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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2017
Paulinus of Nola (ca. 355–431)—the wealthy aristocrat from Aquitaine and once governor of Campania who converted to asceticism, sold his and his wife's property, went to Nola to live as a monk at St. Felix's shrine, and was eventually elected bishop of Nola—is remembered not so much for any single great achievement as for a number of smaller ones. His contemporaries admired his asceticism, and he is counted among the earliest Christian Latin poets. His descriptions of the buildings at Nola are important to Christian archaeology, and he was known to many Latin fathers, including Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome. Of his works, about fifty letters and thirty poems are extant. Paulinus is also known through other writers, both contemporary and later; and what follows is an attempt to trace him in the literary tradition from his own day through to the Carolingian age.
1 Ed. Hartel (CSEL 29, 30). The most useful recent works on Paulinus are P. Fabre, Essai sur la chronologie de l'œuvre de saint Paulin de Nole (Publications de la faculté des lettres de l'université de Strasbourg 109; Paris 1948); idem, Saint Paulin de Nole et l'amitié chrétienne (Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome 167; Paris 1949); Frend, W. H. C., ‘Paulinus of Nola and the Last Century of the Western Empire,’ Journal of Roman Studies 59 (1969) 1–11; Green, R. P. H., The Poetry of Paulinus of Nola: A Study of His Latinity (Collection Latomus 105; Brussels 1971). The letters have been translated by P. G. Walsh in the Ancient Christian Writers series (35, 36), and a translation of the Carmina, also by Walsh, is due to appear in the same series.Google Scholar
2 Carm. 27.2 and Epp. 19–25 (ed. Schenkl; MGH AA 5.2.132, 179–194).Google Scholar
3 Epp. 27, 31, 42, 45, 80, 95, 149, 186 (ed. Goldbacher; CSEL 34, 44, 57). Epp. 45 and 186 were sent jointly by Alypius and Augustine. Paulinus’ correspondence with Augustine and its chronology were studied by P. Courcelle, Les Confessions de saint Augustin dans la tradition littéraire: Antécédents et postérité (Paris 1963) 559–607; this material originally appeared in Revue des études anciennes 53 (1951) 253–300. Of Paulinus’ letters to Augustine, four survive (Epp. 4, 6, 45, 50).Google Scholar
4 Ep. 31.7 (CSEL 34.2.7.2–5); Contra Secundinum Man. 11 (ed. Zycha; CSEL 25.923.9–12).Google Scholar
5 In the De gratia Christi 35.38 (edd. Urba and Zycha; CSEL 42.154.8–10) Augustine cites Pelagius’ letter to Innocent I, in which Pelagius mentions his letter to Paulinus and urges Innocent to read it. On Paulinus and the Pelagianist circles, see especially Brown's, P. essays ‘The Patrons of Pelagius: The Roman Aristocracy Between East and West,’ and ‘Pelagius and His Supporters: Aims and Environment’ in his Religion and Society in the Age of St. Augustine (London 1972) 183–226. Brown (p. 211) thinks that Pelagius may have read Augustine's Confessions in Paulinus’ company.Google Scholar
6 Aug., Ep. 186.12.40 (CSEL 57.78.25–79.15) = Paul., Ep. 30.2 (CSEL 29.263.8–22).Google Scholar
7 Aug., Ep. 259.1 (CSEL 57.611.6).Google Scholar
