Latin poem by Pope Damasus, originally inscribed at the tomb of *Felix and Adauctus (martyrs of Rome, S00421) in the catacomb of Commodilla, on the via Ostiensis outside Rome. Written in Rome, 366/384.
Evidence ID
E07152
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Literary - Poems
Major author/Major anonymous work
Damasan and pseudo-Damasan poems
Damasus of Rome, Epigrammata 7 (ICVR II, 6016)
Text in underlined capitals survives in a fragment of the original inscription.
O semel adque iterum vero de nomine Felix,
qui intemerata fide, contempto principe mundi,
confessus Christum caelesTIA REgna petisti.
o vere pretiosa fides, coGNOSCite, fratris,
qua ad caelum victor paritER PROPERavit Adauctus. 5
presbyter his Verus, DaMASO RECTore iubente,
conposuit tumulum sanctorum limina adornans.
Felix et Adauctus [martyres]
8. [martyres] Ferrua
‘O Felix, twice fortunate in your true name,
with flawless faith, despising the prince of the world,
you confessed Christ and sought out the celestial realms.
O truly precious faith of a brother – recognize it! –
by which Adauctus likewise rushed to heaven, a victor.
On their behalf the presbyter Verus, in accord with the wishes of Damasus the bishop,
arranged their tomb, adorning the dwelling of the saints.
Felix and Adauctus martyrs.’
Text and translation: Trout 2015, 94, modified.
Cult PlacesConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - Popes
Cult Related Objects
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - Popes
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Cult Related ObjectsInscription
Source
The poems of DamasusThe poetry of Damasus is the first substantial corpus of texts devoted specifically to the cult of saints. All but a handful of his surviving poems were written to be inscribed on stone and displayed at the tombs of the martyrs. The installation of these inscriptions formed part of a programme of monumentalisation of the sites of martyr cult, most of which originated as ordinary tombs in the cemeteries and catacombs around the city of Rome, and it was often accompanied by major remodelling and rebuilding of the tombs and their physical surroundings (see Trout 2015, 42-47). The poems were inscribed on marble plaques with distinctive lettering ('Philocalian script') by the calligrapher Furius Dionysius Filocalus (Trout 2015, 47-52). This characteristic script makes it possible to identify fragments of inscribed text as Damasan even when the surviving remains are too small and fragmentary for the content of the inscription to be reconstructed.
Damasus' poems are of great importance for the history of saints' cult at Rome because, aside from what their content tells us, they are securely datable to his papacy (366-384). If a martyr is the subject of a poem by Damasus, it means that their cult was established and formally recognised at Rome no later than the early 380s; the only comparable, but much briefer, material is that in the Chronography of 354 (E01052). By contrast, the surviving Roman saints' lives are of very uncertain date and in most cases much later than Damasus' poems (which they sometimes used as a source: Lapidge 2018, 637-8).
It is certain that most material in the Damasan corpus is by Damasus himself, either because the inscribed text (or fragments of it) survives, or because Damasus refers to himself in the poem (which he does frequently). In other cases his authorship has been assigned on stylistic grounds. Since Damasus' style is quite distinctive (see Trout 2015, 16-26), this can usually be done reasonably securely, but there are a few instances where there is disagreement among editors as to whether poems are genuinely by Damasus (see E07149; E01790; E07503)
Survival of the poems
Only two of Damasus' inscriptions on the martyrs have survived more or less intact, those to Eutychius (E07169) and Agnes (E07189); a few others exist in fragments substantial enough to piece together most or all of the text, including the inscription from the crypt of the popes in the catacomb of St Sebastian (E01866), and the poem to Felicissimus and Agapitus (E07170). But most of his poems either do not survive at all in their inscribed form, or do so only in small fragments of a few words or letters. Their survival is the result of their inclusion in syllogae – collections of inscriptions from the martyr shrines and churches of Rome, which were transcribed by pilgrims and then circulated in manuscript. The earliest syllogae seem to have been compiled in the 7th century, at the same time as the earliest pilgrim itineraries, and like the itineraries they were organised geographically, following the routes used by pilgrims around the city and its suburbs. Poems by Damasus therefore appear scattered through the collections according to their location.
No sylloge survives in its original form: those now extant were compiled from earlier manuscript collections (whose traces are sometimes evident in their structure). They were edited by de Rossi in vol. 2.1 of the first edition of ICUR (1888), which remains the only modern edition of the syllogae as such (as opposed to the individual poems they contain). For a descriptive account of the syllogae containing Damasus’ poems, see Trout 2015, 63-65; more briefly, Lapidge 2018, 638.
The most important syllogae for the transmission of Damasus' poems are as follows:
The Sylloge Laureshamensis. A manuscript produced at the monastery of Lorsch in the 9th/10th c., now in the Vatican Library (Vatican, Pal. Lat. 833; digitised: digi.vatlib.it/view/bav_pal_lat_833). De Rossi believed it was a compilation of four existing collections, which he denoted as follows: Laureshamensis I (de Rossi 1888, 144-153), dating from the 9th c. (ibid. 142); Laureshamensis II (de Rossi 1888, 126-130), from the 7th c. (ibid. 124); Laureshamensis III (de Rossi 1888, 161-173), a collection of inscriptions from northern Italy, dating from the late 8th c. (ibid. 160); and Laureshamensis IV (de Rossi 1888, 98-118), dating from the 7th c. (ibid. 97), and the one that contains most of the Damasan material
The Sylloge Centulensis (de Rossi 1888, 78-94). Produced in the monastery of St. Riquier in the 9th/10th century, held for most of its existence in Corbie, and now in the Russian National Library at St. Petersburg (Codex Petropolitanus F XIV 1).
