A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SEDULIUS. SEDULIUS. 765
2. Sedulius, who, in attaching his signature to the of the hexameter, in each couplet, recurs as the
Acts of the Council of Rome, held in A. D. 721, last penthemimer of the pentameter: thus
describes himself as " Episcopus Britanniae de Primes ad ima ruit magna de luce superbus
genere Scotorum." 3. Sedulius, an Irish Scot, who Sic homo cum tumuit primus ed ima rui;
lived some hundred years later, and compiled from
the works of Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, and other a device to which grammarians have given the
celebrated fathers, a commentary upon St. Paul name of 4sravcidAsls.
still extant under the title " Sedulii Scoti Hiber- III. Hymnus de Ckristo, a succinct account of
niensis in omnes epistolas Pauli Collectaneum." the life and miracles of Christ, from the Incarnation
The following pieces by the first of these indi- to the Ascension, in Iambic dimeters. The first
viduals have descended to us. line begins with the letter A, the fifth line with
1. Paschale Carmen s. Mirabilium Divinorum the letter B, the ninth with C, the thirteenth
Libri V., in heroic measure; to which is prefixed with D, and so on at intervals of four lines until
in some MSS. a " Praefatio," in eight elegiac a complete alphabet has been finished, the whole
couplets, addressed to the reader, and a " Dedicatio being wound up by a sort of epilogue in two elegiac
ad Theodosium Augustum," in fifteen hexameters. distichs.
If the inscription of the latter be genuine, it could IV. De Tlerbi Incarnatione, a Cento Virgilianus,
not have been written after A. D. 450, for in that first published in the collection of Martene and
year the younger Theodosius died. There is also Durand from a MS. belonging to the monastery of
an introductory epistle addressed to the Abbot Corvey on the Weser.
Macedonius, at whose request Sedulius had exe- V. The authenticity of the epigram entitled
cuted a prose version of the above poem. This "De tabula orbis terrarum jussu Theodosii Junioris
prose version has been preserved and was published Imperatoris facta" is more than doubtful. It is
at Paris in 1585 by F. Juret, from a MS. the to be found in Burmann's Anthologia Latina, v.
property of P. Pithou. Sigebertus (I. c.) main- 115, or No. 274, ed. Meyer; comp. Wernsdorf,
tains that the work was first composed in prose Post. Lat. ilfin. vol. iv. p. 499.
and afterwards versified. But this account is di- The merits of Sedulius are altogether of a negarectly at variance with the words of the letter. tive character. Every one admits that he was not
There is some doubt as to the number of books destitute of talent. WMith the exception of several
into which the Paschale Carmen ought to be di- mistakes in quantity, his verse is by no means
vided. Although the MSS. vary, all the best rough nor inharmonious, and his language, formed
distribute it into five: the Anonymus Mellicensis upon the model of Virgil, is not devoid of a certain
(I. c.) states that it consists of two; Isidorus and degree of elegance, and cannot be pronounced imIHonoriss (II. cc.) agree that there are three, one pure; his descriptions are not coarse nor exaggebeing devoted to the signs and wonders commne- rated. His prose, however, presents a singular
morated in the Old Testament, two to the Sacra- contrast, the style being in. the highest degree
ments and Miracles of Christ. Trithemius (I. c.) harsh and affected, the phraseology and syntax alike
expressly names four, and this seems to have been barbarous. Such inconsistencies are by no means
the arrangement contemplated by the author, who uncommon among the writers of that epoch, and
thus (Epist. ad Maced.) explains the nature, ob- admit of easy explanation. In verse composition
ject, and extent of his undertaking: " Quatuor they confined themselves exclusively to the words
mirabilium divinorum libellos, quos, et pluribus and expressions which had been stamped by the
pauca complexus, usque ad Passionem et Resur- authority of the poets in the Augustan age, accordrectionem Ascensionemque Domini Nostri Jesu ing to the system pursued in the school exercises
Christi, quatuor Evangelistarum dicta congregans, of modern times, while their prose represented the
ordinavi, contra omnes aemulos tuae defensioni ordinary language of their own day.
commendo. Huic autem operi, favente Deo, Pas- Wie have already observed that Sedulius was
chalis Carminis nomen imposui quia Pascha nos- commended by Pope GCelasius, who couched his
trum immolatus est Christus." The most easy praise in the following terms (Distinct. xv. 3. ~ 25):
solution of the difficulty is to be found in the sup- " Venerabilis viri Sedulii Paschale Opus, quod heposition which assigns the disposition of the parts, roicis descripsit versibus, insigni laude proferimus."
as they are now exhibited, to the first editor In transcribing the document the word haereticis
Asterius, who would probably give that form to was accidentally substituted for heroicis, and the
the scattered papers of the deceased which to him error passed undetected in some of the authorised
appeared most appropriate, while transcribers, fol- collections of Canons. Hence it came to pass that,
lowing their own judgment, may have thought fit for a considerable period, zealous churchmen, and
to introduce changes, and thus have caused the among them Pope Paulus II. and Pope Hadrianus
discrepancies and contradictions which we meet VI., moved by the authority of one so holy, were
with in the historians of ecclesiastical literature. It in the habit of anathematising poets in general,
is not improbable that Sedulius may, at one time, and of declaring that all who meddled with verse,
have intended the Miracles of the Old Testament even although the theme might relate to holy
to constitute a separate work, and it may even be things, were heretics and accursed.
urged that the words quoted above apply to the The Editio Princeps of Sedulius is a quarto
New Testament exclusively. volume, printed at Paris by Badius Ascensius, but
II. Veteris et NVovi 7Testamenti Collatio, a sort of without a date; the second edition was published
hymn containing a collection of texts from the Old along with Juvencus and others by Aldus, 4to.
and New Testaments, arranged in such a manner Venet. 1502. The most elaborate editions are
as to enable the reader to compare the two dispen- those of Cellarius, 8vo. Hal. 1704 and 1739; of
sations. The metre employed is the elegiac distich Arntzenius, 4to Leovard. 1761; and of Arevalus,
and the expressions are arranged with laborious 4to. Rom. 1794. The different pieces will be
ingenuity in such a way that the first penthemimer found in "' Po'tarumn veterumo ecclesiasticc. Opera