E00788: Prudentius, in his Latin Crowns of the Martyrs (Peristephanon), written c. 400 in Calahorra (northern Spain), in a poem on the martyrdom of *Eulalia (virgin and martyr of Mérida, S00407), describes the tomb and shrine of Eulalia in Mérida (south-west Spain) and the custom of bringing flowers to her tomb.

Liber Peristephanon, Poem III.1-10

Germine nobilis Eulalia
mortis et indole nobilior
Emeritam sacra virgo suam,
cuius ab ubere progenita est,
5 ossibus ornat, amore colit.
proximus occiduo locus est
qui tulit hoc decus egregium,
urbe potens, populis locuples,
sed mage sanguine martyrii
10 virgineoque potens titulo.

'Noble of stock, and nobler still in the quality of her death, the holy maid Eulalia honours with her bones and tends with her love her Emerita, the town that gave her birth. Far in the west lies the place that has won this signal honour; as a city, great and populous, but greater through the blood of martyrdom and a maiden's church (titulus).'


Liber Peristephanon, Poem III.186-215:

nunc locus Emerita est tumulo,
clara colonia Vettoniae,
quam memorabilis amnis Ana
praeterit et viridante rapax
190 gurgite moenia pulchra lavit.
hic, ubi marmore perspicuo
atria luminat alma nitor
et peregrinus et indigena,
relliquias cineresque sacros
195 servat humus veneranda sinu.
tecta corusca super rutilant
de laquearibus aureolis
saxaque caesa solum variant,
floribus ut rosulenta putes
200 prata rubescere multimodis.
carpite purpureas violas
sanguineosque crocos metite,
non caret his genialis hiems,
laxat et arva tepens glacies,
205 floribus ut cumulet calathos.
ista comantibus e foliis
munera, virgo puerque, date.
ast ego serta choro in medio
texta feram pede dactylico,
210 vilia, marcida, festa tamen.
sic venerarier ossa libet
ossibus altar et inpositum:
illa Dei sita sub pedibus
prospicit haec populosque suos
215 carmine propitiata fovet.

'Now her [Eulalia's] tomb stands in Emerita, that famous town in Vettonia by which the notable river Ana passes, washing the handsome walls as it sweeps along with its green waters. Here, where the lustre of shining marble, foreign and native, lights up the motherly church, the worshipful earth keeps her remains, her holy ashes, in its bosom. Overhead the gleaming roof flashes light from its gilded panels, and shaped stones diversify the floor so that it seems like a rose-covered meadow blushing with varied blooms. Pluck purple violets, pick blood-red crocuses. Our genial winter has no lack of them; the cold is tempered and loosens its grip on the land to load our baskets with flowers. Give her these gifts, you girls and boys, from the luxuriant leaves. But I in the midst of your company will bring garlands wreathed of dactylic measures, of little worth and faded, but still joyous. So will we venerate her bones and the altar placed over her bones, while she, set at the feet of God, views all our doings, our song wins her favour, and she cherishes her people.'

Text: Cunningham 1966: 278 and 284-285. Translation: Thomson 1953, 142-145 and 154-157, lightly modified.