Biblical Epics in Late Antiquity and Anglo-Saxon England: Divina in Laude Voluntas by Patrick McBrine (review)

Patrick McBrine's consideration of Biblical Epics in Late Antiquity and Anglo-Saxon England provides a clear and accessible introduction to the poetic works of Juvencus, Cyprianus, Sedulius, Avitus, and Arator, arguing compellingly for their enduring relevance to scholarly comprehension of Anglo-Latin and Old English religious verse. In his Introduction, McBrine identifies the antique Biblical epic as a genre that retells scriptural narrative by means of the literary conventions pertaining to the classical epic. Such an adaptation of sacred material would have appealed, he suggests, to a cultivated readership steeped in the epic poetry of Vergil, Ovid, Statius, and Lucan, but keen to see these pagan pleasures oriented toward a Christian purpose. McBrine then proposes an analogy with Old English Biblical verse, a genre that also deploys the conventions of secular-heroic poetry in order to recast scripture in terms likely appealing to a Christian audience still fascinated by its Germanic cultural inheritance. Especially in light of abundant evidence that Biblical epics of antiquity formed an important component of the Insular school curriculum, as scholars such as Michael Lapidge have demonstrated, this is an instructive parallel.

McBrine moves in Chapter 1 to examine the Euangeliorum libri quattuor of Juvencus, the fourth century Spanish poet who initiates the Latin tradition of Biblical epic. McBrine analyzes the Euangeliorum libri by considering, via a series of judiciously selected passages, its responsiveness to the text of the Bible and its debt to the diction, style, and prosody of classical writers. Juvencus, McBrine concludes, is relatively conservative in his versified rendition of the Gospels, remaining faithful to the literal narrative rather than its allegorical interpretation, though occasionally hinting at a deeper figural significance. Juvencus's admiration for classical literature reveals itself in his proficient imitation of the heroic meter and epic diction of Vergil, though his acknowledgment that classical values, particularly with respect to earthly glory, are inane for the devout Christian tempers his regard for the sweetness of his antecedent's verse. As Juvencus states in his Preface, the accomplishments of ancient men, however illustrious, cannot compare to "the life-giving deeds of Christ" (p. 29).

Chapter 2 considers the Heptateuch of Cyprianus Gallus, a poem tentatively dated to the first quarter of the fifth century. The Heptateuch resembles the Euangeliorum libri in its zeal to imitate Vergil, but its author, as McBrine observes, is not as skilled a versifier as Juvencus, from whom he also borrows. Nevertheless, Cyprianus, like Juvencus, hews closely to his scriptural source, in this case the first seven books of the Old Testament. And, as with the Euangeliorum libri, the author's concern is to recount the historical incidents of the Bible without much in the way of explicit exegesis.

In Chapter 3, McBrine turns to Sedulius's Carmen Paschale, a versification of the Gospels probably composed in the second quarter of the fifth century. Sedulius shares with Juvencus a profound ambivalence toward the literary achievements of the classical period. On the one hand, the poetry of this "Christian Vergil" (p. 96) consistently alludes to and liberally borrows from pre-Christian authors in order to ornament his own work with "poetic delights" (p. 123). On the other hand, as McBrine puts it, "Sedulius aligns paganism with the mythical founder of Athens, Cecrops, who now leads Christians into a Daedalian maze of delusion and sin, at the heart of which lurks Satan himself" (p. 100). But the Carmen Paschale also indexes an important evolution in the genre of Latin Biblical epic; Sedulius departs from Juvencus and Cyprianus in his explicit and sophisticated attention to exegetical commentary, derived from patristic authors including Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Jerome, and Augustine. While fidelity to the letter of the narrative mostly takes precedence for his precursors, Sedulius is far more willing to explore the spiritual meaning of the scriptural episodes...