The Sylloge Turonensis (de Rossi 1888, 62-71). Produced at Tours in the 7th century, but surviving only in two manuscripts from 11th/12th-century Austria (Klosterneuburg Stiftsbibliothek Cod. 723; Göttweig Stiftsbibliothek Cod. 64 (78), digitised: manuscripta.at/diglit/AT2000-64).
The Sylloge Virdunensis (de Rossi 1888, 134-141). Produced at Verdun in the 10th century (Bibliothèque de Verdun, ms. 45; digitised: www1.arkhenum.fr/bm_verdun_ms/_app/index.php?type_recherche=cote&choix_secondaire=Ms. 45).
The Sylloge Einsidelnensis (de Rossi 1888, 18-33). Produced at the monastery of Einsiedeln in the 9th century (Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek 326, digitised: www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/sbe/0326).
Discussion
Location: Catacomb of Comodilla, via Ostiensis.Physical remains: A fragment of the original inscription, containing parts of lines 3–6, was discovered in the catacomb of Commodilla in the 18th century (Trout 2015, 94; Lapidge 2018, 639). Measurements: height 41 cm; maximum width 41 cm; height of letters 5–5.5 cm (Ferrua 1942, 98). Ferrua's image is reproduced here; a photograph can also be found in the EDB entry. The surviving letters are indicated in our text by underlined capitals.
Manuscript transmission: Sylloge Laureshamensis IV, Sylloge Einsidlensis, Sylloge Turonensis, Sylloge Centulensis
Damasus’ seven-line hexameter poem provides the earliest written evidence for Felix and Adauctus, who do not appear in the Depositio martirum (E01052). It is the only surviving account until the composition of their Martyrdom (E02496), at a much later date, possibly the early 7th century (Lapidge 2018, 595). Because of its brevity it is difficult to discern much about what Damasus believed about the circumstances of their martyrdom, but in one important respect it seems to have differed from the subsequent tradition represented by the Martyrdom. Damasus evidently regarded Adauctus as the brother of Felix. By the time the Martyrdom was written, a story had developed that Adauctus was an anonymous passer-by who shouted out a confession of faith when Felix was being led to execution and was then martyred alongside him. (The idea that the name Adauctus is based on his being 'added' to Felix in martyrdom, from the Latin verb adaugeo, 'to add to', may have originated only with the 9th-century compiler Ado of Vienne: see the discussion in E02496).
The catacomb of Commodilla was originally a quarry. According to Trout 2015, 95, 'funerary use apparently began only with the deposition of Felix and Adauctus in gallery A/B, the future basilichetta' (in the early 4th century). The shrine was significantly enlarged and renovated by Damasus, which must be the event commemorated by this poem. Damasus had a hypogean (underground) basilica constructed (the basilichetta mentioned above), decorated with frescoes and with a staircase to enhance access (for references in the itineraries, see E00687, E06989, E07894). A painting there of two saints acclaiming a Christogram, presumably Felix and Adauctus, has been dated to Damasus' time: for the painting, see Deckers et al. 1994 (Textband p. 75, with illustrations, Farbtafel 15a and Umzeichnung 3g(1)). For the archaeology of the Catacomb of Commodilla, see Carletti 2004, Weiland 1994, and the various references given by Trout 2015, 94-96
Bibliography
Editions and translations:de Rossi, G.B., Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, vol. 2.1 (Rome: Ex officina libraria Philippi Cuggiani, 1888), 32, no. 76; 67-68, no. 29; 82, no. 20; 102-103, no. 32.
Ihm, M., Damasi epigrammata (Anthologiae Latinae Supplementa 1, Leipzig: Teubner, 1895), 10-11, no. 7.
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1925), 390-391, no. 1982.
de Rossi, G.B., and Silvagni, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 2: Coemeteria in viis Cornelia Aurelia Portuensi et Ostiensi et tabulae Nr. 1-34 (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1935), no. 6016.
Ferrua, A., Epigrammata damasiana (Rome: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1942), 98-99, no. 7.
Reutter, U., Damasus, Bischof von Rom (366-384): Leben und Werk (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009).
Aste, A., Gli epigrammi di papa Damaso I (Tricase: Libellula Edizioni, 2014).
Trout, D., Damasus of Rome: The Epigraphic Poetry: Introduction, Texts, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 94-96, no. 7.
Epigraphic Database Bari, EDB16166
https://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/16166
Further reading:
Carletti, C., "Coemeterium Commodillae", in: A. La Regina (ed.), Lexicon topographicum urbis Romae – Suburbium, vol. 2 (Rome: Quasar, 2004), 134-140.
Deckers, J.G., Mietke, G., and Weiland, A., Die Katacombe "Commodilla": Repertorium der Malereien mit einem Beitrag zu Geschichte und Topographie von Carlo Carletti, 3 vols. (Roma sotterranea cristiana 10; Rome: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1994).
Lapidge, M., The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 593-597, 639.
Weiland, A., "Conposuit tumulum sanctorum limina adornans. Die Ausgestaltung des Grabes der hl. Felix und Adauctus durch Papst Damasus in der Commodillakatakombe in Rom," in: Historiam pictura refert: miscellanea in onore di Padre Alejandro Recio Veganzones O.F.M. (Rome: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1994), 625-645.
Images
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The surviving fragment of the inscription (reproduced from Ferrua 1942, 99).
Record Created By
David Lambert; Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
11/12/2018; rev. 16/06/2026
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00421 | Felix and Adauctus, martyrs of Rome, buried on the via Ostiensis | Felix; Adauctus | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert; Katarzyna Wojtalik, Cult of Saints, E07152 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07152