in the crazy traffic delays of the week. Prudentius’ determination to serve only God led him at last to a great deal of theological poetry. He thought it more important to defend the divinity of Christ and the truth of His teachings than to write about anything else. And this work was as much involved in controversy as the social and political debates we hear around us. I’m glad you liked the personal story he gave us to introduce it!

      Reply
  9. Brian A. Yapko

    Margaret, this is a wonderfully sensitive translation of a marvelous and suprisingly modern poem. I too perceive echoes of St. Augustine who would have written his Confessions only a few years before this poem was composed. (It seems improbable to me that Augustine and Prudentius would have influenced each other at a time when communication was so limited. Augustine lived in Hippo from 395 on. But perhaps you have deeper insight on this question.) Both authors present a fascinating window into the late Roman zeitgeist — one in which Christianity is quite vigorous but still receiving strong competition from paganism and philosophies emphasizing the rational at the expense of the spiritual. Prudentius, like Augustine, affords a description of all that he has experienced and weighed and, in the end, chooses devotion to God. The quest for fame and fortune and the experiencing of both power and materialism all being found lacking is a theme which has great resonance at all times but particularly so in these anti-religious, deeply material times. It is a timeless message and I’m grateful for the reminder from from 1600 years ago!

    On a peripheral note which may be relevant to those in the teaching professions, I always enjoy seeing Latin texts translated. And when I do, I’m fascinated by the fact that Latin is so much more efficient than English. I note that the Latin original has 234 words versus the English version which has 379. It is not that you are somehow more “verbose” than Prudentius. This differential is a direct result of differences in how Latin and English are actually structured grammatically.

    I’m grateful for your dedicated work here, Margaret, for the fine poetry (I especially liked your use of alliteration) and for introducing us to this remarkable poetic figure living in a theologically consequential period of church history.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Brian, I’m especially grateful for your outlining the deepest theme of the Prudentius poem. The “turn” in his experience is indeed shown in his discovering the emptiness of human achievements, and as you say, this is something rational thinkers and sensitive poets have perceived through the ages. Prudentius gives one of the strongest expressions of it, claiming a heavenly locution that declares to him personally it is necessarily so, since death involves the loss of everything. And he responds rather brightly, by turning to song that may be at least fitting, if not meritorious!

      Let me give one brief explanation of what you call efficiency of the Latin language. “Hymnis continuet dies” is three words I have translated by eight, “Let her draw out the days with hymns.” It is best to begin with the verb “continuet.” The “u” identifies it as a variation on the more common “contineo,” with an expansive meaning. The “e” informs us of present tense and subjunctive mood, giving the translation “Let her draw out” or “she may draw out” rather than “she draws out.” The “t” says third person singular, confirming that the subject must be the soul spoken of in the previous stanza. This is a lot to get from one word, and we couldn’t do it in English! Case endings of “hymnis” and “dies” (along with knowledge of irregularity in “dies”) tell how to use them in the sentence. Your point demonstrated, and thanks again for making it!

      Reply
  10. Margaret Coats

    To Brian and others, on whether Augustine and Prudentius could have met. Thank you all for interest in the topic. I have supposed both might have been in Milan during the years Augustine was there (384 to 387). Augustine’s conversion took place in Milan, and he did not leave Italy for Africa until 388. During the last year he was also in Rome and Ostia, but close enough to have returned to Milan. There may have been later returns, still in accord with permanent residence in Hippo in Africa from 395, as Brian says.

    Prudentius tells us in the poem above that he was given an exalted place in personal attendance upon a prince. The prince was most likely Emperor Theodosius I the Great, who reigned from 379 to 395. Theodosius, like Prudentius, was born in Spain. After a military career in various places, he spent early years of his imperial reign in Constantinople. He was baptized in 380. He was in Italy in 384 and again in 387 and became consul in 388. By 390, the imperial court was firmly settled in Milan, and Theodosius died there in 395.

    Therefore, there must have been opportunities for a highly placed official like Prudentius to encounter Augustine. He would certainly have met Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who baptized Augustine. Ambrose died in 397.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Having mentioned Ambrose, I’ll say he is the one great Christian Latin poet earlier than Prudentius. He wrote so many hymns that many, many more were attributed to him, and now only four are considered verifiably his. If truth were certain about authorship of the attributed hymns, Ambrose would probably have a collection of poetry equaling that of Prudentius. His prose works make him a Doctor of the Church, and one of four great Fathers of Western Christianity.

      Reply
  11. Laura D

    Margaret, this a moving piece. It makes me wonder how many contemporary souls have the opportunity and mindset to look back over their lives in this manner. It is a moving poem.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Laura! It’s not only an aging poem (of which we have several here at the Society), but a “changing” poem. When we see those at present, the poet usually speaks of a change in the past that made him what he is today. That may be the case for Prudentius, who had 5 or 10 years left to live when he wrote this poem to introduce a collection of his works. He didn’t know that, of course, but he may have retired from imperial service at the death of Emperor Theodosius 10 years earlier. The exalted spiritual mindset of Prudentius, as expressed here, would be difficult to match.

      Reply
  12. Margaret Coats

    Here is a rendering by Bruce Dale Wise of the above Praefatio, in a different English lyric form. Thanks to him for showing how these words could be rhymed.

    Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
    by Aedile Cwerbus, poet of ancient Roma
    ,
    Aurelius Clemens Prudentius was born in Spain,
    a late 4th-century Christ-follower and zealous man.
    His early years were full of sorrow, under blows of rods,
    yet later, when the toga dyed his words, they were not God’s.

    Lascivious indulgent lust as well befouled his youth,
    And galling shame then plagued him, he was so far from the Truth.
    Next came his stubborn animosity, which bore hard fruits,
    though served him well in governance and various disputes.

    At last advanced from soldier’s ranks, he joined the emperor;
    renouncing vanities, he tempered errors prudently.
    Devoted to God’s glory, and His martyrs, he wrote hymns
    that still sustain his memory since when his flesh left him.

    Reply

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