Landscapes of the body in Prudentius Cathemerinon VII

Abstract

In his Hymn of Fasting, Cathemerinon VII, Prudentius is expounding and justifying a concept relatively unfamiliar to his audience. This article shows how he makes metaphorical use of landscape to do this, employing landscapes as external reflections of the healthiness or sickness of the soul and the state of the body. In his narration of the stories of five biblical figures who are associated with fasting, Prudentius shows how fasting detaches soul from body which then becomes part of the territory which is to be conquered; reduced to a dry and barren desert, it is miraculously revived by moisture which is produced by suffering or comes from God.