Priscian, Praise for the Emperor Anastasius 180-192
created: This entry is taken from Praise for the Emperor Anastasius 180-192 written by Pr
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: la; la
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/450

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Priscian, Praise for the Emperor Anastasius 180-192. This passage was written ca. 512 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. Priscian from Mauretanian Caesarea grew up in the Vandalic Kingdom and spent his career as a leading Lating grammarian at Constantinople in the early 6th century. He wrote his widely influential description of Latin grammar and technical treatises on metrology, rhetoric, and pedagogy, as well as a panegyric to Anastasius I in 312 hexameters. In this passage, Priscian celebrates how Anastasius rehabilitated harborworks to the benefit of seaborn traffic, though he does not specify Caesarea. Here the poet echoes the praises of Procopius of Gaza written roughly one decade earlier, which specified Caesarea (Panegyric to the Emperor Anastasius 19); so also 6th-century historians recorded the emperor’s widespread investment in building projects (John Malalas, Chronicle 16.21; John the Lydian, The Rulers of the Roman State 3.47.2).

Auspiciis gaude, princeps felicibus aulae, (190) cui Deus omniparens renovandum credidit orbem iustitiamque iubet descendere rursus ab axe et faciles precibus populorum praebuit aures, quorum prostratas recreasti funditus urbes portibus et muris, undarum et tractibus altis. (185) Nunc tuto nautae repetunt vera ostia velis, qui dubio quondam peiora pericula ponto iam patrias oras tolerabant nave tenentes, naufragium ratibus fessis statione minante disiectis claustris quibus aequor frangitur altum; (190) sed nunc vota Deo servati pectore toto pro pietate tua, qua respicis omnia, fundunt.

[Ed. Bekker and Niebuhr 1829 with ref. to Chavout 1986]

(190) Rejoice, prince, in the happy auspices of your reign! God in his infinite foresight has entrusted to you the renewal of the world, he orders justice again to come down from heaven, and he gladly hears the prayers of the people, whose cities once razed to their foundations you have restored with (185) harbors and walls and aqueducts. Sailors now safely return to proper ports on their boats, sailors who once faced greater dangers as they navigated toward their home shores than they did out on the uncertain sea, and the anchorage threatened their exhausted vessels with shipwreck (190) because the enclosures which break the water had been scattered. Now that they have been saved, they wholeheartedly pour out prayers to God on behalf of the dutiful devotion with which you watch over everything!

[Trans. J. L. Rife with ref. to Chavout 1986]

Works Cited

[...] 180-192
[...] 63-64, 76-77

[* Procopius of Gaza, Panegyric to the Emperor Anastasius 19 [test445]

John Malalas, Chronicle 16.21

John the Lydian, The Rulers of the Roman State 3.47.2]

[none]

[Anastasius I, emperor]

[Byzantine History

Commerce and Economy

Government and Law

Maritime Activity

Natural Environment

Travel

Urban Topography]