Primary source · Latin hexameters

Juvencus, The Four Books of the Gospels (Evangeliorum Libri IV)

Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus · c. AD 329–330

What this text is

A Spanish presbyter of noble family sets the Gospel in 3,200 hexameters, announcing that while Homer's and Virgil's lies won centuries of fame, his song of Christ's deeds will outlast the world itself. The founding act of Christian classicism.

Profile of Juvencus →

Public-domain translations

Working translation (from the Latin, CSEL 24)

Nothing bound in the world's fabric is immortal... but if songs woven of lies won the ancient poets so long a fame, how much more shall the life-giving deeds of Christ, sung without falsehood, be my glory and my hope. (Preface, condensed)

Manuscript witnesses

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 304

7th–8th c.

Insular-kept Italian uncial copy — the oldest of an abundant medieval tradition (Juvencus was a school text for a millennium).

EARLIEST WITNESS

Carolingian school tradition

9th c. onward

Dozens of glossed classroom copies across the empire.

BROAD TRADITION

CSEL 24 (Huemer)

1891

The standard text and line numbering.

CRITICAL EDITION

Provenance

Spain, under Constantine — the first Christian epic, Matthew retold in Virgil's metre

Editions & scholarship

Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.

Figures named in this text (1)