8 Ed. Zycha (CSEL 41.619–660). In this lost letter to Augustine, Paulinus mentioned that he had consoled the mourning mother, a lady named Flora, and informed her that her petition for a burial place for her son Cynegius in the basilica had been granted. The epitaph on Cynegius’ tomb (CIL 10.1350) was greatly damaged in the successive sacks of Nola by the Vandals and Saracens, and later came into the episcopal seminary of Nola. There it was copied by L. Holste (Holstenius, 1596–1661), then published by G. Martini (1742–1815) from Holste's literary legacy, and finally supplemented by G. B. de Rossi. See Aurelius Augustinus: Die Sorge für die Toten, German trans. by Schlachter, G., with intro, and comm. by Arbesmann, R. (Würzburg 1975) 41ff. and note 253.Google Scholar
9 Epp. 53, 58, 85 (ed. Hilberg; CSEL 54, 55). On the chronology of the correspondence and its content, see Courcelle, P., ‘Paulin de Nole et saint Jérǒme,’ Revue des études latines 25 (1947) 250–280; Eiswirth, R., Hieronymus’ Stellung zur Literatur und Kunst (Klassischphilologische Studien 16; Wiesbaden 1955) 75–96; Nautin, P., ‘Études de chronologie hiéronymienne (393–397): III. Les premières relations entre Jérǒme et Paulin de Nole,’ Revue des études augustiniennes 19 (1973) 213–239.Google Scholar
10 Institutiones 1.6.2, 21.2 (ed. Mynors; Oxford 1937; pp. 25–26, 59–60).Google Scholar
11 Jer., Ep. 58.3 (CSEL 54.531.15–532.8); Paul., Ep. 31.3 (CSEL 29.270.1–271.4); Sev., Chronica 2.31.3 (ed. Halm; CSEL 1.86.1–4).Google Scholar
12 Ep. 58.11 (CSEL 54.541.1–4).Google Scholar
13 Ep. 61.3 (ibid. 580.7). Jerome also attacked Vigilantius in Ep. 109, part of which he worked into the Contra Vigilantium.Google Scholar
14 PL 23.339–352.Google Scholar
15 Ep. 5.11 (CSEL 29.32.3–15).Google Scholar
16 Collectio avellana, Ep. 25 (ed. Guenther; CSEL 35.1.71–72).Google Scholar
17 Ed. van Papenbroeck (AS Iun. 4.198–200).Google Scholar
18 De vir. inl. 49 (ed. Richardson; TU 14.1.78–79).Google Scholar
19 In the Narratio de imperatoribus domus Valentinianae et Theodosianae, under Honorius (ed. Mommsen; MGH AA 9.630.29).Google Scholar
20 Chronicorum a. CCCCLII pars posterior (ibid. 650.41).Google Scholar
21 Continuatio chronicorum hieronymianorum (ibid. 11.20.81).Google Scholar
22 Hist. rom. 14.18 (ed. Kroysen; MGH AA 2.207.1–9).Google Scholar
23 Ep. 27 (Maur. 58) 1–3 (ed. Faller; CSEL 82.1.180–181). Sabinus, the bishop of Piacenza, received six other letters from Ambrose.Google Scholar
24 This fact is never explicitly mentioned, but is easily concluded from Paul., Ep. 3.4, in which Paulinus writes to Alypius that Ambrose had nurtured him in the faith, and, after he had been ordained a priest, wanted to consider him one of his presbyters. It might be guessed that the aging Ambrose saw in Paulinus a possible successor.Google Scholar
25 Ep. 118.5 (CSEL 55.441.5–14).Google Scholar
26 De civ. Dei 1.10 (edd. Dombart and Kalb; CCL 47.11–12).Google Scholar
27 Paul., Ep. 18.9 (to Victricius of Rouen).Google Scholar
28 Ed. Fontaine (SC 133.292–294).Google Scholar
29 Paul., Ep. 11.11 (written in 397).Google Scholar
30 At 2.690–702 (ed. Petschenig; CSEL 16.61).Google Scholar
31 At 2.38–43, 376–390 (ed. Leo; MGH AA 4.1.315, 326–327). In 1.20–21 (ibid. 296) Venantius appears to confuse Paulinus of Nola, ‘stemmate corde fide pollens,’ with Paulinus of Périgueux, who composed the life of Martin in verse.Google Scholar
32 Dial. 1.23.4; 2 (3).17.3 (ed. Halm; CSEL 1.176, 215). Paulinus had done his part in propagating the Vita Martini; he read it to guests who visited Nola, including Melania the Elder and Nicetas (now identified with Nicetas of Remesiana); see Paul., Ep. 29.14.Google Scholar
33 Eutropius, Ep. de cont. haer. 5 (= Ps-Jerome Ep. 2; PL 30.48C–49A).Google Scholar
