Alcimus Avitus (fifth–sixth century) is one of the most significant representatives of the so-called biblical epos of late antiquity. And Michael Roberts is one of the leading scholarly experts on this genre, which makes him an ideal editor for Avitus’s work. The translations are accurate and fluent, taking care to remain faithful to the Latin text while being readable and in a more natural form of English. Roberts’s work thus also has the merit of offering a new, full English translation of the two poems almost thirty years after George W. Shea’s.
Overall, Roberts’s volume is a highly useful tool for those wishing to approach Avitus’s poetry; the translation and notes facilitate understanding of texts dense with exegetical and doctrinal implications as well as rich in both classical and patristic literary references.
Donato De Gianni
Speculum
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