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THE LIFE OF ST AUBIN by Venantius Fortunatus:

Notes on the Text

Venantius' Prologue is written after the style of Cicero who is the "pattern" for later prose. Cicero was an advocate and most of his work was defending in the law courts. So he repeated, again and again, the "good" qualities of his client; consequently, there is a tremendous lot of tautology, prolix speech, long flowing sentences etc., - but not a lot of explicit details.

In copying Cicero, Venantius has not quite succeeded. The Prologue is, of course, flowery, repetitive and vague, but the Latin obviously is late (Silver) and meanings of words are changing over the centuries.

The actual narrative is more after the style of Suetonius -it is interesting to see how words are changing from Golden Latin to Silver Ecclesiastical.

As an illustration, consider the following:

Word

Golden

Silver

FAMA

rumour

fame

MERITUM

something deserved (good or bad)

merit

DISCIPLINA

learning

discipline (i.e. austerity)

CIVITAS

a state

city

BEATUS

happy

blessed

PERSONA

mask

person

VALBO

I am well

I am able