34 See ibid. 7 (PL 30.50A). A direct literary dependence is highly probable; cf. Eutropius’ sentence ‘et quid mirum …’ (ibid. 5 [PL 50.48B]) with Paulinus’ Ep. 13.4 (CSEL 29.87.7–15). Paulinus wrote a number of consolationes. Ep. 13 to Pammachius and Carm. 31 for Pneumatius and Fidelis on the death of their son are extant; the one addressed to Macarius (see Aug. Ep. 259.1) is lost. See P. Favez, La Consolation latine chrétienne (Paris 1937).Google Scholar
35 Prudentius, Con. Symmachum 1.558–560 (ed. Cunningham; CCL 126.205).Google Scholar
36 Eucherius, De cont. mundi (PL 50.718D–719A).Google Scholar
37 Epp. 4.3.7 (ed. Luetjohann; MGH AA 8.55.29). Carm. 22.117 (ibid. 247) mentions a Pontius Paulinus; Paulinus of Nola's father may be intended. The Paulinus of Carm. 9.304 (ibid. 225) cannot be identified with certainty.Google Scholar
38 Iulianus Pomerius, De vita contemplativa 2.9.1 (PL 59.453B–C).Google Scholar
39 Ch. 108 (ed. Krusch; MGH SRM 1.817–818).Google Scholar
40 Ibid. (818.8).Google Scholar
41 He mentions the latter: ‘de transitu autem eius est apud nos magna lectio’; ibid. (818.15–16).Google Scholar
42 Ibid. Gregory repeats the same error several times in the De virtutibus sancti Martini 1 (MGH SRM 1), most clearly on 586.28; see also 584.16; 589.12.21.Google Scholar
43 So Historia Francorum 10.31 (ed. Arndt; MGH SRM 1.444.23). In the In gloria martyrum 46 (ed. Krusch; ibid. 519.20) he has Martin receive the relics. This event is not related in any of Paulinus’ extant letters, but it is not unlikely. Sulpicius Severus had asked Paulinus for relics for his basilicas at Primuliacum (Paul., Ep. 31.1). Paulinus himself had relics of Gervase and Protase (Ep. 32.17), and Victricius of Rouen had received their relics in 396; see his De laudibus sanctorum 6 (PL 20.448B). Ambrose appears to have been the figure behind the spreading cult of these relics, and probably sent them both to Paulinus and to Victricius. On Ambrose's inventio of the martyrs Gervase and Protase, see Aug., Confessions 9.7.Google Scholar
44 Hist. Franc. 2.13 (ed. Krusch; MGH SRM 1.81). On the authenticity of this fragment and the possibility that In gloria martyrum 46 also contains a citation of Paulinus, see P. Courcelle, ‘Fragments historiques de Paulin de Nole conservés par Grégoire de Tours,’ in Mélanges d'histoire du moyen ǎge dédiés à la mémoire de Louis Halphen (Paris 1951) 145–153; also in his Histoire littéraire des grandes invasions germaniques (3rd ed.; Paris 1964) 283–291.Google Scholar
45 Dialogi 3, in Dialogi libri IV, ed. U. Moricca (Fonti per la storia d'Italia 57; Rome 1924) 135–139.Google Scholar
46 In 13.9 (PL 135.843–844).Google Scholar
47 Cf. the Martyrologium hieronymianum (AS Nov. II 2.330) with the versified martyrology composed by Wandalbert in the ninth century (ed. Duemmler; MGH PLAC 2.588.358).Google Scholar
48 Text ed. Krusch in MGH SRM 1.557–559.Google Scholar
49 PL 94.789–798. In the afterword to his Historia ecclesiastica Bede names Paulinus as his source (‘de metrico Paulini opere in prosam’; edd. Colgrave and Mynors 568). The Bollandists printed a prose life of St. Felix, written by a presbyter Marcellus and dedicated to the bishop Leo of Nola. Four bishops of this name are attested for Nola between 533 and 929; but the elegant style of the vita is difficult to reconcile with this dating. Despite the Bollandists’ notice ‘ex veteri MS,’ the vita may be a product of the Renaissance; Leo V was bishop of Nola from 1439 to 1469. Text in AS Ian. I 496–498.Google Scholar
