Carmen de providentia Dei
· Anonymous (attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine, 'Pseudo-Prosper')
· c. 410-425
· poetry
Latin · domain: latin-poetry-late-antique · researched 2026-11-14
status unknown. No translation field exists in the source catalogue. This is an unresolved case, not a confirmed gap.
Why this is in the register
This poem of 972 hexameters, written to answer those who blamed the barbarian invasions on God's neglect, is translated into German (Fontes Christiani, 2025) but no published English translation was located. HOLLIS offers no English version: the record for 'The Carmen de providentia Dei attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine' (Catholic University of America, 1964/1965) is a doctoral study whose description does not state that it contains a translation, and it could not be inspected, so this entry is marked unknown rather than none (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Carmen%20de%20providentia%20Dei%20Prosper%20McHugh&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 The German record, for the Fontes Christiani volume that pairs the poem with Orientius's Commonitorium, describes the work as 972 verses and dates it shortly after the barbarian incursion into Gaul (https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/alma99160659130303941). It is not among the Prosper passages translated in White's anthology, which prints Epigrams 52 and 77 and Carmen de Ingratis 945-997 instead (https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/alma990085386220203941). The Latin text is printed in Patrologia Latina 51, where the volume's elenchus lists 'Carmen de Providentia'.
The poem is the classic Latin theodicy of the invasion years, arguing that Rome's disasters are correction rather than abandonment - a direct counterpart to Augustine's City of God and to Orientius's moral reading of the same events. English readers have no access to it except through German, and the attribution to Prosper is itself a live question, which makes an English version with an attribution discussion a natural editorial project.
Blackmore, Richard, Sir, d. 1729 · MDCCXXVII. 1727 · eng
Blackmore, Richard, Sir, d. 1729. "Creation. A philosophical poem, demonstrating the existence and providence of a God. : In seven books. By Sir Richard Blackmore, knt. M.D. and fellow of the College of Physicians in London." Dublin : Printed by S. Powell, for G. Risk, G. Ewing, and W. Smith, in Dame's-street, MDCCXXV…
Blackmore, Richard Sir. "Creation: a Philosophical Poem : Demonstrating the Existence and Providence Of a God. In Seven Books. By Sir Richard Blackmore. The Second Edition." London : Printed for S. Buckley ... and J. Tonson [etc.], 1712. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/99155264775103941
Blackmore, Richard, Sir, 1654-1729. "Creation. A philosophical poem. Demonstrating the existence and providence of a God. In seven books." London, Printed for S. Buckley ... and F. Tonson, 1712. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/990056014710203941
Blackmore, Richard, Sir, 1654-1729. "Creation : a philosophical poem, demonstrating the existence and providence of a God : in seven books." London : Printed for A. Bettesworth ... and J. Pemberton ..., 1718. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/990044650430203941
Blackmore, Richard, Sir, 1654-1729. "Creation. A philosophical poem Demonstrating the existence and providence of a God. In seven books." London, Printed for J. Tonson, J. Brown, and O. Lloyd, 1715. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/990044627790203941