Abstract

Claudian’s Easter hymn “De Salvatore” (carm. min. 32) is not simply an imitation of the “Versus paschales” of Ausonius, but sets itself in a fundamentally different literary tradition through the manner of its description of God: its focus on paradoxical aspects of the Christian account of salvation and the use of key terms like mirabile/arcanum/stupor show that it has combined the genre of a Christian hymn with the presentational techniques of paradoxography. Against this background the citation of Claudian at Aug. civ. 5,25 and the statement miracula terrae nulla putem in Aus. eph. 3,71f. appear in a new light.