The poet, the saint and the imitation of Christ in Venantius Fortunatus’ carmen 5. 6*

Abstract

In the paper, I am revisiting the complicated and many-layered interpretation of Ven. Fort. Carm. 5. 6, letter and figure poem. I am adding another layer by including the role of St. Symphorian, who is implicitly present in the poem through the addressee Syagrius, the bishop of Autun, Symphorian’s hometown. The presence of the saint plays together with the story of father and son that is told in the letter; the parallelism of the story in the letter and the saint’s legend could have laid additional pressure on Bishop Syagrius to give into Fortunatus’s plea.