Poems, Volume 1

14. THE PASSION OF AGNES

274 AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS CLEMENS 14. THE PASSION OF AGNESl The native home of Romulus now enshrines The tomb of Agnes, virgin and martyr blest.2 Reposing there in sight of its lofty towers,s The maiden watches over the sons of Rome, And pilgrims, too, enjoy here protecting care, 5 1. According to the best authorities St. Agnes suffered martyrdom at Rome about the year 304 during the persecution of Diocletian . The Latin Fathers of the Church in the fourth century give testimony to the widespread popularity of the cult of the virgin martyr. St. Jerome mentions her in his letter to Demetrias, and St. Augustine refers to her in one of his sermons (Sermon 273.6, PL 38.1250). Pope Damasus composed an epigraph in her honor, which Prudentius probably read during his visit to Rome (Epigram 40, Ihm, op. cit. p. 44; Epigram 37, Ferrua, op. cit. pp. 175-178). In his De virginibus (PL 16.200-202) St. Ambrose gives a brief account of her martyrdom, with which Prudentius seems to have been acquainted. He also wrote a hymn in her honor, now recognized as genuine (PL 17.1249) and made incidental mention of her in his De officiis ministrorum (PL 16.90). The Acts attributed to St. Ambrose (BHL 156-158) are now regarded as belonging to the fifth century. St. Agnes is listed in the Martyrology of St. Jerome on January 21 and January 28, feasts also observed at present according to the Roman Martyrology. The entire hymn of Prudentius is used for the Vespers and Lauds of the feast in the Mozarabic Breviary, observed in that rite on January 20 (PL 86.1050-1054). 2. Cf. Damasus, Epigram 40.10 (Ihm, op. cit. p. 44); also Ferrua, notes 4 and 10, op. cit. p. 178. 3. Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, caused a basilica to be erected at the tomb of St. Agnes on the Via Nomentana (Liber HYMNS Who pray to her with pure and believing hearts. With splendid twofold diadem she is crowned:4 Virginity unmarred by the stain of sin And glory won by freely embracing death.1i 275 That maiden, they relate, who was not yet ripe 10 For marriage vows and still but a child in years,6 Her soul aflame with rapturous love of Christ, Withstood the impious edict to sacrifice To idols and abandon her holy Faith. Assailed at first by every art and wile, 15 Now by the coaxing words of a fawning judge, Now by the butcher's sinister threats of doom,7 Dauntless she stood, nor shrank from her stern resolve, Willing to give her body to torments sore, Nor quailing from the threat of a cruel death. 20 Then spoke the angry tyrant:8 'If she can face The thought of grinding torture and woeful pangs,9 Pontificalis MGH 1.62). Pope Symmachus (498-514) renovated the church and its apse then falling into ruin (Ibid. l.I25). The basilica remains today as restored and embellished by Pope Honorius I between the years 625 and 638 (Ibid. l.I71). For a discussion of the inscription placed there by Pope Damasus and the pseudo-Damasian acrostic, Constantina Deo, see Ihm, op. cit. pp. 44 and 88, and Ferrua, op. cit. pp. 175-178 and 246-250. 4. Cf. Ambrose, De virginibus 1.2.9; De officiis 41.203. 5. Cf. Horace, Odes 4.14.18. 6. Cf. Ambrose, Hymn 65.6 (PL 17.1249); Jerome, Epistle 120.5. St. Ambrose (De virginibus 1.2.7) gives the age of Agnes as twelve, and St. Augustine (Sermon 273.6, PL 38.1251) says that she was thirteen. 7. Cf. Ambrose, De virginibus 1.2.9. 8. Cf. Damasus, Epigram 40.4 (Ihm, p. 44); Ferrua, Epigram 37, p. 176 and note, p. 178. 9. Cf. Horace, Odes 2.5.1. 276 AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS CLEMENS And sets at naught her life as of little worth, Her consecrated chastity she holds dear.10 Into a common den of impurity 25 I am resolved to cast her unless she bows Before Minerva's altar and begs her grace, That virgin she, a virgin, has dared despise. There all the youths in wanton delight will rush,11 To seek this newest slave of their lustful sport.' 30 Then Agnes answered: 'Never will Christ forget His own nor let our precious virginity Be snatched from us. He will...