Latin epigram, probably by Augustine of Hippo, commemorating *Nabor (deacon and martyr of Africa, S01931), victim of the Donatists in the 4th or early 5th century, and criticising the cult of the Donatist martyrs. Written probably in Hippo (Numidia, central North Africa), some time between 397 and 430.
Evidence ID
E04577
Type of Evidence
Literary - Poems
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Major author/Major anonymous work
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Verses on St Nabor
Versus s(an)c(t)i Augustini episcopi
Donatistarum crudeli caede peremptum
Infossum hic corpus pia est cum laude Nabori.
Ante aliquod tempus cum donatista fuisset,
Conuersus pacem, pro qua moreretur, amauit.
Optima purpureo uestitur sanguine causa.
Non errore perit, non se ipse furore peremit,
Uerum martyrium uera est pietate probatum
Suspice litterulas primas: ibi nomen honoris.
'Verses of the holy bishop Augustine
Donatists with cruel slaughter murdered this man.
Interred here, with pious praise, is the body of Nabor.
A little time before he had been with the Donatists.
Converted, he loved the peace for which he died.
On his body, clothed with purple blood, for the best of causes
Not for error did he die, not in madness did he kill himself.
Under the banner of true piety, he proved his true martyrdom.
Select the first letters of these lines – there you find his rank.'
Text: Patrologiae Latinae Supplementum 2, 356-357.
Translation: Shaw 2011, 625.
Cult Places
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Cult Related ObjectsInscription
Source
Augustine of Hippo was born in 354 in the north African city of Thagaste. He received an education in rhetoric at Carthage, and after a period teaching there moved to Rome, and then in 384 to a public professorship of rhetoric in Milan. In these early years of adulthood Augustine was a Manichaean, but then got disillusioned with this religion, and in Milan in 386, largely under the influence of Ambrose, bishop of the city, he converted to Christianity, and was baptised by Ambrose in 387. Returning to Africa in 388, he was ordained a priest in 391 at Hippo Regius (in the province of Numidia), and rapidly acquired a reputation as a preacher. In 395 he became bishop of Hippo, which he remained until his death in 430. Details of his early life were recorded by Augustine himself in his Confessions, and shortly after his death a pupil and long-time friend, Possidius, wrote his Life, focused on Augustine as an effective Christian writer, polemicist and bishop (E00073).Amongst his many writings, the most informative on the cult of saints are his numerous Sermons, the City of God, and a treatise On the Care of the Dead. The Sermons tell us which saints (primarily African, but with some from abroad) received attention in Hippo, Carthage and elsewhere, and provide occasional details of miracles and cult practices. The City of God records the distribution, and subsequent miracles, of the relics of saint Stephen, after they arrived in Africa from Palestine in around 420. On the Care of the Dead, discusses the possible advantages of burial ad sanctos (in other words, close to a saint), and theorises on the link between the saints who dwell in heaven and their corporeal remains buried in their graves. In these works, and others, Augustine reveals his own particular beliefs about the saints, their relics and their miracles.
This epigram was presumably inscribed on a tomb, but we know it only from the manuscript tradition. The manuscripts do not name the place of the burial, but attribute the verses to Augustine. If this attribution is correct, Nabor probably died before 411, after which the Donatist party was weakened, following its defeat at the Conference in Carthage.
Discussion
The epigram is an acrostic – the first letters of successive lines make up the word DIACONUS (Deacon), which gives us an additional piece of information about the otherwise unknown Nabor. The poem openly criticises the cult of the Donatist martyrs, many of whom, according to Augustine, committed suicide, and none dying for the right cause (see, for instance, E01030 and E03305).It is impossible to know whether Nabor had any significant cult. His name does not figure in the early-sixth-century Calendar of Carthage.
Bibliography
Edition:Hamman, A., Patrologiae Latinae Supplementum, vol. 2 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1960), 356-357.
Duval, Y., Loca sanctorum Africae: Le culte des martyrs en Afrique du IVe au VIIe siècle (Rome: École Francaise de Rome, 1982), vol. 1, no. 89, 182–83.
Translation and further reading:
Shaw, B.D., Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
Record Created By
Robert Wiśniewski
Date of Entry
23/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01931 | Nabor, deacon of Africa, martyred by Donatists | Nabor | Certain |
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