Iuvencus bei Dracontius

This paper examines the presence of Juvencus in the Christian works of Dracontius, who alludes to the poetry of Juvencus not only when referring to a story told in detail in the Euangeliorum libri. Rather, it seems that individual precise expressions of Juvencus are often used to achieve a certain complexity and to fulfll Dracontius’ own claim to a strong literariness with which he wrote his Christian, but above all self-referential poetry. Passages which show a convincing parallel with Juvencus are here analysed: Judas (laud. dei 2,517–521; 562–576 ~ Iuvenc. 4,422–427; 626–641); the Magnifcat (laud. dei 2,732–743 ~ Iuvenc. 1,96–102); the miracula Christi, especially the lepers (laud. dei 2,117–122 ~ Iuvenc. 1,733–738) and Lazarus (laud. dei 2,131–133 ~ Iuvenc. 4,306–402, with a complex network of intra- and intertexts, especially laud. dei 3,653–657 and Sedul. carm. pasch. 5,134–138); Zacharias (satisf. 39–42; 47–52 and laud. dei 2,684–692 ~ Iuvenc. 1,1–51; 105–132, with the intermediate parallel of Paul. Nol. carm. 6,27–107). Regarding this latter episode, placed in a prominent position in the text of Juvencus, very likely deliberate allusions to individual expressions can be found in various places in the work of Dracontius (satisf. 1; 41; 163; 169; laud. dei 3,104f.).