50 Text ed. Wattenbach in MGH Scriptt. 7.721.Google Scholar
51 Text ed. Hovingh in CCL 128.125–193; see index there, 273–274.Google Scholar
52 Text in PL 51. See Manitius, M., ‘Beiträge zur Geschichte frühchristlicher Dichter im Mittelalter,’ Sb. Akad. Vienna 117 (1889) 12. Abh. 21–22.Google Scholar
53 Text ed. Willems in CCL 2.1417–1454. See Manitius, ‘Beiträge’ 22–23.Google Scholar
54 Text ed. Huemmer in CSEL 10.14–146, with references.Google Scholar
55 Text ed. Brandes in CSEL 16.291–314. The most frequent reminiscence is of Paulinus’ Carm. 10, which he had addressed to Paulinus of Pella's grandfather Ausonius. See also Funaioli, G., ‘De Paulini Pellaei carminis “Eucharisticos” fontibus,’ Musée Belge 9 (1905) 174–175, who identifies 23 reminiscences of Paulinus; Courcelle, P., ‘Un nouveau poème de Paulin de Pella,’ VC 1 (1947) 101–113, and also his Invasions (see n. 44) 293–302.Google Scholar
56 Text in Des Rusticius Helpidius Gedicht De Christi Iesu beneficiis (ed. W. Brandes; Braunschweig 1890), with references.Google Scholar
57 Text ed. Vollmer in MGH AA 14.231–270. The identification is very doubtful; cf. Vollmer's references.Google Scholar
58 Text ed. Strecker in MGH PLAC 4.944–962.Google Scholar
59 Text ibid. 1068–1072.Google Scholar
60 Carm. 45.13 (ed. Duemmler; MGH PLAC 1.543).Google Scholar
61 Ch. 18; ed. A. Knoepfler (Veröffentlichungen aus dem kirchenhistorischen Seminar München 5; Munich 1900) 225.Google Scholar
62 AS Mar. II 137.Google Scholar
63 De gubernatione Dei 7.3.14 (ed. Pauly; CSEL 8.159.16–17) = Paul., Ep. 32.3 (CSEL 29.278.9). Salvian alludes to the author of the citation only as ‘one of the few holy and distinguished men.’ His source may have been either Paulinus’ letter or the titulus itself, if Salvian had ever visited Primuliacum and seen the church there.Google Scholar
64 Etym. 9.2.90, 91 (ed. Lindsay; Oxford 1911), citing Carm. 17.17.250–252.Google Scholar
65 Text in Keil, Grammatici latini V (Leipzig 1868) 571–594. Carm. 17 is cited on 580.20; 582.12; 584.14; 585.20; 589.18; not always in exact agreement with the critical text. Carm. 4.10 (now regarded as unauthentic) is cited on 581.17. The two unidentified citations are ‘erit ut arbor quae propinqua flumini’ (571.17) and ‘zelus discrepat atrox’ (594.7).Google Scholar
66 Text ibid. VII (Leipzig 1880) 227–260.Google Scholar
67 See Manitius, M. in Sb. Akad. Vienna 112 (1886) 620.Google Scholar
68 Keil, , Grammatici latini VII, 255. 2–5. Bede then cited Carm. 17.1–4, 45–56.Google Scholar
69 Text ed. Traube in MGH PLAC 3.279–294. See also the index, ibid. 785. Micon cited twelve verses as coming from Paulinus; one (‘nec tibi fallacis subrepat imago decoris’ 360) has not been identified.Google Scholar
70 ‘In mentem mihi venit epistolae tuae’; Quaestiones grammaticae selectae ex codice bernensi 83 excerptae, in Analecta Helvetica, ed. Hagen, H. (supplement to Keil, Grammatici latini; Leipzig 1870) 173.3. The critical text of Paulinus lacks ‘mihi’; Ep. 8.3 (CSEL 29. 47.18).Google Scholar
71 Text in PL 105.466–530. The identity of this Dungal is uncertain. He may be either Dungal of St. Denis or, more probably, Dungal of Pavia. The multiplicity of Dungals is conveniently discussed by Mooney, C., ‘Dungal,’ DHGE 14 (1960) 1047–1050.Google Scholar
72 Hartel prints the fragments as Carm. 29. For the identification of the passages cited by Dungal, see CSEL 29.XII and 30.XXXII–XXXIII.Google Scholar
73 Text in PL 106.305–388.Google Scholar
74 PL 106.548–549 = Carm. 26.106–110; 28.115–137.Google Scholar
