Lucrecio a contrapelo: su entramado en la poesía de Prudencio (c. Symm. 2.1020-1035)

Abstract

In the general framework of Prudentius´s poetry, the convenience of resorting to Lucretius and Virgil is related to his need to banish the pagan religion, through an intellectual battle similar to Epicurus´s; but also, to install a Christian imperium sine fine, in honour to Theodosius. We will analyse the intertextual plot devised by Prudentius in his work Contra Symmachum, through a particular fragment (c. Symm.2.1020-1035) recognized by specialized studies as an allusion to Virgil (georg. 1.490-495), and whose formal components also allude to two passages of Lucretius´s work (3.1068-1072 and 5.1183-1187). The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate that, by the reuse of literary codes present in the works of Lucretius and Virgil, Prudentius aims to inscribe his poem within the didactic tradition of the epic genre.