Latin verses in honour of *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037) originally inscribed in the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, Rome. Sometimes attributed to Pope Damasus. Written in Rome, c. 350/550.
Evidence ID
E08603
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Literary - Poems
Major author/Major anonymous work
Damasan and pseudo-Damasan poems
Non mirum est fallax nimium quod flamma minatur
martyris et corpus nil nocitura cremat;
namque docet fidei magnam sine vindice poena
ad caelum mediis ignibus esse viam.
Hunc etenim fruitur martyr Laurentius ignem 5
et meritis summis ne moriatur agit.
'It is nothing to marvel at, that the deceitful flame threatens so much,
and burns the body of the martyr without harming [him].
For it teaches that the great way of faith, without punishing agony,
to heaven is through the middle of the flames.
The martyr Laurence enjoys this fire
and through the highest merits achieves that he never dies.'
Text: Ferrua 1942, 168.
Translation: David Lambert.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityRenovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Cult Related ObjectsInscription
Source
The poem is transmitted only in the Sylloge Laureshamensis, in the part of the collection that de Rossi identified as Laureshamensis I (for further detail, see the Source section in e.g. E07210). It was attributed to Damasus by some early-modern editors (Ferrua 1942, 167), but this was rejected by de Rossi in his edition of the syllogae (de Rossi 1885, 151) and by subsequent editors. It was published by Ferrua as an appendix to Epigrammata 33 (E07186) because he speculated that it may have been composed to describe a picture commissioned by Damasus (Ferrua 1942, 168).There is no way of establishing a precise date for the poem, assuming that it is not by Damasus. The collection which preserves it dates only from the 9th century (de Rossi 1885, 142), so does not provide a useful terminus. Ferrua described it as 'clearly ancient' (sane antiquum) on the basis of its grammar and metre (Ferrua 1942, 168), but without being more precise. In this context, 'ancient' would presumably indicate the 4th or 5th centuries.
Discussion
The poem is in elegiac couplets and focuses on Laurence's impassivity in the face of his tortures. The implied idea that Laurence was divinely protected from suffering while being tortured and martyred is one that appears elsewhere in the traditions about him, such as the Roman martyr acts (see E02513 or E02504).The poem's heading in the sylloge states that it was in the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso. De Rossi suggested that it had been composed to accompany a picture of Laurence's martyrdom (de Rossi 1885, 151). Ferrua raised the possibility that the picture had been commissioned by Damasus (Ferrua 1942, 168), citing a statement in a letter about religious images written in 787 by Pope Hadrian I, that Damasus had 'his own church' (propriam suam ecclesiam) – i.e. S. Lorenzo in Damaso – 'decorated with sacred histories and images' (historiis sacris et imaginibus pictam). The hypothesis is impossible to confirm, since the church built by Damasus was demolished and rebuilt in the 15th century.
Bibliography
Editions:de Rossi, G.B., Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, vol. 2.1 (Rome, 1888), 151, no. 24.
Ihm, M., Damasi epigrammata (Anthologiae Latinae Supplementa 1, Leipzig: Teubner, 1895), 101-102, no. 102.
Ferrua, A., Epigrammata damasiana (Rome: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1942), 167-168, no. 331.
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
28/07/2025
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentius | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E08603 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08603