Böcker av Prudentius

Lively new translations of two classical works that offer wise advice about how to resist temptationHow to Have Willpower brings together two profound ancient meditations on how to overcome pressures that encourage us to act against our own best interests-Plutarch's essay On Dysopia or How to Resist Pressure and Prudentius's poetic allegory Psychomachia or How to Slay Your Demons. Challenging the idea that humans are helpless victims of vice, these works-introduced and presented in vivid, accessible new prose translations by Michael Fontaine, with the original Latin and Greek texts on facing pages-emphasize the power of personal choice and the possibility of personal growth, as they offer insights and practical advice about resisting temptation. In the spirit of the best ancient self-help writing, Plutarch, a pagan Greek philosopher and historian, offers a set of practical recommendations and steps we can take to resist pressure and to stop saying "yes" against our better judgment. And in a delightfully different work, Prudentius, a Latin Christian poet, dramatizes the necessity to actively fight temptation through the story of an epic battle within the human soul between fierce warrior women representing our virtues and vices. Plutarch and Prudentius insist that we allow pressure or temptations to get the best of us. But they also agree that we can do something about it. And their wisdom can help.

i-iv -- Vorwort -- Inhaltsverzeichnis -- I. Das Einwachsen der Götterbilder. Ein Mißverständnis heidnischer Kultübung bei Prudentius -- II. Notizen zu Prudentius -- III. Lynchjustiz bei Catull -- IV. Interpretation frühchristlicher Literatur. Dargestellt am Beispiel des Prudentius -- V. Die Natursymbolik in den Tagesliedern des Prudentius -- VI. Exegetische Bemerkungen zu Prudentius' 'Hamartigenie' -- VII. Ein Zeugnis doppelchörigen Gesangs bei Prudentius -- VIII. Prudentiana -- IX. Züge der Mündlichkeit in spätlateinischer Dichtung -- X. Zur Rede der Roma bei Symmachus rel. 3 -- XI. Satura tragica. Zu Juvenal und Prudentius -- XII. Prudentius über die Statue der Victoria im Senat -- XIII. Verkanntes quod bei Prudentius -- XIV. Der neue Sinn der Worte. Zur frühchristlichen Passionsliteratur -- XV. Der Gabenzug der Städte bei der Ankunft des Herrn -- XVI. Der Mensch als Hausherr der Schöpfung bei Prudentius -- XVII. Verkannte Genitive bei Prudentius -- XVIII. Dulce et decorum -- XIX. Das puer senex-Ideal und die Kirchenbauten zu Nola -- XX. Die frühe Kirche und die antike Kultur. Zu einem neuen Prudentiusbuch -- XXI. Die vielen Wege und der Eine. Zur Bedeutung einer Bildrede aus dem Geisteskampf der Spätantike -- XXII. Addenda -- Register -- Zu den Abbildungen -- Tafel I-XVI

Prudentius (born 348 CE) used allegory and classical Latin verse forms in service of Christianity. His works include the Psychomachia, an allegorical description of the struggle between Christian virtues and pagan vices; lyric poetry; and inscriptions for biblical scenes on a church's walls--a valuable source on Christian iconography.

The first English translation in more than 40 years of Prudentius's "Hamartigenia," which considers the origin of sin in the universe and its consequences, culminating with a vision of judgment day.