Publilius Optatianus Porfirius

Publilius Optatianus Porfirius (fl. 4th century) was a Latin poet, possibly a native of Africa. Porfirius has been identified with Publilius Optatianus Porphyrius, who was praefectus urbi (in 329 and 333). For some reason he had been banished, but having addressed a panegyric to the Emperor Constantine I, he was allowed to return.

Works

Twenty-eight poems are extant under his name, of which twenty were included in the panegyric. The content of the poetry is rather trivial. However, the form of the works can be regarded as a specimen of perverted ingenuity. Some of them are squares (the number of letters in each line being equal), certain letters being rubricated so as to form a pattern or figure, and at the same time special verses or maxims; others represent various objects (a syrinx, an organ, an altar); others have special peculiarities in each line (number of words or letters) while the eighth poem (the versus anacyclici) may be read backwards without any effect upon sense or metre. A complimentary letter from the emperor and letter of thanks from the author are also extant.

The manuscript tradition attributes to Optatianus a corpus of carmina quite extensive, but partly uneven. This corpus, in fact, includes poems written by the author at various times and with different techniques; There is also included a series of texts by other authors. Despite the presence of some poems composed well before his fall from grace, the central core of the work is still made up of the panegyric sent by the author to Constantine in the hope of obtaining forgiveness.

The central hub of the Panegyricus (as he defines the manuscript tradition) is the figure of the emperor; infrequent, however, the references to contemporary historical facts.

The main feature of the poems, however, lies not so much in their content, as in the technique with which they are made. Optatianus was the first author to write versus intexti (literally "twisted verses"), a special form of picture poem.

The picture poem is a poem in which the lines are arranged so as to form a precise stylized drawing (an altar, a bagpipe ...). This compositional technique, which was influential predecessors, already in Theocritus, had come to Rome between the II and the I century BC with Erotopaegnia of Levio . The novelty of this technique consists in joining Optatianus to that of ' acrostic, so that within the composition is read, a specified path, a second text relating to the first (and sometimes even a third depending on the order of reading of the letters versus intexti ).

The composition of the poem was done in phases:

the sheet (and not the roll of papyrus ) was first divided into squares; inside the squares they were inserted few verses that were beginning to complete the page by following a particular path, different from time to time; complete the previous verses, filled the rest of the page by placing in the boxes of letters, together with those already present, they formed the verses of sense.

The technique used by Optatianus reveals his predilection for the difficulties and technical virtuosity, and other compositions of the Panegyricus even becomes more complicated, for example, with the construction of verse in the form of palindromes (as in the poem XXVIII) or verse metrically also identical when read from right to left.

From a literary point of view, Optatianus is inspired by Lucan and Silius Italy, but especially in Ovid, who is the main reference for the author, and especially for the exile experience they shared.

Purely by way of example you can consider the poem VIII of collection. In this poem the versus intexti form the monogram of Christ and his name "Iesus"

    A C C I P E P I C T A N O V I S E L E G I S L V X A V R E A M V N D I
    C L E M E N T I S P I A S I G N A D E I V O T V M Q V E P E R E N N E
    S V M M E F A V E T E T O T A R O G A T P L E B S G A V D I A R I T E
    E T M E R I T A M C R E D I T C V M S E R V A T I V S S A T I M O R E
5   A V G V S T O E T F I D E I C H R I S T I S V B L E G E P R O B A T A
    G L O R I A I A M S A E C L O P R O C E S S I T C A N D I D A M I T I
    A D C V M V L A N S C O E T V S E T T O T A O R N A T A S E R E N I S
    M V N E R I B V S P R A E S T A N S N A T I S V T L A V R E A V O T A
    V I R T V T V M T I T V L O S P R I M I S I A M D E B E A T A N N I S
10   P R O G E N I E T A L I G E N V I T Q V O S N O B I L E S A E C L V M
    H I S D E C V S A P R O A V O E T V E R A E C O N S C I A P R O L I S
    R O M A C L V I T P R I N C E P S I N V I C T I M I L I T I S A L M A
    O T I A P A C I S A M A N S H A E C S V N T M I T I S S I M A D O N A
    H O C A T A V I M E R I T V M V O T I S P O S T E D I T V S O R B I S
15   E R V M P E N S D O C V I T N E N O R I N T F R A N G E R E F I D E I
    O P T I M A I V R A P A R E S C V R I S S V B M A R T I S I N I Q U I
    N V L L I S L A E S A F I D E S H I N C I V G I S T A M I N E F A T A
    V O B I S F I L A L E G V N T P L A C I D A P I E T A T E S E C V T A
    E T R E S C O N S T A N T I N V N C E X E R I T I N C L I T A F A M A
20   A V C T A S T I R P E P I A V O T O A C C V M V L A T A P E R E N N I
    S A N C T A S V A S S E D E S A D M E N T I S G A V D I A M I G R A T
    A E T H E R I O R E S I D E N S F E L I X I N C A R D I N E M U N D I
    I A M P A T R I A E V I R T V T I S O P V S B E L L I N E L A B O R E
    A N I V S T I M E R I T I S D I C A M M E N T I S Q V E S E R E N A E
25   E T P I A D O N A C A N A M F E C V N D A Q V E P E C T O R A N O T O
    R I T E D E O S I C M E N T E V I G E N T C V I G A V D I A C A S T A
    C L A V D I V S I N V I C T V S B E L L I S I N S I G N I A M A G N A
    V I R T V T V M T V L E R I T G O T H I C O D E M I L I T E P A R T A
    E T P I E T A T E P O T E N S C O N S T A N T I V S O M N I A P A C E
30   A C I V S T I S A V C T V S C O M P L E R I T S A E C V L A D O N I S
    H A E C P O T I O R E F I D E M E R I T I S M A I O R I B V S O R T A
    O R B I D O N A T V O P R A E S T A S S V P E R A S Q V E P R I O R A
    P E R Q V E T V O S N A T O S V I N C I S P R A E C O N I A M A G N A
    A C T I B I L E G E D E I I V S S I S Q V E P E R E N N I A F I E N T
35   S A E C L A P I I S C E P T R I T E C O N S T A N T I N E S E R E N O

References

    Further reading

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